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And speaking of holidays…

Friday, July 12th, 2024

…happy 45th anniversary of Disco Demolition Night!

For those of my readers who may be unfamiliar with what is (in my humble opinion) one of the three great events in sports history, here’s a “game story” from SABR.

Among those taking to the field was 21-year-old aspiring actor Michael Clarke Duncan; during the melee, Duncan slid into third base, had a silver belt buckle stolen, and went home with a bat from the dugout.

You know, I’m not sure I would consider a bat to be a good trade for a silver belt buckle. Also, how do you steal a belt buckle? Unless you’re Apollo Robbins…

Here’s a 25th anniversary documentary that I don’t think I’ve linked to before:

And a more recent 45th anniversary compilation:

Finally, Steve Dahl’s “Do You Think I’m Disco?”:

As someone with no musical talent at all, I will leave it to my loyal readers to judge the quality of this song.

Posted in History, Sports | 1 Comment »

Brief sports notes.

Thursday, July 11th, 2024

I feel like I have to say something about the firing of Gregg Berhalter, since this is SportsFirings.com. Even though I hate soccer.

On a happier note, here’s a fun article from The Society for American Baseball Research: “You’re Out of Here: A History of Umpire Ejections”.

Yes, I don’t like baseball either. But I dislike it less than I do soccer, and a history of baseball ejections is the kind of weird thing that appeals to me. Much like Disco Demolition Night…

Posted in Firings, Sports | Comments Closed

Obit watch: July 8, 2024.

Monday, July 8th, 2024

Yoshihiro Uchida. I had not heard of him previously, but he sounds like a fascinating guy.

Mr. Uchida brought judo to the United States.

The son of Japanese immigrants, Uchida, who went by the nickname Yosh, began coaching judo at San Jose State in the 1940s, while he was still a student there.
It was a pivotal moment for the sport, which had been created in 1882 in Japan as a means of self-defense, built around a series of throws and holds that use opponents’ weight and movement against them. Americans had long incorporated elements of judo into other combat sports, and returning soldiers from the Pacific Theater brought a new level of interest in martial arts to the country.
Uchida, who had been practicing judo since he was 10, despaired over the quality of the training available, especially at the higher levels. Working with a judo coach at the University of California, Berkeley, he established standards for competition, including weight classes, and in 1953 won approval from the Amateur Athletic Union.
The first national amateur championships took place at San Jose State that same year. The first collegiate championships took place in 1962, and Mr. Uchida’s team won.

…

Uchida was also one of the winningest coaches ever, of any sport. Under his leadership the men’s team won 52 national championships in 62 years, and the much newer women’s team won 26. He remained involved with the team until shortly before his death.

…

Soon after the beginning of World War II, he was drafted into the Army. He served in a segregated all-Japanese-American unit, where he worked as a medical technician. The rest of his family was dispersed to internment camps — his parents to Arizona, his brothers to Northern California, his sister and her husband to Idaho.

…

He returned to San Jose State and graduated with a degree in biology in 1947. He also continued to coach judo, though the position paid so little that he had to find a second job.

…

On the side, Uchida obtained a loan to buy a run-down medical laboratory. He renovated it and within a few years was doing extensive business for San Jose doctors. He eventually owned a chain of 40 laboratories across Northern California, which he sold for $30 million in 1989.
He used the proceeds to partner with a group of investors to build an $80 million complex of affordable housing and commercial space in San Jose’s Japantown neighborhood.

He was 104 when he passed.

Paal Enger, the man who stole “The Scream”. (Well, one of them, anyway.)

Joan Benedict, actress. Other credits include “The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington”, “T.J. Hooker”, and “The Incredible Hulk”.

Doug Sheehan, actor. Other credits include “Columbo”, “In the Line of Duty: The F.B.I. Murders”, and “MacGyver” (original recipe).

Posted in Art, Law, Obits, Sports, TV | Comments Closed

Obit watch: July 1, 2024.

Monday, July 1st, 2024

Very brief catch up here:

Martin Mull. NYT. IMDB.

I was involved in the Great Folk Music scare back in the sixties, when it almost caught on.

Orlando Cepeda. ESPN. Baseball Reference.

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

Man, we are just jam-packed with holidays, aren’t we?

