Baseball Quiz: Frank Thomas is one of three players in baseball history with 10,000 plate appearances and figures of at least .300 BA, .400 on-base percentage and .550 slugging percentage. Name the other two. [It’s a little tricky. Bet you thought there were more.] Answer below.
NFL Playoffs
Sunday, Jan. 19
–In the Patriots’ 43-22 win over the Colts, it was the LeGarrette Blount show as he rushed for 166 yards on 24 carries and four touchdowns, the second most in a NFL playoff game. Overall, the Pats rushed for 234 yards and six rushing TDs. As for Tom Brady, he was a pedestrian 13/25, 198, no touchdowns, no interceptions.
Indianapolis quarterback Andrew Luck was 20/41, 331, but four interceptions to go with two touchdowns. He ended up with seven interceptions in his two playoff games, after just nine in the regular season.
–In Seattle, the line was 8 and wouldn’t you know the game ended up 23-15. More importantly, the Seahawks rode Marshawn Lynch to victory, 28 carries, 140 yards and two touchdowns, to overcome a very subpar effort by QB Russell Wilson, 9/18, 103, 67.6.
For New Orleans, Drew Brees got his act together after an awful start, but his 309 yards were nowhere near enough.
But after a touchdown pass to Marcus Colston cut it to 23-15 late, the Saints’ Colston recovered an onside kick and Brees took over at his 41 with 24 seconds remaining. After Jimmy Graham caught his first pass of the game on an 8-yard completion, Brees spiked it to stop the clock, then found Colston near the sideline. In that instant, all those watching the game had one thought; he’ll get out of bounds and they’ll have a reasonable Hail Mary attempt from 35-40 yards out.
Instead, Colston tried to throw across the field to Darren Sproles, but it was clearly an illegal forward pass and with the penalty running off the final 10 seconds the game was over.
Granted, the odds of a desperation attempt in the end zone being successful for New Orleans weren’t great, but they also weren’t zero. It was an incredibly idiotic way to end the contest.
Separately, you had to feel bad for Seattle receiver Percy Harvin. The dynamo missed all but one game in the regular season because of hip surgery and related setbacks, but he was good enough in practice to suit up for Saturday and then in the first half, after looking sharp, he was promptly knocked out with a concussion.
–Continuing the weekend of generally boring play, on Sunday, San Francisco defeated Carolina in Charlotte 23-10 behind Colin Kaepernick (15/28, 196, 1-0, 87.8), Frank Gore (17 carries for 84 yards) and Anquan Boldin (8 rec. 136 yards).
After a hot start, Panthers QB Cam Newton sucked, finishing 16/25, 267, 1-2, 79.9, with 54 rushing.
–Finally, Peyton Manning moved to 10-11 in the playoffs as he guided Denver to a 24-17 win over San Diego, that wasn’t exactly as close as the score makes it out to be, though the Chargers briefly made it interesting with a late score and recovery of an onside kick. They had trailed 17-0 after three, after all. Manning was just 25/36, 230, 2-1, 93.5, while Philip Rivers had a solid 18/27, 217, 2-0, 115.8 effort.
NFL Bits
—Washington hired Jay Gruden as their new coach, the team’s eighth since Daniel Snyder purchased the franchise in 1999. But, as the Washington Post’s Mark Maske noted, “it is the first time during Snyder’s tenure that the Redskins have hired a coordinator from another NFL team regarded as an up-and-coming talent in the coaching ranks.”
Gruden, 46 and the brother of Jon, was offensive coordinator of the Bengals and was being pursued by a number of teams. And now he has Robert Griffin III to work with. Gruden said he will be demanding of Griffin and expect the quarterback to accept blame when circumstances dictate that.
–Can you believe the burglary at Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson’s South Philadelphia home? The thief or thieves stole more than $250,000 in cash and jewelry from a safe and a handgun. No arrests have been made.
A-Roid, Banned…
Independent arbitrator Fredric Horowitz ruled Alex Rodriguez must serve a full-season, 162-game suspension – plus the 2014 postseason – for his involvement in the Biogenesis case. It is the longest penalty ever handed down to a baseball player for using performance-enhancing drugs.
Major League Baseball had initially sought a 211-game suspension, but Horowitz’ ruling represents a major triumph nonetheless.
