College Football Quiz: [Courtesy of information in an article by Darren Everson of the Wall Street Journal] Clemson is on a roll but it’s been 20 years since they won an ACC championship, the last one being 1991. What three ACC schools have had longer waits for a title? Answer below.
Al Davis
How do you begin to cover this man’s life? It’s impossible to do it justice here so I reserve the right to throw in a few snippets over the rest of the football season.
But for starters, Al Davis, who died on Saturday at the age of 82, was born on the Fourth of July, 1929. His teams won 13 division titles, one AFL championship and three Super Bowls from 1967-85 [1977, 81, 84] and from 1963-85, the Raiders’ 229-91-11 record was the highest winning percentage of any team in professional sports during that time; though since then the Raiders have had only seven winning seasons.
“Al Davis’ resume at the Pro Football Hall of Fame tells all you need to know about what he accomplished in more than half a century.
“ ‘The only person’ it reads, to serve in professional football as a personnel assistant, an assistant coach, a head coach, a general manager, a commissioner and as an NFL team owner and chief executive.
“The most significant words in that description are ‘the only person’ because there was only one Al Davis. And there won’t be another.”
“Under Davis, the Raiders developed a reputation as football’s last-chance saloon, a winning franchise built around rejuvenated players who were discarded by other teams that considered them too old, too unruly or otherwise undesirable. It was Davis who introduced the silver-and-black uniforms and pirate logo when – at age 33 – the Raiders hired him in 1963 as head coach and general manager. He also chose the team slogans ‘Pride and Poise’ and later ‘Commitment to Excellence.’”
“Davis was the Frank Sinatra of football, doing things his way.
“After graduating from Syracuse University, he became an assistant coach with the Baltimore Colts at age 24; and was an assistant at The Citadel and then USC before joining the Los Angeles Chargers of the new AFL in 1960. Only three years later, he was hired by the Raiders and became the youngest general manager-head coach in pro football history.
“He was 23-16-3 in three seasons with a franchise that had started its life 9-23.
“Then he bought into the failing franchise and became managing general partner, a position he held until his death.
“We hail Davis today as a pioneer if for no other reason than he hired the first African-American head coach in Art Shell.
“Davis was one of the most important figures in NFL history – a rebel with a subpoena. That was most evident during the 1980s when he went to court – and won – for the right to move his team from Oakland to Los Angeles. Even after he moved the Raiders back to the Bay Area in 1995, he sued for $1.2 million to establish he still owned the rights to the L.A. market.
“Davis, elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992, fancied himself a renegade, and built his beloved Raiders in his image.
“He was one of a kind, a Hall of Fame icon whose AFL leadership and cutthroat defiance rattled the NFL cage and helped force the merger of the leagues.
“His death yesterday leaves me with a vision of Davis, near the end, imploring his doctors: ‘Just win, Baby.’
“At the end of his life of intimidation, Al Davis won, because he made us believe he would outlive all those who questioned his style or his sanity or the ‘greatness of the Raid-duz.’
“Al Davis won because, after absorbing the NFL’s best shots across his beady grimace for 60 years, he finally convinced us he was immortal.
“It is frankly a bit unsettling today to realize that he was not.
“It turns out even a Commitment to Excellence doesn’t last, and it is not enough to just win, baby….
“He was probably the greatest villain in the history of American sports, universally feared but absolutely necessary. For the games to matter, there has to be drama, and every drama has to have a bad guy, and that became the role of Al Davis’ life.
“Sometimes he played it well: He was the AFL commissioner who annoyed the NFL into a merger, the first step in turning pro football into our national pastime. He was the Raiders owner who won three Super Bowl championships by fashioning a team that played as relentlessly – and recklessly – as the pirate football player on their helmet would imply.
“Other times, he played it like a bully: He conned the city of Oakland. He conned the city of Los Angeles. He sued anyone who stood in his way. He ruined the end of Marcus Allen’s career with the Raiders because of a grudge. He fired (Lane) Kiffin in front of the media on an overhead projector.
“Sometimes his vision was courageous and brilliant: He hired the modern NFL’s first black coach in Art Shell, its first Latino coach in Tom Flores, and its first female chief executive in Amy Trask.
“Other times, his vision was mean and nasty: When the Raiders played in Los Angeles between 1982 and 1994, they used what was formerly El Segundo Middle School as their headquarters. When they left town, the place had been trashed so badly, millions of dollars from a bond issue was required to bring it up to code and turn it back into a school. Neighbors throughout the town openly celebrated the departure of an organization steeped in arrogance and deceit.
“Think about this. Al Davis is the only owner to bring a Super Bowl championship to Los Angeles, yet he died as one of the most reviled owners in the city’s history.
