NFL Kicking Quiz: 1) Who are the only two to hit 40 field goals in a row? 2) Who are the only two to hit a 63-yarder? [If you don’t get the first guy, you owe the person to your right a premium lager] 3) Who has the most 50-yard field goals in his career? 4) Who is the only one to kick 8 FGs in a game? Answers below.
This coming Sunday, Oct. 25, marks ten years since the tragedy that took the life of PGA Tour superstar Payne Stewart and five others; Captain Michael Kling of Sunjet Aviation, first officer Stephanie Bellegarrigue, agents Van Ardan and Robert Fraley, and golf course architect Bruce Borland, who was affiliated with Jack Nicklaus’ design firm.
Stewart, who was at the top of his game, having won his 3rd major that June at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, as well as being a key figure in the United States’ stirring win in the Ryder Cup at Brookline, Mass. weeks earlier, was on his way to Houston for the Tour Championship but decided to check out a potential golf course site near Dallas first. Aside from the agents, Borland went along a day earlier than planned so he could fly on Payne’s jet rather than go commercial.
“The Learjet, with its two pilots and four passengers, took off from Orlando International at 9:19 a.m. After a series of altitude clearances, at 9:26 a.m. the pilot was instructed to change radio frequency and contact a Jacksonville controller who cleared the aircraft to climb to, and maintain, flight level 390 to Dallas. The response, ‘three nine zero bravo alpha,’ are the last known words to have been spoken on the airplane.
“From that moment until 12:12 p.m. CDT, N47BA was first intercepted by an F-16 from the 40th Flight Test Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, then followed by two Oklahoma Air National Guard F-16s, joined by a pair of North Dakota Air National Guard F-16s. All reported the windows fogged or frozen and no sign of life. For nearly four hours, first in great confusion and then heartrending resignation, the saga played out on CNN as the Learjet porpoised through the air. Stuck in a climb, it bumped up against its maximum altitude of 48,900 feet, descended to a level where its engines functioned more efficiently and then climbed back to its apex over and over until it ran out of fuel.
“For golf people, Oct. 25, 1999 is a day the game stood still, a day they will never forget.”
GolfWorld interviewed figures in the sport for a look back at that day. A few follow.
Jim Nantz, CBS announcer: I was at Dunville’s in Westport, Conn., having lunch with someone and the waiter came over and said, ‘Man, that’s a sad story about that golfer. The airplane’s flying around, and they can’t contact them or anything.’ I excused myself, went over behind the bar, saw CNN and they were tracking it. I went back to the table and canceled my lunch order and by the time I made the one-mile drive to the side of the river I live on, CBS was calling the house. They needed me to come in to do something for the evening news. But first they wanted to know if I had any contacts. Could I confirm it was Tiger Woods on that plane? They had a mole at ABC News and somebody from CBS News picked up that ABC was whispering behind the scenes that Tiger was on the plane. I made some calls to the right people, and I could confirm that Tiger was not on the plane. Of course, within another hour, we found out it was Payne. I’ve never been back [to Dunville’s] because it hurts too much. Every time I drive by it, I look at it and think of Payne.
Tiger Woods: I was at Isleworth. I showed up in the men’s grill. ‘OK, obviously, it’s not you.’ My phone was blowing up. Everyone thought it was me. Right after that we figured out it was Payne. That’s when it got a little tough. We all watched it on television. Tracey [Payne’s wife] wasn’t too far away. I wanted to be there in case she needed me.
Lee Janzen: I’d seen Payne two days before at the smoothie shop. He’d just gotten a haircut. He told me he was going to Dallas on Monday to check out a golf course site. When they said there was a plane headed to Dallas with a professional golfer on it and they’d lost contact, I knew who it was immediately.
Mark O’Meara: The pastor was already over there at Payne’s house. The plane hadn’t crashed yet.
Mike Hicks, Stewart’s caddie: I was on the ninth hole at Champions Club, checking out the course. The director of golf at my club called and said there was something going on with a plane, a PGA Tour player’s plane, and they thought it was Payne Stewart. I wasn’t buying that. Five minutes later my wife called. I left the course immediately and went to my hotel room and watched it on TV. Fluff [caddie Mike Cowan] spent some time with me. I was getting calls. Peter Jacobsen. Many people called to see if I was on the plane or not.
Jim Mackay, Mickelson’s caddie: I was in my living room in Athens, Ga. I was channel surfing and came across CNN. I remember just being blown away by what was going on. Everybody was very concerned for Payne. I was also thinking about Mike Hicks. I just sat there, dumbstruck. You can’t believe what you’re seeing. Obviously, we’d been through that whole day in June with him at Pinehurst and then the Ryder Cup at Brookline. I think the last time I’d laid eyes on him was at the party after the Ryder Cup at Brookline. He had an adult beverage in his hand and was as happy as a person could humanly be.
