Denny Green died this morning due to cardiac arrest. While most folks remember him for his spectacular tirade after his Cardinals blew a 20 point lead against the Bears in 2006, he should be better remembered for his tenure as coach of the Minnesota Vikings from 1992 to 2001. In his ten seasons as head coach he accumulated a record of 97-62, led the Vikings to the playoffs eight times, and only delivered a single season with a losing record. He led the greatest offensive team in his era (and arguably in NFL history) to a 15-1 record in 1998 and came just one heartbreaking field goal away from taking them to the Super Bowl.
You won’t find a much better example of a man pulling himself up by the bootstraps than Denny Green. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, he lost both his parents by the age of 13, but still managed to graduate cum laude from the University of Iowa before finding his way into coaching and under the umbrella of Bill Walsh at Stanford. He was only the second African-American to be named head coach in NFL history when the Vikings hired him in 1992. After being brought on by the Arizona Cardinals in 2004, he wasn’t able to duplicate his initial NFL success, but he still finished his coaching career with a 113-94 record.
In Dennis Green’s honor, I thought we could use today’s Request Line to pay tribute to the man and put together a playlist to send him on his way. Although Denny Green wasn’t Irish, his name certainly sounds Irish, and nobody does funerals like the Irish. And nobody’s music is more appropriate for an Irish funeral than that of the Pogues. So I’ll let them get us started.
Eva Cassidy – Fields of Gold
https://youtu.be/9UVjjcOUJLE
Mad World – Gary Jules
https://youtu.be/4N3N1MlvVc4
A Fond Farewell – Elliott Smith
https://youtu.be/nabO_UXb6MM
XTC – Dying
https://youtu.be/0YSIeNdKyaQ
Vic Chesnutt – Flirted With You All My Life
https://youtu.be/V4Z-kjr4BLs
Mike & The Mechanics – The Living Years
https://youtu.be/uGDA0Hecw1k
This is a Jason Isbell song about his friend dying of cancer. You might want to get some onions ready as a cover.
https://youtu.be/LHJhyrrUTgc
This is a song Guy Clark wrote for his wife after she died. It’s called My Favorite Picture of You.
https://youtu.be/seONAflxevI
John Boutte- At The Foot of Canal Street
https://youtu.be/QTLoM0Q9qCE
One last pour for Coach Denny!
To a very cool dude!
Rusted Root- Beautiful People
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuzLiypjMEU
Y’all can DJ my wake anytime.
There are more than a handful of “those” songs that get me on tonight’s request line.
I’ve shed a couple of tears for Coach Denny today.
I’ve got another.
Love to all of my good folks out there.
Fuck that. I’m DOUBLE SHOTTING the fuck outta this!
It’s funny, because this exact song (and version of Sound) came to mind for me, but I didn’t post it cause I was like, “what does this have to do with funerals?” But seeing as it came to mind for you too, I guess it really does!
[tips cap]
Drunk as fuck right now, time for a snooze…
I’m not sure if this has anything to do with me currently watching “Carnival Eats”, but I could really go for a tater tot/macaroni poutine topped with a top-flight Parmigianio Reggiano cheese.
Damnit, stop giving me an erection.
It’s a natural gift that I have. I refuse to apologize.