The Steroid King

NCAA Men’s College Basketball Quiz: Name the top ten schools in all-time victories, (including postseason tournaments) for Division I entering this season. [Major hint: Three of these would best be known for basketball only, and of these three, two would not be eligible for the Div. I title in football.] Answer below. 

It looks as though Joe Torre nailed it in his book after all, now that we’ve learned, according to Sports Illustrated’s Selena Roberts and David Epstein, that in 2003, a year when Alex Rodriguez won the A.L. home run title and the MVP award as shortstop for the Texas Rangers, he tested positive for anabolic steroids, four sources independently told SI. 

103 others are on a list testing positive as well, sources say. “As part of a joint agreement with the MLB Players Association, the testing was conducted to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug testing across the major leagues in 2004.” 

When approached by an SI reporter on Thursday at a gym in Miami, A-Rod refused to discuss the allegation. “I’m not saying anything.” 

There were no penalties for a positive test in 2003, the results being part of survey testing of 1,198 players who were meant to be anonymous under an agreement between the commissioner’s office and the players association. But it was in a raid by federal agents related to the BALCO case, in April 2004, that the identities were learned as the Feds were investigating 10 specific major leaguers. 

The list is under seal in California. Supposedly there is no language in A-Rod’s massive contract with the Yankees that puts him at risk of losing money. 

Oh, you’ve gotta imagine what fun Yankee training camp is going to be, though it’s yet another depressing blow for the sport in general.  The Yankee players will rally around A-Rod, refuse to do interviews, and then the situation will only get worse. Derek Jeter will lose his control more than once because he’s tired of all the distractions A-Rod has been responsible for, the Yankees will get off to a miserable 6-11 start in the regular season, and the tabloids will have a field day.  

“The house of cards, once and for all, has collapsed on Major League Baseball and its steroids era. On Saturday, the past took down the future king. 

“Take a real good look across the devastated terrain that Commissioner Bud Selig once commonly referred to as a renaissance. 

—Barry Bonds, 762 home runs, seven-time MVP, goes on trial for perjury beginning March 2. 

—Roger Clemens, 354 wins, seven-time Cy Young winner, is being investigated for perjury by the FBI, which is also investigating former MVP Miguel Tejada. 

—Rafael Palmeiro, 569 home runs, 3,000 hits, has already been investigated by a House of Representatives subcommittee. 

—Mark McGwire, 583 home runs, undid his every act of goodwill with a dishonorable performance in front of the same subcommittee that will not be forgotten. 

“And now, three-time MVP Alex Rodriguez, purported by fans and baseball – and, most especially, its commissioner – to be the clean savior who would soon restore honor to baseball’s dirty home run record by eventually surpassing Bonds, reportedly tested positive for the steroid Primobolan and testosterone in 2003….

“All of those greats have fallen during the same era, for the same reason…. 

“Now there’s a leak in the levee. If it breaks, the 2009 season will take on the characteristics of a man walking across a field littered with cobras – a slow, devastating rollout of names every day, every game.  Every morning, the threat of a new name exists.” 

Mike Lupica / New York Daily News 

“Alex Rodriguez needs to come clean now, about what Sports Illustrated says is a dirty drug test out of his past. 

“He needs to come clean in a way that Barry Bonds never really has and Roger Clemens probably never will, in a way that Mark McGwire did not come clean when he stood in front of Congress and said that he wasn’t there to talk about the past, when that is all anybody wanted him to talk about. 

“The story in SI, a good one, says Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003, in what was then described as a ‘survey’ year in Major League Baseball. And because enough players tested positive in that survey year, because the players’ union was so clueless about drug use by its members, rules for random mandatory testing were imposed the next year…. 

“Now he has some explaining to do. Michael Phelps got caught this past week in a different kind of story and a different kind of headline, involving a college party and Phelps allegedly smoking dope. 

“It is a sports misdemeanor compared to what A-Rod is now charged with, and had nothing to do with the records Phelps set in Beijing. But when the picture of Phelps with that bong began to circulate out of London and around the world, here is what Phelps finally said: 

“ ‘I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment. I’m 23 years old, and despite the successes I’ve had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect of me. For this, I’m sorry. I promise my fans and my public it will not happen again.’ 

