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Bar Chat

01/19/2015

A Comeback For The Ages

Super Bowl Quiz / New England: When the Patriots got blitzed by the Bears in the 1985 Super Bowl 46-10 (1/26/86), for New England who was the coach, the two quarterbacks who shared duties that season, the leading rusher, and leading receiver by yardage. Answers below.

NFL Playoffs

Seattle vs. New England

Seattle will defend its Super Bowl title vs. New England, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady returning for a sixth time as they attempt to win their fourth together.

Seattle defeated Green Bay in an all-time thriller 28-22 in overtime, while New England manhandled Indianapolis in a real yawner, 45-7.

The Pats are in the Super Bowl for the first time since 2011 but haven’t won since 2004, while Russell Wilson will attempt to build on his rapidly bulging resume.

--I can’t do Seattle-Green Bay justice right now so I’ll have more to say, and relate, next time for the archives. But here are some pertinent facts as some of us were kind of stunned by Seattle’s poor play at home in the first half.

Green Bay led 16-0. They outgained Seattle 178-59.

But both teams sucked. Six turnovers; four by the Seahawks, two by the Packers.

Russell Wilson was historically bad. 2-9, 12 (yes, 12 yards), 0-3 (INTs), 0.0 rating. This wasn’t even Andy Dalton 3.0.

But Seattle had held Green Bay to two field goals on two possessions that got down to the one- and ½-yard line. That seemingly kept them in it.

No team in NFC championship history, however, had come back from down 16-0. Game over...until it wasn’t.

With 4:44 left in the third, punter/holder Jon Ryan threw a 19-yard TD pass on a fake field goal to lineman Clint Gresham to make it 16-7.

A Mason Crosby field goal made it 19-7 Packers at 10:53 of the fourth.

Seattle then couldn’t move it effectively but, finally, Wilson scored on a one-yard run to make it 19-14 with 2:09 left. The Seahawks had one timeout left. They needed an onsides kick recovery.

And they got it as tight end Brandon Bostick muffed the kick and Seattle recovered. Four plays later Marshawn Lynch scored on a 24-yard scamper with 1:25 left. Seattle converted the two-point play...22-19.

But as I tweeted, too much time for Aaron Rodgers and the Pack. Rodgers maneuvered the team to the 31 and Mason Crosby converted his fifth field goal of the day. 22-22 and into overtime.

At which point Seattle won the toss and on their sixth play, Russell Wilson threw a perfect strike to Jermaine Kearse for 35 yards and the winning touchdown.

Understand that Kearse had been the target on all four of Wilson’s interceptions, two of which were deflected by Kearse. But the last throw was what won it...Kearse’s only catch of the day.

Wilson’s stats weren’t good in the end, but an improvement. 14/29, 209, 1-4, 44.3.

Aaron Rodgers was only 19/34, 178, 1-2, 55.8. Clearly he was hampered by his calf injury, but that’s not why the Packers lost.

And a little Marshawn Lynch, who cranked it up for 25-157-1, almost all of it in the second half.

--In the nightcap, Tom Brady was 23/35, 226, 3-1, 100.4, while Andrew Luck sucked...12/33, 126, 0-2, 23.0, owing largely to a superb job by the Pats’ secondary.

For New England, LeGarrette Blount rumbled for 148 yards and three touchdowns on 30 carries. Yes, the same Blount who only weeks before was run out of Pittsburgh.

--The Colts essentially said bye-bye to failed running back Trent Richardson, who did not travel with the team for the championship game due to “a family emergency,” for which details weren’t forthcoming.

Richardson was inactive for the playoff game at Denver and said it would never happen to him again.

And the Colts had to deal with a rape charge against linebacker Josh McNary that came to light this week, though the incident took place on Dec. 1. He was primarily used on special teams this season.

--Oakland announced the hiring of Jack Del Rio as their new head coach, while owner Mark Davis said he doesn’t know where the team will play after the 2015 season. The Raiders want to stay in Oakland but it’s the only NFL franchise sharing facilities with a major league baseball team and you all know what a piece of crap the Coliseum is. 

Del Rio coached Jacksonville for nine seasons, 2003-2011, going 68-71 and guiding the Jags to two playoffs. He has been defensive coordinator at Denver the last three years.

