College Football Quiz: Give me the career passing leaders, yards, for Division I-A, I-AA and D-II. All played the past 20 years, but only one made the NFL. Of course the D-II question is ridiculously hard, except for one reader. Answers below.
College Football Review
It always takes three weeks for the college football season to take shape, which is why I think you are foolish to bet a single dollar early on. There are almost way too many new faces with each squad and it’s just too unpredictable (they’re college kids, after all) compared to the NFL where there is stability (except for this year with the new CBA induced roster moves).
This first weekend was far from scintillating. The biggest contest, No. 3 Oregon vs. No. 4 LSU, was a bust as your editor had on his Duckwear but to no avail with Oregon committing four critical turnovers in going down to the Tigers, 40-27. The Ducks’ Oregon’s Heisman candidate LaMichael James may have lost his shot in the very first week in gaining just 54 yards on 18 carries.
Meanwhile, for LSU, the offense was only so-so, as Jarrett Lee replaced suspended starting quarterback Jordan Jefferson. Johnny Mac and I got a kick out of how Brent Musburger made Jefferson’s suspension sound like he was late for practice…instead of the fact he was arrested on felony assault charges for beating the crap out of a guy at a bar! I mean Jordan Jefferson has likely played his last game at LSU, for crying out loud, and could very well be starring in “The Longest Yard III” down the road.
In other games, and in no particular order, Virginia Tech could be one of the more intriguing teams this year as they unveiled Logan Thomas, the 6-6, 254 lb. sophomore quarterback. VT beat Appalachian State 66-13. Note to Apps…stay in I-AA.
Boise State did exactly what it had to do in besting Georgia, in Atlanta, 35-21. The only problem is that with TCU’s loss to Baylor, 50-48, the Georgia contest was potentially the most meaningful game on the schedule, and Georgia isn’t that good. So unless the Broncos are the only undefeated team in the nation come Dec. 10 and the conclusion of all the conference championship contests, Boise State stands a good chance of being shut out of the title game due to strength of schedule. I mean you can see it coming after just one week.
Auburn proved in Week One that it will not be a factor in the title chase as it had to rally late to defeat a really lousy Utah State, 42-38. I mean Utah State has 13 straight losing seasons, but the defending BCS champs struggled mightily to hold them off.
South Florida went to South Bend to play Notre Dame and a Yankees-Red Sox game broke out! Owing to two weather delays (lightning), it took 5 hours and 59 minutes for USF to defeat the No. 16 Fighting Irish, 23-20. The only regret for those of us watching on NBC was that the contest wasn’t at South Florida, they having the No. 1 cheerleading squad in the nation based on recent performance, though USC’s Lady Trojans were handily the squad of the 20th Century.
In what is becoming an annual Div. I-AA upset tradition, Sacramento State went to Corvalis, Oregon, and defeated the OSU Beavers, 29-28, in overtime. Shocking. The odds of the editor donning his Beaverwear this fall just plummeted. “Hey, Editor, why the Beaverwear? The Beavers blow!”
In a horrible loss for the ACC, Northwestern defeated Boston College, 24-17. C’mon, Steve D. Fire your boys up better. And Duke lost to Richmond, 23-21.
Which brings me to last Thursday night’s affair between my Wake Forest Demon Deacons (or as golf commentator Ian Baker-Finch says, “Deacon Demons”) and the Syracuse Orangemen. Wake was up 29-14 in the fourth quarter and suddenly collapsed, an injury to our starting quarterback not helping, as Syracuse rallied to send it into overtime, whereupon the Deacs lost, 36-29. We didn’t even cover the spread of six points. [It didn’t help that our normally reliable kicker missed an extra point and an easy field goal.]
To say the loss was devastating would be the ultimate understatement considering where the program has been recently. It would have been a huge shot in the arm to win an away game like this and, instead, 2-10 seems a very real possibility now unless we rebound at home this week against N.C. State. [Gardner-Webb and Duke would be my two wins, otherwise; possibly Vanderbilt.]
