Football Quiz: 1) With the New York Giants playing the first regular-season contest in New Meadowlands Stadium, name the other five places the franchise has played in. 2) Who led the NFL in touchdown passes last season? 3) Who led the NFL in passing yardage? [Not the same as #2] 4) Who led the league in receptions? [These last three are for the casual fan. I recognize fantasy league junkies will ace it.] Answers below.
College Football…ACC Can’t Suck Enough
So this was the first season the ACC had five teams ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 and there was a feeling in some quarters that one of them would break through to the BCS title game that has eluded the conference for years, but for this season to be any different, the ACC was going to have to stand up in their early non-conference contests and the result after two weeks has been nothing short of catastrophic in terms of the ACC ever being considered among the elite.
Last week, an admittedly depleted North Carolina squad (owing to scandal), then ranked No. 18, lost to No. 21 LSU, 30-24. A few days later, No. 10 Virginia Tech lost to No. 3 Boise State, 33-30.
No. 15 Georgia Tech loses to a Kansas team that the week before had gone down to North Dakota State, 28-25.
No. 17 Florida State gets annihilated by No. 10 Oklahoma, 47-17.
No. 12 Miami loses to No. 2 Ohio State, 34-26 (but at least Miami showed up).
And then in the biggest shocker since Appalachian State knocked off Michigan, now No. 13 Virginia Tech lost to Div. I-AA James Madison, 21-16.
So in the six big contests that mattered, the ACC was 0-for-6. If Barack Obama was giving a speech on the topic, he’d be proclaiming, “Yes we suck!”
Thus it will be another season where the ACC proceeds to beat each other up, in conference, and getting its automatic BCS bid, but we won’t be sniffing any national title, and we’re just days into the season. Unbelievable. The ACC is already out of the conversation.
At least my Demon Deacons wrapped up the second of their three probable wins this year in beating Duke 54-48 in what was the second-highest scoring game in conference history, and the first time the Deacs ever scored 50 points in consecutive games, but I guarantee there isn’t one Wake fan dreaming of a miracle season like we had in 2006; though I will say we have some exciting players on offense and our true freshman quarterback Tanner Price looks like a fixture the next four seasons. And, hey, this coming week we go out to Stanford. What the hell. Time for a day dream.
In other ACC contests, Virginia almost did the conference proud in falling to No. 16 USC, 17-14. But Boston College could only handle Kent State by a 26-13 margin, prompting Johnny Mac to chime in when the score was 6-3 at half, “tin soldiers and Nixon coming…”
Johnny was also wearing his Duckwear Saturday night as Oregon loudly announced it is a national title contender in blasting Tennessee 48-13. Man, the Ducks have some weapons on offense and they aren’t missing Jeremiah Masoli one bit.
[Erin Andrews was looking toned on the sidelines Saturday night, though I was trying to figure out what her top was.]
No. 1 Alabama beat No. 18 Penn State, 24-3, as Joe Paterno at least seemed coherent.
Michigan went to 2-0 in besting Notre Dame 28-24 as Wolverine quarterback Denard Robinson continued his phenomenal start, rushing for a Big Ten record 258 yards (for a QB) while passing for another 244, or a cool 502 yards of total offense; plus he directed the winning, last-second scoring drive, culminating in a two-yard run himself for the clincher.
And I-AA South Dakota beat Minnesota 41-38 in a stunning embarrassment for the Gopher program.
But back to the Virginia Tech-James Madison debacle, of course this game now has everything to do with the national title chase and Boise State’s chances of getting into it. What looked like a super week one effort against the Hokies by the Broncos now is severely tainted with Va Tech’s performance on Saturday. What will the pollsters do? [see below] It also makes Boise’s Sept. 25 contest vs. Oregon State absolutely critical in that the Broncs need to stomp all over the Beavers, like at worst 50-20, for Boise State to have any real chance of finishing the year in the top two because the rest of their schedule should be cupcake city.
