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Bar Chat

01/29/2020

Death of a Legend

[Posted Wed. a.m.]

San Francisco 49ers Quiz: In 1981, the 49ers won their first Super Bowl (game played 1/24/82) against the Bengals 26-21, the first of Joe Montana’s four Super Bowls.  Name Montana’s backup, the only San Fran running back with 500 yards rushing, the top two wide receivers, the tight end, and the kicker.  Answers below.

Kobe Bryant, cont’d....

The pilot of Kobe Bryant’s ill-fated helicopter was flying too low to be monitored in fog, audio recordings of conversations with air traffic controllers show, while the NTSB said the chopper was not equipped with a terrain alarm system that could have warned the pilot he was approaching a hillside.  The Sikorsky S-76 slammed into it outside Calabasas.  A mountain biker who happened to be nearby snapped a horrific photo of the helicopter in flames.

Ara Zobayan was the pilot, an experienced former flight instructor who was instrument-rated, or qualified to fly in fog.  But the fog in the area was so bad that both the LAPD and L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept. grounded their helicopter fleets.

Zobayan requested “flight following,” or constant tracking from controllers, but was informed he was flying too low to be picked up by air traffic control radar.

“Two echo x-ray, you’re still too low level for flight following at this time,” an air traffic controller told the pilot.

We learned that Kobe and daughter Gianna went to 7:00 a.m. Mass before the trip.  A priest at the church that Kobe regularly attends said Bryant always sat in the back so as not to distract from the services.

The NBA postponed Tuesday night’s Lakers-Clippers game, the league saying in a statement: “The decision was made out of respect for the Lakers organization, which is deeply grieving the tragic loss of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven other people in a helicopter crash on Sunday.”

LeBron James broke his silence Monday night.

“I’m Not Ready but here I go,” James wrote.  “Man I sitting here trying to write something for this post but every time I try I begin crying again just thinking about you, niece Gigi and the friendship/bond/brotherhood we had!”

LeBron spoke to Bryant Sunday morning in a congratulatory phone call after passing him for third place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.

“Didn’t think for one bit in a million years that would be the last conversation we’d have,” James wrote.  “WTF!!  I’m heartbroken and devastated my brother!! Man I love you big bro.”

You can not begin to overstate the impact Kobe Bryant had on Los Angeles.

Dylan Hernandez / Los Angeles Times

“He was named after premium beef from Japan.  He spent most of his childhood in Italy.  He was a high school basketball legend in Philadelphia.

“And he was all Los Angeles.

“Kobe Bryant came here as a 17-year-old boy, still not a legal adult when he was acquired by the Lakers on draft day in 1996.  In a two-decade career played entirely in this city, he scaled the greatest of athletic peaks and was tarnished by the worst of personal scandals.  He was beloved, reviled and, in the end, revered.  He became a father here, retired here, continued to live here and started businesses here.

“Los Angeles watched him grow up.  Los Angeles watched him stumble.  Los Angeles watched him get back up.  Los Angeles watched him transition into middle age.

“Regardless of the complicated feelings that remain over the sexual assault charge against him that was dropped after an out-of-court settlement, Bryant was undeniably the athlete who most represented this city over the last 30 years.

“Los Angeles now mourns the loss of its child.

“He won five championships, but was defined by more than the rings and awards he collected.  He was the physical embodiment of a philosophy that became this city’s unofficial ethos.

“He called this relentless pursuit of excellence the ‘Mamba mentality.’

“Bryant was the opposite of Magic Johnson, the Lakers superstar of the previous generation. Johnson, who also spent his entire career with the Lakers, was a pleaser.  He was gregarious.  he was a spectacular passer.  He radiated joy on the court.

“Bryant came across more as an obsessive, like Michael Jordan without the deceptively warm smile.  He snarled.  He didn’t compromise.

“As an 18-year-old rookie, he had the audacity to fire four airballs down the stretch of a playoff elimination game loss to the Utah Jazz.

“The persistence and individuality he showed became trademarks to which this city of transplants and immigrants related.  His triumphs became symbolic of its ambitions.”

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti: “Kobe Bryant was a giant who inspired, amazed, and thrilled people everywhere with his incomparable skill on the court – and awed us with his intellect and humility as a father, husband, creative genius, and ambassador for the game he loved.  He will forever be in the heart of Los Angeles, and will be remembered through the ages as one of our greatest heroes.”

Lakers legend and former general manager Jerry West: “Particularly when he was young, to be a part of his life and to watch his career grow, watch him grow, this is one of the most tragic days of my life.”  West, now 81, was truly heartbroken when he gave an interview Sunday night.

“This was a man for all seasons,” West said.  “He was more than an iconic basketball player.  He was someone who inspired millions of fans.  Not here in this state, not here in the United States – all over the world...

“I know somewhere along the way I guess I’ll come to grips with it.  But now I have all these different emotions regarding him.  The things I watched him do on the basketball court, but more importantly...he was making a difference off the court.  It’s so unexplainable.  This is going to take a long time for me.”

Within half an hour of the news breaking, a Barnes & Noble in Orange County had sold out of all photo books featuring the former NBA star.

“It’s kind of morose but people just came in 10 or 15 minutes after we found out about it,” said Armando Romero, a bookseller at the cash register.  People were calling Romero asking to put Bryant-related books on hold.

At the Fullerton Mexican restaurant El Camino Real, the staff was “really sad,” said manager Rodolfo Garcia.  Bryant patronized the restaurant for 20 years with his wife, a Fullerton native.  If he couldn’t come in person, Bryant would have friends get big orders to take back to his Newport Coast home.

Garcia told the Los Angeles Times: “He loved this place because people treated him like a normal person.  Kobe would just stand in line, like anyone else.  He’d tell us, ‘Don’t treat me like a star; I’m just a customer here.’”

I watched the beginning of the Nets-Knicks game from the Garden Sunday night to see how they’d handle Kobe’s death, and at first, I was miffed at Kyrie Irving for leaving before the game when he learned of the tragedy.

But later it made sense, Kyrie and Kobe being extremely close, by all accounts.  Everyone handles such news in their own way.  I’ll leave it at that.  [Irving had scored 45 points in a Nets win in Detroit on Saturday.]

Kyrie’s teammate, Spencer Dinwiddie, with Irving out, scored 23 points in their 110-97 loss to the Knicks.

You have to understand Dinwiddie’s background and linkage with Kobe. 

“I was born in ‘93.  He was drafted in ‘96.  I grew up in South Central Los Angeles.  He was everything to my generation,” Dinwiddie said.

Bryant told Dinwiddie in a recent on-court conversation that he was an All-Star in his view, praise that had the unabashed Mamba fanboy’s voice quavering and eyes welling on Sunday.

As I was going to post Sunday, I only had time to briefly report on Tiger Woods’ initial reaction to Kobe’s passing.  Later, in more formal post-round remarks, Tiger, ever the all sports fan, commented:

“What made him so impressive is that he was dominant on the offensive side...We all know that.  But he would lock up on D.  He played their best guard and shut ‘em down for all 48 minutes.  That’s what made him so special – he played both ends of the court. There are maybe two guys, three guys in the entire NBA history that you can say that, that would do that.  He was up for that challenge.

“And one of the more impressive things that I’ve ever witnessed is when he ruptured his Achilles, and he went to the foul line, made his shots.  Ultimate toughness, ultimate competitor.”

Bill Plaschke / Los Angeles Times

“Kobe Bryant is gone.

“I’m screaming right now, cursing into the sky, crying into my keyboard, and I don’t care who knows it.

“Kobe Bryant is gone, and those are the hardest words I’ve ever had to write for this newspaper, and I still don’t believe them as I’m writing them.  I’m still crying, and go ahead, let it out.  Don’t be embarrassed, cry with me, weep and wail and shout into the streets, fill a suddenly empty Los Angeles with your pain....

