Starting Five

All right, 2015, can you slow down with all the deaths? Geez. I mean, I get it: life is fatal. But it sure seems as if a lot of famous or at least well-known folks have been keeping florists busy this winter. Yesterday morning, Jerry Tarkanian. Last night, CBS’ Bob Simon. Slow down, Grim Reaper.

 

1. Bob Simon, 1941-2015

The veteran CBS newsman died in a car crash on the West Side Highway in Manhattan, along the Hudson River, early last evening. It appears that his livery cab driver may have suffered a heart attack that caused the vehicle to swerve erratically.

Simon, 73 and a 60 Minutes correspondent, was an old-time combat reporter. He filed stories from Vietnam and the first Iraq War. In the latter, he and his crew were detained and taken hostage for 40 days.

Last night Deadspin’s Barry Petcheskey tweeted out this YouTube clip of a Simon piece for 60 Minutes titled “Joy in the Congo: A Musical Miracle.” I watched the entire 13:27 and by the end had goosebumps (Rule 73: Always pay attention to the goosebumps; they’re trying to tell you something). I don’t want to claim that this is Simon’s signature piece, or even his best one, but I sure loved it. He gave the world the gift of knowing about these people.

Like the legendary David Halberstam, Simon cut his reporting teeth in Vietnam and survived many other danger zones only to perish in a car crash in his seventies while someone else was driving.

2. Tark Throws in the Towel

R.I.P., Jerry Tarkanian. No one ever coached a more aptly named team than Tarkanian did the Runnin’ Rebels of UNLV. They weren’t quite the University of Miami of college hoops –well, maybe they were. And no one could have ever found a more fitting city, Las Vegas, in which to do it. ‘

In his last 10 seasons at UNLV, Tark was an amazing 307-42. People forget that long before those dominant –and defiant–UNLV squads of the late Eighties and early Nineties, Tark took a squad to the Final Four in 1977. And that team, which I remember, came off like the ABA to the other three Final Four seeds’ NBA teams: UNCC, North Carolina and Marquette.

That 1977 Final Four is the first one I truly recall paying attention to. You had Tark the Shark, Dean Smith (both dying within three days of one another) and Al Mcguire. As far as players, you had Cornbread Maxwell (UNCC), Butch Lee, Bo Ellis, Mike O’Koren, Walter Davis, Phil Ford and then Tark’s high fliers: Reggie Theus, Larry Moffett and Glen “Gonzo”  Gondrezick. And let’s not forget those Marquette unis.

Truly a colorful Final Four, and Tark only added to the spectacle. I’m not sure what the record for longest time between Final Four appearances is, but Tark went 10 years. He also made the Final Four in three different decades, which is cool. Only others we can think of who have done that are Coach K, Jim Calhoun, Rick Pitino, John Calipari, Jim Boeheim, Tom Izzo, Eddie Sutton, Bob Knight, Jack Gardner and Adolph Rupp.

Boeheim and Pitino are the only two to have made it in four different decades.

3. Bucket List Bars

I simply Googled the headline to see what it would render. It gave me a dozen bars in the USA. I’ve been to one (McSorley’s) and it’s not at all my favorite bar in NYC, but I guess you should see it (head to Fraunces Tavern near Wall Street some time instead).

4. Blum’s Day

That’s Zach Blum. He’s nine years old and next month he’s going to attempt to set the world record for a track 5-K for nine-year olds. Yes, I didn’t realize such world records were kept, either.

Blum ran an 18:30 at a 5-K Turkey Trot in Orange County in November, which is 5:58 per mile. Which is…fast.

So next month he’ll try to break the track record of 18:41 at a meet in Fullerton. Again, for nine-year olds. Zach’s father, a former Division I runner, told Runner’s World, “We’re taking it in stride, but we’re extremely proud of him.”

Taking it in stride. Nice.

5. Mr. A-Z Goes From UK to USA to AFR to ASIA to SA

Last night my favorite coffeehouse nerd guitarist, Jason Mraz, played a show in Glasgow, Scotland. But that’s only the beginning of a two-month, five-continent odyssey.

Next week Mraz will be in Florida.

At month’s end he’ll be playing Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa.

Then he’ll be in Iowa.

After that, in late March, Mraz will head to Thailand and Hong Kong.

Then, in the first two weeks of April, Brazil, Argentina and Chile.

And so I guess the question is this: How do I land a job as a roadie for an acoustic guitarist?

Here’s a track-by-track review (with a few YouTube clips) of Mraz’s latest album, Yes! (worth noting that Yes never released an album titled, “Mraz”).

Remote Patrol

The Third Man

TCM 9:30 p.m.

Lots of buffs of film mention this flick as belonging among the all-time classics. I saw it once, but it was in a roomful of people and there was lots of beer and chili involved. I’ll try to pay closer attention this time.