[From Charlotte, NC…Sunday pm]
Note: I’m in town for Phil W.’s wedding, one of my great friends going back to Wake Forest days. Consequently, the following is scattershot and I’m tired…though the wedding festivities of Saturday and Sunday are over. Do you sense that recently I’ve been tired a lot? Can you tell this is self-inflicted, like staying up past 1:30 drinking cans of domestic (and then pints of Guinness) on a school night like I did last week? Then again, it doesn’t help when your plane is sitting there at the gate, on time for the flight to Charlotte, but Continental can’t find a crew for 2 ½ hours! Alas, the wedding was great…many happy years, Phil and Beth, and it was good seeing loyal reader Stu W., who I hadn’t seen in about 15 years. He’s an old Brooklyn Dodgers fan from way back and he gave me a great baseball book I’ll share in the next week or two.
However, after doing much of what follows, I kind of felt like a beer with my meal tonight but I’m not staying in the best part of town, as in it sucks. So I just went to a dive Mexican joint where the sign above the door was clearly for real.
“No trespassing. Violators will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.”
Ah, but they served ice cold Tecate, which has a very cool logo, by the way, a white ‘T’ on a black eagle, and this proves that one can have premium in the diviest [Palin word of the week] of domestic places.
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Baseball Quiz: Seven players in baseball history have been hit by a pitch more than 230 times. I’ll give you three of them. Hughie Jennings (1891-1918) tops the list with 287 (including consecutive years of 51, 46 and 46; 1896-1898), Tommy Tucker (1887-1899), 272, and Dan McGann (1896-1908) with 230. Name the other four who all played from 1960 on. Answer below.
Stuff…and nothing but the stuff
–After posting last time, on Wednesday evening, one or more grizzly bears attacked and killed one camper and injured two others at a campground near Yellowstone National Park in what was a terrifying rampage. A mother grizzly and her three cubs were later captured after the sow, 300- to 400-pounds, was lured into a trap fashioned from culvert pipe near the original site, since this is the grizzlies’ modus operandi…return to the scene of the crime.
Parks Warden Capt. Sam Sheppard was confident they had captured the killer as he described the incident as a highly unusual predatory attack.
“She basically targeted three people (in different tents) and went after them,” Sheppard said. “It wasn’t like an archery hunter who gets between a sow and her cubs and she responds to protect them.”
[The sow was later killed (after evidence proved she was indeed the assassin) while the three cubs will be housed at ZooMontana in Billings.]
One of the victims, Deb Freele, said she woke up just before the bear bit her arm.
“I screamed, he bit harder, I screamed harder, he continued to bite,” she said, adding that she could hear her bones breaking. “I told myself, play dead,” she said. “I went totally limp. As soon as I went limp, I could feel his jaws get loose and then he let me go.”
Freele said the bear was silent.
“It was very quiet, it never made any noise.”
Park officials said it was the most brazen bear attack in decades. Just imagine, there were over 20 people in the campground and you start hearing screams at 2:00 a.m. One camper, Don Wilhelm, thought it was a domestic dispute in the middle of the night and he stifled thoughts that a beast might be lurking outside his family’s tent.
But minutes later there was another scream (Freele’s) on the other side of the campground. Don Wilhelm’s wife said, “First she said, ‘No!’ Then we heard her say, ‘It’s a bear! I’ve been attacked by a bear!’”
Geezuz. I would have died right there of a heart attack, though first I might have toasted my life with a domestic, Yellowstone not being the kind of place you’d be bringing along premium. I mean to me, camping is all about PBR.
By the way, to totally get off track here, last night at Phil W.’s rehearsal dinner, we were able to enjoy the good taste of Yuengling! So two of my very best friends, Phil and Johnny Mac, have both served Yuengling, the premium/domestic, at special occasions in the past few weeks. Yet another reason why they will one day be inducted into the Bar Chat Hall of Fame…to be built at a site yet to be determined.
Anyway, back to our story, the grizzly involved in the attack showed no apparent signs of sickness or starvation that might have led to its unusual behavior. There are about 600 grizzlies and black bears in the Yellowstone area, and in case you were wondering, all the campers at this particular site had handled their food properly.
As for the man who was killed, fellow campers didn’t know of his fate until much later. The 48-year-old from Grand Rapids, Mich., had been dragged 25 feet from his tent, but he was about a ¼-mile away from the other two victims who were close to each other.
