Baseball Quiz: Name the 13 North American black pitchers to
win 20 games in the major leagues; only two of which have done
so since 1990. [Hints: Not trying to make this a trick question,
one is Canadian, but there is another that is the hardest to get in
my opinion and to help you, he shares the same name as a great
NBA guard from the 1960s.] Answer below.
Tiger Woods
Folks, I was preparing to post my column a little earlier than
normal when the news on Tiger Woods hit; that he was going
under the knife yet again for what we now learn is a very serious
situation with his knee. I am not changing anything I previously
was prepared to add regarding his spectacular U.S. Open
triumph. I do have to note, though, that on 6/12 in this column I
wrote the following:
“So just how serious is Tiger Woods’ knee? More and more are
saying what I did when we first learned Tiger was going under
the knife for a third time on the same knee; can he really make it
long enough to win another six majors to surpass Jack Nicklaus’
total?”
Tiger issued some of the following on his Web site, Wednesday.
“I know much was made of my knee throughout the last week,
and it was important to me that I disclose my condition publicly
at an appropriate time. I wanted to be very respectful of the
USGA and their incredibly hard work, and make sure the focus
was on the U.S. Open,” Tiger said. “Now, it is clear that the
right thing to do is to listen to my doctors, follow through with
this surgery, and focus my attention on rehabilitating my knee….
“While I am obviously disappointed to have to miss the
remainder of the season, I have to do the right thing for my long-
term health and look forward to returning to competitive golf
when my doctors agree that my knee is sufficiently healthy. My
doctors assure me with the proper rehabilitation and training, the
knee will be strong and there will be no long-term effects.”
It turns out Woods initially ruptured the ACL in his knee last
year, following the British Open when he was running at his
home in Orlando. Tiger elected then not to have surgery and all
he did while playing through the pain was win five of the next
six events he entered, including the PGA championship and the
TOUR Championship. He then won his first four events of this
year, including that spectacular finish at Arnie’s Bay Hill.
Tiger then decided that because of the pain, he would have
surgery after the Masters to clean the knee up. The hope was he
could make it through the rest of 2008 and have the ACL
procedure after the Ryder Cup.
But get this. It turns out he developed stress fractures,
discovered just two weeks ago before the Memorial, a
tournament he had been targeting for his return. Woods says in
his release, “I was determined, though, to do everything and
anything in my power to play in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines,
which is a course that is close to where I grew up and holds
many special memories for me. Although I will miss the rest of
the 2008 season, I’m thrilled with the fact that last week was
such a special tournament.”
What a huge blow for the sport of golf. On 6/16, I wrote of the
prospects for the playoff between Tiger and Rocco, “regardless
of what happens Monday, golf is the big winner.” Golf was, but
the rest of this year will be a bit of a downer.
—
Celtics Rule…Kobe Disappears
Bill Plaschke / L.A. Times
“In the end, the chant became fact, the screaming pleas of throaty
New Englanders transposed into a sinking reality for silent
Angelenos. In the end, the crazy dream that the Lakers could
quickly turn dysfunction into destiny ended when the Boston
Celtics slowly turned them into chowder….
“An NBA Finals that began with the Lakers spraying wild
streams of hope across the Southland ended Tuesday with those
same Lakers in a small and embarrassed puddle.
“Which the Celtics splashed through. Again and again….
“The final score in Game 6 was Celtics 131, Lakers 92. The
final count in Finals games was Celtics 4, Lakers 2….
“But the final chants were more compelling, because they were
directed at you-know-who.
“In his best chance at establishing his legacy as a championship
player without Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant was seemingly
burdened by something even heavier….
“The league MVP was AWFUL, unable to break through even
the most basic of one-on-one Celtic defenses, unable to carry a
team that needed carrying. In the six games of the series, he shot
poorly, led inconsistently, had only one really dramatic moment,
and that was on defense.
“And, so, in voices that seemingly shook the TD Banknorth
Garden, with Bryant standing at the foul line in the third quarter,
here came those chants.
“ ‘You’re…not…Jordan!’ the fans said, referring to Michael
Jordan.”
