Golf Central

So it was on this day in 1992 that Fred Couples and Davis Love III teamed up for the first of four straight World Cup pairs titles, and went on to become a great Ryder Cup partnership as well, combining for the first of what would be four straight World Cup team titles.
     That Love-Couples win (each birdied the last hole in Madrid to give the US the victory by a stroke) was followed by yearly triumphs in the same event in Florida, Puerto Rico and Shenzhan, China - setting the tone for a combination that was seemingly unbeatable ... the massive-hitting Love and the maestro of tempo and timing, Couples.
     Now ain't that sweet.
     Nowadays, the Americans can barely assemble a duo to compete in the World Cup, which has almost become a throwaway event nowadays. But Love and Couples were as sweet as they sounded as a Ryder Cup pairing, teaming famously to beat Nick Faldo and Colin Montgomerie on the first day in 1995 at Oak Hill (which the US side lost by a point).
     To this day, the two great pals have an understanding only those who really know each other can share. Love knows Couples better than most: "Everybody thinks Fred's relaxed on the golf course, but he's more tense on the golf course than anywhere. He's a relaxed guy." Now, that's inside knowledge, folks. On the flip side of the coin, Freddie says that once in a while Davis likes a nice cigar.
     A bit of inside knowledge might have saved everyone a load of grief, but (alas!) on this day in 1923 Adolf Hitler made his first run for the German leadership. That night, Hitler and his cronies got pissed up and staged the Beer Hall Putsch to try to take over the German government. They failed then, but as we know, succeeded later. History's loss on that day was history's loss - as Hitler, then chancellor of the Third Reich, survived an assassination attempt on the 16th anniversary of the Putsch.
     And (like anyone anywhere outside of Helena gives a crap) on this day in 1889, Montana was admitted to the union as the 41st US state. Take that knowledge with you to your next pub quiz.
     That said, it's a happy 41st birthday to celeb chef Gordon Ramsay, who could whip up a hellishly lovely meal for Love and Couples and tell them to get bleeped, or any of the others who are celebrating occasions ... like the birthday do's of future England football manager (depending on what rag you read) Guus Hiddink (61); future England football manager (depending on what rag you read) Alan Curbishley (50); and I-might-be-an-England football legend-if only my legs weren't so freakishly short winger Joe Cole of Chelsea (26), who is undoubtedly celebrating with a lap-dancer or five at one of Ramsay's restaurants in London as we speak.
     And in an odd coincidence, legendary American baseball player and manager Stanley "Bucky" Harris was born and died today. Born on Nov. 8, 1896, Bucky was more successful as a manager than a player, but he beat the long odds by "touching them all" exactly on his 81st birthday in on Nov. 8, 1977.