New York Mets Quiz: 1) Name the 4 Mets that won the rookie
of the year award. 2) Name the 3 whose uniform is retired. 3)
Who is the only N.L. RBI champ? 4) Name the 5 who were 20-
game winners. 5) Who are the only 2 to hit 40 home runs? 6)
Who am I? I led the N.L. in ERA in 1978. 7) Who is the team
leader in hits in a single season? 8) Who is the career leader in
losses? 9) Who am I? I managed the club for 7 games in 1991.
Answers below.
**Congratulations to Jim Furyk. A great U.S. Open champion.
**And congrats to San Antonio, Tim Duncan and David Robinson.
More on this story Thursday; the Jason Kidd angle.
David Brinkley
Brinkley was a terrific writer. On “This Week,” the Sunday
news show he did for 15 years, he had a closing commentary,
which I thought I’d give you a little flavor of.
1/12/92
“Why did President Bush get sick in Tokyo? This must have had
something to do with it:
“He left Washington, flew to Texas, hunted quail by day and ate
barbecue by night and drank beer in a dance hall.
“Then a ten-hour flight to Hawaii, two miles of jogging before
another nine hours to Australia and then into a boat to watch
fireworks. In the morning, jogging again, shaking hands and
signing autographs.
“Then to Canberra for ceremonies, back south to Melbourne,
then back north to hot, steamy Singapore. A press conference in
the tropical sun, two speeches, a visit to a school and a state
dinner.
“Then to Seoul, South Korea, where it was freezing. To the
tennis court. Next, breakfast with businessmen, meetings, a joint
press conference, a speech to the National Assembly. And a visit
to the American troops and back to Seoul for a state dinner.
“In Japan, from the Osaka airport by helicopter to Kyoto and
some kind of game called kemari. Now a visit to the ancient
throne room, where he looked as if he’d like to sit on it. He
opened a toy store, took a helicopter back to Osaka and then flew
to Tokyo, where at dinner he passed out.
“Not surprising he passed out. It was surprising that he got up.”
4/28/85
“In the 1930s the North Carolina legislature had a bill before it
saying the theory of evolution could not be taught in the state
schools. One member who opposed it defeated it by saying,
‘This bill’s only purpose is to relieve the monkeys of their
responsibility for the human race.’ Well, he was a small-town
lawyer named Sam Ervin. Later he came to Washington, to the
Senate, carrying the King James Version of the Bible and the
Constitution, having memorized both, and he quoted both of
them frequently. He presided over the Watergate hearing that led
to Richard Nixon’s resignation, and then he retired and went
back to his law practice in Morganton, North Carolina, where
this week he died. And a very large crowd turned out to honor
him. A few years ago I went down to do a little interview with
him in his law office, which was in his house. It had high
ceilings, very high, maybe 18 feet, and Ervin’s law library
shelves went all the way up to the ceiling. I said, ‘Senator, what
would you do with a law case that requires you to climb up to get
books on the top shelf?’ He said, ‘I wouldn’t take the case.’”
[Source: “Everyone Is Entitled to My Opinion,” David Brinkley.
I picked up this book a number of years ago and hadn’t opened it
since. But I have to tell you, this is a collection of his closing
commentaries and it’s the perfect beach book. Buy it. You
won’t be disappointed. The paperback edition is published by
Ballantine.]
Nothing But Music
You all know my passion for 60s music, best defined by the era
’64-’73. Well did you catch the list put out by VH1 of the 100
best tunes of the last 25 years? As Johnny Mac was commenting
to me, you could pick the 100 best from any single year of the
60s and come up with a better one.
Following are the Top Twenty in the VH1 poll.
1. Nirvana, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
2. Michael Jackson, “Billie Jean” [Barf]
3. Guns N’ Roses, “Sweet Child O’ Mine”
4. Eminem, “Lose Yourself”
5. U2, “One”
6. Run-D.M.C., “Walk This Way” [Ya gotta be kiddin’ me.]
7. Prince, “When Doves Cry” [“1999” far superior.]
8. Whitney Houston, “I Will Always Love You” [Who,
Bobby Brown?]
