Arizona Cardinals Quiz…someone has to give it!…[This goes
back to 1960 and the St. Louis Cardinals.] 1) Most passing
attempts, season? 2) Most TD passes, season? (Two tied) 3)
Most rushing yards, career? 4) Most TDs, career? Answers
below.
The Ugly State of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor decided to
circumvent the rules in signing big man Joe Smith to a contract in
1999. What the NBA”s league office saw was only a one-year
contract by the team for $1.75 million. What they didn”t know
was that Taylor had given Smith a contract for an additional $86
million over 7 years. Such under-the-table arrangements are
totally illegal under the NBA”s collective bargaining agreement as
they circumvent the league”s salary cap.
NBA commissioner David Stern lowered the boom after an
arbitrator ruled the arrangement broke the rules. Stern fined the
team $3.5 million and, more importantly, took away the
T”Wolves next 5 1st-round draft picks, a devastating blow. In
addition, Smith”s contract for 2000-2001 was voided. Said Stern:
“The fact is, we gave this a lot more thought than the parties in
the Minnesota franchise who risked their future by engaging in
one of the most far-reaching frauds we”ve seen. This was a fraud
of major proportions. There were no fewer than five undisclosed
contracts tucked away, hoping they”d never see the light of day.
This is fraud that ripped to the heart of the collective bargaining
agreement. The magnitude of this stuff is shocking.”
The one who really suffers, if you can call it that when you have a
$126 million contract of your own through 2003-4, is superstar
T”Wolves player Kevin Garnett. It seems impossible for the team
to be competitive the next few years.
“I won”t turn negative. I want you to understand that right now.
It”s very, very easy to jump ship when stuff gets hard. I”m not
that type of person, man. Hell, I”ve been through a lot in my life,
and I know running from problems isn”t going to solve
problems.” Mature response…he”ll demand a trade after the
season, though.
Meanwhile, Joe Smith is a free agent and more than a few teams
are bidding for his services. Miami is applying for a $3.88 million
disabled-player exception to replace Alonzo Mourning who is
out for the season with a kidney ailment. But the New Jersey
Nets once unsuccessfully applied for this with two of their
players, Kerry Kittles and Jayson Williams, so it looks doubtful
Miami will be.
The Star-Ledger”s Dave D”Alessandro said commissioner Stern
“tore both ACLs out of Glen Taylor”s franchise.”
For his part, Taylor concluded, “I would say it was a very unusual
circumstance that it happened. It was not done in the normal
course of business. And I think in time that will probably come
out and you will understand that.” Huhh?!
Or, as D”Alessandro added: What mysterious circumstance?
“…but here”s a clue: They have much better alcohol in Minnesota
than they do in other states, judging by their last gubernatorial
election.”
Supposedly, there are a ton of under-the-table deals in the NBA
just like this one, only the T”Wolves got caught.
University of Minnesota
And then there are the Golen Gophers. The same week the NBA
was crashing down on the T”Wolves, the NCAA was lambasting
the Univ. of Minnesota basketball program. What the NCAA
called the most serious violations in 20 years resulted in the
basketball team being placed on probation for 4 years as well as
having 5 scholarships taken away.
You”ll recall that former Minnesota coach Clem Haskins was the
toast of the college basketball world when he took the Gophers to
the Final Four in 1997. Guys like Dick Vitale couldn”t stop
talking about his “character.” He proved to be a total dirtball.
Haskins, academic adviser Alonzo Newby, and a secretary in the
academic office, Jan Gangelhoff, were most responsible. It was
Gangelhoff who blew the whistle on the practice of doing
homework for the players, at least 18 of them from ”94-”98.
But it was Newby who went from office to office to get
retroactive grading and intimidated instructors to make sure that
basketball players received passing grades. Haskins knew of
everything. All 3 will have to go before the NCAA if they want
to return to college sports.
Minnesota is still eligible to participate in postseason play because
university officials moved quickly once they learned of the
scandal. It was the president, Mark Yudof, who kept the school
out of postseason play last year and took away 3
scholarships for this season. [Source: Joe Drape / New York
Times]
Tidbits
–Shea Stadium: The New York Mets have two dysfunctional
owners, Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon, who can”t decide
between the two of them (each 50% owners) what to do with
crumbling Shea, built back in 1964. Wilpon wants a new stadium,
Doubleday wants to simply renovate the existing one.
