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Bar Chat

10/11/2018

Red Sox Move On....

[Posted Wed. a.m.]

NFL Quiz: A couple of weeks ago, Mitchell Trubisky of the Bears threw for six touchdowns in a 48-10 win over Tampa Bay, one shy of the NFL record, held by eight players, of seven.  Name the last three, all of whom threw seven in a game since 2010.  Answer below.

MLB Playoffs

--My how things get magnified come postseason.  The Yankees played the Red Sox at The Stadium for Game 3 of their Division Series, Monday, the Yanks having knotted it up at 1-1 on Saturday in Fenway.

The Yanks sent Luis Severino to the mound, the Red Sox countering with Nate Eovaldi, and it was 3-0 Boston after three innings, Severino struggling, but even though this is do or die time, Yankees manager Aaron Boone left him to start the fourth and before you could say ‘Brock Holt,’ it was 10-0 Boston, Severino having yielded 6 runs in 3, never getting an out in the fourth, which was the deal in his wild-card start against Oakland, where he pitched four scoreless, but allowed the first two batters in the fifth to reach base before Dellin Betances came in to put out the fire, the Yankees proceeding to win 7-2. 

But, oh, how the second-guessers had a field day after Monday’s game, which ended up 16-1, the worst Yankees postseason loss in their history, with Brock Holt, inserted by Red Sox manager Alex Cora on a whim, hitting for the cycle, the first to do so in MLB postseason history, which is amazing to think of.

Eovaldi went seven innings for Boston.

Ken Davidoff / New York Post

“This night went sideways in so many ways for the Yankees, too many to enumerate in this tidy little Post column.

“Yet Exhibit A might just be the oddity of Luis Severino’s news conference after his team suffered a historic 16-1 beating....

“As many questions as Severino faced about his lousy pitching Monday night, he received just as many about...his pregame preparation?

“Welcome to Warmupgate.

“Or maybe not.  Perhaps Severino got knocked around for reasons other than when he began warming up, and for sure Aaron Boone deserves the primary blame for not pulling his All-Star sooner than he did, the rookie manager’s tentativeness putting the Yankees in a 2-1 hole in this best-of-five battle....

“Because Severino gave up six runs in three-plus innings, however, a tidbit reported by TBS analyst Ron Darling – whom we know better here as the superb Mets broadcaster on SNY – gained significant traction, and it drew a blessing from the Yankees’ own network, YES, and its analyst, John Flaherty.

“Darling, who of course pitched for the Mets, Expos and A’s in the 1980s and’90s, reported Severino didn’t start warming up in the bullpen until 7:32 p.m., 10 minutes before the scheduled first pitch, an unusually late time to get going.

“Flaherty, in an on-air statement circulated by YES’ public relations official, said, ‘There is no way you can go on a big league bullpen mound eight minutes before the scheduled first pitch and expect to be ready.’  The Post communicated with two veteran officials not involved in the series, both with experience in this realm, and both independently agreed a warm-up time so close to first pitch seemed unusual.  Yet the Yankees insisted Severino didn’t veer from his normal course.

“ ‘How does he know what time I normally go out?’ an agitated Severino asked of Darling, with whom he wasn’t familiar.  Added Severino: ‘I go [to the bullpen] 20 minutes before the game, I play catch and then I always get on the mound 10 minutes before the game.’

“ ‘To me, it’s his normal routine,’ catcher Gary Sanchez said.  ‘I was out there warming him up myself.’

“ ‘He had plenty of warm-up,’ Boone said.  ‘He had what he intended to go down there and get done, and [pitching coach] Larry [Rothschild] said he was able to get through his normal routine, where he faces a couple hitters and everything.  So it wasn’t an issue.’”

Well, whatever the situation was, Severino sucked.  He has largely sucked since the All-Star break, which he entered at 14-2, 2.31, but finished the year at 19-8, 3.39.  [Only 3 of his 12 post-All-Star Game starts was a quality start...six innings, 3 runs or less.]

Joel Sherman / New York Post

“Atop the Yankee Stadium center-field scoreboard are the words ‘EXIT VELO’ and after each struck ball a reading in miles per hour registers, a bit of modernity to entertain fans, but certainly a service to a manager, too.

