Golf Quiz: Name the nine to have 40 or more PGA Tour titles. Answer below.
Idiot of the Year
I thought Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino was an early-season favorite for taking home the Idiot hardware at year end, but then Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen burst on the scene last weekend, as I exercised my ‘wait 24 hours’ rule just to see what his excuse might be for saying in a TIME magazine piece that he loved Fidel Castro. Was it possible Ozzie was misinterpreted? Nope, we learned by Monday morning, let alone his press conference on Tuesday, despite his pleas to the contrary. [I post Monday’s Bar Chat on Sunday night.]
Guillen was suspended for five games, starting Tuesday, and as a team of reporters at the Miami Herald put it:
“Guillen said he felt like he had betrayed the Latin American community, especially Cuban Americans, and repeatedly asked for forgiveness ‘with my heart in my hand and on bended knees.’
“Guillen said his published statement about Castro was misinterpreted.
“ ‘It was misinterpreted by what I mean in Spanish,’ he said. Guillen said he was trying to say that he couldn’t believe that someone who has hurt so many ‘is still in power’ and added he did not share Castro’s ideology.
“Regardless, the Marlins acknowledged the ‘seriousness of the comments’ attributed to Guillen.
“ ‘The pain and suffering caused by Fidel Castro cannot be minimized, especially in a community filled with victims of the dictatorship,’ the team said in Tuesday’s statement.
“Guillen said he accepts his five-game suspension and added he would not resign.
But it’s not that simple. Marlins management hired Ozzie to be the face of the franchise; a man capable of relating to the strong Cuban-American fan base there, with the new ballpark located in Little Havana itself.
At the news conference, Guillen also denied ever saying “Viva Chavez,” even though he did indeed say that as seen in a YouTube video.
A small group of protesters outside Marlins Park, where the press conference was, shouted, “Liar, liar,” afterwards.
“There are so many good people in the country. We could get anyone,” said Elena Soutullo, who added five games wasn’t enough “because the offense is too big.”
“We don’t need a guy like that teaching our children that kind of behavior. I won’t allow my children, grandchildren, to watch the games if he stays.”
Guillen has insulted more than a few people in his nine seasons as manager. He’s managed to get away with his prior comments, such as an anti-gay slur, by offering apologies after the fact.
“Not even Guillen could hug the third rail of Miami discourse – praising Cuban leader Fidel Castro – without paying a steep price.”
Local politicians will have a field day going after such an easy target in an election year. Calls for his resignation I imagine will only grow, but the Marlins appear to be waiting to see if they die down as the team is on the road during the suspension.
“I respect Fidel Castro,” TIME reported Guillen as saying after starting off saying he loved him. “You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but that mother f—-r is still here.”
Marlins president David Samson said, “We believe in him. We believe in his apology. We believe everybody deserves a second chance.”
Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig supported the Marlins’ decision to suspend Guillen, calling his remarks “offensive to an important part of the Miami community and others throughout the world” and “have no place in our game….I expect those who represent Major League Baseball to act with the kind of respect and sensitivity that the game’s many cultures deserve.”
“Before Guillen apologized to Cuban Americans on Tuesday, and apologized to women four years ago and to the gay community six years ago, baseball needed to apologize for letting Ozzie be Ozzie. And afterward, it needed to send him away, perhaps into an alcohol treatment program.
“Baseball managers are allowed to have potty mouths – otherwise, Earl Weaver and Tommy Lasorda never would have gotten jobs – but Guillen always took filthy to the nth power.
“In 2006, Guillen used a gay slur to describe a Chicago columnist. In 2008, in an attempt to motivate themselves out of a slump, the White Sox decorated their clubhouse with two inflatable dolls, inserted a bat into one to prop it up and then hung a sign over the display that read, ‘You’ve Got to Push.’ When some questioned whether such behavior was appropriate, Guillen never understood why anyone would be offended….
“Lost in the Fidel furor were these Guillen comments to a CBS reporter last Thursday, regarding what he does in his managerial down time: ‘I go to the hotel bar, get drunk, sleep,’ he said. ‘I don’t do anything else. I get drunk because I’m happy we win or I get drunk because I’m very sad and disturbed because we lose. Same routine, it never changes.’….
“Major League Baseball does so much homework with its Jugs guns and scouting departments. Teams scour the nooks and crannies of the Americas to find the best young prospects. So how can teams be so tone-deaf when giving managerial jobs to loose cannons, who at best are high-stakes gambles and at worst clownish embarrassments?
