Golf Quiz: The Official World Golf Ranking was unveiled in 1986. Who was the first No. 1? Answer below.
Masters Quiz: What golfer is making his 40th start on Thursday, most in the field? Answer below.
Calhoun Bags His 3rd
With UConn’s third title in 12 years, Coach Jim Calhoun becomes just one of five to win at least three; joining John Wooden, Adolph Rupp, Mike Krzyzewski and Bob Knight. It was ugly, but now both Calhoun, and the game, are part of history.
“The Butler Bulldogs seniors, the ones who lost last year’s championship game to Duke and this year’s title game to Connecticut, will have a tormenting question to ask themselves over the next few months.
“Is it worse to lose a title game on one missed shot or 52 missed shots?
“The Bulldogs dropped last night’s title game 53-41 to Connecticut by shooting a horrendous 18.8 percent (12 of 64). They lost last season’s title game 61-59 to Duke when star Gordon Hayward’s half-court fling bounced off the rim.”
Incredibly, Butler made just three 2-point field goals the entire game (the fewest ever in an NCAA tournament game). Overall, after going 6 of 27 in the first half, they went 6 of 37 in the second.
“Keep saying that for as long as it takes to rid your brain of the memory of how it ended. Otherwise, you might be scarred for life.
“Through the first 66 games of the biggest and arguably wildest tourney ever, there was an abundance of excitement and drama and surprise. Then they played game No. 67, and the thing ended with a bomb of historic proportion….a game that was so train-wreck terrible to watch it set the sport back to the hook-shot days.
“Actually, that’s an insult to the hook-shot days. Even back then, the ball went in the basket more often than it did in Reliant Stadium. The team’s combined field goal percentage of 26.1 was the worst in a title game since 1948.”
And what of Butler’s two top players, Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack going 5 for 28 from the field? Or center Andrew Smith, 2 for 9, who couldn’t hit simple layups. Pat Forde reminded me of the stat I threw out last time, when Bill Walton hit 21 of 22 from the field in UCLA’s title win over Memphis State.
“Bottom line: This is a flawed sport at the moment, in terms of both rules compliance and quality of play. There are no great teams and not enough clean programs.
“But you won’t find Calhoun apologizing for any of it – not the ugliness of this game or the stain of winning it all while on probation. Apparently capturing a third national title not only moves the lifelong fighter into truly elite all-time company, it also allows him to revise history.
“ ‘I took full responsibility for secondary offenses that took place in my program,’ Calhoun said, reducing major violations to secondary offenses.
“NCAA enforcement will be surprised to learn of that downgrade….
“Calhoun said he loved the sight of so many former players in the crowd Monday – Richard Hamilton and Ben Gordon and Hasheem Thabeet and Charlie Villanueva and many more. When the game was over and it was time for the trophy presentation, they all came out of the stands and onto the court.
“Lacking credentials, they were asked to leave by NCAA security personnel. At first they refused, then finally relented.
“It was just one more uneasy moment of NCAA-UConn relations on a night only a Husky could love.”
“It is not news that the level of play – from youth basketball to the NBA – has been dropping like a stone for a good long while now, but Connecticut’s unwatchable 53-41 victory over Butler put that fact into focus on the game’s biggest stage.
“There’s no doubt these were the two teams that deserved to play for the championship. Connecticut had won 10 consecutive games to get to the title game; Butler had won 14 in a row. Each had survived scares by making big plays late, and both had that little bit of luck that most national champions need.
“And then they both no-showed on Monday night, except that Butler out-no-showed UConn. Were the Huskies the best team? Let’s put it this way: They were less bad than everyone else in the (too many) 68-team field.
“Please – please – let’s not go down the ‘that was great defense’ road. Let’s agree that the defenses were good while acknowledging that the offenses were god-awful. Butler couldn’t make a layup or an open jump shot. Matt Howard, who is as admirable a player as has ever played in the tournament, had a night that will keep him awake for years to come….
