Lesley Gore

On a slow news day with snow in the forecast comes very sad news from the music world as Lesley Gore passed away at the age of 68.

Gore passed away from lung cancer, which had not apparently been released to the public before, in Manhattan this morning.
Lesley Gore was part of what I often referred to as the "holy trinity" of female pop singers of the mid-1960s with Petula Clark and Dusty Springfield and had many hits through the span with "It's my party" being the most well known.
Other hits were the follow-up to It's my party in "Judy's turn to cry", the female anthem "You don't own me" and the peppy "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows", which recently returned to the air in the film "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs" among many.
My personal favorite of Lesley's was "Maybe I Know" which I just played on CD in the car on the way home from taking Cherie to work today.



Lesley Gore first hit it big in 1963 with "It's my party" and was clearly the top solo female pop singer in the country (Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield, and most others of the time period were British).
Lesley's final hit was one that I knew often as a child as "California Nights" was performed during her two-episode appearance on Batman as "Pussycat" a sidekick to Julie Newmar's Catwoman.
During the beginning of her run of success, Gore attended Sarah Lawrence College and during her stint there, toured and recorded on her downtime.
However, as Gore continued her education, music changed and her fun and poppy sound began to fall out of style in favor of message music from the rock and folk scene.

Gore would never really return to the charts, but she did quite well as a songwriter and hitting the nostalgia circuit, which I'm sure allowed her to live quite comfortably.
Lesley also hosted a PBS series In the Life, which focused on gay and lesbian issues.
It was on that program that she announced that she was a lesbian in 2005.
That doesn't bother me at all and to my knowledge, she never lied about that question.

I have to admit, I'm pretty sad today.
Lesley Gore was always a huge favorite of mine.
She was one of those artists that made fun music, not that all of her work was frivolous as You Don't Own Me is regarded as an early feminist anthem, but music that was just fun to listen to.
I've often thought many of the pop artists of the 1960s have gotten short shrift for the rock hall of fame because of the age and the time being remembered more for message music than music that is just enjoyable to listen to.

She'll be greatly missed by me and hopefully some others too...

A few notes

Just a few observations/notes on a very cold night/morning and boy,do I hate this weather.
Ugh,Just horrible.
I often say when the topic comes up-I could handle living in Canada until winter-those folks up there are a different breed.
They put up with this almost every day during this time of year-far tougher than I am when it comes to the cold.
I often think about going back to Ohio and I've kinda resigned myself that it likely will not happen for two reasons.
The first is that I want to stay close to the kids and unless they move away from here,I'm likely not going anywhere.
The other? It's colder there than here and this is too cold for me!!

Hoping to have my podcast equipment here soon.
The tracking says sometime today,but I'll believe that when I see it and I still need a USB cord too.
If all breaks perfect,I could have the first show early next week,if I can figure out what I am doing,that is....

I have some questions for a future Q and A ready and I still need to knock cards out to put away from last season,so there will be some signing fronts coming.
I always start the season well on the signing front and then the cards start to accumulate and I jsut get behind.
Once the season ends,then the urgency isn't so important....

Not sure,if I would have ever seen this coming,but I like to watch golf more than college basketball anymore.
Any of the three tours (PGA,Champions or LPGA) I enjoy watching and with my slowly decreasing interest in the college game-mainly to the loss of rivalries and the "one and done" players,I give golf the edge,
I do still enjoy the conference tournaments,especially the smaller ones and March Madness,but with a few exceptions,I just don't watch much during the regular season....

I also have begun to casually collect the 1965 Topps baseball set.
I rather doubt that I'll ever finish it,but visually the 1965 set is my favorite of the 60's and I decided to go after it.
The lovely Cherie was surprised as I usually collect things within my lifetime,but sometimes one mixes things up.
If I ever did a set from the 1950's though,it would not be one of the mainstream Topps sets-it would be either the 1951 Topps red and blue back sets or the Red Man chewing tobacco sets for sentimental reasons.
Don't bet on me doing either,although I might buy a few just for fun....

Finally,a short note on other things that I am adding to the collection soon-I need to add a 2014 National Champions Buckeye helmet to the mini helmet collection and another possibility is beginning to collect things from the Batman TV show.
The lovely Cherie has given the provisional OK for that-IF I get rid of some other things to make space.
I'm amenable to that,but not until things warm a bit.Just too cold to spend time in the attic......

