Golf Quiz: It’s PGA Tour time…and it all starts Thursday at the Tournament of Champions. So let’s check your short-term memory. In all four of last year’s majors, there was just one runner-up to Phil Mickelson, Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen and Martin Kaymer. Name them. Answer below.
Alomar and Blyleven in Hall
Due to time constraints, I may have a little more comment on the release of Wednesday’s vote tally next time, but in his second year on the ballot, Robbie Alomar received 90.0%, while in his 14th year (out of a maximum 15), Bert Blyleven earned 79.7% (75% required). Both are deserving, in my mind. I was championing Blyleven since the beginning of this site.
But of more interest to some of us were the totals of first-year players Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez, and Jeff Bagwell; all accused or suspected steroids users, and all with the kinds of numbers that would normally make them automatics for the Hall, if not the first year, in the first five or six, but for the taint of PEDs.
Bagwell came in with 41.7%, which actually bodes well for him down the road, especially if he picks up more next year and starts showing a trend. He has always denied being a user. To some of us the statistics speak otherwise.
But Palmeiro, he of the 500 homers and 3,000 hits, was only selected on 11% of the ballots, while Gonzalez was named on just 5.2%, thus barely avoiding being dropped from future votes in his first year, a minimum of 5% being required to keep one on for the following year.
And Mark McGwire actually went down this year to 19.8%. The die has obviously been cast on him.
Lastly, for now, Jack Morris came in at 53.5% vs. 52.3% last year. Morris has only three more years of eligibility remaining and it’s not looking good.
But for Barry Larkin, he rose to 62.1% in just his second year on the ballot and should be going in somewhere between the summers of 2013 and 2015, maybe even 2012 because the next ballot is weak when it comes to newcomers. I’m not convinced Larkin is Hall worthy.
[The same day as release of the ballot, Jan. 5, represents the 35th anniversary of the death by suicide of the immensely talented Houston Astros hurler Don Wilson, who at age 29 had already tossed two no-hitters.]
Jets vs. Indianapolis…8:00 PM ET, Saturday, NBC… be there!
Hopefully, no more incriminating videos come out the rest of the week. Us Jets fans need coach Rex Ryan to be focused. Just minutes after defeating Buffalo last Sunday, 38-7, Ryan said, “I think we’re going to win it this year… We’re better than any team out there.”
He’s a funny guy, our Rex. The next day, Monday, he said he was sick and tired of losing to Peyton Manning and that this time the game was “personal” because of Ryan’s inability to beat Manning; 0-5 going back to Ryan’s Baltimore days (and not including last December when the Colts pulled their starters in the second half to rest them for the playoffs). Two of the five losses are in postseason, including last year’s 30-17 defeat in the AFC Championship Game.
“You lose a playoff game, it kills you, it’s devastating,” Ryan said. “I want to put the shoe on the other foot. I know this team does, too. We want [Manning] to experience it this time. I respect the heck out of this guy, but I’m going to beat him one day. I just hope it’s this Saturday.”
Then there are the Giants. Normally, “10 and you’re in” is a mantra that works, but this year the Giants, and Tampa Bay, failed to make the playoffs despite winning ten games. According to the Wall Street Journal, since the NFL realigned in 2002, only four other teams won 10 and still missed the postseason: the Dolphins (2003), Chiefs (2005), Browns (2007) and Patriots (2008).
Giants ownership quickly moved to say that coach Tom Coughlin would be back another season despite failing to make the playoffs the last two years; this time totally due to the 8-minute historic meltdown in Philadelphia, that actually becomes more incredible as time passes. What the heck, the players respect Coughlin, and in this day where they tend to control the situation more than in the time of the Lombardis (the exception being Bill Belichick), let Coughlin serve out his contract.
One tidbit concerning Giants end Osi Umenyiora, who had an outstanding season, he not only had 11 ½ sacks, but he forced an NFL-record 10 fumbles! That’s awesome.
Lastly, running back Brandon Jacobs has always been a primo jerk so on Monday he’s cleaning out his locker, reporters all around, as they are wont to do on getaway day, and after Jacobs saw a few guys taking pictures of him he turned to the group and said, “Click, click, click. You’re all taking pictures of Brandon Jacobs leaving, wondering if he’s ever going to return. That will be your caption for tomorrow. Well, f— you all.”
