NBA Quiz: Thru Saturday’s play, name the five players averaging 25.0 points per game or better this season. There were six as of Friday when I first wrote this up. Answer below.
NFL Playoffs
K.C. at New England
This game was never in doubt, with New England leading 27-13 late before a last minute K.C. score made the final 27-20. As Dan Fouts said, when Alex Smith is throwing it 50 times for Kansas City, that’s not a good sign.
Smith went 29/50, just 244 yards, 1-0, 77.6 (passer rating), while Tom Brady was 28/42, 302, 2-0, 103.5.
Brady welcomed back Julian Edelman, who dropped a bunch on his return but still ended up with 10 receptions for 100 yards, while Rob Gronkowski had seven grabs for 83 yards and two scores.
Smith is now 2-3 as a starter in the playoffs, while Brady is a stunning 22-8.
Green Bay at Arizona
What a wild, stupid finish we had in Glendale, Arizona, Saturday as the Cardinals pulled it out in overtime, 26-20, after Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers had launched an improbable 41-yard Hail Mary TD pass to Jeff Janis just moments before to tie it at 20.
There the two sides were, lined up at the 50 for the coin toss to see who would get the ball in OT, and referee Clete Blakeman couldn’t even get this right. He flipped the coin in the air, but it did not actually flip before hitting the ground, so it was a do-over. Rodgers later called it “a debacle.”
“Clete had [the coin] on heads,” Rodgers said. “He was showing heads, so I called tails and it didn’t flip. It was just tossed in the air and did not turn over at all and landed on the ground [heads]. So we obviously thought that was not right. He picked up the coin and flipped it to tails and he flipped it without giving me a chance to make a re-call there. It was confusing.”
Rodgers said he believes Blakeman went with the first flip result because “I think he was trying to avoid the embarrassment of what just happened and flipped it quickly.”
[All of us watching knew this was exactly what happened.]
Well, at least in the offseason Rodgers can film another “Discount Double-Check” commercial with the refs blowing it. The NFL has been a flat-out embarrassment all season.
As for the game, Arizona QB Carson Palmer finally picked up his first playoff win after two losses, but he was saved by the great Larry Fitzgerald (my favorite NFL player, who is also capable of running the country, just sayin’), when he took a short pass from Palmer, who had just eluded a sack to start overtime, and ran 75 yards. Two plays later, Fitzgerald took a shovel pass on a play drawn up by Bruce Arians like you and I would in the schoolyard. It was a great call and the Cardinals move on.
For the record…Rodgers was 24/44, 261, 2-1, 77.9, while Palmer recovered from a poor start to end up 25/41, 349, 3-2, 92.4. Fitzgerald had 8 receptions for 176 yards and the final score.
And I can’t help but add this on Fitzgerald, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal’s Kevin Clark:
“Already one of the best receivers in NFL history, Fitzgerald has reinvented himself as a slot receiver at age 32 and is in the midst of what may be his most impressive season.
“But cornerbacks say one of the biggest concerns before matching up with the Arizona Cardinals star is the slew of pleasantries, cordial remarks, good-natured comments and otherwise amiable chatter that Fitzgerald throws their way during a game….
“ ‘He’s asking how your family is,’ said Washington Redskins cornerback Will Blackmon. ‘And then he’s trying to bomb you for 70 yards right after.’….
“Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman has said Fitzgerald is off-limits when it comes to trash talk….
“Wide receivers aren’t usually renowned for their courteous conduct on the field. But players believe Fitzgerald, who did not respond to requests for comment for this story, is being genuine when he throws niceties their way. That doesn’t make it any less uncomfortable, though.
“Former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back Ike Taylor, who took on Fitzgerald in Super Bowl XLIII, said the receiver’s affable behavior is a year-round activity.
“Taylor, now an analyst for the NFL Network, said Fitzgerald is regarded as ‘one of the rare guys who has lots of money and everyone loves him. He respects the game.’ That respect, Taylor said, includes Fitzgerald’s uncanny knack for remembering nearly every fact about players he’s met. ‘Larry remembers people’s birthdays, anniversaries, just out of the blue,’ Taylor said. ‘You hear stories, guys are like: ‘Hey, where’d this present come from? Oh, Larry Fitzgerald.’ And they’ve only met him one time!’
“Confronted with such positively decent behavior, players face a conundrum on the field: How should they respond?….
“That’s what happened to Panthers cornerback Josh Norman in a game last year. Norman, one of the most outspoken cornerbacks in the NFL, said he loves to have an ongoing dialogue with receivers he’s covering during a game – preferably with lots of trash talk. ‘If a receiver talks, he gets me going; if he doesn’t, I’ve got to find myself something else to do,’ Norman said.
“Going up against Fitzgerald, Norman readied himself for a battle of words. But Fitzgerald said nothing for the entire duration of the game. It was, Norman remembered, one of the more professional encounters he can ever remember.
“ ‘He’s just a genuine human being’ said Taylor. ‘You can’t trash talk that.’”
And that, friends, is yet another example of why Larry Fitzgerald has long been my favorite player in the NFL. Of course he went to Pitt, too, you know.
Seattle at Carolina
Before you could blink an eye, literally, this one was 31-0 Panthers at half. Russell Wilson looked overmatched and Carolina running back Jonathan Stewart, after missing the prior three weeks due to injury, was overpowering in rushing for two early touchdowns.
But then early in the third, Seattle came back to cut it to 31-14, though the Seahawks fell short 31-24 in the end.
Wilson was 31/48, 366, 3-2, 91.1, and Cam Newton finished 16/22, 161, 1-0, 108.3, while Stewart rushed for 109 yards and those two early scores.
Pittsburgh at Denver
Ben Roethlisberger, bad shoulder and all, was gutty in defeat as the Steelers fell to the Broncos in Denver 23-16.
Big Ben threw for 339 yards, while Peyton Manning had but 222, neither throwing a touchdown pass.
The difference was Denver’s defense was just a little better, and kicker Brandon McManus booted five field goals for Denver as the Broncos overcame a 13-12 deficit after three.
For Pittsburgh, playing without receiver Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant stepped up with nine receptions for 154 yards, plus another 40 rushing on two carries.
Prior to the game, Pacman Jones apologized to Brown in a video posted to Instagram for saying that the Steelers’ player was lying about a head injury he incurred against the Bengals.
“Hey B. My apology my brother. I’m a man of my word and I’ve been doing a little traveling which is what took me so long…I apologize, sincerely man. Get well.”
Oh brother. Pacman is a clear “Jerk of the Year” candidate. It was Jones, after all, who said Brown was “faking” it. “Go back and look at the play,” Jones said earlier this week. “If you look in slow motion of the play, you tell me that Vontaze hit him in the head or did his should pad barely touch him.” [Pacman doesn’t speak very well.]
As for Manning, he entered the game with an 11-13 career record in the playoffs, 38 TDs and 24 INTs, QB rating 88.5, vs. 186-79 (W/L), 539-251, 96.5 regular season mark for his career.
Yeah, it’s like a pitcher in the playoffs (see Clayton Kershaw) vs. his regular season record, but still.
So next Sunday we have the following….
New England at Denver 3:05 on CBS
Arizona at Carolina 6:40 on FOX
–In the coaching carousel…in the final move the Tennessee Titans are bringing Mike Mularkey back as their coach after he had the interim job the final nine games after the team fired Ken Whisenhunt. Mularkey was only 2-7 after Whisenhunt went 3-20 before he received his walking papers. Mularkey previously was a head coach in Buffalo and Jacksonville, going just 16-32 combined in three seasons with those clubs. Ergo, he’s now 18-39 overall. Not exactly a successful resume, know what I’m sayin’?
Others tabbed for head coach positions this past week were Adam Gase by the Miami Dolphins, Hue Jackson by Cleveland, Dirk Koetter by Tampa Bay and Doug Pederson by Philadelphia; this last one being official now that Kansas City has been eliminated, Pederson having been K.C.’s offensive coordinator.
The selection of Koetter by the Bucs was not a surprise, after head coach Lovie Smith had been fired. The Bucs were afraid of losing Koetter, so elevated him so he can continue his work with quarterback Jameis Winston. Koetter has been an offensive coordinator for a number of teams in the NFL and was a college head coach at Boise State and Arizona State, where he went a combined 66-44.
Pederson is a protégé of Andy Reid, which makes the move by the Eagles kind of strange in that it was Reid who was fired so they could bring in Chip Kelly.
Hue Jackson, by the way, came over from Cincinnati, where he was offensive coordinator, but he has head coaching experience in the NFL; one season at Oakland where he went 8-8. Jackson, by the way, apparently doesn’t want Johnny Manziel around. Bye-bye, Johnny.
–The Detroit Lions announced they are retaining Jim Caldwell as their coach, when right after the season ended it was assumed he’d be canned. [Talk about a survivor, right Wake fans?]
“One more game, against the Eagles, and then I just have to believe (Giants coach Tom) Coughlin, and probably GM Jerry Reese, are given their walking papers.
“I know, I know…many folks around here are saying, ‘Well who would do better?’
“But that’s lame. It’s four straight seasons they haven’t made the playoffs. If you want some continuity, while changing things up, promote offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo to head coach.
“As for Reese, just look at the roster. It’s horrid. That’s the GM’s responsibility.”
Well, I got it half right. Reese remained, but was told he has one year to turn it around. McAdoo got the job this week and who the hell knows. At least Eli Manning is thrilled he doesn’t have to learn a new system again at his age.
For his part, Coughlin interviewed with the Eagles, but removed his name when McAdoo got the job to replace him and it became clear McAdoo would keep many of the existing staff, which means Coughlin wouldn’t have been able to have his own people accompany him to Philadelphia.
Ralph Vacchiano / New York Daily News
“Tom Coughlin wasn’t good enough to coach the Giants anymore after back-to-back 6-10 seasons, but somehow his top assistant is the right man to replace him?
“That may sound like twisted logic, but it makes a lot more sense than it seems.
“The Giants’ franchise quarterback is really what this whole Giants’ coaching search has been about from the start, and no matter how many candidates the Giants interviewed, it was always going to come back to him….
“McAdoo’s offense wasn’t new. It’s already a fit for Manning.
“That’s why in many ways, the 38-year-old McAdoo was the only candidate that made sense.”
—Robert Griffin III cleaned out his locker in Washington for good the other day. He chose to leave behind these words, along with a public statement.
They say: “Forgive them anyway…Be kind anyway…succeed anyway…Create anyway…Be happy anyway…Do good anyway…Give your best anyway…In the final analysis, it’s between you and God.”
Thomas Boswell / Washington Post
“Those words dramatically change the tone of the message Griffin left in his locker – his final statement on his time in Washington. He gave no other comment. His commandments are high-minded. Many people, including me, have thought something similar during a bad time.
“However, the impact of all those initial premises – strung together into a vision of people around you who are jealous deceivers, self-centered enemies and forgetful unfaithful friends – is chilling. Especially when the last words invoke ‘them.’ When it’s not your fault, don’t you blame ‘them’?
“The text that RGIII left in his locker has value. ‘Give your best anyway’ isn’t going to lead many people astray. But the subtext – what it tells you about the state of mind of the person who invokes it – is a lot more complex.
“Everyone will have their own reaction. I felt sad that someone with so many fine impulses – backed by plenty of good deeds – could leave town with such a public announcement of his own bitterness and sense of being wronged.
“Is there some brand-protection going on here, as well as anguish after three rough years? Mike and Kyle Shanahan weren’t the only ones who didn’t think Griffin was a fully-prepared NFL quarterback. This week, Jay Gruden’s evaluation was, in its own way, more harsh: ‘He grew a lot here, being a third-string quarterback.’”
–We note the passing of former NFL coach Ted Marchibroda, 84. He coached the Baltimore Colts from 1975-79, then the Indianapolis Colts from 1992-95, before returning to Baltimore to coach the Ravens, 1996-98. He had a lifetime mark of 87-98-1 and took his teams to four playoff berths, going 2-4 in postseason play. He was a classic old-school guy.
–Pssst…I won $12 with DraftKings this weekend, owing to Dr. W.’s prodding. It’s my first win at football, while being pretty, pretty good at golf. [Though not this week.] I then informed Dr. W., who is also a frat bro and has made $zillions on football, that I had drunk my winnings within about three hours.
–Finally, while San Diego seems likely to be playing in Los Angeles next season, at the Coliseum with the Rams while a new stadium gets built, no one seems to know just where the Raiders are playing next fall.
College Football
1. Florida State…Dalvin Cook back
2. Michigan
3. Clemson…Watson and Gallman back, but losing a lot
4. Oklahoma…Mayfield and Perine back
5. Stanford…McCaffrey returns, but schedule brutal
6. Alabama…lose Coker and Henry
7. Ohio State…J.T. Barrett QB
8. Georgia
9. Michigan State…much of defense returns
10. Houston…QB Greg Ward Jr. and most of offense returns…Hmmmm….could be fun if they go undefeated regular season. They’d almost have to be Final Four…not to jump the gun, but we like to do that around here….
–So Alabama’s Derrick Henry is entering the NFL draft. Not much more to accomplish after winning the Heisman and the national championship. As long as he doesn’t balloon in size like former ‘Bama back Eddie Lacy has done, Henry should have a very solid career. I’d take him.
“Look, everyone misguided enough to be in the know about this sport has long since known Clemson was above average. The 42-11 record from 2011 through 2014 showed that, as did bowl wins over Louisiana State, Oklahoma and especially Ohio State. Yet on Monday night, in a sport of entrenched and unhelpful aristocrats, in the College Football Playoff national championship game, Clemson finished the hard work of redefinition.
“The team that reached a new level and played Alabama was notably unafraid of all of it. It looked like it felt sure it belonged, so it did. It treated Alabama’s bloodcurdling defense, that unkind yielder of 256 yards per game, second in the country, and 13.4 points per game, first in the country, to 550 harrowing yards and 40 points. Even in his championship mirth, Alabama Coach Nick Saban seemed to have one moment when he resorted to his perfectionism, lamented the difficulty of getting players amped for a second playoff game, used his defensive mind and said almost somberly, ‘So they got 40 points.’….
“Said (Clemson coach Dabo) Swinney: ‘Last year’s national champion was 14-1. This year’s national champion is 14-1. We stand toe-to-toe with everybody in the country. This program doesn’t take a back seat to anybody. We can play with anybody. We can beat anybody, and that’s a fact.’
“Swinney has willed it so in his seven-plus seasons as head coach, even for a program that won a national championship in 1981 and so knows about residing amid expectations. Now he and Clemson have elbowed, wriggled and scrambled to the forefront, where they’ll be irresistible largely because of (Deshaun) Watson….
“After a long postgame moment with Alabama running back Derrick Henry, Watson’s new friend from their time together in New York before the Heisman Trophy announcement, Watson said, ‘We’re going to try to link up after the offseason and learn from him and just really build that relationship.’
“Yet as Watson went along toward (the) sideline near Saban…he looked almost breezy and certainly masterful. Anybody with football eyes couldn’t wait to see more of him and of Clemson, whose founder, Thomas Green Clemson (1807-1888), never could have imagined this kind of renown.”
–Lastly, I forgot to note last time something passed on to me by Naval Academy grad and former fireballing lefty for Summit High School, Bobby C. Since Navy beat Memphis who beat Ole Miss who beat Alabama, that makes Navy national champion.
But Bob, you have to be the one to march into Nick Saban’s office early one morning and tell him that. God’s speed.
College Basketball
When the next AP Poll is released Monday afternoon, once again there is going to be a big reshuffle. Since my last chat, which included Tuesday’s results, we’ve had some of the following:
Clemson beat No. 9 Duke 68-63, its second-straight over a Top 25 opponent, the other being Louisville.
Alabama handed 19 South Carolina its first defeat, 73-50.
16 Iowa took out 4 Michigan State 76-59 on the road, even though Denzel Valentine is back for the Spartans. [He had 14 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists in 37 minutes.]
Clemson (12-6, 5-1) won again, defeating No. 8 Miami (13-3, 2-2) 76-65 in Greenville. It’s the first time ever Clemson has defeated three straight Top 25 teams. Good for them.
Notre Dame (12-5, 3-2) pulled off an upset of 9 Duke (14-4, 3-2) down in Durham 95-91 in a very entertaining contest. Mike Brey is a darn good coach.
I spent a lot of time watching 11 West Virginia at 2 Oklahoma. Bob Huggins’ boys are solid, but I still don’t see how they do it; except they fell short this time. It was 34-34 at half, but the Sooners (15-1, 4-1) pulled it out 70-68. The Mountaineers (15-2, 4-1) will no doubt be in the Top Ten, though, after earlier beating No. 1 Kansas on Tuesday, 74-63.
[Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield, who entered the game as the top scorer in the country, averaging over 26 ppg, was held to 17 as the Sooners only shot 33.3% from the field due to Huggins’ tough ‘D’.]
Seton Hall (13-4, 3-2) pulled off a huge upset, or maybe it’s not that much of one, taking out 12 Providence (15-3, 3-2) 81-72 in Providence.
Auburn (8-8, 2-3) defeated 14 Kentucky (13-4, 3-2). John Calipari’s team will not make it to the Sweet Sixteen, and he knows it. This is an embarrassing loss for them.
19 South Carolina (16-1, 3-1) got back on track with an 81-72 win over Missouri (8-9, 1-3).
Then we have Wake Forest and San Diego State…teams going in opposite directions.
Last Sunday, Wake defeated North Carolina State to move to 1-2 in the ACC after losses to Louisville and Duke. I thought we were where we would be, but said weeks earlier we might start out 2-7 in the conference, even though I still thought we’d end up 8-10 at worst.
Well, all bets are off now. Wake lost a big one on Wednesday, 93-91 at Virginia Tech, despite shooting 58.9% from the field, including 13 of 24 from three-point land. Had to have that one.
Then Saturday, at home against a highly mediocre Syracuse team, Wake laid an egg of epic proportions, getting slaughtered in our own building 83-55 to drop the Deacs to 10-7, 1-4. [Syracuse is 12-7, 2-4.]
Wake was just 14 of 43 from the field, 32.6%, including 2 of 20 from downtown. Plus we were 25-42 from the foul line (59.5%) and committed 18 turnovers. Next up for the Deacs, North Carolina in Chapel Hill (then at Miami, home to Virginia, at Notre Dame). This is why I thought we could start 2-7, but it could very easily be 1-8. This is getting depressing real quick.
Then you have my preseason “Pick to Click” San Diego State Aztecs. Suddenly, they are back playing Steve Fisher ball…lock down defense and just a smidgen of ‘O’…the SDSU formula for success in the past.
The Aztecs still can’t hit the side of a barn with their jump shots, but after Saturday, they have improved to 12-6, and, more importantly, 5-0 in the Mountain West after wins over Colorado State and Boise State (13-5, 4-1) on the road, which is impressive.
The thing is, after some unfathomable early season losses to Arkansas-Little Rock, San Diego and Grand Canyon, for the Aztecs to get to the Big Dance they’ll either have to win the regular season MW title or win the Mountain West tournament.
And on Sunday….
4 Michigan State lost again, 77-76 to Wisconsin in Madison, with the Spartans falling to 16-3, 3-3, while the Badgers move to 10-9, 2-4.
This is a pathetic loss for Tom Izzo’s boys, especially since Denzel Valentine had 23 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. They will plummet.
Meanwhile, Iowa won again, 82-71, over Michigan (13-5, 3-2), as the Hawkeyes are now 14-3, 5-0 in the Big Ten. How high are they moving up in Monday’s poll?
Also on Sunday, No. 10 SMU beat Tulane (8-11, 1-5) as Paul P.’s Mustangs advanced to 17-0, 6-0. It’s amazing SMU has been able to keep their focus even as they are ineligible for the postseason.
–One other game of note in recent days…Monmouth (13-4, 5-1 MAAC) defeated Iona (9-7, 6-1) in New Rochelle, 110-102, on Friday. This wasn’t an overtime contest. Monmouth outscored the Gaels 66-57 in the second half! Iona’s A.J. English, who has NBA game, had 45 points and seven steals. The senior is averaging 25 ppg after a 20.1 avg. last season. But a very important win for the Hawks of Monmouth. They have to win the regular season title, minimum, to get an at-large bid, though I still think they really have to win the conference tournament outright.
Golden State 37-4
San Antonio 36-6
Philadelphia 5-37
–What’s this? Two Golden State losses in three games?! Last Wednesday Denver handed Golden State its third loss of the season, 112-110 in Denver, with the Nuggets only 15-24.
But then after defeating the Lakers, Golden State lost at Detroit (22-18) on Saturday 113-95. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson combined for 62 of the 95 Warriors’ points. Not exactly the kind of balance you want to see.
—Philadelphia picked up its fifth win Saturday, 114-89 at home over the Trail Blazers, as the Sixers improve to 4-7 in the Ish Smith Era. I’m not kidding, this former Demon Deacon has been the difference maker in the team’s play…1-30 to 5-37.
But will they lose the Ben Simmons lottery if they keep winning more regularly? [Simmons had 16 points and 18 rebounds on Saturday in LSU’s 76-74 win over Arkansas. For the season, the super frosh is averaging 20.0 ppg, with 12.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists.]
–The Chicago Bulls (23-16) suffered a huge loss as Joakim Noah will undergo surgery to repair his dislocated left shoulder and will be sidelined most likely for the season. As an unrestricted free agent, he has probably played his last game for the franchise that drafted him in 2007.
—Baltimore Orioles fans have to be fired up their management went out and re-signed slugger Chris Davis to a seven-year, $161 million contract, after a seven-year, $150m deal had been pulled by the team earlier.
Baltimore was said to be in the running to sign outfielder Yoenis Cespedes to a long-term deal, but that doesn’t seem likely now so Mets fans are clamoring anew for the team to sign him, even if just for a year or two, which is all the Mets want to give the 30-year-old. He has awesome talent and we’ve all seen how he can produce, but he comes with baggage….simply a strange dude. Mercurial is the best word to describe Cespedes.
But he could also sign with Detroit, who is very much in the running for his services.
–The Mets agreed to a contract with Matt Harvey for one year, $4.325 million, thus avoiding arbitration. They still control him through 2018, though if the team didn’t get off to a good start this season, no one will be surprised if Harvey isn’t part of a blockbuster deal because the Mets already know they don’t have a chance at signing him when he becomes a free agent.
–This is arbitration season and the Cubs’ Jake Arrieta is asking for a raise from $3.63 million to $13 million after winning the Cy Young Award. Chicago countered with $7.5 million, leaving both sides far apart.
Players not settling then go before three-person arbitration panels the first three weeks of February.
Dallas Keuchel of Houston, the A.L. Cy Young winner, agreed to a $7.25 million deal.
–Former relief pitcher Luis Arroyo died. He was 88. Arroyo pitched for five teams in an 8-year major league career, going 40-32 with a 3.93 ERA.
But while he made two All-Star teams, his finest season was easily 1961 with the Yankees, when he went 15-5 with 29 saves and a 2.19 ERA out of the pen.
The lefty Arroyo developed a screwball that season, which is particularly effective against right-handed hitters. The starter who benefited most in ’61 was Whitey Ford, who completed just 11 off 39 starts but won 25 (while losing only four) thanks in large part to Arroyo’s late-inning heroics.
“Beer for everybody on me,” Ford said in the locker room after his 20th win. “And two for my boy, Luis.” [Bruce Weber / New York Times]
Arroyo was born in Puerto Rico. His father was a laborer on a sugar cane plantation. Luis dropped out of high school to play baseball, but he didn’t make it to the big leagues until 1955 at the relatively advanced age of 28. Initially he was a starting pitcher with the Cardinals, making the All-Star team enroute to an 11-8 season. [He was 10-3 when selected for the squad.]
