Baseball Quiz: In light of Alex Rodriguez becoming the 29th to reach the 3,000 hit mark, name the ones on the list who played at least a portion of their career in the 1960s. Answer below.
U.S. Open at Chambers Bay, Part Deux
–OK, since I posted right after the tournament ended, I need to sweep the table clean of some facts for the archives. Jordan Spieth became the first since Gene Sarazen in 1922 to win multiple majors before his 22nd birthday. He is the youngest winner of the U.S. Open since Bobby Jones in 1923. Spieth is also the sixth man to win the first two legs of the Grand Slam, and the first since Tiger Woods in 2002.
After 16 holes in the final round, though, Spieth led by three strokes. Then he doubled 17, but even after recovering to birdie 18, he could only watch helplessly as Dustin Johnson, having birdied 17 right behind Spieth, had a 12-footer on 18 for eagle and the win.
“What did I do?” Spieth asked his caddie Michael Greller in the clubhouse as they watched on television. “How did this happen?”
But then Johnson three-putted. It was the fourth time D.J. had played in the final group of a major and failed to win.
–As to Spieth’s deal with Baltimore-based Under Armour and what it meant for the apparel and footwear company, for starters, last week’s victory meant millions of dollars in free exposure.
As Jeff Barker writes in the Baltimore Sun, it was last January that Under Armour extended its endorsement deal with Spieth for another 10 years.
According to research conducted by sports marketing and media agency Optimum Sports, Ryan Kuehl of Under Armour says, “(Spieth) got $7 million worth of media exposure on just CBS on Thursday through Sunday in last year’s Masters” when he tied for runner-up.
“In this year’s Masters, his value was about $21 million,” Kuehl said.
The media figures for this year’s Open aren’t available yet.
“Why would Johnson fret about handing his nation’s title to Jordan Spieth, who also won the Masters in April? You don’t become the 10th-ranked player in the world like Johnson by focusing on what almost never goes wrong.
“After playing the first 601 yards of the 18th hole in two monstrously long and impeccably precise shots, why would Johnson worry about needing three taps on a putt with no particularly severe slope or speed?
“Here are three reasons, actually. First, Johnson ranks 159th on the PGA Tour in putting inside six feet. That is his weakness – a pronounced and intractable one in his career. He should have defended against his flaw.
“Second, his own history should have warned him that pressure works on him at least as much as most top players if not just a little more. His psyche’s been as vulnerable on Sunday in majors as his driving is always titanic. Four times now he has come apart, or been misfortune’s pawn, on the last day of a major.
“Third, players complained all week about the bumpy greens at Chambers Bay. – like ‘putting on broccoli’ that is ‘the color of cauliflower.’ After his final missed four-foot putt, which never touched the hole, don’t ask Johnson if he’s likely to try the vegetarian option.
“ ‘The greens do bounce. And when they are fast and bumpy, it’s tough to get it in the hole,’ said Johnson. ‘The last hole, I don’t know – I might have pulled it a little bit. But it looked like it bounced left.’….
“(Thanks to Johnson), golf gets to throw a three week party awaiting the British Open. Spieth did not shy from talking about his quest for the third leg of a 2015 Grand Slam at St. Andrews in Scotland. And why not? Chambers Bay is almost shamelessly modeled on St. Andrews’ hump-and-bump links. If Spieth, a magical putter, could win on the awful poa annua infested greens here, might he not do even better at St. Andrews?”
“Choke is the most overused, and incorrectly used, word in sports. Is it a choke if a basketball player misses a jump shot that he usually only makes 40% of the time? Is it a choke if a quarterback throws a ball that’s intercepted? The player doing the intercepting had a lot to do with that, no? There are plenty of chokes in sports, but most have to do with an opponent doing something to help along that process.
“There was no one up against Dustin Johnson when he walked to the 18th green at Chambers Bay on Sunday, just himself, his putter and his past golfing demons. After hitting two brilliant shots on the par-5, the seventh-ranked golfer in the world had a 12-foot putt for his first major win, then four feet for a tie and missed both putts. It was a choke, plain and simple….
