Oakland Raiders Quiz (1960-2003): 1) What year did John
Madden take over as coach? 2) Rushing, career? 3)
Interceptions, career? [Two tied with 39…both pre-1990] 4)
Passing TDs, season? 5) TDs, career? 6) Rushing, game? [Hint:
227 yards] 7) Passing, game? [This is ridiculously hard, 1964.]
Answers below.
*Bonus Question: What year did the NFL adopt the 16-game
schedule?
Barry Bonds
The issue of Barry and his steroid use may finally be coming to a
head. The San Francisco Chronicle now claims it has a nine-
minute phone recording with Bonds’s trainer, Greg Anderson. On
it, Anderson and others as yet unidentified go into great detail on
Barry’s use at the beginning of the 2003 season. [He allegedly
started using in 2000.] Before Saturday night’s Yankee-Red Sox
game, Commissioner Bud Selig said:
“Here we are in Game 3 – people have waited for this all year –
and what are we sitting here and talking about? This is not good
for the sport. It seems to be just another manifestation that we
need a stronger drug policy in this sport.”
As many have said in the last few days, it’s just another P.R.
disaster. You’ll recall that Anderson is a defendant in the
BALCO steroid conspiracy case that has already jettisoned the
career of a handful of Olympic athletes and implicated four
members of the Oakland Raiders, as well as baseball figures such
as Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield and Bonds. Last week I wrote
of how Sheffield admitted in a piece for Sports Illustrated that he
had used a steroid cream in 2002 without realizing what it really
was. At least that’s his version.
Following are a few quotes from the tape recording, as reported
by the Chronicle’s Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wade.
“The whole thing is, everything that I’ve been doing at this point,
it’s all undetectable,” said Anderson. “See the stuff I have, we
created it, and you can’t buy it anywhere else…but you can take
it the day of (the test), pee, and it comes up perfect.”
Anderson claimed he would be tipped off a week or two before
Bonds was subjected to steroid testing.
“It’s going to be in either the end of May or beginning of June
(’03), right before the All-Star break…So after the All-Star
break, we’re like f—— clear.”
Anderson brings up the Olympic athletes.
“It’s the same stuff that they went to the Olympics with
(referring to 2000), and they test them every f—— week at the
Olympics, so that’s why I know it works, so that’s why I’m not
even tripping. So it’s cool.”
Anderson claims on the tape that those having problems (side
effects) from steroid use didn’t know how to use them properly
and that athletes were shooting up in the same area of the body
and later developing cysts. [Outside doctors say this has more to
do with tainted needles.]
It’s going to get crazy early next season as Bonds, with 703
home runs, passes Babe Ruth’s 714 on his way to Hank Aaron’s
755. It’s despicable. He’s a damn fraud…yet the tragic part is
he was already one of the sport’s all-time greats before he started
taking the juice. It’s the ultimate act of selfishness…trashing
a great American institution. But as my friend Johnny Mac
said, all we can hope for this off-season is that Bonds becomes
a victim of flesh-eating disease, or maybe bird flu. That would
truly be justice.
When It Was a Game
Were you watching the 19-8 Yankee win on Saturday, yearning
for those great Series of yesteryear where pitching dominated? I
sure as hell was. For example, the Orioles 4-0 Series sweep over
the Dodgers in 1966 has to be admired for the super work of the
Baltimore staff. Johnny Mac writes:
The Dodgers came in as the defending champs, with a staff
featuring Sandy Koufax (27-9), Don Drysdale, Claude Osteen
and 21-year-old Don Sutton, along with a quality pen of Phil “the
Vulture” Regan (14-1, 21 saves), Ron Perranoski and Bob
Miller. During the regular season the L.A. staff ERA was 2.62,
awesome even for that era. Baltimore, on the other hand,
countered with the Baby Birds; Jim Palmer (20), Dave McNally
(23), Steve Barber (27) and Wally Bunker (21). The O’s bullpen
was a little more experienced, led by Moe Drabowsky, Stu Miller
and Eddie Fisher. On paper the advantage went to L.A.