Kobe’s field goal shooting in the Finals:
Game 1…9-26…loss
Game 2…11-23…loss
Game 3…12-20…win
Game 4…6-19…loss
Game 5…8-21…win
Game 6…7-22…loss
40% from the field for the series when he needed to step up.
—
Midnight Massacre…Willie Randolph
Only the New York Mets’ management could make a former
manager suddenly look sympathetic. I have called for
Randolph’s dismissal for a long time now and all one needs to
know who isn’t from the area is that since May 31, 2007, the
Mets were 88-91 under Willie’s tutelage, including last
September’s historic collapse. This with a team that most
baseball experts agree has more than enough talent to contend for
a title. It’s amazing Willie held on as long as he did.
But some of the early polls of fan reaction to his dismissal are
casting Willie as the victim…as in ‘he shouldn’t have been
fired.’
William C. Rhoden / New York Times
“(G.M.) Omar Minaya faced the news media Tuesday afternoon
for the first time since the Mets’ bizarre midnight firing of
Manager Willie Randolph and two of his coaches.
“The real point of the news conference was for Minaya to take
the Mets’ ownership and brass – Fred Wilpon and his son, Jeff –
off the hook, remove them from any culpability for a firing that
was as awful in its way as the Mets’ season-ending collapse last
year.
“From the opening moments of the news conference, Minaya
went out of his way to let reporters know that this had been his
call, his decision. That he was no errand boy doing the Wilpon’s
bidding. ‘It was a very tough decision for me to make,’ he said.
“He pointed out that Randolph was his hire.
“ ‘I decided to hire Willie; that was my decision, and I decided to
fire Willie; it was my decision,’ Minaya said. ‘Tough decision,
but it was my decision, and it was a tough one.’
“Reached at his home in New Jersey on Tuesday evening,
Randolph questioned that and said: ‘I have my doubts. Let’s just
leave it at that. I have my doubts.’
“The way Randolph was fired conjured images of the way the
Irsay family sneaked the Baltimore Colts out of town and moved
them to Indianapolis in a similar weak-kneed, early-morning
escapade.
“So why did the Mets – Minaya – allow Randolph, one of the
truly class individuals in baseball, to fly 3,000 miles across the
country, allow him to manage a game, then fire him around
midnight?
“On Sunday, Randolph said, he asked Minaya to pull the trigger
if that’s what he had in mind. ‘I actually asked him,’ Randolph
said, ‘I said: ‘Omar, do this now. If you’re going to do this, do
this now. I know you’ve got a lot of pressure on you, but if I’m
not the guy to lead this team, then don’t let me get on this plane.’
I did say that to him.’
“Minaya said he had not made up his mind until Monday, and
even if he had done so Sunday, he said, there was too much to
coordinate: putting a new manager in place and flying the
coaches from their minor league teams to California. But the
major reason seemed to be Minaya’s reluctance to make a good
friend – and his hire – walk the plank.
“Still, this was an unseemly execution….
“Managers are hired to be fired. But there is a tasteful way to do
everything. The Mets yearn to be respected the way the Yankees
are, but they continue to conduct the most public aspect of their
business like minor leaguers. Once again, the franchise is the
object of national derision.
“Back in the day, the franchise was known as the stumbling,
bumbling, but lovable Mets.
“Without the love, now they simply stumble and bumble.”
Joel Sherman / New York Post
“So let’s sum up, shall we. The two most arduous endeavors in
the game are a doubleheader and a cross-country flight without a
day off before another game. The Mets made Randolph plus
coaches Rick Peterson and Tom Nieto participate in both from
Sunday night into Monday morning. In between, GM Omar
Minaya met with Randolph and left Shea telling reporters
Randolph had both his full support and that of ownership – a
quote that both then and certainly now we know to be a lie.
“Randolph then managed a team that beat the A.L. West-leading
Angels for the Mets’ third win in four games. He told the media
afterward he hoped this was the onset of a strong resurgence,
then returned to his hotel and was fired.”
