NBA Quiz: 1) Name the four active players with career scoring
averages over 23.0. [Min. 400 games or 10,000 points.] 2)
Short-term memory check. Name the four North Carolina
players to be selected in the first 14 picks of the 2005 draft. 3)
What team had the lowest average home attendance last season?
4) What team had the highest home attendance? 5) Who was the
biggest draw on the road? Answers below.
Bonus Question: 35 years ago, who was named the first director
of the Environmental Protection Agency? Answer below.
College Football Tidbits
I have this terrific book “Fifty Years of College Football,”
authored by Bob Boyles and Paul Guido, and I thought we’d
look at some of their opinions.
For example: Based on excitement and the stakes at hand, the
following are their choices for the greatest games of the last 50
years. [Chronologically]
Rose Bowl (Jan. 2, 1956): Michigan State 17 UCLA 14
November 10, 1956: Tennessee 6 Georgia Tech 0
October 15, 1960: Baylor 14 Texas Tech 7
Rose Bowl (Jan. 1, 1963): Southern Cal 42 Wisconsin 37
Orange Bowl (Jan. 1, 1965): Texas 21 Alabama 17
Rose Bowl (Jan. 1, 1966): UCLA 14 Michigan State 12
November 19, 1966: Michigan State 10 Notre Dame 10
Orange Bowl (Jan. 1, 1969): Penn State 15 Kansas 14
November 25, 1971: Nebraska 35 Oklahoma 31
Sugar Bowl (Dec. 31, 1973): Notre Dame 24 Alabama 23
November 30, 1974: Southern Cal 55 Notre Dame 24
November 20, 1982: California 25 Stanford 20
Orange Bowl (Jan. 1, 1984): Miami 31 Nebraska 30
November 30, 1985: Alabama 25 Auburn 23
November 3, 1990: Georgia Tech 41 Virginia 38
Orange Bowl (Jan. 1, 1994): Florida St. 18 Nebraska 16
August 26, 1995: Michigan 18 Virginia 17
Rose Bowl (Jan. 1, 1997): Ohio State 20 Arizona State 17
November 14, 1998: Tennessee 28 Arkansas 24
Fiesta Bowl (Jan. 3, 2003): Ohio State 31 Miami 24, 2 OT
Greatest Teams Ever, since 1955 [Again, the opinion of the
authors.]
1. Nebraska 1971
2. Oklahoma 1956
3. Nebraska 1995
4. Alabama 1978
5. Miami 1987
6. Southern California 2003
7. Georgia 1980
8. Miami 2001
9. Notre Dame 1966
10. Penn State 1986
[My favorite team, Pittsburgh 1976, was ranked 12.]
1971 Cornhuskers
Coach Bob Devaney’s 13-0 Nebraska squad defeated Oklahoma
(11-1), Colorado (10-2), and Alabama (11-1); with the three
finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the AP post-bowl poll.
Thanksgiving Day 1971 will always be remembered in the annals
of the sport of college football. #1 Nebraska invaded Norman to
play #2 Oklahoma. The Sooners averaged a record 566 yards per
game and were led by running backs Greg Pruitt and Joe Wylie.
Pruitt and Wylie were neutralized by Cornhusker linemen Willie
Harper, John Adkins, and Rich Glover (22 tackles!) but
Oklahoma quarterback Jack Mildren picked up the slack and
produced 267 yards in total offense and 4 TDs, 2 running and 2
passing. Meanwhile, Nebraska running back Jeff Kinney had
174 yards and 4 TDs.
But it was Nebraska wingback Johnny Rodgers who stole the
show with a spectacular punt return.
With six Sooners surrounding him on the Huskers 28-yard line,
Rodgers fielded the high punt from Wylie that anyone else would
have fair-caught. Pruitt hit Rodgers with a hard shot that spun
him away from a precarious situation – G Ken Jones was about
to nail him. Several nifty moves later, Rodgers was off on a 72-
yard romp, with punter Wylie being bumped aside by Nebraska
DB Joe Blahak.