“In June 1995, I attended the Hollywood Park news conference in which the NFL, Inglewood and racetrack officials were going to announce a deal to build a stadium for Davis on that site. The water had already been poured into the glasses on the empty dais when the announcement suddenly changed. Davis decided he needed another $10 million, so the deal was off, and soon the team moved to Oakland.
“I was glad they were gone. I was glad Al Davis was gone. Watching the Raiders at the Coliseum, with the nightmarish tailgate parties and constant threat of fist fights in the stands, was no fun. Covering the Raiders, with front office employees who constantly attempted to bully the media the way Davis bullied them, was a terrible assignment.
“More than once, Davis would tug on my shirt sleeves and accuse me of attempting to undermine his team. The only time he ever smiled at me was when he uttered a truth that seemed to make him happy.
“ ‘I know you don’t like me, Plaschke,’ he said, grinning. ‘That’s OK. That’s OK.’
“He would rather be feared than loved, fought than embraced, and you’ll probably notice that in the wake of his death, every nice thing said about Al Davis will come from former Raiders. He took care of his own, and the heck with the rest of us….
“Without Al Davis, the Raiders could become an attractive mainstream property that would be easily embraced here. But without Al Davis, the Raiders will never again be the Raiders.”
The Raiders have just three winning seasons, 2000-2002, in the 15 years since returning to Oakland. The game had passed Al Davis by. The guy was a total ass. Ignore the few feel-good stories that are inevitably told of dead jerks.
But he was a great investor; I have to give him that. Evidently, when he acquired his 10% of the franchise it cost him all of $18,500. Today, Forbes magazine values the Raiders at $761 million. $18,500 to $76 million. Not too shabby.
NFL Recap
When you’re in the New York area, you grow up Mets-Jets, Yanks-Giants when it comes to loyalties. But as the former, while I hate the Yankees, I don’t exactly hate the Giants. The better they do the more fun it is owing to the huge media exposure, including sports talk radio in the region. Plus we’re forced to watch every Jets and Giants game each Sunday so who wouldn’t want to view the best possible product?
So I watched both Giants-Seahawks and Jets-Pats yesterday and what a shocking loss for the Giants, now 3-2, going down at home to Seattle, 36-25, as Eli Manning threw for a career best 420 yards but reverted to form in also throwing 3 picks and fumbling twice. Hopefully Victor Cruz, the surprise wideout, learned to be a little more humble after his big mistakes amidst his otherwise spectacular play.
As for the Jets, at least we showed up in losing to Brady and Co., 30-21, but the bottom line is we’re now 2-3. Talk about being humbled, see Rex Ryan.
Meanwhile, how fired up are Eagles fans?! Their Dream Team is 1-4! Oh baby, it doesn’t get any better than that! And how about the humongous contract they gave Michael Vick?! Bet they are fired up over that, too. Yeah, Vick had 415 yards total offense on Sunday, but he threw four interceptions as Philly lost to the now 4-1 Bills, 31-24.
Rookie Andy Dalton out of TCU is at the helm of now 3-2 Cincinnati, 30-20 winners over the pathetic Jaguars.
The Raiders beat the Texans, 25-20, to honor Al Davis. Again, I couldn’t give two (hoots).
Cam Newton has come down to earth the past few weeks and the Panthers, while more exciting than last year, are still just 1-4 as they go down to the Saints, 30-27.
Minnesota won its first game, 34-10, over Arizona, though no thanks to Donovan McNabb who continues to play like the backup QB for the Pottstown Firebirds.
Ben Roethlisberger had five touchdown passes in the Steelers’ 38-17 win over the Titans.
Tim Tebow got a chance to play in Denver but the Chargers prevailed, 29-24, to go 4-1 while the Broncos drop to 1-4.
And what’s this? While everyone is talking about the ‘upstart’ Lions and Bills, suddenly San Francisco is 4-1 after demolishing what was supposed to be a good Tampa Bay outfit, 48-3.
College Football Review…melding into College Basketball
Not a lot of excitement this week among the top-ranked teams and the schedule for next weekend sucks as well.
No. 1 LSU 41…No. 17 Florida 11
No. 2 Alabama 34…Vanderbilt 0
No. 3 Oklahoma 55…No. 11 Texas 17
No. 4 Wisconsin…idle, students drank heavily
No. 5 Boise State 57…Fresno State 7
No. 6 Oklahoma State 70…Kansas 28
No. 7 Stanford 48…Colorado 7
No. 8 Clemson 36…Boston College 14…BC thinking of dropping sport
So all the above are still undefeated, plus the following….