Mike Vaccaro / New York Post
“The email was time-stamped 3:14 a.m., Eastern time. In a
simpler time, in a different world, maybe the Mets would have
succeeded completely in this cowardly purge of their baseball
team. Maybe then they would have been able to hold off on
telling everybody what they’d planned to do until long past their
vessels in the media were fast asleep.
“Ah, but there is this wonderful thing known as the Internet now,
and here we are, telling you that while you were sleeping, at 3:14
a.m. New York time, at 12:14 a.m. California time, two hours
after the Mets beats the Angels 9-6, the Mets finally got around
to firing Willie Randolph.
“Maybe that seems a simple proclamation. Maybe you think
everyone knows about the Internet. Well, the men who run the
Mets are quite obviously simple men, and sinister men, cowards
cloaked in ‘no comments,’ who have seen the way their baseball
team has performed this year and obviously decided: people
don’t just need to be fired.
“They need to be humiliated.
“What a crowd these bums are, all of them from the Wilpons at
the top to Omar Minaya down below, all of them who conspired
to botch this firing worse than any firing has ever been botched.
Ever. You wouldn’t trust these guys to run a 7-11, let alone a
National League baseball team. What a joke. What a cowardly,
dastardly joke.
“A midnight massacre. A three-a.m. thrashing. Disgraceful.
Utterly, completely, disgraceful.
“And here’s the ridiculous part: they could have gone through
the transaction of what they did – firing Randolph, firing Rick
Peterson, firing Tom Nieto, elevating Jerry Manuel and Ken
Oberkfell and Luis Aguayo and Dan Warthen, at any time across
the past few weeks and they would have been perfectly justified.
“Hell, if they wanted to raze the whole staff last October, after
the epic collapse of September, that would have been all right,
too. You may not have agreed with it (although a loud segment
of Mets fans surely would have), but that would have simply
been a baseball decision. And the baseball was enough to
warrant it.
“This? This is unspeakable. These men couldn’t have been fired
in New York, before heading on a plane and flying 3,000 miles
to their doom? They couldn’t have been spared the ignominy of
a public perp walk back east, their dignity thrown into their
carry-on luggage? Really?…
“What we know now is that Randolph was so much better than
the men he worked for it’s as if they were playing a different
game in a different league. What a fiasco. What a joke. Less
than two years after Game 7, less than nine months from opening
their signature ballpark, the Mets reveal themselves, again, for
what they’ve been for too long.
“A cheap, unfunny joke.
“Run by a miserable cast of miscreants. Good for Randolph,
Peterson and Nieto. They may not know this, but their lot in life
just got a bit brighter, getting away from this batch of bums.”
But it’s necessary to go back to the beginning of this whole
fiasco. Here were the first thoughts from Randolph.
“I’m just very disappointed that I’m not going to be able to fulfill
what my dream is, to come here and help this team win a world
championship. That’s what I’ve always been about. It’s very,
very difficult right now, but I’m ready to move on.”
You really want to feel sorry for the guy, but, again, he was 88-
91 since last May 31. With a $138 million payroll, that’s not
getting the job done. Coupled with last September’s debacle, it’s
cause for dismissal. But as the Star-Ledger’s Dan Graziano
summed up:
“(Meanwhile), underneath them, the Mets will continue to be
what they’ve been, with rare and gleaming exceptions, since they
came into existence 46 years ago.
“A joke.”
—
Tiger
[Written up before the injury announcement]
Gene Wojciechowski / ESPN.com
“Take that, NASCAR and your two good ol’ boy employees who
allegedly like to wave more than a checkered flag for fun.
“Take that, Tim Donaghy, you radioactive weasel. And you too,
NBA, for giving us the tiniest of reasons to listen to him.
“Take that, Chad Johnson and your insufferable bitching; Chris
Henry and your one-for-the-thumb arrest record; Jeremy
Shockey and your grudges. You’ve been replaced.
“That’s because the solar system’s best golfer, Tiger Woods, and
a 45-year-old walking smile named Rocco Mediate flipped the
switch on the sports garbage disposal Monday. Feel the churn.
“Gone was the backwash of a $225 million racial and sexual
harassment lawsuit brought against NASCAR, as well as the
lingering and toxic accusations of refs fixing NBA games. And
for at least one afternoon, nobody seemed to care about the usual
contract-related and police-blotter player updates.
