[Posted 8:00 PM ET Sunday, prior to Redskins-Cowboys, Tigers-Red Sox]
NFL Quiz: Name the five San Francisco 49ers running backs to rush for 5,000 yards in their San Fran careers. Answer below.
MLB Playoffs
Wow, if you like pitching how could you not love Saturday night’s twin 1-0 ballgames?
St. Louis’ Michael Wacha helped the Cards to a 2-0 NLCS lead over the Dodgers in going 6 2/3 of shutout ball, fanning 8, and in the process defeating Clayton Kershaw (six innings, 0 earned runs).
In the first game of the series Friday night, it was the Carlos Beltran show as he drove in all three Cardinal runs in a 3-2, 13-inning marathon, plus he threw out a runner at the plate in the tenth. Beltran now has 16 postseason home runs and 34 RBI in 41 games, plus he’s hitting about .420 with runners in scoring position.
But Friday the Cardinals also beat Zack Greinke, who went 8 innings, allowing but two runs and striking out 10.
Ergo, things are not looking good for the Dodgers as they head back to L.A. for Game 3; their two aces having been beaten.
And you have the grumblings over embattled manager Don Mattingly, who on Friday took major heat for pinch-running for .300 hitter Adrian Gonzalez in the eighth inning, and then having had Michael Young replace Gonzalez at first, only to have Young fail to come through in the clutch twice in extra innings (after the Cardinals intentionally walked Hanley Ramirez twice to get to Young…because he wasn’t Adrian Gonzalez).
It’s depressing for Dodgers fans. As L.A. Times writer Bill Plaschke put it, “The memorable remodeling of the last six months has been trashed in less than 24 hours.
“The most expensive team in baseball has been rolled on the riverfront, mugged in a Busch, kicked by a Clydesdale and sent staggering back to Los Angeles with pockets empty, eyes wide and winter coming.”
Only once in the 28-year history of a seven-game NLCS has a team won the series after trailing two games to zero.
And now despite heading back home to the friendly confines of Chavez Ravine, they’ll face Adam Wainwright. All he’s done is assemble a 4-0, 2.03 ERA career postseason mark in 15 games, including a certain pitch in 2006 that Mets fans still have nightmares over. In fact last night I woke up in a cold sweat after a flashback.
Back to Wacha….the 22-year-old budding superstar has now given up just two runs on seven hits in his last 22 2/3 innings, striking out 26 and walking five.
Meanwhile, in Game 1 of the ALCS, Detroit’s Anibal Sanchez threw six innings of no-hit ball, though a high pitch count generated by 12 strikeouts and six walks, 116 to be exact, forced manager Jim Leyland to take him out before he had a shot at a no-no. The Tigers’ relievers then protected the 1-0 lead and allowed just a one-out ninth inning single to Boston’s Daniel Nava in what would have been the first combined no-hitter in postseason play. The Tigers’ staff also had 17 strikeouts, tying a postseason record.
–Earlier this week, in the ALDS, Detroit’s Justin Verlander eliminated the Oakland A’s for a second straight season, 3-0, in a deciding Game 5 in Oakland.
The A’s are now losers of six consecutive Game 5s since 2000, five at home.
Verlander, who had a no-hitter through six, ended up going 8, allowing but two hits while striking out 10, and now has 30 straight scoreless innings in the playoffs against the A’s, a postseason record.
Since 2000, the A’s have gone 1-12 in games where they could clinch a series. They’ve made the playoffs seven of the last 14 seasons, a remarkable achievement for this low-budget franchise, but have lost 9 of their last 10 postseason series going back to 1990.
–And since my last chat, which was prior to the deciding Game 5, Pirates vs. Cards, for the record I have to note that the Pirates’ Starling Marte and Neil Walker, the Nos. 1 and 2 hitters in the lineup, went a combined 1 for 38 in the series.
–The Yankees’ Joe Girardi signed a new four-year contract that will pay him $16 million, plus incentives worth another $4 million. After six years in New York, the wife and kids said it was alright to stay there, despite the New York media bubble.
