Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2008 August 8

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August 8

Olympians who became famous for other things

Does anyone have a comprehensive list of people who competed at the Olympics but became famous for something other than sport?

U.S. Army General George S. Patton is one (pentathalon 1912) and author Dr. Benjamin Spock (rowing 1924) is another that I know of.

Are there any others to contribute?

205.210.170.49 (talk) 03:33, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Oddjob actor Harold Sakata (weightlifting 1948, silver medal). Algebraist 03:40, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Arthur Porritt (sprinter, President of the Royal College of Surgeons, Governor-General of New Zealand) is one such individual. Johnny Weissmuller comes to mind, though his film career was to some extent a follow-on from his sport (as were those of Sonja Henie and Esther Williams). Frank Beaurepaire became a prominent businessman and local-body politician, as did Les Mills, and probably several other Olympians have as well. The likes of Sebastian Coe are famous in sport but outside the competition side of it. Grutness...wha? 09:37, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

What about someone like Anne, Princess Royal who was famous for something beside sport before competing in the Olympics. Rmhermen (talk) 13:59, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

If I could find these, someone who knew sports could find many others:

• Bobsled athlete Albert II of Monaco.
• Decathlon gold medalist Bob Mathias, later a member of Congress.
• Runner Jim Ryun, later a member of Congress.
• Wendell Anderson, silver medal, hockey, 1956, later governor of Minnesota.

OtherDave (talk) 15:08, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

If we mention Weissmuller, we can't forget Buster Crabbe, Glenn Morris and Bruce Bennett. Eric Heiden is an orthopedic surgeon and has been the team physician for the Sacramento Kings and Sacramento Monarchs. Johann Olav Koss is a physician, a former UNICEF ambassador and is CEO of Right to Play. Norman Ross became a DJ and then a member of Jimmy Doolittle's staff. Duke Kahanamoku was sheriff of Honolulu. Alfréd Hajós becdame a famous architect. (So much for the swimmers... :) ) Corvus cornix_talk 20:26, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Bruce Jenner became infamous for his appearance in Can't Stop the Music, and has done bits and pieces in TV and movies. Murray Rose became an actor, best known here for his fleeting appearance in Howard Hughes's favourite movie Ice Station Zebra. John Landy and Marjorie Jackson-Nelson became governors of Australian states. Dawn Fraser became a politician for a while. Jack Kelly was better known as Grace Kelly's father, and grandfather of Prince Albert II of Monaco (who was himself an Olympic bobsledder in 1988), and Jack's son Jack, Jr. was Grace's brother. David Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter, known as Lord Burghley when was an Olympian, later became Governor of Bermuda. Sir Roger Bannister became a distinguished neurologist (our article says he was knighted for his services to sport, but I'm pretty sure it was actually for his services to medicine; or maybe it was for both). -- JackofOz (talk) 00:08, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

Responding to OtherDave, one or two of them - including the royals, who also include one for the Norwegian Royal family (King Olav V perhaps?), who was a very fine yachtsman - were famous for something before they went to the Olympics, which is why I didn't originally mention them. Grutness...wha? 01:51, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

Another athlete who became a politician is skater Otto Jelinek. --Anonymous, 03:20 UTC, August 9, 2008.

Sir Menzies Campbell, British Member of Parliament and former leader of the Liberal Democrats, is a former sprinter who competed at the Tokyo Olympics. Sir Christopher Chataway is a former Olympic long-distance runner who became a Conservative Member of Parliament in Britain and attained ministerial office in the government of prime minister Edward Heath.

A Certain Song

I remember hearing a song a couple of months ago (actually I heard it before then but that was the latest I've heard it). The only lyrics I can remember are "come out to my window after dark" then something like "put the records on", and then something about playing The Miracles. Can anyone please tell me who sang that song or what its called? I appreciate any help and I thank everyone in advance. Americanfreedom (talk) 05:56, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

That's "The Motown Song" by Rod Stewart. Adam Bishop (talk) 06:03, 8 August 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.210.170.49 (talk)

Why doesn't baseball have a kickoff?

Football's an extremely popular sport. Combine the two and I'll bet you'll get the most popular sport ever! Or not. But seriously why doesn't baseball ever try anything new? Tradition? The DH rule drove away too many fans? I seriously think that if they added a football to the game (at least during the first inning) you'd have more talented/diverse players (i.e. well rounded, no substance abuse problems, etc.). Not every game, however. It would depend on a lottery type drawing, because otherwise veteran players would complain.--Hey, I'm Just Curious (talk) 06:20, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't understand how a football kickoff would work into a baseball game. Why doesn't football implement a "three second rule" as in basketball? − Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 07:25, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

