On Today’s Show

➢ The pandemic could mean the end of salad bars.  And it’s possible they could be replaced by salad making vending machines.

➢ Shaquille O’Neal surprised a doctor who is on the front lines fighting COVID-19, by jumping in on a Zoom call. The NBA legend and the FORTO coffee company have donated over 900,000 coffee shots to fuel frontline workers, and in the process, he came across the story of a Detroit doctor named Kevin Morton who years earlier was shot and only given a 10% chance to live. But he recovered and became a surgeon at the same hospital that saved his life. The heartwarming viral video shows Shaq surprising Morton with a Zoom call, and offering up tickets to an MSU basketball game — as soon as fans are allowed back in the arena.

➢ This is one way to ensure people keep their distance. A pub called Management at The Star Inn in the U.K.said its staff got tired of some patrons ignoring social distancing guidelines, and so installed an electric fence to shock people into behaving.

The fence is a wire one, and is clearly marked so people will know what they’re getting into should they get too close. The pub owner says the fence is usually turned off, but warns “It can be turned on.”

➢ Mike Tyson was a guest on “The Tonight Show” last night and talked about his upcoming fight with Roy Jones Jr. on September 12, 2020 and talked about how he’s starting a “Legends Only League” to give retired athletes from any sport a place to compete again.

➢ It looks like the virus has shaken things up for “The Walking Dead” in more ways than we’d realized. While fans will finally be able to see the delayed finale episode of Season 10 on October 4, that apparently won’t actually be the end of Season 10. Instead, Season 10 will be getting an additional six episodes that will air in 2021. The bad news? Season 11, which was supposed to begin this October, won’t be happening until at least next year, due to disruptions in the shooting schedule caused by the pandemic.

TODAY IS……………….

• “Hamburger Day”, honoring the world’s favorite sandwich whose origins can be traced back as far as the Middle Ages. Reportedly, Louis Lassen, owner of Louis’ Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, sold the first hamburger and steak sandwich in the U.S. on this date in 1900. Today, close to 6 billion burgers are served annually by restaurants.

2019 [01] The first Fortnite World Cup is won by US teenager Kyle Giersdorf with largest ever e-sports prize of $3 million at Arthur Ashe Stadium, New York

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COUNTRY MUSIC NOTE

1998 “Wide Open Spaces” by Dixie Chicks was released. The title song on the band’s 1998 album it hit #1 on the US Country singles chart, spending four weeks there in November 1998.

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CONCERT EXPERIMENT:
Many of us are missing going to live music shows in the midst of the pandemic. How would you like to go and rub shoulders with 4,200 others at a concert next month?

German researchers are putting one on in an effort to study how COVID-19 spreads at large indoor venues. They are looking for healthy volunteers between 18-50 years old see German singer Tim Bendzko perform at a stadium in Leipzig Aug. 11.

Concertgoers will wear a tracking device that transmits data on each person’s movements and their proximity to other crowd members every five seconds. They will also use fluorescent hand sanitizer to help researchers identify what surfaces are used the most, and therefore pose the most risk, and a fog machine will be used to visualize the potential spread of the virus through aerosols. Volunteers will be outfitted with a face mask.

The experiment coordinator says they are trying to determine if there is a middle ground between the “old and the new normal that would allow organizers to fit enough people into a concert venue” to turn a profit. Over 1100 people have already volunteered.

FOUR RANDOM FACTS

1. The phrase “seven-year itch” used to describe SCABIES . . . because back before they could be treated, they lasted for seven years.  It became a metaphor for a situation with no hope for relief.

2. The intro music to “Seinfeld”was slightly different in every episode . . . it was composed to match the pace and cadence of Jerry Seinfeld’s stand-up in the intro.

3. In Pakistan’s version of “Sesame Street”, Oscar the Grouch is named Akhtar and he lives in a rusty oil barrel.

4. Superman was originally supposed to be a BAD GUY.  Jerry Siegelcreated Superman in 1933 for a short story called “The Reign of the Superman”.  A year later, he decided it made more sense for him to be a hero.

