St. Louis Browns (1902-1953) / Baltimore Orioles (1954-2014) Quiz: 1) Name the four to hit 45 or more home runs in a season. 2) Name the only two to drive in 150. 3) Post-1930, name the five pitchers to win at least 23 games in a season. Answers below.
Chambers Bay
At the start of play on Sunday….
Dustin Johnson -4
Jason Day -4
Jordan Spieth -4
Branden Grace -4
Dustin Johnson got it to -6…but later…
Johnson -5…10
Spieth -4…11
Grace -4…11
Spieth -5…12
Grace -5…12
Johnson -4…11…bogeyed 10 and 11
Adam Scott -3…64 final round
Day -2…11
Spieth -5…13
Grace -5…13
Johnson -3…13…three bogeys last four holes
Scott -3
Spieth -5…15
Grace -5…15
Johnson -3…14
Oosthuizen -3…16…five birdies in a row!
Scott -3
Spieth -6…16
Johnson -3…15
Oosthuizen -3…17
Scott -3
Grace -3…16…stunning drive out of bounds
Spieth -4…17…stunning double bogey on 17
Oosthuizen -4…67…birdies 6 of last 7!!!
Johnson -3…16
Scott -3
Grace -3…17
But Spieth hits an amazing second shot on par-5 18 for short eagle putt.
Dustin then hits a superb drive and equally awesome second shot for a short eagle putt to win!
But he three putts from 12 feet and Jordan Spieth wins…he’s won the first two majors of the year at age 21!
I like Dustin a lot…I feel awful for him…but of course am a huge fan, like all of America should be, of Spieth.
I’ll have far more next chat as the ‘official commentary’ rolls in; including on Fox’ coverage (cut them some slack…Sure some of it was sub-par, but in the end it was fine…and they did a good job with the back nine). And on Chambers Bay…aside from what follows…and some personal insight on Jason Day.
—Justin Rose described the greens at Chambers Bay as “like outdoor bingo.” “I’d a five-foot putt on the first and didn’t have the first idea what it was going to do. It felt like outdoor bingo at that point.”
Henrik Stenson said, “The greens are borderline laughable. It’s like putting on broccoli.” [George H.W. Bush would hate that.]
Friday, Jordan Spieth said of the controversial 18th hole, “This is the dumbest hole I’ve ever played in my life,” picked up by an on-course microphone after he caught the lip of a fairway bunker on his way to a double bogey.
Golfing legend Gary Player weighed in: “The worst golf course I might’ve ever seen in the 63 years as a professional golfer… The USGA, who I admire and have chosen great golf courses in this great United States of America – they’re preaching speed of play. Enjoyoment. User-friendly. This golf course here, if you’re a 10-handicap, you couldn’t break 100 if you had the best day of your life. They’ve got pros putting from 20 feet and hitting the ball 20 feet to the right, a man misses the green by a yard and he’s 50 yards down in the valley. I mean I don’t understand it.”
After his round on Sunday, a 3-under 67, Billy Horschel let loose in an interview with Fox Sports’ Holly Sonders (who looked resplendent all week, I have to add), Horschel never being one to hide his emotions in the first place, which is why a lot of fans like the guy.
“These greens weren’t very good. I’m not going to hold my tongue on this. Not looking for perfection, but they sure aren’t very good. I played my butt off to shoot 3 under today. It’s frustrating on the greens when you hit really good putts and they are bouncing worse than I’ve ever seen.
And Chris Kirk, not known for being outspoken, tweeted after his round Sunday: “The U.S. Open is a great tournament with incredible history. The @usga should be ashamed of what they did to it this week.”
But Dustin Johnson relished the challenge. “From the first time I played it I liked it. It’s a lot of fun and you need to use your imagination.”
“Tiger Woods likes to use the word ‘process.’ He uses it to frame every errant tee shot, every missed green and every flubbed chip shot as part of a journey, one that only he can truly understand. One day, the implication goes, that process will lead him back to the golfer he was. But with each passing month, that golfer seems more and more like a relic lost to time.
“The name and the face evoke the icon. The images from his performance at the U.S. Open evoke a weekend hacker. And even that may be generous. Weekend hackers play on the weekend.
“Woods will not. He finished 16 over par in two days at Chambers Bay…his highest 36-hole score above par at a major in his career….
“The only other time Woods has missed the cut at the U.S. Open was in 2006, when he was playing for the first time since the death of his father. He had missed the cut at three majors since, most recently at the 2014 PGA Championship.”
“Woods credited himself for fighting the good fight, but come on, Chambers Bay pounded him the way Larry Holmes once pounded a washed-up Muhammad Ali. Woods couldn’t even hit the fairway at No. 13, the widest in U.S. Open history, and he couldn’t even hit a clean fairway wood at No. 18; he topped a hard ground ball into a pot bunker instead.
“On the previous hole, he’d put his hand on Oosthuizen’s shoulder and laughed over a round that left him with one lousy birdie. Only the scene was sad, not funny. If this keeps up, a sportswriter’s go-to cliché for every aging megastar in serious decline – Willie Mays stumbling in the Shea Stadium grass – will be replaced by these scenes of Woods bumbling about in the Chambers Bay sand.
“Right now, mentally and physically, Tiger Woods is a broken athlete. Forget his fame and fortune and all-too-human failures of the past. If you really love sports, you don’t want to see greatness reduced to this.”
–It is rather remarkable Woods has bogeyed 9 of his last 10 opening holes of a PGA Tour event.
–Mike Lupica / New York Daily News: “There were times the other day when you couldn’t tell whether Tiger Woods was trying to chop his way across the course, or chop his way out of Clinton Correctional.”
Tiger is scheduled to play next at the Greenbrier Classic, July 2-5. Then comes the British Open, July 16-19 at St. Andrews.
–Guess what? It’s all about A-Rod. Alex Rodriguez joined one select list…600 home runs and 3,000 hits…when he homered in the first inning at Yankee Stadium against Detroit’s Justin Verlander, Friday night. Then he followed that with another home run and five RBI in a 14-3 win on Saturday. [A-Rod was 1-4 on Sunday in a 12-4 Yankees loss to the Tigers, with Detroit’s J.D. Martinez hitting 3 home runs and driving in six. Masahiro Tanaka gave up 3 homers in five innings, five earned.]
Hank Aaron 3,771 hits…755 home runs
Willie Mays 3,283…660
A-Rod 3,002…668
“What does it mean? The answer to this question, during a different era in baseball’s long history, was so easy.
“It meant excellence. It meant immortality. It meant that a baseball player had not just performed at the highest level of his sport, but had done it consistently from the beginning of his career to its end, from his 20s to his late 30s or 40s.
“You want to know what 3,000 hits used to mean? Look at the list of the 28 men who reached that milestone before now, and you will see the best players from every generation.
“And now a 29th player has joined that club, and as with everything else with Alex Rodriguez, it gets complicated. It gets murky.
“What does it mean? As far as I can tell, only Joe Girardi, who prefers not to interrupt the monotony of the sport’s season contemplating its history, has come up with a suitable answer: ‘It’s a ton of hits.’
“No matter where you fall on the impact of Rodriguez’s use of illegal substances, this much is undeniable. Steroids made him a better player. But a lot of players took steroids during A-Rod’s generation, and with the notable exception of Rafael Palmeiro, you don’t see their names on this list….
“Still, it’s hard not to wonder: Had he not taken PEDs, would Rodriguez have reached 3,000 hits long before this? He certainly wouldn’t have lost last season to the suspension, and a clean A-Rod might not have seen his body break down in the less productive seasons before that….
“Wade Boggs once called 3,000 hits ‘the pinnacle of where all great hitters try to go.’ A-Rod became the 29th player to get there, and once upon a time in the sport, knowing what that means was easy.
“Now? It’s a ton of hits. Let’s leave it at that.”