“The larger issue isn’t that one ultimate game was a dud. This was the culmination of years of neglect by everyone responsible for running the game.
“The NBA copped out a few years back with the one-and-done rule. It isn’t just that top players don’t ever go to class – lots of players don’t go to class, especially in March – it’s that their focus is on where they think they might go in that spring’s draft, not on trying to get better.
“Many college coaches call this the ‘AAUization’ of the game. Stars are coddled from the very beginning; no one tells them they have to play defense, no one teaches them fundamentals and no one gets on them if they don’t play hard. Why? Because if a star gets yelled at by one coach, he goes and finds a new coach. That’s why it is now common for players to go to three or four high schools and play on a different AAU team every summer. Then they come to college knowing they hold all the cards with their coach: They only have to deal with him for one year, so why put up with him if he makes unreasonable demands such as ‘Would you please try on defense?’”
Feinstein says players need to remain in school longer and that this should be part of the next NBA collective bargaining agreement. I agree. I say two years would make a huge difference.
Feinstein also believes the three-point line should be moved back to NBA distance. I agree with this as well.
And Feinstein notes that when it comes to playing Final Fours in domes, the proof is in the pudding. Shooting percentages have plummeted since the change was made to plop a court in the middle of a football field because it’s too difficult to shoot without a background.
Back to UConn and the problem with ethics in the game, overall, Feinstein notes:
“Calhoun is a great coach and a good man but the fact is he screwed up and the punishment didn’t fit the crime. It never does in NCAA-world. Or CBS-world, where we were continually told on Saturday that John Calipari had taken three teams to the Final Four with no mention of the fact that the first two no longer exist in the record book – except a brief mention saying that Calipari was never found culpable. Pure as the driven snow, no doubt.
“In the end, the NCAA cares about none of this. Its new president is a pompous blowhard who brags about ‘student-athletes,’ knowing that almost none of the kids playing in Houston has seen a classroom in the last month.
“He talks about ‘transparency’ while running a super-secret society and won’t even answer a simple question such as ‘How much are you paid?’ while the NCAA rolls in the TV billions for which it has sold its soul.
“What saves the tournament are the games, because even though they aren’t played nearly as well as in the past, they are still extraordinarily competitive and full of compelling story lines. Butler and VCU made this tournament a joy for most of three weeks.
“But the championship game ended it with a thud. Sadly, this is exactly what those running the sport deserved.”
“You knew the clock might finally strike midnight on this wonderful story. But you didn’t know the entire clock tower would collapse and bury everyone in a pile of rubble.
“You knew Butler might run out of the magic that carried it to back-to-back national title games. But you didn’t know, when that spell wore off, the Bulldogs would start shooting the basketball as if it had turned into a pumpkin.
“Millions of Americans tuned in Monday night hoping to see the climax of a feel-good story. Instead, they just felt sick. Butler had come so far and taken down so many giants, but on the biggest stage, the Bulldogs played one of the worst games that anyone can remember….
“Instead, it was another win for the IBMs of college sports. Butler had blissfully set brackets ablaze for two straight tournaments, the tiny school that managed to win without sacrificing its principles.
“This was another chance to author one of the great stories in college sports history, and that the Bulldogs failed was not the sad part. It was how they failed on a night that became unforgettable for all the wrong reasons.”
“Short of probation or Kemba Walker being injured, (Jim) Calhoun would not be kept down. The man is as indestructible as a New England winter, maybe more bitter and cold toward the people who wanted to see him lose on Monday night.
“Heck, five of his ribs can be broken after a fall in the 50-mile, Jim Calhoun Cancer Challenge Ride in 2009.
“On the night he won his third national championship, Calhoun managed to overcome scrutiny, suspension, sickness and, finally, the sentimental favorite on the last night of the college basketball season.
“Cantankerous, inaudible sometimes, the old man is a survivor.
“Whatever you think of Calhoun, this was his most impressive coaching performance, turning a team with one star and a few nice role players not expected to make the Final Four at the beginning of the season into the final snapshot of ‘One Shining Moment.’”
