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Bar Chat

12/08/2014

Who's In...Who's Out...

NCAA Football Quiz: 1) What current NFL receiver who played his college ball from 2000-03 is co-holder of the NCAA record for career punt returns for a touchdown (Div. I) with 8? 2) What current NFL running back who played his college ball from 2006-09 is co-holder of the NCAA record (Div. I) for kick returns for a touchdown at 7? Answers below.

CFB’s Final Four

The following is written prior to the release of the College Football Playoff selection committee’s final rankings so as to set the stage.

Friday, No. 2 Oregon (12-1) destroyed No. 7 Arizona (10-3) in the Pac-12 championship game, 51-13; revenge for its only loss of the season to the Wildcats back in October. Oregon outgained Arizona 627-224. 

Your Heisman Trophy winner, Marcus Mariota, was 25/38, 313, 2-0, plus 3 touchdowns rushing. So for the season Mariota has 38 TD passes against just 2 interceptions, 14 TDs on the ground and one receiving. For his career, he has 101 TD passes and just 12 INTs. 

“Oregon committed 11 first-half penalties and quarterback Marcus Mariota was definitely off his game.

“The players belonging to the team many thought was national championship-ready sulked into the locker room looking for a dry place to hide.

“Oregon ended up defeating Arizona, 51-13, to win the Pac-12 championship everyone said, from Media Day on, was Oregon’s to lose.

“If the Ducks could play sloppily and still win big, imagine the possibilities if they clean up the silly mistakes by New Year’s Day.”

“Oregon improved to 12-1 on the season and took revenge for its only blemish, a 31-24 home defeat to Arizona on Oct. 2. At the time of that defeat, more than a few folks pronounced Oregon dead and questioned the leadership of coach Mark Helfrich, who was still laboring under the shadow of former coach Chip Kelly. Helfrich and the Ducks began the process that got them to the top of the Pac-12 for the first time since 2011 by showing up on Oct. 3 ready to get back to work.

“ ‘The next day, every single guy in our program was on the practice field 25 minutes before they had to be fixing it,’ Helfrich said. ‘It wasn’t, ‘Hey, you screwed this up. You did this wrong.’ It’s, ‘How do we get better?’’

“Oh, Oregon got better. A lot better. Since that loss, the Ducks are 8-0 with an average winning margin of 26.0 points per game. They have scored at least 40 points in eight straight and gained at least 500 yards in seven straight. Both are the longest active streaks in the FBS.”

Saturday, No. 1 Alabama (12-1) whipped No. 16 Missouri (10-3) 42-13 for the SEC championship, with quarterback Blake Sims having his most complete game of the season, 23/27, 262, 2-0, while running back Derrick Henry had 140 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries.

No. 4 Florida State (13-0) hung on yet again* for a 37-35 win over No. 11 Georgia Tech (10-3) in the ACC title game, with Jameis Winston in control, 21/30, 309, 3-0. Freshman running back Dalvin Cook, who is really emerging as a star, had 177 yards in 31 carries, while receiver Rashad Greene had seven catches for 123 yards and two TDs.

*FSU has seven wins of six points or less, including the last four (five or less).

Then in the Big Ten title contest, No. 5 Ohio State (12-1) startled a lot of us with the ease of its crushing 59-0 demolition of No. 13 Wisconsin (10-3). It was 38-0 at half and over, as third-string QB Cardale Jones was 10/13, 211, 2-0 in the first 30 minutes, while Wisconsin’s star, running back Melvin Gordon, had just 43 yards on 14 carries (26-76 for the game). For the Buckeyes, running back Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 220 yards and two scores on just 20 carries. [Jones finished 12/17, 257, 3-0.] Ohio State outgained Wisconsin 558-258. Statement made.

“Awash in confetti, Urban Meyer ascended to the trophy dais at the center of Lucas Oil Stadium and his closing argument.

“The jury sat in a conference room miles away, reclining in soft-backed chairs, glued to television screens broadcasting each of the games relevant to the College Football Playoff conversation – Ohio State and Wisconsin, Baylor and Kansas State, Florida State and Georgia Tech.

“The eventual verdict stands with this selection committee, 12 not-so-angry men and women tasked with culling through various data, numbers and metrics in the search for college football’s very best....

“Ohio State’s defense rests, as does its offense, but not before putting on a show.

“ ‘We just won 59-0 against one of the top teams in America,’ said Meyer. ‘I’ve been around teams that have competed and won national championships. This team, the way it’s playing right now, is one of the top teams in America.’

“Ohio State’s leading evidence: Saturday’s win against Wisconsin tied for the second-largest shutout victory against a top-15 opponent in college football history.

“Wisconsin had won seven games in a row since a loss to Northwestern to open October, including two victories against ranked teams, Nebraska and Minnesota, in the previous three weeks. Only one win during this seven-game stretch came by single digits; three came by 35 or more points.”

Continuing...you also had the two important Big 12 contests...

