Best and Worst City Flags - USA edition

A few years back, I did a blog post on my picks for the best and worst state flags. To refresh your memory, here is a link to that particular list: http://thegoldenrules92.blogspot.com/2017/10/best-worst-state-flags.html Now, I thought I'd follow that list up with my picks for the best and worst city flags. This was, quite frankly, much more difficult because there are so many more cities and city flags than they are states and state flags. And while most state flags are boring, there are actually quite a few cool city flags. So, in order to try to make it a little easier, I limited the choices to flags from major cities that have a population of at least 100,000 people. I've also upped the ante by giving you 10 best and 10 worst rather than 5 and 5 like I did with the state flags. Let's start with the 10 (err...11) best city flags... 

BEST CITY FLAGS

10 (tie). Pittsburgh, PA (adopted 1899) - First of all, I have to be honest. I've always been a sucker for black and gold. Maybe it's because those were my high school colors or maybe it's because those are Mizzou's colors. Regardless, I've always liked the combination of black and gold.

Pittsburgh's flag, which is black and gold, features a portion of the city's seal - which, itself features a nod to the coat of arms of the city's namesake, William Pitt - at the center. It helped established black and gold as the official color's of Pittsburgh, which has, in turn, influenced all of the city's sports teams (Pirates, Penguins and Steelers) to utilize black and gold as their color schemes.  Whereas most U.S. cities rely on some combination of red, white and blue on their flags, Pittsburgh's choice of black and gold makes it stand out from the crowd and helps tie the whole city color scheme together unlike any other city in the country.

10 (tie). Baltimore, MD (adopted 1915) - Yes, another black and gold entry.  The flag features

the Battle Monument at the center on the Calvert family colors, which also make up half of the Maryland state flag.  As that state flag made my list of the top 5 best, it stands to reason that a city flag that borrows from it would like rate highly as well.  It's different from any other city flag and its combination of a symbol that represents the city and a pattern that pays homage to the state flag gives it high marks.

9. Orlando, FL (adopted 2017) - The newest entry on our list, Orlando's flag gets points for both its symbolism and simplicity.  The prominent "O" obviously stands for Orlando, but it also doubles as the

sun and sunlight over waves, a nice nod to the copious amounts of water in and around Orlando.  The O surrounds a representation of the Lake Eola fountain, a prominent local symbol.  It also gets kudos for replacing Orlando's previous hideous, too busy city flag.  That flag, shown at right, was first introduced in 1980 and its designs screams early 1980s computer graphics.  Seriously, it's as if some guy 

designed it on his Commodore 64.  The people who decided to dump that tacky old flag in favor of something much cleaner and simple yet symbolic deserves an all-expenses paid trip to Disney World which, thankfully, is nowhere to be found on either flag.

8. Indianapolis, IN (adopted 1963) - I'll be honest.  Before starting this project, I was familiar with    very few of these city flags.  As I did my research, I was disappointed by some of the lousy flags that some really cool cities had, while I was pleasantly surprised by others.  And, in other cases, I was pleasantly surprised by both the city AND the flag.  When most people think of Indiana, they likely think of the movie "Hoosiers" - small towns, corn fields and basketball.  While that is certainly a big

part of the mythology of Indiana, did you know it is also the 17th most populous state with more than 6.7 million residents?  Likewise, did you know that Indianapolis - the state capital and largest city - is the 17th largest city in the country, with a population of more than 875,000?  The last time I visited Indy, I was quite impressed with its downtown, which included multiple sports facilities, some cool neighborhoods and quite a bit of shopping, including a mall that spans multiple downtown buildings via skywalks.  The heart of Indy is the Soldiers' and Sailors' monument and Monument Circle in the middle of downtown.  And the Indianapolis flag plays tribute to that by representing the monument and the circle with the star and circle in the middle of the flag.  In addition, the four white stripes leading up to the circle represent the four main thoroughfares (East and West Market Streets and North and South Meridian Streets) that radiate outward from Monument Circle.  It's a simple but effective and neat tribute to a city that's a lot more cosmopolitan than many folks think or expect. 

7. Portland, OR (adopted 1969) - When you think of the Pacific Northwest, what colors pop into your

head?  Probably green for the lush hills and forests and blue for the numerous bodies of water and copious amounts of rain that cause the hills to be so lush.  As such, it makes perfect sense for those colors to be featured so prominently on Portland's flag.  Officially, the green background represents the forests of the city, the blue represents the Willamette and Columbia Rivers come together near Portland.  They threw in some yellow to represent the agriculture and commerce present in the area with a white, four pointed star to represent the city itself and its location amidst all of it.  All together, the green, blue, yellow and white make an appealing twist on the prototypical Nordic cross that appears on many flags.  The flags are frequently featured and waved at Portland Timbers MLS games and the teams colors are a nod to the flag's colors as well.

6. Chicago, IL (initially adopted 1917; additional stars added in 1933 and 1939) - The Windy City's flag is, at first glance, very simple and straightforward.  However, like all good flags, there is some

symbolism hidden within that simplicity.  The four red six-pointed stars represent historic events that have occurred during Chicago's history: its establishment as Fort Dearborn; the Great Fire of 1871; the first World's Fair to be held in Chicago (1893); and the second World's Fair to be held in Chicago (1933-34).  The two light blue lines above and below the stars represent the two branches of the Chicago River.  Bonus points for using a lighter shade of blue than is seen on most red, white and blue flags in the U.S. While some city flags are never seen or beyond being on a flag pole outside city hall, a bank or school, you see Chicago's flag often whenever you visit the city.  It's sold at gift shops and hawked by street vendors and used by Chicago natives all over the country to represent their home town.  A classic, simple yet symbolic flag, Chicago's flag is also less offensive than any Cubs or Blackhawks gear.  (I kid!)

5. Corpus Christi, TX (adopted 1955) - Texas is a big state with a huge population and a lot of big cities.  Whereas the state flag is one of the best in the country (as evidenced by its #3 ranking on my aforementioned state flag list), most of the city flags in Texas are lame.  Some red, some white, some

blue and a star in the middle.  Seriously, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Lubbock, Arlington, Plano and El Paso all have at least three of the four listed items in their flags.  One big Texas city, though, decided to mix it up and do something a little different: Corpus Christi.  While there's some blue on the flag, it's a lighter shade of blue, representing the waters of Corpus Christi Bay.  While there are stars on the flag, there are eight of them, all representing the city's eight major industries.  Best of all, there's a large seagull at the center of the flag, likewise paying tribute to the local beaches and shoreline.  It's a unique flag that stands out from the boring, boilerplate flags waving over most large cities in the Lone Star State. 

4. St. Petersburg, FL (adopted 1983) - The Tampa Bay metropolitan area is made up of a number of cities, the two largest of which are Tampa and St. Petersburg.  While those two cities are side-by-side and serve as anchors to the 18th largest metropolitan area in the U.S., they are light years apart in the

quality of their city flags.  While Tampa's flag is atrocious (more on that later), St. Pete's is terrific.  Full disclosure: I'm a sucker for pelicans.  When we take vacations to the beach, I love watching the pelicans glide just above the surface of the water and then fly and dive for food.  St. Pete's flag prominently displays a pelican at the center of its flag.  Behind the pelican are an array of horizontal color stripes, each representing  different aspects of life in St. Pete: red and orange for the sunshine and sunsets, green for land, blue for the waters of Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.  It's different, colorful and catchy, yet simple.  And, like I said, it has a pelican on it and pelicans are awesome and a great representation of the area where pelicans are endemic and where they often congregate.

3. Denver, CO (adopted 1926) - Colorado is a beautiful state and they've smartly stayed with one of the best license plates in the country: green and white outlines of mountains.  In the same vein, Denver's flag is a simple but very effective nod to the Rocky Mountains that rise just to the west of the city.  The

red and white zig zags represent the Rockies, while the blue and yellow represent the sun high in those brilliant blue Colorado skies.  Is it pretty basic? Yes.  It is kind of obvious?  Also yes.  However, the simple symbolism is what makes it so good.  My only beef is the use of red and white for the mountains rather than, say, green and white.  Nevertheless, Denver's flag is simple, clean and symbolic.  Everybody can tell at first glance what the graphic represents, which sets it apart from most city flags.