“(As) he stood over the final putt, you had the feeling. Everyone watching on TV had the feeling. Everyone sitting in those massive stands enveloping the 18th hole had the feeling. And, most of all, Dustin Johnson had the feeling. That putt was never going in. And it didn’t. Therein lies the definition of a choke: Taking something that’s assumed, somehow getting people to realize it’s not presumed and then blowing it with incredible panache.
“It’s happened before after all. This was the same DJ who once missed out on a playoff in the PGA Championship because he forgot the rules on the 72nd hole and grounded his club in a hazard. This is the same DJ who held a three-shot lead entering the final round of the 2010 U.S. Open and shot an 82. Some golfers have it, some don’t. Johnson has most of ‘it,’ but when it comes to conquering the knee-knocking moments, he doesn’t.”
“He is a rock of guts and poise and charm and boyish magic.
“He made a double bogey on the second-to-last hole of a tournament that he had in his back pocket by just playing it close to the vest. Other 21-year-olds disintegrate there. They are supposed to. It is written in the life manual of being 21.
“Not this kid. He sticks a second shot close enough on No. 18 to have a run at eagle, but is careful enough to make sure he gets his birdie, which he does, so he can put the heat on Dustin Johnson.
“Johnson (turned) 31 on Monday. He is the grizzled veteran. He hits shots that mere mortals can only dream of. He also has a history of not getting it done in the big moments.
“Playing in the final group behind Spieth, Johnson teased the golf world with his usual genius, hitting a glorious second shot 200 yards on No. 18 to 12 feet. Then, with a chance to get the can’t-finish monkey off his back, he three-putted and lost by one….
“Mostly, Chambers Bay gave us controversy, much of which may drift away with the memory of the 18th hole drama on Sunday, the continued rise of Spieth and the human drama of Jason Day.
“The USGA took a chance on Chambers Bay. It gave the best golfers in the world a hard, fast track with bumpy greens that many of the players called un-puttable….
“In the end, Chambers Bay was best capsulized by the daily groans of thousands of spectators, looming high above in the massive bleachers that housed most of the fans because the topography of the course was too dangerous to let them wander freely. The grandstand groans came as golfer after golfer hit good shots to the brown and yellow greens and watched the ball roll and roll and roll some more, before plopping into a trap or ugly, gnarly rough.
“That’s why it was fitting that this all ended on an 18th green that is huge – think two suburban backyards – and rolls like the surf at Huntington Beach. Golfers like to characterize these kinds of greens as having elephants buried beneath.
“So when Johnson’s final putt slipped past the hole, it came to rest near a lump about the size of a buried tusk.
–Belated kudos to Louis Oosthuizen for his spectacular 29 on the back nine after an opening nine of 38 in Sunday’s final round, the 67 enabling him to finish tied for second with Johnson.
Louis had opened on Thursday with a 77, playing with Tiger (80) and Rickie Fowler (81). Tiger, in laughing and leaning on Louis at one point seemed to be saying, boy don’t all three of us suck. You could tell Louis was thinking (or you’d like to believe he was thinking), ‘Heck with you…I’m going to get my game together tomorrow.’
And Oosthuizen did…66, to make the cut, followed by a weekend 66-67, or 7-under.
Actually, just saw in Golfworld that his last 54 holes, 199 score, was the best in U.S. Open history…and by three strokes! [The 29 back nine tied a championship record.]
After round one, Louis was 12 strokes behind, with the biggest comeback to win after round one being nine by Jack Fleck in 1955.
I was going to say that Louis’ performance improved his “Q rating” immeasurably among U.S. golf fans. He’s not a huge draw for tournament sponsors, but he will definitely make a difference in, say, 1,000 extra people wanting to attend a tournament or not. He’s a cool guy, has that British Open championship (2010…ironically at upcoming St. Andrews), and is still young at 32. Wouldn’t mind him winning a few more majors, frankly.
–And of course another whose “Q rating” soared this week was that of Jason Day, whose battle with vertigo was too much for him on Sunday as he shot a 4-over 74.
—Adam Scott certainly did well with Steve Williams back on his bag after the latter’s ‘retirement.’ Scott shot a course-record 64 on Sunday to finish T-4 at 3-under, with double nines of 32 without a bogey.
Williams agreed to come back for Scott for the remaining majors of 2015. Jaime Diaz had a perfect bit in Golfworld on the whole deal and their relationship.
