Baseball Quiz: Walter Johnson is the all-time leader in shutouts
with 110, followed by Grover Alexander, Christy Mathewson,
Cy Young and Eddie Plank, all from the pre-modern era. But the
next five on the list, #s 6-10, finished up their careers after 1960.
Name them. Answer below.
NCAA Tournament
Bucknell 64…Kansas 63
Vermont 60…Syracuse 57 (OT)
Wisc.-Milw. 83…Boston College 75
West Virginia 111…Wake Forest 105 (2 OT)
Before we get to the issue of the not so Demon Deacons, let’s
review a few things.
Last chat friend Allen H., a Bucknell grad, regaled us with the
tale of his fraternity’s bison mascot (courtesy of his old man).
Allen said “In 1973, I was a sophomore at Bucknell (which
Kansas better watch out for in the NCAAs, by the way)…”
Allen, for this stunning call you receive the home version of Bar
Chat (once we’ve developed it) and whatever is behind the
curtain that Carol Merrill is standing in front of. [I believe it is a
Kenmore washer/dryer, but don’t quote me on that.]
Yes, the Bucknell contest, coupled with Vermont’s stunning win
represented the best this tourney, and sport, has to offer. Great,
great stuff.
Of course we also have to reexamine some of my earlier
comments on the NCAAs. For starters I said the “only potential
1st-round upset (#13-#16) was Penn over Boston College.” Doh!
The only other game I really went out on a limb on was New
Mexico defeating Villanova. Doh!
For the record, #14 Bucknell’s victory was the 1st for a seed this
low since Weber State beat North Carolina in 1999.
And then there’s Wake Forest. Allow me, as editor and Wake
alum, to ramble incoherently for a moment. Like all Deacon fans
I’m still in a state of shock.
Growing up in New Jersey in the 1970s, when it came time to
select colleges for a variety of reasons I wanted a “small,
southern school with a big time sports program.” Wake met
these requirements. When I was there the undergraduate
enrollment was around 3,500 and while the football team sucked
(except for 1979) it was all about basketball and camping out for
tickets to the big games. My freshman year we made it to the
regional finals, losing to eventual national champion Marquette.
And with the exception of a horrid stretch in the late ‘80s, the
program has generally been in great shape and more often than
not we’ve appeared in the NCAAs. Coach Skip Prosser and
before him Dave Odom put the school on the map.
But when it comes to crunch time and the Big Dance, we have
been a miserable failure. Armed with the best big man the
college game has produced over the last 20 years, Tim Duncan,
we couldn’t get to the Final Four. More often than not Sweet
Sixteen is as far as we’ve gone.
Such was the case last year when we lost to St. Joseph’s in the
regional semis, but as I wrote then the attitude was different. We
weren’t Final Four material in ’04, but we had every starter
coming back including Player of the Year candidate Chris Paul.
So Wake fans have been chomping at the bit ever since the
season started and the team fulfilled our regular season
expectations. Maybe we should have been a #1 seed, but I
couldn’t complain one bit at our bracket as a 2 when this year’s
tournament began.
But then I also told you last week I was scared to death of the
second-round game because we have a history of stumbling at
this juncture. Sure enough, we were done in on Saturday night.
Folks, with the exception of the 1973 Mets losing in the World
Series, I can’t recall being anywhere near as depressed as I am
right now. As I’ve gotten older, like all sports fans I’ve
mellowed but I also recognized that we’ll probably never have as
good a shot as we had this year to get to the Final Four.
Simply put, we choked. When two players, Eric Williams and
Jamaal Levy, combine to go 3 of 12 from the foul line (in
regulation), it’s no mystery why we let this one slip away.
And can anyone play defense at Wake? For crying out loud, we
gave up 84 points in the last 30 minutes! 34 in the two
overtimes…10 minutes. I mean in OT we were giving up points
at a 136 points per game clip! [When I was a senior, we once
lost a game to North Carolina State 130-70…and you can look it
up.]
I got a kick out of all the commentators who picked Wake for the
Final Four this year because what scared the heck out of us fans
is the fact we haven’t been to one since 1962. Unlike Duke,
UConn, or North Carolina, there is no past history of success.
20-win seasons? Yes. Final Fours? No.
And so now we wait until next year, but unlike this past one my
enthusiasm level is at an all-time low. No doubt Chris Paul will
be back, along with a solid supporting cast and some intriguing
recruits, but it’s time for my school to step up, dammit! I’m sick
of this crap. You know, a few years back our baseball team had
a great run, consistently ranked in the top ten in the country, but
we could never get out of the first round of the College World
Series. It’s basically the same thing with the hoops team. It’s
enough to make a grown man cry.
Thanks for letting me vent, and you can be sure of one thing next
season. No freakin’ way am I picking my not so Demon
Deacons. Support ‘em? Hell yeah. Bet money on them? Never
in a million years.
—
One thing that is so special about the NCAA tournament is just
observing which players step up and which don’t. Hats off to
West Virginia’s Mike Gansey, for example.
And a random musing about Cincinnati’s Jihad Muhammad.
Change your name. You’re an idiot.
