NBA Quiz: Chris Webber just dropped out of the career 20-10
club…20 points and 10 rebounds. Name the four active players
who are members. [Each has played at least 7 seasons in the
league.] Answer below.
Your Picks to Click…NCAA Basketball Tournament
I’m recommending you wager $600,000 on the following Final
Four selection:
Florida, Kansas, Vanderbilt and Ohio State
Before the season started I said Florida would win it. But as
analyst Clark Kellogg said on Sunday, the competitive balance
across the country is unbelievable this year.
Just a few random musings:
How did Butler get a #5 seed? And if they are so good, then how
does Wright State, which beat Butler twice, warrant only a #14?
How did Nevada, #10 in the polls just two weeks ago, drop all
the way to a #7 seed? Winthrop, at #11, is right where I
expected, basically. In fact I first mentioned them all the way
back on 12/7 in this space, and then on 2/19 wrote:
“Watch out, Cinderella followers. Winthrop is 23-4 and when
they sweep their conference tournament, I see the NCAA tourney
committee giving them no worse than a 7 seed. If on the other
hand they get a #10 or #11, I pity that #6 or #7 that has to face
them.”
The Spinners
I noted the other day that “It’s A Shame” was one of my favorite
songs of all time and a few of you wrote in to confirm the
selection. So I thought I’d do a quick bio on these guys, who are
a lesson in perseverance.
The Spinners [Bobbie Smith, Phillipe Wynne, Billy Henderson,
Henry Fambrough and Pervis Jackson] began back in 1955 as the
Domingoes, a group of Ferndale High School students in the
Detroit, MI-ghetto area of Royal Oak Township. They won a
local amateur contest at the Gold Coast Theatre. Not much
happened for years, though, except for renaming themselves the
Spinners after the large chrome hubcap on Smith’s 1951 Ford
Crown Victoria. They mostly performed USO gigs, actually.
Then an appearance on WJR Detroit’s “Make Way For Youth”
show caught the attention of Motown singer/producer Harvey
Fuqua, who was working with the Moonglows. Harvey signed
the Spinners for Tri-Phi Records, a label he co-founded with his
wife, Berry Gordy’s sister, Gwen. The Spinner’s first hit, 1961’s
“That’s What Girls Are Made For,” went to #27 on the pop
charts and #5 R&B.
But that was it, for years and years. Executives at Motown were
concentrating on other acts. After the first single, there was only
the #35 “I’ll Always Love You” until 1970! Yikes. True, they
had some R&B top ten singles, but nothing on the pop charts.
Finally they broke the skein with the Stevie Wonder produced
and penned “It’s A Shame” in 1970 that climbed to #14. But
even still, Motown never considered the Spinners a major act.
Then in 1972, the group, which had undergone a few personnel
changes, signed with Atlantic Records and they were teamed
with Philly producer Thom Bell. Phillipe Wynne was brought in
to do most of the vocals and from 1972-77, the Spinners were
consistently on both the pop and R&B charts.
Billboard Pop Chart Singles
1972 – I’ll Be Around…#3
1973 – Could It Be I’m Falling In Love…#4
1973 – One Of A Kind (Love Affair)…#11
1973 – Ghetto Child…#29
1974 – Mighty Love…#20
1974 – Then Came You…#1 [with Dionne Warwicke]
1974 – Love Don’t Love Nobody…#15
1975 – They Just Can’t Stop It the (Games People Play)…#5
1976 – The Rubberband Man…#2
In 1977, Wynne left for a solo career (he would die onstage in
1983 of a heart attack at 43), and he was replaced by John
Edwards (who would later go on to become a senator from North
Carolina and a current presidential candidate……………………I
was just informed this isn’t the same John Edwards……….never
mind).
It was a brief dry spell for the Spinners before they hit the top ten
again late 1979/early 80 with the #2 “Working My Way Back To
You” and #4 “Cupid/I’ve Loved You For A Long Time”.
But that’s really about it. No gang warfare/drug overdoses to
talk about. The only other item is that if you have a good
memory, you’ll recall in one of my James Brown pieces that the
Spinners were part of his tour to Zaire to perform in the days
leading up to the 1974 Muhammed Ali “rumble in the jungle”
with George Foreman. What was important here was the fact the
plane almost failed to clear the runway there because it was
overloaded with all of James Brown’s luggage.
So we almost didn’t have some of the Spinners’ best work, know
what I’m sayin’?
