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Bar Chat

01/12/2012

Are They Really No. 1?

Note: Posted earlier than normal. 

NFL Quiz: Green Bay Packers… 1) Who replaced Vince Lombardi? 2) Who are the only three to rush for 5,000 yards in a Packers uniform? 3) Who are the only three QBs to throw for 20,000 yards? Answers below.

Roll Tide

Alabama not only won the BCS title, manhandling LSU 21-0, but it was also voted No. 1 in the final AP poll for the eighth time, tying Notre Dame for the most of any team in college football history.

Final AP Top Ten

1. Alabama (55 first-place votes)
2. LSU (1)
3. Oklahoma State (4)
4. Oregon
5. Arkansas
6. USC
7. Stanford
8. Boise State
9. South Carolina
10. Wisconsin

Incredibly, Alabama and LSU played two games but it wasn’t until with less than five minutes to go in Monday night’s title contest that either scored a touchdown; LSU having won a battle of field goals 9-6 on Nov. 5, and Alabama having kicked five to go up 15-0 before Trent Richardson scored. [At which point the kicker missed the extra point, befitting this less than memorable affair.]

‘Bama outgained LSU 384-92 and had 21 first downs to the Tigers’ 5. LSU didn’t cross midfield until late, while Tiger quarterback Jordan Jefferson was simply overwhelmed, though coach Les Miles said he never had any thoughts of relieving him. [Johnny Mac observed that George Jefferson would have been a better choice the way Jordan played.]

Mike Lopresti / USA TODAY…on “how fast things can change in one bad night. As the scoreless and futile quarters went by, the Tigers turned in one of those before-and-after weight loss ads.”

“Before: Alert the Inner Sanctum of All-Time Great Football Teams. There’ll need to be room made for a new arrival.

“ ‘I told my team I did not see it coming, and that’s my fault,’ Les Miles said. ‘I wish I could have done something to help them.’…

“Before: The defense got the ink, but the offense would always deliver when needed.

“After: The Tigers would need a Sherpa to find the end zone against Alabama.

“Before: A revved-up Louisiana crowd would be a difference maker.

“After: It’s really hard for fans to keep cheering for the punter.

“After: Les Miles, catching stones thrown by radio announcer – and former Saints quarterback – Bobby Hebert in the postgame press conference: ‘C’mon, that’s ridiculous, five first downs.’”

“This was to be a showcase game for the mighty Southeastern Conference. Now that the entire country got a second look, before grabbing the remote for something more compelling, such as ‘Antiques Roadshow,’ millions are left to wonder what all this SEC noise and Southern drooling and drawling is about. If Alabama and LSU are No. 1 and No. 2, where does one rank Oklahoma State, Stanford and Oregon? Even USC, had it not been banned from the club the last two years?

“How about a tie for 1-A? At least those teams have some semblance of offensive magic. Yes, LSU is strong defensively, but can anybody imagine Brandon Weeden, Andrew Luck, Darron Thomas or Matt Barkley needing nearly eight entire quarters to score a touchdown?”

Meanwhile, Alabama coach Nick Saban is now up there with the greats in the sport’s history, taking his third BCS title, the first coach to do so; Saban having won at LSU in 2003 before he moved on to ‘Bama, where he also prevailed in 2009.

With the win the SEC now has six consecutive BCS titles and as you can see from the above, three of the top five teams in the AP poll.

2012 Preview…USA TODAY’s potential top ten

1. USC
2. LSU
3. Oregon
4. Alabama
5. Oklahoma
6. Michigan State
7. Florida State
8. Georgia
9. Michigan
10. West Virginia

CFB Bits

--The ‘Bama-LSU game drew only 14% of U.S. households, or about half the total that watched the Steelers-Broncos wildcard game on Sunday, which happened to be the best for a wildcard contest since 1988. 

--The average ticket price on the secondary market for Monday’s BCS Championship game was $1,771 just days before. If you paid that much, afterwards you would have had to commit hari-kari.

