Sacco’s Snippets: January 2019

January 2019 | Happy New Year

History has a way of being one of two things; it’s either repeated or learned from and neither will ever meet. Now we are in the throes of what I as a young grade school pupil thought that the years starting with “2000” were unattainable set of years to actually be within and that it was so far in the future we would just never see it.

In the late 60’s there was a song names “2525” which was a warning of what lies ahead in the future and it was scary to a young child at times. Why would anyone want anything different from what we are enjoying right now. What we enjoyed is simple games and played games of contest where you actually had to run, jump, throw and be smart enough to outwit your playmates.

A world where social media was leaning on a fence and chatting with your next door neighbor. Summer nights included games of “Ring-O-Levio” (which last I heard was called “manhunt”) and parents sitting on the front stoop or in lawn chairs enjoying the clear night and actually watching that their kids behaved themselves.

Times have clearly changed, just like any civilization will, and time passes on with or without us.

Now we are in almost the end of the second decade of the 21st century and although most things have changed still a lot have remained the same.

Basketball must be thrown into the hoop to score points, the Hockey puck must be controlled in order to eventually win the game and the Yankees and Mets fans will still argue about, well whatever and wherever they can find fault with each other’s teams.

The year 2019 is here and when I go out to coach a practice I put on my rocket skates and make sure that the Laser puck is dialed down to a colder temperature than the ice. Well, not quite there yet but there’s always hope. Not! The more that things change, the more they actually stay the same.

I still love going to work and I still love working with younger players guiding them to the next step and phase of their Hockey path. So there is something that hasn’t changed for most of my life.

I have been fortunate to be able to do this and work and support some of the finest people in the game at our level. For you see, you cannot just jump to the next step you will have to grow and mature as an athlete or as it’s said, “develop as a player” and grow with the game.

The Earth will continue to spin, the seasons will continue to change and we will come and go along with the ever moving time.

 

Now it’s time for the monthly Snippet or Historical nuggets that can definitely make you smarter or clever depending on the situation. Here we go;

January is the first month of the Julian and Gregorian calendars and the first month to have 31 days.

It is the coldest month of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the second month of winter.

The name January is from the Latin word “Ianuarius” meaning “door”. This was loosely based on the month being the door or the gateway to the year ahead and beginning of what was to follow.

The Birthstone is Garnet (means consistency) and the Birth Flower is Galanthus.

Horoscope signs are Capricorn, until the 19th and Aquarius the 20th to the 31st.

Here in the Northeast one of my all-time favorite constellations is nice and bright and can be seen over Brooklyn early evening is Orion the hunter.

One cannot wonder how Marco Polo followed the “3 sisters” or “Orion’s belt” to return to Italy without a map. Orion is also featured in the movie “Men in Black” where a dying alien tells the agents that his planets galaxy is on Orion’s belt. The belt is actually made up of 3 stars; Alnitak, Alniam and Mintaka which are the brightest 3 in the constellation and visible to the naked eye on a clear night.

The galaxy was actually on the alien’s cat’s collar, but that’s another story for another day.

Here is some history on the days of January and some significant birthdays;

1/1– 1797 Albany replaces NYC as capital of the United States

1863 President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation

Born – 1735 Paul Revere

1752 Betsey Ross

1/2 – 1870 The Brooklyn Bridge opens

1929 The U.S. and Canada agree on plan to preserve Niagara Falls

Born – 1920 Isaac Asimov

1/3 – 1496 Leonardo DaVinci tests a flying machine

1959 Alaska becomes the 49th state

Born – 1892 J.R.R.Tolkien

1926 Sir George Martin

1/4 – 1896 Utah becomes the 45th state

2004 NASA Spirit Rover lands on Mars

Born – 1643 Sir Isaac Newtown

1809 Louis Braille

1/5 – 1920 Babe Ruth sold from the Red Sox to the Yankees

1933 The Golden Gate Bridge begins construction

Born – 1931 Robert Duval

1/6 – 1838 Samuel Morse successfully tests the Telegraph

1912 New Mexico becomes the 47th state

Born – 1412 Joan of Arc

1/7 – 1610 Galileo first observes the moons of Jupiter

1927The Harlem Globe Trotters play their first game

Born – 1800 Millard Fillmore becomes the 13th U.S. President

1964 Nicolas Cage

1/8 – 1730 George Washington gives the first “State of the Union” address

1815 Andrew Jackson defeats Great Britain at the Battle of New Orleans

Born – 1935 Elvis Presley

1942 Steven Hawking

1/9 – 1788 Connecticut becomes an American state

1986 I raised my right hand

Born – 1945 Jimmy Page

1951 Crystal Gayle

1/10 – 1776 Thomas Payne publishes “Common Sense”

1861 The Civil War begins as Florida succeeds from the Union

Born – 1944 Frank Sinatra

1949 George Foreman

1/11 – 1922 First use of Insulin

1935Amelia Earhart first solo woman flight from Hawaii to California

Born – 1757 Alexander Hamilton

1971 Mary J Blige

1/12 – 1966 Batman premieres on T.V.

