SB Nation User Blog: Roz

Sometimes nothin' is a pretty cool hand.

Roz — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 15:22:08 -0000

Sometimes nothin' is a pretty cool hand.

Sea Hunt

Roz — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:13:20 -0000

There was a television show back in the fourteenth century called "Sea Hunt," starring Lloyd Bridges (he the uberly nervous air traffic controller in the movie "Airplane,"..."I picked the wrong day to quit drinking") where the lead character named Mike Nelson (there's a name that couldn't offend anyone) spends the entire show underwater, searching for lost treasure, wading through seaweed over galleons of long sunken pirate ships. Once in a while a diving companion might run low on oxygen (her tanks' regulator minfunctioning) and Mike would have to share his air supply with the inevitable blonde bomshell (who seemingly already had magnificent lungs). He might also free a squirming dolphin from a bad guy fisherman's net...give Jacques Cousteau a diving lesson...spear a shark with a blowgun...and solve an international marine crisis.

In any case, by show's end, God would be in his heaven, the blonde would be very grateful, and Mike would be on dry land.

I sure hope Mike Rutherford breaches the surface soon. Gets back on dry land. Strides through the beach, his floppy finned footsteps leaving huge prints in the sand, as he stops to shake out his water soaked laptop. Soon he's on his tush, firing up his keyboard, as a picknicing family looks on astonished.

What will his first words be?

Hope everybody has a safe weekend.

Roz

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Greatest Athlete Of The Twentieth Century? ...People say Babe Ruth...Michael...

Roz — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:15:58 -0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iByW5y9ob7

Greatest Athlete Of The Twentieth Century?

...People say Babe Ruth...Michael Jordan...Ali...Jesse Owens...Jackie Robinson...Jim Thorpe.

Like the sixty- something cat who Frank knows, and who does the handstands at Freedom Hall, this guy wasn't too bad either.

Walking over Niagara Falls, the mist far below, cool as a cuke...or traversing the slack tight rope high above the cold Wall Street canyons...or gloriously tip-toeing like an undeiscovered Americana icon, seemingly sneaking over the wire to the other side of the Grand Canyon.

Near the end, most of his walks were for charity; and he did it to the very end, well into his seventies.

And he did it wearing his bedroom slippers.

Mercy.

A lot of people say that he "fell" that day in Puerto Rico, his body hurtling through the San Juan air and crashing into the roof of that 1972 Plymouth Roadrunner far below. But his balance was never in doubt and what really happened was that some windy gusts blew a frail old man to his death.

It's interesting, when "Best Of" lists are compiled just what has weight, just what MATTERS, to those compiling them.

I'm just saying that Karl Wallenda never seemed to be anywhere on any of thos lists.

Another total non sequitur on the Chronicle board?

Maybe. But as the Edward Norton character in "Rounders" quoted him as he felt the ache to get back to cards and gambling after a stay in the slammer:

"I live for being up on the wire...everything else is just waiting."

--Just like Cardinal basketball.

Anyone for handstands?

Moribund Monday

Roz — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:45:19 -0000

As we drift into the last lazy weeks of summer I offer to the readers of the Chronicle this query:

Which two NFL quarterbacks played quarterback at the same college, and were both drafted by the NFL in the same year?

One of these gentleman was the NUMBER ONE pick of that year’s draft. The other was the 55st player picked in that year’s draft. The college program they played for was not particularly known for its passing game, nor, for that matter, particularly known for playing football. Both had solid, though unspectacular careers as pros.

Hints: This marks the 50th anniversary of that draft

The gent who was picked first is, arguably, less well known than his teammate.

The gent who was picked first was picked before such NFL Hall of Famers as Lenny Lyles, Jim Taylor, and Alex Karras.

Neither of the two college teammates are in the NFL Hall of Fame themselves

The school these quarterbacks attended concurrently was and is one of the elite academic institutions in the country (so that would probably rule out Ohio State, Mr Blunt).

One of these guys led his team to an NFL championship in the 60’s and to the NFL championship game the following year. He is NOT the one chosen first in that years draft.

OK......?

