Massachusetts Wins - And Loses A Favorite Son
Aye, it is time, once again, for yet another one of those infamous lukewarm-&-lugubrious simultaneous posts of mine... Buckle up, grin and bear it - for it is going to be another bumpy ride folks; hell yeah!
As much as I enjoyed seeing the Boston Red Sox win it all just now - as I also had enjoyed it back in 2004 - I got outraged at the sight of this headline:
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Victoria Snelgrove died in 2004 - not due to a car-bomber in the Middle-East or even a terrorist attack in the USofA, but because the festivities surrounding the Boston Red Sox victory and, more specifically, the measures taken to subdue the rowdy crowds back then were found to be quite INADEQUATE. Personally, even if I had been in town that day, I would not have gone on a rampage just because my team won - come on people! Did you bet money on it or something?!? Even so, you'd have to bet on an underdog who somehow DID prevail for the payoff to be worth making a violent ruckus about...! And, likewise, the riot squad was a bit overzealous with their new toy - a certain pepper-pellet gun...
To be fair, let's mention that the author of the above so-tastelessly titled article did mention the 2004 death - but left it a NAMELESS VICTIM. That, coupled with the mere choice of a title, is quite distasteful indeed I think and inadmissible.
We at the lugubrious and lukewarm blogs HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN at least.
Victoria Snelgrove died an unnecessary death.
She had a future ahead of her - snatched away by pure folly, momentary euphoria over what is, ultimately, no big deal at all... (Not diminishing the Boston Red Sox feat here; all the championships won by all the franchises in our modern society - since the inception of pro-sports leagues and associations - NONE of those means SQUAT in the Grand Scheme of Things; is that clearer now?)
Was this demise the price to pay to lift the alleged Curse of the Bambino, as I remember asking back in 2004? (As it did occur between the Red Sox historical comeback against the Yankees and the first World Series win in 86 years for the Sox, if you'll recall...)
Once again, the answer is a resounding NO, as no sports result could ever possibly equate a life, with all its dreams, hopes and aspirations that dwarf any championship, any title, any crown that any competition can offer.
At least this year, they did not kill anyone because the good guys in the Boston Red Sox clubhouse did come out on top in October...
Good.
Still, there was a death shortly after the Sox won it all and partied hardy too -
Massachusetts lost one of its favorite sons, Robert Goulet.
Goulet had performed the national anthem at the Red Sox season opener at Fenway Park back in April, in what was to be their most dominant year ever and his final performance on a major platform...
One wonders if the cool Boston air in April was not good to him...
He was diagnosed with a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis and had been awaiting a lung transplant in Los Angeles - where the Red Sox began their post-season dominance by sweeping the local Angels.
Goulet's famous baritone voice was stiffled in the end by the presence of a breathing tube - and time ran out on him as no lung donor was found within a reasonable delay.
He was 73 - the age my dear father would be.
Why is there always to be some tragedy attached to a Boston triumph?
Shades of the Curse...
Labels: lukewarm simulpost, Red, Robert Goulet, simulcast, Victoria Snelgrove
posted by Luminous (\ô/) Luciano™ @ 6:46 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I REMEMBER VICTORIA SNELGROVE
SOMEBODY ELSE THAT DOES: THE PEPPER-PELLET GUN MAKER...
07/15/2006
Family of fan killed in Red Sox less lethal accident settles lawsuit
The Associated Press
BOSTON- The family of a 21-year-old college student killed during a Red Sox victory celebration has settled its $10 million wrongful death lawsuit against the maker of the pepper-pellet gun that police used to try to subdue the crowd.
A federal judge, at the request of the family of Victoria Snelgrove and gun manufacturer FN Herstal USA, dismissed the suit more than a month ago. The Boston Globe reported the development on Friday.
Details of the out-of-court settlement have been kept secret. Lawyers for the family, FN Herstal, and the city of Boston would not comment.
Snelgrove, an Emerson College student from East Bridgewater, died hours after she was hit in the eye socket with a pepper-spray pellet fired by a police officer outside Fenway Park on Oct. 21, 2004, after Boston beat the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series.
Last year, the city paid a $5.1 million settlement to Snelgrove's parents. As part of that agreement, the city agreed to cooperate in any legal action taken against FN Herstal and share in the proceeds of any damages recovered.
Associated PressCopyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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37 arrested at World Series celebrations
Mon Oct 29, 5:46 PM ET
BOSTON - Police in riot gear cleared several large crowds gathered around Fenway Park early Monday after the Red Sox won their second World Series title in four years. Police said they made 37 arrests, mostly for disorderly conduct.
Thirteen people were arrested after they refused to leave the Kenmore Square area near Fenway Park, police said. After police told a large crowd to leave, several officers were struck by rocks and bottles. Sixteen cars in one area were vandalized.
No serious injuries were reported.
Young people sprayed each other with beer and some climbed street signs or utility poles.
"Two World Series in four years is pure heaven," said Andrew Dumas, a Boston University student from West Boylston.
Police shut down access to Kenmore Square as Game 4 neared its end in Denver Sunday night. The Red Sox won the game 4-3, touching off celebrations around New England.
Mayor Thomas Menino said the team will hold its World Series victory parade Tuesday.
The "rolling rally" on World War II-era amphibious duck boats will take the same route — beginning at Fenway Park and ending near City Hall — as the 2004 championship parade, except they won't go into the Charles River, he said.
The celebration will include relief pitcher Jonathan Papelbon's now-infamous wacky Irish jig, and the Dropkick Murphys also will play along the parade route.
Menino acknowledged having the celebration on a week day would inconvenience some businesses and keep school children away, but said players wanted to get home to their families and begin their vacation.
