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Bar Chat

08/08/2013

The Fallout

PGA Championship Quiz: Name the eight golfers teeing it up at Oak Hill who have 2 or more major titles in their careers. Answer below.

Baseball and A-Roid

Major League Baseball suspended Alex Rodriguez for the rest of this season and for all of 2014, 211 games, and it banned 12 others for 50 games, including All-Stars Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers, Jhonny Peralta of the Detroit Tigers and Everth Cabrera of the San Diego Padres. All except A-Rod accepted their penalties and began serving the suspensions immediately.

One high-profile player named in Biogenesis reports, Gio Gonzalez of the Washington Nationals, was cleared of wrongdoing and will not be disciplined. Others who previously served 50-game suspensions, like Melky Cabrera and Bartolo Colon, faced no additional action.

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, in a statement, said the suspension handed down to A-Rod was covered under the drug program’s protocols and based on Rodriguez’ “use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances including testosterone and human growth hormone, over the course of multiple years.

“Rodriguez’ discipline under the Basic Agreement is for attempting to cover-up his violations of the program by engaging in a course of conduct intended to obstruct and frustrate the Office of the Commissioner’s investigation.”

A-Rod was not given a life sentence as rumored, MLB fearing an ugly court fight, and he is allowed to play until his appeal. He then went 1-for-4 in a loss on Monday night to the Chicago White Sox, and followed it up with a 1-for-2 performance in another loss on Tuesday.

“This was his chance, with a room here at U.S. Cellular Field filled with 150 reporters and two dozen TV cameras, to tell the world exactly how he was being wronged.

“This was his moment, just hours after he was smacked with a record 211-game suspension, to defend himself against allegations that painted him as one of the worst cheats in sports history.

“Alex Rodriguez said a lot in this 12 ½-minute news conference. He said he had to ‘respect the process’ during his appeal. He said he had to ‘fight for my life,’ quite a statement for a guy who drives a Maybach to work. He even said that the fans from baseball should ‘take a little timeout from this’ to enjoy all the happy stories in the sport right now.

“Uh, Alex? There’s a reason no one is talking about those lovable first-place Pirates, and he’s staring back at you in the mirror.

“Rodriguez waxed poetic about how much he loved the sport in an opening statement that, on the list of great speeches in Yankees history, fell just a weeee bit shy of Lou Gehrig’s ‘luckiest man on the face of the earth.’ Then, right away, he faced the one question that mattered:

“Do you deny that you used performance enhancing drugs?

“ ‘We’ll have a forum to discuss all of that,’ Rodriguez answered. ‘And we’ll talk about it then.’

“At this point, you have to figure that his real name isn’t even Alex Rodriguez, right? And he probably isn’t even really a member of the human race.

“Everything about the guy has been a lie for more than a decade now. Possibly for his entire life. Especially his earnest tales of yore that he pulled himself up by his baseball bootstraps with good, old-fashioned blood, sweat and batting practice.

“Maybe he’s really Beldar, from some distant galaxy where lies are truth and reality is whatever you say it is. I bet the hair on his head isn’t even real. I know his 647 career home runs aren’t.

“On a day unlike any other in baseball history, Commissioner Bud Selig zapped baseball’s Lizard King with a 211-game suspension. And chameleon that he is, Rodriguez filed his appeal and blithely carried on as if it was any other day.

“Quick, where is a lifetime suspension when you need it?

 “Wait. I’ll cut Selig some slack on that given the current spirit of cooperation between management and the players’ union. With players ranging from Zack Greinke to Max Scherzer to Mark Melancon and Will Venable going public with their request for tougher drug penalties since Ryan Braun’s suspension last month, the Greater Good that can emerge from this Biogenesis-palooza is harsher punishments for the cheaters...

“Me, I would have handed A-Rod three consecutive life sentences Monday.

“One for being a serial cheat, gobbling PEDs as if they were Flintstones vitamins.

“One for being so dishonest and disingenuous that he makes pathological liars look like honest, God-fearing men.

