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07/17/2023

Alcaraz Triumphant

Add-on posted early Tues. p.m.

MLB

--The Yankees suffered their second straight brutal loss in extra innings, this time to the Angels in Anaheim, 4-3 in 10 on Monday.  New York gave up a game trying 2-run homer to Shohei Ohtani, his 35th, while Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo went a combined 0-for-10, Rizzo’s homerless streak at 42 games. 

Oh, and the Yanks struck out 17 times, Anthony Volpe four times, and he’s in a 3-for-38 skid, average back down to .208.

So thru Monday, the Yanks are 50-45, 15-20 since Aaron Judge went out with a torn toe ligament.

Golf Balls…The Open Championship

Should be great fun this weekend at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake.  Rory won the last Open played here in 2014 (beating Rickie Fowler), which is also the last major he’s won.  It seems as if he’s been waiting forever for win No. 5, and nine years for someone of his caliber is, err, forever.

--Barry Svrluga / Washington Post

“One of golf’s most important tenets is that you must act in private as you would in public.  Don’t move your golf ball just because no one’s looking.  Be honest about the ramifications of your actions because the integrity of your match – indeed, the integrity of the sport – relies on it.

“Here comes Jay Monahan, then.  The most important development in the sideways world of men’s professional golf this week should be the staging of the British Open at Royal Liverpool, where the past two champions are Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods.  (Their stature is such that someone should bequeath them teams in a worldwide golf league!)  Instead, one of golf’s best weeks will include a distracting storyline that has impact beyond the Open: Monahan’s return to his post as commissioner of the PGA Tour. For how long? Who’s to say?

“In terms relatable to his sport, Monahan essentially hit a shot into the woods, disappeared there, thrashed about for a bit and claimed he made par when he emerged – only to withdraw mid-round.  His return to his job is from a self-imposed exile to deal with undisclosed health issues, and you can only wish him well.

“But it’s impossible to ignore that the commissioner rode sidesaddle as the framework of an agreement that would fundamentally change his sport was put in place by operators who neither have long standing in the pro game nor included the sport’s most prominent stars – to say nothing of the rank and file – in the discussions.  There are ramifications, and Monahan is about to feel them….

“The average PGA Tour player’s understanding of how this is playing out?

“ ‘Honestly,’ three-time major winner Jordan Spieth told reporters in Scotland, ‘we’re very much in the dark on it.’

“How Monahan returns from his leave and assures these players that when he says he’s standing up for them, he’s actually doing just that, after he a) conducted the negotiations without involvement from a single one of them and b) has no idea what that tour will look like in 2024, is beyond me.

“The fissures are everywhere.  Last week, longtime PGA Tour policy board member Randall Stephenson resigned in a manner that reminded everyone why this deal is so specious in the first place. The framework, he wrote in his resignation letter, ‘is not one that I can objectively evaluate or in good conscience support, particularly in light of the U.S. intelligence report concerning Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.’….

“This is the world Jay Monahan helped create, the one he departed to tend to his health and the one he reenters Monday.  His support has dissolved.  His power is in question.  His deal is in doubt.  Welcome back!”

Eamon Lynch / Golfweek

“The PGA Tour isn’t confronting an existential crisis because an autocratic regime decided golf is a cool vehicle to drive tourism and Monahan refused to take a call to discuss opportunities, but because so many players allowed petrodollars to usurp rational market values in a niche sport.  The consequences are warping the economics of professional golf to such an extent that it can no longer be sustained on media rights and sponsorships, and that reality will persist for whoever is in charge.

“Alternative investment exists for the PGA Tour, and while such options would demand a return, accountability is preferable to the free-range financials now running amok.  Clean capital would leave LIV in the wilderness while mitigating the specter of tournament sponsors exiting rather than risk proximity to the Crown Prince’s next atrocity.  And if the scorned Saudis double down, as they were threatening privately when negotiations began, so be it.  Let them continue funding a failed product and let players choose sides, once and for all.  The PGA Tour simply cannot continue mutilating itself to satisfy every demand for a pound of flesh.”

--I have to go back to the LPGA Tour stop this past weekend, the Dana Open, and 15-year-old Mia Hammond.  Yes, 15.

Hammond won the Monday qualifier and then made the cut, going 68-68 Thursday and Friday.  She ended up T26.  [Linn Grant of Sweden won it.]

Well, obviously Hammond is a name to watch.

Saquon Barkley

The Giants failed to reach a long-term contract with Barkley on Monday, leaving the two sides at a stalemate over whether he will play this season.

Barkley was franchise-tagged for 2023 at $10.09 million, but he declined to sign the tender. So now we wait to see if shows up to training camp next Tuesday or if he will hold out.  Since he didn’t sign the tender, he can’t be fined should he not show.

Christian McCaffrey of the 49ers has the top average salary for a running back at $16 million, and Alvin Kamara of the Saints is earning $15 million.  Derrick Henry of the Titans, Nick Chubb of the Browns and Joe Mixon of the Bengals each earn at least $12 million per year on their deals.

If Barkley accepts the tag, the two sides cannot negotiate a long-term deal until after the end of the regular season.

Josh Jacobs of the Vegas Raiders also failed to reach a long-term contract and, like Barkley, isn’t expected to report to camp right away. 

Stuff

--NASCAR’s event this week at New Hampshire Motor Speedway was held Monday due to weather issues and Martin Truex Jr. won the Crayon 301, leading 254 of the 301 laps to pick up his third win of 2023, the 34th of his Cup Series career.

Truex leads the overall standings over William Byron with six races remaining for the playoffs.

--As my brother said, Tour de France fans are the biggest assholes on the planet, witness yet another spectator caused crash over the weekend when a guy went into the road to take a selfie, with about two dozen riders then involved in the pileup.

--Taylor Swift is the first woman overall and first living artist in nearly six decades to have four albums on Billboard’s top 10 list in a single week, according to the magazine.  “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” is also the superstar’s 12th album to hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts, the most of any female artist.

Three other Swift albums – 2022’s “Midnight,” 2019’s “Lover” and 2020’s “Folklore” – round out her presence on Billboard’s top 10 list for the week of July 22.

Herb Alpert held that many albums on Billboard’s top 10 in a single week back in 1966, according to Billboard (and my family bought all of them).  Prince posthumously had five albums in the top 10 shortly after his death in 2016.

The Beatles hold the most chart-topping albums with 19, Jay-Z has 14 and Drake 12.

