Stocks and News
Home | Week in Review Process | Terms of Use | About UsContact Us
   Articles Go Fund Me All-Species List Hot Spots Go Fund Me
Week in Review   |  Bar Chat    |  Hot Spots    |   Dr. Bortrum    |   Wall St. History
Stock and News: Bar Chat
 Search Our Archives: 
  
 


   

 

 

 


Baseball Reference

Bar Chat

AddThis Feed Button

   

09/20/2018

Dodgers Take Control

[Posted Wed. a.m.]

NFL Quiz: Passer rating is one of the ‘modern’ stats I like, though the NFL game has changed in big ways in terms of the quarterback position.  [Joe Namath had a putrid 65.5 passer rating, a TD-INT ratio of 173-220, a 50.1% career completion percentage, and a won-loss mark of 62-63-4, but he is still as exciting a QB as I’ve ever seen and a deserved Hall of Famer.]  So name the eight quarterbacks with a career 95 or better passing rating, five of whom are still active. Answer below.

MLB

The playoff races are winding down and the Dodgers staked their claim to at worst a wild card in taking the first two of a critical three-game series against the Rockies in L.A.

--L.A. moved into first place by half a game Monday with an 8-2 rout of Colorado, and then won 3-2 in 10 last night on a Chris Taylor walk-off home run.  It is possible the two could finish tied for first in the West and if that were the case, the tiebreaker would be played at Dodger Stadium.

N.L. West

L.A. 84-68
Colorado 82-69... 1.5

N.L. Wild Card

Milwaukee 86-66... +2
St. Louis 84-68... --
Colorado 82-69... 1.5

--In the A.L., the Yankees had a big win last night at the Stadium over the Red Sox, 3-2, all the runs coming on a Neil Walker 3-run homer in the seventh.  Later that evening the Angels beat the A’s 9-7, so New York has a little cushion in its bid to host the one-game playoff.

A.L. Wild Card

New York 92-58... +2.5
Oakland 90-61... –

For the Yankees last night, Aaron Judge returned to the starting lineup and went 0-for-4.

--And I have to note the record set by Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich on Monday. In an 8-0 win over Cincinnati, Yelich hit for the cycle for the second time this season.

But that’s just the start.  He’s the first to have two career cycles against the same team, and the first with two against the same team in the same season, his first against Cincy just three weeks ago.

Yelich, after going 1-for-4 last night, is batting .317, with 31 homers and 93 RBIs, plus a .952 OBP.  Yes, with Milwaukee headed to the playoffs, he’s as much a candidate for MVP as anyone.  [The N.L. field for this award is unbelievably crowded.]

College Football Review

AP Poll

1. Alabama (58) 3-0
2. Georgia 3-0
3. Clemson (3) 3-0
4. Ohio State 3-0
5. Oklahoma 3-0
6. LSU 3-0
7. Stanford 3-0
8. Notre Dame 3-0
9. Auburn 2-1
T-10. Penn State 3-0
T-10. Washington 2-1
15. Oklahoma State 3-0...big jump
18. Wisconsin 2-1...big fall
23. Boston College 3-0!
25. BYU 2-1

28. Duke 3-0...if you carry out the votes

--As for this weekend’s games...to me the best matchup is 14 Mississippi State at Kentucky, both 3-0.  Big opportunity for the Wildcats.

7 Stanford at 20 Oregon is big, but I frankly think Stanford blows.  We’ll see if the Ducks (quack quack) are back after being lost in the wilderness for a spell.  [9-4, 4-8, 7-6 for Oregon the last three seasons was quite a comedown from seven straight seasons finishing AP No. 11 or better.]

The best pure game of the weekend just might be Notre Dame at Wake Forest.

And for us Jersey guys, we’re waiting to see if Buffalo destroys Rutgers.  The Bulls are the better team, after all.  If they were to win, say, 42-10, I’d start a movement to expel Rutgers from the state...no offense, RU alums. 

Actually, how about a swap....Rutgers for Appalachian State...just transfer the student bodies and professors.   Move Rutgers into the Southern Conference to face the likes of Western Carolina, VMI and The Citadel, where they would have a shot at finishing .500.

[App St. could move into the American Athletic Conference, a step up from their current Sun Belt affiliation.]

But then I’m getting ahead of myself. If Rutgers beats Buffalo, they get to remain in New Jersey.

--One more involving a game this week...Army at Oklahoma. I love the sound of this one, but West Point grad, Tom M., passed along a piece on the Army-Oklahoma game, Sept. 28, 1946, from Berry Tramel / The Oklahoman.

“George Lynn Cross sat in the superintendent’s box of Michie Stadium on Sept. 28, 1946. The OU president sat to the left of West Point superintendent Maxwell D. Taylor. To Taylor’s right sat another president, Harry Truman.

“The Sooners were playing mighty Army, winner of 19 straight games and a gridiron force bigger than present-day Alabama.

“OU football was but a blip on the national stage. The 1938 Sooners had made the Orange Bowl and finished fourth in the AP poll. Otherwise, to the Eastern Press that was the ESPN of its day, Oklahoma was the name of a musical, not the name of a football power.”

The group around Cross asked him about OU football, and while he was far from an expert, he told his new Army friends, “I don’t think the Army backs will run against the Oklahoma line as well as they have against other opponents...Oklahoma has a pretty fair line.”  According to a book Cross later wrote, Berry Tramel notes: “Cross detected veiled amusement on the faces of his new friends.”

Tramel: “By the middle of the first quarter, the amusement was gone. So was Oklahoma’s status as a sleepy school on the prairie.