“ ‘I loved it,’ said the fiercely competitive Williams of the final-round experience… ‘Maybe our partnership works because Adam knows I really believe in him and it gives him confidence.’ Said Scott, who had dropped to 12th in the world, ‘It was a big effort for me today. To be honest, it’s the kind of round I needed to get things going for me this year, hopefully. I’ve been working hard at it and I just haven’t figured out what it is.’ The 34-year-old Australian didn’t venture a guess, but maybe the reason has to do with Williams, who came out of retirement at Scott’s behest.”
Bingo, Mr. Diaz. I’ve gotta believe Adam is dangling very nice money for Williams to stay with him, say, two years…but maybe just for the Big Five (including The Players Championship), five or so other PGA Tour events, and the big ones internationally. For his part, Williams is clearly tired of the travel, which for a family man living in New Zealand is considerable.
You know, my opinion of the guy has changed. I was as tough on him as anyone. Bar Chat, after all, has been around virtually all of Tiger Woods’ career, for starters.
But clearly, Steve Williams is a terrific caddie. Period. He’s a man you want on your side.
Tiger grew tired of him because Williams has an ego, like every successful person in the world, and Williams’ got a little too big for Tiger’s tastes.
I imagine Stevie has learned a thing or two as well. Any top tour player would be a fool not to want him on their bag. It’s also clear that Adam Scott, by all accounts a simply terrific guy, knows how to let Stevie be Stevie, within reason, while knowing that Stevie is the wingman he needs to be the best he can be. And that’s a memo….
—15-year-old Cole Hammer shot 77-84 and no doubt it was a tremendous learning experience for a kid who seems to be following in Spieth’s footsteps.
—Ian Poulter, aside from criticizing Chambers Bay’s greens, added this, which was readily apparent.
“One of the biggest issues I have is for the fans… the viewing is awful… when you’re not able to get up close and watch championship caliber players play a golf course, it’s disappointing.”
—As for Fox’s coverage, I said I’m cutting them some slack since it was their first major telecast. I liked some of the graphics and shot-tracker, and Joe Buck was fine, but what I didn’t have time to get into last time was Greg Norman.
I like the guy and thought he’d be hard-hitting and unafraid to speak his mind, a la Johnny Miller and Nick Faldo (though it took Faldo a few seasons to get more comfortable with criticizing players…it’s only natural).
But every single one of you who follows the sport knows the biggest error in Norman’s color analyst role was failing to bring up his own massive experiences with “choking,” especially as Dustin Johnson melted down. All Norman said when it was over is that DJ needed to get right back on the horse and win. No kidding. But what was DJ really feeling, Greg?
Oh, Norman relayed something Tom Watson once said about having to bite a snake’s head off to kill it.
“For Greg Norman, it was a moment to define himself in his first United States Open as the lead analyst. Dustin Johnson was on the 18th green on Sunday with a chance to win if he sank an eagle putt. What was Norman’s assessment of the putt? Would it go left or right? What sort of speed should he put on it? Norman said nothing. Johnson missed.
“Now, Johnson had to try for a birdie to tie Jordan Spieth and set up a playoff for Monday. What did Norman say as Johnson prepared to putt? ‘Not an easy one.’ That was all.
“Johnson missed – and Spieth followed his Masters win with the Open title.
“Was this silence before the putt – which occurred regularly during the tournament – a new Fox paradigm?”
But Sandomir criticizes Buck for not getting into the specifics of DJ’s suspension, except Michael Bamberger explicitly said earlier that his sources told him Johnson failed two tests for cocaine, among three failed tests, so Sandomir, if he’s going to criticize, needs to know that Fox hardly ignored the topic in having Bamberger on, and that was in the Saturday broadcast.
Granted, among the things Fox screwed up, as Sandomir and Cindy Boren of the Washington Post agreed, was it never explained why Johnson wasn’t available for an interview on Sunday, though he did talk to some other reporters after.
I liked some of Brad Faxon’s commentary, and nothing wrong with having Tom Weiskopf around (though he also could have added something to the discussion on DJ’s collapse, seeing as Weiskopf was poster-boy for untapped potential).
But Steve Flesch and Scotty McCarron? Really? Why not bring in some senior guys like Mark Calcavecchia, if you feel like you have to overload the studio.
