Tennessee Titans (Houston Oilers, 1960-96) Quiz: 1) Name just
one of the six coaches from 1960-70. [One had two separate
stints and went 10-0 his first go around.] 2) Rushing, career? 3)
Receptions, career? 4) Interceptions, career? [Hint: Initials J.N.,
1960-68 think football cards, those of you in your 40s] 5)
Passing TDs, season? [Think 1960s] 6) Receptions, season?
[Think 1960s 101 catches] Answers below.
Greatest Rock Songs
I haven’t had a chance to review Rolling Stone magazine’s “500
Greatest Songs of All Time” so here are the top 50.
1. Like a Rolling Stone Bob Dylan
2. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction The Rolling Stones
3. Imagine John Lennon
4. What’s Going On Marvin Gaye
5. Respect Aretha Franklin
6. Good Vibrations The Beach Boys
7. Johnny B. Goode Chuck Berry
8. Hey Jude The Beatles
9. Smells Like Teen Spirit Nirvana
10. What’d I Say Ray Charles
11. My Generation The Who
12. A Change Is Gonna Come Sam Cooke
13. Yesterday The Beatles
14. Blowin’ in the Wind Bob Dylan
15. London Calling The Clash
16. I Want to Hold Your Hand The Beatles
17. Purple Haze Jimi Hendrix
18. Maybellene Chuck Berry
19. Hound Dog Elvis Presley
20. Let It Be The Beatles
21. Born to Run Bruce Springsteen
22. Be My Baby The Ronettes
23. In My Life The Beatles
24. People Get Ready The Impressions super pick
25. God Only Knows The Beach Boys should be higher
26. A Day in the Life The Beatles
27. Layla Derek and the Dominos
28. (Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay Otis Redding
29. Help! The Beatles
30. I Walk the Line Johnny Cash
31. Stairway to Heaven Led Zeppelin
32. Sympathy for the Devil The Rolling Stones
33. River Deep, Mountain High Tina Turner
34. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling The Righteous Brothers
35. Light My Fire The Doors
36. One U2
37. No Woman, No Cry Bob Marley
38. Gimme Shelter The Rolling Stones
39. That’ll Be the Day Buddy Holly
40. Dancin’ in the Streets Martha and the Vandellas
41. The Weight The Band
42. Waterloo Sunset The Kinks
43. Tutti Frutti Little Richard overrated, the tune, that is
44. Georgia on My Mind Ray Charles
45. Heartbreak Hotel Elvis Presley
46. Heroes David Bowie
47. Bridge Over Troubled Water Simon & Garfunkel
48. All Along the Watchtower Jimi Hendrix
49. Hotel California The Eagles should be higher
50. The Tracks of My Tears Smokey Robinson
Now I was reading an article by Tony Hicks of Knight Ridder
and I thought this comment of his was good.
391. Band of Gold Freda Payne “No better pop hook was
ever written, and banishing this so far down the list is shameful.”
[Except for “What Does It Take” by Jr. Walker & the All Stars, a
song that didn’t make the list, incredibly.]
Here are my thoughts.
Aretha Franklin at #5 with “Respect” is a freakin’ joke. Song
blows.
“Waterloo Sunset” #42? Alright, Kinks fans, I love the band but
why so high? “A Well Respected Man” would have been a far
better choice and it wasn’t on the list at all.
And then there is
#64 She Loves You The Beatles c’mon, this is top 40
#75 Whole Lotta Love Led Zeppelin top 50
#93 I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For U2
should be higher
#122 House of the Rising Sun The Animals what? #122?
Try top 40.
#157 I Only Have Eyes For You The Flamingos should be
top 50.
#172 Dream On Aerosmith should be top 75
#192 Wichita Lineman Glen Campbell great choice glad
to see I’m not the only one who loves this tune.
#193 There Goes My Baby The Drifters should be top 100
#209 In My Room The Beach Boys hey, I love these guys,
but there are 30 other Beach Boys tunes that are better.
