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Bar Chat

10/06/2014

A Saturday to Remember

[Posted early Sunday pm]

World Series Quiz: The Series’ MVP award was first presented in 1955.  Who is the only player to receive it while on the losing team?  Answer below.

College Football’s Amazing Day

They’ll be talking about this weekend for a long time to come, including Thursday night’s 31-24 Arizona upset of No. 2 Oregon in Eugene.  I was down at the Jersey Shore with a bunch of old friends from high school, where once a year we get together to play cards and discuss our lives and the good old days.  It’s pretty awesome 8 of us have been doing this for years and that we’ve known each other since the early ‘70s.

Of course we had the tube on all day and night (save for a spirited wiffle ball game) and by the end of it, we all agreed that when you added the two baseball games into the mix, it’s as good a day in the world of sports as there’s ever been.  [I’m also very tired as I write this and need to keep it rather brief.]

Chris Low and Mark Schlabach / ESPN.com

“Whew, has anybody caught their breath yet?

“College football has long been a blast, but this was intoxicating, captivating and downright exhausting.

“One of the arguments against a playoff in college football was that it would somehow ruin the week-to-week drama and suspense?

“Let’s revisit that theory after surveying the carnage in what was a head-spinning Week 6 in a sport that seems to get more entertaining by the minute.

“Not only did five of the top eight teams in the Associated Press poll go down in the same week for the first time in history (the AP poll dates back to 1936), but right there, front and center in the College Football Playoff conversation, are some not-so-usual suspects.

“Case in point: The state of Mississippi has all of a sudden become football nirvana, so much so that they’re dreaming about the Egg Bowl deciding the champion in the SEC West, which might as well be the ninth-toughest division in the NFL.

“Ole Miss sent No. 3 Alabama packing, a riveting 23-17 win before a raucous crowd in Oxford that was sealed by Senquez Golson’s spectacular interception in the back of the end zone.  And earlier in the day, not quite two hours south in the Magnolia State, Dak Prescott and Mississippi State blew past No. 6 Texas A&M for a 48-31 win, the Bulldogs’ second straight triumph over a top-10 foe.

“There have been some great players, games and moments when it comes to football in the state of Mississippi, but nothing quite like this.”

And then you had TCU’s 37-33 upset of No. 4 Oklahoma, and Utah’s 30-28 win over No. 8 UCLA.

Among those in the top ten that prevailed, No. 5 Auburn thrashed No. 15 LSU 41-7; No. 9 Notre Dame rallied late to edge No. 14 Stanford 17-14, thanks to quarterback Everett Golson’s 23-yard touchdown pass to Ben Koyack on a fourth-and-11 with 1:01 to play; and No. 10 Michigan State held on to beat No. 19 Nebraska, 27-22, after being up 27-3 entering the fourth quarter.

As for No. 1 Florida State, I wrote last time they would defeat my Wake Forest Demon Deacons 49-3, with the line at 39 points (though it looks like it went off at 38), and wouldn’t you know, the final score was 43-3.  Not a bad effort on my part.  Heisman winner Jameis Winston was very ordinary, 23/39, 297, 1-1, but Wake was outgained 475-125 (68 of these rushing yards by freshman Dezmond Wortham).  Florida State does have one heckuva weapon in kicker Roberto Aguayo, who had five field goals and now has hit on 21 consecutive attempts.

Arizona State upset No. 16 USC in Los Angeles on a last-second, 46-yard Hail Mary pass from Mike Bercovici to Jaelen Strong, the third score for the Sun Devils in the final 3:53 (USC’s Javorius Allen had a 53-yard TD run during that final chaotic four minutes as well) to secure a 38-34 win.  Bercovici was 27/45, 510, 5-0.

George Schroeder / USA TODAY Sports

“There have been other crazy weeks – college football is rarely predictable – but nothing quite like what we just saw.

“It’s hard to say what any of it means.  But at least in the short-term:

“ – It’s great to be a football team based in Mississippi.

“ – It’s good to be Florida State, which continued its run through a ho-hum ACC with an easy victory against Wake Forest. The Seminoles, ranked No. 2, have been criticized for underwhelming performances all season, but they just keep winning.

“The SEC West really might be that good – but are any of its teams’ elite, or are they all just really good?