--Just four days after being fired from Denver, John Fox because the new coach of the Chicago Bears. Fox was 46-18 over four seasons with the Broncos.

But an interesting note from ESPN.com. The Bears have had nine previous new head coaches during the Super Bowl era and not one had a winning debut season.

“First it was going to be Doug Marrone’s job in Florham Park, within days after Woody Johnson had fired both Rex Ryan and John Idzik, really within moments after Marrone had opted out of his job with the Buffalo Bills. That was before Johnson put on the brakes, and realized it wasn’t some kind of football imperative for him to hire the guy he was being told to hire by the media, as if Bill Belichick had suddenly gotten himself free from the Bills.

“Then there seemed to be a lot of momentum for Johnson to hire Dan Quinn, the defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks, another of the hot coordinators of the moment, even though Johnson and the Jets might have had to wait until after the Super Bowl to get Quinn here from Seattle.

“So now, after both a thoughtful and careful process, one that began as soon as Rex Ryan and John Idzik were gone, it all happens quickly for the Jets, the way these things often happen quickly in the late innings. They get their new general manager, Mike Maccagnan, and their new coach, Todd Bowles, before we even get to the conference championships....

“There are never any guarantees with these hires, especially when men are getting their first shots at jobs like these...

“But with an organization, the Jets, so often obsessed with what the median thinks and writes and says and posts and blogs and tweets, Johnson somehow managed to make it through this process and make up his mind on his own; to hire the people he wanted to hire in the end, even understanding the terrible risk you run, at least around here, when you don’t follow the media’s advice and then things go bad.....

“It is a leap of faith for everybody in this process, the same as it is a leap of faith for Jets fans who saw their owner get it all wrong two years ago with Idzik, and the team of Idzik and Ryan, and now want to believe the same owner gets it right this time around.

“Woody Johnson may yet turn out to be dead wrong with these two hires. But he went about this right this time. You have to give him that.”

I sure do. I said after his press conference following the final game that for the first time, Johnson looked like he understood the game of football. Many of us thought, ‘Where has this guy been hiding?’

But while I have full confidence in what Woody Johnson has pulled off, of course the Jets aren’t going anywhere without a quarterback. 

[It’s also interesting Bowles hired Chan Gailey, who has been out of the sport for two years, to be the new offensive coordinator. There’s a slim chance the Jets could end up with a stopgap QB for a year or two. Ryan Fitzpatrick had three good seasons under Gailey when Gailey was the head coach of the Bills. I’d have no problem with this.]

--San Francisco hired Jim Tomsula, their defensive line coach since 2007, to succeed Jim Harbaugh.

--The Giants rehired Steve Spagnuolo as defensive coordinator, six years after he left the team. He was the man behind the team’s Super Bowl winning defense of 2007. But he inherits a defense that was ranked 29th in the NFL.

--So what head coaching jobs are still open? Atlanta and Denver. Gary Kubiak appears to be the man for Denver, while Dan Quinn seems headed for Atlanta.

As I noted last time the NCAA and Penn State were negotiating to restore Joe Paterno’s record and a settlement was reached on Friday, giving back 111 wins* to Joe Pa, which means once again he is the winningest coach in major college football. The wins had been vacated from the time in 1998, when police first investigated a mother’s complaint that Jerry Sandusky had showered with her son, through 2011, Paterno’s final season as coach after six decades with the team and the year Sandusky was charged. 

*It’s actually 112, but Paterno was not coach in one of them.

Penn State agreed to commit $60M to activities and programs for the prevention of child sexual abuse. The school also acknowledges the NCAA’s legitimate & good faith interest and concern regarding the Sandusky case, according to the NCAA in a series of tweets.

The Paterno family in a statement said: “The repeal of the consent decree and the return of the wins to the University and Joe Paterno confirm that the NCAA and the Board of Trustees acted prematurely and irresponsibly in the unprecedented sanctions the NCAA imposed on the University, the players, coaches and the community. This case should always have been about the pursuit of the truth, not the unjust vilification of the culture of a great institution and the scapegoating of coaches, players and administrators who were never given a chance to defend themselves.”

But ESPN’s Keith Olbermann offered this on the decision.

