Baseball Quiz: Yes, just got my first 2006 stat book so I’ll throw
a few out there, just to whet the appetite. 1) Who was the last
National League pitcher to lose 20 games in a season? 2) Who
was the last N.L. pitcher to win 25 or more? 3) Name the six
different A.L. pitchers to win 25 or more since Denny McLain
won 31 in 1968. Answers below.
Janet Jones / Rick Tocchet…Jerks of the Year
Granted, you’re innocent until proven guilty, but it would appear
Janet Jones, wife of hockey great Wayne Gretzky, is in up to her
eyeballs in a gambling scandal that also involves former NHL
player and current assistant coach Rick Tocchet, a New Jersey
state trooper and other assorted characters.
New Jersey law enforcement officials estimate that Ms. Jones
placed about $500,000 in sports bets with the ring, though
supposedly only on football and basketball.
Called “Operation Slapshot,” Tocchet and trooper James Harney
took in some $1.7 million on 1,000 wagers during a recent 40-
day period and there are ties to South Jersey and Philadelphia
organized crime figures.
For his part, Tocchet, currently an assistant for the Phoenix
Coyotes to Wayne Gretzky, faces up to 10 years in prison if
convicted on charges of promoting gambling, money laundering
and conspiracy. Trooper Harney faces 10 to 20 years, including
for official misconduct. The state police raided his home and
found $27,000 in cash, Rolex watches worth $250,000 and nine
plasma television sets.
According to the Star-Ledger, here’s how it worked.
“Tocchet and Harney were equal partners in the betting ring,
with both taking wagers and Tocchet providing the money to
cover the losses, (said State Police Superintendent Col. Joseph
Fuentes…no relation to Tito). They also took bets from other
bookies…
“Out-of-state bettors routinely settled up their losses by sending
cash and checks to Harney through the mail under the guise of
rent payments, according to sources.”
And Janet Jones? Assuming husband Wayne is totally innocent
(and I’m not so sure of this), how could she possibly jeopardize
his reputation, forever, just to fulfill her habit? That’s a “Jerk of
the Year” for you. [Reminder …to be eligible for “Dirtball of
the Year” there has to be some malicious act causing bodily harm
or intending to do same…according to the statutes of the
International Web Site Association.] Much, much more to
follow on this one.
Country Tunes
Allen H. had to list a few of his favorite titles, all hits, after my
piece on country music last time.
“What’s Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out Of
Me)” – Jerry Lee Lewis
“If Drinkin’ Don’t Kill Me (Her Memory Will)” –George Jones
“Don’t Come Home A Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)”
–Loretta Lynn
“If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don’t Want To Be Right”
–Barbara Mandrell…#3 pop hit for Luther Ingram in 1972.
“I Hate You” –Ronnie Milsap
Of course any time you start thinking of country song titles, it’s
tough to stop. I’ll try my best over the coming weeks and your
contributions are more than welcome. [It must be a legitimate
‘hit’ and in my Top Country Singles book.]
*Allen, what song is the line “I don’t know whether to kill
myself or go bowling” from?
But since I mentioned my brush with former country star Vern
Gosdin the other day, I’ve done a little reading on him.
Gosdin was born in Woodland, Alabama, August 5, 1934, and
didn’t make his first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry until
1977. He had just about given up hope he’d ever make it.
“I used to listen to the Opry religiously every Saturday night
down on our farm in Woodland…There was no TV, so it was
important. There were thirty-nine knobs and only two of them
worked. The reception wasn’t too good either. I had to go
outside and jiggle the ground wire….
“There were many Saturday nights I went to sleep listening to the
Opry, and dreaming of being right there.”
[“Country Music: The Encyclopedia,” Irwin Stambler and
Grelun Landon]
Vern and his two brothers sang in the choir and then became
regulars on the Gosdin Family gospel show on WVOK radio in
Birmingham, AL, in the early 1950s. Vern moved to Atlanta to
try and make it as a country singer, then in 1956 he went to
Chicago and opened up a country-music nightclub, the D&G
Tap.
Of course Chicago isn’t where you need to be if you’re thinking
of hitting the big time in country, but next he headed to
California to join brother Rex in a bluegrass group called the
Golden State Boys. In the early 1960s, Vern and Rex switched
to a group called the Hillmen, led by a young California
bluegrass musician, Chris Hillman. Yeah, that Chris Hillman…
of the Byrds!
