Archive for March 10th, 2023

More firings!

Friday, March 10th, 2023

Well, really, only one, and oddly not men’s (or women’s) college basketball.

Chuck Fletcher out as GM of the Philadephia Flyers.

The Flyers, currently 24-30-11, went 141-144-43 (.495 points percentage) overall under Fletcher. They only reached the playoffs once, in the 2020 season. Three of those seasons were impacted by COVID-19, including that playoff season when the Flyers racked up a 41-21-7 record and came up one game short of reaching the conference finals.
Things quickly started to go downhill during the 2020-21 season, though, as the Flyers, who entered that season with lofty expectations, finished sixth of eight teams in their division and missed the playoffs. Last season was even worse, as the Flyers’ .372 points percentage was the second-worst in franchise season. The team also suffered through two 10-plus game losing streaks, including a franchise-record 13-game skid, while suffering a slew of injuries that resulted in over 500 man-games lost.

I have no joke here, I just like saying “man-games”.

Edited to add: Well, spoke too soon.

Mike Anderson out as men’s basketball coach of St. John’s.

St. John’s finished eighth in the Big East with its worst NET ranking (98) under his watch and a 2-14 record in Quad 1 and 2 games.
Over Anderson’s final two seasons, St. John’s went 3-22 in Quad 1 games and 2-14 against ranked opponents.

Side note: St. John’s is rumored to be looking at Rick Pitino as a new coach.

Which leads me to side note #2: “How an FBI agent’s wild Vegas weekend stained an investigation into NCAA basketball corruption”.

Also: Josh Pastner out as men’s basketball coach at Georgia Tech. Seven seasons, 109-114 overall and 51-78 in conference.

Pastner’s tenure will be remembered for the 2021 ACC championship – Tech’s first since 1993 – and his seemingly endless enthusiasm and positive energy. He spoke of how he didn’t see the glass as half full, but instead overflowing.
He was generous with his time and happily served as an ambassador for the institute. On behalf of the ticket office, he called fans to help sell season tickets and even personally answered emails from fans telling him that he should resign.

Posted in Firings, Sports | 2 Comments »

Quick flaming hyena update.

Friday, March 10th, 2023

KXAN has updated their story on Burnet County Judge James Oakley.

According to the indictment records, Oakley is facing two abuse of official capacity counts, stemming from his role as a Pedernales Electrical Cooperative board member while also serving as Burnet County judge. The court record claims this is in violation of Texas local government code.
Records state, on multiple occasions in 2021, Oakley used a Burnet County vehicle to drive to PEC. Oakley told KXAN earlier Thursday the charges stemmed from his “multi-term service as a member of the Director of the Board of the Pedernales Electric Cooperative.”

Yeah, I can easily see using a county vehicle on non-county business as being a crime. Perhaps a low-level crime, but still something you shouldn’t do as an elected official.

Posted in Law, Politics | Comments Closed

Obit watch: March 10, 2023.

Friday, March 10th, 2023

Robert Blake. LAT. THR.

Yes, yes, “Baretta” and Bonny Lee Bakley. Also: “The Court of Last Resort”, “The F.B.I.”, “Electra Glide in Blue”, and “12 O’Clock High” among other credits. I’ve seen “In Cold Blood” but it was a long time ago. (I think I actually rented it on VHS.) I’d like to see it again: my recollection is that it was an excellent adaptation of what I consider to be a very good book, with some astonishing cinematography.

I can’t tell if Blake was the last surviving “Our Gang” member or not. If he wasn’t, he was certainly pretty darn near being the last one.

(And on a side note: “Fred” was actually played by two different Triton cockatoos: “Lala” and “Weird Harold”. “Weird Harold” was a “stunt double” that they only used when “Fred” was flying. I don’t know if either one is still alive, but the San Diego Zoo website claims that, with proper care, cockatoos can live anywhere from 60 years to a full century.)

The Reno Air Races. At least, in their present form. (Hattip to FotB RoadRich.)

The first major step in its demise happened Thursday when the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority’s board of trustees voted unanimously to authorize its president and CEO, Daren Griffin, to negotiate final terms for the event.
It calls for the event this year from Sept. 13 to 17 to be the final air race at Reno-Stead Airport, with an air show in 2024 to celebrate its 60th anniversary.

But:

Although the Stead location is off the table, the Reno Air Racing Association – which organizes the event – sent out an email Thursday afternoon saying, “We are committed to finding a new location so that the event can continue. In fact, we are currently exploring several other possible locations to host the event in the future but it starts with making this year’s event the biggest and most successful it can be.”
Among the challenges cited in this decision was an increase in insurance costs for the event from $780,000 to $1.3 million and regional growth that makes hosting it at Reno-Stead Airport more challenging.

I’ve been to Reno fairly recently, but have never been to the air races. (Always wanted to go, though.) I hope they find a new location. But I’m having a lot of trouble, just based on what I saw when I was in the area, visualizing a location that has the required infrastructure and space to support all those planes, as well as having enough hotels/motels/campgrounds to house the crowd coming in for the races. Perhaps the plan is to move to another location in Nevada? Or out of Nevada? I have a vague memory that there was talk about doing air races in South Texas some time ago…

Posted in 1970s, Birds, Law, Movies, Obits, Planes, Sports, TV | 1 Comment »