Buffalo Bills Quiz (1960-2003): 1) What four years was the
team in the Super Bowl? 2) Who replaced Marv Levy as coach?
3) Who was the Bills’ first round draft pick in 1970 who also
went to the same school as O.J. Simpson, 1969’s top pick? 4)
Who holds the record for most passing yards, season? 5) Who is
the only Bills receiver to catch 100 passes in a single season? 6)
What two are tied with most TDs, career? Answers below.
Waxed
Well, hopefully some of you who aren’t the greatest golf fans
nonetheless caught a bit of the Ryder Cup, though if this was
your first exposure you’ll probably never watch again. For the
first time since it became a big deal the action was dreadful; that
is if you like a close competition regardless of who wins.
I correctly picked the Europeans to take it and some of my pieces
the past few weeks were bang on, frankly, especially in
discussing world rankings and past Cups.
But no one foresaw the U.S. getting waxed the way it did, 18 ½
to 9 ½. So a few random thoughts.
–The Ryder Cup can define careers; maybe even elevate some
like Chris DiMarco and Chad Campbell for the U.S. this year.
And any golf fan will forever remember that Colin Montgomerie,
whatever his many faults, is the greatest Ryder Cup performer of
all time (now 19-8-5), especially given the intensity of the
matches today compared to earlier years.
–Johnny Miller had his usual number of great comments and I
loved one of his quirkier ones, even if it was in jest; that being
that Canada’s Mike Weir ought to be allowed to play for the U.S.
If a Canadian is in the top twenty in the world rankings as of the
cut-off date, why not?
–I love Bernhard Langer, one of the great competitors of all
time. No one epitomizes cool like he does. Unless you’re
talking Darren Clarke. Every guy would love to just go out and
have a few pints with him. [Or tool around in one of his
Ferraris.]
–Hal Sutton said it best about Phil Mickelson and his incredibly
selfish decision to change clubs right before the competition.
“We all want answers to that, but the most important person
that’s going to have to wonder about that is Phil Mickelson.”
Anyone who’s even played just a few rounds a year and has
changed clubs knows it makes a difference. Phil went down a
notch in my book.
–But related to the above is the simple fact that coaches may not
win the Cup, but they can help lose it and Sutton’s decision to
pair Tiger and Phil was totally idiotic. Every golf fan knew this
was dumb.
–I was set to praise Chris Riley after his win with Tiger, then
we all learned how he backed out of the afternoon matches.
George Willis of the New York Post put it best. Riley”s action
“was an insult to all those players who would have loved to make
the Ryder Cup team.”
–Ryder Cup records: Tiger 8-11-2, Mickelson 9-10-3, Love
9-10-5.
–I’m happy for my friends in Ireland. When I was over there a
few weeks ago they were on pins and needles, hoping Paul
McGinley would make the team. Well, the little lad came
through again.
–Cliché Alert…cliché alert…one of the real winners this week
was Oakland Hills.
–Lastly, the U.S. didn’t just choke, they sucked.
Stuff
–Emmy Awards: Gotta tell ya, I was a little surprised Cynthia
Nixon won. That was an enlightened pick. And good to see
Michael Imperioli take Best Supporting Actor.
But all of us “Deadwood” supporters still can’t believe Ian
McShane didn’t even get a nomination.
Hey, Misty May was in the audience! Otherwise, the Emmys were
dreadful.
–Brian Wilson’s long lost “Smile” album is about to be released.
You’ll recall this was supposed to be the follow-up to “Pet
Sounds,” but for a variety of reasons it was never recorded.
Following is a little history from Peter Ames Carlin in the
August / September issue of American Heritage.
“As fall 1966 turned to winter 1967, word of the wonders of
‘Smile’ spread from the L.A. rock elite to the New York offices
of CBS News, which asked Brian to appear on a Leonard
Bernstein special about contemporary music. Sitting alone at his
piano, he played ‘Surf’s Up’ and left even Bernstein sounding
awed. ‘Poetic, beautiful even in its obscurity,’ he decreed,
calling Brian ‘one of today’s most important musicians.’
“But the executives at Capitol noted the relatively humble sales
of ‘Pet Sounds’ (it had stalled at number 10 among albums) and
heard Brian’s new sound as a threat to the Beach Boys industry.