Vern stayed friends after Hillman became famous and Hillman
and another ex-Byrd, Clarence White, recorded Vern’s song
“Someone To Turn To” for the soundtrack of the film “Easy
Rider.”
Vern himself had to be mostly satisfied with session work,
though he signed with one label after another. A few times Vern
and Rex seemed on the verge of success but just couldn’t break
through. By the late 1960s, Vern had moved back to Atlanta to
raise his family, opening a glass business that did pretty well.
Then one day in 1976, Vern, now 42, got a call from an old Los
Angeles acquaintance, producer Gary Paxton.
“I ran into your brother Rex today,” Gary said. “I told him I was
looking for someone to record the old ‘Hangin’ On’ as a single.
Would you like to do it?”
Vern went back to music. “Hangin’ On” was actually the second
recording to “Yesterday’s Gone” and both made it into the
country top 20. Then his debut album “Till the End” hit the
charts and climbed to #5.
By 1983, Vern had twelve top 20s and in 1984 finally got a #1
with “I Can Tell By The Way You Dance (You’re Gonna Love
Me Tonight)”. Two other #1’s followed, “Set ‘Em Up Joe” and
“I’m Still Crazy.” Think about it. He was 50 when that first
chart-topper came through.
And, heck, I just wish I knew some of this when he came into the
bar I was at this past Saturday night in Nashville.
Here are some other country hits:
“Drink It Down Lady” – Rex Allen, Jr.
“I’m Just An Old Chunk Of Coal (But I’m Gonna Be A Diamond
Someday)” – John Anderson
“Here I Am Drunk Again” – Moe Bandy [Clyde Beavers had a
hit with this one, too, in 1960]
“She Took More Than Her Share” – Moe Bandy
“It Took A Lot Of Drinkin’ (To Get That Woman Over Me)” –
Moe Bandy
“Dropkick Me, Jesus” – Bobby Bare
“Divorce Me C.O.D.” – Johnny Bond (1947)
“Wine Me Up” – Larry Boone
“Lift Ring, Pull Open” – Jim Ed Brown
“Painted Girls And Wine” – Ed Bruce
“You’re Not Leavin’ Here Tonight” – Ed Bruce… [sorry, it’s
getting steamy]
“Divers Do It Deeper” – David Allan Coe
“Jack Daniel’s, If You Please” – David Allan Coe
“Now I Lay Me Down To Cheat” – David Allan Coe
“Bury The Bottle With Me” – Dick Curless
“Who Licked The Red Off Your Candy” – Little Jimmy Dickens
“Leroy The Redneck Reindeer” – Joe Diffie
“Don’t The Girls All Get Prettier At Closing Time” – Mickey
Gilley
“The Power Of Positive Drinking” – Mickey Gilley
[Yes, we’re winding our way through “Top Country Singles”.]
Stuff
–From ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski:
“Who cares if Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw stiffed the
NFL’s Super Bowl MVP ceremony? It was their loss, not ours.
They had a chance to be part of one of the great team photos of
all time, but decided to take a pass because of family
commitments, or money demands, or both. All I know is that if I
were Montana or Bradshaw, I would have brought my family to
Detroit for this one. It’s not like they had to take a wagon train
to get there. After all, how many times do you get almost all the
living MVPs from SB I to XL on the same field?
“But Montana, the only three-time Super Bowl MVP, told
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, ‘I’ve moved on with my life. People
think I need to be stuck with football the rest of my life.’
“Yes, he’s moved on all right…until Feb. 25, when he’s making
a paid appearance at a collectors show. Autographs go for $149
apiece, photo ops for $169.”
–From the Times of London / Chris Ayres, regarding the Rolling
Stones performance at the Super Bowl and two bits that were
edited out by the NFL:
“Reports initially suggested that ABC had used a five-second
delay to edit out the offending lines. But it later emerged that the
NFL’s production company had been responsible for turning
down the microphone, a move that had been agreed with the
Stones. ‘We agreed upon it earlier this week. They were fine
with it,’ an NFL spokesman said. ‘If we had missed it, then
ABC had five seconds to hit the button.’
“Before the show, Jagger said: ‘I think the Stones have moved
closer to American mainstream culture and I think America has
changed since we first came here. Hopefully, both of us still
have our core values intact.”
