The June update of our monthly SI Calendar wall was a bit somber as we reconciled the recent firing of Sports Illustrated personnel to our latest issue being from April. Indeed, if SI is not officially dead and murdered, the coroner is certainly finishing his report. Fortunately, we have enough covers that the worldwide headquarters of Somanystadiums will continue to have a robust and rousing wall of sports history for years to come. Here’s what we are seeing for the month of June, which seemed to have a lot covers that just went together well as pairs.
“Hope is a dangerous thing, my friend, it may even kill a man”
Said Red, in The Shawshank Redemption. It is unlikely Bob Hope killed anyone, but we can’t know for sure. Maybe all those USO tours were just cover for his real role as a CIA assassin. Fans of the Indians (err Guardians) and Pirates are likely to endorse that hope can indeed kill a man. However, the Guardians are rolling so maybe this year is finally their year. As for Buccos fans, the headline on the cover is as true today as it was then. The Pirates have a great young staff, but the pennant is still a few years away.
In a banner year for animals, the first Sea World also opens
The “Racing” that the June 8, 1964 cover refers to is horse racing. The Hall of Fame Jockey Bill Hartack issue highlights how going to the track is the most popular sport in the world. I would say the bloom is off the roses in this case, when perhaps the most famous trainer today, Bob Baffert, is in a constant rumor storm of horse drugging and deaths. I really use to enjoy going to the track, but the slimy underbelly of the sport is just too much for me these days. The sport had its day for sure as there were any number of additional June SI covers endorsing racing. Even I remember the huge Affirmed – Alydar rivalry of the Seventies.
You’d never treat a human being like that…
Heavyweight boxing champ Ingemar Johansson had two June covers, one year after another. Ingo won his first title fight in 1959 against Floyd Patterson knocking him down seven times in one round. In the rematch, he was viciously knocked out – lying cold on the canvas for a full five minutes. Ingo retired after losing the third fight with Patterson, where his training diet featured strawberry shortcake and cherry cheesecake. Ah, heavyweights.
And you thought Ingo was tough
Looking more like an accountant than a world class athlete, the SI cover of Hale Irwin’s second US Open win is misleading indeed. Irwin was a two-time all Big Eight cornerback for Colorado while also starring for the golf team, winning the NCAA championship his senior year. He was also an academic All-American. Irwin went on to an amazing PGA career highlighted by three U.S. Open championships. If I was as badass as Hale, I’d have that second cover blown up on my man cave wall.
I will finish with a cover of the late, great Bill Walton. I always enjoyed telecasts more when Walton was on the mike. I also loved his passion for bike riding and the Grateful Dead.
“Fare thee well now / Let your life proceed by its own design / Nothing to tell now
/ Let the words be yours, I’m done with mine” – ‘Cassidy’
And don’t forget Dad this Father’s Day
We’ve got shirts and mugs that will surely make him smile. Check it out here