[Posted Sunday p.m., just this once]
San Diego Padres Quiz: 1) What two years did the Padres make
the World Series? 2) Who are the three to win the Cy Young
award? 3) Who are the only two to be NL Rookie of the Year?
4) Who was the Padres’ first Gold Glover? [Hint: It wasn’t
Ozzie Smith.] 5) Who is the career leader in home runs? 6)
Who holds the record for RBI in a single season? [Not the same
as No. 5] 7) Who holds the single season mark for strikeouts
with 257? Answers below.
Friends, it’s been a remarkable 72-96 hours in the sports world,
and, sadly, perhaps the worst such period in the history of
modern athletics in this country. Thankfully, there were also two
wonderful moments worth mentioning first.
Padraig!
No doubt, Padraig Harrington is one of the more popular golfers
in the world and in an incredible British Open finish at
Carnoustie, Harrington survived a nightmare 18th hole to find his
way into a playoff with Sergio Garcia, whereupon Padraig
prevailed.
Year in and year out, I’m on record as saying the Masters
consistently provides the most excitement, but in actuality my
favorite tournament is the British because I’ve played so many
links courses, and in links weather, the past 18 years since I
started going to Ireland. And now, any golf fan can’t wait to
have another Open at Carnoustie after 1999 and Jean Van de
Velde, and then this year’s unbelievable finale.
But just think, there was 26-year-old Argentinian Andres
Romero with a two-stroke lead at 9-under and two holes to go,
and then he went double-bogey, bogey to finish -6. In fact, over
Romero’s last 11 holes he didn’t have a par.
8…birdie…9…bogey…10…birdie…11…birdie…12…double
bogey…13…birdie…14…birdie…15…birdie…16…birdie…17
…double bogey…18…bogey.
Actually, Romero had one birdie his first round, and ended up
with 10!…10!…his last. But he also lost six shots on four holes
Sunday. This just doesn’t happen in majors, where par is always
a good score, especially in the last round.
Plus it’s hard to believe that for his part, Sergio Garcia is still just
27. It seems he’s been around forever. But once again he failed
to come through in the clutch, shooting 73 in the 4th. He’s great
for the game, though, and the hope here is that he breaks through
soon.
On a different topic, but the other positive one from the weekend,
you had track’s Alan Webb, who broke the American record in
the mile at a meet in Belgium on Saturday with a time of 3
minutes 46.91 seconds, besting the mark of 3:47.69 set by Steve
Scott all the way back in 1982.
The sparsely attended event (only 1,000 on hand) was designed
to give Scott a shot at the record as two rabbits set the pace the
first 1,200 meters before Webb was to take over the final 400.
The target was 2:48 the first three laps and Webb came in at 2:49
because one of the pacesetters slowed during the second lap. But
Webb got the job done.
Webb’s time is the 8th best in history, overall, with Morocco’s
Hicham El Guerrouj still on top with a 3:43.13 from back in
1999. Webb’s time is the best since that year.
Of course it was Webb who back in 2001 set the national high
school record of 3:53.43, besting Jim Ryun’s longstanding 3:55.30
from 1965.
—
But now it’s back to the dreadful news of the past few days.
Excuse the extensive recap, but this site gives readers the best
coverage you’ll find anywhere on topics ranging from the
Nasdaq Bubble, to Iraq, to Barry Bonds.
Bonds’ Pursuit…and the Feds
This man never should have reached the point where he is about
to become the all-time home run king. It’s sickening. And as
I’ve noted countless times before there are two individuals, in
particular, worthy of scorn……..trainer Greg Anderson and
President Bush.
The pathetic Anderson, one of the all-time losers in the history of
this country, for reasons yet to be made known, opted to protect
his former employer, Bonds, and has served a number of terms in
prison, where he is currently, for contempt of court and refusing
to cooperate with a grand jury. I couldn’t give a damn what
happens with this guy the rest of his life. I’d say what I’d really
like to see, but I’d probably end up behind bars myself. Suffice
it to say, Greg Anderson goes down in the history of this country
and its sporting world as one of the true dirtballs of any era.
