NFL Quiz: Who am I? 1) I led the AFC in rushing in 1974 and
my initials are O.A. 2) I led the AFC in rushing in 1984 and my
initials are E.J. 3) I led the AFC in rushing in 1994 and my
initials are C.W. 4) I led the AFC in scoring in 1977 and my
initials are E.M. [kicker] 5) I led the AFC in scoring in 1989
and my initials are D.T. [kicker] 6) I’m the only one whose last
name begins with ‘G’ to lead the AFC in scoring and I did it
twice. Answers below.
James Knox Polk (1795-1849)
OK…sorry to drag you along as I re-educate myself on just what
the 11th US President (1845-49) did to deserve the “near great”
label in a major survey of the presidents (Bar Chat, 9/15), but
here we go. [Polk is the only one-term prez to gain the label of
“great” or “near great” out of ten.]
Born on November 2, 1795 near Pineville, Mecklenburg County,
N.C., the son of a farmer, Polk graduated in 1818 from the
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Polk served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from
1823-25 and in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1825-
1839, where he served as Speaker of the House from 1835-39.
In 1839 he was then elected governor of Tennessee.
So how did Polk become president? From the book “Facts
About the Presidents,” by Joseph Nathan Kane:
“Polk was not even considered as a candidate for the presidency
at the Democratic national convention held at Odd Fellows’ Hall,
Baltimore, Md., from May 27 to May 30, 1844. His name was
not mentioned during the first seven ballots and not a single vote
was cast for him. A stalemate existed between former President
Martin Van Buren (#8, 1837-41) and Lewis Cass of Michigan.
On the eighth ballot, Polk was suggested as a compromise
candidate and received 44 votes, while Van Buren had 104 votes
and Cass 114 votes. On the ninth ballot, amid indescribable
confusion, the convention stampeded for Polk. State after state
that had supported Van Buren or Cass cast its votes for Polk, and
before the final tally his nomination was declared unanimous, as
he had received 266 of the 266 votes cast.” [There was a rule
then that a candidate needed 2/3s to secure the nomination.]
Well, now my curiosity is pricked. I hope yours is as well. So
let’s turn elsewhere for more detail.
From the book “James K. Polk” by John Seigenthaler, the father
of the NBC anchor by the same name (I think I have this right):
“As the ninth and final roll call began, Van Buren and Cass
backers were angrily accusing one another of buying, badgering,
and pressuring delegates to switch votes. In the clash, a
Pennsylvania delegate began to extol Polk’s virtues as the
‘bosom friend of Old Hickory (Andrew Jackson)…a pure, whole
hog, Loco Foco Democrat…against the Bank of the United
States and all corrupting monopolies.’ Maine jumped from Van
Buren to Polk, and the run was on. The Virginia and New York
delegates caucused and returned to the floor to endorse Polk.
Benjamin Butler (ed. future Civil War general), who with Silas
Wright led the Van Buren forces, wept as he conceded New
York’s votes to the Tennessean, describing Polk as ‘honest,
capable, and faithful to the Constitution.’
“The momentum swept the assembly, and within minutes a
hostile crowd was seized by mass euphoria, as one speech after
another reminded them of the virtues of this loyal party man
from Tennessee. Polk was unanimously acclaimed the
nominee.”
[I probably should have explained that the fate of Texas played a
role in all this. Recall that after the slaughters at the Alamo and
Goliad, Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna at San Jacinto in
1836, thereby establishing the Republic of Texas.]
From Michael Beschloss’s “The Presidents”:
“Immediately after the United States recognized the
independence of Texas in 1836, the former Mexican region
applied for admission to the Union; but since statehood would
have destroyed the delicate balance between slave and free states
that had existed since 1820, American politicians generally
avoided the issue. In April 1844 President (John) Tyler, hearing
that Texas was negotiating a treaty with England, asked
Congress to hedge no longer and approve annexation, but the
legislators were unsure about the people’s reactions and refused
to vote for annexation in an election year. Both (Whig Henry)
Clay and Van Buren announced that they intended to keep Texas
out of the approaching campaign.”