Addressing why he didn’t go to his hometown Cubs, Girardi said:
“Chicago is special to me. And I think it’ll always be special to me. But this place is really special to me, too…. And my kids and my wife are established in the community here.”
I mean it’s not like the Joe and the family are living in a Bronx tenement.
–Baltimore’s Manny Machado is undergoing surgery to repair a ligament in his left knee after tearing it Sept. 23. Initially it was hoped he wouldn’t need to go under the knife but he expects to be ready for spring training.
–Finally, we note the passing of former major league outfielder Andy Pafko, 92, who famously watched Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” sail over the left-field wall of the Polo Grounds during the 1951 National League playoffs.
What I forgot was that Pafko had a very solid 17-year career, with the Cubs, Dodgers and Milwaukee Braves, a five-time All-Star (technically there was no game in 1945, but he was voted onto the squad) who had two 100-RBI seasons for the Cubs and finished with 213 home runs and 976 RBI, to go along with a .285 batting average.
Andy Pafko, though, is known for something else. His 1952 Topps baseball card in mint condition has sold for as much as $84,000 at auction. Pafko once told the Associated Press upon learning this fact, “I just gave the cards to the kids in the neighborhood and they put them in their bicycle spokes. And there went the money – click, click, click.”
CFB Review
Finally, some upsets and a shakeup in the rankings…led by Stanford’s loss…see below.
—No. 1 Alabama defeated Kentucky 48-7, outgaining the Wildcats 668-170, with 35 first downs, 6.8 yards per carry.
—No. 2 Oregon picked up another solid road win, 45-24 over a highly-respectable No. 16 Washington team as QB Marcus Mariota threw for 366 yards and rushed for another 88. He’s my Heisman winner thus far…but then I’m biased.
—No. 3 Clemson averted disaster, as it looked ahead to next week, in outlasting Boston College in Death Valley, 24-14, as the Eagles made a real game of it and beat the spread, 24 ½. At the end of the day, boys and girls, that’s what truly matters. BC alum Steve D. was in attendance and said ‘no way Clemson is No. 3.’ But I would expect them to bounce back strong next week in one of the better games of recent years against No. 6 Florida State, who was idle this week.
Yes, 8:00 PM next Saturday night on ABC…don’t bother me….
—No. 5 Stanford (No. 4 Ohio State was idle) traveled to Utah, which had played UCLA tough the other week, losing 34-27, and the Cardinal came up short, 27-21, as the Utes stopped Stanford at the goal line in the final minute. Huge win for Utah’s program. Awful defeat for Stanford and bye-bye BCS title hopes, even if it were to defeat Oregon later.
—No. 7 Georgia lost to No. 25 Missouri in Athens, 41-26, as the undefeated Tigers will no doubt soar in the rankings. Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray reverted to form in a big game, tossing two interceptions and looking very ordinary (though in his defense, many of his skill players were injured).
But for Mizzou, they lost their leader, James Franklin, to a separated shoulder and he’ll be out, it seems, for both Florida and South Carolina the next two weeks (though at least both are at home).
The Missouri defense, by the way, now has 13 interceptions in six games to lead the nation…at least as of Saturday afternoon.
—No. 9 Texas A&M outlasted Ole Miss in Oxford, 41-38, as Johnny Manziel appeared to suffer a serious knee injury early, but then bounced right back to throw for 346 yards and rush for another 124 and two touchdowns. A&M trailed 38-31 midway through the fourth quarter before Manziel worked some of his magic. [I wish I had watched more of this but was focused on Anibal Sanchez.]
–In a huge game, No. 10 LSU bested No. 17 Florida, 17-6, as the Tigers held the Gators to just 240 yards of offense. LSU was favored by 6 ½ so great effort on that front as well.
—No. 11 UCLA will rise into the top ten after a 37-10 thrashing over California.
