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Bar Chat

02/06/2023

March Madness Is Near

[Posted early Sunday p.m., ahead of late sports action.]

NBA Quiz: LeBron James next plays Tuesday night, 36 points from breaking Kareem’s all-time points record.  James is also fourth all-time in assists.  Name the others on the top ten assists list.  Answer below.

College Basketball

--Lots of big action in college hoops Saturday, with No. 1 Purdue falling to 21 Indiana, 79-74, at Assembly Hall in Bloomington.  The Hoosiers (16-7, 7-5) jumped out to a 50-35 lead, playing super defense, and then held on in the second half, forcing 16 turnovers and withstanding another monster effort from Zach Edey of the Boilermakers (22-2, 11-2), 33 points on 15 of 19 shooting, 18 rebounds.

So Purdue can be beaten after all…even when Edey does his thing.  But they’ll remain No. 1 in the next poll.

2 Tennessee (19-4, 8-2) beat 25 Auburn (17-6, 7-3) in an awful game, Auburn just 13 of 55 from the field, 3 of 27 from three.  The Vols were only 17 of 63, 2 of 21 from downtown!  Olivier Nkamhoua, he of the boom/bust nature as I wrote the other day, was 4 of 16 from the field.

Tennessee lost last Wednesday to Florida, 67-54.

--The Big 12 is indeed the top conference in the land this season and it’s nothing but helter-skelter.

7 Kansas State (18-5, 6-4) fell at home to 10 Texas (19-4, 8-2), 69-66.

And 8 Kansas (18-5, 6-4) lost at 13 Iowa State (16-6, 7-3), 68-53.

So the Big 12 standings look like this….

10 Texas 8-2
13 Iowa State 7-3
15 TCU 6-4
7 Kansas State 6-4
11 Baylor 6-4
8 Kansas 6-4

Yeah, I’d say having six of the top 15 teams in the country qualifies the Big 12 for best  conference.

--Elsewhere, 6 Virginia (17-4, 9-3) was upset by an improving Virginia Tech (14-9, 4-8) in Blacksburg, 74-68.

North Carolina (15-8, 7-5) lost at Duke (17-6, 8-4), 63-57, the Blue Devils’ Dereck Lively II, the 7’1” freshman from Philadelphia, with 14 rebounds and 8 blocks.

12 Gonzaga (19-5, 8-2) lost at 18 Saint Mary’s (21-4, 10-0), 78-70; further proof the Gaels are for real.

Rutgers (16-7, 8-4) had an important win over Michigan State (14-9, 6-6), 61-55, the Scarlet Knights a rather stunning second in the Big Ten behind Purdue.

Cliché alert…RU will be a tough out in the NCAA Tournament!  [Pssst…they are also capable of being taken out by a 12-seed in the first round.]

My Wake Forest Demon Deacons snapped their four-game losing streak at Notre Dame (10-13, 2-10), 81-64.

After falling behind 16-4, a disturbing pattern in the losing streak, the Deacs (15-9, 7-6) took off behind Damari Monsanto’s career-high 28 points, 8 of 13 from three.  The kid is 41.5% from behind the arc this season.

But Wake is NIT bound, it seems rather clear.

Lastly, in Saturday’s play I cared about, Pete M.’s Colgate Red Raiders had their bubble burst, 61-60 at American University (15-8, 7-5), Colgate’s first loss in the Patriot League, 11-1…17-8 overall.

--At the Colorado State-Utah State game, the Colorado State fans, at least some of them, chanted “Russia” at the Aggies’ Ukrainian guard Max Shulga.

Shulga, from Kyiv, where his family still resides, went to the free throw line late in the game, and the “Russia” chants could be heard from the Rams’ student section.

Colorado State issued an apology after.

Shulga was 3-for-4 from the line in the final minute to help Utah State to an 88-79 win.

To the students who did this, you are the worst of America.

--ESPN’s Dick Vitale commented on LSU potentially changing the name of its court from Dale Brown Court, so named just last January for the legendary Tigers coach who won 448 games and reached two Final Fours at LSU.

According to a local media report, the LSU’s Board of Supervisors is meeting on Feb. 10 to adjust the name of the court to include former LSU women’s coach Sue Gunter.

Vitale: “How ABSURD – in Louisiana the Governor wants to change the name of the LSU basketball court that was named DALE BROWN COURT in a dedication ceremony about a year ago,” Vitale wrote on Twitter.  “This is wacky.  Dale deserved the honor & it finally was affirmed & now UGLY POLITICS (are) involved.”

