College Basketball Quiz: 1) Who is the best player to come out of little Centenary College of Shreveport, La.? 2) Central Michigan has had three first-round picks, all of whom had, or are in the midst of, long NBA careers. The years are 1975 [initials D.R., drafted by Indiana]; 1988, initials D.M.; 2003, initials C.K. Name ‘em. 3) Who coached UNC-Charlotte to the Final Four in 1977, the Cedric Maxwell squad that lost to eventual champion Marquette? 4) Who coached Cincinnati to back-to-back NCAA titles, 1960-62? 5) Between 1977 and 1991, Clemson had five big men that were selected in the first round of the NBA draft…1977, 1981, 1987, 1990, 1991…all of whom had long NBA careers. Who are they? Answers below.
Olympic Bits
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is bitter over the death of his countryman, luger Nodar Kumaritashvili. “No sports mistake is supposed to lead to a death.”
Luge officials reduced the speed of the course, as you saw, by having the men start where the women do, after Nodar’s accident in practice at what was up to 95 mph, the first death of a luger in competition since 1975. Officials blamed it on athlete’s error.
But Saakashvili said officials could have prevented the tragedy if they had listened to athletes’ safety concerns prior to the crash (Nodar himself we’ve learned was “terrified” of the course). And it is bizarre that the man who designed the track, which aside from being the fastest in the world is also the steepest, with a 498-foot drop (that’s amazing to think of), hadn’t even seen a bobsled or luge race until given the job in 2004. That’s absurd. Imagine what you’d get if a person who had never even seen a golf course was told to design one.
“There was a ‘Wet Paint’ sign taped to the back of a new wooden retaining wall Saturday just past Curve 16, where Nodar Kumaritashvili of Georgia had gone up and over to his brutal death on Friday….
“(Officials) blew the technical component (of the track) when (on Friday), lugers – many of them relatively inexperienced, by international standards – were forced to travel at speeds up to 96 mph down a twisting course. Then they blew the emotional component yesterday, by forcing the same sliders to start their training runs on the morning after the death of a competitor.”
Some of the coaches of opposing teams said Nodar had taken the turn completely wrong, going right when he should have gone left, but “The Canadians had limited the amount of training runs by foreigners, slowing their learning curve. And you can’t pretend this sport is a global event, worthy of Olympic inclusion, then invite to the Winter Games only a few sliders from the top five luging nations.
“Once you open it up, it is the responsibility of the International Olympic Committee, the luge federation and the local organizers to ensure the track is not absurdly dangerous for athletes of every nation.”
To be fair, Nodar had been down the track 26 times before, but 10 of them had come at lower starting points on the course. Yes, he made a mistake, but as Saakashvili said that shouldn’t have killed him.
One sport I will follow pretty closely the next two weeks is the men’s hockey. The odds to win gold are as follows. Canada 1-1; Russia 5-2; Sweden 6-1; United States 8-1; Czech Republic
15-1; Finland 18-1; Slovakia 35-1 and on down to Norway 1500-1.
I caught the short track final on Saturday where the Koreans wiped out, opening the door for Apolo Ohno. I’m guessing the two Koreans will have a tough time finding work back home. And congratulations to Hannah Kearney for her gold in the women’s moguls. If you saw her interview with Bob Costas, Sunday night, you’d probably agree with me that she’s CEO material. [Helluva lot better than some of the CEOs on Wall Street the past few years!]
Danica Patrick’s debut on the Nationwide circuit (NASCAR’s AAA), Saturday, ended poorly as she crashed and finished 35th. There were 15 regular Sprint Cup drivers in the race which was won by star Tony Stewart. One of the regulars, Dale Earnhardt Jr., had a horrific crash but following the death of his father at Daytona years ago, these cars are incredibly safe. What’s great to see is how Danica’s fellow drivers are treating her…with the ultimate respect. They know she can only be a huge positive for their sport. If and when she steps up to the big leagues, the television ratings, for starters, will be ginormous.
