NFL Quiz: Name the 8 to have intercepted at least 60 passes.
[Of course you’ll need some help…so here are the initials,
though in no particular order….D.L., R.L., D.L., R.W., E.T.,
P.K., K.R., D.B.] Answer below.
Michael Vick
I was watching “Hardball” on Tuesday and guest host Mike
Barnicle had sportswriter Paul Woody of the Richmond Times-
Dispatch debating ESPN’s Stephen Smith on Michael Vick’s
future. It was heated and broke down to Woody believing Vick
should be banned for life from the NFL, specifically, while
Smith said Vick should be treated like anyone else who serves
his time in prison and thus be allowed to apply for
reinstatement. Here are some other opinions.
Michael Wilbon / Washington Post
“And now comes the questions we all wonder. How long will
Vick be in jail? For how long will the NFL suspend him on top
of his jail sentence? Will Vick ever play in the NFL again?
Who would take him? What owner could stand there next to
Vick and introduce him as the next quarterback of the franchise?
What community is tolerant enough to stand for that? Will Vick,
who has been so arrogant, so vicious and seemingly without
conscience, really be able to convince people over the next
couple of years that he’s truly sorry?….
“You wonder if the people who unabashedly apologize for
Michael Vick, particularly in and around Atlanta, will see Vick
for what he is, for what he’s been, or whether they’ll continue to
give him the kind of cover that allows his brand of arrogance to
thrive. You wonder how many of them will come to the
conclusion most of us have, that if Vick really did what his co-
conspirators said and drowned dogs after trying unsuccessfully to
hang them, he’s pretty much scum-of-the-earth material….
“Like most people who are arrogant but not particularly smart,
Vick overplayed his hand. To get back into football – and
there’s no guarantee – Vick is going to have to repeatedly and
convincingly demonstrate a level of humility I doubt he’s felt a
single day in his life. And it has to start between now and
Monday’s appearance in Richmond….
“If he just remains the same old Michael Vick, he’s got no
chance.
“If he does a convincing 180 over the next couple of years, he’ll
probably have a shot. Or maybe the Canadian Football League is
in Vick’s future.
“In the meantime, I wonder if the high school and college star
athletes, the ones who think they’re bulletproof, are looking at
Vick as a criminal or as a victim. I wonder if they’ll study the
habits of their friends a little more closely and take a second look
at how dangerous ‘keeping it real’ has become. I wonder (and
worry) whether Vick, incarcerated and cut loose by corporate
(read: white) America will somehow develop a new following
and gain a measure of ‘street cred.’
“He has been, for at least three or four years, one of the most
recognizable players in the league, and, because of his
commercial ties, one of the most successful in the history of the
league. He’ll still be identifiable, by face and by uniform
number, and, sadly soon enough, by a prison number.”
Jon Saraceno / USA Today
“Ultimately, Vick’s fate as a player rests on (NFL Commissioner
Roger) Goodell’s desk. Because of the severity of the allegations
– including that the quarterback was responsible for hanging and
drowning underperforming dogs – the commissioner will face
pressure to see Vick never plays. Goodell won’t utter any such
edict, for a number of reasons – and it probably won’t matter,
anyway…
“During the next several days, we’re going to be hearing all sorts
of pundits discussing ‘What Mike Vick needs to do’ to
rehabilitate himself, and his tarnished image, in order to be
reinstated to play pro football.
“I don’t care if I ever see him on a field again because I wouldn’t
trust the guy with my child or my pet, much less with my
football team. Remember…
“He allegedly funded animal abuse for six years.
“He concealed it.
“He lied about it.
“He polarized a city along racial lines.
“No one was out to get him. He got himself.
“No one could catch Vick had he not stumbled, trapping himself
in a corner from which he could not flee.”
Sally Jenkins / Washington Post
“Michael Vick and his alter ego Ron Mexico, those suave fakers,
are going away. It looks like Vick will do at least 12 to 18
months in a federal penitentiary for his crimes, after which the
admittedly faint hope is that he might emerge a more whole and
gentle person, as opposed to a dog slayer and liar. In the
meantime, Vick’s lawyer wants us to remember, ‘Michael is a
father, he’s a son, he’s a human being – people oftentimes forget
that.’ Pardon, but if anybody forgot his humanity, it was Vick.