“ – It’s better, after Saturday, to be Oregon than it was on Thursday.  The Ducks’ offensive line issues might make the point moot, but at least for now, their predicament is shared by several other would-be playoff contenders.”

Meanwhile, the Playoff Selection Committee doesn’t issue its first poll for another three weekends (Oct. 28)

A few other notes....

America discovered Mississippi State QB Dak Prescott, who was 19 of 25 for 259 yards and two touchdowns, while running for three more scores.  The Bulldogs have upset No. 8 LSU and No. 6 Texas A&M in consecutive weeks.

Auburn is in the midst of a murderous six-game stretch.  After defeating LSU, next week they are at Mississippi State.  Following a bye week, they then host South Carolina, are at Mississippi, home to Texas A&M, and finally Georgia in Athens.

Back to Arizona-Oregon, the Wildcats were 24-point underdogs and moved to 5-0 under coach Rich Rodriguez, which, as the Washington Post’s Matt Bonesteel wrote, “must be going over pretty well at Michigan, the school that fired him and hired Brady Hoke, a move that has gone swimmingly.”

We also learned after the game that Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota was not 100 percent, according to the coaching staff.  He had been sacked seven times in an earlier contest against Washington State and Arizona got to him five times.

The Wildcats, by the way, have had the following upsets of top ten teams the last ten years.

2014 – No. 2 Oregon
2013 – No. 5 Oregon
2012 – No. 10 USC
2010 – No. 9 Iowa
2007 – No. 2 Oregon
2006 – No. 8 California
2005 – No. 7 UCLA

SMU, a 41-point underdog at No. 22 East Carolina, covered!  The Mustangs only lost 45-24.   So hats off to Paul P.’s boys, Paul no doubt having won $56,000 taking the points.  ECU’s Shane Carden, by the way, threw for 410 yards, his third straight over 400.

Pitt lost its third straight, 24-19 to Virginia.  So much for the Panthers, my sleeper pick to make some noise.

But congratulations to Rutgers for its 26-24 victory over Michigan in Piscataway, its first ever triumph as a member of the Big Ten.  The Scarlet Knights are now 5-1, the only blemish being that awful 13-10 loss to Penn State.  Quarterback Gary Nova, who threw five picks against the Nittany Lions, has recovered the last three games and on Saturday threw for 404 yards and three touchdowns against the Wolverines.

As for Michigan, now 2-4 and reeling, how long can Brady Hoke last as coach?  Michigan is 0-2 in the conference for the first time since 1967.  It’s only two wins are against 1-4 Appalachian State and 1-5 Miami (Ohio).

Back to USC, while USC is a now disappointing 3-2, junior quarterback Cody Kessler is 123 of 177 with 10 touchdowns and zero interceptions.  Yup, zero picks in 177 attempts. 

--And now...the new AP Poll...man, what a change in the top ten.

1. Florida State 5-0 (35 first-place votes)
2. Auburn 5-0 (23)
T-3. Mississippi State 5-0 (2)...No. 12 last week
T- 3. Ole Miss 5-0...No. 11 last week
5. Baylor 5-0
6. Notre Dame 5-0
7. Alabama  4-1
8. Michigan State 4-1...they will make the four-team playoff
9. TCU 4-0...No. 25 last week
10. Arizona  5-0...unranked last week!
12. Oregon...drat!
19. East Carolina

*Ole Miss and Mississippi State are in the top five for the first time ever.  Just love it. Best ranking ever for the Bulldogs.  Rebels haven’t been No. 3 since 1970.

The Playoffs

--The San Francisco Giants won in 18 innings on Saturday night, 2-1, on a Brandon Belt home run, with Yusmeiro Petit contributing a superb six innings of one-hit relief as the Giants take a 2-0 lead in the series.

So the teams tied the mark for most innings in a postseason game and set a time record at 6 hours, 23 minutes.    After Anthony Rendon’s RBI single in the third, the Nats were shutout for 15 innings.  It also needs to be said that Bryce Harper was 0-for-7 Saturday.

And what was manager Matt Williams thinking in taking Jordan Zimmermann out with two outs in the ninth, after he had retired 20 batters in a row until walking Joe Panik and the score 1-0 Nats?

