Super Bowl Quiz: [All skill levels] 1) In SB VII, Miami’s 14-7 win over Washington, who was Washington’s quarterback? 2) In SB IX, Pittsburgh’s 16-6 win over Minnesota, what Minnesota running back with the initials D.O. carried it eight times? 3) In SB X, Pittsburgh’s 21-17 win over Dallas, what Dallas running back with the initials D.D. carried it five times? 4) In SB XI, Oakland’s 32-14 win over Minnesota, what Oakland running back with the initials C.G. carried it four times? Answers below.
Bill Madden / New York Daily News
“Joe Torre’s place in the Baseball Hall of Fame is secure, but his place in Monument Park at the new Yankee Stadium may not be.
“According to a new book by Sports Illustrated baseball writer Tom Verducci, Torre was a bitter man by the time he left the Yankees in October of 2007, and he takes a few rips at the team that he led for 12 seasons.
“In ‘The Yankee Years,’ due to be released on Feb. 3, Torre describes general manager Brian Cashman as a less than supportive ally who betrayed him on several fronts, and says that his star player, Alex Rodriguez, was often referred to by his teammates as ‘A-Fraud’ and was obsessed with his perceived rival, shortstop Derek Jeter.”
Torre is slated to be on “Letterman” Feb. 3, and make a book-signing appearance at the Yogi Berra Museum in Montclair, New Jersey that day (if you happen to be in the area).
Understand this book will be the source of much Bar Chat the entire coming season, including the next edition.
I saw this piece on the great Steelers coach on ESPN.com by Elizabeth Merrill and I had to ask myself, “Is he still alive?”
Yes, Chuck Noll is still alive. He’s now 77. But the fact I’m a decent fan of the sport and had to be reminded, as I’m sure a few of you may have hesitated, tells you everything about the man; which is essentially the point of Merrill’s article.
Chuck Noll is simply one of the greatest coaches, of any sport, that few give a thought to.
I mean here’s a guy who went 193-148, .566 (1969-1991), after starting out 1-13, 5-9, and 6-8, and won four Super Bowls, 1974, 75, 78, 79. His playoff record was 16-8.
Noll, who divides his time between a home near Pittsburgh (Sewickley) and Florida, lets his wife Marianne take care of those trying to get an interview. He evidently has severe back problems, but did make it to a Steelers home game this season and still follows the team closely.
Think about this one. Despite all his success, the only endorsement he ever took was for a local bank run by a friend, but when he “saw his face plastered on a billboard for the bank – an ad that hung near a road that took the team to training camp – he became annoyed.”
“Mean Joe” Greene recalls that when he was selected first in the 1969 draft out of North Texas State, by the new coach Noll, ostensibly, he was dejected “because it meant he was headed to a moribund franchise with no hope of winning. He spent the first couple of seasons angry and let his temper get the best of him.”
Then one day Noll issued the speech. As a practice he never gave them, saying that if he needed to motivate them, they probably deserved to be fired.
“But something got to him in late December 1974. The Raiders had just beaten the Dolphins in an AFC divisional playoff game that was far more interesting than Pittsburgh’s win against Buffalo. Ken Stabler made a falling throw, and the epic that would later be known as the ‘Sea of Hands’ game was getting far more play. It featured supposedly the best two teams in football. The Super Bowl, to many, seemed like a formality.
“Noll gathered his team in that Monday, and, like always, broke down the plusses and minuses of their previous game. Then he launched into a lecture and slammed a chalkboard.
“ ‘He said, ‘Guys, the people in Oakland think the Super Bowl was played yesterday and the best team was in that game,’ Greene says. ‘I want you guys to know the Super Bowl will be played two weeks from now, and the best team in the National Football League is sitting right here.’
“ ‘From that moment on, regardless of what went on at the start of the game, I knew the Raiders weren’t going to win it. I’ve never had that feeling before or after that [the other] team had no chance.’”
