🌅 Remembering Those We Lost In 2019

The sports world lost a heartbreaking number of legends and favorites this past year. [View in browser]( [FOX SPORTS INSIDER WITH MARTIN ROGERS] In today’s FOX Sports Insider: Paying tribute to those we lost this year ... Luka Doncic and Kobe Bryant share a moment ... and the 2019 Orange Bowl showcases two talented teams. My dearly departed grandfather, who survived childhood polio and a World War II bombing attack on the British factory where he worked, used to religiously read the obituaries page of his local newspaper in his twilight years. He was riotously funny, was Bert, and most of all loved his wife, his family and horse racing. But he was a determined soul even deep into his 80s, and once confessed to me that he consumed the obits each week to see who he’d outlasted. A competitor, right until the end. It feels like in sports we lost a lot of good ones this year; a steady stream of favorites heading for the great field, court, track or press box in the sky. But perhaps it seems that way every year. The very nature of athletics, where we keep statistics and laud records and reminisce joyfully, means that hundreds of sportsmen and women retain their relevance decades after their retirement. We always lose a lot of good ones, because there are so many good ones to lose. Beyond their sporting fame, athletes are people with their own families to grieve them, their own quirks and foibles and their own life story. Yet on top of that, our sports stars are the creators of public memories, and for us mere mortals who cherish sports but don’t get to play one for a living, many of those moments become a kind of backdrop to our lives. No other field remembers and reveres its recently deceased quite like sports does. Art and music lionize the greats — for centuries sometimes — but sports holds a candle just as strongly for those who did not scale the ultimate heights but provided something that captured our complete attention for a fleeting parcel of time. And over the years, those most iconic occurrences become defining, as the remainder of a long career otherwise fades and becomes overshadowed by that one thing that was spectacular or disastrous or unusual enough to go viral — before anyone even knew what that meant. It is human nature, but it is also unfair. [STORY IMAGE 1] Bill Buckner compiled a majestic Major League Baseball career that spanned 21 years and included 2,715 hits and the 1980 batting title. He deserves to be best remembered for any of those things, or the remarkable fact that he never struck out three times in one game, instead of the fielding error that cost the Boston Red Sox in the 1986 World Series. [STORY IMAGE 2] If we are being honest, for a modern audience John Havlicek is better known for when he “stole the ball” to seal the 1965 NBA Eastern Conference championship and the Johnny Most call that greeted it than the 13 All-Star appearances and eight NBA titles on his resume. [STORY IMAGE 3] Similarly, England goalkeeper Gordon Banks’ passing this year led to proliferating replays of his extraordinary save from Pele at the 1970 World Cup. It was truly a feat — and a leap — of magnificence, but still just one save in a career boasting a World Cup triumph and a place in a FIFA list celebrating the 125 greatest living soccer players. The breadth of ways in which human life can be rendered unrecognizable from its former self and then ended is both stunningly large and breathtakingly cruel. Sometimes, awfully, we remember feted athletes more than they remembered themselves. Football never forgot Bart Starr. But long before the end, in May, the Green Bay Packers legend couldn’t recall any of his five titles, either of his two Super Bowl MVPs, or his storied coach, Vince Lombardi. He passed following multiple strokes, seizures, and a heart attack in his final year. [STORY IMAGE 4] Yes, we lost a lot of good ones and there will be more that follow them. Sports is a giant family and that’s the nature of these things. We watch, we admire, we love, and — thankfully — we remember. While we don’t have the space in our daily newsletter to celebrate each person the sports world lost this year, [you can click here to read the full version of Martin Rogers’ 2019 In Memoriam]( on FOXSports.com. Here’s what others have said ... Elliott Harrison, NFL.com: “The Packers fan wearing Aaron Rodgers' No. 12 or Brett Favre's No. 4 might not realize it, but that figure means neither Rodgers nor Favre is the Packers' all-time top quarterback. Because that figure — Bart Starr's career postseason winning percentage — is the best in NFL history. If we are to celebrate Peyton Manning's records to the hilt, then perhaps it is time to fully recognize Starr's accomplishment. He lost one playoff game out of 10. And they were all big ones. All but two of them — divisional playoff matches in 1965 and ’67 — were NFL championship matchups of some sort. That includes