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Bar Chat

05/12/2014

Hope

[Posted Sunday PM...prior to Rangers-Penguins and Pacers-Wizards]

NFL Draft Quiz: I have a note on the drafting of running backs below, but name the three RBs drafted in the first round in 2012. Answer below.

NFL Draft

--I’m as guilty as anyone of putting up mock drafts, but after the popularity of this year’s NFL Draft coverage, I can’t imagine too many of you don’t like to see them, if for no other reason than to see who is trending. Of course none of ‘em end up being remotely accurate, especially after the top 3 or 4 picks, and the Wall Street Journal looked at the predicted first round results from 50 prominent mock drafts from draft blogs, national news outlets and local newspapers in NFL cities.

“The results were grim. The average mock draft was correct – matching a player with a team in the right draft slot – on 3.92 of 32 picks. If you don’t count the first two picks, which many pundits handicapped, the average number of correct picks was 2.38 per mock draft. The overall winner was year-round draft site WalterFootball.com, which had eight perfect picks. (The Journal got three picks right. Whoops.)”

The biggest surprise of the mock drafts was the Giants. “Not only did no one predict they would pick wideout Odell Beckham Jr., but no one even had them picking a receiver.”

Only one of the 50 mock drafts had Jacksonville taking Blake Bortles at No. 3. “Fittingly, that prediction was courtesy of Jacksonville.com.”

But back to Beckham, while not one of the 50 tabbed him, my friend Steve D. sent me this note hours before Thursday’s picks started rolling in.

“My son is friends with one of the Mara (Giants owners) grandkids and he tells him the Giants are going to pick Odell Beckham in Round 1.” 

Understand, this same kid correctly identified (yeah, it’s inside information) the Giants’ first selection last year, Justin Pugh from Syracuse.

And the kid had the Giants taking Andre Williams in the third round and they ended up getting him in the fourth.

Who needs Mel Kiper, Jr.?! Next year I’m just relying on the Mara kid...aka M.K.

[Steve is the one I keep losing all my lunch bets to...BC vs. Wake...it really sucks. Plus the Mets just called up a kid, Eric Campbell, to play a little first (and other positions), and Campbell went to BC. The problem here is he technically won out over Wake’s Allan Dykstra (sort of), both playing at the Mets’ AAA Vegas affiliate. We can’t win, Deacon fans.]

--I was psyched with the Jets’ first three selections... safety/DB Calvin Pryor from Louisville...tight end Jace Amaro, 6-feet-5, 265, a real beast in a key position for a young quarterback like Geno Smith. Amaro set a FBS record for most receiving yards by a TE, amassing 1,352 yard on 106 catches for Texas Tech last season. And then with their third, No. 80 overall, the Jets took a cornerback, Dexter McDougle from Maryland; a fellow who was injured much of last year but is fine now, though if he hadn’t been hurt would have gone higher. Ergo, you’d think he can play.

And then after drafting three wide receivers in the later rounds (though stupidly passing on South Carolina’s Bruce Ellington when they had a chance, Ellington then going to San Francisco), the Jets snapped up Clemson QB Tajh Boyd. I love the pick. Rex Ryan had the inside scoop on Boyd, seeing as his son, Seth, is on the Clemson squad at wide receiver. I’m hoping Boyd makes it as the third quarterback and moves on up in 2015.

--It really is going to be interesting to see how Jadeveon Clowney pans out for Houston after he was selected first overall. A “once-in-a-generation athlete.” But with a major attitude issue.

--My beer man is a big Raiders fan and when I saw him Saturday, he was pumped over their first two selections, LB Khalil Mack (Buffalo) and QB Derek Carr (Fresno State). I told him of my concern that Mack was another Aaron Curry and probably bummed Dom out for the rest of the day.

--Johnny Manziel, shockingly to many, wasn’t taken until the 22nd pick of the first round by Cleveland, a terrific spot for the lad, and of course Manziel, while deeply disappointed he didn’t go earlier, celebrated as only Johnny Football can by buying everyone at his favorite College Station (Texas A&M) watering hole a Miller Lite and a Fireball shot, according to the Dallas Morning News. Manziel had left his credit card number at the Chimy Cerveceria with the plan of spending about $2,000.

As for Manziel’s impact on Cleveland, it was immediate. There was a surge in season ticket sales. “Manzielmania” is already in play. It should be exciting. Just hope for his and the city’s sake he stays out of trouble...which isn’t likely.

