We're six games into the College World Series, and so far it looks like this:
BRACKET ONE:
(13) Coastal Carolina 7, Arizona 4
(8) Oregon St. 4, Louisville 3
Louisville 8, Arizona 3 (Arizona eliminated)
(13) Coastal Carolina 6, (8) Oregon St. 2
BRACKET TWO:
(15) U.C.L.A. 6, Murray St. 4
(6) Louisiana St. 4, (3) Arkansas 1
Murray survived an elimination game in the Regionals at Ole Miss, and survived two elimination games in the Super Regionals at Duke. Now they have a very tough matchup this afternoon against an excellent Arkansas team. Meanwhile, LSU and UCLA have a huge game tonight featuring two of the teams that have looked the best in the tournament so far.
YouTube has recommended a Casey Kasem countdown. It's for August 27, 1983. It's not complete, because it starts with Elton John at Number 35 singing "Kiss the Bride." I haven't heard that song in years.
ReplyDeleteNumber 34: Jeffrey Osborne, "Don't You Get So Mad."
ReplyDeleteThere have been peaks and valleys in my life, but August 1983 was definitely one of the peaks.
ReplyDeleteNumber 33: Sergio Mendes, "Never Gonna Let You Go." Most songs in 1983 sound like the opening to an NBC sit-com, or maybe an ABC drama.
ReplyDeleteNumber 32: Spandau Ballet, "True"
ReplyDeleteNumber 31: Eddie Grant, "Electric Avenue." The one song on this countdown I will always mute.
ReplyDeleteNumber 30: Frank Stallone, "Far from Over"
ReplyDeleteNumber 29: Shalomar, "Dead Giveaway" I don't think I've ever heard this song.
ReplyDeleteNumber 28: The Stray Cats, "Sexy and Seventeen"
ReplyDeleteThe 1983 College World Series was a cracker. Texas had a team with Roger Clemens and Calvin Schiraldi. Barry Bonds played for Arizona St. Chris Sabo played for Michigan. Pete Incaviglia played for Oklahoma St. Dave Magadan played for Alabama. I watched as much of it as I could.
ReplyDelete1983 CWS (it was a true double-elimination tournament back then):
ReplyDelete1. Texas 12, James Madison 0
2. Oklahoma St. 3, Stanford 1
3. Michigan 6, Maine 5
4. Alabama 6, Arizona St. 5 (11 innings)
5. Stanford 3, James Madison 1 (James Madison eliminated)
6. Arizona St. 7, Maine 0 (Maine eliminated)
7. Texas 6, Oklahoma St. 5 (11 innings)
8. Alabama 6, Michigan 5
9. Arizona St. 6, Oklahoma St. 5 (Oklahoma St. eliminated)
10. Michigan 11, Stanford 4 (Stanford eliminated)
11. Texas 6, Alabama 4 (10 innings)
12. Alabama 6, Arizona St. 0 (Arizona St. eliminated)
13. Texas 4, Michigan 2, (Michigan eliminated)
14. Texas 4, Alabama 3 (Alabama eliminated)
Number 27: Laura Branigan, "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You"
ReplyDeleteNumber 26: Air Supply, "Making Love Out of Nothing at All"
ReplyDeleteIn 1980, "Lost In Love" went to Number 3 on the US Hot 100. Over the next few years, Air Supply had seven other top 5 hits: "All Out of Love," "Every Woman in the World," "The One That You Love," "Here I Am," "Sweet Dreams," "Even the Nights Are Better," and "Making Love Out of Nothing at All." But this is the last one: never again will Air Supply crack the top 10.
ReplyDeleteNumber 25: Def Leppard, "Rock of Ages"
ReplyDeleteThe Long Distance Dedication is "Baby It's You" from the "Tootsie" soundtrack.
ReplyDeleteNumber 24: Naked Eyes, "Promises, Promises" This was one of many songs in 1983 that made me feel very grown up.
ReplyDeleteNumber 23: Journey, "After the Fall" This song will peak at Number 23. Journey will only have two other songs make the top 10: "Only the Young" and "Be Good to Yourself," both of which will reach number 9 in 1985.
ReplyDeleteNumber 22: Irene Cara, "Flashdance (What a Feeling)"
ReplyDeleteNumber 21: Rick Springfield, "Human Touch" "Jessie's Girl" was released in February 1981.
ReplyDeleteGage Wood of Arkansas just pitched a NO-HITTER in the College World Series to eliminate Murray State by the score of 3 to 0. Wood allowed no hits and no walks, and struck out 19 batters. He would have pitched a perfect game if not for the fact that he hit a batter. Murray got its best pitching performance of the whole NCAA Tournament, allowing only three runs against the Number Three seed in the country, but the Racers could do nothing with Wood.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that was rough. On first watch, I didn't think even that one pitch had hit the Murray guy.
DeleteIt was the first no-hitter at the CWS in 65 years.