As for Bush, he fired U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan for purely
political purposes at a time when Ryan was close to nailing
Bonds. Despite what the Attorney’s office in San Francisco has
said, the delay in transferring the case to Ryan’s replacement, let
alone the necessity to empanel a new grand jury, was critical.
Bonds was able to start the 2007 season and we see the result.
On Saturday, the New York Daily News reported that the
Attorney’s office “is confident it will have enough evidence to
secure an indictment once it resumes in September. ‘They seem
to feel they have a strong case,’ said one source.”
The Daily News continued, “Another source said he believed
prosecutors could secure an indictment if they sought one now,
but that they would rather take the additional time to strengthen
it.”
So what! It’s too late. Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig could
have suspended Bonds last winter following an indictment and
there is little the Players Association could have done after
an obligatory period where Bonds was in limbo. No court would
have upheld the players’ union’s argument.
But today…oh, you know the deal. It’s over. The only hero in
this whole deal is Bonds’ former girlfriend, Kimberly Bell, who
has shown amazing courage in testifying about Barry’s tax
evasion concerning his memorabilia sales.
—
The NBA’s Dark Future
Mitch Lawrence / New York Post
“Quite simply, this is the NBA’s worst nightmare. For
commissioner David Stern, 30 NBA owners, some 400 players
and 60 refs, it can’t get any worse than having a referee caught
smack in the middle of a mob-inspired, point-shaving scandal.
“The integrity of the NBA is open to question because referee
Tim Donaghy allegedly bet on games he officiated and made
calls over the last two seasons that affected the point spread of
games.
“The rumbling you heard yesterday was the foundation of a pro
sports league shaken like it has never been in 60 years.
“ ‘There’s nothing worse for the integrity and credibility of the
game,’ said one ownership source. ‘This is horrible.’ That’s
because when you buy a ticket for an NBA game, as for other
pro sporting events, you are putting your hard-earned money and
trust in the fact that the action is on the up and up. It’s not
supposed to be pro wrestling….
“As soon as Donaghy’s name surfaced yesterday, GMs, coaches
and players were thinking back to the games he worked and
reviewing them for strange calls. That is not what the NBA
needs. It comes off a one-sided Finals last month in which few
fans watched, and its officiating, while professionally executed
for the most part, has often come under fire. If the home team
isn’t getting the benefit of the doubt on a controversial call, some
superstar usually is….
“(Commissioner David) Stern said, ‘We would like to assure our
fans that no amount of effort, time or personnel is being spared to
assist in this investigation, to bring to justice an individual who
has betrayed the most sacred trust in professional sports, and to
take the necessary steps to protect against this ever happening
again.’
“This is a statement made by a commissioner who knows how
his league can be brought down by mob shenanigans aided by
someone on the inside like a Tim Donaghy. One time is bad
enough. The NBA has had its share of bad days, whether it’s
Stephen Jackson firing off his gun or Ron Artest purportedly
beating up his wife or the Knicks and Nuggets brawling inside
the Garden.”
Frank Isola / New York Daily News
“When an Eastern Conference head coach first learned yesterday
that a referee was being investigated by the FBI for point-
shaving, one name immediately came to mind. ‘I think it’s Tim
Donaghy,’ the coach said. ‘He’s always come across as an angry
guy who had problems. And a lot of crazy things have happened
in games he’s done.’ Hours later, Donaghy was indeed identified
as the veteran official linked to a gambling scandal that has
rocked the image-conscious NBA….
“(Others) wonder if the investigation eventually will include
more names. One coach said he’s heard gambling whispers
about college and pro referees. ‘I can’t say I’m surprised,’ the
coach said. ‘Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of great refs in
the league. But there are a lot of bad ones as well. I always
thought, ‘They can’t be this bad.’”
Murray Weiss, Stefanie Cohen and Patrick Gallahue / New York
Post
“Donaghy, 40, was a troubled gambler who placed high-stakes
bets on just about anything he could – including his own rounds
of golf – before the Philadelphia-based wiseguy wannabe learned
the ref bet on games that he worked, sources said.
