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Bar Chat

09/01/2016

More Reaction to Colin Kaepernick

[Posted Wed. a.m.]

Baseball Quiz (last regular season one...time to move on to football): In the 1970s, 13 players had 1500 hits. Name the only three to have 1500 solely in the American League.  Answer below.

MLB

--Wild Card Standings

A.L.

Boston 73-59... +1
Baltimore 72-60 --
Detroit 71-61... 1
Houston 70-62... 2
Kansas City 69-63... 3
Yankees 68-63... 3.5

N.L.

San Francisco 71-60... +1
St. Louis 70-61 --
Pittsburgh 67-63... 2.5
Mets 68-64... 2.5
Miami 67-65... 3.5

The Mets opened their critical 4-game series with Miami with 2-1 and 7-4 wins at Citi Field, the first, Monday, thanks to a dramatic 10th-inning home run by Yoenis Cespedes.

Then Tuesday, Curtis Granderson, of all people, came off the bench for a pinch-hit home run, stayed in the game in a double switch, and then homered again.  So he now has a whopping 38 RBIs on his 22 dingers.

A big thing in the Mets’ favor this final month is that St. Louis and Pittsburgh play each other six more times, including the last three of the season.

Tuesday, in Chicago, the Cubs’ Kyle Hendricks threw seven scoreless in a 3-0 win over Pittsburgh; Hendricks now 13-7 with a major-league leading 2.09 ERA.

As for the Yankees, they remain relevant having split their first two in Kansas City, though Gary Sanchez, 2-for-10, has cooled off a bit.

--The other day Kent Babb and Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post had an extensive piece on life in minor league baseball.  As any fan knows, it’s awful. 

The focus of the story is 25-year-old catcher Matt Pare, playing in A-ball with the Augusta GreenJackets (sic), a Giants’ affiliate.

“Far away from Major League Baseball’s mighty salaries and Hollywood glitz, Pare is among the thousands of minor leaguers who survive on baseball earnings below the federal poverty line.  Baseball has in recent years parlayed renewed popularity into record earnings, leveraging apparel and media demands into $9.5 billion in revenue last year; its 30 franchises averaged $23 million in profits in 2015, and many of its minor league affiliates saw attendance figures and team values continue a steady climb.

“But the overwhelming majority of players in professional baseball’s extensive player development system never see a cut of that wealth.

“More than 80 percent of draft picks will never reach the big leagues, and most live on salaries of less than $10,000 per season; the starting salary for a first-year player, paid only during the regular season, is $1,100 a month.

“ ‘You always question yourself: Should I be doing this?’ said Pare, who says he is making about $7,500 in salary during this 22-week season – a little more than $340 a week, or about $8.50 an hour.

“Pare shares a two-bedroom apartment with three teammates.  He has, in four years as a professional ballplayer, accumulated a mountain of credit card debt.”

The average major league player earns $4.4 million per season these days.

--Tim Tebow held his ‘pro day’ for scouts from 28 of MLB’s 30 teams (according to Tebow’s agent), but as one American League scout told USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity: “It was a complete waste of time.  It was like watching an actor trying to portray a baseball player.

“He tried. He tried.  That’s the best I can say.  He is crazy strong, and could run well in one direction, but that’s it.  He only had one good throw of all his throws.”

However, a National League scout said: “Better than I expected, to be honest... That’s a big dude, for as fast as he can run.  The power was impressive, but I wish he could have translated it maybe a little better (against live pitching).”

NFL

--One of the good guys in football, Minnesota quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, suffered a devastating non-contact injury in practice on Tuesday as the Vikings saw their season end before it began.

Bridgewater dropped back to pass during a drill, planted his foot, and his knee buckled.  It was dislocated and he tore his ACL.  As described on ESPN.com, “Several players threw their helmets and shouted expletives as they scattered, and many simultaneously dropped to one knee in prayer.”

Practice was called off and “players were visibly distraught.”  Right now, 36-year-old Shaun Hill is Bridgewater’s replacement, though others could be in the mix such as Mark Sanchez or even the Jets’ Geno Smith.

The Vikings had such high hopes this season, plus they are opening their new $1.1 billion stadium.