“But really, you didn’t need a complex laser system to recognize Luis Severino was getting clobbered – literally from the first pitch.  Just working eyes.  Even Aaron Boone would say after the most lopsided loss in the Yankees’ long postseason history.  ‘I didn’t think he was overly sharp from the get-go.’

“Yet, at a time when urgency is the mandate, Boone ignored the triple-digit consistency that was being shown on the scoreboard and his view – and, really, also that the calendar now reads October.  The Yankee manager stuck with Severino too long and then had a strange order of relievers to follow....

“Severino...has a poor postseason track record and was bad from Pitch 1. Yet, Boone stayed with the righty through a shaky one-run second and three hits and two runs in the third. That inning ended with another warning-track out that gave the Red Sox seven 100-mph-plus blows in 15 plate appearances.

“Yet, no one warmed as the Yanks batted in the third.  Boone sent Severino for the fourth hoping he could dispatch 7-8-9 in the lineup, wanting length, in part, because Dellin Betances was available for just one inning Monday. The first two hitters in the fourth singled and still Boone did not move, figuring ninth-place hitter, Jackie Bradley Jr., was going to sacrifice. Severino, though, issued a four-pitch walk.

“ ‘It just snowballed on him,’ Boone said....

“ ‘Certainly in hindsight....

“But this wasn’t about hindsight.  Just sight. Severino was getting brutalized.”               

Well, on to Game 4 and Boston scored three in the third to knock out starter CC Sabathia.  Reliever Zach Britton yielded a run in the fourth to make it 4-0 Red Sox, and the Yankees countered with a run in the fifth.

So it was 4-1, thru the sixth, seventh and eighth, and then the Yanks came up in the bottom of the ninth with one last chance to send the series back to Boston.

New York was facing Boston ace Craig Kimbrel, who quickly gave up a walk to Aaron Judge and a single to Didi Gregorius, to bring the tying run to the plate in the form of Giancarlo Stanton.

Stanton had a chance to turn earlier boos into cheers in a big way, but he struck out.  One down.

Luke Voit then walked.  Bases loaded for Neil Walker, who was promptly hit by a pitch, forcing in a run. 

Bases still loaded, one out, Yanks down 4-2, and it was Gary Sanchez’ turn.  Sanchez launched a drive deep to left that at first seemed like it was going out for a stunning ending, only it settled into left fielder Andrew Benintendi’s glove for a sac fly, and second out.

Down 4-3, Gleyber Torres hit a slow ground ball to third baseman Eduardo Nunez, whose throw to first baseman Steve Pearce was wide but Pearce, on a terrific play, managed to barely keep his foot on the bag as Torres was crossing and, after a brief video review, Boston was on to the ALCS against Houston.

Boston was just the better team, having won a franchise-best 108 games to New York’s 100 in the regular season.

And New York was just 4-for-26 with runners in scoring position in the series. Boston hit .400 in those situations.

But one Yank will have a long offseason, Giancarlo Stanton, he of the $325 million contract, the Yanks responsible for $228 million over the final seven seasons, with an option for 2028.

Stanton had 38 home runs and 100 RBI in 158 games, which are no doubt solid, but he fell short when it mattered most.

He’ll need to have a monster 2019, for starters, or life will be miserable for him in Gotham, as Yankee fans grow impatient, waiting for a World Series title.

As for Boston’s next opponent, the Astros swept the Indians.  Should be a terrific ALCS.

--In the National League, it will be Los Angeles vs. Milwaukee, Game 1 in Milwaukee on Friday night.  The Brewers swept the Rockies easily, 3-0, and the Dodgers advanced on Monday following a 6-2 win over the Braves in Atlanta, taking that series 3-1, Manny Machado with a big three-run homer in the seventh on Monday to seal the deal.  Exactly what they got the guy for in their potential ‘rental’ play.

Machado was only 3-for-17 in the series, but he also hit a two-run homer in the first inning of Game 2, so both of his round-trippers were decisive blows.