“ ‘General Taylor leaned over to me and said, ‘You know, Oklahoma does have a pretty fair line,’ Cross wrote.

“By halftime, Truman, too, was glowing about the Sooner line. The score stood 7-7, and Army’s 19-game winning streak seemed in jeopardy.

“The Cadets prevailed. They used two big plays – a blocked punt and a defensive touchdown – to bolt away from the Sooners and win 21-7.  But powerhouse Army had been given its closest game since 1943.

“OU football forever was changed.”

How good was Army back then?  They were led by Mr. Inside (Doc Blanchard) and Mr. Outside (Glenn Davis). Davis and Blanchard finished 2-3 in the 1944 Heisman Trophy voting. Then Blanchard won the 1945 Heisman, with Davis second.  In 1946, Davis would win, with Blanchard fourth. Army won national championships in both ’44 and ’45.

So I looked them up and, man, from 1944-46, Army, Davis and Blanchard sure did dominate...27-0-1 over the three years under coach Red Blaik...finishing first, first and second in the final AP poll.

As for Oklahoma, Bud Wilkinson took the coaching reins in 1947 and from 1948-58, the Sooners finished in the top ten each season, winning three AP national titles.                                                                                        

--Ohio State coach Urban Meyer is disputing a key finding in his university’s investigation of him by saying he didn’t discuss how to delete text messages on his phone with a staff member in early August.

Meyer said the text messages on his phone were not deleted by him but instead by an unnamed information technology staff member several months ago.

But as Brent Schrotenboer of USA TODAY Sports noted:

“In an interview with ESPN, he also said he doesn’t recall having a conversation with football staff member Brian Voltolini about changing the settings on his phone on Aug. 1.  Later, on Monday, he did recall a conversation about his phone with Voltolini but said he told Voltolini there was ‘nothing to hide’ on it.

“His version of events contrasts with Ohio State’s investigative findings, which said Meyer ‘specifically discussed’ with Voltolini on Aug. 1 ‘how to adjust the settings on Meyer’s phone so that text messages older than one year would be deleted.’”

Aug. 1 and the text messages is key because that was the day college football reporter Brett McMurphy published an article that included text messages from 2015 written by Meyer’s wife, Shelley, in which she discussed then-assistant coach Zach Smith’s alleged abuse with the woman who was accusing him of it.

The whole Ohio State investigation was to find out if Meyer knew about the allegations back then and whether he covered them up for Smith.

NFL

--The Giants are now 0-2 after another poor performance, this time Sunday night in Dallas, a 20-13 loss to a Cowboys team that really isn’t that good.

Pat Leonard / New York Daily News

“The Giants are not allowed to put a product this poor on the field anymore. This 20-13 loss to the Cowboys was too much.

“Not after a 3-13 season in 2017.  Not after blowing up their front office and coaching staff and retooling the roster around Eli Manning to make a playoff run now. Not after drafting Saquon Barkley No. 2 overall to jumpstart the offense. Not with Odell Beckham Jr. healthy and capable of taking over games.

“How then, could this happen on Sunday night, on national television against an unimposing Cowboys team?  How could GM Dave Gettleman overhaul this roster in his preferred image and rid the locker room of last year’s bad influences, and assemble a team so similarly lifeless and hopeless on offense and prone to huge mistakes?

“Not only does this type of performance not suffice for a team with playoff aspirations. It doesn’t even suffice for an NFL team with aspirations of simply winning a game.  Naturally, plenty of Giants players were ticked off.

“ ‘Just not good enough,’ Manning (33/44, 279, 1-0, 98.6) said.  ‘Obviously guys are disappointed, some guys are getting frustrated – as we should. But we can’t let that affect our preparation or our practices. We’ve got to bounce back. ...Nothing is going to get fixed by complaining. We just need to step it up, make a difference and fix some things.’

“The futility of Pat Shurmur’s offense is most jarring, of course, with Manning checking down all of his passes even when he has time, and the offensive line proving ill-equipped to handle even the simplest pass rush ploys, surrendering six sacks.

“ ‘We didn’t do anything well enough on offense to win this game,’ Shurmur said.”

Steve Serby / New York Post

“He looked frozen with fear, under siege and frantically looking for receivers he could not find for one reason or another, his happy feet dancing to whatever sad song was playing in his head.

“It was as if Eli Manning, the most shell-shocked 37-year-old in the building, was seeing the ghosts of Bob Lilly and Harvey Martin and Too Tall Jones on a night when he was reduced to being Captain Checkdown.

“The best-laid plans of Dave Gettleman and Pat Shurmur are blowing up in their faces.

“Deja Blah.

“The Cowboys, 20-13 winners, stuffed the run and kept everything in front of them to prevent the home run and dared Manning to beat them with singles.

“But, left a naked statue in the pocket (six sacks) without a running game (17 carries, 35 yards) and an offensive line that could keep him jitter-free, much less upright, Manning, as gallantly as he fought, could not.

“ ‘When you got new players and you got new schemes and coaches, sometimes it can take a little time, especially the first game on the road, it can take a little bit to get your rhythm, get things going,’ Manning said.

“Big problem: This isn’t a baseball season.  There are only 14 games left.

“The Giants offense: dump it off to Saquon Barkley (14 catches, 80 yards receiving) and hope he takes one to the house....

“Remember all the talk about how explosive this offense would be? With all those weapons and Shurmur’s creative play-calling?  With the receivers lining up in different spots on an offense that would no longer be predictable?

“All talk.”