Noll was detached and the players figured that was because he didn’t want to get close to someone he may have to eventually cut.
But one Christmas in the late 1970s, Lynn Swann had some teammates over for a tree-trimming party and they decided to go caroling afterward. One imagines they were feeling pretty good, though Merrill doesn’t say. They stopped by Dan Rooney’s house and a few others along the chain of power. “Swann suggested they go to Noll’s. His buddies hesitated.”
Well, it was before 11:00 p.m., curfew, “so they knocked on the door and sang to Chuck and Marianne. He invited them in. Noll showed them some pictures he had taken, then grabbed his ukulele and started playing. It was a side they had never seen before.”
“ ‘I thought we were breaking the ice,’ Swann says. ‘We’re getting to the core of this man, this is great. Wonderful. A breakthrough.
“ ‘The next morning, we walk in there, and I thought we were going to have a new relationship. He looked at us, and nodded his head. It was like we were never in his home for a second. He never acknowledged it. But that was Chuck.”
Then there was the case of linebacker Andy Russell, one of just five from the first team that Noll coached in ‘69 to play in a Super Bowl for the Steelers. Noll called Russell in for their first meeting.
“I’ve been watching game film, Russell,” Noll told him. “I don’t like the way you play. You’re too aggressive. You’re too out of control. You’re too impatient, trying to be a hero. I’m going to change the way you play. You’re going to be a lot different in your 30s than your 20s.”
Russell became a 10-year captain and went to seven Pro Bowls.
Surprisingly, Chuck Noll was not one of those classic NFL head coach workaholics. He kept to a schedule that had him home by 7:00 p.m. most nights but Monday and Tuesday.
Kerry J. Byrne laid it on the line for SI.com. Kurt Warner is far better than Peyton Manning. Now you know my feelings about the quarterback rating, as in I couldn’t care less, but for the purposes of this story it’s an important gauge in comparing the two.
Warner has played in 10 postseason games and is 8-2, with 23 TD, 12 INT, 8.31 YPA, 97.3 passer rating.
Manning has played in 15 postseason games and is 7-8 with 22 TD, 17 INT, 7.4 YPA, 84.9 rating.
Warner’s 8-2 mark is exceeded only by Tom Brady (14-3), and Bart Starr (9-1). Warner is also now gearing up for his third Super Bowl start, a figure exceeded only by John Elway, Terry Bradshaw, Jim Kelly, Joe Montana and Brady.
And as for Manning, Byrne notes he remains the “Picasso of Choke Artists and the master of the one-and-done. Six times in nine visits his vaunted Colts have exited the playoffs without a single victory and he’s underperformed almost each and every time.”
Heck, this is interesting. “Manning has played his worst statistical game of the year in the playoffs in 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006 (as measured by passer rating). Three times in 15 playoff games Manning has posted a passer rating of less than 40 (compared with just twice in 176 regular season games…emphasis mine).
Jeffrey H. Anderson, creator of one of the six computer rankings used in determining the BCS, commented in The Weekly Standard on President Obama’s fixation with changing the college football system for selecting a national champion, Obama favoring a playoff. Yours truly is satisfied with the system in place because without the controversy, many of us would have nothing to talk about and instead be mired in a personal hell from which there is no recovery; hard drugs, booze, and a life of crime. [OK, got carried away there.]
“The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was formed in 1998 to ensure that college football would finally feature an annual championship game. Prior to the BCS’s creation, there were four times in the 1990s alone when two major undefeated teams weren’t matched up in a bowl game.
“Contrast this with the BCS era. There has been some controversy over title-game selections, although very little in the past five years. But when a given matchup clearly should have taken place – as in the 2006 Rose Bowl, when Vince Young and Texas beat USC on a fourth-down touchdown run with 19 seconds left, and the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, when Ohio State beat Miami in double-overtime, it did….
