U.S. Open Quiz: 1) Who is the last American to win? 2) Where
did Tiger last win the Open? 3) Who are the last two to win
whose first name begins with the letter ‘S’? 4) Who finished 2nd
to Lee Janzen in both of his wins? Answers below.
Big Brown No Secretariat
I was so fired up after watching the Kentucky Derby, drinking
the cool-aid that this was truly a special horse. But I was then
overseas for the Preakness and upon returning, began reading
just how many in the business truly hated Big Brown’s trainer
Rick Dutrow. This was a guy, we learned, who represented the
worst of the sport, a man who has been suspended and/or fined
over 70 times by racing authorities for illegal acts, while the lead
on the ownership team, Michael Iavarone, has a long rap sheet
for violations in both the securities and horse racing industries.
Then you had the issue of steroids and Big Brown, Dutrow
having admitted he gave all his horses Winstrol. So by the time
the Belmont rolled around, I imagine I was like many of you in
having lost a lot of my enthusiasm for the spectacle of this
particular 3-year-old winning the Triple Crown. As it turns out
we needn’t have worried.
Ray Kerrison / New York Post
“With the certitude of a biblical prophet, Rick Dutrow Jr. stood
before the media hordes at Belmont Park yesterday and foretold
the result of this afternoon’s potentially historic Belmont Stakes.
“ ‘Big Brown will win – easily,’ he said. ‘For second, I hope
Denis of Cork.’….
“ ‘If any horse in this race is going to be a threat to us, they’re
going to have to run the race of their life, something we’ve never
seen out of them before,’ Dutrow said….
“ ‘I think Big Brown will just glide to the wire, like he always
has,’ Dutrow said. ‘I envision he’ll win by daylight – easily. I
don’t see any dog fight in this race. I’ll say it again, he’s not
running against a real tough crowd, and he’s a really good horse
and that helps him make things look so easy.”
Not quite, Rick. Or as winning trainer Nick Zito said after 38-1
Da’Tara’s surprising win, “It’s why they play the game.” Big
Brown’s jockey Kent Desormeaux said “I had no horse” when he
tried one last time to get a final rush and there was nothing there.
William C. Rhoden / New York Times
“The racing public has the right to ask: Did (Desormeaux) ever
have a super horse?
“On Friday, the trainer Rick Dutrow told reporters that he had
not given Big Brown a shot of the anabolic steroid Winstrol since
before the Kentucky Derby and had not used it before the
Belmont….
“A day that the troubled racing industry hoped would
temporarily divert attention to a historic achievement wound up
raising more questions about the horse and the industry.
“On the other hand, Big Brown’s dramatic fall may be the
sobering kick this industry needs.”
Peter Thomas Fornatale / New York Times op-ed, prior to the
race.
“Outside the United States, racing fans and horsemen and
women are universally astounded by the amount of medication –
legal and illegal – that horses receive here. It’s the single biggest
problem facing the sport today. Although Equine Acquisitions
grandly announced this week that Big Brown had skipped his
May dose, he legally gets the anabolic steroid Winstrol monthly,
whether he needs it or not. Steroids, in their proper, limited
doses, may have legitimate therapeutic uses in horses. But they
can also be a source of mischief – and racing doesn’t do anything
to regulate their use….
“I have nothing against Big Brown as a horse…But I just can’t
root for Big Brown to become the first horse in 30 years to win
the Triple Crown.
“Some have argued that racing needs a Big Brown victory to
prop itself up. True, if he wins, there will be several weeks or
even months of attendant excitement.
“But a Big Brown victory could make the fundamental problems
of the sport even worse, encouraging other outfits to be as
aggressive with the rules as the scarily named Equine
Acquisitions is. Until we find ways to protect horses and make
owners and trainers more accountable, the real problems aren’t
going away.
“No horse is going to save racing. Racing must first save itself –
and for that reason, I’d rather see Big Brown lose.”
And so it did.
