[Next Bar Chat, Monday]
NCAA Basketball Quiz: [Admittedly, these are for real junkies.]
1) Pete Maravich averaged over 40 points a game each of his
three seasons, 1967-70. The next year, who also averaged over
40 a game to lead the nation and is the last person to do so? 2)
Who am I? I led the NCAA in scoring both 1977 and ’78 and
hailed from Portland State. 3) Who am I? I led the nation in
scoring both 1982 and ’83 and my nickname was “Machine
Gun”. 4) Who was the last to lead the nation in scoring two
years in a row, 2004-05? [Think small, Eastern school.]
Update…Wednesday, from Las Vegas
So, you might be thinking ‘I wonder what the editor is doing in
Sin City?’ Here’s the review.
The trip involves seven of us who with one exception have
known each other since 7th grade and have done a good job
keeping in touch since then. Seeing as we were all celebrating
our 50th birthday this year (and last December), it was decided a
Vegas extravaganza made sense.
Four of us arrived Sunday in time for the game and afterwards
went out to one of the hot spots.
Monday, the other three guys arrived, some hit the casino, others
drank beer in this palatial suite we have, then we hit the sports
book room to watch Louisville-Marquette and some other games
we had money on. I stupidly picked Marquette and lost $20.
Trader George made about $200 on an assortment of picks.
Then it was on to the Palm restaurant and some new hot spots,
where we saw some Russians.
Tuesday, we had a good poker game in our suite (your editor
won $50), hit the casino (your editor won $220), and went to the
“Love” show at the Mirage. Talk about spectacular, if you come
to Vegas you have to catch “Love.” For those of you who
haven’t heard of it, it’s a Cirque du Soleil production based on
Beatles music. We were blown away by it.
Following the show we had a very late dinner at Il Mulino
(excellent), but what should have been a relatively early bedtime,
like 12:30 a.m., turned into, err, a beerfest.
Anyway, a few of the gang has headed back today and the rest of
us are basically numb. Following are a few other items that fall
under the category of ‘stuff.’
–For the archives the Super Bowl was the most watched sporting
event in American history, an estimated 97.5 million viewers,
which falls short of only one program of any kind, the final
episode of M*A*S*H, which in 1983 attracted a staggering 106
million.
On the Super Bowl gambling front, you might be interested to
know that a streak of 12 consecutive profitable games for
Nevada sports books ended with the Patriots’ loss.
“It’s just a stunner all the way around,” MGM Mirage sports
book director Robert Walker said.
Of course the Giants were 12-point underdogs and won 17-14,
but with a total of $92.1 million wagered on the game, the state’s
174 sports books lost $2.6 million, according to figures released
to the Gaming Control Board. The $92 million was a
disappointment, seeing as how last year’s total was $93 million.
At the MGM Mirage, the largest bet was $250,000 on the Giants
plus-12. New England was about a minus-420 favorite to win
straight up on the money line and the books took a beating
mostly because the betting public piled on New York to win at
about plus-350.
“When you’re giving out 3-1 (odds) or more on the money line,
you just can’t overcome that,” said Walker. “I would take that
scenario every time where we just need the Patriots to win
outright to win money. I expected the Patriots money-line bets
to come in, and they never did. I was really surprised.”
Jay Kornegay at the Las Vegas Hilton said “We got crushed on
the game. By the time we got to the Super Bowl, a lot of people
were tired of the Patriots, and they didn’t want to root for
Goliath.”
Since the Gaming Control Board began keeping records in 1991,
the only previous loss for Nevada’s sports books was in 1995,
when San Francisco was a heavy favorite in a 49-26 victory over
San Diego. [Matt Youmans / Las Vegas Review-Journal]
–Texas Tech coach Bob Knight resigned, as son Pat takes over.
Pat said the general was “tired.” Critics say Knight quit on the
team, a rather hypocritical move for a guy who demanded so
much of his teams. But I told you a few weeks ago this was his
final season and clearly he had lost the passion for the game.
–Roger Clemens gave a five-hour sworn deposition to
congressional lawyers behind closed doors on Tuesday, the day
after friend and teammate Andy Pettitte did. Clemens said
afterwards “It was great to be able to tell them what I’ve been
saying all along – that I’ve never used steroids or growth
hormone.” Next week it’s the klieg lights.
