Green Bay Packers Quiz: 1) Who were the first three coaches to
replace Vince Lombardi following the Pack’s 1967 Super Bowl
season? 2) Passing yards, season? 3) Receptions, career?
Indianapolis Colts Quiz (including Baltimore years): 1) TDs,
career? 2) Interceptions, career? 3) Who was coach from 1954-
62 and how many NFL titles did he win?
Answers below.
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (Canada)
So your intrepid editor was up on PEI this past weekend, running
in a half marathon. And thanks to the Web, I can’t hide my
result….just google ‘Prince Edward Island Marathon’ and you’ll
eventually see my name. Then again, I never sign this column so
some of you might be thinking, ‘how do I look it up if I don’t
know who you are?’ Let’s just say I was around 220th out of
413, if I read it correctly. I ran the event in 2:05, a lousy time,
but hey, I was 4th among all U.S. runners! [Out of, ahem, 7.]
For those of you who are into these things, just understand my
top training run was all of 7 miles and I had another of 6 plus a
bunch of 4s and 5s as preparation. So at least I’m able to sit up
and write you guys. My buddy Pete and I hated the way the
course ended up, with five miles up and down hills, into the
wind, but you take the good with the bad.
And as for the good, Charlottetown is a great spot to have some
fun. Super restaurants, cool bars, and just about the friendliest
people I’ve ever come across in my travels. On Saturday, we
sought out a few spots to watch all the great college football
games, particularly USC – Notre Dame, and it certainly doesn’t
get any better than that one. [Our thanks to the bar staff for
being so accommodating at St. James Gate, Dooley’s, and
Gahans.]
Overall, we now have seven undefeateds left, all ranked in the
top ten, after Michigan’s defeat of Penn State and Virginia’s
upset of Florida State.
AP Top Ten
1. USC…6-0
2. Texas…6-0
3. Va. Tech…6-0
4. Georgia…6-0
5. Alabama…6-0
6. Miami…5-1
7. LSU…4-1
8. UCLA…6-0
9. Notre Dame…4-2
10. Texas Tech…6-0
Bottom line, you still have the potential for at least four
undefeateds going into the BCS games.
And speaking of the BCS, its first poll was just released the other
day.
1. USC
2. Texas
3. Va. Tech
4. Georgia
5. Alabama
6. LSU
7. Texas Tech
8. Miami
9. UCLA
10. Penn State
But this weekend was also just as much about the spectacular
comeback on the betting front for yours truly. Who cares Penn
State lost, 27-25? They covered!
And who cares my Demon Deacons lost in pitiful fashion, 35-30,
to Boston College. They covered!
As for the TCU / Army game, TCU won 38-21, but the spread
was 23 so I lost that one.
Nonetheless I’m now at 2-3 on the season and I’m assuming all
the kids out there profited handsomely on the heels of my 2-1
Saturday.
Now for my next act….this weekend we have three more “Locks
of the Week”….
Texas Tech…getting 15 ½…vs. Texas. Intriguing match-up, to
say the least.
Virginia…getting 1…vs. North Carolina.
Michigan…getting 3…vs. Iowa.
OK, kids. Remember…bet with your head, not over it. And
always ask for your parents permission before raiding the money
market account.
Oct. 21, 1805
It hasn’t been a great year for France, what with Paris’ loss to
London in its bid for the 2012 Olympics and a months-long
celebration of the 200th anniversary of Lord Nelson’s huge
victory at Trafalgar. There, off Spain’s coast, Nelson’s
outnumbered vessels destroyed Napoleons navy and his plans to
invade England. The French suffered 6,000 casualties while
1,700 British seamen were killed or wounded, including Nelson,
who famously said “I have done my duty.”
In a piece for Smithsonian magazine, Michael Ryan writes:
“Only Wellington and Churchill rival Nelson’s stature in British
history. If Wellington, at Waterloo, forever thwarted Napoleon’s
ambition to rule Europe, it was Nelson who destroyed the French
emperor’s sea power and ended his plan to conquer England.
Few military figures of the modern age – perhaps George Patton
is one – have been simultaneously as reckless and brilliant….
“(At the Battle of the Nile in 1798) Nelson’s scouts discovered
the French fleet – commanded by Napoleon’s chief admiral… –
anchored (near) Alexandria, Egypt…Nelson slipped his warships
between the enemy and shore, safe from Napoleon’s cannons,
which faced the open sea. ‘In the rapidly falling darkness,
confusion seized their fleet,’ Churchill wrote in his ‘History of
the English Speaking People.’ ‘Relentlessly the English
ships…battered the enemy van, passing from one disabled foe to
the next down the line.’ …
Later, Nelson would gloat to his crew: “It must strike forcibly
every British Seaman, how superior their conduct is, when in
discipline and good order, to the riotous behavior of lawless
Frenchmen.”