Larkin In

No surprise…Barry Larkin, 12-time All-Star and former MVP, was the lone player elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame on Monday as he was chosen on 86% of the ballots, 75% being needed for enshrinement. It was his third year of eligibility. His 24.3 percent gain from the 2011 ballot was the largest jump in one year to gain election since 1948 (Herb Pennock). He is the 24th shortstop to get a plaque.

Jack Morris fell short, though moved up to 66.7% with two years left to hit the magic number, while Jeff Bagwell, in just his second year, moved to 56%, so he appears to be well on his way to being enshrined. Some are saying Bagwell isn’t getting enough respect. I say the guy is polling exactly where he should! Bagwell is a suspected juicer, but no Palmeiro-like evidence or McGwire admissions so Bagwell will get in in just another few years. Like, everyone…cool your jets. He wasn’t deserving in his first attempt as some believe.

[Just one player – Gil Hodges – exceeded the 50% barrier and failed to get in eventually.]

Mark McGwire received only 19.5% in his sixth try and he’s obviously going nowhere fast. The aforementioned Palmeiro received 12.6%.

Back to Morris, his problem is that next year’s ballot is loaded…loaded with controversy…with Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Mike Piazza, Craig Biggio and Curt Schilling all eligible for the first time. We’ll have tons of time to digest this one but it could be tough for Morris to get the extra 8.3% he needs, seeing as in 2014, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, two 300-game winners, are on the ballot. I have no problem with Morris getting in despite his 3.90 career ERA.

And a word on Alan Trammell, who has very similar career numbers to Barry Larkin, as many have pointed out, but is lagging in the vote. Trammell was a six-time All-Star to Larkin’s 12 selections, and Trammell is probably hurt by the fact Cal Ripken, Jr. was playing short in the same league during Trammell’s most productive seasons. 

Nonetheless, Trammell’s vote rose to 36.8% after he picked up just 24% and 22%, respectively, the prior two years. He has four more years left and will probably get over 50% by the time his eligibility is up. That’s it. He is, however, the perfect candidate for the Veterans Committee.

Finally, Tyler Kepner had an interesting factoid in the New York Times. 

“With Barry Larkin’s election to the Hall of Fame, the Reds became the last championship team from the pre-wild card era to be represented in Cooperstown…

“The first postseason with wild cards was 1995; few stars from the champions since then have appeared on the ballot. Of the 90 teams to win the title before 1995, however, all now have at least one player or manager in the Hall of Fame.”

College Basketball

AP Poll

1. Syracuse*
2. Kentucky
3. North Carolina
4. Baylor*
5. Ohio State
6. Michigan State
7. Indiana
8. Duke
9. Missouri
10. Kansas
15. Murray State*…higher than I would have thought this early
16. Virginia…14-1…huh
22. San Diego State
24. Seton Hall…first time in poll since 2001

**I forgot to note last time that Towson set an NCAA Division I record for losing its 35th consecutive game in getting whipped by Old Dominion last Saturday. [They played on Wednesday, after I posted this column.]

--Tuesday night, Providence destroyed No. 14 Louisville (talk about overrated), 90-59, while Baylor stays undefeated by squeaking out a road win at No. 18 Kansas State, 75-73. Ohio State, though, wasn’t as fortunate, losing on the road to Illinois, 79-74, as conference play gets going in earnest.

And San Diego State avoided a huge upset in besting winless Chicago State, 73-65. This is what happens when your prior two opponents were Div. III and NAIA.

Lastly, can we stop talking about Harvard? The AP smartly took them out of the top 25 but they remain No. 25 in the ESPN-USA TODAY deal. Harvard barely beat a pathetic Monmouth team, 70-61, also on Tuesday.

--As John Feinstein wrote the other day in the Washington Post, expansion for the ACC has been a disaster, particularly on the b-ball court.