“In short the NCAA says that in exchange for an agreement that the $60 million dollars the school was fined will be spent only in Pennsylvania to address child abuse there, the 112 wins that had been stricken from the records of the school – including the 111 wins erased from the record of coach Joe Paterno, all the victories after the first time police were called by a parent about Sandusky showering with their child and Penn State’s damnable cover-up really began – all those victories will now be restored and Paterno will again become the winningest coach in major college football history, because of course, he was the real victim here.

“This could be discussed for hours but the only two things that are to my mind essential points right now, the naivete which still much exists in the minds of the NCAA and Penn State and defenders of Joe Paterno as if this decision or anything else will ever lessen the guilt the university and Paterno share, or ever reduce the disgust which the names Penn State football and Joe Paterno will produce for decades to come. This is Joe Paterno’s legacy. This is Penn State’s legacy. Football was more important to them than saving children.

“And the second point. It is hard to believe that the NCAA and the school could take the most nauseating, the most horrifying, the most indefensible institutionalization of corruption in American sports – the Jerry Sandusky scandal – and make it worse, but today they just did.” [USA TODAY / Deadspin]

Paterno 409 (409-136-3)
Bobby Bowden 377
Pop Warner 336
Bear Bryant 323

--As expected, Marcus Mariota is heading out for the NFL draft. It’s amazing how opinion has shifted on him, from ‘lock No. 1 overall selection’ to maybe as far down as No. 6 in the first round. My friend Dr. W. kind of summed it up. “His best plays come when moving in the pocket (a recipe for disaster in the NFL as linemen, linebackers and safeties are too fast and are eventually going to kill him). You tend to throw from awkward positions on the run setting you up for bad arm and leg injuries when you get hit.” Dr. W. is a real doctor but does not play one on TV.

Of course Russell Wilson plays largely the same way and he’s been tremendously successful, but Dr. W. wonders how much longer he’ll last. [I say a long time.]

Tampa Bay has the No. 1 pick in the draft and new offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter was asked at his introductory press conference whether the Bucs should select Mariota or Jameis Winston.

“It’s funny that would be the first question and you’re going to be disappointed in the answer: I have no idea.”

--Meanwhile, Cardale Jones called a press conference Thursday to announce he was....not entering the draft.

“It’s everybody’s dream when they play a collegiate sport to make it to the next level. At this  point in my career, I feel like it’s best for me to go back to school and one of the most important things for me is to graduate.”

But of course there is no guarantee Jones will even play next year. You have Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett who no doubt will be ahead of him come summer camp, though Miller could still transfer.

If Jones isn’t starting, how does he impress scouts enough to be a 2016 first-rounder? I would have gone out, even if he was a second- or third-rounder. [I believe he would have been a late first-rounder.] That said, you have to respect his decision.

Looking ahead to 2015....

Sports Illustrated’s early Top Ten:

1. Ohio State
2. TCU
3. Auburn
4. USC
5. Michigan State
6. Ole Miss
7. Baylor
8. Oregon
9. Clemson
10. Alabama

Ohio State has three quarterbacks who are potential first-round draft picks.

TCU has QB Trevone Boykin back.

Auburn supposedly has a budding star QB in Jeremy Johnson.

Connor Cook is back for Michigan State.

For Clemson it’s all about whether QB Deshaun Watson is healthy after ACL surgery.

But I don’t believe Oregon will be a Top Ten team. They will need a year to reload.

USA TODAY Sports’ 2015 outlook:

1. Ohio State
2. Auburn
3. TCU
4. Stanford
5. Alabama
6. Baylor
7. Florida State
8. Michigan State
9. Ole Miss
10. Oregon

By the way, there are already concerns the College Football Playoff could have a conflict with the NFL next season, with the title game slated for Monday, Jan. 11, 2016. In March, the NFL owners will vote on a proposal to expand their playoffs by two teams, from 12 to 14, and an extra wild-card game could be held that night, according to the Washington Post.

Next year New Year’s Day is a Friday so no conflicts for the semis of the CFP.

College Basketball

No. 4 Duke recovered after two consecutive losses (N.C. State and Miami) to defeat No. 6 Louisville, on the road, 63-52. Duke is 15-2, 3-2. Louisville is 15-3, 3-2.

