Your Mount Rushmores (Sports, Music, Politics, etc.)

exminister

exminister

Well-known member
Arthur Brain said:
My dad's favourite composer is Dvorak, although he's also a huge Shostakovich proponent, especially his symphonies. I still remember him playing the seventh (Leningrad) on the old gramophone we had as a child and the march from the first movement, with it's gradually increasing intensity and dissonant harmonies to the melody was something else...(I had no clue about the political aspects of the work back then) and it was one of a few works that sparked an interest in music that was predominantly 'modern' in the classical field. Holst's 'Planets Suite' was another (fantastic work) although it was generally Russian composers who caught my ear when younger - Prokofiev's 'Romeo and Juliet' was beguiling, chock full of melodies but with a rich dissonance too, Mussorgy's 'Pictures At An Exhibition...Stravinsky's 'Rite Of Spring' simply blew me away as a thirteen year old...still does now when performed with the right intensity.

Still, my 'Mount Rushmore' for classical music would be:

Messiaen
Ligeti
Schnittke
Stravinsky

Hon mentions: Prokofiev, Gorecki, Part.
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Ack! Stravinsky slipped my mind. How embarrassing. Now my Mt Rushmore has to be demolished and rebuilt. Hmmmm... Can I have a fifth? :eek:
 
Arthur Brain

Arthur Brain

Well-known member
Town Heretic said:
My Mt. Rushmore of film directors. I'm not arguing relative greatness. I'm speaking to the four who impacted my life in film the most.

Kubrick: left the theater after 2001 feeling like the back of my head was open. I realized that movies could be art with that film.

Capra: made enduring, optimistic, wonderfully odd movies, including two of my favorites, It's a Wonderful Life, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

Spielberg: mapped my childhood and left me with marvelous stories filled with imagination and characters to cherish.

John Ford: no one told a better story, especially about the American west.

Hon. Men.: Kurosawa, Bergman, Hithcock, Lean, Hawks.
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Kubrick, for certain. I don't think there's ever been a better director for marrying astonishing cinematography and the visual with sound and music, 2001 being a prime example, along with 'The Shining'. Combine that with the sheer diversity of subject matter in his films and you had a cinematic genius.

David Cronenberg would be my next pick. Primarily associated with horror, there's few that can match him for creative ideas and depth in a genre that often lacks it. Still remember coming home one night to watch 'Scanners' expecting nothing more than a mindless gore flick and getting much more than that in turn.

Christopher Nolan is one of the few directors at the moment who can make Hollywood blockbuster movies that have some imagination and intelligence about them without being hopelessly derivative in the process. 'Memento' underscored the talent that was to follow.

David Lynch is the master of the surreal and satirical in film making. Like Kubrick, his marrying of sound and visual is key, albeit in different ways. His films are certainly an experience, often undermining mainstream ideals like the 'American Dream'...

Hon mentions: Eastwood, Hitchcock, Cameron, Cohen brothers.
 
Town Heretic

Town Heretic

Out of Order
Hall of Fame
Mount Rushmore of Deserts :)

A chocolate bourbon pecan pie milkshake from Hamburg Inn, Iowa City or butterscotch milkshake from Dean's Grill in Atmore, AL.
My grandmother's secret recipe chocolate cake in layers...
A fresh beignet from Du Monde with a good coffee in New Orleans.
A key lime pie from Old Town Bakery in Key West.

Hon. Men.: My mother's Butternut cake, Miss May's bread pudding.
 
Town Heretic

Town Heretic

Out of Order
Hall of Fame
Jerry Shugart said:
Mount Rushmore of the Brooklyn Dodgers:

Jackie Robinson
Pee Wee Reese
Duke Snider
Gil Hodges
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Love it. :thumb:

Inspired by Jerry's post, my Mt. Rushmore of NFL teams (best coach and three players, no owners allowed)

Beginning with the NFC East:

Dallas: Landry, Staubach, Lily, Smith

Eagles: Reid, White, Bednarik, McNabb

Giants: Parcells, Taylor, Manning, Gifford

Washington: Gibbs, Green, Riggins, Baugh
 
Town Heretic

Town Heretic

Out of Order
Hall of Fame
Jerry Shugart said:
Or maybe replace Gil Hodges with Roy Campanella? What do you think?
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Man, I should be kicked for forgetting him. Let me look at it again, hard.

Snider is actually, arguably the strongest on the list. Let's lock him down. I can see the argument that Reese, Robinson and Hodges are all pretty closely grouped. And what about Wheat (.317 lifetime, holder of the record for hits, nearly 500 doubles and 172 triples) or Vance who led the league in strikeouts for 5 years running? I'd move Roy onto the list, but I couldn't lose Hodges. :think: So either Reese or Robinson has to go unless you want to cheat to 5. I've done the 5 for the NBA, but strictly to represent positions. And I think you have to move Reese between them, even before you get to the moment attached.

Tough call, but that's mine.

