Monday, December 17, 2012
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Friday, November 30, 2012
RIP on this day in 2007, Evel Knievel
“You can fall many times in life, but you’re never a failure as long as you try to get up.”
~Evel Knievel
Monday, November 26, 2012
Jets superfan Fireman Ed retires
"J-E-T-S!"
New York Jets superfan Fireman Ed, who for decades has fueled home crowds with his famous "J-E-T-S!" cheer, has decided to "R-E-T-I-R-E!"
"For people to be harassing him at the game, I don't know. He's not in the locker room with us. He's not on the payroll. He's a regular fan like everybody else is. I don't know why they'd harass him. That's crazy," linebacker Bryan Thomas, the longest-tenured Jets player, said Monday.
http://espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/story/_/id/8675816/new-york-jets-superfan-fireman-ed-hangs-helmet
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Saturday, November 24, 2012
#1 Notre Dame will play for the national title game.
Friday, November 16, 2012
No more Twinkies!!!!!!!
Woody in Zombieland
Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters
Twinkie Weiner Sandwich in UHF
Die Hard
Family Guy
This is my house. I went out yesterday & bought ever Twinkie I could buy.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
The bodybuilder to beat Schwarzenegger died on Monday, Sergio Oliva was a Retired Chicago cop
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-retired-chicago-cop-former-champion-bodybuilder-dies-20121113,0,3844901.story
retired Chicago police officer who was the only bodybuilder to beat Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Mr. Olympia competition has died.
Sergio Oliva, 71, a longtime Rogers Park District officer, was found unresponsive by a family member Monday and pronounced dead at St. Francis Hospital Evanston, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Oliva defected to the United States from Cuba in 1963 at a Pan American Games qualifying competition in Jamaica, bringing the entire Cuban bodybuilding team with him. He came to Chicago in 1963 because “he heard this was where the jobs were,” longtime friend Jack Merjimekian said.
Oliva studied English at Wells High School to qualify for citizenship, and worked at the Duncan YMCA after stints as a foundry worker and meatpacker. He began competing as a bodybuilder soon after coming to Chicago, and began winning local bodybuilding titles.
While working as a civilian physical education instructor at the Chicago Police Academy, Oliva became interested in becoming an officer and got help from a police captain, Merjimekian said.
Because of his dimensions, including a 60-inch chest, Oliva’s police uniforms had to be specially made.
The titles he won included Mr. World at Montreal in 1966; Mr. Universe at Munich in 1967, 1968 and 1969; Mr. America in 1970; and Mr. Europe in 1981. He defeated Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1968 and 1969 in body-building competitions, including Mr. Olympia.
He won the World Cup seven times, three times in a row.
“He’s the only guy who defeated Arnold in Mr. Olympia,” Merjimekian said.
Schwarzenegger on Tuesday mentioned Oliva in a Twitter message: “Oliva was one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time & a true friend,” Schwarzenegger said. “A fierce competitor w/ a big personality - one of a kind.”
Oliva survived a 1986 incident in which he was accidentally shot during a fight with his wife. He went back to work in the Rogers Park District until retiring about 10 years ago.
lford@tribune.com
Twitter: @ltaford
Copyright © 2012, Chicago Tribune
Friday, November 9, 2012
Thursday, November 1, 2012
RIP, We lost Sweetness 13 years ago today!!!!
Monday, October 29, 2012
FAKE......Sandy update from Arlington, VA
Here we see the Old Guard, which guards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The photograph is absolutely real, but it was taken in September, as the Old Guard's Twitter feed has been pointing out this afternoon.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
TMZ Chicago Reports........
I just saw this man walking down Michigan Ave, this morning with his wife. I turned and said "WOW!!! Coach Dave!!!! No response from him, just like his tenure here in Chicago, Miami, Unv. of Pitt & now Buffalo.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Bad Day for the White Sox....Carlton Fisk arrested for DUI
MLB Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk was arrested for DUI last night in Illinois -- after allegedly driving his truck into the middle of a freakin' corn field ... law enforcement sources tell TMZ.
According to law enforcement sources, the New Lenox PD received a call about a car in the middle of a corn field around 7:20 PM.
