NBA Quiz: [Short-term recall] So Steve Nash retired with two NBA MVP awards but no NBA title. Name the other five who were MVPs with no title. Answer below.
And Then There Were Four….
I’m not commenting on all of the Thursday/Friday games, but have a few thoughts for the archives. Written chronologically.
–In 3 Notre Dame’s 81-70 win over 7 Wichita State, the Fighting Irish were up just 56-53 before going on a 19-5 run to make it 75-58. Notre Dame was 30 of 54 from the field (55.6%) including 9 of 19 from three.
There is all kinds of talk Shockers coach Gregg Marshall is going to be lured away by Alabama, or perhaps Texas, the latter having just fired long-time coach Rick Barnes.
—4 North Carolina held a 33-31 halftime edge over 1 Wisconsin, and then trailed just 73-70 late, but the Tar Heels’ Isaiah Hicks missed two free throws and that was it…Badgers prevail 79-72. Wisconsin was 20 of 23 from the free throw line (87.0%). Carolina played well, committing just four turnovers. It just wasn’t good enough.
[Carolina is loaded for next year, depending on whether the likes of juniors Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson return. But, more importantly, what is going to happen to the program with the NCAA investigation? The hammer is coming down hard, no doubt.]
—1 Kentucky annihilated 5 West Virginia 78-39 as the Mountaineers hit just 13 of 54 from the field for the game, a pathetic 24.1%. Equally pathetic was how Kentucky made such a big deal of West Virginia freshman Daxter Miles Jr., who vowed to end the Wildcats’ streak at 36.
“Salute them to getting to 36-0. But tomorrow they’re gonna be 36-1. To me, they don’t play hard. To me, they don’t play as hard as we play,” said Miles.
Kentucky players say this motivated them. Guard Tyler Ulis said, “I feel like they should have just kept their mouths shut and it wouldn’t have been like that….Our whole plan was to crush their spirit. [To] beat them by 50 for disrespecting us,” he told ESPN.
—2 Duke was in control most of the way and beat 5 Utah 63-57 as freshman Justise Winslow’s stock continued to rise. Is he top five in the draft? Could be. The 6’6” swingman had 21 points and 10 rebounds, far outshining teammate Jahlil Okafor again. Winslow has four straight games with double figures in rebounds, plus he’s .413 for the season from three-point land, including 3 of 4 on Friday.
But, there was a lot of talk at the end of the game because of a late free throw that caused $millions to change hands in Las Vegas, and it was the sportsbooks who got the worst of it.
As reported by ESPN.com: “Duke guard Quinn Cook made one of two free throws with 0.7 seconds remaining….With Duke leading 62-57, Cook rebounded a missed 3-pointer from Utah forward Jordan Loveridge with 10 seconds to play. Utah defenders tried to tie up Cook to force a jump ball, but nothing was called, and it appeared time was going to run out. The Utes started walking off the court. The Blue Devils began celebrating. But officials whistled a foul on Utah guard Brandon Taylor as the horn sounded. The refs went to the monitor and put 0.7 seconds back on the clock, before calling players back onto the floor for Cook’s free throws. The senior missed the first one but made the second to give Duke a six-point win.
“The favored Blue Devils were a popular public bet. Two hours before tipoff, 82 percent of all bets and 77 percent of the money wagered was on Duke at the William Hill sportsbook. Other books reported similar heavy action on the Blue Devils.”
The line ended up being Duke by 5, 5 ½, at the majority of the sportsbooks.
—7 Michigan State beat 3 Oklahoma 62-58 as Spartans coach Tom Izzo continued to work his March magic. Its MSU’s fourth Elite Eight since 2009 and ninth time since Izzo became head coach in 1995. Only Kentucky has more in that span.
Izzo is also 12-9 as the lower-seeded team, the best in tourney history.
But this was one ugly game, with both teams shooting under 40% from the field while going a combined 13 of 44 from downtown.
–Another big coach come March, Louisville’s Rick Pitino, saw his 4-seed Cardinals best 8 N.C. State 75-65. Pitino is now 12-1 in Sweet Sixteen games, the best of any coach with more than 5 appearances.