Rodriguez said partially in a statement: “I have been clear that I did not use performance-enhancing substances as alleged in the notice of discipline, or violate the Basic Agreement or the Joint Drug Agreement in any manner, and in order to prove it I will take this fight to federal court.”
Legal experts say there is virtually no chance A-Rod will be successful.
Rodriguez will lose about $22 million of his $25 million salary for 2014. He is owed another $61 million for 2015-17, but no one believes the Yankees will take him back and it’s expected that over time they will negotiate a buyout.
“(As) the news began to sink in, as the reality of what Frederic Horowitz had done became real, as the enormity of it – 162 games, a whole season, plus postseason, barring a federal judge issuing an injunction, something that almost never happens after binding arbitration – this is what I felt:
“Not for A-Rod, not really. He already lied once about taking steroids, already admitted once that he knew he and cousin Yuri weren’t taking Tic-Tacs back in the day. His credibility isn’t exactly scratch-proof.
“Not for baseball, not necessarily. Even if you believe every word of the case against Rodriguez, it is impossible not to gag on the backed-up stench of the way certain aspects of MLB’s investigation was conducted (even if, as Rudy Giuliani once said, you want to catch a mobster, you don’t only look for them in church)….
“Not exactly the feel-good story of the year. Not if you saw Alex Rodriguez play baseball for the bulk of his career, when it seemed he was capable of doing anything on the field, reaching any height, shattering any record, when you wondered if you were watching the best who ever was.
“Think of what it is now to watch LeBron James perform: a driven athlete with a sense of history and a greater sense of theater, the perfect storm of work and energy and talent and physical, freakishly physical gifts. Think of what it was like to watch Wayne Gretzky in the ‘80s. Think of Tiger Woods circa 2001 or so.
“Now imagine being told none of it was real, all of it a figment of artifice, a parlor trick of pharmacology. Wouldn’t you feel robbed of something?
“Maybe this satisfies our sense of sporting justice, but even that is hard to believe. Remember, A-Rod winds up a non-person based not on a failed drug test but on a strange, muddled conspiracy that wouldn’t even have seen the light of day except for a free community newspaper in Miami and some terrific reporting….
“People are entitled to cheer this if they want, they can feel good about a posse getting its man, about the humbling of an arrogant star.
“But some also are entitled to feel lousy about how this turned out, to be saddened what we saw all those years wasn’t what we thought we were seeing, and baseball forever seems to be played in the shadow of the ancillary. This isn’t how it was supposed to go for this player.
“The commissioner’s office went after Rodriguez with fervor. There certainly is place to wonder if they went over an acceptable line in how they pursued this case, particularly in paying for some information and teaming up with Biogenesis Ground Zero, Anthony Bosch. The leaders of the sport are going to have to examine if this is the best way to govern.
“But ultimately their questionable tactics led to unquestioned results as far as punishing the Biogenesis gang, 14 in all.
“And they got their big fish – Rodriguez, a player they felt was not only a user of illegal performance enhancers, but a serial user who acted as if the rules did not apply to him, who acted as if he could lie and mislead with impunity, who seemed to be playing catch-me-if-you-can….
“The world learned Saturday the season is lost to Rodriguez. And so, perhaps, is any future baseball career. He has instead been reduced to the big loser in his own circus. Not long ago, he was in the discussion for greatest player ever. Now it is the greatest, what? Cautionary tale? Joke? Waster of talent and money? For this ruling means A-Rod loses far more than just a year of baseball.”
[As for the reason why A-Rod doesn’t lose his entire $25 million, it’s because there are 183 days on the regular-season calendar, and he gets docked for 162 of those days.]
“If you cheat, MLB will catch you.
“Oh, you may beat the drug tests. You may even beat the system for a while. Yet, eventually, the MLB police will get you.
“Major League Baseball presented the argument that Rodriguez was a serial user of performance-enhancing drugs.
“They presented evidence that he tried to buy the incriminating evidence from the infamous Biogenesis Clinic in South Florida.
“They provided detailed cell-phone records, medical charts, and testimony from Tony Bosch, the director of the now-defunct clinic.
“Yes, and they played dirty, giving bags of cash worth $200,000 to one man who had stolen documents from the clinic.
