Days after games in the season so far...

Monday, September 11st
A few emails trickle in. There's a "good game" comment or two from friends at work who know or at the very least have seen how important our football time is whenever the Bears play the Packers. 26-0, at Lambeau Field. No Favre touchdowns to watch. No Lambeau leaps to witness. Truly a site for a Bears fan to behold. I acknowledge their comments, thank them and move on.


Monday, September 18th
Detroit Wide Receiver Roy Williams sings to the press how the Lions would beat the Bears on Sunday, since they were so close in their first game of the season, when they lost to Seattle 9-6. But in the end, it was Linebacker Brian Urlacher who towered over Williams on the field after a tackle asking "you gonna predict a win next week buddy??" Bears beat Detroit 34-7. If the Lions had only had the 40 points they left on the board during the previous week's loss, they could have beat the Bears. At least according to Williams. Again, a few emails and comments followed on Monday.


Monday, September 24th
Minnesota played at home and played well. Bears squeaked one out, winning against the Vikings 19-16. Bears defense looked like they starred in their rendition of Friday Night Lights, as if they were role-playing high school football all weekend long. Tackle after tackle was missed. Defense looked tired and unable to remember they are considered one of the premiere defenses in the NFL. Good teams get the rolls, get the tosses their way, get the wins. At least that's what I told everyone the day after the game when they stopped by my desk to give me their good comments once more.


Monday, October 2nd
Up to now, Bears schedule has been light. Sure they are 3-0. But who have they played up to this point?? A team with a quarterback who seems to be more preoccupied by whether he should have returned to play or not than taking time to throw, a team who lets an average wide receiver speak for them, and a team who could be either hit or miss.

Over and over again. This would be tested at Soldier Field when the Bears played the Seahawks the day of my first wedding anniversary. Come on Bears, give us a good anniversary present. And they did. Bears win 37-6. On national television yet.

Oh, the compliments came my way the next day. I got emails galore, telling me the Bears are for real, that they looked great and no one knew just how good they could be...

Monday, October 9th
Bears beat Buffalo 40-7. Now I'm getting emails from people who usually only email me when their team kicks the Bears ####. Or I'll be in the store, picking up some milk, and have one of my husband's Bears shirts on, and I get all kind of "Go Bears" comments.

Tomorrow And Beyond
Many NFL fans don't understand. It's been a LONG time since the Bears have had a real offense. Over the past 10 years, their best offense has been their best defensive turnover. So I'm sure I speak for many Bears fans out there when I say, "Hey, thanks for the compliments and the acknowledgements, but I am a long-time Bears fan, and I've been there through thin and still thinner. I've been there through the Kordell Stewart, Curtis Enis, Henry Burris, Anthony Thomas and Jonathan Quinn sufferings. And while in my heart I know the Bears have a good thing going so far, I still have to keep my guard up and remember that the Bears can never be worse than 5-11 this year.

I've had fans tell me I'm nuts for not being more cocky with the Bears being 5-0. No, I'm just experienced in the ways of being a Bears fan. While we all relish the 85 Bears, with their Super Bowl shuffle, we know that championships of any sort are too few and far between. So we hold our breaths, we watch the games, we secretly become a bit more confident than other years. And we smile. Alot. On days after the game, the cockiness we don't show in our words is secretly in our hearts, where it shall remain 'til the Bears make the playoffs

As I read about the 2006 Chicago Bears, their training camp and preseason games, I can't help but think back to the last time the Bears were faced with coming of####ood season - the 2002 season.

2001 was a banner year for Chicago. The Bears were 13-3, with a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles after a first-round bye in the playoffs. The team was young and strong, with a defense that included Mike Brown and Brian Urlacher, a defense that turned turnovers to scores. They had a competent quarterback in Jim Miller.

2002 was a different story. The Bears ended their season with a 4-12 record. No playoffs for that team.

So what was so different in 2002, following such a great year in 2001??

Was it the fact that the Bears changed their training camp from Plattesville, Wisconsin to Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois?? The Bears had practiced in Plattesville for 18 years before the big move south of Chicago.

Or perhaps the bad record was a result of the Bears having to play 10 "home" games at Memorial Stadium at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois in 2002, while renovations began at Soldier Field. The Bears had played homes games at Soldier Field since their move from Wrigley Field back in 1970. Home games not played in your home stadium can be quite detrimental to the outcome of games.

