Heisman Trophy Quiz: Who is the last player from outside the major conferences to win the Heisman? Answer below.
World Series
I posted last time before Game 4 which Boston won 4-2. A night after the first-ever World Series game to end on an obstruction call, Game 3, the next night we had the first-ever World Series game to end on a pickoff.
Game 4 also saw Boston’s Shane Victorino come up lame with back stiffness prior to the game, so he was replaced by Jonny Gomes who proceeded to hit a 3-run homer.
The game ended when Red Sox closer Koji Uehara picked off Cardinals pinch runner Kolten Wong, who had been told by manager Mike Matheny to “be careful, shorten up.”
Then in Game 5, it was once again the David Ortiz-Jon Lester show as the Red Sox gained a 3-2 Series lead with a 3-1 victory in St. Louis that puts Beantown one win away from a third championship in a decade. Ortiz went 3-for-4 with an RBI double to extend his other-worldly World Series performance to 11-for-15, with 2 HR 6 RBI. As we all know it was almost 12-for-15, 3-9, if Carlos Beltran hadn’t robbed Ortiz of a grand slam in Game 1.
[Ortiz also has one-third of Boston’s 33 hits in the five games.]
The Big Needle is now 20-for-43 in his three World Series appearances, .465 BA, 3 HR 14 RBI, 1.370 OPS, the best in baseball history for any player with 40 Series at-bats.
“This month, David Ortiz has probably become the first player in history to get over the hump and into the Hall of Fame by the margin of his spectacular postseason play.
“If the Boston Red Sox complete their third World Series triumph in the past 10 seasons, all with Big Papi as a central offensive engine, and Ortiz continues to hold the highest career batting average in World Series history, currently an insane .465 in ’04, ’07 and ’13 combined, we can probably remove the word ‘probably.’
“In the past week, hitting .733 in this series despite being robbed of a grand slam in Game 1 by a great catch, Ortiz has, in all likelihood, dispelled the last Cooperstown doubts anyway. Stat students may debate whether there’s any such thing as a ‘clutch hitter,’ but don’t try to sell that to the St. Louis Cardinals. After Ortiz finally made an out on Monday, on a vicious deep line drive to center, ace Adam Wainwright turned and made a gesture of admiration as if to say, ‘So, you can make an out.’”
As for Lester, this is his official national coming out party. 15 1/3 innings, one run on nine hits, one walk, 15 strikeouts, and is now 3-0 in the Series for his career, including 5 2/3 of scoreless ball in 2007…ergo, one run in 21 innings in three World Series outings.
I mean this is a guy who is also now 100-56 in his major league career with five, 15-win seasons, and he turns 30 in January. I know I haven’t appreciated him like I should have. Plus he’s a cancer survivor.
So it’s back to Boston for Game 6, tonight…Michael Wacha (4-0 in the postseason, 1.00 ERA) vs. John Lackey.
And a final note on Boston closer Koji Uehara. Including the regular season, he has not walked a batter in his last 36 2/3 innings. You’re reading that right.
–According to TiqIQ, a ticket tracking company, the average list price on the resale market for a ticket to Game 6 is $1,860. Bleacher seats that could have been had for $300 last week, were selling for $1,100 on Tuesday morning.
Boston won their titles in 2004 and 2007 on the road.
–Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera had surgery Tuesday to repair his groin tear. He’ll be ready for spring training.
–Among those awarded Gold Gloves on Tuesday was St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina, who won his sixth straight. Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia (his 3rd), right fielder Shane Victorino (4th GG), and Cards pitcher Adam Wainwright (2nd) were other Series participants who were rewarded for their defense this season.
Other winners of note…Baltimore’s Manny Machado at 3B, J.J. Hardy (2nd) at SS, and Adam Jones (3rd) in CF, along with Atlanta SS Andrelton Simmons and CF Carlos Gomez of Milwaukee, the first Brewer to win a Gold Glove since Robin Yount in 1982, Yount being a shortstop at the time. That’s the longest drought for any team in the 57-year history of the award.
–Let’s review Sports Illustrated’s picks for 2013.
In the ALCS…Rays over Blue Jays…In the NLCS…Nationals over Reds
I had the Nationals over the Tigers…only slightly better.
SI didn’t have the Red Sox or the Cardinals even making the playoffs. Actually, SI had the Red Sox at 77-85, Cardinals at 83-79, and the Pirates at 76-86.