Chris DiMarco: I called David Toms because I wanted to find out if Hal Sutton was on that plane. They said it was him and another player. I had seen Hal at Disney, and he said that he thought he was going over to the Tour Championship with Payne. I think he had just had the twins, and they were going home Sunday and he was flying over Monday morning with Payne. So my initial reaction was, ‘Oh, my goodness, not only was it Payne but it was Hal, too.’
Hal Sutton: I was at lunch with my dad, sitting there looking at the TV in Shreveport. At the time they didn’t know who it was, but I had a feeling it was him based on the information they gave to begin with. I prayed. I didn’t know what else to do.
Tim Finchem, PGA Tour Commissioner: I was sitting in the conference room in my office with the president of ABC Sports, Howard Katz, who was in for a meeting with me. The way this office is configured, I was sitting at the conference table and the television was over my right shoulder. We had the news channel on, I guess CNN, but no audio. Seven or eight people were in the meeting and all of a sudden they were all staring at the screen. At that point, I think, the story was that there was a private jet that was out of control, and there was a rumor that a PGA Tour player was on board. A few minutes later they came back and said the rumor is Payne Stewart is aboard. We got on the phone and were talking to everybody and then, of course, the plane crashed and the governor of South Dakota called me and was describing the scene of the accident. It was one of those bizarre days. From a tour perspective, with his personality, his game, it left a hole that’s never been filled.
“At 12:11 CDT the lead pilot from the North Dakota Air National Guard radioed the following message: ‘The target is descending, and he is doing multiple aileron rolls, looks like he’s out of control…in a severe descent. Request emergency descent to follow target.’
“The Learjet ended its ghost voyage in a flat, empty field in a part of the country known for farming and pheasant hunting, just outside Mina, S.D. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the probable cause was a catastrophic loss of pressurization coupled with the inability of the crew to receive supplemental oxygen, both causes unknown.
“The scar on the earth was an eight-foot-deep crater, 42 feet long and 21 feet wide with a conical-shaped debris field that extended some 75 feet. Other bits of wreckage were thrown twice as far. Because the airplane was out of fuel there was, of course, no fire. Things survived.
“One artifact from the crash site was Stewart’s harmonica, crushed flat. The day golf stood still was also the day the music died.”
I’ve written a lot on Stewart over the years. When he first came on tour he wasn’t the most popular fellow. He had a tough personality to figure out. He could be abrasive.
But then he changed. It’s as if he decided to embrace everything life had to offer. He was madly in love with his wife and family, and he was as good a friend as one could have.
Stewart was also as popular as anyone on tour, and he was at the top of his game. There’s no telling how many more majors he’d have won. As Tim Finchem said, Stewart left a hole that’s never been filled.
And I can tell you from personal experience that there’s another place where Payne Stewart is loved like one of their own…Ireland. Before the British Open, Stewart and friends, including Mark O’Meara and Tiger, would go over to play the Irish courses and do some fishing. But whereas the others largely stuck to themselves when they were off the course, Stewart went pubbing with the locals…and there’s nothing the locals like better. [Think the famous picture of Ronald Reagan and his trip to Ireland when he was president.] Down in Waterville, where there is a fantastic golf course, they have a statue of Payne Stewart, which tells you everything.
–Umpire Tim McClelland blatantly blew two calls in the Yankees’ 10-1 win over the Angels in Game 4 of the ALCS. “I’m just out there trying to do my job, and I’m doing the best that I can,” McClelland said after the game. Well it’s not good enough, Timmy Boy. The stories on the umpiring front this year are legion. The sport has to address the issue this winter.
Separately, A-Rod’s success, five homers in the first seven playoff games, is sickening to some of us. But Yankees-Phils is setting up to be an outstanding Series.
–Bizarre story out of Detroit and the three runners who died on Sunday during the half marathon there. When I first heard the story I thought it was the marathon, but now there have been six half marathoners keel over in races across the country just this month, when in a normal year, 4 to 6 marathoners die. There are no formal records on fatalities for the half marathon.
Autopsies were inconclusive on the Detroit victims, men ages 65, 36 and 26. The first two collapsed near the end of the race, the 26-year-old after crossing the finish line. There were 9,000 in the race (plus another 4,500 in the full Detroit marathon).
My buddy Pete and I are training (half-heartedly) for a half marathon in Kiawah, S.C. in December. I’m only running three or four days a week and just doing 4-7 miles, but I’ve run about six such races before and it’s really all you have to do to finish without doing any walking, which is my only goal in the half. [OK, I want to break two hours but it’s not likely this time.] Then again, it was ten years ago that I practically killed myself at the Kiawah full marathon, but I’ll retell that story in December.
