Sep 5, 2008 10:27 PM Posted by Gary_Miller Next Saturday afternoon in Provo is a long way from Labor Day night on national television in the Rose Bowl. If U.C.L.A. can come close to the spirit, defense and aggressiveness it displayed in Rick Neuheisel’s coaching debut with his alma mater, the Bruins may continue the storybook instead of having the Cougars give them a lesson in non-fiction. B.Y.U. is ranked higher than Tennessee was, and this will be at altitude in their place, after they presumably stomped Washington in Seattle this weekend. It’s hard to get a gauge on the Bruins, who were so awful in the first half, and so strong in the 2nd, and overtime. It appears defense will determine their destiny, but here’s another reason they’re a bit of a mystery; how bad or over-rated is Tennessee? How does the S.E.C. get four teams in the top 10, six in the rankings, and then have South Carolina lose at Vanderbilt? The Volunteers were given four first half interceptions, and ran one back for a score, and STILL lost, to a team with a 3rd string quarterback, and its three most significant seniors lost to injury in the first quarter! The big argument of supporters who say the Southeastern Conference is superior to any other, is the strength of the teams top to bottom. Steve Spurrier can certainly use that as an excuse for what happened in Nashville, although it may have had something to do with the fact his quarterback’s name is Smelley. I’m not sure U.C.L.A. deserves to go from unconsidered to nationally ranked, but at least having this Saturday off will keep them there for an extra week. As the season goes on, I think that win over Tennessee will mean a lot less than it does now. Or if they start looking a lot stronger when they get into conference play, that should make my point about the SEC. Sep 4, 2008 10:26 PM Posted by Gary_Miller For those of you who don’t read my blog every day, or view these commentaries, where’ve you been? Actually, where have I been? For those of you who DO check this, we’re probably related, or you’re an old friend, who I mailed a link of it to last week, when my Dad finally lost his battle with Alzheimer’s disease. One of his final gifts to me was to inspire that heartfelt eulogy, which my brother-in-law Bill, his “3rd son,” read at his memorial Saturday. I told you all that “How Great Thou Art” would be the toughest thing to get through, and not only did the service start with that, but it was all six verses! The only line that really nailed me was “when Christ shall come with shouts of acclimation, to take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.” If you read last week’s tribute, you know “Pops” was obsessed with going “home”, the last few years of his life, even when he was there all along. Now he’s really home, and so I smiled a lot more than I cried Saturday, that is until they played taps, and the full dress naval officers presented my mom with a folded flag.
It’s actually much tougher when you get back from the service. While I was in Ohio, there were always arrangements to take care of, family to pick up at the airport, and always endless eating. When you return to your routine is when the loss really hits, and I’m grateful to everyone here who filled in and helped out. There can always be something good in even the toughest things life deals us, and nothing could be better than what so many of you wrote and said in support. It reminded many of you what your own fathers meant to you, and I heard from and connected with college and even grade school friends I had long ago lost contact with. At some point, I’ll thank you all individually, but this is the first I’ve been able to have enough initiative to do this. I’m eternally grateful, and blessed for knowing all of you. Those of you I don’t know personally, hopefully this gives you a better idea of the guy who talks sports and writes to you every night. Aug 27, 2008 9:25 AM Posted by Gary_Miller  Norman Miller 1922-2008 Got an email from my old "Up Close" producer Charley Moynihan this week, letting me know he just added a baby girl to his family. That same day I got a call from my sister in Cincinnati to tell me our dad had taken a turn for the worse, and didn’t have long to go. The cycle of life. "Pops", and his Miller family, have been suffering with Alzheimer’s disease pretty much since the new millennium hit, the same illness that afflicted and took his mother, my Grandma Rose. In the early stages, it was often funny, and a nuisance, the same questions over and over again, with the night always capped off with endless requests if "anyone wants a dish of ice cream.," even as you were sitting there with an empty bowl and spoon. But he was still very much with it in those "Up Close" days. He taped EVERY single broadcast, and he and Mom made it their daily routine in Pt. Charlotte Florida, to be in front of the T.V. at five every weeknight. I’ll always remember when I got the gig after a hotly contested 5-way tryout, Pops said, "things like this don’t happen to the Millers." Well they did, and the greatest job a sportscaster, or any broadcaster could have, was mine for three years. One of the best parts of an extraordinary experience, was they could see it every night, even though we lived on opposite ends of the country. Whenever we were in Florida on location, he and Mom came to the set, and met the guests, never more enthusiastically then when we had Joe Montana at the Super Bowl. Pops had a life size cutout of Montana that he got signed, and even posed with Joe with, which became the centerpiece of his den. It was a mini museum of the sublime and the ridiculous, without a single inch of wall, ceiling, floor, or even cabinet space not covered with some artifact of sports, movies, music, or pictures of Norman Joseph Miller in some absurd costume or get up. The Navy momentos were his pride and joy, and though he earned a purple heart for a shrapnel wound in the South Pacific, certainly his most extraordinary feat in four years of service during WWII, was not only getting into the service, but making it through the end of the war without ever knowing how to swim!