FOX Sports broadcaster Tim Brando also weighed in in opposition.

“This is about political vendetta.  Nothing more, nothing less.  And it needs to be stopped before Louisiana looks really bad from a national standpoint, both in the news media and certainly in the sports media,” Brando told WAFB.

Brando also claims that Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and LSU President William F. Tate are at the forefront in the apparent attempt to change the court’s name.

“You don’t name anything for someone and then tell them, ‘No, we’re going to change this just because,” Brando told WAFB.

Gunter retired after the 2004 season after leading the Tigers to its first Final Four that year. She died a year later.

NBA

--As if we didn’t already know, Kyrie Irving is one of the true assholes on the planet.  Irving becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, and his Brooklyn Nets entered play Saturday night, 31-20, fourth in the Eastern Conference despite being without Kevin Durant for a lengthy spell, during which time the Nets have gone 4-7.

So Irving picked now to demand a trade, the trade deadline being Feb. 9.  That, my friends, is a [jerk].

Irving reportedly wants to go to L.A. to play with LeBron.

But think of it.  Durant will be back soon and the Nets are right there.  Just play out the season, Kyrie!  Durant had decided to do just that earlier this year when he was disgruntled and he’s been the perfect team player when he’s been on the court, and Kyrie has played some spectacular basketball, both first-team All-Stars.

What will Durant now do, the Nets with zero shot without both Kyrie and K.D.?

Mike Vaccaro / New York Post

“The only way this surprises you, even remotely, is if you believed, to the very end, that Walter White was going to break good after six years of ‘Breaking Bad’ and not die defiantly in a hail of bullets.  That’s how inevitable what happened Friday in Brooklyn was.

“You put your chips behind Kyrie Irving at your own risk, your own peril. Maybe you believe you will be the one to placate him, to please him, but there is always something else. Cleveland felt that way once. Boston, too. Those cities, those fans of the Cavaliers and Celtics tried to warn you:

“Don’t be hypnotized by the talent.

“Don’t be mesmerized by the skill.

“The Nets are learning that lesson now, again, for the umpteenth time since handing Irving the keys to the car 3 ½ years ago.  Now he wants to be traded, and of course the demand by itself is as hollow as the one Kevin Durant issued, and then retracted, last summer and fall.

“The Nets can comply and admit, finally, the futility of harboring hopes of a parade down Flatbush Avenue that will never happen.  Or they can lose Irving for nothing this summer, which is the one part of this threat he can actually go through with on his own once his contract expires.

“At this point, the Nets have to be weary of the games and the mind-fornications Irving specializes in.  They sure ought to be.  The Nets – and their most devoted fans – waiting for Irving to become a fully all-in members of the organization are like Kay Adams in ‘The Godfather,’ waiting for years for the Corleone Family to go strictly legitimate.

“It’s never going to happen.

“So the Nets have an easy decision here: simply do what they’ve done from the moment they welcomed Irving to town on July 1, 2019.

“Capitulate.  Give him what he wants. They have fired two coaches to mollify him. They have molded their roster time and again to pacify his restless whims.  They folded in the face of their tough-guy stance to keep him away from the team’s road games last year.  They decided that, after 15 hard minutes of reflection this year, he’d changed his attitude toward Jews.

“They’ve allowed Irving to play them for fools long enough, so it is right to offer one final term of surrender.  Trade him. Get what you can for him.  Let him be someone else’s problem….

“There is always someone willing to take a chance on talent.  Find them.  Make the deal.

“End the charade, once and for all.”

Well, the Nets played the Wizards Saturday night in Brooklyn and Kyrie didn’t play.  In fact, he wasn’t in attendance, an excused absence, Coach Jacque Vaughn said.

But playing without Kyrie, K.D., Ben Simmons and solid reserve T.J. Warren, 21-year-old Cam Thomas stepped up with 44 points in 29 minutes.  Asked if he called Kyrie, Thomas asked, why?

“For what?  That’s his business.  I’m trying to get ready for a game.  At the end of the day, he’s made the best decision for himself,” Thomas said.  “And like I said [he’s] still my brother.”

But good for the Nets.  Their fans are now just waiting to see what Durant will do.  He should be back right after the All-Star game, if not before.

As for Kyrie, according to ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, he’s prepared to sit out the remainder of the NBA season if the Nets don’t grant his trade request, which is really unbelievable to think about, not that the Nets would want him around at this point. 