“The thug’s threats to expose Donaghy pressured the ref into
feeding crooked gamblers privileged information that helped
them win bets against the point spread – the margin of victory on
which bettors wager – on NBA games, sources said….
“During wiretaps of mobsters, a conversation involving the
allegedly crooked ref was picked up and sparked an
investigation.
“Very recently, the FBI confronted Donaghy, who began to
cooperate with authorities, sources said. He resigned his NBA
post in the past week.
“In what is swiftly turning into the biggest black eye in NBA
history, some of the information that Donaghy allegedly fed to
gamblers could cause sweeping changes to the league….
“It’s well known that referees have different styles of calling
games that can affect how coaches manage the team and how
different players are used.
“A thornier issue for the NBA is long-running speculation that
certain referees harbor deep dislike and bias against certain
players. [Ed. see the recent action against Tim Duncan.]
“ ‘There’s a lot of bias, judgment calls, who likes who, how they
call a game,’ a source said. ‘This information is proprietary and
worth a lot to gamblers and the bookmakers.’ ….
“(Some) believe that if any of the allegations are proven true, it
could deal pro basketball an irreversible blow.
“ ‘What will happen is every time there is an arguable call at the
end of games, fans are going to say, ‘See? Told you. It’s
crooked,’’ said an NBA team executive, who asked not to be
identified.”
Mike Vaccaro / New York Post
“The wonder is that we haven’t read a story like this before,
because in so many ways there is no more vulnerable – or
valuable – a person in the whole realm of competitive sports than
a basketball referee.
“They are ideal targets for the wiseguys who regularly reappear
in sports pages looking for that most American of sporting ideals,
the sure thing.
“NBA referees such as Tim Donaghy are handsomely underpaid,
especially in relation to the players and coaches they consider
colleagues.
“And, more to the point, they have the ability to subtly control
the outcome of games with the simple toot of a whistle more than
any singular group in any single sport.
“Gamblers have long wasted their time throwing bags of cash at
simple kids and asking them to shave points; it’s always made far
more sense to invest the effort in getting a zebra in your pocket.
“How easy is it? If you’re betting against the Lakers, and you’re
getting, say, 8 ½ points, you think you might feel good about
Kobe Bryant getting two quick early fouls, four before halftime,
five early in the third? A referee with a ‘quick whistle’ may get
an earful from a coach, but the suspicions generally end with his
lack of competence. Or have ended there, anyway.
“Unless you’re looking for something untoward, you aren’t
going to find it. Some guys call everything. Some guys call
nothing. You can always wonder what motivations are at
work….
“ ‘It’s been a potential problem for as long as the game’s been set
up the way it is,’ a basketball coaching friend of mine said.
‘Look, refs are always gong to be vulnerable to certain
prejudices. They don’t like you, they can f— with you as badly
as they want, and you have to take it.
“ ‘The thing is, it’s hard enough to take if you just think the guy
is bad at his job. But when you start thinking that someone’s in
his pocket…it gives you cold sweats thinking about that. It’s not
just their livelihood they’re screwing with then, it’s yours.
“ ‘And a guy like that, if it comes down to between their bank
account – or how many shylocks they owe – and whether or not
you’re going to the NCAA Tournament, guess who wins?’….
“Referees don’t have to be De Niro. Most fans think they stink
at their jobs anyway. Most coaches already think refs have it in
for them. Bad calls simply get lost in the shouting and the tumult.
And basketball referees are empowered with far more actual
influence than any of their other brethren.
“A baseball umpire can make his strike zone as elastic as he
wants, he can blow as many calls as he wants on a basepath, but
he’s powerless to stop a walk-off home run from sailing over the
fence.
“Basketball refs? They blow their whistle 30 to 40 times a game.
They can get Kobe in foul trouble. They can become obsessed
with happy feet. If they’re desperate, there’s always a quick 5-
second call, or 10-second call, or 3-second call. They can’t
control everything. But they can control more than most.