McNally started Game One for Baltimore and gave up a solo
shot to Jim Lefebvre, then walked the bags full in the third inning
with one out. Although leading 4-1, Orioles manager Hank
Bauer gave McNally the quick hook, bringing in Drabowsky.
Moe walked in a run before retiring the side; then shut them out
the rest of the way, striking out 11 in the process in what would
go down as one of the truly remarkable relief efforts in Series
history.
But imagine, that bases loaded walk to Sweet Lou Johnson in the
3rd inning of Game One would be the last run the Dodgers
scored, period. Palmer, Bunker and McNally proceeded to throw
complete game shutouts, the last two by 1-0 scores. The
Dodgers hit .142, 17 for 120. Willie Davis, whose baseball card
you see up top from time to time, was 1 for 16 to lead the way,
so to speak.
And anytime you talk about three complete game shutouts, you
can’t help but think of the great Christy Mathewson, who
accomplished this feat himself in the 1905 Series as the New
York Giants bested the Philadelphia Athletics.
Matty opened the Series in Philly, Oct. 9, with a 4-hit gem; then
the A’s Chief Bender evened things up the next day with a 4-hit
shutout of his own.
Mathewson threw a second 4-hit shutout on Oct. 12, followed by
a 5-hit shutout by New York’s Iron Man McGinnity on the 13th.
Matty then twirled a final shutout on Oct. 14.
In other words, Mathewson won his 2nd and 3rd games on two-
and one-day’s rest. 27 innings, no runs. [18 Ks, 1 BB]
But here’s some trivia for you. Despite Philly’s 3-0 2nd game
victory, the Giants’ staff ERA for the Series was 0.00 thanks to
some fielding miscues in Game Two. A tough record to break, I
think you’d agree.
Stuff
–You think Carlos Beltran (8 post-season home runs already) is
earning some free agent cash? His income will exceed every
country’s GDP except that of the G-8 and China.
–College Football Review
More pretenders for the title were revealed to be just that, such as
#6 Virginia losing to Florida State 36-3, and undefeated
Oklahoma State going down to Texas A&M, 36-20. And then
Arizona State, also previously undefeated, got its butt kicked by
#1 USC, 45-7. [Once again, zero shots of the USC cheerleaders,
or ASU’s for that matter.]
But the biggest game of the weekend proved to be another battle
of undefeateds, Wisconsin vs. Purdue. I hope you all caught the
last four minutes of this one. It was one of the more stunning
conclusions I’ve witnessed as Purdue’s Heisman candidate,
quarterback Kyle Orton, coughed up the football on a reckless
dash and it was run back for a Badger touchdown to take the
lead, 20-17. [Purdue, dramatically, blocked the extra point.] But
Orton had some time left and drove the Boilermakers in position
for the game-tying field goal by their very good kicker, Ben
Jones, but Jones proceeded to mangle his 42-yard attempt. So
Purdue receives the first annual Bar Chat “Pretender of the
Week” award. We may just retire it with this sorry effort.
Meanwhile, Army won its second in a row, defeating South
Florida!
Ohio State was held to 27 yards rushing in 29 carries by Iowa, a
33-7 winner.
As for Navy, loser to Notre Dame, 27-9, for a record 41st
consecutive time, here’s my position. I am not getting off the
Navy bandwagon. ND is probably better than its given credit for
and this defeat was no disgrace for the Naval Academy. So I
remain on for one more week. [Plus I told you before, free beer
and shredded pork barbecue sandwiches are a staple on board.]
How good is #10 Utah? They whipped North Carolina 46-16
and earlier defeated Texas A&M 41-21. If they run the table
from here, and it’s likely, how do you exclude them from the
BCS? Boise State, another undefeated, is a different story. It
barely beat a lousy Tulsa team this weekend.