“(The) conference had produced five national champions in the previous 15 seasons [prior to the first year of an expanded league, which added Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College for the 2004-05 season.] In those same 15 years, four ACC schools had made 17 Final Four appearances (Duke 7, North Carolina 6, Maryland 2 and Georgia Tech 2). Three other ACC schools – Florida State, Wake Forest and Virginia – had reached the Elite Eight during.

“Since expansion, the ACC has made four Final Four appearances in seven seasons: North Carolina has three and Duke one. The Tar Heels have won two national titles and the Blue Devils one to keep the image of the league – at least at the top – afloat. What is far more troubling is what has happened to the other 10 schools: zero Elite Eight appearances since expansion, three trips to the Sweet 16 (one each by Boston College, Florida State and North Carolina State).”

Opposing leagues, when recruiting, simply have to ask, ‘Why would you go to an ACC school?’ if it isn’t Carolina or Duke.

Will the eventual addition of Syracuse and Pitt help? Eh.

NFL Tidbits

--No snow for either Green Bay or Foxboro and their playoff games this weekend. Drat! Not even rain in Baltimore. This sucks.

--Oakland fired Hue Jackson after he went 8-8 in his first year. Ordinarily you wouldn’t see this, but Jackson was penalized by the Raiders having lost four of their last five games to miss the playoffs. Oakland hasn’t made the playoffs since losing the Super Bowl after the 2002 season.

After Al Davis died in October, Jackson handled some of the Raiders’ personnel decisions, including the trade that brought quarterback Carson Palmer over from Cincinnati for first- and second-round draft picks. The immensely overrated Palmer then went on to play lousy. [My beer man is still fuming over Palmer.]

--Jacksonville hired Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey as its head coach. Someone had to take the job but the franchise is dead. [Mularkey was 14-18 as head coach with the Bills, 2004-05.]

--But for us Jets fans, our long national nightmare is over…six years of Brian Schottenheimer as offensive coordinator, that is. Schottenheimer announced he had ‘decided’ to leave the team, even though everyone in the organization wanted him out. Recently fired Dolphins coach Tony Sparano will be his replacement.

And then on Wednesday, Manish Mehta of the Daily News had a scathing piece on the quarterback.

“A season torn by discord and dysfunction prompted several key Jets players and members of the organization to paint a sobering picture of Mark Sanchez, a polarizing figure within the franchise’s walls.

“They raised serious doubts about his ability to lead the Jets, questioning everything from his practice habits to the organization’s coddling of him to how much of a role he truly played in the team making two consecutive AFC Championship Game appearances.

“They also invited the opportunity to replace Sanchez with Peyton Manning.

“The consensus among players who spoke to the Daily News was that, at the very least, the Jets must sign a legitimate veteran backup to push their young quarterback.

“ ‘We have to bring in another quarterback that will make him work at practice’ said one player. ‘He’s lazy and content because he knows he’s not going to be benched.’”

Re obtaining Manning once the Colts let him go the free agency route, the Jets have a huge leg up in that they already have consultant Tom Moore on staff, Manning’s former offensive coordinator at Indy.

Would the Jets ever win a Super Bowl with Sanchez? One teammate told the Daily News, “How can we when he’s not improving at all? He thinks he is, but he’s not. He has shown us what he’s capable of.” Ouch.

Sanchez has finished 29th, 29th and 27th in completion percentage in his first three seasons. His passer-rate rankings: 28th, 27th and 23rd.

Golf Balls

--Steve Stricker did indeed win the season-opening Tournament of Champions for his 12th career PGA Tour title, 8 of them coming since 2009. [Just had to clean this up from last time where I left Stricker hanging with three holes to go.]

--Tiger Woods’ former swing coach, Hank Haney, is finishing a book on his six years with Tiger. Titled “The Big Miss,” it is scheduled to be published the week before the Masters and while Haney isn’t giving anything up ahead of time, he said the book will be a collection of his notes and observations. He was with Tiger about 110 days a year and stayed in his house for 30 of them. Haney wrote the book with Jaime Diaz, an excellent reporter and writer himself.

