April 1, 1923: Harold Lloyd's "Safety Last!" Premieres

April 1, 1923: Safety Last! premieres, starring one of the top comedians of the silent film era, Harold Lloyd.

Harold Clayton Lloyd was born on April 20, 1893 in Burchard, Nebraska, and grew up in San Diego. Moving to Los Angeles, he became friends with film producer Hal Roach, and created Lonesome Luke, a character patterned after Charlie Chaplin's "Little Tramp." In 1917, he replaced this character with, as he put it, "an everyday young man in street clothes who faced comic situations with resourcefulness." The look, complete with glasses, is said to have inspired artist Joe Shuster to create the appearance of Clark Kent, alter ego of Superman.

But, unlike Superman, he was not invulnerable. On August 24, 1919, while posing for some promotional still photographs in the Los Angeles Witzel Photography Studio, he picked up what he thought was a prop bomb and lit it with a cigarette. It exploded and mangled his right hand, causing him to lose a thumb and forefinger. He would wear a prosthesis for all future film roles, and most of his fans never knew.

In Safety Last! Lloyd plays a fictionalized Harold Lloyd, who takes a train into the big city to make his fortune. He gets a job as a sales clerk in a department store, but frequently gets in trouble. He sends his girlfriend (never named, played by Mildred Davis, his regular co-star, whom he had just married) gifts from the store, which he can't really afford. She thinks this means he's ready to marry her, and she goes to the city to join him.

Now, he needs money fast. He accepts the challenge of climbing the 12-story Bolton Building for $500 -- about $8,600 in 2022 money. He does it, despite several setbacks, including hanging off a clock -- including with 2 prosthetic fingers. This became the defining image of Lloyd's film career, producing several homages, including Christopher Lloyd at the Hill Valley Courthouse clock tower in Back to the Future.

Standing in for the Bolton Building was The International Savings & Exchange Bank Building, at 223-229 North Spring Street in Los Angeles. In 1928, City Hall was built across from it, at 200 North Spring. The International Savings Building was torn down in 1954, and Grand Park is now on the site.

Mildred Davis made only one movie after they got married. They had a daughter, Gloria; a son, Harold Lloyd Jr. who also became an actor; and adopted a daughter they named Peggy.

Harold Sr. had a few successful movies after the switch to talking pictures, but as the Great Depression got deeper, his happy-go-lucky character was seen as a relic of the now-gone Roaring Twenties. He had some success in radio and television, and the 1960s' nostalgia for the silent film era led to him making some money and gaining some acclaim on re-releases. Mildred died in 1969, Harold in 1971. Harold Jr., having never recovered from a stroke in 1965, died just 3 months after his father.

*

April 1, 1923 was a Sunday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. Professional basketball barely existed. And the hockey season ended the day before, when the Ottawa Senators, Champions of the National Hockey League, beat the Edmonton Eskimos, Champions of the West Coast Hockey League, 1-0 at the Denman Arena in Vancouver, to win a two-games-total-goals series for the Stanley Cup.

April 1, 1914: The Death of Rube Waddell

April 1, 1914: Rube Waddell dies. It was a tragedy. But it was not really a surprise. Indeed, it was appropriate that it occurred on April Fool's Day.

It's hard to describe him, as he was one of a kind. That's probably a good thing.

George Edward Waddell was born on October 13, 1876 in Bradford, Pennsylvania. At the age of 3, he wandered over to a local fire station, and stayed there for several days. He did not attend school very often. He was lefthanded, and strengthened his arm as a child by throwing rocks at birds he encountered while working on his family's land. He also worked on mining and drilling sites as a youngster, which helped his conditioning.

He reached the major leagues in 1897, with the Louisville Colonels. That team was absorbed by the Pittsburgh Pirates, the closest major league team to his home, in 1900, but they couldn't handle his shenanigans, and released him in 1901. The Chicago Cubs quickly signed him, and nearly as quickly released him.

But, on the mound, he was a genius. He pitched 6 seasons for the Philadelphia Athletics, 1902 to 1907, and led both Leagues in strikeouts all 6 times. In 1904, he struck out 349 batters, a major league record until Sandy Koufax got 382 in 1965, and an American League record until Nolan Ryan got 383 in 1973. (For many years, it was recorded as 343, making Bob Feller's 348 in 1946 the presumed record.) The A's won the Pennant in 1902, and again in 1905, a season in which he led the AL in wins, ERA and strikeouts, a feat now considered the Triple Crown of pitching.

He had the best fastball in the game, and Christy Mathewson of the New York Giants, then the best pitcher in the National League, who faced him in the 1905 World Series, said he "had the fastest and deepest curve I've ever seen."

But something was wrong. Early in his career, he left the pitcher's mound in midgame, to go fishing. He had a longstanding fascination with fire trucks, and had run off the field to chase after them during games. He performed as an alligator wrestler in the offseason. He was easily distracted by opposing fans who held up puppies and shiny objects, which seemed to put him in a trance on the mound.

An alcoholic for much of his short adult life, Waddell reportedly spent his entire first signing bonus on a drinking binge. The Sporting News called him "the sousepaw." His eccentric behavior led to constant battles with his managers and scuffles with bad-tempered teammates.

