ESPN Sports Anchor Stuart Scott Has Died Age 49 after Battle with Cancer … However, He Will Always Be “As Cool as the Other Side of the Pillow”

It is a sad day in sports today, ESPN’s Stuart Scott has passed away at the age of 49 …

The longtime ESPN anchor Stuart Scott died Sunday morning after an extended battle with cancer, he was just 49 years old. Scott joined the ESPN in 1993 as the network was ramping up to launch ESPN2. That was just the launching bad for Scott as he steadily grew into one of ESPN’s most well-known, well liked and respected personalities … “Boo-Yah.” I remember the founding of ESPN in 1978, let along the launch of ESPN2 and let me just say Stuart Scott brought an energy and a fun and off the wall perspective to the broadcast that you truly looked forward to watching it. It is not very often that sports highlights were must-see TV, but that is the talent that this man had. Stuart Scott did the best thing that any sports anchor could do, he provided us with an escape from the real world and made sports fun. He talked about the games, plays and highlights like we would with our friends. God bless you Stuart Scott, our prayers go out to your family and friends … thank you … rest in peace.

REST IN PEACE STUART SCOTT

Stuart Scoot was first diagnoses with a rare form of cancer in November 2007. He took the vile disease publicly as he allowed us to share in his battle. So many of us either have been in Scott’s shoes or know some one personally who is. Stuart Scott helped us all deal with cancer in our own lives as he battled his. Scott was a beacon of light and remained so positive in his fight against cancer. One of the greatest lessons Stuart showed us all was to not let cancer paralyze you. He lived his life to the end on his terms and that meant being an ESPN sports anchor and commentator to the best of his ability. Please watch the VIDEO below of Scott’s moving speech, it is one of the best ever. For 7 years Scott battled cancer and kept the attitude that “fighting was winning, not quitting, not saying I have cancer, I can t do anything. ” Scott maintained the only way you lose against cancer is to not fight it and to just lay down and have a pity party for yourself.

His personality was infectious … Rest is peace Stuart Scott, you will forever be “as cool as the other side of the pillow.”

To all who have cancer, have known those who have cancer or currently know some one who is battling cancer, we need to remember the words that  Stuart Scott said during his speech after receiving the Jimmy V Perseverance Award at the ESPYS on July 16, 2014. Please make sure to watch his acceptance speech below.

“When you die, it does not mean you lose to cancer. You beat cancer in how you live, why you live and in the manner in which you live. So live, live, fight like hell. And when you get too tired to fight then lay down and rest and have some body else fight for you. That’s also very important. I can’t do this “don’t give up thing” by myself. I got thousands of people on Twitter and on the streets who encourage me.”

ESPN:

Stuart Scott, a longtime anchor at ESPN, died Sunday morning at the age of 49.

Among the features of the new ESPN studio in Bristol is a wall of catchphrases made famous by on-air talent over the years. An amazing nine of them belong to one man — from his signature “Boo-Yah!” to “As cool as the other side of the pillow” to “He must be the bus driver cuz he was takin’ him to school.”

That man is Stuart Scott, and his contributions to the sports lexicon are writ large. But they are only one aspect of his legacy. When he passed away, he left behind so much more. He inspired his colleagues with his sheer talent, his work ethic and his devotion to his daughters, Taelor, 19, and Sydni, 15. He defied convention and criticism to help bring this network into a new century. He spoke to the very athletes he was talking about with a flair and a style that ESPN president John Skipper says, “changed everything.”

“He didn’t just push the envelope,” says sports radio host and former ESPN anchor Dan Patrick. “He bulldozed it.”

Stuart Scott was honored for his fight against cancer at the 2014 ESPY Awards, where he became the latest recipient of the Jimmy V ESPY Award for Perseverance. The award named for college basketball coach Jim Valvano, whose life was also taken by cancer in 1993, and who gave probably one of the greatest speeches in sports history that speaks to one’s everyday life, “Don’t Give Up, Don’t Ever Give Up”.

Stuart Scott’s Moving ESPYS Speech, 

UPDATE I: Remembering Stuart Scott:

Steve Levy, who came to ESPN shortly before Stuart in August 1993 and served as his co-host for the first “SportsCenter” from the new studio last June, put it this way: “I think the audience recognized that when Stuart was on, there was going to be something special. And to his credit, he brought something special every night he was on.”

