Super Bowl Quiz: Name the 12 coaches who’ve won at least two
Super Bowls. Answer below.
Sutter’s In
Bruce Sutter became the first pitcher elected to the Hall of Fame
never to have started a single game in his major league career;
the 4th traditional reliever overall, joining Hoyt Wilhelm, Dennis
Eckersley and Rollie Fingers. Sutter got in on his 13th try (15 is
the maximum).
Needing 75% of the 520 votes cast (390), Sutter eked it out with
400, or 76.9%. So the debate now continues regarding some of
those who didn’t make it.
Jim Rice…64.8%
Rich Gossage…64.6%
Andre Dawson…61.0%
And others such as Bert Blyleven (53.3) and Lee Smith (45.0).
It’s kind of interesting that Sutter didn’t hit the 50% mark until
his 9th year on the ballot. Actually, he had dipped to as low as
24.4% in his 6th try.
But no one is crying about his selection. He’s deserving of this
ultimate honor.
But what of the others? Johnny Mac and I disagree on Jim Rice,
with yours truly believing he should be in, while J. Mac thinks
Rice’s career stats are borderline, let alone the fact he was a
mediocre at best fielder and hit into a boatload of double plays.
Plus he was a jerk. [My word, not Johnny’s.]
Image can be everything when it’s sportswriters checking off a
ballot. Case in point, Goose Gossage.
Goose is so close and he has 8 more years of eligibility that
you’d think he’d know enough to shut up. But noooooo……he’s
been a talkative bird the past few days; bitching and moaning.
“I just don’t get it,” Goose told the New York Post’s Kevin
Kernan after hearing of the vote. “I just can’t believe Sutter got
in before me. He deserved it. I was hoping Sutter and I could go
in together. I don’t know if I ever will make it.”
[Gossage’s career numbers are actually better than Sutter’s and
Goose also started 37 games early in his career.]
But here’s where Goose screws up.
“You know what, I never hear from these guys who don’t vote
for me. But I’ll take on any writer, anywhere, on any show, and
I will bury him.”
Just not necessary, Goose. Why rile up those who still hold your
fate in their hands? After all, Gossage climbed from 55.2 to 64.6
percent of the vote in just one year and while he may not make it
next time (his 8th) he’d still have 7 more years after that. Rice,
though, has only three more shots and here is the problem.
In 2007 we have first timers Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripken Jr. and
Mark McGwire. Oh, Bar Chat is going to be filled with all
manner of commentary next December on the topic of McGwire.
Until the steroids issue came to a fore and McGwire’s pitiful
testimony before Congress, he was a sure-fire first ballot along
with Ripken and Gwynn. But not now.
But I liked what Gossage had to say about the Hall and some of
the decisions made, or yet to come, concerning hitters.
Referring to the fact Kirby Puckett was a first-ballot Hall of
Famer while Rice has been denied, Goose said “If Jim Rice had
played in the Metrodome, he would have torn the place down.”
And when it comes to the likes of Barry Bonds:
“Hitting in a game (these days) is no different than hitting in a
home run contest. It pisses me off to say Barry Bonds is the
greatest hitter. He’s playing in a wussy era. The game is soft.
You never get thrown at today. Last thing a hitter has to worry
about today is getting hit. The first thing Hank Aaron had to
worry about is: Am I going to survive that at-bat because I’m
black.”
Finally, back to the actual voting process itself, it is a bit strange
that many deserving stars simply have to “wait their turn.” Alan
Schwarz had a piece in the New York Times, quoting Jayson
Stark of ESPN.com who has voted in the last 15 elections.
“I feel as if my job is to look at a player and decide whether he’s
a Hall of Famer or not, and vote that way every year unless
something significant comes along to change my mind. But
some people don’t look at it that way. They say, ‘I want Ozzie
Smith to go in alone this year,’ or ‘This guy doesn’t feel like he
should get in yet.’ Those are the biggest reasons for the
zigzagging.”
Or as Johnny Mac told me, make the voters decide yes or no…
one year and out. “If the writers know that a guy won’t be back
on the ballot next year, they might actually take it more
seriously.”
Stuff
–You just can’t make this up. Last time we nominated former
Virginia Tech quarterback Marcus Vick for “dirtball,” “idiot”
and “jerk of the year,” and then 24 hours later we learn he had
surrendered to police in Virginia for pulling a gun on three
people.
Gil Brandt, former longtime player personnel chief for the Dallas
Cowboys told Skip Wood of USA Today, “(Vick) has just cost
himself a considerable amount of money, because I think he
probably would have been drafted. People in the league thought
he was a real good prospect, maybe a better passer than his
brother, but these days teams are as concerned about the stability
of the person they draft as much as anything else.”