To save money when traveling, teams used to have players not only room together in hotels, but share the same bed. (There is no record of any pair of roommates ever having a gay affair. If it ever happened, it's been kept quiet all this time.) Ossee Schreckengost was the usual catcher for the A's in this period. In one off-season, he went to Connie Mack, the team's manager, treasurer, and part-owner, and said he wouldn't sign his contract for the next season unless Rube's contract included a clause prohibiting him from eating crackers in bed. As any Sesame Street fan can tell you, this interfered with Ossee's sleeping.

Explanations for all this have ranged from retardation to autism, to his having, as one more recent reviewer of his work put it, the worst case of attention-deficit disorder he'd ever known.

By 1908, even the kindly and pitching-concerned Mack could no longer ignore his players' inability to handle Rube's eccentricities, and he sold Rube to the St. Louis Browns for $5,000. That season, Rube struck out 16 batters in a game, an AL record until Feller fanned 17 in a 1936 game. But his drinking got worse, and he last pitched in the major leagues in 1910, finishing 193-146, with 2,316 strikeouts. At the time, this was more than any pitcher except Cy Young.

He did win 20 for the American Association's Minneapolis Millers in 1911. For most pitchers, that would be enough to get another chance in the majors. But Rube was 35, unpredictable, too often drunk, and no longer as healthy as he had been.

In Spring Training in 1912, and again in 1913, Rube was with a team in the Ohio River town of Hickman, Kentucky, when it was stricken by floods. His love of fire departments finally coming in handy, he was reported as saving some lives on both occasions. But he was also reported as having caught pneumonia both times.

This, combined with his drinking, led to him being diagnosed with tuberculosis. He went to live with his sister in the relatively dry city of San Antonio, Texas. But he couldn't recover, and he was placed in a sanitarium in nearby Elmendorf. He died there on April 1, 1914, only 37 years old.

More than half a century later, Casey Stengel, who'd batted against him, used him and Walter Johnson as the templates for comparison with Koufax: "You can forget about Feller. You can forget Waddell. The Jewish kid is the greatest of them all." That Casey was willing to remind people of how great Rube was, so long after he was gone, says something. So does the fact that he was willing to compare Rube to Johnson, Feller and Koufax. Rube Waddell was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.

*

April 1, 1914 was a Wednesday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. Professional basketball barely existed. And the hockey season had ended 13 days earlier, when the Toronto Blueshirts, Champions of the National Hockey Association, beat the Victoria Aristocrats, Champions of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, for the Stanley Cup. So there were no scores on this historic day.

In spite of their eponymous clothing, the Blueshirts are not the same team as the Toronto Maple Leafs.

March 31, 2007: Niall Quinn's Taxi Cabs

Quinn, suited up for the Republic of Ireland's game with Portugal,

Lisbon, October 7, 2000. The game ended in a 1-1 draw.

This was also the day Germany beat England

in the last event at the 1923 version of Wembley Stadium.

March 31, 2007: Fans of English soccer team Sunderland Association Football Club are stranded, about as far from home as you can get and still be in England. The team's owner gets them home on his own dime. Or, should I say, his own tuppence.

Niall John Quinn was born in 1966 in what is now administered as South Dublin, Ireland. He was a forward, and, with his height and skill, was thought of as the next chapter in the "Irish Connection," a successor to several players from Dublin, and also from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who had helped North London team Arsenal win the 1979 FA Cup. He played on Arsenal’s 1987 League Cup-winning team. But he wasn't ready, and when Alan Smith was brought in from Leicester City shortly thereafter, he became an afterthought, a reserve on their 1989 League Championship team.

In 1990, he was sold to Manchester City, where he became a star, and even performed admirably in an emergency stint as their goalkeeper. One of his new teammates was Steve McMahon, who had been on the other side when Arsenal beat Liverpool in the season finale that decided that 1989 League title. McMahon looked like a fool that night, signaling to his teammates that there would be just 1 minute of injury time, when there turned out to be 2, with Michael Thomas scoring the winning goal in said 92nd minute. But Quinn didn't play in that game. Nor were they national teammates: Despite his Irish heritage, McMahon was born and raised in England, and played 17 times for England, including in the 1990 World Cup.

Quinn has described Man City, then managed by former Everton star Peter Reid, as having a "happy-go-lucky atmosphere," into which McMahon never fit. On their 1992 preseason tour in Italy, they got into an altercation. Afterward, Quinn headed for a dance club, and was denied entry, due to the blood on his shirt. So he took it off, and was let in, wearing nothing but a pair of cutoff jeans and sneakers. A Man City fan who had followed the team to Italy saw Quinn, and he sang, to the tune of "The Stars and Stripes Forever":

Niall Quinn's disco pants are the best!

They go up from his arse to his chest!

They are better than Adam and the Ants!

Niall Quinn's disco pants!

Quinn woke up the next morning with a hangover, remembering nothing, and still wearing those cutoffs and those sneakers. He cleaned up, got dressed, and went down to the hotel restaurant, where his teammates were eating breakfast. So was the fan, who had booked the same hotel. Upon seeing Quinn, he belted out the song again. Suddenly, it all came back to him.

Quinn, who called it "the song that will follow me to the end of my career," admits that he no longer has those pants. However, they can't possibly fail to be better than Adam and the Ants. They sucked.

