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Bar Chat

06/09/2016

LeBron Alone Can't Pull This One out

[Posted Wed. a.m.]

Detroit Tigers pitching quiz: 1) Who is the single-season leader in ERA, 1.44, set in 1973, throwing 125 innings.  [Which by BaseballReference.com’s standards qualifies as the best.]  2) I know this is easy for many of you, but who had a record of 80-27 from 1944-46?  3) George Mullin threw a team record 382.1 innings in 1904.  Who is second at 376?  [Hint: Post-1950]  Answers below.

Warriors-Cavs

Last year the Cavs pushed the Warriors to six games in the NBA Finals, but it was with a front line of LeBron, Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov – an imposing front that Oklahoma City, with a similar one, used with success in the Western Conference finals against Golden State.

But this time Kevin Love has replaced Mozgov and Kyrie Irving replaced Matthew Dellavedova at guard, Love and Irving being on the sidelines last spring, and look at the difference?  The Cavs were a much better defensive team without Love and Irving...pure and simple.  And then there is this angle....

Fred Kerber / New York Post

“For several days, LeBron James was preaching and teaching about the evils of turnovers.  The Cavaliers had 17 in Game 1 and they led to 25 Warriors points.  Hellfire and brimstone poured forth from James.

“And then he committed the sins himself.

“On a night when James’ offense was needed most – Kevin Love was injured and limited to 20:46 and Kyrie Irving was little more than a 10-point spectator, James committed seven of the Cavs’ 18 turnovers.  And he shouldered the blame when he was asked if he needed to be more selfish in his play and just take the ball and score instead of trying to find teammates.

“ ‘Selfish is probably the wrong term.  I got myself in a lot of trouble tonight personally,’ said James, who finished with 19 points, nine assists, eight rebounds – but only shot four free throws and sat the entire fourth quarter as the game turned into a rout.  ‘Turned the ball over way too much.

“ ‘And I said after Game 1 we just can’t turn the ball over against a great team and expect to win, and I basically had half of the turnovers. We had some in the fourth quarter, but we had our third group in.  They had some.  But I had half of the turnovers when I came out, and it resulted in them getting some easy baskets.’

“And easy baskets for the Warriors is the surest path to elimination for the Cavs.  Not that they’ve shown a lot to get all pumped about.

“ ‘I’ve got to be better.  I’ve got to be better with the ball.  You know, trying to play-make for myself and play-make for my teammates at the same time, I’ve just got to be more solid,’ said James.”

Whatever....get out the broom. Cavs will be swept as Steph and Klay take over in Games 3 and 4.  Game 3 tonight, Wednesday.

MLB

--Big brawl in Baltimore Tuesday night, as the Orioles’ Manny Machado was hit by a pitch from the Royals’ Yordano Ventura and promptly charged the mound, landing a punch before both dugouts emptied and eventually order was restored.

Ventura is a primo a-hole and was suspended 7 games last season for throwing at hitters and instigating incidents.  Machado has also been suspended for past bad behavior.

No doubt Machado will be suspended and you would think Ventura too based on his past performance.

Orioles teammate Adam Jones said he’d gladly pay Machado’s fine from Major League Baseball.

“You throw 100 mph and you are trying to hurt someone intentionally, that is not part of the game.  You see the reaction by his players, they weren’t too happy that he did something so stupid.  I’m glad for Manny for defending himself.”

--What a disastrous Tuesday for the Mets in Pittsburgh, a doubleheader loss by identical 3-1 scores that has the Mets now down 3 ½ games to Washington.

Washington 35-23
Mets 31-26

The Mets are playing without three injured everyday players – catcher Travis d’Arnaud, first baseman Lucas Duda and third baseman David Wright – and there is no doubt had this trio been in the lineup the Mets would have three more wins, at least.

