Baseball Quiz: Pittsburgh Pirates… 1) Name the three who played in 162 games in the 1980s for the Bucs. 2) Name the three to have 230 hits in a season. 3) Name the seven with 160 home runs in a Pirates uniform. Answers below.
Please…We Need A Triple Crown!
Every horse racing fan, at least of the big events, prays each year for the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. And each year we say the same thing…the sport desperately needs it. But that was never more the case than this year, what with the horrible publicity surrounding the numerous deaths at the nation’s tracks.
So for the twelfth time since ’78, we have a horse, I’ll Have Another, that has won the first two legs and we now head to the Belmont, June 9.
“Paint the sidewalks of New York, light up the Empire State and the Statue of Liberty – we’ve got ourselves a Triple Crown bid coming our way in three weeks, potentially a day for the history books, the first in 34 years.
“I’ll Have Another, the unsung hero of the Kentucky Derby, brought forth the possibility when he unleashed his now patented stretch run to wear down his fabulously fast adversary, Bodemeister, to win the Preakness Stakes in a nail-biting thriller and set himself up for a run at the Belmont Stakes – and turf immortality….
“But not since the heart-pounding duel between Affirmed and Alydar, the excruciating standoff between Sunday Silence and Easy Goer has the Old Hilltop track at Pimlico showcased a Preakness stretch run so exciting, so dramatic as I’ll Have Another’s grinding, grinding neck triumph over Bodemeister.”
“Love the horse. Love I’ll Have Another the way jockey Mario Gutierrez loves him. Sure, the colt has changed the young rider’s life, brought him out of the morning shadows of Santa Anita Park, where he worked horses for trainers who did not care to know his name, and into America’s living rooms for the first two legs of the Triple Crown.
“I’ll Have Another has given Gutierrez the ride of his young life, but sitting in the saddle, still out of breath, after he and his colt ran down Bodemeister in the final strides of the 137th Preakness Stakes on Saturday, he wanted everyone to know he had little to do with the improbable past two weeks….
“He wanted them to know what every good rider knows no matter if he is a bush track jockey like him from the backwoods of Canada’s Hastings Park or a Hall of Famer like Bodemeister’s jockey, Mike Smith: you know a transcendent horse when you get on him.
“ ‘He’s just a great horse,’ Gutierrez, 25, said. ‘I believe in him because I’m on him.’….
“In the stretch, I’ll Have Another was unleashing one ground-gobbling stride after another. The distance between him and Bodemeister was narrowing….
“Gutierrez was not worried at all. ‘He has a tremendous kick,’ he said. ‘He’s more smarter than I am, so he just wait for me until I ask him.’…
“He loves his horse. He wants everyone else to love him as well.
You also had to feel good for struggling Pimlico racetrack, which had a record 121,309 in attendance owing in no small part to spectacular weather. And they got their money’s worth.
Since Affirmed in 1978, here’s a look at the horses that won the first two legs but then lost in the Belmont.
1979…Spectacular Bid…3rd
1981…Pleasant Colony…3rd
1987…Alysheba…4th
1989…Sunday Silence…2nd
1997…Silver Charm…2nd
1998…Real Quiet…2nd
1999…Charismatic…3rd
2002…War Emblem…8th
2003…Funny Cide…3rd
2004…Smarty Jones…2nd
2008…Big Brown…DNF
Bayern Munich 1 Chelsea 1
(Chelsea win 4-3 on penalties)
One week after the spectacular conclusion to the Premier League season, we had the UEFA Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Chelsea, in Munich.
Now being a follower of such things, and always watching the Champions League final, I, like most everyone else except the followers of these two teams, wasn’t real fired up.
You see, the regular season ends for Europe’s major football leagues in May, and then the Champions League playoffs commence by end of June. So last June began the process that concluded on Saturday. It’s spread out like that because you have to work in the playoffs during the leagues’ respective regular campaigns which generally begin in September.