9. The Police, “Every Breath You Take” [Sucks]
10. Madonna, “Like A Virgin” [Oh, c’mon.]
11. Van Halen, “Jump”
12. Alanis Morissette, “You Oughta Know” [No I don’t.]
13. TLC, “Waterfalls”
14. Sinead O’Connor, “Nothing Compares 2 U” [“Don’t let
the bastards get you down.” –Kris Kristofferson]
15. Pink Floyd, “Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)” [This
is simply dreadful. Perhaps the most overrated tune of all
time.]
16. No Doubt, “Don’t Speak”
17. Def Leppard, “Photogragh”
18. R.E.M., “Losing My Religion”
19. Public Enemy, “Fight The Power” [Whatever.]
20. AC/DC, “You Shook Me All Night Long”
The rest of the list is equally bad, except they do have Lenny
Kravitz’s “Are You Gonna Go My Way?” at #50, a decent pick.
Now contrast this to 1965, which I picked at random. Following
are 22 songs from that year that made it to #1 on the Billboard
charts (out of a total of 28…I couldn’t get it down to 20).
The Beatles, “I Feel Fine”
The Supremes, “Come See About Me”
Petula Clark, “Downtown”
The Righteous Brothers, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling”
The Temptations, “My Girl”
The Beatles, “Eight Days A Week”
The Supremes, “Stop! In The Name Of Love”
Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders, “Game Of Love”
Herman’s Hermits, “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got A Lovely
Daughter”
The Beatles, “Ticket To Ride”
The Beach Boys, “Help Me, Rhonda”
Four Tops, “I Can’t Help Myself”
The Byrds, “Mr. Tambourine Man”
The Rolling Stones, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”
Sonny & Cher, “I Got You Babe”
The Beatles, “Help”
Barry McGuire, “Eve Of Destruction”
The Dave Clark Five, “Over And Over”
The Beatles, “Yesterday”
The Rolling Stones, “Get Off Of My Cloud”
The Byrds, “Turn! Turn! Turn!”
Simon & Garfunkel “Sounds Of Silence”
I rest my case.
But you know what? I’ll tell you who came up with a great Top
100 list, CMT, Country Music Television. Here is the Top 20
from this one.
1. Tammy Wynette, “Stand By Your Man” (’68)
2. George Jones, “He Stopped Loving Her Today” (’80)
3. Patsy Cline, “Crazy” (’62)
4. Johnny Cash, “Ring Of Fire” (’63)
5. Hank Williams, “Your Cheatin’ Heart” (’53)
6. Garth Brooks, “Friends In Low Places” (’90)
7. Patsy Cline, “I Fall To Pieces” (’61)
8. Glen Campbell, “Galveston” (’69)
9. Charlie Rich, “Behind Closed Doors” (’73)
10. Waylon & Willie, “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies
Grow Up To Be Cowboys” (’78)
11. Earl Scruggs, “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” (’80)
12. George Strait, “Amarillo By Morning” (’83)
13. Loretta Lynn, “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (’70)
14. Garth Brooks, “The Dance” (’90)
15. Randy Travis, “Forever And Ever, Amen” (’87)
16. Dolly Parton, “I Will Always Love You” (’74)
17. Conway Twitty, “Hello Darlin’” (’70)
18. John Denver, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” (’71)
19. Hank Williams, “Hey, Good Lookin’” (’51)
20. Soggy Bottom Boys, “I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow”
(originally recorded 1922)
You know what I like about this list? Country music folks have
a real sense of history. Of course you can complain about a few
of these selections, but as a whole it’s a brilliant group. Here are
my minor problems, however.
What the heck is “Galveston” doing here? “By The Time I Get
To Phoenix” and “Wichita Lineman” are superior Glen Campbell
tunes and neither is in the Top 100.
And you could question John Denver being there, but I don’t.
It’s a great tune. Here’s the surprising thing, though. “Take Me
Home…” never charted higher than #50 on the country charts!!!