–Speaking of the south, I didn’t see until the other day that Univ.
of Mississippi coaching great Johnny Vaught died at the age of
96. I also didn’t realize what a super record he had at Ole Miss.
From 1959 to 1963, Mississippi finished in the top five in the
major polls (7th in the AP in one) and in 25 seasons he was 190-
61-12, including six Southeastern Conference championships.
But in 1962, amidst a 10-0 season, including a Sugar Bowl
victory over Arkansas, Vaught and Ole Miss got swept up in the
civil rights movement. From Richard Goldstein / New York
Times:
“In the early fall of 1962, a mob of segregationists tried to block
James Meredith from becoming the first black student at the
university. The football team’s nickname, the Rebels, embodied
the Old South, but Vaught was enlisted by the Kennedy
administration in a futile effort to avert bloodshed.
“ ‘I had a call from Washington to tell me Meredith was coming
on campus that particular day, and they asked me if I would use
my influence to quiet the group and keep them normal,’ Vaught
recalled in a 2002 interview… ‘I went over to the Student Union
and got on the high steps and looked at the crowd that was there,
and I didn’t know anybody. They weren’t dressed like they were
students. They weren’t our people. They were outsiders. They
weren’t going to listen to me, so I just moved on.’”
Two died in the violence and hundreds were injured. Ole Miss
only played two home games that season and its practice field
became a campsite for the military.
I just looked up the 1962 football squad. Nice defense. The
Rebels gave up just 53 points in 10 games.
–Brad K. first alerted me to this wild tale from Zimbabwe.
From the AP:
“A human chain of villagers pulled a hunter from the jaws of a
crocodile in northeastern Zimbabwe, state media reported.
“Letikuku Sidumbu, 32, was attacked while trying to cross the
swollen Mubvinzi river…about 25 miles east of Harare, during
an early morning hunting expedition with his uncle.”
A croc seized his arm, and “As the crocodile clenched its jaws on
it, the villagers tugged him from its grip in a struggle that also
left him with a broken leg and chest and stomach injuries,
Sidumbu told the state Herald newspaper from his hospital bed in
Harare.
“ ‘I called out to my uncle to hit the crocodile with an ax,’ but, he
said, commotion by the two men’s hunting dogs enraged the
crocodile.”
According to the BBC report, “Villagers had been hoping to
retrieve a large enough part of his body for a burial should the
crocodile win the contest,” Mr. Sidumbu added.
In recorded cases last year, 13 were killed by crocodiles in
Zimbabwe alone. Here’s hoping an army of crocs invades the
offices of President Robert Mugabe, catching the two-time
“Week in Review / Dirtball of the Year” winner unawares.
–Here’s a classic Arnold Palmer story, from Golf Digest and an
interview with three-time long driving champion Sean Fister.
Fister was at Palmer’s Bay Hill club, doing an outing.
“It so happened that my all-time hero in sports, Arnold Palmer,
was there that day. I met him, and when he asked what I did for
a living and I told him, he got a very devilish look on his face
and asked if I’d like to play golf with him the next day. Of
course I said yes. He then led me over to the starter and asked
him to make room for one more – ‘and make sure Sean is on my
team.’
“I barely slept that night. The next morning I was so excited I
forgot to eat breakfast. That was bad news, and potentially
dangerous because I’m hypoglycemic, so I get very weak and
lightheaded. When I got to Bay Hill I was hoping I could finagle
some crackers from the restaurant before we teed off. I know it
sounds silly, but it’s not like you can ask your host, Arnold
Palmer, to go get you a sandwich. But as I was walking toward
the clubhouse, Mr. Palmer saw me and led me inside. He put his
hand on my shoulder and looked at me with a knowing smile and
asked – I swear he was reading my mind – ‘Sean, have you had
anything to eat?’ Was I ever relieved when he took me into the
dining room. He then asked two members if they would sit with
me while I ate, so I wouldn’t have to eat alone. That lesson in
consideration was the first of many things I learned from Mr.
Palmer that day, which rates as one of the great days of my life.
