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Bar Chat

01/09/2012

Tebow Delivers...and Eli's Coming

NFL Quiz: New England Patriots… 1) Name the top three rushers in franchise history. 2) Who is the all-time leader in receiving yards? 3) Who is the only QB aside from Tom Brady to throw for 30 touchdowns in a season? Answers below.

*First off, just want to thank David P., Steven P. and Rich L. for their fine hospitality and company the last few days while up here doing my politics thing. I drank domestic and had stroganoff with D.P. at Buckley’s in Merrimack (cool place), but Rich and I traded up to premium, specifically Stella Artois, for those of you keeping track at home. I told you I had not treated Stella with the respect it deserved but I’m a rapid convert. [Also, Rich, thanks for spreading the word on StocksandNews.]

And one other endorsement of Stella. I was having dinner on Saturday at the Eden Lounge and Restaurant (delicious meal and great place to watch a game) and started with Harpoon IPA from India but immediately switched to Stella thereafter. When it comes to beer, India is still just an emerging nation.

[I had breakfast with Steven P. and his family, including two little ones, so it wouldn’t have been appropriate to drink domestic with my butterscotch chip pancakes.]

And to Andy M. I made it to Saint Anselm (what a beautiful spot), but the pub was closed. This was Saturday afternoon, before the Republican debate at the school, and I think security was worried that I was walking around asking for the pub and then complaining it wasn’t open. No weapons were drawn.

NFL Playoffs

So here’s the lineup for the best weekend of professional football each season. Non-football fans need to be understanding of their respective spouses or significant others. As in don’t bother us.

4:30…Saints vs. 49ers…crack first one around 4:10.
8:00…Broncos vs. Patriots…crack sixth one around 7:55…if game is close in the second half, remember to alternate glasses of water with domestic. Take aspirin before you go to bed, just as yours truly will be doing in the home office of Bar Chat.

1:00…Texans vs. Ravens…try and hold off on the beer on this one…save for second contest.
4:30…Giants vs. Packers...ya think this one will get some ratings, along with Broncos-Pats?

3 of this weekend’s wildcard contests weren’t exactly memorable, but the best was saved for last, much to the chagrin of Steelers fans, or as Jeff B. wrote me after Tim Tebow hooked up with Demaryius Thomas (where do the parents come up with these stupid freakin’ first names?) on an 80-yard pass play the first snap of overtime as Denver defeated Pittsburgh 29-23, this after Ben Roethlisberger rallied the Steelers back late to tie it on a spectacular catch by former Jet Jerricho Cotchery (the leader the Jets were so sorely missing this season, by the way), “And now the depression sets in.” Tebow had 316 yards on just 10 completions.

Meanwhile, I continue to feel good for Giants coach Tom Coughlin, a class act who just goes about his business. His teams haven’t always put together good second halves of seasons, aside from their Super Bowl run, but he has them cookin’ now, witness their total domination of the Falcons, 24-2, with the Giants outgaining Atlanta 442-247. Eli Manning was again superb.

Saturday, Drew Brees threw for just 466 yards and three touchdowns as the Saints got their act together against the Lions, 45-28, after trailing 14-10 at half. [Pssst…I confess to watching some of the Republican debate in the second half of this one.]

And while I was drinking Stella and having scallops over risotto at the Eden Lounge (along with the most delicious cheesecake I’ve had in some time), the Houston Texans and Arian Foster pulled away from the Bengals, 31-10; Foster rushing for 153 yards.

College Football

--Finally it’s here…LSU-Alabama. If the game isn’t entertaining at the half, I’m going to bed.

--New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien was hired as Penn State’s new head football coach, but he’ll be doing double-duty as long as the Patriots stay in the playoff chase, which isn’t the ideal situation, as a lot of folks at both places are saying.

“What’s giving many Nittany Lions football fans angst at the moment is the school’s decision to hire as its new coach a young, obscure Patriots assistant with no apparent ties to the school, no head coaching experience, and someone who – if he’s known at all on the national level – has a loud, expletive-laced shouting match with Tom Brady to thank for it.