Frankly, most are in agreement Wake’s collapse was one of the three or four worst losses in the history of one of the worst programs in the NCAA.
“Since beating Maryland on Oct. 10, 2009 to improve to 4-2, Wake football has lost 15 of 19 games. In that span, the Deacons have beaten Presbyterian, they’ve beaten vaunted Vanderbilt on the day its coach resigned, and they’ve beaten Duke twice. Think about it. It’s bearing down on two calendar years now since Wake has had a win worth bragging about.”
I’m trying not to think about it…especially considering Wake basketball looks like it’s setting up for another horrid season.
–And on the screwing the Big 12 front, which I really don’t know why it bothers me so much, but it does, big time, it all started with Texas’ and the new Longhorn Network. Texas A&M, ever the weenie, and an incredibly overrated institution (still waiting for the first Aggie to show up at my door…hasn’t happened yet…need to get a permit), then cried uncle instead of trying to compete, publicly saying it is interested in the SEC, while Oklahoma, tired of Texas calling all the shots, now says it wants to depart.
Which means that Texas and Oklahoma, in this twisted world, could end up in the Pac-12 together. It’s simply all about TV deals that the Pac-12, Pac-14, Pac-16, whatever, says would add at least $30 million to each school’s coffers every year.
And how do you get to Pac-16? Why add Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, that’s how. Oklahoma State’s prime booster, T. Boone Pickens, said the Big 12 is history.
So what about Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State and Baylor? Mizzou could easily go to the SEC in a pair with A&M, while the others could end up anywhere. Perhaps the two Kansas schools in the Big East, which isn’t a stretch at all, seeing as how TCU is entering the fold next year.
By the way, if, somehow, the Big 12 survived, they could add Air Force and BYU.
–As for next weekend’s schedule, thank god the NFL gets going because Saturday, you couldn’t ask for a lousier bunch of games all year.
Alabama is at Penn State, which sounds good historically but I’m sure will be a rout as the calls for Joe Paterno to step down grow.
Notre Dame at Michigan is the Saturday night affair, but ND went out and lost to USF, thus spoiling ratings on that one.
And Oregon State is at Wisconsin, which had the Beavers gnawed all over Sacramento State would have added a slight amount of intrigue. Not now.
So you’re left with the rest. Rutgers at UNC is mildly interesting in terms of determining how good both of these inevitably mediocre squads are.
But the game I would personally go to is San Diego State at Army. First, because of the setting; second because SDSU is a sleeper squad this year. As in come week 4 or so, I’m guessing they’re a good team to bet on.
And at the end of the day, boys and girls, it’s all about beating the spread! Those of you ages 12 and under will learn this lesson in good time. 13- to 15-year-olds already know the hard facts of the gambler. And that’s a memo….Bernie Goldberg is here. Bernie, what say you?
[Actually, Bernie…just how did you get your face to look that way?]
–In college football’s season of shame, the Wall Street Journal’s Darren Everson had some of the following thoughts regarding a few programs.
“Georgia Tech: In terms of across-the-board program failure, the Yellow Jackets are the defending national champs. Tech went 6-7 last season, including losses to 3-9 Kansas and archrival Georgia’s worst team in years, then had its 2009 ACC title vacated over rules violations.
“Michigan: After ex-coach Rich Rodriguez’s disastrous tenure, the team recently scheduled Appalachian State – which gave the Wolverines their most-embarrassing loss ever – for its 2014 opener. (In other news, Virginia is planning a celebration of its 1982 upset loss to Chaminade.)
“Ohio State: March 8: ‘We trust him [then-coach Jim Tressel] implicitly.’ Also March 8: ‘I’m just hoping the coach doesn’t dismiss me.’ July 7: ‘The institution will not excuse (Tressel’s) behavior.’ August: A display honoring Tressel is completed in Ohio State’s football building.
“Oregon: The best part of the police video of cornerback Cliff Harris’ high-speed traffic stop was the readout showing how fast the cops were going in pursuit: 141 miles per hour!