As for the big race, it proved to be an enormous embarrassment for NASCAR as the event was delayed 2 hours by a pothole, literally. I kept flipping back to it, but finally they had an exciting finish as Jamie McMurray beat off a hard-charging Earnhardt, none the worse for wear following his crash, which shows you what these guys are made of. I just have to add that it was cold yesterday, similar to when I was there a few years back, and when it’s like that, with a wind chill in the 30s, it’s not a lot of fun sitting high up in the stands. Back to McMurray, he’s a great feel good story; a driver without a ride at the end of last year who caught a break and is now taking advantage of it. You could also tell by the reaction of his fellow drivers at the end that he is a favorite son in this fraternity.
—College Basketball Review
I was all set to write there were few upsets over the weekend, but then on Sunday, Louisville defeated No. 2 Syracuse and Rutgers beat No. 7 Georgetown. Earlier, Pitt had a 3-overtime win over No. 5 (AP) West Virginia at home, the Mountaineers now falling to 8-4 in the Big East, same as Pitt, but that really wasn’t an upset in a true sense given the nature of their rivalry. There was another big one, though, as on Friday night, then 3-15 Penn defeated Cornell, which rebounded Saturday to nip Princeton, 48-45, in a contest they say truly brought back the excitement to Jadwin Gymnasium on the Princeton campus. [Also on Friday night, Niagara posted a huge upset of its own in defeating Siena, a loss that ensures Siena must win its conference tournament to get an NCAA bid and it also probably cost them a seed or two should they do so.]
Wake Forest is officially on a roll, winning its last four ACC contests, including Saturday’s solid win over Georgia Tech, and the Deacs are now second in the conference. In a few hours they’ll enter the AP rankings. But another big game Tuesday against Virginia Tech is on tap, a surprising ½-game behind Wake.
Oh how things can change in one year for a college athlete. A year ago, North Carolina’s Ed Davis was a reserve on the national championship squad, but a freshman with such immense talent that if he had declared for the draft, no doubt he would have been a lottery pick. This year, as Carolina has gone a miserable 14-11, and just 3-7 in ACC play, Davis was having a pretty lousy year himself, certainly vs. expectations, and now he’s out for probably the rest of the season with a broken wrist. No way he can go for the draft. He’s shown the NBA little. He’s got to come back yet another year and prove himself all over again. Heck, I told you this guy was going to be the Player of the Year in college ball. Not quite.
With a win on Saturday, Alcorn State moved to 1-24, while Bryant is 0-26 with four to go as it shoots to become just the seventh Div. I school to go winless.
And my friend Jose Rebimbas continues to guide William Paterson towards the top of the Division III rankings as they won their 20th straight and now sit at 22-1, No. 10 in the nation. Rebimbas is a defensive wizard and the Pioneers are limiting teams to 53.9 points per game and just .367 shooting from the field.
—Usain Bolt opened up his 2010 season with a victory in the 400m at a meet in Jamaica. Yes, the 400. He did it in 45.86, off Michael Johnson’s world record 43.18 set back in 1999, but it’s up to Bolt’s coach to decide whether the record holder in the 100 and 200 really goes for the 400 as well, which to me is unfathomable. Johnson says Bolt could exceed his mark if he wants it. Right now, though, Bolt’s only other scheduled competition in 2010 is a 100m race in New York on June 12.
[A Univ. of Georgia sophomore, Torrin Lawrence, ran a 45.03 400m this weekend as well.]
–No, I didn’t watch a second of any of the NBA All-Star weekend coverage, though I admit I’ve seen a fair amount of Knicks action on television this season as background filler. I couldn’t care less that the Knicks’ Nate Robinson won the slam dunk contest again, but it’s kind of amusing that this talented jerk seems to care more about this than his performance in a real game. [From what I read after, Nate also acted like a pimp in having some Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders with him, “the four best-looking ones” he said, all of which is in keeping with the NBA’s image.]