–Texas’ coach Mack Brown earned a one-week reprieve in upsetting No. 12 Oklahoma 36-20. Brown, with 240 career victories, is second among active coaches to Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer (the No. 24 Hokies besting Pitt 19-9 on Saturday), but Texas has been irrelevant for years.
—No. 14 South Carolina blasted Arkansas 52-7. “Superstar” Jadeveon Clowney returned and registered a whopping one tackle for the Gamecocks. [Not for nothing but the attention of NFL scouts is no doubt on Clemson’s Vic Beasley these days, he having nine sacks.]
—No. 15 Baylor, favored by 17 ½, blew it in beating a crappy Kansas State team by only 35-25. [Or you could say the Wildcats did their betting supporters proud.]
–In a very entertaining, though not necessarily for the right reasons, contest, Penn State picked up a huge win in Happy Valley, 43-40 over No. 18 Michigan in four overtimes. Freshman quarterback Christian Hackenberg came up big when he needed to, but television viewers had to watch some of the worst place-kicking in recent memory by both teams as Michigan’s Brendan Gibbons was 4 of 7 on his field goal attempts, including blowing two in overtime, while Penn State’s Sam Ficken also missed two.
—No. 20 Texas Tech defeated a lousy Iowa State team 42-35. Not what the Red Raiders needed to move up much in the polls, if at all.
—No. 23 Northern Illinois did its bid to crash the BCS no good with an unimpressive 27-20 victory over 1-6 Akron.
–Back to Virginia Tech’s 19-9 win over Pitt, the spread was 9.
–In one of the worst games of the college season, South Florida (2-4) beat UConn (0-5) 13-10.
–Congratulations to Army running back Terry Baggett, who ran for a school record 304 yards against Eastern Michigan as the Black Knights ran to victory, 50-25. Baggett broke Michael Wallace’s 1999 record of 269 yards.
–Not for nuthin’, but the best quarterback in America has been Oregon State junior Sean Mannion.
Now understand the NFL-size 6’5”, 220 lb. Mannion was best known for throwing key picks his first two seasons, 31 interceptions combined, but this year he has completed 67.1% of his passes for a stupendous 2,511 yards in six games, with 25 touchdown passes and only 3 interceptions. His quarterback rating? A cool 166.6.
Oregon State whipped Washington State 52-24 on Saturday to move to 5-1. They should crack the top 25 this week. The Nov. 29 season finale against Oregon could yet be a special contest.
I have Beaverwear in the sports drawer as a hedge against all the Duckwear I’ve been donning thus far this season. [In all honesty it’s Oregon Track and Cross Country gear.]
—Fordham moved to 7-0 with a 34-12 win over Georgetown.
–On Thursday, USC interim coach Ed Orgeron made his debut and the Trojans rewarded him with a 38-31 win over Arizona.
–Also on Thursday, No. 8 Louisville beat Rutgers 24-10 and you can officially kiss the Cardinals’ BCS title hopes goodbye. Louisville has now had lackluster victories over Kentucky, 27-13; Temple, 30-7; and now this over the Scarlet Knights, whose QB, Gary Nova, threw four interceptions and truly sucked.
Potential No. 1 NFL draft pick Teddy Bridgewater was far from outstanding himself, though at least got the job done when he needed to (9 of 13 on third down).
Bottom line, my pick to play in the national championship game against Oregon will be undefeated and a most entertaining bowl game entrant, but it won’t be for the big enchilada.
–Chris Dufresne / Los Angeles Times…on former Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice being criticized by former Auburn coach Pat Dye.
“After word leaked that Rice is likely to be a member of the new playoff selection committee, Dye said he didn’t think Rice was qualified because she had never drawn up a play in the dirt.
“That’s like saying Shelby Foote wasn’t qualified to write about the Civil War because he didn’t fight at Gettysburg.
“Two minutes of research and Dye could have learned Rice grew up in Alabama as the only daughter of a high school football coach and athletic director. According to a 2007 ESPN story celebrating Black History Month, her dad put a football in Condi’s crib.
