NBA Quiz: Last one…where did the following go to school?
Garfield Heard, Tyrone Hill, Darnell Hillman, Jeff Hornacek,
Bailey Howell, Lou Hudson, Phil Jackson, Dennis Johnson, and
Kevin Johnson. Answers below. [You have to get three to be
able to treat yourself to premium.]
Bonus Quiz: What school did both Caldwell Jones (1973-90) and
Charles Jones (1983-98) attend? [Get this one right and win an
all-expenses paid trip to Zimbabwe.]
An Incredible Tale
Three Aussies, Michael Williams, 39, John Jarrett, 41, and
Charlie Picton, 40, set out for some shrimp fishing last week,
about 770 km north of Sydney. But last Wednesday, before
dawn, their 60-foot trawler’s nets snagged on a reef and dragged
the boat under, throwing the three into the sea, where they clung
to the lid of a fish cooler.
But since they were only one day into a four-day trip, John
Jarrett knew that no one would think to look for them for another
three days, so it was decided that Michael Williams would swim
to shore.
Williams swam 12 hours, 13-kilometers, to a beach near Byron
Bay where he was discovered late Wednesday afternoon,
sparking an air search for the other two crew mates. Thursday
morning, 30 hours after capsizing, Jarrett was discovered, still
clinging to the lid. Sadly, Picton, an experienced fisherman,
clung to the cooler all Wednesday but at nightfall he and Jarrett
became separated. Picton had had heart issues and couldn’t hold
out any longer. He drifted away and wasn’t found.
The tale is amazing on so many different levels. One marine
rescuer in Australia said he knew of few cases of people
surviving so long at sea. “The expected survival time for most
people in those conditions would be a few hours,” said Steve
Willis. It’s also amazing Jarrett and Williams avoided being
eaten by sharks. For his part, Jarrett said he will “never” go back
in the ocean. [Note: I also saw Jarrett spelled ‘Jarratt’ in one
article.]
Mike Smith, RIP
It’s so sad. The lead singer and keyboard player for the Dave
Clark Five died just days before he was to travel to New York to
be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with his
surviving mates. Cause of death was complications from a
severe spinal cord injury in 2003, which left him paralyzed
below the rib cage. [Smith fell while scaling a 7-foot fence on
his property in Spain.]
Smith and founder Dave Clark co-wrote many of the group’s
hits, 16 top 30 tunes alone from 1964 to 1967, with worldwide
record sales estimated to be over 100 million. One song, “Try
Too Hard,” showcased Smith’s piano abilities.
I’ve written much on the DC5 and it was such a shame that they
didn’t get into the Hall of Fame sooner. Another founding
member, Dennis Payton, died of cancer in December 2006.
But Smith’s death gives me an excuse to reprise a bit from
3/15/07, following last year’s induction ceremony.
ROCK HALL VOTING SCANDAL: ROCK GROUP
ACTUALY WON
[FoxNews.com]
“According to sources knowledgeable about the mysterious ways
of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, British Invasion
group The Dave Clark Five and not Grandmaster Flash finished
fifth in the final voting of the nominating committee and should
have been inducted on Monday night.
“According to sources, Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner,
who recently appointed himself chairman of the Foundation after
the death of Ahmet Ertegun, ignored the final voting and chose
Grandmaster Flash over the DC5 for this year’s ceremony.
“ ‘Jann went back to a previous ballot instead of taking the final
vote as the last word,’ my source insisted. ‘He used a
technicality about the day votes were due in. In reality, The
Dave Clark Five got six more votes than Grandmaster Flash. But
he felt we couldn’t go another year without a rap act.’ …
“ ‘We begged Jann to allow all six acts to be inducted. But he
insisted that he couldn’t because there wouldn’t be enough time,’
my source said. ‘He wanted to have Aretha Franklin come and
perform in memory of Ahmet Ertegun.’
“The Ertegun tribute, while very nice, was deemed unnecessary
by members of the main committee because the Atlantic Records
co-founder will be memorialized in New York on April 17.
“ ‘But Jann wanted to do his own tribute. It was insane,
especially since he took over Ahmet’s position on the board
before Ahmet even had a memorial….
“The Dave Clark Five ballot tampering, however, stings the
most. The group, part of the British Invasion of the ‘60s, should
have been inducted long ago for their hits like ‘Glad All Over,’
‘Bits & Pieces’ and ‘Catch Me If You Can.’ Making them wait
has turned out to be a huge mistake, as their fortunes have not
been great.”
