Note: Posting early…who gives a damn? Game sucked. Bruno Mars was great, as was Renee Fleming. I might have some comments next time…or maybe not.
For now…SEATTLE IS YOUR SUPER BOWL CHAMPION….43-8.
As for Peyton Manning…No!…he is not one of the top 3 all time. Top 5 or 6? Yes.
NFL Quiz: My few Twitter followers know this one but I can’t help but repeat it because I have some good stuff as part of the answer. When Paul Hornung was suspended for the 1963 season for gambling (along with Alex Karras), who handled the placekicking duties for the Packers? Answer below.
NFL Bits
–Peyton Manning was named AP NFL MVP for a record fifth time. No other player has won more than three. Manning earned 49 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the league. Tom Brady received the other vote.
Carolina’s Ron Rivera won NFL Coach of the Year, while the Panthers’ Luke Kuechly was voted top defensive player (Go B.C.!)
Green Bay running back Eddie Lacy and Jets defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson were the top rookies for 2013, and Chargers QB Philip Rivers took the Comeback Player of the Year award.
I can’t say I really followed the defensive rookies closely but I guess I’m a little surprised Richardson won. He played great, I just assumed there was someone else out there and in fact Richardson edged out Buffalo’s Kiko Alonso.
–Commissioner Roger Goodell, in his annual state of the game press conference, said London was definitely in the running for a franchise down the road and it seems a certainty the league will add two playoff teams to bring the total to 14 in 2015.
On the issue of the Redskins’ nickname: “This is the name of a football team that has had that name for 80 years, and has presented the name in a way that has honored Native Americans. We are being respectful of people who disagree, but let’s not forget this is the name of a football team.”
–In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 40% of American adults, and 37% of parents, would encourage their child to play a sport other than football because of concerns about concussions. Nearly 60% of respondents – and 62% of parents – said they wouldn’t discourage their children from playing football.
52% of parents and 59% of people who follow the NFL closely believe the league has taken “meaningful action to reduce and prevent” concussions.
According to data released by the league, the number of concussions dropped 13% from 2012 to 2013, with a 23% decrease over the past two seasons in the number of concussions caused by helmet-to-helmet contact.
–On a broader topic, youth participation in the four most-popular U.S. team sports – basketball, soccer, baseball and football – the rate dropped by 4% from 2008 to 2012, according to the Journal, citing an examination of data from youth leagues, school-sports groups and industry associations. During those same five years, the population of 6-to-17-year-olds in the U.S. fell 0.6%, according to the U.S. Census.
Baseball bat sales in 2012 fell 18% from 2008 in dollar terms, while football sales dropped about 5%.
High-school participation in football fell 2.3% in the 2012-13 season versus 2008-09, while high-school basketball participation fell 1.8% in the period. But baseball rose 0.3%.
However, Little League participation in baseball and softball leagues fell 6.8%, so not good for the future at the HS level..
And while high-school soccer participation was up 7.4% over the study period, youth soccer participation was flat between 2008 and 2012. [Ryan Wallerson / Wall Street Journal]
I will have a lot to say on this general topic in my next “Week in Review,” tying in some experiences I had on my recent trip to Asia, but for now I stand by my judgment that on the issue of football and concussions, baseball will be a prime beneficiary as more elite athletes choose that sport over the gridiron, regardless of what the participation rates are.
–Former Giants defensive end Michael Strahan and six others were selected for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Strahan was a most popular pick in these parts. He’ll be joined in Canton by linebacker Derrick Brooks, defensive end Claude Humphrey (one of my favorites growing up), tackle Walter Jones, wide receiver Andre Reed, defensive back Aeneas Williams, and, finally, punter Ray Guy…the first punter to be enshrined. Any old-time fan of the sport is thinking the same thing, “It’s about time!” After all, Ray Guy was also the first pure punter to be drafted in the first round out of Southern Miss.
Back to Strahan, I forgot he didn’t play football until his senior year of high school, but by the time he finished up at Texas Southern, he was the 40th player selected in the 1993 draft, second round by the Giants.
—Joe Namath, 70, told CBS News reporter Rita Braver, “I’ve been through some things medically. I’ve seen some things on my brain. But I’ve had some treatment – and I’ve improved.” This weekend he sought to reassure everyone he’s fine.
