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09/05/2022

Talkin' Baseball, College Football and Serena

Add-on posted early Wed. a.m.

MLB

--The Braves were idle on Monday, and the Mets were rained out in Pittsburgh, to be made up as part of a doubleheader Wed.

The Mets had a 10 ½-game lead on June 1, the Braves had cut it to a ½-game on July 23, the Mets built it back up to 7 on Aug. 10, and now it’s again down to one heading into Tuesday’s play.

So last night, the Mets’ self-proclaimed “World’s Greatest Power Hitter,” Pete Alonso, set the tone early, hitting into two double plays in the first three innings, and the Metsies were off and running, losing 8-2.  With the Braves holding on to beat the A’s in Oakland, 10-9, that meant the two teams are tied in the NL East with 85-51 records.

It was New York’s third straight loss against last-place teams.  Remember when I said the Mets had the easiest schedule in baseball down the stretch?

Some of us are on the verge of hari-kari.

But first, a critical day/night doubleheader in Pittsburgh today, Jacob deGrom on the mound in one.

--The other team in New York, the Yankees, beat the Twins at the Stadium Monday, 5-2, as Aaron Judge did it again, No. 54, 8 home runs in his last 11 games (15 RBIs), but then the Yanks were rained out Tuesday.

Tampa Bay then beat Boston 8-4 last night and trail the Yanks by just 4 1/2. (Toronto six back).

--For one night, the Angels had their dream result, with Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani combing for 3 home runs, six hits, four RBIs in a 10-0 win over the Tigers Monday.

Trout doubled and homered, his 30th.  Ohtani doubled and hit Nos. 31 and 32.  He now has 85 RBIs, so a second straight 100-RBI season is in reach.

Trout’s 30 are in just 95 games.  Good to see after his back issue that he still has some pop.  The big test will be the offseason and what kind of shape he’s in next spring.

The Angels won again last night, 5-4, Trout with No. 31.

--I didn’t mention last time that Albert Pujols hit No. 695, a game-winning 2-run pinch hit homer in the bottom of the eighth as the Cards beat the Cubs, 2-0.  Miles Mikolas, who is having a very fine season, 11-10, 3.32, 176 innings, threw eight scoreless for St. Louis.

So that left Albert one shy of A-Rod’s 696 for fourth on the all-time list.

Pujols went 0-for-4 Monday as the Cards were shut out by the Nationals, 6-0.  And then 0-for-1 in a pinch-hitting appearance Tuesday, St. Louis winning 4-1.

The Cards are only 5 games behind the Mets and Braves for a bye in the first round.

--Arizona’s Zac Gallen, kind of out of nowhere, has a 41 1/3 innings scoreless streak…five starts at 7+, one at six, including seven on Sunday in a 5-1 win over the Brewers.  Gallen is 11-2 on the season, 2.42.

--More than 50% of minor league players have voted to support unionizing, a big step towards joining the Major League Baseball Players Association.

“Minor league players have made it unmistakably clear they want the MLBPA to represent them and are ready to begin collective bargaining in order to positively affect the upcoming season,” MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said in a statement.

Minor leaguers need higher wages and better working conditions.

College Football

--Monday night, 4 Clemson, who many feel is vastly overrated, beat Georgia Tech 41-10 in Atlanta, but it was hardly an offensive display for the ages…386 yards, quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei 19/32, 209.  The Tigers ran it 40 times for just 127 yards.

Georgia Tech sucks so you really can’t tell if Clemson’s defense was superb.

The Tigers have Furman and Louisiana Tech before the Sept. 24 showdown at Wake Forest.  [I’m going.]

Sunday night, after I posted, it was a disastrous debut for LSU’s new $100 million coach, Brian Kelly, and it couldn’t have happened to a more worthy individual…Florida State blocking an extra point with no time remaining, giving the Seminoles a 24-23 victory, FSU with its first 2-0 start since 2016.

Florida State’s Teshaun Ward fumbled at the LSU 1 with 1:20 to go, and Tigers quarterback Jayden Daniels drove LSU 99 yards for a touchdown, with a 2-yard scoring pass to Jaray Jenkins with no time left.  It was two touchdowns for the Tigers in the final 4:07. But then they couldn’t convert.

For FSU, Jordan Travis passed for 260 yards and two touchdowns, both to Ontaria Wilson.

--In the new AP Top 25, it’s early but we did have a reversal for the second spot, Georgia replacing Ohio State.

1. Alabama 1-0 (44 first-place votes)
2. Georgia 1-0 (17)
3. Ohio State 1-0 (2)
4. Michigan 1-0…up 4
5. Clemson 1-0
8. Notre Dame 0-1
10. USC 1-0…up 4
23. Wake Forest 1-0

Not a lot of high interest games this weekend…Alabama at Texas, giving 20; 20 Kentucky at 12 Florida; USC at Stanford; and the most intriguing contest, Appalachian State at 6 Texas A&M, the Aggies favored by 18.  The Apps sure proved they have some offensive weapons, while A&M has the defense.

Wake Forest fans received surprising news Tuesday…quarterback Sam Hartman is returning this week, after what we finally learned was an issue with blood clots.  So it’s Hartman running the offense at Vanderbilt.

NFL

Sports Illustrated has the Bills over the Buccaneers in the Super Bowl.

Bills over Ravens in the AFC

Bucs over the Packers in the NFC

I’ll take the Bills.

And I’d take a 6-11 season from my Jets, as long as it was an entertaining campaign and one where we see Zach Wilson take a big step forward by season’s end, providing real hope for the future.

Otherwise, I’m out of touch with the NFL schedule this coming Sunday and won’t be reporting on it.  Personal family stuff to take care of in the Pittsburgh area.

U.S. Open

--With the departure of Serena Williams, who would take center stage at Flushing Meadows?

Try American Frances Tiafoe.  All the No. 22 seed did was take out second seed Rafael Nadal on Monday, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the fourth round to advance to the quarterfinals.  It was the first time this year that Nadal, who had been chasing a record-extending 23rd Grand Slam title, has been beaten in a major.

Tiafoe covered his face with his hands as he soaked up the cheers from the packed house at Arthur Ashe Stadium after breaking Nadal for a fifth time to claim the huge upset.

“I don’t even know what to say right now, I’m beyond happy, I’m almost in tears,” Tiafoe said.  “I can’t believe it.  He is definitely one of the greatest of all time. I played unbelievable tennis today but I really don’t know what happened.”

For his part, Nadal had a very poor serving game, with nine double faults and just 33 winners to Tiafoe’s 48.  The loss snapped Rafa’s streak of 17 straight majors where he reached the quarterfinals or better. He won at the Australian and French Opens before withdrawing with an abdominal injury before his semifinal at Wimbledon.

Tiafoe, 24, was born in Maryland to parents from Sierra Leone and took up tennis while his father worked as a custodian at Junior Tennis Champions Center in suburban Washington, D.C.

Next up is Russian Andrey Rublev in the quarters on Wed.

Earlier in the fourth round, Nick Kyrgios, seeded 23rd, upset No. 1 Daniil Medvedev in four sets, Kyrgios his usual weird self.

So late tonight he faced Russia’s Karen Khachanov, and Kyrgios lost in five, in a match taking 3 hours and 39 minutes.  Kyrgios threw a fit at the end, smashing two rackets on the court – breaking both – before exiting the stadium.

In other fourth round matches Monday, 3 Carlos Alcaraz won a 5-set marathon against 15 Marin Cilic.

5 Casper Ruud of Norway took out 13 Matteo Berrettini in straight sets to advance to the semis.

On the women’s side, No. 1 Iga Swiatek took out Julie Niemeier, and 6 Aryna Sabalenka defeated 19-seed Danielle Collins of the U.S., Swiatek and Sabalenka on to the quarters.

And then Tuesday night, 12 Coco Gauff saw her run end in the quarterfinals, losing 6-3, 6-4 to 17 Caroline Garcia of France.

--Australia’s Margaret Court commented on her 24 grand slams and Serena Williams’ 23.

“Serena, I’ve admired her as a player,” Court, 80, told Britain’s Daily Telegraph in a rare interview. “But I don’t think she has ever admired me.”

Court said she has become persona non grata because of her Christian beliefs, which led her to oppose same-sex marriage when it was proposed in Australia.

Court did have a superior record to Williams after they became mothers during their careers.

It’s just a fact, Serena hasn’t won a Slam since 2017, after having a baby.  Yes, Serena won her last one, the Australian Open, while two months pregnant with daughter Olympia, but Court won three out of four Slams after having her first child.

But seriously, you have never heard Serena praise Margaret Court.  And that’s frankly classic Serena.

Golf Balls

--The first three LIV Golf events in London, Portland and Bedminster hardly provided much drama, but in Boston Sunday, fans got some…a three-way playoff between Dustin Johnson and newcomers Anirban Lahiri and Joaquin Niemann, with Johnson rattling home a 35-foot eagle putt on the first extra hole to win the $4 million first place check.

DJ hadn’t won since the 2021 Saudi Invitational.

Cam Smith finished T4 in his LIV debut.

Phil Mickelson continued his stellar play, finishing +2, T40…a mere 17 shots off the lead.

Sihwan Kim, who opened with an 87…87!...then shot 63-76…+16, or 31 shots back of the leaders…but pocketed $120,000.  Or that’s $120,000 deducted from his advance…we still don’t know the true details of the LIV golfers’ contracts.

Next up Chicago, Sept. 16-18.

--With Cam Smith, Niemann, Lahiri, Marc Leishman, Harold Varner III and Cameron Tringale suspended by the PGA Tour once they teed it up in Boston, that opened up PGA Tour cards for six players: Matt Wallace, Austin Smotherman, Justin Lower, Doc Redman, Danny Willett and Kelly Kraft, each now positioned at Nos. 120-125 on the points list.

--At a press conference prior to the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, England (headquarters of the DP World Tour), Billy Horschel went off on those LIV golfers who are in the event, saying they are “hypocritical” in chasing ranking points having never shown any interest in the event before.

“Even though Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter have been stalwarts for the European Tour, I don’t think those guys really should be here.

“I honestly don’t think that the American guys who haven’t supported the Tour should be here.  Abraham Ancer, Talor Gooch.…you’ve never played this tournament, you’ve never supported the DP World Tour. Why are you here?

“You are here for one reason only and that’s to try to get world ranking points because you don’t have it (on LIV Golf)….

“It’s hypocritical because of what some of these guys have said when they said they wanted to play less golf,” Horschel continued.  “It’s pretty hypocritical to come over here and play outside LIV when your big thing was to spend more time with family and want to play less golf.”

Yup, this tournament is going to be a real tension convention.

--We note the passing of Herb Kohler Jr., a man who oversaw the expansion of his family’s plumbing and manufacturing business into a worldwide leader in the industry while also becoming a huge figure in the world of golf.

“His zest for life, adventure and impact inspires all of us,” his family said in a statement released on Sunday.  “We traveled together, celebrated together, and worked together.  He was all in, all the time, leaving an indelible mark on how we live our lives today and carry on his legacy.”

Born in Chicago in 1939, Kohler first went to work for the family’s company, founded by his grandfather Michael Kohler in 1873, shortly after finishing college at Yale University in 1965.  Four years after the passing of his father, Herb Sr., in 1968, Kohler Jr. took over as CEO and added the president’s title in 1974.  He served in both roles until 2015, when his son David became the fourth generation Kohler to run the company and Herb Jr. became the executive chairman.  According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Kohler grew the business from a $133 million operation to a firm that took in nearly $6 billion in annual revenue in 2015.

