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Bar Chat

09/18/2023

College Football Review

Special Note: This is being posted early Sunday p.m. as I’m heading out of town for a few days and will not be in a position to do a lot of work.  So, I’m posting before the NFL action, and late golf (though I will try and add a line or two about the latter Monday morning).

No Tues. p.m. Bar Chat either.  I’ll resume my regular routine next weekend.

New York Giants Quiz: 1) Name the four to throw 100 TD passes in a Giants uniform.  2) Name the first to rush for 1,000 yards in a season.  3) Name the first to have 1,000 receiving yards in a season.  Answers below.

College Football Review…comments written before new AP Poll…

As I noted last time, this week’s schedule was devoid of any particularly high-profile contests, and rather boring, to say the least, but that meant there would be a few exciting ones anyway and there were.

No. 1 Georgia struggled mightily against South Carolina in Athens, trailing 14-3 at halftime, as Gamecock quarterback Spencer Rattler was superb, 16-of-18, 152 yards and a touchdown pass.

But the Bulldogs defense clamped down bigly after the intermission, Rattler just 6-of-24 in the second half, while Georgia’s Carson Beck (27/35, 269, 0-0) was efficient and Daijun Edwards rushed for 118 yards, the Bulldogs surviving 24-14.

The Gamecocks did handily beat the 27-point spread, warming the cockles of the fan base.

2 Michigan (who I believe will win it all), easily handled Bowling Green 31-6.

Which brings us to No. 3 Florida State, who defeated LSU earlier, barely defeating Boston College up in Chestnut Hill, 31-29, the Eagles done in by a school-record 18 penalties.

For B.C., quarterback Thomas Castellanos played heroically, throwing for 305 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for 95 yards and a score, as the defense held FSU to just 340 yards of offense, Heisman candidate Jordan Travis throwing for a pedestrian 212 yards, but two touchdowns.

Florida State was up 31-10 in the third before Boston College, a 25.5-point underdog, roared back and almost pulled off an upset for the ages.

No. 4 Texas, who will be No. 3 with the next poll, Florida State no doubt falling a few notches, beat Wyoming 31-10.

No. 5 USC was idle…but will move up to No. 4.

No. 6 Ohio State beat Western Kentucky 63-10.

7 Penn State handled Illinois on the road, 30-13.

8 Washington had no problem with Michigan State in East Lansing, as the Spartans are reeling amidst the Mel Tucker suspension and controversy.  Michael Penix Jr. continued his early Heisman push for the Huskies, throwing for 473 yards and four touchdowns.

9 Notre Dame got three more touchdown passes from Sam Hartman, while Audric Estime rushed for 176 and a score, as the Fighting Irish defeated Central Michigan 41-17.  Hartman has 13 touchdowns and zero interceptions in his first four games…yes, just what the doctor ordered when ND came up with the requisite NIL money to nab the lad.

Next week, Ohio State visits ND, a ginormous early season affair.

10 Alabama just isn’t that good, beating South Florida 17-3, as Tyler Buchner replaced Jalen Milroe at quarterback, Milroe benched for his performance the week prior against Texas, and Buchner was 5/14, 34 yards, before he was replaced by Ty Simpson.  So Nick Saban has a major problem at the most important position on the field.

Bama was a 32-point favorite.

In other games…

Florida upset 11 Tennessee 29-16.

12 Utah defeated Weber State 31-7.

13 Oregon beat Hawaii 55-10…quack quack…

14 LSU had a good win at Mississippi State, 41-14, as quarterback Jayden Daniels was a cool 30/34, 361, 2-0 for the Tigers, plus 64 yards on the ground and two more scores.  Receiver Malik Nabers had an all-time game for LSU as well, 15 receptions for 239 yards and two TDs.

But the QB for the Bulldogs, Will Rogers, who many thought would go into the 2023 NFL draft after fabulous seasons in 2021 and ’22, was abysmal, 11/28, 103.  Eegads.  Try weaving that stat line into your traveling roadshow, Will.  No humorous social commentary there for the former vaudeville treasure.