“ ‘I’ve always told people that what keeps me up at night is
realizing that [a prominent basketball referee] can come down to
whether I’m able to pay for my house and my kids’ education or
not,’ another coach told me the other day. ‘This story ain’t going
to make me sleep any better, believe me.’
“Nor should it.”
Dick Weiss and John Marzulli / New York Daily News
“”The NBA referee suspected of betting on – and even fixing –
games was previously confronted by league officials who feared
he had a gambling problem, sources said yesterday.
“Tim Donaghy was ordered to the league’s office in New York –
but he was allowed to continue officiating games because NBA
honchos did not suspect he was gambling on games or fixing the
contests, the sources said….
“According to the Web site Covers.com, Donaghy ranked third
among the NBA’s 60 refs last year for calling the most games
where the final score topped the projected over/under line.
Home teams also had a dismal 30-41-3 record against the point
spread in games he officiated.”
Mike Lupica / New York Daily News
“I talked to more than one NBA coach when the story broke the
other day and asked them how a ref could do it, if a ref wanted to
do it, and one current coach said to me, without much hesitation,
as if the thought had been in his head, ‘Easy: One star player in
foul trouble early.’
“People worried about the NBA being in Las Vegas for the All-
Star Game, as though somehow being close to all that gambling
could put the sport in harm’s way. You don’t have to go to
Vegas. You just have to take a call from a bookie or a bad guy
on the telephone. You put Vegas up against what we are starting
to hear about Donaghy and Vegas looks like church.”
On the issue of Vegas, as well as the topic in general, the New
York Times’ Selena Roberts weighed in.
“The feds are the only enforcers with any snooping powers,
having materialized with the ubiquity of Zelig on the league
scene. They are serial spoilsports by trade. They are the sleuths
who are chasing Barry Bonds as he pursues Hank Aaron and the
authorities who illuminated the sadistic underworld of
dogfighting through an indictment of Michael Vick.
“The feds are on the scent of the NBA now….
“Was Stern clueless or duplicitous when, for much of the
playoffs, he defended the NBA referees to the point of
deification after an academic study found that white and black
officials blew whistles at different rates against white and black
players?
“His reaction was more revealing than the analysis: No group of
employees in the world is more parsed, inspected and scrutinized
than our dutiful refs, Stern crowed to every microphone within
his reach.
“Now each sound bite rings like a shameless pre-emptive P.R.
strike by Stern when the FBI’s investigation of Donaghy has
been going on for months. Now it seems that Stern’s impeccable
stat geeks couldn’t – or wouldn’t – detect a statistical anomaly of
a referee if an odd number bit them in their hard drive….
“Somehow, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell never heard a
whisper about a dogfighting subculture that investigators of the
illegal operations say exists among athletes and, authorities
contend, has long enveloped Vick.
“Against all evidence, Commissioner Bud Selig claimed
ignorance of a blooming steroid era in baseball even after Mark
McGwire and Sammy Sosa wrapped their biceps around Roger
Maris’s record in 1998, even after the BALCO raid of 2003.
“The lapse of oversight is epidemic. Odd how that these pristine
leagues have not dared to rub shoulders with Las Vegas by
relocating a franchise to the Strip even though they could learn a
lot from its what-happens-here-stays-here philosophy of self-
inspection.
“Any strange swing on a betting line. Any aberrant pattern of
wagering. Any whiff of an irregularity. Any rumors of a fix.
And the Nevada regulators – think of them as pit bosses of the
state’s desert floor – act to stop the problem before it mushrooms
into an industry crisis….
“(Along the Strip), the NBA is in danger of becoming damaged
goods. By late afternoon Friday, as word spread about the FBI’s
investigation into Donaghy, one sports-betting operator
mentioned in an aside that in this anything-goes town, there was
only one real taboo: point-shaving.
“Imagine the NBA with an unseemly image Vegas wouldn’t
embrace.”
Mark Stein / ESPN.com
“You know it’s not a good Friday, as a sports commissioner,
when you wake up to a crisis that you’d gladly trade straight up
for baseball’s steroid scandal.
