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Bar Chat

01/16/2012

Green Bay is Out

NFL Hall of Fame Quiz: Name the six in the Hall whose last name begins with ‘A’. Clues: One is a coach. Three on offense, two on defense. All modern day (played at least some of their career in the 1960s or later). To me one is very hard. Answer below.

Sunday, Jan. 22

Baltimore at New England…3:00 p.m., temps in 40s [drat!]

New York at San Francisco...6:30 p.m., rain! Finally some weather.

And so the San Francisco 49ers return to the NFC title game for the first time since 1997. From 1981-97, they went to ten of ‘em. As all of us agree, Saturday’s contest was simply one of the top five or six games in NFL postseason history. Had it been for the conference title, it’s perhaps No. 1 by some measures.

And while we all know how it went down, for the archives, San Francisco jumped off to a 17-0 lead as their swarming defense forced a startling four first-half turnovers.

It was 17-14 at half, but with 7:36 to go in the game, San Fran led 23-17 after the teams exchanged three field goals. Then…

49ers TD 02:11…Smith 28-yard run (two-point conversion failed)…29-24

Saints TD 01:37…Brees to Graham, 66-yard pass (two-point conversion)…32-29

49ers TD 00:09…Smith to Davis, 14-yard pass…36-32

Tight end Vernon Davis had 180 yards on seven receptions and two TDs. Saints TE Jimmy Graham had 103 yards on five catches and two TDs.

Brees had 462 yards passing, though it was on 63 attempts and he threw two interceptions to go with his four TD passes.

Alex Smith threw for 299 and had three TD passes with no interceptions.

And how sweet is David Akers kicking it this season? I haven’t seen any kicker look so pure since Morten Andersen in his prime.

So San Francisco goes up against the red-hot Giants, who went to the semi-frozen tundra of Lambeau Field and whipped Aaron Rodgers and Co. like a rented mule, 37-20. So much for Green Bay’s outstanding season. Like, whatever.

I talked to my father a few times during the game and it seems like yesterday when virtually all of the New York area thought Eli Manning was a flop and that he couldn’t handle the pressure.

Then came the 2007 Super Bowl run and the joke was on us. Now we all respect the hell out of the guy. When he’s on, he’s as good as Rodgers, Brees or Brady, and his receiving corps is as good as they come.

Plus now the defensive line is healthy (save, perhaps, for Chris Canty) and that was one of the big differences in New York’s win over the Pack.

Hell, the Giants had to overcome one of the worst calls in professional sports history, the fumble that wasn’t, a Don Denkinger, 1985 World Series type of blown call.

As for the Packers, everyone will talk of the two-week layoff and use that as an excuse for the 8 dropped passes and three lost fumbles, including the first ever by John Kuhn and the first this season by Aaron Rodgers. Who knows?

What we do know is Rodgers’ discount double check commercials for State Farm look pretty stupid these days.

As for the other two games, Tom Brady threw for six touchdown passes in New England’s 45-10 thrashing of the Broncos, while what was the deal near the end of the Ravens-Titans game with Arian Foster standing 20 yards from his teammates?

Tebowmania [put Saturday’s performance aside…that wasn’t his fault]

In a survey, 43% believe divine intervention is responsible for at least some of Tim Tebow’s success this season.  81% of Hispanics answered yes. That’s kind of cool.

In his post-game press conference after Saturday night’s disaster, Tebow said it was still a good day because he got to spend some time with Zack McLeod. Who’s Zack McLeod?

“Zack McLeod is Tim Tebow’s kind of player – and man. And vice-versa.

“The 20-year-old former high school football player won’t snag any touchdown throws from his hero Saturday at Gillette Stadium when the Denver Broncos’ on-field miracle-worker challenges the New England Patriots in an AFC Divisional playoff game. But McLeod just may catch a pass – and more compassion and love than he ever imagined.

“As kickoff approaches, Tebow will do what he always does at pressure-packed times – give of himself. The 24-year-old quarterback will spend a few moments with McLeod, who suffered a traumatic brain injury playing football in 2008. They plan to meet on the sidelines as part of the Tebow Foundation’s Wish 15 program that grants requests for young people with serious medical issues.

“ ‘When we told Zack (this week), he just screamed, ‘Nooo waaaay!’’ says his father, Pat McLeod, who along with his wife, Tammy, work as Harvard University chaplains. ‘We are hoping Tim will throw him a pass. Zack still has great hands.’

