[Posted Sunday PM…from Honolulu, but mostly written in Guam, also on Sunday, as I play International Dateline with the readers.]
College Football Quiz: 1) Who holds the Div. I-A record for most yards rushing in a game with 405? [Hint: Still playing in the NFL and his college team is currently in the top ten.] 2) Who holds the I-A record for highest average yards per game, rushing, career, at 174.6. [Hint: Played sparingly in the NFL in the 1970s but highly recognizable.] Answers below.
The big adventures for this trip are over. When I last left you I was in Cairns, Australia, wrapping up my stay there. Well after posting BC, I went back to the harbor for a last good feed and returned to a place I had my first lunch, Olano’s, down at the harbor. Unreal. Olano’s had easily the best food of the entire trip and both times, lunch and dinner, I was the only one there, though I did recruit two girls looking at the menu out front to come in as I was finishing up so I’m giving myself extra credit and will definitely put this on my resume. Of course the beer of choice for the evening was James Boag’s, and I made sure to watch the bats again. I’m tellin’ ya, couldn’t get enough of them. In the dusk and glom, these big fruit bats (the classic shape) silhouetted against the sky were just too cool.
Thursday night / Friday morning, I had a 12:30 AM flight back to Guam which was the roughest one I’ve been on in years. I had been upgraded and actually ended up sitting next to a ‘jump’, relief pilot, who was a total jerk and kept bothering the stewardesses, preventing them from doing their job. Ya know, when I fly I always bring reading material and never watch the movies but I did catch “Blades of Glory” on this segment and found it pretty amusing, until the buzz from my harbor dinner wore off. [Just kidding…or is he?]
OK, so I arrive in Guam at about 5:00 AM, Friday, and whereas I normally stay at the Hilton on the main drag at Tumon Bay, this time I purposefully chose the Hotel Nikko because from the Hilton, across the bay the Nikko always seemed to have a cool location and, yes, it does. I have an awesome room, high up, overlooking Tumon, and have seen some spectacular sunsets, as I’m preparing to do in a few hours again, Sunday. [Guam is 14 hours ahead of New York, incidentally…as was Cairns.]
Anyway, after about two hours sleep, both Friday and Saturday I largely worked on that other column I do, but when I went to take a break Friday for lunch and a beer by the water, my favorite thing to do in Guam, I discovered… the bar was closed for renovation! Catastrophe! In fact much of the hotel was being renovated…and it’s here I just have to give you a few details.
I have never stayed at a stranger place. I knew I’d be the only American here, and indeed I am, but while my room is great, and clean, and the walls between the rooms are fairly soundproof, a huge issue with me, the room doors are made of balsa wood and there is a huge gap between the door and the floor. Ergo, you hear every breath in the hall. Plus, for some stupid reason, they have armed the housekeepers with walkie-talkies and it’s like there is a SWAT operation going on outside, constantly. It’s really quite comical. They bust in to do your room, the Chamorros are their usual happy selves, and they’ve got these walkie-talkies going at full volume and you’re hearing all the hotel chatter at a noise level that is louder than a jet!
But I just smiled…until the mini-bar attendant came in and seemed to have his volume at an even higher level.
Speaking of the mini-bar, Asahi is only $4.00 in the room. Such a deal! Hell, most mini-bars these days are at least $5.50. But then I discovered they have a little convenience store downstairs that sells individual beers for $1.75! Can you say Go Nikko?!
Moving along, after working much of Saturday, I began to unwind and had a delicious meal at the Chinese joint on the top floor of the place, Asahi flowing, even if my waiter didn’t understand that the soup should come before the main course. This was a minor irritant.
And then after treating myself to a long sleep Saturday night, I woke up lazily at 6:30 on Sunday, turned on the Net (understand the time difference…it was 4:30 PM, Saturday, New York Time) and saw that Iowa was whipping Michigan State and Nebraska was kicking Missouri’s butt and both games were still in the second quarter.
So, I flip on the TV and it turns out I had both, which was perfect, plus, I had Game Three of the World Series! All of the action was over by noon, here, so I took a little walk down to the beach and lo and behold, THE BEACH BAR HAD REOPENED! I was like Charlie Brown, upon seeing how the gang had taken his little runt of a tree and turned it into a sparkling wonder. I looked all up and down, wiping my eyes to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating, and went up to the counter and asked, “You’re open? You’re really open?” It was true, an early Christmas miracle. “Yes, Sir, we finished everything yesterday.”