Missouri had its first home sellout in four years and rewarded the fans with a 30-27 upset win over hated rival, No. 15 Kansas State, as 245-pound Harrison Mevis (the “Thicker Kicker”) booted a 61-yard field goal for the dramatic victory.

16 Oregon State beat San Diego State 26-9, as Beaver Nation has visions of a New Year’s Six bowl.

17 Ole Miss beat Georgia Tech 48-23.

Which brings us to 18 Colorado, 23-point favorites over rival Colorado State before another overflow crowd in Boulder.

And boy did Coach Prime’s squad give their fans angina before pulling it out 43-35 in a second overtime.   Colorado was down 28-17 in the fourth quarter before tying it on a 98-yard touchdown drive engineered by Shedeur Sanders (38/47, 348, 4-1) and two-point conversion sending the game into OT.  Sanders then hit Michael Harrison for an 18-yard TD pass in the second overtime for the win.

Earlier, Coach Prime’s other son, Shilo, had an 80-yard Pick Six of a Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi pass, Fowler-Nicolosi throwing for 367 yards and three touchdowns, but also three INTs in defeat.

CU should not move up in the polls after this one, and they also suffered a big potential loss in losing two-way phenom Travis Hunter for a “few weeks,” as Coach Prime said after, with Hunter absorbing an illegal hit to his midsection, after which he was taken to a local hospital for evaluation. [CSU took a number of cheap shots last night.]

So Colorado’s dream season continues, but next week they are at Oregon, and the following week home to USC.  Yes, now comes the real test, and perhaps a bit of a comeuppance.

19 Oklahoma, 3-0, will move up a few after a 66-17 win at Tulsa.

20 North Carolina beat Minnesota 31-13.  QB Drake Maye threw for 414 yards and two touchdowns for the Tar Heels, but the preseason Heisman hopeful also had two more INTs, giving him four on the season in just three games.  I do have to add UNC receiver Nate McCollumn had himself a game, 15 catches for 165 yards and a score.

21 Duke defeated Northwestern 38-14.

And a few others, 23 Washington State beat Northern Colorado (which is in Northern Colorado), 64-21, as the Pac-12 is loaded it would appear. [Except Sacramento State beat Stanford, 30-23.]

24 UCLA beat North Carolina Central…yes, North Carolina Central…59-7, though this one was 35-0 after the first quarter, and, believe me, UCLA was never trying to run up the score, playing five guys at quarterback, with 13 having at least one carry…you get the picture.

North Carolina Central’s nickname, by the way, is the Eagles.

West Virginia beat Pitt 17-6.  The Panthers, now 1-2, were supposed to be pretty good this season.  But they lost to Cincinnati last week, with Cincy then losing to Miami (Ohio) last night.

Rutgers is 3-0 and giving its fans some hope before they face Michigan next week.  The Scarlet Knights defeated Virginia Tech 35-16, but they only got 46 yards passing from Gavin Wimsatt, though they picked up 256 on the ground, Kyle Monangai with 143 on 16 carries and three touchdowns, Wimsatt with 87 yards and a score.

The question is, can RU, which seems to have a quality defense, be even a little competitive against Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State this season?

Which leaves me with Wake Forest, 13.5-point favorites at Old Dominion in Norfolk.  ODU defeated Virginia Tech last season so the Deacs had to know not to take the Sun Belt stalwarts lightly, but clearly we did.

In the worst first half of football I’ve seen Wake play in a decade, the Deacs trailed 17-0 as quarterback Mitch Griffis was beyond atrocious, including coughing up a ball deep in ODU territory that resulted in an 80-yard fumble recovery by LaMareon James when we were seemingly heading in to tie it at 7-7.  I was deeply depressed.

I knew my good friend Gregg R. was at the game (Gregg and I having gone to the College World Series together), and I wrote him a blistering note, telling him to get into the locker room and rally the lads.

