Some Thoughts on Gary Papa – Philadelphia Fans – The Iran Crisis
The death of Gary Papa at such a young age spotlights the relationship that local viewers develop with long time TV personalities. People view this loss as the loss of a part of their own daily lives. Gary arrived at Channel Six four years after I left the station. He came to town as a sports reporter and eventually replaced Don Tollefson as the station’s main sports anchor. I did not know Gary, except to say hello now and then at a chance meeting. But people who I have worked with, especially in the sports field, have deep and affectionate feelings about him.
One of Gary’s close friends is Jeff Asch. Jeff is a long time sports journalist, and currently a weekend sports standout at KYW Newsradio. His words of affection for Gary reflect much of what is being said: Gary was a giving guy who cared a lot about the people he worked with. but most especially his family. He learned, as I have along with many others, that the people of this region, as tough as they are described by jaded national journalists, are intensely loyal to the people who stay here and make a life here. Commitment to the community is very important. And Gary Papa became, over the years, a real and genuine Philadelphian.
Some years ago, I was out to dinner with my family, when we ran into Gary and his wife and two children. They are a beautiful, young and vibrant family. I think of them now as they endure such a deep personal loss.
ED SNIDER: ON THE FANS
My special interview with Ed Snider on Voice of Reason running this week on the Comcast Network and Comcast Sportsnet was revealing. It wasn’t just Snider’s assessment of his long tenure here, but his remarks about Philadelphia sports fans that made me think a bit about the big picture. Snider said that his work with the Flyers and now the Sixers would have never been possible without the true grit and unwavering support of sports fans here. He should know. He’s been around longer on the sports scene than anyone in this town, except the venerable and respected Stan Hochman who has been reporting for the Daily News for 50 years. One of Snider’s first lessons, back in the 1960’s was understanding that losing is not an option for most fans. But there was another lesson: that the fans cared more about the team’s will to win, and the owner’s desire to do everything possible to make that happen. It’s very simple. Give them everything you’ve got, and win or lose, they will respect you forever.
IRAN-
Whatever the outcome of the current mini-revolution, things will never be the same in Iran. The Mullahs who run the country will always be watching their backs. Their paranoia about the West will grow. Will they try to be more accountable to the masses who are demonstrating? Doubtful, but, in the end, this outburst of emotions may cause enough fear to bring a slight tild toward reform. In the meantime, the world is watching, and the ultra-militant extremists who run that country know it. That’s a good thing.
Comments(69)
Nice tribute to Gary Larry. Last night’s Action News really paid him homage. It set a high water mark for tributes to newscasters. I hope you live a long time so we can’t compare, although God forbid something ever happen, it would be nice if your wife left this site up so she would see how many people really like you- including most of us!
On Iran, it would be nice if you took the additional step to ask why do the Iranian people have the courage to rise up against the most anti semetic dictator since Hitler. The answer is simple, its a dividend from Iraq war- period!
Lord Abott thought Iraq war was wrong and a waste, but we may now be seeing a method to the madness of Bush/Cheney doctrine, perhaps it will turn out to be one of the greatest catalysts to bring about lasting change in the region and turn the tide in favor of the West, not to mention enhace the secuity of Israel. The Iranian people have seen from Iraq that they do not need to tolerate a crazy dictator, and it’s all because of Iraq.
I am Lord Abott and I am the true voice of reason.
First 100 Days
Where have all the Conservatives gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the Conservatives gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the Conservatives gone?
Lost their 401K every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the Moderates gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the Moderates gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the Moderates gone?
Been foreclosed every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the Liberals gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the Liberals gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the Liberals gone?
Driving Priuses every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where has all the stimulus money gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the stimulus money gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the stimulus gone?
Gone without a trace every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
Where have all the corporations gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the corporations gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the corporations gone?
Gone to China every one
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/02/10/stimulus-plan-is-theft-some-lawmakers-warn/
Click Clock Click Clock
Liberals in lockstep
Click Clock Click Clock
Beginning of major misstep
Click Clock Click Clock
Larry you rightly pay tribute to esteemed colleague Gary Papa but is that what this site is about. WITH ALL DUE RESPECT to Gary is that what your site has become? A tribute to fallen teleprompter readers? Self promoting CN8 interviews? Short and vague comments about world affairs?
Barney…. if you would have followed Larry a little longer you would have seen more than your fare share of parody songs set to “Where have All The Flowers Gone”.
As for “….is that what your site has become?” It’s always been about tributes to fallen media personal and a smattering
of Larry’s friends (ie.Ed Rendel, Josh Sharpiro, and Arlen Specter) He does throw in an author or two but I believe he doesn’t really think that the people that read his column actually read books.
As for you and others hiding behind sock puppet names….. we only used to see sock puppets after Larry would leave the same column up for days on end. Now you jump right in off the get-go with all your sock puppets. What are you ashamed of? Can’t you post a comment without using a sock puppet? If you are suffering from SPS (sock puppet syndrome)there is help for you.
There is no one left here except sock puppets. If you are not a sock puppet then you are the exception.
I would like be wishing ewery one a wery happy father’s day. Even the pontailed one if he is father. Follow President Obama’s lead and be an ewen better father.
Lord Abott is being honored today as the best father in the western hemisphere.
Good morning Philadelphia! Like so many other Philadelphia entities it appears that I have run my course. I appear to be laboring in obscurity and no longer welcome. The final blow was recent negative comments from nouveau lifeless sock puppets. This entire website is undergoing a transition. It’s time for me to go. Hasta la vista. Ciao. I will not be a semi-regular anymore. I may drop in from time to time but I bid farewell as a regular cast member. This is Larry Kaighn signing off. You can buy my books on Amazon if you are needing an LK fix. I’ll be doing a book signing at Borders in Rittenhouse Square this Wednesday. A perfect belated Father’s Day gift.
That’s an incredible insight, Larry; however, Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary government are run by Grand Ayatollahs, not mullahs, who are low level. That would be like saying priests and not the Pope & cardinals run the Vatican.
Gary Papa was annoying. Seeing him bald on TV was unnerving and made me contemplate mortality when I wanted to be escaping to the world of statistics and sport. I stopped watching when he came back bald, like the Lame-a.
Ohhhhh Leo you angry guy. You say cancer victim’s baldness is unnerving for you. Rather insensitive and shallow wouldn’t you say? Particularly for a liberal like you. Probably was wery unnerving for Gary. Baldness too close to home? The ponytail does not hide your shortcomings. It accentuates them. Cut off my little pony.
Larry,Gary Papa and action news is the gold standard in local news in the country,and we know you’re not a big fan of Jim Gardner but he is the best news anchor in phila history.
Gary Papa also was very good on the sat.evening magazine show,primetime.
God Bless Gary Papa and Jim O’brien.
*****
Larry,Ed Snider’s Flyers have not won a stanley cup in 35 years,and he has zero knowledge of basketball,he should have worked it out with Pat Croce,the teams would be in alot better shape.
*****
Larry,i hope obama deals with iran better then jimmy carter did.
*****
your holiness Dalai Lama,you have hit a nerve with the uncovering of leo’s baldspot and ponytail,but beware of barney frank he’ll stab you in the back.
*****
Larry,Good Luck and God Bless..
You do not put a person suffering from cancer on TV to give sports updates. People don’t tune in for sports in order to be reminded of mortality.
Lame-a, you seem to be quite angry. Or at least you seem to be eager to be critical of imagined flaws. So unlike the Lama. You won’t receive total consciousness on your death bed.
Ohhhhhh you are wery angry. Do not try to transition anger and blame to me. I am at one with the universe. I know all. I see all. I am not going to be dragged down into the bushes.
Lame-a, a sock puppet cannot be at one with the universe. You’re only at one with the feller with his hand up your sock hole.
And his other hand is at one with his whittler.
Fap. Fap. Fap.
Again, I must be listening to the woice of experience. You clearly are that.
I don’t be thinking you will be getting 40 vestal virgins when you be dying because you have potty mind. I am clean and unchaste.
Ohhhhhhh Jack Russell you are a wery wise man. You must be coming back full time.
Larry Kaighn if you have some free time this summer why don’t you spent a couple week on the Hamptons at the Baldwin complex? Plenty of room. Perhaps you can use the quiet time to work on your next book.
If not then au revoir. A toute a l’heure! We Baldwins will miss you.
Hey guys I just dumped that bitch of a wife of mine. What a relief. The management at The Learning Channel was really upset. I told them to go pound sand. The Learning Channel…. what an misnomer. The only thing you learn watching The Learning Channel is how stupid The Learning Channel is. They should call it The Voyeur Channel.
Lame-a, clean and unchaste? I do not think this word means what you think it means. Of course, as a sock puppet, you’re no better than the autoerotic-obsessed feller with his one hand up your backside and other hand on his Johnson, and that apparently isn’t very good.
Larry, will you be commenting on alternate media and the power of Neda? That seems like an appropriate topic for someone from the old guard.
Lord Abott showed larry’s critique to an Iranain friend.
He felt” Mullah” was being used in a very anti Islamic way.
I did’t see it, but he simply asked if “rabbi’ was
Inserted for Mullah would American jews find it to be anti semtetic?
My friend also asked how an american
Newsman could be so ignorant as to write such drivvle
And think that is insightful. That’s just one moderate iranian mans opinion.
However, he really has a point, Larry Kane has nothing of value
To say about world news.
I am lord abott and do not understand why this site exists, is it to sell books?
LA this is The Most Interesting Man in the World. You are boarish and uninteresting. You magnify your importance much the way the pompous and insipid Leo does. Stay thirsty my friend.
The most interesting man in the world cannot spell boorish. All aboard the FAIL boat.
You are making my point. Thank you.
Your point being that you, the least interesting sock puppet, are a quasi-literate chimp.
No that you are pompous and insipid.
The most intereting man is a name calling mental midget
You are making my point as well. Thank you.
TMIMITW you show no signs of complete and proper refinement. You are the boor.
Ohhhhhhh Leo why are you so quick to correct and critize? I thought you were a retired postal worker not an English teacher. You should look in the mirror. Literally.
http://www.themanetease.com/?tag=ponytails-on-men
Ohhhhh Alec do not be stealing my trademark beginning Ohhhhh. You are a fat and untalented spoiled brat. You are wery lucky you were born a Baldwin. Do not unleash the wrath of the Dalai Lama. It can be fast and furious striking like a cobra in the night. A fat boy like you is not up to this.
Alec and the Lame-a have the same hand up their backsides it seems. Nice jorb!
In other news, Senator Ensign and Gov. Sanford had an encounter with Larry Craig in Argentina. Flip. Flop. Flip. Flop.
“In other news,Senator…….-Leo,stick to being pompous,comedy ain’t your strong smoot.
Sure thing, Grandma Palin.
Hey, did you hear that when YBP was in town he got knocked up by Rep. Foley?
Case in point,you’re much better in the pompous mode.
Ah, family values champ GOP Governor Sanford has now admitted that he went AWOL to Argentina because he was having an affair. WITH A WOMAN!
Congrats, Gov. You and multi-divorce people like Newt and Rush as well as parenting hypocrites like the Palins are setting up a stellar face for the GOP’s family values message.
Flip. Flop. Flip. Flop.
That’s more like it.Holier than thou fits you well too.
Thanks, YBP, for recognizing the perfection before you.
I just wish you wouldn’t pull on my ponytail so hard when you try to plook me.
Don’t flatter yourself.
who is this moolb oel person. is he some kind of arab or something. wtf
This site is a digrace. A senseless idiotic waste.
Yet lord abott cannot look away, why is that.
Leo is so virtuous he donates his pony tail to locks of love each year.
Garry Papa had hair because of leo- true story!
Larry kane didn’t know gary papa? I thought they all knew each other.
Given larrys love of sports its kind of odd.
Maybe gary didn’t want to know larry? There’s more
this, very strange indeed….
Lord Abbett, I have many, many shares of your mutual fund. Thank you for being a savvy investor.
YBP, you are the one who flatters me, what with all the attention and attempts to plook me. I don’t swing that way, but I know a compliment when I see one, even when it’s coming from the Lame-a sock puppeteer.