Now ordinarily this would place Vick in the “idiot” category, one
up from “jerk,” but remember, you get classified as a “dirtball”
when there is some malicious intent involved.
So Marcus Vick is officially the frontrunner for “Dirtball of the
Year” and it’s just January. He is going to be tough to beat.
But here are some thoughts from sportswriter / ESPN star
Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post, including on the
Redskins’ Sean Taylor and his spitting incident from last
weekend.
“If the NFL is willing to fine (Washington running back) Clinton
Portis $20,000 for wearing the wrong socks and a tinted visor,
one would think the league could muster up the courage to really
hammer anybody who had the gall to spit in another man’s face
during a game, right in front of the referee no less.
“Since the NFL fined Redskins safety Sean Taylor only $17,000
yesterday for spitting in the face of Tampa Bay running back
Michael Pittman, the only thing we can conclude is that the
league is more offended by mismatched socks than having one of
its players ejected during a playoff game for doing something
truly vile and detestable….
“At best, Taylor should have been fined $100,000.”
[Ed., remember, this isn’t Taylor’s first spitting offense.]
“The NFL punked out on this one. They like to play tough cop
on socks and visors, and whether a guy’s hair is covering the
league’s and manufacturer’s logos, but won’t confront a spitter
caught in the act by one on-the-money referee.”
As for Vick:
“All this kid did during his time at Virginia Tech was get in
trouble.
“So you’ll pardon me if I’m not going to give school and athletic
department officials a standing ovation for throwing his butt out
of school…eventually. He should have been thrown out months
earlier. And university officials, if they have the guts, ought to
be taking a serious look at the entire football program because
there’s way too much trouble involving the football players on
that campus. [Ed., recall my own comment in simply watching
the Virginia Tech game on television…they looked like a bunch
of thugs.]
“But we always forgive the talented ones, don’t we?
“(As for Taylor) he awaits a Jan. 17 court date after being
charged with felony aggravated assault and misdemeanor battery
over the summer. On the field, off the field…it doesn’t seem to
matter to Taylor, who bailed on the league’s mandatory rookie
symposium (and) refused to return his coach’s phone calls during
the offseason. Hey, when you’re talented enough and rich
enough to get your court date moved so it won’t affect your
football season, you can do whatever you damn well please,
right?”
But then you have the apologists. Like Gene Wojciechowski of
ESPN.com. Wojciechowski spends an entire column attempting
to explain the actions of Vick and Maurice Clarett, the former
Ohio State running back who also whipped out a gun over New
Year’s in attempting to rob some folks.
‘Oh, you should see where these kids grew up, and how little
they had, blah blah blah.’
“I’m not making excuses for Clarett or Vick. You do the crime,
you serve the time. You make decisions, you live with the
consequences.
“But I’ll forever wonder what would have happened had Clarett
won his battle against the NFL or stayed put at Ohio State…
“What would have happened had Michael (Vick), trying to be a
good brother, not spoiled Marcus by giving him a Cadillac
Escalade for his freshman season?…
“But whatever happens, I’m not going to judge. That’s for
someone else to do.”
What a jerk. Who gave this guy a job anyway? Oh, sorry, the
same people who employ drug user Michael Irvin as a
commentator. I’m amazed Wilbon, who has consistently been a
man of principle over the years, can stand working at ESPN.
–AP Men’s Top Ten Basketball
1. Duke
2. Florida…one helluva job of coaching by Billy Donovan
3. Villanova
4. UConn
5. Memphis
6. Gonzaga…could now run the table against weak conference
foes….so I see them finishing #3 in the final poll before the
tourney starts…and then they’ll fail to make the Elite Eight.
7. Illinois
8. Texas
9. Indiana
10. Louisville
And for the first time in 60 weeks, Wake Forest is out of the top
25. Good. I’m sick of ‘em…sick of the coach…sick of guys
who don’t improve…sick of no defense…sick of this fascination
with Michael Drum, a Division II player at best….sick of the
baseball team…sick of football………but nothing a win over
Carolina or NC State won’t cure!!!!!!!!!!!
–Phil W. tells me that his endorsement opportunities rose six-
fold after being mentioned in Bar Chat the other day. If you
have any insight or a story you’d like to share, drop us a line. I
mean, haven’t you ever wondered what you could do with an
extra $1,000 or $6.5 million? You think it’s easy to sell vitamins
over a web site…like one infomercial I saw the other day
claimed? No, the real money is in being mentioned in Bar Chat.