—Wisconsin prevailed over Arizona in their rematch of last year’s regional final, 85-78, as the Badgers return to the Final Four, hitting a stupendous 79% from the field in the second half, including 10-12 from three. Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker combined for 56 of the Badgers’ 85 points, with Dekker hitting 5 of 5 from downtown in the second half in having his second straight career game with 27 points. Arizona stayed in it largely because of free throws, a sterling 28 of 30 (93.3%) as they were once again denied a Final Four appearance under coach Sean Miller, the “Best Coach To Have Never Made A Final Four,” after losing in a regional final for the fourth time in his 12 years as head coach. [One of those was while he was at Xavier.]
–And then in the second game, Kentucky outlasted Notre Dame 68-66 in a classic. It was 31-31 at half. The Wildcats’ Karl-Anthony Towns was a monster inside with 25 points on 10 of 13 shooting, but Andrew Harrison nailed two free throws with six seconds left and then Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant missed a three from the corner at the buzzer. Zach Auguste was tremendous for the Fighting Irish with 20 points and 9 rebounds. [I thought Charles Barkley nailed it Sunday when he said how surprised he was Notre Dame never adjusted to Towns and kept playing him man-to-man.]
So this sets up a Wisconsin-Kentucky Final Four rematch, the Wildcats winning by one last year.
—Louisville led Michigan State 40-32 at the half, but the Spartans opened the second half with a 25-11 surge to take a 57-51 lead with 7:57 left. After that it was classic back and forth action.
Louisville pulled to within 63-62 on a Wayne Blackshear three, then took a 64-63 lead on two Blackshear free throws.
The Spartans’ Marvin Clark hit a jumper to put MSU up 65-64, but then he missed two foul shots.
It came down to Louisville’s Mangok Mathiang going to the line for two, down one. Both hit the back rim and bounced high in the air. The first went through…the second didn’t. 65-65….Overtime.
Well, OT was anticlimactic as MSU won 76-70. It always comes down to free throws in such games and the Spartans were 15 of 20, while Louisville was 20 of 29, though Blackshear was 12 of 12.
Blackshear had a heroic game with 28 points, including 4 of 6 from three. But Louisville’s Montrezl Harrell exposed the holes in his game before this national audience, and NBA scouts. He had 16 points, but only four after the first 11 minutes, and just 4 of 9 from the foul line. Harrell will have a long NBA career, but he won’t be a star without developing a shot.
–In the nightcap, Coach K and Duke beat Gonzaga 66-52 in a game that was far closer than the final score. With about 4:40 to go, the Zags’ Kyle Wiltjer missed a layup that would have tied it at 53 and that was the game. Gonzaga had one point the rest of the way.
For Duke, once again Justice Winslow came up big. After going just 1 of 7 from the field in the first half, he finished with 16 points, including some clutch threes and a 6 for 6 performance from the line (though he ‘only’ had five rebounds).
So Krzyzewski goes to his 12th Final Four, matching John Wooden. For Gonzaga the agony continues. 17 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances but no Final Four.
–As for yours truly and his bracket, of course I was long busted in having to go with the heart and San Diego State, just because. But I do have Wisconsin beating Kentucky in the Final Four, though I also had Virginia joining the Aztecs on the other side.
“In the summer of 1986, Rick Pitino was conducting a clinic at the famous Five-Star camp, held then in the old gym at Robert Morris University outside Pittsburgh.
“Pitino’s subject that day was how to run the secondary fast break. Up and down went the counselors – all Division I college players – whom Pitino was using as examples.
“As the three players came down court, the ball went to the left wing and one of the players pulled up for an 18-foot jumper. As it swished, Pitino screamed, ‘Stop!’
“ ‘As of this fall,’ Pitino said, ‘that is the worst shot in college basketball. If you take the shot from a step farther back, it’s worth three points. If you take it from there, it’s only worth two. Don’t ever shoot from inside the line unless you are going all the way to the basket.’
