Baseball Quiz: 1) Who am I? I have the most losses in a single
season, 27, since 1930, and my initials are P.D. 2) Gold Glove
Quiz: In the American League in 1979, name the Gold Glove
winners….initials provided. P – J.P….C – J.S….1B – C.C…. 2B
– F.W….3B – B.B….SS – R.B….OF – F.L….OF – S.L….OF –
D.E. Answers below.
Bruuuuuce
It was a busy weekend, folks, including attending a Springsteen
concert at Giants Stadium on Sunday night, so you’ll have to
forgive me if the following is a bit more chaotic than normal.
This was my second time seeing him and of course it was
awesome, but the real reason for going was to surprise my friend
Phil W. by showing up for his 50th birthday celebration there, as
hosted by his brother and sister. Phil, I’m jealous. You look far
younger than I do. [He also somehow found out I was coming.]
Anyway, I liked this passage from a piece in the Star-Ledger by
Jay Lustig. Guitarist Nils Lofgren notes that there are never any
set play lists. “We’re just a very improv group.”
“I know that I’ll get a setlist that will surprise me the first night.
And I know that Bruce won’t follow it. I know that the entire
night will be one big audible, and I’ll be freaking out, and having
a ball, and being extremely challenged. But as someone who is
very comfortable in front of an audience, with an instrument,
that’s a very exciting challenge.”
Lustig writes that “Before a July 8 concert in Oslo, Bruce told
the band that they would be playing ‘If I Should Fall Behind,’ a
song they previously hadn’t attempted on this tour. He let them
know as they were making their way to the stage.
“They played it, with an arrangement they had never used before,
‘and right in the middle of it, without any discussion, he started
pointing at us to take solos,’ says Lofgren.
Lofgren: “Bands just don’t do that – that does not happen in front
of an audience anymore. And it’s a real honor to be a part of
something that powerful, with that kind of history, and with that
kind of freedom.”
—
Run For Your Lives!
Yet another bear attack to report on. From Mark Thiessen/AP.
“A grizzly bear attacked a woman, wrapping its jaws around her
head before a guest scared it away.
“Abby Sisk, 21, of Ogden, Utah, was undergoing surgery
Thursday, said Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Beth Ipsen.”
Sisk was last listed in critical condition having “suffered some
pretty major lacerations to her face and head.”
“The attack happened late Wednesday as Sisk, a seasonal
employee of the Kenai Princess Lodge in Cooper Landing, was
returning to the lodge after a hike.
“She was about 25 yards from the lodge on a gravel path when
the bear came out of the bushes and attacked her. ‘It had her
head in its jaws and it dragged her a few feet,” Ipsen said.
“A guest at the lodge heard what he thought at first was laughter,
and then he heard screaming. He looked out a window and saw
the bear on top of Sisk.
“He ran outside, confronted the bear and managed to scare it
away, Ipsen said.”
The bear hasn’t been located, which needless to say is a bit
unnerving for the guests at the resort.
[One other tidbit, the Anchorage Daily News reports that Sisk
had played dead when attacked, “but she didn’t stay down long
enough and when she moved, the bear attacked again.” Let that
be a lesson to you, boys and girls.]
But as my old friend Harry K. up in the Great White North
would have appreciated, officials don’t know “if Sisk had bear
bells, worn to alert bears that someone is coming, or pepper
spray for protection with her when she was attacked.”
And then there is the story of a Kern County, Calif., woman who
was mauled by a bear last week in a remote area east of
Bakersfield. The woman, 56, was attacked while walking her
two dogs, and was in serious condition after undergoing ten
hours of surgery for wounds to her face and head. Somehow,
Allena Hansen was able to get away from the bear and into her
vehicle, whereupon she drove several miles to a fire station and
was airlifted from there. A trap was set for the offending bear.
And this…more information is coming in on the bear maulings
in Kamchatka I touched on last time. The Kamchatka brown
bear is one of the world’s largest, with males growing to 10 feet
and weighing up to 1,540 lbs.! Good god. But as Tony Halpin
of the London Times reports, “They can also reach speeds of up
to 30mph despite their size.” Think about that next time you’re
driving around.
And this I didn’t know. Kamchatka is home to an estimated
16,000 bears!
In the case of the miners, who having seen two of their
colleagues devoured by what has been described as a pack of 30
bears are refusing to leave their compounds, teams of snipers are
said to be on the way to help.
But get this! If you have sensed that this sudden rash of bear
attacks, around the world, reminds you of the summer of 2001
when there were a slew of shark hits, you’re right. It turns out
that last month on Sakhalin island, “The mutilated remains of
a man were found last month…the third person killed by a bear
(there) this year.”