“Wisconsin: We know it’s perfectly legal, but bringing in a quarterback (Russell Wilson) for just one year is like adding a ringer to the company softball team: it’s a little too mercenary.”
Ball Bits
–Last Wednesday at Dodger Stadium, 27,767 tickets were sold for a Dodgers-Padres afternoon game. But that was the official attendance. As the L.A. Times’ Bill Plaschke noted, there were “maybe 8,000 folks here.” Many believe it was the smallest crowd in the history of Chavez Ravine.
But then the next day the Dodgers embattled owner Frank McCourt was offered $1.2 billion for his team, a record price for a Major League Baseball franchise – a bid being spearheaded by Bill Burke and funded by Chinese investors. Major League Baseball has full say on anything that happens with the Dodgers, seeing as how McCourt filed for bankruptcy as a result of his high-profile divorce, and MLB will not accept any sale unless McCourt has no stake in the new ownership structure. The Burke group’s offer is for 21 days and must be accepted by both MLB and the bankruptcy court.
–So you look at the prospective $1.2 billion deal for the Dodgers and you wonder what the New York Mets would fetch, its owner group, led by Fred Wilpon, recently having secured $200 million from hedge fund king David Einhorn as the Mets’ owners deal with the backlash from the Bernie Madoff scandal and a still-ongoing court struggle that threatens to take the Wilpons down.
But then Einhorn suddenly pulled out over what he said was the collapse of a pre-approved deal by Major League Baseball that would have allowed him to buy more than 50% of the team in coming years. As the New York Daily News’ Bill Madden writes, however, that’s probably not the entire truth.
“Now that David Einhorn has enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame as the would-be owner of the Mets, a little perspective is in order on why his $200 million deal with the Wilpons fell apart and what’s going to happen to the team from here on out.
“First of all, when Einhorn says he was misled by MLB in regard to his request to be approved as the Mets’ control person five years down the road, he doth protest too much. He was given the baseball constitution and he knew that control persons require a vote of the clubs. There was no way baseball was going to approve him as the control person five years from now when there is no certainty about what the ownership structure of the team would even be then.
“Plain and simple, Einhorn is a hedge fund guy who saw this as an opportunity to ‘short’ the Wilpons and seize the team when their bill came due with Irving Picard, the trustee in the Bernie Madoff mess. In this regard, Einhorn, the man who has been known to play a little Texas Hold ‘Em from time to time, was betting on Picard. But not long after the agreement was struck for Einhorn to become a limited investor for $200 million and he was parading around Citi Field as the white knight to disillusioned Met fans, a part of Picard’s case against the Wilpons was transferred from bankruptcy court to the U.S. District court and Judge Jed S. Rakoff. All of a sudden, the playing field improved considerably for the Wilpons. It still remains to be seen if Rakoff, in his promised ruling at the end of the month, determines that Picard can only go after the $160-300 million in profits the Wilpons made from Madoff and not their $700 million in principal, as he has also sought. But if Rakoff does rule as such, the Mets owners should have a much easier time reaching a settlement in the case that will enable them to retain control of the team.
“This is why Einhorn’s effort to get ‘pre-approved’ as the Mets control person was a desperate reach on his part – and why things got really nasty between he and Fred Wilpon in that parting-of-the-ways meeting in the offices of Allen & Company managing director Steve Greenberg on Thursday.”
Of the $200 million Einhorn was to invest, $100 million was to go into team operations and $75 million was to pay bank debt. The remaining $25 million was to repay baseball’s loan.
So now the Wilpons and the other primary owner, Saul Katz, are seeking to sell $200 million in small ownership units, say $20 million. [Jim Crane, the prospective owner of the Houston Astros, is raising $375 million in 15 units of $25 million each.]
But as the New York Post’s Kaja Whitehouse points out:
“People familiar (with the Wilpons’ new plan) say the details are still being hammered out, but voting power is unlikely to be part of the deal. This will reduce the pool of interested investors – as it did in the last round of negotiations.