“Bill O’Brien might someday be remembered as the perfect replacement for legendary Penn State coach Joe Paterno, and might help calm the rough waters created by the child sex abuse charges leveled against former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

“But the school’s selection hasn’t gone over well among many Penn State fans and former players. If anything, because interim coach Tom Bradley – or anyone else within the school’s extended family – didn’t get the job, it’s caused another storm.

“ ‘I’m done. I’m done with Penn State,’ former Nittany Lions star linebacker LaVar Arrington told Blue-White illustrated, a website devoted to Penn State athletics. ‘If they’re done with us, I’m done with them.’”

Penn State apparently went hard after Chris Petersen of Boise State, Greg Schiano at Rutgers, former NFL coach Tony Dungy and Nebraska’s Bo Pelini, but all were like, ‘Why would we do that?’ So that left O’Brien. What a stupid move. Why would any star high-schooler go to the place, given all the other obvious issues, until he proves himself? And how will he do well without the athletes?

--Speaking of Chris Petersen, he received a $375,000 per year raise and a new five-year contract, with his base $2 million, increasing $200,000 each year thereafter, plus an automatic one-year contract extension if the team wins eight games. Petersen made $1.625 million last year in going 12-1. I’m glad Boise held onto him.

--Oregon’s LaMichael James is skipping his senior year and headed to the NFL draft. Last year he rushed for a school-record 1,805 yards despite missing two games with a dislocated right elbow. He also led the nation with a 150 yard per game average.   He is the Ducks career leader with 5,082 yards, and he helped lead the team to a 45-38 win over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, rushing for 159 yards. James said he’s been told he’s a third-rounder but hopes to improve on this through his workouts for the scouts. Boy, he’ll make someone very happy in round three should that prove to be the case.

--I watched the first half of the Orange Bowl and was stupefied by not just the score, 49-20 West Virginia over Clemson, but how long it was taking as I quaffed domestics at the Airport Diner, a cool establishment connected to my hotel. The game ended up 70-33. Mountaineers quarterback Geno Smith had six touchdown passes, four to Tavon Austin; the first setting a new BCS record, the second tying an all-bowl record. The 49 points in the first half was also an all-bowl record, as was the 70.

The ACC now has 2 wins in 15 BCS appearances, including Virginia Tech’s loss in the Sugar Bowl to Michigan.

--What a rough stretch for Univ. of Pittsburgh athletics. The Panthers finished 6-7 after losing their bowl game to SMU (congrats Paul P.!), while the Pitt basketball team has started off Big East play 0-3, this after losing to Wagner.

--North Dakota State defeated No. 1 Sam Houston State for the Div. I-AA crown, 17-6. NDS has eight other titles, all in Division II.

NFL Bits

--The Colts are indeed going to take Andrew Luck with the No. 1 selection in the upcoming draft. I say Indy definitely cuts ties with Peyton Manning in refusing to pay the $28 million he’s otherwise entitled to if he’s on the roster in March, thus making Manning a free agent as us Jets fans salivate. 

--Kansas City is staying with Romeo Crennel, who did a solid job as interim coach and is respected by the team. Crennel was previously head coach for four seasons in Cleveland, going 24-40.

--Former long-time Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher is reportedly deciding between the Miami and St. Louis jobs, this after Fisher took a year off from the sport.

--The Eagles are bringing back Andy Reid for a 14th season after the team’s disappointing 8-8. The Bears are bringing back Lovie Smith after their 8-8 year, following a 7-3 start.

--There’s no such thing as fundamentals anymore, in any sport, but I’ve never seen more punt returners field the ball inside their 10-yard line as I have this year. 

--Almost felt sorry for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, seeing him sitting alone on Saturday.

--Definitely feel sorry for us Jets fans, who are stuck with 2012 “Jerk of the Year” candidate Santonio Holmes, seeing as he is guaranteed $7.75 million in 2012 and another $7.5 million of his 2013 salary if he is on the roster this February. The Jets can’t cut him or they’d be killed with the salary cap. And no team is going to absorb his contract. This is a freakin’ nightmare of the Jets own doing as in this case they were bidding against themselves for Holmes’ services.

