There’s a moment in Spuds MacKenzie’s interview with Dick Clark when Clark shifts gears and, as if by obligation, brings up the recent bad press the bull terrier has been the subject of. “There are these vicious rumors,” he begins, addressing not the tuxedo-wearing Spuds, but one of the beautiful spokesmodels—or “Spudettes”—who accompany him. “Is there any truth to the fact that he is female?” The Spudette, clearly trained for this type of question, asserts, “He’s got three women around him, and I don’t think we’d be following him…” Clark, thrusting his fist forward, interrupts, “He’s a full-out macho guy?” A few men in the audience let out ferocious whoos! and yeahs! They are relieved to hear that their hero is, like them, a cool dude.

Spuds MacKenzie was, in fact, a female dog. Her real name was Honey Tree Evil Eye, and Jackie and Stanley Oles, the humans who owned her, called her “Evie.” This was all revealed in a 1987 People Magazine article that set out to debunk rumors that the bull terrier had died in a limo accident, or while surfing, or in a plane crash. In a stunning breach of privacy, the article also published the Oles’ home address. Soon after the People piece came out, Jackie Oles was sitting with Evie on the stoop of her suburban Chicago house when a reporter confronted her, unannounced. “I don’t talk to reporters,” she said before hurrying inside. Oles was wearing a Spuds MacKenzie sweatshirt at the time.

If, by chance, you don’t know who Spuds MacKenzie is, it’s probably because Budweiser retired him in 1989. Spuds sold beer and—this may be hard to believe—he was one of the most famous living things on the planet. Though he hasn’t been seen in a while, he’s about to make his way back into the spotlight. In honor of his 30th anniversary, Spuds will make an appearance during Super Bowl LI—albeit as a ghost (voiced by Carl Weathers) who is on a mission to teach a man about the spirit of Bud Light. 

(NOTE: I will be using male pronouns for Spuds the character and female pronouns for Honey Tree Evil Eye from this point forward.)

Honey Tree Evil Eye was bred to be a show dog, and the Oles joined Chicago’s Fort Dearborn Bull Terrier Club and coached her for competition. Evie performed relatively well within her breed, but never placed at Silverwood, America’s premier bull terrier event.

At a show in Chicago, Evie caught the attention of DDB Needham. The ad agency was scouting for a dog-centered campaign, and the splotch over Evie’s left eye made her stand out. She was invited for a photo shoot, and soon posters of her as Spuds MacKenzie sitting behind a goblet of Bud Light while wearing a “Delta Omicron Gamma” fraternity sweatshirt began to pop up at college campuses. The premise—cool dog is cool—proved so popular that wholesalers demanded Anheuser-Busch put Spuds on television.

Evie’s demeanor was unusually calm for her breed and she behaved more like a lap cat than a rough-and-tumble terrier. Her breeder told the Bull Terrier Club of Dallas that “she was very mellow and low key. The owners sometimes used a yo-yo in the ring to get her to spark up and show.” She was known to lounge about and munch on Raisin Chex, which was hand-fed to her. Relaxed and undemanding, Evie was a perfect candidate for TV work.

Spuds’ first prime-time TV appearance came during Super Bowl XXI in 1987.

The spot features a narrative arch that would become the go-to formula in the Spuds MacKenzie oeuvre: 1. Spuds shows up at a party. 2. Everyone is thrilled to see Spuds—especially the women.

Robin Leach provides the voiceover, which hammers home the fact that not only is Spuds a cool party dude, but he also is obscenely wealthy. This stolid, fat, rich dog surrounded by adoring models and sycophantic buddies begs to be seen as both a result of and response to the late 1980s—but then you might be missing the gag.

The reaction to the original 1987 ad was enthusiastic, and what followed was a full-on marketing assault and nationwide in-joke that acknowledged, dismissed, winked at, and embraced nearly every advertising cliche.

The key to the campaign’s success, Bill Stolberg tells me, was the fact that they never acknowledged that Spuds was a dog—they would insist he was a man. Stolberg’s name comes up a lot in old press clippings about Spuds’ meteoric rise to fame. He worked for Fleishman Hillard, the PR firm Anheuser-Busch used for the campaign, and Stolberg traveled with Spuds and acted as his brand manager and voice. He recalls, “The first question we’d always get would be, ‘What kind of dog is Spuds?’ To which I replied, ‘He’s not a dog, he’s an executive.'”

As Spuds grew in popularity, so did the beer. According to the New York Times, Spuds helped increase Bud Light’s sales by 20 percent between 1987 and 1988. Serious business journalists began contacting Stolberg for insight on the campaign and its star dog, but he wouldn’t break character. Stolberg would insist that Spuds was a human man—a Senior Party Consultant, to be specific—and that he was so cool he didn’t have to speak verbally. “It would drive them crazy,” he says.

The hallmark of late-’80s advertising was overt self-awareness. Audiences were wise to BS—or at least marketers decided audiences should be hip to it—so commercials and spokespeople were done as parody. It’s why Coca-Cola used Max Headroom, a satirical version of a super-slick television host doomed to live inside a computer, and why Isuzu had Joe Isuzu, a pathological liar of a spokesman whose audacious claims would be corrected by on-screen text overlaid during his ads. The pervading idea was that you’re in on the joke too, friend. We know you’re smart—doesn’t that feel good?