“After her dad joined the University of Denver faculty, members of the Denver Broncos who visited the Rice home were amazed at her acumen for Xs and Os.
“Her dream job, she said, was to be NFL commissioner.
“My guess is Rice will be the most prepared member on the committee. She might still get her daily briefs from former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, a longtime consultant for the BCS.”
–Back to Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater, Sports Illustrated’s Pete Thamel has a terrific piece on the quarterback in the Oct. 14 issue.
“Rose Murphy spent the first part of her nearly 25-year career with the Miami-Dade Public Schools Department of Transportation driving a bus, often rising before dawn to begin her route. She raised four kids in some of Miami’s worst neighborhoods, moving more than 15 times through areas like Opa-Locka, Miami Gardens and Liberty City. One day when her youngest child was in third grade, he turned to his mom from the passenger seat of their beat-up Kia and made a promise. ‘When I make it to the pros,’ Teddy Bridgewater said, ‘I’m going to buy you a pink Escalade with pink rims.’”
But did you know the city of Miami had 24 NFL players on opening day rosters, eight more than any other city? It’s true.
By the way, in case you were wondering why it’s a lock Bridgewater is going in next spring’s draft, despite a year of eligibility left, it’s partially because he will pick up his degree this year. Good for him.
[Reminder…all the preceding was written prior to the release of this poll.]
1. Alabama 6-0 [55 first-place votes]
2. Oregon 6-0 [5]
3. Clemson 6-0
4. Ohio State 6-0…not helped by Michigan loss at all…
5. Florida State 5-0
6. LSU 6-1…wow…
7. Texas A&M 5-1
8. Louisville 6-0…frankly where they deserve to be…
9. UCLA 5-0
10. Miami 5-0…Florida State Nov. 2…
11. South Carolina
12. Baylor 5-0…surprised…
13. Stanford 5-1…thud…
14. Missouri 6-0…25 to 14!!! No way I would have guessed this…
15. Georgia 4-2
16. Texas Tech 6-0…surprised this high…
17. Fresno State 5-0…wow!
23. Northern Illinois 6-0…got this one right…
Including No. 22 Florida and No. 24 Auburn, the SEC has a record 8 teams in the top 25.
But where are the Beavers? Geezuz…they are only No. 31 if you carry out the votes. This is an outrage.
—JAGS BEAT THE SPREAD! JAGS BEAT THE SPREAD!
The lowly Jacksonville Jaguars went to Denver as a 28-point underdog, tying an unofficial record held by the expansion 1966 Atlanta Falcons, who were similar underdogs to Johnny Unitas and the Colts, only the Falcons lost just 19-7.
So Sunday, it was thought the undefeated Broncos would prevail over the winless Jags by like 52-0, and sure enough after one quarter it was 14-0 Denver. Ho hum.
But then it was just 14-12 at half, and 21-19, Denver, in the third!
And the final score was Denver 35…Jacksonville 19!
Those who bet on the Jags are no doubt ecstatic as I write. Peyton Manning had a very ordinary effort and even threw an interception that was returned for a TD.
But I do have to note that one sports book in Vegas was offering to pay $250 on a $100 bet if Jacksonville ever led and that wasn’t the case.
–One thing is clear; if Reggie Bush is healthy the Lions (4-2) can compete with anyone. Sunday they defeated the upstart Browns (3-3) 31-17 as Bush had 135 yards of total offense on 22 touches.
—My Jets came up short against the winless Steelers, 19-6, as New York went to 3-3. Rookie QB Geno Smith threw two bad interceptions after his super effort in Monday night’s win over Atlanta, but it was just kind of a strange game. The Jets didn’t play awful by any stretch, they just lost. [Cornerback Antonio Cromartie did play awful, but emblematic of the game, he shouldn’t have been on the field because he was hurt and not expected to play as late as Thursday.]
Bottom line, Jets fans. I said weeks ago that if they could finish this six-game brutal stretch they are in the midst of at 4-5, they have a shot at a wildcard. Next up New England at home, at Cincinnati, and then down to New Orleans.
