College Football Quiz: 1) How many winning seasons does Duke have in the last 20 years? 2) Before he got hurt this season, who did Houston QB Case Keenum overtake for all-time passing yards at the school? 3) Who is Iowa’s career passing leader? [played in NFL] 4) Where did Lynn Dickey go to school? 5) Miami has five national championships. Name the four coaches responsible. Answer below.
Ryder Cup
I watched Monday’s singles action, beginning at 4:30 a.m. and straight through. There’s a reason why there’s a big difference between a 2- and 3-point lead going into the last day, as I pointed out earlier. With 12 singles matches, the U.S. going 6-4-2 wasn’t enough in losing 14 ½-13 ½ as the Cup went back to Europe. Getting a seventh win is just too difficult.
Or, in the case of the U.S., they only needed another ½ to retain the Cup and for this I can blame one man…not Hunter Mahan, but Stewart Cink. He missed makeable putts on 15, 17, and 18 and had just one gone in, Mahan wouldn’t have been part of the conversation as he would have probably conceded on 16.
But it was great drama. The best in golf and sports. It’s why some of us are such fanatics. Life blows without the occasional spectacular sporting event…just sayin’.
This week, though, there is one hero among all the others on the European side…Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell. Some reaction from across the pond.
“Graeme McDowell entered Irish folklore yesterday as the man who brought home the Ryder Cup for Europe, on an historic and unpredictable fourth day at the Celtic Manor course in Wales.
“In autumnal sunshine, after hours of torrential rain had plagued the organizers, the 31-year-old Ulsterman clinched the vital point on the 17th hole to beat Hunter Mahan and achieve the total of 14 ½ points needed to overcome the Americans.
“As he was swamped by spectators, Europe’s man of the moment was already being installed by bookmakers as the favorite to win BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
“Friends at his local golf club in Portrush, the seaside town in Co. Antrim where he grew up, pledged to drink the bar dry as they elevated McDowell to even higher hero status than when he became the first Irishman to win the U.S. Open this year.
“ ‘That was massive but I think this has put Graeme into another stratosphere,’ said Jim Blee, the bar manager.”
“The heroic feats of Ireland’s golfers at the Ryder Cup glitter as brightly as the little gold trophy itself – yet at Celtic Manor yesterday, Graeme McDowell added an entirely new and intensely exciting chapter to our little island’s history in this hugely intimidating arena.
“To join the exalted company of Eamonn Darcy, Christy O’Connor Jr., Philip Walton and Paul McGinley on the list of Ireland’s match-clinchers, McDowell had to show his true colors in one of the most emotionally explosive climaxes at any Ryder Cup.
“After the deluge which forced the 38th Ryder Cup into a fourth day for the first time came a final session so dramatic it will stand forever in testament to Colin Montgomerie’s canny captaincy: a great European team and the gritty resolve of Corey Pavin’s U.S. side as they fought tooth and claw to hold onto the Ryder Cup….
“Not since Kiawah Island in 1991, when America, with Pavin in their line-up, pipped Europe in the infamous War on the Shore, has the Ryder Cup came down to the last singles game….
“The overwhelming reaction of the 35,000 spectators illustrated perfectly how vast is the well of passion which lies just beneath the surface at the Ryder Cup.
“McDowell, so cool as he walked up 18 to U.S. Open victory at Pebble Beach that he felt able to wish the watching TV audience a ‘Happy Father’s Day,’ admitted: ‘I’ve never felt as nervous on a golf course in my entire life as I did coming down the stretch today.
“ ‘You’re out there trying to win for yourself, for 11 teammates, for Colin, for Europe and for all those fans. It was a different life completely to what Pebble Beach was and this is why this tournament is extremely special and will continue to be probably the greatest event on the planet.’”
And so, ahead by one going to the 16th hole in his match with Hunter Mahan, and knowing exactly what he needed to do to secure the Cup for Europe, McDowell striped his drive on the par-4, hit a brilliant approach under pressure to within 15 feet, and then drained a treacherous, downhill, left-to-righter into the cup for the hole-winning birdie that guaranteed Europe at least half a point.