When Hospice was called in last weekend, he was already pretty unresponsive, but by his bedside, we would tease him about those naval stories, his limitless collection of lighthouses, cardinals, and tiger memorabilia, and all the great memories I personally had more than 50-years of with him. They say even though he can’t respond, he can hear you, and certain memories, and certain voices triggered more response than others, but by then, only one eye was fully opened, and he couldn’t look at you or speak, or even squeeze your hand. If the experts are right, and he can hear you, he heard some amazing and wonderful things his last 48 hours or so. That lifetime of memories and laughs he helped create and shared all came flooding forward, and that’s the most evil thing about Alzheimer’s. Our memories are our fondest and greatest gift, warming us in troubled times, springing forward when we’re re-united with family and friends, and slowly, steadily, and relentlessly, the disease steals that sacred treasure right out of ours, and our loved ones hearts. Pops was amazingly resilient. I’ve had relatives, and we all know of stories where a fall can turn fatal, (remember Chick Hearn) for a senior citizen, especially an octogenarian. Pops suffered TWO sepearte broken hips. He also endured a broken arm, and a broken nose to his already prodigious beak, all because he was too proud to use a walker, and the breaks had left him too weak to walk or stand well on his own. That didn’t keep him from escaping from my sister’s 2nd floor window when he tried to get "home." Amazingly, he didn’t break anything with that escapade, but for the last four years or so, every day, all he talked about was going home, and most of the time, that’s exactly where he was. Imagine the terror and uncomfortability of never feeling like you’re home, and wanting to see your mother, whom everyone else knew had been dead for 20-years. As he realized his memory was fleeing, he always said, "What are we gonna' do about Pops?" None of that got him, but in the end, his system just started shutting down, and I’m sure Pops ultimately encouraged that. He would have hated for us to see him the way he ended up, bed ridden, unable to eat or drink, gasping for air…but I’ll always be grateful to god I got to Ohio before he passed. My mom and the rest of the family said I wouldn’t want to see him like that, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. One last hug, kisses on the forehead, getting to tell him how much I love him. I never really broke down until his grandkids talked to him on speakerphone on their trip back from vacation, and they started to cry. After that, I put my head on his chest, and told him that’s how I put his granddaughter Calle to bed every night, listening to her 6-year old, thriving heartbeat. As I told him that, and listened to his 85- year old muscle fighting away to keep everything else going that was shutting down, I lost it. And somehow letting that flow felt good, as painful as it was.
Charley closed that joyful birth announcement by saying "daddy can’t stop crying." I know how he feels.
"How Great Thou Art" was Pops favorite hymn. He'd start balling almost as soon as the organ started, and now I can't hear it at any service without tearing up myself. Can't imagine what it'll be like when I hear it this Saturday at his memorial. Aug 24, 2008 8:37 PM Posted by Gary_Miller  Jimmy Page should have played "Babe I'm gonna leave you" In our youth, it often came with the end of a summer love, which only deepens the saddest time of year; the end of summer. There’s a carefree atmosphere to the steamy summer months; no school, vacations, cook-outs, the beach, less traffic, (usually.) Every four years we get to fill the warm evenings watching the country’s best athletes try to show that the U.S. has the world’s top athletes, and more often than not, it’s an upset if the Americans don’t win the gold, let alone medal. There’ll be a void now that these games in Beijing are over, just as there’s already been one this past week with no Michael Phelps to follow. It’s time to get ready for school, college and NFL football, and the September run to the baseball playoffs. But for a fortnight here in August of 2008, it was wonderful to see Americans of all ages, genders, and ethnic backgrounds, glued to the Olympics, watching badminton, rowing and table tennis, and rooting either for Team USA, or against them when they faced someone’s original ancestral homeland. I’m going to miss the summer of 2008. A lot. And the Olympics are a significant part of that melancholy. Aug 23, 2008 10:10 PM Posted by Gary_Miller As the head of A.E.G., amongst Tim Liewicke’s responsibilities is over-seeing the L.A. Galaxy. Frustrated by his franchise’s rank under-achievement in missing the playoffs the last two seasons, and through the majority of this season, Liewicke made a bold move and cleaned house. The popular and hard working General Manager, Alexi Lalas was canned, held liable for the failures, and Coach Ruud Gullit resigned for personal reasons, although he may have been asked to. Once again, as in last year’s earth-shattering signing of David Beckham, the Galaxy went for the big name in replacing those two, choosing former U.S. National team coach Bruce Arena to dual roles as coach and G.M. But in his debut Thursday, he was given almost no chance to succeed against