“ ‘Why give all those millions just to walk around the stadium like a New York schlepper,’ Martin Silver, owner of Star Industries, the maker of Georgi Vodka, told The Post. ‘If you can get a say in the team, then you can put your two cents in.’
“The Long Island liquor mogul put together a group of investors during the last round of bidding but walked away when he realized how little say the investors would have.”
–Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post had a story on Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg, who is making his highly anticipated return to the major league level on Tuesday, related specifically to the hurler’s Tommy John surgery.
The first operation was performed 37 years ago by surgeon Frank Jobe and was once regarded as a risky, last-resort operation. Now, says one practitioner, Tim Kremchek, “the player has over a 95 percent chance of coming back.” For his part, Strasburg can throw 100 mph again, a year after his surgery.
But as Kilgore writes, it was in 1972 that Tommy John, then pitching for the Dodgers, first met Jobe, then the team physician, to have some bone chips removed from his left elbow. Jobe performed the surgery. The two stayed in touch, Jobe performed the same operation on John’s wife, and they became friends.
“Late in the summer of 1974, John felt a pain in his left elbow so severe he could no longer pitch. He learned he had snapped the ulnar collateral ligament. He went to Jobe.
“Early in his career, Jobe had performed tendon grafts for children who had polio diagnosed. When he examined John’s torn ligament, the idea to perform a similar operation struck him….
“At the time, Jobe was confident but was not certain the idea would work.
“ ‘I trusted Jobe,’ John said. ‘He was a friend. I knew he wouldn’t BS me. He would lay it on the table and tell me what was good for me. He told me, ‘You do not have to have the surgery. But if you don’t, you will never pitch again.’ I said, ‘Okay, if I have the surgery, what are the chances?’ He said, ‘You probably won’t pitch again.’ I wanted to play baseball. I would do whatever it took to play baseball again. So we had the surgery.’
“When Jobe operated, he sliced John’s elbow wide open and moved the ulnar nerve in order to reach the bone. He took a tendon from a cadaver’s leg and attached it with screws. Then he hoped John’s body would react favorably and the tendon would serve the same role as the ligament.
“ ‘We didn’t really know whether we could do it or not,’ Jobe said. ‘We didn’t know whether we could heal it or not. We didn’t know whether a tendon would be accepted by the body and receive blood supply and become part of the body.’
“Jobe and John waited. John did not throw a ball again for 16 weeks. Jobe decided he should not pitch in a major league game until one year of rigorous rehab. Every step of the way, the recovery unfolded as Jobe hoped. John returned in 1974, and in seven of the eight seasons he threw more than 200 innings.”
Last year, 10 pitchers who had the surgery were named to the All-Star team.
Kremchek, the Reds’ team physician, said he once performed 15 to 20 ligament replacement surgeries per year. In 2010, he performed Tommy John surgery about 150 times.
Tommy John, by the way, loves that he is associated with the procedure. “I’ll be dust in the grave, and people will still be having Tommy John surgery.”
—Roger Clemens learned he will face a new trial on charges he lied to Congress as Federal District Court judge Reggie Walton said a second trial would not violate Clemens’ constitutional rights protecting him from being tried twice for the same crime; this after Walton had declared a mistrial two days into testimony in the first effort because prosecutors screwed up in showing a video that Walton had clearly said beforehand wasn’t admissible.
–The length of Yankees-Red Sox games is getting beyond absurd. Last week we had nine-inning games of 3:59 and 4:21. C’mon, guys. It’s the hitters stepping out of the box after each pitch, the pitchers stepping off the mound…keep the batter in the batter’s box, for starters. That will speed the pitcher up, too.
–How about Derek Jeter? I would not have thunk it. Since he came off the disabled list, July 4, he is hitting .342 thru Monday’s action, 73-213, with 34 RBI in 51 games. As Ronald Reagan once told us, “Not bad…not bad at all.”
