A Legend Passes

RIP NFL legend Dick Butkus, 80, who played with reckless abandon in a bulky body that seemed unathletic until it sprang into action. Born in Chicago, the son of Lithuanian immigrants, the youngest of eight kids, the first born in a hospital, he excelled on the high school gridiron as a FB, LB, punter and placekicker, the Windy City’s player of the year as a junior, and this despite working as a mover with his four brothers. As a senior his playing time was limited by injury. Still, he was heavily recruited. He was a two-time All American at Illinois, UPI Lineman of the Year in ’64. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. He was the third pick in the ’65 draft. The base for his entire football career, high school to the pros, was his home state. During his tenure, the Bears were dreadful, 48–74–4, despite the presence of Gale Sayers and himself. He was NFL Defensive Player of the Year twice, First-team All-Pro five times, Second-team three times, and he was selected to eight Pro Bowls. He was named to the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team. He had 22 interceptions, 27 fumble recoveries and more than a thousand tackles. His #51 was retired by the Bears. He was elected to Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, ’79. He was arguably the most feared player in the game. When his playing career ended, he did endorsements, broadcasting and acting. There are 62 titles under his name at IMDb, including 27 episodes of My Two Dads and 52 of Hang Time. Married since 1963, he was a father of three. Awesome, Sir. Facts from Wiki, photo from Google Images:

Comforting headline from nypost.com: “Eat it up: Jennifer Lopez chows down on McDonald’s on morning run to the drive-thru with Ben Affleck.”

Headline from foxnews.com: “California-based procrastination book club finally finishes its first tome after 28 years.” Finnegan’s Wake. According to the accompanying article by Maureen Mackey, members “would read a page of it — then discuss it for two hours… The monthly meetings would take place at the Venice branch of the Los Angeles Public Library.” I forced myself to read Joyce’s Ulysses twice, understood perhaps 5%. Knowing Finnegan’s Wake is considered more difficult, I resisted any temptation to take a crack at it.

Taking a page from Mao’s playbook, from FN: “Hillary Clinton calls for ‘formal deprogramming’ of tens of millions of Americans.” Yes, those of us who deplore the swamp are brainwashed.

Another gem from the Staten Island goombah:

With the threat of rain constant, I wheeled out the shopping cart, loaded it with Russian fare and CDs and DVDs, and headed to the viaduct nearby. It looked like the wrong move, as the rain held off and no one seemed interested in what was on display. Then a woman came along in a short blonde wig. She picked up a cigarette butt and put it in a compartment in her carryall and surprised me when she asked how much the CDs were. She picked out five and gave me a 20. I returned a five and a ten. She gazed at the serial numbers and asked if I had any other bills. I believe she was leery of 2–0, although I didn’t quite understand what she was citing. Fortunately, I had exactly 15 singles. After examining them, she returned five and asked for the fin back. Then she spotted The Phantom of the Opera CD and bought it. As she walked away she picked up another butt.

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