--Vontae Davis began Sunday as a defensive back for the Buffalo Bills, and he ended the day by retiring, stunning his coaches and teammates by calling it a career at halftime.

Buffalo was trailing 28-6 and he just up and quit.  He wasn’t hurt. Hadn’t been benched by coach Sean McDermott.

McDermott said after: “Pulled himself out of the game.  He communicated to us that he was done.”

Davis had a solid career – three seasons with Miami, six with Indianapolis – including two Pro Bowls and one first-team, All-Pro campaign, 2014, with Indy.

But he signed as a free agent in March with the Bills after missing most of last season with a serious groin injury that required surgery, and he was limited in training camp and the preseason.  Those in the know said it was clear he was struggling.

--Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is off to rather impressive start, like 10 touchdown passes and no interceptions in two games.

The second-year player out of Texas Tech, 10th pick in 2017’s first round, saw action in one game last season as the Chiefs went with veteran Alex Smith.  But coach Andy Reid and the organization knew they had their guy for the long-term in Mahomes and so they traded Smith to the Redskins to free up the position for the guy.

Kansas City took a risk that Mahomes would flop, and Smith, after all, had a career year in 2017, leading the NFL in passer rating.

But it seems as if the Chiefs made the right move, as Mahomes, 22 years old, became the youngest player in the Super Bowl era with a six-touchdown passing game as he did Sunday against the Steelers.

As the Wall Street Journal pointed out, Mahomes wasn’t a sure thing despite some gaudy numbers his junior (and final) year at Texas Tech – 5,052 yards and 41 touchdowns, while rushing for 12 more. The Red Raiders were just 5-7, after all.

--Philadelphia coach Doug Pederson announced that Carson Wentz had recovered sufficiently from torn knee ligaments to warrant the start this Sunday against Indianapolis, a little sooner than expected.  So Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles goes back to the sidelines.

But Wentz doesn’t exactly have a great supporting cast when it comes to his wideouts, with Alshon Jeffery (rotator cuff), Mike Wallace (fractured fibula) and Mack Hollins (groin) out – leaving the Eagles with Nelson Agholor and a bunch of no-names.

Meanwhile, the Colts are in a similar situation with the return of Andrew Luck, who was out all of 2017.  Luck has four touchdowns and three interceptions as Indy has split its first two games.

--The Patriots did it again, taking a flyer on a reclamation project...this time former Browns receiver Josh Gordon, who Cleveland team said they were going to release over team infractions, but then worked out a deal with New England.  Cleveland is to receive a fifth-round pick for Gordon, with the stipulation that if he is not active for 10 games, Cleveland would send New England a late-round pick.

This is a guy who in 2013, at age 22, was a superstar, first-team All-Pro, with 87 receptions for 1646 yards and nine touchdowns.  But then from 2014 to today it’s been nothing but substance abuse issues, and more, in essence missing two entire seasons.

But maybe Bill Belichick can turn him around, and certainly Tom Brady doesn’t care if Gordon is a jerk, as long as he catches the ball and employs his immense talent. What the hell.  If it doesn’t work, we’ll know soon enough.  If it does, Gordon is a difference maker, a la what Belichick got out of Randy Moss when he was acquired in similar circumstances from the Raiders in 2007.

--The NFL isn’t thrilled it’s had two ties in two weeks, but ahead of last season, the league slashed overtime from 15 minutes to 10, and we’ll see what happens the next few weeks.

There weren’t any ties in 2017, and two all of 2016.

--The announced attendance at Sunday’s Redskins home opener at FedEx Field against Indianapolis was 57,013, the lowest for a Redskins home opener in the 21-year history of FedEx Field – down more than 21,000 from the 78,658 who attended the Redskins’ 2017 home opener against the Eagles.

It also broke what the Redskins have claimed is a 50-year streak of home-game sellouts.

Average attendance for Redskins games at FedEx Field has dropped 15 percent since 2007 – from 88,090, when the Redskins led the NFL in attendance, to an average of 75,175 last season, which ranked sixth among the league’s 32 teams.

Meanwhile, the Redskins removed thousands of seats at least three times from 2010 to 2015, as reported by the Washington Post, which I’d add is similar to what is happening at virtually every NASCAR track, where whole grandstands are simply being taken down as attendance plummets.

--A group of Hall of Famers, 22, including the likes of Jim Brown, Marcus Allen, and Jerry Rice, have signed a letter addressed to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Players Assn. Executive Director DeMaurice Smith, and Hall of Fame President David Baker, threatening to boycott the HOF enshrinement ceremonies in Canton, Ohio, if they didn’t get lifetime health insurance and an annual salary that includes a share of league revenue.

But one of the signatories’ names is misspelled, Hall of Famer Carl Eller’s last name is listed as “Ellard.”  Another on the list, Kurt Warner, said he supports the cause in general, but did not agree to have his name attached.

Golf Balls

--The 2017-2018 PGA Tour wraparound season ends this weekend at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup, with a $10 million bonus to the winner of the latter.

Tuesday, the Tour and FedEx announced major changes to the season-long race starting next season, including the grand prize for the champion being bumped to $15 million.  [The total FedEx Cup bonus pool is being increased from $35 million to $60 million.]

The playoffs are being reduced to three events from four, and the Tour Championship at East Lake will have a simplified scoring system to determine the overall champion.

Further, there will be a new Wyndham Rewards Top 10 race doling out $10 million to the best players during the regular season, with the leader in the standings heading into the playoffs getting $2 million and the 10th-place finisher getting $500,000.