--A woman suffered significant injuries Monday morning after she was gored by a bison in Yellowstone National Park.  The National Park Service said the attack occurred in a field between Lake Lodge and Lake Yellowstone by some cabins.

The 47-year-old woman from Phoenix, AZ, and a companion were walking when they spotted two bison.  As the two walked away, one of the animals charged and gored the woman.   She “sustained significant injuries to her chest and abdomen,” the NPS said.

She was flown by helicopter to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls.  Our best to her for a speedy recovery.

--You know that escaped Pennsylvania inmate, Michael Burham, who was on the run for nine days and then captured Saturday night?

A homeowner heard his dog barking and so went out to investigate what had set the dog off.  He looked in his backyard where he spotted Burham.

The pair had a brief conversation where Burham told the homeowner he was on a “camping trip,” but the homeowner immediately recognized the prisoner, called police, and they took him in without incident, tracking him through the woods.

The dog?  He’s Tucker…and he goes into the December files for “Hero Animal of the Year” consideration.

Next Bar Chat, Sunday p.m.

-----

Posted early Sunday p.m.

The weather in the Northeast impacted the baseball schedule some so posting before a few games were completed.  Also, for a second week I did post a midweek Bar Chat to clear the table of some issues.  If you didn’t see it, check the archives.]

No midweek BC this coming week…though I’ll throw something up I’m guessing, maybe, by Wed. a.m.

MLB Quiz: Stolen from a recent Yankees broadcast.  Name the only three pitchers to throw a no-hitter and lead the league in saves. [Yes, two are easy, I think the third is pretty hard.] Answer below.

MLB

--As Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post put it, parity reigned in the first half, with the Reds, Rays and Orioles, a combined payroll of roughly $237 million, on their way to the playoffs, while the Mets, Padres, and Angels, all with payrolls of $217 million (Angels) or much higher struggling mightily.  Throw in the Marlins and Diamondbacks, both of whom have payrolls in baseball’s bottom third.

But the fact is, no team with a payroll in MLB’s bottom six has advanced to a league championship series after a full 162-game season in more than a decade.  [Tampa Bay made it into the World Series in 2020, but that was a 60-game schedule.]

So we’ll see what happens.

--One thing we know, the pathetic Mets will not be part of the postseason conversation.  Watching Saturday’s game against the Dodgers at Citi Field, I have to admit I didn’t know my Mets were on the verge of the worst season for a team that won 100 games the year prior since the 1918 Chicago White Sox.

After New York’s mini-winning streak of six games before the All-Star Game, they lost the final two in San Diego before the break and have opened up the second half with four hits in two games, falling to the Dodgers 6-0, and 5-1 last night.

Friday, Justin Verlander walked six in 5 innings, and then Saturday, the Mets wasted another solid effort from Kodai Senga, one run in six innings, Senga 7-5, 3.20, though he didn’t take the loss.

Instead, the Mets put on one of the worst fielding displays since the 1962-63 Mets, dropping two pop-ups like Little Leaguers, and Pete Alonso muffing a sure double play ball that put L.A. in the lead.

Speaking of Alonso, whose historic slump I mentioned before the All-Star Game, he’s now 16-for-108, .148.  Overall, he’s batting .210.  And he’s expecting a huge contract extension before he hits free agency in 2025.  He’s actually making $14.5 million this season.  I hope the Mets just give him another one-year deal and ask him to prove something next year before extending him.

But they have so many issues, as the Fox broadcasting crew did a good job Saturday of summing up.

I’d commit hari-kari but I’m curious to see how the Wake Football and Hoops teams do, let alone Aaron Rodgers and the Jets, so I’ll postpone this rather drastic step until perhaps February or March.

[But by then I’d have to see if the Mets can turn it around, so maybe June of 2024.]

Meanwhile, the Dodgers entered Sunday having won six straight and retaken the lead in the NL West over the Diamondbacks.

Mookie Betts has been playing like an MVP, 4-for-4 with a home run Saturday, .983 OPS, 27 home runs, 74 runs scored, and potentially on his way to his seventh 40-double season.  As I’ve evolved as a fan over my six decades of following the sport, I love doubles and runs scored as much as anything.  Betts has also led the league in runs scored three times in his career.

But Clayton Kershaw, who underwent an MRI on his left shoulder prior to the All-Star break, said Friday he’ll miss a “few weeks” before returning to the rotation in early August.

Kershaw has been battling inflammation in the shoulder and after receiving a cortisone injection, was told by Dr. Neal ElAttrache to let the shoulder heal.

Kershaw is frustrated because he said his shoulder feels “completely fine.”  He will continue to play catch and throw bullpen sessions.

“I’ve never had anything like it, to the point where, I’m gonna go play catch today and throw it as hard as I can, and they say it needs to rest,” the future first ballot Hall of Famer said.  “I don’t know what to make of it.  But I’m just gonna have to listen to them.”

--The Yankees split their first two in Colorado, losing Friday 7-2, as Carlos Rodon gave up 4 earned in 5 innings, and Sean Casey made his debut as hitting coach.

Saturday, the results were better, a 6-3 win as Giancarlo Stanton drove in four.  But ‘slugger’ Anthony Rizzo’s homerless streak hit 40 games, 164 plate appearances.  This is staggering, especially considering that the lefty is batting half the time in a park where it’s like 220 feet down the right-field line, or so it seems in the Little Bandbox That Ruth Didn’t Build.

Aaron Judge took batting practice on the field for a second straight day, a good sign.  Manager Aaron Boone said, “He did more stuff today moving around and running. It went well.”

Judge last played June 3rd.  We’ll see.  Having a torn ligament in your big toe is not an easy injury to recover from without surgery, and surgery becomes complicated (and takes him out for the season).

--Meanwhile, the Orioles beat the Marlins in the first two of their series at Camden Yards, 5-2, 6-5 (Luis Arraez 4-for-5 in this one, Saturday, his average at .386).

And the Rays are back on track, winners of three straight, and so entering Sunday’s action, the AL East looked like this….

Tampa Bay 60-35
Baltimore 56-35…2
Toronto 52-41…7
Yankees 50-43…9
Boston 49-44…10

And in the wild card race….

Baltimore 56-35…+6
Toronto 52-41…+1
Houston 51-41…--
Yankees 50-43…1
Boston 49-44…2
Angels 46-47…5
Seattle 45-46…5
Cleveland 45-47…5.5

Baltimore then completed the sweep of Miami today, 5-4.

Yanks and Rockies are tied 5-5 going to the eleventh.