“ ‘We’re playing a game, and you want to win, but you know that it’s not the end of the world,’ Tebow says. ‘Even a bad loss on the football field is better than spending a day (recovering) in a hospital.’”

Jon Saraceno writes of another instance…right before the Steelers game in Denver.

“His unbridled joy and passion is evident when he surrounds himself with young admirers, particularly those suffering with physical limitations who could use an inspirational jolt.

“Such was the case last weekend when he met Bailey Knaub, 16, after his foundation provided four tickets and other goodies for her family to attend the Steelers’ game.

“The Loveland, Colo., high school student suffers from a rare vascular disorder that has led to more than 70 surgeries the last decade – including the removal of her left lung in 2010.

“Less than 15 minutes before kickoff, Tebow finished warming up and approached the girl on the sidelines, telling her, ‘Bailey, I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.’ He gave her a big hug and an autographed football.

“ ‘It was very emotional – we haven’t seen her that happy in a long time,’ says her mother, Kathy. ‘You could tell by how he was talking to Bailey that he was not doing this for publicity or any other reason than he likes kids. He is an exceptional guy.’

“ ‘My heart was going like a million miles an hour,’ she says.

“ ‘He was amazing – so sweet, kind and generous. He just made me feel so special.

Back in the days when I was a regular churchgoer (I’ve lapsed badly since), we had a monsignor who would finish each Homily with the words, “God loves you.” God may not always be able to influence sporting events, but you know He just loves Tim Tebow.

I wasn’t a believer before. But Tebow won me over and I’ll be rooting for him next season.

--Former long-time Titans coach Jeff Fisher, after taking a year off from the game, selected the St. Louis Rams as his next challenge over the Miami Dolphins, leaving the Dolphins in the lurch. No telling who’ll they’ll end up with. 

--Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News raises a legitimate point concerning the Green Bay Packers players’ “Lambeau Leap” into the stands after a Packer scores a touchdown. According to the NFL’s rules, it’s illegal.

Rule 12, Player Conduct, Section 3 (d) defines Unsportsmanlike Conduct as:

“Individual players involved in prolonged or excessive celebrations.”

Further, under Note 5: “Violations of (d) will be penalized if they occur anywhere on the field other than the bench area.”

A league official told Bondy that the Lambeau Leap falls within the bounds of “expressions of exuberance by players that are perfectly acceptable.”

Said Greg Aiello, “Same as the old military salute by Terrell Davis and going to the ground to pray are within the rules. For the Leap, only the scoring player can do it. Two or more players would result in a flag.”

--As a Jets fan, I’m beginning to get the feeling we are entering a very dark period, a la my New York Mets. The Jets have so many freakin’ holes and now we hire an offensive coordinator, Tony Sparano, who is committed to ground-and-pound. One problem. There isn’t a single reason to believe we’ll have the personnel to get this done.

--The Washington Post’s Sally Jenkins had the first extensive interview with former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno since all the blank went down.

“So the problem wasn’t that Joe Paterno didn’t have all the details of what his former assistant coach was allegedly doing to a boy in the Penn State locker room showers.

“That was the story he was trying to sell in his first interview…Paterno told columnist Sally Jenkins that his graduate assistant withheld the specifics of what he said he saw Jerry Sandusky doing that day in 2002.

“ ‘And to be frank with you I don’t know that it would have done any good, because I never heard of, of, rape and a man,’ Paterno said. ‘So I just did what I thought was best. I talked to people that I thought would be, if there was a problem, that would be following up on it.’

“This quote is worth repeating, since you’ll be seeing it plenty now: Never heard of rape and a man. If that’s really true, Paterno should have been replaced long ago, because he was far too out of touch to lead a major college football program.

“But it wasn’t a man allegedly getting raped. It was a boy. Paterno can’t spin this as ‘an old-world man profoundly confused by what (Mike) McQueary told him,’ as Jenkins writes, because there’s no debating about what’s right or wrong here. There’s no gray area. No matter how detailed McQueary was in his account, this was a grown man allegedly doing something sexual with a young boy.

“Paterno knew that was wrong, because everyone knows what’s wrong. If you were hoping that, in his first interview, Paterno would say something – anything – that helped you understand how this powerful and respected man could do so little that day, you were disappointed.

“ ‘I didn’t know exactly how to handle it and I was afraid to do something that might jeopardize what the university procedure was,’ he told the Post. ‘So I backed away and turned it over to some other people, people I thought would have a little more expertise than I did. It didn’t work out that way.’