“Just when you want to take a grout brush to the caked-on sludge
of the daily sports headlines, along comes the improbable hazmat
team of the No. 1- and No. 158-ranked golfers in the world. And
it all happens at a major. In an 18-hole playoff. On a course so
gorgeous that Angelina Jolie asks it for beauty tips.
“Tiger and Rocco. Sounds like two guys who break thumbs for a
living. But thank goodness they were around these past few
days. Without them, we’d be stuck on the Willie Randolph Pink
Slip Watch. [Ed. Oops….]….
“In the process, we learned a little bit more about Woods, and a
lot more about Mediate. Together they managed to remind us
why sports is still worth the effort….
“(When) all golf hell was breaking around him, Mediate turned
to an NBC on-course announcer and said, ‘Isn’t this fun?’
“Fun? It ought to get an Emmy for Best Drama.”
Woods admitted afterwards that his doctors had advised against
him even teeing it up in the Open and that he risked re-injuring
the knee.
Thomas Boswell / Washington Post
“Once, a popular American debate was to ask whether golf was
truly a ‘sport’ or just a ‘game’ because nobody tackled anybody,
no bones were broken and only psyches were occasionally
fractured. Woods, more than all other previous golfers
combined, ended that discussion long ago. He simply obliterated
the idea. If his power, precision, grace, strategic intelligence,
competitive intimidation and preternatural ability to focus every
Eldrick molecule on physical performance did not constitute
athleticism, then what could meet the test?
“However, golf has always lacked one of the defining tests of our
major sports: the ability and willingness to play with pain and
still excel. Sure, no one was more mentally tough than Tiger.
But was he physically tough in the sense of an NFL running
back?
“Now we know. And, soon, another transformation in the public
perception of Woods may arrive. He has always been respected,
envied, admired and adulated by millions of fans. But, like Jack
Nicklaus in his Fat Jack period, Woods may not quite have been
loved. Or not on the same scale as the other emotions he
aroused. But, just as Nicklaus worked his way into our hearts,
not just our heads, as he did the handsome-guy makeover thing
and showed himself to be an exemplary family man and
unsurpassed role model, so Tiger – as we see him age and face
injury, as we realize that he too can limp – might cut us even
deeper.
“Eventually, by the time Nicklaus was 40 and finally losing some
of his gifts, America didn’t watch his putts in big events so much
as the sports nation prayed over them.
“That might not happen here on Monday. Mediate is far too
appealing a foil. But the day is coming. You could feel it on that
final putt on the 72nd hole. The crowd was not holding its breath
thinking simply that ‘Tiger will make it.’ They were imploring
whatever forces they thought appropriate to ‘please let Tiger
make it.’ That’s different. And even better than the relationship
we had with him before.”
Tiger Bits
Yes, some of these are already well known….but for the
archives.
In playoffs on the PGA Tour, Tiger is now 11-1. Jack Nicklaus,
by comparison, was 13-10 and Arnold Palmer 12-8.
Tiger is the first to win seven tournaments on the same course,
Torrey Pines.
Tiger is the only golfer to win a major four straight years, twice.
[2005-2008, 1999-2002]
Tiger has 4 Masters, 3 U.S. Opens, 3 British, and 4 PGAs…Jack
had 6, 4, 3, 5. Tiger won his 14th major at age 32. Jack did this
at 35.
Tiger is 43-3 (14-0 in majors) when holding at least a share of
the 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour.
Tiger has won 65 of 222 of his professional starts on the PGA
Tour, 29.3%. [30.4% of his starts in majors as a pro, 14 of 46.]
—
RFK, Part III
Continuing with our story of the assassination of Robert
Kennedy, 40 years ago this month, the initial reaction of
President Lyndon Johnson was really incredible. Granted, there
was no love lost between himself and the Kennedys, particularly
Robert, but as Jules Witcover describes in his book “The Year
the Dream Died: Revisiting 1968 in America,” “the bitter
feelings Johnson felt…colored his judgment. According to Clark
Clifford in his memoir, LBJ wanted at first merely to issue a
statement on RFK’s death and had to be talked into delivering it
himself by advisers.”
