---

Bar Chat

09/29/2014

October Baseball

Baseball Quiz: The other day, Albert Pujols hit the 100 RBI mark for a 12th season by the age of 35. Who are the other four to accomplish this feat? [Hint: Three are old-timers, pre-1950.] Answer below.

Ryder Cup...Europe 16 ½...USA 11 ½

3rd straight for Europe, 8 in 10 tries

Four-Ball Matches...  5-3 USA

Foursomes... 7-1 Europe

And so as all golf fans know, the foursome (alternate shot) matches decided it as Europe built a normally insurmountable 10-6 lead headed into Sunday’s singles (2012 and 1999 being the rare exceptions).

What everyone will remember, though, is how Captain Tom Watson miscalculated. First, as I have written a few times already, you can fault him for selecting Webb Simpson as a captain’s pick, but you can’t fault him for not going with Chris Kirk and Billy Horschel because it was too early to pick them. If Watson had been able to wait one more week and the next round of the FedEx Cup playoffs, certainly Horschel would have been on the team. Maybe that’s one change that is made for 2016, add one more week before the captain is forced to pick so as to see who is really hot and not just a one-week wonder.

But the miscalculation involved sending Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley out for Friday afternoon’s match, after they had won in the morning, instead of resting them and bringing them back for Saturday. Mickelson’s coach, Butch Harmon, a commentator for Britain’s Sky TV, said he would have rested Mickelson if it was up to him. Mickelson and Bradley then lost to Graeme McDowell and Victor Dubuisson, 3-and-2.

Two years ago at Medinah, Mickelson and Bradley were rested by Captain Davis Love III on Saturday afternoon after going 3-0, with Mickelson telling Love they were going to put everything into the morning and then needed to sit.

But Watson held both out all Saturday, mainly because Mickelson on Friday night admitted to being exhausted. [That said, Phil was begging Watson to put him out Saturday, to no avail.]

“Say this for Tom Watson: He has remained true to himself during this Ryder Cup week even if he has not always been forthright with everyone else. The famous detachment Watson displayed as a player has been his calling card, where, as the captain of the United States squad, he has kept his players and the news media at a club’s length.

“At 65, Watson has 21 years on his two most senior players, Jim Furyk and Phil Mickelson, and is 44 years older than his youngest, Jordan Spieth.

“Unlike his predecessor Davis Love III, whose team lost to the Europeans for the seventh time in the last nine competitions, Watson does not have a close relationship with the players he would be leading. Instead of the big-brother closeness that Love brought to the team room, Watson appealed to Ted Bishop, the P.G.A. of America president, because he was a no-nonsense, old-school patriarch with a record that commanded respect.

“But Bishop should have known that the distance, in age and in temperament, between Watson and his players would be hard to bridge....the flaws in Watson’s captaincy will not be easily forgotten. Nor should they be, lest history repeat itself with the appointment in two, four or six years of another revered retread.”

Ms. Crouse goes on to discuss how Watson went back on his word in not playing “the horses that are really running strong” when he sat Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed after their fast start Friday morning.

And then after Simpson and Bubba Watson were waxed Friday morning, Watson sat Simpson the rest of Friday and all day Saturday, hardly a boost for Webb after Watson had expressed so much confidence in selecting him for the team in the first place.

For his part, Phil Mickelson couldn’t hold back. In Sunday’s post-match interview, he accused Watson of ignoring Paul Azinger’s successful formula from 2008. Golfweek’s Alistair Tait wrote, “The awkward atmosphere in the interview room could have been cut with a plastic knife.”

“There were two things that allow us to play our best, I think, that Paul Azinger did. One was he got everybody invested in the process.

“He got everybody invested in who they were going to play with, who the picks were going to be, who was going to be in their pod.

“The other thing that Paul did really well was he had a great game plan for us, how we were going to go about doing this.

