[Posted a bit earlier than normal.]
NASCAR Quiz: Jeff Gordon won his 76th NASCAR Nextel Cup
Series race last weekend [some of us still think of it as the
Winston Cup…but I digress], tying him for 6th on the all-time
list. Name the six others with 76 or more. [Two are tied at 84.]
Answer below.
Stuff
–Sports Illustrated’s Rick Reilly had some thoughts on the Duke
lacrosse rape case and former coach Mike Pressler, now with
Division III Bryant University in Rhode Island after being forced
out. The case was dismissed a few weeks ago.
“In Rhode Island, Pressler heard ‘innocent’ and tears came to his
eyes. In Durham, where she had remained with the girls so they
could finish the school year, (wife) Sue hugged all the players.
The day her husband had promised them had come.
“Sue and the girls leave soon to join Mike at Bryant, where he’s
already turning things around….
“Would Pressler ever go back to Duke? ‘After what those folks
did to us?’ he says. ‘What those people did to those kids? To go
back under that leadership? No, I couldn’t do that.’
“But the question is: When does this fine man who did absolutely
nothing wrong get his apology? Where are the mea culpas from
Nifong? From (Duke athletic director) Alleva? From Duke
president Richard Brodhead?
“When is Mike Pressler’s day?”
–We note the passing of reporter and author David Halberstam,
the victim of a car crash in California on Monday. He was just
73.
Halberstam is perhaps best known for his book “The Best and the
Brightest” about the men in JFK’s administration who propelled
the country into Vietnam; Robert McNamara being the prime
example, I guess you could say. Late this year his book on the
Korean War is coming out.
But to others he was better known for his books on sports, like
“The Summer of ‘49” on the pennant battle between the New
York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. He used sports like so
many of us do, as a vital diversion from our everyday
responsibilities. In Halberstam’s case, he rotated weightier
tomes, like “The Best and the Brightest,” with lighter fare.
Tragically, he was killed as he was going out to interview the
great quarterback Y.A. Tittle for a book on the 1958 NFL
championship game between the Giants and the Colts, one that is
still considered perhaps the greatest game ever played and
certainly a contest that launched the sport into the modern era.
Now it won’t be finished.
Ken P. alerted me to a piece Halberstam did for ESPN.com in
July 2002 about an interview with Ted Williams 14 years earlier
as he was working on the book “The Summer of ’49.”
“The word ‘charismatic’ is used much too casually these days,
applied all too often to movie stars who happen to look good in
front of a camera, and rock stars, and a few politicians with
better looks than most of their contemporaries, and even athletes
who excel at critical moments more often than their
contemporaries. But real charisma is something different, and
very few had it. Ted Williams did.
“It was the sum of many things. Some of it was that he had been
one of the greatest – if not the greatest – hitter of his era. Some
of it was the fact he had served in two wars and given up a large
segment of a brilliant career in order to do so, and had served
uncomplainingly. Some of it was his astonishingly good looks –
he was one of the best-looking American men of his era, and he
had the kind of rare good looks that improved with age. He was
leathery, rough and, above all, authentic.
“And no small part of it was that he was always his own man,
and never bent to fashion, and went his own way even when that
cost him in terms of immediate popularity. He was the man who
had been living the real life that John Wayne had been playing
all those years in the movies. He did things when he was young
and when he was old alike, on his terms, according to his
codes….
“There is a quote from Emerson which Bobby Kennedy was fond
of and it is worth applying here to Williams: ‘If one good man
plants himself upon his convictions, the whole world will come
around.’ That seemed to fit Ted Williams handsomely. In his
60s and 70s, it was the world which had come round to him.”
Mutual friend Bob Knight set Halberstam and Williams up and
on the appointed day:
“I was told to be ready in my motel room at 8 a.m., and at 8 a.m.,
there was a ferocious knock on my door, and I went to open it,
and the legend himself – tanned, fit, stunningly handsome –
looked at me, and said, in a loud voice, ‘Well, you look just like
your goddamn picture. Let’s go!’
“And off we went; we did 12 hours together, and when we
parted, we were pals, and if we saw each other in the future at
other baseball events, he always went out of his way to be
generous….
“Life after baseball had been good to him, in no small part
because of his life as a fisherman. Unlike a lot of other driven
and obsessed men who had excelled in sports but who had never
known what to do with their passions when they retired,
Williams had always had his great love of fishing….He had, in
effect, replaced his old teammates on the Red Sox with a new set
of teammates, the Islamorada bone fishing guides, rough,
unvarnished men, much like himself, and he liked their company
because he knew his acceptance by them came not from his old
deeds at Fenway, but how well he handled himself on the flats.