Tributes to Scott on Twitter, #BooYah

Remembering Stuart Scott’s first set at ESPN … muted colors in 1D!!!

He made us laugh … ESPN commercial with Stuart Scott and Maria Sharapova … “Can I get that can back?” Priceless!!!

UPDATE II: ESPN Colleagues Remember Stuart Scott. (VIDEO)

Chris Berman, Rich Eisen, Dan Patrick and Gus Ramsey look back on their time working with Stuart Scott

Missing College Student Shane Montgomery’s Body Found in Schuylkill River … Parents: “Today we have done what we promised. We found and brought Shane home.”(Update: Death Ruled Accidental)

According to the family of Shane Montgomery, the body of a missing college student was found today in the Schuylkill River.  The police say a call came in around noon that a body was found behind the Brewery Pub at Main Street and Shurs Lane. The body was discovered by the Garden State Underwater Recovery Unit and transported to the medical examiner’s office.  Although the body is that of a white male and the family is saying that the body is that of Shane, police have not officially confirmed that. The 21 year old West Chester University student Shane Montgomery went missing on 11/27/14 in Manayunk, PA after  a night out with friends at a bar.

The body of a missing college student was found today in the Schuylkill River, according to his family.

Police have not confirmed that the body is Shane Montgomery, 21, who has not been seen since Thanksgiving Day. Philadelphia police said only that a body was found this afternoon in the river in the city’s Manayunk section.

Shane Montgomery’s family: We found and brought Shane home:

Six persistent volunteer divers went back into the dark, frigid waters of the Schuylkill River on Saturday, looking again for some trace of missing college student Shane Montgomery.

This time, they were successful. They found his body in 36-degree waters 3-4 feet deep, at 12:09 p.m., not far from the Manayunk pub where he was partying the night of Thanksgiving Eve.

Family members were despondent as they stood on the banks of the river when the tragic discovery was made.

Facebook – Help find Shane Montgomery:

Today we have done what we promised. We found and brought Shane home. We want to thank the Garden State Underwater Recovery Unit, Philadelphia Marine Unit, Northwest Detectives, the Philadelphia Police Department, Saint John the Baptist, Mike Rose and the Brew Pub and their employees. We want to thank everyone for their support, prayers, and love and ask that they continue to pray for our family at this trying time. At this time we ask that you please respect our privacy. We need time to mourn together as a family.

UPDATE I: Medical examiner rules death of Shane Montgomery was accidental.

The Philadelphia medical examiner’s office has ruled Shane Montgomery’s death accidental, his uncle said Sunday.

The body of the 21-year-old West Chester University student was found by a volunteer dive team during a search of the Schuylkill River Saturday. His family had watched the recovery effort from the riverbank.

Kevin Verbrugghe, Montgomery’s uncle, said his nephew’s body had been released by the medical examiner’s office and that the family is planning funeral arrangements.

NYC Mayor De Blasio Appears to Care More About Deaths of Rikers Island Felony Sexually Abusers than NYPD Officers

Sorry, if I don’t shed a tear or could care less … I care more about the deaths of police officers than inmates. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

35 year old Fabian Cruz, who was on suicide watch, committed suicide sometime after 4 pm New Years Eve at Rikers Island on New years Eve. Cruz was put on round the clock suicide observation because he was distraught over an imminent prison sentence. Really, maybe he should have considered the consequences prior to committing the crime. As they say, “don’t do the crime, of you can’t do the time.”  The tax payers of New York won’t have to worry about this punk doing his time. Even after being put on suicide watch, Cruz was found dead in his cell, lying face up, a bed sheet wrapped around his neck.  A jail psychiatrist recommended he be placed on suicide watch this week; however, correction officers reportedly failed to follow department policy. Law abiding citizens looks at this and say, next story. However, bleeding heart liberal NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio seems to care moer about felons than he does the men and women in blue who put these scum bags in jail. De Blasio has proposed a series of changes for Rikers Island, including added surveillance cameras, more therapeutic programs for inmates and additional training for correction officers. You have got to be kidding me?