I would just add that the Spinners Greatest Hits album is as good
as any you’ll ever listen to. I also can’t help but note that every
time I hear “The Rubberband Man,” which came out my
freshman year in college, I think of this guy from Motown, Kelly
Wrenn, who would go into this special dance. Of course you had
to be there to appreciate it….and a few beers in the system
always helped.
Stuff
–I mentioned last time that I spoke on the phone with Johnny
Kucks, the Game 7 winner for the Yankees in the 1956 World
Series. As I had written earlier, I was amazed that I had honestly
never heard of the man so I looked him up, saw that he was born
in Hoboken, NJ, thought he was still alive, and tracked him
down. [It wasn’t that difficult.]
I then called the number that I thought was his, this older
gentleman answers, and it went like this.
“Hello.”
“Mr. Kucks?”
“Yes.”
“The Johnny Kucks of ’56 World Series fame?”
“Yes.”
I then explained who I was, offered to send him a check to show
my sincerity, and asked for a sit down anywhere he wanted. He
politely passed.
But I had done some research before, mentioned a few things,
and he finally said “You’re telling me my life story!”
“So how are you feeling?” I asked. “Do you see some of your
teammates?”
He said he was in good shape. He’s only 73, according to my
record book, having been a 22-year-old in 1956, and Johnny said
he goes to some card shows.
But while the conversation was pleasant, I couldn’t get that
formal interview. Oh well. I totally respect that, of course. He
could have just hung up on me. He also obviously didn’t want
any money. At least I can now say I talked to the Game 7 winner
of the 1956 World Series.
The real reason why I tracked him down, though, was because I
had been reading about Casey Stengel’s methods in handling his
pitching staffs of the 1950s.
From the book “We Played the Game” by Lawrence Ritter,
former Yankees pitcher Bob Turley had this to say.
“Casey didn’t believe in using a 4-man rotation. He’d have 5, 6,
or 7 starters so that we’d all be well rested for September. Most
of us had excellent win-loss percentages…but we didn’t like that
Casey used so many (of us). We wanted to raise our salaries by
winning a lot of games, but we couldn’t pitch enough to do that.
[In 1956] only Whitey Ford and Johnny Kucks pitched over 200
innings, and they didn’t get the extra starts they needed for 20
wins.”
Stengel also believed in platooning his position players, except
basically Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra.
Of course it worked. Stengel was Yankees manager for 12 years,
from 1949-60, during which time he won 7 World Series and 10
pennants. Just take a look at his record during this period.
1949…97-57…WS title
1950…98-56…WS
1951…98-56…WS
1952…95-59…WS
1953…99-52…WS
1954…103-51…2nd to Cleveland’s dream season of 111-43
1955…96-58…AL pennant
1956…97-57…WS
1957…98-56…AL
1958…92-62…WS
1959…79-75…3rd
1960…97-57…AL
What a remarkable stretch. And as buddy Johnny Mac noted,
Stengel always seemed to get the best out of some otherwise
mediocre players at the right moment. Take Johnny Kucks. He
was 18-9 in 1956, yet only finished his career 54-56. But he was
the winner in Game 7.
Or Don Larsen. Boy, no one ever made more out of one effort
than he did with his perfect game in Game 5 of the ’56 Series.
He was only 81-91 for his career, after all. In fact as Pete M.
pointed out to me, just two years earlier, Larsen was 3-21 with
Baltimore before the Yanks picked him up in the same trade that
brought them Bob Turley, who himself would go on to win 4
games in various Series for New York.
And while I’m rambling, just a note about Turley. This guy
walked 181 batters in 1954 for Baltimore yet still had an ERA of
only 3.46. Then in 1955 with the Yankees he walked 177, but
his ERA was 3.06.
–The Steroids Debate, Part XXXIV
Sports Illustrated’s Luis Fernando Llosa and L. Jon Wertheim
have the best reporting on the unfolding steroid investigation that
“promises to rock sports.”
“It will take weeks, months perhaps, for authorities to sift
through the client lists, hard drives, invoices and trash from
dumpsters that were seized in the raids – more than a ton of
documents were confiscated. And when they’re through,
investigators believe they’ll unearth the names of hundreds, even
thousands of clients who have received a wide array of drugs;
and that list is likely to include prominent athletes….
“Sources tell SI that the clients appearing on invoices and
customer lists are unlikely to face prosecution, because the
targets of the raids and investigations are the members of the
network of suppliers. ‘Our focus here is to shut down
distribution channels,’ says Albany County (NY) district attorney
David Soares, one of the leaders of the investigation. [But]
because the reports only allege receipt (and in some cases,
purchase) of the banned drugs – not usage – the athletes are
unlikely to face disciplinary action from their respective leagues
or governing bodies.”
One of the keys to the inquiry is an operation run by an Albany
doctor, David Stephenson, who was running a website,
docstat.com; purchasing massive quantities of a variety of drugs
and then repackaging and selling them to “patients” who had
visited his website. The chain of supply then extended to
“spurious antiaging centers, board-certified compounding
pharmacies [who make their own drugs] and venal doctors.”
“As Mark Haskins, a senior investigator for New York State’s
Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, explains it, ‘Basically you have
an antiaging clinic with an Internet presence. [Clinic operators]
put the product on the Internet. The customer finds them online,
fills out a brief questionnaire and requests steroids, hormone
therapy, whatever. Someone from the clinic contacts the
customer and then develops a prescription for the steroid
treatment or hormone treatment. Then [the clinic] sends or e-
mails the prescription to a doctor, who is often not even in the
same state. He’ll sign it [because] he’s being paid by the clinic,
usually $20 to $50 for every signature. The signed prescriptions
get faxed to the compounding pharmacies, which know from the
very beginning that there is no doctor-patient relationship. The
pharmacy then sends the product to the customer.’….
“ ‘It makes total sense for athletes to do it this way,’ says agent
Alex Wright of Florida’s Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation.
‘If they get caught, they can say, ‘I sent my blood work to the
clinic like [it] asked me, and the doctor said my ‘testosterone
levels are low.’ This is the best way they can get stuff. They
have the comfort of anonymity because there is no face-to-face.
They are just a name and a credit card.’”
Well what about human growth hormone, HGH? “HGH is
thought by some to accelerate recovery times, speed healing,
decrease body fat and, particularly when combined with steroids,
increase muscle mass and therefore strength.”
Can you say pitchers? And just to interject a bit on the NFL, as
SI points out, former defensive tackle Dana Stubblefield said he
believes 30% of that league’s players use HGH.
Jim Rich / New York Daily News
“Two days before the curtain was raised on Gary Matthews Jr.,
the villain in the latest act of baseball’s critically acclaimed
steroid drama, Jason Giambi was catching bouquets at Yankees
camp for his new role as the hero. Giambi’s soliloquy in
Monday’s papers – he’s ‘gone through some tough times,’ but is
‘definitely stronger,’ and how he ‘might have come (to New
York) as a boy, but I’m a man now,’ – was greeted with column
inches of applause and admiration. Almost nowhere was it noted
that Giambi had hurled himself into the steroids spotlight by
choosing to cheat in order to improve his performance and, in
turn, sign a bigger contract. So here’s a refresher on the reality
of the situation: Giambi did not ‘find’ himself embroiled in a
steroids scandal – he created one.”
So enter the latest scandal, and evidence a plethora of star
athletes have been receiving human growth hormone, HGH,
through the mails, via the Web.
Jim Rich:
“(Why use HGH?) Because the stuff works. It makes you a
better player for a lot longer. If you are a below-average player,
it will make you average. If you are a journeyman, it will turn
you into a good player – see Matthews. If you are a good player,
it will elevate you to greatness – see Giambi. If you are a great
player, it will make you an other-worldly player – see Barry
Bonds. Giambi knew it, and is reminded of it every time he
spends some of the nearly $70 million he’s made since 2002.
“Is it just a coincidence, then, that Matthews posts career highs in
home runs, hits and batting average with the Rangers last season,
is rewarded with a $50 million deal with the Angels during the
offseason and then his name pops up as a valued customer for the
online equivalent of Performance Enhancers R Us? …
“Giambi has mastered the whole scam and parlayed it into a new
market: the little steroid user that could.
“ ‘It makes you get back to why you play this game, which is to
have fun,’ Giambi said about all the perceived sacrifices he feels
he has made over these past couple of years. ‘I know you can
make a lot of money, but at the same time, all I ever wanted to be
was a ballplayer.’
“He actually said this with a straight face. The next day we read
what a resilient, admirable guy Jason Giambi is.”
Mike Lupica / New York Daily News
“You know why Gary Matthews Jr. isn’t saying anything about
his alleged purchase of human growth hormone through an
online pharmacy? Because he doesn’t want to put himself at risk
with the Angels, make some kind of mistake that would give the
Angels a chance to back out of the $50 million contract they
signed him to over the baseball winter when Matthews became a
free agent.
