NCAA Basketball Quiz: Lefty Driesell retired the other day,
stepping down from his head coaching slot at Georgia State in
mid-season. Lefty is #5 on the all-time Division I coaching list
with 786 victories (782 entering the 2002-2003 season). Who
are the four ahead of him? [Hint: One is very obscure, but still
active.] Answer below.
NFL Running Back Quiz: The Jets’ Curtis Martin recently
became only the third running back to carry the ball 250 times 8
straight seasons. Who are the other two? Answer below.
[Sunday PM]
First off, having just watched the Giants-49ers game, thank God
I’m a Jets fan. And are NFL players idiots these days or what?
How many dumb mistakes can you make, Giants, in just about
one minute of play? I went to school with Bill Ard, who has a
Super Bowl ring in his possession off his play with the Giants in
the Parcells era. I haven’t talked to him in a year, but I guarantee
you he would say his teammates of that time wouldn’t have made
the same bonehead plays today’s did. I don’t care what kind of
genius Jim Fassel was the previous four weeks. He should be
fired today.
But how great was that Miami-Ohio State game? I have to
admit, however, I was disgusted by the pass interference call on
4th and 3 in overtime, simply as a football fan with zero rooting
interest in the game, but as Johnny Mac and I agreed, the contest
itself was simply the best college sports has to offer, particularly
the gutty performance of OSU’s QB, Craig Krenzel. This guy
will never play in the NFL, but he could come up with a cure for
cancer! You also have to feel sorry for Miami’s great running
back, Willis McGahee, who suffered that terrible knee injury.
—
Bevo Francis
My full-service broker, D.P., pointed out a super piece by Stan
Grossfeld in the Boston Globe concerning one of the great sports
stories of all time, Bevo Francis.
Born in Hammondsville, Ohio, 1932, Francis was named Bevo
after a near-beer that his father drank. By the time Bevo was in
high school he had grown to 6’9” and his legend was growing.
You see, Bevo could shoot a basketball.
Francis ended up, though, at Rio Grande College in southeastern,
Ohio, a super small school that was struggling just to meet the
payroll. But Bevo put the school on the map with his scoring
prowess, even if the initial competition consisted to a large extent
of junior colleges and military schools.
During the course of the 1952-53 season, Bevo’s first, he
averaged 50 points a game, including 116 on January 9, 1953,
versus Ashland (Ky.) Junior College, a performance that
included 55(!) points in the last 10-minute quarter (they played
four back then).
With this effort, Francis became a national figure and appeared
in Newsweek, Time, and Look magazines, along with an
introduction on Ed Sullivan’s show (“Talk of the Town” back
then). But Rio, which went undefeated, was snubbed for an NIT
bid, the NIT being more prestigious than the NCAA tournament
in those days.
Then in March 1953, the National Association of Basketball
Coaches got together and decided to take away Francis’s records
because Rio Grande played inferior teams, thereby tossing out all
the school’s games that weren’t against accredited 4-year
colleges. [I can’t say that I blame them.] Of course out went the
record 116.
Well, the next season Rio decided to fight back and prove they
were for real, so they toughened up the schedule in a big way.
On December 3, 1953, they played Adelphi (a big time b-ball
school in those days) before over 13,000 in Madison Square
Garden. Francis appeared on the “Today Show” that morning
and gave countless other interviews so that by game time he was
worn out and it showed, as he scored “only” 32 in an 83-76 loss
which broke Rio’s 40-game win streak.
In the coming days, however, Rio proved it was worthy of
respect, losing to Villanova in OT in Philadelphia and then
beating a great Providence squad, 88-87, at the Boston Garden as
Bevo hit for 41. Rio finished the year at 21-7, including victories
over Wake Forest (aghh!), Creighton, University of Miami and
Arizona State.
It was on February 2, 1954, though, that Bevo Francis had
another monster game, scoring a still Division II record 113
points in a 134-91 victory over Hillsdale College of Michigan.
But following this season, Francis, who was married with two
kids and not one for hitting the books, left school and signed with
the Harlem Globetrotters to play on their patsy squad. Back in
those days players couldn’t be drafted by the NBA until their
college class graduated, so it was in 1956 that the Philadelphia
Warriors selected him.
Francis was making $12,000 a year with the Trotters, not bad,
but Philadelphia owner Eddie Gottlieb asked him to take a 20%
pay cut for the privilege of playing for the Warriors. Bevo said,
no thank you, and went home to the wife and kids. After a few
years playing largely for barnstorming teams, Francis ended up
working in the steel mills for the next 20+ years. Today, he’s
still happily married to the same woman and seemingly content
he never gave the NBA a shot, but as he puts it, he still gets calls
from some of his friends, late into the night as they’re trying to
settle a bet at the local tavern…just how many points did you
score, Bevo, on such and such a night?
