Posted: Sunday PM, following U.S. Open men’s final, but before end of Giants-Cowboys.
College Football Quiz: The AP College Football Player of the Year award has been handed out just since 1998. Name the only defensive player to receive it. [Hint: He is a major star in the NFL today.] Answer below.
NFL…Opening Day
Well, that was really Thursday night….Tom Brady back on the field for the Pats, the superstar throwing four touchdown passes, three to tight end Rob Gronkowski, in a 28-21 victory over the undermanned Steelers in Foxborough.
Brady was 25/32, 288 yards and set a team record with 19 straight completions in logging his 23rd game with four or more touchdown passes, which is tied with Brett Favre for third all time.
After the game, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was seething about another controversy surrounding the Pats, Tomlin claiming the coach-to-coach headsets from the sideline to the press box were picking up the Patriots’ radio broadcast for the majority of the first half.
“That’s always the case,” Tomlin said, alluding to his complaint it’s always something when they play in Foxborough.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick insisted after the game his sideline was having similar issues with the headset communications as well.
—Todd Bowles won his first game as coach of the New York Jets, 31-10 over Cleveland at the Meadowlands. Ryan Fitzpatrick was OK at quarterback, 15/24, 179, 2-1, and the Jets running attack generated 154 yards.
But cornerback Antonio Cromartie suffered what appeared to be a serious knee injury, while linebacker Lorenzo Mauldin was carted off with what was described as a serious “head and neck” injury. However, as I go to post, the news on Mauldin has gotten better…but I don’t want to go beyond that.
For Cleveland, quarterback Josh McCown suffered a concussion and Johnny Manziel came in to go 13/24, 182, 1-1, though Johnny Football lost two fumbles (Cleveland lost four overall…which really sucks).
—Rex Ryan won his first in Buffalo, 27-14 over Indianapolis and Andrew Luck, who was a most pedestrian 26/49, 243, 2-2.
—Kansas City beat Houston 27-20, but for the Texans, JJ Watt had two sacks and six tackles for losses, a huge sum.
Chiefs QB Alex Smith was 22/33, 243, 3-0.
—Miami beat the Redskins 17-10 as Washington’s Kirk Cousins was less than scintillating, 21/31, 196, 1-2, though Alfred Morris ran for 125 for the Red Clouds, err, Skins. [Your editor is attempting to be cute as he pushes to incorporate his new name for Washington, which they are truly idiots not to adopt.]
–The Rams beat the Seahawks 34-31 in overtime as Nick Foles was 18/27, 297, 1-0 for St. Louis, though he lost two fumbles. Russell Wilson was 32/41, 251, 1-1 for Seattle.
[For those watching the immediate criticism of Pete Carroll for an onsides kick in overtime, it seems as if it was definitely not intended to be one.]
—Denver beat the Ravens, 19-13, as Peyton Manning was only 24/40, 175, 0-1. Like, whatever!
–The Packers beat the Bears 31-23, Arizona defeated New Orleans 31-19, San Diego over Detroit 33-28, Cincinnati beat Oakland 33-13.
–One thing seems clear when it comes to the Giants’ Jason Pierre-Paul. The Giants were finally given the opportunity to examine his hand and there are people in the organization who fear he won’t be able to return to the field the entire season.
Sources told ESPN that in addition to Paul missing his right index finger following the Fourth of July fireworks accident, as well as the fractured thumb and skin grafts they had heard of, a portion of one of the other fingers on his right hand is missing. [This had been rumored.]
The Giants in the offseason had put the franchise tag on him, but he hasn’t signed it and the Giants don’t have to pay him. And if he did sign it, the team could place him on the non-football injury list, which at this point would end his season. If he is on the NFI list, the team can elect not to pay him.
–The Giants made it official in signing Eli Manning to a four-year, $84 million contract extension, with Eli receiving a $31 million signing bonus and $65 million in guaranteed money, which ties an NFL record. Not a bad deal for the 35-year-old, who as I noted the other week if nothing else is very durable, critical for a team seriously lacking in same.