Quinn finished his playing career for Sunderland A.F.C., in the North-East of England, saying, "I learned my trade at Arsenal, became a footballer at Manchester City, but Sunderland got under my skin. I love Sunderland." The song followed him, and, in 1999, a Sunderland-based rock band named Love Supreme recorded a full-length song around the chant, and it reached Number 56 on the British music charts.

Quinn playing for Sunderland in 1999,

wearing regular shorts, not "disco pants."

Quinn retired after playing for the Republic of Ireland national team at the 2002 World Cup, having previously played in the 1990 edition (but not '94, despite Ireland's qualification for it). He played 92 games for them, scoring 21 goals, a national record, and still 2nd behind Robbie Keane with 68. He then went into management, eventually buying a part-ownership of the Sunderland team, known as the Black Cats for the black lions on their club crest, and being made its chairman.

They badly needed a new direction. In the 2002-03 season, they finished dead last in the Premier League. Out of 38 games, they only won 4 and drew 7, for a total of 19 points, and were relegated to the 2nd division of English football, then named "Division 1."

After 2 seasons, which included the renaming of that division as "The Championship," they gained promotion back to the Premier League for 2005-06. But it was a disaster: They won only 3, and drew 6, for 15 points, a new record for the fewest points in a top-flight season since a win was made 3 points in 1982. (That record has been broken by the 2007-08 Derby County team, which only had 11.)

On July 25, 2006, Sunderland owner Bob Murray, who couldn't afford to keep the team, sold the team to a consortium led by Quinn. That consortium spent enough money on good players to suggest they could win promotion back to the Premier League, and hired recently retired Manchester United captain Roy Keane, Quinn's former teammate on the ROI national team, as manager. They got off to a great start in the 2006-07 season.

Outside Sunderland's home, the Stadium of Light

On March 31, 2007, Sunderland, then in English football's 2nd division, were playing away at Cardiff City, along with Swansea City one of two teams from Wales in the 92-team English Football League. Sunderland won, 1-0, at Ninian Park, with substitute Ross Wallace scoring in the 72nd minute.

For a reason that I haven't been able to determine, the Sunderland players and fans weren't going to fly home out of Cardiff's airport. They had to go 50 miles to the east, getting across the Severn Bridge, over the River Severn, which separated Wales from the West Country of England, to the airport in Bristol, still 300 miles from Sunderland in the North-East.

The players flew out of Bristol to Sunderland, no problem. But Quinn decided to fly back with the fans on an airline called EasyJet. Recognized by some of them, after they'd already had the chance to have a few drinks that night, they started singing "Niall Quinn's Disco Pants." At the top of their lungs.

A few of the other passengers complained, and the pilot had 80 people thrown off the plane. An EasyJet employee told them they could have seats on the first plane out the next morning, at no extra charge -- but the airline wouldn't give them a place to spend the night. They were really in a bind.

Quinn pulled out the club checkbook -- since it's Britain, I should say "chequebook" -- and hired taxis. He paid £8,000, about $15,000 at the time (about $21,000 in 2022 money), to take them up Britain's M5 Motorway, from Bristol in the South-West to Sunderland in the North-East. Again, that's about 300 miles. To put that in perspective, it's roughly the distance from New York to Portland, Maine. Or from New York to Fredericksburg, Virginia.

In 2007, £8,000 would have been chump change for a big club like Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester United (or, now, Manchester City). But for Sunderland, a team trying to get back into the Premier League, it was a pretty penny.

People from Sunderland are called "Mackems," a holdover from the city's past as a shipyard: "We make them, and you take them" becomes, in their accent, "We mack 'em an' you tack 'em." The Mackems have never forgotten Quinn's act of generosity, and one of them adapted the "Disco Pants" song, including taking a pot-shot at Freddy Shepherd, then owner of their arch-rivals, Newcastle United F.C., a.k.a. the Magpies or Mags for their black and white shirts:

Niall Quinn’s taxi cabs are the best!

So go shove it up your arse, EasyJet!

Fat Freddy wouldn’t do it for the Mags!

Niall Quinn’s taxi cabs!

When Shepherd sold NUFC to Mike Ashley, "Fat Freddy" was replaced with "Fat Ashley."

That win in Cardiff turned out to be the 14th game in a 17-game unbeaten run for the Black Cats, as they finished 1st in the Championship, earning promotion to the Premier League, where they stayed for the next 10 seasons.

Quinn sold his stake in the team in 2011, although he has remained a fan of theirs. He has returned to color commentary on soccer games -- or, should I say, "colour commentary on football matches."

Sunderland developed a reputation as a team that played dirty, especially against Arsenal, the North London team I support. I don't like Sunderland, but, using the U.K. vernacular, Niall Quinn is a top man.

*

March 31, 2007 was a Saturday. Elsewhere in British soccer, Liverpool beat Arsenal, 4-1 at Anfield in Liverpool. Peter Crouch scored 3 goals.

Baseball was in Spring Training. American-style football was out of season. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, 103-94 in overtime at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City. This was the 2nd and last season of the Hornets' temporary part-time relocation to Oklahoma City, necessarily contractually even though the New Orleans arena now known as the Smoothie King Center had been fully restored. That season, the Hornets played 6 games in New Orleans, and their remaining 35 "home games" at the Ford Center, which is now named the Paycom Center.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 86-82 at the Continental Airlines Arena in the Meadowlands.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Chicago Bulls, 112-108 in overtime at the United Center in Chicago. LeBron James scored 39 points.

