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Bar Chat

10/24/2019

Washington Takes Game One

[Posted Wed. a.m.]

Golf Quiz: I noted a week ago that Phil Mickelson might drop out of the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time since Nov. 1993 this past weekend at the CJ Cup in Korea, but he ended up No. 50.  So how many can you name in the top ten?  Answer below.

World Series

--By any measure, Nationals vs. Astros brings together the best collection of starting pitching ever for the World Series.

Washington had the second-best ERA from their starters, 3.53, while Houston was third in baseball, 3.61 (the Dodgers were first, 3.11).

All six primary starters, Verlander, Cole, Greinke, Strasburg, Scherzer and Corbin averaged over six innings per start.

Overall, the Nationals trusted their starters to throw more than 65% of their innings, an MLB-high, while the Astros rotation threw 62% of their team’s innings, fourth-highest.  By contrast, the Yanks relied on their starters for only 53.9%.

And just look at the career records for all six.

Gerrit Cole 94-52
Zack Greinke 205-123
Justin Verlander 225-129

Patrick Corbin 70-61
Max Scherzer 170-89
Stephen Strasburg 112-58

And so it was Cole vs. Scherzer in Game 1 Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park and, as is often the case in such hyped affairs, it was a struggle for both, Scherzer and the Nationals emerging victorious 5-4, Scherzer gutting out five innings, allowing 2 runs, walking 3, striking out 7, and throwing a whopping 112 pitches in that short a time.

Cole didn’t have his best stuff either, yielding solo home runs to Ryan Zimmerman in the first, and Juan Soto in the fourth, as we were knotted up at 2-2 after four.

But in the top of the fifth, the “generational talent,” Soto, who turns 21 on Friday, hit a two-run double against Cole, after Adam Eaton had singled in the leading run, and we had a  5-2 ballgame.

Scherzer finally had a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the frame and he was finished.

Patrick Corbin, the likely starter in Game 3 for the Nats, pitched a scoreless sixth, and then the Washington bullpen held on, barely, from there, surviving a George Springer home run in the seventh, and a Springer RBI-double in the eighth, Sean Doolittle getting the Astros out in order in the bottom of the ninth to seal the victory.

Cole ended up throwing seven innings, allowing 5 runs on 8 hits, 6 Ks, 104 pitches. Cole hadn’t lost since May 22, a stupendous 19-0 in the interim.

For Springer, his homer in the seventh represented his fifth straight World Series game going yard, a MLB record.  Stringer had homered in the last four games of the 2017 Series, tying Reggie Jackson and Lou Gehrig.  Both of them did it over two World Series.

But Springer caught heat for not hustling out a double in the bottom of the eighth.  Had he made it to third, Kyle Tucker scoring Houston’s fourth run on the play, he might have scored on Jose Altuve’s line out to right field on the next play.

Tonight it’s Strasburg vs. Verlander.

--As for Yankees fans, they continue to lick their wounds.

Brian Costa and Jared Diamond / Wall Street Journal

“In many respects, the New York Yankees just completed an extraordinary decade.  Over the past 10 regular seasons, they won 921 games, more than any other team in baseball.  They made the playoffs seven times – no other team played into October more often.

“The 2010s were a success by every measure – that is, except for the only one their fans actually care about: winning the World Series.

“New York’s season-ending defeat to the Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series on Saturday means that for the first time since the 1910s, they have gone a full calendar decade without so much as appearing in the World Series.

“They spent more than $2 billion on player salaries, more than any other team in the majors over that span.  They employed at least eight current, likely or possible future Hall of Famers.  And yet, along the way, the Yankees settled into a strange, new normal.  They have become the sort of franchise their fans used to mock: great in every way but the one that counts.

“It is tempting to compare them to the 1990s Atlanta Braves, a team best remembered for underachieving in the postseason.  But even those Braves – the would-be Team of the ‘’90s before the Yankees staked their own claim to that title – appeared in five World Series and won one.