Kohler then developed a passion for golf, including as a businessman, and basically single-handedly turned Sheboygan County in his adopted home state of Wisconsin as a premier golf destination with the development of The American Club resort in 1981 and the building of two, 36-hole golf facilities: Blackwolf Run, and Whistling Straits.  The Straits course has hosted three PGA championships and last year’s Ryder Cup.

Kohler also purchased the Old Course Hotel in St. Andrews, Scotland, adjacent to the Road Hole on the Old Course.

Kohler once told Golf Digest’s Jerry Tarde, “You think I’m in the plumbing business.  I’m in the fashion business.”

NASCAR

--Sunday night, the 10-race NASCAR Cup Series playoffs got underway at Darlington Raceway (S.C.), and Erik Jones pulled away from Denny Hamlin after a final restart to win the opener.

Hamlin, seeded sixth, closed in on Jones’ on the final lap but couldn’t make the winning pass.  It was Jones’ second career win at Darlington and third NASCAR victory.  And it was the 200th win by the iconic No. 43 car, with most of them tied to Richard Petty.

Jones also became the first non-playoff driver to win the opener in NASCAR’s 10-race run to a title.

Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick had a scary situation as his car, running in the top-5, suddenly caught fire, underneath the right front tire.  As he continued driving, more and more smoke was flowing out from underneath and filling up the cockpit.

Harvick – one of the 16 playoff drivers – quickly dropped to the inside of the track and pulled over as the flames continued growing, and he luckily exited the car just seconds before the whole thing burst into flames.  Almost as soon as he climbed out the window, flames engulfed the driver’s side, as well as the right side.

It’s unclear exactly what ignited the flames, though Harvick said he thought his rocker panel was on fire.

But this is far from the first time one of the Next-Gen cars have been on fire this season, and multiple drivers have expressed concerns about the car and its safety, particularly with them reporting notably harder impacts.

Afterward, Harvick told NBC Sports:

“I’m sure it’s just the crappy parts on the race car, like we’ve seen so many times. We haven’t fixed anything… We just let it keep going and keep going.  And the car started burning, and as it burned, the flames started coming through the dash.”

--Bubba Wallace, who was driving the No. 23 for his 23XI Racing Toyota team, co-owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, is in the No. 45 for the playoffs.  The No. 45 was driven by Kurt Busch, who is out indefinitely with concussion-like symptoms, and the car was eligible for the owners’ championship heading into the playoffs, so Wallace, who didn’t qualify in the No. 23, takes over for his teammate.

Busch, off his win at Kansas in May, had qualified for both playoffs, but withdrew due to his injury, suffered at Pocono in a crash July 23.  The owners’ championship is significant because it is used to determine year-end prize money distribution and other monetary bonuses.

Not for nuthin’, but it’s kind of serious Kurt Busch has been out this long.  This was obviously no simple concussion.  We hope he recovers soon.

Meanwhile, Wallace finished ninth…solid.

Stuff

--A 51-year-old French woman was bitten by a shark off the coast of Maui on Saturday afternoon, with officers responding to the beach area of Pa’ia Bay on the island’s north shore at approximately 4:09 p.m.

Upon arriving to the scene, the officers saw that bystanders had already brought the 51-year-old to shore and attended to her wounds until medical and fire personnel took over.

The victim had reportedly been swimming and possibly snorkeling in murky water approximately 100 yards from shore before the incident.

She was taken to hospital in critical condition.

--And then we had a tragedy in the Bahamas on Tuesday.  A cruise ship passenger from Pennsylvania was killed by a shark while snorkeling with a group of five to seven relatives when a bull shark attacked her shortly after 2 p.m. at Green Cay, Royal Bahamas Police said at a news conference.

The woman, 58, had no vital signs after the attack.

Family members, along with a tour operator, pulled her from the water.

The victim was a passenger on the Royal Caribbean ship, Harmony of the Seas.

An abbreviated Bar Chat will be posted Sunday morning.

-----

Brief Add-on up top by noon, Wed.

College Football Quiz: Nine coaches have 250 or more ‘major college’ wins in the history of the game.  I’ll give you Pop Warner and Amos Alonzo Stagg.  Name the other seven, all modern era.  Answer below.

MLB

--The Mets, having beaten the Dodgers 2 of 3 last week at Citi Field, entered the final month of the season with the easiest schedule in MLB, starting off with a three-game series against the Nationals.  They won the first one Friday, 7-3, but had a dismal 7-1 loss last night, as Max Scherzer took himself out after five innings (one run) for what he described as left-side fatigue, the same side where he suffered an oblique injury that kept him out seven weeks.

Scherzer’s the grizzled veteran who knows his body better than the Mets’ staff does, and after, Mad Max didn’t seem too concerned.

But as noted last week, the Mets’ DH-duo of Darin Ruf and Daniel Vogelbach is absolutely killing us and management needs to bring in a couple guys from AAA.

Meanwhile, the Braves keep applying the heat and after Saturday’s 2-1 win over the Marlins, trail the Metsies by just two games.

Mets 85-49
Braves 83-51

And then the depression set in….as the Mets, channeling the Yankees’ pathetic bats, lost again by the same score, 7-1.  Us fans are growing weary of the likes of Pete Alonso, the self-proclaimed “World’s Greatest Power Hitter” who has 3 freakin’ homers in his last 30 games! Step up your game, Pete!  [Where Pete has excelled the last 60 days or so is he on the air constantly having cashed in on all kinds of endorsements.]

Of course the Braves won…after a long rain delay…so the Metsies’ lead is down to one game. [Atlanta is up 5-1 bottom of the eighth and assuming they win it as I post.]

To paraphrase the warden in “Cool Hand Luke,” Buck Showalter’s boys better get their minds right.

--Speaking of the Yankees, they traveled to Tampa Bay for a critical 3-game series against the Rays, their lead down to six games (from 15 ½ on July 8).  And Friday night, the Rays blew them out 9-0…lead cut to five.

“That’s an embarrassing loss,” said an increasingly angry manager, Aaron Boone.  “Hopefully, one of those rock bottom situations, where you should be pissed off and embarrassed.  We’ve set a better standard around here.  We just got to be better. Period.”

The Yanks had the best record at the All-Star break and were 15-25 since heading into Saturday night’s game.

New York’s offense has been beyond pathetic, down to literally Aaron Judge…and, err, Aaron Judge.  Who teams walk half the time, for good reason.

More embarrassment Saturday, Yanks losing 2-1, just 3 hits, one an Aaron Judge home run in the ninth, his 52nd.  Lead down to four.

The Yankees are 18-31 since starting out 61-23.  They are 9-20 since the trade deadline, scoring three runs or fewer in 20 of those.

Well, the bats were silent this afternoon, save for Judge, of course, who went 3-for-5, his 53rd home run, and the only two runs scored, but the team got good pitching for the 2-1 win, the lead back to five, as they barely survived a Rays ninth-inning rally.  A massive ‘W.’

--I told you when the trade went down, Jordan Montgomery to the Cardinals, that the Yankees were idiots.

And indeed they are as on Friday night, Montgomery threw six shutout innings in an 8-0 win over the Cubs, improving to 5-0 with a 1.47 ERA since being acquired from New York on Aug. 2.

As for Harrison Bader, the speedy centerfielder the Yanks acquired for Montgomery, he hasn’t gotten on the field, as he continues to rehab a foot injury (plantar fasciitis).

--Back to the Braves, like probably just about every baseball fan in America, I was shocked that when on Thursday, Atlanta’s Spencer Strider struck out 16 in eight innings of a 3-0 win over the Rockies, that was a franchise record for the Atlanta era.  [Warren Spahn struck out 18 in a 15-inning game when it was the Boston Braves in a game in 1952.]

John Smoltz struck out 15 twice and Spahn 15, and that’s it.

The rookie Strider improved to 9-4, 2.67, with a stupendous 174 strikeouts in 114 2/3.

College Football

We had the first big weekend of the season….

And college football fans know it always takes three weeks to get a true picture of the top teams, and whether their preseason ranking was warranted.

Well after Week One…we can book defending champion Georgia into the final four.  Last year’s CFP final MVP, quarterback Stetson Bennett, was a cool 25/31, 368, 2-0, as the No. 3 Bulldogs whipped up on 11 Oregon, 49-3.   And Georgia has a cupcake schedule.  So we will see y’all on New Year’s Eve!

No. 1 Alabama is obviously likely to be playing New Year’s Eve as well, the Tide blasting Utah State 55-0, as Heisman winner Bryce Young threw five touchdowns and ran for 100 yards, ‘Bama outgaining the Aggies 559-136.

But unlike Georgia, Alabama does have Texas A&M and an away game at Arkansas on its schedule, so a little more of a test before its SEC title game against Georgia.

Speaking of 6 A&M, they manhandled Sam Houston 31-0.

And 19 Arkansas had an important 31-24 win over 23 Cincinnati.

Lots of folks have already written off the Pac-12, yet another season, with not only Oregon losing big, but also No. 7 Utah, falling 29-26 at Florida.

But maybe 14 USC emerges as a power again.  In their first game under new coach Lincoln Riley, the Trojans ran all over Rice, 66-14. 

Now the Owls are hardly a great opponent, but observers (I wasn’t one) say the Trojans and all their big transfers played an exciting brand of ball not seen during the “drudgery of Clay Helton, the darkness of Steve Sarkisian, (and) the craziness of Lane Kiffin,” as the L.A. Times’ Bill Plaschke put it, “all of it disappearing in a three-hour throwback to Pete Carroll.”  [I slightly edited Plaschke’s comments.]

Speaking of the transfers, Oklahoma transfer QB Caleb Williams was all he was cranked up to be, 19/22, 249, 2-0 through the air, 68 yards rushing, with two of his primary targets last year’s teammate Mario Williams, and Pitt transfer Jordan Addison, along with USC holdover Tahj Washington. 

For good reason, the excitement could really be back.

In another big game last night, 2 Ohio State staked its early case for the final four, 21-10 over 5 Notre Dame, which after a solid start, and a 10-7 lead at the half in Columbus, saw its offense stall out, the Irish punting on their last six possessions.

Not that the Buckeyes were a juggernaut on offense themselves.  For a while it was looking like Mr. NIL*, C.J. Stroud, had laid an egg, and he had perhaps his worst game, at least in yards per attempt (6.6), going 24/34 but for just 223, two touchdown passes.

*Stroud handed out $500 gift cards to Express for teammates to buy suits ahead of the game.

“I just wanted to do something for the team,” Stroud said.  “So I got everybody $500 gift cards to go to Express, get y’all own suits, man, make sure you’re looking fly.”

He’s a brand ambassador, you see.  Just remember, C.J., the NFL is not impressed with this stuff.  Just focus on winning.

Finally in the top ten, 8 Michigan rolled over Colorado State 51-7; 9 Oklahoma whipped UTEP 45-13; and 10 Baylor blasted Albany of the Colonial Athletic Association, 69-10.  Albany does have one of the better names in college sports, the Great Danes.

In other games of note….

--17 Pitt squeaked out an amazing 38-31 win over West Virginia in Pittsburgh, Thursday, in a renewal of the Backyard Brawl (after a 10-year hiatus).

