NCAA Football Quiz: 1) Name the top five in voting for the 1979 Heisman Trophy. You get initials and position…in order of finish…C.W., RB; B.S., RB; M.W., QB; A.S., QB; V.F., RB. 2) 1980 Heisman voting…in order of finish…G.R., RB; H.G., DE; H.W., RB; M.H., QB; J.M., QB. [All big names from that era.] Answers below.
Richard Etchberger
On Tuesday, President Obama posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor to Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Richard “Dick” Etchberger for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty.” But it was for his acts 42 years ago. The story.
“Cory Etchberger remembers the news about his dad always coming over the phone.
“Air Force officials called his mom in March 1968 to tell her that his dad had been killed in a helicopter accident somewhere in Southeast Asia.
“They called again later that year to tell her that his dad had been awarded the Air Force Cross posthumously.
“Fourteen years went by before the next call came: The Department of Defense had declassified his dad’s mission and his mom could tell the truth – his dad died saving three fellow airmen during an attack on their radar site inside Laos, 15 miles from North Vietnam.
“Then, another 18 years of quiet – until July 7. It was the commander in chief, announcing he would award the Medal of Honor to Chief Master Sgt. Richard Etchberger….
“Etchberger is the first airman to receive the Medal of Honor since Dec. 8, 2000, when Staff Sgt. William Pitzenbarger was honored for actions during the Vietnam War….
“Etchberger was nominated for the Medal of Honor shortly after his death but didn’t receive it because American troops weren’t officially serving in Laos at the time. The honor comes now because of years of tireless work by a group of supporters that includes an author, airmen who had never met Etchberger, family members, friends from his small Pennsylvania hometown and Pentagon brass….
“The American military didn’t have troops in Laos during the Vietnam War – or at least that was the official story in 1967 when Etchberger volunteered to operate a radar site there known as Lima Site 85. The U.S. lacked the ability to accurately bomb targets in Northern Vietnam at night or during bad weather; Lima Site 85 changed the game.
“The airmen on the project and their wives went to Washington before leaving for Laos. The women were sworn to secrecy and agreed to talk about the operations only when the Air Force declassified it. To dodge international agreements that prohibited militarization of officially neutral Laos, the airmen left the service. They became civilians, working for Lockheed Aircraft Services as a cover.
“The Air Force charged 40 airmen to run radar stations inside Laos. One of the first tapped for the assignment was Etchberger, a radio and radar maintainer…
“Sixteen airmen-turned-civilians joined two CIA officers and one forward air controller at Lima Site 85. They diverted 507 strike missions in North Vietnam and Laos – more than a quarter of all strike missions in those two areas – from November 1967 to March 1968.
“The site’s location on a steep 5,500-foot ridge made it difficult to attack but eventually created the fatal conditions that led to the ambush that killed Etchberger. When American bombers began striking targets in North Vietnam and Laos through overcast skies, (Etchberger’s commander) told Air Force Times in 2008, ‘it was just a matter of time’ before the attacks on Lima Site 85 began.”
First the North Vietnamese attacked with Soviet-made biplanes and strafed the radar site. The CIA predicted the site would fall by March 10. The Air Force chief of staff was in touch with USAF authorities on evacuation and destruction plans.
“Two months later, hundreds of North Vietnamese soldiers surrounded Lima Site 85. On the night of March 11, North Vietnamese soldiers marched up the lone path leading to the installation and opened fire with a rocket attack. At the same time, a 35-man North Vietnamese team that had spent two days scaling the cliffs opened fire with submachine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
“The crew operating the radar site that night was killed shortly after the attack began. The other team, which included Etchberger, was resting at the time but scurried for cover on a nearby ledge. North Vietnamese soldiers lobbed grenades at the airmen, who kicked away the weapons before they exploded.
“The Americans carried only a few rifles because their civilian status prohibited them from carrying arms, according to the CIA report, which appeared in its in-house publication, Studies in Intelligence, in 1995.
“(Air Force chief of staff) Sullivan ordered an evacuation of the survivors. American A-1E Skyraiders fired on advancing North Vietnamese troops, and two CIA-operated UH-1 Huey helicopters followed to rescue the trapped.
“Etchberger loaded two of his colleagues into a rescue sling. He later loaded himself into the sling and was moments away from being lifted into the helicopter when he saw a colleague apparently playing dead throughout the battle. Etchberger bear-hugged him, and the sling lifted both into the helicopter.