“(Not even) the Major League Players Association was willing to be a participant in Rodriguez’s statement. The union tried to persuade Rodriguez to reach a compromise last summer before his 211-game sentence in August, but he refused.
“The union fought for Rodriguez, considering he’s paying higher union dues than any other player in baseball, but threw up its hands after the arbitrator’s decision.
“If Rodriguez wants to continue this fight, he’s on his own.
“ ‘The MLBPA strongly disagrees with the award issued today in the grievance of Alex Rodriguez, even despite the Arbitration Panel’s decision to reduce the duration of Mr. Rodriguez’s unprecedented 211-game suspension,’ union executive director Tony Clark said in a statement. ‘We recognize that a final and binding decision has been reached, however, and we respect the collectively-bargained arbitration process which led to the decision.
“ ‘In accordance with the confidentiality provision of the JDA (Joint Drug Agreement), the Association will make no further comment regarding the decision.’
On “60 Minutes,” Biogenesis founder Anthony Bosch said he injected Rodriguez with banned substances because “Alex is scared of needles, so at times, he would ask me to inject.” Bosch also said he personally delivered banned substances, including testosterone, insulin-like growth factor 1 and human growth hormone to A-Rod at least a dozen times and Rodriguez paid him $12,000 a month in cash.
“60 Minutes” showed text messages between A-Rod and Bosch discussing daily communication about the “protocol” and Bosch added that Rodriguez associates attempted to prevent him from cooperating with MLB’s investigation.
The Yankees will be on the hook for about $3.1 million of A-Rod’s 2014 salary, which goes a long way towards their stated goal of staying under the $189 million luxury-tax threshold.
Back to A-Rod, the best thing to me should his career be over is he falls six short of Willie Mays on the all-time home run list…660 to 654…and he’s 23 short of Lou Gehrig on the RBI list…1,992 to 1,969. And, heck, he’d fall short of the 3,000-hit club, A-Rod currently at 2,939.
Lastly, former Senator George Mitchell of Mitchell Report fame had some of the following in an op-ed for the Washington Post, penned prior to the A-Rod announcement.
Mitchell expressed his disappointment that after release of his report in December 2007, baseball was slow to act, but….
“Major League Baseball has moved in recent years to meet the challenge. For that, Commissioner Bud Selig deserves great credit. Credit also should go to the players and their association; they have come to understand that their interest lies in a strong, effective and fair program of testing and vigilance to limit drug use to an absolute minimum. I am heartened that more players than ever are speaking out against steroid use, as has the Players Association. I hope the tide is turning against it in all sports.
“Learning that our childhood heroes are fallible is disillusioning. But we grow up and get over our disappointment, and we understand it as another example of life’s complexity. Not every great human being is a great athlete. Not every great athlete is a great human being. Talent and morality may coexist, but they often do not.
“It’s understandable, and human, to want clarity and finality. But in sports, as in life, some complexity and uncertainty are unavoidable, for fans and for those sportswriters who vote on candidates for the Hall of Fame.”
Baseball Hall of Fame Vote
Greg Maddux 97.2%
Tom Glavine 91.9
Frank Thomas 83.7
Craig Biggio 74.8…two votes shy of needed 75.0%…(68.2% last year)
Mike Piazza 62.2 (57.8)
Jack Morris 61.5…out, last year on ballot (67.7% last year)
Jeff Bagwell 54.3 (59.6)
Tim Raines 46.1 (52.2)
Roger Clemens 35.4 (37.6)
Barry Bonds 34.7 (36.2)
Lee Smith 29.9 (47.8…wow, huge drop, 12th year)
Curt Schilling 29.2
Mike Mussina 20.3
Jeff Kent 15.2…surprisingly low first-year total
Fred McGriff 11.7
Mark McGwire 11.0 (16.9)
Larry Walker 10.2
Don Mattingly 8.2
Sammy Sosa 7.2 (12.5%)
Rafael Palmeiro 4.4…out…below 5% theshold
Biggio and Piazza were the only holdover candidates whose percentages rose from last year.
Recall, the ESPN ballot of its 17 voters had Bonds and Clemens on 9 of them, or 52.9%. I thought both would be in the 40s.
The 2015 ballot has first-timers Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz.