Forgotten Superstars: Dale Murphy

We return to the Forgotten Superstars universe with one of the most popular players of his time-Dale Murphy.

Many would say that Dale Murphy was the National League's version of Cal Ripken and that wouldn't be far off,except I really liked Dale Murphy and never cared for Cal Ripken.
But I look at Dale Murphy as the first favorite player over a national basis and not just because he was a great player.

Dale Murphy was the star of the Atlanta Braves when WTBS was just starting to cover the country and give areas that didn't have a team in their area a team that they could watch every night as if they were the home team.
The station began to market the Braves as "America's Team" and they truly were as can be seen to this day with the large amount of Braves fans between the current ages of 21 and up.
I'll never understand why TBS traded the Braves everyday following in return for a game of the week and a few playoff games,but the WTBS story with the Braves,Hawks and Wrestling will wait for another day because this is about the franchise player in the days before the Braves became the powerhouse that we know them as now.

Dale Murphy played on a lot of bad Atlanta teams,only reaching the playoffs one time on the NL West champions in 1982 and only that team and the 83 Braves finished more than one game over .500 in his tenure (the 1980 Braves finished 81-80).
Eight of Murphy's seasons in Atlanta ended with more than ninety losses,so Dale Murphy can be given credit for much of the fan base that would become hooked on the Braves because more often than not,Murphy was the only reason to watch such a forlorn franchise.
Playing in often in front a sparce crowd in a stadium a quarter full,Murphy was the Braves in those years.
Starting as a catcher,Murphy was moved to the outfield and quickly proved to be the among the best defensive outfielders in the game as he was the winner of six gold gloves as he patrolled center in Fulton County Stadium,a less than visually exciting stadium,unless the sight of Chief Nok-A-Homa and his teepee turns one on.

Murphy started to impress in 1978 with 23 homers,but he did it hitting just ,228,it was the following season when despite missing almost 60 games,he raised his average fifty points and still hit 21 homers.
In 1980,Murphy began a run that lasted through 1987 that one could make a legitimate argument that he was the best player in the game.
During this run,Murph won two MVP's never hit fewer than 29 homers (with 44 as a high) three seasons in a row of 36 homers and followed up with a 37 HR year,over 100 RBI's five times (on a team that he carried on his back far more often than not) and underrated speed,usually finishing in double digits in steals.

That changed dramatically in 1988,when Murphy's batting averaged dipped into the .220's with mid-20's power.
When the following year resulted in similar statistics,Murphy was clearly on the downside.
In the middle of 1990,the Braves shipped Murphy to the Phillies in a mid-season trade and it was hoped that the change would revitalize the bat of the veteran as well.
Murphy's produced a decent 1991,but that proved to be his final stand as he would play just 18 games for the 92 Phillies and another 26 for the 93 Rockies before throwing in the towel for good.

Dale Murphy was the favorite player of so many,including Ryan,so I do get the occasional question-Is Dale Murphy a hall of famer?
His peak was eight years and his dropoff was very quick,but two more homers would have given him 400 for a career in an era where that was far more impressive than it looks today.
The rapid decline hurt his candidacy,but to me if you put Jim Rice in (the numbers are very similar,except for average) and I supported his induction-I would have no problem giving a vote to Murphy.
I know many would argue that Murphy's resume' wasn't long enough at the highest level,but I've written before that I'd rather have seven or eight years at the top of the game rather than 12 to 15 of being good to very good and under that argument,Murphy would earn entry,especially consider the induction of Rice.

Combine on the field excellence,being a great ambassador for the game and being so popular with so many and Dale Murphy still may not make the hall,but he will be welcomed into the forgotten superstars universe with pride!

Three Goodbyes-Dean Smith,Ed Sabol and Bob Simon

I wrote last night about the passing of a favorite of mine in Jerry Tarkanian, but among three passings that I'll note today was the man that I enjoyed disliking most (next to Bo Schembechler) in college sports growing up.

I always respected Dean Smith, but I couldn't stand him.
He built the flagship program in the ACC when I was growing up and defended against all challengers.
Norm Sloan and Jim Valvano at N.C. State, Lefty Driesell at Maryland, Bill Foster, and later Mike Krzyzewski at Duke and Terry Holland at Virginia all made their runs at toppling Smith and none quite pulled it off.
Each might have had the edge for a season or two like Sloan's three years run with David Thompson, Holland with Ralph Sampson, etc, but in the end, it was still the Heels standing tall...

