Sunday, November 11, 2007

Dick Nolan - Coaching Legend of Cowboys, 49ers, and New Orleans Saints Passes Away at 75



Former 49ers, Saints coach Dick Nolan dies at 75 - Canadian News

SAN FRANCISCO - Dick Nolan, the former coach of the San Francisco 49ers and the father of current coach Mike Nolan, died Sunday, the 49ers said. He was 75.
Dick Nolan, a former NFL defensive back who also coached the New Orleans Saints, had been in declining health with Alzheimer's disease and prostate cancer for several years. He spent the last few months at an assisted-care facility in the Dallas area, near his longtime home with his wife, Ann.
Mike Nolan missed practice with the 49ers on Friday and Saturday, travelling back to Texas to be with his father. Team spokesman Aaron Salkin said Nolan would coach the 49ers on Monday night against the Seattle Seahawks.
Dick Nolan played nine NFL seasons before becoming a coach, assisting Hall of Famer Tom Landry in Dallas and going 71-85-3 in nearly 11 seasons with San Francisco and New Orleans. He led the perennially downtrodden 49ers to 56 wins, three division titles and two conference championship games in eight years with the club.
Dick and Mike Nolan were just the fifth father and son to become NFL head coaches, and the first to coach the same team since Bum and Wade Phillips both coached the Saints.
Mike Nolan convinced the NFL to allow him to wear dress suits on the 49ers' sideline last season partly in tribute to his father, who always dressed smartly.
"My father always projected an image of authority, and I wanted to honour him - the way he lived his life and his whole career as a coach," Mike Nolan said.
Born in Pittsburgh and raised in White Plains, N.Y., Dick Nolan played college football at Maryland and went on to a playing NFL career with the New York Giants, Chicago Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys, mostly as a hard-hitting safety.
"He made himself into not just a good player, he was an extraordinary player," former teammate Frank Gifford told the New York Daily News earlier this year. "He didn't have the physical talent to do it all. He just willed himself. He was smart. He was tough - as good as there comes in that respect."
After retiring in 1962, Nolan spent six seasons as an assistant to Landry, his longtime friend and former teammate with the Giants. The 49ers hired him in 1968 to take over a franchise that had made just one playoff appearance in its 18 NFL seasons.
San Francisco went 7-6-1 in his first season before breaking through in 1970, going 10-3-1 and getting the 49ers' first playoff win at Minnesota before falling to Dallas in the NFC title game.
The 49ers made playoff appearances in 1971 and 1972, losing to the Cowboys both times. Nolan was in charge when the 49ers moved from Kezar Stadium near the Haight-Ashbury district to Candlestick Park on the shores of San Francisco Bay.
But the 49ers slumped to three consecutive losing seasons after their playoff appearances, and the same fans who once hailed Nolan as their saviour booed the Niners and cheered for Nolan's departure.
"That was the toughest time, but that's the life of a coach," Mike Nolan said. "My dad never took it personally, and he didn't take it personally when it happened again in New Orleans."
Nolan then coached the Saints from 1978-80, going 15-29 with the perennially downtrodden franchise, which fired him after the Saints lost the first 12 games of the 1980 season.
Nolan scouted and enjoyed retirement before his health worsened. In his final months, he was visited by many of his former players. In September, 49ers Hall of Famers Dave Wilcox and Jimmy Johnson joined Len Rohde and Ed Beard for an afternoon of reminiscing - and Nolan recognized them.
"My father kind of lit up when he saw them, and he doesn't do that very often," Mike Nolan said.
Nolan is survived by his wife and six children. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Dick Nolan passes away

Report from www.rotoworld.com

Former 49ers head coach Dick Nolan passed away on Sunday, according to FOXSports' Jay Glazer.Nolan is the father of Mike Nolan, who took a leave of absence from the 49ers to be with his dad late in the week. Mike still plans to attend Monday night's game against Seattle. Dick was also the coach of the Saints from 1978-80. He coached the Niners from 1968-1975. Dick Nolan was 75. Nov. 11 - 8:00 pm et

Jaguars RB Taylor eclipses 10,000 yards rushing

Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Jacksonville Jaguars running back Fred Taylor became the 21st player in NFL history on Sunday to rush for more than 10,000 yards in his career.

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His 15-yard run on the Jaguars' opening drive put him at 10,002 yards for his career.

Taylor, who has never made a Pro Bowl, holds franchise rushing records for a career, season and game. Taylor also has led the Jaguars in rushing seven of the past nine seasons.

