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I own five, maybe six football jerseys. They're all of the same player: twelve-time Pro Bowler and future Hall of Famer (Tiaina Baul) Junior Seau. I named the main character in my thesis after him. Have his action figures, have a collectible card of him dressed up like a stealth fighter. Calling him my favorite professional athlete is...yeah, pretty much right on the money.
And now he's dead at 43. Yes, this brings the '94 Chargers death toll up to eight, but none of them could be as much of a gutpunch as this (and nothing as shocking, reminding me too much of the sudden loss of Reggie Lewis 19 years ago). For now, probably the definitive word on the man comes from Eric Olsen, offensive lineman for the New Orleans Saints (distilled from his Twitter feed):
Wow this is a tough one.. When I was a frosh in HS Junior Seau worked the Jay Fiedler Football camp and at the end of one of the days he challenged any1 to a 1 on 1. Being one of the 'big' kids, I was volunteered by my buddies and went up in front of the whole camp to face...This monster of a man. Shaking in my cleats, he gave me a wink before a coach gave the cadence. He let me pancake him. And he sold it too...I can't even tell you how good I felt at that moment; it changed me forever. The whole camp cheered for me, a chubby kid that didn't know...If he even liked football. From then on I was addicted. All thanks 2 this 10 time all-pro that felt like making some snot-nosed kid's day...Doesn't seem like much but it meant a lot to me. Sorry for the essay just had to share. RIP Junior I'll never forget what you did for me.
In 1997, Junior won the NFL's Man of the Year award. Ten years earlier, Dave Duerson won that award. Last year Duerson texted his family to say that he wanted to donate his brain for research into the links between professional football and degenerative brain damage, then killed himself with a gunshot to the chest.
Former teammate turned commentator Marcellus Wiley said "Today is the worst day." I hate to admit it, but he's right. A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave....
So, yeah. Picspam. Many of these are (as Junior was) always in motion, so be prepared. Also find what appears to be a storyboard of the first draft of the Avengers script before Joss tightened it up. ( 36 pics below.... )
And now he's dead at 43. Yes, this brings the '94 Chargers death toll up to eight, but none of them could be as much of a gutpunch as this (and nothing as shocking, reminding me too much of the sudden loss of Reggie Lewis 19 years ago). For now, probably the definitive word on the man comes from Eric Olsen, offensive lineman for the New Orleans Saints (distilled from his Twitter feed):
Wow this is a tough one.. When I was a frosh in HS Junior Seau worked the Jay Fiedler Football camp and at the end of one of the days he challenged any1 to a 1 on 1. Being one of the 'big' kids, I was volunteered by my buddies and went up in front of the whole camp to face...This monster of a man. Shaking in my cleats, he gave me a wink before a coach gave the cadence. He let me pancake him. And he sold it too...I can't even tell you how good I felt at that moment; it changed me forever. The whole camp cheered for me, a chubby kid that didn't know...If he even liked football. From then on I was addicted. All thanks 2 this 10 time all-pro that felt like making some snot-nosed kid's day...Doesn't seem like much but it meant a lot to me. Sorry for the essay just had to share. RIP Junior I'll never forget what you did for me.
In 1997, Junior won the NFL's Man of the Year award. Ten years earlier, Dave Duerson won that award. Last year Duerson texted his family to say that he wanted to donate his brain for research into the links between professional football and degenerative brain damage, then killed himself with a gunshot to the chest.
Former teammate turned commentator Marcellus Wiley said "Today is the worst day." I hate to admit it, but he's right. A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave....
So, yeah. Picspam. Many of these are (as Junior was) always in motion, so be prepared. Also find what appears to be a storyboard of the first draft of the Avengers script before Joss tightened it up. ( 36 pics below.... )
As noted by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
beagle1971 -- seven of the 53 members of the 1994 San Diego Chargers (who made it to, and got obliterated in, Super Bowl XXIX) have died before the age of 45. Linebacker David Griggs died in a self-inflicted DUI a month after receiving his AFC championship ring, running back Rodney Culver was killed in the ValuJet plane crash in the Everglades, and linebacker Doug Miller was struck by lightning -- twice. That's just cruel.