This, sports fans, totally sucks. The only thing that will save Boise is if Virginia Tech gets its act together in a major way, and as noted last time, it now looks as though Ohio State needs to stumble, though the Buckeyes do play sleeper title contender Wisconsin, as well as what could now be a hugely intriguing final contest vs. Michigan. As for TCU, they’ll have a chance to further wow pollsters in games vs. the likes of BYU and top 20 Utah, but, remember, they beat Oregon State by ‘just’ 30-21, so you’ll have that comparison with Boise State.
It’s going to be a long, totally fascinating season, and as for the Nov. 12 game I’m attending, Boise State at Idaho, the Vandals lost to No. 6 Nebraska 38-17. At least Idaho didn’t totally lay down. [Note to Glenn G. Yup, will be in Idaho, not Cleveland (Jets game), that weekend. But greatly appreciate the offer of Burning River Pale Ale. I’ll take you up on that one of these days.]
New AP Poll
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Boise State…lost votes
4. TCU
5. Oregon…rising rapidly…value of Duckwear soaring!
6. Texas…incredibly overrated
7. Oklahoma
8. Nebraska
9. Iowa…know zero about these guys
10. Florida…also overrated
Meanwhile, Villanova sent a letter to alumni informing them the school is contemplating a step up to Div. I-A by joining the Big East as a football playing member. The Wildcats won the I-AA national title last season. The move, however, is contingent on the Big East surviving, seeing as the Big 10 is still threatening to expand to 16 teams, which would mean the likes of Rutgers, Pitt and Syracuse would depart.
And…the NCAA suspended Georgia receiver A.J. Green for four games after it learned Green, a prospective top ten draft pick, sold his Independence Bowl game jersey for $1,000 to Chris Hawkins, a former North Carolina football player at the center of an investigation into that school’s dealings with agents. Separately, the agent scandal has also hit Alabama and South Carolina, and penalties could be forthcoming here as well, though one would think not enough to derail ‘Bama’s title hopes.
U.S. Open
Kim Clijsters won her third U.S. Open, second in a row, in whipping Vera Zvonareva like a rented mule, 6-2, 6-1. Zvonareva had shattered the hopes and dreams of many in Male America when she defeated Caroline Wozniacki in the semis, Ms. Wozniacki having emerged this year as the game’s latest sex symbol. It also goes without saying that the Russian Zvonareva is one of the true jerks in her sport, if you ever watched her court comportment.
Rafael Nadal whipped Mikhail Youzhny in the men’s semis, while No. 3 Novak Djokovic upset No. 2 Roger Federer in a dramatic 5-setter. But then the Nadal-Djokovic final was rained out and officials said they’d split the title…..just kidding! It’s Monday at 4:00 pm eastern.
NFL Review
Hakeem Nicks with three TD receptions on four catches for the Giants in their 31-18 win over Carolina.
Chicago rallied to defeat Detroit, 19-14, as running back Matt Forte turned receiver and had seven catches for 151 and two TDs.
Miami held Buffalo to 166 yards total offense in a yawner of a victory, 15-10.
New England defeated Cincinnati, 38-24, as Chad Ochocinco had 12 catches for 159, but the Pats’ Wes Welker had eight receptions and two scores in his first regular season action since last year’s devastating knee injury. Great story.
Houston upset Indianapolis, 34-24, despite Peyton Manning’s 40-57, 433 yard performance as some guy named Arian Foster (out of Tennessee) rushed for 231 yards on 33 carries. I mean I’ll be damned if I knew anything about this guy, Foster having gained all of 257 yards last year in his rookie season.
And the Packers (the Bar Chat Pick to Click this season) beat Philadelphia, 27-20, as Michael Vick was forced into action after Kevin Kolb, the anointed successor to Donovan McNabb, went down with a concussion. Vick responded with 103 yards rushing and another 175 through the air but it wasn’t enough.
Sporting News polled 99 football experts, including 25 Hall of Famers, to pick the 100 best players in today’s game.
