Posted on 01/03/2009 6:46:53 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
I checked out the alternative paper available at the U.C.S.C. library. This is a sample. It is plenty legible, but I don’t thing the quality of the news is up to our standards. So I will stick to the NYT for the time being. It was interesting to come across an early Herb Caen column though. He started with the Chronicle in July 1938, so he was still a rookie at this point. I was a Chronicle reader for many years and grew to dislike him. He once included a humorous poem my grandmother wrote and sent him in his column. It was about birds eating fermented pyrocanthus and getting drunk. The title was “Crocked Robins.” Grandmother was the classic San Francisco little old lady. She lived in a tiny flat on California Street and would never be caught dead outside without white gloves and a hat.
Wow, I never realized Herb Caen went back that far.
I didn’t either - that’s amazing to see. His style didn’t change much over the next five decades, either.
Yesterday, USC won its second Rose Bowl victory over a team from the Deep South—the first was over Tulane in 1932.
The Trojans open the ‘39 season at the Coliseum on September 30 against Oregon. Fight on! Beat the Ducks!
I was amazed to find out that he was always that bad of a writer. Must have had pictures of the publisher.
Regarding the Cotton Bowl, I attended my one and only Cotton Bowl in 1989 working security, exactly 50 years after that story (and 20 years ago today - how time flies!). A kid asked me if I could help him get Troy Aikman’s autograph, and all I could think of was, “Who the hell is Troy Aikman?”
Herb was a must read when I lived in the Bay Area. Think he sold more papers than anyone else.
But what was his hook? His “dotty” writing seems annoying to me. Mike Royko, he ain’t.
Answer: He's the Bruin quarterback who led UCLA to two consecutive losses against the USC Trojans in 1987 and 1988.
I attended my fifteenth Rose Bowl game two days ago. And no, my first Rose Bowl was not the one in 1939—it was the one in 1974.
My oldest brother went to Michigan and has been to several also. At least every time Michigan played. He graduated in 1974, in fact.
I'll bet he had a happy New Year in 1981, 1988, and 1998, when the Wolverines held sway in the Arroyo Seco.
As a teenager (way too many years ago) I was a paperboy, delivering the rival San Francisco Examiner. In those days I couldn't understand Cain's appeal. Still can't. ;-)
Ooooooops — Caen!
I agree with your thoughts on our standards. :-) I think the NYT from years ago is much more interesting.
I live in Durham, and you can’t see the Blue Ridge Mountains from here, not even on a clear day. :)
The Duke football program was actually respectable this year—not good, but respectable, not the doormat they’ve been for so long. They’re making headway in the Almost Competitive Conference. It’s tough getting people here to care about college football, even with North Carolina doing much better and Duke and NC State resurgent a bit; everybody’s just waiting for basketball season. It’s the opposite of how things are in South Carolina, where it’s football first and everything else second.
}:-)4
I used to correspond with Herb... I treasure the notes he sent me from his old typewriter!
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