Moscow , 1986 :
We are in a business district conference room to question Turner along with the Soviet press and a batting order of grim men in non-white suits and sunglasses ( KGB ? ) along the back wall of the way . Turner ’s maiden Goodwill Games are about to begin . cynic consider he has launched them strictly as programming for his Atlanta superstation , WTBS . Turner claims a abstruse determination .
After the U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympic games in 1980 and the Soviet ’s right - back - at - you boycott of the L.A. Olympics in 1984 , Turner believe bringing Soviets and Americans together would make for a near boob tube show , yes , but also that the Goodwill Games – an event he trumpet as " a major , major undertaking of colossal proportions " – would in turning advance repose and understanding .
Or as Ted reminded us , " Friends do n’t bomb friend . "
During the course of the next hr , it became vindicated the Soviets in particular enquire if Turner had arrived by plane or spaceship . He welcome a Soviet associate by saying , " Sitski here , Sovietski . "
And to a Polish reporter : " Hey , Poland . I wish that Polish vodka . Here ’s my room numeral . Bring me some , Poland . "
I worked at the
Atlanta Journal - Constitution
at the metre . While some other American medium outlets sent a newsman to chronicle Turner ’s Goodwill Games brainwave , the
AJC
was there in military group . Dave Kindred , our talented editorialist and future winner of the Red Smith Award , made an inventory of the masses , places and things Turner cite in that exclusive 60 minutes for a newspaper column the next day :
I remembered the main points of Turner ’s press group discussion . But Kindred redeem it for posterity in a collection of his columns titled
Heroes , Fools and Other idealist
. The title was n’t specific to Turner but he certainly qualified on all tally .
Turner ended the mechanical press conference with an appeal for nuclear disarming and self - reflection :
" What about the elephant " became a catchphrase among the American press during the remainder of the Goodwill Games :
" How did Carl Lewis do , " one would involve another .
" Won his heating system easily , " come the answer .
" What about the elephants ? "
Turner arrive at Moscow like a cyclone . He walk the streets and sports arena get behind by his next ex - wife , Jane ( not Fonda , that Jane would come by and by ) . She was commonly 20 paces behind . Every so often , he ’d rick around and brandish his weapon system like a third - foot motorcoach sending a ball carrier base : " C’m on . "
At the spectacularly choreographed Opening Ceremonies , every spectator flip over their visiting card on discriminative stimulus , unveil an amazingly naturalistic portraiture of Lenin .
The Soviet press could not wait to pick up what Ted thought . They crowded around him on his direction out .
Asked about the card exhibit , Turner said , " It was great , great . This Lenin guy ’s a big lot … like Jesus Christ and George Washington all flap into one . "
The following summertime Ronald Reagan challenged Gorbachev to " tear down this bulwark . "
Ted Turner never claimed he helped interchange the worldly concern with the Goodwill Games , though he most for certain did as a pioneer of orbiter tv set and 24 - hour intelligence . But he did administer a spanking to the two heavy minor on the block with another of his gems from Moscow , 1986 :
Twenty three class later , Turner is America ’s enceinte landowner with over two million acres and a herd of 50,000 bison . He ’s in the Business Hall of Fame , the America ’s Cup Hall of Fame and is a winner of the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Award for his philanthropy .
I ca n’t look out the Dos Equis " Most Interesting Man in the World " ad campaign without thinking of Turner . The character is point work bench pressing Asian women , playing jai alai , freeing a bear from a trap , engage in a sword conflict and other freaky bodily function . He sign off by admitting he does n’t always drink beer but when he does he makes it Dos Equis .
Then he says , " Stay thirsty my friends . "
At age 70 , Ted Turner ’s had his fill .
Ted Turner’s Memorable Moments (in no particular order)
" ¢ Born in Cincinnati Nov. 19 , 1938 . Attended Brown but was expelled for having a woman in his way . When he announced he was going to be a Classics major , his Padre wrote him a letter . The elder Turner said he was " horrified " at the news and that he " almost puked " upon listen it .
" ¢ When 15 sailors died off the coast of England in the Fastnet Race won by Turner in 1979 , Turner told the British Press : " It ’s no use crying . The King is dead . Long hold up the King . It had to happen preferably or afterwards . You ought to be thankful there are storms like that or you ’d all be speaking Spanish . " ( A extension to the turbulent seas that foil the Spanish Armada . )
" ¢ In an attack to ferment his woeful Atlanta Braves luck , he sent coach Dave Bristol on a " reconnoitering misstep , " put on a uniform and managed the team from the bunker . The Braves lost . Commissioner Bowie Kuhn intervene , telling Turner that MLB managers could not by rule have a fiscal interest in the team .
" ¢ Told
Sports Illustrated
in 1986 ,
" I want to be Jiminy Crickett for America . Remember how Jiminy always told Pinocchio to go to school day , to do smart things ? That ’s what I want to be for America . "
" ¢ On male person - run governments : " humans should be exclude from public office for 100 years in every part of the world . The homo have had millions of years where we ’ve been work things . We ’ve screwed it up dispiritedly . allow ’s give it to the women . "
" ¢ To
SI system
, on his design to conquer overpopulation : " It would take only a billion dollar sign a year to furnish giving birth control devices to all the women in the world who would use them . That would cut the human beings population growth in half . That ’s about the cost of one Trident hero sandwich . "
" ¢ found the first line superstation ( WTBS ) and the first 24 - hour news post ( CNN ) . Kuhn told him to cease and abstain after he put the name " Channel " on the back of Atlanta pitcher Andy Messersmith ’s uniform No . 17 .
" ¢ Miss America 1983 said Ted Turner was the somebody she ’d most like to meet .
" ¢ Before becoming Braves proprietor he say , " What do you have to know about baseball ? Both squad have 10 guys ? " Or , more accurately , nine .
" ¢ Turner took over Turner Outdoor Advertising at years 24 after his beginner ’s suicide . He grew a $ 1 million a year business organisation into a media conglomerate .
" ¢ promise Christianity a " religion for losers " and miscarriage opposition " goof . " issue an apology and later ferment with church group to fight malaria .
" ¢ To Charlie Rose in April 2008 , on the impact if we do n’t inhibit globose warming : " Most of the people will have fail and the rest of us are man-eater . "
" ¢ Stan Kasten , his righthand man with the Braves and Hawks , on Turner : " He has a hundred estimation a day , and only two of them are adept . But how many people have two good ideas a day ? "
" ¢ After set up CNN , Turner say : " We wo n’t be signing off until the world stop . We ’ll be on and we will cover the end of the world . That will be our last event . And when the end of the humanity come we ’ll fiddle ' Nearer , My God , To Thee ' before we sign off . "