“I’m just looking back at what gave us the most success, because we used the same process in the Presidents Cup and we do really well. Unfortunately, we have strayed from a winning formula in 2008 and the last three Ryder Cups. We need to consider maybe getting back to that formula.

“Nobody here was in on any decision.”

“I had a different philosophy as far as being captain of this team. It takes 12 players to win. It’s not pods. It’s 12 players. Yes, I did talk to my players, but my vice captains were very instrumental in making decisions.

“I did mix and match a little bit. You have to go with the evolution of playing the match and see who is playing the best and who to play with whom. That’s what I did.

“I felt that the assessment of the players was paramount from the standpoint of my vice-captains and me to see who is going to play with who. My two most important jobs are to make the captain’s picks and then put the team together.”

“The reverberations of Mickelson’s attack will last a long time. It remains to be seen how serious of a dent they could place in Watson’s stellar reputation within the game.

“Europe’s message all week had been 12 become one. The U.S. seemed set to depart Gleneagles as 12 against one. Or at least one against one.

“The rift between Watson and Mickelson might never be healed.”

And I guarantee Johnny Miller would be on Watson’s side. Prior to the post-match comments, Miller told his viewers that whoever was selected as captain didn’t matter. It was about the players. Miller and Watson are old school. Mickelson, while 44, is major league in tune with today’s modern athlete.

Finally, who gained in terms of Q-rating this week? Really only Patrick Reed, at least in a significant way (Spieth needed to win his singles match for any real movement). Tournament sponsors will want Reed at their events. [For the Euros, it was Victor Dubuisson, though not as much as Reed.]

--Interesting tidbit heading into Gleneagles. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson had combined to win 19 majors but had a combined Ryder Cup record of 27-35-9. By contrast, Colin Montgomerie and Sergio Garcia have never won a major but their combined Cup record was 36-17-11. [Michael Rosenberg / Sports Illustrated]

So...Sergio went 2-1-1 and is now 18-9-5 in Ryder Cup play. Justin Rose went 3-0-2 and is 9-3-2 for his career.

Mickelson was 2-1-0 and is 16-19-6 lifetime. Jim Furyk, 1-3-0, is now 10-20-4. Ughh.

--And on an unrelated golf note, I saw in the current issue of Links Magazine how Tiger and Jack Nicklaus were finishing up two courses on the Baja Peninsula, right near Los Cabos. The story was written prior to the hurricane, but imagine the probable losses on these projects as it will take years, it would seem, to rebuild the resort to the point where the crowds come streaming back.

--Lastly...the 2014-15 wraparound Tour season starts in just two weeks with the Frys.com Open. Seven events (including a WGC tourney in China) before they break for about two months. Last year this was when Jimmy Walker emerged. Who will this time? I hope Jordan Spieth plays in a few and picks up his first win so he can start 2015 on a positive note.

But in terms of the big stars, outside of the WGC tourney, you aren’t going to see a lot of ‘em until the California swing in February.

Ball Bits

The Baseball Playoffs....

Oakland at Kansas City

San Francisco at Pittsburgh

Oak/KC winner at Los Angeles
Detroit at Baltimore

Pitt/SF winner at Washington
St. Louis at Los Angeles

--Detroit won its 4th straight A.L. Central title.

--For the Kansas City Royals, their first playoff berth in 29 years ended the longest active postseason drought in the four top North American leagues. [The Blue Jays now hold the record at 21 seasons...1993 being their last appearance.]

--One of the story lines in the playoffs will be to see if the Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig can handle his temper.

--Derek Jeter sure went out in style on Thursday night in his final game at Yankee Stadium, a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth.

As Steve Politi of the Star-Ledger said of the future first-ballot Hall of Famer’s last home game:

“Forget the production on the field. Look at all the fannies in the seats, all the merchandise going out the doors and (presumably) the ratings on the YES Network. He transformed a meaningless game into a marquee event for the Yankees. You wonder: How much, from a business standpoint, was Jeter worth to the Yankees in 2014?”

