Last Saturday night, I was privileged to see Glen Campbell in a performance at Town Hall in Manhattan. The good memories flowed as Mr.Campbell performed his great hits and paid tribute to a few icons, especially the great songwriter, Jimmy Webb, who penned two of Campbell’s greatest hits, “By the Time I get to Phoenix” and “Wichita Lineman.” Three of Campbell’s children performed with him and like all of the performers were outstanding. Amy Auerbach, a music trivia whiz, who is known to all the WCBS FM disc jockeys because of her frequent “Trivia Contest” victories, remembered a WCBS FM question asking what Campbell and Marty Robbins had in common? The answer is both had big hits with Texas cities as the title. Campbell,who did a beautiful version this night, had “Galveston” while Robbins hit big with “El Paso.” All in all, a great night as 1975 memories flashed (a portable radio in the receiving department at Franklin Simon) as Campbell sang “Rhinestone Cowboy.” He joked about John Wayne winning his only competitive Academy Award after working with Glen in the 1969 film, “True Grit.” With his songs and humor, Campbell provided a very nice evening.
This Saturday night for the 6th time there will be an AFC divisional playoff game. The New England Patriots will be in the game for the 5th time missing only in 2009, in the six odd numbered years starting in 2001, that there has been such a game. This will be the 4th time the game will be played in New England. The Pats are (3-0) in the home games but lost to Denver, their opponent this Saturday, at Denver in the 2005 season divisional playoff game. Denver also won at home vs New England in a 1986 divisional playoff game. The Broncos, victorious in their last home game of this season, are (13-3) all time in home post season games. Two of those losses were to Pittsburgh, the team that Denver beat last week. New England is (7-6) all time in divisional playoff games, (5-2) at home. Denver is (8-3) in such games, (1-1) on the road. The wild card game vs Pittsburgh, Sunday past, was the Broncos’ 8th wild card round game and the home team has won all eight.
Andy B
Glen Campbell
True Story: I was interviewing the actor Danny Aiello, and spouting some lesser known information about Mr. Aiello. He said, “You know a lot of useless information.” I noted a character he played in a movie said that very sentence. He countered “Which movie?” and I did not know the answer. In that spirit, some San Francisco 49ers divisional round playoffs notes.
The Niners will be making their 20th appearance in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs, (only the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys have more such appearances ) and for the 15th time the game will be in San Francisco. SF is (12-7) in the divisional round with 15 of the 20 games at venerable Candlestick Park. At least one game, a win vs the Giants in 1981, was played on an extremely muddy field. (I am sure SF coach Jim Harbaugh and the Niners would not mind similar conditions, 30 years later, if the opponent is New Orleans, with their high powered passing attack). Also this will be the 12th time the divisional round game in San Francisco will be played on a Saturday afternoon.
This weekend is the 22nd with 4 NFL wild card round games. Next weekend will be the 42nd with 4 divisional round games as that started in 1970, 4 years after the NFL/AFL merger.
Speaking of 1970, this weekend’s Detroit at New Orleans game evokes memories of the November 8th, 1970 game between the two teams which New Orleans won on Tom Dempsey’s 63 yard field goal. Also that same day, in a time 50 or more yard field goals were extremely rare; a Pete Gogolak 54 yard field goal helped the Giants beat Dallas while George Blanda, well into his 40’s at the time, kicked a 50 plus yard field goal as time expired to beat the Cleveland Browns.
Andy B
Candlestick Park
As 2011 draws to its end, sadly, so many famous and good people passed on in 2011. Here are some brief recollections on five; an all time beauty, a great director, a player/author, a great publicist and a highly praised woman in the field of publishing.
Elizabeth Taylor was beautiful on the inside and out. She truly was a giver and some say a receiver as sympathy for an illness helped her win an Academy Award for Butterfield Eight. It still was a great performance. She was even better in” Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf “as she played the role of an alcoholic, caustic wife of a college professor with little or no makeup. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course, but few if any ever looked better than Taylor when she presented the Best film of 1969 award. Jerome Hellman ran up to receive it for Midnight Cowboy and loved being presented the award by Ms.Taylor almost as much as winning it.
