FROM MIKE PATRICK ... TO "SNUFFY" ... TO JOHN CENA
Of all things …
Say goodbye (It’s been good to know you.) to … MIKE
PATRICK, one of the best -- and least egotistical --
national sportscasters, who died Wednesday. He was 80
… From 1978 to 2006, we wrote a radio-TV column fpr
The Times-Dispatch. And I can say, without reservation,
he was a delight … always pleasant … and seldom
without something interesting to say … We got to know
Patrick when he did ACC football for Jefferson-Pilot in
1984 (with KEVIN KILEY) and 1985 (with HAVEN
MOSESand Richmond’s KEN WILLARD) … He later
spent 36 years with ESPN, probably best-known for
Sunday Night NFL Football until replaced in 2006 by AL
MICHAELS … Like Michaels, he did everything well
… Good man, Mike Patrick. R.I.P.
Many thanks to The NFL Channel for this tidbit of
information … in the 1940 draft No. 11 overall was
GEORGE “SNUFFY” STIRNWEISS by the Chicago
Cardinals … “out of North Carolina … so why is he
wearing a baseball uniform? Because he never played a
NFL down. He signed with the Yankees,” … and played
second base in a 13-year career that started in Virginia
with the Norfolk Tars and ran through New York and St.
Louis (Browns), ending in Cleveland (1952) … What
KYLE BRANDTand the other network know-it-alls
probably didn’t know was that Stirnweiss coached
football at Red Bank, N.J., Catholic High School a year
or so before dying in a freak train accident en route to
New York City in 1958 …. How freak(y) was it? Well …
the engineer failed to observe a signal to stop. The track
ahead was under repair ,,, and the train wento into
Newark Bay, killing 47 among them Stirnweiss. He was
39 years old.
Say it isn’t so … On his way out from a life of make-
believe. JOHN CENA decided to leave the WWE the
way he came in – as a bad guy. Some of you might
remember the rassler, who spent most of his 20-year-plus
career as the quintessential baby face, started as a rap-
spewing villian, which didn’t last long, thankfully,
because Cena was not very good at it … The decision to
turn him into a good guy was a master stroke … and he
became such a hero (for his work with the Make-a-Wish
Foundation) that, until now, any thoughts about Cena
going to the dark side of the business were quickly
discarded …. Don’t be surprised if this turn doesn’t last
long … that Cena finally will walk away to another job of
make-believe (Hollywood actor) the good guy he was
meant to be … Not to worry. The writers will figure it
out, and do right by him.
Until next time ...
Comments
Post a Comment