visiting Chicago, who like the Galaxy, aren’t likely to make the playoffs. If you want Los Angeles to believe you take this seriously, and will do whatever it takes to succeed, how can you have Landon Donovan playing a World Cup qualifier in Guatemala, trade Carlos Ruiz after he failed to live up to his high scoring reputation, for a player who won’t play until at least next week, and allow Beckham to be away for the closing ceremonies in Beijing?! The fact that it’s understood, expected, and allowed that M-L-S players will miss league games routinely for national games, shows you where the league continues to rank on the world scale. But Beckham missing the game so he can kick soccer balls off a double decker bus during the closing ceremonies in China, as a transition to the 2012 games in England? Even it it’s allowed or tolerated, with what the Becks is being paid to save soccer in this country, and raise the Galaxy back to glory, HE should have turned it down. The Galaxy may still make the playoffs for the first time in three years, but what happened this week in the wake of drastic in season changes, is the real statement of where things stand. Aug 21, 2008 8:53 PM Posted by Gary_Miller  Pair of down on their luck leaders share a smile If you’re anywhere around the Dodgers, it’s hard not to cross paths with Tommy Lasorda, and even if its not anywhere near Olympic time, it’s not hard to get Tommy going on the 2000 team. While the “redeem team” tramples the competition in Beijing marching towards its accustomed gold medal, Davey Johnson is inspiring the Olympic baseball team to about the same level of execution and enthusiasm the Dodgers showed in his last days in a major league dugout. Baseball started as a demonstration sport the first three times, and somehow the U.S. only won one of those, and Lasorda’s squad from Sydney remains the only gold medal squad in actual competition. By contrast, women’s softball had maintained its mantle of world domination until Thursday’s upset by Japan, made all the more painful by the fact the sport may never be contested again in the Olympics, and that they’d already beaten Japan twice. The reason softball had been voted out of competition was presumed to be the Americans utter domination of the sport; they hadn’t lost to anyone since 2000, outscored the opposition 51-1 in winning the gold in Greece, and were 32-4 in Olympic games until the finale. Five of the players calling it a career symbolically left their cleats on the field, after tearfully standing to accept their silver medals. Finally losing may have saved softball for inclusion later on. And ironically, that may be the good thing about the U.S. team’s failure in baseball; there’s no danger of them dominating there. Lasorda’s gold seems safe indefinitely as being the only one in American possession. Aug 20, 2008 10:34 PM Posted by Gary_Miller
Right about this time last year, the Rockies ripped off 21 wins in 22-games and rode that surge all the way into the World Series. Don't look now, but Colorado will be going for a 6th straight win and a sweep of the Dodgers Thursday afternoon. On the other side of the standings, Arizona moved to 9-0 last night when they enter a day tie for first, and tonight spread it to a 2-game lead when Adam Dunn hit his 2nd homerun as a D'back. As I "columnized" to you last week, the Blue Crew plays to its level of competition, and the Rockies came to town 8-games behind them, after L.A. opened the home stand 6-1 against the Phillies and Brewers. Has anyone noticed "Manny-mania" is really waning? It's not just that his hair's a little shorter, or that he's had only one extra base hit the last six games…his smile is less broad, and the giddiness he infected the first week of the home stand with, appears to have evaporated. It would be impossible, or it wouldn't really be "Manny being Manny," if he was to keep up that stand-up act he came to town with indefinitely. The return of Gregg Maddux added another buzz this week, but he's basically merely an upgrade over the options they had at the #5 starter, even though his E.R.A. is nearly identical to both Derrick Lowe and Hiroki Kuroda. Also like his new teammates, he has a losing record, and making his return at hitter-happy Citizen Bank Park, against a Phillies line-up bent on revenge, isn't exactly a recipe for success. Manny's a huge plus, Maddux a nice addition, but NEITHER is going to carry this team to the playoffs. This is a long and critical road trip coming up, and the emotional rollercoaster of highs and lows has to level off, or stay on the high end, for this team to be playing in October. Aug 19, 2008 10:37 PM Posted by Gary_Miller The U.S. may want to petition the I.O.C. to move the swimming competition to the 2nd week of the Olympics, or at least NBC should. Not only is Michael Phelps unprecedented, (his 3rd Sports Illustrated cover in a month proclaims him the “greatest Olympian ever,”) he’s the last hope for U.S. glory at the games. The boxing has been a disaster, with only one fighter still with even a chance at a medal, let alone gold, and this has been the worst performance ever in track and field by the American team. Oh there is the “redeem team.” which would be better labeled the “cream team,” for how the annihilate the opposition. They’ll win gold, but whichever country turns out to be the opposition should be given a 20-point handicap.
