Fourth-and-Jackass

College Football Quiz: 1) Who is Florida’s career rushing leader? 2) Who are the only two Florida passers to throw for more than 10,000 yards in their career? [Hint: Both since 1990] 3) Who is Florida State’s career passing leader, yardage? [Hint: Post-1980] 4) Who am I? I hold the Florida State record for career receiving yards and my initials are R.S. [Hint: not recent vintage…mediocre NFL career.] 5) Who am I? I quarterbacked for Georgia, 1951-53, and my initials are Z.B.   Answers below.

New Jersey Nets…0-12
New York Knicks…2-9 

With the timing of this column, it was impossible for me to condense all of Sunday night’s post-game comments following New England coach Bill Belichick’s decision on fourth-and-two from his own 28 to go for a first down with his team up six with two minutes to go. To say the least, it caused quite a stir when the Pats failed to get the first down and Indianapolis went in for the winning score. So for the record, some opinion. 

“Books may be written about this quizzical decision by the deservedly esteemed Mr. Belichick. When you win three Super Bowls, people stop questioning your choices. Ice cream with Cheetos? Fantastic. Jon Gosselin as your babysitter? Superb. Insanely risky fourth-down pass against an undefeated opponent on their home field? Uh, sure, Bill, sounds great. 

“Not any more, of course. Shortly before midnight Sunday, Mr. Belichick handed the Colts a 35-34 win to preserve their unblemished season….In New England, the outcry will match the outrage when Dylan went electric. It may not reach ‘Fire Belichick’ levels, but you know those Boston-area sports fans. They’re nothing if not rational and dispassionate.” 

Hank Gola / New York Daily News 

“With what has to be one of the most bizarre coaching decisions in the history of football, the genius coach of the Patriots turned into Barry Switzer and handed Sunday night’s game to the unbeaten Colts, 35-34…. 

“ ‘We thought we could win the game on that play,’ Belichick deadpanned. ‘We pick up that play and we would have been able to either run out the clock or run out most of the clock. I thought we were going to make that yard. We had a good play. I don’t know how we could not get a yard on that. I guess we didn’t.’ 

“Actually, they picked up the yard. They just needed a yard and a half, which Belichick later said he knew.” 

“Fourth-and-jackass. That’s our name of a now-infamous play in New England Patriots history. Move over, Tuck Rule [Ed. from famous Pats-Raiders playoff game]. You have company. 

“Each and every week we see bad coaching decisions in the NFL, but never, and I mean never, have I seen one as dumb as the decision Patriots coach Bill Belichick made Sunday night against the Indianapolis Colts. 

“How can a coaching genius – and I mean that about him with sincerity – make such a bad move? That’s like Picasso flunking 10th-grade art. 

“It just shouldn’t happen.   If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it. Why, Bill, why?…. 

“I asked Belichick after the game if he understood he would be questioned about his decision. He mumbled under his breath. ‘They question everything,’ he said. 

“ ‘What?’ I asked since I couldn’t hear him in the back of the room. 

“(We all) saw what the NFL can do to even its brightest coaches. It brought Bill Belichick to his knees. 

“If he doesn’t have all those victories, all those titles, he’d be run out of Boston faster than Manny Ramirez. 

“As it is, we’re left to sit here and question one of the worst football decisions ever made, truly stunned by the fact it came from the guy who made it. 

“Like the Tuck Rule Game, Fourth-and-Stupidity will live a long time in New England – unless the Patriots can win a Super Bowl and make us all forget it.” 

Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Times 

“Maurice Jones-Drew made an unexpected decision that worked. Bill Belichick tried one that failed. 

“Jones-Drew, the Jacksonville running back, tore off a nine-yard run and took a knee at the one Sunday instead of crossing the goal line – even though his team was trailing the New York Jets by a point inside of two minutes. The Jaguars were able to burn the final ticks off the clock and win, 24-22, on a 21-yard field goal. 

“In the night game at Indianapolis, New England was protecting a six-point lead and facing fourth and two at its own 28 with 2 minutes 8 seconds to play. 