“Let us consider the most common playoff proposals. The most viable is a ‘plus-one,’ which would place the top four teams in two different bowls, with the winners playing each other. This season, Utah – the team that emerged as the consensus national runner-up (and was #2 in my rankings prior to the bowls and #1 afterward) – would have been left out of such an arrangement, in favor of Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, and USC. So a ‘plus one’ wouldn’t have resolved much of anything….
“The BCS…gave unsung Utah the chance to play, and beat, an excellent Alabama team in the Sugar Bowl.
“President Obama seemingly doesn’t realize how unlikely that opportunity would have been in the pre-BCS days. In the 30 seasons prior to the BCS’s inception, what we now call ‘non-BCS-conference teams’ didn’t play in a single major bowl game – not one. Since the 2005 bowl season, they have played in four – and won three.”
Did you know that? I didn’t. Case closed.
I remember in 2007 when the local NBC affiliate sent a reporter to interview Bill Werber, the oldest living former major league baseball player and one-time teammate of Babe Ruth. He was a humble southern gentleman, then living in Charlotte. Werber died on Thursday, age 100, just three weeks after moving into an assisted-care facility.
After graduating from Duke University, where he became the school’s first All-American basketball player, Werber joined the Yankees in 1930 but only got into four games. It was the days of Murderers Row, after all. But one day that season he was on base when Babe Ruth came to bat and hit a towering home run. “Werber, a nervous rookie, ran as hard as he could toward home plate while Ruth managed his usual mincing trot. Back in the dugout, Ruth patted Werber on the head and said: ‘Kid, when I hit ‘em, you don’t have to run all that hard.’”
Werber was in the minors 1931 and 1932, and then played just three games for the Yanks in ’33 before being purchased by the Red Sox, finishing the year hitting .258 in 111 games. In his 2000 memoir, “Memories of a Ballplayer,” he called Ruth “good-natured, amoral, loving, loud, rough, vulgar, but kind and considerate, especially with kids.” He described Lou Gehrig, though, as “aloof and introverted…didn’t like to be ribbed, something like DiMaggio. But he was the ultimate team player and stayed in the game through pain and broken bones. I never heard him complain. Woe to the man who didn’t give his best for the team.”
Werber had his best season in 1934 for Boston; 200 hits, 129 runs scored, 67 RBI, 40 steals, and a .321 average. He went on to have solid seasons in Philadelphia and Cincinnati as well, and in 1940, he helped the Reds win the World Series, batting .370 (10 for 27) in seven games against the Tigers.
Did you ever think about the question, ‘If you could be transported back in time for just one day, what would you want to see?’ C’mon, don’t tell me you haven’t. Well, Johnny Mac and I have and we’re pretty much in agreement it would be a good baseball game, say 1930, Yankee Stadium, watching the Babe. Or perhaps a real old-time ballgame, like circa 1890. That would be cool. Regardless, the ‘domestic’ would be flowing.
[Actually, I want to refine my date some. 1924…a matchup between Babe’s Yanks and the Washington Senators with Walter Johnson on the mound. Sunny, temps in the low 70s. Now that would be nirvana.]
One of the great figures in women’s athletics, North Carolina State basketball coach Kay Yow, died after a long battle with cancer. She was 66.
Yow is one of five women coaches in the Basketball Hall of Fame and won 737 games over 38 seasons, including the last 34 with the Lady Wolfpack.
“The loss of Yow, who went the distance in a knock-down, drag-out war with cancer before passing away leaves not just NC State but also women’s athletics with a permanent void.
“Who else was this successful at this high a level while always being universally liked? Who else inspired only admiration and never ire in her foes? Even her fiercest adversary – Cancer, with the capital C – would have expressed boundless admiration, were it an entity that could speak.
“Cancer first showed up in 1987 and took part of Yow’s body. Then, in 1993, it took her mother, Lib, and her good friend, fellow NC State coach Jim Valvano….Cancer took her appetite, her cherished high energy, her restful sleep, her mornings and afternoons on the golf course. It took away any thoughts of a quiet, relaxing time beyond basketball….