“What the Yankees did in the 2010s is without precedent in modern baseball history: In no previous calendar decade since 1900 has the winningest team of the decade by regular-season record failed to win at least one pennant, according to Stats LLC.”

The Yankees were also crushed, to a man, following Jose Altuve’s game-winning blast Saturday night.

Outfielder Brett Gardner, whose future in New York is highly uncertain, summed it up.

“Just like that, with one swing of the bat, it’s all over.  It’ll take a while to get over.  Some of us may never get over it.”

Manager Aaron Boone has won 100 and 103 games in his two regular seasons at the helm and yet has fallen short.

No team also puts more pressure on itself, starting with management on down, that simply making the World Series wouldn’t be enough anyway.

The team had such a successful season, given the MLB record number of players placed on the injured list, yet they are total failures.

And now with Houston’s Gerrit Cole about to become a free agent, he’s an obvious answer to the Yankees’ starting pitching dilemma.  But they haven’t awarded a $100 million-plus contract to a free agent since 2014.

Two more...the Yankees need to seriously rethink their bullpen strategy.  A number of the relievers after Saturday night said they were “gassed.”  All season it was like, ‘Starter, give us five, that’s good enough...the pen will take care of the rest.’  And of course it largely worked.  But the innings take a toll, especially when you advance beyond the ALDS, and for New York, whether management wants to believe it or not, the facts are there with key figures such as Adam Ottavino.  It’s not exactly his total innings, but he pitched in 8 of the 9 playoff games.  That’s getting up and down in the bullpen non-stop. It showed.  In the ALCS he sucked.

And then there was much-maligned (with good reason), Giancarlo Stanton, he of the $300 million contract, who played in just 18 games during the regular season, and then just two in the ALCS, where he sat out with a balky quad.  The Yankees had a chance to remove him from the roster after the first game, but didn’t, and kept him around despite missing Games 2, 3, 4 and 6, after homering in the first contest.  There are lots of folks questioning Giancarlo’s toughness, and for good reason, but if you give the guy the benefit of the doubt, management should have taken him off the roster for Game 3, realistically, when for a second straight time he said he couldn’t go.  That was a wasted piece on the bench.

Well, it’s a very long offseason for Yankees fans coming up.  And a long regular season in 2020.  Nothing matters until October.  Now the team has to make sure that the funk doesn’t prevent them from even making it to the postseason.  That said, monster seasons from Stanton and Judge, and the continuing development of Gleyber Torres, would salve some of the wounds.  Signing Gerrit Cole would do wonders as well.

--Finally, we note the passing of Eric Cooper, the major league umpire who worked the ALDS two weeks ago, Yankees-Twins.  He was just 52.

Yes, it was shocking.  Cooper died Sunday, after telling some of his fellow umps he was recuperating following knee surgery earlier in the week.  He developed a blood clot as a result and died.  Very sad.

Cooper joined the big league staff in 1999, after being a fill-in in prior seasons.  He had a solid reputation, working the 2014 World Series between the Royals and Giants, largely because of his success on replay challenges.  MLB took those numbers into account in picking the crew, and Cooper had only three calls reversed all season, which is rather remarkable.  I’ve seen umpires have three calls reversed in the same series!

NFL

--I posted before the conclusion of the 4:00 games Sunday and, no doubt, that was a tragic ending to the Chargers-Titans game.  For good reason Chargers players were in disbelief after officials signaled a go-ahead touchdown in the final minute twice, only to have both calls overturned in the 23-20 loss to Tennessee.

As told by Eric Williams of ESPN.com:

“The Chargers initially thought they won the game with 39 seconds left when Philip Rivers connected with Austin Ekeler on an angle route for a 16-yard score.  However, the call on the field was reversed when an official replay review ruled Ekeler’s arm holding the football had not crossed the goal line.

“On first-and-goal from the 1-yard line, Melvin Gordon broke the plane and appeared to score, but left guard Dan Feeney was called for a false start, moving the ball back to the 6-yard line.

