NCAA Basketball Quiz: 1) Name the top five schools in NCAA
tournament appearances. 2) Name the only five to win three or
more titles. 3) Name the four No. 15 seeds to win a game.
Answers below.
March Madness
So Mark R. calls and goes, “What’s your final four?” “All #1s
with Carolina taking it all,” I replied, to which Mark goes
“Wimp!”
Hey, what can I tell you? I did my bracket and came up with
Carolina, Kansas, Memphis and UCLA, with UCLA losing to
UNC for the title, 74-68. There, it’s now all on record. My only
out of the box pick is Davidson to make the Elite Eight, and the
biggest first-round upset, if you can call it that, is #11 St. Joe’s to
beat #6 Oklahoma. In other words, not exactly the kind of
tournament CBS executives crave.
Heather Mills….dirtball
Heather Mills was awarded $50 million in her divorce settlement
with Paul McCartney, after seeking about five times that amount.
Speaking on the courthouse steps, Heather fumed: “Obviously
the court does not want a litigant to do well, it’s against
everything that they ever wish, so when they write the judgment
up they’re never going to make it look in favor. But all of you
that have researched know that it was always going to be a figure
between $40 and $60 million, Paul was offering a lot less than
that, which you’ll see in the judgment, and very much last minute
to put me and Beatrice sadly through this. It’s incredibly sad.”
Then Heather said, “What the judge has also said is that Paul is
only worth $800 million. Everyone knows that he has been
worth $1.6 billion for the past 15 years.”
But Heather didn’t want the ruling published, and it was! Heh
heh. As reported by Frances Gibb in the London Times:
“In a stinging judgment that she had attempted to have
suppressed, Mr. Justice Bennett said that her whole attitude was
‘me too’ or ‘if he has it, I want it too.’ He also suggested that
Ms. Mills might have made a ‘fraudulent’ attempt to extract
money from her husband and condemned her behavior as
‘distinctly distasteful.’….
“His strong criticisms exposed only too clearly why Ms. Mills
had been determined to stop its release after being awarded $50
million on Monday, based on living needs of $1.2 million a year.
The judge said that she was a ‘strong-willed and determined
personality’ who had shown great fortitude in overcoming her
disability. ‘She has conducted her own case before me with a
steely, yet courteous, determination.’….But she was ‘a less than
impressive witness’ whose evidence was ‘not just inconsistent
and inaccurate but also less than candid.’
“Sir Paul’s evidence was ‘balanced,’ the judge said. ‘He
expressed himself moderately though at times with justifiable
irritation, if not anger. He was consistent, accurate and honest. I
regret to have to say I cannot say the same about the wife’s
evidence.’”
Of Sir Paul’s contention that Heather’s accusations of violence in
their marriage was a bunch of garbage, Justice Bennett said:
“Individually and collectively these actions, it is said, represent a
deliberate attempt by the wife to ruin the husband’s reputation.”
Justice Bennett rejected all of Heather’s claims, including that
she gave 80 to 90 percent of her earnings from modeling to
charity. In other instances, Bennett said “The objective facts do
not support her case…(and she was) her own worst enemy.”
And there’s this from Jo Piazza of the New York Daily News.
“Monday afternoon, just after learning the amount of her award
(which works out to $34,000 for each day of her marriage) a
frustrated Mills – who, after firing her lawyers, represented
herself during the trial – walked across the courtroom and tipped
a jug of water over the head of Sir Paul’s distinguished lawyer,
Fiona Shackleton.
“ ‘She didn’t throw it,’ reported a stunned witness. ‘It was cool,
calm and collected. It trickled down Fiona’s neck.’
“Watching the shocked reaction of her victim with one eye, Mills
turned to the court and snorted: ‘I am not a loser.’
“News flash: Yes, Heather, you are.
“She may already have been the most reviled woman in Britain
(for her aggressive abuse of one of the country’s icons), and the
documents released Tuesday cement the notion of Mills as a self-
obsessed, autocratic gold digger living in a world of fantasy.”
Good for you, Paul. Hopefully you find some peace from your
four-year nightmare.
Stuff
–“Tigers Kill Six Bangladeshis Near Sundarbans”
Khulna, Bangladesh (Reuters), March 18. “Tigers stalking into
Bangladesh villages around Sundarbans mangrove forests have
killed six people and mauled 12 others over the last two months,
forest officials said on Tuesday.