With three FedEx Cup events, the first playoff, the Northern Trust, will reduce the field from 125 to 70, and then the BMW Championship will reduce it to the final 30.

But unlike the complicated points system of the past, the leader after the first two events will start the Tour Championship at 10-under par. The next four players in the standings will start at 8 under through 5 under, respectively.  The next five will begin at 4 under, regressing by one stroke for every five players.  Those ranked No. 26 thru No. 30 will tee off at even par.

So in the final event, the player with the lowest score at the end of the week will win it all...the Tour Championship, the FedEx Cup and the $15 million.

Yes, it will be weird.  You could have the best 72-hole score and not win the tournament.  If you start at even par and shoot over par in the first round, you’re already eliminated, in essence.

But I like it.  Totally different and give the Tour credit for not being afraid to mix it up.  [It will also add real excitement to the BMW, as the players jockey to be in the top ten heading to East Lake.]

--Golf Magazine surveyed 59 Tour players during the PGA Championship and Wyndham Championship on a variety of topics.  Among them....

Do you like the PGA Championship’s move to May?  Yes: 76% ... No: 10%.

Would you take one major or 10 tour wins?  One Major: 36% ... 10 Tour Wins: 64%.

Do you own a gun?  Yes: 49% ... No: 51%.

Who has the most natural talent?  Dustin Johnson 40%, Bubba Watson 14%, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy 12%.

Who is the best pure ballstriker on tour?  Henrik Stenson 14%; Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia 9%.

Tiger vs. Phil Money Match: Who’s Your Money On?  Tiger: 76% ... Phil: 14%.

Have you ever wagered $1,000 or more in a practice-round money match?  Yes: 37% ... No: 61%.

Do you worry that legalized sports gambling could corrupt the pro game?  Yes: 19% ... No: 81%.

Should Phil have been DQ’d at Shinnecock?  Yes: 44% ... No: 54%.

Have you ever witnessed a fellow tour player cheat during a tournament round?  Yes: 44% ... No: 56%.

Has having a slow-playing partner ever hurt your on-course performance?  Yes: 78% ... No: 22%.

Did you vote for Trump?  Yes: 56% ... No: 12%.  [Ineligible: 18%; Didn’t Vote: 14%.]

If he runs again in 2020, will you vote for him?  Yes: 42% ... No: 20%.

Stuff

--What a senseless tragedy; the death of Iowa State golf star Celia Barquin Arozamena, who was killed on a local golf course by a homeless drifter with a violent past.  Our heart goes out to her family and the Iowa State community.  Not a good stretch for the state of Iowa in general.

--Champions League play commenced Tuesday and Liverpool, after blowing a 2-0 lead against visiting Paris St.-Germain, rallied for a 3-2 victory with a late tally from substitute Roberto Firmino.

Liverpool found a way to tame PSG stars Neymar and Mbappe for much of the game, though Mbappe did score the second goal for PSG.

But Tottenham continued to be mired in its slump, losing 2-1 to Inter Milan, surrendering two goals in the final six minutes, including the winning header by Matias Vecino in stoppage time.  Drat!!!

And Lionel Messi tallied a record eighth Champions League hat trick as Barcelona thrashed visiting PSV Eindhoven 4-0.  Messi’s rival Ronaldo has seven hat tricks.

--I couldn’t have cared less about the Emmy Awards, but I was pleased to see “Game of Thrones” win ‘Outstanding Drama Series’.  Can’t wait for next spring and the final season.

--Thousands of Entergy New Orleans customers lost power for more than an hour after a cat got into a substation Monday.

A statement from the company said the cat caused a flash when it touched the equipment.  The animal did not survive.

And this is why ‘Cat’ will never sniff the Top 20 of the All-Species List.

Top 3 songs for the week 9/16/72:  #1 “Black & White” (Three Dog Night) #2 “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me” (Mac Davis)  #3 “Alone Again (Naturally)” (Gilbert O’Sullivan...the single most depressing song of all time...)...and...#4 “Saturday In The Park” (Chicago)  #5 “Back Stabbers” (O’Jays)  #6 “Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress)” (The Hollies)  #7 “Rock And Roll Part 2” (Gary Glitter)  #8 “Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl)” (Looking Glass)  #9 “Honky Cat” (Elton Cat)  #10 “I’m Still In Love With You” (Al Green)

NFL Quiz Answer: Eight with a career passer rating over 95....

1. Aaron Rodgers 103.9
2. Russell Wilson 98.5
3. Tom Brady 97.6
4. Tony Romo 97.1
5. Drew Brees 97.0
6. Steve Young 96.8
7. Peyton Manning 96.5
8. Philip Rivers 95.1

41. Eli Manning 83.5

Next Bar Chat, Monday.

*As I was going to post last Sunday, rushed for time, I saw a story cross my many wire services that discussed an NHL lockout. I made a careless, stupid mistake in posting some details, but it was from the past, as well as a discussion of future issues, so I removed it to protect the archives. There is no lockout.  I should have taken five more minutes to find a second source and read things through more carefully.

I’ve done over 2,100 of these columns and this is the worst mistake I’ve made.  So I apologize.

That said, the NHL does have real looming problems.  While the current collective bargaining agreement runs through September 2020, next September, the league has the option to terminate the labor pact, ditto the Players Association two weeks later (the key dates Sept. 1 and 15, 2019).

A big issue is the Olympics, in this case 2022.  Players see the Games as an opportunity to grow the game, but the owners say stopping the season for two weeks is a significant disruption.