#247 Hot Fun in the Summertime Sly & The Family Stone
can you believe there were four songs by this group ranked
higher? Gimme a freakin’ break .this is top 100
#266 Walking in the Rain The Ronettes good just to see it
on the list
#308 Lonely Teardrops Jackie Wilson disgraceful top 100
#329 That’s The Way of the World Earth, Wind & Fire can
you believe this is the group’s only top 500?! It’s a travesty, I
tell ya
#338 Maybe I’m Amazed Paul McCartney like this tune
more the older I get.
#358 Nowhere to Run Martha and the Vandellas 358?!
You kidding me? Give it a top 40.
#378 Pride (In the Name of Love) U2 just another
disgraceful selection Try top 100
#400 Kicks Paul Revere & the Raiders hey, nice pick!
#426 Smoke on the Water Deep Purple man, this panel was
smoking somethin’ bad to place this tune all the way back here.
Try #88
#426 It’s Too Late Carole King oh yeah, #426. Try #51!
#485 Graceland Paul Simon .boy, this song blows.
#488 Rhiannon Fleetwood Mac wish this band had stopped
with this solid effort.
#498 Rainy Night in Georgia Brook Benton hey, glad this
made the list but it should be about #110!
And then we have #499 The Boys are Back in Town Thin
Lizzy.
Where do I begin? How can this not be top 50? Who came up
with this freakin’ list anyway? Are there no prisons? Are there
no workhouses?
And get this Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s “You Ain’t Seen
Nothing Yet” is nowhere to be found. These last two are only
the best air guitar songs of all time, after all. What a joke.
You’ll also be upset to learn that the Eagles “One of These
Nights” didn’t make the top 500, either.
[Harry K., don’t even write in about Thin Lizzy’s “The Cowboy
Song.” You obviously won’t find it if they have “The Boys ”
at #499.]
That’s it. I’m starting my own rock magazine. Now who wants
to lend me $25 million?
*And Dan L., there was no room for “Rock and Roll All Night.”
**And no “American Pie”!
Stuff
–Over the weekend I saw a piece in the Los Angeles Times on
the U.S. military’s big expansion plans for the island of Guam, a
place I’m very familiar with. One concern environmentalists
have is it could impede efforts to reintroduce tropical birds killed
off over the past few decades by the brown tree snakes. You
remember those beasts I’ve written of on numerous occasions.
Of course it’s impossible to eliminate the snakes from even a
limited area. And just how many snakes are there per square
mile on Guam? Try 13,000. Let me tell you even in the hotels
I never went to bed without checking thoroughly under the bed
and dressers.
–Good story by Julian Barnes in U.S. News & World Report on
Floyd Lee, a retired Army cook who came back to ply his trade
in Iraq. For the soldiers the average dining experience is pretty
drab but as Lee puts it, “The good Lord gave me a second chance
to feed soldiers. This is my niche. I’ve waited for this job all my
life, and here I am in Baghdad.”
The job of feeding the troops was outsourced to Halliburton and
while the dining halls are alright, they are also “sterile and
uninviting.” But as Barnes writes:
“Lee will have no part of mediocre. Every day, the 1st Cavalry
soldiers who dine at Pegasus find Lee making his rounds,
checking that everything is just right. ‘I work the front of the
house,’ he says. ‘You have to know the diner.’”
The soldiers say the food and ambience are like nothing else in
the world, even though Lee’s sources are the same as everyone
else’s.
“But the staff at Pegasus is always looking for ways to spice up a
recipe or add a little extra zip. Sometimes the tweak is a bit of
Louisiana spice brought to Baghdad Sometimes Lee simply
adds a little showmanship. Take, for example, the iced tea.
Every day, Lee puts out two containers, one labeled Texas Sweet
Tea and one labeled Carolina Sweet Tea. It is the same stuff, but
the arguments about which is better go on for days.” [Barnes]
As word spread of Pegasus, many soldiers have taken
extraordinary steps to get their meals there. Once a week, for
example, Sgt. David Sammy, a soldier from the 10th Mountain
Division, walks a mile and half to come for Sunday dinner. “His
plate piled high with Alaskan king crab legs, Sammy walks up to
Lee to pay his respects. ‘You ought to give the recipe to Red
Lobster,’ he tells a beaming Lee. The visit, Sammy says, is
worth the long walk. ‘The time you are in here, you forget you
are in Iraq.’” [Barnes]
And so Floyd Lee, great American, is our Bar Chat “Hero of the
Week.”