“Or as my Bloomberg News colleague Scott Soshnick put it on
ESPN’s ‘Outside The Lines’: It would have been a much, much
better Friday for David Stern if he were merely faced with the
news bulletin that one of his Michael Vick-sized stars was being
indicted on charges of sponsoring a widespread dogfighting
operation.
“Instead…This can only be described as a horrific Friday for
Stern and his National Basketball Association. The New York
Post’s disclosure that a referee is being investigated by the FBI
for betting on games and making calls to manipulate point
spreads will haunt this league for the foreseeable future….
“How bleak is the situation? Various international soccer
leagues have survived a handful of match-fixing scandals, but no
referee, umpire, linesman or in-game official of any sort has ever
been arrested or indicted for point-shaving or match-fixing in the
history of America’s four major sports.
“So if this proves to be the Friday that finally launches the NBA
on the road to fixing the credibility problem that has plagued its
referees for years, as a few team executives have anonymously
and optimistically suggested, Step 1 was a monumentally scary
leap backward.”
As if it couldn’t get worse, though, the New York Daily News
reported on Sunday that Donaghy “will cooperate with
investigators – and possibly name other officials or players
involved in the scandal,” according to law enforcement officials.
What’s also coming to light is what a total dirtball Donaghy is.
Back in June 2002, “he was charged with disorderly conduct and
harassment for nearly running a U.S. postal carrier off the road
after the mailman accidentally knocked over a bin of recyclables
in front of the ref’s Pennsylvania home….As the mail carrier,
Charles Brogan, attempted to drive his route, a screaming
Donaghy chased him by hopping into his car and speeding after
the postal truck, Brogan said.”
“ ‘He kept cutting me off,’ Brogan added, saying that Donaghy
narrowly avoided ramming his truck several times. ‘At one point
he got out of his car and started threatening me face to face.’
Brogan said.” [Daily News]
Donaghy is such an a-hole that his golf club kicked him out for
bad behavior. Do you know how hard that is?
—
Michael Vick….as “Dirtball Nation” continues….
Sally Jenkins / Washington Post
“Apparently the word ‘defendant’ was more tolerable to Michael
Vick than the words, ‘Gee, Mike, you’ve really changed.’ Vick
was so concerned with staying true to his roots that no amount of
paternalistic lecturing from Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank
could persuade him to dump his old associations. As a result,
there were apparently two Michael Vicks. There was the
polished, posterized NFL star who was nice to kids, and on his
way to being wealthier than a multinational. But according to a
federal indictment, there was also the lowlife, sadistic kingpin of
the Bad Newz Kennels known to childhood pals as ‘Ookie.’
“There is the suggestion that Vick has landed in all this trouble,
indicted on federal charges for running a lurid dogfight
operation, because he was trying to, as they say, ‘keep it real.’
The suggestion here is that when you get to play a game for a
living and call it work, and stand to earn more than $100 million,
you are no longer in the realm of ‘real.’ You have officially
entered the realm of the blessedly ‘surreal.’ Vick obviously
questioned which realm he really belonged in. Now, a U.S.
District Court may decide his realm for him….
“At the very least, Vick is guilty of leading a double life. He had
one foot in the corporate boardrooms, and one foot in the bad old
circles from Newport News, where he grew up amid gunplay.
By his own admission, he has taken care of all the wrong people,
for fear of being labeled a phony who forgot where he came
from.
“But if you want a phony, how about a starting NFL quarterback
and a huge commercial concern with his own Nike brand-name
shoes, who tries to act like he’s still one of the fellas. Who hangs
with childhood cronies named ‘P-Funk,’ or ‘T’ or ‘Q.’ Who by
day comes on like a business sophisticate who endorses the Nike
Air Zoom Vick IV D, currently on the shelves for $84.99, or the
Zoom Vick V, at a suggested retail price of $100, and who by
night (whether wittingly or unwittingly) bankrolls dogfights.
What a silly, pathetic brand of fraud, to pretend to be someone
lesser, instead of someone better.”
