[Posted early Wednesday a.m., before any word on the status of Rutgers’ Mike Rice.]
Baseball Quiz: 1) Willie Mays had 20 triples to lead the N.L. in 1957. Name the only two to have 20 triples in the league since then. 2) Dale Mitchell had 23 triples to lead the A.L. in 1949. Name the only four in the league to reach 20 since then. Answers below.
Final Four…and a lot of other stuff in the college game
“The Shockers are the grittiest team left standing, a brutally grinding team that has held its four opponents to 79-of-230 shooting (34.3 percent).
“Mid-major programs usually make runs with senior-dominated teams. But the Shockers lost five seniors from last season’s team who accounted for 57 points per game. This Cinderella wears work boots.”
—Louisville’s Kevin Ware said of his injury, “(Doctors) told me things are gonna be good for me. This is not a lifetime injury where I can never play basketball again…But getting to where I want to be and where I need to be is gonna take some time.” He added he never wants to see the replay. Coach Rick Pitino admitted he “almost threw up” on first reaction to seeing Ware’s leg.
–ESPN reports that just 47 out of 8.15 million brackets in its Tournament Challenge game are perfect thus far; 1 in 173,000 brackets. Gregory Baer, in his 2003 book “Life: The Odds,” estimated that the odds of a random American man someday dating a supermodel were about 88,000 to 1. [Noah Trister / AP]
–In these parts there is little talk of the Final Four (unless you are a Syracuse fan). Instead, it’s about Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice. ESPN’s “Outside The Lines” obtained “dozens of hours” of footage showing appalling, and sickening, behavior on the part of Rice at practice.
Rice had been suspended for three games this season and fined $50,000 (others say the fine was more) after evidence of his abuse of the players emerged in December. But now the vault has been opened.
“Mike Rice has to go. Get that out of the way first, because this is the easiest decision to fire a college coach since Ohio State football legend Woody Hayes reared back and punched a player.
“If athletic director Tim Pernetti doesn’t snap out of this bizarre spin cycle and make that decision, then somebody at Rutgers – be it the university president, or a group of powerful alumni, or Gov. Chris Christie himself who weighed in late Tuesday with a damning statement – will make it for him.
“Rutgers can’t have a basketball coach, a man who represents the university on national TV two dozen times a year, screaming the word ‘faggot’ at a player. It can’t move forward with that damning, awful video for the world to see with Rice still earning a hefty paycheck.
“I honestly believed Rice when he said he was ashamed of his language and behavior, and I believe he has taken some steps to change. But this is too much for anyone to overcome. Pernetti kept calling what Rice did a ‘first offense,’ but it is 40 minutes of first offense.
“This is what ESPN failed to show Tuesday afternoon on its ‘Outside The Lines’ show. The clips it aired are bad enough, but the tape that the lawyers for Eric Murdock, the former director of player development at the school, put together goes on and on and on.
“One basketball heaved at a player. Then another. Then another. One player pushed in the back of the head, then another grabbed at the jersey, then another shoved off the court. One F-bomb is screamed in the face of a player – a college student – then so many that it feels like the dialogue to an episode of ‘The Sopranos.’
“Pernetti said the clips were taken out of context, but there can be no context. Rice was out of his mind.”
Gov. Christie said Tuesday night he was “deeply disturbed” by the video of Rice. A spokesman relayed a statement:
“Governor Christie saw the video today for the first time and he is obviously deeply disturbed by the conduct displayed and strongly condemns this behavior. It’s not the type of leadership we should be showing our young people and clearly there are questions about this behavior that need to be answered by the leaders at Rutgers University.”
“There, unmistakably, despite the grainy quality, you see an angry little tyrant named Mike Rice acting like a petulant, profane child, putting his hands on the athletes who play basketball for him at Rutgers, kicking them, throwing basketballs at them, assaulting them with homophobic and sexist slurs.