Jim McKay, 86
You talk about a legend. When it came to sports broadcasters
there has never been anyone bigger than Jim McKay, who passed
away over the weekend. ESPN and ABC sports president
George Bodenheimer said, “For more than 60 years he brought
sports into the homes of Americans on Wide World of Sports,
the Olympics and many other programs that captured the essence
of the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”
McKay won 13 Emmy Awards, the initial one in 1968 making
him the first sports commentator to receive the honor. He is also
the only one to win Emmys for sports and news broadcasting as
well as for writing.
Yes, McKay did it all. Aside from the 12 Olympics, some of us
will remember him for his work at the Triple Crown races and
the Indy 500.
Bob Costas once said of McKay, “You never felt what he
expressed wasn’t genuine. You never felt his reaction was
‘What’s called for here is a tear.’”
Of course McKay will forever be known for his coverage of the
tragedy at the 1972 Summer Olympics. Frank Litsky and
Richard Sandomir / New York Times:
“During the Munich Olympics, as he left the hotel sauna and was
about to go into the swimming pool on his only day off, he
received word that Arab terrorists had invaded the Israeli living
quarters in the Olympic Village. Mr. McKay hurried to the
studio, and for 16 consecutive hours he anchored ABC’s
extraordinary news coverage, with field reporting from Peter
Jennings, Howard Cosell and others.
“The episode ended with the killing of 11 Israeli athletes,
coaches and trainers. When that word reached Mr. McKay, he
said he thought that he would be the person who told the family
of David Berger, an Israeli-born weight lifter whose family lived
in Shaker Heights, Ohio, ‘if their son was alive or dead.’
“He looked at the lens and said, ‘They’re all gone.’
“When ABC finally signed off, Mr. McKay, physically and
emotionally spent, returned to his hotel room. Only then did he
realize he had been wearing a wet swimsuit beneath his trousers.
“The next day, Mr. McKay received this cable from an old CBS
colleague: ‘Dear Jim, today you honored yourself, your network
and your industry. Walter Cronkite.’”
McKay was handpicked in 1961 by Roone Arledge to host
“Wide World.” McKay, then working for CBS, was only
promised by Arledge that the show had a 20-week summer run,
but it would last 37 years, with McKay the host for 25 of them.
Looking back on Munich in 1997, the 25th anniversary of the
Games, McKay told Richard Sandomir:
“It was the loss of whatever innocence there was in the world.”
No one understood at the time it was also the true beginning of
international terrorism.
Dwight White, RIP
Just five months after the death of Ernie Holmes, a second
member of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Steel Curtain defensive front
four, Dwight White died at the age of 58 following pneumonia
and a blood clot in his lung.
White was drafted in the 4th round by the Steelers out of then
East Texas State in 1971 and played with Pittsburgh through the
1980 season, racking up 46 career sacks and four Super Bowl
rings. 33½ of the sacks were from 1972 to 1975, with 3 in the
Steelers’ 21-17 victory over the Cowboys in the ’76 Super Bowl.
White, 6’4” and 250 lbs, is best known for climbing out of a
hospital bed, having lost 18 pounds due to a bout with
pneumonia, to play in the Steelers’ first Super Bowl victory,
16-6, over the Minnesota Vikings. Minnesota was to run seven
of their first eight plays at him to test White out but he made
three tackles and gave up no yards. The Vikings would end up
gaining only 17 yards all game on the ground on 21 carries.
Teammate Jack Ham, the Hall of Fame linebacker, said of
White’s performance that day, “He looked like he came out of a
concentration camp…You talk about everybody rallying around
something. I could not believe he played that game. That was a
phenomenal thing. He had such resolve. I don’t know how he
did it.”
Ham also said, “You talk about a guy who set the tone for trash-
talking. He had to be in great condition because, besides playing
for 60 minutes, he talked a great game for 60 minutes.”