--Golf Digest came out with their latest top 50 in terms of total income, both on course (the PGA and five international tours) and off course (endorsements, appearance fees, corporate outings, licensing, etc.)

Tiger Woods is still No.1 at $64,067,000 ($62 million of which is off course).

Phil Mickelson is No. 2 at $41,991,000…$3.99 mil on course…$38 mil off course.

Arnold Palmer is still No. 3 owing to $36 million in endorsements. You gotta love that.

Webb Simpson took in ‘only’ $650,000 off course last year. Look for this to skyrocket if he backs up his stellar play with another solid year in 2012. He just seems highly marketable.

--Tiger announced his first PGA Tour appearance would be at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Feb. 9-12, which surprises me seeing as this tourney is known for up to six-hour rounds with the amateur format. It’s Tiger’s first appearance here since 2002. Well, good for him. [AT&T contributes a lot to his foundation.]

--So I’m reading an interview with golf fanatic Justin Timberlake in the Feb. issue of Golf Magazine and he says this:

“My favorite post-round drink is usually a beer. And if it’s going to be a beer, it’s probably going to be a Stella.”

Stel-laaaa!!! See, Rich L. You picked it right the other day!

And Justin said the two coolest he ever played with were Fred Couples and Arnold Palmer.

--Finally, some good news for the LPGA tour. After just 23 events in 2011, the tour is up to 27 for 2012 (15 domestic, up from 13…18 in North America). This is definitely a solid economic indicator. The total purse increases to $47 million, up $6.6 million.

--This Saturday, Jan. 14, is the U.S. Olympic Team Marathon Trials in Houston. Both men and women compete simultaneously, with the women following the men 15 minutes later. NBC evidently has same-day coverage. Huh. Might catch it…if I remember.

The 3 men’s favorites are Ryan Hall, Meb Keflezighi and Dathan Ritzenhein, all having made past Olympic teams.

On the women’s side, I’m pulling for Shalane Flanagan. Deena Kastor, Kara Goucher and Desiree Davila are others to watch.

--Sales of Dos Equis soared 17% in the third quarter, while parent Heineken saw its sales decline 1% [14% for the year, according to a second report.] The industry lost 2%. But in reading a story in Bloomberg Businessweek, I didn’t realize Heineken was the first foreign beer to come to the U.S. after Prohibition ended in 1933.

And Phil W. passed along the critical information that Coors Light has supplanted Budweiser in the top spot in America. In 2011, shipments of Bud fell 4.6%, which was actually better than previous years. Coors Light rose a fraction of 1% but that was good enough to pass Bud. Since 1988, Bud shipments are down 60%!

--Sign of the Apocalypse: Orlando, Fla.-based company Scottish Spirits is going to sell Scotch in a can. For $5, you get 12 ounces of whisky. The liquor complies with all the codes that allow it to be called Scotch whisky, but if a 160-pound man decided to drink an entire can in one hour, he’d blow somewhere between .18 to .22 in the breathalyzer. 

--From CNN: “A leopard whose urban-area attack led to the death of one man and injuries to two others was released in an Indian nature reserve on Monday, two days after the incident.

“Officials from the Assam State Zoo in Guwanhati, where the attacks occurred, set the cat free in a tiger reserve….

“Three men were attacked on Saturday when the cat wandered in to a residential area [“Zip-A-Dee Do Dahhh….”]…

“The dead man was Debo Kumar Das, an attorney who was doing carpentry work in his house when he was attacked, according to a report in The Times of India.

“The leopard clawed him, wounding his head. Das received stitches on his head at a hospital and returned home in the evening. When we went to check on his health in the morning, we found him dead.”

--When you travel in the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming, there are areas where you can’t believe how many white-tailed deer there are. As opposed to the giant rats we have in the northeast, these little deer are really pretty cool.

But in northeast Montana, officials say 90% or more of them have been killed off in one 100-mile stretch by a hemorrhagic disease transmitted by midges, owing to an exceptionally wet spring that led to more of the biting variety. 

