Do You Remember Night Trap?

I got into a conversation with a guy at work today about all kinds of old school video games. He couldn't remember the name, but he went on to tell me about a game with cameras and girls. Well, I most definitely remembered that game...Night Trap. It was revolutionary and pretty much started the whole ESRB rating system for video games. It also starred the late, Dana Plato from Diff'rent Strokes. Good times.

RIP - Robert Enke

German Goalkeeper Robert Enke died Tuesday after being hit by a train. The police have confirmed that it was suicide. Enke was in line to compete for Germany's starting shot stopper at this summer's World Cup. Our hearts and prayers go out to his wife and adopted daughter.

RIP Patrick Swayze

August 18, 1952 - September 14, 2009. Stay gold Patrick... Stay gold.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBIT_SWAYZE?SITE=WIMAR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

9/11 Remembered

I was at a meeting this morning where they always start with the Pledge of Allegiance. Today felt different.

R.I.P Sir Bobby (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009)

Bobby Robson, an ambassador of English soccer who coached his country to the 1990 World Cup semifinals and won trophies in four countries, died Friday. He was 76.

Robson had cancer and died at his Durham County home with family beside him, a family statement said. He was diagnosed with cancer five times since in 1991 but continued to work until November 2007.

His death came five days after he appeared in a wheelchair at Newcastle’s St. James’ Park. Thousands crowded the stadium to pay tribute to him and raise funds for his cancer charity.

Robson played for England at the 1958 World Cup and as coach led his country to its best World Cup finish since its 1966 title. The popular coach was knighted in 2002. He also coached PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon, FC Porto and Barcelona.

“He always showed great passion for the game and will be missed by all football fans across the globe,” FIFA president Sepp Blatter said. “On behalf of the worldwide football family, I would like to thank Sir Bobby Robson for his memorable contribution to the beautiful game.” Robson rose to fame in the 1970s when he turned unfashionable Ipswich into one of the country’s top teams, winning the FA Cup and UEFA Cup.

His last club job was at Newcastle, the club he supported as a boy. In January 2006, he took a job mentoring Ireland coach Steve Staunton.

“I did what I loved, and I did what I was pretty good at and I suppose what I was born for,” Robson said in 2005. “I enjoyed my career. It was wonderful. I played for some fabulous clubs and I played for England. Then I got the top job, the best job in the world really. I managed England.”

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said he drew on Robson for his generous advice.

“I mourn the passing of a great friend, a wonderful individual, a tremendous football man and somebody with passion and knowledge of the game that was unsurpassed,” he said. “His character was hewn out of the coal face, developed by the Durham County mining background that he came from.”

Robson began his coaching career in 1968, when he took charge of struggling first division Fulham. The club was relegated and fired him after 10 months. Robson was hired by Ipswich and stayed there the next 13 years. He was then appointed England’s manager following the team’s elimination from the 1982 World Cup, and he won 27 of 28 qualifying matches in his eight years in charge.

The loss cost England a place at the 1984 European Championship. After the Football Association rejected his offer to resign, Robson went on to lead the team to the quarterfinals of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

England was eliminated from that tournament when Diego Maradona scored two of soccer’s most famous goals. The Argentine great punched the ball into the net for the first goal. On the second, Maradona surged halfway down the field, shredding much of the England team in the process.

Maradona called the first goal “The Hand of God.” Robson would have none of it.

“It wasn’t the Hand of God,” Robson said. “It was the hand of a rascal. God had nothing to do with it.”

A poor performance at Euro ’88 was followed by a run to the semifinals of the 1990 World Cup in Italy, where England lost a penalty-kick shootout to West Germany after a 1-1 draw.

Robson joined PSV after the World Cup and won the Dutch league in 1991 and ’92. He also coached at Sporting and FC Porto before moving to Barcelona in 1996. A year later, he was voted European Manager of the Year after winning the Spanish Cup, the Spanish Super Cup and the European Cup Winners’ Cup with a team that included Brazilian star Ronaldo. He returned to PSV and then went to Newcastle from 1999 to 2004.

No matter what, he remained popular with fans, often chatting soccer with them even as his declining health prevented a full-time return to coaching. He had surgery to remove a brain tumor in 2006 but was again diagnosed with cancer the following year.

Asked in 2005 why he continued to work into his later years, Robson said: “Football is my drug. I don’t like going to supermarkets on a Saturday afternoon.”

February 2, 1947-June 25, 2009: Good bye Angel.

Farrah Fawcett, the multiple Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated American actress best known for her role as the vivacious Jill Munroe in the 1970s television series “Charlie’s Angels,” died in a Santa Monica hospital. She was 62. Fawcett was diagnosed with anal cancer in September 2006 and, despite going into remission and enduring extensive chemotherapy and surgery both in the U.S. and Germany, it was revealed earlier this year that the cancer had spread to her liver. She stopped receiving treatment in May.
Fawcett documented the trials and tribulations of her battle with cancer in the NBC documentary "Farrah’s Story."

R.I.P Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson, the sensationally gifted "King of Pop" who emerged from childhood superstardom to become the entertainment world's most influential singer and dancer before his life and career deteriorated in a freakish series of scandals, died Thursday, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. He was 50.
The person said Jackson died in a Los Angeles hospital. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.
The circumstances of his death were not immediately clear. Jackson was not breathing when Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics responded to a call at his Los Angeles home about 12:30 p.m., Capt. Steve Ruda told the Los Angeles Times. The paramedics performed CPR and took him to UCLA Medical Center, Ruda told the newspaper.
Jackson's death brought a tragic end to a long, bizarre, sometimes farcical decline from his peak in the 1980s, when he was popular music's premier all-around performer, a uniter of black and white music who shattered the race barrier on MTV, dominated the charts and dazzled even more on stage.
His 1982 album "Thriller" — which included the blockbuster hits "Beat It," "Billie Jean" and "Thriller" — remains the biggest-selling album of all time, with more than 26 million copies.
He was perhaps the most exciting performer of his generation, known for his feverish, crotch-grabbing dance moves, his high-pitched voice punctuated with squeals and titters. His single sequined glove and tight, military-style jacket were trademarks second only to his ever-changing, surgically altered appearance.
As years went by, he became an increasingly freakish figure. His skin became lighter and his nose narrower. He surrounded himself with children at his Neverland ranch, often wore a germ mask while traveling and kept a pet chimpanzee named Bubbles as one of his closest companions.
In 2005, he was cleared of charges he molested a 13-year-old cancer survivor at Neverland in 2003. He had been accused of plying the boy with alcohol and groping him. The case took a fearsome toll on his career and image, and he fell into serious financial trouble.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the hospital as word of his death spread. The emergency entrance at the UCLA Medical Center, which is near Jackson's rented home, was roped off with police tape.
In New York's Times Square, a low groan went up in the crowd when a screen flashed that Jackson had died, and people began relaying the news to friends by cell phone.
"No joke. King of Pop is no more. Wow," Michael Harris, 36, of New York City, read from a text message a friend sent to his telephone. "It's like when Kennedy was assassinated. I will always remember being in Times Square when Michael Jackson died."