Not us….
“There are those who say Vick should suffer the same tortures
those dogs suffered, or at the least his sentence should resemble
something in a scene from ‘Cool Hand Luke’: He should be
fitted for manacles, and forced to break rocks with a shovel all
day in the hot sun. And then there are those milder sorts who
think the outrage at Vick is misplaced, who wonder why, as my
friend Gene Robinson [Ed. Washington Post columnist Eugene
Robinson, an apologist whenever race comes into play] put it,
some people are so furious over the barbaric treatment of dogs,
and yet seem to ‘accept without outrage shameful levels of
human carnage.’
“But outrage at Vick is not misplaced. It may be inarticulate and
bewildered, but it’s exactly right. There are myriad reasons to
feel it, the most minor of which is the fact that Vick is a deceiver.
He played the innocent, while hanging with lowlifes. He opened
a wine bar on one front and ran an illicit dogfighting operation in
secret. He swore he was the ignorant victim of a bad childhood
and misplaced loyalties, used by his old friends from the ghetto
in Newport News, when in fact he was a ringleader.
“He feigned naivete, when in actuality he was fatally attracted to
the seedy, surrounding himself with dealers and thieves. In
retrospect, all the little so-called mistakes form a pattern that
looks chronic: the friends carrying marijuana who just happened
to be driving a truck registered in his name, the incident in the
Atlanta airport when his traveling companion stole a wristwatch,
the woman who sued him claiming he knowingly gave her
herpes and then used the alias Ron Mexico in treatment.
“People are angry at Vick because they sense that dogfighting
isn’t a petty crime, but an underworld pursuit. It lies at a ‘nexus
with other crimes and community violence,’ and tends to be
associated with ‘a whole host of peripheral criminal activities,’
including gambling and racketeering, drug trafficking and gang
activity, according to the Michigan State College of Law’s
animal law center. People are angry at Vick because he’s a
squanderer who criminally abused his opportunities and turned
his talents to sleaze. He was on top of the world, and instead of
reaching up, reached down.
“But more than anything, people are angry with Vick because
they understand that dogfighting is a gratuitous form of cruelty.
This was a calculating, deliberate and sustained cruelty,
perpetrated over a number of years. Sixty-six tortured and
battered dogs were found on his property, and affidavits say he
personally helped kill eight others. Lots of crimes are committed
in a moment of passion, with one lapse in judgment or snap of
the temper. This isn’t one of them.
“There is an unnerving ruthlessness to the bloodsport of
dogfighting, and to killing something because it isn’t good
enough. It’s tempting to sympathize with Vick’s attempts to
blame his benighted youth in Newport News for his mistakes.
Maybe that’s what desensitized him. But it’s also possible that
something else was at work: galloping elitism. Vick may not
have had many advantages as a small boy, but he’s had every
advantage since then. From the instant he picked up a football he
was over-praised, overpaid and excused by idolatry. The truth is
that athletic prowess can breed a kind of coldness. We hold star
athletes to be more valuable than other people – and we literally
pay them as if they are worth more than others. Roy Baumeister,
scholar of social psychology at Florida State, theorizes in his
book ‘Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty,’ that heinous
acts may not come from a lack of self-esteem but rather from
egotism, a surfeit of self-regard.
“If an animal didn’t perform well enough, if it wasn’t champion
enough, if it was in Vick’s judgment flawed, he strangled it,
drowned it, electrocuted it or beat it to death on the ground. Vick
and his pals deliberately enslaved and tormented weaker
creatures, and killed those they considered inferior. The dogs
had faces and voices that would have eloquently expressed their
agony, and Vick hurt them anyway, repeatedly. The crimes may
have been committed against canines, but at issue is basic
humanity. Commit those crimes against people, and the words
we’d use for it are fascism, and genocide. Don’t kid yourself:
The people who are so angry at Vick are angry for all the right
reasons.”
