Cleaning out the inbox:Passings

The inbox has seen its share of passings of late-enough to merit its own post on just that topic.

I have plenty of road trips to work on and little time to do them for now but look for a bunch of road trip reports soon.

Three passings from the wrestling world and the most notable to me was that of Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart at the age of 63.
Neidhart was one half of my favorite WWF tag team (The Midnight Express were my favorite on the NWA side) with Bret 'the Hitman" Hart as the Hart Foundation winning the WWF tag titles twice during their tenure together.

The classic Hart Foundation bouts against several teams through their time in the 80's were usually tremendous but will be most remembered for their bouts against the British Bulldogs, which were the best matches in the company at the time.
Neidhart was trained in the famous Hart dungeon and married one of Stu Hart's daughter's (Bret's sister) to become literally part of the family.
While not the technical wrestler of the level of Bret Hart, Neidhart offered a good mix as part of the team with power moves such as tossing his opponent across the ring (Neidhart earned his nickname for tossing an anvil for length), powerslams and football tackles and holding a beaten opponent in a bearhug in the air for a clothesline from a running Hitman for their finishing move.
Neidhart also was a good contrast to the sometimes stoic Hart with his manic behavior during the team's interviews complete with his crazed laugh while stroking his pointed goatee.
Neidhart is reported to have passed from a fall caused by a late-night seizure and was in the early stages of Alzheimer's.


Another WWF star of the 80's passed as Nikolai Volkoff died at the age of 70.
Volkoff was portrayed as more of a comedy wrestler with the WWF in his title-winning team with the Iron Sheik, but his time in the southern territories was shown to be a much more malevolent force as a communist bent on taking over wrestling in the name of Mother Russia.
Volkoff was the top "heel" in the Mid-South territory before going to the WWF and his much more serious style was a contrast to his often buffoonish (Especially after his title run with the Sheik ended) character there.
Volkoff did have two earlier WWF runs in the Bruno Sammartino and Bob Backlund reigns where he was challenging for their title, but might be best remembered in the end for his rendition's of the Soviet national anthem before his matches to most.
My favorite Volkoff memory was his 'cover' of Jay and the American's 1960's hit Cara Mia on the first wrestling anthem.
I've always been a mark for bad singing and covers of hits and Volkoff managed to hit both of those buttons with Cara Mia!


Brian Christopher passed at the age of 46 after hanging himself in prison days after being arrested for driving under the influence and evading police.
Christopher, the son of Jerry Lawler, once was part of the popular team in the WWF (might have been WWE by then) of Too Cool using the name Grandmaster Sexay with partner Scott Taylor (Scotty Too Hotty) that won the tag team titles on one occasion, but was better remembered for their pre-match choreography and post-match dancing.
Christopher was also one of the main stars of the Memphis territory in its last few years, but despite the clear physical similarity to his father, neither would admit in those years that Christopher was Lawler's son.
The reasons were noted as possibly being Christopher trying to avoid being the son of Lawler in a territory that already had a second generation star in Jeff Jarrett or the more likely reason of trying to not expose Jerry Lawler's age as being old enough to have a son of pro wrestling age.
Christopher was a smaller wrestler in a time that bigger wrestlers were in vogue and he ranks as an excellent in-ring performer that was born a little too late to be a big star with the territory years being a time gone by.


From outside of the wrestling world, there were two losses in the inbox.

Adrian Cronauer passed at the age of 79 in a Virginia nursing home.
Cronauer was the DJ that Robin Williams character was based on, although there was a lot of creative license in the film as many of the scenes never actually occurred.
Cronauer didn't rip the film for the differences but would note, if asked, the difference between his experiences and the story told in the film.

We wrap with the passing of Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Dick Feagler at the age of 79.
Feagler was the top columnist for the PD from 1993 to 2009 but wrote and appeared for various Cleveland media outlets since 1970.
Feagler wrote two books that were basically compilations from his columns..

Boxing Challenge

I've been busy most of this week and next week is even busier as the minor league season nears its end.
Stay tuned, I'll have more writing time soon and even though the work season looms, that means more time to be around here.

The boxing weekend is all free and available on Facebook and YouTube, thanks to Showtime, who has picked up a card from Northern Ireland with a title fight, a minor title with large implications with a win and a contest that means nothing other than the one time linear heavyweight champion needing a win for a shot at a title later this year.