“On a weekend with the Yankees playing an epic game Saturday night and the Giants and the Jets losing Sunday afternoon, which did best in the local ratings? The Yankees, with the 19.3, beat the 16.2 for the Saints’ rout of the Giants and the astonishing 17.1 for the achingly awful Jets loss to Buffalo.
“The Jets broadcast, on CBS, had the benefit of starting at 4:15 p.m. Eastern. It lasted four numbing hours and finished around 8:15. I know the masochism of being a Jets fan; I sometimes admit that I am one. But so many viewers stood by for so long that you’d have thought (owner) Woody Johnson was slashing the prices of personal seat licenses. The rating for the game pushed past a 21.2 at 7:30, climbed to 22.5 at 7:45 and ended with a 23.5.
“The game could prompt aggrieved fans to file a class-action suit to be compensated for the time spent waiting fruitlessly for a victory. A creative lawyer might ponder a test case of 5,000 fans whose pain and suffering is worth $50 for each of the four hours of viewing. Imagine the fun. It could start a movement.”
“According to research done by the Pro Football Reference blog, the Jets gained the most rushing yards (318) by a losing team since 1944, and the second most in NFL history. They also became the first losing team since 1960 to boast both a 200-yard rusher and a defense that limited its opponent to fewer than 20 points.”
In the game the Jets lost All-Pro defensive tackle Kris Jenkins to a season-ending knee injury, a huge blow.
–Ever wonder what CBS sportscaster Jim Nantz makes? Unfortunately, Mr. Nantz is going through a messy divorce from his wife of 26 years and we learn through court filings that Nantz earns about $7 million a year. It’s not worth getting into further details. Every couple has issues.
–For a team that has won two games, compared to six others that have one or no wins, the Washington Redskins are increasingly being viewed as the worst franchise in the NFL. Picture having Skins season tickets.
Thomas Boswell / Washington Post
“With less than four minutes to play at FedEx Field, the sparse remains of the Redskins crowd stood as one. And they did nothing.
“They did not cheer. They did not exhort their team to block a long field goal by a Kansas City rookie named Ryan Succop, the final player picked in the last NFL draft, which would put the awful Chiefs, losers of 28 of their previous 30 games, ahead 9-6.
“The crowd did not boo, either. Instead, in a sight I can never remember at a sporting event, the fans spontaneously shared a moment of silence, a communal mortification, as they stood witness to the bleakest moment – all factors considered – in the history of the Redskins franchise.
“Then, after the 46-yard kick sailed through the goal posts, a boot by Mr. Irrelevant defeating the NFL’s new Team Irrelevant, most of the crowd quietly marched out.”
[Jeff B. just reminded me that to give you a better sense of just how awful the Skins’ 2-4 mark is, they’ve played six consecutive games against teams that were winless entering each contest…and still suck themselves. In order…Giants (yes, technicality), St. Louis, Detroit (W), Tampa Bay, Carolina (W), Kansas City.]
“Rutgers running back Ray Rice had 280 yards on 35 carries in the team’s bowl win over Ball State, Saturday…For the sure-fire NFL star….”
Good call for your editor, as Rice is indeed developing rapidly into a star. In his second year with the Ravens, Rice is 6th in the AFC in rushing thus far with 441 yards and a 6.04 average, plus he’s in the top ten in receptions with 33 in the first six games.
It’s sickening for us Jets fans to see Brett Favre with 12 TD passes and just 2 interceptions for the undefeated Vikings.
In fact check out these quarterback numbers for the NFL’s remaining undefeateds.
Yeah, I’d say it’s pretty clear you can’t win in the NFL without quality QB play.
The Wall Street Journal’s David Biderman points out that of any running back who accumulated at least 3,000 yards in his first 36 games, Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson has the highest average yards per carry.
Clinton Portis…3,762, 5.13
—Division I-AA Football Poll
10. South Carolina State
–A potential suspect was detained in connection with the stabbing death of UConn football player Jasper Howard, who was killed last Saturday night outside the school’s student union, and it appears an arrest is imminent.
It turns out two players tried to save Howard’s life. “One…clutched Howard in his arms after the stabbing, while a second teammate administered CPR,” according to coach Randy Edsall, in what was obviously a traumatic experience for the two. Just a tragic story on so many levels.
–Yikes, ESPN baseball analyst Steve Phillips is in a heap of trouble, all self-inflicted, as he’s been suspended from the network for at least a week as a result of his having admitted to an affair with a 22-year-old network production assistant. This is far from the first time Phillips has been involved in such behavior. Back when he was GM of the Mets, the now 46-year-old admitted to all manner of activity with female staffers, including one who successfully sued him for sexual harassment.
But this time the ESPN girl, Brooke Hundley, is going nuts after Phillips dumped her this past summer and has even gone so far as to try and dupe his 16-year-old son into giving up family information by posing as a high-school classmate of his on Facebook. Plus, Hundley has been harassing Phillips’ wife, she being in the process of divorcing him.