The former Florida Gators standout trails only the Arizona Cardinals' Edgerrin James among active running backs in yards rushing. Taylor began Sunday ninth in yards rushing per game (83.2) and 10th in yards from scrimmage per game (101.8) in league history.

Taylor is one of 27 players to have more than 2,000 carries for his career.

New Orleans' streetcars roll again- A Beautiful Sight To See

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- Amid a Carnival-like atmosphere, streetcars began rolling past the historic mansions of this city's Garden District Saturday for the first time since Hurricane Katrina halted the St. Charles Avenue line more than two years ago.

While only about half of the line is reopened, many see the return of the 1920s-era green cars as a sign of progress in the city's recovery and a morale booster.

"It's like having another piece of the puzzle, another piece of the city" back, said Melisa Rey, who rode on the first of a string of cars with her husband, Tom, and 10-month-old daughter, Jeanne-Marie. "It's so nice to finally have some good publicity," Tom Rey added.

Six of the 13 miles where the cars once ran are now open on the St. Charles line, and officials hope to restore full service by spring.

It's been slow going in large part due to the cost and scope of the storm's damage to the line's power system, due for an upgrade before the August 2005 storm. Mark Major, general manager of the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority, praised federal highway officials for providing $14 million that he said was key to the resumption of the service.

Politicians and local officials were on hand, as they were in December when an initial loop of about 1.2 miles opened. But the feel was different, more festive. Watch brass band celebrate return of St. Charles streetcars »

On Saturday, a marching band led the streetcars down to the Lee Circle loop. Revelers dotted the oak-lined avenue -- some waving or holding up drinks, others carrying signs that read "No More Bus" or "Welcome Back," or offering riders Mardi Gras beads or high-fives.

Councilwoman Stacy Head called the streetcars part of the city's identity -- "everything from the noise, the clanging down the avenue to the lights at night." The St. Charles line was the oldest continuously operating line in the world before Katrina shut it down in August 2005. It began operation in September 1835.

"It's what makes New Orleans feel like home," Head said. "It's as important as red beans and rice and Mardi Gras, and it's hard to explain to people who aren't part of this city how important this is as an icon and a real-life form of transportation."

Karen Miller grew up riding the streetcar and took it to work before Katrina. It's not just for tourists, and it's far more fun than riding a bus -- especially when the windows are down, she said. A warm breeze blew through the car in which she was riding.

Transit officials expect to run about five cars on the St. Charles line. The fare is $1.25 beginning Sunday; people got to take rides for free Saturday afternoon. Four or five streetcars also are running on the Canal Street line and two are available along the riverfront.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Wall Street Journal On Barack Obama And His Appeal To Black and White America

A classic and uplifting article that should be read by all Americans. It's a great window on how America has improved as a country.

Whites' Great Hope?
Barack Obama and the Dream of a Color-Blind America
By JONATHAN KAUFMAN
November 10, 2007; WSJ

Portland, Maine

Isaiah Oliver, a 24-year-old white social worker, grew up in this overwhelmingly white city and attended the predominantly white University of Richmond in Virginia. Ask him why he supports Barack Obama and he says it's because of the candidate's race.

"Because he's black it makes me want to believe that he will change things," says Mr. Oliver, leaving an Obama campaign rally here. "It feels like you are part of something that's starting to change American politics. It's the cool factor. He's a rock star."


As he campaigns across the country, Sen. Obama, the son of a black father and a white mother, is both revealing and tapping into a changed racial landscape, especially among younger whites. After decades of often bitter polarization and racial tension on issues ranging from the spread of civil rights to affirmative action, many whites say they are drawn to Sen. Obama precisely because they think his mixed-race background reflects America's increasingly diverse population and projects a more optimistic vision of the country's racial future.

Sen. Obama's candidacy, whether it succeeds or not, appears to mark a turning point in race and politics in America: It is prompting significant numbers of white Americans to consider voting for him not despite his racial background, but because of it.

"Obama is running an emancipating campaign," says Bob Tuke, who is white and is the former chairman of the Tennessee Democratic party. "He is emancipating white voters to vote for a black candidate."

Sean Briscoe, a 24-year-old white who writes a political blog in Nashville, is one: "Obama doesn't come with the baggage of the civil-rights movement, focusing entirely on the race issue," he says. "He went from Hawaii to Indonesia. He has been in all these places where you get an appreciation for people who aren't like you."