“Paterno doesn’t sound like a man who didn’t know how to handle it. He sounds like the one who didn’t want to handle it. He called his supervisors. He let them deal with ‘the problem.’ And then he never followed up, because, according to Jenkins, ‘he did not want to be seen as trying to exert any influence for or against Sandusky.’

“There is no discussion in the Post story about the boy in the shower, or if Paterno considered the potential for other victims, or if he even now understands the scope of what is alleged to have happened.    Most of it is Paterno painting himself as a Clueless Joe, hopelessly out of touch.”

--The Oregon Ducks suffered a big blow to their 2012 title hopes as quarterback Darron Thomas shocked the team and announced he was going out for the NFL draft a year early. The guy is a very good college quarterback, but he is not ready for prime time and definitely should have stayed one more year. For starters, I can’t imagine he goes that high in the draft with all the other QBs available. Oregon is also losing superstar running back LaMichael James a year early, but this was totally expected and the Ducks have amazing depth at the position. We’ll now see if they do at QB as well. But something tells me coach Chip Kelly will just reload and that it won’t be backup Bryan Bennett who eventually stars but one of his true freshmen coming in.

--Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson, who is ready for the NFL, has decided to pursue football over baseball, Wilson having spent parts of two minor league seasons in the Colorado Rockies’ organization. According to Dallas Cowboys executive Gil Brandt, Wilson projects as a fourth-round pick, with his 5-10 height hurting him, though Drew Brees is only 6-0. Wilson can be a tremendous QB. I’d certainly take him over Darron Thomas. Heck, I’d love to see the guy as a Jet. If we can’t get Peyton Manning, Wilson would be the perfect type to push Mark Sanchez.

--NCAA president Mark Emmert said he’d support a four-team playoff in college football – as long as the field doesn’t grow.

“The notion of having a Final Four approach is probably a good one. Moving toward a 16-team playoff is highly problematic because I think that’s too much to ask a young man’s body to do. It’s too many games, it intrudes into the school year and, of course, it would probably necessitate a complete end to the bowl system that so many people like now.”

So maybe in our lifetime, “plus-one” will become a reality. [I still think I could live another 20-25 years, in case you’re calculating at home.]

--The ACC really really sucks, this much is clear. While I still believe North Carolina will win it all, getting their act together shortly, I caught a fair amount of the second half of Saturday’s UNC debacle, a 90-57 loss to Florida State, the Tar Heels worst defeat since 2003. But Carolina is supposed to be the conference’s best?! Yikes. I mean it’s not like FSU is good. They aren’t.

Earlier in the week I watched some of No. 6 Duke vs. No. 17 Virginia and while this one was exciting, with Duke prevailing at home, 61-58, Duke is hardly Final Four material. They’ll be lucky to get to the Sweet 16. I mean to tell ya…the Plumlee brothers blow. I will give Virginia credit, however. Maybe out of nowhere they are the team that surprises come March.

But back to blowdom, no one blew more this weekend than my Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

It always gets me how once you get to the college or professional level, some teams just don’t “show up.” In the case of the Deacs, interest in the basketball program is at a multi-year low. Make that multi-decade. After going a record-worst 1-15 in ACC play last year, we won our first ACC contest this year, played a spirited game in a loss at Maryland, and then came home to play a mediocre North Carolina State team. Again, we’re at home…we need to fill seats…Wake Forest sports is in a big slump overall.

So what do the Deacs do? They don’t show up. The players later said things like ‘We didn’t see this one coming.’ ‘State was more physical than we were.’ Final score?

North Carolina State 76 Wake Forest 40.

That’s freakin’ disgraceful. I feel like burning all my Deaconwear in protest. [I would except I don’t want to set off all the fire alarms in the building.] At least I wasn’t one of the 11,000 paying good money to see this incredible [blank blank].

Then again, years ago, State beat Wake 130-70…and you can look it up. My senior year, 1980.

--Well, it would certainly suck being a Pitt fan these days. The Panthers were a consensus top ten in the preseason (No. 7 in Sports Illustrated, for example), but they’ve now lost six in a row, including 0-5 in the Big East. Against Rutgers last week, Pitt lost at home, 62-39, shooting 12 of 57 from the field. They at least showed up on Saturday against Marquette but went down again, 62-57.