The Battle of the Nile made Nelson a national hero, but Trafalgar
turned him into a deity. Michael Ryan:
“That day in 1805, Nelson attacked the combined French and
Spanish fleets off Cape Trafalgar, between Gibraltar and Cadiz,
Spain; in a totally unorthodox maneuver, he split his ships into
two parallel lines and sailed them straight at the enemy, cutting it
in half. By late afternoon, Napoleon’s navy had been
vanquished, though Nelson, struck by a musket ball, would
himself expire just hours after the battle began. Every English
schoolchild since has learned the story of Nelson’s collapse on
his vessel’s bloodstained quarterdeck and his dying request to Lt.
Thomas Hardy: ‘Take care of my dear Lady Hamilton, Hardy;
take care of poor Lady Hamilton.”
[His very last words were a bit more delirious… “Kiss me,
Hardy” …so legend has it.]
Lady Hamilton? What about Frances, “Fanny,” Nelson, Horatio
Nelson’s wife? Well, let’s face it. Lord Nelson was a helluva
war hero, but also a true dirtball. Emma, “Lady Hamilton,” was
the wife of one of his close friends, Sir William Hamilton.
Granted, Emma was rather fetching, as you can see in paintings
of her by famous portrait artists George Romney and Joshua
Reynolds.
As for Napoleon, he didn’t just pack up his toys and fade away.
Six weeks later, Dec. 2, 1805, Napoleon won his greatest victory
at Austerlitz, defeating the combined armies of Austria and
Russia. Heck, we may have to look at that one down the road.
[By the way, Lord Nelson lost his arm in 1797 in another defeat
of the French fleet at Tenerife, in case that was a faint memory of
yours.]
–Just a follow-up on the golf front. Jerry Smith, the Nationwide
fellow I wrote of last time finished tied for 2nd this past weekend
and is now #14 on the money list. With just two events to go, he
appears to be safe in his bid to finish in the top 20 and get his
PGA Tour card for 2006. Great story. But Bill Haas, who didn’t
play for some reason, is suddenly back to #21 on the Nationwide
list. Uh oh.
–While Michelle Wie captured the headlines for her goof this
past weekend, two weeks ago LPGA rookie Paula Creamer was
faced with the following.
“Hours after she had completed the final two holes of the delayed
Office Depot Championship, (Creamer) realized she may have
committed a rules infraction. Creamer was discussing how
hectic her morning was with her parents and TaylorMade
president Mark King when she remembered that she had replaced
her 3-wood with a 5-iron before heading to the practice range
(Creamer only had a par 3 and par 4 remaining, and knew she
wouldn’t need the 3-wood).
“Creamer immediately called LPGA officials, who told her that
the tournament was over but that they’d need more time to make
a final judgment. The LPGA then called the U.S. Golf
Association, which deemed Creamer to be disqualified.”
Creamer forfeited $11,859 she would have been entitled to for
her 23rd place finish.
[GolfWeek]
–Back to Wie, I saw her drop in Saturday’s tournament and it
looked kind of casual but of course I thought nothing of it.
However, Sports Illustrated’s Michael Bamberger turned Wie in
on Sunday after approaching LPGA officials on the placement of
her ball, which Bamberger claimed was closer to the hole.
So when Wie finished her final round, Michelle and her caddie
were summoned for a little get together with the officials and
taken back to the scene of Saturday’s shot. Using some string, it
was determined Wie had dropped the ball about 12 to 18 inches
closer to the hole, a two-stroke penalty. Because she had then
signed an incorrect scorecard for her third round, that meant
immediate disqualification.
Afterwards, Wie insisted she thought the ball wasn’t closer but
she had to accept the ruling.
Bamberger said he confronted Wie after her round on Saturday
and that she told him “It was not on the borderline.”
Bamberger told reporters on Sunday, “I just felt she was hasty.
She wasn’t trying to cheat. I was unsure of the right thing to do,
but the more I thought about it, the more I’d be upset with myself
if I didn’t say anything.”
–East Stroudsburg’s Jimmy Terwilliger extended his record
streak for consecutive games with one touchdown pass, now 30,
as he tossed three in ESU’s 42-14 trouncing of Kutztown.
–NBA players must now conform to a new dress code when they
are engaged in team or league business.
Proper attire: A long or shot-sleeved dress shirt (collared or
turtleneck) and / or a sweater. Sport coat (on bench, in stands),
dress slacks, khaki pants, or dress jeans.
No sneakers, sandals, flip-flops or work boots.
