NFL Quiz: Going back to 1932, only 5 running backs in NFL
history (including the AFL) have averaged 6 yards per carry, or
better, while leading the league. No one did it more than once.
Name the five. [Hint: One played in the 1930s and another in the
1950s. The other 3 are post-1960.] Answer below.
9/11/01
8:48 AM ET – American Airlines Flight 11 crashes into the north
tower of the World Trade Center
9:03 – United Airlines Flight 175 crashes into the south tower.
9:45 – American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon.
9:59 – The South Tower collapses.
10:10 – United Airlines Flight 93 crashes in Shanksville,
Pennsylvania.
10:28 – The North Tower collapses.
Stuart T. Meltzer, 32, grew up in Newton, Massachusetts and had
just begun his job at the WTC in August. He called his wife
from the 105th floor of the first building shortly after it was hit.
He said to her:
“Honey, something terrible is happening. I don’t think I am
going to make it. I love you. Take care of the children.”
[Boston Herald / New York Times]
CNN’s Larry King on September 12
King: Lorie Van Auken is in New York. Her husband Kenneth
is missing. He was working on the 102nd floor. What does he
do, Lorie?
Ms. Van Auken: He works for Cantor Fitzgerald. And he’s a
bond broker. And he was on the 102nd floor. And we just
haven’t heard anything at all.
King: Did you talk to him at all? Did he call home?
Van Auken: He called home. He left a message. And that’s the
last I heard from him…
King: Let’s listen to the voice of Kenneth Van Auken calling
home.
Kenneth Van Auken: I love you. I’m in the World Trade Center.
And the building was hit by something. I don’t know if I’m
going to get out. But I love you very much. I hope I’ll see you
later. Bye.
[New York Times, 9/16/01]
—
The World Trade Center…in better times
I saved a bunch of pieces from various publications following
9/11. For the 9/24/01 issue of Sports Illustrated, Steve Rushin
wrote a piece on Philippe Petit, who was shaken as anyone that
day. It’s hard to believe, but it was back on the morning of Aug.
7, 1974, that Petit gave us all a lift from the throes of Watergate.
Petit was just 27 years old at the time, “when he stepped off the
roof of the south tower and onto a cable less than an inch wide
that stretched, like a taut guitar string, 131 feet to the roof of the
north tower. It was rigged there, surreptitiously, with the aid of
accomplices disguised as carpenters and deliverymen, with whom
Petit had staked out the rooftops for months. For 45 minutes that
summer morning – 1,350 feet above a pedestrian plaza – Petit
walked the length of the cable seven times.” [Rushin]
Petit recalled shortly after 9/11, “I wanted to offer to Manhattan,
America and the world an image of the impossible. I wanted to
make a statement to move mountains and to show that the
impossible does not exist.”
After their initial anger, New York police let Petit off easy,
asking him to perform for a group of children in Central Park.
He was also given a lifetime pass to the observation deck atop
the south tower.
[Just two years later, George (the Human Fly) Willig scaled the
exterior of the south tower, from street level to the top, utilizing
the window-washing tracks.]
Petit reflected in the aftermath of the attack.
“There is a spot in the observation deck where you can face the
other tower and look down to the plaza below,” he told Rushin,
still speaking in the present tense. “In recent years I would often
stare out from that spot and have to convince myself – convince
myself – that I had made that walk, that the impossible does not
exist. Because I was finding it unbelievable that for those
minutes, years ago, I had been out there on a wire, dancing in the
sky.”
Petit has lived in New York all these years.
Stuff
–Those of you who have participated in a corporate golf outing
will get a kick out of this. Doug, who works with Trader
George, told me the other day that Nomura Securities was
holding an outing in the area and the folks setting it up didn’t
have any experience in such matters. So as the golfers
assembled this particular morning, someone asked about the
prizes.
“Prizes? What prizes?”
“You know, for longest drive, closest to the pin…”
Oops. Well the organizers thought they’d rectify the situation by
going to a local Century 21 real estate office that one of them had
an ‘in’ at and they came back with a coffee pot and toaster…for
prizes. Needless to say, the eventual winners weren’t smiling.
–Mark R. had a good point the other day, that being that Penn
State needs to abandon the Big Ten and move back to the Big
East. The school simply can’t recruit like it used to, with
Paterno’s age obviously hampering things, while the identity
with the conference is non-existent. Moving back to the Big East
would solve this issue, and salvage it as well. [Plus, Pitt-Penn
State is a great matchup.]
–Manchester United’s CEO is leaving to go to rival Chelsea, but
he’s required to take “garden leave,” which forces him to stay
away from work during a notice period. Garden leave…….
hmmmm….what about beer leave? “Where’s the editor?” “He’s
on beer leave.” “Oh…”
–Through Tuesday, the Detroit Tigers were 1-27 when playing
in front of 30,000 or more this season.
–Nice year, Eric Gagne of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Through
Tuesday, 50 of 50 in save opportunities and 126 strikeouts in just
73 2/3 innings. He deserves the Cy Young award as much as
anyone else in the league, that’s for sure.
–PGA Tour money list, with just about 6 tournaments left.
