Archive for the ‘NFL’ Category

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Your loser update: week 11, 2021 (with bonus firings).

Monday, November 22nd, 2021

Sorry. I’m running a little behind, as I was tied up much of yesterday with various things, including going to see “Dune”.

(Random thought: it is refreshing to know that, thousands of years in the future, even on desert planets, there will be coffee.)

Anyway, NFL teams that still have a chance of going without a win this season:

Detroit.

The Lions play the semi-hapless (3-7) Bears on Thanksgiving Day. I’m thinking this is a toss-up, though ESPN seems to favor the Bears.

In firings news: Dan Mullen out at Florida. 34-15 in four seasons and they were in the national championship game last year, but (as Easterbrook often says) “what have you done for me lately?” (Answer: gone 5-6 this year and 2-6 in conference.)

Chip Lindsey out at Troy. 15-19 in three seasons, and 5-6 this one. Sensing a trend?

Posted in Coffee, Firings, Loser, Movies, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Your loser update: week 10, 2021.

Sunday, November 14th, 2021

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Well, it’s complicated.

Detroit tied Pittsburgh in overtime. But apparently the NFL is playing 17 games this season? Who knew?

(No, really. I didn’t.)

So it is still theoretically possible for Detroit to go 0-16…and 1. Does that count?

Reply hazy. Ask again in week 17, assuming Detroit hasn’t won one by then.

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | 1 Comment »

Your loser update: week 8 and 9, 2021.

Monday, November 1st, 2021

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Detroit

Next week is the Lions bye week. (Insert joke about Vegas odds against the bye here.)

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Supplemental obit watch.

Tuesday, October 26th, 2021

The NY Post is reporting the death of Carl Madsen.

Mr. Madsen was a long-time NFL official: he worked on-field from 1997 to 2008, then worked as a replay official from 2009.

He worked the game between the Titans and the Chiefs on Sunday. According to the report, he was driving home to Mississippi when he had some kind of medical problem. The police responded, pulled him out of the car and did first aid, and transported him to a hospital where he passed away.

He was 71. Our condolences to his family.

Posted in NFL, Obits, Sports | 1 Comment »

Your loser update: week 7, 2021.

Sunday, October 24th, 2021

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Detroit

Just as a matter of personal curiosity, does anyone know if there was any kind of tribute to Chuck Hughes at today’s game?

Next week: Philadelphia (2-5) in Detroit.

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Obit watch: October 24, 2021.

Sunday, October 24th, 2021

Two different people sent me this one, and neither one mentioned my hot button.

Val Bisoglio, actor.

He began acting under the tutelage of Jeff Corey and appeared on the New York stage in productions such as “Kiss Mama,” “A View from the Bridge” and “Wait Until Dark,” as well as in New York City’s Shakespeare in the Park with Arthur Penn.

He has 65 credits in IMDB. High points include: “Saturday Night Fever” (he was the father of Travolta’s character), “Cover Up” (ahem), “M*A*S*H” (he played “Sal Pernelli”, the cook. Not Igor, the guy who served the food, but the cook.), “B.J. and the Bear”, “Rockford Files”, “St. Ives” (the Charles Bronson movie based on a pseudonymous novel by Ross Thomas), “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” (“The Zombie“: if memory serves, he was a lower level mob thug), and “The Bold Ones: The New Doctors”.

His most famous role (and the hot button one): he played “Danny Tovo”, the restaurant owner, on 138 episodes of “Quincy, M.E.”

And yes! He did do a “Mannix”! (“Run Till Dark”, season 5, episode 7.)

Paul Salata. He originated the “Mr. Irrelevant” award for the last player drafted in the NFL college draft.

He wanted to celebrate the unheralded honor of being picked last because players at the end of the line rarely get noticed — even though one might have a greater chance of being struck by lightning than of being picked by an N.F.L. team. Mr. Rozelle blessed the idea, and Mr. Irrelevant was born.
“Everyone who is drafted works hard, and some of them don’t get any recognition,” Mr. Salata told The New York Times in 2017. “They do their work and should be noticed.”