“Guillen had earlier said he has never spoken to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, but in fact appeared on Chavez’s national radio show twice in October 2005, when Gillen was the toast of Chicago’s South Side while leading the White Sox to their first World Series title since 1917. After the last game, he was seen taking photographs holding the Venezuelan flag while appearing to yell, ‘Viva Chavez!’….
“Think about it: Of all cities to manage a baseball team for $10 million over four years, Miami is the one Guillen decided to drop an ‘I love Fidel’ bomb on?…You can’t make up cluelessness like that….
“There was a time to make a stand against Ozzie Guillen, but it was years before Tuesday, when his bad vaudeville act began to obliterate barriers of taste and decency….
“When are baseball and its gatekeepers – some of whom held microphones Tuesday – going to apologize for letting Ozzie Guillen and his big mouth stick around this long to begin with?”
Bobby Petrino…the other Idiot
I won’t belabor a story I covered last time but Arkansas fired Petrino, saying he “knowingly misled” and engaged in reckless behavior in an inappropriate relationship with a 25-year-old former Arkansas volleyball player and fundraiser that he had just hired days before. Jessica Dorrell was then a passenger when Petrino had an accident on his motorcycle.
But what we’ve learned since my last bit on this story is that Petrino not only misled school officials, including athletic director Jeff Long, saying initially no one else was involved in the accident, but Petrino also gave Dorrell $20,000 at one point, though Long didn’t disclose what it was for.
Petrino was fired “with cause,” meaning he receives no multimillion-dollar buyout.
So Bobby has lots of free time to patch things up with his wife and four kids. It’s going to be a joyful time, don’t you think?
As for the Razorbacks, they have a legitimate shot at the national title this coming season, with quarterback Tyler Wilson, a Heisman candidate, and eight starters returning on defense, plus as the New York Times’ Pete Thamel points out, both Alabama and LSU have to play Arkansas in Fayetteville.
Remember, it’s the same Petrino who could not have handled his stint as an NFL coach in Atlanta worse, leaving with three games to go in his first season in 2007 to take the job at Arkansas.
DeAngelo Hall, a former Falcons defensive back, said last weekend: “Trouble always follows him, and it’s mostly by the decisions he’s made. He’s a clown. I have a 10-year-old son and I would never, ever send him to a college to play for a coach or a person like Petrino.”
And then there’s Baylor…where both the men’s and women’s basketball programs are in serious trouble with the NCAA following an investigation that uncovered more than 1,200 impermissible phone calls and text messages during a 29-month span. Men’s coach Scott Drew and women’s coach Kim Mulkey, and their assistants, were all involved. The problems apparently began with the recruiting of women’s superstar Brittney Griner. Baylor acknowledged the investigation. When you read some of the details, it’s a mess. Just blatantly illegal stuff. The school thus far has self-imposed some penalties, such as restrictions on recruiting and the loss of scholarships (two for the women, one for the men) but the NCAA will come down even harder.
According to the New York Times’ Pete Thamel, the infractions are so serious, Baylor’s women could lose the national title they just picked up last week.
Ball Bits
–Yankee hurler Freddy Garcia became just the seventh pitcher in history to record five wild pitches or more in a regular season game since 1918 on Tuesday in the Yanks 5-4 win over Baltimore. Ken Howell (Philadelphia) was the last to do so in 1989. Garcia was pulled before he could tie the all-time record of six. [Derek Jeter led off the game with a home run, the 25th time he has done so, giving him the most in Yankee history.]
“It was 50 years ago today [April 11] that a gaggle of mostly veteran ballplayers took the field in St. Louis for the New York Metropolitan Baseball Club’s first regular-season game.
“They lost, 11-4 – the first of a record 120 games they dropped that inaugural season.
“No matter: Five years after the Dodgers and Giants left the city for California, National League baseball was back.
“And it didn’t even matter that the team stunk – or, as manager Casey Stengel famously moaned, ‘Can’t anybody here play this game?’
“New Yorkers loved their Mets.
“Not until 1969 did the team finally have a winning season – but that was the year of the Miracle: They won 100 games and the World Series, and the city went wild.
“Since then, the Mets have won another Series and two other pennants.
“They’ve given their fans such immortal players: Tom Seaver, Doc Gooden, Nolan Ryan, Gary Carter, Darryl Strawberry, Mike Piazza, Keith Hernandez and John Franco.