Spuds MacKenzie fits into this category, but the joke was twisted and pushed far beyond the restrictions of TV. When he went on tour, whether to appear on Good Morning America or to throw out the first pitch at a National League playoff game, his marketing team would go to extremes to perpetuate the Spuds MacKenzie mythos. “We’d put him in limos and rent him his own hotel rooms,” says Stolberg. “He would be dressed in a tuxedo and walk through the airport with the Spudettes. People would see him, and that’s how it would grow.”

The death rumors were a sign that Spuds had truly made it. Stolberg recalls showing up at his office to find a stack of missed-call slips an inch thick, all from people who were trying to get in touch to see if the spokesdog really did die in that limo crash or via hot tub electrocution while soaking with the Spudettes.

The Spudettes were key to this success, and the troupe made up of models and aspiring actresses became a cultural phenomenon in their own right. In fact, Sir Mix-A-Lot says he wrote “Baby Got Back” as a response to “the Spuds MacKenzie girls, little skinny chicks looking like stop signs, with big hair and skinny bodies.”

If Spuds was a gag on the cliched spokesman, then the Spudettes riffed on the idea that “sex sells.” The benefit of presenting the latter as a joke is that it still does the job as well as its more sincere analog. Posters of Spuds and the Spudettes were the most popular pin-ups in the country, “easily outdistanc[ing] TV’s ‘Alf,’ No. 2 in the poster market,” reported the Los Angeles Times, which also called Spuds “the Nation’s Most Unlikely Sex Symbol.”

Pretending that a dog was a human man who loved—and was loved—by women seems like it would present some problems, and when I asked Stolberg if he was ever worried about this, he insisted that the idea was ridiculous. “You’d have to be pretty bizarre to think anything like that.” 

While everything about Spuds MacKenzie was a joke, the dichotomy of people who wanted to get it and those who didn’t defined and caused much of Spuds’ success. While Morning Zoo DJs and targeted consumers laughed at and championed the idea of an expressionless lump of a dog who drove women wild, reporters saw him as the origins of a market-driven phenomenon that, given the time period, must have been of great importance. It’s why People magazine talked to both a Chicago account executive and a UC Berkeley “urban humor expert” in that scoop about the party dog’s real gender that featured the Oles’ full home address.

“It was kind of nuts,” Stolberg says. “[The Oles] were totally unprepared for all that silliness, but they were good sports about it.” Jackie Oles would travel with Spuds wherever he went, and one can only imagine what she thought as she sat in the green room and watched David Letterman interview her dog.

In “Spuds Is A Dud As A Party Guy—He’s A Girl,” the Chicago Tribune‘s follow-up to the People piece, Illinois State Senator Judy Baar Topinka said of the Oles, “The family has tried to be really low profile.” Topinka had tried to pass a resolution in the Senate honoring her district as the home of Spuds MacKenzie. Anheuser-Busch protested the resolution and it was eventually pulled, but this wouldn’t be the last time lawmakers discussed Spuds MacKenzie.

Less than a year after Spuds’ national TV debut, Strom Thurmond stood on the floor of the U.S. Senate chamber and waved a stuffed Spuds MacKenzie doll. He accused Anheuser-Busch of using the mascot to sell alcohol to underage drinkers, saying, ”I am not confident in the voluntary efforts of the alcohol beverage industry to increase public awareness of the hazards of alcohol abuse with 12-year-olds drinking wine coolers and wearing Spuds MacKenzie T-shirts.” He made his case while standing in front of huge posters featuring the “Ayatollah of Partyollah” himself, Spuds MacKenzie.

A month later, Ohio stores pulled all Bud Light cartons that featured images of Spuds MacKenzie dressed up as Santa due to a law that prohibited St. Nick from being used to sell alcohol. Across the country, schools were banning students from wearing popular Spuds MacKenzie gear.

In response to all this, Anheuser-Busch eventually switched its $50 million Spuds MacKenzie campaign from Bud Light to a responsible drinking initiative. This is why Super Bowl XXIII’s 15-second spot features Spuds playing guitar with no beer in sight, along with the tagline: “Know When to Say When.” One year prior, Super Bowl XXII featured an ad where MacKenzie wins an Olympic Gold Medal in hockey and shares an ice cold Bud Light with a gorgeous Russian woman.

Spuds’ TV appearances became fewer and fewer as the decade neared its end. “A really good campaign doesn’t last much longer than 18 months,” Stolberg says, “The joke gets old.” Spuds lives on through the over 200 officially licensed items of Spuds merchandise (as well as the knock-off party animal gear that was once sold on street corners and at beach resorts like Phendi handbags) that you can buy on eBay. 

“You’ll still sometimes see those plastic Spuds MacKenzie signs in bars,” Bill Stolberg says, marveling at how long it has been. He left Fleishman Hillard in 1995 to start his own consulting firm, which he still runs. I ask him what Spuds MacKenzie was really like, if he was always as calm as he seemed in the commercials. “Ah ah ah,” he interrupts, “Mr. MacKenzie is not a dog.”

