June 24, 2014: Luis Suárez: Once, Twice, Three Times a Biter

June 24, 2014: You can't say Luis Suárez sucks. But he does bite.

Before him, there was another Luis Suárez who played for FC Barcelona. Luis Suárez Miramontes, born in Spain in 1935, helped them win Spain's La Liga in 1959 and 1960; then helped Internazionale Milano win Italy's Serie A in 1963, 1965 and 1966; and the 1964 and 1965 European Cup, the tournament now known as the UEFA Champions League; and led Spain to win the European Nations' Cup, the tournament now known as the UEFA Euro, in 1964. (UPDATE: He died in 2023, at the age of 88.)

Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz was born in Uruguay in 1987, and led Nacional to that country's league title in 2006. He went to Europe, and won the Netherlands' Eredivisie with Ajax Amsterdam in 2011. England's Liverpool swooped in, expecting he would lead them to trophies, but, for reasons beyond his control (in spite of his constant diving), they only won the 2012 League Cup while he was there.

He was signed by Barcelona, and from 2014 to 2019, he helped them win 4 La Liga titles and the 2015 UEFA Champions League. He won La Liga again in 2021 with Atlético Madrid, before returning to South America, winning the Uruguayan Primera División with Nacional in 2022. He helped his country reach the Semifinal of the 2010 World Cup, and win the Copa América, South America's continental tournament for national teams, in 2011.

But that's not what he will be known for. He will be known for his cheating. His diving for penalties. His handballs. And for biting his opponents.

That's "opponents." Plural. Luis Suárez has sunk his teeth into not one, not two, but three different opposing players during the course of his professional career. Through the 2021-22 season, he has played 848 career games for club and country, meaning the chances of Suarez biting another player are one in every 282 matches. For context, the odds of getting bitten by a shark are 1 in 3.7 million.

During his time as Ajax captain, Suarez was caught biting PSV Eindhoven midfielder Otman Bakkal's shoulder on November 20, 2010. Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf (The Telegraph) called him "the Cannibal of Ajax," and it was a nickname that stuck through his career.

The referee missed it, but the KNVB, the governing body for Dutch soccer, banned him retroactively for 7 games, and it proved to be his last appearance for the Eredivisie giants (still receiving an Eredivisie winner's medal), before being sold to Liverpool.

On October 15, 2011, Suárez was accused of racial abuse by Patrice Evra, a black defender for Manchester United, during their 1-1 draw with Liverpool. The Football Association's investigation found in Evra's favor, and Suárez was suspended for 8 domestic matches and fined £40,000.

Evra was also a known diver, and, like most Manchester United players, was hated by just about every soccer fan in the world who supported a team other than Man U. Suárez had done the impossible: He made Evra a sympathetic figure.

On April 21, 2013, Suarez struck again, with Branislav Ivanovic his next victim, during a 2-2 draw between Liverpool and West London team Chelsea FC. Again, the incident was missed by the referee and, to add insult to injury, Suarez scored a later equalizer to rescue a point for the Reds. The FA slapped him with a 10-game ban this time, which crucially carried over into the start of the 2013-14 campaign, in which Liverpool went onto lose the Premier League title by 2 points. One loss, or two draws, turned into wins would have made them Champions.

And then, on June 24, 2014, during the World Cup, at Arena das Dunas in Natal, Brazil, he left bite marks on the shoulder of Italy's Giorgio Chiellini. Yet again, the referee missed the incident at the time. Diego Godín scored in the 81st minute, and Uruguay won, 1-0, guaranteeing their advancement out of Group D to the knockout stage, and preventing Italy from advancing.

But FIFA, the governing body for world soccer, stepped in after the game, and suspended Suarez from all football-related activity for 4 months. He was additionally banned for nine international games. Without him, Uruguay were knocked out by Colombia in the Round of 16.

Earlier in the game, there was another call that the officials missed, a handball committed by Suárez. I saw somebody on Twitter combine the two offenses, and call him "Handball Lecter." Now, the fictional cannibal and serial killer Hannibal Lecter might be willing to engage in deception to get what he wants. But for all his sociopathy, Dr. Lecter had class. He would be appalled by Suárez's character and manners -- the only thing against which Lecter would discriminate, as opposed to Suárez's unrepentant racism.

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June 24, 2014 was a Tuesday. Other games played in the World Cup that day:

* England and Costa Rica played to a draw, 0-0 at Estádio Mineirão in Belo Horizonte. Costa Rica also advanced out of Group D, while England finished 4th and last. Not the most ignominious defeat England had ever suffered in a World Cup match in Belo Horizonte -- see 1950 -- but bad enough.

* Colombia beat Japan, 4-1 at Arena Pantanal in Cuiabá.

* And Greece beat the Ivory Coast, 2-1 at Estádio Castelão in Fortaleza.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-6 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. The Yankees were down 6-0 after 5 innings, tied it in the 7th. But a bunt by ex-Yankee Melky Cabrera led to an error by Yankee 3rd baseman Yangervis Solarte, and ex-Met José Reyes scoring the winning run. Adam Warren was the losing pitcher. Derek Jeter, in his final season, hit a home run.

