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Bar Chat

01/22/2012

The NFL Puts on a Show

NFL Quiz: Name the three in NFL history to average 8.0 or more yards per carry for a season, minimum 100 carries. Two are modern era, one is from 1934, which 90% or more of you won’t get but every true football fan should know who this guy is. Answer below.

Super Bowl…Patriots vs. Giants

Patriots 23
Ravens 20

Giants 20
49ers 17

Two great games. One kicker comes through. Another doesn’t. Great defense all around.

But in the Pats-Ravens contest, Lee Evans had possession of that last ball! I was shocked Phil Simms, Jim Nantz, and the studio crew didn’t give more of an explanation. Then, during halftime of Giants-Niners, you heard Jimmy Johnson mumble something that it may have been a catch. But that was it.

It was Simms and Nantz who totally blew the Gronkowski catch late in the first half that was ruled out of bounds, even after looking at a replay that clearly showed he had both feet in bounds. Only Boomer in the studio said something.

Sadly, Kyle Williams and Billy Cundiff will forever be remembered by their fans for all the wrong reasons, though you have to fault the Ravens organization for not coming up with a better kicker than Cundiff, who has never been good. 

Alas, NBC has their dream Super Bowl matchup. Record ratings seem assured. Jets fans wish they had changed teams in their youth. But congratulations to the Giants and coach Tom Coughlin.

NFL Bits

--The Dolphins hired Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin to be their new head coach. What a two week stretch it’s been for Philbin, who had to bury his 21-year-old son after he drowned in a Wisconsin river. Philbin has never been a head coach before.

But will he bring backup quarterback Matt Flynn to Miami with him, Flynn being a free agent? Why not.

--The Colts are interviewing Jim Tressel for their head coaching job, though he’s not the only candidate.

--Jets running back (at least for now) LaDainian Tomlinson told Showtime that the rift between quarterback Mark Sanchez and receiver Santonio Holmes was “as bad as I’ve ever been around.”

On coach Rex Ryan, Tomlinson said he “loves” playing for the guy, but he wished he would tone down his brash predictions.

“I would prefer him not to say it as much as he did,” Tomlinson said. “I don’t mind every now and again saying we are going to win a championship. Maybe at the beginning of the year just saying, ‘Hey, our goal is to win a championship.’ But at the same time, every week if you are calling out a team on certain things, I think it puts a little extra on your team. Guys really want to go out there and say, ‘Let’s shut this guy up. Let’s shut these Jets up, just end their season.’”

--Tim Tebow tore a rib cartilage in the third quarter of the New England game and played in considerable pain the rest of the way, according to an NFL source and ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Tebow insisted on playing through it.

“As of Wednesday, several thousand tickets were available for this year’s Super Bowl, on Feb. 4 in Indianapolis. Asking prices started at $2,099. If the past two Super Bowls are any guide, the peak number of transactions will occur on Monday, when the winners of the 49ers-Giants game and the Ravens-Patriots game are known.

“Last year, the lowest price on that Monday was $2,500, with the median nearly $3,000 for about 570 tickets sold for the Super Bowl between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. But on the Thursday before the game, the lowest price had dipped to $1,500, and the median was close to $2,600 for the almost 180 tickets sold that day.

“The year before, when the New Orleans Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts, the pattern was similar. On the Monday after the conference championships, the lowest price was a shade under $1,700 with a median of almost $2,200 for close to 600 tickets sold. By Super Bowl Sunday, the low had plunged to $795, with a median closer to $1,700 for about 370 tickets sold.”

Joe Paterno, RIP

What more can you say than that it has been one sad moment after another at Penn State University. Outside of having an athletic team go down in a plane crash, a la Marshall and Wichita State, you can’t think of a worse time for a university than what the folks in State College, Pa., have gone through, culminating in the passing of legendary coach Joe Paterno, “Joe Pa,” at the age of 85 after a brief battle with cancer. So much has already been said and written about his legacy, including volumes in this space, that I’m going to be brief. I’ve been hard on the man, rightfully so, for not walking away from the game sooner (and this was long before the sex abuse scandal hit). Today, I simply note his remarkable record of achievement.