But when faced with a situation like this others have to step up and no one is for the Mets these days.  Left fielder Michael Conforto, for example, who will be a star in the league the next decade, nonetheless is still learning the ropes.  He got off to a .365 start for the month of April, but is 17-for-106 since (.160).  Ughh.  Slugger Yoenis Cespedes, battling injuries of his own, is 3 for his last 35.

The Mets are 28 of 30 teams in MLB in runs scored, batting just .230 (ranked 29 of 30) and .215 with runners in scoring position (30 of 30).

[The 28-30 Yankees are tied for 25th in runs scored...yes, not a lot of offense in Gotham overall these days.]

What’s frustrating for us Mets fans is that the vaunted pitching staff has come through as expected.  The Mets have the second-lowest ERA in baseball, 3.15 (the Chicago Cubs are first at 2.61), with the second-best starting pitching, 3.20 (Chicago first at 2.34), and the fifth-best out of 30 bullpens at 3.04.

So, like guys, get your freakin’ act together at the plate, will ya?!!!

--Richard Morgan of the New York Post had a piece on the Yankees and how the brand has fallen.  They used to be the team America loved – and loved to hate – but now they are losing fans across the country.

“The Yanks are no longer a top attendance draw on the road and have seen their YES Network ratings tumble....

“Even worse, the crosstown rival Mets – fresh off winning the 2015 National League pennant and with a roster studded with young pitching stars and the slugger Yoenis Cespedes – have passed the Yanks as an attraction on the road, in jersey sales and in local TV ratings....

“On the YES network, Yankees viewership is down 10 percent this year, to an average of 233,403 per game, compared to last season. [Ed. when YES was launched in 2002, through 2011, the Yanks consistently averaged more than 400,000.]

“Mets’ viewership on SNY, meanwhile, is up 16 percent over last year, to 280,588 – leapfrogging over the Yanks.”

Yippee!

And back to the Yanks’ ability to draw on the road, after being at the top for ages, they rank 17th in road attendance through June 4.   Recently, for the six seasons ended in 2014, they were No. 1.  [No. 10 last year.]

--Sumathi Reddy / Wall Street Journal

“Surgeons are seeing big increases in young players with damaged ulnar collateral ligaments (UCL) in the elbow, says Brandon Erickson, an orthopedic surgeon resident at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago who has studied the issue.  A UCL tear is an overuse injury of the elbow.”  Ergo, the kid needs Tommy John surgery to fix it.

“Older teens, age 15 to 19, accounted for significantly more Tommy John surgeries than any other age group in a study in the American Journal of Sports Medicine last year.  Dr. Erickson and colleagues analyzed a database of 790 patients who underwent the surgery between 2007 and 2011. They also found that rates of surgeries among 15- to 19-year-old patients were increasing more than 9% a year.

“James Andrews, an orthopedic surgeon and chairman of the board of the American Sports Medicine Institute, has spearheaded many of the efforts to create pitching guidelines.  Youth baseball injuries to the shoulder and elbow have gone up five- to sevenfold since 2000, he said.  In 2000 he did maybe eight or nine Tommy John surgeries on children and teens a year.

“ ‘Now it’s the number one age bracket of all the Tommy Johns we do,’ he says.  ‘The majority are coming in from high school.’”

College Baseball

The Super Regionals are set for this coming weekend and the ACC thus far has flamed out in a big way, including defending champion Virginia, with only four of 10 entrants advancing, though at least we are guaranteed one slot in the College World Series in Omaha, which is where the eight winners of this weekend’s action are headed.

Florida v. Florida State
Louisville v. UC-Santa Barbara
LSU v. Coastal Carolina
South Carolina v. Oklahoma State
Texas Tech v. East Carolina
Mississippi State v. Arizona
Texas A&M v. TCU
Miami v. Boston College

Here at Bar Chat, we are officially now rooting for B.C., but just want an ACC school in the CWS finals.

Muhammad Ali, part II

Let’s face it...there is a ton to write about when it comes to Ali and his impact on America beyond sports.  I’ll no doubt have more next chat, too.