But this is the NFL. Professional players should be able to rise above all the change and do their jobs. And perhaps if the pro players were just robotic pawns in a game, that would ring true. But they are real human beings, who have feelings, make mistakes and take things to heart.

The 2006 Bears have only a handful of players still on the team from the 2002 roster. Urlacher, Brown, Peterson, to name a few. To these players, 2002 may very well be a distant memory.

But to their loyal and devoted fans, the 2002 season is still fresh. Still real. But hopefully behind us.

The 2006 Bears have no new training camp nor stadium renovations to face. All 22 starters are back from last season. Injuries have claimed a few starters in camp, but the fans have been reassured that none of the injuries are serious and that every one of the starters shall be ready for opening day against Green Bay.

So it seems the 2006 Bears have already begun travel down a different road than the 2002 Bears.

Here's to this 2006 team staying on the straight and narrow road to victory.

My husband J. received four tickets for the Baltimore Orioles-Texas Rangers afternoon game this past Sunday.

We live about two hours away, and decided to go see the game.

It was my first time at Oriole Park - we saw the Chicago Bears play the Baltimore Ravens in an exhibition game at their new stadium - M&T Bank Stadium - back in 1999.

Our club seats were great. We were outside, unless the heat got to be too much, (and it was very very hot yesterday) then we had the option to sit inside at the many lounges where the air-conditioning made everything cool again.
 

We got to see the Orioles mascot play ball with some young kids; the Orioles hit two home runs; the Rangers make three errors. We even stood for the seventh-inning stretch and sang God Bless America. Dancing digital hot dogs - which one will win with a run-around the scoreboard bases - mustard, relish or catsup - made in-between innings fun. Relish came out on top, much to my chagrin. Catsup will always be my favorite.

We walked out to our cars and made it without experiencing heat-stroke.

We then drove to Fell's Point, the oldest portion of Baltimore, to see if we could find the building where NBC's detective drama "Homicide: Life on the Street" was filmed. We did indeed find it. The shops around Fell's Point were so quaint and simple. It was a joy to be there, even in the oppressive heat.

I took pictures at the game, if you are interested in viewing them, copy the links below and paste them into your browser:

Game:
http://web.mac.com/jdeangelo/iWeb/baltimore%20tri
p%202006/baltimore%20orioles%20game.html

Sights:
http://web.mac.com/jdeangelo/iWeb/baltimore%20tri
p%202006/baltimore%20city%20sights.html

As I come visit the blogs tonight, I went to visit my own, and I come to realize it's been a month since I wrote my last post, before that I did a rehash post, and a few before that I did a "how did you come by your blog name" post.

Sports thoughts have been less important to me as of late.

My Dad broke his rib in the beginning of June. He's doing better now, but this is just one more thing to add to his list of ailments. He's a 71-year-old Korean veteran, below-the-knee amputee with congestive heart failure and diabetes. Even with all of that, he's still living on his own and is holding his own.

My husband three weeks ago hit a pedestrian on his way to work. Words can begin to describe the sheer horror, sadness, fear and genuine bad feelings that come along with this accident. Even worse, we have found out nothing about the woman's condition, except that she broke a leg and spent some time in the hospital. If it were not for the local newspaper, we wouldn't even know that. While this woman has been wronged in the worse way, the fact that my husband can not even confront her to tell her how sorry he is has put a great strain on him emotionally. Privacy laws are put in place to protect individuals; but it's these laws that prevented my husband from being able to say he's sorry for the accident. I'm not sure what the middle ground could possibly be on this, but there has got to be something put into place to help all those involved in such accidents.

My church is celebrating their 100th Anniversary this year, and I offered to do an iMovie depicting the church's history. The movie is to be shown on Tuesday night, the Bishop of the Diocese is coming to visit and there will be a dinner, after which the movie will be shown. I'd offer to do it again in a heartbeat, but I had to tie up alot of loose ends on the movie this weekend, and it did put something of a strain on my time during the last two weeks. It is rendering now, in iDVD on my Mac. It's been rendering for the past 4 hours. I had hoped to see some of the finished product before I go to bed tonight, but I think I will have to wait 'til the morning to see how it looks in my DVD player.

Before the accident, my husband and I began looking to buy a home. The insurance company has told us the woman who was hit will probably sue us (meaning shewill sue the insurance company) for $10,000 liability rate that my husband has on his insurance. I've never been in this position before, but from what I understand, everything is handled through them. So we have decided to look again for a home. Neither of us have ever owned a home before, so I have come to realize it is quite a time-consuming experience.