Speaking of inherent cruelty, I found 2011 playoff odds. If these numbers are to be believed, the Chefs are not mathematically eliminated. Granted, 0.6% is the smallest nonzero probability in the 32 teams, but that's better than Cleveland, Jacksonville, Indy, Washington, Minnesota, Carolina, Tampa Bay or St. Louis. The Bolts are hovering at 5.2%, which is delusionally optimistic, but that's math for you. The only team in the AFC to clinch so far is Houston, which has never been to the playoffs before. So, uhm, that's...atypical.
Interestingly, the Jaguars have placed 27 players on injured reserve this year. That's more than half a roster. At least they're still alive.
beagle1971 -- seven of the 53 members of the 1994 San Diego Chargers (who made it to, and got obliterated in, Super Bowl XXIX) have died before the age of 45. Linebacker David Griggs died in a self-inflicted DUI a month after receiving his AFC championship ring, running back Rodney Culver was killed in the ValuJet plane crash in the Everglades, and linebacker Doug Miller was struck by lightning -- twice. That's just cruel.Speaking of inherent cruelty, I found 2011 playoff odds. If these numbers are to be believed, the Chefs are not mathematically eliminated. Granted, 0.6% is the smallest nonzero probability in the 32 teams, but that's better than Cleveland, Jacksonville, Indy, Washington, Minnesota, Carolina, Tampa Bay or St. Louis. The Bolts are hovering at 5.2%, which is delusionally optimistic, but that's math for you. The only team in the AFC to clinch so far is Houston, which has never been to the playoffs before. So, uhm, that's...atypical.
Interestingly, the Jaguars have placed 27 players on injured reserve this year. That's more than half a roster. At least they're still alive.
Anne McCaffrey is gone; Breaking Dawn Part I was the fifth-highest-grossing weekend release ever. You are allowed to despair.
( 76 pics below.... )
( 76 pics below.... )
You're all my best friends. You all, and the girl with the cello, and the Esteemed Colleague from Elsewhere, you're all my guys, you know that, right? Cause know that. It's true. You're my team. If things get freaky again, I need you all on my side to dig me out. Don't let me die in an unholy place. And protect yourselves. You're the best. Take care of all of you all, even the ones you don't know; they're worth it, promise you.
I'm always there. Always gonna be there.
(Edit: I don't remember making this post. But it's still true.)
I'm always there. Always gonna be there.
(Edit: I don't remember making this post. But it's still true.)
I was looking forward to watching Dwayne McDuffie's adaptation of Grant Morrison's simply exemplary All-Star Superman for video when it came out today. But now word reaches me that McDuffie died today.
He made his biggest splash primarily in animation, but his comic work would stand on its own impressively in its own right.
I'm just...damn. I don't know.
He made his biggest splash primarily in animation, but his comic work would stand on its own impressively in its own right.
I'm just...damn. I don't know.
I was randomly websurfing and flipping through Wikipedia -- as is my wont -- the other day when I stumbled headlong onto the entry for Leo Ryan, the congressman who was investigating Jonestown and killed in 1978...but I noted with no small sense of surprise that the article mentioned that he was the first and only congressman to be killed in the line of duty. Until today.
Simply intolerable.
Simply intolerable.
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Getting the feeling that this is going to be a goddamned brutal year.
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From a comment on Deadspin: “In high school I was (and perhaps still am) a recidivist quoter of Neilsen’s lines in Airplane! and the Police Squad/Naked Gun series. When graduation came around, I had some additional invites left over, and decided to send one to him just for shits and giggles. While he didn’t attend, he did send a nice congratulatory note and an autographed picture.
Years later I ran into him at a country club in Arizona, and I brought up the invitation and his nice response. He actually remembered it and was kind enough to spend a few minutes to chat with me. I saw him a few times after that, and each time he remembered me and took the time to talk and catch up. An awesome comedic actor and a great guy. RIP, Leslie.”
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NBC's Tim Russert dead at 58.
A lot of journalists find it hard to balance objectivity with holding people accountable. Russert seemed to excel at it, especially recently. He wasn't perfect, but he was at the top of his game, certainly a voice of reason in an increasingly polarized field. A severe and painful loss to the industry, to politics and to American discourse.
A lot of journalists find it hard to balance objectivity with holding people accountable. Russert seemed to excel at it, especially recently. He wasn't perfect, but he was at the top of his game, certainly a voice of reason in an increasingly polarized field. A severe and painful loss to the industry, to politics and to American discourse.
