NCAA Div. I Men’s Basketball Quiz: Name the top four
scorers, all time, in scoring average. All were guards and went
on to play in at least one NBA All-Star game. Plus…none of the
four played any college ball after 1975. Answer below.
[Starting this in Nashville…very haphazard, I’ll admit.]
Steelers 21…Seattle 10
Well, we’ve exorcised the Bar Chat curse forever, sports fans.
But boy am I sick of the complaints about the officiating. The
more I look at the replays, clearly Roethlisberger scored as the
tip of the ball broke the plane, and on the pass interference call,
the ref was right there, for crying out loud, and called it
immediately. As for the holding call against Sean Locklear,
well, I’ll give you that one.
But the really big story, if true, is Joe Montana and Terry
Bradshaw not showing up as part of the living members of Super
Bowl MVPs because they weren’t offered enough appearance
money. Both Newsday and the San Francisco Chronicle reported
that the two QBs were miffed they would receive only $1,000 for
incidentals, plus airfare and game tickets. Reportedly, Montana
asked for $100,000 in appearance money. I believe it.
And of course we’re all relieved Mick Jagger didn’t have a
coronary. Then again, since it was tape-delayed, maybe they
could have quickly spliced in some footage from an earlier
concert.
The Country Music Hall of Fame / Nashville
So there are a couple of things I need to do this year, like get to
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and it’s country counterpart was
another of them. Just checked it out and it’s a super museum.
However, not as much Bar Chat as I had hoped for in terms of
stories.
There was a special exhibit of Earl Scruggs and his family. Earl
and Lester Flatt were responsible for the theme to “The Beverly
Hillbillies,” you’ll recall (and they have a video of their one
appearance on the show to play it…Granny fixes ‘em some
vittles afterwards). And it was Warren Beatty who really helped
put Earl Scruggs on the map when he selected “Foggy Mountain
Breakdown” for “Bonnie and Clyde.”
[As I’m walking out of the exhibit, there was a little memorial
for Louise Scruggs, Earl’s wife. Turns out she died on
Thursday.]
Country music had its start on the radio in 1922, with WBAP in
Fort Worth, TX, being the first to have a regular program the
following year.
The museum has a few booths where you walk in and a classic
country tune is playing…like Webb Pierce’s “Slowly” …
‘Slowly I’m falling more in love with you’… a 1954 #1. Webb’s
own special Bonneville is a site to behold, with guns welded to
the car in about twenty places. Elvis’s favorite Cadillac is also
there.
Hall of Fame members Patsy Cline, 31, and Jim Reeves, 40, died
all too young due to plane crashes. [Cline’s in 1963 and Reeve’s
in ’64. I’ll have to do stories on these two. Kind of like shark
tales, I guess.]
What was Conway Twitty’s real name? Harold Lloyd Jenkins.
The museum has all 854 country records (as of recently) that
have gone either gold or platinum and a cool touch where you
open up some of the albums and one of the songs comes on.
[Since 1976, a record goes ‘gold’ with sales of 500,000;
‘platinum’ is for one million. Double platinum is thus two
million.]
The first three inducted into the Hall of Fame were Jimmie
Rodgers, Fred Rose and Hank Williams.
I believe Conway Twitty is still number one with 50 country
chart-toppers.
Faron Young was a hit in the 1950s. I liked the title of one of his
big sellers … “Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young.”
And what’s this? It’s the original Kornfield set from Hee Haw!
Saa-lute!
Of course if you’re a guitar fan, you’d love looking at some of
the instruments, like Johnny Cash’s Martin D-35S. Or Bill
Monroe’s original mandolin, one of the finest stringed
instruments ever made. But get this, in 1985 some dirtball broke
into Monroe’s home and smashed the mandolin into 150 pieces.
Geezuz, there are some messed up people in this freakin’ world.
But the Gibson folks put the mandolin back together!
And of course there is the Hall of Fame rotunda with plaques on
each member. Songwriter Harlan Howard had over 1,000 of his
songs recorded. Goodness gracious. Among his more popular
tunes was “Busted,” “Heartaches By The Number” (Ray Price)
and “I Fall To Pieces.”