[And just a note to readers Chuck E. and Glenn G. I received your notes, greatly appreciated, and will address some of the Ball Bits you brought up next time….promise.]
Golf Balls
–One of the reasons why I held off a day on this Bar Chat, aside from giving myself a minor break (like a few hours), was to have time for the Deutsche Bank / FedEx Cup finish. I did not get to see it, due to a family event (thank you Bro, for the great food and domestic, plus domestic wine, plus….better not go there…), but who should win it but none other than Demon Deacon Webb Simpson! I read the details but haven’t seen the highlight reel. How strange would it be (us Wake fans would prefer, ‘How great would it be…,’) for Webb Simpson, with two wins in the last three weeks, to suddenly be the one to emerge as the next real superstar. He’s far from being there, but he’s obviously got the game.
—Phil Mickelson turned to the belly putter, an Odyssey model. I will never, ever use one myself. Lefty did finish T-10 this weekend and was very comfortable with it.
–Meanwhile, the PGA Tour reached agreement with CBS and NBC sports on a new television agreement that runs nine years and which Bloomberg News estimates at $3 billion. Congratulations to the tour for securing this even as golf’s ratings have been dropping significantly with Tiger Woods seemingly no longer a factor. As I’ve written countless times before, it’s great to talk about all the young talent, but one or two of these guys have to grab the sport by the balls to capture the attention of the casual television viewer and that hasn’t happened yet. [Webb?!….this comment added late.]
But now the tour has its money as CBS and NBC will continue with their existing schedules; NBC dominating the early and late season, CBS much of everything in between. The Golf Channel was already locked up in a separate deal through 2022.
–You can imagine the excitement among organizers of the Frys.com Open, the fall-season PGA Tour event in Northern California that Tiger Woods has now committed to. Officials say ticket sales are 40% ahead of last year after Tiger’s announcement and that will only grow between now and October.
–Golf Magazine had its annual survey on various topics. Herewith a few:
“Which golfer would you most like to tee it up with?” Tiger 38%, Phil 17%, Jack Nicklaus 16%, Arnold Palmer 15%.
“Which golfer would you least like to tee it up with?” Rory Sabbatini 62% [Ed. I play even faster than Rory…so we’d get along great.], Tiger 15%.
–I’ve always liked actor Michael Douglas (not that us common folk know what someone like Douglas is really like) and he had an interview in the October issue of Golf Magazine. To wit:
“You’re 66, but you came to golf late in life. You’ve said you went from Playboy to Golf Magazine. How did you get hooked?”
Douglas: It was over 20 years ago. I had a skiing accident and tore up my left knee, so I couldn’t play tennis anymore. Jack Nicholson and I are friends. We decided to give golf a try. I remember being on a driving range and drawing a 4-iron and not conceiving that a ball could go that much farther with a draw. I can still see it now: low and piercing, compared to my high balloon balls. I’ve been chasing that 4-iron draw for years, trying to get it back.
Douglas: He keeps a unique score. When something goes wrong, he blames it on ‘C.E.’: Caddie Error. He has a creative scoring system, but he never gambles, so I say whatever makes you happy.
–Up to this week’s Deutsche Bank PGA event, of the 38 prior tournaments this year, 18 were won by golfers who routinely drive it 300 yards or longer, as reported by the New York Times’ Larry Dorman.
–Finally, April 5-8, 2012…The Masters…a tradition unlike any other.
–I’m not doing a big deal on the NFL season opening up, but for the record, your EXCLUSIVE Pick to Click to win the Super Bowl is…the Green Bay Packers!!! Yeah, not exactly going out on a limb, but gotta go with the best QB in the game, Aaron Rodgers. I’ll say the Pack plays the Steelers. A lot of other folks seem to have the Eagles over the Steelers, or Packers over the Patriots.
As for my Jets, it will be a solid 11-5 season; I just don’t see them in the Big One.