“And one for being a delusional, deranged dope who long ago should have forfeited the privilege to play major league baseball. And yes, as in whatever job you’re working, A-Rod’s gig is a privilege. Not a right....

“Given that the last time he was cornered, back in 2009, he copped to doing steroids from 2001-2003, there is a very real chance he never played a clean day in his baseball life.

“Yet in Trenton, N.J., on Friday night, this bad actor had the temerity to say that he really wants to see baseball ‘get PEDs out of the game.’

“Nobody has been more disingenuous than this mutt....

“It is maddening on one hand, unspeakably sad on the other.

“Judging from the outside, the rest of us are pikers of self-preoccupation next to A-Rod. When you see him standing on deck or running off the field at the end of an inning, you see a man who seems to be manufacturing his own persona, disingenuously crafting a series of behaviors designed to look right.

“When he gives a press conference, he doesn’t look like a man giving a press conference. He looks like a man giving a performance of giving a press conference. Even his off-the-field life – dating Madonna, partaking in soft-cored kabbalah, dragging along his publicists and entourage – leaves the impression that he is always observing himself, and measuring to see if he lives up to the image of a superstar....

“By the time Rodriguez became a free agent, he was the marketing façade of A-Rod Inc. When negotiating with the Mets, Rodriguez’ handlers asked for the use of a private jet, a special hotel suite when on the road and a personal marketing staff. By the time he reached the Texas Rangers, according to (Selena) Roberts, a clubhouse attendant was required to put a dab of toothpaste on his toothbrush after every game.

“Of course, this sort of egomaniacal behavior alienated him from his teammates, isolating him in the zone of his own self-concern. He was always the most talented player on the field but never a leader. He developed a reputation for caring more about personal stats than team wins.

“Even when he tried to be a good teammate, that was little naturalness or spontaneity. Self-preoccupied people hit the right notes, but often so hard that they sound tinny. Self-preoccupation creates an ego that is at once overinflated, insatiable and overly sensitive. Self-preoccupation also seems to make it hard for supremely talented people like A-rod to deal with their own talents.”

“You want to keep prosecuting baseball for not doing enough in the past, have at it. But no sport ever made a bigger and more important statement than Major League Baseball did with Rodriguez, who appealed his suspension, and the other 12 guys – and their union – who accepted the sanctions handed down to them Monday by Commissioner Bud Selig.

“And listen to Travis Tygart, the tough, honest guy who runs the United States Anti-Doping Association and who took down Lance Armstrong, even though Armstrong – another bum and liar with performance-enhancing drugs – had been racing away from the law of his sport for years the way he had been racing away from the other riders in the Tour de France.

“No wonder the same people who believed the lie with Armstrong now want to believe that Rodriguez is the victim of something other than his own arrogance and insecurities.

“ ‘This is really an important moment for the fight for clean sports,’ Tygart said. ‘Commissioner Selig and his team should be commended.’....

“Rodriguez always seems desperate to make powerful statements, as he goes through life saying things he thinks people want to hear, something he will do until he limps away from baseball for good. Baseball is the one that made a powerful statement Monday, because no sport has had a day like this since Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned Shoeless Joe Jackson and other members of the 1919 Chicago Black Sox for life; for being a different kind of baseball cheat.

“Lance Armstrong, one of the great bums in the history of sports, still has his money and fame. So does Alex Rodriguez. They still come up phonies and losers in front of the world. You know who wins? People who love sports, and still think it is not some cynical joke for sports to be on the level. You wonder if the next generation of cheats are paying attention, at last.”

Lord knows I’ve written a ton over the years on A-Rod and it’s no secret I can’t stand the guy, but he sure has made things more interesting around here. He’s such a jerk, he’s comical.

But I’ll say his suspension gets reduced to 150 games. I fully agree with MLB’s decision not to seek a lifetime penalty at this point.

A-Rod’s appeal, as of Wednesday, doesn’t look like it will be settled until at least November, so he’s here to stay through the end of the season.

