NFL Quiz (taken from an SI article a few weeks ago): In the 1969 AFL championship game, won by the Chiefs over the Raiders, 17-7, there were 12 future Hall of Famers on the field. Name them. [Not including coaches Hank Stram and John Madden, or owners Lamar Hunt and Al Davis, also Canton-bound.] Answer below.
Defending the BCS
The other day, Bill Hancock, executive director of the Bowl Championship Series, defended the system in an op-ed for USA TODAY. In part:
“We’ve been called communists, a cartel, crooks – and worse – but that’s malarkey. And I’m proud to stand up and point out why college football is so popular and why our system works so well.
“College football was one weekend away from Boise State participating in the BCS National Championship Game because of what happened on the playing field – not in a chatroom, a boardroom or a newsroom. The BCS ranks are based on how a team plays between the white lines, and the results speak for themselves. If the BCS were corrupt, how could a missed field goal in the Boise State-Nevada game and a 24-point comeback by Auburn over Alabama have made such a difference?
“As USA TODAY reported shortly after Boise State lost its first game and TCU decided to join the Big East, ‘It’s been a bad 72 hours for BCS bashers.’….
“If this were the shady system that some people claim, how could Boise State have been only inches away? And if the system were designed to shut out schools from the so-called non-power conferences, how could TCU – undefeated and No. 3 in the BCS rankings – play in the granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl?
“The abuse from the critics is balderdash. The fact is the BCS accomplishes its mission with a stunningly popular national championship game. It regularly draws more viewers than the NCAA Final Four, the World Series, the NBA Championships and the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And it does this while maintaining college football’s wonderful regular season and also by preserving America’s unique multiday bowl tradition that rewards student-athletes with a celebratory bowl-game week….
“Sure, I understand that many football fans want an NFL-style playoff instead. I know that they want to fill out a bracket, and that they want to watch more college football in December. They want their favorite teams to have a slot in that bracket. But the desire for a different postseason format doesn’t justify the false attacks against the BCS event. And as the person who used to manage the NCAA Final Four, I know that what works for one sport doesn’t work so easily for a different sport.
“College football has the best regular season of any sport, and the lack of a playoff is one big reason why. Millions of football fans this year tuned in to watch the season-opening game between Boise State and Virginia Tech because there was so much on the line – starting early in September. If there were a playoff, the Alabama-Auburn game wouldn’t have been as important nationally, or as dramatic.
“A playoff also would mean the end of America’s bowl tradition as we know it. As Rick Baker, president of the Cotton Bowl, said, ‘A playoff system would ruin the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic.’”
Alright…enough. I just thought I had to give the other side, after trashing the BCS all season. What really ticks me off is the money argument. Countless folks have shown how much so many schools lose on the bowl system we have today…35 games…70 teams…when there are only 120 Div. I-A schools, for crying out loud. And are you telling me the Cotton Bowl is still a classic?
Oh, I give up. It’s been a long year. And I’m ticked how late the season ends. So let’s compromise. I’ll accept the BCS as long as the title game is New Year’s Day, following the Rose Bowl. Mandate the Rose Bowl be No. 3 vs. No. 4 according to the BCS rankings, and then have the title game follow it and rotate the Orange, Sugar and Fiesta to host the championship. Now that would make for an exciting 8 hours.
And for those of you wondering what would happen under this scenario, say, next year when New Year’s falls on a Sunday, an NFL day, then you’d have the final bowl games Monday, Jan. 2, a national holiday anyway (at least it should be, as opposed to the prior Friday).
Urban Meyer
“As the Heisman Trophy ceremony began in New York on Saturday night, the college football world suddenly got whiplash from looking down to Gainesville, Fla.
“That is where Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley had deftly executed one of the most stealth big-time coaching searches in recent memory, as the Gators named the Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp as their new head coach.”
Muschamp was already the designated successor to Texas coach Mack Brown and his leaving is a huge blow to the Longhorns’ program, this after a 5-7 season. Despite the record, though, the Texas defense was ranked seventh nationally.
You see, just a day or so earlier Urban Meyer announced he was stepping down after the worst season of his career, and while the 46-year-old briefly resigned last December, citing health concerns, this time he didn’t mention health as being an issue.
“At this time in my life…I fully grasp the sacrifices my 24/7 profession has demanded of me, and I know it is time to put my focus on my family and life away from the field. The decision to step down was a difficult one. But, after spending more than two decades motivating and celebrating the young men I’ve been so proud to coach, I relish the opportunity to cheer for my three terrific kids as they compete in their own respective sports.”