Williams said after, “That is what we have done all year,” bring in the closer.  Well Drew Storen gave up a single to Buster Posey, then a double to Pablo Sandoval and the score was tied at 1, sending it to extra innings.

So the Giants now head home to wrap it up, having won an NL record 10 straight in postseason play.  My pick of the Nationals to take it all may once again prove to be a bust.

The other dramatic game on Saturday night was the Dodgers’ 3-2 win over the Cardinals to even their series at one game apiece.    After St. Louis tied it at 2-2 in the eighth inning on a two-run Matt Carpenter homer, Matt Kemp homered in the bottom of the inning.

You know, Kemp had one helluva second half, batting .309 with 17 home runs and 54 RBIs in 64 games.  He also hit .347 with runners in scoring position over that stretch.

[Ironically, the night before, in the matchup of NL aces, all-world Clayton Kershaw blew a 6-1 lead, allowing 8 earned in 6 2/3 as the Dodgers lost to the Cardinals 10-9.  For St. Louis, their 20-game winner, Adam Wainwright, allowed 6 earned on 11 hits in just 4 1/3.]

Bill Plaschke / Los Angeles Times

“It was a swing for the memories. It was a swing for their lives.

“Moments after another dreadful Dodgers pitching collapse against the St. Louis Cardinals, Saturday night, Matt Kemp lifted all of Dodger Stadium at the end of a stick with an eighth-inning home run that might still be floating somewhere above Pasadena.

“It was a swing that continued the rescuing of a career.  It was the swing that saved a season.

“The man who sat out last season’s playoffs because of an ankle injury didn’t miss this one.  The man who was benched earlier this season and moved out of his beloved center field came swaggering out of the dugout to land a thunderous blow that soared with redemption.”

--In the American League, the Kansas City Royals became the first team in major league history to win three consecutive extra-inning playoff games: a wildcard ‘game for the ages’ win over Oakland, followed by two road victories over the Los Angeles Angels in the ALDS.

Both wins against the Angels were on 11th-inning home runs by Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer.

For L.A., the reason why they’ve lost the two contests is rather simple.  Their big guns, Mike Trout, Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton, have gone a combined 1-for-25, heading into Sunday night’s Game 3.  Trout’s 0-for-8. 

--The winner of the Royals-Angels’ series will now face Baltimore, which with a 2-1 win at Detroit on Sunday swept the Tigers.  In the clincher, Bud Norris outdueled David Price, with the offense being provided by Nelson Cruz’ two-run homer in the sixth. 

What a disappointing ending for the Tigers and their vaunted starting staff.  It didn’t help that in the critical Game 2, with the Tigers up 6-3 heading to the bottom of the eighth in Baltimore, setup man Joba Chamberlain imploded and the Orioles ended up scoring four in the inning for the win.

--Just a note on Billy Beane’s A’s.  Since 2000, they’ve made the playoffs nine times, including the 9-8 wild card loss to the Royals, and in that time they’ve won one series.  He will forever be criticized for the July 31 trade that sent slugger Yoenis Cespedes to the Red Sox for Jon Lester.

--And we have to cite the impressive performance of San Francisco hurler Madison Bumgarner, who pitched a complete game, four-hit shutout against the Pirates to win the wild card game and advance to face the Nationals.  Bumgarner drank four beers at once in celebration.

NFL Sunday

--The Giants won their third straight to move to 3-2 as they defeated the Falcons (2-3, 0-3 away) at the Meadowlands, 30-20.  Odell Beckham Jr. finally made his debut and the first-round receiver picked up the first touchdown pass of his NFL career.

--The NFC East is suddenly a power division, with the Eagles and Cowboys now both 4-1.  Philly beat the Rams (1-3) 34-38, while Dallas defeated the Texans (3-2) 20-17 in overtime.  DeMarco Murray had 136 yards rushing for the Cowboys and now has 670 in the first five games.

--Buffalo is now 3-2 after a 58-yard field goal by Dan Carpenter won the game for the Bills against the Lions (3-2), 17-14.  Detroit’s kicker, Alex Henery, missed all three of his field goal attempts and the Lions are just 4 of 12 on the season.

--In a key AFC North contest, Indianapolis moved to 3-2 as the Colts won at home over the Ravens (3-2), 20-13.

