May 7, 2008

• Thinking back about the 10 year anniversary of Kerry Wood's 20 strikeout game got me thinking about the year 1998. And I did this last year at some point as well, looking back at 1997. So, here is a look back at the year 1998.

  • January 5- Sonny Bono dies when his heart stops. The heart was forced to be stopped when his body decided to direct him straight into a tree while skiing.
  • January 25- The Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl. I've always loved Denver and John Elway has long been my favorite football player, I was excited about this.
  • February 18- Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray dies.
  • March 23- Undeserving Titanic wins 11 Oscars including best picture. I still have never seen the movie, but 11 Oscars? Seems like a bit much to me.
  • March 24- 2 students kill 5 people and injure another 10 in Jonesboro, AR.
  • March 27- Viagra is approved by the FDA. That's right people Viagra is 10! The means it will be hitting puberty within the next few years. Does that mean the pills will get bigger?
  • May14- The last episode of Seinfeld airs. To this day, it remains my 2nd favorite show of all time, right behind Blossom. Just kidding about the Blossom part.
  • May 14- Frank Sinatra dies
  • May 28- Phil Hartman is murdered by his wife before killing herself leaving behind a 9 year old son and a 6 year old daughter.
  • June 14- The Chicago Bulls win their 6th championship in 8 years. I remember watching it at some auditorium place with a guy I used to be friends with, Rob, and a bunch of his church friends. I don't a Chicago team will win 6 titles in 8 years again in my lifetime, I still cherish every title and remember where I was for each one. 
  • August 7- Osama Bin Laden bombs 4 US embassies killing 224 people and injuring over 4,500. Bin Laden remains at large.
  • October 21- The New York Yankees win the World Series, finishing a season in which they won 114 games in the regular season.
  • November 3- Jesse "The Body" Ventura is elected governor of Minnesota
  • December 19- President Bill Clinton is impeached for getting a blow job from Monica Lewinsky and lying about it. I remain convinced that the primary reason why he lied was so that his wife would not find out. After all, would you want to deal with Hillary's ass after that?

  The top 20 tv shows were:

  1	)	E.R.
  2	)	Frasier
  3	)	Friends
  4	)	NFL Monday Night Football
  5	)	Jesse
  6	)	Veronica's Closet
  7	)	60 Minutes
  8	)	Touched by an Angel
  9	)	CBS Sunday Movie
  10	)	20/20
  11	)	Home Improvement
  12	)	Everybody Loves Raymond
  13	)	NYPD Blue
  14	)	Law and Order
  15	)	The Drew Carey Show
  16	)	JAG
  17	)	NFL Monday Showcase
  18	)	Providence
  19	)	Dateline
  20	)	The X-Files

  Here were some of the top songs from 1998. I don't know about you, but I can't believe some of these songs are this old.

  One Week- Bare Naked Ladies
  Closing Time- Semisonic
  Inside Out- Eve 6
  Jump, Jive and Wail- Brian Setzer Orchestra (remember when this new version of swing music as all the rage)
  Zoot Suit Riot- Cherry Poppin Daddies
  I Don't Want To Miss A Thing- Aerosmith
  Time Of Your Life (Good Riddance)-Green Day
  Gettin' Jiggy With It- Will Smith
  Fly Away- Lenny Kravitz
  My Own Prison- Creed (I HATE creed, but I put that one on here for Randy and Heather)
  Jumper- Third Eye Blind

  Movies released in 1998

  Saving Private Ryan (the highest grossing movie of 1998)
  Armageddon
  There's Something About Mary
  The Big Lebowski
  Rounders
  Rushmore
  The Wedding Singer
  The Opposite of Sex
  American History X

  As for my life in February1998, after nearly 2 1/2 years I found a permanent job. I know it sounds bad to be unemployed for that long, but shit, I was living at home. Shit, that makes it sound even worse. In March Jt and drove to the Baseball Hall of Fame and then to New York City. 1998 was a huge baseball year for me. In addition to Wood's 20 strikeout game, 1998 was the year of the great home run race between Scammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. We even went as far as to go to Milwaukee for  a Cardinals-Brewers game on September 18th to see him hit a homerun. Of course now we know that it was all a sham as both players were hopped up on steroids. But at the time, it was very exciting, almost a surreal experience. The Cubs even went to the playoffs that year, only to get swept by the Atlanta Braves.

  We took several trips that year, also went to St Louis in August in addition to our annual camping trip at Shotgun Eddy's in Wisconsin. After the events of the previous year at Shotgun, somehow Dave managed to get himself invited back for 1998, I think his dating Kelli had a lot to do with it.  Jt also turned 21 that year which resulted in a 3 day, 3 state gambling trip for Jt, Dave and I. Jt and I went to the Harrah's in Joliet at midnight on July 28. We woke up the next morning and Dave, Jt and I went to a riverboat in Indiana to gamble some more. The day after that we drove out to Bettendorf, Iowa to complete our three state tour.

  Towards the end of the year, I had an idea for my siblings and I to chip in give my mother a Christmas gift of a trip to California to see her brothers. We also sent my sister along with her. Turned out to be a great thing as it was the last time my mother got to see her brothers, as she died a little more than  year later. This was the last time I ever got my mother a gift. See, she had always complained about the gifts we got her. I figured that this would be such a great gift that she would finally have a gift that she loved. In early December we told her that she would be going on her trip from the day after Christmas until January 2nd. She was so excited and very happy. At the time, my mom ran a daycare in the house and never took vacations, she was always worried that she would lose clients if she took time off. But, we managed to convince her that a week off right around the holidays would be fine. Now my mom's evil to the core sister used to come here and help my mom babysit the kids in the day care. A couple of weeks before her trip, I got in a pretty heated argument with that cold hearted bitch because she called my sister a fat pig. I'm getting ahead of myself here. See, my mom and her sister used to hit the kids. I never liked that and it would always cause problems if I saw them do this. Well, my sister (who worked for my mom as well) said something to the evil bitch after she hit one of the kids. That is when she called my sister a fat pig and I came in and really started yelling at her for the hitting and for calling her a fat pig. Well, this caused a huge problem with my mom. She got very pissed and like the fucking baby she was, refused to go on the trip, in addition, she stopped talking to me. After a couple of days, the daughter of my mother's evil to the core sister called me and started yelling at me because of the fight I had with her mother. I remember I just kept saying "are we going to talk this through like a couple of adults or are you going to sit here and yell at me?". After a while, she calmed down. She said that she felt it would go a long way of making things right with my mother if I apologized to her mother for the fight. Now keep in mind that I HATE my mother's evil to the core sister with every fiber of my being. But, for the greater good, I did what I had to do and long story short, my mom changed her mind and went on her trip. Much like my mother though, I hold grudges and after that whole thing I said that my mother never appreciates any of the things we buy for her and I swore that I would not buy her another thing until her funeral. A year later, she was dead. Oh, and I kept my promise.

  With my mom out of town, Mark, John and I had a huge New Year's Eve bash here at the house. This would turn out to be one of our bigger bashes, if I had to guess I would say we had about 50 people at our party. It was a great time though.

  That was 1998. It doesn't seem that long ago, does it?

  • 11:21 pm
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