But wait…there’s more! “At least seven people were injured by
a wild bear in Nuapada district, India, this month,” while in
Montana, a bear entered a tent and bit a camper on July 17, a
story I had previously missed. And on July 18, “a runner was
bitten up to eight times by a black bear near Lake Louise in
Canada.”
And this one. From Craig Medred of the Anchorage Daily
News:
“Almost a week after the fright of his life, University of Alaska
Anchorage cross-country runner Auston Ellis can’t remember
whether he heard the grizzly bear woof or a roar.
“What he does remember very clearly is looking over his
shoulder and seeing a huge set of jaws closing on his rump as he
passed near the top of the Spencer Loop Trail on the Anchorage
Hillside.
“Instinctively, ‘I sucked in my butt.’
“The jaws, he said, clapped shut with a snap, barely missing
flesh. And then he ran.
“He knew he wasn’t supposed to. He knew, in this situation,
with a grizzly bear this close, the recommended procedure is to
drop and cover.
“ ‘I’ve never heard of a story where anyone who has run from a
bear that bad things haven’t happened,’ said Ellis, 21. But, as he
fairly points out, most of the people who advise dropping and
playing dead for a grizzly bear have never had a bear chomping
the air inches from their butt. ‘I took off and sprinted for about
20 yards or so.’ As usually happens, the bear gave chase.
“It ‘was maybe 2 feet behind me the whole way,’ Ellis said. ‘I
was 99 percent sure I was going to get mauled, and I was about
97 percent sure I was dead.’
“Running, he decided, wasn’t going to work. A bear will
invariably beat a man in a sprint. ‘I banked left into the woods,’
Ellis said. He was going fast enough that the bear, being far
bigger and thus less nimble, couldn’t make the corner. ‘I banked
quick enough that she had to come to a stop,’ Ellis said.”
Ellis couldn’t find a tree to climb and he dove into a thick tangle
of alder.
“ ‘The bear circled back,’ Ellis said, ‘and got within about 3 feet
of my face. We had this stare down over the bush. I didn’t
breathe or blink or anything.’
“He tried to calm himself down: Stay cool, he thought. Try to
relax. Don’t have a heart attack. He could feel his heart turning
over so fast it was whirring more than beating. ‘I could hear it
when I was holding my breath,’ he said.
“ ‘When I was sizing her up,’ he said, ‘her head seemed to go
from about the top of my head to my waist. It must have been 3
feet in diameter. She was easily the biggest bear I’ve seen since
I’ve lived in Alaska. The weird thing is she didn’t make a
noise.’
“For what seemed like a lifetime, but was only a matter of
minutes, possibly only seconds, Ellis and the bear stared at each
other in the silence. ‘Then she just walked away nonchalant,’ he
said. ‘She just walked away.’
“Ellis saw her collect a pair of cubs and head off, and he knew
then just what had happened. ‘I ran between the bear and the
cubs,’ he said. ‘I don’t blame the bear. I just spooked her.’”
By the way, Ellis was running in the same park where 15-year-
old Petra Davis had been attacked and badly mauled in a story I
wrote up recently.
Personally, I’ve decided I’m staying inside the rest of the
summer. I suggest you do the same.
Stuff
–China has an Olympic team of 639 athletes, more than double
the 311 it sent to Sydney eight years ago, in an attempt to topple
the United States from the “summit of the medal table,” as the
South China Morning Post put it.
Of course China has pumped $millions into its centralized sports
development program and they hope to clean up in the ‘minor’
sports such as sailing, shooting, women’s weightlifting, rowing
and cycling.
[I just had a “Deer Hunter” flashback. “Mao!”]
As for the U.S., did you ever wonder what, say, a world-class
long jumper would earn? The other day USA Track & Field
handed out “grants” in the amount of $4,000 to a few selected
athletes; $3,000 to others I saw at the Olympic Track and Field
Trials. There are just a few, like swimmer Michael Phelps or
sprinter Tyson Gay who can make a few $million in
endorsements and sponsorship money, while others can earn
decent appearance fee money for meets around the world, but for
the non-high-profile athletes, it is a very rough living.
–U.S. swimmer Jessica Hardy, who had qualified in three events
for Beijing, tested positive for a banned substance and is out for
the Games. But because word hit after the list of official team
members had been filed, the U.S. can’t replace her.
–I’ve gotta give the Yankees major kudos for their handling of
Joba Chamberlain, having been among the skeptics when the
team decided to turn him into a starter at the major league level,
some 50 games into the season, rather than send him down to the
minors to convert. It seemed stupid to start out throwing him 2,
then 3, then 4 innings. But it worked. Beautifully, culminating
in his outstanding performance on Friday night, a 1-0 win over
Boston.