I have been busy with work as of late. I have to upgrade everyone's Mac in our pre-press departments, and it's been quite a rough road to ride down, because every workstation has special needs and every person has special situations that they must get through to be productive. So far, I have "flipped" two Macs over. I'm on my third...

So these are pretty much the things taking me away from my blog writings. I still come visit and read other bloggers posts. I enjoy coming here, and now that he iMovie is almost done, perhaps I will be able to come back here and write vigorously about how I think the Bears should give Nathan Vasher a kingdom's worth of monies to keep him happy...how Lance Briggs is also worth his weight in gold and if the Bears will not give Thomas Jones the monies he deserves, then trade him... how I like the Bears signings of Hillenmeyer and Peterson...how much I am looking forward to reading about the Bears Training Camp this year...how I will be holding my breath that Grossman does not hurt himself badly still one more time this year...how excited I am to see Griese with the Bears for 2006...and how much I am looking forward to watching all the preseason games on the NFL Channel this year....

Went to visit my normal rounds this morning and it would appear Elizabeth Bennet has left our blogosphere.

All her posts have entered the blogger's black hole.

Well, I guess I'lll never get any re: on the comments I left on her space.

Let's just hope she's not wasting her time with herself stuck in a virtual thesaurus.

I hope she's following through on that pamphleteer dream of hers...

In writing comments on other posts recently, I became involved in a few conversations where the Chicago Bears Fan Convention came up. I originally wrote the below post on March 2, 2006, and have included two links for my Chicago Bears Fan Convention site so you can see some pictures. These pictures are from 2004:

This weekend marks the ninth annual Chicago Bears Fan Convention held at the Hilton Hotel in Chicago.

The Convention consists of meeting up with other Chicago Bears fans, listening to coaches talk, meeting players and getting autographs.

In 2004 my husband J. and I went to the Chicago Bears Fan Convention. It was a great fun-filled time.

Below are two picture links from the 2004 Convention:

Welcome Page:
http://web.mac.com/jdeangelo/iWeb/chicago_bears
_convention/welcome.html

Convention Photos:
http://web.mac.com/jdeangelo/iWeb/chicago_bears
_convention/chicago_fan_convention_2004.html

We spent the week in Chicago - first half of the week we visited museums, Friday, Saturday and Sunday we spent at the Convention.

We waited in line for four hours to get Brad Maynard, Charles Tillman, Rex Grossman and Michael Hayne's autographs. While that sounds like a long and trying time, we had a great time while in line. We met alot of people, including the above guy whom we called Duff Man for obvious reasons. We talked with other fans, shared Bears stories and made some new friends along the way. We also played Bears Bingo - what fun, bought Bears memorabilia, and attended an Hawaiian party on Saturday night.

Because of our wedding plans this past October, we didn't get a chance to go out to the Fan Convention since. But it is an event that I would go to again.

I heard in 2004 that only a hand-full of NFL teams do these Conventions. That is ashame, because I think it was a really bonding experience for both fans and players.

As we look at our calendars and see Memorial Day approaching, we envision an unofficial marker of Summer's start, filled with community pool activity, hot dogs and hamburgers at family picnics, nights of watching double-headers at a few remaining drive-ins across the United States and for some much needed vacation time away from the bustle and stuffiness of work and school.

Sometimes we come to forget what this holiday truly honors.

Memorial Day was first announced May 5, 1868, by General John Logan, National Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic. On May 30, 1868, flowers were placed on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to recognize the holiday was New York, and by 1890, all northern states took part in the celebration. The southern states refused to acknowledge the day and honored their Confederate dead on a separate day until after World War I, when the holiday was changed from honoring just those passed away while in combat during the Civil War to honoring all Americans for all wars. It became an official holiday with the passing of the National Holiday Act of 1971 and is celebrated in every state on the last Monday in May.

In 1915, Moina Michael, inspired by talk of red poppy flowers in a poem titled "In Flanders Fields, wrote a short poem in reply that read:

We cherish too, the Poppy red
that grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.

She was the first person to wear a red poppy flower on Memorial Day to honor those who died while serving in combat. She sold poppies to all her friends and used the monies collected to benefit servicemen, war-orphaned children and widowed women.

