Wimbledon Quiz: 1) What two men won all five Wimbledons between 1967 and 1971? 2)Who won in 1975 before Bjorn Borg went on his five-year run, 1976-80? 3) Since 2000, the Williams sisters have won 8 of the ten women’s singles titles; Venus 5, Serena 3. Who won the other two years? Answers below.
Wow….how many shed a tear of joy when Landon Donovan scored in extra time to send Team USA on to the second round in defeating Algeria 1-0? C’mon, admit it. What a great moment for the sport in America (worldwide, for that matter), and what a terrific shot in the arm for our country amidst all the crap that is taking place these days. It hasn’t been a lot of fun the past few years, let alone decade, but once again sports provides the relief (unless you live in France…but the French are miserable for all sorts of reasons these days aside from the pathetic performance of their football team, including the fact that after 2018, they’ll have to work until they’re 62! Suck it up, Frenchie).
So the U.S. moves on, as does England, which defeated Slovenia, so the fans in Great Britain can relax and get totally hammered, smiles on their faces rather than having the urge to get into a huge brawl, as they are wont to do.
As for my prospective Final Four, I had Uruguay (moving on with strength), Paraguay (looking good heading into Thursday’s final group game), England (in) and Slovakia. Regarding the last one, it will take a minor miracle, a win over Italy, coupled with a Paraguay win over upstart New Zealand, to advance.
But this World Cup is as likely to be remembered for France’s insolence as anything else, barring a shocking overall winner.
Earlier this week the French refused to train. Coach Raymond Domenech said his players acted like imbeciles when they staged their walkout following Nicolas Anelka’s expulsion from the team. “I tried to convince them that what they were doing was an aberration, an imbecility, a stupidity without name,” Domenech said Monday.
But France went out and lost to South Africa on Tuesday, 2-1, to finish 0-1-2, having drawn against Uruguay, 0-0, while losing to Mexico 2-0.
“As the once great Bleus headed for a probable exit after tonight’s match against South Africa, their compatriots washed their hands of a squad that did not just lose, but indulged in the ugliest behavior yet seen at a World Cup.
“Bernard Kouchner, the Foreign Minister, was horrified by the spectacle of the disintegrating team going on strike on Sunday. ‘This is a caricature of France…an appalling soap opera,’ he said. Dominique de Villepin, the former Prime Minister, said that the country had been shamed. ‘I do not want France to resemble our football team,’ he said.
“Le Figaro called their behavior ‘collective suicide, a living nightmare, a psychodrama that will go down in the history of the World Cup.’….
“ ‘The fiasco of Les Bleus is a question of the era – an era of big money, oversized egos and a vulgarity that is found at every level of the sporting, political and media world,’ La Charente Libre newspaper said….
“(French President) Sarkozy condemned the team’s behavior as unacceptable. Privately, he is said to be furious and planning exemplary punishment.”
Finally, this bit from Sean O’Shea / Irish Central (as passed along by Jim H.)
“So France have tumbled out of the World Cup, the most humiliating exit in the country’s history. Somewhere the Irish spirits are smiling.
“A curse was put on the French team by the Irish nation after they cheated their way into the World Cup when Thierry Henry handled the ball before they scored the winning goal in the qualifiers against Ireland in Paris.
“It was particularly sweet that Henry was still on the field when the French crashed out.
“The collective howl of disbelief in Ireland soon led to a sense of deep anger about how the French had cheated and won.
“With that every possible Irish spirit was summoned to ensure that Les Frogs would not progress much further in the World Cup.
“The spirit of Biddy Early, the Clare witch who cursed the Clare hurling team for over 60 years was invoked.
“So was the spirit of the headless horseman, who gallops through the fields in the Irish midlands, bringing doom to all who encounter him.
“The spirits did their work and France had a disastrous World Cup.
“The fighting between the team and manager was wonderful to see for the Irish. On Irish television the commentators wore sombreros after the Mexicans, wearing green, defeated the cursed French.
“Domino’s Pizza gave away free pizzas every time France conceded a goal. All over Ireland the prayers of the faithful were answered.
“Thank you, Biddy Early. So long Les Blues, you are truly left singing the blues.”
