Heisman Trophy Quiz: [OK, just one more.] 1) 1987: Tim Brown, WR, Notre Dame, won it. Who finished 2nd and 3rd, initials D.M. and G.L.? 2) 1988: Barry Sanders, RB, Oklahoma State, won it. Name the next four in the voting, initials R.P., T.A., S.W., and M.H. Answers below.
Boy, as Johnny Mac said, the obituary writers have been in overdrive recently, and we just lost perhaps the greatest quarterback in the history of the NFL, Slingin’ Sammy Baugh, who died at the age of 94. It’s a little ironic I wrote of one of the three greatest players just last chat, receiver Don Hutson, and now I’m writing about the best QB, who in retrospect should enter any ‘best’ list.
Baugh grew up in Sweetwater, Texas, and attended TCU, where as good as his football career was, he actually thought he’d be a major league baseball player. He could fire it.
But he was drafted by the Washington Redskins and played there from 1937 to 1952. From the AP:
“While he was noted for his passing, Baugh was one of the best all-around players of his day. One season he led the league in passing, defensive interceptions and punting. In one game, he threw four touchdown passes and intercepted four passes. He threw six touchdowns in a game – twice – and kicked an 85-yard punt.
“ ‘There’s nobody any better than Sam Baugh was in pro football,’ Don Maynard, a fellow West Texas Hall of Famer who played for Baugh, said in a 2002 interview. ‘When I see somebody picking the greatest player around, to me, if they didn’t go both ways, they don’t really deserve to be nominated. I always ask, ‘Well, how’d he do on defense? How was his punting?’’
“When Baugh entered the NFL, the forward pass was so rare that it was unveiled mostly in desperate situations. But Baugh passed any time.
“As a rookie in 1937, Baugh completed a record 81 passes (about seven a game) and led the league with 1,127 yards. At the time, only six passers averaged three completions a game that year. He went on to lead the league in passing six times.
“Baugh still holds the Redskins records for career touchdown passes (187) and completion percentage in a season (70.3…ed. still second best in NFL history). His 31 interceptions on defense are third on the team’s career list. He still owns the league mark for single-season punting average (a stupendous 51.4).”
Michael Wilbon / Washington Post
“Too often the discussion of Greatest QB Ever begins with Joe Montana.
“Occasionally, the pick is one of his contemporaries, John Elway. If somebody closer to 60 years old is in the room there might be some substantive examination of John Unitas. Only if there’s a real student of pro football in the mix will Otto Graham’s name be tossed.
“Hardly ever does the discussion roll back far enough to include Slingin’ Sammy Baugh, the greatest Redskin ever, without question, and almost certainly the first great passing quarterback in pro football history. That’s because Baugh outkicked his coverage, as the old coaches like to say. Baugh lived longer than most of the people who adequately chronicle his extraordinary career. Right now, the 1958 NFL Championship game, a.k.a. ‘The Greatest Game Ever Played’ is being celebrated as the beginning of modern professional football.
“Baugh retired six years before that game was played. He retired before games were routinely broadcast on television. You have to be approaching 70 years old to have seen him play for the Washington Redskins, and it almost had to be in person.
“Luckily, Baugh didn’t outkick all his coverage. Steve Sabol, president of NFL Films and probably the smartest, most unbiased football historian anywhere, recalled yesterday in a telephone conversation the very first NFL game he attended.
“ ‘I was 9 years old and my father [Ed Sabol, founder of NFL Films] took me to Shibe Park in Philadelphia to see the Eagles play the Redskins. It was 1951. My dad said: ‘See the man wearing Number 33? That’s Sammy Baugh.’ That’s all he said,’ Steve Sabol said.
“ ‘It was like pointing out the Empire State Building, the Washington Monument or Niagara Falls. ‘That’s Sammy Baugh.’ That’s all that needed to be said to anyone who followed pro football in the 1940s and early 1950s.’
“Sabol isn’t exaggerating one bit. The inaugural class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, in 1963, included George Halas, Bronko Nagurski, Red Grange, Jim Thorpe, Ernie Nevers, Mel Hein, Curly Lambeau and Don Hutson among 17 charter members. And only Halas and Baugh were selected unanimously. The history of pro football simply cannot be written without the story of Slingin’ Sammy….
