Baseball Quiz: Who was the last pitcher to win the MVP in the
A.L.? N.L.? Answers below.
Colombia
Ignacio Gomez G. [that”s his real listed name] is a reporter for the
Colombian newspaper, El Espectador. On Friday, he wrote an
op-ed piece in the New York Times that certainly sums up the
terrible conditions in his native land.
Many times, in order to find out what”s going on.as well as to
keep themselves alive…reporters find it necessary to go to the
Modelo National Prison in Bogota. That”s where many of
Colombia”s right-wing paramilitary forces are held. But it”s no
ordinary prison. The police collude with the prisoners, allowing
them to have guns in their cells. Recently, a night of violence
within the prison walls led to 26 dead inmates.
Ignacio”s colleague, Jineth Bedoya, went to Modelo awhile
back to interview the leader of the paramilitary prisoners, a
convicted murderer known as “the baker.” Ignacio picks up the
story.
“Finally, (the baker) called and told her to meet him the next
morning, alone, in the office of the warden. Ms. Bedoya was
unaware that less than an hour before she got the call, two men
had tried to force me into a car outside my apartment. Still, she
took her editor and a photographer along as a precaution. If they
reported the paramilitary leader”s views, they hoped, maybe he
would drop his threats.
“When they arrived at the prison, no one seemed to know
anything about the appointment. But when the photographer and
the editor stepped outside for a moment, Ms. Bedoya was
abducted from the prison lobby in full view of the guards. She
was then drugged, bound and gagged, and driven to a city about
three hours away.
“There she was beaten, tortured and raped by four men who
accused her of being a guerrilla sympathizer. Before kicking her
out of their car that night at a local garbage dump, the men told
her they had plans to kill me and two other journalists.”
Bedoya is out of the hospital and back on the job. She and her
associates now have to ride around in an armored car with a
police escort. Unbelievable. The U.S., which will soon be
sending $1 billion plus in military aid to Colombia, certainly has
its work cut out for them.
Finally, there was the incident in Bogota early Saturday morning.
A man had been spurned by a woman at a local discotheque. She
refused to dance with him. So this guy goes home, gets an uzi,
goes back to the disco, and then proceeds to open fire. 11 were
killed, 5 wounded. As of Sunday, he was at large.
One Hit Wonders
We thus commence an irregular examination of those artists
whose only Top Ten hit was also their only one in the Billboard
Top 40. And, as is the case with my Top 3 songs for the week,
we will only cover the period 1961-75, the personal favorite era
of your editor. [But there is one exception]
I list the artist, title, debut date, and peak #.
Ace: “How Long” 4/75 #3
The Ad Libs: “The Boy From New York City” 2/65 #8
Jewel Akens: “The Birds And The Bees” 2/65 #3
Morris Albert: “Feelings” 8/75 #6
Lynn Anderson: “Rose Garden” 12/70 #3 [Of course, she has
had a slew of country hits.]
Argent: “Hold Your Head Up” 7/72 #5
Kenny Bell and His Jazzmen: “Midnight In Moscow” 2/62 #2
Shirley Bassey: “Goldfinger” 2/65 #8
The Bells: “Stay Awhile” 3/71 #7
Elvin Bishop: “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” 4/76 #3
[My exception, and also my all-time #1]
Marcie Blane: “Bobby”s Girl” 11/62 #3
Bobby Bloom: “Montego Bay” 10/70 #8
Blues Image: “Ride Captain Ride” 5/70 #4
Blues Magoos: “(We Ain”t Got) Nothin” Yet” 1/67 #5
The New Jersey Devils
Those of you who know I live in New Jersey must have
wondered why I wrote nothing about the Devils Stanley Cup
triumph. Well, I”m a Rangers fan and because they have done an
awful job the last few seasons, my interest in hockey, overall, has
waned.
If you”re not from the area, however, you may get a kick out of
the fact that the Devils are probably the only franchise in history
who win a title and then don”t have a parade in a large city,
rather, they hold their celebrations in the parking lot of the
Meadowlands sports complex where they play their games. It
really is a joke.