Every time my husband and I watch the beloved Chicago Bears play a home game, we feel proud and honored that they do so at Soldier Field.

In 1919, Chicago hired Holabird & Roche to build a stadium as a memorial to American soldiers who died in World War I. The Municipal Grand Park Stadium was officially opened on October 9, 1924. It was a park modelled on the Greco-Roman architectural tradition, with what would be its most prominent feature - doric columns rising above the stands. The name was officially changed to Soldier Field on November 11, 1925.

Many events were held there over the decades. "The Long County Fight", the heavyweight championship between Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney, was held at Soldier Field on September 25, 1927, in front of a crowd of 105,000 fans. Many Army-Navy games have been played there to sellout crowds. In 1971, the Chicago Bears played their first game in Soldier Field and it's the place they have called home up to the end if the 2001 season, at which time old Soldier Field closed for a complete stadium rebuild. When the stadium opened back up on September 29, 2003, the only items left from the old stadium were the doric columns that the old stadium had become so noted for.

The stadium, even with it's newness, kept the same name, with the same reverence it has always shown to all veterans.

If you enter Soldier Field at Gate O, you can see a life-size bronze Doughboy statue. The term "Doughboy" was labeled for World War I infantrymen. Along the inside wall surrounding the Doughboy statue are panels with falling leaves paying homage to the soldiers who have lost their lives in battle. There are also benches that contain notable quotations regarding the efforts of those who have served our country. Military Medals of Honor representing the branches of the Armed Forces are shown on the backrests of the benches.

As you enter the lower level of Soldier Field, you can see the Memorial Water Wall, a 250-foot long granite wall. Water continuously flows over eight medallions and seals built into the granite wall that honor the different branches of the armed services.

Whether we are talking about all of those important fallen heroes of World War I, all the Doughboys that died for our freedom, or about players like Chicago Bears famed running back Water Payton, who played his entire career at Soldier Field, and who is such an important reminder of how good life can be but also how short it is, and who still reaches out through his cancer foundation cause to the community today despite the fact he is gone, I think Moina Michael's poem still reads true today:

"...That blood of heroes never dies..."

We've been reared since we were born to believe in ourselves, to strive to be the best at what we do and live as full and as long a life as we can on this Earth. Don't smoke. You'll get cancer. Don't drink, you'll damage your liver. Don't do drugs, they will surely be your downfall. So we teeter-totter through life, hoping to acquire an even balance of goodness and fun. We hope to see our children's children graduate from school, get married, have children of their own, to live to the ripe ole' age of 100. Then you see people like my husband's grandfather.

My husband J.'s 88-year-old grandmother Betty had to have pacemaker surgery this week. We went to see her before the procedure, she was in good spirits, despite being separated from her husband of 67 years, who was a few miles away in their assisted-living residence. Once we saw how well Betty was doing, we decided to go visit J.'s grandfather Woody. We got to the home at around 6:30 pm, well before it was dark out, but Woody was already in bed. He wasn't sleeping, he was just laying there, pondering his life. Through conversations with family members, we came to understand this was the bedtime ritual for him as of late, going to bed early and sleeping late.

We visited for about an hour. In that hour, Woody asked at least eight times where Betty was. Then we'd explain to him where she was, what was happening to her, and how she'd be back in a couple of days. He couldn't retain most of what we told him. On the way home, J. called his father about his grandfather. J.'s Dad told him he has a "slight" case of dementia, they have been told. J.'s Dad went to see Woody the next day and asked if we had been to visit him, he couldn't remember we were even there.

With Woody's ignorance to most everything that was happening around him still weighing heavily on my mind, I was surfing the web and came across an Associated Press article on Evel Knievel.

The man who entertained us in the 70s, one of the main reasons we gathered around the TV for ABC's "Wide World of Sports" is living in Clearwater, Florida now, is 67-years-old and in much physical pain.

Knievel suffers from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a scarring and hardening disease of the lungs. He's had a stroke, had hepatitis C and needed a liver transplant in 1999 because of it, and has broken about 40 bones in his lifetime. He also lives with diabetes and has difficulties with short-term memories. He has become more and more dependent on oxygen, needs about 50 pills a day and sucks on lollipops that contain fentanyl, a painkiller. This is Evel Knievel's present-day way of teeter-tottering through life.

