NFL Quiz…Punters: OK, this one is ridiculous and for junkies older than 50, at least the first one, but I’m stretched for time. 1) Who led the NFL in punting, 1965, initials G.C.? 2) Who am I? I led the AFC in punting in 1976 and my initials are M.B. 3) Who am I? I led the AFC in punting in 1988 and my initials are H.N. 4) Who am I? I led the NFC in punting both 1997-98, initials M.R. Answers below.
J-E-T-S…JETS JETS JETS!!!
“Before I went out on Saturday night, I checked the NFL draft results online and how ironic is it that the one player I singled out, negatively, quarterback Mark Sanchez, became a Jet through a trade with Cleveland?! Everyone raves about the kid’s attitude; I just don’t think he has the goods. I hope I’m wrong. So after Matthew Stafford was taken with the first overall pick (my man Aaron Curry went fourth to Seattle), Sanchez thus became the second QB to go. [I did like the Jets’ running back selection, Shonn Greene.]”
Back to the game, though, I loved the Daily News’ tag…Chad Ocho Stinko. 2 receptions, 28 yards (plus he was the beneficiary of two penalties).
So with the Ravens’ shocking dismantling of New England, the Jets next play San Diego, while the Ravens are at Indy.
But I do have to note Jets owner Woody Johnson, whose daughter, Casey, died last week at the age of 30. Woody and family were at the game. As Steve Politi of the Star-Ledger wrote, Johnson is not the most beloved owner in the NFL, “but he has earned (the team’s) respect for building a first-class facility and spending on players.” [Ed. I pass the facility every Monday morning and have seen it up close and personal. It is indeed spectacular.]
“He’s a tremendous owner; and not just from the standpoint of spending money,” (linebacker Bart) Scott said. “He does a great job of coming in here, of knowing your name, and making this a family environment.”
Johnson, of Johnson & Johnson fame, is the one who fired Eric Mangini, brought in Rex Ryan, and decided to spend the free agent money on players like Scott. As Politi notes, “His fingerprints are on this team as much as anybody’s.”
So there he was after the game in Cincinnati, being handed the first game ball, tears streaming down his cheeks. He’s a father who did all he could for his dysfunctional kid. He was asked by a reporter, “Does this help?” “No,” said Woody. “Nothing helps.”
In the other games over the weekend, Dallas won its first playoff game in 13 years, 34-14 over Philadelphia as Eagles Nation must be incredibly tired of the whole Andy Reid-Donovan McNabb act; Baltimore whipped New England, 33-14; and then you had the Arizona-Green Bay contest, won by Arizona in overtime 51-45, the highest scoring playoff contest in NFL history. Some of us like to see a little defense now and then. Or as Johnny Mac noted, he\’s seen more hitting in electric football. [Plays take a lot longer to develop, though.]
So we have the Jets vs. San Diego and Baltimore vs. Indianapolis in the AFC, while in the NFC it’s Dallas vs. Minnesota and Arizona vs. New Orleans.
–What a weekend in college basketball. Five of the top ten lost:
No. 1 Kansas goes down to No. 15 Tennessee
No. 4 Purdue loses to No. 20 Wisconsin
No. 5 Duke loses to No. 17 Georgia Tech
No. 8 West Virginia succumbed to Notre Dame
No. 10 Kansas State lost to Missouri
–I am totally unenthused about the upcoming Winter Olympics, being a guy who only watches the skiing, hockey, and figure skating. [Bobsled, luge and ski jumping are mildly entertaining, at best.]
But one person I’m pulling for big time is the hot (oops, sorry that snuck in there) Lindsey Vonn who is America’s great hope in alpine skiing. Lindsey has been kicking butt the past few years and this weekend won three races in Austria; two downhills and the super-G. No woman had accomplished this since 1997 and Vonn is far and away the overall World Cup leader thus far. The pressure on her in Vancouver though will be immense.
–Boy, can’t say I blame Pete Carroll for leaving USC and going back to the NFL with Seattle, especially when he can get a $35 million, five-year deal as well as considerable control over the football operations. Carroll had nine spectacular years at USC and with all the controversy now surrounding the program, why bother? In his absence, and with recruits rethinking their commitments, the program will be in freefall. [Oregon State’s Mike Riley is the rumored replacement, though the Beavers are preparing to offer him a lifetime contract to stay in Corvalis.]
Carroll was 33-31 in his earlier stints with the Jets and the Patriots. This time is going to be different. He will succeed with the Seahawks.
Needless to say this is a big story in Los Angeles. Bill Plaschke / L.A. Times:
“As a befuddled city staggers around today with Pete Carroll’s footprints on its back, we need to get something straight.