The ‘Smile’ work-in-progress only made them anxious. Where
were the good-time songs, the pitch-perfect odes to young love,
the hits? Mike Love, always the most market-conscious Beach
Boy, expressed contempt for the abstruse lyrics that had replaced
his simple teen narratives. ‘You’re blowing it, Brian,’ he said at
the end of one contentious recording session. ‘don’t f— with the
formula.’
“Brian Wilson’s pursuit of the frontier was suddenly being
opposed by the very corporate structure it had created, and at the
hands of his family too. Moreover, he discovered that Capitol
Records, apparently in league with Murry Wilson (Brian, Carl
and Dennis’s father), was cheating the band out of a significant
percentage of its royalties. The group, then in the midst of
setting up its own music imprint with Capitol, filed a lawsuit,
which drained energy and time from the ‘Smile’ sessions. To
make matters even worse, Carl Wilson, who had just turned 18,
was being prosecuted by the government for evading the draft.
And Dennis Wilson, in the throes of his first divorce, was diving
headlong into a swamp of women, drugs, and alcohol.
“All these worries strained Brian’s fragile psyche. Earlier
displays of eccentricity that had seemed harmless – placing his
piano in a sandbox so he could feel the beach while he worked,
insisting that business meetings be conducted in his pool – took
on the cast of paranoia. He became convinced his house was
bugged, and when the recording of a ‘Smile’ track titled ‘Fire’
coincided with a rash of real fires in downtown L.A., he decided
his music had somehow been responsible.
“In June 1967 he pulled the band out of its Saturday-night spot at
the Monterey Pop Festival, originally planned as the live debut of
the new ‘Smile’ material. Jimi Hendrix, whose electrifying
performance cemented his reputation, declared at the climax of
his show, ‘You’ll never hear surf music again!’ A few weeks
later Brian Wilson threw away his set of ‘Smile’ tapes and swore
the album would never be released.”
But after all these years it is. However, Wilson has reworked the
tunes and the finished product received rave reviews in a series of
concerts in Britain earlier in the year. Verlyn Klinkenborg of the
New York Times, though, weighed in recently with a different
angle.
“Audiences have celebrated this new version of ‘Smile’ as much
for the survival of Brian Wilson – his recovery from years of
mental and emotional illness – as for the music. Everyone loves
a therapeutic tale. But these versions of long-familiar songs add
nothing to what we have already heard. The new lyrics for
‘Good Vibrations’ grate on my ears, as does the absence of those
old essential voices.”
Uh oh. Didn’t know he changed some lyrics.
–Johnny Ramone, leader of the Ramones, died the other day at
55 of prostate cancer. He is the third of the four in the group to
have passed away in just the past three years. Joey (Jeffrey
Hyman) died of cancer in 2001 and Dee Dee (Douglas Colvin)
had a drug overdose in ’02. Only drummer Tommy (Tom
Erdely) survives.
Johnny was born John Cummings and formed the group in 1974
in Forest Hills, Queens. They began playing regular gigs at
CBGB’s in Manhattan and are responsible for creating the punk
sound. Their sets were seldom longer than 30 minutes, chaotic
and riotous. Yet despite success on the concert circuit, the
Ramones never had a top 40 hit, though their legions of fans
would consider tunes like “I Wanna Be Sedated” and “Blitzkrieg
Bop” as classics. And it’s a measure of respect that fellow rock
stars Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist
John Frusciante and hard-rocker Rob Zombie were at Johnny
Ramone’s bedside when his end came.
And did you know that after seeing the band in Asbury Park,
N.J., Bruce Springsteen wrote “Hungry Heart” for the Ramones?
Springsteen’s manager convinced Bruce to keep the song for
himself. Good idea.
Johnny Ramone was a big-time conservative and during the
band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, he
grabbed the microphone to proclaim “God bless President Bush
and God bless America.”
The New York Post’s Andrea Peyser had the following thoughts
on Friday.
“Growing up in Queens in the ‘70s was a little like death, except
less interesting….
“And then, the Ramones happened….
“As it turns out, these street punks with downwardly mobile
pretensions were a complete bunch of phonies. But then who
wasn’t?