Anyway, there will be increasing talk of the next CBA and a potential work stoppage down the road.

I also forgot the league is adding a franchise, its 32nd, in Seattle (2020).



AddThis Feed Button

 

-09/20/2018-      
Web Epoch NJ Web Design  |  (c) Copyright 2016 StocksandNews.com, LLC.

Bar Chat

09/20/2018

Dodgers Take Control

[Posted Wed. a.m.]

NFL Quiz: Passer rating is one of the ‘modern’ stats I like, though the NFL game has changed in big ways in terms of the quarterback position.  [Joe Namath had a putrid 65.5 passer rating, a TD-INT ratio of 173-220, a 50.1% career completion percentage, and a won-loss mark of 62-63-4, but he is still as exciting a QB as I’ve ever seen and a deserved Hall of Famer.]  So name the eight quarterbacks with a career 95 or better passing rating, five of whom are still active. Answer below.

MLB

The playoff races are winding down and the Dodgers staked their claim to at worst a wild card in taking the first two of a critical three-game series against the Rockies in L.A.

--L.A. moved into first place by half a game Monday with an 8-2 rout of Colorado, and then won 3-2 in 10 last night on a Chris Taylor walk-off home run.  It is possible the two could finish tied for first in the West and if that were the case, the tiebreaker would be played at Dodger Stadium.

N.L. West

L.A. 84-68
Colorado 82-69... 1.5

N.L. Wild Card

Milwaukee 86-66... +2
St. Louis 84-68... --
Colorado 82-69... 1.5

--In the A.L., the Yankees had a big win last night at the Stadium over the Red Sox, 3-2, all the runs coming on a Neil Walker 3-run homer in the seventh.  Later that evening the Angels beat the A’s 9-7, so New York has a little cushion in its bid to host the one-game playoff.

A.L. Wild Card

New York 92-58... +2.5
Oakland 90-61... –

For the Yankees last night, Aaron Judge returned to the starting lineup and went 0-for-4.

--And I have to note the record set by Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich on Monday. In an 8-0 win over Cincinnati, Yelich hit for the cycle for the second time this season.

But that’s just the start.  He’s the first to have two career cycles against the same team, and the first with two against the same team in the same season, his first against Cincy just three weeks ago.

Yelich, after going 1-for-4 last night, is batting .317, with 31 homers and 93 RBIs, plus a .952 OBP.  Yes, with Milwaukee headed to the playoffs, he’s as much a candidate for MVP as anyone.  [The N.L. field for this award is unbelievably crowded.]

College Football Review

AP Poll

1. Alabama (58) 3-0
2. Georgia 3-0
3. Clemson (3) 3-0
4. Ohio State 3-0
5. Oklahoma 3-0
6. LSU 3-0
7. Stanford 3-0
8. Notre Dame 3-0
9. Auburn 2-1
T-10. Penn State 3-0
T-10. Washington 2-1
15. Oklahoma State 3-0...big jump
18. Wisconsin 2-1...big fall
23. Boston College 3-0!
25. BYU 2-1

28. Duke 3-0...if you carry out the votes

--As for this weekend’s games...to me the best matchup is 14 Mississippi State at Kentucky, both 3-0.  Big opportunity for the Wildcats.

7 Stanford at 20 Oregon is big, but I frankly think Stanford blows.  We’ll see if the Ducks (quack quack) are back after being lost in the wilderness for a spell.  [9-4, 4-8, 7-6 for Oregon the last three seasons was quite a comedown from seven straight seasons finishing AP No. 11 or better.]

The best pure game of the weekend just might be Notre Dame at Wake Forest.

And for us Jersey guys, we’re waiting to see if Buffalo destroys Rutgers.  The Bulls are the better team, after all.  If they were to win, say, 42-10, I’d start a movement to expel Rutgers from the state...no offense, RU alums. 

Actually, how about a swap....Rutgers for Appalachian State...just transfer the student bodies and professors.   Move Rutgers into the Southern Conference to face the likes of Western Carolina, VMI and The Citadel, where they would have a shot at finishing .500.

[App St. could move into the American Athletic Conference, a step up from their current Sun Belt affiliation.]

But then I’m getting ahead of myself. If Rutgers beats Buffalo, they get to remain in New Jersey.

--One more involving a game this week...Army at Oklahoma. I love the sound of this one, but West Point grad, Tom M., passed along a piece on the Army-Oklahoma game, Sept. 28, 1946, from Berry Tramel / The Oklahoman.

“George Lynn Cross sat in the superintendent’s box of Michie Stadium on Sept. 28, 1946. The OU president sat to the left of West Point superintendent Maxwell D. Taylor. To Taylor’s right sat another president, Harry Truman.

“The Sooners were playing mighty Army, winner of 19 straight games and a gridiron force bigger than present-day Alabama.

“OU football was but a blip on the national stage. The 1938 Sooners had made the Orange Bowl and finished fourth in the AP poll. Otherwise, to the Eastern Press that was the ESPN of its day, Oklahoma was the name of a musical, not the name of a football power.”

The group around Cross asked him about OU football, and while he was far from an expert, he told his new Army friends, “I don’t think the Army backs will run against the Oklahoma line as well as they have against other opponents...Oklahoma has a pretty fair line.”  According to a book Cross later wrote, Berry Tramel notes: “Cross detected veiled amusement on the faces of his new friends.”

Tramel: “By the middle of the first quarter, the amusement was gone. So was Oklahoma’s status as a sleepy school on the prairie.

“ ‘General Taylor leaned over to me and said, ‘You know, Oklahoma does have a pretty fair line,’ Cross wrote.