Some other notes on the suspensions. Mets minor leaguers Jordanny Valdespin and Cesar Puello were among the 12 to have accepted 50-game suspensions. Valdespin, when he was on the big league roster until a few weeks ago, proved to be one of the biggest assholes the team has ever known and alienated every single teammate. Mets fans couldn’t give a damn about the guy, though if he ever matured he’s got a future in the game.

Puello is a different story. As opposed to Valdespin, who was a surprise addition to the suspension list, Puello had been named at the start and then proceeded to have a super season in double-A. Heck, come next spring I’m anxious to see the guy.

[The New York Post reported Wednesday that apparently Valdespin is such an idiot, he didn’t understand he wouldn’t get paid while under suspension.]

“One didn’t have to speak Spanish to decipher a common bond among the 12 players who accepted 50-game suspensions from Major League Baseball on Monday: they all hail from Latin countries.

“Eight Dominican players, three Venezuelans and a Nicaraguan made up the list of players MLB banned for their ties to the Biogenesis clinic....

“The sobering numbers were not lost on other Latin players, and Dominican outfielder Carlos Gomez of the Milwaukee Brewers said he personally knows all his countrymen who got disciplined and was bothered to hear the news.

“ ‘None of those guys lack the ability to play this game,’ said Gomez, a first-time All-Star this season. ‘I believe having the wrong people around you leads you to commit such stupid acts, which sooner or later come to light. They all have plenty of skills. I don’t understand why they would do something this stupid.’”

Johnny Football

Texas A&M began fall football practice on Monday and all eyes were once again on Johnny Manziel...for all the wrong reasons.

Head coach Kevin Sumlin made his first comments since news of an investigation by the NCAA into whether or not Manziel profited from signing autographs broke on Sunday. But he really couldn’t say anything because the investigation is ongoing. There is real concern that Manziel could be ruled ineligible, which to say the least would not only be a crushing blow in so many ways to the Aggies, but would be a major blow for the 2013 college football season.

“The fallout from the latest episode in Johnny Manziel’s dizzying, TMZ-chronicled off-season extended beyond his inner circle and beyond the campus of Texas A&M and into the offices of the NCAA....

“On Sunday night, ESPN, citing anonymous sources, reported the NCAA was investigating whether Manziel, last season’s Heisman trophy winner, pocketed a ‘five-figure flat fee’ to sign autographs at the Bowl Championship Series national title game in January in South Florida.

“The NCAA, following its investigation protocol, declined to confirm or comment on the report, even as the narrative shifted from whether Manziel, a sophomore, would be suspended to why he could not profit off his signature in the first place, which is a violation of NCAA rules.

“That shift spoke to the current climate of college sports and to the pressure the organization will face as it looks into the allegations against Manziel. That is the backdrop, the latest salvo in this summer of discontent: public sentiment that is increasingly hostile, aimed at the NCAA’s idea of amateurism, which is facing legal challenges in addition to political ones....

“Manziel is required to cooperate with the organization and its investigators if he wants to remain eligible. He is required to hand over bank records if requested. He will be required to explain any deposits that raise eyebrows....

“These allegations are different from and more serious than the rest of Manziel’s off-season, a mishmash of trotting the globe and meeting stars...

“Manziel’s off-season has become a spectacular combustion. He also has the most anticipated game of the college football season looming, against Alabama on Sept. 14. Only now, the NCAA is involved and the stakes are higher, and two entities near the end of long and scrutinized summers are seeing their paths intersect.

“The growing controversy surrounding Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel could advance the argument for a loosening of NCAA rules against college-athlete compensation.

“Never mind that Manziel isn’t among the former and current college athletes suing the NCAA for a portion of the billions of dollars that the organization and its member schools collect in TV-broadcast rights. Manziel hasn’t even joined the growing chorus of critics calling for a change in NCAA policy.

“But an ESPN report Sunday said that the NCAA is investigating Manziel for allegedly accepting a ‘five-figure flat fee’ for signing autographs. If found guilty and punished, Manziel may come to personify what many call the injustice of NCAA rules prohibiting athletes from receiving any compensation beyond tuition, room and board....

“As the first freshman winner of the Heisman Trophy, Manziel represents a gold mine for college football. Known as Johnny Football, he has helped generate tens of millions of dollars for his team, athletic department, university and conference – without himself receiving any of those proceeds.

