[Posted Wed. a.m.]
NBA Quiz: Name the only six to average 27 points per game for their career (all modern era, post-1960). Answer below.
SB LI Postmortem
As you know I posted last time literally a few minutes after the game so there was no time for real analysis. I’ll now leave that to the experts below.
But what I’ll remember from the game is Atlanta not running DeVonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman more than 18 times!
Julio Jones’ four terrific receptions, including that last one that should have been a game-winner.
Obviously, Julian Edelman’s catch for the ages.
And two, 2-point conversions…they just aren’t supposed to be that easy.
Bill Reiter / CBSSports.com
“Somehow, down 25 points in the second half against the Atlanta Falcons, Brady and the Patriots had mounted a stirring comeback to force the first overtime in Super Bowl history. Behind his record-setting 466 Super Bowl passing yards, and a couple of late touchdowns capped off by successful two-point conversions, New England had claimed one of the most stunning wins in sports history. As a result, the Patriots had their fifth championship under Brady-Belichick, a combination that now defines sports excellence well beyond the NFL….
“It is now certain: Tom Brady and Bill Belichick are without peers in the history of the game. They took Deflategate, and Sunday’s huge deficit, and the haters and doubters, and the weighty challenge of winning a fifth championship, and wove it all into proof of what their singular alchemy has created:
“The GOAT NFL head coach.
“The GOAT NFL quarterback.
“The GOAT comeback in league history and, given all the subtexts and the stage and the fact that it was at a Super Bowl, perhaps the GOAT comeback in any sport, ever.
“The GOAT – excuse my language here – ‘screw you’ moment sports has had the pleasure and awkwardness to watch.
“And as the ultimate opus to all of this, it happened in the GOAT Super Bowl, the finest championship game football has ever produced….
“There is and will likely never again be a coaching-player combination like that between Brady and Belichick. Together the pair – the formerly fired Cleveland Browns head coach and the sixth-round, draft-pick-afterthought QB – have conquered and redefined America’s biggest, baddest sport. Neither age nor a commissioner’s wrath nor what should be an insurmountable deficit against the league’s best offense could best them.
“Belichick has now won five championships, passing Chuck Noll for the most of all time. He has appeared in seven Super Bowls, passing Don Shula. He has mounted the most impressive revenge tour in the most dramatic, mind-blowing way.
“Brady, too, now stands alone. The five rings, passing Montana for the record…. And at 39, with Deflategate now a catalyst for his greatness rather than a stain on it, a signature moment few athletes outside of the likes of Jordan, Ali and Tiger have ever attained.
“Revenge. Greatness. History. A piece of art, which is what that comeback was, that defined the best Super Bowl of all time. It is all theirs. They have no peers.”
Steve Politi / NJ.com
“Before the fourth-quarter miracles kept coming, play after play, before the greatest quarterback in NFL history rebounded from an awful start and rewrote the record books, before the inevitable New England Patriots’ 34-28 victory in overtime was complete in Houston, remember this:
“The Atlanta Falcons – and their N.J. guy coach, Dan Quinn – blew it.
“They absolutely, utterly, unforgivably blew it….
“(The) Falcons gave away this game in a way that will haunt this franchise and its fans. They had the ball on the New England 22-yard line when receiver Julio Jones made one of the most ridiculous catches in Super Bowl history.
“There was 4:47 left on the clock, an eternity in the NFL, but the Falcons had a 28-20 lead. The Patriots were about to start burning their timeouts with the knowledge that they’d likely need to score twice to have any shot to force overtime.
“ ‘It’s easy to second guess,’ Quinn said.
“Yes, it is. This was an easy call: Run the ball three times. Burn some more time off the clock, kick the field goal and see if Brady could overcome that 11-point lead. So what did Quinn and the Falcons do?
“The Falcons called for a pass on second down. Quarterback Matt Ryan was buried by defensive lineman Trey Flowers for a 12-yard loss that pushed the Falcons to the brink of field-goal range. Then, a holding penalty pushed them back even further. The Falcons had the game won, and instead, they had to punt the ball back to Brady.
“The rest? History….
“Quinn looked like a genius in the first half. His defense sacked Brady again and again, making the veteran look like a rattled rookie. The 21-3 lead at halftime became 28-3 when the Falcons cooly marched down the field to start the third quarter, and it looked like the only excitement on this night would come from Lady Gaga’s wild halftime show.
