---

Bar Chat

01/03/2022

CFP, John Madden, and the Bar Chat Awards!

Add-On early Wed. a.m.

NFL Playoffs take shape….

AFC…last opponent

1. Tennessee 11-5…Houston
2. Kansas City 11-5…Denver (Sat.)
3. Cincinnati 10-6…Cleveland
4. Buffalo 10-6…Jets
5. New England 10-6…Miami
6. Indianapolis 9-7…Jacksonville
7. L.A. Chargers 9-7…Vegas
8. Las Vegas 9-7…Chargers
9. Pittsburgh 8-7-1…Baltimore

Chargers-Raiders…win-and-in, Sunday night…

NFC

1. Green Bay 13-3…clinched top spot
2. L.A. Rams 12-4…San Francisco
3. Tampa Bay…12-4…Carolina
4. Dallas 11-5…Philadelphia (Sat.)
5. Arizona 11-5…Seattle
6. San Francisco 9-7…L.A. Rams
7. Philadelphia 9-7…Dallas (Sat.)…clinched wild card spot
8. New Orleans 8-8…Atlanta

Saints earn a berth with a win and a loss by the 49ers.

--In Ben Roethlisberger’s last home game Monday night, No. 7 guided the Steelers to a 26-14 win over Cleveland to stay in the playoff hunt one more weekend.

The longtime Steelers QB was far from scintillating, 24 of 46 for just 123 yards, with a touchdown and a pick.  According to STATS, he became the first QB since at least 1950 to win a game with more than 40 attempts for fewer than 150 yards.  The longest pass play was just 13 yards, but Najee Harris rushed for a career-best 188 yards, and T.J. Watt sacked Baker Mayfield four times to give him 21 ½ on the season, one short of Michael Strahan’s record.

So regardless of the performance, Roethlisberger won, and for the 18th straight season, or every year since Pittsburgh selected Big Ben with the 11th overall pick in the 2004 draft, the Steelers will finish .500 or better.

[By comparison, us Jets fans have finished .500 or better just 8 times in the last 18 seasons and are currently on a six-season losing streak.  This is why so many of us want to jump off the George Washington Bridge…and why there are signs posted there, “Jets fans…take the Lincoln Tunnel…”]

The Steelers have just one remote shot to make the playoffs, and that is to beat Baltimore on Sunday while Indianapolis would need to lose to lowly Jacksonville.

--New York area sports fans are still chuckling over Giants coach Joe Judge and his 11-minute response to a question after the Giants (4-12) played another stinker Sunday in Chicago, falling 29-3.

Judge was asked a question about why fans should have faith in him turning the team around, especially as they’ve become more of a laughingstock than the Jets are. The response was over 2,600 words.

Judge said that when he arrived in 2020, he sat down with returning players to find out what the problems were: “I wanted to know what it was like in here, what we had to change.”  Judge said that “every player” told him the same thing:

“Joe, it’s not a team, they don’t play hard, we’re out of the playoffs, everybody quit, everybody tapped out, not showing up to captains’ meetings, all that stuff, all right? They tapped out.”

Then, Judge said:

“You guys [reporters] ain’t been in the building for two years now with this Covid (stuff), right?  I’ll tell you right now, if you’re in the damn building, if you walk on through our locker room, you ain’t seeing the crap you saw before.  All right?  You ain’t seeing guys planning vacations, you ain’t seeing golf clubs in front of players lockers, you ain’t seeing that stuff.  OK?  You ain’t seeing it.”

So Judge was taking a shot at GM Dave Gettleman, who had admitted he was trying to fix the team’s culture problem, having just traded Odell Beckham and replacing him with Golden Tate, a massive blunder for the GM, before Judge was brought in.  Tate indeed had golf clubs sitting at his locker in 2019 before the end of the season.  In 2020, Judge benched Tate after he publicly complained about not getting the ball enough.

Judge then begged to be allowed to return.

“I can tell you we’ve got more players here who are going to be free agents next year, they’re coming in my office every day begging me to come back. I know that. I know that.  I know players that we coached last year still calling me twice a week telling me how much they wish they were still here, even though they’re getting paid more somewhere else.”

This just wasn’t a true statement.

Judge also said in his rant: “I don’t try to come up here and assassinate a player because I think it’s going to save my (butt).  OK?  Because behind closed doors, we shut those doors, I can tell every player, to a man, look them in the eye and tell them exactly what the (heck) he screwed up on, exactly how it’s gotta get fixed.  I gotta hold him as accountable as can be.  Because I ain’t gonna sit up here like some other cowards sitting at the microphone and put his players on blast.  OK?  That’s it. I signed up to be the head coach here. Whatever bullet gets fired, it gets fired for me.  You got that?  It’s gotta go through me to get to them. That’s the way it is.”

And he went on and on and on…..

The bottom line is the Giants are 4-12…eight of the losses were by 14 or more points…they have the next-to-last offense in football, 293.9 yards per game (only the Texans are worse)…and they have scored 15.7 points per game, next worst to Jacksonville.  Six of their last seven, the Giants have scored 13 or fewer points.

Jets fans also have a 4-12 team, but there are signs of hope, including an improving rookie quarterback and lots of youth.

--As for Antonio Brown, let’s face it, Tampa Bay and coach Bruce Arians got what they deserved.  They should never have taken him back after his fake vaccination card debacle and suspension, but Arians did and you saw the result.

This is the same Arians who told Peter King last week that Brown had been a “model citizen” with the Bucs, adding that Antonio had established a “new history” in his time in Tampa Bay.  A year ago, Arians said about Brown: “He screws up one time, he’s gone.”

When asked recently about the potential criticism of giving Brown a second chance, Arians responded: “I could give a shit what they think.”

Understand when the Bucs signed Brown last year, he had just completed an eight-game suspension for multiple violations of the NFL’s personal conduct policy.  He was still embroiled in a civil lawsuit with his former trainer, who had accused him of rape and sexual assault, a lawsuit that was unresolved when Brown caught a touchdown pass for the Bucs in the Super Bowl.  Tampa Bay chose to re-sign him last spring after he and his former trainer settled the civil suit.

Frankly, Arians is almost as much of a jerk as Brown is.

--Baker Mayfield will miss Cleveland’s final game against the Bengals and will undergo shoulder surgery soon on the completely torn labrum he suffered in his left, non-throwing shoulder in Week 2.  As the weeks went on, generally speaking, Mayfield’s play got worse.  He has a contract for next year, but it’s decision time in terms of whether to offer him an extension. 

Mayfield has only one winning record as a starter in four seasons and has hardly been a true franchise quarterback.

College Football

Well the transfer portal has sure created some excitement, and angst.

As put in one article, “The quarterback who left his team, saying he was coming to UCLA, is now headed to Oklahoma, presumably replacing a quarterback who entered the transfer portal but may come back.”

Remember when I said Oklahoma fans no doubt wished they had gotten Bob Stoops to hang around a few years, instead of just filling in for the departed Lincoln Riley to coach the Sooners in their bowl game?

Looks like freshman star quarterback Caleb Williams felt that way.  Rather than just wait for new coach Brent Venable to institute his system, with Williams a key focus, Williams entered the transfer portal, which prompted Central Florida’s Dillon Gabriel to switch his allegiance from the Bruins to the Sooners.

Gabriel posted pictures of himself in a UCLA jersey 18 days ago.  Now he’s on social media showing himself in an Oklahoma uniform.

But Williams said he is just testing the waters and may opt to come back.  “With all of the recent changes,” he tweeted, “I need to figure out what is the right path for me moving forward.”

Gabriel was lured by the fact that OU’s new offensive coordinator, Jeff Lebby, was Gabriel’s quarterbacks coach at Central Florida.

College Basketball

--New AP Poll (records a/o Sunday)

1. Baylor (61) 13-0
2. Duke 11-1
3. Purdue 12-1
4. Gonzaga 11-2
5. UCLA 8-1
6. Kansas 11-1
7. Southern Cal 12-0
8. Arizona 11-1
9. Auburn 12-1
10. Michigan State 12-2
11. Iowa State 12-1
T-16. Kentucky 11-2
T-16. Providence 13-1…very cool….good for them
20. Colorado State 10-0
24. Seton Hall 9-3

--So Monday, 23 Wisconsin then beat 3 Purdue 74-69, as Johnny Davis had 37 points and 14 rebounds for the Badgers.