“Before anyone had taken a three-point shot under the new rule, Pitino had seen the future of the college game. The following spring, he took an unlikely Providence team to the Final Four, led by three players – Billy Donovan, Delray Brooks and Ernie ‘Pop’ Lewis – who went from ordinary players to stars thanks to the three-point shot and Pitino’s focus on it.
“While many other coaches were still fighting the notion that the three had become basketball’s most dangerous offensive weapon, Pitino was using it to win games. He was then – as now – a step ahead.”
Friday night, it was Pitino’s hunch about Anton Gill, who played all of two minutes in the Cardinals’ first two tournament games, but Pitino told him before the N.C. State game he’d play a key role…and he did.
Afterwards, Pitino said, “This is why I still love to coach, this time of year. I love March Madness. I love everything about it. I really do.”
–Forget Kentucky coach John Calipari’s past misdeeds for now. The guy has done a remarkable job getting multiple McDonald’s All-Americans to check their egos at the door each season, buy into Coach Cal’s system, and first and foremost play terrific defense; the nation’s best defensive field goal percentage of under 35%, and a national low of holding opponents to 54 points.
On the offensive end, Calipari plays 10 guys (all seeing double-digit minutes), while just three, Aaron Harrison (11.0), Devin Booker (10.1) and Karl-Anthony Towns (10.1), score in double figures.
–As noted above, Texas fired Rick Barnes after 17 seasons. Aside from Gregg Marshall, VCU’s Shaka Smart is said to be interested. But some say athletic director Steve Patterson could go with someone from the NBA.
Barnes went 402-180 during his tenure in Austin, winning three Big 12 regular-season championships, while reaching the NCAA tournament in each of his first 14 seasons, including a Final Four in 2003.
But this year the Longhorns were just 20-14 after going 24-11 the year before. With several key players returning, Texas was preseason No. 10 in the AP poll and then disappointed.
—St. John’s parted ways with coach Steve Lavin after five years, one of which he was out dealing with prostate cancer. Lavin took the Red Storm to two NCAA tournaments, including this season, where they lost to San Diego State. St. John’s has not won an NCAA tournament game since 2000.
The four seasons Lavin was in charge, St. John’s was OK, just not real good. [The year he was out with cancer they were 13-19 under assistant Mike Dunlap.]
But with the Red Storm losing five seniors, four of whom were vital cogs, the cupboard is bare and it did make sense to part ways now, even as initially the school and Lavin were working on an extension. He’s probably not the guy to oversee what will be another rebuilding effort.
Which means Danny Hurley (Rhode Island), Bobby Hurley (Buffalo) and former St. John’s star Chris Mullin are among the names being floated. I’d go with either Hurley (though I still hope Bobby stays in Buffalo at least one more season).
–Tennessee fired men’s hoops coach Donnie Tyndall after one season, with the school saying they never would have hired him in the first place if they had known the details of his unethical conduct at Southern Miss during his tenure there.
The details were just revealed last week, apparently substantial financial and academic violations, though the public hasn’t been told the specifics yet. The NCAA did brief Tennessee, however, and that’s why the school acted quickly.
Tyndall had been at Morehead State prior to Southern Miss and that program was placed on probation for two years in August 2010 because of violations related to booster activity.
–Next week in the NIT’s Final Four it’s Miami (24-12, 10-8) vs. Temple (26-10, 13-5) and Stanford (22-13, 9-9) vs. Old Dominion (27-7, 13-5)…a solid field.
But last Wednesday after I had gone to post, Murray State took on Old Dominion in the quarterfinals and for a second time in a matter of weeks, the Racers suffered a devastating defeat. Earlier in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament final, an NCAA berth on the line, Murray State held the lead late, only to throw the game away and lose on a desperation fadeaway jumper by Belmont. Wednesday, after Jeffery Moss hit a dramatic 3-pointer to tie it at 69, ODU’s Trey Freeman hit a running 30-footer at the buzzer for a 72-69 win. Again, though, the Racers did it to themselves, with Jonathan Farrell missing two free throws in the last 20 seconds. Murray State coach Steve Prohm deserves better.