Honey Tree Evil Eye died of kidney failure at the age of 10 in 1993—she had an average lifespan for a healthy English bull terrier. Her death was reported at the time with the headline “Spuds MacKenzie Really Dead This Time.” Unlike the actors who played Max Headroom and Joe Isuzu, Evie didn’t need to worry about what she would do with her career once the ad work dried up. It is understood that she spent her retirement lounging with her family and eating Raisin Chex.

This article originally ran in 2014.

Rosa Parks didn’t set out to become “the first lady of civil rights.” But when she defied Alabama law by refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white passenger on December 1, 1955—and was arrested as a result of it—the impact of her act of defiance was far-reaching, and encouraged others to stand up with her.

On what would have been her 104th birthday, here are 15 inspiring quotes from Rosa Parks.

1. ON STANDING UP FOR ONESELF

“Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today’s mighty oak is yesterday’s nut that held its ground.”

2. AND 3. ON FEAR

“You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.”

“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”

4., 5. AND 6. ON FREEDOM

“I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free … so other people would be also free.”

“Whatever my individual desires were to be free, I was not alone. There were many others who felt the same way.”

“I believe we are here on the planet Earth to live, grow up and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom.”

7. ON REASON AND MADNESS

“There is just so much hurt, disappointment, and oppression one can take… The line between reason and madness grows thinner.”

8., 9. AND 10. ON LEGACY

“Each person must live their life as a model for others.”

“Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others.”

“I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people.”

11. AND 12. ON RACISM

“Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.”

“As far back as I can remember, I knew there was something wrong with our way of life when people could be mistreated because of the color of their skin.”

13. AND 14. ON THE MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT

“People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically … No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”

“I was a person with dignity and self-respect, and I should not set my sights lower than anybody else just because I was black.”

15. ON PAIN

“Have you ever been hurt and the place tries to heal a bit, and you just pull the scar off of it over and over again.”

Hiding in the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. is a compact little piece of Japanese history. In 1976, as a gift from Japan for America’s bicentennial, bonsai master Masaru Yamaki donated a bonsai tree first planted in the 17th century. And it’s still there, housed at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum.

The Japanese white pine, currently 392 years old, is the oldest tree in the collection. It was planted in 1625, and has probably been “in training”—its growth guided by different bonsai masters—since it was around 3 to 5 years old. Bonsai are delicate trees that require a master’s care, but this one has been through a lot, though the National Bonsai Museum didn’t know that when it arrived.

In 2001, Yamaki’s son and grandson visited the museum to see their relative’s tree, and in the process, revealed its unusual history to the bonsai curator there: When the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, it exploded less than two miles away from the Yamaki home, where the bonsai was kept on a garden bench. The family—and the tree—survived. So did the other bonsai trees that were kept in the garden, placed under a tall wall.

The fortunate Yamaki tree, which is a rare specimen from the island of Miyajima, is not the oldest bonsai in the world, though. Tokyo’s Imperial Palace is home to both a 450-year-old tree and a 550-year-old one.

[h/t My Modern Met]

In southeast Asia, archerfish spit streams of water at insects outside the water, knocking them in and making them convenient targets for gobbling. There are only seven known species of fish that use this hunting technique, and they’ve gotten quite good at it. Archerfish are able to calibrate the velocity of their spit to precisely hit their targets, using water as a weapon.

In this beautiful Deep Look video, we learn about the archerfish, its impressive spitting ability…and its puzzling ability to recognize human faces. Crank this up to 4K resolution and enjoy:

For more on the archerfish and the research discussed in the video, check out this KQED blog post. You might also enjoy our coverage of those archerfish face-recognition experiments.

More often than not, one person’s garbage is also another person’s garbage. These are the exceptions to the rule. 

1. ITEM: FLOYD LANDIS’S BICYCLE – $5

Sold For: $8000

Although Floyd Landis was stripped of his Tour de France title, it didn’t stop him from cycling. In 2008, a gust of wind blew one of his bikes off the vehicle transporting it. It was found on the side of the interstate and sold to Greg Estes at a garage sale.

2. 17TH-CENTURY PAINTING “PREPARATION TO ESCAPE EGYPT” – $215

Sold for: $27,630

In 2007, a German student visited a Berlin flea market and came home with a new pullout couch. When she opened it, she didn’t discover loose change or a lost remote control—she found a Venetian painting.

3. PAINTING BY ANTHONY VAN DYCK – $660

Not yet sold: Estimated at $660,000

Father Jamie McLeod, a Catholic priest, bought the painting at an antique shop, but only for its gold frame. Later, Antiques Roadshow confirmed it was the work of the top court painter of King Charles I.

4. ANDY WARHOL CHILDHOOD SKETCH – $5

Worth: Estimated $2 million

Andy Fields bought five crappy sketches at a Sin City garage sale. One picture boasted Warhol’s preteen signature.

5. 11TH-CENTURY CHINESE BOWL – $3

Sold for: $2.2 million

In 2013, a New York family bought a dish no bigger than a cereal bowl at a garage sale. The piece was actually 1000 years old!

6. ORIGINAL COPY OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE – $4

Sold for: $2.42 million

In 1989, a Philadelphia man bought a cruddy painting at a flea market. While he was investigating a tear in the canvas, the frame broke apart and out fell a small folded document. It was one of 24 surviving copies of the original 1776 Declaration.

7. ORIGINAL VELVET UNDERGROUND DEMO LP – $0.75

Sold for: $26,200

Roving a Manhattan flea market in 2002, Warren Hill found a sleeveless LP with “Velvet Underground … 4/25/66” scrawled on the label. It was the same demo disc Columbia Records had rejected!

8. ANSEL ADAMS NEGATIVES – $45

Worth, if authentic: About $200 million

Rick Norsigian bought these negatives depicting American landscapes at a Fresno garage sale in 2000. Some experts insist they belonged to Ansel Adams, while others think they were snapped by Earl Brooks.

Erik Sass is covering the events of the war exactly 100 years after they happened. This is the 265th installment in the series.  

February 3, 1917: U.S. Breaks Off Relations With Germany

Germany’s fateful decision to resume unrestricted submarine warfare on February 1, 1917, allowing U-boat commanders to sink unarmed neutral vessels without warning, sent shockwaves around the world after it was publicly announced on the last day of January. Coming close on the heels of President Wilson’s offer to host peace talks, the new U-boat campaign was a slap in the face to the United States, which had twice threatened to break off diplomatic relations with Germany over this precise issue; there was now no way to avoid an open breach, setting the stage for America’s entry into the war. 

This wasn’t for lack of effort by Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff, the German ambassador to America, who frantically tried to persuade Berlin to delay the U-boat campaign, dispatching a flurry of secret telegrams up to the very last moment. On January 26, 1917 he sent a message marked “Most urgent,” asking to be allowed time to consider Wilson’s proposals, or at least give the appearance of doing so: 

After having had very important conference request most urgently postponement till my next two messages received… To begin U-boat war without previous negotiations regarding above proposals would among other things put us seriously in the wrong, and owing to Wilson’s personal sensitiveness, would make prevention of rupture quite impossible. 

The following day, January 27, Bernstorff again warned Berlin: 

If the U-boat campaign is opened now with any further ado, the President will regard this as a smack in the face, and war with the United States will be inevitable. The war party here will gain the upper hand, and the end of the war will be quite out of sight, as, whatever people may say to the contrary, the resources of the United States are enormous… At present, therefore, it is only a matter of postponing the declaration for a little while so that we may improve our diplomatic position. 

On January 29, however, Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg brushed off Bernstorff’s warnings with the breezy assertion that Wilson’s proposal for peace negotiations came too late:

If his offer had only reached us a few days earlier, we should have been able to postpone opening of the new U-boat war. Now, however, in spite of the best will in the world, it is, owing to technical reasons, unfortunately too late, as far-reaching military preparations have already been made which cannot be undone, and U-boats have already sailed with new instructions… [I]n view of the life and death struggle which has once again been proclaimed against us, we cannot any longer delay the use of those means which appear to us best calculated to end the war quickly… 

In short, the die was cast. 

“Enemy Of Mankind” 

The American reaction was exactly as Bernstorff predicted. Although Wilson and Secretary of State Robert Lansing had heard rumors that Germany was preparing to resume unrestricted U-boat warfare through diplomatic and intelligence channels, they may have been surprised by the lack of warning in the latest declaration, which opened the campaign immediately. In any event both men were outraged, and Lansing, who had long been sympathetic to the Allies, advocated an immediate declaration of war. 

On February 2, Lansing sent Wilson a lengthy memorandum about “Germany’s broken promise and the crime of submarine warfare,” laying out several possible responses before making his own recommendation. First of all, he wrote, “I am firmly convinced that we must without taking any preliminary step break off diplomatic relations by sending Bernstorff and his suite home and by recalling [U.S. ambassador] Gerard and closing our Embassy at Berlin.

After this step, Lansing continued, the White House could attempt to minimize American casualties by advising U.S. citizens and merchant vessels to avoid traveling on the high seas – but he quickly pointed out that this would essentially mean the U.S. was submitting to Germany’s demands by severing its connections with Britain. In addition to undermining the Allied war effort and possibly handing Germany victory, tolerating the actions of an “outlaw” nation would be an obvious affront to American prestige (although Lansing didn’t feel the need to state this explicitly). 

Thus Lansing recommended the second, more extreme course of action: 

To follow up the severance of relations by announcing to Congress this action with a statement that Germany has forfeited every consideration by reason of her breach of faith, that the full criminality of her previous acts is revived and that no honorable course remains but for this country to employ every resource which it possesses to punish the guilty nation and to make it impotent to commit in the future crimes against humanity. 