It was a #2 pop hit.
One other note. “Crazy” peaked at #2.
Stuff
–June is National Milk Month. Actually, it’s “June Dairy
Month,” but here at Bar Chat we prefer the original label from
back in 1937. Anyway, I was perusing my High Plains Journal
(the New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma edition), and discovered that
the first cows were brought to Jamestown, VA in 1611.
And I bet you didn’t know this. Due to improvements in
production methods, the amount of milk per cow over the past
100 years has improved from 1,700 quarts to 8,450 quarts per
year. Now take that fact down to the local Dairy Queen and see
if you can win a sundae or something off the poor schlep in line
next to you. Then again, depending on the community it’s
located in, you could get your face bashed in.
–Looks like the ACC expansion drive has stalled in a big way.
Not only are Duke and UNC against, but now Virginia is
waffling (thanks to political pressure from the governor due to
the fact that both UVA and Virginia Tech are involved). The
ACC needs a 7-2 vote among its university presidents for the move
to proceed, but then the action could be tied in the courts for
years.
–So I’ve followed the Rick Neuheisel situation and for the life of
me I can’t believe what a corrupt SOB this guy is. Neuheisel, the
football coach at the University of Washington, was just fired for
betting on college basketball, specifically NCAA tournament
pools. All coaches are forbidden from gambling on college or
professional sports under NCAA rules, but Neuheisel won
$20,000 in a 2002 pool with his friends. Now the coach is
claiming there was an internal university memo that allowed this
behavior, and indeed, there is a foggy one, but he knew that was
for $3 or $5 bets, not the thousands he put up. What makes the
situation worse is that Neuheisel has a history of lying at
previous schools. [I hope I didn’t just lose my considerable
readership in Seattle.]
–Regarding my stories from the ABA last chat, Jimmy D.
recalled that Brent Musberger did the play-by-play for the
Virginia Squires. Jimmy assured me he was just as awful back
then as he is today.
–StocksandNews summer safety tip….another free exclusive.
When caught in a rip current, remember to swim parallel to the
shore to get out of it.
Rip currents recently took 8 lives in 24 hours along the Florida
Panhandle and nationwide claim about 100 a year.
–If you live out west, you don’t need me to tell you that insects
are a huge problem, thanks to the drought. Mormon crickets are
the big issue in Nevada, Utah and southern Idaho, according to
USA Today. Then you have bark beetles in California and
Arizona that are weakening trees, making them more vulnerable
to wildfires. And there are the grasshopper infestations.
But wait until next year, sports fans, because the 17-year Cicada
is coming! Aaghhhhhhh!
–Davis Love III update: I noted recently that Love’s wife’s
brother-in-law, under investigation for stealing Love’s money,
had killed himself, with Davis discovering the body. Now more
information has become available and it turns out that Jeffrey
Knight had been approached by the FBI one week before, with
an agent telling Knight, who was one of Love’s business
managers, that they knew he had stolen $1 million from one of
Davis’s accounts.
Love has handled the whole situation with class and compassion,
taking Knight’s two kids and widow into his household.
But there is one aspect to this story that pertains somewhat to one
of my topics above, that being the fact that when Davis found
Knight’s body, a country song about a final farewell played in
repeat mode on a CD player next to him. No word on the title.
[Source: Sports Illustrated]
–Hey art lovers. Did you see that Rembrandt might have died
after complications from trying to pierce his ear? A medical
doctor has concluded that Rembrandt’s self portraits, which
reveal a deformed left ear lobe, provide the evidence. [Source:
BBC News]
–Gregory Peck’s biggest regret was in turning down “High
Noon.” I watched “To Kill A Mockingbird” this weekend.
Damn, that’s a great flick, and as my brother said, “It’s timeless.”
–A lot of us can’t stand Roger Clemens, but you have to hand it
to him. 300 wins and 4,000 strikeouts are awesome. But now
he’s already making waves over his eventual selection to the Hall
of Fame, which will come in 2009, assuming he retires after this
season as planned. Clemens said he will not attend the ceremony
if he isn’t allowed to go in as a Yankee. The Hall gets to select
which team a player will be identified with.