Davis, according to ESPN Stats, is the fourth player over the last 25 seasons with 35 and 10 in a win over a top-five opponent, and the first since 2009. The 6-5 sophomore guard was a solid reserve his freshman year, but he certainly appears to be a rapidly rising star.

--No big upsets Tuesday, though Providence’s ranking will be lower next week with an 88-56 pasting by Marquette, while co-No. 16, Kentucky, fell to 21 LSU 65-60.

--Rutgers (8-5, 2-1) defeated Michigan (7-6, 1-2) for the first time in 87 years, 75-67…a period covering 15 games. But the Wolverines were missing four key players due to Covid.

--Wake Forest had a nice 76-54 win over Florida State to improve to 12-3, 2-2.

--But as for my “Pick to Click,” St. Bonaventure, they are having a helluva time getting on the court. The Bonnies, with Wednesday’s game against Fordham postponed, now haven’t played since Dec. 17!  The A-10 conference has been a mess…far more games canceled than played.

My Feb. 1 game up there is looking pretty grim, in my mind.  Plus, I do have the weather issue potentially.  It is one long drive.

MLB

Things have transpired in terms of the negotiations between the owners and players just as I thought they would…as in nothing has really taken place.

But I also said nothing would happen until mid-January and I’m convinced training camps will open on time in mid-February.

The Mets’ recently signed $130 million man (3 years), Max Scherzer, is part of the Players Association’s eight-player executive subcommittee along with Andrew Miller, Francisco Lindor, Marcus Semien, Zack Briton, James Paxton, Jason Castro and Gerrit Cole.  The other day, the Los Angeles Times’ Jorge Castillo interviewed Scherzer about the upcoming negotiations and what he and the union seek in a new CBA.

Scherzer: This negotiation is about the integrity of the game from our eyes. We feel as players that too many teams have gone into a season without any intent to win during this past CBA. Even though that can be a strategy to win in future years, we’ve seen both small-market and large-market clubs embrace tanking, and that cannot be the optimal strategy for the owners.

As for the service-time manipulation part, there are other forms of it beyond the obvious Kris Bryant example.  Teams are putting long-term discounted extensions in front of players before a player even makes his debut. They’re told take the extension and you will be in the big leagues tomorrow but if you don’t sign it you will stay in the minor leagues. Playing in the big leagues is everyone’s dream, and teams are now leveraging that desire to gain financial control over a player’s career. That’s why the Kris Bryant grievance case is so important to all of us players because if it could happen to him, it can happen to anyone.

Q: So, is this about paying younger players more?

Scherzer: Well, that’s the kind of third key component to our economic proposals.  When you look back at the history of our union, we made a deal called the grand bargain. The grand bargain is that you make less money early in your career so that you can make more money later in your career. Teams have shown that they’re not willing to pay for players’ past production for a whole slew of reasons.  And if that’s the case, that’s the case.  But if we’re going to look at players that way, then we need to then allocate more money to players earlier in their career.  We’re seeing that happen more than ever now, of front offices chiding away [Ed. driving away] middle-class free agents.  That’s going at the fundamental part of the grand bargain, and a solution must be found to balance it.

Q: Do you want to make sure your portion of the pie doesn’t diminish if the owners receive new money and/or revenue streams (from gambling, other media deals, etc.)?

Scherzer: We’re not trying to tie ourselves to the revenues. That’s a cap system. We encourage the owners to go out and make as much money as possible, and we respect that.  But the free-market economics of the game only work if we have a fully competitive league. Teams that are flush with cash would obviously use the resources on player acquisitions and making their teams better with better talent.  However, when you start eroding away the competition, the players’ slice of the pie gets reduced unnaturally.

Scherzer adds that while they aren’t trying to touch the revenues….it’s fair to say that based on team behaviors that teams are treating the luxury tax as a cap more so than the original intent of the luxury tax, which was to prevent breakaway spending.  That was how the luxury tax got negotiated in.

Scherzer: (What) we’re fighting for is integrity. It’s about how the game is being played and how the rules of the game are affecting the competition of play. It’s obvious that we see teams tanking.  I’m not here to sit here and say an owner is an evil person for tanking, because the strategy can work. But we feel the tanking has increased because of the rigid slot values of the draft picks.  The amateur draft and the international market have incredible surplus value. That’s why the top picks are so coveted.  The only way the CBA allows teams to get those players is by losing.  That has become the winning strategy, yet that shouldn’t be a winning strategy in professional sports. That doesn’t sit well with players, and it affects a lot of different markets and guys’ ability to live out their dreams to play baseball.

Scherzer argues that when you have a tanking component, it also leads to service-time manipulation.

Bottom line, Scherzer said it was too hard to speculate what the future looks like when it comes to a timeline on getting a deal done.

--Folks, nothing bores me more than articles on Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens and their final shot at the Baseball Hall of Fame.  They are not getting in and it’s the same stories every freakin’ year.  At some point, however, they will through the Veterans Committee, say 10-12 years from now, they’ll both be alive and as my friend Ken P. suggests, put the others in, like Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa and set up a rogues’ gallery, separate from the main one.

But here are the percentages the last three years for Bonds and Clemens.

Bonds: 59.1, 60.7, 61.8
Clemens: 59.5, 61.0, 61.6

Maybe, some writers will opt this tenth, and final, season of eligibility to switch their votes and they get to 64 or 65 percent…they’ll still be far short of the required 75.

Of far more interest is whether Curt Schilling (71.1%) gets in his final year of eligibility, and how first-timers David Ortiz and A-Rod do.

The results are announced Jan. 25.

Anyway, thankfully the HOF rectified some past wrongs with the recent selection of the likes of Gil Hodges, Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat.

But I’m still torqued off over Harold Baines, who never finished better than ninth in the MVP vote and had three 100-RBI seasons.

Contrast that with Will Clark, who is not a Hall of Famer, but he had four top-5 MVP seasons, four 100-RBI seasons, and batted .303 for his career with an outstanding .880 OPS.  [Baines had an OPS of .820.]

Will Clark received only 4.4% in his first year of eligibility and it was one-and-done for him.

Yet Harold Baines?  Oh well.  As Tony Soprano would have said, “Whaddya gonna do?”

Stuff

--They held a World Cup women’s slalom race, Tuesday, in Zagreb, Croatia, and Mikaela Shiffrin returned from her Covid issue, finishing second to rival PetraVlhova; Vlhova now second in the overall points standings to Shiffrin.

--Novak Djokovic will compete in the Australian Open, Jan. 17-30, after receiving a medical exemption from being vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Djokovic has declined to reveal his vaccination status.  He’s won the event nine times.

But it has become clear that Novak will be treated like a real villain by the fans in Melbourne.  The Aussies are reacting to news he was exempted from the vaccine rules.

Many Australians still can’t travel interstate, let alone globally.

There is a chance Djokovic could yet be barred.

--Fanatics and founder Michael Rubin is at it again.  They are acquiring trading card company Topps for a reported $500 million.  Last year Fanatics grabbed the licensing rights from MLB, the MLBPA, the NBA, NBPA and the NFLPA, leading many in the industry to feel that Topps had no other choice but to eventually sell to Fanatics, which has become in short order the preeminent power in licensed merchandising.

Fanatics is starting a next-generation trading card company that will give the NBPA and NBA, along with MLB and MLBPA partnerships in the venture.

Fanatics’ deal with MLB make it the league’s trading cards licensee when Topps’ current deal expires in 2025.

--Finally, we had a serious black bear attack in New Jersey Monday night.  A bear weighing at least 400 pounds clawed and bit an 81-year-old woman outside her home in Sussex County (Sparta) before dragging the woman’s dog into the woods and mauling it to death, authorities said.

The woman had placed her trash in garbage cans for Tuesday’s pickup and let her two dogs outside.

“Two black bears were sitting there in the yard, eating the garbage,” said Sparta Police Lt. John Lamon.  “They had already gotten into the garbage and they had it all spread out on the ground and they were helping themselves.”