Pitt cornerback MJ Devonshire snagging a pass that caromed off the hands of a WVU receiver and racing 56 yards to the end zone with 2:58 remaining as the Panthers rallied for the win.

The game featured the debut of two well-worn QBs from other institutions.  Kedon Slovis started for Pitt after three years at USC, where he basically regressed after a very good freshman season.

And for West Virginia, JT Daniels, who had four years at USC and Georgia.

--Also Thursday, Penn State beat Purdue on the road, 35-31, both unranked, but sixth-year Nittany Lion QB Sean Clifford hooked up with Keyvone Lee on a 10-yard score with 57 seconds left for the win, the kind that can save a season early in conference.

Purdue’s Aidan O’Connell, who had a good year for the Boilermakers last season, 71.6%, 28-11 TD/INT, needed 58 passes for 356 yards, which isn’t good.

--Saturday, 13 North Carolina State was lucky to escape an upset, edging East Carolina in Greenville, N.C., 21-20, only because ECU kicker Owen Daffer missed an extra point try (so badly, you just can’t believe it) that would’ve knotted up the game at 21-21 with three minutes left and then pushed wide right the potential game-winning field goal in the final seconds.

So Mr. Daffer is probably walking around campus in disguise, or taking his classes remotely.

--Rutgers had a nice opening win at Boston College, 22-21, as the Scarlet Knights had a terrific 12-play, 96-yard drive for the winning score.  B.C. quarterback Phil Jurkovec, as those announcing the game kept pointing out, really needs to work on his footwork, which was awful.

I do have to add the Eagles’ Zay Flowers is going to be a terrific NFL player.  He caught 10 passes for 117 yards, and he can run the ball as well.

--Some of us watched an amazing game in Boone, N.C., as North Carolina beat Appalachian State 63-61, and this didn’t go into overtime.

UNC scored 34 straight points in the second and third quarters to take a 41-21 lead, after falling behind 21-7, which is when I picked up the game, and then the two teams combined for 62 points in the fourth quarter, one shy of the FBS record of 63 points in one quarter, the Apps scoring 40!

Understand there were nine touchdowns in the final quarter.  Nine!

But I have to admit, towards the end I was thinking, yeah, this is exciting, I guess, but where the hell is the defense…on both sides.  It was almost farcical.  And the Apps royally blew it when they went for a two-point conversion, trailing 56-55, 0:31 remaining, and quarterback Chase Brice’s toss in the endzone to Dashaun Davis was totally misplayed by Davis, embarrassingly so.  That was all she wrote.

Oh, we then had two more touchdowns in the final 0:31, as Carolina stupidly didn’t just fall on the onsides kick attempt and ran it in for a TD, making it 63-55.

As in they gave App State a final chance to go down the field, the Apps did, and this time Chase Brice was stopped trying to run in the two-point conversion for a tie and OT.

Entertaining, no doubt.  Good football?  Not quite, in my estimation.  [Others are calling it the Game of the Century, at least in the state of North Carolina.]

--Coastal Carolina lost a lot of talent off its 2021 squad that went 11-2 (22-3 the last two seasons), but they retain solid quarterback Grayson McCall and Johnny Mac’s Chanticleers defeated Army in Conway (Myrtle Beach), S.C. , 38-28.

Remember, guys, this being Myrtle, don’t forget to tip the barmaids, they work hard too!

--Lastly, on Thursday, my No. 22 Wake Forest Demon Deacons opened their campaign at home against VMI and we got to see Sam Hartman’s replacement at quarterback, Mitch Griffis.  He was solid, 21/29, 288, 3-0.  We’ll see…Vanderbilt and Liberty next, before a huge test, Clemson at home.

Are we legitimate ACC title contenders?  We’ll know soon enough.  But win the next two, Deacs!

--The biggest story in college football the last few days, though, was the vote from university presidents to expand the College Football Playoff from four to 12 teams no later than the 2026 season, possibly as early as 2024.

The presidents approved the original 12-team proposal that called for the six highest-ranked conference champions and six at-large picks, as determined by a selection committee, to make the playoff.  The top four seeds would be conference champions and receive byes into the second round.

First-round games would be played on campus and the rest at bowl sites.

Lots of issues to be hammered out, including sorting out television contracts, such as the CFP’s current 12-year contract with ESPN, and like it’s kind of silly spending that much time on the topic until 2024.

I long wanted an expansion to eight…the Power Five champions, a Group of Five bid, and two at-large.

NFL

--The New York Post’s Emily Smith had the exclusive that Tom Brady’s problem, the one that caused the 11-day absence from training camp, was related to a big spat with wife Gisele Bundchen.

The Post’s Page Six revealed Bundchen left the family compound in Tampa, Fla., for Costa Rica following a series of heated arguments over Brady’s shock decision to un-retire from the NFL.

“Sources say Brady, 45, is taking care of his and Bundchen’s children, Benjamin, 14, and Vivian, 9, plus Jack, his 15-year-old son with ex Bridget Moynahan.

“A source told us of Brady, ‘He’s very sad at the moment.  Friends know they’ve had a serious disagreement this time.

“ ‘It seems that Gisele gets mad and says things like she’s leaving him, but in the past, they’ve always made up.  But maybe this time it is more serious.

“ ‘He’s with the kids, and is just trying to be super dad.’

“Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen have been butting heads recently over his lack of attention to their kids.”

Well, I believed a local sports radio guy, former Giant Tiki Barber, when he said Brady’s issues were business related and serious.

But Brady told us what was going down, just reading between the lines, when he returned from his absence and said: “It’s all personal…everyone’s got different situations they’re dealing with. We all have really unique challenges to our life.  I’m 45 years old, man. That’s a lot of shit going on.”

--Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos agreed to a five-year contract extension worth $245 million, including $165 million guaranteed.  Wilson had two years and $51 million remaining on his previous deal and now is under contract with the Broncos for the next seven seasons for $296 million.  He turns 34 in November.

So Wilson’s extension runs through the 2028 season, during which he will turn 40.  He was a nine-time Pro Bowl selection in 10 seasons with the Seahawks, helping them to a Super Bowl title in the 2013 season.

The Broncos’ new ownership group, led by Walmart heir Rob Walton, purchased the franchise from the Pat Bowlen Trust for $4.65 billion, the record sale price for an NFL team.

Golf Balls

--The PGA Tour players who had been suspended indefinitely by the Tour have had their memberships revoked for the 2022-23 season.

The letters were sent to Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, and all the other PGA Tour players who had not resigned their membership when first playing the LIV Golf tournaments.

Mickelson has said he believed his lifetime membership, due to having won a minimum of 20 tournaments, was earned and that he shouldn’t have had to relinquish it.

But the letter written by Kirsten Burgess, the Tour’s vice president, competition administration, reads:

“The terms of your contractual commitments to LIV Golf prohibit you from satisfying the material obligations set forth in the regulations and make clear that you have no intention to, and indeed cannot comply with these requirements of membership in the PGA Tour.

“The Tour cannot enter into a membership agreement with a player when, as here, it reasonably anticipates the players will not perform the material obligations under that agreement.  Accordingly, your PGA Tour membership cannot and will not be renewed for the 2022-2023 PGA Tour season.”

--In a phone interview with Sports Illustrated’s Bob Harig Thursday, Phil Mickelson said the changes fans and players will see on the PGA Tour would not have occurred without a threat, whether it was LIV Golf or some other entity.  He also sees a scenario where this disruptive year all works out for everyone in golf.

SI: What was your reaction to the announcement last week that the PGA Tour is going to require the top players to compete in specific events and ask them to play in more of them?

PM: Well, they are getting a lot for it.  So I’m extremely happy that the top players are being listened to and that their input is being valued.  And that those events are coming about.

SI: Is there any sense of vindication for you after this?

PM: I don’t think vindication is what I would say.  I would say I’m generally happy that the top players who are really driving the Tour and creating the interest are being listened to.  And what they are doing for the Tour is being valued now.  I’m happy to see that happen.

SI: Could these changes – had they emerged a year ago, two years ago – swayed your thinking on the viability of a startup league?

PM: It was stated very clearly that nothing was going to happen.  Unless there was leverage, nothing was going to change. And all players should be appreciative of what LIV is doing. The players on LIV for the opportunity they are getting. And the PGA Tour for the leverage that was provided to get these changes done.

SI: Have you heard from any players either to thank you or to acknowledge that you had some underlying points that were valid?

PM: Yes, numerous. And I’m very appreciative.  They are from both sides. I think players on both sides of LIV and the PGA Tour are appreciative of what is happening.  Every player is benefiting.

SI: You are undoubtedly aware of the players meeting at the BMW Championship led by Tiger and Rory. Did anything like that ever occur to that degree with you?

PM: No, despite multiple efforts by multiple players.  No.  I don’t think anything like that would have happened without the leverage that LIV Golf as provided.

SI: Do you fear that your legacy is being impacted in any way?

PM: I feel that my legacy is being built right now.  The changes that professional golf are going through I believe are in the best interest for the fans and the players…. It hurts to see so much hostility and negativity, for sure. I really believe in the end it’s going to be worth it and I think in the long run everyone is going to come out ahead.

SI: Are you concerned that the major championships might attempt to keep LIV players from competing in them?

PM: I really don’t think that’s going to happen.  I believe that the leaders of the majors are really brilliant people who love the game of golf.  And I believe they understand how not having many of the top players in the world undermines their events.  And how that would hurt the game of golf.

SI: How important are world ranking points and when can they reasonably be added to LIV events?

PM: Given how many great players are a part of LIV, for LIV events to not have world ranking points would totally undermine the world ranking system.  And would force a new world ranking system to come about that was credible. I believe that the world golf rankings organization (OWGR) realizes that and will give world ranking points to LIV events.

SI: It’s been reported that the OWGR sometimes requires a new tour to be in operation for at least a year.

PM: How would delaying it benefit the world golf rankings?  I don’t see how it benefits them.  I don’t see how it benefits the majors because some of the top players might not be in the majors.

--Fred Couples, responding to Cameron Smith’s reasoning for leaving the tour, that he had missed too many friends’ weddings, birthday parties and seeing your mates having a great time at rugby league games:

“To all my friends who I missed birthdays & weddings, so sorry, I was busy earning a living on the @pgatour and in my line of work the goal is to EARN your way to work weekends.  And by weekends I mean 72 holes.  Sorry not sorry.”

--Gary Player, in his latest rant, sounded off against LIV Golf.  The nine-time major winner even called for those breakaways to be banned from the majors.

“I wouldn’t take a billion dollars for my nine majors on both tours,” Player said.  “I worked hard.  I had desire.  I traveled the world. It was an education.  I met wonderful people.

“How can you ever be a champion playing a tour with 54 holes and no cut?  What sort of tour is that? Fifty-four holes, no cut, a team event nobody understands.  It’s a tour for people who don’t have confidence in their future.  They don’t have the confidence they can be winners.  It’s never going to compare to the regular tour.  No chance.”

“They’ve declared war on the PGA Tour,” Player added.  “They must not expect to play in the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup, play in the majors and all those things.  You can’t have your cake and eat it.  That’s the bed you’ve chosen, that’s the bed you’ve got to lie in.”

Asked whether LIV could overtake the PGA Tour as the top circuit, Player responded: “Not even a chance.”

Player also went after Cam Smith:

“Here’s a young man I really thought was going to be a superstar.  Now, what sort of future does he have?  Will he be able to realize this great dream of being a champion? I don’t know.  I don’t blame [Henrik] Stenson for going.  He had no money, so he had to go.  But this is a potential superstar.  I think his advisors have given him the wrong advice.”