46 seasons. 409 wins, more than any other coach in Division I history. 37 bowl games, two national titles, 1982 and 1986. And, importantly, 47 academic All-Americans. 

“His loss leaves a void in our lives that will never be filled. He died as he lived. He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been. His ambitions were far reaching, but he never believed he had to leave this Happy Valley to achieve them. He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community.”

College Basketball

--And then there was one…Murray State. One undefeated team remaining in Division I college basketball after No. 1 Syracuse fell to Notre Dame on Saturday, 67-58. The Fighting Irish are just 12-8, 4-3 Big East, but they have some history in playing No. 1s at home. Like try an astounding 7-3 record all time when they do. 7-3! Syracuse did have to play without starting center Fab Melo (7 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks per game) due to academic issues left over from the first semester, but a great effort by coach Mike Brey’s club.

--As for the Murray State Racers, I enjoyed watching them on ESPN against SIU-Edwardsville. Before you laugh, SIUE has some talent and is 3-5 in Ohio Valley Conference play. You play who’s on your schedule and the Racers have more road wins than any other Div. I squad in the land. So just one more game, at home next Saturday, before your editor heads out to Murray, Kentucky to catch them against the OVC’s No. 2, Southeast Missouri State. All I wanted was for Murray State to be undefeated when I rolled the dice on a ticket, airfare, and hotel accommodations and it would appear it will all pan out. [Now watch them lose on Saturday against Eastern Illinois.] Heck, a ton of national attention is now focused on these guys and it should be fun catching the atmosphere. I’ll of course be decked out in Racerwear once in the stands.

As for first-year coach Steve Prohm, he is now 20-0. What was cool is that ESPN got Bill Hodges on the phone during the second half Saturday night. Who’s Bill Hodges? He was Larry Bird’s coach at Indiana State, a first-year coach himself during the Sycamores’ dream season, 1978-79, when they went 33-0 before losing to Earvin Johnson’s Michigan State squad in the NCAA title game.

But Hodges reminded everyone that Indiana State wouldn’t have been undefeated were it not for the heroics of Bob Heaton, who made a half-court shot in a game against New Mexico State to send that contest into overtime, which they then prevailed in. So YouTube it… ‘Bob Heaton ½ court.’ 

--Meanwhile, No. 4 Duke had its 45-game home-court winning streak snapped by Florida State, on a Michael Snaer buzzer beater, 76-73. So the Seminoles have now beaten Duke and North Carolina to go 4-1 in ACC play, though only 13-6 overall. I mean this is a team that earlier lost to both Harvard and Princeton.

[Pssst…Duke’s Plumlee brothers really do blow, in case you didn’t already know this. Sorry Leah and Brad K.]

--In another game of import, No. 5 Missouri will move up a few notches as it defeated No. 3 Baylor, 89-88, in Waco.

--Big blow to North Carolina as they lose junior Dexter Strickland for the rest of the season after he tore his ACL in Thursday’s win over Virginia Tech. Strickland tweeted, “Positive thinking! Everything happens for a reason, God always has a plan! Thanks to everyone who is praying for me! I appreciate it!”

Gee, I’ll pray for him. Very cool of the guy, considering what just happened. And he’s articulate! Not often found in the Athlete Class, you understand. Strickland averaged 8 points a game but was a key ballhandler and defender. Luckily, the Tar Heels have depth, though they’ll miss Strickland’s defense in particular.

--Towson extended its record Division I losing streak to 39 on Saturday in going down to George Mason, 72-60. But everyone keeps saying the program is on the right track, including two transfers from Big East schools that will be eligible next season. It also should have beat UMBC, losing 62-58 after shooting 8 of 25 from the free throw line. In fact, as the Washington Post’s John Feinstein pointed out, Towson is in the bottom five in both field goal and free throw percentage; in case you were wondering how you go 0-20 for a season.