Nebraska, though, coughed up a 28-17 lead and Mildren rallied
Oklahoma to forge ahead 31-28. Then with Kinney and Rodgers
leading the way on the final drive, QB Jerry Tagge faced a
crucial 3rd and 8 inside OU territory. Forced out of the pocket,
Tagge found Rodgers, who made an incredible catch between
two defenders while sliding to his knee. Six plays later Kinney
scored…Nebraska 35 Oklahoma 31…in what any old-time fan
has to call the true “Game of the Century.”
Unsung championship contributions
–Tommy McDonald was Oklahoma’s top runner at halfback in
1955, though he was also 17 for 24 passing on run-pass option
plays that gained 265 yards.
–Thanks in part to the judgment of President Richard Nixon,
Texas was declared national champions in 1969. The
Longhorns’ inspiration was defensive back Freddie Steinmark,
whose cancer led to amputation of his left leg only six days after
playing in the year’s big game against Arkansas.
–John Bruno, Penn State punter, averaged 40.9 yards per punt
during the 1986 championship season. Bruno helped prepare the
Nittany Lions for the Fiesta Bowl against #1 Miami by serving as
the team’s standup comic, keeping things light when the
Hurricanes, wearing battle fatigues, defiantly marched out of a
joint team dinner. Miami’s Jerome Brown said that the Japanese
didn’t sit down to eat with the Americans before they bombed
Pearl Harbor. Bruno’s comeback was, “Yeah, but who won the
war!?” [Penn State won the game, 14-10.]
I didn’t know this. John Swofford, North Carolina QB-DB in
1969-71, and later Tar Heel athletic director and ACC
commissioner, has an older brother Bill who sang under the stage
name of……………..Oliver…of “Good Morning Starshine” and
“Jean” fame.
–The all-time kick block record holder is James Ferebee of New
Mexico State (1978-81) who got a hand on 19 kicks (eight FG
attempts, six PAT attempts and five punts).
–Despite mid-season hate mail in 1992, AP poll voter Corky
Simpson of the Tucson Citizen was the lone holdout voting
Alabama as the #1 team despite an otherwise unanimous choice
of Miami. Simpson proved to be a prophet when Alabama
decisively upset Miami in the Sugar Bowl for the national title.
–From 1969-2001 Nebraska had 33 straight teams win at least
nine games and play in a bowl game. Both are records.
–Florida State finished the season ranked in the top 5 from 1987-
2000, a record 14 straight years.
–Rice holds the record with 28 straight non-winning seasons,
1964-1991, before going 6-5 in 1992.
And finally, on Nov. 11, 1939, Centenary (La.) and Texas Tech
played to a 0-0 tie. There was a reason for this.
“A torrential downpour pounded Shreveport, swamping the
offenses to the degree that several odd records were set. The
teams combined for 77 punts, 39 by Texas Tech. Forty-two
punts were returned, 19 went out of bounds, 10 were downed,
one resulted in a touchback, four were blocked and one fair-
caught. Sixty-seven punts came on first down, 22 of those
consecutively in the third and fourth quarters. Charlie Callahan
of Texas Tech booted 36 punts for 1,318 yards. The Red
Raiders’ Milton Hill returned 20 punts for 110 yards. Texas
Tech ran only 12 offensive plays: 10 rushes and two passes,
netting -1 yards.”
Stuff
Nov. 5, 1605
In what became known as the Gunpowder Plot, British Catholic
insurgents stockpiled 36 barrels of the stuff in the basement of
the House of Parliament. Guy Fawkes, the ringleader, and his
cohorts sought to detonate the explosives during a meeting of
King James I and his ministers, thus ending the repression of
Catholics and restoring Catholic rule.
But Fawkes was discovered guarding the gunpowder and the plot
was exposed. He was then taken to the Tower of London and
stretched on a rack for two days before being hanged. Then his
body was drawn and quartered and his head stuck on a spike.
As reported by the Star-Ledger’s Rebecca Goldsmith, “The
plotters’ downfall came from their own human frailty: One of
them sent a warning note to a friend in government, bidding him
to stay away on the day of the planned attack. The letter was
intercepted and brought to the king.”
Well, needless to say the locals were fired up and spontaneous
celebrations broke out. The next year the king called for a day of
thanksgiving and the folks lit bonfires and got hammered
drinking grog.