I’m sick just rereading this last paragraph of Ms. Jenkins’. But
there are some black athletes who continually amaze many of us
when it comes to their own commentary. The NBA’s Stephon
Marbury, appearing on an Albany, NY, television station, is the
latest to play the role of village idiot. On Tuesday he said:
“I think we don’t say anything about people who shoot deer or
shoot other animals. You know, from what I understand,
dogfighting is a sport. It’s just behind closed doors. I think it’s
tough that we build up Michael Vick and then we break him
down.”
You know how I rank humans way down the list in terms of
intelligence? I need to start separating NBA ballplayers from the
rest….as in placing them behind wildebeests.
Here’s what I think will happen. Vick will receive the 12-18
month sentence everyone is talking about and NFL
Commissioner Roger Goodell will tack on a suspension of three
years, meaning Vick would be ineligible to play through the
2009 season.
There are those who say Goodell should levy a lifetime ban
(which you know is what he wants to do), but that would only
end up in the courts in a prolonged, expensive battle as the
Players Association and others fight it. Vick will still just be 30
in 2010, after all, though here’s the real bottom line.
Goodell needn’t worry about Vick being able to play again in the
NFL. No owner, no matter how desperate, will ever sign the
bastard. This case is so unlike any other, ever, in professional
sports that it isn’t a matter of giving someone a second chance.
This is a guy who should have a chip placed inside him so that
all Americans can track his whereabouts when he’s set free.
He’s a sick, demented fool…and this isn’t the kind of illness that
is curable.
[As an aside, Gary Myers of the New York Daily News had a
breakdown on the amount of money Vick stands to lose, $100
million. “The grand total…$71 million in base salary, as much
as $25 million in bonus repayment, depending on the
interpretation of roster bonuses in the new collective bargaining
agreement and $3 million-$5 million per year in endorsements.”
Vick had been signed to a 10-year, $130 million contract in Dec.
2004, the largest in NFL history. He has collected about $40
million thus far, including $37 million in signing and roster
bonuses. Myers writes, “Sources expect the Falcons to
aggressively pursue Vick repaying the pro-rated portion of the
$37 million…Sources also indicated they expect Vick to
challenge the amount. Since he violated the NFL’s Personal
Conduct Policy, though, the Falcons clearly have the upper
hand.]
Stuff
–Back to the NBA, ESPN.com has a story (via the Milwaukee
Journal-Sentinel) that former star Latrell Sprewell had his yacht
repossessed by the bank holding the loan on the 70-foot, $1.5
million vessel. The bank said Sprewell wasn’t making his
monthly payments of $10,322 in a timely fashion. Personally,
I’d simply lump Sprewell into the whole subprime market mess.
–By the time many of you read this it could be over, but for the
archives I had to acknowledge Arizona’s Brandon Webb and his
42 consecutive scoreless innings streak, just 17 shy of Orel
Hershiser’s record run of 59 scoreless innings in a row set back
in 1988. Webb was slated to pitch on Wednesday evening.
–Nice game, Garret Anderson of the Angels. 10 RBI on
Tuesday against the Yankees in clouting a grand slam, a three-
run homer, and two doubles. The 10 ribbies were one shy of the
AL record of 11 set by Tony Lazzeri (1936) of the Yankees. The
major league mark is 12, held by Jim Bottomley (1924) and
Mark Whitten (1993).
–Yippee! Former Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski
named names of major league players who bought steroids from
him when he met recently with baseball’s investigator George
Mitchell. As part of a plea deal, Radomski also agreed to testify
before a grand jury, if needed. But at this point I doubt Mitchell
is going to reveal the names, so we need some “plumbers” to
break into his offices and steal them for the rest of us.
–I don’t get this. Rawlings released its all-time Gold Glove
team and, well, you decide. But before I give it to you,
understand a panel of experts trimmed a list of more than 250
Gold Glove winners to a ballot of 50 and then fans voted on the
Internet for the final selection.
C – Johnny Bench
1B – Wes Parker
2B – Joe Morgan
SS – Ozzie Smith
3B – Brooks Robinson
OF – Willie Mays
OF – Roberto Clemente
OF – Ken Griffey Jr.