William Rhoden / New York Times
“My original position on the Vick investigation is that, for all its
validity, it had the earmarks of overzealous federal prosecutors
taking on a high-profile athlete. I still feel that way, but my hope
is that the investigation and indictment becomes a catalyst – not
for a referendum on conduct and African-American athletes – but
for a far-flung war on animal fighting. Animal-rights activists
say that dogfighting is more popular today than ever….
“What’s troubling for me, and it should be troubling for all of
Vick’s so-called handlers and advisers, is how Vick came to be
so close to this fire in the first place. How did one of the NFL’s
brightest stars, one of a multibillion-dollar league’s most
recognizable faces – indeed, the face of his franchise – become
inexorably linked to dogfighting, one of the lowest forms of
savagery in modern society?….
“Last June, a search uncovered the graves of seven pit bulls that
were allegedly killed by members of the Bad Newz Kennels after
sessions to test their fighting ability. Documents allege that
sometimes dogs were starved, and described how a fight ended
when one dog died, or when a dog gave up. According to
documents, losing dogs were sometimes put to death by
drowning, strangulation, hanging, gunshot, electrocution or
body-slamming them to the ground.
“ ‘This has become bigger, much larger than Michael Vick,’ said
Christopher A. Bracev, a professor of law and an associate
professor of African-America Studies at Washington University
in St. Louis. ‘He has become a poster child for animal rights and
animal fighting, for conspicuous consumption, for bad judgment
and for what happens when you give someone too much too
soon.’
“How do young, newly created millionaires react when wealth
allows them to indulge their dark side? We have to embrace the
presumption of innocence, but the sad truth is that no matter
what happens now, this indictment has thrown Vick for the
greatest loss of his career.”
[Forgive me, Mr. Rhoden, if I opt to shed no tears for this
despicable dirtball.]
Of course the NFL has a real problem in dealing with Vick after
Commissioner Roger Goodell came down hard on the likes of
“Pacman” Jones, suspended for a year despite the fact he has
never been convicted of a crime. [11 police investigations, but as
yet zero convictions.]
Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Times
“Harry Edwards, a longtime NFL consultant and sociology
professor emeritus at UC Berkeley, said, ‘The Atlanta Falcons
and the NFL are going to be confronted with a heck of a decision
to make as they enter the season. At what point does the
message, the image and marketability of the game come into play
irrespective of any outcome of a trial?
“ ‘What happens when you get literally millions of people who
say ‘Hanging, shooting and electrocuting of dogs? And we’re
going to cheer for this guy? We’re going to buy shoes from this
guy?’
“ ‘It’s not going to be good enough to say, ‘I’m going to go out
on the field and do my job as a football player and let my
attorney handle it.’’”
Lisa Olson / New York Daily News
“A law enforcement agent who works closely with a New York
task force investigating dogfighting says the activity thrives ‘in
poor communities and with younger men from all different
ethnicities.’
“ ‘We’ve busted rings run by black, Latino, Aryan, Asian and
Russian gangs,’ says the detective, speaking on the condition he
remain anonymous. ‘The common thread is they’re always –
always – gang-related. A lot of times you can get more drugs
and guns off the street by breaking up dog rings than you would
breaking up drug rings.
“ ‘It’s a community menace in so many ways. If dogs don’t
show ‘gameness,’ they’re either killed outright or let loose on the
streets where they become a menace to everybody. They’re
trained to survive by doing whatever it takes.’”
Tom Weir / USA Today
“No matter how Michael Vick’s indictment on charges of
operating a dogfighting ring is resolved in court, allegations
against the NFL star have forced mainstream America to
confront the grisly image of canine death matches.
“Law enforcement and animal-protection advocates who have
participated in raids on the type of enterprises that the Atlanta
Falcons quarterback and three other men are accused of running
say the reality of the dogfighting underworld is even worse than
most people can imagine.
“They say seized dogs inevitably are euthanized, the plywood
walls of the typical fighting ring are splattered with blood, and
cruelty shrouds every aspect of the dog’s life.
“ ‘When you go to where these fights have happened, you’ll find
a couple of dog corpses or a pit full of blood,’ says Mack
Dickinson, a Louisiana state trooper who heads that state’s
dogfighting investigations. ‘We’ll open up their kennels, where
they’ll put dogs after they’ve fought, and they’ll have blood all
over the walls.’