* And the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 99-86 at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.

And there were 10 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-4 at the Wachovia Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Ottawa Senators, 5-2 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Buffalo Sabres, 4-3 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

* The Atlanta Thrashers beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2 at the TD Banknorth Garden (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Washington Capitals, 5-2 at the St. Pete Times Forum (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* The Dallas Stars beat the Nashville Predators, 4-2 at the Gaylord International Center (now the Bridgestone Arena) in Nashville.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-4 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Anaheim Ducks beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-2 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Andy McDonald scored the winning goal, only 25 seconds into overtime.

* The Colorado Avalanche beat the Minnesota Wild, 2-1 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

* And the Calgary Flames beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.

March 31, 2001: The Death of David Rocastle

March 31, 2001: David Rocastle dies of lymphoma. He was just 33 years old, and was one of the best English soccer players of his generation.

He was born on May 2, 1967 in Lewisham, South-East London, the son of Caribbean immigrants. He was 5 when his father died of pneumonia, and his mother remarried and had 2 more children. He became an expert schoolboy midfielder, to the point where Terry Murphy, a scout for North London team Arsenal Football Club, told team owner Peter Hill-Wood, "I think I saw a Brazilian today." Murphy also discovered centrebacks Tony Adams and Martin Keown, and midfielder Michael Thomas.

Rocastle, nicknamed "Rocky," and Thomas joined midfielder Paul Davis and forward Kevin Campbell to give Arsenal one of the earliest groups of talented young black players in England. He made his debut early in the 1985-86 season, and a replay of the 1987 League Cup Semifinal, away to Arsenal's North London arch-rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, he scored the winning goal as regular time ran out, sending them to the Final, where they beat Liverpool.

He gained a penchant for superb dribbling and passing, and scored some wonder goals. He was a key figure in Arsenal winning the Football League Division One title in 1989, with Thomas' goal in the last minute of play against Liverpool clinching it. But a knee injury in 1990 curtailed Rocastle's career. He was able to help Arsenal win the League title again in 1991, but in the 1992 off-season, manager George Graham, sensing that, despite being only 25, the knee injury had ended his effectiveness, sold him to Yorkshire team Leeds United. This proved to be incredibly unpopular among Arsenal fans.

Leeds fans liked him, but injuries limited his appearances, and after 1 season, he was sold to Manchester City. After a difficult season there, he was sold to West London team Chelsea in 1994. He played 4 painful seasons for them, including loan spells with Norfolk team Norwich City and Yorkshire team Hull City, before closing his playing career in 1999, with a season in Malaysia, for Sabah.

He played 14 matches for England, and never lost: 7 wins and 7 draws. But he was never selected for a major tournament: Not Euro 88, not the 1990 World Cup, not Euro 92, not Euro 96. (England did not qualify for the 1994 World Cup.)

He married Janet, and has son Ryan and daughters Melissa and Monique. His brother Stephen played for Norwich City, and a cousin, Craig, went on to play for several teams, including Yorkshire team Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester-area team Oldham Athletic, and U.S. team Sporting Kansas City.

In October 2000 -- shortly before a previous Arsenal Number 7 with similar skills, George Armstrong, then an assistant coach, died at age 56 -- David Rocastle was diagnosed with terminal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He underwent chemotherapy, and announced in February 2001 that he was hopeful of recovery, but he died early in the morning of March 31, 2001.

It was mere hours before Arsenal were scheduled to play Tottenham at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury. Some of his former teammates were still with the club. And there was the worry that the visiting "Spurs" fans, who hate Arsenal much more than Arsenal fans hate their team, might boo during the minute's silence that would be held in his memory before the kickoff. After debating whether to appeal to the Premier League (founded in 1992) to postpone the game, the Arsenal board of directors decided to go forward with it.

The silence was respected by the visiting fans. The game was a bit slow, taking on the character of the muted atmosphere, until Robert Pires found a goal in the 70th minute. Thierry Henry added one in the 87th, and it ended 2-0. As with Yankee Stadium the night after Thurman Munson's funeral in 1979, this may be the only time Arsenal fans left Highbury in tears after an Arsenal win.

Matching his uniform number, Arsenal fans still sing his song during the 7th minute of home games: "Oh, Rocky, Rocky! Rocky, Rocky, Rocky, Rocky Ro-cas-tle!" In 2006, Arsenal named a training facility at their academy after him: The David Rocastle Indoor Centre. Inside, there is a mural of him, and a quote which, while not originating with him, became associated with him: "Remember who you are, what you are, and what you represent."

*

March 31, 2001 was a Saturday. American-style football was out of season. Baseball was in Spring Training. There were 5 games in the NBA:

* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Denver Nuggets, 99-88 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the San Antonio Spurs, 86-77 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

* The Miami Heat beat the Chicago Bulls, 97-90 at the United Center in Chicago.