--Speaking of the Angels, Shohei Ohtani left the mound with finger pain for his third straight start Friday night, L.A. losing their sixth straight, 7-5 to Houston in Anaheim.

Ohtani allowed four earned runs in five innings, 7 strikeouts, falling to 7-5, 3.50, as he struggles with blisters and a cracked fingernail that are preventing him from pitching at his peak. 

But Saturday, he hit his MLB-leading 33rd homer in a wild 13-12, extra-inning win over the Astros, snapping the losing streak.

Ohtani also said he will make his next scheduled start as the Baseball World follows the finger.

--The Brewers and Reds are playing a unique six-game stretch against each other…the last three before the All-Star break in Milwaukee, and this weekend in Cincinnati, and Milwaukee has taken control, winning four of five to get back on top in the NL Central.

Milwaukee 51-42
Reds 50-43…1

In fact, they have shut out the Reds three straight, including 1-0 on Friday behind Corbin Burnes’ 13 strikeouts in six innings (on a brutally hot and humid night that had him nearly fainting in the fifth inning), and then 3-0 Saturday, the Reds with three hits combined in the two games.

Make it Milwaukee by two games, 4-3 winners today.

--The Phillies swept the Padres in a doubleheader Saturday in the City of Brotherly Love, at least it was in William Penn’s day, despite the Cheesesteak Wars of 1689-1691, Bryce Harper homering in the second game, breaking the longest homerless streak of his career, 166 plate appearances.

And so Philadelphia is right there in the wild card hunt….

Miami 53-41…+1
Arizona 52-41…+0.5
San Francisco 51-41…--
Philadelphia 50-42…1
Cincinnati 50-43…1.5

--Brothers Josh and Bo Naylor of the Cleveland Guardians each hit a two-run home run in the top of the third inning during Friday’s game against Texas, becoming the first brothers in MLB history to hit multi-run homers in the same inning for the same team.  I have to admit, I didn’t know there was a Bo Naylor.

Other brothers to go yard in the same inning since 1961, though not necessarily multi-run homers, were BJ and Justin Upton, Billy and Cal Ripken, and Tommie and Hank Aaron.

Unfortunately, the brothers accounted for Cleveland’s only runs in a 12-4 loss.

--I posted a little Add-on before Tuesday’s All-Star Game, which was entertaining…a good job by baseball.  The Seattle crowd was certainly into it, singing out to Ohtani, “Come to Seattle.”

“I’ve never experienced anything like that,” Ohtani said after.  “I definitely heard it.”

“Every time I come here, the fans are passionate, they’re really into the game,” he added.  “So it’s very impressive.”

But Seattle shouldn’t get their hopes up.

Meanwhile, baseball has a lot to be proud about.  Attendance is up 8 percent, game times cut by 26-28 minutes.  There’s a little more action, particularly with the stolen base.

But there’s pressure among some players to tinker with the pitch clock for the playoffs.  Don’t do it, Manfred!

Wimbledon

--In a dream men’s singles final, 20-year-old phenom Carlos Alcaraz, the 1-seed, took on 36-year-old Novak Djokovic, the 2-seed, and seven-time Wimbledon champion.

Alcaraz blitzed Daniil Medvedev in his semifinal, while Djokovic eased past Italian young gun Jannik Sinner to reach his 35th Grand Slam final.

And the final delivered, Alcaraz picking up his second Grand Slam to go with last year’s U.S. Open, and you can just pencil him in for 10+ in his career.

I picked this match up in the third set, just before the now historic fifth game, 27 minutes, 13 deuces, as Alcaraz won it to go up 4-1 and then win the third set 6-1 to go up 2-1 (1-6, 7-6, 6-1).

But Djokovic, ever the warrior, prevailed in the fourth, 6-3, and then Alcaraz took the fifth, 6-4, with one terrific drop shot after another.

So no calendar year grand slam for Novak, no GS win number 24, but he obviously still has a lot left in the tank.  And these two should be seeded 1-2 again in the U.S. Open so wouldn’t see each other until the finals.  Let’s hope for that…unless American Christopher Eubanks makes another run.

Alcaraz is great for the sport…he has the ‘It Factor,’ no doubt.  And I agree with my brother, Spaniards are just cool, charismatic.  He’ll have the U.S. Open crowd eating out of the palm of his hand.

--On the women’s side, Ons Jabeur, the six-seed, squared off with unseeded Marketa Vondrousova in the final, Saturday, as Jabeur attempted, again, to be the first African or Arab woman to win a Grand Slam singles title.  Vondrousova was looking to become the first unseeded woman to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish.

And it was Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, who rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the first set to take out Jabeur of Tunisia, 6-4, 6-4.

It was Vondrousova’s first Grand Slam title and Jabeur’s third loss in a Grand Slam final, including at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2022.  You gotta feel for Jabeur.  She has the weight of the continent on her shoulders, such a terrific role model for girls in both Africa and the Middle East.

In the 25 tournaments since Serena Williams won her 23rd and final Grand Slam in Australia in 2017, 16 different women have now lifted major trophies.

Golf Balls

--Entering the final round of the Genesis Scottish Open at North Berwick (The Renaissance Club…not a great track…), we had an intriguing leaderboard for this co-sponsored PGA/DP World Tour event.

Rory McIlroy -13
Tom Kim -12
Tommy Fleetwood -11
Brian Harman -11
Erick Cole -10
Scottie Scheffler -10
Shane Lowry -10
J.T. Poston -10
Byeong Hun An -10

But the weather forecast for Sunday afternoon was brutal so for the second day, they moved the tee times way up, split tees, threesomes and it got a bit chaotic in the final round.

Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, 26, an up-and-comer, fired a superb 64 in the gusty wind to head into the clubhouse with an early lead at -14.

Rory lost two strokes and was back to -11, when he commenced play on the back nine and then proceeded to play spectacular golf, rough weather and all, -4 on the final nine holes, including super birdies on 17 and 18 to take the title by one.

Rory -15
MacIntyre -14
T3 Scheffler -10
T6 Fleetwood -9
T6 Kim -9
T12 Lowry -7

It was Rory’s first win ever on Scottish soil, and he became the first golfer in history to win the British, Scottish and Irish Opens, which is way cool.

It was also Rory’s 24th PGA Tour title, and he has six straight top 10s.

As in he’s set up beautifully for next week at Hoylake, where he bagged an Open Championship in 2014.