Yup, on this last point, that’s what I said months ago.

--Next week’s BMW PGA Championship, the richest event on the DP World Tour, is going to be a bigtime tension convention, with 19 LIV golfers slated to play.  Make that 18, as Martin Kaymer pulled out.

“Of course, there will be friction there, that’s why I’m not going,” Kaymer told Golf Digest on Thursday.  “I don’t need to go to a place where, feel-wise, you’re not that welcome.  They don’t say it, but [it’s there].”

No, Martin, they ARE saying it.  DP World Tour mainstays Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell and Sergio Garcia will hear it, either from the fans or the players.

--Here’s the bottom line for now.  LIV Golf is not getting World Golf Ranking points and we await the decision from those running the four majors as to whether LIV golfers can participate.  Since they won’t be accumulating ranking points, only those who are past champions and those who qualify through their finishes in the majors last year (like top 12 finishers being exempt for the following event) should be allowed to play.  I think all golf fans would accept that.

The other thing, LIV Golf is obviously going nowhere without a television contract. Fewer than 75,000 hopped on YouTube for the final round of LIV’s third event at Trump Bedminster, or at least 10 times smaller an audience than a weekday round at the weakest PGA Tour event on the schedule and nowhere close to the numbers compiled by the LPGA, as John Hawkins of SI.com pointed out.

--But I was following the leaderboard at this week’s LIV event in Boston, because I wanted to report on it, and I saw that Lahiri, Dustin Johnson and Joaquin Niemann were headed to a playoff.

And then the website went out!

Not that anyone except the players and their wives gives a s---.

Serena’s Swan Song

After the Mets game was over Friday night, I switched over to Serena Williams’ third-round match against Ajla Tomljanovic at Arthur Ashe Stadium, having tuned in from time to time, as she battled back from losing the first set to tie, forcing a third.  It was 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), but Tomljanovic beat Serena 6-1 in the third.

The crowd was electric, chants that turned into pleas for Williams to stay on the court for as long as she could and the final set/game will be remembered by tennis cognoscenti forever.

In the seventh and final game, Williams staved off five match points and gave it everything she had left to prolong the three-hour-plus match before Tomljanovic finished it off.

“I think, honestly, what I’ll remember most is that my level was coming back,” Williams said after with pride in her voice.  “I think I’m really grateful for that.  It’s great to be playing at such a high level, somehow improving. I don’t know how at my age.

“But I just honestly am so grateful that I had this moment and that I’m Serena, so…”

Mike Lupica / New York Daily News

“At the very end, about to lose the last six games of the match, what she says is her last match at the U.S. Open or anywhere else, Serena Williams tried to be young one last time at Arthur Ashe Stadium.  It had come down to this, three hours into her match against a younger woman named Ajla Tomljanovic: One of the great tennis players this country has ever produced, one of the great American stories in any sport, was trying to fight off one more match point, get just one more game.

“She was trying to make this the kind of moment Jimmy Connors had in 1991, when he came out of nowhere to make it to the semis at the Open at which he turned 39.  In the second week that year, as he had once again forgotten what year it was and was rocking old Louis Armstrong Stadium again, his friend Ilie Nastase watched and listened and said, ‘Jimmy has what we all want: One more time.’

“Only now Serena, on a night when she had sprayed forehands all over Ashe and sometimes all the way across Roosevelt Ave. to the Mets game at Citi Field, was out of time, about to bury one more tired forehand into the net.  So Serena would not get the Super Bowl that Tom Brady got when he was 43.  She would not get one more green jacket, the way Tiger Woods did when he was 43 himself, or the one Jack Nicklaus got when he was 46.

“ ‘It was a fun ride,’ she would say to the crowd at Ashe when it was over, another Open crowd trying to lift her and carry her across the finish line, giving her the most love she had gotten back from tennis, here or anywhere else.

“But the crowd couldn’t make the kid who had come out of Compton, Calif., continue to write the ending for herself that would have made this, a week down the road, maybe in one more Open final, the biggest moment in American tennis history.  It couldn’t make her young. She couldn’t make herself young, in the longest match she’d ever played at the Open, one she needed to have shortened when she should have put the second set away earlier than she did.”

I have covered Serena’s entire career in this space. She wasn’t always a gracious champion.

As Lupica put it:

“She had the biggest serve and the biggest game and a personality to match. Sometimes she had shouted over it all, obscuring her own greatness in the process. She once threatened to shove a tennis ball down the throat of an Open lineswoman who had called a foot fault on her, and got defaulted out of an Open semi on match point.  Serena did so much to ruin Naomi Osaka’s victory over her – Osaka’s moment – in the ’18 Open when she got into an argument with the chair umpire.

“So in addition to her own power and genius, she had some Connors in her, too, and some McEnroe.  In the modern world of tennis, that was American, too.”

Serena did leave the door open Friday night for perhaps one more tournament.  You could see she sincerely knew she blew it in not playing more coming into the Open.  It’s like everyone knows, including Tiger himself, that he needs to play in a few regular events before he tees it up at the Masters next spring (if he’s able physically to do so).  Williams knows she could still compete against the best, she beat the No. 2 seed after all, but you can’t just turn it on and compete at the high level for the seven matches required to get to the finals without more practice.

For now, in the end Serena and Venus won 30 major singles titles (Venus 7).

Lupica:

“(The two) lifted up women’s tennis, they inspired young players, especially young players of color.  It was a fitting thing on this Friday that in the late afternoon, at the end of this week that had so much about the past, there was Coco Gauff, African-American teenager, putting on a dazzling display against Madison Keys, another African-America.  Who had once lost a U.S. Open final to yet another African-American player, Sloane Stephens. It is why, if this is goodbye for her, to measure her impact and her older sister’s just in terms of the numbers.

“Theirs hasn’t just been a remarkable tennis story.  It has been a remarkable American story.”

--Meanwhile, as I post…on the men’s side, 1 Daniil Medvedev (playing fourth round tonight against Nick Kyrgios…highly interesting matchup), 2 Rafael Nadal, and 3 Carlos Alcaraz got thru their third round matches.

5 Casper Ruud got through his fourth-round match this afternoon.

For the women, 1-seed Iga Swiatek and 12 Coco Gauff are still around.

And just in…Gauff won her fourth-round match vs. China’s Shual Zhang, 7-5, 7-5.

Just an observation…I’ve been trying to figure out the uniforms worn by the ball boys/girls…Green, Blue and Red.  So I looked at my world map with flags and I thought it was South Africa’s colors…but they most resemble the flag of Azerbaijan!  Ding ding ding!

Someone tell me why they are not just a solid color; or red, white and blue in some combination thereof.  Then again, I’ve never been a man of fashion, doing the best things so conservatively…as the Kinks sang.

Premier League

We have had a ton of action, with both midweek and weekend games for all the teams, and now, thanks to the upcoming World Cup, the crush continues with first-round Champions League contests Tuesday and Wednesday.

In games of note this week, Aston Villa was able to get a point at home against Manchester City, 1-1, Erling Haaland scoring his 10th in six games.  Everton handed Liverpool another draw, 0-0.

And today, Manchester United, off to the abysmal start that had even Elon Musk joking (kind of) he was going to buy the team, picked up its fourth straight ‘W’ in handing Arsenal its first loss, 3-1, with new United signee Antony (no relation to Antony Blinken) scoring in his debut, Marcus Rashford with the other two.

And while the following is only six games in (of 38)…it’s kind of fascinating.

1. Arsenal 15 points (5-0-1…W-D-L…)
2. Manchester City 14
3. Tottenham 14…the Spurs doing it without a single goal from Son Heung-min. [Son, with 23 goals last season, co-league leader with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah.]
4. Brighton 13…Champions League line
5. Manchester United 12
6. Chelsea 10
7. Liverpool 9 (2-3-1)…rather shocking

But as big a story, potentially, is the godawful start by Leicester City, the startling champions of the 2015-16 season, the greatest team sports upset of all time.

Leicester is at the bottom…20th…with just one point (0-1-5).

Turn it around, boys.

Stuff

--The Knicks and their fans didn’t get their wish.  Donovan Mitchell is not going to New York.  Instead, Cleveland pulled the trigger, sending forward Lauri Markkanen, guard Collin Sexton and ex-Kansas star Ochai Agbaji, plus three unprotected first-round picks and two pick swaps (all five 2025-2029) for Mitchell.

Well, considering what Cleveland gave up, which was greater than the package the Knicks were willing to part with, I think the Knicks did the right thing.  Their core is now RJ Barrett, Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson, with young potential stars in Obi Toppin, Immanuel Quickley, Quincy Grimes and Mitchell Robinson.  They’ve only really added Brunson this offseason, but he was a huge addition at point.

--Many a winter night, when one of my favorite teams isn’t playing, I turn to YouTube and put on an Earnie Shavers or Ron Lyle fight, the two being two of the hardest punchers in the heavyweight game back in the division’s golden era, the 1970s.

Shavers died at the age of 78 on Wednesday, cause unknown, but he had some great fights, 74-14-1 throughout his career, with 68 of those wins coming via KO.

Earnie was one tough out, fighting in two heavyweight title fights, but suffering defeats in each.  In 1977, he lost to Muhammad Ali for the WBA and WBC belts at Madison Square Garden via unanimous decision, Ali saying after: “Earnie hit me so hard, it shook my kinfolk in Africa.”

In 1979, Shavers lost to Larry Holmes in Las Vegas for the WBC heavyweight title, the second of his two career losses to Holmes.

Lyle, who defeated Shavers in 1975, said after the bout: “Hey man, that’s the hardest I’ve ever been hit in my life.  And George Foreman could punch, but none of them could hit like Earnie Shavers did.  When he hit you, the lights went out.  I can laugh about it now, but at the time, it wasn’t funny.”

Shavers’ signature win came over Ken Norton via first round knockout in 1979.  Look it up.  Great example of how good Howard Cosell was at his craft as well.

RIP, Earnie.  You provided some of us fans of that era with a lot of thrills.

Top 3 songs for the week 9/6/75:  #1 “Rhinestone Cowboy” (Glen Campbell)  #2 “Fallin’ In Love” (Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds)  #3 “Get Down Tonight” (K.C. & The Sunshine Band)…and…#4 “At Seventeen” (Janis Ian…great tune, albeit a bit dark…)  #5 “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” (James Taylor)  #6 “Jive Talkin’” (Bee Gees)  #7 “Fame” (David Bowie)  #8 “Fight The Power, Part I” (The Isley Brothers)  #9 “Could It Be Magic” (Barry Manilow)  #10 “One Of These Nights” (Eagles…had been #1 Aug. 2…not a bad week, ruined by #6 and #8, which wasn’t the Isley Brothers’ best…so it’s a B…)

College Football Quiz Answer: Coaches…250 or more wins…

Joe Paterno 409
Bobby Bowden 357
Bear Bryant 323
Pop Warner 311
Amos Alonzo Stagg 282
Nick Saban 275 (including Sat.)
Mack Brown 261 (including Sat.)
LaVell Edwards 257
Tom Osborne 255

Lou Holtz 249

I did not ‘adjust’ Bowden’s or Saban’s win totals, as the asshole NCAA has done.

Add-on up top by noon, Wed.  My schedule next three weeks is kind of screwed up so check it out midweek.