1991 Persian Gulf War begins

Born – 1944 Joe Frazier

1/13 – 1930 First Mickey Mouse cartoon published

1957 Wham-O invents the Frisbee

Born – 1834 Horatio Alger

1/14 – 1690 The Clarinet is invented

1985 Martina Navratilova wins her 100th tournament

Born – 83 BC Marc Antony

1741 Benedict Arnold the traitor

1/15 – 1891 The Basketball is invented

1967 The first Super Bowl

Born – 1913 Lloyd Bridges

1929 Dr. Martin Luther King

1/16 – 1909 The South Pole is found (guess who the pilot was)

1919 The 18th Amendment ends Prohibition

Born – 1911 Dizzy Dean

1959 Sade (sigh)

1/17 – 1916 The PGA is formed

1917 The U.S. buys the Virgin Islands

Born – 1706 Benjamin Franklin

1931 James Earl Jones

1/18 – 1896First X-Ray machine demonstrated

1911 Eugene Ely becomes the first person to land on a ship with Aircraft

Born – 1782 Daniel Webster

1961 Mark Messier

1/19 – 1955 Scrabble invented

1966 Indira Gandhi elected Prime Minister of India

Birth – 1943 Janis Joplin

1946 Dolly Parton

1/20 – 1885 The Roller Coaster invented

1986 Martin Luther King Day becomes a Federal Holiday

Birth – 1920 Buzz Aldrin

1952 Paul Stanley (the baby never slept because…..)

1/21 – 1888 The AAU founded

1954 The USS Nautilus becomes the first nuclear Submarine

Birth – 1940 Jack Nicklaus

1963 Akeem Olajuwan

1/22 – 1952 BOAC is the first commercial jet carrier in service

1957 Israel withdraws from Sinai Peninsula

Birth – 1561 Sir Francis Bacon

1949 Steve Perry

1/23 – 1973 President Nixon announces the peace accord in Vietnam

1975 The TV show Barney Miller debuts

Birth – 1737 John Hancock

1944 Rutger Hauer

1/24 – 1848 California Gold rush

1922 The Eskimo Pie invented

Birth – 1949 John Belushi

1968 Mary Lou Retton

1/25 – 41 AD Claudius becomes ruler of Roman Empire

1830 Nellie Blye goes around the world in 72 days

Birth – 1759 Robert Burns

1981 Alicea Keys

1/26 – 1837 Michigan becomes a state (first pro Hockey game in the U.P.)

2005 Condoleezza Rice becomes Secretary of State in the U.S.

Birth – 1880 General Douglas MacArthur

1961 Wayne Gretzky

1/27 – 1926 First T.V. broadcast

1973 The Vietnam War ends

Birth – 1756 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

1832 Lewis Carroll

1/28 – 1865 First Locomotive to travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific

1915 The U.S. Coast Guard is created

Birth – 1225 St. Thomas Aquinas

1912 Jackson Pollock

1/29 – 1936 first Baseball Hall of Fame inductions

1959 Disney releases Sleeping Beauty

Birth – 1843 President McKinley

1879 W.C. Fields

1/30 – 1862 The USS Monitor launched

1948 Mohandas Gandhi assassinated

Birth – 1882 President Franklin D. Roosevelt

1931 Gene Hackman

1/31 – 1865 General Robert E. Lee becomes General of the Confederate Army

1958 Explorer becomes the first U.S. Satellite in space

Birth – 1919 Jackie Robinson

1947 Nolan Ryan

Well, do you feel a bit smart than you did before?

History is a valuable knowledge bank on many levels.

Without this and without actually reading History one can never know what worked and what failed in our human existence.

If you would like a free lesson than come over to Floyd Bennett field and walk where the history makers walked and flew before.

The Aviator Sports and Events Center is located on this historical first airport in the state of New York.

Next door to us is the Ryan Visitor Center which was the original terminal and flight tower which ran the airport.

If you are looking for a day of fun, entertainment and/or food, well just start by walking through the doors and all the day, week and month’s activities are distributed at our customer service desk by video screen, printed material and a knowledgeable staff who can answer any questions you may have.

Your first step is walking through the door!

We are located at 3159 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11234. By phone 718-758-7500 or just visit our website www.aviatorsports.com. Bt car take Exit 11S from the Belt Parkway, at the second traffic light make a left into the parking lot.

Before I forget, I promised a shout out to My Brother Tommy!

“Everybody for something and something for everybody”

Happy New Year
John Sacco
AC NY Aviators
USPHL
Premiere

Categories: Featured, News, Hockey

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