'The Barkley' unleashed on ultramarathoners, George Steinbrenner reinstated, and Spencer Haywood opened the door for Moses and Kobe - This DiSH for March 1

0:00It's March 1st, and on this day, the term Ultramarathon took on a much different meaning. George Steinbrenner probably fired somebody on this day, or at least had the opportunity, for the first time in two and a half years. And Spencer Haywood may not be a household name, but every kid who's made the jump from high school, or after a year or two in college to the NBA, should say thanks to Mr. Haywood. Those stories plus a non-sports fun fact at the end about Betty White, and I'll get started right after this. And that's the end of the first half, as the team said to the locker room, the Spartans lead the Bulldogs by a school. You guys stink. Jeez, Coach, we're only down a couple of points. No, I mean, you guys really smell. You need to hit the showers. In here, I got every one of you new bars of soap from the Sterling Soap Company. Each bar is artisan crafted using natural ingredients and essential oils.

1:00They also have shaved soaps, cologne, beard balm, and a whole lot more. Now get in there. But Coach, we have another half to play. I don't care. I can't stand to be around you. A few minutes later. Alright, bring it in tight. You guys are still playing terrible, but you're smelling great out there. Now listen, you're gonna need to stock up for the rest of the season. We got a lot of tough games left. So go to sterlingsoap.com after the game. That's S-T-I-R-L-I-N-G soap.com. You got that? Yes, Coach? Great. Sterlingsoap.com on three, one, two, three, sterlingsoap.com. So let's kick things off with what happened on this day in 1986 when the first ever Barclay Marathon was run. Now the Barclay has gained international prominence in recent years, and it is no ordinary race. It's not even a marathon. It's 100 miles of brutality through hilly and densely forested terrain and Tennessee that

2:03is if you're able to actually complete the 20-ish mile loops by the designated time-cut offs. It differs from any other race that you may have heard of or run in just about every way, and everything about this race from registration to acceptance to getting there to the race itself is purposefully difficult. The entry fee is only $1.60 now, and if you're chosen, you have to bring a license plate to the event to complete the entry. Now those are the easy parts. Only 40 people are chosen to run it, and those unfortunate selected had to submit an essay on why I should run the Barclay sent to an email address that few know about. If James Earl Ray had been able to cover more ground after his prison escape back in 1977, well, the idea for the Barclay would have probably never germinated. But Gary Cantrell and Carl Henn were both perplexed. That Ray, the assassin of Martin Luther King Jr., had escaped into the Tennessee wilderness in July of 1977, but was captured two and a half days later just a few miles from the

3:08prison walls in Frozen Head State Park. Carl and Henn figured they could go farther than Ray did and decided to backpack the trail. Park Rangers told them that they were nuts, tried to talk them out of it, but these two weren't listening to him, and so they were issued a pass to go attempt it themselves. After about 10 hours, the pair had gone just seven and a half miles, and they eventually completed a 20-mile loop with Cantrell, an ultra runner, figuring he knew some people who might like to race that 20-mile loop, and the idea for the race was hatched. The Barclay, named after a friend of Cantrell who was injured in Vietnam, tested the sanity of its very first runners on this day in 1986. Now, those 13 folks participated in this first installment after paying 35 cents for the opportunity. Now, at that point, it was just a 50-miler on a poorly marked, severely eroded, overgrown trail with a mind-taxing number of dead falls.

4:08Oh, and it had an elevation gain of about 25,000 feet, and they had 24 hours to complete it. Now, none of the original 13 finished that race. It was not until 1988 that a runner was able to complete the full course under the time limit. In 1995, the race was linked to its current format, consisting of five 20-ish mile loops with time cutoffs for each and an overall cutoff of 60 hours. Participants have to navigate the spots along the way now where Cantrell has hidden books. They have to rip the page out that corresponds with their race number and return those to the start finish line. Since 1995, only 19 people, a few of those a couple of times, have ever completed the race. The first female finisher did not happen until 2024. Of course, the number of books you have to locate, the race length even changes from year to year, and you might think that is difficult as it is to register, prepare for, and

5:10actually race it. The event would run out of people actually willing to do it, but you would be wrong. There are no official numbers released by Cantrell, and I guess that adds to the mystique of this race, right? But there is no shortage of people willing to test their limits at the Barclay. 2020-26 edition wrapped up on February 16th, and for the second year in a row, the course won, with no runner completing the five loops. Long live the Barclay. On this day in 1993, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was reinstated by the Commissioner of Baseball, Faith Vincent, to once again take over day-to-day operations of the team. This ended two years of what was initially supposed to be a lifetime ban over Steinbrenner's $40,000 payment to known gambler and confidence man, Howard Spira, for dirt on former Yankee Dave Winfield, a story that I've covered here on this podcast and has been covered in several sports documentaries as well.

6:11The interesting part is that Steinbrenner actually negotiated the so-called lifetime ban after Vincent originally imposed a two-year ban in July of 1990. Steinbrenner's thinking was that a suspension from baseball would have damaged his reputation and put his position as vice president of the U.S. Olympic Committee at the time in jeopardy. Apparently a lifetime ban was less injurious to Mr. Steinbrenner. The other interesting thing that came out of George being away from baseball may have given rise to the reestablishment of the Yankees dynasty. While Steinbrenner served his penalty, Gene Michael stuck over his general manager and is considered the key to nurturing and importing the talent that led to the Yankees turnaround from one of the worst in baseball in the early 90s to World Series champs in 96, 98, 99, and 2000. While speaking of the Yankees on this day in 1969, Mickey Mantle retired from baseball.