Needless to say…well, I’m not really going to tell you the rest because here I am, and, err, you know, I’m doing some Bar Chat…before I head back down for dinner and a last sunset.
I have another ungodly flight time tomorrow morning, back to Honolulu, requiring me to wake around 3:30 AM so thus I needed to put a dent in this.
…that was then, this is now. My flight from Guam to Honolulu, 7 hours, was uneventful and as I crossed the dateline, arrived at my hotel around 7:00 PM, Sunday, for Halloween II! Except I didn’t celebrate the first one in Guam and ain’t doin’ anythin’ tonight in Honolulu, either.
The bad thing was I was flying during all of Sunday’s sporting events and missed Game Four of the World Series, plus all the football action.
[How about that Madison Bumgarner of the Giants, eh? The 21-year-old lefty is the pride of Hickory, North Carolina. What a story the Giants have written. I should be able to see Game Five here tomorrow.]
And now…Other Stuff…
College Football Review
Well, you all saw the same games I did. No. 5 (BCS) Michigan State fell from the ranks of the undefeated in getting whipped by No. 18 Iowa, 37-6, and No. 6 Missouri lost to No. 14 Nebraska, 31-17, as Nebraska had a terrific goal line stand at a critical moment in the game, limiting Mizzou to a field goal and that was the contest. Cornhusker running back Roy Helu Jr. had one of the great games in regular season college football history, truth be told, given the competition’s ranking, in rushing 28 times for a school-record 307 yards and three touchdown runs of, get this, 53, 66 and 73 yards. So we quaff an Asahi in honor of Mr. Helu!
Meanwhile, No. 1 Auburn (also on the tube here), beat Ole Miss, 51-31, which doesn’t hurt them any, while No. 2 Oregon just continued to roll, 53-32, over USC as the Ducks racked up 599 yards and LaMichael James ran for 239, his third 200-yard game of the season. The guy has to have inserted himself into the Heisman conversation at this point, though Auburn’s quarterback is up there.
In other important contests, No. 8 Utah struggled with one of the better 5-4 teams in the land, Air Force, but came out on top, 28-23, while No. 4 TCU rolled over UNLV, 48-6, thus setting the stage for the critical Utah-TCU game next Sat., 3:30 ET.
No. 15 Arizona beat UCLA, 29-21, an important contest as Arizona is Oregon’s remaining big game (outside of the Civil War vs. Oregon State’s Eager Beavers), Nov. 26. Oregon needs Arizona to continue to roll in its own right to build up the Ducks’ BCS ranking.
As for Oregon State, they beat California, 35-7, to go to 4-3, which as you all know ad nauseum is important for Boise State and TCU as they both assaulted the Beavers. Well, perhaps ‘assault’ is too strong a word, seeing as TCU won 30-21 and Boise 37-24.
Meanwhile, can you believe the Big East gets an automatic BCS bid? Think about this. Pitt, 5-3, is on top of the conference at 3-0, with Syracuse, 3-1, having already lost to Pitt. Pitt could get a BCS game with 3, maybe 4, losses! Good god!
But then you have the ACC, which better hope Virginia Tech continues to roll and ends up the conference’s entrant in another BCS game, or the ACC team is likely to have 3 losses, too.
Virginia Tech and Pitt in the Orange Bowl…ooh boy! I want to be at that one! You’d probably have 30,000 empty seats.
What us purists have to hope for at this point is an Oregon-Auburn national title game, which would be special, but Auburn could easily stumble against ‘Bama on Nov. 26. At least they can’t then play each other the following week in the SEC title game.
By the way, one other intriguing game next week, aside from TCU-Utah, and that’s Hawaii at Boise State. Hawaii is 7-2, 5-0 in conference, and beat Idaho this week, 45-10, with the Vandals having, if nothing else, a potent offense. Boise needs to roll to stay in the BCS hunt. 31-27 won’t cut it.
Notre Dame is 4-5…4-5!!!…following its 28-27 loss to Tulsa. And while I forgot to mention it last time, I did see the story of the ND student’s death and that is just a pitiful, tragic tale on so many levels. Nice job, athletic department, for letting the kid up there. Just incredible stupidity on the school’s part. I’m assuming the parents have already received a $5 million check, with another one on the way. Never was there a clearer case of negligence in the history of mankind than here.
Speaking of bush league, how ‘bout my Wake Forest Demon Deacons? The 2010 Suckathon Tour continues (festival seating still available) as the Deacs lost to Maryland, 62-14, and in the process had a whopping 155 yards total offense, and minus-3 rushing. I mean we’ve given up 326 points this year in 8 games! Let’s see, 8 into 32 is 4…40+ points per game!
Lastly, 3,275 were in attendance on Saturday at Mathewson Memorial Stadium in Lewisburg, Pa., as the Lafayette Leopards beat the Bucknell Bison, 33-22, in a battle of 1-6 teams from the Patriot League. Aside from noting that an old friend Allen H. first alerted me long ago to the fact that baseball great Christy Mathewson graduated from Bucknell in 1902, as did Allen (a bit later), I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to note that Mathewson was also a helluva football player, from what I’ve read. And he’s buried on campus, so an excuse to pay my respects one of these days to a man who is easily among the top ten baseball players in the history of the game.
1. Oregon 8-0
2. Boise State 7-0
3. Auburn 9-0
4. TCU 9-0
5. Alabama 7-1
6. Utah 8-0
7. Wisconsin 7-1
8. Ohio State 8-1
9. Nebraska 7-1
10. Stanford 7-1
13. Arizona
15. Iowa
20. Virginia Tech
25. Nevada…important for Boise State
26. Hawaii…if you carry out the votes and also big for BS
1. Oregon .9777
2. Auburn .9599
3. TCU .8911
4. Boise State .8824
5. Utah .7318
6. Alabama .7185
It’s obvious Boise State has no way of playing in the title game. If Alabama were to defeat Auburn and then win the SEC title game, ‘Bama would be No. 2, almost guaranteed, even ahead of the TCU-Utah winner, which will be ahead of Boise.
So we just hope for, perhaps, Boise State in the Rose Bowl against Wisconsin or Ohio State …because Oregon couldn’t be in the Rose Bowl if it’s in the national title game.
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Boise State
4. Florida
5. Texas
6. TCU
7. Oklahoma
8. Nebraska
9. Iowa
10. Virginia Tech
11. Oregon
22. Auburn
NFL Review
So like I said above, I missed everything today, except I did catch first half scores in the 1:00 ET games from the airport in Guam before I took off for Hawaii.
Bad game for my Jets, losing at home 9-0 to Green Bay despite outgaining the Packers, 360-237. The reason? 3 turnovers. And now New England is back on top of the division at 6-1 after defeating Minnesota (2-5), 28-18.
Pittsburgh lost to New Orleans, in an important game for both.
San Diego (3-5) may be back on track after beating Tennessee.
Buffalo is 0-7 after the surprising 5-2 Chiefs defeated them in overtime.
And, Detroit won its second in fine fashion, defeating Washington, 37-25.
But let’s pause here to note that while it has not been a good year for Wake Forest sports, save for Bill Haas’ two wins on the PGA Tour, one Alphonso Smith, a pickup by the Lions during training camp from Denver, has been given a shot and is taking advantage of it. The second-year cornerback out of Wake has now intercepted four passes in his last five games. Great stuff. You go, Alphonso! Make us proud!
Stuff, part deux
–Thank god the Mets have a grown up running the organization as they selected Sandy Alderson to be their new general manager. Seldom, especially in the New York media market, will you find every single scribe and fan in agreement…this was a wise move. Now we’ll accept another lousy season, even if begrudgingly, just to know that by 2012, things should be in order, including the mess of a contract situation that Alderson has inherited. I also love that Sandy stresses one thing above all others…on-base percentage! You know what that means down the road, don’t you? The Mets will have some traditional, “scrappy” players like we’ve been missing the past few seasons. We love you, Sandy!
–The Yankees’ Joe Girardi was rewarded for not making the World Series by receiving a new $9 million, 3-year contract. The Yankees have but one World Series title in the last ten years after spending $2 billion on payroll.
–As I’m not doing a Bar Chat later in the week, don’t forget the Breeder’s Cup Classic this Saturday. Zenyatta goes for No. 20 to finish her spectacular career. So get a post-it note and put it on your bathroom mirror so you don’t forget. [Watch…I’ll forget…]
–My high school alma mater, Summit, ran its football winning streak to 20, but I have to give the kicker a little ink. Mike Badgley, a sophomore, kicked a school-record 49-yarder this weekend in a 17-13 win. Due to my travel schedule, I have been able to attend only one game this year but was bowled over by this kid’s leg and it’s cool to think he has a real shot at a Division I scholarship down the road, not to rush Mike’s career along.