It was in 2008, at the same campground, that a grizzly bit and injured a man sleeping in a tent and that young adult female was captured in a trap four days later and transported to a bear research center in Pullman, Washington. Now local residents of nearby Cooke City and Silver Gate are questioning whether the right bear was really caught that day.
Last year, another grizzly broke into three cabins in Silver Gate. The bear was shot and killed by a Silver Gate resident, which is good to know because I won’t then go knocking on doors for beer in Silver Gate at 2:00 a.m. Yet another life lesson learned for moi.
–Sports Illustrated came up with “The 25 Most Hated Teams of All Time.” Check out SI.com, but here are the first ten.
1. 1986 University of Miami football
2. 1988-89 Detroit Pistons
3. 1992 Dallas Cowboys
4. 1974-75 Philadelphia Flyers
5. 1978 New York Yankees
6. 2007 New England Patriots
7. 1993-94 New York Knicks
8. 1976 Oakland Raiders
9. 1989-90 UNLV Basketball
10. 1998-99 Manchester United
–You know your football team is in trouble, in this case Wake Forest, when you don’t have one player on the pre-season All-ACC team. Five of the 25 (including kicker, punter, and specialty teams) are on North Carolina, with four from both Boston College and Miami.
–Jarrett Bell of USA TODAY had some stats on the NFL and how difficult it is for players to hold on to their money in the limited time they are making big bucks.
The average NFL career is just 3 ½ years. But the league’s average salary in 2009 was $1.9 million. And the $325,000 rookie minimum is still seven times the average starting salary for a college graduate.
But so many of them blow their dollars in no time. And of course that $1.9 million average includes the likes of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, so it’s really far less.
But take Keyshawn Johnson, who earned over $50 million in his 11 seasons. He’s doing OK, but he now warns young players of how quickly a $1 million bonus check can shrink; Johnson himself having spent $100,000 on his post-draft bash in 1996 at the House of Blues.
“After Uncle Sam comes first, your agent is going to get his cut,” says Johnson. “Then there’s your wife, your girlfriend or baby’s mama. You’re going to hook up your family and homeboys, and get yourself some nice things, like jewelry or some sweet tire rims. By the time you’ve done all that, you’d be lucky to have $320,000 left.”
Last year, Sports Illustrated reported that 78% of NFL players will become bankrupt, divorced or unemployed within two years of retirement. 78%!
–Late sports bits:
Before I went out for Mexican, I saw Bernhard Langer pick up his second major in two weeks in defeating Fred Couples for the U.S. Senior Open in Colorado; an amazing feat in that Langer had to go through 7 or 8 time zones to accomplish this.
And on the PGA Tour, Stuart Appleby became just the 5th Tour player to fire a 59, in the final round no less, just weeks after Paul Goydos became No. 4, as Appleby won the new event at the Greenbrier by one. It was his 9th career title and first in 4 years.
–Having defeated the Mets at Citi Field on Sunday, 14-1, Arizona, just 39-66 on the season, nonetheless beat my Metsies for the 5th time in 6 games. To say the 53-52 Mets suck is an understatement.
–I agree with the New York Daily News’ Mike Lupica. The Yankees, who just acquired Kerry Wood, Lance Berkman and Austin Kearns at the trade deadline, should have just stuck with Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon.
–A week or two ago, I was saying Cincinnati’s Joey Votto didn’t stand a chance in hell of winning the triple crown.
But now he’s leading the N.L. in batting (which I thought was his Achilles’ heel), leads the N.L. in homers, and is 9 RBI behind league leader Ryan Howard. But we just learned that Howard hurt his ankle on Sunday.
–I don’t believe that Ole Miss is giving former Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli a shot at the starting QB job as a walk-on; this after Masoli was dismissed from the Ducks’ squad for numerous infractions.
You see, Masoli already has an undergrad degree and thus under the rules, with a year of eligibility left, he can play immediately rather than sit out a year. Masoli is enrolled in graduate school at Ole Miss, “Parks and Recreation Management.” Good gawd.
–John Feinstein has a very touching piece on Dean Smith in the 8/2 issue of Sporting News. Smith is suffering from Alzheimer’s.
Feinstein writes of the combative Smith we all remember from the sidelines and how one time, when Rick Barnes was coaching Clemson, the two almost came to blows.