* And the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 104-97 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Washington Wizards, 96-86 at the MCI Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

And there were 9 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the New Jersey Devils 4-3 at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Boston Bruins, 4-2 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Montreal Canadiens beat their arch-rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1 at the Molson Centre (now the Bell Centre) in Montreal.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Detroit Red Wings, 1-0 at the First Union Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-3 at the Mellon Arena (as the Civic Arena was then known) in Pittsburgh.

* The Nashville Predators beat the Minnesota Wild, 4-1 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center (now the Bridgestone Arena) in Nashville.

* The Phoenix Coyotes beat the San Jose Sharks, 3-1 at the America West Arena (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.

* The Dallas Stars beat the Calgary Flames, 2-0 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Colorado Avalanche, 4-0 at the Staples Center.

March 31, 2000: “High Fidelity” Premieres

John Cusack (left) and Jack Black

March 31, 2000: The film High Fidelity premieres, based on the novel by Nick Hornby. Previously the author of Fever Pitch, Hornby showed that he could be as obsessive about music as he could about soccer.

The film moves the action from Hornby's London to Chicago, hometown of the lead actor, John Cusack. He plays Rob Gordon, the manager of a record store, at a time when compact discs had pretty much replaced records, and downloads and YouTube were on their way.

Rob and his employees, Barry (Jack Black) and Dick (Todd Louiso) like to make Top 5 lists of various things, mostly kinds of songs. Having just been dumped by Laura, his live-in girlfriend of 2 years (Danish actress Iben Hjejle), Rob makes a list of his 5 most memorable breakups. In order to make sense of his romantic failures, he decides to look the 5 up.

Number 1 is Allison, who is not shown, and this is resolved quickly, to the point where he decides things worked out for the best, at least for her. Number is Penny Hardwick (Joelle Carter), and he realizes that the breakup was due to his youthful insecurity.

Number 3 is Charlie Nicholson (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who dumped him for someone as attractive as she is. Seeing her with clear eyes now, he sees that she was a rotten person and not worth it. (Author's Note: I have had a thing for CZJ since seeing her in the 1996 NBC version of Titanic, and you'll never convince me that anyone is as attractive as she was.) Number 4 was Sarah Kendrew (Lili Taylor), who turns out to be mentally ill and a sabotager of all her relationships. So Rob gains closure on these.

Number 5 is Laura, and Rob realizes that he never fully committed to her: This one is his fault, and he can't blame it on being young and insecure. Her father dies, he attends the funeral to comfort her, and she takes him back.

Lisa Bonet plays Marie, a famous singer. In 2020, High Fidelity was remade for Hulu, as a limited series of 10 episodes, with the lead character played by Bonet's daughter, Zoë Kravitz, and the action moved to Brooklyn, where Bonet once played Denise Huxtable on The Cosby Show, and where Kravitz now lives.

*

March 31, 2000 was a Friday. Except for 2 games between the New York Mets and the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo, baseball season started 3 days later. Football was out of season. There were 9 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Vancouver Grizzlies, 89-83 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Orlando Magic, 103-97 at the Orlando Arena.

* The Washington Wizards beat the Boston Celtics, 104-102 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston. Mitch Richmond scored 30 points for the Wiz.

* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Toronto Raptors, 110-101 in overtime at the Charlotte Coliseum. Eddie Jones scored 32 for the Hornets.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Detroit Pistons, 98-97 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 109-85 at the Conseco Fieldhouse (now the Gainbridge Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis.

* The Utah Stars beat the Golden State Warriors, 114-97 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 100-88 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. Shaquille O'Neal led all scorers on the night with 37.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Sacramento Kings, 123-108 at the KeyArena. Gary Payton scored 35.

And there were 5 games in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Atlanta Thrashers, 6-0 at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands. The thrasher is a bird native to Georgia, but it was the Devils, on their way to winning the Stanley Cup, who did the thrashing on this night. Their goals came from 6 different players: Colin White, Scott Gomez, John Madden, Petr Sýkora, Sergei Brylin and Scott Stevens.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Ottawa Senators, 3-1 at the National Car Rental Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Nashville Predators beat the Vancouver Canucks, 2-1 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center (now the Bridgestone Arena) in Nashville.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-1 at the HSBC Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.

* And the Phoenix Coyotes beat the Calgary Flames, 3-1 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

March 31, 1999: "The Matrix" Premieres

Carrie-Anne Moss (left) and Keanu Reeves

March 31, 1999: The Matrix premieres, turning Keanu Reeves from "the guy from Speed," or "Ted from Bill & Ted," into an all-time legend.

The film was directed by The Wachowskis, who then presented as brothers named Larry and Andy. In 2008, Larry made her first public appearance as Lana, making her the 1st major film director to come out as transgender. In 2016, Andy made her first public appearance as Lilly.

The Matrix depicts a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside the Matrix, a simulated reality created by intelligent machines. The plot follows the computer hacker Thomas Anderson (Reeves), who is recruited by rebellion leader Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) into a rebellion against the machines, due to the belief that Anderson is "The One," known as Neo (an anagram of "One").

Carrie-Anne Moss, who played Trinity, another rebellion leader and eventually Neo's girlfriend, once said that she's the first celebrity who gets more recognized when she wears sunglasses than when she doesn't.