No. 3 TCU (11-1) blasted a lousy Iowa State (2-10) team, 55-3. Quarterback Trevone Boykin was spectacular for the Horned Frogs, 30/41, 460, 4-1, as TCU blew out the Cyclones 31-0 in the third quarter and outgained them 722-236 for the game. 

Then Saturday night, No. 6 Baylor finished 11-1 with a solid 38-27 win over No. 9 Kansas State (9-3). Bears QB Bryce Petty showed no ill effects from his “mild” concussion of last week, 34/40, 412, 1-1. Pretty strong.

“The committee could leave out the Big 12 and state the other playoff teams all played an extra game, against a ranked opponent, in a title game.

“The committee could suggest the Big 12 host a championship game as early as next year.

“Ousting the Big 12 would also leave us with two dreamy semifinal games.

“If the committee moves Ohio State to No. 3 and leaves Florida State at No. 4, the Rose Bowl would get a traditional matchup of Oregon vs. Ohio State.

“For the record, two of the most powerful voices in the committee room are Barry Alvarez and Tom Osborne, who represent Big Ten schools Wisconsin and Nebraska.

“The Sugar Bowl semifinal would be Alabama vs. Florida State.

“This is only tantalizingly possible speculation and would make perfect sense to everyone except the Big 12.

So...the College Football Playoff selection committee ruled and it’s....

No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl.

No. 2 Oregon vs. No. 3 Florida State in the Rose Bowl.

7. Mississippi State
8. Michigan State
9. Ole Miss
10. Arizona
12. Georgia Tech
20. Boise State

Baylor’s loss was at West Virginia, Ohio State lost at home to Virginia Tech, and TCU lost at Baylor.

Meanwhile, the AP poll has Baylor over Ohio State!

1. Alabama (27 first-place votes)
2. Florida State (25)
3. Oregon (8)
4. Baylor
5. Ohio State
6. TCU
7. Michigan State
8. Mississippi State
9. Ole Miss
10. Georgia Tech
21. Boise State

Some final commentary next Bar Chat....plus your editor’s favorite bowl matchups.

--Boise State (11-2) won the right to play in a New Year’s bowl game with a 28-14 win over Fresno State (6-7) in the Mountain West championship game.

Boise gets the bid over Marshall (12-1), which blew their opportunity in a loss last week, but rebounded in the Conference USA Championship to edge Louisiana Tech (8-5), 26-23.

--Meanwhile, SMU beat UConn, in East Hartford, 27-20 for its first win of the year...so SMU finishes 1-11! Congratulations to Paul P. and all the Mustang fans out there.

--In the FCS (I-AA) playoffs, No. 1 New Hampshire defeated Fordham 44-19, Coastal Carolina whipped Richmond 36-15, and Villanova beat Liberty 29-22.

--I did not read FSU quarterback Jameis Winston’s five-page letter detailing the 2012 incident in which he was accused by a fellow student of sexual assault, part of the two-day hearing this past week before Major B. Harding, the retired Florida Supreme Court chief justice who presided over it.

But the letter, according to Title IX lawyers for the accuser, was not to have been released to the media. Said one, John Clune: “Jameis Winston’s crude new recollection of events is as disgusting as it is implausible. He just keeps digging himself deeper.”

Clune expects Harding to make a ruling in two to three weeks.

As reported by the New York Times’ Tom Spousta, “The possible penalties for Winston include reprimand, suspension, or expulsion from Florida State. Harding will decide if Winston is guilty of violating four parts of the university’s code of conduct, two of which involve sexual activity without consent and creating a hostile environment.”

According to Rachel Axon of USA TODAY Sports: “FSU has up to 10 class days from the conclusion of the hearing to give notification of the decision. Seven class days remain until the end of the fall semester on Dec. 12. Spring semester starts on Jan. 7.”

--Nebraska hired Oregon State’s Mike Riley to replace Bo Pelini, who was fired this week after seven seasons.

Riley, 61, has had two stints as the Beavers’ head coach, 1997-98 and 2003-14, going 93-80 with eight bowl games (winning six) and four AP top 25 yearend rankings.

A lot of names had been thrown out for the Cornhuskers job but he wasn’t one of them. That said, it’s a quality selection. I feel like I know the Oregon State program pretty well (through following its rival, Oregon, and passing through Corvallis a number of times) and Riley has done a lot given the program is overshadowed by the behemoth down the road in Eugene. So I agree with Rivals.com national recruiting director Mike Farrell who said of the hiring:

“I don’t think Huskers fans realize what a well-respected game coach Riley is and how hard it is to win in Corvallis.”

Riley is also a nice guy, which will wear well in Lincoln (assuming he wins) when measured against hot-head Pelini.

--Meanwhile, the next head coach at Florida is Jim McElwain, who did a terrific job at Colorado State, guiding them to a 10-2 season in his third year at the helm, after they were 9-27 in the three seasons prior to his arrival in 2012.