“The teams’ history also is replete with some of baseball’s most memorable moments, like Mookie Wilson’s ground ball scooting through Bill Buckner’s legs in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.
“Sadly, it’s been a dozen years since the Mets were in the Series and more than a quarter-century since they brought home the title.
“But true fans know the glory days will not remain a distant memory forever.
“So here’s to the New York Mets and their first 50 years. May the next 50 be just as memorable.”
–Long-time reporter/author Jimmy Breslin wrote a book on the 1962 Mets, “Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?” and the other day he told the New York Times one of his favorite stories of that year.
“In a game against the Cubs, Chicago’s Don Landrum found himself in a rundown between first base and second. [Marv] Throneberry was part of a posse of Mets chasing him down.
“ ‘The only trouble,’ Breslin wrote, ‘was that Marvin did not have the ball.’
“But he did not get out of Landrum’s way and was called for obstruction.
“Then, in the bottom half of that inning, Marv whacked what appeared to be a triple.
“ ‘As usual, Marv had that wonderful running action,’ Breslin wrote. But Throneberry didn’t touch first; then he didn’t touch second. He hitched up his belt and listened to the crowd cheer for him.
“Ernie Banks called for the ball at first base, stepped on the bag, and Throneberry was called out.
In his review of “Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?” in the New York Times, Charles Poore wrote: “Here is one of the most imaginative spoofs of the year. Jimmy Breslin has invented a fabulous baseball club he calls the Mets.”
–The Dodgers celebrated the 50th birthday of Chavez Ravine on Tuesday, but the crowd shuddered when told 84-year-old broadcaster Vin Scully wasn’t in attendance as he was home suffering from a cold. There was a collective “Ohhhh” when the 56,000 in attendance were informed, as reported by the Los Angeles Times’ Bill Plaschke. Then Scully’s image was flashed on the scoreboard and he got the loudest and longest ovation of anyone.
Plaschke, by the way, had this description of Chavez Ravine during the game, a 2-1 victory over the Pirates. [That’s a great old time match-up, I just have to add.]
“Thank goodness Walter O’Malley couldn’t have seen the bowels of the stadium during the rest of the game, because it resembled a nightmare. There were endless concession lines, claustrophobic concourses, dirty bathrooms, horrible conditions even for a crowded home opener. The stadium’s face may still be pretty, but the 50th birthday party served as a reminder that its insides have not aged well. [Ed. Kind of like Fenway and Wrigley, seems to me.]
Separately, L.A.’s Andre Ethier turned 30 on Tuesday, as well, and he celebrated by hitting what proved to be a game-winning home run in the eighth-inning. Ethier is a free agent at the end of the season and Matt Kemp is pressing the team’s new ownership to sign him to an extension; Kemp having signed an 8-year, $160 million deal himself last November.
–The L.A. Times’ Dylan Hernandez gave the paper’s list of the “10 Most Memorable Moments in the History of Dodger Stadium.” Among them:
1. Kirk Gibson’s home run…Oct. 15, 1988…down to their final out, trailing the heavily favored Oakland A’s in Game 1 of the World Series, manager Tom Lasorda “summoned a sick and injured Kirk Gibson to face American League saves leader Dennis Eckersley.
“Gibson had injuries to both legs and was bothered by a stomach virus, but he hobbled to the plate after Mike Davis had worked a two-out walk.
“After falling behind 0-2, Gibson worked the count full. Then, remembering scout Mel Didier’s observation that Eckersley liked to throw backdoor sliders to left-handed hitters in such situations, Gibson muscled a 3-2 pitch into the right-field pavilion.
“As Gibson limped around the bases, pumping his fist, Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully famously said, ‘In the year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened.’
“The Dodgers won the game, 5-4, and the series, 4-1. It was Gibson’s only at-bat in the Series.
“Through seven innings, neither the Dodgers nor Chicago Cubs had a hit as Koufax was locked in a duel with Bob Hendley, who had only recently been promoted from the minor leagues.
“Koufax struck out 14 and finished the game with a flourish, striking out the last six batters he faced. Harvey Kuenn, who made the final out in Koufax’s 1963 no-hitter, made the final out.
“There were only two baserunners in the game – still a record.”
It was Koufax’s fourth no-hitter, and only perfect game…the only perfect game in Dodgers history.
3. April 9, 1981…Fernandomania begins…phenomenon starts on opening day when Fernando Valenzuela, a pudgy 20-year-old rookie left-hander from Mexico, drew the starting assignment because veterans Jerry Reuss and Burt Hooton were injured.