“Instead of punting the ball back to the Colts and making them start a drive in their own territory, Belichick made the coaching decision to go for it on fourth down. The Patriots were stopped a yard short, and gave the ball back to Peyton Manning, who promptly directed the winning touchdown drive. 

“The thing is, with a fumble here or a few inches there, we might be talking today about Jones-Drew’s blunder and Belichick’s brains.” 

Gerry Callahan / Boston Herald 

“No, he had to do it his way, the Belichick way, which means turning convention on its ear and leaving the vast football-watching public marveling at his ingenuity and his guts…. 

“Anyone can win a game. How many coaches can win a game while simultaneously blowing the minds of tens of millions of sports fans across America? 

“When trying to make sense of Belichick’s bizarre decision, we should not underestimate what an intoxicating thing it must be to walk off an NFL field, triumphant, while all around you they mutter in awe: 

“That has to be coaching euphoria, and Bill Belichick came about 17 inches away from achieving it Sunday night. 

“There is no other coach in the NFL – indeed, probably not another coach in college, high school, Pop Warner or Madden 2010 – who goes for it on fourth-and-2 from his own 28-yard line with two minutes to play. It just doesn’t happen, and there are good reasons for that: It’s insane. It’s inexcusable. It’s just plain nuts…. 

“Belichick let it ride on one ill-advised roll of the dice and lost it all. It happens. 

“Bruce Springsteen made ‘The Ghost of Tom Joad.’ John Grisham wrote ‘The Broker.’ Jim Carrey starred in ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.’ Phil Mickelson hit a hospitality tent off the 18th tee on Sunday of the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. 

“Sometimes geniuses get carried away with their own genius. They think, ‘Well, if I do it, it must be good.’ All those victories, all that success, all the rave reviews, strip away the doubts and fear and second thoughts…. 

“And make no mistake: Being fearless is generally a good thing. Just not when the sign says ‘Beware of dog’ or ‘Danger: Thin ice.’ Or when it’s fourth-and-2 from your own 28 with two minutes to go. Then a little fear and a little humility are not bad things.” 

Allen H., a manager in the brokerage business up in New Hampshire, is a Packers fan who has been amused by the uproar in Beantown over Belichick’s call, given he’s won three Super Bowls. He also notes that the other week, Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson went on fourth-and-one from the six in overtime against Wake Forest, opting not to kick a field goal that would have prolonged the game, converted, and Tech went on to score. No sports site was headlined, “Johnson’s blunder.” 

–Here in New York, there’s Rex Ryan. The Jets coach cried in front of his players the other day. 

Gary Myers / New York Daily News 

“Rex Ryan needs to be the emotional rock of the Jets, a franchise in desperate need of stability and leadership. He has to find a way to pace himself through the ups and downs of the long NFL season or he’s going to become a candidate for burnout before he even reaches Thanksgiving of his rookie year. 

“The Jets have tortured more than their share of coaches over the last 40 years with their unique ability to find ways to lose. Those who haven’t been fired have instead developed bizarre exit strategies after getting swallowed up by the Same Old Jets. They have surely made their fans cry over the years, but the coach can’t turn into a water works extravaganza. 

“It was a poignant scene in the locker room in Houston two months ago when the players presented Ryan with the game ball after the season-opening victory. Tears started flowing from his eyes. He waited a long time to get his chance to be a head coach and who wouldn’t get choked up after such a terrific debut? 

“But it was different Monday, when the Dick Vermeil came out in Ryan again. He was telling his players how much he believed in them, after the fifth loss in the last six games completely obliterated their 3-0 start. I just don’t think standing up in front of 53 men after a mid-November loss to the Jaguars and crying is the way to inspire his guys and give them the best chance to win in Foxborough this weekend and beyond. 

“Players look to the coach to set the tone. He can never let on that the losing is getting to him.” 

But Ryan’s boss in Baltimore, Brian Billick, said “(The) players need to know you care about them for them to care about you. One of the hallmarks of Rex’s career is players enjoy Rex and enjoy playing for him and he cares for them. I certainly don’t think it’s a negative….As long as you are true to your personality and consistent with it and it’s not manufactured or contrived, I think players will respond to it.” 