“In the latest incident a fisherman was killed on Monday at
Satkhali village near the vast swampy forest some 213 miles
southwest of the capital Dhaka. The Sundarbans is a UNESCO
World Heritage site and home to the Royal Bengal tiger….
“Forest officials said tigers sneaking into villages mainly at night
has increased following the deadly cyclone that hit Bangladesh
coasts late last year….At least 60 percent of the 2,320 square
mile mangrove swamps within Bangladesh, home for more than
400 Royal Bengal tigers, was devastated.”
Remind me not to go hiking in the Sundarbans unless I have my
Swiss Army knife with the retractable saw. And our sympathies
to the families of those killed and mauled.
–But while tigers are largely having their way, for which some
of us are eternally grateful, especially during “Web Sweeps
Week,” Jonathan Clayton of the London Times reports that
“Three lions have been speared to death by Masai tribesmen in a
dispute over grazing rights on the edge of the world-famous
Amboseli game reserve in Kenya.”
This sucks. Gotta tell you, I’ve never been a real fan of the
Masai, unless Wake Forest has the chance to recruit a 7-footer
with a wingspan like a condor.
Overall, the lion population in East Africa may be little more
than 2,000, according to the World Conservation Union, and
until the idiot Kenyans recognize they are destroying their
tourism industry – what’s left of it, that is, assuming the world’s
naïve haven’t watched the news recently and didn’t see those
post-election riots and the ongoing violence in the Rift Valley –
the situation will remain bleak.
–The Weekly Standard’s Philip Terzian had an amusing
anecdote concerning the late Sen. Howard Metzenbaum (D-
Ohio) who passed away last week. Metzenbaum was appointed
to the Senate when President Nixon selected Ohio Sen. William
Saxbe to succeed Elliot Richardson as attorney general following
the “Saturday Night Massacre.”
“Saxbe, of course, was a Republican, and the Democratic
governor of Ohio was an amiable hack named John Gilligan.
The fact that this reduced the GOP minority in the Senate by yet
another seat, and elevated Metzenbaum – whose obnoxious
manner and sharp business practices in Cleveland had not gone
unnoticed – left some injured feelings on the Republican side.
So, on the morning of January 21, 1974, when Metzenbaum
arrived on the floor to be sworn in, Sen. Carl Curtis (R-Neb.)
rose to introduce some now-forgotten objection and demand a
vote on his admission to the club.
“From my perspective, in the press gallery, it was an amusing
spectacle. A sizable throng of Metzenbaum’s friends and family
had assembled in the visitors’ box for the occasion, but their joy
turned swiftly to horror as Curtis – hitherto famous largely for
his bald head, short stature, and habit of wearing a four-in-hand
tie without a knot – threw sand in the machinery and appeared
determined to delay Metzenbaum’s debut until his grievances
had been satisfied.
“In the end, a vote was taken, and the tally was handed to the
presiding officer, the newly minted Vice President Gerald Ford,
who announced from the chair that X votes had been cast to seat
Metzenbaum and Y votes (a substantial majority) not to seat him.
“There was the proverbial pregnant pause, and then an audible
gasp from the Metzenbaum claque as they realized they had
traveled all the way from Ohio for nothing! And yet, once the
agonizing truth had sunk in, Vice President Ford – with his
signature, Homer Simpson-style ‘Doh!’ – announced, after
hurried consultation with the clerks, that he had accidentally
reversed the numbers, and Metzenbaum was in….
“There is, I hasten to add, a heartening postscript to the story.
Years later, when I was seated in the business section of a
transatlantic flight – having been bumped, for no good reason, up
from steerage – I was approached, before takeoff, by a pleasant
flight attendant who asked if I might be willing to exchange
places with a U.S. senator stuck in tourist class.
“ ‘Who?’ I inquired.
“ ‘It’s Senator Metzenbaum,’ she replied.
“ ‘At which point, raising my flute of complimentary champagne
in memory of Carl Curtis, I replied, with a smile, ‘No, thanks.’’”
–I was reading a review of Max Hasting’s book on the Pacific
campaign during World War II, “Retribution,” by Peter Kann in
the Wall Street Journal and as much as I’ve read on the conflict,
items such as the following still amaze.