2. Phoenix, AZ (adopted 1990) - Prior to beginning this project, I had no idea that Phoenix had such a great flag.  There's not a lot to it and the flag is better for it.  It is simply a white phoenix on a maroon

background.  But the use of maroon sets it apart from most flags that stick with primary colors.  The stylized phoenix comes from the city's seal but rather than taking the whole seal and slapping it on the flag with the words "City of Phoenix" included, they wisely just took the graphic and reversed the colors.  One more bit of trivia on the choice of maroon for the color of the flag (and the city seal): in Greek, "phoenix" means purple.  So by using both the phoenix graphic and the maroon color, they are doubly playing tribute to the city's name and the legends surrounding the mythological bird. 

1. St. Louis, MO (adopted 1964) - Yeah, yeah, yeah.  This is a homer pick, right?  Maybe a little bit.  But considering that St. Louis's flag won the 2020 March Madness of Flags contest on Twitter as the best city flag in the world (beating out flags from Barbados, Stuttgart, and Yaroslavl Oblast in the Final Four), it makes sense that it tops our list of best city flags in the U.S.  The blue and while squiggly lines represent the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers that occurs at St. Louis.  The yellow

bezant with the fleur-de-lis on it is a nod to St. Louis's French heritage and background of the city.  Over the past decade or so, the St. Louis flag has become a more prominent part of the St. Louis area landscape, appearing on hats and shirts available at stores all across the metro area.  It was also a prominent part of the symbolism used by the MLS-to-STL efforts to get St. Louis a new MLS expansion soccer team.  The flag is even included on the back inside collar of the jerseys worn by the St. Louis Blues.  St. Louis as a community suffers from a long and storied history of poor self esteem and self loathing, so its nice to know that we can at least boast that we have a great city flag.  (On the other hand, please don't bring up our unfortunate #1 rankings in the homicides and STDs.)

So, there you have our top city flags.  Now that we've seen the cities that have done a good job of developing top notch flags, now it is time to turn our attention to the cities the dropped the metaphorical ball and have lousy flags.  

WORST CITY FLAGS

10. Springfield, IL (adopted 1917) - Let's face it, Springfield is about as generic of a city name as you can get.  Virtually every state has one; there's a reason why "Springfield" was the city name used in The Simpsons.  So, if you're going to have a boring, too common city name, you should at least have a

unique flag.  Instead, Springfield, IL has this generic flag that looks like something designed by a middle schooler in an "Intro to Computer Design" class.  The stars aren't too bad, but what is up with including their generic font used for "Springfield Illinois" and why is there no comma between those two words?  Seriously, Springfield is the state capital and home to the Abraham Lincoln museum and library, as well as his tomb.  There are a variety of things unique to the city that COULD have been placed on their flag, instead of this rudimentary design.  The best possible design, though, would have been a line of mug shots of all of the Illinois governors who have subsequently done time in prison.

9. Springfield, MO (adopted 1938) - One state over - and about 4.5 hours to the southwest - is another Springfield that has another bad city flag.  Red, white and blue?  Check. Stars? Check? Needlessly including the city's name? Check.  And, like Springfield, Illinois, they elected to leave off the

comma between the city and the state.  Springfield has some cool nicknames ("Queen City of the Ozarks," "Birthplace of Route 66") so you'd think they could have come up with something better than this incredibly dull flag.  However, there may be hope on the horizon!  There has been a recent movement among Springfield residents to dump their current flag in place of something more unique.  Here's hoping that more creative minds prevail and they do just that!

8. New Haven, CT - The easiest and laziest way to design a city or a state flag is to take the seal of the city or state and slap it on a solid colored flag.  As discussed in my state flag blog post, a majority of states have taken that lazy - and boring - route.  Many cities have done the same.  But of all of the cities

to have done so, few have been so lazy as to do that along with an absence of colors.  That's right - New Haven's flag is just the city seal in black on a white flag.  It's the most basic and boring thing you can do.  From a distance, you probably wouldn't be able to tell if the replaced the flag with a Fruit of the Loom undershirt, label side out.  Even worse, the seal has a bunch of Latin words on it that have absolutely no meaning to anyone anymore.  As the home of Yale University and a city that's a stone's throw from Long Island Sound, you'd think some bright Ivy League minds could come up with something better than this.

7. Kansas City, MO (adopted 1992) - Over the past few years, I've spent a lot of time in Kansas City for work.  KCMO - yes it's in Missouri, despite what President Trump apparently thought after the Chief won the Super Bowl - has some very neat areas.  Country Club Plaza is a picturesque shopping and entertainment area while the Power & Light District has helped revive Kansas City's once sagging

downtown.  The city is known as the "City of Fountains" and rightly so, as it features an array of fountains all over the city.  So, incorporating said fountains on the city flag makes perfect sense.  And if they had just done that on some sort of colored background, they wouldn't be on this list.  But instead of sticking with something simple and classy, they had to junk it up with a bunch of words and the oh so predictable inclusion of red, white and blue.  Even worse, they couldn't even decide on which city slogan to use, so they threw "Heart of the Nation" on there in addition to "City of Fountains."  And then, because I guess they feared that people couldn't discern the city based upon those two hints, they went ahead and added "Kansas City Missouri" to the flag as well.  The result is a muddled mess instead of what could have been a great flag.  

6. Boston, MA (adopted 1917) - You could make the argument that this one is not a bad at New Haven's - since it at least has SOME color - and that they should be flipped.  However, I'm rating this one as WORSE than New Haven's because it's friggin' BOSTON, people!  Boston is one of the neatest,

most historic cities in the country.  It played an integral part in the early years of the country.  But instead of a flag that pays tribute to that legacy, we get the lazy "seal on a bedsheet" approach.  Even worse, it includes a bunch of Latin words that I'm pretty sure that no one from Southie understands.  I mean, you've got Paul Revere and Old North Church.  You've got Bunker Hill.  You've got the Boston Tea Party.  The U.S.S. Constitution.  The Charles River. You've got so many historic and important possibilities and this is the best they came up with? I do NOT like them apples!

5. Detroit, MI (adopted 1948; last modified 2000) - This is an example of a flag trying to do too much.  It has the city seal in the center.  The lower left panel (white with gold fleur-de-lis) is supposed to represent France, from where the city's original settlers hailed.  The upper right panel (red with gold

lions) is supposed to represent England, which controlled the city during the latter part of the 18th century.  I'm actually okay with those.  But then the other two quarter panels (upper left and lower right) and the thirteen stars and stripes representing the thirteen original colonies.  Of which Detroit wasn't a part.  So, that part doesn't make much sense.  Throw it all together and it just seems like a jumbled mess - like they put a bunch of symbols in a blender, hit start and then removed the lid.  The symbols flew out an hit the ceiling and that's what they ran with.

4. Cleveland, OH (adopted 1896) - Another rust belt city with a lousy flag.  As we've already established words, dates and slogans do not belong on flags.  Cleveland's flag unfortunately has all three, along with some random symbols that are supposed to represent the city's industry but the are

largely indiscernible without an explanation.  From a distance, it just looks like a red, white and blue flag with a bunch of jumbled gibberish in the middle. Similar to Kansas City's flag, it's too predictable and too cluttered.  Considering this is one of the oldest flags on our list, it's a little surprising that some enterprising mind or designer hasn't tried to come up with something better.  I'm not suggesting Chief Wahoo and the Cuyahoga River on fire, but pretty much anything else would be an upgrade over what they have now.

3. Tucson, AZ  (adopted 1953) - Whereas Phoenix did a city flag the right way - clean and simple, using a color not usually found on flags- Tucson, the second largest city in Arizona - went the opposite way.  Their flag is the oh so predictable city seal on a white flag...or the Southwest version of New Haven.  However, what makes this one worse is that the city seal is very busy.  On a stationary seal, it may work.  But on a flag, from a distance, it just looks like a muddled mess.  It's supposed to be a

contrast between the modern city with its skyscrapers and office buildings and the historic mission that served as the original foundation of the city.  But one half is black and white, while the other half is in color.  The two representations of the city or contained within the outline of a sun, which - for some reason has different rays on the "modern" part of the seal than on the "historic" part of the seal. Then they throw in a random rope that I guess is supposed to tie it altogether but just serves to throw another color and additional muddling to the logo in the center of the flag.  What the should have done is something simple but significant: a green Saguaro cactus next to a yellow or orange sun - a nod to nearby Saguaro National Park and the copious amounts of sun the area receives.  Put that on crimson flag and you'd have one of the best city flags out there, instead of this eyesore.

2. Milwaukee, WI (adopted 1954) - Holy cow, this flag is bad.  It has everything you DON'T want on a flag.  Words. Check.  Date. Check.  A whole bunch of symbols and pictures of random things. Check.  To make matters even worse, some of the items on the flag don't even exist anymore - like County

Stadium.  The designer tried to do waaaaay too much with the flag - pay tribute to Lake Michigan, the brewing industry, skyline, sports facilities, churches, and it ends up being a cluttered, muddled, mess.   To illustrate how ridiculous Milwaukee's flag is, here is the description of the flag on Wikipedia: "It displays symbols of Milwaukee on a medium blue background, with the city name below all the elements in Copperplate Gothic. In the center, a gear, representing industry, bears symbols of Milwaukee's identity and history. An Indian head, resembling the Milwaukee Braves logo at the time,^[1] represents Native American origins. A flag with two stars, said to be a Civil War-era flag, may also represent a service flag.^[3][4] A lamp symbol in the upper right was once associated with the Milwaukee City Library.^[1] Below this is Milwaukee City Hall, representing government, which is flanked by abstract outlines of a church, housing, a factory, the Milwaukee Arena, and the former County Stadium (demolished in 2001) along a straight shoreline with waves representing Lake Michigan. The golden barley stalk on the left represents Milwaukee's brewing history, and the red ship with water symbolizes Milwaukee's status as a port city, with the 1846 date of city incorporation from the merger with Byron Kilbourn's Kilbourntown and Solomon Juneau's Juneautown on the flag's right vertically." Whew.  That's just a lot of mumbo jumbo explanation and when it takes that long to describe the supposed symbolism of your flag, it's easier just to admit that your flag blows.  Thankfully, many Milwaukeeans have realized their flag stinks and there has been a recent push to replace it with something simpler.  Here's hoping those more creative minds prevail.  In the interim, might I suggest the Brewers' MB ball-in-glove logo, the Bucks' deer head logo and a beer stein?  What would be a better representation of Milwaukee than that?  Although, let's be honest, almost ANYTHING is better than what they have now.

1. Tampa, FL (adopted 1930) - Those of you who were paying attention to my comments on St. Petersburg's flag were probably able to deduce that the flag of their neighbor, Tampa, would be ranked as the worst city flag. This flag is so terrible, I don't know where to start.  First of all, it's not a quadrilateral flag; it's almost more a pennant than a flag.  But that's not the bad part.  Just look at it!  It is supposed to hold all kinds of symbolism when, in reality, it looks more like a subway system map

than anything else.  Or, as one website put it, "this flag would make a great beach towel or a colorful cape for a Floridian super hero."  The red and gold section is supposed to represent Spain, while the green, white and red portion at the end is supposed to represent Italy.  The red, white and blue sections - and there are a bunch of them - are supposed to represent some combination of France, England and the USA.  It's like the vexillogical version of a DNA test that tells most of us that we're mutts that are a result of repeated crossbreeding over the centuries.  And, to top it off, they took the oh-so-predictable step of slapping the city seal in the middle, which features a random boat about which there is disagreement as to whether is represents a pirate ship or a tribute to one of its early pioneers, Henry Plant.  As I stated earlier, it looks more like a public transit map than anything else.  Compare the flag posted above with the diagrams below: the first is a map of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in the San Francisco Bay Area.  The second is a

map of the MBTA subway system in Boston.  Tell me there aren't some similarities between these and Tampa's flag!  Whereas St. Petersburg makes the Tampa Bay area proud with a great, flag symbolism a bird native to the area, Tampa's flag is just a garish, colorful mess.  Going back to the earlier analysis that the flag would 

make a great cape for a Floridia super hero and given the penchant for crazy, oddball internet stories to inevitably begin with "Florida Man...", just think of the possibilities!  It

could be an adult version of Captain Underpants!  Given how terrible this flag is, it's not surprising that many Tampa residents don't even realize they have a flag and when they do, they hate it.  A 2019 article in the Tampa Bay Times reported that many longtime Tampa residents state that they "couldn't pick our flag out of a lineup" and that a whopping 92% of people who participated in a survey about the flag said they supported changing it.  When your flag is so bad that locals don't even know it exists and, once they do, they overwhelmingly want to change it, you know you have the very definition of a terrible flag.  As such, it should be no surprise that Tampa's flag ranks as my worst city flag.

There you have The Golden Rules's list of the best and worst city flags.  I hope you found it entertaining - and maybe even a little educational.

Thanks for reading!

A Fortunate Son Looking Out My Back Door in Lodi to See Proud Mary

When people talk about the "Golden Age" of rock-n-roll, they are probably talking about the ten year span between the mid-1960s and the mid-1970s. Ask people to name bands from that era and you're likely to hear names like The Beatles and The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones and The Who, Led Zeppelin and Eagles. But there's one influential and hugely successful band from that era that seems to have fallen out of the conversation of the iconic artists of the time. It's a band that performed at the iconic Woodstock Festival and holds the dubious distinction of having the most #2 singles (5) without ever having a #1 hit. In four short years - between 1968 and 1972 - this band sold more than 30 million copies of their albums and singles. In a span of just 3 years (1968-71), they had 10 Top 20 hits, including 9 that made it into the Top 10, with 7 of those reaching the Top 5. The band I'm referring to, of course, is Creedence Clearwater Revival. CCR, primarily the brainchild and outlet of lead singer, guitarist and primary songwriter John Fogerty, is a band that sounded different from everything else released in that era. Despite the fact that they hailed from California, they pioneered "swamp rock" and "Southern rock," singing songs about bayous and the Mississippi River. They produced searing political rockers like "Fortunate Son" while also producing introspective ballads like "Have You Ever Seen The Rain." They produced successful covers of songs by others ("Suzie Q" and "Heard It Through The Grapevine") while also producing hit songs that spawned successful covers of their own by others ("Proud Mary".) While they lacked the screaming fans of The Beatles or the longevity of The Rolling Stones, they still produced an incredible catalog of music that undoubtedly stands the test of time 50 years later. In honor of this underappreciated, uniquely American rock band, here is my list of the top 5 CCR songs: 

 5.) "Lookin' Out My Back Door" - Released in the summer of 1970, this trippy, country rock jammer features prominent Dobro amongst lyrics describing colorful, dream-like imagery. Similar to The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," some surmised that the song was either about drugs or a product of their use. Fogerty, however, says that he wrote it for his then 3-year-old son and was partly inspired by a Dr. Seuss book. The song peaked at #2 in October 1970. Bonus points for name dropping Buck Owens, another trail blazing singer based in California. 

4.) "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?" - The  release right after our #5 selection in January 1971, it's a ballad that asks "have you ever seen the rain coming down on a sunny day?" Taken at face value, it's a song about rain and weather. But its actually a metaphor for the dysfunction in the band and how the band's members were sad and depressed despite being hugely successful, wealthy and famous. Fogerty's aching vocals in the chorus are backed by a Rhodes piano that helps to emphasize the downcast nature of the song. It peaked at #8 on the Billboard charts in the spring of 1971. It's lyrics proved prescient as guitarist Tom Fogerty left the band shortly after the song's release and the band itself disbanded the following year. 

3.) "Lodi" - Of all of the songs CCR released, this wasn't one of their biggest hits, peaking at only #52 on the charts. It's certainly less well known than the band's other big hits, but it's always been a favorite of mine, as I've previously mentioned in other blog posts regarding my favorite lyrics. Whereas the meaning of the first two songs on this list can be open to interpretation, "Lodi" is a straightforward story song. Its lyrics tell of a singer stuck in a boring, middle-of-nowhere town, singing songs in bars in front of drunk people and unable to raise enough money to afford a bus or train fare to leave town. Hence the chorus "Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi again." But it's the little things that elevate this song above the typical, run-of-the-mill "life on the road" songs - two little things, back-to-back, heading into the last verse. The first is a key change, adjusting it up a half note. The second is the searing lines "If I only had a dollar for every song I've sung/Every time I had to play while people sat there drunk..." It pulls the whole lyric and the whole visual picture they paint together. While John Fogerty escaped the fate of the character in the song, that lyric has always stuck with me and is one of the reasons this song makes the list ahead of some of their more well known tunes. Ironically - given the name dropping done in our #5 song above - this song has been covered by many other musicians, not the least of whom was none other than Buck Owens. 

2.) "Proud Mary" - Probably the band's most widely recognized song, "Proud Mary" peaked at #2 on the charts in March 1969. Fogerty's lyrics channel Mark Twain in describing life on a river boat and escaping from the dredge of a steady but boring job. The music, meanwhile, creates the chugging, train-like feel that propels the song forward. The driving tempo of the song is a perfect match for a song about life on a river. It's an amalgamation of rock and the blues and Southern music that is catchy and instantly recognizable. Even people who are unfamiliar with CCR can still probably sing along with the chorus of "Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river." The song was famously covered by Ike and Tina Turner in the early '70s, once again become a Top 5 hit, though this time as a soulful, funk classic. 