“Valenzuela responded by shutting out the Houston Astros, 2-0, the beginning of a season in which he would become the only player in major league history to win the rookie-of-the-year and Cy Young awards in the same year. The Dodgers also won the World Series.
Because of his legacy, Dodger Stadium became a melting pot. About 40% of the team’s fan base is now Latino.
6. April 25, 1976…Rick Monday, a center fielder for the Chicago Cubs, watched as a couple of protesters unfolded a flag in shallow left field and doused it with lighter fluid. When Monday realized what was happening, he ran over. One of the protesters lighted a match, but the wind blew it out. Right as a second match was being lit, Monday snatched away the flag.
“The fans in the stadium broke into an impromptu rendition of ‘God Bless America.’ When Monday approached the plate for his at-bat the following inning, the scoreboard flashed the message, ‘RICK MONDAY…YOU MADE A GREAT PLAY.’ The Dodgers acquired Monday, a former Marine Corps reservist, at the end of the season.”
–And now…your EXCLUSIVE Bar Chat Predictions for the 2012 Baseball Season based on the first 4-6 games’ action. Our crack staff has been working 24/7 since opening day, refining the data and utilizing our proprietary software to bring you the best. For example:
Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish, he of the $51.7 million transfer fee from Japan, let alone the six-year contract for another $60 million, allowed 5 runs in 5 2/3 but picked up the victory so we can project that Darvish will finish the season 25-3 with a 7.63 ERA.
The Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw, who has allowed one run in 10 innings but has no decisions in his first two starts, will go 2-1 in 32 outings with a 0.84 ERA.
Kershaw’s teammates Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, however, who won’t hit during Kershaw’s starts, nonetheless have begun the season with three homers and nine RBI apiece in the team’s first five games. Bar Chat can thus project that these two will produce at a Mantle-Maris pace; actually, even better. Kemp will finish the season with 123 HR and 304 RBI, while Ethier will clout 89 roundtrippers with 287 ribbies. Kershaw, though, will be ripping his hair out as they combine for 16 RBI in his 32 starts.
For the Yankees, A-Rod is off to a .158 start (thru Tuesday), while Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson are both at .150. We can now project that A-Rod will hit .143 with 4 home runs and 9 RBI, while Teixeira finishes the year at .129 with 16 RBI and Granderson will improve to .168 with 9 homers and 10 RBI.
Teammate Derek Jeter, on the other hand, off to a flying .391 start (again, thru Tues.), will end the season at .402; one of the better stories of the year, I think you’d agree, though Jeter will only finish 8th in the batting race.
The A.L. batting title will be won by Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria, currently hitting .538, who will end up at .521. Meanwhile, Austin Jackson of the Tigers, now at .563, will go into a tailspin beginning May 5 and end the year at .167 while fanning 267 times.
The Red Sox’ Jacoby Ellsbury, 2 for his first 20, will have only three more hits the entire campaign…5 for 489 before he is finally released.
Kansas City’s Alex Gordon, off to a 0-for-17 start, will finish the year batting .115.
The Rangers’ Neftali Feliz, who was converted from the closer role to starter this season, threw seven scoreless the other night in picking up the win. Feliz will go 29-1 with a staggering 0.17 ERA. There’s your Cy Young winner. You can book it.
And the Angels’ Albert Pujols, with but one RBI early on, will drive in 16, which should bring out the boo-birds, to say the least, given Albert’s mammoth contract.
Back to the National League, Carlos Beltran, now of the Cards and off to a fine start with three home runs, but only 4 RBI, will lead the N.L. in homers with 78, but drive in only 87. Teammate David Freese, however, who has picked up where he left off from his hot playoff run last fall, has 3 homers and 10 RBI in St. Louis’ first six games. Bar Chat can now officially project Freese will hit 69 home runs and drive in a major league record 345. Freese will be your N.L. MVP winner.
My Mets won their first four but have major issues on offense and defense so I am upping my 2012 win total for the Metropolitans to just 47 from 43.
The Chicago Cubs, 1-4 thru Tuesday, will end up a dreadful 31-130 (one game not made up).
The Phillies, 1-3, will go just 70-92.
The Cardinals, 5-1, will end up 132-30 as the team hardly misses Pujols and Tony LaRussa.
The Boston Red Sox, 1-5, will finish 29-132, which will have Beantown in a state of mass depression. Good seats will at least be available, however.