When police arrived, officers say they found Fisk behind the wheel of his F-150 -- which had a flat tire -- and he appeared to be fast asleep. We're told cops also found an open vodka bottle in the vehicle.
Fisk was placed under arrest on the scene on suspicion of DUI -- and taken to a nearby hospital for a check-up. We're told he refused a blood alcohol test. His car was impounded.
Fisk was released this morning.
FYI -- Fisk's arrest comes almost exactly 37 years to the day when he hit the 12th inning home run that won Game 6 of the 1975 World Series. (You've seen the clip ... Fisk waved at the ball to stay fair).
Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2012/10/23/carlton-fisk-arrested-dui/#ixzz2A9p7n7te
HE GONE!!!!!!!! The Wizard of OZ....Marlins fire Ozzie Guillen
Ozzie Guillen is out as manager of the Miami Marlins, dismissed Tuesday after one tumultuous season on the job.
Guillen, who led the Chicago White Sox to a World Series championship in 2005, left to sign a four-year deal with the Marlins last September. But Miami went 69-93 and finished last in the NL East.
"After careful consideration following the disappointment of the 2012 season, we decided to dismiss Ozzie," Marlins general manager Larry Beinfest said in a statement.
Guillen had three years and $7.5 million left on his deal.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/chi-reports-marlins-fire-ozzie-guillen-20121023,0,5178192.story
Monday, October 22, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Fellow Lemontster, Vande Velde: I thought doping was the only way
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/globetrotting/chi-vande-velde-i-thought-doping-was-the-only-way-20121017,0,7913982,full.column
Vande Velde: I thought doping was the only way
Apologizing for his past and for cheating other riders, cyclist hopes to restore belief in the sport
About six weeks ago, a few readers sent emails complaining because the Tribune had given no coverage to local cyclist Christian Vande Velde’s victory in the U.S. Pro Challenge stage race in Colorado.
My response was to say we felt leery of writing anything about Vande Velde’s competitive achievements because of unanswered questions.
Why had he declined a chance to compete in the London Olympics? Was it, as had been reported with no confirmation, part of a deal related to Vande Velde’s testimony in the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s investigation of Lance Armstrong? Did that testimony include, as had been suggested, his own admission of doping?
Two years ago, Vande Velde had answered those questions before the federal grand jury hearing evidence against Armstrong. Since then, other than the drip of an occasional anonymous leak, it had been silence, a silence following the code -compared to mafia omerta - that had reigned in elite cycling for decades. Vande Velde, whom I have known since acting as Tribune liaison to the insightful and entertaining diary he wrote as Armstrong won the Tour de France for the first time in 1999, had not returned phone calls or messages.
“The hardest part,” Vande Velde said, “was the 24-month wait.”
That ended last Wednesday, when USADA released an Everest of evidence in its case against Armstrong. It included the sworn affidavit in which Vande Velde admitted both his own doping over eight years and testified to Armstrong’s involvement in the U.S. Postal team’s doping program.
A few days later, as we sat in the rec room of the Lemont home he shares with his wife and two young daughters, Vande Velde expressed a variety of thoughts, from rationalization to remorse to relief, from shame over the past to pride in the example he has tried to set by insisting he has competed clean since early 2006.
“It was two-sided,” he said of his feelings when the answers became public knowledge. “There was relief it was finally going to come out. But nothing can ever prepare you to look at your mistakes in black and white.”
His mistakes began, at age 23, with taking testosterone as Armstrong's teammate in the 1999 Tour. Vande Velde moved on to the blood-booster EPO, then to human growth hormone and a banned corticosteroid. The doping continued even when he left U.S. Postal in 2003, after a confrontation with Armstrong and team director Johan Bruyneel over Vande Velde’s unwillingness to be completely committed to the team’s doping program.
It seemed that escaping the Armstrong orbit would have been a good time for Vande Velde to both ride clean and come clean. It was not.
“I truly thought that (doping) was the only way, that you had to do it,” he said. “I was still in that mindset.
“I had to learn to stop being paranoid about what everyone else was doing. . .it made me a mental milkshake.”
This was the mantra: virtually every elite professional cyclist was using performance-enhancing drugs, and the only way to keep a job as a rider was to go along for that fraudulent ride.