Smith said the Mavs, Suns, Lakers & Clippers are interested in acquiring Irving and signing him to some sort of deal.

***And I just saw, right after I posted...Kyrie was traded to the Mavs...more in my Add-on.

--The Warriors were on pins and needles Sunday as Steph Curry had an MRI for a lower left leg injury suffered in Saturday’s win over an undermanned Dallas Mavericks team missing star Luka Doncic, 119-113.  Curry had 21 points and seven assists when he injured the leg defending a drive, with X-rays being negative.

Last I saw, he is likely out for weeks.

--The Eastern Conference All-Star reserves: Joel Embiid, Julius Randle, Bam Adebayo, Tyrese Haliburton, Jaylen Brown, DeMar DeRozan and Jrue Holiday.

From the Western Conference: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Damian Lillard, Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., Lauri Markkanen, Domantas Sabonis and Paul George.

NFL

--Sally Jenkins / Washington Post

“When Tom Brady went fishing with his boy on a Sunday night midseason, you sensed the close could be coming.  There was peace in the picture, and peace was not something the perpetually discontented Brady ever sought during his triumphalist, over-striving, tablet-hurling 23 NFL seasons.  There was peace, too, in the simple, subdued self-made video he released announcing his retirement alone on a beach early Wednesday morning.  Note that the sun was coming up on him, not going down.

“ ‘Good morning, guys.  I’ll get to the point right away: I’m retiring, for good,’ he said.

“Brady leaves football seeming more emotionally worn out than physically, which is perhaps his most revolutionary act.  It may be a more important legacy than his all-time passing records and forklift-heavy pallet of trophies.  He’s the only player to win seven Super Bowls – and four of them came after his 37th birthday, proving that it’s possible to change the pace of how you age.  His self-determined walk away into the sunshine is a victory over a ruinous game that would have stolen the jersey off his back years ago had he not been so calculatedly self-protective.  Was he ruthless and selfish toward the end in seeking to maximize his talents, options, value and control?  Certainly, but Brady is not different in that from any other league power broker, unusual only in that he wore pads and not a suit….

“In a pregame news conference before his last Super Bowl in February 2021, Brady mused on retirement and said; ‘I think I’ll know when it’s time. …I think I’ll know, and I’ll understand that I gave everything I could. …You put a lot into it.  I don’t think I can ever go at this game half-assed.  You know, I got to put everything into it.  So when I put it all out there and I feel like I can’t do that anymore – I don’t feel like I can commit to the team in the way that the team needs me – then I think that’s probably time to walk away.’

“His exhaustive, obsessive work at the smallest details allowed him to transfer his excellence from the New England Patriots to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and lift yet another Lombardi Trophy and Super Bowl MVP award.  What he brought to the Bucs’ culture was the example that ‘the little things mattered,’ his former coach Bruce Arians asserted. What Brady did was show the Bucs ‘why he wins,’ running back Leonard Fournette observed.

“But the commitment clearly wasn’t there this season; he finally declined to give all of himself.  His unprecedented 11-day break from training camp, as it turned out because he was dealing with his impending divorce – and a shockingly visible weight loss that left him gaunt – should have been greeted with the humane and common-sense recognition that he was suffering badly.  Instead, expectations remained the same, and he tried to shoulder them without once publicly admitting that he couldn’t possibly play with his usual relish for the grind.

“But you could see it in the taut, thin face, the profane outbursts of frustration on the sideline.  Brady had remarked in a podcast interview after winning that seventh Super Bowl; ‘Sports is very real time.  What you see on that field from me is really me; it’s not an actor.  This is my life.  These are my real emotions. This is real job.  This is real anger.  This is real disappointment.  And those things are a really vulnerable place to be.’

“It’s apparent now that what NFL viewers observed in real time was a great champion struggling with vulnerability as his sports immortality ran bang into his human frailties.  And it finally caused him to accept that, sometimes, that’s just how it goes.  ‘I’m 45 years old, man.  There’s a lot of shit going on.  So you’ve just got to try to figure out life the best you can,’ he said when he came back to training camp.

“You hope that what Brady felt sitting on that sand dune filming his retirement announcement was a sense that he had figured his life out.  You hope that he has finally laid down his all-in-ness and can go on peaceably to less rigid and obsessive pursuits – such as fishing with his son on a Sunday, a simple and commonplace pleasure in the week of an ordinary middle-aged man.”