“Diane Jessup, a former Washington state animal control officer,
says, ‘With dogs that don’t win, it’s not uncommon for them to
be electrocuted, shot, hung or burned.’ But what troubles her
even more is ‘the way the dogs are maintained, kept out in the
mud on a short chain, a lifetime of that. To me, that’s crueler
than the fighting.’
“Kathryn Destreza, who as director of humane law enforcement
for the Louisiana SPCA has been on about 30 raids in the last
three years, says the animals’ owners ‘will file the dog’s canine
teeth into a sharp point, or they’ll put ground-up glass in their
fur’ before a fight….
“Dogfighting traditionally is associated with rural settings, but
Eric Sakach (of the Humane Society of the United States) says
the biggest growth is at the ‘street level,’ in cities….
“(Mack Dickinson said) ‘They never disclose the location until
an hour or two before. It may be in a field or a wharehouse.
They might fight four dogs, then go to another location.’
“During the 20-some raids he has conducted the last three years,
Dickinson says, ‘We’ve seized AK-47s, explosive devices, a kilo
of crack. The drugs and weapons associated with this sport are
unbelievable.’”
Tactical nukes might solve the problem.
Stuff
–Harvey Miller from Ohio was snorkeling off one of Oahu’s
beaches on Friday, searching for turtles about 150 yards from
shore, when he noticed that fish near him looked spooked.
“Then he saw a large shark’s flat snout and felt the animal spin
him around,” as reported by the AP. Miller punched the shark
twice right below its dorsal fin, scaring it away, but not before
the 8-foot tiger shark had inflicted some major damage on his left
leg.
Miller screamed for help and headed for shore, but he might not
have made it were it not for the help of a stranger who waded
into the ocean to assist Miller. “I owe my life to that man,”
Harvey later said.
Miller has two wounds around his left knee; one 3 to 4 inches
and the other a foot long! Doctors say he should be able to walk
in a few months.
–And then there is this story out of Australia’s northeast coast.
It seems there is an explosion in the saltwater crocodile
population. Endangered in the 1960s, its population is now as
high as it’s ever been thanks to its protected status.
Well this has created a bit of a problem, seeing as saltwater crocs
can reach a length of 15 feet and weigh a third of a ton. The
crocs have become a real menace to swimmers and sunbathers
and there are calls to relax the country’s strict gun laws in order
to protect the people, while allowing hunters to cull the herd.
As reported by the London Times, “officials conducting a night
survey along a five-mile stretch of Tentpole Creek counted ‘more
than 500 sets of eyes.’
“Crocodiles have killed about a dozen people in Queensland in
the past 10 years, half of them tourists from other countries.”
There have been 17 attacks since 1985, including a famous one
where a 15-footer attacked two families camped by a river 190
miles north of Cairns. The story didn’t say how many were
killed, but I’ve got to have it in the archives somewhere.
–Speaking of the archives, when I noted that Seve Ballesteros
was retiring at the age of 50 the other day, I didn’t know there
were rumors he had attempted suicide. Of the stories out there,
the one I believe is that he was incredibly distraught over the
death of his best friend in a car crash and he may have taken a
large number of pills. But I will not then take the leap and say
this was a true attempt at taking his own life. Anyway, it’s also
the last topic I should comment on. The bottom line is Seve was
one of the greats and a man who really made it fun to watch golf;
so we hope he enjoys a long, healthy retirement.
–But in golf like all sports, there is always a new breed waiting
to take the spotlight and 16-year-old, 5’1” Tadd Fujikawa is the
latest to give it a try. After a tie for 20th at January’s Sony Open
in Hawaii, the Honolulu native is turning pro in August. He’s no
Tiger, but I predict in three years he’ll be a mainstay in the top
60 on the PGA Tour money list.
–If you watched the ESPYs, you get one demerit.
