[Posted early….Sat. noon…Heading overseas. I’ll be back
Thursday, 12/15.]
Pitt Football Quiz [very easy for Pitt fans, admittedly]: 1) Tony
Dorsett starred from 1973-76. Who was his running mate the
last three seasons? 2) Who caught 133 passes for 2,230 yards
during his career, 1975-78, initials G.J.? 3) Who was the
quarterback on the 1976 national championship team? 4) Jackie
Sherrill coached from 1977-81, compiling a 50-9-1 record. Who
followed him? Answers below.
Barry Bonds
Mike Vaccaro / New York Post
“There he stood, impeccably tailored, walking from the Phillip
Burton Federal Building in San Francisco, the all-time home-run
king walking without his crown.
“There was Barry Bonds, pleading not guilty to federal charges
of perjury and obstruction, saying through his new lawyer how
much he looked forward to his day in court.
“There he was, on the courthouse steps. There he was, being
released on $500,000 bond. There he was, swarmed by
microphones and television cameras and notebooks and an
endless tide of curiosity. There he was.
“What did you feel? What did you think? Is there satisfaction in
watching Bonds finally standing alone, in a court of law,
listening to the charges brought against him, finally staring at the
impending sword of justice? Is there enjoyment in that? Is there,
really?
“See, here is the problem with this case, with this pending trial,
with the prospect of Barry Lamar Bonds one day hearing the cold
clang of jail doors slamming behind him: To most, even his
harshest detractors, that isn’t the punishment anyone wants. That
isn’t what most think he deserves.
“Jail? Jail is for rapists and thieves and swindlers and murderers.
Jail is for the blue-collar hoods who so readily swap lives for
money, and for the white-collar smoothies who make old ladies’
pensions disappear with a keystroke. Is that really what you
want for Barry Bonds? Really?
“Baseball fans, the only ones who were even remotely hurt by
whatever Bonds may have done, yearn for a different kind of
justice. They want an eraser taken to the record books, and to
their own memory banks. They want Hank Aaron and Roger
Maris restored to where they once stood. They want soft
asterisks, not hard time.
“But there is no arbitration available for that. Records are
records. Numbers are numbers. No judge can dissolve them, no
court can rewind the past 10 years and tape over them.
“Baseball fans want to see the dirty beaker of urine that will
certainly never materialize, the one thing that would possibly
allow the commissioner to right baseball wrongs.
“That would be justice? But jail? For perjury?
“Does the prospect of seeing him in a jumpsuit really make
anyone feel better? Really?”
Mike Lupica / New York Daily News
“From this day forward, this beefed-up, bulked-up legal team of
his will try to make this about things other than Bonds lying
about drugs. They will commence the business of making him
sympathetic to the public at large, which will be a job bigger than
Bonds himself.
“They will make him the victim of a government vendetta, and
say that he has been singled out not just by U.S. attorneys but by
Major League Baseball. It is another lie, unless you think the
most recent guys to get suspended over drugs – Jose Guillen, Jay
Gibbons – just suspended themselves.
“If you really think Bonds is some kind of victim here, ask
yourself these questions:
“1. Do you believe he used performance-enhancing drugs to
inflate his body and his home run totals after the age of 35?
“2. Do you also believe he used those drugs unwittingly?
“If you can’t answer those question correctly, stay away from
‘Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?’
“If the writers of ‘Game of Shadows’ didn’t make it all up, that
means Bonds lied to the government four years ago. And if you
think it’s all right to lie because you simply don’t like the
subject, or think you’ve been singled out – if you think you lay
out the ground rules the way the umps do in baseball – then by
all means start wearing your ‘Free Barry’ t-shirts right now. Or
stand outside the courtroom and cheer him the way some
bubbleheads did yesterday in San Francisco.”
The key to the whole Bonds case, which if it goes to trial may
not be for a year, is trainer Greg Anderson. Will he talk? He
hasn’t as yet and the prospect of even further jail time, for failing
to do so if called, doesn’t seem to bother him.
A-Rod…Slumlord
You gotta love it. From the New York Times’ Selena Roberts.
“The veneer of Alex Rodriguez’s real estate empire of working-
class housing is staged to disguise his inner Mr. Potter.
“Past a psychic’s storefront and coin laundry on Martin Luther
King Jr. boulevard in Tampa, Fla., a sign reading ‘We Love Our
Residents’ is planted beside manicured shrubs and an iron gate
with a fresh coat at the entrance of Newport Riverside
apartments.
“The paint is camouflage for the mottled backside of the
complex, where an exhausted appliance sits on a porch,
cardboard is taped over broken window panes and missing
spindles give rickety banisters the look of a snaggletooth smile.