Ergo, what many were saying with regards to this year’s final is that these were far from the two best teams in football right now. You see, Chelsea finished second in the 2010-2011 Premier League season to get into the playoffs, but they finished sixth in the Premier League for the just-concluded 2011-2012 season and as only the top four get into the Champions League playoffs, they wouldn’t qualify for the next tournament…unless they won this final and by golly, they freakin’ did! [Which meant that No. 4, 2011-2012 Premier League qualifier, Tottenham, got bumped! So picture all the Tottenham fans going nuts as Bayern blew its late 1-0 lead. You’ve gotta love it. It’s why this football season in Europe, particularly these last four weeks or so, has been outrageously exciting.]
So I started out by catching only snippets of the first half from Munich before becoming engrossed in the contest after halftime.
“These are the moments Chelsea will never want to forget. They gave everything and finally, when it was all done, they had the European Cup in their possession and the players in blue were celebrating the greatest triumph this club has ever known.
“It was a rare form of euphoria on a night when, just like Moscow four years ago, it came down to the gut-wrenching drama of a penalty shootout.
“At one stage Bayern were leading 3-1. Juan Mata’s effort had been saved by Manuel Neuer and the Chelsea players stood in line, heads bowed, knowing they were on the brink of walking past the European Cup and not being allowed to touch it.
“What happened was extraordinary and went against everything we know about German clubs and penalties. Petr Cech started the turnaround by saving from Ivica Olic and then Bastian Schweinsteiger’s effort came back off the post.
“David Luiz, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole had all beaten Neuer and suddenly it was left to Didier Drogba with possibly the last kick of his last match for the club. What a parting gift the Ivorian gave, considering that it was also his 88th-minute goal that had dragged into extra-time five minutes after Thomas Muller had scored the goal that looked like giving Bayern their fifth victory in this competition.”
Mike Vaccaro / New York Post…on last week’s spectacular finale to the Premier League season.
“You don’t’ have to love soccer to love what this meant for (Man City fans). Because if you are a fan, you understand just how glorious that was. You might not know a corner kick from a scissors kick, and it simply doesn’t matter. Sport is sport. Sports are sports. Devotion is devotion. And so there is a fealty there. There is a universal understanding…
“You may not like soccer. You may detest soccer. You may not understand soccer. And I understand; for the longest time, I did, too. But if you’re wandering around this part of the newspaper, odds are, you like sports.
Ball Bits
N.L. East
Atlanta 26-16
Washington 24-17
Mets 22-19
Miami 22-19
Philadelphia 21-21
A.L. East
Baltimore 27-15
Tampa Bay 25-17
Toronto 23-19
Yankees 21-20
Boston 20-21
After a quarter of the season is gone, I get a kick out of those bemoaning the addition of an extra wildcard this year. It’s safe to say they’re nuts because it’s clear the wildcard race will be absolutely insane come the final two weeks.
—Josh Hamilton turns 31, today, May 21, but the Rangers are acting like they won’t talk contract extension for the free agent-to-be until after the season is over and I can’t blame them. I’ve said it before and I have to repeat, Hamilton should be given $20 million a season, but for only two years guaranteed given his drug issues. You’d then roll the $20 million into a third, and a fourth, etc. as long as he stayed clean.
But it seems as if someone will give him a Prince Fielderesque, nine-year, $214 million contract which I think is just nuts. It’s not like Hamilton is able to play a full season, drugs and alcohol issues aside, anyway.
It also seems as if the Rangers, who are loaded down on the farm, are willing to let him go if his demands are too high. That would be a shame, but as Hamilton himself knows, it’s a business, and Nolan Ryan and Co. have proven to be pretty smart businessmen.
[Hamilton finished action on Sunday with 18 HR 47 RBI and a .389 average in the team’s first 42 games.]
–Not for nothing but the Mets’ David Wright finished the week at .412 (.513 OBP), the latest a hitter has been at this lofty level since Chipper Jones was hitting .414 on June 12, 2008, and went on to win the batting title at .364.
–On Friday night, Detroit’s Justin Verlander came within two outs of getting his third no-hitter against the Pirates before Josh Harrison broke it up. Verlander fanned 12 in gaining the complete game shutout. He is now 112-58 for his career, including 16-2 in interleague play.