Congratulations to East Stroudsburg University for its sterling
7-0 start. Saaa-lute! [Johnny Mac, a native of this town in PA, is
attempting to secure a bandwagon but none are to be found.]
Finally, a while back I noted that it seemed incredible that no
Nebraska quarterback had ever thrown for 300 yards. So guess
what? Joe Dailey (a Jersey City, NJ boy) became the first this
weekend as he completed 13 passes for a whopping 342 (nice
average there) as Nebraska bounced back from its Texas Tech
debacle, defeating Baylor 59-27.
–That Yankee-Red Sox contest on Saturday night turned off any
prospective new fans for the sport. Just an embarrassment all
around.
–Roger Clemens is 44-16 since turning 40, including post-season
play.
–The other day in the World Match Play championship, Retief
Goosen set a record with his win over Jeff Maggert, 12 and 11, in
their 36-hole contest. Now think about this. Retief was 10 up
after just 18.
–Dave (no last initial to protect his identity) questioned the
Durex condom survey that said American men have sex 111
times a year. He said it couldn’t possibly have included married
men.
Dave, I’m not sure and really don’t want to go back on the Durex
web site to double check. Also don’t know if it includes web
editors.
–Attention computer users…….yeah, you. Beware of a new
virus circulating out there that purports to show David Beckham
in a compromising position. Do not open the attachment, girls.
Repeat…do not open the attachment….it’s a trojan.
–With five NASCAR races to go, Kurt Busch leads Dale
Earnhardt Jr. by 24 points. Incredibly, that’s one less than the 25
point penalty Dale Jr. was assessed for swearing in a post-race
interview a few weeks ago. NASCAR is praying it doesn’t end
up this way.
–NASCAR is also facing what has become an annual deal; the
charge it isn’t doing enough to combat racism amongst its fan
base. A fellow is making a documentary on the issue so look for
it to be a “60 Minutes” type piece early next year in conjunction
with the Daytona 500.
I’ve weighed in on this before and can say from my own
experience at Daytona last winter that the crowd was better
behaved than any other major sporting event I have attended.
That said, of course there is some racism and many black fans of
NASCAR don’t feel real comfortable going to the track. Having
one black driver won’t do the trick either. Rather, I think it starts
with prominent black ownership of a team, and initially with a
white driver. Before he died, Walter Payton was looking to get
into the sport and the NBA’s Rodney Rogers has always
expressed an interest, as have other athletes. Those fans uneasy
of change would probably accept this more easily. Just an
opinion…and I’m not saying it’s right.
–Golf Digest took an informal poll of players on the tour as to
their election picks. You may have seen the goodie they
received as a result of the recent $137 billion corporate tax bill,
exempting their pension plan, and aside from this it should not be
a surprise who they like.
Bob Tway: “I’m voting for Bush. I don’t think you’ll find
anybody on this tour voting for Kerry.”
David Toms: “Bush, for sure. Whether the guy makes mistakes
or not, his heart is in the right place.”
Jonathan Kaye: “Bush. I’m going to vote my pocket book.”
Fred Funk: “Huge Bush fan. Hate the Democrats.”
Kenny Perry: “I love Bush. I just think he speaks about God and
is a Christian man. That’s what I’m about.”
Mark Calcavecchia: “I’m not going to vote. I don’t like either
one of them.” Hey, how did he get in here?!
Actually, David Duval said, “No comment. I’m a registered
Democrat.”
Overall, the Golf Digest survey of 34 PGA Tour pros said 26
were voting for Bush and the other 8 were either undecided, not
voting, or wouldn’t reveal their choice. A survey of 20
Americans for Golf World had it 13 Bush, 3 Kerry, and 4
undecided.