“The sensitive viewer started to worry about the health of the basket Butler was shooting on. Was it in pain? Was it bruised, broken, concussed? Was its quiet whimpering drowned out in the Houston noise? Would it ever play basketball again? Would it be able to have children?
“Many of us watch sports with a fuzzy memory. In real time, a great play can be the greatest ever; every horrible display is the most horrible, even if there have been far more horrible. That’s what made Monday night’s inept NCAA men’s basketball championship so fascinating. When people started howling, ‘This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen,’ it actually was true. It was the worst thing they’d ever seen, at least in a national championship game….
“By the second half, Butler’s misfiring almost became mesmerizing; a piece of performance art, a la Matthew Barney. One did not expect them to score at all. Did Butler even want to score? Shots clattered off the front of the rim, the back, the left, the right – high arcs, line drives, long bombs, layups. It was a steady, metallic chorus of clannnggs, bonnnggs, boinnnngs, and rattles. Had you been listening from another room, you’d have assumed a raccoon had gotten into the trash.
“They missed almost everything. Somehow they were worse the closer they got to the backboard – 3 of 31 inside the three-point line….
“And now everyone who pulled for Butler feels a little queasy for them. Another pat on the head will not suffice. The Bulldogs had ceased to be a Cinderella; some were already anointing them champs before the game. A Butler win would have surprised few.
“They’ll be okay. They have a young coach and an established, likeable program. They have given the NCAA two consecutive unforgettable title games, though not in the manner they hoped.
1. Kentucky…even with Brandon Knight and Terrence Jones going out early
2. Syracuse
3. Ohio State
4. North Carolina…even with Harrison Barnes and John Henson expected to leave early
5. Vanderbilt
6. Texas
7. Duke
8. Butler…Shelvin Mack expected to stay
9. Louisville
10. Memphis
It’s really sickening that Knight and Barnes can leave. Again, two years…that’s fair for all. No one on UNC should leave. Henson needs another year. Look at Wake Forest’s Jeff Teague, James Johnson, and Al-Farouq Aminu, all of whom left after two years and clearly needed a third because their games were lacking. All three then wasted at least one year riding the pine (this NBA season being Aminu’s first), and while all three could still have long careers (Johnson is getting a shot in Toronto after a trade from Chicago and beginning to find his game), imagine that all three could have been on this year’s Wake team…Johnson and Teague as seniors, Aminu as a junior. Oh well, I’ve brought this up before, like three times…I promise to bring it up just another 20 over the coming decade. And did I mention Chris Paul yet? [Smiled your editor, broadly.]
Now where the heck was I? Oh yeah…North Carolina. If Barnes would just stay a second year (and is that asking for too much?), the Tar Heels would go undefeated.
And what will Duke’s Kyrie Irving do? If he leaves it’s a travesty.
Underclassmen, by the way, have until April 24 to submit their names for the draft but can withdraw them by May 8 and still retain their eligibility as long as they haven’t signed with an agent.
But this year’s decisions are influenced by the potential for an NBA lockout, the players’ union and the league having until June 30 to reach a new collective bargaining agreement to avoid the same situation you have in the NFL today. So, if you’re a freshman star like Kyrie Irving, who owes his school one full season, for crying out loud, you might consider staying in school as opposed to doing nothing until a deal is struck, which may not be until next January or February, as these things go.
The Masters…Golf Ball Bits
All the talk this year will be of the 25th anniversary of Jack Nicklaus’ spectacular final round at age 46 to capture his last green jacket in 1986. For so many reasons the greatest final round in my lifetime. Broadcaster Verne Lundquist told the New York Post’s Mark Cannizzaro, “I believe it’s the most iconic moment in golf.”
“At the time, 46 years old was considered really old – particularly in golf,” said fellow broadcaster Jim Nantz. “It was just crazy for anyone to even think that Jack Nicklaus had a chance at 46 to restore the glory of Masters past and win again.