—
Stuff…catch up time.
–CD / album sales were down 10% in 2002 from 2001, after
declining 5% in ’01. The power of the Net. Eminem’s “The
Eminem Show” was the best seller of the year at 7.4 million
copies.
–Diana Ross blew a 0.20 in Tucson…2 ½ times the legal
drinking limit of 0.08. Not good.
–“Judge Judy,” Judy Sheindlin, just signed a 4-year, $25 million
per year(!) syndication contract. I should have gone to law
school. But nooooo, I majored in poli-sci (and good times).
–The Texas Southern women’s basketball team scored a
Division I all time low of 16 points the other day in losing to
TCU 76-16. [Shot clock era.] Texas Southern was down 39-5 at
half and shot just 6 of 58 (10.3%) for the game. [Actually, that
was my shooting percentage for my fraternity team.] The men’s
record low in the era of the shot clock is 21 by Georgia Southern.
–Denver rookie running back Clinton Portis certainly had an
outstanding season, rushing for 1,508 yards. More importantly,
with his 5.5 average per carry, he’ll have an outstanding
Strat-O-Matic card.
–Hey, how great is it that Boise State not only beat Iowa State in
its bowl game, 34-16, but they finished #12 in the final USA
Today / ESPN poll.
–Other bowl thoughts: How overrated is Penn State’s Larry
Johnson? Another sub-par effort versus a good opponent.
Speaking of Penn State, while I hardly watched any of the
games, I did catch the last half of their pitiful effort versus
Auburn and how bad did Zack Mills suck?! [Uh oh, I better stop
before I lose all of my Penn State fans. And I have lots of
cousins who went there.]
–And speaking of not watching bowl games, I can’t just say it’s
because I’m getting older, rather when almost half of all Division
I teams qualify for one, it’s obviously a joke. Oh how I yearn for
the days of my youth, late 60s / early 70s, when the only games
were the Orange, Sugar, Cotton, and Rose on New Year’s Day
(though I later accepted the Fiesta), the Gator Bowl was the #5
game, held New Year’s Eve day most of the time, along with the
Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl New Year’s Eve night (that was fun),
along with the other two, the Peach and Liberty, which both
really meant something back then. I never missed any of them.
–By now you may have heard about the Reuters story from
Sweden where police were forced to shoot dead an elk that
attacked a young boy. [Even Louis Rukeyser noted this.] It’s
only a news item, though, because the elk was drunk, having
eaten a bunch of fermented apples, a tasty treat for these beasts in
the winter. Normally, of course, the elk are quite docile, but
when wasted, well, they become rather rowdy.
This story comes on the heels of one I told a few weeks ago
concerning drunken elephants, who went on a rampage and
killed a number of people in India. It’s obviously a growing
problem and causes my friend Johnny Mac great consternation.
“What’s next, a 12-step program? Hi, my name is Bullwinkle J.
Moose, and I’m an alcoholic.”
It just might be coming to that, J. Mac. I also say it all goes back
to parenting.
–The largest dinosaur of all time, Liopleurodon ferox, is gaining
more notoriety as its fossilized bones are dug up in Mexico. This
ocean beast measured 65 feet from nose to tail and had teeth the
size of machetes. In fact the teeth are still so sharp that
archaeologists suffered cuts digging them up. It also had jaws
that were 10 feet and a skull the size of a car.
–In case you’re in the New York area and want to try and catch
Britney Spears, possibly engaging her in a conversation (then
again, it’s probably best to just look), she is said to frequent the
following Manhattan night spots…Lotus, Spa, Bungalow 8, Suite
16 and Suede. Now your editor has never been to any of these,
but some night I’m going to have to try and get in, just for Bar
Chat fodder.
–I received the above information from the New York Post’s
Page Six, which the other day also had “The Most Eligible Babes
in New York.” The article listed about 40 of them and I don’t
want to rip off the entire piece, but I do want to give you a few
snippets.
Mariah Carey, 33: Aside from getting $30 million to leave the
Virgin label… “Pro: Has a range of five octaves. Con: Recently
forgot to wear anything under her mini-skirt.”
Phoebe Eaton, 35: “Svelte, feline-eyed Christy Turlington look-
alike editor who has held top posts at New York, Details and
Talk magazines. Pro: Disturbingly gorgeous, disturbingly
intelligent. Cons: Tough as nails on anyone who doesn’t have
the facts, ma-am.” [Hmmmmm]
Nicole Kidman, 35: “The Aussie stunner has been on the market
for more than a year now and is ready to fall in love. Pro: She
won close to $200 million in her divorce from Tom Cruise and
has plunked down $8 million for (NY) condo… Con: Kidman
has more job offers than she can handle, and spends any free
time with her two children…in Australia.” [Crap, I was
beginning to think I had a shot…………….just kidding!]