–The Nationals had their interleague series with the Orioles this weekend and on Sunday, Stephen Strasburg picked up his fourth win (4-1, 2.21) with five effective innings, but he also homered and raised his average to .375 as the Nats prevailed 9-3, though the O’s won the series 2-1.
As for Baltimore’s super start, they are sixth in all of baseball in runs scored and sixth in ERA. Plus Adam Jones (14 HR 29 RBI) is having that breakout season long predicted for him.
“Alex Rodriguez has now hit a total of 21 home runs in his last 137 games [138], which means from the start of an injury-shortened 2011 all the way to Saturday’s loss against the Reds. (Mark) Teixeira? He still got to his power and RBI numbers last season, but in his Yankee years, his batting average has gone from .292 to .256 to .248 in 2011 to the .228 [.226 after Sunday] he is hitting right now.”
[After Sunday’s loss to the Reds, the Yankees are 6-for-59 with runners in scoring position their last 8 games.]
–Meanwhile, the Yankees got a superb effort out of Comeback Kid Andy Pettitte on Friday night, eight shutout innings in a 4-0 win over the Reds. It was Pettitte’s first win in the regular season since July 8, 2010, and came in just his second start.
–Congratulations to Chicago Cubs reliever Kerry Wood, who retired on Friday after coming into a game against the White Sox and striking out the lone hitter he faced.
“I had a blast. I wouldn’t trade it in. I learned from the injuries, I learned about my body and what it takes to compete and go out and play every day.
“Mentally and physically we get to this point,” Wood said. “Every player gets to this point where we don’t all get to choose when, we don’t all get to have a say in it. But I was fortunate enough to play this game a long time in a great city in front of the best fans in baseball…It was time.”
The 34-year-old was off to a poor start this season and had been on the disabled list earlier with right shoulder fatigue. After all he’s been through it was indeed time.
Kerry Wood burst on the scene in 1998 when in his fifth start as a rookie, pitched what many say is the single best game in baseball history, a one-hitter where he fanned 20, tying a major-league record.
He was rookie of the year that season, going 13-6 with 233 strikeouts in just 166 innings, but then he had Tommy John surgery in the offseason and it was the start of an injury-plagued career, though from 2001-2003 he did have 200+ strikeouts each season.
2004-2007, though, it was one injury after another and in 2008 he was turned into a closer where he had some success. Overall, he finished 86-75, with a 3.67 ERA and 1582 strikeouts in 1380 innings.
–Under cross examination in the Roger Clemens perjury trial, trainer Brian McNamee had to admit to a series of lies back in 2007 to federal agent Jeff Novitzky and the Mitchell Commission, but McNamee didn’t break. As reported by Ian Duncan of the Los Angeles Times:
“McNamee testified that he told them he did not have any physical evidence of Clemens’ steroid use, but in early 2008 he produced a syringe, needle, bloodied gauze and other items he said tied Clemens to steroids.
“ ‘I guess I lied twice,’ McNamee said – once to the commission and once to the agents.
“(Rusty) Hardin asked how the investigators reacted when they met with McNamee to take custody of the evidence. ‘They’re pretty upset about it, aren’t they?’ the attorney asked.
“ ‘Yes, for five or so minutes they were visibly upset with me,’ McNamee replied.”
Let’s Go Ran-gers!!!
Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist was nothing short of spectacular again on Saturday in New York’s 3-0 win over the New Jersey Devils, as the Rangers took a 2-1 lead in their series. Amazingly, after scoring four goals in the first game of their opening round against Ottawa, the Rangers have now gone a record 16 consecutive games without scoring more than three goals. No matter, they have Henrik.
Meanwhile, out west, Phoenix staved off elimination in defeating the Los Angeles Kings, 2-0, on Sunday, though they trail 3-1 in the series.
NBA Playoffs
So I watched a bit of the first quarter of Saturday’s Spurs-Clippers contest, Game 3 of their series, and the Clippers took a 33-11 lead after one. I then went back to the Champions League game and after that turned back for the second half of the b-ball action and as you know the Spurs, after being down 24 (33-9), won easily, 96-86, as Tim Duncan led a 24-0 run in the third quarter.
Entering Sunday night’s late contest, Game 4, the Spurs were not only 7-0 in the postseason, but 28-2 over their last 30.
The current Sports Illustrated has a terrific piece by Chris Ballard on Duncan, though I have one major complaint. I read and reread and reread the article…not one mention he went to Wake Forest! C’mon. Anyway:
“He talks only after games or practices, and then only for a few minutes and in tiny bursts of spectacular blandness. He is a man who has achieved so much yet continues to flee from the very thing so many others chase with a white-hot desperation: fame. Year after year Duncan has turned down interviews and endorsements that could have netted him millions. He hasn’t feuded with teammates, used the media as a back channel to tweak his G.M. or forced out a coach.”
He spends his off days “with his wife, Amy, and their two children, which Tim prefers to do 100 times out of 100 during the season.”
“13: Consecutive seasons to begin his career in which Duncan was named All-NBA and All-Defensive team, six more than anyone else in league history.
“.702: The Spurs’ winning percentage during the Duncan era, the best 15-year run by any NBA team in history.
“0: Number of teams in the four major pro sports with a better winning percentage over the last 15 years than the Spurs.”
“There are no shoes. No line of wicking shorts. No, well, anything….
“The result is that it can be awfully lonely to be a Duncan acolyte. Ever seen a Duncan jersey outside Texas? Know any non-Spurs fans who’d call him their favorite player?”
Hey, I have a Duncan jersey! It’s just that you don’t walk around town wearing a basketball jersey the way you might with a baseball or football one.
And any Wake Forest alum worth a damn has Duncan on a pedestal.
Then you have the Miami vs. Indiana series. Many of you undoubtedly saw the Pacers’ dismantling of the Heat in Game 3, 94-75, as superstar Dwyane Wade finished with five points and five turnovers in 37 minutes as Miami dropped into a 2-1 series deficit.
Wade’s frustration boiled over into a heated exchange with Miami coach Erik Spoelstra, to which Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen felt compelled to comment to reporters about how he would have handled the situation.
“I will kick his ass. Well, I won’t say I’ll kick his ass. They’ll kick my ass because they’re bigger than me, and I’m older. But I will take my chances. Some people have to understand our job.
“That’s disrespectful….the player come out and say something (like that to me), he will guarantee a fight.”
“No matter what else happens in this series, Dwyane Wade damaged himself Thursday night. Damaged his brand. Hurt his reputation. He played badly and acted worse – and he played really, really badly. As badly as he’s ever played in his career, perhaps.
“Wade was so bad, he almost singlehandedly lost this game for the Heat. I say almost, because there were two players at the heart of the Pacers’ 94-75 victory…This was a 19-point blowout because the Pacers had Roy Hibbert – and because the Heat had Dwyane Wade.”
[Hibbert had 19 points, 18 rebounds and five blocked shots.]
“And Wade? He was 2 for 13 from the floor….Wade was the worst player on the court, and that’s not hyperbole or opinion. That’s a fact. Wade’s plus-minus rating was the worst of anyone who played, and not by a little bit. He finished the game at minus-25 – 10 points behind anyone else. Think about that: The Heat lost by 19, and nobody but Wade was below minus-15. He was terrible.
“But he acted worse. Wade went for the toddler’s trifecta, using pantomime to blame his poor play on injury, then whining to referees for help and finally getting in the face of his own coach, Erik Spoelstra, who tried to defuse their third-quarter incident afterward by saying it was no big deal, it was the kind of thing that happens all the time, here a cliché, there a cliché, everywhere a cliché-cliché.
“Truth? Wade was a total jerk. If that happens all the time, fine. Wade is a jerk all the time. But only in the past week has Wade been such a ridiculously bad guy that it’s been impossible to ignore.
“It started in Game 2, when Wade pouted after a non-call by ignoring the ball going the other way to stay on the offensive end and gestured angrily, like he’s Dwight Howard or something. Then when he went back to the other side of the court, still a few seconds behind the action, he was in the right place to defend a run out by Darren Collison. But the heck with that. Defend? Not Wade. He drilled Collison to the floor, drawing a flagrant foul.”
And Wade acted like a total jerk in the huddles in Game 2, as well, “sticking his nose in Spoelstra’s face” when the coach said something he didn’t like.