The dogs immediately darted toward the bears and the larger of the two bears ran off into the woods.

“The other bear stood its ground,” Lamon said.  “The bear swatted and hit the (older) dog.   The younger dog was so fast that the bears weren’t able to touch it.”

The woman was attacked when she “stepped in to try to save her dog.”

The bear bit the woman’s leg and clawed at her, causing deep puncture-type scratches to her head, Lamon said.

The woman was taken to a hospital and received stitches to close her wounds.

State officials were attempting to trap the bears Tuesday. 

Next Bar Chat, Sunday p.m.

-----

[Posted Sun. p.m. This is a long one. Bar Chat Awards down below!]

Happy New Year!

Golf Quiz: 1) Since Tiger Woods won five events in 2013, name the only three on the PGA Tour to win five in a season.  2) Who am I?  I won nine times in 2004. Answers below.

College Football Playoffs…and more….

There is literally almost nothing to say about the semifinals of the CFP.  I wanted an Alabama-Michigan final, thinking that would be the most interesting matchup and not wanting Bama-Georgia, but it’s the latter we’re getting and it is two 13-1 teams, and clearly the best two in America…all season.

4 Cincinnati deserved to be in the CFP but was overmatched, falling 27-6 to 1 Alabama, as the Crimson Tide outgained the Bearcats (who finish 13-1) 482-218, 27-13 in first downs.

Nick Saban summed it up perfectly in the end…Brian Robinson Jr. was smart to come back a fifth season and “created a lot of value for himself,” Robinson rushing for 204 yards on 26 carries.

In the nightcap, 3 Georgia had its way with 2 Michigan (12-2) 34-11, and it wasn’t even that close…27-3 at the half, the Bulldogs outgaining Jim Harbaugh’s boys 521-328, with Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara failing his big test, throwing two picks before getting yanked.

Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett played perhaps his finest game, given the stage, 20/30, 313, 3-0.

But to those wanting to see the playoffs expanded to 8, maybe even 12, teams, are you kidding me?  Expansion seems inevitable, and 8 teams is workable under a plan I favor…the Power 5 champions, plus a Group of Five entry, and two at-large selections, but those 1-8, 2-7 matchups will likely suck. And then the semis still might.

Dan Wolken / USA TODAY

“The semifinals of the College Football Playoff brought a familiar problem back into the discourse for fans who have grown weary of the blowouts and mismatches that seem to be endemic to the sport’s postseason.

“It can’t be considered a coincidence at this point: Of the 16 semifinal games in CFP history, just three have been close. After Alabama and Georgia advanced Friday in games that were comfortably in hand by the fourth quarter, the average scoring differential in semifinals stands at exactly 21 points.

“You could make the argument this is exactly what the playoff was designed to do. As much as fans and administrators in other conferences might roll their eyes at an all-SEC matchup, further regionalizing a sport that has become heavily tilted toward the Southeast over the last decade, this year’s playoff unquestionably identified the two best teams.  If you can strip away all regional bias, it’s the only matchup that would give us the possibility of a memorable championship game on Jan. 10 in Indianapolis.

“But the trend of uncompetitive semifinals isn’t great news for the sport or its television partner on what is hyped up all season to be the showcase day.  Not only is it a drag on television ratings, which have not produced blockbuster numbers, but it creates apathy when fans do not see college football as a competitive enterprise except for a very small handful of teams.

“Every other American sport gets more exciting and attractive to casual viewers in the postseason.  College football, which arguably has the best regular season of any sport, somehow gets worse.”

Regarding the inevitable expansion, which Wolken sees being to 12 teams….

“Very few programs are capable of beating two other elite teams back-to-back. This isn’t the NCAA basketball tournament where a team can get hot for a couple weeks or ride a superstar player to the championship.  To beat the likes of Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama and Clemson consecutively in a semifinal and final, you have to be on their level.  But hardly any programs are.

“In a sense, college football is what any sport would look like if there were no regulations designed to make it more competitive like the salary cap or draft.  Its ethos is far more similar to European soccer, where the richest and most popular teams win pretty much all the time, than the NFL.  [Ed. great point.]

“You can expand the playoff to as many teams as you want, but under the current structure of college football, we know exactly what’s going to happen.  There will be a few entertaining first round and quarterfinal games, but the business end of the tournament will be just as predictable as it is now with the truly elite teams separating from the rest by large margins on the scoreboard.”

One change Wolken suggests that may work a bit is to reduce the amount of time between the conference championship games and the playoffs “so that the favored teams don’t have as long to heal up nagging injuries from the season and practice their way into peak form.”

Or limit spending on programs, or reduce scholarships, Wolken says, which I don’t see happening.

“(But) until those things happen, college football is destined to be a sport that sparkles with intrigue week-in and week-out but tilts heavily toward the aristocrats when the spotlight shines brightest.”

--When two of the five biggest players in the 2021 College Football season, Pitt’s Kenny Pickett and Michigan State’s Kenneth Walker III, sit out a bowl game, well, the contest just doesn’t have a lot of juice.  And so 10 MSU defeated 12 Pitt 31-21 in the Peach Bowl Thursday night in Atlanta and a lot of us just shrugged.

Pitt was forced to go with third-string QB Davis Beville for much of this one, who nonetheless had the Panthers heading for a tying field goal as star wideout Jordan Addison helped Beville out with seven receptions for 114 yards.

But MSU linebacker Cal Haladay picked off a Beville pass and returned it 78 yards to put the nail in Pitt’s coffin.

Mel Tucker’s Spartans thus finish 11-2 and will earn a final AP Top Ten ranking, while the Panthers fall to 11-3.

MSU, without Walker, ran 36 times for all of 56 yards.

And back to Pickett, what exactly is his legacy?  Yes, he broke all of Dan Marino’s passing records, and Pitt did win its first ACC championship, but in their first New Year’s Six game, he opted out.

--The guy with the legacy, I guarantee you, is not Pickett but Matt Corral.  In another New Year’s Six game, last night’s Sugar Bowl, Corral, a probable first-round pick this spring, chose to play and ended up being carted off with an apparent ankle injury in the first quarter, 8 Ole Miss (10-3) losing to 7 Baylor (11-2) 21-7.

Corral returned to the sidelines on crutches and coach Lane Kiffin said after that X-rays were negative but added nothing else.  So we wish Corral the very best.

“It makes you sick to your stomach,” ESPN broadcaster, and former quarterback, Greg McElroy said during the broadcast as Corral was on the field in pain after the injury.

So this will be used in years to come, assuming the injury is pretty serious, as another example of why stars sit out bowl games if it’s not the CFP.

But Corral will forever be a beloved figure in Ole Miss for putting his neck (his legs and arm) on the line for the good of his teammates and the school.  That’s a fact.  Pickett won’t be, I imagine.

--Nor will Ohio State wide receivers Garret Wilson and Chris Olave, both potential first-rounders themselves, who sat out the Buckeyes’ Rose Bowl win over Utah in a super-exciting contest, 48-45.

This one gets complicated given the big stage and the fact that on Saturday morning on ESPN’s College GameDay, analyst Kirk Herbstreit expressed the same thoughts a lot of us have.

“I think this era of player just doesn’t love football,” Herbstreit, a former Ohio State quarterback said, prompted by the decisions of Wilson and Olave to opt out of playing on one of the sport’s most revered sporting stages to protect themselves from injury.  This is not a new trend at this point, but Herbstreit was pissed.

“Saying these games were meaningless, I just don’t understand,” he said.  “If you don’t make it to the playoff, how is it meaningless to play football and compete?  Isn’t that what we do as football players?  We compete. I don’t know if changing or expanding [the playoff] is going to change anything.  I really don’t.”

Herbstreit struck a chord with on-set colleague Desmond Howard.

“That’s what I’m about to say,” agreed Howard, the 1991 Heisman Trophy winner at Michigan who himself starred in the Rose Bowl.  “We’re dealing with a totally different mentality. …They have a sense of entitlement.  If we’re not going to the one that matters, it just doesn’t have as much value to them as it did for us growing up.”

Now to be fair, Olave returned only because he wanted a national championship.  He would have been a top pick last year.

