Maybe you can settle this for us. My husband thinks the song "American Pie" was written about the murder of JFK. I thought the song was written about the murder of John Lennon (ergo "the day the music died"). Could you settle this for us ?

- Lori S., Markham, Ont.

Don McLean's "American Pie" is a song about two things: rock and roll (that's one thing, not two) and America, as viewed by a young McLean through the turbulent '60s. It's loaded with oblique references and lends itself to many interpretations, but we do know one thing: "the day the music died" refers to Feb. 3, 1959. That's the day seminal rocker Buddy Holly died in a plane crash that also killed the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. McLean has admitted that the first part of the song was inspired by Holly — he even dedicated the American Pie album to him. Besides, the "clues" are plentiful. For instance:

• February made me shiver... bad news on the doorstep - Holly died in February.
• When I read about his widowed bride - Holly was recently married, his wife was pregnant.
• Singing "This'll be the day that I die" - Echoes the lyrics of Holly's hit "That'll Be The Day."

Beyond the Buddy Holly part, trying to assign meaning to all the lines in "American Pie" has become a cottage industry. Is Bob Dylan the "jester"? (Probably.) Are the Beatles the "marching band"? (Maybe.) Is Mick Jagger "Satan"? (Wouldn't be surprised — look at him!) Was Buddy Holly's plane named "American Pie"? (No.)

"American Pie" is a little like "Stairway to Heaven" — every college sophomore thinks he can explain it all, but each one comes up with a different interpretation. Only one person knows for sure what it's all about and Don McLean ain't sayin'. He's having too much fun listening to other people tell him what he "meant." For an interesting look at some of the "research," check out the Annotated "American Pie" or the even longer Interpretation of "American Pie."

I've never heard anyone say the song was specifically about John F. Kennedy, but there are some passages that could be about him — John and Jackie could be the "king and queen" that the jester sang for, and the verse about "Jack Flash" could possibly be referring to "Jack" Kennedy. But to say the whole song is about JFK would take quite a bit of imagination, since JFK was not a musician and had nothing to do with rock and roll — and clearly, much of the song deals with that.

The song is definitely not about John Lennon's murder. Lennon died in 1980, about 10 years after the song was written. I don't think McLean was into prophecy.

As I was watching the rain fall in Florida in Game 3 of the World Series, I realized that the Marlins have a chance to win the World Series twice in their first 10 years, a 20 per cent success ratio.

That got me thinking, but then I realized that this is what you are for: What is the best success ratio a team in any sport has had? Let's assume the team has been around for at least 10 years (to eliminate the 100 per cent success rate of the L.A. Xtreme in XFL football). I know the Oilers won five times between '79 and '90, that's 5 for 11... 46 per cent? Anything better?

- Hodgy

Now that the Series is over, we know that the Marlins have won their second championship in their short existence (it's actually 11 years — they started play in 1993). Does this make the Marlins the title-winningest expansion franchise ever? I took the liberty of breaking this question down into two parts to compare the Marlins' success to that of other teams:

1. Which team required the fewest number of seasons to win its first two titles?
2. Which team won the most titles in its first 11 seasons?

I looked at the five major North American sports leagues and considered only the expansion teams — that is, teams that joined the leagues after they were already well established (generally from 1950 forward). Franchise shifts were not counted, even if they resulted in new team names (e.g. Quebec Nordiques and Colorado Avalanche are considered one franchise).

MLB
Quickest to two titles: Florida Marlins, 11 years. Runner-up: Toronto Blue Jays, 17 years.

Most titles in first 11 seasons: Marlins, two titles (1997, 2003). The New York Mets and Arizona Diamondbacks each won one title in their first 11 years.

NHL
Quickest to two titles: Edmonton Oilers, six years. The Oilers left the defunct WHA and joined the NHL in the 1979-80 season, then won the Stanley Cup in 1984 and 1985. Also worthy of mention: the Philadelphia Flyers took only eight years to win their first two titles; the New York Islanders only nine.