The original film was expanded into a trilogy, with The Matrix Reloaded and then The Matrix Revolutions released in 2003. As with the Godfather films, the fans of the 1st film ended up liking the 2nd but hating the 3rd. In 2021, Lana Wachowski made The Matrix Resurrections, without Lilly. Reeves and Moss returned, but Fishburne chose not to, and was replaced as Morpheus by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.

By the way, for all you "Real Men" and "Alpha Males" out there: There is no red pill, and you always end up shocked when you see what the actual truth is.

*

On the same day as The Matrix, 10 Things I Hate About You premiered, directed by Gil Junger. It's William Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew set in a high school in the suburbs of Seattle.

Julia Stiles plays Katarina (Katherina), Heath Ledger plays Patrick (Petruchio), and Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Cameron (Hortensio).

*

March 31, 1999 was a Friday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 5 games in the NBA:

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Boston Celtics, 87-72 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Washington Wizards beat the Orlando Magic, 84-73 at the MCI Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Charlotte Hornets, 102-94 at the Charlotte Coliseum.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Golden State Warriors, 93-78 at the America West Arena (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Sacramento Kings, 100-86 at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.

And there were 7 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat the Florida Panthers, 5-3 at the National Car Rental Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 7-1 at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Los Angeles Kings, 2-1 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Buffalo Sabres, 2-1 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Dallas Stars beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 6-4 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Colorado Avalanche beat the San Jose Sharks, 3-2 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center).

* And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Vancouver Canucks, 6-5 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.

March 31, 1998: Major League Baseball Comes to Arizona and Tampa Bay

March 31, 1998: Major League Baseball's 2 newest expansion franchises, both based in places that had been used to Spring Training, but not the regular season, make their regular-season debuts. Neither wins.

Just as Florida had been home to many teams' Spring Training, known as the "Grapefruit League," Arizona, in particular Phoenix and environs, had been the "Cactus League." The Phoenix Giants, later renamed the Phoenix Firebirds, were the top farm team of the San Francisco Giants, and won Pacific Coast League Pennants in 1959 and 1977. Phoenix got an NBA team in 1968, and an NFL team in 1988. In 1995, MLB awarded Phoenix an expansion team for the 1998 season.

At Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) in Phoenix, the Arizona Diamondbacks lose to the Colorado Rockies 9-2. Andy Benes is their 1st pitcher, and he lasts into the 7th inning. Their 1st batter is Devon White, and he strikes out. Mike Lansing of the Rockies has the stadium's 1st hit, Travis Lee the Diamondbacks' 1st hit. Vinny Castilla hits the stadium's 1st home run (and later hits another), and Lee the Diamondbacks' 1st homer.

Chase Field

The D-backs actually made the Playoffs in only their 2nd season, and won the World Series in their 4th. But we don't talk about that around here.

*

The Tampa Bay region had been trying to get a major league team for 30 years. They came within inches of having the Chicago White Sox move there for the 1989 season, and also of having the San Francisco Giants move there for the 1993 season.

Had the Seattle Mariners not won the American League Division Series in 1995, the ballot initiative to build what is now named T-Mobile Park would not have passed, and it's likely that the Mariners would have been bought by the owners of the expansion franchise granted to Vince Naimoli and his group, leaving the expansion franchise to be moved elsewhere.

But Naimoli's group got the franchise in 1995, and, on March 31, 1998, the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays played their 1st game. They lost to the Detroit Tigers, 11-6 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

With the Rays having no team legends, Hall-of-Famers Ted Williams (who lived in nearby Hernando) and Stan Musial (who trained in St. Petersburg with the St. Louis Cardinals) threw out the ceremonial first balls.

Wilson Alvarez is their 1st pitcher, and he gets knocked out of the box in the 3rd inning. Their 1st batter is Quinton McCracken, and he grounds out. Tony Clark of the Tigers has the stadium's 1st hit, Dave Martinez the Devil Rays' 1st hit. Luis Gonzalez hits the stadium's 1st home run, Wade Boggs the Devil Rays' 1st homer. The Devil Rays score 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th, but it's not enough.

It it would be 10 years before the team simplified their name as "the Tampa Bay Rays." That year, 2008, was the 1st time they got into a Pennant race, and they won the American League Pennant.

*

March 31, 1998 was a Tuesday. These other games were played that Opening Day in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 1-0 at Shea Stadium. Alberto Castillo singled Brian McRae home with the winning run in the bottom of the 14th inning, making a winning pitcher out of Turk Wendell in relief of Bobby Jones. In 14 innings, 6 Met pitchers had allowed 9 hits and 6 walks, but no runs. Curt Schilling started for the Phils, and pitched 8 innings of 2-hit shutout ball, but it wasn't enough.

* The Atlanta Braves, formerly of Milwaukee, beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 2-1 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. This was the Brewers' 1st regular-season game in the National League, after having been in the American League from 1970 (plus 1969, as the Seattle Pilots) until 1997.

Greg Maddux and Cal Eldred started. In the bottom of the 9th, with Javy López up, Keith Lockhart tried to steal 2nd base, and Brewer catcher Mike Matheny threw the ball away, allowing Gerald Williams, who had been on 3rd base, to score the winning run.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Chicago Cubs, 11-6 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 10-2 at Cinergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium) in Cincinnati. Tony Gwynn and Wally Joyner hit home runs for the Padres.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-0 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. How many Cardinal pitchers does it take to pitch a 3-hit shutout? This time, 4: Todd Stottlemyre went 7 innings, Lance Painter pitched to 1 batter in the 8th and got him out, John Frascatore finished the inning, and Brad Looper struck out the side in the 9th.