No. 12 Michigan 42…Northwestern Life, the quiet school, 24
No. 13 Georgia Tech 21…Maryland 16…Terps cannot suck enough
No. 19 Illinois 41…Indiana 20…Hoosiers’ sports program totally blows
No. 20 Kansas State 24…Missouri 17
Rutgers went to 4-1 in defeating a now 3-3 Pitt squad, 34-10.
Penn State went to 5-1 as they bored to death Iowa, 13-3, with Joe Paterno back upstairs where he belongs because it’s easier for him to take naps.
Georgia went to 4-2 in defeating Tennessee, 20-12. This is important because it still matters to Boise State that if they are to have any shot at the national title, Georgia has to do very well the rest of the way, B.S. having defeated them opening week in their only true contest all year. [I promise not to mention this again for another two days.]
Colgate goes to 3-3 in defeating Monmouth, the latter best known for the Battle of Monmouth during the Revolutionary War, the battlefield for which I really need to get down to and combine with some horse racing at Monmouth Park and then a bacchanalia at the nearby beach afterwards.
But then you had two exciting ACC contests. Here in my viewing area, we only caught the last seven minutes or so of Virginia Tech’s thrilling win over Miami, 38-35, as Hokies QB Logan Thomas came into his own in going a sterling 23-25, 310, 3 TDs, plus 2 TDs rushing. [Miami’s play calling was hideous at the end.]
And then there are my Wake Forest Demon Deacons. After that incredibly depressing opening week loss at Syracuse, with the Deacs blowing a big lead late, there was zero cause for optimism among us fans. I, like everyone else, labeled the ‘Cuse loss one of the most devastating in the school’s history.
Well now they are 4-1 after upsetting No. 22 Florida State at home, 35-30, behind our soph quarterback Tanner Price, who is in all honesty playing super. 10 TD passes, only two interceptions, and very smart decision-making. [Thanks to ESPN3, I’ve seen all our games.]
But to show you just how dreadful Wake football has been over the years (except for our bowl run of recent vintage), this is the first time the Deacs have started off 3-0 in conference play. Amazing. Next up at home…Virginia Tech. Suddenly, the season has gotten very, very interesting.
[One other item…our prime receiver, Chris Givens, is playing as well as anyone in the country. Yes, the Deaconwear is back out, starting with my sporty WF cap.]
New AP Top Ten Poll…zero change
1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. Oklahoma
4. Wisconsin
5. Boise State…not moving a single notch higher rest of season*
6. Oklahoma State
7. Stanford
8. Clemson
9. Oregon
10. Arkansas
*Even when those above them lose, those behind will pass them.
And the other remaining undefeateds…
11. Michigan
12. Georgia Tech
16. Illinois
17. Kansas State
25. Houston
So…with this coming week’s schedule totally sucking wind, save for Wake-VT (seriously), what do we have to look forward to?
The two biggies, as of today, on paper are Nov. 5, LSU-Alabama…wish I was there to check out the (oh, never mind…)
Wisconsin does not play Michigan and finishes its year with Illinois and Penn State.
In other words, before we get to the conference championship contests, there will be more clarity but we’re setting up for a huge BCS controversy. Easily 4 or 5 remaining undefeateds after the Dec. 10 action is my guess.
Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee, one of the true jerks on the planet, said the school is doing all the right things in regards to following rules.
“We are the poster child for compliance, and whenever we discover a possible infraction, we resolve and report it to the NCAA, no matter how minor the violation.”
Further infractions came to light last week, resulting in additional player suspensions. Gee is such an ass.
TCU is reneging on its agreement to join the Big East and will become part of the Big 12, as it long should have been. Now the Big East consists of Rutgers, UConn, West Virginia, Louisville, Cincinnati and South Florida (following the departure of Pitt and Syracuse). Uh oh. As John Feinstein of the Washington Post writes:
“Adding Army and Navy might be good for the league’s academic image, but the other teams mentioned as possible replacements – East Carolina, Central Florida and Temple – bring very little to the table. Do you think any TV network is going to go chasing after the rights to the annual East Carolina-Temple matchup?”
Feinstein’s solution to the Big East’s woes is for the remaining Big East basketball schools – Georgetown, St. John’s, Villanova, Seton Hall, Providence, DePaul and Marquette – “to break off and start their own basketball conference similar to the one (Dave) Gavitt dreamed up more than 30 years ago. If Notre Dame decided to hang on to football independence, it can join in, too. If the league wants to add two more really good basketball schools, it can go after Xavier, Dayton or Richmond, or add a second Philadelphia team, Saint Joseph’s.