Since then, Britons have celebrated the anniversary by partying
allll night. [Actually, these days Halloween has become just as
popular, if not more so.]
Nov. 4, 1955
Pitcher Cy Young died on this day at the age of 88; 44 years after
his final appearance on Oct. 6, 1911.
Aside from winning 511 games, a record it’s safe to say won’t be
touched in the next 1,600 years, he was in the top 8 in his league
for innings pitched 19 straight seasons, including five of over
400. His control was also amazing…just 1,217 walks in 7,354
innings.
Back in 1951, Young complained in the Sporting News about the
number of pitchers on major league rosters of that day.
“There are just too many pitchers. Ten or twelve on a team.
Don’t see how any of them get enough work. Four starting
pitchers and one relief man ought to be enough. Pitch ‘em every
three days and you’d find they’d get control and good, strong
arms.”
Imagine what he’d say about today’s game and the babying of
their arms? Or the salaries. In 1948 he noted “Gosh, all a kid
has to do these days is spit straight and get $40,000 for signing.”
From “Baseball Anecdotes” by Daniel Okrent and Steve Wulf:
“Denton True Young had been picked up by Cleveland in 1890;
his minor league team in Canton, Ohio, had folded, so his
manager George Moreland sold him to Cleveland for a $300
commission and a new suit of clothes. The nickname Cy is short
for either Cyclone or Cyrus, a name given to rubes back then.
When Young first arrived in Cleveland, his appearance was so
comical – trousers stopped well above his ankles, sleeves riding
up his arms, a derby too small for his head – that club secretary
David Hawley took him to a barber and a haberdasher before
presenting him to his teammates.
“In his first game, Young held (Cap) Anson’s White Stockings to
just three hits. Afterwards, Anson struck up a conversation with
Hawley. ‘Funny about that big rube of yours beating us today,’
said Anson. ‘He’s too green to do your club much good, but I
believe if I taught him what I know, I might make a pitcher out
of him in a couple of years. He’s not worth it now, but I am
willing to give you $1,000 for him.’ Hawley’s polite reply was,
‘Cap, you keep your thousand, and we’ll keep the rube.’ The
rube went on to win 510 more major league games.”
[As for Anson, a player-manager, in 1887 he refused to let his
team take the field in an exhibition game against Toledo because
Toledo had a black player by the name of Moses Fleetwood
Walker. Walker still played that day, if I have my facts straight,
but Anson’s position took hold and later that year an unofficial
color line was instituted. Sadly, the barrier held until Jackie
Robinson was called up. For this reason, despite the fact he was
an amazing ballplayer, Cap Anson is the Bar Chat “Dirtball of
the Century.”]
–I ran cross country in high school for three years and track just
my senior year. To put it mildly, I was an underachiever.
Looking back, though, I remember my greatest run, a practice
mile (timed) that senior year when I kicked our budding
superstar’s butt. [He later got hurt and never fulfilled his own
potential.] Of course I did that in practice, not a meet, but
it was by far my best time in the event. The coach came up to
me afterwards and said “Why don’t you run like that all the
time?” What was funny was that I saw him at my 25th high
school reunion a few years ago and he said “Editor, I was just
going back through the records of your class and you really had a
lousy year on the track team.” Hey, he’s a good man and he was
right, after all.
I only bring this up because I was reading a piece by Kenny
Moore, a great writer for both Sports Illustrated and Runner’s
World, as well as 1972 Olympic marathoner (finishing 4th), on
his experience on the University of Oregon track team back in
the 1960s. They were led, of course, by the legendary coach,
Bill Bowerman, co-founder of Nike and Steve Prefontaine’s
mentor.
Moore is writing a book titled “Bowerman” that is slated for
release next spring and he has an excerpt in the December issue
of Runner’s World; of which a small portion follows.
It is spring 1964, and Moore, a sophomore two-miler, had just
finished his first training run following a bout with the flu.
Bowerman put two fingers to Moore’s neck, taking the pulse
from his carotid artery. Following is their conversation, as
described by Moore.
“Easy day?” he said.
“Easy day. Absolutely.”
“Twelve miles?” As if he were my physician, he tilted my head
back so he could look me in the eye. He was 6’2” and over 200
pounds, with a powerful upper body.