By the way, look up his piece for CBS’ “Sunday Morning” to see just how mobile he was when he was at ‘Bama before his first major knee injury.
–Kaja Whitehouse of the New York Post broke the story that “Quarterback Eli Manning and New York Giants brass created bogus ‘game-worn’ football gear to pass off as the real deal – and one of the forgeries is sitting in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, an explosive new lawsuit claims.
“A helmet on display in the hallowed Canton, Ohio, gridiron museum – supposedly worn by Manning in Big Blue’s 2008 Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots – is just one of dozens of fake items the football superstar and his Giants cohorts have created to fool fans and make money from collectors over the years, the lawsuit alleges….
“Two-time Super Bowl MVP Manning took part in the scheme so he could hang on to his personal items, according to the documents.”
Now no one should be surprised, and I have written tons on this topic, including my own experiences (signed rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia).
But collectors have to use some common sense. At the same time, there are some individuals you would trust…one being Eli.
Now who knows where the truth lies in this one, but as Kaja Whitehouse writes, “In one startling claim, the suit says Barry Barone, who has been the Giants’ dry cleaner since 1982, used his Rutherford, NJ, Park Cleaners store to beat up jerseys and other items at the behest of longtime locker-room manager Ed Wagner Jr.
“In a 2001 incident, Wagner told Barone ‘to intentionally damage multiple jerseys to make them appear to have been game-worn when they had not been.’”
Eli is alleged to have taken a beat-up game helmet in 2005, signed it and put it on the market, “falsely claiming that it was a helmet used during his 2004 rookie season.”
There are also some damaging e-mail exchanges. Manning’s memorabilia has been sold through famed Steiner Sports, with whom he has an exclusive deal.
“Angry buyers started to complain after noticing that markings on their items didn’t match those that appeared in pictures of Manning’s game-day duds.”
The day the story was released, Giants team officials denied there was any wrongdoing.
College Basketball
–What a game on Saturday, No. 17 Duke (17-5, 6-3) at No. 2 Syracuse (21-0, 8-0), the Orange beating the Blue Devils 91-89 in overtime in a game matching up the two winningest coaches in Division I history, Jim Boeheim and Mike Krzyzewski.
Duke had five players with between 14 and 16 points, hitting 15 of 36 from three, while Syracuse was led by C.J. Fair’s career-high 28. But I have a newfound respect for Duke’s postseason chances with the improved play of forward Amile Jefferson. He’s going to be the key come tourney time.
Yes, the game was everything one could have hoped for, played before a Carrier Dome record crowd of 35,446 in what was the first ACC meeting between the two and what has become an instant rivalry. The two meet again in three weeks down at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
–So Syracuse remained undefeated, as did Wichita State, but No. 1 Arizona (21-1, 8-1) fell from the ranks as it was stunned by California (15-7, 6-3) in Berkeley, 60-58, on a Justin Cobbs jumper with 0.9 seconds left.
—No. 5 San Diego State (19-1, 8-0) continued to roll, 65-56 over Colorado State, though forward Josh Davis was out with an injury.
—No. 6 Kansas (16-5, 7-1) lost to No. 25 Texas (17-4, 6-2) 81-69 as the Longhorns should soar in the polls.
—No. 7 Michigan State (19-3) lost a non-conference game to a highly mediocre Georgetown (12-9) team at Madison Square Garden 64-60.
—Baylor (14-7, 2-6), which was as high as No. 9 first week in January, only to then lose 6 of 7, beat No. 8 Oklahoma State (16-5, 4-4) 76-70 in Stillwater.
–Earlier in the week, No. 21 UMass (17-4, 4-3) lost at St. Bonaventure, 78-65, and then on Saturday was taken out by St. Joe’s (15-6, 5-2) 73-68, so bye-bye Top 25 ranking for the Minutemen.
–My “Pick to Click,” VCU (18-4, 6-1) will finally get some votes in the AP poll this week (I guarantee it!) after a solid 81-70 win over Richmond (14-8, 4-3).
–But the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (14-8, 4-5) laid an egg of epic proportions, at least if they were to realistically entertain thoughts of going 10-8 in the conference, in losing at home to Georgia Tech (12-10, 3-6) 79-70. But I’ve said all season I’d be happy with 8-10 and it sure looks as though we’re headed exactly for that mark. The Deacs committed some atrocious turnovers on Saturday.