Jason Gay / Wall Street Journal

“Will sports ever see another Muhammad Ali?

“Let’s be real: probably not.  That’s been obvious for decades, but it’s become very clear from the obits and encomiums since Ali’s death Friday evening: Muhammad Ali was absolute sui generis, an unprecedented combination of athleticism, intelligence, bravado and social consciousness during one of the most turbulent chapters in American history. He was controversial, to say the least, but he was an epic figure that sports will almost surely never witness again.

“The man seems unrepeatable.

“A critical reason, of course, is timing.  The ascension of the former Cassius Clay paralleled a period in which his country was gripped by the interwoven strife over civil rights and the way in Vietnam.  Ali’s decision to refuse induction into the military was deeply polarizing – and still so, judging from the comments sections of virtually everything written about the man in the past 36 hours – and not without cost.  And yet Ali willfully became a spokesperson for his choice, his race, and his religion, embracing the opportunity to show how all these matters were intertwined.  It isn’t hard to find clips of an exiled Ali discussing his refusal with inquisitors baffled that he would stick to the position and not, say, flee to Canada so he could box again.  Here’s Ali seated across from William F. Buckley on Firing Line: ‘What I am doing is for myself, and for justice for black people.  Running will kill it all.  So I’d rather go to jail.’....

“It’s been tremendous to watch Ali’s legacy getting a full airing, to see the person who battled Parkinson’s for decades reanimated to his vital, incandescent prime.  Athletes have always had ways of perverting our judgment and accentuating our hypocrisies; awestruck by their feats, we lift them up to unsustainable heights, and then tear them apart for the most human of mistakes. We regularly make idols out of winners who don’t deserve the mantle, and run hard over the defeated, when they deserve our empathy and respect.  We nostalgically pine for ‘heroes’ who never were. Seldom does anyone in sports approach the legend of what we want him or her to be.

“Muhammad Ali, an imperfect but seismic man, did.

“And he may be the last.”

Hall of Fame running back and activist Jim Brown:

Ali stood out because “Americans will stand up for freedom, equality and justice. And it has nothing to do with color,” Brown said on “Meet the Press” last Sunday.

Brown recalled the so-called “Ali Summit,” which was held in Cleveland in 1967 as a way for other famous black athletes, including Brown, then-Lew Alcindor and Bill Russell, to defend Ali for his stance on the draft.

“All of these individuals were impressed with him,” Brown recalled.  “And we came out of that meeting as a unit of individuals that would support him at the risk of everything that the federal government would throw at us.”  [I mentioned Kareem’s Facebook post on the meeting last time.]

Brown, who was the “color man” for Ali’s fight against George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire, recalled that before the bout, Brown said he spent some time with Foreman and saw him wallop a heavy bag during a training session.

“And I refused to spar with him, because the way he hit the heavy bag, I thought, ‘My goodness, if he hits me, he’ll break my ribs,’” Brown said.

So Brown tried to warn his friend Ali.

“He hits awfully hard,” Brown told him.  “You know, I’m with you, but I don’t know if you can beat him.”

During the bout, as he began to take over the match, Ali looked over and reminded Brown of what he said.

*I just have to add, I have been a big Jim Brown fan my entire life.  I once wrote him a letter praising him for his work with inner city youth.  Yes, I am well aware of the dark side of his character and his run-ins with the authorities, but I think when you look at his life ledger and the plusses and minuses, sorry if this offends you but I come down squarely on Brown’s side.  And he will always be the greatest running back in history in my mind.

And for those of you who are parents of high school lacrosse players (or younger), give them an assignment over the summer.  Tell them you aren’t cooking them dinner unless they can explain the import of Jim Brown on the sport.  They won’t know who Jim Brown is, to start out with, and don’t give them any clues.  Threaten them with starvation.

Lessons on how to torture your children....another free feature of Bar Chat.

Golf Balls

--The other day I noted that Stanford golfer Maverick McNealy shockingly didn’t qualify for the final round of the NCAA individual championship in Eugene, Oregon; McNealy generally the first- or second-ranked college golfer in the land.

