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12/11/2023
Ohtani and Rahm
Add-on posted before noon, ET, Tuesday….
NFL
--In late games since I posted Sunday afternoon, we had the biggie Sunday night, Cowboys-Eagles in Dallas, Dak Prescott becoming the favorite for MVP after another solid performance, 24/39, 271, 2-0, 99.4, the Cowboys whipping the Eagles 33-13…both teams now 10-3.
In Dallas’ 5-game winning streak, Prescott has 15 touchdown passes, one interception, and is 28-6 on the season, a 107.5 passer rating, the best of his career.
Dallas has also now won 15 straight at home. And it was the first time since 2017 that the Eagles didn’t have an offensive touchdown, Philly’s 13 points on two field goals and a fumble return for a TD.
The Cowboys’ Brandon Aubrey continued his historic start, making field goals from 60, 59, 45 and 50 yards, the first player in the history of the league to convert with multiple makes from at least 59 yards in the same game. He is now 30-for-30 this season, his rookie campaign, never done before, though he has missed three extra points, kind of shockingly.
--I love that Joe Flacco stepped up so bigly for the Browns in their 31-27 win over the Jaguars, 3 touchdown passes, 311 yards. The Jets were idiots not to re-sign him this season, as he could have been a huge steadying influence after Aaron Rodgers went down and Zach Wilson spit the bit.
The Browns said Flacco is their starter the rest of the season.
--Speaking of Zach, as you can imagine, he was the main topic on local sports talk radio Monday morning after his super, make that stunning, performance against Houston in dreadful weather.
It has just been assumed the Jets would jettison Wilson in the offseason. He has a guarantee for 2024 as part of his original 4-year rookie deal, and if they just released him, the Jets would have a dead cap hit of $11 million. So they aren’t doing that, but it was thought they would lessen the blow by finding another team to take him and one single performance can draw some suitors. The Jets need to decide by May, the deadline for extending him for a fifth year (2025).
The thing is, this is still all about Aaron Rodgers, who we are assuming will return next season, but he doesn’t have to…he could retire. But the Jets will have a high draft pick, assuming they quickly revert to form rest of the season, and there are some good quarterback prospects in the draft, for sure.
You see the dilemma. What we don’t know necessarily as fans is whether the damage in the relationship between Wilson and Jets management/coach Salah is irreparable…only Zach’s agent really knows.
--Moving on…the 49ers have won five straight, joining Dallas and Philadelphia at 10-3, after their 28-16 win over the struggling Seahawks (6-7), playing without the injured Geno Smith. Brock Purdy was 19/27, 368, 2-1, 122.1…Deebo Samuel seven receptions for 149 and a touchdown, Brandon Aiyuk 6-126.
And Christian McCaffrey rushed for 145 yards on just 16 carries. Yup, the Niners have some weapons.
--The Vikings, despite benching Joshua Dobbs, beat the Raiders 3-0, the first such score in the NFL since 2007. Glad I wasn’t there, or placed in a coma watching at home.
--Which leaves us with Kansas City’s crushing 20-17 defeat at the hands of the Bills (7-6) at Arrowhead Stadium, Taylor in attendance.
Swift’s beau, Travis Kelce, had seemingly made a play for the ages, taking a pass from Patrick Mahomes and then throwing an overhand lateral to wide receiver Kadarius Toney at the Bills’ 24, Toney then running it in for a touchdown that would have put the Chiefs up with 1:12 remaining.
Except for one thing. There was a flag on the play. Toney had lined up in the neutral zone, clearly, the penalty erasing the TD and Buffalo eventually regained the ball on downs and won.
Mahomes went nuts on the sidelines at the call, believing it was an atrocious call.
CBS analyst Tony Romo went nuts, too.
“This is not a designed play!” he shouted over the crowd noise. “Kelce is always looking around like he’s a quarterback. He does this, and I can’t believe it.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” the former QB moaned. “It can’t happen. These receivers just can’t get out of the way of hurting the team too many times at the end of a game.”
Rules analyst Gene Steratore said refs were forced to make the call because Toney was so blatantly lined up. In fact, he might have been totally offsides.
“He’s clearly in the neutral zone,” Steratore said. “It’s not a play that you want to split hairs with but when he’s that clearly in the neutral zone, you have to call it.”
I was watching it ‘live,’ and it was offsides. Just an incredibly stupid play by a guy who has never been known for his intelligence.
On the other hand, Chiefs Coach Andy Reid said after it was “very embarrassing to the NFL for (the call) to take place. Normally if it’s even close, you get a warning. I’ve been in the league a long time and haven’t had one like that.”
--On to Monday night, and the legend of Tommy DeVito, aka Tommy Cutlets, grows and grows and grows, the Giants with a stunning 24-22 win over the Packers (6-7) on a last-second 37-yard field goal from Randy Bullock, New York 5-8, three straight. MetLife Stadium saw back-to-back stirring New York performances from both the Jets and Giants.
The Giants were up 21-13 heading into the fourth quarter, only to see Green Bay take a 22-21 lead on a field goal and touchdown, following an unbelievable fumble by Saquon Barkley, but the Giants defense stopped the Packers’ two-point conversion attempt, 1:33 left in the game.
That’s when DeVito (17/21, 158, 1-0, 113.9, plus a huge 71 yards on the ground) worked his magic, leading the Giants 57 yards in eight plays for the winning field goal, throwing four straight passes to open the drive – completing all of them for 53 yards, including 32 yards to Wan’Dale Robinson, who had a big game (six receptions for 79 yards, a 32-yard run), to set Bullock up for the game-winner.
But the late-game heroics shouldn’t have been needed. The Giants were on their way to icing the game with 3:34 left, when Barkley sprinted down the sideline, his team up 21-16. But then Saquon – untouched – just tripped, fell, and inexplicably lost the ball at the end of a 33-yard run, on the Packers’ 19. Carrington Valentine scooped it up and returned it 50 yards, to the Giants’ 36 – within striking distance of the go-ahead touchdown.
--Meanwhile, the Titans (5-8) stunned the Dolphins (9-4) in Miami, 28-27, quarterback Will Levis leading two Tennessee touchdown drives in the final 4:30 for the win, after a costly fumble by him led to a Miami TD that made it 27-13 Dolphins.
The Titans’ ‘D’ held Tua and Tyreek Hill in check, Hill with just four receptions for 61 yards, though he was in and out much of the contest, dealing with an ankle injury.
--Back to DeVito and Zach Wilson, it’s startling how just two weeks ago (and further back), both New York fan bases wanted their teams to draft quarterbacks with their first-round picks…now, fans are like, ‘Hold on.’
--So the playoff picture….
AFC
1. Baltimore 10-3
2. Miami 9-4
3. Kansas City 8-5
4. Jacksonville 8-5
5. Cleveland 8-5
6. Pittsburgh 7-6
7. Indianapolis 7-6
8. Houston 7-6
9. Denver 7-6
10. Cincinnati 7-6
11. Buffalo 7-6
NFC
1. San Francisco 10-3
2. Dallas 10-3
3. Detroit 9-4
4. Tampa Bay 6-7
5. Philadelphia 10-3
6. Minnesota 7-6
7. Green Bay 6-7
8. Los Angeles 6-7
9. Seattle 6-7
10. Atlanta 6-7
11. New Orleans 6-7
--In College Football, bowl season starting up Saturday…North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye declared for the NFL Draft, thus he won’t be playing in the Tar Heels’ bowl game. The Draft experts have Maye and Caleb Williams as the top two rated quarterbacks.