And wouldn’t you know, the Deacs came out in the second half as Griffis took charge and drove the Deacs 75 yards down the field for a score, 17-7.

But then Griffis, after the Wake defense, which was tremendous save for giving up two big plays, held, threw a Pick-Six to the same LaMareon James, 66 yards and another score, 24-7.

Geezuz, we suck, I mused.

But after two field goals cut it to 24-13, Griffis hooked up with Taylor Morin (6-112-2) on a 48-yard touchdown and it was 24-20.

And then the defense, which recorded a school-record 10 sacks and 12 tackles for losses, got a huge strip-fumble out of Jacob Roberts, we get the ball at the ODU six, Griffis throws a 4-yard scoring pass to Jahmal Banks, 27-24, and with 6:48 left, the defense did its job the rest of the way.

What a comeback…what a season saver.  Griffis ended up 24/41, 312, 3-2, with the big lost fumble.  You’d like to think he learned a few lessons.  We’ll see.

I learned later that Gregg didn’t get my messages until later, but that he wouldn’t have said much anyway because he was sitting next to Griffis’ grandparents!!!

--And now the new AP Poll!

1. Georgia (57) 3-0
2. Michigan (2) 3-0
3. Texas (3) 3-0
4. Florida State (1) 3-0…surprised still this high
5. USC 3-0
6. Ohio State 3-0
7. Penn State 3-0
8. Washington 3-0
9. Notre Dame 4-0
10. Oregon 3-0
11. Utah 3-0
12. LSU 2-1
13. Alabama 2-1…steak in top ten ended at 128 weeks, second-longest in history
14. Oregon State 3-0
15. Ole Miss 3-0
16. Oklahoma 3-0
17. North Carolina 3-0
18. Duke 3-0
19. Colorado 3-0
20. Miami 3-0
21. Washington State 3-0
22. UCLA 3-0
23. Tennessee 2-1…down 12
24. Iowa 3-0
25. Florida 2-1

MLB

--Wild Card Standings thru Saturday….

AL

Tampa Bay 92-58…+9.5
Texas 82-66…+0.5
Toronto 82-67…--
Seattle 81-67…0.5

NL

Philadelphia 81-67…+4
Chicago 78-71…+0.5
Cincinnati 78-72…--
Arizona 78-72…--
Miami 77-72…0.5
San Francisco 75-74…2.5

AL East

Baltimore 92-56
Tampa Bay 92-58…1

AL West

Houston 83-66
Texas 82-66…0.5
Seattle 81-67…1.5

--Friday night the Yankees defeated the Pirates in Pittsburgh 7-5, Gerrit Cole going five innings, 2 earned in a no-decision, Cole 13-4, 2.81 ERA, and he’s still the frontrunner for the AL Cy Young Award.

But in the game, reliever Anthony Misiewicz was drilled on the left side of the head by a 100.6 mph line drive off the bat of Ji Hwan Bae in a scary scene.

The lefty Misiewicz tried to get his glove out to deflect it but could not, with the ball hitting off his face and ricocheting into right field.

He crumpled to the ground, but after a few minutes got to his feet and took a cart off the field, with a towel covering the left side of his face.

Misiewicz was hospitalized and underwent a number of scans but there were no results Friday night.  Saturday, we learned he had no facial fractures and he was released but placed on the seven-day concussion injured list.

After I posted Tuesday, I just have to note that Yankees phenom Jasson Dominguez did have Tommy John surgery on Wednesday, which will sideline him for 9-10 months, meaning little chance that he’ll be playing next season, unless as a late-season DH, a la Bryce Harper.

--The Los Angeles Times reported that after the Angels’ 11-2 loss to the Tigers in Anaheim Friday night, most of Shohei Ohtani’s personal belongings were cleared from his locker.

“All of his shoes were gone as were small personal items he received from friends and teammates. What remained was a bottle of cologne, a couple of Angels shirts, an Angels toiletries bag, his Seattle All-Star Game duffle bag – that appeared to be packed – and the dust marks left behind by objects that had held their place for so long.

