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08/27/2018

John McCain: Sports Fan

[Posted prior to Yankees-Orioles]

NFL Quiz: Name the six active passers with 300 career touchdown passes. Answer below.

MLB

--Gotta give the Yankees credit. After they were swept in that big 4-game series at Fenway, Aug. 2-5, it was no longer a matter of chasing down the Red Sox in the A.L. East, but could New York hang on to host the wild-card game.

But they also were embarking on a 27-game stretch, all against sub-.500 teams, where they needed to beat up on them.  And that they have, 14-5 in the first 19, heading into tonight, and suddenly they are 6 1/2 back of Boston, the Red Sox having lost 6 of 8 after today, and 4 ahead of Oakland to host the one-gamer (Seattle 5 back of Oakland).

This from a team that is playing without Aroldis Chapman, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregorius.  Not bad.

Saturday, the Yankees swept the hapless Orioles (37-93) in a day / night doubleheader, notable for the pitching performances.  J.A. Happ threw six innings of 2-run ball in the opener, a 10-3 win, as Happ improved to 5-0 in five starts for New York, while in the nightcap, Sonny Gray got the start and threw 6 1/3 of shutout ball in a 5-1 triumph, Gray now 10-8, but still with a 5.05 ERA.

Gray’s splits remain pretty amazing.  He has a 3.09 ERA on the road (11 starts, one relief appearance) in 64 innings, while at home, in 14 games (11 starts, three relief appearances), he is at 7.32 in 55 1/3.

--Shockingly, the Mets had back-to-back 3-0 shutout wins over Washington, Friday and Saturday, behind starters Jason Vargas and Zack Wheeler.  Saturday’s was the third straight time the Nationals had been shut out, the first time this has occurred since the franchise moved to D.C., Washington dropping to 64-66, already giving them more losses than last year’s 97-65 mark.  Nats fans have reason to be pissed.

[It took until the sixth inning for Washington to score today, and then they tallied 14 runs in the eighth and ninth for a 15-0 Nats win....so make it 65-66.]

--Thursday was a biggie in the National League Cy Young Award race.  The Mets’ Jacob deGrom lost to the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner (5-5, 2.88) 3-1, deGrom going six innings, allowing a lone earned run, striking out 10, to fall to 8-8, though he kept his ERA at 1.71.

At the same time that afternoon, Washington’s Max Scherzer was hooking up against Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola, the Phillies prevailing 2-0 as Scherzer gave up a 2-run homer to Odubel Herrera, 7 innings, 10 Ks, while Nola threw eight scoreless, 9 strikeouts.

So you have:

DeGrom 8-8, 1.71
Scherzer 16-6, 2.13
Nola 15-3, 2.13

This was a huge game for Nola.  He was clearly lost in the conversation thus far, but a lot of voters will remember this head-to-head matchup, especially if the Phils make the playoffs.

As for deGrom, no way.

Meanwhile, the same day, Cole Hamels went all the way for the Cubs, a 7-1 winner, as he went to 4-0, 0.79 ERA in his five starts for Chicago.  What an acquisition.

--White Sox fans should be excited by the first major league win from 22-year-old Michael Kopech today, he being perhaps the top prospect in the game at this moment; Kopech throwing five scoreless in a 7-2 win over the Tigers.

--The Braves clearly made a great move in acquiring Baltimore’s Kevin Gausman at the trade deadline. Gausman is 4-1, 1.69 ERA in his five starts in Atlanta, throwing five shutout innings today in a 4-0 win over the Marlins.

--And congratulations to Hawaii for its 3-0 win in the Little League World Series finale today over South Korea in Williamsport.

NFL

--Week three of preseason games is when the starters play the most, largely then taking off the final preseason game next week in preparation for the season openers two weeks hence.

For Jets fans, it now seems a certainty rookie Sam Darnold will be behind center to open the season at Detroit.  Friday night, in the annual Jets-Giants affair (won by the Giants 22-16), Darnold got to meet Joe Namath for the first time.

“He’s just a great guy,” Darnold said.  “He’s very charismatic, and obviously there’s a lot of personality there, and it was awesome to be able to talk to him for a little bit. First time meeting him, I was hoping maybe I’d get some more time with him, we got a couple of minutes, but it was cool to meet Broadway Joe and the history that he had with this franchise.”

Namath said on the CBS broadcast: “I’ve seen Sam perform tonight better than I’ve seen from any rookie.”

Darnold was 29-for-45 this preseason, 244 yards, two TDs, one interception, but he was more than that.

Steve Serby / New York Post

“It isn’t so much because of who he is now at the tender age of 21, but who he has a chance to be when the Jets become a Win Now team in 2019.

“It isn’t at all because he attacked downfield, but because he commanded the huddle and displayed pocket awareness and didn’t do anything dumb or reckless....

“There will be turbulence along the way.  But know this: Sam Darnold won’t fly the Jet scared.  Broadway Go.”

*Thanks to Phil W. for alerting me to an interesting late development.  The Jets signed former Wake Forest quarterback John Wolford today, a free agent who had been invited to their May mini-camp and obviously impressed.  Wolford had a phenomenal, well under the radar nationally, year in 2017 for the Deacs.

So what this guarantees is that Teddy Bridgewater is going to be traded, potentially this week.  I’ve urged the Jets to wait until the season starts, when QBs begin going down, to get a higher draft pick in return, but I’m not sure what the roster situation would be for New York in terms of keeping him.  Sounds like Bridgewater is gone before the Detroit game.

Nonetheless, brilliant little move by the Jets in signing Bridgewater for nothing. They gave him a shot, he proved in the exhibition campaign he is healthy, and now they have a trade piece of value.

--I can’t help but note that Summit, New Jersey’s own, kicker Mike Badgley, is now 5-for-5 in the preseason for Indianapolis, Badgley going 3-for-3 Saturday, including a 51-yarder.  He’s ensuring that at least when the Colts let him go (unless they go with two kickers...45-year-old Adam Vinatieri the incumbent), he’ll be able to sign with another team...you would think.

--We note the passing of George Andrie, a pillar of the Cowboys’ Doomsday Defense, who died at the age of 78.

Andrie, 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds, played right end for the Cowboys from 1962 to 1972.  He was named a first-team All-Pro in 1969, the last of five consecutive seasons in which he was chosen for the Pro Bowl.

He led the Cowboys in sacks from 1964 through 1967, with a team-high and career-high 18 ½ in 1966.

The 1967 version of the Doomsday Defense included a front four of future Hall of Famer Bob Lilly at right tackle, Willie Townes at left end and Jethro Pugh at left tackle.

Andrie’s biggest moment came when the Cowboys played the Packers in Green Bay for the NFL title on Dec. 31, 1967.  The “Ice Bowl.”