Premier League
Newcastle 3 Manchester United 3
Chelsea 2 West Brom 2
Manchester City 0 Everton 0
Tottenham 0 Leicester 1…bad one for my Spurs
Liverpool 3 Arsenal 3
Then Saturday/Sunday
Tottenham 4 Sunderland 1
Chelsea 3 Everton 3
Man City 4 Crystal Palace 0
Liverpool 0 Man U 1 [195th game between these two]
Stoke 0 Arsenal 0
Standings after 22 of 38 [ties settled by goal differential…first four qualify for Champions League]
1. Arsenal 44 points
2. Leicester 44
3. Manchester City 43
4. Tottenham 39
5. Manchester United 37 [despite all their issues]
6. West Ham 35
7. Stoke 33
8. Crystal Palace 31
9. Liverpool 31 [my brother isn’t happy…his brother, moi, on the other hand, is very happy with Tottenham’s position]
10. Southampton 30
11. Everton 29
12. Watford 29*
14. Chelsea 25 [reminder, defending champs…Dr. W., Chelsea supporter, doesn’t need reminding…]
*Watford plays its 22nd on Monday against 18 Swansea.
For Premier League fans, this has developed into a helluva season. For newbies there are no playoffs. 38 contests and that’s it. The fight for both the title and the fourth Champions League slot is going to be terrific.
–In World Cup competition, Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal won the downhill at Wengen, Switzerland, on Saturday, his fourth downhill win in five races this season, to go with two Giant Slalom wins.
In the overall men’s competition, Svindal leads Austrian Marcel Hirscher by just 15 points, with Hirscher not racing in downhill. It’s been a miserable season for the American men’s team, by the way. Just four podium finishes and none since December 5.
On the women’s side, with Mikaela Shiffrin still out with her knee injury, Veronika Velez-Zuzulova of Slovakia won two slalom races at Flachau, Switzerland, this week.
—Austrian ski jumper Lukas Muller has been left partly paralyzed after a crash during practice for the ski flying world championships. Muller, 23, cannot move his legs and sustained an “incomplete paraplegia,” according to doctors. We wish him the best.
–U.S. Olympic gold- and silver-medal winning skier Picabo Street was arrested the other day in Utah, accused of pushing her 76-year-old father down two flights of stairs in a December argument in front of her children. The story is a mess and apparently started when the father struck the house with his car as he was leaving.
Street won silver in the downhill in Lillehammer in 1994, and then gold in the super-G at the Nagano Olympics in 1998.
“Sprinting seven miles down a 9,000-foot mountain and then running back up to do it again may not appeal to even the most self-punishing of athletes, but Ryan Hall believes it is the kind of ‘experimental workout’ that transformed him into the fastest American distance runner in history.
“It is also the kind of extreme training that is now driving him to abruptly retire, two decades into an audacious career that produced national milestones – his time of 2 hours 4 minutes 58 seconds at the 2011 Boston Marathon is by far the fastest for an American runner – but never a victory in a major race.
“Hall, 33, who was one of the last remaining hopes for an American front-runner in this summer’s Olympic marathon, is succumbing to chronically low testosterone levels and fatigue so extreme, he says, that he can barely log 12 easy miles a week.”
There are no emerging American distance runners, with the best hope for an Olympic medal being Meb Keflezighi, who is 40.
Back in 2001, when Hall was in high school, you had the likes of Dathan Ritzenhein and Alan Webb, but none of them developed into truly elite status.
So, after my disastrous Kiawah half-marathon, I guess it’s up to me to try to bring our country back….cough cough….hack hack….now where were those PEDs I’m been meaning to try….
–From the Irish Independent: “A crocodile has ripped a woman’s arm off while she was sitting at a creek in Australia.
“The woman, in her 60s, was at Three Mile Creek in Wyndham, north of Perth, when the croc lunged.
“The woman was rushed to hospital after she was found walking along a road with part of her arm below her elbow missing….
“The crocodile leapt about six feet out of the creek to attack the woman….
[Always stay at least 3 miles (5km) from water of any kind…500 yards from a community pool,]
—Leonid Zhabotinsky, the gold medal Olympic weightlifter who was Arnold Schwarzenegger’s teenage idol, died. He was 77.
The Ukrainian-born Soviet picked up gold medals in 1964 and 1968. He was about 6 feet 3 and weighed as much as 365 pounds and carried the sobriquets Big Zhabo and the Strongest Man of the World. Some of us remember him from the opening parade of the 1968 Mexico City Olympics when he gripped the pole bearing the Soviet hammer-and-sickle banner in only one hand. I mean this thing was 40 pounds.
“He stole the show,” recalled Schwarzenegger. “He was extraordinary, another form of inspiration: If he can make it, I can make it.”
–Just in…Fabian Gomez won his first PGA Tour title (oops, second) at the Sony Open.
–We note the passing of Dan Hagerty, 74, who starred in the 1970s TV series “Grizzly Adams.” Haggerty died of cancer of the spine.
Haggerty was the fourth celebrity to die of cancer in one week, including David Bowie, Celine Dion’s husband Rene Angelli, and British actor Alan Rickman.
And then on Saturday, we learned Celine lost her brother, Daniel, also to cancer (cancer of the throat, tongue and brain). He was just 59.
Celine is to resume performing in Las Vegas at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace on February 23. There won’t be a dry eye in that place that evening for sure.
–Speaking of Alan Rickman, like David Bowie he was also 69. Rickman was best known for his first feature film role as Hans Gruber in the 1988 film “Die Hard,” and then spent a decade portraying Severus Snape, the potions master in the “Harry Potter” series.
–And Giorgio Gomelsky died. He was 81. For those of us of a certain age, you’re probably like me. I saw the name, first, on Saturday, before a description and I’m thinking, “Gomelsky, Gomelsky…I know that name…”
Giorgio Gomelsky was the rock impresario and record producer who gave the Rolling Stones their first exposure, and later went on to manage the Yardbirds and other groups in the United States.
“Mr. Gomelsky was a pivotal figure in the London music scene of the early 1960s, with an adventurous ear and a flair for promotion that helped some of the greatest talents of the era get their start. As the operator of Crawdaddy, a club in the London suburb of Richmond, he booked the Rolling Stones for their first paid appearances, managed and produced the Yardbirds in their prime, brought the Animals from Newcastle and organized one of the first blues festivals in Britain.”
Top 3 songs for the week 1/17/70: #1 “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” (B.J. Thomas…this one will sound great 100 years from now…assuming Earth still exists as we know it after a massive nuclear conflagration…not that I’m lookin’ to bum everyone out…) #2 “Venus” (The Shocking Blue…Venus not inhabitable…in case you’re wondering where we’re goin’…) #3 “I Want You Back” (The Jackson 5)…and…#4 “Someday We’ll Be Together” (Diana Ross & The Supremes) #5 “Whole Lotta Love” (Led Zeppelin…believe it or not, their only Billboard Pop Top Ten…but back then, this sound shocked us on pop radio…) #6 “Leaving On A Jet Plane” (Peter, Paul and Mary…talk about a contrast with #5…) #7 “Don’t Cry Daddy” (Elvis Presley…great song that, looking back, should have peaked higher than #6…) #8 “Jam Up Jelly Tight” (Tommy Roe…so I didn’t remember this one and YouTubed it and, goodness gracious, this is truly godawful! Talk about a song that won’t sound great 100 years from now…this one sounded awful a year later…what were the American people thinking?!…I mean I know Vietnam and other stuff affected our mindset, but no wonder the Japanese were on the verge of coming up with consumer/auto products we’d start buying….OK, I might be jumping ahead a bit…never mind….) #9 “Down On The Corner” (Creedence Clearwater) #10 “Midnight Cowboy” (Ferrante & Teicher…tremendous tune…but some of the videos are kinda creepy…)
NBA Quiz Answer: Five averaging 25.0 or better this season: Steph Curry 29.9, James Harden 27.6, Kevin Durant 26.5, Demarcus Cousins 25.9, LeBron James 25.5. [Damian Lillard 24.7, Russell Westbrook 24.4, Paul George 24.0. Lillard was at 25.0 on Friday. I initially put this quiz together Sat. and I just don’t have the time to then make up different ones. I thought no way you’d get both Cousins and Lillard.]