But Andrew Jackson (#7, 1829-37), who was still a giant in
Democratic politics, “was disgusted with the political backing-
and-filling. Jackson was confident that the people wanted Texas
in the Union in no uncertain terms. Summoning several
Democratic leaders, including Polk, to his Tennessee home, he
told them that Van Buren’s anti-Texas position was political
suicide.” [Beschloss]
Polk was for annexation. Jackson surmised Polk could win. So
the Jacksonian forces skillfully deadlocked the convention until
it was time to put Polk forward.
OK…so we now move to the election. Polk defeated Clay 170-
105 in the electoral college, but won by only 39,000 in the
popular vote. So who was this guy?
Historian Bernard De Voto:
“Polk’s mind was rigid, narrow, obstinate, far from first-rate…
But if his mind was narrow it was also powerful and he had guts.
If he was orthodox, his integrity was absolute and he could not
be scared, manipulated, or brought to heel. No one bluffed him,
no one moved him with direct or oblique pressure.” Like
Jackson, Polk “knew how to get things done, which is the first
necessity of government, and he knew what he wanted done,
which is the second.” After a string of lousy presidents, Polk
“was to be the only ‘strong’ (one) between Jackson and Lincoln.
He was to fix the mold of the future in America down to 1860,
and therefore for a long time afterward. That is who James K.
Polk was.” [Beschloss]
Well, it’s running late and I need to move on to sea lions, so
that’s it for today. But I will be dragging you, kicking and
screaming, to part II of the “James Polk Story” next chat. And
by the way, since I save everything, I just noticed that Polk
actually moved up a notch in the Federalist Society rankings of
the presidents that I quoted last time, from #10 in 2000 to #9 in
this year’s survey. Hell, by 2050 he could be #1!
Stuff
–Mr. Chairman, I’d like to revise and extend my remarks of the
other day that sea lions are overrated. Clearly, the sea lion
community has reacted to my comments in a most violent way as
they have been wreaking havoc on the West Coast. [Of course I
sit out on the East Coast, secure in the knowledge that their
numbers here are still rather small.] According to the Los
Angeles Times, 18 sea lions recently piled onto a 37-foot sailboat
in Newport Harbor and sunk it. And “Sea lions have also
tormented Monterey, trapping people aboard boats, attacking city
workers and defecating and vomiting on docks. Elsewhere, the
animals have attacked swimmers, chomped boogie boards and
even yanked people off boats.”
California sea lions, once thought to be near extinction, now
number 300,000 to 400,000! Goodness gracious. It’s time to
dump the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act and start
rounding these marauders up. Save the few thousand that have
made a home at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, simply
because people like to stare at them, and, err, you know…
destroy the rest. Then again, leave an ample supply for the killer
whales to chow down on.
–#1 USC blasted, humiliated, destroyed, killed, whomped,
stomped, murdered, smashed, thrashed, annihilated, and whipped
Arkansas 70-17; this after blasting, humiliating, destroying,
killing, whomping, stomping, murdering, smashing, thrashing,
annihilating, and whipping Hawaii 63-17 in its opener.
Will Nebraska finally receive a few votes for top 25 after its 7-6
victory over Dave Wannstedt’s winless Pitt? [Nope.]
Vanderbilt is off to its best start since 1984, 3-0. Quarterback
Jay Cutler is the real deal. When I was in Nebraska the other
week for the Wake Forest debacle, I talked to a Wake guy in the
know who watched Cutler dismantle the Deacs in the opener.
The day after the game, there were 7 NFL scouts in Wake coach
Jim Grobe’s office just to watch film of Cutler. But while this
has the potential to be the feel-good, Boise State type story of
2005, Vandy still must play LSU, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida.
In other words, temper your enthusiasm.
Pretender…Notre Dame, losers to Michigan State. Exciting
game, though.