College Football

--A few important contests this week, though I don’t see LSU or Oregon pulling off an upset that would shake things up, or USC...to wit...

2 Georgia at 13 LSU; 7 Washington at Oregon; 15 Wisconsin at 12 Michigan; 19 Colorado at USC.

Pitt (3-3) should lose handily at Notre Dame, except the Panthers have played the Fighting Irish tough over the years.

And 6 West Virginia at Iowa State is a trap game, the Cyclones better than their 2-3 record.                

But in terms of the future games that will determine the College Football Playoffs and the Group of Five major-bowl bid...reminder of the remaining teams in contention.

1. Alabama 6-0
2. Georgia 6-0
3. Ohio State 6-0
4. Clemson 6-0
5. Notre Dame 6-0
6. West Virginia 5-0
7. Washington 5-1...barely
10. UCF 5-0...see below
19. Colorado 5-0
20. North Carolina State 5-0

Now it is not out of the question that UCF could sneak into the CFP, and not just be the Group of Five representative in the major six bowl games, as they were last year.

But first on Nov. 10, we have No. 23 South Florida (USF) at 25 Cincinnati, both also undefeated.

Nov. 17 it’s Cincinnati at UCF.

Nov. 23 we have UCF at USF.

If UCF soundly beats these two, knowing the number of teams that will stumble in front of them, you never know, sports fans.

As for the others, it is a strong top five, looking at Nos. 1-5 in the AP Poll. 

But when the season started, you were thinking about how powerful the Big Ten was at the top and instead, Ohio State’s claim to a berth in the CFP is hurt, somewhat, by the likes of Wisconsin’s home loss to BYU, Michigan State’s two losses, and Michigan’s opening loss to Notre Dame.

So for the Buckeyes they need to keep soundly beating their competition and then win the Nov. 24 tussle with Michigan, while hoping the Wolverines win out until then.

The Big 12 suffers with Oklahoma’s loss to Texas.

6 West Virginia, aside from needing to win this week, needs to take out Texas on Nov. 3, a huge one.  And then the Mountaineers host Oklahoma Nov. 23.

In the ACC, only one game matters, North Carolina State at Clemson, Oct. 20.  Even if the Wolfpack won this one, and ran the table from there, there is simply no way they reach the final four.

If Clemson wins out, it’s going to be between them and whoever the CFP Rankings put at No. 5, assuming Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State remain where they are.

The current No. 5, Notre Dame, on paper only has one final test, USC on Nov. 24.

So we move on to the SEC, where 1 Alabama and 2 Georgia are in separate divisions and don’t face each other in the regular season; meaning they will likely square off in the SEC Championship game and, trust me, if both enter that contest unbeaten, they will represent 2 of the 4 CFP berths.

But in the meantime, we do have some important contests in the SEC, the television networks hoping these aren’t blowouts.

Aside from this week’s battle, Georgia at 13 LSU, we have....

Florida at Georgia Oct. 27; Georgia at Kentucky Nov. 3; Alabama at LSU Nov. 3; Auburn at Georgia Nov. 10; and then Auburn at Alabama on Nov. 24.

Finally, as for the Pac-12, yes, 19 Colorado is 5-0, but there is no way they could make the CFP, even if they whip USC this weekend, and then 7 Washington Oct. 20.

But soon we’ll have the first CFP Selection Committee Rankings, which they’ve said will be Tues. Oct. 30.  Stories such as Washington and West Virginia, let alone Notre Dame and Clemson, will become more relevant then, if not before. 

--Following its 48-45 loss to Texas, Oklahoma fired defensive coordinator Mike Stoops, brother of former OU coach Bob Stoops.

--Meanwhile, in FCS / Div. I-AA...the latest Coaches Poll....

1. North Dakota State 5-0 (all 26 first-place votes)
2. Kennesaw State 5-1
3. Eastern Washington 5-1
4. Wofford 4-1
5. South Dakota State 3-1
6. Elon 4-1
17. Colgate 5-0
21. Princeton 4-0...yes, Virginia, there is real football in New Jersey.

