NFL Hall of Fame Quiz, part III (and last): What school did the
following Hall members attend. 1) Ronnie Lott 2) John
Mackey 3) Don Maynard 4) Bobby Mitchell 5) Alan Page 6)
John Riggins 7) Fran Tarkenton 8) Charley Taylor 9) Paul
Warfield. Answers below.
Ka-ching! Ka-ching!
It’s all about money these days, I think you’d agree, and I’m
constantly amazed at how much entertainers can command for
performing at private parties. Geoff Boucher of the Los Angeles
Times related the following.
About ten days ago, Christina Aguilera and Robin Williams were
in Pittsburgh as the hired entertainment at the birthday party for
Joe Hardy, the founder of 84 Lumber. Aguilera’s fee was
probably in the neighborhood of $1.5 million while Williams
earns about $1 million for a night’s work. David Bonderman,
co-founder of private equity giant Texas Pacific Group, once
shelled out $10 million to have Williams, the Rolling Stones and
John Mellencamp do a 2002 birthday bash.
David Brooks, a defense contractor on Long Island, spent $10
million to have 50 Cent, Aerosmith, Don Henley, Tom Petty,
Stevie Nicks and Ciara sing for his daughter’s bat mitzvah. No, I
don’t think she’s a spoiled brat, do you?
Acts such as Seal and Hall & Oates fetch $100,000 to $200,000.
But, thankfully, “It’s common knowledge that Bruce Springsteen
and U2 won’t do it, and, really, there are very few others,” said
Robert Norman of Creative Artists Agency. No wonder I like
U2 as much as I do…and why others like Bruuuuuuuuuuuce!
I also have to note this bit on Sammy Hagar of Van Halen fame.
“We used to make fun of Huey Lewis for doing all these
corporate shows,” Hagar said, “but he would just shrug and say,
‘It’s a good life. Forty-five minutes for a couple hundred
thousand’ …but I just hated the idea, doing some big arena show
in some little corporate building or something. It felt cheesy to
me. But then when Dylan did it, I started thinking, ‘Who am I to
be so uppity about this?’”
But Hagar first refused Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban
when he called several years ago to hire him to sing ‘There’s
Only One Way to Rock’ at the billionaire’s birthday party. Then
Cuban mentioned the private plane, the plan to stage the show at
the arena in Dallas and, of course, a particularly large sum of
money.
“The money was very good,” Hagar told the Times’ Boucher. “I
won’t say how much, but it was good.”
But Hagar then told Boucher it was one of the most awkward
experiences of his life.
“There were 70 people in the audience, so we have this huge,
empty arena. But we did a full-blown 45-minute show, lights
and everything. The front row was filled with Mavericks
players, and half of them, you know, they didn’t know us or care
about our music. And they were so tall they were looking me
right in the eye. The whole thing was just plain weird.”
Golf Digest released their annual survey on the top money
makers in the sport and of course Tiger once again heads the list.
1. Tiger…$11.9 million on course…$87mm off course…$98.9
2. Mickelson…$4.3mm on…$40mm off…$44.3
3. Arnie….zero on….$27.5mm off…$27.5
4. Vijay…$4.8mm on…$20mm off…$24.8
5. Greg Norman…zero on…$22.5mm off…$22.5
6. Michelle Wie…$700k on…$19.5mm off…$20.2
Ah yes, Michelle Wie. This weekend she missed the cut at the
Sony Open in Honolulu for a fourth straight time and is now 0-
for-7 in making the cut at PGA Tour events. The thing of it is,
the 17-year-old isn’t even coming close and this week beat just
two men and was a whopping 14 strokes short of making it to
Sat/Sun. [Two other golfers were DQ’d.]
But this weekend the real story was Tadd Fujikawa, who turned
16 last Monday. I first made note of him in this space on 6/8/06
after he became the second-youngest to ever qualify for the U.S.
Open. Then on 6/27/06, following the Open and Mickelson’s
collapse at Winged Foot, I wrote this.
Here’s something I didn’t know about 15-year-old Tadd
Fujikawa, all of 5’1” and 135 pounds. When he was born on Jan.