“Even Ohtani’s water jug was in the garbage.”

Reporters lingered in the clubhouse for 30 minutes looking for answers and the Angels declined to comment other than to say they would provide an update Saturday.

Ohtani had been in the stadium and in the clubhouse before the game, which was the 11th  straight he had missed as he nursed a right oblique injury.  His season on the mound ended Aug. 23 when he tore his ulnar collateral ligament.

Saturday, the Angels then put Ohtani on the 10-day IL, meaning his season is over.

Ohtani becomes a free agent after the World Series.  He will be the story…and with his injuries and looming Tommy John surgery, or some other procedure, what will teams offer?  Not nearly as much as they would have Aug. 22.

--Texas’ Max Scherzer was declared out for the season by the team on Wednesday with a low-grade strain of his teres major muscle.  Ironically, this is the same injury his former Mets teammate, Justin Verlander, suffered from this spring, keeping Verlander out the first month of the season.

Scherzer finishes 13-6, 3.77 for the year, 4-2, 3.20 in eight starts for Texas.

--The Red Sox fired chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom on Thursday with 17 games left in his fourth season at the helm. 

While Bloom led the Red Sox to the ALCS in 2021, the team finished in last place in the shortened 2020 season (24-36) and also in 2022 (78-84).

This season they were 73-72 entering Thursday’s doubleheader with the Yankees.

But Bloom’s legacy will be defined by one of the first acts of his tenure: trading superstar Mookie Betts to the Dodgers in what amounted to a salary dump. The Red Sox got three players back in the deal, one of whom, Jeter Downs, has since been released and another of whom, Connor Wong, has split time behind the plate.  The centerpiece of the deal, Alex Verdugo, has been a solid corner outfielder but something of an unreliable clubhouse presence and has yet to provide Boston with the production hoped for.

Meanwhile, in his four seasons with L.A., Betts has a .918 OPS.

Saturday, the Dodgers clinched their 10th division title in 11 years, 6-2 in extra innings at Seattle.

--For the record, Atlanta clinched its sixth straight NL East title, beating Philadelphia 4-1 on Wednesday behind Spencer Strider’s major league-leading 17th win (17-5, 3.73).

--According to an ESPN report, Alex Rodriguez told federal agents nine years ago that three Major League All-Stars – Manny Ramirez, Ryan Braun and an unnamed player – were using performance-enhancing drugs through Biogenesis founder Anthony Bosch.

In 2014, the Yankees star had been summoned by federal agents as part of their investigation into the Biogenesis of America clinic.  Rodriguez was granted so-called “Queen for a Day” status that prevented any information he shared from being used against him in legal proceedings.

The third player, identified by ESPN as “another All-Star player,” never tested positive for any PED use, was never interviewed by authorities and was never suspended by MLB.

NFL

--In Philadelphia’s 34-28 win over Minnesota on Thursday night, Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson recorded 11 receptions for 159 yards, but he had a critical fumble.

Jefferson looked as though he was about to put the Vikings ahead at the end of the first half when Kirk Cousins hit him for a 30-yard pass.

But as Jefferson ran toward the goal line he was tackled, lost control of the ball and fumbled it out of bounds into the end zone.

Officials ruled it was a touchback because the ball had been fumbled inside the pylon and thus out of the end zone, ending a 74-yard drive in disastrous fashion with just 33 seconds left on the clock. 

To make matters worse, after the Eagles got the ball back, they converted on a 61-yard field goal from Jake Elliott before halftime to pad their lead to 13-7.

For the game, the Vikes fumbled it away four times, including once by quarterback Cousins, who otherwise was spectacular again, 31/44, 364, 4-0, 125.6, after throwing for 344 yards and two touchdowns in his first game, a 20-17 loss to Tampa Bay.

So despite the gaudy stats, Minnesota starts out 0-2, as the Eagles rushed for 259 yards, D’Andre Swift with 175 yards on 28 carries, and quarterback Jalen Hurts running for two scores. 