Dith Pran, the Cambodian-born journalist whose harrowing tale of enslavement and eventual escape from that country's murderous Khmer Rouge revolutionaries in 1979 became the subject of the award-winning film "The Killing Fields," died Sunday, his former colleague said.
..."Pran was a true reporter, a fighter for the truth and for his people," Schanberg said. "When cancer struck, he fought for his life again. And he did it with the same Buddhist calm and courage and positive spirit that made my brother so special."
..."Pran was a true reporter, a fighter for the truth and for his people," Schanberg said. "When cancer struck, he fought for his life again. And he did it with the same Buddhist calm and courage and positive spirit that made my brother so special."
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Via MightyGodKing, word that Gary Gygax has died.
I can't even begin to imagine the level of influence the man has over gaming/geek culture, and by osmosis, pop culture, even modern culture as a whole.
I can't even begin to imagine the level of influence the man has over gaming/geek culture, and by osmosis, pop culture, even modern culture as a whole.
Bill Buckley is dead, and in an age where political discourse is constantly getting dragged to the levels of the lowest common denominator, to those who can shock and outrage and get the most attention, losing a voice for which the word "erudite" immediately springs to mind is a loss not just for the conservative movement, but for the national dialogue as a whole.
On a slightly less grim note, did anyone else watch the debate last night? Because I've never seen my estimation of a person's political future not as much fall or even plummet as...switch completely off in an instant before. We're talking "Yes, I can see this person being the next POTUS" one moment, and the next being...gravely worried for that person's well-being in that Britney-Spears-kinda-way. It was a bloody Greek tragedy, just not one for which I have any degree of empathy. Barring unprecedented catastrophe, the Democratic primary is over on Tuesday or Wednesday morning, but for all practical purposes, it ended last night.
On a slightly less grim note, did anyone else watch the debate last night? Because I've never seen my estimation of a person's political future not as much fall or even plummet as...switch completely off in an instant before. We're talking "Yes, I can see this person being the next POTUS" one moment, and the next being...gravely worried for that person's well-being in that Britney-Spears-kinda-way. It was a bloody Greek tragedy, just not one for which I have any degree of empathy. Barring unprecedented catastrophe, the Democratic primary is over on Tuesday or Wednesday morning, but for all practical purposes, it ended last night.
Steve Gerber, brilliant and pleasantly mad man of comics, dead at 60 of pulmonary fibrosis. He leaves a rich and varied four-color legacy, and just kept on creating.
I'll only include the second graf of this absolutely mind-blowing little story: I think it speaks for itself.
"The thing that really makes me feel much better about this is they died doing what they loved to do — they were drinking, they were going fast and they were together," Lorie Flaherty said. "It gives me comfort, it does, to know those three things."
"The thing that really makes me feel much better about this is they died doing what they loved to do — they were drinking, they were going fast and they were together," Lorie Flaherty said. "It gives me comfort, it does, to know those three things."
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Dear universe: Please stop killing my fantasy players. This is the second time this year it's happened. It's making me reconsider my free agent strategy....
I'm rationalizing, of course -- mainly because I'm tired of watching people getting cut down and extinguished before their prime. Yesterday it was surreal, today it's simply sad.
I'm rationalizing, of course -- mainly because I'm tired of watching people getting cut down and extinguished before their prime. Yesterday it was surreal, today it's simply sad.
She was a powerful force amongst my cohorts, back in the day, and she left her mark. ( 34 pics below.... )
A couple of dozen Gig Harbor High School students are demonstrating outside the school today to protest the use of a surveillance camera to catch two girls kissing.
One student reporting the demonstration for the school paper, Amber Critchley, says they are saying the school shouldn't have interfered and that sexual orientation shouldn't matter.
Principal Greg Schellenberg says the protest is a disruption but classes are continuing.
...He says the school does not target gay and lesbian students.
Oh, no chilling effects here at all. Idiots.
In other news, rest in peace, Herbert Kornfeld. The H-Dog lives on.
One student reporting the demonstration for the school paper, Amber Critchley, says they are saying the school shouldn't have interfered and that sexual orientation shouldn't matter.
Principal Greg Schellenberg says the protest is a disruption but classes are continuing.
...He says the school does not target gay and lesbian students.
Oh, no chilling effects here at all. Idiots.
In other news, rest in peace, Herbert Kornfeld. The H-Dog lives on.
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