So the big story in Brady’s retirement is the ripple effects.

Brady was thought to be a candidate to go to Vegas or San Francisco, the Raiders primed to part ways with Derek Carr.  Jimmy Garoppolo could now go to Vegas.

Or Garoppolo could go to Tampa Bay.

As for the Jets, Aaron Rodgers could still be traded to them, but the Jets could land Carr or even Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, should he become available.

But they want Rodgers, only with Brady retiring, there’s a lot more competition for him, ditto more competition for Carr (who I’d be very happy with, though I want Rodgers).

Except I didn’t know this about Carr.  He has a 0-7 record in games where the temperature was 36 degrees or lower.  Which has some saying he’ll go to the Saints, where he gets 8 or 9 games guaranteed in the Superdome.  The Saints also play the Falcons, Buccaneers and Panthers, so little cold weather impact with these (let alone the Falcons are in a dome).

Rodgers could end up in Vegas with his favorite receiver, Devante Adams, who is very publicly calling for his former teammate to join him.

Tennessee needs a quarterback, after they release Ryan Tannehill.  Garoppolo could end up there.

Back to San Fran, with the injury to Brock Purdy, and Trey Lance’s injury issues, Rodgers could go there.

Carr could go to Tampa Bay.

Isn’t this fun?

Of course it would be very Jets-like for them to come up empty, and have to settle for a Tannehill.

Lastly, for now, it’s just been assumed the Giants would sign Daniel Jones to a big extension, but Jones can go anywhere….and some of us Jets fans have mused, why wouldn’t he sign with us and stay in the area he’s comfortable in?

Well that seems highly doubtful, but with Brady’s retirement, Jones has a ton of options.

Meanwhile, Brady has this massive FOX Sports contract that he can jump headfirst into at any time, no doubt in some fashion at the Super Bowl.

But next season, does his staggering $37.5 million per year deal mean he will replace current No. 1 game analyst Greg Olsen, who teams with Kevin Burkhardt? 

I’ll say the following year.  Which will be too bad, because Olsen has proved to be very solid (while Tony Romo has been erratic at CBS with Jim Nantz, as everyone has observed this season).

And as others have said, Burkhardt and Olsen have chemistry – like Joe Buck and Troy Aikman – that is hard to replicate.

--Eagles offensive lineman Josh Sills was indicted by a grand jury on one count of rape and one count of kidnapping, both first-degree felonies.

This is an Ohio case that goes back to December 2019.

The alleged crime (engaging in sexual activity that was not consensual and holding the victim against her will) was immediately reported, according to a release by the court.

The NFL put Sills on the commissioner’s exempt list and he is not permitted to participate in practices or games or travel with the Eagles while on the list.

Sills only appeared in one game for the Eagles, but what gets me is he was attending West Virginia when he committed the act, and then transferred to Oklahoma State in 2020.  He was an undrafted free agent out of OSU this offseason.

Who knew what, when?

--The Cowboys would appear to be all in on Dak Prescott, despite his generally crappy season, a league-leading 15 interceptions in just 12 games. 

But via NJ.com, I saw this quote from the Dallas Star Telegram from Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones:

“Obviously, Dak is the key guy on this football team, first and foremost.  No one respects him more than Jerry and myself. I think we were just counting, you’re going to have 12-13-14 quarterbacks making $40+ million bucks when you look up. He deserves to be in that category. But when someone on any of those 13-14 teams is making that kind of money, you’re always talking about what he’s making.  The bigger thing for us is Dak is going to be our guy for, hopefully, the next 10 years.  You say, ‘that’s a long time’ because he’s already played 6 of 7. But I think Dak will play that long because he takes care of himself and he’s driven to be great and we fully expect him to be here for 10 years.”

Well, that will be ten more years without getting to the Super Bowl, is my guess.

--Bengals running Joe Mixon was accused of holding a woman at gunpoint and threatening to shoot her last month.

Well, as we say in the ‘burbs, that’s not nice.

A warrant was issued Thursday for Mixon’s arrest.

Police said Mixon pulled a gun on the woman in downtown Cincinnati on Jan. 21 and told her, “You should be popped in the face.  I should shoot you, the police [can’t] get me,” according to the warrant obtained by local ABC affiliate WCPO.

But get this…the incident occurred one day before the Bengals played the Bills in the playoffs, which they won before being eliminated by K.C.

