A Legend Passes
RIP NFL legend John Madden, 85. Born in Minnesota, he grew up in California. He attended several colleges, battling injuries, before graduating from Cal Poly, where he was an All Conference tackle and a catcher on the baseball team. He was drafted in the 21st round, 244th overall, by the Eagles in 1958. He suffered a knee injury in training camp, ending his pro playing career before it began. He coached at the small college level from 1960-’66. In 1967 he became the linebackers coach of the Raiders. In 1969 he ascended to head coach, where he remained until 1978. He never had a losing season. His overall record is 103–32–7, a winning percentage of .759, second best in league history behind Guy Chamberlain, who guided four teams from 1922-’27. His team won Super Bowl XI. In spotting him along the sidelines and seeing him in NFL films, I was baffled at how any player would respond to his harried demeanor. That became evident when he entered the broadcast booth. He had tons of personality, an infectious love of the game and life. He won twelve Emmys for his work. He founded the All-Madden Team, selecting players he believed played the game the way he thought it should be. And then there was the wildly popular video game to which he lent his name. He was an original. He was elected to the NFL Hall of Fame in 2003. Awesome, sir. Thank you. (Facts from Wiki)
Berlin Guy “Champ” Chamberlain was a halfback and end for his home state’s University of Nebraska undefeated teams of 1914-’15, earning All America honors that second year. In 1936 he was named the greatest player in Cornhuskers’ history. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. In the fledgling NFL, he won championships in six of his nine seasons, 1919-’27, the only man to do it with three different teams. He served as a player/coach on three of those squads. His winning percentage is .759, his record 58–16–7. I don’t believe I’d ever heard of him until today. Wow. (Wiki)
Interesting headline from nypost.com about a country music star: “Morgan Wallen has best-selling album of 2021 despite his N-word rant.” It sold more than three million copies.
Here’s a fun NYP headline: “Man left naked on public beach after sister gifts dissolvable shorts.”
I’d like to believe in Karma but I don’t. Still, Dems who politicized Covid, especially Quid Pro Joe, are getting what they deserve regarding the seemingly never-ending virus.
With the threat of rain constant, I put out only a few boxes today at the floating book shop. My thanks to the gentleman who bought a detective novel in Russian, and to Waj, who donated two paperbacks; and to everyone who stopped to schmooze.
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