–I just noticed that Miami (Ohio) is #1 in the nation in men’s
hockey. Michigan is #2 and North Dakota #3…for all you
college hockey fans out there.
–New England coach Bill Belichick will have his hands full this
off-season as a result of the growing spygate scandal involving
Super Bowl XXXVI.
OK…time to rally, as they say here in Vegas. Don’t know
what’s on tap tonight outside of watching the North Carolina –
Duke game and placing a few wagers on same. By the way, as a
group not one of us is losing money at the tables.
——-
Giants 17 Pats 14
New England 18-1, and no one cares, as Eli Manning cements his
place in New York sports history.
Sorry, folks, but I”m in Vegas with a bunch of buddies from high
school and there was a little partying after the Super Bowl last
night. I”ll just state the obvious. David Tyree”s catch was as
good as any you”ll ever see and what an amazing story Eli Manning
wrote this postseason.
I also have to note that I said of the Giants back on 1/21:
“Can they beat New England? Of course they can. But only if the
Giants” pass rush has an all-time effort.”
Party down…Giants fans!
Stuff
–A few weeks ago I wrote of the plight of Kenya’s athletes in
light of the civil war going on in the country. The February 4
issue of Sports Illustrated has some notes on the topic. For
example, I didn’t realize that since 1968 Kenya has won 39 of a
possible 120 Olympic medals in races of 1,500 meters or more.
Kenya has also won 20 of the last 22 men’s world cross-country
titles and 23 of the last 40 of the men’s and women’s Boston and
New York City Marathons.
Richard Demak / SI
“The attacks and counterattacks, allegations and
counterallegations, are destroying the Kenyan running
community. It is absurd, of course, amidst this horrific violence,
to talk of Kenya’s prospects for upcoming races, including the
Beijing Olympics, but this is a country whose international
identity is inextricably tied to athletic achievement. Says (two-
time Boston Marathon champion Moses) Tanui, ‘Without these
athletes, Kenya would be like any other African country that
nobody knows in the world.’”
–The Mets and Johan Santana reached an agreement on a record-
breaking contract of $137.5 million over six years (with an
option for a seventh season), the largest ever for a pitcher and
second only to A-Rod. But, separately, I didn’t realize the
Indians were at an impasse with current A.L. Cy Young Award
winner C.C. Sabathia, who now appears set to test the free agent
waters after next season. This forces Cleveland to contemplate
trading him now, or early in the season, so the Red Sox and
Yankees, losers in the Santana hunt, should be working the
phones furiously.
[Some of us Mets fans are a little worried, we have to admit,
because Santana was just 2-4 with a 5.11 ERA his final seven
starts of last season.]
–Little Chuckie Knoblauch testified before House Oversight
Committee lawyers on Friday for 90 minutes. “It is what it is,”
said Knoblauch when he emerged, adding it was important for
him “to talk about it open and honestly,” which was taken to
mean he had come clean on his use of human growth hormone.
So should that be the case, that means both he and Andy Pettitte
confirmed that trainer Brian McNamee was telling the truth in
the Mitchell report. As for Roger Clemens, curiously he
suddenly sidestepped questions on steroids when he appeared at
an Astros minicamp, though Roger did say he would appear
before the same committee Knoblauch has and then move on to
the formal Congressional hearing.
–You may want to block the children from reading the
following. It’s very scary.
Roger Boyes / London Times
“Devious and ruthless, the killer wolf has always struck fear in
the hearts of children and their adult protectors. [You got that
right, Roger.]
“Canis lupus loped into the nursery through fairytales and myth
[those stories weren’t true?], gobbling up Red Riding Hood’s
guileless grandmother and making bacon sandwiches out of
feckless little pigs; the nightmare only started to disappear when
cities grew and forests shrunk. [Mmmmmm……..bacon
sandwiches ……]
“Now the wolf is back. [Yessss!] And in Finland, at least, so is
the terror of its fangs, and its taste for blood.”
It seems, though, that there is a controversy between Finland’s
hunters and the European Commission seeking to protect the
grey wolf population. Fins are getting pissed off at being told
what to do.
“ ‘It’s not a pretty sight,’ says Ismo Karppinen, one of the most
prominent hunters in Kuhmo county, the thickly forested terrain
that runs hard against the Russian frontier. ‘Mothers cradling
shotguns while they watch their children play outside.’”
