Super Bowl Quiz: Name the eight coaches who have been at the helm of at least four Super Bowls. [Big hint: Two coached more than one team.] Answer below.
The Wilpons and the Mets
So New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon and his son Jeff announced on Friday that the trustee in charge of the Bernie Madoff mess, Irving Picard, who has already recovered and clawed back $10 billion in fictitious gains from some of Madoff’s feeder operations, has filed a suit against the Mets owners for, depending on the source, anywhere from $200 million to $1 billion. The suit is sealed (though some in the media have filed a motion to unseal it) so we don’t know any real details except that the Wilpons suddenly announced they want to sell a 25% interest in the club to raise $200 million in cash, or thereabouts, though you would be an idiot to invest in the Mets without knowing the Wilpons’ true liabilities, let alone gaining a say in the operation.
The thing is, as the New York Times reports, the Wilpons have a massive amount of debt, including $400 million as part of the financing of two-year-old Citi Field (already called S—ty Field in these parts), plus Fred Wilpon just arranged a $450 million refinancing on his regional sports network, SNY. “The deal allowed roughly $240 million in dividends to be paid to the various owners, and Mr. Wilpon’s group was believed to have received at least a third.”
So much isn’t known. Fred Wilpon was friends with Bernie Madoff for a long time and the two raised their families together in Roslyn, Long Island; sharing country club memberships and participating on the same philanthropic boards. Fred Wilpon introduced a ton of investors/friends to Madoff, including Fred’s very good buddy, Sandy Koufax.
But whereas there were some huge losers in the Madoff scheme, there were also some big winners, like the feeder funds now being forced to cough up their gains for redistribution to the losers.
Here’s one thing we do know. Fred Wilpon (I’m leaving his son out for now) was a lying SOB in the way he’s been treating Mets fans since the scandal broke…yet he wonders why attendance isn’t nearly as good as expected for a new baseball palace. It’s because the product blows, Fred! And this year could be absolutely horrid…especially if oft-injured players like Carlos Beltran don’t return to even a semblance of their old selves.
Here’s a bit I included in Bar Chat, 8/24/09, that’s worth looking back on to give you a sense of how us Mets fans have been jerked around.
“Mostly, though, there is this: there is the growing 8,000-pound elephant in the room. Actually, that’s not quite right: it is more about the graying felon in a jail cell. His name is Bernie Madoff. He is said to have made upward of $75 billion disappear. And he also caused unbearably horrific havoc on the Mets, who are still owned by Fred Wilpon, an old neighbor of Madoff’s in Roslyn, on Long Island, who is believed to have lost as much as $750 million – if not more – because of Madoff and his Ponzi scheme.
“We don’t know how much that figure really is, and both Fred and his son, Jeff, have every right to keep that number to themselves. It is their business, and their tragedy, the same one that has visited far too many of our neighbors and friends across our city. A man loses that much money – done in by a friend, no less – he is entitled to certain measures of privacy.
“OK. Now I have a question for all the Mets fans who have suffered silently and agonized aloud throughout this season, who watched the team stand idle at the trade deadline, spend less money than any other team in baseball in signing draft picks (even though their farm system is ridiculously thin), watched the team nickel-and-dime top draft pick Steven Matz out of five grand, and now seems set to retain its management team rather than spend the money to replace them, all while Citi Field remains 93 percent full.
“Would the anger you feel now – the frustration, the resentment, the bitterness, all of it – have been abated, if not completely vaporized, if Fred Wilpon, still the nominal head of the team, even if he chooses more and more to sit in the stands like a Little League dad, made one singular appearance, sometime in February, or April, or June, well after it was clear just how wounded he had been by Bernie Madoff, and offered up a statement much like this one:
“ ‘By now, you surely know someone who has been affected by the financial scandal that has befallen my family and me, because as New Yorkers it is almost impossible not to know someone who is hurting now, wondering about their futures, wondering about their families.