–There is no more exciting player in the NBA today than Dirk
Nowitzki. Just give him the Player of the Year honor and move
on.
–I always get a kick looking at Allen Iverson’s shooting
percentage. I mean I know the guy is a future Hall of Famer but
A.I. entered the season with a .417 field goal percentage. Last
year, though, it was .387 and so far in his first 16 games this
season he’s at .388. Consistency, thy name is Iverson.
–When I was out in California last week one of the big stories
concerned the firing four games into the season of USC’s men’s
basketball coach Henry Bibby. I could never tell who was
stranger, Bibby or USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett.
–Julia Roberts now makes $20 million a picture, according to the
Hollywood Reporter. Angelina Jolie gets $12-$15 million.
Whatever they’re paying her it’s not enough .mused the editor,
representative of the opinion of males in America.
–I hope Marion Jones gets all her medals from the Sydney
Games taken away. But she deserves an Emmy or Oscar for her
ability to lie with the best of them.
–Jay Van Andel, a co-founder of Amway, died at age 80. He
was worth over a billion dollars, according to Forbes magazine.
Since the 1970s, authorities have been trying to prove Amway is
nothing but a pyramid scheme, though with no success.
–As part of Golf Magazine’s 45th anniversary (oops, I promised
you no more golf for a while, didn’t I?), the editors came up with
45 “Great Moments in Golf.” The final five
5) Tiger Woods wins the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach by a
record 15 shots, breaking Old Tom Morris’s 138-year-old record
for largest margin of victory in a major.
4) Tom Watson’s 65-65 weekend at the 1977 British Open,
besting Jack Nicklaus by a shot in the most memorable duel in a
major.
3) Arnold Palmer was seven shots back going to the last round of
the 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills. As he approached the first
tee Arnold asked Pittsburgh sportswriter Bob Drum, “I may
shoot 65 – what would that do?” Drum replied, “Nothing.
You’re too far back.” “The hell I am!” snapped Arnie and he
proceeded to drive the green on the 346-yard 1st hole. He then
birdied it and went on to post 65 for a two-shot win over 20-year-
old Jack Nicklaus.
[I was walking with a local member of PGA West last week
during the first round of Q-School and this fellow, Scott F., and I
were talking about some of the garish outfits the golfers were
wearing. Scott then told me how one day he was in this local
apparel store in La Quinta, looking at golf shirts, when he saw
this guy with his back to him in a pink one. Scott was thinking
to himself, ‘Boy, that’s ugly.’ Then the guy turned around. It
was Arnie. “Hi Mr. Palmer!”]
2) Tiger Woods wins the 1997 Masters by 12 strokes, becoming
the youngest champion at 21.
1) At 46, Jack Nicklaus wins the 1986 Masters, rallying from a
six-shot deficit after just the first 8 holes of the final round as he
went on a dramatic birdie binge, including an eagle at 15. The
roars in the gallery that day will never be exceeded. [OK, they
may have been equaled last year with Phil’s win.]
–Golfer Stephen Ames was asked in an interview with Golf
Magazine to comment on Whistling Straits, site of the PGA.
“Horrible. Probably the worst course I’ve ever played. I don’t
think much of Pete Dye as a designer. He tricked it up with all
that fake mounding. And the grass was growing one way in front
of the greens on some holes and another way on others, so you
couldn’t predict whether a shot would bounce or stop dead.
Why? To screw us up. Recreational golfers would play it only
once and then, bye-bye, never again.”
I guess Mrs. Dye doesn’t have to set a plate for Mr. Ames
anytime soon.
–Rapidly rising up the list for Bar Chat “Dirtball of the Year” is
Kobe Bryant. For a guy who seems so quiet, he sure can’t keep
his mouth shut. The other day Bryant appeared on a radio
program and commented on Karl Malone and the possibility the
future Hall of Fame forward may come back to the Lakers once
his rehab from a knee injury is complete. Bryant said it was
tough for teammates “to be looking over their shoulder,
wondering if (Malone’s) going to come back and then everybody
is going to disappear.”