1. Peyton Manning
2. Drew Brees
3. Chris Johnson
4. Larry Fitzgerald
5. Adrian Peterson
6. Andre Johnson
7. Darrelle Revis
8. Tom Brady
9. DeMarcus Ware
10. Jared Allen
Nielsen Co. did a first of a kind study on the popularity of all 32 NFL teams, using criteria such as local- and national-television ratings, the amount of traffic the teams’ official websites draw and so on.
1. Dallas Cowboys
2. Pittsburgh Steelers
3. New York Giants
4. Chicago Bears
5. Green Bay Packers
6. Minnesota Vikings
7. Philadelphia Eagles
8. Indianapolis Colts
9. New Orleans Saints
10. New England Patriots
18. New York Jets
30. Jacksonville Jaguars
31. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
32. St. Louis Rams
Tom Brady signed a four-year, $72 million contract extension, $48.5 million of which is guaranteed. So now the pressure is on the Colts to exceed this when it comes to Peyton Manning.
After being cut by the Dolphins, former West Virginia QB Pat White signed a minor-league contract with the Kansas City Royals. White never played baseball in college, but was a standout high school player and was drafted by the Angels in 2004, and two years ago by the Reds and last year by the Yankees. I hope he makes it as I thought White was going to be a sleeper star in the NFL.
Ball Bits
New York 87-56
Tampa Bay 86-56
Philadelphia 83-61
Atlanta 82-61 (prior to Sunday night’s contest)
San Diego 80-62
San Francisco 81-63
—Derek Jeter’s horrific slump continues and he is now down to .261, 10 for his last 70.
–Then there are my Mutts, err, Mets. Incredibly, or not so incredibly, ace hurler Johan Santana is the latest to go under the knife, with Santana having three more years left on his six-year, $137 million contract. Ergo, the Mets owe $20 million+ a year for another three in yet another example of how no baseball exec should ever give a pitcher more than a three-year deal. It’s actually Santana’s third surgery in three years. But of course you’ll always have one or two owners who feel like they have to give more.
But the Mets already owe a severely hobbled Carlos Beltran $18.5 million for 2011 and now the guy is complaining of pain in the knee that was not operated on. And the Mets are on the hook for next season with Luis Castillo ($6 million) and pitcher Oliver Perez ($12 million), and….oh, never mind. This franchise is in total freefall, which is why switching sides to the Minnesota Twins, a first-class operation in every respect, seems like a no-brainer. Always loved the cap, too, plus the women in Minneapolis are as gorgeous as anywhere in the country…just sayin’.
[Beltran, Castillo and Perez, by the way, caught major grief from Mets fans for being the only three players not to attend a team outing at Walter Reed Army Medical Center last week when the Mets were in Washington, but as bad as this looked, and as inexcusable as some of us find it, it turns out only about 13 of 25 players went last year. What pissed off fans, though, is these three also happen to be the main known malcontents in the clubhouse while fleecing the organization.]
Back to Santana, he’s having the same surgery (anterior capsule in the shoulder) that Kelvim Escobar and Mark Prior had and neither has pitched in the big leagues since. On the other hand Jorge Posada had it and he’s OK, as the papers keep pointing out, but he’s not a pitcher!
—Pete Rose showed up after all for the ceremony on Saturday honoring his record 4,192nd hit on Sept. 11, 1985. He was greeted at first base by former teammates Tony Perez and Cesar Geronimo and owner Bob Castellini gave him a trophy. Rose didn’t do interviews or speak directly to the crowd. He agreed to a lifetime ban in 1989 for gambling on baseball, though after denying for more than 14 years he had ever done this, he acknowledged in a 2004 autobiography that he bet on Reds games.
The New York Post’s Mike Vaccaro has seen it and raves: “The greatest triumph of Ken Burns’ ‘Baseball’ was the unsparing account he gave of some of the game’s darkest moments – the Black Sox scandal, the color line – while still managing to package the epic series well within a celebration of its poetic majesty.