“The world had, as Emerson suggested, come round to him.”
–Long-time friend Stu W. saw Jackie Robinson play.
“First of all, Jackie was probably the most feared baserunner
since Ty Cobb. He never stole more than 37 bases, and
obviously there have been guys who have stolen far more, but
Robinson took more daring leads than anyone I have ever seen.
He simply drove pitchers – and catchers batty. If there were a
stat for most wild throws to hold a runner on, Robinson would
have won hands down.
“Years ago, someone asked Branch Rickey why no one in those
days stole 100 bases. His reply was that umpires were very loose
with the balk rule; meaning it was far easier for them to utilize
their pickoff moves and motions than is allowed today.
“Back to Jackie, most people are unaware that a baseball rule
was changed because of him. Here’s the scenario.
“Bottom of the ninth, score tied. Dodgers on first and second.
Robinson on second – one out. Batter hits a hard one-hopper to
shortstop – a cinch double play. Robinson, on his way to third,
runs in front of the shortstop, fields the ball, flips it to the
shortstop and jogs off the field. The shortstop, in disgust, slams
the ball into the ground. Robinson is out for being hit by a batted
ball, the ball is dead, and there are men on first and second. The
next batter hits one off the wall and the Dodgers win.
“Next winter, the rules are changed. If a baserunner deliberately
interferes with a batted ball, the umpire can call interference and
rule that there would have been a double play.”
In one of Robinson’s obituaries, former teammate Clyde King
(who pitched for Brooklyn the year Robinson broke in) noted
“He was the best base runner I ever saw. One time against the
Phillies, he hit a double and when their second baseman came
around with the late tag, he slammed his glove into Jackie’s head
so loudly, we could hear it in the dugout. Jackie never said a
word, but two pitches later, he stole third. That was his answer.”
–The other day when I noted the passing of the great linebacker
George Webster, Mark R., a Notre Dame grad who felt the sting
of Webster’s play at Michigan State (1964-66), encouraged me
to do a little more digging.
For starters, the authors of “Fifty Years of College Football
(1955-2004)” published a list of the all-time linebackers and
Webster is one of them.
Cornelius Bennett (Alabama), Brian Bosworth (Oklahoma),
Franklin Brooks (Georgia Tech), Michael Brooks (LSU), Dick
Butkus (Illinois), Shane Conlan (Penn State), Quentin Coryatt
(Texas A&M), Randy Gradishar (Ohio State), Dana Howard
(Illinois), Marvin Jones (Florida State), Lee Roy Jordan
(Alabama), Tommy Nobis (Texas), Dennis Onkontz (Penn
State), Jack Pardee (Texas A&M), Jerry Robinson (UCLA),
Mike Singletary (Baylor), Gary Spani (Kansas State), Chris
Spielman (Ohio State), Larry Station (Iowa), Darry Talley (West
Virginia), Jerry Tubbs (Oklahoma), George Webster (MSU),
Richard Wood (USC). [Not a bad list…I loved Nobis, though I
only remember him as a pro.]
Anyway, in 1965, Michigan State was #1 heading into the Rose
Bowl but was upset 14-12 by UCLA, this after UCLA lost the
season opener to the Spartans 13-3. Aside from Webster,
Michigan State’s defense featured none other than Bubba Smith.
In consecutive weeks in October, the Spartans had held both
Michigan and Ohio State to negative yards rushing. [MSU had
387 yards rushing of its own vs. OSU, in a 32-7 rout that Spartan
coach Duffy Daughtery called his team’s finest performance of
the season.]
For the ’65 season, Webster and Bubba Smith were consensus
All-Americans. [As was Nobis…and there was another, Johnny
Roland (Missouri) who made it on defense. He was a very good
running back in the NFL.]
Actually, this is rambling, and nothing to do with Webster, but
you start reading these things….also on the ’65 All-American
team, the offensive backfield was Bob Griese (Purdue) at QB,
with Donny Anderson (Texas Tech), Mike Garrett (USC), and
Jim Grabowski (Illinois) at running back. That’s a helluva
lineup, sports fans.
1966 brought us “The Game of the Century,” Notre Dame /
Michigan State, the famous 10-10 tie I’ve written a lot on over
the years (see the archives). But what I forgot was the Big Ten
back then had an incredibly idiotic “no repeat” rule so even
though MSU finished 7-0 in Big Ten play, Purdue, 6-1, got to go
the Rose Bowl. How stupid was that?!
Well, at least Smith and Webster repeated as consensus All-
Americans and Webster was snapped up by the Houston Oilers
in the draft.