Oh, puh-leeze. Just two weeks earlier, following an embarrassing 31-7 loss to Florida State that dropped the Gators to 7-5, Meyer vowed to fix the team’s problems.
“I can assure you we are going to rebuild this thing and build it up the right way and do it right….How do you build a program up? You build it up with tough players, tough coaches and you have got to play better.”
Sure, Urban Meyer was 103-23 and won two national titles at Florida, but as Pat Forde of ESPN asks, didn’t Meyer just waste the Gators’ time this past season? Having signed a six-year, $24 million extension in 2009, though, he’s walking away from about $20 million in guaranteed salary.
“The first time I met Urban Meyer it was only a matter of days after Florida hired him. We were practically alone in the corner of a press box atop the Gators’ baseball field. Meyer was there to watch a game; I was there to watch Meyer.
“I walked away from our 20-minute interview thinking: this is the cockiest coach I’d ever met. And I’ve covered names like Bill Parcells, who is the cockiest of the cocky….(Meyer) rarely smiled, was toned and fit – beaming almost – and when we shook hands his grip was strong.
“Then, last season, only five years later, I saw Meyer on television. Meyer looked like he had aged 20 years. I’d seen Meyer many times since we’d first met but for some reason this one shot of him – looking into the distance, a blank stare – was a stunner. There were more wrinkles and he was slightly pudgy. He looked like an entirely different guy. At least to me.
“Meyer’s initial healthy arrogance devolved into a different brand of arrogance as the player arrests at Florida piled high and the losing became more commonplace. He was more mean-spirited. He physically threatened reporters. The crushing gravitational forces of coaching changed Meyer. He became a smaller, more petty man.
“Meyer acted like a guy who wanted the soundtrack from Inception to play every time he entered a room.
“This is what coaching does to some people. It consumes them. It ruins their bodies, destroys their innards and causes them to see enemies that aren’t there. This is what happened to Urban Meyer….
“When around the Gators I heard tales of how Meyer never took days off. Not one. Never. He was always doing something.
“This isn’t Meyer being a coward. It’s Meyer again being arrogant, this time, arrogantly underestimating the violence – that’s the word, violence – the coaching profession unleashes on its own….
“He’s gone, for now, another example of the profession once again consuming its own.”
Cam Newton
No suspense with this one, Newton winning the Heisman Trophy in a landslide, outpointing runner-up Andrew Luck of Stanford by 1,184 points. [O.J. Simpson holds the record margin of victory when he beat Purdue’s Leroy Keyes by 1,750 points in 1968.] Newton’s father, Cecil, was nowhere to be found Saturday night. Finally doing a few interviews, Newton proclaimed his innocence in the pay-for-play scandal that kept his father from being with his son on Cam’s big night.
Incidentally, Auburn is a 3-point favorite over Oregon, with an over/under of 74 ½. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen such a high number on the last one. So if you’re over, you’re thinking 42-35. I’ll take the under.
In the Division I-AA playoffs, Delaware defeated New Hampshire, 16-3; Villanova whipped Appalachian State, 42-24; Georgia Southern edged Wofford, 23-20; and Eastern Washington bested North Dakota State, 38-31.
Lastly, on the college football beat, Hawaii is leaving the WAC to go to the Mountain West for football only; Big West Conference for all other sports. Poor WAC.
NFL Bytes
What a crazy weekend for New York area fans, starting with the Giants-Vikings debacle as the Metrodome collapsed under 17 inches of snow, one of Minneapolis’ worst storms ever. So now the two play in Detroit, Monday, as Vikings fans have to wonder about the future of their franchise seeing as the Metrodome lease only has another year and ownership has had no success in getting the city to bite on a new facility.
[Separately, the extra day gave Brett Favre more time to heal so he can keep his consecutive start streak alive, not that anyone in America gives a damn at this point, except for Favre himself.]
As for the Jets, not for nothin’ but I appropriately focused on the weather forecast last time and sure enough it played a role in the Dolphins’ 10-6 triumph. Jets QB Mark Sanchez could not have played worse and his receivers dropped some critical passes, including an easy touchdown. So, yes, it is indeed Panic City! With road games against the Steelers and Bears, Gang Green could be 9-6 and in need of a win heading into the final game of the season against an improving Buffalo squad. I mean understand the Jets haven’t score a touchdown in two games!