“This isn’t just a man who deserves to be fired; he needs professional help. This isn’t just the momentary fury that inhabits coaches at all levels, it’s the rantings and ragings and ravings of an out-of-control despot. The one thing he never actually screams is this: ‘PLEASE FIRE ME AT ONCE!’ But the message is pretty clear to anyone who sees it.
“Anyone, that is, but Tim Pernetti, the athletic director at Rutgers, the man who hired Rice, the man who saw this video evidence long before anyone else did, the man who, if he had a shred of decency and an inkling of decorum, would have honored Rice’s subliminal plea and fired him at once.
“But Pernetti didn’t do that. Seeing the same indefensible behavior everyone else has now seen, hearing the same vile verbal spatter, Pernetti’s idea of discipline was to suspend Rice for three games in December, fine him $50,000, assign a monitor to, in essence, baby-sit his coaching brat at practice.
“ ‘Mike understands and signed up for what the Rutgers standard is, which is all about accountability,’ Pernetti told ESPN. ‘He understands as he holds his players accountable, I hold him accountable.’
“But who holds Pernetti accountable for this profound absence of common sense and decency? Who holds Pernetti accountable for seeing what we have all now seen and being, perhaps, the one person alive who thought, ‘Three games! That’ll show him!’….
“A few years ago, it was former coach Kevin Bannon, who would force his players to strip if they missed practice free throws. His successor, Gary Waters, another Type-A beauty, decided it would be a good idea to attend a ceremony honoring his inclusion in the Kent State Hall of Fame despite weather that threatened to keep – and ultimately kept – him away from a game against Marquette….
“Rice has to go. He had to go in December. It was Pernetti’s call then, and that he was either too blind or too weak to make it calls into question whether he has the stomach for the job, or the soul, regardless of whatever skill he used to gain Rutgers admission to the Big Ten. It is the public’s call now, and Pernetti seemed less inclined as the day progressed to guarantee Rice’s professional survival.
“Which is probably wise. Because after this absurd, awful performance, he should really start worrying about his own.”
–Pac-12 coordinator of basketball officials Ed Rush, a former NBA referee, was investigated by the league for comments regarding Arizona coach Sean Miller in meetings with Pac-12 referees.
As reported by CBS Sports’ Scott Gleeson, “Rush told a group of officials on Thursday of the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas that he would give them $5,000 or a trip to Cancun if they issued Miller a technical or tossed him out of the game. Rush then reiterated a similar message in a Friday morning meeting.”
Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott issued a statement to CBS Sports:
“Based on the review, we have concluded that while Rush made inappropriate comments that he now regrets during internal meetings that referenced rewards, he made the comments in jest and the officials in the room realized they were not serious offers.”
Arizona athletics director Greg Byrne said it was up to the Pac-12 office to decide what to do.
As it turned out, referee Michael Irving hit Miller with a controversial technical foul with 4:37 left in the Pac-12 semifinals against UCLA. The Bruins wound up winning the game, 66-64. Miller was upset with a double-dribble call but claimed after he didn’t use any profanity. It was his first technical of the season.
–Following Florida’s win over Florida Gulf Coast to advance to the Elite Eight, it was said FGC coach Andy Enfield looked physically beat from the great ride his Eagles had in the tourney. I wrote how some of Enfield’s friends said they wouldn’t be at all surprised if he stayed at FGC because he had a “five-year plan,” not a “five-year contract.”
Looks like Andy just needed a good night’s sleep. Late Monday he was named coach at Southern California, where he is turning his $150,000 salary into $1.5 million of pure gold.
“I am looking forward to bringing an exciting, up-tempo style of play to USC and building the men’s basketball brand into one that the fans and basketball community will enjoy and respect.”
It’s just funny that in 72 hours, UCLA hired New Mexico’s Steve Alford and USC got Enfield. USC got the better of this one, that’s for sure. Good for the Trojans. Bad for Bruins fans.