A local acquaintance, Ed Conti, recently wrote a poem which I
think captures the sentiment of these pitiful victory parties.
“They”re a sparking lot
Our New Jersey Devils
But a parking lot
Must do for their revels.”
Rick DiPietro
Who”s he? Remember that incredible four overtime NCAA
hockey tournament game I profiled in this space last spring? It
was between St. Lawrence and Boston University. In that game,
DiPietro was the B.U. netminder and made a staggering 77 saves.
Well, he just became the first goaltender to ever be selected #1
overall in the NHL draft this weekend. Unfortunately for Rick,
he now has to play for the Islanders.
Track
As I”ve mentioned before, I love track and it”s time to start
getting fired up about the Sydney Olympics. This past weekend,
there were some key performances at the Prefontaine Classic.
Michael Johnson ran the fastest 400 meters in the world this year,
43.92. He seems to have little competition in the 400 as he looks
to repeat his feat of winning both the 200 and 400 Gold Medals.
But in the 200 meters, he has major company in the form of
Maurice Greene. Greene won the 200 at the Pre in 19.93.
The U.S. Olympic Trials (which should provide great theater) are
being held in about 4 weeks. Johnson and Greene, who haven”t
met since 1998 in the 200, will be running in the 200 finals on
July 23rd. Personally, I”m hoping for lousy local weather that day
because that Sunday is also the 4th round of the British Open.
Yes, a major TV alert!!
Also at the Pre, history was almost made in the schoolboy mile.
As some of you may know, if you”re a longtime Bar Chat
devotee, no high schooler has run under 4 minutes since Marty
Liquori in 1967. This Saturday, Don Sage, of Elmhurst, IL., ran
it in 4:00:29. As Dick Enberg would say, “Ohh Myy!”
More on the Baseball
New research by Jim Sherwood of the Baseball Center at the
University of Massachusetts (I want to work there, darnit) has
shown that while he can”t prove it, the ball could be juiced.
Sandy Alderson from the commissioner”s office said, “While the
ball this year is the same it”s been in recent years, it”s not clear for
how long it”s been that way.”
They”re starting to hedge, folks. Through last Tues., there had
been 2,631 homers in 1,026 games; a 2.56 per game average,
easily topping last year”s record pace of 2.27. Clearly, it has been
juiced at least the last 3 seasons.
Elsewhere, Mark McGwire has now hit 103 HR in 214 games at
Busch Stadium (through Saturday).
Speedy Claxton
You have to root for this guy. The point guard from little Hofstra
may just be the first point taken in Wednesday”s NBA draft. Now
that would be a great story. As for whether or not he”s a good
guy, I can”t answer that.
The Flies
Did you see what was going on in Naples, NY [south of
Rochester] this past week? It seems that Farmer Adams, who
raises chickens, placed 200 tons of chicken manure on a 20-acre
field and suddenly, the village of Naples had a fly infestation like
you just can”t believe. Millions upon millions of flies descended
on the homes of the villagers. The air was absolutely thick with
them. For example, a local camera crew put out a fly strip and
within minutes it was totally covered. Said one villager, “It was
just like an Alfred Hitchcock movie.” It looked worse to me.
As for Adams, he was acting within the law. His farms have
105,000 hens which produce 2.5 million dozen eggs a year.but
also, 12 tons of manure a day. He was just spreading around the
resources.
Top 3 songs for the week of 6/29/68: #1 “This Guy”s In Love
With You” (Herb Alpert) #2 “The Horse” (Cliff Nobles & Co.)
#3 “MacArthur Park” (Richard Harris…hideous song).
Quiz Answers: Last pitcher to win the MVP in the A.L. was
Dennis Eckersley, Oakland, 1992. In the N.L. you have to go
back to Bob Gibson, St. Louis, 1968.
Next Bar Chat, Wednesday…more “One Hit Wonders.”
