Baseball Quiz: [Continuing with our career stats focus before
the regular season starts and we begin to take a look at individual
teams.] 1) What four hitters whiffed at least 1,900 times in their
careers? [Hint: One is still active.] 2) What four walked at least
1,900 times? Answers below.
GO DEACS
You’ll have to excuse me, sports fans, but it’s been 41 years
since us Wake Forest alums could claim an outright regular
season ACC basketball title. Now some may say, hey, editor, big
deal, because both Duke and Maryland are nowhere near as good
as they were last season (nice going on Sunday, Duke) and the
rest of the conference is young and inexperienced. To which I’d
say, hey, we went on the court and did what we had to do each
night and that’s win. I’d also have to add that I certainly won’t
argue when Kentucky’s Tubby Smith wins Coach of the Year,
but if Wake’s Skip Prosser isn’t top three in the voting, it will be
a disgrace.
And while we’re on the subject of men’s college basketball,
these last few weeks certainly have been ugly when it comes to
ethics and controversy. Now we have the case of Villanova
having to suspend 12 players because they were using a
university access code to make unauthorized phone calls. Idiots.
And it would appear that Georgia’s head coach Jim Harrick Sr.
should be facing time in the state pen, aside from losing his job.
New revelations concerning Harrick’s stint at Rhode Island are
surfacing as a result of a sexual harassment case he went through
while coaching there. Among the charges in that case were
falsified expense reports, just like he had at UCLA, and
allegations he paid a member of the women’s Rhode Island team
to cover up an assault on her by one of his players, with Harrick
supposedly paying the girl $250 to keep her mouth shut. Plus,
you had term papers being written by team managers and all
kinds of other garbage. Nice job, Georgia, in hiring this creep.
*Update: Harrick was just suspended by the university and the
team withdrew from postseason play.
Cough…Cough
So did you hear about the trial going on in Britain concerning its
version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” Back in
September 2001, an Army major won the jackpot (in pounds) but
the show was never broadcast due to questions among the
production staff, though the quiz show host was a total moron
and didn’t think anything was up at the time.
As reported by the Times of London’s Patrick Barkham, it was
clear that Major Charles Ingram had help from Tecwen
Whittock, who was one of the “fastest finger” contestants. With
the prize money rising with each correct answer, the tapes
revealed that there was very audible coughing in the background
as Ingram responded to each question.
Here’s how the final question for 1 million pounds went:
A number followed by 100 zeroes is known by what name?
A: Googol; B: Megatron; C: Gigabit; D: Nanomol
Ingram: “I’m not sure.”
Chris Tarrant (the host): “Charles, you haven’t been sure since
question number two.”
Ingram: “I think it’s a nanomol, but it could be a gigabit. I don’t
think it’s a megatron. I don’t think I’ve heard of a googol.” [An
audible coughing fit.] “By process of elimination I think it’s a
googol, but I don’t know what a googol is. I really do think it’s a
googol.” [Cough]
Tarrant: “You are going for the one you have never heard of.”
Ingram: “I don’t mind taking the odd risk now and again.”
[The audience laughs nervously.]
Ingram: “My strategy has worked so far…I was defensive on the
last show. I’ve been more positive, I think, here since. I don’t
think it’s a gigabit, I don’t think it’s a nanomol, I don’t think it’s
a megatron. I’m sure it’s a googol.” [Cough] “I’m going to
play. No I’m not. Yes I am. It’s a googol. God is it a googol?”
[Ingram looked to the studio ceiling.]
Ingram: “Yes, it’s a googol. I think I know. I think it’s a
googol.” [Cough] “Yes I’m going for a googol as my final
answer. Please don’t go for a break!”
[Tarrant calls a commercial break. As tension builds while
Ingram and the audience wait for a verdict from Tarrant, the
floor manager is heard saying: “No discussions please ladies and
gentlemen. This is a serious matter. Money is at stake.”]
Tarrant: “He initially went for nanomol, he then went through the
various options again. He then went for googol because he had
never heard of it and he had heard of the other three.”
Tarrant then ripped up the check for 500,000 and told Ingram,
“You’ve just won 1 million pounds.”
Ingram buried his head in his hands, sobbed and embraced
Tarrant. Then his wife Diana joined him and said, “How on
earth did you do it?”
Tarrant: “You are the most amazing contestant I’ve ever had.
Unbelievable!”
Well, not quite. At last word there was yet to be a verdict in the
trial…but if my British readers find out, please let me know.
Stuff
–Great stretch for Wake Forest fans, as 47-year-old golfer Scott
Hoch won his extended playoff versus Jim Furyk. For those of you
watching Sunday evening when Hoch opted to wait until Monday
morning to finish up his work because he thought it was too dark,
if you thought this was a controversial decision all you needed
to read was Furyk”s own comment.