“Matthews doesn’t want to get fired over drugs. Guaranteed
contracts will be the last great battleground between baseball and
players still using drugs despite everything that has happened
over the last few years, despite BALCO and ‘Game of Shadows’
and Rafael Palmeiro and Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco,
despite baseball being hauled in front of Congress, despite the
George Mitchell investigation. Despite all of it.
“One of these days, and it might be soon, because Angels owner
Arte Moreno looks like he might not be a good sport about what
he knows about Gary Matthews Jr., some owner is going to fire a
player for using drugs. After that they will let the Players
Association and an arbitrator explain to everybody why the sport
is supposed to treat players like tenured professors no matter
what kind of conduct they engage in off the field, no matter what
kind of rules they break.”
Meanwhile, Matthews has hired Robert Shapiro, best known for
representing O.J. Simpson.
–Unfortunately, it would appear Barry Bonds has recovered
from his bout with bird flu, this despite a 60% mortality rate
worldwide. Bonds has hit a few homers in spring training the
past few days.
–Former Jets running back Richie Anderson, currently an
assistant with the Arizona Cardinals, was arrested as part of a
Phoenix police anti-prostitution operation. Anderson was
soliciting an officer posing as a hooker. So we hereby throw
Richie’s name in the yearend file as an “Idiot of the Year”
candidate.
–Huh. Shannon Tweed turned 50, the same day Sharon Stone
turned 49……………………………you don’t expect me to say
anything more, do you? I have my International Web Site
Association license to worry about, after all.
–Raymond Sokolov had a piece in the Wall Street Journal on
some of the better burger joints in America, Sokolov having
journeyed from coast to coast to sample the fair. Some of his
best:
Seattle – Red Mill Burgers; Los Angeles – In-N-Out Burger (the
only fast-food chain he found edible); Austin – Dirty’s; Chicago
– Nick’s Tavern; Detroit – Miller’s Bar; Atlanta – Ann’s Snack
Bar; Pittsburgh – Primanti Brothers Restaurant; New York – DB
Bistro Moderne; Cambridge, Mass. – Mr. Bartley’s Burger
Cottage.
–I’m ready for “The Sopranos.” In the meantime, “Rome” has
been great this season.
–Golf World has a little story on Calvin Peete, who is suffering
from Tourette’s syndrome these days. “Most people don’t even
know. I don’t walk down the street cursing and talking out
loud,” he says.
Peete, winner of 12 PGA Tour titles and the straightest driver
from 1981-90, said golf “was never fun for me. Golf was the
hardest job I ever had. I had to get to the practice tee, and I had
to work. I never played leisure golf.”
And when you see Peete’s name, you’re once again reminded
just how few black pros there have been on tour. Since about
1950, I’m pretty sure it’s no more than 10 who were regulars:
Woods, Sifford, Elder, Pete Brown, Dent, Thorpe, Peete…I
know I’m missing one or two obvious ones, but that’s about it,
isn’t it?
–Golf Week has its annual ranking of the best courses in the
U.S. and breaks them into Classic (designed before 1960) and
Modern (1960-present).
Top Ten Classic
1. Cypress Point
2. Pine Valley
3. Shinnecock
4. Merion
5. Pebble Beach
6. Oakmont
7. National Golf Links (Southampton, NY)
8. Crystal Downs (Frankfort, Mich.)
9. Prairie Dunes (Hutchinson, Kan.)
10. Augusta National (Hoboken, NJ…..just seeing if you’re
paying attention)
Top Ten Modern
1. Sand Hills (Mullen, Neb.)
2. Pacific Dunes (Bandon, Ore.)
3. Whistling Straits (Mosel/Kohler, Wis.)
4. Pete Dye Golf Club (Bridgeport, W. Va., …..didn’t know of
this one)
5. Friar’s Head (Baiting Hollow, NY…or this one. I need
wealthier friends)
6. Bandon Dunes (Bandon, Ore.)
7. Muirfield Village (Dublin, Ohio)
8. Shadow Creek (North Las Vegas)
9. Kinloch Golf Club (Manakin-Sabot, Va.)
10. The Golf Club (New Albany, Ohio…no, that’s not too
pretentious, is it? Geezuz. For starters, who the hell would want
to wear a shirt with the logo “The Golf Club”?!)
–Your editor will never be invited to The Golf Club.
–Tiger Woods is catching major flack for the new tournament in
Washington, D.C., that he is going to sponsor, as it turns out with
AT&T since I last mentioned this.