No. 2 Virginia moved to 17-0, 5-0, with a 66-51 win over Boston College (8-8, 0-4). I’m thinking I have a shot at winning a lunch against Steve D.’s Eagles in our only meeting, March 7 in Chestnut Hill.

No. 1 Kentucky continued its resurgence after two overtime squeakers, destroying Alabama (12-5, 2-2) 70-48. The Wildcats are 17-0, 4-0.

No. 10 Arizona (16-2, 4-1) defeated No. 8 Utah (14-3, 4-1) 69-57.

And on Saturday, I watched as my (for this year) San Diego State Aztecs won one of the uglier games you’ll ever see against UNLV, 53-47. SDSU is now back to 14-4, 4-1, and should sneak into the Top 25 (if not 26 or so by votes) when the next AP poll is released Monday afternoon.

How ugly was it? The Aztecs trailed 24-17 at the half.

But one thing about the Mountain West games on CBSSports Network is you get analyst Doug Gottlieb, who is as entertaining as they come.

--Sorry, Paul P. Your SMU Mustangs, with so much promise in the preseason, are now under investigation by the NCAA. Friday, former McDonald’s All-American Keith Frazier was ruled academically ineligible the remainder of the season, pending an appeal. The Dallas Morning News reported that a former high school coach pressured a physics teacher to raise Frazier’s grades to help him become eligible for college.

An assistant coach at SMU took an indefinite leave of absence this week, the coach having played a key role in recruiting the likes of Frazier.

And also this week, a reserve forward, a transfer from Xavier, left the program to turn pro. Oh, and earlier, standout forward Markus Kennedy missed the season’s first semester because of academics.

Coach Larry Brown had brought the Mustangs back to relevance. And, actually, they still are after a 77-54 win over East Carolina on Saturday to move to 14-4, 5-1 in American Conference play.

--Doh! CBS basketball analyst and former NBA player Greg Anthony was arrested and charged with soliciting a prostitute in Washington, D.C., Friday night. It was a sting operation. Anthony faces a misdemeanor solicitation charge that’s punishable by up to 180 days in jail. [Another report says 90 days.]

So he was scheduled to announce the Michigan State-Maryland game in College Park, but needless to say was suspended by both CBS and TNT indefinitely.

Anthony, in a statement, apologized to his wife, children and colleagues.

--A Southern California high school basketball coach was suspended after his girls team won a game 161-2. Arroyo Valley High coach Michael Anderson was suspended for two games after the victory against Bloomington High.

Anderson said he wasn’t trying to run up the score or embarrass the opposition. His team had won four previous games by at least 70 points. He also claimed he didn’t play any starters in the second half.

But Bloomington coach Dale Chung says Arroyo used a full-court press for the entire first half to lead 104-1 at the break.

--The Atlanta Hawks continue to amaze. In beating the Bulls Saturday night 107-99, the Hawks extended their winning streak to 12 and it’s now 26 of 28 since a 7-6 start...33-8 overall.

Saturday, Kyle Korver hit seven 3s and is now .536 from beyond the arc this season (he is .432 for his career from three-point land).

And running it all is former Wake Forest Demon Deacon Jeff Teague, who is emerging as the most underrated point guard in the game, averaging 17 points and 7 assists, but doing more than that as his speed puts major pressure on defenses, who have to protect against his dishing to Korver for his deadly jumper, among various options.

Guys like Paul Millsap and Al Horford are just playing super fundamental, unselfish basketball.

Oh, the coach is Mike Budenholzer. He deserves some credit too; a former San Antonio Spurs assistant so he learned his craft under the master.

--Speaking of San Antonio, Kawhi Leonard returned on Friday and the Spurs are now fully healthy and ready for a run. After an 89-69 win over the Jazz on Sunday, San Antonio is back to 26-16.

--David Price and the Detroit Tigers avoided arbitration, reaching agreement on a one-year, $19.75 million contract; the largest one-year deal for a player who filed for arbitration. Price can become a free agent after next season.

--Randy Johnson said he’ll wear an Arizona Diamondbacks cap on his plaque in baseball’s Hall of Fame. Johnson was torn between AZ and Seattle but said after conferring with Hall of Fame representatives they came to the decision that “the Diamondbacks logo on my Hall of Fame plaque makes the most sense.” Arizona announced it would retire his No. 51 on Aug. 8. You going, Shu?