“Sabol, in poring over game film through the years, discovered something else about Baugh that was radical in the 1940s. ‘He was the first guy we ever saw on film who passed the ball on first down,’ Sabol said.”
And Sabol points out that while all the great quarterbacks played for great coaches [Montana for Bill Walsh, Unitas for Weeb Ewbank and Don Shula, and Elway for Dan Reeves and Mike Shanahan] Baugh played for 10 coaches. “He played for guys who quit in the middle of the season, who were fired in the middle of the season. Ray Flaherty was probably the best coach he played for. He had no continuity. He never had great teams around him.”
Speaking of Ray Flaherty, here is the famous story, the version told by legendary Post sportswriter Shirley Povich, Dec. 10, 1952.
“Coach Ray Flaherty himself used to like to tell the story of his first briefing of Baugh when he was attempting to indoctrinate the slim Texan into the more rugged tactics of pro football. ‘And these receivers in the pro league expect their passers to be good,’ he told Sammy. ‘None of those wild heaves you see the college boys throw. When they go down field, our eligible pass receivers want that ball where they can catch it. They like to be hit right in the eye, understand?’
“To which Baugh, after hearing Flaherty out, was supposed to have replied, ‘Which eye, coach?’”
Sammy Baugh was known to be a recluse and so after his NFL career he retreated to his 7,600-acre West Texas ranch about 95 miles southeast of Lubbock. The Redskins were never successful in luring him back for ceremonies, though his number 33 remains the only uniform the team has ever retired.
The great Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher Dock Ellis died of a liver ailment at the age of 63. Ellis had a 138-119 career mark with a fine 3.46 ERA, including his best campaign, 19-9 in 1971 for the World Champion Pirates. He was an All-Star that year and finished 4th in the Cy Young voting. It was at the All-Star Game, though, that he was tagged for Reggie Jackson’s memorable shot off the light tower at Tiger Stadium.
Ellis was simply one of the great characters in the history of the game. And as AP baseball writer Ben Walker put it, “At a time when drugs, race and other issues in American society were colliding with baseball, Ellis often was at the forefront. He spoke his mind and stood by what he said while playing with the likes of Willie Stargell, Dave Parker and Roberto Clemente.
“ ‘He didn’t take nothing from nobody,’ (former agent Tom) Reich said. ‘He was very much ahead of his time.’”
Speaking of drugs, of course when you mention Dock Ellis you think of a famous incident.
Sports Illustrated had a blurb on our new poet laureate, Donald Hall, who also happens to be quite a baseball fan. In fact, Hall and former Pittsburgh Pirates hurler Dock Ellis combined on the book “Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball.” As it turns out, however, Hall left out one of Dock’s best stories. Years later, though, Hall fills us in, as told to SI’s Charles Hirshberg.
“The Pirates came into San Diego, and Dock went up to Los Angeles, where he knew, um, a lady. And he and this lady both took some acid that night. The next day Dock woke up and took some more. He’d forgotten there was a doubleheader and that he was pitching in the second game. So he drove down to San Diego, walked into the clubhouse and hollered, ‘Pills! I need pills.’ Someone stuffed a bunch in his hand, and he took them all, though he had no idea what they were. Then he went out and threw a no-hitter. True story. It’s not in the first edition because, by that time, Dock was pitching for George Steinbrenner, who could not, I thought, have approved. But it’s in the second edition.”
[June 20, 1970. For the record, Ellis threw it in the first game, not the second.]
Ellis was unpredictable, to say the least, aside from being one of the more intelligent people in the sport. In a game in 1974, upset that his Pirates were being intimidated by the Cincinnati Reds, Ellis hit Pete Rose, Joe Morgan and Dan Driessen in succession and tried to hit Tony Perez with a pitch but missed. After aiming two pitches at Johnny Bench’s head, manager Danny Murtaugh pulled him. Yes, it was a different game back then, eh sports fans? These days the pitcher would have been ejected after hitting the second batter.
Ellis the partier decided to go sober 28 years ago and he stayed true to his word, launching a fierce anti-drug crusade among the athletes he came across, as well as taking his message into penitentiaries.
Incidentally, I’ve mentioned this before but the 1971 Pirates team fielded the first all-black and Latino lineup in major league history: Rennie Stennett at second, Gene Clines in center, Clemente in right, Willie Stargell in left, Manny Sanguillen catching, Dave Cash at third, Al Oliver at first, Jackie Hernandez at short and Dock Ellis on the mound.
