
We are closing in on the three-month anniversary of what's become nearly a complete sports shutdown in America. This week's attempt by your feisty Strib sports staff to add entertainment has been a wide-ranging selection of "favorite'' events covered.
I went with Miami 31, Nebraska 30 in the Orange Bowl of Jan. 2, 1984 – figuring there could be a conflict with the Gophers over Clemson in the 1997 Sweet 16 (Jerry Zgoda was there), or Games 6 and 7 of the 1991 World Series.
There are three events that certainly belong on any such favorites list that might not have been given proper consideration by our numerous and worthy contributors.
Remember, key word "entertainment,'' and the wackier the better. They will be offered here in chronological order in the days ahead, starting with:
July 4, 1978, Met Stadium
The lowly Twins were playing the rising Milwaukee Brewers in a Tuesday night holiday game. Promotions director Don Cassidy decided to spice up the usual fireworks by hiring "Captain Dynamite'' to blow himself up behind second base after the game.
The Captain was a man named Patrick O'Brien, then 62, who had been providing this stunt mostly in minor league ballparks, local racetracks and county fairs for 25 years at that time.
He was said to have been a Coast Guard cook who would compile his leave and set up his summer Dynamite schedule – and then continued after military retirement.