But Commissioner David Stern talked of the league losing about $400 million this season amid testy negotiations with the players union over the collective bargaining agreement that expires in July 2011. I promise not to waste your time with a lot of detail until these negotiations progress further, but one of the owners’ initial proposals that was ripped up by the players calls for only half the contract being guaranteed, which is an interesting concept, and long needed. What’s clear is the players will have to make some major concessions. Just one multi-year contract is enough for these guys to live off comfortably the rest of their lives…if they would just get rid of their posses! I saw a story recently where one star had 30 in his entourage. [Vincent Chase has it right…you only need three.]
–As the New Jersey Nets hit the All-Star break at 4-48, there has been much talk in these parts over who will be the next coach, Kiki Vandeweghe being just a stop gap. Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski says that reports he’s interested are bunk and that no one had even contacted him. Heck, why would he do that anyway? He just turned 63. He’s got the best thing going down in Durham.
The guy who seems on the top of the list these days is Jeff Van Gundy, now that Rick Pitino appears to be taking himself out of consideration. One other who would love the job, and has said so publicly, is Patrick Ewing.
[The other day, in the midst of the mega-snowstorm that hit the New York area, the Nets played a home game and a reported 1,016 actually showed up, of the 12,873 that paid to be tortured.]
–Heckuva golf tournament on Sunday at Pebble Beach as Dustin Johnson, a budding superstar, won his third event in three years. Incredibly, there were two ‘9s’ among the leaders coming in, something no one can ever recall happening. An equal story was David Duval’s super performance in tying for 2nd, one behind.
–General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, appearing at a J.D. Power and Associates luncheon the other day, said after his formal remarks that the automaker was lucky to have severed its relationship with Tiger Woods by the time his scandals hit. After all, Tiger didn’t sell many Buicks either.
“He wasn’t a spokesman. You would just see him in the ads. Maybe we didn’t have him say the right things at the time, either.”
Woods is not returning to action next week at the Match Play Championships as rumored. No one seems to know when he is coming back. Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill tourney is March 25-28 and then The Masters is April 8-11.
–One man Tiger won’t have to deal with on the golf course upon his return is Jesper Parnevik, who suddenly announced he needed major surgery on his back and that “I can’t play anymore.” This is awful. All of us were hoping that Jesper could improve his play and then find his way in contention with Tiger himself, Jesper having introduced Elin to Woods. Parnevik had been very vocal about regretting he had done this and what a dirtball Tiger is.
–The PGA Tour is taking deserved heat in some quarters for its handling of Jim Thorpe’s suspension by email, as I noted the other day. Jim McCabe of GolfWeek wrote of the tour’s “Skull and Bones” mentality of secrecy and refusing to divulge details and/or the reasoning behind their disciplinary moves, which to begin with are far less serious than any other sport.
“Several years ago, in response to a reporter’s complaint that too many players were difficult to talk to when things went poorly, a high-ranking PGA Tour official agreed.
“In fact, he made a brilliant observation. ‘In NASCAR, a driver can walk out of a flaming wreck and talk to reporters. Some of our guys miss a 5-foot putt and can’t talk for three weeks.’
“Unfortunately, Tour officials all too often are like those players. They seem unable to face bad news and handle it with the proper respect. That’s not only sad, it’s an attitude that needs to be addressed.”
And as Champions Tour veteran Allen Doyle said of the suspension of Thorpe, already facing a one-year jail term, “It seems like piling on.” Yup.
—Natalie Gulbis had laser spine surgery, but she told GolfWeek she’s fine and just wanted to be pain-free. So she should be standing even straighter this year, guys.
–OK, I’ve been through the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue and my two favorites are Jessica White and Jessica Gomes, not that I’d turn away Bar Refaeli or Brooklyn Decker if they showed up at my place selling Girl Scout Cookies, especially the peanut butter cream ones, whatever they are called. You know who Jessica White reminds me of? Pam Oliver. And that’s a memo….
