ruff lately?

In the world of celebrities, it has been rough lately. Whether you like them or not, our culture has suffered the loss of several icons in the last few months. We lost Michael Jackson rather suddenly and his death is still quietly being investigated searching for foul play or incompetence. His life, even in passing, is still shrouded in mystery, speculation, rumor, and family drama. There is even a conflict about who pays some of the HUGE bills associated with his passing. Its insane, but as a culture, we are pretty bi-polar so I shouldn't be surprised.

Then we had the equally as sudden loss of Billy Mays. This is the guy everybody knew, but not everybody knew his name. He was, 'the' pitch man. This man made a living making us know the names of the products he was hocking. It didn't matter if you like the product, or if you liked the guy, you knew the name of what he was selling. Everybody knows Oxyclean, Orange Glo, Kaboom, etc. He passed with much less drama and fanfare, but his loss will be noticed by our culture as another icon passing.

Next you have the sudden tragedy. Steve 'Air' McNair is found dead. His death was sudden due to bullet wounds. Allegedly found in a car with his girlfriend, (not his wife). As far as I have heard, the investigation continues. It is suggested as a murder, suicide. How this happened is not the real issue in the long term. To call him an icon outside the fan base of his team might even be a bit of a stretch, but the sad part is that another football player, another so called roll model for young men, has departed this life violently and with a substantial tarnishing of his name. I hope the families of the young men who followed 'Air' are able to appropriately deal with this situation and guide their sons in the right direction.

The passing of Walter Cronkite was especially sad and poignant. This guy was not just an icon, he was the first and last of his breed. The term 'anchorman' was coined for him, literally. Once he took the helm in the job that most people my age remember him in, the term anchorman came into vogue as the description of what his job was. He took his job serious, he did it wonderfully and honestly. In fact, in many places in Europe, the position he held is named Cronkitors instead of anchors or broadcasters. He is what I would call the last American journalist. The jokers running around today can never compare to him because they are too interested in sharing their opinions and not interested enough in just giving us the facts. In their defense however, part of the issue is systemic. In Cronkites day, there was no such thing as 24 hour news networks. He may be the greatest loss in our society in recent memory, but the fact that there were no more real journalist around to mourn his passing is even a greater tragedy.

And the one you missed. The Taco Bell dog, Gidget, has passed. Gidget was euthanized last month. Gidget was the logo dog and spokes dog for Taco Bell until a lawsuit was brought against them. The lawsuit was lost by Taco Bell to the tune of over 30 million dollars. Gidget on the other hand lived a fat and sassy life until the end. Gidget was the icon of her day. One thing that does stand out though is that I have always wondered why advertisers use girl dogs and give them boy names and boy voices. I guess its just not for me to understand these things.


If all this trauma to our culture wasn't enough devastation, another era has ended. This time not with a death however, but with a retirement. John Madden has retired. The Turkey Bowl will never be the same. I may just have to find something else to do on Thanksgiving since I wont get to hear his voice anymore. John Madden, former Raiders coach and the voice of the NFL for something like 35 years has decided to spend some time with his wife and his grand kids. John, you will be missed, but please please please get your butt home and off that bus and enjoy those grand kids.

That's all I got to say about that..............