“The Ramones didn’t hail from gritty Long Island City, as we
initially believed, but from middle-class Forest Hills. They
played guitar – badly. They delivered their lyrics in a single
note….
“But the Ramones offered something to the kids of Queens that
we’d never before experienced. Tyrannized by rigid social
conformity and deadened by hair bands, we had no idea that our
innate nihilism was something to celebrate…
“They sang ‘I wanna be sedated,’ but never rapped about
blowing someone’s brains out….
“The Ramones were born in the cafeteria of Forest Hills HS, the
day Johnny met a boy who would become Tommy Ramone…
Back then, these boys could not possibly have known that they
would influence every decent band to follow.
“And they never got rich. Maybe they weren’t such phonies,
after all.”
–I missed the Miss America pageant, except for stumbling on it
during the swimsuit competition (good timing, eh?). So I see
Miss Kansas, Megan Bushell, and I’m thinking what a great
name for someone coming from a major wheat producer.
–The Philadelphia Orchestra is threatening to go on strike and I
found it interesting how much the musicians are currently paid.
Minimum salary is $105,000…with a defined benefit pension
plan that guarantees $55,000 per year on retirement. [Regarding
the latter, the orchestra wants to drastically cut this back and
make it a defined contribution one.] Not too shabby, I think
you’d agree. Of course just like with pro athletes, only a handful
of musicians make it to the very top.
–The other day I noted that Detroit Lions QB Joey Harrington
was a cousin of golfer Padraig Harrington and Mark R. called my
attention to the fact Padraig (and Joey) each have another famous
cousin, poker player Dan Harrington. It’s true.
–There is still some question as to when New Jersey may hold
its next bear hunt, but September 30 is the deadline for
submitting applications. So if you’re interested, you can check
out one of Ted Nugent’s sites to download one. (tnusanj.com)
–Lt. Col. Jack Bolt died. Colonel Bolt was the only Marine pilot
to be an ace in both World War II and the Korean War, shooting
down six Japanese Zero fighters in the Solomon Islands during
the Black Sheep Squadron’s campaign from late 1943 to early
1944. [Five kills qualifies one as an ace.] Bolt then downed six
Soviet-built MIGs in Korea.
–You know, nothing should surprise anyone with regards to the
Kobe Bryant case, but some of what was obtained by Sports
Illustrated is still deeply disturbing. From the sealed documents
we learn:
“As the officers and Bryant made small talk while walking to his
room, Bryant told them he would pay his accuser to make the
charges go away because ‘I’m in the worst f—— situation.’”
“During the interview Bryant told police about ‘a girl in Virginia
named Michelle’ with whom he said he had had a consensual
relationship.”
Bryant also fingered another NBA player in telling police he
should have paid the woman to keep quiet, something this other,
still unidentified guy did.
–The other day, Texas Rangers shortstop Michael Young hit his
20th home run of the season, joining infield teammates Hank
Blalock, Alfonso Soriano and Mark Teixeira as just the second
infield in baseball history to have four with 20 or more home
runs in the same season. The other was the 1940 Boston Red
Sox… 1B Jimmie Foxx, 2B Bobby Doerr, SS Joe Cronin, 3B Jim
Tabor.
–Not exactly a scintillating Yankees – Red Sox series this
weekend.
–25-year-old Steven Williams was the fan who caught Barry
Bonds’s 700th home run. As reported by the New York Daily
News, “The ball rolled right in front of Williams while he was
flat on the ground in the scrum. ‘I’m looking around, all of a
sudden I see this white thing flying through the sky…It’s not
going to eBay. It’s worth whatever somebody will pay for it.’”
Bonds needed more at-bats to reach 700 (9,063) than Ruth
(8,169) but not as many as Aaron (11,145).
Many of us are rather depressed these days as Bonds approaches
the Babe. Johnny Mac gives us some hope, though, by noting that
Bonds could always come down with flesh-eating disease this
coming off-season.
But for the last word, for now, we go to Sports Illustrated’s Rick
Reilly, not exactly a big Bonds fan. For his latest column Reilly
tried to force himself to say something good about Barry. A few
excerpts:
“It won’t be easy. Bonds is a suspected steroid cheat, has the
personality of an unfed water buffalo and treats his teammates
like Jehovah’s Witnesses at the door. He is three of my least
favorite people…
“Barry Bonds is in miraculous shape. At 40 he still takes fewer
nights off than a 7-Eleven. Do you realize he’ll be the first 40-
plus outfielder to play more than 120 games in a season in almost
60 years? So what if he has the range of an Avis bus?