“And yet if allegations are true that he sold his autograph, he could face a potential multi-game suspension.

“ ‘What this contradiction highlights is the hypocrisy of the NCAA and the abuse of its rules to exploit and punish athletes,’ said Michael Hausfeld, lead attorney in former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon’s lawsuit, alleging that the NCAA has conspired to keep licensing and other revenues from the pockets of the players who help earn them.”

I do agree that in the Ed O’Bannon case, it is clearly wrong for someone like EA Sports to use someone’s image on a video game without even asking their permission, let alone then compensating them if they grant it for a commercial product.

But sharing in television broadcast revenues is absurd. And, yes, I obviously see a distinction between the two examples I’ve just cited.

As for making money off autographs and signing memorabilia for sale, every third grader knows that’s a no-no in the NCAA. Manziel, and his friend / personal assistant Nate Fitch, know the rules. According to ESPN’s Joe Schad, Fitch informed a prominent autograph broker on eBay that Manziel would no longer sign for free.

“Shortly after Johnny Manziel won the Heisman, Texas A&M AD Eric Hyman convened a Johnny Football summit in his office. Everyone who mattered was there – Manziel’s parents, compliance, coaches, marketing, SIDs, even the celebu-quarterback himself.

“The tone from the head of the athletic department: Everything has changed. Here’s how we’re going to handle it.”

Hyman hired consultants for Manziel, experts in handling hype. Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin told Dodd, “The meeting that Eric Hyman had wasn’t a get-after-you, tell-you-what-to-do meeting. [It was] ‘We’re here for you. You don’t have to handle this on your own.’”

“We now know in one, long tortuous offseason that Manziel has spit on those who have tried to help him. Advice has been discarded like a linebacker trying to wrap up. When news broke Sunday that Manziel may have taken money for signing autographs and memorabilia, it was a reminder of how far the parade had veered off the prescribed route....

“If it wasn’t already, Texas A&M football has been shaken to its foundation. The Aggies’ SEC and national championships hopes have to be put on hold. At least for the four weeks between now and the beginning of the season.

“If A&M and the NCAA can’t clear this thing up by then, the school might have no other choice than to suspend the kid pending resolution of the case. And the closer that suspension gets to the Alabama game Sept. 14, the closer the Aggies’ season comes to going, ‘Pfffft!’”

[On Tuesday, an East Coast autograph broker told ESPN Manziel was paid $7,500 for signing approximately 300 mini- and full-sized helmets on Jan. 11-12 while he was attending the Walter Camp Football Foundation event. The broker played two cellphone videos for ESPN showing Manziel signing the helmets and footballs in a hotel room, but it does not show Manziel accepting any money. Manziel did not know he was being filmed. Such videos are used as part of the authentication process.]

--New York Jets coach Rex Ryan urged fans to “move forward” when looking at Mark Sanchez, instead of the boos he received during Saturday night’s scrimmage.  Yes, as one writer pointed out, if 6,000 fans in sleepy upstate New York can give Sanchez a hard time, imagine what it would be like at MetLife Stadium on September 8, the opener against Tampa Bay. Well, 52 turnovers the past two years will do that.

So it is intriguing how the Jets handle the competition between Sanchez and rookie Geno Smith. Unless Sanchez plays lights out in the preseason, and Smith falls flat on his face, I’ve gotta believe Smith is the pick.

--Nice story in the New York Times by Mike Tierney on linebacker Brian Banks, the 28-year-old rookie trying to make the Atlanta Falcons’ squad. It is doubtful he will, but recall it was Banks who spent the better part of a decade in prison or on probation for a crime that never happened; the case of a girl falsely accusing him of raping her at their California high school in 2002, at a time he had earned a scholarship to play football at USC.

Here’s hoping that if he doesn’t make the Falcons, who are Super Bowl contenders, after all, he at least makes someone’s practice squad.

--Receiver Riley Cooper returned to the Eagles after missing three practices. He has been seeking out his teammates individually following his uttering of a racial epithet on a video at a Kenny Chesney concert.