I’ll

Just

Let

You

Guys

Think

No fair googling, Frank?

No asking Dad’s either.

Ready?

OK.

King Hill

Frank Ryan

Both from Rice University in Houston, Texas.

King Hill had a decent carrier...bounced around a bit...I think he may have also done the punting on some of his teams. He played for the Chicago Cardinals who became the St Louis Cardinals, who became the Phoenix Cardinals. Hill was the #1 pick in 1958.

Frank Ryan was the star quarterback for the Cleveland Browns in the 1960’s. He, along with Jim Brown, Gary Collins, and Louisville’s own, Ernie Green, kept the Browns in the championship conversation for much of that decade. I guess Ryan was a real egg head, a real intellectual, and considered not playing professional football in favor of a more academic career.

To my knowledge he is the only NFL quarterback to earn a doctorate in Philosophy. In summary, Wikopedia states that Ryan’s Ph.D dissertation was entitled “A Characterization of the Set of Asymptotic Values of a Function Holomorphic in the Unit Disc.”

...but I don’t know if I totally agree with that.

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/sports/gymnastics/sporthampshire-newpage-63/rhythmic.htm

Roz — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:17:58 -0000

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/sports/gymnastics/sporthampshire-newpage-63/rhythmic.htm

Our Long National Nightmare Will Soon Be Over

"We're after that same rainbow's end, Waiting round the bend, My huckleberry friend..." Words...

Roz — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:11:16 -0000

"We're after that same rainbow's end,
Waiting round the bend,
My huckleberry friend..."
Words and Music - Johnny Mercer

This one's for Mr Blunt and Frank. A cool breeze for the mid summer malaise. Some nut jobs in Vermont have actually constructed a mini-Fenway to play Wiffle Ball. Wish I was there.

Don't forget. One strike and you're out. Two fouls and you're out. Invisible man on second base. And a home run over Skippy Tyler's grandmother's house is a grandslamer even if there's nobody on base.

Although the tennis action at Wimbledon this past Sunday afternoon was, admittedly, fast and...

Roz — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:51:03 -0000

Although the tennis action at Wimbledon this past Sunday afternoon was, admittedly, fast and furious, local Time Warner channel 1024 offered something even more scintillating.

Churchill Downer

Roz — Fri, 02 May 2008 13:33:32 -0000

As you most probably already know, this will be the last year for Yankee Stadium, a grand ole dame originally built in the early 1920's (it did have a bit of reconstructive and cosmetic surgery in the years of 1974-1975...eye lids, tummy tuck, some nice implants). I saw my one and only World Series game when the Yanks played the Milwaukee Braves in 1958 ("How old IS this guy, ANYWAY??")
and it was an experience that will always be with me. There is nothing at all wrong with the current Yankee Stadium, unless of course, you consider real pastoral beauty as being "wrong". As the new park will be across the street, we will no longer be able to look out to right field and say that that is the place, the very place, that Babe Ruth once roamed. But, the Mets are building a new stadium (much needed, Shea is a dump, a concrete Rockefeller nightmare, built to look modern, so of course it quickly looked dated) and the Yanks didn't want to be left behind. More skyboxes, more corporate suites, more valet parking. You know the story.

Which brings us to Churchill Downs. I hate the new corporate look. The look that dominates the classic twin spires. The look that says "the Hell with tradition," what we need is more food courts, more escalaters, more capacity, more CEMENT. I think it looks horrible, and I wonder how we allowed it to happen. I try to be calm when I see the place on TV, but it has a different feeling now, and I don"t like it. Have we changed the name of the old lady to "The Papa Johns Pizza Churchill Downs?" By the way, at the Saratoga track you can still bring your own stuff in....beer...sandwiches...coolers...picnic stuff, and without a full body search.

So keep your guard up for the new basketball arena downtown. Previously I have expressed concern about this. Do not let them take your season tickets away. Believe me, they will try to. Try to fend off the sushi bar. Don't let all the tradition go away.

"We are the Village Green Preservation Society
God Save Donald Duck, vaudeville, and Variety,
Preserving the old ways from being abused,
Protecting the new ways for me and for you,
What more can we do."