“There’s a story her longtime colleague and friend, Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, tells of when Yow was her assistant for the 1984 Summer Olympics.
“ ‘I had two players from Tennessee on that team in Lea Henry and Cindy Noble,’ Summitt said. ‘And I yelled at them constantly because I knew I could and they could take it.
“ ‘One day, we were walking back from our practice gym and Kay said, very calmly and quietly, ‘Well, you know, Pat, I just wonder if you’ve really thought about how much more that Cindy Noble and Lea Henry are going to learn from you.’
“ ‘Then she said, ‘I think they’re both trying really hard and they both want to please you, but how much more do you think they can possibly do?’ I remember shaking my head and saying, ‘Good point.’ And I backed off both of them. She was right. She made me a better coach just in subtle ways, in things she’d say to me.’”
It was in the years following Title IX, signed into law in 1972, that women’s basketball finally took hold and Yow was hired in 1975 to take over the NC State program after four years at Elon College. She went on to win four ACC tourney titles, gain 20 NCAA bids, and a Final Four appearance in 1998.
Yow was known for being gracious to a fault, and sayings such as “Don’t let the urgent get in the way of the important.”
–Nice guy. Mark McGwire’s brother Jay is humping a book proposal for a tell-all on Mark’s steroid use, claiming he, Jay, introduced Mark to performance-enhancing drugs.
Jay says he used a $150,000 insurance settlement from a BB gun accident that cost him an eye to purchase steroids for a first time. As the Daily News’ Michael O’Keefe writes, Jay says Mark then “started juicing after watching his brother build himself into a 6-3, 320-pound professional bodybuilder,” and that he introduced Mark to his supplier after Jay won a bodybuilding contest in May 1994.
In his 2005 book “Juiced,” Jose Canseco claimed he started injecting Mark in 1988, when they were teammates in Oakland.
“The McGwire brothers have had a falling-out and no longer speak to each other,” reports O’Keefe. Surprise surprise. Jay writes, “My bringing the truth to the surface about Mark is out of love. I want Mark to live in truth to see the light, to come to repentance so he can live in freedom – which is the only way to live.”
[On the Roger Clemens issue, the New York Times’ Michael Schmidt reports that there are contradictions in the testimony of Brian McNamee and Kirk Radomski, the latter the steroids dealer who just came out with a book. It could mean that the government would not be able to call Radomski in any proceedings against Clemens, plus it could damage McNamee’s participation.]
–Hall of Fame receiver Dante Lavelli passed away at the age of 85. Lavelli played on seven championship teams for the Cleveland Browns with the All-America Football Conference and then the expanded NFL. In his 11 seasons as quarterback Otto Graham’s favorite target, Lavelli caught 386 passes for a 16.8 average and 62 touchdowns, earning the nickname Gluefingers. Paul Brown, who coached him at both Ohio State and Cleveland, said “He had the strongest hands I’ve ever seen.”
In the Browns’ first season in the NFL, Lavelli caught 11 passes in the championship game, a 30-28 win over the Los Angeles Rams.
And we honor Lavelli because he fought at the Battle of the Bulge as an infantryman. Later, his work on developing a pension plan and minimum pay standards was critical to the founding of the NFL Players Union, 1956, the year Lavelli retired.
Before then, players kept their mouths shut, as Lavelli once said. “We were all competing for spots on about 12 teams, so you didn’t say boo. You were fighting for positions. You did what you were told and toed the line.” [Frank Litsky / New York Times]
–Maryland’s 85-44 loss to Duke on Saturday was its worst ACC defeat ever. Duke will be assuming the No. 1 ranking this week as it prepares to travel to Winston-Salem and a critical game against Wake Forest. Bounce back, boys! I told a bunch of Wake friends that Duke’s dismantling of the Terrapins was the best thing the Wake team, off Saturday, could have possibly witnessed. They’ll be focused on Wednesday. My confidence is returning.
–After ending its 51-game record losing streak, NJIT began a new one in losing to Longwood on Saturday.