“The helicopters plucked seven Americans – five airmen and two CIA officers – off the mountain and began heading to a hospital in Thailand.
“ ‘As the helicopter was flying away, six rounds hit it,’ Cory Etchberger said. ‘Five rounds passed through without incident. The other round hit my dad.’”
—College Football Weekend:
Thurs. Miami vs. Pittsburgh…good middle level test for both
Sat. Virginia Tech vs. Boston College…c’mon VT! Sorry, Steve. It’s all about Boise State this year, you understand.
Sat. 3:30…No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 10 Arkansas…how good are the Razorbacks? We’re about to find out.
Sat. 3:30…No. 16 Stanford vs. Notre Dame…the Fighting Irish about to go 1-3! Ha!
Sat. 7:45…No. 12 South Carolina vs. No. 17 Auburn…solid Saturday night entertainment for much of the country.
Sat. 8:00…No. 24 Oregon State vs. No. 3 Boise State…Beavers been practicing on a blue field for this one. Broncos must destroy them…52-20. But…should Oregon State pull off the upset, I’ll have my Beaverwear ready for Sunday morning when I go to get my newspapers. “Hey, Editor. ‘Sup with the Beaverwear, dude?”
And for the archives, didn’t mention last time that Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio suffered a mild heart attack the day after his team defeated Notre Dame. It was 12:30 a.m., Sunday, when he began getting symptoms, like a squeezing sensation in the chest, and he received quick attention. No word on the recovery period.
Also, wanted to note that Houston quarterback Case Keenum is out for the season after injuring his knee. This is really a sad case, Keenum being a Heisman candidate. [Plus Houston then lost his backup for the season as well with a broken collarbone, both in the loss to UCLA.]
Keenum, the fifth-leading passer in NCAA history, tore his ACL trying to make a tackle after an interception. After throwing for 636 yards in the first three games, he was 3,486 yards behind Timmy Chang’s career yardage mark of 17,072, set from 2000-04 with Hawaii, and Keenum also needed 28 more TD passes to break the record of 134 held by Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell from 2005-08. Case had five touchdown passes in the first three contests, but last year he threw for 44 to go along with 5,671 yards.
And I was watching HBO’s “Real Sports” last night (another incredible story on Josh Hamilton, by the way) and in closing, Bryant Gumbel discussed the seeming unfairness of football programs like USC (and North Carolina, and all the rest) getting in trouble for players having “premature conversations with agents,” while Florida’s program skirts by. I didn’t realize the number, but Gumbel said since Urban Meyer has been coach at Florida, 27 Gators players have been arrested for various crimes. 27! And the NCAA hasn’t done a thing.
–For the third time in four years, a member of the Denver Broncos has lost his life, the latest being second-year receiver Kenny McKinley, an apparent suicide. Cornerback Darrent Williams was killed in a drive-by shooting in 2007, and running back Damien Nash collapsed after a charity basketball game.
McKinley finished his collegiate career at South Carolina as the SEC’s third-leading receiver, but after Denver drafted him in 2009, he played sparingly in his rookie season and was on injured reserve this year.
–Jets wide receiver Braylon Edwards was arrested on a drunk-driving charge Tuesday morning at 5:15 a.m. What’s particularly idiotic about this (and Mr. Edwards’ blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit) is that all any NFL player has to do is call a car service the league provides. Of course Edwards has had past run-ins with the law.
General Manager Mike Tannenbaum said, “It’s something we’re really upset about. It’s something we don’t pay lip service to.”
And get this, the Jets’ own Player Protect program “provides 24-hour security and drivers. Former law-enforcement officers are available with a telephone call, as are sport utility vehicles, limousines and vans, each with satellite television, radio and navigation, DVD players and iPod ports.” [Greg Bishop and John Eligon / New York Times]
But under league rules, Edwards cannot be suspended for his first offense of driving under the influence. So he is subject to no more than a $50,000 fine and then whatever happens in court.
“(It’s) a shame the Jets, claiming their hands are tied by the collective bargaining agreement, could only banish Edwards to the stupid bench – or the selfish bench, take your pick – when the Jets meet the Dolphins in Miami on Sunday night when a one-game suspension/deactivation would have made a more powerful statement….
“It’s a shame (Jets owner) Woody Johnson could not, would not, step up to the plate and mete out immediate justice here, the way the Rooney Steelers did when they sat Santonio Holmes against the Giants in October 2008, for marijuana possession three days before the game.