Subject to the rules and regulations of the International Web Site
Association, of course.
–In reading my High Plains Journal, I saw the headline “Chain-
saw season may be unusually active, hazardous.” According to
the latest data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission, there were 30,150 accidents with chain saws
requiring emergency room treatment in 2003. And the “typical
chain saw injury requires 110 stitches.”
–OK, that was pretty gross, but in the same High Plains Journal
they have a story on a dog I never heard of, the Catahoula.
[www.catahoulaleopard.com] What a great canine.
“He can be your pal or your best friend. He can also risk life or
limb to put livestock where it needs to be, plus he’s not bad to
look at.”
According to a story written by Kylene Orebaugh (I kind of like
the name ‘Kylene’…it’s different without being too cute, know
what I’m sayin’?), the history of the breed goes back to 1541
with the Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto, who brought along
“Spanish War Dogs (an Alano Mastif and Greyhound mix) for
hunting and campaigning against Indians. The dogs were left
when DeSoto was killed, and the dogs eventually found a home
with the Indians.”
[Where they were among the first to come up with the idea of
Indian casinos, I imagine….since we already know dogs are
good poker players.]
“During the time with the Indians, the Spanish Dogs possibly
interbred with Red Wolves and another feral dog discovered in
the South – the Carolina Dog. The offspring of these
interbreedings were used to hunt deer and wild boar in the
swamps of Louisiana by the Indians. Approximately 125 years
later French settlers arrived in Louisiana and had their own dogs
– Beauceron. [Not to be confused with the Beaujolais…a real
lush.] The French admired the strange looking ‘wolf dogs’ for
their intelligence and loyalty, as well as their ability to hunt and
work. The settlers began using the dogs to herd and retrieve
cattle from the marshlands.”
Anyway, after all this cross-breeding, you have the Catahoula.
And if you want one yourself, they go for a few hundred dollars
as a pup, and a couple thousand for one that’s been trained.
Sounds like the perfect dog for me, being condo association
president and all; not that I’m raising cattle on my 6’ X 10’
property bordering the creek.
–From the AP and the Los Angeles Times, a lawsuit working its
way through the Stanford University athletic department alleges
football players took recruits to a strip club three years ago using
athletic department money. Stanford acknowledged this to be
the case, though at the time it wasn’t in violation of NCAA rules.
“The school reported minor infractions to the Pac-10 and NCAA
that hosts spent more than the $30 allowed for entertaining
recruits – by $3.70, $6.01 and $6.86.”
Today, thanks to the shenanigans at the University of Colorado,
the NCAA more clearly defines ‘dos’ and don’ts’.
Of course I wouldn’t even be passing along this story except for
the fact you look at what was spent and all you can say is, “What
cheapskates!” Bet the girls were none too pleased.
–A Yale professor, Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria, who
specializes in Hispanic and comparative literature, wrote an op-
ed in the New York Times on Wednesday, deploring the fact
some of us feel Cuba should be allowed to play in the World
Baseball Classic.
“I appreciate the fans’ desire to see some of the finest players in
the world, but it hardly stretches the truth to say that those who
want Cuba to participate are asking to be entertained by a team
of slaves…
“Are people so eager for a good baseball game that we are
willing to overlook 47 years of totalitarian oppression?”
Oh, give me a break. Like our existing policy on Cuba has
worked and helped everyone in the land of the ’57 Chevy. Move
on, folks. Give my Mets a chance to pick up a defector…a 5th
starter.
–Golf Digest breaks down the top earners in the sport, both on
course and off.
1. Tiger Woods…$11,992,000 (on course)…$75,000,000 (off
course)…$86,992,000 (total)
2. Phil Mickelson…$5,971,000…$39,250,000…$45,221,000
3. Vijay Singh…$8,359,000…$21,900,000…$30,259,000
4. Arnold Plamer…$15,000…$25,000,000…$25,015,000
5. Greg Norman…$242,000…$20,000,000…$20,242,000
Others earning over $8,000,000 a year in endorsements only:
Sergio Garcia…$12,750,000
Ernie Else…$14,000,000
Jack Nicklaus…$15,250,000
Adam Scott…$8,100,000
Michelle Wie…$8,000,000
Golf Digest also projects that Tiger Woods has earned $547
million in his first ten years….$66 million in on course earnings
and $481 million in endorsements.
Even Gary Player still earns $4,500,000 in endorsements.