--Pitt fell to 0-7 in the Big East in losing their eighth straight, 73-62 to Louisville. Before the skid they were 11-1 and No. 13. Then came the shocking upset to Wagner and the Big East slide. This is one of the 2 or 3 biggest stories of the year thus far, in the opinion of your editor.

--But what’s this? Wake Forest won its second ACC contest, one more than all of 2010-2011, in beating Boston College, 71-56? It’s true. It’s really true. So I’m 15 points up on Steve D., B.C. alum, with one contest to go in the Great Lunch Bet, Steve and I betting on football and basketball, no point spreads. 

--The molestation accusations against former Syracuse assistant coach Bernie Fine are crumbling, with two of the four accusers admitting either Fine didn’t molest them and/or lying to authorities.

“Started ‘The Last Great Game’ – Gene Wojciechowski’s book about the epic Duke-Kentucky game from 1992 – and didn’t stop, couldn’t stop, until it was over. I can’t say anything better about a book of any subject or any kind.”

--The New York Times’ Joe Nocera continues his personal crusade against the NCAA.

“In America, a person is presumed innocent until proved guilty. Unless, that is, he plays college sports.

“When the NCAA investigates an athlete for breaking its rules, not only is he presumed guilty but his punishment begins before he knows what he’s accused of. He is not told who his accuser is. The NCAA will delve into the personal relationships of his relatives and demand their bank statements and other private records. And it will hand down its verdict without so much as a hearing. Reputations have been ruined on accusations so flimsy that they would be laughed out of any court in the land. Then again, the NCAA isn’t a court of law. It’s more powerful.”

Nocera writes of the case of Ryan Boatright, a freshman guard for the UConn Huskies’ basketball team. Boatright was Mr. Illinois, growing up in Aurora, outside of Chicago. But before the season began, the NCAA informed UConn that Boatright was under investigation for accepting “improper benefits” while in high school. Connecticut had to suspend Boatright or risk forfeiting any games Boatright played in. The NCAA then said the suspension had to last six games, and that Boatright would have to come up with $100 a month to pay for the “impermissible benefit.”

So what was the crime? His mother had accepted airfare for herself so she could visit schools along with her son, who was being compensated, per the rules, by the schools. The NCAA only allows the student’s airfare to be paid for. OK, that’s fair. But then Boatright was penalized because his mother took money from a friend?! [The friend is the older brother of Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose.]

As Nocera writes, how can this be? And how did the NCAA find out? An ex-boyfriend of hers who sought revenge after the relationship soured, upon which the guy called her in to the NCAA.

--The Knicks are pathetic, having now lost six straight as ‘superstar’ Carmelo Anthony has shot 35-105 from the field his last four games. Since the Knicks blew up the roster last season to acquire Melo, they are 20-28 after Saturday night’s loss to Denver, while the Nuggets are 31-16. [I’ve seen other records in various reports, like 20-23 and 29-12, respectively, but I’m going with these, and not double-checking myself.] Before the trade, the Knicks were 28-26 and playing entertaining basketball. 

To add insult to injury, in Denver’s 119-114 win in OT, one of those traded for Anthony, Danilo Gallinari, had a career high 37. The Knicks are now 6-10 and it’s time for coach Mike D’Antoni to go.

I was one who did not like the Anthony trade, mainly because I thought Gallinari was beginning to come into his own and Raymond Felton was playing a solid point. Wilson Chandler was also playing well. 

But now there is zero backcourt as the team awaits the arrival of Baron Davis once he gets healthy. I was looking forward to this season. Right now it blows.

--The other night I saw that Orlando’s Dwight Howard had a second straight 20-20, 20 points, 20 rebounds, and thought, ‘Gee, I wonder when someone last did that?’ Thanks to the Elias Sports Bureau, who are so good, Washington should outsource the entire government to them, we’ve since learned the following.

“Howard is the first NBA player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975-76 with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds in 5 of his team’s first 15 games of the season. 

“Howard has more 20-20 games than the rest of the league combined.