8, 1991, he was 3 ½ months premature and weighed only 31
ounces. He was the size of a Coke can. His mother Lori told
reporters during the Open, “The doctors didn’t even consider him
an infant. They said, ‘You have a fetus.’ His lungs weren’t
developed, nothing was developed.” Lori’s mother, Ellen,
remembered searching for answers. “One of the doctors said that
some kids just like to rush out,” she said.
“The next few weeks were a blur of scares and surgeries,
including an operation when he was five days old to repair a hole
in his tiny stomach. ‘He went through five surgeries,’ Tadd’s
grandfather said. ‘Twice he almost died. At first the doctors
said he had a 50-50 chance of survival, then if he did, a 50-50
chance of being normal. The dream was that he would grow up
normal. Now look at him.’”
Tadd admitted at Winged Foot, “Yeah, I mean I think I am
special, not only in golf but in just surviving with everything that
I’ve been through.” [Bill Fields / GolfWorld]
Now there’s a guy to root for. Let’s all say a little prayer that
Tadd continues to move on up in the golfing ranks. You don’t
get any better than his story.
That’s what I wrote then…now look at him.
Tadd Fujikawa became the youngest player in 50 years to make
the cut on the PGA Tour at the Sony, firing a 66 in the second
round.
He then followed this with another 66 on Saturday to move
within six shots of the lead heading into Sunday and finished tied
for 20th after a 72 in the final round.
But back to Wie and her struggles to keep up with the big boys,
The Wall Street Journal’s John Paul Newport noted some “Can’t-
Miss Kids – Who Missed.”
Ty Tryon…in 2001, at 17, became the youngest player ever to
earn a PGA Tour card. Officially joined the Tour at 18. Lasted
just one season on the PGA Tour and now plays in Asia and on
the U.S. minitours. Won a Hooters Tour event in February 2005.
[I followed Tryon last year as best I could and he’s going
nowhere.]
Bobby Clampett…two-time NCAA golfer of the year, turned pro
in 1980 and won a tournament in his second year. At the 1982
British Open, led by seven strokes in the third round but finished
10th. Swing never recovered.
David Gossett…twice an All-American, won the 1999 U.S.
Amateur and was the No. 1 amateur. In first pro season, won the
2001 John Deere Classic. In 2004, made only two cuts in 25
tournaments and lost his PGA Tour card. Made his first cut since
then at least year’s Deere, finishing 75th.
As for Wie, Newport urges patience.
“Ms. Wie’s golf career might still go bust, but I’m not going to
trust any verdict until, say, 2014. She will be 24 then, the same
age that another former prodigy, Lorena Ochoa, was last year
when she finally came into her own and took the LPGA Player of
the Year award away from its eight-time winner, Annika
Sorenstam.”
Well, for the archives, I’ll say Wie begins to dominate the LPGA
Tour in three years, and will make the cut at the Sony in 2009,
but she’ll never finish in the top ten in a PGA event.
More on Tiger and the money chase. From 1996 thru 2006,
Tiger has taken down an estimated $646.7 million.
Other top winners in sports, June 2005 to June 2006, as
calculated by Forbes :
Auto racing – Michael Schumacher…$58 million
Basketball – Michael Jordan…$32 million; Kobe Bryant… $31
million; Shaquille O’Neal…$30 million
Football – Tom Brady…$29 million
Tennis – Maria Sharapova…$29 million
And of course now we have David Beckham, who for the Forbes
survey was at $27 million and today is a wee-bit higher.
Stuff
–San Diego Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer is now 5-13
in playoff games and the loss on Sunday was as bad as any. Bill
Belichick, on the other hand, is now 13-2 in the playoffs.
–So Barry Bonds has been implicated yet again, this time for
having tested positive for amphetamines, a substance that
baseball banned for the first time last year after greenies had
been used since the days of Cap Anson. I have to admit, on one
hand I’m much more tolerant of this; but on the other we are
talking Barry Bonds.
Since our last chat, Bonds, according to the New York Daily
News, attributed his positive test [under the rules, players remain
anonymous the first time] to something he had taken from
teammate Mark Sweeney’s locker. Bonds evidently didn’t
appeal the test result.
