BULLETIN…7/26 p.m. Wake Forest fans are in mourning over the
tragic death of basketball coach Skip Prosser at age 56.
********************************
[Posted early due to travel.]
San Francisco Giants Quiz: 1) When was the team’s last World
Series triumph? 2) Name the Giant’s two-time MVP in the
1930s. 3) Who were the two Rookies of the Year in the 1970s?
4) Who was the only batting champ between 1930 and 2002? 5)
Who am I? I went 24-7 in 1962 and I’m not your first guess. 6)
Who are the only three in franchise history to throw either 10 or
11 shutouts in a season? [Hint: not a trick question.] Answers
below.
Bonds, Vick, Donaghy
If you just stumbled on Bar Chat, I have extensive comments on
the above three in the 7/23/07 column…see archives below.
But just to add a few more items regarding these dirtballs:
I watched all of NBA Commissioner David Stern’s news
conference on Tuesday and I think it was Skip Bayless of ESPN
who said it best afterwards. As I outlined last Bar Chat, Tim
Donaghy was involved in all manner of off-court issues, which
Stern admitted he was both aware of and investigated. So why
then wasn’t this guy released?
And as another ESPN reporter noted, Stern made it sound like he
had everyone but the Delta Force on his security team…but they
still couldn’t nail the guy. Nothing would have happened had the
FBI not come across his name during a wiretap investigation
looking into the mob.
Sally Jenkins / Washington Post
“Where, in this litany of trespasses [Bonds, Vick, Tour de
France] do we place referee Tim Donaghy and the assertion that
he fixed NBA games for the mob? In meanness and criminality,
his alleged offense is probably worse than performance
enhancing, but not as cruelly heinous as slamming a dog on the
ground until it’s dead. These are the charming measurements we
get to make this summer, when all we want to do is stare at pretty
green fields and watch games.
“Still, the Donaghy scandal comes with the most collateral
damage and potential for outrage, because it robs everybody, you
and me both, of belief. The Vick case is about a vile and sadistic
practice, but Vick is just one player. The baseball steroids issue
is a cool scandal, about the nature of performance and the
definition of cheating, a topic on which we’re not unanimous. In
fact, large numbers of fans don’t seem morally outraged at all,
judging by the box office. An argument can be made that Bonds
still had to hit the ball.
“But the Donaghy allegations cause a place to go cold in the pit
of the stomach, colder than a pond of dark water. A referee
shaving points messes with the authenticity of, well, everything.
You have to be able to believe your own eyes.
“Games are actually our most intense form of reality show.
Compared to them, ‘American Idol’ is an actor’s sketch, staged
and over-managed. Audiences can accept that a TV show might
be a tad fraudulent, but it’s simply intolerable on a field of
competition, because the substance and usefulness of sport
depends entirely upon the fact that we wholeheartedly believe
that what we’re watching is emotionally truthful and impulsive,
and therefore instructive about our behavior and values….
“But the potential corrosiveness of the Donaghy case is
suggested by handicapper Brandon Lang’s comments to ESPN.
Lang’s distrust of the officiating is rampant, even runaway.
‘Listen, this is just the first guy to get caught,’ Lang says. ‘I
think, without question, there are more officials out there who
have shaved points. I guarantee you there are. This is just the
first guy to get caught.’”
This nightmare has a long ways to play out.
Bonds
Barry Bonds’ girlfriend, Kimberly Bell, will be on newsstands
Oct. 1, just in time for baseball’s postseason, as she poses nude
for Playboy in its November issue. Ms. Bell will also, according
to her agent, detail her “personal and sexual relationship” with
Bonds. Now I can’t say I care about the sexual aspect, but I
can’t wait to see Barry squirm when this comes out. However, if
I’m a reporter, there is no way I ask Barry for his reaction.
Think Chris Benoit.
But, Ms. Bell could really screw up the government’s case
against Barry when she is seen as profiting from her relationship
with a man she has slammed for using steroids as well as
cheating on his taxes. At this point, though, I can’t get too upset
because it’s too late, sports fans.
Mike Vaccaro / New York Post
[On growing up as a kid in 1974 and watching Hank Aaron hit
No. 715, while sitting with his father on April 8 that year.]
“I was probably exhausted, because it was well past 8:30,
standard bed time for a school night, but I can still remember the
disappointment I felt when Downing walked Aaron in the bottom
of the second inning (I got two at-bats and one of them was just
wasted). I can also still remember when Aaron walked to the
plate in the fourth, knowing this was it for me, a condemned
child hearing the clock ticking.