College Football Review
—Horrible set of games this Saturday…with only one big one…No. 7 Miami at No. 3 Florida State in prime time. One problem….the Seminoles are going to rout the Hurricanes, 49-10, and I’ll be looking for some old Anthony Bourdain episodes I imagine come second half.
The only other mildly interesting contests on the day are No. 18 Oklahoma State (6-1) at No. 15 Texas Tech (7-1), just to see who emerges as a possible stumbling block for Baylor later on. And No. 21 Michigan (6-1) at No. 22 Michigan State (7-1), which might be more interesting if they did the game in black and white…just a thought, ABC.
I will, however, be watching Wake Forest (4-4) at Syracuse (3-4) to see if the Deacs can keep up their solid play in the Carrier Dome.
No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Oregon and No. 5 Stanford, by the way, are off this week. ‘Bama gears up for No. 13 LSU on Nov. 9, while Oregon is at Stanford Thurs., Nov. 7, which really ticks me off because the game won’t start until 9:00 PM and it should be on a Saturday night!!!
So this coming Sunday night, the only change you’re likely to see in the BCS is Florida State and Oregon flip-flopping again, assuming the Seminoles roll as I expect them to.
–You know what’s staggering? Southern Miss had 18 straight winning seasons, 1994-2011, including ten straight bowl appearances, 2002-2011, but has now lost 19 straight. Good gawd!
1. North Dakota State 8-0
2. Eastern Illinois 7-1
3. Coastal Carolina 8-0
4. Eastern Washington 6-2
5. Montana State 6-2
8. Fordham 8-0
11. Maine 7-1
–I missed a college football record, until seeing this in John Feinstein’s column for the Washington Post; that being the record performance of Division II Western Connecticut State running back Octavias McKoy, who set an NCAA all-division, single-game rushing record with 455 yards on 43 carries against Worcester State on Saturday. Looking up the effort more extensively, I see in an AP story that “The 6-foot, 200-pound senior from Stratford, Conn., had planned to accept a scholarship from Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz in 2010. But he didn’t qualify academically and ended up at junior colleges in Kansas and Arizona before he landed with the Colonials.
“McKoy played both sides of the ball in high school and then became a full-time defensive back in junior college. When he showed up at Western Connecticut, the new coaching staff initially pegged him as a receiver.”
The coaches then saw his potential after one week of practices and decided he needed to touch the ball 20 times a game rather than six or seven as a receiver…so, presto! Make him a running back. He now has a Division II-leading 1,556 yards in seven games, for a 5-2 team that will have its first winning season since 2005.
“McKoy broke the record of 441 yards by Dante Brown of Marietta College against Baldwin-Wallace in 1996.”
LaDainian Tomlinson holds the Division-I, FBS record at 406 yards.
Heck, Danny Woodhead was a Division II standout at Chadron State. I’m surprised the Associated Press story didn’t mention this. You’d think someone will give McKoy at least a shot in training camp next year.
–Arizona’s Ka’Deem Carey is the top rusher in the FBS at 154 yards a game, while Oregon State’s Sean Mannion continues to lead the nation in passing at 407.9 yards a game.
—Penn State said Monday it is paying $59.7 million to 26 young men over claims of child sexual abuse at the hands of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. There are a few others the university may settle with as well. Penn State has also spent more than $50 million on other costs related to the scandal, including legal fees.
–When I picked the St. Louis Rams to win it all, I talked of Sam Bradford coming into his own at QB, the incredible speed at wide receiver, and an underrated defense.
But then they started out 3-4, Bradford was lost for the season with an injury, and the defense has been awful.
Yet on Monday night, the Rams hosted the Seahawks, with everyone in town more concerned with the hometown Cardinals-Red Sox game, and the Rams put on a very gutty performance, falling to now 7-1 Seattle, 14-9.
St. Louis outgained Seattle 339-135, holding the Seahawks to just 7 first downs, but backup quarterback Kellen Clemens was stopped on the goal line on the final play as he misfired on a fourth down pass in the end zone that would have given the Rams a sterling win. Instead, they’re 3-5.
–I don’t know why, but I’m optimistic the ‘good’ Jets will show up Sunday against New Orleans rather than last Sunday’s ‘bad’ Jets. As in ‘very bad’ Jets…as in the world’s worst secondary.
What does seem clear is that if the 4-4 Jets, who have yet to win, or lose, two in a row this season, finish, say, 6-10, Rex Ryan is gone. 8-8 and it will be tough to let him go, given the expectations for this season.