So in Webster’s junior and senior seasons (as well as Smith’s),
check this out.
1965…10-1…76 points allowed
1966…9-0-1…99 points allowed
’65 and ’66 were bracketed by 1964’s 4-5 record and ‘67’s 3-7
mark, so I ask you; do you think George Webster and Bubba
Smith meant something to the team? In their two big seasons,
only one team, Purdue, scored 20 points and that was in a 41-20
loss in ’66. Then the Boilermakers get rewarded with the Rose
Bowl. I’ve gotta tell you, I couldn’t give a damn about Michigan
State, but now I’m ticked off.
[Mark, I”ll do the other story in the fall. Mr. Coleman.]
–And now your report on Game Management Unit 16…just
across Cook Inlet from Anchorage. You see, GMU 16 has a
black bear problem, according to Craig Medred of the Anchorage
Daily News. Black bear hunters kill on average 187 bears per
year during the hunting season, but Fish and Game officials
would like to see 1,000 taken out. Why?
“Because we have,” writes Medred, “over the course of the past
two decades, done such a good job of protecting bears that there
is now a bumper crop. Each fall, stuffed with berries and maybe
a few of the salmon of which fisheries biologists have made sure
there is plenty, they go into hibernation fat and happy.”
“Come spring, they emerge hungry. The best available protein
then is moose calves. Thus, the bears hunt, kill and eat a lot of
calves. The loss of calves prevents growth of the moose
population.”
Biologists believe GMU 16 can support 6,500 to 7,500 moose.
GMU Unit 14, where there are more bear hunters killing more
bears, supports about 10,000 moose. [GMU 16 is now home to
3,200 to 4,000, even though it is twice the size of GMU 14.
Unfortunately, a baby moose born in GMU 16 will have a less
than 50 percent chance of surviving the first few months of life.]
Now I imagine more than a few of you are thinking, what does
this have to do with normal bar chat fare? Good point. Except I
just thought these numbers were huge; 10,000 moose here,
thousands of bears there…imagine if the bear and moose sign a
peace treaty and head south!
–This just in… “A loggerhead turtle has broken a marine world
record by holding its breath under water for more than ten
hours,” according to the London Times.
Understand the turtle probably didn’t know what the record was,
but researchers had tagged it and were following its migration
habits when they realized, “Hey, that freakin’ turtle has been
under water ten hours!”
Turns out that the longest dive up to this point was 7 hours and
25 minutes by another loggerhead. Then you have to go all the
way back to the “yellow-bellied sea snake,” one of which has
been timed at 3 hours 33 minutes.
–Speaking of snakes, Boston Celtics guard Sebastian Telfair is
being released following his latest gun incident. Kudos to them!
Telfair’s attorney said the team was rushing to judgment. “It
always bothers me when you punish a guy so severely before
there’s been a finding of fact. I think that’s wrong whether it
happens in Durham or in Boston,” Ed Hayes said, referring to the
Duke lacrosse rape case.
Reminder to Mr. Harris. For starters, when Telfair was stopped
by police in Westchester County (N.Y.), he produced a Florida
driver’s license that had been suspended, let alone the fact the
.45-caliber handgun sticking out from under the front passenger
seat was loaded.
–I totally forgot a note I received from Alfred S. the other day
discussing my bit about spider bites and, err…well, you need to
look it up. Seems that Alfred had to go the emergency room. He
also had to get in a dig about the fact his nephew is on the
Richmond Spiders basketball team…one that perennially gives
my Wake Forest Demon Deacons a hard time, getting back to the
spider bite theme. [Some items just need to be left purposefully
cryptic.]
–As I go to post, A-Rod has 14 homers in April, tying the major
league record for the month set by the Cards’ Albert Pujols just
last year. A-Rod’s 34 RBI represent the most in any single
month for his spectacular career. [Congrats to those of you like
Jeff S. who have him in your rotisserie league.] But the Yankees
suck….and that’s the real bottom line.
–Ah ha! Seven backup urine samples taken from fraudster
Floyd Landis at the 2006 Tour de France reveal traces of
steroids. These samples had been deemed negative last year, but
the French lab conducted a more sophisticated test on the
samples this time around, and voila! Landis, ever the jerk, still
insists he “won the Tour fair and square.” Right.
–Some villagers in one of India’s eastern jungles have mutilated
at least one leopard as part of a religious ceremony, along with
two other large animals, the identities of which weren’t clear.
Wildlife officials don’t believe it was the work of poachers as the
skin was left behind and the heads were severed.