“Rodriguez will likely never explain why he did what he did, why he was stupid enough or insecure enough to go to Tony Bosch for baseball drugs any more than Bonds has ever honestly explained BALCO or whatever his trainer Greg Anderson was shooting him up with, and not just because it might violate the terms of his deal with the DEA. He has found that he doesn’t have to explain anything as long as he keeps producing the way he has so far for the Yankees this season. You know what Alex Rodriguez finally figured out after all the chowderheaded advice he got from his various crisis managers and headbangers? That the best crisis management is still being able to hit a baseball.
“So he has officially become Bonds of the Yankees, still hitting home runs, probably thinking if Bonds was still hitting them at 43, he can still be hitting them at 42; maybe thinking that 762 is still in reach for him. And if there are enough people who will always wonder how much of a stink there is to the home run numbers, for any of them, he doesn’t care. Bonds never did.
“They both were blessed with a gift for baseball. Only it wasn’t enough for either one of them. It’s no longer worth wondering why they made the choices they made, or the lies they told along the way. They both got rich. They both figured out there are all sorts of ways to be famous. They’re the same.”
“Don’t retire Rodriguez’s number in the pantheon of great Yankees, he doesn’t merit that kind of honor. He’s not Yogi Berra or Joe Torre or Babe Ruth or his old friend Derek Jeter.
“And don’t give him a plaque that simply recites his performance-enhancing drug aided accomplishments, even if we don’t know how much the steroids helped or, exactly, how long he used them. Don’t pinstripewash history.
“Show how great of a Yankee he was. Say that he carried the Yankees in the 2009 postseason and to a World Series win. Talk about the two MVP awards he won in the Bronx. Write in bronze about his place on the all-time home runs list, his 2,000 RBI and his 3,000 career hits, a number he reached with a towering home run against the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.
“But don’t be shy. Don’t ignore the 800-pound syringe in the room. Include one sentence that may end up meaning as much to his legacy as anything else.
“Rodriguez twice admitted to using banned performance-enhancing drugs and served a 162-game suspension for a PED violation in 2014.
“That’s it. That’s all. Those 21 words would go a long way.”
“When A-Rod’s suspension ended this spring, he could have stayed exactly the same and still earned $64 million over the next three seasons, as his famously inflated contract requires. After all, change is hard, and changing people’s opinion of you is even harder. Instead, Rodriguez has achieved both, returning not only as a fabulous almost-40-year-old baseball player willing to do whatever his manager and coaches say, but also as a player who goes out of his way to make amends, to act like a mensch and to reach out to the fans….It is truly an inspirational redemption story – a lesson for any public figure dispatched to the wilderness.
“A-Rod’s history of villainy and eccentricity is almost hard to believe. He upstaged the 2007 World Series by opting out of his contract with the Yankees, then managed to get an even bigger one from the team, filled with performance-based milestone bonuses that the Yankees now refuse to pay. He kissed his reflection in a mirror during an interview with Details magazine. He allegedly commissioned paintings of himself as a centaur. He let Cameron Diaz feed him popcorn at the Super Bowl like she was putting food into a baby bird’s mouth.
“On the field, A-Rod was a Hall of Fame-quality player, but he did bizarre things during games as well, especially in the playoffs. One play that still defines him occurred during the 2004 American League Championship Series, when he slapped the ball from the glove of Red Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo while running to first base, a bush-league move that exemplified the ineptness of the Yankees against Boston that year. Other than part of that 2004 postseason and his exceptional 2009 postseason, Rodriguez had multiple seasons of playoff futility, capped by his being pinch-hit for in the 2012 playoffs, then flirting with female fans during a game and finally being repeatedly benched that October.
“A-Rod suffered by the inherent comparison with Derek Jeter, the beloved team captain. Rodriguez was Nixon to Jeter’s Kennedy, all flop sweat up against Jeter’s cool charisma. Jeter’s unquestioned supremacy at shortstop forced Rodriguez to change positions when he joined the Yankees, and he nursed a grudge, saying that No. 2 ‘never had to lead.’ As payback, Jeter declined to lead Yankees fans by telling them not to boo A-Rod.