But he still couldn’t lose the final two holes and his tee-shot on the difficult par-3 17th found the fringe. But Mahan, succumbing to the pressure, hit his shot far short of the green and then simply duffed the chip, so that he was still off the green. It was awful. When Mahan’s par putt then slid past the hole, the Ryder Cup was over.
For his part, Mahan was inconsolable afterwards. But while, yes, he did choke in not at least hitting a decent chip on 17, as I said up top he was hardly the reason why the U.S. lost. It was Cink.
OK…it was Sunday’s 5 ½ – ½ blowout of the afternoon sessions, too, that sunk the U.S. chances and put us three behind.
“[In the press conference afterwards], At one point, when Mahan was delicately asked about how his 3-and-1 loss played out, nothing came out but stuttering, sputtering air, and Phil Mickelson had to deflect the attention elsewhere, and other mates spoke for him.
“ ‘If you go up and down the line of the tour players in Europe and U.S. and asked them if you would like to be the last guy to decide the Ryder Cup, probably less than half would say they would like to be that guy and probably less than 10 percent of them would mean it,’ teammate Stewart Cink said. ‘Hunter Mahan put himself in that position today. He was a man on our team to put himself in that position, all right.’
“All 11 of Mahan’s teammates literally applauded Cink’s words, but they seemed to be of little consolation to Mahan, eyes red and nose runny.”
So here is your exclusive rundown on how I think the Ryder Cup impacted each of the 12 U.S. players in terms of their image. For some it was a huge positive.
Stewart Cink…anyone who watched, and anyone who understood how the last day was setting up, will understand my saying that it’s as much on him as anyone, if not more. I for one will not be rooting for him next year.
Steve Stricker…the respect for this guy grows each year. Would love to see him win a major.
Jim Furyk…even in defeat on Monday, solidified his image in every way. Never gave up.
Dustin Johnson…Monday’s singles win salvaged a disastrous first Cup, but he’s solid regardless. Tour needs him to shine.
Matt Kuchar…fell apart on Monday, but how can you not like the guy after his superb 2010 campaign and his attitude?
Jeff Overton…huge winner off Monday’s singles effort. No longer an unknown. Had to have won over a ton of new fans, including yours truly.
Bubba Watson…eh…Cup didn’t help him…didn’t hurt him. Still very likeable.
Tiger Woods…with his win on Monday, he comes out a big winner. I’m guessing he’s at least a consistent top 20 early next year and for the tour’s sake, it wouldn’t be bad if he won one before going to Augusta. [At which point I want Dustin Johnson winning the Masters in dramatic fashion.]
Rickie Fowler…his effort on Monday was gigantic in terms of his ‘Q’ rating. Way to go, Rickie! To finish with four birdies like you did was spectacular. You are ready to break through.
Phil Mickelson…eh…at least he came through in the singles. I just hope Amy is OK because you got the impression he was out of it the second half of the year.
Zach Johnson…big winner in terms of picking up more fans. I like this guy. Wouldn’t mind seeing him win another major.
Hunter Mahan…he hides behind those glasses, but his fellow players showed you everything in their devotion to him at the end, so he’s definitely as good a guy as everyone has always said. He doesn’t deserve one speck of blame. [OK, maybe a smidge.] Here’s hoping he bounces back strong next year. Would make for some good drama. [We just don’t want Dustin and Hunter battling it out against each other until they both win separately.]
As for the Europeans, a couple of them were total assholes; like Ross Fisher and the Molinaris…who at the end of the day sucked. But Luke Donald’s Q-rating rose further and Rory didn’t hurt himself. Westwood needs to win a major, and he knows it. Poulter is a total jerk, but because of that he’s good to have on an American leaderboard. Someone to root against. Paddy is playing like crap and really isn’t in the conversation these days. Martin Kaymer didn’t help, or hurt, himself.
But Graeme McDowell, of course, is a big winner when he resumes play in the States. He’s also a good guy.
As for Jimenez, it’s totally understandable why, especially at 46, he plays the vast majority of his events on the European Tour. It’s just too bad, because Americans, like everyone else, love him.
But the biggest loser on the week? Paul Casey…for being omitted. Clearly he should have been on the team rather than Harrington.
