Jim Kiick was a running back, primarily with the Miami Dolphins, from 1968 to 1977. He played in three Super Bowls, winning two, and scored the decisive touchdown in Super Bowl VII, a 14-7 victory over the Washington Redskins that capped off an undefeated 17-0 swason. He is the Dolphins’ fourth all-time leading rusher. Kiick had been suffering from dementia and living in an assisted care center for several years prior to his death. RIP Jim Kiick Read more →
EppsNet Archive: Sports
People I Thought Were Dead
Mario Andretti, auto racer Leslie Caron, actress Mitzi Gaynor, actress/singer/dancer Marla Gibbs, actress Bobby Goldsboro, singer Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the USSR Howard Hesseman, actor Sally Kellerman, actress Peter Lupus, actor Gavin MacLeod, actor Robert MacNeil, TV journalist Jackie Mason, comedian Lee Meriweather, actress, former Miss America George Mitchell, U.S. Senator Jaye P. Morgan, singer/game show panelist Bill Moyers, journalist Charley Pride, singer Dean Stockwell, actor Fred Williamson, athlete/actor Updates Mitzi Gaynor, died 10/17/2024, age 93 Mikhail Gorbachev, died 8/30/2022, age 91 Howard Hesseman, died 1/29/2022, age 81 Sally Kellerman, died 2/24/2022, age 84 Gavin MacLeod, died 5/29/2021, age 90 Jackie Mason, died 7/24/2021, age 93 Charley Pride, died 12/12/2020, age 86 Robert MacNeil, died 4/12/2024, age 93 Dean Stockwell, died 11/7/2021, age 85 Read more →
My Boyhood Sports Icons Are Dying: Wes Unseld
Wes Unseld was the second overall pick by the Baltimore Bullets in 1968. He was the only player other than Wilt Chamberlain to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award and the Most Valuable Player Award in the same year. At 6-foot-7, he played center and averaged 14 rebounds a game for his career. He played in four NBA finals with the Bullets, winning one, in which he was voted MVP, in 1978. He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988. RIP Wes Unseld Read more →
My Boyhood Sports Icons Are Dying: Al Kaline
Al Kaline played all 22 years of his career as a right fielder for the Detroit Tigers, played in 18 All-Star games, won 10 Gold Gloves, a World Series in 1968, had 3,007 hits, 399 home runs, a .297 batting average and was a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He died today at the age of 85. On his 80th birthday, he said: “To this day, I can’t believe the life I’ve had. I wanted to be a baseball player — and do the one thing I was good at. “Even now, I love it so much.” RIP Al Kaline Read more →
A Couple of News Items Out of USC
Students from U.S. families with an annual income of $80,000 or less with typical assets will attend USC tuition-free. The Trojans cancelled the scheduled Sept. 4, 2021 football game vs. UC Davis. UC Davis is the kind of FCS (i.e., minor league) program that SEC schools love to load up their non-conference schedules with. The only three FBS schools never to have played an FBS program are USC, Notre Dame and UCLA. To me, that is a point of pride. I was very disappointed when I heard they scheduled the game and I’m glad they cancelled it. Read more →
People I Thought Were Dead
Earl Holliman, actor Sonny Jurgensen, football player Bill Mazeroski, baseball player Vera Miles, actress Pete Wilson, politician Updates Earl Holliman, died 11/25/2024, age 96 Read more →
Robert Kraft Charged With Solicitation
As I understand it, he paid for a massage but received some additional services. I’ve seen videos where a man meets up with a female real estate agent and receives services above and beyond a home tour. Sometimes people just hit it off. Or maybe the masseuse was a Patriots fan. Read more →
My Boyhood Sports Icons Are Dying: Frank Robinson
Frank Robinson played and managed for a number of teams, but I remember him best as part of the Baltimore Oriole teams managed by Earl Weaver, with Mark Belanger, Davey Johnson, Boog Powell, Don Buford, Paul Blair, Andy Etchebarren, Elrod Hendricks, Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar, Tom Phoebus, and fellow Hall of Famers Brooks Robinson and Jim Palmer. RIP Frank Robinson Read more →
Commercials That Don’t Fit the NFL Audience
These Verizon and Sprint commercials I see on NFL telecasts, where beta male milquetoasts dispense advice on cell phones, seem misdirected toward what I imagine to be the pro football-watching demographic. Also off target: the Dove for Men commercials where metrosexuals meet up to lament the demoisturizing effects of their skin care products. Read more →
Willie McCovey, 1938-2018
Willie McCovey: Giants legend dead at 80 — SFChronicle.com My boyhood sports idols are dying . . . RIP Willie McCovey Read more →
Things to Leave Out of Your Online Dating Profile
Former NFL player Rae Carruth released from prison after serving 18 years for killing his pregnant girlfriend — NY Daily News Read more →
Sports Media Questions That Could be Retired
“How important is it to get off to a good start today, Skipper?” “Do you know of any sports where participants try to get off to a bad start?” “Uh . . . no.” “Nor do I. That said, we always try to get off to a good start. And when we don’t, we try to come back and win anyway.” Read more →
Who Listens to Sports Talk?