“Derek Jeter hit just one grand slam in his 20-year major league career. He never won a batting title or was the American League MVP. When baseball’s calibrators apply advanced metrics to his numbers, this made-for-marketing sendoff brought on spiked levels of snark and cynicism. It’s now to the point that adults who mourn the career passing of the sporting gods of their youth have been almost embarrassed into owning up to their warped sense of idolatry.

“ ‘Stop already! He’s a 40-year-old Yankee shortstop, for God’s sake, not any kind of historically important American.’

“And that’s where the jaded among us got it wrong, of course, because Jeter is historically important.

“He’s the last iconic American athletic hero who didn’t let us down.

“Crunching his numbers before his last at-bat Sunday at Fenway Park, we forget the only ones that mattered:

“In an era of increasing criminal behavior off the field in all sports, Jeter never once was in trouble with the law.

“During two decades of his peers putting syringes in their buttocks and special pills on their tongues, Jeter never once was connected to performance-enhancing drug use – not in a Mitchell report, not in a Jose Canseco tell-all book, not even in casual conversation among the game’s closest observers who might have had an inkling.

“In a tabloid town where everyone is eventually found out, Jeter never once detonated his personal life.... He dated some of the world’s most stunning and famous women, none of whom ended up telling Oprah what a bad person he was....

“But nationally Jeter carried his own importance. He filled up a vacuum for those of us who still need to find comfort in sustained professional excellence....

“In the late 1990s, Jeter could have been on a cover featuring Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, and in the mid-2000s he could have occupied a cover with Tom Brady and Kobe Bryant. He’s as old as he is contemporary, bisecting generations of the greatest American sports stars of the last 20 years....

“We get angrier now at those who forget they are making fortunes playing the game we would give our appendix to play and we have more venues to vent than our fathers and grandfathers did.

“So when one of them does genuinely appreciate their life and career, we intuitively need to stand and salute.

“Because Jeter gets us; he understands the abiding affection we have for the game on such visceral levels. We know – don’t we – that he is the rare player who loved the game as much as we did, that he probably would have played it for much less money and fame.

“When so many of his peers in baseball and beyond could not keep our trust, he always managed to deliver. We don’t mourn a player’s retirement; we mourn the last great athlete of his generation to hold up his part of the bargain. We mourn the rarest of commodities in big-time professional sports – Derek Jeter, the lone athletic hero not to let us down.”

Jeter went out in style on Sunday in Boston, too, an RBI single on a chopper in the third inning, after which he was removed for a pinch-runner. It was hit No. 3,465, sixth on the all-time list, and it moved his career average to .310.

Jeter also hit .308 in 650 postseason at-bats, including .321 in World Series play (156 ABs). He retires 10th in runs scored with 1,923.

As for the Yankees next season, let’s just say it’s going to be a Mets town. If Masahiro Tanaka doesn’t return to his early season form, there isn’t one reason to go to the Stadium.

Oh, except there’s A-Rod. Yes, the Yankees are looking to move on and welcome Alex Rodriguez back to fulfill the final three years of his contract, with the team still owing him $61 million.

That is if A-Rod can play. He’s been working out twice a day, passed a physical, but the team won’t know until spring training if his hip issues are a thing of the past. Few expect him to be able to take the field, at least on a regular basis, so the hope is he can DH. The circus will be back in town come February.

--Don Mattingly, who was screwed out of the 1986 A.L. MVP award by Roger Clemens, on why Clayton Kershaw deserves to be N.L. MVP, as reported by the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner: “Mattingly can stretch his bullpen the day before Kershaw pitches, and the day after. The presence of an overwhelming ace, he said, creates a different dynamic for all the players, who never have to worry about long losing streaks.”

Mattingly adds that for a pitcher to win the MVP, “You’ve got to have one of those years that’s crazy, like Clayton’s doing... I think that just changes things. It has to be that kind of year.”