Finally, he may be a jerk, but Colin Montgomerie deserves credit. He’s embraced the Ryder Cup like no other (save Seve) and this win crowns his career, even if he never won in the U.S.
John Lennon, 10/9/40
Yes, it’s incredible to think he would have been 70 this Saturday. When I hear his music, or the Beatles’, I often muse what it would be like to have him around today. Elton John was a good friend and he summed up one aspect perfectly.
“It’s hard to believe he missed out on the computer, on Twitter. I wonder what he would have made of it all? I have a feeling he would have grabbed and run with it. John Lennon, who gave so much; he would still be at the forefront.”
But as David Haber, founder of BeatlesNews.com, told USA TODAY, “George was the religion of the Beatles, but John was the soul, both good and bad.”
Others have mused about how Lennon would have treated topics such as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. No doubt he’d be appearing on an occasional talk show, and in a “60 Minutes” interview, and say some things that really pissed off a large share of the public. You can picture how the other Beatles, to no avail, would be trying to rein him in as he played with the image they had spent their lives cultivating.
The late Timothy White, in his “Rock Lives: Profiles and Interviews,” wrote of Lennon’s actions after the release of Abbey Road in 1969. John told Paul he wanted a “divorce” from the Beatles; “he was dissuaded from any action until legal disputes between the group’s company and short-lived manager Allen Klein could be settled. In November 1969, Lennon returned his MBE (Member of the British Empire) Medal to the Queen, giving England’s involvement in war-torn Biafra and its support of U.S. troops in Vietnam (plus, wryly, the poor sales of his ‘Cold Turkey’ single) as reasons. He and Yoko mounted an abortive ‘WAR IS OVER! IF YOU WANT IT!’ peace campaign and issued another single, ‘Instant Karma,’ produced by Phil Spector.”
The next spring, April 1970, Paul then broke the news the Beatles were over with, and Lennon was ticked. John had wanted to be the one to ring down the curtain on the Beatles and Lennon-McCartney.
Over the next decade, John and Yoko released various solo and collaborative albums under the Plastic Ono Band umbrella. Timothy White notes:
“The songs were gripping in their vulnerability and eloquent in their spare settings. Later work, though, often comprised obnoxious scoldings and overproduced drivel.
“In the mid-1970s, John and Yoko were badgered by the FBI and at odds with the Nixon White House, which wanted to deport Lennon, seeing him as an undesirable drug felon and leftish rabble-rouser. The couple separated for a year and a half, during which John dated aide May Pang (at Yoko’s suggestion), drank heavily, and partied with Harry Nilsson, at one point causing a ruckus in a Los Angeles club while wearing a Kotex napkin on his head. He returned to his wife in March 1975 and began life as a ‘househusband’ after Yoko gave birth to a son, Sean, on John’s thirty-fifth birthday. John and Yoko released Double Fantasy in November 1980, and it yielded a No. 1 hit ‘(Just Like) Starting Over.’ Then, on December 8, 1980, a pudgy twenty-five-year-old drifter pumped seven bullets into John Lennon as he strode through the arched entryway of the Dakota, his apartment residence on New York’s Upper West Side. Earlier in the day the singer had given his assailant an autograph. When police arrived, they found the murderer standing on the sidewalk, calmly reading The Catcher in the Rye Yoko was bent over John’s blood-soaked body.
“In January 1984, John Lennon’s last songs, plus additional compositions by Yoko Ono, were released as Milk and Honey – A Heart Play. The album included the bouncy, outspoken ‘I’m Stepping Out’ and a haunting ballad John wrote for Yoko, ‘Grow Old With Me.’
“After his death, there was a tendency to view Lennon as a saintly figure for an idealistic generation. More accurately, he was a ceaseless, ravenous experimenter whose natural disdain for any sort of constraints led him into every sort of clearing and cul-de-sac. He was both in awe and in terror of the power he had over his own life, but he never lacked the courage to exercise it in new ways.”
–So the Twins open against the Yankees at home and it’s kind of funny how things have gone in their new outdoor park, Target Field, compared to the Metrodome. Even though the dimensions are the same, whereas the Twins hit 96 home runs at home last season, this year they hit only 52 (and 90 on the road). Yet Toronto, the major-league leader in home runs with 257, hit 10 in four games in its only appearance in Minny this year. So what’s up?