--Rory was asked about a document that came up in last week’s Senate hearing on the proposed alliance between the Saudi Public Investment Fund and the PGA Tour that had a proposed idea involving McIlroy and Tiger Woods.  The two would own teams and play in at least 10 LIV events.

Rory’s response: “If LIV Golf was the last place to play Golf on Earth, I would retire.  That’s how I feel about it.  I’d play the majors. I’d be pretty comfortable.”

But as part of the pressure the PGA Tour and PIF are facing from the Justice Department about their ambitions for a new company to shape global golf, the two were forced to abandon a crucial provision of their tentative deal: a promise not to recruit each other’s players.

The decision, as the New York Times reported, “reflected the fragility, uncertainty and turbulence surrounding the deal.”

All the more reason why the two sides must come to a definitive agreement this fall, or the poaching could start up all over again.

--When asked about Commissioner Jay Monahan’s future and how players viewed him these days, Xander Schauffele said his trust level in the commish had changed.

“Yes,” Schauffele said.  “If you want to call it one of the rockier times on tour, the guy was supposed to be there for us. But he wasn’t.  Obviously, he had some health issues.  I’m glad he’s feeling much better. But yeah, I’d say he has a lot of tough questions to answer on his return. I don’t trust people easily.  He had my trust and he has a lot less of it now and I don’t stand alone when I say that.”

The players just want to know what’s going on, and I’m not sure there is a lot Monahan, due back Monday, can say.

NFL

--The New York Giants latest offer to Saquon Barkley was $19.5 million in guarantees, which Barkley rejected.

The two sides have until Monday, July 17, to work out a new deal as the Giants placed the $10.1 million franchise tag on him – something he has yet to sign.  The 26-year-old wants a multi-year deal and is prepared to sit out if that doesn’t happen, according to multiple reports.  Barkley would be guaranteed $22.2 million over two years if he were to be franchise-tagged next season as well.

Pro Football Talk reported the Giants offered Barkley a deal with $26 million in guarantees over two years prior to using the franchise tag.  But Barkley wants $16 million per year, PFT said.

If there’s no agreement by Monday, tagged players can’t sign a long-term deal until the regular season ends.

The Giants have to get this done or their season is over before it starts.

--With no teams volunteering for HBO’s “Hard Knocks” this year, and with the Jets one of four franchises the NFL could force into participating, it was rather obvious with Aaron Rodgers a Jet and the team the big preseason story, the Jets would be selected.

The only way a team could claim an exemption is if it has a first-year head coach, had a playoff berth in the past two seasons or made an appearance on “Hard Knocks” in the past 10 seasons. 

Rodgers, and the Jets, are pissed off, but the cameras will roll soon.

Meanwhile, the Jets signed defensive tackle Quinnen Williams to a mammoth contract extension – four years, $96 million, including $66 million in guaranteed money.  The deal makes him the second highest-paid DT in the league, behind only Aaron Donald of the Rams.

Stuff

--The Tennessee football program avoided a bowl ban but was fined more than $8 million by the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions, after finding more than 200 individual infractions committed by the school during former coach Jeremy Pruitt’s tenure.

Among the penalties handed down aside from the fine, Tennessee has been placed on five years’ probation and will see a total reduction of 28 scholarships.

The $8 million fine, which the NCAA said was “equivalent to the financial impact the school would have faced if it missed the postseason during the 2023 and 2024 seasons,” is believed to be the largest ever levied in an infractions case.

The Volunteers were credited for their self-imposed 16-scholarship reduction over the past two years and will cut two more scholarships this year, meaning 10 additional scholarships will be taken away over the five-year probation period.

Tennessee had been charged with 18 Level 1 violations in July 2022.  Among the more than 200 infractions were charges of $60,000 in impermissible benefits and both Pruitt and his wife, Casey, making cash payments to players’ families.

Pruitt was 16-19 in his three seasons for the Vols.

We then learned Tennessee had all 11 wins in the 2019 and 2020 seasons wiped from the record books, dropping them from the top 10 in all-time college football victories, due to ineligible players appearing in the vacated victories, the school confirmed Saturday.

This is so freakin’ stupid.  They played the games.

The statistics of eligible players and any awards given them, however, will be retained.

--Northwestern fired baseball coach Jimmy Foster on Thursday, in the wake of a Chicago Tribune report that said the first-year coach “engaged in bullying and abusive behavior” of players.

This comes of course after the firing of Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald on Monday after details of “widespread” hazing emerged.

Foster was just 10-40 in his lone season at the helm, including 4-20 in Big Ten play.

According to the report, Foster cursed out staff and pressured players to return early from injury or discouraged players from seeking treatment.  More than a dozen players entered the transfer portal after the season.

Gee, Northwestern is really hitting on all cylinders these days.

--At the ESPY Awards Wednesday in Los Angeles, LeBron James thought it necessary to ‘dramatically’ let us know he was returning for another season.

Whatever, the world shrugged.  No one ever thought he was retiring.

--The largest Burmese python caught was caught the other day in Big Cypress National Preserve, 19 feet.  And then the largest python nest in Florida history was removed from the Everglades, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, a 13-foot, 9-inch female Burmese python and its nest of 111 eggs, removed by a contractor.  Good lord…111 eggs!

The video of Jake Waleri catching the 19-footer is scary viewing. 

--A young girl was attacked by a 55-pound rabid beaver Monday in Gainesville, Georgia, while she was swimming in a lake, the Associated Press reported.

The incident happened at Lake Lanier, about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta.

The young girl was swimming when she was bit on the leg by a beaver. Her father intervened and used blunt force, killing the beaver.

The beaver was then taken to a state lab and diagnosed with rabies.  No further word on the condition of the girl.

Top 3 songs for the week 7/14/79:  #1 “Bad Girls” (Donna Summer)  #2 “Ring My Bell” (Anita Ward)  #3 “Hot Stuff” (Donna Summer)…and…#4 “Chuck E.’s In Love” (Rickie Lee Jones)  #5 “She Believes In Me” (Kenny Rogers)  #6 “Boogie Wonderland” (Earth, Wind & Fire with The Emotions)  #7 “Makin’ It” (David Naughton)  #8 “I Want You To Want Me” (Cheap Trick)  #9 “Shine A Little Love” (Electric Light Orchestra)  #10 “Gold” (John Stewart…D week…)

MLB Quiz Answer: Three pitchers to throw a no-hitter and lead the league in saves…Dave Righetti, Dennis Eckersley and Derek Lowe.

No midweek Bar Chat…next one, Sunday p.m.