“ ‘The great players are so good they have two nicknames,’ my
father explained. ‘So you have both ‘Bad Henry’ and
‘Hammering Hank’ for Aaron, just like DiMaggio had ‘The
Yankee Clipper’ and ‘Joltin’ Joe.’’
“And I remember the way the ball leapt off Hank Aaron’s bat a
few seconds later. My father always cautioned me about
jumping to homerun conclusions; lots of balls that look like
homers on TV, he warned, are just long fly balls. A few months
later, at my first live game, he would counsel, ‘Always look at
the outfielder. He’ll tell you if it has a chance,’ which is the way
I still track fly balls all these years later.
“This time, though, my father was the one who jumped. He gave
his own play-by-play, drowning out Curt Gowdy on the TV.
“ ‘That’s it!’ he yelped. ‘That’s the one!’
“ ‘You’re right, that’s it,’ my mother said shortly thereafter. ‘It’s
time to sleep.’
“I wonder if there will be similar negotiations in the coming
days, whenever Barry Bonds is sitting on 755, ready to make the
leap into history, for better or for worse. I wonder if fathers are
going to want to share that moment with their sons, will want to
make a lasting imprint on their memories the way my father
wanted my memory time-stamped. I wonder if kids will replay
No. 756 in their beds, all night long, the way I did with No. 715
33 years ago.
“I doubt it. And if you want to gauge the depth of the shame that
shadows this historic pursuit, that’s it right there. Kids will be
sleeping soundly all over America whenever it happens. Yes.
That’s a shame. That’s the shame.”
And this editorial, from Monday’s Washington Post
“Barry Bonds’ pursuit of a record-setting 756th home run is
supremely awkward for Major League Baseball, as one of the
game’s most hallowed records falls to one of its least loved
superstars. And it should be awkward, given MLB’s see-no-evil
attitude toward performance-enhancing substances during Mr.
Bonds’ heyday. But this is also an occasion to reflect on
greatness – athletic and human.
“One could take the view, as do some who are urging celebration
of Mr. Bonds’ probably steroid-fueled achievements, that the two
are quite separable: that the slugger’s contemptuous treatment of
other people and manifest lack of integrity should not diminish
our admiration for the amazing things he has done with a ball
and bat….
“Perhaps it’s worth noting, though, that the man whose record
Mr. Bonds is poised to break never adopted such a standard.
‘The way to fame is like the way to heaven,’ Henry Louis Aaron
said upon his induction to baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1982.
‘Through much tribulation…I stand here today because God
gave me a healthy body, a sound mind and talent. For 23 years I
took the talent that God gave me and developed it to the best of
my ability.’
“Hank Aaron dared to say something like that because it was
true. He did not cut any corners, and no one cut him any slack.
Born during the Great Depression, Mr. Aaron learned baseball by
hitting bottle caps with a stick on the streets and sandlots of
Mobile, Ala. He attended segregated schools and suffered racial
ostracism as a minor leaguer in the Deep South during the early
1950s. His greatest moment as a big leaguer, breaking Babe
Ruth’s career home run mark in 1974, was almost spoiled by
death threats from racists.
“Mr. Aaron endured all of this and fought back, becoming a
pioneer advocate for greater inclusion of minorities in baseball’s
executive suites, as well as a successful businessman in his own
right. He has consistently given back to the community through
charitable activity and inspirational talks with young people.
There is a reason that presidents Bill Clinton and George W.
Bush invited him to the White House and awarded him medals of
honor: They wanted to bask in the reflected glory of a man who
was not only a great ballplayer but a great American. That kind
of record can never be broken.”
Vick
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told Michael Vick to stay
away from the Atlanta Falcons’ training camp until the league
completes its review of his case. Vick will, however, be paid.
Terence Moore / Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“He’s gone. Whether that means for the season or forever in the
NFL is debatable, but this isn’t: No way Michael Vick ever plays
again for the Falcons.
“No way Michael Vick ever can play again for the Falcons.
“More specifically, given the ugliness and the intensity
surrounding his dogfighting indictment, no way Michael Vick
ever should play again for the Falcons. The fact that the NFL
ordered the beleaguered quarterback on Monday night to stay
away from training camp was the beginning of the end for Vick
in Atlanta.