But, alas, on Sunday, LeBron and Dwyane combined for 70 of the Heats’ 101 points in their 101-93 victory in Game 4 to even it all at 2 as they head back to Miami. I haven’t disliked a team as much as I do the Heat in quite some time.
—Jason Dufner won his second PGA Tour event in three weeks in taking the Byron Nelson by one stroke over Dicky Pride, who hasn’t won since 1994.
–It seems Tim Tebow is fitting in just fine with his Jets’ teammates. Darrelle Revis “claimed that the quarterback’s leadership is visible everywhere from the hallways to the cafeteria. Bart Scott even asked the religious signal caller to baptize him in a light-hearted scene after workouts,” as reported by Mannish Mehta of the New York Daily News.
Revis said, “He’s a born leader,” when asked about him. “He really is. Very few athletes have the gift that he has. He tries to lead by example all the time and he tries to be positive, which is awesome. I think that results in his success on the field. He came in with Denver and did unbelievable. And now he’s with us. We’re happy. We’re excited for him. We’re happy that he’ll bring his leadership qualities to this team.”
Revis summed it up by saying Tebow had the “It” factor.
If you don’t know anything about the Jets, just understand that Revis is the team leader, so for him to say these things is more than significant. Time to get my Tebow jersey.
–Forbes.com put together a list of the 10 highest-paid coaches in sports and 8 of 10 are NFL guys.
1. Bill Belichick, New England Patriots…$7.5 million
2. Mike Shanahan, Washington Redskins…$7 million
2. Doc Rivers, Boston Celtics…$7 million
2. Jeff Fisher, St. Louis Rams…$7 million
2. Pete Carroll, Seattle Seahawks, $7 million
6. Gregg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs, $6 million
6. Lovie Smith, Chicago Bears…$6 million
8. Ken Whisenhunt, Arizona Cardinals, $5.75 million
8. Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers, $5.75 million
10. Andy Reid, Philadelphia Eagles, $5.5 million
–So much for the Wake Forest men’s golf season. The once proud program that has sucked wind in recent years didn’t qualify for the NCAA Finals, finishing 11th out of 13 teams in the Southeast Regional. Pathetic.
–But at least the Wake baseball team just swept a 3-game series from Clemson to go 32-22, 13-17 in ACC play heading into the conference tournament. Respectable.
USA TODAY/ESPN Coaches Poll (thru last Monday’s games)
1. Florida State
2. South Carolina
3. Florida
4. Baylor
5. Kentucky
6. North Carolina
7. Rice
8. Texas A&M
9. LSU
10. Oregon
–So I’m reading a review of a book, “Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon,” and the author, Michael Ghiglieri (co-author with Thomas M. Myers) said since 1919, 653 people have died in the park, below the rims, which is “in” the park. There have been 65 fatal crashes of aircraft, accounting for 379 victims. More die from falls within the canyon than from the rims, and, yes, many die of the heat.
In 1933, “a 43-year-old prospector named Cochrane from California was hiking down Snake Gulch. He was terrified of snakes. A rattlesnake coiled up and rattled at him, and made a partial strike, a feint. Cochrane leaped backward and died of heart failure, confirmed by a physician.”
That would be me. You know I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon, nor the state of Utah, which outside of Alaska is the only state I haven’t had a beer in.
[Reader Shu almost died of a heart attack when he was cleaning out his pool this weekend; thought he was fetching out a branch and it turned out to be a snake. Shu sent me a photo and said it wasn’t poisonous, but it looked like a golden black mamba to me; of which only two are known to have ever been seen.]
–Juan Duran was fishing on the Occoquan River in Virginia the other day when he caught an enormous giant northern snakehead. How big? Try 18 pounds 4 ounces.
Now the record for this invasive species out of Asia was 17 pounds 4 ounces, set eight years ago in Japan, but, alas, Duran’s catch probably won’t be considered the record because the International Game Fish Association, which keeps the world records, likes to have girth and length measurements for record-breakers and Duran failed to do so. Actually, after weighing it, he gave it to a friend, who turned it into supper, as reported by the Washington Post.
