Triple Crown Quiz: Name the jockeys on the last three Triple Crown winners; Secretariat (1973), Seattle Slew (1977) and Affirmed (1978). Answer below.
Jason Collins
When I heard the news that the 12-year NBA veteran had come out of the closet, I couldn’t help but go to my archives.
BC 11/10/05
“And now for our irregular feature (actually, this is the first time)…
“New Jersey Nets center Jason Collins is earning $5.5 million this season (and has a contract through 2008-09, escalating to $6.2 million, if I recall correctly). We’re talking one of the true bums in the history of the sport. [Good guy, yes, but still a bum.]
“In his first four seasons, Collins has a career average of 5.6 points per game and 4.9 rebounds. In 52 playoff games, his averages are 4.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg.
“On Monday night against a Shaq-less Miami, Collins played 32 minutes and had 4 points and 1 rebound. The Nets lost a heartbreaker by one.
BC 3/16/06
“Jason Collins update…the New Jersey Nets’ 7-foot center plays 27 minutes a game and averages 3.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 0.5 blocks each contest. For this he is paid $6 million. Is this a great country or what?!”
Today, in 713 games, 2001-2013, Collins now has career averages of 3.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per contest. And he’s still freakin’ 7-feet tall!
Jason Collins was also the 18th overall selection in the first round of the 2001 NBA draft. Why would an NBA GM waste a roster spot on the guy? Develop some young talent instead. [Or sign the Knicks’ Chris Copeland, an attractive free agent, at the end of the current season for about the same money you’d be paying journeyman Collins.]
My other thought when Jason Collins made his announcement was, ‘Whatever.’ I couldn’t care less what you are. Gay, straight, beaver….just don’t get in my face about it…and let me drink my beer.
Everyone came out to praise Jason Collins. Former President Bill Clinton, current President Barack Obama. NBA Commissioner David Stern said: “Jason has been a widely respected player and teammate throughout his career and we are proud he has assumed the leadership mantle on this very important issue.”
Dwyane Wade: “Jason Collins showed a lot of courage today and I respect him for taking a stand and choosing to live in his truth.”
Jason Collins in SI: “Being genuine and honest makes me happy. I’m glad I can stop hiding and refocus on my 13th NBA season.”
“The first openly gay man in a major American pro sports league is generously proportioned enough to ward off any foam-flecked bigots, at 7 feet and 255 pounds, but Jason Collins has a less-easy-to-identify kind of fortitude, too. Bravery takes a lot of forms, physical being just one, and a particularly unappreciated brand of it is social courage, which is the courage to risk your place in the society you move in.
“About 10 minutes after Collins came out in Sports Illustrated magazine on Monday, the chorus of approval he received was equal to a holiday parade. The White House saluted him, and former president Bill Clinton issued a statement of congratulations. Messages of support came from fellow players such as Steve Nash, who gave him ‘maximum respect’ on Twitter. All of which bordered on over-congratulations and provoked Freedom Center fellow Ben Shapiro to the killjoy observation: ‘Collins is a hero? Our standard for heroism has dropped quite a bit since Normandy.’
“But physical heroism and the moral kind don’t always go together – the Confederacy proved that. If you are tempted to ask how much guts it took for Collins to come out, you can answer that question by simply asking yourself another one:
“If it was so easy, then why had no one done it before?
“True, this wasn’t securing a beachhead, but when the first keystroke of his announcement – ‘I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. I’m also gay.’ – hit the Internet, Collins broke a barrier. Before that sentence, the reception a gay NBA player would get from his peers and the public was a chilly, dark pool of unknowns. The decision entailed, among other things, surrendering his privacy, risking the disaffection and disapproval of his family, subjecting himself to flinching awkwardness from friends and teammates, and potentially, harming his livelihood….
“The truth is, there are general managers who will quietly shy from Collins. Just as there are places where he will encounter purse-lipped distaste and judgment of those who hate-the-sin-but-love-the-sinner, and threatened haters who will want to beat the snot out of him for looking at them.”
At first, when I saw the stories that Collins stood to make $millions due to his announcement I was like, why? But I do see how he could have a steady diet of speaking engagements.
Tim Tebow’s 13-month nightmare as a New York Jet came to an end Monday morning as the team released him. Coach Rex Ryan issued a statement:
“We have a great deal of respect for Tim Tebow. Unfortunately, things did not work out the way we all had hoped. Tim is an extremely hard worker, evident by the shape he came back in this offseason. We wish him the best moving forward.”
Sounds like a form letter you would receive for getting rejected from a college.
For a 6-10 team, Tebow, “frustrated and misled,” as the New York Times’ Ben Shpigel put it, played on only 77 offensive snaps, rushed 32 times for 102 yards and completed 6 of 8 passes for 39 yards. He did not score a touchdown. The Jets paid $2.53 million for this and also lost two draft picks.