That’s what I remember of White, aside from his inspired play
on the field, his constant yapping. White was also known in later
years for his business acumen and charity work and upon
learning of his death, Gov. Ed Rendell said “he was a true
gentleman.” Alas, there are but two members of the Steel
Curtain now left, Joe Greene and L.C. Greenwood.
French Open
We congratulate Ana Ivanovic, the sexy Serb, for defeating
Marat Safin’s little sister for her first Grand Slam, while Rafael
Nadal, Mr. Clay, won his 4th consecutive French Open title in
destroying Roger Federer in straight sets. Federer, as great as he
is, has yet to win the French.
Stuff
–Holy cow……. “Divers battled Komodo dragon after being
washed up on island”
From Agence France-Presse:
“Five European divers fought off a Komodo dragon and survived
on shellfish for two nights after being washed up on an
Indonesian island that is a reserve for the reptiles, a French
survivor said yesterday.
“Laurent Pinel, 31, said the group lived off mussels scavenged
from the beach and had to repel the dragon during the 36 hours
they waited to be spotted on tiny Rinca island in the Komodo
National Park.
“ ‘On the beach a Komodo dragon came amongst us yesterday
afternoon,’ Mr. Pinel said, describing how the group had to pelt
the dangerous reptile with rocks to scare it away.”
[They were later discovered by park rangers.]
Sounds like a straight to video Sci-Fi Channel movie if you ask
me, though three of the five would have to be eaten before the
young guy and the hot 21-year-old fitness instructor team up to
beat back the Komodo mutants who have grown to 16-feet in
length.
–This is an outrage! As Nancy Keates of the Wall Street Journal
reports, with the rising cost of beer, many restaurants and bars
have switched from 16-ounce to 14-ounce glasses, what one
bartender calls a “falsie.” [Check your glass next time for a thick
bottom.] Plus bartenders aren’t coming close to filling true 16-
ounce glasses. A Journal investigation found that the Hooters
chain, for example, serves draft beer in 14-ounce glasses at
franchised locations in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee
(but 16-ounce glasses in other states). Ergo, I’m crossing off all
Hooters in those four states. I’ll go to Denny’s instead and
smuggle in tallboys.
Wine drinkers, by the way, are also noticing they are
increasingly being short-poured. Come to think of it, my
Dunkin’ Donuts girl is short-pouring me in my large coffee each
morning. It’s like a corporate edict has gone out across the land
….they’re chumps, they won’t notice.
–Jack Lucas died. He was 80. Lucas is the man who at the age
of 14 lied his way into the military to serve in World War II and
became the youngest marine ever to receive the Medal of Honor.
Lucas was just six days past his 17th birthday when, in February
1945, his heroism at Iwo Jima earned him the medal. As
reported by the AP, “He used his body to shield three members
of his squad from two grenades and was nearly killed when one
exploded.”
“A couple of grenades rolled into the trench,” Lucas said in an
interview in 1945. “I hollered to my pals to get out and did a
Superman dive at the grenades.”
He was left with more than 250 pieces of shrapnel in his body
and had 26 operations in the following months.
Lucas had been found out by censors through a letter he had
written to his 15-year-old girlfriend. He was told to drive a truck
in Hawaii as the Army threatened to send him home, but then he
stowed away aboard a Navy ship headed for combat in the
Pacific and turned himself in once aboard to avoid being listed as
a deserter, and volunteered to fight. The officers on board didn’t
know his age. Nor did they ask.
–David Duval made a cut at the St. Jude, his first in 10 events
this year. Justin Leonard won it, his 12th PGA Tour title.
–So what’s Michelle Wie been up to? It turns out the other week
she played in the Ladies German Open and tied for 6th. It was
the first time since the Evian Masters in July 2006 that she
completed a tournament under par – a streak of 15 starts in which
she made only six cuts.
–In yet another contract signing that must piss off veteran NFL
players to no end, the Oakland Raiders signed running back
Darren McFadden, the fourth player picked in the draft, to a $60
million, six-year contract, but with $26 million guaranteed. Just
amazing, an instant gazillionaire and bling machine.