Most titles in first 11 seasons: Oilers, five titles (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990). Runner-up: The Islanders joined the NHL in 1972-73, and won four (consecutive) titles (1980-83) in their first 11 seasons.

NFL
Quickest to two titles: Cleveland Browns, five years. The Browns' story is similar to the Oilers'. Originally a member of the All America Football Conference, the Browns joined the NFL in 1950 after the AAFC disbanded. They won an NFL title in their first season, then won another one four years later. The Miami Dolphins managed the feat in eight years.

Most titles in first 11 seasons: Browns, three titles (1950, 1954, 1955). The Dolphins and the Baltimore Colts (originally Dallas Texans) each won two titles in their first 11 seasons.

NBA
Quickest to two titles: Chicago Bulls, 27 years. The Bulls joined the NBA in 1966 but didn't win their first title until 1991. Their second title, of course, came in 1992, in the middle of their first Michael Jordan-led three-peat. The only other expansion teams to have won two titles are the San Antonio Spurs (28 years) and the Houston Rockets (29 years).

Most titles in first 11 seasons: Milwaukee Bucks and Portland Trail Blazers, one title each.

CFL
Quickest to two titles: Baltimore Stallions/Montreal Alouettes, 10 years. This is the only CFL expansion franchise to ever win a title. The Stallions entered the league in 1994 and won the Grey Cup in 1995. In 1996, the Stallions moved to Montreal and became the Alouettes (a familiar name to CFL fans — the Als took the name of a previous Montreal franchise). The Alouettes won the 2003 Grey Cup.

Most titles in first 11 seasons: Stallions/Alouettes, two titles. (With a chance to make it three next year.)

So there you have it. The fastest team to win two titles was the Cleveland Browns, who did it in five years; the team to have the best initial 11-year stretch was the Edmonton Oilers, with five titles. Both teams, however, might deserve an asterisk, as they were established in other leagues before joining the NFL and NHL. If you're looking for "pure" expansion teams, the Dolphins, Flyers and Islanders have the strongest cases.

Sources:

MLB: NHL: NFL: NBA: CFL:

Champions | Expansion Champions | Expansion Champions | Expansion Champions | Expansion Champions | Expansion

You're a baseball fan, right?

I just saw the final out of the World Series and I've got a question about tag outs. If a player is, say, caught in a rundown between two bases, and a fielder tries to tag him out, if the fielder had the ball in his glove hand, but tags the runner with the other hand, would that still be considered an out, or must the ball actually touch the runner?

- J. DuMaurier

Darn right I'm a fan. The end of October is always sad for me because it means no baseball for three and a half months. You've probably noticed a lot of baseball answers in this column lately, but I guess I can field one last question before I rub some neat's foot oil on them and throw them into the closet for the winter. (That's a Charlie Brown reference.)

In tag situations, the runner must be tagged by either (i) the ball; (ii) a hand holding the ball (implication: you can "tag" the runner with the back of your hand, or even with a finger, as long as you're holding the ball in the same hand); or (iii) a glove holding the ball.

Here's how it's written in the official rules:

A TAG is the action of a fielder ... touching a runner with the ball, or with his hand or glove holding the ball, while holding the ball securely and firmly in his hand or glove.

On plays at the plate, the catcher often holds the ball tightly in his throwing hand, then places this hand within/behind his glove, with the glove acting as a shield to prevent the runner from dislodging the ball. The catcher then pushes his glove at the baserunner to make the "tag."

During these plays, the ball is within the bounds of the glove, but often it is not truly being held "securely and firmly" by the glove hand. By a strict interpretation of the rules, a runner tagged this way should not be called out. But the umpire almost always gives the catcher the benefit of the doubt — it's rough back there.

Help! In my grade 9 English class my teacher handed out a page that we had to unscramble some words about the book Pygmalion. The whole class got stumped on this one:

CAHYRRIHE

We already know this about the word:

_ _ _ _ A _ _ H _

Please help me! The first person to answer this question does not have to write the Pygmalion test on Monday!

- Shanelle E.

Try HIERARCHY.