“Bryant, 41, and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, were among nine people who died in a helicopter crash Sunday in Calabasas and how does that happen?  Kobe is stronger than any helicopter.   He didn’t even need a helicopter.  For 20 years he flew into greatness while carrying a breathless city with him.

“This can’t be true.

“Kobe does not die.  Not now.  Kobe lives into his golden years, lives long enough to see his statue erected outside Staples Center and his jerseys inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.  He lives long enough to sit courtside at Staples when he’s stooped and gray, keeping alive the memories of two decades of greatness with a wink, maybe even fooling everyone one last time by retiring in a community next to Shaq....

“Kobe was your childhood hero.  He was your adult icon.  For 20 years he was on posters in your bedroom, on the television in your living room, in the lunch talk in your cafeteria, in the smack talk at your office water cooler, and ultimately riding on a truck down Figueroa Street while you cheered and bragged and bathed in his greatness.

“You watched him grow up, and this city’s relentless approach to sports grew with him, and soon, even with all of his off-court failings, many people felt they carried a little piece of him.

“On your best days, the days you landed a big account or aced a big test or just survived a battle with traffic, you felt like Kobe.  You were Kobe.  And in the end, as he retired into a life of movies and books and coaching Gianna’s basketball team, he was us.

“For me, he not only dominated my professional life, he consumed it. He arrived in Los Angeles two months before I began writing this column.  We used to joke that we started our journeys together.  But then he would pat me on the back and shake his head at that notion because, well, he always followed his own path.

“He was the one Laker who never had an entourage, and many nights after games we would chat as I walked with him to his car.  Except when he would get mad at me for what he considered unfair criticism, and then we wouldn’t talk for weeks, because when he was playing, he was that rare fighter who never dropped his fists.

“I covered his first game.  I covered his last game.  I wrote about everything in between, the titles and the sexual assault charge and the trade demands and the titles again and then finally that 60-point career-ending game against Utah.

“I screamed from press row that night, just as I’m screaming now, still shaking, still not believing.

“Kobe Bryant is gone.

“We talked just last week.

“I emailed Kobe with a request to speak to him about being passed on the all-time scoring list by LeBron James.

“He emailed me back immediately.  He always did.

“He cleared his calendar and made time to chat on the phone because, as he always said, ‘You’ve been there for everything with me.’

“But then, in our 20-minute conversation, he showed a side of Kobe that I had not seen before.

“The edge was gone.  The arms were open.  He urged acceptance of LeBron.  He preached calm for Lakers fans.  He said greatness wasn’t worth anything if you couldn’t share it.

“After about five minutes the message of this call was clear, the steely-eyed Mamba was purposely moving into a role of a wise, embracing and grateful leader of a community that had shown him so much patience and love.

“ ‘It’s crazy, watching this city and growing with it,’ he said before hanging up.  ‘I feel such an appreciation, I can never pay the city back for what it’s given me.’

“And now he’s gone...

“Kobe Bryant is gone and, so, too, is a little bit of all of us.”

Michael Powell / New York Times

“Bryant was a confounding and intriguing star, complicated and intelligent and self-aware and nasty, and accepting of all of that in himself.  He came upon the NBA scene as a preternaturally composed 18-year-old, a man-child fluent in Italian who could dart downcourt putting the ball once, twice, three times between his legs and then launch a fall-away 3-pointer.

“He embraced competitive rage as an elixir, to the point where you wondered if it might drive him mad.  He reveled in his nickname, Black Mamba, that most venomous of Africa’s snakes.  In games, in mid flow, his eyes would narrow to slits as he coiled and spun one way and another and another and his wrists flicked that deadly fall-away jumper.  As he backpedaled downcourt, he liked to lean into his hapless defender and detail precisely how and why that man should feel humiliated....