Mark McGwire went 2-for-4 with 4 RBIs, including a home run, the 1st of 70 he would hit that season, thanks to steroids.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 9-4 at the Astrodome in Houston. Astro reliever C.J. Nitkowski melted down in the top of the 13th inning, and before José Cabrera could stop the bleeding, the Giants had scored 5 runs. Barry Bonds went 2-for-6 with a walk.

* The Montreal Expos and the Pittsburgh Pirates opened the next day, at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. The Pirates won, 4-0. Francisco Cordóva pitched 7 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, Marc Wilkins pitched a perfect 8th, and Rich Loiselle finished the 5-hit shutout.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-1 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Tim Belcher, outpitched Mike Mussina. Cal Ripken went 0-for-3.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 9-2 at The Ballpark in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* And the Cleveland Indians beat the Seattle Mariners, 10-9 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Sandy Alomar Jr. went 3-for-5 with the Tribe's only home run. The M's got homers from Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martínez, Jay Buhner and Russ Davis. Alex Rodriguez went 0-for-5 with 3 strikeouts.

Football was out of season. There were 12 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the San Antonio Spurs, 95-78 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 105-90 at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 101-93 at the Charlotte Coliseum.

* The Miami Heat beat the Boston Celtics, 121-95 at the Miami Arena.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Houston Rockets, 97-86 at the Toyota Center in Houston.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Toronto Raptors, 114-105 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Orlando Magic, 93-86 at the Gund Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 128-106 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Detroit Pistons, 106-101 at the United Center in Chicago. Grant Hill scored 37 points in defeat. For the Bulls, Scottie Pippen scored 27, and Michael Jordan 26.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Golden State Warriors, 94-89 in overtime at The Arena in Oakland (as the Oakland Coliseum Arena was then known).

* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Utah Jazz, 88-86 at the KeyArena in Seattle.

* And the Dallas Mavericks beat the Vancouver Grizzlies, 104-101 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.

And there were 3 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders lost to the Washington Capitals, 5-2 at the MCI Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-2 at the CoreStates Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* And the Montreal Canadiens and the Carolina Hurricanes played to a tie, 3-3 at the Greensboro Coliseum (now the First Horizon Coliseum).

March 31, 1995: The Death of Selena

Sign that you're old: You hear "Selena," and you think "Quintanilla" before you think "Gomez"; "Demi," and you think "Moore" before you think "Lovato"; and "Kylie," and you think "Minogue" before you think "Jenner."

March 31, 1995: Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, the biggest star of "Tejano" music, is killed in her hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas -- by the president of her fan club. She was not quite 24 years old, and had just released her first all-English album.

Like most Anglophone Americans, I never knew Selena was alive, until I knew she was dead. This would later be true of singer and plane crash victim Jenni Rivera -- although, having lived on the edge of a Mexican neighborhood in New Brunswick for a time, I had considerably less excuse for not knowing about her.

But People magazine reported that, for the first time in their 21-year history, an entire press run of an issue sold out: The one with the Selena murder cover story. The story singlehandedly convinced People and Newsweek to begin publishing Spanish editions, and led to the founding of Latina magazine.

Europeans from Germany), Poland, and Czechia migrated to Texas and Mexico, bringing with them their style of music and dance. They brought with them the accordion, and the polka form of dance. This influenced the Tejanos, people who settled in Texas while it was still under Spanish, then Mexican, and finally American control.

Central to the evolution of early Tejano music was the blend of polka music with traditional Mexican forms such as the corrido and mariachi. n particular, the accordion was adopted by Tejano folk musicians at the turn of the 20th century, and it became a popular instrument for amateur musicians in Texas and Northern Mexico.

Within her lifetime, Selena had already been credited with taking Tejano music outside its bubble of Texas and introducing it to America at large. Her band, Selena y Los Dinos (Selena and The Guys) was formed in 1981, when she was just 10 years old, by her father, Abraham Quintanilla. It would include her brother, Abraham III, a.k.a. A.B. Quintanilla, on guitar, and also their recording producer; her sister, Suzette, on drums; and her eventual husband, Chris Pérez, on guitar. (They had not yet had any children at the time of Selena's death.)

It wasn't a completely happy rise: Selena's skimpy outfits led to her being called "The Spanish Madonna," even though she was a much better singer than Madonna. But on February 26, 1995, she sold out the Astrodome in Houston, including singing songs from her upcoming English debut, Dreaming of You. It was released on July 18. (The concert was re-created for the 1997 film Selena, with Jennifer Lopez in the title role, singing at the Astrodome.)

Yolanda Saldívar, a former nurse who was the president of Selena's fan club, but had become mentally unhnged, was sentenced to life in prison, and is serving a life sentence at the Mountain View prison in Gatesville, Texas. Oddly, though she committed cold-blooded murder while George W. Bush was Governor -- and Bush was a fan of Selena's -- she was not given the death penalty. She will be eligible for parole for the first time in 2025. Don't count on her leaving prison in anything other than a coffin.

