Asterisks
ESPN's Page 2 offers a sarcastic look in response to the following quote from Barry Bonds:
- "... you cannot rehash the past. If that's the case, we're going to go way back into 19th, 18th centuries in rehashing the past and we'll crush a lot of things in a lot of sports ... if you just want a lot of things out of the sports world, then we can go back into the 1800s and basically asterisk a lot of sports if that's what you choose ..."
-- Barry Bonds, speaking to his good friends in the press.
Good idea. But why stop with sports?Here are some of my favorites:
Columbus Reaches the New World
The deed: In 1492, Italian explorer sails the ocean blue, yadda yadda yadda. He ends up in the Americas ...
The asterisk: ... along with smallpox.
The Battle of Gettysburg
The deed: Federal army beats back 1863 Confederate invasion, turning the tide of the Civil War.
The asterisk: Subsequent chess set grossly overpriced.
The Telephone
The deed: Alexander Graham Bell patents his telephone in 1876; the first call is to his assistant, Thomas A. Watson.
The asterisk: Telephone actually invented by Italy's Antonio Meucci in 1849 (really -- look it up); second call was from a telemarketer, offering Bell a low-rate mortgage.
The Wright Brothers' First Flight
The deed: In 1903, brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright fly the first powered airplane over Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
The asterisk: Flight delayed on runway for 25 minutes; Wilbur's luggage misplaced in Charlotte; first in-flight bag of peanuts is 75 percent vacuum-packed air.