--But Johnny (or Brian Hoyer) probably won’t be throwing to Cleveland wide receiver Josh Gordon, who is going to be suspended an entire NFL season after failing another drug test months ago (marijuana), according to ESPN. Gordon didn’t deny it over the weekend. His agent declined to comment.

After an earlier violation, Gordon was suspended for two games last season and still had 87 receptions and nine touchdowns, leading the NFL with 1,646 receiving yards, including back-to-back 200-yard receiving games.

Gordon said last year’s suspension was the result of using cough syrup that contained codeine. His latest violation was for marijuana. He was suspended twice at Baylor for testing positive for marijuana. Then he transferred to Utah but didn’t play there after failing a drug test.

So, even though I graduated Summa Cum Lousy, it seems to me, just taking a wild stab at it, that Josh Gordon has a drug problem.

--I told you I thought Wake Forest receiver Michael Campanaro would go in the sixth round. He ended up being the third pick in the seventh by the Ravens, so I was pretty darn good in my guess on that one. Baltimore is perfect for Campanaro, a native of the area. He’ll make the team...no problem...and contribute this season.

--St. Louis drafted Michael Sam. I’ll just say this. When he first announced he was looking to be the first openly gay player to be drafted by the NFL, I was like “whatever.” The thing is while he was selected as the SEC defensive player of the year, many experts just didn’t believe he was that good in terms of his ability to play in the league so by draft day, folks wondered if he would even be drafted, and it had nothing to do with his sexuality.

As for the scene afterwards when the Rams tabbed him...I’ll only get in trouble for commenting, except I have to say that Sam really didn’t use his head. Now he has to make the team.

--Other picks I took note of...Oregon’s De’Anthony Thomas going to the Chiefs in the fourth, a steal. Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron to the Bengals in the fifth round, McCarron clearly coming off as a major-league jerk in his interviews with GMs and coaches. And Zach Mettenberger, the immensely talented LSU QB, who didn’t go until the sixth round (Tennessee) mostly because he failed a drug test at the combine, making him an idiot.

--Speaking of sixth round picks, Fred Bowen of the Washington Post reminds us that Redskins’ Pierre Garcon and Alfred Morris were sixth round selections. [As was Tom Brady.] Linebacker London Fletcher wasn’t even drafted and is Hall of Fame bound.

--Tennessee selected Washington running back Bishop Sankey with the 54th pick, the lowest pick used on the first running back off the board in history. Giovani Bernard set the previous mark last year when the Bengals took him 37th overall.

So the devaluation of the position continues. Teams just prefer to have 2 or 3 back rotations these days and it’s generally cheaper. Certainly there’s no need to wrap more than a handful of today’s RBs into long-term, mega-buck contracts.

But these things go in cycles. Meanwhile, Sankey, with the departure of Chris Johnson to the Jets, should be an instant feature back.

--I loved the Bills’ selection of Clemson wideout Sammy Watkins, though then Buffalo traded Stevie Johnson to San Francisco for some draft picks. Johnson is solid... three straight 70-catch, 1,000-yard seasons, until last season (52-597-3). He’s just 27.

Buffalo doesn’t look good in that it paid Johnson a $1.75 million roster bonus in March and he’ll count as $10.225 million in dead money on the Bills’ cap over the next year or two, according to Tom Pelissero of USA TODAY Sports.

--I liked New England’s selection of Eastern Illinois quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. He just seems like a future Tom Brady if there ever was one. Brady turns 37 on Aug. 3 and said he wants to play until he’s 40. I’m guessing by end of the 2015 season, Brady will see the light.

--ESPN’s ratings for the first night of the draft were off the charts, up 48% from the prior year. Hey, I was pumped, more so than ever before, but that was mainly a function of my Jets having so many picks. Were this not the case my interest level wouldn’t have been nearly as high.

[And then I hung on Saturday waiting to see where Campanaro would go.]

--Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman signed a four-year contract extension that makes him one of the highest-paid corners in NFL history, $57.4 million, with $40 million guaranteed, keeping him in uniform with the Seahawks through 2018.

--Arizona Senator John McCain had a very perceptive comment in a conversation with Dan Patrick of Sports Illustrated.

McCain: Some of us [senators] do... The day [receiver] Anquan Boldin left the Cardinals was the worst. Then teams could focus on Larry Fitzgerald.

--Lastly, we note the passing of Bill Nunn, a scout for the Pittsburgh Steelers during their dynasty of the 1970s. He was 89.