“Rodriguez’s immense skill and even bigger contract made him a larger-than-life, almost Dickensian character for the press, which chronicled his every flaw. Meanwhile, Jeter got a pass as reporters ignored his deteriorating athleticism, the gift baskets he gave to one-night stands and his self-aggrandizing RE2PECT farewell tour, complete with ‘King of NY’ cleats and the egotistical ‘My Way’ theme song. Through it all, the Yankees captain somehow kept up his classy, team-first image, even as he refused to abdicate his shortstop role or move down in the lineup when he could no longer hit or field well….
“But a funny thing happened after A-Rod became MLB’s biggest pariah. He began trying something he’d never done before: turning his life around. ‘No father, no college – these are his two gaping wounds, his two great sorrows,’ J.R. Moehringer wrote in a long, road-to-perdition profile for ESPN the Magazine. So Rodriguez spent 2014 going to intensive therapy sessions, attending a college class to see if he had what it takes to be a student and apologizing to everyone he had wronged: He came to the Yankee brass in person with his mea culpa, and he offered a handwritten apology to the fans….
“Always known as a hard worker, he showed up to spring training early and kept his cool, even when his arrival strangely ticked off the Yankees…. He swallowed his titanic pride. He even showed a humble and self-deprecating side, as well as a sense of humor- new developments for a man once obsessed with success.
“Most important, A-Rod showed that he could play again at a high level – a comeback story in the fullest meaning of the phrase….
“Now A-Rod is getting what he has always craved – love and affection from Yankees fans….
“No. 2 is cool but boring; No. 13 is the one who, after decades of trying, finally bested his demons – the flawed human who dug his own grave, then climbed out of it.”
As for A-Rod’s 3,000 hit ball, it was caught by Zack Hample, 37, of New York City, who we’ve all learned is a professional at this. He says he’s caught more than 8,000 baseballs – and even wrote a book on the art.
David Kohler of SCP Auctions told ESPN.com’s Darren Rovell this particular A-Rod ball is worth more than $50,000.
“My intention all along, I’ve been imagining this scenario as a 1-in-a-million, was not to give it back,” said Hample. “You know, just because the guy who got Jeter’s 3,000th hit (gave it back), a lot of people called him an idiot. A lot of people said that he was a wonderful person and extremely generous. And I really think that, whatever you want to do with it is your choice.”
He added, “I think that someone like Derek Jeter or Alex Rodriguez, who had made half a billion dollars in his career, doesn’t really need a favor from a normal civilian and a fan like me. I don’t know right now if I’m going to sell it. I mean, depending on what the Yankees could offer, I would consider giving it back. I’m not giving it back for – I don’t plan to give it back for a chance to meet him and full autographed bats because I don’t collect bats, I collect baseballs. Just having this ball is so meaningful to me. I can’t believe that I got it.”
“A-Rod is great for the game because he gets people to care, one way or the other. The game needs its villains just as badly as its protagonists, and in this age of social media, can we really hope to find a worthy successor to this guy?
“Thankfully, A-Rod might just play through the entirety of his contract in 2017….
“How fitting that, while Jeter’s 3,000th hit reached the stands and found a nice young man named Christian Lopez who gave the ball back for the proverbial bag of magic beans – some free seats and signed Jeter goodies – A-Rod’s identical milestone landed in the hands of Zack Hample, a self-proclaimed expert at procuring baseballs who left the ballpark Friday without giving up the souvenir. A true businessman.
“This sport is a business, after all, a cutthroat one at that, no matter how much you want to link it to your childhood or your own children or apple pie a la mode.”
–Regarding the F.B.I.’s investigation into whether St. Louis Cardinals employees hacked into a personnel database belonging to the Houston Astros, commissioner Rob Manfred reiterated he’s going to wait to see where the investigation leads before baseball decides what to do with the Cardinals.
Assuming the Cards are guilty, don’t worry…Manfred will come down very hard on them, but he also has to be concerned just how widespread this is.