“By halftime, Truman, too, was glowing about the Sooner line. The score stood 7-7, and Army’s 19-game winning streak seemed in jeopardy.

“The Cadets prevailed. They used two big plays – a blocked punt and a defensive touchdown – to bolt away from the Sooners and win 21-7.  But powerhouse Army had been given its closest game since 1943.

“OU football forever was changed.”

How good was Army back then?  They were led by Mr. Inside (Doc Blanchard) and Mr. Outside (Glenn Davis). Davis and Blanchard finished 2-3 in the 1944 Heisman Trophy voting. Then Blanchard won the 1945 Heisman, with Davis second.  In 1946, Davis would win, with Blanchard fourth. Army won national championships in both ’44 and ’45.

So I looked them up and, man, from 1944-46, Army, Davis and Blanchard sure did dominate...27-0-1 over the three years under coach Red Blaik...finishing first, first and second in the final AP poll.

As for Oklahoma, Bud Wilkinson took the coaching reins in 1947 and from 1948-58, the Sooners finished in the top ten each season, winning three AP national titles.                                                                                        

--Ohio State coach Urban Meyer is disputing a key finding in his university’s investigation of him by saying he didn’t discuss how to delete text messages on his phone with a staff member in early August.

Meyer said the text messages on his phone were not deleted by him but instead by an unnamed information technology staff member several months ago.

But as Brent Schrotenboer of USA TODAY Sports noted:

“In an interview with ESPN, he also said he doesn’t recall having a conversation with football staff member Brian Voltolini about changing the settings on his phone on Aug. 1.  Later, on Monday, he did recall a conversation about his phone with Voltolini but said he told Voltolini there was ‘nothing to hide’ on it.

“His version of events contrasts with Ohio State’s investigative findings, which said Meyer ‘specifically discussed’ with Voltolini on Aug. 1 ‘how to adjust the settings on Meyer’s phone so that text messages older than one year would be deleted.’”

Aug. 1 and the text messages is key because that was the day college football reporter Brett McMurphy published an article that included text messages from 2015 written by Meyer’s wife, Shelley, in which she discussed then-assistant coach Zach Smith’s alleged abuse with the woman who was accusing him of it.

The whole Ohio State investigation was to find out if Meyer knew about the allegations back then and whether he covered them up for Smith.

NFL

--The Giants are now 0-2 after another poor performance, this time Sunday night in Dallas, a 20-13 loss to a Cowboys team that really isn’t that good.

Pat Leonard / New York Daily News

“The Giants are not allowed to put a product this poor on the field anymore. This 20-13 loss to the Cowboys was too much.

“Not after a 3-13 season in 2017.  Not after blowing up their front office and coaching staff and retooling the roster around Eli Manning to make a playoff run now. Not after drafting Saquon Barkley No. 2 overall to jumpstart the offense. Not with Odell Beckham Jr. healthy and capable of taking over games.

“How then, could this happen on Sunday night, on national television against an unimposing Cowboys team?  How could GM Dave Gettleman overhaul this roster in his preferred image and rid the locker room of last year’s bad influences, and assemble a team so similarly lifeless and hopeless on offense and prone to huge mistakes?

“Not only does this type of performance not suffice for a team with playoff aspirations. It doesn’t even suffice for an NFL team with aspirations of simply winning a game.  Naturally, plenty of Giants players were ticked off.

“ ‘Just not good enough,’ Manning (33/44, 279, 1-0, 98.6) said.  ‘Obviously guys are disappointed, some guys are getting frustrated – as we should. But we can’t let that affect our preparation or our practices. We’ve got to bounce back. ...Nothing is going to get fixed by complaining. We just need to step it up, make a difference and fix some things.’

“The futility of Pat Shurmur’s offense is most jarring, of course, with Manning checking down all of his passes even when he has time, and the offensive line proving ill-equipped to handle even the simplest pass rush ploys, surrendering six sacks.

“ ‘We didn’t do anything well enough on offense to win this game,’ Shurmur said.”

Steve Serby / New York Post

“He looked frozen with fear, under siege and frantically looking for receivers he could not find for one reason or another, his happy feet dancing to whatever sad song was playing in his head.

“It was as if Eli Manning, the most shell-shocked 37-year-old in the building, was seeing the ghosts of Bob Lilly and Harvey Martin and Too Tall Jones on a night when he was reduced to being Captain Checkdown.

“The best-laid plans of Dave Gettleman and Pat Shurmur are blowing up in their faces.

“Deja Blah.

“The Cowboys, 20-13 winners, stuffed the run and kept everything in front of them to prevent the home run and dared Manning to beat them with singles.

“But, left a naked statue in the pocket (six sacks) without a running game (17 carries, 35 yards) and an offensive line that could keep him jitter-free, much less upright, Manning, as gallantly as he fought, could not.

“ ‘When you got new players and you got new schemes and coaches, sometimes it can take a little time, especially the first game on the road, it can take a little bit to get your rhythm, get things going,’ Manning said.

“Big problem: This isn’t a baseball season.  There are only 14 games left.

“The Giants offense: dump it off to Saquon Barkley (14 catches, 80 yards receiving) and hope he takes one to the house....

“Remember all the talk about how explosive this offense would be? With all those weapons and Shurmur’s creative play-calling?  With the receivers lining up in different spots on an offense that would no longer be predictable?

“All talk.”

--Vontae Davis began Sunday as a defensive back for the Buffalo Bills, and he ended the day by retiring, stunning his coaches and teammates by calling it a career at halftime.

