[Posted Sunday evening…prior to Giants-Cowboys…]
Note: Guys and girls…we’ve entered the time of year where it is difficult to keep up with everything. Just know I’m doing the best I can.
NFL Quiz: Name the four to return 4 punts for touchdowns in a single season. I’ll give you some help. The four did it in 2011, 2007, 1976 and 1951. The player from ’51 is a Hall of Famer who intercepted 46 passes in his career as well. Answer below.
College Football
–If you start the season in the top five in the polls, you can lose in week one or two and still come back to battle for the BCS title. If you lose your first in week five or six, unless it’s a No.1 vs. No. 3 or 4 matchup, chances are the season is over. It’s just a fact of life in college football and how the polls work.
So week one, No. 8 Clemson defeated No. 5 Georgia, 38-35, and vaulted to No. 4. Clemson is in the hunt for the duration it would now seem.
Georgia, however, having fallen to No. 11 as a result of the loss, then turned around and defeated No. 6 South Carolina, 41-30 in Athens. Quarterback Aaron Murray got a big monkey off his back, his inability to defeat a top-ranked team, in throwing for 309 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. [South Carolina defensive star Jadeveon Clowney, on the other hand, was a non-factor for a second straight game.]
Georgia should thus move back up to No. 7 or so and is back in the chase. South Carolina, on the other hand, is toast. This was going to be their year, if only they had defeated the Bulldogs, because the Gamecocks have an easy schedule from here on…just Florida on Nov. 16 and Clemson to finish the season Nov. 30. Georgia has Florida and LSU at home. But Georgia is now a game up on S.C. in the SEC East. Bye-bye Steve Spurrier for another season.
–But what about my two picks to square off in the BCS title game in January, Oregon and Louisville?
No. 2 Oregon had a long road trip to Charlottesville to face off against Virginia and handled them rather easily, to say the least, 59-10, outgaining the Cavaliers 557-298 as Duck quarterback Marcus Mariota rushed for 122 yards on just four carries. Mariota in the first two games now has nine carries for 235! [Oregon’s cheerleaders, by the way, travel very well.]
Meanwhile, No. 8 Louisville had its second straight blowout, 44-7 over Eastern Kentucky after blasting Ohio 49-7 in the opener. QB and strong Heisman candidate Teddy Bridgewater threw for 397 yards and four scores.
But Louisville suffered a big loss when Illinois crushed Cincinnati 45-17. You’re going to hear all season about what an easy schedule Louisville has and why, say by Week 8, they are still somewhere around No. 6 and not 3 or 4, with the Cardinals needing Cincinnati to play well so that when they meet in the season finale, Dec. 5, a Louisville win could help them before the final BCS poll days later. In other words, Louisville is so screwed.
What do you do if you’re them? You have no other choice but to annihilate everyone on your schedule. Destroy them! Take no prisoners! If they are undefeated at season’s end but a one-loss team gets into the title game over Louisville, well, that will just be great bar chat, won’t it? By next year we shouldn’t have that issue. Louisville would undoubtedly be one of the four finalists in my scenario.
–Of course this coming week it’s all about Alabama-Texas A&M. The Crimson Tide was idle, while for his part, the Aggies’ Johnny Manziel accounted for four touchdowns, three through the air in throwing for 403 yards in less than three quarters in A&M’s 65-28 win over Sam Houston State. Manziel then spoke publicly for the first time since the investigation.
“The biggest thing that’s helped probably is just being around these guys, being in this building and having my teammates and still being able to be around them. It was easy to block all the stuff out, get off everything, not read anything and just grow with my teammates and continue to get a better bond with them and just spend time with them.”
Saturday night should be great fun….and I’ve gotta believe the ratings will be ginormous.
–Since 2008, Alabama is 53-0 when they rush for more than 150 yards.
—Miami may have come of age in its 21-16 upset of No. 12 Florida, a great win for Hurricanes Coach Al Golden, even as the school still awaits the results of a 26-month investigation into the program. Miami will return to the Top 25 for the first time since 2010.
And for a second straight week the ACC had a huge win over an SEC power!!!