In other words, Lansing was pushing Wilson to declare war on Germany, and marshaled a number of arguments in favor of the second course of action, appealing to Wilson’s fervent belief in democracy (which Lansing shared): “It amounts to a frank declaration that an outlaw Government is an enemy of mankind, and will show that the present military oligarchy must be eliminated for the sake of civilization and the future peace of the world… It will give tremendous moral weight to the cause of human liberty and the suppression of Absolutism.” 

On February 3, 1917 Wilson announced that the United States was breaking off diplomatic relations with Germany to a special session of Congress (top), by expelling the German ambassador and recalling the American ambassador to Berlin. For the time being diplomatic relations would continue with the other members of the Central Powers (in fact the U.S. didn’t declare war on Austria-Hungary until December 1917, long after it went to war with Germany, and never declared war on the Ottoman Empire). 

The New York Times 

Everyone understood that breaking off relations with Germany was the final step before a declaration of war, but Wilson remained understandably reluctant to embroil his country in the bloodiest conflict in human history; for one thing, in an age before opinion polls it was unclear where the American people stood, and he needed time to read the national mood. He may also have decided to wait for the first German U-boat attacks on American shipping in order to be able to present a firm case to Congress.

Unbeknownst to Wilson, British intelligence was about to make the task of convincing America to go to war much easier, with the disclosure of the Zimmermann Telegram.  

See the previous installment or all entries.

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, there’s no denying that the New England Patriots have established a dynasty of truly historic proportions. This team just clinched its record-breaking ninth Super Bowl berth and its seventh in the past 15 years. Here’s some fun trivia worth memorizing before they take on the Atlanta Falcons.

1. THEY WEREN’T THE FIRST PRO FOOTBALL TEAM TO REPRESENT BOSTON.

Massachusetts began flirting with pro football long before the New England Patriots came along. The Boston Bulldogs were created and dismantled in 1929. The Boston Redskins (originally the Braves) came next in 1932, but, after five years, they relocated to Washington, D.C.

2. THEY WERE FOUNDED AS THE “BOSTON PATRIOTS.”

The Patriots organization began as the “Boston Patriots,” and they were founded as part of the American Football League on November 16, 1959.

3. THEY WON THE AFL’S VERY FIRST PRE-SEASON GAME.

On July 30, 1960, the Patriots won the upstart American Football League’s very first pre-season game by toppling the Buffalo Bills 28-7.

4. A TRI-CORNER HAT USED TO ADORN THEIR HELMETS.

Modern Patriots may wear that star-spangled “Flying Elvis” logo, but their forebears spent the 1960 season rocking a much simpler helmet design—one which consisted of a tri-corner hat sitting atop each player’s number.

5. THEY MOVED A LOT DURING THE 1960S.

Between 1960 and 1971, the Patriots changed venues four times. Nickerson Field, Fenway Park, Harvard Stadium, and Boston College’s Alumni Stadium all took turns hosting the team during that stretch.

6. IN 1970, A FIRE BROKE OUT IN THE STANDS.

In 1970, the Patriots’ final game at Alumni Stadium was rudely interrupted when a popcorn machine beneath the bleachers caught fire, scattering a large section of the crowd. “Fortunately, nobody was hurt,” said radio announcer Gil Santos, “and it wasn’t a huge section of seats that were burned. After the fire was out, everybody found a seat, and the game continued. Popcorn sales, of course, went down.”

7. THEY WERE GOING TO BE CALLED THE BAY STATE PATRIOTS, BUT THERE WAS A SLIGHT PROBLEM.

Upon leaving for Foxborough, Massachusetts in 1971, they were re-christened as “The Bay State Patriots.” The name was rejected when people pointed out the abbreviation would be “The B.S. Patriots.”

8. IN THE EARLY YEARS, THEIR STADIUM HAD SOME TOILET PROBLEMS.

Schaefer Stadium (a.k.a. Foxboro Stadium) wasn’t exactly Buckingham Palace. In 1971, the Pats’ longtime residence just barely passed a mandatory “flush-off” test—wherein health inspectors flushed every single on-property toilet simultaneously. The test was ordered after hasty repairs were made when it was discovered that the plumbing was insufficiently prepared.

9. A SNOW PLOW OPERATOR BECAME A SPORTS HERO IN 1982. 

On a harsh, wintry day in 1982, snowplow operator Mark Henderson became a New England folk hero when he cleared a patch of field for Patriots kicker John Smith, whose late field goal slew the visiting Miami Dolphins. Incidentally, at the time, Henderson was there on work release from prison.

10. THE 1990S DID NOT GET OFF TO A GREAT START FOR THE TEAM.

The year 1990 was unkind to New England football fans. Not only did the Patriots amass a franchise-worst 1-15 record, but in 11 of those losses, they never even led once.

11. THEY ALMOST MOVED TO ST. LOUIS.

When Missouri native James Orthwein bought the Pats in 1992, he had a single goal in mind: shipping them off to St. Louis. However, at the time, Foxboro Stadium was owned by Robert Kraft, who effectively nixed the idea and purchased Orthwein’s franchise two years later.