I doubt it…final score…Pats 40 Jets 10. I’m looking forward to pitchers and catchers. Because as Johnny Mac reminded me, you always have the great quote from Michael Ray Richardson, “The ship be sinkin’.” 

–Why do I keep bringing up the NFL’s dregs? Because it’s potentially historic, that’s why. To wit [research you won’t find anywhere else]: 

You get the picture. Now I haven’t analyzed the remaining schedules any, outside of the fact Kansas City and Oakland are finished playing each other, but there is certainly a shot at 4 teams with 2 or fewer wins. 

–Tennessee’s Chris Johnson is on track for 2,405 yards from scrimmage…rushing and receiving…Johnson having 1,091 rushing and 262 through the air thus far through nine games. The record is 2,429 by Marshall Faulk, 1999. [1,381 rushing; 1,048 receiving] Tiki Barber is currently second with 2,390. 

–Tennessee owner Bud Adams was fined $250,000 by the NFL for giving Buffalo Bills fans the middle finger. Adams, 86, was seen on numerous occasions holding up both middle digits from his luxury suite during last Sunday’s contest in Nashville, a 41-17 win for the Titans. Adams was gesturing towards the Bills’ bench and their fans. In apologizing afterwards, he said he “got caught up in the excitement of a great day.” Geezuz. What would Bud have done had Tennessee been getting their own butts kicked? 

–The Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a long-running lawsuit that argued the name “Redskins” is disparaging, primarily due to technicalities, but Washington can’t relax too much because according to the Journal’s Matthew Futterman, there is another case coming along that has a better shot of being heard. 

—College Football…mark your calendars. Dec. 5…load up on beer (stick with domestic given the economy) and Chex Mix. 

And Dec. 3…Oregon State at Oregon…which could very well be for the Pac-10 title depending on this week’s results. [Oregon needs to beat a decent Arizona squad beforehand.] 

–According to Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez’s contract (six years at $2.5 million per, signed in 2008) he can be fired with cause if Michigan has violated NCAA or Big Ten rules and right now, with the team on the verge of being denied a bowl game for a second straight season, Rodriguez is in a heap of trouble. The issue is one that won’t go away and has the NCAA’s gumshoes crawling all over Ann Arbor. It seems the Wolverine football players have been far exceeding NCAA limits in terms of practice time and workouts and to compound matters, Rodriguez and the staff failed to file proper forms detailing how much time was spent on football, both during the season as well as the offseason. 

–Good stuff in a column by Bob Berghaus of Asheville’s Citizen-Times (as passed along by Phil W., lest you think the Citizen-Times is part of my daily rotation of 20 papers) concerning Appalachian State superstar QB Armanti Edwards. 

Berghaus interviewed former Packers GM Ron Wolf, a longtime NFL personnel expert, on where Edwards might fit in for next spring’s draft. When he was with Oakland, Wolf convinced Al Davis to use a second-round pick on Ken Stabler. With the Packers, Wolf drafted Aaron Brooks (fourth round); Mark Brunell (fifth round); Matt Hasselbeck (sixth); and Ty Detmer (ninth)…all of whom were solid selections given the round they went in. 

Wolf hasn’t seen Edwards play (projected by others to be a seventh-round pick currently), but had these comments on his thought process as a GM. 

“I wanted guys who played in big-time football games [like Edwards did in playing before 100,000 when the Apps defeated Michigan].  

“There are 93 quarterbacks on NFL rosters. Eight played at NCAA FCS (Div. I-AA) schools and another, Jon Kitna, a former starter and now the backup with the Dallas Cowboys, played at Central Washington when it was an NAIA school. Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who wasn’t drafted after playing at Eastern Illinois, is one of three starters who played at FCS schools." [The others are Kurt Warner, who played at Northern Iowa, and Joe Flacco, Delaware. Jake Delhomme, who played at Louisiana-Lafayette, a smaller Div. I school, was undrafted out of college.] 