I guess if I had a criticism of the place it would be that there
weren’t enough personal vignettes…but the music and videos are
terrific. Also a great store at which I started my Christmas
shopping. It’s never too early for that. [Pssst…don’t tell Trader
George but I got him a Johnny Cash t-shirt…way cool.]
Stuff
–I haven’t seen any updates, but the last I heard there is a good
chance Sly Stone is going to be making an appearance at the
Grammy Awards on Wednesday. How awesome would this be?
[Assuming he’s in some kind of shape.] The word is that Sly and
the Family Stone will reunite. If so it would be Sly’s first live
performance since 1987, and his first major public appearance
since Jan. 1993, when Sly and the Family Stone were inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
For years there have been rumors that the recluse was down to
100 pounds, or that he was dead. But sister Vaetta wrote on her
Website, “Sly Lives.”
Funk legend George Clinton says of his good friend, “He’s my
idol; forget all that peer stuff. I heard ‘Stand!’ and it was like:
Man, forget it! That band was perfect. And Sly was like all the
Beatles and all of Motown in one. He was the baddest thing
around. What he don’t realize is that him making music now
would still be the baddest. Just get that band back together and
do whatever it is that he do.”
No doubt, in their heyday, from 1968 to 1971, they were right at
the top. As J. Freedom du Lac of the Washington Post wrote
(what kind of freakin’ name is that?!):
“Sly and the Family Stone created revolutionary music, an
intoxicating mix of psychedelic pop, pulsating funk and social
commentary.”
They were also among the first fully integrated groups on the
American music scene.
But once the band split up, it’s been nothing but one drug arrest
and weapons possession charge after another for Sly, plus he’s
failed to keep up on child support. He’s not a nice guy. Then
again, maybe it’s best to keep him away from the rest of us.
–Al Lewis died. What an amazing man he was. While most
know him as Grandpa Munster, I’ll remember him for his role in
the comedy “Car 54, Where Are You?” But this guy was an
institution in New York as well, where at age 90 he ran for
governor and collected 52,000 votes. Lewis was 95.
–I’m not a New York Giants fan, but I was very happy to see
linebacker Harry Carson finally get the nod for Pro Football’s
Hall of Fame. Overshadowed by Lawrence Taylor, Carson was
simply one of the great middle linebackers of all time. Others
joining him in Canton are Troy Aikman, Reggie White, Warren
Moon, tackle Rayfield Wright and John Madden. At first I was a
little disgruntled at Moon’s selection, because I never viewed
him as a great one, but on second thought, what the heck.
–I loved the opening of “Saturday Night Live” with Steve
Martin and Alec Baldwin this week.
–But earlier Saturday evening, I went to a place in Nashville
called John A’s Little Palace for some dinner and a few beers.
There were about 25 people there and a fellow was singing
standards with his sound machine filling in the back tracks.
Then this older gentleman and a young couple walked in and
everyone starts clapping. ‘Who the heck is that?’ I muse. The
man sits down next to me, I go over to another guy who, like
everyone else in the place, is staring at him, and ask.
Turns out it was Vern Gosdin, whose name I certainly
recognized but I couldn’t place any of his tunes. So while all the
patrons went up to him as he was eating, I didn’t say a word
because I was too embarrassed. I mean what would I say? ‘Hey,
Vern, loved, err….ah….err….’
Anyway, when I got back to the hotel I checked online. Two of
his #1’s were “I Can Tell By The Way You Dance (You’re
Gonna Love Me Tonight)” and “I’m Still Crazy.” Another hit of
his was “If You’re Gonna Do Me Wrong (Do It Right).” Yup,
that’s country. Or how about “Was It Just The Wine”? And then
there’s Gosdin’s “Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud
Music)”. It was a classic Nashville moment that the locals have
all the time with their heroes frequenting the same
establishments. It’s an important part of the bond built between
country’s stars and their fans. Which is similar to the one
between NASCAR and its fan base as well.
–Wow…just saw that at the Mammoth Mountain ski resort, five
hours north of Los Angeles, three skiers were killed on three
consecutive days (plus there was a heart attack fatality right
afterwards). From a piece in the Los Angeles Times:
16-year-old Benjamin Trees (that’s his real name) “was skiing
with a group of friends on an intermediate run. He took a jump
too fast and missed the roughly 25-foot-wide landing, officials
said.” [The report doesn’t say where he did end up landing.]