As for the Monarchs, look at the job coach Jeff Jones has done. Two seasons ago, before bringing him in from American U. (and, before that, 13 years at Virginia), ODU was 5-25. In his first year, Jones took them to 18-18 and now here they are, 27-7, heading to the Garden.
–Finally, how cool was Dean Smith’s last gesture? As part of his will, Smith left $200 for every one of his players who received a varsity letter during his tenure as coach, some 180 in all, encouraging them to have “a dinner out compliments of Coach Dean Smith.”
–Steve Serby of the New York Post interviewed Knicks legend Walt “Clyde” Frazier, who turned 70 on Sunday, incredibly. Frazier remains an immensely popular figure in New York and does color commentary on Knicks telecasts.
So Clyde was discussing how Joe Namath was the first cool cat in the Big Apple. “He set the standard, man, he was the guy, you know, the talk shows, TV shows…He set the pace for guys now with marketing.”
A: “Yeah, at that time we were very close. The city was different then. Guys didn’t have bodyguards. You know, you could just walk over and talk to them. I was friendly with Tommie Agee, Cleon Jones…and then Namath and those guys – Rich Caster, [Emerson] Boozer, Matt Snell. We always made a lot of appearances together in shopping malls at that time because we were all champions, so had a lot of time to mingle with them…It was a fun time in the city back then, the guys were very close, there wasn’t a lot of ego problems, there was a lot of camaraderie with the players.”
Like I’ve said before, it was a great time to be a kid in the New York area. My home town of Summit used to have this Christmastime open house where athletes appeared at some of the downtown retailers and its where I got autographs from the likes of Willis Reed and Don Maynard. Very cool for an 11-, 12-year-old.
Frazier’s all-time starting five, by the way, is Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and Bill Russell.
Clyde also wants to thank New York and Knicks fans for being so good to him over the years.
“You guys made me who I am, you keep me humble now, you keep a smile on my face.”
As for today’s Knicks, in losing to the Bulls 111-80 on Saturday, the Knicks lost a franchise-worst 60th game and are now 14-60. Their recent 2-14 streak is really emblematic of the entire campaign…one huge blowout after another.
“The Knicks’ attendance throughout this lost season, the way it has held, is one of the oddest single moments in NBA sports history. Because it is not as if the bottom suddenly just fell out on the New York Knicks, they have been in a freefall for a long time….
“For now, the Knicks are (Phil) Jackson, they are Carmelo (Anthony), they are cap space, they are a lottery pick.* People talk about Marc Gasol the way they used to talk about LeBron, and the way they talked about Kevin Durant. Only Durant goes away for four to six months because of an injured foot and so maybe he doesn’t even get the chance to be the latest pie-in-the-sky star who is going to come to the Garden and change everything. Or maybe we should be talking about pies to the face.
“People never booed this team, not really, the Knicks aren’t a professional basketball team, how do you boo them for that? All we know about what has happened over the last year or so is that Jackson got paid, (coach Derek) Fisher got paid, Carmelo got paid. And Knicks fans kept paying good money to (owner) James Dolan to come to the Garden. And somehow the value of the Knicks just keeps increasing. Is this a great country or what?”
*The Knicks in finishing with the worst record would have a 25% chance of winning the top pick, and are guaranteed a pick no lower than fourth.
“Nobody on the planet does a better job coaching his team than Brad Stevens does for the Celtics, who have no business fighting for a playoff spot, even in the Eastern Conference.”
–Back to Kevin Durant, he is having bone graft surgery on his ailing right foot, thus missing the rest of the season. The first 7 seasons Durant missed just 3 percent of his team’s games, but this year he has missed more than half with what is now his fifth injury since he fractured his foot in October. Team officials are convinced the bone graft surgery will lead to Durant’s long-term health. He had just undergone surgery Feb. 23 to attempt to alleviate soreness in his right foot that was being caused by a screw inserted to repair his October fracture.
I know the team is saying it’s not concerned, but I imagine Durant sure is.