Late in the second quarter, Packers quarterback Bart Starr fumbled when he was hit by Townes near the Green Bay goal line. Andrie scooped up the football on the Green Bay 7 and ran it into the end zone.

The Doomsday Defense sacked Starr eight times that day, but the Packers won 21-17.

College Football

--I never really thought Ohio State would fire head football coach Urban Meyer, thinking it was more of an issue whether he would be suspended for two or three games, because the third contest was against a ranked opponent, TCU.

The school then announced Wednesday (after I had posted on the matter that morning), that Meyer was indeed being suspended three games, without pay, with Ohio State president Michael V. Drake, in consultation with the school’s Board of Trustees, also suspending athletic director Gene Smith from Aug. 31 through Sept. 16.

Meyer’s suspension now goes back to Aug. 1, the same day that college football reporter Brett McMurphy released a report that detailed domestic violence allegations against former wide receiver coach Zach Smith; the story intimating there was widespread knowledge around the football program of the allegations, including text messages from Courtney Smith, Zach’s now ex-wife, to Meyer’s wife.

The prior week at Big Ten Media Day, Meyer had denied any knowledge of the allegation by saying, “I don’t know who creates a story like that.”  Meyer then apologized for not being accurate, saying he’d “failed,” and declared that he always follows the school’s proper protocols.  [Zach Smith said Gene Smith also knew of the allegations.]

From a football standpoint, the top-five Buckeyes have been practicing all of preseason camp without Meyer, the team under the direction of co-offensive coordinator Ryan Day.

So Wednesday, after the suspension was announced, Meyer made a brief statement at a news conference.

“I have a message for everyone in this: I’m sorry we are in this situation.”  No mention of Courtney Smith.  That was essentially it.

Then we began to get details on the internal investigation at OSU, and investigators said they believe Meyer didn’t deliberately lie to the public when discussing his knowledge of Zach Smith’s past at Big Ten media day.  But a 23-page summary of the findings shows they had reasons to doubt that the coach was being completely forthcoming during the investigation.

Urban Meyer, for example, supposedly told investigators he had no knowledge of text messages exchanged between his wife, Shelley, and Courtney Smith, but after the McMurphy story hit Aug. 1, Meyer and a staffer discussed how to adjust the settings on his phone so that text messages more than a year old would be deleted.  When investigators examined Meyer’s phone, they did not find any message more than a year old.

Investigators also discovered that Meyer had reprimanded Zach Smith in 2014 after Smith allegedly spent about $600 of his own money at a strip club in Florida during a recruiting trip, but Meyer did not report the incident to Gene Smith or OSU’s compliance department.  Other coaches, including high school coaches (no high school players) were with Smith at the club.

We also learned that after Zach and Courtney Smith formally divorced on Sept. 2, 2016, Zach Smith’s “job performance suffered, including failure to appear at scheduled recruiting visits at various high schools, despite reporting that he had.”

Zach Smith recalls Meyer telling him to shape up or he’d be fired.

Gene Smith recommended that Meyer fire Smith at the time, but for some reason, Meyer decided not to, according to the report for the university.

Meyer acknowledged Wednesday that his relationship with former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce, Zach Smith’s grandfather, impacted how he handled Smith, saying, “I followed my heart and not my head.

Zach Smith was fired July 23, after Gene Smith and Meyer first learned of the reports about the domestic violence civil protection order issued against Smith on July 20.

Then on Friday, Urban Meyer apologized to Courtney Smith, two days after not acknowledging her directly in the news conference announcing his suspension.

In a Twitter post, Meyer said he was sorry to all women, men and families affected by relationship violence, specifically apologizing directly to Courtney.

“Let me say here and now what I should have said on Wednesday.  I sincerely apologize to Courtney Smith and her children for what they have gone through.”

Urban Meyer’s legacy has been tarnished big time.

--We had a smattering of action this weekend, none involving Top 25 teams.  Wake Forest fans, though, will note that Rice needed a last-second field goal to beat Prairie View A&M 31-28, the Deacs hosting Rice this season.

And Hawaii had a nice win at Colorado State 43-34, Cole McDonald throwing for 418 yards and three touchdowns.

--Eight Rutgers football players were involved in a credit-card fraud scam over the spring in which the players – four of whom have since parted ways with the team – stole roughly $11,000, authorities told the Star-Ledger, final details just announced the other day.

Golf Balls

--We had the first leg of the FedExCup playoffs this week, the Northern Trust Open at Ridgewood Country Club, in beautiful New Jersey (we do have some nice spots, you know), and a real monkey wrench was thrown into Jim Furyk’s plans for his four captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup, three of the four coming after next week’s second leg of the playoffs, the Dell Technologies Championship in Norton, Mass.

We know Tiger and Phil will be two of them, so it was thought to be Tony Finau and Xander Schauffele, or maybe Matt Kuchar, for the other two spots.

But Bryson DeChambeau finished ninth on the Ryder Cup points list, the top eight being automatic qualifiers, and what would Furyk do if DeChambeau played well these next two weeks?

Well all 24-year-old DeChambeau did, thanks largely to a 63 on Saturday, was romp to a four-stroke victory today over Finau, Bryson’s third career win, second this year.

DeChambeau is now a lock for Furyk’s squad.  Finau should be the final selection.  Xander Schauffele missed the cut, Kuchar T-61.

Tiger finished T-40 but struck the ball very well...it was his putting that was atrocious.  Mickelson was a solid T-15.

Furyk, however, I can guarantee you, though you’ll never hear it from him, can’t be happy. DeChambeau is off on his own planet, and to this outsider, moi, is the furthest thing from a great Ryder Cup teammate, as Finau will be.

I frankly can’t stand the guy.  But if I’m proven wrong (which would likely mean victory for Team USA), I’ll be happy to say so.

--At the European Tour’s D+D Real Czech Masters, 52-year-old John Daly, who last won on the European or PGA Tours in 2004, was tied for the lead after the first round with a bogey-free 8-under 64.  He ended up T-59.

--We got most of the details on the Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson showdown, what will be billed as “THE MATCH.” We know the winner will take home $9 million, and Woods and Mickelson will be able to selectively make side-challenges against one another during the match.  According to a press release, this could happen at any time.

“For instance, Woods or Mickelson could raise the stakes by challenging the other to a long-drive, closest-to-the-pin or similar competition during a hole as they play their match, with money being donated to the winning golfer’s charity of choice.”

The players and caddies will be mic’d up, which could be fun.

It will be a pay-per-view event, distributed through Turner’s B/R Live, the company’s new premium live sports streaming service.  It will also be available on AT&T’s DirecTV and other on-demand platforms.

In addition to live coverage, HBO Sports 24/7 reality franchise will capture all the excitement leading up to the showdown.