“From fall 1944 to summer 1945 some 4,000 Japanese kamikaze
pilots died on their missions; one in seven managed to hit an
American ship. Kamikaze pilots, in fact, caused substantially
greater losses to America than did the warships of the Japanese
navy. Mr. Hastings neatly explains the Japanese warrior spirit,
with its emphasis on the ultimate sacrifice. He outlines as well
the essential difference between a Western concept of heroism,
which venerates bold individual action even in the face of
probable death, and the Japanese ‘institutionalization of a tactic
that makes [death] inevitable.’ The suicide bombers of al Qaeda
or Hamas clearly follow role models half a century and half a
world away.”
–My mother was part of a large family that grew up in the
Greensburg, Pa., area and when we used to go “home,” as I
called it in my youth, my Uncle Bill would regale my brother and
I with stories of all the great high school athletes from western
Pennsylvania. One of the reasons why I mention Willie Wilson
as much as I do is because thanks to him we finally had a story of
our own to tell Uncle Bill, after seemingly being outnumbered
800 athlete tales to zero until then.
My brother and I talk from time to time of how we miss those
days, Uncle Bill having died long ago, and I couldn’t help but
think of him today when I saw a note on a highly sought after
quarterback from Jeannette High School, Terrelle Pryor;
Jeannette being next to Greensburg.
Pryor was set to go to Ohio State but pulled back for about six
weeks before confirming Wednesday he was indeed going there
over the likes of Michigan and Penn State.
What had recruiters drooling was the fact the 6’6” Pryor is the
only Pennsylvania player to both rush and pass for at least 4,000
yards. Plus he is a helluva basketball player, scoring 2,285
points. So it’s safe to say this is a kid worth following.
–We note the passing of former pitcher Bob Purkey, 78. Purkey
was 129-115 over 13 seasons with the Pirates, Reds, and
Cardinals, including a super 23-5 record with the ’62 Reds.
–The Major League Baseball Players Association is
investigating why Barry Bonds hasn’t been picked up by any
teams yet. His agent, Jeff Boris, said “He’s in playing shape
right now. He just hasn’t hit off live pitching. He wants to
play.”
Earth to Boris. Your client was indicted for perjury and
obstruction of justice, he’s a total dirtball, and a cancer in the
clubhouse. At this point, no GM is nuts enough to sign him.
–The New York Jets, with the sixth pick in next month’s NFL
draft, are looking closely at Arkansas running back Darren
McFadden, hoping he might still be available when their number
is called, but the team has real questions about his character.
And who wouldn’t be concerned? The guy has been involved in
not only two nightclub incidents, but according to Dave
Hutchinson of the Star-Ledger, McFadden “has two children on
the way by two different women.”
Then again, he ran a 4.33, 40-yard dash at the scouting combine.
Bring him on! I mean it’s not like fellow Jets fans Johnny Mac,
Phil W. and myself have to take care of the kids, know what I’m
sayin’?
–Ohhh nooooo! “Some 30 paintings by masters such as Monet,
Cezanne, Corot and Sisley have been stolen from the home of an
antiques dealer near Paris.” Not my main man Al Sisley! [No
relation to Hall of Famer George Sisler.] As for Corot, he’s
underrated. Cezanne, on the other hand, is way overrated.
–Arthur Clarke died. The great science fiction writer was 90 and
passed away at his long adopted home of Sri Lanka. Clarke, who
wrote over 100 books, is of course best known for his short story
“The Sentinel” that was later expanded into the novel on which
Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” was based.
Clarke is also credited with inventing the concept of
communications satellites, all the way back in 1945, and he
predicted within a year when man would be on the moon.
–Ola Brunkert (no relation to former Cubs second baseman
Glenn Beckert), the drummer for Abba, died after a bizarre
accident at his home in Majorca, Spain. Police believe he hit his
head against the glass door that led from the kitchen to the
garden, breaking the glass and severing an artery in his neck.
Brunkert wrapped a towel around it and went out for help, but
bled to death.
–And yet another death….and this is one is very upsetting. The
great Ivan Dixon has died at the age of 76; Staff Sgt. James
Kinchloe on “Hogan’s Heroes.” Dixon was one of the first
blacks to get a leading part in a movie or television and he fought
hard to gain more roles for African-Americans. He once told the
New York Times, “Heretofore, people have thought that, to use a
Negro, the story must pit black against white. Maybe we’re
getting to the problems of human beings who happen to be
black.” What would Barack say?