–We note the passing of ‘Hot Rod’ Hundley, a legendary player in West Virginia who went on to play six seasons in the NBA before becoming one of the better known, and more colorful, broadcasters in the league.
Hundley set West Virginia high school scoring records before becoming a two-time all-American at West Virginia, averaging 24.5 points a game over his three seasons. He preceded future Hall of Famer Jerry West at the school, and the two then became teammates with the Lakers.
West told Terry Pluto in the basketball oral history ‘Tall Tales’ (1992). “He was like a Pied Piper; people were just drawn to him.”
Fred Schaus, Hundley’s coach at West Virginia and later with the Lakers, recalled: “In the middle 1950s, college basketball was coming off the scandals and it needed a shot in the arm, someone to bring the fans back. That’s what Hot Rod did.”
Hundley’s pro career consisted of six seasons and was disappointing, 1957-63 (three in Minneapolis and three in Los Angeles), averaging just 8.4 points per game on .347 percentage shooting, I can’t help but mention (different game back then), though he made two All-Star teams.
Hot Rod then became a charismatic broadcaster for the Lakers, the Phoenix Suns, CBS and then for 35 years with the Utah Jazz, 1974-2009.
Richard Goldstein / New York Times: “His wit was especially evident one night when Utah forward Truck Robinson did not attend an anticipated postgame interview. Hundley asked his questions anyway, answered them, and wound up the ‘interview’ by handing a gift certificate to the invisible Robinson as thanks for his nonappearance.”
Sports Illustrated’s Projected Division Winners….
AL East…Red Sox
AL Central…Indians
AL West…Mariners
NL East…Nationals
NL Central…Cardinals
NL West…Dodgers
And in the World Series, SI shocks some people, including yours truly, with the Indians defeating the Nationals.
SI projects the Mets at 82-80, the Yankees at 77-85. The Mets, after six straight losing seasons, need to do better than this.
–In a story by SI’s Tom Verducci on the Nationals, here are some of the pertinent stats.
“Only 28 pitchers have won 15 games with an ERA of 3.25 or better in any of the past three seasons, and the Nationals have hoarded six of them, including Tanner Roark, whom (Max) Scherzer bumped from the rotation.”
“Over the last three seasons 18 starters have thrown 450 innings with an ERA of 3.25 or lower. The Nats have five of them.”
But the key is going to be Bryce Harper. Number one, can he stay healthy? Number two, can he finally have that breakout season? He’s still just 22 (doesn’t turn 23 until October), yet it seems like he’s already been around forever. With the departure of first baseman Adam LaRoche, Harper now represents the only real lefthanded power threat in the lineup.
–Verducci also had a piece on speed in baseball…as in how fast pitchers are throwing it these days.
61…Pitchers whose fastballs averaged at least 94 mph last season (minimum 50 innings).
92.1…Average major league velocity [in mph] last season, the sixth straight year it increased.
–The Wall Street Journal had an extensive piece on Ichiro, now 41 and on the Marlins, who swears he can still be highly effective. He’s at 2,844 career hits, after 1,278 in Japan, and would love to get to 3,000.
He actually hit .284 for the Yankees in 359 at-bats last season, but his pitifully low on-base and slugging percentages are detriments you can’t ignore.
“Red Sox slugger David Ortiz declared Thursday that he never ‘knowingly’ took steroids despite having reportedly tested positive in 2003 during Major League Baseball’s preliminary round of performance-enhancing drug testing.
“Big Papi, 39, addressed the matter in a long and defiant post on The Players Tribune, a website founded last year by retired Yankee Derek Jeter.
“ ‘I never knowingly took any steroids,’ Ortiz writes. ‘If I tested positive for anything, it was for something in pills I bought at the damn mall. If you think that ruins everything I have done in this game, there is nothing I can say to convince you different.’
“Ortiz suggests, as he has in the past, that he may have tested positive because of contaminated nutritional supplements, although it has never been clear precisely what type of drug was found in his urine and if it was the kind of compound sometimes found in over-the-counter supplements.