I met Dock Ellis at one of Willie Wilson’s affairs in Kansas City in October 2007. He cracked me up. Talking about the event in my Bar Chat of 10/29/07, I mentioned a car accident a bunch of us, in separate vehicles, came upon, “with Jimmy Wynn scared to death that Dock Ellis was still ‘using’ as they approached a police roadblock. ‘Dock, get out of the car!’”
–Oh, to be a Jets fan. 40 years of supreme failure, and this year is possibly the worst of them all. Just four weeks ago we were 8-3 and there was serious talk of a Giants-Jets Super Bowl. Not now, as the Jets’ chances for a playoff berth fade.
In losing to Seattle 13-3, the Jets are now 0-4 vs. West Coast teams that have a combined 21-39 record (San Diego, Oakland, San Francisco, Seattle), but 9-2 against everyone else.
I told you when the Jets signed Brett Favre it was the wrong move as some of us wanted the team to keep Chad Pennington. Most of Gotham, though, went ga-ga for Brett. So what has Chad done? Take a 1-15 Dolphins team and turn it into 10-5. Wait until you hear the boo-birds at the Meadowlands next Sunday when the two square off.
Favre was supposed to be Mr. Cold Weather. Instead, while he was 43-6 at Green Bay in home games where the temp was 34 degrees or below, on the road he is 1-6 in such contests, including yesterday.
Favre has been awful when it counted. The last four games he has one touchdown pass and six interceptions.
Coach Eric Mangini, (“Mangenius,” derisively, in these parts) made about four awful decisions in the Seattle game. As Boomer Esiason said afterwards, in so many words, he deserves to be fired. I’d do it on Christmas Day.
Each year when I put up my Christmas tree, I save the best spot for the Joe Namath ornament. Memories. Since that great day in Miami, nothing but bad ones.
As Jeff B. pointed out, between being a Jets and Mets fan these days, it’s a wonder many of us haven’t committed hari-kari. [If I wasn’t hosting Christmas at my place, I already would have.]
–Meanwhile, the Giants came through in the clutch in beating Carolina, of course. What an awesome effort by running back Derrick Ward…215 yards on just 15 carries.
–Congratulations to Detroit for becoming the first NFL team to go 0-15. They play Green Bay for the historic 0-16 mark.
–I caught a little of NBC’s pre-game show before the Giants-Panthers contest and there was Tiki Barber, once again showing the world what a true jerk he is while doing an interview with Brandon Jacobs. He remains one of the least likeable people on the planet, as best exhibited by the fact NBC has buried him when Tiki himself thought he was going to take Matt Lauer’s job by his 4th week at the network. One of these days his head will just explode, his ego is that massive.
–Ah, what could have been. Us Wake Forest football fans were certainly pleased with our 29-19 win over Navy on Saturday, and quarterback Riley Skinner’s 11-for-11 effort, but it really just pointed out that we should have been in the ACC title game were it not for Skinner’s lackluster play much of the year. He has got to step up big time his senior year. Nonetheless, three straight bowl games for Little Old Wake Forest ain’t too shabby.
[Before the game, Wake linebacker Aaron Curry said of playing Navy, “I admire the idea that they are playing football because they love it. They know that when they are done, they’re going to defend our country. They make it worthwhile playing them. D.J. (Boldin, a wide receiver) and I know that when we’re done playing football here at Wake, we’re going to stay here in the States and pursue our professional careers. When those guys are done, they are going to make sure D.J. and I are safe and allow us to pursue our careers. It’s very humbling every time we play them just to know that they are doing a lot of things for us, more than providing competition.”]
–Congratulations to Richmond for winning the Div. I-AA football title over Montana. Hey, that Spider running back Josh Vaughan looks like a real NFL prospect.
–And how about Division III Mount Union? The Purple Raiders won their 10th title in 16 years in defeating Wisconsin-Whitewater 31-26. These two have now matched up four straight years, with Mount Union also winning in 2005 and ‘06. Running back Nate Kmic passed the 8,000 yard mark, thus becoming the first in any division to do so.
But as Johnny Mac noted, think about just how good Mount Union’s accomplishment is; or, even more, look at the job coach Larry Kehres has done. 274-21-3 in 23 years. That’s not a misprint. 19 conference titles, including the last 17 in a row.