But with Wilson and Olave sitting, that presented an opportunity for Jaxon Smith-Njigba and all the guy did was catch seven passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns…in the first half!...though 6 Ohio State (11-2) trailed 11 Utah (10-4) 35-21.

The Buckeyes then came back, winning it on a short field goal at the end, quarterback C.J. Stroud throwing for 573 yards and six touchdowns…Smith-Njigba ending up 15-347-3! 

[347 receiving yards was the most in a bowl game in FBS history as well as the most in a game in Buckeyes history, while the 15 catches were a Rose Bowl record.  Stroud broke the Rose Bowl record for passing yards and touchdowns, and the 573 were the third-most ever in a bowl contest, as well as the second-most in any game in Big Ten history.]

Herbstreit, doing the game, was amazed with the rest of us.

“This is the Rose Bowl, man,” Stroud said.  “This is where the legendary games are being played.  If you aren’t motivated to play, I question your love of the game.”

Stroud and Smith-Njigba are now folk heroes forever at OSU.  Olave and Wilson?  Just two very good players.

I do have to add I really wanted Utah to win because of their rabid fan base, which showed up in droves.  The Utes obviously acquitted themselves well, with quarterback Cameron Rising’s stock, err, rising, as he threw for 214 yards (17/22, 2-0) and rushed for 92 yards, including a 62-yard TD scamper.

--In the Fiesta Bowl yesterday, we had another thriller.  9 Oklahoma State (12-2) trailed 5 Notre Dame (11-2) 28-7 with 1:16 to play in the first half, the Fighting Irish looking terrific under the helm of Marcus Freeman in his first game since replacing Brian Kelly.

But ND inexplicably allowed the Cowboys to drive 75 yards in that last minute and it was only 28-14 at the half.

OSU then rolled from there, taking a 37-28 lead before the Fighting Irish got a late TD to make it 37-35, the Cowboys one-point favorites coming in.  Ergo, not enough for a ‘push,’ boys and girls.  And at the end of the day….

Freeman looked a bit perplexed at times, but Notre Dame made a good selection in picking him.  The program will remain elite, in terms of Top Ten status, but ‘elite’ in terms of the CFP?  We’ll see.

I do have to add the performance of the two quarterbacks in this one.  Oklahoma State’s Spencer Sanders threw for 371 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions, while rushing for 125 yards!

Sanders ended up with 19 TD passes and five INTs in 11 games that weren’t against Baylor.

In the two contests vs. the Bears, he was 1-7!

Meanwhile, Notre Dame’s Jack Coan was 38 of 68 for 509 yards, five touchdowns and an interception.  The lad’s arm must be a wee bit tired today.

--Purdue (9-4) tied for the second-most wins in program history as only the 12th team in the Boilermakers’ 134-year history to win nine games when they beat Tennessee (7-6) 48-45 in overtime in the Music City Bowl.  They also won their fifth game away from home, something they hadn’t done since 1943.

Purdue quarterback Aidan O’Connell threw for 534 yards, even though All-America wide receiver David Bell sat it out as he preps for the NFL draft.  Instead, Broc Thompson filled in with seven catches for a game-high 217 yards and two TDs.

--You have to give Bob Stoops at Oklahoma a ton of credit as the No. 16 Sooners (11-2) handled 14 Oregon (10-4) 47-32 in the Alamo Bowl on Wednesday.  Stoops took over for Lincoln Riley, who had taken the reins from Stoops after the 2016 season.

But when Riley bolted for USC after the regular season, the school asked Stoops to step in for the bowl game and as he’s all-in for the school, he readily obliged.

In the game the Sooners were led by quarterback Caleb Williams (21/27, 242, 3-0) and Kennedy Brooks, 14-142-3 on the ground, and it looked like the offense that had the Sooners knocking at the CFP door the first half of the season.

Stoops also got to hug his son, Drake, who caught a touchdown pass, which was a nice moment.

But now he hands the job to Brent Venables, formerly Dabo Swinney’s longtime defensive coordinator at Clemson.  I’m sure the players and students wish they had somehow convinced Stoops to stay on for 2 or 3 years.  After all, he led the Sooners to a national title and 10 Big 12 titles from 1999-2016.

--Speaking of Clemson, Dabo deserves a little credit himself for holding things together after losing Venables and offensive coordinator Tony Elliott (who took the Virginia job).  19 Clemson beat Iowa State (7-6) 20-14 in their bowl game Wednesday in Orlando.

So with the Tigers finishing 10-3, that marks 11 straight 10-win seasons under Dabo, which is behind only Florida State’s 14 from 1987-2000 and Alabama’s current 14, from 2008-present.  Clemson is the first to have 10 wins in 11 consecutive seasons as a member of the ACC.  Only nine of FSU’s were in the conference.

This will also mark 11 straight seasons in the AP final top 25.

--Which brings me to Wake Forest-Rutgers.

First off, I give my Demon Deacons credit for staying healthy (ditto the hoops team, thus far) so that us fans can actually watch our alma mater play.  I mean look at the likes of Boston College, having to cancel its bowl game, basketball, life….

But the Deacs faced 5-7 Rutgers in the Gator Bowl, the Scarlet Knights a late fill-in for Texas A&M.  The only one who thought Rutgers deserved to play on a pretty big stage, New Year’s Eve, was coach Greg Schiano and some (not all) of his players.  Schiano wanted to be able to tell recruits he took the team to its first bowl game since 2014.  That was about it.  Some of his better players had opted out weeks before.

For Wake, I initially saw this as a no-win situation.

But on both counts I was wrong.  Forget the score, 38-10 Wake, the Deacs finishing 11-3, just the second 11-win team in school history and probably an AP final ranking of 15 or 16.

Coach Dave Clawson deserves a lot of credit, the team was ready, and it seems we are loaded for 2022, with most big pieces slated, as of today, to come back.  We should be preseason No. 15, is my guess.

The game was also important for our quarterback Sam Hartman, who had a chance to exorcise some demons from his disastrous ACC championship game performance, and he was solid, 23/39, 304, 3-0, so Hartman can relax this offseason and sleep far better finishing on a high note.

As for Rutgers, I’m kind of shocked I’m writing this but despite finishing 5-8, this was a very positive experience for the school, Schiano, the program, future recruiting, and, critically, the fan base.

Rutgers looked good at times.  They played with guts, they were creative, and a ton of young players got valuable experience.  Rutgers should be proud of its effort.  It was a worthwhile trip.

I’ve long written, it’s much more fun around New Jersey if Rutgers is playing well.  It’s our only Division I program.  [Ditto RU and Seton Hall in hoops…it’s more fun when they are competitive.]

But the Scarlet Knights have been a joke since entering the Big Ten.  Here’s hoping the Gator Bowl was a big step towards flipping the script.

--North Carolina State (9-3) coach Dave Doeren was furious after his team’s bowl game against UCLA was canceled with hours to go because of the Bruins’ Covid-related issues.  Immediately after, Doeren tweeted “This is a 10 win team and staff.”

What I didn’t know at the time after I reported this in my last Add-On was something Phil W. passed on to me later.  Doeren and his coaching staff stood to receive substantial bonuses for a 10-win season, including $150,000 for Doeren.  Assistants would have earned an additional $100,000 for their salary pool, which increased by $300,000 earlier for winning their ninth game.

NC State’s AD Bob Corrigan said “We talk all the time about doing the most right thing.”

But the Holiday Bowl payout was supposed to be $3.2 million per team and the Wolfpack have big travel expenses that were incurred.

NFL

We started today with star quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger, Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers having all hinted in the last few days they were playing their last games at home for their respective teams, and/or retiring, and then as the games unfolded it was chaos.

--Cincinnati (10-6) clinched the AFC North with a dramatic 34-31 win over the Chiefs (11-5) as Joe Burrow followed up last week’s 525-yard passing effort against Baltimore with 446 more and four touchdowns; LSU teammate Ja’Marr Chase with 11 receptions for 266 yards and three scores.

--The Raiders (9-7) stayed in the hunt as they beat the Colts (9-7) on the road, Derek Carr with a decisive final drive, Daniel Carlson with another clutch field goal for the 23-20 win.

Summit’s Michael Badgley did his job, tying things up at 20-20 with 1:56 to play with a 41-yarder (after nailing one from 46 earlier).