“ ‘To this day, nobody has any answers for me,’ Ortiz writes. ‘Nobody can tell me what I supposedly tested positive for. They say they legally can’t, because the tests were never supposed to be public.’
“Citing unnamed lawyers, the New York Times reported in 2009 that Ortiz’ name was on a list of roughly 100 MLB players whose urine tested positive in 2003… The results were intended to remain anonymous, but federal agents investigating the BALCO doping ring seized the laboratory results, discovering the list upon which the Times report was based….
“Although he is one of the most beloved baseball players in Boston history, Ortiz claims the media have been unfair to him regarding his failed drug test. On Jeter’s website, Ortiz belittles the baseball reporters who have questioned him about doping and whose votes may now determine his entry into Cooperstown.
“ ‘Hell yes I deserve to be in the Hall of Fame,’ Ortiz writes. ‘I’ve won three World Series since MLB introduced comprehensive drug testing. I’ve performed year after year after year.’”
–It turns out there could yet be a change on extra points next season with the league’s next meeting in May. The leading candidate among the proposals was put forward by the Steelers. To entice more teams to go for the two-point conversion the extra-point snap would be moved from the 2-yard line to the 1 ½-yard line.
Initially, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin favored the ball being moved to the 1-yard line, but too many long, athletic quarterbacks could just lean in and dive across the goal line on keepers, thus the thought to move it to the 1 ½.
Others such as the Patriots proposed moving the ball to the 15-yard line on extra points, thus making it a 33-yard kick rather than a 20-yarder.
There is also some talk of giving the defense two points if they recover a fumble or return an interception on a two-point try.
Rich McKay, the competition committee chairman and Atlanta Falcons president, said, “There was a lot of consensus to the idea of the alternative – that being move the ball to the 1 ½, or kick from the 15, you make the choice…one point for kicking, two points for going for two.”
—Michael Sam, the first openly gay NFL player to be drafted last season when the St. Louis Rams selected him, said at an NFL combine that multiple “famous” players have come out to him as gay. In addressing a Q&A session, Sam said: “I am not the only gay person in the NFL. I’m just saying there is a lot of us.”
Sam said he would never divulge their names. He is trying to get back to the NFL after being first cut by the Rams and then later the Cowboys. He was on Dallas’ practice squad roster but never made the team last fall.
–In college ball, former Michigan starting center Jack Miller announced he would not play his senior season, something I had missed earlier, though he told ESPN the other day he was concerned about the long-term impact from past and possible future concussions. Miller said he had one concussion in high school and “probably” two or three at Michigan, though he said he reported only one.
Miller started 16 games, including all of the 2014 season, winning the team’s award for best lineman of the year.
Golf Balls
—Jimmy Walker won the fifth PGA Tour event of his career, making it five in 37 starts over the past two years as he won the Valero Open, defeating Jordan Spieth in the process. As Ronald Reagan would have said, ‘Not bad, not bad at all.’ Walker, 36, is the classic late bloomer and he will break through with a major the next few years, no doubt.
—Tiger Woods’ good friend Notah Begay said it’s only “50-50” that Tiger will play in The Masters (a tradition unlike any other…on CBS).
Begay said: “I think his golf game as a whole is in a great place. I think it was good for him to take a step back and assess a variety of things and do things on his timeline. It’s easy to get bullied into trying to acquiesce to the media’s concerns, or the PGA Tour’s concerns, or other people’s agendas.”
Tiger did not enter next week’s Shell Houston Open, the last event prior to Augusta.
–While I catch little NHL action during the regular season, I was glued to the tube Saturday afternoon to see the return of New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist after a 7 ½ week absence due to a serious vascular issue. So what do his teammates do in a game at Boston? Give King Henrik zero support as the Bruins win 4-2.
With Cam Talbot back in the net on Sunday against Washington, the Rangers then lost 5-2. Not a good weekend.
New York will be fine and probably get a 1 or 2 seed in the playoffs, but Rangers fans won’t be happy with anything but a Cup this year.
