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Post by foxley on Apr 12, 2022 10:11:57 GMT -5
British thriller writer Jack Higgins (real name Henry Patterson) has died at the age of 92. Higgins best known book is The Eagle Has Landed about a Nazi plot to kidnap Winston Churchill, which was made into a film in 1976 starring Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland, Jenny Agutter, and Robert Duvall.  Love Eagle Has Landed. I picked up a couple of his other titles; but, never got around to reading them and gave them away, in a move. Higgins was a very reliable writer, and his other stuff is generally worth a read (not that I have read all of it), especially if you enjoyed Eagle. |
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Post by Cei-U! on Apr 12, 2022 17:57:48 GMT -5
Comedian Gilbert Gottfried has passed at age 67. I'm really bummed out about this. His podcast has been one of the things that has made the last two years of isolation bearable. RIP, Gil. You were one of a kind.
Cei-U!
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Post by tartanphantom on Apr 12, 2022 21:08:35 GMT -5
Comedian Gilbert Gottfried has passed at age 67. I'm really bummed out about this. His podcast has been one of the things that has made the last two years of isolation bearable. RIP, Gil. You were one of a kind. Cei-U!
Gilbert's Giant Colossal Podcast is one of the best all-around podcasts, bar none.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2022 0:15:23 GMT -5
Gottfried's voiceover work in animation was fantastic as well, besides of course his classic role as Iago in Aladdin, who can forget this classic performance as Mr. Mxyzptlk? RIP Gilbert...you are missed!  |
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Post by foxley on Apr 15, 2022 4:14:58 GMT -5
Australian golfing legend Jack Newton has died at the age of 72. In the early-to-mid 70s, Newton was possibly the best golfer in Australia, and on his way to becoming one of the best in the world. However, his career was cut short (literally) when he walked into a plane propeller and lost his right arm and eye. And as is always the case, this tragedy immediately spawned at least one tasteless joke: Q: How much force does to it take to stop an aeroplane propeller? A: Half a newton.  |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2022 19:17:20 GMT -5
RIP to long time NHL star and NY Islanders great Mike Bossy who passed away at age 65. ESPN obit-M |
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Post by berkley on Apr 17, 2022 3:44:55 GMT -5
RIP to long time NHL star and NY Islanders great Mike Bossy who passed away at age 65. ESPN obit-M
very, very sad. I knew he had cancer but had kind of got used to the idea and never expected him to die so young - as 65 is in now, for "the West", or whatever term you want to assign to it. Since I gave up cable several years ago, pretty much all of my hockey watching has been done online, and the broadcast I've seen most consistently during that time has been Quebec one that Bossy did commentary for, so I've been seeing him on tv pretty regularly, or had been until I cut down my hockey viewing the last year or so. He was a good analyst - as insightful as you'd expect from an ex-player of his calibre, someone who'd played with and against the very best; but he was also good because his pleasant personality came through in everything he said.
As a player, Bossy always made me regret that Montreal didn't draft him - IIRC, they had the opportunity and passed him by, as did several other teams: the story goes that there was a scouting report that said "he couldn't check a suitcase" - as if that mattered when you had the once in a generation scoring touch he had.
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Post by Icctrombone on Apr 17, 2022 5:39:09 GMT -5
Liz Sheridan 93 , and Estelle Harris also 93 both passed away last week. They are both most famous for being Jerry and George's moms in Seinfeld.
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Post by foxley on Apr 17, 2022 7:54:24 GMT -5
Chris Bailey, singer/songwriter of the pioneering Australian punk rock band The Saints, died last week at the age of 65.  |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 21, 2022 13:45:08 GMT -5
R. I. P. Daryle "The Mad Bomber" Lamonica. I was just a little tike when Lamonica retired, but I remember him being reknowned for his love of the deep ball.  |
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Post by Mister Spaceman on Apr 21, 2022 14:27:14 GMT -5
Chris Bailey, singer/songwriter of the pioneering Australian punk rock band The Saints, died last week at the age of 65. Hadn't heard this news. A real bummer. Those first three Saints albums are terrific. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 21, 2022 14:30:06 GMT -5
I well remember watching Lamonica firing pass after pass to Fred Biletnikoff, the sticky-fingered Oakland wide receiver. Wasn't a Raider fan, but you couldn't help love the gritty quality to their game. Lamonica established the Raiders as a force in the league when he showed up in 1967.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 21, 2022 14:42:06 GMT -5
I well remember watching Lamonica firing pass after pass to Fred Biletnikoff, the sticky-fingered Oakland wide receiver. Wasn't a Raider fan, but you couldn't help love the gritty quality to their game. Lamonica established the Raiders as a force in the league when he showed up in 1967. I was a Raiders fan as a youngster. This would have been after Lamonica had retired and Stabler was the starter. It really was because of the play style. I loved that long ball excitement. It was also before they were completely embraced by the absolute worst elements of sports fandom. |
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Post by The Captain on Apr 22, 2022 10:43:59 GMT -5
Hockey legend Guy Lafleur passed away at the age of 70. No cause of death has been given yet.
