[Posted Sunday PM before conclusion of Cardinals-Eagles]
College Football Final Four Quiz: 1) Who replaced Danny Ford, who led Clemson to the 1981 national title, when he left after the 1989 season? 2) Who preceded Bob Stoops at Oklahoma? [Stoops has coached the Sooners since 1999.] 3) Who preceded Mark Dantonio at Michigan State? 4) Nick Saban has coached Alabama since 2007. Mike Shula was coach from 2003-06. Who preceded Shula and coached just two seasons? Answers below.
NFL
New York football fans will be talking about the Giants-Panthers game for a long time. Let me just get this off my chest, as millions of other football fans across the land are doing the same.
Odell Beckham Jr. is one total jerk, asshole, idiot…you name it. His behavior in the Giants’ (6-8) loss to the undefeated (14-0) Panthers at MetLife Stadium was beyond appalling. Frankly, I have never seen anything like it in all my years of following the NFL.
It all started with his dropped touchdown pass at the start of the game, Beckham having broken away from Carolina’s star cornerback Josh Norman.
Beckham immediately showed the fans how, oh yeah, it was on him but not to worry. The guy felt compelled to showboat on a critical drop in a game the Giants had to have! What does that say about him?
You know I’m a Jets fan, not a Giants fan, but I have told you that when you live in the New York area, it’s more fun to have both teams playing well since we get each other’s games each week.
But as I go to post, I know the many columnists for the papers and blogs will be adding their comments and I will reference them next Chat.
For now, despite Beckham’s atrocious behavior, for which he should have been ejected well before halftime but wasn’t, the Giants stormed back from a 35-7 second half deficit to tie it at 35-35, only to have Panthers QB Cam Newton bring his team down in the final 1:40 to position Carolina for the game-winning 43-yard field goal by Graham Gano. Newton became just the second quarterback in NFL history to pass for 300 yards (340) and rush for 100 (8 carries for 100) in the same game (Russell Wilson being the other). Newton was the first to do both this and throw five touchdown passes as well.
But what a day…what a memorable one for Odell Beckham Jr. for all the wrong reasons.
[Carolina’s Josh Norman wasn’t much better, but it was all about OBJ to me.]
So Washington took advantage of the Giants’ loss, the Redskins (7-7) rolling 35-25 at home against the Bills (6-8) as QB Kirk Cousins continued to show he belongs; 22/28, 319, 4-0, 153.7, plus a touchdown rushing. As Ronald Reagan would have said, ‘Not bad, not bad at all.’
For the Jets Saturday night, it was just win, baby. It sure wasn’t pretty but quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick played his best ball when it mattered in the fourth quarter to rally the Jets to a 19-16 win over the Cowboys at Jerry’s World.
Fitzpatrick overall was 26/39, 1-1, 87.4 as he now has a career-high 26 touchdown passes with just 12 interceptions. But in the fourth quarter he completed 9 of 11 passes for 127 yards and a TD on the last two drives that produced 10 points and the win, kicker Randy Bullock nailing a 40-yarder with 0:36 left.
One big sign of improvement for the Jets; the past four seasons they had road records of 2-6, 3-5, 2-6, and 2-6, or 9-23, and missed the playoffs every season. After Saturday’s win at Dallas, they are 4-3 on the road this year.
Sunday, the two teams in the wild-card hunt with the Jets, Kansas City and Pittsburgh, kept pace.
The Chiefs won their 8th in a row to match the Jets at 9-5 with a 34-14 win over the Ravens (4-10). All K.C. quarterback Alex Smith does is give you an efficient effort, 21/25, 171, 1-0, 108.5. He now has a career W/L mark of 66-52-1. Solid. The Jets’ Ryan Fitzpatrick, by comparison, is now 42-60-1.
Smith has 16 TD passes and just 4 interceptions this season.
Pittsburgh (9-5) fell behind Denver (10-4) 27-13 at half as Brock Osweiler got off to a blazing start, but Denver didn’t score another point the rest of the way and when Osweiler, who was just 7 of 26 passing in the second half, threw an interception late, Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers took advantage of it to score the deciding touchdown and the defense did the rest… Pittsburgh 34 Denver 27. [Steelers receiver Antonio Brown had 16 receptions for 189 yards and two TDs, Roethlisberger throwing for 380 yards and three scores.]
I’ll have all the playoff details next time.
New England is 12-2 after defeating Tennessee (3-11) 33-16.
In an AFC South faceoff for the division lead, Houston (7-7) prevailed over Indianapolis (6-8) 16-10 in Indy to take a one-game lead.
In NFC North action, Minnesota is 9-5 after defeating Chicago (5-9) 38-17 behind Teddy Bridgewater’s four touchdown passes (154.4 passer rating).
But Green Bay (10-4) beat Oakland (6-8) 30-20 to stay in front in the NFC North (and clinch a playoff berth). Minnesota, though, is a lock for the second wild card, at worst, the other being Seattle.
Seattle (9-5) beat Cleveland (3-11) 30-13 to clinch a wild card, as Russell Wilson continued his white-hot play, 21/30, 249, 3-0, 128.3, plus 46 yards rushing.
–Pete M. first brought to my attention the following that I forgot to note in my last Bar Chat. But the Wall Street Journal’s Andrew Beaton did the next day.
“Since 1987, Alabama has won four national championships and had 127 players drafted by the NFL, including four quarterbacks. But A.J. McCarron, set to start for the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, has a chance to do something no Crimson Tide signal caller has done since Ronald Reagan was president: win an NFL start.
“Alabama quarterbacks have gone winless in the NFL since Jeff Rutledge led the Giants to a 20-17 win over the Eagles on Nov. 15, 1987. This span of more than 28 years is the eighth-longest drought among the Power 5 schools and Notre Dame. What makes this drought so remarkable is that Alabama is actually good at football. Most of the other quarterback-barren programs are bottom feeders in most seasons. The four major-conference schools whose droughts date past 1987 – Wake Forest, Kansas, Mississippi State and Northwestern – all have sub-.500 winning percentages during their dry spells.”
Wake Forest actually has the longest streak of not having a starting quarterback win a game in the NFL…Norm Snead, 11/14/76.
[Well, Sunday A.J. McCarron did it…he led Cincy to a 24-14 win over the 49ers. Streak over.]
—St. Louis secured the final piece of public financing for a new NFL stadium, giving the city a proposal to present before the league’s Dec. 30 deadline. The proposed $1 billion-plus stadium would be on the city’s north riverfront.
The NFL set the Dec. 30 deadline to get final offers from the home markets of St. Louis, Oakland and San Diego in advance of a scheduled owners meeting Jan. 12-13. St. Louis now has a plan, but San Diego and Oakland do not. This whole situation, which involves which of the three teams will get to relocate to Los Angeles, is complicated.
College Football
–I told you I don’t care about all but a handful of bowl games and spent more time watching college basketball, as well as Jets-Cowboys, than I did the football.
That said, I do acknowledge Appalachian State’s 31-29 last second win over Ohio, the first bowl game ever for the Mountaineers (11-2). Nice win as they came back from 17 down in the fourth quarter. Phil W. thanks for reminding me it was on.
And 22 Utah (10-3) defeated BYU (9-4) 35-28, but this score is deceiving. The Utes were up 35-0 after the first quarter!
–Huge win for Navy as coach Ken Niumatalolo has decided to spur the offer to go to BYU, Niumatalolo being a devout Mormon, to stay in Annapolis. Good for him. Good for the Naval Academy.
Niumatalolo is 67-37 in eight seasons and 8-0 against Army. Navy plays Pitt on Dec. 28 in the Military Bowl in Annapolis, one of the lesser games I am looking forward to.
—Florida quarterback Will Grier, who was suspended Oct. 12 after testing positive for PEDs, thus torpedoing the Gators’ chances at a national title, announced he would transfer. He was not scheduled to be eligible to return to the team until the seventh game of the 2016 season next October.
Grier was doing a great job as the starting QB before his screw-up and the offense wasn’t the same after.
–In the FCS / Div. IAA playoffs….
Jacksonville State rolled over Sam Houston State 62-10, while North Dakota State whipped Richmond 33-7. So the two winners square off Sat. Jan. 9th. I understand that the way the calendar works it’s tough to play the championship next Sat., or Jan. 2nd, but waiting three weeks is rather absurd.
–Johnny Mac reminded me that Mount Union won another Division III championship Friday night, 49-35 over St. Thomas (MN), thus completing another 15-0 season for the Raiders. Since 2000 they are 225-9, and, as Johnny notes, 7 of those losses were in the Stagg Bowl, 6 to Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Mount Union defeated Whitewater in the semis of the D-III playoffs.
College Basketball
–There were a number of significant games on Saturday, with your editor catching a lot of the action.
In a mini-shocker, Ohio State (6-5) beat No. 4 Kentucky (9-2) 74-67 in Brooklyn. Kentucky sucks.
–In No. 5 Iowa State’s first major test without guard Nazareth Mitrou-Long, Northern Iowa (7-3) handed the Cyclones (9-1) their first loss 81-79 in Des Moines. The Panthers’ Wes Washpun had a career day with 28 points, 7 rebounds and 11 assists. Northern Iowa had earlier defeated then No. 1 North Carolina. Iowa State just has zero depth, which is why the Mitrou-Long injury is a probable killer in terms of their Final Four hopes.
Utah (9-2) upset No. 7 Duke (9-2) 77-75 in overtime at Madison Square Garden. I caught a fair amount of this one and it was clear how much the Blue Devils miss forward Amile Jefferson, who I suspect is going to be out more than the month they are saying today.
No. 8 Virginia (9-1) beat No. 12 Villanova (8-2) 86-75 in a game that was closer than the final score. This is always a terrific matchup.
No. 17 Butler (9-1) defeated No. 9 Purdue (11-1) 74-68.
No. 11 North Carolina (9-2) prevailed over No. 22 UCLA (8-4) 89-76 in Brooklyn, as Brice Johnson had the best game of his career, 27 points and 9 rebounds, including 11 of 12 from the field. The guy looks so smooth, you wonder why he can’t do it more often, but maybe this is the game that ignites him.
UNC-Asheville (7-4) beat Georgetown (6-5) 79-73, but after Monmouth beat the Hoyas, I’m not sure you can call this one an upset. What is Georgetown this season?
Seton Hall (9-2) defeated Wichita State (5-5) in Newark, N.J., 80-76 in overtime; a bad loss for the Shockers, while admitting I have no idea what Seton Hall has this year despite living just 15 minutes away. Wichita State’s backcourt is back, Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet, but while they combined for 35 points, they were just 11 of 31 from the field and committed 11 turnovers. It’s still early, as in Wichita State can win the Missouri Valley Conference and get to the Big Dance, but they are severely behind the 8-ball.
–Friday, there were some shockers.
Grand Canyon (9-2), in its third year of Division I hoops, upset my “Pick to Click” San Diego State Aztecs 52-45 as SDSU had another epically poor shooting night, 17 of 54 from the field (31.5%), and just 8 of 17 free throws.
So the Aztecs have lost to Grand Canyon, Arkansas-Little Rock and San Diego in opening the season 7-5. Beyond pathetic.
Tuesday, they host No. 2 Kansas and if they get blown out, I’m wondering if 70-year-old coach Steve Fisher will finally turn the reins over to ‘coach-in-waiting’ Brian Dutcher, who has been at Fisher’s side for years.
Grand Canyon, by the way, is coached by former NBA star Dan Majerle.
Here in New York, St. John’s (7-4) was shocked by Incarnate Word (4-5), the little private Catholic school in San Antonio, Texas. It is also Incarnate Word’s third season in Division I. Final score: 73-51!
Wake Forest prevailed to improve to 8-2 with an 83-77 win at home over Coastal Carolina (6-5). Point guard Codi Miller-McIntyre has been on the court the last two games as he rounds back into shape from his foot injury…just in time for No. 10 Xavier on Tuesday.
One other game of note Friday…Idaho defeated New Hope Christian College 127-54. Tough to have any hope after a shellacking like that.
–But wait, there’s more!
On Sunday, NJIT (7-5) beat St. John’s (7-5) 83-74 for its first win over a Big East school, while Monmouth (8-3) chalked up another biggie, beating in-state rival Rutgers (4-7) 73-67 for its first win over a Big Ten school.
–Bob P. reminded me that a mutual friend of ours from high school has a nephew starting for Holy Cross, Matt Husek. Matt is 6’11”, 240, but with a shooting touch (7 of 14 from downtown) and it’s great to see him get some playing time in his junior season.
NBA
–Thru Sunday….
Golden State 26-1
San Antonio 23-5
Philadelphia 1-28
Sunday, Cleveland beat the Sixers 108-86 as Kyrie Irving made his season debut after his knee injury from last spring’s NBA Finals.
–The Knicks won their fourth in a row to even their record at 14-14 with a 107-91 win over the Bulls Saturday night at the Garden; the Knicks benefiting from the Bulls having played a four overtime contest the night before against the Pistons, which Detroit won 147-144.
But the cover story in Sunday’s New York Post was about Knick forward Derrick Williams being robbed of $750,000 in jewelry at his Manhattan apartment early Saturday morning. Williams and some friends picked up two women at a local nightclub and brought them back to his apartment, whereupon at some point in the evening, the girls spied a Louis Vuitton jewelry case in his closet and took a small fortune in bling.
It turns out police say there appears to be a ring of women doing this; meeting wealthy, bling-flashing men at clubs and hotel bars, a source told the Post.
I haven’t been targeted. Wish I was.
–The Wizards beat the Hornets Saturday, 109-101, to move to 11-14, which, as the Washington Post’s Tim Bontemps points out, is not only disappointing, after two solid seasons, but it is probably killing their chances of wooing Kevin Durant, as had been the Wizards’ hope.
Durant is a hometown hero and a free agent next summer, with Washington having targeted him for years.
But they are playing like crap, have suffered some injuries, and there’s a lot of sniping in the locker room. Things like that get around and Durant is no fool.
–Man, that was a scary moment Thursday night when LeBron James crashed into golfer Jason Day’s wife, Ellie, sitting courtside in Cleveland as the Cavs took on the Thunder. Day’s chair fully flipped over, leaving her on her back as James, all 6-8, 250 of him, fell on top of her. Thankfully, she was released from the hospital the next day, feeling like crap but no major injuries.
MLB
–While there may not have been much action in the Hot Stove League the past few days, some moves that were assumed to have been made have now been unwound. Like what was to have been a trade by Washington for Cincinnati second baseman Brandon Phillips has fallen apart…though I guess there’s a chance it could be resurrected.
Phillips was to go to the Nationals for multiple minor leaguers, pending Phillips’ waiving his no-trade clause, and he initially tweeted that he was going to Washington, but then it got complicated. He has a home in Cincinnati and, oh, what the hell do I know.
–And the Dodgers’ deal with pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma fell apart when L.A. wasn’t satisfied with his physical. So this was the second apparent transaction to fall through, the other being when reliever Aroldis Chapman popped up in the news for all the wrong reasons. Plus Zack Greinke signing with Arizona wasn’t exactly the scenario the Dodgers envisioned.
But some are saying, why did the Dodgers seem surprised by Iwakuma’s MRI? As the L.A. Times’ Steve Dilbeck wrote:
“Iwakuma has thrown more than 2,200 innings in 15 seasons of professional baseball and injured almost every body part on his right side save his appendix. The Dodgers were expecting a clean physical?”
Iwakuma ended up signing a one-year deal with his old team, Seattle, with options for two more seasons.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers were hit with a record luxury tax of nearly $43.6 million for a payroll that fell just shy of $300 million. The Yankees, Red Sox and Giants are the only other teams that will have to pay a tax.
–The White Sox acquired slugging third baseman Todd Frazier from the Reds in a three-team trade that involved the Dodgers.
The Sox are sending second baseman Micah Johnson, outfielder Trayce Thompson and right-hander Frankie Montas to L.A., while the Reds reportedly acquired three minor leaguers, including outfielder Scott Schebler from the Dodgers.
Looks like L.A. got a great deal on this one.
As for Frazier, who hit 35 home runs and drove in 89 last season, he is 29 and under Sox control the next two season. Chicago had acquired third baseman Brett Lawrie from the A’s last week, but he can also play second base, so with Johnson heading to the Dodgers, Lawrie will slide over.
–Mets fans were thrilled to learn they re-signed Bartolo Colon to a one-year deal. He’s the perfect stopgap as a fifth starter before Zack Wheeler’s scheduled return from Tommy John surgery in July, and he proved this past postseason he can be effective in the bullpen.
All Colon has done for the Mets the past two seasons is go 29-26, just what the doctor ordered when they signed him to an original two-year deal. He even had a 31-inning scoreless streak last season.
Premier League
–This weekend, it was all about a club that is nowhere near the top of the standings, Chelsea, which dismissed embattled manager Jose Mourinho, defeated Sunderland 3-1 at home, but the fans chanted his name throughout, ascribing blame on the team’s dreadful title defense thus far on the players, not him. Gus Hiddink was named the manager for the rest of the season. For Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire, it is his 10th managerial appointment since buying the team in 2003.
Mourinho won three Premier League titles at Stamford Bridge, but Chelsea is in the midst of the worst title defense in Premier League history.
Manchester United fans booed their boys vociferously as Norwich stunned United 2-1 at Old Trafford for the first time since 1989. Man U has not won in six games and Louis van Gaal’s position would appear to be in jeopardy, especially now that Mourinho is available.
Man U’s loss enabled Tottenham to move into the fourth spot after it defeated Southampton 2-0.
But then there is Leicester. Last year on Dec. 25 it was at the bottom of the standings. This year it sits atop after a 3-2 win over Everton.
Hats off to little Bournemouth, 2-1 winners over West Brom. It’s their third straight, moving them into the 14th slot and five points above the relegation line.
Watford had a big win on Sunday, 3-0 over Liverpool.
*I’ll do the standings next time because Arsenal and Manchester City square off in a big contest Monday to finish off Match 17 play.
–In the Champions League, the Round of 16 matchups were announced and among them are Paris St. Germain-Chelsea; Rome-Real Madrid; Arsenal-Barcelona; Juventus-Bayern; and Dynamo Kiev-Manchester City…but the action doesn’t resume until Feb. 16-17.
Gander: 30 years later
I subscribe to Army Times and in going through the 12/21 issue I was reminded of a tragic event in American history. Dec. 12, 1985…the crash of a plane carrying 248 American soldiers, most of them from the 101st Airborne Division’s 3rd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, at Gander, Newfoundland. The plane was on a refueling stop from Egypt, where the troops had been on a peacekeeping deployment in the Sinai. They were returning home for Christmas. All 248 plus eight crew members died when the plane crashed shortly after taking off. What an awful day that was.
Four days later, Dec. 16, 1985, President Reagan spoke at a memorial service in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, for members of the 101st who had died.
In part:
“Some people think of members of the military as only warriors, fierce in their martial expertise. But the men and women we mourn today were peacemakers. They were there to protect life and preserve a peace, to act as a force for stability and hope and trust. Their commitment was as strong as their purpose was pure. And they were proud. They had a rendezvous with destiny and a potential they never failed to meet. Their work was a perfect expression of the best of the Judeo-Christian tradition. They were the ones of whom Christ spoke when He said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.’….
“You do not grieve alone. We grieve as a nation, together, as together we say goodbye to those who died in the service of their country. In life they were heroes, in death our loved ones, our darlings. They were happy and singing, and they were right: They were going home….the men and women of the great and fabled Screaming Eagles. They must be singing now, in their joy, flying higher than mere man can fly and as flights of angels take them to their rest.
“I know that there are no words that can make your pain less or make your sorrow less painful. How I wish there were. But of one thing we can be sure – as a poet said of other young soldiers in another war: They will never grow old; they will always be young. And we know one thing with every bit of our thinking: They are now in the arms of God.”
Stuff
–In World Cup ski action…Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway won the classic Val Gardena downhill in Italy on Saturday, but the race is being remembered for an airbag deploying in a crash involving Olympic champion Matthias Mayer of Austria.
Mayer lost control “and spun around, flying down the hill backward in midair. Before he landed on his right side, the airbag vest under his race suit inflated and softened his landing.” [AP]
Nonetheless, he fractured a vertebra and will be out a month according to the Austrian team.
Svindal won Friday’s super-G. And on Sunday, Marcel Hirshcer of Austria won another giant slalom; this one at Alta Badia, Italy.
Saturday, Swiss skier Lara Gut won the women’s World Cup downhill at Val d’Isere, France, with Lindsey Vonn skiing off the course while chasing a 36th downhill win, which would tie a record. It was Gut’s 15th career win. Vonn’s overall lead over Gut is now just 2 points.
The day before, Gut beat Vonn by 0.01 of a second to win a supercombined race.
Sunday, Eva-Maria Brem of Austria won a giant slalom race in Courchevel, France.
–I saw in Sports Illustrated that Stanford had won at least one national championship a staggering 40 consecutive years with the win of their men’s soccer team over Clemson a week ago. Now that’s an awesome record.
–The Star-Ledger, via Bleacher Report, reported that on Wednesday, Ahmed Ali, a point guard at Canada’s John Polyani Institute in Ontario, scored 103 points in a 111-76 victory over CW Jefferson with 23 3-pointers.
The only New Jersey player to score 100, exactly, was Camden’s Dajuan Wagner; perhaps the finest high school basketball player in the state’s history.
–The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association voted on Friday to recommend that the NCAA replace its Division I outdoor track & field championship event in the 1500 meters with the mile, an interesting, and controversial, move. The NCAA must ratify the recommendation which would be in contrast with international track & field, which has always contested the 1,500. Only the 1,500 can be used as a qualifying time for the Olympics, for example.
–We note the passing of long-time conductor of the New York Philharmonic, Kurt Masur, who was credited with turning the ensemble into one of true renown. He was 88.
Masur was the Philharmonic’s music director from 1991 to 2002, taking over an ensemble that had been in artistic decline, as the New York Times put it, following “the epochal reign of Leonard Bernstein,” who directed the Philharmonic from 1958 to 1969.
One of Masur’s most memorable moments came on Sept. 20, 2001. That night, in a nationally televised memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, Masur led the Philharmonic in a performance of Brahms’ “German Requiem.”
–The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced their 2016 class…Cheap Trick, Chicago, Deep Purple, Steve Miller and N.W.A. Yawn.
Top 3 songs for the week 12/22/62 (as we prepare for the British Invasion): #1 “Telstar” (The Tornadoes…can’t believe this was #1…) #2 “Limbo Rock” (Chubby Checker) #3 “Return To Sender” (Elvis Presley…heard of him…)…and…#4 “Bobby’s Girl” (Marcie Blane…who’s Bobby?…) #5 “Big Girls Don’t Cry” (The 4 Seasons…driving around today, heard a 4 Seasons tune and thought, ‘What is my favorite’ of theirs? Thinkin’ “Let’s Hang On”…) #6 “Don’t Hang Up” (The Orlons) #7 “Go Away Little Girl” (Steve Lawrence…yup, my man…the underrated ‘total entertainer’ of that century…problem is, my mom didn’t like Edie…) #8 “Release Me” (Esther Phillips “Little Esther”) #9 “You Are My Sunshine” (Ray Charles) #10 “Love Came To Me” (Dion)
College Football Coaching Quiz Answers: 1) Ken Hatfield replaced Danny Ford at Clemson, 1990-93, 32-13-1. 2) Bob Stoops was preceded by John Blake at Oklahoma, Blake going a miserable 12-22 from 1996-98. 3) John Smith preceded Mark Dantonio, 2003-06 (22-26). 4) Dennis Franchione preceded Mike Shula at Alabama, 2001-02 (17-8).
Next Bar Chat, Thursday…the annual Christmas special for young and old.