* The New York Mets beat the Oakland Athletics, 10-1 at Citi Field.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Miami Marlins, 7-4 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-2 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 6-5 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-2 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee. Ryan Zimmerman hit a home run in the top of the 16th inning.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Kansas City Royals, 2-0 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Clayton Kershaw pitched 8 innings of 6-hit shutout ball, before Kenley Jansen pitched a perfect 9th.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Texas Rangers, 8-2 at Globe Life Park (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 3-2 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 10-5 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Cleveland Indians, 9-8 at Chase Field in Phoenix. Aaron Hill singled Gerardo Parra home with the winning run in the bottom of the 14th inning.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Minnesota Twins, 8-6 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

* The San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-2 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Boston Red Sox, 8-2 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle.

February 14, 1991: "The Silence of the Lambs" Premieres

February 14, 1991: The film The Silence of the Lambs premieres, based on the 1988 novel by Thomas Harris. It premieres on Valentine's Day, but it's no love story.

The lead character is FBI Agent Clarice Starling. Jodie Foster read the book just after winning the Academy Award for Best Actress in The Accused, but director Jonathan Demme didn't think she was right for the role. But he was turned down by Michelle Pfeiffer, with whom he had made Married to the Mob, and Meg Ryan, and the studio, Orion Pictures, flat-out turned down his next choice, Laura Dern. Foster was bankable and she wanted the role, so he gave it to her.

The other main character is Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a psychiatrist, a genius, a sophisticate, a Holocaust survivor (as is found out in later films)... and a cannibalistic multiple murderer. Demme first offered the role to Sean Connery, the Scottish actor known for playing James Bond, who turned it down. Demme then remembered Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins in his role as a psychiatrist in The Elephant Man.

When Hopkins's agent told him that a script was on his way titled The Silence of the Lambs, Hopkins responded, "Is it a children's story?" He called his agent back after reading the first 10 pages and said, "This is the best part I've ever read." He accepted the role after having dinner with Demme. Hopkins developed his portrayal of Lecter by drawing inspiration from the HAL 9000 computer, as voiced by Douglas Rain in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and from the vocal patterns of writer Truman Capote.

Ironically, Hopkins admitted to being intimidated by Foster, who had just won an Academy Award, and initially felt scared to talk to her.

Lecter isn't the main villain of the film. The details of him, Jamie Gumb, a.k.a. Buffalo Bill (played by Ted Levine), and his crimes, are too gruesome to list here. Suffice it to say that Lecter helps Starling figure out how to find him, before breaking out of his dungeon at the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Horror film directors Roger Corman and George A. Romero have roles, as FBI Director Hayden Burke and a jailer, respectively.

It was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, and became the 3rd and most recent film, after It Happened One Night in 1934 and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975, to sweep the 5 major Oscars: Best Picture (and it remains the only horror film to win that), Best Director for Demme, Best Actor for Hopkins (even though he was onscreen for only 25 minutes), Best Actress for Foster, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Ted Tally.

The 2001 film sequel Hannibal saw Hopkins return as Lecter, but Demme didn't want to direct, and Foster didn't want to star. Ridley Scott directed, and Starling was played by Julianne Moore. There would be 2 prequels: Red Dragon in 2002, with Demme directing, but no appearance by the Starling character; and Hannibal Rising in 2007, directed by Peter Webber, with Gaspard Ulliel as a young Lecter.

Previously, in 1986, Manhunter had been adapted by Michael Mann, from the 1981 novel of Red Dragon that introduced the character. In the script, the character is listed as "Hannibal Lecktor," and was played by Scottish actor Brian Cox.

In 2003, the American Film Institute named Lecter the Number 1 film villain of all time, and Starling 6th among film heroes, behind Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird), Indiana Jones in his movies (Harrison Ford), James Bond in his movies (with Connery being the 1st of several), Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca) and Marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper in High Noon).

Due to a legal quirk, there's been an NBC TV series titled Hannibal, set before the events of Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs, starring Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, but it couldn't use the character of Clarice Starling; and a CBS series titled Clarice, set after the events of Silence of the Lambs but before those of Hannibal, but it couldn't use the character of Hannibal Lecter. Each was allowed to use any other character in the Lecter novels' canon, including either of the two main opponents, but not both of them. Allusions to the Silence of the Lambs case were made in Clarice, but Lecter was not mentioned. And Hannibal was a prequel, so there was no reason to mention Starling.

In a 2014 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist played Lecter, against British comedian Dan Bull, who played Jack the Ripper.

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February 14, 1991 was a Thursday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 8 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Chicago Bulls, 102-92 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Orlando Magic, 102-90 at the Orlando Arena.

* The Miami Heat beat the Denver Nuggets, 141-112 at the Miami Arena.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Washington Bullets, 129-117 at The Summit in Houston. The arena is now the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch."

* The Phoenix Suns beat the San Antonio Spurs, 106-97 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio. Tom Chambers scored 37 for the Suns.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 102-94 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Golden State Warriors, 128-112 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Chris Mullin scored 35 in defeat for the Warriors.

* And the Sacramento Kings beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 98-81 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento. Lionel Simmons scored 38 for the Kings.

And there were 5 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The New Jersey Devils played the Winnipeg Jets, 3-3 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Quebec Nordiques, 2-1 at the Chicago Stadium. Jeremy Roenick scored the winning goal with 3:34 left in overtime.

* And the St. Louis Blues beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. Brett Hull scored his 61st goal of the season, 2:46 into the 3rd period, and that was the winning goal.