Incredibly, though, Mixon, 26, was charged with one count of aggravated menacing, a first-degree misdemeanor.  His agent claimed the charge would be dropped Friday morning.

And it was.  It seems the police screwed up in one form or another and if the victim so desires, the charge could be refiled.  The Cincinnati Police Department said new evidence has been recovered and an ongoing investigation is still permitted.

In 2014, Mixon was caught on camera punching a woman in the face at a restaurant after an  alleged use of a racial slur.  The woman, and Mixon, were students at the University of Oklahoma at the time.  Mixon in that case received a deferred sentence and community service.

--Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa was finally cleared from concussion protocol on Wednesday, more than a month after he entered it for the second time of the season on Dec. 26, a day after the Dolphins’ 26-20 Christmas Day loss to the Packers.  He appeared to hit the back of his head against the ground when he was tackled, but he remained in the game.  Tua then sat out the rest of the season.

According to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Tua is “confident he’ll be 100% when the time comes for football.”

But a lot of us would love to see him hang it up.  It was a brutal season for him and his brain.  He was knocked unconscious during Week 4.  He was stretchered off the field and didn’t return until Week 7. 

Four days before the Bengals game in Week 4, he had taken another hard hit.  He appeared to show concussion symptoms, but was evaluated and stayed in the game, drawing criticisms of why he was allowed to return.

It’s estimated Tua actually suffered at least four concussions this season.

--We note the passing of legendary NFL executive Bobby Beathard, who died at his home at Franklin, Tenn.  He was 86…complications from Alzheimer’s disease, according to his son, Casey.

Beathard had that blond, California surfer boy look, having been a surfer since childhood.  He refused to don a tie and sports jacket, let alone a suit, and his everyday attire of shorts and jogging shoes gave him a sort of rakish affability.

But he was a master of sports administration, a skillful negotiator and had an uncanny intuition about the promise of many young players.

In a career spanning almost four decades in the NFL, his teams won 10 division titles, seven conference championships and four Super Bowls.

As head of the Miami Dolphins’ scouting operation from 1972 to 1977, he worked with coach Don Shula to build the Dolphins dynasty. In Beathard’s six seasons they won two Super Bowls.  Shula later said, “He’s a guy with a great eye for talent… And he found some kids for us nobody else would take a chance on.  He wasn’t ever afraid to take a risk.”

His years in Washington, from 1978 to 1988, formed the centerpiece of his legacy and one in which he cemented his reputation as a nonpareil talent scout.  It was a decade in which he hired a little-known NFL assistant, Joe Gibbs, as head coach and formed one of the league’s dominant franchises, taking three trips to the Super Bowl and winning twice.  By the end of his tenure, Sports Illustrated had dubbed him the “smartest man in the NFL.”

Eventually, Gibbs and Beathard had some disagreements over player personnel issues and Beathard was hired by the Chargers in 1990, where he proceeded to rebuild that franchise, his first draft pick as GM being Junior Seau, the USC great who went fifth overall to San Diego in 1990.  Like Beathard, Seau ended up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (Beathard as a contributor in 2018).

The Chargers made the postseason during Beathard’s third season, and two years after that, they advanced to the Super Bowl, a 49-26 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.  It remains the franchise’s only Super Bowl appearance.

College Football

--I got a kick out of 247Sports’ final rankings on the recruiting classes.

1. Alabama, with nine 5-stars!  18 4-star
2. Georgia…5 and 17
3. Texas
4. Oklahoma
5. Ohio State

10. Notre Dame
11. Clemson
12. USC
13. Penn State

And then way down as usual, the Deacs….

50. Oregon State
51. Pitt
52. Vanderbilt
53. Wake Forest
54. Duke

Wake has zero 5-star, one 4-star, and 19 3-star recruits.  That’s what Coach Dave Clawson specializes in. Taking 3-stars and turning them into 4-stars over time.  I still have nightmares over last season and ‘what could have been,’ but the fact is we’ve gone to seven straight bowl games, which isn’t too shabby for the smallest football school in the Power Five.

Golf Balls

--Poor weather conditions have led to a Monday finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and after three rounds we have….

Justin Rose -12
Peter Malnati -11
Kurt Kitiyama -11
Keith Mitchell -10

But very cool Aaron Rodgers won the Pro-Am with his pro partner, Ben Silverman.

--That was a scary deal at Pebble Beach on Friday, when a caddie for one of the amateurs playing alongside pros Beau Hossler and Max McGreevy collapsed on the 11th hole.

