NCAA Football Quiz: 1) Who is Missouri’s all-time rushing
leader? [Currently in the NFL.] 2) Who rushed for 2,357 yards
at Missouri from 1978-80 and later played in the NFL, initials
J.W.? 3) Who am I? I entered 2007 as Navy’s 2nd all-time
leading receiver with 1,278 yards and later won a Super Bowl,
initials P.M. 4) Who is Navy’s career rushing leader, playing
from 1981-85, before entering the NFL.
Sports Illustrated’s “Sign of the Apocalypse”. [This is so funny,
it warranted the lead.]
“A pheasant hunter in Iowa was shot in the calf with more than
100 pellets when he laid down his shotgun to retrieve a bird and
his dog stepped on the trigger.”
Of course you might have two thoughts. Why wasn’t the dog
retrieving the bird? As in, “Hey, that’s my job!” But, more
likely, the guy was just a real a-hole and the dog had had enough.
Barry Bonds, part next to last…we hope [last being ‘sentencing’]
Seeing as I’ve been on the case since day one, you can’t expect
me to skip over the indictment. It needs to become part of the
archives after all. Anyone years from now wanting to know the
full genesis of his case need only look to “bar chat.” I have it all
here…and from every side and source.
Mike Vaccaro / New York Post
“Show me the evidence, the surly superstar kept snarling at
America. Show us the evidence, his small but vocal band of
supporters kept baying. For four years, Barry Bonds and the
merry band of delusional yes-men he surrounded himself with
kept smiling those sanctimonious smiles, and it was easy to
understand why.
“He is rich. He is famous. And in our star-blinded culture, if
you are rich and you are famous, it is damn near impossible to be
held accountable for your actions. Surround yourself with a
fancy team of lawyers and deny, deny, deny, you’ll eventually
walk through the other side unscathed. Little guys get sent to the
big house. Greg Anderson gets sent to the big house.
“Barry Bonds? Never did he think a day like yesterday would
ever arrive. Not for him. Not to him. His strategy from the start
was to play us all for fools, to stand firmly behind his
constitutional rights and hope the feds would tire of the game.
“Only the feds never did get weary. They were energized by a
couple of dogged San Francisco reporters, who made sure the
story stayed in front of the public consciousness the whole way.
They were aided, ironically, by Bonds himself, who never once
moved off the defiant-victim cloak he wrapped himself in, all but
daring the feds to knock the chip off his shoulders….
“For four years, Bonds whined about the microscope under
which he lived; whined about ‘Game of Shadows,’ whined about
ESPN assigning reporter Pedro Gomez to shadow his every
game; whined about the Hall of Fame displaying his 756th home
run ball with an asterisk; threatened to boycott Cooperstown if
they did so.
“Well, Barry Lamar Bonds, Defendant, now has a whole hell of a
lot more to worry about than Pedro Gomez and Bud Selig and
Mark Fainaru-Wada and a Hall of Fame that may well beat him
to the boycott. Bonds now faces an opponent known as the
United States of America, an opponent that almost never pushes
a case this far unless it’s certain of victory.
“Ask Michael Vick.
“Sources told The Post yesterday that evidence of a steroid test
failed by Bonds was seized early in the BALCO investigation,
meaning that from the very beginning Bonds knew full well the
goods the feds actually had on him – and believed he could deny
his way through to the other side. We always knew his
arrogance knew no bounds; we never knew it could wind up
destroying him.”
[For the record, Vick surrendered early for prison on Monday.]
Dave Anderson / New York Times
“The prevalent reaction to Barry Bonds’ indictment was that it
was a bad day for baseball, even a sad day. But to me, it was a
good day for baseball. Or at least the dawn of a good day, a
dawn without a cloud in the sky….
“At last, the baseball world knows what federal prosecutors
believe: they have enough evidence to convict the slugger who
hit 762 home runs over his career, including 73 in 2001.
“If Bonds is convicted, it will be an even better day for baseball.