–Speaking of New England and New Orleans…what a finish. The Pats beat the Saints, improbably, 30-27, as Tom Brady took New England 70 yards with 1:08 to play and no timeouts, thus handing New Orleans (5-1) its first loss. [The Pats were also a 2 ½-point favorite so great effort in that regard as well.]
—Kansas City moved to 6-0 in beating Oakland (2-4) 24-7. The Chiefs had ten sacks!
[Denver and Kansas City are the only two remaining undefeateds.]
–With Michael Vick out due to injury, Nick Foles passed for three touchdowns and the Eagles moved to 3-3 in defeating the winless Buccaneers (0-5) 31-20. .500 can win the NFC East.
–The Panthers moved to 2-3 in defeating the pathetic Vikings (1-4) 35-10 as Cam Newton was 20/26, 242, 3-0, 143.4! He rushed nine times for 30 yards. Keep these stats in mind as you read another bit below.
As for Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, he received a lot of press this week for a ‘family tragedy’ and had 62 yards on 10 carries.
The press was all over the story of Peterson’s 2-year-old son having been beaten to death by the man living with the mother of the child, which is awful beyond words, but TMZ reported Peterson had only recently learned he was the father!
–My pick to win the Super Bowl, the Rams, got back to .500 (3-3) in defeating the Texans (2-4) 38-13, though Houston outgained St. Louis 420-216. The Rams took a fumble and an interception back for scores.
But I have to admit, looking at the schedule the rest of the way, it’s more brutal than I would have said before the season began, which is the funny thing about the NFL…each season is vastly different than the prior one.
–The Packers moved to 3-2 in defeating the Ravens (3-3) 19-17 as rookie running back Eddie Lacy got his first NFL 100-yard game; 120 on 23 carries after 99 the week before. If he’s playing in January, the Packers roll.
—Seattle moved to 5-1 in beating the now 3-3 Titans, 20-13. Russell Wilson had another efficient game, 257 yards through the air and 61 rushing.
–Last Thursday, Eli Manning threw another three interceptions in a 27-21 loss to the Bears. Manning, with 15 INTs in just six games, is threatening George Blanda’s all-time mark of 42 set back in 1962. Vinny Testaverde is next with 35 in 1988.
The Giants, at 0-6 off to their worst start since 1976 and just 20 months removed from a Super Bowl, have their deserved scapegoat in Eli, who was on the verge of tears while making his postgame comments Thursday night. Actually, Bob S. had an apt comparison. Former Yankee Chuck Knoblauch.
You know I went back through Knoblauch’s record and it was amazing he was a Gold Glover in 1997 at second base, but then by 1999 he had 26 errors, 15 the next, and he was moved to DH and the outfield. Knoblauch’s huge issue was he suddenly couldn’t make the throw to first.
–Interesting piece by CBSSports.com’s Pat Kirwan on how NFL teams may want to reconsider going for running quarterbacks. The numbers, say like Cam Newton’s, quickly fade as the injuries inevitably mount.
That said, “In his career, Newton has an 8-5 record when he runs eight or more times a game and a 6-17 record when he doesn’t. Tom Brady has only rushed more than eight times twice in his 206-game career and Peyton Manning has never rushed eight times in his 249-game career.” [Stats prior to Sunday’s action.]
“Five of this year’s top 10 running quarterbacks after five weeks have already been injured; Michael Vick, Terrelle Pryor, Jake Locker, EJ Manuel and Christian Ponder are all missing time to some degree over injury. None of the top passers by touchdown passes/yards (Peyton, Brees, Rivers, Stafford, Romo, Eli, Rodgers, Bradford, Cutler, Ryan, Brady) have missed a play.”
–The heat on the Washington Redskins to change their name continues to ratchet up, seemingly with each passing day. I’ve tried to stay out of it…and will continue to do so. It just amuses me that this is coming to a head, today, when you’d think it would have been more of an issue even two decades ago.
