Monday, October 31, 2011
RIP 28 years ago today, Papa Bear George Halas
George Stanley Halas, Sr. (February 2, 1895 – October 31, 1983), nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was a player, coach, owner and pioneer in professional American football. He was the iconic longtime leader of the NFL's Chicago Bears. He was also lesser known as an inventor, jurist, producer, philanthropist, and philatelist.
Career highlights and awards
1919 Rose Bowl MVP
6 NFL Championships (1921, 1933, 1940, 1941, 1946, 1963)
2× AP NFL Coach of the Year (1963, 1965)
2× Sporting News Coach of the Year (1963, 1965)
2× UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1963, 1965)
NFL 1920s All-Decade Team
Record for Chicago Bears career wins (324)
Chicago Bears #7 retired
318-148-31 (regular season record)
6-4 (playoff record)
324-152-31 (overall record)
Happy Birthday to Brian Piccolo
Louis Brian Piccolo (October 31, 1943 – June 16, 1970) was a professional football player for the Chicago Bears for 4 years. He died from embryonal cell carcinoma, an aggressive form of germ cell testicular cancer, first diagnosed after it had spread to his chest cavity. He was the subject of the 1971 TV movie Brian's Song, with a remake (of the same title) TV movie filmed in 2001. Piccolo was portrayed in the original film by James Caan and by Sean Maher in the 2001 remake.Sunday, October 30, 2011
On this day in 1945 – Jackie Robinson of the Kansas City Monarchs signs a contract for the Brooklyn Dodgers to break the baseball color barrier.
Jackie Robinson shaking Branch Rickey’s hand after signing his first major league baseball contract, 1945.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Happy 54th Birthday to Homer Simpson aka Dan Castellaneta
Daniel Louis "Dan" Castellaneta (born October 29, 1957) is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Noted for his long-running role as Homer Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, he voices many other characters on The Simpsons, including Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Quimby and Hans Moleman.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
To Lockwood....Happy Birthday to John Gotti
John Joseph Gotti, Jr (October 27, 1940 – June 10, 2002) was an American mobster who became the Boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. Gotti grew up in poverty. He and his brothers turned to a life of crime at an early age. Operating out of the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens, Gotti quickly rose in prominence, becoming one of the crime family's biggest earners and a protege of Gambino family underboss Aniello Dellacroce.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
To Jake....Happy 33rd Birthday to Phil Brooks aka CM Punk
He went to Lockport High School.
Throughout his career, Punk has consistently used the gimmick of being straight edge, a lifestyle he follows in his actual day-to-day life. Depending on Punk's alignment as a crowd favorite or villain, he emphasizes different aspects of the culture to encourage the desired audience reaction.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Breaking News!!!!!! The McRib makes a McComeback
I Can't Wait.
The McRib, the pork sandwich that likes to play hard to get, is coming back.
McDonald's plans to announce Monday that the sandwich, usually available only when individual restaurants feel like making it, will be sold at all U.S. locations through Nov. 14.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Happy 52nd Birthday to Sam Raimi
Samuel Marshall "Sam" Raimi (October 23, 1959) is an American film director, producer, actor and writer. He is best known for directing cult horror films like the Evil Dead series, Darkman and Drag Me to Hell, as well as the blockbuster Spider-Man films and the producer of the successful TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess, Legend of the Seeker and Spartacus: Blood and Sand.
Raimi, the fourth of five children, was born in Royal Oak, Michigan, and grew up in Birmingham, Michigan. He was raised in Conservative Judaism; his ancestors immigrated from Russia and Hungary. Raimi attended Groves High School, and Michigan State University and majored in English, leaving after three semesters to film The Evil Dead. He is Ted Raimi's older brother.
Raimi became fascinated with making films when his father brought a movie camera home one day and he began to make Super 8 movies with childhood friend Bruce Campbell.
Raimi became fascinated with making films when his father brought a movie camera home one day and he began to make Super 8 movies with childhood friend Bruce Campbell.
Oz: the Great and Powerful is an upcoming 2013 fantasy film directed by Sam Raimi for release in 2013. The film, adapted from L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, is intended as a prequel to the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. James Franco stars as the protagonist, and Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz star as the three witches. Its story is about how Oz got his wrath.
Happy 41st Birthday to Grant Imahara of MythBusters
Grant Masaru Imahara (born October 23, 1970) is a Japanese American electronics and radio control expert, best known for his work on the American television show MythBusters.