—No. 17 Michigan looked solid in handling No. 14 Notre Dame 41-30 in Ann Arbor before a NCAA-record crowd of 115,109 on Saturday night. Quarterback Devin Gardner was 21 of 33 for 294 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed 13 times for 82 yards and a score. The longtime rivals end their series next year in South Bend, ND now committed to at least five games against ACC opponents in the future. Michigan-Notre Dame dates back to 1887.
—No. 25 USC was a 15-point favorite over visiting Washington State and the Trojans were upset in the Coliseum, 10-7. A dreadful loss for Coach Lane Kiffin.
“Two games into the 2013 season, there are two words that perfectly describe the state of the USC football program.
“They are two words that echoed through the bowels of the Coliseum late Saturday night, two words chanted by thousands of voices, two words illustrating how a loyal and sunny crowd have been drenched in anger and hopelessness.
“ ‘Fire… Kiffin.’
“Lane Kiffin returned to work in front of Trojan fans for the first time this fall after being jeered into last winter, and it was as if the coach had never left.
“With three hours of boos preceding the ominous late chant, Kiffin’s Trojans were poorly coached, poorly managed, and ultimately embarrassed….
“Fire Kiffin? Everyone worried that this Trojan season would turn bad under the embattled young coach, but few could imagine it would turn this bad, this quickly.”
So now all eyes are on Athletic Director Pat Haden. The once proud Trojans have lost six of eight going back to last season.
—No. 16 Texas traveled to Provo to face Brigham Young and, uncharacteristically, BYU rushed for a team record 550 yards, including 441 between Taysom Hill (259) and Jamaal Williams (182), in upsetting the Longhorns 40-21. Hill’s total was the second-most in school history. The 550 was the most Texas ever allowed.
–No Cinderella season for Western Kentucky. They turned the ball over five times in their first six offensive snaps! You’re reading that right. Seven turnovers overall in a 52-20 loss to Tennessee. The Vols returned two interceptions for scores.
—Buffalo lost to then No. 2 Ohio State in week one, 40-20, and then traveled down to Baylor on Saturday and lost 70-13. The score was 56-13 at half as Baylor had 501 yards offense in the first 30 minutes on their way to 781. But Buffalo picked up probably about $700,000 over the two weeks so what the heck. Next up for them is Stony Brook. That’s more like it.
–It’s been tough being a Wake Forest fan the last few years and Friday’s 24-10 defeat at the hands of Boston College in Chestnut Hill was but the latest example of a sports program that is dead in the water. Senior quarterback Tanner Price had three pathetic turnovers, including two fumbles that handed BC touchdowns. Incredibly, Wake’s coaching staff admitted it was still “experimenting” with its new run-option offense. I thought you did that in training camp, and going back to spring drills? Wake had just 55 yards on the ground in 39 carries, while the Eagles’ Andre Williams rushed for 204 yards.
2006…11-3…shocking Orange Bowl appearance as ACC champ
2007…9-4…bowl game
2008…8-5…bowl game
2009…5-7
2010…3-9
2011…6-7…dumb bowl game
2012…5-7
2013…?
And here’s Wake basketball.
2008-09…24-7…11-5 in the ACC…NCAA tourney
2009-10…20-11…9-7…NCAA tourney…but Dino Gaudio fired
2010-11…8-24…1-15
2011-12…13-18…4-12
2012-13…13-18…6-12
Yeah, it’s been a rough stretch. And soccer has fallen off, baseball has been irrelevant, and the golf program, well you know where that stands after all I’ve written about it.
You know what school is easy to root for? Boston College. Beat USC next weekend, guys! [Sucking up to BC alum Steve D., now that I owe him lunch.]
–Separately, Wake is honoring alum Arnold Palmer with a statue at the golf center. The Wake Forest campus should have statues of Arnie all over. Like 20 of ‘em.
Palmer said, “I’m not sure that it is really deserved. Still, I can’t wait to see it and to thank everyone who has had something to do with it.”
Not deserved?! Arnie, no one deserves this honor more than you, period. [Plus Arnie has been a big-time supporter of Wake athletics, as have other former members of the golf team.]