Actually, Brandon, the guys were just wondering if you were going to leave the other half of your sandwich.
Jimi Hendrix
Found this little anecdote in the current issue of Army Times.
“Billy Cox remembers ducking into the rec center at Fort Campbell, Ky., one rainy day in 1961.
“A paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division, Cox was drawn in by the crazy riffs pouring from the guitar of a soldier inside. Cox, who fancied himself a bassist, went over and introduced himself.
“Pvt. James Hendrix, a skinny supply clerk from Seattle, was glad to meet a fellow musician and invited Cox to check out a bass and jam with him.
“Hendrix was soon kicked out of the Army for constantly falling asleep on duty, the price of too many late-night gigs.
“ ‘His mind apparently cannot function while performing duties and thinking about his guitar,’ his first sergeant noted in the discharge paperwork.
“Cox and Hendrix, however, remained fast friends, forming their first band together – the King Kasuals – and performing throughout the Nashville area.
“The rest is rock history. Cox, who remained one of the guitar virtuoso’s best friends until Hendrix’s untimely death in 1970, is still a regular player in the Nashville scene and tours with the Hendrix Experience, a tribute band.”
Aside from Hendrix, the following also served in the military for various stints.
Staff Sgt. Johnny Cash, “served in Germany during his Air Force service from 1949 to 1954 as a Russian communications interceptor.”
Sgt. Elvis Presley served in the 3rd Armored Division in Germany in the late 1950s.
Capt. Kris Kristofferson, “was a Ranger-tabbed helicopter pilot in the 8th Infantry Division in the early ‘60s.”
Seaman Rick James “spent a year in the brig in 1966 after going AWOL to Canada while in the Navy.”
Pvt. Jerry Garcia didn’t last a year in the Army before getting booted out in 1959.
George Strait was a payroll clerk in the 25th Infantry Division, serving out his four-year hitch. It was in the Army that he taught himself how to play guitar.
Pfc. Tracy Marrow served in the 25th Infantry Division in the early ‘80s before becoming Ice-T.
Jim Brown…more on the legend
Stu W. wrote after my last bit on the greatest NFLer of all time, saying Bobby Mitchell used to beat Brown in the 100, and then I was going through some stuff and found a 2007 piece from U.S. News & World Report by Will Sullivan, talking about Brown and lacrosse while at Syracuse. Being the only black on the football team when he got to campus, he had trouble getting on the field his first two years, but he had no such problems getting playing time in lacrosse, “where he scored 43 goals during his senior year and was named an All-American. The 1958 NCAA Lacrosse Guide called him ‘the greatest lacrosse player in the history of the sport.’ In a game dominated by the white and privileged, Brown’s presence was startling. ‘It was a sport where a good athlete could be 150 pounds, 145 pounds and get away with it,’ says Roy Simmons Jr., who played lacrosse with Brown and later coached the team. ‘Jim walked onto that field with 225 pounds of steel and blinding speed.’”
There are all kinds of stories on Brown and his athletic prowess. He supposedly shot in the upper 80s the first time he tried golf. Finished 10th in a high school decathlon event despite having never tried some of the events. There was the old story that he was drafted by the Cleveland Indians. Brown says it was the Yankees. “I played high school baseball. I pitched two no-hitters.”
And there are the stories on his personal life, many of which aren’t good. You’ve heard ‘em. No need to repeat them here. But a former teammate in Cleveland, Vince Costello, told U.S. News:
“I’ve always stood by him. He’s a complicated person. He could be very hostile, or he could just be the nicest guy in the world.”
[In the interest of full disclosure, I have given money to Brown’s Amer-I-Can foundation.]
–So where will Stanford head football coach Jim Harbaugh and his quarterback Andrew Luck end up after the Cardinal’s impressive Orange Bowl victory over Virginia Tech, 40-12? In the second half, against a solid team, Luck was 9 of 10 for three scores (four overall). Luck said earlier in the week he was coming back for a final year, despite being a consensus No. 1 pick if he went out this spring, while Harbaugh, the hot coaching commodity du jour, is clearly headed to the NFL (not Michigan with the firing of Rich Rodriguez, even though Harbaugh starred there).