7:12Mantle decided to hang up the glove and spikes after 18 years in the majors, all with the Yankees. He was the fourth in line in the Yankees' Mount Rushmore of the time, with Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Joe DiMaggio. The 37-year-old Mantle was coming off his worst year as a Yankee hitting just 237. His 18 homers that year was part of a steady decline from the 54-year-old hit in 1961 when he and teammate Roger Maris were chasing the Babes' home run record. Upon his retirement, he lamented the fact that the 68 season had dropped his career average under 300, and he didn't have it in him to try to get back to that plateau. Mickey had been one of the great sluggers in the game, obviously, and he was a three-time MVP in his career, winning it back to back in 56 and 57, and again in 1962, despite missing 41 games that year. When he retired, he was third on the all-time home run leader's list behind Ruth and Willie Mays at that point. He's currently 18th on that list.

8:13Mantle played the majority of his career in pain, though. He tore up his right knee on the 1951 World Series. The speculation was that it was a torn ACL that he never had properly treated. He did have surgery on the knee in 53 to remove some torn cartilage, but it left the knee without much stability, and it was painful. A shoulder injury that he suffered during the 57 World Series also caused him pain the rest of his career. After baseball, it was a bit up and down for him. He was one of the most popular ball players during his time with the Yankees, but that pressure to keep up that facade for the fans led to him drinking more and more, which led to him being admitted to the Betty Ford Clinic, and he continues to deal with the effects of alcoholism for the remainder of his life, eventually dying off liver cancer in 1995 at the age of 63. On this day in 1971, Spencer Haywood won his legal battle with the NBA. Haywood had always seemed to be a quick developer.

9:17As a 19-year-old, he became the youngest to play basketball for the U.S. Olympic team, and he led the team and scoring on the way to a gold medal. After spending a year in junior college and a year at the University of Detroit where he led the team and scoring with 32-a-game, and he led the nation in rebounding at 22-a-game, he was ready to make the jump to professional basketball. The NBA had a rule that stated a player had to beat four years removed from high school. Haywood was just two years removed. The ABA had the same rule, but he was given a hardship exemption by league officials so he could play, and he was selected by the Denver Rockets. Haywood was unstoppable in his rookie season, leading the ABA in scoring and rebounding, and winning both the ABA rookie of the year and the MVP award for his efforts. But Haywood wanted to play in the NBA, and the Seattle Super Sonics wanted to sign him. The thing is, he was still only three years removed from high school, and therefore by

10:18the NBA rules at the time, he was not eligible to play, no matter that he dominated in college, on the international level, or the pro-level in the ABA. The NBA filed an injunction prohibiting him from playing with the Sonics. Honor Sam Schulman filed a lawsuit against the league on Haywood's behalf, and the case made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Well on this day in 71, SCOTUS found in favor of Haywood in a seven to two decision ruling the injunction violated anti-trust laws, and thus opened the doors for other talented high school players along with collegiate underclassmen to make the jump to professional basketball. Moses Malone and Daryl Dawkins were guys who were able to take advantage of what became known as the Spencer Haywood rule and make that jump to the pros without any legal woes. Of course, so many others have been able to follow that path thanks to what Spencer Haywood fought for and won on this day in 1971. On this day in 1998, Tiger Woods lost in a playoff.

11:22It was the first and only time he ever lost one. This was the Nissan Open at the Valencia Country Club. Here was the number one player in the world and once the reigning master's champ, he'd played in two playoffs as a pro by this point in his career and he'd won both. In fact, his first PGA Tour win at the 96 Las Vegas Invitational was in a playoff. Well on this day, Woods faced Billy Mayfair and the playoff, the odds were stacked against Mayfair to knock off the world's number one. He had not won on the PGA Tour in three years, and he'd only come out on top in one of his five previous playoff appearances in his career. Mayfair had to birdie the final hole to even force the playoff. The first playoff all was a 566 yard par five that definitely favored Woods' long ball off the tee, and yet it was Mayfair who rolled in the birdie putt to win it. Tiger learned from that experience because he never lost another one. He's 3-0 in majors that went to a playoff.

12:23He's 10-0 on the European Tour in playoffs, and on the PGA Tour he has 11-1, with that only blemish on this day in 1998. On this day in 1997, Hector Macho-Kamacho knocked out Sugar Ray Leonard in the fifth round. It was the first time that Sugar Ray had been knocked out in his career, and you have to really wonder why he was even in the ring. By this point, he was 40 years old, he had not fought in the ring in more than five years since losing to Terry Norris in 1991, and retiring after that fight. He retired again after this fight with Kamacho, only to say a week later that he was coming back. He reconsidered that later on in the year, and he never fought again. The fight with Kamacho on this night in 1997 was his last. And time now for today's, that's got nothing to do with sports, fun fact. Eddie White's first job in show business was to simply say one word in a radio show.

13:26It was the old show biz catch 22. She didn't have a union card to work at the time, and she couldn't earn one unless she was working. So the radio show producer let her say the sponsor's name, Parquet, at the start of the show. That allowed her to get her union card, and eventually move on to television. This has been an original, thrife suite production. This has been an original, thrife suite production. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi.