Go Eagles! The Cosby Show… Happy 400th Post!

Know Your Medal of Honor Recipients:

Sergeant John S. Darrough (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on October 10, 1864 at Eastport, Mississippi. His citation reads:

Saved the life of a captain.

Corporal Jack A. Davenport (US Marine Corps) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on September 21, 1951 in the vicinity of Songnae-Dong, Korea. His citation reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a squad leader in Company G, in action against enemy aggressor forces, early in the morning. While expertly directing the defense of his position during a probing attack by hostile forces attempting to infiltrate the area, Cpl. Davenport, acting quickly when an enemy grenade fell into the foxhole which he was occupying with another marine, skillfully located the deadly projectile in the dark and, undeterred by the personal risk involved, heroically threw himself over the live missile, thereby saving his companion from serious injury or possible death. His cool and resourceful leadership were contributing factors in the successful repulse of the enemy attack and his superb courage and admirable spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of almost certain death enhance and sustain the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. Cpl. Davenport gallantly gave his life for his country.

Lieutenant, Junior Grade Albert Leroy David (US Navy) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on June 4, 1944 on board the USS Pillsbury. His citation reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while attached to the U.S.S. Pillsbury during the capture of an enemy German submarine off French West Africa, 4 June 1944. Taking a vigorous part in the skillfully coordinated attack on the German U-505 which climaxed a prolonged search by the Task Group, Lt. (then Lt. j.g.) David boldly led a party from the Pillsbury in boarding the hostile submarine as it circled erratically at 5 or 6 knots on the surface. Fully aware that the U-boat might momentarily sink or be blown up by exploding demolition and scuttling charges, he braved the added danger of enemy gunfire to plunge through the conning tower hatch and, with his small party, exerted every effort to keep the ship afloat and to ass1st the succeeding and more fully equipped salvage parties in making the U-505 seaworthy for the long tow across the Atlantic to a U.S. port. By his valiant service during the first successful boarding and capture of an enemy man-o-war on the high seas by the U.S. Navy since 1815, Lt. David contributed materially to the effectiveness of our Battle of the Atlantic and upheld the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.


Did you see this story? It seems this guy has a license plate that says “No Tags”. This has ended up causing him a good bit of trouble… guess he didn’t think it all the way through.

The Eagles make the trip up to Boone, North Carolina today to play the Appalachian State Mountaineers in what is sure to be an epic BracketBuster match-up between two 11 win teams. For any of you non-college basketball fans… having 11 wins in mid-February is not what we in the business (and by the business I mean the industry) call a “good” thing. It just goes to show you everything is relative. If this were football in late November… 11 wins would be great. But basketball in February… not so much. Anyway, maybe the Eagles can get to win number 12 before the Mountaineers can.


The I’m just sayin… Kid Show of the Week

(As always, thanks to Wikipedia for the info…)
The Kid Show of the Week this week is The Cosby Show. While I do know of one person in this world who did not like this show, I happen to think it is (at the very least) in the conversation as the greatest TV show ever. I don’t know if it’s at the top of the list (SPOILER ALERT: I’ll probably get to that in May of 2014), I can say it’s pretty high on the list. Some of you may already know this, but for those who don’t… The Cosby Show is a comedy series starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992. The show revolves around the Huxtable family… an affluent African-American family living in Brooklyn, New York. According to TV Guide, the show "was TV's biggest hit in the 1980s, and almost single-handedly revived the sitcom genre and NBC's ratings fortunes". Originally, the show had been pitched to ABC, which rejected it (which, to me, was like saying, “Nah, we don’t want that Jordan guy playing for our NBA team”). Entertainment Weekly stated that The Cosby Show helped to make possible a larger variety of shows based on blacks, from In Living Color to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The Cosby Show was based on comedy routines in Cosby's standup act, which were based on his family life (and, I must add, were very very funny). Other sitcoms, such as Home Improvement and Everybody Loves Raymond, would later follow that pattern. The show spawned the spin-off A Different World, which ran for six seasons from 1987 to 1993.  As of 2011, The Cosby Show is the third-longest running U.S. comedy with a predominantly black cast, surpassed only by The Jeffersons (very funny) and Family Matters (kind of funny).

The patriarch of the family was Heathcliff "Cliff" Huxtable, an obstetrician, son of a prominent jazz trombonist. The matriarch was his wife, attorney Clair Huxtable. The two characters were then followed by their five children, four daughters and one son; Sondra, Denise, Theodore (Theo for short), Vanessa and Rudy. Despite its comedic tone, the show sometimes involved serious subjects, such as son Theo's experiences dealing with dyslexia, inspired by Cosby's son Ennis, who was also dyslexic. Teenage pregnancy was also a topic when Denise's friend, played by Lela Rochon, became pregnant.

Although the cast and characters were predominantly African-American, the program was unusual in that issues of race were rarely mentioned when compared to other situation comedies of the time, such as The Jeffersons. However, The Cosby Show had African-American themes, such as the Civil Rights Movement, and it frequently promoted African-American and African culture represented by artists and musicians such as Jacob Lawrence, Miles Davis, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Lena Horne, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and Miriam Makeba. The show's spin-off, A Different World dealt with issues of race more often. The cast consisted of Bill Cosby as Dr. Heathcliff "Cliff" Huxtable, Phylicia Rashād (credited as Phylicia Ayers-Allen before marriage in 1985) as Clair Huxtable, Malcolm-Jamal Warner as Theo Huxtable, Keshia Knight Pulliam as Rudy Huxtable, Tempestt Bledsoe as Vanessa Huxtable, Lisa Bonet as Denise Huxtable Kendall (seasons 1–3 and seasons 6–7; recurring in seasons 4 & 5), Sabrina Le Beauf as Sondra Huxtable-Tibideaux (seasons 2–8; recurring in season 1), Geoffrey Owens as Dr. Elvin Tibideaux (seasons 4–8; recurring in seasons 2 & 3), Raven-Symoné as Olivia Kendall (seasons 6–8), Joseph C. Phillips as LT Martin Kendall, USN (seasons 6 & 7, recurring in season 8) and Erika Alexander as Pamela "Pam" Tucker (seasons 7 & 8). Other notable cast members who are seen during the series include Earle Hyman as Russell Huxtable (Cliff’s dad) and Clarice Taylor as Anna Huxtable (Cliff’s mom), Deon Richmond as Kenny (aka “Bud”), Carl Anthony Payne II as Walter Bradley (aka “Cockroach”) and Adam Sandler as Smitty