The day after, Bronislaw Tanski, 39, “was skiing on an
intermediate trail when he lost control and hit a tree head-on.”
Then the following day, Luther Sartor Jr., 61, was skiing with
buddies from a club “when he apparently became disoriented and
failed to see a wall of rock in front of him. He struck a 30-foot-
high boulder straight on at full speed.”
As you can imagine, the staff at Mammoth Mountain is shaken
up big time and to make matters worse, a day or two after the
heart attack victim, #4, a member of the resort’s ski patrol was
killed in an avalanche at a neighboring site.
The last season for which there are records, 2003-04, there were
41 fatalities in skiing or snowboarding accidents nationwide.
–There’s been a lot of talk about the New York high school girl
Epiphanny Prince, headed to Rutgers on a basketball scholarship,
who scored a record 113 points in a game for her Manhattan
school. Kobe inspired, the effort is drawing a ton of criticism
because the final score in the game was 137-32.
Prince broke the 24-year-old high school scoring mark held by
the great Cheryl Miller (Reggie’s sister) who scored 105 for
Riverside (CA) Polytechnic in a 179-15 romp.
The coach for Epiphanny’s opponent, Louis Brandeis High, said
the whole thing “sucks.”
Of course it was poor sportsmanship, but I do have to make note
of the fact Prince shot 54 of 60 from the field, with just one point
from the free throw line and four 3-pointers. The rest of her
points came from simply driving the lane, one after another.
Epiphanny’s coach, Ed Grezinsky, said “I had to make a choice –
do I take her out or leave her in, knowing there might be a record
to be broken.”
Oh well, I hope Epiphanny gets a good education because the
WNBA is going nowhere.
–But going to Toronto is New York Knicks forward Antonio
Davis, traded for Jalen Rose. You’ll recall that Davis is a “Jerk
of the Year” candidate for going into the stands in Chicago last
month after he thought his wife was in danger. Turns out Kendra
was the instigator and this week a Minooka, IL, woman claims
that Kendra ran a stop sign in October and tossed coffee at her
through the driver’s side window when confronted, according to
police. Kendra has now been charged with misdemeanor battery,
though her side of the story is that she threw the coffee because
the woman used a racial slur. The police doubt her account.
So if you’re in a McDonald’s and Kendra Davis walks in and
orders a piping hot coffee….clear the hell out of the joint. Or at
least don’t make eye contact. Kendra’s like the Hydra.
–Watch Feb. 23. On that date, Houston Astros great Jeff
Bagwell is slated to appear at training camp, only the team
doesn’t want him. This story has been developing for some time
but in the past few days it’s heated up.
The deal is that Bagwell, 37, and poster boy for the steroids era
with 449 HR and 1,529 RBI, has an arthritic shoulder that
severely limited his play last year. But he is still due $17 million
for this season, however, if he doesn’t play because of injury the
Astros collect $15.6 million on an insurance policy. [Bagwell’s
salary is guaranteed, so he gets the money regardless.]
Bagwell and his agent say he’s been rehabbing and should be
able to perform this year, even if on a limited basis, so you can
see how this has the potential to be one nasty legal battle; and a
most interesting one at that.
By the way, the reason he can’t come to spring training on Feb.
23 and at least give Astros officials a chance to check him out in
game conditions is because the insurance policy expired Jan. 31,
which is when the team filed the claim.
–Boy, no sooner do I write of the death of former Los Angeles
Rams great Jack Snow and how he was one of the stars of my
electric football games as a youth (even if my QB couldn’t get
him the ball), we learned the other day that another fellow I
mentioned, teammate and running back Dick Bass died at the age
of 67.
Bass played in Los Angeles from 1960 to 1969 and finished up a
solid career with 5,417 yards and a 4.4 career average. In fact
his first two full seasons, 1961-62, he was a house afire.
1961…608 yards with a 6.2 avg.!
1962…1,033 yards…5.3 avg.
He also rushed for 1,090 yards in 1966.
Those are his real figures…on grass. I think he had 8,964 one
year with me in the electric football games.
–When Tiger Woods won at Torrey Pines in his opening PGA
event two weeks ago, the announcers talked of Tiger not having
picked up a club for 24 days, which was exceedingly rare for
Tiger, they observed.