And speaking of Olympic disasters, there’s the Chris Kaman saga. Thankfully it’s over, the German team he elected to play for winning just once, and getting blown out by the U.S., by nearly 50. His own father, LeRoy, whose parents were the German natives Kaman sighted as his excuse for playing for Germany, rooted against him. The Clipper center, who’s battled injuries the past two seasons, skipped his vacation, worked to get his German citizenship, had his own father criticizing his decision, and then admitted he never expected the team to make it to Beijing in the first place. Kaman thought they’d get eliminated in the qualifiers, and the way they played in China, he had every right to think that. He cut Olympic rings into the hair of his teammates, got ripped by his coach every time his U.S. patriotism got questioned, and as bad as the Germans were, he didn’t even win a starting job. He even found out the Clippers weren’t happy with his playing, and tried to discourage him. After all, the Clippers colors ARE red, white, and blue. Chris’ commitment lasted about as long as Phelps. Keep him in mind when you watch Phelps coronation in the coming weeks coming back to the states. I doubt Kaman can expect anything like that here in the southland or his native Michigan. Yeah, that was worth it.
Aug 19, 2008 2:13 AM Posted by Gary_Miller Think about these three names...Jeff Kent, Vin Scully, T.J. Simers. It would be hard to come up with three names that illicit a stronger reaction by their mere mention than these three, and leave it to the L.A. Times columnist to weave them together...negatively. Of course, that's Kent's specialty too, which is probably why after an initial antagonism, Kent and Simers actually developed a friendship in the midst of their skirmishing. So those reactions by the mention of the name. Kent. Hot head, old school, hard nosed, hard headed, when he speaks, its never dull. Simers.,contrary, trouble-maker, smart-ass, master of the obscure reference, invariably negative, but when you agree with him, nobody does a better or more honest rip job. Scully. Icon. The voice. Hall of Famer. Smooth. Class. Like a member of the family. So whose side you gonna' take in this latest dust up of Kent calling out Scully, and Simers egging all of it on. The Dodgers I talked to tonight said they weren't even aware of Sunday's column, and for some of them, that may actually have been true. Even the young ones who Kent often criticizes, were smart enough to know better than to say anything against Scully. Russell Martin, who failed as miserably as Kent has succeeded in hitting in front of Manny Ramirez said Kent will always speak his mind, and he understood why his teammate might be upset. Martin noted that Kent has a habit of hot second halfs, including just last season, and that may be all this is. Here's what I say. Kent can take all the credit he wants, but its no coincidence his numbers have exploded since moving to #3 in the order, ahead of #99.. One of the Dodgers biggest problems the past two seasons is that Kent was ill suited as clean-up hitter. Kent's actually right about Scully never being in the clubhouse. I've never even seen him on the field unless he's making a special announcement. But have you heard his broadcast? Who cares HOW he prepares. And what's Kent doing listening to it? Aug 18, 2008 5:23 PM Posted by Moderator29 With all due respect to Dick Van Patten and the Bradford family, NOW, "Eight is Enough." Even Michael Phelps won't try to break or equal this all-time Olympic record come London in 2012, but just as we won't see another perfect ten in gymnastics, it's all but impossible to surpass Phelps "Pheat." Everything has to be perfect, including the level of three teammates on three different relay teams, as well as peaking at your own individual specialties in different races at different lengths. To not only achieve an unprecedented eight golds, but to do seven in world record time is unimaginable. Absurd. Almost as absurd as still referring to Oscar De LaHoya as the "Golden Boy." It's been sixteen years since he earned that moniker that his promotions company now goes by too, for winning ONE gold at the summer games in Barcelona. If he's the "Golden Boy," what's Phelps, the "Golden Octopus?!" If two million units sold is double platinum in the recording industry, then Phelps is octuple-platinum. Pardon me while I fire off a copyright claim to the patent office. If Pat Riley can trademark a skimpy little achievement like a "three-peat," I better coin these terms before Phelps gets back stateside. Then again, who's ever going to need to use them again besides Mr. Phelps? | |