George Willis / New York Post

“Trash talk aside, Woods said the event is ‘something different’ that will ‘showcase golf.’  But will anybody be watching?  A small survey of fans attending Thursday’s opening round of the FedExCup Playoffs suggests the two golf legends might have a hard time attracting pay-per-view buys.  The price has yet to be determined, but speculation is it will be around $40. Given that Woods is 42 and won his last major in 2008, and Mickelson is 48 and won the last of his five majors at the 2013 British Open, attracting buys might not be as easy as it would seem.

“ ‘I like both guys, but I think it’s just a money grab,’ said Ken Johnson of Sparta, N.J., who calls himself a lifelong golf fan.  ‘If you want $10 million, win a bunch of tournaments. Don’t ask me to pay for it.’

“Others don’t like the tentative date being the Friday after Thanksgiving.

“ ‘There’s already going to be a lot of football going on,’ said Bob Jakubek of Anchorage, Alaska.  ‘I’m not going to pay to watch golf that weekend. Family takes precedent that weekend.’

“But Matthew Deluca and Jesse Suess, both 20-something golf fans, would spend the money.

“ ‘I think it would be cool to watch those two play,’ Deluca said.  ‘Thursday wouldn’t be a good day for it. But Friday would.’....

“Mickelson doesn’t mind the date. ‘It brings golf into prime time when it’s not really showcased and the other sports are at the forefront. We can get golf back into people’s frame of mind.’....

“Woods and Mickelson have gone from barely speaking rivals in their younger days to Ryder Cup partners to darn near friends now.  They are hoping the showdown will appeal to older fans who watched the duo in their prime and to younger fans, who have only recently watched the two playing in the same events.

“To some, it’s about growing the game. To others it still sounds like two aging millionaires looking to make an extra buck.”

Premier League

The big one in week three is actually tomorrow, a bank holiday in the U.K., with Manchester United hosting Tottenham.

In games of note Saturday and Sunday, Wolverhampton pulled out a mini-upset in drawing with Manchester City, 1-1, with controversial goals, spectacular saves, City hitting ‘wood’ a few times...all in all, highly entertaining.

Big Six Arsenal got its first win of the season, 3-1 over winless West Ham.

Liverpool took Brighton 1-0, Mohamed Salah with the lone goal.

And today, Chelsea did what it had to do to go 3-0-0, a 2-1 winner at Newcastle, with all the scores late. But Dr. W., a Chelsea fan, is concerned his Blues aren’t really that good.  I tried to tell him, a win is a win.  It’s like in the NFL...take it.

Stuff...John McCain, sports fan

--I’ll have much to say on the passing of Sen. John McCain in that other column I write next  weekend, but for this space, I can’t help but note what an outstanding sports fan he was.  There was a piece on ESPN.com by Dan Rafael, for example, on McCain’s passion for boxing.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said Saturday, “Great man, really terrific guy, great boxing fan.”

McCain, who boxed while attending the Naval Academy in the 1950s, was a key architect in 1996 of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, a federal law aimed at protecting professional boxers financially and medically.

“I thought the Ali Act was terrific,” Arum said. “The problem is boxing changes. ...It needs to be modernized [but] very definitely it was very pro-boxers.  One thing is, boxers never knew financially what was involved in a fight, and the disclosure required by the Muhammad Ali Act at least levels the playing field a little bit because we weren’t obligated to tell a fighter what we’re getting from a network and now we are, so a fighter getting $50,000 from a main event might not [have known] the promoter was getting $1 million from the network.”

It was also John McCain who began championing for a pardon for the late Jack Johnson back in 2004, which President Trump then followed through on earlier this year.

Arum knew McCain for decades and recalled some of their time together.

“I remember him screaming at me ringside after the [Pernell] Whitaker-[Oscar] De La Hoya fight [in 1997], saying, ‘What a robbery! Whitaker won the fight!’  I shouted back at him, but he was a great fan,” Arum said.

When Timothy Bradley got a controversial decision against Manny Pacquiao to claim a welterweight title, McCain took to the Senate floor to advocate for more rigorous judging standards.

He also didn’t like mixed martial arts, once calling it “human cockfighting.”

Separately, McCain loved attending Diamondbacks games.  Saturday night during the team’s game against the Seattle Mariners, the D-backs fans gave a standing ovation when McCain’s image was shown on the video board.

In an interview last year, McCain said his greatest memory as an Arizona sports fan was Luis Gonzalez’s walk-off hit off the New York Yankees’ Mariano Rivera in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series.

McCain was a Coyotes fan as well, the NHL team once honoring him with a bobblehead at a military appreciation night, the senator dropping the ceremonial first puck.

And John McCain also had a strong connection to Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald.  Fitzgerald penned a tribute to McCain last Christmas.  Saturday night, Fitzgerald tweeted:

“Rest in peace to an American hero, statesman, servant of the people, and dear friend. Godspeed Senator McCain.  My prayers for Cindy and the beautiful McCain family.”

--No NASCAR race this weekend.  But the US Tennis Open starts Monday.

--Catholic Boy was the surprising winner in a fine field for the Travers Stakes in Saratoga on Saturday. It was the horse’s sixth win in nine starts, but four of the wins had been on turf.

Ireland’s Mendelssohn finished second, Bravazo third.

Good Magic, the runner-up in the Kentucky Derby and the winner of last month’s Haskell at Monmouth Park, finished ninth in the 10-horse field, solidifying the Travers’ reputation as the “graveyard of favorites.”  Only six favorites this century have won it.  It’s where American Pharoah lost three years ago.

--From BBC News: “A groundbreaking new technique looks set to turn man’s best friend into a trafficker’s worst nightmare.

“It will allow dogs to sniff out ivory, rhino horn and other illegal wildlife products hidden in large shipping containers, using a tiny sample of air.

“The method is being trialed at Kenya’s Mombasa port – said to be Africa’s most active hub for ivory trafficking.

“According to one report, more than 18,000kg of ivory was seized there between 2009 and 2014.

“To produce that much ivory, the report suggests more than 2,400 elephants may have died – and that is only the ivory they found.

“But WWF East Africa wildlife crime coordinator Drew McVey is hopeful that statistics like that could soon be a thing of the past.

“ ‘This technique could be a game-changer, reducing the number of endangered animal parts finding their way into overseas markets like southeast Asia,’ he said.

“ ‘Man’s best friend is a trafficker’s worst nightmare: dogs’ incredible sense of smell means they can sniff out even the tiniest amount in a 40-foot container....

“The new Remote Air Sampling for Canine Olfaction – or Rasco for short – will see air suctioned out of targeted shipping containers, which is then passed through filters.

“These filters will then be presented to specially trained dogs, who will sit down if they smell anything suspicious – from ivory to illicit animals, plants and timber products.”