…

Starting in 1976, Mr. Salata and his friends in Orange County raised money to fly the last player picked in the draft to Southern California, where he would receive a champion’s welcome. In the years since, the players — some of whom who had never been to California — have been paraded through Newport Beach, taken to Disneyland and feted at a banquet, where they received the “Lowsman Trophy,” which depicts a player fumbling a football.
Mr. Salata and his team also fulfilled some of the players’ requests, including surfing lessons, visits to the Playboy Mansion and being a guest announcer on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Many Mr. Irrelevants never made it past their first season or even past their first training camp, but a handful have stuck around in the N.F.L. In February the Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicker Ryan Succop became the first Mr. Irrelevant to score in and win a Super Bowl. He had been drafted last in 2009 by the Kansas City Chiefs.

James Michael Tyler, “Gunther” on “Friends”. I’m sorry if I am giving him the short end of the stick here, but this just came in, and I have never seen an episode of “Friends”.

Posted in 1970s, Mannix, Movies, NFL, Obits, Sports, Theatre, TV | Comments Closed

Short historical note.

Sunday, October 24th, 2021

50 years ago today, Chuck Hughes died during a NFL game between Detroit and Chicago.

He is the last NFL player so far to pass away during a game.

NYPost tribute. Wikipedia entry.

Posted in History, NFL, Sports | 2 Comments »

Your loser update: week 6, 2021.

Sunday, October 17th, 2021

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Detroit

So Jacksonville managed to avoid running the streak to 21…on a desperate last second field goal.

Sigh.

I still think Urban Meyer is out before the end of the season. Possibly still this week? I mean, if I own the team, beating the Dolphins in London just isn’t enough to save your job.

Next week, Detroit plays the Rams.

Speaking of out, Ed Orgeron out as LSU head coach at the end of the season, apparently by mutual agreement.

He won a national championship in 2019, but they went 5-5 in 2020. Of course, 2020 was so screwed up that, frankly, if I were in college or pro athletics, I’d just throw any stats from that year out the window.

They’re 4-3 so far this year. And Orgeron has allegedly had problems with some of his players sexually assaulting women and NCAA investigations.

Posted in Firings, Loser, NFL, Sports | 1 Comment »

Firings watch.

Tuesday, October 12th, 2021

Jon Gruden out as coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.

This is technically a resignation, but it is a “resign before he got fired” one. And in this case, it wasn’t his won-loss record that got him.

The move comes after additional offensive emails Gruden had sent containing homophobic and misogynistic language were detailed in a New York Times report.
Monday’s revelations are in addition to the racial trope he used to describe NFL Players Association chief DeMaurice Smith, which was revealed Friday.

In case you missed it:

The email was written in 2011 in an exchange between Gruden, who is white and was an analyst for ESPN at the time, and Bruce Allen, who was then the president of the Washington Football Team.
“Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of michellin tires,” Gruden wrote about Smith in the exchange.

Gruden claimed at the time that referring to “big lips” was his way of calling someone a liar.

In the new emails, which were also discovered in the same hostile workplace investigation into the Washington Football Team, Gruden called NFL commissioner Roger Goodel a “f—–” and a “clueless anti-football p—-.”
The emails were sent to friend Bruce Allen, the former president of WFT, and others.
Gruden also lamented the league’s hiring of female officials and slammed the league for what he asserts was pressure on the Rams to draft Michael Sam in 2014. Sam had come out as gay before the draft.
In one of the emails, which were sent over a seven-year period ending in 2018, Gruden voiced his opposition to his perception of the league’s influence on Rams coach Jeff Fisher to select “q—–.”

Once again, history shows: don’t put it in email if you don’t want it on the front page.

Posted in Firings, NFL, Sports | 1 Comment »

Your loser update: week 5, 2021.

Monday, October 11th, 2021

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Detroit
Jacksonville

Jacksonville has now lost 20 games in a row.

