In Passing
RIP NFL Hall of Fame LB Kevin Greene, 58, whose cause of death has not yet been disclosed. He was a walk-on at Auburn, where he earned a degree in Criminal Justice and completed the ROTC program, earning the rank of Second Lieutenant and eventually rising to Captain after training as a paratrooper. His eleven sacks in 1984 led the SEC and earned him the Defensive Player of the Year Award. Despite that, he was not drafted until the fifth round by the LA Rams in 1985. In 15 seasons, five different teams, he accomplished a great deal. He forced 23 fumbles, recovered 26, and returned two for TD’s; he had five int’s, returning one to the house; and his 160 sacks rank third all-time. He was named to the Pro Bowl five times, was First-team All-Pro three times, named NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1996, led the league in sacks twice, and was named to the NFL 1990's All-Decade Team. His only appearance in a Super Bowl as a player was with the Steelers, who lost to the Cowboys in SB XXX. He was an assistant coach on the Packers championship team in 2011, SB XLV. He coached seven years, five in Green Bay, two with the Jets. He also wrestled briefly in the WCW in the late ‘90’s. Awesome, sir. (Facts from Wiki)
RIP country music artist K.T. Oslin, 78, member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Born in Arkansas, educated at Lon Morris College in Texas, she moved to NYC in the ‘70’s and appeared in productions of West Side Story, Promises, Promises, and Hello Dolly. She also sang commercial jingles and began writing songs. She broke big in 1980 with 80’s Ladies, which hit #7 on the Billboard Hot Country 100 chart. The album went to #1. Four of her singles hit #1 on the country chart: Do Ya, I’ll Always Come Back, Hold Me and Come Next Monday. 19 of her 26 singles charted. Her first two albums went platinum, her third gold. She issued six albums, six compilations, and seven videos. The ACA named her Top New Female Vocalist in 1987. Both the ACA and CMA named her Female Vocalist of the Year in 1988. In all, her work was cited six times by those organizations. She also won three Grammys: 1988 Best Country Vocal Performance, Female — 80’s Ladies, 1989 Best Country Vocal Performance, Female — Hold Me; 1989 Best Country Song — Hold Me. Kudos, madam. Here’s a link to the touching award winning video, which runs short of five minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWqNzbPsD2o
The spending bill passed by congress proves there is basically one-party rule in America — the swamp. It also proves that bipartisanship is vastly over-rated. We already have it, and it’s led to a debt/deficit of more than $20 trillion. And it isn’t going to change, even if it leads to financial collapse. They’ll just call “Do over” as we used to as kids.
The first two hours of today’s session of the floating book shop was benign except for a bit of a breeze. Then clouds rolled in and the wind kicked up, sending me into the passenger seat of my old car. My thanks to the young woman who bought Exchanges by yours truly, and to Alice, who purchased two paperbacks by Jackie Collins: Hollywood Husbands and Double Lucky. She hits the mute button on her TV during commercials and reads. She also gave me a 65-count bottle of Centrum Silver, which she paid a dime for at CVS, covered by her insurance. My thanks also to Dave and Gary, who donated seven books between them. Gary just received a copy of the little tribute he wrote about his late mom. Only 37 pages, it was 17-months in the making and cost him at least two grand to get into print. I wished he’d consulted me first. He could have gotten it into print within weeks at Amazon for nothing and bought author copies at a discount. Fortunately, he doesn’t regret it. The cover is beautiful.
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