“ ‘And by now you must also know that I am among those affected. The amount is not important. But as I am sure you know, when something has been taken from you, it affects you. It affects the way you conduct business. It affects the way you plan for the future. I have poured my heart and my soul into the New York Mets for 29 years, and hope my family will continue to do so for the next 29 and beyond.
“ ‘We will continue to invest in our baseball club, and as proof please remember that ours is the highest payroll in the National League. We will continue to provide a first-class experience to our fans who attend games in such vast numbers at our beautiful new ballpark. And we will always be looking to do, within reason, whatever we can to make sure we improve our ballclub whenever possible.
“ ‘But I will not lie to you: this scandal has affected our bottom line. It has affected the bottom lines of many of our investors. It has affected the bottom lines of some of the sponsors who help bankroll us, and the banks that back us. This is the reality of where we are as a baseball team. I hope you will understand that. I hope you will realize that as soon as our house is back in order, we will return to business as usual. And I hope, most of all, you will have the patience to work with us.’
“Would that have made a difference? Maybe not…
“But that would have been better than what the Mets have done, arrogantly denying money is an issue, disingenuously hoping nobody will notice the fact that they conduct business right now as if they work alongside Green Bay, and not Flushing Bay.
“Mets fans have gotten little else this year in the way of positive feelings about their baseball club. The least they have deserved is honesty. And that would have provided it. It isn’t much. But it would have been a start.”
That was almost 18 months ago. But back then we thought the Wilpons had lost $750 million. Now it’s increasingly apparent they may have made a like amount, with Picard believing they knew damn well it was a Ponzi scheme….the bastards.
The other day, the New York Post’s Kevin Kernan said talk of the Wilpons selling just 25% was absurd. Sell the whole freakin’ team so we can start over with ownership that is truly committed to competing in New York. Imagine the situation the team is in now. For example, Jose Reyes, immensely talented when healthy, becomes a free agent after the 2011 season but there is zero talk of working out a new contract at this point (assuming he proves he’s healthy in spring training) because of the ownership uncertainty. Will they just let him go to save money?
But Kernan also notes in Sunday’s paper that one group that is interested in a stake in the Mets is a strange team comprised of the likes of Martin Luther King III, Donn Clendenon Jr., son of the former Met great, and Mr. Met, Ed Kranepool.
Finally, the Mets received some good news the other day. Citi Field is going to be the site for the 2013 All-Star Game. Hopefully slabs of concrete don’t fall on anyone’s head.
As the Super Bowl approaches, the 800-pound gorilla in the room is the March 3 deadline for reaching agreement between NFL owners and the players and at this point a lockout seems a certainty. March 4 the doors on the sport close (except as earlier noted the April 28-30 draft goes on by previous agreement).
Joe Drape of the New York Times quotes Jeff Pash, an NFL executive vice president and the lead negotiator for the owners, on the essential issue. While fans know the sport is doing tremendously well, “We have healthy revenue, but it’s not endless.”
The Green Bay Packers offer a prime example, being the only publicly held franchise and thus the only one forced to release its financial condition each year. As Drape writes:
“The team’s operating profit fell 71% to $9.8 million in the year ended last March 31 from $34.2 million in the year ended March 31, 2007 – the start of the current collective bargaining agreement.
“Even though revenue rose 18% in that period to $257.9 million, player salaries and benefits swelled to $160.8 million from $110.7 million and reduced overall profit.”
As Pash says, “I think fans understand that the worst thing you can do is pretend that the problem doesn’t exist and kick the can down the road five years. We’re saying the status quo is not acceptable.”
I kind of view it like the Social Security debate. The system there just needs tweaking, not a massive overhaul. In the case of the NFL, one easy step is for owners and players to agree that rookie bonuses and salaries be capped, somewhat similar to the NBA. Veterans shouldn’t care. They’re furious when an unproven player, such as quarterback Sam Bradford, gets $50 million guaranteed before he plays one down in the pros. They rightfully feel as veterans they should be paid better than rookies. So there’s clearly room for compromise there.