–In Chongqing, China, authorities say the city just experienced
its worst thunderstorm in 115 years, “with more than 40,000
lightning strikes, serious flooding and landslides.” 40,000
lightning strikes! At least 44 died.
And in yet another lightning disaster, Reuters reported that “up to
30 people were killed when it struck a remote mountain village
in northwestern Pakistan.” It would be nice if Zeus could send
down a bolt to take out bin Laden, know what I’m sayin’?
–Holy Toledo! Out of nowhere, Wake Forest, according to
Sports Illustrated’s Seth Davis, has put together the second best
recruiting class in basketball for the 2008-09 season. Davis
offered that “The Demon Deacons, 8-24 in the ACC over the last
two seasons, will have the league’s top front line in two years.”
[Specifically, those committing early are Al-Farouq Aminu, Ty
Walker, and Tony Woods.]
–While “The Sopranos” garnered 15 Emmy nominations,
including for James Gandolfini and Edie Falco, it was great to
see “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” pick up 17, seeing as
how I recommended that one to you all.
–Mets tidbit: Catcher Paul LoDuca has only 5 HR 27 RBI in 310
at bats. His backup, Ramon Castro, has 6 HR 21 RBI in 90 at
bats.
–The Atlanta Braves’ Willie Harris had himself a rather
awesome Saturday evening, becoming the first Brave to have six
hits in a game since Felix Millan did it in 1970. [I swear I
remember Millan’s feat. Some things us old fans just don’t
forget.] Harris was 6 for 6 with 6 RBI.
–One of the true jerks in all of sports is Florida Marlins pitcher
Scott Olsen, who had a brush with the law after an arrest for DUI
over the weekend. Police needed to use a stun gun on him when
he decided he’d take ‘em on. There isn’t a player in all of
baseball that likes this idiot. So we’ll throw his name in the
yearend file for consideration in a number of categories, while
hoping baseball suspends him for the rest of ‘07.
–Jeff B. and I are disappointed in ourselves for failing to see ‘a
trip down memory lane’ with regards to “For Better or For
Worse.” We’re hoping, though, that as Michael goes through a
photo album with his two kids that a picture of Dr. P. and his
cocaine stash slips out. Admittedly, though, this could occur off
panel.
But out of nowhere, my sister-in-law Cindy offered that she
thinks Robin, one of Michael & Deanna’s two brats, is, shall we
say, mentally disabled. The boy, in Cindy’s eyes, “has a
curiously slow growth curve for a strip where people go from 13
to 16 overnight.”
Good point, Cindy. Home version of “Bar Chat: The Game”
heading to your home via parcel post.
Top 3 songs for the week of 7/22/67: #1 “Windy” (The
Association) #2 “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” (Frankie Valli)
#3 “Light My Fire” (The Doors)…and…#4 “San Francisco (Be
Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)” (Scott McKenzie) #5
“Little Bit O’ Soul” (The Music Explosion) #6 “I Was Made To
Love Her” (Stevie Wonder) #7 “Up-Up And Away” (The 5th
Dimension) #8 “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” (Procol Harum) #9
“C’mon Marianne” (The 4 Seasons) #10 “Come On Down To
My Boat” (Every Mother’s Son)…I really believe 1967 was the
best year ever for rock.
San Diego Padres Quiz Answers: 1) World Series appearances:
1984…lost to Detroit, 4-1; 1998…lost to the Yankees, 4-0. 2)
Cy Young winners: Randy Jones, 1976; Gaylord Perry, 1978;
Mark Davis, 1989. 3) Rookies of the Year: Butch Metzger,
1976; Benito Santiago, 1987. 4) 1st Gold Glover: Dave Winfield,
1979. 5) Career leader in home runs: Nate Colbert, 163. 6) RBI,
season: Ken Caminiti, 130, 1996…the year he won the MVP
award and the only Padre to do so. 7) Strikeouts, season: Kevin
Brown, 257, 1998. [Only two other Padres pitchers have fanned
200…Clay Kirby, 231 (1971); Jake Peavy, 216 (2005) and 215
(2006).
Next Bar Chat, Thursday….actually, at some point Wednesday
due to travel.