Only the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1976-1977 (26 games) have lost more — and that was an expansion franchise. The Jags’ current streak came after winning their first game of 2020. Since then, it’s been 20 Ls.

The question in my mind at the moment is: when does Urban Meyer get fired?

Next Sunday, Jacksonville plays Miami in London. Miami is 1-4, so this might be Jacksonville’s best shot at a win. After Sunday’s game, Jacksonville has a bye week: it makes sense to fire Urban at the start of the bye week, to give whoever steps in two weeks to adjust.

Detroit plays the Bengals, who are 3-2.

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Your loser update: week 4, 2021.

Sunday, October 3rd, 2021

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Detroit
Jacksonville

So as soon as I call out both New York teams, both of them win – in overtime, no less.

Always bet against my picks. I guess that’s the moral here.

Lawrence made a point to me the other day that I had totally missed: Jacksonville is now on a 19 game losing streak. They’re playing Tennessee next week, so it isn’t impossible that they’ll run the streak to 20. The only other teams that have lost 20 straight games are the 1942-1945 Chicago Cardinals (29 straight) and the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (26 straight).

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Your loser update: week 3, 2021.

Monday, September 27th, 2021

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Detroit
New York Football Giants
New York Jets
Indianapolis
Jacksonville

Still a little early, and I apologize to Infidel de Manahatta, but I’m starting to think there’s a good chance of at least one New York team going winless this year.

Maybe both: it doesn’t look like the Jets and the Giants play against each other this year.

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Obit watch: September 21, 2021.

Tuesday, September 21st, 2021

Lawrence sent over an obit from – I kid you not – the “Journal of Emergency Medical Services” for actor Tim Donnelly.

He only has 19 credits in IMDB. No “Mannix” but he did appear on the 1960s “Dragnet” multiple times, and also did a guest shot on the good “Hawaii 5-0”. Other credits include “Adam-12”, “Parts: The Clonus Horror”, and “Project U.F.O.”

Why the “Journal of Emergency Medical Services”, though? Mr. Donnelly’s most famous role was “Chet Kelly” in “Emergency”.

That was one of the great ‘staches in 1970s TV.

More seriously, I loved “Emergency” as a child, and I’m sad to see him go. (Kevin Tighe and Randolph Mantooth are both still alive, though.)

FotB RoadRich sent over the obit for George Holliday. Mr. Holliday was the man who filmed the Rodney King beating.

Reuben Klamer. Mr. Klamer was an inventor and toy creator: among other things, he invented “The Game of Life”.

His creations included his own version of the hula hoop and a variation on the Erector Set. He came up with a Pink Panther show car built on an Oldsmobile chassis and rode around in it to promote the “Pink Panther” cartoon series.
He also worked closely with television producers and built props for popular shows, including the Starfleet phaser rifle, which could stun or disintegrate living creatures, for the original “Star Trek” series. (He said he had an agreement for the toy rights to the rifle, but it fell apart and his toy phaser was never produced.) He made a special Napoleon Solo gun for “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” that was so popular, the gun itself received fan mail. (He successfully created a toy version of that one.)

Anthony Johnson, “Ezal” in “Friday”.

This isn’t exactly an obit, but I think it’s worth noting.

Posted in 1970s, Movies, NFL, Obits, Sports, TV | 2 Comments »

Your loser update: week 2, 2021.

Tuesday, September 21st, 2021

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Atlanta
Minnesota
Detroit
New York Football Giants
New York Jets
Indianapolis
Jacksonville

Still early enough in the season that I don’t have much to say yet. Perhaps by next week the picture will come into greater focus.

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Your loser update: week 1, 2021.

Tuesday, September 14th, 2021

We’re back, baby!

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Atlanta
Minnesota
Detroit
Chicago
Green Bay
Dallas
Washington
New York Football Giants
Baltimore
Cleveland
New England
Buffalo
New York Jets
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Tennessee

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

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