So, what do you think about my Cowboys Rushmore?
 
Town Heretic

Town Heretic

Out of Order
Hall of Fame
Okay then, until Jerry gets back. I've presented my Mt. Rushmore (one coach, three players, no owners) from the NFC East. I may do the rest of it here. Also, some teams haven't had a good enough coach (like Detroit) or had their best coach shared with a team that has a greater claim on him I'll go with four players on that count and mark it with a *.

NFC East

Dallas: Landry, Staubach, Lily, Smith
Eagles: Reid, White, Bednarik, Mcnabb
Giants: Parcells, Taylor, Manning, Gifford
Wash.: Gibbs, Green, Riggins, Baugh

NFC North

Bears: Halas, Payton, Singletary, Butkas
Lions: * Sanders, Layne, C. Johnson, "Night Train" Lane
Packers: Lombardi, Favre, Hutson, Starr
Vikings: Grant, Tarkenton, Moss, Peterson

NFC South

Bucs: * Brooks, Sapp, Nickerson, Selmon
Panthers: * Smith, Peppers, Mills, Newton
Falcons: * Sanders, Ryan, Tuggle, White
Saints: Peyton, Brees, McAllister, Jackson

NFC West

Niners: Walsh, Montana, Rice, Lott
Arz.: * Fitzgerald, Boldin, S. Rice, A. Williams
Seahawks: Carroll, Largent, Kennedy, W. Jones
Rams: Vermeil, Warner, Youngblood, Faulk

AFC East

Bills: Levy, B. Smith, Kelly, Simpson
Fins: Shula, Marino, Csonka, Taylor
Pats: Belichick, Brady, Vinatieri, Hannah
Jets: * Namath, Revis, Maynard, Klecko

AFC North

Ravens: Billick, Lewis, Reed, Ogden
Steelers: Noll, Woodson, Harris, Lambert
Browns: Brown, Brown, Newsome, Warfield
Bengals: * Munoz, Anderson, Green, Collinsworth

AFC South

Texans: * Watt, Foster, Johnson, Cushing
Colts: Dungy, Manning, Unitas, Berry
Titans: *McNair, George, B. Matthews, C. Johnson
Jags: Coughlin, Runell, Boselli, J. Smith

AFC West

Broncos: Shanahan, Elway, Davis, Sharpe
Chiefs: Stram, Thomas, Gonzales, Dawson
Raiders: Madden, Stabler, Allen, Upshaw
Chargers: Coryell, Rivers, LT, Seau
 
Town Heretic

Town Heretic

Out of Order
Hall of Fame
Jerry Shugart said:
Perfect!

But you can't leave out Mean Joe Green from the Steeler's team. Replace Harris with him. And replace Rod Woodson with Jack Ham.
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I can reluctantly move Woodson for Green, but I can't let go of Harris. He's my nod to that potent offense. I think Ben is their best qb, but Bradshaw has the hardware, so I limited the offense to one representative. Look at his tds and rushing yards in the SB. No, he's there. Woodson, with apologies to that legendary secondary production, will have to move to the Hon. Men. side of things for Joe.
 
Jerry Shugart

Jerry Shugart

Well-known member
Town Heretic said:
I can reluctantly move Woodson for Green, but I can't let go of Harris. He's my nod to that potent offense. I think Ben is their best qb, but Bradshaw has the hardware, so I limited the offense to one representative. Look at his tds and rushing yards in the SB. No, he's there. Woodson, with apologies to that legendary secondary production, will have to move to the Hon. Men. side of things for Joe.
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Mean Joe Green was the best player that the Steelers ever had so you made the right move.
 
kmoney

kmoney

New member
Hall of Fame
Town Heretic said:
Every now and then we've taken cracks at the Mount Rushmore of one sport of the other and it's usually good fun, but I thought it might give the thread more legs if I opened it up a bit.

I'm starting with baseball. Feel free to just list your picks and category, or to talk about why you made your picks. I think we need a few amiable threads where we can mull things without it turning into debate, though if anyone wants to defend their picks or differ, genially, I don't see the harm.

MLB Mt. Rushmore:

Babe Ruth: the original still chased decades after his bat went silent.
Cy Young: 100 wins out in front of the runner up for best pitcher of all time.
Ted Williams: the last man to hit .400 and one of the canniest hitters of any era. Won his last batting title at 39 years of age.
Willie Mays: in my opinion, the greatest baseball player of all time. Amazing fielder with a live arm and a deadly bat.

Hon. Men. : Hank Aaron, Jackie Robinson, DiMaggio, Robinson.

You could really break this down into hitters and pitchers, and I might at some point.
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Hard to argue with that list. Mays is my favorite player and Babe is a no-brainer so if I swapped any out it'd be Williams and Cy Young.

I might put Robinson in for the social progress aspect. Koufax is my favorite pitcher but I'm not sure he truly deserves to be on the Mount. His career was shortened by injury. Clemente is another honorable mention.
 
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