Back in ”64, Mets manager Casey Stengel commented on the new
park.
“Well, I think that this is a wonderful place because it”s brand-
new and we have all those new escalators and all these young
fellas who are very good players and we have lots of new
toilets…lots and lots of new toilets, which is a blessing to us
older folks on account of you-know-what, and I never was
anywhere since I been in baseball that had this many, and you
could look it up.” [Source: Jerry Izenberg / Star-Ledger]
–The Mets really won: Writing in the New York Times, Andy
Borowitz gave us Mets fans something to hang our hat on. To
wit.
Which team was host to more Subway Series games?
Which team had more players named Franco?
Which team had its players” names on the back of their jersey?
Well? Mets Win!!!
–TV ratings were the lowest ever for the World Series.
–Another PC moment: Johnny Mac alerted me to the fact that
the Penn State faculty passed a resolution aimed at discouraging
“negative cheering.” In other words, no booing. Just another
reason to consider moving to New Zealand.
–R.J. Bowers, of Division III Grove City College (Pa.)
became the all-division career rusher this weekend. Bowers now
has 6,999 yards, breaking the previous record held by Brian Shays
of D-II Emporia State. Bowers also is tied with the all-time mark
of 15, 200-yard games. He”s an interesting story, having
previously served 5 years in the Houston Astros farm system
before going back to college at age 23.
–Randy McKay and John Madden achieved hockey history on
Saturday as each scored 4 goals in the New Jersey Devils 9-0
victory over Pittsburgh. The last time two players had 4 goals in
the same NHL game was in 1922.
–High School athlete of the week: As a former high school cross
country runner, I just had to acknowledge the performance of one
Justin Millan of New Providence, NJ who led his high school to
the group championship this past Saturday.
I imagine a couple of you ran cross country so you”ll appreciate
that Millan led his team even though he finished 5th for New
Providence…that”s 5th on the team…the last position to “score.”
But what makes this special is that he was running his first race of
the year after being out with a stress fracture and had received
clearance from his doctor to run just 3 days earlier and had only
two days of training. A truly gutty performance, Justin.
–I found the following item from Andrew Revkin in the New
York Times a bit disturbing. It”s just another example of how we
need to draw a balance when it comes to animal conservation.
It seems that the Department of the Interior has ruled that the
Hopi Indians in Arizona can continue their barbaric practice of
using golden eagle hatchlings in one of their ancient rituals. The
eaglets are seen to be messengers between the physical and
spiritual worlds. They”re smothered.
The danger of the ruling is that Indians all over could use this as
an excuse to hunt and trap other exotic animals. And it also
brings up a rather politically incorrect thing to say, which Revkin
didn”t but I will. Some of the Indian tribes were really true
savages.
Top 3 songs for the week of 10/27/73: #1 “Midnight Train To
Georgia” (Gladys Knight & The Pips…Can”t stand this song) #2
“Angie” (Rolling Stones) #3 “Half-Breed” (Cher…Communist)
Don Brooks, RIP
Brooks died the other day at 53. He was one of the great
harmonica players and played with virtually every top pop and
country star. Waylon Jennings hired him in the 60s and Brooks
helped create the outlaw country music sound. But the real
reason why I note the passing of Brooks is because he was an
integral part of the soundtrack to Ken Burns”s “The Civil War,”
and anyone having a role in this landmark production deserves to
be recognized.
Cardinals Quiz Answers: 1) Passing attempts, season – Neil
Lomax, 1984. 2) TD passes, season – Neil Lomax, 1984, and
Charley Johnson, 1963, with 28. 3) Rushing yards, career – Ottis
Anderson 7,999. 4) TDs, career – Roy Green, 69.
Dave Barry”s Tips for Halloween
–Trick-or-treat candy may have been tampered with, so you
should take it away from your children, check it carefully, then
eat it.
–Never allow your children to trick-or-treat at night or in
dangerous areas such as outdoors.
Next Bar Chat, Wednesday…Don Hutson.