UPDATE: She was denied that first chance. She remains at the Patrick L. O'Daniel Unit, a State prison for women in Gatesville, in central Texas.

*

March 31, 1995 was a Friday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 10 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Dallas Mavericks, 101-90 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 86-85 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Miami Heat, 100-99 at the Boston Garden.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Washington Bullets, 98-88 at the Gund Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Indiana Pacers, 107-92 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 118-102 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Despite the defeat, Glenn Robinson of the Bucks led all scorers on the night with 31 points.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Utah Jazz, 101-98 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 106-96 at the America West Arena (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 121-107 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Sacramento Kings, 120-95 at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington. The Sonics played the 1994-95 season there, while the Seattle Center Coliseum was demolished and rebuilt at the Key Arena.

And there were 6 games in the NHL:

* The Washington Capitals beat the Quebec Nordiques, 6-4 at the USAir Arena (formerly the Capital Centre) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Hartford Whalers, 2-0 at the ThunderDome (now Tropicana Field) in St. Petersburg, Florida.

* In an "Original Six" matchups, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Chicago Blackhawks played to a tie, 3-3 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the San Jose Sharks, 4-1 at the Kiel Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis.

* In "The Battle of Alberta," the Calgary Flames beat the Edmonton Oilers, 6-2 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 6-1 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

March 31, 1989: “Heathers” Premieres

March 31, 1989: The film Heathers premieres. It is called a "black comedy," but its undertones got darker in hindsight.

In 2019, for a 30th Anniversary column, Ben Schwartz wrote that it doesn't hold up well, through little more than divulging the plot:

With archly funny emotional detachment, it depicts the school shootings, date rapes, self-loathing, eating disorders, and petty viciousness that made up high school in the 1980s.

Intelligent, cynical Veronica (Winona Ryder) has sold herself out to a popular but horrible high school clique, the Heathers. She reluctantly helps demean and trash other kids and even regularly assists one Heather (Shannen Doherty) by putting a finger down her throat to help with her bulimia.

Then JD (Christian Slater), a dark, charismatic new kid, shows up at school. He attracts Veronica by pushing back violently on their cruel little bullying world with guns, poison, and, finally, a bomb.

Having been in high school from September 1984 to June 1987, I never saw anyone actually try to kill a fellow student, but I can vouch for some of what this film depicted, and find what I don't know for sure to be true to be completely believable.

"Dear Diary," Veronica Sawyer writes, once the 2nd (and, simultaneously, 3rd) death she and Jason "JD" Dean are involved in not only can't be chalked up as an accident, but is definitely her fault, however goaded into it by JD she might be, and however much the jackass jocks might deserve it: "My teen angst bullshit has a body count!" It's only after JD tells her of his plan to blow up an assembly at their suburban Ohio high school, and have it masked as a mass suicide, calling "a Woodstock for the Eighties," that she finds it within herself to resist and defeat him.

Ten years after the film's release, the Columbine High School massacre in suburban Colorado happened, and no one should have gotten away with doing a movie like this again. And yet, somebody made a Broadway musical out of it. (UPDATE: A friend of my nieces saw it during her senior year, in 2026, and said it was really good.)

In 2018, Paramount Network was set to launch a TV-series reboot, but just before the premiere, the Parkland school shooting happened. Did they do the right thing and cancel the project outright? No, they just postponed the premiere for a while.

Kim Walker, who played Heather Chandler, was then Slater's real-life girlfriend, and was Jennifer Aniston's best friend at LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts in New York, a.k.a. "The Fame School." As it turned out, she did die young, of a brain tumor in 2001. The rest of the main cast is still alive. Shannen Doherty, who played Heather Duke -- asked by Veronica, "Why are you such a megabitch?" answers, "Because I can be" -- starred on Beverly Hills 90210 and Charmed, and is still alive as of March 31, 2022, but has been battling cancer.

Winona Ryder found the adjustment to grownup roles tough, but has now grown into middle-aged roles, including as Joyce Byers on Stranger Things. Christian Slater now does cartoon voices. Jennifer Connelly and Brad Pitt, respectively, auditioned for their roles, but were turned down.

Lisanne Falk (Heather McNamara) hasn't acted since 2002. And Carrie Lynn Abelson (Martha Dunnstock, a.k.a. "Martha Dumptruck") has become a producer, acting only once since 1991.

UPDATE: Shannen Doherty died in 2024, from her long battle with cancer.

*

March 31, 1989 was a Friday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 10 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Golden State Warriors, 134-114 at Madison Square Garden. Mitch Richmond scored 37 points.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 116-99 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Houston Rockets, 109-126 at the Boston Garden.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Miami Heat, 114-93 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. 

* The Washington Bullets beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 107-105 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Indiana Pacers, 105-102 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Chicago Bulls, 109-100 at Chicago Stadium. Michael Jordan scored 37 in defeat.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 122-104 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Tom Chambers scored 34 for the Suns. Terry Cummings scored 36 in defeat for the Bulls.

* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 109-106 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. Ken Norman scored 33 for the Clips.

* And the Detroit Pistons beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 111-108 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were just 2 games in the NHL. The Minnesota North Stars beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. And the Calgary Flames beat the Winnipeg Jets, 4-1 at the Saddledome in Calgary.