Meanwhile, Giants fans better get ready for a dreadful 5-11 as Eli Manning has a horrible year, tossing a staggering 94 interceptions. [Really, it’s not gonna be pretty…OK, maybe 34, which would still be absolutely hideous.]
–We note the passing of NFL Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon, who died Sunday after suffering a massive stroke two days earlier.
“Lee Roy Selmon was one of the best all-around defensive ends in NFL history. He excelled against the run and the pass, and did it modestly, without bringing attention to himself.”
It was in the spring of 1976 that the Tampa Bay Buccanneers had the first pick in the college draft. Tampa Bay was a new franchise, and as such could have used a quarterback. But GM Ron Wolf and coach John McKay knew they couldn’t pass up a rare opportunity, so they went with Lee Roy Selmon.
“From 1971 to 1975, Selmon and his brothers, Luscious and Dewey, played a key part in a dominant era of Oklahoma football. The Sooners went 54-3-1 over that period, and won the national championship in 1974 and 1975. All three Selmons played together in 1973 as Oklahoma finished 10-0-1.
“After his senior season, Selmon won the Lombardi Award and the Outland Trophy as the nation’s outstanding lineman. His college coach, Barry Switzer, called Selmon ‘the greatest player I ever had,’ and said he never had a bad game….
“In his nine years in Tampa (1976-84), Selmon was unofficially credited with 78.5 sacks in 121 games, 28.5 fumbles caused and 380 quarterback pressures. (The NFL didn’t begin keeping sacks by defensive players until 1982).”
Selmon played in six consecutive Pro Bowls, from 1979 to 1984. In 1995 he became the first Buccaneer to be elected to the Hall of Fame.
–Back on Aug. 1 in this space I said of Peyton Manning, “you do have to wonder about a guy who recently had his second neck operations since March 2010.”
Now there is indeed increasing concern because Manning is making slow progress in his rehab. He is practicing on a very limited basis so it is highly unlikely he will be ready for Indy’s season opener Sept. 11, which would break his streak of starting 227 consecutive games, including the playoffs, the second-longest streak in NFL history for quarterbacks next to Brett Favre.
“Police have lauded the courage of two surfers who brought their mate to shore as he died from horrific injuries inflicted by a suspected great white shark at a popular West Australian surf break.
“The victim, 21, was in the water in ‘perfect shark conditions’ at The Boneyards break, Bunker Bay, in the state’s southwest, when he was mauled early yesterday afternoon.
“At least five other surfers were just meters from the victim but the shark struck so swiftly nobody saw the attack, said Sergeant Craig Anderson…
“The shark, reported up to 4.5 meters long, left the bodyboarder with terrible wounds. One report said he was missing several limbs.
“His mates pulled him to shore but he died on the beach, shocking a lunchtime crowd at the nearby Bunkers Beach Café….
“The attack occurred in an area popular with surfers and anglers and close to a seal colony….
“ ‘You could have described it as perfect shark conditions…dark and gloomy water, overcast skies, light rain falling. There was whale-watching action earlier in the morning in the bay, and there were seals about,’ Sergeant Anderson said.”
One witness at the café who ran to the beach said, “From the waist down, it was just all gone.”
While there hadn’t been a shark attack in that spot in a reported 21 years, last August, about an hour’s drive north, a 31-year-old was killed by a shark. It is the third fatal shark mauling in Australia in just over 12 months. The other victim was the bloke in February, who, as reported by Bar Chat, was diving for abalone when he was taken by two sharks, believed to be great whites.
So Whitey is on a hot streak and needs to be treated with respect.
–I watched some of the World Track and Field Championships from Daegu, South Korea, and you know who are some of the sexier athletes? The U.S. women’s sprint contingent. Just sayin’. They put on a great display in winning the 4X100 relay. Plus they are all well-spoken; frankly a refreshing change compared to some of their male counterparts in, say, the NBA. I’m a huge Allyson Felix fan, by the way. Huuuuge fan.