One historical example that could concern Biggio, given the above three sure-fire ‘locks’ next year, is the case of Jim Bunning. He hit 74.2% in his 12th year, but didn’t hit 75.0% his remaining three and had to wait another five (8 total) before the Veterans’ Committee selected him.
“Mike Piazza and Jeff Bagwell were long suspected of performance-enhancing drug use because of their tremendous muscular physiques and power, while also greatly out-performing the pedigree assigned them by the scouting community. Both have denied any illegal use.
“Piazza, a 62nd-round draft pick, since has admitted to the use of androstenedione, a supplement now banned by Major League Baseball and every other major sports league.
“Anecdotally? Piazza had back acne – could be a sign of drug use or just a medical condition. Bagwell’s right shoulder deteriorated before our eyes.
“Piazza received 62.2% this year and Bagwell 54.3%. Both figures are far short of the required standard, but high enough to engender hope of eventual election.
“If Piazza and Bagwell eventually get into the Hall of Fame, are we rewarding them for being smart enough not to get caught?
“If Piazza and Bagwell are snubbed, are we being unfair for questioning their physiques, listening to the innuendo, but having no concrete evidence?
“And if we have no evidence on Piazza and Bagwell, what actual proof do we have on Bonds and Clemens? Did any of us ever see Bonds or Clemens injected? Did Bonds or Clemens privately tell any Hall voter that they secretly used?
“I believe the drug use rampant in baseball during the steroid era was much greater than anyone can imagine. I saw the deformity of the bodies. The surreal power. The dramatic weight losses and weight gains. The mood swings.
“And, yes, the drug secrets that not only some of their closest friends confidentially revealed, but also their agents, associates and peers.
“This is why I take the lonely stance, judging players simply on their performance on the field and their impact on the game.
“I vote for the steroid players….
“Please, forget the integrity, sportsmanship and character clause involving PEDs. The truth is that general managers and managers loved having steroid users on their team. Those guys were the most disciplined and dedicated players in the clubhouse.
“They weren’t running around at night. They took pristine care of their bodies. They ate right, slept right, and, man, did they ever spend countless hours in the weight room.
“One active general manager and another former GM told USA TODAY Sports that they had direct knowledge of the use of steroids on their own clubs. Yet, the only time they’d get upset is if they signed a player on steroids, and he suddenly stopped using.”
“It’s simple, really. The steroid-taking players took an unfair advantage over the honest players when they all played. So why reward them now at the expense of the guys who played it straight? By disregarding, deferring or just plain saying ‘no’ to the steroid guys, it isn’t too hard to get the ballot down to 10 worthy players….
“Next year, I will reconsider them all. But I’m not close to being ready to squeeze a clean guy off the ballot so I can put a steroid guy onto the ballot, as it appears many others are….
“If someone wants to tell me that Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens belong in the Hall, I understand. They put up all-time great numbers. If you throw out integrity, character and sportsmanship, there’s not even a question. Voters may excuse their drug taking by arguing that they didn’t take drugs until at least halfway through their careers, or that they took them when they weren’t explicitly against the rules, or that they never failed any tests.
“That’s fine. But sorry, I’m not there yet. Assuming they were great without the steroids just tells me they didn’t need to cheat in the first place.”
“Don’t tell me you can’t write the history of baseball, as some like to say, without voting Bonds and Clemens into the Hall of Fame. Pete Rose was never even put on the ballot, as decreed by Major League Baseball, and yet his accomplishment as baseball’s all-time hit leader is showcased in the museum that is the actual Hall.
“He just isn’t honored with an official plaque. And so it should be with the game’s all-time home run leader and its only seven-time Cy Young winner.
“By withholding a vote for Bonds and Clemens, I’m not pretending they didn’t exist or that they weren’t among the best of the best. I just believe that induction into the Hall of Fame is the highest honor a player can receive, and as such I’m not willing to bestow that honor on players who so blatantly and knowingly cheated the game and distorted the record books by using steroids….
“They have 13 more years on the ballot, and attitudes among voters regarding performance-enhancing drugs could change significantly by then.
“As it is, I changed my stance a bit this year and voted for Mike Piazza, as I did with Jeff Bagwell last year, despite all the PED speculation surrounding them.
“Suspicions or no suspicions, there was so much PED use during their era that unless I felt 100% certain about a player, I don’t feel right about withholding a vote from a deserving player.”