--Colin Kaepernick, part deux:

So to repeat, Kaepernick first said: “To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way.  There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

Kaepernick’s former coach, Jim Harbaugh, now at Michigan, said, “I acknowledge his right to do that. I don’t respect the motivation or the action.”

Harbaugh later corrected this to read, in a tweet: “To clarify, I support Colin’s motivation. It’s his method of action that I take exception to.”

Harbaugh’s brother, Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh, said Monday that he respected Kaepernick’s right to protest, even if he doesn’t agree with how he’s doing it.

“Voltaire so eloquently stated, ‘I may not agree with what you say, but I’ll defend it until death your right to say it,’” John Harbaugh said.  “That’s a principle that our country is founded on.  I don’t think you cannot deny someone the right to speak out or mock or make fun or belittle anybody else’s opinion.”

But John Harbaugh added, there’s a fine line between standing up for what you believe in and becoming a distraction for the team.

Detroit Lions coach Jim Caldwell said he would not put a mandate on his players to stand during the anthem.

New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees said he believes standing for the anthem is a way for players to give thanks to military members who have “sacrificed so much for that flag throughout history.”

“I wholeheartedly disagree,” Brees told ESPN on Monday.  “Not that he wants to speak out about a very important issue....But there’s plenty of other ways that you can do that in a peaceful manner that doesn’t involve being disrespectful to the American flag.”

“Like it’s an oxymoron that you’re sitting down, disrespecting that flag that has given you the freedom to speak out,” Brees added.

American tennis player John Isner weighed in after winning his first-round match at the U.S. Open.

“I thought that was pathetic from him. The cause he was going for, fine by me – but don’t do it in that fashion.”

Isner ended his post-match news conference by declaring: “I’m a big Blaine Gabbert fan now,” a reference to another 49ers QB who threatens Kaepernick’s roster slot.

Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, as outspoken as they come, said, “I think he could have picked a better platform and a better way to do it, but every day they say athletes are so robotic and do everything by the book. And then when somebody takes a stand like that, he gets his head chopped off.”

Washington Redskins coach Jay Gruden said: “For three minutes, for us to take our helmet off and stand up and give respect is how we treat it here.”

The Rams’ Jeff Fisher had already expressed his feelings in a recent episode of HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” which is chronicling his team’s training camp.  “This is important to me,” Fisher was shown telling his players. “It’s a respect thing, okay?  It’s a self-respect thing. It’s a respect for your teammates.  It’s a respect for this game.  It’s a respect for this country... It’s an opportunity to realize how lucky you are and what you’re doing.”

Cardinals coach Bruce Arians: “I respect his right as an American.  Freedom of speech is one thing. ...I disagree with [his decision].  I want to stand and cheer for all the people who’ve lost their life of every religion, race, gender defending that flag. It’s not my opinion, but I respect his right.”

Broncos coach Gary Kubiak: “I want our guys to stand for the national anthem.  But we don’t babysit guys.”

Jets coach Todd Bowles: “He has that right.  Understand, a lot of people handle things differently.  They have that right.  People are fed up and they’re trying to get something done.  That’s just one way he thought about doing it.”

Steelers left tackle Alejandro Villanueva, who played at Army and served in Afghanistan before forging a job in the NFL, said he agrees that the U.S. “is not perfect” but insists it is the best country and he is unsure how he would react if one of his teammates sat down for the anthem.

“I just know that I am very thankful to be an American.  I will stand very proudly, and I will sing every single line in the national anthem every single time I hear it,” Villanueva said.  “I will stop whatever I am doing, because I recognize that I have to be very thankful to be in this country.”

Martin Halloran, the San Francisco Police Officers Association president, sent a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and 49ers CEO Jed York denouncing Kaepernick’s “ill-advised” statements and a “naivete” and “total lack of sensitivity” toward police, along with an “incredible lack of knowledge” about officer-involved shootings.

The police union invited Kaepernick or anyone else from the league to visit the San Francisco police academy to build communication and understanding about the profession.

“In short, Mr. Kaepernick has embarrassed himself, the 49er organization, and the NFL based on a false narrative and misinformation that lacks any factual basis.”

Kaepernick said Sunday: “There is police brutality. People of color have been targeted by police.  So that’s a large part of it and they’re government officials.  They are put in place by the government.  So that’s something that this country has to change.”