Meanwhile, regarding the competition, the U.S. got some shocking efforts from Jesse Williams and Jenny Barringer Simpson. Williams became the first American to win the high jump at the World Championships in 20 years, while Jenny Barringer was the first American woman to win the World’s in the 1500 since Mary Decker.
And then there was Usain Bolt. Recovering from his disqualification in the 100 due to a false start, he was extra cautious at the start of the 200 final and then all he did was finish in 19.40, the fourth-fastest in history. Only Bolt and Michael Johnson have run this fast, with Bolt holding the record at 19.19. No need to worry about Usain, especially after watching him anchor a world record in the 4X100 relay as Jamaica took the mark down to 37.04! Wow. [And without the injured Asafa Powell, the second-fastest in the world these days.] As for the U.S. men, prior to the baton pass to our anchor, the runner from Great Britain tripped our guy, the limey bastard.
And did any of you catch the women’s 800? First off, I think the 800 is the toughest race of them all; the ultimate combination of speed and endurance, plus strategy. I mean the 400 is super tough as it’s a full-out sprint the entire way, but I still gotta go with the 800.
Anyway, Caster Semenya of South Africa, the girl who has had to go through the gender controversy, put on a helluva kick with about 3/4s of a lap to go, took the lead, appeared to be cruising to victory, only to have Russia’s Mariya Savinova overtake her at the finish for the gold.
But here’s the thing. As the NBC commentator said, it looked like Semenya had zero fight. She was clearly not winded at the end, and she was smiling broadly, rare for her (she’s been through a lot), but as the analyst said, he had never seen someone take the lead like she did and then almost shut it down. Bizarre.
Back to my favorite, distance running, 21-year-old Matt Centrowitz took a very surprising bronze in the men’s 1500. And great sportsmanship as friends Mo Farah of Great Britain and Bernard Lagat of the U.S. battled it out in the 5000, with Farah emerging victorious. Cool stuff. Your editor can’t wait to go back to the Olympic Trials next summer.
Lastly, for those of you who run distance races, did you see the marathon in Daegu? It was 80 degrees with 60% humidity. The leading American (I forget his name) collapsed about ten feet from the finish line and it took him forever to then get across. The conditions were the absolute worst you can possibly have. I mean I ran this weekend in the exact same 80-60 combination and I sweated out every single domestic I’ve drunk in the past month, plus a premium or two. I don’t know how these guys ran 26 in it.
—Gehrig Dieter is a receiver for Washington High School (South Bend, Ind.) and on Friday night, all the kid did was set a national high school mark (as much as these things can be proved) with 447 yards receiving. Previously, he wasn’t being heavily recruited by the big boys but now he is drawing interest from some.
“Here’s an unusual risk of playing paintball: A British woman’s breast implant reportedly exploded after she was hit in the chest by a paintball, which can travel at 190 mph.
“UK Paintball has now adjusted its policies accordingly. ‘We respectfully ask that any ladies with surgical breast implants notify our team at the time of booking,’ according to a statement on its website. ‘You will be given special information on the dangers of paintballing with enhanced boobs and asked to sign a disclaimer.’
“Just wait, it gets better: ‘You will also be issued with extra padding to protect your implants while paintballing,’ the statement says.”
–Speaking of breasts, there is this story from the Sydney Morning Herald:
“A New Zealand woman has shocked fellow drivers by breastfeeding a baby at the wheel of a moving car with three young children in the back seat.
“Police are attempting to track down the unidentified woman, who was seen driving in a ‘highly dangerous’ fashion.”
Said Dr. Judith Galtry, “If you’ve got a screaming baby, I can imagine the temptation, but I mean, really.”
–The weight of the evidence is overwhelming…the perfect food just might be blueberries, as I’ve been reading in countless stories, including the October issue of Runner’s World.
But in an article on nutrition, the magazine also notes:
“A pint of beer helps prevent colds”!