Frank Thomas himself made it clear where he stands, commenting after his selection:
“As for what they did, I don’t think any of us will ever really know, but I can just tell you, what I did was real and that’s why I’ve got this smile on my face right now because the writers, they definitely got it right.”
Thomas added of his fellow Hall of Famers, “They’ve got a strong stance against anyone doing steroids. They do not want them in. For those guys, this Hall of Fame means a lot to them… To be honest, I’ve got to take the right stance, too. There shouldn’t be cheaters allowed to get into the Hall of Fame.”
“Thomas always has been virulently anti-illegal PEDs – he was the one active player who participated in the farcical Mitchell Report – so he just kept that going Wednesday. His take is understandable. If he truly reached his great numbers through only legal means, then you can appreciate how frustrated he got by those who chose different paths…
“With the blessing of Thomas and other Hall of Famers, will a significant enough contingent of voters go the ‘guilty until proven innocent’ route and figure they’d better keep out Piazza, just in case new information emerges? I fear it’s a real possibility.”
Ball Bits
—Tom Glavine, who was 61-56, 3.97, in his five seasons with the Mets, wishes fans would “move on” when it comes to his final disastrous start in a Mets uniform, the last game of the 2007 regular season when the Mets needed to win to clinch at least a one-game playoff. Instead, Glavine lasted a third of an inning, allowing seven earned runs.
Sorry, Tom. Can’t move on. Not in our DNA as Mets fans. Plus we paid you $50 million over those five seasons to perform in moments like that!
–The Yankees signed left-handed reliever Matt Thornton to a two-year contract and to make room on the roster, cut outfielder Vernon Wells (then reassigned him), a reminder of just how awful that contract was that Wells signed with Toronto back in December 2006, a seven-year extension through 2014 that paid him $126 million, including another $24.6 million this season. Toronto owes $18.6 million of it, the Los Angeles Angles $3.6 million, and the Yankees the final $2.4 million.
The guy has been a total bust, particularly the last three seasons. Hopefully he’s sending a daily box of chocolate to his agent, or maybe a beer sampler. [That said, he’s a good guy, just no longer a good ballplayer.]
–One other baseball note. If I’m a Detroit Tigers fan, I’m a little concerned about this surgery Justin Verlander recently had to repair a “core muscle” he injured during offseason conditioning. There haven’t been any details, except both Verlander and the team are saying ‘no problemo.’ I hope this proves to be the case.
College Basketball
—No. 3 Ohio State won’t be No. 3 anymore after losses to Michigan State and then on Sunday, Iowa, in Columbus, 84-74. So the Buckeyes fall to 15-2, while the No. 20 Hawkeyes go to 14-3.
—No. 6 Wichita State came from 19 points down at Missouri State to eke out a 72-69 win in overtime to remain unbeaten (17-0, 4-0 Missouri Valley).
—No. 7 Iowa State lost its first game, 87-82 to Oklahoma in Norman. But they also lost star guard DeAndre Kane to a severely twisted ankle and no telling how long he’ll be out. Kane was playing as well as anyone in the country, averaging 16 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists before the Oklahoma contest.
—No. 16 Duke lost at Clemson, 72-59. Now 12-4, like UNC they don’t deserve to be in the Top 25, though I imagine they will fall to like No. 21 or 22.
—No. 2 Syracuse remained undefeated (16-0, 3-0 ACC) in dropping North Carolina to 10-6, 0-3, with a 57-45 win at the Carrier Dome.
—No. 13 San Diego State (14-1) had a solid road win on Sunday at Air Force 79-72. I continue to focus on transfer Josh Davis, 13 points 11 rebounds, matching his season avg. on the latter. What an addition. And Winston Shepard seems to be getting his act together, playing much more under control.
–Once again St. John’s couldn’t get over the hump, losing to No. 8 Villanova 74-67.
–Shu passed along this bit from the “Dan Patrick Show” on Thursday, an interview with Patrick Ewing. Ewing revealed he was all set to attend UNC, until an incident during his official visit changed his mind.
“I was close. North Carolina was a very good school, but you know, when I went down there they put me in that Carolina Inn and there was a big Ku Klux Klan rally in North Carolina when I was there. And I was like, you know, I’m not coming down here. I’m staying my butt back in Boston.”