The warning was sent at 4:45 p.m. on New Year’s Eve: A Rikers Island inmate, distraught over an imminent prison sentence, was threatening to harm himself and was possibly suicidal.

According to jail policy, correction officers should immediately have put the inmate, Fabian Cruz, on round-the-clock suicide observation. That did not happen. Rather, a full 24 hours after a mental health clinician sounded the alarm, Mr. Cruz was found dead in his cell, lying face up, a bedsheet wrapped around his neck, according to jail employees and internal documents.

The death underscores the dysfunction that continues to pervade the Rikers Island jail complex even as New York City officials scramble to fix it amid intense scrutiny by the federal Justice Department, which is now suing the city, charging widespread abuse and neglect of inmates.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has proposed a series of changes, including added surveillance cameras, more therapeutic programs for inmates and additional training for correction officers, to improve conditions at Rikers. Last year, he allocated $32 million for more guards and improved mental health services.

But Mr. Cruz’s death, which was confirmed on Friday by the Correction Department, appears to have resulted from a failure to follow basic policy. The department would not comment on the circumstances surrounding the death.

But wait, why was this scumbag at Rikers’ Island in the first place, that so many people like Mayor de Blasio would be are concerned about his suicide? Cruz was a repeated felony sexual abuser of a teen girl beginning when she was 14 years of age.

About two weeks earlier, Mr. Cruz pleaded guilty to one felony count of attempted first-degree criminal sexual act. According to prosecutors, he repeatedly sexually abused his girlfriend’s daughter over a period of three years, starting when the girl was 14. Under a plea arrangement, he was to be sentenced on Jan. 12 to five years in prison, according to the Staten Island district attorney’s office. In April, he had also been sentenced to two and a half to five years in prison on separate burglary and other charges, but he was kept at Rikers until his death.

Check out the rap sheet on Cruz that Mayor de Blasio seems to be so concerned out. More than 300 misdemeanor sex charges in an unrelated case on Staten Island involving a minor and a felony sex charge against Cruz. Sorry, he needed killing. No wonder corrections officers might have turned the other way. Hell if it were me I would have given him and extra belt and shoe laces. This scum bag needed killing.

But authorities aren’t finished with Fabian Cruz just yet.

Still pending are more than 300 misdemeanor sex charges in an unrelated case on Staten Island involving a minor and a felony sex charge in Brooklyn state Supreme Court, online state court records show.

Cruz, 35, is accused of groping his girlfriend’s teenage daughter in those cases, according to court papers and sources.

Cruz was indicted in March of last year on a raft of charges stemming from several incidents.

He and his girlfriend, Kizzy Barnett, 37, were accused of attacking Ms. Barnett’s 14-year-old son inside their Van Duzer Street apartment on Feb. 9, 2013.

Ms. Barnett menaced the teen with a knife and tried to attack him with it, the indictment alleges, while Cruz violated an order of protection during the incident.

Neighbors witnessed the fight and told police what happened, spurring Cruz to tell them to keep mum, law enforcement sources said. Police arrested him for obstructing governmental administration that day, a charge to which he subsequently pleaded guilty, sources said.

Donna Douglas, Elly May Clampett of the ‘Beverly Hillbilly’ Dies at 82 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Donna Douglas, most know for her role as Elly May Clampett on the TV sitcom the ‘Beverly Hillbilly’s,’ has passed away at the age of 82 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Douglas passed away from pancreatic cancer surrounded by family and friends. She is survived by a son, Danny Bourgeois; a brother, Emmett R. Smith Jr.; two granddaughters; a grandson and two great-grandchildren. Although she played other roles, Donna Douglas will always be known as Elly May, the original Daisey Duke. She played Elly May on the Beverly Hillbilly’s from 1962 to 1971.

Donna Douglass was born Doris Smith in Pride, Louisiana in September 1932, and graduated from Redemptorist High School in Baton Rouge. She was crowned Miss New Orleans and Miss Baton Rouge in beauty contests. Unlike many Hollywood stars who resent their claim to fame and being typecast, Donna Douglas never did, she relished it.