“This is what Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said about the players union after the club reactivated Holmes: ‘I’m not concerned about their view whether we chose to activate him. We’ve got 53 men on the team. We chose to activate 45 for a particular game. That’s what we chose to do and move forward.’
“What? The Jets weren’t up for a fight with the players union? It’s a shame they showed considerably more fight in their negotiations with Darrelle Revis.”
[Regarding my blurb on attending the Jets game last time, for those of you who go to Jets and Giants contests, I hope one thing was clear…while I have fun with the topic of alcohol, take the train to the stadium. But get on in Hoboken so you’re not dealing with the huge crowds at the stop in Secaucus. And of course take the train to Hoboken in the first place if you plan on imbibing.]
–Just a note on the Jets-Pats game itself and receiver Randy Moss. I didn’t get a chance to comment on his spectacular touchdown reception, which happened right in front of us. That was indeed a thing of beauty.
But we also didn’t know at the time that Darrelle Revis had reinjured his hamstring and it appears he’ll miss a week or two.
Nonetheless, for the game, Moss had just two catches for 38 yards, including the 34-yarder for the score, and while Revis was out for the second half, it’s just an excuse to remind everyone (as I’m sure they did during the telecast…but not everyone saw it) that last season, Revis held every receiver he faced to fewer than 60 yards, including Andre Johnson (35 yards), Carolina’s Steve Smith (five yards) and Terrell Owens (44 yards), while in ’09, Moss had 58 yards in two games, combined.
–Hey Brett Favre…how’s the latest comeback workin’ for ya? 4 interceptions in 63 passes for the first two games. Last year, the entire season he had 7 in 531 pass attempts.
But the Vikings started 0-2 in 2008 and won the NFC North title at 10-6, and the 2007 Giants started 0-2 and won the Super Bowl. So it’s too soon to bury Minnesota. Maybe after Week 4
—Reggie Bush returned his 2005 Heisman Trophy, and then on Monday night, he broke his leg and is thought to be out six weeks. Hmmmm.
–On Monday, the Eagles said Kevin Kolb would start the next game. On Tuesday, coach Andy Reid selected Mike Vick. Vick has played well early, but it’s just kind of funny how they traded away Donovan McNabb because they thought Kolb was ready to assume the controls.
–Michael David Smith in the Wall Street Journal points out that NFL coaches should think twice about ‘icing’ a kicker in the last two minutes or in overtime, despite Texans coach Gary Kubiak’s successful use of calling timeout to do so on Sunday against the Redskins.
“Since 2000, NFL kickers made 77.3% of field goals in the final two minutes or overtime when no timeout was called before the kick. But when a timeout was called, kickers made 79.7% of these field goals.”
This is interesting…for field goals of 51 and longer, since 2000, the success rate is 42.6% (23 of 54) when no timeout is called.
But when a timeout is called to freeze the kicker, the success rate is 56% (14 of 25).
–The New York Yankees honored former owner George Steinbrenner with a plaque in their Monument Park, only one thing…it seems larger than Ruth, Gehrig and the rest all put together, as friend Ken P. mused. It’s absurd. But then the Steinbrenner boys still run the team so I guess word went from some suck-up underling to tell the monument maker to ‘make it bigger than all the rest. There’s another $50 in it for you.’
And then on Wednesday, the New York Times’ Richard Sandomir observed:
“At 7 feet wide and 5 feet high, the Steinbrenner plaque dwarfs the ones flanking it and also towers over the gravestonelike monuments to Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio, which are in front of Steinbrenner, and those to Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Miller Huggins, which are in a separate section of the park.”
Yankees president Randy Levine said the plaque was an appropriate celebration of Steinbrenner for the way he transformed the team on his 37-year watch.
“It represents George,” Levine said. “He was a force. He built the stadium. He took the Yankee brand to places nobody else did. We don’t look at it in comparison to Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle or Joe DiMaggio. They were unbelievable Yankees, but George was larger than life, and you needed something that represented that spirit.”
Oh well. It’s not my team.
–But then there’s former Yankees manager Joe Torre, who just announced he is stepping down as the skipper of the Dodgers. When Torre, who was in New York for the Steinbrenner ceremonies, said he was interested in Mets manager Jerry Manuel’s job, which breaches the managers’ code of ethics, never actively seek an existing manager’s job, the normally mild-mannered Manuel fired back.