The next morning, Clifford later wrote, “I received a telephone
call from the President that began one of the saddest experiences
of my long friendship with him. He wanted to discuss whether
or not Bobby Kennedy had the right to be buried in Arlington
Cemetery. I was stunned….the regulations were irrelevant, and
in any case could be suspended by the Commander in Chief. It
seemed obvious that Bobby should be buried near his beloved
brother on the gentle slope below the Custis-Lee mansion; the
politician in Lyndon Johnson understood this, but his personal
bitterness continued even after Bobby’s death.”
Witcover:
“The slain senator’s body and his family and closest friends were
flown to New York aboard one of the presidential jets…Brother
Ted sat with the casket through most of the trip with the widow.
“I got to New York in time to meet the plane at a private terminal
at La Guardia Airport….
“As Robert Kennedy’s casket was lowered, a stream of familiar
Kennedy figures also descended….When (Robert) McNamara
spied Jacqueline Kennedy on the opposite side of the motorcade,
he leaped up, scrambled over the hood of her car and embraced
her. Her face showed anguish but again not tears, as she relived
the shattering moments of less than five years earlier. Her
prediction to (historian Arthur) Schlesinger only three months
earlier had proved to be devastatingly accurate.”
[Ed. After Bobby had announced he was running, Jackie told
Schlesinger at a dinner party, “Do you know what I think will
happen to Bobby?” Schlesinger recalled. No, he said. “The
same thing that happened to Jack,” she replied. “There is so
much hatred in this country, and more people hate Bobby than
hated Jack…I’ve told Bobby this, but he isn’t fatalistic, like
me.”]
“Kennedy’s body was taken to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, there to
be readied to lie in repose in a closed casket for public viewing.
…The viewing was not to begin until 5:30 the next morning,
Friday, but already a line was forming outside. By sunrise, the
line wound several blocks around and away from the great
church on Fifth Avenue, and the wait to gain entry from the rear
of the line was being estimated at as long as five hours.
“Through the long day they came, white and black, young and
old, many holding rosaries or crushed handkerchiefs…The
viewing was originally to end at ten o’clock that evening, but
when the family saw the huge lines still forming, it was decided
to continue it through the night….
“At a Solemn Requiem Mass Saturday morning attended by
President Johnson, Vice President Humphrey, McCarthy and
many other political luminaries of both parties, Ted Kennedy
gave a memorable eulogy:
“ ‘My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond
what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and
decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering
and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.’ His voice
caught and broke slightly as he said these words, and he ended
with his brother’s familiar ‘Some men see things as they are and
say, ‘Why?’ I dream things that never were, and say, ‘Why
not?’’ That concluding reference carried particular poignancy
for all of us who had traveled the eighty-five days of Robert
Kennedy’s presidential quest that was now ending. Then Andy
Williams, without accompaniment, sang ‘The Battle Hymn of the
Republic.’”
After the Mass, 700 invited guests boarded a 21-car train for
Washington. To make certain the casket could be seen from the
railbed as the special car with expansive windows went by, it
was placed on chairs. Witcover:
“For the next eight and a half hours, the train moved south past
large and solemn crowds, bunched up at each station, stretched
out along the tracks between them. Occasionally a high school
band would stand playing a patriotic song; fathers would hold
their infants high over their heads to see some passing history;
boys in baseball uniforms stood at attention, their gloves over
their hearts or their hands in salute at their baseball caps. Some
women knelt in the hard gravel of the railbed as the casket went
by….
“(But) as the hours dragged on, the trip far behind schedule, John
Seigenthaler, the old Bobby Kennedy associate at the Justice
Department, remarked that if it lasted much longer, Kennedy
would start ‘kicking the box.’”
The trip wasn’t without tragedy. A four-car train going north
just past Elizabeth, New Jersey, caught two trackside mourners
in its path and killed them. In another incident, an 18-year-old
boy climbed a boxcar for a better view and was critically burned
when he brushed against a high-voltage overhead power line.
