Bill Kirby: Black is the color for most days of the week

Nov. 30--"Any color -- so long as it's black."

-- Henry Ford

Black Friday got its due in recent days as shoppers responded to sales, but Friday is not the only day of the week to dance with darkness.

In fact, black is probably the most popular color to dab on a day and has been throughout history worldwide.

For example, Black Saturday often refers to the 2009 bush fires called the "worst natural disaster" in Australia's history.

Black Sunday was the name given to April 14, 1935 when the American Great Plains were darkened with the biggest dust cloud on record.

Black Monday took place on Easter 1360 during Europe's 100 Years War when a freak hail storm killed a thousand English soldiers.

Black Tuesday was Oct. 29, 1929, and marked a sharp fall in the U.S. stock market with the Dow Jones Industrial Average taking a terrible hit.

Black Wednesday was Sept. 16, 1992 in the United Kingdom when the government was forced to withdraw the pound sterling from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.

But nothing tops Thursday for the darkest of days.

"Black Thursday" references include:

Sept. 18, 1873 -- When the financial Panic of 1873 began.

Aug. 15, 1940 -- Schwarzer Donnerstag ("Black Thursday"), when the German Luftwaffe mounted its largest number of sorties during the Battle of Britain, and suffered its heaviest losses.

Oct. 14, 1943 -- Allied air forces suffered large losses during bombing in the Second Raid on Schweinfurt during World War II.

Sept. 1, 1960 -- Disastrous day for American track and field favorites at the 1960 Rome Olympics.

July 24, 2003 -- Jueves negro (Also "Black Thursday"), when a series of violent political demonstrations created havoc in Guatemala.

Sept. 30, 2010 -- German police forces used excessive force against protesters that demonstrated against the Stuttgart 21 train station building project.

FALCONS SORE: I haven't been a regular sports writer since Gerald Ford was in the White House, but Atlanta's NFL team perplexes me. It has an MVP quarterback, the best receiver "on the planet," one of football's most reliable kickers, a generous owner, a new stadium and yet ... a lack of success.

Its coach -- Dan Quinn -- seems to escape blame for failure, and I am not expert enough to assign any. But did you know if the Falcons won every remaining regular game this year and all 16 regular season games next year, he still would not match the first 5-year victory total of his predecessor Mike Smith, who was fired?

TODAY'S JOKE: A man staggered home late one night, obviously inebriated.

"What's the big idea coming home half drunk?" his wife berated him.

"I ran out of money," he said.

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