–Boy the Yankees made a super trade in getting the Pirates’
Xavier Nady and a solid lefty reliever Damaso Marte for four
minor leaguers. In fact, as reported by Joel Sherman of the New
York Post, one A.L. executive said “The Pirates took a bag of
[fill in the blank] quantity.”
–Us Mets fans are giddy over our club’s return to excellence, led
by pitcher Mike Pelfrey who began the season 2-6 and is 7-0
since.
–Well, I’ve written that both the Mets and Yankees may be
surprised how difficult it is to sell out their new stadiums in 2009
and beyond thanks to the totally outrageous ticket prices they’ll
be demanding, but when it comes to the luxury boxes, no
problemo, it seems. The Mets announced that 48 of 49 suites at
Citi Field have been sold with each going for $250,000 to
$500,000 and leases running from three to 10 years. Said one
team official, “We’ve done very well, which might suggest we
priced the suites low.” Compared to the new Yankee Stadium,
the luxury boxes may indeed be a bargain. The Yankees are
looking for $600,000 to $850,000. As for 7,500 “club seats,”
that come with access to climate-controlled restaurants, they
will range in price from $60 to $495. However, the Mets say
more than half the 42,500 seats in the stadium will cost $50 or
less. I’ll believe that when I see it.
–Texas’ Josh Hamilton now has 103 RBI in 105 games.
–Drat. Danny Woodhead, the NCAA’s all-time rushing leader
out of Chadron State who was being given a look by the Jets,
suffered a serious knee injury. So much for that Cinderella story.
–Boy, I’m glad I missed this one. Turns out NASCAR’s No. 2
event, the Brickyard 400, was a disaster as Goodyear’s tires kept
shredding. As Terry Blount wrote for ESPN.com, “This was no
race. It was a ridiculous sideshow of survival…The event had an
unbelievable nine competition cautions, meaning NASCAR
threw a yellow flag to allow the teams to come to pit road and
change tires before that failed.” The sport, already suffering
during these tough economic times, can not afford too many
fiascos such as this.
–Yet another NBA defection to Europe as Atlanta’s Josh
Childress signed a three-year, $20 million deal (after taxes) to
play for a Greek club. Childress is solid, 11.8 points, 5.6
rebounds for his four-year career, and becomes the best NBA
player to make the reverse move thanks to, one, the lousy dollar,
and, two, the fact some of these European club owners are richer
than their NBA counterparts. Childress can, however, opt out
after one year and return to the NBA.
–Yikes. On Friday and Saturday in the waters off Long Island
and New York City, seven swimmers drowned due to rough
waters. And then I read that five Israelis drowned this weekend
off their beaches. Be careful, people. [Two of the New York
victims were playing football in five feet of water when they
went under.]
–There is a story in the Sunday New York Times on a tragedy
that occurred in Kansas City, Mo., on July 17, 1981. At the
Hyatt Regency hotel, two skywalks collapsed onto a dance party,
killing 114; the worst structural disaster in our nation’s history. I
have to admit I totally forgot about this and I was staying at the
hotel just about two months ago. The purpose of the article,
though, was to note that a long overdue memorial is in the works.
–Rudy Giuliani’s boy, Andrew, 22, filed a lawsuit against Duke
University and its golf coach, O.D. Vincent, for dropping
Andrew from the team back in February. Vincent at the time
cited behavior issues and then let his teammates decide if he
should be reinstated. They voted against it, as reported by Rich
Schapiro of the Daily News.
In his suit, Giuliani says Vincent exaggerated a few incidents as
an excuse to cut the squad down in size. But I loved this
description of Andrew from the Daily News:
“Best known as the rambunctious imp who stole the spotlight at
his dad’s first mayoral inauguration….”
I was looking for the right word to describe the boy. One Duke
student also told the paper that Andrew was well-liked during his
first two years but became “arrogant and rude last year.” The
same student “said the attitude change seemed to coincide with
his father’s failed bid for the Republican presidential
nomination.”
—-From the New York Post:
“New Jersey road-paving mogul Thomas “TJ” Earle yesterday
admitted he lied to his beautiful wife – and that he actually had a
steamy month long affair with the saucy Jersey Shore call girl
[Ashley ‘Kristen’ Dupre] who brought down Gov. Eliot Spitzer.”
Did you see the picture of this dirtball’s wife? Goodness
gracious. What was he thinking?
“Earle had told his wife, Alisa, 36, he was going on a business
trip to Colorado. Instead, he and Dupre spent a day shopping,
dining and drinking their way around the Big Apple….
“After a reporter tried to confront Alisa and TJ at their
McMansion about his tryst, sources said the busted hubby told
his stunned wife he was ‘set up’ by a publicity-seeking Dupre.”