Smith was always whining about something and for a coach that most looked at as gentlemanly was one of the best referee baiters in the game, but he was the coach that every team wanted to beat.
Every team in the ACC circled the Carolina game as the game on the home schedule that everyone wanted to see, so every game that UNC played they were playing a team that looked at them as a rival.

Smith usually had the more talented teams and he was responsible for the NCAA bringing the shot clock to college basketball with his sleep-inducing, but very effective Four Corners to close out games, but on occasions used it against similarly talented teams.
The 1982 ACC tournament final vs Virginia and Ralph Sampson saw Smith finish the Cavaliers off with a two-point lead over the last seven minutes of the game with the four corners, but driving a national television audience to boredom and spurring the change with the shot clock.
Smith was occasionally wrong with the four corners, having his 1977 Heels roaring back against Marquette and went into the corners, blew all momentum, and lost the title contest.

Dean Smith will be remembered by many for victories, but to me-I'll remember him most for tons of crazy wins over my beloved Terrapins, that damn four corners and being my most despised figure in college basketball.
After all, in sports-the dislike is often just as important as the love.....

Two other passings of note as well occurred recently that we wanted to mention along with Dean Smith...

Ed Sabol, the founder of NFL Films and a member of the football hall of fame passed away at the age of  98.
Sabol is the person that came up with the idea of filming all the NFL games, starting the company, and running the business end.
Steve Sabol might have been the creative genius, but Ed Sabol certainly was a major part of the success of NFL Films.

Bob Simon, recently of 60 minutes, passed away in an automobile accident at the age of 73.
Simon was an award-winning reporter for CBS for over 40 years, winning numerous awards for various pieces of journalism.
Simon was also noted for spending 40 days in an Iraqi prison during the Gulf War after being captured and his resulting book 40 days.
Simon also was often criticized for various groups for a reported bias against the state of Israel, which was interesting as Simon was Jewish himself...

Goodbye to Tark the Shark

Among a flurry of people passing away over the last few days-Dean Smith and Bob Simon among them,one hit home most in former UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian, who passed away at the age of 84.

Tarkanian, who coached UNLV to a national title and another Rebels squad to the closest run to an undefeated national title since Indiana in 1976 with an undefeated string that ended with a loss to Duke in the final four, also coached at Long Beach State before UNLV and Fresno State after his Rebels tenure with a short 20 game stint with the San Antonio Spurs.

Tarkanian won 729 games at three schools, but for all the winning and for all the entertaining basketball that he is responsible for, he will be most remembered for his run-ins with the NCAA, which tried to suspend him and essentially run him from the game.
Tarkanian won in the end though as he never served the time and beat the NCAA in court to the tune of winning an unofficial admission of guilt from the NCAA along with a check for 2.5 million dollars...

Tark's career at Las Vegas has been noted extensively, but what is forgotten was his term at Long Beach State, where behind high scorer "Easy" Ed Ratleff, Long Beach almost KO'ed UCLA in the West finals, losing by two points, when Ratleff fouled out,
Tarkanian's problems with the NCAA began at Long Beach when he wrote a column criticizing the organization for only going after the smaller schools such as his teams while ignoring the issues at larger power programs such as UCLA and their multi-millionaire booster Sam Gilbert.
That column would start an over twenty years and three schools battle between the two with some taking the side of Tark for sticking up for the little man, while others preferred to look at Tarkanian as a win at all costs coach that was free and easy with the rulebook.

Tark might have taken a few too many chances on troubled players (academics and otherwise), but he did have some players that would turn out to be good pros and excellent in the classroom.
Tarkanian is often thought of running renegade programs and that's of his own doing, however, that was part of needing a special vibe to attract top-notch players to a mid-major program.
UNLV was in the small-time PCAA (later to be known as the Big West) and needed to bring into town top-notch recruits, so the Runnin' Rebels would also play a national schedule against a powerhouse from other parts of the country in order to showcase the program and help the strength of schedule that a small conference school has problems building due to the in-conference weakness of schedule.

What else would bring players to Las Vegas (besides the off floor enticements of the city that never sleeps and what his detractors would say were illegal ones, that is)?
Try the up and down the floor running style with teams that averaged over 100 points in seasons without a shot clock or the three-pointer.
The style of play along with an aggressive style of pressure defense always is a popular style for players to play and brought players that didn't want to play the four corners or slog along in a slow-paced, walk the ball up the floor halfcourt offense to play for him.
When you are able to sell an appealing way to play-recruiting becomes so much easier and the results speak for themselves.

