A Brief History On February 2, 1954, the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League played the first ever outdoor hockey game in the history of the NHL in Marquette, Michigan, up North in the Upper Peninsula. Digging Deeper Not only was the outdoor venue a notable first, but the opponents of the Red Wings were also inmates of the Marquette Branch Prison!  The prisoners gave their team the apropos name of “Pirates,” but unfortunately for the convicts, their hockey team was not up to NHL standards. The Red Wings won the game by a score of 18 to…

A Brief History On February 1, 1946, Norway’s Trygve Lie was selected as the first ever Secretary General of the United Nations, beginning a long line of names to head the UN that are tricky to pronounce in English. Digging Deeper Succeeding Mr. Lie, a questionable name for a diplomat, was the even harder to pronounce Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden.  Next up to the plate was a diplomat with a succinct first name consisting of only a single letter, U Thant of Burma, now Myanmar. After U came the more pedestrian sounding Kurt Waldheim, although this man has been rumored…

A Brief History On January 31, 1846, the result of the Milwaukee Bridge War was the formation of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Fought over a bridge being built over the Milwaukee River, two of the three settlements in the area, Juneautown and Kilbourntown, were highly competitive with each other and along with Walker’s Point were incorporated as the Village of Milwaukee in 1839. Digging Deeper The intense rivalry between the leading citizens of each area boiled over in 1845 when one of the several bridges in the village was struck by a schooner sparking rumors of an intentional ramming.  The Kilbourntown people…

A Brief History On January 30, 1968, the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong guerillas launched surprise attacks all over South Vietnam during a supposed “cease fire” period to celebrate the Asian Lunar New Year, known as Tet. Digging Deeper At this point in the Vietnam War, Americans were getting a bit war weary and were repeatedly told by their leaders that the US and South Vietnam were winning the war.  The uncharacteristically massive scale of the enemy attack destroyed American public belief that the war was going well or perhaps was even winnable. The North and VC involved in…

A Brief History On January 29, 2009, Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich was successfully impeached by the state legislature and booted from office for the crime of soliciting appointment as the replacement as US senator for President-elect Obama.  Blagojevich was convicted and served eight years in prison for his crime.  About 18 governors have suffered sexual scandals or criminal charges resulting in being forced from office. Digging Deeper Spiro Agnew of Maryland, while serving as Vice President was charged with taking bribes and kick backs while Governor of Maryland and became the second US VP to resign in 1973. Virginia…