Then the big sticking point is the move to an 18-game regular season schedule without paying the players more for those two extra games that will undoubtedly cut short many of their careers.
By the way, with the average NFL career at 3.5 years, the median salary is just $770,000. The average is $1.9 million but that is pumped up by the salaries for the likes of Peyton Manning.
–Just a note on the Super Bowl itself. Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey said that he intends to play despite reports he has a broken ankle. Others don’t believe he can. But compare this attitude to that of Jay Cutler. Just sayin’…
—Kim Clijsters won her 4th grand slam event in defeating China’s Li Na for the Australian Open title. Li Na, though, became the first Chinese player to reach a grand slam final. She was kind of funny in the championship match. At one point she went to the umpire, complaining about the Chinese in the stands who insisted on yelling words of advice in Chinese to her. “Can you tell the Chinese don’t teach me how to play tennis?!” Nonetheless, Li Na is now a hero back home.
On the men’s side, Novak Djokovic won his 2nd grand slam title in defeating Scot Andy Murray in straight sets. Djokovic’s other win was also in the Australian Open in 2008. As for Murray, in losing he extended Britain’s losing streak to 75 years without a men’s grand slam title. Murray has also now been in three finals without winning a single set. What a loser.
Meanwhile, obviously Rafael Nadal didn’t complete the Raffy slam, while for the first time since 2003, Roger Federer does not hold a single grand slam trophy. Federer, approaching 30, swears he’s not washed up. He is.
—College Basketball Review
What a weekend for upsets, though now that we’re in conference play few games can be really categorized as such.
First off, going back to last Wednesday night, after I had posted Bar Chat, Brigham Young handed my San Diego State Aztecs their first loss, 71-58, as Jimmer Fredette, who made every single publication in the free world this week, went off for 43 points, while Aztec guard D.J. Gay had but 2 in going 0-for-7 from the field.
But on Saturday, BYU then lost to New Mexico at The Pit, while No. 5 UConn lost to No. 19 Louisville, No. 7 Villanova lost to No. 20 Georgetown, Marquette beat No. 10 Syracuse (the Orangemen’s 4th straight loss), and Nebraska defeated No. 11 Texas A&M, among the many top 25 teams to go down in flames. [SDSU rebounded to slaughter Wyoming.]
And on Sunday, St. John’s put together a super effort in whipping No. 3 Duke at the Garden. [Once again, St. John’s coach Steve Lavin’s wife was nowhere to be seen and it is assumed she is watching these games from a luxury box, which really is unfortunate for us viewers.]
So lots of shuffling in the top 25 coming up, but No. 1 remains the same, Ohio State, the only undefeated team left in the country, though they escaped, 58-57, vs. a highly mediocre Northwestern squad on Saturday.
But guess what? Wake Forest won its first ACC game in a solid effort against Virginia (who really blows). I did exactly what I said I’d do the rest of the way. I was half following the contest online but with five minutes to go, when I realized we had a shot, I tuned in to ESPN3 for the conclusion. Good job, Wake. The Deaconwear is stirring in the dresser drawers of Bar Chat’s editor. Kind of like the fly in the film of the same name. “Help me!” I’m still not prepared to wear it again, though. I need a second win.
–And then there was this weekend’s PGA Tour event at Torrey Pines, the Farmers Insurance Open (to give these fine folks their due for bailing out the tourney). Friends, this was as good as you’ll see all year owing to the fun leaderboard, and obviously gorgeous backdrop. Bubba Watson ended up capturing his 2nd tour title by one over Phil Mickelson, but as much as Watson affirmed he’s for real and a legitimate contender to grab the sport by the balls, yet another young talent has suddenly captured our fancy in just the past two weeks, that being Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas (a.k.a. Johnny Vegas). All the 26-year-old Vegas did was back up his Bob Hope win the previous week with a 3rd place finish in San Diego (tied with Dustin Johnson). The sport is in awesome shape, loaded with great young players, though it’s still super to have Mickelson right up there when healthy, and while Tiger sucked this weekend it helps ratings big time if he could get his act together.