That logic involved both reason and rationalization. It is an answer that mocks absolute ethical values, an answer that raises the mirror question: how does one live with looking in the mirror and seeing a lie, a lie that easy-to-beat doping controls and the complicity of the sport’s leaders helped kept secret?
“My reasoning to myself was this was the next step I took as being a professional,” Vande Velde said. “I really thought I had no other choice at that point in my career. I was wrong, especially because it made my life not a happy place.”
If the team did not have an organized doping program like the one several U.S. Postal riders described in their USADA affidavits, then you would find a doctor to create a personal program or do it mainly on your own, including self-injection into skin or veins. That included the health risk that certain substances (like EPO) might not have been stored or administered properly in the frequently absurd hide-and-go-seek game of getting them to riders surreptitiously.
“Everyone had to have doubts (about the risk), or you’re not thinking it through,” he said. “But for the most part, these were things people were taking in hospitals for many years, not risky, unproven drugs.”
Like most of the doped riders, Vande Velde could not entirely hide what he was doing from a wife or girlfriend. He argued with Leah, his wife of 10 years, about having hypodermic needles in the house.
“She knew but didn’t know,” he said. “I tried to keep her as sheltered as possible.
“I did explain it to her, of course. She was 100 percent against it. I had to block (her objections) out. Those were definitely dark days.”
With the release of the USADA documents, one rider after another – including Vande Velde – has issued a statement taking full responsibility for the cheating and apologizing for it. But there has been criticism that the initial statements did not apologize to those riders who raced clean – no matter how few there may have been. And cyclingnews.com writer Daniel Benson wondered why no one had defended or apologized to those who dared tell the truth, like former U.S. Postal factotum Emma O’Reilly and Betsy Andreu, wife of former U.S. Postal rider Frankie Andreu, who admitted doping six years ago.
According to the New York Times, O’Reilly said Armstrong had called her a prostitute with a drinking problem. Armstrong excoriated Betsy Andreu in every way possible.
Vande Velde rationalized his silence back then by being unwilling to sacrifice his job for them.
“I feel horrible for that,” he said. “I am glad they have had this closure now.”
Tuesday, Vande Velde called from California, where he is taking part in a charity ride for the Challenged Athletes Foundation, to make that point even clearer.
“Regarding Emma, Betsy and Frankie, I am sorry for not speaking up at the time for the three of them,” he said. “They had the courage do what they did, and I wish I had the courage to do the same at the time.”
Several times during our two-hour conversation in Lemont, he apologized to those riders who may have been cheated out of legitimate triumphs, riders who “were strong enough to do what I wasn’t, who did have the heart to do what I couldn’t.
“I’m sorry for what I have done to friends, family, people inside and outside the sport and especially to people who rode clean during those years,” he said.
Vande Velde said Armstrong never had threatened him over the decision to testify to USADA and to the grand jury (which returned no indictment, for reasons that remain baffling and disturbingly unexplained). Several riders have said they received messages or calls from Armstrong and / or his representatives that could politely be described as intimidating attempts to discourage testimony.
But Vande Velde declined to talk about the defrocked 7-time Tour de France champion other than to say, “I’m glad I don’t know what it’s like to be Lance at this point.”
Vande Velde is 36. Like a witness given a degree of immunity in a criminal or civil trial, he received a reduced suspension – six months rather than a minimum two years – from USADA in return for testimony. He cannot compete or train with his team, Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda, until next March 1.
Next year is to be his last as a competitor. His team’s owners, Slipstream Sports, said last week they are “100 percent” behind the three team members who have admitted doping and have been committed to Slipstream’s anti-drug philosophy. Vande Velde's top two Tour de France results – fifth in 2008 and 8th in 2009, when he rode with five broken vertebrae – have come since joining Slipstream.
“I think what we (Slipstream) are doing is more profound than divulging the past,” he said. “But I do think we need to look at the past in order to go into the present.”
The shadow of the past will hang over the sport for years, possibly forever. All professions of adhering to a different code, that of clean sport, will justifiably be seen with a jaundiced eye by a public and media that, as the old saying goes, would feel the shame if they are fooled twice.
To the question of why anyone should accept his assertions of having left doping behind, Vande Velde replied, "Why would I go to jail for sport?”