McElwain is very familiar with the pressures of the SEC, having served as Alabama’s offensive coordinator for four seasons, during which he tutored first-year starting quarterbacks Greg McElroy and AJ McCarron. In his final season at ‘Bama in 2011, the Tide were the only team in the SEC that averaged more than 200 yards rushing and 200 passing per game on their way to what would be Nick Saban’s second national championship in Tuscaloosa.

--Pete Mangurian, Columbia’s football coach, was forced to resign Friday, after the student newspaper reported that a letter from players to the administration said Mangurian had verbally and physically abused them and ordered players to return to the field after sustaining concussions.

But one player, Kevin McCarthy, a junior safety, told the New York Times’ Marc Tracy that mismanagement of concussions was “something I never witnessed and I don’t believe ever happened around here,” adding that a player’s return to the field “is something that is not in the coach’s hands.”

McCarthy also said he did not believe Mangurian had been abusive. “There’s nothing more than you would see at any other Division I football program.”

The team’s head physician and head athletic trainer also disputed the notion the program’s concussion protocols had been compromised.

Mangurian had a 3-27 record over three seasons, including a current 21-game losing streak.

--In the NCAA Division III quarterfinals, Wisconsin-Whitewater was trailing Wartburg College 33-16 after three, at home, and coach Lance Leipold, who was introduced during the week as the new coach at the University of Buffalo (thanks for the heads-up, J. Mac), was on the verge of ending his storied career at UW-W on a most sour note.

But the Warhawks roared back with three unanswered touchdowns in the fourth quarter for the 37-33 win that sends them into the semis against 10th-ranked Linfield College of McMinnville, Oregon.

As for Leopold, his record is now 107-6 in eight seasons and he’ll finish out his run at Whitewater before shuffling off to Buffalo. He has a great opportunity to build something there. The Bulls had a horrible year defensively, but have a lot of offensive weapons returning.

--My Jets are now 2-11 after losing to Minnesota (6-7) 30-24 in overtime in Minneapolis. Geno Smith wasn’t awful, 18/29, 254, 1-1, 87.4, while a Bar Chat fave from his college days, Teddy Bridgewater, was 19/27, 309, 2-1, 117.7.

I watched this entire contest and was most impressed by the enthusiasm of the Vikings fans, given they aren’t playoff bound. With Bridgewater, and a new stadium in two seasons, I kind of wish I lived there (when the temps are in the 50s or higher).

--The Giants upped their record to 4-9 with a 36-7 win over the dreadful Titans (2-11). Boston College’s Andre Williams had 131 yards rushing on 24 carries. The Giants’ ‘D’ had 8 sacks, after 7 the week before. And Odell Beckham Jr. had 11 receptions for 130 yards and a score.

--Yup, ya never know which Steelers team will show up. Sunday, Pittsburgh moved to 8-5 with a 42-21 at Cincinnati (8-4-1). And it wasn’t as if the Bengals had to deal with “Bad Andy.” Andy Dalton was good, 21/29, 302, 2-0, 128.8. But Ben Roethlisberger was 25/39, 350, 3-0, 118.5, while running back Le‘Veon Bell had 185 yards on 26 carries with two scores.

--The Ravens (8-5) stayed in the AFC North chase with a 28-13 win over the Dolphins (7-6).

--But Trader George’s Brownies fell to 7-6 as they lost to Indianapolis (9-4) at home, 25-24. Oh, I bet Browns fans are talkin’, what with Brian Hoyer in all the way in this one and sucking wind...14/31, 140, 0-2, 31.3. Not that Andrew Luck was much better...24/53, 294, 2-2, 59.8.

As I write, and I have no freakin’ idea, but I’m just guessin’ Johnny Football is named the starter on Tuesday.

--Detroit is now 9-4 after a 34-17 win at home over the pathetic Bucs (2-11...there really are a lot of crappy teams this year). Matthew Stafford was super...26/34, 311, 3-0, 133.3, while “Megatron,” Calvin Johnson, continued to prove he is fully recovered from his ailments...8 receptions for 158 yards and a score.

--By the end of Monday, after Atlanta loses to Green Bay in what is supposed to be snowy Lambeau Field (sweet), the Falcons and the Saints will be “atop” (cough cough...hack hack...) the NFC South at 5-8, with New Orleans losing at home to the Panthers (4-8-1) on Sunday 41-10. Good lawdy! Drew Brees was pathetic...29/49, 235, 1-1, 69.7, while Cam Newton finally got on track...21/33, 226, 3-0, 114.0. For Carolina, Jonathan Stewart, formerly of Oregon (quack quack) chipped in with 155 yards on 20 carries.

--Thursday, the Cowboys (9-4) beat the Bears (5-8) in Chicago, 41-28, as Tony Romo was superb, 21/26, 205, 3-0, 138.0, while DeMarco Murray rushed for 179 yards on 32 carries.

