NCAA Football Quiz: 1) Name two runners ahead of Barry
Sanders on the career rushing list at Oklahoma State whose first
name begins with ‘T’. 2) OK, this is hard, but I’m just trying to
have fun with every Division I program with this series of
quizzes. Who passed for 4,297 yards, 1962-64, for Oregon, and
later went on to the NFL, initials B.B.? 3) Who won the
Heisman playing for Oregon State, 1962? 4) Another for old-
time fans. Who am I? I rushed for a school record 299 yards in
1968 and 2,155 yards for my career at Oregon State, initials B.E.
5) Who is Penn State’s only 2,000 yard rusher for a single
season? 6) Who did Joe Paterno replace as coach in 1966?
Answers below.
Barry Bonds Court Watch…9:30 am PT, Dec. 7…Pearl Harbor
Day.
Baseball Bit
I just have to congratulate the Detroit Tigers for their stunning
move to acquire the Florida Marlins’ Miguel Cabrera and
Dontrelle Willis in a deal rivaling the great trades of all time.
In return, the Marlins acquire six prospects, two of whom are
highly sought…pitcher Andrew Miller and outfielder Cameron
Maybin…but Cabrera and Willis are today on a different level.
Ignore Willis’ record last season, 10-15 with a 5.17 ERA. This
guy is a gamer. And, heck, Willis can pinch-hit and DH for
Detroit, he being a .234 career hitter with power.
So check out Detroit’s probable lineup, as noted by Jack Curry in
the New York Times.
Curtis Granderson
Edgar Renteria
Gary Sheffield
Magglio Ordonez
Miguel Cabrera
Carlos Guillen
Ivan Rodriguez
Placido Polanco
Jacque Jones
Granted, a few of these guys are a little long in the tooth and
injury prone, but Detroit could be phenomenal next season.
So we quaff an ale to Detroit GM Dave Dombrowski, while
booing my Mets’ own Omar Minaya, who was told Willis wasn’t
available and continues to fail in his efforts to bring in a frontline
starter.
Animal Chat
–Big news involving a key member of the StocksandNews
family, my brother Harry. Aside from being the creator of
“Lamb in Command,” Harry has illustrated a ton of books,
among which are the groundbreaking “The Field Guide to Lake
Monsters, Sea Serpents, and other Mystery Denizens of the
Deep” and “The Field Guide to Big Foot, Yeti and other Mystery
Primates Worldwide.” [Where did you think I got all my
expertise in these areas?]
So in the past few days, Fox News has been playing up the
discovery of possible Yeti footprints in the Himalayas and
they’ve been showing Harry’s drawing, giving him credit.
But wait…there’s more! He’s not only had his drawings used on
the History Channel as well, but some guy was searching for
cryptozoological primates in Borneo, got a copy of his book, and
showed Harry’s drawing of a certain ape he was searching for to
his native guides. They laughed it off. But he turned the page to
the next animal “and they became quite agitated because they
had seen that one!”
My brother and I are headed to Borneo for further research. [I
don’t like the cold so I wouldn’t go to the Himalayas.] I need to
first go online, though, to see if there are any Four Seasons’ in
the jungle because I do like to live well on the road.
–Noooooooo! According to a front page story in Wednesday’s
Star-Ledger here in New Jersey, the nutria is invading our
swamps and waterways! Native to South America, the nutria, a
large creature about 2 to 3 Xs the size of a muskrat, is “one of
the world’s worse invasive species…And it just reared its ugly
head in New Jersey.”
“While known for the fine fur coats made from its pelt, the
beaver-like creature is best recognized worldwide as a marsh
killer.
“Destroying rare and environmentally important coastal wetlands
with its voracious plant eating and tunneling, the nutria is a
major destructive force outside its native lands of Brazil,
Paraguay and Argentina.
“In North American marshes, it evicts other mammals like the
muskrat, denudes the soil and leaves currents and tides to reclaim
the resulting wasteland.
“ ‘They basically eat out all the vegetation, down to the roots,
and leave mud-flats which wash away with erosion,’ said a
wildlife official.”
So how did the nutria get here? The Star-Ledger’s Brian T.
Murray writes:
“Nutria were deliberately removed from their temperate climates
in the early half of the 20th century after they were recognized as
a potentially lucrative fur source. A California fur ranch first
transported them to the United States in 1899.
“That continued into the 1950s, as nutria fur farms popped up
throughout the nation, including Maryland. During those years,
some feral populations developed in areas where they escaped or
were simply set free after nutria fur prices dropped.”
[Nothing worse than a feral nutria, I always say.]
But it turns out Louisiana officials, intentionally and
accidentally, introduced the nutria into the marshes around New
Orleans in the 1930s. So the nutria were responsible for
undermining the levees pre-Katrina!!!!!
