College Football Quiz: Give me the career rushing progression. Don’t worry…you get hints. For example, by the end of 1968, Mercury Morris of West Texas State was the all-time Div. I rusher with 3,388 yards. The six who then followed all made the NFL and are, in order of progression, S.O., E.M., A.G., T.D., R.W., and R.D. Name them. Answer below.
Random Musings…from Avalon, N.J., Sunday evening.
So I rented a house down here for the week and I’ve gotta say, it’s kind of depressing Sunday night. My Mets blew another and I had to follow it online, the Phillies have suddenly moved to just one back of the Metsies, and the Jets couldn’t beat the Brady-less Patriots, giving me another reason to hate this whole Brett Favre deal.
But far more importantly, America’s fourth-largest city, Houston, is a total disaster area, the Los Angeles commuter crash that claimed at least 25 lives is incredibly depressing on a number of levels, and as I go to post, Wall Street is in turmoil as Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch are history….one via bankruptcy, the other through a forced merger with Bank of America. Other players such as AIG and Washington Mutual are also in severe distress. These are scary times, that’s for sure.
Alas, after I arrived on Saturday, the great Mark R. shot over from the Philly area and we had way too good a time in Cape May and a spot in Avalon. I was a little groggy Sunday morning as Mark headed back home and I hit the beach, worried a land shark would eat me. Monday, two other old friends show up, though something tells me we’ll be sitting around watching CNBC much of the time…but at least quaffing an ale or two while bitching how Wall Street screwed the country. Then I boot them out Wednesday and buckle down to work again.
So that’s what I’m doing. But did you see that Denver/San Diego game? Holy Toledo. Mike Shanahan going for two points?! He’s always had that crazy look in his eyes. Now we know he truly is. But it worked. [Of course San Diego was robbed on the Cutler fumble that wasn’t called.]
And is Aaron Rodgers off to a good start in Green Bay or what? Brett who?
But now I just saw the Cubs’ Carlos Zambrano pitch the team’s first no-hitter in 36 years. The Mets, in business since 1962, still don’t have one.
“Innocence and Experience”
From a bit by Eric Hanson of The Atlantic, following are a few “great moments in precocity, endurance, and procrastination, organized instructively by age.”
1 – Keith Richards is evacuated from suburban London to escape German buzz bombs, 1944.
6 – Alfred Hitchcock’s father sends him down to the police station with a note instructing the officer in charge to lock him in a cell for five minutes, circa 1905.
12 – Joan of Arc begins to hear voices, 1424.
13 – Spanky McFarland retires from ‘Our Gang,’ 1942.
15 – After twirling lassos in Disney’s Frontierland and pricing hats in Adventureland, Steve Martin gets a job doing magic tricks in Fantasyland, 1960.
16 – Allen Stewart Konigsberg changes his name to Woody Allen.
17 – Kurt Cobain leaves home and finds work as a hotel cleaner but is fired for sleeping in the rooms, 1984.
22 – Dwight Eisenhower misses a crucial tackle on Jim Thorpe, and the Carlisle Indians go on to defeat Army, 27-6. Before the game, Carlisle coach Pop Warner told his players to remember Wounded Knee, 1912.
26 – Ho Chi Minh is working as a pastry cook at the Carlton Hotel in London, circa 1916.
31 – Charles Schulz gives Linus a security blanket, 1954.
36 – Marilyn Monroe dies in her Brentwood, California, home of an overdose of barbiturates, 1962. Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in a car accident in Paris, 1997.
39 – Ian Fleming vacations in Jamaica with his mistress, 1948. While there he purchases a copy of ‘Birds of the West Indies,’ by the ornithologist James Bond.
44 – Ronald Reagan co-hosts live coast-to-coast TV coverage of the opening day at Disneyland, 1955.
47 – White House sage Henry Kissinger is dating Jill St. John, 1970.
56 – The now-nearly-forgotten Victor Fleming directs both ‘Gone With the Wind’ and ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ 1939.
63 – Walt Disney secretly acquires land from orange growers in central Florida, 1964.
88 – Walter Cronkite maintains an office and a staff of four at CBS headquarters in New York. He has a consulting contract with the network, but is rarely consulted.
90 – John D. Rockefeller Sr. watches as half of the family fortune is lost in the stock market crash of 1929. But there’s still enough Rockefeller money to found the Museum of Modern Art, build Rockefeller Center, restore Colonial Williamsburg, and buy enough of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for a national park.
93 – After having four car accidents in a month, George Burns hired a chauffeur, 1989.
95 – Titian writes a letter to Phillip II of Spain, to bug him about a portrait that hasn’t been paid for, 1571.