—Wake Forest lost on the road to a solid Pitt team 80-65. Coupled with an earlier loss at Virginia, another step backwards from what at the time seemed like a great win over UNC last Sunday. So, get this, Wake is 1-26 on the road in ACC play in the Jeff Bzdelik era.
–I see the ACC getting just four teams into the Big Dance come March. The quality of play is dreadful. On Saturday, Virginia (which could be the fourth, along with Syracuse, Pitt and Duke) defeated North Carolina State 76-45, with the Wolfpack shooting 28.9% from the field! [13-45]
College Football
—Penn State hired James Franklin, 41, who had led Vanderbilt to bowls in all three of his seasons there, but some in the Penn State community are already protesting the selection. According to an ESPN report, Michelle Rodino-Colocino, an associate professor at the school, started an online petition before the announcement calling the potential hire “appalling,” citing an investigation of several Vanderbilt players accused of committing a rape during Franklin’s tenure.
Franklin was cleared of any wrongdoing surrounding the case, while he suspended four players as a result of the incident.
There are all kinds of questions, actually, about the selection of Franklin, who was a star quarterback at East Stroudsburg University, by the way (Johnny, wearing my ESU pullover as I type).
He’s now had six coaching jobs since 1999 and hasn’t remained in one place for longer than five years. Plus he’s already been on the NFL’s radar screen and should he find success at Penn State, you can be sure the NFL will come a callin’ all over again.
No doubt, he’s a helluva recruiter and at Vanderbilt successfully got kids from the likes of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania, which should hold him in good stead as he moves to the Big Ten.
But going back to the Vandy rape case, as USA TODAY’s Christine Brennan points out, “One of the players’ attorneys was quoted as saying he wants to subpoena Franklin.
“Whatever happens in that case, by hiring Franklin, Penn State will have attached itself to it. If there’s a trial and Franklin’s a part of it, Penn State would be a part, too.
“Are Penn State’s leaders still that tone deaf to the way the nation looks at its school, especially its football program?
Brennan also reminds us of an incident in 2012 I think I wrote of at the time, Franklin doing a radio interview during which he said one of the top qualifications for his assistant coaches is that they must have attractive wives.
“I’ve been saying it for a long time, I will not hire an assistant coach until I’ve seen his wife,” Franklin said. “If she looks the part, and she’s a D-1 recruit, then you got a chance to get hired. That’s part of the deal.”
Now I can’t say I’ve followed the entire Penn State situation that much the past few months, but as many are musing, why wouldn’t they have gone with Miami’s Al Golden, who starred at Penn State. As Dennis Dodd noted for CBSSports.com, “Al Golden would crawl back to Happy Valley to take over his alma mater.”
Golden did a terrific job at Miami after being placed in an awful position, so he’s also battle hardened. Plus who doesn’t like Al Golden?
So, yes, upon further reflection, Penn State made a potentially huge mistake.
–How pathetic is it that Bobby Petrino is returning to Louisville? He was 41-9 in four seasons there before, 2003-06, then parlayed that into a gig with the Atlanta Falcons, where he lasted less than a season, going 3-10, then went to Arkansas, where he was 34-17, only to be in a motorcycle accident, at which time he told Arkansas AD Jeff Long he was the only person on the bike.
But then we learned he was really riding with his mistress, who he’d helped get a job at the school. Petrino was dismissed following an investigation.
So he ended up at Western Kentucky, where he went 8-4 (which was really a disappointment given the supposed talent level there), only to see Charlie Strong go from Louisville to Texas, thus opening the door for Petrino’s return. You can’t make this stuff up.
So he now owes Western Kentucky $1.2 million for breaking his contract with them, plus he is required to “use his best efforts” to schedule a two-year home-and-home series between the two schools “with no requirement for a guarantee to be paid by either school.” [Jeff Greer / USA TODAY Sports]
–Have to admit I knew nothing of Florida State backup quarterback Jacob Coker, who battled Jameis Winston in fall camp, but now Coker, a redshirt sophomore, is a hot commodity. He’s 6-5, 230, great arm, and a great kid…who is graduating shortly.
Which means…Alabama is salivating that he could transfer there, and because he’d be a graduate student, eligible to play right away. Bears watching.