“I find it curious when someone comments about a job that someone already has. Joe gave me a great opportunity to go to the All-Star Game in 1999. I don’t know him on a personal basis, but when things like that come out or are said, I mean, you question the integrity.”
Ouch! Torre was forced to apologize, saying, “I am closing the door on managing the Mets and probably everybody else.”
–I missed mentioning this last Sunday, but for the archives, the Mets have given up 12 grand slams this year, the most since the 2006 Orioles, while hitting zero themselves. That’s just not possible.
–My man Ichiro went 4-for-4 on Tuesday and now has 197 hits. So he’ll hit the 200 level for an all-time record 10th straight season, besting his own mark set last year. That’s 200 hits in each of his ten years in the major leagues after coming over from Japan. Also through Tuesday, he now has 2,223 lifetime hits.
–I actually watched a lot of the Phillies’ games against Atlanta on Monday and Tuesday on the MLB Network. The Phils just roll on and Roy Halladay became the first Philadelphia pitcher since Steve Carlton in 1982 to win 20.
The Phillies are primed for postseason play with their big three on the mound…unmatchable in the sport.
Roy Halladay…20-10, 2.53
Cole Hamels…12-10, 2.93
Roy Oswalt…7-1, 1.94 [since coming over from Houston]
Standings thru Tuesday
Yankees 92-59
Tampa Bay 89-61
San Francisco 85-66
San Diego 84-66
Colorado 82-68
–It’s really pretty amazing that Michelle Wie turns just 21 in a few weeks, Oct. 11. The Los Angeles Times’ Bill Dwyre wrote there is a new maturity about her. I’m just wondering if it’s in time to save the LPGA.
–Talk about a disaster, how about the Delhi Commonwealth Games? Star athletes are pulling out, and various nations are threatening to pull out as well; this as organizers could not have done a worse job. A big footbridge, for example, designed to take thousands of spectators from car parks to the stadium, collapsed this week as workmen laid concrete (23 were injured), and living conditions for the athletes have been described as “uninhabitable.” Said world triple jumper Phillips Idowu, who quit: “Sorry people, but I have children to think about. My safety is more important to them than a medal.” There are also reports of Dengue fever.
–According to a new computer simulation by U.S. scientists, the biblical parting of the Red Sea could have been caused by strong winds. In the Book of Exodus, the sea parts, allowing the Israelites to flee their Egyptian pursuers.
But as noted in the BBC, the simulation shows a land bridge could have opened up at one location.
“The researchers show that a strong east wind, blowing overnight, could have pushed water back at a bend where an ancient river is believed to have merged with a coastal lagoon.
“With the water pushed back into both waterways, a land bridge would have opened at the bend, enabling people to walk across exposed mud flats to safety.
“As soon as the wind died down, the waters would have rushed back in.”
[Good thing the Indians weren’t part of the story; there being a land bridge and all.]
–I was in Slovenia a number of years ago and was reading a travel piece in the Sydney Morning Herald the other day and just loved this description of the author’s trip there, specifically one stop (a place I did not get to).
“We spend the night in the medieval city of Radovljica, eating like kings in the paneled dining room of the Pension Lectar, a rabbit warren of wooden beams, mullion windows and creaky staircases. The hotel doubles as a gingerbread factory and in the basement you can watch women in long white dresses producing exquisitely decorated delicacies, as staff have been doing for hundreds of years.”
[The next paragraph the author talks of going to Lake Bled, where I did go and had perhaps my favorite all-time travel story. Sorry to repeat it, but to do it quickly, I took a bus from Ljubljana and when I got to Lake Bled, quickly hopped off, got my bag, and rolled it down the hill to my hotel. I checked into the room, put the bag on the bed, and…I had taken the wrong bag! Terrified, I struggled back up the hill, hoping against hope my real bag had somehow been left on the curb, when I turned the corner (we’re talking hotel was 15 minutes away) and there, sitting on a bench, was a Japanese couple, with two young kids, and my bag. I had theirs. The woman and I hugged, I said ‘sorry’ a million times…but boy was the husband pissed! The next day, I’m having a beer at the top of this cliff I hiked up, perhaps the single most beautiful place for a premium in the world, when the family sits down, but doesn’t see me. I told the waitress to buy them all drinks, the family looked over at me, the woman gave a big smile, and the man still shot darts through my eyes.]
–Always fun to check in on our old friend the godwit. As Mike Campbell of the Anchorage Daily News reported:
“For weeks, thousands of bar-tailed godwits have gorged themselves this summer and fall along the Alaska Peninsula on insects and crustaceans, getting ready.