Davis Love III…$5,482,000
Tiger Shrubs….$5,228,000
Vijay Singh….$5,072,000
Jim Furyk…$4,725,000
Mike Weir…$4,670,000
49-year-old Jay Haas (Go Deacs!) is #10!
David Duval is #202, with winnings of $84,708 in 19
tournaments. Now for those of you not familiar with the tour,
this isn’t as much money as it seems (forgetting endorsements).
Living / travel expenses are huge, but more importantly, if you’re
Duval’s caddie, you’ve earned a whopping $8,470 or
thereabouts, with tour expenses of between $15-$20,000. Doh!
[True, you’d hope that Duval is also paying his guy a little salary
as well. Nonetheless, a miserable year for all involved.]
–There are persistent rumors that the New Jersey Nets will be
sold to a group that would move the team to Brooklyn or Long
Island. [I still think my idea of long ago (actually, Harvey
Araton’s), sharing Madison Square Garden, is the best.] The
alternative is for the Nets to get state aid and renovate their
current home, Continental Airlines Arena. But you know how
taxpayers feel these days about deals of this kind, so it shouldn’t
come as a great surprise that in a Star-Ledger poll, 61% of New
Jersey residents say they wouldn’t miss the Nets at all if they
moved.
–Last chat I noted that Johnny Mac and I agreed that Tim
Duncan could be Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsman of the Year.”
But Johnny did have a good second pick, golfer Tom Watson.
After all, Watson has played in all the majors this year, both on
the regular and senior tours, winning two of the latter while being
highly competitive in the former, even at the age of 53. And at
the same time you have his highly publicized, and touching,
friendship with caddie Bruce Edwards, who is dying of ALS.
The more I think of this, Johnny, you may have hit on the
winner.
[Then again, J. Mac says we could also just give it to Lebron
James for picking up a $100 million + before playing a single
game in the NBA.]
–Ohio State’s Maurice Clarett has now been formally charged
with falsifying the police report he filed on the theft of items
from a car he was driving. Look for him in the NFL next season!
–I caught about 30 minutes of ESPN’s “Playmakers” the other
night (my first time watching it). Boy, this show sucks. Back to
the Food Channel for this guy.
–Get this…there are 1.5 million alligators in Louisiana; 500,000
more than in Florida. I mean to tell you, that’s a lot of killers on
the loose. Meanwhile, Georgia has 200,000 and is about to
launch its first recreational hunt. However, only 180 permits
have been handed out and each is allowed to catch a single
dinosaur. You also can’t shoot free-swimming gators, only those
you first capture. I’m beginning to think that the lack of activity
on the bear front in New Jersey may have something to do with
the fact that our bruins could, emphasize ‘could,’ be receiving
guerrilla training in bayou country. That’s my new story and I’m
sticking to it.
–Early buyers of Warren Zevon’s “The Wind” up in heaven.
Ben Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, General Omar Bradley, Orville &
Wilbur Wright, Mozart, Dean Martin, Robert Frost, George
Harrison, Robespierre, and Dennis Wilson. [Wilson was really
messed up when he went to the counter.] Seen in the long line,
Sammy Davis Jr. and Ty Cobb.
[I was just informed there is no way Cobb is in heaven.]
–Did you see the prize money for the bass fishing tournament
that started on Wednesday in Richmond? $1.5 million; $500,000
to the winner. Damn…I knew I got into the wrong business.
–Britney Spears, idiot, on sharing her kiss with Madonna. “This
is seriously something I thought about since I was a little girl. I
cannot believe this just, like, freakin’ happened! I’m, like, on a
very major high right now. I feel very cool!” [Newsweek]
–I don’t understand the excitement over a Simon and Garfunkel
reunion tour because in case you haven’t noticed, Simon doesn’t
have a voice anymore. He might as well make like Richard
Harris and just talk the words. Listen to the greatest hits, instead.
–A good friend of mine, who lived around the block as I was
growing up, had a little brother I was also friends with, Freddy
Cornog…now known as F.M. Cornog. But I haven’t seen him in
about 20 years. Anyway, the name may be familiar to some of
you who follow the current music scene. In a review of his new
L.P., “Garbageheads on Endless Stun,” the Star-Ledger’s
reviewer wrote that “Cornog is a songwriter / producer in the
vein of Brian Wilson.” Wow. Good for you, Freddy. I’m off to
get the album.
Top 3 songs for the week of 9/14/68: #1 “People Got To Be
Free” (The Rascals) #2 “Harper Valley P.T.A.” (Jeannie C.
Riley) #3 “Light My Fire” (Jose Feliciano…someone else had
to; he’s blind, after all)
NFL Quiz Answers: Running backs averaging 6 yards per carry
while leading the league.
Barry Sanders, 6.1…2,053 yards / 1997
O.J. Simpson, 6.0…2,003 / 1973
Jim Brown, 6.4…1,863 / 1963
Joe Perry (San Fran), 6.1…1,049 / 1954
Beattie Feathers (Chicago), 8.4…1,004 / 1934. Feathers was the
first to rush for 1,000 yards. I’ve noted this before, but he was at
Wake Forest when I was there, assisting the football team. I
wish I knew as much about his career as I do now. It would have
been fun talking to him.
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday.