Current N.J. Football Rankings

1. Princeton
2. Monmouth...this is a cool school...on the rise...and sports betting available at Monmouth Park!  I mean, at the end of the day, isn’t that what the students want?
3. Montclair State
4. Rowan
9. William Paterson
18. DeVry University
21. Rutgers

--Finally, we note the passing of John Gagliardi, the winningest coach in all of college football.  He was 91.

Gagliardi retired in 2012 after a record 64 seasons as a head coach, 60 of those at St. John’s, an all-male private university in Collegeville, Minnesota with 2,000 students.  He finished with 489 victories, 138 losses and 11 ties, winning four national championships with the Johnnies.

As the Associated Press put it in the obit:

“But he drew as much national attention with his laid-back approach to the sport.  His policy was to not cut any players from the roster and to guide practices that never exceeded 90 minutes.

“ ‘John Gagliardi was not only an extraordinary coach, he was also an educator of young men and builder of character,’ St. John’s president, Michael Hemesath, said in a statement.”

Gagliardi passed Grambling’s Eddie Robinson for all-time coaching victories with No. 409 in 2003 and then for all-time games in 2008.

Joe Paterno is the major-college leader in wins at 409.

As the AP put it, Gagliardi’s coaching philosophy was based on a list of “nos,” “a rejection of football’s sometimes-sadistic rituals that he detested as a player. Gagliardi hated it when people called him ‘coach,’ preferring John instead. He was terrified of injuries, so contact in practice was kept to a minimum and tackling was prohibited.  Everybody who wanted to be on the team could make it, often leaving a roster of more than 150 players.

“Grueling calisthenics?  No way. Same for hazing, screaming, whistles, superstitions and even practicing in extreme conditions.  If the mosquitoes were swarming? Forget it.

“We have one rule with our players – the golden rule,” Gagliardi said in a 2003 interview.  “Treat everybody the way you would want to be treated. We get the right guys. The ones that don’t need any rules. We just hope they can play football.”

You might say Coach Gagliardi’s formula worked pretty well, right?

NFL

On Monday night, Drew Brees topped Peyton Manning’s mark of 71,940 passing yards, accomplishing the feat in the latter’s hometown of New Orleans. 

Brees completed a 62-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Tre’Quan Smith to allow for recognition of the accomplishment.  Brees actually also passed Brett Favre, who was sitting in second at 71,838 yards.

And Brees, in leading the Saints (4-1) to a 43-19 win over the Redskins (2-2), was outstanding the entire night, 26 of 29, 363 yards, 3 TDs, a 153.2 passer rating, which is nearly perfect...finishing the game at 72,103 career yards.

Brees has led the NFL in passing yards seven seasons, four seasons in touchdown passes.

For his part, Peyton Manning issued a funny video, saying in part: “Drew, for 1,000 days, I’ve held the all-time record for passing yards in the NFL.  I’ve got to tell you it’s been the greatest 1,000 days of my life. And thanks to you, that’s over now.  And you’ve ruined that for me.

“Thank you very much.  There’s nothing left to look forward to except slicing my tomatoes, getting dinner ready for my family, putting together this wedge salad.

“Also let this serve as the congratulations for the record, because as you see, I’m very busy.  I don’t have the time to keep doing these videos for you congratulating you.”

Peyton did then get serious, congratulating Brees.

--I didn’t have a chance last Sunday to get into Odell Beckham Jr.’s comments prior to the Giants’ crushing loss to the Panthers, 33-31, on the 63-yard Graham Gano field goal.

Steve Serby / New York Post

“(OBJ) told his team and his teammates he was sorry....

“New York’s Drama King is lucky he has teammates who forgive him, who love him still, who accept an otherworldly talent struggling with his new leadership responsibilities, who gave an ESPN interview that could have been construed as throwing his rookie head coach and 37-year-old quarterback under the Big Blue Bus when he should know by now that a leader should vent his personal frustrations in-house.

“When (the game ended), Beckham stood at his locker and said he was proud of the heart his team had just displayed.

“ ‘I don’t regret anything that I said,’ Beckham said.  ‘If it took that for us to come together as a team like we did today, I could take that every single time. ...I kinda spoke to the team just to relay the message that sometimes stuff comes off the wrong way. Words can be portrayed in any kind of light.

