Miami Dolphins Quiz (1966-2003): 1) Who was the first coach?
2) Receptions, career? 3) Interceptions, career? 4) Rushing,
season? 5) Name the only two to have 4 TDs in a game. 6)
Name the last QB who was Miami’s 1st round draft pick.
Answers below.
Scott Muni
The legendary disc jockey known as “Scottso” died the other day
at the age of 74. Muni was a real rock pioneer, replacing Alan
Freed in Akron, Ohio and moving to WABC-AM in New York
where he worked from 1960-64. Later he was responsible
for establishing the progressive rock format at WNEW-FM.
In his book “FM: The Rise and Fall of Rock Radio,” author
Richard Neer, a former DJ himself at WNEW, provides some
anecdotes that best describe Muni and the lunacy of music
radio’s golden years.
Back in 1964 while still at WABC, Muni was accused of
accepting payola by his boss at the station, Rick Sklar. Scottso
had come to a program meeting with his fellow DJs all excited
about a new record by one of his friends, Frankie Valli. Valli’s
The Four Seasons were one of the few groups that were keeping
pace with the British Invasion, but this new tune, “Rag Doll,”
was very slow and dirgelike, though as Neer writes:
“Only Muni realized that the song was special and submitted it
for approval at the music meeting. But now his boss was
implying that the only people who would appreciate ‘Rag Doll’
were those who had a financial stake in it. His fellow jocks
stood by silently, leaving Muni to twist in the wind.”
Muni was pissed, told Sklar off, and was fired. A few years later
he went to WOR-FM and then landed at WNEW.
Scottso was actually most responsible for the idea of ‘grouping’
songs, thanks to FM’s freer format. From Neer:
“He would select three or more recordings from the same artist,
often from the same album, and bunch them together. Muni
could go fifteen to twenty minutes before announcing what he’d
played. This created an added, perhaps unintentional benefit.
Since listeners at the time were used to having songs identified
immediately before or after they were played, they were now
forced to listen longer to discover what they’d just heard.” Good
for advertising.
Of course this concept worked in reverse if the listener didn’t
like the group and knew Scottso was about to play four or five
tunes from the band.
Muni was also known for his close relationships with some of
rock’s leading lights, particularly John Lennon and Elton John,
who would come into the studio and grant rare interviews, drink,
play poker while on the air and generally shoot the breeze. Oh,
these were different times compared to the scripted radio of
today and the monopolies ruling the airwaves.
For example, one particular visit by Elton turned into one of the
more notorious moments in rock radio history. As Neer describes
it, Elton knew his music history and loved to play DJ, so this one
time he came in with a bunch of champagne and Scott let Elton
take over the show as Muni did from time to time with his guest.
Neer describes what happened next. [I need to edit this a bit.]
“John was reading a live commercial for the Pink Pussycat
Boutique, a shop that sold sexual paraphernalia. WNEW’s sales
department had a difficult time convincing the emporium’s
owners that it was possible to craft a commercial that could sell
their products and yet remain appropriate for airing at a time
when the FCC’s restrictions on salacious material were much
more vigorously enforced than they are today. The carefully
worded live copy intimated much about the sensual pleasures
awaiting the customers of the Greenwich Village shop, but was
couched in vague terms with harmless double entendres to please
the station’s legal division. In bold letters on the top of the page
was a clear instruction: ‘Read exactly as written, NO AD-
LIBBING!!!’
“This presented a challenge for Elton John, who was riding a
crest of popularity.”
John thought about the consequences of deviating from the
script. Recently, he had declared his bisexuality in a Rolling
Stone interview.
“ ‘Do you like to rim your boyfriend?’ [He told the audience.]
“Pete Larkin, WNEW-FM’s production director at the time,
immediately stopped leafing through a pile of discarded albums
in the music library and bolted for the on-air studio, incredulous
at what he’d heard through his radio speakers. Through the
double layer of soundproof glass, he saw Elton John, obviously
feeling no pain from the effects of his champagne of choice,
Dom Perignon. He’d toted three magnums with him on his
annual visit to the Scott Muni show, and was now deeply denting
the second bottle as he spoke into the guest mic.
“ ‘Or do you just like to eat p—-?’”
Larkin frantically marked the reel-to-reel tape at the spot of the
infraction, knowing the station would be in deep trouble. John
continued.
“ ‘So if you’re the world’s biggest f—-t, or if you like to, you
know, –c-, visit the Pink Pussycat Boutique. And now here’s
my latest record.’