The caddie was apparently working for Pebble Beach businessman Geoff Couch and the group had just teed off when the caddie collapsed.

McGreevy said the caddie collapsed in the middle of the fairway and they attempted to get his bag off him quickly so medical assistance could be rendered.  The caddie received CPR and was placed on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance. 

Country singer Lukas Nelson, the other amateur in the group, told ESPN the caddie was doing better and taken to a local facility for tests.

Hossler and McGreevy requested time to regroup so other players played through before they resumed their second round.

--Phil Mickelson and Cameron Smith both missed the cut at the Saudi International, Lefty’s first start in three months, having vowed to be a better golfer this year. 

But as Tod Leonard of Golf Digest pointed out, you have to go back to Mickelson’s start last year in the Saudi International to find his last made cut in a 72-hole event, when he finished T-18.  In a handful of starts on the PGA Tour last year, Mickelson made only one cut, tying for 36th in the season-opening Fortinet Championship in September 2021.  He followed with a T-30 in the no-cut Sentry Tournament of Champions, then missed cuts in the American Express, Farmers Insurance Open, U.S. Open and Open Championship.

Mickelson’s last top-10 finish in a tournament with a cut is when he won the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah.

LIV golfer Abraham Ancer won the tournament, wire-to-wire, as Cameron Young finished two shots back. 

This was an Asian Tour event so many of the LIV golfers were in it.  Young only got to play because he received a conflicting event release from the PGA Tour to play.  He now heads to back-to-back elevated events on the tour in Phoenix and Los Angeles.

Premier League

--New Everton manager Sean Dyche enjoyed a dream start as his boys stunned Arsenal at a raucous Goodison Park, 1-0.

Dyche was appointed just last Monday following the departure of Frank Lampard, who was sacked with Everton in the relegation zone.

So this meant after we had already crowned Arsenal as champion, with basically half the season to go, that their lead at the top would suddenly be cut to just two points if Manchester City beat Tottenham today.

But my Spurs won it 1-0 on a Harry Kane at 15’ and then held on for dear life in an exciting second half, despite it being scoreless, Tottenham playing one man down the final 9 minutes or so.

For Kane, the goal was momentous as he became Tottenham’s all-time leading scorer at 267, one ahead of Jimmy Greaves, and it was also his 200th Premier League goal, just the third to hit that level behind Alan Shearer (260) and Wayne Rooney (208). 

Good for Harry, and great he could do it at home.  The missed penalty kick in the World Cup, for one day at least, put in the past.

I also have to note that Tottenham’s manager, Antonio Conte, was out following gallbladder surgery, so very sweet for his assistant, Cristian Stellini, as well.

Meanwhile, Arsenal fans are breathing a sigh of relief and tonight, I could walk into an Arsenal pub with my Tottenham shirt and receive free pints.

--Saturday, the Wolves blasted Liverpool 3-0, sending the Reds down to 10th place!

Standings 20/22 of 38…played – points….

1. Arsenal…20 – 50
2. Man City…21 – 45
3. Man U…21 – 42
4. Newcastle…21 – 40 …Champions League cutoff
5. Tottenham…22 – 39

9. Chelsea…21 – 30
10. Liverpool…20 – 29

16. West Ham…21 – 19
17. Leeds…20 – 18 …relegation line
18. Everton…21 – 18
19. Bournemouth…21 – 17
20. Southampton…21 – 15

Stuff

--Ford confirmed rumors on Friday that it was returning to Formula One to partner with Red Bull, currently the series’ top team and the employer of its reigning champion, Max Verstappen.  In the new arrangement, Ford and the Austrian drinks company will join forces to design a new power unit ahead of the 2026 season, which is when there is a fundamental shift in engine rules, when teams must become reliant on 100 percent sustainable fuels and, crucially for Ford at least, greater electric power.

As the New York Times reported, that looming shift has lured German car manufacturer Audi to Formula One.  Porsche is considering joining the fray, as is General Motors.  Ford, which left Formula One almost two decades ago, was looking for a way back in.

While Ford CEO Jim Farley described the partnership as “a tech exchange,” clearly Ford is interested in tapping into a new audience, as Formula One’s popularity has grown, due in no small part to a Netflix series.  America is getting a third race this season; a first Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The Netflix series, “Drive to Survive,” has made F-1’s drivers stars and has brought in a whole new fan base, a young one, and a much broader demographic, and it only makes sense that a Ford (and later GM) would want to be part of it.