Monday, July 1st, 2024

Happy Bobby Bonilla Day, one and all!

Posted in History, Sports | Comments Closed

Obit watch: June 21, 2024.

Friday, June 21st, 2024

Your Donald Sutherland obit roundup: NYT. THR. Variety. Variety tribute.

IMDB. I did not realize he was Wilhelm Reich in the video for “Cloudbusting”. And we’ve watched “Don’t Look Now”: I can’t recommend it, even with the sex scene. On the other hand, I would like to see “Kelly’s Heroes” again, not cut up for television. And I’ve never seen “M*A*S*H”.

Master Chief Petty Officer William Goines (US Navy – ret.). He was 87.

In his 32 years in uniform, which included three tours of duty during the Vietnam War, he received a Bronze Star and a Navy Commendation Medal among other decorations.
After the war, he joined the Chuting Stars, the U.S. Navy parachute exhibition team, performing 640 jumps over five years.

Master Chief Goines is credited as being the first black Navy SEAL (though the paper of record does note that there was at least one black frogman in the underwater demolition teams that preceded the SEALs).

Taylor Wily.

Hailing from Laie, Hawaii, Wily — who stood 6’2” and weighed 450 pounds, was recruited in 1987 into the Azumazeki stable of sumo, the century-spanning national sport of Japan. Wily, who wrestled under the name Takamikuni, was undefeated in his first 14 matches and soon became the first foreign-born wrestler to win the championship in the sport’s makushita division. Two years after starting his career in the sport, Takamikuni reached the rank of makushita 2; however, he declined to pursue sumo further after knee issues developed.

From sumo, he went into acting. Other credits include both versions of “Magnum P.I.” (an uncredited appearance in the first, “Kamekona” in the second), the “MacGyver” reboot, and “One West Waikiki”.

Posted in Heroism, Movies, Obits, Sports, Sumo, TV | 4 Comments »

Obit watch: June 19, 2024.

Wednesday, June 19th, 2024

Willie Mays. SF Chronicle (archived). ESPN.

The Awful Announcing blog has a link to a video tribute to Mr. Mays narrated by Jon Miller.

Neil Goldschmidt, former mayor of Portland and governor of Oregon. He seemed to have a promising political career (he was also transportation secretary under Jimmy Carter) but left office in 1990. There were a lot of rumors about his extramarital activities at the time.

In 2004, it came out that he’d been raping a teenage girl.

The statute of limitations on any criminal charges that might have been brought against Mr. Goldschmidt, including statutory rape, had expired decades earlier. The woman he abused later gave a series of interviews to Margie Boulé, a columnist for The Oregonian, describing her relationship with the mayor.
The woman said the abuse first began when she was 13, on her mother’s birthday. It virtually destroyed her, she said. She attempted suicide at age 15 and later become addicted to alcohol and cocaine. She died in 2011.

George R. Nethercutt Jr., former House member. He’s most famous for having defeated Thomas S. Foley, who was Speaker of the House at the time.

Paul Pressler. He was sort of a “power behind the throne” in the Southern Baptist Convention:

Judge Pressler was instrumental in building an internal grass-roots movement that in recent decades moved the denomination toward adopting theological and social positions that were strikingly more conservative than those held in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. They include opposing abortion and same-sex marriage, forbidding women to serve as head pastors and interpreting the Bible literally.

He was also involved in a messy sex scandal, which led to the Southern Baptist Convention distancing themselves from him.

Angela Bofill, R&B singer of the 1970s and 1980s.

She released her last studio album, “Love in Slow Motion,” in 1996. Her music career ended when she had strokes in 2006 and 2007 that left her partly paralyzed and speech-impaired.

Posted in Music, Obits, Politics, Religion, Sports | Comments Closed

Don’t you lie to me like I’m Monty Williams.

Wednesday, June 19th, 2024

Monty Williams out as head coach of the Detroit Pistons after one season.

After starting the season 2-1, the Pistons went on a historic 28-game losing streak…
…The Pistons ultimately finished with a franchise-low 14-68 record, leaving Detroit with the worst record in the league for the second consecutive season.

More from ESPN.

The Pistons are 94-290 (.245) over the past five seasons, easily the worst in the league. Detroit was the third-youngest team in the league.