Of course the hope is that when recruits come to the very modern golf complex, they’ll see the statue and go, “Holy s—! That’s Arnold Palmer?! He went here?”
Remember, these are young kids who will be passing through with little knowledge of golf history, but they’ll always know of Arnie.
–The New York Times’ Greg Bishop had a piece on Saturday about the Vanderbilt football program and the new era of optimism owing to their first finish in the top 25 last season since 1948. But Bishop’s very extensive story was about the four since-dismissed football players accused of raping a fellow student in June: “the most serious criminal charges ever leveled against Vanderbilt athletes.”
“For once, the unease was not about how bad the Commodores would be but about how good they had become – and at what cost.”
Yes, as Bishop writes and everyone else knows, Vanderbilt’s reputation was that of the “so-called Harvard of the South.”
But then the arrests came. “While scant evidence surfaced that Vanderbilt had relaxed its standards to admit football players of questionable character, the case forced fans to confront whether the charges came about independently of the grand changes in the football team’s fortunes, or whether they were directly tied to the changes that occurred.
“So far – and with the caveat that details could emerge at trial to change this – there has been little public outrage. Prominent alumni declined interviews or praised the university’s response. There were no protests or calls for firings, even as those on campus and off acknowledged the seriousness of the charges.”
“So Sports Illustrated had a story accompanying their preseason rankings, talking about some of the strong academic schools that are making their mark on the gridiron these days, like Stanford and Northwestern and….Vanderbilt.
“I mean it does have to be said that at Vandy we now have five players charged in an ongoing campus rape investigation from this summer. All five were suspended.”
When my alma mater, Wake Forest, which frankly has a similar reputation to Vanderbilt in terms of running a clean program and having high academic standards, screws up, I have quickly acknowledged this. I just pointed out in August how pathetic it was that SI couldn’t footnote the same in their piece.
–Meanwhile, Sports Illustrated is preparing a series of articles alleging improprieties in the Oklahoma State football program dating back more than a decade.
According to The Oklahoman, the series of reports includes the following allegations:
Payments from coaches and boosters to players.
A bonus program run by former assistant coach Joe DeForest, now at West Virginia, for Cowboys players that existed as recently as 2011. Coaches and boosters paying athletes, including violations ranging from paying for jobs not performed, overpaying for jobs and strictly paying players for performance.
Academic corruption involving grade changes and players’ work being completed by others.
Drug abuse among players and sexual relations with hostesses in the school’s Orange Pride program.
Oklahoma State president Burns Hargis said in a news release, “Oklahoma State University is deeply troubled by these claims. We will investigate the accuracy of the allegations and take all appropriate action.”
Most of the alleged improprieties occurred between 2001 and 2007. LSU coach Les Miles coached the Cowboys from 2001-04. He said on Saturday night, “We always did things right.” Sports Illustrated told school officials of the upcoming series on Aug. 28 and said it has been working on the story for a year. [Daniel Uthman / USA TODAY Sports]
It’s going to be interesting to see if T. Boone Pickens, the oil billionaire who has given $100s of millions to his alma mater, in any way knew of the improprieties. I’m assuming he didn’t. Should that be the case, he’d be absolutely crushed.
And now…your NEW AP Poll: [Yes, I don’t change earlier comments to reflect this.]
1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Clemson…wow…
4. Ohio State
5. Stanford
6. Texas A&M
7. Louisville
8. LSU
9. Georgia
10. Florida State
11. Michigan
12. Oklahoma State
13. South Carolina
15. Miami
18. Florida
21. Notre Dame
–In Thursday’s opener, Peyton Manning threw a record-tying seven touchdown passes in Denver’s 49-27 over Super Bowl champion Baltimore. Manning accumulated 462 yards in the air. The last to have seven TD passes was Joe Kapp, 44 years ago while he was with Minnesota.
You know, I was startled to see when I looked Kapp up that he was only in the NFL four seasons. I mean I was just really getting into football at the time, knew Kapp had played in the CFL, but if you had asked me, I would have said Kapp played in the NFL about ten years.