Meanwhile, Crimson Tide Coach Nick Saban hired Lane Kiffin to be ‘Bama’s new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Actually, this makes perfect sense. It’s probably where Kiffin belongs, he having coached at Tennessee, before his disastrous run at USC.
—Gracie Gold won her first title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Saturday night in Boston.
But two-time champion Ashley Wagner had a meltdown and finished fourth. U.S. Figure Skating isn’t locked into sending the top three from nationals so will they put Wagner on the team anyway? She’s the only one to do anything on the international stage among the Americans, finishing fifth at the last two world championships….
Well…the decision just came in…Ashley was selected for the team and Mirai Nagasu, who was fourth at the 2010 Olympics, and finished third on Saturday, was bumped. Fifteen-year-old Polina Edmunds, who was second, also now goes to Sochi, even though she has zero international experience at the senior level.
–It was great seeing the Miami Heat fall to the Knicks on Thursday, and then the Nets on Friday. Suddenly, both New York teams are playing solid ball. Knicks 14-22 after winning their last four, while the Nets, in defeating Miami, had won five straight but were too tired to defeat Toronto, up there Saturday, after their double overtime victory the night before. Nets are now 15-22. And they’ve doing it without Deron Williams and Brook Lopez. Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce are showing they have some pride and picking up their games.
–If you’re thinking, gee, the NHL has played a ton of games already, you’re right. But remember, they are taking three weeks off for the Olympics, a very much needed break for those not participating. For those who are, that is one long, arduous season.
“A Dallas conservation group sold a rare license to hunt an endangered black rhino in Africa for $350,000 at an auction held Saturday night, stirring outrage among conservationists and leading to death threats against the auction’s organizer….
“The club had hoped to raise as much as $1 million for conservation efforts.
“Criticism has come from groups including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which said the sale is a case of letting rich hunters buy a thrill at the cost of a rhino’s life. About 4,800 black rhinos are believed to be living worldwide, according to the World Wildlife Federation. The Namibian tourism ministry says about 1,750 live in that nation.”
–You know how I love a good art story. 60 years ago a Renoir was stolen from the Baltimore Museum of Art, but a federal judge this week ordered that it be returned, rejecting a Virginia woman’s claim that she bought it for $7 in 2009 at a West Virginia flea market, didn’t know it was stolen and deserved to keep it.
Martha Fuqua, 51, a Loudoun driving instructor, tried anonymously to auction off the painting in the fall of 2012, until records surfaced showing it had been stolen in 1951 from the Baltimore museum. [Washington Post]
–The Red Hot Chili Peppers are joining Bruno Mars at the Super Bowl halftime show.
–The Wall Street Journal reported the concert industry in North America last year grossed a record $5.1 billion, according to an analysis by trade publication Pollstar.
Bon Jovi led the pack, worldwide, grossing $259 million, followed by Beyonce, $188.6 million.
But Taylor Swift was tops in North America, grossing $112.7 million to Bon Jovi’s $107.3 million.
Artists like Paul McCartney are doing more dates to make up for declining record sales. Sir Paul played 29 dates, double what he did in 2012, while Bon Jovi, Beyonce and Pink each played more than 100 concerts last year.
Top 3 songs for the week 1/12/63: #1 “Go Away Little Girl” (Steve Lawrence…another excuse to say he’s one of the more underrated pure ‘entertainers’ of his generation…) #2 “Telstar” (Tornadoes…tune hasn’t aged well…) #3 “Limbo Rock” (Chubby Checker…ditto this one…)…and…#4 “Hotel Happiness” (Brook Benton) #5 “Pepino The Italian Mouse” (Lou Monte…waiting for the British Invasion…) #6 “Tell Him” (The Exciters) #7 “The Night Has A Thousand Eyes” (Bobby Vee…not bad…) #8 “Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah” (Bob B. Soxx And The Blue Jeans) #9 “Two Lovers” (Mary Wells) #10 “My Dad” (Paul Petersen…Jeff Stone from Donna Reed Show…)
Baseball Quiz Answer: The other two aside from Frank Thomas with splits of .300, .400, .550 and 10,000 plate appearances are Babe Ruth and Stan Musial. Barry Bonds hit .298, while Ted Williams had 9,788 plate appearances.