Jerry Tarkanian wasn't a saint, he wanted to win and he had some whiffs on players that likely would have been nowhere near a college had they not had the ability to put the ball in the hoop.
That happens about a million times more than any of us wants to admit-from even the best
coaches, no matter their reputation, but Tark openly embraced being different and honest, at least on some things anyway.

In the end, though, I was proud to call myself a fan of Tarkanian and his Rebels and I wore my Rebels gear with pride after they won their national title and the following year.
Much in the way that I pull for Boise State, now, I love pulling for the little guys that can compete with the big men-if they only get a chance.
I lost interest in the Rebels after Tarkanian left, but some of my best memories came AFTER his UNLV years.

Tarkanian returned to his alma mater, Fresno State from 1995-2002, and because of his name (and some decent teams there), Fresno was often seen as the late-night ESPN games from the left coast.
Ryan and I spent many nights watching and rooting for those Bulldogs and of all the memories that I received from Tarkanian-that one might be the best-teaching Ryan the game, rooting together (we don't really share a lot of teams), and spending time together.
One cannot beat many memories like that...

Back later tonight, maybe with a look at a great coach that I didn't care for! 

Cleaning out the Inbox-Non-Sports Version

We finally begin the inbox cleaning of the non-sports notes as time has become a little more manageable.

The Cavaliers play the next two nights without competition from the Devils,but both games are eight o'clock starts,so there might not be any game coverage from either team until next week.

If that indeed is the case,look for lots of various articles coming up.

I'd also like to thank those of you that sent me emails or liked the status on Facebook about the beginnings of the podcast.

I'm very excited about it and I'm hoping that the show will be a success.

I think it is going to be easier to have interviews and it might help us add more of them.

I'm hoping that the biggest issue might be transcribing the verbal interview into the written word (I'm taking volunteers to you fast typists out there).

I plan on having interviews on the podcast and then over the long term having them available here as well.

The hope is to have the blog and podcast complement each other and have fun with both.

I hope you'll enjoy it.....

Onto the inbox and we begin with the picture above from long time favorite of mine and Ryan's-Battlebots,which will be returning this summer to ABC for a six episode season.

The first run was on Comedy Central,so Battlebots hits the networks for the first time and I'm hoping that it catches on,so that perhaps a full season could be ordered in the future.

I loved the show,which features homemade robots slugging it out in a battle for destruction.

Think UFC (the arenas are very similar) for remote controlled robots.

Ryan and I loved it and he sent me the note letting me know about the return.

I'm very excited for this!!!

We move to the space world where the late Neil Armstrong apparently didn't leave ALL of the lunar module Eagle on the moon as Armstrong's wife found a small bag of parts from the lander in Armstrong's closet.

Those few parts are all that is left from Eagle as it was crashed back into the lunar surface after Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin returned and entered Columbia for the return trip to Earth.

Armstrong was notorious for being buttoned to the vest and he never spoke of having these souvenirs.

The items are now on loan to the Smithsonian with the intent of a permanent donation...

Krista Anderson posted this on Facebook and Rachel and I leaped at the chance to look at this-Cuddle Clones.

Cuddle Clones takes pictures of your late pets and creates a very realistic looking stuffed animal of your pet.

They aren't cheap (some can be 200 dollars),but they are extremely well done and far less creepy looking than work done by a taxidermist.

I wouldn't be against one of our Teddy.....

Vox discusses the issues of retaining sounds from long ago using technology from days gone by.

Every generation has its version of cutting edge and all are destined to become obsolete,so this problem will never go away,although the digital format will be much easier to deal with,I would think,than vinyl or especially tape which degrades so quickly.

It's incredibly interesting from how these are being saved and the decisions that archivists face in their job....

FiveThirtyEight takes a look at ten of the biggest busts in Presidential primary history with this article on candidates from both parties.

All of these candidates were well thought entering primaries and for various reasons,badly sputtered.

I even voted for one of the guys on this list and remember writing a school paper on another,so it is not always bad people that make failed candidates..

We wrap up with a look at a President that didn't carry a positive legacy after his Presidency,but did have an interesting game that his doctor created for him to stay in shape.