Elizabeth Taylor
Sidney Lumet directed some of the greatest films ever made. He was uncompromising in his quest to bring out the intensity of the characters in his films. Whether Al Pacino was yelling “Attica,Attica” in Dog Day Afternoon or Rod Steiger’s concentration camp survivor could not be near a dog without it evoking horrible memories in the too powerful for TV,( Is it ever on at all and if so before 3 AM?!) “The Pawnbroker”, Mr.Lumet had no peer in bringing out such emotions.
Peter Gent was a pretty good receiver for the Dallas Cowboys in the 1960’s but is better known as an author who took on some of the hypocrisy of the National Football League in such books as “North Dallas Forty.” I interviewed Mr.Gent , after he appeared on Bob Costas’ fine radio show “Costas Coast to Coast.” He was extremely gracious and intelligent. I learned a great deal from this genuinely sincere author/athlete. When Nick Nolte walked into the premiere of “Prince of Tides” roughly 20 years ago, he was going straight ahead and not turning around for anything or anyone. I spoke and said I was a friend of Pete Gent and Mr. Nolte , close to the entrance and beyond the horde of reporters, photographers and fans turned and smiled.
Publicist Claire O’Connor knew how to work the fine line between celebrity and members of the media. Though it is far from easy, she made it look so, perhaps because she was as genuinely charming and caring a person as I ever met. Once at an event Claire publicized, all the tables were full and that left actress Sylvia Miles without a seat. One reason Ms.Miles is such a good actress is her determination to get things. This night, a seat at a table was one such thing. Using her wonderful voice, Claire asked that Sylvia could sit. Two or three people jumped up ready to yield their seats as if doing so meant a prize in the lottery. They did so with such earnest because Claire ,as she always did, asked the right way.
People who worked with Cheryl Mullner at Simon and Schuster wrote heartfelt praise to her when she left her position there. She was personable and a great worker. Those letters are treasured by her parents a small consolation for losing a daughter. Cheryl,whom I never met, and Claire both fought the illnesses that took their lives in their early fifties with a rare kind of bravery. Maybe Cheryl is helping Gent with his book which will become a movie. Maybe Lumet will direct it, Taylor will star in it and Claire will publicize it. Bet it gets many angel’s wings as the equivalent of a thumbs up (there.)
Andy B
Some notes from Week 16 of the NFL and related history. On Christmas day 1971, an overtime field goal by a left footed kicker eliminated the Kansas City Chiefs in a game played in Kansas City. 40 years to the day after that game, again on a Saturday, this time on December 24th, an overtime field goal by a left footed kicker eliminates the Chiefs in a game played in Kansas City. In 1971 Garo Yepremian’s field goal in the 2nd overtime period ko’d the Chiefs in a divisional playoff game. This year Sebastian Janikowski’s overtime field goal eliminated the Chiefs from playoff contention in the next to last week.
Janet Leigh’s character goes to an isolated motel in Orson Welles’ 1958 film, “Touch of Evil.” I believe it was two years later that Leigh’s character is again in an otherwise empty motel in “Psycho.”
Andy B
Kansas City Chiefs
Happy holidays to all. Beano Cook, best known as a college football expert, has a colorful blog, Beano-Cook.com It is written monthly with this month’s topic being “Things I really don’t want for Christmas.” Cook displays the wit that got him national exposure as he made the transition from Sports Information Director and network publicist to a commentator on the award winning ABC College Scoreboard Show of the 1980’s.
Andy B Sports and More interviewed Mr.Cook and next week’s edition will feature part 1 of that interview. Beano’s January blog is called “New year’s resolutions I will not keep.” Many of us can relate to that one. As 2011 draws to an end, something Beano wrote in his August 2011 blog on regrets stands out. He wrote “One thing I don’t regret and advise as often as I can, regardless of advisee’s receptiveness: if you still have your parents, tell them you love them. Someday you might want to and they may not be here.”
In last week’s Lions/Raiders game in Oakland, the Raiders scored a touchdown with 7 minutes and 47 seconds left to take a 26-14 lead when inexplicably Oakland coach, Hue Jackson decided to kick the extra point instead of attempting a 2 point conversion. Being ahead by 12 or 13 points at that point in the game is essentially the same but being ahead by 14 is a big difference. The Lions rallied to win 28-27 and of course if Oakland had gone for 2 and made it, and the same events transpired the game would have gone into overtime. Maybe it was historic fate.
