DAILY DIRT: The ‘Great Lego Spill’ remains a big deal all these years later

If you say you’ve never stepped on one of those Lego pieces you’re either extraordinarily lucky — or lying … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 1,054 of The Daily Dirt

1. Never underestimate the power and/or resiliency of those Lego blocks. Never.

In 1997, nearly 5 million Lego pieces were packed in a shipping container when a cargo ship hauling the toys and other goods from The Netherlands to New York nearly capsized during a storm in the Atlantic. All 62 of the boat’s shipping containers were lost at sea in an event now known as the Great Lego Spill.

It was arguably the single largest toy-related environmental disaster, experts say, and people are still finding Lego pieces washing ashore 27 years later. Many of the pieces were nautically themed and quite specific, which has made their discoveries easier to document when one is found.

The event and its aftermath are documented on social media on the “Lego Lost at Sea” Facebook page, plus similar sites on X and Instagram. People, mostly in Europe, continue to find tiny, colorful octopuses, dragons, life rafts, scuba flippers, scuba tanks and more from the Lego spill, and they enthusiastically report their finds to one of the sites.

I think there should also be a Facebook page for people who step on those blasted little Lego pieces that grandkids leave on the living room floor. But that’s just me …

2. Did you know (Part 117)

• That while in high school, Don Felder, eventually a member of the Eagles, used to give guitar lessons to Tom Petty.
• That Jimi Hendrix once gave guitar lessons to a teenager named Billy Gibbons, who went on to fame with ZZ Top.
• That Igor Stravinsky once gave classical music lessons to an aspiring 13-year-old musician named Warren Zevon.
• That Boz Scaggs learned to play the guitar from Steve Miller.
• That since the 1961 MLB expansion, only six left-handed pitchers have won 25 or more games in a season: White Ford (1961), Sandy Koufax (1963, 65-66), Jim Kaat (1966), Mickey Lolich (1971), Steve Carlton (1972) and Ron Guidry (1978).

3. A final thought on the college football weekend

If you weren’t aware, Notre Dame paid Northern Illinois $1.4 million to come to South Bend and get pulverized. But NIU left Notre Dame with a startling 16-14 win.

NIU had been 0-51 against top-five ranked teams in its history. The Huskies entered the Notre Dame game 28.5-point underdogs.

Here’s some more food for thought on major upsets:

Surprisingly, a 28.5-point upset isn’t even among the top 10 biggest point spread upsets of all time. But it is among the top 15 biggest point spread upsets of the past 45 years. Three previous teams have won as 28.5-point underdogs, according to Action Network:

• Illinois over Wisconsin (2019)
• Pitt over West Virginia (2007)
• Nicholls State over Western Michigan (2013)The biggest point-spread upset in college football history remains Howard defeating UNLV 43-40 in 2017. Howard was a 45.5-point underdog. In 2007, Stanford upset USC 24-23 as a 40.5-point underdog.

“Not being among the top five — or even top 10 — biggest point-spread upsets in college football probably isn’t much consolation to Notre Dame fans,” wrote Ian Casselberry of yahoo.com. “But at least Fighting Irish fans can say there were worse upsets.”

Steve Thought O The Day — Even if Notre Dame runs the table on the rest of its rather lackluster schedule, it’s unlikely the Irish will earn a spot in the inaugural 12-team CFB playoff. That loss to Northern Illinois will likely haunt Notre Dame until next season.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. #KingSEC now has six of the top seven ranked teams in college football, including #MIZZOU at No. 6.