--All together now...since everyone else is saying it...the Rams (6-7) are one team you don’t want to face down the stretch as they defeated the hapless Redskins (3-10) 24-0. RG3 got in the game late, replacing Colt “Not the real” McCoy.

--In some of the late games, the Oakland Raiders (2-11) lost to St. Louis 52-0 last week. So what do they do on Sunday? They defeat the 49ers (7-6) 24-13, as rookie QB Derek Carr goes 22/28, 254, 3-0, 140.2, while Colin Kaepernick sucked the big one, 18/33, 174, 1-2, 54.4. Startling. Bye-bye San Francisco. See ya next year...no doubt with a new coach.

--And everyone was burying the Arizona Cardinals, saying they wouldn’t win another game, but AZ beat Kansas City (7-6) 17-14 to advance to 10-3; a playoff berth one win away.

--Peyton Manning was awful, 14/20, 173, 0-2, 56.9, but Denver (10-3) defeated Buffalo (7-6) 24-17.

--Seattle (9-4) got a huge win in Philadelphia (9-4), making it six of seven as they prepare to defend their title, defeating the Eagles 24-14, while holding LeSean McCoy to just 50 yards on 17 carries.

--Marc Lawrence of USA TODAY Sports had the following on playing in cold weather... records prior to this week’s games.

“NFL dome teams at cold-weather sites from December out are 81-152 since 1980. These NFL sites include the home fields of the Baltimore Ravens (and Colts from 1980 to ’83), Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos, Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings (this season and 1980-81), New England Patriots, New York Giants, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, St. Louis Cardinals (1980-87) and Washington Redskins.

“The abysmal record includes the Dallas Cowboys – and quarterback Tony Romo in particular in games he has started during December, 12-18. [Prior to Thursday’s effort in Chicago.]

“Dome teams at cold-weather sites also are worse in division games at this time of the season, owning a dismal 25-55 mark since 1980.”

Marc Lawrence also notes that “as the Detroit Lions wrap up the final two weeks of the season by visiting the Bears at Soldier Field in Chicago and the Packers at Lambeau Field: Detroit is 0-15 in cold weather cities in December since 2001.”

--You just never know. Jadeveon Clowney was viewed as a can’t miss NFL All-Pro caliber player when he was drafted first overall by Houston last spring, but now his first season is over after it was decided he have a second surgery on his right knee.

Clowney, who had various injury issues during training camp, including a concussion, tore the meniscus in his right knee in the first half of the Texans’ opener. After missing six games, he returned, but never felt right.

“With an increased emphasis on preventing and protecting football players from concussions, you would think this wouldn’t be happening on a regular basis. You would think there would be a way to prevent players from remaining in the game after suffering a concussion.

“For the third time in five weeks, that wasn’t the case with a Giants player. Linebacker Mark Herzlich sustained a concussion during Sunday’s loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, yet was on the field for the final play of the game.

“Linebacker Jacquian Williams and running back Peyton Hillis both played despite suffering concussions in the Giants’ loss last month in Seattle.

“The Giants made no mention of Herzlich’s concussion on Sunday after the loss or during conference calls with reporters on Monday. Herzlich showed up on the team’s injury report Wednesday and missed practice....

“The NFL is supposed to have someone in a stadium box helping prevent players from returning to the field with head injuries. Teams also regularly test players on the sideline during games when they see anything in question.

“It’s clearly a process that is not working to perfection. Hillis and Herzlich sustained significant hits to the head, and remained in the game.”

--On a different concussion issue...from Paul Milo / NJ.com:

“A 22-year-old native of Haskell (NJ) and former standout football player at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey was found dead in his apartment Sunday near the campus of the University of Richmond, where he was a student, WWB News and other outlets reported Monday.

“Police said the death of Kurt Schmitz did not appear suspicious. Schmitz, who started in five games as a freshman for the Richmond Spiders, was disqualified early in his college career after suffering a fourth concussion but remained a member of the team.”

“Coincidental or not, two announcements came within moments of each other last Friday (Nov. 28). The first was the revelation that arbitrator Barbara S. Jones, a former federal judge, had overturned the indefinite suspension of Ray Rice. This was still more bad publicity for the NFL, another outsider rendering an opinion – this one legally binding – that the commissioner’s office had acted in that red zone between inept and mendacious.

“The other communique: an NBC press release boasting that the television ratings for the Thanksgiving-night NFL telecast were up sharply from 2013. Here was the NFL in miniature. For all of the league’s moral failures and ambient ugliness – arbitrary discipline, head injuries, etc. – the relentless popularity of pro football has not been diminished.

“In fact, the NFL’s supremacy has never been more pronounced. In October mediocre NFL games were outdrawing World Series games; in the spring the NFL draft will outdraw the NBA playoffs. We all mock the Pro Bowl, but it almost triples the U.S. audience of the NFL’s Winter Classic. The NFL dwarfs the other leagues in sponsorship dollars and licensing revenues. And there are the unquantifiables: buzz factor and cultural relevance.