And, as expected, Notre Dame’s Sam Hartman is not playing in their bowl game as he heads off to the NFL, where he should be a solid backup.
MLB
--We all learned the details of Shohei Ohtani’s contract on Monday, and it was rather stunning, though folks like ESPN’s Buster Olney had warned to wait for the details and the deferred comp aspect to it when the signing first broke Saturday afternoon.
Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million contract contains even crazier deferrals than first thought.
Ohtani will receive just $2 million per year during the decade of his contract, with $68 million each season getting deferred to be paid out between 2034 to 2043.
For purposes of the competitive balance tax, Ohtani’s deal will be valued at $46 million per year, according to The Athletic, which added that Ohtani makes about $50 million per year additionally from endorsements. Understand, he is so huge in Japan, he’s endorsing like every major product there, and his U.S. endorsements will obviously grow and grow. So that’s why Ohtani would do this. He’s still taking in $50 million+ a year, easy. The Angels reportedly made $20 million annually off Ohtani’s marketability themselves, and now the Dodgers will take in even more.
And Ohtani is also a good guy…he wants to do as much as he can with the structure to help the Dodgers supply more talent around him. Again, it’s about the playoffs, World Series appearances, and legacy.
There’s thus a lot of talk about the ‘present-day value’ of the contract, given the deferrals, as inflation decreases its overall worth in the future, and it’s more like $450 million, potentially. Of course who the hell knows what the economic environment will be re inflation and interest rates over the next 20 years. [Actually, some of us kind of know…it ain’t going to be good, sports fans.]
The Dodgers have a history of big deferrals. When Freddie Freeman signed his $162-million contract with the Dodgers two years ago, for example, its $57 million of deferred money lowered the present-day value to roughly $148 million, as calculated by the MLB Players Assn. Same with Mookie Betts’ $365-million deal, which had a present-day value of only $306.7 million thanks to its $115 million in deferred payments.
--Growing up one of the cooler baseball cards to get was that of Vic Davalillo, who had some nice seasons batting average-wise, but little power, and then late in his 16-year career he became a premier pinch-hitter, a la Gates Brown and Manny Mota.
Davalillo was a two-time World Series champion (Pittsburgh, 1971; Oakland, 1973), in a career spanning 1963-1980 (out of the game 1975-76), who outside of about five seasons in Cleveland early on, was essentially a spare outfielder and pinch-hitter, a singles hitter, .279 career average, just 36 home runs in 4,017 at-bats.
He died at the age of 84 or 87, depending on the source, after emergency surgery in Caracas, Venezuela.
College Basketball
--New AP Poll (records thru Sunday)….
1. Arizona (62) 8-0
2. Kansas 9-1
3. Purdue 9-1
4. Houston (1) 10-0
5. UConn 9-1
6. Baylor 9-0
7. Marquette 8-2
8. Creighton 8-1
9. North Carolina 7-2
10. Gonzaga 7-2
11. Oklahoma 9-0
12. Tennessee 6-3
13. Clemson 9-0…up 11!
14. Kentucky 7-2
15. Florida Atlantic 7-2
16. Illinois 7-2
17. Colorado State 9-1
18. BYU 8-1
19. Texas 7-2
20. James Madison 9-0
21. Duke 6-3
22. Virginia 8-1
23. Wisconsin 7-3
24. Miami 7-2
25. Northwestern 7-1
It's exam week across much of America, so few biggies this week until UConn squares off against Gonzaga in Seattle Friday night, and then a slew of games Saturday. And then the holidays and a sparse schedule. For example, Wake Forest plays only two games over three weeks, until its ACC opener Dec. 30.
--Going back to Sunday night, after I posted, with father LeBron in the stands, son Bronny James made his debut for USC, unfortunately in an 84-79 loss to Long Beach State (7-4), the Trojans falling to 5-4.
But Bronny had four points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals and a very sweet blocked shot in 17 minutes. That’s pretty special, after his sudden cardiac arrest in July.
NBA
--My Knicks suffered a brutal loss when they learned that they will be without center Mitchell Robinson for 8-to-10 weeks after undergoing surgery on his injured left ankle. Just awful.
Robinson was off to a great start, scoring just 6.2 points per game, but a career-high 10.3 rebounds in 29 minutes. It’s his presence down below that can’t be necessarily measured in the stats…he’s a defensive force.
So Isaiah Hartenstein and Jericho Sims have to step up.
Poor Robinson. This isn’t his first injury. He’s just had a tough time staying on the court in his six seasons.
Knicks fans know his value and have come to appreciate him more and more. But as he wrote on Snapchat: “Been battling stuff my whole life; some days I feel like I take 10 steps ahead, and others feel like I took 20 steps back…”
But the Knickerbockers passed their first test Monday night, sans-Robinson, beating the Raptors (9-14) at the Garden, 136-130, Julius Randle with 34 points, Sims and Hartenstein combining for 15 rebounds, New York now 13-9.
Rahm Fallout, continued….
Eamon Lynch / Golfweek
“It’s a hollow exercise to parse levels of cowardice in those eager to be stooges for autocratic sportswashers, but some of the players who went to LIV Golf when there was a cost for doing so – to reputations and careers – must now look at Jon Rahm as being the most gutless among their number, a golden parachutist who jumped for the greatest reward with the least risk, confident that a promised settlement of golf’s civil war would assure him a soft, lucrative landing.
“Thursday’s announcement was drearily predictable, right down to LIV’s inept gaffe in trumpeting its recruitment of ‘John.’ In citing his need to feather the family nest for future generations, the appeal of innovative formats and an overwhelming ambition to grow the game, Rahm checked every box in the bullshit bingo that attends all LIV signings.
“Yet his is unlike any that preceded him.
“Poaching Rahm is less about product than politics, aimed not so much at strengthening LIV as weakening the PGA Tour. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, chief bagman at the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund that bankrolls LIV, delivered a timely elbow to the ribs just as the Tour negotiates the extent to which PIF will factor with private equity in shaping its future. Rahm was vociferous in rejecting LIV, to the point of demeaning its format and value.
“Buying that guy proves Al-Rumayyan can buy almost anyone. Tour members who consider him an unpalatable ally were reminded that he might be an even more unappetizing enemy.
“LIV has consistently exposed the fatal weakness in professional golf: It is built on member organizations whose members are not contracted, and often not loyal. Cash offers go a long way when many of the targeted constituency have proven that their word isn’t worth a puddle of stale piss.
“Rahm won’t suffer the excommunication and scorn that other LIV players experienced from former Tour colleagues. He’s too competitively relevant, he’s too well-liked, and the end is too near at hand. Witness Rory McIlroy saying that Ryder Cup eligibility rules would need to be rewritten to accommodate Rahm in ’25, a call he didn’t make on behalf of the likes of Sergio Garcia.
“The departure of Rahm is more a loss for the PGA Tour than a gain for LIV. One of the world’s best will be absent from Tour events for the foreseeable. But it’s debatable how positively he impacts LIV beyond providing propaganda catnip for trolls and deal-making leverage for Al-Rumayyan. One can reasonably argue that Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson were more effective at engaging fans than Rahm, and they haven’t given LIV audience traction. The Spaniard’s jump could be more of a game-changer for the Tour’s internal debate than for the trajectory of LIV.