In other contests, for the archives, Peyton Manning didn’t throw an interception last Thursday in the Colts’ 30-28 win over the careening Titans.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger looked like he would be carried off on a stretcher a number of times in Pittsburgh’s 23-7 win over Cincinnati.
Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers was creamed and suffered a concussion in Detroit’s 7-3 upset of my personal “Pick to Click” for 2010.
New England’s Tom Brady threw for 369 yards in a blizzard as the Pats slaughtered the Bears, 36-7.
San Diego bounced back from its loss to Oakland to defeat the first-place Chiefs and move within a game of the AFC West lead. The Chargers, 7-6, will win out to finish 10-6, which is probably where the Chiefs finish, if not 11-5, and right there you have a potential 10-6 wild-card entry competing with the Jets.
Atlanta moved to 11-2 as they whipped the hapless Panthers, 31-10, with Carolina moving to 1-12. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be a Panthers’ season-ticket holder. Quarterback Jimmy Clausen has been hideous [1 TD pass / 7 interceptions]…but finally on Sunday there was an Armanti Edwards sighting.
And Washington dropped to 5-8 as it missed an extra point and two chip shot field goals in going down to the now 8-5 Buccaneers, 17-16.
–Akron won the NCAA men’s soccer championship, defeating Louisville 1-0; Akron’s first NCAA title in any sport. Very cool. And I forgot to note earlier that Notre Dame took the women’s crown in besting Stanford.
–A world record 113,411 showed up for the Michigan-Michigan State hockey game, won by the Wolverines 5-0.
–The Boston Red Sox showed their ornery side in offering pitcher Cliff Lee seven years just to get under the Yankees’ skin and drive Lee’s price up. Lee is contemplating a seven-year, $160 million offer, but Texas is very much in the running despite offering one less year and less money.
And then there is the history of seven-year deals for pitchers, which is awful…guys like Wayne Garland (the first back in 1977), Mike Hampton, Barry Zito, Kevin Brown and Mike Torrez. No matter. As Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News puts it:
“The Yankees and Rangers suddenly act as if somebody else played in the last American League Championship Series. But they did. The Yankees and Rangers still act desperate with Cliff Lee. It is stupid, the way the deal for Lee will be stupid, no matter who ends up with him. All of a sudden it’s as if both teams are chasing Sandy Koufax. Only they’re not.”
So what will Lee do? Texas doesn’t have a state income tax, while New York State has an effective rate of 8.7%; ergo, the Rangers can get away with offering a little less.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox gave outfielder Carl Crawford an astounding seven-year, $142 million contract, this after nabbing first baseman Adrian Gonzalez from the Padres. The Angels in particular were ticked to lose Crawford.
But my Mets picked up reliever D.J. Carrasco and catcher Ronny Paulino!!! And signed right-hander Boof Bonser! Can you say 68-94?!
“So Derek Jeter says he is ‘angry’ that details of his contentious contract negotiation with the New York Yankees leaked out into the news media.
“Well, la-dee-dah. Here’s a brief list of things Mr. Jeter should be more angry at than the Yankees, who awarded the 36-year-old Hall of Famer a ghastly 3-year deal that will pay him at least $51 million:
2. That the Patriots didn’t punch it in one more time, just for laughs.
3. That most people on earth would need to work for at least 10 years to earn his salary for one game.
10. That A-Rod must have been laughing on a floating chaise lounge during the negotiations.
11. That A-Rod probably has a tiny evil bulldog that was laughing, too.
46. That George wasn’t around to yell at everyone and get it done the right way – in a half hour, over a steak.
–Drat! Roger Clemens’ perjury trial has been postponed until July.
—College Basketball
Duke super frosh point guard Kyrie Irving would appear to be out for the year with a “serious” toe injury, specifics of which haven’t been announced. So one guy who will have to step up is Seth Curry.
And Wake Forest lost to another mid-major, this time UNC-Wilmington, 81-69. Pathetic.
Colgate was annihilated 100-43 by Syracuse. It was 46-8 at half! Hell, Syracuse played 17 guys! I didn’t know you could dress that many. Maybe they pulled a few folks from out of the stands.
Big win for Fordham over St. John’s, 84-81. Just as in the case of the Knicks, New York is starving for good basketball at any level again but in the case of Fordham and the Johnnies, it would be good if both were competitive.
