Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category
Firings watch.
Friday, January 20th, 2023Quick lazy firings watch.
Thursday, January 19th, 2023Josh Boyer out as defensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins. Also out: safeties coach Steve Gregory, outside linebackers coach Ty McKenzie, and assistant linebackers coach Steve Ferentz.
Obit watch: January 18, 2023.
Wednesday, January 18th, 2023Lucile Randon, better known as Sister André. She was 118.
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Frank Thomas, one of the original Mets.
...Frank Thomas was an All-Star with the Pirates in 1954, 1955 and again in 1958, when he had his best season, hitting 35 home runs, driving in 109 runs and batting .281.
He later played for the Cincinnati Reds, the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Braves, who traded him to the Mets in November 1961 when they were forming the roster for their National League debut.
Usually playing in left field for Manager Casey Stengel’s 1962 Mets team, which lost a record 120 games, Thomas drove in 94 runs in addition to his 34 homers — a club record that stood until Dave Kingman broke it with 36 in 1975 — taking advantage of the short left-field foul line at the Polo Grounds, the Mets’ home for their first two seasons.
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He later played for the Houston Astros and again for the Milwaukee Braves before rejoining the Cubs, who released him early in the 1966 season, ending his career.
In addition to his 286 home runs, Thomas drove in 962 runs in his career and had a .266 batting average.
I encourage you to click over to the obit so you can read the “Yo la tengo!” story, which I think is too long to put here.
K. Alex Müller, winner (with J. Georg Bednorz) of a Nobel Prize for advances in high-temperature superconductivity.
Jay Briscoe, pro wrestler with Ring of Honor.
He was 38, and died in a car accident. He had two daughters in the car with him, who are currently hospitalized.
Wayne “Gino” Odjick, NHL player. The obit describes him as a “beloved enforcer”. He was 52, and died of a heart attack: he’d been diagnosed with AL amyloidosis in 2014. (Hattip: Lawrence.)
Wear your seatbelts, people. (Hattip: Lawrence.)
At the weird intersection of sports firings and legal news…
Wednesday, January 18th, 2023Firings news (sort of): Matt Weiss, “co-offensive coordinator” for the University of Michigan, has been placed on leave.
Legal news: He’s involved in a criminal investigation.
Weird news: It doesn’t involve domestic violence or any of the usual crimes.
“The University of Michigan Police Department is investigating a report of computer access crimes that occurred at Schembechler Hall during December 21-23, 2022,” University of Michigan Deputy Chief of Police Crystal James said in the statement. “Since this is an ongoing investigation there is no additional information to share.”
An entry from the university police’s online daily crime log on Jan. 5 notes that police received a report about “fraudulent activity involving someone accessing university email accounts without authorization” at Schembechler Hall. It is the only report of police activity at the football facility in the past month.
Firings watch.
Tuesday, January 17th, 2023Quick firings watch.
Wednesday, January 11th, 2023There haven’t been any additional head coach firings in the past couple of days, but there have been a few lower level firings:
Mike LaFleur out as offensive coordinator for the Jets.
Scott Turner out as offensive coordinator for the Washington Generals Redskins Commanders.
The Tennessee Titans fired offensive coordinator Todd Downing on Monday. Also out: ffensive line coach Keith Carter, secondary coach Anthony Midget and offensive skill assistant Erik Frazier.
Obit watch: January 9, 2023.
Monday, January 9th, 2023Bernard Kalb, former foreign correspondent for CBS, NBC, and the NYT.
He reported for The Times from 1946 to 1962, for CBS during the next 18 years (during which he joined his brother, Marvin, on the diplomatic beat) and as NBC’s State Department correspondent from 1980 to 1985. Then, for nearly two years, he served in the Reagan administration’s State Department — a stint that ended contentiously.
As a CBS correspondent in 1972, Mr. Kalb accompanied President Richard M. Nixon on the trip to China that proved to be a major step in the normalization of relations between the two nations. He also made virtually every overseas trip with Henry A. Kissinger, Cyrus R. Vance, Edmund S. Muskie, Alexander M. Haig Jr. and George P. Shultz during their tenures as secretary of state.
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Russell Banks, novelist.
Joyce Meskis, former owner of The Tattered Cover.
In addition to creating a bookstore famed for its vast selection and bibliophile-friendly atmosphere, Ms. Meskis often took a stand in matters related to censorship and the First Amendment. Sometimes those positions were not easy ones to embrace.
In 1991, for instance, when she was president of the American Booksellers Association, she testified against the proposed Pornography Victims Compensation Act, a bill introduced by Senator Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican, that would have allowed victims of sex crimes to sue distributors of pornography, including bookstores, if they could demonstrate that pornography influenced their attacker. Opponents of that bill (which died in committee) were sometimes labeled pro-pornography, but Ms. Meskis knew the real issue was that the law would make bookstores wary of selling anything controversial.
Similarly, the case she took to the Colorado Supreme Court some two decades ago pitted her against law enforcement officials, who were trying to build a case against a customer suspected of making methamphetamine. In 2000 the police found two books on drugmaking in a trailer home used as a meth lab; they also found an envelope with Ms. Meskis’s bookstore listed as the return address. Hoping to link the drugmaking to the recipient whose name was on the envelope, they sought Ms. Meskis’s sales records — and, though her stand read as pro-drug to some, she again saw the bigger picture.
“This is about access to private records of the book-buying public,” she told The New York Times in 2000. “If buyers thought that their records would be turned over to the government, it would have a chilling affect on what they buy and what they read.”
In 2002 the State Supreme Court ruled that both the First Amendment and the Colorado Constitution “protect an individual’s fundamental right to purchase books anonymously, free from governmental interference.”