Sounds like the Twins have Mets disease. Last year, in their first season at CitiField, the Mets hit just 49 homers and improved a bit to 63 this year, plus slugger Carlos Beltran was out most of the season. Last year, David Wright hit just five at home. This season he hit 12 of his 29 at Citi.
In Minnesota, Joe Mauer had 16 of his 28 homers last year at home. This season in the new park, he had one…and didn’t hit that until Aug. 18!
At least the Twins record at home in 2010 was a sterling 53-28, and that’s all that matters, right, sports fans?
But Minnesota enters the postseason without slugger Justin Morneau, who has been out since July 7 with post-concussion symptoms.
Am I the only one who can’t remember a single player in my youth being out for more than a few days with something like this, rather than months? The Mets’ Jason Bay faced the same situation. He played his last game on July 25 and everyone is wondering just how good he’ll be come next spring. A few years ago it was Ryan Church who was out a long time with a concussion.
–As noted by the Wall Street Journal’s Matthew Futterman, since 1975, relievers have converted 68.1% of regular-season save opportunities but just 61.6% of postseason chances. So while you could say, yeah, but the drop is because you have better hitters in the playoffs, at the same time you’re supposed to have better pitchers. It’s the pressure then.
Then there is Mariano Rivera. His postseason conversion rate is 88.6% vs. his regular-season rate of 89.3%. His playoff ERA is also 0.74 vs. 2.23.
Meanwhile, Billy Wagner’s postseason ERA is 10.32…13 earned runs in 11 1/3 innings. Uh oh, Braves fans.
—Dull week in college football. The two best games are at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturday.
No. 1 Alabama at No. 19 South Carolina*…interesting because the Gamecocks are hosting.
No. 17 Michigan State at No. 18 Michigan…battle of two undefeated…the winner should be propelled to as high as No. 10 or 11.
In other games your editor gives a damn about, at 6:00 p.m. we have Oregon State at No. 9 Arizona. This is big for both TCU and Boise State. It would be nice if the Beavers could pull off an upset.
7:30…No. 12 LSU at No. 14 Florida…yawn
8:00…No. 23 Florida State at No. 13 Miami…no one gives a hoot about this matchup anymore.
Actually, I’m trying to hide the only game starting at 6:30…Navy at Wake Forest…because as I noted last time, I plan on being at the Dixie Classic Fair instead (at least after halftime), betting heavily on pig racing…assuming I win big during the 2:00 races. I’ll also be stuffing my face with Krispy Kreme bacon double cheeseburgers.
As for the No. 3 Oregon Ducks, through their first five games they are averaging a cool 56.6 points per game. In fact I saw in a USA TODAY article that they already have nine scoring plays of 60 or more yards! Goodness gracious.
And because the Ducks appear to be in superior shape to their opponents, they have allowed just seven points after halftime all season and no points in the fourth quarter, which I don’t care who you’re playing is quite remarkable. [Look at Saturday. They trailed Stanford 31-24 at half and shut ‘em out 28-0 in the second.]
Yup, Duckwear is looking like quite the fashion this fall. I might sneak some down to Wake Forest and have it under my Wake shirt, so if we’re down 31-0 to Navy, I’ll just rip off the Deaconwear and proclaim, “I didn’t go to this school…I went to Oregon!” …and then make a quick exit back to the fair and the pig races.
*Regarding the South Carolina Gamecocks, the University of Southern California won a 13-year court effort on Monday as the Supreme Court refused to hear a trademark infringement case between the two schools and let stand a ruling holding that the interlocking letters “SC” are the registered mark of the Trojans, not the Gamecocks. Since 1997, South Carolina sought to register its own “SC” logo for the sale of sports merchandise. A special Trademark Trial and Appeal Board concluded that although “real fans” would not be fooled, casual fans might be confused as to whether the sportswear came from the West Coast or the East Coast school. [David Savage / L.A. Times]
–Bizarre Monday Night Football contest as the Pats beat the Dolphins, 41-14, in Miami. New England’s Patrick Chung had a rather good evening…two blocked kicks and an interception returned for a score. Imagine scoring 41, but telling someone who didn’t know of the game that Randy Moss was held without a catch for the first time in four years. [Miami’s special teams coach was dismissed. Aside from the two blocked kicks that led to touchdowns, Miami gave up a 103-yard kickoff return.]