–Talk about a jerk. Look at Washington Redskins safety Brandon Meriweather, who served a one-game suspension Sunday for the way he hits, including receiving numerous fines for his helmet-to-helmet contact with an opponent. Meriweather felt compelled to talk about Chicago Bears receiver Brandon Marshall, saying:
“He (Marshall) feels like I need to be kicked out of the league. I feel like people who beat their girlfriends should be kicked out of the league, too. …You tell me who you’d rather have? Someone who plays aggressive on the field or someone who beat up their girlfriend?
“I guess I just got to take people’s knees out,” Meriweather added Monday morning in the Redskins’ locker room. “That’s the only way. I would hate to end a guy’s career over a rule, but I guess it’s better other people than me getting suspended for longer.
“You just have to go low now, man. You’ve got to end people’s careers. You got to tear people’s ACLs and mess up people’s knees. You can’t hit them high anymore.”
Oh brother. Marshall has been arrested multiple times on alleged domestic-abuse charges but has never been convicted.
–In Tuesday’s opening night action in the NBA, Derrick Rose finally made his return for Chicago, but Rose was far from sharp (12 points on 4-of-15 shooting, with five turnovers) as the Bulls fell to the Heat, 107-95, with Miami hitting 11-of-20 from downtown.
The Los Angeles Lakers surprised the Clippers 116-103, even as the Lakers played without Kobe Bryant.
—Tiger Woods commented for the first time on Brandel Chamblee’s recent insinuation he was cheating.
“All I am going to say is that I know I am going forward,” said Tiger from China, where he was having an exhibition with Rory McIlroy (that Rory won by a shot). “But then I don’t know what the Golf Channel (Chamblee’s employer) is going to do or not. But then that’s up to them. The whole issue has been very disappointing, as he didn’t really apologize and he sort of reignited the whole situation.
“So the ball really is in the court of the Golf Channel and what they are prepared to do.”
Golf Channel has not commented, while Chamblee said he was not asked to apologize by anyone. Tiger’s agent, Mark Steinberg, also said “it’s now in the hands of the Golf Channel.”
—Ryan Moore defeated Gary Woodland in Monday’s sudden-death playoff at the event in Malaysia that counts as a PGA Tour event; Moore’s third win.
–I missed something from the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas two weeks ago, won by Webb Simpson. Andres Romero opened with a 61 and then shot 81 to miss the cut. It’s believed he is the first to ever do so….miss a cut after shooting 61.
—Sebastian Vettel is the greatest athlete I imagine few in the U.S. have ever heard of. Vettel clinched his fourth Formula 1 title on Sunday, joining the likes of Alain Prost, Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher as four-time champs, having won a staggering 10 of the 16 races so far this season, including the last six in a row.
But Vettel laments the fact he is often booed on the podium after a race. It’s because the fans don’t like seeing the same guy win all the time, Vettel reasons, but he’s done some things that haven’t exactly endeared himself to the racing community.
The German is just 26…four consecutive titles. Remarkable.
–So I’m reading the November 2013 issue of Smithsonian and they have “101 Objects that Made America,” all contained in the Smithsonian’s museums.
“Hunting in Mississippi in 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt declined to shoot a bear that guides had tied to a tree. His gallantry inspired a political cartoon featuring TR and a wide-eyed cub, which inspired Brooklyn shopkeepers Morris and Rose Michtom to create a plush version, nicknamed Teddy. They started the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company and made U.S. toy history.”
Francis Scott Key composed the lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner” on the morning of September 14, 1814, although he lifted some of the words from a poem he’d written in 1805, and it was set to a tune from the mother country: “To Anacreon in Heaven,” a popular English drinking song.
Dorothy’s ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz” have an estimated value of $3 million – the equivalent of the movie’s production budget.
–There are some tragedies in life that just leave you shaking your head. In Monday’s big storm in Britain and parts of Europe, a man in Denmark was killed when a brick flew off a building and hit him in the head.
[And this must have been scary. As wind gusts hit 80-120 mph (the later a record in Copenhagen), ferry service between England and France was canceled, but one ferry with 1,100 passengers was forced to ride it out at sea because a Dutch port it was headed to was blocked.]