The man who survived 300 motorcycle jumps now has days where he doesn't get out of bed. It's just too painful. The man who showed off in his red, white and blue leather outfit with cape while on his stunt cycle now must settle for a sedately life of signing pictures and staying beyond the scenes, except for when Knievel makes his annual summer trip to his hometown of Butte, Montana, where Evel Knievel Days takes place every July.

While Knievel's lifestyle has toned down tremendously compared to his jumping days, fans still gather to celebrate his career at the festival, which drew 50,000 people last year. And Ideal Toys, which sold the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle in the 70s, has begun selling the toy again. A search on eBay produces hundreds of Evel Knievel memorabilia lists. There is an Evel Knievel rock opera underway, and CMT will be showing a special on the daredevil on May 28th.

When asked about how his life has evolved, Knievel has few regrets. "No king or prince has lived a better life," he says. "You're looking at a guy who's really done it all. And there are things I wish I had done better, not only for me but for the ones I loved."

It sounds like death doesn't scare him much.

"I can't wait to meet God," he says, "and ask why he didn't make me go faster on some of those jumps, why he put me through all this pain. He knows I'm not evil."
The picture of the present day Knievel is a shock. His gray hair shows us little resemblance of the man we knew from the 70s.

Yet it will always be the man in that 70's suit, riding that cycle, picking himself up and dusting himself off time after time again that we will always remember.

With not quite understanding what the future holds for us with J.'s grandfather, I can only hope that J. too remembers Woody's younger days, when things were a bit more carefree and Woody could remember every single one of his grandchildren's middle names...

The following story consists of real-life quotes spoken by Barry Bonds and Babe Ruth over the years. Anything in "quotes" are actual quotes by the person at the beginning of that paragraph.

Quotes were compiled from the following websites:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/quotes/barry_bond
s_quotes.shtml
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/quotes/quoruth.sh
tml
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/b/barry
_bonds.html

--------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------

Barry Bonds tosses in his king-sized bed. He hopes he doesn't have another sleepless night. They have become more common-place since the chase of the home run record grows closer.

He finally drifts off to sleep. In a dream, Bonds envisions himself in the stadium, on deck, awaiting his next at-bat.

As he tries to clear his head, he hears Babe Ruth's name repeated in the stands. He ponders what a conversation between the two of them would be like, if the Babe was still around. He then envisions Babe up there aside of him, swinging his bat, almost as though Babe will be hitting in unison with Bonds:

Bonds: You know Babe “I never stop looking for things to try and make myself better.” "But to be the best, you must face the best. And to overcome your fear, you must deal with the best."

Ruth: That's right Barry. I would tell young people that whenever they would gather around me for an autograph. And I know "I won't be happy until we have every boy in America between the ages of six and sixteen wearing a glove and swinging a bat."

Bonds: "I was born to hit a baseball. I can hit a baseball." “It's called talent. I just have it. I can't explain it. You either have it or you don't.”

Ruth: My teammates always asked me about my hitting secrets. "All I could tell them is pick a good one and sock it. I'd get back to the dugout and they ask me what it was I hit and I tell them I don't know except it looked good."

Bonds: "As long as I can remember, I have been choking up on my bat."

Ruth: I should have written a baseball book entitled "How to hit home runs: I swing as hard as I can, and I try to swing right through the ball...the harder you grip the bat, the more you can swing it through the ball, and the farther the ball will go. I swing big, with everything I've got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can."

Ruth: And now I hear Barry that you are coming up on my home run record. Just remember: "I never heard a crowd boo a homer, but I've heard plenty of boos after a strikeout."

Bond: "In every era, someone comes along and sits on top of that hill." Babe. It's what records are for, to be broken.

But I have to keep in mind "Every pitcher can beat you, it doesn't matter how good you are."

Ruth: Just remember Barry "Reading isn't good for a ballplayer. Not good for his eyes. If my eyes went bad even a little bit I couldn't hit home runs. So I gave up reading."

Bond: "I don't know if the record is going to happen. I don't really think about the record. There are other things I worry about. "

Ruth: What other things are you worried about Barry?? All this steroid talk, eh?? Did you or didn't you??

It's okay. Every baseball star goes through it. "I'd promise to go easier on drinking and to get to bed earlier, but not for you, fifty thousand dollars, or two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars will I give up women. They're too much fun."

Bonds: “My career is an open book, but my life is not.”

Ruth: My life: "If it wasn't for baseball, I'd be in either the penitentiary or the cemetery."