Kershaw was the first pitcher to earn at least 21 victories in a season of no more than 27 appearances. And he helped himself at the plate, going 5 for 15 with runners in scoring position.

On a different topic, Adam Wainwright, Tyler Kepner notes the Cardinals’ 20-game winner is just the fourth hurler to have had at least 12 starts of seven innings and no earned runs. The others are: Grover Cleveland Alexander (16 starts in 1916), Bob Gibson (13 in 1968) and Dean Chance (12 in 1962).

And Kepner notes that when the Mariners needed it most in the stretch drive, King Felix Hernandez won just once in his last starts with a 3.75 ERA.

--I wrote last time that the Yankees should have shut down Tanaka after his solid comeback effort last week, but Tanaka went out there against Boston on Saturday and was lit up, allowing  seven runs (five earned) in just 1 2/3. 

“My goals coming into this season were to stay healthy and keep a spot in the rotation,” Tanaka said. “So, obviously, I wasn’t able to do that. I was only able to do half the job. That said, I think I’m a little disappointed in the season.”

He insisted his arm is fine, but now he finishes on a very negative note rather than the positive one he could have heading into the offseason. As the Times’ Tyler Kepner said, the “health questions will stalk him and complicate the Yankees’ off-season planning.”

--Former Yankee Phil Hughes had quite a season for Minnesota, going 16-10, 3.52, with only 16 walks in 209 2/3, while striking out 186. That ratio of Ks to BBs, 11.63, is a major league record, besting Bret Saberhagen, who had 143 strikeouts and 13 walks for the Mets in 1994, an 11.0 ratio.

But had Hughes gotten just one more out, he would have earned a $500,000 bonus. He could have reached that level but a rain delay forced him out of his last start and there were no plans to pitch him over the weekend, as Hughes said he didn’t feel it was right to make a token appearance just for that purpose – and potentially risk injury.

--Toronto’s Mark Buehrle hit the 200-inning mark for a 14th consecutive season, 202 in going 13-10, 3.39. So he joins a rather elite group with 14 such seasons in a row – all Hall of Famers: Warren Spahn, Don Sutton, Gaylord Perry, Phil Niekro, Christy Mathewson and Greg Maddux.

--Arizona fired manager Kirk Gibson, just minutes before introducing Dave Stewart as the new general manager. Gibson finished his tenure in AZ, 353-375.   Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa pulled the trigger, as he put it. Local reader Shu has told me all season that Gibson was a real [jerk].

--Bobby Abreu announced his retirement after 18 seasons. What a fine career it was. The two-time All-Star had 2,470 hits, 574 doubles, 288 home runs, 1,363 RBI, .291 BA, a sterling .395 on-base percentage, and .870 OPS. Plus he’s a good guy. He also has a long future as a major league coach, and probably a manager down the road.

--Houston Astros

2011...56-106
2012...55-107
2013...51-111
2014...70-92!

And congrats to Houston’s Jose Altuve for winning the A.L. batting title at .341, while talking himself into the lineup on Sunday even as his manager and GM were trying to hold him out to protect his lead over Victor Martinez.

--Washington’s Jordan Zimmermann had a dramatic no-hitter on Sunday, 1-0 over the Marlins, as defensive replacement Steven Souza Jr. made a diving catch in left field for the final out. Zimmermann (14-5) walked one and struck out 10.

--Johnny Cueto was clutch on Sunday, winning his 20th in defeating the Pirates 4-1. Cueto finishes 20-9, 2.25; just about the only bright spot for a team that severely underachieved at 76-86.

Actually, Aroldis Chapman was 36 of 38 in save opportunities, and check this out (courtesy of Buster Olney). Chapman fanned 106 of the 202 batters he faced! [106 Ks in 54 innings.]