“But the Falcons didn’t finish off the Patriots, didn’t ram the spike through their hearts. Quinn, if anybody, should understand the importance of doing that. He was the defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks when New England scored 14 fourth-quarter points to steal a victory in Super Bowl IL.
“That game was won on another unthinkable coaching blunder, when the Seahawks threw the ball into the end zone instead of handing the ball to their bruising back Marshawn Lynch. This one?
“This one will be remembered for what the Patriots did, and rightfully so….
“The moment the Patriots won the toss for overtime, you knew this one was over. (Brady) clinically marched his team down the field against a gassed Atlanta defense, setting off a wild finish from the pro-Patriots crowd. How can one part of the country keep getting so many parades?
“Still: It shouldn’t have come to that. This is a game the Atlanta Falcons absolutely, utterly, unforgivably choked away. The victory belongs to Tom Brady and New England again, but hasn’t anyone learned that these guys don’t need any damn help?”
Mike Vaccaro / New York Post
“How do you ever believe something is impossible ever again after watching this? And how do you ever believe something is inevitable?
“How do you ever – as in ever, again – count out a great team, especially this great team, after watching the Patriots rally from 21-0 down, from 28-3 down, to capture this 34-28 victory in Super Bowl LI? And how do you ever – as in ever, again – allow yourself to invest your heart in a team like the Falcons, a team that had this game by the jugular vein and then…just let it get away?….
“And how can you not feel bad for Matt Ryan, selected this week as the league’s Most Valuable Player over Brady? Ryan was perfect, literally for a half. But when simply being adequate would have solidified the first world championship in his team’s history, the banana peels started falling at his feet. He coughed up a fumble. He took an unforgivable sack. Matty Ice to Matty Vise just like that.
“How can you not look at Bill Belichick this morning and not think about the old Branch Rickey line – ‘I’d rather be lucky than good’ – even if you rank him at the top of the list of the NFL’s all-time great coaches? Belichick has now won five titles by a total of 19 points and won this one in large measure because Julian Edelman made a David Tyree-style miracle catch on the drive that tied the game….
“How could you not look at the defiance in Robert Kraft’s eyes as the Patriots’ owner endured torpid congratulations from Commissioner Roger Goodell before shaking his hand (as Brady, classily, had done earlier) and not detect, clearly, the satisfaction in his voice as he declared to the joyful mass of Patriots Nation: ‘This, unequivocally, is the sweetest one of all!’
“And how could you not look at the sad-eyed, hang-dog look that Arthur Blank wore on the sidelines at NRG Stadium, clutching the hand of his wife, Angela, believing he had come to the first floor of a civic coronation and slowly seeing all of it melt around him, like a surreal (and sorrowful) Dali painting? How could you not see the entire sporting city of Atlanta – now 1-168 in the four major sports going back to their origin as a big-league town in 1966 – in those eyes, in that face?
“How can you awaken this morning with hate in your heart for the Patriots – even those devil Patriots – who played with precisely the kind of heart and grace and grit that is only and exactly what we ask from any team we hand our heart over to? Just because they don’t belong to us, doesn’t mean they can’t elevate us?
“And how can you not have pity for the Falcons – a team so nondescript for most of its 52 years – who now must convince themselves that the sun really will come out Monday morning?
“Answer to all: You can’t. What a game.
“What a hell of a game.”
Bill Plaschke / Los Angeles Times
“On the goal line, James White dragged three Atlanta Falcons into the end zone.
“Ten yards back, Tom Brady tore off his helmet and stepped into history.
“It was as breathtaking as the roar that filled NRG Stadium, as glittering as the red, white and blue confetti that fell from the ceiling, and as simply unbelievable as anything ever seen in the 51 years of America’s greatest game.
“It was Lady Gaga flying down from the stadium roof during the halftime show, only it was without the rope. It was Brady and the Patriots flying back from a 25-point deficit and swooping into history Sunday with a 34-28 overtime victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI.
“ ‘We’re bringing this sucker home!’ a dazed Brady shouted to the thousands of Patriot fans afterward as he stood on a field stage and shook the giant silver Lombardi Trophy in his right hand.
“It will be carried in the arms of a man who must now be recognized as the greatest quarterback in NFL history directed by the man who has now been crowned the greatest coach in NFL history, and earned after the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history….
“They did it with a stunning strip, an incredible Falcon play-calling blunder, an impossible catch, and, ultimately, a victorious coin flip and a 75-yard overtime drive that ended in White’s two-yard touchdown run.
“It was arguably the greatest Super Bowl ever, followed by one of its most human celebrations. Brady wept. Several of his teammates collapsed. Others bounced around on the turf in a rolling hug. By the time the trophy was carried to the celebration stage, several Patriots shakily lined up to touch it and loudly curse in disbelief.
“Then it was time for the real craziness, when Commissioner Roger Goodell handed over the trophy to a Patriots organization still angry over this year’s four-game suspension of Brady for allegedly deflating footballs.
“The boos for Goodell were so loud, one could barely hear his congratulations. Only when Patriots owner Robert Kraft began speaking did the roars return.
“ ‘A lot has transpired during the last two years, and I don’t think that needs any explanation, but I want to say to our fans, our brilliant coaching staff, and our amazing players who were so spectacular, this is unbelievably the sweetest,’ said Kraft.
“Yes, the moral of this story is, in the end, the Patriots got the last laugh, again.”
With the score 28-3….
“ ‘Just play every play,’ said receiver Julian Edelman. ‘Play every play.’
“Thus began a string of 31 consecutive points that pushed the Falcons into what history will also remember as a legendary collapse.
“ ‘For sure, it hurts like hell,’ said Falcons Coach Dan Quinn.
“The Patriots scored on a five-yard pass to White, then on a 33-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski, then it got interesting. With 8:24 left in the game, (Dont’a) Hightower stripped the ball from Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan deep in Falcon territory. Five plays later, Brady hit Danny Amendola for a six-yard pass to close the gap to eight points.
“As unreal as it seemed to those watching, it was equally as startling for the most important player. As Brady was throwing for a Super Bowl record 466 yards while winning a record fourth MVP, he was also being battered and bruised into a fog….
“ ‘There was a lot of (bleep) that happened tonight,’ he said later, unable to describe certain situations. ‘I got hit pretty hard.’….
“This is what Tom Brady does. This is what Bill Belichick does. This is who the New England Patriots are, and it doesn’t matter if you are tired of their perceived arrogance or agree with some of their proclaimed politics or just love to hate them.
“ ‘You feel like you’re kind of immortal,’ said Patriots defensive end Chris Long.
“On a night when greatness tackled history, it kind of looked like it too.”
Adam Kilgore / Washington Post
“The entry point of Tom Brady’s professional football career made sense late Sunday night, as he stood on the podium and confetti fell on his shoulders and he cradled another Lombardi Trophy, the totem of his fifth Super Bowl title. NFL teams passed on Brady 198 times in the 2000 draft. Everybody knows that by now, but on this occasion it warrants repeating. They didn’t overlook him because every NFL team is run by idiots. There was no readily available reason to want him. He was scrawny, he couldn’t throw much of a deep ball and he ran like a gawky teenager.
“How can you blame someone for not seeing something that’s invisible? What made Brady a viable NFL player, and then a starting quarterback, and then a Super Bowl champion, and then the greatest of all-time, is the same thing that landed him on that podium Sunday night. Brady is a product of intelligence and diligence, but those qualities would be rendered useless without the best of Brady. What makes Brady, and what won him another Super Bowl, is his competitive will….
“Sunday, Brady played the greatest game of football the sport has seen. Not the most perfect, nor the most artistic, nor even the most excellent. Just the greatest….
“The numbers are stupefying, and they would not have been unattainable if not for Brady’s central feature. He would not let anything that happened Sunday night make him anything less than whole. The Falcons slammed him and knocked him to the turf, and he betrayed no physical diminishment. He threw an inexcusable pass that swung the game in Atlanta’s favor by three touchdowns, and he showed no mental weariness. He knew how to fix the problem, and he knew he could do it. He kept coming….
“Brady, like the rest of us, has his flaws. He can be teased for underinflating footballs, dogged for evading questions about his pal Donald Trump and doubted for decisions in his personal life made when he was younger. But he is an impregnable competitor. He took a beating Sunday night and faced certain doom and, at that moment, at age 39, played quarterback at a level rarely attained before.
“ ‘We’re all going to remember this for the rest of our life,’ Brady said.
“So will everybody else.”
Jason Gay / Wall Street Journal
“This spectacular Super Bowl is why the NFL lights $1,000 cigars with $100 bills. Why TV networks line up to pay billions for rights, and digital companies will pay billions in the future. It’s why football – despite all of its abundant nonsense – remains the premier entertainment in America, ahead of even movies about talking animals or being rotten to each other on Twitter.
“It’s a crazy game that can get you to do crazy things, football. It can get you to scream at the TV and break your heart in the space of minutes. We can flip between loving it and hating it and yet it remains irresistible. Never was it more irresistible than it was Sunday night in Houston. Even if underneath all that confetti, it still felt unreal.”
–The Patriots ran 93 plays to the Falcons’ 46, the biggest play disparity in NFL postseason history, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
—The game notched a 48.8 television rating and a 72 household share, down from the 49.0 rating and 73 share for last year’s game, according to Nielsen. The peak rating was 52.1 between 10 and 10:30 p.m.
Ratings for all NFL games in the 2016-17 season were down 9 percent during the regular season and 6 percent through the first three weeks of the playoffs, according to research firm MoffettNathanson.
–New York Post television critic Phil Mushnick was gushing in his praise of Fox’s Joe Buck, and Buck indeed did a great job of calling the game…“He won the night by finishing second to a game he could not surpass.”
–The San Francisco 49ers made it official on Monday, hiring Atlanta’s Kyle Shanahan to be their head coach, the team’s fourth coach in as many years. Shanahan replaces Chip Kelly.
Atlanta replaced Shanahan with Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, who was in his job for all of one game, the College Football Playoff championship contest against Clemson, after he had replaced Lane Kiffin.
–Even I’m ticked off someone stole Tom Brady’s game jersey, which Ken Goldin of Goldin Auctions in New Jersey says could fetch as much as $500,000.
“He is the most popular and most collectible football player ever,” Goldin said. The bidding would start at $300,000.
Brady was fourth on the sales list for replica jerseys this past season, trailing Ezekiel Elliott, Dak Prescott and Carson ‘Senor’ Wences. [Yes, I saw the David Price story.]
—James White made a huge mistake. He forgot to keep the game-winning touchdown ball.
“I actually don’t know what I did with it,” White told Dan Patrick on Tuesday. “I left it on the ground and started running.”
I haven’t seen if the Patriots still have it.
–Will Brinson / CBSSports.com
“It’s been a bad football season for Las Vegas, and a horrible playoff run actually managed to get worse with the Patriots winning Super Bowl LI on Sunday night.
“ ‘For Nevada’s largest sports book operator, William Hill, it was a fitting end to a terrible pro football season,’ a spokesman said. ‘The Patriots, trailing 28-9, were available at 16/1 (+1600) on the LIVE InPlay Money Line, and their comeback was very profitable for the majority of bettors.
“ ‘The favorite covered. The total went over. All the popular props cashed.’”
William Hill said there hundreds of “triple digit” tickets on the Pats when they were 10-to-1 or higher.
“There were also a ton of bets on whether there would be a missed extra point, and 87 percent of them had ‘Yes,’ which paid off +250.
‘Yes’ on overtime paid 11-to-2, with 85 percent of the tickets on ‘Yes.’
It was pretty unusual the line of Pats -3 never budged.
–In a totally classless move, the Boston Bruins fired their Stanley Cup-winning coach Claude Julien the same day as the Patriots’ victory parade. General Manager Don Sweeney apologized for the timing. His excuse was that the team was on a two-day break and this gave them time to recover from the emotions of Julien’s dismissal.
College Basketball…New AP Poll (2/6)
1. Gonzaga 24-0 (59)
2. Villanova 22-2 (6)
3. Kansas 20-3
4. Louisville 19-4
5. Oregon 21-3
6. Baylor 20-3
7. Wisconsin 20-3
8. North Carolina 21-4
9. Arizona 21-3
10. UCLA 21-3
11. Cincinnati 21-2
12. Virginia 17-5
15. Kentucky 18-5
17. Florida 18-5
18. Duke 18-5
25. SMU 20-4
–Monday, Virginia hosted undermanned Louisville and the Cardinals, playing without their second- and third-leading scorers, Quentin Snider and Deng Adel, and their center, Mangok Mathiang, got off to a 34-32 lead at half in Charlottesville, but then Virginia rolled in the second and pulled away for a 71-55 win. Adel and Mathiang were suspended for the game for missing curfew. Snider had a hip flexor.
Coach Rick Pitino, speaking prior to the contest, said of the two who were suspended: “For some reason, Mangok and Deng chose to break curfew and were out very late. The players were fully aware that we have zero tolerance in this area. This is an extremely big game for our basketball team and it would be an understatement to say that I am extremely disappointed in both young men.”
Louisville played with only seven scholarship players (another, Tony Hicks, was out with a broken hand).
–So last chat I had this, pertaining to a mock draft I saw.
“What us Wake Forest fans need to note is that at least in this one, in the entire first round, 30 teams, Megdal does not have our star, PF/C John Collins, though Collins has to be playing his way into it. Ditto guard Bryant Crawford. We’re just hoping one of them returns.”
As I then started writing this column, I saw a mock draft by Chad Ford of ESPN and Collins was No. 24.
But Tuesday morning, Ford amended his draft and Collins was No. 19!
“He’s crazy efficient around the basket, a great athlete and a very good defender. He might be the most underrated player on the board. I won’t be surprised if he moves up significantly before the draft.”
Like I said…Collins is movin’ on up. It didn’t hurt that he had 24 points and 14 rebounds on Tuesday against Notre Dame in South Bend, but the Deacs lost, 88-81, as they gave up 52 points in the second half. I won’t call this a bad loss…we were down 74-72 with 3:00 to play…but we have to play some ‘D’ down the stretch.
Wake is now 14-10, 5-7, while Notre Dame snapped a four-game losing streak to move to 18-6, 7-5. If Wake doesn’t beat N.C. State at home on Saturday, so much for my NCAA prediction.
Also Tuesday, tough loss for 19 South Carolina (19-5, 9-2), 90-86 in four overtimes to Alabama (14-9, 7-4).
Separately, Central Michigan’s 5-foot-9 guard Marcus Keene dropped 41 on Ohio in a 97-87 win Tuesday, Keene now averaging 30.7 points per game in his quest to become the first Division I player since Charles Jones of LIU in 1997 to average 30 for a season. Yes, Keene models his game after Boston Celtics superstar Isaiah Thomas, another 5-foot-9 guard.
–A high school star picked up some ink Tuesday. Lamelo Ball, younger brother of UCLA star Lonzo Ball, dropped in 92 points…92…in a 147-123 victory for his team, Chino Hills, against Los Osos. Ball was 37 of 57 from the field, 7 of 20 from three. He had 41 in the fourth quarter. 63 in the second half. Remember, these are eight minute quarters.
Ball is a legitimate four-star UCLA commit, but he’s just a sophomore. There is another brother, LiAngelo, who, get this, “is currently sitting out two weeks to rest up for the forthcoming playoffs.” What a bizarre, freakin’ high school league this is!
NBA
–The Knicks lost to the Lakers at Madison Square Garden on Monday, 121-107 in what all agree was a total disgrace. L.A. had lost 12 in a row on the road. With the Knicks now a season-worst nine games under .500, 22-31, coach Jeff Hornacek promised tougher practices.
“You have to play for some pride,” he said. “If you come out there and just play basketball, you’re on the wrong level. These teams come in – it’s New York. You don’t match their effort and energy, you’re not going to win.”
Point guard Brandon Jennings said, “We all make millions of dollars playing this game, so the least we can do is go out there and play hard every night.”
Yup, no kidding. It also just needs to be said that over the past month, Kristaps Porzingis has sucked.
–The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the hot Washington Wizards (30-21) 140-135 in overtime on Monday, with LeBron James hitting a game-tying 3-pointer with 0.3 seconds left in regulation. Entering the game, James was 1-for-his-past-17 and 2-for-his-past-31 on go-ahead or game-tying 3-point attempts in the final five seconds of regulation or overtime.