By the way, for you anglers out there, Duran used a green-and-brown lure known as “a Kinky Beaver.” That’s the name in the catalogue, The Post says, “a big, five-inch bait that looks like a crayfish,” according to Duran. “The bass really like it. It works really well for snakehead, too.”
But remember when I was writing all those articles, now years ago, about the snakehead’s inroads in the Potomac and surrounding tributaries? It turns out the population is stabilizing. Recall, though, snakeheads can walk out of water so I’d still make sure you lock your screen door…or get one if you don’t have it.
–We note the passing of Frank Edward Ray, 91. Some of you of a certain age may faintly remember a bizarre July 1976 kidnapping of a busload of children for ransom in the San Joaquin Valley town of Chowchilla. I do, though the memories aren’t clear as they would be if I had been a California resident back then.
Ray was driving the busload of children home from a summer camp when he slowed down for a white van blocking the road.
Three masked men with guns jumped out and hijacked the bus, driving for hours to a quarry in Livermore, 100 miles away. Then they entombed their victims in a moving van sunk into the ground, securing it with a steel plate weighed down by 100-pound tractor batteries. They shoveled dirt over the roof and left.
The kidnappers had supplied some ventilation, and left water and several dirty mattresses.
Ray calmed down the screaming kids and eventually helped two of the older boys dig their way out, piling the mattresses like a ladder to reach the roof and eventually dislodging the steel plate. It took 16 hours.
Ray then underwent hypnosis and was able to recall all of the license-plate numbers on one of the vans used in the abduction and all but one on the other van.
Police would then capture the three, all in their 20s and from wealthy Bay Area families. The trio were demanding $5 million to cover a failed real estate investment. They were convicted and sentenced to life in prison, where they remain to this day.
In 1993, Ray was portrayed by Karl Malden in a TV movie, “They’ve Taken Our Children: The Chowchilla Kidnapping.” [Elaine Woo / Los Angeles Times]
–So I have purposefully said nothing about all the John Travolta stories out there; none of them good. At first I thought they couldn’t be true, but then they just kept coming. But when you read that the late actor Jeff Conaway’s former fiancée, Vikki Lizzi, told the National Enquirer all kinds of stuff, including that Conaway made a claim in a suicide note he left after a failed bid to kill himself in 2006, a claim so disgusting I won’t print it here, you can’t help but believe a lot of it is true. Among the tamer items is Lizzi’s claim that Conaway told her Travolta and his wife, Kelly Preston, were locked in a sham marriage.
And as I pick up one of my many magazines, there is Travolta in a big ad for Breitling watches. It’s creepy, knowing what we now know.
–This is too much. My brother is Editor of The Item, a paper in these parts, and he wrote the following:
“The popular bee hive exhibit at the Cora Hartshorn Arboretum was destroyed last week when an employee from a pest control company mistakenly treated the nature center for bees.
“ ‘It was big foul-up,’ said beekeeper Joe L. [I’m leaving his last name out for various reasons], who serviced the local hive. ‘This was all because of someone’s foolishness.’”
The idiot exterminator “sprayed bees returning from foraging and bees leaving the hive,” Joe L. said.
But get this. Joe L. went on to say, the bees in the hive were “fanning the hive out.” “He said he and the arboretum’s environmental educator Erica F. didn’t see any eggs. Joe L. explained that bees will not desert their queen or their brood. The fact that they were devouring the eggs and young signaled they were preparing to leave.
“ ‘I think the bees were basically in shock,’ he said.
“Erica F. said the bees in the hive left on May 10, swarming outside.
“More than 60 percent of the hive has gone, and the remaining bees are drones who are eating the honeycomb.
“ ‘The hive has pretty much collapsed,’ Joe L. said. ‘Within a week it will be gone.’”
So the exterminator, whose name I will eventually find out (might cost me a beer or two to get the info), is thus a strong contender for “Idiot of the Year,” while how ‘bout them bees? Are they smart or what?!
So the honeybee vaults to No. 14 on the All-Species List, while Man tumbles out of the Top 200 to No. 203, just ahead of the gnat.