“Sports Illustrated went to Rodriguez for a comment and he said, ‘You’ll have to talk to the union.’” 

Flip Bondy / New York Daily News 

“They surely had heard talk about Rodriguez down in Texas. Canseco made sure of that. So you would have thought the Yanks might tread carefully when dealing with A-Rod’s contract in November, a mere month before the report was issued. 

“But these are the Yankees, whose brazen cynicism is legend and whose very pinstripes may be artificially thickened. They dived into a 10-year pact with Rodriguez that could be worth $305 million, reportedly without including a contract-killing clause in the event of proven steroid use. 

“The idea then was that Rodriguez would go on to break Barry Bonds’ home run mark, clean up baseball’s record book and fill the seats at the new Yankee Stadium with a feel-good power display climaxing in the year 2016 or so. He has 553 homers now, and needs 763. His agent, Scott Boras, kept talking about how Rodriguez would make a fortune for the Yankees with this quest. There would be a long, rapturous buildup, minus all the ambivalence about Bonds’ own chase after Hank Aaron. 

“Well, it won’t quite work out that way, because now SI.com reports that A-Rod is A-Roid, that he was one of the 104 players who flunked the initial drug tests in 2003. This was before there would be a penalty on such matters and when anonymity appeared assured. The Yankees can’t do anything now about that old test, even if they wanted. But the fairy tale is finished. All that is left are the wringing of hands and the debates about the legitimacy of Rodriguez’s future statistical achievements. 

“It will be Bonds all over again. There will be a core group of Yankee fans who support A-Rod, regardless of his inglorious personal history. They won’t want to hear about steroid use – past, present or future. They will just ask him to hit, finally, in October. They will pack the park and illuminate the evenings with flash cameras…. 

“Say this for A-Rod: You give him a news cycle, Rodriguez can fill it. He leaves his wife, who blames Madonna. He is called ‘A-Fraud’ in the clubhouse, according to Joe Torre’s new book…. 

“When Rodriguez walks outside, it rains headlines. This will never change. He is forever baseball’s greatest distraction, a manager’s worst nightmare. 

“Is he clean now? How many homers were dirty? If nothing else, this surely takes the fun out of the next eight years. And eight years is a long, long, time. Imagine you are Derek Jeter, and must put up with such nonsense from now until your likely retirement.” 

Mike Vaccaro / New York Post 

“This shouldn’t surprise us, because after all we have learned about baseball and the steroid era, nothing should surprise us. The rule of thumb, if you are smart, if you have been duly hardened by the revelations that keep smacking us in the face like an out-of-control speed bag, is this.

“You take the years 1990-2004, 15 years for easy, digestible purposes. 

“And you put them on a shelf, separate and apart from all that came before, and all that has come after, and will come after. It doesn’t matter that logic tells us that a lot of honest, honorable baseball players still decided to play it clean, even as their clubhouses started to look more and more like pharmacies, even as their teammates started to look more and more like cartoon freaks. 

“The fact is, what we already knew was that the whole 15-year era deserves its own asterisks. And what we keep finding out only stamps that asterisk bolder and darker and deeper. Alex Rodriguez? If Sports Illustrated’s story is true – and Rodriguez himself sure doesn’t sound like an aggrieved, innocent victim in it, with his first reaction being, quote, ‘You’ll have to talk to the union,’ – all that does is wrap the whole era into a neat bow.” 

Kevin Kernan / New York Post 

“No fancy public relations firm is going to get Alex Rodriguez through this. Madonna can’t sing and dance and make it all go away. No one is going to take this bullet for you.

“That’s the only way out of this mess. Even that may not help. It still could be ‘goodbye legacy’ because of the report that he took Primobolan and testosterone. 