“His charm…in a strange way…is he tells the truth. You have to
appreciate that. Sometimes you”d like to stick a sock in his mouth
once in a while, but he does tell the truth. He”s a good friend.”
This is another reason why many of us love the PGA Tour versus
other sports. 95% of the guys are pure class.
Hoch now has 158 Top Tens in his career, more than any other active
player under age 50. Fred Couples is second with 140.
–James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano) is being a royal pain in the
ass. This guy’s a helluva actor, but he’s causing a real stink at
HBO over his contract, demanding more than the $400,000 per
episode he’s receiving ($5.2 million per season) and threatening
to walk out on his contract for a 5th, and possibly final, season.
–I didn’t have a chance to comment on this last week, but isn’t it
too bad that Helen Thomas didn’t have the opportunity to ask
President Bush a question at his primetime press conference?
Normally she’s the first person called, but the 82-year-old big
band of wind was snubbed after saying Bush is “the worst
president ever” in an interview.
–Remind me not to catch NBC’s new series starting this Friday,
“America’s Most Talented Kids.” Actually, you won’t need to
do that. I’ll probably be watching QVC.
–Or I could be watching “Emeril.” Hey, did you catch the one
where he makes a blue cheese burger? Goodness, gracious, I’m
going to try it this week. Season two patties and stick a wad of
blue cheese between them. Baby, it just doesn’t get any better
than that. [Cook thoroughly, though.]
–You have to be a college basketball junkie to truly appreciate
this, but you just can’t make this stuff up. Former coach Digger
Phelps has always been known as one of the world’s true idiots,
so I’m watching him Saturday afternoon as he’s in the studio
with John Saunders and Digger, whose soul job is to follow
college basketball, says the following.
“Oklahoma State is playing very well entering the Big Twelve
tournament.” [Immediately, my neurons snap into action. No
they’re not.]
Saunders: “Yeah, Oklahoma State just ended a 3-game losing
streak.”
–Note to Dan D. in Honolulu. The Wall Street Journal said that
mold-related insurance claims doubled last year to $2.5 billion.
[Dan was the one who alerted me to the fact that the Hilton
Hawaiian Village in Honolulu still hasn’t opened a new $40
million tower because it was discovered the place is full of
mold.]
–A nurse in Botswana used the same needle to vaccinate 83
school kids the other day. 39% of adults in the country have
HIV. In other words, if you feel like you need a smallpox
vaccination, and you have some frequent flyer miles left over, I
still wouldn’t go there to get it.
–Sports Illustrated had a story on a friend of baseball legend Ted
Williams who went to visit the Alcor cryonics facility in
Scottsdale, AZ, where Williams’s son, John Henry, had his father
placed. What the friend and an associate discovered was
disheartening and they still don’t know if Ted’s body is intact or
even being preserved. The facility has these large vats, most of
which have no windows and supposedly hold 4 bodies and 5
heads. So I’m thinking, what if you’re placed with someone you
never liked?
–The April issue of Golf Digest has a story on Augusta and the
way Hootie Johnson handled the issue of the old former
champions who were allowed to keep coming back to play in the
Masters, even though they weren’t close to being competitive.
Guys like Doug Ford, now 80, Billy Casper, 71, and Gay
Brewer, 71.
The controversy was over the letter Hootie sent these guys in
2001 telling them in a rather insensitive way that their
participation would no longer be allowed. Johnson also
announced that as of 2004, those over 65 would have to
demonstrate they are still participating in tournament golf, i.e.,
playing in 10 or more senior events, to be considered, but he was
clearly discouraging anyone from trying.
Gay Brewer threw a fit, while Casper and Ford understood. For
his part, Ford should have been booted out 20 years ago. But this
year Gary Player is upset because this will probably be his last
Masters, Player being 67, though he is still more than
competitive in senior events. [Top 30 this week!]
Now there is an easy way to compromise and Player has the
answer. Part of the charm of the tournament has been the fact
that Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, Floyd and the rest can keep
coming back each year, giving some of us a reason to root for
Arnie to pull out one more win….ahem, I thought the King
would win last year, his final time. The age limit should be 65,
but if you can break 85 (Player’s idea) you would still be
allowed to play regardless.
Top 3 songs for the week of 3/14/64: #1 “I Want To Hold Your
Hand” (The Beatles) #2 “She Loves You” (The Beatles) #3
“Please Please Me” (The Beatles)….pretty strong. These guys
have a shot at really making it.
Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) Struck out 1,900 times: Reggie
Jackson…2,597; Jose Canseco…1,942; Andres Galarraga…
1,939; Willie Stargell…1,936. [Sammy Sosa is #7 at 1,834]
2) 1,900 walks: Rickey Henderson…2,179; Babe Ruth…2,062;
Ted Williams…2,021; Barry Bonds…1,922.
Remember, if you’re gonna play this game, you gotta know the
rules.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday…the Louisiana Purchase…I’m force
feeding a little history.