Dylan Hernandez / Los Angeles Times

“As for the fixation many have on Kaepernick’s not standing for the anthem, I’m sorry, but that’s not a real problem.  Unlike some of the issues Kaepernick mentioned, that never killed anyone.

“Mind you, this idea that Kaepernick’s gesture is disrespectful to our military is completely a matter of interpretation.  Kaepernick certainly emphasized that wasn’t his intention.

“Maybe when you hear the anthem, you think of our servicemen and women. And maybe that’s why you treat it as solemnly as you do.

“But maybe you think the anthem represents something else – we the people, the government, the idea of America.

“It’s not as if there aren’t other ways we can pay tribute to our servicemen and women.

“You know what I find really disrespectful to our soldiers?  How little we pay many of them, the substandard care we often provide them.”

Kaepernick will receive $11.9 million this season whether he makes the 49ers roster or not.  Over the last three years his passer rating has declined from 91.6 in 2013 to 86.4 in ’14 to 78.5 last year.  As Peter King points out, he has been “mediocre to poor.”

So I’m guessing you wondered why I didn’t say anything last time regarding my own opinion on this whole matter.  I just think Kaepernick is rather ignorant, though he can say anything he wants.

I also believe he initially didn’t intend to diss the military because I don’t think he was even thinking of them as part of his protest.  The flag has different meanings to different people.

But as one who has been to well over 30 countries in my lifetime, I just wish Kaepernick was a little more aware of how good he has it, and the sacrifices made to protect his freedom of speech.  America is far from perfect, but there’s a reason why everyone else wants to come here. 

--Denver has opted to start Trevor Siemian at quarterback come the Sept. 8 season opener against Carolina.  The last time the seventh-round 2015 pick started a game was Nov. 22, 2014 for Northwestern.

Siemian literally took one snap all of last season for Denver, a kneel-down.

Rookie Paxton Lynch seems to be the No. 2 QB behind Siemian, leaving veteran Mark Sanchez available for another team needing some experience, perhaps the Vikings now.

Sanchez had a one-year, $4.5 million contract, of which $1 million was guaranteed whether he made the roster or not, so at least a nice parting gift, plus some Good Humor Whammy Sticks.

--We note the passing of former Patriots offensive lineman Bill Lenkaitis, 70.

The San Diego Chargers drafted Lenkaitis out of Penn State (where he was captain in ’67) in the second round of the 1968 AFL draft and after three seasons in San Diego, he played 11 seasons in New England, including starting all 16 games in 1978, when the Patriots set an NFL team rushing record with 3,165 yards*, which still stands.

Lenkaitis earned his dental degree during the offseason and became the Pats’ team dentist while still an active member of the team.  He died of brain cancer.

*The ’78 Patriots finished 11-5 and lost in the first round of the playoffs to Houston.

Rushing leaders: Sam Cunningham 768 yards, Horace Ivory 693, Andy Johnson 675, Steve Grogan (QB) 539, and Don Calhoun 391.

That was a fun offense.  While they didn’t throw the ball much, they had three outstanding receivers...Stanley Morgan (24.1 yards per reception), Harold Jackson (20.0), and the great tight end Russ Francis, but they all caught less than 40 passes for the season.  [Cunningham and Johnson were also used out of the backfield.  It was a different game.  When quarterbacks went downfield, they went downfield...see Terry Bradshaw in those days to Lynn Swann and John Stallworth.  Lots of screen passes, too, for a change of pace, but no 4-yard slants and out patterns like today, boys and girls!]

College Football

--You can’t tell anything about the college football season, at least with any real certainty, until Week 3, but there do seem to be more intriguing opening weekend matchups than usual.

Saturday gives us 3 Oklahoma at 15 Houston; 5 LSU at Wisconsin; 18 Georgia at 22 North Carolina; 20 USC at 1 Alabama; and 2 Clemson at Auburn.

Sunday night you have 10 Notre Dame at Texas.

Monday night, 11 Ole Miss at 4 Florida State.

Of course there is a big one on Thursday...Tulane visits Wake Forest.  If my Deacs lose this one, I’m committing hari-kari, thus missing Saturday’s action. 

