**See note on site below**
Wimbledon Quiz: 1) For two cases of your favorite ale, what
was the first year of the tournament for the men? [For four
cases, who won it?] 2) What famous player won in 1939? 3)
How many did Rod Laver win? 4) John Newcombe? 5) How
many years in a row did Bjorn Borg win Wimbledon? 6) How
many titles did Pete Sampras win? 7) How many did Martina
Navratilova win? 8) Wimbledon titles for Steffi Graff? 9) Chris
Evert? Answers below.
Stuff
–Ahem…ahem………may I have your attention please. Your
editor picked Czech Republic to go all the way in the Euro 2004
football championship. We’re now down to the final four.
Portugal, Netherlands, Greece (huge surprise) and……………
………………………………………………Czech Republic.
[I have to make up for my Houston – Kansas City World Series
pick.]
–I missed this last week (so I’m assuming a few of you track
fans did as well). Alan Webb broke Jim Ryun’s 37-year-old
record for fastest mile by a U.S. runner on American soil at
Oregon’s Prefontaine Classic. Webb, 21, ran a 3:50.85, besting
Ryun’s 3:51.1. We are now eagerly awaiting the Olympics. It’s
been awhile since America last had a legitimate mile contender.
–Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks was charged with
assault for his attack on Colorado Avalanche player Steve
Moore. You remember this one last spring, with Moore
suffering 3 fractured vertebrae and severe facial cuts, as well as a
concussion for which he is now paying the price with post-
concussion syndrome. It’s not expected Moore will ever play the
sport again. Bertuzzi could face jail time. He deserves it.
–Boy, my brother is going to be fired up over this one. Racing
great Jackie Stewart was asked to name the top American and
chose Dan Gurney, “hands down the best American driver ever.”
Gurney’s era, primarily the 1960s, was also auto racing’s best
with many crossing from Formula One to Indy cars to NASCAR.
Gurney won in all three. [Aside from Mario Andretti, I can’t
think of another who did. If I’m wrong, I’ll correct it next time.]
–Tiger Woods’s caddie Steve Williams has built up quite a
reputation the past few years and it’s getting worse by the week.
In a nutshell, Williams is a class one a-hole. You may have
heard how Williams took two cameras at the U.S. Open, for
which Sports Illustrated’s Rick Reilly had this comment.
“Steve Williams has all the charm of a rhino with an impacted
molar. He doesn’t speak to the media, rarely talks to fans and
has the look on his face of a man who’d very much like to pinch
your head off.”
Reilly also had some comments for Tiger.
“Tiger’s a nice golfer, but at this point he’s basically Kirk
Triplett.”
And this one.
“Sigh and accept it. There’s a possibility Tiger may have
peaked.
“Woods gave us the single greatest achievement in sports
history; the Tiger Slam in 2000 and ’01. If you’ve got the Hope
diamond, why keep shopping? Dwight Gooden peaked at 20.
Macaulay Culkin at 10. Why can’t Tiger have peaked at 24?”
But wait, there’s more!
“Stop with the sympathy.
“Woods is 28, worth more than $200 million and engaged to a
Swedish nanny so freaking gorgeous that rivers stop and take a
look.”
–Crap…I just realized I peaked at 13.
–Adam Scott won this week’s PGA Tour stop, thus giving this
24-year-old 3 wins already, including two this year. Don’t laugh,
but let me be the first one to say Adam Scott is the best player in
the world never to win a major. Ridiculous? He’s as good as
Sergio Garcia, to name one other obvious pick in this category.
–By the way, there are five multiple winners on the PGA Tour
thus far in 2004; Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Sergio
Garcia and Scott. What name is missing? If you’re having
trouble, think Kirk Triplett.
–Quite a Sunday for the Stadler family. Father Craig, fresh off
his DWI, won the Champions Tour event, while son Kevin won
the Nationwide tournament. [For those of you not familiar with
the Nationwide Tour, it’s a glorified AAA-type set-up.]
And get this; in the same Champions event 74-year-old Arnold
Palmer fired a final round of 75! Think about that. He tied or
bested Lanny Wadkins, Don Pooley, Jerry McGee and Dave
Barr, to name a few a couple of decades younger. And don’t you
know the gallery was following Arnie, having the time of their
life. Great stuff.
–By the way, as a Wake Forest alum I have to latch on to our
new budding star, Bill Haas, who finished tied for 33rd in his first
PGA Tour stop as a professional. We have a rich golf tradition
at Wake, what with Arnie, Lanny, Curtis, Hoch, and father Jay
Haas. But their combined age is about 270. Bill Haas is our
savior. You’re going to be sick of me talking about him because
this kid will be a top ten player in two years.