But rangers and poachers here have been engaged in pitched
gunbattles the past few weeks and the Indian government has
sent in reinforcements. Personally, I’d call in an airstrike and
wipe the dirtballs out once and for all. I also still think this
would make for a terrific movie. Of course I’d have the animals
taking out about 50 poachers in one overnight raid. And then
we’d go straight to video.
–William Rhoden of the New York Times says it’s in the best
interest of baseball that Hank Aaron and Commissioner Bud
Selig be on hand when Barry Bonds breaks the home run record.
I say it’s in the best interest of baseball that the Fed’s start
working overtime to get an indictment for income tax evasion.
–Lightning kills on average 100 people annually in the U.S.,
with five percent being on golf courses.
–I see Martina McBride’s “Waking Up Laughing” is #3 on the
Billboard Top 40 Albums chart. Imus had a lot to do with that.
A lot of country stars have to be real ticked these days because
he was their best promoter. I wouldn’t be going to see Keith
Urban in Milwaukee in July if I hadn’t heard his new material on
Imus, that’s for sure.
–I’ve decided the worst job in the world is baseball manager.
–Jeff B. and I are wondering what happened to Anthony in “For
Better or For Worse.” After all, he didn’t attend “The Party of
the Century.” Jeff says there is still hope for a big
Warren/Anthony smack-down. Meanwhile, Liz has morphed
into her mother as creator Lynn Johnston gets lazy and draws the
two the same.
–And now…a window into the life and times of your editor.
My parents had a recent issue with flooding as a result of the
New Jersey storm that left parts of the state a mess, and in the
cleanup some of my old report cards were uncovered, plus
assorted notes.
Back in kindergarten, Mrs. Woods remarked, “[Editor] has made
a good adjustment to the kindergarten program. [But] he needs
to listen more carefully.” Also, “[The editor] gets on well with
the children in the group. [I was probably trying to arrange a
poker game.] He is overcoming the habit of interrupting. He has
good coordination. He should do well in the first grade.”
And I did do well in first grade. But then it was downhill from
there.
For example, my 7th grade science teacher, Mr. Boyer, had this to
say about me.
“[The editor’s] sense of humor is a bit voluminous.” Mr. Boyer
also once screamed at me, as I was cutting up over his
environmentalism (hey, it was 1970…what did I know?),
“[Editor], you are damn rude!”
Top 3 songs for the week of 4/24/76: #1 “Disco Lady” (Johnnie
Taylor) #2 “Let Your Love Flow” (Bellamy Brothers) #3
“Right Back Where We Started From” (Maxine Nightingale)
…and…#4 “Boogie Fever” (Sylvers…dreadful) #5 “Sweet
Love” (Commodores…one of their better ones) #6 “Only
Sixteen” (Dr. Hook) #7 “Welcome Back” (John Sebastian) #8
“Show Me The Way” (Peter Frampton) #9 “Bohemian
Rhapsody” (Queen) #10 “Fooled Around And Fell In Love”
(Elvin Bishop…not only is the bottom half of this list superior to
the top half…but #10 remains the #1 tune of your editor, all
time)
NASCAR Quiz Answer: Most wins (1949-2007)
Richard Petty…200
David Pearson…105
Bobby Allison…84
Darrell Waltrip…84
Cale Yarborough…83
Dale Earnhardt…76
Jeff Gordon…76
Then it’s a big drop to Rusty Wallace with 55. You know, Jeff
Gordon’s pursuit of 100 is something to follow over the next 6-8
years or so. If I’m him, I certainly want to go for it; but you talk
about pressure. Gordon hadn’t won until last week since August.
It’s not easy.
[Remember, Petty and Pearson raced when there were a lot more
opportunities than there are today. Pearson is also probably one
of the more underrated athletes in American sports history, come
to think about it. Kind of in the mold of golf’s Billy Casper…
don’t you think?]
And for the better fans out there, I just have to throw out some
old names.
Bill Elliott…44 wins
Fireball Roberts…32
Buddy Baker…19…thought he had more
Harry Gant…18
LeeRoy Yarbrough…14
A.J. Foyt…7
Dan Gurney…5…Foyt and Gurney crossed over quite a bit in the
early 60s. And it needs to be noted that Gurney is my brother’s
selection as all-time racer, all categories, though Andretti and
Foyt fans would beg to differ.
Parnelli Jones…4…didn’t know this…another who crossed over
Charlie Glotzbach…4
Jim Hurtubise…1…Indy car racer
Johnny Rutherford…1…ditto
Mario Andretti…1…the 1967 Daytona 500
Mark Donohue…1…I have an autographed picture of the former
Summit, NJ, resident…and went to his funeral after his crash.
Next Bar Chat, Monday pm.