“Howard is the first NBA player with at least 21 points and 23 rebounds in two consecutive games since Kevin Willis did so for the Hawks in Nov. 1991.

“Howard picked up his 37th career 20-20 game. That’s 9 more than the next 3 players on the list combined since his rookie season in 2004-05.”

--New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov, who is running for president in his native Russia, hasn’t attended a Nets game in almost a year. Granted, he isn’t missing a thing. You couldn’t pay me to see the Nets, and it’s increasingly unlikely they will keep their best player, Deron Williams, who has said publicly if the team can’t sign Dwight Howard, he’s going. The Nets will be playing in Brooklyn next season and the product on the court could be beyond dreadful.

--Vanessa Bryant gets to keep three mansions on Newport Beach as a result of her divorce to Kobe. Total value? $18.8 million, according to court filings. The couple did not have a prenup agreement. Kobe is said to have a net worth of $150 million and Vanessa will be entitled to half.

Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun accepted his MVP trophy on Saturday in New York and issued his first public comments since testing positive for steroids.

“Sometimes in life we deal with challenges we never expected to endure,” he said. “I’ve always looked at those challenges as opportunities. This will be no different.”

Braun claimed that “everything I have done in my career has been done with respect and appreciation for the game of baseball.”

Recall that the word on the street is that Braun’s level of testosterone in a urine test from October was off the charts, though according to the New York Times, a later test found normal levels. Braun is now appealing the positive result that could result in a 50-game suspension at the start of the season, but Major League Baseball does not lose these cases.

--Tyler Kepner, New York Times, on the plight of free agent Prince Fielder.

“What happens if a player is too good to sign anywhere? That seems to be happening with Fielder…

“Fielder is 27, plays every day, has extraordinary left-handed power and reaches base continually. All of those factors point to a contract comparable to the ones signed by Albert Pujols of the Los Angeles Angels, Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies, Adrian Gonzalez of the Boston Red Sox or Mark Teixeira of the Yankees. All of those players earn at least $22 million per year.

“With those teams out of the mix, the Chicago teams rebuilding, and the Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers trapped in financial purgatory, Fielder has been unable to find a partner….

“With spring training about a month away, and most teams having finished the bulk of their off-season work, time would seem to be running out. (Agent Scott) Boras has found deals worth more than $100 million in January – for Carlos Beltran and Matt Holliday – but never this late.”

It’s felt the two in the running are the Texas Rangers and Washington Nationals, but Bob Simpson, a co-chairman of the Rangers’ ownership group, told the Dallas Morning News that Fielder has “priced himself out of what we could do.”

Texas just invested $111 million in Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish, including a $51.7 million posting fee to Darvish’s Japanese team, and the rest in a six-year, $60 million contract. Rangers officials want to sign outfielder Josh Hamilton to a long-term deal as well.

As for Washington, they just signed Michael Morse to a two-year, $10.5 million contract extension. Morse hit 31 home runs last year and made 82 starts at first.

[Back to Darvish, last year he was 18-6 in Japan with a league-best 1.44 ERA and 276 strikeouts in 232 innings, with only 36 walks. I didn’t realize the guy is 6’5”, 220 pounds. It will be interesting to follow him, that’s for sure. I hope for the Rangers’ sake he’s the real deal.]

--In bankruptcy court, it was revealed that the Dodgers have total debt of $573 million. There is also a rumor that Oracle founder and CEO Larry Ellison is considering a run at the team. I’m not a Dodgers fan, and don’t care who ends up owning the club, but boy I can’t stand Ellison.

“After going to the Dominican Republic to renew his visa so that he could play winter baseball, Cleveland Indians pitcher Fausto Carmona was arrested on charges of using a false identity. Dominican officials claim that he’s really Roberto Hernandez Heredia and that he’s 31 years old, not the 28 he’s listed as by the Indians. In a statement, Cleveland general manager Chris Antonetti said, ‘We were recently made aware of the situation that occurred today…and are currently in the process of gathering information.”