Phil W., Charlotte resident, said the Charlotte Observer is campaigning heavily for the duo, the Carolina Panthers having the first pick in the upcoming draft, so that’s a possibility. It’s just too bad Harbaugh won’t stay at Stanford. They would give him more than enough money.
[As an aside…one quarterback who is coming out early and is rising rapidly on draft boards is Missouri’s Blaine Gabbert.]
–Speaking of Michigan, which officially fired Rodriguez on Wednesday, and the Big Ten’s miserable performance on New Year’s Day (0-5), the conference is now 13-24 the last five postseasons (after Ohio State’s win over Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl), and just 3-7 in BCS games. The SEC, on the other hand, is 28-15 and 7-2 over the same stretch.
–I have no vested interest in the Maryland football situation, but I was disturbed at how UConn football coach Randy Edsall handled his hiring there. I mean he had been building a program from scratch at UConn, going 74-70 with the best years seemingly ahead of him, and he leaves for what I consider a lateral move (OK, just a touch better). And as UConn fanatic Jeff B. put it, “The more I read about this, the madder I get!”
The thing is Edsall had taken the Huskies to the Fiesta Bowl, where they lost to Oklahoma, and then didn’t accompany the team on the flight home, with the players not really knowing what was up. Then the jerk informs them of his decision to leave by conference call, not face to face!
It also seems that Maryland’s athletic director, Kevin Anderson, himself new to the job, hardly sought input before hiring Edsall. And some at Maryland remain bitter that ACC Coach of the Year Ralph Friedgen was let go despite a 9-4 season and a budding star freshman at quarterback. Now I disagree with a Washington Post reporter, Tracee Hamilton, who characterized UConn has a “I-AA program,” which is stupid, but when Anderson and Edsall appeared before the press, players, coaches, and alums for the first time, their collective performance was underwhelming, with Anderson saying that Edsall told him the Maryland position was his dream job [Edsall isn’t a good liar], adding “No one came forward and said ‘I want to be the head football coach at Maryland’ except Randy Edsall.’ As Tracee Hamilton notes:
“Since just two candidates even came to College Park to interview despite a nationwide search, does that mean Mike Leach [disgraced former Texas Tech coach] didn’t want it enough? Or was attending Lefty Driesell’s basketball camp as a kid enough to bump Edsall’s resume to the top of the pile?”
Bottom line, Edsall showed zero class and here’s hoping the guy falls flat on his face.
–After the first 27 of 32 ‘returning’ bowl games, total attendance is unchanged over last season. Which is OK, but I disagree with the characterization in the USA TODAY headline: “Shaky economy not hurting bowl attendance.” The economy is far better, today, than a year ago, so the bowls should be doing slightly better than 2009-10.
–Ughh…this wasn’t pretty…the firing of ESPN veteran play-by-play announcer Ron Franklin. During the Chick-fil-A Bowl (Florida State-South Carolina), Franklin was having a conversation with sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards during a production meeting when he allegedly said to her, “Listen to me, sweet baby, let me tell you something.” According to the Web site SportsByBrooks.com, when Edwards protested his condescending tone, Franklin reportedly used an obscenity.
“This was not the first time Franklin had said something similar, which might be the reason ESPN dismissed him. During a Notre Dame-Purdue game in 2005, the sideline reporter Holly Rowe lauded Purdue’s defensive strategy despite Notre Dame’s big lead.
“ ‘If the coaches are giving up, what does that say to the players?’ Rowe said.
“Franklin said, ‘Holly, it’s not giving up, it’s 49-21, sweetheart.’
“At the time, ESPN’s ombudsman, George Solomon, called Franklin’s tone ‘demeaning’ and ‘disrespectful to the audience and to a colleague.’ An ESPN senior coordinating producer, Mo Davenport, said, ‘There’s never a reason to say something so mean-spirited.’”
There was a time when Ron Franklin was the No.1-No.2 announcer for ESPN and college football.
–I have watched more New York Knicks basketball already this year than probably the last 7 combined. Don’t get me wrong, the NBA still has a lousy product, but I’m investing a little time in this year’s Knicks edition because it certainly looks as if they are playoff bound after an abysmal prior nine seasons of sub-.500 play (with one stupid playoff appearance after going 39-43 that year). This was after 14 consecutive years of making the postseason.
