Red Auerbach RIP

That's pretty unreal.

 

The more you post, Frylock, the more of an idiot you reveal yourself to be.

Keep it up.

Now, if only Michael Gee would return to the thread. That's who I'd like to hear, instead of some nitwit who keeps boo-hooing because nobody liked his dumbass joke.

Have any more Auerbach stories come back to you in the past few days? Would love to hear (read) more, as I'm sure others would.

 

Of course, the inverse must be true about you, right?

 

What? That a newspaper has basic obituary files for famous people whether they be local or national or otherwise? It's nothing new and it's how papers get by on days when people like Ronald Reagan or Bob Hope pass away.

Really it just seemed like another chance for the one-trick pony columnist to take a shot at the newspaper industry and a newspaper that gave his whining ass a job. I can't imagine what it would be like to work with such a fucking baby.

 

Having pre-fabbed Obits never crossed my mind, but I wondered how the Globe had such a ridiculously long story up within minutes of the AP news alert and now I know. Makes sense really.

 

Not really part of the thread, but nevertheless interesting. I finished listening to a podcast of Mike and Mike with Dukie V talking about Red. Vitale found out about Red's death during Babs Streisand's concert.

What the fuck was he doing at a Babs' concert? :-\

 

I meant it was unreal that Simmons had such an objection to a common and necessary newspaper practice.

 

Red Fisher once told me that the worst job he had was the constant updating of Harold Ballard's canned obit. "I can't wait for the sonuvabitch's toes to curl," was the way he said it.
Of course, he was no Bill Simmons.

 

Jack O'Leary was the guy in charge of writing all those canned Herald obits Simmons didn't care to see. He told this one about interviewing former (and now late) Sox announcer Ned Martin. He and Martin talked for a good long while, and Ned closed out by saying, "wow, we really went over a lot. This is going to be a great story. So when can I see it?"
Jack was always very vague on how he answered that question.
One more canned Herald obit story. Don't know if Simmons read this one, too, but I wrote it. It was for Ted Willams. Wrote it way, way back early in my column career.
Ted keeps on ticking. Turns 80, so the Herald has a big happy birthday section. My obit runs, with all the wases changed to ises. OK that's cool.
Time passes on. Sadly, so does Ted. Call the office to see if they want a new piece from me for the new, improved Ted Williams obit section.
"Naah, we like the old one. We'll just changes the ises back to wases."

 

I've never done a canned obit...I always wondered if you actually called people or if you just dug up file quotes. I just can't imagine calling someone and saying, "Yeah, I need to ask you a few questions for when Ted Kennedy kicks the bucket......"

 

Dirk, way back in the '60s Gay Talese did an article for Esquire on their obituary department head, Alden Whitman, I believe his name was. He'd be calling people like Charles DeGaulle to talk about their obits, and since it was the Times, all the famous folks he called knew damn well what it was for.
Most of them thought it was great and were most co-operative-DeGaulle especially.

 

And now for the Twilight Zone twist ... There's now a canned obit for Bill Simmons in the Globe system!

Naaaah ...