--Peyton Manning threw the 500th career touchdown pass of his career in the first quarter of the Broncos’ (3-1) 41-20 win over the Cardinals (3-1).  Manning ended up with four touchdown passes for the game, or 503 total (plus 479 yards), and now trails only Brett Favre who had 508.

--Then there are the pathetic Jets, 31-0 losers in San Diego (4-1).  Until late in the game, the Jets had about 50 yards of total offense and ended up being outgained 439-151.  Quarterback Geno Smith was replaced at half by Michael Vick and the two wound up a combined 12 of 31 for a whopping 60 yards through the air.  New York is now 1-4, the season is over, and coach Rex Ryan is going to have one tough week with the New York media.

--Mike Lupica / New York Daily News

“One more huge problem for Roger Goodell and the National Football League these days is that Goodell himself has been laid out by the very conduct policy that he instituted when he succeeded Paul Tagliabue and set himself up as prosecutor and judge and jury, ‘The Enforcer’ who posed on the cover of TIME magazine and was praised – at least in his early days – as the guy who had taken care of the bad guys in his sport like he was Clint Eastwood in ‘Unforgiven.’

“Most people, but not all, thought this was a good thing at the time.  It has turned out to be a vague and arbitrary mess, Goodell sometimes relying on the legal system and sometimes not, Goodell handing out various punishments as if the only legal precedents worth talking about in the NFL were his own.  This happened all the way to him originally giving Ray Rice two games for knocking his fiancée cold in that Atlantic City elevator in February, and putting himself in a world of trouble, to the point where people somehow have found their way to being more angry at him than the slugger Rice.

“So suddenly it is as if everybody is guilty in pro football.   Now it is C.J. Spillman of the Dallas Cowboys, whom the Daily News identified this week as a player accused of sexually assaulting a young woman at the Cowboys’ team hotel on Sept. 20; lawyer Gloria Allred subsequently said in a letter to the league that her client had been sexually assaulted by an NFL player and had filed a police report. Allred wanted to know why that player was allowed to play the next day.”

Spillman may or may not be guilty.

“Some of them are, though, even in the current climate where convictions are routinely handed out by the public and occasionally the media as soon as an accusation like the one against Spillman is made and somebody like Allred comes into the thing at the top of her voice.  Because it is simply not logical to assume that every single professional athlete accused of a crime against a woman from now until the end of time is guilty....

“(But) Goodell has meted out punishments as if the players work for him, and nobody stopped him until now, as the union comes at him on Rice. With Rice, Goodell finally got around to doing what a lot of bosses would do if an employee did what Rice did in that elevator: He fired him.  Except because of the way he bungled the thing from the start, an arbitrator will almost surely throw out that second suspension, and will be right to do it.

“Rice was back on the field for the Ravens (in the preseason), and then he wasn’t. Spillman is still on the field for the Cowboys, Adrian Peterson, accused of hitting his own 4-year-old child with a stick, was on his way back to the Vikings until he wasn’t.  Greg Hardy of the Panthers, accused of beating up an ex-girlfriend, played until the Panthers, not the league, set him down.

“If you are trying to look for logic here, or a logical pattern, don’t. The thing that made Roger Goodell, that personal conduct policy, has helped take him down.  Now there is no presumption of innocence in his league, for him or anybody else.  A lot of powerful men, on and off the field, finally understand how women feel.”

Even More Ryder Cup Fallout

ESPN.com golf writer Bob Harig reported on the Saturday night team-bonding session for the U.S. and four sources who witnessed the proceedings in the team room said captain Tom Watson “took no responsibility for any shortcomings, scoffed at a gift that the U.S. team members gave him, ridiculed several European team players and started the proceedings by denigrating the Americans’ play that afternoon.

“ ‘You could have heard a pin drop in that room,’ one of those in attendance said.  ‘He was pissed.  It all went downhill from there.’

After the Sunday defeat, Phil Mickelson now famously said, “Nobody here was in [on] any decision,” in then praising Paul Azinger’s winning formula in 2008.

But even after the drubbing they took Saturday afternoon in alternate shot play to fall behind Europe 10-6 heading into the Sunday singles, the U.S. was still upbeat as they gathered in the team room, which was a ballroom at the Gleneagles Hotel with TVs, ping-pong tables, food and drink.  They were joined by their wives or girlfriends (except for Fowler), as well as their caddies and their significant others.

