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Shad don’t like it…

Thursday, December 16th, 2021

Urban Meyer out as Jacksonville Jaguars coach after 13 regular season games.

His record was 2-11.

The final straw seems to have been yesterday’s report that Meyer kicked Josh Lambo, a former kicker with the Jaguars. I’m just gonna go out on a limb here and say physically assaulting your employees is not a good idea.

Meyer couldn’t deliver as speculation persisted that he treated players like kids instead of grown men. He appeared to be too caught up in having control and power instead of having the right answers to win football games.
This past weekend NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported, citing sources, that Meyer had multiple run-ins with players and coaches that had developed into an ongoing tension at the Jaguars facility for months.

…

The Jaguars suffered their first shutout defeat since 2009 this past Sunday against the Titans, 20-0, after finishing with a franchise-low 8 yards rushing. It was the team’s fifth consecutive loss, and the Jaguars’ have dropped 15 straight road games.

And Shad Khan is looking for tax money to upgrade the stadium and improve “the fan experience”.

To quote a comment at Field of Schemes:

You know what would “fundamentally change the fan experience” for Jags fans?
Not losing 10+ games each and every year.

Posted in Firings, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Obit watch: December 10, 2021.

Friday, December 10th, 2021

Al Unser Sr., one of the greatest racing drivers ever.

Unser’s four Indianapolis 500 wins came in 1970, 1971, 1978 and 1987. The final victory made him the oldest driver, at 47, to win the United States’ premier auto race.

…

Al Unser first competed in the Indianapolis 500 in 1965, running the race 27 times, the third-most in history. He led for 644 laps over his career, which remains a record.
“His quiet and humble approach outside of the car, combined with his fierce competitive spirit and fearless talent behind the wheel, made Al a fan favorite,” J. Douglas Boles, president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, said in a statement.
Unser’s four wins at the Indianapolis 500 is a record shared by A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears and Helio Castroneves, who won this year’s race.

Demaryius Thomas, former wide receiver with the Denver Broncos. He retired earlier this year, though he did not play in 2020.

Noted here because he was only 33. I don’t want to speculate, but other reports I’ve seen quote his family as stating he was having medical issues.

Posted in NFL, Obits, Sports | 1 Comment »

Your loser update: week 13, 2021.

Sunday, December 5th, 2021

So I had checked on the Detroit game earlier in the day while running some errands, saw that the Vikings were down (I think 20-6 at the time), sighed, and went on with my life…

…came home a bit after 3 PM, checked again to see if Detroit had actually won, saw that there were about eight seconds left and Minnesota was up 27-22, clicked over to the play-by-play…

…and watched in horror as Detroit scored a desperate last second touchdown to make it 29-27.

NFL teams that still have a chance to go without a win this year:

None.

Thus ends this feature for the NFL season this year. If we’re still here, we plan to return in 2022.

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | 1 Comment »

Obit watch: December 3, 2021.

Friday, December 3rd, 2021

Alvin Lucier, “experimental composer”.

In “I Am Sitting in a Room,” Mr. Lucier began by quietly reading a short statement describing what he is doing. “I am sitting in a room different from the one you are in now,” the text begins. “I am recording the sound of my speaking voice and I am going to play it back into the room again and again until the resonant frequencies of the room reinforce themselves so that any semblance of my speech, with perhaps the exception of rhythm, is destroyed.”
The room’s acoustics, as well as audio distortions that occur when a tape is rerecorded over and over, yields a gradually changing sound in which, after 10 minutes, the spoken text is buried in reverberation and overtones, and unintelligible. During the final section, high-pitched overtones coalesce into eerie, slow-moving melodies.

I used to have a CD of “I Am Sitting in a Room”, back when I was in my “difficult listening” phase. It was not something I spent a lot of time listening to, though I was happy to have it.

(See also.)

NYT obit for Curley Culp.

Eddie Mekka. Most famous as Carmine Ragusa on “Laverne & Shirley”. Other credits include guest shots on “The Love Boat”, “Fantasy Island”, and one of the “Rockford Files” TV movies.

Posted in 1970s, Music, NFL, Obits, Sports, TV | Comments Closed

Obit watch: November 29, 2021.

Monday, November 29th, 2021

Curley Culp.

He was a Hall of Fame player, first with the Kansas City Chiefs (in both the AFL and NFL) then with the Houston Oilers (1974-1980) and finally with Detroit.

Culp made six Pro Bowls, and in 1975, after he’d moved on to the Houston Oilers, he was named the NFL defensive player of the year. He played 14 seasons during stops with the Chiefs, Oilers and Lions, recording 68 1/2 career sacks. He had 37 of those in Kansas City, a integral figure in a dominant defense that included several Hall of Famers — Buck Buchanan, Bobby Bell, Willie Lanier, Johnny Robinson and Emmitt Thomas.

Posted in NFL, Obits, Sports | Comments Closed

Your loser update: week 12, 2021.

Friday, November 26th, 2021

With all due respect to my friends and readers who are Lions fans, as I always say, “It’s just not Thanksgiving until Detroit loses.”

(Just kidding. I’m fond of all of you.)

(According to the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, Detroit’s Thanksgiving day record is 37-42-2, though that does not include yesterday’s game. That’s better than I would have thunk. For the record, Dallas is 31-21-1, again not including yesterday’s game.)

Anyway, NFL teams that still have a chance to go without a win this year:

Detroit

Next week: Minnesota in Detroit on Sunday, December 5th. The Vikings are currently 5-5.

(Dallas and New Orleans, both of whom played yesterday, play on Thursday, December 2nd next week. Nothing wrong with that, I just find the scheduling interesting.)

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

The Giants Have Fallen.

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2021

Well, okay, just one Giant.

Jason Garrett, who you may remember for his time coaching the Dallas Cowboys, out as offensive coordinator of the New York Football Giants.

The Giants offense averaged just 18 points per game with Garrett at the helm and was ranked No. 30 in the NFL ahead of just the Jets and Jaguars during that time.

Posted in Firings, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

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 »

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