75th Anniversary of Lou Gehrig’s ‘Luckiest Man’ Farewell Speech, “Yet Today I Consider Myself the Luckiest Man on the Face of This Earth.”

75 years later and Lou Gehrig’s farewell speech still brings chills and tears … “I may have been given a bad break, but I have an awful lot to live for.”

It was July 4, 1939 as the New York Yankees honored Lou Gehrig between games of a doubleheader with the Washington Senators before a packed house at Yankee Stadium of 61,000.  It was  just two short months after the greatest first baseman in the history of baseball, Lou Gerhig, found out that ne suffered from ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, that had robbed the “Iron Horse” of his physical abilities. Gehrig was almost too choked up and emotional to speak following all the tributes; however, he did and the rest is forever history … “Yet Today I Consider Myself the Luckiest Man on the Face of This Earth.”

When the tributes were finished, the 36-year-old Gehrig nearly walked away. He had prepared remarks, but he wasn’t prepared for his own emotions. Naturally shy to begin with, he stared at the ground and wiped away tears with a handkerchief he kept in his back pocket. As fans shouted, “We want Lou!” Sid Mercer, the sportswriter who served as master of ceremonies, told the crowd that Larrupin’ Lou was too moved to speak.

But then McCarthy put his hand on Gehrig’s back and whispered in his ear, as if he were giving his first baseman some last-minute instructions before taking the field. With that, Gehrig approached the microphones, ran his right hand through his hair, took a deep breath and began to speak without notes:

Lou Gehrig’s Farewell Address:

“Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.

“Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn’t consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I’m lucky. Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I’m lucky.

“When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift – that’s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies – that’s something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter – that’s something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body – it’s a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed – that’s the finest I know.

“So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for.”

- Lou Gehrig

The “Iron Horse” would die two years later.

Lou Gehrig ESPN Sports Century Documentary

Happy Independence Day … July 4, 2014 … Happy Birthday America … Always Remember We Celebrate American Independence, Not Dependence

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!

As we celebrate America’s birthday today, please do not ever forget that independence and freedom are never free. Nor should it ever be taken for granted as out own government attempts to take away those very freedoms on a daily basis. Remember the sacrifice of the bravery of so many who fought against the British crown to create an Independent country and the many since who have fallen to maintain our Independence. It is “We the People’s” job to maintain American independence as stated in the Declaration of Independence, “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” America, that means that government gets its power from the people, not the other way around. NEVER FORGET THAT.  Those words scribed in The Declaration of Independence ring just as powerful today as they did in 1776.

Today we celebrate American independence, remember that as our own government attempts to make “We the People” dependent upon government.

The Declaration of Independence:

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL by Ray Charles

GOD BLESS THE USA – Lee Greenwood

I’m proud to be an American where as least I know I’m free
And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me
And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land God bless the USA

UNITED STATES NATIONAL ANTHEM – Texas Children’s Choir

The Shot Heard Round the World – School House Rock

God Bless America!!!

Daily Commentary – Friday, July 4th, 2014 – Happy 4th of July, Independence Day USA!

• And Happy July 1st, Canada Day to my Canadian Friends. Let’s look at the positive aspects of both countries!

Daily Commentary – Friday, July 4th, 2014 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Daily Commentary – Thursday, July 3, 2014 – Vietnam Vet Finally Gets VA Appointment After Two Years

• Two years after veteran Doug Chase died from brain cancer, he finally got approval to see the local VA doctor

Daily Commentary – Thursday, July 3, 2014 Download

Quinnipiac Poll: Barack Obama Is the Worst American President Since WWII

File this one under, tell me something we do not already know … OBAMA IS THE WORST PRESIDENT!

According to a new Quinnipiac University poll, Americans say that Obama is the worst post-WWII president of them all. It would appear that Barack Obama is not the one that “we’ve been waiting for”, actually far from it. Just think, Obama is already at the bottom of the list and his presidency is not even over, sadly. Look for this poll number to go down even further as the US economy continues to struggle, the Middle East continues in turmoil and the scandals mount.  Ronald Reagan is far and away considered the best president. What does it say when a current sitting US president is considered worse than Richard Nixon, who had to resign and leave office in disgrace because of “Watergate” before he was impeached? Had it not been for a liberal media refusing to dig deeper in to the all too numerous Obama administration scandals like a Woodward and Bernstein, Obama would have a 20% approval rating and been impeached.

Not only do Americans say that Obama is the worst post-WWII president, they also have “buyer’s remorse” as 45% of voters say that America would be better off had Mitt Romney been elected president in 2012, while 38% believe the country would be worse off. This includes independent voters 47 – 33, who wish they could get a Mulligan and have a do-over to elect Romney. Hot Air opines, “If independents have double-digit buyer’s remorse from 2012, that suggests a strong desire to make up for their earlier mistake.”

President Barack Obama is the worst president since World War II, 33 percent of American voters say in a Quinnipiac University National Poll released today. Another 28 percent pick President George W. Bush.

Ronald Reagan is the best president since WWII, 35 percent of voters say, with 18 percent for Bill Clinton, 15 percent for John F. Kennedy and 8 percent for Obama, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. Among Democrats, 34 percent say Clinton is the best president, with 18 percent each for Obama and Kennedy.

Obama has been a better president than George W. Bush, 39 percent of voters say, while 40 percent say he is worse. Men say 43 – 36 percent that Obama is worse than Bush while women say 42 – 38 percent he is better. Obama is worse, Republicans say 79 – 7 percent and independent voters say 41 – 31 percent. Democrats say 78 – 4 percent that he is better.

My list of worst post WWII presidents would be as follows: 1) Barack Obama, 2) Jimmy Carter, 3) Gerald Ford, although not sure if he should even count, 4) Richard Nixon, 5) LBJ  6) Bill Clinton, 7) GWB, 8) GHWB, 9) JFK, 10) Eisenhower. Ronald Reagan and Harry S Truman would not even get a vote to be on this list.

I would actually go one further, Obama may just be the worst president since WWI. Hell, for that fact Obama is the worst president since The Revolutionary War of American Independence.