Anyway, the Knicks are off to a 20-14 start after Tuesday’s impressive 128-115 win (just six turnovers!) over the NBA’s best, San Antonio. The other thing about this Knicks team is they are a likeable group.
So I’ll be watching a little more as the year goes on and then get fired up for the playoffs. A big contributing factor to my interest, of course, is the fact my Wake Forest Demon Deacons totally suck and when Wake sucks, my interest in college basketball overall wanes….except in one other local case, perhaps…
–As in…Speaking of Madison Square Garden, is it possible college basketball is back as well at the World’s Most Famous Arena That Has Recently Been Home To Some of the World’s Worst Hoops Teams? On Monday, St. John’s won a thrilling game over Georgetown and starts off Big East play 3-0. Coach Steve Lavin’s gorgeous wife, Mary, though, was nowhere to be seen, nor is there anything of substance on her in the current Jan. 10 Sports Illustrated that has a good piece on her husband. [I admit this is kind of inside baseball, err, basketball…but for the record, I refuse to go on the Web sites discussing Mrs. Lavin.]
AP Men’s Basketball Poll
1. Duke
2. Ohio State
3. Kansas
4. Syracuse
5. Pitt
6. San Diego State…ding ding ding!!!
7. Villanova
8. UConn
9. Missouri
10. Kentucky
15. BYU
19. UCF
My pick to win it all this year, the San Diego State Aztecs, open conference play on Wednesday at a fired up TCU (due to the Horned Frogs’ Rose Bowl triumph), after I’ve posted, and I’m already worried. But for those who don’t think SDSU is for real, if you extend the AP standings, three of the Aztecs’ early-season victims, Wichita State, Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga, are all in the top 36 and tourney bound. I just think it’s too soon for such a high ranking. One game at a time, boys…one game at a time.
–So long, Brett Favre. Your act really grew boring, and your behavior most boorish. In an interview with the NFL Network, former star QB Kurt Warner let loose.
“I think he did [tarnish his legacy]. Not only this season, but the last few seasons, going back and forth [on retirement] and bouncing to a few different teams. I think about it, and I have to really think hard to think back to when he was a Green Bay Packer and when he played his best football and was in Super Bowls and when he became the Brett Favre we all know.
“To me, when I think of Favre, the first thing I think of [is] the chaos that’s happened the last couple of years. Hopefully, [over time], people will forget that and remember the kind of player he was on the field. I think in the short-term, he definitely hurt his legacy.”
[But as Chris Chase of Yahoo Sports observed, “Says the guy who immediately went on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ after retiring.” Not exactly the same thing, though, mused your editor.]
On Monday, Favre was hit with “an explosive sexual-harassment lawsuit,” in the words of the New York Post, as two former employees of the Jets, massage therapists, claim they were fired after one of them complained about sleazy text messages from the quarterback.
“In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, former Jets massage therapists Christina Scavo and Shannon O’Toole say the graying grandpa tried to convince Scavo – and a third, unidentified masseuse – to huddle up for a threesome.
“The suit says the team cut Scavo loose after she and her husband blew the whistle on Favre. O’Toole [Ed. no relation to former Reds pitcher Jim, I’m assuming, let alone actor Peter] says she was then fired because Scavo got her the job with the team.
“The suit, which seeks unspecified money damages from Favre and the Jets, says the quarterback put his crude moves on Scavo in the summer of 2008, after he’d been ogling her at the team’s Long Island training camp.
“ ‘Brett here,’ the star athlete allegedly texted the unidentified therapist. ‘[Y]ou and crissy want to get together im all alone [sic].’
“He then allegedly sent a follow-up text, saying, ‘Kinda lonely tonight I guess I have bad intentions.’”
Favre is worthy of a “Lifetime Achievement Award for Dirtballdom.”
–Not a bad time to be a fan of the Colorado Rockies. At least your ownership is showing a real commitment to winning. First they signed shortstop Troy Tulowitzki to a seven-year, $134.5 million extension, and now they’ve signed N.L. batting champion Carlos Gonzalez to a seven-year, $80 million extension even though Gonzalez wasn’t eligible for free agency until 2014. [Understand Gonzalez just completed his first full season, while Tulowitzki has been around, thus the seeming disparity in money.] So the Rockies lock up two of the top 20 players in the game (some might say two of the top 10) for years to come and at reasonable contracts given their status.