Buffalo was trailing 28-6 and he just up and quit.  He wasn’t hurt. Hadn’t been benched by coach Sean McDermott.

McDermott said after: “Pulled himself out of the game.  He communicated to us that he was done.”

Davis had a solid career – three seasons with Miami, six with Indianapolis – including two Pro Bowls and one first-team, All-Pro campaign, 2014, with Indy.

But he signed as a free agent in March with the Bills after missing most of last season with a serious groin injury that required surgery, and he was limited in training camp and the preseason.  Those in the know said it was clear he was struggling.

--Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is off to rather impressive start, like 10 touchdown passes and no interceptions in two games.

The second-year player out of Texas Tech, 10th pick in 2017’s first round, saw action in one game last season as the Chiefs went with veteran Alex Smith.  But coach Andy Reid and the organization knew they had their guy for the long-term in Mahomes and so they traded Smith to the Redskins to free up the position for the guy.

Kansas City took a risk that Mahomes would flop, and Smith, after all, had a career year in 2017, leading the NFL in passer rating.

But it seems as if the Chiefs made the right move, as Mahomes, 22 years old, became the youngest player in the Super Bowl era with a six-touchdown passing game as he did Sunday against the Steelers.

As the Wall Street Journal pointed out, Mahomes wasn’t a sure thing despite some gaudy numbers his junior (and final) year at Texas Tech – 5,052 yards and 41 touchdowns, while rushing for 12 more. The Red Raiders were just 5-7, after all.

--Philadelphia coach Doug Pederson announced that Carson Wentz had recovered sufficiently from torn knee ligaments to warrant the start this Sunday against Indianapolis, a little sooner than expected.  So Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles goes back to the sidelines.

But Wentz doesn’t exactly have a great supporting cast when it comes to his wideouts, with Alshon Jeffery (rotator cuff), Mike Wallace (fractured fibula) and Mack Hollins (groin) out – leaving the Eagles with Nelson Agholor and a bunch of no-names.

Meanwhile, the Colts are in a similar situation with the return of Andrew Luck, who was out all of 2017.  Luck has four touchdowns and three interceptions as Indy has split its first two games.

--The Patriots did it again, taking a flyer on a reclamation project...this time former Browns receiver Josh Gordon, who Cleveland team said they were going to release over team infractions, but then worked out a deal with New England.  Cleveland is to receive a fifth-round pick for Gordon, with the stipulation that if he is not active for 10 games, Cleveland would send New England a late-round pick.

This is a guy who in 2013, at age 22, was a superstar, first-team All-Pro, with 87 receptions for 1646 yards and nine touchdowns.  But then from 2014 to today it’s been nothing but substance abuse issues, and more, in essence missing two entire seasons.

But maybe Bill Belichick can turn him around, and certainly Tom Brady doesn’t care if Gordon is a jerk, as long as he catches the ball and employs his immense talent. What the hell.  If it doesn’t work, we’ll know soon enough.  If it does, Gordon is a difference maker, a la what Belichick got out of Randy Moss when he was acquired in similar circumstances from the Raiders in 2007.

--The NFL isn’t thrilled it’s had two ties in two weeks, but ahead of last season, the league slashed overtime from 15 minutes to 10, and we’ll see what happens the next few weeks.

There weren’t any ties in 2017, and two all of 2016.

--The announced attendance at Sunday’s Redskins home opener at FedEx Field against Indianapolis was 57,013, the lowest for a Redskins home opener in the 21-year history of FedEx Field – down more than 21,000 from the 78,658 who attended the Redskins’ 2017 home opener against the Eagles.

It also broke what the Redskins have claimed is a 50-year streak of home-game sellouts.

Average attendance for Redskins games at FedEx Field has dropped 15 percent since 2007 – from 88,090, when the Redskins led the NFL in attendance, to an average of 75,175 last season, which ranked sixth among the league’s 32 teams.

Meanwhile, the Redskins removed thousands of seats at least three times from 2010 to 2015, as reported by the Washington Post, which I’d add is similar to what is happening at virtually every NASCAR track, where whole grandstands are simply being taken down as attendance plummets.

--A group of Hall of Famers, 22, including the likes of Jim Brown, Marcus Allen, and Jerry Rice, have signed a letter addressed to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Players Assn. Executive Director DeMaurice Smith, and Hall of Fame President David Baker, threatening to boycott the HOF enshrinement ceremonies in Canton, Ohio, if they didn’t get lifetime health insurance and an annual salary that includes a share of league revenue.

But one of the signatories’ names is misspelled, Hall of Famer Carl Eller’s last name is listed as “Ellard.”  Another on the list, Kurt Warner, said he supports the cause in general, but did not agree to have his name attached.

Golf Balls

--The 2017-2018 PGA Tour wraparound season ends this weekend at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup, with a $10 million bonus to the winner of the latter.

Tuesday, the Tour and FedEx announced major changes to the season-long race starting next season, including the grand prize for the champion being bumped to $15 million.  [The total FedEx Cup bonus pool is being increased from $35 million to $60 million.]

The playoffs are being reduced to three events from four, and the Tour Championship at East Lake will have a simplified scoring system to determine the overall champion.

Further, there will be a new Wyndham Rewards Top 10 race doling out $10 million to the best players during the regular season, with the leader in the standings heading into the playoffs getting $2 million and the 10th-place finisher getting $500,000.

With three FedEx Cup events, the first playoff, the Northern Trust, will reduce the field from 125 to 70, and then the BMW Championship will reduce it to the final 30.