Back to Manning’s performance, how about the headline in The Columbus Dispatch for Friday’s edition… “Elway Throws Seven Touchdown Passes”…
–Your editor has the Rams winning it all this year….and I’m not alone it turns out.
Jarrett Bell of USA TODAY sports posted Saturday night:
“If you pay attention to the oddsmakers, predictions, power rankings, talking heads and surely, the alignment of stars, the St. Louis Rams don’t stand a chance….
“It’s doubtful that they are shaking in their boots in San Francisco and Seattle by the threat of the Rams. But they should very much be on guard.
“You know there’s a surprise team lurking in the parity-laced NFL. Always happens. In each of the past 10 years at least one team has leaped from a last-place finish to first place, and in each campaign since the NFL went to a 12-team playoff format in 1990 at least four teams qualified for the playoffs that did not get in the previous year.
“St. Louis finished third in the NFL West in 2012, and couldn’t even manage a winning record.
“But there’s more substance to the notion that they can emerge as a surprise team when considering that the Rams were 4-1-1 against NFL West opponents, the loss coming in Week 17 at Seattle and the tie coming in mid-November at San Francisco in one of their two overtime games against the 49ers.”
And, phewww….they won their first game 27-24 over Arizona. You know what they say in the NFL….a win is a win.
–So I watched the entire Jets-Tampa Bay contest.… good lord…the Jets pulled it out 18-17 on a 48-yard Nick Folk field goal as time expired because the Buccaneers’ Lavonte David committed one of the worst personal fouls you’ll ever see as rookie quarterback Geno Smith, who was OK in his first start, but far from great, was going out of bounds at the Tampa Bay 45 with 7 seconds to go. The 15-yard penalty, an easy call as Smith was like two yards out of bounds, took the Jets to the Tampa 30 and Folk came out and did his thing.
I do have to add that the Jets’ Flight Crew was in midseason form. From here on I suggest that whoever is telecasting the Jets’ games employ a split screen….half on the game action, half on the Flight Crew. It’s the right thing to do.
— I was disgusted by Green Bay’s Clay Matthews and his flying hit on San Francisco’s Colin Kapernick in the first half of the 49ers eventual 34-28 win over the Pack; Kaepernick recovering to throw for 412 yards and three touchdowns. Plus we learned later that the officials made a horrible call on the play. Thankfully San Francisco prevailed.
So next time you see Matthews doing a commercial, shout at the screen, “You’re a [Anthony Weiner]!”
I would hope the NFL will suspend Matthews for one game.
–The performance of the Eagles and new coach Chip Kelly will be watched closely, to say the least. Interesting stuff in ESPN The Magazine on his years at Oregon.
The average number of seconds Kelly’s Oregon offense reached to run a play from snap to snap last season was 20.5, the second-fastest pace in the FBS, exceeded only by Houston.
28 is the average number of seconds per NFL play. The Patriots were the league’s fastest offense at 25 seconds.
As far as the number of 25-plus-yard passing and running plays during Kelly’s four-year tenure, try 220. That total led the FBS. I’m guessing the NFL will have a tough time with the Kelly offense.
–As reported by Brent Schrotenboer of USA TODAY Sports, “Since the Super Bowl on Feb. 3, NFL players have been arrested or charged with crimes at least 37 times, including 10 players accused of driving drunk and a murder indictment for ex-New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez.
“The list gets uglier if the second half of last season is included – three more car crashes and three more people dead in crimes allegedly committed by NFL players.”
–Great selection of Bruno Mars to headline the Super Bowl halftime show. Not everyone agrees with this, however. The Daily News interviewed a fellow in Brooklyn who said, “Yuck. I just don’t affiliate Bruno Mars with football. He’s too sensitive.”
Yeah, I know New York and New Jersey residents are ticked off a local wasn’t selected, but as we discussed before, the Super Bowl isn’t a local telecast…it’s global.
And it’s not like Bruno Mars isn’t at the top of the charts these days, as opposed to a recent act like The Who.