“Jack was entering that stage where he’s just not expected to be a contender anymore. But here you had the greatest golfer of all time with a curtain call, the unexpected encore, and perhaps his greatest nine-hole performance of his unparalleled career. He saved it at 46 to come out and take one last bow on the greatest stage in the sport.”
Nicklaus entered the final round down four and tied for ninth. He was paired with Sandy Lyle in the fifth-to-last group. Greg Norman was the leader after 54 holes.
Nicklaus hadn’t won a major in six years or a tournament of any kind in two. He had missed three of seven cuts in ’86 going into Augusta. No one expected a final round of 65, let alone his back-nine 30.
After birdies on 9, 10 and 11, Nicklaus was two behind the leader, Seve Ballesteros. Norman, Tom Watson, Tom Kite and Nick Price were ahead of Jack.
But the big moment came after Nicklaus eagled No. 15 and went to the par-3 16th. Jim Nantz, doing his first Masters at age 26, was in the 16th tower. Nantz told Mark Cannizzaro:
“Jack had made the putt at 15 and we went to a commercial break and I was fully aware coming out of that commercial the whole world would be watching with great interest in Jack at 16. I knew for the next 20 minutes that broadcast was going to be handled through my tower.
“I’d had the opportunity to set the scene there. I was aware of Jack’s record at that hole. When he won in ’63 and ’75, he had made birdie there. I had that suff catalogued in my head, not knowing if we’d ever use it.
“I remember it all like it was just yesterday. Nicklaus was on the 16th tee and I dispensed that information about ’63 and ’75 and I headlined it by saying, ‘If anyone owns the 16th hole, it’s Jack Nicklaus.’ I had set up that scene I thought just right. I felt as though I was in command.
“The problem was, as Jack was at address position, he backed off the shot and started throwing some grass clippings in the air because he was confused about the wind.
“That’s when I brought in [Tom] Weiskopf. [Ed. Weiskopf was two years removed from playing competitive golf.] I said, ‘Tom you’ve known Jack Nicklaus most of your life. What do you think he’s thinking right now?’ He said, ‘Jim, if I knew what he was thinking I would have won this tournament three or four times myself.’
“That got us back with Nicklaus in position to hit the shot. When he hit it, from my position behind the green I could tell that this was going to be very close to going in. And sure enough, it skipped a couple of times and began to jump toward the cup.”
It was a magical moment as the ball settled 3 ½ feet from the cup. Jack sank the putt and Nantz, who had been silent for minutes as the entire drama unfolded, then said, “The Bear has come out of hibernation” as Nicklaus strode to the 17th tee.
Back in 1986, Verne Lundquist, who today works 16, was working the 17th. What’s so cool is that all of us watching on television that day vividly recall Mr. Lundquist (now that I’ve met him personally, he’s earned “Mr.”) saying as Nicklaus’ birdie putt tracked into the hole:
“Maybe….Yes, sir!”
Nicklaus had a one-shot lead now, made a great two-putt at 18 and watched everyone behind him crumble, including Seve, Norman and Kite.
Ken Venturi was doing the 18th with Pat Summerall and afterwards, Venturi went up to Nantz.
“Jimmy, I got to ask you a question, son: How old are you?”
“I’m going to tell you something right now,” Venturi said. “You may one day be the first guy to ever call 50 of these, but you will never see a day greater than this around Augusta National.”
In his pre-tournament press conference, Tuesday, Tiger Woods was back to his usual cocky self, telling all that his work with new swing coach Sean Foley was going just great when the facts speak otherwise.
2007-09, Tiger won 17 of 39 events entered, including 37 top 10s.
Since 2010, he has played in 16 tournaments with just 3 top 10s and zero wins.