“I saw the guy working on TV, his team surprising folks in the NCAA tournament, but honestly I don’t even know his first name now that he has become USC’s basketball coach.
“But he has to be more interesting and exciting than the dolt introduced as UCLA basketball coach Tuesday.
“It’s pretty well understood that whoever coaches UCLA basketball is a dead man walking, it being only a matter of time before the alumni agree he’ll never be another John Wooden.
“But this might be the first time UCLA actually hired a dead man.
“Yeesh, the John Wooden statue outside of Pauley had more life to it than Steve Alford, the robot who sputtered nonstop platitudes while never once answering a question directly….
“When he was asked about his role in defending an Iowa player from sexual assault charges and allegedly bullying the victim into not pursuing the case, he blamed school administrators for his behavior.
“The player later pleaded guilty to intent to commit sexual assault on another victim and served time. Protesters expressed their disapproval at Iowa’s basketball games, but on the bright side they had to buy tickets to attend the games. And that’s very important to UCLA.
“Obviously there hasn’t been anything in town much more irrelevant than USC basketball, but that was before talk of dunk city, a wife who’s a model and fun….
“Alford, meanwhile, was talking like someone who has already enjoyed incredible success.
“ ‘We did things at New Mexico that had never been done before,’ Alford said.
“ ‘Like lose to Harvard,’ I said, and welcome to L.A.”
[Meanwhile, New Mexico hired Alford’s assistant, Craig Neal, to replace him. The Lobos have a lot returning from the three-seeded squad and the move is a popular one among players and fans.]
—In the NIT, it’s Iowa vs. Baylor in the title game after Baylor defeated BYU and Iowa bested Maryland. Both teams finished 9-9 in their respective conferences, so not exactly a battle of heavyweights. But the NIT can be a solid springboard for a program. Unfortunately for Madison Square Garden, only 10,000 showed for the semis and you would think there will be a similar crowd for the championship.
–In women’s NCAA play, Louisville pulled off one of the biggest upsets in tournament history in bouncing No. 1 Baylor and superstar Brittney Griner, 82-81. Baylor had won 74 of 75 behind the 6-foot-8 Griner, one of the biggest stars in the history of her sport. But she didn’t get a field goal in the second half, then committed a critical foul in the final seconds that allowed Louisville to pull it out. Just hours earlier, Louisville’s men’s team had defeated Duke to reach the Final Four.
Women’s Final Four
Louisville vs. California
Notre Dame vs. UConn
Ball Bits
–I was surprised to see the projected playoff odds from Baseball Prospectus, specifically that the Mets were No. 8 in the N.L. out of 15 clubs at 30.8%. Behind them are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Milwaukee, San Diego, Colorado, and Miami.
In the A.L., Detroit, Los Angeles and Texas were the top three selections, while in the N.L. it was Cincinnati, Los Angeles and Washington.
Shockingly, after Baltimore’s miraculous run to the postseason last year, they are listed at 13th out of 15 teams in the A.L., with just a 5% chance of making the playoffs.
–This is good…from Andrew Beaton of the Wall Street Journal:
The Angels were the worst team in spring training at .333. Not a good sign. To wit…how other worst teams then fared during the regular season.
2012 Indians .241 (spring training) .420 (regular season)
2011 Astros .314 / .346
2010 Pirates .250 / .352
2009 D-Backs .324 / .432
2008 Giants .281 / .444
2007 White Sox .313 / .444
2006 Nationals .281 / .438
2005 Marlins .355 / .512
–Before the season started you just got the sense the pitchers were going to be ahead of the hitters early on even more than in the past and the Rangers’ Yu Darvish displayed an example of this on Tuesday when he came within a single out of throwing a perfect game against the Astros, before Marwin Gonzalez grounded a single between the pitcher’s legs. Darvish was then removed as the Rangers completed a 7-0 shutout, with Darvish fanning 14.