Vande Velde said his attorney used very blunt terms to make him fully aware of the legal ramifications if it were later shown he had lied when he swore under oath to having been clean since early 2006. He said his USADA affidavit (see "Related Items") detailed every instance of doping. He thinks that should be enough to convince skeptics.
Yet he understands not everyone will accept that explanation. Duplicity is a hard image for an individual or sport to shake. And there remains the feeling that no one would have spoken up without the pressure of a subpoena from federal investigators. That was, after all, the only reason track star Marion Jones confessed to her own doping.
“I agree the shadow will be there,” Vande Velde said. “As of right now, I don’t know what I can do to be any more transparent.
“If people don’t want to believe, they are not going to believe. What I am most proud of is giving belief to the people who want to, whether it’s a six-year-old watching the Tour or the 20-year-old (Lachlan David Morton) who rode with me in the (US Pro Challenge) and has the whole world open to him.”
Midway through our conversation, Leah graciously brought coffee and some chocolate chip cookies she and the little girls had made. Uma and Madeline are five and three. Some day, they will find the evidence, in black and white, of the mistakes their father made.
So what will he tell them when they are old enough to understand?
“That’s why I am doing this interview,” he said. “I want them to know I made a mistake, I took responsibility for my mistakes and then I took actions to better our situation in the sport.”
phersh@tribune.com
Twitter@olyphil
Copyright © 2012, Chicago Tribune
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
For an Armstrong Insider, a Passion for Cycling Gave Way to Corruption
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/12/sports/cycling/for-armstrong-teammate-vande-velde-cycling-passion-gave-way-to-corruption.html?pagewanted=all How could a young Christian Vande Velde know what illicit, deceitful things were in store for him in the sport of cycling when he first fell in love with it?
For him, beginning at age 5, the sport had been an alluring pursuit. Growing up in a Chicago suburb, he awoke daily at 6 a.m. to the familiar hissing sound of a bicycle pump as his father, a two-time Olympian in track cycling, inflated the tires of their bikes so they could ride around their neighborhood.
But by the time Vande Velde hit his early 20s, the sport had taken a dark turn for him as a professional rider. He found himself shooting a banned steroid into his buttocks and submitting himself to injections of undisclosed drugs that made him feel sick. It was all he could do to keep up with the drug use that surrounded him.
His cycling career was not supposed to unfold that way, Vande Velde said in an affidavit that was part of more than 1,000 pages of evidence put forth by the United States Anti-Doping Agency on Wednesday in its doping case against Lance Armstrong.
For all the report suggested about Armstrong’s key role in what the agency called a team-orchestrated doping scheme, it also rendered rare and vivid portraits of individual athletes caught up in a devious plan to cheat and win.
One ended up crying, hysterical and alone in his apartment in Spain, after he felt forced to take his first shot of EPO, the banned endurance booster. Another found himself so anxious after having a banned blood transfusion that a doctor thought he was having a heart attack.
In his affidavit, which was among the antidoping agency’s evidence, Vande Velde, who married his high school sweetheart, described how he went from boy-next-door to athlete trained to drip testosterone-infused oil on his tongue to recover faster and help Armstrong win.
“I never dreamed it would come to that,” Vande Velde said Thursday from his home in Lemont, Ill., one day after his doping admissions became public.
Vande Velde cannot remember life without cycling. His father, John, competed at the 1968 and 1972 Olympics and is a Hall of Famer, and at one time traveled the country with a portable velodrome for track cycling events. John Vande Velde had also appeared in the classic cycling film “Breaking Away” as one of the Team Cinzano bad guys.
The young Christian Vande Velde was enthralled with his father’s fame and pushed hard to be like him. He needed training wheels on his first bike for only two hours. He started begging for his first racing bike at 14.
He was a natural. He won the points race at the 1994 national championships, riding the Schwinn Paramount his father used at the 1972 Games.
Vande Velde walked away from a college cycling scholarship to train at the United States Olympic training center and was so good that the Postal Service team signed him to a contract in 1997, when he was just 21.
The next year, Vande Velde met Armstrong for the first time, at a training camp in California.
“I asked Lance about doping in the sport and his response was to change the subject and say not to worry about it,” Vande Velde said in his affidavit. Later, Vande Velde noticed a Thermos in Armstrong’s bag and it struck him as odd: Armstrong had not been drinking any warm beverages — or anything — out of the Thermos. What could it be for?