Well, author Boyes and crew never found any gun-toting
grannies, “But we heard credible stories from the locals. About
wolf tracks leading directly to a baby pram left on the porch. The
baby was unharmed, untouched, but the wolf had investigated it
as potential prey. Schoolchildren here are usually taken to class
by taxis picked up on the main road. [Wimps]
“ ‘The father of a second-grader told me that he checked his
daughter’s footprints to make sure she had made the taxi – and
saw that the girl had been followed by a wolf,’ says Mr.
Karppinen who is also a schoolteacher.”
It seems that Fins are going crazy over nothing. An adviser to
the Minister of Agriculture said “I have mothers crying down the
phone that they are afraid to go sledding with their kids. What
can I tell these frightened callers? Only that wolves are wild
animals. And usually if you make a loud noise they go away.”
Actually, “The last time that wolves attacked humans in Finland
was in 1878 when, according to church records, 23 children were
killed.” Wow….that’s pretty awful, sports fans.
So you might be wondering what happened next after such
carnage. It seems the wolves are actually Russian immigrants.
Russian hunters have been going after reindeer, the reindeer
wised up and moved across the border to Finland, and the wolves
dug tunnels under the border fence to go after the reindeer. Once
in Finland they received all manner of benefits, including free
health care. But now they’ve gone too far. Fins say the wolves
have lost their fear of humans because the EU has made it
difficult to hunt them.
But get this, in the county explored by Roger Boyes there are
now 300 marauding wolves, and “with uncanny instinct” they
seem to duck out of herding areas where a limited number could
be shot just when it appears the heat is on. So I may have to add
wolves to the top 20 of the All-Species List next update.
–Meanwhile, humans continue to plummet, now No. 28, thanks
to the following story out of Jakarta.
“A soldier shot dead an endangered Sumatran tiger that was
caught in a trap in western Indonesia, then skinned it and
distributed its meat to villagers, a conservationist said.
“The incident happened in a village in Riau province, after
residents asked the soldier to help release the animal from a pig
snare…
“Instead, the soldier fired nine bullets to its body and head, and
then asked villagers to skin the wild beast, added the official,”
with the man “proceeding to dole out the meat and take home the
tiger’s pelt.
“ ‘It was sadistic,’ said Bastoni, who like many Indonesians goes
by only one name. [That’s why I call myself ‘Editor.’]
“Environmentalists say the Sumatran tiger is the most critically
endangered tiger subspecies in the world, with fewer than 400
believed to be left in the wild.” [AP / South China Morning
Post]
Maybe the tigers can catch a steamer to Finland and hook up
with the wolves? Combined they’d have a better chance of
survival, don’t you think?
–This is a neat story on a number of levels, with dogs solidifying
their No. 3 position on the All-Species List behind beavers and
gibbons.
“Two North Jersey men and an Arizona man were arrested on
drug charges in Nashville, Tenn., after they allegedly flew a
private aircraft into the city’s metropolitan airport with 154
pounds of cocaine on board, officials said Thursday.”
The seizure was the second-largest in Nashville history and
began “when the Air Marine Operations Center in Riverside,
Calif., notified agents at the Nashville Drug Enforcement
Administration that a Cessna aircraft with suspicious air patterns
was approaching Tennessee, Metro Nashville police said.”
Wow…pretty cool our guys picked out this craft among the tens
of thousands of planes in the air at any one time. And here
comes the dog….
“The aircraft landed during a storm early Wednesday morning,
and officers approached the airplane. After a trained police dog
alerted officers to the presence of drugs, officers obtained a
search warrant and found three suitcases containing cocaine.”
I’m assuming our hero was rewarded amply with Pedigree with
real lamb and some ale. [George Berkin / Star-Ledger]
–Dalya Alberge of the London Times notes that the script for the
film “The Water Horse” sat in a storeroom for ten years due to
lack of interest on the part of investors. Now it’s a box office
success. The author of the work is Dick King Smith, a Brit
whose past work was adapted for ‘Babe,’ the sheep-herding
piglet that at one point represented its kin on the All-Species
List, only to become a victim of drug abuse.
–We note the passing of Jimmy James, 92, a British flier in
World War II who was the inspiration for the movie “The Great
Escape.” From Richard Goldstein of the New York Times:
“On the night of June 5, 1940, Flight Lieutenant James, the co-
pilot of a Wellington bomber, was on the way to a mission over
Germany when his plane was shot down by antiaircraft fire over
the occupied Netherlands. He bailed out about 25 miles south of
Rotterdam but was captured and taken to the prisoner-of-war
camp Stalag Luft I on the Baltic coast of Germany.
“Mr. James made at least seven unsuccessful attempts to tunnel
out of that camp. Then he was transferred to Stalag Luft II, about
90 miles southeast of Berlin. By the time he was liberated by
American troops in Austria in May 1945, he had tried to escape
at least 11 times from P.O.W. camps and a concentration camp
and had succeeded twice, only to be recaptured….
“The most storied escape occurred on the night of March 24,
1944, when 76 Allied prisoners, mostly airmen from Britain and
the Commonwealth nations, tunneled out of Stalag Luft III. Mr.
James and another prisoner had overseen the hiding of soil
displaced by the tunnel digging, supervising its placement
underneath seats in the camp’s theater, where the captives had
put on shows. Mr. James was the 39th man to escape through the
tunnel.”
James used to recall that the breakout depicted in the 1963 Steve
McQueen film was “rather Hollywood fantasy,” since in the real
escape, only 3 of the 76 made it to freedom. Fifty of the 73 men
who were recaptured were then shot on Hitler’s orders.
“Mr. James was recaptured at a German railroad station while
fleeing toward the Czech border and was eventually transferred
to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. In September 1944,
he joined several other prisoners of war in escaping from the
camp through a 100-foot tunnel they had dug 10 feet below the
surface, using a table knife. He fled north, hoping to board a
ship for Sweden, but was recaptured once more and later
imprisoned at two other concentration camps before being
liberated.”
Lieut. James told his story in a 1983 memoir, “Moonless Night.”
–One of the missions our gang in Vegas is on is to place bets on
Tiger winning the Grand Slam.
–Tom Brady has an 8-handicap, Eli Manning a 14. I’d give up
beer for Lent in return for a 14.
–Back to baseball contracts, Jayson Stark in Baseball America
notes that the Phillies’ Ryan Howard will at some point in the
coming season be asking for $150 million over seven years, this
after just 2 ½ years of service, though he is not eligible for free
agency until after the 2011 season. The Phillies are likely to play
Russian roulette until the last moment.
–The Braves are ending their 42-year relationship with
Richmond, moving their AAA-affiliate to a new facility outside
Atlanta following the 2008 season. I just note this because the
name Richmond is so synonymous with the Braves for us
baseball fans. It’s also synonymous with Jefferson Davis, but I
digress.
Top 3 songs for the week 2/7/70: #1 “Venus” (The Shocking
Blue) #2 “I Want You Back” (The Jackson 5) #3 “Raindrops
Keep Fallin’ On My Head” (B.J. Thomas)…and…#4 “Thank
You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin” (Sly & The Family Stone)
#5 “Without Love” (Tom Jones) #6 “I’ll Never Fall In Love
Again” (Dionne Warwick) #7 “Hey There Lonely Girl” (Eddie
Holman) #8 “Whole Lotta Love” (Led Zeppelin) #9 “No Time”
(The Guess Who) #10 “Jingle Jangle” (The Archies)
NCAA Basketball Quiz Answers: 1) Mississippi’s Johnny
Neumann averaged 40.1. Neumann played seven seasons in the
ABA-NBA. 2) Freeman Williams averaged 38.8 and 35.9 for
Portland State in 1977 and ’78. He played six seasons in the
NBA, mostly with San Diego. 3) Harry “Machine Gun” Kelly
averaged 29.7 and 28.8 to lead the nation in scoring 1982-83. He
was out of Texas Southern. Kelly didn’t make the NBA. 4) St.
Peter’s Keydren Clark led the nation in scoring, 2004-05, with
averages of 26.7 and 25.8. Clark also didn’t play in the NBA as
yet, though he’s currently dishing and swishing in Europe, with
apologies to Walt “Clyde” Frazier.
Next Bar Chat, Mon. Feb. 11. I may have a few notes on Thurs.,
but it depends on what kind of shape I’m in and finding the time.