–Great news…the tiger and two camels that were stolen, probably inadvertently, last week in Canada, were found unharmed and in good health on Monday night not far from where they had been taken. Police officers, acting on a phone tip, found the trailer containing the animals abandoned on a rural road. They were then driven through the night and arrived at their intended destination, a private zoo near Toronto. [Ian Austen / New York Times]
–And in a day of just all kinds of good news…the Pittsburgh Pirates rehired the man who races around the stadium each night in a pierogi costume. 24-year-old Andrew Kurtz was fired last week after using the Internet to criticize contract extensions given to GM Neal Huntington and manager John Russell. What’s next with all this good feeling in the world? Will Iran’s mullahs renounce their nuclear program? Will Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe volunteer to be ripped apart by a pack of baboons? Will Barry Bonds admit to using PEDs? Anything is possible today, it seems.
—College World Series:
As I go to post Wednesday afternoon, Clemson has yet to finish its suspended game against Oklahoma with the Tigers up 6-1 in the sixth. The big news thus far is that No. 1 seed Arizona State (home to the world’s most attractive college book store) was knocked out in losses to Clemson and South Carolina. And the ACC’s other entry, Florida State, eliminated Florida.
—U.S. Open tidbits:
I need to fill in some blanks as the post-mortems roll in since my last column.
When I noted that Dustin Johnson had the worst final round for a leader, 82, since 1911, I couldn’t remember the name of the golfer back then. But Jim H. down in D.C. reminded me it was Fred McLeod, the long-time pro at Jim’s club, Columbia, in Chevy Chase, Md. In 1911, McLeod led but shot 83 in finishing 4th to winner John McDermott at the Chicago GC.
But I have to give McLeod his due. He won the 1908 U.S. Open at the Myopia Hunt Club, Hamilton, Mass. And heck, Jim H. (Jim and I met each other at Lahinch about 13 years ago), you didn’t tell me McLeod also finished second in the Open in 1921 at your very own Columbia CC. Very cool.
Fred McLeod died in 1976 at the age of 94 and is buried at Columbia (the members having been extremely generous to him in his latter days, giving him an apartment on the grounds and a generous pension). I can imagine the after-round toasts in the clubhouse to ‘Freddy’ today, as he was known among the members.
As for Tiger Woods, he has come under criticism for comments he made in the aftermath of his disappointing final round on Sunday, in effect throwing caddie Steve Williams under the bus.
“Woods chided himself – and indirectly Williams – for mental errors, for ‘going against’ his ‘instincts.’ There he was after the round talking about how smartly his no-name French playing partner Gregory Havret had played the holes, a very odd thought indeed.
“Take the treacherous 10th hole, where Woods had already cut it down to size off the tee. He had 125 yards in from the middle of the fairway and he was holding a sand wedge.
“ ‘Stevie said take dead aim right at it, and in my heart I said ‘no.’ There was no chance,’ he explained. ‘I have a sand wedge in my hand, and I can’t play at that flag. You land the ball on the green, it will go past the flag.
“ ‘If I aim at Gregory’s ball, let it feed down the hole, you have a 10-, 15-footer.’
“That may be true but while Woods was aiming at the flag, he flared it off to the right into the high stuff.
“ ‘I hit the wrong club on 12,’ he added. ‘My instincts were telling me to hit a 5, play it to the right, just draw it in there, and we thought 4 would be better, hold it up against the wind and I made just an awful swing.’
“Note the two awful swings after pulling what he felt was the wrong club selected by Williams, who has been Woods’ caddie since 1999.”
Michael Bamberger / Sports Illustrated…on Tiger Woods and Tom Watson (TW I and TW II):
“They both went to Stanford (Watson graduated); they both won the Open at Pebble; they both have lockers in the Champions Room at Augusta National. But Watson, not a bashful prince, has been all over Woods for his cussing and club throwing and, in an indirect way, his life with the ladies. (Regarding Woods’ private life, Watson said in January, ‘It’s something he needs to get control of.’) During a practice round last week, when the TWs got trapped in a 10th-tee traffic jam, they ignored each other, ‘their cold shoulders turning the tee into an outdoor icebox,’ in the words of Karen Crouse of the New York Times. The passage of greatness goes from Nicklaus to Watson to Woods, and Woods, Watson feels, has stained the game.
“Watson is the last great player voice representing the golf establishment in the game today. (Nicklaus and Palmer had that voice before him. Davis Love III would have it today, if his game got him in to more press tents.) When Watson talks, he’s really talking about the game first and his own game second. Woods was never built for that even before he ran over a fire hydrant last November, and now there’s no chance. Last week, when several players – Woods most notably – complained about the greens, Watson noted that in ’72 ‘they were black and blue.’ Golf is lucky to have a player on the scene with a memory and a perspective.
