One Of The Good Guys

In an athletic world full of preening, obnoxious jackasses and self-glorifying. me-first fools, there sometimes walks an alternative. Bart Starr was one of those good guys. The numbers tell one story…Five time NFL champions, Two Super Bowl MVP and one NFL MVP, best playoff passer rating ever. And , as Dave Dameshek noted, in the 1966 & 1967 title games which put the Packers in the first two Super Bowls, Starr was a combined 33-52 for 495 yards, 6 TDs and zero INTs. If Starr doesnt shine in those gamesvs Dallas, it's now called the Landry Trophy. But Starr was much more than just numbers. Every member of those Packer glory years teams will tell you what kind of leader he was. Tough as a $2 steak, always seeming to make the right decision (remember, he called his own plays), taking more punishment than the human body should be allowed and always bouncing back. As many of my peers noted the last few days, for those of us who grew up in the 60's one of the big arguments in the street or the sandlot was who would get to be Starr in the games that we played. He couldnt replicate his playing success as Packer coach but neither could alot of other folks back then. And you can argue that his off-the-field endeavors, before and after retirement would prove to be a stronger legacy. All of the charitable efforts and lives affected…the Rawhide Boys Ranch…showed that Starr walked the walk. The punishment he took as a player made his later years tough. I've read that the last few years, he couldnt even remember his “glory years”. That may be tougher for those around him and us fans to stomach than it was for him. As I get older and watch my childhood heroes shrivel up and blow away it always makes me feel my own mortality a little more. Thats three of the Lombardi era Packers in the last eight months. Jimmy Taylor and Forrest Gregg welcome their quarterback into the pantheon.

My own brush with Starr came in the spring of 1980. I was working my first full time radio job out of college at WKAU in Kaukauna. It was a Top-40 station and I was spinning the hits on the overnight shift. I also used that radio job to get press passes whenever I could for sporting events. I thought it might be interesting to cover the 1980 draft from Lambeau Field. Now this was a pre-hype time for the draft. No Mel Kiper, no hours long live tv coverage, no 24 hour sports talk stations of any note analyzing every move a team made. In fact, if I remember correctly, it was a couple of newspaper reporters and me. Starr was the head coach at that time and he came into a room and delivered his information on the Packer draft picks and I remember him being as gracious to a young cub reporter as he was to the long-time beat guys he saw every day. He didnt have to be…but that was his way.

And of course, what rememberance of Bart Starr would be complete without this…

Another sports obit from the weekend. Bill Buckner passed away at the age of 69 of complications from dementia. Now I will be the first to admit I was furious with Buckner back in 1986. I was a long-suffering Red Sox fan looking at the first World Series win after years of frustration. Game 6, 9th inning, one out away. I remember where I was to this day. Sitting at the bar at the Wausau Mine Company. I had spent much of that baseball season hanging out there because Ron Wage had installed a big screen tv with satellite capability that picked up Red Sox games on NESN. Wage had the cork halfway out of a bottle of champagne to celebrate the Red Sox ending “The Curse” when this happened…

I'm not sure why so much vemom was reserved for Buckner as he shouldnt have even been on the field at that moment. Red Sox manager John McNamara, had for weeks been subbing in Dave Stapleton at first base late in games because Buckners ankles were so bad. He could barely move. But, the gruff McNamara, let his soft side come out. He wanted Buckner, who's bat played such a big part of that season, to be on the field when the Sox won it. It never happened of course and Buckner was vilified for years. Unfortunatley for a very good player and an excellent hitter, this will be the first thing mentioned in all of his obits. I heard a stat about Buckner that amazed me last night…he never struck out three times in a game in his entire career. He had more hits than Ted Williams. In fact he had more hits than .003% of all major league players in history. And he never seemed to rage against his misfortune although you know it was eating him up inside.

The Northwoods League gets a new season underway tonight. Both the Woodchucks and Rafters begin on the road. The Rafters are in Rockford while the Chucks begin in Kenosha. You can hear the Woodchucks games again on Foxsports Radio AM1390 & FM 93.9 with new radio guy Connor McCann on the call. I will join him in the booth for a number of gams this summer. Tonights broadcast will be joined in progress after the DC Everest baseball playoff game at Superior which starts at 5pm.

There is a big schedule of baseball and girls soccer regionals plus softball sectionals today. Check out the schedule elsewhere on this website.

Never give up…On January 3rd of this year the St. Louis Blues had the worst record in the NHL. They are now playing in the finals for Lord Stanleys Cup

Quotes Of The Day

“We have a president of the United States wink at a murderous dictator to mock a former vice president. This is despicable in too many ways to count.”-Dan Rather

“Can you imagine Bill Clinton saying he and Saddam Hussein are in agreement in their shared criticism of George Bush? A President using credibility of a dictator who tortured an American to death and runs a prison camp country to help his campaign. Disgrace.”-Stuart Stevens

“American fascists claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective is to capture political power so that, using power of the state and power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjucation.”-Vice President Henry Wallace in 1944 (he could have said it last week)

“The only thing Republicans are pro-choice about is whether to follow the law.”-Jess Dweck

“I don't understand why God is always telling the shittiest people to do the worst things.”-Michael Ian Black

“I've never criticized Robert Mueller before. I have the highest respect for his integrity. His report is a meticulous chronicle of presidential criminaltiy and misconduct. But he will fail in his duty to the American people if he fails to testify about his findings in open session.”-Max Boot

“The goal of impeachment is not removal. This is a straw man. The goal of impeachment is impeachment:to apply Congress' strongest-possible tool for holding POTUS accountable for crimes. The process educates the public and shines an extremely bright spotlight on his crimes.”-Adam Jentleson

“Most politicians are weather vanes, but Elizabeth Warren is a leader who changes the wind herself instead of waiting to see which way it blows. We've seen this on impeachment, reparations, breaking up Big Tech, nuking the filibuster and countless other issues.”-Adam Best

“Trump retweets a video doctored to make Nancy Pelosi look stupid and there's no way to get even because you can't doctor a video to make Trump look smart.”-John Fugelsang

“Its time for the American people to become fully alert to a dreadful possibility. The US, led by a chief executive so erratic even his closest advisors feel the need to ignore his orders, may stumble into its worst war in more than a generation–without the congressional authorization required by the Constitution.'-David French

Songs Of The Day

On this date in 1971 Joe Walsh and the James Gang released the classic 'Walk Away”