Larry it looks like your wish has come true. Your column now languishes in complete obscurity except for a couple of Joes throwing names at each other. The once colorful commentary read on this site is now only a memory, replaced by talk of bald spots and pony tail lengths. If I ever see you on the streets again don’t expect me to say hello, I’d rather just leave you alone with your thoughts. Maybe sooner or later you might come to realize that you made a big mistake with this platform.
Ed, Larry made a valiant blogging effort for someone whose career got legs in the age of slide rules and vacuum tubes. Sometimes older folks have a hard time grasping the nuances of computers and social media sites. (Trolling . . . .)
Leo-what’s with the obscure Zappa references? You gotta be the weirdest brother on the planet.
so are you an arab or what
At least I’m not a German-speaking chrome pig with marital aids stuck all over me.
Larry, Michael Jackson is dead. Remember him? He used to be famous, too. Who will care for Blanket?
Michael Jackson dead and soon to be buried. May the children of the world emit a sigh of relief..
I heard he died of food poisoning he got from eating a four-year old weener.
The worlds most famous pedophile is dead!
As martha stewart would say- and that’s a ggood thing!
I heard it was 12 yr.old nuts.
No, YBP, it was from having too much ten-year old Scot.
What a truly somber day it is. Two icons for the ages have passed away. One from the 70’s and one from the 80’s. Farrah with her hair and Michael with his face changed the landscape forever. Although I never “got” Farrah’s hair or Michael’s face. I did get the feeling that our country was turning into a soulless narcissistic society. The self proclaimed “King of Pop” more like the “King of Poop”.
Ed, beat it. That was bad, off the wall even. You yourself are no angel. Sorry, Charlie.
oel……..so you didn’t like the “King of Poop”. I thought it was apropos. I mean that is all he has been doing the last several years, changing diapers and taking care of “his” children.
oeL..Bosley asked me why no reference to him? I mean he is the one who actually met with the angels. Charlie on the other hand was probably always tied up in a broom closet with a poster of Farah Fawcett doing his thing (ala another icon from the 70’s who just hit the trail David Carradine).
Larry, did you ever follow Michael Jackson on tour? Interview him? Stay in the oxygen tent with Bubbles at the Neverland Ranch?
oeL….OK…. beat it, bad, off the wall, etc…. very clever, even if it took me a while. Do you think Larry got it?
Ed, basically I was trying to say you are a faggot… not really that clever. Who the hell cares if Larry got it or not.
oeL …. you’re right it wasn’t that clever but I didn’t want to hurt your feelings. I’m always trying to give support to those less advantaged. You seem to fit that mold. Hiding your insecurities and lack of social intercourse with the outside world behind your pompous act is tiring.
If fact the real oel moolB is a whole lot better than you are and that ain’t saying much.
Way too much media coverage on dead celebrities.
Our man kane will weigh in with something inane like.
“Say what you want, but everyone agrees that
Guy could dance. And Farah, what a brave inspiration
To all who have been touched by cancer, she was a beautiful person
Who died on her own terms in a beautiful way”
Lord Abott has a great idea. To start a competing
Site called Larez Kane, but offer an intelligent
Counterpoint to larry’s column while also mocking him.
It would have a few components, serious stuff, special appearances
By other small time newscasters in philadelphia who get the joke
And of course all of the off balance bloggers who enjoy
Poking fun at local news personalities. there
Could also be a real estate section to discuss
Where they are buying and selling and if they
Are having financial or personal problems.
Leo, I would need you to be a major contributor, the nastier the better!
The industry is so vain all the local news hotties
Would want to be covered, get paparazzi like photos
Of erin ohearn et al. It will be great!
I’d do it everytime 60% of the time.
Also, #63 is the disgruntled Lame-a aock puppeteer, who cannot resist trying to put his hand up my backside every now and then.
I heard walter cronkite is on his deathbed today.
Can’t wait to hear Larry’s platitudes on him.
Let me preempt, cronkite was the father of liberal
Media bias. He is why good men like larry kane went astray.
They don’t even realize they are telling lies when
They edit the truth and spin to the left.
Thanks to lord abott’s good friend Bernard Goldberg,
We know the truth about cronkite and CBS liberal liars club.