MERLIN OLSEN: THE INDEPENDENT OBITUARY

My obituary of Merlin Olsen, the defensive tackle, commentator, and actor, is in today's Independent, and you can link to it here. I eschewed a prolonged argument on the relative abilities of Olsen and Bob Lilly, or the Rams' Fearsome Foursome versus the Chargers', or any of the other great, nicknamed defensive fronts, like the Purple People Eaters, the New York Sack Exchange, or the Orange Crush. He was a better actor than many footballers, including LA favourites like Roman Gabriel and OJ Simpson. I was also tempted to talk more about Rosey Grier as well--the tackle who became an advocate of knitting, and was an aide to Robert Kennedy, at his side when he was killed. But in the end it was nice just to note his passing for a British audience. And I probably should have mentioned that, within the business, I really did never hear a bad word said about him....