--Two other upsets of note since the last chat. No. 8 Indiana lost at home to Minnesota, 77-74, and No. 7 Michigan State lost at Northwestern, 81-74. [Indiana then lost again to No. 5 Ohio State on Sunday, 80-63.]

--And my San Diego State Aztecs, No. 22, beat No. 12 UNLV, 69-67, on a last second Jamaal Franklin drive. I caught the final minutes of this one on Versus, or whatever it’s being called these days. Steve Fisher is one helluva coach. They lost in the Sweet Sixteen last year to UConn (who you might recall won it all) and the Aztecs lost four starters, two of whom are now on the Spurs, Kawhi Leonard and Malcolm Thomas.

But all Fisher did was bring in some transfers (who were sitting out a year), got one guy to return to the program after a long absence, and come tournament time they’ll once again be dangerous. Franklin, by the way, is a budding superstar, and I’m talkin’ at the next level.

--Lastly, I watched some of Murray State on Saturday as they beat a decent Tennessee Tech team (really), 82-74. What I didn’t realize is that one of the reasons why the Racers haven’t been blowing people away recently is that a key player, Ivan Aska, has been out with a broken hand. Before this he was the team’s leading rebounder. I just want them to stay undefeated before I see them.

--The New York Times’ Joe Nocera has written a series of stories recently blasting the NCAA for its absurd policies. The other day he gave another example, the case of St. Joe’s and former basketball player Todd O’Brien, who transferred in from Bucknell in 2008, sat out the obligatory year, played two seasons at St. Joe’s, with declining playing time, and then, having graduated with a degree in economics, but with a year of eligibility left, found a school where he could go to graduate school and still play one more season…the Univ. of Alabama-Birmingham.

The NCAA does allow someone who has graduated but has a year of eligibility left to play somewhere else without sitting out a season (see Russell Wilson), but the current school, in this case St. Joe’s, has to grant a “release.” Therein lies the problem.

“O’Brien had already ascertained that there was no NCAA impediment to him playing for another school…(but) St. Joe’s, clearly acting at (coach Phil) Martelli’s behest, refused to sign the necessary paperwork.”

[Ed. Martelli, for whatever reason, was furious O’Brien was leaving even though it was Martelli who had drastically reduced the 7-footer’s playing time.]

“Let’s put aside the question of why college athletes usually have to sit out a year when they transfer, even though coaches can switch schools at the drop of a hat. That’s a column for another day. Let’s focus instead on O’Brien’s plight. How can a student who has graduated from one institution be prevented from participating in an extracurricular activity at a different school? How can a miffed coach’s pique control the activities of a student who doesn’t even play for him anymore? Can a music teacher who is angry at a violin student prevent him from playing in another school’s orchestra? The very idea is absurd. Why is it any less absurd when the student is an athlete? Why is it any less wrong? Yet that is precisely what the NCAA’s rules make possible.

“And which it then reinforces with its own iron fist. Unable to persuade St. Joe’s to change its mind, O’Brien appealed to the NCAA. Did the NCAA, which purports to care about the welfare of its ‘student-athletes,’ take stern action against St. Joe’s? Of course not.

“In response to O’Brien’s appeal, St. Joe’s submitted a letter complaining, among other things, that his transfer was done for ‘athletic reasons’ rather than academic ones. Though that clearly is untrue, so what if it had been? Why should this reason matter? Nevertheless, the NCAA sided with the school….Which only makes sense, since coaches, not athletes, are the NCAA’s real constituency. For its part, St. Joe’s has refused to discuss the situation, citing ‘privacy laws.’…

“(And St. Joe’s), a small Catholic school, has disgraced itself because it won’t stand up to its bully of a basketball coach.”

Congratulations are nonetheless in order to Coach Martelli. His name has just been placed in the December file for yearend consideration. “A-Hole of the Year” would be quite appropriate.

--On Saturday night, Clippers guard Chris Paul had 33 points and six assists in leading his team to a win over the Lakers, 102-94, in what is now a full-fledged inter-city rivalry. The Clippers moved to 6-3, though Paul strained his hamstring late in the game. Kobe Bryant had 40 points (42) for the fourth consecutive contest, his longest streak since March 2007 when he did it five times.