Phil Mickelson’s last 11 starts at Augusta:
Scott Hoch, 1989 Masters: After squandering two earlier chances to finish off Nick Faldo, Hoch had a two-footer to win the green jacket in a sudden-death playoff. The putt never even touched the cup, and Faldo won on the next hole, prompting Hoch to say, “Well, I’m glad I don’t carry a gun with me.” [Golf Magazine]
Golfer Lee Westwood had a real scare the other day. Flying on his private jet from Houston to Augusta, Ga., along with his manager Chubby Chandler, golfer Ross Fisher and two caddies, the pilot was forced to make a quick descent and return to George H.W. Bush International in Houston due to a fire in the instrument panel.
“We were a couple of minutes out of the airport,” Westwood told The Telegraph (London). “It never looks good when you can smell smoke and you turn around and see the pilots have put the masks on.”
The Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee was recently asked for Golf Magazine to comment on various golf records, such as Byron Nelson’s 11 consecutive wins in 1945.
“In 1945, the fields were attenuated because of the war; if it were a track event this record would not be official because there was too much of a tailwind – it’s an anomaly.”
It’s a sacrilege to say this, but I tend to agree. Tiger’s 7 in a row (2006-07) was just as phenomenal, if not more so.
As was Tiger’s 142 consecutive cuts made, Feb. 1998-May 2005.
Chamblee: If you’re looking for someone to break this streak, you might as well go to the ballpark and wait for someone to get a hit for 57 straight games. You’re going to be waiting a long time, and the hot dogs there are better than they are at PGA Tour events.”
Golf Digest had its biennial look at America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses and the top ten are:
1. Augusta National
2. Pine Valley
3. Shinnecock Hills
4. Oakmont
5. Cypress Point
6. Pebble Beach
7. Merion (East)
8. Winged Foot (West)
9. Sand Hills (new entrant to top ten…Mullen, Neb.)
10. National Golf Links of America (another new entrant…Southampton, N.Y.)
One noticeable decline on the list was Harbour Town on Hilton Head Island, which dropped from 75 to 100. [I had heard stories the club was struggling.]
I’ll miss Gary Player at Augusta this year, but awhile ago when GQ had a list of its coolest athletes, Stayton Bonner had this bit on Player.
“Unable to afford a hotel the night before the 1955 British Open, Player wrapped himself in waterproofs and slept on a sand dune along Scotland’s Firth of Forth. The youngest son of a Johannesburg gold miner, he returned to win four years later – his first of nine majors – with the true grit he’d first idolized in black-and-white TV Westerns. Player’s signature all-black outfit – from his Ban-Lon mock turtle down to his dash-of-white wingtips – reinforced his image as a man unafraid to roll up his sleeves and see the job through. ‘I once overslept for a tournament and knew I’d be disqualified,’ the Black Knight told GQ. ‘A gang of Hells Angels bikers were outside my motel, so I bummed a ride on the back of a Harley. Although I made it just in time, I ruined my white pants. Should have stuck with black.”
—Texas A&M defeated Notre Dame for the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship, 76-70; Notre Dame having upset UConn in the semis after losing to the Lady Huskies three times earlier this season. For the Aggies it was their first national title.
—Ratings for the Men’s NCAA title game dropped 16.9% from last year’s Duke-Butler final, though it was still better than 2009, 2008 and 2006. Overall, the tournament’s ratings were the best since 2005.
–I can’t believe Sydney Johnson left Princeton for Fairfield University. Nothing against Fairfield, which should have been in the NCAAs this year and choked in their conference tournament, but it’s a lateral move and Johnson just had his best year in four at the Tigers’ helm.
So I applied to be the new coach at Princeton…but then they asked for a college transcript and I said, “Err, ahh…..” [click]
I forgot that Fairfield’s coach, Ed Cooley, was hired away by Providence.
–North Carolina State hired former Alabama coach Mark Gottfried to be its next men’s hoops coach. The Wolfpack haven’t been to the NCAAs since 2006. Gottfried was 278-155 in 14 seasons at Murray State and ‘Bama and took seven teams to the Big Dance.