“If nothing else, Vick is guilty of stupidity in the first degree. He
says he wasn’t aware of illegal dogfighting in this case, but it
happened on his property in Virginia for five years. Plus, most
of those involved were from his boyhood ‘crew’ that he regularly
swore allegiance to despite the criminal past of its members and
warnings from former coach Dan Reeves.
“He’s gone, all right. Even if Vick loses his mind during the
next few days by not taking the deal proposed by the league,
players union and Falcons officials that would give Vick a
lengthy paid leave of absence, he is gone anyway. If he ignores
the deal, he will be suspended by the league. All you had to do
was listen to NFL spokesman Greg Aiello reemphasize over the
phone from New York that commissioner Roger Goodell is
obsessed with doing whatever it takes to ‘protect the shield.’
“Translation: Image is everything to Goodell and league
owners.”
Stuff
–I didn’t know of the death of minor league coach Mike
Coolbaugh when I went to print last time. I can’t begin to know
how batter Tino Sanchez feels as it was his wicked foul drive
that hit Coolbaugh in the head, killing him. Coolbaugh, 35,
played 44 games in the majors with Milwaukee and St. Louis.
His wife is expecting their third child.
There seems to be some confusion as to how quickly the
ambulance arrived, and while I don’t know which account is
accurate, my only observation is, why the heck wasn’t an
ambulance already there on standby? This was a AA baseball
game, with a decent crowd. People get hurt by foul balls all the
time. This is appalling.
–Time constraints the other day didn’t allow me to go a little
deeper into the British Open, but in the post-tournament press
conference, runner-up Sergio Garcia didn’t exactly distinguish
himself.
Garcia has had his share of opportunities, even though he is only
27, and as the New York Post’s Mark Cannizzaro wrote, “Garcia
cannot hide from the stark reality that he didn’t handle being in
the lead very well.”
But then Cannizzaro described Sergio’s comments before the
press.
“ ‘I’m playing against a lot of guys out there,’ Garcia moaned.
‘More than the field.’
“Really? Did the ghost of Old Tom Morris come scurrying out
of the gorse bushes and distract him while he was sliding all of
those putts past the hole when one or two of them dropping
might have won him the tournament?
“Too much of Garcia’s post-tournament press conference had a
‘poor me’ vibe to it, and that was hardly becoming. He sounded
sometimes like a young child complaining that everyone is
against him.
“Garcia ranted about what he claimed was a 15-minute wait to
hit his approach shot from the 18th fairway while the group in
front cleared the green and then a groundskeeper raked the two
bunkers that had been played out of by that previous group.
“ ‘Having to wait 15 minutes in the fairway doesn’t help when
you’re trying to win the British Open,’ Garcia said. ‘I wasn’t
very happy about that. It took a long time to rake a couple of
bunkers.’”
As Canizzaro points out, however, it wasn’t 15 minutes, and,
“patience is one of the virtues players must master before they
can win a major championship, and the annoyance of waiting is
one of the things they must overcome.”
“At the end of the day,” Cannizzaro writes, “Garcia should have
won this Open and he should have been mature enough and man
enough to admit it to himself.”
–Golf bits: You all know the high-profile players, with both
$millions in annual earnings as well as a like amount in
endorsements, have it made. But it’s so easy to forget just how
hard it is to find real success, year after year…say being
consistently in the Top 30 on the PGA Tour money list, for
example. Here are three quick stories.
Wake Forest’s Bill Haas, Jay’s boy. Bill has all the talent in the
world, but in 21 PGA Tour events this year, he has made the cut
only 9 times and sits at 117th on the money list, thanks to a 5th
place finish early in the year. Remember, you need to finish in
the top 125 by yearend to secure your card for another season.
Bill is undoubtedly feeling the pressure.
Jerry Smith…a fellow I followed along with Haas at Q School in
California a few years ago. Great guy, though a true journeyman
at age 43. Last year Smith finished 137th on the money list with
$568,000 in earnings, so he has conditional status on Tour this
year; meaning he has a hard time getting into fields. Smith had
qualified for the Big Show in 2006 by virtue of his performance
on the Nationwide Tour in 2005.
This year, Jerry has played in just 9 PGA events, making three
cuts and taking home under $47,000 total. He’s #218 on the
money list thus far and in the few events he will get in the rest of
the way, will need to log at least two top tens just to get back into
touch with the #125 player. Since Jerry last had a top ten on
4/23/06, he has been in 30 events without even a top 30. Jerry
has also appeared in six Nationwide events in ’07 and has made
one cut, earning $3,366.