“Watson may not be the most huggable guy in the game, and his high-mindedness can be off-putting, but how can you not admire him? You could make the case that he’s never been more relevant. In his prime, for a decade beginning in 1975, golf was a back-burner sport. What he did last summer, when he took the lead at the British Open at Turnberry to the 18th hole, then lost a playoff to Stewart Cink, caught the attention of millions of nongolfers and gave rise to the ubiquitous bumper sticker: 59 is the new 39…..
“Next month the British Open returns to St. Andrews, where Woods won the Open in 2000 and ’05. Watson knows that the Old Course – like Turnberry last year and Augusta National this year and Pebble last week, like any course that’s playing fast and firm – is one where he has a chance to beat Tiger Woods and Ryo Ishikawa and maybe even Stewart Cink.
“In other sports you get pushed out, but for old golf champions there’s always a home and always something to play for….
“When Watson learned that the U.S. Open is returning to Pebble he said, ‘Twenty-nineteen at Pebble? That’s cool.’ He’ll be 69 then. Maybe he’ll be back. ‘How long will I play? I hope it’s a long time. I’m a golfer. That’s what I am, plain and simple.’….
“Watson showed more emotion last week than he ever has in public. He’s not going to spell out to you what he was feeling. You can figure that out for yourself. He knows what you know. That the passage of time is painful. That he and Jack will never go at it again. That his father is dead. That (caddie Bruce Edwards) is dead. That (son) Michael’s all grown up. That holes 1 through 15 of his life are in the rearview mirror. That as a golfer he’s not what he once was. ‘It’s sad,’ he said. ‘I’m sad.’
–Good lord…Game Seven of the NBA Championship was the most watched NBA contest since the Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz in 1998 for their sixth championship. And Nielsen reports the game was the most-watched show on network TV in the summertime since the finale of the first “Survivor” season in August 2000. Just another sign of the Apocalypse.
–Through Tuesday’s play, both the Mets and Yankees have 25-10 records at home. As Ronald Reagan said, “Not bad…not bad at all.” But Atlanta is 24-7 at home, and who wudda thunk that? The Braves started out 8-14 and have gone 34-15 since.
–There’s only so much I can follow given other responsibilities, like looking into plunging Russian beer sales, but on Tuesday, I hear that Texas’ Josh Hamilton hit his 17th homer of the season and I’m thinking, 17?! Where the heck have I been? I thought he was having a mediocre season on top of his injury-plagued 2009 campaign.
Au contraire, mon frères. The guy is hitting .476 in June with 8 homers and 26 RBI and is now up to .339, 17-53 for the season.
–Forbes put out its Top Ten for “Most Disliked People in Sports.” Michael Vick tops the list, followed by Raiders owner Al Davis, Ben Roethlisberger, Tiger Woods, and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
No. 6 goes to Mark McGwire, followed by Terrell Owens, A-Roid, Allen Iverson and Gilbert Arenas.
“Tiki Barber is claiming he’s broke and unable to pay the divorce settlement demanded by the mother of his four children after he was axed from the ‘Today’ show.
“The troubled former Giants superstar – who ditched his wife of 11 years, Ginny, for 23-year-old blond former NBC intern Traci Lynn Johnson – claims his career is in tatters and that he’s taken a huge financial hit since his estimated $300,000 network contract ended.”
I didn’t realize Barber’s contract with Today was formally terminated in May, due to a hidden “morality clause” which specified that stars must not be involved in public scandals. Tiki deserves to be on the above “Most Disliked People in Sports” list as well.
–Peter Vecsey / New York Post…and a story on the late Manute Bol.
Rod Michaud was a Connecticut TV personality who befriended Bol shortly after he arrived in the United States to see how far his 7’ 6 ¾” frame would take him in the game of basketball. Bol played briefly at the Univ. of Bridgeport and one day the Chicago Bulls came to the Hartford Civic Center to play the Celtics. Bol was in attendance.
“Red Auerbach saw him, stopped and gawked for over five minutes, but never said word one to Bol, Michaud later learned from his cameraman.
“ ‘After the game, we went to the Bulls’ locker room. Jordan told him flat out to leave school and he’d make sure the Bulls drafted him.’
“Moments later, the Celtics’ trainer came into the room to tell Bol Larry Bird wanted to meet him.
“ ‘Manute turned to me and said, ‘Can you believe Bird wants to meet me?’’Michaud recalled.
“The small trainer’s room was stuffed. Bird and McHale gasped when they saw his height and slender body. Red already had done enough gaping. Everyone made Bol feel welcomed. They predicted he’d be playing in the NBA in no time, advising him to keep working hard and gain some weight.