Well, Malone, a neighbor of Bryant’s and a big time supporter
during Kobe’s rape case, told Kobe and the Lakers to take a hike.
Personally, I’d love to see Malone end up in San Antonio as
rumored. That would just about clinch it for Tim Duncan and the
boys.
[Goodness, gracious. I’ve commented more on the NBA in this
column than I did all last year combined. I’ll suspend myself for
one day without pay.]
–But wait, there’s more! Of course Kobe has stiff competition
for the dirtball award. Try Latrell Sprewell, the lowest piece of
scum on the face of the earth, next to the children of Satan we’re
facing in Iraq. Sprewell was just suspended for one game for
yelling a sexual obscenity at a female fan. If you didn’t see /
hear the tape, it was as vile a display as I’ve ever seen.
–Sorry, I just need to take a moment to blast the idiots at my
local newspaper in Summit, New Jersey. This is a front page
headline.
“125th anniversary approaches for pivotal Battle of Springfield”
“Nearly 125 years ago, one of the final battles of the
Revolutionary War in New Jersey was fought in Springfield and
Millburn to keep British soldiers from .
“According to Mr. Hurwitz, the battle, which took place on June
23, 1780, was crucial to American freedom.”
Ah, guys? Let’s see 2004/5 minus 1780 is .
No wonder our kids suck in math and also can’t identify key
dates in our nation’s history.
–Grammy Nominations
Record of the Year: “Let’s Get It Started,” The Black Eyed Peas;
“Here We Go Again,” Ray Charles and Norah Jones; “American
Idiot,” Green Day; “Heaven,” Los Lonely Boys; “Yeah!” Usher
featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris.
Album of the Year: “Genius Loves Company,” Ray Charles and
Various Artists; “American Idiot,” Green Day; “The Diary of
Alicia Keys,” Alicia Keys; “Confessions,” Usher; “The College
Dropout,” Kanye West.
*Man, I’m gettin’ old know what I’m sayin’?! Never heard of
Kanye West. But remember Leroy Keyes (sic), that awesome
two-way football player out of Purdue? Another case of what
could have been. A Heisman Trophy contender, Keyes was
drafted in the 1st round by the Eagles, appeared some his first
year, was hurt and never recovered. In college he was as
exciting as Johnny Rodgers, another whose pro career was cut
short by injuries.
–From Sports Illustrated “They Said It”
Morgan Shepherd, NASCAR driver, on why the NBA brawl
couldn’t happen in his sport. “None of our fans would ever let
go of a beer for any reason, much less throw it at somebody.”
Amen, brother.
Top 3 songs for the week of 12/8/73: #1 “Top Of The World”
(Carpenters) #2 “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” (Elton John) #3
“The Most Beautiful Girl” (Charlie Rich)
Tennessee Titans Quiz Answers: 1) First coaches: 1960-61 Lou
Rymkus 12-7-1; 1961 Wally Lemm 10-0-0; 1962-63 Frank
(Pop) Ivy 17-12-0; 1964 Sammy Baugh 4-10-0; 1965 Hugh
Taylor 4-10-0; 1966-70 Wally Lemm 28-40-4. 2) Rushing,
career: Eddie George 10,009 (1996-03). 3) Receptions, career:
Ernest Givins, 542 (1986-94). 4) Interceptions: Jim Norton, 45
(1960-68). [Norton also punted 1961-68, 42.1 avg.] 5) Passing
TDs, season: George Blanda, 36 (1961). [Blanda’s best season
passing as he led the AFL in both TDs and yards.] 6)
Receptions, season: Charley Hennigan, 101 (1964). [410
receptions in his career, 1960-66, with 51 TD catches. Out of
LSU.]
And here is some totally worthless trivia. In looking up Norton I
came across Pettis Norman, remember him? What’s interesting
(if you have no life) is that this WR lasted from 1962-73, Dallas
and San Diego, yet never caught more than 27 passes in any one
season (1971). Norman had 183 for his career. No way he could
last this long today he’d be making too much money.
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday.