[Well, it just had to be them. Really.]
There is hope, though, sports fans. The nutria don’t deal well
with harsh winters.
“Large die-offs were reported in Maryland in the winter of 1976-
77.”
Winter is off to a rough start here and if we get a Valley Forge
type of one, we’ll kill ‘em all. Of course were that to be the
case, you know, an Emanuel Leutze, ‘George Washington
Crossing the Delaware’ type of winter, over four million New
Jerseyans will also perish, including your editor. It’s a trade-off.
–There’s a story out there that Raja Gaj, or king elephant, has
gone missing from a Nepali wildlife reserve. What is thought to
be the world’s largest Asian pachyderm, at 11 feet 3 inches tall at
the shoulder, could have become a victim of poachers.
More likely, he has gone underground to plot the Asian
elephants’ final assault, there being only about 250 of them in the
Himalayas. Plus, according to Reuters, 100 of these are “used
for elephant polo and safaris in national parks.” You just know
the elephants are saying “This is bulls—,” and turned to Raja Gaj
for leadership. I’m working on the movie script…an elephant-
led version of “300” meets “Beowulf.”
–Once upon a time, Tippi Hedren, in the movie “The Birds,” one
of the great flicks of all time, was attacked in a phone booth by
crazed gulls and ravens. Is it any wonder, then, that at Ms.
Hedren’s wildlife sanctuary, a tiger mauled a caretaker the other
day when the poor guy was cleaning the animal’s enclosure?
He’s listed in critical but stable condition. Ms. Hedren’s
personal security detail has been ramped up.
But I didn’t know that Bo Derek, in the filming of “Tarzan, the
Ape Man,” had been bitten on the shoulder by a lion [this fact
being part of a Los Angeles Times story on the Hedren sanctuary
incident.] I thought Ms. Derek looked none the worse for wear
in “Tarzan,” didn’t you?
–Mark R. passed along that his son-in-law called all fired up
because he had bagged his first buck at the opening of hunting
season, and then a few hours later his son called. He, too, had
bagged his first buck! Only this one was taken down by his
SUV. So congratulations to both.
–Did you see the video of the chimp, Ayumu, and his ability to
remember numbers flashed on a screen? Researcher Tetsuro
Matsuzawa of Kyoto University said Ayumu’s feat, in defeating
a dozen human volunteers, challenges the belief that “humans are
superior to chimpanzees in all cognitive functions.”
Here was the deal. Ayumu and two other 5-year-old chimps
were taught the order of Arabic numerals 1 through 9. They then
saw the nine displayed on a computer screen. When they
touched the first number, the other eight turned into white
squares. The test was to touch all these squares in the order of
the numbers that used to be there. “Results showed that the
chimps, while no more accurate than the people, could do this
faster.”
But Ayumu was included in a test with nine college students.
This time, five numbers flashed on the screen only briefly before
they were replaced by white squares. Again, the challenge was
to touch them in the proper sequence.
“When the numbers were displayed for about seven-tenths of a
second, Ayumu and the college students were both able to do this
correctly about 80 percent of the time.
“But when the numbers were displayed for just four-tenths or
two-tenths of a second, the chimp was the champ.” [Malcolm
Ritter / AP]
Now I’m not a real fan of chimps, myself. I’m a bonobo guy,
which I swear has nothing to do with the fact I’m a fan of U2.
But when I come up with the new All-Species List, this study
will have to come into consideration.
[You may want to try out the following…
http://www.pri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/ai/index-E.htm]
Stuff
–Liz S. passed along a very distressing picture of Mary Kate
Olsen in a, get this, Yak Hair Vest!!!!! As I told Liz, Mary Kate
better have someone else start her car. Word travels fast in the
Animal Kingdom.
–I am the proud owner of a Lehigh Valley IronPigs hat, the
IronPigs being the Philadelphia Phillies’ new Triple-A affiliate
that Johnny Mac turned me on to. [Not because I’m a Phillies
fan, of course, but they have cool merchandise.]
So Johnny passed along the following AP story.
“Two days after naming its mascot ‘PorkChop,’ the Phillies new
affiliate abruptly dropped the moniker after receiving complaints
from Hispanics that it was offensive.
“The Lehigh Valley IronPigs, whose mascot is a large, furry pig,
had selected PorkChop from more than 7,300 fan submissions.
The team, which begins play in 2008, announced Monday that
the mascot will be named ‘Ferrous’ instead.
“General Manager Kurt Landes said he heard from several
Hispanics who said PorkChop was derogatory.
“ ‘We were really unaware of any negative connotations with the
word ‘pork chop,’ he said. ‘If it offended a few, it’s a few too
many.’