--I must say this is a bizarre NBA season already. It’s tough to keep track of all the action with the compressed schedule. Wake Forest’s Jeff Teague is doing a solid job for Atlanta (9-4), which means he’s pretty much guaranteed to get a decent contract from someone at the end of the year, if he doesn’t stay in Atlanta. Fellow Deac Josh Howard is also a major contributor again, this time for Utah, while San Antonio is carefully managing Tim Duncan’s minutes. His stats will be unimpressive all season, but that matters little. It’s about getting a high seed for the playoffs and then letting him loose in what could easily be his swan song. Another Deac, James Johnson, has shown flashes of brilliance at Toronto but his play is incredibly inconsistent. He’s as good an athlete as there is in the NBA. It’s all about his attitude.

--I was startled to see that Orlando’s Dwight Howard set the NBA record for most free throws in a game, 39, in the Magic’s win over Golden State. I would have bet big money that Wilt Chamberlain once had far more than that, but Wilt’s record was 34. The Warriors hacked Howard constantly because he is a notoriously bad free throw shooter and indeed he only made 21 of the 39, but in finishing with 45 points, he also hauled down 23 rebounds and the Magic defeated the Warriors, 117-109. Howard’s previous high for free throw attempts was 24.

--Sometimes a box score just jumps out at you, like Dallas’ win over Sacramento the other night, 99-60. It was 52-23 at half. The Kings shot 22 of 86, 25.6%, from the field for the game, including 2 of 21 from downtown.

--In a bold move, the Yankees traded budding star slugger Jesus Montero, 22, to the Seattle Mariners for All-Star righthander Michael Pineda, just 23 this week. [Then the Yanks signed Hiroki Kuroda, a veteran right-hander, for one year and $10 million. Kuroda was 13-16 for the Dodgers last year but he had a sparkling 3.07 ERA.]

Montero isn’t thought of as a catcher, his natural position, but one thing is for sure, the guy can hit, witness a sampling at the big league level last year where he had four homers and 12 ribbies in just 61 at-bats  while hitting .328.

So why would the Yankees trade a guy who could drive in 120 runs for the next 15 years? As the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner put it, aside from picking up starting pitching, the reason might be A-Rod, who could be the full-time DH shortly in an attempt to protect him for the remaining six years of his contract.

The Yankees farm system is also loaded and suddenly, with Pineda and Kuroda, to go with CC Sabathia and Co., the Yanks rotation becomes a big positive rather than a liability.

--Free agent Prince Fielder talked to the Texas Rangers but president Nolan Ryan said the talks are just preliminary. Kind of shocking Fielder’s reception hasn’t been better, but then it doesn’t help his agent is Scott Boras, who has more than worn out his welcome among baseball’s GMs. The Rangers, by the way, say they will be signing Japanese star Yu Darvish, who in seven seasons of professional ball is 93-38 with a 1.99 ERA.

--Mets knuckleball pitcher R.A. Dickey is one interesting dude. He just completed a climb of Mount Kilimanjaro to raise awareness for the Bombay Teen Challenge, an organization that rescues and cares for women and girls in Mumbai who are at risk of being abused and exploited. Now what other athlete would think of something like this, aside from Rockies pitcher Kevin Slowey, who accompanied Dickey on the climb. The Mets organization and its fans are just happy Dickey didn’t get hurt, but from his account in the New York Times, it was a bit dicey, as he wrote of passing people in the final assault on the summit who had to turn back because of fatigue or altitude sickness. 

“Finally, about seven hours into the climb at around 18,500 feet, I had to ask our guide to stop. I sat on a rock to the side of the trail feeling nauseated and lightheaded.”

Luckily, Dickey found a second wind upon hearing they were close to the peak. In all, they walked 40 miles and climbed 13,000 feet.

In a season that promises to be memorable for all the wrong reasons, Mets fans at least have one guy to root for. I suspect he’s going to have a super year.

[Last week, owner Fred Wilpon said he plans to remain owner despite the team’s financial distress. “That’s my strongest desire,” when asked if he’ll stay on. That’s just super, mused Mets fans on seeing this.]

--Interesting piece by Mike DiGiovanna in the Los Angeles Times concerning Albert Pujols’ contract and the value of the Angels franchise. To wit:

“Albert Pujols can lead the Angels to a few World Series championships, win several MVP awards, set the all-time home run record and pass 3,000 hits, and he would not pay for himself.

“It seems unlikely that any player, no matter how dominant and marketable, can generate close to $240 million in 10 years.”