Nunn had been the sports editor at the Pittsburgh Courier, an African-American newspaper that named a black college all-American football team.

By the late 1960s, though, he was frustrated the NFL wasn’t drafting more of the players his paper honored. So he shared his feelings with Dan Rooney, son of the Steelers’ owner, Art Rooney, and rather than get an argument, Nunn was hired, becoming full time in 1969, the year Chuck Noll became coach.

Over the ensuing years, Nunn steered the club to select the likes of John Stallworth (Alabama A&M), L.C. Greenwood (Arkansas-Pine Bluff), Mel Blount (Southern), Dwight White (East Texas State), Donnie Shell (South Carolina State) and Ernie Holmes (Texas Southern).

Nunn did have one who didn’t work out that well. Quarterback Joe Gilliam out of Tennessee State, who was a shooting star that beat out Terry Bradshaw and Terry Hanratty in 1974, only to flame out after six games.

Ball Bits

--Masahiro Tanaka, in moving to 5-0 with the Yankees the other day, remains undefeated since Aug. 2012 after winning his last 28 decisions in Japan. I don’t care where the heck you’re playing, or what sport...that’s pretty good.

Tanaka has a 2.57 ERA, 58 strikeouts, just 7 walks in 49 innings.

But the Yankees announced CC Sabathia is heading to the DL with inflammation of the right knee. It’s the same knee he was operated on following the 2010 season. He is 3-4, 5.28.

With injuries to Ivan Nova (season-ending TJ surgery) and Michael Pineda (DL with back issue), the Yanks’ rotation is a freakin’ mess...not that I give a damn.   [Especially heading to the Subway Series.]

--I watched the last inning of Yu Darvish’s attempt at a no-hitter on Friday night, after following it online, and I saw the video of the routine fly to shallow right in the seventh that fell between right fielder Alex Rios and second baseman Rougned Odor, and it was unbelievable that the official scorer charged Rios with an error. Of course it was a hometown scorer and he felt he had to protect what was then a perfect game for Darvish.

I was watching MLB Network and Harold Reynolds was rightfully livid. Never, ever has that play been ruled an error...at least when the pop goes into the outfield, and even when it drops between two fielders in the infield it’s ruled a hit.

Of course one of the two fielders in any situation like that should catch the ball, but the sport has always erred on the side of the hitter.

In the end, David Ortiz broke up Darvish’s bid with two outs in the ninth, the second time in his career Darvish has lost out on a no-no with an out to go.

--On Sunday, Philadelphia’s Cole Hamels was gunning for his 100th career win against the Mets. But after 133 pitches, a major-league high this season and a career best, Hamels got a no-decision as the Phil lost 5-4 in 11; a much-needed win for the Metsies who had lost 8 of 9.

[Earlier in the weekend, the Mets’ David Wright broke a personal worst homerless streak at 136 at bats.]

--Toronto’s Mark Buehrle is 6-1, 1.91, for a team that is 18-20. Buehrle is now 192-143 in his career.

--The Cubs’ Jeff Samardzija is 0-3, 1.45, as a starter. The Cubbies are 12-24.

--Congratulations to Cincinnati reliever Aroldis Chapman, who made his debut Sunday after being hit above the eye during spring training. All Chapman did in striking out the side for the save in a 4-1 win over Colorado is strike out the side and throw pitches of up to 102 mph.

--Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reminds us that Commissioner Bud Selig announced back in September 2013 he was retiring in 16 months and with less than 8 months to go there is no heir apparent as yet (as opposed to when David Stern announced he was retiring in 15 months, the NBA owners immediately tabbed Adam Silver, his deputy, as his successor).

Baseball’s owners meet in New York this week, yet there seems to be no sense of urgency on coming up with a replacement for Selig.  Baseball has key labor talks in 2016 and now there’s a feeling in some circles, it seems, that Selig will once again postpone retirement, which would be a mistake.

Rob Manfred, Selig’s deputy, has been positioned as the successor, with Manfred being baseball’s longtime labor negotiator, but apparently there will be a ‘search’ conducted.

Former President George W. Bush would love the job but doesn’t seem to be seriously under consideration.

--The Yankees announced they are retiring the No. 6 worn by Joe Torre, as well as putting plaques in Monument Park for Goose Gossage, Tino Martinez and Paul O’Neill, with Bernie Williams honored in the same way in 2015.