And then there’s running back Danny Woodhead, one of the great stories of recent years out of Chadron State in Nebraska. Having chronicled in this space just how awesome his college career was, I also have to be the only one in my town here in New Jersey who has walked the Chadron State campus.
Woodhead tore up his knee two years ago in his first camp with the Jets, where he had signed as a free agent, after impressing the team. Then, following a successful rehab, he contributed some for the Jets in ’09 and had made the team this year coming out of camp.
But the 5’7” Woodhead became a numbers victim, the Jets released him, hoping to resign him later, only to have New England snap him up.
All Woodhead has done in his two games with the Pats is carry the ball 11 times for 78 yards and a score, while on Monday he had a touchdown reception. If you want to root for one guy in the NFL, make it Danny. It just sucks that of all places for us Jets fans, he ends up in New England. I mean if he was in Houston, I’d get a Texans jersey with his name on it. But no way I can do the same with him on the hated Pats. Drat!
–This is the first time in nine years that the number of undefeated teams in the NFL is just one after week four (and Kansas City, at 3-0, had a bye week). In the past decade, the final perfect team has stayed that way an average of 11.4 weeks, but that’s skewed by the 2009 Colts going 15. The median is more like 8.
–On Sunday night, at halftime of the Giants-Bears game, the Giants introduced their Ring of Honor, which celebrates 30 figures from the team’s extensive past, including owners, general managers, coaches and players. Of course some of the 30 are no longer with us, but of those on hand, only one was booed…Tiki Barber. And according to reports, booed lustily. Boy, Tiki must have been thrilled.
But the disingenuous one was booed for a reason (and for that matter released from his “Today” show contract as well for being a dirtball).
What ticks the fans off most is that Barber was most critical of coach Tom Coughlin, and then this past week, before the Giants’ critical win over the Bears, Tiki said Coughlin’s job was in jeopardy. What a jerk.
[Recall, it was Coughlin who led the Giants to the Super Bowl in 2007, the first year of Barber’s retirement.]
–It’s very early, but as the Wall Street Journal points out, after week four in the NFL, three quarterbacks – Kyle Orton, Peyton Manning and Philip Rivers – are on pace to break Dan Marino’s single-season passing record of 5,084 yard. “Orton’s 1,419 passing yards are the second-most ever after four games (behind Kurt Warner’s 1,557 in 2000). That puts him on a pace for 5,676 yards for the season.”
But these paces invariably slow, as in 2008, when Drew Brees fell just 15 yards short of equaling Marino’s mark, yet after four weeks was on pace for almost 5,400.
Then again, Denver has no running game, so Orton will keep throwing, while Manning’s Colts suddenly seem very ordinary, meaning a lot of close games where Peyton is passing throughout, one can assume.
–This is kind of scary…even though it’s from Page Six of the New York Post.
“Jets star Mark Sanchez’s winning streak is making him even more irresistible to women. Following the blowout over the Bills on Sunday, the star QB was enjoying a celebratory meal at Abe & Arthur’s with teammates Braylon Edwards and Dustin Keller, when a woman sidled up uninvited from another table and sat down. ‘The players were nice at first and chatted with her,’ said our spy. ‘But the woman inched closer and closer to a very reluctant and uncomfortable-looking Sanchez. When she refused to leave the table, restaurant management had to step in. She was calmly asked to leave, but she refused, and they brought in security to escort her out.’”
In all seriousness, what if this woman had a knife, or gun? You don’t have metal detectors at places like this. I hope Sanchez remembers her face because I’d be afraid he’ll come across her again.
–The New York Mets fired general manager Omar Minaya and manager Jerry Manuel, as expected, but us Mets fans know next season could be just as brutal as the last few regardless of who is brought in.