That summer, a huge doping bust at the 1998 Tour de France involving the Festina team hinted at what was inside that Thermos and what was going on behind the scenes in cycling.
Vande Velde moved to Girona, Spain, to train with the Postal Service team. There, one of his teammates, Jonathan Vaughters, opened his refrigerator to show Vande Velde something he had never seen before: EPO.
Vande Velde had heard that the drug was used in cycling — but certainly did not hear that from his father. Though the two had cycling in common, they never discussed the sport’s doping problems. Besides, racing full time as a professional in Europe was a different situation than that experienced by his father, whose career never went in that direction, Vande Velde said.
So Christian Vande Velde had to figure things out himself.
That fall at the Vuelta a España, he received his first injection with the team — not of EPO, but of something the team doctor, Luis Garcia del Moral, called “recovery.” Del Moral said it consisted of vitamins.
“He had to calm me down as the injection scared me,” Vande Velde said. “And I didn’t know what was being injected.”
At training camp that year, he received another shot of the “recovery,” and noted that he had to be gaining status with the team. At the 1999 Tour, del Morale finally made it clear that he was administering doping products to riders. He asked Vande Velde: Do you want this testosterone?
Vande Velde grew anxious, “Would it be out of my system in time?” Del Moral did not answer. Vande Velde finally said yes to the steroid, effectively agreeing to join the doping program.
It would pay dividends. By the end of the Tour, Vande Velde was riding along Armstrong down the Champs-Élysées in Paris, in what would be the first of Armstrong’s seven Tour wins. One of the youngest riders in the peloton, Vande Velde helped Armstrong kick off a dominance that the Tour had never seen before. Ahead of him was a career in which he eventually would command a salary approaching $1 million a year.He agreed to let del Moral fashion “a program” for him, which meant the doctor would combine a training program with a drug regimen for maximum performance.
A cortisone shot here, a human growth hormone shot there. Day after day, race after race, the “program” became complicated. The injections were bothering Vande Velde because needles made him skittish, but they were for a cause. Armstrong would constantly yell at him in the mountains: “Go faster, go faster!”
So Vande Velde started working with the Italian doctor Michele Ferrari, a known proponent of doping and Armstrong’s personal trainer. Vande Velde had been introduced to Ferrari by Johan Bruyneel, the team’s manager, and he said he was excited to be one of Ferrari’s clients because he desperately wanted to go faster.
The doctor instructed Vande Velde to start using EPO and follow his rules: Use EPO after dinner. Don’t walk around outside or be available to drug testers for 12 hours. Wear long sleeves in public to hide track marks.
Vande Velde kept calendars from Ferrari that laid out drug use. EPO some days, a testosterone-patch on other. At that point, it seemed a necessary evil for Vande Velde, who was already one of the team’s prized riders and someone who could help Armstrong in the mountains.
The team doctor and trainer delivered his drugs to his hotel room at races. During the 2001 Milan-San Remo race, del Moral even flew to the race to inject him with what Vande Velde called “an undisclosed substance” that made him nauseated.
By that time, Vande Velde also had his own Thermos — just like Armstrong’s. It was filled with ice and vials of EPO.
By 2002, Vande Velde stepped up his doping after Armstrong chastised him for not following Ferrari’s program closely enough. Fearing failure, he did what he was told.
Vande Velde left the Postal Service team at the end of 2003 and decreased his use of doping products until he was riding clean by 2008, he said, when he joined the Garmin-Sharp team — dubbed “the clean team” because of its antidoping stance. Vaughters had started the team, and other former Postal Service riders had found refuge there, too.
Looking back, Vande Velde said he was sorry that his hard work and accomplishments — he finished fifth at the 2008 Tour — would be overshadowed by his bad choices. He said his decision to dope ruined the sport’s simplicity, which he embraced as a boy as he pedaled next to his father all those morning rides.
But more painful than coming clean to the public will be coming clean to his father, he said. He promised his father that he would sit down with him in the next few weeks to tell him everything.
His mother, Joan, learned of his doping through newspaper reports several weeks ago.
“The worst part was that I didn’t get to tell her myself,” said Vande Velde, who lives with his wife and two daughters on eight acres in Lemont, less than two miles from where he grew up.