As for Ms. Refaeli, the New York Daily News reported that she was not taking her loss to cover girl Brooklyn Decker well, looking “anything but pleased as she arrived to the mag’s party Tuesday night.”
“She had a scowl on her face and wouldn’t even look up for photographers who had been waiting for hours in the freezing cold outside,” the News’ spy said.
Refaeli refused to sign autographs, too; that is until she was told Decker was doing it willfully.
–We note the passing of Fredrick Morrison, 90, the inventor of the Frisbee. Wham-O Inc. has sold more than 200 million Frisbees since Morrison sold the company the rights to his “Pluto Platter” in 1957.
Born in Richfield, Utah, in 1920, Morrison moved to California in 1931 and in ’37, he and his girlfriend and future wife, Lucile [Ed. channeling George Kennedy in “Cool Hand Luke”], began tossing a large popcorn can lid back and forth for fun during a Thanksgiving party. Then they switched to cake pans.
As reported by Dennis McLellan of the Los Angeles Times, “A year later, they were tossing a cake pan to each other on the beach in Santa Monica when someone saw them and offered a quarter for the pan.
“ ‘That got the wheels turning, because you could buy a cake pan for 5 cents, and if people on the beach were willing to pay a quarter for it, well, there was a business,’ Morrison told the Virginia-Pilot in 2007.
“Soon, they were regularly selling cake pans on the beach for a quarter.”
After World War II, where Morrison spent time as a pilot in Europe and was a prisoner of war, he worked on a design for an aerodynamically improved flying disc he dubbed the Whirlo-Way.
In 1948, Morrison and an early partner, Warren Franscioni, began producing the first plastic discs that were now called Flyin-Saucers, there being a lot of UFO sightings during this time. Then in 1955, he began producing the Pluto Platter. After selling the rights to Wham-O, the company renamed it the Frisbee.
By 1982, Morrison told Forbes he had received about $2 million in royalty payments. They obviously grew from there.
–Former New York Knicks great Carl Braun died. He was 82. Braun joined the Knicks in 1947 out of Colgate University, where the great Pete M. hails from incidentally (Pete and I have the same pace in quaffing domestic…an Olympic pace, actually). In his rookie season, Braun set a league scoring mark with 47 in one game. He was an All-Star from 1953 to 1957 and averaged 13.5 ppg for his career. [Most of his career was before the advent of the shot clock.] It’s kind of interesting looking at his stats, though. Back in the sport’s early days, shooting percentages were pretty horrid. Braun’s career FG percentage, for example, was just .383. But he did can .804 of his free throws.
–The following is just for those of you who are familiar with WFAN’s Mike Francesa, The Pope. It’s so humorous how Mr. Know-It-All conducts himself but the other day I’m out doing some errands, normally the only time I catch his act on the radio, and a guy calls up and comments, “Hey, Mike. Did you see that the sports books won only $8 million on the Super Bowl?” Well I perked up at this because I had just told you all in my Bar Chat last time that the “win” was $6.9 million on $82.7 million in total bets. I immediately thought, ‘How is Francesa going to handle this because the guy is off slightly?’
So Mike goes in his demeaning way, “Oh, that can’t be. It’s too low. $100s of millions are bet in the casinos for the Super Bowl.” The guy is a total buffoon.
1. Indianapolis 2. Dallas 3. Green Bay 4. New Orleans 5. San Diego 6. Jets…ding ding ding! 7. Pittsburgh 8. Philadelphia
If you want to take a flyer now in Vegas and get great odds, Buffalo is ranked 31 and St. Louis is 32. [Don’t waste your money. Better to go with the Pirates in baseball, right Shu?]
–Sporting News also graded the college football recruiting classes and in the ACC, my fellow Demon Deacon fans, we’re ranked 10 of 12, ahead of only Duke and Virginia. Florida State, Miami and Clemson are 1 thru 3.