Last season there were a record three perfect games (Philip Humber, Matt Cain and Felix Hernandez). I’ll say there are five this year with 10 no-hitters overall.
–Cincinnati, favored by many as you see above to win in the N.L., suffered a blow when outfielder Ryan Ludwick tore cartilage in his right shoulder requiring surgery. It’s not known how long he’ll be out.
–The Mets have won 34 of their last 44 openers, after losing the first eight in their history.
–I love this one. Yankee superstar Robinson Cano fired agent Scott Boras and signed with “Jay Z,” a k a Shawn Carter, as Jay Z’s first athlete for his new firm….Roc Nation Sports, which is in collaboration with Creative Artists Agency.
Carter, who is a minority owner of the Brooklyn Nets, said, “Because of my love of sports, it was a natural progression to form a company where we can help top athletes in various sports the same way we have been helping artists in the music industry.”
Cano, a four-time All-Star, is in the final year of a six-year contract and is slated to receive a huge bonanza in the free-agent market. Many of us baseball fans can’t stand Boras, and if you are a Yankee fan, it now seems a virtual certainty Cano and his new reps will make sure he stays in New York because they know this is where the big endorsement dollars are and Jay-Z and his crew will help Cano become a better known figure off the field.
–Boras, by the way, had been Alex Rodriguez’ agent until A-Rod dumped him. While he’s rehabbing from his latest hip surgery, A-Rod decided not to be introduced to the crowd on opening day, Monday, in the Bronx to avoid the boos, even though he watched from the dugout. Instead, he insists he feels part of the team and will be back on the field…sometime this year.
In the meantime, A-Rod faces possible suspension from his involvement in the Miami anti-aging clinic scandal. He did show up at the Yankees’ Welcome Home Dinner after Monday’s opener and was not warmly received. A-Rod confirmed he had spoken with the Players’ Association about his link to Biogenesis.
But Donald Trump weighed in. Trump tweeted, “The Yankees should immediately stop paying A-Rod. He signed his contract without telling them he was a druggie.”
Then he added, “A-Rod’s salary is more than the entire @astros. Half the players on @astros will have better seasons than him. A-Rod is a joke!”
“After the introduction of former team luminaries like Tom Lasorda, Maury Wills, Tommy David and Orel Hershiser, part-owner Magic Johnson went to the mound and pretended to be about to throw out the first pitch.
“Manager Don Mattingly then came out of the dugout and ‘pulled him,’ calling for a lefty instead.
Koufax rejoined the Dodger family this spring after a long estrangement where he was seen often at Mets spring training with his childhood friend, Fred Wilpon, the team’s owner.
With all the changes the Dodgers have made, starting at the top with new ownership, they have gone from 17,000 season tickets to 31,000 this year.
NFL Action
–Seattle is sending quarterback Matt Flynn to Oakland, who in turn dealt QB Carson Palmer to Arizona. Seattle now just has Russell Wilson.
–Cleveland sent quarterback Colt McCoy to San Francisco in a trade involving draft choices on both sides.
–We note the passing of former All-Pro linebacker Jack Pardee, 76. Pardee played his first 13 seasons in Los Angeles before finishing up for two in Washington. Then he coached 11 seasons, leading Chicago, Washington and the Houston Oilers, reaching the playoffs five times and compiling an 87-77 regular season record. Alas, he was just 1-5 in the postseason.
Pardee played his college ball at Texas A&M, one of Paul “Bear” Bryant’s “Junction Boys” who survived Bear’s wicked training camps. Back then, in 1954, 100 players began drills that summer in Junction, Texas and only 35 survived, including Pardee who became an All-American linebacker.
“In early 1964, Pardee read a newspaper account of Jim Umbricht, a pitcher with the Houston Colt .45s who had died of melanoma. Pardee decided to see a doctor about a black mole on the back of his upper right arm. On April 19, 1964, his 28th birthday, he had surgery at UCLA to remove a cancerous tumor.