Well you can imagine Sweeney wasn’t real happy, and wanted to
make like Sweeney Todd as Bonds once again revealed his true
self. Bonds then came out a few days later and said “He is both
my teammate and my friend. He did not give me anything
whatsoever and has nothing to do with this matter, contrary to
recent reports.” With friends like these……..
Mike Lupica / New York Daily News
“So (Bonds) is the headliner, today, and in spring training, and
with every home run he hits until he gets to 756. He will deny
these new allegations the way he denies everything else, and he
and his lawyers will say that this is just part of the witch hunt
that has been going on for years. They will try to make Bonds
some kind of victim again. Fat chance. Believe the story….
“Of course this story – Bonds on greenies! – seems like a
misdemeanor after everything we have seen from him and
everything we have learned from him the last couple of years….
“(But) Bonds is a Face Book of baseball all by himself. He is
about to break an even bigger record than Maris’, the biggest
record in all of sports, become the all-time home run king of
baseball. Barry Bonds is the face of baseball starting today, and
every day of the season, until he breaks the record or breaks
down.”
Michael O’Keefe and T.J. Quinn / New York Daily News
“If he were already under contract the Giants couldn’t do much
of anything about the failed amphetamines test. They shouldn’t
even have known about it – and insist they didn’t until the Daily
News called asking for comment. Bonds was caught, offered a
teammate up for sacrifice, then recanted and chose not to appeal.
No suspension, no fine, just counseling and treatment, and six
more mandatory drug tests over the next 12 months. The labor
agreement dictates his fate and the Giants must abide. But
Bonds is not under contract. MLB officials and executives from
other clubs mocked the team for giving Bonds $16 million (with
up to $20 million in incentives), and the Giants took a
hammering from local media and a surprising number of fans
who say they are tired of Bonds. If the Giants truly want a way
out, this might be it, but lawyers and executives say it will be
difficult for the team to break a verbal agreement over a failed
amphetamines test….
“If the Giants do sign Bonds, his biggest problems may come in
the clubhouse and on the road. Many Giants players, according
to the San Francisco Chronicle, knew Bonds had failed the test in
August because he told them. Sweeney and others have known
that Bonds tried to blame him since that time, so while it may be
news to the public, it wasn’t to everyone in the clubhouse. It’s
possible that other players won’t feel any differently in February
as they gather for spring training than they did in August. But
fans on the road – the Giants come to Shea in May – will have
new taunts at their disposal….
“Giants officials and Bonds’ agent Jeff Borris are negotiating
over language that would allow the team to withhold Bonds’ pay
for games he missed if he is indicted on perjury or other
charges….But it’s hard to imagine the players would not
vehemently fight any language in Bonds’ contract that would not
guarantee his salary. It’s also hard to imagine team officials
wouldn’t want as much flexibility as possible when it comes to a
player who might be fending off prosecutor questions instead of
fastballs.”
Meanwhile, Hank Aaron hasn’t commented on Bonds and his
pursuit of 755.
–Las Vegas casino king Steve Wynn is seeking $54 million from
Lloyd’s of London for the damage caused to the Picasso painting
‘Le Reve’ I wrote of in this space and elsewhere on the site this
past fall. Recall he accidentally poked his elbow through the
canvas.
Wynn filed a lawsuit because Lloyd’s is loath to pay up, with
the insurer thus far only agreeing to cover the $90,000 in
repairs to two 3-inch rips to the painting. Wynn is claiming the
value has decreased from the $139 million he was set to sell it for
to $85 million. This whole story is absurd, but I’d love to be in
the courtroom listening to the arguments.
–As alluded to above, David Beckham is making $250 million
over five years to promote the game of soccer here in the States.
I just view this as a special situation and 80% of his
compensation is on the endorsement end.
What makes far less sense to me is the awarding of a two-year,
$13 million contract to St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Mark Mulder,
who was 6-7 with a 7.14 ERA last year before undergoing rotator
cuff surgery. And Mulder is going to miss the first half of this
season. This is absolutely nuts. Mulder has had a super start to
his career, 103-57, but a lot of guys are never the same after this
injury.