1.) "Fortunate Son" - Our top pick is a searing protest song that is every bit as relevant in the year 2020 as it was when it first hit the airwaves more than 50 years ago in the fall of 1969. While the song was obviously written and released in the shadow of Vietnam, the lyrics are incisive and broad enough to apply not just to that conflict but to any other situation in which people of wealth and privilege are able to avoid unpleasant things to which less fortunate people are subjected. The song has been featured in countless films, commercials, and video games, most famously in "Forrest Gump" when Forrest and Bubba arrive via helicopter to a war zone in South Vietnam. It's also been covered numerous times, by everyone from Bob Seger and U2 to Wyclef Jean to the Foo Fighters and Death Cab for Cutie. The most ironic use of the song, however, was during a Donald Trump campaign rally. Apparently, Trump and his minions (not surprisingly) misinterpreted the point of the song, seeing as how Trump is the very epitome of the titular character against which Fogerty rails. While many protest songs and songs written during the Vietnam era have not aged well, "Fortunate Son" is still as powerful today as it was the day it was written.

There you have it - my tribute to Creedence Clearwater Revival, a band established their own, unique sound and niche. Their music didn't sound like anything else at the time and, even decades later, it still has an unmistakably distinctive feel. Thanks for reading!

Song Lyrics for These Times

There have been a lot of things going on in the world these past 3 or 4 months, from the Coronavirus pandemic and related quarantines and restrictions on activities, to the recent protests over racism and violence by police.  Rather than enthrall you with my take on these issues (which will probably come via another blog post soon), I thought I'd take a step back and some share song lyrics that I think are apropros to the situations we face these days.  Most of these are serious, but I've thrown a few humorous lyrics in as well.  I've always admired songwriters and lyricists who are so adept at saying what we oftentimes struggle to say, so consider this a tribute of sorts to these folks.  Here we go...

 

"The load is heavy and the road is long

And we've only begun to fight

We just can't give in, we just can't give up

We must go boldly into the darkness and be the light

...

When did the land of the free

Become the home of the afraid?

Afraid of the world, afraid of the truth

Afraid of each other

...

This ain't the country my grandfather fought for

But I still see the hate he fought against

Give rest to the tired, give mercy to the poor

Give warmth to the huddled masses

And I'll show you freedom"

- American Aquarium, "The World is on Fire"

 

"Don't stand so close to me"

- The Police, "Don't Stand So Close to Me"

 

"Why is there a rebel flag hanging from the state house walls?

Tired of hearing this shit about heritage not hate

Time to make the world a better place

Why must we hate one another?

Well, no matter what we gotta live together

Just that you don't look like me, tell me what do you see?

When we pass on the street, what do you want to see?"

- Hootie and the Blowfish, "Drowning"

 

"You lie so much you believe yourself

...

Arrogance and ignorance go hand in hand"

- Metallica, "Holier Than Thou"

 

"Down here we're still fighting for all the wrong reasons

Old men still defend these monuments to treason

To the right side of history we're always late

Still arguing the difference between heritage and hate"

- American Aquarium, "A Better South"

 

"I exploit you, still you love me."

- Living Colour, "Cult of Personality"

 

"When the last thing we notice is the color of skin,

And the first thing we look for is the beauty within

...

When we're free to love anyone we choose,

When this world's big enough for all different views"

-Garth Brooks, "We Shall Be Free"

 

"There's battle lines being drawn

Nobody's right if everybody's wrong

Young people speaking their minds

Getting so much resistance from behind"

-Buffalo Springfield, "For What It's Worth"

 

"Mind is a battlefield

All hope is gone

Trouble to the right and left

Whose side you're on?"

- Foo Fighters, "The Sky is a Neighborhood"

 

"And then a politician shows up promising that

He'll return the jobs that God himself could not bring back

...

Neither the left nor the right

Are gonna fight for folks stuck in between

The way things really are

In the American dream"

- American Aquarium, "Me + Mine (Lamentations)"

 

"Don't wanna be an American idiot

One nation controlled by the media

Information age of hysteria

It's calling out to idiot America"

- Green Day, "American Idiot"

 

"America Street it's right nearby

Land of the free and the brave

And if we can't work and make some change

There won't be much of this land left to save"

- Edwin McCain, "America Street"

 

"There's too many men, too many people

Making too many problems

And not much love to go 'round

...

This is the world we live in

And these are the hands we're given

Use them and let's start trying

To make it a place worth living in"

- Genesis, "Land of Confusion"

 

 

Top 20 Music Videos

As difficult as it is to believe now - considering the dearth of music videos on TV these days - there was a 15 or 20 year span when music videos were HUGE business and an integral part of music.  There were many artists who may never have been as popular as they were without music videos. While some videos were nothing more than glorified concert clips, other videos were big budget, motion picture quality affairs that may or may not have had anything to do with the song lyrics.  Seeing as how music videos are essentially now an relic of days gone by, I figure it's a good time for my list of the Top 20 Music Videos of all time.

While the list is understandably focused on videos from the 1980s, I've sprinkled in a few gems from the 1990s as well.  Here we go...

20. "Hungry Like The Wolf" by Duran Duran (1983) - Filmed in Sri Lanka, the video has an Indiana Jones-type vibe with the band running about in a crowded town and then in the jungle. Few bands took advantage of the music video to greater effect than Duran Duran and this video is a perfect example of why.  Combining exotic locations with the movie star looks of the band, the video helped propel the song into the Top 5 on the Billboard charts. https://youtu.be/oJL-lCzEXgI

19. "Wrapped Around Your Finger" by The Police (1983) - A maze of candlesticks in a dark room with Sting dancing around them in slow motion.  Directed by Godley & Crème (who also directed their two previous videos, "Every Breath You Take" and "Synchronicity II"), the video was actually filmed and performed at a faster speed and then slowed down for playback, resulting in the slow motion action in the film.  It matches the ethereal vibe of the song, making it particularly memorable. https://youtu.be/svWINSRhQU0

18. "The Boys of Summer" by Don Henley (1984) - Shot in black-and-white, it's a French New Wave-inspired gem that features the main character at the video at three different ages (boy, adult, middle-aged man) reminiscing about past relationships. To this day, whenever I hear this song, I mentally picture the black-and-white video.  The video won "Video of the Year" at the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards. https://youtu.be/672F2t5dVeY

17. "Voices Carry" by 'Til Tuesday (1985) - A perfect example of how a music video can reinforce the story of a song and help increase that song's popularity.  The video, which visually told the story in support of the lyrics about an abusive relationship, was a perfect example of what made MTV great back in its nascent years.  A well-made, creative video that helps to bring more exposure to a terrific song.  Who can forget when Aimee Mann takes of her hat during a performance at Carnegie Hall, revealing spiky hair and a rat tail when she slowly sings louder and louder? https://youtu.be/uejh-bHa4To

16. "Big Me" by Foo Fighters (1996) - A spoof of the corny Mentos commercials of the mid-1990s - they were "Footos" in the video- it's a funny, tongue-in-cheek video that probably hasn't aged as well as one would think, since those Mentos commercials have vanished from TV.  Part of the charm of the video relies upon the viewer being familiar with the aforementioned Mentos commercials.  Still, it was definitely memorable at the time and showed the creative attitude of the band toward music videos, something that will lead to another Foo Fighters entry later on in this countdown.  The video was nominated for "Video of the Year" at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards, but it didn't win. 

https://youtu.be/pLdJQFTnZfA

15. "Right Now" by Van Halen (1992) - A well executed idea that supported the content of the lyrics, the video features a number of phrases on the screen that reference both issues within the band and the lyrics as well as social issues going on at the time.  It was one of those videos you had to actually watch a couple of times to fully catch everything.  While that Sammy Hagar years of Van Halen are sometimes maligned by critics and hard rock devotees, this video was the best one the band ever did.  It won "Video of the Year" at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards. https://youtu.be/SeJfcW03hF0

14. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana (1991) - A high school pep rally concert that devolves into chaos and anarchy, the video was a perfect match for the song and it helped introduce grunge music in general and Nirvana in particular to the music world at large.  In 4 and a half minutes, the band blew up the music world and put a fork in the hair bands that were so prevalent in the late 1980s, both with their sound and the gritty, cathartic video that accompanied it. It was nominated for "Video of the Year" at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, but it lost out to the #15 video on this list. https://youtu.be/hTWKbfoikeg