But after three years as America’s most highly rated professional prospect, McNealy still doesn’t know if he will even go pro or do something else.

“I still don’t really know what I’m going to do with my life,” he told the Wall Street Journal’s Brian Costa.

Costa:

“To understand the rarity of what the 20-yeare-old McNealy is contemplating, consider this: Among his highest accolades is the Haskins Award, which has been presented annually to the nation’s best collegiate male golfer since 1971. Every other player to win it turned pro.  Since 1990, the recipients have gone on to earn more than $600 million in prize money and untold millions in endorsements.

“But McNealy, the second-ranked amateur in the world, is not the typical golf prodigy. The sport has not consumed his entire life.  He also played hockey and soccer before college.  And the potential riches offered by pro golf aren’t as much of a draw for him.

“His father, Scott, co-founded Sun Microsystems, the Silicon Valley giant acquired by Oracle Corp. for $7.4 billion in 2010. And while Maverick said he intends to become financially independent, both he and his father view pro golf as something less than a higher calling.”

Editor break:  It needs to be pointed out here that Sun Microsystems was a dismal failure, a classic tech bubble story, with shareholders taking a bath unless they got out at the 2000 peak,  $250, after which it plunged to about $3.  

“Maverick McNealy said he isn’t sure what kind of business he would go into.  His major is management science and engineering. For all he knows, he said, one of his classmates will approach him with a promising idea for a startup and ask him to join.  He is also interested in helping young people learn from their amateur athletic experiences in ways that will benefit them in their adult lives....

“His father, who played golf at Harvard, shares (Maverick’s) love of the game. But his view of it as a professional endeavor is less than flattering.

“ ‘If you are an entertainer, it’s counterproductive from the standpoint that people stop doing anything and just sit and watch entertainers,’ Scott said.  ‘The guy serving you food at a golf tournament is in so many ways doing more good and moving the capitalist ball forward than Tiger Woods.’

“In some respects, Maverick is a throwback to the early days of American golf, when amateurism was an aristocratic virtue and playing the game for a living was frowned on.  Bobby Jones, the most famous amateur golfer ever, was a lawyer by profession....

“Given how competitive pro golf is at the highest level, McNealy conceded it is unlikely for anyone to become a modern-day Jones.  But if he decides not to turn pro, he envisions himself competing in elite amateur events and attempting to enter the U.S. Open through qualifying tournaments.”

But why he wouldn’t give pro golf a try first is beyond me.

I was disappointed that Mr. Costa didn’t mention the amateur example of Jay Sigel, who won the U.S. Amateur in both 1982-83, while running a highly successful insurance business.  Sigel then turned pro at age 50 and won 8 events on the Champions tour.

Bazooka Joe says: “And Jay went to Wake Forest!”

Stuff

--Looking bleak for the San Jose Sharks in their first Stanley Cup Final, falling 3-1 to Pittsburgh in San Jose in Game 4 to go down 3-1 in the series, which heads back to Pittsburgh, Thursday, for a potential clincher for the Penguins and their first Cup title since 2009.

--We note the passing of former NBA player and assistant coach, Sean Rooks, who collapsed while dining at a Philadelphia restaurant Tuesday night, just hours after interviewing with the Knicks for an assistant coaching position.

Rooks, a late-first-round pick in the 1992 draft out of Arizona, played 12 seasons in the NBA with a number of teams.  He was an assistant in Philadelphia and was said to have a terrific future as a coach.  Rooks was 46.

--Thanks to the Sprint Cup race being postponed from Sunday to Monday, I got to see a lot of it from Pocono Raceway (a cool Monday afternoon diversion from watching CNBC).

Kurt Busch won it, his 28th career victory.

But Brad Keselowski was torqued off afterwards over Fox Sports 1’s coverage of his unapproved body modifications during a pit stop.