–Here’s a college football tidbit, courtesy of USA Today. 32
years ago, September 15, 1973, Ohio State running back Archie
Griffin, then a sophomore, had 15 carries for 129 yards against
Minnesota. It was the first of 31 consecutive 100-yard rushing
games in the regular season, which remains an NCAA Division
I-A record. But the streak ended when Griffin was held to 46
yards against Michigan in his final regular-season game,
11/22/75. I remember that one. Griffin is still the only player to
win the Heisman Trophy twice, 1974 and 1975. USC’s Matt
Leinhart could be the second.
[Griffin went on to have a most mediocre NFL career… 2,808
yards and a 4.1 average.]
–It’s not worth getting too uptight over the first two weekends of
the NFL season. But by week 3, some trends will be divined.
For now, however, we single out Minnesota QB Daunte
Culpepper for some of the worst signal-calling in the history of
the sport. Daunte has thrown 8…count ‘em…8 interceptions in
just two games.
And for this week’s example of an illiterate broadcaster, we turn
to CBS’ Solomon Wilcox, who in doing the Jets-Dolphins game
said the following:
“How many times do we say ‘as goes Curtis Martin, as goes the
Jets.”
–On NBC News the other day, a familiar face to old-time
football fans was on the screen…former Chicago Bears lineman
Lionel Antoine. Antoine, who played from 1972-78, lives in
Biloxi. Unfortunately, he is now one of the homeless.
–We note the passing of director Robert Wise who won four
Academy Awards for producing and directing “West Side Story”
and “The Sound of Music.” [Confession time…I still tear up
when I see “Climb Every Mountain.” Maybe I shouldn’t have
admitted that.]
Wise also directed “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” the 1951 sci-
fi classic, and “The Sand Pebbles,” the 1966 film that earned
Steve McQueen his only Academy Award nomination.
–It’s a depressing time for some of us Mets fans. Donn
Clendenon passed away at the age of 70. He spent his last years
in Sioux Falls, S.D. New York Daily News columnist Mike
Lupica had the following thoughts.
“So another one from the 1969 Mets is gone. It matters. The ’69
Mets were one of those teams, from the most glorious time in the
history of New York sports. There were the old Knicks at that
same time. There were Joe Namath’s Jets. And there were the
Miracle Mets. Clendenon was the big man at first base….
“There is so much to remember about the ’69 Mets, and that
World Series they weren’t supposed to win from the Baltimore
Orioles. There will always be so much to remember. There was
Agee catching everything in the outfield, and Ron Swoboda
catching everything that Agee didn’t. Always, there was the
great Tom Seaver, still the greatest Met of them all. What not
enough people remember was that Donn Clendenon, the old
Pirate who had come over to play first base at Shea during that
’69 season, was the MVP of the World Series.
“In that golden time for New York sports, in the time of Willis
Reed and Clyde and DeBusschere and Bradley, in the time of
Namath and Matt Snell and George Sauer Jr. and Don Maynard,
Donn Clendenon had his own innings, gold-plated. On one of
the most famous teams in history, here or anywhere else but
especially here, Clendenon, in all ways, stood tall.”
Clendenon was acquired in mid-season from the Montreal Expos
for Steve Renko. At the time the Mets were eight games back in
the race. But while Clendenon was a big contributor down the
stretch, of course he is best remembered for his three home runs
against Baltimore in the Series, none more so than the third one.
With the Mets shockingly up 3 games to 1, the Orioles entered
Game Five still harboring high hopes of a comeback. But in the
sixth inning, with the O’s leading 3-0, Cleon Jones led off
against Dave McNally. Legendary sportswriter Red Smith wrote
this on October 17, 1969:
“It was high time the Mets do something if they were to avoid a
return to Baltimore for a sixth and possibly a seventh game. But
what? ‘Let’s dig up the old Shinola play,’ somebody up there
suggested.
“The Shinola play was introduced to World Series competition in
1957 in Milwaukee. Nippy Jones of the Braves howled that a
pitch by the Yankees’ Tommy Byrne had struck him on the foot
but Augie Donatelli, the umpire, wouldn’t believe him until he
was shown a smudge of shoe polish on the ball. Thanks to his
neat grooming, Jones was awarded first base, he scored the
winning run, and Milwaukee won the championship.