“Muni had turned purple at this point, restraining the impulse to
burst out laughing. WNEW-FM’s license survived the incident.”
Stuff
–Baseball Regular Season Wrap-Up
May I have your attention please……your editor picked the
Houston Astros to win the World Series way back in April. I
have been ridiculed for this choice. But, ahem….cough cough
…look who is in the playoffs! Houston.
So now it’s…..
Yanks – Twins
Angels – Red Sox
Dodgers – Cardinals
Astros – Braves
*Congrats on the Angels, Steve G.
Boy, did the Chicago Cubs choke or what? They could not have
sucked more down the stretch.
And what of the Oakland A’s? Not counting Sunday’s
meaningless contest, the A’s lost 6 of 8 and blew a 3-game lead
in their division while the Anaheim Angels went 7-1 to capture
the crown, thanks in large part to the super performance of
Vladimir Guerrero who was 15 for 28 with six home runs over
that crucial stretch.
Other baseball notes.
Back on August 10 in this space I alerted you to the fact that
Ichiro had a shot at beating George Sisler’s 84-year-old record
for hits in a single season. None of the major publications picked
up on this until weeks later and, alas, Ichiro did it, finishing with
262 hits.
So Sports Illustrated’s Rick Reilly decided to ridicule Ichiro’s
feat because he did it in 162 games (160) rather than Sisler’s 154.
This is the old Babe Ruth / Roger Maris crap. And to back up
his point, Reilly decides to compare Ichiro’s feat to Bernie
Williams passing Mickey Mantle for all-time postseason home
runs, even though Williams has played 39 more postseason
games than Mantle did. Or the stat that has Bruce Smith as the
NFL’s all-time sack leader.
Hey, Reilly, any sports fan already knows the Williams / Smith
comparisons are bogus. No one believes they are real records.
But to put Ichiro’s feat up with these shams is ridiculous. Go
back to bashing Barry Bonds…on this we can agree.
And then you have Cincinnati’s Adam Dunn, who broke Bobby
Bonds’s 1970 mark of 189 strikeouts. Dunn had himself quite a
season, to say the least. He ended up whiffing 195 times, but he
also had 108 walks, scored 105 runs and oh, by the way, clouted
46 home runs and drove in 102. In other words, if you care how
many times he struck out you don’t know today’s baseball. I
think the Reds will take the end result every year. [Of course
soon Cincy won’t be able to afford him and he’ll make someone
else happy.]
Back to my Astros, at one time they were 56-60 yet after righting
the ship, and a manager change, they went 36-10 and currently
ride an 18-game win streak at home.
Thankfully there weren’t any players hitting 50 home runs this
season. Some of us are tired of the cartoonish numbers that have
been posted in many of the past 10 or so seasons. Miguel Tejada
and his 150 RBI is excused. Just a great season for this future
Hall of Famer.
And for you baseball junkies, here’s a tidbit I hadn’t been
focusing on until Johnny Mac pointed it out. Milwaukee’s Ben
Sheets had a super season, even though he finished just 12-14.
Sheets pitched 237 innings, struck out 264, walked just 32 and
had a 2.70 ERA.
–College Football Review
Georgia and Auburn certainly exposed LSU and Tennessee as
pretenders, Georgia kicking LSU’s butt 45-16 and Auburn
whipping the Vols 34-10.
Ohio State was also obviously a pretender, losing to freakin’
Northwestern in OT, for crying out loud.
And then #7 West Virginia lost to a mediocre Virginia Tech
outfit.
On the other side, it’s pretty clear Purdue is for real…and that’s
cool for the sport. Quarterback Kyle Orton is suddenly
everyone’s Heisman candidate.
But what about Navy! Mike Lupica of the Daily News just
noticed they are 5-0. Hey, I invited you on this bandwagon
weeks ago. If you’re looking for a seat, sorry, no more are
available. [Which is too bad because there is free beer and pork
barbecue sandwiches to go along with the ride, though
remember, the bandwagon doesn’t stop if you want to get off,
i.e., one can suffer considerable bodily harm in doing so, just as
Johnny Mac and I did in falling off the Rutgers wagon earlier in
the season.]
Ah, Coach Paterno? Why are you still there? Penn State, 2-3, is
showing no signs of turning it around. Happy Valley has to be a
surly little place these days.
As for my Wake Forest Demon Deacons, it should be noted that
we are 3-2, with the two losses being in overtime, away, to
Clemson and North Carolina State. It’s been like this the past
few years with our program. We’re so close to becoming a solid
Top 25 program, but we just can’t get over the hump.