“Why would arguably the greatest football coach in USC history leave the team at its most desperate point in a decade?
“Or is he leaving precisely because of that? Is Pete Carroll running to something, or from something?
“In trying to figure out Carroll’s apparently imminent departure to the Seattle Seahawks…only one thing is beyond debate.
“In nine years, he has more than earned his millions. Two national titles, seven Pac-10 championships, seven BCS bowls, three Heisman Trophy winners, 97 wins in 116 games.
“He’s not leaving in the middle of a season. He’s not leaving after lying about staying. He’s no traitor. He’s no quitter. He deserves no boos. He was paid to do a job, he did it well for a long period, his performance gave him a chance at what he considers a better job, and so he’s taking that chance.
–Irrespective of the Carroll move, USC quarterback Aaron Corp, who won the starting job last spring only to be displaced by Matt Barkley, has transferred to Richmond (effective Monday) and will be eligible to play this fall. That’s pretty cool. Awesome for Richmond.
–USA TODAY had a bit on Joe Paterno’s victory total, now 394 after his bowl win. With Bobby Bowden retired, Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer and Ohio State’s Jim Tressel are next in line among active coaches, both with 229. Ergo, Joe Pa’s mark is safe for a very long time.
For example, USA TODAY calculated that if Tressel continued at his current pace, it would be 17+ years before he reached 394, at age 74 (Beamer would be 84…not happenin’). Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops, at 117 wins, would need 26 years, when he’d be age 75.
Of course should Paterno come back another season, his 45th, as is likely, tack on another 8-10 wins.
–Tickets for this year’s Orange Bowl matchup of Iowa and Georgia Tech were 9,400 fewer than the bowl’s previous five-year average. The Sugar Bowl, featuring Florida and Cincinnati, was 9,900 fewer than the five-year mark. But attendance at 19 of the first 33 contests was actually a little better than last year. [The BCS title game is held at different venues and thus not part of the calculation.]
–As for NFL attendance, while official figures aren’t available, it ended the season with 22 local blackouts vs. 9 last year and the highest since 30 in 2004.
–South Florida football coach Mike Leavitt was fired Friday following an investigation into his grabbing a player around the throat and slapping him in the face at halftime of a game. Leavitt was the only coach in the program’s 13-year history, going 95-57. Leavitt continues to say the allegations aren’t true. No word on the impact, if any, on the highly-rated South Florida cheerleaders.
[Leavitt thus joins Texas Tech’s Mike Leach and Kansas’ Mark Mangino as head coaches who lost their jobs following alleged altercations with players.]
–The Jets’ Thomas Jones has now rushed the ball over 1,450 times, including this weekend (1,453 to be exact), without an injury serious enough to keep him out of a game. That’s pretty good. Or as the Wall Street Journal’s Reed Albergotti put it, “Jets fans should probably find the nearest piece of wood and start knocking on it furiously.” To put this in perspective, Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders each sat out only seven games in their careers in carrying the pigskin 4,409 and 3,062 times, respectively.
–Phil W. suggested that if I had asked Bengals kicker Shayne Graham to help with my move this week, “He’d deliver your stuff to the condo to the left of you.”
–By winning his last four games, Eric Mangini saved his job despite Mike Holmgren coming in to run the operation. I’m not a Mangenius fan, but all are in agreement this was the fair thing to do. Everyone also is in agreement that if Mangini goes 5-11 again, or gets off to, say, a 1-6 start, it will be A-B-C-ya later.
–I will be covering the attack on the Togo national soccer team bus as it went to Angola for the Africa Cup of Nations tourney in “Week in Review” later but suffice it to say, it’s an awful story with three killed when the bus came under fire from some obscure rebel group that has now threatened to attack other teams. Not the kind of thing you want to see ahead of this summer’s World Cup in South Africa. Many of the players in this tourney are high-profile stars in other leagues.
–St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said last week that if the Cards are in a tight race come late August, he might use new hitting coach Mark McGwire as a pinch-hitter. By doing so, though, La Russa could be angling for more time for McGwire to appear on the Hall of Fame ballot. [La Russa later said his comment was “tongue in cheek” but if McGwire shows he can hit at 46, why wouldn’t he use him?]
Regarding the Hall ballot, though, by appearing in a game McGwire would kick-start a new calendar. Players have to wait five years after retiring or from their last appearance and then have 15 years to remain eligible. McGwire has appeared on the ballot four times so would have 11 seasons left but the new clock wouldn’t start for another five years, ergo, more time to rehabilitate his image; time for a player from the steroid era to get in and break the ice.