But you might be thinking, heck, Jerry won $568,000 last year,
I’m sure he still socked away a lot of that. Hardly. He has to
pay all his travel expenses, the caddy, and probably a few
sponsors out of that and Jerry Smith is not getting any major
endorsements. It’s as if he is a rookie in Major League Baseball,
net-net, and this year is on the verge of heading back to the
minors.
Lastly, you have the sad case of Craig Perks. Five years ago,
Perks, in one of the biggest upsets in golf history, won The
Players Championship, his first and only triumph. But his game
almost immediately went south.
2002…wins TPC ($1,080,000) and $1,632,000 in total earnings
2003…28 events…makes 12 cuts…earns $368,000…#145
2004…27 events…makes 11 cuts…$423,000…#152
2005…27 events…makes 6 cuts…$171,000…#206
2006…18 events…makes 1 cut…$11,880
2007…10 events…zero cuts made…$0
Perks’ special 5-year exemption for winning The Players runs
out this year. He turned 40 in January.
So next time you hear of one of those feel good stories and a
golfer who is suddenly battling for the lead after years in the
wilderness, root for the guy. I have to admit I like it when the
“names” win, but I need to be a little more sympathetic myself.
–In the Ryder Cup points standings, Eric Axley is 15th. Eric
Axley?! But in the world rankings, Steve Stricker is all the way
up to 13th. That’s a minor shocker. [Tiger, Phil, and Furyk are
the top three.]
–Mike Lupica had a bit on A-Rod’s amazing start. In his first 98
games, A-Rod had 34 homers and 100 RBI. Rather awesome, I
think you’d agree. But in 1934, Lou Gehrig had 35 HR and 120
RBI after 98. Joe DiMaggio had 32-110 in 1937. And with
Alex, if he can’t lead the Yankees into the playoffs, let alone do
something once he gets there….no one cares what he did in the
regular season.
–Here’s a baseball tidbit I’ve been meaning to pass on. About
six weeks ago I saw an article in USA Today concerning the
Oakland A’s pitching staff of 1980 when Billy Martin was
managing. That year they compiled 94 complete games. 94!
Martin used a five-man staff, but all five threw 200+ innings.
Rick Langford…290 IP…33 starts / 28 complete
Mike Norris……284…33 / 24
Matt Keogh……250…32 / 20
Steve McCatty…221…31 / 11
Brian Kingman…211…30 / 10
[Bob Lacey, in his only start, threw a complete game shutout.]
Now contrast that with Milwaukee’s staff in 1980 which had the
second most complete games at 48, still a huge number by
today’s standards, and the fact that by 1984 Oakland was down
to 15, and, for the record, 5 in 2006.
My, the game has changed. Think of this one. In 1980, the A’s
staff threw four 14-inning complete games. Matt Keogh says he
threw 187 pitches in his effort.
But while the five starters were all young, between 24-28, and
with four winning at least 14 games each on a squad that went
83-79 [the 5th, Brian Kingman, was 8-20], only one of them won
more than 12 games again, McCatty’s 14 in 1981. Only Langford
was still in the big leagues by his 32nd birthday.
So the next time you’re bitching and moaning, pulling a Sergio,
about how few innings your home town starter is going, the
above is something to remember.
–I dare you…name one competitor in the Tour de France………
And that pretty well sums up the state of this event.
–Now I’ve covered this topic before, but Andrew C. Revkin,
writing in the International Herald Tribune, discussed the issue
facing Florida residents, and much of America, quite frankly;
that being the explosion in the Burmese python population.
A biologist in the Everglades, Skip Snow, has the task of opening
up the stomachs of the pythons and he’s “found everything from
very small mammals (including rabbits), to possums, raccoons,
even a bobcat and most recently the hooves of a deer.” And then
there was the famous picture of the python that had swallowed an
alligator.
The pythons entered the ecosystem after being discarded once
they got too big to be pets. As Snow observes, when you have
an animal that can reach 20 feet in length and weigh over 300
pounds, “That may not pose an ecological problem in Detroit,
but in a near-tropical Florida park, it is an unfolding nightmare.”
Revkin notes, “Some very rough estimates put the state’s pet
python population above 5,000. More than 350 have been found
in the park since 2002, with more showing up in mangroves
along Florida’s west coast and farther north in the state. There
are perhaps 10 more for every one that is seen, Snow said.”
And get this, “In May 2006, biologists confirmed that Everglades
pythons were not a transient curiosity when they found the first
clutch of eggs. ‘There were 44 eggs, 42 fertile,’ Snow said.