“It’s easy to cry hypocrisy given everything Rahm said previously, but that ignores the PGA Tour’s culpability. Rahm isn’t a LIV golfer just because the check got big enough. He’s there at least in part because the Tour signaled it was okay to be there, that one can do business with the Saudis. The June 6 Framework Agreement did two things that made for a lousy combination: It demolished all trust between PGA Tour leaders and members, and it legitimized the Saudi hijacking of golf, giving players a green light to kick the tires on LIV. The Tour may as well have rolled out a red carpet and pointed it toward the exit. Players will not be held to a standard of loyalty that the Tour itself failed to meet….
“Crunch time is coming for the player directors who drive decision-making on the Tour’s Policy Board. Will they now conclude that an imperfect peace with the Saudis is their best option, or does Rahm’s poaching harden sentiment against PIF among those who didn’t cash out? Whatever direction they chart, choppy waters lie ahead.
“The PGA Tour is stumbling toward a business model that cannot be sustained simply because too many players are convinced their value is a multiple of what any market has ever dictated. There is a disheartening correlation between the irrational spending of the Saudis and the parallel expectations of PGA Tour members. Some players feel entitled to NBA or NFL money and – in a complete inversion of how the economics have always been in golf – they want to make that money on the course, not off, regardless of their engagement level with fans and sponsors.
“Less than 24 hours after Rahm left the PGA Tour, so did Wells Fargo. The bank was unwilling to pay what is now demanded of sponsors to meet the expectations of players. The exit of a longtime sponsor – one that wished to remain in golf – should be more of an alarm call to Tour players than losing Rahm. It’s a deeply worrying sign that the PGA Tour is consuming itself because greed is masquerading a worth.”
It's been a busy stretch, off the course. Sunday, PGA Tour officials decided to enter into negotiations with a group of high-powered sports owners that includes Arthur Blank, who owns the Atlanta Falcons; Mark Attanasio, owner of the Milwaukee Brewers; John Henry and Tom Werner, whose holdings include the Boston Red Sox; and Wyc Grousbeck, owner of the Boston Celtics.
The tour’s policy board sent a memo to players Sunday sharing the news but offered no details on the state of the negotiations or the amount of money that might be involved. The chosen group is called Strategic Sports Group and is led by Fenway Sports Group, the Boston-based private holding company that owns the Red Sox, Fenway Park, Liverpool Football Club and the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins. It also invested in one of the six inaugural teams in the TGL indoor golf league, the new venture backed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy that’s now slated to debut in 2025.
The tour’s board said in the memo that it was “very confident in an eventual, positive outcome for all players and the PGA Tour as a whole.”
In the memo to players, the policy board also said it anticipates “advancing our negotiations with PIF in the weeks to come.”
Indeed, it is critical that the PGA Tour come up with something…soon. They don’t want a cloud hanging over the new season, which is fast approaching, Jan. 4 in Hawaii for the Sentry Tournament of Champions, one of eight signature events on the calendar that features a limited field and a $4 million prize for the winner.
And on Monday the Tour actually received some good news…and I have to admit, I was a bit surprised.
It was thought Tony Finau would jump to LIV to be part of Jon Rahm’s new team, the two good friends, but Finau announced on Instagram he is staying.
“I’m excited for 2024 and looking forward to playing my 10th season on the PGA Tour!” Finau wrote. “And stoked to be defending in both Mexico and Houston! Thank you to my partners for your continued support. Thank you to the fans for all the love for our whole Finau fam.”
Finau, 34, won twice this past season at the Houston Open and the Mexico Open.
He had fanned the flames of doubt this weekend when he told reporters, upon being asked about the rumors, “I have nothing to say right now.”
Meanwhile, as expected, the PGA Tour suspended Jon Rahm on Monday, and took away his FedEx cup points for 2022-23.
Which means Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes moves from No. 51 to No. 50 in the standings and will now be eligible for the eight signature events in 2024 with $20 million purses. Alex Smalley moves to No. 60 and gets into two early signature events, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational at Riviera, and Carl Yuan will keep his tour card by moving to No. 125 following the FedEx Fall. Those are three excited players today.
Stuff
Clemson won its second NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship Monday night, as the ninth-seed Tigers held off No. 2 Notre Dame 2-1, Clemson’s fourth title overall…1984, 1987 and 2021.
Next Bar Chat, Sunday p.m.
-----
[Posted Sunday pm, before late NFL games]
Heisman Trophy Quiz: Prior to Saturday’s presentation, there were six players who won the Heisman who have played at multiple four-year colleges. Name them…and the school they were at prior. [Hint: The first one played in the 1940s. The first Heisman was awarded in 1935.] Answer below.
Baseball…Ohtani signs with the Dodgers
[The following was written Saturday morning, before the big news broke mid-afternoon.]
--The Yankees made a splash, and then another, this week. First they acquired outfielder Alex Verdugo from the Red Sox to fill one of two outfield holes, and then they nailed superstar Juan Soto, the Yankees sending the Padres five players – four pitchers, including Michael King and top prospect Drew Thorpe, along with solid catcher Kyle Higashioka.
The Yankees also got center fielder Trent Grisham, and he could be a real key piece as the season progresses. Grisham is a two-time Gold Glover who, while his bat has tailed off badly the last two seasons, nonetheless has good pop and speed.
But as a Yankees hater, kudos to the organization for pulling this trade off, as Soto and Aaron Judge are one dynamic one-two in the batting order (most likely batting second and third).
Yes, Soto is under contract for just one year, but he is “super happy” to be joining the Bronx Bombers, according to his father, and no reason to believe that the Yanks can’t sign him to a lucrative extension down the road.
It certainly juices the Big Apple in terms of baseball interest.
But the Yankees still need to make a few more changes before they can be considered true World Series contenders. Soto didn’t bring the Padres a pennant.
[Soto is a Scott Boras client, and everyone is saying he’ll wait until the season is over to test the free agent market. I’ll guess instead he signs a 4-year deal for massive bucks, because after that he’s still just 29, and can then work out another monster contract. Just a thought.]
One more on the Yanks…barring another big move on offense, a comeback season for first baseman Anthony Rizzo is a must for the team, Rizzo struggling in 2023 with concussion issues that weren’t properly diagnosed.
Actually one more, part II: Not for nothing but between the trades for Verdugo and Soto, the Yanks unloaded seven pitchers, and Thorpe could be a real star.
--In other moves, solid lefty Eduardo Rodriguez signed a four-year, $80 million deal with Arizona.
--But the baseball world, and most remaining high-profile free agents, are waiting to see who signs Shohei Ohtani and for how much, as he’ll help set the market for the others. Ohtani and his team have supposedly narrowed it down to the Dodgers, Giants, and Blue Jays.
Meanwhile, the Mets and Yankees would appear to be the key clubs in the Yoshinobu Yamamoto sweepstakes, though the Dodgers, Giants and Blue Jays are also said to be serious suitors.
Mets owner Steve Cohen, who flew to Japan to meet the pitcher, won’t want the Yankees to grab both Soto and Yamamoto.