“ ‘This is the team that we’re gonna be for the rest of the season.  If it took that to get us going, I can take that. I’m trying to be a leader, this is a position that I’ve never been in.  I’m learning on the way.

“ ‘Even though we’re 1-4, this game today is gonna be monumental for our season in my eyes.’”

Beckham had texted coach Pat Shurmur Saturday night to ask if he could address the team Sunday.

Serby:

“His teammates didn’t have a big problem with Beckham calling for more heart, but he made the bed he was forced to sleep in, and he should have known better.

“To wit: When he was asked whether there was an issue at quarterback, Beckham said: ‘Like I said, I feel like he’s not going to get out of the pocket.  He’s not – we know Eli’s not running it.  But is it a matter-of-time issue? Can he still throw it? Yeah, but it’s been pretty safe and it’s been, you know... cool catching shallow [routes] and trying to take it to the house. But I’m, you know, I want to go over the top of somebody.’

“He wasn’t the only one who could not comprehend why Manning has not attacked down field, but what is Shurmur to think when he reads this quote from the interview: ‘I feel like I’m being outchemed’?

“And this one: ‘I haven’t been in the place where I felt like I could really go out and do everything that I’m capable of doing. I don’t get 20 targets like some other receivers, you know.’

“So Shurmur gave Beckham (eight receptions, 131 yards, one touchdown) the chance to put his $95 million where his mouth was – 14 targets and deployment as the punt returner.”

But then one of the punts deflected off his leg inside the 10 and became a TD for the Panthers.

“I was trying to get a block on 12 [D.J. Moore] so he couldn’t down the ball, and the ball actually checked back,” Beckham said.

Serby:

“Shurmur became animated and agitated when asked about The Drama King.  ‘I’m not gonna give the public a pound of flesh on this, all right?’ he said.  ‘That would make me small, not strong. And these are the kind of things, in my opinion, when we have the locker room that we have, that will help galvanize them because the locker room took care of it....let’s talk football, not drama.’

“Good luck. It would behoove the Giants for The Drama King to put an end to the drama.  Which ownership and management thought might be a thing of the past.

“Asked in the interview whether he was happy in New York, he said: ‘It’s a tough question.  Obviously, I love seeing the sunshine all the time.  I love being in L.A.  I just like that atmosphere, but this is where I’m at.’

“It’s on him to prove that he still wants to be a Giant For Life.”

Golf Balls

--Ryder Cup Captain Jim Furyk finally spoke up about Patrick Reed’s comments, throwing Furyk under the bus.  Reed, in an interview with the New York Times, said he was “blindsided” when he found out he would be split from Jordan Spieth the week of the event.

But Furyk, in an interview with the Golf Channel, said Reed knew well before France that he’d be playing with Tiger Woods.

“When I started looking at who (Tiger) would pair well with, I kept coming back to Patrick Reed,” Furyk said.  “There was always the idea that we could go Tiger and JT (Justin Thomas), and Patrick and Jordan, but ultimately they knew going into the week, weeks in advance, they knew they would start the Ryder Cup with Patrick and Tiger being partners.”

Furyk also acknowledged reports regarding an altercation between Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka at a European team party following the Euro’s win, but downplayed the severity of the incident.

“Whatever altercation started, or what happened, it was very brief. It was very short....They’re like brothers. Brothers may argue, brothers get into it. But they’re as close as they’ve ever been, and it really had no effect on either one of them.”

Furyk, in commenting on his 12 players, as you’d expect said “I’d take those 12 into the fire any day, on any course.”

Meanwhile, Koepka continues to deny there was a fight with DJ.  But there was!

Stuff

--For the record, with the NHL season underway, I just have to note that Sports Illustrated had Toronto winning the Stanley Cup over Nashville. The Maple Leafs haven’t won the Cup since the 1966-67 season.