12. THEY ALMOST GOT SHIPPED OFF TO CONNECTICUT, TOO.

New England escaped relocation again in 1998. Businessmen from Hartford, Connecticut, attempted to lure Kraft’s Pats out of Massachusetts by offering a brand-new, publicly financed stadium. This blockbuster deal fell through when Kraft managed to secure $72 million from the Bay State, with which he eventually constructed Gillette Stadium—the squad’s current home.

13. TOM BRADY’S COLLEGE CAREER DIDN’T PORTEND HIS SUPERSTAR STATUS.

He may be a future Hall of Famer, but during his collegiate days, nobody would’ve mistaken Patriots QB Tom Brady for a big-shot. At one point, Brady was the seventh quarterback on the University of Michigan’s depth chart.

14. BRADY COULD HAVE PLAYED PRO BASEBALL INSTEAD.

Speaking of Brady: the Montreal Expos drafted him as a catcher in 1995. (He didn’t play.)

15. THE TEAM’S SUPER BOWL VICTORIES HAVE BEEN CLOSE.

Each of New England’s four Super Bowl victories was decided by four points or fewer.

16. THEY’VE GOT THE LONGEST WINNING STREAK IN PRO FOOTBALL HISTORY.

The franchise claimed 21-straight regular and postseason wins from 2003-2004, an NFL record.

17. IT TOOK NEARLY 30 MINUTES FOR EITHER TEAM TO SCORE IN SUPER BOWL XXXVIII.

Though the Pats eventually prevailed over Carolina in Super Bowl XXXVIII, viewers had to wait 26 minutes and 55 seconds before either team scored. However, the teams scored 37 combined points in the fourth quarter, the most ever in a single quarter of a Super Bowl.

18. VLADIMIR PUTIN MIGHT HAVE ONE OF ROBERT KRAFT’S CHAMPIONSHIP RINGS.

Vladimir Putin: jewelry thief? Kraft claims that, while visiting Russia, he had to bid one of his championship rings “dasvidanya.” Allegedly, President Putin had asked to hold it, remarking “I could kill someone with this ring.” Kraft complied, at which point the statesman pocketed the keepsake and left. Kraft later said it was a gift. Putin curiously said he has no memory of the event. “You know, I do not remember either Mr. Kraft or the ring,” he told AFP. “They handed out some sorts of souvenirs.”

19. GAME OF THRONES AUTHOR GEORGE R.R. MARTIN HAS LIKENED THE TEAM TO THE LANNISTERS.

Game of Thrones creator and Giants/Jets fan George R.R. Martin has said that, in his mind, the Patriots are the NFL’s Lannisters.

20. BILL BELICHICK RENAMED HIS BOAT AFTER THE 2015 SUPER BOWL.

Head coach Bill Belichick—who won two Super Bowl titles as a defensive coordinator with the Giants and four as head coach of the Pats—owns a boat he calls VI Rings. Up until 2015, it had been known asV Rings, but he renamed it in 2015, after the Patriots won Super Bowl XLIX. Who knows? After this Sunday, he just may have to re-christen it VII Rings. (We’re betting he wouldn’t mind the touch-up.)

Additional Sources:
Then Belichick Said to Brady…: The Greatest New England Patriots Stories Ever Told, by Jim Donaldson
The Patriot Way: The History of the New England Patriots
Patriots.com

Photographer Seph Lawless snapped these pictures inside two abandoned Ohio shopping malls. His work captured both the beauty and the melancholy of these modern ruins before they were demolished.

You may not have been thinking about Heat as you watched The Dark Knight in 2008, but Michael Mann’s 1995 heist classic had a major influence on Christopher Nolan’s Batman flick. Glass Distortion, the film analysis series, just took a look at the distinct echoes of Heat and other Mann movies that appear in The Dark Knight, as Gizmodo spotted.

In an interview, Nolan directly cited Mann as an inspiration on the film, telling Variety in 2009 that he screened Heat for his department heads before they started filming.

“I always felt Heat to be a remarkable demonstration of how you can create a vast universe within one city and balance a very large number of characters and their emotional journeys in an effective manner,” Nolan said. See how that inspiration made its way into his blockbuster:

[h/t Gizmodo]

For the second time in franchise history, the Atlanta Falcons are headed to the Super Bowl. Will they rise up and claim Atlanta’s first major pro sports championship since 1995? Super fan Samuel L. Jackson has definitely got his fingers crossed. From adventurous mascots to touchdown dance crazes, here’s a quick primer on everything you should know about the “Dirty Birds.”

1. ATLANTA’S TEAM WAS ALMOST THE CARDINALS.

Before the Falcons came along, the Arizona Cardinals (as we now know them) considered migrating to Atlanta. From 1960 to 1987, this storied football team played in St. Louis, where they were briefly holed up in an outdated stadium called Sportsman’s Park. Owners Bill and Charles Bidwill didn’t think much of this home field and the replacement was suffering constant delays, so between 1963 and 1964, they met with Atlanta mayor Ivan Allen Jr. to talk about the possibility of bringing their Cards to Georgia’s capital city. Faced with the threat of losing its NFL team, the city of St. Louis appeased the Bidwills by building Busch Memorial Stadium, a $24 million sports venue. It opened in 1966.