Cueto was also the first Cincy pitcher to win 20 since Danny Jackson in 1988. Moreover, he was the first righty to win since Sammy Ellis and Jim Maloney accomplished the feat way back in 1965! [As a kid, I loved looking at Sammy Ellis’ and Jim Maloney’s baseball cards. They were very quirky...owing to arm issues.]

College Football

Nos. 2, 3 and 4 – Oregon, Alabama and Oklahoma – were all idle this week...but...

--No. 1 Florida State spotted North Carolina State a 24-7 first-quarter lead in Raleigh, but then the Seminoles rolled to win 56-41. Jameis Winston returned following his one-game suspension for being a primo jerk and was 26/38, 365 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. But the Wolfpack were 18-point underdogs so they beat the spread, which at the end of the day we all know is the main thing.

--No. 6 Texas A&M trailed Arkansas 21-14 at half but rallied to win 35-28 in overtime.

--No. 8 Notre Dame (4-0) easily handled Syracuse in the Meadowlands, 31-15, as quarterback Everett Golson had an interesting day, setting a Notre Dame record with 25 consecutive completions in going 32-for-39 for 362 yards and four touchdowns, while also committing four turnovers (two INTS, two fumbles).

--On Thursday, No. 11 UCLA (4-0) finally played up to its preseason hype in blasting No. 15 Arizona State in Tempe, 62-27, as quarterback Brett Hundley had his first Heisman quality game of the year, 18/23, 355, 4-0, plus another 72 yards on the ground and a score. UCLA’s Ishmael Adams had a 95-yard interception return for a touchdown, and a 100-yard kickoff return.

--No. 12 Georgia (3-1) held on to defeat Tennessee in Athens, 35-32, behind Heisman candidate Todd Gurley’s 208 yards rushing on 28 carries.

--Missouri upset No. 13 South Carolina in Columbia, S.C., 21-20, coming back from down 20-7 with just eight minutes to play, a crushing defeat for the Gamecocks.

--No. 18 USC demolished Oregon State, 35-10...outgaining the Corvalis school 461-181 as OSU’s Sean Mannion had a horrible evening, 15/32, 123, 0-2. Yes, the Trojans (3-1) exposed the Beavers (3-1) as pretenders. Mannion, by the way, is nonetheless third on the Pac-12 career passing list with 11,462 yards, trailing Matt Barkley (12,274) and Carson Palmer (11,818).

--Wake Forest beat the spread. A 22-point underdog at Louisville, the Cardinals beat the Demon Deacons by only 20-10, despite outgaining Wake 421-100. Wake had -22 yards rushing and in five games thus far has 146 on 140 carries. That is not a misprint. For Louisville, safety Gerod Holliman has six interceptions in the team’s first five games, though he has played in only four.

--Duke laid a huge egg to fall to 4-1, losing down in Miami (3-2), 22-10. The Blue Devils are much better than this effort.

But before the game, fellow Summit resident Ken V. reminded me I totally forgot about Miami’s placekicker.... Michael Badgley, who I wrote about years ago when he was performing for Summit High School. He was redshirted at Miami last season and I forgot all about him. He didn’t start out as the kicker this year but he’s now made 2 of 3 field goals, though just 10 of 12 XPs.

If Badgley can stick around and improve, what opponents should know is this is a superb football player, first, and a kicker, second. He was an All-State, all-purpose back. In other words, Miami could execute some terrific trick plays with the guy. So we wish him well, as much as I don’t want to root for Miami.

--Speaking of laying eggs, what the heck happened to Pitt? I said after their loss last week to Iowa that they just weren’t tough enough and you can say the same thing again this go ‘round as they lost at home to lowly Akron, 21-10, to fall to 3-2. The nation’s leading rusher, James Conner, was held to 92 yards on 25 carries, and super wideout Tyler Boyd had just one reception.

--Rutgers moved to 4-1 in beating Tulane, 31-6.