 



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Bar Chat

09/05/2022

Talkin' Baseball, College Football and Serena

Add-on posted early Wed. a.m.

MLB

--The Braves were idle on Monday, and the Mets were rained out in Pittsburgh, to be made up as part of a doubleheader Wed.

The Mets had a 10 ½-game lead on June 1, the Braves had cut it to a ½-game on July 23, the Mets built it back up to 7 on Aug. 10, and now it’s again down to one heading into Tuesday’s play.

So last night, the Mets’ self-proclaimed “World’s Greatest Power Hitter,” Pete Alonso, set the tone early, hitting into two double plays in the first three innings, and the Metsies were off and running, losing 8-2.  With the Braves holding on to beat the A’s in Oakland, 10-9, that meant the two teams are tied in the NL East with 85-51 records.

It was New York’s third straight loss against last-place teams.  Remember when I said the Mets had the easiest schedule in baseball down the stretch?

Some of us are on the verge of hari-kari.

But first, a critical day/night doubleheader in Pittsburgh today, Jacob deGrom on the mound in one.

--The other team in New York, the Yankees, beat the Twins at the Stadium Monday, 5-2, as Aaron Judge did it again, No. 54, 8 home runs in his last 11 games (15 RBIs), but then the Yanks were rained out Tuesday.

Tampa Bay then beat Boston 8-4 last night and trail the Yanks by just 4 1/2. (Toronto six back).

--For one night, the Angels had their dream result, with Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani combing for 3 home runs, six hits, four RBIs in a 10-0 win over the Tigers Monday.

Trout doubled and homered, his 30th.  Ohtani doubled and hit Nos. 31 and 32.  He now has 85 RBIs, so a second straight 100-RBI season is in reach.

Trout’s 30 are in just 95 games.  Good to see after his back issue that he still has some pop.  The big test will be the offseason and what kind of shape he’s in next spring.

The Angels won again last night, 5-4, Trout with No. 31.

--I didn’t mention last time that Albert Pujols hit No. 695, a game-winning 2-run pinch hit homer in the bottom of the eighth as the Cards beat the Cubs, 2-0.  Miles Mikolas, who is having a very fine season, 11-10, 3.32, 176 innings, threw eight scoreless for St. Louis.

So that left Albert one shy of A-Rod’s 696 for fourth on the all-time list.

Pujols went 0-for-4 Monday as the Cards were shut out by the Nationals, 6-0.  And then 0-for-1 in a pinch-hitting appearance Tuesday, St. Louis winning 4-1.

The Cards are only 5 games behind the Mets and Braves for a bye in the first round.

--Arizona’s Zac Gallen, kind of out of nowhere, has a 41 1/3 innings scoreless streak…five starts at 7+, one at six, including seven on Sunday in a 5-1 win over the Brewers.  Gallen is 11-2 on the season, 2.42.

--More than 50% of minor league players have voted to support unionizing, a big step towards joining the Major League Baseball Players Association.

“Minor league players have made it unmistakably clear they want the MLBPA to represent them and are ready to begin collective bargaining in order to positively affect the upcoming season,” MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said in a statement.

Minor leaguers need higher wages and better working conditions.

College Football

--Monday night, 4 Clemson, who many feel is vastly overrated, beat Georgia Tech 41-10 in Atlanta, but it was hardly an offensive display for the ages…386 yards, quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei 19/32, 209.  The Tigers ran it 40 times for just 127 yards.

Georgia Tech sucks so you really can’t tell if Clemson’s defense was superb.

The Tigers have Furman and Louisiana Tech before the Sept. 24 showdown at Wake Forest.  [I’m going.]

Sunday night, after I posted, it was a disastrous debut for LSU’s new $100 million coach, Brian Kelly, and it couldn’t have happened to a more worthy individual…Florida State blocking an extra point with no time remaining, giving the Seminoles a 24-23 victory, FSU with its first 2-0 start since 2016.

Florida State’s Teshaun Ward fumbled at the LSU 1 with 1:20 to go, and Tigers quarterback Jayden Daniels drove LSU 99 yards for a touchdown, with a 2-yard scoring pass to Jaray Jenkins with no time left.  It was two touchdowns for the Tigers in the final 4:07. But then they couldn’t convert.

For FSU, Jordan Travis passed for 260 yards and two touchdowns, both to Ontaria Wilson.

--In the new AP Top 25, it’s early but we did have a reversal for the second spot, Georgia replacing Ohio State.

1. Alabama 1-0 (44 first-place votes)
2. Georgia 1-0 (17)
3. Ohio State 1-0 (2)
4. Michigan 1-0…up 4
5. Clemson 1-0
8. Notre Dame 0-1
10. USC 1-0…up 4
23. Wake Forest 1-0

Not a lot of high interest games this weekend…Alabama at Texas, giving 20; 20 Kentucky at 12 Florida; USC at Stanford; and the most intriguing contest, Appalachian State at 6 Texas A&M, the Aggies favored by 18.  The Apps sure proved they have some offensive weapons, while A&M has the defense.

Wake Forest fans received surprising news Tuesday…quarterback Sam Hartman is returning this week, after what we finally learned was an issue with blood clots.  So it’s Hartman running the offense at Vanderbilt.

NFL

Sports Illustrated has the Bills over the Buccaneers in the Super Bowl.

Bills over Ravens in the AFC

Bucs over the Packers in the NFC

I’ll take the Bills.

And I’d take a 6-11 season from my Jets, as long as it was an entertaining campaign and one where we see Zach Wilson take a big step forward by season’s end, providing real hope for the future.

Otherwise, I’m out of touch with the NFL schedule this coming Sunday and won’t be reporting on it.  Personal family stuff to take care of in the Pittsburgh area.

U.S. Open

--With the departure of Serena Williams, who would take center stage at Flushing Meadows?

Try American Frances Tiafoe.  All the No. 22 seed did was take out second seed Rafael Nadal on Monday, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the fourth round to advance to the quarterfinals.  It was the first time this year that Nadal, who had been chasing a record-extending 23rd Grand Slam title, has been beaten in a major.

Tiafoe covered his face with his hands as he soaked up the cheers from the packed house at Arthur Ashe Stadium after breaking Nadal for a fifth time to claim the huge upset.

“I don’t even know what to say right now, I’m beyond happy, I’m almost in tears,” Tiafoe said.  “I can’t believe it.  He is definitely one of the greatest of all time. I played unbelievable tennis today but I really don’t know what happened.”

For his part, Nadal had a very poor serving game, with nine double faults and just 33 winners to Tiafoe’s 48.  The loss snapped Rafa’s streak of 17 straight majors where he reached the quarterfinals or better. He won at the Australian and French Opens before withdrawing with an abdominal injury before his semifinal at Wimbledon.

Tiafoe, 24, was born in Maryland to parents from Sierra Leone and took up tennis while his father worked as a custodian at Junior Tennis Champions Center in suburban Washington, D.C.

Next up is Russian Andrey Rublev in the quarters on Wed.

Earlier in the fourth round, Nick Kyrgios, seeded 23rd, upset No. 1 Daniil Medvedev in four sets, Kyrgios his usual weird self.

So late tonight he faced Russia’s Karen Khachanov, and Kyrgios lost in five, in a match taking 3 hours and 39 minutes.  Kyrgios threw a fit at the end, smashing two rackets on the court – breaking both – before exiting the stadium.

In other fourth round matches Monday, 3 Carlos Alcaraz won a 5-set marathon against 15 Marin Cilic.

5 Casper Ruud of Norway took out 13 Matteo Berrettini in straight sets to advance to the semis.

On the women’s side, No. 1 Iga Swiatek took out Julie Niemeier, and 6 Aryna Sabalenka defeated 19-seed Danielle Collins of the U.S., Swiatek and Sabalenka on to the quarters.

And then Tuesday night, 12 Coco Gauff saw her run end in the quarterfinals, losing 6-3, 6-4 to 17 Caroline Garcia of France.

--Australia’s Margaret Court commented on her 24 grand slams and Serena Williams’ 23.

“Serena, I’ve admired her as a player,” Court, 80, told Britain’s Daily Telegraph in a rare interview. “But I don’t think she has ever admired me.”

Court said she has become persona non grata because of her Christian beliefs, which led her to oppose same-sex marriage when it was proposed in Australia.

Court did have a superior record to Williams after they became mothers during their careers.

It’s just a fact, Serena hasn’t won a Slam since 2017, after having a baby.  Yes, Serena won her last one, the Australian Open, while two months pregnant with daughter Olympia, but Court won three out of four Slams after having her first child.

But seriously, you have never heard Serena praise Margaret Court.  And that’s frankly classic Serena.

Golf Balls

--The first three LIV Golf events in London, Portland and Bedminster hardly provided much drama, but in Boston Sunday, fans got some…a three-way playoff between Dustin Johnson and newcomers Anirban Lahiri and Joaquin Niemann, with Johnson rattling home a 35-foot eagle putt on the first extra hole to win the $4 million first place check.

DJ hadn’t won since the 2021 Saudi Invitational.

Cam Smith finished T4 in his LIV debut.

Phil Mickelson continued his stellar play, finishing +2, T40…a mere 17 shots off the lead.

Sihwan Kim, who opened with an 87…87!...then shot 63-76…+16, or 31 shots back of the leaders…but pocketed $120,000.  Or that’s $120,000 deducted from his advance…we still don’t know the true details of the LIV golfers’ contracts.

Next up Chicago, Sept. 16-18.

--With Cam Smith, Niemann, Lahiri, Marc Leishman, Harold Varner III and Cameron Tringale suspended by the PGA Tour once they teed it up in Boston, that opened up PGA Tour cards for six players: Matt Wallace, Austin Smotherman, Justin Lower, Doc Redman, Danny Willett and Kelly Kraft, each now positioned at Nos. 120-125 on the points list.

--At a press conference prior to the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, England (headquarters of the DP World Tour), Billy Horschel went off on those LIV golfers who are in the event, saying they are “hypocritical” in chasing ranking points having never shown any interest in the event before.

“Even though Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter have been stalwarts for the European Tour, I don’t think those guys really should be here.

“I honestly don’t think that the American guys who haven’t supported the Tour should be here.  Abraham Ancer, Talor Gooch.…you’ve never played this tournament, you’ve never supported the DP World Tour. Why are you here?

“You are here for one reason only and that’s to try to get world ranking points because you don’t have it (on LIV Golf)….

“It’s hypocritical because of what some of these guys have said when they said they wanted to play less golf,” Horschel continued.  “It’s pretty hypocritical to come over here and play outside LIV when your big thing was to spend more time with family and want to play less golf.”

Yup, this tournament is going to be a real tension convention.

--We note the passing of Herb Kohler Jr., a man who oversaw the expansion of his family’s plumbing and manufacturing business into a worldwide leader in the industry while also becoming a huge figure in the world of golf.

“His zest for life, adventure and impact inspires all of us,” his family said in a statement released on Sunday.  “We traveled together, celebrated together, and worked together.  He was all in, all the time, leaving an indelible mark on how we live our lives today and carry on his legacy.”

Born in Chicago in 1939, Kohler first went to work for the family’s company, founded by his grandfather Michael Kohler in 1873, shortly after finishing college at Yale University in 1965.  Four years after the passing of his father, Herb Sr., in 1968, Kohler Jr. took over as CEO and added the president’s title in 1974.  He served in both roles until 2015, when his son David became the fourth generation Kohler to run the company and Herb Jr. became the executive chairman.  According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Kohler grew the business from a $133 million operation to a firm that took in nearly $6 billion in annual revenue in 2015.