--Finally, say a prayer for Baseball Hall of Famer Gary Carter, who has suffered a setback in his battle against brain tumors. New ones have been discovered, according to the family, and his condition is “extremely grave,” with doctors deciding soon whether to continue his treatments. He is only 57.

Carter is a man of tremendous faith and years ago, Tyler Kepner was doing a story on the famous sixth game of the World Series against the Red Sox in 1986. Carter came up with the Mets down two in the bottom of the 10th. There were two outs. Kepner asked Carter about that moment.

“The biggest thing that was going through my mind is that I reflected back upon my days in the alleyway dreaming about this. You always think World Series, bottom of the ninth, two outs, that kind of stuff.

“And then, I felt an extreme presence and I knew that our good Lord was with us. I felt like when I went up to the plate, I was not going to make the last out. I prayed from the time I left the on-deck circle to the time I got in the box.”

“Nobody knows what God had to do with it. But Carter believed, and that seems important now.”

--PGA…unfortunately, high winds forced suspension of play on Saturday at the Humana Challenge, the former Bob Hope tournament in the desert, but somehow they finished on Sunday and Mark Wilson won.

Bill Clinton has taken over as unofficial host and I have to give him credit. No better person to fill that role, really. He loves the sport and, well, he’s Bill Clinton.

--Tiger Woods said of Hank Haney’s upcoming book on their player-coach relationship, “I think it’s unprofessional and very disappointing, especially because it’s someone I worked with and trusted as a friend.

“There have been other one-sided books about me, and I think people understand that this book is about money. I’m not going to waste my time reading it.”

Haney did not contact Tiger as he was writing the book, which kind of sucks.

--Reports are that next year’s NHL Winter Classic will be played on Jan. 1 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor and will feature the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs. Now that would be cool. 100,000+ in attendance. The record is 104,173 who watched Michigan beat Michigan State on Dec. 11, 2010.

--On Saturday, the Rangers and Bruins battled it out for the top spot in the Eastern Conference in Boston and the Rangers emerged victorious, 3-2, as Marian Gaborik scored his 25th of the season with 3.6 seconds left in overtime. It was the 15th one-goal decision in the last 18 Rangers-Bruins games.

I’m ever so slowly getting interested in the sport again, after being a Rangers season-ticket holder way back in the early 1980s, but kind of being in the wilderness the last 10+ years in particular. It’s always a lot more fun around here when the teams do well.

--We note the passing of Canadian freeskier Sarah Burke, 29, who never recovered from injuries suffered after a Jan. 10 training accident while practicing on the superpipe. Tests revealed Burke suffered “irreversible damage to her brain due to lack of oxygen and blood after cardiac arrest.” She was a six-time Winter X Games champion and she crashed on the same halfpipe where snowboarder Kevin Pearce suffered a traumatic brain injury in training back in December 2009. Burke’s organs and tissues were donated. Her favorite superpipe has been added to the 2014 Winter Games program in Sochi. Burke would have been the gold-medal favorite.

--The other day I wrote of the shark attack off South Africa’s coast, with Lungisani Msungubana becoming the sixth fatality in about six years at this one particular spot, Second Beach. The Irish Independent’s Aislinn Laing had a story on Saturday that said in part:

“In South Africa, one in five shark attacks ends in death but every attack at Second Beach has been fatal. Fierce Zambezi or bull sharks, known as the ‘pitbulls of the ocean,’ have been blamed for most of the incidents….

“Experts from the KwaZulu Natal Sharks Board have been brought in to try to put a stop to the problem and the town authorities have closed the beach to swimmers….

“Every guesthouse owner, surfer and restaurant manager in town has a different theory for what caused the attacks. One is that local sangomas, or witchdoctors, who sacrifice animals on the beach and throw their entrails into the sea, are drawing in the sharks….

“Others think the rotting carcass of a whale shark, buried at the beach 10 years ago, could be to blame for the sharks’ aggression.”

By the way, Zambezi sharks “can grow to 13 feet in length.”

“In the 32 years he has been flying the coastline rescuing people, Graham Nickisson has never seen the water brimming with sharks like he did on Wednesday.