–After Sunday’s game, the New York Giants’ superstar Tiki
Barber lashed out following the Gints unbelievably bad
performance as Carolina shut them out 23-0. Now Tiki had an
awesome year, one of the best by a running back in the history of
the NFL, but he can also be a punk.
So as Tiki is wont to do when the chips are down, he speared a
few teammates, in this instance slamming the Giants coaching
staff for not adjusting.
Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News:
“I wonder whether Barber thought there should have been a
defensive coach in charge of better schemes and more intensity
when the Panthers dominated the line of scrimmage and took up
seven minutes and 46 seconds of clock time on their only real
touchdown drive of the game, when they backed up what was
supposed to be the defensive rock on these Giants – the defensive
line – and opened up huge holes no matter what they were
looking at in terms of down and distance.
“While Barber, the most media savvy player on the team and
maybe in town, was turning coaches into hood ornaments,
(teammate) Kendrick Clancy was sitting quietly in front of his
locker and taking some of the responsibility for the way the
Giants got pushed around…”
Barber tried to back down the following day, but as Lupica again
observed, he failed to make amends.
“People like Tiki Barber…There has never been an active Giant,
ever, who has become this kind of media star…
“(Yet) he still went out of his way Sunday to start something that
won’t go away even as the season does. His relationship with the
head coach is an issue now. All of a sudden Coughlin, who had
a big year coaching the Giants, is treated like some sort of
lightweight and the whole season meant nothing. Beautiful. One
game is all it takes. Suddenly Barber is the bravest whistle-
blower outside of Enron.
“When Barber was in the parking lot yesterday (having cleaned
out his locker), Coughlin was inside trying to clean up the mess
Barber had made.”
And so we hereby place Tiki Barber’s name in the candidate file
for “Jerk of the Year.”
–Former All-Pro defensive back Dave Brown died of an
apparent heart attack at the age of 52. Brown was an assistant
coach at Texas Tech after a 16-year NFL career with Seattle,
Pittsburgh and Green Bay that saw him finish with 62
interceptions, 7th on the all-time list.
–And Jack Snow died. Snow was a former All-Pro wide
receiver with the Los Angeles Rams, hauling in 340 passes for a
17.7 career average and 45 touchdowns. Snow was a consensus
All-American at Notre Dame before becoming the Rams’ first
draft pick in 1965. And Jack was the father of J.T., the San
Francisco Giants’ first-baseman who recently signed with
the Red Sox. The two had a well-publicized rocky relationship
but by 2002 had patched things up.
However, Snow’s death, at age 62, is worrisome. You see he
developed a staph infection. According to Shav Glick of the Los
Angeles Times:
“Snow’s is the latest of a series of contagious infections that have
plagued the Rams, which moved to St. Louis 10 years ago. In
2003, five players developed drug-resistant infections after
suffering turf burns, and two or three San Francisco 49ers
developed infections after playing the Rams early that season,
according to the Associated Press. The outbreak was the subject
of an article in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“In August, then-linebackers coach Joe Vitt was hospitalized
three days with a staph infection in his left hand. Vitt took over
as head coach of the Rams in October, when Mike Martz was
found to have endocarditis, a bacterial infection of the heart’s
lining.”
Yikes. Not to make light of this, but if I was a free agent and had
a choice between St. Louis and, say, Kansas City, with natural
turf, I’d choose the Chiefs.
And in learning of Snow’s passing I can’t help but recall
something from my childhood that I’ve mentioned before. He
was one of the key players on my electric football game that
came with the Rams and the Packers (and then I added the Jets).
Yes, my Rams squad was centered around running backs Dick
Bass and Les Josephson, receiver Snow, and quarterback Roman
Gabriel. Of course those of you who grew up with this old game
remember how the quarterback couldn’t exactly throw passes
too effectively. Plus you’d lose the football under the bed.
[The Packers had Donny Anderson, Chuck Mercein and Travis
Williams as their focal points.]
–So much for watching NFL playoff games in the snow or bitter
cold. It’s going to be in the 50s on Saturday in Denver and
sunny and 40 or thereabouts in Chicago on Sunday. Drat!
–Kobe Bryant accomplished something that hadn’t been done
since Wilt Chamberlain in November 1964; score 45 points in
four consecutive games. The only other player to do so is Elgin
Baylor in December 1961. [Kobe scored 45, 48, 50 and 45]
*This column is being posted prior to Kobe’s game on
Wednesday when he goes for #5.
**And it’s being posted before the Knicks’ Wednesday contest.
But it needs to be noted that the team I trashed the other day has
now won four in a row! Thereby proving the “Reverse Bar Chat
Trash Jinx.” If I trash a team, it invariably comes back.