Johnny says this is like Iowa wrestling in the Dan Gable era, or UNC women’s soccer, but football, regardless of the division, is a major sport with stiffer competition.
So this holiday season, hoist a mug of grog to the Mount Union Purple Raiders!!!
[Always looking for an excuse to hoist a mug of grog, you understand.]
–Yikes, Stephen Curry had a nightmare performance against Purdue as Davidson lost on the hardwood, 76-58. Curry was 5-for-26 from the field.
–Former Indiana standout Eric Gordon told The Indianapolis Star that he believed drug use impacted the Hoosiers’ play last season. Gordon, who now plays for the L.A. Clippers, says the team was divided between users and non-users, and that then-coach Kelvin Sampson tried to stop the drug use, but “was just so focused on basketball and winning and everything.” Great story for recruiting…NOT!
–The Holiday Festival basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden used to be a premiere event and in my youth I probably went to 4 or 5 of them. So I noted with a bit of sadness that the crowd for this year’s St. John’s-Virginia Tech final was 2,043!
Granted, St. John’s is a shell of its former self, and the weather wasn’t great, but still, that’s pitiful.
–New York sportscaster legend Sal Marchiano retired last week after more than 40 years in the business.
–We note the passing of former Houston Astros reliever Dave Smith, apparently from a heart attack, at the depressingly young age of 53. Smith was a solid performer who had a 53-53 record with a career 2.67 ERA and 216 saves. From 1985-90, he saved from 23 to 33 games each year and never had an ERA over 2.73. He was an All-Star in 1986 and 1990. [Mets fans will remember him, though, for pitching poorly in the 1986 classic NLCS between Houston and New York.]
Smith was a free spirit, known for his generosity, and a popular teammate; perhaps best exemplified by the fact one of them, Tim Flannery, said he and other surfers were going to fulfill Smith’s wishes that his ashes be scattered onto the Pacific Ocean.
–Dan Rosenheck of the New York Times had a good story on the Baseball Hall of Fame balloting; specifically bemoaning the fact that if a player doesn’t receive 5% he is dropped from any consideration in future years. The point being that as Jim Rice and Bert Blyleven have seen their vote totals rise to 72.2 and 61.9 percent, respectively, over the years, it can take awhile to build support for a candidate and appreciate their position in the history of the game. Others get screwed, like Bobby Grich.
You see, Grich only received 2.6% his first year of eligibility, 1992, yet as Rosenheck points out, Grich had as much of an impact on the game as fellow second-sacker (for much of his career), Rod Carew. But Carew is in the Hall, and deservedly so, for all his batting titles and hits, yet Grich was a feared power hitter when this was a real rarity from that position. Alas, the writers voting on the Hall haven’t had a chance to reflect on Grich’s excellent career.
Then, Rosenheck writes, there is Ted Simmons, “who is almost certainly one of the 10 most valuable catchers in major league history. His combined on-base and slugging percentages were 24 percent above the league average, a figure surpassed by only six players with more than 1,400 games caught in the majors. And his defense behind the plate was roughly average, which is hardly a strike against him. Perhaps because he was overshadowed by a remarkable crop of catchers in the 1970s, led by Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk and Gary Carter, Simmons too lasted just one year on the ballot, receiving 3.7% of the vote in 1994."
Or Lou Whitaker, who received 2.9% of the vote when he hit the ballot in 2001. I mean, c’mon. Both Whitaker and his Tiger keystone partner Alan Trammell deserve to be in the Hall, according to many, but only Trammell remains on the ballot.
And then you have the Evans – Darrell and Dwight – let alone the likes of Keith Hernandez and Will Clark. Deserving? Maybe not, but their candidacies should have been debated the full 15 years before being dumped into the laps of the Veterans Committee.
–There have been more articles on the problem in Division I-A (I still have a problem with the classifications I’m supposed to use, like Bowl Subdivision) and the lack of black head coaches. We could have five out of 119 programs, assuming Ron English is hired at Eastern Michigan, even though 50% of the players are black.
Well, I’ve written of the plight of Turner Gill at Buffalo and his being passed over for the head job at Auburn, but ESPN analyst Trevor Matich had an interesting point the other day; that being Gill is simply too young and inexperienced and would be overwhelmed in the SEC because he’s having to match up with the likes of Urban Meyer and Nick Saban.