Kohler then developed a passion for golf, including as a businessman, and basically single-handedly turned Sheboygan County in his adopted home state of Wisconsin as a premier golf destination with the development of The American Club resort in 1981 and the building of two, 36-hole golf facilities: Blackwolf Run, and Whistling Straits.  The Straits course has hosted three PGA championships and last year’s Ryder Cup.

Kohler also purchased the Old Course Hotel in St. Andrews, Scotland, adjacent to the Road Hole on the Old Course.

Kohler once told Golf Digest’s Jerry Tarde, “You think I’m in the plumbing business.  I’m in the fashion business.”

NASCAR

--Sunday night, the 10-race NASCAR Cup Series playoffs got underway at Darlington Raceway (S.C.), and Erik Jones pulled away from Denny Hamlin after a final restart to win the opener.

Hamlin, seeded sixth, closed in on Jones’ on the final lap but couldn’t make the winning pass.  It was Jones’ second career win at Darlington and third NASCAR victory.  And it was the 200th win by the iconic No. 43 car, with most of them tied to Richard Petty.

Jones also became the first non-playoff driver to win the opener in NASCAR’s 10-race run to a title.

Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick had a scary situation as his car, running in the top-5, suddenly caught fire, underneath the right front tire.  As he continued driving, more and more smoke was flowing out from underneath and filling up the cockpit.

Harvick – one of the 16 playoff drivers – quickly dropped to the inside of the track and pulled over as the flames continued growing, and he luckily exited the car just seconds before the whole thing burst into flames.  Almost as soon as he climbed out the window, flames engulfed the driver’s side, as well as the right side.

It’s unclear exactly what ignited the flames, though Harvick said he thought his rocker panel was on fire.

But this is far from the first time one of the Next-Gen cars have been on fire this season, and multiple drivers have expressed concerns about the car and its safety, particularly with them reporting notably harder impacts.

Afterward, Harvick told NBC Sports:

“I’m sure it’s just the crappy parts on the race car, like we’ve seen so many times. We haven’t fixed anything… We just let it keep going and keep going.  And the car started burning, and as it burned, the flames started coming through the dash.”

--Bubba Wallace, who was driving the No. 23 for his 23XI Racing Toyota team, co-owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin, is in the No. 45 for the playoffs.  The No. 45 was driven by Kurt Busch, who is out indefinitely with concussion-like symptoms, and the car was eligible for the owners’ championship heading into the playoffs, so Wallace, who didn’t qualify in the No. 23, takes over for his teammate.

Busch, off his win at Kansas in May, had qualified for both playoffs, but withdrew due to his injury, suffered at Pocono in a crash July 23.  The owners’ championship is significant because it is used to determine year-end prize money distribution and other monetary bonuses.

Not for nuthin’, but it’s kind of serious Kurt Busch has been out this long.  This was obviously no simple concussion.  We hope he recovers soon.

Meanwhile, Wallace finished ninth…solid.

Stuff

--A 51-year-old French woman was bitten by a shark off the coast of Maui on Saturday afternoon, with officers responding to the beach area of Pa’ia Bay on the island’s north shore at approximately 4:09 p.m.

Upon arriving to the scene, the officers saw that bystanders had already brought the 51-year-old to shore and attended to her wounds until medical and fire personnel took over.

The victim had reportedly been swimming and possibly snorkeling in murky water approximately 100 yards from shore before the incident.

She was taken to hospital in critical condition.

--And then we had a tragedy in the Bahamas on Tuesday.  A cruise ship passenger from Pennsylvania was killed by a shark while snorkeling with a group of five to seven relatives when a bull shark attacked her shortly after 2 p.m. at Green Cay, Royal Bahamas Police said at a news conference.

The woman, 58, had no vital signs after the attack.

Family members, along with a tour operator, pulled her from the water.

The victim was a passenger on the Royal Caribbean ship, Harmony of the Seas.

An abbreviated Bar Chat will be posted Sunday morning.

-----

Brief Add-on up top by noon, Wed.

College Football Quiz: Nine coaches have 250 or more ‘major college’ wins in the history of the game.  I’ll give you Pop Warner and Amos Alonzo Stagg.  Name the other seven, all modern era.  Answer below.

MLB

--The Mets, having beaten the Dodgers 2 of 3 last week at Citi Field, entered the final month of the season with the easiest schedule in MLB, starting off with a three-game series against the Nationals.  They won the first one Friday, 7-3, but had a dismal 7-1 loss last night, as Max Scherzer took himself out after five innings (one run) for what he described as left-side fatigue, the same side where he suffered an oblique injury that kept him out seven weeks.

Scherzer’s the grizzled veteran who knows his body better than the Mets’ staff does, and after, Mad Max didn’t seem too concerned.

But as noted last week, the Mets’ DH-duo of Darin Ruf and Daniel Vogelbach is absolutely killing us and management needs to bring in a couple guys from AAA.

Meanwhile, the Braves keep applying the heat and after Saturday’s 2-1 win over the Marlins, trail the Metsies by just two games.

Mets 85-49
Braves 83-51

And then the depression set in….as the Mets, channeling the Yankees’ pathetic bats, lost again by the same score, 7-1.  Us fans are growing weary of the likes of Pete Alonso, the self-proclaimed “World’s Greatest Power Hitter” who has 3 freakin’ homers in his last 30 games! Step up your game, Pete!  [Where Pete has excelled the last 60 days or so is he on the air constantly having cashed in on all kinds of endorsements.]

Of course the Braves won…after a long rain delay…so the Metsies’ lead is down to one game. [Atlanta is up 5-1 bottom of the eighth and assuming they win it as I post.]

To paraphrase the warden in “Cool Hand Luke,” Buck Showalter’s boys better get their minds right.

--Speaking of the Yankees, they traveled to Tampa Bay for a critical 3-game series against the Rays, their lead down to six games (from 15 ½ on July 8).  And Friday night, the Rays blew them out 9-0…lead cut to five.

“That’s an embarrassing loss,” said an increasingly angry manager, Aaron Boone.  “Hopefully, one of those rock bottom situations, where you should be pissed off and embarrassed.  We’ve set a better standard around here.  We just got to be better. Period.”

The Yanks had the best record at the All-Star break and were 15-25 since heading into Saturday night’s game.

New York’s offense has been beyond pathetic, down to literally Aaron Judge…and, err, Aaron Judge.  Who teams walk half the time, for good reason.

More embarrassment Saturday, Yanks losing 2-1, just 3 hits, one an Aaron Judge home run in the ninth, his 52nd.  Lead down to four.

The Yankees are 18-31 since starting out 61-23.  They are 9-20 since the trade deadline, scoring three runs or fewer in 20 of those.

Well, the bats were silent this afternoon, save for Judge, of course, who went 3-for-5, his 53rd home run, and the only two runs scored, but the team got good pitching for the 2-1 win, the lead back to five, as they barely survived a Rays ninth-inning rally.  A massive ‘W.’

--I told you when the trade went down, Jordan Montgomery to the Cardinals, that the Yankees were idiots.

And indeed they are as on Friday night, Montgomery threw six shutout innings in an 8-0 win over the Cubs, improving to 5-0 with a 1.47 ERA since being acquired from New York on Aug. 2.

As for Harrison Bader, the speedy centerfielder the Yanks acquired for Montgomery, he hasn’t gotten on the field, as he continues to rehab a foot injury (plantar fasciitis).

--Back to the Braves, like probably just about every baseball fan in America, I was shocked that when on Thursday, Atlanta’s Spencer Strider struck out 16 in eight innings of a 3-0 win over the Rockies, that was a franchise record for the Atlanta era.  [Warren Spahn struck out 18 in a 15-inning game when it was the Boston Braves in a game in 1952.]

John Smoltz struck out 15 twice and Spahn 15, and that’s it.

The rookie Strider improved to 9-4, 2.67, with a stupendous 174 strikeouts in 114 2/3.

College Football

We had the first big weekend of the season….

And college football fans know it always takes three weeks to get a true picture of the top teams, and whether their preseason ranking was warranted.

Well after Week One…we can book defending champion Georgia into the final four.  Last year’s CFP final MVP, quarterback Stetson Bennett, was a cool 25/31, 368, 2-0, as the No. 3 Bulldogs whipped up on 11 Oregon, 49-3.   And Georgia has a cupcake schedule.  So we will see y’all on New Year’s Eve!

No. 1 Alabama is obviously likely to be playing New Year’s Eve as well, the Tide blasting Utah State 55-0, as Heisman winner Bryce Young threw five touchdowns and ran for 100 yards, ‘Bama outgaining the Aggies 559-136.

But unlike Georgia, Alabama does have Texas A&M and an away game at Arkansas on its schedule, so a little more of a test before its SEC title game against Georgia.

Speaking of 6 A&M, they manhandled Sam Houston 31-0.

And 19 Arkansas had an important 31-24 win over 23 Cincinnati.

Lots of folks have already written off the Pac-12, yet another season, with not only Oregon losing big, but also No. 7 Utah, falling 29-26 at Florida.

But maybe 14 USC emerges as a power again.  In their first game under new coach Lincoln Riley, the Trojans ran all over Rice, 66-14. 

Now the Owls are hardly a great opponent, but observers (I wasn’t one) say the Trojans and all their big transfers played an exciting brand of ball not seen during the “drudgery of Clay Helton, the darkness of Steve Sarkisian, (and) the craziness of Lane Kiffin,” as the L.A. Times’ Bill Plaschke put it, “all of it disappearing in a three-hour throwback to Pete Carroll.”  [I slightly edited Plaschke’s comments.]

Speaking of the transfers, Oklahoma transfer QB Caleb Williams was all he was cranked up to be, 19/22, 249, 2-0 through the air, 68 yards rushing, with two of his primary targets last year’s teammate Mario Williams, and Pitt transfer Jordan Addison, along with USC holdover Tahj Washington. 

For good reason, the excitement could really be back.

In another big game last night, 2 Ohio State staked its early case for the final four, 21-10 over 5 Notre Dame, which after a solid start, and a 10-7 lead at the half in Columbus, saw its offense stall out, the Irish punting on their last six possessions.

Not that the Buckeyes were a juggernaut on offense themselves.  For a while it was looking like Mr. NIL*, C.J. Stroud, had laid an egg, and he had perhaps his worst game, at least in yards per attempt (6.6), going 24/34 but for just 223, two touchdown passes.

*Stroud handed out $500 gift cards to Express for teammates to buy suits ahead of the game.

“I just wanted to do something for the team,” Stroud said.  “So I got everybody $500 gift cards to go to Express, get y’all own suits, man, make sure you’re looking fly.”

He’s a brand ambassador, you see.  Just remember, C.J., the NFL is not impressed with this stuff.  Just focus on winning.

Finally in the top ten, 8 Michigan rolled over Colorado State 51-7; 9 Oklahoma whipped UTEP 45-13; and 10 Baylor blasted Albany of the Colonial Athletic Association, 69-10.  Albany does have one of the better names in college sports, the Great Danes.

In other games of note….

--17 Pitt squeaked out an amazing 38-31 win over West Virginia in Pittsburgh, Thursday, in a renewal of the Backyard Brawl (after a 10-year hiatus).

Pitt cornerback MJ Devonshire snagging a pass that caromed off the hands of a WVU receiver and racing 56 yards to the end zone with 2:58 remaining as the Panthers rallied for the win.

The game featured the debut of two well-worn QBs from other institutions.  Kedon Slovis started for Pitt after three years at USC, where he basically regressed after a very good freshman season.

And for West Virginia, JT Daniels, who had four years at USC and Georgia.

--Also Thursday, Penn State beat Purdue on the road, 35-31, both unranked, but sixth-year Nittany Lion QB Sean Clifford hooked up with Keyvone Lee on a 10-yard score with 57 seconds left for the win, the kind that can save a season early in conference.

Purdue’s Aidan O’Connell, who had a good year for the Boilermakers last season, 71.6%, 28-11 TD/INT, needed 58 passes for 356 yards, which isn’t good.

--Saturday, 13 North Carolina State was lucky to escape an upset, edging East Carolina in Greenville, N.C., 21-20, only because ECU kicker Owen Daffer missed an extra point try (so badly, you just can’t believe it) that would’ve knotted up the game at 21-21 with three minutes left and then pushed wide right the potential game-winning field goal in the final seconds.

So Mr. Daffer is probably walking around campus in disguise, or taking his classes remotely.

--Rutgers had a nice opening win at Boston College, 22-21, as the Scarlet Knights had a terrific 12-play, 96-yard drive for the winning score.  B.C. quarterback Phil Jurkovec, as those announcing the game kept pointing out, really needs to work on his footwork, which was awful.

I do have to add the Eagles’ Zay Flowers is going to be a terrific NFL player.  He caught 10 passes for 117 yards, and he can run the ball as well.

--Some of us watched an amazing game in Boone, N.C., as North Carolina beat Appalachian State 63-61, and this didn’t go into overtime.

UNC scored 34 straight points in the second and third quarters to take a 41-21 lead, after falling behind 21-7, which is when I picked up the game, and then the two teams combined for 62 points in the fourth quarter, one shy of the FBS record of 63 points in one quarter, the Apps scoring 40!

Understand there were nine touchdowns in the final quarter.  Nine!

But I have to admit, towards the end I was thinking, yeah, this is exciting, I guess, but where the hell is the defense…on both sides.  It was almost farcical.  And the Apps royally blew it when they went for a two-point conversion, trailing 56-55, 0:31 remaining, and quarterback Chase Brice’s toss in the endzone to Dashaun Davis was totally misplayed by Davis, embarrassingly so.  That was all she wrote.

Oh, we then had two more touchdowns in the final 0:31, as Carolina stupidly didn’t just fall on the onsides kick attempt and ran it in for a TD, making it 63-55.

As in they gave App State a final chance to go down the field, the Apps did, and this time Chase Brice was stopped trying to run in the two-point conversion for a tie and OT.

Entertaining, no doubt.  Good football?  Not quite, in my estimation.  [Others are calling it the Game of the Century, at least in the state of North Carolina.]

--Coastal Carolina lost a lot of talent off its 2021 squad that went 11-2 (22-3 the last two seasons), but they retain solid quarterback Grayson McCall and Johnny Mac’s Chanticleers defeated Army in Conway (Myrtle Beach), S.C. , 38-28.

Remember, guys, this being Myrtle, don’t forget to tip the barmaids, they work hard too!

--Lastly, on Thursday, my No. 22 Wake Forest Demon Deacons opened their campaign at home against VMI and we got to see Sam Hartman’s replacement at quarterback, Mitch Griffis.  He was solid, 21/29, 288, 3-0.  We’ll see…Vanderbilt and Liberty next, before a huge test, Clemson at home.

Are we legitimate ACC title contenders?  We’ll know soon enough.  But win the next two, Deacs!

--The biggest story in college football the last few days, though, was the vote from university presidents to expand the College Football Playoff from four to 12 teams no later than the 2026 season, possibly as early as 2024.

The presidents approved the original 12-team proposal that called for the six highest-ranked conference champions and six at-large picks, as determined by a selection committee, to make the playoff.  The top four seeds would be conference champions and receive byes into the second round.

First-round games would be played on campus and the rest at bowl sites.

Lots of issues to be hammered out, including sorting out television contracts, such as the CFP’s current 12-year contract with ESPN, and like it’s kind of silly spending that much time on the topic until 2024.

I long wanted an expansion to eight…the Power Five champions, a Group of Five bid, and two at-large.

NFL

--The New York Post’s Emily Smith had the exclusive that Tom Brady’s problem, the one that caused the 11-day absence from training camp, was related to a big spat with wife Gisele Bundchen.

The Post’s Page Six revealed Bundchen left the family compound in Tampa, Fla., for Costa Rica following a series of heated arguments over Brady’s shock decision to un-retire from the NFL.

“Sources say Brady, 45, is taking care of his and Bundchen’s children, Benjamin, 14, and Vivian, 9, plus Jack, his 15-year-old son with ex Bridget Moynahan.

“A source told us of Brady, ‘He’s very sad at the moment.  Friends know they’ve had a serious disagreement this time.

“ ‘It seems that Gisele gets mad and says things like she’s leaving him, but in the past, they’ve always made up.  But maybe this time it is more serious.

“ ‘He’s with the kids, and is just trying to be super dad.’

“Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen have been butting heads recently over his lack of attention to their kids.”

Well, I believed a local sports radio guy, former Giant Tiki Barber, when he said Brady’s issues were business related and serious.

But Brady told us what was going down, just reading between the lines, when he returned from his absence and said: “It’s all personal…everyone’s got different situations they’re dealing with. We all have really unique challenges to our life.  I’m 45 years old, man. That’s a lot of shit going on.”

--Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos agreed to a five-year contract extension worth $245 million, including $165 million guaranteed.  Wilson had two years and $51 million remaining on his previous deal and now is under contract with the Broncos for the next seven seasons for $296 million.  He turns 34 in November.

So Wilson’s extension runs through the 2028 season, during which he will turn 40.  He was a nine-time Pro Bowl selection in 10 seasons with the Seahawks, helping them to a Super Bowl title in the 2013 season.

The Broncos’ new ownership group, led by Walmart heir Rob Walton, purchased the franchise from the Pat Bowlen Trust for $4.65 billion, the record sale price for an NFL team.

Golf Balls

--The PGA Tour players who had been suspended indefinitely by the Tour have had their memberships revoked for the 2022-23 season.

The letters were sent to Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, and all the other PGA Tour players who had not resigned their membership when first playing the LIV Golf tournaments.

Mickelson has said he believed his lifetime membership, due to having won a minimum of 20 tournaments, was earned and that he shouldn’t have had to relinquish it.

But the letter written by Kirsten Burgess, the Tour’s vice president, competition administration, reads:

“The terms of your contractual commitments to LIV Golf prohibit you from satisfying the material obligations set forth in the regulations and make clear that you have no intention to, and indeed cannot comply with these requirements of membership in the PGA Tour.

“The Tour cannot enter into a membership agreement with a player when, as here, it reasonably anticipates the players will not perform the material obligations under that agreement.  Accordingly, your PGA Tour membership cannot and will not be renewed for the 2022-2023 PGA Tour season.”

--In a phone interview with Sports Illustrated’s Bob Harig Thursday, Phil Mickelson said the changes fans and players will see on the PGA Tour would not have occurred without a threat, whether it was LIV Golf or some other entity.  He also sees a scenario where this disruptive year all works out for everyone in golf.

SI: What was your reaction to the announcement last week that the PGA Tour is going to require the top players to compete in specific events and ask them to play in more of them?

PM: Well, they are getting a lot for it.  So I’m extremely happy that the top players are being listened to and that their input is being valued.  And that those events are coming about.

SI: Is there any sense of vindication for you after this?

PM: I don’t think vindication is what I would say.  I would say I’m generally happy that the top players who are really driving the Tour and creating the interest are being listened to.  And what they are doing for the Tour is being valued now.  I’m happy to see that happen.

SI: Could these changes – had they emerged a year ago, two years ago – swayed your thinking on the viability of a startup league?

PM: It was stated very clearly that nothing was going to happen.  Unless there was leverage, nothing was going to change. And all players should be appreciative of what LIV is doing. The players on LIV for the opportunity they are getting. And the PGA Tour for the leverage that was provided to get these changes done.

SI: Have you heard from any players either to thank you or to acknowledge that you had some underlying points that were valid?

PM: Yes, numerous. And I’m very appreciative.  They are from both sides. I think players on both sides of LIV and the PGA Tour are appreciative of what is happening.  Every player is benefiting.

SI: You are undoubtedly aware of the players meeting at the BMW Championship led by Tiger and Rory. Did anything like that ever occur to that degree with you?

PM: No, despite multiple efforts by multiple players.  No.  I don’t think anything like that would have happened without the leverage that LIV Golf as provided.

SI: Do you fear that your legacy is being impacted in any way?

PM: I feel that my legacy is being built right now.  The changes that professional golf are going through I believe are in the best interest for the fans and the players…. It hurts to see so much hostility and negativity, for sure. I really believe in the end it’s going to be worth it and I think in the long run everyone is going to come out ahead.

SI: Are you concerned that the major championships might attempt to keep LIV players from competing in them?

PM: I really don’t think that’s going to happen.  I believe that the leaders of the majors are really brilliant people who love the game of golf.  And I believe they understand how not having many of the top players in the world undermines their events.  And how that would hurt the game of golf.

SI: How important are world ranking points and when can they reasonably be added to LIV events?

PM: Given how many great players are a part of LIV, for LIV events to not have world ranking points would totally undermine the world ranking system.  And would force a new world ranking system to come about that was credible. I believe that the world golf rankings organization (OWGR) realizes that and will give world ranking points to LIV events.

SI: It’s been reported that the OWGR sometimes requires a new tour to be in operation for at least a year.

PM: How would delaying it benefit the world golf rankings?  I don’t see how it benefits them.  I don’t see how it benefits the majors because some of the top players might not be in the majors.

--Fred Couples, responding to Cameron Smith’s reasoning for leaving the tour, that he had missed too many friends’ weddings, birthday parties and seeing your mates having a great time at rugby league games:

“To all my friends who I missed birthdays & weddings, so sorry, I was busy earning a living on the @pgatour and in my line of work the goal is to EARN your way to work weekends.  And by weekends I mean 72 holes.  Sorry not sorry.”

--Gary Player, in his latest rant, sounded off against LIV Golf.  The nine-time major winner even called for those breakaways to be banned from the majors.

“I wouldn’t take a billion dollars for my nine majors on both tours,” Player said.  “I worked hard.  I had desire.  I traveled the world. It was an education.  I met wonderful people.

“How can you ever be a champion playing a tour with 54 holes and no cut?  What sort of tour is that? Fifty-four holes, no cut, a team event nobody understands.  It’s a tour for people who don’t have confidence in their future.  They don’t have the confidence they can be winners.  It’s never going to compare to the regular tour.  No chance.”

“They’ve declared war on the PGA Tour,” Player added.  “They must not expect to play in the Ryder Cup, the Presidents Cup, play in the majors and all those things.  You can’t have your cake and eat it.  That’s the bed you’ve chosen, that’s the bed you’ve got to lie in.”

Asked whether LIV could overtake the PGA Tour as the top circuit, Player responded: “Not even a chance.”

Player also went after Cam Smith:

“Here’s a young man I really thought was going to be a superstar.  Now, what sort of future does he have?  Will he be able to realize this great dream of being a champion? I don’t know.  I don’t blame [Henrik] Stenson for going.  He had no money, so he had to go.  But this is a potential superstar.  I think his advisors have given him the wrong advice.”