“On the next play, Tennessee cornerback Malcolm Butler was called for pass interference on a fade route to Mike Williams, moving the ball back to first-and-goal from a yard out.

“Running out of the shotgun, the Chargers gave it to Gordon again for a touchdown called on the field.  However, official replay again overturned the call on the field.

“On second-and-goal, Gordon once again got the nod, but lost the ball before he reached the goal line and Tennessee defensive tackle Jurrell Casey recovered to seal the game for the Titans.”

But I can’t help but comment on Gordon.  The guy held out this year until Sept. 25, looking for more money, though he was to be paid $5.6 million in this the last year of his rookie contract.

So he’s played in three games and has carried it 36 times for a whopping 81 yards (2.3 avg.), plus his multiple failures in crunch time.  That’s on him.  As the commentator said, why didn’t he use his leaping ability to go up and over, instead of trying to plow through the line?!

I follow the Chargers pretty closely, now 2-5, because of their kicker, Michael Badgley, our Summit High School lad, but he’s been out all season due to a groin injury.  Frustrating for both him and the team.  [His two replacements are 12 of 16 on field goals, and 14 of 14 on extra points.]

Meanwhile, for Tennessee, coach Mike Vrabel had made his big change at quarterback, promoting Ryan Tannehill to start over Marcus Mariota, and for one week it looked pretty darn good. Tannehill was 23/29, 312, 2-1, 120.1, as the Titans improved to 3-4.

--New Orleans’ Teddy Bridgewater has become quite the story, going 5-0 in place of the injured Drew Brees, the Saints 6-1 after their 36-25 win over the Bears (3-3), Bridgewater with 9 touchdown passes, 2 interceptions, and a very good 98.9 passer rating.

With a bye week after the Saints play the Cardinals this Sunday, Brees is expected back for the Nov. 10 Falcons game.

--Every time Cowboys coach Jason Garrett appears to be headed out the door, Dallas manages to save his job for another few weeks, the Cowboys taking care of business and moving to 4-3 with their 37-10 win over the Eagles (3-4), who really suck.

--The Ravens (5-2) had a surprising win Sunday night in Seattle (5-2) as Russell Wilson had trouble with the Baltimore defense, easily his worst performance of the year (20/41, 241, 1-1, 65.2), the Ravens returning his pick for a touchdown, as well as recovering DK Metcalf’s fumble for another score.

But as Wilson himself said after, his counterpart, Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson, was “scary,” Jackson running for 116 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries, while throwing for 143.

The Baltimore interception return for a TD was by cornerback Marcus Peters, whom the team had just acquired from the Rams.  Ravens management looks brilliant for the move. It was Peters’ fifth interception for a touchdown in his career, most since he entered the league in 2015.

--So the last few days have been horrid for New York  sports fans. Saturday, we had the Yankees getting eliminated in Houston, Sunday, we had the disastrous Giants loss to the Cardinals, and then Monday night, well, we’ll get to the Jets in a minute.

But to go back to the Giants game, their 27-21 loss to the Cardinals, the airwaves were hot Monday morning after Giants coach Pat Shurmur’s performance.

Steve Serby  / New York Post

“Pat Shurmur didn’t have the Giants ready at the start of this game and gave them no chance to win at the end of the game.

“(Daniel) Jones (six touchdowns, seven interceptions) had given the Cardinals 14 points on another interception and another fumble, and Shurmur’s horrific play-calling and endgame strategy sealed an inexcusable, abominable 27-21 defeat that even Ray Handley couldn’t have explained.

“It was Cardinals 24, Giants 21, and Shurmur had already burned a timeout with 4:29 remaining (‘I did not want to lose 45 seconds right there, that’s why,’ Shurmur said) when Jones called a third-and-18 draw to Saquon Barkley at his 30 with a little over three minutes remaining.

“ ‘I had planned to go for it,’ Shurmur said, ‘and we just didn’t execute the play as well as we liked.’