In the last Lions’ championship year of 1957, they overcame a 27-7 deficit in the Bay Area and defeated the SF 49ers in a Western Conference playoff game which put the Lions in the NFL Championship Game. Detroit crushed The Cleveland Browns (59-14) in that game. The Browns had a rookie running back named Jim Brown,who won the NFL rushing title as a rookie and in 8 of his 9 seasons. The Lions likely will make their first playoff appearance since 1999.
Finally, next week we will look back at some of the people who died in 2011. Al Davis, the Raiders owner passed on in 2011 and he modeled the “Silver and black” image of the Raiders after the great Detroit Lions teams of the 1950’s (Detroit won NFL Titles in 1952,1953 and 1957 and lost in the championship game in 1954).
Andy B
Beano Cook
Two of the great figures in sports media, Bob Costas interviewed by Robert Lipsyte engaged in a lively, humorous, informative discussion at The New York Times Center on December 7th. Lipsyte as the interviewer opened the program with details of The ” Two Bobs’ ” history with each other which included a fourteen year period when they did not speak. After the discussion ended I wanted another as these two eloquent figures are a much needed light in contrast with the darkness of sports media today.
They certainly did not always agree starting with Costas’ response to Lipsyte’s claim that Costas was too generous in his praise of Mickey Mantle after “#7 ” died in 1995.Among the other sport’s figures discussed were Mantle’s friend, Roger Maris, Joe Paterno and Howard Cosell.Both men agreed that Maris, who played on seven pennant winners with the Yankees and Cardinals from 1960-1968, should be in The Baseball Hall of Fame.Costas eloquently stated that Paterno’s failure to act in the Penn State sex scandal tipped the all time scale against Paterno.While Lipsyte is a big Cosell supporter, Costas though respecting Cosell’s presence and impact at a time of “stark sport’s issues” took a negative stand against the sport’s broadcasting giant. The topics were intense and timely; violence in football, Costas’ inside information about his interview with former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky and assessments of Cosell, Jim Mc Kay and sport’s journalism past and present.Most intriguing was that with one as skilled and challenging as Lipsyte asking the questions, Costas, who makes this difficult forum look easy, had to bring his “A game” and he did.Costas was entertaining doing Cosell immitations and remarking how little space Lipsyte’s picture was given on the program cover compared to his own.Injecting his wry sense of humor, Costas called that unfair.He closed the program with a wonderful recollection of how reticent actor, Jack Palance was on Costas’ “Later” show only to tell a great story as they walked off having finished taping. It was a great ending to an outstanding event, well worth my long trek even on a rainy night.
Robert Lipsyte and Bob Costas
When the NFL plays a full slate of games on Saturday December 24th, it will be the third time that has happened. The NFL does not want a full schedule on Christmas Day and this is the third time the regular season was still going on Christmas Day.
In 1971, the league had two divisional round games on Christmas day, eventual champion Dallas winning at Minnesota while eventual runner-up Miami won in the second overtime quarter at Kansas City.
The next time Christmas fell on a Sunday, 1977, the league scheduled around it and had 2 games on Saturday and two on Monday. For the record, another six quarter game saw Oakland beat the Baltimore Colts and Denver beat Pittsburgh. Then on Monday, Dallas which went on to win its second title that year beat Chicago before Minnesota won in the mud at Los Angeles against the Rams when Los Angeles had a football team.
In both 1983 and 1988, the next two times Christmas fell on a Sunday, there was one wild card game on Saturday and one on Monday. In 1983, Seattle won at home vs Denver while on Monday, the Rams beat Dallas.In 1988 on Saturday December 24th, The Houston Oilers now the Tennessee Titans, beat the Cleveland Browns, the old ones and a franchise that did become the Baltimore Ravens. On Monday December 26th, Minnesota won at home vs the Los Angeles Rams.
The two previous years with full slates on Saturday December 24th were 1994 and 2005.
Andy B
Merry Christmas
Andy B Sports 