As for Holly Sonders (no need to get into Charles Davis), she has a very snappy wardrobe, and the casual fan should know she legitimately knows her stuff, but, yes, the side-by-side bits were rather painful.
Some of you wrote in complaining about camera angles and not being able to see the ball, though much of that was because of the course and the coloring of the (merde)brown turf, or whatever it was. I also just don’t think the terrain allowed for too many traditional TV towers.
Speaking of the terrain, I told you a week before of Joe Buck’s comment during a baseball telecast that in 2010, during the test run at the U.S. Amateur, twelve spectators had broken their ankles at Chambers Bay. Clearly what officials learned from that experience was to attempt to keep spectators away from like half the course!
On the plus side, the on-course microphones were a good touch and caught Jordan Spieth making his comment about the 18th hole on Saturday.
–Lastly, regarding Fox, in the end, who can complain when with Spieth on 15 and Johnson on 14, Joe Buck announced they would go “commercial free the rest of the way”?!
–So I played the DraftKings.com Open challenge where the winner won $1 million. If you’re not familiar with it, you pick six golfers with a salary cap of $50,000 total.
I was looking good after day one…Spieth, Reed, Mickelson, Montgomerie…plus Bill Haas and Lee Janzen.
I was even looking very good for a time on Saturday, despite Haas and Janzen not making the cut.
Then I flamed out in a huge way on Sunday, finishing 64,120 out of 143,125. Top 20% won something.
Dufner T18
Finau T14
Kisner T12
Oosthuizen T2
Reed T14
Spieth 1
–Finally, I didn’t give myself a pat on the back for picking Spieth ahead of time because I noted it was too easy. I’ll go with Rory for The Open Championship at St. Andrews…because that’s too easy as well.
–ESPN’s “Outside The Lines” obtained documents from an old notebook belonging to a “former associate” of Pete Rose, showing Rose bet on games while playing, which he has always denied.
“The documents are copies of pages from a notebook seized from the home of former Rose associate Michael Bertolini during a raid by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in October 1989, nearly two months after Rose was declared permanently ineligible by Major League Baseball. Their authenticity has been verified by two people who took part in the raid, which was part of a mail fraud investigation and unrelated to gambling. For 26 years, the notebook has remained under court-ordered seal and is currently stored in the National Archives’ New York office, where officials have declined requests to release it publicly.”
“Since we submitted the application earlier this year [to be considered for reinstatement to the game], we committed to MLB that we would not comment on specific matters relating to reinstatement. I need to maintain that. To be sure, I’m eager to sit down with [MLB commissioner Rob] Manfred to address my entire history – the good and the bad – and my long personal journey since baseball. That meeting likely will come sometime after the All-Star break. Therefore at this point, it’s not appropriate to comment on any specifics.”
The records show his betting in 1986 as a player-manager, but they don’t show him betting against his own team, the Reds.
However, should the records confirm an aspect of his case he has denied for decades, Rose is toast…forever.
John Dowd, who investigated Rose in 1989, said in response to the notebook’s discovery: “This does it. This closes the door.”
Further, as Paul Daugherty of the National Enquirer and USA TODAY Sports notes, “former Rose associates and bet runners Paul Janszen and Tommy Gioiosa have spent the last two decades openly telling folks, media included, that Rose bet on the Reds while still playing. As long ago as September 2001, Gioiosa was telling Vanity Fair magazine that he ran baseball bets for Rose in 1986, when Rose was the Reds player-manager.”
It doesn’t matter how ESPN obtained the notebook, or the timing, so close to Cincinnati’s hosting of the All-Star Game at a time when Manfred is reevaluating Rose’s status.
What matters is that Rose has been caught lying again. “Not only to Baseball,” writes Daugherty, “but to all who have supported his return to the game’s good graces.
It was Daugherty who recently walked around Pete’s old neighborhood with Rose himself. As Daugherty says today of that trip to his boyhood home, “There was more than a little regret in Rose’s voice…as if he knew he’d royally messed up his life and that it was too late to do much to fix it. Rose’s story is a personal tragedy. It’s a national disappointment, too.
“We love second acts in America. Pete never gave us a chance to love his.”
Said Janszen, “Rose has only been honest to the degree he needs to be. That makes him his own worst enemy.”
