Deaths
Jerry Jones Super Bowl Embarrassments Continue to Mount
02/06/11 14:17 Filed in: NFL
Guess this is a day for lists.
Poor Jerry Jones:
1. For months prior to the season, he hyped his Cowboys, assuring friend and foe alike that they would be playing in HIS stadium’s Super Bowl. Didn’t quite work out that way, huh, Jerry? His Cowboys limped home at 6-10, enduring such sub-par play that he even went so far as to change head coaches mid-season.
2. A headline-making accident at HIS stadium injured several people, due to poor maintenance and oversight, allowing snow and ice to pile up on the stadium roof and cascade down on top of unsuspecting bystanders. Was it just lack of maintenance ($$$$), was it poor building design, or was it just out-and-out negligence? In time, that will all be decided in the courts.
3. And as a capper, today, a couple of hours before game-time, the local Fire Department told stadium officials and fans that make-shift extra seating was unsafe, and that they would not permit fans to sit in those seats. Oh, Jerry - need to set those records for attendance; who cares if a few fans GET KILLED. Just cram them in where ever you can.
Poor Jerry Jones:
1. For months prior to the season, he hyped his Cowboys, assuring friend and foe alike that they would be playing in HIS stadium’s Super Bowl. Didn’t quite work out that way, huh, Jerry? His Cowboys limped home at 6-10, enduring such sub-par play that he even went so far as to change head coaches mid-season.
2. A headline-making accident at HIS stadium injured several people, due to poor maintenance and oversight, allowing snow and ice to pile up on the stadium roof and cascade down on top of unsuspecting bystanders. Was it just lack of maintenance ($$$$), was it poor building design, or was it just out-and-out negligence? In time, that will all be decided in the courts.
3. And as a capper, today, a couple of hours before game-time, the local Fire Department told stadium officials and fans that make-shift extra seating was unsafe, and that they would not permit fans to sit in those seats. Oh, Jerry - need to set those records for attendance; who cares if a few fans GET KILLED. Just cram them in where ever you can.
theHoundDawg |  |
John Robert Wooden - The Wizard of Westwood
06/04/10 19:30 Filed in: College Basketball
John Wooden passed away this evening at age 99.
He was the greatest coach in American sports history, a teacher and philosopher whose deeply held faith and belief in always putting others before him guided his life. He was a genuinely nice man, whose former players loved and adored him, and continued relationships with him to his dying day.
My four years at UCLA were the first four years of his unbelievable run of seven consecutive NCAA basketball championships (which eventually would become part of 10 titles in 12 years). I attended almost every home game over those four years. I didn't get to many games over the next ten years or so, but I've had UCLA basketball season tickets for the past 25+ years, and almost never missed a game until my wife's health problems worsened in 2003. Coach Wooden almost never missed a game either. He sat in the same seat a few rows behind the UCLA bench for almost every game from his retirement until his health declined a few short years ago. You did not have to look hard to find him - there was always an orderly, respectful line of people, young and old, waiting to say hello and ask for an autograph. He never declined and he never asked to be paid for signing his name.
He was devoted to his family, especially his wife, Nell, to whom he was married 53 years until her death in 1985. In the early 2000s, UCLA officials wanted to name the Pauley Pavilion basketball court after him. He would not hear of it, until they agreed to name it the "Nell & John Wooden Court".
He wrote several books on his philosophies of living life and in gaining success in your chosen path. He was famous for his Pyramid of Success, and for the many, many maxims that he could recite when appropriate, even into his late 90s. Here are a few of them:
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
Be quick, but don’t hurry.
Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights.
If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.
Never mistake activity for achievement.
Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.
Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.
You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
RIP, Coach.
He was the greatest coach in American sports history, a teacher and philosopher whose deeply held faith and belief in always putting others before him guided his life. He was a genuinely nice man, whose former players loved and adored him, and continued relationships with him to his dying day.
My four years at UCLA were the first four years of his unbelievable run of seven consecutive NCAA basketball championships (which eventually would become part of 10 titles in 12 years). I attended almost every home game over those four years. I didn't get to many games over the next ten years or so, but I've had UCLA basketball season tickets for the past 25+ years, and almost never missed a game until my wife's health problems worsened in 2003. Coach Wooden almost never missed a game either. He sat in the same seat a few rows behind the UCLA bench for almost every game from his retirement until his health declined a few short years ago. You did not have to look hard to find him - there was always an orderly, respectful line of people, young and old, waiting to say hello and ask for an autograph. He never declined and he never asked to be paid for signing his name.
He was devoted to his family, especially his wife, Nell, to whom he was married 53 years until her death in 1985. In the early 2000s, UCLA officials wanted to name the Pauley Pavilion basketball court after him. He would not hear of it, until they agreed to name it the "Nell & John Wooden Court".