“And yet football faces a profound existential issue. However dismayed we may be that PEDs have infected baseball, they don’t cause one in three retired players to develop neurological problems. However much we might recoil at, say, the knee injuries that befell the Bulls’ Derrick Rose, you don’t find many parents declining to let their kids play basketball. The NFL boldly declares that it wants to be a $25 billion business in 2027, even as a growing chorus questions whether there will even be an NFL a dozen years from now.”

College Basketball

--In what could very well be the upset of the entire college basketball season, NJIT (New Jersey Institute of Technology, out of Newark) stunned No. 17 Michigan 72-70 on Saturday as the Highlanders made 11 of 17 from 3-point land, including a critical one down the stretch by Damon Lynn.

Years ago I used to write of NJIT’s futility, including a 51-game losing streak. Coach Jim Engles, now in his seventh year, inherited a program that went 0-29 the year before his arrival, and then he proceeded to lose his first 18.

It’s a school that continues to struggle, though, as it is the only independent basketball program in Division I. They had been in the Great West Conference but most of that was folded into the Western Athletic Conference, leaving NJIT out in the cold. Today, they are hoping the America East or the Northeast Conference will let them in.

For now, they hit the road. From Nov. 24 to Dec. 23, nine of their ten games are away from home.

Since transitioning to D-I for the 2007 season, Michigan was the Highlanders’ 1st game against a ranked opponent.

Saturday, I watched a fair amount of No. 7 Virginia-VCU, won by the Cavaliers, 74-55. UVA looks awful impressive, but VCU will be in the picture come season end despite three early season losses. Lots of experience in that lineup and Shaka will whip them into shape.

Caught the end of No. 3 Arizona’s win over No. 9 Gonzaga, 66-63, as the Zags had a chance to tie at the end but missed three free throws.

Green Bay upset No. 15 Miami 68-55.

Boston College had a nice win on Friday, 69-60, over Providence.

USC Upstate (South Carolina Upstate) upset Georgia Tech 59-54. [The ACC has had a lot of very bad losses early on. And I just saw Radford defeated Virginia Tech today!]

Wednesday, after I posted, No. 4 Duke had an impressive win over No. 2 Wisconsin, 80-70, in Madison, with Duke shooting 65% from the field. Coach K now has a 25-13 career record in Top 5 matchups.

*I’m not reporting on the Deacs unless they win. It’s a Deac-out!

--Tim Duncan, at 38 years and 224 days old, became the second-oldest player with a triple-double in NBA history, 14 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists in the Spurs’ big 107-101 win against the Grizzlies on Friday.

Bazooka Joe says: “Timmy D. stayed all four years at Wake Forest!”

--Thursday, the Knicks supposed superstar, Carmelo Anthony, was 4 of 19 from the field as New York lost to the Cavs at the Garden, 90-87, thus dropping New York to 4-16, the worst start in franchise history. The next night in Charlotte, they lost to the Hornets at the buzzer, 103-102. Make it 4-17. [This is being posted prior to their Sunday night contest.]

The Knicks have lost 59 games in a season four times in franchise history. They’ve never lost 60.   They’ll be lucky to go 17-65.

--The Nets’ Mason Plumlee better start hitting his free throws or his playing time is going to be drastically limited, especially in crunch time. Thus far he’s at .410 (25 of 61).

“In the NBA, star players win championships. But absent a franchise player or many valuable assets to barter, the 76ers are unlikely to land top talent through acquisitions or trades. Instead, the team’s best hope for acquiring major talent is through the draft – and the worse your record, the better chance you have of getting a high draft pick....

“The players are not trying to lose; rather, the owners essentially gave up on this season before it began. They assembled a team with little hope of winning, giving themselves a better chance of obtaining a big-time star in next year’s draft. The strategy has its risks. The team with the worst record is not guaranteed the top pick in the draft.

“Last year, the 76ers had the second-worst record in the league but wound up with the third pick. They chose center Joel Embiid of Kansas, a Cameroonian who has yet to play a game in the NBA because of injuries.

“The unpredictability of the draft lottery system and the absence of any obvious future stars among next year’s prospects have led many observers to question the team’s logic....

“The most disgraceful team in the NBA is on the verge of a milestone, and one of its brave television broadcasters is breathless.

“A collection of mostly playground talent that was specifically built to lose games – at the expense of competitive integrity and their longtime fans – is actually not losing a game.

“ ‘This is their largest lead seemingly in weeks! ...Dare I say the Sixers are in control of this game? ...It’s ugly but it’s fun!’ shouts Marc Zumoff.

“When the night’s mess mercifully ends, the Philadelphia 76ers have missed 50 shots, committed 18 turnovers, yet achieved their first victory in 18 games this season with an 85-77 decision over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“(The 76ers) are making a mockery of the NBA and its draft lottery, openly sacrificing an entire season while gambling they will be rewarded with high draft picks and future stars.