Yet another reason why ‘Dog’ remains No. 1 on the All-Species List.  ‘Elephant’ still No. 2.

And any animal that takes out poachers, such as the recent pride of lions that killed a number of them, will be rewarded with a higher ranking on the next ASL.  [I swear, it’s coming, folks.  Just have to clear it through our legal team first.]

--Meanwhile, ‘Grizzly Bear,’ No. 5 on the ASL, was in the news.  Thursday morning, at Yellowstone National Park, a female grizzly acting in defense of its cubs injured a 10-year-old boy after the bear charged a family of four hikers from Washington state.

The boy ran away from the bear, which emerged from vegetation near the trail, officials said in a statement.  The bear chased the boy and knocked him over, with the boy suffering an injured wrist, puncture wounds to the back and wounds around the buttocks, according to park officials.

The family was able to drive off the animal using bear spray.  “Upon being sprayed, the bear shook its head and left.”  [USA TODAY]

The boy was later transferred to a hospital in Big Sky, Montana.

Since the incident was a surprise encounter and the bear was defending its cubs, rangers didn’t plan on searching for the bear.

Pat Kenney, Yellowstone National Park deputy superintendent, was quoted in a statement: “This incident could have been more serious.  We applaud the family for traveling in a group, carrying bear spray, and knowing how to effectively use it during their emergency.”

Aside from carrying the spray, officials recommend hikers make noise and hike in groups of three or more.

--We note the passing of Robin Leach, the veteran television host who titillated viewers with the rarefied perks of celebrity through “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.”  He was 76.  Leach had been hospitalized after a stroke in November and died in hospice care in Las Vegas.

I have to admit, I liked this guy.  That was a fun show, back in a time in my life when I had room for some fluff in the daily schedule.

Leach was a columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal when he made a name for himself on the syndicated TV series from 1984 to 1995, always signing off with the catchphrase, “Champagne wishes and caviar dreams,” which was parroted to indicate largesse and glamour.

Leach rubbed elbows with many of the big stars of the day, and past, from Lana Turner to Tony Bennett to Michael Jordan.

“There’s nothing wrong with being rich,” Leach told the Los Angeles Times in 2003.  “Capitalism can do what governments can’t.”

Leach was born in 1941 and raised in a lower middle-class London suburb, the son of a vacuum cleaner sales executive. He came to New York in 1963 and sold shoes before throwing himself into a career covering showbiz as a newspaperman.  He worked for the New York Daily News, Ladies Home Journal, People and the Star.

He then joined CNN’s “People Tonight” in 1980 and helped launch the syndicated “Entertainment Tonight” the following year.

But it was “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” that made Leach a household name.  America had a growing fascination with celebrity and Leach’s show helped pave the way for star-making reality television shows.

Leach would call Las Vegas home and once told the L.A. Times, “Las Vegas has gone from being a gaming city to the world’s No. 1 resort city.  My business is resorts, my business is food, my business is TV. The thing that I love about Vegas is, you are within 45 minutes of Hollywood without having to deal with the 405 and state taxes and fees.”

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn G. Goodman said on Twitter: “Now an eternity of champagne and caviar. We’ve lost a dear, dear friend and a wonderful man. Rest in peace Robin Leach.”

--Another long-time Vegas regular, Don Cherry, died at the age of 94 the other day.  You have to be pretty old to remember this man, but he was a leading pop singer of the 1950s who performed at clubs and hotels by night, and was one of America’s top amateur golfers by day.

Cherry, born in Wichita Falls, Tex., embarked on a show business career in his early 20s as a big-band singer, then turned to the recording studio.  His biggest hit, “Band of Gold” (which had nothing to do with the later Freda Payne hit) was recorded in 1955 with an arrangement by Ray Conniff, reaching the Top 10.

More than a half-century later, the recording provided the soundtrack for the opening scene of the first episode of the television series “Mad Men,” in which Don Draper is smoking at a Manhattan restaurant table.

Don Cherry became the voice of the animated character Mr. Clean in TV detergent commercials during the late 1950s and early ‘60s, and was said to have made $800,000 from residuals on the spots.

As a golfer, Cherry won small amateur events in Texas, then captured the 1953 Canadian Amateur Championship.  He also appeared on three victorious Walker cup teams (1953, 1955 and 1961), and he was a contender as an amateur into the fourth round of the 1960 U.S. Open, at Cherry Hills in suburban Denver, finishing in a three-way tie for ninth, four strokes behind winner Arnold Palmer, who famously rallied from seven back in the final round.

Cherry would play in many Masters and U.S. Opens, but he didn’t have any other top finishes.  He turned pro in 1962, but he was known to have “the worst temper the world has ever seen,” as he was quoted telling Curt Sampson in “The Eternal Summer,” an account of the 1960 Open.

Stephen Cherry, one of Don’s sons from his first marriage to Sharon Kay Ritchie, Miss America of 1956, was one of the 658 employees of the financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald, who were killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11.

--Finally, today we learned of the passing of playwright Neil Simon, 91.  Simon’s name was synonymous with Broadway comedy, many of his plays then finding success on the big screen.

“Barefoot in the Park,” “The Odd Couple,” “Plaza Suite,” “The Prisoner of Second Avenue,” “The Sunshine Boys”...and then later an autobiographical trilogy – “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” “Biloxi Blues” and “Broadway Bound.”

Neil Simon and Woody Allen were part of the 1950s team that wrote for Sid Caesar, one that included Mel Brooks, Larry Gelbart and Carl Reiner, among others.

I know I’m giving Mr. Simon short shrift, but I’ve gotta move on.  Maybe more next time.

Top 3 songs for the week 8/28/65: #1 “I Got You Babe” (Sonny & Cher)  #2 “Help!” (The Beatles)  #3 “California Girls” (The Beach Boys)...and...#4 “Unchained Melody” (The Righteous Brothers)  #5 “It’s The Same Old Song” (Four Tops)  #6 “Like A Rolling Stone” (Bob Dylan)  #7 “Save Your Heart For Me” (Gary Lewis and the Playboys)  #8 “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me” (Mel Carter)  #9 “Down In The Boondocks” (Billy Joe Royal)  #10 “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag Part I” (James Brown...pretty, pretty strong list...a grade ‘A’, Ken P.)

NFL Quiz Answer: Active passers with 300 career touchdown passes.

Tom Brady 488
Drew Brees 488
Philip Rivers 342
Eli Manning 339
Ben Roethlisberger 329
Aaron Rodgers 313

All six are in the top ten all time.

Peyton Manning, 539, and Brett Favre, 508, are at the top of the career list.

Next Bar Chat, Thursday.

*Mark R., good luck with your surgery Wednesday.  [It’s not life-threatening, but he could be responsible for a huge uptick in Labatt Blue sales in eastern PA during rehab.]