“So this was two-down territory come hell or high water in Shurmur’s mind.  So he was keeping his fingers crossed that Barkley might pop a big gain on a day when nine of his runs went for 2 yards or less, and four of them went for a loss.

“Jones, as per instructions from the sideline, audibled to the draw when he noticed the Cardinals playing two-deep.

“As wondrous as Barkley is, he averaged 4 yards per carry on a day when his offensive line surrendered eight sacks.

“ ‘I think it’s a great call,’ said Barkley.  ‘If they drop back, I think you got one of your best playmakers on the field with the ball in his hands.’

“Barkley gained 3 yards.

“ ‘I want to get Saquon involved,’ Shurmur said.  ‘We’ve seen where he’s able to do that.’

“Then it got worse.

“Shurmur stayed rigid and stubborn, take your pick, and failed to adjust to the predicament confronting him.

“On fourth-and-15, with two timeouts remaining, you punt the ball there, no ifs, ands or buts.

“Shurmur was asked why no punt.

“ ‘Because it was gonna play out the way I thought,’ Shurmur said.

“Nostra-Shurmur!

“ ‘Stop ‘em.  Make ‘em kick a field goal at the very least, then we go down and score a touchdown,’ Shurmur said.

“Jones was sacked and lost his second fumble of the afternoon.

“ What, Nostra-Shurmur worry?

“ ‘It played out exactly how I liked, or I would have hoped,’ Shurmur said.

“It played out exactly how he liked or would have hoped only because Kyler Murray and Kliff Kingsbury played for the field goal that made it 27-21 with 2:09 left after Murray absentmindedly ran out of bounds on third down.  On a day when Fordham’s Chase Edmonds (27-126-3 TDs) looked more like Barkley than Barkley did.

“Jones got the ball back at his 12 with no timeouts remaining because Shurmur needed to call his second and third timeouts after the fourth-and-15 had failed.

“Jones got the ball back at his 12 when rookie kick returner Darius Slayton decided to run it out of the end zone and only got to his 12 with 2:02 left.

“ ‘So we got a play before the two-minute [warning], which was good,’ Shurmur said.

“Right, an incompletion intended for Barkley.

“Two plays later, Jones was sacked and lost another fumble.

“The Giants bore no resemblance to a team with 10 days between games when they fell behind 17-0 in the first half. That’s on the coach too....

“Shurmur is 2-5, after 5-11 last season.

“ ‘People spend their hard-earned money to come sit in the rain to watch us do that...it’s unacceptable,’ Golden Tate said.

“Storm clouds over Nostra-Shurmur.

“ ‘We’re not gonna tank,’ Tate said.

“And there’s your ray of sunshine, Giants fans.”

--Then there was Monday night. After Jets quarterback Sam Darnold had made his successful return last week from mononucleosis in a 24-22 win over the Cowboys, Jets fans had hope that this was the Darnold they drafted for, their true franchise quarterback, who has now appeared in just 16 of 23 games due to injury and mono.

So his sixteenth start, representing a complete year, was a nightmare of historic proportions as the Jets were embarrassed at home in front of a national television audience, 33-0.

Darnold had a passer rating of 3.6.  Granted that is 1.5 over my GPA at Wake Forest, but that wouldn’t be apples to apples.  A 3.6 is not Dean’s List material in the NFL.  A 3.6 in Pop Warner League would have had the coach telling Sam’s parents, ‘Maybe the kid should be in the band.  Have him take trumpet lessons.  You still get to go to the games.’

No, to get a 3.6 in the NFL you go 11 of 32 for 86 yards, toss four interceptions, and lose a fumble.  And to compound matters, the Jets stupidly allowed Darnold, essentially a rookie, to be ‘mic’d up.’  As one of the sports guys on WFAN was saying this morning, how could the team allow this?  

So at one point Darnold was caught on the sideline saying, “I’m seeing ghosts.”*  As in the Jets have allowed their franchise QB to now be defined by that comment.  As in what were they thinking?  It was flat-out cruel, in hindsight.