–Paul P., with whom I used to work at PIMCO and quaff an adult beverage from time to time, sent along word that we are all supposed to be taking note of one Margus Hunt – special teams player for SMU (Paul’s alma mater, thus the shillery). It seems Hunt is the world junior champ in the discuss, but SMU dropped track and field, so he found his way onto the Mustangs’ football squad and the 6’8” 267 lb. Hunt has blocked six kicks this year. As Ronald Reagan would have said…not bad, not bad at all. 

—NCAA Men’s Soccer Tourney starts Thursday, with all second round games on Sunday. 

–The Women’s NCAA Soccer Tourney is already underway so if you are among the following Sweet 16…congratulations! Throw a party on me…assuming you are of proper age. 

Stanford v. Santa Clara; Wisconsin v. Boston College; Portland v. Virginia Tech; Virginia v. UCLA; North Carolina v. Maryland; Wake Forest v. South Carolina; Notre Dame v. Oregon State; Texas A&M v. Florida State.

–Hall of Fame horse trainer Bobby Frankel died. He was 68. Said fellow trainer Barry Abrams, Frankel “was a horse whisperer with racehorses.” Frankel’s entries earned $227,947,775 in purses, second on the money list to D. Wayne Lukas. He was a five-time recipient of racing’s Eclipse Award for outstanding trainer. 

Born in New York, Frankel was the son of caterers and became an expert handicapper in his youth. His parents took him to races at Monmouth Park on a regular basis, for instance, and as he put it once, “I’d go down to the candy store in Far Rockaway every night at 7:30 when the Form came out. I’d handicap all night long and then go out to the races the next day.” 

Frankel went to college for all of one day, started training in New York, then went to California in 1972 where he won a record 60 times during the Hollywood Park spring meeting that same year. He was known as “King of the Claimers,” which he’d then turn into stakes winners. 

Frankel would become good friends with Joe Torre and Torre was part-owner of some horses Frankel trained. Joe visited with Bobby during his last days. 

“I was very touched with our last conversation,” Torre said. “He’s been such a dear friend….He was always critical. His comments were always blunt, but I loved listening.” 

In 2003, Frankel’s horses won a single-season record 25 Grade I races, including Empire Maker in the Belmont Stakes (denying Funny Cide the Triple Crown). He’s the all-time leader at both Hollywood Park and Santa Anita with a combined 1,869 winners. But he never won the Kentucky Derby. 

And for a guy who was supposed to be a hard ass, he employed grooms for dozens of years because he was so kind to them. 

—Edward Woodward, star of the 1980s television series “The Equalizer,” died at 79. 

—Jimmie Johnson just needs a 25th or better this weekend in the last NASCAR race at Homestead to clinch his record 4th consecutive title. 

–I know Zack Greinke had a great year, with his 2.16 ERA and all for the pathetic Kansas City Royals, but as the Times’ Tyler Kepner notes, it is still surprising he captured 25 of the 28 first-place votes in the Cy Young Award tally despite tying for seventh in victories with just 16, the lowest total ever for a starting pitcher in the A.L. Felix Hernandez (who received two of the remaining three first-place votes), after all, was 19-5 with a 2.49 ERA. 

–Negotiations are underway for the biggest fight in boxing; Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. They will undoubtedly drag out a while, Mayweather supposedly being a jerk in these matters, but I’m hearing the fight gets done for next April or May, both of which are deemed good months for pay-per-view events.  

–There was a front-page story in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday concerning guys who run multiple marathons…like hundreds of them. The record holder is 74-year-old Horst Preisler, who has run 1,636 marathons. But poor Norm Frank, 78, owner of a lawn-care company in Rochester, N.Y. He was gunning for 1,000, but a month after running his 965th he suffered a stroke. “I still have hopes,” he says. 

–Researchers have determined that the prosthetic legs of double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius of South Africa give him a 10-second advantage over a 400-meter race. No kidding. I saw that first hand when I watched some double-amputees run in an exhibition race at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, summer of 2008. “The blades enhance sprint running speeds faster than he would if his prosthetic limbs behaved like normal legs.” 