On Thursday, he answered a reporter’s phone call while doing chores, sounding equal parts exhausted and relieved.
“I’m taking the garbage can in, and my wife still has me doing the dishes,” he said. “I guess life really does go on.”
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Michael Jordan’s 1992 ‘McJordan’ McDonald’s Sauce Hits Ebay for $10K
A man from Chicago purchased a gallon of barbecue sauce intended for use on McDonald's McJordan sandwich in 1992 for $9,995.00 on eBay, according to the item's seller.
This gallon of barbecue sauce sold for nearly $10,000 on eBay, according to the item's seller.
"I've got quite a bit of McDonald's memorabilia," said Mort Bank, a former McDonald's owner-operator in North Dakota. "This was on my shelf, and my daughter who helps me with eBay said, 'I wonder what something like this would be worth?'
"I said, 'I can't imagine anyone else saved it.' It only could have been another owner-operator. We decided to see what we could get. ... I said I can remember a chicken nugget someone said looked like Jesus that sold on eBay for what, $6,000? You have to use your imagination to to even think it looks like that. This is an actual product."
The sandwich was named after Michael Jordan during the Bulls' run of championships, and Bank said the regional McJordan promotion was the first time McDonald's named a sandwich after a person. Its limited production made the sauce a rare item.
Bank would not disclose any information about the buyer other than he's a male from Chicago.
"I assume he's a Bulls fan," Bank said.
Bank, 65, also is a big NBA fan and former Minnesota Timberwolves season-ticket holder.
"I'm a Laker fan (from their days as the Minneapolis Lakers)," he said. "But I loved watching Michael Jordan and consider him one of the greatest ever.
"If the Lakers weren't in the Finals, I'd cheer for the Bulls."
Bank originally had the item up for auction on eBay several months ago, but no bid ever met the minimum price of $10,000. So Bank, who was getting offers for approximately $1,000, said he had to renew it every five days at a cost. He decided to apply a "buy it now" option at $10,000.
"All of a sudden a news story broke, not sure how, but all of a sudden my daughter called and said we were getting all kinds of offers and questions about it," Bank said. "It started spreading on the Internet. People paid attention and started making offers."
Once the offer for $9,995.00 came in, Bank decided to sell.
"If I had known it was going to be red hot on the Internet, I might have done it differently, but $10,000 for barbecue sauce is pretty good," Bank said.
Bank said he sold his seven McDonald's restaurants and started his own themed restaurant chain called Space Aliens with four in North Dakota and two in Minnesota.
http://espn.go.com/chicago/nba/story/_/id/8511732/gallon-1992-michael-jordan-barbecue-sauce-sells-10000-ebay
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Gary's Finest, George Papadapolis aka Monjo aka Alex Karras dies at 77 today,
Alex Karras, an All-Pro defensive tackle for the Detroit Lions who later worked as a "Monday Night Football" co-host and parlayed his hulking strength into a Hollywood acting career, died Wednesday. He was 77.
Karras died at his Los Angeles home, his attorney Craig Mitnick told the Associated Press. Karras had suffered kidney failure days earlier, the latest in a variety of health problems that included dementia and cancer.
A dominant fixture on Detroit's defensive front for 12 seasons, Karras was known to millions for his role as "Mongo," the monosyllabic, horse-punching brute in the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy "Blazing Saddles." He later starred in the ABC sitcom "Webster," which ran from 1983 to 1987.
Although he stood 6-foot-3, the 248-pound Karras was wide enough to be stocky, and he routinely fought his way past blockers at the line of scrimmage to burst into the offensive backfield. He was named to four Pro Bowls, and was also named All-Pro – an even more exclusive honor – four times. The Lions named him to their All-Decade Team for the 1960s.
"Perhaps no player in Lions history attained as much success and notoriety for what he did after his playing days as did Alex," Lions President Tom Lewand said in a statement released Monday, when it was learned that Karras was gravely ill.
"We know Alex first and foremost as one of the cornerstones to our Fearsome Foursome defensive line of the 1960s and also as one of the greatest defensive linemen to ever play in the NFL. Many others across the country came to know Alex as an accomplished actor and as an announcer during the early years of 'Monday Night Football.'"
