HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!
NCAA Men’s Basketball Quiz: 1) What five schools have 20 or
more NBA 1st-round draft picks? 2) What school has the most
NCAA infractions? 3) Who is the all-time leading scorer at
Northeastern? 4) Who is the second all-time scorer in SEC
history behind Pete Maravich? Answers below.
NCAA Tidbits
–The lowest seeds to reach the Final Four since the NCAA
began seeding teams in 1979:
LSU, #11, 1986
Penn, #9, 1979
–Only seeds below #4 to win a championship since 1985:
Villanova, #8, 1985
Kansas, #6, 1989
–Since field expanded to 64 teams in 1985:
No #16 has won a 1st-round game
No #15 has won a 2nd-round game
Only two #14s have advanced to the Sweet 16
Only three #13s have advanced to the Sweet 16
[The 13s and 14s are 0-5 in their attempts to get to the Elite 8]
–Kind of interesting:
#10s are 32-48 in the opening round, and 16-16 in the second
round.
#9s are 43-37 in the opening round, but only 3-40 in the second.
Why this disparity? Think about it. #9s are always playing #1
seeds, with the #1s never losing an opening round game to a #16.
But the #10s are playing a #2 (76-4 in opening games…and
seemingly susceptible to a stumble).
–Johnny Mac’s Final Four: Oklahoma State, North Carolina,
Michigan State, Wake Forest. OSU wins it all over UNC.
Reminder, your editor’s selections: Illinois, Wake, UConn and
Syracuse. Wake defeating Syracuse. [Didn’t mention the title
match-up last time]
Stuff
–Supervolcanoes! I saw where this week the BBC is running a
program on a supervolcano scenario involving Yellowstone
National Park. From the BBC web site we have the following.
Only a handful of these most destructive supervolanoes exist in
the world but should one erupt it will be unlike anything ever
seen before. “The sky will darken, black rain will fall, and the
Earth will be plunged into the equivalent of a nuclear winter.”
“Normal volcanoes are formed by a column of magma – molten
rock – rising from deep within the Earth, erupting on the surface,
and hardening in layers down the sides. This forms the familiar
cone shaped mountain we associate with volcanoes.
Supervolcanoes, however, begin life when magma rises from the
mantle to create a boiling reservoir in the Earth’s crust. This
chamber increases to an enormous size, building up colossal
pressure until it finally erupts.”
The last one to erupt was Toba, some 74,000 years ago in
Sumatra. Goodness gracious, this baby was 10,000 times bigger
than Mt. St. Helens! But here’s today’s threat, my fellow
Americans.
“It is little known that lying underneath one of America’s areas
of outstanding natural beauty – Yellowstone Park – is one of the
largest supervolcanoes in the world. Scientists have revealed
that it has been on a regular eruption cycle of 600,000 years. The
last eruption was 640,000 years ago…so the next is overdue.”
[Ed. I’m thinking I have about 30 years left so I’m fairly
confident I don’t have to worry about it. But if you’re only about
20 years of age, forget it. Sell everything around 2036. That’s
my market / real estate call and I’m stickin’ to it.]
Back to Yellowstone, “the sleeping giant is breathing:
volcanologists have been tracking the movement of magma
under the park and have calculated that in parts of Yellowstone
the ground has risen over 70 centimeters this century.” [About
15 feet, if I remember correctly.]
And by the way, scientists estimate that when Toba blew, it
caused the Earth’s temperature to plummet and only a few
thousand hobbits and / or humans survived around the globe.
–Animal Tales
Folks, remember that chimp attack from last week? Claudia
Zequeria of the Los Angeles Times had an update on
Wednesday. Some of the following is graphic…you’ve been
warned.
You’ll recall that St. James Davis and his wife LaDonna Davis
went to a wildlife sanctuary to visit a chimp, Moe, that they had
rescued from African poachers and cared for at their home since
the 1960s. Authorities had then removed Moe after he bit a
police officer. But a few times a month St. James and LaDonna
visited their friend. Here is what happened the last time, as told
to Ms. Zequeria.
“On this visit, the Davises sat next to Moe’s outdoor cage so they
could talk to him and feed him cake through the fence….
“Suddenly, two other adult male chimps appeared, startling the
couple.