–From the November/December 2013 issue of Sierra / Michael Engelhard:
“I gaze deep into Mexico from my lookout in the Chisos Mountains [Texas], a forested plateau Edward Abbey considered ‘an emerald isle in a red sea.’ Two thousand feet below me, the Mule Ears – twin volcanic formations, which from here look like Doberman ears – thrust from the plains. Far to my left stands the Sierra del Carmen, a rocky bulwark blotted by haze.
“The Chisos are a place for raptors and rapture, and if I could, I’d dive off the escarpment and soar to the Rio Grande.
“Dizzy with too much open space, I shoulder my pack and duck back into the trees, descending on the resin-scented Pinnacles Trail. I reach a meadow of wheat-colored grass, where an oak tree catches my eye. Acorns patter from its canopy. Then, the tree’s crown jiggles violently – more acorn hail. I approach the trees for closer inspection, but before I get there, two black balls bounce toward me, furry and roll. They come to rest 10 yards from my boot tips.
“Bear cubs. The ranger had told me about mountain lions, but I had forgotten about desert bears.
“The tree stops shaking. Seconds later, with a hoarse huff, their mother rushes down the trunk and rumbles between her cubs and me. There’s no curiosity in her demeanor, only fierce, no-nonsense maternity. Raising my hands in appeasement, I slowly back off without breaking eye contact. Her ears – initially flattened against her skull – perk up. Her posture relaxes, so I keep on removing myself, taking care not to trip. By the look on her face, this seems acceptable. More intent on foraging than on confrontation, she herds her cubs into a thicket. With the last black rump gone, and my pulse back to normal, I chuckle, enchanted by this showdown in the Texas mountains, where bears drop from trees.”
–The October issue of The Atlantic magazine has a bit on what some consider to be the greatest speech, historical or fictional, ever given.
For example, Ben Stein, actor and former speechwriter for Presidents Nixon and Ford, cites “To Be or Not to Be” from Hamlet, which “boils down the essentials of life to a few magnificently poetic paragraphs.”
James Carville, former campaign manager for President Clinton, comments:
“Although it does not have the same cachet as the Sermon on the Mount, the Sermon on the Plain is a shorter and more cogent speech. Jesus was talking to people at his same level, rather than to people down the mountain.”
But General Stanley McChrystal, former commander of American forces in Afghanistan, says:
“Great speeches can inspire nations, armies, and teams to win against the odds and to take action when things seem hopeless. In that tradition, an entire generation can recite the simple message delivered by a slovenly fraternity brother.”
So herewith is the entire bit from “Animal House,” part of which I recently referred to in a “Week in Review” column on the actions of Ted Cruz and certain Republicans.
Bluto: Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Bluto: And it ain’t over now. ‘Cause when the goin’ gets tough… [thinks hard] the tough get goin’! Who’s with me? Let’s go! [runs out, alone; then returns] What the f— happened to the Delta I used to know? Where’s the spirit? Where’s the guts, huh? “Ooh, we’re afraid to go with you Bluto, we might get in trouble.” Well just kiss my a– from now on! Not me! I’m not gonna take this. Wormer, he’s a dead man! Marmalard, dead! Niedermeyer –
Otter: Dead! Bluto’s right. Psychotic, but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part.
–My brother alerted me to a fact I missed concerning Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground. From the Star Ledger:
“(Like) many artists whose images are tied to the Big Apple, Reed had Jersey connections. The first VU show was held at Summit High School in 1965, where Reed, guitarists John Cale and Sterling Morrison and drummer Maureen Tucker astonished an audience of students and parents with a squall of noise and lyrics about drug abuse and sadomasochism.”
That’s my high school alma mater, folks! I had just moved into town and was only seven so, you know, I wasn’t there.
Top 3 songs for the week 10/26/68: #1 “Hey Jude” (The Beatles) #2 “Little Green Apples” (O.C. Smith) #3 “Fire” (The Crazy World of Arthur Brown)…and…#4 “Those Were The Days” (Mary Hopkin) #5 “Girl Watcher” (The O’Kaysions) #6 “Midnight Confessions” (The Grass Roots) #7 “Over You” (Gary Puckett and The Union Gap) #8 “Harper Valley P.T.A.” (Jeannie C. Riley) #9 “Elenore” (The Turtles) #10 “I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You” (The Bee Gees…the ‘good’ Bee Gees…and a nice, eclectic week overall…which is part of what made the 60s so great)
Heisman Trophy Quiz Answer: Last player from a non-major conference to win was quarterback Ty Detmer of BYU in 1990.