“The birds – members of the sandpiper family – fattened up to about twice their normal weight in preparation for a long trip south this month.
“Their journey is one of continuous flapping, minute after minute, hour after hour, day after day. Not until they reach the shoreline of New Zealand, some 7,000 miles away, do they pause. And, finally, eat again.
“ ‘We like to claim that for a bird that is flapping during flight, it’s the longest migration,’ said Audubon Alaska Executive Director NilsWarnock. ‘They’re physical marvels.’
“ ‘Arctic terms, as far as the longest migration, they go farther. But terns take some breaks and can sit on the water for a while.’”
You know, I never included the godwit in the All-Species List! What a huge mistake on the part of your editor. I mean why wouldn’t you put it in the top ten? Hell, even Audubon Director Warnock concedes:
“I’ve flown to New Zealand before, and we spend the time relaxing in this big metal tube – and it still seems exhausting.”
–Not for nothing, but No. 1 All-Species, Dog, is not only proving his worth on the bedbug front, but as Newsweek reports in the current issue, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have led to a surge in war dogs, to 2,800 from 1,300 since 2001. Most are German Shepherds. Back in 2008, none other than Gen. David Petraeus said of these dogs, “The capability they bring” – to track snipers, smell explosives, and sense danger – “cannot be replicated by man or machine.” He went on to urge investment in the animals, noting in an Air Force publication, that “their yield outperforms any asset we have in our inventory.”
Seriously, how cool is that? And we note the dozens of dogs who have died in service to America.
–And another perennial top ten entrant on the All-Species List (in fact it may have upset Dog one year for the top spot, if memory serves me right), the gibbon, is in the news.
“A new breed of crested gibbon has been discovered in Southeast Asia by German scientists after they decoded its distinctive singing voice. ‘The discovery of a new species of ape is a minor sensation,’ Christian Roos, of the German Primate Center, said.”
Dr. Roos suggested that this particular gibbon’s song “might even be a precursor of the music humans make.” [Ed. Actually, it started singing Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Shining Star,” or so the story that I heard goes.]
–“Jersey Shore” star JWoww was ready to pose nude in Playboy for a reported $400,000, but her contract supposedly prohibits her from baring all. Which some might say is unfortunate as there is much territory to cover.
–The inspiration for the name of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd has died. Leonard Skinner, a Florida high school gym teacher and coach passed away at the age of 77.
“Skinner earned a place in rock history in the late 1960s at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville after he sent some students to the principal’s office because of the length of their hair. The students included at least one future member of Lynyrd Skynyrd.”
In 2009, Skinner told the Florida Times-Union, “It was against school rules. I don’t particularly like long hair on men, but again, it wasn’t my rule.” But he added, “They were good, talented hardworking boys. They worked hard, lived hard and boozed hard.”
–According to a music industry group, IFPI, 95% of all the music downloaded is illegally obtained and unpaid for. But as Paul McGuinness writes in Rolling Stone, any artist bringing this up, such as Lars Ulrich of Metallica did, is immediately attacked in turn by the bloggers.
But some such as Bono are fighting back. He obviously doesn’t need the money, but his target is the Internet Service Providers, who have been profiting enormously, and as Bono says, the profits perfectly mirror the lost receipts of the music business.
Top 3 songs for the week 9/22/79: #1 “My Sharona” (The Knack) #2 “After The Love Has Gone” (Earth, Wind & Fire…one of their better ones) #3 “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” (The Charlie Daniels Band…my favorite of theirs was “Carolina”)…and…#4 “Rise” (Herb Alpert) #5 “Lead Me On” (Maxine Nightingale) #6 “Sad Eyes” (Robert John) #7 “Lonesome Loser” (Little River Band) #8 “I’ll Never Love This Way Again” (Dionne Warwick) #9 “Sail On” (Commodores…not bad) #10 “Don’t Bring Me Down” (Electric Light Orchestra)
NCAA Football Quiz Answers: 1) 1979 Heisman voting: Charles White, USC; Billy Sims, Oklahoma; Marc Wilson, BYU; Art Schlichter, Ohio State; Vagas Ferguson, Notre Dame. 2) 1980 Heisman voting: George Rogers, South Carolina; Hugh Green, Pitt; Herschel Walker, Georgia; Mark Herrmann, Purdue; Jim McMahon, Brigham Young