“ ‘Manute rushed over to me when he came out of the locker room and wanted to go for a pizza,’ Michaud remembered. ‘He ate a large pie that night with a pitcher of beer. The only other person I saw drink like him was Artie Donovan. Throughout the night, he kept saying, ‘I’m going to play in the NBA…I’m going to make it. Everybody told me so.’” And so he did.
–We note the passing of NASCAR pioneer Raymond Parks, 96. Born in Dawsonville, Ga., 1914, Raymond was the oldest of 16 children. As Richard Goldstein writes in the New York Times:
“As a youngster, he was caught buying Prohibition-era corn whiskey for his father and spent three months in jail. He left home at 14 to work at a still near Atlanta and later went into business for himself, bringing liquor from Dawsonville to Atlanta restaurants, hoping his cars could elude the police.
“Although Prohibition ended in 1933, parts of the South were still dry and business remained good for Parks, who eventually oversaw a fleet of cars running liquor without having paid federal taxes. But he could not outrun the authorities forever, and he served a nine-month federal prison term in the mid-1930s.”
Heck, what a life. Raymond Parks sponsored racecars in the late 1930s, then joined the Army and fought at the Battle of the Bulge.
After the war, in December 1947, Parks and some three dozen others gathered at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, Fla., to create the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing under the direction of Bill France Sr. Parks was thus the last survivor of the group.
It was Parks’ driver, Red Byron, who won the first two NASCR series. [1948 was more informal; 1949 marked the start of the modern championship series…and Byron and Parks won $5,800 in ‘49!]
Parks was befriended in his later years by the likes of Dale Earnhardt and, sadly, he was sitting in Earnhardt’s box when Dale was killed at the 2001 Daytona 500.
–Doh! From the Charlotte Observer:
“The board of directors of a North Carolina fishing tournament has disqualified the boat which landed the 883-pound winning catch because a crew member didn’t have a fishing license.”
Contestants were reminded of the law before the tournament began and the fellow purchased the license more than two hours after landing the marlin.
So…the boat, the Citation, forfeited $1 million in prize money! Another ship was awarded the title with its 528-pound blue marlin.
[Speaking of fish tales, Mark R. was excited about a catch of his own last weekend, what he called Flounderzilla, until he read about the 337-pound halibut in Alaska. I told Mark not to get too down on himself. The only thing I’ve ever caught in my life were some Spanish mackerel and a few sea robins.]
–Also from the Observer, Paul Specht reports on “one of the unluckiest men in the state, if not the world.” It’s the tale of Rick Oliver, who “was mauled by a bear in his otherwise peaceful front yard a few weeks ago. ‘It was like getting struck by lightning,’ he said.
“Turns out, Oliver might be one of the few people in the world capable of accurately making the bear-lightning analogy.”
You see, in 2006, Oliver was indeed struck by lightning and ever since he’s had trouble sleeping, so about 2 a.m. the other week, he heard a sound on his 17-acre spread between Cary and Raleigh and went to investigate.
“ ‘I heard this strange huffing,’ Oliver said. ‘And the next thing I know I had been run over and stepped on by a bear.’
“The black bear’s claws gouged his wrist so deep that when he first took off his bandage, blood spewed onto his farmhouse floor. ‘Like a hose,’ he said. ‘That was when my daughter said,’ Dad we need to take you to the emergency room.’” Ya think?
By the way, you have a greater chance of getting struck by lightning than getting killed by a bear, according to the U.S. Forest Service. There are 11,000 bears in North Carolina, however, 9,500 of which are massing in the mountains for a fall assault on football tailgaters.
–But if Rick Oliver is unlucky, at least he’s alive. Trader George, of Strategic Energy Research and Capital (shameless plug for the lad…he’ll owe me two domestics for this), passed along a tragic story I missed last week.
“A man hiking near Yellowstone National Park on Thursday was killed by a grizzly bear, the same animal that researchers had tranquilized, captured and released earlier in the day. [Ed. Attorney General Eric Holder must have had something to do with this. At least expect to see this in a GOP campaign ad this fall.] Erwin Frank Evert, 70, of Park Ridge, Ill., was reported missing by his wife, Yolanda, to a member of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team…The Everts own a cabin in the area, where Erwin, a botanist, often hiked to research the region’s plants and animals. [Ed. To tell you the truth, throughout high school and college, never thought about becoming a botanist…but I digress.]”