*The Jets were furious Darnold’s “ghosts” comment was aired.  The decision is supposed to be up to a representative from NFL Films who gives the go-ahead to air or keep it off.  Le’Veon Bell tweeted: “The NFL screwed Sammy over.  There’s not one player in the NFL who’s cool with having every sideline convo broadcasted to millions... @NFL did Sam dirty as hell.”

Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s defense blitzed Darnold into a fog, forcing him time and again into just dreadful throws.

The Patriots’ opening touchdown drive took 16 plays and ate up 8:47 off the clock before the Jets touched it.  The game was already over.

Jets fans are calling for coach Adam Gase’s head.  No one...no one...wanted this guy, but we thought we’d give him a shot before the season started because he had a reputation, bestowed on him by Peyton Manning, of being a “quarterback whisperer.”  Great, we thought.  Gase may have had a checkered coaching stint in Miami, but maybe the Gase-Darnold partnership would be just what the franchise needed.

Alas, we saw a result of their ‘magic’ Monday night.

Mark Cannizzaro / New York Post

“So, this is what full strength looks like for the Jets.

“How’d you like the look, Jets fans?

“You know, with your starting quarterback playing his second consecutive game for the first time this season and with your best defensive player back in the lineup for the first time since Week 1?

“Was 33-0 Patriots what you were expecting...a week removed from what looked like an inspiring, season-saving upset victory over the Cowboys?

“Season saving?

“That win over Dallas now looks like a mere interruption to what appears to be devolving into a season of ineptitude – a belch in the midst of a long dinner.”

As for the Patriots, what’s scary is that they’re offense has been kind of sub-par, by New England’s standards, but the defense is superb...just 48 points allowed in seven games.  How good is that?  San Francisco, 64, and Buffalo, 91, are the only other teams under 100, and they’ve both played one game less than the Patriots.

The Patriots are also No. 1 in yards allowed per game, and in net turnovers, +14 (22 takeaways, just 8 giveaways).

So New England made a move to improve its offense, acquiring veteran receiver Mohamed Sanu from the Falcons in exchange for a second-round draft pick.

Sanu, from Rutgers, is in his eighth season and has 33 receptions for 313 yards and a touchdown this season.  He’ll provide a good inside target to complement Julian Edelman.

Sanu thus joins Rutgers teammates Devin McCourty and Duron Harmon.

--We note the passing of Hall of Fame defensive back William Brown, 78.   After spending his first four seasons with Denver, Brown starred with Oakland the next 12 in a career spanning 1963-78.  He memorably returned an interception 75 yards for a score in a rout of the Vikings in Super Bowl XI.

Brown had 39 interceptions in his 12 seasons in Oakland (54 overall, including nine one year in Denver), a team record he still shares with Lester Hayes. He had seven more in 17 playoff games.

“Willie was a true Raider and one of the best cornerbacks that ever played the game,” John Madden, the Raiders’ head coach from 1969 to 1978, said in a statement. 

College Football

--No. 25 Wake Forest got some bad news on Tuesday.  Linebacker Justin Strnad, a redshirt-senior who is the clear leader on defense, is out for the season with a ruptured bicep tendon.  He had played in 46 straight for the Deacs.

As for this Saturday’s games, we’ll learn if 3 Ohio State is really CFP material in how they play 13 Wisconsin.

And will 9 Auburn give 2 LSU a test in Baton Rouge?  I doubt it.

8 Notre Dame needs to impress against 19 Michigan to stay on the fringes of the CFP conversation.

Thursday, 16 SMU plays at Houston.

Golf Balls

--This week we have a new PGA Tour event, the Zozo Championship in Chiba, Japan.  It’s the first official Tour event in the country.

And Tiger Woods is playing.  Pretty, pretty good for the sponsors, I think you’d agree.  The tournament launched Monday with The Challenge: Japan Skins, which pitted Woods against Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Japan’s biggest star, Hideki Matsuyama.

All four are in the Zozo field, as well as Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Gary Woodland, Shane Lowry and Adam Scott.