 



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Bar Chat

07/17/2023

Alcaraz Triumphant

Add-on posted early Tues. p.m.

MLB

--The Yankees suffered their second straight brutal loss in extra innings, this time to the Angels in Anaheim, 4-3 in 10 on Monday.  New York gave up a game trying 2-run homer to Shohei Ohtani, his 35th, while Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo went a combined 0-for-10, Rizzo’s homerless streak at 42 games. 

Oh, and the Yanks struck out 17 times, Anthony Volpe four times, and he’s in a 3-for-38 skid, average back down to .208.

So thru Monday, the Yanks are 50-45, 15-20 since Aaron Judge went out with a torn toe ligament.

Golf Balls…The Open Championship

Should be great fun this weekend at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake.  Rory won the last Open played here in 2014 (beating Rickie Fowler), which is also the last major he’s won.  It seems as if he’s been waiting forever for win No. 5, and nine years for someone of his caliber is, err, forever.

--Barry Svrluga / Washington Post

“One of golf’s most important tenets is that you must act in private as you would in public.  Don’t move your golf ball just because no one’s looking.  Be honest about the ramifications of your actions because the integrity of your match – indeed, the integrity of the sport – relies on it.

“Here comes Jay Monahan, then.  The most important development in the sideways world of men’s professional golf this week should be the staging of the British Open at Royal Liverpool, where the past two champions are Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods.  (Their stature is such that someone should bequeath them teams in a worldwide golf league!)  Instead, one of golf’s best weeks will include a distracting storyline that has impact beyond the Open: Monahan’s return to his post as commissioner of the PGA Tour. For how long? Who’s to say?

“In terms relatable to his sport, Monahan essentially hit a shot into the woods, disappeared there, thrashed about for a bit and claimed he made par when he emerged – only to withdraw mid-round.  His return to his job is from a self-imposed exile to deal with undisclosed health issues, and you can only wish him well.

“But it’s impossible to ignore that the commissioner rode sidesaddle as the framework of an agreement that would fundamentally change his sport was put in place by operators who neither have long standing in the pro game nor included the sport’s most prominent stars – to say nothing of the rank and file – in the discussions.  There are ramifications, and Monahan is about to feel them….

“The average PGA Tour player’s understanding of how this is playing out?

“ ‘Honestly,’ three-time major winner Jordan Spieth told reporters in Scotland, ‘we’re very much in the dark on it.’

“How Monahan returns from his leave and assures these players that when he says he’s standing up for them, he’s actually doing just that, after he a) conducted the negotiations without involvement from a single one of them and b) has no idea what that tour will look like in 2024, is beyond me.

“The fissures are everywhere.  Last week, longtime PGA Tour policy board member Randall Stephenson resigned in a manner that reminded everyone why this deal is so specious in the first place. The framework, he wrote in his resignation letter, ‘is not one that I can objectively evaluate or in good conscience support, particularly in light of the U.S. intelligence report concerning Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.’….

“This is the world Jay Monahan helped create, the one he departed to tend to his health and the one he reenters Monday.  His support has dissolved.  His power is in question.  His deal is in doubt.  Welcome back!”

Eamon Lynch / Golfweek

“The PGA Tour isn’t confronting an existential crisis because an autocratic regime decided golf is a cool vehicle to drive tourism and Monahan refused to take a call to discuss opportunities, but because so many players allowed petrodollars to usurp rational market values in a niche sport.  The consequences are warping the economics of professional golf to such an extent that it can no longer be sustained on media rights and sponsorships, and that reality will persist for whoever is in charge.

“Alternative investment exists for the PGA Tour, and while such options would demand a return, accountability is preferable to the free-range financials now running amok.  Clean capital would leave LIV in the wilderness while mitigating the specter of tournament sponsors exiting rather than risk proximity to the Crown Prince’s next atrocity.  And if the scorned Saudis double down, as they were threatening privately when negotiations began, so be it.  Let them continue funding a failed product and let players choose sides, once and for all.  The PGA Tour simply cannot continue mutilating itself to satisfy every demand for a pound of flesh.”

--I have to go back to the LPGA Tour stop this past weekend, the Dana Open, and 15-year-old Mia Hammond.  Yes, 15.

Hammond won the Monday qualifier and then made the cut, going 68-68 Thursday and Friday.  She ended up T26.  [Linn Grant of Sweden won it.]

Well, obviously Hammond is a name to watch.

Saquon Barkley

The Giants failed to reach a long-term contract with Barkley on Monday, leaving the two sides at a stalemate over whether he will play this season.

Barkley was franchise-tagged for 2023 at $10.09 million, but he declined to sign the tender. So now we wait to see if shows up to training camp next Tuesday or if he will hold out.  Since he didn’t sign the tender, he can’t be fined should he not show.

Christian McCaffrey of the 49ers has the top average salary for a running back at $16 million, and Alvin Kamara of the Saints is earning $15 million.  Derrick Henry of the Titans, Nick Chubb of the Browns and Joe Mixon of the Bengals each earn at least $12 million per year on their deals.

If Barkley accepts the tag, the two sides cannot negotiate a long-term deal until after the end of the regular season.

Josh Jacobs of the Vegas Raiders also failed to reach a long-term contract and, like Barkley, isn’t expected to report to camp right away. 

Stuff

--NASCAR’s event this week at New Hampshire Motor Speedway was held Monday due to weather issues and Martin Truex Jr. won the Crayon 301, leading 254 of the 301 laps to pick up his third win of 2023, the 34th of his Cup Series career.

Truex leads the overall standings over William Byron with six races remaining for the playoffs.

--As my brother said, Tour de France fans are the biggest assholes on the planet, witness yet another spectator caused crash over the weekend when a guy went into the road to take a selfie, with about two dozen riders then involved in the pileup.

--Taylor Swift is the first woman overall and first living artist in nearly six decades to have four albums on Billboard’s top 10 list in a single week, according to the magazine.  “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” is also the superstar’s 12th album to hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts, the most of any female artist.

Three other Swift albums – 2022’s “Midnight,” 2019’s “Lover” and 2020’s “Folklore” – round out her presence on Billboard’s top 10 list for the week of July 22.

Herb Alpert held that many albums on Billboard’s top 10 in a single week back in 1966, according to Billboard (and my family bought all of them).  Prince posthumously had five albums in the top 10 shortly after his death in 2016.

The Beatles hold the most chart-topping albums with 19, Jay-Z has 14 and Drake 12.