GOOD NEWS

An emergency room doctor from Louisiana got the virus in April, then had a stroke.  He was on a ventilator for 39 days but survived.

And on Friday, he finally left the hospital and got to see his wife and kids for the first time in three months.  He also talked about how strange it was to treat people with the virus, then experience it himself.

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BIRTHDAYS

[56] Lori Loughlin, actress (Aunt Becky on “Full House” 1988-95)/scheduled to be sentenced on August 21 after pleading guilty in the college admissions scandal

[48] Elizabeth Berkley, actress (“Saved by the Bell” 1989-93, 2020)

Bear Opens the Door to a House and Attacks the Man Inside and a Screaming dog

2020 is when we all learned about MURDER HORNETS . . . but it turns out they’re not the only animals going rogue in this apocalyptic year.

First, a 54-year-old guy just outside of Aspen, Colorado was attacked by a bear.  How?  The bear managed to open the door to the guy’s house, barge inside, and then SWIPE at the guy’s face and neck.

The man needed emergency surgery for severe face and neck injuries.

Wildlife officials caught and euthanized the bear, and they say there’s NOTHING this guy did that made the bear break into his house or attack him . . . the bear did all that on his own.

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A family has a pug that makes an insane screaming sound when it gets overly excited.

They do a trick where they hold the dog while their daughter starts running away.

The dog wants to follow her so badly that it starts screaming.

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NEW REPORT CLAIMS THAT KIDS WHO GREW UP WITH DOGS ARE BETTER BEHAVED

There might be more good than harm in getting your kid a puppy. University of Western Australia and Telethon Kids Institute polled over 1,600 parents of kids ages two to five, and found that 42 percent of households surveyed owned a dog.

Kids from dog-owning homes were reportedly between 30 and 40 percent less likely to have problems with conduct with their peers, and had 23 percent less difficulties overall. They were also 34 percent more apt to engage in pro-social behaviors than kids without dogs were.

Researcher, Professor Hayley Christian says, “While we expected that dog ownership would provide some benefits for young children’s wellbeing, we were surprised that the mere presence of a family dog was associated with many positive behaviors and emotions.”

CONDORS ARE BACK

For the first time in nearly 50 years, California condors have returned to Sequoia National Park.

The National Park Service announced that park staff spotted the critically endangered bird in the park back on May 28. This sighting signals that efforts to bring the California condor back from near-extinction are working.

The bird is among the rarest in the world. Thousands of years ago, these birds could be found across North America. But their numbers fell precipitously as colonizers moved across the West due to hunting practices as well as pesticide use. Hunters leave behind carcasses contaminated with their lead bullets, which the birds eat because they’re scavengers. This caused half of all condor deaths.

By 1985, only nine condors remained in the wild. Now, more than 127 are believed to roam California with more than 400 are free across the Southwest.

Their return to the Sequoia National Park signals that California condors may be returning to their historical habitat.

The park was closed from late March into early June due to COVID. It’s not clear that the lack of visitors had anything to do with the condors returning, but the news certainly fits with the pattern.

TUESDAY JULY 28^TH  

1. Major League Baseball is off to a rough start after a bunch of Miami Marlins players tested positive for the virus.  They announced yesterday that SEVEN more players and two coaches have it.

Three other Marlins players tested positive on Sunday, and another player late last week.  So at least 13 people in the organization have gone down in recent days.

Two games were postponed yesterday, and one today.  The Marlins’ home opener against the Orioles was shelved, and their game today is on hold too.  Also, yesterday’s New York Yankees / Philadelphia Phillies game was called off, because New York would’ve had to use the same locker room the Marlins used on Sunday.

It’s not clear what all this means for the Marlins’ season yet, or for baseball in general.  But Commissioner Rob Manfred had a call with owners, and said there are NO plans to pause the season or shut it down at this point.