–To give you an idea of how much the purses on the PGA Tour
have grown, consider this. Esteban Toledo finished 125th on the
money list in 2003, the last slot to qualify for an exemption in
”04, with earnings of $487,495. In 1996, Dicky Pride finished
125th with $167,852. No wonder so many of these guys are
acting like spoiled brats these days.
–Speaking of spoiled brats, look no further than professional
tennis. Two things happened at Wimbledon that were rather
telling. First, we had the deal with Venus Williams getting
screwed out of a point in a second-set tiebreaker against Karolina
Sprem when the chair umpire incorrectly awarded Sprem with an
extra one. Neither player said anything, though, and eventually
Venus lost.
So sister Serena and American Andy Roddick raised hell, saying
Sprem had to have known she was given an extra point and the
honorable thing to do would have been to bring this up with the
umpire. [Sprem claims she was too confused herself to know.]
Of course in golf the players do the honorable thing and call
penalties on themselves, for crying out loud.
But then we had the situation with Russian Marat Safin. I
couldn’t believe a tape I saw of his first round match with
Dmitry Tursunov (I have no idea who this other guy is). Safin
flat out tanked the match, because as he explained later, “I give
up on Wimbledon. It is definitely not the tournament for me. I
hate this. I have to admit it. It’s not my surface. It’s not my
territory. I don’t like grass.”
What a freakin’ jerk. As former Soviet Wimbledon finalist Alex
Metreveli said, “Safin was playing like he was doing everyone a
big favor by being here. It was totally unprofessional on his
part.” [Moscow Times]
–Formula One patriarch (and tyrant) Bernie Ecclestone and his
wife are worth $4.2 billion. “Ah, Alex? I’ll take Bernie
Ecclestone’s wife for $20.”
–Bear watch: A friend about a ½ mile away from yours truly
had a big bear in his driveway the other day. Chris said his
daughter goes, in a 13-year-old’s nonchalant way, “Dad, there’s
a bear in the driveway.” “Yeah right………………..Doh!”
–But the other day I see this story on the local news of how a
farmer has lost a bunch of sheep to a coyote. Take a guess how
many coyotes New Jersey is estimated to have? Try 1,500!
Goodness gracious. For my money, this is scarier than a bunch
of bears. However, there is a positive to coyote nation…the
geese are getting slaughtered!!!!!
–Another mountain lion attack in California, this one at Sequoia
National Forest, but the woman who was severely mauled
survived because three friends came to her rescue. There are an
estimated 4,000 to 6,000 cougars in the state. Six humans
have died since 1890.
–The island of Guam had 16 inches of rain in a 24-hour period
over the weekend, thus besting the record for the entire month
of June. Guam, you”ll recall from my postings from there, is
also home to the vicious brown snake, so imagine the mess with
all the floodwaters. Yikes. [A fellow was also washed out to
sea from the Hilton Hotel where I normally stay. He probably
saw a snake and ran the wrong way.]
–Still waiting for final word on the disposition of the Tim
Montgomery steroid situation. Montgomery, the world-record-
holder in the 100 meters, supposedly was asked by a prosecutor
in the BALCO case about lead figure Victor Conte’s relationship
with Barry Bonds.
“Did he say he gave any steroids, Winstrol or any of the other
ones to Mr. Bonds?” Jeff Nedrow asked.
“Yes, he did,” Montgomery replied.
“Did he say specifically which ones?”
“Winstrol,” Montgomery said.
[Winstrol was used by Ben Johnson before being disqualified in
the 1988 Olympics…………Can you believe this was 16 years
ago? Geezuz, that’s kind of depressing. Maybe I need some
Winstrol.]
Anyway, when apprised of Montgomery’s comments the next
day, Barry Bonds addressed a reporter for USA Today.
“ ‘I don’t know Tim Montgomery,’ said Bonds, grimacing and
waving his bat. ‘I’ve never met him. When accusations come
from someone you don’t even know, what can you do?’
“Bonds also threatened to sue anyone else who hurls what he
believes are untrue allegations against him. ‘They’ll be talking
to my lawyer,’ he said.”
[Other sources: AP / San Francisco Chronicle]
–But back to the better side of baseball, Johnny Mac has come
up with some new faces in the game that are having an impact
thus far in ‘04.
Johnny Estrada, C, Atlanta…the guy traded for Kevin Millwood
(who has sucked for Philly). Estrada is hitting .339, 4 HR and 44
RBI in his first full season.