--The Pirates officially signed Korean shortstop Jung Ho Kang to a four-year, $11 million contract after posting the highest bid ($5M) for the slugger and winning exclusive negotiating rights with him.

--Evan Gattis, who has 43 home runs in just 213 career games, was traded by Atlanta to Houston and now joins a lineup featuring All-Star second baseman Jose Altuve, outfielder George Springer and slugger Chris Carter, who had 37 homers last season.    The Braves, who had already traded away star outfielders Jason Heyward and Justin Upton, part of their rebuilding effort before moving into their new ballpark in a few years, received three minor league prospects for Gattis.

--Washington acquired Yunel Escobar from Oakland for two-time All-Star reliever Tyler Clippard. Escobar is expected to be the everyday second baseman, even though he has played just 21 of his 1,060 major league games there. But if shortstop Ian Desmond leaves following this season when he becomes a free agent, then the Nats would have a shortstop.

Escobar had just been acquired by Oakland a few days earlier from Tampa Bay.

Clippard has been one of the better late-inning performers in baseball over the past five seasons.

--Washington is supposedly one of two teams in the running for Max Scherzer. The other hasn’t been identified.

--In just a few short weeks it’s going to once again be all A-Rod, all the time, as Alex Rodriguez returns to the Yankees. He turns 40 in July, the team signed Chase Headley to a $52 million contract to take his position at third, relegating A-Rod to DH, at best, and he doesn’t have his old friend and batting coach, Kevin Long, anymore (Long now with the Mets).

But you can be sure the zoo will return. I’m looking forward to it. It’s always made for great Bar Chat, at least most of the time.

A-Rod is telling all who will listen, “I’m ready to go. I’m feeling really, really good.”

Oh, and if he is healthy enough to play (and many have their doubts), understand he is just six home runs short of Willie Mays’ 660. When he gets there, he earns a $6 million bonus. Of course most of us fans don’t want his name associated with perhaps the greatest to ever play the game, but, oh how it will create some buzz.

--In a totally bizarre story, Tour player Robert Allenby said he was kidnapped and robbed Friday night after missing the cut at the Sony Open. Allenby said he was at a wine bar in Waikiki when he was abducted around 11 p.m. local time, placed in a car, driven 6 ½ miles away and robbed and beaten.

“I didn’t think I was going to survive this one,” Allenby told the Australian Associated Press. I was watching Saturday night’s coverage on Golf Channel when they first reported on the abduction.

Allenby said he was beaten and dumped out of the car. He showed a photo of his face with a large scrape above his swollen left eye as well as scratches on the nose.

Allenby said he was helped by a retired military man in the middle of the night after being found by a homeless woman. Allenby had been robbed of his cash, credit cards and cellphone and the man paid for a cab to get him back to his hotel near the site of the tournament.

At first you almost don’t want to believe the story but he said he is reviewing surveillance film with Honolulu police and Tour security is involved in the investigation.

[Sunday, Allenby said the truth will come out when it’s seen who is using his credit cards. It also turns out, according to him, that homeless people mugged him when he was dumped in the park.]

--Meanwhile, Jimmy Walker won the tournament, his second straight year doing so and his fourth PGA Tour title overall. Walker won by a record nine strokes.

--54-year-old Kenny Perry has decided to take his one-time top-25 money exemption for full PGA Tour status in 2015.

“I’m not trying to prove anything out here. I do have one goal. If somehow I could get that lightning in a bottle for one week. If I could win, I would be the oldest guy ever to win.” [Sam Snead won the GGO in 1965 at 53, in case you were wondering.]

From 2012 to 2014, Perry mostly played the Champions Tour, and didn’t make more than five PGA Tour starts in a single season.

He now plans to play 18 events in 2015, and another seven on the Champions Tour – mostly the big events.

Perry can still hit it more than long enough, but it’s the short game that concerns him.

--Bhavik Patel was found in violation of the PGA Tour’s Anti-Doping Policy and has been suspended for one year from competition.

Doug Barron is the only other player whom the Tour has acknowledged suspending for a drug-policy violation.