“It’s what the Lakers could have done, but the notion of losing intentionally went against the ideals that have defined their championship legacy. The 76ers apparently have no such ideals, no such respect for their legacy, and thus have descended into madness....

“You know how teams are criticized for being under the salary cap ceiling? The 76ers are $20 million under the salary cap floor, with a payroll of around $38 million. That’s about as much as the Clippers pay Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.”

Well on Saturday, Philly won its second game, 108-101, in overtime against the equally pathetic Pistons (3-17).

Mark R. says they’ll be 3-32 after their next stretch of games.

--Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors under first-year coach Steve Kerr are an astounding 17-2, after a nice 112-102 win over the Bulls (12-8) in Chicago on Saturday.

--I like what the Yankees did in acquiring 24-year-old shortstop Didi Gregorius from Arizona in a three-team trade that sent right-hander Shane Greene to Detroit, with Arizona receiving left-hander Robbie Ray and a minor leaguer from the Tigers.

Gregorius only hit .226 with six homers and 27 RBI in 80 games for Arizona, but he’s a terrific fielder and I’m guessing he develops into a .260 hitter. At least in the beginning of next season, though, the lefty swinging shortstop is likely to be platooned since he’s had major trouble with left-handed pitching.

The Yankees also signed 6-foot-7 lefty reliever Andrew Miller to a four-year, $36 million contract. He was spectacular last season, splitting his time with Boston and Baltimore, striking out 103 in 62 1/3 with a 2.02 ERA. Assuming the Yanks don’t re-sign David Robertson, who is a free agent, Miller will be the eighth inning set up man for Dellin Betances.   But the Yanks should do all they can to retain Robertson.

But, let’s face it, no matter how strong the pen is, the starting staff is a huge question mark and the Yanks need to get more than they did last season from the likes of Carlos Beltran, Mark Teixeira, and Brian McCann.

--Free agent third baseman Chase Headley supposedly has a four-year, $65 million offer from an unidentified team, according to Yahoo Sports, which is outrageous. The Yankees want to re-sign him but not at that price, or that length of a contract.

--The Braves signed free agent Nick Markakis to a four-year, $44 million deal. Markakis, 31, spent the first nine years of his career with the Orioles and this past season hit .276 with 14 homers and 50 RBI while winning his second Gold Glove. Now that’s a good signing. He’s a solid player who will replace the departed Jason Heyward, who was dealt to the Cardinals.

Markakis has not made an error in his last 328 games, eight games shy of the A.L. record, though now he’ll be gunning for the major league mark of 392 set by Darren Lewis from 1990-94.

--Tampa Bay hired the inexperienced Kevin Cash to be their new manager. Cash turned 37 on Saturday and had been the Cleveland Indians’ bullpen coach. Cash is a former catcher who played with five major league teams (hitting .183 in 641 at-bats) and has no managerial experience. For the life of me, I don’t remember him at all as a player.

I’m wondering if Tampa thinks they hired former All-Star second baseman Dave Cash instead.

--Washington outfielder Jayson Werth was found guilty of misdemeanor reckless driving Friday for a July 6 incident where he was clocked doing 105 mph on Interstate 495 in Fairfax County. Werth was sentenced to 10 days in jail. He’s appealing.

--Meanwhile, there are nine candidates eligible for Hall of Fame consideration through the so-called “Golden Era” veterans’ committee.

Dick Allen, Ken Boyer, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Minnie Minoso, Tony Oliva, Billy Pierce, Luis Tiant and Maury Wills. A tenth is former Reds executive Bob Howsam.

“Dick Allen may be one of the greatest players not enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

“He played 15 seasons with the Phillies, the Cardinals, the Dodgers, the White Sox and the Athletics. He won the National League rookie of the year award in 1964 for his .318 batting average, 29 homers and 91 runs batted in. Over the next seven years, he batted over .300 three times, averaging almost 30 homers and more than 90 RBI. Then, in 1972, he was the American League most valuable player with the White Sox, with 37 homers, 113 RBI and a .308 average.

“Allen is one of 10 finalists on this year’s Golden Era ballot. A 16-person committee will announce its decision Monday at baseball’s winter meetings in San Diego....

“I went through high school thinking that Dick Allen was a sports villain. He was often portrayed as surly and combative, though the complexity of the man was rarely acknowledged. I had not yet learned to be skeptical of what I read and to consider the source before forming an opinion.

“ ‘He was his own man, and you weren’t supposed to be your own man if you were black back in those days,’ said the Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan, one of the 16 members who will vote.”

“On July 13, 1965, in his first All-Star Game, Phillies third baseman Richie Allen hit cleanup. The National League lineup that day was Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Willie Stargell, Allen, Joe Torre, Ernie Banks, Pete Rose and Maury Wills. Sandy Koufax got the win, Bob Gibson the save. At the All-Star Game two years later, Allen hit fifth, behind Lou Brock, Roberto Clemente, Aaron and Orlando Cepeda, but ahead of Torre and Bill Mazeroski. Don Drysdale got the win. In 1970, Allen hit second between Mays and Aaron....