–Mike Vaccaro / New York Post…on the Baseball Hall of Fame vote.
“(I) will answer the onslaught of anger of people who have a lot of questions about how someone (say, Bert Blyleven) can keep becoming more and more Hall-worthy through the years without throwing a single pitch to aid the candidacy.
“And it’s simple: if you take this vote seriously, you are always evolving.
“Look, some choices are easy to make. Mike Jackson was on this year’s ballot, for instance. Mike Jackson’s career numbers: 62-67, 3.42 ERA, 142 saves, 40 of them coming in his career year of 1998, when he did have an otherworldly ERA of 1.55 and finished 21st in the AL MVP vote. I did not vote for Mike Jackson. Neither did anyone else. Nobody voted for Shane Reynolds or Ray Lankford or Todd Zeile. David Segui’s mother apparently had a vote, but she was the only one who voted for him.
“Others? If you care about the vote – and if you don’t, you ought to have it taken away – you keep evolving. Your opinion changes. You use context. My first year as a voter, I didn’t vote for Blyleven. I am not convinced he belongs. I reached that conclusion with no small effort of thought. Most voters are like that, I think.
“Are we always right? Obviously not, because Roberto Alomar was denied this year. But this is something almost all of us take seriously. I can assure you of that much, at least.”
–Golf Digest released its annual list of the richest golfers in terms of on course and off course income.
1. Tiger Woods…$21,015,196 on course…$100,900,000 off course… $121,915,196
2. Phil Mickelson…$9,600,757…$32,000,000…$41,600,757
3. Arnold Palmer…$26,000…$37,500,000…$37,526,000
4. Jack Nicklaus…$22,500…$29,500,000…$29,522,500
5. Greg Norman…$382,405…$26,000,000…$26,382,405
Arnie’s amazing. Gotta love it. And it will be interesting to see if Mickelson can cash in on Tiger’s self-inflicted wounds, or if advertisers will just back off golf altogether for a spell in terms of the star quotient.
—Jack Nicklaus had his first extensive comments on the Tiger Woods debacle.
“I don’t know the answer to what he is going to do and what he is going to play. Certainly this year, where the majors are…he obviously loves Augusta, Pebble Beach and St. Andrews. He basically owns all three of those places. [Tiger has won 7 of his 14 majors on the three.]
“If Tiger is going to pass my record (18 majors), I think this is a big year for him in that regard.”
“The game will continue to move forward. Tiger is a big influence and the largest one we’ve ever had….(But) it’s not all about one person. The game is a big game.”
Yeah, but poor ratings will heavily impact expiring sponsorship deals in 2011 and beyond. Jack, by the way, turns 70 on Jan. 21.
—Geoff Ogilvy won the season-opening PGA Tour event at Kapalua, his seventh career triumph.
“I’ve never feared the 30- to 60-yard wedge shot, because I’ve practiced it my whole life. But for amateurs, that shot is a nightmare. They don’t spin the ball enough, don’t shorten their swings effectively, and they try to help the shot too much. Considering how often you have to face these shots, either after pitch-outs or careless lay-ups, you could probably trim a couple shots off your handicap by devoting 30 percent of your practice to them. That’s no exaggeration. The biggest fault I see is quitting on the shot, so try making a shorter backswing and accelerating through. Wear out your wedges on the practice area, and you’ll lose your anxiety on the course.”
I just think the above is terrific advice, particularly for hackers like me. So clip and save! Stick it in your bag as a reminder. Shorter backswing and accelerate through.
–Sorry, girls. The New York Post is reporting that Derek Jeter is finally ready to settle down and with Minka Kelly, specifically Nov. 5, or at least two days after the World Series ends. The Post also reports that the reception will be at the Oheka Castle in Huntington, L.I.
–The proposed Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. bout is off, with both sides blaming the other. The fight could have brought each as much as $40 million. Pacquiao is now slated to fight someone I never heard of on March 13 at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium.
–Forget whether or not you are a fan of Al Sharpton, he makes an interesting point in a Washington Post op-ed regarding guns in our culture, especially among athletes, such as the whole Gilbert Arenas issue.
“Guns are not a joke. Violence and recklessness continues to be treated as acceptable and even heroic behavior by part of our society. When I was growing up in the ghettos of Brooklyn, my peers and I knew unemployment, bad schools and social marginalization, but our athletic and entertainment heroes inspired us to beat the odds. Our ambition was to not submit to a subculture that would confirm the worst depiction of who we were and what our destiny would be.