Ball Bits
–What a disastrous, history-making stretch for the Yankees. They lost to the Red Sox in Yankee Stadium on Thursday, 9-8 in ten innings as Mariano Rivera blew the save. They then lost on Friday 12-8 after blowing an 8-3 lead, thus marking the first time they had lost back-to-back home games after scoring 8 runs since something like 1949. Then on Sunday they lost 13-9, marking the first time a visiting team had scored at least nine runs in three straight games against the Yankees since 1912, when they weren’t called the Yankees. In fact the Yanks became the first team in A.L. history to lose three straight at home while scoring at least 8 runs.
As for Rivera, three times in the last month he was within a strike of earning a save and blew it. Before this, he had done it in just three games since May 2003.
And then on Sunday, he recorded his career high seventh blown save, but won the game as the Yanks took it in the ninth, 4-3, on a wild pitch.
So despite the Yanks awful 3-game stretch prior to Sunday, they are still hanging in there for the wild-card.
Cleveland 76-66…2 games back
Baltimore 76-66…2
Yankees…76-67…2.5
Kansas City…75-68…3.5
–It appears Boston’s Jacoby Ellsbury will return before the playoffs even though he is reported to have a compression fracture of a bone in his right foot.
–San Francisco’s Yusmeiro Petit was one strike away from a perfect game on Friday, but Arizona’s Eric Chavez lined a pinch-hit single to right that outfielder Hunter Pence missed making a diving catch on by about a foot, short-hopping it. Petit, once in the Mets organization but a journeyman in the majors thus far, is the 12th pitcher in baseball history to lose a perfect game with one out to go, a list that includes Texas’ Yu Darvish this year.
–The Reds unveiled a statue for Joe Morgan on Saturday and Commissioner Bud Selig did the right thing, allowing Pete Rose to return for the on-field festivities. All of the key members of the Big Red Machine were there.
Meanwhile, the Reds’ Billy Hamilton, the speedster who stole a record 155 bases in the minors last season, is 4-for-4 in the category since being called up, including setting up the winning run in the tenth in Saturday’s 4-3 win over the Dodgers. [Ed. the preceding written before Sunday night’s contest.]
–Nice game on Friday night by Detroit’s Omar Infante, 5-for-5 with six RBI in the Tigers’ 16-2 win over Kansas City.
–The Colorado Rockies are 66-78 record (nonetheless an improvement over last year’s franchise-worst 64-98), but the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner pointed out something I can’t say I’ve focused on all year…the performance of their top two starters, Jhoulys Chacin and Jorge De La Rosa.
25-year-old Chacin is 13-8 with a 3.16 ERA, while the 32-year-old De La Rosa has come out of nowhere to go 16-6, 3.31! Geezuz, I feel like an idiot. Can’t say I’ve given De La Rosa a thought all year.
–The other day the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim placed former second baseman Bobby Knoop into their team’s Hall of Fame. Now I remember this guy, a nice player for his era who played for them six seasons, 1964-69, but only hit .240 with 44 home runs and 236 runs batted in. Yes, he won three Gold Gloves and made an All-Star team, but Hall of Famer? Oh well, at least the guy was clean.
U.S. Open
No. 1 seed Serena Williams and No. 2 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus squared off for the women’s singles title, Williams with 16 Grand Slam wins, including four Open championships. It was a rematch of last year’s final and Williams on Sunday emerged victorious, 7-5, 6-7, 6-1. So with her 17th, she is one shy of the 18 tallied by Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova as we move on to 2014. I watched from the second set on and that was as good as the sport gets.
But, boy, I am not and never will be a fan of Serena. Enough said.
The Men’s final is Monday…Novak Djokovic vs. Rafael Nadal. Djokovic had to rally from two-sets-to-one down to prevent a major upset as he defeated 9-seed Stanislas Wawrinka in the semis, 2-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Wawrinka having defeated defending champion Andy Murray in the quarterfinals to gain his first semifinal in a major. Nadal whipped Richard Gasquet in straight sets in his semi.
The field for the Chase for the Sprint Cup is set with Dale Earnhardt Jr., Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. clinching the final spots on Saturday night at Richmond. Jeff Gordon missed the Chase for the second time in his career by one point. Brad Keselowski became the first defending series champion to miss the Chase since Tony Stewart (2006).