--And then it was announced…a Blockbuster for the Ages! Ohtani signed with the Dodgers for 10 years, $700 million! Understand, at first, we thought Ohtani would get a $500 million package. Then it rose to $600 million. But $700 million?! That is absolutely nuts. Unless, of course, the Dodgers win 2 or 3 World Series, and then it makes total sense.
$700 million is the biggest contract in U.S. sports history, and shatters the previous MLB record, Mike Trout’s $426.5 million.
And as we’ve discussed ad nauseam, Ohtani is limited to DH’ing next year until he recovers from his second TJ surgery.
But here he is. A Dodger.
Bill Plaschke / Los Angeles Times
“Shohei Ohtani is a Dodger.
“Saying it brings chills. Hearing it brings cheers. Seeing it brings a disbelieving desire to see it again and again and again.
“Shohei Ohtani is a Dodger. Shohei Ohtani is a Dodger. Shohei Ohtani is…yeah, he’s really coming up the 5 to the 101 to Stadium Way to perhaps live out the rest of his wondrous career.
“Babe Ruth is a Dodger.
“Writing it feels right. Reading it makes sense. Imagining it makes the wait for next spring insanely intolerable.
“Batting third for the Dodgers, behind Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, in front of Max Munch and Will Smith…No. 17…Shohei Ohtani!
“The baseball unicorn is a Dodger.
“It’s real, it’s happening, the Dodgers stole the game’s first unanimous two-time MVP from the Angels and the rest of baseball with the announcement that they have signed him to a 10-year, $700-million deal.
“It is the richest contract in North American professional sports history, the most celebrated Dodger free-agent signing since Darryl Strawberry in 1990 and an agreement that will be ultimately worth every penny, particularly since increased advertising alone will probably cover the cost….
“Ohtani is the greatest two-way player in the history of baseball, which could easily make him the greatest player in the history of baseball, two observations that will now be gloriously cloaked in blue.
“He hits. He pitches. He inspires. He sells. He rocks….
“Even though his recovery from the elbow procedure will prevent him from pitching next season, the Dodgers are legendarily good with rehabbing ailing arms, and here’s guessing a year from now he’ll be again ready for double duty, and that is where this huge investment really kicks in.
“Adding such a hitter-pitcher is a win-win, with a third victory here going to the Dodgers themselves.
“Finally, after several years of relative penny-pinching and luxury tax monitoring, they are acting like the Dodgers again.
“The richest team. The boldest team. The swaggering team that has become an ideal destination for any player who wants to maximize his ability and his brand.
“Granted, they have a habit of collapsing in the playoffs, but at least they get to the playoffs, a place Ohtani has not been in his six seasons with the Angels.
“Granted, they exist in a spotlight that the private Ohtani was able to happily avoid in Anaheim, but he actually seems to relish the public pressure, witness his stirring pregame speech and ensuing performance in last year’s WBC championship game.
“The Dodgers are the perfect spot for Ohtani, and he is the perfect player for them, a match perfectly made on a southern California freeway where his arrival is a SigAlert of the senses.
“Shohei Ohtani is a Dodger?
“Shohei Ohtani is a Dodger!”
Dylan Hernandez / Los Angeles Times
“Ohtani had played well enough to win his second American League most valuable player award even though he’d be shut down for the season after three games in September. He’d driven himself to the point of injury. If not even that could make the Angels a playoff team, what would?
“Outside of the World Series champion Texas Rangers and shamefully thrifty Atlanta Braves, no team other than the Dodgers could guarantee he wouldn’t have to experience such frustration again.
“The Toronto Blue Jays? They play in baseball’s most competitive division.
“The New York Yankees? They were basically a .500 team last year.
“The Chicago Cubs? They might be trending in the right direction, but they weren’t much better.
“The Boston Red Sox? They were a last-place team.
“As for the Rangers, they’d already won a championship without him. Would winning with them satisfy the legacy-obsessed Ohtani?
“The Braves? They weren’t about to spend that kind of money. They’d let go of franchise icon Freddie Freeman for a lot less.
“Obviously, the money offered by the Dodgers was a factor. But it’s hard to believe it was the only factor. From how he came to the major leagues when he was still classified as an international amateur – he said he did this because he thought it would improve his chances to one day be a Hall of Famer – to how he settled for a $30-million salary last year instead of trying to win a record salary in the arbitration process, nothing points to money being his greatest priority.
“Before leaving his home country for the major leagues, Ohtani said he wanted to become the world’s No. 1 player. He also said that earning that title would require him to win a World Series.
“With a Dodgers organization that has reached the playoffs in 11 consecutive seasons, and won 10 division titles in that span, Ohtani will have a chance to play in October year after year after year after year.
“His championship-winning performances in the World Baseball Classic and Japanese league postseason suggest he’s built for the big stage. He will now have a chance to prove it.
“The best player in baseball will spend the next decade playing important games for one of the sport’s signature franchises. Ohtani wins. The Dodgers win. Baseball wins. About the only losers here are the Angels, but what’s new about that?
“Ohtani has been defined by resisting convention. His sudden openness to embracing a more common line of thinking will elevate him further, perhaps even offer him the chance to be the face of baseball not only of this time but of any time.”
Jon Rahm Bolts for LIV
Back on 11/27-28, in my Add-on, I wrote that “rumors are rampant that Rahm is going to jump to LIV Golf, potentially for $600 million!
“If you’re Rahm, why wouldn’t you take it? And if you’re LIV, meaning the Saudi Public Investment Fund and head honcho Yasir Al-Rumayyan, why wouldn’t you spend that much on the flamboyant and well spoken’ Rahm, as (SI.com’s Alex) Miceli puts it. It would send a signal that LIV is here to stay.
“The main thing is, Rahm could still play the majors.”
And so we saw what happened the other day, and the sport of golf is very much in a state of chaos.
As Andrew Beaton wrote this weekend in the Wall Street Journal:
“When Jon Rahm tapped in a putt and pumped his fists, sealing a final-round comeback win at the Masters in April, his prize wasn’t simply the most coveted jacket in golf. Rahm had also won a golden ticket worth potentially hundreds of millions of dollars.
“The victory, the second major of the Spaniard’s career, earned Rahm an invitation to play in the Masters for the rest of his life. Beyond that, it brought him automatic entry into the other three majors – the British Open, the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship – for years to come. For a golfer who speaks with reverence about the game’s historic events, Rahm suddenly had a way to cash in on the spigots of money flooding into golf – without risking what he cared about most….
“Rahm is the only player who could have changed the sport so suddenly with one signature. There are only a handful of people alive with his talent. And for other elite players, joining LIV and spurning the golf establishment has meant sacrificing their ability to play in majors. By winning the Masters, Rahm earned a workaround for the next half decade.
“The fallout from Rahm’s defection will play out in the weeks and months to come. There’s a Dec. 31 deadline for the PGA Tour and (the PIF) to reach a definitive agreement to join forces after the two sides, which had spent a year as bitter enemies, shockingly agreed to cease hostilities in June. On the same day Rahm officially joined LIV, the Tour received previously anticipated bids from other outside investors that one person familiar with the matter described as ‘very attractive.’”
Of course, this is the same Jon Rahm who said at last year’s U.S. Open: “I’ve never really played the game of golf for monetary reasons. I play for the love of the game, and I want to play against the best in the world.