Detroit, who I said would not make the playoffs due to injuries, has started out 4-0 and will indeed be 72-9 the first half of the season, but then go into a tailspin because of said injuries and win just 7 more the rest of the way. Cecil Fielder will weigh 467 lbs. by August 1st and require a forklift to bring him to the ballpark each day.
Finally, the Minnesota Twins, who really look like crap on paper and have started out that way, may not win more than 10 games all year. My staff is trying to refine this one. We can’t decide if it will be 10 or 11. I’ll let you know later.
NBA Playoff Chase [Thru Tuesday’s play…reminder, 66-game schedule this lockout shortened season]
7. Philadelphia 30-27
8. Knicks 29-28…posting before critical Knicks-Milwaukee contest, Wed.
9. Milwaukee 28-29
6. Houston 32-25
7. Dallas 32-26
8. Denver 31-26
9. Phoenix 30-27
10. Utah 30-28
April 14/15, 1912
“Dorothy Gibson – the 22-year-old silent film star – huddled in a lifeboat, dressed in only a short coat and sweater over an evening gown. She was beginning to shiver.
“Ever since it had been launched, at 12:45 a.m., Lifeboat 7 had remained stationed only 20 yards away from the Titanic in case it could be used in a rescue operation. Dorothy and her mother, Pauline, who had been traveling with her, had watched as lifeboat after lifeboat left the vessel, but by just after 2 o’clock it was obvious that the vast majority of its passengers would not be able to escape from the liner. Realizing that the ship’s sinking was imminent, lookout George Hogg ordered that Lifeboat 7 be rowed away from the Titanic. The risk of being sucked down was high, he thought, and so the passengers and crew manning the oars rowed as hard as they could across the pitch-black sea. Dorothy could not take her eyes off the ship, its bow now underwater, its stern rising up into the sky.
“ ‘Suddenly there was a wild coming together of voices from the ship and we noticed an unusual commotion among the people about the railing,’ she said. Then the awful thing happened, the thing that will remain in my memory until the day I die.’
“Dorothy listened as 1,500 people cried out to be saved, a noise she described as a horrific mixture of yells, shrieks and moans. This was counterpointed by a deeper sound emanating from under the water, the noise of explosions that she likened to the terrific power of Niagara Falls. ‘No one can describe the frightful sounds,’ she remembered later.”
–Among the players deciding to stay in school for another college basketball season are Indiana’s Cody Zeller, Duke’s Mason Plumlee, and Lehigh’s C.J. McCollum.
Needless to say there is some controversy over the NCAA’s early-decision deadline of April 10, and the NBA’s April 29 deadline. It is still possible that players like McCollum, who said he didn’t have enough time to figure out where he would go in the draft, thus the decision to stay one more year, could still submit their names by April 29 anyway.
You also have some big-name high school players who have purposefully waited until now to see how various rosters, such as Kentucky’s, clear out.
Among those who have declared since last chat are Kansas forward Thomas Robinson, who should be a monster off the boards in the NBA, and Baylor’s underachieving forward Perry Jones III.
–Former Charlotte coach, and teammate, Sam Vincent, blasted Bobcat owner Michael Jordan for essentially being lazy. As of Tuesday, Charlotte has lost 13 in a row and was 7-49 with ten games to go as it guns for the worst winning percentage of all time.
—Bubba Watson was on a whirlwind, 24-hour media tour of Manhattan, doing talk shows, CNBC, radio programs, the gamut. The Wall Street Journal’s John Paul Newport accompanied him to CNN, where Watson did a stint for “Piers Morgan Tonight.”
“ ‘Love the jacket!’ Morgan said when he met Watson in his office before the show. Watson posed in his green Masters blazer for a snapshot on Morgan’s cellphone, then said, ‘I wanted to do your show first because you’re such a pr—.’ This broke up the talk show host, as Watson intended. Watson said he loved the way Morgan put down untalented contestants as a judge on ‘Everybody’s Got Talent.’”
As he walked through Times Square between engagements, passersby shouted “Congratulations Bubba!” Watson seemed to enjoy it all.
I was going to write that I wondered how he’d handle sudden fame, as he’s a little different, to put it mildly (though in a likable way). I’d say now it would seem he’ll do just fine. It’s all about Bubba being Bubba.
“Golf is in desperate need of more compelling characters like Watson, but it needs them to win golf tournaments, too. This was the value of Watson’s Masters win Sunday: It had everything.