It’s sickening that not only is Jann Wenner the ultimate dirtball,
but that he has such control over what is an otherwise great
museum and Hall.
Myron Cope, 79
The legendary Pittsburgh Steelers broadcaster, sports talk show
host and writer passed away the other day. Cope was the
announcer on the Steelers’ radio network from 1970 to 2004, the
longest such tenure for a single team in the history of the NFL.
Cope was born in Pittsburgh and spent much of his early career
as a widely read writer for Sports Illustrated and the Saturday
Evening. But then at age 40, Cope and a rookie quarterback
named Terry Bradshaw made their Steelers debuts on Sept. 20,
1970. As the AP noted:
“Pittsburgh fans began tuning in to hear what wacky stunt or
colorful phrase Cope would come up with next. With a voice
beyond imitation – a falsetto so shrill it could pierce even the din
of a touchdown celebration – Cope was a man of many words,
some not in any dictionary.
“To Cope, an exceptional play rated a ‘Yoi!’ A coach’s
doublespeak was ‘garganzola.’ The despised rival to the north
was always the Cleve Brownies, never the Cleveland Browns.
For years, he laughed off the downriver Cincinnati Bengals as
the Bungles.”
But Myron Cope will of course forever be known as being the
creator of the Terrible Towel. As reported by Robert Dvorchak
of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Cope was summoned in
November 1975 to the boss’s office at WTAE, the flagship radio
station of the Steelers.
“With home playoff games on the horizon, the executives wanted
a promotional gimmick. Cope protested that he wasn’t a
gimmick guy. But when it was pointed out that his contract was
up in three months and that advertisers were needed to sponsor
Cope’s various shows, he saw the light.
“Larry Garrett, vice president of sales, suggested the towel
because it was lightweight, portable and a common possession.
No money would have to be fronted, and because Pittsburgh
would never be a place for pompoms, the tough and durable
fabric was seen as ideal. It could also serve as a muffler against
the cold and provide cover in the rain.”
No one really thought it would work, however. The Steelers
were far from a gimmick team, but Cope unveiled his creation
for the Dec. 27 playoff game with the Colts.
“The towels, once introduced, were like a genie pouring out of
the bottle. Roughly three of five spectators in attendance carried
either a gold one or a black one. It is said that wide receiver
Frank Lewis wiped his hands in a Terrible Towel before making
a one-handed catch, and the air was filled with towels when an
injured Terry Bradshaw emerged from the locker room after the
second half had begun.”
Cope himself proclaimed that the towel was to be reserved
exclusively for playoff games, though many fans have separate
regular season and post-season towels.
“The towel, it is said,” writes Dvorchak, “possesses incredible
power, such as the time bowler Marshall Holman won a $15,000
check after being given a Terrible Towel by a Steelers fan. On
the other hand, those who would desecrate it are tempting fate.
Cincinnati’s T.J. Houshmandzadeh wiped his shoes with it after
scoring a touchdown in Heinz Field, and there is no need to
mention the annual fate that befalls the Bengals.”
These days, The Terrible Towel’s royalties (Cope had
trademarked it) go to the Allegheny Valley School, a private,
non-profit agency that cares for children and adults with
intellectual developmental disabilities. During the past 11 years
since Cope donated the trademark to the school, the Towel and
its spinoffs have brought in $2.2 million.
Stuff
–Unsealed grand jury testimony revealed that before Barry
Bonds testified before a grand jury in December 2003, the
government had evidence he had failed two drug tests for
steroids, not one as originally reported. The previously unknown
test was taken on Jan. 19, 2001, shortly before the season of
Bonds’ record 73 home runs. The U.S. District Judge in San
Francisco ruled that the government must, however, narrow the
indictment, which it will do by March 21 in order to proceed.
As for Roger Clemens, the IRS agent Jeff Novitzky and the FBI
are going to make his life a living hell now that they have
launched a formal perjury investigation, and as Brian Costello of
the New York Post reports:
“A key witness may be Jose Canseco, who gave a sworn
affidavit that Clemens never came to a party at his house in June
1998. Evidence has surfaced suggesting Clemens was there….
“If the feds feel they have proof Clemens was at Canseco’s
house, they may tell Canseco they will charge him with lying to
federal agents as leverage to get him to become a cooperating
witness.”
–William F. Buckley Jr., 82
President Ronald Reagan once called Buckley “the most
influential journalist and intellectual of our era.” Buckley’s
National Review, Reagan said, “is to the West Wing of the White
House what People magazine is to your dentist’s office.”