College Football
–In the top four, 1 Ohio State beat Hawaii 38-0; 2 Alabama whipped Middle Tennessee 37-10; 3 TCU was all over Stephen F. Austin 70-7; and 4 Baylor, after being tied 21-21 with Lamar, 4:00 left in the first half, went on to blitz them 66-31.
–In the big game, No. 5 Michigan State held on to beat No. 7 Oregon, 31-28, at East Lansing. The Spartans stopped the Ducks four times on fourth down.
It was 31-21 before Oregon QB Vernon Adams Jr. threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Byron Marshall with 3:25 remaining. Then, after a Michigan State punt, the Ducks drove to the Spartans 33 before Adams overthrew Marshall, who had beaten his defender and was about 10 yards in the clear. The Spartans then sacked Adams for a loss of 10, and the fourth-down pass was incomplete.
Adams, in his debut replacing Marcus Mariota, threw for 309 yards but had two interceptions. MSU Heisman candidate, quarterback Connor Cook, threw for 192 and two touchdowns with one INT.
–I watched the entire 9 Notre Dame at Virginia contest, a most entertaining one, but a sad ending for the Cavaliers who blew a tremendous upset opportunity and lost, 34-27, on a DeShone Kizer to Will Fuller 39-yard pass with 12 seconds left, this after Virginia’s receiver had dropped what should have been a touchdown reception in the end zone.
Kizer was playing in place of starter Malik Zaire, who after rushing for 87 yards fractured his ankle on a gruesome play and is out for the year, a huge blow for the Fighting Irish. Kizer has zero experience. But ND did get 155 yards rushing from CJ Prossie and they’ll need a lot more of that the rest of the way. Remember, they lost their leading rusher from last year, Tarean Folston, to a season-ending injury in Notre Dame’s opener.
–Big upset in Little Rock, as Toledo took out 18 Arkansas, 16-12. So much for the vaunted SEC. The Razorbacks had 412 yards passing but just 12 points?! Toledo had zero turnovers.
–But what could have been a bigger upset than even Appalachian State vs. Michigan was avoided as Auburn somehow got the game to OT against Jacksonville State of the Ohio Valley Conference, and then the Tigers prevailed 27-20, thus saving the SEC truly mortal embarrassment.
Jacksonville State totally outplayed Auburn and had a 20-13 lead late, but a 17-yard punt gave the Tigers the ball on the 31 and they scored from there, sending it into overtime.
J-State outgained Auburn 438 to 401, and had 28 first downs to Auburn’s 23.
—8 USC manhandled pathetic Idaho, 59-9, which truly might be the worst team in the land, as Trojans Heisman candidate Cody Kessler passed for 410 yards and three scores.
—14 LSU defeated 25 Mississippi State 21-19 in an SEC matchup.
—20 Boise State fell to BYU 35-24.
—Jim Harbaugh returned home as coach of Michigan and the Wolverines had their way with the Oregon State Beavers 35-7 as De’Veon Smith rushed for 126 yards and three touchdowns. The Beavers managed only 138 total yards on offense.
—Rutgers suffered a heartbreaker, 37-34, to Washington State on Saturday night in Piscataway. Cougars quarterback Luke Falk was 47/66 for 478 yards and four touchdowns, but it was the Scarlet Knights’ 3 turnovers and 11 penalties that did them in. Two of the infractions wiped away touchdowns.
–My Wake Forest Demon Deacons lost to Syracuse in the Carrier Dome, 30-17, as our quarterback threw three interceptions, including one returned for a score, while the Orangemen didn’t turn the ball over once. That pretty well sums it up.
Every Wake fan knew this was the game of the year. If we won it, we’d not only keep fan interest another month or so, but we’d have a shot at, maybe, 5 wins this year. Now we might win just two more…Army and Indiana the next two weeks.
It is a heavy rebuild down in Winston-Salem, but for now, as Tony Soprano would say, “Whaddya gonna do.”
–Here I thought my parents’ alma mater, Pitt, could have a sleeper season, but then we learned this week that star running back James Conner’s supposed ‘minor’ knee injury suffered in the opener against Youngstown State was a freakin’ season-ending one! Drat! Conner is so fun to watch and seems destined for a terrific NFL career but then this.