Keselowski was called back into the pits after NASCAR determined a crew member used his body weight to dent the NO. 2 Ford – thus improving the car’s aerodynamics.

But Keselowski was upset when he was told FS1 showed footage of his crew doing the same thing during a pit stop earlier in the year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  Keselowski won that race but overcame a speeding penalty – not an illegal body modification penalty (though his team was accused of denting the car after pictures emerged on social media).

“That’s because Jeff Gordon is in the booth,” Keselowski said.  “They need to get some people in the booth who aren’t inbred to the sport and own teams and have internal knowledge, because that’s pretty crappy.  But it is what it is.”

Keselowski is a jerk.  Gordon has been superb since he’s retired to the Fox booth.  I mean this guy hasn’t missed a beat in his rookie year as a broadcaster.  He’ll be a fixture the next 20 years.  Seriously, if you have any interest whatsoever in auto racing, you’ll see immediately what I’m talking about.  From the Daytona 500 on, I have watched more NASCAR than ever and it’s largely because of Gordon (and secondarily my bets on DraftKings).

But for the record, Gordon is still the part-owner of the No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) team.

Gordon tweeted later he made a mistake comparing Keselowski’s Vegas incident to Pocono, but said it was NASCAR that called Keselowski back to the pits, not him.  [USA TODAY]

--The United States rebounded from a 2-0 loss to Colombia in the Copa America opener to beat Costa Rica 4-0 in Chicago, Tuesday, behind first-half goals by Clint Dempsey, Jermaine Jones and Bobby Wood, while substitute Graham Zusi added a capper late in the game.

So the U.S. is in second place in Group A after Colombia beat Paraguay, 2-1. The top two advance to the quarterfinals.

--Superstar Lionel Messi did not play for Argentina in their Copa America opener against Chile due to an injury he suffered in a game on May 27, though Argentina won, 2-1, in a rematch of last year’s  Copa America final, which Chile won.

But if you were one of the announced crowd of 69,451 in Santa Clara, Calif., who purchased a ticket to see Messi, you were disappointed. 

--Euro 2016 starts Friday with France vs. Romania.  The terror threat alert has never been higher for these games, 51 matches in all over 30 days in France.  Say a prayer for the spectators and tourists in general in the country during this stretch.

--A New York State Senate committee said on Tuesday that legislative leaders in Albany had come to an agreement to legalize daily fantasy sports, potentially calming a fractious legal dispute and setting the stage for even wider acceptance of online gaming in general.

Agreement has been reached on a bill but it still needs to be passed by both houses of the State Legislature and signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

In exchange for various revenue agreements, fantasy sports would be classified as games of skill, not chance, an important legal distinction under a 2006 federal law governing online wagering.

DraftKings and FanDuel stopped taking bets in New York when Attorney General Eric Schneiderman ordered them to do so while the legislature put something together satisfying all parties.

--This sucks... “A storm surge spurred By Tropical Storm Colin sent water toward the St. George Island State Park boardwalk and wiped out scores of endangered loggerhead turtle nests filled with eggs.  A volunteer group that monitors such things reported that nearly all of the 58 nests they’ve been monitoring had been washed away – more than likely destroying thousands of turtle eggs laid on the barrier island.

One poor loggerhead washed onto a highway where the nearly 3-foot long turtle was battered by the rocks lining the shore and did not survive.

“Loggerheads generally nest between April and September. Female turtles return to their nesting beach every two years and can build up to 14 nests containing as many as 100 eggs, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.”  [USA TODAY]

This is only an issue because of the historically early storm. 

--The other day I mentioned the African Grey Parrot was knocking on the door of the All-Species List.  Actually, it was once in the top ten but this is a numbers game, boys and girls.

But now comes a story that a murder case in Michigan may turn on whether an African Grey that was a pet might have been an eyewitness to the crime and the victim’s family suggested he is able to recount what he saw and heard, according to a local NBC affiliate WOOD-TV.