Herbert Hoover's tenure in office might not have the fans of others,but the game of Hooverball combines some features of volleyball and tennis with the use of a net,but uses a four or six pound medicine ball to play.

Iowa State has started a Hooverball league in Ames on the club level,which makes sense as Hoover was born in Iowa and his Presidental library is there as well.

Hoover's great-granddaughter is the Republican commentator often seen on CNN,(and a Thoughts of RS favorite from her appearances on Real Time with Bill Maher) Margaret Hoover.

That cleans up the inbox for now.
May be back tonight from the road office with another post....

Devils not so slick in Edmonton loss

The New Jersey Devils looked to get things back where they were last week-as in beating bad teams at home.
Didn't happen last night as a listless Devils squad was defeated by the second worst team in hockey,the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 at the Rock in Newark.
Patrik Elias provided all the Devils offense with a first period goal (8) and the Devils
would score no more.
Cory Schneider finished with 22 saves for New Jersey,who will now be off for three days before back to back games in Chicago and Nashville.
No coverage of those games due to the central time start and me having to work for a living...

Hell Raisers

1) It wasn't all bad-Cory Schneider was OK and the stop shown above late in the game against Teddy Purcell was a shining one that allowed the Devils to at least have a chance to pull Schneider in an attempt to tie the game.
SO we did have that going for us....

2) I generally like Adam Larsson,but it cannot be denied that his stupid delay of game penalty against the Oilers perhaps cost them the game. The penalty led to a Edmonton power-play goal by Nail Yakubov. When you look at those types of plays that is why the Devils are where they are.
It seems like every game has someone making a pivotal boneheaded play that costs a goal.

 3) 14 shots? Really ? Fourteen shots against the second worst team in hockey.And the second worst team in hockey playing at your home arena. Absolutely pathetic.
Look,it's clear this team has offensive problems and those problems are not going to be solved anytime in the near future,but shots on goal are a issue that can sometimes be related to lack of effort or at least lack of any haste at a particular time.

4) Should the Devils try to tank for more tickets in the Connor McDavid sweepstakes?
You could make an argument that they already are with some of the decisions made in the lineup.
Mark Fraser and Peter Harrold are nice guys,but BOTH of them in the lineup consistently?
While Eric Gelinas sits as the power play rots away?
Unless the argument is that these players are being showcased for a trade,which makes no sense (who would want them or pay anything for them?),I barely see an argument to play one,let alone both.

5) I'm not saying that a high draft pick is going to solve problems on this team.
They won't,at least right away,but there is little doubt in my mind that this has a cancer eating away.
I'm not calling out particular players-I'm not in the locker room,but it's clear that effort is becoming an issue and players are not being held accountable.
I realize the mid-season coaching change and spread around power has something to do with the lack of accountability and I'm hopeful that some of that will change for next season,but nonetheless,the last thing that you want to have is veterans teaching your youngsters (as few as there are) that losing is a OK thing and building such a culture.
After all-if I wanted to write about that,I'd write about the Browns.

6) Wrapping up with this- Edmonton is a bad hockey team,but they are a talented one,albeit a someone green one.
I'm sure the Oilers have their putrid nights,but they have some hope in Edmonton that some of these talented players turn out to bring the Oilers back to glory.
I'm not sure that the Devils have that hope.
Sure,the Devils have some young defensive talent,but next to nothing in the form of potential scoring forwards and the team's answer to every free agent cycle to is sign someone that used to be a 30+ goal scorer.
Some of those has worked out well (Mike Cammalleri),some were a mistake to begin with (Ryane Clowe with his head issues) and yet others have been downright invisible (Martin Havlat),but the larger point is this doesn't change until the Devils do and I've seen next to evidence that Lou Lamoriello is capable of such change.
Now,I love Lou and respect all that he has done to build a franchise that was dismal in three cities before he took command of the Devils,but I'm starting to come to the realization that Lou might have lost a little off his fastball.
Unless,there is a plan that I am not privy to,I have concerns that the Devils under Lou Lamoriello may not be willing to rebuild and will continue to try to float an old,dull and sometimes lackluster team along the river.
With the spendthrifty Rangers and the talented rebuilt Islanders both in the same market potentially overshadowing them-the Devils are in danger of being what the Islanders were for so many years- a boring team,with little talent in their prime that few outside the hardcore fan cares about.
Sometimes,you have burn everything down in order for the grass to grow.
Something to think about....