“The great Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce, no slouch when it came to abasing opponents, noted that Bryant’s genius as an offensive player was that he exhausted you before he exhausted his supremely conditioned self....

“There is, if we’re honest, more to reckon with here, a darker chapter of Bryant’s celebrity, especially a young woman’s accusation that he sexually assaulted her and sidestepped any legal consequence.  That 2003 accusation was nearly washed away at the time in an unsightly river of salacious reporting and counterclaims about the woman.  Relatively few in the news media or basketball did themselves proud, and you are left to wonder if Bryant would have survived in a #MeToo age of awareness.

“The evidence, incomplete though it might be, long struck me as deeply troubling, and so I’m left trying to take account of this man, this star, without sidestepping it myself.  Perhaps the eventual subsiding of grief and loss will allow us to take a clearer measure of Bryant.  For now, we’re left with the memory of his ravenous will and intelligence, and his rage against the dying of his athletic light.  And to wonder if a softer, more chastened Bryant had emerged....

“On Saturday, the night before he boarded that helicopter, Bryant watched (LeBron) James hit a driving layup and pass him on the NBA’s career scoring list.  And Bryant, who in recent years seemed excited to discover that this retirement had given him a second life of possibility, wrote a tweet of genuine respect:

“ ‘Continuing to move the game forward,’ he wrote, tagging James’ account.  ‘Much respect my brother.’

“It was the last public gesture Bryant would make in a life foreshortened.”

Jerry Brewer / Washington Post

“It’s most poignant that Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter.  During his prodigious basketball career, that flying vehicle became a symbol of his persistent greatness and the urgency he always felt.

“He didn’t have much time for traffic or any other limitations of road travel.  He needed to be faster and more efficient.  He needed to go higher.  And he needed it now, now, now.  Although longevity played a major role in cementing his legend, Bryant lasted 20 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers one restless day at a time.  And in a little more than three years since his retirement, he had transitioned to storyteller and built a promising entertainment company, Granity Studios, with the same pressing desire to beat the clock.

“On Sunday, as the shocking news of his death turned a hopeful new year somber, the tragedy made his rush understandable, sadly.  He couldn’t have known he would get only 41 years as Kobe Bryant, the mesmerizing basketball superstar and enigmatic cultural icon.  But he seemed to understand the fleeting nature of his fame – of his life – and he managed to accomplish more than almost anyone could.

“Yet his story still feels disturbingly incomplete, and that’s why so many are taking his death so hard.  Greater celebrities have left this world even younger, but there’s something especially jarring about losing Bryant.  It’s the combination of three things: his exceptional and unforgettable body of work, the feeling that we were still just getting to know him and the hope that, without all the basketball superpowers and ego, he was about to become much greater in retirement than he was on the court....

“But for all that we knew about Bryant, we still didn’t really know him.  He was starting to open up.  He was evolving, it seemed.  And though he would never admit it, he was determined to try to make amends for being accused of sexual assault nearly 17 years ago. The charges were ultimately dropped, but Bryant and his accuser later reached a settlement in a civil case.  We will never know the absolute truth about what happened that July 2003 night in Colorado, but it branded Bryant as much darker than perceived, and he knew it.

“He created the Black Mamba persona because of it, and even though he rebuilt his reputation and enjoyed 13 more years in the NBA after the incident, he couldn’t expunge that part of his story. So, typical Bryant, he tried to outwork even his shame.  As a businessman, he hired and empowered women.  He tried to become a better husband.  He and his wife, Vanessa, had four daughters.

“Bryant became a huge advocate for women’s basketball, partly because he wanted role models for his hoops-obsessed girls.  His genuine love for the women’s game and appreciation of its stars were going to mean much as the WNBA transformed its pay structure and made an increased push for greater fan support.  It was so heartbreaking that Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, were among those who died in the helicopter crash while en route to her AAU basketball game Sunday morning.  Their lives ended on a journey to a game that bonds the entire family.