the first two Super Bowls ever played. And here's a not-so-small footnote: Starr was the MVP of both Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II.” Oliver Lee Bateman, The Ringer: “King Kong Bundy was an impassive, impressive villain, a Jersey bruiser who wore a permanent scowl, and the shadow he cast on the sport was so long and wide that it seemed as if he had been a star villain forever. But his time in the spotlight was not nearly as lengthy as it seemed, enhanced as it was by the sheer irreproducibility of his vast, right-angled block of mass. Yet Bundy, in death, now looms even larger than he did in life. Perhaps it’s the humanity retroactively instilled upon Andre the Giant placed up against Bundy’s real-life inscrutability that made him seem so monstrous, even in his dotage. Maybe it’s the name, the aura, the carnage he wreaked before he disappeared into the wilds. Or maybe it’s just the man: the scowl, the size, the shape of him. For my generation, he was fear and menace distilled. And his legacy will remain as huge as his terrifying presence.” Joe Sterling and Brandon Griggs, CNN: “After retirement Buckner moved with his family to Idaho, out of the media spotlight. Boston fans eventually forgave and even embraced him. The Red Sox, who finally won the World Series in 2004 and again in 2007, invited him back to Fenway Park to throw out the first pitch at the team's home opener in 2008. Buckner received a standing ovation.” [IN OTHER WORDS] - Sports Illustrated’s Laken Litman recaps [how miscues and missed opportunities resulted in Ohio State’s unceremonious exit from the College Football Playoff](. - Morgan Moriarty at SB Nation provides a compendium of [the worst playoff teams in NFL history]( and how they performed after reaching the postseason. - Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports explains how, in the wake of Dallas’ season being over, [Jason Garrett will be the defining lesson about the cost of patience]( for the Cowboys. [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED] [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED]( On Sunday night, the Los Angeles faithful at the Staples Center got an up close and personal look at Luka Doncic. Although the Mavericks star only put up 19 points in Dallas’ 108-95 loss to the Lakers, he still treated NBA fans to a wonderful moment during the game. Doncic heard a fan right behind him giving him the business. When he turned to see who it was, he was stunned to see all-time great Kobe Bryant sitting courtside and couldn’t help but dap him up. After the game, [Doncic elaborated on the moment]( making it even more wonderful. “He was talking Slovenian,” Doncic said. “So I was like, ‘Who’s talking my language?’ I saw Kobe and was really surprised.” Kobe Bryant: a master of trash talk in any language. [VIEWER'S GUIDE] Orange Bowl: No. 9 Florida vs. No. 24 Virginia (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET) Florida’s strong 10-2 season was good for second in the SEC East this year, and Virginia’s stunning season culminated in an ACC title game against Clemson. They’ll both be rewarded with a prime time showcase at the 2019 Orange Bowl. WWE Raw (USA Network, 8 p.m. ET) It’s a very special Raw tonight, as we’ll be treated to the wedding of Lana and Bobby Lashley. We’ll also be introduced to a new United States Champion, as Andrade captured the title from Mysterio at Madison Square Garden on Boxing Day. [BET OF THE DAY] [BET OF THE DAY] Odds provided by [FOX Bet]( Heat, Bucks and Nets all to win: +185 There are a half dozen games on the NBA slate this evening, and here’s an enticing parlay to get you invested in half of them. The Bucks and the Heat hold the top two spots in the Eastern Conference at the moment and will be playing road games against less-than-elite teams, with the Bucks visiting the 13-20 Chicago Bulls and the Heat (who have won five in a row) taking on the 9-22 Washington Wizards. The 16-15 Nets are in seventh place at the moment and will also be on the road, visiting the 11-20 Minnesota Timberwolves. [WHAT THEY SAID] "Do you know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play." — Mike Singletary [FOLLOW FOX SPORTS] [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( Download the FOX Sports app for live scores and streaming [App Store]( [Google Play]( Available on: [tvOS] [Roku] [fireTV] [androidtv] [XBOX] [Google chromecast] [tvOS] [Roku] [fireTV] [androidtv] [XBOX] [Google chromecast] Forwarded this message? [Sign up](. Trademark & Copyright Notice: ™ and © 2019 FOX Media LLC and FOX Sports Interactive Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Please do not reply to this message. If you do not wish to receive emails like this in the future, please [unsubscribe](. FOX Sports respects your privacy. Click [here]( to view our Privacy Policy. FOX.com Business & Legal Affairs - Manager Digital Media P.O. Box 900 Beverly Hills, CA 90213-0900