Geezuz...what about Horace Clarke and Jake Gibbs? [By the way, check out Joe Pepitone’s baseball card some day...what a strange statistical career he had. Hit a lot of homers, but no doubles. His on-base percentage was horrid, but he didn’t strike out. First player to have a hair dryer in the locker room.]

--May 14, 1972...Willie Mays makes his debut for the Mets on Mother’s Day at Shea against the Giants and homers. Your editor, and family, are there. [A line drive into the visitor’s bullpen.]

NBA Fever

--Boy, after a scintillating first round, the second round has been major-league blowdom. That is until Sunday’s Clippers-Thunder Game 4 in L.A., the Clippers winning 101-99 to tie it at two.

L.A. was down 15 with about nine minutes to play but prevailed, thanks largely to Darren Collison’s 18 off the bench. Kevin Durant had 40 and Russell Westbrook 27, but that’s 67 of 99 for OKC. You get the picture.

Aside from Collison’s 18, Jamal Crawford had 18 as well as the Clippers had 40 from their reserves.

Oh, and Durant and Westbrook combined for 12 turnovers!

Chris Paul had 23 points and 10 assists, while Blake Griffin had 25 and 9 rebounds.

--The Nets came through in fine fashion on Saturday night in Brooklyn, defeating the Heat 104-90 to move the series to 2-1, Miami. Brooklyn hit 15-of-25 from three, while holding LeBron James to just 12 points over the final three quarters after he opened with 16 in the first. So my “Pick to Click” is still alive, boys and girls! [Not for nuthin’, but Joe Johnson has had an outstanding playoffs thus far.]

--Earlier, Indiana took a 2-1 lead over Washington with an 85-63 win, as the Wizards’ John Wall had seven TOs.

--And on Saturday, San Antonio went up 3-0 on the Trail Blazers, 118-103, as the Spurs were 25-25 from the foul line.

--Jamal Crawford of the Clippers received the NBA Sixth Man Award. What a nice career he’s had and by all accounts the 34-year-old is a good guy. He’s the oldest to receive this honor and the first to win with two different teams [Atlanta Hawks in 2009-2010].  Taj Gibson of Chicago finished second.

--I am already incredibly bored by the Donald Sterling story, let alone the Shelly angle, but agree the NBA picked a good person to run the franchise on an interim basis in former Time Warner chief, Dick Parsons.

Golf Balls

--What a finish on Sunday at The Players Championship, the fifth major, as Germany’s Martin Kaymer held on for dear life after a rain delay to prevail over Jim Furyk by one shot.

Kaymer had a 3-stroke lead with four to go when the rains came and when play resumed he doubled No. 15, yet held on, barely, thanks to a spectacular par-saving putt on the island green 17th.

Jordan Spieth, tied with Kaymer entering the final round, finished tied for fourth, 3 back. Sergio Garcia was alone in third.

For Kaymer it was just his second win on U.S. soil, but the other victory was the PGA Championship. No cheapies for him.

--Karen Crouse of the New York Times pointed out that there have been just five aces in the first now 27 official PGA Tour events this season (the wraparound schedule going back to last fall), compared with last year’s 30 in 44 events. The high-water mark for holes in one was 44 in 1994, one an event. One excuse for the dearth of aces is the par-3s are being stretched further and further out, including one at Quail Hollow last week that was 250 yards.

Well, there weren’t any holes-in-one at the TPC this week and there have only been six at No. 17 since 1986, the last by Miguel Angel Jimenez in the first round in 2002. [Over 5,600 shots without one on 17 since then.]

--Here’s a tip from registered dietitian Sharon Richter for Golf Magazine:

“Traditional Arnold Palmers [lemonade and iced tea] tend to be high in sugar, but Bai’s lemonade and tea flavored beverage is only five calories. Just add vodka and you’ll be in cocktail heaven. This drink is also loaded with antioxidants, which help repair cells damaged from exercise and being out in the sun. It’s refreshing and rewarding.”

Tip from your editor: Add extra vodka for that quick, summertime buzz.

--As of last weekend, the No. 45 money winner on the PGA Tour was Ian Poulter at $1,148,844. No. 45 on the LPGA Tour was Christel Boeljon at $78,760...hardly breaking even, I imagine, especially if sponsors are involved.

--I didn’t realize Notah Begay III had suffered a heart attack two weeks ago. He had a stent inserted and said he anticipates “a full recovery.” This had to have an effect on his good buddy, Tiger Woods. They’ve known each since they were kids.