“Given the way the time since ‘Baseball’’s 1994 release has served as a microcosm for all that came before, it is fitting that Burns’ epilogue, ‘The Tenth Inning,’ follows the same pattern. What makes it a perfect addition to ‘Baseball’ is the damning way it presents the steroid scandals and the labor strife that has recently affected the game. It makes you wistful for a quick passage of the next 15 years, so we can see ‘The Eleventh Inning.’”
–Speaking of steroids, interesting column by Harvey Araton in the New York Times concerning Andy Pettitte, whose reputation is none the worse for wear because he handled his inclusion in the Mitchell Report far better than buddy Roger Clemens. So it’s unlikely Hall of Fame voters will care about the steroids chapter when analyzing Andy’s career.
Thus, here’s a guy who is 240-137, .637, (42nd all time), and he’s 18-9 postseason (7-1 ALCS, 5-4 WS).
Hall of Famer? I don’t know, but one thing seems pretty clear, he’ll be on the ballot awhile.
“Those two in particular, I say no. I think they cheated a majority of their career, but I don’t know. I think most of the writers don’t really know.”
Golf Balls
Very nice win for Dustin Johnson in the third leg of the FedEx Cup at Cog Hill on Sunday after all of his travails this summer. The rising superstar, just 26, now has four PGA Tour titles. Most of us will be shocked if we aren’t talking 30+ wins by age 40, and he’s charismatic, without being so…quite a feat.
On the ladies side, Michelle Wie lost by a stroke to Yani Tseng. The LPGA is dead. Wie needed to dominate last year to save her sport, didn’t, and now there are holes in the schedule due to a lack of sponsors.
But I’ll tell you how bad it is. I’m a pretty good sports fan, but I’d never heard of Yani Tseng, yet she’s won three events this year! Am I embarrassed I didn’t know this? Not in the least.
Golf Magazine polled 70 PGA Tour players and came up with some of the following.
No. 1 playing partner if you’re in a hurry…Chris Riley in a landslide
No. 1 player in golf…Tiger Woods, 52%; Phil Mickelson, 26%
No. 1 player most likely to choke away a lead…Kevin Na, Sergio Garcia, Tim Clark
[To be fair, Na played well this weekend and didn’t choke.]
One player said of Davis Love III, “He should have won a lot more with his talent.”
No. 1 sexiest Tour wife / girlfriend…Mine 33%; Elin 14% (but no longer!)
No. 1 Tour stop for hot female fans…Dallas (Byron Nelson); Charlotte (Quail Hollow); Hilton Head (Verizon). Can’t argue with Big D! [Right, Mark R.?]
No. 1 swing tip you’ve ever received…
“Let your follow-through bring your head up”
“Hit the inside of the ball”
“Less is more”
“Keep your head down”
“Swing naturally”
“Keep your right foot on the ground through impact”
“Slow then go”
I like the last one. I also have to admit that in Ireland recently, at Lahinch, I had trouble driving suddenly and my Irish playing partner largely corrected my problem by telling me to ‘drag the club back’.
Larry David: “I have a hobby I stink at. I’ve regretted 90% of the rounds I’ve played.”
This just in…Dennis Hof, proprietor of the Bunny Ranch in Carson City, Nevada, said he fired Tiger babe Devon James for talking about her affair with Woods. Hof told TMZ that James “broke the code – which is privacy and discretion with all clients. She is a disgusting excuse for a working girl…she’s a scumbag.” Wohhh. Be nice now, Dennis. For her part, Ms. James (no relation to LeBron…or the wine folks Bartles & Jaymes) said she only worked at the Bunny Ranch once and they want her back. I have to admit, guys. The Bunny Ranch is not on my bucket list. The Byron Nelson might be, however!
–Psssst…preseason College Basketball poll by Sporting News…not that we’re rushing things.