“None of those 12 schools play FBS football right now. Each has a great basketball history and there are plenty of longtime rivalries that already exist among them. If the FBS football schools want to cling to the notion that they might still share in the BCS money by expanding, that’s fine. Losing Connecticut, West Virginia and Louisville as basketball schools would be too bad, but all three might be getting ready to jump ship anyway. If the ACC knocked on any of those doors, the three presidents would have their gym bags packed in about five minutes.”
Feinstein has a great idea. He then recommends Georgetown grad William Jefferson Clinton, class of ’68, as the man to get it done. Hell, the guy who can it done is John Feinstein, with his passion for the game, connections and common-sense ideas.
While we’re on the topic of college basketball…Sporting News took a look at a possible top ten draft next year. [Sadly, the NBA will eventually get its act together.]
1. Harrison Barnes, F, Soph., North Carolina
2. Jared Sullinger, PF, Soph., Ohio State
3. Andre Drummond, C, Fr., UConn
4. Anthony Davis, PF, Fr., Kentucky
5. Perry Jones, F/C, Soph., Baylor
6. James McAdoo, PF, Fr., North Carolina
7. Austin Rivers, G, Fr., Duke
8. John Henson, PF, Jr., North Carolina
9. Quincy Miller, F, Fr., Baylor
10. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, SF, Fr., Kentucky
In case you were wondering, UConn fans, Jeremy Lamb was No. 11.
Of course any fan of the sport already knows North Carolina is going to run the table. I hate to say it, but the season is over before it starts. On to baseball, 2012 edition.
Talkin’ Baseball
As for 2011…Thursday and Friday’s three Game 5s were certainly more than entertaining.
“The Four Aces were trumped on Friday night by a pack of face Cards. In the annals of upsets, this 1-0 St. Louis win over Philadelphia to capture their National League Division Series will stand high for coast-to-coast incredulity.
“But, in a broader sense, this ruthlessly tense Game 5, with Chris Carpenter outdueling his buddy Roy Halladay, epitomizes the forces of astronomical expectation and crushing pressure that have led to spectacular collapses all over baseball in the last fortnight. We haven’t had a Fall Classic yet, but we have just seen the baseball season with the most classic falls.
“The louder the home crowd cheers, the more they wave their white towels, the more astronomically high the universal anticipation becomes that something will be accomplished that has rarely been seen, the harder it becomes to play the apparently straightforward game of baseball.
“For the past two weeks, we’ve watched as the panic attacks have reached an apex among baseball’s three most glamorous, talented and rich teams.
“It’s been gruesome but fascinating, cruel yet riveting. Only baseball brings public torture of the mighty to such a sustained excruciating pitch.
“First, Red Sox choke! But at least they brought it on themselves for a whole month. Then the Yankees choked on Thursday night in the Big Ballpark. But they’ve gotten old, their pitching’s thin and, for a decade, they’ve mastered the division series flop, executing that dive five times.
“But the Phillies, no, not the Aces, too. Can’t happen, won’t happen.
“It happened. Right down to slugger Ryan Howard, 2 for 19 in this series [Ed. Boswell had 2 for 20, but this was wrong], lying crumpled in the dirt at home plate, grabbing his leg, a symbol of pain, disbelief and failure, as his final weak groundball ended the Phils’ year.
“Now, almost unbelievably, in a defeat so narrow and harsh that it seems no team could merit it, the Phillies – with Halladay on the mound for eight superb innings while Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt watched – have been knocked out of the baseball postseason in the very first round.”
It really is astounding. Superior pitching almost always prevails in the postseason. Not this time.
As for Milwaukee, I’ve written before of Nyjer Morgan, and not in a flattering fashion. I guess the fans of Milwaukee, though, are into his little imp act even as he remains a true jerk. [Lots of jerks and a-holes to write about this time.] Sadly, Morgan had the winning hit on Friday in extra innings and then proceeded to say:
“It’s a lot, man. Basically just everything that I’ve had to overcome, just the stuff that people go out there and perceive about me, everything. Just all my haters. I just wanted to show them that I can play this game.”
Oh brother. But let’s move on to the Yankees, shall we? It’s too easy.
Mike Lupica of the Daily News has a great point in discussing the difference between the Yankees’ attitude and say that of Detroit manager Jim Leyland.
You see, everyone in the Yankee organization, from the top on down to the players, says the same thing…a season is a failure if they don’t win a World Series.
Lupica, after the Tigers had just eliminated the Yanks.
“But maybe the best quote of this long night had come…before the game, when Jim Leyland told everybody that he would be proud of his team if it went home to Detroit after Game 5 or proud if it went to Texas for the American League Championship Series.