If he is convicted, the truth will have prevailed, the truth that he
not only used steroids but the truth that, in his arrogance, he lied
about it. Lied not only to a grand jury nearly four years ago, but
lied to that grand jury after having been warned not to lie.
Before being sworn in that day, Bonds was reminded of his
immunity agreement: that whatever he told the grand jury could
not be used to prosecute him for a crime, as long as he told the
truth.
“Yes, he was immune from prosecution as long as he told the
truth.
“But according to the 10-page indictment: ‘Barry Lamar Bonds
unlawfully, willfully, and knowingly, did corruptly endeavor to
influence, obstruct and impede the due administration of justice,
by knowingly giving Grand Jury testimony that was intentionally
evasive, false, and misleading, that is: (a) the false statements
made by the defendant as charged in counts 1-4 in this
indictment and (b) evasive and misleading testimony.’
“Those hard ‘counts 1-4’ were spelled out. One, lying when he
denied having ever taken steroids. Two, lying in denying that
anyone but physicians had given him injections or drawn blood.
Three, lying when he denied that his personal trainer, Greg
Anderson, had ever given him human growth hormone. Four,
lying about the timing of when he received a steroid cream from
Anderson, saying it was before the 2003 season….
“Even if Bonds were to beat the rap, the indictment is enough for
Bonds’ opponents to wonder what might have been. Did steroids
help him hit a pitcher’s best pitch for a home run that might have
been a warning-track fly ball without steroids? Did some of the
games that Bonds won affect the first-place finish in a division?
“The truth hurts, but it also helps. In the long run, the truth of
the Bonds indictment will help. So will the truth of Major
League Baseball’s internal investigation of steroid use, due to be
released in the coming weeks. For all the shame of whatever
steroid use emerges, the game is bigger than the steroids, bigger
than Bonds and all the other steroid users.”
Bill Plaschke / Los Angeles Times
“Clueless Barry Bonds and the Juiced Sox Scandal of 2007.
“Yeah, it’s that bad. Not since the fixed World Series of 1919
has baseball been in such a fix, its most accomplished player
indicted Thursday for lying about cheating his way to its most
glamorous record.
“United States of America v. Barry Lamar Bonds.
“United States of America vs. Its Own Doggone National
Pastime.
“Yeah, it’s that awful. Sure, everyone suspected Bonds took
steroids. Absolutely, everyone wrote that Bonds probably took
steroids.
“Heck, Commissioner Bud Selig was so sure Bonds was going to
be indicted for lying about steroids, he refused to publicly
applaud him during his chase of Hank Aaron’s home run record
last summer.
“Everyone – except perhaps the exceptionally deluded San
Francisco Giants fans – saw this indictment coming.
“But we had no idea how it would feel once it arrived. It feels
slimy. It feels sick….
“It feels like the back of Barry Bonds’ neck looks. It is
grotesque and surreal. Not one of Bonds’ 762 homers connected
like this one.
“This would be like the recent Michael Vick federal indictment,
but only if Vick were Joe Montana, and only if the dogs were
discovered to have thrown most of his touchdown passes….
“Dang, the phony really was a phony. His 73 homers in 2001?
Liar. His .812 slugging percentage in 2004? Liar. His 351
homers after 1998, when he allegedly began using steroids out of
jealousy for Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa? Big fat liar….
“[Some] folks say that this is only a charge, not a conviction, so
Bonds should be given the benefit of the doubt. That benefit has
been foolishly extended for four years.
“Time’s up. Game over. On federal indictments, the
government swings and misses even less than Bonds did.
“You’ll notice, we write about Bonds’ career in the past tense.
That is because, as a baseball player and future Hall of Famer, he
is now officially finished….
“The moment he is convicted in this case – convicted of anything
involving lying about steroids – Selig will undoubtedly ban him
from baseball for life.
“He will be Pete Rose without the bad haircut or long autograph
lines. Even if writers wanted to vote for him, they couldn’t.
