Indianapolis (Baltimore) Colts Quiz (1953 – ): 1) Most pass
receptions, career? 2) Most TDs, career? 3) Most rushing yards,
career? 4) Who coached the Colts to the 1971 Super Bowl
Championship? Answers below.
Potpourri for $20
–From a Golfdigest.com survey: 64.2% voted for George Bush,
32.5% Al Gore.
–Dohh! On Saturday near my town, two men approached a
woman who was sitting in an idling Mercedes at a shopping
center (the woman”s husband was inside a store). One of the men
approached the driver and asked for the time. The windows were
up but the doors were unlocked. The other guy then jumped into
the driver”s seat while the man on the passenger”s side got into
the back seat behind the woman.
A struggle ensued between the woman and the man in front as he
tried to take her purse. And then the two suddenly fled empty-
handed. The reason? Well, it seems that there was a vicious little
doggy in the back seat. Man”s best friend comes through again.
–The Washington Wizards have been playing so poorly that
management (including Michael Jordan, I guess), forced the team
to attend a Tony Robbins seminar after practice last week.
Malcontent guard Rod Strickland said, “It was embarrassing.
They made us go. I don”t think anybody wanted to be there. It
was terrible. I don”t think that kind of stuff can help us.”
Actually, a friend of mine told me awhile back that she had
attended a Tony Robbins deal and that it was embarrassing as
well, only the reason may have been different than Strickland”s.
This girl said that all the guys attending were dirtballs and
couldn”t stop hitting on the women. So ladies, there”s your
warning.
–Police in Mexico City arrested a Colombian man on Saturday
who had a rather unique situation. It seems he had a kilogram of
heroin hidden in 100 latex capsules in his stomach. Agents had
received an anonymous tip. After confessing to carrying the
drug, he was taken to a hospital where it was removed. You
imagine just one or two of those capsules bursting!
–PC Moment: Now I”m not into the whole “politically correct”
movement but here”s a situation where I side with the PCers. The
Oglala Lakota want Liz Claiborne to remove the “Crazy Horse”
label from one of their lines of clothing. Crazy Horse is, of
course, revered by the Indians, particularly for his role in the
massacre at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. As you may recall
from previous Bar Chats, he was arrested shortly after that battle
and then died while allegedly trying to escape. [I”m sure he was
murdered.] As the Oglala Lakota say, using the Crazy Horse
name is tantamount to exploiting the legacy of Martin Luther
King Jr. or John F. Kennedy.
–In another PC moment, “The Sopranos” have been banned from
shooting scenes in Essex County, New Jersey. It seems that the
county executive, James Treffinger, was a bit upset.
“As long as I”m county executive, no county property is going to
be used by a show that depicts any ethnic group in a less
favorable light.”
The show was trying to gain approval for a 3-day shoot of
various gunfights in the South Mountain Reservation (near the
world headquarters of StocksandNews). But one of the problems
here was that the local township is already holding a deer hunt
near this area. Ergo, already skittish neighbors would be thrown
for quite a loop.
Sheriff Armando Fontoura said, “I go to Florida to play golf, and
when I”m introduced as sheriff of Essex County, people say, ”Oh,
”The Sopranos.”” [Something tells me our dear sheriff has a little
ego problem, eh?]
Now Essex County is the home of Newark and a little town next
door by the name of Harrison where 14,000 answered a casting
call for “The Sopranos” just last July.
And guess who the producers for the show are now counting on?
The ACLU. It”s become a First Amendment fight.
Hey, I just got an idea. I have a pool table in my home. Yoh, if
you guys want to film the Bada Bing Club scenes over here, you
could……and here come the e-mails…
–Speaking of the aforementioned deer hunt, it really is quite
controversial. It”s occurring in a little township of about 20,000
and the goal is to cull the herd by about 150. The usual cries
amongst the animal rights groups are being heard. “The deer
were here first!” Oh brother. Just in this little town, over 110
deer were hit by cars in a two year period. Last spring a mother
of two was killed nearby in a collision caused by a deer. And
something tells me that her kids really don”t care if the deer were
here first.
–Thanks to my friend Gene Baker in Oklahoma, I am now the
proud recipient of a subscription to High Plains Journal. Watch
out, I”m going to become a farmer yet. [Actually, it”s not the
most uplifting newspaper. Lots of auctions are listed, a symptom
of the times for the American family farmer.]