Golf Balls

--I don’t recall as much buzz as there is now about a single golfer not making the Ryder Cup squad on points as there is with Rickie Fowler, but he sure didn’t help his reputation any in flaming out on Sunday at Bethpage Black after having the 54-hole lead, knowing he needed a top finish to keep from having to rely on Captain Davis Love III selecting him with one of his captain’s picks.

As I noted last time, Fowler, for all his obvious talent has just three career PGA Tour wins.  Yes, he’s still only 27, but he’s now 0-4 with a 54-hole lead.  He’s got the dreaded “underachiever” label.

Sunday was hugely important, especially being in the New York media market.  Through 14 holes in the final round, Fowler was still just two shots behind Patrick Reed, in second, which would have wrapped up a Ryder Cup berth, but he then bogeyed 15 and doubled the 16th and it was over.  He finished tied for seventh after a final round 74.

“It will hurt,” Fowler conceded after.

Zach Johnson is the one who benefited from Fowler’s last round collapse, Johnson taking the eighth and final automatic spot.  He was no doubt a captain’s pick anyway. But for Johnson, it will be his fifth Ryder Cup appearance and he is winless in his first four, the Americans just 2-8 since 1995.

Davis Love makes three of his four remaining selections on Sept. 12 and the final one on Sept. 25, during halftime of the Sunday night football game, which is also the night of the final round of The Tour Championship, so Fowler needs to play well at least this coming weekend at the Deutsche Bank Championship (Monday finish, remember).

Here are the eight that made the U.S. Ryder Cup team on points.

Dustin Johnson
Jordan Spieth
Phil Mickelson
Patrick Reed
Jimmy Walker
Brooks Koepka
Brandt Snedeker
Zach Johnson

Koepka is the only rookie in the group.  It’s Mickelson’s 11th Cup.  He has an 11-14-6 team record; 5-5 in singles.

And here are the next few in the standings.

9. Bubba Watson
10. J.B. Holmes
11. Fowler
12. Matt Kuchar
13. Scott Piercy
14. Bill Haas
15. Jim Furyk

Frankly, barring a total collapse this weekend, Fowler is in, as are Watson, Holmes and Kuchar.

But, if Piercy, Haas or Furyk were to win the Deutsche, and Fowler didn’t do anything, I’d have that person jump Fowler.

One thing that could be a little different about this Ryder Cup for an American venue, it’s Hazeltine in Minnesota and end of September (Sept. 30-Oct. 2) it could be a little chilly.  Not sure how this will factor into Love’s decisions, but he seems to be favoring a younger guy over Furyk in these potential conditions.

Plus Furyk only has a 10-20-4 record in 34 Ryder Cup matches going back to 1997.  [Fowler is just 1-3-4 in two appearances.]

European captain Darren Clarke finalized his team on Tuesday morning.  He had three captain’s picks.

Points qualifiers:

Matthew Fitzpatrick
Rory McIlroy
Henrik Stenson
Rafa Cabrera-Bello
Sergio Garcia
Justin Rose
Danny Willett
Andy Sullivan
Chris Wood

Captain’s picks:

Lee Westwood
Martin Kaymer
Thomas Pieters

The obvious loser in all this is Russell Knox, the Scotsman who has won twice on the PGA Tour this year and is currently ranked seventh in the FedEx Cup standings.  By contrast, Westwood hasn’t won since the Malaysian Open in April 2014, while Kaymer hasn’t won since the U.S. Open in June of that same year.

Clarke said Tuesday: “It was an incredibly difficult decision. In Lee and Martin I have two incredibly experienced individuals.  The Ryder Cup is not just about playing.  It’s about the team room and the dynamics of everything involved.  That made Lee and Martin obvious choices.”

As for the 24-year-old Pieters, a former NCAA champion during his time at Illinois, he has been the hottest golfer on the European Tour and finished fourth in the Olympics.

I would have bagged Westwood for Knox, but I can also see this was an easy decision for Clarke.  Nothing wrong with selecting Kaymer, a tough SOB.

But you might be thinking, what of Luke Donald?  Well, he wasn’t nearly high enough on the points lists Clarke used to make his selections, including world ranking.