--Michigan coach Brady Hoke, who was 25-8 in his first 33 games in Ann Arbor, is 3-8 since, including a 30-14 loss at home on Saturday to Minnesota. Hoke was booed vociferously by the Big House crowd, chanting its request to fire him and AD Dave Brandon. He would be owed $3 million if the school fired him before January, with the buyout dropping to $2 million Jan. 1.

--Kansas fired coach Charlie Weis, who was in the third year of a five-year contract. Weis was 6-22, with just one Big 12 win, the worst winning percentage of any Power 5 team (Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, Pac-12, SEC). The Jayhawks lost to Texas on Saturday, 23-0.

--Finally, how ‘bout Paul P.’s SMU Mustangs? They lost to TCU 56-0 to not only fall to 0-4, but they have been outscored 202-12 in those contests. Further, check out some of the yardage totals.

TCU...614-245
Texas A&M...663-241
Baylor...574-67

There is no doubt, fans across the country are clamoring for a Wake-SMU bowl game.

1. Florida State (27 first-place votes)
2. Oregon (13)
3. Alabama (13)
4. Oklahoma (7)
5. Auburn
6. Texas A&M
7. Baylor
8. UCLA
9. Notre Dame
10. Michigan State
11. Ole Miss
12. Mississippi State

[The SEC West has five of the top 12 in the country...Alabama, Auburn, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Miss. State.]

Now the season heats up with some big games next week, including Alabama at Ole Miss, Texas A&M at Miss. State, and Auburn hosting No. 15 LSU.

--My Jets fell to 1-3 as they suffered another brutal loss, 24-17 to the Lions (3-1) at home, as quarterback Geno Smith had two consecutive critical turnovers in the second half and now has seven in four games.

--The Packers and Bears are now both 2-2 after Green Bay won in Chicago, 38-17, behind Aaron Rodgers, who got back on track with a sterling 22/28, 302, 4-0 performance.

--San Francisco got back to .500 (2-2) in defeating Philadelphia (3-1) 26-21, rallying from a 21-13 deficit in the second half.

--Minnesota (2-2) defeated Atlanta (2-2) 41-28 behind quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, in his first NFL start, Bridgewater going 19/30, 317, 0-0, but with a touchdown running the ball. However, at the end he hurt his ankle and no word on the extent of the injury.

--After losing to Miami in London, 38-14, the 0-4 Raiders will no doubt fire coach Dennis Allen. I would have left him in London so he could do some sightseeing.

--Tampa Bay (1-3) stunned the Steelers (2-2) in Pittsburgh on a last-second touchdown pass by replacement Mike Glennon, who threw for 245 yards in the second half in his first start of the season.

--Pretty amazing how the Giants have found a tight end after this was a huge question mark in training camp...more amazing that it is Larry Donnell, an undrafted, unloved, practice squad player. All he’s done in four games is have 25 catches and four touchdowns, including three scoring grabs in the Giants’ 45-14 win over Washington, Thursday night.

The game also marked the official return of the old Eli Manning, 28 for 39, 300 yards, and four touchdowns. So after throwing four interceptions in the team’s first two games, both losses, Eli has just one pick in the last two, both wins. Funny how that works.

Meanwhile, for the Redskins, Kirk Cousins returned to earth, 19/33, 257, 1-4...4 interceptions, while Washington is now 0-6 in its last six prime time games, 0-4 at home.

--The Ray Rice inside the elevator video was sent to NFL headquarters to the attention of league security chief Jeffrey Miller in April, a law enforcement official said. The official told the Associated Press: “I mailed it anonymously to Jeff Miller because he’s their head of security. I attached a note saying: ‘Ray Rice elevator video. You have to see it. It’s terrible.’ I provided a number for a disposable cellphone and asked for confirmation that it was received. I knew there was a possibility Mr. Miller may not get the video, but I hoped it would land in the right hands.’”

Miller issued a statement through an NFL spokesman: “I unequivocally deny that I received at any time a copy of the video, and I had not watched it until it was made public on September 8.”