–But not to be outdone, my Metsies signed 32-year-old pitcher Chris Capuano! All this guy did was miss the entire 2008 and 2009 campaigns due to his second Tommy John surgery, though he came back last season to go 4-4 with a 3.95 ERA. And we picked up pitcher Taylor Buchholz, who missed all of 2009 because of elbow surgery, but appeared in nine games last season in the biggies. These two cost the Mets $950 each and, assuming their arms don’t fall off in spring training, which would be quite gruesome, I’d expect the duo to go 2-18 as part of a rotation that leads the Mets to a 40-120 season (with two rainouts not being made up), thus tying them with the ’62 Mets for futility but without anywhere near the same laugh track.
–TOKYO – “A giant bluefin tuna fetched a record $396,000…in the first auction of the year at the world’s largest wholesale fish market.”
Glad it met the minimum bid. I’d hate to think Sotheby’s would bring it back a year later.
The big fish, a cousin of Charlie the Tuna of Starkist fame, was purchased by owners of an upscale sushi restaurant in Tokyo.
Over 538 giant tuna were shipped in from around the world for Wednesday’s auction. Quite a red carpet, I think you’d agree. Sadly, the fish, not known to be real smart, except Charlie (which is how he escaped capture), don’t understand that the red carpet is the last time they’ll remain whole.
But did you know the Japanese eat 80% of the Atlantic and Pacific bluefins caught? Guys, lighten up before you kill ‘em all. Eat more chicken.
–Well, looks like your editor was right in guessing the other day that the blackbird deaths in Beebe, Arkansas were a result of New Year’s Eve fireworks. The trauma found on their bodies was undoubtedly a result of them flying into buildings and other obstacles after the fireworks frightened them. Said a state wildlife official, Karen Rowe:
“(Neighbors reported) five to 12 booming noises in the eastern part of town. They reported it sounding like a cannon or transformer exploding.”
The blackbirds then rose from their roost and tried to fly away.
“They naturally wouldn’t want to go up high. They were below the roof line, so they were hitting houses, mail boxes, chimneys and walls.”
However, in Louisiana, about 500 birds were discovered in a second mass death. No word on the cause here. Bar Chat hasn’t had the opportunity to do some fieldwork and talk to the locals over a few domestics.
–And this incredibly important story from the Daily Mail’s Michael Theodoulou, as passed to me by Brad K.
“A vulture tagged by scientists at Tel Aviv University has strayed into Saudi Arabian territory, where it was promptly arrested on suspicion of being a Mossad spy, Israeli and Saudi media reported Tuesday.
“The bird was found in a rural area of the country wearing a transmitter and a leg bracelet bearing the words ‘Tel Aviv University,’ according to the reports….
“Although these tags indicate that the bird was part of a long-term research project into migration patterns, residents and local reporters told Saudi Arabia’s Al-Weeam newspaper that the matter seemed to be a ‘Zionist plot.’”
You’ll recall the shark attack at Egypt’s Sharm-el-Sheikh resort was also blamed on the Mossad.
But as I told Brad K., seems to me the vulture in question was at least smarter than New York City Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty. The vulture has yet to give any information up. Doherty, on the other hand, gave his snowplow operators an “A+” for their cleanup efforts after the recent blizzard, causing everyone in attendance at the news conference to cough “Bulls—“ and forcing the feds to launch an official investigation over how anyone can be so stupid and corrupt.
–Finally, on the animal front, the flooding in Queensland, Australia, “unleashed a plague of snakes and crocodiles,” as reported by AFP’s Amy Coopes.
“The snakes, including highly venomous taipans, brown snakes and red-bellied blacks, are climbing trees and hiding in people’s houses as they search for dry refuge, residents said.
“ ‘The snakes are a massive problem – I’ve shut all the doors because they’re coming in,’ said Suzanne Miller, owner of the Pioneer Hotel pub, adding that her mother was ‘almost killed’ by a brown snake.