Yup, on this last point, that’s what I said months ago.

--Next week’s BMW PGA Championship, the richest event on the DP World Tour, is going to be a bigtime tension convention, with 19 LIV golfers slated to play.  Make that 18, as Martin Kaymer pulled out.

“Of course, there will be friction there, that’s why I’m not going,” Kaymer told Golf Digest on Thursday.  “I don’t need to go to a place where, feel-wise, you’re not that welcome.  They don’t say it, but [it’s there].”

No, Martin, they ARE saying it.  DP World Tour mainstays Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell and Sergio Garcia will hear it, either from the fans or the players.

--Here’s the bottom line for now.  LIV Golf is not getting World Golf Ranking points and we await the decision from those running the four majors as to whether LIV golfers can participate.  Since they won’t be accumulating ranking points, only those who are past champions and those who qualify through their finishes in the majors last year (like top 12 finishers being exempt for the following event) should be allowed to play.  I think all golf fans would accept that.

The other thing, LIV Golf is obviously going nowhere without a television contract. Fewer than 75,000 hopped on YouTube for the final round of LIV’s third event at Trump Bedminster, or at least 10 times smaller an audience than a weekday round at the weakest PGA Tour event on the schedule and nowhere close to the numbers compiled by the LPGA, as John Hawkins of SI.com pointed out.

--But I was following the leaderboard at this week’s LIV event in Boston, because I wanted to report on it, and I saw that Lahiri, Dustin Johnson and Joaquin Niemann were headed to a playoff.

And then the website went out!

Not that anyone except the players and their wives gives a s---.

Serena’s Swan Song

After the Mets game was over Friday night, I switched over to Serena Williams’ third-round match against Ajla Tomljanovic at Arthur Ashe Stadium, having tuned in from time to time, as she battled back from losing the first set to tie, forcing a third.  It was 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), but Tomljanovic beat Serena 6-1 in the third.

The crowd was electric, chants that turned into pleas for Williams to stay on the court for as long as she could and the final set/game will be remembered by tennis cognoscenti forever.

In the seventh and final game, Williams staved off five match points and gave it everything she had left to prolong the three-hour-plus match before Tomljanovic finished it off.

“I think, honestly, what I’ll remember most is that my level was coming back,” Williams said after with pride in her voice.  “I think I’m really grateful for that.  It’s great to be playing at such a high level, somehow improving. I don’t know how at my age.

“But I just honestly am so grateful that I had this moment and that I’m Serena, so…”

Mike Lupica / New York Daily News

“At the very end, about to lose the last six games of the match, what she says is her last match at the U.S. Open or anywhere else, Serena Williams tried to be young one last time at Arthur Ashe Stadium.  It had come down to this, three hours into her match against a younger woman named Ajla Tomljanovic: One of the great tennis players this country has ever produced, one of the great American stories in any sport, was trying to fight off one more match point, get just one more game.

“She was trying to make this the kind of moment Jimmy Connors had in 1991, when he came out of nowhere to make it to the semis at the Open at which he turned 39.  In the second week that year, as he had once again forgotten what year it was and was rocking old Louis Armstrong Stadium again, his friend Ilie Nastase watched and listened and said, ‘Jimmy has what we all want: One more time.’

“Only now Serena, on a night when she had sprayed forehands all over Ashe and sometimes all the way across Roosevelt Ave. to the Mets game at Citi Field, was out of time, about to bury one more tired forehand into the net.  So Serena would not get the Super Bowl that Tom Brady got when he was 43.  She would not get one more green jacket, the way Tiger Woods did when he was 43 himself, or the one Jack Nicklaus got when he was 46.

“ ‘It was a fun ride,’ she would say to the crowd at Ashe when it was over, another Open crowd trying to lift her and carry her across the finish line, giving her the most love she had gotten back from tennis, here or anywhere else.

“But the crowd couldn’t make the kid who had come out of Compton, Calif., continue to write the ending for herself that would have made this, a week down the road, maybe in one more Open final, the biggest moment in American tennis history.  It couldn’t make her young. She couldn’t make herself young, in the longest match she’d ever played at the Open, one she needed to have shortened when she should have put the second set away earlier than she did.”

I have covered Serena’s entire career in this space. She wasn’t always a gracious champion.

As Lupica put it:

“She had the biggest serve and the biggest game and a personality to match. Sometimes she had shouted over it all, obscuring her own greatness in the process. She once threatened to shove a tennis ball down the throat of an Open lineswoman who had called a foot fault on her, and got defaulted out of an Open semi on match point.  Serena did so much to ruin Naomi Osaka’s victory over her – Osaka’s moment – in the ’18 Open when she got into an argument with the chair umpire.

“So in addition to her own power and genius, she had some Connors in her, too, and some McEnroe.  In the modern world of tennis, that was American, too.”

Serena did leave the door open Friday night for perhaps one more tournament.  You could see she sincerely knew she blew it in not playing more coming into the Open.  It’s like everyone knows, including Tiger himself, that he needs to play in a few regular events before he tees it up at the Masters next spring (if he’s able physically to do so).  Williams knows she could still compete against the best, she beat the No. 2 seed after all, but you can’t just turn it on and compete at the high level for the seven matches required to get to the finals without more practice.

For now, in the end Serena and Venus won 30 major singles titles (Venus 7).

Lupica:

“(The two) lifted up women’s tennis, they inspired young players, especially young players of color.  It was a fitting thing on this Friday that in the late afternoon, at the end of this week that had so much about the past, there was Coco Gauff, African-American teenager, putting on a dazzling display against Madison Keys, another African-America.  Who had once lost a U.S. Open final to yet another African-American player, Sloane Stephens. It is why, if this is goodbye for her, to measure her impact and her older sister’s just in terms of the numbers.

“Theirs hasn’t just been a remarkable tennis story.  It has been a remarkable American story.”

--Meanwhile, as I post…on the men’s side, 1 Daniil Medvedev (playing fourth round tonight against Nick Kyrgios…highly interesting matchup), 2 Rafael Nadal, and 3 Carlos Alcaraz got thru their third round matches.

5 Casper Ruud got through his fourth-round match this afternoon.

For the women, 1-seed Iga Swiatek and 12 Coco Gauff are still around.

And just in…Gauff won her fourth-round match vs. China’s Shual Zhang, 7-5, 7-5.

Just an observation…I’ve been trying to figure out the uniforms worn by the ball boys/girls…Green, Blue and Red.  So I looked at my world map with flags and I thought it was South Africa’s colors…but they most resemble the flag of Azerbaijan!  Ding ding ding!

Someone tell me why they are not just a solid color; or red, white and blue in some combination thereof.  Then again, I’ve never been a man of fashion, doing the best things so conservatively…as the Kinks sang.

Premier League

We have had a ton of action, with both midweek and weekend games for all the teams, and now, thanks to the upcoming World Cup, the crush continues with first-round Champions League contests Tuesday and Wednesday.

In games of note this week, Aston Villa was able to get a point at home against Manchester City, 1-1, Erling Haaland scoring his 10th in six games.  Everton handed Liverpool another draw, 0-0.

And today, Manchester United, off to the abysmal start that had even Elon Musk joking (kind of) he was going to buy the team, picked up its fourth straight ‘W’ in handing Arsenal its first loss, 3-1, with new United signee Antony (no relation to Antony Blinken) scoring in his debut, Marcus Rashford with the other two.

And while the following is only six games in (of 38)…it’s kind of fascinating.

1. Arsenal 15 points (5-0-1…W-D-L…)
2. Manchester City 14
3. Tottenham 14…the Spurs doing it without a single goal from Son Heung-min. [Son, with 23 goals last season, co-league leader with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah.]
4. Brighton 13…Champions League line
5. Manchester United 12
6. Chelsea 10
7. Liverpool 9 (2-3-1)…rather shocking

But as big a story, potentially, is the godawful start by Leicester City, the startling champions of the 2015-16 season, the greatest team sports upset of all time.

Leicester is at the bottom…20th…with just one point (0-1-5).

Turn it around, boys.

Stuff

--The Knicks and their fans didn’t get their wish.  Donovan Mitchell is not going to New York.  Instead, Cleveland pulled the trigger, sending forward Lauri Markkanen, guard Collin Sexton and ex-Kansas star Ochai Agbaji, plus three unprotected first-round picks and two pick swaps (all five 2025-2029) for Mitchell.

Well, considering what Cleveland gave up, which was greater than the package the Knicks were willing to part with, I think the Knicks did the right thing.  Their core is now RJ Barrett, Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson, with young potential stars in Obi Toppin, Immanuel Quickley, Quincy Grimes and Mitchell Robinson.  They’ve only really added Brunson this offseason, but he was a huge addition at point.

--Many a winter night, when one of my favorite teams isn’t playing, I turn to YouTube and put on an Earnie Shavers or Ron Lyle fight, the two being two of the hardest punchers in the heavyweight game back in the division’s golden era, the 1970s.

Shavers died at the age of 78 on Wednesday, cause unknown, but he had some great fights, 74-14-1 throughout his career, with 68 of those wins coming via KO.

Earnie was one tough out, fighting in two heavyweight title fights, but suffering defeats in each.  In 1977, he lost to Muhammad Ali for the WBA and WBC belts at Madison Square Garden via unanimous decision, Ali saying after: “Earnie hit me so hard, it shook my kinfolk in Africa.”

In 1979, Shavers lost to Larry Holmes in Las Vegas for the WBC heavyweight title, the second of his two career losses to Holmes.

Lyle, who defeated Shavers in 1975, said after the bout: “Hey man, that’s the hardest I’ve ever been hit in my life.  And George Foreman could punch, but none of them could hit like Earnie Shavers did.  When he hit you, the lights went out.  I can laugh about it now, but at the time, it wasn’t funny.”

Shavers’ signature win came over Ken Norton via first round knockout in 1979.  Look it up.  Great example of how good Howard Cosell was at his craft as well.

RIP, Earnie.  You provided some of us fans of that era with a lot of thrills.

Top 3 songs for the week 9/6/75:  #1 “Rhinestone Cowboy” (Glen Campbell)  #2 “Fallin’ In Love” (Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds)  #3 “Get Down Tonight” (K.C. & The Sunshine Band)…and…#4 “At Seventeen” (Janis Ian…great tune, albeit a bit dark…)  #5 “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” (James Taylor)  #6 “Jive Talkin’” (Bee Gees)  #7 “Fame” (David Bowie)  #8 “Fight The Power, Part I” (The Isley Brothers)  #9 “Could It Be Magic” (Barry Manilow)  #10 “One Of These Nights” (Eagles…had been #1 Aug. 2…not a bad week, ruined by #6 and #8, which wasn’t the Isley Brothers’ best…so it’s a B…)

College Football Quiz Answer: Coaches…250 or more wins…

Joe Paterno 409
Bobby Bowden 357
Bear Bryant 323
Pop Warner 311
Amos Alonzo Stagg 282
Nick Saban 275 (including Sat.)
Mack Brown 261 (including Sat.)
LaVell Edwards 257
Tom Osborne 255

Lou Holtz 249

I did not ‘adjust’ Bowden’s or Saban’s win totals, as the asshole NCAA has done.

Add-on up top by noon, Wed.  My schedule next three weeks is kind of screwed up so check it out midweek.