–I love athletes that live up to their contracts and at least in the first year of his seven-year, $210m contract with the Washington Nationals, Max Scherzer is living up to his.
Saturday, Scherzer pitched the first no-hitter of his career, coming within an out of a perfect game in what would be a 6-0 victory over the Pirates. Pittsburgh pinch-hitter Jose Tabata was hit by a 2-2 pitch, stirring up a little post-game controversy because he appeared to lean into the pitch. [A dumb controversy…Tabata had fouled off like five pitches in the at bat.]
But Scherzer’s gem was after he fired a one-hit complete game his prior start, striking out 16, thus becoming only the fifth pitcher in baseball history to throw back-to-back complete games while giving up just one hit; the last being Jim Tobin of the Boston Braves in 1944.
Overall, Scherzer improved his record to 8-5 and lowered his ERA to 1.76. He has now struckout 123 in 102 1/3 innings, while walking just 14.
Most importantly for the Nationals, in 11 of his 14 starts he has given up 2 or fewer earned runs. He should legitimately be at least 10-3. The man has done everything the team could have hoped for thus far.
[One other Nats note…Saturday’s game marked the return of Bryce Harper after he had a scare on Thursday, injuring his hamstring. It was first feared, the way he went down, that he had suffered a serious knee injury. Harper homered to back Scherzer. In fact, 10 of Harper’s 24* home runs have been in Scherzer’s 14 starts. *Including a homer in Sunday’s 9-2 pasting of the Pirates; the Nats scoring all nine runs in the first against Pittsburgh’s Charlie Morton, who entered the game 5-0, 1.62 ERA. Now 3.97 after 9 earned in 2/3 of an inning.]
–Chicago White Sox hurler Chris Sale is on one heckuva streak…five straight starts striking out at least 12 batters, just the third in modern baseball history (since 1900), according to Elias; the others being Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson.
But Sale, who left Friday’s game against Texas with a 1-0 lead after eight, striking out 14 without a walk, saw closer David Robertson blow it in the ninth and the White Sox lost 2-1.
[Robertson did come back on Saturday to preserve a White Sox 3-2 win with a scoreless ninth.]
–As the Wall Street Journal’s Jared Diamond notes, from 2011 through 2013, the Mets went 103-140 at home and 122-121 on the road, “a bizarre discrepancy.”
But in 2014 they were 40-41 at home and this season they are a sterling 26-11 at Citi Field.
However, now the Mets are just 10-24 on the road, the biggest difference between home and road winning percentages of any team in baseball after Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Atlanta.
In fact, my freakin’ Metsies have scored a whopping six runs in a five-game losing streak, wasting sterling efforts by Jacob deGrom and Matt Harvey (Sunday) in the process.
The Mets are averaging 4.32 runs per game at home, and 2.94 runs on the road. Fire Terry Collins…shake this club up.
–Talk about hard luck. The Dodgers’ Zack Greinke started the season 5-0 in his first six starts, but in his next 8, he is 0-2, with a 1.98 ERA! Overall, Greinke is 5-2, 1.81. [In 7 of his last 8 starts, the Dodgers have scored a total of 11 runs.]
“Reminder to anyone who tries to predict the baseball standings before the season: Do not fall for the team that made the splashiest moves. This year, perhaps more than ever, proves the difficulty of a quick off-season makeover.
“Consider the plights of the Miami Marlins, the San Diego Padres, the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox. All made major moves last winter but entered the weekend with losing records. The Marlins and the Padres have fired their managers, and Boston and Chicago were last in their divisions.”
White Sox 30-38 [thru Sun.]
Red Sox 31-40
Padres 34-38
Marlins 30-41
–Former Mets owner Nelson Doubleday Jr., died at the age of 81. Most Mets fans remember him fondly because it was Doubleday, who bought the club in 1980, along with current owner Fred Wilpon, who led a rebuilding of the franchise that led to the 1986 World Series.
Doubleday would later push for the team to sign Mike Piazza to a long-term contract following the 1998 season, the year Piazza was traded to the club. Piazza then led the Mets to the 2000 World Series, which they lost to the Yankees.