Shortly afterwards, they found another clutch of two dozen,
already hatched.”
Aaghhhhhh!!!
“There is every sign, (Snow) said, that the pythons are still
rapidly colonizing new terrain. ‘This is a species that is really
made for invading.’”
This proves concerns expressed awhile back by yours truly that
they could be heading up Interstate 95, perhaps hitching a ride on
the Auto Train.
–Let’s face it, you couldn’t come up with a better host for “The
Price Is Right” than Drew Carey. I say this having failed to
laugh once at the improv show he hosts, “Whose Line Is It
Anyway?” whenever I stumble on it channel-surfing. That
debacle isn’t Carey’s fault.
–I see the ‘comic’ Gallagher turned 61 the other day, which
reminded me of June 2003 and my trip to Branson, MO, to get a
little shot of Americana. Here’s what I wrote, in part.
“(Back to the Jim Stafford show), at intermission they had a
video camera showing the audience up on a big screen and
suddenly, ‘Hey, that’s Gallagher!’ [Gallagher is the ‘comedian’
whose act is built around smashing watermelons.] Gallagher
took off his cap to show everyone it was really him, but it was
curious that he wasn’t introduced by Stafford, who may not have
known he was there, nor should he have cared, actually.
“So the next day I’m at an outlet store (great shopping in
Branson, I must say) and the clerk asked me where I was from.
One thing led to another and I told him I loved Jim Stafford’s
show when this kid blurts out, ‘Guess who was in our store
earlier today? Gallagher.’ No kidding, I mused. [You have to
understand, folks, there is nothing more to this story….this is
Branson…and I promise this is the last time I mention this
goofball.]”
Ha! Broke that promise, I guess.
–Johnny Mac passed this one along from Reuters.
“A sports memorabilia company is suing Boston Red Sox star
David Ortiz – claiming the popular slugger does not sign enough
autographs.”
Turns out Steiner Sports Marketing (whose CEO looks like he
has taken more than a few shots to the face), is seeking $1
million in damages because Ortiz fell short of the quota he was
assigned, plus Ortiz failed to show up at corporate meet-and-
greets, as his contract required.
Hey, did you guys watch “Entourage” this week? Great one,
speaking of memorabilia.
–Former ABC Sports broadcaster Bill Flemming passed away at
the age of 80. He was vastly underrated.
–Re: “For Worse,” the stupid music telethon / Battle of the
Bands has begun, thereby giving April a chance to showcase yet
again what a spoiled little jerk she is, while Becky goes after
every man in town, including Michael (this one is off-panel).
And, as forecast, Shannon is displaying the latest in Hillary’s
clothing line and I’m frantically trying to get her a gift certificate
before the strip runs its course. [As an aside, Jeff B. and I agree
that Shannon’s mother is a real winner…or as Jeff so aptly put it,
“The leaf doesn’t fall far from the tree.”]
Top 3 songs for the week 7/27/68: #1 “Grazing In The Grass”
(Hugh Masekela) #2 “Lady Willpower” (Gary Puckett and The
Union Gap) #3 “Stoned Soul Picnic” (The 5th Dimension)…and
…#4 “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” (The Rolling Stones) #5 “The
Horse” (Cliff Nobles & Co.) #6 “Hurdy Gurdy Man” (Donovan)
#7 “This Guy’s In Love With You” (Herb Alpert) #8 “Classical
Gas” (Mason Williams) #9 “Hello, I Love You” (The Doors)
#10 “Indian Lake” (The Cowsills)
San Francisco Giants Quiz Answers: 1) The Giants last won the
Series in 1954, defeating Cleveland’s 111-43 regular season
juggernaut, 4-0. 2) Pitcher Carl Hubbell was MVP in 1933 and
1936…253-154 in his career. 3) Rookies of the Year, 1970s:
Gary Matthews, 1973; John Montefusco, 1975. 4) Willie Mays
was the only batting champ from 1930-2002 (between Bill
Terry’s .401 and Barry Bonds batting crown in ‘02), winning in
1954. 5) Jack Sanford went 24-7 in 1962. 6) The three to have
10 or 11 shutouts in a single season are the three best Giants
hurlers in their history: Christy Mathewson, 11, 1908; Carl
Hubbell, 10, 1933; Juan Marichal, 10, 1965.
Next Bar Chat, Monday….a few words on the LPGA Tour and
the Korean influence…plus my brief trip to Milwaukee…if you
keep it where it is.