“Guillermo Lopez (no relation to former baseball player Hector,
or golfer Nancy), vice president of the Latino Leadership
Alliance, said he was called ‘pork chop’ when he worked at
Bethlehem Steel decades ago.
“ ‘If my parents were alive, they’d be having fits,’ said Lopez,
among those who complained to the team. ‘It meant much more
to them than it does to Puerto Ricans now in the Lehigh Valley.’
“The online Urban Dictionary, which accepts entries from
readers, says Pork Chop is a racist term used to refer to people of
Puerto Rican descent.
“PorkChop had been submitted by 32 fans. The replacement
name, Ferrous – from the Latin word ‘ferrum,’ or iron – received
the most fan nominations, with 235.”
Now discuss amongst yourselves.
–The Baseball Hall of Fame and the revamped Veterans
Committee elected former commissioner Bowie Kuhn, but not
players’ union chief Marvin Miller. Walter O’Malley and
managers Dick Williams and Billy Southworth were also
selected, along with former Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss, who
was involved in getting the franchise off the ground back in the
early days of baseball.
A lot of folks are bitching that Kuhn got the nod and not Miller.
Certainly players are thankful Marvin Miller was on their side as
player salaries rose from $19,000 to $241,000 during the era
Kuhn was commissioner, 1969-84.
–I forget who first mentioned this, but if you’re looking for a
BCS solution for college football (not that I am, as you know by
now), the “plus-one” game is a decent alternative. You aren’t
going to get rid of the big bowl games, but the “plus-one”
scenario requires all the teams to be seeded ahead of time and….
Oh, it’s too complicated. Just learn to live with what we have.
–FYI….this was the AP’s preseason top ten for college football
1. USC
2. LSU
3. West Virginia
4. Texas
5. Michigan
6. Florida
7. Wisconsin
8. Oklahoma
9. Virginia Tech
10. Louisville
–Well, talk about getting it wrong. I never even thought of Brett
Favre for Sports Illustrated “Sportsman of the Year” for the
simple reason that I thought you had to lead your team to
something before getting the honor these days.
That said, he’s a great pick. After all, he’s started a quarterback-
record 249 consecutive games and is 450 yards away from
holding the career records for TD passes, attempts and yardage.
–NCAA Men’s Soccer Final Eight
[Games Fri.-Sun.]
UMass v. Ill-Chicago
Ohio State v. Bradley
UConn v. Virginia Tech
Wake Forest v. Notre Dame
Should Wake and UConn win, they face each other in the Final
Four, a prelude to their upcoming bowl game.
–The other day at Stockton College of New Jersey, the school
honored one of its own, track and field legend Larry James, who
has been either track coach or assistant athletic director at the
school for 36 years. James, 60, was part of that super U.S.
Men’s track team that rocked the 1968 Mexico City Olympics,
names that are legendary to some of us…like the winning 4X400
relay team of Ron Freeman, Vince Matthews, James and Lee
Evans. And you had the symbols of American protest, Tommie
Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze winners in the 200.
And Jim Hines and Willie Davenport. And, of course, Bob Beamon,
the long jumper who shattered the world record.
For his part, James won silver in the 400 with a 43.97, just off
the 43.86 turned in by teammate Evans. They were the first men
to break 44 seconds and it would be two decades before anyone
would do it again, which is incredible. [Tom Feeney / Star-
Ledger]
–AP Top Five Men’s College Basketball
1. UNC
2. Memphis
3. Kansas
4. Texas [which just defeated then No. 1 UCLA]
5. Georgetown
But the story of the year could be Butler, already ranked No. 13.
They are going to enter the NCAAs with probably no more than
two losses and possibly as high as a No. 2 seed…as the editor
goes out on a limb.
–From Golf Digest’s review of the 2007 season, a few tidbits I
hadn’t seen before:
“You might want to pass on dinner at the Glovers’…Lucas
Glover, on being in contention at the British Open: ‘This is the
icing on the gravy.’”
“If this gets back to John Daly…Nationwide Tour player Roland
Thatcher wears a logo for a brewing company on his shirt and is
paid in beer.”
Hey, I know Roland and walked two rounds with his parents at Q
School back in ’04. He’s back on the PGA Tour this coming
year and I might have to become a Thatcher groupie to see if I
can get any post-round beers out of him. “Editor, thanks for
supporting me. Here’s a case of premium.”
“Shot of the Year…After Tiger Woods purchases 12 beachfront
acres in Florida for $44.5 million and plans to raze an existing
home, lightning hits and starts a fire that destroys the building,
saving on demolition costs.”
“Isn’t Stanford, like, you know, tough academically?…..Michelle
Wie, before starting classes at Stanford: ‘You have to go to high
school. I have to wake up at 7:30. But college, you know, you
can make your own schedule. You can learn whatever you
want.’”