Imahara is a graduate of the University of Southern California, with a B.S. degree in electrical engineering. For a time, he seriously considered switching majors, with the intention of becoming a screenwriter; he decided to stay on the engineering track after assisting Tomlinson Holman, a professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and creator of the Lucasfilm THX sound system.
After graduation, Imahara was hired as an engineer for Lucasfilm's Home THX division; he then moved to the visual effects company Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), where he worked for nine years. While at ILM, he was involved in films such as The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Galaxy Quest, AI: Artificial Intelligence, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Van Helsing, and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
Imahara is credited in many feature films as a model maker. In particular, he is credited for his work in updating the aging R2-D2 robots for the Star Wars prequel trilogy. As an official Artoo Technician, he makes a cameo appearance in the mockumentary R2-D2: Beneath the Dome.
After graduation, Imahara was hired as an engineer for Lucasfilm's Home THX division; he then moved to the visual effects company Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), where he worked for nine years. While at ILM, he was involved in films such as The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Galaxy Quest, AI: Artificial Intelligence, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Van Helsing, and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
Imahara is credited in many feature films as a model maker. In particular, he is credited for his work in updating the aging R2-D2 robots for the Star Wars prequel trilogy. As an official Artoo Technician, he makes a cameo appearance in the mockumentary R2-D2: Beneath the Dome.
Happy Birthday to John Heisman
John William Heisman (October 23, 1869 – October 3, 1936) was an American football player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball in the United States. He served as the head football coach at Oberlin College (1892, 1894), Buchtel College, now known as the University of Akron (1893–1894), Auburn University (1895–1899), Clemson University (1900–1903), Georgia Tech (1904–1919), the University of Pennsylvania (1920–1922), Washington & Jefferson College (1923), and Rice University (1924–1927), compiling a career college football record of 186–70–18. His 1917 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have been recognized as a national champion. Heisman was also the head basketball coach at Georgia Tech (1908–1909, 1912–1914), tallying a mark of 9–14, and the head baseball coach at Buchtel (1894), Clemson (1899–1904), and Georgia Tech (1904–1917), amassing a career college baseball record of 219–119–7.
He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1954. The Heisman Trophy, awarded annually to the season's most outstanding college football player, is named for him.
Friday, October 21, 2011
To Nats....RIP to Elliott Smith, 8 years ago today
Steven Paul "Elliott" Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and resided for a significant portion of his life in Portland, Oregon, where he first gained popularity. His primary instrument was the guitar, but he was also proficient at piano, clarinet, bass guitar, drums, and harmonica. Smith had a distinctive vocal style characterized by his "whispery, spiderweb-thin delivery" and use of multi-tracking to create vocal layers, textures, and harmonies.After playing in the rock band Heatmiser for several years, Smith began his solo career in 1994 with releases on the independent record labels Cavity Search and Kill Rock Stars. In 1997 he signed a contract with DreamWorks Records, for which he recorded two albums. Smith rose to mainstream prominence when his song "Miss Misery"—included in the soundtrack for the film Good Will Hunting—was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Original Song category in 1998.
Smith suffered from depression, alcoholism, and drug addiction, and these topics often appeared in his lyrics. At age 34, he died in Los Angeles, California from two stab wounds to the chest. The autopsy evidence was inconclusive as to whether the wounds were self-inflicted. At the time of his death, Smith was working on his sixth studio album, From a Basement on the Hill, which was posthumously released.
To Gabe...His favorite Jheri Curl of All-Time!!! Happy 51st Birthday to Jorge Bell
Bell became a free agent after the 1990 season and signed with the Cubs. After one year with the Cubs, he was traded to the White Sox for Sammy Sosa and Ken Patterson.
Happy 61st Birthday to Coach Mike Keenan
After taking the Chicago Blackhawks to the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals, Keenan was forced to focus solely on his GM duties when longtime Blackhawk player and assistant coach, Darryl Sutter, was being courted by other teams to be their head coach. Owner Bill Wirtz did not want to lose Sutter, especially since Keenan had stated, in July, 1992, that he wished to focus solely on his duties as general manager after the 92–93 season. Keenan lost a power struggle with Senior V.P. Bob Pulford after the 1992–93 season, resigned his position, and was soon hired by the New York Rangers. Incidentally, Darryl Sutter resigned as head coach of the Blackhawks in 1996 after Jeremy Roenick made derogatory and well-publicized comments on a local sports-radio show. Keenan managed to coach the Rangers to the Stanley Cup in his first and only year as head coach, but was unable to coexist long enough with general manager Neil Smith and resigned weeks later, citing a violation of his contract by the Rangers.
