When One Devastating Day Recalls Another

As you undoubtedly noticed, Morning Briefing, a column that appears seven days a week, year in and year out, has been absent from this space for several days. It resumes today.

As a nation begins recovering from the mind-numbing terrorist attacks of last week, we recall another date, Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese airplanes bombed Pearl Harbor.

I was a junior at Beverly Hills High when the Dec. 7 attack occurred.

Later, I was in the Army Air Corps, but didn’t engage in any military action against the enemy as many of my friends did.

Those old enough to remember that day recall President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s reference in a stirring radio address to “a date which will live in infamy.”

So will Sept. 11.

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Trivia time: Who holds the major league record for home runs by a pitcher in a season?

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He wins his way: Although the trend in the NFL is toward running quarterbacks, the Rams’ Kurt Warner is one of the most successful in the league and he’s a traditional drop-back passer.

“You don’t win games as a quarterback running the football,” Warner said. “To win at this level, you have to win with your mind and your arm.”

USC’s Carson Palmer has been alerted.

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Yawn: Art Thiel of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, commenting on the Seahawks’ 9-6 victory over the Cleveland Browns in an NFL opener:

“If duels between placekickers and punters are why the NFL has become an entertainment colossus, then the dumbing-down of America is complete. Send in the drones.”

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Wacky walk: Jayson Stark of ESPN.com on the year’s strangest intentional walk, issued by Met closer Armando Benitez to Houston’s Richard Hidalgo: “Benitez had just given up a game-tying, two-run double in the ninth inning, then threw four straight pitches clocked in the 90s, including one at 95 mph--on an intentional walk. Now that’s intent.”

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FYI: Bloomberg News reports that the Washington Redskins are worth $796 million, more than any other NFL team, according to a study done by Forbes magazine. The least valuable franchise in the NFL is the Atlanta Falcons at $338 million.

Now all the Redskins have to do is find a way to win.

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Trivia answer: Wes Ferrell of Cleveland, nine in 1931. Two Dodgers, Don Newcombe and Don Drysdale (twice), hit seven in a season to share the National League record with Mike Hampton, who has hit that many for the Colorado Rockies this season.

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And finally: Carl “Boomer” Nott is a high school football player in Vermont who stands 6 feet 7 and weighs 405 pounds--but he can’t play.

So far no one has been able to find a helmet that will fit his size-9 head.

There is hope, however.

His Hartford High coach, Mike Stone, has heard from an equipment representative in Pennsylvania who claims to have a size-9 helmet.

It was originally for a Penn State player and has been in a cellar for five or six years.

“If it doesn’t fit, I don’t know what we’ll do,” Stone said.