–So I’m reading this piece by Jim Fusilli in the Wall Street
Journal on the career of Lou Rawls and I see this:
“ ‘You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine’ sold more than a
million copies. (If you read a Rawls obituary over the weekend,
it’s likely that memorable song, ubiquitous in its day,
immediately began playing in your head). The song’s
prototypical disco sound is now terribly dated, but Rawls’s
urbane performance is timeless.”
What a stupid line. The “disco sound” is obviously part of the
charm of the song, but I never think of it as a classic disco tune.
And for crying out loud, how the hell can a song be “timeless”
without the background music?!
You know, the first real disco tune by my way of thinking was
“Love’s Theme” by Barry White’s Love Unlimited Orchestra.
Sure, disco sucked, but this is a quality song….not to get off on a
rant here. And don’t get me started on the Bee Gees’ disco junk.
Eegads…this was a solid group before they went disco
commercial on us…………………now where was I?
–Oh, with the above chatter on the Hall of Fame, it’s once again
time to examine the situation with Pete Rose. IF…baseball
reinstates him he could be eligible in 2009 by the Veterans
Committee (which meets every two years now…next vote in
’07).
But in an article by Jon Saraceno of USA Today, Rose once
again proves he doesn’t get it. [If you’re a little sketchy on your
Pete Rose history, just remember an exhaustive investigation
proved he bet heavily on baseball, including on his own team the
Reds.]
“(Hall of Famer) Brooks Robinson says some Hall members
were willing to give Rose the benefit of the doubt, but ‘I think
he’d have a hard time convincing (a majority).’
“ ‘I had an open mind, but I was with Pete so many times when
he’d say, ‘I bet on everything, but I didn’t bet on baseball,’
Robinson says. ‘I have a hard time thinking about him getting in
after that.’
“Stubborn and strong-willed, Rose understands why some people
feel the way they do about his transgressions, but he continues to
make his case, mostly reduced to one argument: compassion.
“ ‘Don’t you believe that a guy like me deserves a second
chance?’ he asks. ‘Our problem was 17 years ago. If one spouse
had killed another spouse, they’d be out of jail by now, right? If
so-and-so gets caught with drugs five times, doesn’t he get a
second chance? Isn’t Terrell Owens going to get a second
chance? I’m trying to get one – I won’t need another.’”
You know what? With that incredibly stupid T.O. reference,
which is nowhere near an example of Rose’s past behavior, we
hereby give Pete Rose a Bar Chat “Lifetime Idiot” award, though
he won’t be able to pick up his plaque until next December.
–Bode Miller, Take Two: OK, last time I said the “60 Minutes”
interview with him last Sunday was way over-hyped and the
characterization of him not fair in discussing his having raced in
the World Cup, drunk…but following the clinching of his World
Cup title!
Well, the controversy continues and it comes down to this.
Miller, who didn’t come off as the kind of guy I’d like to hang
with, but I hope he kicks butt in the Olympics, certainly parties a
lot, which isn’t a crime, but he’s foolish to be so open about it.
We have no story if his behavior was just limited to the day after
clinching the title, but now other stories are coming out, as they
inevitably would, that Bode’s bad behavior is a pretty regular
occurrence.
So the United States Ski and Snowboard Association, the
national governing body, is going to be reprimanding him while
demanding a public apology. His teammates, afraid of being
dragged down with him and fearing the loss of endorsement
money after the Olympics, are beginning to turn on him. Time
for Bode just to keep his mouth shut and cooperate for about six
weeks.
Top 3 songs for the week of 1/15/66: #1 “We Can Work It Out”
(The Beatles) #2 “The Sounds Of Silence” (Simon & Garfunkel)
#3 “She’s Just My Style” (Gary Lewis & The Playboys)…and…
#4 “Five O’Clock World” (The Vogues) #5 “Ebb Tide” (The
Righteous Brothers) #6 “Day Tripper” (The Beatles) #9 “As
Tears Go By” (The Rolling Stones)
Super Bowl Quiz Answer: Coaches who’ve won at least two.
Chuck Noll…4
Bill Belichick…3…am I the only one who has a mental thing
about the spelling of his last name? I’ve always got to double-
chick, err, double-check it.
Joe Gibbs…3
Bill Walsh…3
Don Shula…2
Tom Landry…2
Bill Parcells…2
Mike Shanahan…2
George Seifert…2
Jimmy Johnson…2
Tom Flores…2
Vince Lombardi…2
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday.