Lafleur starred for the Montreal Canadiens in the 1970s and early 80s before retiring in November 1984 at the age of 33. He shocked the hockey world by returning to the NHL in 1988, not with the Canadiens but with a fellow Original 6 team in the New York Rangers. Even more scandalous was when he went to Montreal’s hated rival, the Quebec Nordiques, for his final two seasons before retiring for good following the 1990-1991 season at the age of 39.
He was part of 5 Stanley Cup winners in Montreal, was the first NHL player to score 50 goals in 6 consecutive seasons, and finished his career with 560 goals and 793 assists (regular season), which is still good for 29th on the all-time list (only three active players are within 250 points of him, and none are likely to catch him based on their ages and current production trend).
It is always interesting to consider how NHL history would have been different if the California Golden Seals hadn’t traded the first overall pick in the 1971 draft to Montreal for what amounted to virtually nothing (Ernie Hicke, who put up 70 total points in two seasons with the Golden Seals, and the 10th overall pick in the 1970 draft, a kid named Chris Oddleifson, who was traded to Boston before ever playing a game for California and had a solid yet unspectacular career mostly with Vancouver). Rumors have swirled for years that the NHL pressured California to make the trade with Montreal so that Lafleur, the expected next big French-Canadian star, would stay in Canada and play for the Canadiens rather than go to a struggling expansion franchise in America and on the West Coast. This is highly unlikely to be the case, as the pick that netted Montreal Lafleur was in the following year’s draft and the league would have had no way of knowing that California would finish last, so it makes for a good conspiracy but is almost certainly nothing more than that.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2022 11:19:04 GMT -5
Hockey legend Guy Lafleur passed away at the age of 70. No cause of death has been given yet. Lafleur starred for the Montreal Canadiens in the 1970s and early 80s before retiring in November 1984 at the age of 33. He shocked the hockey world by returning to the NHL in 1988, not with the Canadiens but with a fellow Original 6 team in the New York Rangers. Even more scandalous was when he went to Montreal’s hated rival, the Quebec Nordiques, for his final two seasons before retiring for good following the 1990-1991 season at the age of 39. He was part of 5 Stanley Cup winners in Montreal, was the first NHL player to score 50 goals in 6 consecutive seasons, and finished his career with 560 goals and 793 assists (regular season), which is still good for 29th on the all-time list (only three active players are within 250 points of him, and none are likely to catch him based on their ages and current production trend). It is always interesting to consider how NHL history would have been different if the California Golden Seals hadn’t traded the first overall pick in the 1971 draft to Montreal for what amounted to virtually nothing (Ernie Hicke, who put up 70 total points in two seasons with the Golden Seals, and the 10th overall pick in the 1970 draft, a kid named Chris Oddleifson, who was traded to Boston before ever playing a game for California and had a solid yet unspectacular career mostly with Vancouver). Rumors have swirled for years that the NHL pressured California to make the trade with Montreal so that Lafleur, the expected next big French-Canadian star, would stay in Canada and play for the Canadiens rather than go to a struggling expansion franchise in America and on the West Coast. This is highly unlikely to be the case, as the pick that netted Montreal Lafleur was in the following year’s draft and the league would have had no way of knowing that California would finish last, so it makes for a good conspiracy but is almost certainly nothing more than that. Aside from Gordie Howe, Lafleur was my dad's favorite hockey player, and whenever we talked hockey, my dad would bring him up. Being of French-Canadian descent, my dad was a huge Canadiens fan prior to the Whalers being formed, and continued to root for them even afterwards. RIP Mr. Lafluer and thank you for the many conversations with my father you inspired. -M |
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