Here we are less than 72 hours away from the Super festivities of Miami. Of course the level of hype that precedes what is going to happen rarely if ever matches up the level of expectations fans hope for. I am on record to say that I expect the Saints to win in dramatic fashion and in a defensive battle of a game. 26-23 in overtime. New Orleans is a city that has overcome in the last four plus years. Which reminds me...

As the Easy Coast prepares for weather very reminiscent of what happened to the day in 1978, it occurs to me that Henry Aaron has a birthday today. Born in Mobile Alabama in 1934 which also happened to be Babe Ruth's last year as a Yankee before finishing up in Boston with the Braves.

Henry Aaron is 76 years young today and we haven't heard too much from him since his playing days ended. He wasn't much of a talker as I think back. However the parallels with Babe Ruth go on forever. My memories of Hank Aaron are brightest when he was in the thick of the Bambino chase in 1973 and 1974. I am about to expound on some ironies.

July 14th 1973 I attended my first pro ball game at old Yankee Stadium. I learned years later that Babe Ruth hit homer #700 that day in 1934. The Yanks lost the game I attended 4-2 but that is a minor footnote.

One week later I was headed on a family trip to Cape May in South New Jersey. July 21st the date. I know because as we arrived and as we got to our hotel room Dad turned on the television and there he was...Bad Henry had just connected got dinger #700 off the arm of Ken Brett. Student Robert Winborne caught the ball and was content to give the ball to Hank, who then rewarded the student with 700 silver dollars.

The political climate of America was slowly starting to change. You had Watergate about to be the story, and there was a chase with history. The man about to be passed a ballplayer who was elevated to such a level that in 1931, when Babe Ruth was making 5,000 dollars more a year than Herbert Hoover, Babe replied,'Yeah but I had a better year than he did.' Classic!

Braves fans will also remember the great home run chase of 1973 within their own team. Davey Johnson, Darrell Evans and Henry combined for 124 taters. 40 of them by Hank.

What you probably weren't aware of was the amount of mail coming to Mr. Aaron. In 1973 over 930,000 pieces of mail were sent to Hank. Unheard of. Lots of well-wishers but there was an element of racist, vile threats, and revisionist stereotypes that negroes in the South were slowly tiring of. Not until late into the season did Hank Aaron publicly comment on the letters. Once he did that would have all stopped.

Around 1990 Hank wrote an autobiography called, 'I Had a Hammer'. He commented on how he still has all the hateful mails safely locked away to look back at when he is ready to reminisce...

To give you a parallel of how tough his detractors were, think about how mean and spiteful some of the media were toward Sarah Palin in 2008. Multiply that sevenfold for 1973. The closer the Babe's record was being reached, the more the scrutiny for Hank became.

I distinctly remember how the networks...all three of them...would pull away from regular programming after Henry reached 700.

We know that on 4/8/74 the chase ended and Tom House caught the historic #715 on a pitch thrown by Al Downing. That ended the scrutiny and Hank retired a Brewer in 1976. 

I just had a thought...Hank and Babe-Aquarians! Sarah Palin has a birthday on the 11th-Another Aquarius! Let's top this off with a zinger and ask what would the 70's have been like if Oprah was doing her thing on TV? Then it occurred to me. Another Aquarius! Oprah is somewhere around the 29th of January. That, my friends is one heck of an Aquarian Conspiracy, eh?

For what it's worth, once the Super Bowl ends all my thoughts will zoom in on the start of the 2010 season on the diamond side. Men will get depressed that the season of the pigskin is now over. Oh, well. At least the ladies will now get their remotes back for five months.

This began as an encomium to the Spirit of the Saints. I have managed to tie it into a former Home-Run King and Conspiracy speak. Must be a slow news day.

Mavericks game tonight with the T-Wolves. I look forward to it!

Over and out in Big D

Mr. Will