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Bar Chat

08/27/2018

John McCain: Sports Fan

[Posted prior to Yankees-Orioles]

NFL Quiz: Name the six active passers with 300 career touchdown passes. Answer below.

MLB

--Gotta give the Yankees credit. After they were swept in that big 4-game series at Fenway, Aug. 2-5, it was no longer a matter of chasing down the Red Sox in the A.L. East, but could New York hang on to host the wild-card game.

But they also were embarking on a 27-game stretch, all against sub-.500 teams, where they needed to beat up on them.  And that they have, 14-5 in the first 19, heading into tonight, and suddenly they are 6 1/2 back of Boston, the Red Sox having lost 6 of 8 after today, and 4 ahead of Oakland to host the one-gamer (Seattle 5 back of Oakland).

This from a team that is playing without Aroldis Chapman, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregorius.  Not bad.

Saturday, the Yankees swept the hapless Orioles (37-93) in a day / night doubleheader, notable for the pitching performances.  J.A. Happ threw six innings of 2-run ball in the opener, a 10-3 win, as Happ improved to 5-0 in five starts for New York, while in the nightcap, Sonny Gray got the start and threw 6 1/3 of shutout ball in a 5-1 triumph, Gray now 10-8, but still with a 5.05 ERA.

Gray’s splits remain pretty amazing.  He has a 3.09 ERA on the road (11 starts, one relief appearance) in 64 innings, while at home, in 14 games (11 starts, three relief appearances), he is at 7.32 in 55 1/3.

--Shockingly, the Mets had back-to-back 3-0 shutout wins over Washington, Friday and Saturday, behind starters Jason Vargas and Zack Wheeler.  Saturday’s was the third straight time the Nationals had been shut out, the first time this has occurred since the franchise moved to D.C., Washington dropping to 64-66, already giving them more losses than last year’s 97-65 mark.  Nats fans have reason to be pissed.

[It took until the sixth inning for Washington to score today, and then they tallied 14 runs in the eighth and ninth for a 15-0 Nats win....so make it 65-66.]

--Thursday was a biggie in the National League Cy Young Award race.  The Mets’ Jacob deGrom lost to the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner (5-5, 2.88) 3-1, deGrom going six innings, allowing a lone earned run, striking out 10, to fall to 8-8, though he kept his ERA at 1.71.

At the same time that afternoon, Washington’s Max Scherzer was hooking up against Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola, the Phillies prevailing 2-0 as Scherzer gave up a 2-run homer to Odubel Herrera, 7 innings, 10 Ks, while Nola threw eight scoreless, 9 strikeouts.

So you have:

DeGrom 8-8, 1.71
Scherzer 16-6, 2.13
Nola 15-3, 2.13

This was a huge game for Nola.  He was clearly lost in the conversation thus far, but a lot of voters will remember this head-to-head matchup, especially if the Phils make the playoffs.

As for deGrom, no way.

Meanwhile, the same day, Cole Hamels went all the way for the Cubs, a 7-1 winner, as he went to 4-0, 0.79 ERA in his five starts for Chicago.  What an acquisition.

--White Sox fans should be excited by the first major league win from 22-year-old Michael Kopech today, he being perhaps the top prospect in the game at this moment; Kopech throwing five scoreless in a 7-2 win over the Tigers.

--The Braves clearly made a great move in acquiring Baltimore’s Kevin Gausman at the trade deadline. Gausman is 4-1, 1.69 ERA in his five starts in Atlanta, throwing five shutout innings today in a 4-0 win over the Marlins.

--And congratulations to Hawaii for its 3-0 win in the Little League World Series finale today over South Korea in Williamsport.

NFL

--Week three of preseason games is when the starters play the most, largely then taking off the final preseason game next week in preparation for the season openers two weeks hence.

For Jets fans, it now seems a certainty rookie Sam Darnold will be behind center to open the season at Detroit.  Friday night, in the annual Jets-Giants affair (won by the Giants 22-16), Darnold got to meet Joe Namath for the first time.

“He’s just a great guy,” Darnold said.  “He’s very charismatic, and obviously there’s a lot of personality there, and it was awesome to be able to talk to him for a little bit. First time meeting him, I was hoping maybe I’d get some more time with him, we got a couple of minutes, but it was cool to meet Broadway Joe and the history that he had with this franchise.”

Namath said on the CBS broadcast: “I’ve seen Sam perform tonight better than I’ve seen from any rookie.”

Darnold was 29-for-45 this preseason, 244 yards, two TDs, one interception, but he was more than that.

Steve Serby / New York Post

“It isn’t so much because of who he is now at the tender age of 21, but who he has a chance to be when the Jets become a Win Now team in 2019.

“It isn’t at all because he attacked downfield, but because he commanded the huddle and displayed pocket awareness and didn’t do anything dumb or reckless....

“There will be turbulence along the way.  But know this: Sam Darnold won’t fly the Jet scared.  Broadway Go.”

*Thanks to Phil W. for alerting me to an interesting late development.  The Jets signed former Wake Forest quarterback John Wolford today, a free agent who had been invited to their May mini-camp and obviously impressed.  Wolford had a phenomenal, well under the radar nationally, year in 2017 for the Deacs.

So what this guarantees is that Teddy Bridgewater is going to be traded, potentially this week.  I’ve urged the Jets to wait until the season starts, when QBs begin going down, to get a higher draft pick in return, but I’m not sure what the roster situation would be for New York in terms of keeping him.  Sounds like Bridgewater is gone before the Detroit game.

Nonetheless, brilliant little move by the Jets in signing Bridgewater for nothing. They gave him a shot, he proved in the exhibition campaign he is healthy, and now they have a trade piece of value.

--I can’t help but note that Summit, New Jersey’s own, kicker Mike Badgley, is now 5-for-5 in the preseason for Indianapolis, Badgley going 3-for-3 Saturday, including a 51-yarder.  He’s ensuring that at least when the Colts let him go (unless they go with two kickers...45-year-old Adam Vinatieri the incumbent), he’ll be able to sign with another team...you would think.

--We note the passing of George Andrie, a pillar of the Cowboys’ Doomsday Defense, who died at the age of 78.

Andrie, 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds, played right end for the Cowboys from 1962 to 1972.  He was named a first-team All-Pro in 1969, the last of five consecutive seasons in which he was chosen for the Pro Bowl.

He led the Cowboys in sacks from 1964 through 1967, with a team-high and career-high 18 ½ in 1966.

The 1967 version of the Doomsday Defense included a front four of future Hall of Famer Bob Lilly at right tackle, Willie Townes at left end and Jethro Pugh at left tackle.

Andrie’s biggest moment came when the Cowboys played the Packers in Green Bay for the NFL title on Dec. 31, 1967.  The “Ice Bowl.”