“The Jets’ unwillingness to use Tebow became a source of consternation for a fan base weary of offensive ineptitude and confused by the organization’s devotion to the turnover-prone Mark Sanchez, who was ultimately benched – for the third-stringer Greg McElroy, not for Tebow. Despite the Jets’ insistence in training camp on holding secret practices to install Tebow-related plays, there was never much evidence of a plan for him….and it took until Week 15 at Tennessee for him to get his first (and only) full series at quarterback….
“Acquired from Denver on March 21, 2012, Tebow joined the Jets at the height of his popularity and the zenith of his career, with flawed throwing mechanics, a passionate fan following and a sense of occasion….
“(Former General Manager Mike) Tannenbaum vowed that Tebow would make the Jets’ offense ‘diverse, more dynamic’ and ‘more difficult for opposing teams to defend,’ when instead he made it more predictable. On his snaps at quarterback, Tebow was often asked to just run straight up the middle….
“Tebow, to a degree, is not exempt from culpability. After all, he chose to accept the trade to the Jets rather than play for Jacksonville, where he grew up. But Tebow could not have predicted what awaited him in New York. The former special-teams coordinator Mike Westhoff, in a memorable radio interview after the season, called the Jets mishandling of Tebow ‘an absolute mess.’”
“The best for Tebow might be just finding a job at this point. No one really seems to want him, and it’s hard to blame other NFL teams for their lack of interest. Tebow’s an unproductive media distraction. That’s about as welcome as a bounty scandal for an NFL team these days.
“So it’s not shocking that Tebow got dumped by the Jets and it’s not shocking that he’s not wanted anywhere. But we shouldn’t be shocked because Tebow’s not that good, honestly.
“Whether it’s his fault or not, New York ruined him. By accepting the trade to the Jets, Tebow became irrelevant….
“He had a choice on going to New York, and he put himself into that situation. But New York did him wrong; a year after taking the Broncos to the playoffs and beating the Steelers, Tebow was completely and 100-percent irrelevant on the football field. It’s a stunning fall from whatever he had (grace doesn’t seem like an appropriate word).”
“Tim Tebow had no impact on the field in his one-and-done season with the Jets, but the collateral damage caused by last year’s ill-conceived and misguided trade has left careers shattered – including his own, which may be irreparably harmed.
“Tebow never said anything controversial or did anything wrong, but his presence overwhelmed the organization, left the coaching staff clueless on how to take advantage of his limited skill set and unnerved Mark Sanchez, hardly secure enough to share the locker room with the most popular and polarizing player in the NFL whose character far outdistances his ability as a quarterback.
“ ‘It was a disaster,’ one source said. ‘The ramifications and repercussions are unbelievable.’….
“ ‘He’s not Otto Graham,’ one personnel executive said Monday. ‘He’s Billy Graham.’”
Ball Bits…through Tuesday’s contests
–No sooner do I mention how I wish my Mets would obtain Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton for prospects Zack Wheeler and Travis d’Arnaud, but Stanton pulls a hammy against the Mets on Monday and is placed on the DL.
–So speaking of the Mets, after a second straight desultory, walk-off loss to the Marlins in Miami, the Mets have lost six straight and gone from a 7-4 start to 10-15. The ship be sinkin’. On Monday night, in a 15-inning horror show, the Mets were 1-18 with runners in scoring position.
–The Nats’ Stephen Strasburg finished up April just 1-4, 3.13, in six starts with a pedestrian, for him, 36 strikeouts in 37.1 innings. Plus, while he is slated to make his next start, he had tightness in his forearm last outing; worrisome given his history.
–Through 26 games, the Angels’ Josh Hamilton, he of the five-year, $123 million contract, is hitting .204 with two home runs and 9 RBI.
Tampa Bay’s Matt Moore, 5-0, 1.13, 32 IP 38 SO
Boston’s Clay Buchholz, 5-0, 1.19, 37.2 IP 39 SO [pitching Wed.]
As Ronald Reagan would have said…not bad, not bad at all.
–Oops…the Phillies’ Roy Halladay, after three strong starts, allowed 8 runs in 3 2/3 against the Indians on Tuesday.
–Atlanta’s Tim Hudson won his 200th game as the Braves defeated the Nats on Tuesday, 8-1. Hudson also clouted his third career homer.
Hudson’s career mark thus moves to a sterling 200-105. I’m guessing if he can get up to about 240, he eventually makes the Hall of Fame, but it could take a long, long time….think Blyleven.
What’s against him is that he hasn’t won a Cy Young, nor does he have a stellar postseason mark.
–If your team is leading its division on May 1st, don’t get too smug. In the past five seasons, only a third of the teams that finished April atop their division ended up winning it at the end of the season.
But as the Wall Street Journal’s Stu Woo observes, “From 1996 to 2000, the first five non-strike-shortened seasons after the divisional playoff round was introduced, a whopping 77% of division winners in October led in April as well.”
“Vijay Singh, who admitted in a published report earlier this year that he had used a substance banned by the PGA Tour, has been cleared by the Tour.
“Tim Finchem, the Tour’s commissioner, made the announcement Tuesday at Quail Hollow Club, site of this week’s Wells Fargo Championship.