“ ‘Primobolan/methenolone is an injectable or oral drug that isn’t approved for use by prescription here in the U.S.,’ said professional strength coach Sal Marinello. ‘When combined with testosterone it builds strength and lean mass without adding the bulk gains associated with other steroids. The key is the recovery aspect of the drug which allows athletes to do more during workouts – especially during the season – and recover that much quicker.’ 

“Rodriguez cannot take an intentional walk. He cannot say, ‘You’ll have to talk to the union,’ as he told S.I…. 

“Rodriguez should not be the only one telling the truth. There are another 103 names on that list. America used to be home of the brave. Now, from business to baseball, it’s home of the cheaters. 

“There is Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, the continuing investigation of Roger Clemens. This era is tarnished forever. They all can forget about the Hall of Fame, A-Rod too. At this point it will be difficult to vote anyone from the Steroid Storm into Cooperstown. 

“I remember covering the All-Star Game in San Francisco in 2007 and was surprised how nearly every All-Star went out of his way to pay homage to Bonds, including A-Rod. 

“It’s becoming clearer why those players treated Bonds with such respect. All that mattered was results. The 2003 testing was survey testing, players knew it was coming yet 104 still failed; total arrogance. Ego and money is all that mattered. 

“Even if he doesn’t slow perceptibly as he advances deeper into his 30s, if he continues to hit home runs at the same pace, it will all lead to another shallow celebration if it is true that he wasn’t always clean, if he really was A-Fraud. 

“You have to wonder: is that why his teammates and coaches called him that? Because they always knew he was too good to be true?” 

“A few years ago, I casually mentioned to Rodriguez that his knowledge of the game could make him a good television analyst, if he ever wanted the job. He startled me with his response, saying bitterly that when he retires, nobody in baseball will see him again. 

“That may happen in a way he never intended. With the news Saturday that Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003, he could end up like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro – shunned from the game and taking denials into a lonely retirement. 

“ ‘His legacy, now, is gone,’ one Yankees official said of Rodriguez, speaking on condition of anonymity because the organization had no public comment. ‘He’ll just play it out. Now he’s a worker. Do your job, collect your paycheck and when you’re finished playing, go away. That’s what it is.’ 

“Several other front-office officials declined to comment Saturday, but the Yankees were clearly blindsided. Just like that, the questions about Joe Torre’s book do not seem so distracting anymore…. 

“For all of his regular-season success, Rodriguez’s October failures have reinforced the sense that he lacks an intangible. Now, even the tangibles – his power to all fields, his unmatched infield arm – are in doubt. 

“Rodriguez has always wanted it all, and now he has another distinction. 

“No player will enter spring training with more hostility and negativity hovering over him. His legacy, if not his whole life, is getting crushed.” 

–Yesss! Erin Hamlin, a 22-year-old from Remsen, N.Y., won the women’s luge at the world championships in Lake Placid. Until Friday, as reported by John Branch of the New York Times, “there had not been a non-German female world champion since Gerda Weissensteiner of Italy in 1993. No one other than a German had so much as finished in the top three since 1997.” 

“On the World Cup tour, the winning streak for Germans stood at 88, also dating to 1997.” 

Hamlin’s two-run time of 1 minute 28.098 seconds was 0.187 of a second faster than Natalie Geisenberger of Germany. 

Remsen is a small town north of Utica, so fairly close to Lake Placid, and Erin had quite a fan club in attendance, including a grandmother that had never seen her race. Very, very cool. 

As for the German dominance, John Branch notes they have four artificially iced tracks in the country, more than any other, and 15 full-time national-team coaches. “In Bavaria, 10,000 schoolchildren participate in luge.” [I would have been an outcast growing up in Bavaria because I hate the cold.] 

In the previous seven World Cup events this year, only two non-German women had reached the podium. The other 19 spots went to Germans. 

Not for nothing, getting back to Ms. Hamlin’s win, but if you know Lake Placid at all, and what a tight-knit community it is among the sporting set, there must have been one helluva party in town. 

Awful first loss in the Big East for No. 8 Marquette as they go down to pitiful South Florida. 