–So remember how beavers were to be reintroduced to Scotland?
One was found dead on a beach in the Highlands, having
suffered what authorities called a “cruel” death after ingesting a
large quantity of sea water. But this was part of an illegal
release, it seems.
An officer said the release of the beaver into an unfamiliar and
inappropriate environment was “reckless.” “Beavers need
freshwater and the only open water this one found was the sea.”
Well, this makes sense. Can’t say I’ve ever seen a beaver body-
surfing at the Jersey Shore. And it’s also why you never see
beavers building shorefront properties.
–Barry Bonds is not slated to go to trial until March 2009.
Bonds still wants to play, but one baseball executive said he
hasn’t heard of one team that wants to take on his baggage.
–In case you’re wondering why I haven’t commented on some
recent track and field rulings involving steroids, such as in the
cases of Justin Gatlin and Trevor Graham, it’s because I’m
holding off on all track stories until I get out to the U.S. Olympic
Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Ore., in about three weeks.
–A convicted steroid dealer who provided evidence to the NFL
last month, tying several players to performance-enhancing drugs,
was found shot to death. Authorities labeled it a probable
murder/suicide as David Jacobs’ girlfriend had also been shot.
Jacobs had implicated players from both the Dallas Cowboys and
Atlanta Falcons.
–The Mets not only are back in the dumper, having lost 4 of 4 to
the lowly Padres over the weekend, but it’s clear they totally
screwed up the handling of Ryan Church’s second concussion of
the year. After playing a few games following a layoff, he is
hurting once again. The team should have put him on the DL,
regardless of what he was telling them. This could become a far
bigger story before long.
–Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano already has 16 hits this season
(in 44 at-bats, .364), thus putting him on a pace to be the first
pitcher since Catfish Hunter’s 36 hits in 1971 for the A’s to have
30. He’s actually on pace for 40, which would surpass the 39
hits of Don Drysdale in 1965. [Benjamin Hoffman / New York
Times]
–So I’m reading the latest Sports Illustrated and they plot out
“The Ultimate Road Trip” for the minor leagues, a 71-day,
15,997-mile journey, and wouldn’t you know, they list the
ballpark I told you about last week, where I played in Willie
Wilson’s game…CommunityAmerica Ballpark. But this is what
they say.
“Not only is there an Irish Dexter steer on the premises and
mouthwatering angus, but there’s also a giant sign of a bull
beyond leftfield with a hole in its right eye. If a player hits a
home run through the bull’s eye (get it?), a designated fan wins
$1 million.”
I’ve gotta tell you, I didn’t notice any of this stuff. Shows you
just how observant I really am. That’s probably why I didn’t see
the alien spacecraft in my driveway the other day until it had
taken off with my recycling containers.
–The Wall Street Journal’s Allan Barra had a story on Ken
Griffey Jr. and what might have been. After all, Griffey has
missed some 600 games in his career due to injury.
“If he hadn’t missed those games, it’s likely Mr. Griffey would
now have about 750 home runs and be closing in on Messrs.
Aaron and Bonds.”
But as Barra adds, “To many, Mr. Griffey’s achievements on the
field are less important than the fact that over the past two
decades he has been baseball’s consummate role model. He
married his wife, Melissa, in 1992 after meeting her at an under-
21 alcohol-free club. In 1999, after 11 years with a contender,
the Seattle Mariners, he asked to be traded to a non-contender,
the Cincinnati Reds – the team his father had played on for over
10 seasons – so that he could be just a three-hour flight away
from his wife and three children in Florida; his dad, he often
says, had been very supportive of him when he was growing up
and now he wanted to be there for his own kids.”
–Bar Chat Director/Movie Star of the Century, Clint Eastwood,
fired back at fellow director Spike Lee for a comment Lee made
at the Cannes Film Festival, following the premiere of a trailer
for Lee’s new film “Miracle at St. Anna,” a WWII epic about an
all-black infantry division that fought in Italy.