I do have to note a pretty interesting stat involving Wake guard Coron Williams, however. While he had an atrocious game shooting (1-8, 0-6 from three), he ran his streak of minutes without a turnover in ACC play to 221. Then again, he’s a graduate student so you’d expect him to be smarter. [So start squaring up on your jump shot, Coron!]
“Kudos to the University of North Carolina for at least owning up to the rotten way it first reacted to the news that student athletes received credit for classes that didn’t really exist.
“In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, UNC’s executive vice chancellor and provost, James Dean, admitted, ‘We made mistakes. Horrible things happened that I’m ashamed of’ – things that hurt the ‘integrity of our university.’ And he says UNC is busy fixing it.
“We hope so. But what still troubles us is the way the university has gone after the UNC researcher, Mary Willingham, who touched off this scandal when she reported that many athletes are reading at grade-school levels. Dean has called this a ‘lie,’ though he later softened that….
“(Maybe) Willingham got some of her specific findings wrong. But the university’s 180-degree reversal confirms she’s got the larger narrative right.
“In any case, it shouldn’t be hard to get to the facts on athlete reading levels. And it strikes us that a university truly bent on addressing something it says it is ‘ashamed of’ would be working with Mary Willingham to get to the truth, not against her.”
–Like in baseball, the NBA season is a long one and seldom can you point to one specific game that’s a key (though Mets fans remember a devastating early-season loss in Philadelphia one time that set the tone for a lousy year), but for the Brooklyn Nets, the devastating loss to the Toronto Raptors last week when they were 20-22 and 10-1 in 2014 could prove to be such a game as the Nets then got destroyed by Oklahoma City 120-95 on Friday at home and lost a tough one on the road to Indiana, Saturday, 97-96.
The thing is, in the OKC loss they had an NBA-record low 17 rebounds! And then on Saturday were outrebounded by the Pacers 46-27 (87-44 over the two games). Yikes. That’s hideous.
–Meanwhile, Indiana signed free agent Andrew Bynum to a one-year deal, though he isn’t expected to play for a few weeks. If Bynum has the right attitude, it’s a great move as Indiana is already gearing up to face Miami in the Eastern Conference finals.
–There is no one in the NBA with more physical ability for his size than former Demon Deacon James Johnson (maybe as much, but no one with more). Us alum who like to see our players do well if they make it to the big time (in my case with one notable exception), however, have been immensely frustrated with Johnson who about two months ago was given a new lease on life by Memphis and is taking advantage of it. Johnson has been filling up the stat sheet in his 21 minutes of action per game (including blocked shots and steals) and it’s no coincidence that the Grizzlies, who were 10-13 before signing him, are 16-7 since.
–So I was watching the Waste Management Phoenix Open on Saturday and cringing, like I’m sure my fellow golf fans were, as Phil Mickelson tossed footballs into the crowd at the famous par-3 16th. ‘No, Phil! You’ll screw up your swing.’ He proceeded to double-bogey the hole just as he was about to climb back into contention.
You know Phil was furious with himself, yet there he was after the round, signing autographs for his usual 30 minutes. As Gary McCord commented to those Tour players who may have been tuning in, “That’s how it’s done…that’s how Arnold did it…”
Anyway, I also saw where Phil pulled out of both the upcoming Northern Trust Open at Riviera as well as the Match Play Championship because his children have conflicting school vacations. Yup, that’s Phil, too.
[As for the finish this weekend, Kevin Stadler won his first PGA Tour title and now it’s father-son at The Masters for the first time.]
–At the Dubai Desert Classic, Rory McIlroy was tied with seven holes to go but then made a mess of it and finished T-9, 4 back of winner Stephen Gallacher (sic). Bizarrely, Rory’s fiancé, Caroline Wozniacki, met him inside the ropes at the 10th hole, so I’m sure the European golf press will have something to say about that, given the succeeding result.
—College Golf Polls / Golfweek
1. Alabama
2. Georgia Tech
3. Oklahoma State
4. California
5. Texas A&M
27. Wake Forest…not good
1. UCLA
2. Southern California
3. Duke
4. Washington
5. Stanford
27. Wake Forest…not good
The top-ranked male is Trey Mullinax of Alabama. The top-ranked female is Alison Lee of UCLA.