“I told them, ‘I don’t want you to forgive me because that puts the burden on you,’ Cooper said. “I want it all on me. I told them that and I told them I apologize.”

“I realize how many people I’ve hurt, how many families I’ve hurt, how many kids I’ve hurt,” Cooper added.

Quite a challenge for first-year coach Chip Kelly, who responded when asked if the team would cut Cooper if the locker room doesn’t heal, “I don’t see that happening after talking to our players. I think our players understand the situation and are working with him to make sure they get a better understanding about the whole situation.”

--Hall of Famer Art Donovan died. He was 89. Donovan was a 4-time All-Pro at defensive tackle and on the O-Line with the Baltimore Colts, spending single seasons with the New York Yanks and Dallas Texans in a career spanning 1950-61.   For his time he was a big dude, 6’2”, 265.

But after his playing days, Art Donovan made a living on the talk-show circuit, talking about the game, “When men were, well, men,” he would say. He was his sport’s Bob Uecker.

Donovan talked about his weight, which post-playing days was around 300 pounds.

“I’ve never been a gourmet eater,” he wrote in his autobiography, “Fatso.” “Kosher hot dogs, cheeseburgers, pizza, baloney, and a couple of cases of Schlitz are all I’d need on a desert isle.”

Donovan was easily one of the most popular Baltimore sports figures in the city’s history. He’ll be missed.

Golf Balls

--Hopefully the weather in Rochester, NY, where the PGA Championship is being held at historic Oak Hill, allows for a Sunday finish. I’ll go with Luke Donald to finally get the monkey off his back. I want Bill Haas.

--Dan Jenkins, Golf Digest...some thoughts on his 51 prior PGAs.

“Giving up cigarettes may be hazardous to your golf game....Arnold Palmer tried to quit smoking and shot 82 in the 1969 PGA at NCR in Dayton. A friend told him, ‘You gave up smoking and golf the same week.’”

“How to WD the Weiskopf Way...It was drizzling during the second round at Tanglewood in 1974 when Tom Weiskopf arrived at the 16th green. By one count, Tom managed to nine-putt, occasionally holding his putter upside down. ‘I’m injured, and I quit,’ he announced to an official. When he was asked, ‘What’s your injury?’ Tom replied, ‘I’m 25 over.’”

Also at Tanglewood, 1974... “Low Geezer...Sam Snead, at 62, finished in a tie for third behind Lee Trevino and Jack Nicklaus. It was no fluke: Two years before, at 60, Sam finished with a 69 at Oakland Hills to tie for fourth.”

“Deep Trivia...Name the only four players who won the NCAA and the PGA. Answer: Jack Nicklaus (Ohio State), John Mahaffey (Houston), Phil Mickelson (Arizona State) and Tiger Woods (Stanford).”

On a different topic, Editor-in-Chief of Golf Digest, Jerry Tarde, writes the following in the September issue.

“No question is asked of our staff editors more often than, ‘Who are the really good guys on tour?’ We decided to answer it this month with a new ranking based on a survey of tournament directors, locker-room attendants, media types, courtesy-car drivers, rules officials, volunteers, fellow players and assorted cognoscenti.

“ ‘Phil Mickelson told me he usually leaves a $1,000 tip for the housekeeper when he leaves a hotel room after a tournament,’ says Writer-at-Large Dan Jenkins. ‘He’s not bragging. He says, ‘I can afford it, and I know how much it will mean to the person.’’

1. Arnold Palmer...Who else asks strangers, “Do you have a camera? Let’s get a picture of this.”

2. Ben Crenshaw...The best letter writer among all the pros.

3. Nick Price...Always the first name mentioned when talking about good fellows.

4. Gary Player...Some say he’s insincere, but after all these years, I’m convinced he’s the real deal.

5. Phil Mickelson...The last time I played with him, he popped into the golf shop before departing to say goodbye to the assistant pros and see if they wanted him to autograph anything. Nice touch.

