Pride Goeth…

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The very dapper gentleman pictured above is my grandfather, Lewis Margolis.  I’m thinking about him because today- as you all know- is Super Bowl 50 Sunday.

And I’ve got a dog in the hunt.

Go Broncos!

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(Look who else is wearing orange.)

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But that’s as far as I’m going to go.  I’m very superstitious and I don’t want to jinx my team.

Or boast.

My grandfather taught me a good lesson about bragging and football.  This is the story he told me…

Many years ago, Lewis went down to the University of Illinois to watch his brother, Ralph, play on the football team.

Memorial Stadium in Champaign was built in 1923 as a tribute to the men and women of Illinois who gave their lives during World War I.

And it is huge.

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So Lou was among tens of thousands in the stadium that day watching his brother Ralph play for the Fighting Illini.  And Ralph was playing great.

So with quite natural brotherly pride, Lou turned to the man sitting right next to him and said, “See that guy?  Number 21?  He’s my brother, Ralph Margolis.”

And the guy sitting right next to him turned and said, “Oh yeah?  See that guy?  Number 77?  He’s my son.”

“Red Grange.”

‘Nuff said.

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8 Responses to Pride Goeth…

  1. Great story, Ellen … and you even keep the color mini-theme (orange/red).

    • Ellen Ross says:

      Thanks, Doc. And I didn’t realize I was color-coordinated. Observant of you to point it out! 👍

      • Now that I think about it, Ellen, you could have mentioned Minnesota’s own Bronko (sic) Nagurski. Orange you glad I’m wearing my “thinking helmet” this morning?

        • Ellen Ross says:

          I wrote about him already in a Super Bowl post entitled” Siesta Bowl.” You’re penalized fifteen yards for forgetting.

      • Gee whiz, Ellen, unnecessary roughness by the referee. I demand a further review from the booth.

        To save your readers the trouble of looking it up, “Siesta Bowl” was more than two years ago, Groundhog Day 2014 to be exact. And Bronko does not even get mentioned in the main post, just in your comment. To quote: “My uncle Jack used to tell me that Bronko Nagurski didn’t like to wear a helmet!”

        What was it that LBJ said about Gerald Ford, then just a member of the House of Representatives, and not yet the accidental President?

        • Ellen Ross says:

          Ok, we’ve looked at the tape and we are calling off the penalty and penalizing the offense for clipping. No time for trivia right now. I’m CIC of laundry right now.

  2. Mitchell says:

    Oske- wow-wow

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