[Posted Sunday p.m. prior to conclusion of Yanks-Red Sox; Packers-Vikings]
Note: I had my 40th high school reunion this weekend, which was great fun, but, ergo, I didn’t remotely try to keep up on everything and I’ll fill in any blanks later.
NFL Quiz: Name the seven to rush for 2,000 yards in a single season. Answer below.
MLB
Wild Card Standings
N.L.
Mets 80-69… +1… Let’s Go Mets!!!
San Francisco 79-70… —
St. Louis 78-71… 1
A.L.
Baltimore 82-67… +1
Toronto 81-68… —
Detroit 79-70… 2
Seattle 79-70… 2
Houston 78-71… 3
Yankees 77-71… 3.5
–Boy, where do you begin with the Mets, who are right there in the wild card race, held up seemingly by bale wire. At their depths of despair, at least for us fans, they were 60-62, game over, but some of the injured returned (namely Yoenis Cespedes and Asdrubal Cabrera) and they are 20-7 since after sweeping the Twins this weekend at Citi Field…3-0, 3-2 (12), 3-2. Yes, the bullpen has been doing the job.
But with Friday’s 3-0 win, it’s an excuse to talk again about the amazing 43-year-old Bartolo Colon. Another 7 scoreless innings, 3 hits, as he moved to 14-7, 3.14 ERA.
In nine starts in August and September, Colon is 5-1, 2.21. Spectacular.
So now all Mets fans are in agreement. Last week we wanted to give him a 10-year extension, but a team option on Year 10. Now, we’ll guarantee the 10th.
Saturday, the Mets were trailing the Twinkies 1-0 in the 8th, tied it up on a Cespedes single, it goes to extra innings, they give up a homer to Minnesota in the 11th, 2-1, but in the bottom of the inning, Curtis Granderson homers to tie it up…then he wins it with another homer in the 12th….something that had never been done in Mets history (2 extra inning homers).
And I haven’t mentioned that Jacob deGrom is now out for the year, officially, as it appears he needs surgery on his right elbow…to clear out scar tissue, we’re told, from his earlier Tommy John surgery.
I mean we ran out Gabriel Ynoa today for his first career start and, given a very short leash, he still came through with 4 2/3 of one-run ball, as the Metropolitans went on for the win.
Oh, it’s a funny game.
–The Yankees are out of it (really) after three dreadful losses to the Red Sox. Thursday, they blew a 5-1 lead in the 8th and lost 7-5 as Boston scored 5 in the 9th, capped by Hanley Ramirez’ 3-run walk-off home run off Dellin Betances. They lost 7-4 on Friday, and then on Saturday wasted 3-0 and 5-2 leads in losing 6-5, their sixth loss in seven games.
—Cleveland’s starting rotation is a mess heading into the playoffs, the latest casualty being Carlos Carrasco (11-8, 3.32) who is out the rest of the year after fracturing his pinkie on a line drive Saturday. The Indians are already going without Danny Salazar.
—Clayton Kershaw threw five shutout innings in a 2-0 win over the Yankees last Wednesday night, which included a rain delay in the fourth. 1 hit, 5 strikeouts, 0 walks, as he lowered his ERA to 1.81. So L.A. should feel pretty good he is going to be a mainstay in the playoffs.
–In the Cubs’ 7-0 win over the Cardinals on Wednesday, Jon Lester improved to 17-4, 2.40, with 8 innings of shutout ball as Anthony Rizzo hit two home runs to reach the 100-RBI mark. [31-101 thru Sunday.]
–The Nats’ Daniel Murphy ended up with 31 hits against his former team the Mets, becoming the first to hit in all 19 games in the process. [31-75, .413, 7 HR, 21 RBI]
—Nearly 670,000 had registered for a postseason lottery involving “thousands” of tickets for Cubs’ playoff games. By the time the lottery is conducted, the figure will be well over 1 million.
Resale ticket prices for a World Series, should that come to pass, are beyond absurd, with some listed as high as $50,000 for a single bleacher seat and as low as $3,500 for standing-room-only.
—Major League Baseball suspended San Diego Padres general manager A.J. Preller 30 days without pay for submitting false medical records to the Boston Red Sox.
Preller thus becomes the first non-uniformed personnel publicly suspended since the late Marge Schott, former owner of the Reds, was banned for two years in 1996-97 for making racial and ethnic slurs.
But Preller is not being fired or receiving further punishment from the Padres.
MLB determined that the Padres did not include the entire medical records for pitcher Drew Pomeranz when they traded him in July to the BoSox. Boston filed an official complaint with MLB shortly after the deal in which they sent a top pitching prospect, Anderson Espinoza, to San Diego.
Preller said in a statement: “I want to emphasize that there was no malicious intent on the part of me, or anyone on my staff, to conceal information or disregard MLB’s recommended guidelines.”
But at least one other club front-office executive insists the medical information was intentionally withheld, which led to Commissioner Rob Manfred’s harsh penalty.
The Marlins and White Sox in the past have questioned the veracity of the records in summer trades with the Padres. In one case, the Marlins acquired pitcher Colin Rea, who was immediately diagnosed with elbow ligament damage requiring Tommy John surgery, and Rea informed Marlins officials that he had been receiving treatment on his elbow for weeks before the deal. Rea was sent back to the Padres.
One has to wonder why Preller is still in the game. It’s his second suspension, privately suspended by MLB in 2010 while he was an assistant GM with the Texas Rangers for violating international signing rules.
–I didn’t have time the other day to bring up a piece by ESPN’s Howard Bryant on the state of baseball and Baltimore outfielder Adam Jones’ comment that the sport won’t willingly be one of the fronts on the civil justice front.
“Baseball, Jones said, is not the black-dominated world of football or basketball, saying that the game lacks the untouchable wealth of black superstar power, and even a reputable volume of rank and file for it to support a similar form of protest (to Colin Kaepernick’s). In demographics and attitude, Jones said baseball is ‘a white man’s game.’
“(The) baseball industry has essentially confirmed Jones’ suspicions through a deafening silence of incuriosity that further severs it from its groundbreaking past, and the truth of the matter is sinking into the soil: Baseball is a white man’s game, and is so by the specific design of the people who run it. In a country full of world-class black athletes, baseball cannot seem to attract many. Nothing Jones said is statistically, factually or anecdotally remarkable except for that he took the remarkable step of actually saying it.
“Major League Baseball is 8 percent African-American and more than 30 percent Latino…
“The game has two black managers, no black owners and one black general manager. It has one Latino owner, no Latino managers and one Latino general manager….
“Since the 1950s, baseball has had at least a trio of African-American players who were Mount Rushmore-level Hall of Fame players. No such trio exists today, and the last time one did was likely the late 1990s, when Barry Bonds, Frank Thomas and Ken Griffey Jr. were all considered, at one point, the best player in the game. That was nearly 20 years ago.
“Jones’ critique of his industry is particularly withering because of the game’s lineage. Baseball’s whiteness in 2016 is so starkly in contrast to baseball’s postwar roots, where not only did the giants of the game like Jackie Robinson, Henry Aaron and Willie Mays share its face along with Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle and Sandy Koufax, but also because it was in baseball where the Kaepernick moments occurred, from Robinson’s fighting for integrated hotels to Aaron and the Braves demanding integrated seating as a condition for moving from Milwaukee to Atlanta. The black heritage has disappeared along with its progeny."
–I forgot to mention the other day that USA TODAY Sports selected its Minor League Player of the Year and it’s Alex Bregman of the Astros. Bregman, an infielder, was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 draft out of LSU.
Bregman actually only played 80 games in the minors before the Astros promoted him to the big league club on July 25, where he’s hitting .260 with 8 home runs in 196 ABs.
In his 80 games at AA Corpus Christi and AAA Fresno, he had a combined 20 homers and 61 RBI, while batting .306 in 314 ABs.
Past winners of the award?
2015…Blake Snell (Tampa Bay)
2014…Kris Bryant (Cubs)
2013…Xander Bogaerts (Boston)
2012…Will Myers (Kansas City)
2011…Paul Goldschmidt (Arizona)
–We note the passing of W.P. (Bill) Kinsella, author of Shoeless Joe, which was adapted for the movie Field of Dreams. He was 81.
CFB
No. 1 Alabama held on to beat 19 Ole Miss in Oxford, 48-43, despite 421 yards and 3 touchdowns from Ole Miss QB Chad Kelly. Ole Miss got off to a 24-3 lead before ‘Bama took charge in all facets for the win.
But No. 2 Florida State was annihilated by 10 Louisville 63-20, the most points ever allowed by FSU, as Cardinals quarterback Lamar Jackson accounted for another five touchdowns (17 carries for 146 yards and 4 scores, plus 216 yards passing and a TD), giving Jackson 18 touchdowns in the first three games (10 rushing, 8 passing).
Louisville also became the first ACC school to score 60 points in three straight.
I’m not sold on the Cardinals yet, but in two weeks we’ll learn if they are really BCS bound when they travel to Clemson.
Should they beat Clemson, though, their next five games are cupcake city until they play Houston on Nov. 17.
No. 3 Ohio State beat 14 Oklahoma 45-24 in Norman, as Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer moved to 13-3 against top 25 teams in his tenure at OSU. Oklahoma fell to 1-2. Bye-bye.
4 Michigan came back from a 21-7 first-quarter deficit to roll over Colorado 45-28.
No. 5 Clemson got a much needed rout of South Carolina State, 59-0. With the score 45-0 at halftime, S.C. State coach Buddy Pough agreed with Clemson coach Dabo Swinney to shorten the second half to two 12-minute quarters instead of 15 minutes.
Earlier in the week, Pough’s expectations for his team were clear.
“We want them to just kind of come out and just kind of go on through the motions and get on out of there, which would probably be the best case scenario for us,” Pough told The State newspaper.
And the Bulldogs received $300,000 from Clemson for their non-effort.
Speaking of money, North Dakota State received $500,000 from No. 13 Iowa to travel to Iowa City and the Bison, the perennial Football Championship Subdivision power that has won the last five FCS national titles, upset Iowa 23-21 on a 37-yard Cam Pedersen field goal as time expired.
North Dakota State is good enough to run the table from here for its sixth straight title.
No. 12 Michigan State ended Notre Dame’s playoff hopes in just the third week, handing the stumbling Irish their second loss, 36-28.
9 Wisconsin held on to beat 0-3 Georgia State 23-17 in a performance that won’t help the Badgers.
California prevailed in Berkeley against No. 11 Texas, 50-43, on a controversial call on a fumble recovery…that wasn’t…at the end of the game, but to be fair, Texas would have had to go the length of the field in about 1:30.
More importantly, as one of the pregame analysts whose name escapes me said, he didn’t understand why Texas scheduled this particular road trip. A season killer.
Another whose thoughts of the playoffs are already over, No. 22 Oregon, lost at Nebraska 35-32, as the Cornhuskers moved to 3-0. This just isn’t your father’s Duck team. They have to retool. My Duckwear is at the bottom of the sports drawer these days.
Appalachian State had its biggest football game at home in its history, hosting 25 Miami, but the Mountaineers laid an egg, getting blasted 45-10 as Hurricanes QB Brad Kaaya threw for 362 yards the 3 touchdowns.
In other games….
Pitt suffered a tough road loss at Oklahoma State, 45-38, as Cowboys quarterback Mason Rudolph threw for a school-record 540 yards and 2 touchdowns, with receiver James Washington catching nine for a staggering 296 yards (most in the nation this year) and the 2 TDs. For the Panthers, James Conner rushed for 111 yards on 24 carries.
Penn State beat Temple 34-27, while Rutgers defeated New Mexico 37-28 behind Robert Martin’s 169 yards rushing.
Navy moved to 3-0 with a 21-14 win at Tulane.
Boston College suffered a humiliating 49-0 loss at the hands of Virginia Tech, as the Eagles picked up just six first downs down in Blacksburg. Next week, B.C. hosts Wagner. Trust me on this….good seats are available.
Duke lost at Northwestern 24-13.
But Wake Forest, in beating Delaware 38-21 at home, is 3-0 for the first time since 2008, but lost the previous week’s star, quarterback Kendall Hinton, to a sprained knee, while freshman running back Cade Carney didn’t play due to injury.
Wake’s next two games are at Indiana and at North Carolina State. If they win one of them, we’re suddenly looking 7-5 at worst on the year. I’d take that in a heartbeat.
–John Feinstein / Washington Post
“At West Point, they call them the gray days. They come every winter, not long after football season has ended. The leaden skies are perpetually gray; the cadet uniforms are gray; the buildings are gray; and the outlook, as one frigid day follows another, is often bleak.
“That’s been especially true for most of the past 20 years at the U.S. Military Academy, where the success of the football team often dictates the mood of the Corps of Cadets. There are more privileges when the football team is winning, the mood on the post, as the Army campus is called, is lighter, and the gray days don’t feel quite so daunting.
“Which is why last Saturday’s 31-14 win over Rice on a hot, humid afternoon was all about bright blue skies and cheery grins for everyone in uniform – football uniforms on the field at Michie or the summer whites the rest of the corps was wearing in the stands.
“For the first time in two decades, Army was 2-0.”
The other win was an impressive upset at Temple in the opener.
But Sunday morning there was a knock on the door of head coach Jeff Monken. School officials were there to tell him sophomore cornerback Brandon Jackson was dead, killed in the one-car accident in Westchester County shortly before 2 a.m. I wrote of in my last Bar Chat.
Monken conceded that while “We all know that even when these things happen, you still have to keep on living…Still, we’re all reeling right now.”
Monday, Monken gathered his leadership council, 14 players who represent all four classes.
“The first question he asked them was whether they wanted to play on Saturday in El Paso (against UTEP).
“ ‘The answer was emphatic and unanimous,’ Monken said. ‘I was pretty certain it would be because I knew they’d all feel like they were letting Brandon down if we didn’t play.’
“Then, Monken asked the harder question: Did he think they could prepare for the game as if it were any other without even considering the notion that they had an excuse for losing? ‘I said, ‘You can go out there and get your butts kicked and people will feel sorry for you and say it was understandable. Or, you can go in there the way you went in the first two games with an absolute belief you’re going to win the game.’’
Feinstein:
“It will be weeks, according to police, before the cause of the accident is known. Regardless, everyone at West Point will continue to deal with Jackson’s loss, even as they honor him.
“The gray days will return, inevitably, in a few months. The mission of the football team to make them a little less bleak is now that much more difficult – and that much more important.”
Saturday night, Army blasted UTEP 66-14. They are 3-0 for the first time since 1996.
–Thursday, 6 Houston traveled to Cincinnati for a good test and the Cougars were trailing early in the fourth, 16-12, before outscoring the Bearcats 28-0 the rest of the way for a 40-16 win. Houston had two interception returns for scores in their final blitz.
–Friday, 21 Baylor whipped Rice 38-10. Rice’s band received more publicity than the game action because its halftime show mocked former Baylor coach Art Briles and former school president Ken Starr. Rice later apologized.
But I’m getting the biggest kick out of how all of Baylor’s game recaps talk about Briles and almost never mention that interim coach Jim Grobe clearly has stabilized the situation.
–The San Diego Union Tribune had a story the other day on the 25th anniversary of a special day in San Diego State University history, the day running back Marshall Faulk produced 422 all-purpose yards, including 386 yards rushing, while scoring 7 touchdowns and a 2-point conversion in a 55-34 win over the University of Pacific. He didn’t enter the game until there was 4 minutes left in the first quarter.
That day, the starting back, T.C. Wright, a senior, suffered a thigh bruise and Wayne Pittman was supposed to replace him, but he couldn’t find his helmet. So third on the depth chart was the freshman Faulk, who enters the game and then starts running wild.
Faulk would go on to run for 1,429 yards and score 23 touchdowns that first year and it vaulted him into the national spotlight.
NFL
–The Giants moved to 2-0 with a less than scintillating 16-13 win over the Saints (0-2), as Eli Manning played well (32/41, 353, 0-0, 104.1), but New York coughed up three fumbles in the first half. For the Saints, Drew Brees threw for only 263 yards (89.5 rating), with both teams’ running games beyond suckdom.
–Entering Sunday’s play, Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton had a passer rating of 106.8 since the start of 2015, a figure topped only by Seattle’s Russell Wilson (107.5). Yes, better than Tom Brady, Drew Brees…Ben Roethlisberger (95.8). [Michael Salfino / Wall Street Journal]
But he’s the poster boy for the Bengals’ unreal playoff futility, having lost all four of his postseason starts (2011-14)*, with a passer rating of 57.8 and just one touchdown pass to go with six interceptions.
*Dalton was hurt late last season and didn’t play in Cincy’s fifth straight playoff loss, this time to Pittsburgh.
So Sunday, it wasn’t exactly “Bad Andy” who showed against the Steelers, Pittsburgh winning 24-16, it just wasn’t enough “Good Andy,” as he was 31/54, 366, 1-0, 84.3, while Roethlisberger was 19/37, 259, 3-2, 78.5.
—Arizona won its first with a 40-7 win over Tampa Bay, Carson Palmer throwing for three touchdowns, while the Bucs’ Jameis Winston tossed four interceptions.
—Dallas (1-1) beat Washington (0-2) 27-23. Redskins Nation is panicking…as it should.
—New England (2-0) looks just fine without Senor Brady, as Jimmy Garoppolo* threw three touchdown passes in leading the Pats to a 31-24 win over the Flipper-less Dolphins (0-2).
*Nothing on his injured shoulder, though.
—Denver moves to 2-0 with a 34-20 win over Andrew Luck’s 0-2 Colts.
—Carolina beat San Francisco 46-27, both teams 1-1.
—Thursday night in Buffalo, the New York Jets did what they had to do, win, 37-31, to even their record at 1-1. Buffalo fell to 0-2.
Ryan Fitzpatrick was superb, 24/34, 374, 1-0, 116.5 rtg., as Erick Decker (6 rec., 126 yards), Brandon Marshall (6-101) and Quincy Enunwa (6-92) were the recipients of Fitzpatrick’s long-ball throws (10 completions of 15 or more yards.. Running back Matt Forte chipped in with 100 yards and three touchdowns on 30 carries, giving him 52 carries in his first two games as a Jet, dispelling any early questions about his fitness, and durability.
Fitzpatrick thus exorcised his Rex Ryan demons, or The Rex Hex that saw Fitz go 1-8 starting against Ryan’s defense, completing fewer than 50% of his passes. Plus you had that ignominious ending to last season when the Jets failed to make the playoffs largely because of Fitzpatrick’s three fourth quarter interceptions in a loss to the Bills.
With Buffalo, Rex Ryan is now 8-10 over his first 18 games at the helm, not exactly what he promised the fan base (and ownership). So he fired the offensive coordinator, Greg Roman, telling reporters on Friday, “This is my move, without question,” in an attempt to convince everyone it wasn’t the owners who forced him to pull the trigger. Roman was the NFL’s highest-paid offensive coordinator. Assistant head coach/running backs coach Anthony Lynn is taking over the OC position.
Lynn previously worked with Ryan with the Jets from 2009 to 2014, before joining Ryan in Buffalo.
Of course many are asking, why was the offensive coordinator fired after the ‘O’ put up 31 points? Why wasn’t the defensive coordinator, Rex’s twin brother, Rob, fired?
—Jeff Fisher had some big years coaching the Tennessee Titans, including an appearance in Super Bowl XXXIV, where he lost to St. Louis.
But since he began coaching the then-St. Louis Rams in 2012, he has never led the team to more than seven wins and his coaching record is 27-37-1.
Yet he is said to be close to a three-year extension. Why?
Meanwhile, there are stories from the likes of Keyshawn Johnson that Fisher was very unhappy with the Rams’ selection of quarterback Jared Goff as the number one overall selection in the draft, having traded up to do so, and there are serious doubts about Goff’s maturity and leadership. I haven’t been watching “Hard Knocks” and missed that Goff revealed on the show he didn’t know if the sun rose in the East or West.
Johnson told Stephen A. Smith this week, “I’ve seen Jared Goff for three years. Three years out here in the Pac-12. I like him. He’s a nice kid, but he wouldn’t have been my number one overall pick. He just wouldn’t have been. …
“This isn’t Andrew Luck or Cam Newton we’re talking about. You don’t move up to take this type of guy.”
The Rams did beat the Seahawks 9-3 today (so make it 28-37-1), the first home game for L.A. at the Coliseum before 91,000.
–Chris K. first gave me the bad news that former Wake Forest lineman and now Giants fullback/defensive end Nikita Whitlock had been suspended for 10 games for a second violation of the league’s PED policy. Due to a foot injury he wasn’t likely to play anyway, but now his pro football career is very much in jeopardy. Idiot. And he had such an inspiring story at one time.
–In a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week, 61% of Americans said they do not agree with Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand for the national anthem. 72% said they thought it was unpatriotic.
But 64% said they felt Kaepernick had the right to protest, and 46% said he should not be penalized by the NFL.
–The NFL announced it was committing $100 million to a new concussion initiative that “builds on what we’ve done,” said Commissioner Roger Goodell. $60 million is being devoted to technological development, including improving helmets, and an additional $40 million toward funding medical research into the effects of head injuries.
–The Pro Football Hall of Fame is catching some grief after convicted rapist Darren Sharper appeared on the Hall’s nomination list.
Sharper, a five-time Pro Bowler, who is on because at least one Hall of Fame selector nominated him. He was also nominated last year – before he pleaded guilty in a case in which he was accused of drugging and raping up to 16 women in four states. Sharper was sentenced to 18 years in prison last month.
Hall of Fame spokesman Joe Horrigan explained there is no character clause in the bylaws, which are approved by the Hall’s board of directors.
O.J. Simpson, despite calls for his removal from the Hall of Fame, remains a member. Ditto linebacker Lawrence Taylor, who has had more than a few run-ins with the law, including sexual misconduct and patronizing a prostitute who was 16 years old.
—Why Roger Goodell Sucks, Part XXIV
I’m just astounded Victor Cruz and Odell Beckham Jr. were fined $12,000 each for a group celebration in the Giants’ season-opening 20-19 win over Dallas.
The issue wasn’t with Cruz’s salsa dance celebration after the decisive touchdown, but Beckham pantomimed taking a photo of Cruz as he did the dance, which is where the group celebration apparently comes into play.
Premier League
Watford pulled off the upset of the weekend, beating Manchester United for the first time in three decades, 3-1 at home. Teenager Marcus Rashford tied it at 1-1 for Man U but Watford had two late goals to get the deserved victory.
In other games of note, Arsenal whipped Hull 4-1; Leicester beat Burnley 3-0 as it appears it’s back in form (see below); Everton continued its great early play with a 3-1 win over Middlesbrough; and Man City blitzed Bournemouth 4-0.
But in beating lowly Sunderland 1-0, Tottenham suffered a number of injuries, the biggest being what appears to be a serious one to Harry Kane’s ankle, Kane scoring the lone goal in the contest. He was carted off.
So it’s Man City atop the standings after five of 38 matches, 5-0-0, 15 points, while Everton is all alone in second with 13 points (4-1-0), and Tottenham is third with 11 (3-2-0). [W-D-L]
–In Champions League play last Wednesday, Man City defeated Borussia Monchengladbach, as Sergio Aguero had a hat trick.
Leicester City, in their first ever Champions League contest, beat Club Brugge 3-0.
But Tottenham, in its first Champions League game since 2011, lost to Monaco 2-1, in front of a record crowd at Wembley Stadium, 85,000. It was played there because Tottenham is doing work on its home stadium at White Hart Lane.
There is a lot of criticism of the group stage in the Champions League because so many of the contests are blowouts, but it’s all about the money and can’t say I blame the authorities who put it all together.
The next round of games is Sept. 27-28, the Spurs playing at CSKA.
Golf Balls
—Andrew “Beef” Johnston was attempting to get his PGA Tour card through the Web.com Tour Finals, a four-tournament series where 25 2016-17 tour cards are earned by the end.
In the first event, the DAP Championship, Johnston tied for 28th, but this weekend at the Albertsons Boise Open, he took the 36-hole lead with a 63 on Friday and ended up finishing fourth to Michael Thompson…good enough for Beef to secure a card. Awesome! We need more Beef!!!
Johnston won his first European Tour event earlier this year, so he does have a 2017 card on that circuit as well, but now he has the options provided on the more lucrative PGA Tour.
—Irish golfer Shane Lowry on slow play: “It’s horrendous. I recently played nine holes in three hours for a practice round. The European and PGA Tours are going to have to start penalizing shots. Guys on the PGA Tour make so much money that they don’t care about a couple of grand fine, and golfers can be quite selfish and think about themselves and no one else in their group. Stroke penalties are the only thing you can do to make a difference.” [Golf Magazine]
–Golfer and fitness fanatic Gary Player turns 81 in November and he told Golf Magazine before an interview that he had just done 1,300 sit-ups and crunches, “and I put a hundred-pound weight on my chest for the last 200….and I pushed 400 pounds with my legs.”
NASCAR
New Jersey’s Martin Truex Jr. did it again, winning his third race of the year, sixth career, in taking the first leg of the Sprint Cup Chase at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, IL. If you follow the sport, you know he was sincere in thanking his pit crew.
Stuff
–Hours after I posted my last Bar Chat, having mused about what the ACC would do with its championships in light of North Carolina’s controversial House Bill 2, which is considered by many to be anti-LGBT, the conference joined the NCAA, NBA and other organizations in pulling its official league events out of the state.
For now the decision includes the relocation of the 2016 ACC Football Championship Game, scheduled for Charlotte. No word yet on the new site.
—George Washington University men’s basketball coach Mike Lonergan was released of his duties on Saturday in the wake of an independent investigation into claims he verbally abused players..
Provost Forrest Maltzman said in a statement, “The university concluded that Coach Lonergan had engaged in conduct inconsistent with the university’s values.”
An interim coach will be announced soon.
–We note the passing of three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee, 88. Albee is best known for “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”
Several years ago he penned a note to be read at the time of his death: “To all of you who have made my being alive so wonderful, so exciting and so full, my thanks and all my love.”
“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” opened on Broadway in 1962, a Tony-winning play that in 1966 was made into an award-winning 1966 film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
His first two Pulitzers were for “A Delicate Balance” (1967) and “Seascape” (1975), but after “Seascape” he went through a 20-year drought where his work was savaged by critics, until his 1994 play, “Three Tall Women,” which garnered him his third Pulitzer.
–Marc Myers of the Wall Street Journal had a piece on the 50th anniversary of the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations,” which Brian Wilson spent seven months producing at an estimated cost of more than $400,000 in today’s dollars – a record at the time for a single.
Brian Wilson: When I was 14, a neighbor’s dog barked at my mom. I couldn’t figure out why. My mom said, “Brian, sometimes dogs pick up vibrations from people and if they feel threatened, they bark.” About nine years later, in 1965, I was at home at my piano in L.A. after smoking a joint. I wrote a chord pattern for a song based on what my mom had said about vibrations.
It was Oct. 10, 1966, and the song reached #1 on Billboard’s pop chart in December. It also appeared on the Beach Boys’ “Smiley Smile” album in 1967.
Al Jardine: At the time, we were recording a lot of material for “Pet Sounds.” But Brian wanted to hold “Good Vibrations” for “Smile,” our next scheduled album. We begged Brian to put “Good Vibrations” on “Pet Sounds,” due for release in May. But Brian felt the song was too far-out for the album. Capitol was reluctant to release “Pet Sounds” without a hit single, so they inserted “Sloop John B.” This gave Brian the entire summer of ’66 to work on “Good Vibrations.”
By contrast, “God Only Knows” was written in a half hour.
Top 3 songs for the week 9/15/79: #1 “My Sharona” (The Knack) #2 “After The Love Has Gone” (Earth, Wind & Fire…top ten for them…) #3 “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” (The Charlie Daniels Band)…and…#4 “Don’t Bring Me Down” (Electric Light Orchestra) #5 “Lead Me On” (Maxine Nightingale) #6 “Sad Eyes” (Robert John) #7 “Lonesome Loser” (Little River Band) #8 “I’ll Never Love This Way Again” (Dionne Warwick) #9 “Good Times” (Chic) #10 “Sail On” (Commodores…one of their better ones…)
NFL Quiz Answer: 2,000 yards rushing in a season….
Eric Dickerson 2,105, 1984, Rams
Adrian Peterson 2,097, 2012, Vikings
Jamal Lewis 2,066, 2003, Ravens
Barry Sanders 2,053, 1997, Lions
Terrell Davis 2,008, 1998, Broncos
Chris Johnson 2,006, 2009, Titans
O.J. Simpson 2,003, 1973, Bills
Interesting…only one other back has over 1,900; Earl Campbell, who rushed for 1,934 in 1980 with the Oilers.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