“Lou Dimuro was Thursday’s plate umpire. A skeptic like
Donatelli, he had coldly rejected Frank Robinson’s claim that a
pitch by Koosman in the top of the sixth had struck him. Even
when Robinson stalked off the field and held up the game five
minutes while he applied ice to his bruised thigh, Dimuro stood
his ground, embarrassed but obstinate.
“So now in the same inning, the umpire was understandably cool
to Jones’s claim that he’d been nicked on the toe by a McNally
pitch. ‘Shut up and bat,’ Dimuro was saying, when here came
the Mets’ manager, Gil Hodges, carrying the ball which had
skidded into the Mets’ dugout. It bore the telltale smear.
“Waved to first base, Jones cantered home ahead of Donn
Clendenon when that tall citizen busted his third home run of the
series. Now it was a 3-2 ball game. What could the Mets think
of next?
“You wouldn’t believe this. They thought of Al Weis. Al Weis
has played baseball in the major leagues for seven years and in
that space he had hit six home runs. So he led off the seventh
inning with his seventh.” [Source: “Red Smith on Baseball”]
Score tied 3-3. The Mets went on to win the game 5-3 and to
some of us it still almost seems like yesterday. Teachers
allowing the kids to watch the game on television, me running
home across the field to catch the end (I was eleven back then),
the Mets appearing on “Ed Sullivan” after..…
–Atlanta’s Andruw (sic…for those of you not too familiar with
him) Jones is the first National Leaguer to hit 50 home runs since
Barry Steroid Bonds hit his 73 in 2001.
–On August 1, the Chicago White Sox had a 15-game lead over
Cleveland. Today that lead has shrunk to 3 ½. No other club in
baseball history has given one up that big.
–Nice effort by Florida the other day as it took a 2-0 lead over
Philadelphia into the ninth-inning of a critical game for the wild-
card. The Marlins then committed four errors and gave up 10
runs.
–Dammit…Barry Bonds is up to 705. Sorry friends, but I
absolutely detest this man. He’s a fraud.
–From the New York Times’ Murray Chass, some interesting
stats on the financial health of baseball.
“The new 8-year, $2.368 billion contract with ESPN (average
$296 million a year) combined with two other deals with ESPN,
for games on radio ($11 million a year) and the Internet ($30
million a year), and a deal with XM satellite radio ($60 million a
year) will produce $397 million a year.
“In 2001, baseball was getting $40 million from that
combination, meaning clubs averaged $1.33 million. The new
annual average will be $13.23 million. Add the nearly $14
million a year the Fox national package produces for each club,
and some teams could just about finance their payrolls. Tampa
Bay’s opening-day payroll this year was just under $30 million.”
And all this despite the fact baseball attendance, at least what
goes through the turnstiles, is plummeting…as Mark R. has been
correctly observing all season. Maybe next year we’ll finally get
some truthful attendance figures.
–The other night Pedro Martinez struck out 10 in a shutout of the
Braves. It was the 104th double-digit strikeout game of his
career, ranking him fourth all time. Nolan Ryan (215), Randy
Johnson (207) and Roger Clemens (110) are the only ones ahead
of him. Am I the only one who finds this kind of surprising?
–According to Golf Digest, Woodrow Wilson played at least
1,200 rounds of golf, but he seldom broke 100. Of course the
equipment sucked back then.
[Paid for by defenders of Woodrow Wilson’s golf game.]
–Lance Armstrong now says he won’t attempt another comeback
after all. Geezuz, Lance, just shut up….you’re only hurting
yourself. [And I wonder if he knows Sheryl Crow is nine years
older than he is.]
–According to a new survey by the National Center for Health
Statistics, 14% of women aged 18 to 29 say they’ve had a
“sexual experience” with another woman. 6% of men say
they’ve had sex with a man.