–And one last bit from Sporting News. They assembled a panel of current and former players, all Gold Glovers, to rank outfield arms. The best the group had ever seen, understanding some were too young to see them all, was Roberto Clemente, followed by Bo Jackson and Ellis Valentine. While I obviously don’t disagree in the case of Clemente, it was cool seeing Valentine recognized. Yes, he had a cannon. Brooks Robinson and Ozzie Smith were hands-down the two admired most for their defense overall.
–San Francisco pitcher Tim Lincecum, the two-time reigning Cy Young Award winner, is getting a raise from $650,000 to $23 million over the next two seasons. The Giants are lucky to get him to sign just a two-year deal after the five years given Detroit’s Justin Verlander and Seattle’s Felix Hernandez. There are some who still insist Lincecum is too fragile to hold up over a longer career. But if Lincecum proceeds to do what he has in his first three seasons, the Giants better be prepared to roll out a Brinks truck for the hurler. It will be payback time.
–More on the New York Mets’ finances. Fox’s Ken Rosenthal wrote the other day, “The Mets… are out of money.”
“Suddenly we’re reminded that he never could beat Florida when he was an All-America at Tennessee. We remember the playoff losses to the Chargers and to the Patriots and, as the No. 1 seed, to the Steelers. We realize that Manning has only a 9-9 record in the postseason as a pro. More and more, Manning’s Super Bowl win over the Bears in 2007 – the one that supposedly erased his reputation as a choker – seems an aberration.”
–Did you know they were conducting the America’s Cup recently? Did you know Larry Ellison’s boat, BMW Oracle, captured the trophy on Sunday, defeating two-time defending champion Alinghi? Did you know I can’t stand Larry Ellison? [Rough estimates are that each side spent a staggering $200 million on their campaigns. Not exactly a race between two Sunfish.]
—Rachel Alexandra is not going to race Zenyatta at the Apple Blossom Handicap in April at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas as rumored. Rachel’s trainer said that after a six-month layoff, there just wasn’t enough time to get the filly in shape. Rachel will run on March 13 but against a lesser quality field. But fret not, kids. The two will be matched up at least once this year.
–Goodness gracious. European scientists are looking to resurrect the auroch, an enormous breed of wild cattle that roamed Europe until it became extinct in 1627, using genetic engineering and old-fashioned breeding in what would be the first time an animal has been brought back from extinction and released into the wild.
But understand an auroch stood more than six feet tall at the shoulder and weighed more than a ton. Scientists are hoping to recreate the DNA from old bones found in museums and then compare it with the DNA of existing cattle to see what would be the best match. They better not release these monsters where I like to jog! [Actually, it appears I’ll be long dead before I have to confront an auroch. Carry on…]
–Headline in the Star-Ledger here in New Jersey… “Dead deer hit by arrow discovered near home.”
“A Florida family’s Golden Retriever is being called a canine hero, while the family’s cat should probably be sent to the ‘dog house.’
“Bubba, the retriever, started barking when flames erupted inside the Lake Worth duplex just before midnight. It started in the front portion of the home, where Saundra Frazer had fallen asleep.
“Charles McCauley, who lives in the back of the home with his girlfriend [Ed. they be livin’ in sin, folks] also heard the barking and came running into the front room where he saw Saundra trying to extinguish the flames with a blanket.”
Well, they all got out safely and Bubba’s barking was credited with waking them up. And, further, “The occupants believe the fire may have started when the family cat knocked over a burning candle. The house was heavily damaged.”
And so there you have it. Dogs back at No. 1 on the All-Species List, having earlier done their job in Haiti as part of the rescue effort there, while cats plummet further into obscurity. Seeing as how half my readership could be cat lovers, though, I will hold off on any further comment except to note it’s now up to cats to step up and prove themselves. Don’t hold your breath.