–There’s a little buzz for the first time in like ten years at Madison Square Garden these days as the New York Knicks have now won 13 of 14 while superstar Amar’e Stoudemire set a team record on Sunday with his eighth straight game of 30 points or more. Granted, of the Knicks’ 13 wins during the stretch only two were against teams with a winning record, but a win is a win.
Here’s what I’ve been doing as I inch towards watching at least a full second half of a Knicks contest. I follow the game on the Net and if it’s close I’ll then turn it on for the final five minutes or so.
[As for Carmelo Anthony, reportedly he is in essence demanding a trade to the Knicks. I’m not sure I want the guy this year.]
–Boy, the HBO sports documentary “Lombardi” was absolutely fantastic; easily one of the best of its kind. But I didn’t realize he was once thought to be in line for the Wake Forest coaching job, only he was then told that down Winston-Salem way in those times, he would never be hired with his name ending in a vowel. The film also told the story of how Lombardi stood up to Pete Rozelle and the NFL owners in giving his blessing for Lionel Aldridge, his black defensive end, to marry a white woman in what was a highly controversial move in the day.
“Some birds stand out as exceptionally good at ‘mental time travel.’ The psychologist Nicky Clayton observed that western scrub jays steal food left behind by lunching students at the University of California at Davis. The jays hid the food by digging it into the ground. Sometimes they came back later and moved the food – but only if they had been observed by other jays when hiding the food in the first place. Dr. Clayton has since shown in her lab at Cambridge University that they do this to foil thieves, and that scrub jays are uniquely forward-thinking in this respect, even compared with other food-catching species of bird.”
Does the scrub jay thus warrant a top 50 ranking on the All-Species List? Stay tuned.
“Whitewater ‘legend’ taken by maneater”
“Adventurer and kayaker Hendrik Coetzee just had one rule – never panic.
“And when it came to the rivers Mr. Coetzee liked to paddle, they were wise words.
“The South African – known as Hendri to his friends – lived a life exploring the world’s most dangerous rivers, often in war-torn African countries, to experience places very few had seen before.
“He put his life on the line every day and if the huge rapids or wild weather did not kill him, the local wildlife and armed militias often did their best to do so….
“But after countless death-defying expeditions over much of Africa, his latest adventure proved fatal.
“Mr. Coetzee was killed on Tuesday after a huge crocodile snapped him from his kayak on the Lukuga River while he led an American expedition from the source of the White Nile into the heart of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“The two Americans who saw the incident – Ben Stookesberry and Chris Korbulic – were not injured….
“The trip was said to be a first-of-its-kind kayaking expedition and the group survived a number of weeks in treacherous conditions.
“After two other kayakers pulled out of the trip at the last minute (apparently too scared of the crocodiles), the three men set off early last month fully aware of the challenges they faced.
“Mr. Stookesberry recounted in a message now featured on countless blogs how Mr. Coetzee warned them about ‘three-ton hippos that will bite you in half.’
“ ‘Stay off the banks because the crocs are having a bake and might fancy you for lunch. Basically, stay close behind me and follow my lead. Any questions?’ Mr. Coetzee was quoted as saying.
“And Mr. Stookesberry quickly realized his guide’s ‘no panic rule’ was golden.
“ ‘There is a crocodile at the river’s mouth named Gustav that is an ancient, well-fed maneater. If you are as worried about this next week of the expedition as we are, please take Hendri’s advice [No matter what, don’t panic.]’”
Meanwhile, regarding the investigation into the shark attacks at Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, guess who the locals have called on for expert opinion? Why none other than our friend George Burgess of the International Shark Attack File. Burgess says a single shark carried out two of the attacks, while a different species was responsible for two others. He also said a shark hunt was useless, ruling out the existence of a so-called rogue shark. “What you have here are rational attempts by a predator to find food.”
The oceanic whitetip believed responsible for the German woman’s death is still at large. Some are admitting tourism bookings are plummeting. Said one tour guide, “Tourists come just for the sea, so if there is no opportunity to go to the sea, there is no reason to come here.” Personally, I’d go to Kiawah, South Carolina instead, where you can play the Ocean Course. [But be prepared to pay up.]
–New Jersey’s six-day bear hunt, the first in five years, saw 562 bruins go down, which kind of gives you an idea of just how many the state has, estimated at 3,400. Game officials say they are just trying to stabilize the population. Needless to say, Bear Nation is looking for new leadership after failing to hit the sack a week earlier.