—Betty White was roasted by the Friars Club the other night and the 90-year-old entered the Sheraton Hotel ballroom sidesaddle on a white pony flanked by two shirtless, oiled-up hunks in cowboy gear. Roast host Barbara Walters said:
“Betty’s not the first woman to be roasted by the Friars, but there have been so many firsts [for her.] Betty was the first woman to do Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre. I mean literally. She did him in the balcony.”
–Lastly, we note the passing of Donna Summer, the “Queen of Disco.” Bursting on the scene with 1975’s “Love to Love You Baby,” which I admit to liking, Summer, who died at the age of 63 after a battle with lung cancer, defined the Disco era with other monster tracks such as “Bad Girls” and “Last Dance.”
Summer’s politics made her a controversial figure over the years, particularly her alleged homophobia, and in the mid-1980s she was embroiled in controversy after making anti-gay remarks in relation to Aids as the disease came into the public consciousness. Summer, who had become a born-again Christian, allegedly said Aids was God’s punishment against homosexuals. She later apologized, telling an Aids campaign group her comments had been the product of “a terrible misunderstanding.” [Rhys Blakely / The Times of London]
But back to the music, I YouTubed “Love to Love You Baby,” all 17 minutes of it, and it really was groundbreaking, musical erotica, though I’d argue Sylvia’s 1973 “Pillow Talk” was first, followed by Major Harris’ 1975 “Love Won’t Let Me Wait,” which was released about 8 months before Summer’s hit.
1975…No. 2 Billboard Pop Chart…Love To Love You Baby
1977…No. 6…I Feel Love [first real techno hit…a trailblazing tune all the way up to Lady Gaga]
1978…No. 3…Last Dance
1978…No. 1…MacArthur Park…at least better than the Richard Harris version
1979…No. 4…Heaven Knows…not bad for this genre
1979…No. 1…Hot Stuff
1979…No. 1…Bad Girls
1979…No. 2…Dim All The Lights
1979…No. 1…No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) with Barbra Streisand
1980…No. 5…On The Radio
1980…No. 3…The Wanderer
1982…No. 10…Love Is In Control (Finger On The Trigger)
1983…No. 3…She Works Hard For The Money
1989…No. 7…This Time I Know It’s For Real
–I just saw Robin Gibb died after his long illness. He was 62.
Top 3 songs for the week 5/21/77: #1 “Sir Duke” (Stevie Wonder…from decent album) #2 “When I Need You” (Leo Sayer…slow song at Wake Forest dances…can’t say more) #3 “Couldn’t Get It Right” (Climax Blues Band…passed for a hit in this rapidly deteriorating era for both music and your editor as he struggled to deal with college and the pressure of trying to find a party six nights a week)…and…#4 “I’m Your Boogie Man” (KC & The Sunshine Band…you know, as much as you want to like these guys, they kind of sucked) #5 “Got To Give It Up” (Marvin Gaye…mailed it in) #6 “Dreams” (Fleetwood Mac…wasn’t rushing to the record store to buy this one…at least wouldn’t play it while sitting around with the guys, know what I’m sayin’?) #7 “Gonna Fly Now” (Bill Conti…just shoot me…quickly) #8 “Hotel California” (Eagles…basically saves the month) #9 “Southern Nights” (Glen Campbell…far from his best but he gets a free pass off his body of work) #10 “Lucille” (Kenny Rogers…still had his original face…and he looked good…but he wasn’t happy…and he’d later get a new one that makes him look like an Android)
Baseball Quiz Answers: Pittsburgh Pirates… 1) 162 games in the 1980s: Bobby Bonilla, 163 (1989); Omar Moreno, 162 (1980…and ’79); Johnny Ray, 162 (1982). It’s Ray I totally forgot about; very nice player. 2) 230 hits: Paul Waner, 237 (1927); Lloyd Waner, 234 (1929); Matty Alou, 231 (1969). 3) 160 home runs: Willie Stargell, 475; Ralph Kiner, 301; Roberto Clemente, 240; Barry Bonds, 176; Dave Parker, 166; Brian Giles, 165; Frank Thomas, 163. If you got Thomas, pour yourself a cold one. It’s easy to forget he also had 286 homers for his career, including 34 for the Mets in 1962.