Murder victim Martin Duram’s family believes Bud has been reenacting a chilling exchange that occurred just before Duram was fatally shot in his home in May 2015.

“That bird picks up everything and anything, and it’s got the filthiest mouth around,” the victim’s mother told NBC.

As reported by Yahoo News’ Michael Walsh:

“The family says a video recorded weeks after the murder shows Bud reenacting an argument between Duram and his wife that they believe led to the shooting in the video.  The bird alternates between high- and low-pitched voices before uttering, ‘Don’t f---ing shoot.’

“The 45-year-old was found dead on-site.  His wife, Glenna Duram, 46, was found with a shotgun wound to the head, which she survived.

“Now, because of the bird’s repeated reenactments, the victim’s parents tell local media they have reason to believe Glenna Duram killed their son before turning the gun on herself in a murder-suicide attempt.  They believe the bird is repeating their son’s last words as he begged his wife not to pull the trigger.”

A spokesperson for the World Parrot Trust, a conservation and welfare organization, said it is extremely rare for a parrot to hear something once and then repeat it, though he concedes an African Grey is best at this.

--I do not follow mixed martial arts one lick, but even I knew of Kimbo Slice, who became a larger than life figure in the sport.  He died Monday, in Coral Springs, Fla., at the age of 42.  The cause of death was unclear but there is no apparent police investigation and no foul play suspected.

Born in the Bahamas and raised in the Miami area, Slice was a strip club bouncer and bodyguard who began participating in unsanctioned street fights that got heavy internet play.

Slice never won an MMA title, and he went only 5-2 in his bouts, but he had charisma and drew television audiences.  RIP.

--Cincinnati prosecutors made the correct call in deciding the mother of the little boy who fell into the gorilla exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo bore no responsibility.  It was simply a tragic accident.  The parent-shaming on social media was absurd, but to be expected these days.

Jeffrey Kluger / TIME

“Having a child means being at least a little bit afraid for the rest of your life.  The tiny cracks in time in which accidents happen – the milliseconds before and after a child falls in a museum or tumbles into an animal enclosure – are impossible to foresee.  Fearing the loss of or injury to your child is bad enough, thank you very much, without fearing the public shaming that can follow.”

Top 3 songs for the week 6/7/69: #1 “Get Back” (The Beatles with Billy Preston)  #2 “Love (Can Make You Happy)” (Mercy)  #3 “Grazing In The Grass” (The Friends of Distinction)...and...#4 “Oh Happy Day” (The Edwin Hawkins’ Singers)  #5 “Bad Moon Rising” (Creedence Clearwater Revival)  #6 “In The Ghetto” (Elvis Presley)  #7 “Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In” (The 5th Dimension)  #8 “Love Theme From Romeo & Juliet” (Henry Mancini)  #9 “These Eyes” (The Guess Who)  #10 “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby” (Marvin Gaye)

*1969 Mets were 27-23 on June 7, but were in the midst of an 11-game winning streak that took them from 18-23 to 29-23...and eventually to 100-62 and the World Series Championship!!!

Detroit Tigers Quiz Answers: 1) John Hiller is the single-season ERA leader at 1.44, 1973.  Hiller, a reliever, threw 125 innings and was 10-5 with 38 saves.  The following season was a rather extraordinary one.  Hiller, pitching all in relief, threw 150 innings (59 appearances) and was 17-14 with 13 saves, 2.64 ERA.  17-14 in relief!  2) Hall of Famer Hal Newhouser had the following records between 1944-46.  ’44: 29-9, 2.22 ERA, A.L. MVP; ‘45: 25-9, 1.81, MVP; ’46: 26-9, 1.94, MVP-2nd.  Just an amazing three-year stretch. Yes, some can say, well, it was done during the War years, but not ’46!  He was the real deal.  3) Mickey Lolich threw a modern-day (post-1920) team record 376 innings in 1971, going 25-14, 2.92 ERA, starting 45 games and completing 29.

Next Bar Chat, Monday.

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