Patel said in a Tour release, “In an effort to overcome an injury, I made a lapse of judgment.

Patel, 24, played 12 events on the Web.com Tour in 2014 and made the cut seven times.

“There are guys you’ve never heard of who drive the ball better than anybody I’ve seen on the PGA Tour. Coming up, I saw short games every PGA Tour player would die to have. One reason you never heard of these players is because their games don’t travel. There were grasses they couldn’t play from, types of green complexes they couldn’t deal with, greens they couldn’t read. I’d put my money on the guy who can shoot 65 on Poa annua in California, then, two weeks later, shoots 65 off bentgrass in New Jersey.”

He also said Zach Johnson was the best Ryder Cup teammate. “Jordan Spieth was a close second.” And as for Rickie Fowler, “Everyone loves Rickie, and he loves them back.”

--But when it comes to the Ryder Cup, it is truly amazing how much ink has been written of the U.S. team’s implosion/annihilation at the hands of the Europeans and the bad dynamic between Phil Mickelson and captain Tom Watson. Jamie Diaz of Golf Digest is the latest to weigh in in a superb piece in the February 2015 issue.

Among the things we learn is that when Watson sent invitations to some 20 potential Ryder Cuppers to meet him for practice rounds at Gleneagles in mid-July, all but Keegan Bradley, who was fighting to qualify, and Jim Furyk, who was a lock, blew it off. [This was timed with the British Open.] When former PGA of America president Ted Bishop asked Furyk why he had come, Furyk said, “Because I’m tired of losing.”

Mickelson and Watson just never hit it off, and it goes back years. As Bishop told Diaz, “Those two rubbed each other the wrong way.”

One thing Watson couldn’t stand was that the practice sessions were not taken seriously, in his mind, and instead Mickelson’s way of preparing himself and his teammates for the pressure was to have intense money games during those practice rounds.

“At Gleneagles,” writes Diaz, “where the European team had structured practices in which the players conferred on reading the greens, Mickelson played his preferred money game with various teammates. At one point on Wednesday, Mickelson’s group was behind Furyk, who was meticulously charting the course. Mickelson complained that his group would get in only 12 holes at that rate, so Watson gave him permission to go around. But observers noted tension between the two.”

--Golf Digest’s latest rankings of “America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses – 2015/2016”

1. Augusta National (2nd last ranking)
2. Pine Valley (1st)
3, Cypress Point Club
4. Shinnecock Hills
5. Merion (East)
6. Oakmont
7. Pebble Beach
8. National Golf Links of America (Southampton, N.Y.)
9. Winged Foot (West)
10. Fishers Island Club (Fishers Island, N.Y.)
11. Sand Hills (Mullen, Neb. ....this is the one I most want to play)
20. The Ocean Course (Kiawah, S.C.)...love this one

--At one point Martin Kaymer held a 10-shot lead in the final round of the Abu Dhabi Championship on Sunday and within 90 minutes, Kaymer, normally a tremendous frontrunner, dropped six shots in eight holes and went on to lose to some Frenchman by the name of Gary Stal. I mean if you aren’t European and have heard of this guy, you’re lying. The 22-year-old was ranked No. 357 in the world, but shot a final round 65 to win by one over Rory McIlroy. Kaymer was a stroke further back in third after his 75.

Earlier in the week, McIlroy, shockingly to yours truly, scored his first ace in a professional event.

Back to Stal, this is a big event and he now has an exemption on the European Tour until the end of 2017. As Ronald Reagan would have said, ‘Not bad, not bad at all.’

Premier League

1. Chelsea 16 (W) 4 (D) 2 (L) 52 points
2. Man City 14-5-3...47
3. Southampton 13-3-6...42
4. Man U 11-7-4...40
5. Arsenal 11-6-5...39
6. Tottenham 11-4-7..37...late 2-1 win over Sundeland
7. West Ham 10-6-6...36
8. Liverpool 10-5-7...35

I watched Man U vs. lowly QPR on Saturday...I feel for QPR fans. They have little talent, but also their guys had opportunities and failed to pull the trigger.

--Congratulations to Lindsey Vonn for her record-tying 62nd World Cup win, a downhill at Cortina, Italy; thus matching Annemarie Moser-Proell’s 35-year-old record.