Bonds: “I've always played for the acceptance of my godfather (Willie Mays) and father (Bobby Bonds).”

Bonds: "Everyone in society should be a role model, not only for their own self-respect, but for respect from others."

Ruth: Listen up and let me give you some advice: "Don't ever forget two things I'm going to tell you. One, don't believe everything that's written about you. Two, don't pick up too many checks."

Bonds: "I get tired a little easier, but I'm still out there."

Ruth: "All ballplayers should quit when it starts to feel as if all the baselines run uphill."

Bonds: "Sometimes the walks are frustrating, but it's all part of the game and I try to make something else happen - steal a base, score."

Ruth: You know what I used to hate?? How lonesome it would get in the outfield. It's hard to keep awake with nothing to do.

Bonds: You know what I love?? "There is nothing better than walking out and hitting a home run."

Ruth: There was that one game I played in when "I didn't mean to hit the umpire with the dirt, but I did mean to hit that #### in the stands."

Bonds: You know Babe, "When I'm gone, someone else is going to sit on top of that hill."

Ruth: Like what is happening right now, with me in a better place, you mean. You have taken over the fans, the glory, the honor and soon the record...

Bonds: "I like to be against the odds. I'm not afraid to be lonely at the top. With me, it's just the satisfaction of the game. Just performance."

Ruth: "Baseball was, is and always will be to me the best game in the world."

I wish you all the luck in the world in breaking my record.

Remember when you finally break my record to perform "Just one (superstition). Whenever I hit a home run, I make certain I touch all four bases..."

I was surfing the web tonight and came across this link:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/eli
zabeth_newman/05/18/queens.court/

Coming from a black woman's prospective, I found that the article offered a very unique view.

If you were to consult a thesaurus for the word "Consistent", you would come up with the following words:

Reliable. Dependable. Uniform. Unchanging. Steady. Stable.

These are all words I would use to describe Penn State's long-time football coach Joe Paterno.

Reliable.
Joe Paterno, along with Florida State's Bobby Bowden, was elected into the College Football Hall of Fame today. Bowden is currently ranked #1 in all-time Division I-A coaching wins with 359; Paterno is ranked #2 with 354 wins.

Dependable.
Paterno, who will turn 80 towards the end of the 2006 Collegiate season, coached two national championship teams (1982 & 1986) and coached five undefeated seasons (1968, 1969, 1973, 1986 & 1994).

Uniform.
Paterno played football for Brown University, where he established 14-career interceptions. After graduating from Brown University, he joined Penn State as an assistant football coach under Rip Engle in 1950. It was a position he held until 1965, when Engle retired and Paterno took over as head coach for the Nittany Lions. 41 years later, Paterno can still be seen on the sidelines, wearing his patent dark blue and white Nike shoes and high-cuffed pants, yelling at the refs.

Unchanging.
Paterno has been assistant and head coach of the Nittany Lions for 55 years.

Steady.
Paterno has 21 bowl game victories in 32 bowl game appearances during his coaching career. Penn State has finished 21 times in the Top 10 National Rankings under Paterno.

Stable.
Paterno's emphasis on doing well does not stop at football. In the 1970's, he began what was called a "Grand Experiment", requiring that all his players do well in academics as well as in football. The experiment worked. Penn State's football players consistently retain above average GPAs.

And there is one more word I would use to describe Joe Paterno.

Compassionate.
My father has followed Penn State as long as I can remember. Whole Saturdays were put on hold so he could "get home to see the game". Or he'd sit in the parking lot of malls, while my mother would shop, and listen to Penn State on the AM radio.

So when I got a chance to buy a ticket to a Republican dinner in my tiny town, a dinner that was featuring Joe Paterno's son, Scott, as a candidate for office, I bought a ticket for me and my Dad. Joe was scheduled to speak that night. I figured it would be the closest I might get my father to actually meeting JoePa.

Boy was I wrong.

I had Republicans coming up to me, asking for me to vote for them, but my only concern was the $35-a-plate dinner which allowed my father to hear Paterno talk.

After the dinner, some people went up to shake Paterno's hand. But the crowd was quickly dismissed, so my Dad thought we had missed our opportunity.

My Dad, a veteran who is a below-the-knee amputee since 2001, is in a wheelchair now, not walking all that much anymore. He took his chair along for the dinner. So I wheeled him up front in that, hoping to catch Paterno before he left.