Adam Rich. Other credits include “CHiPs”, “Silver Spoons”, and “Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star”.
Owen Roizman, cinematographer. “The French Connection”, “The Exorcist”, and “Network”? Wow.
Art McNally, NFL official credited as being “the father of instant replay”.
Earl Boen. Other credits (he has 291 as an actor: man worked) include video game spun offs from a minor 1960s SF TV series, “Battle Beyond the Stars”, the good “Hawaii 5-0”, and “Richie Brockelman, Private Eye”.
Your Bloody Monday thread.
Monday, January 9th, 2023The NFL regular season ended yesterday. You know what that means.
Yes, the firings will continue until morale improves. This is your Bloody Monday NFL firings thread, which I will try to keep updated today.
Starting with yesterday’s “Damn, you didn’t even wait to get him in the house” firing: Lovie Smith out as head coach of the Texans after one season. 3-13-1 as Texans coach. From the NYPost:
This team was so inept, they couldn’t even get the first draft choice. What the heck happened? The Texans used to be at least competitive.
Joe Woods out as defensive coordinator in Cleveland. At least the Browns were competitive (7-10 this season).
More later, if there are any more firings today.
Edited to add: Kliff Kingsbury out as head coach of the Cardinals, and Steve Keim stepping down as GM. Keim’s resignation is apparently for health reasons.
Kingsbury was 28-37-1 overall, and the team was 4-13 this season. Interestingly, both Kingsbury and Keim had their contracts extended last March.
Firings watch.
Thursday, January 5th, 2023Chris Beard out as head coach of Texas basketball.
His UT record was 29-13, including the school’s first NCAA Tournament win since 2014 last season.
The problem wasn’t his record: Texas is currently ranked 6th, and is 12-2 this season.
The problem is: Mr. Beard got arrested.
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Police said they were dispatched to Beard’s house in his Tarrytown neighborhood around 2 a.m. on Dec. 12 after Trew called 911 to say the coach had attacked her.According to the arrest affidavit, Trew said the couple had been arguing about their relationship for several days. She told police she approached Beard in a guest bedroom and, after Beard ignored her, she became frustrated and took his eyeglasses from his hand and broke them. She also told police that she “did not feel safe.”
Even though Trew later clarified that Beard may have acted in self-defense and had never strangled her, Beard has never spoken publicly about the episode. Her statement was given to the American-Statesman and the Associated Press.
Perry Minton, a lawyer representing Beard, issued a statement after the arrest saying Beard is innocent and that the woman wanted all charges dismissed.
Obit watch: January 3, 2023.
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2023Very quick roundups from the past few days:
Fred White, drummer for Earth, Wind and Fire.
Anita Pointer, of the Pointer Sisters.
Jeremiah Green, drummer for Modest Mouse.
Uche Nwaneri, former offensive lineman for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was 38.
RoadRich sent over an obit for Ken Block, rally driver and YouTuber. He was 55, and died in a snowmobile accident.
Chris Ledesma, music editor for “The Simpsons”. He worked on every episode through May of 2022.
Obit watch: December 30, 2022.
Friday, December 30th, 2022…
In his 21-year career, Pelé — born Edson Arantes do Nascimento — scored 1,283 goals in 1,367 professional matches, including 77 goals for the Brazilian national team.
Many of those goals became legendary, but Pelé’s influence on the sport went well beyond scoring. He helped create and promote what he later called “o jogo bonito” — the beautiful game — a style that valued clever ball control, inventive pinpoint passing and a voracious appetite for attacking. Pelé not only played it better than anyone; he also championed it around the world.
Dave Whitlock, fly fisherman.
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Vivienne Westwood, fashion designer.
Ms. Westwood was just 30 when she and her boyfriend, Malcolm McLaren — who as a music impresario would go on to manage the Sex Pistols — opened a shop called Let It Rock at 430 King’s Road in London. The business, which had a pink vinyl sign out front, was an unconventional one, selling fetish wear and fashions inspired by the Teddy Boy look of the 1950s.
In shaping the look of the era, Ms. Westwood came to be known as the godmother of punk. After her partnership with Mr. McClaren ended, she began designing collections under her own name, and she soon established an international reputation. She went on to open more stores in London and across the globe; her provocative creations appeared on supermodels and celebrities and influenced mainstream fashion. The corsets, platform shoes and mini-crinis (a combination Victorian crinoline and miniskirt) became her hallmarks.
“People really associate her with punk and that whole aesthetic, which is accurate and how she made her name, but she’s so much more than that,” Véronique Hyland, the author of “Dress Code: Unlocking Fashion From the New Look to Millennial Pink” (2022), said in an interview for this obituary. “She was influenced by art history, old master paintings. She’s very focused on the English tradition of tailoring.”
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Chrissie Hynde, who would later become the lead singer of the Pretenders, was an assistant at the shop. She was quoted in Ms. Westwood’s memoir as saying that “I don’t think punk would have happened without Vivienne and Malcolm.”
“Something would have happened,” she continued, “and it might have been called punk, but it wouldn’t have looked the way it did, even in America. And the look was important.”
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Merry Christmas!
Monday, December 26th, 2022I know, it is December 26th, but as I always say: all people of goodwill know the Christmas season runs through January 6th.
Today’s Christmas present: Nathaniel Hackett out as head coach of the Denver Broncos, less than a year after being hired.
The Broncos are 4-11 this season (and in Hackett’s tenure) and lost 51-14 to the (5-10) Rams on Sunday. But they did beat the Texans in week 2, so they’re not quite the most pathetic team in the NFL this season.