“He was a rookie in the time of Ali, when black athletes began dictating their own terms instead of being subservient to America’s white power structure. Richie Allen, who would soon go by Dick, was an independent spirit often characterized by media members as standoffish, brooding and difficult. Over time, he would come to exist through the only lens afforded him and virtually every other black athlete who did not tap-dance through the civil rights movement and beyond: He was cast as the ‘angry black athlete.’....

“Ironically, it is the bloodlessness of the numbers that provides the greatest chance of enshrinement for a man best known for heart, blood, passion and power. There is something both beautiful and dreadful about this – beautiful because his achievements might withstand analysis, bigotry and grudge, but dreadful because anyone who saw the man in action would not immediately think about numbers to describe Allen. They would think about the memories he created, his presence, his power, his 42-ounce bat.    In Philly, fans would think about the dreaded 1964 September collapse but also about how good he was, about how he represented them and was shoulder to shoulder with Aaron and Mantle.

“Through the numbers – and not the history, the turmoil and the lens of men who didn’t understand him and didn’t care to – Allen might soon resume his place in the lineup, when he walked with the immortals.

“ ‘I don’t know about the rest of the room,’ (Joe) Morgan told me. ‘But I know this: He has at least one vote.’”

I loved watching “Richie” (he was that when I began following him). In fact I’ve noted before I was in the stands on Sept. 29, 1968, the last game of the regular season for my Mets, when the Phillies pummeled Tom Seaver (and the bullpen) 10-3 as Allen had three home runs and 7 RBI. An awesome display. 

But I’m not sure he is Hall worthy...not that Cooperstown doesn’t have at least 10 plaques already that don’t really belong there.

--Lastly, a Honus Wagner T206 baseball card sold at auction for $403,664 on Sunday. A 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card sold for $268,664, as announced by SCP Auctions.

College Soccer’s Final Four

The field for the Challenge Cup in Cary, North Carolina, is set and against all odds, my adopted UMBC Retrievers are in! And yet they’ve scored only two goals!

UMBC-Wake Forest 0-0 (advance on penalty kicks)
UMBC-Maryland 1-0
UMBC-Louisville 1-0
UMBC-Creighton 0-0 (advance on penalty kicks)

Remarkable. So Friday it’s 16-seed Virginia vs. unseeded UMBC; 11-seed Providence vs. 2-seed UCLA.

Vonn is Back!

There were two World Cup women’s downhill races this weekend at Lake Louise, Alberta. In the first one on Friday, Slovenia’s Tina Maze captured the opener, with Lindsey Vonn finishing 8th in her first race back following a second knee operation that kept her out of the Sochi Olympics; her first race since last December in Val d’Isere, France.

Of Vonn’s career 59 World Cup race victories, 14 have come at Lake Louise.

Well make that 60 and 15. In the second downhill on Saturday, Lindsey Vonn won! Absolutely amazing. Plus her teammates Stacey Cook and Julia Mancuso finished second and third.

For Vonn it was her first victory since Jan. 26, 2013, in Maribor, Slovenia. Less than two months later she blew out her knee in a wipeout at the world championships.  She then rushed back for the Olympics and promptly tore one of the reconstructed ligaments in a training crash.

Again, she tried to come back for Sochi, but soon needed a second surgery.

So on Sunday, Vonn finished second in the Super G to Switzerland’s Lara Gut.

For the men, American Ted Ligety won his 23rd giant slalom at Beaver Creek on Sunday. Ligety has four screws in his left wrist after a November training accident and still did this.

--Premier League Standings

15 games played out of 38...W-D-L...[except Man U plays Southampton, Mon., for No. 15.]

1. Chelsea 11-3-1...36 points
2. Man City 10-3-2...33...4 in a row
3. West Ham 8-3-4...27...3 in a row
4. Southampton 8-2-4...26
5. Man U...7-4-3...25....4 in a row

*The big deal over the weekend, and I watched Man City defeat Everton (and Tim Howard), was Chelsea losing its first to Newcastle, 2-1.

And in the MLS final, the Los Angeles Galaxy defeated the New England Revolution for the MLS Cup trophy, 2-1, as Robbie Keane scored the game-winner in the 111th minute, leaving Landon Donovan a winner in his MLS finale. I didn’t realize Irishman Keane had not one, but two, Achilles tendon surgeries last December.

--Jordan Spieth, hot off his Australian Open triumph, defeated the elite 18-man field at Tiger’s tournament, winning by ten strokes! Woods, battling a severe flu, finished last and we’ll give him a break. I mean the guy was vomiting all over the place.