So Watson entered the room and, according to all of the sources, started out by saying: “You stink at foursomes.”

After praising rookies Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth, Watson ripped some of the European side.

“Soon after, Watson was presented a gift by (Jim) Furyk, a replica of the Ryder Cup trophy that was signed by every member of the team.  Instead of thanking them, the sources said Watson said the gift meant nothing to him if the players didn’t get the real Ryder Cup on Sunday and that he wanted to be holding it aloft on the green in victory.

“Said one of the sources: ‘That’s almost verbatim.  He said it basically means nothing to me.’”

As is customary, all of the players and Watson’s assistant captains were then invited to speak, with Mickelson going last.

“ ‘Phil went player by player and told a story about each one,’ one source in the room said.  ‘It changed the tenor of the room from completely negative and heads down to ‘Let’s give this a go tomorrow.’  He gave almost 180 degrees difference than what Watson did.’”

But the U.S. fell far short on Sunday and, according to three witnesses, Watson greeted some of the singles losers by telling them they should have played better.

Yesterday, Saturday, the PGA of America, which oversees the Ryder Cup, released an “Open Letter from Tom Watson, 2014 U.S. Ryder Cup Captain” to the media.

Watson took responsibility for his “mistakes” and said he has spoken with Mickelson.  In part:

“First, I take complete and full responsibility for my communication, and I regret that my words may have made the players feel that I didn’t appreciate their commitment and dedication to winning the Ryder Cup.  My intentions throughout my term as Captain were both to inspire and to be honest.”

Mike Lupica / New York Daily News

“Well, it sounds like that was some bonding experience for Capt. Watson and the Ryder Cup team, wasn’t it?

“If the people running the PGA of America don’t ask Paul Azinger to come back and run the team again – and the begging should commence now – then none of them are worth a bag of range balls.

“Make Azinger the captain again and make Mickelson a vice captain, whether he makes the team or not, with the understanding that he becomes the captain in 2018.

“And by the way?

“No matter how much  Tom Watson hurt the feelings of his players, and didn’t connect with them, the fact is that the U.S. team had too many players who played like choking dogs in too many big moments.

“And that’s on them, not the guy choosing up the sides.”

Stuff

--The 2014-15 NHL season gets underway this week.  Sports Illustrated has the Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup over the Bruins.

--Joey Logano won again, his fifth of the season, as the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship continued at Kansas Speedway.

--Derek Jeter denied that with the introduction of his new venture, The Players’ Tribune – a website that will feature athletes telling their own stories, he is not trying to eliminate sportswriters.

“In this day and age, I think athletes, they really like to share with the people, everything about them. I, personally, have not done that, and I personally will not do that.  This is not about me, this is about an avenue for the players,” he told Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show.”

Russell Wilson will serve as the site’s senior editor and already wrote a piece about domestic violence.

Wilson discussed his new campaign to aid domestic violence victims entitled “Pass The Peace,” while admitting he did some bullying himself growing up.

“I had a lot of anger that I didn’t know what to do with,” Wilson wrote.  “Thankfully, I was saved by my faith when I was 14 years old and was able to start living for others instead of just myself.”

Top 3 songs for the week 10/2/82: #1 “Jack & Diane” (John Cougar)  #2 “Abracadabra” (The Steve Miller Band)  #3 “Hard To Say I’m Sorry” (Chicago)...and...#4 “Eye Of The Tiger” (Survivor)  #5 “You Should Hear How She Talks About You” (Melissa Manchester...who?  Tell me....)  #6 “Eye In The Sky” (The Alan Parsons Project)  #7 “Who Can It Be Now?” (Men At Work...today it’s ‘Men with Part-time Work’...)  #8 “Somebody’s Baby” (Jackson Browne...not mine...tests came out negative...)  #9 “I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near)” (Michael McDonald...he did better...)  #10 “Hurts So Good” (John Cougar...Mr. Cougar was on a roll...)

World Series Quiz Answer: Bobby Richardson won the Series MVP award for the Yankees in 1960, though they lost to the Pirates, 4-3. Richardson was 11 for 30, .367, with a grand slam and 12 RBIs.

Next Bar Chat, Thursday.

 

 

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