98 – Rin Tin Tin dies at his home in Los Angeles, 1932. In human years he was 14.
99 – Bob Hope has amassed an 85,000-page joke file, digitally scanned and broken down into categories, which he stores in file cabinets in a theft- and fire-proof walk-in vault in the office next to his North Hollywood home, 2002.
Apocalypse Now
Ed Potton of the London Times interviewed director Francis Ford Coppola on the 30th anniversary of the making of “Apocalypse Now.” Budgeted at $12 million, the film ended up costing $30 million and the stories surrounding the making of it turned Coppola from being the star of Hollywood to a laughingstock; tales of drug-taking, shootings and even body-snatching. Among the questions asked of Coppola today…
Q: Why did you replace Harvey Keitel with Martin Sheen, and how hard was it?
The hardest thing in movie-making is to replace an actor. I’ve done it only once or twice. Harvey is a wonderful actor…But given what I felt the character had to convey, I was convinced that he was wrong for what I wanted to do.
Q: What led you to use Wagner’s ‘The Flight of the Valkyries’ with the helicopter attack scene?
John Milius, who wrote the original screenplay, created that idea.
Q: Was it a challenge handling Marlon Brando?
I spent several days with Marlon discussing the themes of the film and the specifics of the role of Kurtz (whom Brando had asked to rename Leighly). Marlon repeatedly resisted the idea that we could do the sequence in a manner following Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness,’ which I was proposing….
So I just sat patiently, worried though I was, listening and discussing many things with him…Finally, after more than a week of this (I only had three weeks of his time), he showed up and I was shocked: he had shaved his head, like Kurtz in ‘Heart of Darkness.’
“But Marlon, you said it wouldn’t work to do it like ‘Heart of Darkness’ – you said you had read it and thought it wouldn’t work.” And he said: “I lied.” He had only read it for the first time that night.
[On the issue of Brando’s weight, Coppola decided to dress him in black “and portray his fatness as great size, meaning that you usually see just his shoulders and arms. So his large scale could be interpreted as that of a giant man.]
Q: Legend has it that Dennis Hopper was high on drugs for much of the shoot.
God only knows what he was high on.
Stuff
–Not too much excitement this week in college football as USC dominated Ohio State, 35-3. But Maryland continued the ACC’s resurgence in beating #23 California.
AP Poll
1. USC
2. Oklahoma
3. Georgia…eked by South Carolina
4. Florida
5. Missouri…remember, it’s the Bar Chat Guarantee they win it all
15. East Carolina
18. Wake Forest
–Hey, Phil W. You’re right. The Carolina Panthers do look good this year…a real sleeper pick.
–Boy, the story of Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young is a complicated one. According to his therapist, Young mentioned suicide several times before driving away from his home with a gun (later found to be not loaded). But Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher and Young say the story was overblown. Young himself said “Now I am OK. I was never depressed. I just hurt a little bit…When it happens again, I’ll know how to handle it.”
Concerns over Young’s mental state began last Sunday when he was booed heavily after throwing his second interception in the Titans’ 17-10 victory over Jacksonville. The next day, Young and his therapist visited Fisher at his home, talked about an injury that had knocked him out, and then Young raced off, driving 90 mph according to his manager, who tried to follow him.
Well, one thing led to another, a police search was launched, SWAT teams were at the ready if needed, but around 11:30 p.m., Young returned to the stadium, where police discovered the unloaded weapon. Young didn’t play this week against Cincinnati.
–Cleveland’s Cliff Lee, now 22-2, as noted before can be the first pitcher to win 20 and have a winning percentage of .900 as he’s currently at .917. The all-time record for a starter, minimum 15 decisions, is Johnny Allen, 15-1, (.938). He was also with the Indians, the 1937 edition.
–The Florida Marlins’ infield established quite a record the other day. With Jorge Cantu’s 25th home run of the season, the Marlins became the first team in major-league history to have four infielders with at least 25. As of Friday, Cantu’s 25, Mike Jacobs, 32, Dan Uggla, 30, and Hanley Ramirez, 29.
–The Mets are putting 2,500 items from Shea Stadium up for auction, including, if you can believe this, the Mets’ dugout, which has an asking price of $100,000. Johan Santana’s locker (previously used by Willie Mays and Mike Piazza) could fetch $50,000. But the Mets are saving the Big Apple that popped up on home runs.
–As Johnny Mac pointed out to me, last year in the National League there were a total of 48 complete games. But as recently as 1980, Billy Martin’s Oakland A’s had 94…94…on a team that was just 83-79. The main five guys started 159 of the 162 games, but all were basically washed up within a couple years. Johnny then notes that a reliever, Bob Lacey, who had thrown 46 games in relief and pitched a total of 70 innings, was then tapped by Martin to start the last game of the season. Lacey threw a complete game, of course, and a shutout to boot. But he threw his arm out and was out of baseball a few years later at thirty. So maybe today’s emphasis on pitch counts has some validity.