--The Bills (10-6) rallied in the second half after a rough start by Josh Allen, two interceptions, and beat the Falcons (7-9) 29-15.  Buffalo rushed for 236 yards and four touchdowns, Allen with two of ‘em.

--The Pats stayed on the Bills’ tail at 10-6 (Buffalo owning the tiebreaker in the AFC East) with a 50-10 win over the Jaguars (2-14), Mac Jones with a good recovery game from some poor performances, 22/30, 227, 3-0, 128.1. [Trevor Lawrence 3 INTs for Jacksonville.]

--Tennessee (11-5) is suddenly the No. 1 seed in the AFC with the Chiefs’ loss after a 34-3 win over Miami (8-8), a devastating result for the Dolphins’ playoff hopes.

Titans back D’Onta Foreman had a career day, 26 carries for 132 yards and a score, as he continues to fill in quite well for Derrick Henry.

--The Eagles (9-7) are on the verge of clinching a wild-card spot after a 20-16 win over the Redskins (6-10), coming back from a 16-7 halftime deficit.

--The Rams’ Matthew Stafford opened with two interceptions, including a pick-six, on the heels of a 3-INT effort the week before, but both he and the team rallied for a 20-19 win over the still Lamar Jackson-less Ravens (8-8) 20-19.

Stafford engineered a decisive 75-yard drive, culminating in a 7-yard TD pass to Odell Beckham Jr. with 1:01 left for the win, Beckham’s 5th TD reception in his last six games with L.A.

--Locally, the Giants (4-12) game was over after about two minutes, quarterback Mike Glennon with two interceptions, two lost fumbles, finishing the game 4/11, 0-2, 5.3 PR, which was just 3 points above my GPA at Wake Forest; New York losing to the pathetic Bears (6-10) 29-3.

But my Jets (also 4-12), were just one play from a stunning upset over Tampa Bay (12-4).  With about 2:00 to play, New York having played its heart out and up 24-20, the Jets went for it on 4th and 2 at the Bucs’ 7.

It made all the sense in the world, a field goal meaning nothing, but the Jets inexplicably ran QB Zach Wilson up the middle.  This wasn’t a short yard…it was a full 2 yards…and the Jets had been running it wide successfully all game.

Well, Tom Brady did what Tom Brady does, taking the Bucs down the field, calmly, 93 yards for the winning touchdown; Brady finishing with 410 yards and three TDs.

The Jets are playing much better and there is hope in Jetsville, especially with our looming first-round draft picks.  But just one bad play call cost us.

Then again, as Tony Soprano would have said, “Whaddya gonna do?”  I won’t lose any sleep over this.  [A disconsolate Jets coach, Robert Saleh, said after there was a miscommunication on the critical play…and you can easily see that being the case.]

Meanwhile, I have to remind some of you what I wrote just last week in my Add-On.

“More on Dirtball Antonio Brown… Brown lashed out during his postgame news conference [Ed. I should have written “press” conference] about ‘drama’ he said is created by others.

“ ‘It’s a lot of drama you guys create.  A lot of drama people create who want stuff from me….’

“ ‘I’m just here to do my job.  I can’t control what people write, how people try to frame me.  People try to bring me down,’ Brown continued.  ‘Life is about obstacles and persevering and doing what’s right. …I’m standing before you guys grateful, humble, thankful.’

“What?!  Cue Jeff Spicoli.

“Brown is just a bad person.”

So Brown proceeds to act up again, in never-before-seen fashion, and right after the game was over, Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians, when asked if Brown was still on the team, said, “He is no longer a Buc, all right?  That’s the end of the story.”

I had written Brown up last night in working on my Bar Chat Awards and you can see what I posted down below…before he went nuts today.

Let me state this very clearly….I could not care less about what Antonio Brown might do to himself.

But I am very worried what this amazingly destructive Dirtball and historic Asshole could do to others.  The police should be monitoring his activities 24/7, at least for the next few weeks.

--In the late games…the Chargers (9-7) currently hold the 7-spot after a 34-13 win over the Broncos (7-9).

San Francisco (9-7) has the 6-spot with a 23-7 win over Houston (4-12).

New Orleans (8-8) stays relevant, I think, with an 18-10 win over godawful Carolina (5-11), Taysom Hill back for the Saints at QB.  [Not sure on a tiebreaker if Philadelphia, San Fran and New Orleans finish 9-8, as I go to post.]

Arizona edged Dallas in Jerry World, 25-22, both teams now 11-5, the Cards with the edge and 2-spot.

And I have to mention Seattle’s (6-10) 51-29 win over the Lions (2-13) with Russell Wilson a cool 20/29, 236, 4-0, 133.1, and a resurgent Rashaad Penny, 25-170-2 on the ground.

If this was Wilson’s swan song in Seattle (Giants fans sure hope so), it was sweet-soundin’.

---

John Madden, RIP

I didn’t have a chance to do his life justice when I learned Tuesday night of his passing at the age of 85 just prior to my posting an Add-On.  But for generations, Madden was synonymous with football.  No one in the history of the game was more revered.

One generation thinks of him as a great coach (103-32-7, .759, in 10 seasons in Oakland, a Super Bowl ring, and no losing seasons); another generation remembers him more as the most influential sports commentator of his time (all sports); and then there are those who know him only for the NFL’s exclusive video game, “Madden.”  That’s a pretty good legacy.

On the coaching front, Madden went to six AFC title games in his 10 seasons, reaching the AFL Championship Game in his first season, before the merger.

He has the highest winning percentage among coaches with over 100 wins and is in the Hall of Fame as a coach.

At least Madden was able to spend Christmas surrounded by friends and family watching Fox Sports’ documentary “All Madden,” a tribute directors Tom Rinaldi and Joel Santos describe as a “love letter” to Madden’s life and legacy.

They designed it to be shown on Christmas Day and Madden would die three days later.

Jerry Brewer / Washington Post

“For John Madden to become the John Madden we now mourn – huggable, voice booming, larger than life yet a character seemingly meant for animation – he had to find a healthier way to live in football.  He quit coaching the Oakland Raiders after the 1978 season despite being great at his job.  He was 42 and concerned about ulcers, panic attacks and other, unintelligible ways competition was tearing at him.  He also wanted to have a better relationship with his two sons.  Forty-three years before America’s Great Resignation, Madden announced what turned out to be the greatest resignation.

“He was always blessed with a knack for prescience, wasn’t he?  During a marvelous 30-year broadcasting career, Madden turned all of his coaching instincts, preparation and quirks into the most colorful game commentary in sports history.  He often declared what was about to happen.  And after he was right, he emoted just how he would feel, too.  His legend lives in three football dimensions that make him a fascinating pop culture icon: coach, broadcaster, namesake of a video game dynasty….

“He called games for four major networks and won 16 Emmy Awards.  He and Pat Summerall  were born to complement each other in the booth, but Madden also thrived alongside Al Michaels….

“In his funny, relatable way, Madden once said this about coaching: ‘When you win, you get to be a genius. But if you look at it, you’re a guy that was a P.E. major in college.  Your best class was recess, and then you become a coach. When you win some games, you’re a genius.  You go from being good at recess to genius.’ …..

“Madden was a genius who didn’t chase genius.  He continued to work his tail off, but for viewers, it just sounded like he was being good at recess again.

“He was the goofy uncle at Thanksgiving who got you into turducken. He made you a smarter football fan with laughs and silly stories rather than pompous speech.  He made one-word expressions such as Boom! as meaningful as a monologue of analysis. He turned the telestrator into his own performance art and saved his best observations for the most random times, detailing what a bug on the television camera might be thinking or expressing at any given moment his love for offensive and defensive linemen.

“His contributions to the game are so vast that his ‘Madden Cruiser’ bus is now parked at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  Claustrophobia exacerbated Madden’s dislike of flying, so after he left coaching, he eventually started taking a bus to games.  You may not know how rare it is for a coach to win 100 games in only 10 seasons, but you know about the cruiser.

“ ‘He was so much more than just football – a keen observer of everything around him and a man who could carry on a smart conversation about hundreds and hundreds of topics,’ Michaels said of his former broadcast partner.  ‘The term ‘Renaissance man’ is tossed around a little too loosely these days, but John was as close as you can come.’….