Nonetheless, unlike Penn State we’re more than headed in the
right direction.
[I also have to make a note for those of you who bet on college
football. I haven’t myself in ages, but I couldn’t help but notice
during the week how the betting line for the Wake – NC State
game was going up…State by 8 points, then 9, then 10, then
10 ½. Boy, I was tempted to bet the house on Wake. There was
just no way they would lose by that much. Alas, I didn’t, but I
hope a few of you out there did.]
Finally, don’t forget USC-Cal next week…and another fantastic
game in #2 Oklahoma vs. #5 Texas.
–I don’t know why, but I decided to look at Willie Mays’s career
the other day and it’s kind of interesting the year he had in 1971
at the age of 40 for the San Francisco Giants. He finished the
season with a .271 average, 18 HR and 61 RBI, not bad at all.
But he also stole 23 bases in 26 attempts! And for the first time
he both walked and struckout over 100 times; 112 and 123,
respectively.
Not to make more of this than is deserved, but it was like 1971
was Willie’s last gasp, and he knew it. The next season he was
traded to the Mets and ended up at just .250 with 8 homers. It
was over….save an even more pitiful ’73 campaign.
Now by comparison, Barry Bonds last stole 20 bases in 1998 at
the age of 34. And Mays once had a streak of scoring 100 or
more runs in 12 consecutive seasons. Bonds’s best is his current
one, 5. And Willie didn’t take steroids.
–Something drew me to the ‘corrections’ column in the Wall
Street Journal.
“Bartolo Colon is a pitcher for the Anaheim Angels baseball
team…a column in some editions of yesterday’s Personal
Journal misspelled his last name as Cologne.”
Geezuz, what idiots.
And then I see in the same corrections column the following.
A Delta Airlines flight from JFK to Bombay, India was described
as a 28-hour flight…it’s 18 hours and 35 minutes.
I’m too busy to help these good folks out, but if you’re looking
for work, apply to the Journal for a position as an editor /
proofreader.
–Jeff B. passed along the story of the “Boyfriend Arm’s Pillow”
which also found itself on TV the other day. This is a product
that is shaped like a giant arm that holds you all night, according
to its makers. But I’m thinking if the girl thinks this will help her
sleep, she is sadly mistaken. I imagine most babes are having
nightmares instead…like in the films “Anaconda I, II or III.”
Now the company also said it is working on the prototype “for a
fake female lap shaped pillow targeting male users.”
Of course there are a number of directions we could take this last
bit……….As for yours truly, I need to keep my International
Web Site Association license and will hold off on making any
further comments. But you’re welcome to discuss amongst
yourselves. Mature audiences only.
–I can’t say I’ve been following soccer in America one bit, but I
did see that Freddy Adu scored the lone goal in D.C. United’s
1-0 win over the Metro Stars the other day. Adu is just 15-years-
old.
–Nice start for New York area football fans, with the Giants a
shocking 3-1 and the Jets 3-0. Now that the season has a few
weeks under its belt, I’ll begin covering the NFL in earnest next
Tuesday. One thing you learn over the years about this league is
you can’t draw a single conclusion until week four, which means
the fans in Green Bay and Washington can’t be happy campers.
But remember, I did pick the Jets to go all the way.
–Speaking of kids, my old hometown of Summit, New Jersey,
where the world headquarters of StocksandNews is located (I
now live in a town next door) was the subject of an Associated
Press story the other day. It seems that two 12-year-olds came
upon some Yankees playoff tickets, only these were no ordinary
ones. Evidently, a package of them had fallen off a delivery
truck, $20,000 of corporate tickets owned by Wachovia Bank.
The kids hailed a police officer and a day later 7 other kids also
stepped forward after talking about their own finds with their
parents. Only 4 of 70 tickets were never recovered.
Well, the Yankees were most appreciative and George
Steinbrenner’s office brought all nine youngsters to the Yankees
division title clinching game against the Twins the other night,
plus they received all kinds of other gifts from the team.
But here’s what Wachovia is doing. They are giving the kids use
of the bank’s luxury suite for a New Jersey Nets – New Orleans
basketball game in December! Who the hell wants to see this
lousy team, one that will be lucky to win 28 contests all year? If
I’m the kids I hold out for cash…like $1,000 each.
[Free advice on dealing with America’s financial institutions.
Another value-added service of Bar Chat.]
–Hey, Wake Forest fans. Alum Dave Bush shut out the Yankees
the other day. Bush has been a pleasant surprise in his rookie
season for Toronto, 5-4 with a 3.69 ERA.