“I have always been interested in history and legacy, and right now the PGA Tour has that. There’s a meaning when you win the Memorial Championship. There’s a meaning when you win Arnold Palmer’s event at Bay Hill. There’s a meaning when you win L.A., Torrey, some of these historic venues. That to me matters a lot.
“After winning this past U.S. Open, only me and Tiger have won at Torrey Pines. Making putts on 18 – that’s a memory that I’m gonna have forever that not many people can say. My heart is with the PGA Tour. That’s all I can say. It’s not my business or my character to judge anybody who thinks otherwise. And for a lot of people, I’m not gonna lie, those next three, four years are worth, basically, their retirement plan. It’s a very nice compensation until they retire and sail off into the sunset.”
Rahm is now setting his sails in a different direction.
Rahm also said last year that “Shotgun three days to me is not a golf tournament… I want to play against the best in the world in a format that’s been going on for hundreds of years. That’s what I want to see.”
Rahm’s deal is reportedly for more than three years, is worth upwards of the much-ballyhooed $600 million figure, and it includes an ownership stake in a new LIV Golf team, and here is where Rahm can upset the applecart further, because, according to reports, Rahm will get to fill out the roster, this being LIV Golf team No. 13, with three players of his choosing, the early bets being placed on the likes of Tony Finau and Tyrrell Hatton.
I have written a ton on this whole topic. While I understand Rahm making the move, he now has to face the backlash, and there will be a lot. I noted in my “Week in Review” that he’s not thinking about what happened in Saudi Arabia this week, when Crown Prince Mohammed, MBS, effusively welcomed Vladimir Putin to the kingdom for the first time since 2019.
But while Rahm is a world figure in the sport, he’s not going to move the needle on LIV’s television audience, which was so miniscule, LIV Golf refused to release any numbers, because you couldn’t find them with a microscope.
As for the reaction of other players on the PGA Tour, Justin Rose:
“It’s a huge coup for LIV and obviously a huge blow for the PGA Tour.”
Rory McIlroy said the European Tour “absolutely” will need to change the Ryder Cup eligibility rules so Rahm can play on their team in 2025.
“Is it disappointing to me?” McIlroy said of Rahm’s decision. “Yes, but the landscape of golf changed on June 6th, when the framework agreement was announced and I think because of that it made the map from the PGA Tour to LIV a little easier for guys.
“They let the first guys really take the heat and then this framework agreement legitimized basically what LIV was trying to do, then I think it’s made it easier now if that’s really what you want to do.”
Jason Day said losing Rahm is a blow to the Tour, but that it was his decision to make.
“I understand some guys do it for the money – a majority of the time it is for the money,” Day said. “Unfortunately, we’re going to lose one. It would have been nice to get past this (agreement) deadline and see where this thing fell. I can’t fault him for making the decision for himself and his family.”
Nancy Armour / USA TODAY
“Only Jon Rahm can say whether he sold his soul. His principles and his reputation, however, are now owned by the Saudis.
“The two-time major champion and once-ardent defender of the PGA Tour became the biggest name to defect to LIV Golf on Thursday, deciding the tradition and challenge of the Tour weren’t so important to him, after all. Who needs to play on courses where Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods made their mark when you can stage glorified exhibitions with the Cleeks and the HyFlers!
“So long as the price is right, that is.
“All his talk about ‘fealty’ to the PGA Tour, of wanting to play against the best in the world in tournaments steeped in history, and Rahm turned out to be no better than his buddies Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia. Once the figure the Saudis were dangling got high enough, Rahm was quick to abandon all he’d once stood for.
“As for the blood on the hands of his new employers that is now staining his own, well, all those zeroes make it easier to overlook. If nothing else, he can use one of his stacks of cash to wipe it off.
“The damage to Rahm’s reputation, and the Tour he supposedly loved so much, can never be undone.
“Much like Rory McIlroy, Rahm had staked out a position as the conscience of golf, someone who saw LIV for the shameless money grab it is and wanted no part of it. He said as much.
“Many, many, many times….
“Instead, he’s made it more difficult for the Tour to exist in its current form. This will be a setback for whatever detente PGA Tour overlords thought they’d brokered through their agreement with LIV earlier this year, and there’s no telling how it will get resolved….
“ ‘Obviously the past two years there’s been a lot of evolving on the game of golf, things have changed a lot and so have I,’ Rahm said Thursday. ‘Seeing the growth of LIV Golf, seeing the evolution of LIV Golf and innovation is something that has really captured my attention.’
“Growth? Innovation? Does Rahm know about some LIV the rest of us don’t? The only thing that changed was the amount of money the Saudis offered Rahm to be an accomplice in their sports washing.
“ ‘For all those things that I like about this movement, there’s always going to be some things that are not perfect,’ Rahm said, ‘But that’s the situation in everybody’s life.’
“Tell that to Jamal Khashoggi’s family. Or the families of those killed in 9/11.
“LIV isn’t just a golf league. It’s a central part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s scheme to use sports to cleanse his image. He figures if he splashes enough money out for sports, the world will forget about his and his country’s human rights abuses. Like the marginalization of women and suppression of the LGBTQ community.
“And his ordering the murder of Khashoggi, whose body was then dismembered by a bone saw.
“That’s who Rahm now works for. That’s whose image Rahm is helping make over.
“Once one of the game’s good guys, Rahm is now a hypocrite and a sellout. But hey, he’s getting paid. That’s all that matters to him now.”
As for the defection’s impact on negotiations between the PGA Tour and Al-Rumayyan, that’s the big question, as well as what the Tour is going to do with the other interested parties, who have deep pockets.
But it is critical for Commissioner Jay Monahan and his board, including six Tour players, among them Tiger, Jordan Spieth and Patrick Cantlay, to move fast!
The PGA Tour is set for its new 2024 schedule, with signature events, big purses and limited fields, but there is already a tremendous amount of uncertainty concerning 2025, as the Tour is asking tournament sponsors to contribute a bigger portion to PGA Tour purses than they currently do.
This week they have been holding annual meetings involving PGA Tour tournaments in Palm Springs, California, and Saturday, we had our first casualty…Wells Fargo announced that 2024 is it when it comes to its sponsorship.
“Wells Fargo is not renewing the Wells Fargo Championship as a Signature Event in 2025 and beyond,” the company said in a statement. “We are incredibly proud of the 20+ year history of the Championship. The tournament has generated significant local impact and delighted golf fans in Charlotte and across the country. Since 2003, the Wells Fargo Championship has generated more than $30 million in support of numerous charitable foundations.”
No longer…and they won’t be the only ones.
--Meanwhile, we have the golf ball rollback, with the USGA and R&A formally announcing on Wednesday their intention to roll back the distance balls can travel. The rollback goes into effect January 2028 for elite competitions and for everybody come January 2030.
Well, I’ll be dead so I don’t give a s---. But for a PGA Tour or DP World Tour level player, it could mean a loss of nine to 11 yards, and like five yards for us hackers.
It’s the right move, because without any restrictions, the balls are just going to be made to fly further and further, and especially at the professional level you are taking out some old-time classic courses that stunningly have been deemed too short, and how is that good for anyone who enjoys the game.
College Football
--Army finished the season .500, 6-6, with a 17-11 win over Navy (5-7) in a game that kind of out of nowhere came down to the end, after the Black Nights had taken a 17-3 lead on a 44-yard fumble return for a touchdown with just 4:49 to play, neither team moving it effectively the entire contest.