“‘When I turned around, I saw one of the males out of the corner
of my eye,’ LaDonna said. ‘We made eye contact, and he
charged.’
“As the ape approached her, Ms. Davis said, she turned around
and placed her arm around St. James. One of the chimps hit her
hard from behind, knocking the couple over.
“‘As we were falling, the chimp came back around and bit my
finger off,” LaDonna said. ‘There was no time to run. There
was no time to do anything.’ …
“One of the chimps bit St. James Davis’ head first and then his
arms. The second began gnawing at his foot.”
Finally, an owner of the sanctuary was able to shoot one of the
chimps. “The other ape then dragged St. James Davis about 30
feet toward a parking area before being shot (as well).”
St. James Davis has not regained consciousness as yet, having
suffered massive injuries. His nose, left eye and lips were
reattached. Authorities have not determined how the two male
chimps escaped from their outdoor cages. Moe remained locked
up the entire time.
But here’s something I didn’t know. While a male chimp usually
stands 4 to 5 ½ feet tall and weighs 100-120 pounds, “Their
upper body strength is said to be at least five times that of the
average human.”
—
Here’s another tale from the Animal Kingdom and the AP.
“Man Found Dead in Florida Alligator Attack”
Don Owen, 56, was found in a pond about twelve miles from his
Bartow home, the victim of a 9-foot alligator that was captured
and killed on Tuesday. Owen had been missing since last
Wednesday. [Owen’s forearm was found in the gator’s stomach
…..sorry, forgot to warn you on this one.]
Now evidently, the residents near this pond were stupidly
feeding the alligator. Gary Morse, spokesman for the wildlife
commission, weighed in that this practice is illegal and
dangerous.
“Alligators normally flee from humans unless threatened or
cornered, but alligators that have been fed by humans begin to
look at them as a food source.”
But since 1948, according to the commission there have been
only 16 fatal alligator attacks in Florida. That seems awfully
low, doesn’t it? I thought it was 16 a week.
Anyway, back to Mr. Owen, our victim, no one seems to know
what he was doing so far from home. I’m thinking they met at a
bar, the gator told Owen about a great fishing-hole nearby, and
then killed Owen when he was peering into the pond.
—
The other day I related a buffalo story from up Canada way.
This time it’s long-time friend and Bucknell grad Allen H. with
his own tale.
“In 1973, I was a sophomore at Bucknell (which Kansas better
watch out for in the NCAAs, by the way) and my father was
surprised that the school did not have a ‘live’ mascot and decided
to do something about it. Bucknell’s mascot is the mighty bison
…and their sports teams are known as ‘the thundering herd.’
“So on a very nice Fall Saturday morning, a truck pulls up to the
front of our fraternity house with a live bison in the back. The
man then explains that we are the proud owners of a freakin’
bison bull courtesy of my father and proceeds to unload the
animal. Well, the bison was not too sure that this was such a
good idea, nor were we.
“After sedating the animal with Yukon Jack, we decided to take
him to the football stadium for the game against Cornell.
Campus security let us in without any questions and Bucknell’s
president (a really cool guy) came over to have his picture with
the slightly pickled beast.
“To make a long story short, everything went fine until we
scored our first touchdown and the cannon went off. One of the
last sights I remember is the animal breaking free and jumping a
fence about 4 or 5 feet tall. The Pennsylvania State Police told
me later that when they finally found him he was 6-7 miles away
in a cornfield, sleeping off the Yukon Jack. We ended up
donating the animal to a rancher in Ohio and that was the end of
any ‘live’ mascots at Bucknell.”
At least this buffalo story had a far better ending than Harry K.’s
one the other day. Thanks, Allen.
–U2
In honor of this great band’s induction on Monday into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame, I thought I’d rerun an old piece on their
early days and the event behind their hit “Bloody Sunday.”
U2 was formed in 1978 in Dublin. Paul Hewson (Bono), Adam
Clayton, Larry Mullin and Dave “The Edge” Evans began
rehearsing while students at Dublin’s Mount Temple High
School after Mullin placed a note on the message board
asking for volunteers to form a band. They originally called
themselves “Feedback” and then “The Hype”.
As you can imagine, they started out playing local gigs and early
on there was an ad in a local newspaper.