Now the preceding may not have come off right, but Matich was saying that just for today, Gill wouldn’t stand a chance, say, in the recruiting game going up against the likes of Florida and Alabama. Of course you could argue, so what will staying at Buffalo another three years really do to enhance Gill’s chances if he went to Auburn in 2012? [I’m arguing with myself.]
Well, in an article by Pete Thamel of the New York Times, Georgia Tech basketball coach Paul Hewitt, president of the Black Coaches Association, “said African-American recruits and their families should make a conscious decision to play for universities that advocate the hiring of blacks as head coaches, athletic directors and in other positions of university leadership. Hewitt said that recruits should be concerned about attending colleges that do not advocate such opportunities.
“ ‘If the top five defensive linemen and the top five offensive linemen in the country went to play for Randy Shannon at Miami and they won a national championship in two years, watch how fast this thing would change,’ Hewitt said. ‘These kids need to say, ‘If my alma mater doesn’t display a record of hiring people who look like me, why should I go and help them?’’”
[I give my own alma mater, Wake, credit for giving Jim Caldwell, now the heir apparent to Tony Dungy at Indy, a good run as head coach, but it just didn’t work out.]
–Glancing at the yearend PGA Tour stats, Bubba Watson was No. 1 in driving distance at 315 yards, but he was 58th on the money list. No. 2 was Robert Garrigus, 138th on the money list. J.B. Holmes was No. 3 and at least finished 32nd in earnings.
In putting, Corey Pavin was first, (and 197th in driving distance at 261 yards), and 112th on the money list, while second in putting, Padraig Harrington, finished 8th in earnings despite playing just 15 events.
And the all-around No. 1, including the above as well as driving accuracy and sand saves? Pat Perez, who finished 43rd on the money list.
What does it all mean? Beats the hell out of me, except that Harrington did indeed hit his share of clutch putts this year.
[I did check my main man Bill Haas’ stats, Bill having had a disappointing season as he finished 104th on the money list and missed 13 cuts in 31 events. Bill was actually 16th all-around, but 101st in putting so you know what he is working on this winter.]
–Speaking of the PGA Tour, no doubt it is being impacted by the economic turmoil, though Commissioner Tim Finchem insists the Tour will do just fine in 2009. The Tour actually has a $100 million contingency fund if sponsors, currently under contract, suddenly dropped out.
But as Alex Miceli of Golfweek points out, “On the season-opening West Coast Swing, most of the seven events are down at least 10 percent in sales, say tournament officials, and pro-am slots remain open.”
“At the Sony Open, the first full-field event, things are worse. Overall sales were down 25 percent, with many national hospitality accounts opting not to re-up.”
Meanwhile, “17 title sponsors are in financial services or automobile manufacturing. Many contracts expire in 2010, so troubles could be looming.”
Having been ditched by Buick, Tiger Woods can certainly relate, but it is the golfers in the rung below the elite who are evidently really suffering on the sponsorship side, including those partnerships of friends and investors who help finance budding stars.
I just finished a three-year partnership deal myself, involving a buddy who was attempting to make the Champions Tour. It didn’t work out, but had he wanted a new agreement for another year or two, I would have had to say no for financial reasons, as much as anything else. Such decisions are being made all over the golfing world these days.
[Conan O’Brien: “General Motors announced that they are ending their endorsement deal with Tiger Woods. When asked why, a spokesperson for General Motors said: ‘Tiger Woods is successful, competitive and popular. And that’s just not us.”]
–I hope some of you caught Tiger Woods press conference last Wednesday. What a master of this forum he is. Tiger claims he’s a little ahead of schedule in his rehab and that “The strength has come back better than ever.” Scary.
–Greg Norman has decided he will play in the Masters. That could be fun, and with Tiger’s return helps make this perhaps the most anticipated major in recent memory, if not, frankly, of all time. Plus assuming the economy still sucks the big one come April, we’ll all be ready for a nice diversion. [I’m even already humming the theme music.]
–I have to admit I missed another one. When Greg Maddux announced his retirement the other day, I forgot what a good golfer he is. Golf World quotes him as saying “If I get really good by the time I’m 50, and can actually make it, I’ll be up against guys like Lee Janzen, who won two U.S. Opens. I don’t like my chances, do you?”
Actually, I do, Greg. A competitor like you? That would be very cool. I’m guessing by 2010 he is playing in some Nationwide events.