And you can officially bury Notre Dame, 89-63 losers to UCLA, the Wimpy Irish’ 7th straight loss. Luke Harangody was held to five points and one rebound. You can also say goodbye to Georgetown after a 64-62 loss to Cincinnati as the Hoyas fall to 13-9, 4-7. 

Miami’s Jack McClinton is stepping up big time, but the Hurricanes couldn’t keep a big lead and lost to Duke in OT. 

And major kudos to Jeff B., who not only brought me back a Terrible Towel from the Super Bowl, but picked the exact spread in Wake Forest’s win over Boston College on Sunday…17 points…93-76. I owe Jeff at least a six-pack of the finest domestic. [Sorry, J.B., but these are tough times and premium is out.] 

Meanwhile, the big one…North Carolina – Duke…9:00 p.m., Wednesday. [Pssst…but watch the Golf Channel’s bit at 9:00, just one hour, on black golfers, first. Then the second half of the game.] 

–Houston, we have some real idiots…the 134 ice fishermen trapped on Lake Erie on Saturday.  I mean did you see the pictures of them? That was no Mensa convention. 

These guys placed wooden pallets to create a bridge over a crack in the ice so they could go farther out in the lake, but then the planks fell into the water when the ice shifted, stranding the fishermen about 1,000 yards offshore and forcing a rather expensive rescue mission complete with helicopters. [One fellow did die after falling in the water and having a heart attack.] 

Ottawa County Sheriff Bob Bratton summed it up: “What happened here today was just idiotic. I don’t know how else to put it.” 

I mean once word got out they were stranded, many of the guys panicked and just went running willy nilly all over the place, or as one guy did he drove his ATV right into the water. 

Another fisherman said, “I thought we could get away with it for today. When you’re crazy for fishin’ I guess, and the fish are biting, I just couldn’t resist it.” 

I have to admit. I don’t know if Bar Chat has enough funds for 134 “Idiot of the Year” trophies. 

–56-year-old Jennifer Figge became the first woman to swim across the Atlantic Ocean, leaving from the Cape Verde Islands off Africa’s western coast on Jan. 12, swimming 19 out of 25 days and battling waves of up to 30 feet. She finally reached Trinidad for a total of about 700 miles. Figge originally planned to go all the way to the Bahamas but poor weather forced a change in plans. [By comparison, French swimmer Benoit Lecomte made the first known solo trans-Atlantic swim, covering nearly 4,000 miles from Massachusetts to France in 73 days. So like, you know, 700 vs. 4,000.] 

From the AP: “Figge woke most days around 7 a.m., eating pasta and baked potatoes while she and the crew assessed the weather. Her longest stint in the water was about eight hours, and her shortest was 21 minutes. Crew members would throw bottles of energy drinks as she swam; if the seas were too rough, divers would deliver them in person. At night she ate meat, fish and [untainted] peanut butter.” 

But she didn’t encounter any sharks. Only some turtles and lots of dolphins. Very disappointing. That’s like when I took a cruise a number of years ago from Los Angeles to Australia and didn’t see one shark or one whale. And no mermaids. 

Which player overachieved most in the marriage department? Jim Furyk…17% [Eric Axley and Parker McLachlin also got votes. We need to see Mrs. Axley and Mrs. McLachlin; these two seldom being on the tube come the weekends.] 

Name one golf announcer you could live without. Kelly Tilghman…30%. [Wohhh. That’s not too nice, guys. Most announcers you are familiar with received votes, but Feherty and Oosterhuis did not, which speaks volumes about these two.] 

Should players ever be allowed to wear shorts on tour? No 60%.  Comment:  “Just look at Tim Herron.” 

Only 20% of those surveyed believe David Duval will ever win another event. 

Considering the economy, do you expect to be playing for more or less money when the tour negotiates its next TV contract? Less 43%…More 35%.

Separately, the Europeans had a choice between Jose Maria Olazabal and Colin Montgomerie to be their next Ryder Cup captain. Either one would do, and no real reason why one over the other at this time, right?  

Oh yes there was! Montgomerie got the nod for 2010 at Celtic Manor, Wales. There was no way the Euros would have subjected Monty to a U.S. crowd in 2012 at Medinah. 