--In catching up on golf stuff I didn’t realize Donald Trump was awarded the 2022 PGA Championship, which will be at the Tom Fazio-designed Old Course at Trump National Bedminster, about 20 minutes from me here in New Jersey. Hope I live long enough to see it. [I turned Lawrence Taylor the other week, if you know what I mean. It could be a tough year.] Trump is hosting the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open at Bedminster, and he picked up the 2017 Senior PGA Championship at Trump National-Washington, D.C., which is along the Virginia shore of the Potomac.

And...Trump purchased Turnberry. Yes, that Turnberry. As Golfweek opined, the Firth of Clyde will soon become the Firth of Donald.

I’ve said it before. Say what you will about Trump, but he’s has been a godsend to golf and easily the most aggressive player in the sport the past decade.

Saturday’s Irish Independent had a piece on Trump’s trip to the west coast of Ireland and his trip to another acquisition, Doonbeg, a Greg Norman course I played when it first opened (and didn’t like at all), though a spectacular piece of property with a very nice resort attached that Trump will only make a lot better. We saw what he did to Doral.

Nope, when it comes to the Game of Golf, you’ll only hear positive things from yours truly any time Donald Trump’s name comes up.

--Sorry, girls. Adam Scott secretly wed Swedish architect Marie Kojzar in a ceremony that took place in his Bahamas backyard the other week.

Scott said, “It’s official. I am a settled-down man and very happy.... We just decided to get on with it. We’ve known each other long enough, let’s go and jump right in the deep end.”

Turns out the two were together for seven years before splitting up. They reunited before he won The Masters...a tradition unlike any other...on CBS....last year.

Scott had at one time been tied to Kate Hudson. I was never tied to her, in case you were wondering.

--Manchester City needed only a draw to win its second Premier League title in three years. City entered the final crush of games on Sunday 26-6-5 to Liverpool’s 25-6-6.

So City hosted West Ham, while Liverpool was home against Newcastle. City won 2-0 and that was it. [Liverpool won its game 2-1.]

Final standings....

Man City 86
Liverpool 84
Chelsea 82
Arsenal 79....and those are your Champions League qualifiers

As for those being relegated out of the 20-team league, it’s Norwich City, Fulham and Cardiff City.

Manchester United finished a horrendous 7th.

I am promising to be a big-time Tottenham supporter (they were sixth) for next season, complete with jersey, in honor of Dave Clark.

--Jeff Gordon picked up his first victory of the Sprint Cup season, his 89th overall, at Kansas Speedway on Saturday night. Gordon, now 42, held off Kevin Harvick.

But Danica Patrick finished seventh, her best career Cup finish. Good for her. She was justifiably pumped after. [Wasn’t tied to her either.]

--The University of Oregon announced three basketball players involved in a sexual assault investigation have been dismissed from the program. All three had been suspended a week ago, but now their hopes of ever playing again in Eugene are over, as announced by the university president, to show the gravity of the situation. Head coach Dana Altman’s position is not said to be in jeopardy.

However, the school is under fire because it’s been a full two months since the incident came to light. The three were never arrested, though, because the local DA said there was a lack of evidence.

But one of the problems is that the allegations were made before the NCAA tournament, with the school being aware of this fact, yet two of the players played in it. The other was sitting out a season after transferring from Providence.

--We’re talking two years in the future, but heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko announced he might represent his country, Ukraine, at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Boy, this would be truly awesome. Klitschko was the super heavyweight champion way back at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

International rules allow big-time professional boxers to return to Olympic competition under certain circumstances.   He would have to terminate his existing professional contracts, for starters.

The age limit is 40 and Klitschko would celebrate his 40th birthday four months before the Games. Talk about must-see television. Then again, what will Ukraine be in two years? [David Wharton / Los Angeles Times]

--We note the passing of NASA test pilot Bill Dana, 83, who flew the X-15 rocket plane at record supersonic speeds and tested many of the most dangerous aircraft ever developed.

What Dana and others hired by NASA back then did is simply unfathomable. The X-15 reached speeds of nearly 4,000 mph (twice as fast as a bullet) and altitudes of 300,000 feet.

Their efforts were not only critical to future Gemini and Apollo missions, but the landings made it possible for NASA to begin to develop the space shuttle. Dana said in a speech back in 1998 that landing the X-15 “proved easy.”

All a pilot had to do was start circling at 50,000 feet, get a good bead on the runway “and descend onto a nominal glideslope.”

