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?
And more firings…
January 5th, 2020Firings watch.
January 5th, 2020Running 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.
Obit watch: January 4, 2020.
January 4th, 2020Sam 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.
Obit watch: January 2, 2020.
January 2nd, 2020Don 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.
Obit watch: December 31, 2019.
December 31st, 2019Last 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.
Firings watch.
December 31st, 2019On 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.
Obit watch: December 30, 2019.
December 30th, 2019Neil 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”.
Blood in the streets!
December 30th, 2019Your 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.
You didn’t even wait to get him in the house watch…
December 29th, 2019…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).
Obit watch: December 28, 2019.
December 28th, 2019Gratuitous gun porn (#6 in a series)
December 27th, 2019You 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!
Obit watch: December 27, 2019.
December 27th, 2019Jerry 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.
Obit watch: December 26, 2019.
December 26th, 2019Death 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:
A slightly belated Christmas present…
December 25th, 2019The CBC Radio adaptation of Frederick Forsyth’s The Shepherd.
There’s a lot of good stuff (if you’re a plane buff) linked from that page and elsewhere, including:
- A recreation of the flight path in the story using X-Plane.
- Restoring a Mosquito.
- An interview with the late Dave Barrett, former Pathfinder.
- What was it like to fly a Mosquito.
If you are a plane buff, I commend both the CBC links and Forsyth’s work to your attention.
(For those who may be unfamiliar with the story: young pilot is flying home for Christmas and suffers a total electrical failure over the north Atlantic. He has virtually no instruments, fog has set in, and if he bails out, he’ll probably freeze to death in the ocean. At the last possible moment, he’s led to a safe landing at an old RAF base by a Mosquito. And then the story goes in some unexpected directions from there.)
Merry Christmas, everyone!
December 25th, 2019‘Do you know the poulterer’s in the next street but one, at the corner?’ Scrooge inquired.
‘I should hope I did,’ replied the lad.
‘An intelligent boy!’ said Scrooge. ‘A remarkable boy! Do you know whether they’ve sold the prize turkey that was hanging up there?—Not the little prize turkey: the big one?’
‘What! the one as big as me?’ returned the boy.
‘What a delightful boy!’ said Scrooge. ‘It’s a pleasure to talk to him. Yes, my buck!’
‘It’s hanging there now,’ replied the boy.
‘Is it?’ said Scrooge. ‘Go and buy it.’
‘Walk-er!’ exclaimed the boy.
‘No, no,’ said Scrooge. ‘I am in earnest. Go and buy it, and tell ’em to bring it here, that I may give them the directions where to take it. Come back with the man, and I’ll give you a shilling. Come back with him in less than five minutes, and I’ll give you half-a-crown!’
The boy was off like a shot. He must have had a steady hand at a trigger who could have got a shot off half as fast.
There was another time I remember when my best beloved uncle came in one Christmas Eve just a little, you’ll pardon the expression, fried to the eyes. He fell into the Christmas tree, toppled it over, busted the decorations, and set fire to the drapes. We used candles in those days. Uncle Rob pulled himself up out of the mess, scraped some tinsel off one ear, and brushed some powdered glass from the smashed ornaments off his coat. He glared mistrustfully around him.
“God damn Santa Claus,” he said, and staggered off to bed, summarily dismissing Christmas for all time.
–Robert Ruark, The Old Man and the Boy
Merry Christmas to all of you. Traveling mercies to those of you who are on the road, or will be on the road. Blessings to any of you who are standing the watch: as part of the military, as law enforcement or fire or EMS, or even holding down the fort at the gas station or answering support calls Christmas Day.
There are two people that I’d like to extend extra special good wishes to this season: Borepatch, for his continued support and driving traffic my way. And pigpen51, who has been leaving a lot of thoughtful comments recently. Especially on the obituary watches: he’s clearly been giving some thought to mortality and what it all means, and much of what he says overlaps things I’ve been thinking about myself.
God bless us all, every one.