“Madden knew himself.  He was winning at a historic pace, but he was crumbling, physically and mentally.  The cost of that genius was too high.  So he made the smartest move he could for himself.  He changed.  And it enabled him to grow unexpectedly into a singular, unforgettable icon.”

--Former Dallas Cowboys running back and longtime coach, Dan Reeves, died Saturday.  He was 77.

Reeves took the Denver Broncos to three Super Bowls, and the Falcons to another (losing to Denver and John Elway), but ended up 0-4 in the Big One.

His three Denver squads lost their Super Bowls to the Giants, Washington and San Francisco by a combined score of 136-40.  But Denver went to the playoffs six times and won five division titles in Reeves’ 12 seasons there.

For his 23-year coaching career overall (Denver, Giants, Atlanta), Reeves was 190-165-2.  He posted an 11-9 all-time playoff record.

Reeves did win a Super Bowl as player with the Cowboys, where he was a solid running back, 1965-72, picking up 1,990 yards on the ground, and another 1,693 receiving.  He earned a Super Bowl ring for the 1971 edition that beat Miami 24-3 in SB VI.

NBA

--In his first game after turning 37, LeBron James scored a season-high 43 points on Friday in the Lakers’ 139-106 win over the Tail Blazers in Los Angeles.

James scored the 43 in just 29 minutes, adding 14 rebounds, as he became the oldest player since Michael Jordan in 2003 to put up a 40-point, 10-rebound stat line.

According to ESPN Stats & Information research, James also became the oldest player with 40 points in under 30 minutes of play.

And it was James’ seventh straight game with 30 points or more, his average up to 28.6 per game.  He’s also shooting 52.5% from the field.

LeBron is No. 3 in all-time points.

Kareem 38,387
Karl Malone 36,928
LeBron 36,081

So, just 2,300 points from Kareem, meaning barring a major injury, LeBron could hit the mark the latter part of next season.

James said the other day that when it comes to retirement, “I’m still playing at such a high level, I haven’t given it too much thought.  But I’m in Year 19 and I’m not going to do another 19, so I’m definitely halfway into my career.  I’m on the other side of the hill, so we’ll see where the game takes me.  We’ll see where my body takes me and my mind.  As long as my mind stays fresh and my body stays with that, I can play the game.”

--Cleveland (20-16) has been a big surprise in the first half and veteran guard Ricky Rubio, in his first season with the Cavs, is a major reason why they look like a playoff team.

But on Wednesday, Rubio tore his ACL and will miss the rest of the season.  Just sucks.  The guy was averaging 13.1 point, 6.6 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game.

--With the Georgia-Michigan game non-competitive Friday night, I mostly watched the Knicks at Oklahoma City and New York, playing without Julius Randle (Covid) shot 8 of 41 from three!  Eegads.  They were also 12 of 22 from the foul line.

Result?  A 95-80 loss to the 13-22 Thunder.

And then the freakin’ 17-20 Knicks lost this afternoon to the Raptors (16-17) in fan-less Toronto (Covid) 120-105.

--A couple weeks ago, DeMar DeRozan and the Bulls were playing the Knicks, beating them 109-103 in Chicago, but any fan of the sport watching was thinking, as I did, man, this guy is so good at times.  He’s had an under-the-radar terrific career and the Bulls (24-10) were smart to obtain him in a trade with San Antonio last summer.

So Saturday night, DeRozan hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the second straight game, the Bulls beating the Wizards 120-119. The night before, DeRozan beat the Pacers in the same fashion.

According to BasketballReference.com, he thus became the first player in NBA history to do so on consecutive days.

--Steph Curry broke his own NBA record for consecutive three-pointers as he led the Golden State Warriors to a 123-116 win over the Utah Jazz last night.

Curry scored a three-pointer for the 158th successive game, breaking his previous record of 157 which had stood since November 2016.

--Hall of Famer Sam Jones died Thursday night in Florida, age 88.  Jones, a clutch scorer, won 10 titles with Boston Celtics in his 12 seasons in the NBA, 1957-69.

“Sam Jones was one of the most talented, versatile, and clutch shooters for the most successful and dominant teams in NBA history,” the Celtics said in a statement.  “His scoring ability was so prolific, and his form so pure, that he earned the simple nickname, ‘The Shooter.’ ...The Jones family is in our thoughts as we mourn his loss and fondly remember the life and career of one of the greatest champions in American sports.”

The Celtics retired Jones’ No. 24 while he was still an active player.

Jones was drafted sight unseen by Red Auerbach in 1957 out of North Carolina Central*, a historically Black college.  Jones never thought he’d be able to break into a lineup that had a starting backcourt of Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman.  But Auerbach liked his speed, intelligence and team-first approach. When Sharman was sidelined by injuries early in the 1960-61 season, Jones got his shot to start and became a fixture on the championship teams.

*Wake Forest Coach Bones McKinney, who had played for Auerbach, told Red about Jones, whom he’d seen play, and off that recommendation the Celtics selected Jones with the last pick of the first round.

“Sam was one of the great shooters of all time,” Auerbach once said.  “But he was team-oriented.  All he wanted to do was win. …The great athletes, they played for pride.”

Jones was a five-time All-Star and finished his career with 15,411 points, averaging 17.7 per game.  His 10 titles are the second most of any NBA player, behind teammate Bill Russell (11).

After retiring, Jones became a substitute teacher in Maryland.  He continued to teach for more than 30 years.

College Basketball

It is so hard to get into this disjointed season.  An example is 15 Seton Hall, which had three games canceled or postponed due to Covid, and then this week upon its return lost to 21 Providence (70-65) and 22 Villanova (73-67), so bye-bye Hall when it comes to the top 25.

The hope is that by around Jan. 15, teams will have learned to stay healthy and we can develop some continuity, otherwise, there are a lot of mid-majors, for one, who are going to lose out on a shot in the NCAA basketball tournament.  [St. Bonaventure one of them…one postponed/canceled game after another…]

Golf Balls

--The 2022 season is here…next week at Kapalua for the Tournament of Champions…and while many of the top stars often skip the Hawaii segment of the tour, this year the field looks loaded.  Owing to his historic PGA win at Kiawah last year, Phil Mickelson, for example, is playing in it for the first time in years, along with Brooks, Bryson, JT, Jordan, Rahm, Morikawa and Matsuyama.

Can’t wait!  Plus with the time difference, something good on next Saturday and Sunday nights for us Eastern folks.

As for Covid’s impact on the West Coast Swing, the first seven events of the year, all of the tournament sponsors expect crowds at pre-pandemic levels, and corporate and high-end hospitality sales have been brisk, according to the PGA Tour.  Only two tournaments are requiring proof of vaccination from spectators.

A sign of normalcy will be apparent at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, which will be back to having its full stadium effect of about 20,000 people at the par-3 16th hole.  [And a Saturday concert with Old Dominion and Thomas Rhett, which ain’t too shabby.]

This year, players won’t be tested before or during tournaments, though on-site testing is available for personnel who request one.

The tour did make one change due to the Omicron surge and that is players can only have a spouse or “one significant other” while dining indoors at the venues, where masks will still be required when not eating or drinking.  But this could change as the year progresses.

--Phil Mickelson tweeted on Wednesday that he has won the $8 million grand prize for the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program.  A source then confirmed this to Golf Digest, as reported by Dan Rapaport.

Launched at the start of the year, the $40 million PIP, as it’s come to be known, was devised as a mechanism to reward players who bring attention to golf.

There are five components, each worth 20 percent of the overall mark, and three of the five deal with social media presence, a fourth, a Nielsen score, that tracks how often a player is featured on the television broadcast, and a Q-Score, the decades old measure I have talked about…for decades in this space.

Supposedly, Tiger Woods took second place despite not playing in a single event.

Premier League

A slew of games this holiday week, and a slew of them canceled due to Covid.

Manchester City beat Brentford 1-0 and Arsenal 2-1.

Liverpool played Chelsea today, with manager Jurgen Klopp sidelined after testing positive, and in a hugely entertaining game, the Blues, down 2-0, tied it at 2-2 on a Christian Pulisic equalizer and that’s where it ended, 2-2, which solidified Man City’s grip on first.

