College Football Quiz: Michigan’s Denard Robinson just had his second 200 yards rushing/200 passing effort; the first to ever do so. Name the other four to accomplish the feat once since 2000, all of whom played or are currently in the NFL. Answer below.
Ryder Cup
Well, the weather forecasts were accurate and you’ve seen how awful it’s been (the Wales Tourism Bureau is drowning their sorrows in ale), thus necessitating the first-ever Monday finish for this competition. Not the way NBC drew it up on the board, that’s for sure.
And once again the U.S. finds itself in a huge hole…down 9 ½ to 6 ½ with the twelve singles matches today. It should have been a 2-point lead for Europe but the Molinari brothers pulled a half out of their butts and there is a huge difference between a 2- and 3-point advantage at this stage.
It’s also been another Ryder Cup where Phil Mickelson has failed to show up, 0-3-0 thus far, while phenom Dustin Johnson has played equally miserably, 0-3-0. The team of Woods and Stricker are the only two for the U.S. with two points.
If the U.S. is to have a chance, though, the first three off Monday for the Americans must take leads in their matches to build some momentum…
1. Stricker vs. Westwood
2. Cink vs McIlroy
3. Furyk vs. Donald
If Westwood were to blitz Stricker, say up 3 after the first 5, it’s over.
College Football Review
[The following comments are written prior to release of the latest AP poll]
No. 1 Alabama kicked No. 7 Florida’s butt, 31-6, thus exposing the Gators as immensely overrated, a la Texas
No. 2 Ohio State had a tough time with Illinois, winning only 24-13
No. 3 Boise State blasted New Mexico State, 59-0
No. 4 Oregon spotted No. 9 Stanford a 21-3 lead, but the Ducks roared back…QUACK QUACK…and won going away, 52-31. The value of Duckwear increased another three-fold. LaMichael James had a career best 257 yards on the ground. OU supporters are going “Masoli who?”
No. 5 TCU bested Colorado State, 27-0
No. 10 LSU lucked out big time in beating a lousy Tennessee team, 16-14, as with the clock running down, the Vols gave the Tigers a break when they had 13-men on the field, thus providing LSU with a final chance to go in for a score and the win.
No. 11 Wisconsin lost to No. 24 Michigan State, 34-24, in a battle of undefeateds that was highly entertaining to watch, as Michigan State went for a TD on 4th and goal with 2:50 to go and in scoring on the gutty call, sealed the win for ailing coach Mark Dantonio, who remains in the hospital following his mild heart attack.
No. 17 Iowa whipped No. 22 Penn State, as the Nittany Lions appear headed for the Peter Pan Bowl with no better than a 7-5 record. Iowa could provide a stern test for Ohio State.
No. 18 USC lost at home to Jake Locker and Washington, 32-31, in another exciting contest as Locker, with over 300 yards passing and 111 rushing, showed why he was a preseason No. 1 draft pick. I had no idea how fast the guy was. [I also never saw more dropped passes in a game as the Washington receivers treated Locker’s throws like hand grenades.]
No. 19 Michigan beat Indiana, 42-35, as the above-noted Denard Robinson further enhanced his Heisman chances by rushing for 217 yards and passing for another 277.
But there were some other big contests in terms of Boise State’s chances (or TCU’s, for that matter) to crash the BCS party come the national title game.
Virginia Tech, continuing its resurgence following the embarrassing loss to James Madison, beat undefeated No. 23 North Carolina State, 41-30, which greatly aids Boise State; the Broncos needing Va Tech to continue to play at its once-expected high level to make Boise’s win over VT look better.
Also, Oregon State beat a decent Arizona State team, 31-28, as the Beavers, losers to both TCU and Boise State, need to play well to enhance the chances of the two in the computer rankings.
Austin Murphy of Sports Illustrated called Boise State the “most polarizing program in the nation,” but one thing I didn’t know is that Boise’s football budget is only $5.4 million vs., say, $32.3 million for Ohio State.
Meanwhile, in other games with little meaning except to alumni, Notre Dame beat Boston College, 31-13; Rutgers suffered an incredibly embarrassing loss at home to Tulane, 17-14 (the Scarlet Knights really, truly suck). And another team that blows, my Wake Forest Demon Deacons, blew a fourth-quarter lead at home and lost to Georgia Tech, 24-20. Next up for Wake, as I’ll be in attendance, is Navy and I expect the Midshipmen to roll up 500 yards on the ground against us.
But…Chris K., a fellow alum, reminded me that the Dixie Classic Fair is going on this week down in Winston-Salem and one can’t miss food offering is the Krispy Kreme double-bacon cheeseburger! Oh baby! The hell with the game. I’ll see you at the fair. Maybe Julie Andrews will go with me. [“And…you…may …take me to the fair…”] Heck, I also see they’ve got pig races! Nothing like wagering a few thousand shekels on these future hot dogs and bacon bits, I always say. Just gotta remember to bring down more cash than I was initially planning on.
1. Alabama…Auburn Nov. 26
2. Ohio State…Iowa Nov. 20; Michigan Nov. 27, no MSU
3. Oregon…Arizona Nov. 26; Oregon State Dec. 4
4. Boise State…Nevada Nov. 26
5. TCU…Utah Nov. 6
6. Oklahoma
7. Nebraska
8. Auburn
9. Arizona
10. Utah
17. Michigan State
18. Michigan
21. Nevada
Oregon passing Boise in the polls happened earlier than some of us thought but seemed inevitable. So Boise is in deep trouble. If ‘Bama and Oregon run the table, let’s face it, they’re the two in the title game (unless Ohio State annihilates the rest of its opponents, which isn’t happening). And as much as I picked Boise State to win it all, in that scenario Boise does not deserve to be 1 or 2. Not happenin’. So the only hope would be to have Ohio State stay undefeated, or Oklahoma or Nebraska, and at least have Boise in the second-biggest BCS matchup. [After pairing the Broncos with TCU last year, the BCS couldn’t possibly be that insensitive, and cruel, and do it again.]
But back to the Ducks, don’t discount the potential impact of the Civil War against Oregon State (in Corvallis). OSU obviously has some real athletes, too, and will compete. It’s also why I will continue to have Beaverwear in an easy to reach corner of the closet in case Duckwear goes out of fashion. Plus one should never, ever, head into winter without some Beaverwear for those cold nights…I’m just sayin’.
Lastly, Saturday night I was fired up to see Oregon-Stanford, but instead us New York area viewers got USC-Washington. While it was a good game, I wasn’t a happy camper.
Ball Bits
Yanks at Minnesota
Texas at Tampa Bay
Atlanta at San Francisco
Cincinnati at Philadelphia
You couldn’t ask for a better ending to the regular season, with San Diego, San Francisco and Atlanta battling it out for two spots. Sadly for Padres fans, their super, out of nowhere 90-72 season wasn’t enough.
But now you might as well just hand the Phils the World Series trophy…it’s over. The Phillies will lose just one game, going 11-1 in the playoffs. It’s the Bar Chat Guarantee!
–For the vast majority of baseball fans, such as those who follow the Mets, the last day of the season is a major downer. You start out in the spring with hope, and in the case of the Mets, they played solid ball early. You dream of meaningful games in September, though this year such contests ended in July.
As a fan you invest so much time in your team. I mean when I’m in town, regardless of how meaningless the game is, I have to catch at least an inning of the Mets. In my case I’ve been doing that every year since 1967, when at age 9 I first really got into the team full bore.
Alas, 2010 was hideous for the Metropolitans, and it was so appropriate that on the last day, the Mets lost to the Nationals, 2-1, in 14 innings. And the last pitcher used who took the loss was Oliver Perez, who this year was paid $12 million to go 0-5, with 42 walks in 46 innings. He’s making another $12 million next year, which is one of the many reasons why us Mets fans are already depressed about 2011. I’m not sure that firing the general manager and manager, as will take place on Monday, is a solution, but something has to be done.
Come next spring, though, I’ll find a way to be at least a little hopeful. You can’t help it. You’re a fan.
–Toronto’s Jose Bautista, in clouting 54 home runs, had the largest increase in homers from a previous high since 1900.
Bautista…54…previous high 16…38 difference
Brady Anderson…1996…50 vs. 21…29
Luis Gonzalez…2001…57 vs. 31…26
Sammy Sosa…1998…66 vs. 40…26
Davey Johnson…1973…43 vs. 18…25
Adrian Beltre…2004…48 vs. 23…25
But as Ken P. points out, no one ever talks about Davey Johnson and how he went from 5 in 118 games with Baltimore in 1972, to 43 in his first season at Atlanta’s then-“Launching Pad”. What the heck happened that year? Without looking it up, I’m assuming Johnson would say he was “suffering from nagging injuries” in ’72.
–Anyway, despite Bautista’s highly suspicious success, it was another year where baseball had no cartoonish figures, just the like the days of our youth. No one with even 130 RBI. Albert Pujols was the only other hitter in the majors to hit 40 homers (42).
But then on the pitching side, at one point this year it looked like we’d have at least eight 20-game winners, and instead we ended up with just three; CC Sabathia (21-7), Roy Halladay (21-10), and Adam Wainwright (20-11). The biggest bust in this category was Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez, who on July 8 was 15-1, but in his final 15 starts went just 4-7, though on Saturday, in his final attempt at 20, Jimenez pitched eight shutout innings but got nothing more than a no- decision.
–The New York Post’s Joel Sherman has this explanation for why Felix Hernandez should receive the Cy Young, despite a 13-12 record.
“(This) is not complicated. Felix Hernandez is the best pitcher in the A.L. Period. I can see making a big deal out of his .500-ish record and low win total if you thought he was a guy who found ways to lose. But last year with a better Mariners team he went 19-5, so obviously he can win. His win total this year reflects his team, not him. Seattle scored more than 300 runs fewer (346, to be exact) than the Yankees. Heck, the Mariners scored about 150 fewer runs than the Mets.
“CC Sabathia gave up two or fewer earned runs 14 times and was 14-0 in those games. Hernandez did it 25 times and was 13-5 with seven no decisions. In the 12 games in which Hernandez did not get a win in those situations, Seattle mustered a total of 16 runs. If the Mariners averaged even three runs in those games, Hernandez would be no less than an 18-game winner and this would be a non-discussion.”
But I still have to give the Cy Young to CC and his 21-7 mark. I just don’t see how you can award it to a pitcher who was only 13-12, regardless of all the above. Plus, he didn’t lead the league in strikeouts, as Jered Weaver snuck in there, besting King Felix 233-232. [Weaver was also 13-12.]
–Arizona’s Mark Reynolds accomplished a first; the first in major league history to qualify for the batting title and own a higher strikeout total than batting average. Reynolds finished up with 32 homers and 85 RBI, but struck out 211 times while hitting .198. Carlos Pena of Tampa hit 28 home runs, drove in 84, and batted .196; so Reynolds and Pena did have the most productive, yet at the same time pitiful seasons in the history of the game.
–Both Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez ended the year at an even .270, far and away Jeter’s worst season in average, while A-Rod finished with 30 home runs for the second straight season and the totals his last four years are 54, 35, 30 and 30. Lifetime, A-Rod is at 613. 762, or 755? Not looking real good. I do have to be fair, though, and note that Rodriguez drove in 125 in just 137 games.
–The Pittsburgh Pirates, in extending their North American professional franchise record of losing seasons to 18 straight, were 40-41 at home, but 17-64 on the road! 57-105, the worst year of the streak.
NFL Action
[I’m posting before final result of Giants-Bears, Sunday night]
I’ve gotta tell ya, the year is starting out like there is going to be more parity than ever. Nothing is shocking, unless you count Kansas City going 3-0 (they had a bye this week), or Indianapolis only starting out 2-2.
However, when it comes to the bottom of the league, yikes, there are some pitiful looking teams, as in 0-4 Detroit, Carolina, San Francisco and Buffalo. Buffalo is the absolute worst, having given up 273 yards rushing on Sunday to the Jets (who have certainly recovered from their opening loss to the Ravens to rip off 3 division wins). LaDainian Tomlinson, supposedly washed up, had 133 yards on the ground for New York.
Elsewhere, Jacksonville surprised the Colts, 31-28; the Ravens beat the Steelers, 17-14 (both now 3-1); and the Packers defeated the Lions, 28-26, despite Detroit running 78 plays to Green Bay’s 40.
And Donovan McNabb squeaked out a win for Washington against his old team the Eagles in Philadelphia, 17-12, as Michael Vick suffered a rib injury.
Death of a Film Star
Actor Tony Curtis died at the age of 85. He was born Bernard Schwartz on June 3, 1925, in New York City, the oldest son of Jewish Hungarian immigrants. His father was a tailor and his mother raised the three boys. But one of Bernard’s brothers was killed when he was struck by a truck at age 9, while the other, 15 years his junior, suffered from schizophrenia.
After being wounded on Guam in World War II, Schwartz used the GI Bill for acting classes and at age 23, landed a contract actor job at Universal for $75 a week, which was when he changed his name to Anthony Curtis, though before long he was known simply as Tony Curtis.
Curtis told the Daily Telegraph in 2001 that his early years were good ones, once he learned to drive and acquired a convertible.
“Those days were great. The top down, the car door open. At these parties thrown by the studio, there’d always be a brand new sweetie for me. I was the king of the hill then. And I didn’t leave a skirt unmoved.”
“Curtis broke out as a leading Hollywood actor in 1952 with ‘Son of Ali Baba.’ It was, however, a mixed blessing because the film also made Curtis the lifelong butt of a joke about his New York accent when he said: ‘Yonder lies the castle of my faddah.’ Rarely did his delivery of this line not come up during press interviews, but Curtis never saw the humor, saying it was ‘not just a put-down of New Yorkers but of Jews.’”
But Curtis made the well-regarded “Houdini” in 1953, and popular hits “Trapeze,” “The Vikings,” “The Defiant Ones,” and “Operation Petticoat.”
But Tony Curtis will always be known for his role in 1959’s “Some Like It Hot” in which he co-starred with Jack Lemmon. In 2000, the American Film Institute named the flick the best comedy of the 20th century and you would get few arguments with the selection. [Personally, I’m partial to “Animal House,” but the ending of this one really sucks, or at least doesn’t match with the rest of it.]
Curtis also made the great picture “Spartacus” in 1960. But as we all know, the bathtub scene with the Roman general played by Laurence Olivier didn’t make the original, though was restored for the 1991 re-release. In the scene, Olivier tries to seduce Curtis, the young slave, in dialogue alluding to preferences for oysters or snails. [Since Olivier died in 1989, Anthony Hopkins dubbed the dialogue for Sir Laurence, while Curtis “did me.”]
One huge disappointment for Curtis in his career, however, was not getting an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Albert DeSalvo, the Boston strangler, in the 1968 picture of the same name, which also happened to be the last of his big starring roles, which is really incredible when you think of it. He was only 43.
But, while Curtis fought drug addiction in succeeding years, admitting himself to the Betty Ford Center in 1984, he was also one of the smarter actors in the industry in having the foresight to secure a percentage of his movies when that wasn’t a common practice, with Curtis later saying he had made $2.5 million on “Some Like It Hot” alone.
Curtis was married six times, including a legendary hookup with actress Janet Leigh, from 1951 to 1962, a product of which was actress Jamie Lee Curtis.
But back to “Some Like It Hot,” which of course featured Marilyn Monroe, Curtis and Lemmon “were repeatedly kept waiting as Monroe lingered in her dressing room out of fear and insecurity. Curtis fumed over her unprofessionalism. When someone remarked that it must be thrilling to kiss Monroe in the film’s love scenes, the actor snapped, ‘It’s like kissing Hitler.’” [New York Post]
Rachel and Zenyatta
I forgot to mention last time that Rachel Alexandra was retired after a disappointing 2010. The startling 2009 Preakness winner against the boys, Rachel finishes with 13 wins in 19 starts. But now she’ll be hooked up with Curlin, the 2007 and 2008 Horse of the Year, both of whom are owned by Jess Jackson.
Well this is kind of like an Indian matchup, know what I’m sayin’? What if Rachel doesn’t like Curlin? It’s not like she can just trot away, neighing, ‘He’s a jerk!’
As for Zenyatta, I caught her effort to go 19-0 on Saturday and talk about nerve-wracking, the 6-year-old mare came from behind, as usual, but it was way too close for comfort as she won by just half-a-length under jockey Mike Smith.
So Zenyatta became the first horse to go 19-0 and now it’s on to the Breeder’s Cup Classic, where she hopes to defend and close out her career 20-0.
*The “Secretariat” movie is coming out…looks like a huge winner; and we could all use a real feel-good flick about now. Plus it’s got Diane Lane….Mmmm…Diane Lane…the dream girl of every guy over the age of 40.
–Wake Forest football may blow, but what a weekend for my alma mater on the links. Bill Haas won his second event of the year at the PGA Tour stop in Mississippi, while my college classmate, Gary Hallberg, won his first Champions Tour title by coming out of nowhere and firing a 61 in the final round to beat Fred Couples.
–The great film director Arthur Penn died. He was 88. Penn actually only directed about a dozen pictures, including “The Miracle Worker,” “Alice’s Restaurant,” “Little Big Man,” and “The Missouri Breaks,” but his reputation as one of the greats was cemented by 1967’s “Bonnie and Clyde,” the Depression-era film with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway portraying bank robbers turned folk heroes.
Penn had been best known early on for his work on Broadway as the director of “The Miracle Worker,” “Toys in the Attic,” and “Wait Until Dark.” His 1962 film version of “The Miracle Worker” earned him his first Oscar nomination as a director, with Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke winning Oscars for their performances.
But it was “Bonnie and Clyde” and its famous ending, in which Beatty and Dunaway’s characters are ambushed by lawmen and die in a seemingly endless hail of bullets that is considered one of the great moments in movie history. Penn said the graphically violent conclusion was his primary reason for directing the film.
“I was reluctant to say ‘yes’ to doing ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ because I wanted an ending that was simply not just violent,” he said in an interview for Turner Classic Movies. “I wanted one that would, in a certain sense, transport – lift it – into legend.
“And it wasn’t until I woke up one morning and I could see that scene with multiple camera speeds and the shape of the almost ballet of dying, and then I knew that that was a film I wanted to make – desperately.”
Praise of the film was far from universal, but influential New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael praised “Bonnie and Clyde” as “the most excitingly American movie since ‘The Manchurian Candidate.’ The audience is alive to it.”
Newsweek critic Joseph Morgenstern panned the movie as “a squalid shoot-‘em up for the moron trade” because it “does not know what to make of its own violence.”
But then Morgenstern famously reversed his position upon viewing it a second time the following week, saying of his first review it was “grossly unfair and regrettably inaccurate.”
The Chicago Sun-Times’ young film critic Roger Ebert, though, declared “‘Bonnie and Clyde’ is a milestone in the history of American movies, a work of truth and brilliance.”
–Forgot to mention last time that it really sucked that Cal-Berkeley dumped its baseball team (along with four other sports) as part of a budget-cutting move.
–The other day I was at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, a short ride from Watch Hill, Rhode Island, where I was staying, and I hadn’t been here since I was a little kid. It’s a cool place. I don’t know if I’d want to be there in the summer, with a zillion other folks, but off-season it’s enjoyable.
One item stands out, aside from the boat-building area; that being the Charles W. Morgan, the last of what was once 60 large American whaling vessels.
I mean to tell you, in terms of a pure exhibit that serves as a learning tool, this is as good as you will find. Boy, you really get a sense of what it must have been like to be on a boat like this; as in I can think of nothing nastier. These boats would stay out for as long as 3-4 years, collecting the 50 whales necessary to fulfill the requirement for oil and other products. So you had dead whales on board, in incredibly cramped quarters, you see the sanitation facilities, and you’re thinking this would be a living hell.
So by all means, if you’re driving up I-95 to, say, Boston, and it’s not in the middle of summer, where the lines to get on the Charles W. Morgan would be long, drag your kids to it. Heck, screw the kids, just go yourself. [80% of kids these days would have zero appreciation for it because it’s not a video game.]
—Another war dog story, courtesy of Tom Vanden Brook of USA TODAY.
“Marines in Afghanistan want to more than double the number of bomb-sniffing dogs at their disposal in the battle against record-setting attacks by insurgents using makeshift explosives.
“Marines in the heart of the Taliban stronghold in the southern part of the country have asked to boost the number of Labrador retrievers from 300 to 647, according to a Marine spokesman….
“The new dogs will allow downtime at home for the veteran canines, some of them dragging tail after their fifth or even sixth deployment. The dogs come back ‘thinner, just like Marines’ after a six- or seven-month combat tour, said Doug Miller, the Pentagon’s program manager for ‘working dogs.’”
It’s kind of funny how the U.S. has spent $40 billion on mine resistant vehicles, yet on Monday, “announced it will pay as much as $34 million to a Virginia firm to supply it with IED-detector dogs and provide care for them until Sept. 2012.”
Some of the dogs have died, but none of the trainers as yet. And dogs do become terrified by war, “a few cases of canine PTSD,” said Miller. Those are then sent home for adoption.
—Robert Truax died. He was 93. Truax was one of the pioneers in rocket science; a career naval officer lent to the Air Force for top-secret projects. He later became an early advocate of the space program.
But he was also known for his role in Evel Knieval’s attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon in 1974. Evel was on a Truax rocket.
“It was a steam rocket that Mr. Knievel used in his failed leap. But the daredevil still considered a proposal to use the same vehicle to jump over Mount Fuji. Mr. Truax flew to Japan, though nothing came of it. A steam-powered dragster he built for the champion drag racer Walt Arfons had several mishaps and never succeeded in its goal of exceeding the land speed-record.”
–And television writer and producer, Stephen J. Cannell, passed away at the age of 69. One word best describes his body of work, prolific. Cannell is best known for co-creating “The Rockford Files” and “The A-Team.” He later went on to become a best-selling novelist.
It’s said that Cannell wrote more than 450 TV episodes and produced or executive-produced more than 1,500 episodes.
At his peak, 1986, he had six hourlong shows on in primetime: “The A-Team,” “Hunter,” “Stingray,” “Riptide,” “The Last Precinct” and “Hardcastle & McCormick.”
Former NBC executive Warren Littlefield said the Cannell touch gave NBC a huge boost in the ‘80s.
“He understood what I’d call the vitamins and minerals of what the audience needed. The daily grind of life can be so difficult for lots of people, and his shows would let you forget all that for an hour and just enjoy the thrill of the adventure.”
Cannell, by the way, got his start when he sold a script for “Adam-12.” [Dennis McLellan / L.A. Times]
–Three-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador said his positive test for the banned muscle-booster clenbuterol was a result of eating tainted meat. The World Anti-Doping Agency found a tiny trace of the stuff in a sample from the Tour. Contador countered, “It is a clear case of food contamination.” Experts say this is possible. I’d be tempted to cut him some slack, but he faces a two-year suspension.
–Ah, the rich get richer. One of the top high school basketball players in the country, Austin Rivers, son of coach Doc Rivers, has committed to Duke.
“A Lithuanian company plans to create a paradise vacation island in the Maldives staffed solely by beautiful blonds.
“If the exclusive spa resort gets the go-ahead, it will have a no-brunette policy and hopes to attract tourists from around the world and also dispel stereotypes about blonds being dumb.”
Your editor has never called blonds dumb. Continuing…
“The idea has sparked widespread criticism from groups branding the idea racist.
“In its defense, the company says it does not discriminate but that brunettes often find themselves reaching for a bottle of hair bleach after spending time around so many blonds.
“ ‘We find that when women with dark hair work here (said Olialia group’s Giedre Pukiene), they are surrounded by all these beautiful blonds, so eventually they end up going blond too.’”
–And this just in… “The ‘hottest sports reporter in Mexico,’ Ines Sainz, receives Playboy offer”
It seems that the offer, aside from involving a huge payday, and the cover, requires Sainz to be completely naked. But her employer, TV Azteca, prohibits its talent from posing nude.
Party poopers! C’mon, TV Azteca…you once showed a close-up of Sainz’ crotch, for crying out loud!
[Sorry to get so emotional…it’s just very upsetting.]
–Guess who’s making a comeback? El DeBarge. He recently spent 13 months in a California prison on drug charges before his release in January 2009. But the incarceration helped him end a two-decade addiction to heroin and crack, and on Nov. 30, he debuts a new album with pretty good buzz surrounding it, Second Chance. And he’s starting a tour with Mary J. Blige this week. Good for him.
But after reading of his return, I can’t get “All This Love” out of my head, which isn’t all bad because it’s a good tune, though did you know it only peaked at #17 in 1983? Sup wit dat?!
–HBO’s “The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town,” debuts Thurs., 9 p.m. Reminder, Springsteen’s 3-CD, 3-DVD boxed set comes out Nov. 16.
–So driving back from Rhode Island, I popped in Jamey Johnson’s “The guitar song” double-CD. Recall, the Wall Street Journal called this the best pure country album in decades since the hey-day of Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Waylon & Willie. Well let me tell ya. Buy this one. It’s two albums, in the truest sense of the word…one “white” and one “black.” Darkness and hope. I put the black one on and with the first few strains realized this was something special.
One of Johnson’s tracks is “Poor Man Blues”…which contains some great lines.
He thinks his money rules the world and he don’t give a damn
About a low class back woods country boy from deep south Alabam’
He uses folks like me just to keep his sorry ass amused
Well son you’d better watch your back when a poor man gets the blues
Top 3 songs for the week 10/3/81: #1 “Endless Love” (Diana Ross & Lionel Richie…sucks) #2 “Arthur’s Theme” (Christopher Cross…ditto) #3 “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” (Stevie Nicks with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers…eh)…and…#4 “Who’s Crying Now” (Journey) #5 “”(There’s) No Getting’ Over Me” (Ronnie Milsap) #6 “Queen Of Hearts” (Juice Newton…so-so) #7 “Step By Step” (Eddie Rabbitt…better) #8 “Urgent” (Foreigner…bad memories of this one…can’t tell you why) #9 “Start Me Up” (The Rolling Stones…always been an early Stones fan, not necessarily this era) #10 “Hold On Tight” (ELO)
College Football Quiz Answer: 200 yards rushing / 200 yards passing.
Patrick White, West Virginia, 2006…220 rushing / 204 passing
Vince Young, Texas, 2005…267 / 239
Brad Smith, Missouri, 2005…246 / 234
Antwaan Randle El, Indiana, 2000…210 / 263