–I missed Q School this year in terms of the final round
coverage from Winter Garden, Fla. Frank Lickliter II won the
six-round pressure-cooker, after opening 62-62!!!! They say no
one in a PGA Tour sanctioned event has ever opened with those
scores. He followed with 68-72-68-71. But I see Carlos Franco
made it through Q School and regained his playing privileges on
the Big Tour. Needless to say, after my past experience with the
guy I couldn’t care less, but I’m happy for his caddy/manager,
Danny, who unlike Carlos is a classy guy.
–The other day, following Eli Manning’s 4-interception
game of two weeks ago, three of which were returned for scores,
Sports Illustrated had a note that 35 years earlier, the last QB to
have this happen to him was Houston’s Ed Baker, who was
making his NFL debut.
SI said Baker didn’t play again and I just got around to looking it
up.
Baker, out of Lafayette College (and West Essex High School,
North Caldwell, NJ) was 4 of 10 in his lone contest for 40 yards,
with four INTs and the three that were returned for scores. His
only game in the NFL.
I hope Ed Baker found happiness with the rest of his life, because
that had to be an experience that would have killed most mortals.
But wait….Ed Baker also had one carry for nine yards in the
game! So he retired with a 9.0 avg.! Better than Jim Brown,
Barry Sanders, Walter Payton………chin up, Ed!
–In “For Worse….” there has been a sudden development
involving a little monster, this girl Francine who is Anthony’s
daughter and is sick of Liz hanging around. Jeff B. at first
thought something, err, inappropriate had occurred between Liz
and Francine, but now it looks like it’s just an “Exorcist” type
deal, especially in looking at Francine’s expression in
Wednesday’s last panel. This could get ugly in time for the
holidays, which would be the only thing that can possibly save
this increasingly insipid strip.
[For those of you who read “For Worse…” Jeff and I do have to
also note that Big A’s taste in art is appalling; like the painting of
the Angolan woman about to catapult a cat into the water on
Monday.]
–LT told me of “The Ballad of Evel Knievel.” While I couldn’t
for the life of me find all the lyrics, LT remembered some of the
following, plus I came across some partial lyrics on various Web
sites.
“To be a man
To do my best
To stand alone is my only quest
Success is a term that has broad use
For having none in life there is no excuse
“This strong and simple man living on the edge of danger
Secure in prayers that God has heard him say
He knows some day he’s gonna have to face that canyon in the
sky”
But wait, there’s more!
“They’re standing toe to toe, the man against the canyon
And the canyon seems to dare, come jump me if you can
He gave his solemn word
And he knows he can’t turn back now”
And this one!
“There’s something deep inside him
Lusting for the thrills that drive him
Yet he knows someday he’s gonna have to face that canyon in
the sky”
HELP!!!!!! Geezuz, this is dreadful.
Top 3 songs for the week 12/4/71: #1 “Family Affair” (Sly &
The Family Stone) #2 “Theme From Shaft” (Isaac Hayes) #3
“Baby I’m – A Want You” (Bread)…and…#4 “Have You Seen
Her” (Chi-Lites) #5 “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves” (Cher) #6
“Got To Be There” (Michael Jackson…gotta admit, great tune)
#7 “An Old Fashioned Love Song” (Three Dog Night) #8
“Desiderata” (Les Crane) #9 “Rock Steady” (Aretha Franklin)
#10 “Imagine” (John Lennon Plastic Ono Band)
NCAA Football Quiz Answers: 1) Two rushers ahead of Barry
Sanders on the career list at Oklahoma State; Thurman Thomas,
#1, with 4,595 yards, 1984-87, and Terry Miller, #2, with 4,581
yards, 1974-77. #3 is actually David Thompson, 1993-96, with
4,314. Sanders had 3,556 yards…2,628 of which were in 1988
on just 344 carries, an astounding 7.64 average. 2) Bob Berry
quarterbacked Oregon, 1962-64, and then spent 11 seasons in the
NFL for a number of teams, tossing 64 TDs and throwing 64
INTs. 3) Quarterback Terry Baker won a Heisman Trophy while
at Oregon State in 1962. 4) Bill Enyart was a star runner at
Oregon State, 1966-68. 5) Larry Johnson rushed for 2,087 yards
in 2002 at Penn State…goodness gracious, he had a 7.70 average
(271 carries). Johnson also holds the record for top three rushing
efforts; 327 and 279 yards (twice). 6) “Rip” Engle preceded Joe
Paterno and had a 104-48-4 mark.
**I am going to post a brief Bar Chat Sat. p.m., before I head
overseas. Then next Thursday, I’ll have something from Berlin.