Buckley, the sixth of 10 children, spent his early years in private
schools in France and England, thanks to his father’s oil empire
that upon his death in 1958 was estimated at $10 million. As
Bart Barnes writes in the Washington Post, “Even in his earliest
years, (William) was outspoken. At the age of 8, he wrote a
letter to the King of England demanding repayment of Britain’s
World War I debt.”
Buckley was known for his gentility, but Barnes writes of one
episode that came out a little differently.
“He feuded bitterly with the writer Gore Vidal, and in a live
appearance on ABC television at the 1968 Democratic National
Convention in Chicago, Vidal called Buckley a ‘crypto-Nazi.’
“Buckley answered: ‘Now listen, you queer, stop calling me a
crypto-Nazi or I’ll sock you in the goddamn face.”
But there were the other moments.
Appearance on “Laugh-In,” 1970
Henry Gibson: Mr. Buckley, I have noticed that whenever you
appear on television, you’re always seated. Is that because you
can’t think on your feet?
Buckley: It’s very hard to stand up carrying the weight of what I
know.
At a press conference during his campaign for mayor of New
York Cit, he was asked “Do you have any chance of winning?”
Buckley: No.
Q: Do you really want to be mayor?
Buckley: I’ve never considered it.
Q: Well, conservatively speaking, how many votes do you
expect to get?
Buckley: One.
Q: And who would cast that vote?
Buckley: My secretary.
[When asked later what he would do if elected, he replied,
“Demand a recount.” Buckley, running on the Conservative line,
received 13%.]
A Buckley editorial, National Review, 1957
“The attempted assassination of Sukarno last week had all the
earmarks of a CIA operation. Everyone in the room was killed
except Sukarno.”
Commentator George Will:
“Pat, Bill’s beloved wife of 56 years, died last April. During the
memorial service for her at New York’s Metropolitan Museum
of Art, a friend read lines from ‘Vitae Summa Brevis’ by a poet
she admired, Ernest Dowson:
They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream.
“Bill’s final dream was to see her again, a consummation of
which his faith assured him. He had an aptitude for love – of his
son, his church, his harpsichord, language, wine, skiing, sailing.
“He began his 60-year voyage on the turbulent waters of
American controversy by tacking into the wind with a polemical
book, ‘God and Man at Yale’ (1951), that was a lover’s quarrel
with his alma mater. And so at Pat’s service the achingly
beautiful voices of Yale’s Whiffenpoofs were raised in their
signature song about the tables down at Mory’s, ‘the place where
Louis dwells’:
We will serenade our Louis
While life and voice shall last
Then we’ll pass and be forgotten with the rest
“Bill’s distinctive voice permeated, and improved, his era. It will
be forgotten by no one who had the delight of hearing it.”
–Having recently returned from Vegas, I found the following
interesting, from a piece by Joe Saumarez-Smith of Bloomberg.
“Casinos used to rely on surveillance cameras and pit bosses to
monitor players’ behavior. Now they have turned to newer
technology to help stop the cheats.
“Ideally, new casinos have systems that work like this: As
customers walk through the door, cameras backed by facial-
recognition software identify them and log them either as a
returning bettor or a new player.
“From then on, everything they do is monitored. If they sit down
at a blackjack table, their profit and loss is recorded, as is how
well they played by comparison with a ‘perfect strategy.’ Drinks
and sandwich orders are also logged, so staff can ask them if they
want the same again.
“Tracking software on the tables alerts the casino to unusual
statistical patterns so managers can intervene before serious
money has been lost. Previously, if someone managed to
introduce a pre-shuffled deck of cards into a blackjack or
baccarat game, it would only be spotted after hundreds of
thousands had been lost and the surveillance tapes watched for
hours.
“Software also allows casinos to stop people from ‘past posting,’
or putting bets on the roulette table after the ball has landed in
the number, because it can detect when a chip has been placed.
“New casinos also use radio frequency identification (RFID)
chips, which let them track how much money a player is
carrying. If a player sits down at a baccarat table and puts
$2,000 of chips on the table, the RFID scanner automatically
records them. The same scanner can tell that the player has
$8,000 more in his pocket and alert the pit boss that this
customer might be worth persuading to stay at the table.”
Goodness gracious. Kind of spooky, don’t you think?
–Susan Shapiro Barash, author of “Little White Lies, Deep Dark
Secrets: The Truth About Why Women Lie,” spoke to the New
York Post’s Susan Edelman about the 500 interviews with
women she conducted nationwide in writing the book. Two of
her findings:
75 percent lie about how much money they spend. For instance,
they sneak purchases inside their homes after shopping or hide
the price tags.