So look for some very cool commercials, for one, in the years to come.

--A Sumatran tiger believed to have attacked and injured farmers in Indonesia’s westernmost province of Aceh was captured Saturday after a days-long hunt.

It comes after two separate tiger attacks in the same town over the past week left at least four people seriously injured.

The animal entered a trap set by conservationists inside a forest preserve.  It was found to have several wounds on its body.

“One of the victims said he injured the animal when he was being attacked and was defending himself,” the head of the conservation agency said.

The big cat was found with a gaping wound on its face.  We wish it a speedy recovery and a hoped for resumption of the mayhem.

--The Biden administration took a first step Friday toward ending federal protection for grizzly bears in the northern Rocky Mountains, which would open the door to future hunting in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said state officials provided “substantial” information that grizzlies have recovered from the threat of extinction in the regions surrounding Yellowstone and Glacier national parks.

But federal officials rejected claims by Idaho that protections should be lifted beyond those areas.

Martha Williams, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, told the head of Montana’s wildlife agency that a law allowing grizzlies to be killed if they attack livestock was inconsistent with the state’s commitment to bear conservation.

Republican lawmakers in the region in recent years also adopted more aggressive policies against gray wolves, including loosened trapping rules that could lead to grizzlies being inadvertently killed.

Bar Chat is against such moves.  Wolves and Grizzlies rule!  ‘Man’ blows.

As many as 50,000 grizzlies once roamed the western half of the U.S., until they were brought to the verge of extinction through hunting and trapping.  Today, there are a reported 2,000 bears in the Lower 48, with much larger populations in Alaska, where hunting is allowed.

--A 16-year-old girl died after being attacked by a shark while swimming in a river in Western Australia.  She was pronounced dead after being pulled from the Swan River, in the Perth suburb of Fremantle, on Saturday.

It is believed the girl, from Perth, was riding jet skis with friends on the river when the incident happened.  An official from the Western Australia Police said it was possible she jumped in the water to swim with dolphins seen nearby.

Inspector Paul Robinson described the incident as “very, very traumatic.”

Fisheries experts say it is unusual to find sharks in that part of the river.  It is believed to be the first fatal shark attack in the Swan since a 13-year-old boy was killed in January 1923…as in 100 years ago.

Australia had two fatal shark attacks in 2021, and seven in 2020.  There was just one in 2022.

Late word is authorities suspect it was a bull shark.

--We note the passing of actress Melinda Dillon, 83.  She will forever be known as Ralphie’s mother in “A Christmas Story.”

Prior to the role, she had been in a number of films and Broadway productions, receiving a Tony nomination in 1963 for her Broadway debut as Honey in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

Darren McGavin, “The Old Man,” aka Ralphie’s father, died in 2006, also at the age of 83.

--Bobi, from Portugal, claimed the title of the world’s oldest dog after reaching the venerable age of 30, according to Guinness World records.  His breed, a purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo, usually lives for around 12 to 14 years.  Bobi’s long life was very nearly cut short; his owners intended to put him down as a puppy but he escaped.

He’s been guarding livestock all his life, and his longevity is apparently due in part to eating human food, his owners said.

Top 3 songs for the week 2/5/77:  #1 “Torn Between Two Lovers” (Mary MacGregor)  #2 “Car Wash” (Rose Royce)  #3 “Dazz” (Brick)…and…#4 “New Kid In Town” (Eagles)  #5 “Hot Line” (The Sylvers…dreadful…)  #6 “Blinded By The Light” (Manfred Mann’s Earth Band)  #7 “Love Theme From ‘A Star Is Born’ (Evergreen)” (Barbra Streisand)  #8 “I Wish” (Stevie Wonder)  #9 “Enjoy Yourself” (The Jacksons) #10 “Walk This Way” (Aerosmith…C week…)

NBA Quiz Answer: Top ten all-time assists….(thru Saturday’s play)

1. John Stockton 15806
2. Jason Kidd 12091
3. Chris Paul 11271
4. LeBron 10351
5. Steve Nash 10335
6. Mark Jackson 10334
7. Magic Johnson 10141
8. Oscar Robertson 9887
9. Isiah Thomas 9061
10. Russell Westbrook 8984…moved into top ten this week, as LeBron moved into fourth.

11, Gary Payton 8966

Brief Add-on up top by noon, Wed.

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