–Did you hear this story? 60-year-old Spyros Vamvas was
surfing in the waters off San Clemente, California the other day
when the following occurred, in his own words.
“All of a sudden I just felt, wow, this huge noise and bump and it
lifted my board up. I’m looking down, and there’s just swirling
water and I see barnacles on the back of (a) whale. I’m used to
dolphins. This was different. It was huge.”
Now upon reading the first part of this AP story, I’m thinking,
yeah right. But it turns out there were witnesses on the beach.
“We were all screaming, ‘Oh, my god!” said Mona Ferner, who
was playing volleyball with her sister when she spied the whale.
Most folks guessed the size to be anywhere from 15 to 30 feet,
probably a juvenile delinquent who had wandered away from the
pod, at least that’s my take on things.
The whale lifted Vamvas gently and after setting him back onto
the water scooted back out to sea. Other surfers had seen the
whale and headed to shore, but Vamvas hadn’t.
–Lisa Marsh, Tamara Beckwith and Brad Hamilton of the New
York Post commented on Martha Stewart’s last weekend of
freedom, celebrated in the Bahamas. Among their findings:
“Despite the prospect of hard time behind bars, Martha was in a
partying mood almost as soon as she arrived for the weekend of
wedding-related activities at the Ocean Club resort on Paradise
Island – where suites cost as much as $1,295 per night.
“On the first night, she lived it up at the tropical-themed poolside
rehearsal dinner, where she enjoyed a buffet replete with steak,
lobster, shrimp, raw bar and grilled mahi-mahi.”
See, this is where I have a problem. Over the past ten years
every restaurant in the world has thrown mahi-mahi on the menu.
Growing up I never heard of this fish. In fact, I don’t think
mahi-mahi really exists. Instead, I think it’s really crappie
masquerading as something better. Just my opinion. Continuing
with Martha’s last gasp.
“After the rehearsal dinner, she disappeared with her mystery
companion (some guy much younger), but not before stopping to
slip off her stilettos for the long walk across the grounds.
“The two then hit the casino at the nearby Atlantis resort…
“Martha’s luck held: She won about $200.”
Whaddya mean her luck held? She’s heading to the pokey, for
crying out loud. Anyway…
“Her sidekick (mystery hunk) wasn’t so fortunate, dropping
$600.”
Loser.
–Boy, this was an ugly story. Former Pittsburgh Steelers
offensive tackle Justin Strzelczyk, 36, led New York state
troopers on a wild, 40-mile chase along the Thruway before he
plowed his car into a tractor trailer, killing himself. [The driver
of the tanker was treated for minor injuries.] Strzelczyk drove 15
miles on three tires and a rim after one of his pickup’s tires was
punctured by metal spikes thrown into the road by troopers.
Justin played nine seasons for the Steelers but since his release in
2000 it was nothing but trouble for him. I had but one thought
myself after reading of his end…steroids.
–Dale Earnhardt Jr. leads in the chase for the Nextel Cup after
the first 3 of a 10 race finish.
–Is Tiger Woods getting married on Tuesday? Any of you get an
invitation? I didn”t.
–Sports Illustrated’s latest ‘Sign of the Apocalypse.’
“An entrepreneur is seeking investors for the ThoroughBreast
Racing League, which would allow pari-mutuel betting on races
with topless women in Las Vegas.”
What kind of races?
Top 3 songs for the week of 10/7/78: “Kiss You All Over”
(Exile) #2 “Boogie Oogie Oogie” (A Taste Of Honey) #3 “Hot
Child In The City” (Nick Gilder)
Miami Dolphins Quiz Answers: 1) First coach: George Wilson,
1966-69, 15-39-2. 2) Mark Clayton is career leader in receptions
with 550 (1983-92). If you said Mark Duper (1982-92), well, he
leads in career yards with 8,869. Duper had 511 receptions. 3)
Jake Scott, 1970-75, is the career interception leader with 35. 4)
Ricky Williams is the single season rushing leader with 1,853 in
2002. 5) 4 TDs in a game: Mark Ingram, 1994; Paul Warfield,
1973. 6) Dan Marino was the last QB selected with the 1st round
pick, 1983.
Dolphin Tidbits…tasty morsels…
Don Shula’s first season as coach was 1970 and he turned a
3-10-1 ’69 squad into a 10-4 one.
From 1972-74, the Dolphins were 21-0 at home as part of their
great 3-year run…14-0, 12-2, 11-3.
In 1973, Mercury Morris had a 6.4 avg. per carry in racking up
954 yards.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday. Back to the election and some
American history.