Two decades ago, Jesse Jackson broke new ground by challenging whites to consider a black mounting a serious run for the presidency. Now Sen. Obama and a new generation of black candidates are running campaigns that make whites feel good about themselves. These younger black politicians, including Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Tennessee Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr., are, like Sen. Obama, seen by many whites as proof of the country's racial progress -- and their own.

Sen. Obama "doesn't steer away from race but makes sure that everything he does is influenced by his bi-racial identity," says Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree, who knew Mr. Obama as a law student and is advising the campaign.

"Obama has learned the lessons of [the failed candidacies] of Jackson and [Rev. Al] Sharpton, and married that with the smoothness of Colin Powell," says Scott Reed, a Republican strategist. "He has triangulated against all of them."

Sen. Obama continues to trail Sen. Hillary Clinton by substantial margins in national polls. Even with white support, he could become the equivalent of Eugene McCarthy in 1968 or Howard Dean in 2004, candidates who stirred fervor among white college students and intellectuals but were unable to win the nomination.

Sen. Obama and his campaign aides declined to be interviewed for this story. But his own writings and conversations with people who know him suggest his approach is both politically savvy and rooted in his own experiences.

He has always lived between two worlds. He is the son of a mother from Kansas and an African father, who separated when he was two years old. He lived in Indonesia for a time as a child, when his mother married an Indonesian, and then with his white grandparents in Hawaii. He excelled at elite institutions such as Columbia University and Harvard Law School, then worked in a black Chicago neighborhood. Friends say that double life has affected not just his personality but also his politics.

"Obama knows this is a majority white country," says Mary Pattillo, an African-American professor at Northwestern University who has known Sen. Obama for years. "He is acutely aware how his discussion of race and racial politics will be interpreted and received by whites. We who work in the white world are always mindful of not making whites feel threatened. You can't get angry as a black person working in white America. To get a message across, black professionals are always thinking about the perfect balance of assertiveness and non-threateningness."

Unlike Sen. Clinton, who regularly invokes the history-making achievement she could make by becoming the first woman president, Sen. Obama rarely mentions race directly in his campaign speeches.

Here in Portland, he emphasizes the "core decency of the American people" and his experience "bringing people together to get things done." He ends with a story about meeting an elderly woman in a small town in South Carolina who asked him if he was "fired up" and "ready to go" -- leading to a call and response chant that brings the crowd to its feet. Sen. Obama never mentions that the woman and the town are black.

"Barack is aimed at trying to get as much of the white vote as he can in order to win," says Ronald Walters, former campaign manager for Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign. The challenge facing black candidates like Sen. Obama who have national ambitions, says Mr. Walters, "isn't whether they're black enough. It's whether they're white enough."

Race remains a wild card in American politics. Candidates such as Mr. Ford, who narrowly lost the Senate race in Tennessee last year, have often come close to election only to find race flaring at the last minute to blunt their momentum.

"Obama knows that just because people are saying one thing doesn't mean they will vote that way," says Tim King, the African-American head of a charter school in Chicago who has known Sen. Obama for a decade. "No one ever really knows what people do once they close the curtain in the voting booth."

Sen. Obama's popularity among whites also stirs uneasiness among many blacks. In the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, Sen. Obama trails Sen. Clinton among black voters 46% to 37%.

"There is a lot of debate [among blacks] over how appealing Obama is to white folks," says Mr. King. "People are saying, 'Is he too likeable to white people?"'

"Obama doesn't really push people to consider what diversity really is," says Alfred DeFreece, a black teacher at Eastern Michigan University, who says many of his white students favor Obama. "He is close enough to what is a tolerated white norm, very much what is palatable and acceptable and good." Mr. DeFreece says he wonders whether Sen. Obama would be able to aggressively push social programs that help blacks in poverty and end discrimination.

At the same time, Mr. DeFreece also reflects the country's changing racial landscape. The woman he lives with is white.

Sen. Obama's rise reflects the ways American race relations have changed in the past 40 years -- the expansion of the black middle class, the rise of blacks to positions of prominence in business, academia and government, and a general lessening of racial tension.

About 75% of whites and 55% of blacks describe black-white relations as "somewhat good or very good," according to a recent Gallup poll. About 75% of whites and 85% of blacks say they support interracial marriage. In the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, 63% of registered voters said they believe voters are prepared to elect a qualified African-American as president, a dramatic increase from 1986 when just 29% said they thought America was ready to elect a black president. In the current poll, just 46% of voters say voters today are ready to elect a qualified Hispanic as president and 38% a qualified Mormon.