Anyway, the other day a big ball of fire was spotted along US
Highway 75 near Le Mars, Iowa. Pressure inside a tanker blew a
hatch and a ton of corn syrup erupted like a geyser, striking a
power line as it spewed 20 feet into the air. The ensuing
explosion and flash knocked out power to the area. And
no…one…was…hurt!
–And this just in from the Associated Press. Rabies killed 5
people in the U.S. this year; the first such deaths since 1998. All
but one of them occurred after the person was bitten by a bat.
The deaths took place in California, Georgia, Minnesota, New
York and Wisconsin. The non-bat victim was bitten by a dog.
Uh oh, so much for man”s best friend.
–Follow-up to my story on Shaq receiving his degree Friday from
L.S.U. He got to sit up on the commencement dais with the
chancellor and he evidently broke the crowd up more than once
with his comments. But there”s always one person who just
doesn”t get it. Scott McWhorter, who received his doctorate in
chemistry, was none too pleased that the Love Shaq was up there
with the school”s elite.
“It shows the power of the almighty dollar. He”s sitting with the
chancellor. What did he do that no one else did except make a lot
of money for his athletic prowess? It kind of demeans the
meaning of education, what we”re here for.” Oh, shut up, Scott.
–Golfer Phil Mickelson has an interview in the January 2001
issue of Golf Digest. I was struck by one response to a question.
[The interview was being conducted in Las Vegas.]
Q: What”s the most money you”ve ever won or lost in the casino?
A: That”s a little personal.
Q: OK, what”s the most you”ve ever won or lost on the golf
course? Word on the street is that you and John Huston took
$27,000 from John Daly and Tim Herron during two practice
rounds at the 1998 Masters. Is that the biggest day you”ve ever
had on the course?
A: Without a doubt. The typical game with my friends is between
$20 and $200.
Ahh, Phil? Does the IRS know about this?
–In the same Golf Digest, there is a mini-Q&A with former
Indiana coach Bob Knight. About a week ago I went into some
detail on the PGA Tour”s Q-School, where golfers who didn”t
finish in the Top 125 try to regain their playing privileges.
Here”s what Knight said on the subject.
Q: You follow golf as a fan?
A: The PGA Tour impresses me, the independence. The guys
have a good life, but there are no guarantees. Also, the
competition for those 125 exempt spots is greater than in any
professional sport. Think of all the guys who can flat play but
have no chance being in that elite category.
–You probably have to be a New York hoops fan to appreciate
this but in the span of one week, St. John”s lost games to both
Fordham and Hofstra. This is tremendous for those two schools
who always get the leftovers in the recruiting wars with St. John”s
and the Big East. And it reminds me of the good old days,
growing up, when games like Manhattan vs. Fordham were on
the tube (pre-cable) because they meant something as far as
national rankings. Now who remembers Billy Campion and
Charlie Yelverton?
–Can you believe this weather? Sunday morning it was 64
degrees in Newark, NJ and 19 in Birmingham, Alabama. And
your heart has to go out to the victims of that awful tornado in
Tuscaloosa.
–Steve Hedgpeth of the Star-Ledger had an interview which
staunch Republican, and sometime actress, Bo Derek. Here is
one of his questions…and the rather interesting response.
Q: You”re working on a book called “Everything I Know About
Men, I Learned From Stallions.” Why that title?
Bo: I”m still working out the details of the book, but I used to
have a big breeding operation with stallions, and it was curious to
me the instinctive similarities between the behavior of horses,
especially when they”re breeding, and men.
O-Kay. Time to wrap this baby up.
Top 3 songs for the week of 12/16/72: #1 “Me And Mrs. Jones”
(Billy Paul) #2 “I Am Woman” (Helen Reddy…probably not a
fan of Bo Derek) #3 “If You Don”t Know Me By Now” (Harold
Melvin & The Bluenotes).
Colts Quiz Answers: 1) Pass receptions, career: Raymond Berry,
631. 2) TDs, career: Lenny Moore, 113. 3) Rushing yards,
career: Lydell Mitchell, 5487. 4) 1971 Super Bowl coach: Don
McCafferty.
Next Bar Chat, Wednesday…some holiday cheer.
*If you”re a Jets fan like yours truly, you don”t think a lot of John
Hall today.