–Very sad news for fans of Bobby Murcer. He has brain cancer.
–Phil W. passed along a story I had missed when I was down in
Miami for the Orange Bowl; a Miami Herald piece by Greg Cote
on Wake Forest’s Brian Piccolo.
It really is incredible how Piccolo’s story resonates to this day,
especially when considering he rushed for only 927 yards in his
four-year career with the Chicago Bears, 1966-69.
In case you’re too young to remember, or have been on Mars the
past few decades, Piccolo’s tragic tale was the subject of
“Brian’s Song,” one of the great television movies of all time
that starred James Caan (as Piccolo) and Billy Dee Williams (as
teammate and best friend Gale Sayers).
Piccolo died of cancer in June 1970 and the Brian Piccolo Cancer
Fund Drive has been an annual event at Wake Forest since 1980,
raising $750,000 at the grass-roots level from bake sales and
such, not corporate donations. The students are now raising over
$50,000 a year.
What I didn’t know, though, was this story from Piccolo’s days
at Wake Forest.
“Ross Griffith, then a tennis player, classmate and friend, recalls
that when Wake Forest was between head coaches following the
1963 season, Piccolo had taken it upon himself to help recruit
black players. Griffith recalls that Piccolo inviting local black
high school athletes to visit campus led directly to three entering
in the fall of ’64 – making Wake Forest only the second racially
integrated football team (after Maryland) in the ACC.”
Joy Piccolo O’Connell, his widow, commented:
“Each day, every single day, something happens. The tributes
have been incredible, and it continues. The money raised in his
name is unbelievable. We never dreamed it would have gone on
this long – never, ever. We have a young man who donates $41
every year in the name of his brother. We have children who
have a lemonade stand and send us $12. Brian was a good
person. He cared about people. He couldn’t do enough for
people. I think it comes back to you.”
Greg Cotes notes, “His friends have spent years pondering
Piccolo’s lasting fame. Why it happened.”
“The timing of the black and white issue in America, the Bears
putting Gale and Brian together,” says (Dan) Arnold, (a
childhood friend). “But also it was Brian finally getting to the
pinnacle he was striving for, and having it jerked away from him.
It’s such a classic tragedy. It will last forever.”
Bill Slater knew Piccolo since the two were in the first grade and
they played football together in both high school and at Wake
Forest. He was there when Brian first met Joy in the ninth grade.
“Brian was a nice athlete but a hell of a person. That’s what
people remember. There were cliques then, but Pic didn’t care if
you were popular or not, dressed nice or not. You’d ask, ‘Why
are you running around with so and so?’ He’d look at you like
you were dumb. It didn’t resonate with him. He just never got
too enamored with himself. His success in football was far
outweighed by the person he was. He always had a pat on the
back for you, and a smile. He didn’t have any bad days.”
Greg Cote:
“Intimations of immortality do not begin with talent or fame.
Sometimes they are first seen in one’s smile or in a simple
kindness we can never forget.”
–Bode Miller, who will engender no such fond memories when
he’s gone, won his 25th World Cup race by taking the downhill
Saturday at Lauberhorn (Switzerland) as he crashed at the end of
a course generally known to be the most dangerous in the sport.
[In 1991, Austrian rookie Gernot Reinstadler died from massive
internal injuries after crashing here. Another, Adrien Duvillard
of France suffered serious head trauma in 1977 when he hit a
fence.]
Miller is now just two wins shy of Phil Mahre’s U.S. record for
World Cup victories.
BUT WHO CARES?! Miller had the ultimate stage and he not
only choked at last year’s Olympics, he acted incredibly
irresponsible for one representing his country. For this he should
forever be condemned.
–Divorce His…Divorce Hers
Jason Kidd and his wife Joumana now have restraining orders
against each other and Joumana has hired well-known divorce
attorney Raoul Felder, as the New York area media gears up for
another high-profile tussle in a court of law, while Kidd tries to
focus on the basketball court.
But the bigger story this weekend was the settlement between the
Giants’ Michael Strahan and his wife, Jean. Jean was awarded
over $15 million of his $23 million fortune.