–Last chat I talked about the Mets’ home and away splits, 26-11 at Citi Field, now 10-25 on the road after another desultory loss on Tuesday in Milwaukee, 3-2. The Wall Street Journal’s Michael Salfino notes that split represents the greatest disparity between home and road winning percentages since the 1897 Cleveland Spiders.
Worse yet, only one team in baseball history has advanced to the postseason with a road winning percentage below .400 (the 1987 Minnesota Twins*, who were 29-52 on the road, .358, but 56-25 at home).
The Mets, in losing six in a row to fall to 36-36 overall after a 13-3 start, have scored just eight runs in those six contests. Plus they lost catcher Travis d’Arnaud, again, to the disabled list…this time with a sprained left elbow. He’s been their best hitter but injuries have limited him to just 19 games this season.
*That Twins team, by the way, won the World Series that year.
–The Dodgers, like the Mets, just aren’t scoring these days…two runs or less in 21 of their last 37, including Tuesday’s 1-0, 10-inning loss to the Cubs.
Once again, last night Zack Greinke was the hard-luck starter, going six scoreless innings. In his last nine starts, Greinke is 0-2 with a 1.79 ERA! Overall, he’s now 5-2, 1.70 in 15 outings.
Teammate Clayton Kershaw fell to 5-5, 3.33, the night before in a 4-2 loss to the Cubs.
—Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals made his return Tuesday from the disabled list and threw five scoreless in a 3-1 win over the Braves. It was the best he’s looked all season. Strasburg’s return from neck spasms also means the Nationals’ starting rotation is finally whole again. They should romp in the N.L. East from here.
–Phillies rookie third baseman Maikel Franco had his second straight five RBI game against the Yankees in an 11-6 win on Tuesday, a day after the pathetic Phillies defeated New York 11-8 at Yankee Stadium.
Franco now has 10 HR and 29 RBI to go with his .319 batting average in just 37 games. Wish the Mets had him.
–In the latest All-Star Game balloting, the Royals still have seven of the nine spots on the team, the only exceptions being Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera and the Angels’ Mike Trout.
The biggest embarrassment for MLB remains K.C. second baseman Omar Infante, who is hitting.229 with no home runs, but is slated to be the starter with a week to go in the voting.
–Prior to Tuesday night’s 13-3 loss to the Astros, the Angels’ Albert Pujols, with two home runs on Monday in a 4-3 win over Houston, upped his June home run total to 12, 15 in 24 games, as he now has 23 on the season.
The Houston Chronicle reported the bodies of Hamilton, 50, and 44-year-old Monica Jordan were discovered at a home in Pearland, Texas, just south of Houston. The couple’s young child was unharmed. Jordan shot Hamilton multiple times and then took her own life.
Hamilton had a 13-year career as an outfielder, batting .291, and played his last three seasons (1999-2001) with the Mets. He was always known to be just a real solid guy. A real professional. In the end he was an analyst with MLB Network. He also did some radio with the Angels and Brewers.
—Zack Hample, the fellow who caught A-Rod’s 3,000 hit, will give the ball to the Yankees, but, only if the following conditions are met.
Hample told NJ Advanced Media that his chief concern is that the team make a sizable donation to a charity he’s worked with for years, though he didn’t specify how much he wants the Yanks to give.
Hample added he’s also fashioning a wish list for himself, but that he doesn’t want to “go overboard” with it. He is already a season-ticket holder.
The Yankees immediately offered him a decent package, including game tickets, signed memorabilia, a meeting with A-Rod, a press conference and an appearance on the YES Network. And after the organization’s initial offer, Hample met with team president Randy Levine and Lonn Trost, chief financial officer, but those discussions went nowhere.
But then on Monday, he met with the two again and that’s when his idea of Pitch In For Baseball, a nonprofit that provides baseball equipment to children, was brought up.
Hample said he is pleased with how the Yankees are handling things. He’s also being pursued by auction houses; one of whom, Guernesey’s, told NJ.com’s Brendan Kuty the ball could fetch anywhere from $50,000 to $500,000.
Arian Ettinger, owner of Guernesey’s, once sold Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball for a record $3 million.
–In the College World Series, Vanderbilt opened with a 5-1 win over Virginia in the best-of-three finals for the title. Carson Fulmer (14-2) outpitched UVA starter Connor Jones (7-3). Fulmer is the No. 8 overall draft pick of the Chicago White Sox.
