April 6: here comes your anti-Oscar

April 6: today in history (from Wikipedia)

1896 – "In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games are banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I." Despite its many, many flaws, the Olympics at least have anchored nations around something to plan for and look forward to. If politics interferes too much, what's really surprising is that politics haven't interfered so badly so as to destroy the Games. 

1947 – "The first Tony Awards are presented for theatrical achievement." I glanced over the list of Best Musical winners. This is the anti-Oscar; not only does it appear that the most deserving usually won, for the non-aficionado it's kind of hard to even name other musicals.

1973 – "The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter." The absolutely best example of trying to "fix what isn't broken." How they thought that the World Series should be played with different rules for each game is mind-boggling.

Notable quotes (from Brainyquote unless otherwise sourced)

"In 1960, when I came out of prison as an ex-convict, I had more freedom under parolee supervision than there's available... in America right now." - Merle Haggard (born April 6, 1937)

"Free speech is meant to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech, by definition, needs no protection." - Neal Boortz (born April 6, 1945)

"It enrages me to see only certain players singled out for the Hall of Fame because they were born with a God-given specialty. When I take my kids to the Baseball Hall of Fame, I want them to experience the full array of talents that make the game what it is today, not just the larger-than-life freaks of nature. I want them to know that you don't have to be the biggest or the strongest to reach your goals, and that hard work and perseverance are also rewarded." - Bert Blylevin (born April 6, 1950)  SOURCE

Song of the Day

Happy 49th to Black Francis of The Pixies!