The problem is, as it now stands the tourney is going to be an
“invitational,” meaning the field will be limited to between 105
and 130 golfers, or thereabouts. In other words, it’s yet another
event where the lower guys on the totem pole are scrambling to
get in. Recall last December when I wrote that when you add up
the 125 who qualify for the Tour by virtue of their position on
the money list at the end of each year, plus over 50 from the
Nationwide Tour and Q-School, plus special exemptions, such as
Tour winners who get a two-year exemption but didn’t make the
top 125 in the first of those years, plus a few foreign golfers with
special exemptions, well, you see what kind of problem it
creates.
Veteran Brad Faxon said “I was shocked when I heard (that it
might be an invitational). We’ve got players looking for spots,
and we’re replacing a tournament that had a full field (The
International). With the amount of tournaments we have that are
invitationals (Arnie’s ‘Bay Hill’, Jack’s ‘Memorial’), it doesn’t
make sense to do more.”
It’s going to be interesting to see how Tiger handles this. One
nice touch he is instituting, however, is all active military and
children under the age of 12 will get free admission; a tribute to
his father, Earl, who spent 20 years in the Army.
–Mark Calcavecchia won his 13th PGA Tour title this weekend
after shooting an opening round 75. This guy has a 67.66
scoring average for the fourth round of an event where he holds
or shares the lead going into it.
But the great story was Calcavecchia’s caddie, Eric Larson, who
served 11 years in prison for pushing drugs. Calc never
abandoned his friend and Larson cashed in as well with Mark’s
win.
–Sports Illustrated has a story in the current issue on the plethora
of golfers from South Korea on the LPGA Tour, an issue for
some. Part of the problem is you simply can’t tell them apart, as
awful as that may sound. It’s the truth.
And consider this. SI lists all those Koreans who have won at
least once, with all 15 being 30 years of age or younger.
I’m serious…except for Grace Park, who kind of stands out for
various reasons, there is no way I could ever identify any of the
others, being just a casual viewer of LPGA action on television.
So picture the problem the Tour faces in trying to gain new fans.
It’s why the likes of Michelle Wie, Paula Creamer and Natalie
Gulbis are critical to the success of the LPGA going forward.
I mean could you identify the following by sight?
Shi Hyun Ahn (one win), Hee-Won Han (6), Jin Joo Hong (1),
Jeong Jang (2), Jimin Kang (1), Soo-Yun Kang (1), Birdie Kim
(1…I’d probably recognize her, come to think of it, but only after
looking at her picture again), Joo Mi Kim (1), Mi Hyun Kim (7),
Meena Lee (2), Seon-Hwa Lee (1), Se Ri Pak (23…I should
know her by now, I admit), Gloria Park (2), Grace Park (6…the
elegant one), Sung Ah Yim (1)
–The Dallas Mavericks started the season 0-4. Since then they
are 52-5, in what is obviously one of the best stretches in the
history of all sports…period. The 1995-96 Chicago Bulls are
tops with a 72-10 mark.
–Congratulations to Chatham, N.J. (a neighboring town of
mine), for winning the Group II state basketball championship.
–Ohhh nooooooo….the dachshund may one day be extinct, at
least in Germany. A story in the London Times notes that the
number of dachshund births has dropped by 40% in the past
decade there. The reason? It’s just not an ‘in’ animal anymore.
But fear not. In Japan, where space is at a premium, the
dachshund is popular. In fact it is the second most popular breed
after the Chihuahua.
–Sad news out of Philadelphia as John Vukovich died at the all
too early age of 59. A member of the Phillies only World Series
championship team in 1980, he had been a coach for Philly for
the past 19 years, while earlier serving short stints as manager of
both the Phils and Cubs. Back in 2001 he was treated
successfully for a benign brain tumor, but late last year the tumor
returned and it was inoperable.
–Atlanta Braves pitcher Mike Hampton, in the seventh year of a
guaranteed $121 million contract, won’t be able to pitch for
months due to another injury. He hasn’t appeared in a game for
Atlanta since about the middle of the 2005 season. I assume he’s
having fun spending his money, though.
And let that be a lesson to the San Francisco Giants for signing
Barry Zito to a long-term contract; $126 million over 7 years.
–A poll of NHL players by Sports Illustrated found that they
thought the Blackhawks had the best uniform in the league, 28%
of the vote, with 16% for the Canadiens and 14% for the Red
Wings. But the Blackhawks logo isn’t politically correct!
Actually, Nos. 4 and 5 are the Maple Leafs and Rangers,
meaning the top five were all among the Original Six that formed
the league (along with Boston….10th in this poll)
–Queen Elizabeth II is “probable” for the Kentucky Derby on
May 5. That’s cool. Scat Daddy is the early favorite it seems.