But unlike the complicated points system of the past, the leader after the first two events will start the Tour Championship at 10-under par. The next four players in the standings will start at 8 under through 5 under, respectively.  The next five will begin at 4 under, regressing by one stroke for every five players.  Those ranked No. 26 thru No. 30 will tee off at even par.

So in the final event, the player with the lowest score at the end of the week will win it all...the Tour Championship, the FedEx Cup and the $15 million.

Yes, it will be weird.  You could have the best 72-hole score and not win the tournament.  If you start at even par and shoot over par in the first round, you’re already eliminated, in essence.

But I like it.  Totally different and give the Tour credit for not being afraid to mix it up.  [It will also add real excitement to the BMW, as the players jockey to be in the top ten heading to East Lake.]

--Golf Magazine surveyed 59 Tour players during the PGA Championship and Wyndham Championship on a variety of topics.  Among them....

Do you like the PGA Championship’s move to May?  Yes: 76% ... No: 10%.

Would you take one major or 10 tour wins?  One Major: 36% ... 10 Tour Wins: 64%.

Do you own a gun?  Yes: 49% ... No: 51%.

Who has the most natural talent?  Dustin Johnson 40%, Bubba Watson 14%, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy 12%.

Who is the best pure ballstriker on tour?  Henrik Stenson 14%; Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia 9%.

Tiger vs. Phil Money Match: Who’s Your Money On?  Tiger: 76% ... Phil: 14%.

Have you ever wagered $1,000 or more in a practice-round money match?  Yes: 37% ... No: 61%.

Do you worry that legalized sports gambling could corrupt the pro game?  Yes: 19% ... No: 81%.

Should Phil have been DQ’d at Shinnecock?  Yes: 44% ... No: 54%.

Have you ever witnessed a fellow tour player cheat during a tournament round?  Yes: 44% ... No: 56%.

Has having a slow-playing partner ever hurt your on-course performance?  Yes: 78% ... No: 22%.

Did you vote for Trump?  Yes: 56% ... No: 12%.  [Ineligible: 18%; Didn’t Vote: 14%.]

If he runs again in 2020, will you vote for him?  Yes: 42% ... No: 20%.

Stuff

--What a senseless tragedy; the death of Iowa State golf star Celia Barquin Arozamena, who was killed on a local golf course by a homeless drifter with a violent past.  Our heart goes out to her family and the Iowa State community.  Not a good stretch for the state of Iowa in general.

--Champions League play commenced Tuesday and Liverpool, after blowing a 2-0 lead against visiting Paris St.-Germain, rallied for a 3-2 victory with a late tally from substitute Roberto Firmino.

Liverpool found a way to tame PSG stars Neymar and Mbappe for much of the game, though Mbappe did score the second goal for PSG.

But Tottenham continued to be mired in its slump, losing 2-1 to Inter Milan, surrendering two goals in the final six minutes, including the winning header by Matias Vecino in stoppage time.  Drat!!!

And Lionel Messi tallied a record eighth Champions League hat trick as Barcelona thrashed visiting PSV Eindhoven 4-0.  Messi’s rival Ronaldo has seven hat tricks.

--I couldn’t have cared less about the Emmy Awards, but I was pleased to see “Game of Thrones” win ‘Outstanding Drama Series’.  Can’t wait for next spring and the final season.

--Thousands of Entergy New Orleans customers lost power for more than an hour after a cat got into a substation Monday.

A statement from the company said the cat caused a flash when it touched the equipment.  The animal did not survive.

And this is why ‘Cat’ will never sniff the Top 20 of the All-Species List.

Top 3 songs for the week 9/16/72:  #1 “Black & White” (Three Dog Night) #2 “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me” (Mac Davis)  #3 “Alone Again (Naturally)” (Gilbert O’Sullivan...the single most depressing song of all time...)...and...#4 “Saturday In The Park” (Chicago)  #5 “Back Stabbers” (O’Jays)  #6 “Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress)” (The Hollies)  #7 “Rock And Roll Part 2” (Gary Glitter)  #8 “Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl)” (Looking Glass)  #9 “Honky Cat” (Elton Cat)  #10 “I’m Still In Love With You” (Al Green)

NFL Quiz Answer: Eight with a career passer rating over 95....

1. Aaron Rodgers 103.9
2. Russell Wilson 98.5
3. Tom Brady 97.6
4. Tony Romo 97.1
5. Drew Brees 97.0
6. Steve Young 96.8
7. Peyton Manning 96.5
8. Philip Rivers 95.1

41. Eli Manning 83.5

Next Bar Chat, Monday.

*As I was going to post last Sunday, rushed for time, I saw a story cross my many wire services that discussed an NHL lockout. I made a careless, stupid mistake in posting some details, but it was from the past, as well as a discussion of future issues, so I removed it to protect the archives. There is no lockout.  I should have taken five more minutes to find a second source and read things through more carefully.

I’ve done over 2,100 of these columns and this is the worst mistake I’ve made.  So I apologize.

That said, the NHL does have real looming problems.  While the current collective bargaining agreement runs through September 2020, next September, the league has the option to terminate the labor pact, ditto the Players Association two weeks later (the key dates Sept. 1 and 15, 2019).

A big issue is the Olympics, in this case 2022.  Players see the Games as an opportunity to grow the game, but the owners say stopping the season for two weeks is a significant disruption.

Anyway, there will be increasing talk of the next CBA and a potential work stoppage down the road.

I also forgot the league is adding a franchise, its 32nd, in Seattle (2020).