And Matt Kuchar, and rising stars Collin Morikawa and Matthew Wolff.

A big reason why the likes of Woodland, Morikawa and Wolff are in (and Spieth) is because the tournament is their last chance to impress Tiger, who has four captain’s picks to make on Nov. 4 for the upcoming Presidents Cup in Australia in December.

There’s also a $9.75 million purse with no cut!  And you get FedEx Cup points.

It’s a huge coup for Japan, who Adam Scott says have the most enthusiastic fans in the world.

--As I alluded to last time, there was concern Brooks Koepka’s knee issues were more serious than first reported and now there are rumors he won’t be playing in the Presidents Cup, let alone next week’s WGC event in Shanghai.

--Miguel Angel Jimenez won the rain-delayed Champions Tour event in Richmond, Virginia, Monday, the first leg of the three-tournament Charles Schwab Cup playoffs, shooting his best round of the year, 63, to capture the eighth title of his Champions Tour career.  He has had at least one victory in six consecutive years on the senior tour.

--Finally, Arnold Palmer is being honored with a postage stamp next year!!!  He is just the fourth golfer to be celebrated in such a fashion, the others being Bobby Jones, Babe Zaharias and Francis Ouimet.

Plus it’s a Forever stamp....yup, I’ll be buying a bunch.

NBA

--And we’re off...not that I care.  But we did learn since I last posted that Zion Williamson’s knee injury is more serious than first thought.  He’ll miss six to eight weeks following surgery on a torn right lateral meniscus, the Pelicans announced Monday, not the two to three weeks we were first led to believe.

And you can’t help but wonder, admittedly very early, whether this will be a recurring problem for the guy.  He is huge.   That’s a ton of stress on his legs, especially the way he plays.  Dare I say, let’s hope we’re not looking at the next Sam Bowie...or Greg Oden.

In an opener last night, the Clippers beat the Lakers behind Kawhi Leonard’s 30.  Anthony Davis in his Lakers debut had 25, LeBron just 18 (9 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 turnovers).  I hope the Lakers suck.  Wouldn’t mind if the Clippers are in the Finals, however.

--Congratulations to Shaquille O’Neal for defending free speech, proclaiming that Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey “was right” to openly support pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, despite the firestorm it ignited in China.

Speaking on TNT’s opening night pre-game show, Shaq said:

“As American people, we do a lot of business in China. And they know and understand our values and we understand their values.  And one of our best values in America is free speech.

“We’re allowed to say what we want to say and we’re allowed to speak up on injustices, and that’s just how it goes.

“Daryl Morey was right.  Whenever you see something going on wrong anywhere in the world, you should have the right to say ‘That’s not right,’ and that’s what he did.”

College Basketball

The season starts before you know it and personally I’m kind of miffed.  Rather than a slow build through Christmas, with an occasional tournament that has a few big names, Wake Forest, for one, is playing an ACC game in its first contest, Nov. 6 at Boston College.  It’s solely because the new ACC Network wants to launch its extensive conference slate early, but this blows.  It also blows because Wake is once again going to suck, even though B.C. shouldn’t be much better.

Well, the AP just released its Preseason Top 25, and Michigan State is No. 1 for the first time in program history, the Spartans returning a veteran cast and receiving 60 of the 65 first-place votes.

1. Michigan State (60)
2. Kentucky (2)
3. Kansas (3)
4. Duke
5. Louisville
6. Florida
7. Maryland
8. Gonzaga
9. North Carolina
10. Villanova
11. Virginia...kind of low for a defending champ, but lost De’Andre Hunter, Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy to the NBA Draft.
12. Seton Hall...I hope they don’t choke.  We need a good local winter story in these parts, the Knicks not about to supply it.

Michigan State and Kentucky meet in their opener Nov. 5 in New York.

Champions League

This week we have the third matches in Group Play and Tottenham performed in the fashion its fans expect and have been waiting a month for, a 5-0 blitzing of Red Star Belgrade at home.  Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min scored two apiece.

