Archive for the ‘NFL’ Category

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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

TMQ Watch watch.

Thursday, September 9th, 2021

But that’s not going to stop TMQ:

Yes. Because two teams that had bad records last year, and turnover in the off season, will automatically be playing a bad game to start off the new season.

In other news, the loser update returns Tuesday.

Obit watch: September 7, 2021.

Tuesday, September 7th, 2021

Damn.

Michael K. Williams, “Omar” on “The Wire”, “Leonard” in “Hap and Leonard”, “Chalky White” on “Boardwalk Empire”, and lots of other stuff. THR.

Keith McCants. He was picked fourth overall by Tampa Bay in the 1990 draft, but turned into a bust. Tampa Bay let him go after three years, he bounced around a bit (playing with Houston and Arizona) before leaving football, and fell into addiction. He was 53, and apparently died of an overdose.

Jean-Paul Belmondo, legendary French New Wave star. (“Breathless”, among other credits.)

Tony Selby, British actor. (“Doctor Who”, “Eastenders”).

Obit watch: June 9, 2021.

Wednesday, June 9th, 2021

Erin O’Brien, actress. She appeared on several Western series, and in the pilot of “77 Sunset Strip” (among other credits).

NYT obit for Jim Fassel, which did not go up until late in the day yesterday.

Obit watch: June 8, 2021.

Tuesday, June 8th, 2021

Jim Fassel, former coach of the New York Football Giants. ESPN.

Fassel’s Giants lost to the Baltimore Ravens 34-7 in Super Bowl XXXV in January 2001, after going 12-4 and winning the NFC East that season. Fassel was 58-53-1 overall with the Giants.

Obit watch: May 3, 2021.

Monday, May 3rd, 2021

Getting caught up:

Pete Lammons, tight end for the New York Jets. He was 77, and participating in a fishing tournament in East Texas.

Major League Fishing, the sponsor of the tournament, said that Lammons, who was participating in the event, had fallen out of his boat on the Sam Rayburn Reservoir, a popular spot for bass fishing, and that the other man in the boat tried to rescue him. A team equipped with sonar recovered Lammons’s body a few hours later.

Olympia Dukakis, for the historical record. THR. Variety.

Jill Corey. This was a little before my time, but still an interesting story. She grew up in Avonmore, Pennsylvania (literally a coal miner’s daughter) but was discovered at 17 and went on to a career in music.

Before the end of the decade, Ms. Corey had a spot on the “Johnny Carson Show” (a variety show precursor to his late-night talk show) and the NBC series “Your Hit Parade,” in which a regular cast of vocalists sang the top-rated songs of the week.
For a time Ms. Corey even had her own show, 15 minutes of song that followed the news once a week, a programming format that placed many popular singers in similar slots across the networks.
She recorded many records and performed at Manhattan nightclubs like the Copacabana and the Blue Angel. (Mr. Miller, in tight control of her career, turned down Broadway roles for her because her nightclub work was more lucrative.) And she was courted by heartthrobs like Eddie Fisher and Frank Sinatra (as he and Ava Gardner were divorcing).
She also made a “terrible movie,” in her words, called “Senior Prom” (1958).

In one of those odd cases that seem so common during that decade, where the line between “romance” and “creepy stalking” becomes blurred, she was pursued by Don Hoak of the Pittsburgh Pirates (even though she was already engaged) and married him in 1961. She gave up singing, but Mr. Hoak died in 1969 and she went back to performing.

Obit watch: February 9, 2021.

Tuesday, February 9th, 2021

This just in: Marty Schottenheimer, NFL coach.

Schottenheimer coached the original Cleveland Browns from midway through the 1984 season to 1988, the Kansas City Chiefs from 1989 to 1998, the Washington Redskins in 2001 (the team dropped that name last July) and the San Diego Chargers from 2002 to 2006.
His teams went 200-126-1 over all, and he was named the 2004 N.F.L. coach of the year by The Associated Press when his Chargers went 12-4 after finishing the previous season at 4-12. But they were upset by the Jets in the first round of the playoffs.
Schottenheimer’s squads had a 5-13 record in playoff games.

Mary Wilson, of the Supremes.

Joe Allen, NYC restaurateur. Noted here because he was the guy who hung posters of Broadway flops on the wall of Joe Allen’s.

Ron Wright, Texas Congressman. (District 6, which is in North Texas.)

By way of Lawrence, a burning in Hell watch: Anthony Sowell, Ohio serial killer.

Firings watch.

Monday, January 11th, 2021

Doug Pederson out as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Five seasons, 42-37-1 overall, 4-2 in the playoffs, one Super Bowl win, and 4-11 this season.

Blood in the streets!

Monday, January 4th, 2021

This is your Monday morning after the end of the season NFL firings thread.

I was tied up last night, so I didn’t have a chance to note this then, but: Adam Gase was fired Sunday night as head coach of the 2-14 Jets. He was 9-23 over two seasons.

After going 7-9 in his first year, the Jets opened this season with 13 straight losses, the longest losing streak in franchise history. It was a tailspin that Gase could not recover from. Gase gave up most of the play-calling, but nothing helped. The Jets ended up winning two games in December to save some face and cost themselves the No. 1 draft pick, infuriating their fan base. The defense allowed a franchise-record 457 points. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was fired last month after a last-second loss to the Raiders.

This morning’s batch of firings so far:

Doug Marrone out in Jacksonville after 4 seasons and going 1-15 this season. But hey, they got that first round draft choice!

Marrone lost 21 of his last 24 games, including going 12-36 since leading the Jaguars to the AFC championship game and winning the AFC South title during the 2017 season.

He was 24-43 overall in his time with the team.

Anthony Lynn out as coach of the worthless LA Chargers. (Apologies for the ESPN link, but the LAT is obnoxious.)

He’d also been with the team for four seasons, and was 33-31 overall, with a 1-1 record in the postseason, and went 7-9 this year.