“Suppose that the stars of past generations – Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Althea Gibson, Marian Anderson – had used the challenges of their day to justify dangerous actions. What if Bill Russell or Hank Aaron had used the wickedness of segregation as an excuse to brutalize their peers rather than raising an image of excellence to the world?….
“It is a crisis that youth today think they have more in common with Scarface than with Martin Luther King Jr., or look up to mobsters more than Malcolm X. All of us must deal with the romanticizing of gunplay and denounce the idea that it is acceptable to resolve differences with destructive behavior. Our society cannot continue to reward commercial success while telling people that their private misdeeds have nothing to do with their public images. We must have and enforce a standard for American heroes.”
You know…that’s powerful stuff when you think of the examples of Aaron and Jackie Robinson.
–We note the passing of Art Clokey, 88, creator of Gumby. Bar Chat Nation is in mourning, from the notes I have received. Heck, I am…that’s for sure! In my ongoing packing nightmare as the great downsizing in my life continues, which I should have done long ago, I packed up Gumby and Pokey. Oh nooo…which box are they in? I hope they’re safe.
Anyway, Clokey and his wife, Ruth, invented Gumby in their home back in the 1950s after Art had finished up school at USC. As Jason Flesch of the L.A. Times reported, “Gumby soon became the star of its own television show, ‘The Adventures of Gumby,’ the first to use clay animation on television.”
Gumby then had a run in the 1960s, and in the 80s, as Eddie Murphy took up the character for “Saturday Night Live.” And there was “Gumby the Movie” in the 90s.
Clokey’s theme song for Gumby contained a simple message of love: “If you’ve got a heart, then Gumby’s a part of you.”
Clokey was born Arthur Farrington in Detroit and grew up making mud figures on his grandparents’ farm. At age 8, though, his father was killed in a car accident soon after his parents divorced. “The unusual shape of Gumby’s head would eventually be modeled after one of the few surviving photos of Clokey’s father, which shows him with a large wave of hair protruding from the right side.”
Talk about a tough childhood. Arthur was then abandoned by his mother and her new husband (who had I been around then would have received “Dirtball(s) of the Year” consideration) and Art was placed in a halfway house near Hollywood until age 11, at which point he was adopted by Joseph W. Clokey. “The renowned music teacher and composer at Pomona College taught him to draw, paint and shoot film and took him on journeys to Mexico and Canada.”
Clokey would end up serving in World War II, conducting photo reconnaissance, and after the war he settled in Hartford, Conn., where he studied to be an Episcopal minister and met Ruth Parkander, the daughter of a minister. The couple moved to California to pursue filmmaking.
So in 1953, Clokey did a film titled “Gumbasia” that used stop-motion clay animation. One thing led to another and Sam Engel, the president of 20th Century Fox, saw the film and asked Clokey to produce a children’s television show based on the idea.
In the 1960s, Clokey created and produced “Davey and Goliath,” which many of us of a certain age grew up on. Just a terrific show. [I forgot Clokey created this.]
In lieu of flowers, the family is suggesting contributions in Gumby’s name to the Natural Resources Defense Council, of which Art Clokey was a longtime member. As his son put it, “Gumby was green because my dad cared about the environment.” Heck, I’m going to send a few dollars. Those of you with children, and with a Gumby, might want to have your kids mail in a dollar or two as well. Seems to me like it’s a good little life lesson.
–So I’m reading the Sunday Star-Ledger and there is this article by Nic Corbett on the Amazing Kreskin turning 75 years old. That in and of itself is amazing. I feel like he has been part of my entire life, and of course he has. Certainly at least the last 40 years. Like did you know he appeared on “The Tonight Show” 88 times? I actually remember him more for his many appearances on Mike Douglas’ talk show.
Kreskin grew up in Caldwell, N.J., and has lived for years in North Caldwell, staying true to his roots. But here’s a tidbit on his youth, courtesy of Mr. Corbett.
“He got his first regular performing gig when he was 10. He wowed his Lincoln Elementary School classmates when he brought a deck of cards to show-and-tell and correctly guessed four of five cards a friend held. He later learned his teacher had sent handwritten letters to each of his grade-school instructors that said, ‘I don’t understand his gift, but you must support it.’” [I love that.]
Kreskin once hypnotized a friend who feared going to the dentist and getting poked with a needle. Ginny Taetzsch said “despite going without novocaine, she didn’t feel any pain. ‘I don’t know how it works, but it did.’”
–This just in… “Sex is good for your heart! Men who do it twice a week are half as likely to suffer coronary disease”
From the New York Daily News:
“New research shows that men who make love regularly are up to 45 percent less likely to develop fatal heart conditions than those who only have sex once a month or less.”