“He never said that his season would be a failure or a disappointment if his team lost. They only talk like that around here, around the Yankees, who have won one World Series since 2000 and played in just one since 2003 and act as if they’re supposed to win every year or the sky will fall.
“Right. If the Tigers do better against the Rangers than the Yankees did last year, they’ll have played in more World Series in the last six years than Yankee teams on whom $1.2 billion dollars have been spent in that time.
“Lately the progression goes like this: Win World Series in 2009, lose ALCS in 2010, lose in first round in 2011. But Randy Levine, who never does too well trying to channel George Steinbrenner as much as he wants to act and sound like a boss (lower-case ‘b’), still called his team’s season ‘a bitter disappointment.’….
“Somehow (management) still talks as if it is 1996-2000 and Joe Torre is still the manager and the Yankees of that time – still working off a blueprint created by Gene Michael – always seemed to find a way to win the game they lost Thursday night to the Tigers.
“Only this team is not that team despite the way they always invoke the spirit of the dead Boss….
“(The) most dramatic thing the Yankees do, other than sign more free-agent stars, is change pitching coaches once in a while. They make the playoffs with amazing consistency, year after year. Make boatloads of money. Then they make the Series about as often as a lot of other people in baseball, even as they talk about how special they are. “
Among the team’s many offseason issues, they now have to re-negotiate with CC Sabathia because he will exercise his opt out clause with four years and $92 million remaining otherwise. This is really unbelievable. CC is a great pitcher, a true workhouse, but $23 million is more than enough! Yet he wants what the Yankees offered Cliff Lee, seven years at $146 million! You see how out of shape he was at season’s end?
Plus the Yankees are in the hole to A-Rod for another $143 million, the ridiculous deal that runs through 2017. And then there’s the $112 million owed Mark Teixeira through 2016. All three offer diminishing returns. Look at Teixeira. In his three years with the Yankees his batting average has gone .292, .256, .248. Sure, he hits homers and drives in 100, but this isn’t a guy worth $23 million per anymore.
Then again, as Bill Madden of the Daily News points out, at least Teixeira isn’t Carl Crawford, he of the escalating contract that tops out at $21 million in 2017, with Crawford just having churned out an on-base percentage of .289 for the Red Sox. Or the $45.75 million Boston owes John Lackey through 2014, he of the 6.14 ERA!
“Now, the check for 2011 arrives. Phillies, Yankees and Red Sox, that’ll be $536,846,820, please. In light of the last 10 days, no tip is required.
“The Yankees have now paid $2 billion over 11 years for one victory parade. The Red Sox look at names like John Lackey and Carl Crawford and wonder if they’ll be paying them forever or just until the crack of doom.
“And the Phillies just saw Ryan Howard crumple on the final out of their 1-0 loss to the Cards as they got booted out of October. As his five-year, $125 million contract extension kicks in, Howard, his team announced Saturday, has a torn Achilles’ tendon. [Ed. He’ll be out until May given a normal timetable for this injury.]
“It’s time for a cost-benefit rethink for teams with baseball aspirations.
“In particular, do the Nationals really want to go down anything remotely akin to the gilded path that’s been taken by their NL East rival Phillies?
“Take one look at Jayson Werth, a good player but one already attacked by his own $126 million contract, and their answer should be ‘No.’
“Soon after the Nats signed Werth, one of baseball’s most successful executives said: ‘Do you know what this means? Once you start down that road, how many teams ever turn back? Now, they almost have to extend Ryan Zimmerman. What’s that, $100 million? Then they have to put a team around them or none of it makes sense. They just crossed their Rubicon.’
“But, sometimes, you should slow down. For the Nats, now is that time. When $100 million names such as Jose Reyes, Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder, who don’t really match the Nats’ current needs, are mentioned, just say, ‘Pass.’ When pretty-good pitchers like C.J. Wilson are coveted simply because they’re the best of what’s in stock, say, ‘Nope.’”
It’s really a fascinating discussion in baseball these days. Just put all the above noted contracts on the table, grab a few beers, and then play GM. What do you do these days? As Thomas Boswell goes on to write, of course, the Nationals are committed to paying huge dollars to Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper, but what of the others? All the bigger market teams have this dilemma. The smaller guys, though, never had a shot at the so-called stars in the first place. Ergo, when you begin to ‘game’ things out, this off-season is going to be quite telling. I’m not so sure Reyes and Pujols, for starters, leave. The hoped for free agent riches might not be there after all.
One other baseball item…the Chicago White Sox, in a surprise move, named Robin Ventura to replace Ozzie Guilen at manager. Ventura is one of the good guys in the sport, but he has zero managing experience. His first project should be trying to get into Adam Dunn’s head.