“Some residents here tell tales of roaches overtaking kitchen
cabinets in a bumper-to-bumper crawl to the corn flakes, or
carpets stained in the 1990s and quick-trigger evictions.
“ ‘My mom comes here and she ain’t no rich person, but she
thinks I live in the projects,’ said Miguel Ruiz as he sat on the
second-floor landing of Building 2-A on a recent Sunday
afternoon. ‘She’s scared to come over here, for real.’”
It turns out A-Rod owns six similar apartment complexes in the
Tampa area and at least 16 nationwide as CEO of Newport
Property Ventures.
OK, as Ms. Roberts says, A-Rod is not really a slumlord, but
he’s no Donald Trump when it comes to quality. In these parts
he’s known as Tight-Rod, a man who jacks up late fees and
charges $600 a month for unimpressive quarters, to say the least.
Roberts also wonders just what kind of financial shape A-Rod is
in. For starters, personal donations to his AROD Family
Foundation have averaged just $30,000 a year and gifts
distributed to the community averaged $13,000 a year. “In 2006,
the foundation did not give away more than $5,090 despite a
fundraiser that collected $368,000.”
Now to be fair, A-Rod once gave $3.9 million to a scholarship
fund and baseball renovations at the University of Miami, but
when it comes to real estate, all you need to know is he wrote the
foreword to a book by Dolf de Roos titled “Real Estate Riches:
How to Become Rich Using Your Banker’s Money.”
According to Roberts, “Property records indicate A-Rod’s
company paid $58.7 million for Tampa complexes between 2004
and early this year. Those same properties, according to the
county appraiser, have a current market value of $46.3 million.”
Hmmmm. Next time A-Rod is in a batting slump, it could just
be because his accountant had shown him his balance sheet.
Stuff
–In defeating Richmond 55-35 on Friday, Appalachian State is
on its way to an unprecedented third straight Division I-AA
championship. After upsetting Michigan to start this incredible
college football season, App State awaits the winner of
Saturday’s Delaware-Southern Illinois contest.
Phil W. has a daughter at Appalachian and you may recall Phil
went to the Michigan game. In fact Phil has been to a ton of the
Mountaineers’ games this fall and he’s been telling me
quarterback Armanti Edwards is not only the real deal, but he
can play with anyone in the country, and certainly at the next
level.
So what did Edwards do against Richmond? How about 313
yards rushing on 31 carries and four touchdowns! And how
about the fact he was 14 of 16 passing for another 182 yards and
three TDs! App State coach Jerry Moore called it the best
performance by a quarterback he’s ever seen.
The rushing total, incidentally, was the most ever by a
quarterback in I-AA.
–Thank god. Wake Forest football coach Jim Grobe, courted by
Arkansas out of nowhere, turned down what would have been
about a $2 million offer to stay at Wake. Some of us were
thinking, though, that aside from the money, why would you go
to Arkansas? Nebraska, which had previously talked to Grobe, is
a far different matter, but the Razorbacks? Maybe when I was a
kid and Frank Broyles was coaching, but not today.
It turns out, though, that Grobe was more than a bit miffed at
how he was treated following Wake’s crushing loss to Virginia
this season, which prevented a probable return to the ACC
championship game as it turned out. Coach, we love you, but as
fans, and alumni, we have the right to comment on strategy and
running two plays for no yards to set up a 47-yard field goal
attempt as time expired was questionable, no matter how good
our kicker is.
[In the interests of full disclosure, I am a sponsor of the sports
publication at Wake.]
–And then there’s Rutgers’ Greg Schiano, who out of nowhere
was offered the head coaching job at Michigan but turned it
down on Thursday.
The Star-Ledger’s Steve Politi:
“So the Rutgers football coach has turned down the Michigan job
– I’ll take ‘Sentences I never thought I would have to write’ for
$200, Alex – giving this strange episode a happy ending for New
Jersey.
“Give Greg Schiano credit. He had an opportunity to coach one
of the finest college football programs in the country and said,
‘No thanks.’ From the beginning, he has talked about a long-
term commitment to Rutgers and this state, and so far, he is a
man of his word.
“Still, if you’re a Rutgers fan, this has to feel a little like waking
up sweat-drenched from a nightmare. Sure, nothing actually
happened. But does that make it any less disturbing?
“The brief dalliance with the Michigan job exposed this: Rutgers
has absolutely no Plan B if Schiano bolts. And this is worth
mentioning because Joe Paterno is a couple weeks away from
turning 81.