It's not the main event or for even a minor title, but the most important fight on the card features former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury's second fight in his comeback against Francisco Pianeta.
Fury is reported to meet WBC champion Deontay Wilder in December, should he defeat Pianeta.
Pianeta did challenge Wladimir Klitschko five years ago (being stopped in six) but has fought just two fighters since that you might have heard of (Ruslan Chagaev and Kevin Johnson) and was stopped by both.
A Wilder-Fury fight does have its interesting points and makes sense from Fury's standpoint since no one really knows what he has left and he might as well be paid well for his first test.
Wilder brings big power and a questionable chin, so there is a chance that fight could be a barnburner.

Carl Frampton defends his minor featherweight title against undefeated, unheralded and untested Australian Luke Jackson in what is the gate attraction in Belfast on this day.
Frampton has a much bigger target in his future such as IBF champ Josh Warrington in what would be a large money bout in Europe in December, but he still needs to notch the W over Jackson and preferably impressively so.

WBC flyweight champion Cristofer Rosales returns to the road for his first defense after upsetting the highly thought of Daigo Higa earlier this year in Japan.
Rosales defends against two time Olympic bronze medalist Paddy Barnes of Ireland, who is just 6-0 and is being moved quickly after turning pro at nearly 30.
The winner will take on mandatory contender Andrew Selby of the UK and either fighter would make an interesting bout against Selby.
A Rosales win will force a rematch of their fight in 2017 that Selby won a decision, while a Barnes-Selby match would have few problems selling tickets in either the UK or Ireland.

In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 122-97.

Heavyweights. 12 Rds
Tyson Fury vs Francisco Pianeta
R.L: Fury KO 9
TRS: Fury KO 5

Featherweights 12 Rds
Carl Frampton vs Luke Jackson
Both: Frampton Unanimous Decision

WBC Flyweight Title. 12 Rds
Cristofer Rosales vs Paddy Barnes
R.L: Rosales Unanimous Decision
TRS: Rosales Split Decision

Boxing Challenge: Streaming isn't perfect

Sometimes in boxing, everything that can go wrong does just that as Golden Boy Promotions would find out with their much-ballyhooed debut on Facebook.

To start with. Joseph Diaz, one of GBP's in-house favorites didn't make weight for his minor title challenge, but still anticipated event vs Jesus Rojas and despite yet another drop in the bucket as far as boxing's problems with the scale, the fight still was scheduled for Saturday night and still loomed as a fight to be seen.

For four rounds, Diaz and Rojas looked to be on their way to give the fans watching on Facebook a nice main event and then pfft.
The bottom dropped out of the live stream and it would not return for me until midway through round ten, so no scoring for me in this one as Diaz was the winner via unanimous decision.

In the boxing challenge, I earned two points for the Diaz win and Ramon Malpica selected Rojas for zero points.
The standings currently show a 122-97 lead for me over Ramon.

Since I don't have a lot to write about the fight itself, this does bring forward one of the concerns that I have as so many platforms seem to be moving to or originating from digital platforms.
Yes, this was a rocky start for boxing on Facebook, but keep in mind, this was a free offering.
That does take some of the sting away from the failures last night, but it does make me think of how I would feel if I was paying to see this fight as I will shortly when I begin to subscribe to ESPN+ and perhaps even DAZN.
You constantly read about the "Cord Cutters" that are moving away from television and into watching programs through various streams and avenues, but even though I've used some of these at times, I've seen the quality vary from top notch to 1970's antenna level.

I've often worried about the quality of streams and especially being able to rely on the stream being available when you need it.
I've noted that I usually watch Showtime's boxing offerings online because I'm not always home to watch them live on the big screen and they have been uneven to be charitable.
That's not always on Showtime as far as fault can be placed, there are many variables to how these things can go awry and since I'm paying to have the network on television and the stream is an added bonus for being a subscriber, it's tough to get too worked up over the occasional problem, even if it's not welcomed.

However, as more and more live events are moving to be internet based and many of those are on some type of subscription plan, the signal/stream needs to be one that can be relied on to be consistently available and of good quality.
Fans of a sport that are becoming more and more subscription based will not stand for missing large chunks of main events and should that happen for a more important fight than Diaz-Rojas that fans are paying for, boxing could take a severe shot for being nothing more than a test subject as we make further steps into the streaming age.
For boxing's sake-they had better get the concept correct and be a reliable provider- or pay the price for advancing an idea before it was prepared to do so. 

Boxing Challenge

The boxing challenge is short and to the point this week with just one fight and it is available to watch on Facebook Saturday evening as part of the new contract that the social media giant signed with Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions.

The main event was scheduled to be for one of the WBA's minor titles in the featherweight division with Jesus Rojas defending against Joseph Diaz in what should be an interesting scrap with a belt on the line or not.