–OK…time to straighten out the preseason college basketball polls. I am taking only partial responsibility for blowing my last attempt to do so as ESPN/USA TODAY screwed it up (don’t bother looking back if you didn’t see my mistake before…I am sanctioning myself one domestic over premium when I get back).
AP Poll
1. Duke
2. Michigan State
3. Kansas State
4. Ohio State
5. Pitt
6. Villanova
7. Kansas
8. UNC
9. Florida
10. Syracuse
17. Butler…more like it
25. San Diego State…more in a bit
ESPN/USA TODAY Coaches Poll
1. Duke
2. Michigan State
3. Kansas State
4. Pitt
5. Ohio State
6. Villanova
7. Kansas
8. Purdue
9. UNC
10. Kentucky
18. Butler
And here is your EXCLUSIVE Bar Chat Pick to Click for the 2010-2011 College Basketball Season…San Diego State!!!
Yup, I’m rolling the dice on the Aztecs, baby…gonna get me some Aztecwear, too, before long. I see they have all five starters returning and I’m going to have some fun. Wake is going to suck, after all.
Granted, there are plenty of seats still available on the train, but by end of December, you all will be wanting to climb on board and it could be too late. I only have so much pull, not being a San Diego State alum and all. I thus strongly suggest you think about reserving a seat on the Aztec Express before Thanksgiving.
–So I’m at the aforementioned Olano’s in Cairns for my final meal in Australia and my waiter seems to be Irish…certainly not Aussie.
One thing led to another and it turns out he was from Troon and had caddied for quite a few name golfers, including Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, and was in a group with Tiger.
Of course I then had to ask him about each and they all fit the profile. Ernie was the great guy he’s said to be, as in he engaged my waiter throughout the round, Vijay was “off in his own world” and said nothing, and Tiger, well, you could tell the waiter didn’t want to bad mouth him too much but, upon my prodding, conceded he was a jerk.
Then he mentioned Greg Norman. Norman would play at Turnberry, all of a 30-minute drive by car, but would insist on taking his helicopter to Troon, which as the waiter described is thus a journey where you go up, and then down.
Norman himself was a good guy, but the waiter said the helicopter pilot (Norman’s personal one) was a total pisser, as in while Greg was playing, the pilot would take the caddies for a “spin.” It’s evidently one of the best helicopters in the world and was a super treat, as you can imagine.
Then the waiter talked about how back in the day, some guy had a bar mitzvah for his kid at Troon and paid, get this, $340,000 to have Sister Sledge come perform. Now I know I won big money, relatively speaking, on the 1979 Pirates of Sister Sledge “We Are Family” fame, but $340,000 for them?! And the waiter didn’t think that included all the travel expenses. At least the girls were cool to hang out with, so he said.
–One more golf item…Lee Westwood is the new World No. 1, surpassing Tiger. Martin Kaymer is No. 3. Boy, you could win some coin on that one. Phil Mickelson is 4 and Steve Stricker 5.
Boys and girls, gather ‘round. Now you know how I have real problems with the International Shark Attack File out of the Univ. of Florida and how they constantly understate the number of fatalities, including a refusal to acknowledge that in the Vanuatu Islands’ chain, probably about 4.3 million have perished over the last century.
So last week in Cairns, I wrote of how I went to Hartley’s Crocodile Farm but I didn’t have a chance to tell you about a book I picked up there.
“Crocodile Attack (sic) in Australia” by Hugh Edwards.
Edwards wrote this in 1998 and over the coming year I’ll pull out a few stories for you. But in perusing the book quickly the other day, I came across the following passage.
“There are statistics available on crocodile attacks on humans in Australia. One set, compiled from official records, sates that there have been some 60 attacks, with 27 deaths, since 1876.
“This makes an interesting comparison with the list of 185 shark attacks, and 93 fatalities – or it would if either list were accurate.
“Unfortunately the documentation of both shark and crocodile attacks through the years has been so haphazard that the figures are almost meaningless.
“Officially there are supposed to have been only two crocodile-caused deaths in Western Australia. Paul Flanagan [Ed. didn’t know him] at Wyndham in 1980 and Ginger Meadows [Ed. no relation to Audrey] at the Prince Regent in 1987. But I know of at least three others and there are certainly more than that still undocumented.
“One of the pathetic unrecorded stories I found accidentally in the graveyard of the abandoned Benedictine mission at Pago, on Vansittart Bay near Kalumburu in the Kimberleys.
“A legend on the face of the cross was spelled out clearly in brass lettering, in marked contrast to the graves of forgotten monks and brothers who had died in the work of the Lord, far, far from their native Europe. These last resting places were indicated only by uninscribed boulders of local stone. The graves themselves were so overgrown by jungle that they were hardly recognizable.
“I was told that the Navy had built the cross, and in Royal Australian Navy tradition the materials were designed to last forever. The grave contained the incomplete remains of Gunner H. Davies, Royal Australian Navy, who had come to Vansittart Bay in HMAS Geranium in September 1920.”
Well, Edwards goes on in great detail and it seems that Gunner Davies was so excited when Geranium dropped anchor that when the officers and men were allowed ashore for rest and relaxation, while most stayed near shore, either reading or fishing, Davies, “in an adventurous mood, set out to explore the surrounding country.”
He got lost and as darkness set in “there was still no sign of anything familiar. He spent a wretched night, and in the morning began walking again. By the end of the day he was suffering tortures from thirst, and his boots had worn through so that as he dragged his weary feet the marks of his blistered and blood-stained toes showed clearly through the patches of sand.
“A creek barred his way at a place the Aborigines called Njana. For a moment he was overjoyed. It must lead to the sea. At last he thought he had his bearings. The ship would not be far away. What a relief? Grateful for the coolness of the water he began to swim. As he neared the far bank the crocodile surged forward. There was a flash of jaws and a swirl…
“The diary kept at Kalumburu Mission records the sad progress of events.”
The Aborigines used their tracking skills to piece together the story for the distressed captain of Geranium, Lieutenant Commander W.M. Vaughan Lewish.
“On 9 October there was an ominous entry. ‘M-yuron and Puntji arrived with the belt of the missing man. At Njana Matjeri had found one leg.’
“15 October: ‘We came with the mission lugger Voladora in front of Njana where Matjeri and Maramen were waiting for us with the body, minus head, arms and one foot.’ They said they had found the skull and arms. But they had been buried in sand and could not be found again.’
“16 October: ‘We buried the remains in the mission at Pago.’”
Of course the case of Gunner Davies is on no official lists of croc fatalities. I’m guessing Hugh Edwards is going to guide me to about 289,000 similar cases.
–Drat, the New Jersey Nets, after winning their first two contests, lost to the Heat on Sunday as Miami goes to 3-1. This blows.
–In Russia, brown bears are so hungry after the summer’s drought and fires took away their food supply, they’ve been reduced to digging up graves and, as the Moscow Times reported, ate at least one body.
–Congratulations to Alexandra Mills, all of 18 and from Kentucky, for winning the Miss World pageant in China, beating out the girls from Botswana and Venezuela.
–I see Charlie Sheen had dinner at Daniel in New York before he went a little nuts. Can’t say I’ve ever been there, but certainly know of it. It’s also interesting that Capri Anderson, the hooker/porn star he was with at The Plaza Hotel, asked for $12,000. I’m thinking this is not exactly what Ben Bernanke has in mind with his coming quantitative easing, part deux, but whatever gets the economy rolling, I always say.
Top 3 songs for the week 10/31/70: #1 “I’ll Be There” (The Jackson 5…my favorite of theirs) #2 “We’ve Only Just Begun” (Carpenters…lead singer was very thin…needed to eat some meat and drink premium beer…just as your editor has done on this trip…thereby gaining 5 pounds he really didn’t want to…but enough about me…) #3 “Fire And Rain” (James Taylor…the Indonesia story)…and…#4 “Cracklin’ Rosie” (Neil Diamond…never got into this guy) #5 “Green-Eyed Lady” (Sugarloaf…far out, man!) #6 “All Right Now” (Free) #7 “Indiana Wants Me” (R. Dean Taylor…not the Bob Knight story) #8 “Candida” (Dawn…eh) #9 “Lola” (The Kinks…strange body of work these guys have…) #10 “It’s Only Make Believe” (Glen Campbell… ‘I am a lineman for the county….’…sorry, was just thinking of one of his songs that is in my personal all-time top ten)
College Football Quiz Answers: 1) LaDainian Tomlinson rushed for 405 yards in a game while with TCU in 1999 against UTEP. 2) Ed Marinaro, actor/football player, averaged a record 174.6 yards per game while with Cornell, 1969-71, when Cornell, like the rest of the Ivy League, was considered I-A. Marinaro had just 1,319 yards rushing in the NFL for the Jets and Minnesota from 1972-76 before switching to acting.
Next Bar Chat, Monday, Nov. 8…I will desperately need to play catch up when I finally return from this rather lengthy trip later in the week.