Posted in Firings, Sports | Comments Closed

Obit watch: June 12, 2024.

Wednesday, June 12th, 2024

Still traveling, so these are going to be on the brief side.

Mike “Duke” Venturino, longtime gun writer. I had been reading his articles since Jesus was a lance corporal at least, so this hits a little hard.

I never met him, but he was a swell writer. I don’t have any more information other than the linked article, but I’ll post anything additional I find.

(Hattip to Pigpen51 on this.)

Tony Lo Bianco, actor. Other credits include “Homicide: Life on the Street”, “The Twilight Zone” (the 1985 revival), and “Police Story”.

Jerry West, NBA player, coach, and executive.

Posted in Guns, Movies, Sports, TV | 1 Comment »

Obit watch: June 5, 2024.

Wednesday, June 5th, 2024

Parnelli Jones, one of the great racers.

Jones was best known for his exploits at the Indy 500 in the 1960s, when it was still the premier event in auto racing. He was the oldest surviving winner of the race.
“Parnelli Jones was the greatest driver of his era,” his contemporary Mario Andretti once said. “He had aggressiveness and also a finesse that no one else possessed. And he won on everything he put his hands on.”Jones captured dozens of races, winning six times in Indy races and four times in NASCAR events and triumphing in off-road, sports car, sprint and midget races as well.

…

Jones’s final Indy 500 came in 1967, when he drove Andy Granatelli’s revolutionary turbine-powered car, which was considerably faster than the traditional piston-engine cars. He was leading A.J. Foyt by more than a mile with seven and a half miles to go when a bearing, reportedly costing $6, failed in his gear box, forcing him to limp into the pits as Foyt went on to his third Indy 500 triumph.

Posted in Cars, Sports | Comments Closed

Obit watch: June 4, 2024.

Tuesday, June 4th, 2024

Janis Page, actress. She was 101. NYT (archived).

Other credits include “The Rockford Files”, “Lanigan’s Rabbi”, “Banacek”…

…and “Mannix”. (“A Way to Dusty Death”, season 7, episode 2. She was “Georgia Durian”.)

Brother Marquis, rapper with 2 Live Crew.

Larry Allen, of the Dallas Cowboys.

Allen was a second-round pick out of Sonoma State in 1994 and quickly became one of the most dominant offensive linemen in the NFL.
He was named to the Pro Bowl 11 times and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013. He played for the Cowboys from 1994 to 2005, winning a Super Bowl in 1995. He spent his final two seasons with the San Francisco 49ers.

He was 52.

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

Firings watch.

Tuesday, June 4th, 2024

Tucupita Marcano has been fired.

Okay, that’s not quite the whole story. Tucupita Marcano has been banned for life from Major League Baseball.

Why? He committed baseball’s original sin: he bet on games.

Even worse, he bet on his own team.

MLB said Tuesday that Marcano placed 387 baseball bets totaling more than $150,000 in October 2022 and from last July through November with a legal sportsbook. He became the first active player in a century banned for life because of gambling.
Marcano appears to be the first active major leaguer banned under the sport’s gambling provision since New York Giants outfielder Jimmy O’Connell in 1924. Pete Rose, baseball’s active career hits leader, famously agreed to a lifetime ban in 1989 after an investigation concluded he bet on Cincinnati Reds games while managing the team.

…

Marcano, currently a member of the San Diego Padres, was found to have placed 231 MLB-related bets, including 25 that MLB says included wagers on Pirates games while he was on the team’s major league roster. However, he did not appear in any of those games because he was on the injured list following a season-ending knee injury. He was receiving medical treatment at PNC Park during that time.

…

Marcano bet almost exclusively on the outcomes of games and lost all of his parlay bets involving the Pirates, winning just 4.3% of all of his MLB-related bets, according to the league.
MLB Rule 21, posted in every clubhouse, states betting on any baseball game in which a player, umpire, league official or team employee has no duty to perform results in a one-year suspension. Betting on a game in which the person has a duty to perform results in a lifetime ban.

Four other players have been suspended for one year, also for betting on baseball. They only got one year suspensions because they were minor league players betting on major league games.

Posted in Firings, Sports | 1 Comment »

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