But Navy drove it 59 yards for a touchdown to make it 17-9, 2:47 still to play, but missing on a 2-point conversion rather than going for the extra point.
Navy then got the ball back with 1:36 to play and drove it down the field, utilizing the passing game, but came up short on fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line, Army stuffing a quarterback sneak in rather heroic fashion…a play that will be long remembered by Army fans, its players and coaches.
The Black Knights took a safety for the final margin.
Army head coach Jeff Monken can coach anywhere. He can certainly coach in the NFL…like are you listening, Woody Johnson?
--In FCS (Div. I-AA) quarterfinal action…Montana beat Furman, 35-28; North Dakota defeated South Dakota, 45-17; UAlbany won at Idaho, 30-22; and South Dakota State beat Villanova, 23-12.
In this last one, Isaiah Davis had 192 yards rushing for the Jackrabbits. This guy has had a terrific 4-year career at SD State.
--Trying to keep up with the transfer portal is overwhelming for fans and I’m not attempting to, save for my alma mater, Wake, where a bunch of skill position players put their names in. I can’t blame them given the state of our offense…it’s a mess. Not easy for them to get an NFL-profile in such a situation, and a few of them are NFL-worthy. When Sam Hartman transferred to Notre Dame, that killed us. Potentially set us back years in terms of our image, let alone the NIL issue.
In the meantime, we’ll see where some of the bigger name quarterbacks end up, like Washington State’s Cameron Ward, Oklahoma’s Dillon Gabriel, Kansas State’s Will Howard and Ohio State’s Kyle McCord.
[Gabriel then committed to Oregon…a huge move for the Ducks, and a natural fit for Gabriel.]
It also means that so many of the bowl games lose a ton of luster. LSU’s Jayden Daniels certainly isn’t going to play in their bowl game, nor Bo Nix, Kyle McCord, Caleb Williams and a slew of others.
--Speaking of Daniels and Nix, we had the Heisman Trophy ceremony Saturday night and the handwriting seemed on the wall…it would be Daniels after he was named AP College Football Player of the Year, receiving 35 of 51 first-place votes. Michael Penix received 15 first-place vote, with Bo Nix third and Marvin Harrison Jr. fourth. Nix received the last first-place vote.
And it was Daniels for the Heisman, receiving 503 first-place votes and 2,029 points.
Michael Penix Jr. was runner-up with 292 first-place votes and 1,701 points and Bo Nix was third (51, 885). Marvin Harrison Jr. finished fourth (20, 352).
--Duke hired Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz as its next coach, replacing Mike Elko, who left for Texas A&M. Diaz was also head coach at Miami, going 21-15 from 2019-21.
Seems like a good pick for the Blue Devils.
--The new proposal to pay NCAA athletes makes my head hurt. NCAA President Charlie Baker, formerly governor of Massachusetts, issued the proposal, which would add many benefits for the biggest powerhouse programs that have thought about breaking away from the NCAA, while remaining under the NCAA umbrella.
Athletes would be directly compensated without them being designated (or protected) as employees.
And educational trust fund will be set up that would be in addition to scholarships.
But it would create a new subdivision, outside the FBS and FCS, though schools in the FBS not part of the new subdivision would still have access to the College Football Playoff, for one.
Anyway, we’ll see what happens.
NFL
--Thursday night, the Pittsburgh Steelers (7-6) lost their second straight to a team that previously had 2 wins. Last week it was a loss to the Arizona Cardinals, and this time it was the Patriots, 21-18, as Baily Zappe was terrific, three first-half touchdown passes, 19 of 28 for 240 yards.
But Steelers fans have a right to be furious, as yet another bad call impacted the result.
On a fourth-and-3 late in the final quarter, the officials penalized Pittsburgh long snapper Christian Kuntz for a false start, pushing the Steelers back five yards.
But upon further review, the call looked questionable and likely should’ve gone against the Patriots’ return team.
An offside infraction on New England in that spot would have given Pittsburgh a fresh set of downs.
The Steelers were infuriated, thinking the referees had called the Patriots for an offside.
--And then today, the Jets (5-8), totally out of nowhere, played their most complete game of the season with Zach Wilson back at quarterback, 30-6 over Houston (7-6), C.J. Stroud in concussion protocol after being knocked out mid-fourth quarter. All 30 points in the second half!
Wilson was 27/36, 301, 2-0, 117.0, Garrett Wilson nine catches for 108 yards, the defense giving up just 135 yards, Stroud throwing for only 91!
Oh, the local sports airwaves will be interesting tomorrow.
J-E-T-S….Jets Jets Jets!!!
The Bengals are suddenly 7-6, more than in the hunt behind Jake Browning (18/24, 275, 2-1, 122.7), 34-14 over the Colts (7-6), a big loss for Indy.
The Lions fell to 9-4, losing badly to the Bears (5-8) 28-13 in Chicago. Lions fans have to be concerned over the team’s recent play, “Bad Jared” Goff showing up again, two interceptions.
The Browns beat the Jags in a biggie, 31-27, both teams now 8-5, as Joe Flacco threw for three touchdown passes for Cleveland. Trevor Lawrence, high-ankle sprain and all, played and also threw three TD passes, but had three interceptions as well. Flacco Nation is sweeping the country, sports fans.
There were some other early games I just didn’t give a damn about. But posting before Rams-Ravens starts OT.
But wait, the Ravens move to 10-3 after a spectacular punt return for a TD by Tylan Wallace, a crushing loss for the Rams, 6-7.
--A former Jacksonville Jaguars employee has been charged with wire fraud for allegedly racking up more than $22 million in fraudulent credit card purchases, according to court records and a statement released by the team.
Amit Patel was the sole administrator of the team’s virtual credit card program and used this position to pass off personal purchases as business expenses. He allegedly used the Jaguars’ virtual credit card accounts to purchase everything from luxury travel and hotels to a $95,000 watch.
Patel’s attorney said his client had a big gambling problem.
NBA
--In my Tuesday Add-on, I noted the performance of Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton in the Pacers’ 122-112 win over the Celtics in the quarterfinals of the In-Season Tournament, and called him a “rising superstar.”
And then on Thursday, in the semis, Haliburton followed up his triple-double against Boston with a 27 point, 7 rebound, 15 assists, zero turnovers effort against the Bucks, leading Indiana to a 128-119 win to send them into the championship game against the Lakers Saturday night.
Haliburton is no longer “rising,” this tournament has turned him into a superstar. Because these games are televised nationally, and because of the numbers he is putting up, he’s suddenly there.
Try this out. Haliburton recorded his 3rd game of the season with 25+ points, 15+ assists and zero turnovers. No other player has more than 1 such game in their career!
For the first 18 games of the season, Haliburton was averaging 26.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, 12.1 assists and 2.2 turnovers, an extraordinary assists to turnovers ratio. For comparison, Chris Paul for his career has an excellent 9.4 to 2.4 ratio. John Stockton was 10.5 to 2.8.
Meanwhile, LeBron, who happens to be rather old for his sport at nearly 39 (Dec. 30 b’day), scored 30 points on 9-of-12 from the field in just 23 minutes in L.A.’s 133-89 obliteration of the Pelicans in their semi. [Shaq dissed New Orleans’ Zion Williamson after for his lack of conditioning, and rightly so, Shaq talking about how he learned himself he wasn’t in the shape he needed to be when he played against the likes of David Robinson and Hakeem Olajuwon.]