“An easy twelve,” I said.
We had vexed each other that year. I had never won a race in
high school, had never broken 9:15 for two miles, but was
determined to run the 100 miles a week his good friend Arthur
Lydiard assigned his New Zealand Olympic champions.
“Are you in this simply to do mindless labor,” he said, “or do
you want to improve?”
“To improve.”
“You can’t improve if you’re always sick or injured.”
“I know, but Bill, it was an easy twel…”
[Ed. note. Bowerman insisted on being called Bill.]
He closed great, callused hands around my throat. He did not lift
me off the ground. He did relieve my feet of much of their
burden. He brought my forehead to his. “I’m going to ask you
to take part in an experiment,” he said with menacing calm.
People five yards away thought we were sharing a tidbit of
gossip. “For three weeks, you are not going to run a yard except
in my sight. You will do a three-mile jog here every morning,
and our regular afternoon workouts. If I or any of my spies see
you trotting another step, you will never run for the University of
Oregon again.”
“Bill…”
“Are we agreed?”
“Bill…”
“Agreed?”
As I was feeling faint I submitted.
Three weeks later, Moore ran a meet against Oregon State and
following Bowerman’s instructions, went out in exactly 4:30 for
the first mile. He ended up outkicking the NCAA cross-country
champion, Dale Story, in spectacular fashion and Moore finished
in 8:48, 27 seconds better than his personal best.
Moore thought Bowerman would come up to him and crow,
“See! I told you! You just needed rest!”
Instead, Bowerman whispered in Kenny’s ear, “Even I didn’t
think you could run that fast, Kenny. Even I.”
What a bastard. But 8 years later, Kenny Moore was on the
Olympic team, and Moore knows he never would have made it
without Bill Bowerman’s influence.
–Bowl Championship Series Rankings…USC back on top
1. USC – .9767
2. Texas – .9729
3. Va. Tech – .9294
4. Alabama – .8695
5. UCLA – .7874
6. Miami – .7566
7. Penn State – .6905
Ergo, it would appear only Virginia Tech, with an impressive
win over Miami on Saturday and a win in the ACC title game,
has the sole legitimate shot to upset the apple cart. Then again,
USC still must beat UCLA and Texas has to win the Big 12
conference championship contest.
–USC running back Reggie Bush is averaging an astounding 8.2
yards per carry. Memphis’ DeAngelo Williams, by the way,
leads the nation in rushing this year with a 187 yards per game
average.
–With my 5-6 record on the line, here are this week’s college
football “picks to click.”
We go with Central Florida again, this time receiving 3 points in
its game against Houston.
I’m taking Virginia Tech, giving 6 to Miami.
And finally, take Troy State and give 3 ½ to Florida Atlantic.
Remember, kids, no raiding your college savings accounts.
–I was just glancing through an old baseball book and had to
pass this along. It’s amazing how poor attendance at games was
in the old days. For example, in perusing the New York Herald
Tribune of September 17, 1940, you learn the following from the
box scores.
The Brooklyn Dodgers drew 6,782 for a game against Cincinnati
and the accompanying article spoke of the fact that Brooklyn had
8 more home dates to hit one million in attendance for the
season, 77 games.
But in the Pittsburgh / New York Giants contest, the attendance
was 1,282. The accompanying article noted:
“A crowd of 1,282, if ‘crowd’ is the correct word, yawned or
heckled as they pleased. One group out in Section 33 (Polo
Grounds) actually hauled out a deck of cards and, after some
hunting, found a fourth for a game of bridge. It was so quiet you
could hear Leo Durocher hollering over at Ebbets Field.”
And there was a doubleheader between Philadelphia and St.
Louis in Philly. Attendance? 1,000. Granted, the Phillies were
46-94 at the time.
Meanwhile, Detroit drew 3,911 for a contest with Washington,
the lowly St. Louis Browns had 1,343 for a game against the
Yankees (St. Louis won it, 16-4), and Cleveland, fighting for the
pennant and hosting the Philadelphia Athletics in a doubleheader,
turned out 6,000.
And glancing through the same book, if you needed a room in
New York, circa 1941, you could find one for 75 cents at the
Wm. Sloane House YMCA. “For Transient Young Men.”