–Former Lakers coach Phil Jackson has just written his tell-all
book, “The Last Season: A Team in Search of Its Soul,”
describing his final year at the helm of the biggest bunch of jerks
on the planet. Understand, I have never been a Jackson fan
(except for when he was playing with the Knicks) but I certainly
came to respect his coaching ability. It wasn’t all Michael and
Shaq.
But in the current issue of Sports Illustrated there is an excerpt of
Jackson’s book, focusing on the whole situation with Kobe
Bryant following the summer 2003 revelation of his rape charge
in Colorado. We all know what a-holes guys like Kobe are but
it’s still unbelievable to read some of this stuff. It’s an
understatement to say today’s sports superstars live in a world
that the rest of us aren’t familiar with.
Six weeks after Kobe was charged he had not talked to Coach
Jackson, despite Phil’s attempts to get in touch. Finally Kobe
comes into Jackson’s office and the two exchanged pleasantries;
Phil asking him if he needed any help, like a counselor, and
Kobe saying he had a minister.
“The conversation was harmless,” Jackson writes, “until Kobe
blurted out, ‘I’m not going to take any s— from Shaq this year.
If he starts saying things in the press, I’ll fire back. I’ve had it.’”
Then Kobe went into GM Mitch Kupchak’s office.
“ ‘Shaq didn’t call me this summer,’ Kobe told Mitch.
“ ‘Kobe, I gave you a message from him,’ Mitch said. ‘He
invited you to Orlando to get away from everything.’
“ ‘Shaq didn’t have to leave a message through you,’ he said.
‘He knew how to reach me.’”
Later, last October, Jackson notes the Lakers had agreed to cover
part of his plane expenses on Kobe’s trips back and forth to
Colorado. “Kobe was unhappy with the type of plane selected;
he wanted one with higher status.”
[Where did you recently see something like that in this space?
When Gary Sheffield set up a private plane for both he and Barry
Bonds to fly to Miami for a boxing match and Bonds wanted a
better one.]
At another point we learn that “Shaq won’t allow himself to be
taped by Gary Vitti because he’s too aligned with Kobe. Kobe
won’t let Chip Schaefer, Shaq’s guy, tape him.”
Just shoot me.
–I see where Pierre Salinger died the other day. You talk about
one of the truly awful people on the planet, it was him. Salinger
came to fame as the press secretary for President John F.
Kennedy and in this position Salinger helped define the modern
role, as well as covering up for all of JFK’s exploits. I don’t
have any problem with that, Salinger was just doing his job.
But later Salinger went bonkers. He claimed the 1988 crash of
Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie was a Drug Enforcement
Agency operation gone wrong, a charge totally without merit as
history obviously proved, and then he fell for an Internet hoax
claiming that TWA Flight 800 was shot down by a U.S. missile
near Long Island. [An investigation proved the cause was a
spark in the plane’s fuel tank.] And in 1998, Salinger wrote a
glowing preface to a book of short stories by Col. Moammar
Gaddafi. Pierre was on his fourth marriage when he keeled over
in France. Au revoir.
–ESPN’s Official Pre-Season College Basketball Poll
1. Wake Forest
2. Kansas
3. Georgia Tech
4. North Carolina
5. Syracuse
6. Arizona
7. UConn
8. Oklahoma State
9. Illinois
10. Maryland
So is Wake Forest for real? What worries us alums is we have
never been in such lofty territory. Sure, we had some top four
rankings during the Tim Duncan era, but we haven’t been in a
Final Four since Billy Packer was playing at the school. And the
ACC is loaded this year. Teams like North Carolina State will
knock off more than a handful of top clubs as the season
progresses. But of course I’m super psyched. Wake is
experienced, deep and, so far, healthy.
–Yikes. Did you see that a 5-foot Humboldt squid was caught
off Sitka, Alaska? These beasts normally don’t’ venture past San
Francisco. But what gets me about the story is I didn’t realize
these things can fly! I’m assuming just short distances, but I’d
hate to be on the beach and see one of them going up and down
the shore, trailing a banner for “Captain Jack’s Shrimp Shack.”