He wrote several books on his philosophies of living life and in gaining success in your chosen path. He was famous for his Pyramid of Success, and for the many, many maxims that he could recite when appropriate, even into his late 90s. Here are a few of them:
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
Be quick, but don’t hurry.
Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights.
If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.
Never mistake activity for achievement.
Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.
Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.
You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
RIP, Coach.
| theHoundDawg |
Merlin Olsen - Second LA Sports Icon To Die This Week
03/11/10 17:41 Filed in: NFL
Following the death this week of Willie Davis was the news this morning of the death of former LA Ram star and Hall-of-Famer Merlin Olsen.
Olsen was not only a great football star, an insightful broadcast analyst, and a successful actor, but a class guy, who worked hard to achieve his success. In fact, he was summa cum laude at Utah State where he earned a Bachelor's degree in economics, and continuing with his education during his NFL years, he later earned a Master's Degree, also in economics.
It is sad that he suffered from and ultimately succumbed to the terrible asbestosis disease of mesothelioma. It has been reported that he was in the midst of litigation over his having contracted the disease from the inhalation of asbestos fibers while working on construction sites many years ago.
A charter member of the original Ram's "Fearsome Foresome", Olsen is perhaps best known to most people as one of the stars of the long-running TV series Little House on the Prarie and later stared in his his own series, Father Murphy.
Just like The Three Dawg, Olsen was 69 at the time of his death.
Olsen was not only a great football star, an insightful broadcast analyst, and a successful actor, but a class guy, who worked hard to achieve his success. In fact, he was summa cum laude at Utah State where he earned a Bachelor's degree in economics, and continuing with his education during his NFL years, he later earned a Master's Degree, also in economics.
It is sad that he suffered from and ultimately succumbed to the terrible asbestosis disease of mesothelioma. It has been reported that he was in the midst of litigation over his having contracted the disease from the inhalation of asbestos fibers while working on construction sites many years ago.
A charter member of the original Ram's "Fearsome Foresome", Olsen is perhaps best known to most people as one of the stars of the long-running TV series Little House on the Prarie and later stared in his his own series, Father Murphy.
Just like The Three Dawg, Olsen was 69 at the time of his death.
| theHoundDawg |
Willie Davis - THE THREE DAWG
03/10/10 17:20 Filed in: Baseball
Word came last night that longtime Dodger Center Fielder Willie Davis, who Vin Scully usually referred to as "The Three Dawg", has died at the age of 69.
Davis, of whom former Dodger GM Buzzie Bavasi described as having Hall-of-Fame talent and a 10-cent head, was the Dodger center fielder for 14 seasons, and holds many team records. He was a great talent, possessing blinding speed, and though he had several excellent years late in his career, he never developed into the great player envisioned early in his career.
In fact, Davis will always be best remembered for his defensive lapses in the last game ever pitched by Sandy Koufax, Game Two of the 1966 World Series, which Sandy and the Dodgers lost to Baltimore, thanks in great part to Davis' World Series Record Three Errors in one inning.
Besides that, I will always remember Davis for the stats he compiled in the 1968 season. Playing 160 games in center field and coming to bat 643 times in the number three slot, and though recording 161 base hits, including ten triples, Davis managed to drive in the absolutely incredible number of 31 runs.
He was a personable guy, and his deep, resonant voice lead him to a part time career of guest-spots in a handful TV sitcoms. Later in life, he made the news a few times due to some erratic behavior, including threatening his parents with a Samurai sword and Ninja-type weapons.
He made games, and life, interesting. So-long, Three Dawg.
Davis, of whom former Dodger GM Buzzie Bavasi described as having Hall-of-Fame talent and a 10-cent head, was the Dodger center fielder for 14 seasons, and holds many team records. He was a great talent, possessing blinding speed, and though he had several excellent years late in his career, he never developed into the great player envisioned early in his career.
In fact, Davis will always be best remembered for his defensive lapses in the last game ever pitched by Sandy Koufax, Game Two of the 1966 World Series, which Sandy and the Dodgers lost to Baltimore, thanks in great part to Davis' World Series Record Three Errors in one inning.
Besides that, I will always remember Davis for the stats he compiled in the 1968 season. Playing 160 games in center field and coming to bat 643 times in the number three slot, and though recording 161 base hits, including ten triples, Davis managed to drive in the absolutely incredible number of 31 runs.
He was a personable guy, and his deep, resonant voice lead him to a part time career of guest-spots in a handful TV sitcoms. Later in life, he made the news a few times due to some erratic behavior, including threatening his parents with a Samurai sword and Ninja-type weapons.
He made games, and life, interesting. So-long, Three Dawg.
| theHoundDawg |