“Schiano decided he wasn’t a Michigan man, but Penn State is
something entirely different. He loves the place. He coached
there. He would have the blessing from Paterno….
“Rutgers should get ready for that possibility, because Schiano
leaving Rutgers would be like Bono leaving U2. Schiano is the
smiling face on billboards and on television, so much so that his
gap-toothed grin is virtually inseparable from the program he
built….
“What we have learned in college sports, over and over again, is
that a coach’s words too often have no bearing on his actions.
Some Seton Hall fans are still smarting at the way Tommy
Amaker played them for fools all those years ago, when the other
big job in Ann Arbor came open.
“Coaches lie for a living. When I was a young reporter in
Raleigh, N.C., it was my job to find Mack Brown, then the North
Carolina football coach, and ask him about this crazy rumor that
he was a candidate for the Texas job. He grabbed my arm,
looked into my eyes and said, ‘Steve, we’re building me a new
office here in Chapel Hill, and I plan to be in it.’
“His introductory press conference in Austin was the next day.”
–While we’re on the topic of New Jersey, for you local readers I
just have to note the passing of the great Westfield football coach
Gary Kehler, 76. When I was in high school, Westfield was a
big power, rivaling Summit, but we didn’t play in the same
conference even though we were just ten minutes apart. Over the
next few decades that changed some. Kehler retired in 1982
after 22 seasons and a 172-26-7 record, to go along with four
Star-Ledger Top 20 trophies as the state’s No.1-ranked team.
Since I mentioned running back Butch Woolfolk recently, Kehler
was his coach, and Woolfolk’s senior season squad, 1977, was
named the greatest public high school team in the history of New
Jersey when the Ledger compiled a list in 2003. In a battle
between Westfield and No. 2-ranked Barringer that year, won by
Westfield 33-12, there were 33,000 fans at Giants Stadium, still a
record for a New Jersey high school football game.
–Three-time World Series of Poker champ David “Chip” Reese
died at the age of 56. None other than Doyle Brunson said Reese
was the best poker player who ever lived. Reese won his titles in
1978, 1982 and 2006.
Reese, though, built his reputation playing not in tournaments but
high-stakes cash games with buy-ins as high as $1 million,
“which made tournament poker seem inconsequential by
comparison,” as reported by Dennis McLellan of the Los
Angeles Times.
Nolan Dalla, World Series of Poker media director, said Reese
“had almost no ego, which is a very unusual character trait in the
contemporary poker world….Up until the last day of his life,
Chip Reese could walk through an airport or sit in a restaurant
and be completely unrecognized, an odd irony considering he
may very well be the best to ever have played the game.”
“He’s what I call the poker purist,” Brunson said. “He enjoyed
poker for itself, and he didn’t go around trying to make a public
fool of himself like some of these guys I see do.”
World Poker Tour commentator Mike Sexton told The Times
that “Chip was viewed as having the best demeanor at the table.
He always stayed calm, even when he took a bad beat. And he
never got upset at the dealer and never criticized opponents for
the way they played their hand.”
Reese once told Sexton, “the object of the game is to increase
your wealth, improve your lifestyle and provide for your family.”
Reese was planning to go to Stanford Law School when he and
another young poker phenom, Danny Robison, visited Las Vegas
in 1974. Reese arrived with $400 and slowly built his bankroll to
$20,000 playing in moderate-stakes poker games. Then one
night he won $66,000 playing hi-lo at the Flamingo Hotel.
As legend has it, what was intended to be a weekend stay ended
up being a lifetime. Reese never left.
Chip Reese died of complications from pneumonia.
–Back in 1994, Golda Bechal’s will said she wanted a family
that runs a Chinese restaurant in London to be the beneficiary, to
the tune of $21 million. Bechal died in January 2004 at the age
of 88. A judge just ruled that the couple, Kim Sing Man and his
wife, are indeed entitled to the funds; this after Bechal’s five
nephews and nieces asked the court to declare the will invalid,
claiming their aunt suffered from dementia. So sori!
–A 32-year-old Barnegat, NJ, woman noticed a white granular
substance on a manila envelope she received in the mail and
immediately developed breathing problems. After dialing 911,
police blocked off the woman’s street and a hazmat team was
dispatched. An ambulance took her to the local hospital but she
was denied entrance until police could determine what the
substance was.
It turns out it was rock salt, put down by the town to combat a
recent bit of ice on the roads.
Now the article in the Ledger didn’t say if this woman is married
or not, but let’s just say she’s probably not a good catch, guys.