Sen. Obama runs stronger among younger voters who are at the forefront of many of these changing attitudes, from their embrace of hip-hop music to the diversity they encounter on college campuses. And he runs strongest among whites in their 30s and 40s who have lived through the racial changes of the past decades.

In the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, Sen. Obama trails Sen. Clinton among Democratic primary voters by 22 percentage points overall -- and by virtually the same amount among white voters alone. But his deficit is smaller -- 46% to 32% -- among voters aged 18 to 34 and he runs even with Sen. Clinton among voters aged 35-49. By contrast, he trails Sen. Clinton among voters over 50 by more than 30 points.

"I've met people who reminded me of Obama at high school," says Mae Mouk, a white 24-year-old assistant in a Washington, D.C., law firm who grew up in Baton Rouge, La. "I have dated outside my race. I had friends in high school and college who were in interracial relationships. I look at race differently than my grandparents and parents."


Most whites, of course, still live in largely segregated neighborhoods and have attended predominantly white schools. Even on more-diverse college campuses, blacks and whites tend to live in separate worlds. But many young whites pride themselves on being open-minded and on having been exposed to the rhetoric and reality of diversity.

"I don't see race as a big issue," says Mr. Briscoe, the Nashville blogger. "Most younger people can go in between the different communities and can get along with people of different backgrounds. It's a more multicultural way of life. I have friends of all different colors. I can listen to rap music."

Sen. Obama "is a citizen of the world," says David Bartholomew, a white law student at Boston College Law School. "Obama and my generation -- we see the future of the world as countries evolving together. Because of his background he can speak to a wider range of people than any other candidate. He can speak globally."

Younger voters like Mr. Briscoe and Mr. Bartholomew embrace Sen. Obama -- born in 1961 and too young to have marched with Martin Luther King Jr. -- as a post-Civil-Rights candidate. But his approach and campaign rhetoric consciously echo the hopeful spirit of the early civil rights days.

In his autobiography, written before he entered politics, Sen. Obama tells the story of his Kenyan father drinking with friends at a bar in Hawaii when a white man objects to being in a bar "next to a n-."

"The room fell quiet and people turned to my father, expecting a fight," Sen. Obama recounts. "Instead, my father stood up, walked over to the man, smiled and proceeded to lecture him about the folly of bigotry, the promise of the American dream, and the universal rights of man." The white man ends up buying Sen. Obama's father a round of drinks.

In the book, Sen. Obama looks back wistfully to the early 1960s, a "fleeting period" that promised "a bright new world where differences of race or culture would instruct and amuse and perhaps even ennoble."

By the late 1960s, both the rhetoric and substance of the Civil Rights Movement had sharpened with the rise of Black Power and groups like the Black Panthers, who accused whites of being racists, leading to an eventual white backlash and decades of black-white hostility and anger.

"The secret to Martin Luther King was that he flattered white Americans that you are better than you think you are," says Shelby Steele, a black research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. "The very essence of Obama's appeal is the idea that he represents racial idealism -- the idea that race is something that America can transcend. That's a very appealing idea. A lot of Americans would truly love to find a black candidate they could comfortably vote for for President of the United States."

Richard Harpootlian, a white lawyer and former state chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, was in college in 1968 when King was assassinated. He recalls going down to Atlanta to walk in King's funeral cortege. "They played the 'I Have a Dream' speech with his line about judging his children not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character," Mr. Harpootlian recalls. On that day, "I thought we were never further away from that vision. When I met Barack Obama, I felt as I'd never felt before that he typifies what Dr. King was talking about."

At the Obama rally here, 17-year-old Nick Wright, a high school senior, is one of the few African-Americans in the crowded downtown arena. He sits at a table with a white classmate, welcoming people to the rally.

"Obama isn't just reaching out to the African-American community," says Eli Noll, the white classmate. "He's so much for the youth of America."

Mr. Wright nods in approval. "I just read about Malcolm X in English class," he says. "He had a lot of good things to say, but nobody listened because of some of the other things he said. Obama -- he doesn't have to be like Malcolm X."

Write to Jonathan Kaufman at jonathan.kaufman@wsj.com

Heroes On Hulu - Watch The Entire Episode "Out Of Time" Here, Now Live!



Click on the arrow to watch the entire Heroes episode "Out of Time."

Hulu is NBC's new website system that allows one to see HD-quality online versions of shows from NBC, CBS, and other providers. I don't see it as a YouTube replacement for reasons I state over at Zennie's Zeitgeist, but it's a fun system, none the less.