Sporting News, as part of its 125th anniversary celebration, gave its list of the Top 10 Drivers in NASCAR history.
1. David Pearson! What have I been telling you all these years? ‘David Pearson is one of the more underrated, unknown greats in American sports history.’
“Richard Petty won more races – a lot more races. Petty won more championships, seven to Pearson’s three titles, too.
“Dale Earnhardt won seven titles. Jimmie Johnson has five, Jeff Gordon has four, and Johnson and Gordon are still polishing their resumes.
“Richard Petty is the King. Pearson is the Silver Fox. To a king, you genuflect. With a fox, you admire his craft and cunning, but you don’t treat him like royalty.
“So there must be a good reason Pearson is widely considered the greatest driver ever to sit behind the wheel of a stock car – by those who watched him race and those who raced against him. And by 23 panelists, including Hall of Famers, drivers, owners, crew chiefs, industry insiders and media members, who filled out ballots for Sporting News.
“Actually, there are many reasons, and not all are decipherable from a stat sheet or race report.
“Late in a race, there was no driver more feared than Pearson. Not Petty. Not Earnhardt. Not Cale Yarborough. Not Bobby Allison. No one.”
Pearson won 18.3% of his starts, 105 races in all and No. 1 among drivers with 500 or more starts. He had 95 fewer wins than Richard Petty but ran in 611 fewer races.
2. Richard Petty
3. Dale Earnhardt
4. Jeff Gordon
5. Cale Yarborough
6. Darrell Waltrip
7. Jimmie Johnson
8. Bobby Allison
9. Junior Johnson
10. Lee Petty
Stuff
[Some of this is just catching up…and making sure I get the items down for the archives.]
–When I was in Ireland, there was a lot of buzz among the locals about the nation’s performance in Rugby’s World Cup, but, alas, they did not advance to the semis in New Zealand for the first time ever as Wales beat them in the quarterfinals. So, it’s…
Wales, France, Australia and New Zealand.
England was knocked off by France in a big upset. [Not that I follow the sport at all but this was an unexpected result given England’s past success in the tourney.]
And herewith a first for Bar Chat. World Cup winners!
1987…New Zealand
1991…Australia
1995…South Africa
1999…Australia
2003…England
2007…South Africa
–So I haven’t heard anyone complaining about the lack of an NBA preseason yet. The owners now want a 50-50 split of revenues. The players reject that. Under the expired collective bargaining agreement, players were guaranteed 57 percent of basketball-related income (BRI) and have proposed lowering it to 53. On Monday, Commissioner David Stern will likely cancel the first two weeks of the regular season.
Each BRI percentage point is worth about $40 million, so the sides remain some $120 million apart.
Mitch Lawrence of the Daily News noted that the players still don’t get it.
“Example: when Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade hit Tenjune’s for a party after Wade had his little showdown with Stern during a negotiating session last Friday, and ordered 12 bottles of Ace of Spades champagne at $2,000 a pop, according to the Daily News’ Gatecrasher, they sent a message that they aren’t particularly concerned about losing paychecks.
“No wonder the third member of their party, LeBron James, told owners that he’d be willing to sit out a season rather than take a bad deal. Why? Because he can afford to.
“If the players want to throw around that kind of money on the bubbly, they’re going to lose the public relations battle, even if it’s the owners who have been pleading poverty all along in the labor dispute.
“You know who knows that, more than anyone else? David Stern.”
“When I ask friends in Washington, ‘What would you do without the NBA for a whole year?’ they usually reply, ‘We’re Wizards fans; we already have.’
“Or they look at me strangely, as if I asked, ‘What would you do if your life was so destitute and boring you had to stay up and watch the Clippers and the Bucks after midnight in November?’
“If I’m a lawyer for the players association and a deal is somehow struck at some point to avert the cancellation of the entire season, I would insist on language that says the next collective bargaining agreement does not expire July 1 but instead on or about June 10. Right in the middle of a riveting NBA Finals, when both sides might actually have some leverage with the American public.
“Because most of us don’t care that Jerry Buss and James Dolan and Ted Leonsis and their super-rich owner peers can’t figure a way to divvy up $4.3 billion with Kobe, Carmelo and JaVale McGee. Most of us don’t watch until Christmas Day and then we don’t pay serious attention again until after the NBA All-Star Game, about the time the playoff races become meaningful.
“When NBA Commissioner David Stern announced Tuesday that the league will have no choice but to lop off the season’s first two weeks by Monday – adding that no further talks have been scheduled – the collective thought among most fans probably fell between ‘So what’ and ‘Let me know when you cancel the playoffs.’….