That doesn’t mean he should win…and he hasn’t come close yet when competing against able-bodied athletes…but that he can run far faster than he would otherwise. Pistorius is still hoping to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics. I’m sorry. You need to see it in person…then you’d understand why he shouldn’t be allowed. 

–Meanwhile, Bahraini middle-distance runner Rashid Ramzi was stripped of his gold medal in the 1,500-meter race at the Beijing Olympics because of doping. This has been in the works for a while as the IOC reanalyzed the samples it had received previously just to be sure. Ramzi was the only gold medalist disqualified for using performance-enhancing drugs. Four others were stripped of medals. 

—Theo Fleury was an outstanding hockey player, scoring 455 goals in the NHL, winning a Stanley Cup, Olympic Gold, and a Canada Cup. Now, at 41, he has written a memoir, “Playing With Fire,” that is riling up the NHL the way Andre Agassi’s memoir has the sport of tennis. 

Fleury played three seasons with the Rangers and the New York Times’ Jeff Z. Klein summarizes. 

“When Theo Fleury was a Ranger, he said, he would stay out all night drinking, doing cocaine, going ‘below the streets of New York City’ to ‘party with freaks, transvestites, strippers’ or to ‘hang out with homeless guys around a burn barrel’ on the West Side piers. 

“He substituted Gatorade or his baby boy’s urine for his own in drug tests until, finally, he had to take a break from hockey to enter a substance-abuse program. Much of his time as a Ranger, from 1999 to 2002, he remembers as a ‘nightmare.’” [Though he was kind to most of his teammates and management.] 

–Say it ain’t so…Anya! Miss Trinidad and Tobago 2008, Anya Ayoung-Chee, is reportedly in a ménage a trios sex tape, with initial reports saying the other woman is Miss Japan 2008, Hiroko Mima. Mamma Mima!!! 

According to TMZ, Anya’s boyfriend, the third figure here, confirmed the taping, though he says the other woman was not Hiroko. I’m so confused! 

But remember, sports fans….don’t go searching the Net for it.   You’ll pick up a virus. 

—Nicole Kidman, on the current size of her breasts after breastfeeding her baby daughter, as noted in the current issue of Ladies’ Home Journal. 

“They’re not very big, my boobs, so they just became normal size. I loved it!” 

[No comment….except we’re happy for both her and hubby Keith Urban.] 

—Clint Eastwood, in an interview for GQ, says of his new movie, “Invictus” (which I’m dying to see), “The world needs this kind of story nowadays….It seems like our country’s in kind of a morbid mood, because of the recession or whatever.” Eastwood added we’re “becoming more juvenile as a nation. The guys who won World War II and that whole generation have disappeared, and now we have a bunch of teenage twits.” 

[“Invictus” is the story of Nelson Mandela taking over South Africa and his use of a mostly white South African rugby team to help usher the nation out of apartheid.] 

–Newsweek is yet another to give a glowing review of Robert Merry’s portrait of President James K. Polk. So give “A Country of Vast Designs” to the old man for Christmas. When he gives you a funny look upon unwrapping it, say, “Go ahead…just give it ten pages. You’ll like it.” 

–More on the Nomura, the world’s largest jellyfish at up to six-feet in diameter, courtesy of the South China Morning Post. The venom is so intense, when it’s pulled up with the rest of a whole day’s catch it can taint or kill everything else in the net. 

“Some fishermen have just stopped fishing,” said Taiichiro Hamano. “When you pull in the nets and see jellyfish, you get depressed.” Then you commit hari-kari. 

Jellyfish swarms are devastating fishing industries around the world these days, with scientists blaming warming oceans, much of which is due more to pollution than global warming. Like in the case of China, where all the pollution (agricultural and sewage) runs off into the ocean. 

“NY man attacked by buck while tossing firewood” 

“A northern New York man is recovering after being attacked by a 10-point buck while he was loading firewood. Authorities said Gerald Dabiew, 56, was cut and bruised from head-to-toe by the buck outside his house in Moira, 200 miles north of Albany. [Ed. this is a scary part of the country, if you’ve ever been up that way. As in the humans are scary.] 