2. THEY WERE BORN IN 1965.

The Atlanta Falcons were born in 1965 as an NFL expansion team, which the league awarded to Atlanta-based insurance executive Rankin Smith for $8.5 million. At the time, this was the highest sum that had ever been paid for a professional sports franchise. (By comparison, in 2008 the Miami Dolphins were purchased for $1 billion. How times have changed.)

3. THE TEAM’S FIRST-EVER DRAFT PICK GOT SOME ADVICE FROM AN ASTRONAUT, AND IGNORED IT.

Linebacker Tommy “Mr. Falcon” Nobis has the distinction of being the franchise’s first-ever draft pick. He’s also one of the few athletes who’s ever gotten career advice from an astronaut. In college, Nobis averaged almost 20 tackles per game and led his Texas Longhorns to a national title in 1963. His skills caught the attention of two rival football leagues: the established National Football League and the upstart American Football League. (On June 8, 1966, the two leagues announced that they would merge and form the modern NFL.)

When he decided to turn pro, Nobis was drafted by both the Falcons—who were part of the old NFL—and the AFL’s Houston Oilers. News of this debacle reached the orbiting Gemini 7 spacecraft. In a transmission back to earth, astronaut Frank Borman said, “Tell Nobis to sign with Houston.” But the linebacker picked Atlanta instead. Nobis officially signed with the Falcons on December 14, 1965 and would play a major role in their inaugural season in 1966.

4. THEY’VE BASED THEIR TEAM COLORS ON POPULAR COLLEGE TEAMS.

Why do the Falcons wear red and black? Their color scheme is an homage to the Georgia Bulldogs. Early in their history, the Falcons paid tribute to another beloved SEC team—the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets—with a pair of gold stripes that graced their helmets from 1966 to 1970.

5. A FORMER COACH USED SOME ODD PROPS TO MOTIVATE THE TEAM, INCLUDING A STICK OF DYNAMITE.

Interim head coach Jim Hanifan used some weird—and potentially dangerous—props in his motivational speeches. While the team was getting ready to take on the San Francisco 49ers in week 13 of the 1989 season, Hanifan walked into their locker room holding an unlit stick of dynamite. Imploring the players to “be explosive with every play,” he invited them to walk up and touch the strange visual aid. (It didn’t help; the Falcons lost 23-10.)

For the next game, when the club visited Minnesota, Hanifan brought in three hand grenades. After the Falcons were trounced 43-17, Hanifan upped the ante by leaving a disarmed bomb in the locker room. (Incidentally, he had the thing painted red and black. Nice touch.) One Falcon was reported as saying, “If we lose to Washington Sunday, [Hanifan’s] liable to show up for that last game with something nuclear.” The Falcons lost 31-30.

6. WHEN THEY DRAFTED BRETT FAVRE IN 1991, A LEAGUE EXECUTIVE MISPRONOUNCED HIS NAME AS “FAVOR.”

Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre famously spent his rookie season in Atlanta. When the Falcons nabbed him in the 1991 draft, the announcement was made by NFL executive Don Weiss, who mispronounced the last name of the future superstar. “Atlanta has selected Brett Favor, quarterback, Southern Mississippi,” Weiss said.

7. THEY WERE FANS OF M.C. HAMMER.

The 1991 Falcons chose M.C. Hammer’s “2 Legit 2 Quit” as their team anthem. That year, Hammer, who frequented Atlanta home games, gave wide receiver Andre Rison and cornerback Deion Sanders a cameo in the song’s official music video. Then-head coach Jerry Glanville made an appearance as well.

8. A 38-YARD OVERTIME FIELD GOAL SENT THEM TO THEIR FIRST SUPER BOWL.

One of the greatest moments in the Falcons’ franchise history came at the end of the 1998 NFC Championship Game, when kicker Morten Andersen made a 38-yard overtime field goal that sent the Falcons to their first Super Bowl. Andersen was one incredible athlete: During his 25-year NFL career, he took the field in 382 games, more than any other player in league history. Furthermore, he’s also the NFL’s all-time leading scorer. Andersen clinched this latter record as a member of the Falcons. During a 2006 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, he nailed an extra point attempt in the second quarter. This gave him 2435 career points overall—one more than the previous record-holder. By the time he retired, Andersen had drilled in a grand total of 2544 points, including the 806 he made in a Falcons jersey.  

9. THEIR “DIRTY BIRD” DANCE WAS A HIT WITH FANS.

Show us a Falcons fan who grew up in the 1990s, and we’ll show you someone who probably knows the “Dirty Bird” dance by heart. Running back Jamal Anderson is usually credited with inventing the jig during Atlanta’s ’98 Super Bowl run. Before long, everybody on the roster was doing it—even head coach Dan Reeves showed off his own version right after the Falcons were handed the 1998 NFC Championship trophy.

The following off-season, Atlanta linebacker Jessie Tuggle made an appearance at a local elementary school function. At one child’s request, the NFL veteran started doing the Dirty Bird. But just a few seconds in, the kid interrupted him. “He said, ‘That’s not how Jamal does it!’” Tuggle recalled to The New York Times. “And then he started doing it himself to show me. That was pretty much the last time I agreed to do the Dirty Bird when someone asked me.”