“ ‘I never met Jim Umbricht,’ Pardee said in a 2003 interview with the Fort Worth Star Telegram. ‘But I’m alive today because of him.’”
Pardee played all 14 games for the Rams that ’64 season.
–And Chuck Fairbanks died. He was 79. Fairbanks coached the Patriots for six seasons, 1973-78, going 46-40 with two playoff appearances. Prior to that he coached at Oklahoma for six years, winning 52 games and three Big Eight titles. Unfortunately, he’s also remembered for losing the 1971 “Game of the Century” to Nebraska. Plus he was ethically challenged, with the Sooners placed on probation following his departure for New England owing to a slew of rules violations during his tenure in Norman.
Fairbanks would leave New England for a return to the college ranks at Colorado under a heavy cloud as well, with the Patriots suing Colorado and the case eventually being settled via a contribution from a Colorado booster club to the Pats. Fairbanks proceeded to go 7-26 and was tainted by all manner of off-the-field misdeeds by the players.
–Good lord…did you see the guy who caught a nearly 7-foot barracuda in a river in Angola?! It’s potentially a world record catch. It weighed 102 pounds, which is a record if verified, when a Guinean barracuda is typically just 10-20 pounds.
The current record barracuda was also caught in Africa, off Gabon.
–The new Broadway show, “Motown: The Musical,” about the life of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, has grossed more than $1 million in each of its first three weeks in previews, the first time in 15 years an original musical opening cold on Broadway has accomplished this feat.
What’s even more unusual is that “Motown” hasn’t received a lot of lead time, even though Berry Gordy, who has written the production and been involved in every aspect, has been working on the project for five years. CBS’ “Sunday Morning” had an excellent segment on him the other day….look up the video.
–The latest Rolling Stone lists “The Best Clubs in America,” great music venues.
!. Bowery Ballroom / New York (lower East Side)
2. The Troubadour / West Hollywood
3. Maxwell’s / Hoboken
Maxwell’s?! Talk about embarrassing. I lived in Hoboken 3 different times in the 1980s and told you about the club Mile Square City, but I was in Maxwell’s no more than twice even though it was only a few blocks from where I lived. I just wasn’t into the new acts in those days, preferring the oldies.
So note to Pete M., who was also in Hoboken at the same time. We missed Nirvana at Maxwell’s! They were there in 1989.
4. Fox Theatre / Boulder, Co.
5. Schubas Tavern / Chicago
6. Great American Music Hall / San Francisco
7. The Crocodile / Seattle
8. Joe’s Pub / New York
9. Continental Club / Austin
10. Bluebird Café / Nashville (Taylor Swift met the producer who changed her life here)
Top 3 songs for the week of 4/6/85: #1 “One More Night” (Phil Collins…unless you are a Charlotte Bobcats fan…) #2 “We Are The World” (USA For Africa…world is way overrated…) #3 “Material Girl” (Madonna…I’m not impressed…)…and…#4 “Crazy For You” (Madonna…about the only song of hers I liked…) #5 “Lovergirl” (Teena Marie) #6 “Can’t Fight This Feeling” (REO Speedwagon…don’t hold back…just do it…) #7 “Nightshift” (Commodores…eh…) #8 “I’m On Fire” (Bruce Springsteen…thank god he’s here….Bruuuuuce!) #9 “Rhythm Of The Night” (DeBarge…were OK….) #10 “Too Late For Goodbyes” (Julian Lennon….pretty good….there were worse weeks in the 80s, that’s for sure…)
Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) 20 triples N.L. since Willie Mays: Lance Johnson, 21, New York Mets, 1996; Jimmy Rollins, 20, Philadelphia, 2007. 2) 20 triples A.L. since Dale Mitchell: George Brett, 20, Kansas City, 1979; Willie Wilson, 21, Kansas City, 1985; Cristian Guzman, 20, Minnesota, 2000; Curtis Granderson, 23, Detroit, 2007.