Doubleday was the majority owner in those days, with Wilpon initially having just a one percent stake.
But then Doubleday and Wilpon began to fight. Doubleday didn’t want a new ballpark, preferring to refurbish Shea Stadium instead, while Wilpon fought for what would become Citi Field.
Doubleday would sell his shares to Wilpon in 2002 and the breakup was acrimonious. The breach never healed.
–Major League Baseball canceled 65 million All-Star Game votes the other day, but the Royals still have eight in the A.L. starting lineup as of today. This truly blows…a freakin’ mockery of the game; one that nonetheless determines home-field advantage in the Series.
–In the College World Series…it’s defending champion Vanderbilt against UVA, a rematch of the 2014 finals. Virginia beat Florida 5-4 on Saturday to advance. Vandy previously defeated TCU. The best-of-three final starts Monday.
–The NBA Draft is Thursday and the Timberwolves will take Karl-Anthony Towns, the 7-footer from Kentucky, with the first overall selection.
But there is still uncertainty over the Lakers at No. 2, and that disrupts the rest of the first round, or at least the first five or six picks. If the Lakers go with Jahlil Okafor over point guard D’Angelo Russell, that means the Knicks could potentially get Russell at No. 4 because Russell has made it clear he doesn’t want to play for Philadelphia, who has the third selection.
The 76ers could opt for 7-foot power forward Kristaps Porzingis.
Or if the Sixers take Russell anyway, do the Knicks go with Emmanuel Mudiay, a point guard who played in China last season, or a surer pick in Duke’s Justise Winslow?
Or do the Knicks take Kentucky’s other big man, 7-foot-1 Willie Cauley-Stein?
–Fallout from the Golden State Warriors’ 4-2 triumph over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“(In the aftermath) of the Warriors’ convincing performance against the Cavaliers, much of the focus was heaped on LeBron James, who turned in one of the most heroic performances in finals history yet failed to carry his team to a title.
“In some ways, James brought the scrutiny upon himself – as he often does – by expressing an unwavering confidence that came across as primping in front of a mirror. After the Cavaliers lost Game 5 on Sunday, James was asked why he was so confident entering Game 6 on Tuesday with his team clearly overmatched yet again.
“That proclamation, heard round the world, followed James into Game 6 (a 105-97 loss) and will most likely accompany him in the off-season and into the new season and years to come until he wins another title.
“After a recent practice at the Giants’ training complex, there was substantial conversation about the NBA finals. Football is an ultimate team sport. Players play on distinct units – offense, defense, special teams. They must perform their tasks in coordination with one another for the team to be successful.
“I spoke to a couple of players about James’ ‘I am the greatest’ comments. Running back Rashad Jennings said he thought James was simply trying to inspire his teammates….
“(Linebacker Jon) Beason was expecting a singularly mammoth performance from James in Game 6. A jaw-dropping, never-in-history type of performance.
“ ‘I didn’t have a problem with what he said; I just wish the statement lived up to the hype of Game 6,’ Beason said. ‘It was a little lackluster.’
“Lackluster? James is the world’s best player in the world’s most competitive league. He pushed a superior Golden State team to six games with a team of role players at best.
“By virtually any standard, in any sport, James’ effort in Game 6 was phenomenal: 32 points, 18 rebounds, 9 assists.
“Despite James’ performance for the ages over six games – he averaged 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists – why are there always haters, nit-pickers and naysayers always diminishing his accomplishments?
“After Game 6, many critics pointed out that James had been in the finals six times and had lost four. The remarkable statistic, however, is that he has been to five straight finals, the previous four as a member of the Miami Heat.
“Why did his proclamation of being the greatest rub so many the wrong way?
“A lack of humility, perhaps.
“ ‘There’s a certain level of etiquette that we learn as professional athletes,’ Beason said. ‘They say never talk about money, never talk bad about the opposing team and never talk about yourself. It’s my belief that he is the best player in the world. But I can see how some people might not like it when it comes from the horse’s mouth.’”