Karras' playing career was interrupted by controversy, however. In 1963, the NFL urged him to sell his financial interests in a Detroit bar rumored to be associated with gambling and organized crime. Karras first threatened to retire, then admitted to placing bets on NFL games. He was suspended for one season, along with Green Bay running back Paul Hornung.
Showing an early flair for theatrics, Karras dabbled in pro wrestling during his exile from the NFL, taking on "Dick the Bruiser" – former Packers lineman Dick Afflis – at Olympia Stadium in Detroit.
The early part of that match went according to plan, including Karras punching Afflis in his eye patch, causing fake blood to flow. The two eventually scrapped the script, though, with Afflis grabbing Karras by the throat, pinning him, and later admonishing: "Football players should leave wrestling to wrestlers and go back to their betting."
When he returned to the Lions in 1964, Karras poked fun at his own reputation, once refusing when a referee asked him to call the pregame coin toss.
"I'm sorry, sir," Karras said. "I'm not permitted to gamble."
Born July 15, 1935, in Gary, Ind., Alexander George Karras was the third son of George and Emmiline Karras, a Greek immigrant doctor and nurse, who lived in an apartment above their medical practice. His brothers Lou and Ted would also become NFL players, although neither was as successful as their younger brother.
Alex played at the University of Iowa, where he won the Outland Trophy as college football's dominant lineman, and helped the Hawkeyes to victory over Oregon State in the 1957 Rose Bowl.
A first-round draft pick of Detroit in 1958, Karras played with the Lions until 1971, when his contract was terminated because of what team officials called "diminishing athletic prowess."
"It's really very sad for most guys," Karras told the Detroit Free Press about the way football careers often end. "They've been playing football all their lives. They're 31, say, and whack! A knee injury or something and they're on the street, with no idea how to spend the rest of their lives."
Karras dabbled in acting during his NFL career, playing himself in the 1968 movie "Paper Lion," based on George Plimpton's nonfiction sports book.
When his NFL career ended, Karras moved to Hollywood to pursue acting full time. He made cameo appearances in several popular TV shows, among them "Love, American Style," "The Odd Couple," "McMillan & Wife," and "MASH."
He worked in the "Monday Night Football" broadcast booth from 1974 to 1976, alongside Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford. Newsweek described Karras as "a gleefully free-spirited amalgam of Babe Ruth, Nathan Detroit and Archie Bunker."
To some, he is best remembered for his role in "Blazing Saddles," a role he secured by dressing in ragged clothes and pounding Mongo-style on the front door of the director's home. Brooks gave him the part on the spot.
One of the movie's most famous scenes is Mongo flooring a horse with a one-punch knockout. The horse was unharmed.
"I thought it was hilarious, but I didn't want to hurt that horse at all, believe me," Karras said in a 2011 interview with the "Sports and Torts" Internet radio show. "I'm not the type of person to do that."
His longest-running role was on "Webster," in which he and his real-life wife, Susan Clark, were the adoptive parents of the title character, played by Emmanuel Lewis.
Karras' survivors include his wife; his sons, George, Alex Jr. and Peter; and daughter, Katie.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Monday, October 8, 2012
Monday, October 1, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
To Darren......There is someone else that eats a chicken sandwich at a burger joint.
A Sandwich a Day: Chicken Breast Sandwich with Bacon from Epic Burger
As far as recently opened Chicago burger chains go, Epic Burger is my favorite. Their relatively thin-pattied burgers are balanced and flavorful, and their fries are pretty good, too. But although the menu seems to operate on a KISS philosophy, there are options for the non-ground beef inclined as well. The Chicken Breast Sandwich ($5.99) comes on the same oatmeal-flecked bun as the burgers, and as long as you ask, will be topped with lettuce, tomato, pickle, Epic Sauce, and grilled or raw onions. As far as chicken breasts go, this one is relatively tender, with plenty of crunch-producing char to make up for the cut's inherent dryness. The real draw, though, are the toppings. Fresh and crisp, these vegetables would brighten any sandwich they were party to. A few slices of rich and crispy Bacon ($0.99) didn't hurt things, either.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
GO Phillips!!!! Chicago teachers strike
In front of my building
The Chicago teacher's walkout is the first in 25 years. Key issues separating the Chicago Pubic Schools and the Chicago Teacher's Union this time are: salaries and benefits, job security and teacher evaluations.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Jerry Lawler Collapses: WWE Announcer Received CPR, Rushed To Hospital During RAW
Commentator Jerry Lawler suffered a heart attack Monday during a live broadcast of WWE's "Monday Night Raw" in Montreal.