Also, no sports apparel and no chains, pendants, or medallions
worn over the player’s clothes, and no sunglasses while indoors.
–The New York Knicks’ Allan Houston was forced to retire due
to knee problems. Houston has been a whipping boy in these
pages because of his $100 million, six-year contract that still has
two years and $40 million remaining. Granted, Houston was a
class act and it’s not his fault his agent worked out such a
sweetheart deal with the idiots who run the Knicks, but he was
far from a superstar. At least New York saves about $24 million
through a complicated insurance policy, along with substantial
salary cap savings in the future.
–I’m hopping on the Chicago White Sox bandwagon. Why not?
Good food, drink…Chicagoans like to have a good time.
–The Angels’ Vladimir Guerrero was one for 20, .050, against
Chicago. Only twice did he hit the ball out of the infield. In the
five games, Los Angeles as a team hit .175.
–No, I wasn’t able to stay awake to watch Albert Pujols’ heroics
Monday night.
–Back to the USC – Notre Dame contest, in the Trojans’ locker
room afterwards, Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis walked in on
the celebration.
“ ‘Hey, fellas…’ he began. Trojans players yelled at teammates
to pay attention, and the room became silent. ‘I just want to wish
you guys luck,’ Weis said. ‘That was a hard-fought battle. I
hope you win out.’”
[Malcolm Moran / USA Today]
Just another example of why Weis could be our Bar Chat “Man
of the Year.”
–Qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup
Costa Rica, Mexico, United States
Croatia, France, England, Germany (host), Italy, Netherlands,
Poland, Portugal, Serbia-Montenegro, Sweden, Ukraine
Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay
Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea
Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Tunisia
*Five other slots will be awarded to fill the 32-team field after
home-and-home playoff series between Trinidad and Tobago /
Bahrain, Uruguay / Australia, and match-ups between Czech
Republic, Turkey, Slovakia, Switzerland, Spain and Norway.
Notice how Ireland’s name is missing. The people there are
ticked off big time.
–Ken’s bike adventure, continued…
[I forgot to note at the start, that Ken S. is riding a 2000 BMW
R1100R, what’s known as a “naked” bike because it doesn’t
have all the junk they hang on bikes these day, as Ken put it.]
When last we caught up with Ken, Kris and Kyle, they had had a
dreadful time of it in New Jersey.
Day 8: June 12. Carlstadt, NJ through Manhattan and back to
Carlstadt, NJ, Patterson Plank Road to NJ17 to I-80 to I-95 to
Manhattan streets to Lincoln Tunnel to NJ495 to NJ120 to
Patterson Plank Road, 90 miles. We met for late breakfast and
discussed again how we were going to cut back what we are
going to do in Manhattan. We agreed to stay together and, if we
got separated, we wouldn’t wander all over New York City
looking for each other, but would meet back at the motel. We
left at 10:30 a.m., fueled up a mile from the motel, crossed the
Hudson River at the George Washington Bridge on the top level.
We missed the turn onto southbound Henry Hudson Parkway and
detoured into the area east and south of the bridge. We finally
found the Parkway and headed south. It was a hot (95 degrees)
day and humid. A lot of bicyclists were on the Parkway, but
little traffic (it was Sunday). It was a nice ride down to 110th
Street, which goes east across the north edge of Central Park.
We turned south on Fifth Avenue, which is the east boundary of
Central Park. There were police all over and lots of squad cars.
Traffic started to get very heavy. At about 86th Street, Fifth
Avenue was closed for a parade and we turned east. We rode
over to Park Avenue and turned south, again. Taxicabs would
butt us off constantly, but we soon learned to cut through traffic
like everybody else. We took Park Avenue down to 35th Street,
turned back west to a parking garage I had looked up on the
Internet last winter, which was 1 block north of the Empire State
Building. We went up to the 86th floor observation deck. It’s
hard to believe that the Empire State Building was built in about
18 months from the time they began demolition of the original
Waldorf Astoria Hotel, on the site, until the dedication. We left
the Empire State Building at 2:00 p.m., rode south on Fifth
Avenue to Washington Square and around it west and south to
lower Manhattan. We found a parking space, after much riding
around, dodging pot holes and traffic. We then walked to
“Ground Zero” and St. Paul’s Church. They have a subway
station rebuilt at “Ground Zero,” so little can be seen now. St.
Paul’s Church is very old and George Washington went to
church there when he was president. We left at 4:30 and rode
back to New Jersey through the Lincoln Tunnel. We only got
lost once! We arrived back at the motel at 5:30. Later in the
evening, Kyle and Kris rode to a local White Castle. Today was
hard riding with all the traffic and bad roads, but fun.