“Bonds will disappear, leaving behind only an asterisk, although
not a literal one.
“Baseball will not forcibly smudge his career home-run record of
762. If baseball starts messing with asterisks, it will have to deal
with spitballs and stolen signals and records set during an era in
which African Americans and Latinos didn’t participate….
“The real asterisk will be worse. The real asterisk will be a black
cloud that will hang over the entire game until we learn to trust it
again….
“Today you will read that Alex Rodriguez, with his ‘noble’ effort
to remain with the New York Yankees for a quarter-billion
dollars, will play the part of Ruth.
“He will eventually break Bonds’ record. He will make us
believe in the integrity of the game’s majesty again.
“Not so fast. You are assuming Rodriguez is clean. Until
baseball can test for human growth hormone, can we assume
anyone is clean?
“Rodriguez flicks home runs like McGwire once flicked home
runs. Rodriguez controls the plate like Bonds once controlled the
plate. Rodriguez grows larger every year like, well, like all of
baseball once grew larger every year.
“There are no accusations here. There are only observations that
Bonds’ indictment can now, sadly, allow us to have about
everyone….
“It is one thing for a couple of boozy guys in the bleachers to
stand above the United States of America’s star baseball player
and chant, ‘Ster-roids.’ It is quite another thing for the United
States of America to do it.
“Yeah, it’s that bad.”
Thomas Boswell / Washington Post
“Why isn’t anybody applauding? Not cruel cheers, just
restrained applause at the news that Barry Bonds has been
indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice.
“Sad comments and hand-wringing have been the prevailing
response since the story broke Thursday. From the White House
to a thousand pundits we’ve heard that Bonds’ plight is a bad day
for everyone, a blow to baseball and a cause for seriousness
bordering on grief.
“Really? If Bonds’ cheating is finally established beyond a
reasonable doubt after years of denial, isn’t that good? When
those who harm their sport and lie to investigators are prosecuted
appropriately, isn’t that justice? If the most famous record in
American sports is returned to its rightful owner, Hank Aaron,
what could be fairer?
“If Bonds used illegal performance-enhancing drugs that were
against baseball’s rules, shouldn’t Hall of Fame voters know it?
If Bonds has defied the sport and the government for four years,
earning $75 million in salary since his initial grand jury
testimony in the BALCO case, knowing all the while that he was
lying, shouldn’t he be exposed?….
“Perhaps someday we will know what backroom considerations
may have come into play. To be sure, the ultimate timing has
been, shall we say, fortuitous. While his legal fate hung fire,
Bonds not only earned a fortune but passed Aaron. So he can’t
claim that this indictment cut short his career before he had a fair
chance to break an enormous record. On the other hand, Bonds’
indictment comes just about a month before the Mitchell
commission tries to summarize the steroid era and, perhaps,
name even more names. ‘Mitchell will have a lot of stuff,’ one
well-placed source said yesterday. With Bonds, BALCO and the
Mitchell commission coming to a convenient climax at roughly
the same time, baseball may be able to claim by next season –
who knows yet with how much justification – that it has finally
done an honorable job of addressing an enormous problem. And
the end of an era, perhaps the most disgraceful in baseball
history, may finally be in sight.”
Michael Wilbon / Washington Post
“One of the most common questions being asked yesterday
immediately after the announcement was, ‘Why did it take so
long?’
“The answer is simple: They wanted to be certain they had the
goods. They wanted to be certain they could go into a courtroom
with Bonds and prove at trial he knowingly took steroids.
“If the Feds are successful, Bonds’ records – all of them – will
carry some kind of notation that expresses the most extreme
skepticism, the kind that Hall of Famers Aaron and Frank
Robinson expressed privately for years. Bonds isn’t the only
one, but he’s No. 1 and unquestionably will be the face of
baseball’s scandalous steroid era, a period of about 15 years that
will stand as perhaps the sport’s greatest embarrassment since
Pete Rose and his sleazy gambling….