“Manager seeks the whereabouts of The Hype after amazing
Howth gig. [Howth is a beautiful suburb of Dublin. If you get to
Dublin, take a little commuter train ride out there and tell ‘em the
editor sent you]. Please ring Brian. It was great lads.” The
ad was placed by Adam Clayton in the hope that it would get the
band more gigs.
After a slow start in the album biz, U2 took off and by 1985
Rolling Stone proclaimed the group “Band of the 80s.” Around
this time they made a historic appearance at Live Aid.
U2 was known early on for tackling social and spiritual issues.
Their third album, “War,” cemented their reputation as a
politically conscious band. Addressing “the troubles” in
Northern Ireland, they introduced a tune, “Sunday, Bloody
Sunday,” at a concert in Belfast.
Bloody Sunday was one of the more tragic, and controversial,
events of the conflict in the North. On January 30, 1972, there
was a large civil rights march in Derry. The march had been
banned. Suddenly, British soldiers began to fire on what had
been a peaceful demonstration of Catholic disenchantment with
British (“Home”) rule. When it was over, 13 unarmed protesters,
6 of whom were 17-years-old, died (a 14th died later from their
injuries).
The first tribunal to investigate the tragedy assigned blame to the
victims and even after a recent inquiry came up with a more
balanced conclusion, it is doubtful justice will ever be served.
There were 29 guns that were believed to have been fired by
British soldiers on Bloody Sunday. Despite instructions to
safeguard them, 16 have been destroyed and 10 sold to private
companies. Recently, a ballistics expert has concluded that part
of the massacre was pre-meditated. But it will be difficult to
prove this without all of the evidence being intact.
But back to U2, in 1987, the group hit superstardom with the
release of the album “The Joshua Tree,” which topped the charts
for weeks and produced the #1 hits, “With or Without You” and
“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Lookin’ For” (my personal
favorite). Joshua Tree won the Grammy for Album of the Year.
Just a tidbit or two, concerning U2 concert gigs. Way back in
1981, they were the supporting attraction at a Miss Wet T-Shirt
night in Dallas, TX, and the band was the second concert act
to ever perform at Yankee Stadium (1992). [Billy Joel was the
first.]
Bono has always been known for being levelheaded, despite his
incredible stardom. Early in his career he said to an interviewer,
“We may well be the future of rock but so what? When I go
back to Dublin, to my girlfriend it’s more of a distraction that
I’m in a band than any big deal – and my old man still shouts at
me for not doing the dishes before I go to bed.” [That ‘girlfriend’
became his wife of 23 years.]
–USA Today conducted a survey of 568 major league baseball
players over the past few weeks and 79% said they believed
steroids played some role in record-breaking performances by
high-profile players, with 27% believing they were a “major
contributor” to recent statistical achievements. Further, 35% said
“if a player is found to be using steroids, his records should be
stripped or denoted with an asterisk.” [Chris Jenkins / USA
Today]
But with congressional hearings looming on steroids, and as I go
to post just who will end up appearing still in doubt, the New
York Post’s Mike Vaccaro weighed in on Mark McGwire.
“Mark McGwire’s name will appear on the first Hall of Fame
ballot I’ll be eligible to cast in a couple of years….and until the
past few months it’s been a dead-solid lock that it would be the
last time he would appear there, too, since he already had earned
his induction by acclimation….
“(But now) he’s not getting my vote….
“I should mention that this comes from someone who’s stated
time and again that Pete Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame. And
it comes from someone who will indeed cast an eventual Hall of
Fame vote for Barry Bonds, too, when the time comes….
“Bonds? Before he started to look like the StaPuft Marshmallow
man, he had already assembled a Hall of Fame resume.
Whatever subsequent crimes he may or may not have committed,
you cannot deny the level he’s played at…skinny, bloated and
everywhere in between.
“McGwire? If we are to believe that he first started altering his
training regimen in 1991, as it’s been alleged, then 405 of those
583 home runs fall under an umbrella of asterisks. Every aspect
of his Hall of Fame dossier would have to be thrown out, because
until he started hitting home runs by the gross starting in 1996,
no one ever even thought of him as a Hall of Famer.”
My sentiments exactly.
