It is truly a disgrace, that the great linebacker Chuck Howley, is not in the Pro Football Hall Of Fame.
He is the only player to be named Super Bowl MVP for a losing team (his Cowboys were denied, by the then Baltimore Colts in the 5th Super Bowl).
The next season Howley was brilliant in the decisive Cowboys’ Super Bowl victory, vs the Miami Dolphins.
He seemingly was always near the ball and was part of great Dallas defensive units, as the Cowboys rose to become a great NFL franchise.
Let’s hope Chuck gets into the Hall, it is not on the level of world peace, however, it is long overdue “football justice.”
The great player, Chuck Howley, pictured above.
Click below for a nice article by Chris Picaro, more than echoing my sentiments regarding Chuck Howley, being denied “Hall” status.
Chuck Howley: The Biggest Snub in Hall-of-Fame History
Just (some of) the facts regarding Mr. Howley. From Wikipedia.
- Super Bowl champion (VI)
- Super Bowl MVP (V)
- 6× Pro Bowl (1965–1969, 1971)
- 5× First-team All-Pro (1966–1970)
- Second-team All-Pro (1971)
There were some fine players on the Yankees’ teams that at the very least, did not measure up to Yankees’ standards and in some cases, were bottom rung, major league teams.
One of those players, the only one to stick around and achieve later World Series title glory, is Roy White.
Though I certainly was not a Yankees’ fan, I always “dug” Roy White.
I “managed” him in Strat-O-Matic baseball and once told him how much I liked him and how great his baseball contributions were, but how my heart was broken, rooting vs his title Yankees teams of 1977 and 1978.
One other thing, White was not only not treated right by the club after his playing days, but often does not get enough credit for his immense contribution to the 1978 title team and 1976 A.L. Pennant winning team.
Even in 1977, when Roy did not play all that much, there was that home run off Bill Campbell, the Red Sox closer in a big game and the vintage Roy White walk, as the Yankees rallied in THE game, the 1977 ALCS decisive game 5, that fateful Sunday night in Kansas City.
Additionally, Roy White is a classy individual and in my case specifically, also a lesson for all, we root or root vs “laundry,” especially these days.
Bob Wolff, the Hall of Fame broadcaster, whose class had just ended that Friday night, when I heard White’s home run crackle through the static of WTIC (of course I was listening to the Red Sox broadcast. Incidentially, the fine pair of Ned Martin and Jim Woods. Alas, I grew to love Phil Rizzuto and yearn for the other two in the Yankees trio, Frank Messer and Bill White), talked of some guys you will like, some not on a given team, as he tried to teach objectivity to me.
Even before I learned the lesson, at least to a degree, I knew Roy White as a great example of a player and person I liked so much, even if I did not feel that way about the team.
Roy White, pictured above.
The defending Super Bowl champion, (10-1) New England Patriots have a slim half game lead over the (9-2) Baltimore Ravens in the battle for the AFC one seed. “Balti” owns the tiebreaker by virtue of its Sunday night home win vs N.E. weeks back.
Randy “The Little Bellman” cashed the MVP entity with Patrick Mahomes last year and is favored to do so this season with Lamar Jackson (5 TD passes for his Ravens in a rout of the (6-5) defending NFC champion L.A. Rams last night).
He also has “links” to the great New England quarterback, Tom Brady.
The Patriots have 17 straight seasons with at least 10 wins and are (99-1) in the last 100 home games in which they “enjoyed” the lead at the half.
Masterful New England coach, Bill Belichick pictured above.
As it happens:
The Ravens face the (10-1) S.F. 49ers this Sunday. It is possible, clearly not probable, each of those teams could finish with (14-2) records and not be its conference’s one seed.
In the 49ers case, they could be (14-2) and visit a “(9-7) or so,” NFC East champion, in the wild card round of the upcoming NFL playoffs.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers won their first Canadian Football League title/Grey Cup since 1990, winning fairly easily, vs the top ranked Hamilton Tiger-Cats, by a (33-12) score.
Andrew Harris scored touchdowns both rushing and receiving and became the first player ever to win both the most valuable player and most valuable Canadian player in a Grey Cup tilt. (Before the most valuable Canadian player award was initiated in 1971, a Canadian player, Russ Jackson was the game’s most valuable player in 1969).
Winnipeg won 2 road games and this one at Calgary, as at least a 3 point underdog (three plus in the Grey Cup final).
Blue Bombers’ coach Mike O’Shea won his first title as a head coach to go along with 3 Grey Cup wins as a player and one as an assistant coach.
Jordan Jeffcoat, the son of two time Super Bowl winner Jim Jeffcoat of the Dallas Cowboys (titles in ’92 and ’93 and oh do I remember a big play he made to help Dallas defeat the Giants and win the ’85 NFC East crown) and Mike Jones were two of many defensive standouts for the Blue Bombers.
Andrew Harris, pictured above.
Bing Russell’s father, Warren (Kurt’s grandfather) worked operating a floatplane service in Florida that led him and his son to friendships, with legendary Yankees’ players Lefty Gomez and Joe DiMaggio.