The other seven to qualify prior to Richmond were five-time champion and points leader Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne. Ten races to go.
[As I go to post, however, there is a major controversy developing over Saturday’s race and Clint Bowyer seemingly spinning out his car on purpose with just laps to go to aid teammate Truex. This is a big deal. More next time.]
–I’m kind of getting fired up for next year’s World Cup, though no doubt the logistics are going to be a disaster in Brazil, as will the 2016 Olympics there. As of Friday night, only five teams had officially qualified: Brazil, Australia, Iran, Japan and South Korea. I just think it’s kind of cool Iran will be there…even as I wish we would bomb their nuclear facilities to smithereens. There are good people in Iran, witness the protesters in 2009 that the United States didn’t support.
Anyway, sorry about that little political commentary. In qualifiers on Friday, Romania defeated Hungary 3-0 amid some fan violence. These two detest each other, owing to the Roma that some Hungarians don’t want moving into their country.
But the United States suffered an awful loss to Costa Rica on Friday, 3-1, down in San Jose, CR. The Americans play Mexico on Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio, and Mexico will be out for revenge after a stunning loss at home to Honduras on Friday, 2-1, which resulted in the firing of the coach. The U.S. is, however, still in great shape to finish in the top two in its group and advance to Brazil.
The fans in Costa Rica, by the way, were vicious and booed “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
—Tokyo was selected as the site of the 2020 Summer Games over Istanbul and Madrid. I’ll be commenting on this in that other column I do later this week, but what an awful choice between the three of ‘em, plus the Games shouldn’t exist, period. The focus should be on the Track and Field, and Swimming, World Championships. Each year. But of course we’re stuck with the Olympics forever.
—Usain Bolt announced he would retire after Rio in 2016. He won his last 100m race of 2013 in Brussels on Friday night in 9.80. [His record is 9.58.]
–Fred Couples, captain of the U.S. team in next month’s Presidents Cup, selected 20-year-old Jordan Spieth as his captain’s pick over 43-year-old Jim Furyk. Couples used the other pick on Webb Simpson. The top 10 in the FedEx Cup points standings as of last week’s Deutsche Bank Championship are automatic and Simpson had dropped to No. 11. Furyk finished 11 strokes higher than Spieth at the Deutsche Bank, which clinched it for Couples.
Nick Price, the International captain, used his two discretionary picks on a countryman from Zimbabwe, Brendon de Jonge, and the Australian Marc Leishman. Advantage U.S.
The Presidents Cup is being held at Muirfield Village.
The FedEx Cup resumes next week outside Chicago as the field will be cut from 70 to the final 30 for the Tour Championship.
–Alan Shipnuck of Sports Illustrated had a nice piece on playing a round of golf with Golden State’s Steph Curry. Playing with one of the Warriors’ owners and Curry’s father, Dell, Steph shot a cool two-under-par 70 on Spyglass Hill, in Pebble Beach. It’s clear Steph is just one classy, likeable guy. Damn, I wish the Knicks had him. In 2009, Curry went No. 7 in the first round and the Knicks had No. 8. By all accounts they were going for him. Instead the Knicks ended up with Arizona’s Jordan Hill….a total stiff who has averaged less than 6 points per game in the pros.
–Golden State has Curry, the Knicks have J.R. Smith, who was just suspended for five games by the NBA for marijuana use, meaning it’s the second time he was cited. The first infraction requires the player to enroll in a league program, but no suspension.
–What an awful accident/tragedy in a New York City park the other day. A 19-year-old was killed by his remote control helicopter, suffering a severe head injury. He was flying it in a sanctioned area, but I saw a model of the helicopter used. This was a very large, high-tech vehicle…not a toy. It is believed the man’s death is just the second in this fashion in the United States.
–Disturbing development in New Jersey. “Four foxes and one raccoon were destroyed by police officers after a handful of people were attacked this week.”
As the Star-Ledger reported, “foxes rushed a pair of police officers and people walking their dogs, officials said.”