Giant great Lawrence Taylor told Rhoden he didn’t have a problem with LeBron’s statement. “He didn’t say he was the greatest basketball player in history – that would have been a problem. He said he is the greatest basketball player on the planet. I’ve got no problem with that because he’s probably right.”
But then Taylor said he wouldn’t have been comfortable making the same declaration himself, while us football fans of his era know he was indeed the best, certainly on the defensive side of the ball. Taylor said, “I needed my teammates in order to win the championship. I don’t care how good a person is; you can’t do it by yourself because it’s a team game. Sometimes the greatest players need the greatest help.”
Rhoden: “My difficulty with James is the same as my difficulty with individual awards and individual recognition in team sports. The golfer, the tennis player, the boxer are on their own, fending for themselves. But for team players to talk about their greatness ignores the fact that their success is dependent on others.
“ ‘As great as Michael Jordan was, he couldn’t take on five people by himself,’ Taylor said.
“James is the best player in the world, but what does that mean?
“ ‘It doesn’t mean nothing now, when you’re sitting at home with no hardware,’ Taylor said.”
And from his own statements in the aftermath of Game 6, clearly this is what is bothering LeBron. Yeah, he’s great. But he doesn’t have the trophy.
—Game 6 drew 23,254,000 viewers, according to Nielsen, the most watched NBA Finals game since Game 7 of the 2013 Finals between Miami and San Antonio.
The average for the six-game series, 19.94 million, was the best since Michael Jordan’s last title in 1998.
—Tim Duncan admits he lost more than $20 million to a dishonest financial adviser, but he said that won’t influence his decision whether or not to return for another season with the Spurs.
“Luckily I had a long career and made good money,” the 39-year-old told Bloomberg the other day. “This is a big chunk, but it’s not going to change my life in any way. It’s not going to make any decisions for me.”
Duncan has been paid about $220 million over his career, including $10 million this past season, which is probably what he’d sign for to play in 2015-16.
Charles Banks is the adviser in question. His people deny Duncan lost the money he claims he did.
Duncan said: “I’m a loyal guy. I’m a man of my word, and I assumed other people would be that way. That’s just not the case in life.”
“Two days after LSU defensive lineman Trey Lealaimatafao was arrested for allegedly hitting a woman, starting quarterback Anthony Jennings and two other LSU football players were arrested Thursday, according to Baton Rouge Police and the East Baton Rouge Parish jail.
“Jennings, a junior from Marietta, Ga., who has been the Tigers’ starting quarterback since the end of the 2013 season, was arrested Thursday on a felony charge of unauthorized entry of a dwelling. He has had no previous arrests.”
Two others were arrested on the same charges and all three were booked into jail.
Tigers coach Les Miles released a statement Thursday night, saying all three were suspended and that he had met with them extensively.
As for Lealaimatafao, he was suspended indefinitely by Miles for allegedly pushing and punching a woman in the face outside Reggie’s bar near the LSU campus, according to a Baton Rouge Police report.
Glenn Guilbeau: “He was allegedly taking money from the pants of another person who was on the ground unconscious at the parking lot outside Reggies, and that man’s girlfriend began yelling at Lealaimatafao to stop.
“ ‘When she approached him, he pushed her away,’ the initial Baton Rouge Police report says. ‘She continued to scream at him to stop, and he hit her in the face with a closed fist, causing her to fall to the ground.’”
Geezuz. But get this. He was charged with a simple misdemeanor. Last July he was issued a misdemeanor for stealing a bicycle from the LSU library, though he told police that since the bike wasn’t locked, he thought it was part of a ride for free program.
This same dirtball was redshirted last season at LSU after injuring an arm when he punched through a glass in the LSU weight room.
–In a statewide poll conducted this month, WBUR and MassINC found that only 39 percent support Boston’s bid for the 2024 Olympics, with 49 percent opposed. In Boston and its suburbs, only 37 percent support the bid. It’s all about taxpayers undoubtedly being on the hook for any cost overruns.