Well, let’s see. My Final Four was Wake, Syracuse, UConn and
Illinois with Wake beating the ‘Cuse. Never mind.
Johnny Mac has Oklahoma State, North Carolina, Michigan
State and Wake; OSU over UNC. Johnny always kicks my butt
in these deals.
Stuff
–Here I am all down in the dumps, but what’s this? A shark
attack! Turns out that off the west coast of Australia, north of
Perth, a 26-year-old scuba diver, Geoffrey Brazier, was
snorkeling with tourists when he was swallowed up by a 20-foot
Great White. As of this writing his body has not been recovered.
You know, sports fans, this is the 4th fatal shark attack in Aussie
waters just since last July!
And then we have the situation here in New Jersey where a black
bear, estimated to be 500 pounds, killed a 250-pound pony the
other day. It was the first horse to meet such an untimely end in
my state. Said a wildlife official, “It’s a classic bear kill, which
is breaking the neck and dragging (an animal) off into the
woods.” [Just reminding myself when I go out to get the
morning paper.]
The bear had crawled under an electrified fence and then over
another one to find the horse and it even returned to the scene of
the crime the next day, eluding a trap that had been set up.
Yes, the Animal Kingdom is clearly a lot more active in just
these last few weeks. But I can’t tell if the big assault is coming,
seeing as the leadership structure still appears to be wanting.
–Boy, the news on New England Patriots linebacker Tedy
Bruschi didn’t get any better following his stroke about a month
ago. Bruschi is to have open heart surgery to repair a hole in his
heart, according to a few press reports.
–Effective April 1, it will cost you $425 to play Pebble Beach.
–The New York Daily News’ Mike Lupica on the Yankees’
Jason Giambi and the incredible hypocrisy of some fans.
“Twenty minutes ago, Giambi was nearly run out of town for
being a no-good liar cheat, one who did exactly what (Jose)
Canseco brags about doing in his book, minus the alleged
injections into Mark McGwire. Old news. Now the poor guy
has suffered enough, even though his steroid sins haven’t cost
him a dime, or a day of work with the Yankees. Wonderful….
“When it looked as if there was a chance that the Yankees might
get out of Giambi’s contract, their executives were on the phone
with the commissioner’s office, seeing if there was any way in
this world they could get out of the $82 billion they still owe
him. Now he is their guy. If he hits the way he used to, they’ll
probably be selling bobblehead dolls by the first home stand in
June.
“A few months ago, when Giambi’s Yankee career seemed to be
in peril, Giambi’s lifestyle was on the table, late nights and
partying and all of the rest of it suddenly in the newspaper.
“Gone now. Like the original outrage about what he did, and
how he lied about it.
“ ‘You guys know me,’ Giambi says.
“That’s what Kobe said back at the beginning. Giambi
apparently told the truth in front of the grand jury. Then last
spring Giambi lied through his teeth about steroids. Now,
because of this ongoing act of contrition about what he can’t say
he did, he’s suddenly on his way to winning a People’s Choice
Award.
“McGwire, of course, can’t hit his way out of this, or get
redemption no matter what he put into his body. But somehow
McGwire, whatever happens in front of Congress, really needs to
figure out a way to get to where Giambi is, where you get called
a stand-up guy for allegedly having done everything we hate.”
–Start praying, baseball fans. Barry Bonds came back too
quickly from his January 31 knee surgery and is having a second
operation that will keep him out of the Opening Day lineup. Jeff
B. said it would really be a shame if the surgeon accidentally
took the whole leg off. I’m thinking this is a new curse of the
Bambino, Bonds being just 11 homers shy of the Babe. We
wish Barry a terrible recovery.
But, get this. There are reports that Bonds had a 10-year
relationship with a woman, Kimberly Bell, and she’s talking; not
just about Barry’s steroid use but also possible money laundering
and tax evasion related to his sale of memorabilia. The Feds are
accumulating the goods…starting with a perjury charge. Oh
baby, it doesn’t get any better than this.
–San Antonio Spurs star Tony Parker is linked to Eva Longoria!
–So I’m at my Lions Club meeting the other night and, as usual,
talk between Bob S. and I turned to beer. Bob is trying to get me
to switch from Coors Light to Miller Lite. [Of course if I have a
good week on my investments, I buy premium lager.] Well, it
turns out Bob might be on to something, seeing as I later saw that
Miller Lite’s sales were up a whopping 10.5% in 2004.
–Attention single girls looking to marry Richie Rich in New
York City. The Daily News listed the following hot spots.
Frederick’s…8 W. 58th St.
The Bull & Bear…301 Park Ave.
Marquee…289 10th Ave.
Ulysses…58 Stone Street
Don Hill’s…511 Greenwich St.
Hotel Gansevoort Bar…18 Ninth Ave.
–Karl Malone, who recently retired from the NBA, has donated
over $330,000 to his alma mater, Louisiana Tech, for its weight
room. Good guy.
–The Washington Nationals have already sold over 1.8 million
tickets, despite the fact they’ll be playing in dilapidated RFK
Stadium until a permanent facility is built.
