Peter Laviolette fired as coach of the Nashville Predators, who are a hockey team in the NHL. (Also out: “associate coach” Kevin McCarthy.) He was 248-143-60 over a little more than five seasons.
In the “questionable firings” bucket: Wade Phillips contract as defensive coordinator with the Rams has not been renewed. (Also out: Skip Peete, running backs coach.)
Elizabeth Wurtzel, author of Prozac Nation. She was 52.
The writer David Samuels, a friend since childhood, said the cause was metastatic breast cancer, a disease that resulted from the BRCA genetic mutation. Ms. Wurtzel had a double mastectomy in 2015. After her diagnosis, she became an advocate for BRCA testing — something she had not had — and wrote about her cancer experience in The New York Times.
“I could have had a mastectomy with reconstruction and skipped the part where I got cancer,” she wrote. “I feel like the biggest idiot for not doing so.”
Technically, I’m not sure this is an actual firing.
But the word has come down form the mountain top for real: Jason Garrett’s contract with the Cowboys is not being renewed.
And what better time to announce it than on Sunday during the playoffs?
Running a little late on this one, but: Joe Moorhead out as coach of Mississippi State.
14-12 in two seasons, 7-9 in the SEC, and the team had internal and NCAA problems. But he did win the Egg Bowl.
Sam Wyche, former coach of the Bengals and Buccaneers. He was 61-66 (3-2 in playoffs) in Cincinnati and 23-41 in Tampa.
For the historical record: NYT obits for Jack Sheldon and Syd Mead.
Don Larsen, pitcher for the Yankees and the only man ever to pitch a perfect game in a World Series. ESPN.
Jack “Only A Bill” Sheldon. Mark Evanier has a nice tribute up at his blog, with two funny stories about the late Mr. Sheldon (who, in addition to his “Schoolhouse Rock” work, did several appearances on the late 60’s/early 70s “Dragnet”).
Martin West. He did bit parts on a lot of stuff, including “Ironside”, “The Invaders”, and “Hill Street Blues”.
(Hattip on all three of these to Lawrence.)
For the historical record: David Stern. ESPN. Field of Schemes.
Last one of the year.
Sonny Mehta, book guy.
Gen. Paul X. Kelley, former commandant of the United States Marines.
The Beirut bombing took place four months into his time as commandant.
On the road, but wanted to get this in.
John Dorsey out as the Browns general manager.
Cleveland.com is spinning this as the owners wanted him to take a reduced non-GM role, and he said no.
Neil Innes, musical humorist.
In the early 1960s he was one of the first members of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, also known as simply the Bonzo Dog Band. He wrote the group’s biggest hit, “I’m the Urban Spaceman,” which climbed into the Top 10 on the British charts in 1968.
In the 1970s he wrote material for Monty Python, the groundbreaking six-member comedy troupe. Midway through that decade he and Eric Idle, a Python, came up with the Rutles, a deadpan parody of the Beatles; the group not only recorded albums but also made films, most notably the mock documentary “The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash” in 1978.
Sleepy LaBeef, noted rockabilly musician.
Lee Mendelson, producer of “A Charlie Brown Christmas”.
Your Monday morning firings watch. I’ll try to keep this updated through the day.
Bruce Allen out as Redskins president. The team already fired head coach Jay Gruden earlier this year.
Update 1: the New York Football Giants have fired head coach Pat Shurmur. Two seasons, a 9-23 record, and the worst record in the NFL since 2017.
Update 2: Miami fired their offensive coordinator (Chad O’Shea) and two other guys.
…also known as “the NFL firings that couldn’t even wait until Monday”.
So far: Freddie Kitchens out after one season in Cleveland, during which the team went 6-10 (and lost to the Bengals today).
You know that guy who says “Nostalgia is a moron“? And has bought several guns because of his childhood nostalgia?
Remember that other guy who says that he thought the Remington XP-100 in .221 Fireball was the coolest gun in the world…when he was six years old?
And that guy who has this thing for small-bore handguns?
Remington XP-100 in .221 Remington Fireball. Burris pistol scope.
Purchased from a fellow S&WCA member at the 2019 Symposium (though we went out into the parking garage to make the transaction, rather than doing it in the exhibit hall/dealer’s room: and he was also a Texas resident, so this was a fully legal private sale). There was a discussion on the forum about grail guns, I mentioned this as one of mine, and he reached out to me and said he had one in his safe that wasn’t being used…
He made me what I thought was a very good deal, threw in 50 rounds of handloads and 50 rounds of empty brass, and was very flexible when it came to payment arrangements. Thank you, S&WCA member who shall remain nameless here to protect his privacy!
Jerry Herman, composer and lyricist.
In a half-century of work, he scored a dozen Broadway musicals and five Off Broadway revues, composed many of the nation’s most popular songs and was showered with awards, including Tonys for “Hello, Dolly!” and “La Cage aux Folles.”
He also made stage history as the first composer-lyricist to have three musicals run more than 1,500 consecutive performances on Broadway — “Hello, Dolly!” with 2,844, “Mame” with 1,508 and “La Cage” with 1,761 — and remains one of only two to achieve that feat. (Stephen Schwartz, with “Pippin,” “The Magic Show” and “Wicked,” is the second.) And “La Cage” (1983) was the only Broadway musical to win the Tony for best revival twice, for 2004 and 2010 productions.
Death doesn’t take a holiday, but I do.
Now that I’m back…
Chuck Peddle. He was a key designer of the 6502 processor for MOS Technology.
One key reason for this is that the 6502 sold for $25 in 1975. The Motorola 6800 sold for $300.
Edward Aschoff, college football reporter for ESPN. The ESPN tribute makes it sound like he was a genuinely fun and well thought of guy. He was only 34 years old, and died after a short illness: