Posted: Sunday p.m.
Note: I make no apologies for an abbreviated chat. I was down in Kiawah, S.C., the past few days and didn’t return home until late Sunday afternoon. There was little time for work, though I managed to put a “Week in Review” to bed, and I did play a round at the Ocean Course on Friday with friends, a few beers after, while Saturday was about my annual half-marathon, and I have to say, my time was easily the worst ever, but I was as pleased as I’ve ever been because I literally didn’t train for the thing. If you want to know how far you need to run to do 13.1 miles, I’ve got it down to 6. I’m talking I’ve still never walked a portion of any half and now I’m fired up for next year, because I’m out to turn the clock back to 4 or 5 years ago.
Anyway, after the obligatory three beers immediately after the race, I passed out for three hours back in the room before rallying for Saturday night’s festivities, which included what comes next.
College Football
In Navy’s 14-game winning streak over Army, at least four of the last five were decided by a touchdown or less, after the first nine were routs.
But Saturday, Navy was without quarterback Will Worth, who has been 50% of their total offense this season, and Army won, 21-17, in a turnover strewn game (4 Army, 3 Navy); the Black Knights outgaining the Midshipmen 351-201, with 23 first downs to Navy’s mere 8.
Yes, it’s a cliché…you throw out all the stats in this one…all that matters is the final score and who sings second. So it was Army getting to sing their alma mater second for the first time in 15 years. A terrific contest…as we bid adieu to Verne Lundquist too.
–In the Division I-AA / FCS championship quarterfinals….
South Dakota State 10
North Dakota State 36…as they gun for their sixth straight title.
Wofford 23
Youngstown State 30 (2 OT)
Richmond 0
Eastern Washington 38…kind of like end of the Civil War, know what I’m sayin’?
Sam Houston State 7
James Madison 65…good lord! Dolly’s pregame ice cream did the trick.
–No surprise…Lamar Jackson of Louisville won the Heisman Trophy over Deshaun Watson. Jackson had built up too much of a lead before his last few subpar performances, while Watson had a poor relative start to the season before turning it on late.
The gap between Watson and the third-place finisher, Baker Mayfield, was the widest in decades.
–Pitt’s James Conner declared for the draft, after 3,701 yards rushing, second in school history to Tony Dorsett. Conner ended up #1 in career TDs with 56.
Conner is also a cancer survivor. It will be interesting to see where he goes. I’m guessing he is somewhere between the 5th and 6th rounds. Two years ago, he would have been a first-rounder.
–Major Applewhite is the new head coach at Houston, where he was offensive coordinator. There was talk Alabama’s OC, Lane Kiffin, was in the running but then Houston officials said that might not be a good move (given Kiffin’s interesting ‘issues’).
–Rashaan Salaam, the 1994 Heisman Trophy winner, died at the age of 42, an apparent suicide. That magical season for Colorado, Salaam had 2,055 yards rushing with a 6.9 yards per carry average. Salaam won the Heisman in a rout, besting Penn State’s Ki-Jana Carter.
But some thought his key play as a college player was a block in the so-called “Miracle at Michigan” play, when Kordell Stewart’s pass was tipped into the hands of Michael Westbrook on the final play of the game, giving the Buffaloes a stunning 27-26 win over the Wolverines.
In an ESPN 2014 history of the pass, Salaam said, “My thing was to give Kordell enough time. There was a three-man rush, and I was told to block. I went to the left, and I stepped up and made the block. Everybody was on the same page. Kordell made the pass.”
Salaam was taken in the first round by Chicago and rushed for 1,074 yards and 10 touchdowns his first year, being named NFL offensive Rookie of the Year. But he was out of football 17 games later, a career cut short by fumbles and what he described as excessive marijuana use.
NFL
–Sorry, no time for this…though I watched some of the action. I’ll fill in as needed next time.
–We note the passing of former Dallas Cowboys linebacker, Dave Edwards, 76. He played for Dallas from 1963 through 1975 and was an integral member of the so-called Doomsday Defense, helping lead the team to three Super Bowls, winning in Super Bowl VI, 24-3 over Miami.
Edwards played in 181 games with 13 career interceptions.
–Last Monday night’s Jets-Colts game was the second-lowest rated MNF telecast ever, next to September’s Falcons-Saints game that went up against a presidential debate.
College Basketball
No big upsets the last few days, though No. 7 North Carolina eked out a 73-71 win Sunday night against Tennessee in Chapel Hill, which isn’t encouraging if you’re a Heels fan because the Vols blow.
