Stumblin' Along 12/22 '24
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
- NBA on Christmas
- Week 15, ‘22 (1st Stumblin’ Along)
- YouTube Rabbithole
Alright @YouTheReader,
Today’s tune is Frank Sinatra’s Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
The lyrics were written by Ralph Blane and music by Hugh Martin in 1943 for the film Meet Me in St. Louis. Judy Garland, who starred in the movie, was then the first to record this song. It was very popular with American soldiers during World War II.
In 1957, Frank Sinatra approached Martin to use the song and asked if he could revise a lyric. Garland’s original version had the line, “Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow” to which Sinatra revised to, “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough." It was in effort to make the song a bit more jolly.
(Source: SongFacts)
A Christmas Class, here’s an updated version of the list…Just 2 songs to go…
22. Carol of the Bells by John Williams
21. Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley
20. Just Like Christmas by Low
19. Last Christmas by Wham!
18. All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey
17. Baby, It’s Cold Outside by Dean Martin & Marilyn Maxwell
16. Frosty the Snowman by Jimmy Durante
15. Feliz Navidad by José Feliciano
14. Little Saint Nick by The Beach Boys
13. Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney
12. Little Drummer Boy by Harry Simeone Chorale
11. Let It Snow by Bing Crosby
10. Happy Xmas by John Lennon
9. Holly Jolly Christmas by Burl Ives
8. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer by Gene Autry
7. Christmas in New York by Shilelagh Law
6. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Frank Sinatra
5. Do They Know It’s Christmas? by Band Aid (Original)
4. Run Rudolph Run by Chuck Berry
3. The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole
2. Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms
1. Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee
(To be continued tomorrow.)
With Christmas Day comes the official Opening Day of the NBA! Very cool of The Association to try to spice up their preseason games with their zany colorful courts, but it’s odd that they now give out a trophy for it. Anyway, the NBA has played on Christmas Day every year since 1947. Here is a preview on the 5 matchups on Wednesay…
The San Antonio Spurs are a .500 team with two foundational young pieces they’ve selected with top picks in the NBA lottery. Victor Wembanyama has been all that was promised and maybe even more as he’s averaging a double-double (24.7 ppg & 10 rpg) while leading the NBA in blocks. Just imagine what he’ll be when he stops housing up 9 3-pointers a game and decides to live in the paint using his 8’ wingspan. San Antonio’s other promising player is Stephon Castle. After a slow start to his season, Castle averaged 13.6 points and 4.1 assists while primarily coming off the bench. Castle gets to take a seat and learn from 20-year veteran Chris Paul. One thing holding Castle back is his lack of shot-making (26.4 % from 3) and inability to get to the foul line (averaging just 3.2 free throws per contest).
The New York Knicks were a part of the NBA’s first Christmas Day slate when they defeated the Providence Steamrollers in 1947. They’ve played 56 times on Christmas Day, compiling a 24-32 record. This year’s Knicks have 2 top-15 scorers in Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony-Towns. The pair are the only teammates in the NBA to both average over 24 points per game (20-game minimum). Winners of 8 of their last 10, New York has both a top 10 scoring offense and defense. Aside from their top 2 stars, one key Knick during this stretch of great play has been Mikal Bridges, who’s averaged 21.7 points per game in December.
After a slow start to their season, Minnesota has gone 6-3 since Thanksgiving to find themselves as a fringe seed in the West. Thus far the Knicks have seemed to have won the KAT trade as Donte DiVincenzo’s 3-point shooting has dropped to 33%, down from his career-best at 40% with New York last season. While Julius Randle is still a 20 points per game scorer, his rebounding totals are way down playing next to Rudy Gobert. Minnesota still has Anthony Edwards to carry them as the electric 23 year old is averaging 25+ points per game for the 2nd straight season.
This afternoon matchup is a rematch of last season’s Western Conference Finals. Luka Doncic played terrific in the series, leading the Mavs in scoring in every game at 32.5 ppg while simultaneously leading Dallas with assists in 4 games and rebounds in 3 games. Since mid-November, the Mavs are 13-3 as their backcourt of Doncic and Kyrie Irving handle most of the scoring duties. The addition of Klay Thompson has worked of late as the former Splash Brother is hitting on 45.3% of his 3s in December.
