I am not a sports nut, but around this time each year my wife and I can sometimes be bitten by the baseball bug, especially in this case since we have family members who are die-hard Red Sox fans. But it sure is different from the old days of watching fuzzy, low resolution screens. The hi-def coverage on Fox last night for the ALCS final was excellent - beautiful clear pictures, and the 5.1 surround sound made us feel like we were right in the stadium. Modern technology certainly enhanced my enjoyment of the game.
I am an Internet junkie. But for me, it is the availability of information. I have mentioned in the past that I wander through Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org) often. I don't have much use for blogging or sites such as MySpace, although a friend sent me a URL of an interesting YouTube video the other day. It showed someone installing Windows Vista in a different machine after an upgrade failed to install in his PC - but the new machine was his paper shredder! To see it, go to www.youtube.com and search for "vista install" - it is called "Vista Install in 2 Minutes". Funny.
A tune was running through my head the other day. It was "Stagger Lee" which was most popular as a 45 RPM single back in 1959. I probably had heard it unconsciously on a movie soundtrack or commercial, and it stuck in my head. I did remember that the single was by Lloyd Price.
I remember having the single, and my cousin Alan and I enjoyed it. It had a catchy tag ("The night was clear, and the moon was yellow, and the leaves came tumbling down - da-dum da-dum") and told a story about a shooting after a dice game. But we never thought about or had the resources to find out about the singer or the song much further. As all 45's, it wore our very quickly due to the heavy record player tonearms of the era, and the heavy-handed treatment of teenagers - into the dust bin of history.
So, off to Wikipedia. I first searched for Lloyd Price, and found a short article on him. That was his real name, and he had a few other hits such as "Personality", and "I'm Gonna Get Married" which I did remember.
But when I clicked on "Stagger Lee", a much larger article opened. It turns out that the song was based on a real incident - the murder of William Lyons by Lee Sheldon (or Shelton) in 1895. Sheldon was a carriage driver and pimp, and was know as Stagger Lee, or Stag O'Lee or a number of other spellings. Lyons eventually died of his wounds, and Sheldon was convicted and sent to prison.
The origin of the song is not known, but it has been recorded many times - the Price version being far from the first and actually not true to the original, and was credited to "Traditional" - meaning the record company didn't have to pay royalties to the song author. The song was recorded by many artists and a trip over to Google yielded a list of 229 know versions that included Bob Dylan, Woodie Guthrie, Pat Boone, Big Bill Broonzy, James Brown, the Clash, Neil Diamond, Fats Domino, and many, many more.
My search was a fun diversion for a few minutes, and it tied me back to my childhood memories - especially of my cousin Alan who died in Viet Nam. But the question is this: If we had the Internet back in 1959, would my being able to look up this information have enhanced my experience of the song? At that age (13), it's hard to tell. My own grandchildren do not yet venture out on the 'net besides the kids games sites so I have no way of telling from them. But I wonder if today's teenagers use the 'net as a casual research tool, or are they more interested in MySpace and YouTube and the like. Or do they spend their time texting to each other.
Oh, and the next time the night is clear and the moon is yellow, and you hear a shot, think of what you might have learned back then if you had the Internet.
(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport - Oak Island area. You can visit his Website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail questions or column ideas to him at bsc@bobseidel.com. For specific inquiries, please call Bob Seidel Consulting, LLC at 278-1007.)