--Wondering where all the snow went? Try Cordova, Alaska, an isolated coastal town about 150 miles east of Anchorage. The state National Guard was called in after weeks of record snowfall left the city buried under more than 15 feet (as much as 18), as reported by CNN. Cordova received 39 inches in November, 82 inches in December, and then has been obliterated further this month.

Separately, Nome, Alaska saw record cold of -37 and -38 a week ago on Tues. and Wed.

--And winter has hit with a vengeance in Austria. From the London Times:

“A thousand British holidaymakers are trapped at a ski resort in Austria after a freak snowfall of 18 ft., including 5 ft. in the past four days.

“The Britons are among 11,000 tourists stranded in Ischgl in Tyrol, western Austria. All access roads to the resort are blocked and police are preventing people from trying to leave because of the fear of avalanches….

“Almost as much snow has fallen in a matter of days as during the whole of last year’s season. Only two months ago the resort had to spend 1 million euros making artificial snow because of a lack of the real thing.”

The people aren’t allowed to leave the town for fear of avalanches. But wealthy Russians are flying in and out using helicopters, which you’d think would only enhance the avalanche potential.

--What Women Want:

From Men’s Health…7 in 10 women would rather watch the Super Bowl than have sex.

From The Girl Next Door: “Enjoy the Morning…For years I’ve struggled with waking up earlier. I’ve also noticed that a certain part of a man wakes up before either one of us…”

[Err, I think I need to stop this right here…TGND gets a little explicit.]

Also…TGND said “I’m boosting the thread count by 200. Just because it feels good.” 

[Tips on thread count…another free feature of Bar Chat.]

TGND says, “Don’t assume it’s finished because you’re finished.” Finished watching the Mets? I don’t understand.

“A district legislator in the far eastern Primorye region was shot dead during a hunting trip by a friend who allegedly mistook him for a deer, RIA-Novosti reported Tuesday.

“The unidentified killer made a blind shot at the bushes when he saw ‘a deer-shaped silhouette,’ said a spokeswoman.”

--It’s really, truly set…the Beach Boys are celebrating their 50th anniversary by touring together for the first time in 45 years, as Brian Wilson joins Mike Love and Al Jardine, plus Bruce Johnston, a member since 1965, and David Marks, who played with the group in the early ‘60s and late ‘90s. So far Love, Jardine and Wilson are saying all the right things despite their past issues, including lawsuits against one another. The tour starts with an April gig at the New Orleans’ Jazz Fest.

Top 3 songs for the week 1/11/64: #1 “There! I’ve Said It Again” (Bobby Vinton…underrated artist) #2 “Louie Louie” (The Kingsmen…sounds like a bunch of Jets fans in the parking lot) #3 “Popsicles And Icicles” (The Murmaids)…and …#4 “Dominique” (The Singing Nun…my first ’45…really…I’m Catholic, you understand…but in three weeks the Beatles would rock America) #5 “Forget Him” (Bobby Rydell…his ilk about to get crushed by British Invasion) #6 “Since I Fell For You” (Lenny Welch…in my top 20 all time) #7 “Surfin’ Bird” (The Trashmen) #8 “The Nitty Gritty” (Shirley Ellis) #9 “Talk Back Trembling Lips” (Johnnty Tillotson) #10 “Midnight Mary” (Joey Powers…one-hit wonder…another soon to be snowed under by Beatles, Stones, DC Five, Kinks, Zombies…)

NFL Quiz Answers: Green Bay Packers… 1) Phil Bengston succeeded Vince Lombardi and was 6-7-1, 8-6, and 6-8 in his three seasons. Dan Devine replaced Bengston. 2) 5,000 yards: Ahman Green (2000-2009) 8,322; Jim Taylor (1958-66) 8,207; John Brockington (1971-77) 5,024. 3) 20,000 yards: Brett Favre (1992-2007) 61,655; Bart Starr (1956-71) 24,718; Lynn Dickey (1976-85) 21,369.

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