I had a sports talk station on the car radio this afternoon . . . based on the the advertisements, the target demographic is low-testosterone bald guys whose dicks don’t work . . . Read more →
Competitive Programming: CodeSignal – footballGroupStatictics (A World Cup SQL Challenge)
Description You are creating a website that will help you and your friends keep track of the results of soccer games from all around the world. You store all results of one group in a table, results. You want to sort the teams in a complex way – first by points, then by total goal differences, and then by total goals. If all of these parameters are equal, sort the teams alphabetically. The results table contains the following columns: first_team – the name of the first team; second_team – the name of the second team; first_team_score – the number of goals scored by the first team; second_team_score – the number of goals scored by the second team. Here the primary key is the pair (first_team, second_team). Return the list of team names sorted in the way described above. Note: see three points for a win to understand how points are… Read more →
USC’s Unreal Finish to Win Track and Field Championship
I’ve never seen a come-from-behind finish like this! The male announcer says twice in the home stretch that Purdue is going to win the race. Female announcer: “Here comes USC.” Male announcer: “Not gonna catch Purdue . . . oh my god . . .” The @usc_track_field Women of Troy had to win the 4x400m to win the national championship. WATCH WHAT #FIGHTON LOOKS LIKE! pic.twitter.com/BOrISxUXXq — USC Trojans (@USC_Athletics) June 10, 2018 Read more →
I Hope He Was Wearing a Cup
From tonight’s hockey recap: “. . . he beat Bobrovsky between his legs.” Ouch! Read more →
People I Thought Were Dead
Herb Alpert – trumpeter Max Baer Jr. – actor, “The Beverly Hillbillies” Barbara Bain – actress, “Mission: Impossible” Brigitte Bardot – actress Rona Barrett – gossip columnist Frank Borman – astronaut Roy Clark – musician Roger Corman – film producer Robert Crumb – cartoonist Bill Daily – actor Vic Damone – singer Angie Dickinson – actress Annette and Cecile Dionne – quintuplets Sam Donaldson – TV newscaster Hugh Downs – TV announcer Daniel Ellsberg – released the Pentagon Papers Barbara Feldon – actress Fannie Flagg – actress and game show panelist Larry Flynt – publisher of Hustler Whitey Ford – baseball pitcher A.J. Foyt – auto racer Ron Gallela – celebrity photographer, aka “paparazzo” Whitey Herzog – baseball manager Ernest Hollings – U.S. senator Cloris Leachman – actress Tom Lehrer – musical satirist Jerry Lee Lewis – singer and pianist G. Gordon Liddy – Watergate mastermind Rich Little – impressionist Peter Max… Read more →
World Series Game 7: Houston 5, LA 1
Yu Darvish gives up 5 runs in an inning and two-thirds. Unless I’m forgetting someone, there really aren’t any clutch Asians in professional sports. Sorry Dodgers . . . see you again in 30 years. Embed from Getty Images Read more →
See You in Hell
[See You in Hell is a feature by our guest blogger, Satan — PE] I’m old enough to remember when professional athletes took pride in their trash-talking abilities. Now they sound like a bunch of 5-year-olds: he made a face at me, he called me a name, boo hoo hoo! One day when you’re rotting with leprosy and stewing in a million kettles of snot, cockroaches and gangrene — I stir them myself! — only then will you look back on this kindergarten-level bullshit and realize how good you had it! See you in Hell . . . Read more →
Connie Hawkins, 1942-2017
Connie Hawkins was my basketball role model growing up. I used to stretch my fingers around basketballs religiously so I could try to replicate his moves, most of which required the ability to palm the ball like a grapefruit (see photo). Also: Foul! The Connie Hawkins Story by David Wolf is one of the best sports books ever written. RIP Connie Hawkins Read more →