But Gottfried, who was an ESPN analyst this past season, only got the job when VCU coach Shaka Smart decided to stay after receiving a new 8-year contract. So both Shaka and Butler’s Brad Stevens are staying put. Good for them. [Not that there was any question Stevens would stay given last year’s big contract extension.]
–So I’m looking at a USA TODAY piece on how much money some Division I-A women’s basketball coaches make and one kind of stuck out…Rutgers’ incredibly overrated C. Vivian Stringer…$1,085,000!
–The New York Knicks, headed to the playoffs for the first time since 2003-04, have a chance to finish above .500 for the first time since 2000-01, which really gives you a sense of just how bleak it’s been around here for fans of the team (not that I’ve invested a lot of time following them this past decade).
–Texas Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz tied a major league mark when he homered in each of the first four games of the season (all solo shots), joining Mark McGwire and Willie Mays as the only others to accomplish the feat. Cruz then went homerless in his fifth game, while the Yankees’ Mark Teixeira on Tuesday hit his fourth in five games, only Tex has 10 RBI to Cruz’ four…Teixeira having three, 3-run homers.
So we can issue a flash projection. Teixeira will finish the season with 137 homers and 345 RBI, while Cruz slams 88 but drives in only 91. [Our final EXCLUSIVE look at 2011’s stats, Monday. Can Jered Weaver of the Angels go 29-1 with a 0.59 ERA? Stay tuned.]
Back to Mays, what was interesting about his four in the first four games is that he did so in April 1971, age 39, but would go on to hit just 14 more the rest of the season, though he did establish career highs in walks and on-base percentage in helping lead the Giants to the NL West title (where they lost to Pittsburgh).
–Reliever Pedro Feliciano led the National League in games pitched with 86, 88 and 92 appearances the last three years…266 in total. His contract was up at the end of the 2010 season and the Mets, wary of how much was left in his arm, opted not to re-sign him. Feliciano the free agent then signed with the Yankees for two-years, $8 million, and what happens? He comes up with a sore shoulder and is currently on the disabled list.
For baseball junkies, the story should have ended there. “Yeah, I guess his arm was shot after all,” you might have said to your friend at the bar. “What a stupid move the Yankees made.”
But out of nowhere, Yankees’ GM Brian Cashman lashed out at the Mets, saying the team had used Feliciano in an “abusive pattern.” Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen fired back, saying the Mets chose not to bring Pedro back because they were worried he didn’t have much left.
“That was part of the reason we decided not to re-sign him,” Warthen said.
So now the teams are sniping at each other and Feliciano vows he’ll come back and show Warthen and the Mets that he still has a lot left. What’s too bad is that Pedro’s a good guy and obviously did everything asked of him but now everyone kind of looks like a jerk.
–The prosecution has rested in the Barry Bonds perjury trial as a lost recording, a secretly taped 15-minute conversation with his doctor that was just found, was ruled inadmissible. I just don’t care what the verdict is anymore. You’ve heard the testimony and saw the evidence at the plate. Now it’s up to Hall of Fame voters to make their own judgment down the road.
–Despite not playing since Wimbledon nine months ago, Serena Williams moved up two spots to No. 10 in Monday’s WTA rankings, making her the only tennis player from the United States – male or female – in the top 10. Venus Williams fell from ninth to 15th, while Andy Roddick dropped from eighth to 14th. Americans have never been without a representative from both top 10s at the same time.
No American male has won a Grand Slam title, by the way, since Roddick’s 2003 U.S. Open win.
—Uncle Mo, the official Triple Crown pony of Bar Chat, runs in the Wood Memorial this Saturday in his final prep for the Kentucky Derby on May 7. But while Uncle Mo is the early favorite in the Run for the Roses, a lot of railbirds (it’s “cliché week”) are beginning to go with Dailed In after his run at last week’s Florida Derby. Another potential favorite, Premier Pegasus, runs in the Santa Anita Derby this week, while Bob Baffert’s The Factor (yes, O’Reilly’s favorite), runs in the Arkansas Derby on April 16.