P – Greg Maddux
Here’s my problem with this. Wes Parker won six Gold Gloves
in his career, while Keith Hernandez won 11 at first. But more
importantly, you can not tell me that the kind of person voting
online for this honor remembers who the hell Wes Parker was! I
do, and I know Stu Baby knew him (Stu’s a little older than
me…just to include his era as well), but no one under the age of
40 could tell you anything about Wes Parker. So how could
Hernandez, playing the bulk of his career 15-20 years later, not
get it?
And then there is second base. Morgan won only five, while
Robby Alomar won 10 and Ryne Sandberg 9, for starters.
In other words, this whole deal had to be fixed. I’m calling my
congressman….interrupting his vacation and all.
–Geezuz, Tiki Barber is a jerk. Now with NBC in various
capacities because he is articulate and has a great smile, Barber
was on Sunday Night Football and took the opportunity to
criticize former teammate and quarterback Eli Manning.
Barber said “(Eli’s) personality hasn’t been so that he can step
up, make a strong statement and have people believe that it’s
coming from his heart. (Eli) didn’t feel like his voice was going
to be strong enough and it showed. Sometimes it was almost
comical the way that he would say things.”
Remember that Tiki himself, despite his super performance in his
final season, was a constant distraction to his teammates and it
showed in their 8-8 performance. Barber had also harshly
criticized coach Tom Coughlin in the past.
Now I’m no fan of Eli Manning, and the Giants made a bad
move in staking the franchise’s future on the guy. He’s no
Peyton, that’s for sure.
But this is about Barber and his total lack of class. Just say
something like, “We were all disappointed in how we performed
as a team last year and I know Eli feels there are some things he
could improve on. He’s got the tools and is certainly capable of
leading the team to greater heights, but Eli also understands he’s
in the pressure-cooker in New York and it’s show time.”
[PR advice…..another free feature of Bar Chat.]
What was great to see, however, was how quickly all of Eli’s
teammates rushed to defend him, thereby pounding home just
how much they too despised the incredibly egotistical Barber.
Actually, it’s great having Tiki in the booth now. Lots of Bar
Chat, that’s for sure.
–I’m reading a piece by Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times
and I have to admit I didn’t know this. In 41 years, the Atlanta
Falcons have never had back-to-back winning seasons. I had to
double-check, it seemed so implausible. Yup, it’s true.
[Farmer’s point was that “there is a perception that (Michael)
Vick is essential to the Falcons’ success.” But they were 15-17
the last two years.]
–Former NBA ballplayer Eddie Griffin, who had a checkered
five-year career and was beset with all manner of issues, was
finally identified as the victim when his SUV collided with a
freight train in a fiery explosion in Houston. Dental records were
required.
–Dental records were not required in the following tragedy,
however.
“Pet camel kills Australian woman”
From BBC News:
“A woman in Australia has been killed by her pet camel after the
animal may have tried to have sex with her. The woman was
found dead at the family’s sheep and cattle ranch near the town
of Mitchell in Queensland.
“The woman had been given the camel as a 60th birthday present
earlier this year because of her love of exotic pets.
“The camel was just 10 months old but already weighed 336 lbs.
and had come close to suffocating the family’s pet goat on a
number of occasions.
“On Saturday, the woman apparently became the object of the
male camel’s desire. It knocked her to the ground, lay on top of
her and displayed what the police delicately described as possible
mating behavior.
“ ‘I’d say it’s probably been playing, or it may be even a sexual
sort of thing,’ the Associated Press news agency quoted
Queensland police Detective Senior Constable Craig Gregory as
saying.
“Young camels are not normally aggressive but can become
more threatening if treated and raised as pets.”
Kind of makes you wonder how Detective Senior Constable
Gregory knows so much, doesn’t it? Or as friend Brad K. noted,
feisty camels are yet another sign of the apocalypse. It’s getting
to the point where you just don’t want to go outside anymore.
–Speaking of which, I had a nightmare last night involving a
Kodiak bear. I’m still alive, but I have my doubts as to the
ending when I pick up the story tonight.