--The Jets are at Dallas and without excellent kicker Greg Zuerlein, who is out with a groin injury that isn’t said to be serious, but bad enough to force him to miss the game.

So they brought in four kickers, not one of whom was Michael Badgley, and Austin Siebert was signed.

--Aaron Rodgers knew immediately by the time he got into the Jets locker room last Monday night that his season was almost certainly over.

“I stood up and put weight on my foot and felt like I had drop-foot,” Rodgers told the Pat McAfee Show on Friday, in his first public comments since the injury. “I knew right there, that it was about 95 percent sure.  Unless it was crazy some sort of lower[calf] rip, but I was pretty confident it was the Achilles.”

Rodgers made it clear he intended to play next year, but he also revealed how he got to that point.  He has a long-running friendship with Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who did his collarbone surgery in 2017.  And not long after the injury, Rodgers texted ElAttrache from the locker room.

“I was just wondering how quickly we could get this done,” Rodgers said.  “I didn’t want to waste any time.  Every day that we wasted was a day longer for me to not be doing what I wanted to do.”

Rodgers admitted that even with a plan in motion, it wasn’t easy. At halftime, in the locker room there were tearful interactions with several members of the team.  He explained what happened when asked about the comments Garrett Wilson relayed earlier this week; he said Rodgers’ message to the second-year receiver was “sorry, kid.”

“I was sitting on the back table in the back training room. But honestly, it was pretty emotional.  Some people, it kind of hits different:

“When [former Packers teammate Randall Cobb] Cobby came in, I kind of lost it.  And after everybody else came in, it’s just kind of blubbering some sort of thank you through the disappointment and tears… But I care about it so much and I care about what we were trying to establish and did establish, chemistry-wise and culture-wise.  I just care about it so much, it just hit me like a ton of bricks for 24 hours.  There were moments of just sobbing.”

But there was also the “surreal” moment when back at his nearby home, Rodgers watched the end of the game and overtime and saw Xavier Gipson win the game with a walk-off punt return in overtime.

“Just so excited,” Rodgers said.  “So sad, but so excited for that kid because he’s such an awesome kid and for our guys to come back and win that game was just really, really special.”

Rodgers had surgery in Los Angeles on Wednesday and said in an Instagram post on Thursday that it went “great.”  “And thanks to the [GOAT] Dr. ElAttrache and his staff for starting me on the road to recovery.”

--According to data released by the National Federation of State High School Associations, turnout of boys for high school football rose 5.6% last year.  While participation remains well below the sport’s peak about 15 years ago, its gains last year surpassed the post-Covid rebound of popular fall sports including boys soccer (3.2%) and girls’ volleyball (3.6%).

Covid shutdowns made high school students and their parents hungry for social activities.

“We’ve actually had a lot more support come back for football as a good, disciplined activity for teenagers,” said Matt Johnson, head coach at Mountain View High in Tucson, Ariz.  About 130 players are out for football at Mountain View this year, up from 85 in 2019, Johnson said.  “They want to be part of something, they want to be social.”  [Rachel Bachman / Wall Street Journal]

Golf Balls

--As we started the fall schedule on the PGA Tour with this week’s Fortinet Championship in Napa, California, there is a lot on the line the next few months as players attempt to finish inside the top 125 at the end of the fall to earn full Tour status for next season.

All FedEx Cup points from 2022-23 carry over to the fall, meaning those currently inside the top 100 are almost certain to be locks to secure their cards for 2024.  Remember, the top 70, eligible for the big money designated events (many with limited fields), was decided with the end of the FedEx Cup playoffs.

So Justin Thomas, No. 71, teed it up due, he said, to previously committing to the Fortinet, ditto fellow Ryder Cupper Max Homa, and after the first two rounds they were both T6, Sahith Theegala in the lead.

But entering the final round….