I'm guessing that that's a somewhat over-the-top use of figurative language run amok =) --Badger Drink (talk) 08:56, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Part - in fact, I'd daresay most - of baseball's appeal stems from its long (relative to the history of America as a nation, at least) tradition. Thirty years later and we're still arguing whether or not the designated hitter has destroyed the game. A huge sub-culture of baseball is the stathound aspect, and baseball is virtually unique among modern American sports in that the statistics of players from decades ago can be compared to the statistics of modern players and not look too silly - compare this to football, for instance, where QB stats from before the 1980s are so different from those of today as to be wholly irrelevant. Shaking up the game too much would destroy the balance in much the same way that adding rules to protect the QB and WRs made much of the old football statistics irrelevant. So much is made of little Nielsen numbers these days that notions of aesthetics tend to be overlooked, and this is a crying shame. Baseball is not WWE, nor should it ever be. --Badger Drink (talk) 08:56, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Yeees... but look at it this way. in world sport, there's probably none more traditionalist and hide-bound than cricket. Yet in the last 25 years or so cricket has taken off in a huge way in many countries because of rejigged shortened versions of the game. The "traditional" form is still played, and is still popular, but new forms like (early on) limited overs cricket and (in the last couple of years) the "wham bam thank you maam" of Twenty20 have made it so that the sport is now played in well over 100 countries. Baseball could easily come up with a similar variant and keep its traditional form alongside it, encouraging a new audience to the shortened form, some of whom would then progress onto the "real" game. Grutness...wha? 09:27, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

You might as well ask why chess never tries anything new. The simplest answer is that then it would no longer be chess, and people like chess to be chess, not something else. It's not easy to change a classic without alienating the people who love it. (Not that it hasn't been done, but those versions pretty much remain curiosities when compared to the popularity of the "real" game... and that doesn't really have anything to do with how good the games are.) -- Captain Disdain (talk) 12:47, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Why doesn't chess try something new? You are obviously not a fan of chess boxing. Anyway, if you want to alter a sport, why not make golf a full-contact sport. Everyone tee off at the same time. First one to get his ball in the hole wins. No other rules. -- kainaw™ 13:39, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Why don't more Americans enlighten themselves and become fans of real football? NB: I'm an American so I reserve the right to say such things to us. I don't want to hear the clamoring of sportsfans from other countries telling us were a bit slow on the uptake, because they just don't even know about us. -LambaJan (talk) 14:53, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Isn't it rather the other way around, LambaJan? -- JackofOz (talk) 02:23, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

I'm sure you feel similarly because you're also from a sporting nation. I'm sure we've done more than our fair share of tormenting in many fields but when it comes to soccer we still have a lot to prove, so I get defensive. BTW, Oz is among the best of sporting nations. What you've accomplished with your population is very impressive. -LambaJan (talk) 14:50, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

I take that as a personal compliment, LambaJan, but if you don't mind I'll pass the message on to my fellow team members when I see them around the traps. (Actually, the only sport I'd qualify for is the Wikilympics.)  :) -- JackofOz (talk) 23:37, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

Talk about your hidebound sports. Soccer hasn't had a significant rule change since they decided you couldn't pick up the ball. —D. Monack ^talk 01:03, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

The last major change to football was making it against the rules for goalkeepers to pick the ball up from a backpass about ten years ago. It has greatly changed the way the game is played. The last equivalently large change in baseball was the designated hitter change in 1973 - still the subject of debate and not adopted by all leagues. I think the more hide-bound set of rules is pretty clear. Grutness...wha? 21:17, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

Actually they did, and it's called Kickball. DJ Clayworth (talk) 20:52, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Japanese lick heard in the opening of Turning Japanese

In the first few seconds of the Vapors' smash-hit Turning Japanese, a nine-note "ditty" is heard that sounds irrevocably, utterly Oriental. I'm quite sure that I've heard it in media that pre-dates the 1980 "Turning Japanese", but none of the sources I've found on the web mention this as a quotation - if in fact it's a quotation. I'm wondering if any music historians who also know the music of the 1980s might know the riff I'm referring to, and, moreover, know where this riff is from? Is it from a definite Oriental work, or is it just a "stock phrase" in a Pentatonic scale or something (much like playing something in I-vi-IV-V automatically sounds Doo-Woppy)? --Badger Drink (talk) 08:46, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

There was a long thread about this at the Straight Dope Message Board a few years ago: [1]. One user put together this website. Zagalejo^^^ 09:03, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Actually, I see we have an article: Oriental Riff. Zagalejo^^^ 09:05, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Hahaha! Holy smokes, good job - I guess this would have been the 1-in-100 occasion where searching for something in incredibly generic terms would have worked wonders. Thanks! --Badger Drink (talk) 09:10, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Tomorrow Never Dies

Is true that Pierce Brosnan filmed a gun barrel sequence for the Tomorrow Never Dies trailer? Where can find a pic of it? David Pro (talk) 19:59, 8 August 2008 (UTC)