–Great win for Seton Hall, 65-60 over Georgetown.
—Jeff Kent retired after 17 years in the majors. He finishes his career with 377 home runs (a record 351 as a second baseman), 1,518 RBI, and a .290 batting average. Kent drove in more than 100 runs 8 times and was NL MVP in 2000. He seems to be a surefire Hall of Famer. After all, he handily beats Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg in virtually every offensive category.
Or is he? I’m a little disturbed Kent made only five All-Star teams (to Sandberg’s ten) and he certainly wasn’t known for his fielding (Sandberg won nine Gold Gloves, Kent zero).
If Kent wasn’t a second baseman and instead a third baseman or outfielder, would he get into the Hall?
I do, however, believe Kent gets his plaque, maybe not until his 5th year of eligibility, but I can see why some would question the selection, primarily because we can’t ignore we’re talking about the steroids era, after all, though Kent was never implicated in any fashion.
But I do have to mention a column by T.J. Simers in the L.A. Times on Kent’s excessive sobbing at the press conference announcing his retirement. Kent was never a beloved figure among the scribes, understand.
“The whole thing is out of whack, sports at its lost perspective worst, the wrong guy blubbering at the microphone and the line extending from here to New York now with folks more deserving than Kent of such attention.
“Where’s the spotlight and appreciative crowd for Steve Dilbeck, the Los Angeles Daily News sports columnist, who like so many others in recent weeks has been told they will no longer be paid to do what they do so well?
“Kent is 40, and although he maximized his God-given talent to play baseball, the Dodgers paid him $9 million last season on top of millions already earned. Now he will oversee the golf country club and three motorcycle shops he owns until he becomes eligible for the Hall of Fame.
“Dilbeck, as upbeat and engaging as Kent is sour and aloof, is married, father of three, including a son requiring shots for diabetes every day, and now at age 56 looking for work in an industry hellbent on becoming extinct.
“Kent controls his fate to the end, while an unseen bottom line changes the course of Dilbeck’s life. But, oh, how we care about our athletes, what they are feeling and what might be next for them.
“The second baseman earns $55,555 for each Dodgers game, which means two games into the year he’s probably earned more than Dilbeck.”
–Drat! The Phillies’ Chase Utley said he expects to be ready by Opening Day following hip surgery. I thought he was going to be out until June and give my Mets a chance to open up a little lead before his return, after which the Phils would go 93-2 and the Mets 24-71. [Can you tell I’m not real confident about the coming season?]
–Goodness gracious. I didn’t watch the Miss America pageant but I saw the clips and pictures of the winner, Miss Indiana, Katie Stam, and, err, she is most deserving. Don’t you think, guys? My word. Ms. Stam hopes to become a television news anchor. No offense, Brian Williams, but I’m thinking this is one Katie who could vault to the top of the ratings overnight.
–James E. Swett, Medal of Honor winner, died at the age of 88. Swett, a Marine fighter pilot, shot down seven Japanese planes in the Solomon Islands during WW II. More on this next time.
–The coach of a Texas high school basketball team that beat another team by 100-0 was fired Sunday, the same day he sent an e-mail message to a newspaper saying he would not apologize "for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity." Administrators had called the blowout "shameful."
–Yes, I saw the latest chapter in the saga of Knicks center Eddy Curry and the murder of the mother of one of his children. Beyond that, there’s really nothing to say.
–My, how quickly things can change. Remember Mike Jarvis, the former St. John’s basketball coach who tasted success? Jarvis is now coaching at Florida Atlantic and was just suspended for picking up three technicals in a loss to Louisiana-Monroe. His squad is 4-16 and 0-8 in the Sun Belt Conference.
Berkeley Heights – It was an old-fashioned con, like something out of the movie, “The Grifters.”
But it worked, and the man who pulled off the scam got away with $98 more than he had when he walked into a Springfield Avenue store.
According to police, the suspect walked in around 6:45 p.m., and picked out a $2 item, then went to pay for it at the cash register.