13. "Beat It" by Michael Jackson (1983) - Few artists mastered the art of the music video better than Michael Jackson and this is the first of his three entries on this list.  This was the video that introduced the mass choreography that became a hallmark of Jackson's later videos.  A sort of "West Side Story" street fight scenario that doubles as a plea that violence is not the answer.  This song and video helped establish Jackson as the "King of Pop" and blur the lines between pop, R&B and rock. https://youtu.be/oRdxUFDoQe0

12. "Buddy Holly" by Weezer (1994) - One of the great videos from my college years, this one uses computer animation and camera trickery to insert the band into a scene from "Happy Days", where they are playing at Arnold's Drive-In.  The band is dressed in '50s garb to fit in and it even features Fonzie dancing to the band's music.  Given the song's lyrics referencing 1950s stars Buddy Holly and Mary Tyler Moore, it ties everything together. It was unique and different and helped make the song a huge hit. https://youtu.be/kemivUKb4f4

11. "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel (1986) - A chaotic mixture of Claymation, pixilation and stop-motion animation (not to mention some certain bodily fluids under a microscope), it was a unique combination of animation and life action shots of Gabriel singing.  The award-winning video (it was Video of the Year at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards) was part of the reason that the song became Gabriel's biggest U.S. hit.  Always known for strange videos ("Big Time" and "Shock the Monkey" are other examples), this was his most successful and most enduring. https://youtu.be/OJWJE0x7T4Q

 

10. "Hot for Teacher" by Van Halen (1984) - The last single (and, consequently, last video) by Van Halen's original lineup, it's probably what you'd expect for a song about having a crush on your teacher.  It introduces the nerdy kid Waldo as well as the "band members" as school kids and as adults.  It involves attractive "teachers" parading around beauty pageant style in swimsuits, complete with the sashes that, instead of featuring their state or country, feature the subjects they teach.  It also features the band members dancing around in matching suits under a disco ball.  It's funny - albeit certainly misogynistic - and it ended the David Lee Roth era of Van Halen with a bang.  Seeing as how I'm married to a teacher, I sometimes think of this as my theme song.  :)   https://youtu.be/6M4_Ommfvv0

 

9. "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam (1992) - One of the hallmarks of grunge music and the so-called "Seattle Sound" of the early 1990s was downcast lyrics and subject matter.  This song, which is about a boy who was picked on in at school and ultimately gets his "revenge" by killing himself with a gun in front of the class and his teacher.  It was inspired by a real life incident and the video, which includes a montage of insults hurled, still frame pictures and live action to create a collage of images in support of the lyrics and meaning of the song.  MTV's editing of the gun from the climactic image led to the frequent misinterpretation that Jeremy had killed his classmates rather than himself.  Regardless, it was a very powerful statement where the video deftly reinforces the content of the lyrics.  The controversy surrounding the video was one of the reasons Pearl Jam stopped making music videos after this one.  "Try to erase this from the blackboard..." https://youtu.be/MS91knuzoOA

 

8. "Learn to Fly" by Foo Fighters (1999) - The second entry for Foo Fighters - and the third entry overall for Dave Grohl - this is the most recent video to make the list.  Directed by the same team that did the #16 video, this one is another humorous spoof, this time of those cheesy 1970s-era disaster movies.  It features the band members each playing several roles, with Grohl appearing in no fewer than 6 roles (as a pilot, as a flight attendant, as an overweight middle-aged woman, as a teenage girl, an FBI agent and as himself). It's a madcap, slapstick feast that ends with Grohl and fellow band members having to "learn to fly" and land an airplane after the actual pilots pass out from spiked coffee.  The video also features Tenacious D (including Jack Black) in cameo appearances as the mechanics who spike the coffee.  The video even won a Grammy for "Best Short Form Music Video." https://youtu.be/1VQ_3sBZEm0

 

7. "Don't Come Around Here No More" by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers (1985) - The video is themed around Alice in Wonderland, with Petty filling the role of The Mad Hatter.  Toward the end of the video, Alice is turned into a cake that is eaten by the other characters in the video.  It's all a little weird, but it's also very well done to the point where I can't hear the song today without thinking of the video.  https://youtu.be/h0JvF9vpqx8

 

6. "Land of Confusion" by Genesis (1986) - A scathing criticism of the Cold War and some of the world leaders at the time, this video features caricature puppets to back up the lyrics and help convey the story they tell.  In addition to caricature puppets of the three band members, it also features caricature puppet versions of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev and Moamar Khaddafi, among other world leaders, as well as a number of celebrities who were newsworthy in the 1980s, including Pope John Paul II, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Michael Jackson and Madonna.  While young people watching the video may be lost because they may not be familiar with the real life people of whom the puppets are caricatures, it was definitely a timely skewer back in the 1980s.  It was unique and very well executed - no other video looked quite like it before or after. https://youtu.be/Yq7FKO5DlV0

5. "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson (1983) - This is the music video that put MTV on the map and helped propel the still relatively new cable channel into the stratosphere while also propelling Jackson's Thriller album to be the best selling album of all time.  While the song's lyrics deal with an overzealous fan who claims to have given birth to Jackson's child, the video is more about paparazzi following Jackson around.  Who can forget the tiles lighting up as Jackson walks on them?  Or the freeze frame of Jackson on his toes?  Or the inexplicable (and soon to be oft imitated) single white glove?  The video was groundbreaking both for the technology and artistry involved but also because it was the first video by an African American artist to be played regularly on MTV.  This is Jackson's 2nd appearance on this list but (spoiler alert) it won't be his last. https://youtu.be/Zi_XLOBDo_Y

 

4. "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits (1985) - One of the first music videos to use computer animation, it probably seems primitive and cheesy to your kids if they watched it today.  However, when it was released in 1985, it was cutting edge.  The animation in the video essentially supports the lyrics telling the story of an appliance repairman complaining about musicians who get "money for nothing, chicks for free."  The video won "Video of the Year" at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards.  The song became Dire Straits' biggest hit due, in large part, to the memorable video. Kudos to the band for working the early '80s MTV slogan "I want my MTV" into the song and video. https://youtu.be/wTP2RUD_cL0

 

3. "You Might Think" by The Cars (1984) - Another of the first music videos to use computer animation, one could argue that this video set the stage for some of the catchy videos to follow, such as the #4 and #11 videos on this list.  It features miniature versions of the band members performing on a bar of soap and in a medicine cabinet, while versions of lead singer Ric Ocasek appear as everything from King Kong to lipstick to a bee to a insect drilling on a girl's teeth.  This video won the first ever "Video of the Year" at the MTV Video Music Awards and, helped in large part by the video, it became the band's first ever #1 hit. https://youtu.be/3dOx510kyOs

 

2. "Take On Me" by a-ha (1985) - Arguably the most innovative short form music video ever made, it uses rotoscoping - a combination of pencil sketch animation and live action clips.  The two are combined to create surreal scenes in which the characters are pulled between real life and scenes from a comic book.  The story of the video is a sort of romantic/fantasy/action movie involving racing motorcycles, bad guys and, of course, the budding romance between the singer and a pretty girl.  After pulling her into the comic book world, he eventually escapes and comes to join her in the real, human world.  To this day, the video is a huge hit, reaching more than one billion views on YouTube after it was re-mastered and re-released earlier this year.  While a-ha has had numerous hit songs in Europe, this was their only top 10 hit in the U.S. (it hit #1) and the incredible video is undoubtedly a large reason for that. https://youtu.be/djV11Xbc914

 

1. "Thriller" by Michael Jackson (1983) - Admit it.  You just KNEW this was going to be #1, right?  It's certainly no surprise as it is the most famous music video of all time.  It's actually more of a mini horror film that just a simple music video.  Regardless, so much about is iconic, from the choreographed zombie dance to the famed red leather jacket that Jackson wears.  The video was such a big deal that MTV would announce in advance the next time they would play it, which resulted in record-breaking viewership.  In an age where DVR didn't exist and VCRs were not yet in vogue, every airing of "Thriller" became appointment viewing and the video became a sensation. It was such a sensation that a "making of" documentary was created and MTV and Showtime collectively paid more than $500,000 (the equivalent of $1.4 million in today's dollars) for the rights to broadcast it.  Decades after the video was released, the choreography has become a pop culture trend, appearing in several movies and TV shows over the years.  It is - quite simply - the biggest music video of all time. https://youtu.be/sOnqjkJTMaA

 

Honorable Mention: "Big Time" by Peter Gabriel (1986); "The Red Strokes" by Garth Brooks (1994); "Owner of a Lonely Heart" by Yes (1983); "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden (1994)

 

 I have to say that this was one of the more enjoyable lists I've done yet.  I enjoyed going back and watching these old videos and recalling how much I liked them growing up.  Hopefully, some of you will experience the same feeling as you peruse this list.