“The roster is larded with overpaid players who either have underperformed and/or have been injured, making them either untradeable, or tradeable only for quarters on the dollar. The young players are nice complementary pieces at a time when projectable impact players emerged in the National League this year, including Atlanta’s Jason Heyward, Florida’s Mike Stanton and San Francisco’s Buster Posey. And there is no one close to the majors in the system that fits the criteria, either….
“Could all of the championship contention moons align and the Mets get peak health and performance next year from Jason Bay, Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes and Johan Santana and continued growth from Ike Davis, Josh Thole, Angel Pagan, Jon Niese, Bobby Parnell and Mike Pelfrey? Sure. But that is not a sustainable plan. Plus, it is the kind of pipe-dream previously purchased that led to the firing press conference yesterday.”
It bears repeating…the Mets are on the hook for $18 million with highly questionable Carlos Beltran, $12 million for Oliver Perez, and $6 million for Luis Castillo…$36 million just for those three with the team not being able to get a lick back for peddling the latter two, and little for Beltran unless he proves to be healthy. It’s enough to make a grown man cry.
–So the other day I thought we put the discussion of least successful/productive years topic to bed with the 2010 stats for Mark Reynolds and Carlos Pena, both of whom finished the year under .200, but with big power numbers.
But Johnny Mac came up with two other candidates, thereby showing that when Tyler Kepner of the New York Times first broached the topic, he really had done zero homework.
I mean how could any of us forget Rob Deer’s numbers in 1991? Deer, in 539 at-bats, hit a whopping .179, but slammed 25 homers and drove in 64. [He also had 89 walks so at least his OBP was .314.]
And then in 1983, Tony Armas, while playing for Boston, had 36 homers, drove in 107, but only hit .218, so we believe this is the low water mark for driving in 100. Plus, as opposed to Deer, Armas walked only 29 times that year and had an OBP of .254! Geezuz, that sucks!!!
–For you PGA Tour junkies, did you know that Kevin Na is totally despised? I didn’t, but it appears at the Tour Championship he tomahawked a club into the ground, which, as Golfweek put it, “reinforced the notion that he might be the Tour’s most insufferable bore.”
–Golfweek also reports that it would appear the LPGA will hang on another year. With 10 tournament contracts expiring this year, only one, CVS, has bowed out for 2011, but it’s also not as if new blood is pouring in.
–But here’s a great golf tale. From 1971-81, Dave Eichelberger won four times on the PGA Tour. But since 1995, he has played in just three PGA tourneys as he became eligible for the senior tour in 1993.
So Eichelberger is now 67 and only played in seven Champions Tour events this year, but on Sept. 22, he shot his age for the first time in competition, winning the Aloha Section PGA title at Honolulu CC.
Why is this a big deal? Because in winning he earned a spot in the PGA Tour’s Sony Open this coming January. Very cool. Go Dave!
—John Daly is not a happy camper…he never is, actually. You see, as reported in GolfWorld, he’s pissed that some restaurants in California have started offering a “John Daly,” a combination of sweet tea, lemonade and vodka. Daly has asked fans via Twitter to let him know of any menus with “John Daly” for possible trademark infringement.
–It would seem Tour de France winner Alberto Contador has a bit more of a problem than tainted meat; as in his urine samples taken during the race had a high level of a chemical that may indicate he was blood-doping…Lasse Viren style. [Just threw that in there for you old-time Olympics fans….though in Viren’s case, nothing was ever proved, if I recall.]
Back to Contador, evidently one sample shows presence of “plasticizers – a chemical found in the lining of bags used for transfusions,” according to the New York Times.
–Actor Tony Curtis “was buried Monday with a mélange of his favorite possessions – a Stetson hat, an Armani scarf, driving gloves, an iPhone and a copy of his favorite novel, ‘Anthony Adverse,’ a book that inspired his celebrity name and launched a robust film career that spanned decades and genres.” [L.A. Times]
Thankfully, Tony’s daughter, Jamie Lee, and he had reconciled long ago after being estranged for some time.
But what was porn star Ron Jeremy doing at the funeral?