Earlier Chelsea and Brighton played to a 1-1 draw.

Tottenham managed only a 1-1 draw with Southampton before pulling out a 96th-minute stoppage-time thriller at Watford yesterday, 1-0, on a Davinson Sanchez winner.

Manchester United had a bad draw at Newcastle, 1-1, before beating Burnley 3-1.

So after all the games and disruptions of the last ten days in particular, with Man U scheduled to play the Wolves Monday…the standings…played / points. 

1. Man City…21 – 53 …it is OVER! All about the 4th spot…
2. Chelsea…21 – 43
3. Liverpool…20 – 42
4. Arsenal…20 – 35
5. West Ham…20 – 34
6. Tottenham…18 – 33
7. Man U…18 – 31

FIS World Cup Alpine

With Mikaela Shiffrin having to sit out after testing positive, rival Petra Vlhova took the opportunity to gain a first (SL) and a second (GS) in Lienz, Austria, so after 16 of 37 races, the overall WC standings look like this….

1. Shiffrin 750 points
2. Sofia Goggia 657
3. Vlhova 615

In Memoriam, 2021….from the fields of sports, entertainment and music…

Lee Elder, Rod Gilbert, Rene Robert (of French Connection Line fame – with Rick Martin and Gilbert Perreault), Elgin Baylor, Hank Aaron, Tommy Lasorda, Sam Huff, Charlie Watts, John Chaney, Bobby Bowden, Bobby and Al Unser, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Christopher Plummer, Michael K. Williams, Clarence Williams III, Siegfried Fischbacher, Richard Donner, Michael Nesmith, Don Sutton, J.R. Richard, Mudcat Grant, Lee Evans, Tony Esposito, Demaryius Thomas, B.J. Thomas, Dusty Hill, Gerry Marsden…and Betty White….

Speaking of Ms. White….

It’s sad she fell short of turning 100 on Jan. 17, but it’s still going to be celebrated.

In an interview just a few days before her death, White said she’s “so lucky to be in such good health and feel so good at this age.”

“It’s amazing,” she added.

When asked what the key to her longevity has been, the five-time Emmy Award-winner said being “born a cockeyed optimist” is the key.  “I got it from my mom, and that never changed,” she said in her exclusive for People’s Jan. 10 edition.  “I always find the positive.”

When asked what her diet consisted of, White joked, “I try to avoid anything green.”

White’s longtime agent Jeff Witjas told People in a statement: “I will miss her terribly and so will the animal world that she loved so much.  I don’t think Betty ever feared passing because she always wanted to be with her most beloved husband Allen Ludden.  She believed she would be with him again.”

White is best known as the man-hungry Sue Ann Nivens on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” from 1973 to 1977, and the slightly spacey Rose Nylund on “The Golden Girls” from 1985 to 1992, winning three of her five Emmys for work on those two series.

But it was her remarkably diverse body of work that gradually established her as America’s Sweetheart of television.  Through sitcoms, TV movies, parade hosting, talk show appearances and commercials, she developed a friendly girl-next-door image so ultra-wholesome that White herself poked fun at it.

Another of her Emmys was for her hosting role on “Saturday Night Live,” May 2010, at the age of 88…and she absolutely killed it.  That night, White joked she prepared by getting a tutorial on Facebook.

“I didn’t know what Facebook was,” she said, “and now that I do know what it is, I have to say it sounds like a huge waste of time.”

“RIP Betty White, the only SNL host I ever saw get a standing ovation at the after party,” wrote “SNL” alum Seth Meyers.  “A party at which she ordered a vodka and a hot dog and stayed til the bitter end.”

White’s show biz career actually started in the summer of 1939, three months after she graduated from Beverly Hills High School. She then spent much of the 1940s working as a military volunteer and doing radio shows.

She turned to television in 1949 and in 1950 scored her first Emmy nomination for hosting “Hollywood on Television,” a live six-day-a-week variety show in Los Angeles.

In the 1960s White was primarily known for her game show appearances, marrying “Password” host Allen Ludden in 1963 and becoming a semi-regular on his show as well as “To Tell the Truth,” “What’s My Line” and “The Match Game.”

But what catapulted her to enduring stardom was a guest spot on the fourth season of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” as Nivins, host of a TV show called “The Happy Homemaker.”

The part was so well received that White was brought in as a regular, winning back-to-back Emmys.

Then came “The Golden Girls,” for which she was nominated for an Emmy every year the show ran, winning once.

In 2012 came a Super Bowl commercial that helped kick off the Snickers “You’re not You When You’re Hungry” campaign.  It featured White getting flattened in the middle of a pickup football game.

White, though, really was, first and foremost, an animal-rights activist, devoting much of her charity work to that cause.

“Betty White demonstrated a lifelong commitment to helping animals in need, including dedicated support for local shelters and animal welfare endeavors, fiercely promoting and protecting animal interests in her entertainment projects, and personally adopting many rescued animals,” said Matt Bershadker, ASPCA president and CEO.

White spent decades working with the Los Angeles Zoo

White owned dogs, including a Pekingese, a St. Bernard and miniature poodle.

“I’m the luckiest person in the world – my life is divided in absolute half: half animals, half show business,” White told TV Guide in 2009.

“It is so embedded in me,” she said, according to Smithsonian magazine. “Both my mother and father were tremendous animal lovers.  They imbued in me the fact that, to me, there isn’t an animal on the planet that I don’t find fascinating and want to learn more about.”

It’s been a devastating year for fans of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”  Cast members Cloris Leachman, Gavin MacLeod, and Ed Asner also passed in 2021.  [Mary Tyler Moore died in 2017.  Valerie Harper in 2019.  Ted Knight died at the age of 62 back in 1986, and Georgia Engel passed away in 2019.]

Stuff

--Betty White, if she was aware, was no doubt upset about the death of a Malayan tiger named Eko, who was shot and killed at the Naples Zoo in Florida on Wednesday after attacking an idiot who attempted to feed and pet him after hours, authorities said.

According to Collier County Sheriff’s Office, a man in his 20s who was a member of a third-party cleaning service at the zoo entered an unauthorized area near the tiger that was inside its enclosure.

The man then tried to pet or feed the animal, sticking his hand through fencing, when the tiger grabbed his arm and pulled it into the enclosure, the sheriff’s office said.

The cleaning company is responsible for cleaning restrooms and the gift shop, but not animal enclosures.

Well, you know the rest of the story by now.  Deputies arrived, one of them tried to get the tiger to release the man’s arm by kicking the enclosure and when that didn’t work, the deputy was forced to shoot the tiger.  Eko died later.

Zoo officials and workers were extremely upset.  Eko was one of only 200-300 Malayan tigers believed to still be alive, fewer than 200 in the wild.

--Let’s Go Ran-gers!  My boys have beaten two-time defending Stanley Cup champs Tampa Bay twice in three days, this afternoon 4-0, on a Mika Zibanejad hat-trick and an Igor Shesterkin shutout.

New York 21-8-4
Tampa Bay 21-8-5

We be playoff bound!  And nothing better than Stanley Cup Playoff action.

--There are conflicting reports on Novak Djokovic’s status for the Australian Open, which commences Jan. 17.  Djokovic is an anti-vaxxer, and being vaccinated is a stipulation for all participants.

That is unless they have a medical exemption and Serbian officials said Friday he had obtained one, last I saw.

Djokovic remains tied with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at 20 major titles.

Top 3 songs for the week 1/8/77: #1 “You Don’t Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show)” (Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr.)  #2 “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” (Leo Sayer)  #3 “Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright)” (Rod Stewart)…and…#4 “I Wish” (Stevie Wonder)  #5 “Car Wash” (Rose Royce…ugh…)  #6 “Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word” (Elton John)  #7 “Dazz” (Brick)  #8 “The Rubberband Man” (Spinners)  #9 “After The Lovin’” (Engelbert Humperdinck)  #10 “Stand Tall” (Burton Cummings…C week…)

Golf Quiz Answers: 1) Last three to win five events in a season since Tiger won five in 2013 – Jason Day and Jordan Spieth in 2015, Justin Thomas in 2017.  2) Vijay Singh won nine times in the 2004 season.