--When I posted last time, the Champions Tour result out in the Seattle area, TPC Snoqualmie Ridge, wasn’t in yet, but Bernhard Langer did it again.  A day after celebrating his 59th birthday, Langer birdied the 18th hole to get into a playoff and then birdied the same hole again to defeat Woody Austin and Kevin Sutherland and win the Boeing Classic, the 29th of Langer’s Champions Tour career, tying him with Lee Trevino for second on the all-time list behind Hale Irwin and his stupendous 45 wins.

I mean here Langer is 59 and he leads the tour with four wins this year.

Stuff

--I saw a trailer for the movie “Sully” the other day and, having read some on the movie a few months ago, I’m fired up.

And then I’m reading the Sept. 8 issue of Rolling Stone and this is what Peter Travers has to say.

“Tom Hanks hits a new career peak as Capt. Sully Sullenberger, the pilot who crash-landed into the icy Hudson River on January 15th, 2009, saving all 155 passengers.  Hailed as a hero, Sully is privately haunted by nightmares and aviation experts who say he did wrong.  Director Clint Eastwood, shooting with IMAX cameras, nails the visuals.  But it’s as personal drama that Sully soars.  Hanks catches Sully in one line: ‘I did my job.’  Eastwood, 86, can relate.  Having worked in Hollywood for 60 years, he values Sully’s experience over computers that ignore the human factor.”

Sounds like a cinch Oscar performance for Mr. Hanks.  As I wrote you before, Sullenberger was an advisor to the picture, which makes it all the better.

--Speaking of movies, we note the passing of the great actor Gene Wilder, who died Sunday of complications from Alzheimer’s disease.

As March Bernardin writes in the Los Angeles Times, “Wilder wanted the audience to be off-balance, to never be sure what they were going to get.”

Bernardin was referring to his title role in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” but as he adds, “that was the draw of all of Wilder’s best performances.  There was always mania lurking under the surface of the actor’s innocuous, somewhat frayed exterior.”

Wilder made his movie debut in Arthur Penn’s crime drama “Bonnie and Clyde,” in which he was an undertaker kidnapped by Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty, but his first major star turn was in Mel Brooks’ 1967 classic, “The Producers,” in which Wilder played mild-mannered accountant Leo Bloom who reluctantly joins the Broadway swindle hatched by Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel).

Wilder then gets hysterical when he realizes the play has been sold off to a group of little-old-lady investors.

In 1974’s “Blazing Saddles,” Brooks casts Wilder as notorious gunslinger the Waco Kid.  And that same year you had “Young Frankenstein,” where Wilder is the lead – as Frederick Frankenstein... “Fronkenstein” as he insists, the film featuring the dance number with Peter Boyle’s Monster set to “Putting on the Ritz.”

Wilder also made four comedies with Richard Pryor – “Silver Streak,” “Stir Crazy,” “See No Evil, Hear No Evil” and “Another You.”

Wilder was married to Gilda Radner for five years before she died of cancer in 1989, and afterwards, he seems to have stepped away from the business.

Gene Wilder’s rule for comedy was simple: Don’t try to make it funny, try to make it real.  “I’m an actor, not a clown,” he used to say.

--Animal Chat:

Kevin Shea writes in NJ.com:

“A trio of New Jersey fisherman could land $2.3 million more in prize money for the record 236.5-pound tuna they caught earlier this month in Maryland.”

The three, including a Trenton police sergeant and a Trenton firefighter, along with the boat owner, were participating in the White Marlin Open in Ocean City, Md., which this year saw 329 boats competing for just over $4.4 million in prize money in an event recognized as the world’s largest billfish tournament.  The friends were already in line for $767,091 for their catch.

“But last week, the tournament announced that a Florida boat that won $2.8 million in the white marlin category – the sole qualifying fish in the category – may have violated tournament rules.

“And last Friday, the tournament filed an action asking a Maryland court to decide the matter.

“In court filings, the tournament alleged fishermen on the winning boat failed polygraph examinations – a requirement for collecting a prize greater than $50,000.

“For the New Jersey men, it means the $2.8m prize would be spread among other winning boats, and the three friends would earn $2.3 million of it, due to the way they entered the tournament.”