–Madonna is dumping Guy Ritchie. According to the New York
Post’s Page Six, “Madonna is said to have lost respect for Ritchie
when she found out he had embellished his past,” one in-the-
know Briton told us. “Far from the tough, working-class London
dude he adoringly echoed in ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking
Barrels,’ he’s actually a privileged, prep school boy who chose to
affect a gangland accent and walk with a street swagger. Brits
can spot this at 100 yards, or hear it in an accent. Yanks, alas,
can’t.”
The breakup is said to be amicable. But wait…there’s more!
Madonna’s rep, Liz Rosenberg, who never herself said she grew
up in a working-class London neighborhood, commented “All is
well and wonderful in the Ritchie household. Their marriage is
definitely not hanging by a thread….They’re still both sharing
Cloud 9 – as opposed to Client 9, ha-ha!”
Very funny, Liz. But I’m betting it’s over.
–But speaking of Client 9, it seems that “Kristen,” Ashley
Dupre, stripped for Joe Francis’ “Girls Without Brains,” a k a
“Girls Gone Wild” video franchise as an 18-year-old while on
spring break down in Miami. Dupre filmed seven full-length
tapes, including some lesbian encounters.
Hustler publisher Larry Flynt, who offered her $1 million to
appear in his magazine, doing what she does best, wasn’t
optimistic he would be able to nail, err, sign her.
“She is no doubt going to do a book. There will probably be a
movie,” he told the AP. “I think she is going to have so many
offers coming in that it will probably be wishful thinking just to
get in the door.”
Hey, there….Jer-sey girl….
–The New York Post is standing by its story that Tiger Woods
has acquired a $65 million estate in the Hamptons, though on
Tuesday, both the real estate agency involved, as well as Tiger’s
agent, said this wasn’t the case.
Now why Tiger would want to live out there I’ll never know
because his neighbors include New York Times publisher Arthur
Sulzberger and Vera Wang. Then again, Howard Stern is
nearby.
More importantly, next up for Tiger is Doral, where he’s won the
last three years and is gunning for his sixth PGA Tour title in a
row.
–The Houston Rockets saw their 2nd-longest all time NBA win
streak end at 22 at the hands of the now 54-13 Celtics.
–Future NBA superstar alert….Joe Alexander of West Virginia.
–Jeff B. and I are distraught over “For Better or For Worse.” It
appeared chopper pilot Warren was about to go ballistic and take
out the entire Paterson clan, but, alas, Anthony asked Liz to
marry him and his daughter, Francine, who seems about ten
years too old to be playing house, but persists in doing so
anyway, appears on the verge of accepting the incredibly selfish
and self-centered Liz.
–Speaking of Jeff B., I posted a certain celebrity tale last time
involving a spot where Jeff is vacationing and I did something I
never do on the site; I pulled it when informed employees at this
particular place could have gotten in a lot of trouble for talking
about the guests as they had. Seeing as there was already enough
carnage on the employment front, what with the Bear Stearns
disaster, I opted to yank it. Plus I didn’t need a certain actor
appearing at my door late in the evening going “You talkin’ to
me?”
Top 3 songs for the week of 3/19/66: #1 “The Ballad Of The
Green Berets” (SSgt Barry Sadler) #2 “19th Nervous
Breakdown” (The Rolling Stones) #3 “These Boots Are Made
For Walkin’” (Nancy Sinatra)…and…#4 “Nowhere Man” (The
Beatles) #5 “Elusive Butterfly” (Bob Lind…don’t laugh…I like
this song) #6 “Listen People” (Herman’s Hermits…very
underrated tune) #7 “California Dreamin’” (The Mamas and The
Papas) #8 “Homeward Bound” (Simon & Garfunkel) #9 “I
Fought The Law” (Bobby Fuller Four) #10 “Daydream” (The
Lovin’ Spoonful)
NCAA Basketball Quiz Answers: 1) Top five schools in tourney
appearances…Kentucky, 48; UCLA, 41; North Carolina, 39;
Kansas, 35; Indiana, 34. [Louisville, 33; Syracuse and Duke, 31]
2) Titles: UCLA, 11; Kentucky, 7; Indiana, 5; North Carolina, 4;
Duke, 3. 3) 15 seeds: 2001 – Hampton over Iowa State, 58-57.
1997 – Coppin State over South Carolina, 78-65. 1993 – Santa
Clara over Arizona, 64-61. 1991 – Richmond over Syracuse, 73-
69. All four lost their second round games. Of course no 16
seed has ever won.
Next Bar Chat, Monday.