In a letter to fans, Washington owner Daniel Snyder said that while he respects “the opinions of those who are offended by the team name…we cannot ignore our 81-year history.”
Snyder rejected any negative characterization of the name, citing the nine-year-old Annenberg Public Policy Center poll of 800 Native Americans across 48 states that showed nine out of 10 did not find the name offensive. And Snyder noted an April Associated Press-GfK poll that found 79% of those surveyed said the team should keep its name.
But others point to the late George Preston Marshall, an avowed racist, who as Redskins owner was the last to integrate his team, and came up with the name. [Annys Shin and Dan Steinberg / Washington Post]
“No one doubts the pull of tradition or the sincerity of fans who want to keep the name. Tradition, though, can’t be a bulwark for the indefensible. The Redskins organization showed as much in the 1960s when it changed the team fight song from ‘fight for old Dixie to ‘fight for old D.C.’ That vestige of the racism of original owner George Preston Marshall – like the derogatory slur that is the team’s name – needed to be changed because it offended people. How many people didn’t really matter. Nor did it matter that the fans who sang those old lyrics meant no offense. The question remains: Would Mr. Snyder feel comfortable calling an Indian ‘redskin?’ A report released this week by the National Congress of American Indians highlighted the harmful impact, particularly on youth, of mascots that focus on negative stereotypes of the past….
“NFL officials are right to realize that the league’s interests – from trademark protections for the Redskins brand to coverage by sports writers who refuse to use a name they see as offensive – are involved. That should add to the pressure on Mr. Snyder who, whether he realizes it or not, will define his legacy by which side of history he wants to be on.”
“A New York City strip club announced it will stop televising Giants games because, in the words of one dancer, watching the (then 0-5) team ‘has become too painful.’”
I remember when I had Jets season tickets and they really sucked, my friend Gregg R. and I would leave at half and watch the rest of the game at a…….oops, can’t go there. Sorry.
Golf Balls
–My college classmate Gary Hallberg finished fourth to Russ Cochran in the Champions Tour event in Cary, N.C., this weekend.
–I’m posting this before the conclusion of the first PGA Tour event of the new 2014 season, though it appears Jimmy Walker will emerge victorious at the Frys.com Open.
–Golf Digest had its survey of the top teachers in America and No. 1 was Butch Harmon, No. 2 Sean Foley, and No. 3 Jim McLean. [David Leadbetter was fifth.]
Harmon charges $1,000/hour; Foley $250; and McLean $2,500/half day. Leadbetter is $3,500 for 3 hours.
Hank Haney, No. 11, is $15,000 for a full day. Goodness gracious. Hope you get a soda and some chips with that.
–The other day I noted the incredible snowstorm that hit South Dakota’s Black Hills, up to four-feet, or more, in the Deadwood-Lead area, for example.
What I did not know at the time, however, was the disaster it spelled for the state’s cattle ranchers.
South Dakota’s $7 billion livestock industry has been decimated. It is a true tragedy. Some 80,000 head of cattle are estimated to have perished, and the final toll could be much more. It’s the state’s worst economic disaster in decades.
South Dakota is sixth in the country in livestock production and some 6,000 ranching operations suffered losses.
Because the blizzard hit just days after 80-degree weather, many ranchers hadn’t moved their herds from less-protected summer grazing lands. And now the government shutdown is impeding recovery efforts.
–In the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, Brad Keselowski, the defending champ who failed to qualify for the Chase, became a rare non-Chase driver to win a Chase race in taking the checkered flag Saturday night in Charlotte.
Matt Kenseth leads in the standings with five races to go. Jimmie Johnson is just four points behind.
–On the wildlife front, there is some good news out of China. As reported by the Los Angeles Times’ Barbara Demick, the Siberian tiger appears to be making a comeback. Once believed to be nearly extinct, there may be as many as 40 in the wild and the population is slowly growing. Russia began tiger protection efforts in the 1940s and China has been picking up the pace in recent years.
