During a brief experiment with US franchises in the mid 1990s, there was a Canadian Football League team in Shreveport, Louisiana. Other short lived franchises were in Baltimore. Birmingham, Las Vegas, Memphis, Sacramento, and San Antonio.
The June 6, 1862 naval Battle of Memphis resulted in a crushing U.S. victory over the Confederate fleet, witnessed by a large and very disappointed Southern crowd ashore. The city surrendered later that day.
T. E Lawrence (of Arabia) was involved in the build-up to the capture of Damascus in the final weeks of WWI. He was not present at the city’s formal surrender, much to his disappointment and contrary to instructions which he had issued, having arrived several hours after the city had fallen.
Nm - ninja’d! Damn!
The cities of Beech Grove, Lawrence, and Southport and the town of Speedway, all located in Marion Country, Indiana (the home of Indianapolis) are known as “excluded cities,” and retain government autonomy in most respects. They elect their own city officials and city councils. The rest of the counties cities and towns are part of a combined “City-Country” government with limited powers for local governance.
The USFL had franchises and key player signings in their brief, early 1980s existence. The USFL franchises, including some key signings and with the original 12 teams underlined were:
Michigan Panthers (Pontiac MI, 1st USFL Champions; signed Bobby Hebert, 1983)
Philadelphia Stars (2nd USFL Champions, and 3rd & final Champions as Baltimore Stars; signed Chuck Fusina and Kelvin Bryant, 1983)
New Jersey Generals (E Hanover NJ; signed Herschel Walker (1982 Heisman), in 1983; Doug Flutie (1984 Heisman), in 1985; and Brian Sipe in 1984)
Pittsburgh Maulers (signed Mike Rozier (1983 Heisman), in 1984)
Jacksonville Bulls (Mike Rozier in 1985 season; Larry Csonka & Jim Kiick in marketing)
Memphis Showboats (signed Reggie White (NFL HOF 2006), in 1984)
Houston Gamblers (signed Jim Kelly (NFL HOF 2002), in 1984)
Los Angeles Express (signed Steve Young (NFL HOF 2005), in 1984; and Gary Zimmerman (NFL HOF 2008), in 1984)
Birmingham Stallions (signed Joe Cribbs, 1984)
Oakland Invaders (significant, after NFL’s Oakland Raiders moved to Los Angeles, 1982; signed Raymond Chester, 1983)
Arizona Wranglers (signed Jim Fahnhorst, 1984)
Boston Breakers (later in New Orleans and Portland; signed Dan Ross, 1984)
Tampa Bay Bandits (signed Gary Anderson, 1983; minor owner Burt Reynolds; head coach Steve Spurrier (1966 Heisman))
Washington Federals / Orlando Renegades (signed Craig James of “The Pony Express”, 1983)
Denver Gold (signed Harry Sidney, 1983)
Chicago Blitz (head coach George Allen (NFL HOF 2002); signed Greg Landry, 1983)
Oklahoma Outlaws / Arizona Outlaws (signed Doug Williams, 1984 - and who should be NFL HOF!)
San Antonio Gunslingers (signed Rick Neuheisel, 1984)
That was my original play, but because of the ninja I will add (and this also works for the ninja by The Stainless Steel Rat): David Dixon helped to found the USFL, and he also helped to create the New Orleans Saints. On the Saints’ all-time roster there have been only two players named Lawrence**: Lawrence Dawsey, WR, 1991, and Lawrence Estes, DE, 1970-1971.
Roster: http://prod.static.saints.clubs.nfl.com/assets/docs/All-Time%20Roster%20Alpha.pdf
Peter O’Toole, whose performance in the title role of Lawrence of Arabia earned him the first of eight Academy award nomination, was far from director David Lean’s first choice for the role.
Albert Finney, a virtual unknown at the time, was Lean’s initial choice to play Lawrence. Finney was not sure that the film would be a success, however, and turned it down. Marlon Brando was also offered the part, and Anthony Perkins, Montgomery Clift and Alec Guinness were considered, before O’Toole was cast.
According to a 2014 huffingtonpost.com article, contrary to the rumors during filming for Apocalypse Now, Marlon Brando (1924-2004) did not weigh 300 pounds at its filming. Brando was overweight, at 210lbs he was overweight by 30lbs, but he was far from the claimed 300lbs.
The article claims Spielburg, over his head with the complexities of a late and over-budget movie, blamed Brando.
Apache (pronounced “a-POSH”) is a street dance that originated in Paris in the 1920s, reenacting a violent confrontation between a pimp and a prostitute. It includes mock slaps and punches, the man picking up and throwing the woman to the ground, or lifting and carrying her while she struggles or feigns unconsciousness.
Pasta Puttanesca, an Italian pasta sauce made with tomatoes, garlic, olives, capers, anchovies and red pepper flake, literally translates as “pasta in the style of prostitutes”.
In Roman times, anchovies were a popular food. They formed the base for the fermented fish sauce garum, which had a long shelf life making it suitable for long-distance commerce, and was produced in industrial quantities. Anchovies were also eaten raw as an aphrodisiac.
Curses, ninja’d again…
Pemmican was a food produced by the Canadian Métis of Red River, with dried meat, berries and buffalo fat. Because it was well-preserved, it was used as a supply for traders in the long-distance fur trade.
The meat of one buffalo generally makes 90 lbs of pemmican. The word, pemmican, comes from the Cree words that are derived from the words fat and grease.
Buffalo, New York, gets its name from Buffalo Creek, which was first named when the American Bison still roamed western New York. Houston, Texas, also grew from the original settlements along Buffalo Bayou, but unlike New York, the bison’s range did not quite extend as far as present-day Houston, as the animal avoided the coastal plain…
"REMEMBER GOLIAD!!" was a Texas cry during the Texas revolution of 1836 about the Goliad Massacre, where Lieutenant Colonel José Nicolás de la Portilla executed over 400 Texas prisoners of war. Together with "REMEMBER THE ALAMO!!", these cries were yelled during the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive battle in which Mexican forces under General Santa Anna were defeated by the Texian army led by General Sam Houston. The battle lasted 18 minutes.
During the 1847 Battle of Cerro Gordo in the Mexican-American War, the 4th Illinois Infantry surprised General Santa Anna, who fled without something quite important—his prosthetic cork and wooden leg. The Illinois soldiers seized the leg as a trophy piece that they brought back to their home state, where it toured at country fairs before falling into the possession of the Illinois State Military Museum. The Mexican government’s repeated requests to repatriate Santa Anna’s fake limb have been denied.
A “prosthetic cork” is not to be confused with a “proctoscopic cork”, which would have a totally different function.
Portugal accounts for around 50% of the world cork harvest. Cork as a wine bottle stopper is a renewable resource. Only the bark is harvested from the cork oak tree, or quercus suber, to make the stoppers. Harvesting this bark does not harm the tree. The tree forms a thick, rugged bark containing high levels of suberin, a waterproofing, waxy substance and a main constituent of cork. Over time the cork cambium layer of bark can develop considerable thickness and can be harvested every 9 to 12 years to produce cork.
A bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore-and-aft. The USCGC Eagle, used by the United States Coast Guard since World War II as a training vessel, is rigged as a bark.