The Philadelphia 76ers got off to a 2-12 start to their season thanks to Joel Embiid load management. The Philly Big Man announced before the season that he would stop playing back to back games and has only played 7 games thus far. In those 7 games, the former MVP has looked out of sorts averaging 22.3 points per game (his lowest average since his rookie year in The Process Era). Embiid is also averaging just 7.3 rebounds and hitting on 20% from beyond the arc. Despite their terrible start, Philly is just a couple games out of the Play-In 10 Seed.
The defending NBA Champions are 2nd in the Eastern Conference Finals. Boston has eased their Big Man back into lineup as Kristaps Porzingis is averaging 19.7 points per game as the team’s 3rd leading scorer. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have combined to average over 50 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists, and 2 steals between the 2 of them. Aside from their stars, 5th year guard Payton Prichard has emerged as lethal off the bench. Prichard is averaging a career-high 16 points per game on 43.2% 3-point shooting.
The NBA couldn’t help but give the fans another primetime matchup of LeBron vs Steph. As much as this rivalry has been played out over the years, it’ll be missed once they retire. Year 22 LeBron is still averaging 23 ponts, 8 rebounds, and 9 assists per game. That’s about 23 more points, 8 more rebounds, and 9 more assists per game than Bronny James is averaging on the Lakers. That said earlier in December, Bronny James put up 30 points in the G League for the first time post high school and has been shown signs of development with the South Bay Lakers. No word on if the Lakers plan to call up the younger James for Christmas Day, but it may not be a showcase for another one of their rookies either as Dalton Knecht has slowly seen his minutes fall off after losing his starting spot. Knecht flashed some potential, scoring 20 or more points in 4 games in November but the older rookie has only averaged 5.2 points in limited action in December.
Steph Curry and the Warriors got off to a torrid 12-3 start to their season but have struggled entering the holidays losing 9 of their last 12. While Curry is still elite from 3, shoointg 41.1% from deep and hitting on 4 per game, Golden State no longer has the same supporting cast or defenders. Oddly enough, the Warriors superstar doesn’t play well on Christmas as he’s averaging just 15.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 6.4 assists per game while shooting only around 20% from 3. The Warriors may be primed for trading for his next sidekick so a nationally televised loss to their longtime rival could spur some action.
Nikola Jokic is still every bit as impressive as ever as he continues to improve his Hall of Fame level game. The Denver Big Man and 3-time MVP is averaging a career-high 31 points per game while still chiming in with 13 rebounds and 9.8 assists. The problem with Denver has been the uneven play around the do-it-all center. The Nuggets may need to figure out if Michael Porter Jr. or Jamal Murray need to play second fiddle to Jokic. Both are averaging 18 points per game but can go through slumps in long stretches when they aren’t injured. A nice complimentary piece for Denver this season has been Russell Westbrook, who’s embraced his role as a 6th Man while avaeraging 11.6 points and 6.5 assists off the bench.
The Phoenix Suns are a top heavy super team with aging stars. Kevin Durant has already missed more than a handful of games and although he can still score with the best of them (has scored 37 & 43 points in his last 2 losses) it hasn’t been enough to get the Suns any further than Play-In Game status. Part of the problem for the Suns is although they have Durant and Devin Booker lighting up the scoring column, Bradley Beal hasn’t been the same effective scorer as the #3 guy, plus the likes of Tyus Jones is running the show with 6.7 assists per game. After a season where Booker handled the point guard duties, much of them have had to be offloaded to Jones as the Suns need Booker to score because Durant and Beal haven’t been healthy. All that said, if the Suns can actually make it into the NBA Playoffs, their top heavy scorers will make for a scary low seed.
On to some Hoboken history….
Week 15, ‘22 & More
Week 15, ‘22 last year was technically Week to Week Notes’ first Stumblin’ Along so I figured to take a quick revisit. While writing that Note I had Frank Sinatra’s Baby It’s Cold Outside on in the background. Yes, I know, it was very problematic and bold of me given today’s climate. I had just visited the Hoboken Historical Museum and Sinatra’s birthday is December 12, 1915. The museum had just received an item of Ol Blue Eyes, one of his Sinatra Swooners jerseys.