But back to Vegas. Last week I wondered if Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had contacted Johnny, seeing as Vegas became the first Venezuelan to win a PGA Tour event. On the broadcast this weekend, Nick Faldo said Chavez had tried at least three times but it sounded as if Vegas (appropriately) blew him off. It’s Chavez, of course, who has been taking over golf courses in his piece of crap country to give the land to the poor, who have no clue what to do with it. [“Should we throw our garbage here?”]
[Pssst…actually I’m thinking of going to Caracas for a goof so I better watch what I write.]
–St. Louis slugger Albert Pujols has made it very clear that either he signs an extension with the Cardinals prior to spring training or he will become a free agent at season’s end. Pujols will not accept a trade and has been adamant he won’t negotiate once spring training begins because he doesn’t want any distractions. So will St. Louis give him a 10-year deal for $27.5 million per? It’s great Bar Chat.
–What a bizarre story with the Univ. of Iowa football team as 13 players were hospitalized following a grueling offseason workout last week. [They have all been released at last word.] School officials are investigating. To compound matters, the hospital says there was a security breach and that the medical records of the players had been viewed by people without proper authorization.
The players have rhabdomyolysis, a stress-induced syndrome that can damage cells and cause kidney failure in severe cases, and were working out with all five Iowa strength trainers. Several Iowa players wrote on their Facebook pages that the workouts involved intense weightlifting. As reported by ESPN.com, “Freshman linebacker Jim Poggi wrote Saturday that he had done 100 squats and pushed a sled 100 yards. He said he was having trouble walking.” Jim Poggi’s father said the workout focused on the lower body with intensive squats, day one, followed by an upper body workout on day two, and then after two days off, the Monday workout was back on the lower body.
Another player, freshman defensive lineman Carl Davis of Detroit, wrote that he couldn’t walk or feel his arms after performing 100 squats and 100 bench presses.
And the Des Moines Register confirmed that freshman linebacker Shane DiBona squatted 240 pounds 100 times and it was timed.
Gee, do you think the Univ. of Iowa could get sued? Nice going, Hawkeyes.
–The NFL Network revealed that the Jets may have tipped their plays to the Steelers during a goal-line stand in the AFC Championship game. It was 24-10 but the Jets had it first-and-goal at the Steelers two when they ended up being stuffed.
According to the website, NFLN ‘Playbook’ showed how Jets lineman Wayne Hunter’s stance on third down tipped off a passing play that was knocked down at the line of scrimmage.
“On third-and-1, your right tackle’s in a two-point stance,” Playbook analyst Brian Baldinger said. “Right now, (Steelers linebacker) LaMarr Woodley knows you’re not running the ball. You’re not running the ball out of a two-point stance on the goal line. Right there, that’s a dead giveaway. LaMarr Woodley doesn’t change; he just plays the ball and bats it down.”
—Some bits from Army Times:
On Jan. 30, 1968, communist forces launched the Tet offensive, one of their largest military operations against South Vietnamese and U.S. forces during the Vietnam War.
The North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong simultaneously attacked military bases, provincial capitals and district towns across South Vietnam, and the national capital at Saigon during a holiday cease-fire for Tet, a celebration of the Vietnamese lunar New Year, according to Army records. Enemy forces penetrated the U.S. embassy at Saigon and killed a number of American soldiers.
Initial attacks surprised allied forces, but most of them were quickly repelled and the NVA and Viet Cong suffered thousands of casualties. However, early American TV broadcasts reported that allied forces had been caught off guard and were defeated. The offensive shocked the American public and led many citizens to question the merit of U.S. efforts in Vietnam.
In the wake of the attack, President Lyndon Johnson announced he would not seek reelection.
And just imagine this story from Army Times’ Hall of Valor.
