Note: Due to family obligations, I didn’t get to see much NFL action.
World Series Quiz: 1) Who is the only player to appear in 14 World Series? 2) What two players appeared on the most losing series clubs at six? [Hints: Both post-1940, different from No. 1, and both played for New York teams, though one had a losing appearance with Boston.] 3) Who was the last rookie to have two homers in a game? [Hint: 1996] Answers below.
College Football Review
All you can say is ‘Wow!’ It’s just unfortunate that there was a lengthy weather delay in the Texas Tech-Oklahoma contest that ended in the wee hours for those of us in eastern time zones, and thus I went to bed with the knowledge Tech was up 24-7 at half but still expecting to read when I first got up that the Sooners had prevailed. Instead, no, they hadn’t, the Red Raiders winning 41-38 over a No. 3 Oklahoma team that had won 49 straight at home.
Earlier, in one of the best college football games you’ll ever see in terms of pure entertainment and importance of the contest, No. 16 Michigan State upset undefeated and No. 6 Wisconsin, 37-31, on a last second desperation heave into the end zone that deflected into the arms of Keith Nichol at the goal line, with Nichol then barely getting in as replays showed and officials would later rule after first waving it off.
So with these two contests the entire BCS picture is shaken up. Ticket prices for the Dec. 3 Oklahoma-Oklahoma State showdown just plummeted. But now all eyes are on Birmingham, Alabama, and the Nov. 5 matchup between No. 1 LSU and No. 2 ‘Bama in what will rightfully be called one of the great college football games of the century. LSU took care of No. 20 Auburn on Saturday, 45-10, while Alabama defeated Tennessee, 37-6. Both now have a bye week before the big one.
No. 4 Oklahoma State defeated Missouri, 45-24
No. 5 Boise State defeated Air Force, 37-26, in very unimpressive fashion, further killing any hopes they have of playing for the national title despite Wisconsin’s and Oklahoma’s defeats.
No. 7 Clemson manhandled North Carolina, 59-38, as the Tigers suddenly vault into the title picture.
No. 8 Stanford, in whipping No. 25 Washington, 65-21, is also now in line to have a shot at the ‘Bama-LSU winner (assuming either of them then wins the SEC title game)
No. 9 Arkansas edged Ole Miss, 29-24
No. 10 Oregon blasted Colorado, 45-2, despite playing without its starting QB and LaMichael James.
No. 11, and undefeated, Kansas State slaughtered Kansas, 59-21, and now hosts Oklahoma next week. How will the Sooners react? Is Kansas State for real?
In the only other game that appears to matter next week, Stanford is at USC, which beat error-prone Notre Dame, 31-17, to move to 6-1.
In other games from the weekend, Penn State’s Joe Paterno tied Eddie Robinson with his 408th win, as the No. 21 Nittany Lions move to 7-1 in defeating Northwestern, 34-24.
And, lastly, my Wake Forest Demon Deacons won their 12th straight against Duke, 24-23, as wideout Chris Givens ran 66 yards off a pass from Tanner Price late in the fourth after the Deacs had given up a 17-0 lead. So Wake is a solid 5-2, with a real shot at 8-4, but we need to take it one at a time…next up Carolina in Chapel Hill. [Pssst…Clemson on Nov. 12, but down in Death Valley…]
Just a few stats on some of the above…Boise’s Kellen Moore tied Colt McCoy for most wins all-time at quarterback with 45…In the Oklahoma-Texas Tech game, Tech QB Seth Doege was 33-52 for 441 yards and four touchdowns, while OU’s Landry Jones threw for 412 yards and five TDs (but one pick)…Wake’s Givens had another 100-yard receiving day, 6-148, making it six out of seven this season. If he isn’t at least a 3rd-team All-American it will be a crime.
And East Carolina’s Dominick Davis went a staggering 40-45 for 372 yards in ECU’s 38-35 win over Navy. Davis, in completing 26 straight in the first half, extended his consecutive pass completion streak to 36, going back to his previous contest, which smashed the NCAA mark of 26 straight over two games by Aaron Rodgers when he was at California. [Davis had broken the single-game mark of 23 straight held by Rodgers and Tee Martin of Tennessee in the opening half.]
Lastly, as undefeated and No. 19 Houston destroyed Marshall, 63-28, Cougars quarterback Case Keenum set a slew of NCAA marks. Keenum, in completing 24 of 28 for 376 yards and six TDs, eclipsed Hawaii’s Timmy Chang’s career total offense record of 16,910 yards, and needs 802 passing yards to move ahead of Chang’s 17,072, and five TD passes to eclipse the mark of 134 set by Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell from 2005-08.
I kind of feel sorry for Chang, who never made it to the NFL and has had a few run-ins with the law. He’s losing everything.
So now…the new AP Poll [just so you understand…in total honesty I write the above before the polls are released.]
1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. Oklahoma State
4. Stanford
5. Boise State
6. Clemson…in great position
7. Oregon…wow
8. Arkansas…doesn’t deserve this
9. Michigan State…right where it should be
10. Kansas State…incredibly intriguing [Oklahoma, Oklahoma State next up…Go Bill Snyder!]
11. Oklahoma
12. Wisconsin
18. Houston…still undefeated but zero respect…not that it deserves it
20. USC
21. Penn State
22. Georgia…sorry, one more time…important for Boise State
24. Cincinnati…Big East BCS pick?! Eegads.
*Wake Forest with no votes in AP but some in ESPN/USA TODAY Coaches Poll that would place it No. 36 in that one. Frankly, doesn’t deserve it. But if it beats UNC and Notre Dame next two games, it should squeak into AP top 25.
And the BCS!
1. LSU .9702
2. Alabama .9627
3. Oklahoma State .9240
4. Boise State .8302…Clemson and Stanford will pass it shortly
5. Clemson .8240
6. Stanford .8124
7. Oregon .6877
8. Kansas State .6681
World Series
I only caught snippets of Saturday’s 16-7 Cardinals blowout of the Rangers in Game 3, sticking with Michigan State-Wisconsin, especially after St. Louis broke it open, but while missing Albert Pujols’ historic performance, a Series-tying 5 hits, 3 home runs, and six RBI, plus a Series record 14 total bases, I did see the incredibly awful call at first by umpire Ron Kulpa on Mat Holliday’s double-play ball where Kulpa ruled Holliday safe after first baseman Mike Napoli, taking a high throw from Ian Kinsler, applied a swipe tag on Holliday before Holliday reached the bag. It was so obvious. Thankfully for Kulpa, the Cards won in a rout. Had it ended up closer, Kulpa could have found himself in the same category as umpire Don Denkinger and his blown call in Game 6 of the 1985 St. Louis-Kansas City series, with the Royals winning the game and then the title.
–One other note from the sport, potential Houston Astros owner Jim Crane is looking to cut $50 million from the purchase price of the team in exchange for switching leagues, thus creating two, 15-team leagues rather than the 16 and 14 of today.
Crane’s argument is that if the Astros move, they would be playing more late-night games against West Coast teams. Commissioner Bud Selig, on the other hand, is looking to foster a rivalry between the Astros and the Rangers. 75% of the owners first need to approve of the sale to Crane at their mid-November meeting. At the same time, MLB is negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement with the players, who want to see one NL team move to the AL.
I was watching the Jets before I went to my niece’s concert (the family obligation…and damn, she and her friend Gillian Hollis are awesome as they performed selections from Dale’s first CD), and New York was down 14-10 at the time. So I left the cellphone in the car, giving total attention to the event at hand (thank you, Bro, for having some adult beverages at the reception after), and was shocked to learn the Jets had defeated San Diego, 27-21, as Plaxico Burress had three short touchdown receptions. Huge. It keeps the season alive for us fans another few weeks.
Elsewhere, Atlanta handed Detroit its second straight defeat, 23-16; Denver defeated Minnesota, 18-15 in overtime, as Tim Tebow led a dramatic late charge to send it into OT, though he had a lousy overall statistical effort; Carolina beat Washington, 33-20, sending the ