[Posted Sunday p.m., prior to the Grammys, which I may or may not comment on next time.]
*This is a late notice…but if you do NOT want the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, contact Sports Illustrated immediately. Or send it to me and I will distribute said copy to the gentlemen at the local retirement home.
New York Knicks Quiz: 1) Name the only four Knicks to score 11,000 points in their NY careers. 2) Name the only Knick to average 30 points per game for a season (different from No. 1). All are post-1960. Answers below.
The Saga of the Oak Man, the Knicks and James Dolan
Wednesday night, with the New York Knicks hosting the Los Angeles Clippers, Charles Oakley, a Knicks legend who spent 10 of his 19 seasons with New York, was arrested and charged with three counts of assault following an altercation in the stands near where owner James Dolan was sitting.
“I certainly think Charles should be embarrassed,” Dolan said after. “Should we be embarrassed? No, it’s sad. The staff at MSG were abused. Don’t be embarrassed – just refuse to be embarrassed.”
It was indeed an ugly and at the same time very sad situation. A police source told ESPN that Oakley had purchased a seat a few rows behind Dolan and was directing comments at the owner. Oakley denied he was doing so.
Because the incident was on national television, and because Oakley is so beloved in New York, the situation exploded.
Oakley believes the team has ostracized him because he has been critical of the organization. Dolan said on Friday that he hopes to mend the relationship at some point, but the Oak Man was banned from the Garden indefinitely.
Michael Powell / New York Times
“Sometime Wednesday – as I watched Charles Oakley go face down on the Garden floor and get handcuffed, or maybe it was the next day when I read another of the Knicks president’s cryptic, emoji-laden Twitter posts that might read better if I were stoned – this thought occurred:
“Start running, because this building is coming down.
“I don’t mean that just because of this Knicks season. The team of my youth lets go of seasons like a lobsterman tossing underweight crustaceans back into the Gulf of Maine. I mean the entire Kremlin by Seventh Avenue apparatus run by the glowering James L. Dolan.
“The Garden’s insistence in this case on not just booting Oakley – who no doubt behaved badly, pushing security guards and cursing – from his seat at the game, but gang-tackling and handcuffing him on national television, was bad optics raised to high art. The Kremlin printing press swung into motion. A Knicks Twitter post arrived: ‘Oakley behaved in a highly inappropriate and completely abusive manner.’
“It ended: ‘We hope he gets some help soon.’
“That one took my breath away. Dolan would return to this theme on Friday, suggesting to the world that Oakley has drinking problems and an uncontrollable temper. Dolan, it should be noted, is a recovering alcoholic, and for facing down his demons he has nothing but my admiration. I have family members who are recovering alcoholics, and their lives are one long triumph and service given back to fellow alcoholics.
“For a powerful man, a billionaire, and his corporation to repeatedly traffic in this sort of innuendo about a former player is bullying, not help.
“Perhaps the Knicks’ president, Phil Jackson, or the assistant coach Kurt Rambis, who is a contemporary of Oakley’s, could have stopped by Oakley’s seat and tried to quietly defuse the confrontation. Perhaps Dolan might have taken a mensch’s shot and invited Oakley to his suite to talk it over. Perhaps, as worse was turning to worst, someone could have asked the Clippers’ coach, Doc Rivers, a fine man, to walk over and talk with Oakley, who was once his teammate.
“In photos, Rivers can be seen taking a step or three toward the growing confrontation, his face pained.
“There are probably 43 ways to try to defuse a breach of calm. The Knicks chose the 44th, which was to swarm him like a street-corner mug.
“The Knicks seemed to realize Friday that they had taken a sledgehammer to their brand, as NBA stars such as Dwayne Wade, LeBron James and Chris Paul, as well as former players and television celebrities, rallied quickly to Oakley’s defense. So Dolan took to the air on ESPN’s ‘The Michael Kay Show’ for one of his very rare interviews. Beforehand there had been speculation that he might announce a reconciliation with Oakley.
“Dolan was having none of that. He opened by announcing that he was barring Oakley indefinitely from Madison Square Garden. Then he suggested over and over that Oakley was an alcoholic and emotionally troubled.
“’ ‘He may have a problem with alcohol; we don’t know,’ Dolan told Kay. ‘There are personality problems.’….
“The media machine ground on. On Thursday, reporters were offered access not to employees who had seen Oakley that night, but to their anonymous statements. Reporters could not personally ascertain if those employees existed.
“Late Friday, the Garden released videos of employees talking about Oakley’s misbehavior. Reporters still could not interview them and draw their own conclusions. I wonder about their candor, as they learned that Dolan had earlier fired his senior vice president of security, apparently for failing to bar Oakley from the Garden – as Dolan suggested on the radio – that evening and therefore having to jump him on national television….If you run your business like a medieval fortress, you can’t complain about how precisely your Earl Constable beheads objects of your disfavor….
“The Knicks sell out night after night, and Dolan acknowledged that some fans had taken to booing his sad, underperforming team. He dismissed them as ‘a malcontent group that is very vocal.’
“ ‘Malcontent’ is a Dolan love tap.
“Did I mention this building is coming down?”
Stefan Bondy / New York Daily News
“James Dolan had a choice to take the professional and classy approach, perhaps even extend an olive branch to one of the most beloved Knicks in history.
“It could’ve garnered some goodwill (imagine that) from a loyal fan base and any top player crazy enough to think about signing with the Knicks. Think about a ‘Charles Oakley Night’ at the Garden, as Jeff Van Gundy suggested Friday.
“Instead, Dolan banned Oakley from the Garden.
“Instead, he accused Oakley of having anger management issues.
“Instead, he suggested Oakley is an alcoholic.
“Instead, he said Oakley was shouting things with ‘racial and sexual overtones.’
“Instead, Dolan opened himself up to a defamation lawsuit.
“In the backwards world of MSG, Phil Jackson, the man with a 71-148 record as an executive, is allowed to stay for as long as he wants. That’s according to Dolan. But Oakley, the all-Star power forward who helped the Knicks win 70 playoff games and advance to the NBA Finals, isn’t allowed in the building.”
Mike Wise / ESPN
“It took six security guards to bring his 6-foot-9, 260-pound frame to the ground and escort him through the tunnel, where he was handcuffed and eventually booked at a Manhattan precinct.
“It was then you knew the Knicks had hit their nadir. The organization that knew no bottom finally found one.
“The Knicks had yet again disregarded another important heirloom of Madison Square Garden’s past.
“Years ago, they wouldn’t extend the contract of Marv Albert, forcing the world’s greatest basketball announcer to move out of what was once the world’s greatest arena – allegedly because Albert was too critical of the team. They have shown no interest in having arguably the greatest player in franchise history as their head coach. Patrick Ewing, a Hall of Famer who has paid his dues to become one of the NBA’s top assistant coaches, can’t even get an interview.
“And now, team owner James Dolan has likely cut himself off from ever benefitting from the wisdom of the man who helped hold combustible Knicks teams together so long ago….
“The conflict on Wednesday produced as regretful an image as there has ever been at the Garden. It began when Dolan, the Emperor Commodus of this tale, allegedly decided he did not want a former player who had been openly critical of him and the organization sitting close to him….
“TNT’s Reggie Miller delivered his cruelest Garden dagger in 20 years Thursday, tweeting, ‘If you’re a FA to be, why would you play for an Owner who treats the past greats like this or a President who stabs star player in the back?’”
Oakley announced he’ll be holding a press conference this week and it’s expected he’ll be filing a lawsuit. Prominent civil rights attorney Earl Ward told the Daily News: “Those comments rise to the level of defamation. You’re saying you don’t know (if Oakley has an alcohol problem), it still raises the idea that he’s an alcoholic. It is defamatory.”
Stefan Bondy:
“If for no other reason, you’d think the Knicks would want to squash this situation because it stains their reputation with players and free agents. As one longtime NBA executive told the News: ‘They were already wary of playing for Dolan. But this stuff with Oakley takes it to another level.’ The same executive said that Dolan was a big reason Kevin Durant never considered joining the Knicks in the summer.”
Mike Vaccaro / New York Post
“Knicks owner James Dolan sits in his customary courtside seat Friday at Madison Square Garden during a game against the Nuggets.
“Outside, on Seventh Avenue, the anger was already roiling on the sidewalk, under the famous Madison Square Garden marquee. You half expected to see it advertised in bright neon colors:
“WED., FEB. 22, 8:00: BILLY JOEL LIVE!
“SAT., FEB. 10, 7:00: AVALANCHE VS. RANGERS
“FRI., FEB. 9, 7:40: FREE THE OAK MAN!
“ ‘The only reason I’m here,’ said a 26-year-old Knicks fan named Sean Coughlin, bedecked in a Knicks windbreaker over his ratty old No. 34 jersey, ‘is to yell Charles Oakley’s name as loud as I can, and hope someone will hear me.’….
“Dolan planned on sitting in his usual seat, behind the baseline, Eighth Avenue side, catty-corner to the Knicks’ bench. He knew what was coming, and with 5 minutes and 31 seconds to go in the first quarter, they came tumbling out of the old blue seats: ‘WE WANT OAKLEY! WE WANT OAKLEY! WE WANT OAKLEY!’….
“Just another night, ringside at the circus.”
Frank Isola / New York Daily News
“Make no mistake about it, the Knicks are officially back to being the biggest joke in the NBA. The team is a mess. Jackson picks fights with Carmelo Anthony on Twitter and Oakley gets dragged out of the arena.
“This is how the Knicks treat their best players, both past and present.
“For nearly 20 years there have been plenty of dreadful and embarrassing nights at Madison Square Garden. Too many to count.
“This one tops them all.”
Oakley told ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith on Thursday: “Well first of all I want to say I’m sorry to all the fans of the Garden, all the fans. It was just a bad scene. I love New York, gave my whole heart. I walked into the Garden, simply I was there four minutes. I was talking to people. One of the guys said someone is watching you. They have to tell Dolan anytime I walk into the Garden. Then I’m told I have to leave. Orders you have to leave the building.”
The Knicks have won one playoff series and had 11 different coaches in the past 17 years.
NBA, continued….
–The Knicks lost the game to the Clippers on Wednesday, 119-115, as Kristaps Porzingis finally broke out for 27, Carmelo Anthony chipping in with 28, but it’s the same old story, zero defense.
And they lost Friday, 131-123 to the Nuggets, another stirring defensive effort.
[But what’s this? They beat the Spurs at the Garden today, 94-90, as San Antonio’s Danny Green was just 2 of 10 from three.]
–Yes, quite a line for Draymond Green on Friday night, the first triple-double in NBA history with fewer than 10 points…4 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals in the Warriors’ 122-107 win over the Grizzlies in Memphis. Klay Thompson had 36 points but coach Steve Kerr only wanted to talk about Green
“That says it all right there,” Kerr said. “Draymond dominated that game. That’s as dominant of a performance as I’ve ever seen from somebody who scored four points.”
It was also an important win for Golden State after losing two previous games to Memphis this season.
Through Friday, Green is averaging 10.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 2 steals.
–Also Friday, my man James Johnson, former Demon Deacon, continues to play superbly off the bench for the Miami Heat, scoring a season-high 26 points with 8 rebounds and 3 blocks in Miami’s 108-99 win over Brooklyn at the Barclay Center.
For the streaking Heat, it was their 13th win in a row, the third best in team history, and the top streak in league history by a team under .500 throughout, as well as the best by a club that began at least 19 games below .500.
I mean every hoops fan knows by now the Heat started this campaign 11-30.
But it finally ended Saturday in Philadelphia. It’s not easy winning back-to-back in the NBA and the Heat fell to the 76ers, 117-109, though James Johnson went for 26, again, and was +10.
–Also Saturday, I caught a fair amount of Golden State and the return of Kevin Durant to Oklahoma City, with Durant leading the way for the Warriors, 130-114, over the Thunder and his former running mate, Russell Westbrook, who had 47 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists.
The Thunder faithful, still rightfully pissed over Durant’s betrayal, booed him heavily at the start throughout. Heck, I booed him, as I quaffed my beer.
—Stephen Curry was worth $200 million to Under Armour last year, sources told ESPN, though some say his value is much higher.
So the other day, responding to UA CEO Ken Plank’s expressed support for President Trump, wherein Plank told CNBC: “To have such a pro-business president is something that is a real asset for the country,” Curry told the Mercury News that he agreed, if you remove “the ET from asset.”
Plank said his comments were from a business perspective and not reflective of the company’s social stance.
Curry seemed mollified, but did not dismiss the possibility of leaving the company if he didn’t like its direction.
College Basketball
For the first time, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee revealed the top 16 seeds in an early version of its bracket on Saturday.
Villanova, Kansas, Baylor and Gonzaga were No. 1 seeds.
North Carolina, Florida State, Louisville and Oregon were on the No. 2 line.
3-seeds: Kentucky, Arizona, Virginia and Florida.
4-seeds: UCLA, Duke, West Virginia and Butler.
With so many conference games to go, this isn’t that meaningful, as one of the 2s then flamed out after release of the bracket, but what is interesting is there weren’t any Big Ten teams, which doesn’t bode well for the conference come Selection Sunday. Wisconsin, after all, is No. 7 in the current AP poll! Cincinnati, No. 11, is another notable omission.
I do agree with Seth Davis when he says the selection committee places a major focus on the “eye test,” which for selfish reasons, I hope helps the case of Wake Forest, who has looked much better than their overall record would indicate.
So with the above in mind, a recap of some of the bigger games after my last chat….
Thursday, 8 North Carolina traveled to Durham for their annual slugfest with 18 Duke and the Blue Devils prevailed in a terrific contest, 86-78, with Grayson Allen having a strong game, 25 points on 9-15 shooting from the field, 7 of 12 from three.
Also that night, 5 Oregon traveled to Pauley Pavilion and lost to 10 UCLA, 82-79, as the Ducks fell to 21-4, 10-2, and the Bruins, before a rare raucous crowd, improved to 22-3, 9-3.
And one more that night. Johnny Mac, who hails from Asheville, N.C., had been telling me of the upcoming Big South tussle between conference leaders Winthrop and UNC-A, and sure enough, what a phenomenal game, the Bulldogs prevailing 104-101 in two overtimes, as there was one clutch shot after another down the stretch in both regulation and OT.
For the Winthrop Eagles, Keon Johnson, a 5-7 guard averaging 22 points per game this season, had 40, except twice in OT he forgot that he was just 5-7 and had his shot blocked at crucial moments. Otherwise, a truly exciting player in the mold of the Celtics’ Isaiah Thomas and Central Michigan’s Marcus Keene.
[Keene, by the way, had only 12 points in Saturday’s loss to Miami (Ohio), thus dropping his average to 29.9 ppg in his quest to average 30.]
Back to the Big South, Saturday, Winthrop defeated Gardner- (Spud)Webb and UNC-A beat Longwood, so Asheville sits atop the conference standings at 12-2, along with Liberty, while Winthrop is 11-3. Assuming one of these three wins the conference tourney, could be upset city in a #3-#14 matchup.
In other games of note Saturday…there were few upsets…for once….
1 Gonzaga faced a stern test at 20 Saint Mary’s, with your editor watching much of this one, the ‘Zags prevailing 74-64 to move to 26-0, 14-0, while the Gaels are 22-3, 12-2.
[Nos. 2-6 all won as well…Villanova, Kansas, Louisville, Oregon (bouncing back to beat USC) and Baylor.]
14 Florida State (21-5, 9-4) lost to Notre Dame (19-7, 8-5) in South Bend, 84-72. Highly touted freshman and sure-fire lottery pick, Jonathan Isaac, has been extremely inconsistent of late for the Seminoles and had only four points Saturday.
But for the Fighting Irish, 6-5 Bonzie Colson continues to play superb ball, Colson with 33 points and 13 rebounds, after he had 27 and 16 against Wake Forest on Tuesday. Colson is averaging 10.8 rebounds per game, plus 16.7 points. A fun player to watch.
Elsewhere, Pitt (14-11, 3-9) upset Syracuse (16-10, 8-5) 80-75. As my fellow ACC friend Ken P. remarked the other day, when Pitt was 2-9 in league play, it’s the best 2-9 team of all time.
I mean this conference is stacked like no other year. Witness my Demon Deacons, who played their best game in years on Saturday, destroying North Carolina State 88-58, to drop the Wolfpack to 14-12, 3-10, while the Deacs improved to 15-10, 6-7.
The Deacs are playing with tremendous confidence these days. It’s just a shame they didn’t hold on the other week to beat Duke, which proved to be a pivotal contest for the Blue Devils.
Wake’s John Collins continued to improve his draft standing with his eighth straight 20-point effort (23), all ACC contests as well.
Speaking of Duke, a letdown was a certainty on Saturday, as they played Clemson only about 40 hours after their win over UNC, but Duke held on, 64-62, and should be climbing up the rankings at 20-5, 8-4. Clemson dropped to 13-11, 3-9.
Wake has a critical road contest at Clemson on Tuesday.
–Back to the first bracket by the selection committee and their omission of No. 11 Cincinnati, they lost Sunday to 25 SMU, 60-51.
–We note the passing of Fab Melo, the Syracuse star center and former first-round draft pick, who died at the age of 26 in his native Brazil on Saturday.
Melo, according to reports from there, died in his sleep. He was living with family members.
Jim Boeheim told ESPN, “We don’t know the cause yet. It’s so hard right now, so hard to believe. It’s a sad, sad day.”
Melo was the 22nd pick of the 2012 NBA Draft by Boston, but played all of six minutes in six games, before he was dealt to Memphis, where he was then waived. He then bounced around the D-League and returned home to play in Brazil.
Melo was named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year his sophomore season, helping Syracuse to a 34-3 record, but was ruled ineligible for the 2012 NCAA Tournament for academic reasons. He would later claim he couldn’t understand English. An NCAA investigation eventually concluded Syracuse attempted to get his grades changed in order to keep him eligible. The school had to forfeit the 34 wins and others as the scandal exploded, with Boeheim insisting to this day the school, and his program, did nothing wrong.
MLB
—Detroit Tigers fans have to be scared. Ditto Detroit Red Wings supporters. Beloved owner, Mike Ilitch, finally succumbed to old age, passing away Friday at the age of 87.
It was Ilitch who when other owners were moving their teams from the city to the suburbs opted to stay in the middle of Detroit.
City leaders heaped praise on Ilitch, known as “Mr. I” to most in Michigan. Mayor Mike Duggan said in a statement:
“Mike Ilitch was more than just a shrewd, successful businessman. He was a Detroiter through-and-through. Whether he was making pizza, building successful sports and entertainment franchises or supporting youth organizations in our city, Mr. I helped to bring thousands of jobs and opportunities to our city and attract millions of dollars of investment.”
Ilitch and his wife, Marian, founded Little Caesars, the chain that would later be known for its “Pizza! Pizza!” ads featuring an animated “Little Caesar” – in suburban Detroit in 1959. The business eventually grew into one of the largest carry-out pizza chains with several spin-off companies that now employ 23,000 people worldwide with revenues of $3.4 billion last year.
But it was Ilitch who saw the potential of downtown Detroit at a time others were fleeing. He revitalized the historic Fox Theatre and relocated his business headquarters to the city. When approached in 2009 by organizers to do a college bowl game in Detroit, he agreed to sponsor the Motor City Bowl, renamed the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, despite the awful economy then.
“It’s a sporting event, and we need sporting events,” Ilitch said at the time. “It picks our community up to no end, with all the great colleges we have in the state and the professional teams that we have. Thank God for ‘em, especially at times that are rough right now.”
Ilitch was the son of Macedonian immigrants, born on July 20, 1929. He played baseball at Detroit’s Cooley High School and was signed by the Tigers after his four-year stint in the U.S. Marines, spending three years in the minors before a knee injury ended his playing career.
But that led him to start a Little Caesars restaurant in a working-class suburb of Detroit, Garden City, and he began growing a chain, as well as a food distribution company, Blue Line Foodservice, that would become one of the largest of its kind.
Ilitch broke into the sports ownership business in 1982, when he paid $8 million for the struggling Red Wings. The team took home Stanley Cup titles in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2008.
In 1992, he then bought the Detroit Tigers for $85 million, and in 2000, moved them from storied, but fading, Tiger Stadium to Comerica Park, across from the Fox Theatre.
Ilitch then opened his checkbook, and that is what Tigers fans will worry about now. The Tigers would lose a record 119 games in 2003, but three years later advanced to the World Series, losing in five to the Cardinals. Even when they struggled, though, Ilitch would say, “I’m not afraid to go out and spend money…I’m not going to change my ways.”
But, sadly, he never got to see his team win a Series, losing in four games in 2012 to the San Francisco Giants, despite all the money spent on contracts for the likes of Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander, Victor Martinez and Prince Fielder.
Ilitch’s son, Christopher, is running the family holding company and will take over, but questions will loom until the son sets his own mark.
Mike Ilitch was a great man. And the epitome of a great American.
–The New York Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin reported that the Kushners, the New York real estate family whose scion is Jared, close adviser to President Trump, are in negotiations to buy the Miami Marlins.
Neither Jared, nor Charles Kushner, the family patriarch who spent over a year in prison for illegal campaign donations, tax evasion and witness tampering, is participating in the effort.
Forbes has reported the team had a “handshake agreement” to sell the Marlins for about $1.6 billion, though a person involved in the negotiations told the Times that figure is too high.
Any deal would have to win the approval of Major League Baseball, which would scrutinize the financing and ensure Charles Kushner had no role in the operations. MLB has to seriously consider the impact, positive or negative, the whole relationship with Donald Trump would have.
Current owner Jeffrey Loria paid $158 million for the team in 2002. The members haven’t been back to the playoffs since winning the 2003 World Series over the Yankees.
–As first reported by Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, Major League Baseball is testing a rule change in the lowest levels of the minor leagues this season that would automatically place a runner on second base at the start of extra innings.
Surprisingly, this has the support of the highest levels of the sport. Joe Torre, MLB’s Chief Baseball Officer and a strong proponent of testing, told Passan, “Let’s see what it looks like. It’s not fun to watch when you go through your whole pitching staff and wind up bringing a utility infielder in to pitch. As much as it’s nice to talk about being at an 18-inning game, it takes time.
“It’s baseball. I’m just trying to get back to that, where this is the game that people come to watch. It doesn’t mean you’re going to score. You’re just trying to play baseball.”
The specifics are to be worked out, but each inning from the 10th on would start with the runner on second base. You thus introduce a strategic element into the game: to bunt or not to bunt. I’m not sure if the next batter up is the runner placed on second.
But seeing as I’m one who hates change, this does make sense on a lot of levels. Teams invest way too much in their arms, for starters, and there is growing concern over fatigue, travel and the like. Certainly in the minor leagues, you’d think this would be adopted in full next year as one way to protect pitchers.
Adoption in the majors, though, would be years away, but over time, more and more players who are used to the change would be moving up to the big stage with acceptance of it.
Golf Balls
–Yes, Jordan Spieth is back, in a big way…winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am by four shots over Kelly Kraft…Spieth’s ninth PGA Tour triumph at age 23. [More on this next chat.]
Jordan has four top 10s in his first four events of the year. The majors are setting up spectacularly well.
—I can’t be the only defender of Tiger Woods who has now officially thrown up his arms and just felt, ‘whatever.’
I mean I wrote way back when Tiger set up his 2017 schedule that it was too aggressive, and we’ve discussed ad nauseam the idiocy of that flight to Dubai from Los Angeles…when you have freakin’ back issues!!!
Friday, Woods announced he was withdrawing from next week’s Genesis Open at Riviera, as well as the Honda Classic the following week to let his back “calm down.” Again, whatever. I don’t want to hear any more about this guy until he can, one, make a cut, and, two, play four rounds in a regular PGA Tour event…period. And then he has to do it again, a week or two later before any of us should take him seriously.
I still think any real sports fan would agree it would be delicious if this guy ever suddenly put it together and was there on a Sunday in a major to see if he could close the deal one more time. No doubt it would be great for television ratings. But until then, none of us are holding our breath.
As the New York Times’ Karen Crouse noted: “This will be Woods’ fifth injury-related reset since his five-victory season in 2013. He sat out more than three months in the spring of 2014; more than five months at the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015; two more months in 2015; and then all of the 2015-16 season.”
While we talk about how clearly Tiger’s intense workout regimen and incredible early swing speed have taken a severe toll, as Ms. Crouse also points out, when comparing how Nicklaus still won a Masters at age 46 with those saying Tiger still has time….
“But Woods has many more miles on his odometer than Nicklaus did at the same age. By 10, Woods, a child prodigy, had pounded more golf balls than Nicklaus had at 20. It is hard to read between the lines of the statement Woods released Friday and feel anything but foreboding.”
—Jordan Spieth went off on some professional autograph hounds at Pebble on Wednesday after his practice round. Spieth refused to sign when asked while attending to others who followed him around or were waiting for him.
That’s when, according to Spieth, one of them dropped an “F-bomb in front of three kids” and he responded to the “scums.”
Spieth related a couple of them were saying, “You’re not Tiger Woods, don’t act like you’re Tiger.”
Spieth added he’s quickly built up a database of familiar faces and signs that turn him off in these situations.
“I’m not appreciative of people who travel to benefit off other people’s success. I enjoy signing and sign for kids whenever we get the chance. And when these guys have these items that you’ve already seen online and people…our team keeps tracks of that kind of stuff. And then you have guys with bags of stuff who benefit from other people’s success when they didn’t do anything themselves. Go get a job instead of trying to make money off of the stuff that we have been able to do. We like to sign stuff for charity or for kids, and if you ask anybody universally it’s the same way.”
Good for you, Jordan. I’d throw the assholes in jail…if I was president for a day, he typed mischievously.
Premier League
The season is over, even with Chelsea managing just a 1-1 draw at Burnley on Sunday, Burnley being terrific at home (and dreadful on the road). Chelsea has an insurmountable lead of 10 points with 13 matches to play, barring an historic collapse, considering how well they’ve been playing.
My Tottenham Hotspurs had a chance to apply some pressure with a win at Liverpool on Saturday, but once again they reverted to form, unable to win against a fellow top-six team on the road. Manager Mauricio Pochettino said his squad showed a “lack of desire” in falling behind 2-0 in the first half, with the score remaining the same the rest of the way.
The Spurs have won just twice on the road since Sept. 24, including defeats at Chelsea and Manchester United, in addition to draws at fellow top-six rivals Arsenal and Manchester City.
In their past 17 meetings with the other top-six sides away from home, Pochettino’s teams have won just once. Yikes.
In other contests, Saturday….
Arsenal defeated Hull City 2-0, and Manchester United beat Watford 2-0.
Monday, Manchester City is at Bournemouth.
As for last year’s champ, Leicester City, the BBC had an analysis of Leicester’s troubles, as they seek to avoid being the first top-flight title winner in 79 years to be relegated to the second tier the following season. The Foxes haven’t won an away game starting in 2017 and heading into Sunday’s play had gone five games without a goal. No other top-flight team has endured such a run since Tottenham, 31 years ago.
Make that six in a row without a goal, as Leicester was shut out at Swansea, 2-0. They became the first reigning champion to lose five in a row in 61 years.
Jamie Vardy, who had 24 PL goals in 2015-16, has had only five, three of which came in one game against Manchester City, and now has just one in his last 18 league matches after Sunday.
Standings….
1. Chelsea 25 games played…60 points
2. Tottenham 25 – 50
3. Arsenal 25 – 50
4. Liverpool 25 – 49
5. Manchester City 24* – 49
6. Manchester United 25 – 48
7. Everton 25 – 41
15. Swansea 25 – 24
16. Middlesbrough 25 – 22
17. Leicester 25 – 21
18. Hull 25 – 20
19. Crystal Palace 25 – 19
20. Sunderland 25 – 19
The Foxes are just a single point above relegation. Manager Claudio Ranieri on Tuesday was given a vote of confidence. One more poor performance and he’ll be fired, regardless of what ownership said.
Alpine World Championships
—Switzerland’s Lara Gut, the defending women’s World Cup overall champion and a downhill bronze medalist at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, ruptured her left ACL and suffered meniscus damage during warmups at the world championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Gut does not need immediate surgery and has vowed she’ll be ready for the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, though she is missing the rest of this season, thus handing the overall title to Mikael Shiffrin, who holds a 180 point lead over Gut, with no one else within range.
At the World Championships, they’ve completed the men’s and women’s downhill and Super-G.
For the men, Beat Feuz of Switzerland took gold in the downhill, while Canada’s Erik Guay won the Super-G, with a silver in the downhill.
For the women, Ilka Stuhec of Slovenia won the downhill, with Lindsey Vonn picking up the bronze medal. You go, Lindsey! Nicole Schmidhofer of Austria won the Super-G.
Stuff
–The New York Rangers’ Henrik Lundqvist made 32 save for his 400th career win on Saturday night, as the Rangers won their fifth in a row, 4-2 over the Colorado Avalanche. Lundqvist is only the 12th goaltender to reach that mark, and just the third to do it with one franchise; the others being Martin Brodeur (Devils) and Tony Esposito (Blackhawks).
Lundqvist is also the first European-born goaltender to reach the mark.
But he’s had some godawful performances this season, more than any other year, and every Rangers fan knows we are only going to advance far in the playoffs if King Henrik is at the top of his game…and he has been lately, winning 8 of his last 9 appearances.
—At least six New England Patriots have said they would skip the champions visit to the White House. Chris Long, LeGarrette Blount, Alan Branch, Martellus Bennett, Devin McCourty and Dont’a Hightower. Not all of them expressed antipathy to President Trump, however.
—Tightrope walker Nik Wallenda promised Thursday that his show would go on, despite a high-wire accident on Wednesday that sent five performers tumbling 30 feet to the ground, though amazingly none were seriously injured beyond broken bones and bruises. All are expected to fully recover. [Actually, there are conflicting reports on the condition of one of the five.]
Eight performers were practicing a headline act for Circus Sarasota, with Wallenda in the “rudder” position, calling out commands, when it appears someone may have briefly “blacked out,” causing the collapse. They were practicing without a net.
The show went on, Friday, with Nik Wallenda performing a high-wire act. Two of those hurt were in attendance.
Doctors said those who fell escaped more serious injuries because they were heavily muscled.
–We note the passing of a great American, retired Lt. Gen. Harold G. “Hal” Moore, a hero of the first major battle of the Vietnam War, the Battle of Ia Drang, memorialized in the book “We Were Soldiers Once…and Young,” as well as the movie of the same title, with Mel Gibson playing Moore.
Joseph Galloway, who co-authored the book with Moore, said, “There’s something missing on this earth now. We’ve lost a great warrior, a great soldier, a great human being and my best friend. They don’t make them like him anymore.”
234 Americans died at landing zones X-Ray and Albany in the four-day battle in November 1965, but Lt. Gen. Moore’s brilliance is credited with saving most of his men as they faced an overwhelming North Vietnamese force.
Moore graduated from West Point and then commanded a battalion in the newly formed air mobile 11th Air Assault Division at Fort Benning. He was 94 and died two days shy of his 95th birthday, but died on the birthday of his wife, Julia, who passed away in 2004 after 55 years of marriage.
–Steve G. sent me a note after I wrote of the passing of Prof. Irwin Corey, asking if I remembered Stan Kann, who used to appear on The Tonight Show and on Mike Douglas’ talk show. Kann was the fellow who demonstrated new products, but would then screw it up.
I did remember the guy, faintly, and needed a reminder. YouTube him with Carson. Pretty funny…as Johnny chainsmokes away.
–What a depressing, mystifying story in New Zealand, as pods of whales swam aground at a remote beach on Friday and Saturday, the latest a pod of 240 making it more than 650 pilot whales that beached themselves along a 3-mile stretch of coastline at the tip of the South Island. As of Saturday morning, 335 of the whales were dead, 220 remained stranded and 100 were back at sea.
As whales come in they are being tagged and none of the pod of 240 had been tagged before so they were a new group.
There are dozens of volunteers in the water, trying to save the whales, and they are a weary group. At one point they formed a human chain, wading neck-deep into the water, but they failed to prevent a fresh pod making landfall.
Why do pilot whales do this from time to time around the world?
One theory is this group may have been chased by sharks, after bite marks were found on one of the dead whales.
As a BBC reporter noted, though, “Sometimes the whales are old and sick, injured, or make navigational errors particularly along gentle sloping beaches.
“Whales that become beached will send out distress signals attracting other members of their pod, who then also get stranded by a receding tide.”
But late Saturday we received some good news….most of the pod of 240 that came Saturday morning refloated themselves and returned to sea on the night’s high tide, though they were “milling around,” according to folks on the scene, so they could come back.
Unfortunately for ‘Pilot Whale,’ they can’t be considered for top 50 status on the All-Species List when they insist on mass suicide, or mass stupidity. The board, at a late Saturday night meeting over copious amounts of domestic, is thus opting to put the species on the UTP list, “Unable to Perform,” until further notice.
‘Man’ does rise from 342 to 338 for his yeoman’s work in trying to save the whales.
–We note the passing of Al Jarreau, 7-time Grammy winner, at the age of 76. Oh, I’ll never forget a concert I attended at Radio City Music Hall, 1981, as his big crossover hit “We’re In This Love Together” climbed the charts, a concert with Spyro Gyra. Wish I could tell you more about that night, but wouldn’t be prudent.
Top 3 songs for the week 2/16/80: #1 “Do That To Me One More Time” (The Captain & Tennille…better be Tennille…just sayin’…) #2 “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” (Queen) #3 “Coward Of The County” (Kenny Rogers…crossover era… sucked…)…and…#4 “Cruisin’” (Smokey Robinson) #5 “Rock With You” (Michael Jackson) #6 “Yes, I’m Ready” (Teri DeSario with K.C. …Teri never returned my call…) #7 “Sara” (Fleetwood Mac) #8 “Longer” (Dan Fogelberg…do do do do do do doooo…) #9 “On The Radio” (Donna Summer) #10 “Desire” (Andy Gibb…last semester at Wake Forest for the kid…could he get the needed credits?…would his GPA clear the Mendoza line, thus qualifying him for a sheepskin?…it’s going to be close, sports fans…)
New York Knicks Quiz Answers: 1) Four to score 11,000 points. Patrick Ewing, 23,665; Walt Frazier 14,617; Willis Reed 12,183; Allan Houston 11,165. [Carl Braun 10,449; Richie Guerin 10,392] 2) Bernard King scored a league-leading 32.9 ppg in 1984-85.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
*We are undergoing a dreaded server change on Monday so I expect some gremlins to pop up, and potential site disruptions for a day or two.