Now don’t get me wrong. The Chinese still stupidly buy illegal body parts of tigers, but these are mostly from tigers raised on disgusting farms.
Worldwide, there are only said to be 3,200 tigers remaining in the wild, down from 100,000 in the early 20th century.
As for China’s role in the decimation of the African elephant, that’s a different matter, covered at the conclusion of that other column I do in this week’s edition.
–A veteran zookeeper at the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Missouri, was killed by Patience, a 41-year-old elephant with a history of aggression. John B., elephant manager there, was working with Patience who then grew impatient and turned on him.
It seems that the herd’s matriarch, Pinky, had recently been put down owing to advanced kidney disease. The employees were monitoring the two females in the herd since Pinky’s death.
Reader Brad K. and I agree that for the next few months at least it’s prudent to stay away from female elephants.
–I noted the passing of astronaut Scott Carpenter, one of the original seven of Project Mercury, in that other column I do. He was 88, leaving only John Glenn among the seven still alive.
Carpenter was the second American to orbit the Earth, after Glenn, but it proved to be a most controversial mission, with the NASA flight director at the time, Christopher Kraft, writing in his memoir that one of the reasons why Carpenter landed more than 250 miles off targets was, “He was completely ignoring our request to check his instruments. I swore an oath that Scott Carpenter would never again fly in space. He didn’t.”
Tom Wolfe, in his book “The Right Stuff” (1979), wrote that Mr. Kraft’s criticism fueled NASA engineers’ simmering resentment of the astronauts’ status as pop-culture heroes. “The way Mr. Wolfe saw it, word spread within NASA that Mr. Carpenter had panicked, the worst sin imaginable in what Mr. Wolfe called the brotherhood of the right stuff.
“Mr. Wolfe rejected that notion. ‘One might argue that Carpenter had mishandled the re-entry, but to accuse him of panic made no sense in light of the telemetered data concerning his heart rate and his respiratory rate,’ he wrote.” [Richard Goldstein / New York Times]
Carpenter was Glenn’s backup for the latter’s historic orbital flight and it was Carpenter who memorably said, “Godspeed, John Glenn!” as Glenn’s Friendship 7 achieved takeoff.
–I keep forgetting to put down for the record that Wilson Kipsang set a world record at the Berlin marathon the other week, 2:03:23. Good lord. Essentially he ran a marathon faster than I could do a half…and still spot me 6-8 minutes.
–CBS’ “Sunday Morning” had a little snippet on Ed Sullivan this week. He died on Oct. 13, 1974. I had forgotten the “Ed Sullivan Show” went off the air in 1971. I would have said 1973.
–“Sunday Morning” also had a piece on Bobby Orr that is worth checking out online. Orr has now finally written his book, “My Story,” that sounds pretty good. No one like him, ever. You wonder what he would have done with modern sports medicine. After all, Orr’s last full season (1974-75) was when he was just 26, owing to his knee issues.
Top 3 songs for the week 10/12/63: #1 “Sugar Shack” (Jimmy Gilmer and The Fireballs) #2 “Be My Baby” (The Ronettes…I loved Ronnie…don’t tell Phil…) #3 “Blue Velvet” (Bobby Vinton…incredibly underrated artist…)…and…#4 “Cry Baby” (Garnet Mimms & The Enchanters) #5 “Sally, Go ‘Round The Roses” (The Jaynetts) #6 “Busted” (Ray Charles) #7 “My Boyfriend’s Back” (The Angels) #8 “Mean Woman Blues” (Roy Orbison) #9 “Heat Wave” (Martha & The Vandellas…tune aging very well…) #10 “Donna The Prima Donna” (Dion…another underrated star, especially outside New York area…)
NFL Quiz Answer: San Francisco running backs with 5,000 yards.
Frank Gore 9,215
Joe Perry 8,689
Roger Craig 7,064
Ken Willard 5,930
Garrison Hearst 5,535
In 1954, Hall of Famer Perry averaged a stupendous 6.1 yards per carry (173-1,049).