He gave the cashier a $100 bill, and she handed him back $98. In the meantime, he struck up a casual conversation with the employee, apparently to get her mind off the money.
After he received the change, the suspect told the cashier to give him back the $100 so he could pay with smaller bills. He then handed her two $1 bills.
She returned his $100 bill, and the suspect promptly walked out of the store with the $2 item, his original $100 bill, and the $98 he was handed back as change. The cashier realized what happened a short time later, but he was long gone.
The Berkeley Heights sergeant investigating the case said, yes, it was pure “flim-flam.” The first he could recall in quite a while.
–We had a bit of a controversy, mere hours after release of the latest All-Species List. Johnny Mac informed me of the dog bite that former French President Jacques Chirac suffered that was bad enough for Chirac to be rushed to the hospital. At first I thought I’d have to place dogs on probation until our next update in the summer. Alas, upon further review, we learned that the bite was from Chirac’s own “clinically depressed” Maltese Poodle who has been under a doctor’s care.
And so the board here at Bar Chat is ruling that this was “excused behavior” and we didn’t have to employ any Chirac jokes to justify our action. Dogs suffer no fine, nor any suspension. In a nutshell, they may carry on in the top slot.
–Jimbo passed this one along, the story out of Nigeria where “police implicated a goat in an attempted automobile theft. In a front-page article on Friday, the Vanguard newspaper said that two men tried to steal a Mazda car two days earlier in Kwara State, with one suspect transforming himself into a goat as vigilantes cornered him. The paper quoted police spokesman Tunde Mohammed [ed. don’t know him] as saying that while one suspect escaped, the other transformed into a goat as he was about to be apprehended. The newspaper reported that police paraded the goat before journalists, and published a picture of the animal….Belief in black magic is widespread in Nigeria, particularly in far-flung rural areas.”
[Should this ever occur in the U.S., goats driving, that is, they would enter the All-Species List at No. 28 or 29, with a bullet, as they say in the biz.]
–Did you see the story on the pod of 50 sperm whales that beached themselves on a remote island off Tasmania? Very sad. I mean these were big ones.
Two were still alive as I went to post, and a marine biologist said the conditions were difficult. “The living whales are ‘maintaining themselves’ quite well, talking to each other and seem to have no symptoms of dehydration or stress.”
Of course they are in the middle of the other 48, which I’d find quite stressful myself. But I was imagining the conversation.
Sperm Whale No. 2: “I dunno. I was just lazing around, eating plankton, when Sam decided it was a good time to go sunning on the beach, so I followed him, as did everyone else. What were you thinking?”
Sperm Whale No. 1: “Nothing. You guys seemed to know what you were doing and I wasn’t going to stay out in the deep by myself.”
–My friend Jeff B. just informed me he is heading to the Super Bowl with his brother, Jeff being a huge Steelers fan. I told him if he gets into the Playboy party he gains immediate admittance into the Bar Chat Hall of Fame…to be built at a site yet to be determined.
However….I was just informed by Jeff that the Playboy/Sports Illustrated event has been cancelled due to the economy! Jeff is now charged with getting into the Maxim party, for which BC HOF status would still be granted.
As for the game, in reading a piece by Christian Red of the Daily News, it seems that the line, 7 points, is too pure, you might say. So far in Vegas, bookies say the game has been a dud. Gambling expert Jimmy Vaccaro told Red, “The game is priced perfectly. People are staring at that seven and not doing anything. There was so much more action last year with the Giants, who were huge underdogs, and the Patriots. We’re trying to come up with insane betting opportunities to stir some action – like, who will score more points Super Bowl Sunday, the Steelers or LeBron James?”
“The Super Bowl is always a good bet for wild and wacky stories from Las Vegas.
“ ‘I’ve been accused of having a hotline directly to the Broncos sideline,’ Las Vegas Hilton executive sports book director Jay Kornegay said. ‘We had a prop bet if [backup quarterback] Bubby Brister would have a rushing attempt. Our thought was if John Elway was winning, most likely they were going to take him out so he can receive his due.’