–Back to steroids, former All-Pro defensive tackle Dana Stubblefield evidently provided the NFL with a list of players using performance-enhancing drugs as part of a plea agreement with the Feds. I forgot Stubblefield was part of the BALCO deal and he received a light sentence of two years’ probation, plus a small fine, for his cooperation. He retired in 2003. 

It was back in 2006 that Stubblefield told Bob Costas on his HBO show that at least 30% of NFL players were using. 

The New York Times’ Michael Schmidt points out that Stubblefield’s cooperation is similar to that of Kirk Radomski, the key baseball informant. 

It doesn’t seem likely the NFL will do anything with the information it has in terms of going after anyone still playing, but you can be sure its testing regimen will be stricter than ever. 

–And now that a U.S. District Court Judge said she was leaning towards a ruling that Barry Bonds’ positive tests aren’t admissible in his coming trial, unless the prosecutors have direct testimony from trainer Greg Anderson, it is looking like the government will have a helluva time nailing Barry. Judge Susan Illston said, “If nobody testifies about them, the ones that are allegedly related to the defendant, I don’t find that the hearsay exception urged will get them into evidence.” 

DRAT! There is no way Anderson is going to testify unless he is waterboarded. Or maybe this….Anderson is led into a dark room, placed in a chair, and the door slams behind him. Anderson is sitting there in dark, wondering what’s about to happen to him, and he senses he’s not alone. Then the light goes on and there before him stands a lone, solitary figure. Dick Cheney! “I’ll talk, I’ll talk!” 

You know who has been a royal pain in the butt through this whole Bonds episode? New York Times columnist William C. Rhoden. 

“At a time when the nation is in one of the deepest recessions in its history, when hundreds of thousands of Americans are barely surviving, the government is spending millions of dollars to prosecute Barry Bonds.” 

Rhoden alludes to statements then candidate Barack Obama made last fall that “seeing a lot of Congressional hearings about steroid use is not probably the best use of Congressional time.” 

“It was under the Bush administration that the Olympic sprinter Marion Jones was jailed after she admitted to making false statements about her use of performance-enhancing drugs, the NFL quarterback Michael Vick was sent to prison on a dogfighting conspiracy charge and the rigorous pursuit of Bonds began. 

“The new administration should step in and instruct the United States attorney’s office to end this fool’s mission against Bonds. His reputation has been destroyed and his hopes of reaching the Hall of Fame have probably been dashed. And the United States is out of millions of dollars in taxpayer money. 

We would have a long time ago, Mr. Rhoden. All Barry had to do was tell the truth. All Barry had to do was remember one of the golden rules plastered on elementary school walls…Don’t lie to the Feds. 

It’s about this amazing era of lack of responsibility, Mr. Rhoden. Lack of accountability. I thought Obama wanted to change that. 

–Instead of going to arbitration, the Phils’ Ryan Howard signed for three years, $54 million. Philadelphia can get away with this because they didn’t accept any TARP funds and thus will not be subject to compensation restrictions. 

–New England quarterback Matt Cassel had the franchise tag placed on him, meaning his salary goes from $500,000 to $14.65 million. Not bad…not bad at all. 

Cassel is still a free agent, but by placing the label on him, another team would have to give up two first-round draft picks, or the Pats can match any offer made by another team. Otherwise, Cassel would have been an unrestricted free agent and been able to sign with any team without compensation to the Patriots. 

New England is forced to handle Cassel this way because of the uncertainty surrounding Tom Brady’s condition. [It does appear Cassel will indeed sign.] 

–Oh, you just don’t know the issues surrounding former New York Mets outfielder Art Shamsky and his, err, interesting ex-wife, unless you live in the area, but it’s gotten ugly. 

New York Post, Thursday 

“The enraged ex-wife of Miracle Met Art Shamsky tracked him to a Midtown luncheon yesterday and chased him down the street to air her allegations that he’s a lying snake in the grass who carried on affairs with both men and women while they were married.” 

New York Post, Friday 

“Art Shamsky’s enraged ex-wife better just zip it, the Miracle Mets’ lawyer warned yesterday. 

“ ‘I cautioned [her lawyer] today that if he doesn’t zipper up his client’s mouth, we’re going to court to seek an order of protection and a gag order,’ attorney Harvey Sladkus said.” 

Kim Shamsky, who divorced Art in 2006, claims that aside from Artie sleeping with both men and women, he gave her a sexually transmitted disease. 

The power-hitting former outfielder claims he did no switch-hitting. 

The Editor, a long-time fan, could only exclaim, “Say it ain’t so, Art!” 

Shamsky hit .300 with 14 homers for the ’69 Miracle Mets. Sometime in March I’ll begin to document their story for the ages….game by game. Got the books all lined up and everything.

–Congratulations to Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt for becoming the first Division I basketball coach – man or woman – to win 1,000 career games. 

–Back to Barry Bonds, one of the drugs he tested positive for was the fertility drug clomid. Imagine if that mother of the octuplets had eight little Barry Bonds running around in future years; lying, cussing out relatives and the mailman. 

–I’ve said in this space before that I liked David Beckham. Well Mr. Chairman, I’d like to revise and extend my remarks. He’s pulled a real dirtball stunt in saying he wants to leave the Los Angeles Galaxy to play year round for A.C. Milan. Beckham is two years into a five-year, $32.5 million contract with L.A., but the Galaxy may not allow Beckham to leave. You can do better, David. [Though you got a real winner with Posh!] 

–Rivals.com’s view of the recent college football signing day and the recruiting classes. 

Rutgers’ class was ranked No. 21 by ESPN Scouts Inc., while from what I’ve read, Pitt’s was awful. And I went through all of Wake Forest’s bios and, well, we are what we are. Somehow Grobe gets it done. 

–“The only elephant in Barcelona Zoo could die of sadness unless she is moved to a bigger enclosure with other elephants, animal rights campaigners have warned. 

“Susi, a 36-year-old African elephant cow…has reportedly been suffering depression since Alicia, her female companion of six years, died early last year.” 

Huh…lesbian elephants. Never knew that. [Not that there is anything wrong with this.] But what I would do is let Susi have one last fling in the streets of Barcelona, giving the citizens an hour’s warning, of course, to clear the area. 

–Lewis Smith / London Times 

“Advances in audio technology have enabled scientists to discover that ants talk to each other in their nests. 

“Most ants have a natural washboard and plectrum built into their abdomens that they can rub together to communicate using sound.” [Gotta respect those washboard abs.] 

It turns out that “researchers established that the queens can issue instructions to their workers.” [Of course.] 

And get this. “By placing miniature speakers into the nest and playing back sounds made by a queen, the researchers were able to persuade ants to stand to attention. 

“ ‘When we played the queen sounds [Bohemian Rhapsody] they did ‘en garde’ behavior. They would stand motionless with their antennae held out and their jaws apart for hours – the moment anyone goes near they will attack,’ said Professor Jeremy Thomas, of the University of Oxford.” 

Yup. Ants will be entering the next All-Species List with a bullet. The only question will be how far ahead of humans to place them. 

–Anti-whaling protests against the Japanese have heated up anew. Japan claims one of its ships was rammed in Antarctic waters by protesters from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in the Dutch-registered Steve Irwin. His spirit lives. 

–Some stories are simply disturbing. Here Beyonce sings Etta James’ hit “At Last” at the inaugural ball for President Obama, and all I’ve heard is how much Beyonce admires James, yet the 71-year-old James said she would “whip” Beyonce for singing it. “The great Beyonce…I can’t stand Beyonce.” 

How can you not like Beyonce? Chill out, Etta. In fact…your name is being placed in the December file for year end recognition. That’ll teach you. 

–More on that snake that seems to have captured the world’s attention; the fossil of Titanoba found in Colombia, all 42 feet of it. [Others have said the species got up to 46 feet in length.] 