LeBron, in the Lakers’ 106-103 win over the Suns in the quarterfinals had 31 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds and five steals, the first Laker with 30/10/5/5 since Magic in 1987, and the oldest player in NBA history to do it by 7 years!
So on to the finals Saturday, the NBA clearing the stage for this event in Las Vegas.
And the Lakers won it, 123-109, Haliburton with a more pedestrian, though still solid 20 points and 11 assists, with three turnovers.
The story was Anthony Davis. I caught a lot of the first half and A.D. was active, wanted the ball, and in the end it led to 41 points, 20 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 blocks. LeBron chipped in 24 points and 11 rebounds, and LeBron was the MVP of the series.
Back to the regular season on Monday.
College Basketball
--We had a few high-profile games since I last posted. Tuesday night, 11 Florida Atlantic fell to 20 Illinois at Madison Square Garden, 98-89, while in the nightcap of the Jimmy V Classic, 5 UConn beat 9 North Carolina, 87-76.
Wednesday, 8 Marquette easily handled 12 Texas, 86-65, and 24 Clemson had a big 72-67 win over intrastate rival South Carolina, handing the Gamecocks their first loss, Clemson 8-0.
And then we had Wake Forest hosting Rutgers. Last December, your editor was at Rutgers to see the Deacs get humiliated, 81-57, in a game that severely hurt our NCAA hopes later on.
Well, Wednesday it was payback time. Wake moved to 5-3 (2-3 against Power Six schools) with a 76-57 victory, RU falling to 5-3.
What was so huge was that the game represented the debut of 7-footer Efton Reid III, a transfer from Gonzaga, who had to clear NCAA waivers, this being his third school.
And Reid is going to be a real difference maker for the Deacs. He had 12 points and 14 rebounds in 27 minutes, the presence on the boards and down below we have sorely lacked. This is a new team with the guy…and we are still awaiting the return of Damari Monsanto in the coming weeks.
IF Wake can beat Virginia Tech and Boston College in its first two ACC games, I’m tellin’ ya, they may be worth a quid or two to win it all. I’m serious. Fellow alum Gregg D. told me he used to watch Reid play high school ball in Richmond and he was head and shoulders above his competition. We have a terrific backcourt and now our big man.
And that’s a memo.
Except I have to note that Wednesday was not all bad news for Rutgers. Out of nowhere, they have signed two of the top three recruits in the country for next season. Rutgers! Five-star guard Dylan Harper became the highest-ranked recruit to ever commit to the program, No. 2 on ESPN’s Top 100, after inking 5-star Airious “Ace” Bailey, No. 3. That’s amazing.
Harper is out of New Jersey, the brother of Ron Harper Jr., who starred at RU, and the son of long-time NBA player Ron Harper, 5X champ with the Bulls and Lakers.
Well, I wrote the above early Saturday, and then Saturday night, Wake struggled against NJIT before pulling away, 83-59, freshman Parker Friedrichsen with 19 points, 5 of 6 from three.
But Reid was awful, fouling out after zero points and 3 rebounds. That’s OK. He gets a pass.
--I watched most of 13 Colorado State hosting Saint Mary’s last night and the Rams lost their first, now 9-1, 64-61 to the always tough Gaels (5-5). This was a good wakeup call for CSU. They’ll be fine…I like their team.
--No. 1 Arizona, 2 Kansas and 4 Purdue won their games Saturday against solid competition.
Arizona over 23 Wisconsin, 98-73; Kansas over Missouri, 73-64; and Purdue defeated Alabama, 92-86, Zach Edey with 35 points.
But 7 Gonzaga (7-2) lost at Washington (6-3), 78-73.
14 BYU (8-1) lost its first to Utah (7-2), 73-69.
And 24 Clemson (9-0) had another nice win, handing TCU (7-1) its first loss, 74-66.
Premier League
--There are a few good stories in the PL, suddenly. First Aston Villa, who finished 7th in the league last season, is 2 points from the top after a stirring week.
First, on Wednesday, Villa beat Manchester City at home, 1-0, and then on Saturday, they hosted, and defeated, Arsenal, 1-0, for their 15th straight win at home in league play.
The other big story is Everton’s climb back after its unprecedented 10-point penalty. Everton won its second straight on Thursday, 3-0 over Newcastle, to climb out of relegation already.
Which left some important games today, and Everton won its third straight, 2-0 over Chelsea, and is now 4 points clear of relegation.
Man City snapped its stunning 4-game winless streak with a 2-1 road win over Luton.
And my Tottenham Spurs snapped a 5-game winless streak, 4-1 over Newcastle.
The table, after 16 of 38 matches….
1. Liverpool…37 points
2. Arsenal…36
3. Aston Villa…35
4. Man City…33…Champions League line…
5. Tottenham…30
6. Man U…27
7. Newcastle…27
Stuff
--Mikaela Shiffrin picked up win No. 91 in a downhill at St. Moritz on Saturday. Back to last weekend, the men had all three events at Beaver Creek postponed due to heavy snow and wind.
--The NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship final, Monday in Louisville (6:00 PM ET, ESPNU), will be 9-seed Clemson vs. 2-seed Notre Dame. ND alum Mark R. noted that it would be pretty special if the Fighting Irish could win both the NCAA men’s lacrosse and soccer titles in the same year.
Clemson defeated West Virginia 1-0 in the semis, and Notre Dame bested Oregon State by the same score.
--The Belmont Stakes is headed to Saratoga in 2024, and most likely 2025, for the third leg of the Triple Crown.
Belmont Park is undergoing a massive renovation that has been needed for decades and now the $455 million for the project has been approved. Belmont hasn’t been upgraded since 1963.
Renovations include ripping up both turf courses and the main track and installation of a new synthetic surface beneath.
The purse for next year’s race has been hiked $500,000, to $2 million for the winning horse.
The Belmont Stakes, known for its tough 1 ½ miles, is going to be run at 1 ¼ while at Saratoga, which will be the first time the race is run at 1 ¼ miles since 1905.
--I was remiss in not talking about the shark attack in the Bahamas last week, where a newlywed, a math specialist from Massachusetts, was vacationing with her husband at Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort. She was paddleboarding with her spouse less than a mile off the shore of the five-star resort on New Providence island when a shark struck and dragged her beneath the surface.
A lifeguard who witnessed the horrifying attack rescued the pair in a boat and brought them back to shore, where CPR was administered to the woman, but she had suffered catastrophic injuries from the attack and died at the scene.
Police said the woman, 44, suffered “serious injuries to the right side of her body,” including her hip area and her upper limb.
It was not clear what type of shark attacked her, though the area is home to bull sharks, tiger sharks and black tip sharks, all known to be aggressive.
It was the second deadly shark attack in the Bahamas in just under two weeks.
Authorities are still searching for a 47-year-old German woman who went missing late last month after she was apparently attacked while diving.
--Bears have injured or killed 212…212!...people in Japan since April, a record number of attacks. The increase in incidents is probably caused by the animals wandering closer to human settlements as they struggle to find food; this year has had a poor crop of bear staples, such as beech nuts. Some hungry bears may also be delaying hibernation, leaving more time to run into humans.
“Kon’nichiwa.” “Ahhh, Kon’nichiwa to you, Mr. Bear.”