The 62-year-old Lawler, nicknamed "The King," was stricken as he and announcing partner Michael Cole were providing commentary during a tag-team match featuring Kane and Daniel Bryan versus The Prime Time Players.
Midway through the match, the commentary suddenly stopped and snoring sounds could be heard. In the background of one TV shot, Lawler could be briefly glimpsed slumping over in his chair as several people in the stands turn their attention to the announcers' table.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-jerry-lawler-20120911,0,4384050.story
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Da Bears!!! Kickoff
Burt Reynolds at my house to watch the Chicago Bears take on the Colts.
Bill Murray glad to watch the Chicago Bears play.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Atlanta: Richard Blais Brings Juicy Lucy to The Spence; You Should Bring a Napkin
I hate to start a review with a disclaimer, but I feel it's necessary. Here it is: I've never watched Top Chef. (I know. Bad foodie, bad foodie.) So, as sacrilegious as it may be to admit, Richard Blais isn't a rockstar to me. As a result, I didn't venture into his newest intown restaurant with the same kind of wide-eyed, do-you-see-him-is-he-here-oh-my-god-I-think-that's-him breathlessness as (seemingly) the rest of Atlanta. But the early buzz has been that The Spence is an instant add to the city's roster of true top-flight eateries—and that there's an amazing interpretation of the famed Jucy Lucy on the menu.
More than one person I know has called Blais' take on the Minneapolis classic "the best burger I've ever had." And while that casual claim doesn't generally carry much weight with me, I knew I needed to check this one out. I mean, Blais does know the milieu, having all but single-handedly kickstarted the local gourmet burger boom back in late 2008 with FLIP Burger Boutique. I won't play spoiler by blowing my reviewer wad here in the second paragraph, but if your spidey-sense is tingling after seeing that top photo, you're on the right track.
Continue...
http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2012/08/the-spence-juicy-lucy-burger-review-atlanta-ga.html?ref=thumb
The Spence
75 5th Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30308 (Map); 404-892-9111; www.thespenceatl.com
Cooking Method: Wood-grilled
Short Order: The trendy new hotspot from celebrity molecular gastronomist Richard Blais does wild things with food, but his Juicy Lucy is prone to leaking
Want Fries with That? Blais' triple-cooked fries are among the best you'll taste... even when they're subpar
Price: Juicy Lucy, $13 at lunch, $14 at dinner
Monday, August 27, 2012
Friday, August 24, 2012
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Former Bear to run for Romeoville mayor, Mongo!!!!!! WTF, in Romeoville.
Former Chicago Bear Steve McMichael said today that he intends to run for mayor of southwest suburban Romeoville.
He announced his mayoral plans this morning on 1340 WJOL, a Will County talk radio station, and later confirmed his political intentions when contacted by the Tribune.
“I am dead serious about this,” said McMichael, a member of the 1985 Super Bowl champion Bears who has lived in a townhouse in Romeoville since April. “I am not a politician. I am someone who will not delegate over the people. I will listen to them and act on what they want to see in the community.”
McMichael, owner of Mongo McMichael's restaurant and sports bar in Romeoville, said he was encouraged to run by his customers.
McMichael said many of his customers are unhappy with various issues in the village including a lack of businesses and empty store fronts, especially on the east side of town.
McMichael said he has a plan to spruce up the town but did not want to share specifics yet. He plans to seek signatures in October to be on the mayoral ballot and expects to run against Mayor John Noak in the April election.
Noak defended the east side of the village, saying there are plans to build a new downtown area and community center.
"Good things are happening in the village," Noak said.
As for McMichael, Noak said everyone has a right to seek elected office. Noak, who has been mayor since 2008, said he will make a statement in the coming months about whether he plans to seek re-election.
McMichael, who has a 4-year-old daughter, said he used to live in a condo in downtown Chicago but moved to Romeoville so his daughter can grow up in a small town environment.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
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