The belt won't be on the line as Diaz didn't make weight as part of a continuing problem that boxing is going to have to deal with sooner than later, but after Diaz returned a part of his purse to the state commission and another slide to Rojas, the fight will go on and it should be a decent one.
Rojas was very impressive in stopping Claudio Marrero in seven rounds in his last fight that saw him take a jump in competition and Diaz is another bounce forward in quality fighters so Rojas will be tested by Diaz, who was decisioned in his last fight by Gary Russell for Russell's WBC title.
The WBA has ruled that Rojas will retain his title, win or lose due to Diaz missing weight.
I am critical of the WBA most of all the sanctioning bodies, but this is a fair decision.
I've never understood how a fighter can lose a title (legitimate or not) because their opponent did not meet the required terms and it's good to see an organization agree.

This will be a huge fight for Diaz- title or not as I suspected entering the Russell fight that he might be a solid contender, yet not one that could be an elite level fighter.
That's pretty much how I saw Diaz's performance against Russell- solid, but not good enough against a talented fighter that might be the best in his division,
The fight should place Rojas on the food chain, as either one that is capable of being at the top of the division or just another contender.

Diaz should be the tepid favorite, but this is a fight that could go either way and should start GBP's series with Facebook in a strong manner.

Featherweights 12 Rds
Jesus Rojas vs Joseph Diaz
R.L: Rojas KO 9
TRS: Diaz Unanimous Decision

Cleaning out the inbox-Non-Sports Edition

The Non-Sports Edition of the inbox sometimes is one of our least read versions.
We've also had a few that exploded in views, so it's hard to tell just what will hit and what will miss, but it gives me a chance to write about something other than sports, which is always a nice change of pace.

I wrote years ago about Floyd Lawton- Deadshot in the Suicide Squad and my favorite character, but I've never written about my second favorite Squad character, who is very close to Floyd, Count Vertigo.
I might write a Vertigo post over the off-season but for now, the blog Sequential Pictures has a deeper look at the Count and just why he's the "hero at heart" of the Squad.

You wouldn't select Sports Illustrated as the most likely landing spot for an oral history of the Karate Kid, but that's where that article landed and it's interesting to read if you are a mega-fan like me or just a casual fan.
Most of the stars and co-stars in the film were spoken with for the piece and I really enjoyed it.
I found the potential casting sheets to be very interesting and I also liked the discussion on how the Cobra Kai gang were kept away from Ralph Macchio even on the set to build the tension naturally to be used in the film.

I'm not really a Will Ferrell fan.
Honestly, I've found his supporting characters (Ashley Schaffer in Eastbound and Down and Chaz in Wedding Crashers) to be far funnier than movies that are based around his starring characters.
However, there is one exception-Step Brothers, which ranks very high in my all-time favorite comedies.
Farrell is funny in this, along with John C. Reilly, who I've always been a fan (I thought Walk Hard-the Dewey Cox story was hilarious, which I have found few that agree with me) of and have always thought that there is still comedy gold to be mined from "Dale and Brennan".
The Ringers writes an oral history of Step Brothers and again, whether a fan or not, it's interesting to read how these films come to be made.

The lovely Cherie sent the next two notes of interest to me for the inbox, the first of which is from Weather Nation and discusses just how a brief torrential downpour can result in a major flash flood as has happened twice in the last three years in Ellicott City, Maryland.
It gives plenty of charts and graphs, looks at just how an area can be so clogged in a small area and cause so much damage.
It also looks at just how deceiving the term "thousand-year storm" can be and just how often these events can occur.

Cherie's other link comes from Mother Nature Network and the loss of thirteen Bald Eagles recently in Maryland.
Apparently, the birds ate a raccoon that had been poisoned and then the drug Carbofuran was ingested by the Eagles.
Carbofuran is supposedly banned from the U.S since it is toxic to birds, yet it was here anyway.
Maryland natural resources claimed that this was the largest single eagle die-off in the last thirty years.

Frank Bruni of the New York Times talks to Maryland Governor Larry Hogan about whether the Republican Party belongs to the more traditional Republicans such as Hogan or to the Donald Trump influencers.
I'm pretty middle of the road politically, but I think Hogan has been the best governor that Maryland has had in years and he deserves re-election.

Still more to come soon!

Cleaning out the inbox-Football Style

Time to clean out the inbox with an all football version.

The nation's best player (apologies to Ohio State's Nick Bosa) gets a Sports Illustrated cover, albeit a regional one as Houston's Ed Oliver reigns supreme on the southwest cover.
Yes, I will be trying to procure one of these for the collection, so if you are reading and have one, let me know!