Bridget Marks, 32: “This single mother of twin 3-year-old girls is
a romance novelist who recently signed with the Janklow-Nesbitt
literary agency to sell her first book, ‘September.’ Pro: Looks
haven’t changed since she posed nude in Playboy. Con: Knows
too many secrets.” [On your mark(s), get set….go!….. I’m
assuming some of you guys are feverishly rushing through the
Net right now…that’s OK, I’ll wait………………………]
–One other item from Page Six, concerning multi-millionaire
record producer David Foster, who has worked with the likes of
Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson (now there’s a pair).
According to the Post, Foster was at a Starbucks in Malibu on
New Year’s Eve when things got out of hand.
“When Foster burst through the door to find three people ahead
of him in line, he rudely pushed them aside waving his prepaid
Starbucks card, an eyewitness reports. He then pitched an
‘obscenity-laden hissy fit’ for not being served faster before
speeding off in a black Mercedes with tinted windows.”
Actually, sounds like he could have been a Tyco executive.
–Sid Gillman died at age 91. Gillman was the father of the
modern passing game in the NFL and is a member of both the
collegiate and pro football Halls of Fame. Coaching the L.A. /
San Diego Chargers of the AFL from 1960-71, Gillman’s first
QB was Jack Kemp. Later he had the great John Hadl, as well as
other players such as Lance Allworth and Gary Garrison. [Bet
this brings back memories for some of you. Those old AFL
games were the best.]
–Another veteran of the AFL, Joe Foss, died, though he is better
remembered for his exploits in World War II as one of the great
fighter pilots in history. Foss received a Medal of Honor in 1943
from FDR after his 26th “kill,” becoming the first American of
WW II to equal the World War I record of Captain Eddie
Rickenbacker. Most of his success occurred during the battle for
Guadalcanal from October 1942 to January 1943.
Later, Joe Foss became governor of South Dakota and then in
November 1959, the owners of the fledgling American Football
League selected Foss to be their first commissioner. In recent
years, he was perhaps best known as one of the subjects of Tom
Brokaw’s “The Greatest Generation.” Joe Foss…hero and
legend.
–Hero and legend is NOT a title applied to the Indiana Pacers’
Ron Artest. You have to be from the New York area to truly
appreciate this, but Artest, a former star at St. John’s, received a
ton of publicity the past week leading up to a New York Knicks
game versus Indiana. He has become a tremendous defensive
ballplayer and now, with his scoring up to 16 points a game,
Artest has become a true force in the league.
But Ron Artest is also a major dirtball with an incredible temper
and so on Friday night, following Indiana’s 98-96 loss to the
Knicks, he hurled a $100,000 television camera, owned by
Madison Square Garden Network, along with a monitor,
smashing both to bits. Thankfully, the NBA suspended him for
three games, an appropriate punishment in the eyes of your
editor, and we’ll see what he does about paying MSG for their
loss.
So here we are, less than a week into 2003, and I think Artest has
become a candidate for “Dirtball of the Year.” Granted, he
doesn’t have weapons of mass destruction at his disposal, but
what if he obtains them?
–Back to women…so I’m listening to Dusty Springfield’s
anthology the other day (an awesome 1997 / Mercury collection),
and I had forgotten what a great voice she had. You know, you
hear it and you just wish you could have taken her out for a beer.
Unfortunately, that was part of her problem, the alcohol angle
that is, but I was thinking, I used to date a girl with that kind of
voice…………………..uh oh….calling Dr. Melfi!
Top 3 songs for the week of 1/2/65: #1 “I Feel Fine” (The
Beatles) #2 “Come See About Me” (The Supremes) #3 “Mr.
Lonely” (Bobby Vinton)
NCAA Basketball Quiz: The four coaches ahead of Lefty
Driesell on the all-time coaching list, Division I, are:
Dean Smith, 879 wins (.776 winning percentage)
Adolph Rupp, 876 (.822)
Jim Phelan, 819* (still active at Mt. St. Mary’s – .617)
Bob Knight, 787* (.725)
*Entering 2002-2003
Driesell is the only one to win 100 games at four different
schools: Davidson, Maryland, James Madison and Georgia State.
He also took all four to post-season play, 13 trips to the NCAA
and 8 NIT appearances. His final winning percentage was .666.
NFL Running Back Quiz: The only other runners to carry the
ball 250 times 8 straight seasons aside from Curtis Martin are
Emmitt Smith, 11 times, and Thurman Thomas, 8.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday…thoughts on the Baseball Hall of
Fame.
**Did I mention it’s great being a Jets fan? As for Newt S.,
Mike H., Steve D. and all the other Giants followers, hang
in there…please. Don’t do anything rash. [Of course I could
say the same thing about Cleveland fans.]