I’ve seen foxes jogging in the wooded park I go to. I mean, I’ve seen real foxes as referred to above. If you don’t see another Bar Chat, you’ll know what happened. I’d have a heart attack if ever attacked.
Officials said it might not be rabies, but rather distemper.
–Justin Gregg, a zoologist, has written a book “Are Dolphins Really Smart?” that comes out this month. Gregg is a researcher with the Dolphin Communication Project in America and believes that “although dolphins show many apparently complex behaviors, such as living in large social groups, empathy and communicating with peers, such abilities can be found in many other species including chickens, pigs and bears and so do not make dolphins special.
“Such findings are bound to be controversial, especially because they coincide with a growing campaign led by other academics who say the animals’ brain power and sophistication mean they deserve formal rights and moral protection.” [Jonathan Leake / London Times]
The attitude towards dolphins goes back to 1950s research performed by an American neuroscientist, John Lilly, who argued that dolphins were “ancient sentient Earth residents with tremendous intelligence and life force.”
Such an idea has gripped the public ever since, leading to the likes of the television series “Flipper.”
Gregg argues, “They do have a unique signature whistle, and it’s possible they could use this to communicate, but they don’t seem to have alarm calls or food calls – in that respect they are less sophisticated than chickens.”
Woh! And researchers in Scotland recently recorded how bottlenose dolphins often kill the smaller harbor porpoises they encounter, although never to eat.
“In Shark Bay, Australia, gangs of male dolphins have been observed working together to isolate females and forcibly mate with them.”
Err, dolphins are rapists, is what they really want to say but can’t. And so we take them down to No. 91 on the All-Species List.
Chickens, however, vault from No. 242 to No. 84. Because who doesn’t like the taste of crispy fried chicken, after all? [Or did I miss the point of the above research….]
Also, we’re elevating Pig to No. 13. Gregg says they have the ability to learn fast and retain memories over long periods. Plus having eaten a package of bacon this weekend…
–Finally, this week’s installment of “Make Me Drool.” On Saturday, ESPN’s Todd Blackledge was covering the Georgia-South Carolina game in Athens, Georgia, and spoke of his favorite dining spot there, Mama’s Boy, which specializes in breakfast.
As in Blackledge had hash browns, pulled pork, and eggs, all in a pile, topped off by hollandaise sauce.
Man, that is the perfect breakfast…you don’t need bacon ‘cuz you got the pulled pork.
But then I looked up the menu for Mama’s Boy and couldn’t find this combo. ‘Sup wit dat?
Oh, but Blackledge also had something that is on the menu…chocolate cake…for breakfast. Why not?
I see Blackledge also just released a book, “Taste of the Town,” that highlights 40 of his favorite diners, dives, meat-and-threes and mom-and-pops – from State College to Baton Rouge, Austin to Ann Arbor. Gonna buy me that one…just leave it in the car, you know?
Top 3 songs for the week 9/10/77: #1 “Best Of My Love” (Emotions…eh…) #2 “(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher And Higher” (Rita Coolidge…this tune is not aging well….) #3 “I Just Want To Be Your Everything” (Andy Gibb…whatever…)…and…#4 “Handy Man” (James Taylor…I’m not…just sayin’….) #5 “Float On” (The Floaters…Yes! This one is awesome…Cancer, and my name is Larry…And I like a woman that likes everything and everybody…) #6 “Don’t Stop” (Fleetwood Mac… ughh…brings back very bad memories of a certain politician…) #7 “Easy” (Commodores…respectable…) #8 “Strawberry Letter 23” (The Brothers Johnson…these guys were badass…would have loved partying with them backstage…know what I’m sayin’?…) #9 “Telephone Line” (Electric Light Orchestra….one of my college suitemates was a huge fan of theirs….I wasn’t…it was ELO vs. EWF …) #10 “Smoke From A Distant Fire” (The Sanford/Townsend Band…great beginning and then song goes into blowdom mode…)
NFL Quiz Answer: Four with 4 punt returns for touchdowns…
Patrick Peterson, 2011, Arizona
Devin Hester, 2007, Chicago
Rick Upchurch, 1976, Denver
Jack Christiansen, 1951, Detroit