Victor Martinez, C, Cleveland…a star in the minors, he is
replicating that in the majors, hitting .306 with 10 HR and 54
ribbies.
Lyle Overbay, 1B, Milwaukee…acquired in the Richie Sexson
trade, he’s put on quite a show. .336, 9 HR 55 RBI and 30
doubles.
Ken Harvey, 1B, KC…After a decent rookie year, he is lighting
it up pretty good, batting .335 with 32 RBI.
Travis Hafner, 1B, Cleveland…acquired from Texas to fill the
spot left by Jim Thome, the kid has done more than OK, .308,
8 HR 48 RBI.
Jack Wilson, SS, Pittsburgh…with a .256 career best coming into
this season, Wilson is at .339 with 6 HR and 30 RBI, but he’s
walked just 9, count ‘em, 9 times in 304 at bats.
Juan Uribe, 2B/SS, White Sox…another quality middle infielder
from the Dominican Republic, go figure. .294 10 HR 33 RBI.
Chone Figgins, CF, Anaheim…with all the injuries there this
year, he has seen more playing time than anticipated…and at
.307 with 11 triples and 19 stolen bases he’s been a pleasant
surprise. As for the name, it’s Desmond DeChone Figgins.
We’ll try to reach his parents to find out how they came up with
DeChone.
–On the flip side of the above, what the heck is up with Chipper
Jones? I know he’s been hurt, but he’s hitting .215 with just 23
RBI in 172 at bats.
–Congratulations to Cal State Fullerton, winners of the College
World Series. These guys started the season 15-16.
–Speaking of starting the season slowly and then coming on,
case one is the San Francisco Giants. They came out of the gate
15-23, everyone buried them, and now they are comfortably in
first, 43-33…a nice 28-10 streak.
–But how about Tampa Bay? Who ever thought you’d be
talking about Devil Rays baseball in late June? On Saturday they
accomplished something never before done in baseball. After
starting the season 18 games below .500 at 10-28, Tampa Bay
reeled off a streak of 26-7 to go 36-35, the first club ever to
climb above .500 after being 18 below.
–Back to Barry Bonds, steroids and all he really is an amazing
player. Check this out. 109 walks and 165 official at bats.
–Us Mets fans are really tired of interleague play, having to play
the freakin’ Yankees 6 times a year, a huge disadvantage I think
you’d agree. And nothing like starting off your Sunday evening
as a Mets fan and seeing the damn Yankees throw up a 6 spot in
the first inning.
–Trader George opines that “Live and Let Die” is the best movie
soundtrack ever.
–Did you know….that while oily fish include salmon, trout,
mackerel, sardines, pilchards (?), herring, kipper, eel and
whitebait…fresh tuna is an oily fish but canned tuna doesn’t
count as oily. Yes, it’s true, it’s really true. When tuna is canned
the fats are reduced to levels similar to white fish. So while
canned tuna is a healthy choice for most people, it doesn’t have
the same benefits as eating oily fish. [London Times]
And now you know…the rest of the story.
–Except for one thing. Danny Dark died recently. He was the
voice in the Charlie Tuna / StarKist commercials. “Sorry,
Charlie.” He also did “This Bud’s for you.”
–Seriously, is there anyone out there aside from UConn fans
who cared about the NBA draft? Granted, it was pretty special
that Emeka Okafor was taken #2 and Ben Gordon #3, but who
gives a damn about all these high school kids? I’ll tell you who
got a steal, though, and that is Cleveland in selecting Oregon’s
Luke Jackson. Great compliment for LeBron.
Top 3 songs for the week of 6/28/69: #1 “Love Theme From
Romeo & Juliet” (Henry Mancini) #2 “Bad Moon Rising”
(Creedence Clearwater Revival) #3 “Get Back” (The Beatles)
Wimbledon Quiz Answers: 1) First year for men was 1877,
Spencer Gore was the winner. 2) Bobby Riggs won in 1939.
The tourney was then shut down from 1940-45 due to WW II. 3)
Rod Laver won 4. 4) John Newcombe won 3. 5) Bjorn Borg
won 5 in a row, 1976-80. 6) Pete Sampras won 7; 1993-95,
1997-2000. 7) Martina won 9; 1978-79, 1982-87, 1990. 8)
Steffi Graf won 7; 1988-89 (beat Martina), 1991-93, 1995-96. 9)
Chris Evert won 3; 1974, 76, 81. [Evert also had 7 seconds.]
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
***We are changing servers this week and the site could be
down for a spell. Everything should be fine by Friday***