“Watson was not a cookie-cutter winner, a player who swings like everyone else, who acts like everyone else and who doesn’t allow the public to know who he is. He is a colorful, religious, off-centered personality who has never taken a lesson in his life and swings as hard as any player in golf.
“Watson is John Daly minus the booze, butts and the roster of exes wearing Rolexes. And he hits the ball farther than Daly. Considering Daly still has a massive cult following despite the fact he has become completely irrelevant in the game, you can see there’s a lot of room on the bus of stars for Watson.
“Watson has the potential to become one of the biggest stars in the game because he’s the entire package – difficult-to-fathom talent combined with a good story and humility. If you watched Watson’s press conference Sunday night you might have noticed he never referenced himself in a look-at-me selfish way; he always spoke reverently about those around him, crediting their respective roles in his success….
“Golf is one of the few major sports where the fans can get close to the players, look them in the eyes, even interact with them. Yet the game is desperate for more of its star players to allow the fans to reach out and touch them.
“No one does that better than Mickelson, which is why he’s the most revered figure in the game by the fans. The opposite end to that spectrum is Woods, who has an imaginary shark-infested moat surrounding his life so no one can get in.
“The door to Watson’s soul is not only always unlocked, it’s open to the public. As an example, his emotions spilled out in the press conference when he so intimately told reporters about the adoption ordeal he and his wife went through before getting a child last month.
“People love that. Even famous people, such as Woods and Tim Tebow, both of whom took to Twitter to praise Watson. Maybe Woods can learn a little something from Watson’s openness.”
–With the likes of Ozzie Guillen and Bobby Petrino already lined up for “Idiot and Dirtball of the Year” awards, the Mets’ Johan Santana could be in line for a Bar Chat “Good Guy” trophy as he is donating $100,000 to New York University Langone Medical Center to support research on melanoma. Yes, Santana has a lot of money, but his heart always seems to be in the right place.
–I always liked Lamar Odom, the now former Dallas Maverick best known for his play with the Lakers. On Monday the Mavs parted ways with Odom, by mutual agreement, and what’s puzzling is that Odom simply didn’t try, it would seem. He was late for practices, he disappeared in games. He averaged just 6.6 points and 4.1 rebounds in 20.5 minutes per game, shooting a pathetic 35% from the field. It will be interesting to see if he reemerges somewhere next season. Then again, only true NBA junkies will care, and I’m not ready to put myself in that category so on second thought…I have more important things to do than give two hoots about Lamar, and Khloe.
“In news that will distress bankers and stag parties alike, sociologists have revealed that the performance ability of Britain’s lap dancers is in sharp decline.
“Warning of ‘de-skilling’ across the industry, Teela Sanders and Kate Hardy, from the University of Leeds, said that standards had dropped markedly since the financial crash of 2008.
“Dr. Sanders has even claimed that many dancers have ‘never even used a pole.’ Dr. Sanders, whose survey of 200 lap dancers is the largest of its kind in the UK, added: ‘There’s been a real change. The aesthetics of the dancers has overtaken, as well as the skills of flirting and chatting.’”
–My brother reminded me that he went to the “Animal House” premiere in New York (he having connections, back in the day) and went to the after-party in the Village, “where there were mountains of burgers and garbage cans full of beer.” Just as it should be.
Top 3 songs for the week 4/16/66: #1 “(You’re My) Soul And Inspiration” (The Righteous Brothers) #2 “Daydream” (The Lovin’ Spoonful) #3 “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” (Cher)…and…#4 “Secret Agent Man” (Johnny Rivers…greatly underrated artist) #5 “Time Won’t Let Me” (The Outsiders) #6 “19th Nervous Breakdown” (The Rolling Stones) #7 “The Ballad Of The Green Berets” (SSgt Barry Sadler…Put silver wings on my son’s chest…Make him one of America’s best…He’ll be a man they’ll test one day…Have him win the Green Beret) #8 “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” (B.J. Thomas…great tune…another underrated artist) #9 “Good Lovin’” (The Young Rascals) #10 “Kicks” (Paul Revere and The Raiders featuring Mark Lindsay…underrated group)
Golf Quiz Answer: Nine with 40 or more PGA Tour titles.
1. Sam Snead 82…7 majors
2. Jack Nicklaus 73…18
3. Tiger Woods 72…14
4. Ben Hogan 64…9
5. Arnold Palmer 62…7
6. Byron Nelson 52…5
7. Billy Casper 51…3
8. Walter Hagen 45…11
9. Phil Mickelson 40…4