Late in the second quarter, Packers quarterback Bart Starr fumbled when he was hit by Townes near the Green Bay goal line. Andrie scooped up the football on the Green Bay 7 and ran it into the end zone.

The Doomsday Defense sacked Starr eight times that day, but the Packers won 21-17.

College Football

--I never really thought Ohio State would fire head football coach Urban Meyer, thinking it was more of an issue whether he would be suspended for two or three games, because the third contest was against a ranked opponent, TCU.

The school then announced Wednesday (after I had posted on the matter that morning), that Meyer was indeed being suspended three games, without pay, with Ohio State president Michael V. Drake, in consultation with the school’s Board of Trustees, also suspending athletic director Gene Smith from Aug. 31 through Sept. 16.

Meyer’s suspension now goes back to Aug. 1, the same day that college football reporter Brett McMurphy released a report that detailed domestic violence allegations against former wide receiver coach Zach Smith; the story intimating there was widespread knowledge around the football program of the allegations, including text messages from Courtney Smith, Zach’s now ex-wife, to Meyer’s wife.

The prior week at Big Ten Media Day, Meyer had denied any knowledge of the allegation by saying, “I don’t know who creates a story like that.”  Meyer then apologized for not being accurate, saying he’d “failed,” and declared that he always follows the school’s proper protocols.  [Zach Smith said Gene Smith also knew of the allegations.]

From a football standpoint, the top-five Buckeyes have been practicing all of preseason camp without Meyer, the team under the direction of co-offensive coordinator Ryan Day.

So Wednesday, after the suspension was announced, Meyer made a brief statement at a news conference.

“I have a message for everyone in this: I’m sorry we are in this situation.”  No mention of Courtney Smith.  That was essentially it.

Then we began to get details on the internal investigation at OSU, and investigators said they believe Meyer didn’t deliberately lie to the public when discussing his knowledge of Zach Smith’s past at Big Ten media day.  But a 23-page summary of the findings shows they had reasons to doubt that the coach was being completely forthcoming during the investigation.

Urban Meyer, for example, supposedly told investigators he had no knowledge of text messages exchanged between his wife, Shelley, and Courtney Smith, but after the McMurphy story hit Aug. 1, Meyer and a staffer discussed how to adjust the settings on his phone so that text messages more than a year old would be deleted.  When investigators examined Meyer’s phone, they did not find any message more than a year old.

Investigators also discovered that Meyer had reprimanded Zach Smith in 2014 after Smith allegedly spent about $600 of his own money at a strip club in Florida during a recruiting trip, but Meyer did not report the incident to Gene Smith or OSU’s compliance department.  Other coaches, including high school coaches (no high school players) were with Smith at the club.

We also learned that after Zach and Courtney Smith formally divorced on Sept. 2, 2016, Zach Smith’s “job performance suffered, including failure to appear at scheduled recruiting visits at various high schools, despite reporting that he had.”

Zach Smith recalls Meyer telling him to shape up or he’d be fired.

Gene Smith recommended that Meyer fire Smith at the time, but for some reason, Meyer decided not to, according to the report for the university.

Meyer acknowledged Wednesday that his relationship with former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce, Zach Smith’s grandfather, impacted how he handled Smith, saying, “I followed my heart and not my head.

Zach Smith was fired July 23, after Gene Smith and Meyer first learned of the reports about the domestic violence civil protection order issued against Smith on July 20.

Then on Friday, Urban Meyer apologized to Courtney Smith, two days after not acknowledging her directly in the news conference announcing his suspension.

In a Twitter post, Meyer said he was sorry to all women, men and families affected by relationship violence, specifically apologizing directly to Courtney.

“Let me say here and now what I should have said on Wednesday.  I sincerely apologize to Courtney Smith and her children for what they have gone through.”

Urban Meyer’s legacy has been tarnished big time.

--We had a smattering of action this weekend, none involving Top 25 teams.  Wake Forest fans, though, will note that Rice needed a last-second field goal to beat Prairie View A&M 31-28, the Deacs hosting Rice this season.

And Hawaii had a nice win at Colorado State 43-34, Cole McDonald throwing for 418 yards and three touchdowns.

--Eight Rutgers football players were involved in a credit-card fraud scam over the spring in which the players – four of whom have since parted ways with the team – stole roughly $11,000, authorities told the Star-Ledger, final details just announced the other day.

Golf Balls

--We had the first leg of the FedExCup playoffs this week, the Northern Trust Open at Ridgewood Country Club, in beautiful New Jersey (we do have some nice spots, you know), and a real monkey wrench was thrown into Jim Furyk’s plans for his four captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup, three of the four coming after next week’s second leg of the playoffs, the Dell Technologies Championship in Norton, Mass.

We know Tiger and Phil will be two of them, so it was thought to be Tony Finau and Xander Schauffele, or maybe Matt Kuchar, for the other two spots.

But Bryson DeChambeau finished ninth on the Ryder Cup points list, the top eight being automatic qualifiers, and what would Furyk do if DeChambeau played well these next two weeks?

Well all 24-year-old DeChambeau did, thanks largely to a 63 on Saturday, was romp to a four-stroke victory today over Finau, Bryson’s third career win, second this year.

DeChambeau is now a lock for Furyk’s squad.  Finau should be the final selection.  Xander Schauffele missed the cut, Kuchar T-61.

Tiger finished T-40 but struck the ball very well...it was his putting that was atrocious.  Mickelson was a solid T-15.

Furyk, however, I can guarantee you, though you’ll never hear it from him, can’t be happy. DeChambeau is off on his own planet, and to this outsider, moi, is the furthest thing from a great Ryder Cup teammate, as Finau will be.

I frankly can’t stand the guy.  But if I’m proven wrong (which would likely mean victory for Team USA), I’ll be happy to say so.

--At the European Tour’s D+D Real Czech Masters, 52-year-old John Daly, who last won on the European or PGA Tours in 2004, was tied for the lead after the first round with a bogey-free 8-under 64.  He ended up T-59.

--We got most of the details on the Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson showdown, what will be billed as “THE MATCH.” We know the winner will take home $9 million, and Woods and Mickelson will be able to selectively make side-challenges against one another during the match.  According to a press release, this could happen at any time.

“For instance, Woods or Mickelson could raise the stakes by challenging the other to a long-drive, closest-to-the-pin or similar competition during a hole as they play their match, with money being donated to the winning golfer’s charity of choice.”

The players and caddies will be mic’d up, which could be fun.

It will be a pay-per-view event, distributed through Turner’s B/R Live, the company’s new premium live sports streaming service.  It will also be available on AT&T’s DirecTV and other on-demand platforms.

In addition to live coverage, HBO Sports 24/7 reality franchise will capture all the excitement leading up to the showdown.

