Mighty Macs Mighty Good

I attended the world premier of the Tim Chambers film The Mighty Macs last night at the Kimmell Center in Philadelphia.

My suggestion is that you lace up your sneakers, load up on some hankies, and make a wind sprint down to your local theater on October 21st to see this groundbreaking film that chronicles the amazing story of tiny Immaculata College winning the 1972 NCAA Women's basketball championship.

This film stars Carla Cuggino as Cathy Rush, David Boreanaz as her husband (and former NBA referee) Ed Rush, and Ellen Burstyn as Mother Superior and takes you on a delightful journey back in time to the psychedelic days the early 70's when women's sports were hardly a blip on the radar screen. Cuggino, who plays a role similar to Gene Hackman in the epic hoops film Hoosiers, does an amazing job of capturing the frustration and passion that went along with the unenviable task of taking a cash strapped program with no facilities and turning it into a champion.

Chambers captures the essence of the emotion with his fast paced action and timely edits. The score (London Philharmonic) along with hits from the 70's provide an enjoyable backdrop to the G-rated action that any father would be comfortable taking his little girl to see.

Chambers has taken a stand and is taking on Hollywood to help bring the "family" back to family entertainment.

And to me...that's a slam dunk.

Political Nostradamus

Here is my theory. You tell me if it is plausible.

President Barack Obama is sinking like a stone. He announces he will not run for a second term which opens the door for Hillary Clinton. Forget Joe Biden...no how, no way he gets the nomination.

The Republicans, partially in response to this panic move, give the nomination to Herman Cain (an increasingly impressive choice, I might add).

A long shot? Just remember, you heard it here first.

One Of A Kind

Some people are just larger than life....and Al Davis was absolutely one of those people.

During his storied NFL football career, Al Davis held the positions of assistant coach, head coach, GM, owner, and league commissioner of the AFL. If there was a more qualified individual in his field of endeavor, or one who was more passionate and dedicated to his company or team, I would certainly like to meet him or her.

I had two brief encounters with Al Davis. The first was pregame at the 1980 Super Bowl. I noticed him a distance milling around the field pregame. Whirling with constant motion and enthusiasm, his hands were clapping with such great intensity I felt like offering him a pair of receivers gloves to save the skin on his palms. Entering that game, I was sure my Philadelphia Eagles were going to win, but after witnessing Davis and his demeanor prior to the game, I wasn't so sure. Unfortunately for us, my premonition was correct.

Many years later my ex-Stars teammate Chuck Fusina and I were the guests of Dick Vermeil and Carl Peterson for a Kansas City Chiefs vs. Oakland Raiders game at Arrowhead Stadium. While taking a tour of the press box and suites, a moody and tempermental Al Davis passed us in the hallway while being wheeled to his private box in a wheelchair. Davis was barking at his handlers, the Chiefs staff, and pretty much anyone within earshot. You see Al Davis wanted it his way, and for him there was no other way.

He was also a man of courage and conviction. Most people don't know that although he was the AFL commissioner in the late 60's when the leagues merged, he was AGAINST the merger because he felt eventually the AFL would be a superior league. And when the struggling USFL took on the NFL with their anti-trust lawsuit in 1986, Al Davis actually testified FOR the USFL. Davis loved backing the underdog, and standing up for what he believed regardless of the circumstances. For him, it was as clear as black and white.....OK, we'll fudge a little bit here and say black and silver. Regardless of the color scheme, right was right and politics be damned in his eyes.

So Al Davis now resides with George Halas, Vince Lombardi, and the other icons who helped make the NFL the mega giant it is today. And Raider Nation has lost it's leader and face of the franchise.

Let's hope whomever steps up and replaces him can (just) win, baby. It's what Al Davis would have wanted.

A Sunday to Remember

I usually wake up early on the first NFL Sunday of the year and get some coffee, read the sports page, and prepare for all day action starting at 1pm.

But this opening Sunday was much different.

My day started with reflection of that fateful day 10 years past. It started with a tolling bell asking for a moment of silence....with a tearful roll call of thousands of names forever lost to the lunacy of 19 men crashing planes into buildings that are our symbols of freedom and democracy.

They didn't know their acts would only strengthen our resolve to be tougher, better, and protect freedom with more fervor than ever before.

There was plenty of brave action on the football field today. But it paled in comparison to the remembrances of bravery shown by the passengers of Flight 93, and by the rescue workers that ventured into a towering inferno and the Pentagon to save their brothers and sisters in danger.

So I respectfully end my selfish football pleasure today by saying my own thank you to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

You are the true heroes......those on the gridiron are merely pretending.