–Perhaps more worrisome, in the grand scheme of things, is the
story in the Washington Post by David Fahrenthold concerning
the Potomac River. It’s bad enough the region has to deal with
Northern Snakehead these days, but now it’s come to light that
male bass are producing eggs! Scientists blame pollution, such as
“poultry manure,” for screwing up the genetics and we can only
wonder if the bass are the “canary in the mineshaft” as one
researcher put it.
–Which leads me to the World Conservation Union’s report,
following on the work of others over the years, that 32% of 1,856
species of amphibians, like salamanders and toads, are
“threatened.” Can’t say I’ve ever been a real fan of amphibians.
I’ll leave it to the next generation to care about this. [Except
when I run my yearly Earth Day piece on Rachel Carson.]
–A friend bought me some Pumpkin Ale the other day. Now
normally I don’t like ‘tricked up’ brews, but in all seriousness
this was rather tasty. And to my readers out in California, this
particular brand comes from Buffalo Bill’s Brewery in Hayward.
My compliments to the brewmaster.
–Former next door neighbor Steve G. just bought some rental
property in Mt. Juliet, TN and is psyched to be in the same town
as Charlie Daniels. For the record, the Charlie Daniels Band’s
best tune was “Carolina.”
–50 years ago the first mass-produced transistor radio, the
American-made Regency TR1, went on sale October 18, 1954.
100,000 sold for $49.95.
–More exciting news on the Wake Forest alumni front. NBA
sources say Josh Howard has been the best player in the Dallas
Mavericks’ camp thus far. What a steal he was two years ago.
–I found the following a little surprising, courtesy of SI’s Peter
King.
After their first 100 games:
Randy Moss has caught 549 passes for 8,680 yards and 84 TDs.
Jerry Rice had 492 for 8,556 and 87 TDs.
–Great to see the Steelers doing well. Other big surprises are
Cleveland and Houston at 3-3. But Carolina and Kansas City are
1-4. Wasn’t Carolina in the Super Bowl last year?
–Ahem…..next weekend…New England and the Jets. If I heard
this right, it is the first time since 1973 that two undefeated teams
met in the regular season as late as week 7. [Both have had
byes.] *The only other undefeated team still remaining is Philly.
–Scintillating…in the Washington / Chicago game there was a
total of 160 yards passing.
–Eddie George watch: 62 carries, 209 yards, 3.4 avg. [Official
over / under is 3.5]
–Minnesota Twins pitcher Juan Rincon, after getting shelled in a
loss to the Yankees in Game 4 of the ALDS.
“Nobody wants to be in my pants right now.” [Sports Illustrated]
Top 3 songs for the week of 10/20/73: #1 “Angie” (The Rolling
Stones) #2 “Half Breed” (Cher……opened Indian casino) #3
“Ramblin’ Man” (The Allman Brothers Band)
Oakland Raiders Quiz Answers: 1) John Madden coached from
1969-78, 112-39-7. 2) Rushing, career: Marcus Allen…8,545
(1982-92). 3) Interceptions, career: Lester Hayes (1977-86) and
Willie Brown (1967-78) are tied with 39. 4) Passing TDs,
season: Daryle Lamonica, 34 (1969). 5) TDs, career: Tim
Brown, 104 (1988-2003). 6) Rushing, game: Napoleon
Kaufman, 227 (1997). 7) Passing, game: Cotton Davidson, 427
(1964).
*”The Mad Bomber,” Lamonica, completed just 49.5% of his
passes for his career…164 TD, 138 INT.
*Cotton Davidson threw for 2,497 yards in 1964, completing
48.4%. In 1962 for Oakland, Davidson completed only 37.1%
of 321 passes, 7 TD and 23 INT…man, that sucks.
Bonus Question, for a Yak burger: NFL adopted 16-game
schedule in 1978.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday. Rocktober!