Manchester City whipped Atalanta 5-1 on Raheem Sterling’s hat-trick.

Liverpool and Chelsea play today.

In the Premier League, on Monday, Sheffield upset Arsenal 1-0.

Tottenham travels to Liverpool on Saturday.  Ugh.

Stuff

--Marathoners Eliud Kipchoge and Brigid Kosgei recently set records in their event; Kipchoge the first to break two hours (though this was unofficial as it wasn’t an open competition), while Kosgei set her mark in the Chicago Marathon.

Both, however, wore Nike Vaporfly shoes and the question is being raised just how much the footwear is helping.  Nike claims the original Vaporfly 4% yields a 4% energy savings, which translates to a 3.4% increase in running speed.  [I have no idea how this is calculated, these are Nike’s figures.]  But as Track & Field magazine reported, “If those numbers can be trusted, it means that a world-class marathoner could benefit by 2 minutes or more.  Presumably the new Vaporfly Next% has even better numbers.  It has been pointed out by Jonathan Gault of LetsRun that the 5 fastest men’s marathons ever have been run since little more than a year ago, and all have been in Vaporflys.”

Hmmm.

--A sad story out of Zimbabwe, where a severe drought has led to at least 55 elephants starving to death in the country’s Nwange National Park.  The drought has also massively reduced crop levels in Zimbabwe, with a third of the population said to be in need of food aid, which comes in the midst of an economic crisis.

One problem is this is one place where there are too many elephants...50,000 in Hwange, a park that can handle 15,000, so the elephants in looking for food have caused “massive destruction” of vegetation.

And because the elephants are straying outside the park for food, they have killed 22 local villagers this year.

--I hope the film “Midway,” which is about to be released, does well at the box office.  But I didn’t know that at Christmas (and formally Jan. 10 for a full release), Oscar-winning filmmaker Sam Mendes’ has a World War I blockbuster, “1917,” coming out.  Reading from the current issue of Army Times, it’s the story about two young soldiers – played by George McKay (“Captain Fantastic”) and Dean-Charles Chapman (“Game of Thrones”) – who embark in a race against time through the apocalyptic hellscapes of the Western Front to deliver a message that could save 1,600 lives.

“But to make the film immersive and viewer-relatable as possible, Mendes and Oscar-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins opted to shoot the entire film as a continuous shot that never departs from the two main characters.

“ ‘I wanted people to understand how difficult it was for these men. ...Every step of the journey, breathing every breath with these men, felt integral.  And there is no better way to tell the story than with one continuous shot.’”

Sounds pretty awesome to me.  “Gravity” is an example of the technique of one continuous shot.

Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch are among the other stars in the film.

Top 3 songs for the week 10/23/76: #1 “If You Leave Me Now” (Chicago)  #2 “Disco Duck” (Rick Dees & His Cast Of Idiots)  #3 “A Fifth Of Beethoven” (Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band...one of the two or three worst songs of all time...)...and...#4 “Lowdown” (Box Scaggs)  #5 “Still The One” (Orleans)  #6 “Play That Funky Music” (Wild Cherry)  #7 “(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty” (KC & The Sunshine Band)  #8 “She’s Gone” (Daryl Hall & John Oates)  #9 “Love So Right” (Bee Gees)  #10 “Rock’n Me” (Steve Miller... ‘B’ week despite #2 and #3...)

Golf Quiz: Latest top ten in the Official World Golf Rankings....

1. Brooks Koepka 11.59
2. Rory McIlroy 9.34
3. Dustin Johnson 8.22
4. Justin Thomas 8.17
5. Jon Rahm 7.66
6. Patrick Cantlay 7.00
7. Justin Rose 6.84
8. Xander Schauffele 5.77
9. Bryson DeChambeau 5.74
10. Tiger Woods 5.71

11. Francesco Molinari 5.43
12. Webb Simpson 5.43
13. Tony Finau 5.42
14. Paul Casey 5.40

Next Bar Chat, Monday.

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