Day 9: Monday, June 13: Carlstadt, NJ to Braintree, MA,
Patterson Plank Road to NJ17 to I-80/95 to US9W to NY218 to
US9W to US6 to I-84 to CT34 to I-95 to I-195 to MA28 to US6
to MA3 to MA3A to MA3, 361 miles. We started at 8:00 a.m.,
hazy, humid, 78 degrees. We rode to West Point Military
Academy in New York by way of Palisades Parkway. The
Parkway is very nice with woods and small communities along
the way. I had checked the Internet last winter and found that the
first tour of West Point was at 10:00. We arrived at 9:40 and
found that the web site was wrong and the first tour leaves at
9:45. We missed it. We took the one hour tour at 10:30, which
takes you around the Academy and to the Chapel. We saw the
statue of George Patton. He graduated close to the bottom of his
class and said it was because he couldn’t find the library. His
statue stands just outside the library and faces it. This way he
will always be able to find it. We left West Point at 11:30 a.m.,
stopped for lunch at a great little restaurant by the Housatonic
River on US34 near Derby, CT, at 2:00. We rode through
Connecticut, Rhode Island and into Massachusetts. Lots of
traffic, but good roads, fun riding. By 7:00 p.m. it had gotten
cooler as we were next to the Atlantic Ocean by Cape Cod Bay.
We stopped at Plymouth, MA and saw Plymouth Rock. Arrived
at the motel in Braintree, MA at 8:45 p.m. It was hot, humid and
we were all tired after riding 13 hours.
[Next time we’ll finally get into Canada.]
–Here’s a note from the Times of London, as reported by Nicola
Woolcock.
“When residents in a block of flats saw a 10-foot boa constrictor
slithering from their lavatory bowls, their claims were treated
with skepticism.
“They resorted to placing bricks on lavatory lids after the snake
put in several surprise appearances.”
Turns out “Keith” was finally captured following a night-time
confrontation in a flat-owner’s bathroom. Keith had been living
in the sewage pipes after his owner evidently abandoned him
when the fellow was evicted for owing back rent.
“The possibility that the snake was left on purpose in revenge for
the eviction has not been ruled out.”
An animal control expert commented, “The snake appears to
have been living quite happily in the sewage system of the flats.
It would have no problem traveling up and down the waste pipe
and has probably been eating rats from the sewer.”
Kind of puts new meaning into the term “scared ——–,” doesn’t
it?
–It seems about a year ago that I wrote of the plight of jockeys in
the horse racing business following the cancellation of their
catastrophic medical coverage after the Jockeys’ Guild let it
expire.
The current issue of Business Week has a piece on the topic and
considering the number of serious injuries that befall jockeys, it’s
tragic how so many of them are ending up destitute. One fellow,
Gary Birzer, suffered a spinal cord injury at West Virginia’s
Mountaineer Race Track last July and has medical bills now
exceeding $800,000.
Jockeys are demanding excess coverage from various tracks and
lawsuits are flying over the guild’s mismanagement. For its part,
the guild blames track owners.
But here are some stats on jockeys, courtesy of BW’s John
Carey.
Despite the high-profile stars you read about, the average jockey
earns $35,000 per year.
They race in hazardous conditions, from exercising in the dark to
racing in storms.
Only five states have workers’ compensation.
There are no uniform safety standards for tracks.
Jockeys average a 60% chance of injury each year.
Classified as independent contractors, they can’t bring
grievances to the National Labor Relations Board.
Top 3 songs for the week of 10/15/77: #1 “You Light Up My
Life” (Debby Boone) #2 “Keep It Comin’ Love” (K.C. & The
Sunshine Band) #3 “Nobody Does It Better” (Carly Simon)…
and…#5 “Star Wars Theme” (Meco…AGHHHH!) #6 “Boogie
Nights” (Heatwave) #9 “I Feel Love” (Donna Summer…ooh,
baby….)
Green Bay Packers Quiz Answers: 1) Coaches who followed
Vince Lombardi…Phil Bengston, 1968-70; Dan Devine, 1971-
74; Bart Starr, 1975-83. [All three had just one season over .500]
2) Passing yards, season: Lynn Dickey…4,458…1983. 3)
Receptions, career: Sterling Sharpe, 595…1988-94.
Indianapolis Colts Quiz Answers: 1) TDs, career: Lenny Moore,
113…1956-67. 2) Interceptions, career: Bob Boyd, 57…1960-
68. 3) Weeb Ewbank coached Baltimore from 1954-62, winning
titles in 1958-59. He was replaced by Don Shula, who was
something like 14 back then.
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday….back on my regular schedule.