“Guilty or not guilty, Bonds is done playing baseball at the major
league level. It’s a good thing for Bonds that he hit No. 756 this
past season because he took his last big league swing in
September. Even a successful courtroom fight would taint him;
consider the discovery process and all it would reveal about
Bonds – about steroids and tax evasion, shady trainers and the
seedy underside of acquiring illegal substances, about God
knows what else….
“If guilty, Bonds will be the most egregious and high-profile
steroid user in baseball, but hardly the only one. He may forever
be the face of the steroid era, but it would be wrong to deal with
Bonds without the greater context. Whatever is done to him
should be done to everyone.”
William Rhoden / New York Times
“In the past two months, three of the world’s most highly visible
professional athletes have been fingered for wrongdoing, one in
connection with dogfighting, two in connection with the use of
performance-enhancing drugs.
“Two of them have been publicly humbled and brought to their
knees. Michael Vick, at one time the NFL’s most exciting
player, pleaded guilty in August to a felony charge of conspiracy
in connection with a dogfighting kennel being run from a
property he owned. During an emotional statement of apology,
Vick said that he had found God.
“Marion Jones, once the world’s most famous female athlete,
wept in front of a courthouse last month shortly after admitting to
using performance-enhancing drugs and making false statements
in two separate government investigations.
“Now Barry Bonds, presumably the Big Fish in the
government’s probe, is on deck. Bonds was indicted Thursday
on felony charges of perjury and obstruction of justice….
“I wasn’t surprised by the Bonds indictment, but there was
something disturbing about the intensity of the investigation.
Vick, Jones and Bonds were targets of prolonged federal
investigations that had the feel of a holy crusade. But a crusade
to rid society of what? Dogfighting? Steroid use?….
“My issue has to do with an apparent double standard that has
focused, thus far, on black athletes. I’m waiting for the dragnet
to pull in a more diverse bounty of high-profile athletes.”
[Ed. note. I said I present all sides in cases like this, so I
presented the above from Rhoden, a black journalist, if you
didn’t already know, who in the above piece goes on and on,
including how the NFL “came down hard on player conduct,
making examples of players like Pacman Jones and Tank
Johnson.” Rhoden’s advice, along with that of Vick’s attorney, is
“Walk the straight and narrow, be wise about who you choose to
have around you, and pay your taxes.” That applies to everyone;
white or black.]
Mike Lupica / New York Daily News
“Of course this is a baseball story first and foremost because it is
Bonds, and he is the one who hit all those home runs. But he did
this. He is the one who could end up a bum the way Rose did, at
least in the eyes of the law. Bonds knew exactly what he was
doing, and what he was doing – unless you think Fainaru-Wada
and Williams wrote a novel when they wrote ‘Game of Shadows’
– was a laundry list of drugs that reads as if it were written in a
pharmacy in hell.
“Now the government says that he not only took all those drugs,
but then he lied about it under oath and kept lying. And that isn’t
on baseball. It is on him. Baseball didn’t do this to Barry Bonds,
the media didn’t do this, the feds didn’t do this. He did this to
himself. He takes a different kind of medicine now.”
Stuff
–College Football
AP Top Ten
1. LSU…10-1
2. Kansas…11-0
3. Missouri…10-1
4. West Virginia…9-1
5. Ohio State…11-1
6. Georgia…9-2
7. Arizona State…9-1
8. Virginia Tech…9-2
9. Oregon…8-2
10. Oklahoma…9-2
14. Hawaii…10-0…they just never looked impressive against an
already very weak schedule. So even a solid win over No. 17
Boise State, Friday, won’t earn a BCS berth.
BCS
1. LSU, .9904
2. Kansas, .9488
3. West Virginia, .8878
4. Missouri, .8707
5. Ohio State, .8602
15. Hawaii
But now it’s all about Kansas vs. Missouri on Saturday, 8:00
p.m. I know what I’ll be doing at that time. Beer and Chex Mix,
baby!