“The long-term Hunter Westpac rescue helicopter crewman was part of the team that scoured the coast in the hours after Redhead surfer Glen ‘Lenny’ Folkard was attacked by a shark.

“The number of predators chasing schools of baitfish was so high that Mr. Nickisson and his crew advised local councils to close the beaches from Stockton to Caves Beach.

“ ‘To have sharks that close to city beaches, that many and that big, just blew my mind. I have never seen anything like it.’

“The sightings included a large shark, at least four meters long and possibly a great white, swimming towards a surfer down the beach from where Mr. Folkard was surfing.

“Mr. Nikisson said the shark was heading ‘straight at him’ and was within 20 meters when crewman Heath Aland saw it and the helicopter was able to hover above and warn the surfer.

“ ‘We really feared for this bloke’s safety – it was dire,’ he said. ‘My heart sank.  We thought we were going to witness something really bad. This bloke will know who he is but until he reads the paper he won’t know how close he was to being in a lot of trouble.’”

As for Lenny Folkard, he was “dragged from his board and mauled by a two-meter shark and was circled by the predator as he tried to make it back to shore.” More than 100 people were in the water when the shark attacked. Folkard was lying on his board when it struck. It’s believed it was a bull shark and it took a large chunk out of his thigh, and his board, before dragging him underwater.

“He was able to shake himself free and get to the surface.”

Luckily, because there were so many others in the water, they helped get him to shore, where surf lifesavers, along with a doctor and paramedic on the beach, administered first aid. He was in serious but stable condition last I saw.

“A wild crocodile has swallowed a 10-year-old girl while she played in a river with her father in eastern Indonesia, the second death in the same place in two months.

“The girl was swimming in Wailolong river on Thursday when the large crocodile suddenly appeared, swallowed her instantly and disappeared into the water.”

Sadly, the girl’s father saw it all go down. In early December, a 12-year-old boy was killed and eaten by a crocodile in this spot.

--Rolling Stone gave HBO’s upcoming new series, “Luck,” a rave review. [I’ve seen others that say it’s so-so.] It’s the creation of David Milch [“Deadwood”] and has quite a cast, including Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte, Dennis Farina, John Ortiz, and Jason Gedrick and centers around the action at Santa Anita racetrack.

--Here in these parts, Jay-Z’s new 40/40 Club opened on Thursday night in New York and was shut down hours later for “a slew of health-code violations.” As reported by the New York Post, “An inspector found perishable food at dangerously warm temperatures inside the walk-in refrigerator and discovered ‘hot’ food left out on the counter on Thursday, a Health Department source said. A worker was also seen mixing salsa with his bare hands.”

Get this, the refrigerator was at 60 degrees instead of 41, while five pounds of cooked mashed potatoes were left out at a temperature of 89 degrees. Hot foods should be at least 140 degrees.

Alas, the club corrected the issues and was open a day later.

--Yup, actor Mark Wahlberg is officially in the December file for “Idiot of the Year” consideration following his comment about 9/11: “If I was on the plane with my kids, it wouldn’t have went down like it did. There would have been a lot of blood in the first-class cabin, and then me saying, ‘OK, we’re going to land somewhere safely. Don’t worry.’”

Wahlberg then compounded matters by saying he was misinterpreted in the Men’s Journal interview.

--Bruce Springsteen’s new album, “Wrecking Ball,” is to be released March 6. Early buzz is good. And New York-New Jersey area fans should have at least four opportunities to see him at the start of his new tour. He’s also giving 31 concerts in 26 European cities between May 13 and July 31. And there are reports he will play Wrigley Field in September.

--We note the passing of soul star Etta James, 73. She will forever be known for her signature tune, “At Last.” But here’s something that will shock you. That tune, which peaked at #2 on the R&B chart, only made it to #47 on the pop chart! If you asked anyone today, I can virtually guarantee they’d say it was top 20. At least I thought it was before looking it up. James actually had ten top 40 Billboard hits, but none higher than #23.