So per Golf Digest’s survey...among active PGA Tour players: [Criteria include being charitable; good to the ‘little people’ such as volunteers, locker-room attendants; fan-friendly; nice when no one’s looking; media-friendly, or at least professionally tolerant.]

1. Steve Stricker
2. Brandt Snedeker
T-3. Rickie Fowler
T-3. Matt Kuchar
5. Graeme McDowell
6. Joe Durant
7. Adam Scott
8. Bo Van Pelt
9. Rory McIlroy
10. Zach Johnson
11. Bill Haas
12. Geoff Ogilvy
T-13. K.J. Choi
T-13. Jason Gore
15. Carl Pettersson
T-16. Padraig Harrington
T-16. Justin Rose
18. Stewart Cink
19. Scott Langley
T-20. Phil Mickelson
T-20. Webb Simpson

Davis Love III is No. 25 (of 30).

“It could be a seemingly small thing, just player to player. After Darren Clarke broke through and won the 2011 British Open – after the final hole, after the interviews, after the presentation – Davis Love III was there to congratulate him. Love is a favorite of many insiders, and especially the PGA Tour and the PGA of America. Says Julius Mason, head of communications at the PGA of America: ‘I’m not sure there is anyone else you would rather spend time with, talking about golf or just reminiscing about life.’”

And with Stricker “the runaway winner of Golf Digest’s first Good Guys poll,” it’s great to see him in that commercial for Avis, playing the role of good guy.

--NASCAR’s Tony Stewart flipped five times in a short-track weeknight sprint car race, breaking his leg and ending his championship chances in the Sprint Cup chase. He had one surgery and will require a second.

He has flipped sprint cars three times in the past month, but has vowed to continue to race in these events in between NASCAR starts.

--As of the next ATP rankings released on Monday, no American male tennis player will be in the top 20 in the world for the first time since the rankings began nearly 40 years ago in 1973.

On the women’s side, among Americans it’s just No. 1 Serena Williams and No. 17 Sloane Stephens. [Venus Williams is down to No. 38.]

--Canadian police in Campbellton, New Brunswick, said a python or boa constrictor escaped from a pet store and slithered through a vent into the upstairs apartment where two children, aged five and seven, were having a sleepover. The snake was more than 14-feet long. Somehow both kids were strangled.

Needless to say, as an official said, “This is a tragedy. The city is in shock.”

I saw one zoo expert on the news and we learned the kids at been on a farm just a day or two earlier, playing with the animals. The zoologist thought that the snake, with a super sensitive sense of smell, thought of the boys as prey and went after them....assuming the kids didn’t wash up much from their visit to the farm.

Of course the snake, now in police custody, isn’t talking.

--According to the Princeton Review, the University of Iowa is the country’s top party school, as determined by 126,000 students in a nationwide survey.

Rounding out the top 5 are UC-Santa Barbara; the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; West Virginia University and Syracuse University.

“Most liberal students” – Bennington College (Vermont)

--Larry David Alert! This Sat., Aug. 10...HBO...David has a movie, “Clear History,” that is like an extended Curb Your Enthusiasm, complete with Leon (J.B. Smoove). Must see. 9:00 p.m.

Top 3 songs for the week 8/10/68: #1 “Hello, I Love You” (The Doors) #2 “Classical Gas” (Mason Williams) #3 “Stoned Soul Picnic” (The 5th Dimension...Marilyn McCoo...ooh baby...)...and...#4 “Grazing In The Grass” (Hugh Masekela) #5 “People Got To Be Free” (The Rascals) #6 “Hurdy Gurdy Man” (Donovan) #7 “Lady Willpower” (Gary Puckett and The Union Gap) #8 “Turn Around, Look At Me” (The Vogues) #9 “Sunshine Of Your Love” (The Cream) #10 “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” (The Rolling Stones)

PGA Championship Quiz Answer: Tiger Woods, 14; Tom Watson, 8; Phil Mickelson, 5; Ernie Els, 4; Padraig Harrington, 3; Vijay Singh, 3; Angel Cabrera, 2; Rory McIlroy, 2.

Next Bar Chat, Monday....if I win PowerBall...the premium is on me.

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