Michigan’s Lloyd Carr announced his retirement after losing to
Ohio State for a sixth time in seven years, leaving LSU’s Les
Miles, who played under Bo Schembechler and was a full-time
assistant there, in an incredibly difficult position. He’s supposed
to be focused on winning a national championship, but Michigan
can’t wait until early January to make its own decision should
Miles decide he wants to go back to his beloved Ann Arbor.
I protected my gains on the betting front, going 2-2 last weekend,
and sit 21-12 on the year.
I had Wake Forest, giving 6 ½ to NC State…win, 38-18
I had Air Force, giving 11 to San Diego State…win, 55-23
I had Clemson, giving 7 to Boston College…loss, 17-20
I had Navy, giving 15 to Northern Illinois…loss, 35-24
One more week for the bets. I don’t do conference title games or
bowl contests.
Take Colorado, giving 5 ½ to Nebraska
Take UConn and 17 vs. West Virginia
Take Cincinnati, giving 19 ½ to Syracuse
Take BYU, giving 4 to Utah
[Tuesday’s lines…USA Today]
–Besides, it’s on to college basketball. No, I won’t be betting on
that, but for the record let me hop on the North Carolina
bandwagon and go with them to finish first. [For the record, I
also had USC in football…………………….doh!]
Sports Illustrated’s Men’s Basketball Top 10
1. North Carolina
2. UCLA
3. Tennessee
4. Memphis
5. Georgetown
6. Kansas
7. Louisville
8. Indiana
9. Washington State
10. Marquette
[UConn is the women’s hoops favorite this year.]
And congrats to Wake Forest for getting Skip Prosser’s last three
recruits to sign their letters of intent for next year. All three are
rated by one leading service as being in the top 25 in the country,
a big time rarity for us.
–Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson for capturing his second
straight Nextel Cup title, holding off teammate Jeff Gordon.
Johnson, a good guy, is first to go back-to-back since Gordon
accomplished the feat in 1997 and ’98.
–It is kind of funny how New England is chasing Miami’s
perfect season of 1972, while Miami seeks to avoid becoming the
first winless team since the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And
New England QB Tom Brady is just 11 short of Peyton
Manning’s season record of 49 TDs, with six games to go, while
the Patriots have outscored their opponents 411-157!
Astounding.
–A few last bits from the Moscow notebook:
I was eating dinner next to a table of two couples one night when
a stunning woman started to choke on her food. So I was ready
to oblige and give the Heimlich, as the guys sitting with her were
ignoring her gagging. But seeing as they looked like Mob
figures, what was I to do? Thankfully, she recovered on her own
and I lived to tell the tale.
I did goof in attending this Andras Schiff piano recital last
Thursday evening. It was about a 25-minute walk from my hotel
and I knew where I was going, so at a certain point I was
walking on the same side of the street where the concert was to
be held and I noticed a coatroom through this window.
So I entered, there were some people milling about in the hall, I
checked my coat, went exploring for a men’s room, went back to
the lobby, where I saw some women bringing in bouquets of
flowers to hand Mr. Schiff afterwards, and as it was 15 minutes
before the recital, decided to go to my seat. So this woman takes
my ticket and it was then I learned I was in the wrong theater!
I was only two blocks away, however, and made it with five
minutes to spare. But if I had decided to just loiter in the lobby
another ten minutes before going to my seat, well, let’s just say I
would have missed the first number on Schiff’s program. Never
did know what the other concert was for.
And at least no one laughed at me at the first place; you know,
like Charlie Brown being laughed at when he brought in the
scrawny tree.
As I did five years ago, I waited until the last night of my stay at
the Hotel Metropol to make sure I had enough money to blow at
the casino, and still have cash for the car to the airport the next
morning.