Lee wondered why black soldiers weren’t a part of Eastwood’s
2006 drama “Flags of Our Fathers,” which detailed the 1945
battle for Iwo Jima and its aftermath: “There were many African-
Americans who survived that war and who were upset at Clint….
That was his version: the Negro soldier did not exist. I have a
different version. It’s not like [Eastwood] could say he didn’t
know. It was a conscious decision not to have any black
people.”
A half-hour later, Eastwood was having his own press
conference at Cannes, but kept silent when peppered with
questions about Lee’s comment.
Then later Clint sat down with a print reporter and the comments
were just made public.
“Has [Lee] ever studied the history?” On the issue of black
troops at Iwo Jima, Clint said “they didn’t raise the flag. The
story [was] the famous flag-raising picture, and they didn’t do
that. If I put an African-American actor in there, people’d go,
‘This guy’s lost his mind.’ I mean, it’s not accurate….When I do
a picture and it’s 90% black, like ‘Bird,’ I use 90% black people.
A guy like [Lee] should shut his face.”
Years ago, Lee complained when Eastwood directed ‘Bird,’ a
biopic about Charlie Parker. “Why would a white guy be doing
that?” At the time of the comment, Eastwood replied, “I was the
only guy who made it, that’s why. [Lee] could have gone ahead
and made it.”
Lee’s response? He reminded Eastwood that they were not “on a
plantation.”
–Janet Frankston Lorin of Bloomberg News had a story on Hall
of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver and his wine venture, GTS
Vineyards in the Napa Valley. Seaver and his long-time wife
Nancy paid $510,000 for 116 undeveloped acres on Diamond
Mountain in 1997, the location already being the home of
Diamond Creed Vineyards, which sells really expensive stuff.
So now Seaver’s first vintage has been released for sale and he’s
offering Nancy’s Fancy, priced at $65 a bottle directly from him,
and $85 GTS.
Seaver has no Web site and no published phone number and
limited his promotion to about 1,000 letters mailed to people who
had expressed interest. The address is Box 888, Calistoga,
California 94515.
Gary Vaynerchuk, owner of the Wine Library in Springfield, N.J.
(a big place, I can tell you) said “If his name was Tom Cleaver
and he was not a famous athlete, he’d have a very difficult time”
in a crowded market.
[But not if he was Beaver Cleaver, mused the editor.]
–Ripped from the pages of the Jerusalem Post:
“A 47-year-old man died late Friday night after being bit in the
face by a poisonous snake in the courtyard of his house.”
The story never did say what kind of snake it was, nor how the
man got bit in the face, but I’m thinking maybe he had his ear to
the ground, checking for buffalo, and didn’t notice the pit viper
until it was too late.
Anyway, Dr. Areyeh Eizenman said “a poisonous snake bite to
the face is especially dangerous, and it offers almost no chance
of survival.”
The doctor said the victim’s behavior also played a role in his
death because he ran into his house where he waited for the
ambulance. Rather than running, the man should have
immediately rested, the doctor explained.
Well how the hell is he supposed to get to the phone?! Geezuz, I
hate haughty snakebite doctors.
–This was wild. From the AP:
“Polar bear shot and killed in Iceland”
“Police in Iceland said they shot and killed a polar bear that was
threatening the public. The polar bear is the first to have been
seen in Iceland in 20 years.”
So if you haven’t looked at a map recently, understand Iceland
isn’t near any land masses, ergo, I’m thinking it was a stowaway.
–There is concern the puffin population is dropping
precipitously, possibly because of a dearth of fish in the North
Sea, which is where they winter. But what I didn’t know is that
puffins, among the coolest species on the planet, generally live
25 to 30 years. Did you know that?