And there’s this historical note I didn’t realize. From Witcover:
“On the same day Robert Kennedy was being put to rest,
Scotland Yard detectives climaxed an intensive manhunt at
Heathrow Airport outside London by seizing and arresting James
Earl Ray, sought for the murder of Dr. King….
“The suspect had been tracked down through an exhaustive
search by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police of more than
200,000 passport applications, and was placed under maximum
security at London’s Cannon Row police station.” The U.S.
moved quickly to extradite him.
—
Stuff
–While I don’t like to see anyone get hurt, I apologize that I
found Yankee pitcher Chien-Ming Wang’s serious foot injury
almost humorous because it came while he was running the
bases, as A.L. pitchers have to do when playing in an N.L. park
during interleague play. In other words, it’s called baseball.
But Hank Steinbrenner went on a rant, saying it was time for the
National League to “join the modern age” and adopt the
designated hitter.
“I just think it’s time the N.L. joined the 21st century. The A.L.,
the minors, colleges, high schools, they all have DHs.
Truthfully, the N.L. owners should be concerned with it, even
with the practice their pitchers get doing it. You don’t need to
lose your best pitcher….Don’t give me that traditional crap. We
go to these N.L. cities, draw great crowds and we end up losing
one of our best pitchers. I’m not happy.”
Suck it up, Hank.
–According to Baseball America, it’s not even close as to what
the best draft ever was.
1968…Los Angeles Dodgers: Ron Cey, Steve Garvey, Davey
Lopes, Bill Buckner, Doyle Alexander, Tom Paciorek [All six
made at least one All-Star team, for starters.]
The worst draft ever was the Atlanta Braves, 1981.
“The Braves went 0-for-34 in the four different drafts, led off by
a truly terrible first-round pick, and only one of their picks even
reached Triple-A. First-rounder Jay Roberts, the 12th overall
pick, was one of the biggest reaches in first-round history. He
didn’t play baseball as a high school senior and committed to
Washington to play football. One standout performance in an
American Legion game led the Braves to pick him and sign him
for a $65,000 bonus, but he batted .187 in 226 career minor
league games. He quit in 1984 and went back to Washington to
play football. When asked later why he signed with the Braves,
he said: ‘Money! Money! Money! I love money! It’s great! I
wish I had more of it. Money is the root of all evil…and I am
very evil.”
The second worst draft was the Toronto Blue Jays, 1980.
“The Jays used the No. 2 overall pick on shortstop Garry Harris,
whom they believed was better than No. 1 pick Darryl
Strawberry. Harris’ high school coach said, ‘I’d bet my wife and
children that he’ll make it to Toronto.’ Harris didn’t get past
Double-A.”
And you gotta love this one….Montreal Expos, 1968.
“One of the most interesting footnotes to draft history, this
performance is at least understandable. A Montreal politician
found himself functioning as the team’s scouting director when
the city was awarded a franchise right before the draft, without
enough time to build a front office. He cobbled together some
borrowed scouting information and made 15 selections. Just six
of the players signed, and none made a mark in professional
baseball.”
–Nice start…20-year-old Willie Mays began the 1951 season
with Minneapolis of the American Association and after 35
games he was hitting .477, 71-for-149, with 8 home runs and 30
RBI. The New York Giants then called him up.
–Carolina basketball fans are a happy bunch these days as
sophomores Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington, as well as junior
Danny Green, withdrew from the NBA draft, thus rejoining
returning Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough and making UNC
a prohibitive favorite to take the title.
–Oakland Raiders wide receiver Javon Walker was found
unconscious on a Las Vegas street with “significant injuries,”
the victim of a mugging. Walker had just signed a six-year, $55
million deal with the Raiders after being released by the Denver
Broncos. He has since been released, suffering from a
concussion and facial injuries but should be alright.
–The BBC reported on a depressing development in Kenya. An
insecticide is being used by farmers to kill lions and other
predators.
“Carbofuran [available over the counter in Kenya] is a very
powerful and toxic insecticide. Spread in the soil, it destroys
bugs in the ground and is taken up by plants and kills insects
which feed on the sap or foliage. It is so powerful and toxic that
it has been banned in Europe….and the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency is seeking a total ban.”