Theegala -17
Cam Davis -15
JT -15…69-67-65
S.H. Kim -15

Homa -10

Premier League

--Play resumed this weekend…Liverpool beat the Wolves on the road 3-1; Manchester United had a bad loss at home to Brighton 3-1; Manchester City beat West Ham 3-1.

The biggie was Tottenham’s 2-1 win at home over Sheffield, with the Spurs scoring their two goals in stoppage time.

So a kind of shocking 4 wins and a draw in the Spurs’ first five games of the post-Harry Kane era.

Today, Chelsea could only manage a 0-0 draw against Bournemouth, while Arsenal beat Everton 1-0 on the road.

--Everton was sold to 777 Partners, the struggling Premier League club said on Friday, with the U.S. private equity firm taking over from Farhad Moshiri in a deal that was reported to be worth more than $685 million.

The Miami-based investment fund said it had signed an agreement with British-Iranian billionaire Moshiri to acquire his 94.1% stake in the club.  The deal is expected to be closed by the end of the year.

The firm 777 Partners has a number of clubs in its portfolio, including Italian side Genoa and Belgian team Standard Liege, while they also have stakes in LaLiga club Sevilla and Australian A-League side Melbourne Victory.

Everton has lost money for five straight seasons.

--In a big men’s college soccer game, defending champion Syracuse, ranked No. 7 this year, traveled to Wake Forest to take on the No. 20 Deacons and it was a 1-1 draw, extending the Orange’s unbeaten streak to 20 games.

NBA

The league took steps Wednesday to try to ensure that its star players appear in more games, particularly nationally televised matchups and the in-season tournament that is being added this year.

The league’s board of governors approved a new player participation policy that will take effect for this upcoming season, replacing the player resting policy that was implemented prior to the 2017-18 season.  The new rules focus primarily on star players – someone who has been an All-Star or on the All-NBA team in any of the prior three seasons.  Fifty players fit into the star category.

Teams will have to manage their rosters to ensure only one star player is unavailable per game at the most.

This is important especially because the league will be negotiating a new media rights deal after the 2024-25 season.

The NBA will have the ability to penalize teams that violate the policy by fining them $100,000 for the first infraction and $250,000 for the second. Each successive violation will increase by $1 million.

Teams will be allowed to submit written requests in advance for older players for back-to-back games; a small pool of stars who are either 35 or older at the start of the season or have played in 1,000 games in their careers.  LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry all fit in that category.

Stuff

--Michigan basketball coach Juwan Howard underwent a successful heart procedure on Friday, the program announced Friday in a statement.  Howard, 50, is expected to return to the team in four to six weeks and make a full recovery in six to 12 weeks.  Associate head coach Phil Martelli will serve as interim head coach.  The procedure “successfully resected an aortic aneurysm and repaired Howard’s aortic valve,” per a release.

--Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Michael McDowell were eliminated from championship contention Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, leaving a dozen drivers to battle it out in the second round.  Bubba Wallace nabbed the 12th and final playoff spot, with team owner Michael Jordan in the pits.

Denny Hamlin won the race, his 51st career Cup Series win.  He was booed heavily by the crowd for his non-stop contentious interactions with fans during the season.

--John Cherwa / Los Angeles Times

“An investigation into the dramatic rise in deaths at Churchill Downs around the Kentucky Derby was released on Tuesday with a very familiar answer – we don’t know what happened.

“The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) released its 197-page report on Churchill Downs, filled with graphs, charts and all the trappings of a thorough examination.  The only thing it lacked was a conclusion.

“ ‘The absence of a single explanation for recent equine fatalities at several racetracks across the country is extremely frustrating for the entire sport of thoroughbred racing, for fans and the public, and also for HISA,’ according to the report.  ‘Consequently, action must be taken in reaction to what we know and what we do not know, for the welfare of thoroughbred horses.’”

--Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep has been banned for four years from tennis for two separate doping violations, the International Tennis Integrity Agency announced on Tuesday, as she vowed to “clear my name.”