 

As always, thanks for reading!

Tim's Top 10: Favorite Sports Teams of All Time (College Edition)

It's May now and we've been without sports for a month and a half.  It stinks!  So, to try to pass a little bit more time before sports make their return, I'm blogging about sports.  A month ago, I gave you my list of my Top 10 favorite sports teams - professional sports edition.  Now I'm going to follow it up with my list of my Top 10 favorite sports teams - college edition.

Similar to last time, when all of the teams were St. Louis-based teams, I'll spoil the surprise and tell you up front that all of these teams are either Baylor or Mizzou teams.  Did you really expect anything different?

Here we go...

10. 1989-90 Missouri Tigers Men's Basketball - This team won the Big 8 and grabbed one of the top 12 seeds in the NCAA Tournament before flaming out and getting upset by Northern Iowa in the 1st round.  I had the misfortune of watching the end of that game on TV in my Sophomore English class and I remember being crushed when Mizzou lost.  Still, this team was stacked with the likes of Doug Smith (Big 8 player of the year and 2nd team All-American) and Anthony Peeler.  It was one of Norm Stewart's best teams (they were ranked #1 in the country at the end of the regular season), in spite of the ignominious end to the season.

9. 2004-05 Baylor Lady Bears Basketball - In the early 2000s, Baylor athletics were the laughingstock of not only the Big 12 but all of the Power 5 conference schools.  They had seldom been competitive in any of the major sports since joining the Big 12 and had dealt with scandal and tragedy in the men's basketball program.  However, out of that darkness came a great light - the Baylor Lady Bears basketball team.  The program had been rising for a few years under coach Kim Mulkey, but I don't know if any of us were prepared for what the team accomplished this season. They won 33 games and a national championship, the first of three national titles under Mulkey.  The team was anchored by Sophia Young, one of the first superstar players in school history.  This was the team that proved the Baylor COULD compete at the highest levels of major college sports and marked the arrival of the Baylor Lady Bears as a national powerhouse.

8. 1992 Baylor Bears Football - This is a sentimental pick, since this was my freshman year of college.  I was a part of the Baylor Line and enjoyed cheering on the Bears while heckling opponents.  The season started out horribly, with back-to-back home losses: a brual 10-9 upset loss to Louisiana Tech and a blowout loss to Colorado on a brutally hot day in which the temperature at field level neared 120 degrees.  But after an inauspicious 1-3 start to the season, the Bears rebounded to win 7 of their last 10 games, including a Homecoming win over Georgia Tech (that featured a flea flicker touchdown pass from J.J. Joe to Melvin Bonner), a win over Texas (who were stopped on a 4th and 4 in the closing seconds - we rushed the field and tore down the goalposts) and a win over Arizona in the Sun Bowl.  This was Great Teaff's last year as head coach and it marked Baylor's last bowl victory until 2011.  As a college football fan who'd suffered through years of terrible Mizzou football, this was the first time one of my college football teams actually had a winning season since I was in elementary school. I loved those football Saturdays under the scorching Central Texas sun at The Case, so I couldn't leave this team off the list.

7. 2019-20 Baylor Bears Men's Basketball - This one should probably have an asterisk next to it, due to the whole coronavirus pandemic because this team never got the chance to play in the Big Dance, a tournament in which they were likely going to be one of the top two seeds in one of the regions.  So, perhaps the pandemic and the cancellation of March Madness robbed me of seeing Baylor advance to the Final Four for the first time since the 1940s?  In that case, this team would be ranked much higher than #7.  Of course, there's also the chance that this team would have suffered an embarrassing upset in the 1st round, in which case they might be ranked worse than #7.  We'll never know.  However, what we do know is that this was a GREAT team that accomplished a lot before the season was cut short.  They not only ascended to the #1 ranking in the country, they held that ranking for 5 weeks, a school record.  They set a record for the longest consecutive win streak in Big 12 history.  They not only finally beat ku at Allen Fieldhouse, they did so by double digits.  They racked up more quality non-conference wins than anybody in the country, including wins over the likes of Butler, Villanova, Florida and Arizona. This was the epitome of what a basketball team SHOULD be - an unselfish group of players for whom a different player seemed to star almost every game.  They played tenacious defense and featured arguably the best backcourt in the country.  We may never know how much this team could have accomplished, but they did enough over the course of the regular season to make the list.

6. 2009-10 Baylor Bears Men's Basketball - They won a then school record 28 games and advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in more than 50 years.  They very well might have advanced to the Final Four if it hadn't been for a couple of brutally bad calls in the Elite Eight game against Duke.  Regardless, just two years after making the NCAA tournament for the first time in 20 years, Baylor won 3 games in March Madness and truly proved that Baylor basketball could not only compete in the Big 12 but they could compete at the highest level nationwide.  In addition to all they accomplished on the court, this team had some of the great player names of all time: LaceDarius Dunn (19.6 ppg), Tweety Carter (15 ppg, 6 apg), Ekpe Udoh (13.9 ppg, 9.8 rpg) and Quincy Acy (9.3 ppg, 5.1 rpg).  Three players from this team were eventually drafted and played in the NBA.

5. 2011 Baylor Bears Football - If the #6 team is the one that put Baylor basketball on the map, this is the team that put Baylor football back on the map and resulted in a beautiful, brand new, riverfront football stadium being built.  This was the team that featured Baylor's first Heisman Trophy winner (Robert Griffin III), that beat Oklahoma in a thriller and that routinely put up scores that made it difficult to tell if it was a football game or a basketball game.  They could score against anyone, though they admittedly couldn't stop anyone from scoring, either.  Regardless, with 10 wins, a Heisman Trophy winner and the school's first bowl victory since the aforementioned 1992 Sun Bowl, this team was a blast to watch and finally gave Baylor fans some bragging rights on fall weekends.

4. 2011-12 Baylor Lady Bears Basketball - Perfection.  The first men's or women's basketball team to go 40-0. An undefeated season, another national championship and the most lethal one-two guard-center punch in the country.  Led by Britney Griner and Odyssey Sims, this team was unstoppable.  Nobody in the country could consistently guard either player and they could burn you from the inside with Griner's height or burn you from the outside with Sims's quickness.  It's not very often you see perfection in any sport and this is the only time I've ever seen it from one my teams.

3. 2007 Missouri Tigers Football - I grew up rooting for Mizzou sports and, for most of my life, Mizzou football was like a bad joke.  Consider that, between 1984 and 2002, Mizzou had a grand total of 2 winning seasons in 19 years (including 13 consecutive losing seasons) during that streak. I remember the "Norman Conquest" (a 77-0 loss to Oklahoma in 1986) and a 63-6 loss to Nebraska in 1991.  I remember the infamous "Fifth Down Game" loss to Colorado and the heartbreaking "Flea Kicker" loss to Nebraska.  For most of my life, Mizzou football had been synonymous with awful teams and terrible losses.  But that changed under Gary Pinkel, whose teams racked up 10 winning seasons in a 12 year span between 2003 and 2014.  And the peak of those glorious years was the 2007 team, which won a school record 12 games en route to a Big 12 North Division title, a Cotton Bowl victory and, most miraculous of all, a brief turn as the #1 ranked team in the country.  Led by QB Chase Daniel (who finished 4th in Heisman Trophy balloting) and featuring 2 first-team All Americans (TE Martin Rucker and WR/KR Jeremy Maclin), this team was blast to watch. They finally beat Nebraska and clinched the Big 12 North title (and the aforementioned #1 ranking) after a heart stopping Border War win over the hated kansas Jayhawks at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.  Gary Pinkel had a number of really good teams (include 4 division winners between 2007 and 2014), but this one has a warm spot in the hearts of all Mizzou football fans.