--Men’s Division I Soccer Rankings (Coaches Poll...Oct. 9)

1. North Carolina
2. Wake Forest...lost our first of the season at Syracuse
3. Denver
4. Indiana
5. Kentucky
9. Notre Dame
10. Stanford...Wake’s nemesis come playoff time

--As much as I feel compelled to cover everything in the world of sports, I just have zero desire to attempt to give a damn about the UFC.  Yes, I saw the details of the post-Nurmagomedov-McGregor fight on Saturday in Las Vegas.  It was beyond ugly.

As Joe DePaolo wrote in the Washington Post:

“It was a horrific postscript to a fight which should’ve launched Nurmagomedov to superstardom.  An emphatic victory over the UFC’s biggest star, McGregor, ought to have culminated with a coronation.  Instead, there were three arrests.”

But McGregor didn’t press charges, the three having gone after him in the octagon.

For UFC president Dana White, though, it’s a nightmare.

I know...any publicity is supposed to be good publicity, but not in this case.  The pay-per-view buys were spectacular, like 2.6 million, if I recall correctly, but White was concerned over the reaction of casual fans who happened to drop in for the fight.

“This is one of those spillover events where soccer moms are buying the pay-per-view, and watching it at big parties and stuff,” White said.  “And this is how the night ends?  It’s just really disgusting and disappointing for me.”

--Peter Cowie / Wall Street Journal

“Fifty years ago this month, ‘Bullitt’ opened in the U.S. and became one of the most financially successful thrillers of all time, costing a mere $5.5 million and reaping a gross of $42.3 million – more than $300 million today – at the domestic box office. This story of a San Francisco detective on the trail of ruthless hit men marked the apotheosis of Steve McQueen as an action star....

“Still relishing his one and only Oscar nomination, for his role in ‘The Sand Pebbles,’ and just four months after appearing in ‘The Thomas Crown Affair,’ McQueen enjoyed a position of immense power.  His company, Solar Productions, controlled ‘Bullitt’ from start to finish, despite the film’s being financed by Warner Brothers/Seven Arts.

“McQueen himself selected British director Peter Yates, given his skill at staging the car chase in ‘Robbery’ the previous year.  And it was McQueen who spent interminable preparatory sessions at a track north of San Francisco, racing alongside and against Bill Hickman, a brilliant stunt driver whose Magnum Dodge Charger 440 sought to outrun police lieutenant Frank Bullitt’s Ford Mustang 390 GT in the now legendary pursuit through San Francisco. The 10-minute sequence took three weeks to record, with eight cameras involved (one operated by director Yates, hidden inside McQueen’s Mustang).

“What distinguished McQueen from other action stars before and since? His idol was Humphrey Bogart, but such major stars traditionally were forbidden from performing risky stunts. McQueen, however, almost relished putting himself in harm’s way.  Warners was appalled by the prospect of a live car chase in heavily populated San Francisco and by the scene when McQueen’s detective throws himself beneath the wheels of a taxiing Boeing 747 at San Francisco International Airport.  Only Jackie Chan and, more recently, Tom Cruise have inherited this flair and sangfroid....

“Today actors like Tom Hardy and Dwayne Johnson seek to fill the shoes of a McQueen, who had suffered a brutal death from cancer at just 50 years of age.

“You always felt that McQueen was the real deal, a rebel of flesh and blood with the carefree courage of an auto racer and the rumpled tenderness of a loner who had survived reform school and run away to join the merchant navy.  ‘I’m not an actor, I’m a reactor,’ he told Yates during the filming of ‘Bullitt,’ and yet his early training at the Actors Studio nurtured some of his most beguiling traits – the defiant gaze that could change in an instant to a clown’s split grin, or his habit of looking down as he listens and then raising his blue-eyed glare like a searchlight to quell even such a suave adversary as Edward G. Robinson in ‘The Cincinnati Kid.’

“McQueen’s talent as a driver onscreen also set him apart from all save perhaps the older Paul Newman. McQueen could outrun the Nazis on a motorcycle in ‘The Great Escape,’ and he could drive a Porsche 917 alongside Jacky Ickx and Jo Siffert for the 24-hour race in ‘Le Mans.’  He could ride a horse with aplomb and draw a six-gun as fast as any cowboy star (notably in ‘Nevada Smith’ and ‘The Magnificent Seven’)....