The problem in Kenya is that it’s not being used to control
insects, but rather by herdsmen who use it to kill lions, leopards
and other predators. For example, a hippo was killed that had
ingested carbofuran, and then at least two lions eating the hippo
carcass were in turn poisoned.
“Vets and wildlife rangers were called to watch the pathetic sight
of the lions staggering and weakened from the effects of the
poison. One of the lions was shot to bring a quick end to its
suffering.”
I saw a BBC News report on television that added 200 vultures
died feasting on the same hippo carcass.
Kenya sucks….in so many different ways these days.
–From reporter Lewis Smith of the London Times:
“The last four northern white rhinoceros remaining in the wild
are feared to have been killed for their horns by poachers and are
now believed to be extinct in the wild. Only a few are left in
captivity but they are difficult to breed and the number is so low
that the species is regarded as biologically unviable.”
But there is some good news. The southern white rhino has seen
its numbers rise from 14,540 in 2005 to 17,480 in 2007.
–Singer Sara Evans has married former University of Alabama
quarterback Jay Barker. Drat.
–From Amanda Pentler / New York Daily News
“Hugh Hefner’s prime bunny, Holly Madison, is reportedly
dominating the Playboy mansion and causing major drama on the
set of ‘The Girls Next Door.’”
TMZ reports that everyone ‘hates’ Holly – especially fellow
Hefner girlfriend, Kendra Wilkinson.
“Apparently, the two can’t even be in the same room together,
which is causing problems for the show’s producers, who are
having trouble shooting around the fighting.”
Huh.
–We note the passing of dancer Cyd Charisse, 86, who starred in
such pictures as “Singin’ in the Rain” and “Brigadoon.” Her
marriage to Tony Martin lasted 60 years (he survives her).
And Stan Winston died, 62. He was the special-effects wizard
who created the dinosaurs for “Jurassic Park” as well as the 14-
foot monster in “Aliens” and the liquid-metal assassin in
“Terminator 2.” Now that’s a body of work, sports fans.
–A production company by the name of MadVision
Entertainment has bought the “Soul Train” franchise from
founder Don Cornelius. As Brian Stelter writes in the New York
Times, this makes sense when you realize the show’s archives
have never been utilized for DVDs or Internet platforms.
I used to love this one, which was first aired in 1970, and
Cornelius was not just the creator, but also writer, producer and
host. It had some big names on it, including James Brown and
Michael Jackson.
Top 3 songs for the week 6/15/74: #1 “Billy, Don’t Be A Hero”
(Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods…also had #15 “Who Do You
Think You Are”…super tune) #2 “You Make Me Feel Brand
New” (The Stylistics) #3 “Sundown” (Gordon Lightfoot)…and
…#4 “The Streak” (Ray Stevens) #5 “Band On The Run” (Paul
McCartney & Wings) #6 “Dancing Machine” (The Jackson 5)
#7 “Be Thankful For What You Got” (William DeVaughn) #8
“The Entertainer” (Marvin Hamlisch) #9 “For The Love Of
Money” (O’Jays) #10 “Midnight At The Oasis” (Maria Muldaur
….loved the music, even though lyrics are some of the dumbest
of all time)
Baseball Quiz Answer: 13 North American black pitchers to win
20 games in the major leagues.
Dontrelle Willis, Dave Stewart, Earl Wilson, Mudcat Grant, Don
Newcombe, Bob Gibson, Fergie Jenkins (Canadian), Dwight
Gooden, Vida Blue, Al Downing, J.R. Richard, Mike Norris, and
Sam Jones.
By the way, regarding Sam Jones (my basketball clue), when he
entered a game in May 1952 with Cleveland, the catcher was a
39-year-old rookie Quincy Trouppe, a Negro League veteran,
thus forming the first black battery in A.L. history. Jones later
threw a no-hitter, the first black to do so in the A.L. as well.
Lastly, the question itself is often confusing because some are
sloppy with regards to Jenkins. He was born up north.
Next Bar Chat, Monday.