ESPN writes of the 50th anniversary of Emory Bellard's designing of the Wishbone offense at Texas in 1968.
Bellard came up with the idea and the Longhorns rolled over everyone in sight-Until Darrell Royal (Texas head coach) for some reason told Bellard to open his books and the keys to his offense to a struggling Chuck Fairbanks at rival Oklahoma.
It took a little while before the Sooners were able to run the bone on all cylinders, but once they did, it was the Sooners that became dominant with the offense for close to 20 years under Fairbanks and Barry Switzer.
Bellard would eventually leave Texas for the head coaching job at another UT rival, Texas A&M.

Eleven Warriors writes of the most memorable Ohio State football finishes over the last ten years.
I always like these types of pieces as it gives me a chance to look back at some exciting games and their endings.

SWC Roundup writes of the craziest conference title race ever in 1994 in the SWC.
A record five teams (Texas, Texas Tech, TCU, Rice, and Baylor) tied for the title with a record of 4-3 in the conference after NCAA banned Texas A&M was ruled ineligible for the championship.
It's a four-part series, links at the bottom of the page will send you to the other parts of the series.
I'm all for parity, but having watched many of those games, this took it to a huge extreme!

ESPN is back with an article on Mount Union and its new reputation as the "cradle of coaches".
Mount Union's staff has already produced two division one head coaches in Iowa State's Matt Campbell and Toledo's Jason Candle along with numerous coordinators and assistants.
It all traces back to the machine that retired Larry Kehres built and the article looks at the program along with just how it is producing so many excellent young coaches.

The Athletic finishes us off with a post about the American Athletic Conference and how despite adding themselves to the "Power Six", they still have plenty of streets to walk down before they truly are perceived that way.
The conference will have to find a new television contract and this looks at just what the league needs and possibles suitors along with expansion, as in the American adding to their stable or even the possibility of losing a star school or two as other conferences grow larger.

Still, plenty in the inbox as we will have an all baseball version and a non-sports edition coming up soon.

My Favorite Non-Sports Podcasts

I'm sitting in a hospital.
No, not for me.
My dad appears to have suffered a stroke yesterday and we're still trying to see if it was of the mini variety or not, but he seems to be himself, so I'm hoping that this was a small issue that might give him a warning about keeping himself together a little better.
Please keep him in your thoughts.

Anyway, since I am without wi-fi at the moment, I thought I would knock out a nice easy column that finishes one from last month- My favorite podcasts, this time from the non-sports universe.

Let's start with one with a really basic title- New books in biography.
I must admit that I don't listen to every one of these because the subject range is so huge and wide and not everyone interests me, but some of these are just wonderful hour plus programs with various authors that are incredibly interesting.
When the topic is one that really grips me, this might be my favorite podcast around.

The Batcave podcast is one that deals with episodes of the classic Batman 1966 TV series, but also talks about the Filmation cartoons from the 60's (that I so loved in the early 70's in syndication) and the Batman comic book that has been created over the last few years that is based directly on the TV series.
If you are a Batman fan like me or if certain episodes just make you smile or laugh, they have episodes that deal with specific episodes and is well worth the listen.

More from the animation world with Limited Cel where a father and son duo (Nick and Mike Wood) look back and rewatch Hanna Barbara programs from the 1960's through the 1970's.
I would bet that the show will eventually lead to the H-B 1980's shows as well.
It's pretty entertaining and nostalgic and I do enjoy the father/son dynamic going back and forth over the merits of Quick Draw McGraw very much.

And even more from the comics world with Heroes and Villains.
This one generally selects a Hero or Villain (really?) from either the DC or Marvel universe and discusses in great detail that character's background, powers, weaknesses, appearances and about anything that you can think of about that particular character.
Bruce Leslie is about as comprehensive in covering the subject as one could find and trust me if you walk away from an episode with a question, you likely weren't paying attention!

The Watch Party is hosted by my friend Samantha Blinn with her friend Crystal and the premise of this podcast is films that Sam (a huge film buff) has seen many times, yet Crystal has never seen.
They do an introduction to the film and Sam asks Crystal her perception of the film before they view it.
The pair then talks about the film after watching. how close Crystal's preliminary thoughts were and what type of grade they would give.
Give it a listen and not just because Sam's a friend- it's very entertaining.

I also have in my queue, multi-part programs that I have listened to some episodes, but not the full series yet, that deal with Watergate, Chappaquiddick and the Robert Kennedy assassination from various podcast hosts.

Hope you give any of these of interest a listen and see what you think.