It turns out there are two Jeffrey Millers in the league office and the anonymous law enforcement official didn’t know that. The official does not want to speak to NFL investigators.

--Jerry Jones, who had been sued by a former stripper, alleging he groped her in a hotel bathroom, updated her lawsuit to claim the NFL honcho paid her hush money for years. Actually, the details in her suit are beyond what I’m comfortable writing. You’ve seen the photos, but it gets a lot worse. Jones claims he was “misrepresented” in the pics.

--Phil Simms said he was going to avoid saying “Redskins” during Thursday night’s game, and then slipped up with 9 minutes remaining.

--ESPN suspended Bill Simmons for calling Commissioner Roger Goodell a “liar.”

“I really hope somebody calls me or emails me and says I’m in trouble for anything I say about Roger Goodell. Because if one person says that to me, I’m going public. You leave me alone. The commissioner’s a liar and I get to talk about that on my podcast... Please, call me and say I’m in trouble. I dare you.”

Well, ESPN reminded him who is boss. The suspension ends Oct. 15, six days before his new “Grantland Basketball Show” debuts.

A grand jury decided Tony Stewart would not face charges for his role in the death of sprint car driver Kevin Ward Jr. District Attorney Michael Tantillo said Ward was under the influence of marijuana that night “enough to impair judgment.”

“Authorities said the first car to pass Ward had to swerve to miss hitting him. The front of Stewart’s car appeared to clear Ward, but Ward was struck by the right rear tire and hurtled through the air. His father later told a newspaper there was ‘no reason’ for the death given Stewart’s skills and experience.”

But as Nancy Armour of USA TODAY Sports writes, with the finding Ward was under the influence: “The burden of blame is squarely on Ward, who had no business climbing into a sprint car when he was high, let alone walking onto a hot track to confront Stewart.

“When something bad happens, it’s human nature to wonder what could have been done differently. How trouble could have been avoided. No doubt those questions have tormented Stewart since the Aug. 9 crash.

“ ‘This has been the toughest and most emotional experience of my life, and it will stay with me forever,’ Stewart said Wednesday in a statement.

“The next time Stewart’s mind wanders back to that track in upstate New York and he begins replaying the horrific accident, he can stop. He did nothing wrong. He has no reason to second-guess or torture himself.

“ ‘The videos did not demonstrate any aberrational driving by Tony Stewart,’ District Attorney Tantillo said Wednesday at a news conference.....

“(It) is clear who the grand jurors felt was responsible for the fatal crash.

“ ‘I’m sure, from their deliberations and discussions, that the fact that Kevin Ward was observed running basically down two-thirds of the track into a hot track, into the middle of other cars that still were racing, played a big, big factor in their decision,’ Tantillo said.

Stewart said he was unsure if he would ever race sprint cars again. He admitted in his first interview after the grand jury verdict that he spent three weeks in seclusion at his Indiana home after Ward’s death.

Personally, I’m proud I never jumped to any conclusions in this case. Another prime example of my dictum ‘wait 24 hours.’

As for the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Jeff Gordon won at Dover (apparently an awful race), the third event of the 10-race final, and under the new rules four drivers were eliminated. If you’re interested you can look them up. Among those still in it are Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson.

--Kenya’s Dennis Kimetto broke the marathon world record in Berlin, winning in two hours, two minutes and 57 seconds. The previous world record had been set on the same course 12 months ago by Kimetto’s compatriot Wilson Kipsang, 2:03:23. The Berlin course is very flat and the temps were in the upper 40s...perfect.

--I forgot to mention the other day that 41-year-old Deena Kastor set a record for a “master” distance runner (at least 40 years old), in setting a world record at the Philadelphia Half-Marathon in 1:09:36, 20 seconds off the previous world record set in 2008 by a Russian woman.

Kastor now has her eyes set on the New York City Marathon, Nov. 2. She holds the American marathon record at 2:19:36, running in London in 2006. Pretty amazing if she can compete in Gotham.