College Basketball Review

Temple 78…No. 3 Duke 73
Fordham 60…No. 21 Harvard 54
Seton Hall 75…No. 8 UConn 63
No. 22 Kansas State 75… No. 6 Missouri 59
West Virginia 74…No. 9 Georgetown 62
Tennessee 67…No. 14 Florida 56
Notre Dame 67…No. 10 Louisville 65 2OT
Rutgers 67…No. 8 UConn 60…not the Huskies’ best week

And nice win for St. John’s, 57-55 over Cincinnati. Unfortunately, it appears coach Steve Lavin will not return to the bench this year following successful prostate cancer surgery. He’s cancer free but heavily fatigued and the school doesn’t want him back on the bench until he’s 100% recovered.

But what’s this? Wake Forest defeated Virginia Tech in their ACC opener, 58-55; meaning the Deacs match last year’s ACC win total of one?! Do you believe in miracles?!

Finally, Murray State is one of just three undefeateds remaining, the other two being Syracuse and Baylor. On Saturday, in the Racers’ 87-75 win over Austin Peay, Murray State’s starting lineup went 6-1, 6-3, 6-5, 6-7, 6-0. Four guards (the 6-5 guy is not a forward). I don’t know how they’re going to do come tourney time without more size but they are still on track to run the table and gain a 3-seed.

[The countdown has begun…the Racers have to stay undefeated until your editor gets to their Feb. 2 game in Murray, Kentucky.]

--Gene Bartow died. He was 81. Bartow was the successor to John Wooden at UCLA, but then made his name as the architect of a new program at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

Bartow took over for Wooden in 1975 and in his first season, 1975-76, went 28-4 and guided UCLA to the Final Four. The next year they finished 24-5.

But Bartow wasn’t ready for the vitriol thrown his way as Wooden’s successor, an impossible position to be in. Marques Johnson, who played for both, said that after two years, Bartow was “gaunt and pale and he refused to read the Los Angeles newspapers or listen to the radio because there was so much negativity.”

After just two years and a 52-9 record, Bartow left to start the program at UAB.

He finished 647-353 over a 34-season career and was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. Before arriving at UCLA, he had taken Memphis State to the 1973 NCAA national championship game where they lost to UCLA.

Ball Bits

--The Baseball Hall of Fame selections, if any, are named today. With no big newcomers to the ballot, Barry Larkin is expected to get in, he having garnered 62.1 percent of the vote last year, 75 percent being needed for enshrinement. Pitcher Jack Morris had 53.5 percent in 2011. Far more next time after the balloting comes in.

--Jorge Posada is retiring as a Yankee at age 40, a smart move. 

“The man who spent so many years calling pitches for championship Yankees teams is calling it a career. Posada is going out on his own terms and he is going out in pinstripes. That’s exactly the way it should end for Posada….

“Now the Core Four is down to the Core Two in Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. Their time to call it a career will come soon enough, but for Posada it was clear that this is the end of the line…Posada ended on a hitting high note, leading the Yankees in batting in the ALDS loss to the Tigers, hitting .429 over the five games.”

Posada caught in six World Series (winning four), hit 275 home runs (264 as a catcher, second in Yankee history to Yogi Berra’s 306), drove in 1,065, and batted .273. He was also a five-time All-Star.

Is he a Hall of Famer? He’ll receive a sizable number of votes the first time he’s on the ballot.

--Joe Torre left his post with MLB to join an ownership group trying to purchase the Los Angeles Dodgers.

--We note the passing of former Yankees third baseman Andy Carey, 80. Playing eight of 11 seasons with New York, Carey was a fine fielder who had 64 home runs and drove in 350 while batting .260, with his finest season being 1954 when he hit .302 with 65 ribbies. 

In 1956, Carey played a key role in Don Larsen’s World Series perfect game, making two fine plays that helped preserve the gem.

Winter Sports

Being as I’m up here in what is normally snow country (Steve P. and his family moved up to the area five years ago and he said the first year they had 10 feet…nothing this year since the Halloween storm), I thought I’d just post some winter sports stuff for those of you who follow such things.