In October 2022, Halep, 31, was suspended for 8 months after she tested positive for Roxadustat.  The blood booster was detected in Halep’s urine test at the U.S. Open in August 2022.

--The Smithsonian magazine has a segment “Ask Smithsonian” which occasionally has an interesting topic for Bar Chat.

Q: Outside of Earth, is there any place a human could survive unprotected for even ten seconds?

A: If you were to land on the surface of Venus, for instance, you’d be crushed right away by the atmospheric pressure, which is the equivalent of being about a mile below the surface of the ocean.  You’d also be roasted by the temperature, which is more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit.  On the other hand, if you stepped out into the vacuum of space and held your breath, you might last ten seconds before dying from asphyxiation.  We may find planets where humans could step right out of a ship into hospitable atmospheres, but we don’t yet know where they might be. [Matthew Skindell, curator of space history, National Air and Space Museum]

--Taylor Swift picked up nine wins including artist of the year, best pop, song of the year and video of the year, at last Tuesday night’s MTV Video Music Awards.

--I listen to Country Music driving around on weekends and I’m on a bunch of mailing lists for concerts and I just can’t help but note what I find to be a shocking announcement for a concert at MetLife Stadium next June 8.

George Strait is headlining a bill with Chris Stapleton and Little Big Town.

George Strait?  I’m a big fan and have all his albums from the 1980s and 90s, but I’m just shocked the 71-year-old is headlining a stadium venue in these parts.

Good for him…but I’ll be curious to see how these tickets sell.

--Jann Wenner, co-founder of Rolling Stone magazine, was removed from the board of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation after in an interview with the New York Times he was widely criticized for making comments that were deemed racist and sexist.

The interview was timed to the publication of Wenner’s new book, called “The Masters,” which collects his decades of interviews with rock legends such as Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen and Bono – all of them white and male.

In the interview, David Marchese of the Times asked Wenner, 77, why the book includes no women or people of color.

Regarding women, Wenner said: “Just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level,” and he remarked that Joni Mitchell “was not a philosopher of rock’n’roll.”

His answer about artists of color was less direct.  “Of Black artists – you know, Stevie Wonder, genius, right?” he said.  “I suppose when you use a word as broad as ‘masters,’ the fault is using that word.  Maybe Marvin Gaye, or Curtis Mayfield?  I mean, they just didn’t articulate at that level.”

Outrageous.

You know what I think of Wenner.  Long-time readers will recall how he rigged the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame vote years ago to keep out the Dave Clark Five, only to let them in years later, after two of the band members had died.  He’s an all-time dirtball…and worse.

Top 3 songs for the week 9/20/69:  #1 “Sugar, Sugar” (The Archies)  #2 “Honky Tonk Women” (The Rolling Stones) #3 “Green River” (Creedence Clearwater Revival)…and…#4  “A Boy Named Sue” (Johnny Cash)  #5 “Easy To Be Hard” (Three Dog Night)  #6 “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” (Tom Jones)  #7 “Get Together” (The Youngbloods)  #8 “Jean” (Oliver)  #9 “Little Woman” (Bobby Sherman)  #10 “I Can’t Get Next To You” (The Temptations…A- week…)

New York Giants Quiz Answers: 1) Four to throw 100 TD passes...Eli Manning, 366; Phil Simms, 199; Charlie Conerly, 173; Fran Tarkenton, 103.*  2) First to rush for 1,000 yards…Ron Johnson, 1970.  3) First to have 1,000 yards receiving…Del Shofner, who did it in each of 1961-63.

*Y.A. Tittle had 96, but he played only four seasons for New York, after ten in San Francisco.  I do have to note his age 37 season for the Giants, 1963.  He led the league in completion percentage at 60.2%, with 36 TD passes and a 104.8 rating, all super marks for back then.

But then he threw five interceptions in the NFL championship game against the Bears, as Chicago won it, 14-10.

No Tuesday p.m. Bar Chat.  Next one, Sunday p.m.

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