“ ‘He got me down on the ground, and it was then I knew that he really wanted to kill me,’ Dabiew told The Watertown Daily News. 

“Dabiew’s house is surrounded by woods, so he didn’t think twice Friday when he saw the buck crossing the road – until the animal charged and knocked him down. 

“Dabiew wrapped his legs around the animal’s neck and held onto its antlers as it battered him. Every time Dabiew tried to wrestle himself loose, the buck would ram him again, he said. The attack on Friday lasted several minutes before the buck ran off. 

“ ‘I don’t know why he came around. All I was doing was throwing wood,’ he said. ‘I’m not even a hunter.’ 

“He said wood he was dropping into a bucket could have sounded like the antlers of jousting deer knocking together, a noise hunters often mimic to lure deer during rutting season.” 

There have been more and more attacks by deer on us overrated humans these days. Or as Brad K. observes, perhaps the guy should take up hunting. 

–I’m reading a story by the Times’ Larry Dorman on Michelle Wie and her first triumph at 20 this past weekend and it’s easy to forget her earlier accomplishments. Like she was just 13 when she finished ninth in a women’s major, and nearly made a cut at the Sony Open (on the men’s tour) when she was 14. Wie’s long road back is now complete, and as Dorman notes, it really all started last year when Michelle decided to enter the tour’s Q School to earn her playing privileges, rather than rely on sponsors to let her in. What a badly needed shot in the arm for the LPGA Tour. I know if I see her on the leaderboard in the future, I’ll be tuning in at least part of the time out of curiosity. 

–Love this one. Mark R. tells me that the good folks of Valley Forge, Pa., came up with one of the dumbest ideas of the decade. You see, there are an estimated 1,300 deer in the park there and authorities want to hold a hunt. Others balked at that…guns being fired and all…so at last word (and Mark update me on this), the folks are thinking of introducing coyotes. To which Mark and I agree…oh yeah, that’s real brilliant, until the first little kid is carried away in a coyote’s mouth. 

–Awright! Tom Watson received a five-year exemption to play in the British Open after his runner-up finish last summer. The Royal & Ancient opted to change one of its rules that you can’t participate once you hit age 60. The R&A’s new rule for past champions is that if you finish in the top 10 in the previous five Opens you get another five years, which means it also applies to Greg Norman, who finished third in 2008. Great move on their part. 

—Lewis Millett died. He was 88. Millett was a veteran of three wars and the winner of the Medal of Honor. 

Dennis McLellan / L.A. Times 

“In a 31-year career in the Army that included service in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, Millett received numerous awards, including the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, two Legions of Merit, three Bronze Stars, four Purple Hearts and three Air Medals.” 

At a Veteran’s monument dedication in 1995, Millett told the crowd: “If you believe in freedom, you’ve got to serve.” It was in Korea, though, that Lewis Millett gained lasting fame. 

“He was captain of E Company, 2nd Battaliion of the 25th Infantry Division’s 27th Infantry Regiment…on Feb. 7, 1951, when he demonstrated what his Medal of Honor citation described as ‘superb leadership, conspicuous courage and consummate devotion to duty.’ 

“Millett and his men were patrolling in the vicinity of Soam-Ni when they encountered enemy troops along a ridge known as Hill 180. 

“After one of his platoons was pinned down by small-arms, automatic and antitank fire, Millett ordered his men to fix bayonets. 

“He then led an assault up the hill, where, according to his citation, he ‘bayoneted two enemy soldiers and boldly continued on, throwing grenades, clubbing and bayoneting the enemy, while urging his men forward by shouting encouragement.’ 

“Despite heavy enemy fire, the fierce hand-to-hand assault continued to the top of the hill. 

“Millett’s ‘dauntless leadership and personal courage so inspired his men that they stormed the hostile position and used their bayonets with such lethal effect that the enemy fled in wild disorder,’ the citation said. 