“A few years later, Barnes’ 9-year-old daughter asked her father why Smith had retired when his team had just made the Final Four. Barnes suggested she write him a letter to ask.
“ ‘She got back a handwritten note,’ Barnes said. ‘In it, Dean explained he thought it was best for his players if Bill Guthridge coached them. And then he wrote, ‘Your dad is a great basketball coach. You should be very proud of him.’
“ ‘That was always the way Dean was: He would battle you at every turn, but when it was over, it was over. He knew how to win and he knew how to lose. And he knew that coaching was about a lot more than winning and losing.’
“Dean Smith hasn’t coached since 1997. He’s in a horrible, no-win battle right now. And no one is pulling for him more than those he battled in the past.”
–Ripped from the pages of the Charlotte Observer:
“South Carolina beachgoers seeking solace from the recent heat with a dip in the Atlantic Ocean are getting an unpleasant surprise in the form of jellyfish stings.
“ ‘We’ve had a dramatic increase in stings this week,’ said Nikki Bowie [Ed. great name, guys, isn’t it?], safety program manager for the county Parks and Recreation Commission (at Folly Beach, S.C.). ‘It’s not only the number of stings, but the severity.’”
Sound familiar? This has been happening all over the country, sports fans. So check this out.
“Typically, Charleston County beach parks see a couple, if any, jellyfish stings each month. This past week, more than 300 stings were reported at the Isle of Palms, north of the city of Charleston, Bowie said. [Ed. Wonder if she’s related to Jim Bowie of Alamo fame?] At Folly Beach to the south, the number of stings jumped from 15 Wednesday to 150 on Thursday.”
What’s the best treatment for stings, kids? Well, ya rinse away any tentacles with sea water, then apply vinegar to block the poison from being released into the skin. Meat tenderizer also can help with the pain. The lovely Nikki Bowie said the lifeguards are stocking up on vinegar, so like I’m thinking there could be an investment play here.
–What a horrible story in Memphis as former NBA veteran Lorenzen Wright was gunned down. His ex-wife had been threatened at her home by three men who were carrying guns and looking for Wright about six weeks earlier and Sherra Wright warned her husband, but, she was so frightened she didn’t tell authorities until it was too late as Wright’s bullet-riddled body was found in woods in town.
Wright had gone missing six days earlier, there were reports out to this effect, nationwide, but for some reason Memphis police didn’t act with more urgency, according to friends of the ballplayer, including after a 911 call from what turned out to be Wright’s cellphone came through; a garbled voice is heard using an expletive, and then as many as a dozen gunshots.
Wright, 34, played for numerous teams, including most recently the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was a lottery pick for the Los Angles Clippers and averaged 8 points and 6.4 rebounds in 778 career games.
–Boise State President Bob Kustra gave an interview last Tuesday to The (Boise) Idaho Statesman editorial board and, when asked about the rivalry between Boise State and the University of Idaho, and whether Boise State’s move to the Mountain West Conference from the WAC precludes playing the in-state rival beyond this year, Kustra said:
“It troubles me that the occasion of an annual football game causes the airwaves and Internet to be full of disparagement of Boise State’s students, faculty and programs, year after year.”
He then called the Idaho Vandals’ culture “nasty” and “inebriated.”
Well, I read this and thought, hey, let’s check the schedule. And so after a few clicks on the old keyboard I am heading to Moscow, Idaho, home of the University of Idaho Vandals, for a game on Nov. 12 against Boise State. I never thought I’d get to this place, but it should be fun, if not riotous. And this also means I get to buy a bunch of Vandalwear!!!
–I know every one of you out there thought the same thing when the other day, Washington Nationals pitcher Miguel Batista was suddenly thrust into the starting assignment slated for Stephen Strasburg when Strasburg came up lame in the pre-game. The home Washington fans booed Batista, 99% of them being there for one purpose, to see Strasburg, but Batista pitched well in a win and afterwards he uttered these immortal words, when speaking of the initial greeting he received.
“Imagine if you go there to see Miss Universe and end up having Miss Iowa.”
Doh!!!
Batista very quickly learned that wasn’t too bright and in all honesty he felt terrible about it and immediately issued an apology and sent the current Miss Iowa, Katherine Connors, some flowers.
But Connors replied in good fun that while she appreciated the gesture, she really wanted to throw out the first pitch at a Nationals game and that’s exactly what she did on Friday night.