–From the London Times, dateline Sydney: “An Australian man was left with a razor-sharp shark’s tooth embedded in his leg after being attacked while swimming at a popular beach in Sydney today.” It was a wobbegong shark, sports fans. Thankfully, Paul Welsh’s 10-year-old son who was surfing with his father wasn’t the target. Mr. Welsh is fine. It was February of last year that in the span of two days, one fellow lost a hand to a great white at Sydney’s Bondi beach, while another lost an arm and a leg to a bull shark while conducting an underwater exercise in Sydney Harbor. In December 2008, off Western Australia, a man disappeared while snorkeling with his son. His body was never discovered, but a 14-foot Great White was seen in the waters where he disappeared. Due to the size, the shark was not brought in for questioning.
And this just in… “An Australian grandmother has survived a shark attack by repeatedly punching and kicking the animal after it ‘ripped off’ part of her body.
“Paddy Trumbull, 60, suffered deep bite wounds and lost a huge amount of blood in the incident while snorkeling near the Whitsunday Islands, Queensland.
“Doctors say Mrs. Trumbull is fortunate to be alive after suffering such a ferocious mauling.”
The shark grabbed her, she punched it, it took her underwater, she kicked its neck, and finally was pulled up into her boat. Doctors estimate she lost 40% of her blood, but she was soon speaking to reporters and will be fine, after she receives “a new, remodeled bottom,” in her words. [BBC News]
–Brad K. admires the “hold nothing back” attitude of the Aussies when it comes to the following.
“Australian farmers are being urged by authorities to use poison gas and even ammonium nitrate explosive to blow up rabbits, as biological controls fail, The Adelaide Advertisers reports….
“A warning issued to farmers by the South Australian Environment Department urges them to ‘overcome the rabbit’s tremendous breeding potential’ by traditional means such as bulldozers, poison baits, fumigation, dogs and even explosives.”
Authorities hasten to add that if you plan on using explosives, you should have proper training beforehand.
–And this from Australia…via Sophie Tedmanson of the London Times.
Australia is trying to deal with a feral camel problem, with the population in the Outback slated to reach 2 million over the next 8-10 years.
“Last November more than 6,000 of the camels invaded the Docker River indigenous community near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory in search of water. The wild animals trampled through homes, broke water tanks and disrupted the emergency airstrip.
“Expert marksmen in helicopters were brought in by the Government to cull the camels, however the problem remains with hundreds of thousands of the animals roaming across central Australia, causing damage to the environment and creating havoc among the local Aboriginal communities.”
But there is a possible solution. Some are calling for the camels to be fed to the crocs; the crocodile farms, specifically.
Did you know the Darwin Crocodile farm is home to 60,000 crocs?! They are farmed for their hide, meat, you name it… and they “eat up to 40 tons of pet meat – consisting of chicken heads and gullets and buffalo parts – a week.”
So the government wants to set up a project where the Aboriginal people harvest up to 300 camels a week.
But back to the croc farm, what if someone leaves the gate open one night?
–So remember how I said Lindsay Lohan was going to be eccentric Austrian billionaire Richard Lugner’s rent-a-date for the Vienna Opera Ball? She was to be paid $150,000. ‘Was,’ that is, because she never made it. She was shopping! According to the New York Post’s Page Six, “Lohan held up a British Airways flight from Los Angeles to London en route to Vienna while she shopped and couldn’t afford the $22,000 fee that the airline charged for the delay. ‘She wanted to pay it, but her card’s credit limit was not high enough.’”
–Pssst…at the new place where I live, you park your car underground and feet from my assigned spot is a Ferrari. It’s never moved since I’ve been here and I haven’t asked around as to who owns it (I’m assuming it’s not one of my neighbors’). Heck, I’m scared to go near the beautiful beast and look in the window, afraid there is a private security detail inside, but I only bring this up because I was just reading a story in the Los Angeles Times on the new 2010 Ferrari 458 Italia (super rave review…Dan Neil calls the design “brilliant, completely intuitive”) which can accelerate from a standstill to 124 mph in 10.4 seconds! [Go ahead, count out ten seconds… pretty incredible.]
–One last story on the Beatles and their debut on “Ed Sullivan,” Feb. 9, 1964, courtesy of David Fricke’s 2004 piece in Rolling Stone.