[And for 24 hours or so she actually believed him.]
Ah, but “Alisa – dressed astonishingly like Dupre yesterday –
loaded the car with a Boogie Board and other beach toys and
headed off with [her two] kids.”
Sorry, when it comes to Ashley and A-Rod stories, I just get a
real kick out of them.
But wait, there’s more! Alisa and Ashley’s mother, Carolyn,
work out together at the same gym!
–According to a Gallup poll, beer enjoys a double-digit lead over
wine as the drink of choice for the first time since 2002. The
biggest change in drinking habits has been among those
Americans age 30 to 49. 42% of these respondents chose beer,
31% wine, 23% preferred liquor and 4% said they drank equal
amounts of each. Just last year the gap between beer and wine in
this group was 40-34. [Christina Boyle / Daily News]….You’re
reading Bar Chat.
–You’ve undoubtedly noticed I’ve had zero to say about “For
Better or For Worse” recently. It’s just been so dreadful. But
this morning we finally learned a date for the wedding of Liz and
Anthony…Aug. 23. Thank god I’m going to be out of town
then.
–From David Byers / London Times
“A pet rabbit has been credited with saving an Australian couple
from a fire that started in their house while they slept. The rabbit
woke its owners, Michelle Finn and her partner Gerry Deogh, by
scratching on their bedroom door when smoke poured through
the house in the Macleod area of Melbourne.
“ ‘Gerry only got home from work about 5:30 because he works
a night shift and about 7:00 a.m. we both woke to the sound of a
thumping rabbit,’ Ms. Finn told a newspaper in Melbourne. ‘We
heard windows breaking at the back of the house and got up to
see what was wrong and the house was on fire.’”
The pet named “Rabbit” was allowed to roam freely around the
house. Kind of makes you want to treat them with more respect.
Then again, do we really know what the “thumping” was for?
–Randy Pausch, the professor whose “last lecture” made him a
celebrity, passed away on Friday from the pancreatic cancer that
he had turned into a positive with his message of hope and
optimism. He was 47.
–The other day a British soldier was killed in Afghanistan
making him the 112th casualty from that nation. That’s bad
enough, but it was also touching to see the soldier’s sniffer dog
was killed in the firefight. The dog was trained to search for
explosives.
–In a real tragedy, a New York City fireman, Martin Simmons,
41, lost his life saving his son, 10, who had cramped up
swimming in Lake Tahoe while on vacation. The problem was
Lake Tahoe’s waters this time of year are in the low 50s and
local experts said it’s common for someone to experience cold
water shock. Simmons had worked on The Pile following 9/11
for 11 straight days.
–Mick Jagger turned 65 on Sat., while the great Darlene Love
celebrated her 67th. The total age of the Stones is now 257. Ah,
but as Jim Farber of the Daily News writes of Mick: “He’s had
far too many lovers to count, sired seven children by four
different women, and bedded enough supermodels to fill a
Brazilian beach.” And he has a 28-inch waist.
Top 3 songs for the week 7/29/68: #1 “This Guy’s In Love With
You” (Herb Alpert) #2 “The Horse” (Cliff Nobles & Co….
dreadful…and the bane of all marching bands) #3 “MacArthur
Park” (Richard Harris…used at Guantanamo to get terror
suspects to give it up)…and…#4 “Yummy Yummy Yummy”
(Ohio Express…what is it with this week?!) #5 “The Look Of
Love” (Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66….phew, a good one) #6
“Mony Mony” (Tommy James and The Shondells…incredibly
underrated group) #7 “Angel Of The Morning” (Merrilee Rush
& The Turnabouts) #8 “Think” (Aretha Franklin) #9 “Here
Comes The Judge” (Shorty Long) #10 “Reach Out Of The
Darkness” (Friend and Lover…has aged well)
Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) Back in 1933, Paul Derringer was
7-27…0-2 with the St. Louis Cardinals and then 7-25 with
Cincinnati. What’s amazing is that he appeared in just 36
games, so he had no-decisions in just two of those appearances.
But he also had 17 complete games and pitched to a fine 3.30
ERA! And still lost 27 times. Derringer, though, went on to a
super career…223-212…with a 25-7 record in 1939 for the
Reds….and was a six-time all-star.
2) 1979 A.L. Gold Glove winners: P – Jim Palmer, C- Jim
Sundberg, 1B – Cecil Cooper, 2B – Frank White, 3B – Buddy
Bell, SS – Rick Burleson, OF – Fred Lynn, OF – Sixto Lezcano,
OF – Dwight Evans.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday….I’ll finally get to our exclusive “All-
Species List.” Our crack staff is having trouble figuring out
where bears now belong, let alone rabbits.