[Strasburg, by the way, was placed on the DL but appears to be fine. The Nats are correctly being extra careful with their huge investment.]
–Didn’t realize that Lee Westwood is now the first person in golf history to finish in the top three in all four majors without winning any of them. Also didn’t know, until I read a piece by Brandel Chamblee in SI, that Bruce Crampton was a runner-up four times in majors, all to Jack Nicklaus.
–Character actor Maury Chaykin died too early at the age of 61 from complications with a heart valve infection. Chaykin appeared in such films as “My Cousin Vinny” and “Dances With Wolves,” but more recently was cast in HBO’s “Entourage” as Harvey Weingard, a bullying movie mogul who was a sendup to Harvey Weinstein.
–Wow…I don’t watch “American Idol,” for no particular reason, but if J.Lo replaces Ellen DeGeneres, as rumored, that’s a great move. It would be even better to have Steven Tyler on to fill Simon’s spot. And why not replace Kara DioGuardi, who isn’t under contract, with Beyonce? Then each week you’d have a battle of the booty.
–John Aylesworth died. He was 81. Aylesworth was a Canadian-born writer and performer, who wrote for programs such as “The Andy Williams Show,” Judy Garland’s, and “Hullabaloo,” but he found fame when, with fellow Canadian Frank Peppiatt, they teamed to create a summer replacement for “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” in 1969 and the result was… “Hee Haw”! Its very first week the show tied with “Laugh-In” at the top of the ratings and remained a hit throughout the summer. That December, “Hee Haw” was added to CBS’ schedule.
Count me as a big fan of the show. Granted, when it first came on, I was an 11-year-old mighty impressed with the size of, err, err, some of the women’s assets, but what a great cast, headed by Buck Owens and Roy Clark, “Junior” Samples, “Grandpa” Jones, and of course Minnie Pearl. Sure, it was corny, but so was “Laugh-In” for that matter. That’s what we watched 40 years ago.
What’s funny, though, is that Aylesworth and Peppiatt had never been in the South in their life when they came up with “Hee Haw.” God’s honest truth, as noted in Dennis McLellan’s obituary for the Los Angeles Times.
So we toast John Aylesworth for bringing us some good old family entertainment, including ex-Playboy Playmates with few clothes on.
–I was distressed to learn that Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez and Jamie-Lynn Siglar have split over Sanchez’s “wandering eye,” according to the New York Post, though any football fan is thinking, hey, that’s what we like to see in our quarterback! You don’t want the QB to lock in on a single target, that’s how you get picked off. You want to be able to scan the field and confuse the defense, know what I’m sayin’? Or am I confusing the issues here?
Actually, as I read the story a little further, I think I had it wrong. Sanchez was spotted checking out the Broadway show ‘Memphis,’ “where he was believed to have had his eye on a pretty chorus girl.” Don’t we all.
–Congratulations to Jeff B. and his Old Man’s Tennis Championship as his 50+ team completed a rout of its division with a 31-2 record. J.B., out of Norwalk, CT, now finds his squad moving up to Division I of Old Man’s play next season. Unless they all break their hips this winter, I see continued success in 2011. [Street & Smith already has them preseason No. 1.]
–Dan L. passed along the big news over the weekend up on Cape Cod, Mass. Three – not one, not two, but three – great whites were spotted as close as 100 yards from shore.
Top 3 songs for the week of 8/7/65: #1 “I’m Henry VIII, I Am” (Herman’s Hermits) #2 “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (The Rolling Stones) #3 “What’s New Pussycat?” (Tom Jones)…and …#4 “Save Your Heart For Me” (Gary Lewis and The Playboys…underrated group) #5 “I Got You Babe” (Sonny & Cher) #6 “Yes, I’m Ready” (Barbara Mason) #7 “I Like It Like That” (The Dave Clark Five) #8 “Cara, Mia” (Jay & The Americans) #9 “I Can’t Help Myself” (Four Tops) #10 “Don’t Just Stand There” (Patty Duke…I mean, except for this last one, it doesn’t get any better than this)
Baseball Quiz Answer: The other four who were hit by a pitch at least 230 times are…Craig Biggio, 285; Don Baylor, 267; Jason Kendall, 253; and Ron Hunt, 243…Hunt being the all-time official second baseman of the Trumbore Family, not that I’m saying it’s my own last name, seeing as how I’ve never signed this column, but I’ve been called that before.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