Hulu - I Get My Hulu Invitation, Watch Bionic Woman



I received my Hulu invitation two days ago, which allowed me to take a look around. It's not anywhere like YouTube, and in my view NBC and others that have elected to take down their YouTube channels have made a massive error. These platforms are complementary.

In my view, Hulu is simply network television online. YouTube is a video distribution device that's designed to cause viral video propagation. YouTube clips are generally between three and six minutes. "Bionic Woman" -- shown here -- is 42 minutes long (and you can watch the whole episode "The List" above right now). Thus, the best strategy for NBC is to maintain and explains its YouTube presence and install links to Hulu-based shows. In my view, Hulu will never reach YouTube's level of viewship just by design.

But that written, I like the Hulu system. The video picture is clear, even my Mom liked it and she's used to the standard tube and watches YouTube videos.

Hulu brings up another interesting question: are Hulu views part of the Nielsen ratings for Bionic Woman?

Barack Obama Charms Waitress In Iowa - Gets New Supporter Over Ice Cream

This was reported in Floridacounts.com

(COURTESY LA TIMES)--

Barack Obama made an unscheduled stop on his campaign bus tour of Iowa the other day. Even a presidential candidate needs an ice cream cone of an afternoon.

Obama got the ice cream cone in a dairy bar in Wapello. But he also got a little more than he bargained for. After ordering around $20 worth of snacks--mostly ice cream and onion rings--for his campaign group, Obama got to talking with the counter waitress, Angela Dossett, who had some non-edible pressing concerns.

Turns out, she's the widow of a Marine killed in Iraq three years ago. She's afraid she'll lose all her survivor benefits if she makes more money or remarries and moves on with her life. "I can't move on," she said. "If I do I lose'' medical and other benefits.

Obama, who is a member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, made a note of her concerns. Afterwards, she said Obama was the first presidential candidate to stop by the small diner. Now she is favorably disposed toward him. "He's really a nice guy,'' Dossett told The Times' Janet Hook.

Obama could have gotten away without paying the check. As the candidate was about to leave, one employee told him that the diner owner, who shyly stayed in the back kitchen, would spare him the bill if he just left an autograph. But the senator had already paid.

Obama chose vanilla, by the way.

--Andrew Malcolm

Daniel Craig | James Bond 007 Casino Royale Opening Segment

Daniel Craig | James Bond 007 Casino Royale Opening Segment





Another James Bond Classic movie opening.

Friday, November 09, 2007

Ron Paul Questions Ben Bernanke On Fed Policy



Texas Congressman and Presidential Candidate Ron Paul is really giving great questions to Ben Bernanke on Federal Reserve Policy, particularly dealing with exchange rates. Watch for yourself.

Barack Obama - CBS News Reports A Surging Obama Campaign

Hillary Clinton's slips in the last debate caused this shift, aiong with the Obama campaign's constant focus.

(CBS) The crowds are enthusiastic, and the candidate is pumped.

A week of mostly positive press coverage, a star-turn last Saturday night and a tougher, more competitive tone in the debates and on the stump have convinced Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., there’s a chance now to reshape his political destiny, CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds reports.

“I disagree with Senator Clinton,” he's said on the campaign trail. “Just remember who got it right and who got it wrong in the most important decision! I strongly disagree with Sen. Clinton on her commitment to block a war in Iran.”

For Obama, the roll-out is over and the rumble is on.

“It’s changed the dynamic in the race,” Obama told CBS News. “I think there was a period of time when things were static and people liked what they were hearing from me, but they didn't have a sense that there were significant differences between me and Sen. Clinton.”

At stop after stop, Obama tries to draw even sharper distinctions with Clinton on Iraq, on Iran, on immigration and on who could better unite the country.

Voters are taking notice.

“He's sharpening himself and honing himself and I think that's more effective than being Mr. Nice Guy,” said Iowa caucus voter Nancy Nieland.

But it’s not a risk-free strategy.

“The question is whether Sen. Obama is gonna be comfortable attacking and in fact, the more he attacks, whether that causes some damage to his reputation, in his image and frankly, in his message,” said political analyst Stuart Rothenberg.

Obama says playing it safe is for others - Clinton for example.

“I don’t fault her for that. That is how people have been taught politics in Washington. That’s conventional wisdom, right?” Obama said. “You make yourself a small target by avoiding being definitive about anything.”

Democrats have tried that before, he says - and lost.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007