World Cup Standings thru Saturday, overall…

1. Lindsey Vonn, U.S. 691
2. Marlies Schild, Austria 540
3. Elisabeth Goergl, Austria 405
8. Julia Mancuso, U.S. 295

1. Marcel Hirscher, Austria 625
2. Aksel Lund Svindal, Norway 456
3. Ted Ligety, U.S. 453
6. Bode Miller, U.S. 343

USA TODAY Div. I Hockey Poll

1. Minn-Duluth
2. Ohio State
3. Notre Dame
4. Boston College
5. Minnesota
6. Merrimack
7. Colgate!!!
8. Colorado College
9. Western Michigan
10. Denver

--I have to post this column with Steve Stricker leading golf’s season-opening Tournament of Champions in Hawaii by two strokes with three holes to play. The PGA Tour is back. It could be one of the better years in recent memory if Tiger is too.

--Here I talked about what a jerk Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins was, and how coach Paul Westphal told him to stay away from the team as Cousins kept asking for a trade, but then Westphal was fired after a 2-5 start. Advantage a-hole player.

--This is hard to believe. From Track & Field News we learn that Ed Ettinghausen, 49, of Murrieta, California, logged 135 marathons in one year, with a 4:30 average finishing time. Good lord.

--The great Don Carter died. He was 85. Carter was bowling’s first superstar in its golden era of the 1950s and 60s. As Daniel E. Slotnik notes in the New York Times, Carter was so dominant he was given a $1 million endorsement contract, unheard of in those days.

Carter won five of six World Invitational bowling titles, “grueling 100-game tournaments that would test the mettle of any current star; won four all-star titles in tournaments run by the Bowling Proprietors Association of America; and was a charter inductee of the P.B.A.’s Hall of Fame in 1975.”

Bowling was extremely popular in his time, a staple on television, and Carter was king. He was also a pretty fair athlete. After serving in the Pacific in World War II, Carter signed a minor league contract as a pitcher/infielder with a Phillies affiliate but after a year opted to work at a bowling alley.

--USA goalie Tim Howard became the fourth goalkeeper to score in English Premier League soccer history when in Everton’s 2-1 loss to Bolton, he right-footed a kick from about 5 yards inside his penalty box, it bounced about 30 yards from the Bolton goal and was blown by the wind over the Bolton keeper.

--Jim Huber died. He was 67. Huber was the Emmy-winning essayist who found a home at CNN, where he said his goal was to relate “stories of grand inspiration, tales of people who challenge life’s odds.” Jim Huber exuded class. New York Post media critic Phil Mushnick said Huber’s loss “is a blow to those who appreciated some grammar, grace and thoughtfulness tossed in with their sports, doubly so as Turner Sports began to present Charles Barkley as its most prized presence.”

“A dog buried for four days by an avalanche that killed its Montana owner was hungry but otherwise unscathed when it was found outside a motel room the man had rented, authorities said.

“In a tale of survival that avalanche experts described on Thursday as remarkable, ‘Ole,’ a Welsh corgi, was able to free itself from feet-deep layers of snow that last Saturday barreled down a Wyoming mountainside and killed Dave Gaillard, 44, of Bozeman, Mont.

“ ‘We don’t have a lot of data on dogs and avalanches. What we do know is that humans very, very, very rarely survive such a long burial,’ Mark Staples, avalanche specialist for the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center in Montana, said.

“Gaillard, his wife and Ole were back-country skiing last Saturday afternoon in the mountains along the Montana-Wyoming border near Yellowstone National Park when they inadvertently triggered the slide that buried both man and dog.

“Gaillard’s wife, Kerry, narrowly escaped the rapidly advancing wall of snow by grabbing hold of a tree…

“She later searched for hours for Gaillard before skiing on to alert authorities.”

“But Robert Weinstein, manager of the Alpine Motel in Cooke City, spotted the corgi on Wednesday lying before the door of the room where the Gaillards had stayed.

“ ‘You knew right away it was their dog, but you doubted it. It was too incredible,’ Weinstein told Reuters, saying the dog was hungry but appeared unharmed.

The dog not only dug himself out of the avalanche, but marched four miles to the motel across rugged terrain with 60 inches of snow.

--Director of shark and croc attacks, Bob S. (he got a promotion to cover crocs and gators in lieu of healthcare, plus he loses two vacation days due to ongoing austerity cuts at Bar Chat) passed along the sad story of David Voiles, hired by Sherman Hills Golf Club east of Brooksville, Florida, to retrieve golf balls. Last Monday morning he went for a dive on the course into a lake the size of a football field. He never returned. Even in colder weather, as your editor found out himself recently on Kiawah Island, South Carolina, gators can be a threat. It is assumed he became a meal for one.