He was almost out the door, when I yelled "Mr. Paterno, could you take a moment to meet my Dad??"

Joe turned to his son, told him to hold up, that he wanted to shake my Dad's hand.

My Dad couldn't have been any more proud. He explained to him that he was a Penn State fan since Paterno came to the school, all those many years ago.

I asked for a picture, and Joe posed for one with my Dad.

As I wheeled my Dad out to the car as people began leaving the party, my Dad made mention to me that he had hoped my Mom was watching tonight. My Mother passed away eight years ago.

I told him I was pretty certain she saw my Dad finally meet his hero.

There is no dullness in the city of Miami.

With Ricky Williams violating the NFL drug policy rule for the fourth time in his career, the NFL Miami Dolphins will be without his running services for the entire 2006 football season.

But to save the day, Miami signed Daunte Culpepper, fresh from his innocence on the Minnesota Viking's "Love Boat" scandal. He would keep things humming while he strengthed his bad knee and tried to start for the Dolphins at quarterback in 2006.

And almost as insurance to keep the organization hopping, Miami has now signed undrafted free-agent Marcus Vick.

Vick attended Miami's recent minicamp and impressed the coaches enough to receive a free agent contract. But it was not without warnings:

"...As an organization, we did an enormous amount of research, including consulting with professionals in detailed, in-depth analysis to feel comfortable that giving Marcus an opportunity as a free agent is a risk worth taking," Dolphins coach Nick Saban said in a statement.

"I want to make it very clear that we will not condone any behavior issues in the future relative to Marcus Vick. Marcus acknowledges that he has made some mistakes, all of which has resulted in severe consequences for him. They have helped him learn that he will need to make much better choices and decisions in the future or risk similar consequences that could jeopardize his career as a professional player..."

Vick's collegiate days at Virginia Tech as quarterback were filled with drama.

Vick was arrested for providing alcohol to three minor girls whom he thought were college students...he was arrested for reckless driving and marijuana possession...He was charged with having sex with a 15-year-old girl, but was never arrested for the sexual conduct.

He sat out the 2004 football season because he was suspended from the University for his actions. When he returned the following season, he flipped of####roup of local Morgantown fans who were yelling obsentities at him because of his supposed actions with the 15-year-old girl from the previous year.

Virginia Tech made it to the Gator Bowl this past year and Vick played in the Bowl game. But it was caught on tape that he intentionally stomped on the leg of a Louisville defensive end. First denying it was intentional, he then let on that it was intentional and that he was truly sorry that it occurred.

The final straw for Virginia Tech was after the Bowl game, when the university discovered that Vick was arrested the previous month for driving on a suspended license. With this final mistake, Virginia Tech cut all ties academically and athletically to Marcus Vick.

After Vick was released from Virginia Tech, he announced he would make an attempt in the 2006 NFL draft. The following day, he was accused of waving a firearm at some teenage kids at a Virginia McDonald restaurant. He was then released on bail.

Vick has resolved his legal issues over the past few months. He acknowledged a guilty plea for disorderly conduct on one charge and speeding and driving without a valid driver's license on another account. Because of the plea bargain, the prosecutors dropped the firearms charge that occured after Virginia Tech released him.

So we are to believe that Marcus Vick is on the straight and narrow. That he will be the superstar without issues that he could never be at Virginia Tech.

Let's just hope Vick doesn't find himself playing aside of Ricky Williams in the Canadian Football League.

Doug Flutie announced his retirement from the NFL today, after playing 21 years of football.

But for those of us who followed Flutie's career - and the well-liked player had many fans - today's announcement was more of a formality than a surprise.

Flutie's fans - maybe even Flutie himself - saw the writing on the wall when he attempted and was successful at the first drop kick in the NFL since 1941 during the fourth quarter of the New England Patriots-Miami Dolphins game on New Years Day of this past season.

Flutie's NFL career got a boost during his collegiate years at Boston College, where in 1984 he became most known for a 48-yard desperation touchdown pass that gave Boston College a last-second win over Miami. Flutie also won the Heisman Trophy that year.

Despite being drafted by the NFL Los Angeles Rams the following year, Flutie chose to go the unique route of playing the USFL league. After a few failed years later, the USFL was gone and Flutie joined the NFL and played for Chicago and New England as back quarterback in the late 80's.