--Huge controversy in New York City as Mayor Bill de Blasio was charged with murder in the death of Staten Island Charlotte on Groundhog Day, Charlotte being a stand-in for Staten Island Chuck at the ceremony back in February.

It came to light just this week that the groundhog died a week after it escaped the mayor’s grasp and tumbled several feet, but the zoo did not notify the mayor’s office of the death, which was first reported by the New York Post.

OK, the mayor hasn’t actually been charged with murder but he still could be. A spokesman said, “We were unaware that Staten Island Chuck had passed but are sorry to hear of the loss,” though, again, it was Charlotte, not Chuck. Chuck bit Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2009.

But zoo officials aren’t exactly transparent. It seems there are four groundhogs, all with variations of the brand name “Chuck.” On the morning of Feb. 2, zoo staff decide which one will be the star of the show. They can be in a foul mood because that time of year they are supposed to be hibernating.

A necropsy was performed on Charlotte and it was determined she did die from “acute internal injuries.”

According to the Post, the zoo is already planning to use Charlotte’s younger daughter, also named Charlotte, in the role of Chuck.

It’s unlikely the mayor will be charged with a crime, but Charlotte’s heirs could still file a civil suit...at least that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

--Brad K. passed along a disturbing story out of Santa Barbara, California, where a 65-year-old woman “narrowly survived a vicious encounter with a 300-lb black bear that tackled her to the ground, cracked her rib, and sunk its teeth into her thigh.

“Emily Miles was walking her two dogs in an avocado grove when the six-foot animal burst out of the trees and reared onto its hind legs.

“She ran but not fast enough to out-maneuver the bear, which took one swipe of its claw that shredded her shirt, leaving three-inch-deep wounds.

“Hitting the ground, she cracked a rib as the beast took a bite out of her thigh.

“Incredibly, as Miles thought she was on the brink of death, she then stared the bear in the eye – and it cowered onto all fours before retreating into the woods.” [Daily Mail]

It’s the sudden aggressiveness of black bears, from coast to coast, that is so troubling; a black bear having killed the Rutgers student in New Jersey last weekend.

--A 20-year-old man with mental issues was killed by a white tiger at a Delhi zoo, but what is worse is that it emerged zoo officials took more than 15 minutes to reach the scene of the incident after the guy fell into the enclosure.

The tiger, Vijay, “sat and watched the man for 15 minutes after he either fell or clambered into the enclosure... It was only when onlookers started throwing stones at the animal, presumably in an effort to distract it, that the tiger fatally attacked the man.”

One witness told the Indian Express newspaper, “After he fell down, the white tiger came towards Maqsood. As the tiger came closer he clasped his hands and seemed to be praying. The tiger watched him closely for 15 minutes.”

Zoo officials said that during that time, the guard at the enclosure sounded the alarm and sent an emergency message by radio, but witnesses said it took between 15 and 20 minutes for additional zoo staff to arrive at the scene. By this time it was too late. [Irish Independent]

Top 3 songs for the week 9/27/80: #1 “Upside Down” (Diana Ross) #2 “All Out Of Love” (Air Supply) #3 “Another One Bites The Dust” (Queen)...and...#4 “Give Me The Night” (George Benson) #5 “Lookin’ For Love” (Johnny Lee) #6 “Late In The Evening” (Paul Simon) #7 “Drivin’ My Life Away” (Eddie Rabbitt) #8 “Fame” (Irene Cara) #9 “One In A Million You” (Larry Graham) #10 “I’m Alright” (Kenny Loggins...what an awful week for music...but America was about to elect Ronald Wilson Reagan...so no whining...)

Baseball Quiz Answer: Four, besides Albert Pujols,  to have 12 seasons of 100 RBI by the age of 35. Alex Rodriguez, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig and Al Simmons. [Babe Ruth had 10 by 35.]

---