“All I ever asked for was that the prenup that Michael and his
lawyers wrote be upheld and enforced,” said the 41-year-old
mother of two. “You just don’t walk away and say, ‘I’m done.’
You don’t erase your obligations and agreements.”
Now I’m not a fan of Strahan, who always struck me as a real
jerk, just like his teammate Tiki Barber, so with that we call on
Johnny Jacobs to tell us what Jean will receive.
“Editor, Jean is entitled to $7.5 million plus $1.2 million in
interest. And half of all other assets, $6.6 million.
“Plus, she can buy the family’s $3.6 million ‘dream house’ in
Montclair, NJ, from her husband for $1.4 million.
“And, $214,000 a year in child support, plus Michael must pay
91% of the cost of their children’s private schooling, camp and
higher education fees.” [New York Daily News]
[Strahan supposedly went ballistic on Sunday when he returned
his kids to their mother.]
As I noted the other day, 84% of professional athletes get
divorced once their playing career is over. I don’t know what the
percentage is during their time in the spotlight.
And as Jonathan Lemire writes in the Daily News, there are
temptations on the road, that’s for sure.
“Minneapolis – The young woman tugged on her black miniskirt
and checked her makeup again as her high heels clicked on the
marble lobby of the luxury hotel.
“Her outfit drew stares from other guests, who were bundled up
to protect against the minus-15 degree wind chill outside. But
she ignored them, focusing instead on her prize – who emerged
from the elevators minutes later.
“A member of the New Jersey Nets, his hood pulled up to
partially obscure his face, approached the woman, whispered
something that made her smile and the two quickly walked off
together.” [The hotel was the Graves 601, incidentally, for all
you Minny-area wannabe groupies.]
One last note on the marriage front…Golfweek reports John
Daly is trying to reconcile with his fourth wife, Sherrie; this after
Sherrie had served a five-month federal sentence for being an
accessory to a money-laundering scheme. Oh yeah, she’s a real
winner. As for Daly, he’s nuts.
–Back to the New York Giants, they extended coach Tom
Coughlin’s contract another year through 2008, a really dumb
move. On one hand, the team is loaded with primadonnas; but
on the other Coughlin simply isn’t a good leader. One starting
player wishing to remain anonymous told the New York Post:
“Guys are so sick of hearing him yapping all the time. You
watch film, a guy gets beat and he yells ‘We can’t have that!’
Like a whiny baby.”
In his three years Coughlin is 25-23 and 0-2 in the playoffs.
Mike Vaccaro / New York Post, countered:
“It is the worst possible thing they could have done, adding just
one year to Coughlin’s contract, hinting that the core of the team
that exited 2006 will likely enter 2007 intact, keeping their coach
a virtual lame duck for another 12 months and inviting the kind
of chaos that ruined this season to explode into full-blown
anarchy next season.”
Bring it on….we love this stuff!
–As reported by Jack Malvern of the London Times, “Fresh
evidence suggests that Jay Gatsby was modeled on an immigrant
boxer named Freddie Welsh, world lightweight champion at the
time of the First World War.”
Malvern writes that F. Scott Fitzgerald, who created Gatsby,
shared a number of friends with Welsh, “but the most convincing
link relates to a car accident that took place on the evening of
October 11, 1924.”
“Welsh was driving his car in Summit, New Jersey, when he
collided with another vehicle. The only person hurt in the
accident was Myrtle Wilson – the same name Fitzgerald used for
the car accident victim at the climax of The Great Gatsby.
“In the book, Myrtle Wilson is run over and killed by Daisy
Buchanan, the object of Gatsby’s affections, while driving his
car. The incident marks the beginning of the end for him
because Wilson’s husband, believing Gatsby to be at fault,
decides to avenge her death.”
Author Andrew Gallimore, who wrote a book on Freddie Welsh,
“discovered that the accident took place 16 days before
Fitzgerald sent his first draft of the novel to his publisher.”
Fitzgerald was aware of Welsh and had visited his gym in New
Jersey. But what got me about all this was the fact I not only
grew up in Summit, New Jersey, it’s the current world
headquarters of StocksandNews! I’m heading out to look for tire
tracks.