And if you want to call me a "reactionary", well, you've got me.

Roz

My Dad George

Roz — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:51:48 -0000

On the first Saturday in May of 1971, my buddy, Tim Holder, and I tossed a few "personal" items in the back of his robins egg blue VW bug and headed out for the four hour haul to Louisville. To the Derby we would go, and because my father, George, loved the track (Saratoga, Aqueduct, Belmont, Roosevelt...every time I smell a cigar it reminds me of the race track, and him) there was no question that I would bet on a horse called My Dad George.
We stopped at every convenience store (they called them "carry outs" in Columbus) on the way down picking up various brands of beer that I had never heard of and/or couldn't get in New York State. Weidemanns, Burger, Strohs, Blatz, Heilemans...all gone now, but well remembered. I would present them to my father as a souvenier when I would return at the end of the semester. He owned a local tavern in Upstate New York.

Anyway, when we arrived, I was struck at how rural it was around Churchill Downs...I really felt that I was in another, more southern state. The day came up as you would hope: about 90 degrees, packed with young people, lots of excitement. Of course, I noticed the Special Mint Julep displays and must admit, I had a drink or six.

The place was so packed, even the infield, that we didn't even get to see the actual track. Just the races on the TV. Every race I bet on I lost. Funds were dwindling. When the Derby was next I opened a secret flap in my velcro wallet to find a last lonely twenty dollar bill. And a double sawbuck was a lot of money back then, a lot of money. I put it on My Dad George to win. He, of course, finished second.

As I turned the inside of my pockets on to themselves and saw only lint, Tim and I made our way toward the exits and to the VW for the long, lonely trip back to Columbus. We wouldn't be making any stops for beer. Between us we had six bucks and still needed to buy gas.

As we walked to the car on the moist red clay, I unbuttoned my short sleeve shirt, and without stopping, removed it, and tossed it over some hedges that formed a perimeter of the track's quarter mile turn..."There," I said as it disappeared into a vast Kentucky sunset, "there, take it all."

And that was the way it was back then.

Random Thoughts

Roz — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 12:08:05 -0000

Now that Kansas is still alive and has no CBS ordained marquis player, they will no doubt spend the next 36 hours creating one.

Meantime, Mr. Corporate, Jim Nantz (as mentioned before, he is strait down Main Street, a vanilla milkshake, moribund, and in the twenty years of doing the tournament, has not said one interesting thing) waits for the puppeteers to comprise a signature phrase just in case the Jayhawks win. It will probably be a tired play on words about the coach's last name. Something to do with "Selfless."

With eight minutes left in the first half, I believe that Billy Packer declared the game to be over. As this is not our first rodeo, those, like me who were rooting for Kansas were aghast at this bravado. Everyone in the free world, except perhaps Billy, knew that North Carolina had a least one or two decent runs in them.

I got more and more grumpy as the lead went to fourteen, to eleven, to eight, and finally to four.
That is the point were I poured myself another four fingers of Grants (a good, inexpensive Scotch by the makers of Glen Fidich...look for it in the three sided bottle).

When it was all over, Kansas up by twelve again, Nantz asked Billy if his first half prediction that the game was ever in doubt. Packer responded that no, he knew it was over way back then.
This was either a lie or Packer is insane. Later in the conversation, Nantz mentioned that he "loved" Billy. Or at least that's what I think I heard.

The ESPN panel had Reece Davis, Digger, Dickie V, His Holiness Bobby Knight, and Jay Bilas.
These panels are getting so long, that last two people can't even fit in the shot. I'm surprised it didn't include Tim Russert, former Secretary of State Madelein Albright, and MSNBC Left Wing Extraordinaire Keith "The Magnificent Asshole" Olbermann. I don't know where Huber Davis was...maybe licking his NC wounds, or maybe he just wasn't invited (can anybody say d i s c r i m i n a t i o n?). I bet Bilas was pleased as punch now that Carolina can't win another National Championship.

OK, the girls play today. I'll take either UT or LSU (I love that coach) and am against UCONN (the Duke of women's hoops).

I think it will be beautiful here today. Enjoy your Sunday.