2. 1993-94 Missouri Tigers Basketball - This was the best Mizzou basketball team I've ever seen.  They got off to a rough start in the season, including a brutal 120-68 thrashing against eventual national champion Arkansas, but then turned it around.  They went undefeated (14-0) in the Big 8 to win their 15th and (thus far last) conference title and made it all the way to the Elite Eight before bowing out in a loss to Arizona.  Missouri native and true son Norm "Stormin' Norman" Stewart stormed the sidelines for the Tigers for 38 years and this was his last great team before retiring in 1999.  It featured Jevon Crudup, Melvin Booker, Derek Grimm and a cocky freshman named Jason Sutherland.  All of those things are reason enough to rank this team very highly.  But this team also gave me the best basketball game I've ever seen live, a 108-107 triple OT win over Illinois in the 1993 Braggin' Rights game, the last to be played at The St. Louis Arena. I still get chills thinking about the atmosphere and intensity of that game (keep in mind, the crowd was split 50/50 between Mizzou fans and Illinois fans and the pep bands for both teams were there), so the back-and-forth nail biter had more suspense and an a wilder atmosphere than you get in the usual college game.  It was the first time that I was physically exhausted after a game that I only watched as a fan.  That game alone boosts this team a little higher in my rankings, all the way up to #2.

1. 2013 Baylor Bears Football - Perhaps the greatest Baylor football team of all time, they were ranked as high as #3 in the country on their way to an 11 win season.  They won their first Big 12 championship, which was also their first outright conference title since 1980 and made the school's first-ever Bowl Championship Series appearance.  Led by junior QB Bryce Petty (who had 32 TD passes and 14 TD runs against only 3 interceptions), this was the Baylor football team that finally exorcised demons and fulfilled the championship dreams of Baylor fans everywhere.  To top things off, they clinched the conference title with a win over the hated Texas Longhorns in the last game in Floyd Casey Stadium history on a magical (if bitterly cold) December afternoon.  It was a fitting end to a terrific season that will always fill a warm spot in my heart.

Honorable Mention: 2014 Baylor Bears football (back-to-back Big 12 champs and a ridiculous come-from-behind 61-58 win over TCU),  2012 Baylor Bears Men's Basketball (another trip to the Elite Eight), 2018-19 Baylor Lady Bears Basketball (another national championship)

There you have it - my top 10 favorite college sports teams of all time.  I hope you enjoyed this walk down memory lane.  M-I-Z and Sic 'em Bears!

Tim's Top 10: Favorite Sports Teams of All Time (Pro Edition)

I love sports.  Anybody who knows me or who reads this blog - a group that pretty much completely overlaps - knows that I love sports.  So this COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in the complete absence of sports, has been very difficult for me.  Usually, Spring is one of the best times of the year for sports fans.  March Madness.  NHL playoffs.  The start of baseball season. This year, we're reduced to watching replays of old games because that's the only way we can get our sports fix.  Heck, you can't even go to little league games!

So, to pass the time until sports return, I thought it'd be fun to rank and take a look at my Top 10 Favorite Sports Teams of All Time.  I'm actually going to milk this and break it into two separate lists - favorite pro sports teams of all time and favorite college sports teams of all time.  We'll start with the pro teams on this post.  Advanced warning: these are all St. Louis teams, so all of you Texans or Southerners or folks from outside the Gateway City can feel free to roll your eyes.  But, after all, this is my blog and my list, so deal with it.  :)

Here we go, counting down from 10:

10. 2001 Rams - They went 14-2 while dominating not just the NFC West but all of the NFL...well, at least until running into Bill "Spygate" Belichick and Tom "Pretty Boy" Brady in the Super Bowl.  While their loss to the Patriots was a HUGE upset at the time, looking back now, it just looks like the starting point of an incredible (yet despicable) dynasty.  Prior to the Super Bowl, it was the Rams who appeared to be on the verge of becoming a dynasty.  In spite of the painful end to the season, this was a team that seemingly scored points at will and featured a plethora of incredible offensive talent, including multiple Hall of Famers like Kurt Warner, Isaac Bruce, Marshall Faulk and Orlando Pace. The offensive madness of Mike Martz was probably at its zenith with this team.  We won't dwell on how the NFL screwed St. Louis a few years ago in moving the team back to L.A., but I do want to tip my hat to a team that was incredibly fun to watch and briefly made my much maligned hometown the center of the football world for a few years.

9. 2006 Cardinals - It might be a little surprising to see a team that won it all - and ended a franchise-record 24 year championship drought in the process - this low.  However, you also have to remember that, prior to catching fire in October, this team was mediocre all season long, winning only 83 games and backing into the playoffs.  Following back-to-back triple digit win seasons in '04 and '05, this team was a disappointment.  At least until the playoffs started and the likes of David Eckstein, So Taguchi, Ronnie Belliard, Jeff Suppan and Scott Spiezio came up with huge, timely hits to spur series wins over the Padres, Mets and Tigers.  Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS - with the game winning homer by Yadier Molina (who hit only .216 with 6 HR during the regular season) followed by the 3 pitch strikeout of Carlos Beltran with the bases loaded (froze him with a wicked curve ball) - remains one of the best baseball games I've ever watched.  The fact that the Cardinals' worst team from 2000-2006 was the one to finally win the franchise's 10th championship is ironic but it helped heal the wounds from 1985, 1987, 2001, 2004 and 2005.  It also marked my second championship parade and the first for my son, who was 3 at the time.

8. 1990-91 Blues - A regular season juggernaut that finished with the second best record in the NHL.  This team was the pinnacle of the "Hull & Oates" era, with Brett Hull scoring a ridiculous 86 goals and Adam Oates notching 90 assists.  Hull won the Hart Trophy as MVP and St. Louis area McDonald's locations sold the Brett Hull Hat Trick Triple Cheeseburger, which came with a special Brett Hull cup.  In the playoffs, the team rallied and came back from a 3-1 deficit in the 1st round to beat the Red Wings - a series that featured Bob Probert punching Blues' goalie Vincent Riendeau in Game 2 and a Game 5 that featured numerous fights and nearly 300 penalty minutes during a 6-1 victory.  I was at that game at the Old Barn and, as a 17 year old kid, it was one of the best games I'd ever seen.  Unfortunately, they flamed out in the 2nd round and were upset by the North Stars.  Still, this was the team that turned me into a true die hard Blues fan, as evidenced by the fact that I still own (and wear) my circa 1991 Brett Hull jersey. (Yes, Baylor friends, that's the one I wore frequently in college.)

7. 1987 Cardinals - This was last great team of the Whiteyball era and (not coincidentally) the last division and pennant winner under the team's Anheuser-Busch ownership.  This was the team that gave us Tommy Herr's extra inning game winning grand slam on "Seat Cushion Night," when thousands of seat cushions were hurled onto the field to celebrate a come-from-behind win over the hated Mets. This was also the team that gave us The Secret Weapon - Jose Oquendo, who played all 9 positions over the course of the season while getting some key hits off the bench. Jack Clark mashed 35 home runs even though his missed more than a month of the season with a wrist injury.  In the NLCS, the Cards rallied from a 3-2 series deficit to defeat Jeffrey "One Flap Down" Leonard and the Giants, helped in part by a clutch Game 7 home run from Oquendo, much to the delight of the cowbell toting fans.  Unfortunately, they couldn't overcome the Twins' home field advantage at the Homer Dome in the World Series, leading to the second heartbreaking World Series loss in three years.

6. 2015-16 Blues - This team will forever hold a special place in my heart because it beat the Blackhawks in the playoffs (officially ending their dynasty) in a thrilling 7 game series that featured 6 one-goal games, including 2 OT games.  My daughter and I were there for Game 7 when a 3rd period goal by Troy Brouwer propelled the Note past the Blackhawks and into the 2nd round and it was probably the most exciting game I've ever witnessed in person. In the conference semifinals, the Blues upset the Stars to advance to the 3rd round for the first time in 15 years.  It was the last stand in St. Louis for fan favorites like David Backes and Brian Elliott.

5. 1999 Rams - Prior to this season, St. Louis football fans had known nothing but misery.  32 seasons of pro football with the Cardinals and the Rams and not even a single playoff win.  That all changed in 1999, thanks to Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce and an unknown Arena League QB named Kurt Warner.  The Rams not only won 13 regular season games and the first playoff game in St. Louis football history, they used a high octane offense and an opportunistic defense to win the Super Bowl, giving St. Louis sports fans their first championship in any sport since 1982.  It was one of the best Super Bowls played up to that time, sealed by The Tackle by Mike Jones as time expired.  This team gave me my first championship parade (I was only 8 when the previous one happened, so I didn't get to go) and finally gave long suffering St. Louis football fans something to cheer about.  It was one of the most incredible one season turnarounds in NFL history.  This team would probably be ranked a little higher if they and their corrupt cabal of fellow owners hadn't violated league rules to move the team back to LA a few seasons ago.  Even with the sour ending, I still have to love this team for the excitement and thrills they provided.

