TV Quote of the Day (‘The Simpsons,’ With Homer in Fatherly Style)

“Well, it's 1 a.m. Better go home and spend some quality time with the kids.”—Homer Simpson (voice of Dan Castellaneta) in The Simpsons, Season 8, Episode 10, “The Springfield Files,” original air date Jan. 12, 1997, teleplay by Reid Harrison, directed by Steven Dean Moore

Joke of the Day (Andrew Osenga, on His ‘Main Job as a Father of Daughters’)

“Pretty sure my main job as a father of daughters is to make sure none of them become contestants on The Bachelor.” —American singer/songwriter and progressive rock musician Andrew Osenga, tweet of Mar. 13, 2013

(Photo of Andrew Osenga, performing at Para Coffee, Charlottesville, VA, Mar.18, 2010, taken by Jarsonic.)

Movie Quote of the Day (‘Clueless,’ In Which Dad Scares His Little Girl’s Date)

Mel Horowitz (played by Dan Hedaya): [To his daughter’s new boyfriend] “Anything happens to my daughter, I got a .45 and a shovel.  I doubt anybody would miss you.”—Clueless (1995), screenplay by Amy Heckerling, based very loosely on Jane Austen’s Emma, directed by Amy Heckerling

You don’t have to read this dialogue to know Mel has killer instincts, even if the accompanying photo didn't convince you. He’s a litigator, okay?

Many fathers, I think it can be said, share his protective instincts toward a daughter—though not perhaps to the extent of mayhem. Once, I heard a woman say to her boss, “I bet you’ll follow your daughter by car when she goes out with a boy for the first time.”

“Who says they’ll get off the front porch?” the boss answered.

Quote of the Day (John Wooden, on His Creed)

“Even with his staggering accomplishments, he remained humble and gracious. He said he tried to live by advice from his father: ‘Be true to yourself, help others, make each day your masterpiece, make friendship a fine art, drink deeply from good books -- especially the Bible, build a shelter against a rainy day, give thanks for your blessings and pray for guidance every day.’”—UCLA coach John Wooden, quoted in “Wooden Dies at 99,” Associated Press, June 5, 2010

Fifteen years ago, at a convention held by my company, I heard pro basketball coach Pat Riley mention what his father told him as a child: “You are made of special stuff.”

The advice from the father of John Wooden might not have been as much of a confidence-booster, but it was more detailed and, I think, more helpful as a guide to living.

In the two days since Coach Wooden’s passing, the media have reported, of course, on his 10 NCAA championships with UCLA (including an astounding 88 consecutive games won). But what’s been equally telling have been the remarks of former players about his “midwestern values.” It’s all there, really, in what his father told him—advice that he himself tried to pass on not only to his own children but to other young, unformed men for whom he served as a surrogate parent--at the height of his career, in the most tumultuous of times for America's youth.