Peter Jacobsen: “First time I met him we were paired together in the final round of the 1978 B.C. Open. I was a second-year player on Tour and on the first nine I shot 32 and Lee shot 39. So I jumped into contention and he’s out of it. We’re walking down the 10th fairway and he grabbed me and said, ‘Hey, son, you’ve really got it going today. You can win this thing here.’ I said, ‘You’ve still got a chance. You can get back in this thing.’ He said, ‘I’m out of this one. I’ve got mine and I’m going to get mine. I’d like to see you get yours.’ So the entire back nine, he encouraged me on every putt. On the last hole I had a 10-footer and he said, ‘C’mon, knock it in.’ I knocked it in and finished third and won the biggest check of my career. I think it was $18,000. But I’ll never forget that act of kindness. He took that time to help me and that says a lot about Lee Trevino.” [Adam Schupak / Golfweek]

--So I missed that Oregon’s Edward Cheserek won the NCAA D-I cross country championship a second consecutive year in Terre Haute, Ind. Cheserek is a Jersey boy, from Newark.

Cheserek thus became the first Ducks runner to go back-to-back since Steve Prefontaine, 1970-71. Yet Cheserek has two years to go. Pretty cool. Pretty darn cool.

[However, Colorado won the team title...Oregon finishing sixth.]

--Dale Earnhardt Jr. was named NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver for the 12th straight year Friday night during the sport’s annual banquet in Las Vegas. Bill Elliott holds the record at 16.

--274 tigers have died in India over the past four years out of a population of roughly 1,700, according to the country’s Environment Minister. At least 20% of the record number of deaths were due to poaching. Bastards. [TIME]

--New Jersey is commencing its fifth bear hunt. About 200 to 250 will be culled this week, out of an estimated population of 2,500. The peak was 3,400 prior to the 2010 hunt. Aside from the Rutgers student that was killed by a bear on Sept. 21, official statistics show bears have become more aggressive in my state. The hunt is not likely to make them any less so.

--I watched a fair amount of “Peter Pan Live!” on Thursday and was underwhelmed, as were NBC executives, it seems, who were hoping the ratings would be better than last year’s “Sound of Music Live!” which drew 18 million viewers. Peter Pan attracted just 9.2 million, though this was still NBC’s best Thursday night since a year ago.

Of course last year you had the star power of Carrie Underwood. This year it was relatively unknown Allison Williams, daughter of anchor Brian Williams, which is why you won’t see any NBC executives being directly quoted.

NBC’s entertainment chief said the network is definitely doing another live musical for next year, but you can be sure it will feature a bankable star.

Seriously, I’ll go out on a limb and say NBC bags Justin Timberlake for perhaps “South Pacific.” [Next year will be the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, after all.]

--The Grammy nominations were handed out.

Album of the Year

“Morning Phase” by Beck
“Beyonce” by Beyonce
“X” by Ed Sheeran
“In The Lonely Hour” by Sam Smith
“Girl” by Pharrell Williams

Best Country Album

“Riser” by Dierks Bentley
“The Outsider” by Eric Church
“12 Stories” by Brandy Clark
“Platinum” by Miranda Lambert
“The Way I’m Living” by LeeAnn Womack

Top 3 songs for the week 12/8/73: #1 “Top Of The World” (Carpenters) #2 “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” (Elton John) #3 “The Most Beautiful Girl” (Charlie Rich...I do a good rendition of this one, especially after a few adult beverages...)...and...#4 “Just You ‘N’ Me” (Chicago) #5 “Photograph” (Ringo Starr) #6 “Space Race” (Billy Preston) #7 “The Love I Lost” (Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes...another great one from the boys...) #8 “Hello It’s Me” (Todd Rundgren...yup...one of my top three all time, along with “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” and “Crystal Blue Persuasion”...when this comes on in the car, I shatter glass all over the neighborhood...) #9 “Keep On Truckin’” (Eddie Kendricks) #10 “Leave Me Alone” (Helen Reddy...my theme song when I’m doing a column...)

NCAA Football Quiz Answers: 1) Wes Welker is co-holder of D-I record with 8 punt returns for a touchdown while with Texas Tech (2000-03). The other is Antonio Perkins, Oklahoma, 2001-04. Perkins had all of 3 kick (not punt) returns in the NFL for Cleveland in 2005. 2) C.J. Spiller is co-holder of the record for kick returns for a TD at 7, tied with Tyron Carrier, Houston (2008-11) who did not play in the NFL.

*Note: The other day a friend commented he thought I posted on Thurs. Here’s the deal. I always considered this entire site like an old-time magazine. My publishing dates might not always match up. You know, TIME or The Economist might say Dec. 1 but its published Nov. 28.

I am constantly working, so I need to put some columns to bed to begin to focus on the next one.

Yes, 90%+ of the time, Bar Chat is published sometime Wednesday morning, ET, and Sunday nights, but I use Mon. and Thurs. for consistency purposes and the archives. It also gives me some leeway should other things interfere, like breaking news or travel.

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