A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

INDUCTION JUNCTION: After all of last week's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame fun, the ol' induction had to take a little time to decompress. (On a positive note, at trivia night at Harry's in Arlington Heights last Thursday, Team Choo-Choo Dante was able to win the first-round current events tie-breaker by naming all five inductees. Sadly, we lost the final round, which was football movies, by writing "Unnecessary" as opposed to "Necessary Roughness." Damn you Sinbad.) Anyway, the IJ, as the cool kids say is back, so let's get on with the links.

• Rumors is that Jann Wenner rigged this year's Rock Hall vote so that Grandmaster Flash and not the Dave Clark Five made the cut. The Hall, of course, denies the fix was in.
  
• I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the passing of WWE Hall-of-Famer Ernie "Big Cat" Ladd, who quit playing pro football in his prime because he was making more money on the pro wrestling circuit.
  
• Jackson Browne, already a Rock and Roll Hall-of-Famer, is now also a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Browne will be inducted this year along with Don Black, Michael Masser, Irving Burgie, Bobby Weinstein, and Teddy Randazzo. Everyone is familiar with Browne's big hits, but the other inductees boast some intriguing credentials, too. Black wrote "Ben" for Michael Jackson, "To Sir With Love" for Lulu, numerous Bond themes including, and "Born Free." He also collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Webber on Sunset Blvd. and Aspects of Love. Masser penned "The Greatest Love of All," "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love," and co-wrote "Theme from Mahogany." Burgie is the King of Calypso, having composed standards like "Day-o" and "Jamaica Farewell." And Weinstein and Randazzo wrote a number of hits for Little Anthony & the Imperials.
  Perhaps more interesting than who did get in, is who missed the cut. I mean, I'm sure Masser is a nice guy and all and "I believe the children are the future" certainly is an oft-quoted lyric, but if I had a vote I might have gone with the guy who wrote "Hallelujah," or the guy who wrote "Waterloo Sunset," or the guy who wrote "Perfect Day," or the guy who wrote "Mama Tried," or the guy who wrote "The Weight," or the guys who wrote "Stairway to Heaven," or the guy who wrote "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," of the guy who wrote "Peace Train." And you thought the Rock Hall made some dubious choices over the years.
  
• Steve Bartkowski, whose football card was inescapable in my youth, leads off this year's Georgia Sports Hall of Fame class. Bartkowski, was the No. 1 overall pick by the Atlanta Falcons in 1975. Despite his two Pro Bowl appearances, I'm guessing the Falcons would have been better off with No. 2 overall pick Randy White or No. 4 overall pick Walter Payton, members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Bartkowski, though, is a previous inductee of the National Polish-American Hall of Fame.
• And speaking of No. 1 overall NFL draft pick quarterbacks who never lived up to the hype, Jim Plunkett (yes, I realize he won the Super Bowl with the Raiders, but this is a guy that was supposed to win four or five Super Bowls) will be inducted into the National High School Sports Hall of Fame this year.
  
• The National Fitness Hall of Fame held its induction ceremony practically in my own backyard this weekend (had I only known). Oh, to have witnessed the touching moment when master of ceremonies Tony Little inducted Lou Ferrigno.
• There won't be any changes to the Baseball Hall of Fame Veteran's Committee/We Hate Ron Santo Club...yet.
  
• Four of the 141 voters for the National Soccer Hall of Fame didn't think Mia Hamm, she of the two Olympic Gold Medals, two FIFA World Championships, world-record 158 international goals (50 more than the previous record) and countless other accomplishments, deserved to be in this year's class. Luckily 97.1% of the vote was more than enough for enshrinement and, in fact, a new Hall record.
  
• In the "With Friends Like These" department, Bobby Knight is leading the push to get Dick Vitale named to the Basketball Hall of Fame. This year's class, borrowing a page from the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which announces its classes the day before the Super Bowl, will be unveiled during the Final Four.
• And finally in Small Hall news, this press release speaks for itself: "An owl who motivate an autistic child to begin speaking and the man who founded the world's foremost owl conservation organization were inducted into the World Owl Hall of Fame at the Festival of the Owls in Houston, Minnesota on March 2." Sadly Woodsy, who was expected to be in attendance, checked himself into littering rehab days before the ceremony.