George Willis / New York Post

“Trash talk aside, Woods said the event is ‘something different’ that will ‘showcase golf.’  But will anybody be watching?  A small survey of fans attending Thursday’s opening round of the FedExCup Playoffs suggests the two golf legends might have a hard time attracting pay-per-view buys.  The price has yet to be determined, but speculation is it will be around $40. Given that Woods is 42 and won his last major in 2008, and Mickelson is 48 and won the last of his five majors at the 2013 British Open, attracting buys might not be as easy as it would seem.

“ ‘I like both guys, but I think it’s just a money grab,’ said Ken Johnson of Sparta, N.J., who calls himself a lifelong golf fan.  ‘If you want $10 million, win a bunch of tournaments. Don’t ask me to pay for it.’

“Others don’t like the tentative date being the Friday after Thanksgiving.

“ ‘There’s already going to be a lot of football going on,’ said Bob Jakubek of Anchorage, Alaska.  ‘I’m not going to pay to watch golf that weekend. Family takes precedent that weekend.’

“But Matthew Deluca and Jesse Suess, both 20-something golf fans, would spend the money.

“ ‘I think it would be cool to watch those two play,’ Deluca said.  ‘Thursday wouldn’t be a good day for it. But Friday would.’....

“Mickelson doesn’t mind the date. ‘It brings golf into prime time when it’s not really showcased and the other sports are at the forefront. We can get golf back into people’s frame of mind.’....

“Woods and Mickelson have gone from barely speaking rivals in their younger days to Ryder Cup partners to darn near friends now.  They are hoping the showdown will appeal to older fans who watched the duo in their prime and to younger fans, who have only recently watched the two playing in the same events.

“To some, it’s about growing the game. To others it still sounds like two aging millionaires looking to make an extra buck.”

Premier League

The big one in week three is actually tomorrow, a bank holiday in the U.K., with Manchester United hosting Tottenham.

In games of note Saturday and Sunday, Wolverhampton pulled out a mini-upset in drawing with Manchester City, 1-1, with controversial goals, spectacular saves, City hitting ‘wood’ a few times...all in all, highly entertaining.

Big Six Arsenal got its first win of the season, 3-1 over winless West Ham.

Liverpool took Brighton 1-0, Mohamed Salah with the lone goal.

And today, Chelsea did what it had to do to go 3-0-0, a 2-1 winner at Newcastle, with all the scores late. But Dr. W., a Chelsea fan, is concerned his Blues aren’t really that good.  I tried to tell him, a win is a win.  It’s like in the NFL...take it.

Stuff...John McCain, sports fan

--I’ll have much to say on the passing of Sen. John McCain in that other column I write next  weekend, but for this space, I can’t help but note what an outstanding sports fan he was.  There was a piece on ESPN.com by Dan Rafael, for example, on McCain’s passion for boxing.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said Saturday, “Great man, really terrific guy, great boxing fan.”

McCain, who boxed while attending the Naval Academy in the 1950s, was a key architect in 1996 of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, a federal law aimed at protecting professional boxers financially and medically.

“I thought the Ali Act was terrific,” Arum said. “The problem is boxing changes. ...It needs to be modernized [but] very definitely it was very pro-boxers.  One thing is, boxers never knew financially what was involved in a fight, and the disclosure required by the Muhammad Ali Act at least levels the playing field a little bit because we weren’t obligated to tell a fighter what we’re getting from a network and now we are, so a fighter getting $50,000 from a main event might not [have known] the promoter was getting $1 million from the network.”

It was also John McCain who began championing for a pardon for the late Jack Johnson back in 2004, which President Trump then followed through on earlier this year.

Arum knew McCain for decades and recalled some of their time together.

“I remember him screaming at me ringside after the [Pernell] Whitaker-[Oscar] De La Hoya fight [in 1997], saying, ‘What a robbery! Whitaker won the fight!’  I shouted back at him, but he was a great fan,” Arum said.

When Timothy Bradley got a controversial decision against Manny Pacquiao to claim a welterweight title, McCain took to the Senate floor to advocate for more rigorous judging standards.

He also didn’t like mixed martial arts, once calling it “human cockfighting.”

Separately, McCain loved attending Diamondbacks games.  Saturday night during the team’s game against the Seattle Mariners, the D-backs fans gave a standing ovation when McCain’s image was shown on the video board.

In an interview last year, McCain said his greatest memory as an Arizona sports fan was Luis Gonzalez’s walk-off hit off the New York Yankees’ Mariano Rivera in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series.

McCain was a Coyotes fan as well, the NHL team once honoring him with a bobblehead at a military appreciation night, the senator dropping the ceremonial first puck.

And John McCain also had a strong connection to Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald.  Fitzgerald penned a tribute to McCain last Christmas.  Saturday night, Fitzgerald tweeted:

“Rest in peace to an American hero, statesman, servant of the people, and dear friend. Godspeed Senator McCain.  My prayers for Cindy and the beautiful McCain family.”

--No NASCAR race this weekend.  But the US Tennis Open starts Monday.

--Catholic Boy was the surprising winner in a fine field for the Travers Stakes in Saratoga on Saturday. It was the horse’s sixth win in nine starts, but four of the wins had been on turf.

Ireland’s Mendelssohn finished second, Bravazo third.

Good Magic, the runner-up in the Kentucky Derby and the winner of last month’s Haskell at Monmouth Park, finished ninth in the 10-horse field, solidifying the Travers’ reputation as the “graveyard of favorites.”  Only six favorites this century have won it.  It’s where American Pharoah lost three years ago.

--From BBC News: “A groundbreaking new technique looks set to turn man’s best friend into a trafficker’s worst nightmare.

“It will allow dogs to sniff out ivory, rhino horn and other illegal wildlife products hidden in large shipping containers, using a tiny sample of air.

“The method is being trialed at Kenya’s Mombasa port – said to be Africa’s most active hub for ivory trafficking.

“According to one report, more than 18,000kg of ivory was seized there between 2009 and 2014.

“To produce that much ivory, the report suggests more than 2,400 elephants may have died – and that is only the ivory they found.

“But WWF East Africa wildlife crime coordinator Drew McVey is hopeful that statistics like that could soon be a thing of the past.

“ ‘This technique could be a game-changer, reducing the number of endangered animal parts finding their way into overseas markets like southeast Asia,’ he said.

“ ‘Man’s best friend is a trafficker’s worst nightmare: dogs’ incredible sense of smell means they can sniff out even the tiniest amount in a 40-foot container....

“The new Remote Air Sampling for Canine Olfaction – or Rasco for short – will see air suctioned out of targeted shipping containers, which is then passed through filters.

“These filters will then be presented to specially trained dogs, who will sit down if they smell anything suspicious – from ivory to illicit animals, plants and timber products.”