“ ‘The Tour deems it only fair to no longer treat Mr. Singh’s use of deer antler spray as a violation,’ Finchem said. He based his decision on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s ruling that Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 no longer is considered prohibited. ‘Bottom line: We are dropping the case against Mr. Singh.’”
Singh admitted to SI back on Jan. 28 he was taking the spray, but claimed he was unaware it contained a substance that is banned under Tour policy.
The WADA clarified to the Tour it no longer deems deer antler spray to be prohibitive without a positive test result.
“You only have to look at what happened to Vijay Singh just recently to know the drugs issue is there….
“How deep it is, I have no idea because we only do urine analysis instead of blood testing. If you really want to be serious about it and find what’s really going on, we need to do blood testing. I think it’s disgraceful, to tell you the truth. The golf associations have to get together and step it up….
“Any sportsman or sportswoman who uses an outside agency to improve their skills is cheating. It sickens me. They’re putting a black eye on their sport.”
–The official Kentucky Derby pony of Bar Chat is Orb….I left it up to Johnny Mac, your editor not seeing all the races leading up to the special day like I normally do. Rick Pitino, remember, is part owner of Goldencents.
–From the Daily Telegraph comes a story by Aislinn Laing in Johannesburg, courtesy of Johnny Mac:
“The last known rhinoceroses in Mozambique have been wiped out by poachers apparently working in cahoots with the game rangers responsible for protecting them, it has emerged.
“The 15 threatened animals were shot dead for their horns last month in the Mozambican part of Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, which also covers South Africa and Zimbabwe.
“They were thought to be the last of an estimated 300 that roamed through the special conservation area when it was established as ‘the world’s greatest animal kingdom’ in a treaty signed by the three countries’ then presidents in 2002.”
South Africa is pissed. This obviously hurts their image and tourism dollars as well.
The problem is the rangers weren’t paid squat so it was easy to buy them off.
So J. Mac and I were musing just how far Man can fall on the All-Species List? I’m dropping us to No. 294, just above the aphid.
–An NBA ownership committee has decided to keep the Sacramento Kings in Sacramento and not move them to Seattle. A full vote of all 30 owners is expected to go along with the committee’s preference.
Granted, this isn’t a big issue for me, but congratulations to Sacramento mayor, and former NBA star, Kevin Johnson who cobbled together an alternative plan to keep the team in his city.
Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer was among a group that thought they had a bid wrapped up, though Ballmer’s partner, Seattle businessman Chris Hansen, pledged to move forward with their bid anyway.
–The SEC continued its run of dominance in the NFL draft with 33 players among the first 99 taken. Overall, the conference had 63 players taken out of a total of 254 (remember, lots of compensation picks were added this year)
Alabama had three first-rounders (Nos. 9-10-11) and now has 12 first-round picks in the last three seasons. ‘Bama had nine players selected overall.
–The Big Ten is dividing itself into two seven-team divisions that will eventually have a nine-game conference schedule for football.
East: Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers
West: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue, Wisconsin
–The Washington Post’s Norman Chad…and his Ask the Slouch segment.
Q. Liverpool striker Luis Suarez is serving a 10-match ban for biting a Premier League opponent. Isn’t that a bit harsh? (R.L., Indianapolis)
A. Biting usually draws a three-match suspension, but Suarez reportedly also had salt and pepper shakers and a cloth napkin on hand.
Q. What is Kevin Harlan yelling about? (G.S., Glensboro, Ky.)
–How cool is it that George Jones’ funeral, Thursday, is being held at the Grand Ole Opry House and is open to the public? The lineup of stars that will speak or perform is unreal…everyone from Charlie Daniels to Kenny Chesney, Vince Gill, Alan Jackson, Kid Rock (love it), and Randy Travis…and scores more. Former First Lady Laura Bush is also going to be in attendance.
Top 3 songs for the week 5/6/67: #1 “Somethin’ Stupid” (Nancy Sinatra & Frank Sinatra) #2 “The Happening” (The Supremes) #3 “Sweet Soul Music” (Arthur Conley)… and…#4 “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You” (The Monkees) #5 “Happy Together” (The Turtles) #6 “I Think We’re Alone Now” (Tommy James & The Shondells) #7 “Don’t You Care” (The Buckinghams…these guys had a great one-year run…five in the Top 12, all during 1967…) #8 “Close Your Eyes” (Peaches And Herb) #9 “You Got What It Takes” (The Dave Clark Five…underrated despite being in the Rock HOF…) #10 “I’m A Man” (The Spencer David Group)
Triple Crown Quiz Answer: Ron Turcotte – Secretariat; Jean Cruguet – Seattle Slew; Steve Cauthen – Affirmed. I totally forgot how close all three of Affirmed’s races with Alydar were, the latter losing in each segment by 1 ¼, ‘neck,’ and a ‘head.’ Secretariat also won the Derby and Preakness over Sham by just 2 ¼ and 2 ½, before the historic Belmont victory of 31 lengths.
By the way…for those of you in the New York area, if you are looking for a great place to go, check out Saratoga (not necessarily during the meet in August….unless you like crowds) and go to the Racing Hall of Fame there…an excellent one. Great videos.