“Last month, TMZ posted a video of Bryant comforting drivers after he witnessed a car crash in Newport Beach, Calif.  He wasn’t in a rush on that day.  He was just a concerned human being....

“In Kent Babb’s incredible profile of Kobe in November 2018, Bryant described his new professional aspirations.

“ ‘I’m just chasing a perfect story, whatever the hell that means,’ he said.

“By then, he was wise enough to know there is no perfect. But he couldn’t resist the chase....

“(Sunday) morning, (Kobe) sent a direct message on Instagram to Shareef O’Neal, the son of Shaq, his former teammate/nemesis, who recently announced his decision to transfer from UCLA. Shareef shared the exchange.

“ ‘You good fam?’ Bryant asked.

“ ‘Yeah!  Just been getting this work in trying to figure out next move,’ Shareef replied.  ‘How you been?’

“Bryant never had the chance to answer.  His helicopter crashed in Calabasas.”

Finally, Charles Solomon and Michael Cooper had a piece in the New York Times on Kobe’s relationship with former Disney animator Glen Keane, with whom he collaborated on Bryant’s project, “Dear Basketball,” that Keane animated with his rough pencil drawings depicting Bryant as both a Laker and as a small boy.  The film won both the Oscar for best animated short in 2018 and the Annie Award, the animation industry’s most prestigious prize.

“Looking back Sunday after hearing of Bryant’s death...Keane sad sadly: ‘Kobe was the most passionate man who was led by his heart and his intellect.  He was a great thinker with an insatiable hunger for learning....

“The two men bonded through a shared love of Beethoven.  Keane, who had animated Beast in Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, was amazed to learn that in one championship game, ‘Kobe structured his performance and the strategy of the game to the rhythms of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.’

“Bryant explained in a 2017 interview: ‘Every game has a structure, just like a piece of music has structure and momentum.  You have to be conscious of how that momentum is building to be able to shift or alter it.’....

“Bryant had plans to create animated projects that would attract African-American audiences – and artists, who are underrepresented in the art form.

“ ‘I see so much opportunity to add diversity and bring back the beautiful art of hand-drawn characters that allow the animators to deeply express themselves,’ he said in 2017.

“On Sunday, Keane said he ‘can’t help but think about the final shot in ‘Dear Basketball’ of Kobe walking into the light and hearing ‘Love you always, Kobe.’”

College Basketball Review

New AP Poll (records thru Sunday)….

1. Baylor (44) 17-1 
2. Gonzaga (19) 21-1
3. Kansas (1) 16-3
4. San Diego State (21-0)
5. Florida State 17-2
6. Louisville 17-3
7. Dayton 18-2
8. Villanova 16-3
9. Duke 16-3
10. Seton Hall 15-4
11. Oregon 17-4
12. West Virginia 16-3
13. Kentucky 15-4
14. Michigan State 15-5
15. Maryland 16-4
20. Colorado 16-4
25. Rutgers 15-5

Yes, zero volatility this go ‘round, the top seven spots unchanged, Villanova and Duke reversing positions at 8-9.

So Tuesday, Virginia (14-6, 6-4) upset 5 FSU (17-3, 7-2) in Charlottesville 61-56.

I watched Rutgers-Purdue and the Scarlet Knights improved to 15-0 at home with a 70-63 over the Boilermakers (11-10, 4-6), RU now 16-5, 7-3.

Duke beat Pitt 79-67, but in the first half, Coach K went off on the student section at Cameron Indoor Stadium for chanting that Pitt coach Jeff Capel (formerly a player and assistant for Krzyzewski) should “sit with them,” Coach K telling the students to “shut up.”

MLB

--And then there was one...one high-profile free-agent hitter left, Yasiel Puig, after the Reds reached agreement with outfielder Nick Castellanos, the same four-year, $64 million deal Cincinnati reached earlier in the offseason with infielder Mike Moustakas.  Gotta admire the Reds being so aggressive.  The fans have to be pleased.