–John Hollinger of ESPN.com notes that Shaquille O’Neal is approaching a magic figure, 5,000 missed free throws, becoming just the second to do so, the other being Wilt Chamberlain. The Big Brick has a career FT percentage of 52.5, total suckdom.
–What an ugly story involving Mississippi basketball coach Andy Kennedy, who allegedly punched a cab driver in Cincinnati and called him “bin Laden” and other racial insults. Bill Armstrong, the director of basketball operations for Ole Miss, was charged with disorderly conduct and had been ejected from a bar earlier in the evening, though the bar’s general manager said Kennedy was OK.
But here’s the catch. Police said “the left side of (the cabbie’s) face was swollen; at his northern Kentucky home more than 12 hours later, he had no apparent injuries and said he wasn’t physically hurt but was upset to be compared to the terrorist leader.” [AP]
In other words, this is a very complicated story and Kennedy is fighting back vigorously as he recognizes his entire career is in danger.
–What a year for Pittsburgh sports. Aside from Dock Ellis, I still can’t believe both Ernie Holmes and Dwight White died this year. Mean Joe Greene recently discussed the days of the Steel Curtain (including L.C. Greenwood) with Bob Hille of Sporting News.
“No question about it, we were blessed to come together at that time, at the right time. We never bragged about it, but you talk about the Steel Curtain, Doomsday I and Doomsday II, the Purple People Eaters, the Fearsome Foursome, the Sack Exchange, all the great front fours, and it’s hard to say which one is the best. But we’re among the group.
“The last time we were all together was November 2007 at a card show, and I thought how wonderful it has been to be together that length of time, first playing together for as long as we did, and then over the last 10, 15 years, doing card shows. It wasn’t about making money; it gave us an opportunity, maybe four times a year, to catch up with one another, to talk about our kids and our grandkids.
“When you write words, it’s hard to really get at your feelings. All I can tell you is those guys were special, special to me and special to L.C., too. And I’m sure they would’ve said that I’m special to them, too.”
–There’s a serious high school athlete about 15 minutes from the global headquarters of Bar Chat, shot putter Nick Vena out of Morristown High School. Vena set the national freshman record last year and on Thursday established the national record for a sophomore. He had a throw of 66-9 ½ which bested the old mark of Kevin Bookout of Stroud, Okla., by over a foot. He also smashed the New Jersey sophomore record by 5 ½ feet, and is now just 5 inches from the overall state record.
Too bad the 2012 London Games will be shelved for financial reasons because it would have been fun to see a local go for the gold.
[You just know London officials want to do this. They will end up losing $billions.]
–The crew of a Chinese ship used beer bottles to fend off a pirate attack off the Somali coast before they were rescued. Another reason to buy bottles and not cans.
PAW PAW, Mich. – A human-sized heart found at a southwestern Michigan car wash has investigators wondering whether it came from a person or an animal. The organ was discovered in a corner of a manual wash bay at Soapy’s Car Wash, Paw Paw police said. The owner of the business found it Monday on the floor of the bay.
A local cardiologist said the heart was “consistent in size to a human heart,” but could not make a conclusive determination.
But it turns out this wasn’t the first time animal parts had been left at the car wash. Remind me to avoid Soapy’s until they can clear this mystery up.
–Shark Attack Director Bob S. passed along a TMZ story that is quite amazing.
“There’s nothing quite like taking a cool trip down the water slide at the Atlantis Resort in The Bahamas, plunging into the refreshing pool at the end, and…HOLY CRAP! THAT’S A SHARK!
“But it was all too real when hotel staff saw that one of the sharks from the famous resort aquarium had somehow jumped out of its tank and onto a nearby water slide – where it managed to slide down into the pool.
“It all went down before the pool opened Tuesday – so nobody was in the water – but here’s where it gets tragic: A rep for the Atlantis tells TMZ the shark died a short time after swimming in the chlorinated water.”
Expect a lawsuit on behalf of the shark community, which has taken its share of hits the past few years. But should the court case fail, then as Bob S. and I agree, prepare for a full-scale invasion, beginning on the east coast of Florida this spring.
“A buffalo that rammed a New York man on a Hunterdon County (N.J.) farm in October caused him permanent damage, according to a lawsuit filed recently.”
