Knee Deep in the Hoop-la

I begin the second semester of my junior year in high school in 1985.

The same day President Reagan is sworn in for his second term as President the San Francisco 49ers defeat the Miami Dolphins 38 to 16 to win Super Bowl XIX. The Oklahoma Sooners are voted college football champions.

Various recording artists create the group named USA For Africa record the song "We Are the World" to raise money for African famine relief. The group is comprised of
Dan Aykroyd (Canadian, and one of the two non-US performers), Harry Belafonte, Lindsey Buckingham, Kim Carnes, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Sheila E., Bob Geldof (The only performer who was also a member of Band Aid and one of the two non-US performers), Hall & Oates (Daryl Hall and John Oates), James Ingram, Jackie Jackson, LaToya Jackson, Marlon Jackson, Michael Jackson, Randy Jackson, Tito Jackson, Al Jarreau, Waylon Jennings, Billy Joel, Cyndi Lauper, Huey Lewis and the News (Sean Hopper, Bill Gibson, Johnny Colla, Mario Cipollina, and Chris Hayes), Kenny Loggins, Bette Midler, Willie Nelson, Jeffrey Osborne, David Paich (from Toto), Steve Perry, The Pointer Sisters (Anita, Ruth, and Joan Pointer), Steve Porcaro (from Toto), Lionel Richie, Smokey Robinson, Kenny Rogers, Diana Ross, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder

I am on annual staff and snapping dozens of photos with the school's Canon AE-1 cameras, developing many of them myself in the school's darkroom. Minolta releases world's first autofocus single-lens reflex camera but it is way too expensive for me.

Mikhail Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party and of the leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
More important though is the day after my 17th birthday WrestleMania debuts at Madison Square Garden.

Villanova beats Georgetown 66 to 64 to win NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. My Cyclones were in the newly expanded 64 team dance, losing a first round game to Ohio State but finishing the season with a 21-13 record.

The world is riveted by a series of astonishing events that occur in just a few short weeks: David Lee Roth leaves Van Halen, the United Kingdom celebrates its first national Glow-worm Day, and Coca-Cola changes its secret formula and debuts New Coke. (a drink I liked at the time but it was changed back in less than 3 months.)

I have to get my kicks somewhere else when the feds officially decommission U.S. Route 66.

Live Aid concerts are held in London and Philadelphia to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. Over $283.6 million was raised. I listened to much of it on my Walkman's radio while hoeing beans with my Uncle Duane. A Led Zeppelin reunion was the highlight for me.

Commodore releases the successor to the Commodore 64, the Amiga personal computer.

The Los Angeles Lakers win the NBA finals 4 games to 2 over the Boston Celtics.

The wreck of R.M.S. Titanic is located.

The first Farm Aid concert organized by Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young, is held in Champaign, Illinois to draw attention to family farm foreclosures. Dad has already given up farming and takes Mom, Chellee, and Tony to Arizona to start his new career in aviation.

Great Scot! It's another awesome year for film with several movies released that I still watch over and over now: "Back to the Future," "Silverado," "Teen Wolf," "Weird Science," "Better Off Dead," "Brazil," "Fletch," "Pee-wee's Big Adventure," "The Jewel of the Nile," and "The Goonies."

The Kansas City Royals defeat the St. Louis Cardinals 4 games to 3 to win the World Series.

The greatest comic strip ever to be published, "Calvin and Hobbes," first appears in 35 newspapers.

Microsoft Corporation releases Windows, Windows 1.0. An equally frustrating computer program called "Tetris" is released.

Ford unveils the Taurus. Yawn.

The grownups of Sesame Street finally meet Big Bird's "make believe" friend Aloysius Snuffleupagus. America is tickled to meet Elmo. On network tv some dude named MacGyver makes his debut.

Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, and Tina Turner had a big year with multiple hits but the big story in music was the USA for Africa song "We Are the World."

Iowa State comes up short on bowl eligibility [again] and finish with a 5-6 record.

I start my senior year of high school. I am driving the Beast full time now.

This post's title is the name of an album and a line from the song "We Built This City" performed by the pop group Starship. The song hit number 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1985.

Be safe.