While watching Monday night football, on an uneventful evening on December 8, 1980, I was nursing a hangover, when I heard Howard Cosell interrupt the game with a news flash. John Lennon was shot in New York City? Could that be true? It was true. Later, he was pronounced dead. I was in shock. Then my brother, Mark, telephoned me with the news. We both were John Lennon fans.The Beatles, the fab four of the 60s, were each given character descriptions or nicknames adopted by their fans. John was the smart one, Paul was the cute one, George was the mysterious one and Ringo was the funny one.I always felt John Lennon’s character description or nickname, should have been dubbed the “misunderstood Beatle,” because he seemed to always stir up controversy concerning his beliefs. He couldn’t quite make his comments clear, and the media didn’t help.Take for instance, the comment he made on March 4, 1966, when he said, “the Beatles are more popular than Jesus.” What he meant was that more people would go see the Beatles, than go to church on Sunday. Which may have been true. He generalized a wee bit by laying the blame on America,…