–According to the J.D. Power and Associates’ Restaurant
Satisfaction Study (courtesy of Netscape), Olive Garden is the
best “family / casual dining” establishment in the West and
Midwest. Outback Steakhouse is #1 in the Northeast and
Carrabba’s Italian Grill is tops in the South. [Can’t say I’ve ever
been to a Carrabba’s…road trip!] Chuck E. Cheese is ‘worst’ in
two of the four regions.
–For you viewers of “Deadwood,” here is a bit from Al
Swearengen’s closing monologue of last Sunday.
“Tonight throughout Deadwood, heads may be laid to pillows,
assuaged and reassured, for that purveyor for profit of everything
sordid and vicious, Al Swearengen, already beaten to a fare-thee-
well earlier in the day by sheriff Bullock, has returned to the
sheriff the implements and ornaments of his office. Without the
tawdry walls of the saloon The Gem, decent citizens may pursue
with a new and jaunty freedom all aspects of Christian commerce
….
“A full fairmindedness also requires us to report that within The
Gem, on Deadwood’s main thoroughfare, comely whores,
decently priced liquor and the squarest games of chance in the
hills remain unabatedly available at all hours, seven days a
week.”
–Follow-up to my bit last time on appearance fees on the PGA
Tour, or at least the perception of them. Mark Steinberg of IMG
said the recent outing preceding the Doral Open where IMG
clients Singh, Garcia, Harrington and Goosen were paid an
estimated $150,000 a piece to participate, “was not pay-for-
play.” It wasn’t? During the upcoming Players Championship,
PGA Commissioner Tim Finchem will be meeting with tour
members on the issue.
–I forgot to add this last time. Any fan of golf has to like Ernie
Els, and Els, Nick Price and Darren Clarke would probably be
my favorites to quaff an ale or two with if given the chance. But
here’s another reason to love Ernie.
Els had booked a first-class flight from Johannesburg, South
Africa, to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. According to
GolfWorld, “Unfortunately, his check-in time coincided with the
end of a big rugby match. Not surprisingly, the sports-mad Els
opted for rugby. He watched his game, allotting a half-hour to
get to his gate, but when he went to check in, it was closed. Here
is Ernie’s own account of what followed.
“The flight was full and they had given my seat away, so I
swapped seats with my brother’s friend. I took his seat and he
flew first class the next day. I flew in the back of the bus – and I
was in the middle row.”
GolfWorld: “Imagine the looks on the faces of other passengers
when one of South Africa’s top sportsmen joined them at the
back of the plane to take his seat in 32-F – a middle seat, mind
you….
“Els was offered first-class service, but he asked if everyone else
around him was going to get the same. When the flight attendant
said no, Els refused the special treatment. ‘Everyone gave him a
cheer for what he did,’ said fellow passenger Roland Martin. ‘I
thought he had fallen on hard times when he walked in.’”
–Danny Joe Brown, the lead singer of the Southern rock band
Molly Hatchet, died at the age of 53 from complications of
diabetes. Molly Hatchet was big when I was in school down in
North Carolina, though I can’t say I was a huge Hatchet fan,
favoring Marshall Tucker and the Allman Brothers instead.
But what I didn’t know was the derivation of the band’s moniker.
Molly Hatchet was named after a Southern prostitute who was
said to have beheaded and mutilated her clients. Yikes! That’ll
teach ‘em.
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….hey, these guys were pretty
good!)
NCAA Men’s Basketball Quiz Answers: 1) Five with 20 or
more NBA 1st-round draft picks: North Carolina (31), UCLA
(27), Duke (25), Kentucky (23), Michigan (20). [Kansas and
Notre Dame each have 19; Indiana and Louisville 18. Kind of
surprised by the ND figure.] 2) Most NCAA infractions:
Cincinnati with 5; Kansas, Kentucky, and North Carolina State
have 4. 3) Reggie Lewis is the all-time scorer at Northeastern.
4) The New York Knicks’ Allan Houston is the second all-time
leading scorer in SEC history behind Pistol Pete, Houston having
wracked up 2,801 points while playing at Tennessee.
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday.
*Less than three weeks to Opening Day! But my Metsies have a
major problem already in losing pitcher Steve Trachsel for
probably the entire season with a back problem. This has thrown
us Mets fans into a deep depression. I ask that you include us in
your thoughts and prayers.