“The only thing worse than millionaires and billionaires unable to agree on a piece of the pie in this sorry American economy is an overinflated sense of your own worth. No one outside the NBA bubble gives a damn about your fight – or, in some places, whether you even have a season….
“Wake us when you have an agreement. If not, beat it. We’ve got other things to watch, to do and worry about – like our own non-guaranteed livelihoods.”
–Sporting News had its annual list of greatest sports cities…and the winner is…
2. Boston
3. Philadelphia
4. Chicago + Evanston
5. New York
—Rickie Fowler won his first professional golf title, though it was the Korea Open, a six-stroke victory over Rory McIlroy. No doubt these two received huge appearance money (which the PGA Tour has never allowed though everyone else does) but nonetheless an important first step for Fowler.
–For the mothers out there. Jan Haas, mother of Bill, on him winning the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup.
“It’s much, much more nerve-racking with your child. As a mom, you want to make everything right for your child. You hate for them to be hurt. You don’t want them to be hurt or upset. It’s harder for me. There’s something about your husband, you say, ‘They can do it, they can handle it.’ There’s something about your little one, you want their life to be what they want it to be. You want all their dreams to come true from the time you’re rocking them in the rocking chair.”
And so 29 years after little Billy was rocked to sleep, he won $1.44 million for winning the Tour Championship and $10 million for the FedEx Cup bonus. As Ronald Reagan would have said, “Not bad, not bad at all.” Job well done, Jan and Jay.
–Good lord…did you see the YouTube video of the matador in Spain being gored in the face? If you didn’t, word to the wise…don’t watch it! From Tina Moore of the Daily News:
“A bull brutally gored a matador on Friday, tearing through the man’s jaw and pushing out his eyeball as spectators watched in horror.
“ ‘I can’t see, I can’t see anything,’ Juan Jose Padilla, 39, shouted as he was rushed out of the ring while bleeding profusely and cupping his protruding eye.”
Well, that’s enough for today, I think you’d agree. Padilla had five hours of surgery and will likely have facial paralysis, plus the loss of the eye.
–I missed this one when I was away, but we note the passing of former NFLer and author Peter Gent, whose best-selling novel “North Dallas Forty” was one of the first books to shed a light on the seamy side of professional sports, in his case the NFL. Nick Nolte played a role in the 1979 film version drawing on Gent’s career. Gent’s book included characters based in part on the likes of Don Meredith and Coach Tom Landry. It told of players abusing drugs and alcohol to deal with their pain. Coaches and management were not portrayed in a good light either.
Gent was actually a fair basketball player out of Michigan State but was only a 14th-round selection by the Baltimore Bullets so he tried out for the Cowboys, who thought he had good hands. In 1966, his best season, he caught 27 passes for 474 yards but was frequently injured. Gent’s career was over shortly thereafter, but not before the Cowboys shot him up with Novocain after he had three ribs knocked off his spine that did permanent damage to several vertebrae, as he told the New York Times in 1983.
1. New Hampshire!
2. Montana
3. North Dakota
4. South Dakota
5. Nevada
Having been to South Dakota numerous times, I can tell you I’m personally responsible for, well, this is kind of embarrassing, actually…but let’s just say I’ve had my fair share in the state and the good people there know I’m the reason they are a 4 instead of a 5.
Least beer consumed…
1. Utah
2. Connecticut…Hey, Jeff B.! Get your fellow nutmeggers with the program!
3. New York
4. New Jersey…D’oh! I…just…don’t…understand…this…
5. Maryland
Biggest consumers of beer, worldwide…
1. Czech Republic…I have some Czech in me
2. Ireland…have contributed mightily in my 19 trips here
3. Austria…huh, didn’t think I had that much sway in my two trips here last ten years
4. Germany…did a good job a few years ago
5. Romania…did a very good job here in 2006
6. Poland…ah yes, it was 1999 and…
7. Venezuela…haven’t been here…nothing to do with ranking
8. Britain…didn’t make a huge impact in my trip here in ’99…just being honest
9. Finland…see Venezuela
10. Belgium…ditto
15. U.S. ….all over it….
Top Beer Companies in the U.S.
1. Anheuser-Busch InBev…47.9% market share
2. MillerCoors…28.9%
Yuengling…1%…really, that’s pretty damn strong! 2,159,000 barrels shipped in 2010. Anheuser-Busch InBev…101,725,000
Soft drinks…44.7 gallons per person in 2010 [haven’t had a soda in at least ten years]
Bottled water…28.3
Beer…20.7
Milk…20.6
Coffee…18.5
Wine…2.3
Liquor…1.5
–Speaking of beer, like Duff, “The Simpsons” was renewed for two more seasons by Fox, thus ending a contract dispute. That will be seasons 24 and 25! What’s amazing is that voice actors Harry Shearer, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith and Hank Azaria have been together so long. I mean, gee, not to wish anyone bad luck, but stuff happens in life, you know?