More than 60 percent cheated on their husbands.
Huh.
–Lindsey Vonn clinched the World Cup downhill title, becoming
the first American to do so since Picabo Street in 1996. She also
has a narrow lead for the overall title. The last to accomplish this
for the U.S. was Tamara McKinney, in 1983. Vonn is just 23
and certainly has her eyes on greatness in 2010.
Meanwhile, Bodie Miller is leading the overall World Cup
standings on the men’s side with seven races left.
–The NFL’s Spygate scandal isn’t going away anytime soon.
Sunday’s New York Daily News notes that back in 2004, then
Jets coach Herm Edwards and his assistants starred in what could
be called “Spygate: The Early Years.” Bill Belichick had his
video assistant on the sidelines, filming the Jets’ defensive
signals, and Edwards and his guys would smile and wave to
acknowledge they knew what was going on; Edwards and the
staff having made the proper adjustments before the game.
Gary Myers of the Daily News observes, “SpyGate is going to
haunt the NFL until (Commissioner Roger) Goodell finds a way
to question former Pats video assistant Matt Walsh. If Walsh has
tape of the Rams’ walkthrough from the day before the Super
Bowl six years ago, then newly hired assistant Dom Capers could
be coaching the Patriots in 2008.”
–Comedian Tom Dreesen, to Golfweek’s Jeff Rude.
On his dream foursome: “Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Dolly
Parton and me. That way, Dolly and I could do whatever we
want and nobody would know.”
–Stu W. wrote that in preparation for baseball’s Opening Day,
and seeing as I’m a big Dave Kingman fan, I should look up the
classic post-game interview from June 4, 1976, when Tommy
Lasorda let a reporter have it. Kingman had just hit three home
runs to beat the Dodgers.
Reporter: Can you give us just a few basic comments about your
feelings on the game?
Lasorda: Well, naturally I feel bad about losing a ball game like
that, there’s no way you should lose that ball game. An’, it, uh,
just doesn’t make sense.
R: What’s your opinion of Kingman’s performance?
TL: What’s my opinion of Kingman’s performance?! What eh
BLEEP do you think is my opinion of it? I think it was
BLEEPING BLEEP. Put that in, I don’t BLEEP. Opinion of his
performance?! BLEEP, he beat us with three BLEEPING home
runs! What the BLEEP do you mean, “What is my opinion of
his performance?” How could you ask me a question like that,
“What is my opinion of his performance?” BLEEP, he hit three
home runs! BLEEP, I’m BLEEPING pissed off to lose that
BLEEPING game. And you ask me my opinion of his
performance! BLEEP. That’s a tough question to ask me, isn’t
it? “What is my opinion of his performance?”
R: Yes, it is. I asked it, and you gave me an answer…
TL: Well, I didn’t give you a good answer because I’m mad, but
I mean…
R: Well, it wasn’t a good question…
TL: That’s a tough question to ask me right now, “What is my
opinion of his performance.” I mean, you want me to tell you
what my opinion of his performance is…
R: You just did…
TL: That’s right. BLEEP. Guy hits three home runs against us.
BLEEP.
–Yikes. The body of supermodel Katoucha was found in the
Seine River in Paris. The 47-year-old from Guinea, West Africa,
made her name modeling for Yves Saint Laurent and others
(you’d recognize her picture). But authorities said an initial
autopsy showed no signs of foul play, so they’re thinking she fell
into the river accidentally.
–Good god. Did you see the latest ocean creature to be
identified, the pliosaur? It was 50 feet in length, with 10-foot
long jaws. The discovery was made on the Norwegian island of
Svalbard, inside the Arctic Circle, where that Doomsday/seed
repository is also located. The only monster that could have
provided competition for pliosaur was our friend megalodon.
There are some who say the Loch Ness monster is a pliosaur, but
the loch is only 10,000 years old, whereas pliosaurs are thought
to have died out 65 million years ago, according to the London
Times. I’m not buying that explanation. Nessie lives and it’s a
pliosaur.
–Sad tale out of the Himalayas. The severe winter weather has
claimed hundreds of rare Himalayan goats whose wool is used to
make Indian Kashmir’s famed pashmina shawls.
–This just in…renowned ecologist Val Plumwood (well, that’s
what the article I’m reading says), “was found dead on her
wilderness property outside Canberra (Australia), likely the
victim of a snake or spider bite.”