—Denny Hamlin won this week’s NASCAR race at Martinsville, the 25th win of his career, as Kevin Harvick’s eight-race streak of finishing first or second ended; Harvick finishing eighth despite leading a race-high 154 laps.
–No Premier League action this weekend as the focus was largely on Euro 2016 qualifying. In one match, Russia at Montenegro, a Group G clash, Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev was struck on the back of the head by a flare in the first minute and was taken off on a stretcher and then substituted.
After a 35-minute delay, the German referee restarted the match. But the game was abandoned in the second half at 0-0 after a huge brawl involving players and coaching staff. UEFA is awaiting reports before deciding on disciplinary actions.
Akinfeev did not suffer any major injuries but did have a neck sprain and minor burns.
–I have to acknowledge NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who along with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Komienko, will attempt to spend nearly a year in space, 342 days, aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Kelly, Komienko and another Russian cosmonaut (who is on a standard six-month mission) blasted off in their Soyuz spacecraft from Kazakhstan on Friday and about six hours later docked with the ISS – which cruises roughly 250 miles above Earth.
The mission is one of the tests required for an eventual mission to Mars that would last at least 500 days.
Kelly spent nearly six months on the ISS in early 2011 and said at first he wasn’t interested in the year-long adventure, but then he said, “I decided that the challenges that staying in space for a whole year presented was appealing to me even considering the sacrifices.”
Scott Kelly is the identical twin brother of former astronaut Mark Kelly (who is married to former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords). Scott knows the problem of being in space is when there is a family crisis (he has two daughters, ages 20 and 11), you can’t go back. He learned of the shooting of sister-in-law Gabby when he was up last time.
Mark Kelly is being used for research while his brother is up in space to compare the differences between the two, so as to better understand the effects on the body of such a long mission, which are considerable.
During Scott Kelly’s free time, he’ll be able to talk to friends and family with a Skype-like phone connection, send emails, read books and watch TV shows uplinked to him, including Houston Texans football games.
By the end of the mission, Kelly will have spent a career total of 522 days in space, setting a U.S. record currently held by Mike Fincke’s 382 days.
Four Russian cosmonauts lived for at least a year on Russia’s Mir station, with Valery Polyakov holding the record for longest space mission at 438 days, 1994-95. [James Dean / USA TODAY (Florida Today)]
Top 3 songs of 3/29/80: #1 “Another Brick In The Wall” (Pink Floyd…never understood why this one was so popular…) #2 “Working My Way Back To You” (Spinners) #3 “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” (Queen)… and…#4 “Desire” (Andy Gibb) #5 “Call Me” (Blondie) #6 “Him” (Rupert Holmes…love this tune…surprised it only peaked at #6…) #7 “Too Hot” (Kool & The Gang) #8 “The Second Time Around” (Shalamar…ughh…) #9 “Ride Like The Wind” (Christopher Cross…his breakthrough hit…peaked at #2 for four weeks to Blondie’s ‘Call Me’…) #10 “How Do I Make You” (Linda Ronstadt)
NBA Quiz Answer: The other five to be NBA MVPs but with no ring are Karl Malone (2), Charles Barkley, Allen Iverson, Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant.
I wrote the following for my “Week in Review” column and it applies to Bar Chat as well.
For over 16 years I have closed my column thanking you, dear readers, for your support. Some of you have commented, “But you don’t ask us for anything.” Well, today I am.
Recently, I noted that a 15-year relationship with BuyandHold.com ended as they were folded into another operation and this impacted me on a number of levels.
Here’s the bottom line. Believe it or not, there are some major costs associated with S&N, including for subscriptions to all the periodicals I cull through. These days, the likes of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, Sydney Morning Herald, Washington Post, South China Morning Post, to name a few, are not free but I subscribe to them all to bring you the best. There are other substantial costs, of course, including on the tech front.
So for the first time, I’m asking for donations by launching my version of a Kickstarter campaign. Donations to StocksandNews will be gladly accepted. This is no different than a PBS pledge drive, or Wikipedia’s donation requests.
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