Vonn can break Moser-Proell’s record in a super-G scheduled for Monday.

Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark holds the men’s record of 86 wins (46 GS, 40 Slalom).

--So it seems the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao fight will indeed come off, with negotiations underway with Showtime and HBO, which would jointly broadcast the super-fight.

Apparently the two boxers have agreed on the purse split, with Mayweather getting more, 60-40, according to the New York Times.

The MGM Grand in Las Vegas has been selected as the venue and a drug-testing plan, presided over by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, has been approved by both sides.

Mayweather, 38, is 47-0, while Pacquiao, who just turned 36, is 57-5-2.

May 2is the date. [That’s also the day for the Kentucky Derby, sports fans.]

--Muhammad Ali turned 73 on Saturday. It’s amazing he lived this long, though he’s been in and out of the hospital the past month.

Jonathan Eig of the Wall Street Journal had a piece the other day on Ali’s childhood and growing up in Louisville, specifically 3302 Grand Avenue.

But I didn’t know Ali (Cassius Clay) was just 376th in his high school class of 391 “and scored so poorly on his Army IQ test he was initially declared ineligible for military service, yet he impressed everyone he met with his wit.”

--Deontay Wilder, a 2008 U.S. Olympic bronze medalist and the last American male boxer to medal in the Olympics, became a world heavyweight champion when he defeated Bermane Stiverne on Saturday for the WBC belt; the first American to hold the title since Shannon Briggs in 2006.

--Well, no doubt two names will be part of the yearend Bar Chat Awards next December...Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson for being the first to ever reach the summit of El Capitan’s Dawn Wall after a staggering 19 days. 

Jorgeson said of their feat: “I hope it inspires people to find their own Dawn Wall, if you will.”

3,000 feet in a single expedition with the use of only hands and feet to pull climbers up, I hurriedly note. As John Branch wrote in the New York Times, “a challenge long considered impossible.”

--Last week’s winner of the Ballon d’Or, Cristiano Ronaldo, is single again after breaking up with Russian supermodel Irina Shayk. We wish the two of them the best as he finds another superbabe and Ms. Shayk heads to the world headquarters of StocksandNews. [How did this get in here?]

--I haven’t seen any follow-ups, but the other day Australian beaches in Newcastle were closed “for an unprecedented sixth day as the hunt for a great white shark lurking in the coastal waters continues.

16 feet!!! As my grandfather would have said, “Gee willickers!”

As reported by the Australian Press Association, beaches are normally reopened 24 hours after the last shark sighting, but in this case because of the size of the monster, authorities were waiting longer just to be sure. This one was first spotted last Saturday, and then again on Wednesday.

Folks say the shark is probably 3,700 pounds and locals have never seen one this big before.

--A former intern at Lazard Asset Management has turned porn star...Paige A. Jennings. As reported by the New York Post (as only the Post can do), “Even as she sweated over spreadsheets, she dreamed of someday spreading her wings.” [Actually, the prose gets far worse but I don’t want to lose my International Web Site Association license.]

Picture working at Lazard and receiving “racy photos” she sent “as a goodbye to the blue-chip firm.”

--We note the passing of Ervin Drake, a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame who wrote songs like Frank Sinatra’s “It Was A Very Good Year” and “I Believe,” sung by Frankie Laine. Drake was 95.

Drake wrote the words and music for “It Was A Very Good Year” originally for a member of the Kingston Trio, Bob Shane. Sinatra heard it on his car radio and it was on his comeback album in 1966. I love this haunting tune. As the New York Times’ obit by Sam Roberts put it, “A meditation on the stages of a man’s life – at 17, 21, 35 and the ‘autumn’ years.”

When I was 17, it was a very good year
It was a very good year for small-town girls
And soft summer nights
We’d hide from the lights on the village green
When I was 17

Super Bowl Quiz Answer: In 1985, New England’s coach was Raymond Berry, Tony Eason and Steve Grogan were the QBs, Craig James the leading rusher, and Stanley Morgan the leading receiver. [Running back Tony Collins caught more passes than Morgan, 52 to 39, but Morgan had more yards, 760 to 549. Irving Fryar had 670 yards in the regular season.] Grogan started the Super Bowl after Eason had guided them there.

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