Flutie's small size never quite gave him the fit needed to play as starting quarterback in the NFL, and he instead opted to play for the CFL, where he threw for 41,355 yards and 270 touchdowns over an eight-year history while playing for British Columbia, Calgary and Toronto.

Flutie joined the NFL again in 1998 with Buffalo. He then got the starting gig in San Diego, starting all 16 games for them. He stayed with San Diego for the next 3 years and continued to be Drew Brees backup.

In April, 2005, Flutie had a homecoming of shorts, and signed with the New England Patriots. And it is there that he shall end his NFL career.

And in our minds will forever live the Heisman Trophy pass for Boston College in 1984, his successful drop-kick of 2005, and the fact that he understand exactly when to bow out of the dance of the NFL.

And for that show of class we can be most thankful.

The year was 1949. The conference was the Big Seven Conference for football. And Harold Robinson's application of himself to the Kansas State's football team turned out to be quite an historical event.

Robinson, a black kid born and raised in Manhattan, Kansas, played football for his high school team. After he graduated, he tried out for the Wildcats football team. But there were no blacks on the team in 1949. There were no blacks on any other team in the Big Seven Conference.

But that didn't stop Robinson from walking onto the field and trying out and making the team that year.

Harold Robinson, the first black scholarship athlete of the Big Seven Conference and a man who is credited with breaking the racial barrier in that conference died on Saturday, May 13, 2006 at the age of 76.

By the time Robinson began playing for the Kansas football program, the United States Supreme Court was still five years away from the infamous Brown v. Topeka Board of Education decision that made it possible for black and whites to attend the same schools. The segregation laws that were on the books since 1877 from the Reconstruction period following the Civil War were still in effect in 1949. These were the laws where black and white people were to use separate water fountains, schools, bath houses, restaurants and libraries and public transportion. These segregation laws were known as Jim Crow laws.

But this segregation did not stop Robinson. Nor did it stop Ralph Graham, who was the coach of the Wildcats when Robinson walked on the field for try-outs. Graham welcomed Robinson to the Kansas State team. Graham had coached previous years at Wichita State, where there were other black players.

News of Robinson's presence on the team reached Jackie Robinson, the famous baseball player who broke baseball's color barrier in 1947. Jackie Robinson wrote Harold Robinson a letter of congratulations.

But the road was not always an easy one for Harold Robinson.

Robinson's white teammates stayed in hotels during away games, but Robinson himself was often forced to stay in private homes for both his team and his own safety. He missed an away game against Memphis State because "they didn't even allow blacks in the stadium, much less players."

Robinson's 1949 racial barrier story opened the doors to another barrier broken: Tiger Woods' late father, Earl Woods, became the first black baseball player in the conference in 1952 when he tried out for Kansas State's baseball team.

Robinson earned All-Big Seven honors in 1950. He was inducted into the Kansas State Athletics Hall Of Fame in 2004.

Robinson also served in the Army during the Korean War and he received a Purple Heart during his active time in the service.

Harold Robinson's story, which unfolded six years before Rosa Parks infamous ride on the bus that lead to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and heightened Martin Luther King Jr.'s involvement in the Civil Rights forefront, is a true testiment to the rights of all, regardless of sex, race or creed.

(Originally posted How did you pick your Blog name?? on Dec 22, 2005)

 

 

 

 

 

Kathryn Leigh Scott
As Josette Dupres
In the 1967 ABC Soap Opera
Dark Shadows

 

 

 

 

 

 

I sometimes wonder how a blog user came up with their blogging name.

Some names are pretty easy to figure out - favorite team, favorite TV character, area of the country they are from. Other blogger names need some explanation.

In my case - I love Dark Shadows, the main love interest of Barnabas Collins is Josette Dupres. I am especially fond of the short-lived Dark Shadows of 1991 that aired on NBC. Joanna Going played Victoria Winters and Josette Dupres.

The series originated in 1967 on ABC. It became the one and only gothic soap opera of it's day, and the series lasted until 1971. Kathryn Leigh Scott played Josette Dupres on the ABC series.

I began using the name years ago when I established my first email address. I wanted something different and cool for my email address. And it's stuck with me ever since.

Share a little bit of information with your fellow bloggers and tell us how you came up with your blog name?? What was the inspiration for your avatar?? The inspiration for my avatar is pretty self-explanatory. I am a Bears fan therefore my avatar is a Bears logo. My husband who is a talented graphic designer designed it for me.