4. 2004 Cardinals - This is the best Cardinals team I've ever seen.  They won 105 games during the regular season, led by the MV3 - Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen - who all 3 had 30+ HR, 100+ RBI and OPS of over 1.000.  All five starting pitchers finished in double digits in wins and closer Jason Isringhausen had 47 saves.  They rallied from a 3-2 deficit in the NLCS to beat Roger Clemens and the Astros in a series that featured heroics both at the plate and in the field from Jim Edmonds.  While the team ran out of gas and suffered a brutal 4 game sweep to the Red Sox in the World Series, they still won their first NL pennant in 17 years and provided the Sea of Red at Busch with countless memories.

3. 2011 Cardinals - I could live to be 110 and I'll never again witness another baseball team like the 2011 Cardinals.  Left for dead, they rallied from 10.5 back in August to make the playoffs on the last night of the season.  Expected to promptly exit stage right in the playoffs, they shocked the Phillies in the NLDS (the Game 5 matchup between Chris Carpenter and Roy Halladay was one for the ages) before pounding their way past the Brewers in the NLCS.  The Fall Classic gave us the best World Series game ever (Game 6) in which the never-say-die Cardinals twice were down to their last strike, only to rally and win the game on an iconic 11th inning walk-off homer by hometown hero David Freese.  It remains the only game in MLB postseason history in which a team scored in the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th innings.  That game was really a microcosm of the 2011 Cardinals as a whole - just when you thought they were dead, they'd rise up and pull out some unexpected wins.  This team gave us the Rally Squirrel, 11 in '11 and it marked the last time that Tony LaRussa and Albert Pujols would wear the birds on the bat.  It marked the end of an era and gave Cardinals fans an unbelievable come-from-behind story that featured a hometown hero as its centerpiece.  This team gave me my third championship parade, my son's second (he was 8) and my daughter's first (she was 4).

2. 1985 Cardinals - For more than 30 years, this was my favorite sports team of all time.  Part of that was my age at the time.  I was 11 and so this was really the first time I was old enough to follow the team day in and day out.  As my college friends can attest, I've had a love affair with this team and I can easily rattle off the stats, even when I'm inebriated.  Willie McGee hit .353, won a Gold Glove and an MVP. Rookie Vince Coleman led MLB with 110 steals and won Rookie of the Year. Tommy Herr produced one of the most bizarre stat lines ever, driving in 110 runs despite only hitting 8 HR.  John Tudor started the season 1-7 before going a ridiculous 20-1 after that.  He won 21 games and had a sub-2.00 ERA.  The only thing that kept him from winning the Cy Young and giving the Cardinals all of the major awards was Dwight Gooden's stupendous sophomore campaign.  This was Whiteyball at its finest, winning 101 games while hitting only 87 HR but stealing 314 bases.  This was "The Heat is On," "Go Crazy, Folks!" and Pedro Guerrero throwing down his glove in disgust after Tom Niedenfuer gave up game winning 9th inning homers in back-to-back game in the NLCS.  Unfortunately, this was also baseball's fastest man getting run down by a slow moving automated tarp machine and Don Denkinger's blown call at 1st in Game 6 of the World Series.  This was the team that really made me fall in love with baseball, while also teaching me how much sports can also break your heart.  If I'd done this list a year ago, this team would still have been #1 on this list.  But then a miracle happened...

1. 2018-19 Blues - ...and that miracle was the BLUES FINALLY WINNING A STANLEY CUP!!! If the 1985 Cardinals made me cry sad tears over sports for the first time, the 2019 Blues made me cry tears of joy over sports for the first time.  Similar to the 2011 Cardinals, this team was left for dead and came back to accomplish what no one thought was possible.  In last place in the NHL when the calendar turned to January, they caught fire in the new year thanks, in large part, to an unheralded 3rd string goalie who had been wasting away in the minors before getting called up in January. They went on an incredible run to make the playoffs and then JUST. KEPT. WINNING. They rallied to beat the Jets in the 1st round before coming back from a 3-2 series deficit to beat the Stars in the 2nd round in double OT in Game 7 on a goal by another hometown hero, Pat Maroon.  They overcame a blown call (IT WAS A HAND PASS!) in the conference finals to beat the Sharks and advance to their first Stanley Cup Final since 1970.  Prior to this, the Blues had never even won a game in the Cup Final in franchise history.  This time, they fulfilled the hopes and dreams of a long suffering fan base by winning those last 4 games to finally bring Lord Stanley's Cup to the Gateway City.  They were the oldest franchise to not have won a Cup. The 16th and final playoff win had me in tears because a part of me genuinely doubted whether I'd ever get to witness the Blues win a Cup.  This was a gutsy, gritty team that was the perfect representation of what a hockey team should be - hard nosed, physical, unselfish and blue collar.  This was "Gloria" and the biggest, craziest championship parade I've ever seen.  This one was my 4th, my son's 3rd and my daughter's 2nd.  Like the 2011 Cardinals, I could live to be 110 and I'll never again experience something like the 2019 Blues.

Honorable Mention: 1999-2000 Blues

There you have it - my list of my 10 favorite sports teams of all time!  How many of these are on your list?  I'd love to hear your picks.

Thanks for reading!

Adjusting to the New Normal

Life is all about adjustments.  From the moment we enter the world from our mother's womb, we're making adjustments.  Adjusting to light and dark.  Adjusting to breathing on our own.  Adjusting to the different tastes and textures of solid food.  As toddlers, we adjust to being able to walk on our own and exploring the world around us.  As we get older, we adjust to going to school and being away from home and our parents all day.  Middle school and high school brings adjustments like going to a different school and changing classes every hour.  As teenagers, we learn to drive and learn responsibility with our first jobs and adjusting to having to balance work and school and friends.  If you go away to college, you have to adjust to being on your own, away from home, making new friends while balancing schoolwork and free time.

For the first 18 to 22 years, our lives are governed by the school year.  There is always a beginning every fall and an end every spring.  The "school year" and "summer" are two completely different things with different priorities.  But because it's basically all you've ever known, there's some comfort in that cadence - knowing there's always a light at the end of the tunnel, whether it's winter break or summer. 

Which brings us to what I found to be one of the most difficult adjustments of all: having a job and living in the "real world."  Unless you're a teacher, you have to adjust to a completely different cadence, where January is basically the same as July.  The annual beginning and end we've grown up with no longer exists and we have to adjust to the fact that there's no built in beginning or end.  There's no "summer break" to look forward to.  It takes a few years to adjust from having 3-4 months off every year to having, if you're lucky, 3-4 weeks off.  In addition to that, you have to adjust to paying bills for cars and credit cards and rent or mortgages.  It's a sea change - a completely different circumstance than you've grown used to for the first few decades of your life.  And it's a new reality that will last about twice as long as your previous reality.

Even once we settle into adulthood, the adjustments don't stop.  Getting married?  You have to adjust to sharing everything - your life, your finances, your bed - with someone else.  Having kids?  You have to adjust to the responsibility that comes with raising another human being.  The sleep deprivation. The expense. The fears and worries, the joy and the heartaches.  And each phase of your child's life interacts with the phases of your own life and it requires adjustments upon adjustments.  Change is the only constant.

Now, in the face of the current pandemic, we are having to adjust to things we likely never envisioned. If you're lucky, you're adjusting to working from home and not being able to shop or dine out as you normally would.  If you're less fortunate, you're adjusting to being out of a job and worried about how to pay the bills or feed yourself and your family.  The current restrictions on mobility and the requirements for social distancing are unlike anything anyone alive has ever experienced.  They require all of us - students, adults, workers, retirees and everyone in between to once again adjust.

Is it going to be easy? No.  It's tough not being able to see friends and relatives, not being able to get together to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and graduations.  It's tough to not be able to go out to eat or to go shopping.  For those who are out of work, it's even more difficult because that lack of income brings with it all kinds of other stresses and concerns.  But I have faith that we can do it.  After all, each and every one of us has adjusted to so many changes in our lives and it is our adaptability that has allowed humankind to survive previous pandemics and plagues, recessions and depressions.  It may not be easy or fun, but we can do it.

In the interim, enjoy the extra time with your family and pets.  Enjoy short commutes and the ability to work in your pajamas. Enjoy showering less and sleeping more. At some point, this "new normal" will fade away and we'll return to the schools and office buildings, restaurants and stores, churches and arenas that we frequented before. What that happens, those things we took for granted for so long will seem that much sweeter.

Until then, pass the remote.  I have some shows to binge on Netflix...