--A Brooklyn man won $10 million on a scratch-off ticket this week – a little over a year after he won his first $10 million playing the New York Lottery, the lottery said.
Both tickets were purchased at the same convenience store in Flatbush.
The New York Post reported over the weekend that the man (whose name I’m protecting, they didn’t) was spotted driving a $200,000 car soon after this second win.
--We note the passing of the great Norman Lear, 101. The writer, director and producer revolutionized prime time television like no other with “All in the Family,” “The Jeffersons” and “Maude,” propelling political and social turmoil into the once-insulated world of TV sitcoms.
A liberal activist with an eye for mainstream entertainment, Lear fashioned bold and controversial comedies that were embraced by viewers who had to watch the evening news to find out what was going on in the world.
Lear “took television away from dopey wives and dumb fathers, from the pimps, hookers, hustlers, private eyes, junkies, cowboys and rustlers that constituted television chaos, and in their place he put the American people,” the late Paddy Chayefsky, a leading writer of television’s early “golden age,” once said.
Rob Reiner wrote on X: “I loved Norman Lear with all my heart. He was my second father.”
“More than anyone before him, Norman used situation comedy to shine a light on prejudice, intolerance, and inequality. He created families that mirrored ours,” said Jimmy Kimmel.
Carroll O’Connor, who played Arche Bunker, was in my mind simply the greatest television actor of all time. He was absolutely brilliant in that role. Boy, when “All in the Family” came on, that was a family event for us…never missed.
Lear said during an acceptance speech at the 2021 Golden Globes: “I am convinced that laughter adds time to one’s life.”
Lear’s work transformed television at a time when old-fashioned programs such as “Here’s Lucy,” “Ironside” and “Gunsmoke” still dominated. CBS, Lear’s primary network, would soon enact its “rural purge” and cancel such standbys as “The Beverly Hillbillies” and “Green Acres.” The groundbreaking sitcom “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” about a single career woman in Minneapolis, debuted on CBS in September 1970, just months before “All in the Family” started.
ABC passed on “All in the Family” twice and CBS ran a disclaimer when it finally aired the show; “The program you are about to see is ‘All in the Family.’ It seeks to throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices, and concerns. By making them a source of laughter we hope to show, in a mature fashion, just how absurd they are.”
By the end of 1971, “All in the Family” was No. 1 in the ratings and Archie Bunker was a pop culture fixture, with President Richard Nixon among his fans. Archie’s putdowns like “Meathead” and “Dingbat” became catchphrases.
Even the show’s opening segment was innovative: Instead of an off-screen theme song, Archie and Edith are seated at the piano in their living room, belting out a nostalgic number, “Those Were the Days,”…Archie crooning such lines as “Didn’t need no welfare state” and “Girls were girls and men were men.”
“All in the Family,” based on the British sitcom, “Til Death Us Do Part,” was the No. 1-rated series for an unprecedented five years in a row and earned four Emmy Awards as best comedy series, finally eclipsed by five-time winner “Frasier” in 1998.
And for Lear and then-partner Bud Yorkin, the hits kept on coming, including “Maude” and “The Jeffersons,” both spinoffs from “All in the Family.” “Maude,” played by Bea Arthur, in 1972 became the first series to address the topic of abortion, drawing a surge of protests along with high ratings.
Lear said in an interview with the AP in 1994: “Controversy suggests people are thinking about something. But there’d better be laughing first and foremost or it’s a dog.”
Lear and Yorkin also created “Good Times, “Sanford & Son” (a huge fave of mine), and “One Day at a Time,” starring Bonnie Franklinn as a single mother and Valerie Bertinelli and Mackenzie Phillips as her daughters. In the 1974-75 season, Lear and Yorkin produced five of the top 10 shows.
Lear’s business success enabled him to promote his ardent political beliefs beyond the small screen. In 2000, he and a partner bought a copy of the Declaration of Independence for $8.14 million and sent it on a cross-country tour.
Lear was an active donor to Democratic candidates and founded the nonprofit liberal advocacy group People for the American Way in 1980, he said, because people such as evangelists Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson were “abusing religion.”
By 1986, Lear was on Forbes’ magazine’s list of the 400 richest people in America, with an estimated net worth of $225 million. He didn’t make the cut the next year after a $112 million divorce settlement for his second wife, Frances. They had been married 29 years and had two daughters.
Lear was born in New Haven, Conn., on July 27, 1922, to Herman Lear, a securities broker who served time in prison for selling fake bonds, and Jeanette, a homemaker who helped inspire Edith Bunker.
He dropped out of Emerson College in 1942 to enlist in the Air Force and flew 52 combat missions in Europe as a turret gunner, earning a Decorated Air Medal. After World War II, he worked in public relations.
Lear began writing in the early 1950s on shows including “The Colgate Comedy Hour” and for such comedians as Martha Raye and George Gobel.
What a life…what an impact.
“You looked around television in those years,” Lear said in a 2012 New York Times interview, referring to the middle and late 1960s, “and the biggest problem any family faced was ‘Mother dented the car, and how do you keep Dad from finding out’; ‘the boss is coming to dinner, and the roast’s ruined.’ The message that was sending out was that we didn’t have any problems.”
Yup…earlier this year I stumbled on a “Leave it to Beaver” rerun (this being an all-time favorite growing up as well), and the Beav’s big problem was he collected 30 frogs that he was going to sell to a strange man who would no doubt kill them, in order for the Beav to have enough money to buy a little boat, that Ward had said if he wanted it, he needed to come up with half the purchase price. Then Beav got cold feet, grew attached to the frogs he was keeping in the garage, and let them go. Ward, of course, learning of this, gave Beav the balance of the money.
A little less serious than something addressed on Maude later on.
--Denny Laine, the singer and co-founder of the Moody Blues who was also a member of Paul McCartney and Wings, died. He was 79.
Laine formed the Moody Blues in Birmingham, England, in May 1964 with Graeme Edge, Mike Pinder, Ray Thomas, and Clint Warwick. He sang lead and played guitar on the band’s first big hit, “Go Now,” and was in the original mix when Paul and Linda McCartney formed Wings in 1971.
Top 3 songs for the week 12/15/62: #1 “Big Girls Don’t Cry” (The 4 Seasons) #2 “Return To Sender” (Elvis Presley) #3 “Bobby’s Girl” (Marcie Blane)…and…#4 “Limbo Rock” (Chubby Checker) #5 “Telstar” (The Tornadoes) #6 “Don’t Hang Up” (The Orlons) #7 “The Lonely Bull” (The Tijuana Brass Feat. Herb Alpert) #8 “Ride!” (Dee Dee Sharp) #9 “Release Me” (Esther Phillips “Little Esther”) #10 “Go Away Little Girl” (Steve Lawrence…underrated entertainer, in the purest sense…not an awful week considering we were 14 months away from the British Invasion…B-…)
Heisman Trophy Quiz Answer: Six to have won the Heisman, prior to Jayden Daniels, who played at multiple four-year colleges:
2022: Caleb Williams, USC…Oklahoma
2019: Joe Burrow, LSU…Ohio State
2018: Kyler Murray, Oklahoma…Texas A&M
2017: Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma…Texas Tech
2010: Cam Newton, Auburn…Florida
1945: Doc Blanchard, Army…North Carolina
Brief Add-on up top by Tuesday evening.