In 1947, Frank Sinatra led a team of Hollywood celebrities including actor Anthony Quinn and songwriter Sammy Cahn in softball contests against other local LA celebrity teams. Their team name was the Sinatra Swooners. Ol' Blue Eyes were the Swooners' second basemen and his team’s cheerleaders included Virginia Mayo, Shelley Winters, and Ava Gardner (the bat girl pictured on the Cover of Week 15, ‘22). If you look up the Sinatra Swooners online all of the pictures are in black&white and the only jerseys I see for sale are grey and orange, their road uniform. This piece is extremely rare and was found in someone’s attic (they had no idea their recently deceased family member owned this). Another Hoboken factoid: Orange was Frank Sinatra’s favorite color.
(Source: Executive Director of the Museum, Bob Foster)
At the museum, they had an old Victor Talking Machine Company record player. The Victor Talking Machine Company was founded in Camden, New Jersey in 1901. From 1901 to 1929 it was the largest and most prestigious firm of its kind in the world, best known for the iconic “His Master’s Voice” trademark (if you zoom in where you see the dogs). In 1929, they merged with Radio Corporation of America (RCA). RCA would eventually spawn the first nationwide American radio broadcast called the National Broadcasting Company. @YouTheReader I just gave you a non-sports-related tidbit on the origins of NBC for the next time you watch Sunday Night Football.
Sinatra along with Martin and Davis Jr. performed for a packed Carnegie Hall in 1961. The Benefit Performance was for Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The SCLC’s goal was to redeem “the soul of America” through nonviolent resistance, which is still around today. This photo was taken afterward as the boys were letting loose.
Non-Related Sinatra Items
I’m cheating because most of the stuff written above I wrote about last year. Here are some of my other findings on my trip to the Hoboken Historical Museum last year…
Besides being Frank Sinatra’s hometown, the other cool claim to fame about Hoboken is of course that it’s the home of baseball. On June 19th, 1846, the NY Knickerbockers got their arses handed to them by the New York Nine by the score of 23-1. The game of baseball was nothing like today but they had four bases arranged in a diamond shape and a pitcher threw the ball underhand to the batter. This was back when men were men, no gloves for the fielders, and players could be put out by either catching a fly ball or pegging.
The man behind the first documented game of baseball was also the man behind the plate umping it. That would be Alexander Joy Cartwright Jr. who brought joy to the world by setting the bases 90 feet apart and establishing all the 9s in America’s Pastime. The Father of Modern Baseball was born in New York City in 1820. His father was a merchant sea captain and his mother gave birth to his 6 other siblings. At 16 years old in 1836, Alex Jr. worked as a clerk for a Wall Street broker. As a teenager, when he wasn’t learning stocks and bonds, Cartwright was also a volunteer firefighter. He would play “bat-and-ball” games with fellow volunteers on the streets of Manhattan. Eventually, volunteer firefighters of Knickerbocker Engine Company No. 12, decided they should make a ball club from their stickball playing days.
As Manhattan’s landscape started to expand and industrialize, the Knickerbockers needed more land for their ball playing so they ventured across the Hudson River by ferry to Hoboken, New Jersey. Elysian Fields had plenty of room for fellas to play this game called “baseball” using the “Cartwright rules.” Alexander J. Cartwright Jr. didn’t just take his new game west of The City into Hoboken, he went a bit further than that. In 1849, the New Yorker was a 49er who headed to the Pacific for the gold rush. He brought America’s future Pastime along with him. His mission to grow didn’t just stay within the continental United States either, Cartwright Jr. ended up out in Hawaii before it was even an American state. He founded the Makiki Baseball Field in 1852 on the island of Oahu. Cartwright Jr. ended up dying in Hawaii but his legacy of baseball would stay there for good as they renamed the Baseball Diamond after him in 1938. That same year, the Baseball Hall of Fame gave the father of modern Baseball a plaque in Cooperstown.
(Source: Society for American Baseball Research)
Baseball wasn’t the only sport played in its early days in Hoboken. In the museum, I also saw a poster of the Buffalo German Basketball Team vs Hoboken Basketball Club. Luckily I found the box score for the game…
According to The Buffalo News, Hoboken got beat badly, losing 79 to 12 in front of 600 people. The Buffalo German of 1904 were no joke. They were led by Captain Heerdt, who dropped “no less than 30 points.” The game was played at the Quartette Hall Club Hall in Hoboken…
Hoboken’s Quartette Hall Club Hall is located at 1005 Washington Avenue, which is now the Elks Club House. The building is about 4 blocks from me so that’s pretty cool. Originally the building was used for Hoboken’s Singing Society. A German fraternal organization would use the space for music and performances so they must have had the “in” to use the singing space for a game of hoops.