Castellanos, 28, had a superb season last year, dividing his time between Detroit and Chicago. Aside from his 27 home runs, he had 58 doubles!

Cincinnati also signed an intriguing player from Japan earlier, Shogo Akiyama, to a three-year, $21 million contract, as well as starting pitcher Wade Miley, two years, $15 million, though Miley is a bit of a risk because he tailed off badly down the stretch with the Astros.

--All offseason, the Mets have reportedly been seeking Pirates outfielder Starling Marte, a two-time Gold Glove winner with speed and pop.  Last season he had career highs with 23 homers and 82 RBIs.

But the Mets cooled on him the last month and are now content to go primarily with Brandon Nimmo in center, the Pirates demanding Nimmo as part of any deal.

So Marte, with two years club control, was instead traded to the Diamondbacks for two prospects.  Nice move for your D-backs, Shu.  But I’m not disappointed the Mets didn’t pursue Marte further.   Nimmo’s my man, at $9 million less.

--Will the Padres and Red Sox complete a deal for Mookie Betts, who is a free agent after the season?  The San Diego Union-Tribune said the Padres are preparing to “send two young major leaguers and at least one prospect” to Boston along with veteran Wil Myers in exchange for Betts, but the issue is how much Boston is willing to pick up of Myers’ contract ($61 million over the next three seasons).

The Red Sox are in a box with Betts having hinted he is ready to test the free agency waters.

--Newly-retired Yankees hurler CC Sabathia is now angrier at the Astros than he was before over the cheating scandal after Justin Verlander appeared to pour gasoline on the fire.

In a speech Saturday during the New York Baseball Writers’ dinner after being presented with his AL Cy Young Award, Verlander said of the Astros, “as everybody knows, they’re very technologically and analytically advanced,” drawing boos with a smattering of laughter and applause.  It’s not clear what Verlander’s intentions were.

But Sabathia was sitting just two seats away from the podium as Verlander spoke, while the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger was between the podium and Sabathia.  Neither were pleased, to say the least.

Sabathia, referring to the 2017 ALCS, said on his R2C2 podcast with Ryan Ruocco recently that, “f--king ‘17, we should have won the World Series.  I don’t care what nobody says.  And now that this happened, nobody can ever f--king tell me that we wasn’t gonna win it.  We should have won!  There’s no way you can tell me we weren’t better than them.  I don’t give a f--k what nobody says.”

--Among those killed in the Kobe Bryant tragedy was John Altobelli, who has been the head baseball coach at Orange Coast College since 1992, but he’s also coached in the Cape Cod Summer League, helping with the development of stars Aaron Judge and the Mets’ Jeff McNeil, among many others.  His wife and daughter were also victims.

--Tom Verducci has a piece on Commissioner Rob Manfred in Sports Illustrated on the challenges he faces.  “The formula of less action over a longer period turned off fans.  From 2015 to ‘19, attendance dropped by 5.2 million, or 2,151 fans per game.

“One of the game’s greatest appeals has been the natural time and space it provides for rumination and anticipation, but those who have grown up with readily available technological distractions abhor such voids.  As Manfred said of enjoying a round of golf, ‘I don’t want to take an Instagram of myself on the third hole.  I want to get away.  In contrast, [younger fans] like to think, ‘This is my big event.’  And we need to take each of our 81 home games and make each one a big event for fans to continue to get them to come to the ballpark.’”

But among the big immediate items, Manfred will crack down on the misuse of technology; adopt an automated strike zone as soon as 2022; prioritize the looming collective bargaining agreement over a pitch clock, which Manfred said “has proved more difficult that I anticipated”; accept some variability in ball performance; embrace gambling – with limits; revamp the minors; resolve the issue with the A’s and Rays before expanding any further; and consider changes to regular and postseason scheduling.  There’s also a chance the N.L. will adopt the DH as soon as next season.

Australian Open

--Roger Federer did it again.  Down to his very last gasp, time and again, against 100th-ranked Tennys Sandgren of the United States, Federer pulled off another memorable comeback to reach the semifinals for the 15th time in this event.

Federer beat Sandgren 6-3, 2-6, 2-6, 7-6 (8), 6-3 on Tuesday, but Sandgren led 5-4 in the fourth set, and then failed to close the deal at 6-3 in the tiebreaker as Federer prevailed 7-6.

In all, Federer survived seven match points.  So now he faces 2 Novak Djokovic in the semis Wednesday night (eastern time), Djokovic easily beating 32-seed Milos Raonic.

No. 1 seed Rafael Nadal has a quarterfinal match early Wednesday morning against 5 Dominic Thiem to move on to the semis.

On the women’s side, No. 1 seed Ashleigh Barty will be squaring off against American and 14-seed Sofia Kenin in one of the semifinals later Wednesday.

Golf Balls

--Jordan Spieth has fallen out of the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time since 2013.  He has just one top-5 finish since the 2018 Masters.  If he doesn’t move back inside the top 50 by Feb. 17, he risks potentially not qualifying for next month’s WGC-Mexico Championship.

On the other hand, with his win at Torrey Pines, Marc Leishman moved up eight spots to No. 20 in the world.

Brooks Koepka’s lead over Rory McIlroy for world No. 1 narrowed.

Koepka 9.68
Rory 9.32

Tiger remained No. 6, and fourth American in the top 15, the Olympic automatic qualifier.

Stuff

--We note the passing of NFL Hall of Famer Chris Doleman, one of the most prolific pass rushers in league history, who died at 58 of brain cancer.

Doleman had eight double-digit sack seasons with Minnesota and San Francisco (he also played for Atlanta in a 15-year career), 150.5 in all, fifth on the all-time list.

He was the fourth pick in the 1985 NFL draft out of Pittsburgh and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012.

--India’s top court has said cheetahs can be reintroduced in the country, 70 years after they were wiped out.

Cheetahs are an endangered species, with only 7,100 left in the world, almost all of them in Africa.

The Asiatic cheetah, which once roamed parts of India, is now only found in Iran, where there are thought to be about 50 left.

India’s Supreme Court said the animal would have to be introduced on an experimental basis to find out if it could adapt to Indian conditions.

We wish the cheetahs luck and hope they find themselves in this column for all the right reasons in the coming years.  Just remember, ‘Cheetah,’ No. 18 on the All-Species List, no small children.  Limit your victims to adults and you’ll be rewarded in the rankings and with an invite to sit on the dais at December’s annual Bar Chat Awards Show, hosted this time by Camila Cabello, who will serenade our No. 1, and you know who that will be.

Top 3 songs for the week 1/29/66: #1 “We Can Work It Out” (The Beatles)  #2 “Barbara Ann” (The Beach Boys)  #3 “She’s Just My Style” (Gary Lewis and The Playboys)...and...#4 “No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach’s In)” (The T-Bones)  #5 “Five O’Clock World” (The Vogues)  #6 “As Tears Go By” (The Rolling Stones...this one gets better with age...)  #7 “The Men In My Little Girl’s Life” (Mike Douglas)  #8 “A Must To Avoid” (Herman’s Hermits)  #9 “My Love” (Petula Clark)  #10 “Jenny Take A Ride!” (Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels)

San Francisco 49ers Quiz Answers: For the 1981 49ers, Guy Benjamin was Montana’s backup, hardly playing, while there was only one rusher with 500 yards, Ricky Patton, 152-543, 3.6.  Dwight Clark (85-1105, 13.0) and Freddie Solomon (59-969, 16.4) were the main wide receivers.  Charle Young (37-400, 10.8) was the tight end.  Earl Cooper, the second running back, though with only 330 yards on the ground, did catch 51 for 477 yards out of the backfield.   Ray Wersching was the kicker and had four field goals in the Super Bowl.

Next Bar Chat, Monday.  Enjoy The Game.

 

 

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