–For those of you who live in New York City in particular, you can appreciate this nightmare from the New York Post’s Page Six. It seems that Tyra Banks purchased four apartments at a condo tower, Riverhouse in Battery Park City, and is turning them into a duplex. The purchase cost some $10 million.
But the problem is construction has taken a full year already, six months behind schedule, and her neighbors have had to put up “with ear-rattling drilling starting at 9 a.m.,” while “paint fumes have seeped from Banks’ pad into others’ abodes, say miffed residents.”
Some neighbors have requested $100,000 for the inconvenience.
–Those of us watching the NCAA Men’s title game on Monday saw LeAnn Rimes sing the National Anthem, and do a good job of it.
But some of us had the same initial reaction, I imagine. ‘Yow-zah!’ I mean she looked darn good, if you ask me. In fact she looked a little too good, if you catch my drift, and CBS deftly moved the camera up a bit so as to ensure that too much of LeAnn wasn’t revealed, Ms. Rimes err, err, you know….
So then on Wednesday I’m reading the Irish Independent and there is this headline:
“LeAnn Rimes has hit out at claims she has been working out too much.
“The 28-year-old singer (performed the National Anthem) and her slimline look shocked some attendees.
“LeAnn wore a skimpy white Dolce and Gabbana minidress and her figure was extremely slender, causing speculation she has been taking her fitness regime too seriously.”
“To those who have to turn to other’s lives and judge with no real knowledge of how anyone lives, you can you know what (sic)!” she Tweeted.
Ms. Rimes, preparing for her wedding to Eddie Cibrian, also Tweeted, “Dear lord! I do not work out too much nor do I starve myself. I’m so over this and moving on (sic).”
–So the other day, Shu e-mailed a Shiner Bock ad and it just so happens I had been to see my Beer Man about ten minutes earlier and lo and behold, what did my eyes see but…Shiner Bock was suddenly available! And then a few days later I was in another joint and there was…Shiner Bock!
Could it be? Has my favorite beer in the continental United States truly come to New Jersey? Will I be drowning my Honey Nut Cheerios in it? [Talk about a healthy dose of hops, barley and malt.]
And there’s a picture of one Stacey Williams of Shiner Beers at the Atlantic City Beer Festival. “The pride of Shiner, Texas, was loaded onto trucks this past weekend, headed your way. Forget Lone Star – Shiner is something to brag about!”
You got that right, sports fans! Why, frankly, with all due respect to what Gov. Chris Christie is trying to accomplish in terms of drumming up business for the Garden State, this is the single biggest economic stimulus program any politician can come up with and it doesn’t cost taxpayers a dime!
[Actually, I need to rethink how the introduction of Shiner stimulates economic activity, but it sounds good, though Shiner isn’t cheap…$7.99 a six-pack…so I may have to get a part-time job at the local pizza joint, folding boxes.]
Top 3 songs for the week 4/6/68: #1 “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay” (Otis Redding) #2 “Young Girl” (The Union Gap featuring Gary Puckett) #3 “Valleri” (The Monkees)…and… “La-La-Means I Love You” (The Delfonics…great one) #5 “(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You’ve Been Gone” (Aretha Franklin…still alive) #6 “Cry Like A Baby” (The Box Tops) #7 “Lady Madonna” (The Beatles) #8 “The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde” (Georgie Fame) #9 “Love Is Blue” (Paul Mauriat…this is what made this era so great. Tunes like this one, or a Sinatra or Dean Martin song, could still make the pop charts) #10 “Honey” (Bobby Goldsboro…not to be confused with Bobby Sherman, which I often did back in the day)
Golf Quiz Answer: Germany’s Bernhard Langer was first to be ranked No. 1 in the inaugural official World Golf Ranking.
Masters Quiz Answer: Ben Crenshaw is making his 40th start; Tom Watson his 38th; Craig Stadler his 35th.