The Beatles showed up on time for their dress rehearsal at 9:30 a.m. that Sunday and after playing, Lennon and McCartney “walked into the control room to hear a playback – a historic breach of decorum. Acts were not permitted there, much less allowed to have a say in on-air sound. ‘I was in shock,’ says production assistant Vince Calandra. ‘But what they wanted was not the usual Sullivan mix, where the lyrics were more dominant than the music and noise was kept to a minimum. The Beatles wanted the guitars and voices in equal balance.
“ ‘But they had such a likable attitude: ‘Can we do this? Can I suggest that?’’ Calandra adds. ‘They were respectful and pleasant.’ They also got the mix they wanted.
“The only pre-show tension Calandra witnessed that day came as Sullivan wrote his introductions for the live show. ‘When Ed wrote his copy, that was his domain,’ Calandra says. ‘You didn’t bother him.’
“Nevertheless, (Brian) Epstein – who meticulously attended to every detail of the Beatles’ public image – strode over to Sullivan, leaned over the host as he wrote (‘Which you never did,’ Calandra notes) and said, with impeccable English grace, ‘I would like to know the exact wording of your intro to the Beatles.’
“Sullivan looked up at Epstein and coldly responded, ‘I would like for you to get lost.’”
Ah, but Ed Sullivan had his moment that evening. Turns out he really didn’t like the later acts that he put on his show…he just truly loved the Beatles and was very proud of them. Sullivan died of cancer in October 1974. He was 73.
–Doug Fieger, leader of the Los Angeles-based power group the Knack, died of cancer at age 57. The group’s 1979 tune “My Sharona” was No. 1 for six weeks.
Top 3 songs for the week 2/12/83: #1 “Down Under” (Men At Work) #2 “Baby, Come To Me” (Patti Austin with James Ingram) #3 “Sexual Healing” (Marvin Gaye)…and…#4 “Shame On The Moon” (Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band) #5 “Africa” (Toto) #6 “Maneater” (Daryl Hall & John Oates…not one of their best) #7 “You And I” (Eddie Rabbitt with Crystal Gayle …not bad for this sort of tune) #8 “Rock The Casbah” (The Clash…yes, I remember having many a domestic in New York watering holes around this time with this tune in the background) #9 “Hungry Like The Wolf” (Duran Duran) #10 “You Can’t Hurry Love” (Phil Collins)
College Basketball Quiz Answers: 1) Robert Parrish is the best player to come out of Centenary, to say the least. 2) Central Michigan: In 1975, Dan Roundfield was a first-round selection by Indiana (ABA then), with Roundfield having a solid career, including six seasons where he averaged a double-double with Indiana and Atlanta. Loved the way this guy played. Dan Majerle was a first-round selection of Phoenix in 1988. And Chris Kaman, 2003, the Clippers, is in the midst of his best season for them as he continues to improve. 3) Lee Rose coached Cinderella UNCC to the Final Four in 1977. [And the school just announced it is finally going to field a football team by 2013, which could be interesting.] 4) Cincinnati was coached by Ed Jucker when they won their back-to-back NCAA titles, 1960-61, 1961-62. I totally forgot Oscar Robertson wasn’t part of either. The Big O had led the Bearcats to Final Four appearances his last two seasons. I mean check this out…Robertson averaged the following in pts./reb. his three seasons (freshmen not being eligible then). 35.1/15.2; 32.6/16.3; 33.7/14.1. He is second only to Pete Maravich in all-time scoring for players with a 3-year career. 5) Clemson big men who were first-rounders, 1977-1991: Tree Rollins, 1977, Atlanta; Larry Nance, 1981, Phoenix; Horace Grant, 1987, Chicago; Elden Campbell, 1990, L.A. Lakers; Dale Davis, 1991, Indiana.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday. Pitchers and Catchers report! Virtually the entire country is sick of winter at this point. Why there goes a robin!