If you get to skip the test, I highly recommend taking the time you would have spent studying to watch the My Fair Lady movie instead. Maybe a few times. It's one of my favourites.

Pygmalion is a great play, but it doesn't have Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn.

What is the order of these military units: platoon, battalion, company?

- Kris

And speaking of hierarchy...

Most modern armies use the following basic framework, from smallest unit to largest:

Note that a nation's army may not include all of these units, but the units it does have will almost always be arranged in this order.

Sources: Army Force Structure, Wikipedia

My three year old son asked me the other day what "CB" stands for. I asked around and no one seemed to know. The best my husband could come up with was Channel Band. I even asked a few truckers. Please help us out. My son is very inquisitive and won't give up until I can give him a satisfactory answer.

- Leslie from Ontario

Wow, I don't think anyone has asked this question in 20 years. Is your 3-year-old on some kind of '70s retro kick? Or has the babysitter been putting him to sleep with Smokey and the Bandit?

CB stands for "Citizens Band." The FCC states:

Citizens Band (CB) Radio Service is a private two-way voice communication service for use in personal and business activities of the general public. Its communications range is from one to five miles.

In other words, it's a radio band that regular citizens can use to communicate with each other from short distances. Unlike ham radio, CB does not require a license.

A little CB history: Al Gross made the first CB radio in 1943 (he also invented the walkie-talkie — his kids must have been really popular). The FCC launched the first 23 channels of the Citizens Band in 1958 (there are now 40 channels). In 1962 Midland Radios introduced the first CB radio to the public market. By the 1970s, CBs had taken over as the preferred means of communication for truck drivers, who would share information with each other about speed traps, detours, and girls in halter tops in passing convertibles.

In 1975, C.W. McCall released the novelty hit "Convoy," and CB radio was on its way to the big time. Movies and TV shows about truckers captivated the public, and every self-respecting 12-year-old was brushing up on his "CB jargon" ("Sakes alive! I'm runnin' barefoot and there's a bear in the bushes"). CBs became an integral part of pop culture — for a few years, at least. Soon the novelty wore off, and eventually mobile phones became more widespread. Outside of truckers, hardly anyone uses CB radio anymore.

Source: On The Road

My name is Steve, I'm from Kitchener. I asked you this before, but you didn't answer.

What year did the Philly Flyers lose their goalie Pelle Lindbergh?

- Steve from Kitchener

My name is Answer Man, I'm (currently) from Saigon. Here's an answer for you.

Pelle Lindbergh died in a high-speed car crash on Nov. 10, 1985, after playing eight games in goal for the Flyers at the beginning of the 1985-86 season.

His death was devastating for the Flyers — Lindbergh was about as promising as they come. The 26-year-old Swede was on top of the hockey world after an all-star, Vezina Trophy-winning season in which he led the Flyers to the Stanley Cup finals.

Drive carefully, everyone.

What were the names of the Bobbsey Twins???

- C.E.

There were two sets of Bobbsey Twins. The older ones were Bert and Nan, the younger twins were Flossie and Freddie.

And before anyone asks...

• The Hardy Boys were Frank and Joe.
• The Katzenjammer Kids were Hans and Fritz.
• The Five Little Peppers were Ben, Polly, Davie, Joel and Phronsie. (Phronsie? Yeah, Phronsie.)
• The Boxcar Children were Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny Alden.
• The Little Women were Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March.
• The children in the Chronicles of Narnia were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie.

Oh, and the Olsen Twins (they're literary characters too!) are Mary-Kate and Ashley.

Since O.J. Simpson was found not guilty, do you think there is a division of the Los Angeles Police Department who is out there still looking for Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman's real killer? Or have they (like most of the rest of us) just assumed they know what really happened and aren't bothering?

- Tom F., Saint John, N.B.

I'm pretty sure it's the same division that's tracking down those "weapons of mass destructions" in Iraq.

Officially, the Nicole Brown murder is still unsolved, but as far as I can tell, the investigation has been "closed" since the trial. If the LAPD received credible leads, they would reopen the investigation, but right now it seems they're devoting as much time to the hunt for the "real killers" as O.J. is.