Just watched the HBO documentary on baseball pioneer Curt Flood. It's an enigmatic tale of a talented, complicated, and tragic individual. I highly recommend it. (Nobody does sports documentaries as well as HBO.)

Speaking of baseball.....since when is it MANDATORY to take a set up man out (Sean Marshall of the Cubs) who just set the Marlins down in order in the eighth preserving a 2-0 lead to put in their CLOSER (The newest version of the Wild Thing Carlos Marmol) who walks the bases loaded and then gives up a bases clearing double without retiring a batter. Sometimes situational baseball lacks common sense.

Also lacking common sense was the Casey Anthony verdict.....but like OJ Simpson water has a tendency to find it's own level. Karma can be a bitch sometimes.

James R. Dunek (with my wife Terri in Tampa, Florida in 1984 for the USFL Championship Game).

Born in Chicago, Illinois on July 14, 1934. He will be 77 years of age in a couple of weeks.

In between Father's Day and his birthday, I thought I would write a little tribute to the man who taught me so much, and to whom I owe everything.

Dad is a survivor.

A high school drop out, he maneuvered his way around the streets of Chicago is a savvy way....once scaling the fence to get into Wrigley Field to watch his beloved Cubs, because he didn't have the 15 or 25 cents for a bleacher seat. And speaking of surviving, he beat colon cancer and a triple bypass operation that all occurred within 2 years of each other when he was in his 50's.

Dad is one of the smartest men I know.

We used to play a game where I would ask him a math question, and he would immediately figure it out in his head and tell me the answer. I would take my pad and pencil and figure it out just to make sure he wasn't getting one over on me, but he was always right.

Dad is a hard worker.

I can remember as a small child his headlights leaving our driveway at 5AM as he left for his job as the foreman of the plate department at a printing company....and seeing the same headlights many times at 10PM as he arrived home; only to do it again the next day.

Dad loves action.

We spent many a summer day on the infield of Arlington Park racetrack in suburban Chicago. Dad loved the ponies, but took the time to keep notes and study the bloodlines and recent results. He is the only man I know who has consistently made money with the ponies. Although his standard line to my mother when we came home was..."I broke about even". I also taught him how to count cards in blackjack, and he became so good at it he was booted out of his comped room at Harrah's in Las Vegas when he hit them for several thousand one night.

Dad taught me valuable lessons.

When I was 14 I had shaggy hair. The HS basketball tryouts were the next day, and he asked me if I was going to attend. I said no because they had a haircut rule on the team. He immediately dropped his paper and told me to get in his car, where we drove to the first barber shop we found and he informed the barber to give me a "crew cut". As we left the shop with me in tears he said, "Now you don't have any reason not to try out." As many know I went on to become an All State player in high school and received a full ride to play basketball at Memphis State University. I'm convinced none of it would have happened if he hadn't taken a stand that day.

Another interesting lesson was when he hired me to work in his plant in the summer I turned 16 years old. Since he was the foreman of a division, I was thinking i would receive some "cushy" job with little responsibility and flexible hours. When I arrived at work the first day, I was informed I would be working on the "shrink wrapper". It was brutal, hot work in a non air conditioned part of the factory far away from his air conditioned offices. Oh yeah....and he put me on the 4pm to 1230 am shift which negated any night life I had planned for the summer. When I asked him why he gave me such a tough job, his reply was simply, "Now you know what you don't want to do for the rest of your life".

Dad is slowing down.

As he says..."the parts are wearing out, and so am I".

So I wanted to write this for him now while he can still read it. And I hope he can feel the love and appreciation that it is written with. He taught me the life lessons of honesty, integrity, gentleness and hard work. And although it is a little tough for him to say the words "I love you, son". I know indeed the sentiment is there.

And Dad...the feeling is very, very mutual.

Shaq retires.....but with his great personality he will assuredly show up as a color analyst next season. I rank him as the 5th all time best center behind Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Bill Russell, and Hakeem Alajuwon.

The Cubs Aramis Ramirez gets hit in the mouth with a ball and gets seven stitches. In the NHL, he would be sewn up without Novocaine and return to the game.....but in MLB they talk about putting him on the fifteen day DL. The guy makes 14.5 million this season...sheesh.

I attended David Akers charity dinner this week at the Cescaphe Ballroom on N. 2nd St. in Philly. He is a class act, and I hope the Eagles re-sign him. By the way...the venue is a jewel.

Jack Kevorkian died yesterday, as did James Arness. Agree with Kevorkian or not, you have to admire his resolve in pursuing what he felt was a just cause. And the stoic Arness lost both a daughter and an ex-wife to drug overdoses. The other man's grass indeed looks sometimes greener.

I've been lax with my posts...I'll try to pick up the pace. Thanks for reading.