–My brother told me that with regards to nutria, the giant rats
that have launched an invasion of New Jersey, they are the most
unaware mammals he’s ever seen, having come across one while
walking in the woods in Louisiana. Harry also says he was
stalked by an alligator that day, but no one was hurt!
–The Shu tells me that after my report on the Lehigh Valley
IronPigs, there’s a run on merchandise. At least Jeff picked up a
spiffy looking shirt. I forgot to tell you all that when I ordered
some caps and t-shirts, they threw in a sleeve of IronPigs golf
balls! Now that’s what I call a quality operation.
IRONPIGS FEVER….CATCH IT!
[In all seriousness, this franchise has some very cool stuff.
Check out ironpigsbaseball.com.]
–Good news! Florida’s manatees could be moved off the
endangered species list and reclassified as threatened. This
year’s census revealed there are an estimated 2,800 of the
animals, up from around 1,300 in 1991. The friendly manatee
makes for a good greeter at Wal-Mart, some say.
–Yikes! From the Sydney Morning Herald
“An elderly woman has been rushed to hospital after being bitten
on the hand by a deadly brown snake while working in the
garden of her NSW home.
“An ambulance spokeswoman said the 79-year-old woman was
gardening at her home when the 30cm snake bit her on the hand.
The snake was trapped and placed in a jar for hospital staff to
examine.”
The woman remains in stable condition a few days later. The
snake was confirmed as an eastern brown, one of the world’s
deadliest.
–So I’m reading the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal
and I see this bit about Sen. Chris Dodd and one of the more
popular restaurants in Des Moines.
“Sen. Dodd dines at Centro two to three times a week when in
Iowa….A Yankees fan, the presidential candidate watched much
of the baseball playoffs at the bar.”
Now that’s my kind of guy. Too bad on Jan. 4, the day after the
Iowa caucuses, he’ll be dropping out of the race.
–The Knicks are valued at $604 million, tops in the NBA despite
having a pitiful squad and a host of other embarrassments. In
2006-07, the Knicks had a league high $196 million in revenues,
but lost $42.2 million in operating income. But the Knicks total
wouldn’t make the top ten in the NFL, as the Jets occupy the 10th
slot at $967 million, according to Forbes.
–Brad K. passed along this tale:
“Boy Survives Moose Attack Thanks To World of Warcraft”
“Hans Jorgen Olsen, a 12-year-old Norwegian boy, recently
survived a moose attack by feigning death, ‘just like you learn at
level 30 in World of Warcraft.’
“In WoW, ‘feign death’ is a skill acquired by hunters at level 30
that allows them to take a page from the possum playbook,
collapse to the ground, and convince their enemies – who lose all
ingrained animosity in the process – that they’ve died.”
It seems Hans and his sister ticked off a local moose during a
walk in the forest near their home. “After shouting at the
gigantic creature to ward it away from his sister, Olsen dropped
to the ground.” The moose moved on after crushing the sister.
OK, this last bit isn’t exactly true….but it would have made for a
more exciting ending.
–In “For Worse….” Jeff B. and I are concerned Anthony’s
daughter Francine’s bunk bed is unstable and basically a death
trap……this could lead to a true holiday tragedy……………
…………………..developing………….
–Grammy Awards: Best Country Album nominees – “Long Trip
Alone,” Dierks Bentley; “These Days,” Vince Gill; “Let It Go,”
Tim McGraw; “5th Gear,” Brad Paisley; “It Just Comes Natural,”
George Strait
–Gregg Allman turned 60 today. Just incredible he made this
milestone.
Top 3 songs for the week 12/9/72: #1 “I Am Woman” (Helen
Reddy) #2 “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone” (The Temptations) #3
“If You Don’t Know Me By Now” (Harold Melvin & The
Bluenotes)…and…#4 “I Can See Clearly Now” (Johnny Nash)
#5 “You Ought To Be With Me” (Al Green) #6 “Me And Mrs.
Jones” (Billy Paul…ooh baby…great slow dance tune, not that
I’ve really done any in about 30 years…being more of a
restaurant and beer type rather than a clubber…but now I’m
rambling………………….) #7 “It Never Rains In Southern
California” (Albert Hammond) #8 “Ventura Highway”
(America) #9 “Clair” (Gilbert O’Sullivan) #10 “I’m Stone In
Love With You” (The Stylistics)
Pitt Football Quiz Answers: 1) Elliott Walker rushed for 2,748
yards on 481 carries from 1974-77. 2) Gordon Jones was a star
receiver, 1975-78. 3) Matt Cavanaugh quarterbacked the 1976
national title squad. 4) Foge Fazio replaced Jackie Sherrill as
coach in 1982.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday…from Berlin.