1. Michigan State
2. Duke
3. Purdue
4. Kansas
5. Ohio State
6. Kansas State
7. Syracuse
8. Kentucky
9. North Carolina
10. Pitt
SN actually listed a top 50 and San Diego State is No. 28, if you’re looking for an early Cinderella story. I might have to get me some Aztecwear.
Wake Forest is not in the top 50. But our center, Tony Woods, was just charged with assaulting his girlfriend, and mother of his child. Oh brother.
Speaking of criminals, former Michigan star Rumeal Robinson of the 1989 NCAA championship squad was convicted of borrowing more than $700,000 from a bank in Des Moines, Iowa, and then spending the money on a condo, expensive furniture and cars. Bottom line, he faces up to 30 years in prison on each of 11 counts of bank bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy.
–Update: As first noted in my “Week in Review” column of 7/10/10, Salvatore Giunta will become the first living recipient of the Medal of Honor, President Obama formally announcing this the other day, for his actions on Oct. 25, 2007. Six others had been awarded posthumously for their heroism in Iraq and Afghanistan, while a seventh posthumous medal was announced last week, Army Staff Sgt. Robert J. Miller, a Green Beret. I’ll have further details on both later.
For now, just understand the Medal of Honor was awarded 246 times for valor in Vietnam, 133 times for the Korean War, and 464 for World War II. The Defense Department says the criteria for the medal have not changed, but veterans groups and even some high-ranking military officers believe otherwise. It’s the politics of it all. Some want us to forget we have about 150,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
–Three cheers for Coach K as he guided Team USA to its first world basketball championship since 1994. Normally, as a Wake Forest fan I can’t stand Krzyzewski, but there is no better man to lead the Americans in international competition these days than him. And while I’ve read about the action and not watched any (until a little of Sunday’s championship game), kudos to Kevin Durant for his outstanding play.
–An update on the tiger shark tale I wrote of last time. Shark Director Bob S., who is doubling as Director of Human Resources at StocksandNews these days due to budget cuts, passed along a piece from the Bahamas Tribune that purports the man found inside the shark “drowned before the shark swallowed him.”
But what’s clear is that when Humphrey Simmons landed the shark, it was distended and upon cutting the body open, “the body of a man, minus his head, was found. The leg that the shark had regurgitated was the man’s left leg. Inside was his severed right leg, two severed arms and a torso in two sections.”
To make a long story short, Simmons and his buddies were pulling up the shark, about 38 miles south of Nassau, but there was also a grouper on the line that the shark was trying to get at. Simmons shot the shark in the head.
“We were going to cut the hook out of his mouth and let him go [Ed. with severe brain damage, no doubt…gee, thanks Mr. Simmons] when he regurgitated a human foot – intact from the knee down.”
So now they knew they had a problem and “decided to take the left leg and the shark to Nassau. ‘There was so much stink coming from the shark’s belly and the belly was so huge that we thought that there might be more bodies inside,” said Simmons.
–As Johnny Mac constantly reminds me, “The great ones always bounce back,” a statement that came to mind as competitive eater Joey Chestnut, fresh off his humiliating loss to the Black Widow, Sonja Thomas, in the Wing Bowl, downed 47 burritos in 10 minutes at the New Mexico State Fair in Albuquerque on Saturday, annihilating the previous mark of 33 ½.
And what was in these burritos, Wink? They were stuffed with beef, beans and green chile. I did not see if Thomas was in the contest.
But I also just looked up eating records and see that Chestnut holds the record for most pulled pork sandwiches…45 in 10 minutes, set back in 2007. I might need to take a run at this one.
—Elephants kill 400 a year in India. [The Economist]
“A lightning strike at a wedding in a village in Mauritania has left four people dead, an eyewitness at the ceremony said yesterday (Friday).”
–An unauthorized biography of French first lady Carla Bruni paints a rather unflattering picture of the ex-supermodel…in a nutshell, she’s a jerk and man-eater. “Carla, A Secret Life,” by former journalist Besma Lahouri, notes that Bruni hoped to reshape her image after her dalliances with Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton, thus the marriage to the Nicolas Sarkozy. The book also alleges she has had extensive plastic surgery, despite her denials (not that I personally care). Plus Carla insists on inviting her former paramours to the presidential retreat, which is her Riviera villa. And Bruni ignores her supposed charities.