–In Germany’s Bundesliga, their equivalent of the Premier League, Bayern Munchen is 17-0-2 this season and unbeaten in its last 44 matches. Awesome!
–There’s an AP story that of the nine media hotels in the mountain area above Sochi, only six were fully operational as of Saturday.
“A stray dog inside the hotel, building dust everywhere and debris scattered all around. That’s what some Olympic-accredited visitors have found on arrival in the mountains above Sochi.”
Classic…and so predictable. One veteran writer and regular Olympics attendee, Germany’s Joerg Reuter, was so grossed out when he was shown several rooms, including with yellow-brown tap water and dirt everywhere, that he went down to the city to get a place to sleep.
–For the archives, I have to note Edmonton Oilers goalie Ben Scrivens, who the other night set an NHL regular-season record for saves in a shutout, a staggering 59 in a 3-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks. The previous record was 54 by Phoenix’ Mike Smith.
–Very encouraging note for Wake Forest football fans. It’s not often we are mentioned in New Jersey’s Star-Ledger but this week a top high school offensive lineman, Justin Herron out of North Potomac, Md., flipped his commitment from Rutgers to Wake. One of the reasons he gave for his decision had to give Wake officials a warm, fuzzy feeling.
“I go to a small school now, and I felt that Wake Forest would be a better place for me because its what I’m used to. And then the educational aspect of the school was top notch, and I thought it would be a great fit for me.”
Go Deacs! Chris K., my man in the know, says that new head coach Dave Clawson has actually flipped three players in the past week or so, including a top notch wide receiver.
–Doctors in Grenoble, France have started lowering Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher’s sedation level to wake him up from an artificial coma, his agent said on Thursday. The process “may take a long time,” the agent added.
–NASCAR is revamping its Chase for the Sprint Cup championship formula again, expanding the field from 12 to 16 drivers, which will be whittled down to a final four through eliminations after every three races of the 10-race Chase. The remaining four will then go into the season finale with an equal chance to win the championship: The first of the four to cross the finish line will be crowned Sprint Cup champion.
I like it. In the 26-race regular season, a driver winning a race is now virtually guaranteed a berth in the Chase, then eliminations begin, and a driver can guarantee a trip to the next round with a victory. So it’s de-emphasizing points and will force some to go for it at the end of a race, which should make for some super finishes; if not some dangerous ones. Expect lots of contact.
Reaction among drivers and car owners is mostly positive. Fans will love it and I would expect attendance to begin to reverse the negative trend of the past few years.
–So I said the other day I enjoyed Li Na’s comments following her win at the Australian Open and then I read in the Feb. 1issue of The Economist that she loves sticking it to the Chinese government, so you love her even more. As in during her victory speech, she didn’t thank “the motherland.” Xinhua, the official news agency, suggested her success “would not have been possible without her time on the national team.”
“The opposite may be true. Ms. Li, who turns 32 next month, spent her early years in Spartan sports schools, but fled the system in 2002, sick of the pressure. She went to university and forgot about tennis, before being coaxed back under a deal known as danfei, or ‘flying solo.’ She was permitted to choose her coach and retain 90% of her earnings, rather than give more than half to the state.”
When Li flew to her hometown of Wuhan following her Melbourne triumph, she was presented with a large check by local officials and she is seen in a photo accepting it “stony-faced,” which makes her even more popular among her countrymen.
How popular? She has 22 million followers on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter.
–I see where the Houston Astrodome was added to the National Register of Historic Places, which doesn’t really mean anything in terms of saving it from demolition, though anyone trying to revamp it could now receive some federal and state tax credits.
But why would you want to save this monstrosity? Turn the whole property into a very large community garden. Or a catfish farm.
–Talk about a dirtball, did you see someone robbed the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s concertmaster of his 300-year-old “priceless” Stradivarius violin? As reported in USA TODAY, “The robber used a stun gun and the took the instrument shortly before 10:30 p.m. in a parking lot in the rear of Wisconsin Lutheran College,” where the concertmaster, Frank Almond, had just performed. It has a value in the “high seven figures.” Back in 2006, a Stradivarius sold for more than $3.5 million.