[Johnny also pointed out that in that same season, 1980, Rickey Henderson played his first full season with the A’s and talk about discipline, Rickey struck out only 54 times in 591 at bats and walked 117 times…as a 21-year-old. Oh, and he stole 100 bases.]
–My brother passed along the following from blog.nj.com and the Star-Ledger.
“Erratic lane changes on Route 80 and a claimed hankering for peanut butter and pastrami led Roxbury (N.J.) police to arrest two New Mexico residents for having roughly three pounds of marijuana in the bed of their pickup truck, according to a report in the Daily Record.
“The report said Patrolman Rich Ricco stopped the 2008 Toyota pickup for disregarding marked lanes after making a series of lane changes…James Garfield, 55, and Robin Harrington, 56, both of Feliz, N.M., were interviewed.
“ ‘They went to New York to buy pastrami and peanut butter,’ Ricco told the Daily Record.
“The officer found it suspicious that the pair would travel from New Mexico to New York for food. So he searched the vehicle and found the marijuana…
“It’s unclear if the suspects planned to eat the peanut butter on the pastrami.”
OK, that’s funny, but the reason why my brother pointed this out to me was because of the comments on the blog following the item. I picked out just a few, in order of their posting.
“New Mexico residents? I hope they check their immigration status.” – nwrkpeaches
“Take a look at their last names, peaches. Not all illegal activities have to be done by illegal immigrants.” – cp36
“How did those New Mexicans get over the border. They should of shot them.” – spankyboy
“New Mexico happens to be a U.S. state – get out your atlas. Ever hear of Bill Richardson – he thought he was popular enough to be president for the Democrats.” – licorice
“Someone has to stop these Mexicans from bringing marijuana to NYC.” – hipocracy
“Someone has to stop these illegal searches by the police.” – drinky
“Garfield and Harrington. Pretty crafty, using Canadian names and posing as Mexicans.” – nwrkpeaches
“Why didn’t these Mexicans go to Canada then?” – hipocracy
“”Why did they have to come all the way to New York to get some pot? There’s plenty in New Mexico and old Mexico too. Another weird story.” – Rocknj
“I love horses.” – element18
“What’s worse than an Old Mexican carrying 3 pounds of marijuana in the back of his pick up?” – hipocracy
[Yes, fear for our country. There also has to be a way to prevent these people from voting in November.]
–There was a bit of a controversy in these parts concerning the naming rights for the new stadium that the Jets and Giants will be sharing. Allianz, the insurance giant, had been involved in the negotiations but when this was learned talks ended. The reason? Allianz had ties to the Nazis. Jewish groups and Holocaust survivors were outraged, though for its part, Allianz said it has atoned for its past. [As Jeff B. said, Jeff and I having worked together at PIMCO, you gotta wonder what these same folks would do if they understood PIMCO was owned by Allianz.]
–The man long credited as being the inspiration for the skipper in “Jaws,” Frank Mundus, died in Hawaii. He was 82. As reported by Debbie Tuma and Rich Schapiro of the Daily News:
“Known as Monster Man, Mundus caught an untold number of sharks in the waters off Montauk since he began fishing there on his boat, the Cricket, in the early 1950s….
“The colorful skipper caught a 3,427-pound great white in 1986, breaking the record for the heaviest fish ever caught with a rod and reel.
“Mundus also claims to have harpooned a 4,500-pound great white in 1964.
“It was that fish, Mundus claimed, that led his friend Peter Benchley to pen the novel ‘Jaws,’ in which a salty shark hunter named Quint is hired to kill a colossal great white….
“Among the oddest things Mundus has said he found inside a shark’s stomach were a rabbit and one of his own business cards, which had been tossed in a can of chum.”
Though he retired to Hawaii, he often returned to Montauk to fish and was there this past summer. According to boat mate Rick Freda, he caught 20 sharks in 20 days. Poor guy died of complications from a heart attack he suffered at Kona International Airport upon returning to Hawaii.
–Reuters: “A wild elephant killed at least four people, including a 12-year-old girl, in a village in southeast Nepal yesterday (Sat.).
“ ‘The elephant dragged the victims from their homes while they were sleeping and then trampled them to death,’ Police Officer Lakshman Neupane said.”
I didn’t even know Nepal had elephants. Turns out they have 250 and are protected by law. Anyone found guilty of killing one can face up to 15 years in jail. Advantage elephants.