–I am watching the folks at the International Shark Attack File
like a hawk these days. We’ve had at least four confirmed deaths
by shark thus far in 2008, worldwide, plus you all know there
have been at least another 500, which authorities just throw in
the ‘missing persons’ file. But as of last Tuesday, the ISAF has
yet to confirm any of them. And so we say again, these guys are
total frauds.
[I just had a thought. Assuming I can get a cheap airfare, I just
may have to pay these guys a visit sometime before the year is
out. You know, a Bar Chat Investigative Report. “Hi, Biff
Burns, Bar Chat….may I come in?” “Ahhhh, we didn’t mean to
hide the numbers….really.”]
–Headline in Sunday’s Daily News:
“Rampaging raccoons hit Harlem”
“ ‘We can’t even come outside,’ said Dorothy Burrell, who lives
on W. 111th St. ‘It’s a dead street after 8. I had to end my
barbecue early on Memorial Day.’”
That’s about the time, though, that gunfire broke out in Harlem
that day, but I digress. The raccoons are said to come from
Central Park.
–Robert Anderson, a former child actor best known for playing
the young George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” died. He
was 75. Anderson was 12 when director Frank Capra cast him.
–On Sports Illustrated’s latest list of the top-earning American
athletes, Tiger Woods is first again for a fifth straight year.
Woods earned $127.9 million last year, including $105mm in
endorsements. Phil Mickelson was second at $62.4mm, followed
by LeBron James, $40.5mm.
Woods, by the way, now has cumulative earnings, both winnings
and endorsements, of nearly $800 million. And if you were
wondering about David Beckham, he is no. 1 on the international
list but still way behind Woods and Mickelson with $48.2mm.
Am I the only one who doesn’t find these figures that amazing
anymore? That’s because of the pay packages on Wall Street,
including for successful hedge fund operators, though without a
doubt the athletes add more to society’s overall well-being than
the Wall Streeters do.
–Sports Illustrated’s “Sign of the Apocalypse”:
“A veteran sumo wrestler faces a 30% pay cut for attacking
another wrestler with a soup ladle.”
–I appreciate a correction on a recent story I wrote, from George
L. I said the barrel-jumping on Wide World of Sports was from
Lake Placid. It was actually from Grossinger’s Resort in the
Catskills. George attended some of the events, going back to the
1950s, and noted it was a great deal, especially as a guest.
“There was no admission charge – you just showed up at the
rink, took a seat, and watched the show, which also featured a
figure skating exhibition as well. The rink, and the event, was
overseen by Irving Jaffe, a speed-skating champion from the
1932 Olympics.”
Thanks again, George.
Top 3 songs for the week 6/5/71: #1 “Brown Sugar” (The
Rolling Stones) #2 “Joy To The World” (Three Dog Night) #3
“Want Ads” (The Honey Cone)…and…#4 “It Don’t Come
Easy” (Ringo Starr) #5 “Rainy Days And Mondays”
(Carpenters) #6 Bridge Over Troubled Water” (Aretha
Franklin) #7 “Sweet And Innocent” (Donny Osmond) #8
“Never Can Say Goodbye” (The Jackson 5…their best) #9 “It’s
Too Late” (Carole King…her best) #10 “Me And You And A
Dog Named Boo” (‘Sheriff’ Lobo)
U.S. Open Quiz Answers: 1) The last American to win was Jim
Furyk, 2003, at Olympia Fields. 2) Tiger won the last of his two
Open titles at Bethpage Black in 2002, defeating Phil Mickelson.
3) The last two to win whose first name begins with S are Steve
Jones, 1996 (Oakland Hills), and Scott Simpson, 1987
(Olympic). 4) Payne Stewart finished 2nd to Lee Janzen in 1998
(Olympic) and 1993 (Baltusrol).
Next Bar Chat, Thursday. Due to other items coming up the past
few days, I didn’t have time for a little reflection on the 40th
anniversary of the assassination of RFK….but next time. And
news on Tiger, if you keep it where it is.