She was also a real jerk when she learned in 2009 that Beyonce would be singing “At Last” at Barack Obama’s inauguration. James said Beyonce would “get her ass whipped.” James later claimed she was joking, but she was always this way, including being a major drug addict.

--Ironically, the man responsible for the discovery of Ms. James, Johnny Otis, also died this week. He was 90. Otis was a pioneering R&B singer, songwriter, drummer, and bandleader. As Randy Lewis put it in the Los Angeles Times:

“Born white, the son of Greek immigrant parents, and raised in a predominantly black neighborhood in Northern California in the 1920s, Otis decided as a youth that he’d rather be black.”

Otis himself once told the paper, “there’s a wonderful richness in black culture that I prefer.” Aside from James he helped discover Little Richard, Jackie Wilson and Hank Ballard. He also had the 1958 hit “Willie and the Hand Jive,” which peaked at #9 on the pop chart in 1958.

Johnny Otis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

Top 3 songs for the week 1/21/67: #1 “I’m A Believer” (The Monkees) #2 “Snoopy vs. The Red Baron” (The Royal Guardsmen) #3 “Tell It Like It Is” (Aaron Neville…downhill after this one)…and…#4 “Good Thing” (Paul Revere & The Raiders…these guys are so underrated, and love their YouTube clips) #5 “Words Of Love” (The Mamas & The Papas…might be my favorite of theirs) #6 “Standing In The Shadows Of Love” (Four Tops…what a week!) #7 “Georgy Girl” (The Seekers…has aged better than I thought it would) #8 “Sugar Town” (Nancy Sinatra…not bad, actually) #9 “Nashville Cats” (The Lovin’ Spoonful…not my favorite of theirs) #10 “Tell It To The Rain” (The 4 Seasons…Frankie sounded great doing this one the other night in concert)

NFL Quiz Answer:  8 or more yards per carry, season.

Randall Cunningham, PHI, 1990…118-942, 8.0
Michael Vick, ATL, 2006…123-1039, 8.4
Beattie Feathers, CHI, 1934….119-1004, 8.4

Yes, just another excuse to mention Feathers, the first 1,000-yard rusher in NFL history. I’ve told the story before but thankfully I get a lot of new readers all the time (to replace those who’ve committed hair-kari after reading the column), and the deal is that while I was at Wake Forest, 1976-80, Beattie Feathers worked in the athletic department there until his death in 1979. He was technically an assistant football coach (and earlier the baseball coach), but back then the scholarship athletes ate in a cafeteria directly next to where the rest of us schleps ate and as we passed their eating area every day, my main memory of Feathers is that he was always picking up the trays. Most of the athletes didn’t seem to treat him with much respect. I’m not sure they really knew themselves just what Feathers had accomplished.

In fact, to this day, like right now, I’m kicking myself for not trying to have a small conversation with him about those early days in the NFL. But then I didn’t know either he was the first 1,000-yard rusher.

The subject of my quiz came up because I was looking at some old Sporting News covers (last year being the publication’s 125th anniversary), and fixated on Bo Jackson. It’s easy to forget how he took the sporting world by storm, specifically 1987-90 when he played both baseball and football.

During that stretch, Bo hit 20+ home runs each season, while averaging 5.4 yards per carry in his four seasons in the NFL. He had long runs of 88, 91, and 92 yards, including the famous Monday Night Football game where he really made his mark on America.

Then I looked at Hall of Famer Lenny Moore’s career. Three seasons with the Baltimore Colts, Moore averaged 7 yards per carry!

1956…7.5
1958…7.3
1961…7.0

And then I had to look at Mercury Morris. You see in 1972 he carried the ball 190 times for the Miami Dolphins, gaining exactly 1,000 yards (5.3) and in ’73 he was 149-954, 6.4. Those of us playing Strat-O-Matic in those years drooled over Morris’ playing card.

And in this current era of mammoth passing numbers, look back at the 1972-73 Dolphins.

1972…14 games…613-2960, 4.8 per carry
1973…14 games…507-2521, 5.0

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