Anyway, what would you want in your casket? I’ve said I’m going to be cremated (I just hope someone remembers to pick up the ashes), but if I had to put something in a casket, I’d say my Ed Kranepool tumbler from like 1967, except I’ve already promised that to Johnny Mac (sorry, Trader George…I keep going back and forth on this one). Perhaps some Duck- and Beaverwear. A Mets hat. Cards of Tom Seaver and Joe Namath. A Dave DeBusschere jersey. A picture of Eddie Giacomin. Arnie’s autograph. A scorecard of my best golf round. And a six-pack of premium…Pilsner Urquel. That ought to do it.
–“Three rescued after whale sinks boat off Exmouth”
My word…the three were in waters off Western Australia, it was 11:30 p.m., when their vessel “hit the large mammal and began to sink.”
“The men made a mayday call and activated an emergency (beacon). The trio was located unharmed in the ocean four hours later by an oil tender, after a sea rescue was coordinated by the police rescue force.”
No word on whether the whale apologized before continuing on his way.
–Yippee! Federal officials have been going around New York City, specifically in an expanded 7-mile kill zone, and getting rid of Canada geese around Kennedy and LaGuardia airports. It’s the feds who actually expanded the original 5-mile zone, established after US Airways Flight 1549 (Sully’s).
Well, when you map out 7 miles from the two airports, you essentially cover all of Queens, most of Manhattan and the Bronx, and half of Brooklyn.
Patrick Kwan, state director of the Humane Society of the United States, called the program “a shooting spree that isn’t supported by science.”
Memo to Mr. Kwan. I assume you love when your kids roll around in geese crap and put it in their mouths, or you’re trying to have a romantic walk with your mistress and you step in it. Let alone you’re on a plane and you ingest 50 in each engine!
“Two sheep were killed by a bear in separate incidents in Boonton Township late last month, according to township police. [Ed. just being reported]
“The first attack happened the evening of Sept. 27 on Pepperidge (Farm) Road. The next day the homeowner saw part of his fence down and discovered the carcass of one of his sheep. The second attack occurred Sept. 29 at a sheep farm at Powerville Road and Rockaway Valley. The second landowner called to report a missing sheep, as no carcass was found. Police suspect the same bear is responsible in both attacks due to the proximity of the incidents.”
Not sure if this is the genesis of the terror alerts in Europe but like they say, “See something, say something.”
“Men are more likely to experience [err, ah, you know], while women are more likely to reach [ummm, err, ah….]”
–Just have to note the passing of a great local sports writer, Maury Allen, who covered the Mets and Yankees for the New York Post from 1961 to 1988. He also wrote a ton of biographies on our local heroes, as well as on general topics involving the sports scene that many of us of a certain age read as kids. It was also after the ’62 Mets lost 120 games that Allen wrote of the team’s chairman:
“Mr. Donald Grant said yesterday that ‘We’re only two players away from being competitive.’ Yes, the two players being Babe Ruth and Walter Johnson.”
Allen also played Oscar Madison’s press box colleague in “The Odd Couple” film.
—Jamey Johnson’s “The Guitar Song” debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard album chart.
Top 3 songs for the week 10/9/82: #1 “Jack & Diane” (John Cougar) #2 “Abracadabra” (The Steve Miller Band…one of their worst) #3 “Hard To Say I’m Sorry” (Chicago…ditto)…and… #4 “Eye In The Sky” (The Alan Parsons Project) #5 “Who Can It Be Now?” (Men At Work…never a fan of these guys) #6 “Eye Of The Tiger” (Survivor…ughh) #7 “I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near)” (Michael McDonald…liked his solo work, but not this one) #8 “Somebody’s Baby” (Jackson Browne…eh) #9 “You Can Do Magic” (America) #10 “I Ran (So Far Away)” ( A Flock of Seagulls…I’m ready to get back to the 60s.)
College Football Quiz Answers: 1) Duke has one winning season since 1990…1994 when they were 8-4. 2) Case Keenum passed Kevin Kolb as Houston’s all-time leading passer. 3) Chuck Long (1981-85) is Iowa’s all-time passer. 4) Lynn Dickey played at Kansas State. 5) Miami’s five coaches to win titles: Howard Schnellenberger, 1983; Jimmy Johnson, 1987; Dennis Erickson, 1989, 91; Larry Coker, 2001.
Next Bar Chat, Monday….it will be an abbreviated one since I’ll be focusing on pig races this weekend.