Truly poignant, Lou Gehrig, knowing he was ill gave Bing Russell the bat with which he hit the 493rd and last home run of his great and still vastly underappreciated career.
Also I think of the 1966 NBA player’s draft, as another sports association concerning Bing Russell.
Who would the New York Knicks take with the first pick in that draft? Would it be Dave BING or Cazzie RUSSELL?!
Why regarding the fine journalist Bob Teague? According to H.S. Gross, Mr. Teague offered a rare opinion (I believe reporting was better, sans those far too plentiful opinions), regarding whom/who the Knicks should draft, Bing or Russell.
Today and tomorrow (November 23rd and 24th) “Sopranos Con” will be at The Meadowlands Exposition Center in Seacaucus, New Jersey.
As Federico Castelluccio (“Furio” on the iconic show, “The Sopranos,”) noted the byline is “a show by the fans for the fans.”
Fifty or more cast members are expected to attend and there will be many great attractions. One is a creation of “Dr. Melfi’s” office, that wonderful character played by Lorraine Bracco.
I had occasion to attend an event promoting the event last night and loved both the literal (great food) and figurative (the actors and the atmosphere) flavor of “things Sopranos.” that will permeate Sopranos Con.
For example, get ready for “Bada Bean Cawfee” (correct spelling) a specialty, that pays homage to the “Bada Bing” from the show.
There will also be a cannoli eating contest hosted by Kevin Strahle aka, “The LA Beast.”
Alabama 3 will perform their great song “Got Up This Morning,” The Sopranos opening sequence song. Go and enjoy.
Click below for more information.
Sopranos Con – For the fans, by the fans
Of course there will be tributes to James Gandolfini (“Tony Soprano”) pictured in character, above.
On this sad anniversary, I (feel as though) need not juxtapose then and now regarding hope and consensus, remembering John F. Kennedy.
The sad coincidences with President Lincoln and another Abraham, my grandfather, whom I never met, dead in a fire, both at age 56.
Now it is 56 years since shots rang out in Dallas, Texas, killing President Kennedy.
This eighth Friday November 22nd since, I think of what the fine journalist Dick Schaap said, regarding being informed while in Paris, France that “your” president had been killed.
Mr. Schaap remarked Mr. Kennedy was “his” President. Mr. Kennedy was also mine, though I was so young and yes naive.
Cue Mr. Whittier, as we so often must in this life, as I do below.
John Greenleaf Whittier > Quotes > Quotable Quote
“Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.”
I noticed Bing Russell’s name on the credits for Bonanza, not realizing he was actor Kurt Russell’s father and was a minor league team owner in Portland, Oregon.
He also was a fine actor, best known for being a deputy on “Bonanza” and for a role in the great film, “The Magnificent Seven.”
I put together something related to sports and that plus other Bing Russell sports tidbits, will be the subject of a future post. Stay “tuned.” (Of tunes, that great “Bonanza” opening).
Bing Russell, pictured above.
“The Height Of The Storm ” (Manhattan Theatre Club At The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre 148 West 47th Street) is a deeply moving, at times, humorous play.
Stars, Jonathan Pryce and Eileen Atkins augment their brilliant careers, each turning in a great performance.
Amanda Drew, Lisa O’Hare, Lucy Cohu and James Hillier complete the very solid cast.
Florian Zeller is the playwright while Jonathan Kent directs.
The play truly moved me even before I realized Andre and Madeleine are/could be Andy/Mandy and all that entails across time, reality and yes the dream of romantic, but also “stay with it” love, as the two characters have spent a half century together.
The play’s last performance is the upcoming Sunday November 24th.
Click below for ticket information.
The Height of the Storm 2019 – Samuel J Friedman Theatre
Left to right, Eileen Atkins as Madeleine and Jonathan Pryce as Andre in “The Height Of The Storm.”
History repeated 51 years later, when as was the case in the famed “Heidi Game,” on November 17, 1968, the winning “Bay Area” team scored 2 touchdowns in the last minute of play, in overcoming a deficit.
Two days back, the now (9-1) S.F. 49ers scored two touchdowns in the last forty seconds, the second on a ridiculous, backwards lateral attempt, by Arizona (Cardinals), to win (36-26).
In ’68, the game went off NBC television for “Heidi.” The Oakland Raiders, currently, with a surprising (6-5) record and playing simultaneously (to the S.F. game) at home, in this their last year in Oakland, scored twice in the last minute to (43-32) the New York Jets.
In both November 17th games, the second touchdown in the last minute had point spread overtones.
The Jets beat the Raiders in the subsequent 1968 AFL Title game, before upsetting the Baltimore Colts in the third Super Bowl.
The great receiver, Don Maynard, pictured above 45 years later, caught the decisive touchdown pass from Joe Namath, in the Jets’ (27-23) home victory vs the Raiders in the ’68 AFL Title Game, played 6 weeks after the so called “Heidi Game.”
Andy B Sports 