At least receiver Tyler Boyd returned Saturday and had 11 receptions for 95 yards, but while Pitt defeated Akron 24-7, I sense a very long season for the Panthers. The school is located in the cradle of quarterbacks for America yet they can’t seem to find one.
—Boston College will be hearing from Al Sharpton this week. The Eagles were up on Howard 62-0 at the half (!) as they rushed for 228 yards and six touchdowns in just the first two quarters, while the BC passers were 10/12, 116, 2 TDs. In the end it was 76-0.
–I have to remember to check Miami scores each week, because Summit High School’s own Michael Badgley, a sophomore, is once again the placekicker for the Hurricanes, and he’s 4 of 5 on field goals after the first two games, including Miami’s 44-20 win over Florida Atlantic, Friday night, where he was 3 of 4.
–Texas Southern destroyed Bacone College 63-0. Bacone College, you ask? I sure didn’t know where it was so I had to look it up. Muskogee, Oklahoma. Founded by Almon Bacone as the Indian University.
So I asked Johnny Mac if he had ever heard of Bacone and he said, of course, that’s where former kicker Don Chandler played ball (before smartly transferring to Florida). And now you know…the rest of the story.
—Journey Brown of Meadville High School (western Pennsylvania) broke the state record for rushing yards in a game, 722 and 10 touchdowns, in an absurd 107-90 win over DuBois.
Brown had 30 carries but fell short of the national high school rushing record of 754 yards, set by John Giannantonio of Netcong, New Jersey, in 1950.
The thing is, the DuBois quarterback, Matt Miller, a sophomore making his first start, piled up more than 500 passing yards by halftime and finished with 741, a state record for passing yards in a game. He also had 10 touchdowns.
The national record for passing yards is 764, set by David Koral of Pacific Palisades, California, in 2000. I didn’t see if 8th graders played in this one. I almost didn’t write this up because it’s farcical.
—Yoenis Cespedes had another homer and two RBI on Saturday in the Mets’ 6-4 win over Atlanta, giving him 16 home runs, 41 RBI, and 35 runs scored in 39 games* with the Mets. Yes, Bryce Harper is the likely N.L. MVP, and, yes, Cespedes will end up playing just about 58 games or so with the Mets, but the Mets are 9 ½ in front of Washington and it’s largely because of Yoenis’ presence and a stretch that has baseball folk searching their memory banks for the last time someone went off on such an offensive tear down the stretch to change the shape of the pennant race.
*This was before he struck out as a pinch-hitter in Sunday’s phenomenal comeback winner. Yes, another one. Down 7-4 to the Braves in the top of the ninth, two outs, none on, they tied it on a Daniel Murphy 3-run homer and then staged another two outs, none on rally in the tenth to score three and win 10-7. Seven in a row…lead still 9 ½…game over.
The Mets are now at 82-61, while the Los Angeles Dodgers are 82-60, and suddenly the Mets are gunning for home-field advantage in the NLDS matchup with L.A.
There is real significance to this. The Mets have to ensure the first two games against the Dodgers are played at Citi Field and Game 5, if necessary, so that they don’t face Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke* in the shadows of Dodger Stadium in the late afternoon, which is how it would set up for television.
Far better to get them to Citi Field and a Mets crowd going nuts.
*Greinke moved to 17-3, 1.61 ERA with 8 scoreless on Sunday in the Dodgers’ 4-3 win over Arizona.
“There are no rules for these things, because if there were, pitchers who have their own award wouldn’t win the MVP sometimes. But they do. If Cespedes, who has 16 home runs for the Mets since being traded here from Detroit, who has been an RBI a game, who has been the most dangerous hitter in Major League Baseball since he hit town, continues to write one of the most amazing – and amazin’ – 60-game seasons baseball has ever known, he ought to be the Most Valuable Player in the National League.”
And to think the Mets were supposed to acquire outfielder Carlos Gomez from Milwaukee for pitcher Zack Wheeler and Wilmer Flores, until Mets doctors took issue with Gomez’ medical reports. What a day in Mets history that has become.
[Gomez was then immediately traded to Houston, where he’s been a bust. Through Sunday, 4 HR, 13 RBI, .234, in 145 at-bats, 39 games.]
–The Yankees went into the weekend’s critical four-game series with the first-place Blue Jays, at Yankee Stadium, trailing by 1 ½ games. But after Thursday’s opener was rained out, the Yanks lost 11-5 on Friday, as 21-year-old Luis Severino, who had been so spectacular, was shelled, 6 earned in 2.1 innings. Then Saturday, in a traditional doubleheader, the Yanks lost 9-5 and 10-7 to fall 4 ½ back.
But Sunday, Masahiro Tanaka came through, throwing seven scoreless to go to 12-6, 3.40, as the Yanks won 5-0, the lead back down to 3 ½.
The Yankees received some bad news Friday, though, when it was learned first baseman Mark Teixeira would be lost for the season, a third test on his bothersome right shin finally revealing a fracture.
Tex was enjoying a terrific bounceback season with 31 homers and 79 RBI in 111 games, when he suffered what was initially diagnosed as a deep bone bruise in fouling a ball off his lower right leg on Aug. 17.
St. Louis 89-54
Pittsburgh 86-56…2.5 GB
Chicago 82-60…6.5
St. Louis had a 10-game stretch where they went 2-8 and allowed Pittsburgh and Chicago to inch closer, as those two fight to avoid playing each other in the wildcard game, but the Cubbies lost their last two to the lowly Phillies, who nonetheless have far shorter lines at their ballpark for cheesesteaks, and at the end of the day….
–Friday night, the Cubs’ Jake Arrieta ran his record to 19-6, 1.99 ERA, in the Cubs’ 5-1 win over Philadelphia in the first game of a doubleheader.
–As the Washington Post’s Thomas Boswell wrote the other day:
“Matt Williams is a lousy manager. Everyone knows it.
“Over the past two seasons combined, the Washington Nationals have been without Ryan Zimmerman, Wilson Ramos, Denard Span, Anthony Rendon, Bryce Harper and Jason Werth – six of their best everyday players – for 565 combined games.
“That’s an average of 94 lost games per man, almost all from injury. That may end up more than 100 games per man by season’s end because Span will miss 23 more and Zimmerman (oblique) easily could end up on the shelf, too.”
But despite these huge losses from their offense, in 2014-15, “The Nats have scored 1,302 runs – 123 more than St. Louis. The closest team, the Dodgers (1,291) has infinite payroll and ‘starters’ on the bench.” [Boswell is excluding Colorado, No. 1 in scoring both years because “Their numbers are a mile-high joke. In fact, Colorado is dead last in NL scoring on the road this year.”]
But when you analyze the Nationals’ pitching numbers, including last year, it’s tough to blame Matt Williams. Yes, his biggest flaw is his handling of the bullpen, but last season they had the second-best bullpen ERA in MLB (3.00).
“Since last October’s playoffs, when Williams brought in (Drew) Storen in Game 2, then didn’t use Storen (yeah, same guy), Tyler Clippard or Strasburg in the seventh inning of Game 4, Williams has been under a microscope.
“I’d say Williams is about an average manager and a good man. Fire him if you want. No tears here.
“Fire him if you need a scapegoat. (And teams sometimes need one.) Fire him if the players start blaming him, rather than themselves. (You can’t ‘lose the team’ and keep the job.)
“But don’t fire Matt Williams because you think it’s been proven that he’s a lousy manager.
As much as I love Boswell’s work, he’s being a little disingenuous as he’s come down as hard on Williams this season as anyone. And I’ve seen enough of Williams to know he’s made some horrible decisions this season, including bunting Anthony Rendon in the ninth in that critical Mets series earlier this week back in Washington.
But Boswell does bring up some interesting statistical data. That said, Williams will be made a scapegoat and he’ll be looking for work.
–After getting shelled in a start on July 29, the Mets’ 42-year-old Bartolo Colon was 9-10, 4.96 ERA, and many of us thought this was finally the end of the line for him. But since then he’s been on a tear and Thursday night he added to his consecutive scoreless innings streak in Atlanta before the Braves broke through with two runs against him in the seventh. The streak had reached 31 innings and at the end of a 7-2 Mets triumph, Bartolo stood 14-11, while his ERA had plunged to a respectable 4.13. [He’s also 13-1 against the NL East this season. Against all other opponents he’s 1-10.]
So Colon is 29-24 as a Met the past two seasons and every one of us fans would have easily signed up for that out of a No. 5 starter when the Mets first inked him to a two-year contract.
–Cleveland beat Detroit on Sunday, 7-2, dropping the Tigers to 64-77! Goodness gracious. On Aug. 20 they were 59-61. [Make your kids calculate the difference as a math quiz. If they get it wrong, no dinner! If you get it wrong, no domestic!]
Poor Justin Verlander, today’s loser. He’s now 3-8 but with a solid 3.58 ERA. [Then again, with Justin’s bank account, one can’t feel too sorry for the lad.]
–The Phillies fired general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. with 22 games left in the season, which is emblematic of the dysfunction in the organization these days. Why not just wait a few more weeks?
That said, the Phillies will miss the playoffs for a fourth straight year after winning five consecutive National League East titles.
U.S. Open
–In a stunner of all time, unseeded Roberta Vinci defeated top-seeded Serena Williams in their semi-final, Friday, denying Serena the calendar grand slam when Williams seemed a cinch to become the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to do so. Serena did win four majors in a row, the Tiger Slam, going back to her win in the U.S. Open last September.
But in the semis, with Serena taking the first set 2-6, and expecting to roll to the finals, Vinci came back to win the next two 6-4, 6-4.
As two-time champion Tracy Austin told the BBC, “This is monumental. It’s a shocker. This is one of the biggest upsets in the history of tennis, because of what was on the line.”
Vinci, 32, was ranked 43rd in the world and was playing in her first Grand Slam semi-final.
Austin added: “I always said Serena’s biggest opponent coming into this year’s U.S. Open was going to be her own nerves.”
Williams said Vinci “played literally out of her mind,” but Serena was in no mood to discuss her own feelings.
“I don’t want to talk about how disappointing it is for me,” she said. “If you have any other questions, I’m open for that.”
Williams had insisted throughout the tournament that she was relaxed about the challenge, and after her defeat said: “I told you guys I don’t feel pressure. I never felt that pressure to win here. I said that from the beginning.”
When asked how nervous she felt Williams had become in the third set, Vinci was unequivocal: “A lot.” Serena had 40 unforced errors. [Piers Newbery / BBC Sports]
“It wasn’t nerves that did in Serena Williams on Friday, though it was hogwash from her to suggest that she never gets nervous.
“And it wasn’t just the accumulated force of history, as she tried to join Maureen Connolly and Margaret Court and Steffi Graf as the only women to ever win a calendar Grand Slam in tennis.
“Serena, having an off day at the worst possible time, ran into the most dangerous opponent in this world, whether most of the world had heard of Roberta Vinci or not:
“Serena ran into a player having the day and the match of her life….
“It would have been a wonderful thing for Williams, one of the great champions of all time, men or women, to finish off the Slam.
“What it became instead was an example of why we watch sports and care about them, and how wonderful sports can still be.”
So Vinci faced off against Flavia Pennetta (who had upset No. 2 Simon Halep earlier) in the finals and Pennetta went on to defeat her countrywoman, 7-6 (4), 6-2, to win her first Grand Slam singles title.
It was the first all-Italian Grand Slam final in the Open era and at 33, Pennetta is the oldest first-time Grand Slam singles champion. As the No. 26 seed, Penneta is only the second woman outside the top 10 to win the Open since the ranking system began in 1975. Afterwards, she said she is retiring.
–On the men’s side, No. 2 Roger Federer beat No. 5 Stan Wawrinka, while No. 1 Novak Djokovic defeated No. 9 Marin Cilic, the defending champion, in their semifinals, to set up a classic for the title.
And so Sunday night, after a 3-hour rain delay, Djokovic fought off a game Federer (how often have we said that the last few years), winning his tenth major (second U.S. Open), in taking down Federer, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
In doing so, Novak bagged his third major in 2015, and he was runner-up in the French! As Ronald Reagan would have said…not bad, not bad at all.
–Back to the women’s final, anticipating an appearance by Serena, top tickets had been listed for an average $1,186 prior to the match, but in wake of her defeat immediately fell 50 percent, according to ticket aggregator SeatGeek. I saw a CNN report Saturday morning with a reporter on the scene and he said the cheapest seat that was going for $280 before Williams’ loss could be had for as little as $45.
After Matt Kenseth won his fourth race of the year Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway, the Chase for the Sprint Cup field was finalized. Kenseth joined Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch with four regular-season wins and left Richmond atop the standings.
So for the 10-race finish it’s Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, Paul Menard and Clint Bowyer.
Premier League
–Yes, it was only Match 5 out of 38, but what a weekend. Chelsea, the defending champion, lost its third game when all of last year it lost 3! [26 (W) 9 (D) 3 (L).] Chelsea was taken down by Everton 3-1.
And then you have Leicester City, 14 out of 20 last season, coming from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Aston Villa 3-2 on Sunday to remain undefeated, 3-2-0.
For its part, Manchester City defeated Crystal Palace 1-0 to further show it is head and shoulders above all the rest, having won five out of five.
In other matches, Manchester United blitzed Liverpool 3-1, while my Tottenham Spurs finally picked up their first win, 1-0, over Sunderland.
1. Man City…5-0-0…15 points
2. Leicester City…3-2-0…11
3. Man U…3-1-1…10
4. Arsenal…3-1-1…10 [ties broken by goal differential]
5. Crystal Palace…3-0-2…9
12. Tottenham…1-3-1…6
17. Chelsea…1-1-3…4…eegads! Worst 5-game start since 1986.
–Meanwhile, in La Liga play, Cristiano Ronaldo scored five goals in a 6-0 win for Real Madrid at Espanyol, taking him up to 230 Spanish top-flight goals, passing Raul’s Real record of 228. Ronaldo is the fourth highest scorer in La Liga history – with Lionel Messi leading the way on 289 goals going into this weekend’s fixtures.
Ronaldo has averaged 1.13 goals per league game in six years at Real since his approx. $120 million transfer from Manchester United.
—Floyd Mayweather won a unanimous decision over Andre Berto in Las Vegas on Saturday night in what Mayweather vowed was his last fight.
He is now 49-0 with 26 KOs, equaling the mark of heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano, who also retired as an unbeaten champion. Mayweather insists he will not come back for a record-setting attempt. He completed a six-fight deal with Showtime that earned him more than $300 million.
–NBA fans were saddened to learn Moses Malone passed away Sunday morning. He was supposed to play at a golf tournament with longtime friend Calvin Murphy in Virginia and he died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack, according to Murphy.
Malone was a three-time NBA MVP and Hall of Famer who was one of the most dominant centers of his era.
He was one of the first high school players to turn pro, choosing to sign with the Utah Stars of the ABA rather than attend the Univ. of Maryland after he graduated from Petersburg, Va., High School. After the ABA and NBA merged, Malone went on to play for the Houston Rockets, Philadelphia 76ers, Washington Bullets, Atlanta Hawks, Milwaukee Bucks and San Antonio Spurs.
Malone led the Sixers to the 1983 NBA title. At 6-10, he was nicknamed the “Chairman of the Boards” and averaged a double-double (20.6 points, 12.2 rebounds) for his 20-year career, leading the league in rebounding six times.
He’s one of only four players to accumulate 25,000 points and 15,000 rebounds over his NBA career, the others being Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, and Elvin Hayes.
Malone was named one of the NBA’s 50 greatest players.
My one lasting memory of Moses was just how hard he worked…night in and night out. In that respect he’s a role model for everyone.
—Roy Marble died. He was 48. Marble was the high-flying guard who scored the most points in Iowa history as he helped them become a national power in the mid- to late-1980s. He scored 2,116 points and led Iowa to the NCAA tournament four times, including an Elite Eight appearance in 1987, when the Hawkeyes reached No. 1 in the polls.
But after being drafted 23rd overall by the Atlanta Hawks in 1989, he was suspended for the season in February of his rookie year for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. He ended up playing just 29 games in the NBA. The cause of death was cancer.
—18-year-old Lydia Ko, the South Korean-born New Zealander, became the youngest LPGA major winner as she took the Evian Championship in France on Sunday. Ko already has nine career victories.
Ko is 18 years 4 months and eclipsed the mark of American Morgan Pressel, who in 2007 won the Kraft Nabisco Championship at 18 years 10 months.
–I have zero interest in the Presidents Cup, but it was news when U.S. captain Jay Haas used his two captains picks to select son Bill, who was 11th in the standings (so Jay can’t be given grief for this), and Phil Mickelson.
Some don’t see the selection of Phil, but from a team standpoint it makes total sense. The younger guys love him (and the Tuesday money games), and he’s a good mentor.
But he is 45 and did not have a good year. Actually, he hasn’t won in 26 months since winning the 2013 British Open. He was also 30th in the Presidents Cup points standings.
–Pretty funny how rapper Drake, Serena Williams’ boyfriend, went viral after Serena’s loss. Drake was in the stands and it was a reminder of his previous history in picking individuals or teams. He was appointed the global ambassador of his hometown NBA Toronto Raptors in 2013, only for the team to be wiped out in the playoffs.
Then he was given a cease-and-desist letter from the Univ. of Kentucky basketball team, who he was supporting at the time, advising him to stop attending games.
–Every weekend, the Wall Street Journal has an article breaking down a popular song from the past, or as they put it, the “anatomy of a song.”
This week, Marc Myers interviewed Donald Fagen and Walter Becker of Steely Dan to explain the 1977 hit ‘Deacon Blues.’ Well, once again we have further confirmation the title has nothing to do with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
‘Deacon Blues’ was released in 1977 on Steely Dan’s album “Aja,” a terrific one that hit No. 3 on Billboard’s album chart. I was at Wake Forest at the time so of course we made a lot out of the song.
Fagen: “I had an idea for a chorus: If a college football team like the University of Alabama could have a grandiose name like the “Crimson Tide,” the nerds and losers should be entitled to a grandiose name as well.”
Becker: “Donald had a house (in Malibu, Calif.) that sat on top of a sand dune with a small room with a piano. From the window, you could see the Pacific in between the other houses. ‘Crimson Tide’ didn’t mean anything to us except the exaggerated grandiosity that’s bestowed on winners. ‘Deacon Blues’ was the equivalent for the loser in our song.”
Fagen: “We weren’t serious football fans, but Deacon Jones’ name was in the news a lot in the 1960s and early ‘70s, and we liked how it sounded. It also had two syllables, which was convenient, like ‘Crimson.’ The name had nothing to do with Wake Forest’s Demon Deacons or any other team with a losing record. The only Deacon I was familiar with in football at the time was Deacon Jones.”
–Speaking of Demon Deacons, Happy Birthday to Arnold Palmer, who turned 86 on Thursday.
Top 3 songs for the week 9/13/80: #1 “Upside Down” (Diana Ross…yup, we’re now in the 80s…just a horrific era, except for Ronald Reagan and the ’86 Mets…but I digress…) #2 “All Out Of Love” (Air Supply…how the heck did this make it to #2?…) #3 “Emotional Rescue” (The Rolling Stones…one of their worst…)…and…#4 “Fame” (Irene Came…whatever…) #5 “Sailing” (Cristopher Cross…and after this one and another song or two…he sailed into the horizon and was never heard from again…some say he was swallowed by a great white whale…) #6 “Give Me The Night” (George Benson… ‘Masquerade’ far better…) #7 “Late In The Evening” (Paul Simon) #8 “Lookin’ For Love” (Johnny Lee…awful… emblematic of crappy era…) #9 “Another One Bites The Dust” (Queen) #10 “Drivin’ My Life Away” (Eddie Rabbitt…underrated artist…)
College Football Quiz Answer: Only defensive player to receive the AP Player of the Year award is Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska, 2009.
***If you haven’t already done so, go to my gofundme link above. And check out the opening to my current “Week in Review.” No guarantees, but maybe better odds than winning Powerball.