“The second lesson I learned from Mr. Palmer came after he
pulled out my chair and seated me at the breakfast table. He
leaned over and said in a kind, grandfatherly tone, ‘Sean, I know
you’re excited to be here. I’m going to do all I can to make it a
great day for you.’ He paused for a moment and then laid the
lesson on me: ‘Sean, after you eat but before you leave the table,
you might want to consider zipping up the fly on your trousers.’”
–Golf Digest polled 2,262 men and 2,440 women.
“You’re on a trip to California and have just finished a great
round at Pebble Beach. You’re scheduled to fly home the next
day and will be attending your child’s Little League game that
night. One of your colleagues receives word that you have an
opportunity to play Cypress Point the next day, but it’ll mean
you’ll miss the Little League game. Do you play Cypress?
53% of the men said ‘no,’ 58% of the women.
Give me a freakin’ break. You guys call yourselves golfers?!
We’re talking Cypress Point, for crying out loud! I’d give up my
Lew Alcindor rookie card to play that course. The kid will live.
“You have a 9 a.m. tee time and awake to a steady drizzle with a
temperature of 49 degrees. Do you play?”
50% of men said ‘yes,’ only 28% of women.
Here I’m with the gals…unless it’s in Ireland where that would
be an ideal day.
“You’re on vacation with friends. It’s 12:30 p.m. and you’ve
just finished a round. The shop informs you that a tee time has
opened up at 12:45. Your reaction”:
50% of men said they’d ‘take it.’ 27% of women.
35% of men said ‘do another activity.’ 56% of women.
Again, here I’m with the ladies, though my activity might be to
stay at the 19th hole.
“You’re running late for your tee time but notice a small stain on
your golf shirt just as you’re leaving. Do you change?”
70% of men said ‘no.’ Surprisingly, 66% of women agreed.
[And here come the e-mails…..]
“You have the opportunity to play Augusta National, but in
exchange you’ll have to abstain from sex for one year. Do you
take the tee time?”
60% of men said ‘no.’ 58% of women.
Boy, there are a lot of variables that need to be factored in here;
Hmmm………what…would…I…do…..
You know what? I need to take a pass on this one……you
understand.
“Golf is better than sex”:
68% of men ‘disagree.’ 44% of women.
Pass.
And your final one…that guys will have a field day with.
“In golf, Martha Burk is”:
‘A meaningless issue,’ 61% men; 24% women.
‘Don’t know / not sure who she is,’ 17% men; 51% women.
–Hey, according to fashion experts, argyle is back ‘in.’ Thank
goodness. I have a ton of argyle sweaters that are now suddenly
back in play.
–You know that school I went to? The one with the 1-9 record
in ACC play? And to compound matters, Phil W. passed along a
story that we could lose a big recruit who’s having second
thoughts. Plus, Chris Paul has a story in Sports Illustrated this
week titled “Everybody Loves Chris.” Oh brother.
–So I waited to post this in order to see what happened on the
Grammys. That was a waste of time. The best act was the
opening one…Madonna. You know how much I love U2, but
they sucked and for some reason felt compelled to have Mary J.
Blige perform with them. Boy, she was dreadful. And she just
witnessed a murder the other night, that of Busta Rhymes”
bodyguard.
I did like John Legend’s song and now I’ll buy the CD.
Mariah Carey had the best dress…filled it nicely.
Top 3 songs for the week of 2/8/75: #1 “Fire” (Ohio Players) #2
“You’re No Good” (Linda Ronstadt) #3 “Boogie On Reggae
Woman” (Stevie Wonder)…and…#4 “Pick Up The Pieces”
(AWB) #5 “Best Of My Love” (The Eagles) #8 “Laughter In
The Rain” (Neil Sedaka…one of the more underrated tunes of
the century)
Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) Last N.L. hurler to lose 20 games:
Phil Niekro, 1979. He also lost 20 in 1977. 2) Last N.L. pitcher
to win 25: Steve Carlton, who won 27 in 1972….that
phenomenal season where Carlton went 27-10 for a team that
was 59-97; i.e., 32-87 without him. 3) 25-game winners in the
A.L. since McLain won 31 in 1968: Mickey Lolich, 25-14, 1971;
Catfish Hunter, 25-12, 1974; Fergie Jenkins, 25-12, 1974; Ron
Guidry, 25-3, 1978; Steve Stone, 25-7, 1980; Bob Welch, 27-6,
1990…in only 35 starts (no relief appearances).
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday.