Yikes.
–And here’s an advertisement in the September 24, 1908, edition
of the Boston Post.
“Your Own Fault…
Only Yourself to blame if you get poor ale, because FRANK
JONES ALE costs only a nickel and is on sale everywhere at the
Sign of the Shield.
Frank Jones Portsmouth Ales”
For crying out loud, why didn’t anyone tell me?!!!!!
–According to the New York Daily News, Alex Rodriguez has
been warned by the Yankees to stop frequenting poker clubs in
the city. Several sources told the paper that following the team’s
elimination in the playoffs, he went five nights in a row to this
one establishment that has been busted in the past. [The clubs
themselves aren’t illegal, but making a profit on one is.]
It’s not illegal under baseball’s rules for A-Rod to play, but the
commissioner’s office has made it clear his activities are being
monitored. Heh heh. This is one way to keep him from setting
the home run mark down the road, right sports fans?
And because he doesn’t understand how this is hurting his image,
A-Rod thus becomes a candidate for Bar Chat “Idiot of the
Year.”
–So I’m reading another piece in Runner’s World (the best
magazine, period) on a book titled “The Paleo Diet for Athletes:
A Nutritional Formula for Peak Athletic Performance,” and the
authors conclude the following, as reported by Amby Burfoot.
[Amby seems like a Neo-Paleo name.]
“Evolutionary forces dictate that we will live healthiest when we
consume a diet similar to what early man ate 2.5 million years
ago during the hunter-gatherer days of the Paleolithic Era. This
diet included more (low-fat) proteins and (healthy) fats than most
of us eat today, and fewer carbohydrates, mainly because Paleo
man ate no wheat, rice, or corn whatsoever. These modern
grains were not ‘invented’ until 10,000 years ago. In other
words, throughout 99.6 percent of our evolutionary history, we
ate no bread, pancakes, pasta, or chow mein. As a result, they
say, we aren’t adapted to process them healthfully.”
And get this, “Paleo runners got 55 percent of their daily calories
from meat, and had no trouble covering almost 10 miles a day
tracking down their dinner.”
Now you may be thinking, hey, editor, how long did these guys
actually live? Well, about 20 to 25 years, it turns out, which is
why Social Security wasn’t a big issue back then….the Paleo
citizens aimlessly paid their taxes, regardless, because this was
also before television and 24-hour cable news coverage. At least
that’s my take.
[Actually, as the authors point out, primitive man didn’t die from
heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Germs, viruses
and traumas were the main culprits. Wooly mammoths probably
crushed 50% of them, by my own back of the beer coaster
calculation.]
–Speaking of animals crushing humans, I was perusing the
Sydney Morning Herald, looking for shark attacks (well, what
else did you think I do all day?) and there was an item titled
“Japanese zookeeper killed in bear attack.” Turns out last week
Tomohiro Tamura, in charge of the brown bears at Fuji Safari
Park in Susono, was attacked when he and his partner “were
moving two brown bears from their cages to a field where they
would be on display when the zoo opened.”
“Normally, zookeepers do not approach bears close enough to be
attacked, with (Takao) Koizumi opening the doors of the bears’
cages while Tamura leads the bears by car, the police said.
“Tamura was apparently outside the car when the attack took
place.”
Our sympathies to the Tamura family. In lieu of flowers,
donations can be made to the Brown Bear Militia, 1600 Bruin
Way, Kodiak, Alaska.
–And speaking of the Far East and terror, here’s a headline from
the South China Morning Post, “Wasp attacks kill 10 farmers in
Shaanxi.” Goodness gracious. No wonder the farmers are so
frightened, the crops have yet to be harvested here. 41 have been
hospitalized with wasp stings just since August. And, due to the
high cost of health care and the fact many farmers can’t afford to
go to the hospital, the death toll could be higher.
“Local police and firemen teams are being deployed to track and
destroy the pests, but no significant improvement had been made
because there were no wasp experts in the region.”
[Note to parents: This could be a career path for your children
who seem directionless.]
–Wasn’t Edy Williams in one of those B-movies about wasps?
–From Reuters, dateline Johannesburg… “A seal bit off a South
African woman’s nose after she tried to help it back into the sea,
an official said on Monday.”