–Top Party Schools (according to The Princeton Review)
1. West Virginia… “Take me home…to the place….I can party!”
2. Ole Miss
3. Univ. of Texas (Austin)
4. Univ. of Florida
5. Univ. of Georgia
6. Penn State
7. Univ. of New Hampshire…becoming even more attractive
with global warming….for us non-skiers
8. Indiana Univ.
9. Ohio University
10. Univ. of California–Santa Barbara…how could you not party
here? 365 days a year, by god!
Top Beer Schools
1. Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison…and great cheese and brats!
2. DePauw Univ.
3. Penn State…I’m assuming Rolling Rock
4. Univ. of New Hampshire…with locale, should be a plethora of
Canadian brews for the discerning palate
5. Univ. of Texas
6. West Virginia
7. Washington and Lee
8. Randolph-Macon College
9. Univ. of Florida
10. Ole Miss
[As always, drink responsibly………………….*I had to put this
in to save my International Web Site Association designation.]
–Oh noooooooo! Janeane Garofalo is going to be joining the
cast of “24” next season! I can’t stand her. This could be a deal
breaker for me, sports fans; though I still need to see if Chloe’s
baby becomes an integral character.
–Boy, I’m ready for “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
–Re: “For Worse…,” it’s gotten to the point where I’m hoping
the Pattersons assemble at a Tim Hortons Donut Shop (we’re
talking Canada, remember) with Liz dropping a looney into the
jukebox, whereupon we hear the familiar sounds of Journey.
Then as the music plays, all the other characters pop through the
door, there are knowing smiles and glances, and snickers at
Shannon’s latest Salvation Army outfit, but all along, Chopper
pilot Warren, linked up with one-time rival Paul, are hovering
overhead…missiles armed. As we hear “Don’t stop…” Warren
pushes the button…..whooosh! Fade to black…………
–So I’m reading the current issue of Rolling Stone and I see that
Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks have teamed up for another
album that is to be released soon; ‘That Lucky Old Sun (A
Narrative).’ You can hear the first song, “Midnight’s Another
Day,” on Wilson’s site. Check it out…sounds good……….
……………………brianwilson.com
–Since I gave Keith Urban glowing reviews when I saw him in
concert in Milwaukee the other week, I was anxious to see how
New Jersey critics viewed it when Urban brought his show to the
Meadowlands the other night.
From Claudia Perry / Star-Ledger: “Urban…delivered a fierce
two-hour set. (He) isn’t a honky-tonk singer like Ronnie Dunn
or the late Gary Stewart, but can make even banal songs sound
convincing…And he’s got an awesome band…Mostly, Urban
rocked.”
Yup, catch him.
Top 3 songs for the week of 8/21/76: #1 “Don’t Go Breaking
My Heart” (Elton John & Kiki Dee) #2 “You Should Be
Dancing” (Bee Gees) #3 “Let ‘Em In” (Wings)…and…#4
“You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine” (Lou Rawls) #5
“I’d Really Love To See You Tonight” (England Dan & John
Ford Coley) #6 “(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty” (KC
& The Sunshine Band) #7 “Rock And Roll Music” (The Beach
Boys) #8 “Kiss And Say Goodbye” (Manhattans) #9 “Get
Closer” (Seals & Croft) #10 “Turn The Beat Around” (Vicki
Sue Robinson)
NFL Quiz Answer: Top 8 interceptions all time –
Paul Krause…81
Emlen Tunnel…79
Rod Woodson…71
Dick (Night Train) Lane…68
Ken Riley…65
Ronnie Lott…63
Dave Brown…62
Dick LeBeau…62
*Johnny Mac noted that when I mentioned Frank Schulte the
other day, “Wildfire” being just one of two in major league
history to have 20 or more doubles, triples, homers and stolen
bases in the same season, that he won the first MVP award that
season, 1911, when it was the Chalmers Award…and the winner
got a Chalmers vehicle!
So I just picked up a book “Crazy ‘08” on the 1908 Cubs season,
authored by Cait Murphy, and I see that “Wildfire” Schulte was
quite a drinker and the Cubs’ Frank Chance would ask
sportswriter Ring Lardner to tell Schulte to cut back. Sounds
like someone I could have gotten a bit of bar chat out of back
then.
Next one, Monday p.m.