“In a study from Munich University published this year, runners drank one to one-and-a-half liters of nonalcoholic beer (NAB) daily for three weeks and then ran a marathon. Afterward they drank NAB for two more weeks. Compared to non-drinkers, the NAB group had more killer T-cells (a sign of a strong immune system) and three times fewer postrace respiratory-tract infections. Nonalcoholic and alcoholic beer contain polyphenols from brewing grains that may reduce colds.”
Yup, gonna go out and get me a six-pack of polyphenols right now, sports fans.
–Yikes. From the Sydney Morning Herald:
“A 31-year-old New Zealander choked and died eating an airline meal on a Jetstar flight from Singapore to Auckland.”
90 minutes into it, the guy died and for the next 9 ½ hours his girlfriend had to sit by his body in a curtained off crew rest area.
Vanessa Preechakul said: “One minute we were sitting next to each other kissing, holding hands and the next minute he was choking.”
The reason why I note this horrible story is maybe it will help save one of you, or a friend/family member some day. You should assume the worst in some situations.
Vanessa’s friend (I’m purposefully leaving out the victim’s name) “was eating his beef dinner while watching a movie when she noticed him shaking, but at first she didn’t realize anything was wrong.
“ ‘I thought he was laughing very hard, then I looked at his face and his eyes were rolling and he couldn’t talk. His lips were turning purple,’ she said.
“An ultra-marathon that was intended to showcase the Australian outback to the world was cancelled when four runners were horrifically burnt after being trapped in a gorge by a bushfire in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia….
“The runners were competing in a 100km race through the rugged terrain of the Kimberley region…when a fire surrounded them….
“Oskar Booth, an Australian who was competing in the event, described how the competitors became trapped in a narrow gorge as the fire approached.
“ ‘The fire came up the ridge and burnt the people further behind us,’ he told local newspaper The West.
“ ‘I could see thick plumes of smoke and it was hard to breathe.’
“Witnesses reported seeing up to eight competitors climbing steep ridges to escape the fire.
“ ‘They were running through the gorge and a bushfire held them up and they had nowhere to go,’ said Joanne Hill, spokeswoman for Australia’s Royal Flying Doctor Service.”
There were competitors from 10 countries for the event. What a nightmare.
—A 15-month-old mountain lion was hit and killed by a car on California’s 405 Freeway near the Getty Center. There are an estimated 6 to 8 mountain lions living in the Santa Monica Mountains, so I wouldn’t go hiking in the recreation areas there if I were you. We could be talking revenge attack.
–If you didn’t see Sunday’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” trust me…it is perhaps the best ever and features Bill Buckner, of all people, who is terrific. I’m tellin’ ya, if you don’t get HBO, find a friend who does and watch it this week.
Top 3 songs for the week 9/8/84: #1 “What’s Love Got To Do With It” (Tina Turner…ughh) #2 “Missing You” (John Waite) #3 “She Cop” (Cyndi Lauper…anything she did led to nightmares for moi)…and…#4 “Ghostbusters” (Ray Parker Jr. …always thought he had kind of a cool name. Solid. Know what I’m sayin’?) #5 “Stuck On You” (Lionel Richie…OK) #6 “Let’s Go Crazy” (Prince and the Revolution…at his peak) #7 “If This Is It” (Huey Lewis and the News…quality effort) #8 “The Warrior” (Scandal featuring Patty Smyth) #9 “Sunglasses At Night” (Corey Hart…don’t know it) #10 “Drive” (The Cars…not a fan of the group…sorry)
College Football Quiz Answer: Career passing leaders, yards.
Div. I-A…Timmy Chang, Hawaii, 2000-2004…17,072
Div. I-AA…Steve McNair, Alcorn State, 1991-94…14,496
Div. II…Jimmy Terwilliger, East Stroudsburg, 2003-2006…14,350
Only McNair made the NFL. Chang had numerous tryouts but didn’t stick; played in the Canadian Football League for a spell. Terwilliger’s career was closely followed by Johnny Mac for Bar Chat and your editor, in another month or so, will be proudly wearing his ESU fleece pullover.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday. Something 9/11 related only.