--A woman suffered significant injuries Monday morning after she was gored by a bison in Yellowstone National Park.  The National Park Service said the attack occurred in a field between Lake Lodge and Lake Yellowstone by some cabins.

The 47-year-old woman from Phoenix, AZ, and a companion were walking when they spotted two bison.  As the two walked away, one of the animals charged and gored the woman.   She “sustained significant injuries to her chest and abdomen,” the NPS said.

She was flown by helicopter to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls.  Our best to her for a speedy recovery.

--You know that escaped Pennsylvania inmate, Michael Burham, who was on the run for nine days and then captured Saturday night?

A homeowner heard his dog barking and so went out to investigate what had set the dog off.  He looked in his backyard where he spotted Burham.

The pair had a brief conversation where Burham told the homeowner he was on a “camping trip,” but the homeowner immediately recognized the prisoner, called police, and they took him in without incident, tracking him through the woods.

The dog?  He’s Tucker…and he goes into the December files for “Hero Animal of the Year” consideration.

Next Bar Chat, Sunday p.m.

-----

Posted early Sunday p.m.

The weather in the Northeast impacted the baseball schedule some so posting before a few games were completed.  Also, for a second week I did post a midweek Bar Chat to clear the table of some issues.  If you didn’t see it, check the archives.]

No midweek BC this coming week…though I’ll throw something up I’m guessing, maybe, by Wed. a.m.

MLB Quiz: Stolen from a recent Yankees broadcast.  Name the only three pitchers to throw a no-hitter and lead the league in saves. [Yes, two are easy, I think the third is pretty hard.] Answer below.

MLB

--As Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post put it, parity reigned in the first half, with the Reds, Rays and Orioles, a combined payroll of roughly $237 million, on their way to the playoffs, while the Mets, Padres, and Angels, all with payrolls of $217 million (Angels) or much higher struggling mightily.  Throw in the Marlins and Diamondbacks, both of whom have payrolls in baseball’s bottom third.

But the fact is, no team with a payroll in MLB’s bottom six has advanced to a league championship series after a full 162-game season in more than a decade.  [Tampa Bay made it into the World Series in 2020, but that was a 60-game schedule.]

So we’ll see what happens.

--One thing we know, the pathetic Mets will not be part of the postseason conversation.  Watching Saturday’s game against the Dodgers at Citi Field, I have to admit I didn’t know my Mets were on the verge of the worst season for a team that won 100 games the year prior since the 1918 Chicago White Sox.

After New York’s mini-winning streak of six games before the All-Star Game, they lost the final two in San Diego before the break and have opened up the second half with four hits in two games, falling to the Dodgers 6-0, and 5-1 last night.

Friday, Justin Verlander walked six in 5 innings, and then Saturday, the Mets wasted another solid effort from Kodai Senga, one run in six innings, Senga 7-5, 3.20, though he didn’t take the loss.

Instead, the Mets put on one of the worst fielding displays since the 1962-63 Mets, dropping two pop-ups like Little Leaguers, and Pete Alonso muffing a sure double play ball that put L.A. in the lead.

Speaking of Alonso, whose historic slump I mentioned before the All-Star Game, he’s now 16-for-108, .148.  Overall, he’s batting .210.  And he’s expecting a huge contract extension before he hits free agency in 2025.  He’s actually making $14.5 million this season.  I hope the Mets just give him another one-year deal and ask him to prove something next year before extending him.

But they have so many issues, as the Fox broadcasting crew did a good job Saturday of summing up.

I’d commit hari-kari but I’m curious to see how the Wake Football and Hoops teams do, let alone Aaron Rodgers and the Jets, so I’ll postpone this rather drastic step until perhaps February or March.

[But by then I’d have to see if the Mets can turn it around, so maybe June of 2024.]

Meanwhile, the Dodgers entered Sunday having won six straight and retaken the lead in the NL West over the Diamondbacks.

Mookie Betts has been playing like an MVP, 4-for-4 with a home run Saturday, .983 OPS, 27 home runs, 74 runs scored, and potentially on his way to his seventh 40-double season.  As I’ve evolved as a fan over my six decades of following the sport, I love doubles and runs scored as much as anything.  Betts has also led the league in runs scored three times in his career.

But Clayton Kershaw, who underwent an MRI on his left shoulder prior to the All-Star break, said Friday he’ll miss a “few weeks” before returning to the rotation in early August.

Kershaw has been battling inflammation in the shoulder and after receiving a cortisone injection, was told by Dr. Neal ElAttrache to let the shoulder heal.

Kershaw is frustrated because he said his shoulder feels “completely fine.”  He will continue to play catch and throw bullpen sessions.

“I’ve never had anything like it, to the point where, I’m gonna go play catch today and throw it as hard as I can, and they say it needs to rest,” the future first ballot Hall of Famer said.  “I don’t know what to make of it.  But I’m just gonna have to listen to them.”

--The Yankees split their first two in Colorado, losing Friday 7-2, as Carlos Rodon gave up 4 earned in 5 innings, and Sean Casey made his debut as hitting coach.

Saturday, the results were better, a 6-3 win as Giancarlo Stanton drove in four.  But ‘slugger’ Anthony Rizzo’s homerless streak hit 40 games, 164 plate appearances.  This is staggering, especially considering that the lefty is batting half the time in a park where it’s like 220 feet down the right-field line, or so it seems in the Little Bandbox That Ruth Didn’t Build.

Aaron Judge took batting practice on the field for a second straight day, a good sign.  Manager Aaron Boone said, “He did more stuff today moving around and running. It went well.”

Judge last played June 3rd.  We’ll see.  Having a torn ligament in your big toe is not an easy injury to recover from without surgery, and surgery becomes complicated (and takes him out for the season).

--Meanwhile, the Orioles beat the Marlins in the first two of their series at Camden Yards, 5-2, 6-5 (Luis Arraez 4-for-5 in this one, Saturday, his average at .386).

And the Rays are back on track, winners of three straight, and so entering Sunday’s action, the AL East looked like this….

Tampa Bay 60-35
Baltimore 56-35…2
Toronto 52-41…7
Yankees 50-43…9
Boston 49-44…10

And in the wild card race….

Baltimore 56-35…+6
Toronto 52-41…+1
Houston 51-41…--
Yankees 50-43…1
Boston 49-44…2
Angels 46-47…5
Seattle 45-46…5
Cleveland 45-47…5.5

Baltimore then completed the sweep of Miami today, 5-4.

Yanks and Rockies are tied 5-5 going to the eleventh.

