September 7 · This Day in America
The War of 1812 is grinding on, and in Troy, New York, a meatpacker named Samuel Wilson stamps his army-bound barrels of beef "U.S." Soldiers who know him joke that the initials must stand for Uncle Sam Wilson, the man feeding them. On this day the Troy Post prints the joke for the world, noting that this "cant name for our government has got almost as current as 'John Bull.'" From a barrel stamp and a soldiers' wisecrack, a nation accidentally invents a face for itself — eventually the white beard, the star-spangled hat, the finger that points and says I want you. Congress would one day formally salute Sam Wilson of Troy as the man behind the symbol. America named itself by laughing.
Source: www.history.com
Also on this day · 1979
From a building not yet finished in Bristol, Connecticut — the satellite cable plugged in barely five minutes before air — a wild idea founded by Bill Rasmussen goes live: a cable network showing nothing but sports, around the clock, forever. The first broadcast of SportsCenter drew maybe thirty thousand viewers, and the doubters were loud. Within a generation it changed how Americans watch the games they love, and proved a niche, done with conviction, could become the whole conversation.
Source: espnpressroom.com