---

And now our Annual Bar Chat Awards, with your host Justin Timberlake!

“Hey, Justin.  I see you just played golf in the Bahamas with Justin Rose and Michael Strahan.  How’d that work out?”

“All they wanted to talk about was the talent at the pool, Editor.”

“Well how was it?”

“The golf?”

“No, the talent…”

--And our first awards go to anti-vaxxers Aaron Rodgers (“A-hole” hardware) and Antonio Brown (“A-Hole” and “Dirtball” for faking his vaccine ID card).

And “Jerk” hardware to the Nets’ Kyrie Irving for refusing to get vaxxed.

“Idiot” and “Asshole” trophies to NBA Hall of Famer John Stockton, yet another anti-vaxxer, who said doctors are peddling a dangerous vaccine because of fraudulent research pushed by pharmaceutical companies.

“It’s amazing the protection they have, and even with that, they are serial felons,” Stockton said recently in defending Kyrie.

--“Dirtball” hardware to Klete Keller, the two-time U.S. Olympic swimming gold medalist, who was charged with participating in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Video footage showed Keller maskless and donning a Team USA jacket during the riot.  He was part of the U.S. swim team at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympics, anchoring the 4X200 freetyle.

--Rudy Giuliani, “Jerk,” for objectifying Michelle Wie West after Rudy discussed having joked with Rush Limbaugh several years ago about being able to see the golfer’s underwear when she putting during a golf outing.

Giuliani, appearing on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, said that Limbaugh had complained about all the “paparazzi” trailing their group, which included Wie West.
 
“Now Michelle Wie is gorgeous. She’s 6 feet.  And she has a strange putting stance. She bends all the way over.  And her panties show. And the press was going crazy. …I said ‘[Rush], it’s not me, it’s not you.’”

Wie West tweeted that she was using a putting stance meant to improve her stats.

“NOT as an invitation to look up my skirt,” she wrote.

--“Hero Animal”…Sadie, a 6-year-old German Shepherd adopted from a Bergen County (N.J.) animal shelter saved her owner’s life after she suffered a stroke.

A man named Brian suffered the stroke while home alone with Sadie, but after he collapsed, his loyal canine companion never left his side. Sadie licked his face to keep him awake and helped drag him across the room to his cellphone so he could call for help, the animal shelter said.

“Sadie was the only reason that Brian was able to call for help,” shelter officials said.  Brian would recover after weeks in rehab, where he facetimed with Sadie.

--“Good Guy” award to James McIngvale, a Houston furniture store owner known as “Mattress Mack,” who saw his fellow Texans cold and hungry during last February’s historic cold snap and winter storm that knocked out power to millions.

So just as he did during Hurricane Harvey and other storms, McIngvale opened his doors and the people came.  Thousands made the trip to spend a few hours on armchairs and couches to warm up, or catching some sleep on their choice of beds, intended, in better times, for the prospective customers.

McIngvale also paid for meals and provided masks and hand sanitizer stations.  Mattress Mack said he was inspired by his Catholic faith.

“When my people are dying and freezing, I am going to take care of them,” he said.  “That comes before profit every time.”

This is the same Mattress Mack who won a Super Bowl bet for $3.46 million, picking Tampa Bay +3.5 over the Chiefs last year.

--“Idiot” hardware for Baylor women’s coach Kim Mulkey, who suggested that the NCAA should stop Covid testing at both the men’s and women’s tournaments ahead of the Final Four so no player runs the risk of testing positive and being ruled out.

--Braves right-hander Huascar Ynoa suffered a broken right hand when he punched the dugout bench following a poor start and ended up missing substantial playing time.  “Idiot”.

Ditto Milwaukee reliever Devin Williams, one of the better setup men in the game, who missed the playoffs after breaking his hand punching a wall, after having “a few drinks” following the team’s celebration for clinching the NL Central.

--Zhu Keming, “Hero,” for saving six runners in an ultramarathon race in which 21 died in the northwestern Chinese province of Gansu when rain began to fall and the temperature plummeted.

The sudden weather change had caught runners in the 60-mile race unprepared, but Zhu, a shepherd, escorted six runners he came across into a cave where he stored emergency food and clothes.

One runner, Zhang Xiaotao, wrote on Chinese social media site Weibo: “I want to say how grateful I am to the man who saved me.  Without him, I would have been left out there.”

--“Idiot”…Jon Rahm, who failed to get a vaccine when it was available to him and ended up having to drop out after leading the Memorial Tournament by six shots with 18 left to play when he tested positive.  That likely cost him the crystal trophy and $1.675 million.

[I do like Rahm, and he handled the situation beautifully overall.]

--“Hero Animal” to Magawa, the African giant pouched rat, who has traversed Cambodia to sniff out land mines left behind after decades of war.  During that time, he’s helped to clear more than 2.4 million square feet of land and saved an unknown number of people from injury or possible death, according to Belgian nonprofit group APOPO, which trained him to detect land mines.

Magawa was allowed to retire after eight years.

In the field, the rats, which can work faster than a human with a metal detector, will stop and scratch at the ground to alert their handlers when they’ve picked up a scent.

--“Good Guy” hardware to Shohei Ohtani for donating his winnings from the Home Run Derby, $150,000, to more than a dozen members of the Angels’ support staff.

--The “Cue Jeff Spicoli” Award to U.S. Olympic swimmer Michael Andrew, who during the Tokyo Olympics refused to wear a mask while talking to journalists.  When asked why he was not wearing a mask like all of his U.S. teammates, Andrew said:

“For me, it’s pretty hard to breathe in after kind of sacrificing my body in the water, so I feel like my health is a little more tied to being able to breathe than protecting what’s coming out of my mouth.”

--“Hero Dogs…in memoriam…”

A 10-year-old Virginia boy managed to escape from his burning home thanks to his two dogs, who woke him up before they perished in the blaze.

Dinwiddie Fire Chief Dennis Hale told a local television network, “Those two dogs are heroes.

“The whole time you’re responding, you know the comments are, ‘There’s a child in the residence,’” he said.

“He was asleep and his two dogs came into his room and started jumping up and down and pawing at him at his chest and that woke him up,” Hale said.

Facing smoke and flames, the boy jumped out the window.

The boy was alone in his home at the time.  He ran across the street to alert his neighbor that his home was on fire.

--A Bar Chat “Lifetime Achievement Award” to humanitarian, and chef, Jose Andres and his World Central Kitchen, the emergency response nonprofit you see at natural disasters and other events, including last January, feeding thousands of troops guarding the nation’s capital after the Jan. 6 insurrection.

--“Hero Mom” Award to the unnamed woman in California who fought off a mountain lion – with her bare hands – as it savagely attacked her 5-year-old son outside their home.

The woman punched the animal and wrestled it away from her child in the front yard after the mountain lion had dragged the child “about 45 yards” in the attack, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Officials said the mother absolutely saved her boy’s life, with the child nonetheless receiving traumatic injuries to his head and upper torso.  The mountain lion was later found by wildlife officers and killed on site.

--Another “Cue Jeff Spicoli” Award to former Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly for bailing on his team even though they had a shot at making the College Football Playoffs after finishing 11-1, Kelly exiting for LSU after he told reporters following ND’s final game: “We’ve got one of the best four teams in my mind in the country, without question, and we’re ready to prove it.”

The Fighting Irish likely would have been in the CFP had either Cincinnati or Michigan lost their conference championship games….

….And our “2021 Good Guy” Award goes to….Mattress Mack!

But “2021 A-Hole of the Year” goes to multiple winner Antonio Brown, while Brian Kelly can pick up his “2021 Jeff Spicoli” trophy at the Baton Rouge main post office next Thursday.

[As noted above, I wrote the preceding before today’s actions re Antonio Brown, which fall under 2022.]

--Finally, “2021 Animal of the Year,” which we are renaming The Betty White / Animal of the Year Award, again goes to ‘Dog’.  As Johnny Mac once said, you don’t see a lot of rescue cats.

---

I’ll have an Add-On up top by noon Wed. A little rant on the Baseball Hall of Fame, and the NFL Playoff situation.

---