What a truly remarkable pioneer and hero...all of them. [Paul Vitello / New York Times]

--In one of the stupidest decisions ever made in the history of college sports, the Big Ten announced it would hold its men’s basketball tournament in Washington at the Verizon Center in 2017. Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said, “We have three institutions in the East and 11 institutions in the Midwest. I don’t know what the precise rotation will be, but I can tell you it will be here regularly over the coming decades.”

As one fellow tweeted: “Why? So Maryland, Rutgers, and PSU fans can watch their team lose in the first round? Place is gonna be empty.” [Scott Allen / Washington Post] 

--Snake Watch: Be careful in London... “Over the last few weeks, 30 Aesculupian snakes, which can grow up to two meters in length, have been spotted up trees, rooftops and climbing up the drains of houses around the Regent’s Canal area.

“The snakes that are thought to originate from Yugoslavia have been known to attack small dogs and their numbers now seem to be growing in the capital....

“While the large snakes have been known to attack dogs and occasionally babies, they are more adept at feasting on small rodents and birds – so London’s pigeons and rats watch out.” [Irish Independent]

“An expatriate woman fought frantically to save the life of her pet dog when it was attacked by a five-meter python in Sai Kung West Country Park.

“Courtney Link repeatedly punched the huge snake and stabbed it with a pocket knife until it released its grip on her two-year-old mongrel Dexter and slid away.” Dexter survived.

But get this. Since 2010, authorities have microchipped 442 pythons in Hong Kong and removed them to areas away from the public. But that means in a few years there will be tens of millions of these beasts in the surrounding hills and parks...maybe billions.

[Exaggerating snake totals...another free feature of Bar Chat.]

--Scientists unveiled body-weight estimates for an astounding 426 different dinosaur species using a formula based on the thickness of leg bones. The plant-eating, long-necked Argentinosaurus came in at a staggering 90 tons! This behemoth lived about 90 million years ago in Paraguay. [Just seeing if you’re paying attention....it was actually Bayonne, New Jersey...]

The largest meat-eating dino was indeed Tyrannosaurus rex, which weighed seven tons, to put our Argentina pal in proper perspective. [South China Morning Post]

“An energy company worker has been killed by a black bear at a base in the tar sands region of Alberta, Canada.

“The Royal Canadian Mounted Police later shot and killed the male bear.

“Bears are emerging from hibernation near the Suncor Energy Inc. oil sands mining operation, 15 ½ miles north of Fort McMurray.”

Brad K. then passed along a piece from the Daily Mail adding further details:

“Lorna Weafer, 36, was dragged from her seven colleagues and brutally attacked while doing electrical work.

“Her work mates, who weren’t carrying bear spray, blasted air horns to scare the animal away, but couldn’t save (her).”

I’m not sure I’d sleep that well the next decade if I witnessed something like this.

--Oh brother. A drag queen, Austria’s ‘bearded lady’ Conchita Wurst, aka Tom Neuwirth, won the Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen. I’m sure she/he was great (I have no desire to watch it), but I was curious to see how Ukraine did, in these politically charged times, and Mariya Yaremchuk was terrific (rather sexy, guys).  I also liked that Russia’s act was booed.

Top 3 songs for the week 5/11/68: #1 “Honey” (Bobby Goldsboro) #2 “Tighten Up” (Archie Bell & The Drells...favorite of Mets broadcaster Keith Hernandez...)  #3 “Young Girl” (The Union Gap featuring Gary Puckett... first with big hair...)...and...#4 “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” (Hugo Montenegro...one of the great flicks of all time...in your editor’s top ten...) #5 “Cry Like A Baby” (The Box Tops) #6 “A Beautiful Morning” (The Rascals) #7 “Cowboys To Girls” (The Intruders...these guys did some cool songs...) #8 “The Unicorn” (The Irish Rovers) #9 “Mrs. Robinson” (Simon and Garfunkel) #10 “Lady Madonna” (The Beatles... “Hello, I Love You”, “People Got To Be Free”, and “Hey Jude” would dominate the charts second half of this  year...)

NFL Quiz Answer: Three running backs drafted in the first round in 2012...

Trent Richardson (Alabama) Cleveland
Doug Martin (Boise State) Tampa Bay
David Wilson (Virginia Tech) Giants

Of the six ‘seasons’ between the two, only one was highly successful, Martin’s rookie year. Richardson has been a major-league bust, and very costly to his second team the Colts. Wilson is attempting to come back from serious neck surgery. Ergo....you can see why teams no longer are eager to use first-round picks on this position.

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