–I forgot last time to report this item from Brad K., via the AP in Little Rock. “Seth Russell, 15, was cruising Lake Chicot in Arkansas on a large inner tube towed by a boat when a Silver Asian carp leaped from the water and hit him in the face, breaking his jaw. Seth was knocked unconscious….
“The teen has had oral surgery to wire several teeth together and still experiences back pain that doctors attribute to whiplash from the high-speed collision, his mother said.”
Officials say this is not a rare occurrence and that the population of Silver Asian carp is exploding. Brad and I are trying to figure out what it all means but it’s just another reason to stay out of the water. [This is where I part company with Brad. He was a terrific swimmer in high school and wants to wage war on the carp. I prefer to sit on the shore and drink beer.]
–Reuters in Beijing: “Three people were stung to death after a truck carrying dozens of bee hives overturned in the mainland and three more were killed on the road as they tried to steer clear of the swarm, newspapers said on Thursday….
“Pictures showed thousands of bees swarming around the accident site as workers, wearing protective clothing, cleared the debris.
“The East Asia Economy and Trade News said three more people were killed hours later when two trucks collided as they tried to avoid the swarm.”
Goodness gracious. No word on whether the Chinese government resorted to airstrikes to take out the bees.
–Russian tennis star Nikolay Davydenko was cleared by the Association of Tennis Professionals on Friday of fixing a match last summer in Poland. But the ATP admitted they weren’t able to review all pertinent data because phone records had been destroyed. [A local phone company erased them in following data protection laws.]
At the time of the match in question, Aug. 2, 2007, Davydenko was the fourth-ranked player in the world and was a heavy favorite against 87th-ranked ranked Vassallo Arguello. But after winning the first set, money flooded in for Arguello. Davydenko then retired because of an injury with Arguello ahead, 2-6, 6-3, 2-1. As reported by Joe Drape of the New York Times:
“During the match, Betfair, an online betting exchange, notified the ATP that its security team had recognized irregular betting patterns. After the match, Betfair voided $7 million in bets, the first time it had taken such a measure. It turned over its data to the ATP….
“Davydenko’s manager, Ronnie Leitgeb, has said that ATP investigators told Davydenko’s camp that Betfair accounts traced to Russia stood to make $1.5 million if he lost and that two other unknown account holders were to make nearly $6 million.”
Davydenko has always maintained he did nothing wrong and speculated that Russian spectators might have overheard him talking to his wife and entourage in their native language in the stands.
–This is almost absurd, but Billboard has concluded Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” is the most popular single of all time. Geoff Mayfield, director of charts at Billboard magazine, acknowledged that this and other selections may not jibe with some fans’ personal thoughts of the most popular songs of the past 50 years, but “We went through each era, and we looked through the rate of turnover. The rate of turnover was very high in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, and we had to put a weight on that to make the chart runs of that era equal to the chart runs that can be accomplished since 1991.”
Checker’s “The Twist” spent a total of only three weeks at the top of the charts, but did so twice in two separate runs more than a year apart, the only song that was ever No. 1 in such a fashion.
Believe it or not…according to the grading system, Santana’s “Smooth” with Rob Thomas, is the No. 2 most popular, followed by Bobby Darin’s “Mack the Knife,” Leann Rimes’ “How Do I Live” and “The Macarena” by Los Del Rio.
The Beatles came in at No. 8 with “Hey, Jude.” But Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical” and Debby Boone’s “You Light Up My Life” are ahead of it.
I think I’m going to commit hari-kari.
Top 3 songs for the week 9/12/81: #1 “Endless Love” (Diana Ross & Lionel Richie) #2 “Slow Hand” (Pointer Sisters) #3 “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” (Stevie Nicks, with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers)…and…#4 “Urgent” (Foreigner) #5 “(There’s) No Gettin’ Over Me” (Ronnie Milsap) #6 “Queen Of Hearts” (Juice Newton) #7 “Who’s Crying Now” (Journey) #8 “Lady (You Bring Me Up)” (Commodores) #9 “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” (Christopher Cross) #10 “Step By Step” (Eddie Rabbitt)
College Football Quiz Answer: Career rushing progression.
Mercury Morris, W. Texas St. (1966-68) 3,388 yards
Steve Owens, Oklahoma (1967-69) 3,867
Ed Marinaro, Cornell (1969-71) 4,715…Cornell was D-I then
Archie Griffin, Ohio State (1972-75) 5,177
Tony Dorsett, Pittsburgh (1973-76) 6,082
Ricky Williams, Texas (1995-98) 6,279
Ron Dayne, Wisconsin (1996-99) 6,397
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