“ ‘Bullitt’ remains a benchmark in the crime-movie genre, and influenced such future classics as ‘The French Connection,’ ‘Heat,’ and especially the Jason Bourne franchise....

“(In) ‘Bullitt’ (McQueen) was the quintessence of cool.”

So true.  Steve McQueen was a bad-ass.  He died way too young in 1980 of what he felt was asbestos-related cancer, for which there was no cure.

McQueen had had a brush with potential death 12 years earlier when he was invited to the party at Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring’s house, when Charles Manson and his ‘family’ brutally murdered the two, both friends of McQueen’s, and three others.  McQueen was going to take his girlfriend to the party, but the girlfriend had other ideas for the evening.  McQueen’s name was later found on a ‘hit list’ of Manson’s, McQueen’s production company having rejected a script of Manson’s.

--From BBC News: “A rare white tiger has mauled a zookeeper to death in its enclosure at a zoo in Japan, officials said.

“The 40-year-old man was found bleeding from the neck in the tiger’s cage.  He was taken to hospital and pronounced dead.

“Officials believe he was attacked by one of the park’s four white tigers, media reports said....

“The attack took place late on Monday at the Hirakawa Zoological Park in the southern city of Kagoshima....

“In 2017, a British zookeeper was killed by a tiger in its enclosure in a Cambridgeshire zoo.”

--But wait...there’s more!

Also from the BBC:

“A British man has died after being bitten by a sea snake on a fishing trawler in Australia, police have said.

“The man, 23, had just pulled up a net off the coast of the Northern Territory when he was bitten on Thursday.

“Emergency crews were called to the boat...but were unable to save the man.

“It may be the first recorded death from a sea snake in Australia, according to researchers....

“Sea snakes are highly venomous, but because of their limited contact with humans, bites are relatively rare.

“Australia is home to 30 of 70 known species...

“Associate Prof. Bryan Fry, from University of Queensland, described it as a ‘tragically unlucky accident.’

“ ‘By and large they are very gentle animals, and people do go scuba diving with them all the time,’ he told the BBC.

“ ‘But in a fishing trawler situation, where they’ve been potentially dragged through the water in a net, they will come up injured and perhaps looking to lash out.’”

I mean picture you’re a sea snake, just hanging out with friends at the Coral Reef Bar and Grille, when you are suddenly whisked away and thrown onto a trawler.  ‘What the [blank]?!’ you’re thinking.  ‘This sucks.’

‘Sea Snake’ is No. 242 on the All-Species List.  ‘Man’ is 427.

--Finally, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced its latest list of nominees for induction and Todd Rundgren is among the first-timers on the ballot for the 2019 class. I hope he gets in.

The only time I visited the HOF in Cleveland was years ago and I’ll never forget being in the gift shop when it seemed like there was a ton of Rundgren music being pumped into the sound system.  I asked the clerk if there was any particular reason for this and she goes, “He’s in the building.”

Rundgren would be a most-deserving member of the club.

I also hope that the Zombies, given another chance, get in (but not likely).

The final list of inductees is announced sometime in December.

Top 3 songs for the week 10/14/78:  #1 “Kiss You All Over” (Exile) #2 “Hot Child In The City” (Nick Gilder)  #3 “Boogie Oogie Oogie” (A Taste Of Honey)...and...#4 “Don’t Look Back” (Boston)  #5 “Reminiscing” (Little River Band)  #6 “You Needed Me” (Anne Murray)  #7 “Love Is In The Air” (John Paul Young)  #8 “Whenever I Call You ‘Friend’” (Kenny Loggins)  #9 “Summer Nights” (John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John)  #10 “Hopelessly Devoted To You” (Olivia Newton-John...another blah week...)

NFL Quiz Answer: Eight to throw for seven touchdowns in a game.

Sid Luckman, 1943, Bears
Adrian Burk, 1954, Eagles
George Blanda, 1961, Houston Oilers
Y.A. Tittle, 1962, Giants
Joe Kapp, 1969, Vikings

Peyton Manning, 2013, Broncos
Nick Foles, 2013, Eagles
Drew Brees, 2015, Saints

Next Bar Chat, Monday.

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