“Although Millett was wounded by grenade fragments, he refused to be evacuated until the hill was taken and secured. 

“Historian S.L.A. Marshall later described the Millett-led assault up Hill 180 as ‘the most complete bayonet charge by American troops since Cold Harbor,’ an 1864 Civil War battle.” 

Millett was born in Maine and joined the National Guard in 1938, but when war erupted in Europe, and President Roosevelt saying no Americans would fight on foreign soil (prior to Pearl Harbor), Millett joined the Canadian Army, he wanted to fight that bad. In 1942, he was allowed to transfer back into the U.S. Army. 

What’s funny is that he was fighting in Africa and Europe for a year before the Army confronted his military record and found him guilty of desertion, fining him $52 and sentencing him to 30 days hard labor, but since he was a sergeant he didn’t serve any time. Then a few weeks later, he was made a second lieutenant. Millett would say later, “I must be the only Regular Army colonel who has ever been court-martialed and convicted of desertion.” 

Millett also served in Vietnam, retiring in 1973. He is to be buried at Riverside National Cemetery, for those of you who live out that way and wish to pay your respects, as I will one of these days.  

–One more for the “Best War Movies” list…George L. notes “Paths of Glory” (starring Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, and Adolphe Menjou). George also said that regarding the first 30 minutes of “Saving Private Ryan,” a relative of his who fought on D-Day and beyond said it was totally accurate and, in addition, after he saw the film, for the first time in over 50 years he was willing to talk about his war experiences in detail. 

[George reminds me that for you war buffs, the History Channel is running new footage this week. Worth catching.] 

–So I wrote a friend, asking for some info regarding a service organization we’re both involved in, and it turns out he was in Montreux, Switzerland on business, whereupon he told me that I should know something about Montreux and rock history…Dec. 1971. 

Deep Purple was recording in Montreux Casino when the building burned down as Frank Zappa was performing. On its next album, the group then recorded “Smoke On The Water” to immortalize the incident. [But it wasn’t released in the U.S. for another 1 ½ years.] And now you know…the rest of the story. 

Top 3 songs for the week 11/18/78: #1 “MacArthur Park” (Donna Summer) #2 “Double Vision” (Foreigner) #3 “How Much I Feel” (Ambrosia)…and…#4 “You Needed Me” (Anne Murray) #5 “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” (Barbra & Neil…give me a reason to, Babs) #6 “Hot Child In The City” (Nick Gilder) #7 “Kiss You All Over” (Exile) #8 “I Just Wanna Stop” (Gino Vannelli…awful haircut, but did some decent music) #9 “Whenever I Call You ‘Friend’” (Kenny Loggins) #10 “You Never Done It Like That” (Captain & Tennille…yes, it was fall of junior year at Wake Forest and your editor was trying to figure out how he’d graduate in four years. You see, he was having too good a time and he was paying a price for this. So would he make it? Stay tuned…) 

College Football Quiz Answers: 1) Errict (sic) Rhett is Florida’s career rushing leader with 4,163 yards. Emmitt Smith is next with 3,928. 2) Chris Leak, 11,000, and Danny Wuerffel, 10,875, are the only two to throw for 10,000 yards at Florida. [Tim Tebow is only at 8,120 thru last week, having not played much as a freshman.] 3) Chris Weinke (1997-2000) threw for 9,839 yards at Florida State. 4) Ron Sellers (1966-68) holds the FSU receiving yards record at 3,598. Sellers played five seasons in NFL, catching 85 passes, total, though his rookie year with the Boston Patriots, he had 27 receptions for 705 yards (26.1 per catch) and six TDs. [A great Strat-O-Matic card, as you can imagine.] 5) Long-time caddie for Bart Starr, Zeke Bratkowski, quarterbacked the Georgia Bulldogs from 1951-53. Zeke then played in the NFL from 1954-71 with the Bears, Rams and Pack. 

How awesome was Georgia’s Herschel Walker? He still holds the top three season rushing yardage figures at the school. 

Garrison Hearst rushed for 1547 yards in 1992; Knowshon Moreno, 1400, in 2008.