–Interesting tidbit in GolfWorld on how top European players
have fared on the PGA Tour. Not very well, as it turns out.
[Through last week’s Honda Classic.]
Colin Montgomerie…0 wins…109 starts
Darren Clarke…2…84
Bernhard Langer…3…245
Padraig Harrington…1…63
Lee Westwood…1…70
Ian Woosnam…2…109
Jose Maria Olazabal…6…168
Miguel Angel Jimenez…0…78
Thomas Bjorn…0…61
Nick Faldo…9…288
Paul McGinley…0…36
Sergio Garcia…5…104
–At the Honda Classic, NBC said it had to censor coverage of
golfer Pat Perez who was near the top of the leaderboard. I was
wondering what the hothead Perez was doing but it turns out he
was making obscene gestures to his golf ball. Perez thus
becomes a “Jerk of the Year” candidate.
–David Duval shot 85-79 at Bay Hill. It’s time for him to put his
comeback attempt on the shelf. Nothing’s working. But 44-
year-old Kenny Perry scored his 8th career title. These 40-
somethings have put on quite a show the past two years in
particular.
[Memo to friend Todd B. You can still be part of the fun, my
man.]
–Congratulations to Russia’s Irina Slutskaya who won the World
Figure Skating championship in Moscow despite a debilitating
heart condition. From what I read it was a courageous
performance. Sasha Cohen was second.
–NASCAR has a new star, 25-year-old Carl Edwards who out-
dueled Jimmie Johnson in Atlanta this week for his 1st title.
–We note the passing of the great relief pitcher Dick “the
Monster” Radatz. Last July I wrote of his two terrific seasons for
the Boston Red Sox even as the team finished solidly under .500.
1963…15-6, 25 saves…132 IP, 94 H, 162 Ks, 1.97 ERA [76-85]
1964…16-9, 29 saves…157 IP, 103 H, 181 Ks, 2.29 ERA
[72-90]
His 181 Ks in ’64 still qualifies as the most strikeouts in history
for a reliever.
Johnny Mac writes that “his reputation was made in a game
against the Yankees in 1963. With Boston up one in the ninth,
New York loaded the bases with no one out. Radatz came into
the game and proceeded to strike out Mantle, Maris and Elston
Howard on ten pitches. He owned the Mick, fanning him 44
times in 63 at-bats. Mickey was often heard muttering
‘Goddamn f’n monster.’ And so a nickname was born. Once,
Radatz came into back-to-back games that were tied late. In the
first he went six innings, striking out ten. The next day he went
8 2/3, fanning 11. 14 2/3 scoreless innings, 5 hits, 2 walks and
21 Ks.” Now that’s a man, sports fans.
–Interesting piece in Sunday’s Los Angeles Times by Scott
Gold. It would appear that the bordello behind the song “House
of the Rising Sun” has actually been discovered in New Orleans.
The tune originated in the Appalachians some 100 years ago and
in the 1940s Woody Guthrie popularized it before Eric Burdon
and the Animals came along to make it a 1964 chart topper.
But here’s the deal. The Historic New Orleans Collection
needed to find some more space to house its archives and so it
purchased a rundown parking garage in the French Quarter.
What happened next could only have occurred because of who
acquired it. The group decided to excavate first to learn more of
the origins of the building and they found clear evidence that it
had been a bordello, dating back to the early 1800s, and this
hotel was called the Rising Sun. While this was a popular name
back then, the physical evidence is irrefutable. This was the real
deal. “It was total luck,” said one archeologist.
Eric Burdon himself was asked about the find and he had the
following comment on both the song and New Orleans, a place
he is still very fond of.
“I like to call New Orleans the cradle of the best of the worst.
The place is reeking of death. It is as dark a town as it is light.
The song is a musical icon, handed down from generation to
generation. It never seems to go away, and it’s become a great
mystery. It’s cool.”
–Last Thursday’s Wall Street Journal had a funny piece on how
yelling “Freebird” at concerts has become so commonplace and
how most rock musicians absolutely detest it when a fan screams
it at their shows. Oh, when I was a younger lad I plead guilty to
doing this. It was certainly popular at Wake Forest, “Freebird”
having been part of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s 1976 live album “One
More From the Road.” Ronnie Van Zant, who would die a year
later in a plane crash, asks the crowd, “What song is it you want
to hear?” “Freebird!” I hope I’m not the only one cracking up at
the memories this brings back.
Top 3 songs for the week of 3/24/79: #1 “Tragedy” (Bee Gees)
#2 “I Will Survive” (Gloria Gaynor) #3 “What A Fool Believes”
(The Doobie Brothers)
Baseball Quiz Answer: Career shutouts –
6. Warren Spahn, 63 (last season 1965)
7. Tom Seaver (1986) and Nolan Ryan (1993), 61
9. Bert Blyleven (1992), 60
10. Don Sutton (1988), 58
Of course these days shutouts are rare with the heavy use of
‘closers.’ The top three on the active list are Roger Clemens
(46), Randy Johnson (37), and Greg Maddux (35).
Next Bar Chat, Thursday. Does the editor’s depression lighten
up, or will it be doom and gloom for the balance of the year?