At issue is how warm it needs to be for a snake to get that big and whether or not we should all be sleeping with one eye open, and a giant trap under our beds. 

A team of researchers said it would be hard for the tropics to get much warmer than they are today, with an annual temperature of 75 to 79 degrees. 

“The team examined how warm it had to be for a snake species to be that large by considering conditions favoring the largest living similar tropical snake, the green anaconda. They concluded that Titanoba could have thrived only if temperatures ranged from 86 to 93 degrees.” [Andrew Revkin / New York Times]

–The Bruce Springsteen ticket fiasco was a big deal in the New York/New Jersey area, that’s for sure. Fans trying to get tickets for his upcoming tour were steered from Ticketmaster’s Web site to its ticket-resale subsidiary, TicketsNow.com, where seats to a Springsteen concert were being sold at many times face value – up to $5,350 (plus $817.45 in service charges and shipping) for tickets originally priced at $95. 

Springsteen released a statement that said in part, “They did this even when other seats remained available at face value. We condemn this practice.” 

Springsteen also blasted Ticketmaster for “rumored” practices, including sharing ticket-resale proceeds with other artists and managers. 

The problem is a proposed merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation would make things even worse. 

Ticketmaster issued an apology, but the situation has now ended up in the lap of the Justice Department, thanks to irate members of Congress who voiced their own complaints after hearing from constituents. This is about the only time we want Congress to act on anything. Give Senator Jim Bunning ten minutes with the execs at Ticketmaster and Live Nation and he’ll have them crying for their mothers. 

–In reading an obituary on the great steel guitarist, Tom Brumley, 73, I couldn’t help but note his past comments on working with Rick Nelson. [Brumley also played extensively with Buck Owens]. Here at Bar Chat we’ve always had a soft spot for the Nelson legacy, including my belief he is super underrated [just pop in his greatest hits someday.] 

Brumley left Owens in 1969 when Nelson asked him to play steel guitar with his band for his “Live at the Troubadour” album. 

“It was a godsend being asked to join Rick’s band, and I still think ‘Garden Party’ was a highlight of my recording career,” Brumley told Canada’s Edmonton Journal in 2005. He ended up spending ten years with Nelson. 

“He was such a great guy, and we had such a close relationship that I still stay in touch with his boys,” Brumley told the Journal. 

Over the last decade Brumley recorded or performed with Chris Isaak, Merle Haggard, Glen Campbell, Waylon Jennings, Ray Price, Reba McEntire, Rod Stewart and Martina McBride…a pretty good list.

Top 3 songs for the week 2/7/81: #1 “Celebration” (Kool & The Gang) #2 “The Tide Is High” (Blondie) #3 “I Love A Rainy Night” (Eddie Rabbit)…and…#4 “9 to 5” (Dolly Parton) #5 “Passion” (Rod Stewart) #6 “(Just Like) Starting Over” (John Lennon) #7 “Every Woman In The World” (Air Supply) #8 “Woman” (John Lennon) #9 “It’s My Turn” (Diana Ross) #10 “Giving It Up For Your Love” (Delbert McClinton) 

***And your Grammy bits: I ordinarily only watch the Oscars and the Grammys, and perhaps the Emmys, and I normally pan these shows, but I thought last night’s were terrific. 

I had no idea Pervis Jackson of The Spinners had died. Boy, if you want a good Greatest Hits album, it’s The Spinners’. 

And of course I loved the McCartney set. I have a 3 CD changer in my pool room that is all Beatles. Their first three albums to hit the States: “A Hard Day’s Night,” “Beatles For Sale,” and “Help.” 20 songs therein that for our generation are among the top 100. 

I only wish that when they gave a lifetime award to Dean Martin they had tied in “Everybody Loves Somebody…” to the fact it was a No. 1 in the same year as The Beatles. 

And I was glad to see Kenny Chesney. Got a ticket to his concert this coming July at the Calgary Stampede.  

[The late news on Chris Brown and Rihanna is disturbing; Brown being booked on assault.]

NCAA Men’s College Basketball Quiz: Top ten schools in wins, entering 2008-09 season.