Penzance claims to have been the last port of call of the Mayflower before she set off across the Atlantic. She put into Penzance rather than Plymouth to take on water. Plymouth’s water supply was said to be cholera-ridden at the time.
When the Maryland legislature threatened to pass a law allowing the city of Baltimore to seize the NFL’s Colts franchise by eminent domain (to prevent them from moving), the Colts owner and the Indianapolis mayor moved quickly to bring the team to central Indiana before the law could be passed. They loaded the team’s possessions onto several Mayflower Transit trucks, all taking a different path out of the state.
(The eminent domain thing is something that, in this Indianapolis Colts fan’s opinion, Baltimore fans conveniently forget when complaining to this day about how they “got screwed out of their team”.)
Maryland was the first US state to enact workmen’s compensation laws, in 1902.
The Mason-Dixon line was originally intended to mark the boundaries between the Quaker colony of Pennsylvania and the Catholic colony of Maryland.
Rocky Balboa’s opponent in the sixth Rocky film, entitled Rocky Balboa, was Mason “The Line” Dixon, portrayed by real-life boxer Antonio Tarver. Dixon, the world heavyweight champion, is riled when an ESPN computer simulation predicts that Balboa would have defeated Dixon in his prime. Balboa, meanwhile, is inspired to regain his boxing license. Balboa and Dixon fight in an exhibition match in which Balboa goes the distance, bookending the series.
ESPN launched on 07-Sep-1979 under the direction of President and CEO Chet Simmons. Simmons would later become the first commissioner of the USFL.
Flamboyant personal fitness trainer Richard Simmons first came to national prominence through his series of Sweatin’ to the Oldies aerobics videos.
Singer Olivia Newton-John’s song, Let’s Get Physical, became an aerobics video anthem after Newton-John found the song’s provocative lyrics were causing it to be banned in two Utah radio stations.
Led Zeppelin’s ***Physical Graffiti *** album features a cover of Ritchie Valens’ “Ooh, My Head” under the new title “Boogie With Stu.” The Stu in the title was former Rolling Stone Ian Stewart, who played piano on the track.
The stuck-n-the-709’s character Disco Stu on “The Simpsons” was originally introduced as a throwaway punch line to a joke about Homer once trying to write “Disco Stud” in rhinestones on the back of a jacket but running out of room. Stu once married Marge’s sister Selma but had it annulled by the Pope.
Ironically, Disco Stu refused to buy Homer’s jacket. “Disco Stu doesn’t need to advertise.”
When the LA Times ran a photo of a house-shopping Aristotle Onassis inspecting a mansion that had once belonged to Buster Keaton, they couldn’t resist the caption “Aristotle Contemplating the Home of Buster”.
The murderer in Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose was motivated by the desire to prevent anyone from discovering a long lost text by the philosopher Aristotle on the subject of comedy.
In the painting Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer, the philosopher is wearing a jeweled belt given to him by Alexander the Great, whom Aristotle had served as a tutor.
Homer Simpson is named after Matt Groening’s father; Groening also named his son Homer. The surname “Simpson” was chosen just because it sounds generically American.
For the first 22 years of its existence, the Pro Football Hall of Fame inducted no Heisman Trophy winners. In 1985, they inducted two: Roger Staubach and O.J. Simpson.
Roger Ramjet was a series of syndicated TV cartoon sold to children’s shows to run as part of their program. It featured the adventures of Roger (a test pilot) and the American Eagle Squadron, consisting of Yankee, Doodle, Dan, and Dee.
“Roger” is Britspeak for "fornication. As in “I rogered her right good last night.”
The Byrds’ lead singer/guitarist was christened James McGuinn, and went by Jim until his mid-twenties, when he changed his name to Roger, at the suggestion of his spiritual guru.
Odd rumors arose that Roger McGuinn was Jim’s brother, and that he joined the Byrds after Jim had moved to Rio de Janeiro. That inspired the title of McGuinn’s solo album Back From Rio.
The Byrds recorded the song, Turn! Turn! Turn! in 1965. Its lyrics come from the bible, from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes.