[Posted from Lahinch, County Clare, Ireland]
Friends, my little golf/pub trips to Ireland are the only times when I really can’t get any work done. Aside from the wasted time in the air, it’s the five-hour rounds of golf, the 3 hours in the clubhouse afterwards, the 3 hours out for dinner…and other stuff. You get the picture. When I go to other places it’s totally different, a helluva lot more disciplined, for starters. So, seeing as how I flew over Saturday night, arrived early Sunday morning, and was on the course a few hours after that, with pints calling me following the round, there wasn’t a lot of focus on college or NFL football, let alone the baseball playoffs. And seeing as I’m traveling back on Wednesday, no BC on Thursday.
College Football Quiz: Continuing with Sporting News’ 125th anniversary selection of the Top Ten College Football Greatest Teams…name the quarterbacks on the following. 1) No. 4 on the list – 1995 Nebraska. 2) No. 6 – 1968 Ohio State. 3) No. 9 – 2001 Miami. Answers below.
College Football Review
No. 4 Boise State didn’t have an impressive win over a mediocre Nevada team, 30-10, and that will hurt them.
No. 7 Wisconsin rolled over No. 8 Nebraska, 48-17.
No. 6 Stanford crushed UCLA, 45-19.
No. 10 South Carolina lost to Auburn, 16-13.
No. 18 Arkansas defeated No. 14 Texas A&M, which we like to see, 42-38.
Toledo handed upstart Temple a humbling defeat, 36-13, as Temple was still celebrating its previous week’s win over Maryland.
SMU upset No. 20 TCU, 40-33, in overtime.
Colgate beat Fordham, 38-14.
Western Michigan defeated UConn, 38-31.
Michigan State edged Ohio State 10-7.
Rutgers beat Syracuse, 19-16.
And in the ACC, No. 13 Clemson continues to shock the world, this time manhandling No. 11 Virginia Tech, on the road, 23-3, to move to 5-0, while No. 21 Georgia Tech beat North Carolina State, 45-35, and Virginia barely got by a lousy Idaho team, 21-20.
But the big story of the weekend, my Wake Forest Demon Deacons go to 3-1 as they went up to Boston College and whipped the Eagles, 27-19, behind the quarterbacking of Tanner Price. The Deacs should be 4-0, but for a missed extra point and easy field goal the opening week versus Syracuse, but next up Florida State. At least your editor’s Deaconwear is getting restless in the drawer and about to come out again.
The new AP Top 10
1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. Oklahoma
4. Wisconsin
5. Boise State
6. Oklahoma State
7. Stanford
8. Clemson…wow, deserved jump
9. Oregon…quack quack
10. Arkansas
The ACC’s last national championship, by the way, was Florida State’s in 1999, and the last time an ACC school went to the title game was in 2000, also the Seminoles. ACC teams are 2-11 in BCS games. It doesn’t help the conference that Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Miami are either on or facing probation. And it’s not like the addition of Pitt and Syracuse elevates the league any, neither having had any real success lately.
NFL Bits
Sky Sports has begun showing NFL games live over in Europe and so I got to see the end of the Lions win over the Cowboys, 34-30, after trailing 30-17 in the fourth quarter. So Detroit goes to 4-0, thanks in no small part to Tony Romo’s 3 interceptions.
But the Bills lost to the Bengals as Buffalo goes down for the first time.
Meanwhile, my J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets couldn’t have S-U-C-K-E-D more in losing 34-17 to the Ravens. Talk about getting manhandled, Jets fans are more than surly at this point. A .500 season is about the best we can hope for with no offensive line and little team speed. Oh, and Mark Sanchez was 11-35 passing, with four fumbles.
But the other tenant of MetLife Stadium, the Giants, rode Eli Manning’s arm to 21 fourth quarter points in a nice 31-27 win over the Cardinals, so out of nowhere it’s the Giants who are 3-1, not the Jets.
Green Bay, your editor’s pick to click to take it all, moved to 4-0 as all Aaron Rodgers did was throw for 408 yards and four touchdowns, and then run it in for two more scores.
And who wudda thunk that the Eagles would be 1-3, after losing to the 49ers, 24-23, and the Redskins 3-1, after defeating the Rams, 17-10?!
Talkin’ Baseball
–Of all the clutch hits on Wednesday, I’ve gotta go with Tampa’s Dan Johnson as number one.
–Major League Baseball subscribes to an unknown weather service which advised them to start Friday night’s Yanks-Tigers game in New York. I had watched the local weather forecast two hours earlier and knew rain was on the way (plus it had been raining in parts of the area all day), then when it started coming down at Yankee Stadium, I checked the weather.com radar and thought, no way this thing restarts. Yet they even began taking the tarp off 30 minutes into the delay when the rain got heavy all over again, which anyone looking at the radar would have seen was going to be the case. Just amazing. Maybe the guy in charge at MLB forget to refresh his browser.
–So much for Boston manager Terry Francona. The Red Sox had to make the change and fired him. It was pathetic that the team didn’t listen to the guy, and “superstars” like Adrian Gonzalez said after of the collapse things like ‘We were on national television too much, late game times, blah blah blah.’ Another, I forget who, said “I guess it was God’s will.” Geezuz. You’re a freakin’ idiot! I can just imagine what Francona was going through the last few weeks with attitudes like that to deal with, but he had lost the clubhouse.
In his eight years, Boston made the postseason five times and won it all in 2004 and 2007. Now, however, the Francona era will be as well known for the worst collapse in baseball history, a nine-game lead with 24 to play on Sept. 4, after which the BoSox went 6-18 (7-20 overall in Sept.). But it does need to be pointed out, as Tyler Kepner did in the New York Times, that Boston owner John Henry (one of them) shelled out $450 million the past three seasons for zero playoff wins.
–The Boston Herald reported that one of the issues in the Red Sox clubhouse was that “pitchers were allowed to drink beer in the clubhouse on their off-days.”
Confession time. I drink beer on days I’m not writing a column. Just don’t tell the little children out there. I’m a role model to them, after all.
–Ken P. pointed out that the Cardinals held the record for greatest September comeback, 8 ½ games, for about 25 minutes (actually, 1:36, to be exact). Of course the Cardinals were 10 ½ back on Aug. 25, making them just the fifth team since divisional play started in 1969 to come back from 10 games out of playoff contention on Aug. 1 or later, the others being the 1969 and ’73 Mets, the 1995 Mariners and the 2009 Twins.
[If you’re thinking ‘What about the 1978 Yankees?’ they started their comeback in mid-July and by July 31 had cut the Red Sox lead to 7 ½.]
11:40 p.m. ET – Braves lose 4-3 in 13th, are eliminated
12:02 a.m. ET – Red Sox lose 4-3 on walk-off single in 9th
12:05 a.m. ET – Rays win 8-7 on walk-off home run in 12th, eliminating Red Sox
–The Mets’ Jose Reyes won the batting title with a .337 average, but it was the way he handled the last game that raised many questions. Reyes led off, got a bunt single, then took himself out of the game. Understand that most of the afternoon crowd of 28,000 was there because of Jose and what made it even more bogus was that the crowd didn’t even have a chance to give him a nice ovation because it all happened so suddenly, no one knew what to do. Reyes should have at least taken the field for the next inning and then manager Terry Collins could have made a big deal of it by replacing him in the field.
It was classic Mets. The organization always has a tin ear. And it came on the precise day, 70 days earlier, that Ted Williams had gone 6 for 8 in a doubleheader to finish at .406 even though at the start of the day, he was already technically at .400. As the New York Post’s Mike Vaccaro wrote, however, while everyone in the Mets clubhouse said the right things after the game, including manager Terry Collins, still, no one seemed to understand the fans’ attitude.
“It still felt like asking for change of a dollar and getting four dimes back.”
Reyes said, “A lot of people told me ‘Don’t play today.’ I said, ‘I want to be there for the fans so they can see me, (because) I don’t know next year if I’m going to be there.’”
Many of the fans weren’t even in their seats yet. Personally, I don’t care at this point if the Mets lose Reyes. He’s not the brightest bulb on the planet, for starters, and as exciting as he is he is prone to some of the biggest bonehead plays you’ll ever see.
But I really thought Mets broadcaster Keith Hernandez, who along with booth mates Ron Darling and Gary Cohen, was stunned by how it all went down after Reyes’ bunt single, expressed it best, in just five words.
Keith mumbled disgustedly, “It’s the whole mindset…society…” and he just let that last word hang. I couldn’t agree more. You know what Keith was thinking…the everyone gets a trophy mentality, “fans” coming to games and then spending the entire contest glued to their freakin’ BlackBerry, our leaders not asking us to sacrifice at all even though we are fighting two wars….Greatest Generation II my ass.
[Need further proof? Look at the Red Sox’ players’ reactions to their collapse, or the reaction of Yankee pitcher A.J. Burnett after each of his horrid performances this year.]
–What an awesome moment for 6-year-old Cooper Stone, the boy whose father fell to his death at Rangers Ballpark back on July 7 while attempting to catch a ball thrown to him by outfielder Josh Hamilton. Cooper and his mom attended the first game of the Rays-Rangers series and he threw out the first ball. And, boy, the kid threw it well! By all accounts, Hamilton has been there, and then some, for the Stone family.
—Adam Dunn wrapped up the worst year in baseball history at the plate, especially given his past success. Dunn finished at .159, going 0 for his last 22, to boot, with just 11 home runs and 42 RBI when he was expected to be the White Sox’ cleanup hitter, driving in 100 with 40 round-trippers. He struck out 177 times and was 6 for 94, .064, against lefties.
–Interesting season for Baltimore’s Mark Reynolds. You can’t knock his 37 HR, 86 RBI, but he hit .221 and fanned 196 times.
—Jayson Werth signed a big free agent contract with Washington last offseason, 7 years, $126 million, and he proceeded to bat .232, with 20 homers and 58 RBI. Plus he whiffed 168 times.
–And Boston’s Carl Crawford, he of the 7-year, $142 million deal, hit. 255 with 11 homers and 56 RBI, while stealing just 18 bases. Crawford also had an incredibly pathetic on-base percentage of .289! And then he failed to come up with the sinking liner in the final game on Wednesday. I think Jayson Werth could settle into .270, 20-80 mode, which while far from worth what he is being paid, could be respectable. But Crawford? This might be all there is.
–When I wrote my last BC, I didn’t think the Dodgers would use Eugenio Velez at the plate in the final game but Velez grounded out in his only at bat, finishing the season 0-for-37, thus extending his record for most ABs by a non-pitcher without a hit. [He’s now also 0-for-46 over two seasons, another record, though some don’t believe records should carry over like this.]
–Washington’s Stephen Strasburg pitched on the final day of the season and got the win in going six innings, allowing but one hit, while striking out 10 and walking two. So he finished up his post-Tommy John surgery action with 24 innings at the big league level, 24 Ks, just 2 walks, and a 1.50 ERA. I was scared for the guy, but give credit not only to Strasburg but to the Washington organization for seemingly doing everything right. Now Strasburg, and the team, enter the off-season with a very positive attitude about 2012. I hope he puts up Verlander type numbers every year for the next ten seasons. Can you imagine how great that would be for the sport?
—Albert Pujols’ baseball card, like Ichiro’s, is now ruined forever as for the first time, Pujols failed to post .300, 30-100 in going .299, 37 HR 99 RBI.
—Ichiro’s streak of 10 consecutive 200-hit seasons ended as he had 184 and just a .272 average (.310 OBP).
—Matt Kemp finished his spectacular year at .324, 39-126, leading the league in the last two categories and falling just 13 points short of the Triple Crown.
–Gotta feel for Indians fans. They started out fast out of the gate, 30-15, gradually slid towards .500, but were 80-78 with four to go and then finished 80-82.
—Minnesota, 63-99, had its worst year since 1982, and now has to hope Joe Mauer gets back into the groove after they committed $184 million to the guy.
–Ah yes, the Pittsburgh Pirates…their North American professional sports franchise record losing streak hit 19 seasons as they went 72-90, after peaking at 51-44. 21-46 after!
–The Houston Astros have been around since 1962, but this year was their worst, 56-106. They had never lost 100 before.
–Give the Los Angeles Dodgers credit. They were floundering at 57-69 but finished a strong 25-10 to end up 82-79. At least they enter the off-season feeling better about themselves. Now they have to give Matt Kemp a giant new contract, though, to make sure he’s around for awhile, and do it before spring training, because otherwise he’s likely bolt after next season.
[I forgot Dave Stewart was Kemp’s agent. Yeah, that Dave Stewart, the pitcher. Why I was struck out by Dave Stewart just a few years ago…and you can look it up.]
–Not for nothing, but the Yankees’ David Robertson had a pretty awesome year out of the bullpen. 70 games, 66 2/3 innings, 100 strikeouts, 1.08 ERA. He did blow three saves, however.
–Matthew Futterman of the Wall Street Journal wrote of the matchup all of us should want to really see in the World Series…Detroit vs. Philadelphia…Roy Halladay vs. Justin Verlander; two of the best of the last ten years, thus making for the best matchup in World Series history.
“While it may come as a surprise to baseball fans, the World Series hasn’t been a wonderful showcase for top pitching duels. Since the end of the dead-ball era in 1919, excluding seasons played during World War II, the best raw pitching matchup in the World Series came in 1968 when Bob Gibson’s St. Louis Cardinals took on Denny McLain’s Detroit Tigers.”
According to one statistical measurement, ERA+, which corrects for the effects of a pitcher’s ballpark, Gibson vs. McLain was the best by a fair margin. Next best, according to this methodology, was in 1995, Greg Maddux vs. Orel Hershiser. Next, you have to go back to 1930 and Lefty Grove of Philadelphia vs. Burleigh Grimes of St. Louis.
Boy, I put Halladay vs. Verlander right there at the top, too. So let’s go for it!
–Well, let’s see. At the start of the season, your editor picked the following:
N.L. Braves, Brewers, Rockies, Giants (wild card)
A.L. Red Sox, Yankees (wild card), White Sox, A’s
White Sox over Brewers in the Series.
And I also had A-Rod as the A.L. MVP and Jason Heyward winning it in N.L. A-Rod was hurt, but all Heyward did was hit .227 with 42 RBIs and Atlanta is already saying he isn’t guaranteed a starting position next year.
–I can understand why former coach Mike Ditka is extremely upset with author Jeff Pearlman and his book on the late Walter Payton, “Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton,” which is being released Oct. 4 but for which an excerpt is already online at SI.com. Pearlman, who has written a number of sports books, including an entertaining one on the 1986 Mets, quotes Payton’s agent Bud Holmes and others while detailing the Hall of Famer’s alleged abuse of pain-killers and laughing gas.
Pearlman also reports Payton had a longtime mistress, and that he often contemplated committing suicide after retiring. Payton died in 1999 at the age of 45.
In a separate interview, Ditka said: “What’s the point? What’s the point? The point is one thing only – to sell books. That’s all it’s about. It’s a bunch of crap, first of all.”
Really, all kinds of books are done on celebrities long after they’ve died, including sports heroes, but Ditka nailed it. In this case, ‘What’s the point in trashing the guy so?’
You’ve now read a little description of the kind of things in the book. Would you buy it? To learn he abused pain-killers? What NFL player didn’t? And to learn he had a mistress? Wow, what a shocker! I need all the details on that one.
For his part, Pearlman is defending his writing. “(If) you’re someone screaming and yelling, ‘How dare you! How dare you!’ I encourage you to take in 460 pages, not seven.”
Sorry, Jeff. There’s a book on Patton by Carlo D’Este sitting on my shelf I’ve been meaning to get to first.
—Lexi Thompson became the youngest member in LPGA history Friday when the tour approved her petition for full membership beginning 2012. Normally you have to be 18, but when Thompson won the Navistar LPGA Classic in Alabama the other week, it was pretty tough to deny her the right to play next year. Heck, Commissioner Mike Whan is no fool. The LPGA desperately needs all the publicity it can get.
–Former PGA Tour golfer Dave Hill died. He was 74. Hill was known for being outspoken and having a quick temper, but won 13 times, as well as the Vardon Trophy for best scoring average in 1969, 70.34 shots per round, and was runner-up to Frank Beard on the earnings list at a time of modest purses, winning $155,000. He won three tournaments that year and played in his first of three Ryder Cups.
“(Hill) was best remembered for the 1970 United States Open at Hazeltine National golf Club in Chaska, Minn.
“After the second round on a windy course, trouble came when Hill was asked what the course lacked. He said it was missing ‘only 80 acres of corn and a few cows to be a good farm.’
“He also said that Robert Trent Jones, one of the world’s best-known golf architects, had the course blueprints ‘upside down’ when he laid it out….
“Joe Dey Jr., the commissioner, fined Hill $150 before the start of the third round for ‘criticism that tends to ridicule and demean the club.’”
But a week before, Jack Nicklaus had criticized the course in Sports Illustrated.
Well, spectators greeted Dave Hill in the third round not with boos but “moos” and the clanging of cowbells as he walked the course. Hill ended up being the runner-up, but seven shots behind winner Tony Jacklin.
In 1977, Hill wrote a book, “Teed Off,” written with Nick Seitz, wherein he said: “The average touring golf pro today is living off the fat of the land and thinks the world owes him $200,000 a year…Most pros couldn’t do anything else for a living, but they always have their hands out looking for a freebie. Instead of saying ‘thank you,’ they want to know what time the next plane is leaving.”
–Quick…name 20 players in the NBA. See how easy it is to forget there is such a thing?
—Sylvia Robinson died. She was 76. Robinson had a hit as a singer-songwriter with the sexually charged “Pillow Talk” which I admit to liking a lot, but was later known as one of hip-hop’s early founders as the record label owner responsible for “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugar Hill Gang, Robinson being the owner of Sugar Hill Records. While the Sugar Hill Gang faded, Sugar Hill Records continued to power early hip-hop with a roster that included Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five.
Robinson was also part of the duo “Mickey & Sylvia,” way back, which had the 1957 hit “Love Is Strange.”
Top 3 songs for the week 10/1/66: #1 “Cherish” (The Association…underrated group) #2 “You Can’t Hurry Love” (The Supremes) #3 “Beauty Is Only Skin Deep” (The Temptations)…and… #4 “Black Is Black” (Los Bravos…great tune) #5 “Bus Stop” (The Hollies …not my favorite of theirs) #6 “96 Tears” (? (Question Mark) & The Mysterians) #7 “Reach Out I’ll Be There” (Four Tops…easily in my top 50 all time…I miss you, Levi!) #8 “Yellow Submarine” (The Beatles…had some talent) #9 “Sunshine Superman” (Donovan…Rock and Roll Hall of Famer? Can’t put him in there.) #10 “Cherry, Cherry” (Neil Diamond…Red Sox need to exorcise his “Sweet Caroline” as part of the healing process. Sorry, Neil…nice run)
College Football Quiz Answers: Quarterbacks… 1) 1995 – Nebraska…Tommie Frazier (33-3 as a starter). 2) 1968 – Ohio State…Rex Kern. 11 All-Americans on this team, including Kern, running back Jim Otis (he was a classic), Jack Tatum and running back John Brockington (great Strat-O-Matic card in 1971). 3) 2001 – Miami…Ken Dorsey. You had to get this one for the free beer, seeing as the first two were pretty easy for older fans.
