Baseball Quiz: List the Top Ten lifetime in RBIs. Answer
below.
Blowout
Mike Freeman of the New York Times had a piece the other day
concerning the problem with blowouts in high school sports,
specifically girls basketball. For example, Lakeshore High (Hart,
MI) with only 50 students was blown out by a perennial power
115-2. In Washington, D.C., scene of many a blowout, one
game this season ended up 90-2.
So these kinds of scores have educators worried, with districts in
Michigan and elsewhere looking to adopt ‘mercy rules’ like
some have in baseball, particularly for the little tykes. The
Cincinnati Enquirer did a study and found that 20% of girls
basketball games in Cincy this school year were won by 30
points or more. A few leagues across the country are now
experimenting with running game clocks (no stoppage
whatsoever) once a team’s lead reaches 40 points.
“I am very concerned about these blowout games, because I
think they are increasing in number and getting worse,” said John
Johnson, communications director for the Michigan High School
Athletic Association. “The purpose of school sports is to educate
kids. That’s what makes us different from colleges and the pros.
There is nothing to be learned in these blowout games. No one
should be embarrassed in high school.”
Wrong, wrong, wrong. And you know what? When Freeman
interviewed the girls from Lakeshore, they weren’t upset. They
were just happy to be out on the court and knew it could only get
better. And who the hell said life was going to be easy? High
school sports builds character. Like the time I was thrown into
the 100-yard dash of a high school track meet (as punishment…I
was a distance runner) and was almost lapped by Butch
Woolfolk who went on to star at the University of Michigan.
And now look at me. Was I affected? ……………….well?
Hank Ballard
Ballard, one of the great singer/songwriters, died the other day at
age 66, or 90, depending on the source. At age 15 Hank formed
a doo wop group while working on a Ford Motor Co. assembly
line, initially called the Royals and later the Midnighters. In
1954 his group had a #1 R&B tune “Work With Me Annie” that
many radio stations refused to pick up because of the suggestive
lyrics. Ballard followed this up with a number of other songs that
were part of the “Annie” series, including “Annie Had A Baby”
and “Sexy Ways” that also saw limited airtime in the States, but
were huge hits overseas.
Then in 1958 he wrote and recorded “The Twist,” but the record
company placed it on the B-side and it sold few copies. About a
year later, however, Chubby Checker, one of the most overrated
performers of all time, ripped it off and had an instant #1, one of
the sadder stories in the history of rock and roll in my opinion.
In fact Checker and Bing Crosby with “White Christmas” are the
only two to re-release a song and see it hit #1 again, as was the
case in 1960 and 1961 with “The Twist.”
Alas, Ballard and the Midnighters did have their own top ten pop
hits in 1960 with “Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go” and “Finger
Poppin’ Time.” In 1962, though, the Midnighters embraced
Islam and refused to play before white audiences, at which point
Ballard split, working afterwards with James Brown and his
revue.
Finally, in 1990 Hank Ballard was elected to the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame, but his wife was killed in a hit and run accident
just 3 months before the induction ceremony.
Quality of Life Survey
I saw a blurb in Canada’s National Post that Vancouver was tied
for 2nd as the best city in the world to live, so I had to check out
the full survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting (you can
find it on the web, but it’s confusing as hell). Anyway, Mercer
alleges that Zurich is the #1 city from a quality of life standpoint,
with Vancouver tied with Vienna and Geneva for second.
Rounding out the top ten (11) are Sydney, Auckland,
Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Bern, Munich and Amsterdam. San
Francisco is the highest-ranking city in the U.S. at 20th.
Australia’s Sydney, Melbourne and Perth are all ranked high due
to “political stability, personal freedom, hospital services,
availability of consumer goods, climate and the accessibility of
sport and leisure activities.” After my quick trip to Sydney and
Melbourne a few weeks back, I’d also add availability of beer as
a major key as well.
Of course for the most part these studies are all a piece of crap,
but with my international audience I’m just trying to stir up a
feud or two…assuming most of you don’t have access to
weapons of mass destruction.
The same survey rates the ‘safest’ cities and Luxembourg is #1.
Moscow is the lowest rated city in Europe for this category
which is also a crock, having walked all over the place last
November and never feeling threatened. Other low-rated cities
in the safety category in Western Europe are Milan, Athens, and
Rome.
All the major Canadian cities are ranked safer than their U.S.
counterparts, while Washington is the worst of America in this
regard.
But here’s something halfway interesting. Mercer has dropped
Scandinavian cities down in rank for quality of life “on the basis
of evidence relating to seasonal effective disorders caused by
lack of daylight.”
And what are the worst places to live, out of a survey of more
than 200? Pointe Noire, Congo; Baghdad; Bangui, Central
African Republic (I forgot there was such a country…where’s
my map?); and, the winner as the worst place in the world to live
is………………………..Brazzaville, Congo!!!!! [And to think I
was going to cash in some frequent flyer miles to go there next
Christmas.]
Stuff
–Hey, Jim Harrick, are you dirty or what? Harrick, the coach for
Georgia’s men’s basketball team is facing new allegations in
what has been a most inauspicious career. The university,
Southeastern Conference, and NCAA are all investigating the
charges made by former Georgia player Tony Cole, himself no
angel, who says that he received money from Jim Harrick Jr., a
former assistant coach for his father, along with being the
beneficiary of some academic relief, err, fraud.