[Mark R., who has a place in Ocean City, Maryland, noted that no one knows who is responsible for paying the $50,000 bar bill the initial ‘winners’ ran up thinking they won the $2.8 million.  Oh, don’t you know something like that happened.]

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Fishermen in Chatham, Mass., spotted an 8-foot long manatee in the warm waters off Cape Cod.  Since mid-August, wildlife experts have documented at least a half-dozen sightings of the manatee they believe slowly swam up the East Coast to feed on local vegetation.

But there’s a huge problem.  The water temperature will soon begin to drop quickly and the manatees could easily get caught too far north and die.  [68 degrees is the key it seems...below that, they undergo “cold stress.”  Kind of like me and golf under 60 degrees.]

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Speaking of water temperatures, the flip side.  Also from NJ.com, two brothers from New Jersey paid $210 for a 22-pound lobster in Cape Cod last week hoping to save it from being someone’s dinner, according to The Cape Cod Times.

But two days after the twins set it free, a fisherman found the massive lobster, which they had named “Big Lobi” in honor of David Ortiz, dead in the area where they released it.

A marine expert told the Cape Cod Times, its likely Big Lobi didn’t survive because the water off Chatham was too warm.

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Meanwhile, in Norway, 323 reindeer were killed by lightning during a storm in the Hardangervidda mountain plateau over the weekend, a staggering toll the Norwegian Environmental Agency uncovered with the release of photos from the area.

An Agency spokesman told the AP that “reindeer often huddle together during bad weather, which is likely why so many were killed during the storm.”

Kjartan Knutsen said it’s not uncommon for reindeer to be killed by lightning, “but we have not heard about such numbers before.”

In Utah in 1939, the AP reports, 835 sheep were killed by a single lightning strike.  This factoid was part of a 1996 book “Utah’s Weather And Climate.”

“Rain from a passing thunderstorm wet the ground and sheep, causing the lightning’s electrical discharge to move completely through the herd of female sheep and lambs. The next morning, fifteen sheep (out of 850) were found alive but in a dazed condition.

“The sheepherder was knocked temporarily unconscious, but escaped death because he was in a tent.”

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--I totally forgot the Video Music Awards were on Sunday night, though I can’t say I’m losing any sleep over this, especially after reading of Kanye West’s latest rant.  Once again he compared himself to Steve Jobs and Walt Disney.

“I sit down and talk to older like rich people.  Aka white. And they tell me don’t compare yourself to Steve Jobs, don’t compare yourself to Walt Disney... They told me there are three keys to keeping people improving.  Taking away their resources and role models. My role models are artists, merchants, Truman, Ford, Hughes, Disney, Jobs, West,” he explained.

Whatever you say, Kanye.  Whatever you say.

Top 3 songs for the week 9/7/74: #1 “(You’re) Having My Baby” (Paul Anka with Odia Coates...I don’t know Odia and I have nothing to do with this...)  #2 “I Shot The Sheriff” (Eric Clapton)  #3 “Tell Me Something Good” (Rufus...loved this one when it came out, but it’s not aging that well...)...and...#4 “Rock Me Gently” (Andy Kim)  #5 “I’m Leaving It (All) Up To You” (Donny & Marie Osmond....cough cough...the editor likes Marie...)  #6 “Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe” (Barry White)  #7 “Nothing From Nothing” (Billy Preston)  #8 “The Night Chicago Died” (Paper Lace)  #9 “You And Me Against The World” (Helen Reddy...incredibly depressing song...and I don’t even know the mother and child...just hope the mom doesn’t die in a kiln explosion...)  #10 “Then Came You” (Dionne Warwicke & Spinners...super tune...)

Baseball Quiz Answer: Only three American Leaguers to have 1500 hits in the 1970s.

1. Pete Rose 2045
2. Rod Carew 1787
3. Al Oliver 1686
4. Lou Brock 1617
5. Bobby Bonds 1565
6. Tony Perez 1560
7. Larry Bowa 1552
8. Ted Simmons 1550...talk about underrated
9. Amos Otis 1549
10. Bobby Murcer 1548
11. Ralph Garr 1546...I was surprised by this one
12. Thurman Munson 1536
13. Bob Watson 1507

Next Bar Chat, Monday.

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