1st Sgt. David H. McNerney
MeNerney earned the Medal of Honor for actions near Polei Doc, Republic of Vietnam, on March 22, 1967. He was serving with A Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division.
McNerney’s company was attacked by a North Vietnamese battalion. While he helped set up a defensive perimeter under heavy fire, he killed several enemy soldiers at close range. During the fighting, a grenade exploded, knocking him from his feet and wounding him. Despite the injury, he assaulted and destroyed an enemy machine-gun position that had pinned down five of his comrades, according to his award citation.
Later in the battle, McNerney assumed command of the company after learning his commander and a forward observer were killed. Soon after, he called in artillery fire within 20 meters of his perimeter to defeat enemy advances. McNerney then moved to a clearing and, while exposed to enemy fire, climbed a tree and tied a panel to its highest branches to mark an aircraft landing site so wounded could be evacuated. When explosives were needed to clear large trees from the landing zone, McNerney crawled outside his unit’s perimeter to retrieve demolition material from abandoned rucksacks. After ‘moving through a fusillade of fire,’ he returned with the demolition charges.
He remained with his men near the LZ and refused medical evacuation until a new commander arrived the next day.
[Next time you’re bitching about having a bad day, remember McNerney’s story.]
–Comedian Charlie Callas died. He was 83. For those of us of a certain age, Callas was a regular on all the talk shows and variety programs; Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason, Merv Griffin, “The Andy Williams Show,” and about 50 appearances on “The Tonight Show.”
But as Dennis Hevesi writes in the New York Times, it was this last one that created a bit of a stir, though it didn’t end up hurting Callas’ career too much. The night was Sept. 21, 1982.
“With Mr. Callas bombing, Carson made a whistling-buzzing sound – as if tracing a bomb’s trajectory. In comic desperation, Mr. Callas leaned over and shoved Carson. Carson, almost always amiable on the air, was so annoyed that on the spot, in front of his television audience, he told Mr. Callas that he’d never appear on the show again. Carson kept his word.”
Callas had a distinctive style, as described by Tony Belmont of the National Comedy Hall of Fame (I need to check this out sometime).
“There were two things he could do that made his career. He could think very fast on his feet, and he had an unbelievable number of sounds that he made with his voice.
“(For example), he would tell a joke about two guys hunting. If you or I told it, the joke wasn’t so funny. But Charlie made it hysterical by sticking in these sounds; so you would hear the gun cocking, the duck flying overhead, the explosion of the shotgun and then the duck falling and screaming all the way to the ground.”
Callas was also a regular on the celebrity roast circuit…which was generally very funny back in the day.
“In the early 1960s Mr. Frye was a struggling impressionist working the clubs of Greenwich Village, relying on a fairly standard repertoire of Hollywood actors. Then he slipped Robert F. Kennedy into his act, basing his impression on a girlfriend’s comment that Kennedy sounded like Bugs Bunny.
“Audiences loved it, and Mr. Frye began adding other politicians, capturing not just their vocal peculiarities but also their body language and facial expressions.”
Then along came Richard Nixon…and David Frye rocketed to superstardom.
“Shoulders hunched, his deep-set eyes glowering, Mr. Frye captured the insecure, neurotic Nixon to perfection. ‘I am the president’ – his blustery tag line and the title of a 1969 comedy album he recorded for Elektra – seemed to get at the essence of a powerful politician in desperate need of validation.”
I had that album. I was only 11 years old but was already a big time newshound and listened to this one endlessly. [Actually, I was a lot smarter in ’69 than I am now. Plus I was more mature.] Frye, like Callas, was everywhere from about 1968-74. He also did a great William F. Buckley Jr.
“It was Nixon, however, who kept Mr. Frye a regular on the top television variety shows…In one skit Mr. Frye even had the president smoking marijuana and reporting, in hushed tones, ‘I see spacious skies and fruited plains and amber waves of grain.’”
