The late Max McGee: A man of fine mettle, to be honored in bronze

A piece of work of A Piece of Work is one way to describe plans for a Max McGee relief sculpture to be created by Bill Mack.

A bronze sculpture of the former Packer, who died in October after falling off the roof of his Deephaven home while clearing leaves, has been commissioned by his widow, Denise McGee. "He was such a comic. I can only hope he would like to be honored, remembered in this way. In his ever-present sense of humor he would say, Can he make my nose smaller? He could never answer a question, or anything, seriously. He would always come up with a quip. He was the best at one-liners," she said Thursday. "I do know he would be flattered that Bill Mack is doing the piece because he loved Bill's work. And we do have one of Bill's pieces in our home. He is so extremely talented."

The most prominent part of the piece will be inspired from a favorite photo of Max, seen above. In the corner will be a representation of McGee's place in NFL annals as the receiver who scored the first touchdown in Super Bowl history. Reproductions of the sculpture will be sold to anyone interested, with part of the proceeds going to the Max McGee National Research Center for Juvenile Diabetes. Two sculptures will be hung in the Original Pancake Houses in Eden Prairie and Edina that are owned by Denise, who said she may open a third spot down the road.

"He had such a regular presence in our restaurant in Edina," she said. "I've gotten so many letters and comments. People would see him there and they would approach him; he was so gracious and so conversational and gave each person more time than they expected, in just chatting with them."

Denise credits Karen Harris for coming up with the idea to do a sculpture. "Max was like best friends with my husband, Steve," Karen said. "Max had such a HUGE fan base. ... Women were still throwing their underwear at him at age 70!

"Steve met Max at OPH every morning for breakfast and probably most lunches. They were steady buddies. Steve was on Max's board for juvenile diabetes. They played golf. In fact, he was with Max the morning he died."

I asked Denise whether she has forgiven Max for being on that roof.

Not a cheap date Word has it that Gene Gittelson dropped $1,100, including the tip, on dinner at Oceanaire with his friends Amy and Nils Lofgren.

"A lot!" is what the owner of Gittelson Jewelers said when asked what the tab was for taking Bruce Springsteen's guitarist and others to dinner. Gittelson's son, store co-owner Michael Gittelson, also hosted the celebs. "Well, I have to take Nils and Amy someplace nice; she flew in from Phoenix for the concert, just to be with us. And we had [Springsteen's] pianist with us; his name is Charles [Giordano].

"We ate everything. Everything was in the water the day before, all fresh. The owner of Oceanaire was there, Steve Uhl; he waited on us. He brought us everything. Lobster for the table, stone crabs. Other people kept coming by our table and saying, What is all that? I'd say, 'Lobster for six,'" said Gene.

The dinner was Saturday night, and on Sunday, Gene and Michael enjoyed concert seats behind the boards.

In defense of KG "I actually think it's sort of cheesy," PTI's Tony Kornheiser said of Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor's belated revelation that former employee Kevin Garnett did some tanking here.

PTI co-host Mike Wilbon notes that this cheating "cost them draft picks."

As Wolves fans know, KG is now with the Celtics, who -- oh, by the way -- are headed to the playoffs. "He never struck me as a guy who would tank games," said T.K. "And I think his response, to be on the high road, was the best thing he could have done."

Taylor getting outclassed by KG is something else -- besides retaining the wrong Kevin -- about which the owner should be embarrassed.