But the Angels are benefiting and, more importantly for owner Arte Moreno, “he could recoup a big chunk of his massive investment, which was made possible, in part, by a 17-year television rights extension with Fox Sports that will pay the Angels between $2 billion and $2.5 billion beginning in 2016.

“The Angels wouldn’t benefit from increased ratings and ad rates on television – that goes to Fox – but could charge more for ads tied to their radio rights.

“Moreno bought the Angels for $183 million in 2003. Forbes Magazine valued the team at $554 million in 2011. A decade-long run of success with Pujols could push the Angels toward $1 billion.”

In the month since Pujols and pitcher C.J. Wilson signed, the Angels have sold 3,000 new full season tickets packages, plus the equivalent of 2,300 full season tickets in mini-plans. Normally sales don’t peak until early March so this is very encouraging. According to Team Marketing Report, if the Angels were to boost average attendance by 4,000 over 81 games, the team would generate an estimated $8.3 million more in ticket revenues over 2011. $12.5 million if attendance rose 6,000 a game. And then you have additional revenues if the Angels went deep into postseason.

And the above doesn’t count an average of $17 on food, beverages and parking, which could generate an additional $4.75 million a season, especially if they can cut the “no-show” rate.

However, what if Pujols, who turns 32 on Monday (or is it 34 as many believe?) only has 2 or 3 top years left in him? Then you’re left with an A-Rodesque albatross of historic proportions. Arte Moreno, though, should do just fine were he to sell down the road.

U.S. Olympic Marathon Team

And your U.S. Men’s and Women’s Olympic qualifiers are…

For the women…Shalane Flanagan, Desiree Davila and Kara Goucher.

For the men…Meb Keflezighi, Ryan Hall and Abdi Abdirahman.

Flanagan took Saturday’s race in Houston, just her second marathon ever, with Shalane having previously won a bronze medal in the 2008 Games at 10,000. Goucher is a two-time Olympian at 5,000 and 10,000 as well.

For the men, Keflezighi is going to his third Games and at 36 was the oldest to win the Olympic trials, while Hall qualified for his second Olympics and Abdirahman his fourth.

But I watched much of NBC’s great coverage, helped by the fact for the first time both men and women were running virtually simultaneously on the same course, and your heart had to go out to the two fourth place finishers who fell just shy of making the team; Amy Hastings and Dathan Ritzenheim. Both broke down at the finish line. All that training, and in the case of Ritzenheim, he was eight seconds short. Eight seconds after 26 miles.

But I see Ritzenheim is now going to attempt to make the Olympic team in the 10,000, which would make for a very cool story come Eugene later this year.  I’ll be in the stands, cheering like crazy for the guy.

Separately, in a study by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston that appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, an analysis of participants in marathons and half-marathons found “only a tiny risk of cardiac arrest during or immediately after a race, a 1 in 184,000 chance,” as reported by Katherine Hobson of the Wall Street Journal.

The study looked at 10.9 million participants from Jan. 1, 2000 to May 31, 2010, and found just 59 cases of cardiac arrest, 86% of them in men. There were 42 deaths among them, according to the report. Wow, I actually ran past one of the 42 then in the 2009 Kiawah half-marathon I participated in. I thought there were far more.

By the way, “If the heart rhythm isn’t restored, which requires a defibrillator, death usually occurs within 10 to 12 minutes.”

--Johnson Wagner won his 3rd PGA Tour title at the Sony Open. Not exactly a lot of drama. Time for the tour to get back to the lower 48 and begin to provide some excitement.

--It seems Tiger Woods’ amateur partner at his Pebble Beach debut will be quarterback Tony Romo. There is a chance Tim Tebow will be in the tournament, which despite his flameout on Saturday could be interesting in terms of what kind of gallery he gets and how much he is covered on television, celebrity Saturday.

--Attention golf fans…Northern Ireland’s Royal Portrush has landed the Irish Open this year, June 28-July 1, which could presage the one-time Open course returning to the “rota”. It was 61 years ago Portrush hosted the Open. “The Troubles” ended up being the main reason why the event hasn’t returned, but with the likes of Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke hailing from the North, if Portrush stages a good show in June, an Open Championship may not be that far behind.

--40-year-old swimmer Janet Evans, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, qualified for the U.S. Olympic trials in June. She’ll make a go of it in both the 400- and 800-meter freestyle. Evans last appeared in the 1996 Olympics. Her world records in the 400 and 800, set in 1988 and 1989, stood until 2006 and 2008, respectively.