–And now…Auction Beat
‘Tis the season for the rich to buy stuff and I see that among the paintings sold at London’s Old Masters auction was one by my man Pieter Bruegel II for $3,155,000, though Bruegel has been dead since 1638 and not in a position to enjoy the fruits of his labor.
And a memento from a dead man’s last battle, Gen. George Armstrong Custer at Little Big Horn, a flag that survived him that fateful day, was sold at auction for $2.2 million. Since 1895, the 7th U.S. Cavalry flag had been the property of the Detroit Institute of Art, which paid just $54 for it. Kind of makes you want to give all your money to the Institute to invest, doesn’t it?
Then there’s the John James Audubon’s Birds of America book that sold for $10.27 million, it being just one of 11 left in the world, so they say.
Lastly, two yellowed, typewritten pages on which James Naismith memorialized the 13 rules of basketball sold at auction for $4.3 million. This is the most ever paid for an article of sports memorabilia, exceeding the $3 million for the 70th home run ball hit by Mark McGwire in 1998. [Boy, that was a great purchase….not!] A fellow by the name of David Booth, who runs a money management firm, purchased the papers, Mr. Booth and his family living at 1931 Naismith Drive, a half-mile from where the Univ. of Kansas plays. Kansas is where Naismith coached after inventing the sport in 1891.
–We note the passing of actor John Leslie, 65. Leslie appeared in more than 300 movies during the so-called golden age of porn flicks in the 1970s and ‘80s. Cause of death was apparently a heart attack. Leslie appeared in films such as “Cry for Cindy” and “Talk Dirty to Me.” I’m amazed he was able to get up for each performance.
–John Podhoretz / Weekly Standard…on the success of Leslie Nielsen.
“Was any famously pithy aphorism ever more totally and astoundingly wrong than F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘there are no second acts in American lives?’ It is far easier to think of creative people who violate Fitzgerald’s rule than it is to think of a single person, aside from Ralph Ellison, for whom it has been true.
“If anything characterizes American life, it is the way in which the country not only permits but actively encourages, and even requires, reinvention….
“The lesson of Leslie Nielsen’s life is a classically American one. The Tammany Hall boss George Washington Plunkitt said of himself, ‘I seen my opportunities and I took ‘em.’ He did what he could with what he had, and when the moment to explode arrived, he was ready for it. ‘Take whatever they offer,’ David Zucker says Nielsen told his agent after he auditioned for Airplane! ‘I’d pay them to do this.’
“F. Scott Fitzgerald didn’t count on the fact that, sometimes, all you need for a second act is to stick around for the curtain to rise again, and then work your heart out.”
I bet I’m not alone, especially among this readership, in finding myself thinking of Nielsen since his death. His is a truly remarkable story. I have a Christmas Eve tradition, going back 30 years or so. I have dinner with my folks and afterwards I’m in charge of coming up with something funny to watch. I didn’t have a difficult time in selecting this year’s entertainment. Nielsen’s Police Squad!
–I thought Zipper Harris had a good observation in Doonesbury on Sunday. Talking to a classmate about dating issues, Zipper says:
“Dude, you think you’ve got women problems. I worry every day that I’ll accidentally hook up with Taylor Swift! And she’ll dump me and trash me in a song! How do you prevent something like that? You can’t! The heart wants what it wants! And believe me, once you get the Taylor Swift treatment, you’ll never date again! You’ll be known worldwide as a jerk!”
Top 3 songs for the week 12/12/81: #1 “Physical” (Olivia Newton-John…a favorite of John Leslie’s) #2 “Waiting For A Girl Like You” (Foreigner) #3 “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” (The Police…remember how this was one of the first videos on MTV and how they played it every freakin’ hour!)…and…#4 “Oh No” (Commodores) #5 “Let’s Groove” (Earth, Wind & Fire…far from their best) #6 “Young Turks” (Rod Stewart) #7 “Here I Am (Just When I Thought I Was Over You)” (Air Supply) #8 “Why Do Fools Fall In Love” (Diana Ross…mailed this one in) #9 “Harden My Heart” (Quarterflash…dreadful) #10 “Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey…yesss! Every fan of “The Sopranos” smiles when this comes on…has become a Jersey anthem)
NFL Quiz Answer: 12 future Hall of Famers in 1969 AFL championship game. For the Chiefs – Buck Buchanan, Willie Lanier, Emmitt Thomas, Bobby Bell, Len Dawson and Jan Stenerud. For the Raiders – Gene Upshaw, Fred Biletnikoff, George Blanda, Willie Brown, Jim Otto and Art Shell.