10. THE TEAM’S MASCOT ONCE FLEW AWAY DURING PRACTICE DRILLS.

For the club’s first 15 seasons, an actual falcon assumed mascot duty. Back then, the team played in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, which didn’t have a roof. As avian trainer Mike Cady found out the hard way, this was not an ideal situation. While practicing drills on the field one day in 1966, Cady’s raptor suddenly flew out of the building. “[The bird] just chickened out,” Cady told the press. The wayward falcon was later recovered when somebody saw it loitering at a Kraft food plant in suburban Atlanta and called Cady, who quickly recaptured his escapee.

11. THE TEAM’S GOT A STAR-STUDDED FAN BASE.

The Falcons have one star-studded fan base: Jeff Foxworthy, Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Carter, and Usher are among the many celebrities who live and die with the Dirty Birds. Believe it or not, one of their most prominent boosters is now the quarterback of a rival team. Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton grew up in Atlanta, where he rooted for the Falcons through thick and thin. Despite the fact that he presently plays for another franchise in the same division, Newton’s affection for his hometown team remains strong. “I’ve always been a Falcon fan,” he said in a 2013 interview, “and I’m still a Falcons fan—except for those two times a year [when they play Carolina].”

Another Falcons diehard? Moe Szyslak from The Simpsons. In the season 10 episode “Sunday, Cruddy Sunday,” Springfield’s number one bartender leapt at the chance to attend Super Bowl XXXIII because it features his “favorite team,” the Falcons. “Ever since I was a boy,” he tells Homer, “I’ve always loved the Atlanta Falcons.”

12. THEY WERE THE FIRST TEAM TO FACE OFF AGAINST THE SAINTS IN NEW ORLEANS AFTER HURRICANE KATRINA.

In week three of the 2006 season, the Falcons were the visiting team in the first post-Katrina home game of their perennial archrivals, the New Orleans Saints. As a Monday Night game, it was broadcast by ESPN. Over 10 million people across the country tuned in to watch the meaningful matchup, giving it the second-largest cable audience of any broadcast in history at the time.     

13. IN 2012, THOMAS DECOUD PLAYED THE “MEOW GAME” WITH AN ESPN REPORTER.

Back in 2012, Thomas DeCoud, a free safety who suited up for Atlanta from 2008 to 2013, decided to mess with ESPN sportscaster Bram Weinstein by playing the Super Troopers “meow” game during a live interview. For the uninitiated, the rules—as established in the 2001 cult comedy—are straightforward: Just find somebody to talk with and then see how many times you can sneak the word “meow” into your sentences before he or she catches on. In the span of four minutes, DeCoud dropped 14 audible meows. Weinstein later claimed that he finally realized what was going on near the end of the interview. “You killed me man,” he told DeCoud on Twitter after the fact. “Funny. I’m a Falcons fan now. Meow.”

14. QUARTERBACK MATT RYAN’S CAREER GOT OFF TO A GREAT START.

Talk about a great first impression: Current starting quarterback Matt Ryan’s very first professional pass in the NFL, in 2008, was a 62-yard touchdown throw to wide receiver Michael Jenkins. 

15. A PLAYER’S WIFE WAS RECENTLY AWARDED THE TEAM BALL—AND WITH GOOD REASON.

After a particularly hard day as a new mom, the ball was a reminder that I can be as tough as the rest of our team! See you in Houston! pic.twitter.com/fnlFj3LpBy

— Katie Levitre (@katielevitre) January 24, 2017

Last month, Atlanta held off Seattle with a final score of 36-20 to secure an NFC Championship appearance—the club’s second in five years. Katie Levitre, wife of Falcons guard Andy Levitre, would’ve had a great excuse for missing that Seahawks game: She went into labor just before kickoff.  But instead of calling an ambulance, Katie decided to stay put in the stadium. She also refrained from breaking the news to her husband until after the game. That afternoon, the couple went to a local hospital where Katie gave birth to their first child, a healthy baby girl they named Lily. In recognition of her amazing toughness, the proud new mother was awarded the game ball by head coach Dan Quinn.

16. THEY’RE ABOUT TO GET A NEW HOME.

The Falcons will soon have a new nest to roost in. The team is set to move into Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a $1.5 billion venue presently under construction, for the upcoming season. Among other things, the surrounding plaza will feature the largest metal bird statue on Earth—a football-clutching metallic falcon with a 64-foot wingspan.

17. ONE FALCONS SUPER FAN HAS BANNED THE SALE OF SAMUEL ADAMS BEER IN HIS STORE UNTIL AFTER THIS YEAR’S SUPER BOWL.

An Exxon gas station in Gainesville, Georgia recently made headlines when the manager, Hadji Chhadua, decided to ban the sale of Samuel Adams beer in his establishment until after Super Bowl LI. The story quickly gained traction on Twitter, where the Boston-based brewery weighed in with a couple of tweets, one of which read “don’t worry Atlanta, we’re still drinking Coca-Cola.”