–Speaking of the Olympics, according to London’s Daily Mail, Great Britain’s Mo Farah missed two drug tests before he went on to become a double gold medalist at the 2012 Olympics. Farah’s first missed test appears to have been in early 2010, months before he joined Alberto Salazar’s Nike Oregon Project.
The Mail says the second one came at Farah’s home in February 2011, when he claimed not to have heard the doorbell.
Salazar was recently accused of doping distance runner Galen Rupp in 2002, but in a BBC investigation, there was no evidence uncovered against Farah.
At the time of Farah’s wins in the 5,000m and 10,000m at London 2012, UK anti-doping rules stated that an athlete who missed three tests in any 18-month period (now 12 months) could be banned for four years.
The Mail claims correspondence it saw showed Salazar warned Farah on May 5, 2011: “If you miss another test, they will hang you.”
–We learned that it was a white tiger that killed a man in Tbilisi, Georgia, not a lion as first reported. The tiger was shot and killed itself after ambushing the poor fellow. The initial report of a lion I’m sure had to do with the animal being caked in mud.
The flood in the capital that overwhelmed the zoo, freeing some 600 animals, cost at least 19 lives and $45 million in damages, while 300 of the 600 zoo animals perished.
Some of the animals whose enclosures were located on the hillside, like elephants and zebras, survived. It was the predators who lived in the basin of the valley.
Local news outlets reported an African penguin had appeared on Georgia’s border with Azerbaijan, apparently having swum more than 35 miles.
–Brad K. relayed a story from the Daily Mail of a 27-year-old American tourist who was attacked last Wednesday by a crocodile and bitten on the left leg and right hand. Police say the lad was “drunk” when he entered a protected area by an Iberostar Hotel Golf Course in Cancun.
As Brad noted, it was Dean Wormer who famously said: “Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”
–Last Wednesday, a 10-year-old boy was the latest to be bitten by a shark, this time on the calf while in chest-deep water, but he’s OK.
–Regarding the Yulin Dog Festival in Guangxi province, southern China, where 10,000 dogs are slaughtered, some of which it would seem have been stolen because they have collars around their necks, as Ken S. notes, ‘Man’ can’t possibly be within one of the sand crab when it comes to the All-Species List.
So ‘Sand Crab’ is No. 302 (a significant move up due to heavy lobbying by the Outer Banks Sand Crab Association), while ‘Man’ plunges to No. 329, just ahead of ‘Hairy Spider.’
–LT saw Barry Manilow in concert at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn the other night and said he still sounds terrific. LT hadn’t seen him in 38 years, which makes her 39, I think. Right, kid?
Top 3 songs for the week 6/20/81: #1 “Medley” (Stars on 45…had everyone scrambling to find some good Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninoff…) #2 “Bette Davis Eyes” (Kim Carnes…this one has aged even worse than Bette Davis did herself…) #3 “Sukiyaki” (A Taste of Honey)… and…#4 “A Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do)” (Ray Parker Jr. & Raydio) #5 All Those Years Ago” (George Harrison) #6 “Being With You” (Smokey Robinson) #7 “The One That You Love” (Air Supply) #8 “America” (Neil Diamond) #9 “You Make My Dreams” (Daryl Hall & John Oates) #10 “Jessie’s Girl” (Rick Springifield…I think I’m coming down with MERS…)
St. Louis Browns / Baltimore Orioles Quiz Answers: 1) Four to hit 45 or more HR: Chris Davis, 53 (2013); Brady Anderson, 50 (1996); Frank Robinson, 49 (1966); Jim Gentile, 46 (1961). 2) Only two to drive in 150: Ken Williams, 155 (1922); Miguel Tejada, 150 (2004). 3) 23 or more wins: Jim Palmer, 23 (1975); Mike Flanagan, 23 (1979); Mike Cuellar, 23 (1969), 24 (1970); Dave McNally, 24 (1970); Steve Stone, 25 (1980).
You know who is underrated? Mike Cuellar. Between 1969-75, he was 139-75…185-130, 3.14, for his career.