“The seal had been lying in the same spot since Friday, so the
lady and a few other people were trying to take it back to the
water,” said Herman Oosthuizen, a marine biologist.
“It’s a predator, it’s got vicious teeth and if it bites you in the
wrong place, it could kill you.”
Too bad South Africa gave up their nuclear weapons program a
while back.
–I find it very disturbing that Supreme Court nominee Samuel
Alito is a Philadelphia Phillies supporter, seeing as these are the
most intemperate fans in all of sports…next to Philadelphia
Eagles fanatics who famously booed Santa Claus.
–Remember former Nets player and murderer Jayson Williams?
[He actually escaped conviction on the most serious charges, but
we all know what the real deal was on that fateful night of Feb.
13, 2002, when he shot his limo driver.] Williams sold his 65-
acre New Jersey estate for a county record $8 million. Jayson
and his father, a contractor, had built the place in 1997 for $3
million. Ergo, further evidence of the real estate bubble.
–Jeff B. was ecstatic I selected Duke to win the NCAA b-ball
title this year, Jeff being a UConn man and knowing your
editor’s selections are almost always a contrarian indicator.
–The Daily News said this of actor / rapper Ice-T on
Wednesday.
“Ice – whose real name is Tracy Marrow…”
I told you how I went to elementary school with him and what a
wise-ass he was even then. But this mention of his real name is
rare. Of course he himself never mentions that part of his
childhood was spent in beautiful Summit, N.J. Wouldn’t be
good for his image, you understand.
–We note the passing of Skitch Henderson, the first bandleader
for “The Tonight Show” and founder of the New York Pops
Orchestra. He was 87.
–Ronald Isley, frontman for the Isley Brothers, was convicted on
Monday of income tax evasion to the tune of $3 million between
1997 and 2002. It turns out Isley concealed his income by
demanding cash when the band toured. Isley then paid his band
mates with cash.
This is no joke. He faces a maximum 26 years in prison when he
is sentenced Jan. 9, though he’ll receive far less than that.
Isley constructed an elaborate web of bank accounts and shell
corporations to hide the income. 20 witnesses testified against
him. [David Rosenzweig / L.A. Times]
Personally, my favorite Isley Brothers tune is “Harvest For The
World,” which peaked at #9 on the R&B charts, fall 1976.
Top 3 songs for the week of 11/6/76: #1 “Rock ‘n Me” (Steve
Miller) #2 “Disco Duck (Part I) (Rick Dees & His Cast of Idiots)
#3 “The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald” (Gordon Lightfoot
…interminable)…and…since this was fall of my freshman year
in school…#4 “If You Leave Me Now” (Chicago) #5 “Love So
Right” (Bee Gees) #6 “Muskrat Love” (Captain & Tennille) #7
“She’s Gone” (Hall & Oates) #8 “Tonight’s The Night” (Rod
Stewart) #9 “Magic Man” (Heart) #10 “Just To Be Close To
You” (Commodores…there best tune)
NBA Quiz Answers: 1) Four actives with career scoring
averages over 23.0 – Allen Iverson, 27.4; Shaq, 26.7; Vince
Carter, 23.9; Paul Pierce, 23.0. [Kobe, 22.4, and Tracy
McGrady, 22.0, both started their careers slowly…the first three
years in each case. Tim Duncan is at 22.5.] 2) Short-term
memory quiz. Four UNC players selected in 1st round of the
2005 draft – Marvin Williams, #2 overall; Raymond Felton, #5;
Sean May, #13; Rashad McCants, #14. 3) Lowest average home
attendance – New Orleans, 14,221. [Atlanta, 14,302; Charlotte,
14,432; Orlando, 14,584.] 4) Highest home attendance – Detroit,
22,076. 5) Biggest draw on the road – Miami, 18,891. [Lakers,
18,810.]
EPA Quiz: President Nixon selected William Ruckelshaus to be
the first EPA chief. If you got this one right, treat yourself to
some home grown lettuce. Ruckelshaus is still alive, by the way,
and is involved in the recovery of Puget Sound’s salmon, which
is why hereafter I’ll toast him on “Salmon Sunday,” that is if I
can find any of the real stuff.
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday.