ReplyDeleteNumber 20: Bonnie Tyler, "Total Eclipse of the Heart" This song was written by the remarkable Jim Steinman, who also wrote "Making Love Out of Nothing at All."
ReplyDeleteNumber 19: ELO, "Rock 'n' Roll Is King." This song will peak at Number 19. ELO will only have one later song that does better on the Hot 100 -- "Calling America" will reach number 18 in 1986.
ReplyDeleteFor my money, ELO might be the narrowest classification of music--in that I can't remember ever being fooled by the first few notes or a verse of a song into thinking it was going to be an ELO song and it turn out to be by someone else.
DeleteNumber 18: Quarterflash, "Take Me to Heart" This song will peak at 14, and will be the last Quarterflash song to crack the top 50.
ReplyDeleteNumber 17: Loverboy, "Hot Girls in Love" This song peaked at 11 last week, and that's the highest level Loverboy ever reached on the 40. "Working for the Weekend" peaked at 29 back in 1981.
ReplyDeleteNumber 16: Asia, "Don't Cry." Much of this countdown consists of bands following up on their hits from 1981 or 1982. "Don't Cry" will peak at number 10, and will be the last Asia song to crack the top 30.
ReplyDeleteNumber 15: Duran Duran, "Is There Something I Should Know." This will be the third Duran Duran single to reach the Top 20 in the United States.
ReplyDeleteNumber 14: Jackson Browne, "Lawyers in Love" I love this song.
ReplyDeleteNumber 13: Michael Jackson, "Human Nature" This is the fifth single from the "Thriller" album, and it's a good one. Michael Jackson could sing almost any type of song.
ReplyDeleteNumber 12: Billy Joel, "Tell Her About It" The tonal shift from Joel's album "The Nylon Curtain" to "An Innocent Man" tracks almost exactly with the shift from a recession in 1982 to a booming economy in 1983 and 1984.
ReplyDeleteNumber 11: Men Without Hats, "Safety Dance" Anthemic.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun countdown!
ReplyDeleteTop ten shows on TV in 1983-84:
ReplyDelete1. Dallas (CBS)
2. 60 Minutes (CBS)
3. Dynasty (ABC)
4. The A-Team (NBC)
5. Simon & Simon (CBS)
6. Magnum, P.I. (CBS)
7. Falcon Crest (CBS)
8. Kate & Allie (CBS)
9. Hotel (ABC)
10. Cagney & Lacey (CBS)
Number 10: David Bowie, "China Girl"
ReplyDeleteNumber 9: Culture Club, "I'll Tumble For You"
ReplyDeleteNumber 8: The Human League, "Keep Feeling Fascination"
ReplyDeleteNumber 7: Stevie Nicks, "Stand Back"
ReplyDeleteAmazing performance on Saturday Night Live of this.
DeleteNumber 6: Men at Work, "It's a Mistake" For a long time, I wondered why pop music changed so much between 1983 and 1986. But listening to this countdown, and understanding that it doesn't include Madonna, or Prince, or U-2, or R.E.M., or Bruce Springsteen, really gives you a sense of a world that is about to change dramatically.
ReplyDeleteA lot of bands on this countdown are true MTV bands -- they are bands that became famous in 1981 and 1982 thanks to MTV, and they are mostly hanging on with their second or third albums. But the acts that are coming -- acts like Madonna, and Prince, and U-2, and R.E.M. -- would have been successful even if MTV had never existed. This fact will have major ramifications for pop music, and for MTV. MTV was bigger than Men at Work. MTV was not bigger than Madonna.
ReplyDeleteNumber 5: Taco, "Puttin' on the Ritz"
ReplyDeleteNumber 4: Donna Summer, "She Works Hard for the Money" After this, Donna Summer will only have one other song make the top 10: "This Time I Know It's for Real," which will be released in 1989.
ReplyDeleteNumber 3: Michael Sambello, "Maniac"
ReplyDeleteIt took two days, due to rain, but L.S.U. rolls past U.C.L.A. 9 to 5. The Bruins will face Arkansas in an elimination game tonight.
ReplyDeleteNumber 2: Eurhythmics, "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" In 1964, Capitol Records issued a Beatles album called simply "Something New." That's what the Beatles were -- they were Something New. In 1983, "Sweet Dreams" was Something New -- it was a clear sign that the culture was changing.
ReplyDeleteNumber 1: The Police: "Every Breath You Take" This was the only Police song to hit Number One in the United States. It was the first single released from "Synchronicity," the final studio album released by the Police.
ReplyDelete"Every Breath You Take" has been number one for eight weeks in a row. It's the longest stay at number one for any song since Olivia Newton-John's hit "Physical" was number one for ten weeks in a row.
ReplyDeleteLouisville blows a 6-3 lead in the top of the 9th and allows Oregon State to tie the game at 6-all. But then Louisville walks it off in the bottom of the 9th and eliminates the Beavers, 7 to 6.
ReplyDelete