Back in the 1980s, Dr. Plumwood survived an attack by a
saltwater croc. Meanwhile, the spider or snake responsible for
the fatal attack remains at large. If you see it, call local
authorities. Do not attempt to engage it yourself.
–OK, I’ve taken it easy on my Wake Forest Demon Deacons
basketball team this year because we’re still very young and
most of us are waiting for their super recruiting class to come in
next season.
But after defeating Duke, they’ve lost three in a row, including
two they should have won if they could just shoot the ball.
Example No. 1, point guard Ish Smith, who went 1-for-6 from
the foul line in Saturday’s overtime loss to Georgia Tech. You
won’t believe this, but Smith is 15-for-51 shooting free throws
this year. That’s beyond pitiful. C’mon, Ish. Time to earn your
scholarship.
And did you catch Boston College’s Tyrese Rice against North
Carolina on Saturday? While the Tar Heels outscored BC 50-26
in the second half on the way to a 90-80 triumph, Rice hit for 46
points in one of the great individual performances in years. Rice
had 23 points the first 8 minutes of the game.
This gives me an excuse to remind folks that Tyrese Rice had
committed to Wake Forest, but because Chris Paul jerked the late
Skip Prosser around by delaying his decision to either stay in
school or go pro, Rice was forced to look elsewhere because
Wake didn’t have another scholarship to give him if Paul stayed.
Rice obviously would have been the shooter Wake has been
crying for the past few seasons.
–It was good to see Ernie Els win the Honda Classic, his first
PGA Tour triumph in four years. We need Ernie in the
conversation with Tiger and Phil. And how about Lorena Ochoa
winning her 2008 debut on the LPGA Tour with an 11-stroke
victory!
–J.Lo and Marc Anthony named their newborn twins Max and
Emme, after former Green Bay wide receiver Max McGee and
Wake Forest’s two-time Pika Dream Girl, Emmy Neese.
But what’s this? Newly released records show that Max McGee
was tracked by the FBI because of his gambling habit. Nothing
came of it, however. J. Lo and Marc Anthony can relax.
–There has been a sudden development in “For Better or For
Worse,” just when Jeff B., myself and the three other remaining
readers across the world were preparing to bury it for good.
Chopper pilot Warren reentered the picture on Monday, rudely
stopping in on Liz at around midnight. It looks like it’s an
abduction, and it’s now hoped the Mounties move in and finally
end this fiasco.
Top 3 songs for the week 3/5/77: #1 “Love Theme From ‘A Star
Is Born’ (Evergreen)” (Barbra Streisand…..ughh…..) #2 “New
Kid In Town” (Eagles) #3 “Fly Like An Eagle” (Steve Miller)…
and….#4 “I Feel Like Dreamin’” (Kenny Nolan) #5 “Blinded
By The Light” (Manfred Mann’s Earth Band) #6 “Night Moves”
(Bob Seger) #7 “Dancing Queen” (Abba) #8 “Year Of The Cat”
(Al Stewart…not a bad tune, even though I’m a dog guy…) #9
“Torn Between Two Lovers” (Mary MacGregor) #10 “Weekend
In New England” (Barry Manilow)
NBA Quiz Answers: Garfield Heard (Oklahoma), Tyrone Hill
(Xavier), Darnell Hillman (San Jose State…yes, ridiculously
hard), Jeff Hornacek (Iowa State), Bailey Howell (Mississippi
State), Lou Hudson (Minnesota), Phil Jackson (North Dakota),
Dennis Johnson (Pepperdine), Kevin Johnson (California)
Bonus Quiz Answer: Caldwell Jones and Charles Jones both
attended Albany State (Ga.).
*In looking at “Super Lou” Hudson (that’s the nickname in the
Basketball Encyclopedia, though I always thought it was “Sweet
Lou”), I was reminded just how good he was. For example most
of his game, if I recall, was taking jumpers and yet he had a
career field goal percentage of .489, at a time when this was
outstanding. This is a guy who also averaged 20 ppg for his
career, without the three-point shot. I think it’s fair to say he
would have averaged 24 with it.
OK, nothing but baseball quizzes the next month. And one last
reminder if you live in the Summit, N.J. area….
Thursday, March 6, “An Evening with Willie Wilson and
friends,” 7:00-9:00 pm, The Grand Summit Hotel, 570
Springfield Ave., Summit. Admission is free. Since the weather
looks like it will hold out, there could be a decent crowd so plan
accordingly. Actually, I have no freakin’ clue how many are
going to show.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