--The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby skated Friday for the first time in more than a month as he continues to recover from his latest concussion. No timetable has been set for his return.

--Jeff Venderbeek, owner of the New Jersey Devils, is months late on an $80 million debt payment to lenders and his efforts on finding a way to securitize a long-term TV deal with the MSG Network are not bearing fruit. He has two months to get something done or the NHL will step in and resolve it, including a probable league takeover.

--It’s pretty amazing Muhammad Ali celebrated his 70th birthday (Jan. 17) the other night in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. On one hand, for some of us it’s a reminder how fast time flies. On the other, it’s a wonder he made it this far with his serious health issues. He’s lucky wife Lonnie has been there with him these final years.

--Congratulations to Miss Wisconsin, Laura Kaeppeler, our new Miss America. Can’t say I saw any of this Saturday night and so I missed this moment.

Second runner-up, Miss New York, Kaitlin Monte, criticized the Occupy Wall Street movement during the questioning.

“The thing about Occupy Wall Street is, if they’re going to come up and complain about a problem, they have to come up with some solutions, too,” in responding to being asked whether the movement “had a point.”

Pretty intelligent answer under the pressure, I must say. Send her to Washington.

--I’ve written before of the originals of John James Audubon’s Birds of America and how much they could fetch at auction. Barron’s now reports that this coming Friday, a set of four, each more than three feet in height, will be auctioned off at Christie’s in New York and should fetch $7 million to $10 million. A previous set in 2010 went for $11.5 million in London.

Only 200 copies of the original edition were completed, 1838. It took 11 years to produce and then cost about $1,000.

Ironically, even though the books are of birds of America, they were not only printed in London, most were sold in Europe as Audubon followed the money.

--Just minutes before halftime of the Super Bowl, Skechers is airing an ad that is already stirring up controversy, a bulldog sporting a quartet of red GoRun Skechers outrunning a bunch of greyhounds, as animal rights activists rage against the use of the latter. Skechers said it is going through with the ad and that it is “inspirational” for the underdog.

I have no opinion, but it doesn’t help that the ad was filmed at the Tucson Greyhound Park – Arizona’s last operating dog track. The Arizona Dept. of Racing has charged the track with multiple cases of animal cruelty and neglect.

Since 2001, 26 greyhound tracks have closed as the sport is in terminal decline. Only 22 remain open in seven states.

--Uh oh…according to the British Journal of Cancer, eating two strips of bacon a day can increase the risk of pancreatic cancer by 19%. Eating a similar amount of processed meat every day yields the same results. I don’t eat bacon every day, but when I do, I prefer the Hormel pre-cooked variety.

--Correction: Last time I said Coors Light had supplanted Budweiser in the top slot for U.S. beer sales when I should have said Coors Light is selling more than Budweiser, but Bud Light remains the No. 1 beer in the country.

Top 3 songs for the week 1/16/65: #1 “Come See About Me” (The Supremes) #2 “I Feel Fine” (The Beatles) #3 “Love Potion Number Nine” (The Searchers)…and…#4 “Downtown” (Petula Clark…I love you, Pet!) #5 “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” (The Righteous Brothers…I used to be able to do a great job with this one…if the vocal chords were properly lubed with domestic) #6 “Mr. Lonely” (Bobby Vinton) #7 “The Jerk” (The Larks) #8 “Goin’ Out Of My Head” (Little Anthony and The Imperials…love these guys) #9 “How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You” (Marvin Gaye…still miss him) #10 “Keep Searchin’ (We’ll Follow The Sun)” (Del Shannon…he was pretty underrated)

NFL Hall of Fame Quiz Answer: Six whose last name begins with ‘A’.

Herb Adderly, cornerback, 1961-72, Green Bay and Dallas
Troy Aikman, quarterback, 1989-2000, Dallas
George Allen, coach, 1966-77, Los Angeles and Washington
Marcus Allen, running back, 1982-97, L.A. Raiders and Kansas City
Lance Allworth, receiver (technically “flanker” in his day…which is kind of stupid when you think about it), 1962-72, San Diego and Dallas
Doug Atkins, defensive end, 1953-69, Cleveland, Chicago and New Orleans

On one hand, when you see George Allen’s name, you can question the selection because he never won a championship (losing the ’72 Super Bowl to Miami). In fact he was 2-7 in the playoffs. But in the regular season he was 116-47-5 and turned around what had been two lousy franchises.

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