“The prop bet was over/under one Brister rushing attempt. And, toward the end of the Broncos’ 34-19 Super Bowl XXXIII win over the Falcons, the Elway celebration began, and Brister replaced him.
“It was made clear beforehand that a kneel down was a rushing attempt. Kornegay was at Imperial Palace at the time.
“ ‘Bubby Brister comes in and takes a couple of kneel-downs,’ Kornegay said. ‘So we’re cashing out all the tickets after the game. This guy is real upset and he starts accusing me of being from Denver: ‘I know you’re from Denver. I know you know Mike Shanahan. You called him to put in Bubby Brister.’
“ ‘You’re accusing me, a Las Vegas sports book, of calling the Broncos sideline and telling Mike Shanahan what to do? Oh yeah, Mike takes my calls all the time.’”
Will Jay Leno make an appearance during the Super Bowl pre-game?
Springsteen’s play list? [The current favorite is Glory Days, My Lucky Day, Badlands, and Born to Run.]
Will there be a score in the final 3 minutes and 30 seconds of the game?
“MSNBC’s Chris Matthews was ‘complaining in disbelief’ because he had to wait on line (at the Huffington Post ball), while ‘Ed Harris patiently waited on the same line without complaining,’ said a source. I always thought Ed Harris seemed like a real good guy. This verifies it. [Actually, a family friend knows him well and I’ve known for years he’s the real deal.]
“At the same party, Sharon Stone threw a fit when she found out D.L. Hughley was replacing Larry King during a live CNN segment in which she was supposed to take part. ‘Sharon was barking out questions about where Larry King was,’ said our spy.” Stone left on hearing Hughley was doing the interview.
And earlier on Tuesday, Usher and wife Tameka Foster were at a Barney’s in Georgetown when a source told the Post, “The shopping mall was practically empty, and a young girl went up and asked Usher for a photo. His bodyguard very meanly refused, and Tameka laughed in the girl’s face. After they left, the little girl was crying.” Get over it, kid. [Our children need to learn at an early age that life isn’t a bowl of cherries.]
–Back to Larry King, I forgot he is in the midst of a contract paying him $7 million a year through 2010. But the Daily News’ David Hinckley had a great piece the other day.
“It’s time for Larry King to start working for a smaller, more selective audience. Like his mirror…
“There’s no other logical explanation for his telling Bob Woodward the other night that his 8-year-old son Cannon ‘wants to be black….Black is in. Is this the turning of the tide?’
“We’ll take that as a rhetorical question. But King is apparently so mesmerized by the Obama victory that in just 10 years, he also told his listeners, we could have ‘a lesbian’ in the White House.
“By the end of next week, at this pace, he’ll be visualizing the oath of office for a midget, a telemarketer and the Elephant Man….
“Now one of the ongoing charms of King’s show for many years has been his random comments from another galaxy – a byproduct of the fact he proudly does no preparation for interviews, preferring to talk with his guests as if he had just randomly bumped into them on the elevator.
“So when he interviewed Michelle Obama last year and the subject of her husband’s presidential opponent John McCain came up, Larry blurted out that McCain is a U.S. senator.
–Here’s another example of why I totally respect professional golfers. GolfWeek’s “The Forecaddie” column profiled Jay Williamson, 41.
“Though he finished 66th in the FedEx Cup standings, played in three playoff events and earned $758,862 last year, Williamson dropped to 137th on the money list and headed to Q-School to improve his status. [Ed. Top 125 earn their cards. 126-150 have conditional status.] And he did, at least in theory, though in the back of his mind, Williamson sensed that he’d pay the price for sloppiness on his 108th and final hole. [He three-putted.]