Then in Game 2 on Tuesday, the Cavaliers shutout the Commodores 3-0 behind Adam Haseley and Josh Sborz. Haseley was on the mound for the first time since May 23.
–What will happen in Thursday night’s draft? The Knicks, at No. 4, are a total mystery, and their selection will be dictated by what the Lakers and Sixers do at No. 2 and No. 3.
The Lakers are also trying to obtain All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins from the Sacramento Kings, but the Kings insist Cousins, a real head case, is not available.
–Despite being exonerated in an investigation into his racially insensitive remarks, Danny Ferry resigned as general manager of the Atlanta Hawks, where he did a very solid job. It will be interesting to see how long he is idle, with all that is going on outside of basketball these days.
Women’s World Cup
The U.S. women moved on with a 2-0 win over Colombia in the knockout round of 16.
But the U.S. will be without Megan Rapinoe and Lauren Holiday for the quarterfinal, Friday, against China in Ottawa, as both received their second yellow cards and an automatic one-game ban.
—Tom Brady appeared at NFL headquarters on Tuesday to begin the appeal of his four-game “Deflategate” suspension. The appeal is being heard by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
A person with knowledge of the 10 hours of testimony told USA TODAY that Brady stuck with the story he has told since the investigation began: that he didn’t know about any scheme to deflate footballs below permissible levels for January’s AFC title game against the Colts.
There is no timetable for Goodell to announce a decision on Brady’s status.
If Brady loses, he could file a federal lawsuit that could allow him to be on the field while the legal process drags out.
–The Financial Times first reported that Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and Qatar are teaming to take control of Formula One, while F1’s chief executive, 84-year-old Bernie Ecclestone, would sell his remaining stake but probably stay involved in some fashion.
The new partnership, Qatar Sports Investments already owning the Paris Saint-Germain football club, wants to expand into the U.S. and Chinese markets.
A formal bid, though, is still a few weeks away as the due diligence process continues.
—Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested on Monday after allegedly assaulting a fellow whose name is familiar to Jets fans, UCLA strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi.
Alosi was the Jets coach who on the sidelines in 2010 tripped a Miami Dolphins player on a kickoff, for which Alosi was fined and suspended without pay for the rest of the season. He was hired by UCLA in 2012.
TMZ first reported that Combs saw Alosi screaming at his son, Justin Combs, a member of the UCLA football team, telling him not to return until the end of summer, so Diddy confronted Alosi in his office and reportedly attacked the coach with a kettlebell.
But, Diddy says Alosi was going after Diddy when Diddy insists he grabbed the kettlebell and held it up in a defensive position.
And hopefully that’s the last time I mention this story.
–Harold Brantley, a University of Missouri defensive lineman, was in serious condition after an automobile accident Sunday afternoon in Columbia, Mo. I only mention this because both he and his female passenger, a women’s basketball player whose injuries were minor, weren’t wearing seatbelts when the car struck a guardrail and overturned.
–Actor Dick Van Patten died. He was 86. He is most famous for starring as the loving father Tom Bradford in the television series “Eight is Enough.”
–Phil W. passed along a piece by Dan Collins of the Winston-Salem Journal on a local high school hoops star, Harry Giles, who is contemplating attending Wake Forest.
Giles is a 6-10 power forward who calls Winston-Salem home but plays for High Point Wesleyan.
He was recently named by ESPN as the No. 1 prospect in his upcoming senior class, and has apparently narrowed his choice to Wake, Duke, North Carolina, Syracuse, Kentucky, Kansas, Ohio State and UNLV.
Giles also says he talks to former Deacon stars Chris Paul and Josh Howard all the time, both having played their high school ball locally..
–Run for your lives!!! From Craig McCarthy of NJ.com: “Lifeguards found a Portuguese man-of-war – a potentially deadly jellyfish – washed up on Long Beach Island Sunday.
“Even dead, the sting from the carnivorous invertebrate can pack a punch.”
Warmer water from the Gulf Stream has neared the coast, bringing with it all manner of sea monsters.
–But if the above isn’t bad enough, check out this story from Delran Township, New Jersey.