–Meanwhile…John Henry, the legendary two-time “Horse of the
Year” turned 32 on Friday. That’s the equivalent of 96 in human
years. His handlers at Kentucky Horse Park’s Hall of
Champions in Lexington say that John Henry is as ornery as
ever. “If he doesn’t try to kill me at least once a day,
something’s wrong,” said Cathy Roby, the manager there. John
Henry retired in 1985 as the richest horse in racing history,
having won more than two dozen stakes races.
In case you wondered, yes, 32 is very old, especially for race
horses. Secretariat was 19 when he died, Seattle Slew made it to
28, and Seabiscuit died at 23. [USA Today]
–Brad Delp, the lead singer and guitarist for Boston, died on
Friday at his home in New Hampshire. It’s not known what the
cause was, but he was alone and had called for help at 1:20 pm.
No signs of foul play. Just last week I noted that the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame had ranked Boston’s debut album, “Boston,”
No. 43 on the list of 200 “definitive” rock albums.
Delp was making heating coils for Mr. Coffee machines when he
joined the group.
–Columnist Mark Steyn has a little essay on the passing of the
Mamas and the Papas’ Denny Doherty in the April issue of The
Atlantic. Following is the opening bit.
“As the old line goes, if you can remember the ‘60s, you weren’t
there. Denny Doherty could remember them better than most,
anecdote after anecdote – sharing spliffs with Lennon and
McCartney at his pad in London, shooting the breeze with Dylan
when he swung by the coffeehouse in the Village with another
quatrain for ‘Blowin’ in the Wind,’ neglecting to turn up at
Sharon Tate’s party one summer night in 1969…Those boomer
rock guys not technically dead are mostly so zonked that,
showbiz reminiscence-wise, they might as well be. But Doherty
brought an old-fashioned Friars Club polish to rock-and-roll
anecdotage.
“If he wasn’t there, he at least gave a plausible impression that
he’d been nearby for pretty much every seminal event in the
decade. At dawn, the morning after the night before, John and
Paul went back to the day job, off to Abbey Road to continue
working on an LP about someone called Sergeant Pepper; Denny
headed back to the party.
“It was the Summer of Love. Free love, of course, but the sex
came at quite a price. Denny bought Mary Astor’s old house in
Laurel Canyon and opened his doors. Everyone who was anyone
dropped in to say hello, and a lot of people who weren’t anyone
at all dropped in and never dropped out. When he needed a
break from the party, Denny’d have to buy the spongers and
hangers-on tickets to Europe to get them to leave. But what did
he care? It was one unending roundelay of sex and drugs and
light vocal harmonizing with the Mamas and the Papas. As one
interviewer wrote:
‘Before they hit the big time, the group dropped acid, smoked
dope, and drank. After they hit the big time, the group dropped
acid, smoked dope, and drank.’”
Top 3 songs for the week of 3/13/65: #1 “Eight Days A Week”
(The Beatles) #2 “My Girl” (The Temptations) #3 “Stop! In
The Name Of Love” (The Supremes)…and…#4 “This Diamond
Ring” (Gary Lewis & The Playboys) #5 “The Birds And The
Bees” (Jewel Akens) #6 “King Of The Road” (Roger Miller) #7
“Ferry Cross The Mersey” (Gerry & The Pacemakers) #8 “Can’t
You Hear My Heartbeat” (Herman’s Hermits) #9 “The Jolly
Green Giant” (The Kingsmen) #10 “Hurt So Bad” (Little
Anthony and The Imperials….underrated)
NBA Quiz Answer: Four active 20-10 members –
Elton Brand…20.3 ppg / 10.3 rpg…585 games (a/o Friday)
Tim Duncan…21.9 / 11.9…728
Kevin Garnett…20.5 / 11.3…911
Shaquille O’Neal…26.1 / 11.7…963
Chris Webber is at 21.1 / 9.9….he was over 10 rebounds until
just the past few weeks.
*I meant to note this last time, but this is Bar Chat #951. The
first 100 or so aren’t archived but I have ‘em all. So that means
sometime late summer we are going to hit #1,000, if you can
imagine that. Which means one other thing, folks. At some
point, maybe around #975, I’ll begin a countdown to 1,000 with
some of the best of the early Bar Chat, as selected by, err, moi!
Next Bar Chat, Thursday….Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Induction Ceremony and more March Madness…if you keep it
where it is.