The casino at the Metropol, though, while connected to the hotel,
can not be entered except from outside, which is why I didn’t
mention it during the week. That is you can only enter that way
unless you know the secret stairway, that only inquisitive hotel
guests know. For starters, you go ‘up,’ to go ‘down.’ As in you
go up to the second floor, take a left when you get off the
elevator, and follow the hall all the way around, and around (it’s
a big hotel), until you see the Metropol casino door. Then go
down about three flights of marble stars until you come across a
security guard, who looked very surprised to see me.
The guard points you down to the bottom of the stairs, where two
impossibly beautiful women greet you and you have no problem
waiting, oh, up to five hours to be let in, if it were to take you
that long. Alas, it was only three minutes. [You want to know
what Moscow is like? You have to mention the women. Sorry if
that offends anyone.]
So I am personally escorted to the blackjack table, whereupon
the pit boss, thinking I’m probably ready to drop $thousands,
sees I’m going to cash in only $200.
Well, I was prepared to walk away after five minutes because I
bet $20 a hand, while this Russian gentleman next to me played
six hands simultaneously, and for $25 a pop.
Turns out I won my first 8 or 10, actually, but then the tide
quickly turned and after just 40 minutes I left down $120. And
when I exited, the reception women had already been replaced by
two others in the “impossibly beautiful” category.
Lastly, if any of you haven’t been to Moscow and want to go,
please contact me. I can give you some great advice.
–Sympathies to the family of Greg Meech, one of Australia’s
leading bull riders, who was the favorite for the National Rodeo
Association’s all-round title last Saturday when he was riding
Yella Terra, fell onto his back, and the bull’s hind legs stomped
on his chest. Meech was wearing a helmet and protective vest
and managed to stand up before collapsing at the side of the ring.
He died later of internal injuries. [Sydney Morning Herald]
–We note the passing of Joe Nuxhall, the youngest player in the
history of modern baseball when he threw in a game for
Cincinnati in 1944 at the age of 15. Nuxhall had just completed
his junior year in high school. He allowed five runs in one
inning and didn’t come up again until 1952, but after that he
ended up 135-117 for his career and was a Reds broadcaster from
1967 to 2004.
–And Jim Ringo passed away at the age of 75. Ringo was a 10-
time Pro Bowl center for both the Packers and Eagles, and from
1954-67 played in a then-record 182 consecutive games. In 1981
he was elected to the Hall of Fame.
–Lastly, Mr. Whipple died. I was never a fan of the product he
shilled for, Charmin bathroom tissue. Kind of a Scott’s guy,
myself.
Top 3 songs for the week 11/18/67: #1 “To Sir With Love”
(Lulu) #2 “Soul Man” (Sam & Dave) #3 “Incense And
Peppermints” (Strawberry Alarm Clock)…and…#4 “The Rain,
The Park & Other Things” (The Cowsills) #5 “It Must Be Him”
(Vikki Carr) #6 “Please Love Me Forever” (Bobby Vinton) #7
“Your Precious Love” (Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell) #8 “I
Say A Little Prayer” (Dionne Warwick) #9 “Expressway To
Your Heart” (Soul Survivors) #10 “I Can See For Miles” (The
Who)….what a great week when you can have ‘Incense and
Peppermints’ and The Who in the same top ten as Vikki Carr and
Bobby Vinton. And that, friends, is why the 60s were the best
decade, period (best defined as ’64 to ’73). Good music of every
kind was rewarded.
NCAA Football Quiz Answers: 1) Missouri’s all-time rushing
AND passing leader is current New York Jet Brad Smith, who
rushed for 4,289 and passed for 8,799 yards. 2) James Wilder
ran the ball at Missouri from 1978-80. 3) Phil McConkey caught
67 passes for 1,278 yards from 1975-78 and later played a key
role with the Giants. 4) Napoleon McCallum rushed for 4,179
yards from 1981-85.
Mizzou tidbit: The school hasn’t finished in the top ten since
1969, during the Dan Devine era.
Next Bar Chat, Monday, Nov. 26.
Happy Thanksgiving.