“Let’s see…Barry Bonds is not a phony. The other day a New
York Times reporter asked him if he’d ever hit a home run like
the one he hit the other night, a pop-up that left Coors Field.
‘I’ve been doing this since before you even thought about f——-
writing,’ Bonds growled, and walked off. Hey, at least he’s not a
suck-up. Bonds could fake nice and make another $20 million a
year in endorsements, but he doesn’t. He is who he is.”
–Also last week, Randy Johnson became the all-time strikeout
leader among left-handed pitchers. Johnson, with 4,139,
surpassed Steve Carlton’s 4,136. Roger Clemens (4,297) and
Nolan Ryan (5,714) are ahead of Johnson. [Not for nothing, but
Clemens is now 18-4.]
–The Arizona Diamondbacks are 47-103.
–Johnny Mac and I can”t believe the performance of Minnesota
pitcher Johan Santana, who started out the season 2-4 and is
now 19-6…with his two losses in this awesome stretch being by
2-0 and 2-1.
–College Football Review
Nothing earth shattering this week, unless you consider Auburn’s
10-9 win over defending co-champion LSU a huge upset…which
it wasn’t.
But we have a new bandwagon to climb aboard…NAVY! 3-0!
Seats are limited.
And one note concerning Rutgers, which beat Kent State but lost
to New Hampshire the week before. New Hampshire lost this
weekend to William & Mary.
The biggest story in college ball may have been the performance
of UCLA sophomore running back Maurice Drew who rushed
for a school-record 322 yards in the Bruins’ 37-31 win over
Washington. The only other UCLA back to rush for 300?
DeShaun Foster, 2001, also against Washington. [DeShaun lit it
up for the Panthers this weekend.]
Consensus top five in the polls.
1. USC
2. Oklahoma
3. Georgia
4. Miami
5. Texas
–NASCAR: Nextel Cup title chase…Kurt Busch won round one.
–Regarding the NHL lockout…some facts.
The last time the owners locked the players out, 1994, the
average salary was $572,000. Today it’s $1.83 million.
–Pamela Anderson is teaching Sunday school….DEVELOPING…
–Harry K. passed along this tidbit from The Australian.
“Two men and one woman, driving in two pickup trucks through
(a Thai national park), encountered a herd of more than 10 wild
elephants, looking for food on the side of the road…
“The drivers stopped and waited for the herd to pass, but the
agitated elephants surrounded them and used their legs to attack
the vehicles.”
The vehicles were damaged but the occupants were not harmed.
When wardens arrived, the elephants had retreated. I have to tell
you, this sounds a little like classic Stonewall Jackson strategy;
hit and run tactics designed to demoralize the enemy. These
pachyderms will no doubt continue up the valley, wreaking
havoc at will.
–A few years before their deaths, June Carter Cash and Johnny
agreed that when they were gone some of their memorabilia
would be auctioned off by Sotheby’s. The event was held last
week and the proceeds far exceeded anyone’s expectations, $4
million in total, including $187,000 for a Grammy Award that
had been valued earlier at just $5-$7,000. And Johnny’s last
driver’s license went for $5,500.
Top 3 songs for the week of 9/20/69: #1 “Sugar, Sugar” (The
Archies) #2 “Honky Tonk Woman” (The Rolling Stones) #3
“Green River” (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
Buffalo Bills Quiz Answers: 1) The Bills were in the Super
Bowl 1990-93. 2) Wade Phillips replaced Marv Levy and went
29-19, 1998-2000. 3) O.J.’s buddy Al Cowlings (DE / USC) was
the team’s 1st round pick in 1970. 4) Drew Bledsoe has the most
passing yards, season, with 4,359 in 2002. 5) Eric Moulds
caught 100 passes in ‘02. 6) Andre Reed and Thurman Thomas
each had 87 touchdowns with the Bills.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday. Gettysburg. [Don’t worry, I’m not
going to retell the whole battle, just a little since I’m heading
there.]