“A township man got a little surprise at a local lake this weekend when he caught a fish normally found in the Amazon, according to a report by 6 ABC.”
When the man and his son scooped the fish out of the water, at first they thought it was a piranha, but after looking online, “they realized it was another Amazonian fish called a Pacu.”
The teeth of a pacu are human like and that was the giveaway to what kind of fish the father and his son had caught.
“Officials said the fish was likely originally bought for an aquarium and was later placed in the lake by their owner.”
It’s not the first time a pacu has been caught in Jersey waters.
But get this… “The same kind of fish was blamed for the death of two New Guinea men in 2011 when they died from blood loss after the pacu bit their testicles”….yes, it’s known as the “testicle-eating fish.”
I’m staying away from all bodies of water the rest of the year, at least.
–The Wall Street Journal’s Arian Campo-Flores had a piece on the Florida panther, whose population was down to 20-30 in the early 1990s, while being confined to a small area in the southwestern portion of the state.
But that’s when wildlife officials brought in eight female Texas cougars in their 40s….I mean, eight Texas female cougars/panthers, close cousins, and before you could say ‘Sam Houston,’ the population was up to at least 180, so now the state is thinking of having the Florida panther removed from the federal endangered-species list.
Well, ranchers have been upset, seeing as the panthers are doing a number on livestock, while residents worry small children are threatened, but the population really isn’t large enough to remove its protections just yet, though ranchers clearly want more flexibility to go after the ones that keep devouring their calves, in particular. [I’m not happy about this either, being a veal cutlet lover.]
Meanwhile, 20 panthers were killed by motor vehicles for the year ending June 2014, but wildlife officials counted 30 panther kittens in the dens of 12 females.
–We note the passing of James Horner, the Hollywood composer who wrote the Oscar-winning score for Titanic. Horner, 61, was alone when he crashed his private plane north of Santa Barbara on Monday morning.
Horner worked on three James Cameron films, as well as a Beautiful Mind, Braveheart, Troy and Apollo 13.
He won one Oscar for the Titanic film score and another for its theme song; the mega hit “My Heart Will Go On,” sung by Celine Dion.
Horner was nominated for a further eight Oscars, for scores and songs.
–Some could call this a Sign of the Apocalypse, but a new beer named in honor of Joe Paterno is hitting the market this summer, in time for tailgating season.
The former Penn State coach will be honored with the Paterno Legacy Series, with the product having won the approval from Paterno’s widow, Sue, and will be brewed in her home town of Latrobe, Pa.
Jay Paterno, who served on his father’s staff for 17 years, said of the Duquesne Brewing Co. that will be responsible for production: “That this is an American company in an increasingly foreign-dominated industry, that it brews in Pennsylvania, that it provides union jobs – all of those things just resonated with my mom and all of us.”
Oh, what the heck, having family in Latrobe and the surrounding area.
Anyway, as reported by the Washington Post’s Cindy Boren, the beer will be a “Vienna-style lager and will come in cans featuring Paterno’s image and accomplishments.”
Top 3 songs for the week 6/26/82: #1 “Ebony And Ivory” (Paul McCartney with Stevie Wonder..eegads… beyond hideous…) #2 “Don’t You Want Me” (The Human League…’Man’ drops further on All-Species List…) #3 “Rosanna” (Toto…eh…)…and…#4 “Heat Of The Moment” (Asia) #5 “Always On My Mind” (Willie Nelson…finally, a real tune…) #6 “Hurts So Good” (John Cougar) #7 “Crimson And Clover” (Joan Jett & The Blackhearts) #8 “Let It Whip” (Dazz Band…OK, after six beers while girl-watching at the beach…) #9 “Love’s Been A Little Bit Hard On Me” (Juice Newton…sorry to hear that…) #10 “The Other Woman” (Ray Parker Jr.)
Baseball Quiz Answer: 3,000-hit members who played a portion of their careers in the 1960s.
Pete Rose (1963-86) 4,256
Hank Aaron (1954-76) 3,771
Stan Musial (1941-63) 3,630
Carl Yastrzemski (1961-83) 3,419
Willie Mays (1951-73) 3,283
Rod Carew (1967-85) 3,053
Lou Brock (1961-79) 3,023
Al Kaline (1953-74) 3,007
Roberto Clemente (1955-72) 3,000