“ ‘She is living on a boat near here and it was curled round the rope,’ Miller said. ‘She could feel the tongue flicking on to her face to test how far away it was, ready to bite, and then it jumped into her lap.’”
“Miller said her mother’s husband used a stick to flick the snake into the water, adding that the boat almost capsized as the pair leaped around and screamed in panic.
“Emergency officials warned that the snakes were aggressive, while crocodiles flushed from rivers by the rising floods could easily be mistaken for debris….
“Thousands of poisonous cane toads were also spotted around Rockhampton, while authorities say the town will also be hit by sandflies and disease-carrying mosquitoes breeding in the standing water.”
–Actress Anne Francis died. She was 80. Some of us will most remember Francis for her role in the 1956 sci-fi classic “Forbidden Planet,” another of whose leads also just passed away, Leslie Nielsen. As Dennis McLellan described her in the Los Angeles Times:
“A shapely blond with a signature beauty mark next to her lower lip, Francis was a former child model and radio actress when she first came to notice on the big screen in the early 1950s.”
But she never became a true film star and a leading role in the television series “Honey West,” the first female detective to be featured in a weekly series, was pulled after 30 episodes, even though the ratings were solid. Francis later said of ABC’s move, “They were able to buy ‘The Avengers’ from England for less than it cost to produce our show.” That’s something I didn’t know…the history of how the Avengers came to the States. Yes, kids, you learn something every day.
Meanwhile, back to Francis and her star turn in “Forbidden Planet,” she played Altaira, “the alluring daughter of the scientist character played by (Walter) Pidgeon: the two sole-surviving human inhabitants of the mysterious, technologically advanced planet.” [Dennis McLellan]
“I got that part because I was under contract to MGM and I had good legs,” Francis said. I mean her costumes were rather skimpy given the year it was filmed.
–The man who Steven Spielberg called “the best actor in the world,” Pete Postlethwaite, died from cancer at 64. Among his more prominent films was “In the Name of the Father,” “Alien 3,” “The Last of the Mohicans,” and “The Usual Suspects.”
–And we note the passing of Gerry Rafferty, 63, who by all accounts had a tragic battle with alcoholism. Rafferty is probably best known for his solo effort, “City to City,” which reached No. 1 on the U.S. album charts in 1978 and featured the track “Baker Street,” which was No. 2 for six weeks! but couldn’t reach No. 1 because of Andy Gibb’s “Shadow Dancing,” which topped the list for seven weeks. [You won’t find that factoid in any of Rafferty’s obits…we call this the Bar Chat Advantage.] The same album produced the No. 12 “Right Down The Line.”
Five years earlier, fronting the Scottish group Stealers Wheel, Rafferty had a No. 6 hit in “Stuck In The Middle With You,” which was a takeoff on Bob Dylan tunes while ridiculing music industry parties.
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you.
Rafferty’s former manager, Michael Gray, was scathing in his comments to the Guardian, saying his client’s success was but a shadow of what it might have been, turning down chances to tour with the likes of Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney because of his problems with the bottle.
As Douglas Martin also notes in the New York Times, Rafferty loved to blast the music industry, but nevertheless earned nearly $125,000 a year in royalties for “Baker Street” alone.
Top 3 songs for the week 1/7/67: #1 “I’m A Believer” (The Monkees) #2 “Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron” (The Royal Guardsmen) #3 “Tell It Like It Is” (Aaron Neville)…and…#4 “Winchester Cathedral” (The New Vaudeville Band) #5 “Sugar Town” (Nancy Sinatra…ya know, not a terrible song) #6 “That’s Life” (Frank Sinatra…but not like there wasn’t a bit of nepotism this week…know what I’m sayin’?) #7 “Good Thing” (Paul Revere & The Raiders…seriously, as the years go by I realize how underrated they were) #8 “Words Of Love” (The Mamas & The Papas…my favorite of theirs) #9 “Standing In The Shadows Of Love” (Four Tops…I miss Levi) #10 “Mellow Yellow” (Donovan…yet another fantastic week)
Golf Quiz Answer: Runners-up in majors for 2010. Masters – Lee Westwood; U.S. Open – Gregory Havret; British Open – Lee Westwood; PGA – Bubba Watson.