–Actor Maximilian Schell died. He was 83. Schell won an Oscar for his role as a defense attorney in “Judgment at Nuremberg,” which was only his second Hollywood role.
Schell ended up being typecast for numerous Nazi-era films and then got into producing and directing. I didn’t realize he was a true concert pianist as well.
Born in Vienna, 1930, he was raised in Switzerland when his family fled Germany’s annexation of Austria.
–And we learned on Sunday that Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, in an attempt to compete with the Super Bowl, took his own life, overdosing on heroin. He was 46 (but looked 66). His body was found in his Greenwich Village home with a hypodermic needle still in his arm. Hoffman won his Best Actor Oscar for the 2005 film “Capote” and received three Academy Award nominations as Best Supporting Actor. What a waste.
–Hey Trader George…you see the 49 ½-inch muskie that Jim Archambault of Hopatcong caught ice-fishing the other day on Lake Hopatcong?! Goodness gracious. I didn’t know the lake had muskie in the first place! Congratulations to Mr. Archambault. [Great pic in the Star-Ledger of his feat.]
–So I’ve written of the snowy owl and its rare migration south from the Arctic Circle, but as John Schwartz writes in the New York Times, this winter has been so unusual in terms of the bird’s movements that it has been spotted in northern Florida and even Bermuda! Now how cool would that be to be getting hammered (sorry, should have warned the children) on a beach in Bermuda and have a snowy owl alight on some driftwood? [Why you’d have to order another rum swizzle.]
Alas, I thought I saw one outside my window the other day but it probably wasn’t…couldn’t have been…but maybe…
Anyway, there are various theories as to why the snowy owl is gracing us with its presence this winter and they are all over the board so won’t even bring ‘em up anymore. Just enjoy it if you’re fortunate to be in their presence.
–The SNL skit for “Black History Month” was very funny.
–It is pretty amazing that Howard Stern is now 60. I used to love way, way back, like mid-80s, when Stern and Imus were both on WNBC; Imus mornings, Stern late. I had a regional sales position at the time and could catch one or the other between appointments. But over time as both had their own morning slots, you were either a Stern or Imus fan and I stayed with Imus, though haven’t listened to him in years. [He screwed me over with some expensive radio spots when I was starting StocksandNews.]
Monday, February 2, 1959
At The Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa….The Finest Bands…The Finest People
Buddy Holly and the Crickets “Peggy Sue”
Extra attraction…Frankie Sardo…new hit “Take Out”
[Later that evening, early on the morning of Feb. 3rd, the music died.]
NFL Quiz Answer: Green Bay guard Jerry Kramer handled the placekicking chores for Paul Hornung when the latter was serving a gambling suspension. Kramer was 16 of 34 on field goals. Actually, in 1962, with Hornung hurt, Kramer booted 9 of 11 and then kicked three in the Packers’ 16-7 title game win over the Giants despite a swirling wind and frigid temps. Bart Starr was only 9 of 21 for 85 yards in the game, while Y.A. Tittle was 18 of 41 for 197. The Giants’ score was the result of a blocked punt.
But Kramer isn’t in the Hall of Fame despite being an integral part of five championship teams in the 1960s. In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times’ Mike DiGiovanna, Kramer, 78, said he used to be bitter but accepts the snub now.
“I decided early on that if they ever called, I was going to send them a statuette of my fist with a middle finger raised and tell them to put that in the Hall of Fame.”
But later he felt, “You look at what the game has given you, what a wonderful ride it’s been, with an incredible coach and teammates, and life-changing experiences, and you’re going to allow one award to cast a negative light on that? Heck no, that’s stupid.”
Most fans just assume Kramer is in. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell called four summers ago and, after discussing the league’s pension plan, asked Kramer whether he was going to Canton for the upcoming induction ceremony.
Or, as DiGiovanna writes, “the next summer former New England Patriot John Hannah, a fellow lineman who was enshrined in 1991, called Kramer to ask whether he was going to the ceremony.”
Of course Jerry Kramer, collaborating with the late, great Dick Schaap, authored one of the best sports books of all time, “Instant Replay,” chronicling the 1967 season and culminating in Kramer’s key block on the deciding score in the Ice Bowl.