--Speaking of the Angels, Shohei Ohtani left the mound with finger pain for his third straight start Friday night, L.A. losing their sixth straight, 7-5 to Houston in Anaheim.

Ohtani allowed four earned runs in five innings, 7 strikeouts, falling to 7-5, 3.50, as he struggles with blisters and a cracked fingernail that are preventing him from pitching at his peak. 

But Saturday, he hit his MLB-leading 33rd homer in a wild 13-12, extra-inning win over the Astros, snapping the losing streak.

Ohtani also said he will make his next scheduled start as the Baseball World follows the finger.

--The Brewers and Reds are playing a unique six-game stretch against each other…the last three before the All-Star break in Milwaukee, and this weekend in Cincinnati, and Milwaukee has taken control, winning four of five to get back on top in the NL Central.

Milwaukee 51-42
Reds 50-43…1

In fact, they have shut out the Reds three straight, including 1-0 on Friday behind Corbin Burnes’ 13 strikeouts in six innings (on a brutally hot and humid night that had him nearly fainting in the fifth inning), and then 3-0 Saturday, the Reds with three hits combined in the two games.

Make it Milwaukee by two games, 4-3 winners today.

--The Phillies swept the Padres in a doubleheader Saturday in the City of Brotherly Love, at least it was in William Penn’s day, despite the Cheesesteak Wars of 1689-1691, Bryce Harper homering in the second game, breaking the longest homerless streak of his career, 166 plate appearances.

And so Philadelphia is right there in the wild card hunt….

Miami 53-41…+1
Arizona 52-41…+0.5
San Francisco 51-41…--
Philadelphia 50-42…1
Cincinnati 50-43…1.5

--Brothers Josh and Bo Naylor of the Cleveland Guardians each hit a two-run home run in the top of the third inning during Friday’s game against Texas, becoming the first brothers in MLB history to hit multi-run homers in the same inning for the same team.  I have to admit, I didn’t know there was a Bo Naylor.

Other brothers to go yard in the same inning since 1961, though not necessarily multi-run homers, were BJ and Justin Upton, Billy and Cal Ripken, and Tommie and Hank Aaron.

Unfortunately, the brothers accounted for Cleveland’s only runs in a 12-4 loss.

--I posted a little Add-on before Tuesday’s All-Star Game, which was entertaining…a good job by baseball.  The Seattle crowd was certainly into it, singing out to Ohtani, “Come to Seattle.”

“I’ve never experienced anything like that,” Ohtani said after.  “I definitely heard it.”

“Every time I come here, the fans are passionate, they’re really into the game,” he added.  “So it’s very impressive.”

But Seattle shouldn’t get their hopes up.

Meanwhile, baseball has a lot to be proud about.  Attendance is up 8 percent, game times cut by 26-28 minutes.  There’s a little more action, particularly with the stolen base.

But there’s pressure among some players to tinker with the pitch clock for the playoffs.  Don’t do it, Manfred!

Wimbledon

--In a dream men’s singles final, 20-year-old phenom Carlos Alcaraz, the 1-seed, took on 36-year-old Novak Djokovic, the 2-seed, and seven-time Wimbledon champion.

Alcaraz blitzed Daniil Medvedev in his semifinal, while Djokovic eased past Italian young gun Jannik Sinner to reach his 35th Grand Slam final.

And the final delivered, Alcaraz picking up his second Grand Slam to go with last year’s U.S. Open, and you can just pencil him in for 10+ in his career.

I picked this match up in the third set, just before the now historic fifth game, 27 minutes, 13 deuces, as Alcaraz won it to go up 4-1 and then win the third set 6-1 to go up 2-1 (1-6, 7-6, 6-1).

But Djokovic, ever the warrior, prevailed in the fourth, 6-3, and then Alcaraz took the fifth, 6-4, with one terrific drop shot after another.

So no calendar year grand slam for Novak, no GS win number 24, but he obviously still has a lot left in the tank.  And these two should be seeded 1-2 again in the U.S. Open so wouldn’t see each other until the finals.  Let’s hope for that…unless American Christopher Eubanks makes another run.

Alcaraz is great for the sport…he has the ‘It Factor,’ no doubt.  And I agree with my brother, Spaniards are just cool, charismatic.  He’ll have the U.S. Open crowd eating out of the palm of his hand.

--On the women’s side, Ons Jabeur, the six-seed, squared off with unseeded Marketa Vondrousova in the final, Saturday, as Jabeur attempted, again, to be the first African or Arab woman to win a Grand Slam singles title.  Vondrousova was looking to become the first unseeded woman to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish.

And it was Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, who rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the first set to take out Jabeur of Tunisia, 6-4, 6-4.

It was Vondrousova’s first Grand Slam title and Jabeur’s third loss in a Grand Slam final, including at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2022.  You gotta feel for Jabeur.  She has the weight of the continent on her shoulders, such a terrific role model for girls in both Africa and the Middle East.

In the 25 tournaments since Serena Williams won her 23rd and final Grand Slam in Australia in 2017, 16 different women have now lifted major trophies.

Golf Balls

--Entering the final round of the Genesis Scottish Open at North Berwick (The Renaissance Club…not a great track…), we had an intriguing leaderboard for this co-sponsored PGA/DP World Tour event.

Rory McIlroy -13
Tom Kim -12
Tommy Fleetwood -11
Brian Harman -11
Erick Cole -10
Scottie Scheffler -10
Shane Lowry -10
J.T. Poston -10
Byeong Hun An -10

But the weather forecast for Sunday afternoon was brutal so for the second day, they moved the tee times way up, split tees, threesomes and it got a bit chaotic in the final round.

Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, 26, an up-and-comer, fired a superb 64 in the gusty wind to head into the clubhouse with an early lead at -14.

Rory lost two strokes and was back to -11, when he commenced play on the back nine and then proceeded to play spectacular golf, rough weather and all, -4 on the final nine holes, including super birdies on 17 and 18 to take the title by one.

Rory -15
MacIntyre -14
T3 Scheffler -10
T6 Fleetwood -9
T6 Kim -9
T12 Lowry -7

It was Rory’s first win ever on Scottish soil, and he became the first golfer in history to win the British, Scottish and Irish Opens, which is way cool.

It was also Rory’s 24th PGA Tour title, and he has six straight top 10s.

As in he’s set up beautifully for next week at Hoylake, where he bagged an Open Championship in 2014.