“It dropped him into an 11-way tie for the 18th and final spot. When the field for the Sony Open [two weekends ago] was pared, there was room for only 20 Q-School grads. There were 17 players at 412 or better [the 108-hole Q-School score], which meant only three at 413 would get in. Going by a tiebreaker (final-round scores) that some players didn’t even know existed, PGA Tour officials took Brian Vranesh (65), Wil Collins (67), and Leif Olson (67). [Aaron Watkins also shot 67 but lost a fifth-round tiebreaker.]
“Williamson shot 70 in that final round and was left in the cold in Hawaii. ‘I did everything I could,’ he said. ‘I begged, I shot 68 in the Monday qualifier and got into a (three-way) playoff that I lost. I spent about $2,500, but at the end of the day it wasn’t meant to be.’ Next up: A Monday qualifier for the FBR Open in Scottsdale, Ariz.
“ ‘Really, this is no place to be,’ Williamson said. ‘It makes no sense what I’m doing. You wake up and ask yourself, ‘Why?’ but it’s the life of a golfer. It’s pure capitalism, which is what makes it great, but also what makes it very difficult.’”
–For the record Arnold Palmer said the Steelers would defeat Arizona 28-14.
–Speaking of Arnie, he hosted the 50th Bob Hope tourney in the desert, with Pat Perez coming up with his first PGA Tour triumph in a highly entertaining final round.
–Remember Brandon Jennings, the best high school basketball prospect in the country last year who, instead of opting for one year of college before he would become eligible for the NBA draft, signed a $1.2 million contract to play in Europe? The New York Times’ Ray Glier reports Jennings is none too happy, finding the adjustment very hard, and averaging only 8 points per game.
“I’ve gotten paid on time once this year. They treat me like I’m a little kid. They don’t see me as a man. If you get on a good team, you might not play a lot. Some nights you’ll play a lot; some nights you won’t play at all. That’s just how it is.”
Jennings does admit the whole journey has helped him mature and an NBA scout, sent to look over prospects in Europe who has seen Jennings play for Lottomatic Virtus Roma, says the experience hasn’t hurt his chances in the upcoming draft one bit.
What the Jennings story has done is it’s given today’s top seniors in high school second thoughts about pursuing a year in Europe rather than college. None of the top players contacted by Glier are ready to take that step.
–Pilsner Urquell has won the contract to be the official beer of the British Open. You’re reading Bar Chat….
–From Rolling Stone: The top tour in 2008 was Madonna’s, which grossed $105M in 30 concerts. The Eagles were 2nd, Bon Jovi 3rd, and Springsteen 4th. I was kind of surprised with the Springsteen numbers, $69.3M in 40 concerts. It just seemed low. RS also reports that vinyl record sales hit 1.9 million last year, up from 858,000 in ’05. 16,500 vinyl copies of Abbey Road sold in \’08.
Top 3 songs for the week 1/22/77: #1 “I Wish” (Stevie Wonder) #2 “Car Wash” (Rose Royce) #3 “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” (Leo Sayer)…and…#4 “Dazz” (Brick) #5 “You Don’t Have To Be A Star” (Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr.) #6 “Hot Line” (The Sylvers) #7 “New Kid In Town” (Eagles) #8 “After The Lovin’” (Engelbert Humperdinck) #9 “Blinded By The Light” (Manfred Mann’s Earth Band) #10 “Torn Between Two Lovers” (Mary MacGregor)
Super Bowl Quiz Answers: 1) SB VII – Billy Kilmer was Washington’s quarterback, 14 of 28 and 3 interceptions. 2) SB IX – running back Dave Osborn carried 8 times for minus 1 yard as the Vikings were held by the Steel Curtain to 17 yards on the ground for the game. Osborn had 4,336 yards in his 12-year career, all but one of which was spent with the Vikings. 3) SB X – running back Doug Dennison carried 5 times for 16 yards for Dallas. 4) SB XI – Carl Garrett carried 4 times for 19 yards for the Raiders. Garrett had 4,197 yards in his career, playing for Boston/NE, Chicago, Jets, and Oakland.