“Today the role of Elly May has been a beautiful opportunity, a wonderful little door opener for me to share my heart with others, whether speaking in churches, ladies conferences, youth groups, schools, conventions, and various civic organizations, or one on one,” her website bio said. “Amazing what God can do with a life, if given the opportunity!”

The Beverly Hillbillies – Elly’s First Date, 11/21/62

Donna Douglas, who played the shapely, blue-eyed daughter of the suddenly wealthy mountaineer Jed Clampett on “The Beverly Hillbillies,” the wildly popular television sitcom of a half-century ago, died on Thursday in Baton Rouge, La.

Ms. Douglas, who lived in the Baton Rouge suburb of Zachary, had pancreatic cancer and died in a hospital, her niece Charlene Smith said. Though other sources listed her as 81, Ms. Smith said her aunt was 82.

Ms. Douglas appeared in various movie and television roles before and after “The Beverly Hillbillies,” which ran on CBS for nine seasons. But she was destined to be forever remembered as Elly May Clampett, the lovely ingénue of the Ozarks.

She was chosen for the part from among hundreds of actresses, and in her view it was her small-town Southern upbringing that had made her a natural for the part. During her audition, she was asked to milk a goat.

“I had milked cows before,” she told The Associated Press in 2009. “I figured they were equipped the same, so I just went on over and did it.”

“The Beverly Hillbillies” burst upon the scene on the evening of Sept. 26, 1962. “In tonight’s fun-filled premiere, Buddy Ebsen stars as the head of a proud hillbilly clan that discovers an oil well at home that leads to a new home in Hollywood!” a CBS print advertisement proclaimed. Other cast members included Irene Ryan as the flinty matriarch Granny and Max Baer Jr., as the bumpkin cousin Jethro Bodine.

Police Commissioner Bratton Tells NYPD, Don’t Turn Your Backs on Mayor de Blasio at Officer Wenjian Liu’s Funeral

SHAME ON NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER BILL BRATTON, HE HAS BECOME NOTHING MORE THAN A SUIT BOUGHT AND PAID FOR BY THE MAYORS OFFICE …

New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has warned NYPD officers not to turn their backs on NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio this Sunday at the funeral of Officer Wenjian Liu. Bratton released a memo to the NYPD pretty much chastising them for their behavior at officer Rafael Ramos’ funeral. Bratton stated in the memo that a “hero’s funeral is about grieving, not grievance.”   The memo further went on to attack the NYPD, blaming the officers involved with taking attention away from the funeral and ruining the NYPD’s reputation.

UNREAL. Bratton best watch out or the NYPD rank and file officers will be turning their backs on him next. I could not disagree with Commissioner Bratton more. It sounds like this once cop is nothing more than bureaucratic shill for Mayor de Blasio. The NYC mayor has shown no effort to mend the riff that he created between himself and the NYPD. In fact he has made it worse by reappointing Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Laura Johnson to another year term on Wednesday, the same judge who let individuals out of jail without bail who  made terrorist threats against police officers, one of who was a gang member.

New York Post:

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton is so worried his cops will turn their backs to his boss, Mayor Bill de Blasio, at another NYPD funeral that he sent out a memo to shame them into good behavior, sources told The Post.

“A hero’s funeral is about grieving, not grievance,” began the four-paragraph plea, which is being read at precinct roll calls ahead of slain Officer Wenjian Liu’s Sunday service.

Bratton won’t punish officers who choose to turn their backs to de Blasio — which was done in droves at the funeral for fallen Officer Rafael Ramos — but he pleaded with the rank and file to shelve their anger.

“I issue no mandates and I make no threats of discipline,” the memo said. “But I remind you that when you don the uniform of this department, you are bound by the tradition, honor, and decency that go with it.”

Police Commissioner Bratton should most likely shut up and allow the NYPD officer to express their First Amendment rights and freedom of expression. Other than going on strike and letting the masses fend for themselves, the only way they can dispaly the lack of support for the mayor is by doing such peaceful protests. As the NYPD are turning their backs on de Blasio, who had turned his back on law enforcement long ago by with words and deeds, the NYPD also does it in solidarity with slain officers like Officer Wenjian Liu. De Blaio and Bratton would like all to forget, but make no mistake, the NYC Mayor has blood on his hands.