I was sitting in a bar in Kiawah after Army-Navy, watching Duke against UNLV and caught much of Grayson Allen’s superb performance for the Blue Devils, 34 points in a 94-45 wipeout, including a spectacular put back on a rebound that showed off Allen’s athleticism. He has been off to a poor start this year but this effort could springboard him back to first-team All-American status (as much as it pains me to write this).
Also Saturday, No. 1 Villanova’s Josh Hart was spectacular in a 74-66 win over No. 23 Notre Dame, 37 points on 10 of 14 from the field (3 of 4 from three), and 14-14 from the free throw line.
I do have to note that last Wednesday, my “Pick to Click” San Diego State lost to Grand Canyon 76-72. I’m, err, not real happy. It comes down to this. Malik Pope isn’t developing one bit yet seemingly thinks he’ll be a first-round draft pick one of these days.
MLB
–The consensus is the White Sox cleaned up at the Winter Meetings, including the days before. They dumped players for prospects, seven seemingly solid ones. While USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale said the team will stink in 2017, and probably 2018, aside from the impressive haul they received for pitcher Chris Sale and outfielder Adam Eaton, they could receive a lot more when they inevitably unload Jose Quintana, Jose Abreu, David Robertson and Todd Frazier.
In the trade with the Nationals for Eaton, Chicago gained three top pitching prospects; Lucas Giolito, rated one of the best in baseball, Dane Dunning and Reynaldo Lopez.
Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post was incredulous.
“Talk about bad optics. Giolito, 6 feet 6, 250 pounds, has been a hot story for years with his Hollywood family and ‘top pitching prospect in baseball’ tag. Then Lopez arrived last season and outshown him easily with a fastball that touched 100 mph, plus an outstanding curve, a fine change-up and an aggressive approach. Dunning merely had a 2.02 ERA in eight starts in the minors.
“On the other side, who is this Eaton? He’s 28, with a .284 career batting average, and hit a modest 14 homers and stole 14 bases last year. His next 60-RBI season will be his first. What could be so special about a 5-8 player called ‘Spanky’ whose wins above replacement the past three years have been…5.2, 3.9 and 6.2 at Baseball-Reference?
“Excuse me, stop, that has to be wrong – must be a misprint.
“By WAR, an all-inclusive stat that measures a player compared with the average (or ‘replacement’) player at his position, Eaton becomes one of the best dozen players in the majors last season – and one of the top 20 over the past three years.
“How many Nats have a 15.3 WAR over the past three years since Eaton became a starter?
“None.
“And nobody, including Bryce Harper (12.5), Anthony Rendon (11.0) or Daniel Murphy (7.9), is particularly close.
“Well, this horse manure statistic better be right.
“Because the Nationals absolutely believe it….
“Eaton’s greatest strength is that he apparently has no obvious weaknesses.”
Nats fans are keeping their fingers crossed on this one, big time.
Among the losers the past week was division rival Detroit, which was unable to trade outfielder J.D. Martinez, or second baseman Ian Kinsler for prospects. And as for all the rumors surrounding Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander, no one bit on the other end. In fact, the Tigers didn’t receive one feeler for Cabrera, which is kind of staggering. Or maybe not, with Miguel having $220 million left over the next seven years on his contract. Verlander attracted some interest, but he’s owed $106 million over the next four years.
In the meantime, if I’m a White Sox fan I’m pumped. The team has direction, and it’s the right one.
Meanwhile, one of the surprises of the Winter Meetings was Colorado, who decided to spend for the first time in ages. They signed Ian Desmond to a five-year, $70 million contract, even sacrificing the No. 11 pick in the draft next year, and they’re still after free agent slugger Mark Trumbo. If they sign him, then they could turn around and trade either outfielders Charlie Blackmon or Carlos Gonzalez for pitching help.
As for the Mets and Yankees, after signing free agent slugger Yoenis Cespedes, Met GM Sandy Alderson has been very open about any next moves. They are contingent on trading either Jay Bruce or Curtis Granderson to reduce the payroll and the Mets have made no bones about wanting to get some relief or catching help for Bruce, first and foremost; Granderson offering some versatility in that he can fill in at center field.
The Yankees? While they have a terrific future, having accumulated a ton of top prospects, some are wondering why they would give Aroldis Chapman $86 million over five years, by far a record for a closer.
A few others….
The Cubs traded outfielder Jorge Soler to the Royals for closer Wade Davis, who has a 1.18 ERA the last three seasons.
But Davis had arm trouble last season and was limited to 43 1/3 innings. He did make 10 appearances for K.C. after returning from the DL.
Soler, 24, hit .238 with 12 home runs and 31 RBIs in 86 games for the Cubs. He certainly has potential.
The Pirates weren’t able to find a home for Andrew McCutchen after his ‘off season,’ 24 home runs, 79 RBIs, .256. I would expect him to bounce back big time. He’s got something to prove after all the trade talk.
Then there’s Dexter Fowler, he of the World Champion Cubs, who signed a 5-year, $82.5 million contract with division rival St. Louis. Boy, he’s a solid player, .393 on-bae percentage last season, but that is a huge amount of money for a guy who will give you 12-13 home runs, 50 RBIs and 15 steals. [I thought he’d be a good Met for like 3 / $30m.]
NBA
–Saturday night, the Clippers’ Chris Paul became the first since at least 1977-78 to have 20 points, 20 assists and zero turnovers in L.A.’s 133-105 win over the Pelicans, according to Elias. Of course here at Bar Chat, we are massive fans of Mr. Paul…or maybe not.
The Knicks are 13-10 before Sunday night’s contest against the Lakers in L.A. after a 103-100 road win at Sacramento; Carmelo Anthony with another big game (33 points, 7 rebounds) after getting dissed, again, by Phil Jackson.
–Friday, OKC’s Russell Westbrook tied Michael Jordan with his seventh straight triple-double (27-10-10), though it was in a 102-99 loss to the Rockets.
But then the streak ended on Sunday in a 99-96 win over the Celtics in OKC, Westbrook having 37 points and 12 rebounds, but just 6 assists.
Soccer
So I got home today in time to see the overtime and penalty kick phase of the NCAA Finals, Wake Forest vs. Stanford. What a disappointment. After a scoreless contest through regulation and OT, all Wake needed to do was make its fifth penalty kick for the title, but it was stopped and then freakin’ Stanford won their second national championship in a row with the next kick in the second round. Great season for the Deacs, but as Charlie Brown would say, “Drat!”
In Premier League action….
Here I just wrote how defending champ Leicester City was flailing, but on Saturday, Jamie Vardy, who I noted had just two goals in 14 games, had a hat trick in a 4-2 win over Manchester City.
In other key contests, first-place Chelsea won its ninth in a row, 1-0, over West Brom. I owe big Chelsea fan, Dr. Whit, a huge apology. As we’re leaving the bar at Kiawah Saturday night, he goes, “(Editor), you owe me a $1.” “What for?” “Chelsea-Tottenham.”
I felt awful I forgot this, having only spent the previous 36 hours with my good friend.
So Whit, please accept my heartfelt apology.
In other games….
Arsenal beat Stoke City 3-1; my Spurs lost to Manchester United 1-0; and Liverpool suffered a poor draw against West Ham, 2-2.
Chelsea remains on top of the standings, leading Arsenal 37-34 points, Liverpool third at 31.
Stuff
–How important is Tiger Woods to golf? In last week’s Hero World Challenge where Tiger made his comeback, the ratings for Golf Channel were off the charts. For Thursday’s first round, the rating was .86 (or about 786,000 viewers), which was up 190 percent from coverage of last year’s event, without Tiger. While the figures may seem low, this is for a weekday in December, in a non-official event.
Friday’s dropped, but was still 200 percent over its comparable, Saturday’s was up 162 percent, and then Sunday’s with NBC was up 92 percent, even though when they picked up the coverage, Tiger was well out of contention.
–The International Doping Agency, in conjunction with the World Anti-Doping Agency, has now concluded 1,000+ Russian athletes concealed positive drug test in recent Olympic Games. WADA concluded Russian athletes and government officials were involved in an “institutional conspiracy” of an “unprecedented scale.” [Especially from 2011-2014’s Sochi Games]
Just ban Russia for 20 years. Let Donald Trump explain it to Putin. [Or Rex Tillerson.]
–New Jersey set a record with over 600 bears killed during this year’s hunt, breaking the previous record of 592 set in 2010; in case you were wondering just how many we have in my state…it’s a lot. There are two who have set up shop just a mile from me and the town is trying to come up with legislation to take ‘em out because there is a bus stop for the schoolkids in the bears’ adopted habitat. It’s easy to say, just let them be…until there is an unfortunate incident. Some of these bruins are in excess of 500 pounds.
–In the U.K., more was spent on vinyl records last week than on digital downloads, the first time this has happened in years. For vinyl, it was a 100 percent increase over a year earlier.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday….back to normal.
*Good dog story for next ASL, posted sometime late Monday morning.