–John Tierney had a piece in the Sunday Times titled “Why
Don’t Women Watch Women’s Sports?” Two facts:
The audience for this year’s NCAA Women’s Hoop Final was 57
percent male.
Of those watching Annika at Colonial last month, 65 percent
were men.
Tierney quotes Stacey Pressman, a columnist for ESPN.com.
“I’m bored out of my skull at women’s basketball games. I
prefer a few women’s events, like tennis, but I refuse to be
politically correct about basketball. I’m sorry, but 40 minutes of
underhanded layups is not entertaining.”
–Bears are coming closer and closer to killing someone in New
Jersey. Just a few days ago, a mother was upstairs with one of
her two kids when a bear barged in through the kitchen door.
Luckily, her 7-year-old that was downstairs made it up. The
three then locked themselves in until police were called. The
bear was killed.
Harry K. reminds me, boys and girls, that black bear scat is full
of partly digested berries, while grizzly bear scat is full of little
bells and smells of pepper spray.
–Coyotes are now all over New Jersey. In fact, one famous golf
course that has been the scene for many a U.S. Open has more
than a few families of them running around.
In Toronto, Harry K. tells me that coyotes have been terrorizing
joggers, with 4 having been attacked in the past few months. He
says they are attracted by the booming skunk and raccoon
population, as well as tethered lapdogs; what Harry calls ‘food-
on-a-rope.’
Top 3 songs for the week of 6/17/78: #1 “Shadow Dancing”
(Andy Gibb) #2 “You’re The One That I Want” (John Travolta
& Olivia Newton-John) #3 “Baker Street” (Gerry Rafferty…
interestingly, this song was #2 for 6 weeks, never attaining the
top spot…and it has one of the great openings of any tune, but I
always thought the rest was so-so. That’s my opinion, and I’m
sticking to it)
New York Mets Quiz Answers: 1) Rookies of the year: Tom
Seaver, ’67; Jon Matlack, ’72; Darryl Strawberry, ’83; Dwight
Gooden, ’84. 2) Retired uniform #’s: Gil Hodges, #14; Casey
Stengel, #37; Tom Seaver, #41. 3) RBI champ: Howard
Johnson, 117, ’91. 4) 20-game winners: Tom Seaver (’69,
’71,’72, ’75); Jerry Koosman, ’76; Dwight Gooden, ’85; David
Cone, ’88; Frank Viola, ’90. 5) 40 HR: Todd Hundley, ’96 (41);
Mike Piazza, ’99 (40). 6) Craig Swan led the N.L. in ERA in
’78, 2.43. Swan was only 9-6 in 28 starts, but the team was a
horrendous 66-96. 7) Lance Johnson had 227 hits in 1996. 8)
Jerry Koosman is the career leader in losses with 137 (140-137).
Seaver was 198-124 in a Mets uniform. 9) Mike Cubbage
managed the team to a 3-4 record in ’91.
Mets Tidbits
–Hobie Landrith was the 1st player taken in the expansion draft,
Oct. 1961. He went 13 for 45, .289, to open the ’62 campaign
before being traded to Baltimore.
–Don Zimmer was 4 for 52, .077, in ’62.
–As the Mets were winning the Series in ’69, they went 24-6
against the Expos and Padres, two expansion teams that year.
–And on a different topic, from Lawrence Rocca of the Star-
Ledger comes this tidbit. Pitcher Rod Beck, one of the top
closers in the game the last ten years, was trying to make a
comeback with the Cubs Triple-A Iowa club. Beck was living in
a Winnebago outside the stadium and he routinely opened it up
to fans after the game, where he shared beers with them. Mr.
Beck, you have just been placed in the Bar Chat Hall of
Fame…site for which is still to be determined. Beck also is back
in the majors, with the Padres.
“24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think
not.”
–Stephen Wright……………..via Mike H.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