Wha? You expect me to comment on these findings?
–So here I finally discover country music star Kenny Chesney,
about four years after everyone else has, and the poor guy is in
the headlines because his wife of four months, actress Renee
Zellweger, wants the marriage annulled, citing “fraud.”
Zellweger has been scrambling ever since, trying to downplay
the use of the term but the damage to Chesney’s reputation has
been done.
Divorce attorney Raoul Felder said, “I guess she went to a
different law school than the rest of the lawyers in America.
People don’t just throw that term about.”
As reported by Tracy Connor of the New York Daily News,
“The bride or groom can cite incapacity as grounds for an
annulment, which usually means one party was below the age of
consent or mentally incompetent. More often, the reason given
is fraud, or ‘a material misrepresentation’ by one party.”
“The usual fraud is a refusal to have children,” Felder said. “Or
you see it if somebody is homosexual, or has some kind of
disease, or claims they’re from nobility when they’re not.”
Chesney is crushed. But hey, now he has some terrific material
for a new album. Title it “Drinking Myself Silly…with a rope
around my neck.”
–Golfer David Toms had a scary moment the other day at this
week’s PGA Tour stop at Nemacolin, PA. In Thursday’s
opening round, Toms suddenly clutched his chest and said he
couldn’t breathe. His pulse rate soared to something like 290
and he was rushed the heck out of there. Thankfully, he has a
treatable condition and is still scheduled to play in this week’s
Presidents Cup.
And congrats to Jason Gore for winning the tournament, his first
PGA Tour victory. His popularity is already soaring following
his terrific showing in this year’s U.S. Open. The sport needs
him.
–Holy cow…did you hear about this? The world’s biggest half-
marathon takes place in Scotland, the BUPA Great North Run,
and on Sunday, 40,000 took part. But four men collapsed and
died. Temperatures reached 68F and the humidity (the killer as
any runner knows) was 70%. All four who died had passed the
8-mile mark before they became ill.
By comparison, only 8 people have died in the first 25 years of
the London Marathon.
Well, as one who has run a marathon in 80 degree heat (Kiawah,
1999), and was super dehydrated because of an incredibly stupid
move the night before (it’s in the archives, I believe), all I can
say to those of you running one coming up, don’t push it.
–OK…I realize the humor is 40 years old, but can’t some of you
just picture Johnny Carson uttering these in his monologue, with
those mischievous eyes and Ed guffawing in the background?
So for a last time…from Carson’s 1965 book “Happiness is…a
Dry Martini.”
“Happiness is…going to a stag party and recognizing the girl
who jumps out of the cake as your new neighbor.”
“Happiness is…seeing the taxi driver who passed you by in the
rain skid into a police car.”
“Happiness is…being in the motel business with Frank Sinatra.”
“Happiness is…a tiger in your tank and a pussycat in your back
seat.”
“Happiness is…your friends mistaking the wound you got when
you were hit by a beer bottle for a dueling scar.”
Top 3 songs for the week 9/21/68: #1 “Harper Valley P.T.A.”
(Jeannie C. Riley) #2 “People Got To Be Free” (The Rascals)
#3 “Hey Jude” (The Beatles)…and…#4 “Hush” (Deep Purple)
#6 “Light My Fire” (Jose Feliciano) #7 “Born To Be Wild”
(Steppenwolf)…biggest mover, #60 to #15, “Fire” (The Crazy
World Of Arthur Brown)
NFL Quiz Answers: 1) Otis Armstrong / Denver, led AFC in
rushing, 1974. 2) Ernest Jackson / San Diego, led league in
1984. 3) Chris Warren / Seattle, led AFC in 1994. 4) Kicker
Errol Mann / Oakland, led AFC in scoring in 1977. 5) Kicker
David Treadwell / Denver, led AFC in 1989. 6) Roy Gerela /
Pittsburgh, led AFC in scoring twice, 1973-74. Ah yes,
“Gerela’s Gorillas”.
The Emmys were a total waste. No one gives a damn.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