It seems that Kamrouz Saifl and a friend were visiting the farm when tours were being offered. Saifl “wound up on a walkway between the farm’s grazing pastures, which was open to the public for closer views of the farm’s animals” when a 2,000-pound buffalo that was somehow loose came charging at Saifl, police said.
According to a complaint that was filed, Saifl was hit on the right side and catapulted through the air, which would have been fun to see if you were a spectator, kind of like a cartoon, know what I’m sayin’?
[Sorry, I was just contacted by Mr. Saifl’s representative who told me that what I just wrote is not in the least bit funny and “how would I like to be broadsided by a buffalo?”]
Saifl did not, though, seem to be seriously hurt at the time and was discharged from the hospital the same day, but now, wouldn’t you know, he has “severe and permanent injuries.” A bad economy will do that.
–I love the HBO show “Entourage” and there is no better actor today than Jeremy Piven. But boy did Piven screw up royally in New York as he abandoned his role in the Broadway show “Speed-the-Plow.” According to reports, Piven sought to leave the show weeks ago and was actually calling around for his replacement. No one had ever heard of this kind of behavior.
Piven told friends backstage that he was “bored out of his mind” and couldn’t wait to get out, and just a week ago he started showing up mere minutes before the curtain went up rather than the mandatory 30 minutes. He also ad-libbed inappropriately.
So now Piven is gone as his doctor claims the actor is suffering from acute mercury poisoning from eating too much sushi over the years. It doesn’t help matters that this particular physician, one Dr. Colker, has been sued for allegedly making up data concerning the drug ephedra and he has a controversial wellness center. Piven’s reputation has taken a huge hit and to me it’s the kind that will be tough to recover from, though at least “Entourage” is signed up for another year.
–Director Robert Mulligan died. He was 83. Sports fans might remember him for the 1957 film “Fear Strikes Out” about baseball player Jimmy Piersall, and he also directed “Summer of ’42,” a super flick.
But Robert Mulligan only needs one film on his tombstone, “To Kill a Mockingbird”; simply one of the five best movies of all time. Alas, the year was 1962 and it lost out on the “Best Picture” Oscar to another in the top five, “Lawrence of Arabia.”
Mulligan was born in New York City, describing his upbringing as “Bronx Irish,” and he attended Fordham University where he thought about studying for the priesthood.
–U2 is releasing its new album, “No Line On The Horizon,” in early March 2009.
December 22, 1808. Ludwig van Beethoven conducted the premiere of his Symphony No. 5 in C minor in Vienna. “The hall is unheated, the orchestra shaky and the concert four hours long; the work is not an instant hit. But the piece, which an increasingly deaf Beethoven had begun in 1804, gets a rave – ‘immeasurably noble and profound’ – from E.T.A. Hoffmann in 1810 and soon becomes an orchestral standard. Its opening da-da-da DUM, four of the most famous notes in classical music, will be used for everything from symbolizing Allied victory in World War II (it is Morse code for V) to a cellphone ring tone.”
Top 3 songs for the week 12/21/68: #1 “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” (Marvin Gaye) #2 “Love Child” (Diana Ross and The Supremes) #3 “For Once In My Life” (Stevie Wonder)…and…#4 “Abraham, Martin and John” (Dion) #5 “Wichita Lineman” (Glen Campbell…one of your editor’s all-time top ten) #6 “Stormy” (Classics IV featuring Dennis Yost…and this one is in my top twenty!) #7 “Who’s Making Love” (Johnny Taylor) #8 “Both Sides Now” (Judy Collins) #9 “I Love How You Love Me” (Bobby Vinton) #10 “Magic Carpet Ride” (Steppenwolf)
Heisman Trophy Quiz Answers: 1) 1987: Don McPherson, QB, Syracuse, finished 2nd and Gordie Lockbaum, TB-DB, Holy Cross was 3rd. If you got Gordie, pour yourself a cold one. 2) 1988: Rodney Peete, QB, USC, was 2nd; Troy Aikman, QB, UCLA, was 3rd; Steve Walsh, QB, Miami, was 4th; and Major Harris, QB, West Virginia, was 5th. Yup, a helluva year for quarterback play but Sanders was in a world of his own.
Next Bar Chat, Wednesday p.m. My traditional Christmas cheer. Then a little break until Tues., Dec. 30, for our year end awards show!!!!
And in mid-January, kids, our new All-Species list! Will man even make the top 50?