“Researchers at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania [which contrary to popular belief was not founded by former NBA player Jamaal (Keith) Wilkes] even proved that having sex just once or twice a week in the winter can reduce the risk of catching a cold or flu.”
Now there are some rather obvious comments that could be made…but I ain’t gonna make ‘em. Discuss amongst yourselves. [Wilkes, by the way, averaged 17 points per game for his solid career.]
–Good news…researchers have found six baby orcas in the Pacific Northwest when it was feared the killer-whale population was in decline. Back in December 2008, the total in the three main pods that scientists have been tracking fell to 82. With no deaths reported, that means there are now 88. 50% of baby orcas die in their first year, however.
–A Japanese man is being credited with tying the 77-year-old world record for catching the biggest largemouth bass, 22-pounds, 4-ounces. Manabu Kurita caught the fish July 2 on Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest lake, but the record was just certified.
[If Orcas lived in fresh water, they would have eaten said bass before Kurita had a chance to catch it.]
“Elephant tramples tourists to death”
From the London Times:
“An American tourist and her baby daughter were trampled to death by an elephant as they hiked in Kenya with an unarmed guide.
“Sharon Brown [no relation to Charlie and Sally Brown], 39, and her family, including one-year-old Margaux, were following a nature trail just outside Mount Kenya National Park on Monday morning when the elephant charged from the bush.
“ ‘The elephant emerged from the bush at full speed without any warning,’ said Melia van Laar, the owner of the Castle Forest Lodge where the Brown family was holidaying. ‘Everybody ran away, but the lady, burdened by the weight of the baby, perhaps, or in panic, was not able to run fast enough.’
“Walking tours of Kenya’s national parks are common, although hikers are advised to have an armed guard with them if the park is known to have elephants, said Kentice Tikolo, a spokeswoman for the Kenya Wildlife Service.
“ ‘It was a lone elephant and lone elephants can be quite dangerous. It probably felt quite threatened.’”
Now I ask you something. What kind of idiot parents would take a freakin’ one-year-old on a trip like this in the first place?! Forget an elephant charging out of the bush; think of all the different kinds of stuff that could startle the mother and cause her to drop or fall on the baby, or…oh, I give up. People are such idiots.
—Beverly Fisher died, age 67. So who was she? Beverly had an affair with the actor Errol Flynn when she was just 15! Good lord. Two years later she was there when he had his fatal heart attack, his final girlfriend. Flynn’s image had been tarnished in the 1940s when he was accused of statutory rape and acquitted, plus he was a drug and alcohol abuser, making it difficult for him to remember his lines.
But it was 1959 when Flynn died, the two being in Vancouver at the time. The following year, Fisher’s boyfriend entered her home and was dead the next morning, fatally shot by his own gun on his 21st birthday. Beverly claimed he had attacked her and that they’d grappled over control of the weapon. A month later, still just 17, she was declared a ward of the state though she had a dance career later on the East Coast before returning to California.
Top 3 songs for the week 1/12/74: #1 “The Joker” (Steve Miller Band) #2 “Time In A Bottle” (Jim Croce) #3 “Show And Tell” (Al Wilson…think I have to put this in my all-time top 50)…and…#4 “Smokin’ In The Boy’s Room” (Brownsville Station) #5 “I’ve Got To Use My Imagination” (Gladys Knight & The Pips…overrated) #6 “You’re Sixteen” (Ringo Starr) #7 “Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up” (Barry White…we miss Barry) #8 “Living For The City” (Stevie Wonder) #9 “Let Me Be There” (Olivia Newton-John) #10 “Helen Wheels” (Paul McCartney & Wings…far from their best)
NFL Quiz Answers: 1) Cleveland’s Gary Collins led the league in punting in 1965. Collins was interesting in that he was also a solid wide receiver…331 receptions for his career…plus he had an outstanding 46.7 punting average in ’65. But of Collins’ 331 receptions, 70 went for TDs. One every 4.72 catches. Not too shabby. Now I’m not about to research this in depth but I did just glance at Jerry Rice who had 197 TD catches on 1,549 receptions, or a 7.86 mark. Granted, different eras, different game; short passes etc. 2) Marv Bateman of Buffalo led the AFC in 1976. 3) Wake Forest’s Harry Newsome of Pittsburgh led the AFC in 1988. 4) Mark Royals of New Orleans led the NFL in punting 1997-98.
NOTE: Gotta take a week off, sports fans, to move. I’ll be back next Monday, though look for snippets up above until then.