In his album “Richard Nixon: A Fantasy,” cut during Watergate, his character said:
“Today I have regretfully been forced to accept the resignations of 1,541 of the finest public servants it has ever been my privilege to know. As the man in charge, I must accept full responsibility, but not the blame. Let me explain the difference. People who are to blame lose their jobs; people who are responsible do not.”
Alas, Nixon’s resignation was shattering for Frye’s career. He told TIME in 1974, “It’s a weird feeling, knowing that you can lose the guts of your act at any time.”
–Former major league outfielder Gus Zernial died. He was 87. Zernial got off to a fairly late start in his major league career, his first full season being when he was 27 with the Chicago White Sox, but this was partly due to earlier service in World War II. Zernial had a stretch from 1951-53 where he had 33 HR – 129 RBI, 29-100, and 42-108, leading the A.L. in both categories in ’51. He also hit 30 homers in 1955 and finished his career with 237 HR and 776 RBI while batting .265. In ’51 he started the season with the ChiSox but ended up with the then-Philadelphia Athletics. He finished his career in Detroit.
–Kansas City Royals hurler Gil Meche has picked up quite a few fans for walking away from $12 million this year and retiring instead, though he could have hung out and collected the money as a mop-up guy or nursed his injured arm on the disabled list. But it’s pretty funny that one of Meche’s admirers is New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who emailed from Rome:
“I admire the sense of virtue and honor displayed by Gil Meche. Many people might be tempted by the prospect of easy money.
“We all owe an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay – or, as Jesus put it, ‘The worker deserves his wages.’”
—Jeff Fisher is finally out as head coach of the Tennessee Titans after 16+ years in which he went 142-120 (.542) and 5-6 in the playoffs, including one trip to the Super Bowl following the 1999 season. The guy was clearly burned out this past season, snapping at everyone. Then again he had one jerk of a QB.
–This is cool. Right here in my home town of Summit, N.J., senior Mark Jones joined his father Bob in becoming the first father-son pair in U.S. history to clear 7-0 feet in the high jump while high school students. Bob did it at East Brunswick High School in 1977 and Mark just did it at a state meet about two weeks ago. And I saw that Mark is going to be continuing his track career at the Univ. of Colorado in Boulder. Is it too early for him to be thinking about London 2012? Probably. But just in case I hope to be in Eugene again for the Olympic Trials that summer.
–I was reading a story on Bloomberg about how Oscar Robertson and a number of former college athletes were suing the NCAA and Electronic Arts Inc. for the alleged illegal use of their images without compensation when I saw that one of those participating in the suit was Tate George, who way back in 1990 for UConn hit a desperation shot in the NCAA tournament for a buzzer beating win against Clemson. Aside from finding it hard to believe that is now 21 years ago, it really is lousy that McDonald’s is using the footage this year for an advertisement without compensating George. So for the first time ever I have to say “Boo” on Mickey D’s!
–Story in the Wall Street Journal on the coyote problem in Chicago and the surrounding area. You’ll recall it was back in 2007 that one wandered into a Quiznos, which turned out to be one of only three Quiznos customers, statewide, that year. The Journal reports there are 2,000 coyotes living in Cook County. 2,000! New Jersey has a few…I saw one in my town about a year ago, and these guys aren’t to be messed with. They certainly love to go after dogs. But if you see one when you go out to get the morning paper (for you kids out there, a newspaper is a bundle of paper pages with all sorts of written material on them, such as news, sports, and advertisements), do not run back into the house. Shout or throw something at it, like the paper.
–There was a story in the Los Angeles Times by Kim Murphy concerning a polar bear who proves the theory about shrinking Arctic sea ice as researchers tracked a female bear that swam nine days across the Beaufort Sea before reaching an ice floe 426 miles offshore. Alas, the bear lost 22% of her body weight and her year-old female cub, who set off on the journey, didn’t survive.
But imagine, the researchers say the bear swam nine days without a break. None of them can recall anything like this. The problem is polar bears haven’t learned how to prepare their own meals or microwave stuff, instead relying on their traditional seal dishes, which are best accessed at sea on ice floes.