Each actor makes a reported $8 million a year for their work on the program and they have now agreed to take a 30% pay cut, which was less than the 45% the producers initially demanded. The actors have never participated in the syndication and marketing dollars and still won’t.
Harry Shearer had the right attitude. “We’ve had a great run and no one should feel sorry for any of us.”
–Couldn’t care less about the Hank Williams Jr. fiasco and “Monday Night Football.” Generally don’t even watch the game if the match-up sucks. Will check out the Lions tonight, though.
—I never knew this about running. From Runner’s World’s Jayme Moye:
“Many long-distance runners report developing colds and other upper-respiratory infections (a.k.a. the ‘marathon sniffles’) in the two weeks following a race, according to various surveys and studies. But isn’t running supposed to make you healthy? While 30 to 45 minutes of moderate daily exercise does stimulate the immune system, the rigors of running longer distances temporarily weakens it.”
Come to think of it I do feel (expletive deleted) after longer distances than when I just do 3-4 miles. It seems:
“Long, slow runs (90 minutes or more) use slow-twitch muscle fibers, which feed on simple sugars, the same fuel as the immune system.”
So it’s a battle between the exercising muscles and the immune system.
“I can virtually guarantee this one is off the air after 8 or 9 episodes.”
What was I referring to? NBC’s “The Playboy Club.” Not a bad call. It lasted 3.
—Lady Antebellum’s new album, “Own the Night,” led the Billboard Top 40 Albums chart after selling 347,000 copies in Week One, the biggest country debut this year.
–It appears the remaining original Beach Boys will reunite for a final tour.
“In Capitol Records’ giant Studio A in Los Angeles this summer, the surviving Beach Boys – Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston – gathered around a microphone and, for the first time in two decades, harmonized on a track. The song was, appropriately enough, a rerecording of their stomping 1968 hit ‘Do It Again.’ ‘Even the veteran sound engineers were moved,’ says Jardine. ‘Not all of us are left, but there are still enough of us for that vibration to come through.’
The band is releasing the Smile Sessions Nov. 1 and they are looking to do maybe 100 concerts both here and abroad. Jardine, more than Wilson, has really been the missing piece for a reunion as there were countless suits over the use of the Beach Boys’ name.
But, not all wounds have been healed. Wilson, in a recent interview, was asked if he was looking forward to the 50th anniversary tour. “Not particularly,” he said. “I don’t really like working with the guys.” Uh oh.
–For once I side with Michael Jackson’s siblings… Jermaine, Randy and Janet…who skipped Saturday’s tribute concert to their brother in Wales because they were reportedly upset it was held during the murder trial.
–We note the passing of Roger Williams, 87. He was the pianist who took familiar tunes like “Autumn Leaves” and “Born Free” and turned them into hit recordings in the 1950s and ‘60s. Seven of his singles made it onto the Billboard Top 40 list and he recorded an amazing 100 albums. Music historian Joseph Lanza wrote in 1994 that Williams “virtually transformed the piano into a harp.”
Williams himself had a simple philosophy, as he told the Christian Science Monitor in 1970.
“If a song’s lyrics say, ‘I love you,’ then I mean just that when I play the notes. The audience, live or at home, can sense if an artist really means what he plays. I purposely choose music which is warm and which I know I can get across. I know myself.”
When you listen to the guy’s music, the above is spot on. He was an American original, a great success story.
[But don’t worry about me, kids. Roger Williams didn’t quite make the cut among my car CD selections.]
Top 3 songs for the week 10/7/67: #1 “The Letter” (The Box Tops…not a fan) #2 “Never My Love” (The Association…big fan) #3 “Ode To Billie Joe” (Bobby Gentry…has held up well)…and…#4 “Come Back When You Grow Up” (Bobby Vee…OK) #5 “Little Ole Man (Uptight-Everything’s Alight)” (Bill Cosby…ah, the 60s…when stuff like this could sneak in) #6 “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher” (Jackie Wilson) #7 “Reflections” (Diana Ross and The Supremes) #8 “Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie” (Jay and The Techniques…good one) #9 “How Can I Be Sure” (The Young Rascals…great tune…another reason why they are Bill Murray’s favorite group) #10 “Gimme Little Sign” (Brenton Wood…one of the more underrated tunes of all time)
College Football Quiz Answer: Three ACC schools with a longer wait for a conference championship than Clemson.
Duke, 1989 (last title)
North Carolina, 1980
N.C. State, 1979