Evert’s body was discovered and an “adult male grizzly was located Saturday morning by trackers following a signal from a radio collar that had been placed around the bear’s neck. The animal was shot and killed from a helicopter, and died about 2 miles from where Evert’s body was found.”
“Rapid DNA testing of genetic material from the bear…matched blood drawn from the bear when it was tranquilized Thursday….
“(Chris Servheen, grizzly bear coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service…now that’s a career path I considered when in college, at about 1:00 a.m., after partying since 2:00 p.m.) said the bear was initially near a road where it might have been captured, but it later began moving deeper into the wilderness, where it could later shed its radio collar and become exceptionally difficult to locate.” Especially if it hopped on a motorcycle, a la Steve McQueen.
Well, the good news, kids, is that the Kitty Creek area has been reopened. According to the Fish and Wildlife folks, this is the first fatal mauling by a grizzly bear here in 25 years, which I find hard to believe. I thought the tally was somewhere around 1,200.
But here’s a final cautionary word. “Evert was not armed and was not carrying bear spray when he was attacked, according to information released by the Park County Sheriff’s Office.
“ ‘I’m thinking it had to be a close-range, surprise encounter,’ (said professional colleague Chuck) Neal (no relation to former New York Met Charlie Neal). He said bear spray or a gun ‘may not have done any good’ in such an attack.”
No word on when or where the public memorial for A. Grizzly Bear will be held but I would stay clear of the area.
–Back in December 2008, I visited famous polar bear Knut at the Berlin Zoo. It proved to be inconsequential. He was kind of a jerk. But today, animal rights activists claim the celebrity bear – “famous for being famous” – as the London Times put it, is psychologically impaired. One newspaper screamed, “Our Knut is off his rocker!”
All manner of psychologists are visiting the zoo, putting Knut on the couch. But this is what I really find disturbing, as reported by the Times.
“ ‘Knut waves to visitors again and again,’ says Dr. Haferbeck. ‘He learnt it from the years of media hype when hundreds of people would watch and applaud him.’
“Sure enough, Knut raised his paw in a straight-armed salute.”
Oh no. Knut has become a Nazi sympathizer.
–The other day, Lady Gaga was placed in Jerry Seinfeld’s luxury box at the Mets’ Citi Field without his permission, whereupon she gave the finger to photographers and fans. Seinfeld has now weighed in.
“This woman is a jerk. I hate her,” he joked. “I can’t believe they put her in my box, which I paid for…You give people the finger and you get upgraded? Is that the world we’re living in now? It’s pathetic. And why is she giving the finger? How old is the finger? How’d it even get to be the finger? Somewhere along the line somebody decided this is the bad finger….
“I don’t know what these young people think or how they promote their careers. I’m older, you know, I’m 56. I look at Lady Gaga the way Keith Hernandez watches these kids when they pull the pocket out, they wear the inside-out pocket…Do you think he could understand that? He can’t understand that.”
–I still say I’d like to be Kid Rock for a day, even more so than Tom Brady, seeing as Brady is now a boring family man (no offense to all family people out there). From the New York Daily News:
“Kid Rock partied in New York on Tuesday and the city’s stripper economy is grateful. The performer showed up at Scores Gentlemen’s Club on W. 28th St. with a 20-person entourage. After dining at the club’s restaurant and racking up a $3,000 tab, Rock’s co-ed following dispersed into multiple private rooms for a different kind of economic stimulus.” [Funny how this kind of program is never placed on the table during congressional debates on the economy.]
Wimbledon Quiz Answers: 1) John Newcombe won in 1967, 1970-71; Rod Laver 1968-69. 2) Arthur Ashe won in 1975. 3) Since 2000, the only two non-Williams sisters to win are Maria Sharapova in 2004, and Amelie Mauresmo, 2006.
Top 3 songs for the week 6/21/75: #1 “Love Will Keep Us Together” (The Captain & Tennille) #2 “When Will I Be Loved” (Linda Ronstadt) #3 “Wildfire” (Michael Murphey…I am not a sap for liking this one…really) …and…#4 “I’m Not Lisa” (Jessi Colter…well who is then?) #5 “Love Won’t Let Me Wait” (Major Harris…huh…huh…) #6 “Sister Golden Hair” (America) #7 “The Hustle” (Van McCoy…for being the first disco tune, it’s held up pretty well) #8 “Get Down, Get Down” (Joe Simon) #9 “Listen To What The Man Said” (Wings) #10 “Cut The Cake” (AWB… “Queen Of My Soul” better…but did you know it peaked at only #40? ‘Sup wit dat?)