–The Journal also has an interview with Clint Eastwood, who is working on a picture about J. Edgar Hoover, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Clint says he went to FBI headquarters to learn more about the subject. Can you imagine how much fun it would be to be working there and you get a call that Clint Eastwood wants to come in and talk? What a pisser. I’m going to be out in Carmel in a few weeks and I’d give anything just to see the guy.
[By the way, the interview is absolutely terrific, the weekend edition of the Journal.]
–Every time MAN threatens to return to the top 100 on the All-Species List, he proves himself unworthy, the latest example being the looters who broke into the Egyptian Museum during Friday’s anti-government protests in Cairo. At first it appeared the historic place was being protected, but some total a-holes got in through the roof and destroyed two Pharonic mummies, among other items. Now in my travels I’ve seen enough antiquities to last me six lifetimes and I have little interest in viewing such things anymore (I’m a painting kind of guy you understand), but this is all Egypt has…treasures of a lost era. Thankfully enough of the locals knew that if they torched the place, like they did with the ruling party headquarters next door, tourism, when things calm down, would have dropped by at least 50%. And that’s a memo. Bernie Goldberg is here to share his thoughts. Bernie, where am I wrong?
–Speaking of artwork, a Titian painting of the Madonna, baby Jesus and two saints (Tom Seaver and Ed Kranepool? Just askin’…) sold for $16.9 million at auction in New York the other day. Now I’ve seen a bunch of Titians, he having died 435 years ago, and I’m kind of surprised the record for his work prior to this one was $13.6 million, or just $1.6 million more than Mets pitcher Oliver Perez will be making this year for contributing far less to mankind.
But, the $13.6 million was the auction record, and it turns out London’s National Gallery and the National Galleries of Scotland raised $79.5 million to buy another Titian work from the Duke of (Kiefer) Sutherland in 2009.
Actually, it seems the Old Masters have made a big comeback in terms of auction prices as Bloomberg reports all the museums are buying amidst a shrinking market.
The preceding qualifies for fulfillment of your quarterly culture quota and can be exchanged for a Taco Grande.
–Incredible story out of the Scottish Highlands as a 35-year-old climber, part of a group of 24 that had reached the summit of Sgurr Choinnich Mor, lost his footing at the top and plummeted straight down, some 1,000 feet. And when a helicopter rescue crew found him, he was standing up, reading a map!
Lt. Tim Barker, part of the rescue, said: “It seemed impossible…he must have literally glanced off the outcrops as he fell.”
The climber, for good reason, was shaking from “extreme emotional shock.”
The helicopter crew retraced the man’s ‘flight’ and there were bits of his kit in a vertical line all the way up where he had obviously lost them during the fall. [BBC News]
–Speaking of climbers, an update from a story last week.
“After 20 days on North America’s tallest mountain, including seven spent in a tiny show trench at 17,200 feet, pinned in by wind and a prolonged whiteout, Minnesota’s Lonnie Dupre (no relation to Ashley) on Wednesday abandoned his effort to become the first person to scale Mount McKinley alone in January.”
Imagine, for seven days the winds were up to 100 mph, with temperatures hitting minus 50. Plus, he had a magnitude 5.4 earthquake! Good gawd! That’s a combination that will test ya.
–Australian Olympic swimming great Ian Thorpe, the “Thorpedo,” is planning a comeback for the 2012 London Games. Thorpe, who won five gold medals in his career, is still just 28 and, incredibly, his world record 400m freestyle from Manchester in 2002 remains just 0.01 of a second behind today’s mark in that event. Thorpe had retired in 2006.
–Holy Toledo! There have been three huge slot wins at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City in the last two weeks. On Thursday night, a Jersey boy won $4,963,819 playing a Wizard of Oz Ruby Slippers machine. Earlier, a guy won $3,491,146 on a penny progressive slot machine and a few hours earlier another won $700,000 on a 50-cent machine. None of the winners would publicly identify themselves. Nor have I, when it comes to this column.