--I still get a kick out of the Cialis commercials with the Sammy Sosa lookalike. I’m guessing the ad folks doing this spot don’t follow baseball. Then again, knowing what we know about steroids and, err, you know, maybe the Sammy reference is intentional.

--Speaking of performance, Todd Venezia had this note in the New York Post:

“This ram is lucky he doesn’t have to pay child support.

“A male sheep – who appropriately goes by the name Randy – has shocked farmers across the United Kingdom by fathering 33 lambs in a 24-hour period.

“The lusty lamb chop committed his serial insemination last July after jumping a fence in Desborough, England, and winding up in a field where a farmer was keeping 109 ewes.

“By the time Randy’s wild and wooly night of ram-bam romance was done, a third of the lady lambs were pregnant.

“The farmer, Ed Dee, 42, said that when he approached Randy afterward, the sheep ‘had a bit of a smirk on his face.’

“So far, 13 of Randy’s offspring have been born, and 20 more are on the way.

“ ‘We don’t know how he managed it all,’ Dee told The Sun of London.

“The ram got lucky again last month, when he was spared being sent to slaughter and ending up a Randy roast.

“ ‘He’s certainly the luckiest ram I’ve ever met,’ Dee said.”

--Fred Milano, one of the original members of Dion and the Belmonts, died. He was 72. Known as Freddy Milano, along with Angelo D’Aleo and Carlo Mastrangelo, were teenage buddies from the largely Italian neighborhood bordering Arthur Avenue in the Bronx when they began trying out their doo-wop sounds on street corners and apartment stoops. It was Milano who lived on Belmont Avenue, thus giving them their name, and in 1957 they became Dion and the Belmonts after Dion DiMucci joined as lead tenor.

Dion left to pursue a solo career in 1960, but they reunited in 1972 in a sold-out concert at Madison Square Garden.

Top 3 songs for the week of 1/5/63: #1 “Telstar” (The Tornadoes…hasn’t aged well) #2 “Go Away Little Girl” (Steve Lawrence…my man…altogether, all of you over 50…Steve Lawrence was a highly underrated entertainer!  Err, I guess technically still is...) #3 “Limbo Rock” (Chubby Checker…can’t believe he’s still going strong)…and…#4 “Bobby’s Girl” (Marcie Blane) #5 “Big Girls Don’t Cry” (The 4 Seasons…49 years ago! Geezuz, that’s depressing) #6 “Hotel Happiness” (Brook Benton…dejected Steelers fans checked out Sunday) #7 “Pepino The Italian Mouse” (Lou Monte…something tells me this tune hasn’t aged well either) #8 “Return To Sender” (Elvis Presley…had a pretty good career) #9 “Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah” (Bob B. Soxx and The Blue Jeans) #10 “Tell Him” (The Exciters)

*Jeff B. went to see Glen Campbell in concert in New York on Saturday and said he was fabulous, despite his issues. He sounded good, music was great…only a little confusion between numbers. Here’s hoping Glen can keep going as long as he’s mentally and physically able to.

**Dr. John recommends a new album by long-time New York rocker, Willie Nile, titled “The Innocent Ones.” I see it’s received awesome reviews. My niece Dale and I say check out newcomer Laura Marling.

***There is a great AM station up this way, 1370, that plays a super assortment of oldies. One tune I hadn’t heard in a while was Eddie Rabbitt’s “Suspicion” and now I can’t get it out of my head. You know, for a guy who was big in the 70s, he put out some good stuff.

NFL Quiz Answers: 1) Top three rushers…Sam Cunningham (1973-82) 5,453; Jim Nance (1965-71) 5,323; Tony Collins (1981-87) 4,647. 2) Receiving yards: Stanley Morgan (1977-89) 10,352 and a 19.4 avg. The man could fly. 3) Babe Parilli is the only Pats QB aside from Tom Brady to throw 30 TD passes in a single season, 1964, when Babe led the league in TDs (31) and interceptions (27), as well as yards (3,465). 14-game schedule back then.

*Sorry about the Ken Willard brain cramp last time. What made it worse was he was one of my favorites growing up, plus I always associate him with the late broadcaster Ray Scott.

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