So…add it all up and it only seems appropriate to throw Steve Phillips’ name in the December file for “Dirtball of the Year” consideration.
–What it’s like being Derek Jeter…from Cindy Adams, New York Post.
“Just before the playoffs, Derek Jeter hit the Upper East Side’s upper-crust eatery Elio’s at 8:45 p.m. Jeans, long-sleeve polo shirt, bright white sneakers. With two guy pals, Minka Kelly-less. Everyone’s spaghetti dangled on their forks while they whispered, stood, craned, pointed and eventually erupted in applause.
“This really nice well-grounded guy didn’t bask in the adoration. Tried to make like nothing happened. When he made eye contact he nodded, was cordial but remained visibly uncomfortable. Two different females at two different times sashayed past to say hello. Courting no verbal exchange, he basically ignored them as they wafted by and eventually turned away.
“After the manager complained Jeter hadn’t come in lately because people bother him, the maitre d’ stationed two busboys unobtrusively near his table to block the traffic.”
“Be there alongside your New York Mets as they chase baseball immortality,” the e-mail said. “Go to StubHub, where you’ll find a fantastic selection of tickets to every playoff game so you experience the championship chase live and in person.”
Evidently other missives were sent to the fans of further teams also not in the playoffs.
“An estimated 6- to 8-foot shark took a bite out of a surfer’s board this morning (Monday) off Kihei, Maui, just moments before biting again, this time into the man’s right leg, said state officials.
“The 54-year-old man was taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center with deep lacerations to his upper thigh and lower ankle.”
The man was later released. At first, initial reports said it was a sand shark, to which Senior Executive Vice President of Shark Operations for Bar Chat, Bob S., said no way…this ain’t no sand shark…and now officials say that the bite marks are “consistent with” a tiger shark.
Russell Sparks, education specialist with the Hawaii Division of Aquatics Resources, said:
“If you look at our ten tips to avoid shark incidents, this incident appears to have violated most of the top ones. There were two other people in the area, no one else around, it was very early in the morning, well before sunrise, and the water was all turned up and murky in the area because of the surf.”
So what are the top ten tips to avoid shark incidents?
4. If you have suicidal tendencies, don’t do No. 3…watch the Yankees
10. Play golf in South Dakota
–We note the passing of Joseph Wiseman, 91. Who was he? Wiseman played the villain in the 1962 film “Dr. No” that introduced the character of James Bond, or rather Sean Connery as 007. But while Wiseman had numerous film roles and appeared on Broadway, his daughter said “He was horrified in later life because that’s what he was remembered for,” not his stage acting.
I’m thinking Wiseman wasn’t happy heading up an organization, SPECTER, that was bent on the destruction of mankind. But it was certainly a conversation starter in future ‘live reads’ I imagine.
—Vic Mizzy, the composer of the television theme songs for “The Addams Family” and “Green Acres,” died. He was 93. Dennis McLellan of the Los Angeles Times writes:
“For (‘The Addams Family’), Mizzy played a harpsichord, which gives the theme its unique flavor. And because the production company, Filmways, refused to pay for singers, Mizzy sang it himself and overdubbed it three times. The song, memorably punctuated by finger-snapping, begins with: ‘They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky, they’re altogether ooky: the Addams family.’”
–Congratulations to “The Simpsons,” celebrating 20 years. Some are also now comparing “Balloon Boy” to Bart.
Top 3 songs for the week 10/24/70: #1 “I’ll Be There” (The Jackson 5) #2 “Cracklin’ Rosie” (Neil Diamond) #3 “Green-Eyed Lady” (Sugarloaf)…and…#4 “We’ve Only Just Begun” (Carpenters) #5 “All Right Now” (Free) #6 “Fire And Rain” (James Taylor) #7 “Candida” (Dawn) #8 “Indiana Wants Me” (R. Dean Taylor) #9 “Lola” (The Kinks) #10 “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” (Diana Ross…darn good week for music, I think you’d agree)
NFL Kicking Quiz Answers: 1) Two to hit 40 field goals in a row: Mike Vanderjagt, 42, Indianapolis, 2002-2004; Gary Anderson, 40, San Francisco, 1997, Minnesota, 1998 [then choked in the playoffs, if memory serves me right.] 2) 63-yard field goal: Tom Dempsey, New Orleans, 1970; Jason Elam, Denver, 1998. 3) Current Detroit Lions kicker Jason Hanson holds the record for most 50-yard field goals with 41 (including this season thus far). Hanson has been on the Lions since 1992! Oh, the suffering. Our sympathies to Mr. Hanson and his loved ones. 4) Tennessee’s Rob Bironas holds the record for field goals in a game, 8, set in 2007.