—The lead singer of the Marvelettes, Gladys Horton, died. She was 65. It’s a bit of trivia that it was the Marvelettes, not the Supremes or Martha and the Vandellas, that were responsible for Motown Records’ first No. 1 hit, “Please Mr. Postman.” That’s then 15-year-old Horton singing the memorable line “De-liver de let-ter, de sooner de bet-ter.”
Horton was the one who organized the original group – five students at Detroit’s Inkster High School (including one who had just graduated), and they were given a Motown audition after a school talent contest (one they didn’t win).
But Berry Gordy told them they needed to come up with original material so member Georgia Dobbins reworked a blues song that she got from a friend and, voila, “Mr. Postman” rocketed up the charts (and would later be recorded by both the Beatles and the Carpenters, achieving No. 1 for the latter as well).
#7 Playboy…1962
#17 Beachwood 4-5789…1962
#7 Don’t Mess With Bill…1966
#13 The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game…1967
#17 My Baby Must Be A Magician…1968
Smokey Robinson influenced the group’s works in the late 60s.
But Gladys Horton’s story is a sad, yet in other respects heroic one. You see, Gladys left the Marvelettes in 1968 to care for her son, Sammie, who has cerebral palsy.
“I didn’t want to travel,” she said in a 1985 interview. “I had to spend my time caring for my son. I’m an orphan, so I don’t have any family I could leave him with while I was carrying on with my singing career.”
Ron Brewington of the L.A. chapter of the Motown Alumni Association said, “I never heard her say anything about frustration. It was always ‘Sammie, Sammie, Sammie. What does he need? What’s he doing? What can I do for him?’ That’s a mother, a real mother.” [Dennis McLellan / Los Angeles Times]
–And Charlie Louvin died. He was 83. Louvin, along with brother Ira, created the Louvin Brothers, a duo that influenced everyone from the Everly Brothers to the Beatles to the Byrds, and then successive generations of singers including Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris and Beck. Phil Everly commented on the Louvins’ harmonizing, “They influenced everybody by the quality of their music. Harmony just got a lot better in heaven.”
Some of their hits were “If I Could Only Win Your Love,” “When I Stop Dreaming,” “Every Time You Leave,” and “The Christian Life” (covered by the Byrds). 1956’s “I Don’t Believe You’ve Met My Baby” was a No. 1 for them in 1956. Brother Ira died in 1965, after which Charlie had a successful solo career.
Top 3 songs for the week 1/27/73: #1 “Superstition” (Stevie Wonder) #2 “You’re So Vain” (Carly Simon) #3 “Crocodile Rock” (Elton John)…and…#4 “Your Mama Don’t Dance” (Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina) #5 “Why Can’t We Live Together” (Timmy Thomas) #6 “Me And Mrs. Jones” (Billy Paul…we got a thinnnnnnnnng…goin’ onnnnnnn…) #7 “Oh, Babe, What Would You Say?” (Hurricane Smith…loved this one) #8 “Trouble Man” (Marvin Gaye) #9 “Rockin’ Pneumonia – Boogie Woogie Flu” (Johnny Rivers) #10 “The World Is A Ghetto” (War…talk about an underrated group…just download their greatest hits album)
Super Bowl Quiz Answer: Four or more Super Bowls…Don Shula, III Balt., VI-VIII, XVII, XIX Miami; Tom Landry, V-VI, X, XII-XIII, Dallas; Bud Grant, IV, VIII-IX, XI, Minnesota; Chuck Noll, IX-X, XIII-XIV, Pittsburgh; Joe Gibbs, XVII-XVIII, XXII, XXVI, Washington; Marv Levy, XXV-XXVIII, Buffalo; Dan Reeves, XXI-XXII, XXIV, Denver, XXXIII, Atlanta; Bill Belichick, XXXVI, XXXVIII-XXXIX, XLII, New England.