–Speaking of the French and sex, a reputable survey found that three-quarters of Gallic couples have bad sex lives. As reported by the BBC:
“More than one in three women said they had used excuses such as headaches, tiredness or children being nearby to get out of having sex.
“Nearly one in six men said they had also made similar excuses.”
–This is a cool story. Only 119 complete copies of John James Audubon’s Birds of America are known to exist, with 108 of the 19th-century work owned by museums and libraries. So that leaves 11, and one is about to go on sale at Sotheby’s. The last copy to be sold brought a record $8.8 million a decade ago.
The book contains 1,000 life-sized illustrations of almost 500 breeds and took Audubon 12 years to complete. He traveled across America, shooting the birds. Then he hanged them on bits of wire to paint them.
Upon completion, Audubon went to Britain to print the volumes and targeted the rich to buy them. Evidently about 750 were originally released.
In checking some facts (the BBC story for which I got the above was one of the most shabbily put together pieces I’ve ever seen), I stumbled on the Audubon.org site. At the bottom on the left there’s a link for Audubon’s Birds of America. Very, very cool if you’re a bird lover.
—David Dortort, the creator of “Bonanza,” died. He was 93. I have to admit I was not a fan because it was on at the same time as some other shows I was partial to. But “Bonanza” was the first prime-time western to be broadcast in color when it made its debut on NBC in 1959. Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker and Michael Landon were the cast, and the series was on 14 seasons, second-longest running next to “Gunsmoke,” which I also never got into. Not enough violence for me, you understand. I’m a spaghetti western guy. You know, Clint.
–Finally, check out this glowing review of a new 2-CD album from singer/bandleader Jamey Johnson by Barry Mazor of the Wall Street Journal.
“It’s a stunning, varied and far-reaching set of 25 hardcore country songs, sonically and thematically integrated into a musical journey designed to be experienced, optimally, in sequence, from the first, generally darker ‘Black’ disc on through the more upbeat sounds of hard-won redemption in the second ‘White’ disc. It’s a country album, and one as ambitious in its intentions and successful in its execution as country music has seen in decades, able to hold its own with albums conceived as such by Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash.”
I also see that Johnson does a take on one of my all-time favorites, Kris Kristofferson’s “For the Good Times,” popularized by Ray Price in 1970, which peaked at No. 11, which is why you’ll never see it on my lists below.
Lay your head,
Upon my pillow….
Top 3 songs for the week 9/11/76: #1 “(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty” (KC & The Sunshine Band) #2 “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine” (Lou Rawls…great tune) #3 “Play That Funky Music” (Wild Cherry)…and…#4 “I’d Really Love To See You Tonight” (England Dan & John Ford Coley…sappy duo, but they had some big hits) #5 “A Fifth Of Beethoven” (Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band…easily among the five worst songs of the century…responsible for the suicides of 98,000 in one week alone) #6 “You Should Be Dancing” (Bee Gees…not much better…these guys really had some horrid songs that we bought anyway) #7 “Lowdown” (Boz Scaggs…from one of the better albums in music history, ‘Silk Degrees’) #8 “Let ‘Em In” (Wings…eh) #9 “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” (Elton John & Kiki Dee…this one has held up better than I thought it would) #10 “Summer” (War…one of the more underrated groups in history)
Football Quiz Answers: 1) The Giants have played in the Polo Grounds (1925-55), Yankee Stadium (1956-73), Yale Bowl (1973-74), Shea Stadium (1975…totally don’t remember this), and Giants Stadium (1976-2009). 2) Drew Brees led in touchdown passes with 34. 3) Matt Schaub, Houston, led in passing yards, 4,770. 4) Wes Welker, New England, led in receptions with 123.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday. Tommy James & The Shondels.