Cheez-It is teaming up with a winery, Miami Marlins’ home opener canceled, and Washington’s NFL team’s new name.  (From Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon, on Monday, July 27, 2020.)

2. Players from the 24 NHL teams in the playoffs are now in their hub cities of Toronto and Edmonton ahead of the a few exhibition games and their season restart on August 1st. The league reported that there had been no positive coronavirus tests among the more than 800 players tested last week in the final week of training camps. Like the NBA, the NHL has set up a “bubble” for players, coaches and staff in the two Canadian cities.

3. Mike Tyson was a guest on “The Tonight Show” last night and talked about his upcoming fightwith Roy Jones Jr. on September 12, 2020

4. Just think, if the pandemic hadn’t of happened, the Summer games would be on right now.  To remind us a little bit of the games, here’s comedian Franklyn Ajaye on marathon runners who come in last.

COUNTRY NEWS

• “Late Night with Seth Meyers” (NBC/CTV): Cameron Diaz, Jason Aldean

Blake Shelton – In an interview, he seemed less than confident that the upcoming season of “The Voice” will happen as planned. Shooting for the blind auditions is scheduled to begin in two weeks, but he said with “the waves of bad news that keep coming out of California…I still hope we can get it in…but we will see what happens.”

LUKE BRYAN CANCELS 2020 FARM TOUR

Luke Bryan has made the decision to cancel his Farm Tour for this year. He posted a message on social media over the weekend writing, “I’m sad to announce the 2020 Farm Tour shows will not happen due to COVID-19. We’ve been going strong for the past 11 consecutive years so this one really hurts. We have looked at all kinds of ways to continue with the shows this year but couldn’t come up with a solution to give y’all the full Farm Tour experience while keeping everyone safe. Until next year! Love y’all.”

Earlier this year, Luke pulled the plug on his scheduled Proud To Be Right Here Tour, which was set to launch this summer. The tour has been pushed back to 2021 and will include the previously announced special guests Morgan Wallen, Caylee Hammack and Runaway June.

Luke’s new album, Born Here Live Here Die Here, will be released on  August 7th.

THOMAS RHETT WANTED TO GIVE HIS DAUGHTER A ‘MUSICAL NAME’

Thomas Rhett’s youngest daughter, five-month-old Lennon Love, is named after one of the Beatles as well as the holiday that falls so close to her birthday. This time around Thomas had the say in choosing the baby’s name. [“Lennon came from John Lennon, from the Beatles. I knew I wanted some sort of musical name for our third child, and me and Lauren both loved the name Lennon.  And Love – her middle name was gonna actually be Louise, but in the hospital one of her friends text her.  She was like, ‘Hey, since it’s Valentine’s Day, maybe you should name her Lennon Love.  And it kind of started as a joke but kinda became cemented. That’s what we kind of decided in the hospital.”]

Thomas climbs into the Top 10 on the country charts this week with “Be a Light,” featuring special guests Reba McEntire, Keith Urban, Lady A‘s Hillary Scott and Christian artist Chris Tomlin. A portion of the proceeds from the song is being donated to the Recording Academy’s MusiCares Covid-19 fund, which is providing financial support to music creators and professionals who have been adversely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani Are Picking Blackberries and Growing Corn

BLAKE SHELTON was on “The Today Show“ talking about how the quarantine has helped him and GWEN STEFANI grow closer.  Instead of all the showbiz stuff, they’ve been on his ranch keeping it simple and keeping it country.

Quote, “We’ve been doing things that I wished I had time to do for the last 20 years.  And that’s literally stupid things like, pick blackberries.  We’re here [during] the time that blackberries arrived so we went and picked blackberries.

“We grew a garden.  I grew several acres of sweet corn.  Country things like that.”

It was on the ranch that he came up with the idea for their “Happy Anywhere“ video.  He “drunk bought” a video camera last year and it was sitting around collecting dust.

So he asked Gwen’s brother Todd to start filming all the different things they were doing and that’s how the clip ended up looking like a home movie.

Categorised in: Mornings

This post was written by Dave Palmer