–So Liz in “For Better or For Worse” has discovered that Cop
Paul is sleeping with an incredibly unattractive woman, Susan,
who Jeff B. pointed out looks like Jimmy Durante’s
granddaughter.
Well, Liz was last seen sitting down with Vivian, spilling her
guts. “When Paul said his transfer had come through, I thought
it was to Toronto. But it was to Spruce Narrows! He was
transferred up here!”
Vivian: “He’s a northerner, Elizabeth. He’d never adapt to the
city.”
Huh. Of course Vivian herself is a real piece of work. Jeff
commented he’s waiting for her to pull out a six-pack of Red,
White and Blue. As for Liz, it would appear she will now focus
her attentions on chopper pilot Warren. My brother believes
Wimp Anthony is out of the picture.
–I found this shocking…the ratings for “The Sopranos” on A&E
were so high, 4.3 million viewers on Wednesday, it was the
most-watched off-network series premiere in cable history. And
this despite all the F-words being removed.
–Each year in and around Anchorage, Alaska, 165 accidents take
place between cars and moose. It’s been an increasing problem
recently because Anchorage has had a ton of snow and the moose
move into town as it’s easier to move around.
And how much snow has Alaska had? At the Alyeska Resort, try
283 inches in December alone, 339 by last week. El Nino, baby.
–We note the passing of Ralph, the 22-foot long whale shark that
was a popular attraction at Georgia Aquarium. Ralph “had not
been eating well and had been showing unusual swimming
patterns,” officials said. It would have probably helped if he had
more than 25-feet to swim in.
–Speaking of water, our sympathies go out to 28-year-old
Jennifer Strange, no relation to golfer Curtis that I’m aware of,
who died of water intoxication after taking part in the “Hold
Your Wee for a Wii” contest on KDND 107.9. The station
promised a Nintendo Wii video game system for the winner.
According to the AP, “Initially, contestants were handed eight-
ounce bottles of water to drink every 15 minutes. ‘They were
small little half-pint bottles, so we thought it was going to be
easy,’ said fellow contestant James Ybarra. ‘They told us if you
don’t feel like you can do this, don’t put your health at risk.’”
Ms. Strange was found dead at her home hours after taking part.
She told a co-worker her head was hurting her real bad.
Actually, recall all the stories I’ve written on the problems some
endurance runners have had that drank too much water. It’s real.
Top 3 songs for the week of 1/15/66: #1 “We Can Work It Out”
(The Beatles) #2 “The Sounds Of Silence” (Simon & Garfunkel)
#3 “She’s Just My Style” (Gary Lewis and the Playboys…
underrated)…and…#4 “Five O’Clock World” (The Vogues) #5
“Ebb Tide” (The Righteous Brothers) #6 “Day Tripper” (The
Beatles) #8 “The Men In My Little Girl’s Life” (Mike Douglas
…that’s right, Mike Douglas of talk show fame…this actually
peaked at #6) #9 “As Tears Go By” (The Rolling Stones…I’m
still partial to early Stones and this was an awesome tune)
*Dan L. wrote in to say it’s not only a travesty the Dave Clark
Five didn’t get into the Rock Hall of Fame yet again, but that it
sucks Kiss continues to get excluded. Hell, Kiss wasn’t even on
the final ballot.
“One may question the credibility of Kiss’s music, but their
impact on current and future inductees is immeasurable.”
I can’t disagree with that, Dan. Dan also finds it amusing that
Van Halen is being inducted this year when it was Kiss’s Gene
Simmons who first offered to produce a demo tape for them,
including “Running With The Devil.”
Dan also can’t believe Link Wray isn’t in the Hall. Lots to be
ticked off about these days.
NFL Hall of Fame Quiz Answers: 1) Ronnie Lott – USC. 2)
John Mackey – Syracuse. 3) Don Maynard – Texas Western
College. 4) Bobby Mitchell – Illinois. 5) Alan Page – Notre
Dame. 6) John Riggins – Kansas. 7) Fran Tarkenton – Georgia.
8) Charley Taylor – Arizona State. 9) Paul Warfield – Ohio
State.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday….a few words on Muhammad Ali’s
65th birthday.