Harrick is no stranger to controversy. He led UCLA to the
NCAA championship in 1995 but was gone one year later for
falsifying expense reports. Then he surfaced at Rhode Island,
where he was named in a sexual harassment suit (though he was
cleared of the charge), except now Rhode Island is looking into
renewed allegations that its players received money and had their
grades changed while Harrick was there.
[After Harrick”s win over Florida on Tuesday, he said the NCAA
may find a few “minor” infractions.]
–And how about Florida State”s former QB Adrian McPherson? He
was just charged with one misdemeanor count for gambling on FSU
games, but at least he bet on his team to win. McPherson, though,
is really one lucky guy because just two days ago he blew a tire on
his Ford Expedition and flipped a few times. Amazingly, he wasn”t
hurt as he was wearing his seat belt.
–Lastly, on the college front, the St. Bonaventure men”s basketball
team voted not to play its last two games, this after being forced
to forfeit six league games due to the fact it was using an ineligible
player.
–Congratulations to the Lady Huskies of Connecticut who have now
stretched their amazing record winning streak to 68 games.
–It turns out that Anna Kournikova was married briefly to the
Detroit Red Wings’ Sergei Fedorov, according to Fedorov
himself, in an episode which the two managed to keep secret,
before Fedorov got fed up and ditched Anna…which means
she’s available again, guys!
–Holy cow! You know all those black bears I told you were in
my state of New Jersey? The total is now up to 3,200 and
experts believe there could be another 1,000 cubs on top of that
after this past winter. The state is reluctant to bring back the
hunt, but that seems to be the only solution. Plus, coyotes have
now been spotted in Nanuet, NY, just about 20 miles from New
York City. Yes, it could be an exciting spring and summer
around these parts…send your bear mauling stories to yours truly
and you’ll get a mention in this column.
–My full service broker David P. hangs his hat up in Beantown
and he alerted me to this startling fact. With the naming of
Dennis Johnson to be the new head coach of the Los Angeles
Clippers, D.J. thus becomes the 26th former Celtic to coach an
NBA team.
–So now it’s been revealed that Michael Jackson practices
voodoo and has a fake nose tip, at least according to a Vanity
Fair piece about to be released, but what gets me about the article
is that supposedly Jackson is $240 million in debt!
–Dan D. informs me that Evian is at least $21 a gallon, gasoline
in most parts still under $2. Which reminds me, the other day
I’m getting a fill-up at my local station, aimlessly staring at the
‘No Smoking’ sign plastered against the glass of the booth there,
when the goofy attendant says to me, “Oh sorry, I thought I
could bum a cigarette off you.” Not wanting to die in an
explosion of this sort, I’m now going to take my business
elsewhere.
–Tiger Woods announced he wasn’t going to participate in a
tournament in Dubai, citing security concerns with the coming
war, even though other top names will be playing this now
annual event. So Johnny Mac was musing about days of yore.
“Now let me get this straight. Bob Hope, Ann-Margret and Joey
Heatherton entertained the troops with bullets flying nearby
during the Vietnam War, but Tiger is scared to go where the
security will undoubtedly be super tight.”
Joey Heatherton……….now there was a sexy lass…….where
was I?
–Rick Reilly in this week’s Sports Illustrated has a piece
comparing Kobe Bryant to Michael Jordan when both were 24,
Kobe’s current age. Actually, Kobe’s better at this stage in his
career and this super hardworking dude is only going to continue
to get better. In other words Reilly’s complaint is, when are
basketball fans going to wake up to the fact that the next Michael
Jordan is already here?! And Kobe may end up being better?
–Happy 66th birthday (I”ve seen reports it”s his 65th, but I
don”t believe them) to Fred “the Hammer” Williamson. Star of many
a “blaxploitation” film in the 70s, Williamson was also a pretty
good cornerback for Oakland and Kansas City from 1961-1967,
picking off 36 passes. A little trivia is that he also played 11
games for the Steelers in 1960. He got the hammer label for his
ferocious hits.
–You may have noticed some new pictures in the bar chat rotation
above. The gross one is of a Tasmanian Devil. The cute animal is
a wombat.
Top 3 songs for the week of 3/7/70: #1 “Bridge Over Troubled
Water” (Simon & Garfunkel) #2 “Travelin’ Band” (Creedence
Clearwater Revival) #3 “Thank you (Falettinme Be Mice Elf
Agin) (Sly & The Family Stone…for you older folks out there,
that’s the way the title was really spelled…I’m talkin’ for folks
over about 60…but now I’m getting in trouble so I better stop
rambling).
Baseball Quiz Answer: Top Ten Lifetime RBIs –
Hank Aaron…2,297
Babe Ruth…2,213
Lou Gehrig…1,995
Stan Musial…1,951 (Johnny Mac’s favorite player…and all of
St. Louis’s for that matter)
Ty Cobb…1,939 (made a bundle on Coca-Cola stock)
Jimmie Foxx…1,921 (wished he had been drinking Coke)
Eddie Murray…1,917 (amazing)
Willie Mays…1,903
Cap Anson…1,879*
Mel Ott…1,860 (talk about underrated!)
*Now there are some lists that exclude Anson, who played from
1876-1897, which is understandable. So if you take him out, #10
becomes Carl Yastrzemski…1,844.
Among active players Barry Bonds has 1,652; Rafael Palmeiro
1,575 and Fred McGriff 1,503. Overall, in baseball history 35
have 1,500 or more.
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday.
**Thanks for the notes on the condition of my brother. He”s doing
amazingly well and defying all the predictions of his doctors. It”s
rehab time so maybe he”ll be back to work in a month or so.