Boston authorities cracked down on rowdy sports celebrations after an Emerson College student was struck and killed by a pepper pellet fired by police into an unruly crowd celebrating the Red Sox's 2004 victory over the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series.
On Sunday, hundreds of police officers took positions on foot, bicycle and horseback around Fenway, hoping to discourage fans from congregating around the ballpark. The police department had announced it would have more than 50 cameras trained on the city to record any vandalism.
Elsewhere around the region, some 1,500 University of Massachusetts-Amherst students poured out of their dormitories after Boston won.
The university said on its Web site that the crowd was boisterous but peaceful, with no damage reported. Six people were arrested for disorderly conduct or for failing to obey a dispersal order that was issued at about 12:45 a.m.
One person suffered a minor injury when he fell to the ground while body surfing.
In Durham, N.H., several thousand University of New Hampshire students gathered on Main Street, many carrying brooms and chanting "sweep, sweep, sweep."
Several dozen police officers, some in riot gear, pushed the crowds back toward campus and no arrests or injuries were reported.
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Singer Robert Goulet dies at 73
By DAISY NGUYEN,
Associated Press Writer
10 minutes ago
on October 30th, 2007
LOS ANGELES - Robert Goulet, the handsome, big-voiced baritone whose Broadway debut in "Camelot" launched an award-winning stage and recording career, has died. He was 73.
The singer died Tuesday morning in a Los Angeles hospital while awaiting a lung transplant, said Goulet spokesman Norm Johnson.
He had been awaiting a lung transplant at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after being found last month to have a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis.
Goulet had remained in good spirits even as he waited for the transplant, said Vera Goulet, his wife of 25 years.
"Just watch my vocal cords," she said he told doctors before they inserted a breathing tube.
The Massachusetts-born Goulet, who spent much of his youth in Canada, gained stardom in 1960 with "Camelot," the Lerner and Loewe musical that starred Richard Burton as King Arthur and Julie Andrews as his Queen Guenevere.
Goulet played Sir Lancelot, the arrogant French knight who falls in love with Guenevere.
He became a hit with American TV viewers with appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and other programs. Sullivan labeled him the "American baritone from Canada," where he had already been a popular star in the 1950s, hosting his own TV show called "General Electric's Showtime."
The Los Angeles Times wrote in 1963 that Goulet "is popping up in specials so often these days that you almost feel he has a weekly show. The handsome lad is about the hottest item in show business since his Broadway debut."
Goulet won a Grammy Award in 1962 as best new artist and made the singles chart in 1964 with "My Love Forgive Me."
"When I'm using a microphone or doing recordings I try to concentrate on the emotional content of the song and to forget about the voice itself," he told The New York Times in 1962.
"Sometimes I think that if you sing with a big voice, the people in the audience don't listen to the words, as they should," he told the paper. "They just listen to the sound."
While he returned to Broadway only infrequently after "Camelot," he did win a Tony award in 1968 for best actor in a musical for his role in "The Happy Time." His other Broadway appearances were in "Moon Over Buffalo" in 1995 and "La Cage aux Folles" in 2005, plus a "Camelot" revival in 1993 in which he played King Arthur.
His stage credits elsewhere include productions of "Carousel," "Finian's Rainbow," "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," "The Pajama Game," "Meet Me in St. Louis," and "South Pacific."
Goulet also got some film work, performing in movies ranging from the animated "Gay Purr-ee" (1962) to "Underground" (1970) to "The Naked Gun 2 1/2" (1991). He played a lounge singer in Louis Malle's acclaimed 1980 film "Atlantic City."
He returned to Broadway in 2005 as one half of a gay couple in "La Cage aux Folles," and Associated Press theater critic Michael Kuchwara praised Goulet for his "affable, self-deprecating charm."
Goulet had no problems poking fun at his own fame, appearing recently in an Emerald nuts commercial in which he "messes" with the stuff of dozing office workers, and lending his name to Goulet's SnoozeBars. Goulet also has been sent up by Will Ferrell on "Saturday Night Live."
"You have to have humor and be able to laugh at yourself," Goulet said in a biography on his Web site.
The only son of French-Canadian parents, Goulet was born in Lawrence, Mass. After his father died, his mother moved the family to Canada when the future star was about 13.
He received vocal training at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto but decided opera wasn't for him. He made his first professional appearance at age 16 with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. His early success on Canadian television preceded his breakthrough on Broadway.
When his onetime costar Julie Andrews received a Kennedy Center Honors award in 2001, Goulet was among those joining in singing in her honor.
In his last performance Sept. 20 in Syracuse, N.Y., the crooner was backed by a 15-piece orchestra as he performed the one-man show "A Man and his Music."
Although Goulet headlined frequently on the Las Vegas Strip, one period stood out, evidenced by a photograph that hung on his office wall. It was the mid-1970s, and he had just finished a two-week run at the Desert Inn when he was asked to fill in at the Frontier, across the street.
Overnight, the marquees of two of the Strip's hottest resorts read the same: "Robert Goulet."
"I played there many, many years and have wonderful memories of the place," Goulet told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
His first two marriages ended in divorce. He had a daughter with his first wife, Louise Longmore, and two sons with his second wife, Carol Lawrence, the actress and singer who played Maria in the original Broadway production of "West Side Story."
After their breakup, she portrayed him unflatteringly in a book. "There's a fine line between love and hate," he responded in a New York Times interview. "She went on every talk show interview and cut me to shreds, and I've never done anything like that, and I won't."
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Associated Press writer Ryan Nakashima in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
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On the Net:
http://www.robertgoulet.com
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