Remembering Alex Karras (1935-2012)

Alex Karras died this morning after battling kidney failure at the age of 77.

Karras was a star defensive tackle at the University of Iowa before spending his 12-year career terrorizing offenses for the Detroit Lions. It was a career with four All-Pro seasons and a missed 1963 season after he was suspended by then-Commissioner Pete Rozelle for gambling. The missed year was not enough to knock him off the Pro Football Hall of Fame's All-Decade Team for the 1960s.

For those of a younger vintage, however, Karras was better known for his acting. He was the dad on TV's "Webster" during the 1980s and other television series. However, his most memorable role, at least in this writer's opinion, was that Mongo in Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles," which featured this memorable scene.

What if other professions had replacements?

For those not in the know, the Packers, simply put, got robbed last night.

While NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's experiment (what else can we call it?) in using replacement officials while he locks out the regular ones over a dispute of $3 million in pension pay, the replacement refs continue to go from bad to worse. While this site, being the Chicago sports site that it is, is no fan of that team from up north in Wisconsin (and the loss helped put the Bears back into first place in the NFC North), the Packers were hosed by the refs on that last second "touchdown" by WR Golden Tate from QB Russell Wilson, giving the Seahawks an improbable 14-12 win, with the NFL upholding the call in a statement issued this morning.

To show they at least have a sense of humor about it, WGBA-TV, NBC 26 in Green Bay brought out their "replacement weather guy" to do the weather forecast this morning.

Remembering Steve Sabol (1942-2012)

Source: DailyInterview.net

As somebody who grew up on NFL Films and still likes watching them today, it was sad news when it was announced that its president Steve Sabol had died this morning of brain cancer. He was 69 years old.

The work of Sabol, who took over as president of NFL Films in 1985, included greatly helping to expand the game of football to a new generation after starting out at the company as a camera operator. He continued the tradition of the Football Follies, including several starring comedian Jonathan Winters. Over the course of 50 years, he kept the film and video record of the league as it grew into the behemoth it is today.

Simply put, Steve Sabol will be missed.