It turns out Tiger spent all 24 days at his father’s bedside. Earl is
evidently on his last legs after a myriad of health problems.
Tiger said, “He’s my dad, and I love him to death. He’s my best
friend, and anytime I can spend that much time with him,
especially when he wasn’t feeling all that well, it meant the
world to me.” [Sports Illustrated]
That’s the other side of Tiger Woods. He’s a complex person, to
say the least.
–A number of you wrote in to comment on Sunday’s PGA
winner, J.B. Holmes, and how a new star was born. Holmes won
in just his 4th tour event but it was how he did it that most
impressed, demolishing the field while launching 350-yard
drives, one after the other. Couple him with another impossibly
long newcomer, Bubba Watson, and it could be a lot of fun this
year. Then again, smashmouth golf, driver and a wedge, isn’t
viewed too kindly by golf purists.
–Hey, did you know Jerome Bettis is from Detroit?
–The Olympics start Friday. Reminder…I only care about
alpine skiing (not snowboarding), women’s (not men’s) figure
skating, hockey (if the U.S. is competitive), and ski jumping; the
latter only if someone soars into the grandstands. I used to love
watching the bobsled as a kid, but I realize now that was because
there was nothing else on in those days before ESPN and 20
college basketball games every weekend.
–You know Derrick Caracter, that basketball player from New
Jersey I started covering when he was in 8th grade? He is slated
to attend Louisville this fall but he’s already been suspended
from 7 games at this prep school he’s enrolled in Fitchburg, MA.
Bill Barton, the coach at Notre Dame Prep, said Caracter doesn’t
understand why he’s not allowed to play point guard at 6’9” and
270 pounds. “He (also) hasn’t grasped our system here, where
everyone plays hard.”
–The Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, AZ, is the biggie for
car enthusiasts. At the just concluded event, an Aston Martin
DB5, the one used to promote “Thunderball” and equipped with
bumper battering rams, machine guns, rear bulletproof shield,
smoke-screen generator, tire shredders and passenger ejection
seat, sold for $2,090,000.
–Rapper Busta Rhymes’s bodyguard was shot to death early
Sunday morning at a video shoot where other rappers such as 50
Cent, DMX and Mary J. Blige were hangin’ out. We are
shocked! Police have no suspects.
–This just in… “Dirtball of the Year” candidate Sean Taylor, the
Redskins’ safety, has had two new assault charges levied against
him stemming from a 2005 incident in which he allegedly
threatened three people with a gun.
–You know that school I went to, the one with the now 1-8 mark
in ACC basketball play? Have you ever seen a program implode
quicker than this one? This season can’t end fast enough.
Top 3 songs for the week of 2/9/74: #1 “Love’s Theme” (Love
Unlimited Orchestra…conducted and arranged by Barry White)
#2 “The Way We Were” (Barbra Streisand) #3 “You’re Sixteen”
(Ringo Starr)…and…#5 “Until You Come Back To Me (That’s
What I’m Gonna Do)” (Aretha Franklin…my favorite tune of
her’s…otherwise, I’ve seen more than enough of her, know what
I’m sayin’?) #7 “Spiders & Snakes” (Jim Stafford…just a
classic, all-around entertainer…they don’t make ‘em like him
anymore) #8 “Show And Tell” (Al Wilson…oh yeah, baby…if
you don’t like this one, ya just ain’t happenin’) #10 “Jungle
Boogie” (Kool & The Gang…and ya gotta love this one, too)
NCAA Men’s Basketball Quiz Answer: Top four scorers, all
time, scoring average.
Pete Maravich, LSU…44.2 avg per game
Austin Carr, Notre Dame…34.6
Oscar Robertson, Cinncinati…33.8
Calvin Murphy, Niagara…33.1
Both Murphy and Carr appeared in just one NBA All-Star game.
[I had to stop at four because #5 is Dwight Lamar, SW
Louisiana, and #6 is Frank Selvy, Furman. If you knew these
two, that’s scary. Then again Lamar brings back memories of
Fly Williams and Bird Averitt, two other prolific scoring
machines who amounted to zippo in the NBA.]
Next Bar Chat, Thursday. Not posted until after the Grammys on
Wednesday. I need to comment on the outfits, after all.