Yet another reason why ‘Dog’ remains No. 1 on the All-Species List.  ‘Elephant’ still No. 2.

And any animal that takes out poachers, such as the recent pride of lions that killed a number of them, will be rewarded with a higher ranking on the next ASL.  [I swear, it’s coming, folks.  Just have to clear it through our legal team first.]

--Meanwhile, ‘Grizzly Bear,’ No. 5 on the ASL, was in the news.  Thursday morning, at Yellowstone National Park, a female grizzly acting in defense of its cubs injured a 10-year-old boy after the bear charged a family of four hikers from Washington state.

The boy ran away from the bear, which emerged from vegetation near the trail, officials said in a statement.  The bear chased the boy and knocked him over, with the boy suffering an injured wrist, puncture wounds to the back and wounds around the buttocks, according to park officials.

The family was able to drive off the animal using bear spray.  “Upon being sprayed, the bear shook its head and left.”  [USA TODAY]

The boy was later transferred to a hospital in Big Sky, Montana.

Since the incident was a surprise encounter and the bear was defending its cubs, rangers didn’t plan on searching for the bear.

Pat Kenney, Yellowstone National Park deputy superintendent, was quoted in a statement: “This incident could have been more serious.  We applaud the family for traveling in a group, carrying bear spray, and knowing how to effectively use it during their emergency.”

Aside from carrying the spray, officials recommend hikers make noise and hike in groups of three or more.

--We note the passing of Robin Leach, the veteran television host who titillated viewers with the rarefied perks of celebrity through “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.”  He was 76.  Leach had been hospitalized after a stroke in November and died in hospice care in Las Vegas.

I have to admit, I liked this guy.  That was a fun show, back in a time in my life when I had room for some fluff in the daily schedule.

Leach was a columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal when he made a name for himself on the syndicated TV series from 1984 to 1995, always signing off with the catchphrase, “Champagne wishes and caviar dreams,” which was parroted to indicate largesse and glamour.

Leach rubbed elbows with many of the big stars of the day, and past, from Lana Turner to Tony Bennett to Michael Jordan.

“There’s nothing wrong with being rich,” Leach told the Los Angeles Times in 2003.  “Capitalism can do what governments can’t.”

Leach was born in 1941 and raised in a lower middle-class London suburb, the son of a vacuum cleaner sales executive. He came to New York in 1963 and sold shoes before throwing himself into a career covering showbiz as a newspaperman.  He worked for the New York Daily News, Ladies Home Journal, People and the Star.

He then joined CNN’s “People Tonight” in 1980 and helped launch the syndicated “Entertainment Tonight” the following year.

But it was “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” that made Leach a household name.  America had a growing fascination with celebrity and Leach’s show helped pave the way for star-making reality television shows.

Leach would call Las Vegas home and once told the L.A. Times, “Las Vegas has gone from being a gaming city to the world’s No. 1 resort city.  My business is resorts, my business is food, my business is TV. The thing that I love about Vegas is, you are within 45 minutes of Hollywood without having to deal with the 405 and state taxes and fees.”

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn G. Goodman said on Twitter: “Now an eternity of champagne and caviar. We’ve lost a dear, dear friend and a wonderful man. Rest in peace Robin Leach.”

--Another long-time Vegas regular, Don Cherry, died at the age of 94 the other day.  You have to be pretty old to remember this man, but he was a leading pop singer of the 1950s who performed at clubs and hotels by night, and was one of America’s top amateur golfers by day.

Cherry, born in Wichita Falls, Tex., embarked on a show business career in his early 20s as a big-band singer, then turned to the recording studio.  His biggest hit, “Band of Gold” (which had nothing to do with the later Freda Payne hit) was recorded in 1955 with an arrangement by Ray Conniff, reaching the Top 10.

More than a half-century later, the recording provided the soundtrack for the opening scene of the first episode of the television series “Mad Men,” in which Don Draper is smoking at a Manhattan restaurant table.

Don Cherry became the voice of the animated character Mr. Clean in TV detergent commercials during the late 1950s and early ‘60s, and was said to have made $800,000 from residuals on the spots.

As a golfer, Cherry won small amateur events in Texas, then captured the 1953 Canadian Amateur Championship.  He also appeared on three victorious Walker cup teams (1953, 1955 and 1961), and he was a contender as an amateur into the fourth round of the 1960 U.S. Open, at Cherry Hills in suburban Denver, finishing in a three-way tie for ninth, four strokes behind winner Arnold Palmer, who famously rallied from seven back in the final round.

Cherry would play in many Masters and U.S. Opens, but he didn’t have any other top finishes.  He turned pro in 1962, but he was known to have “the worst temper the world has ever seen,” as he was quoted telling Curt Sampson in “The Eternal Summer,” an account of the 1960 Open.

Stephen Cherry, one of Don’s sons from his first marriage to Sharon Kay Ritchie, Miss America of 1956, was one of the 658 employees of the financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald, who were killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11.

--Finally, today we learned of the passing of playwright Neil Simon, 91.  Simon’s name was synonymous with Broadway comedy, many of his plays then finding success on the big screen.

“Barefoot in the Park,” “The Odd Couple,” “Plaza Suite,” “The Prisoner of Second Avenue,” “The Sunshine Boys”...and then later an autobiographical trilogy – “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” “Biloxi Blues” and “Broadway Bound.”

Neil Simon and Woody Allen were part of the 1950s team that wrote for Sid Caesar, one that included Mel Brooks, Larry Gelbart and Carl Reiner, among others.

I know I’m giving Mr. Simon short shrift, but I’ve gotta move on.  Maybe more next time.

Top 3 songs for the week 8/28/65: #1 “I Got You Babe” (Sonny & Cher)  #2 “Help!” (The Beatles)  #3 “California Girls” (The Beach Boys)...and...#4 “Unchained Melody” (The Righteous Brothers)  #5 “It’s The Same Old Song” (Four Tops)  #6 “Like A Rolling Stone” (Bob Dylan)  #7 “Save Your Heart For Me” (Gary Lewis and the Playboys)  #8 “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me” (Mel Carter)  #9 “Down In The Boondocks” (Billy Joe Royal)  #10 “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag Part I” (James Brown...pretty, pretty strong list...a grade ‘A’, Ken P.)

NFL Quiz Answer: Active passers with 300 career touchdown passes.

Tom Brady 488
Drew Brees 488
Philip Rivers 342
Eli Manning 339
Ben Roethlisberger 329
Aaron Rodgers 313

All six are in the top ten all time.

Peyton Manning, 539, and Brett Favre, 508, are at the top of the career list.

Next Bar Chat, Thursday.

*Mark R., good luck with your surgery Wednesday.  [It’s not life-threatening, but he could be responsible for a huge uptick in Labatt Blue sales in eastern PA during rehab.]