James finished with 32 points and a career-high 17 assists. He also fouled out for only the fifth time in his career.
But LeBron was torqued off all over again by a media report, via the New York Daily News’ Frank Isola, that he was pushing the Cavs’ front office to acquire Carmelo Anthony, “even if it potentially means having to include Kevin Love in a deal, which is something Cavs management is opposed to doing.” [Isola]
Isola then wrote: “The Cavs vehemently denied that LeBron, who has been at odds with the front office, is forcing the team to make a deal for Anthony. In fact, LeBron called it ‘trash’ while Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue said ‘Kevin (Love) should be happy that teams want him, but he’s not going anywhere.’”
So when James was asked about the report, he said: “I saw it and heard about it, it’s trash, and the guy who wrote it is trash too, for writing that.”
LeBron really is a jerk these days.
Speaking of jerks, there is no bigger one in the New York area than Phil Jackson, who is also in the December file for other potential awards. Jackson keeps sniping at Carmelo Anthony, tweeting Tuesday that Anthony reminded him of Michael Graham, a player from back in the 1980s who Jackson had a hard time “reaching.” Just absurd stuff.
MLB
I was reading a piece by Buster Olney of ESPN on the number of free agent veterans still on the market, including sluggers like Mike Napoli and Chris Carter, and, presto! Within hours, Napoli and Carter signed, or were strongly rumored to be close to deals on Tuesday.
Carter and his 41 home runs in Milwaukee last year is headed to the Yankees for one year, $3.5 million, including a $500,000 signing bonus. How could a guy who led the N.L. in home runs be around so long in free agency and then sign for just one year at a relatively miniscule price?
Because his metrics, including an N.L.-high 206 strikeouts and .222 batting average (.218 lifetime), are pretty pathetic. But I like this move by the Yanks.
And Mike Napoli reached a one-year deal with the Texas Rangers, after hitting 34 homers and driving in 101 for Cleveland last season.
But he, too, also fanned a lot…194 times. It’s Napoli’s third stint with Texas. Not sure what the terms are but no doubt it’s performance-bonus laden.
Golf Balls
–Looking back at Sunday’s final round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open, winner Hideki Matsuyama was sure irritated a lot by the fan behavior, including shouts on his backswing.
Yup, he was so irritated he won the event for a second straight time, after finishing second in 2015. Five worldwide wins in his last eight starts overall.
–It’s going to be interesting to see how Webb Simpson plays the rest of the year. Two weeks ago he said he was “lost.” Now the impressive second-place showing at Phoenix. His longtime caddie, Paul Tesori, picked up something in his swing (he was swaying off the ball), and he went to see Billy Harmon, “and he really helped me out.”
–And what to make of Sergio Garcia’s wire-to-wire finish in Dubai? Is he finally ready to break through in a major? He had two top-fives in majors last year (Oakmont and Troon).
On a personal level, Garcia, they say, is far more personable than he had been, which seems to be the result of his impending marriage to Angela Akins, a former University of Texas golfer.
Jaime Diaz / Golf World
“The cumulative effect is that Garcia is freer than ever to take full advantage of his greatest strength: ball-striking. Among insiders, Garcia is renowned for the way he can compress a golf ball, especially with his irons. It’s a product of the extraordinary lag Garcia achieves on his downswing, a move that was criticized as too extreme, especially as he failed to fulfill his early promise….
“Garcia led in greens in regulation in Dubai, was second in driving accuracy and third in driving distance….
“ ‘I love playing golf,’ said the former sulker. ‘Just the possibility of doing it year in, year out for a living, it’s something that is magnificent to start with. The hunger is still there.’”
Men’s College Hockey Rankings (2/6)
1. Minnesota-Duluth
2. Denver
3. Boston University
4. Harvard
5. Minnesota
6. Union
7. Boston College
8. Western Michigan
9. UMass-Lowell
10. Penn State
18. St. Lawrence
Stuff
—Army fined its defensive coordinator Jay Bateman $25,000 and suspended him from football-related activities for two weeks for his role in WakeyLeaks…Bateman accepting leaked information from former Wake Forest radio announcer Tommy Elrod, the service academy said in a statement Tuesday.
In addition, an internal investigation found Bateman and former assistant Ray McCartney accepted “non-public information and took actions to conceal the information and its source.”
Bateman had served as an assistant under Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson while at Richmond in 2004.
So Army becomes the third football program to admit its assistants took information from Elrod, the others being Louisville and Virginia Tech.
Elrod’s attorneys, by the way, have yet to issue a comment on his behalf. [Andrea Adelson / ESPN]
–Norman Chad / Washington Post…as part of his Super Bowl diary.
“4:44: Here’s the thing about the Viagra single pack: It just seems to put a lot of pressure on knowing the right moment to use it.”
–Some of the best high school basketball in the country is right here in New Jersey. As I’ve written from time to time over the years, recruitment of top players for the 4 or 5 main powers is rather intense and the other day, NJ.com published an investigation of the Paterson Eastside High School boys program, where it was found the coach, Juan Griles, had as many as six overseas players living with him. Griles and his assistant were suspended hours later by the Paterson Public School District.
The players are from Puerto Rico and Nigeria and now the state is looking at how they got here.
–We note the passing of “Professor” Irwin Corey, the wild-haired comic who billed himself as “The World’s Foremost Authority” and proceeded to confuse his audiences with a stream of pseudo-intellectual musings and doublespeak. I have to admit, I thought the man died a while ago. He was 102.
For those of us of a certain age, Corey was a fixture on the likes of the Ed Sullivan, Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas shows.
Dennis McLellan / Los Angeles Times
“Although Corey never reached the heights of many fellow comics of his generation, no less a cultural authority than theater critic Kenneth Tynan once described him as ‘a cultural clown, a parody of literacy, a travesty of all that our civilization holds dear and one of the funniest grotesques in America. He is [Charlie] Chaplin’s clown with a college education.’”.
—Huge shakeup on the All-Species List, but you’re going to have to check out the site for the update. I will say that ‘Wolverine’ is now formally under review after a certain “Lassie” episode was brought to my attention.
–Hardeep Phull / New York Post
“At a pre-Super Bowl LI press conference, Lady Gaga hinted that her halftime show would be about ‘inclusion.’
“She got that right. It was hard to imagine anybody not enjoying the 12-minute, stunt-laden, firework-decked, tightly-choreographed spectacular she laid out in Houston.
“For Gaga, this was potentially a career-saving triumph. Her last album, ‘Joanne,’ stalled both critically and commercially, but her halftime show gave the world a much-needed reason to fall in love with the New Yorker all over again….
“Much of the pre-show talk was about whether Gaga would get overtly political. But she didn’t need to, because everything she’s ever wanted to say has always been in her lyrics. Her 2011 smash ‘Born This Way’ was sung with brio and spoke loudly to her promised theme of ‘inclusion.’ [Ed. I had the same thought listening to it.]”
So Monday morning, I was shopping at Staples and asked the checkout girl, in her 20s, if she liked Gaga’s act. “Not really,” which kind of surprised me.
Then I went to the bank and no one else being in line, I asked the three female tellers, all young, what they thought and two liked Gaga’s performance, one didn’t. So your EXCLUSIVE poll reveals a 2-2 split. Since it’s my site, I break the tie…Advantage Gaga.
Lady Gaga then announced a tour on Monday. She’ll do well. She also sold about 150,000 digital albums and songs on Sunday, according to Nielsen Music.
Top 3 songs for the week 2/10/79: #1 “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” (Rod Stewart…godawful…) #2 “Y.M.C.A.” (Village People…ugh…) #3 “Le Freak” (Chic)…and…#4 “A Little More Love” (Olivia Newton-John) #5 “Fire” (Pointer Sisters…another truly awful song…) #6 “Every 1’s A Winner” (Hot Chocolate) #7 “I Will Survive” (Gloria Gaynor…yeah, but I won’t after this crappy week in music…) #8 “September” (Earth, Wind & Fire…phew…a real tune…) #9 “Too Much Heaven” (Bee Gees) #10 “Lotta Love…Nicolette Larson…has held up OK…)
NBA Quiz Answer: Six to average 27 ppg for their career….
Michael Jordan 30.12
Wilt Chamberlain 30.07
Elgin Baylor 27.36
Kevin Durant 27.29
LeBron James 27.13
Jerry West 27.03
Next Bar Chat, Monday.