--Rory was asked about a document that came up in last week’s Senate hearing on the proposed alliance between the Saudi Public Investment Fund and the PGA Tour that had a proposed idea involving McIlroy and Tiger Woods.  The two would own teams and play in at least 10 LIV events.

Rory’s response: “If LIV Golf was the last place to play Golf on Earth, I would retire.  That’s how I feel about it.  I’d play the majors. I’d be pretty comfortable.”

But as part of the pressure the PGA Tour and PIF are facing from the Justice Department about their ambitions for a new company to shape global golf, the two were forced to abandon a crucial provision of their tentative deal: a promise not to recruit each other’s players.

The decision, as the New York Times reported, “reflected the fragility, uncertainty and turbulence surrounding the deal.”

All the more reason why the two sides must come to a definitive agreement this fall, or the poaching could start up all over again.

--When asked about Commissioner Jay Monahan’s future and how players viewed him these days, Xander Schauffele said his trust level in the commish had changed.

“Yes,” Schauffele said.  “If you want to call it one of the rockier times on tour, the guy was supposed to be there for us. But he wasn’t.  Obviously, he had some health issues.  I’m glad he’s feeling much better. But yeah, I’d say he has a lot of tough questions to answer on his return. I don’t trust people easily.  He had my trust and he has a lot less of it now and I don’t stand alone when I say that.”

The players just want to know what’s going on, and I’m not sure there is a lot Monahan, due back Monday, can say.

NFL

--The New York Giants latest offer to Saquon Barkley was $19.5 million in guarantees, which Barkley rejected.

The two sides have until Monday, July 17, to work out a new deal as the Giants placed the $10.1 million franchise tag on him – something he has yet to sign.  The 26-year-old wants a multi-year deal and is prepared to sit out if that doesn’t happen, according to multiple reports.  Barkley would be guaranteed $22.2 million over two years if he were to be franchise-tagged next season as well.

Pro Football Talk reported the Giants offered Barkley a deal with $26 million in guarantees over two years prior to using the franchise tag.  But Barkley wants $16 million per year, PFT said.

If there’s no agreement by Monday, tagged players can’t sign a long-term deal until the regular season ends.

The Giants have to get this done or their season is over before it starts.

--With no teams volunteering for HBO’s “Hard Knocks” this year, and with the Jets one of four franchises the NFL could force into participating, it was rather obvious with Aaron Rodgers a Jet and the team the big preseason story, the Jets would be selected.

The only way a team could claim an exemption is if it has a first-year head coach, had a playoff berth in the past two seasons or made an appearance on “Hard Knocks” in the past 10 seasons. 

Rodgers, and the Jets, are pissed off, but the cameras will roll soon.

Meanwhile, the Jets signed defensive tackle Quinnen Williams to a mammoth contract extension – four years, $96 million, including $66 million in guaranteed money.  The deal makes him the second highest-paid DT in the league, behind only Aaron Donald of the Rams.

Stuff

--The Tennessee football program avoided a bowl ban but was fined more than $8 million by the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions, after finding more than 200 individual infractions committed by the school during former coach Jeremy Pruitt’s tenure.

Among the penalties handed down aside from the fine, Tennessee has been placed on five years’ probation and will see a total reduction of 28 scholarships.

The $8 million fine, which the NCAA said was “equivalent to the financial impact the school would have faced if it missed the postseason during the 2023 and 2024 seasons,” is believed to be the largest ever levied in an infractions case.

The Volunteers were credited for their self-imposed 16-scholarship reduction over the past two years and will cut two more scholarships this year, meaning 10 additional scholarships will be taken away over the five-year probation period.

Tennessee had been charged with 18 Level 1 violations in July 2022.  Among the more than 200 infractions were charges of $60,000 in impermissible benefits and both Pruitt and his wife, Casey, making cash payments to players’ families.

Pruitt was 16-19 in his three seasons for the Vols.

We then learned Tennessee had all 11 wins in the 2019 and 2020 seasons wiped from the record books, dropping them from the top 10 in all-time college football victories, due to ineligible players appearing in the vacated victories, the school confirmed Saturday.

This is so freakin’ stupid.  They played the games.

The statistics of eligible players and any awards given them, however, will be retained.

--Northwestern fired baseball coach Jimmy Foster on Thursday, in the wake of a Chicago Tribune report that said the first-year coach “engaged in bullying and abusive behavior” of players.

This comes of course after the firing of Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald on Monday after details of “widespread” hazing emerged.

Foster was just 10-40 in his lone season at the helm, including 4-20 in Big Ten play.

According to the report, Foster cursed out staff and pressured players to return early from injury or discouraged players from seeking treatment.  More than a dozen players entered the transfer portal after the season.

Gee, Northwestern is really hitting on all cylinders these days.

--At the ESPY Awards Wednesday in Los Angeles, LeBron James thought it necessary to ‘dramatically’ let us know he was returning for another season.

Whatever, the world shrugged.  No one ever thought he was retiring.

--The largest Burmese python caught was caught the other day in Big Cypress National Preserve, 19 feet.  And then the largest python nest in Florida history was removed from the Everglades, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, a 13-foot, 9-inch female Burmese python and its nest of 111 eggs, removed by a contractor.  Good lord…111 eggs!

The video of Jake Waleri catching the 19-footer is scary viewing. 

--A young girl was attacked by a 55-pound rabid beaver Monday in Gainesville, Georgia, while she was swimming in a lake, the Associated Press reported.

The incident happened at Lake Lanier, about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta.

The young girl was swimming when she was bit on the leg by a beaver. Her father intervened and used blunt force, killing the beaver.

The beaver was then taken to a state lab and diagnosed with rabies.  No further word on the condition of the girl.

Top 3 songs for the week 7/14/79:  #1 “Bad Girls” (Donna Summer)  #2 “Ring My Bell” (Anita Ward)  #3 “Hot Stuff” (Donna Summer)…and…#4 “Chuck E.’s In Love” (Rickie Lee Jones)  #5 “She Believes In Me” (Kenny Rogers)  #6 “Boogie Wonderland” (Earth, Wind & Fire with The Emotions)  #7 “Makin’ It” (David Naughton)  #8 “I Want You To Want Me” (Cheap Trick)  #9 “Shine A Little Love” (Electric Light Orchestra)  #10 “Gold” (John Stewart…D week…)

MLB Quiz Answer: Three pitchers to throw a no-hitter and lead the league in saves…Dave Righetti, Dennis Eckersley and Derek Lowe.

No midweek Bar Chat…next one, Sunday p.m.