Nick Masopust

“People started to audibly cry. He was barely keeping it together. I was overwhelmed. Dr. H. summoned the chief marketing officer and the president of sales to the stage, saying, "Can you two come up here? I need you to hold me up."

He humbled himself beyond anything I could have imagined. Finally, he said, "Richard Montanez, come up here."

Slowly I walked up to the stage. It had been seven years since I had made my presentation at the plant back home for Roger Enrico. Everything was in slow motion again. All one thousand attendees leaped to their feet, everyone crying and applauding as I walked up to get my award. Dr. H gave me the mic and I just thanked him and everyone there. It was surreal, humbling, and wonderful.”
― Richard Montanez, Flamin' Hot: The Incredible True Story of One Man's Rise from Janitor to Top Executive

“In fact, at the very moment of that interview, Kitty Lutesinger was in LASO custody. She'd been picked up with the rest of the Family in the raid.

And here, to my mind, the credibility of the LASO deputies stretches to its breaking point. Guenther and Whiteley had just posted the bulletin for Lutesinger's arrest. They'd just learned that she'd been living at the Spahn Ranch-along with their primary murder suspect. And yet they didn't go to the ranch to look for her. They did nothing.

All they had to do was stop by, and they would have learned that everyone from the ranch was in jail at the Malibu Station; they could've gone there, interviewed Lutesinger, and potentially cracked the Hinman and the Tate-LaBianca murders fourth months earlier than those crimes were.

Why didn't they go? For two reasons, Guenther told me. First, he and Whiteley never heard about the August 16 raid, even though their colleagues conducted it, and it was the largest in state history. Bill Gleason backed them up on this. "We were two independent units," he told me. "We really had no reason to contact each other or even knew about the investigations going on."

Gleason said he "purposely kept everything quiet" about the raid. But he'd also said that a few stray LAPD squad cars had found out about it somehow and came along uninvited. Plus, as Bugliosi reported in Helter Skelter, the raid was on the front page of the local section of the next day's Los Angeles Times, beside a story about the still unsolved Tate murders.

Guenther's second reason was that Kitty Lutesinger's parents told him they'd already been to the ranch to look for her, and they'd been told she wasn't there. But did he really expect a runaway's friends to turn her over to her parents, especially when everyone knew the cops were sniffing around for a murder suspect? He didn't even attempt an answer; we just sat in silence for a while.”
― Tom O'Neill, Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties

“Most NFL teams were predictable. Coaches were creatures of habit. Most stuck with what they knew. Which was why Belichick not only wanted detailed scouting reports on opposing teams, but also opposing coaches. Few were smart and creative enough to unveil a surprise each week. That basic reality was a massive indictment of the entire industry, and hard to fathom. Bill Walsh once said that the 49ers’ true competition was not the entire league, but rather sever or eight smart teams. Jimmy Johnson, the Super Bowl-winning coach of the 1990s Dallas Cowboys and one of Belichick’s good friends, once told him, “If you just stay out of the way, the other 20 teams will screw it up themselves.” The Patriots cared little about the infant Houston Texans. The Colts, Broncos, Eagles, Jets, Chargers, Rams, Packers-those were the threats.”
― Seth Wickersham, It's Better to Be Feared: The New England Patriots Dynasty and the Pursuit of Greatness

“Another call was to Tip O'Neill, who wondered if his wife, Millie, was included in the invitation to Friday's oath taking. "She is now," said Ford. The Democratic majority leader shared with his Republican friend some comments he intended to make drawing a distinction between their close personal relationship and their "diametrically opposed" political philosophies. "That's fine, Tip," Ford responded. He knew he could count on him for advice and assistance. Seizing the opportunity, O'Neill urged Ford not to consider a Democrat for vice president in his pursuit of national unity: "This country doesn't work that way." Ford thanked him for his candor.

"Christ, Jerry[,] isn't this a wonderful country?" chortled Tip O'Neill. Here we can talk like this and you and I can be friends, and eighteen months from now I'll be going around the country kicking your balls in.”
― Richard Norton Smith, An Ordinary Man: The Surprising Life and Historic Presidency of Gerald R. Ford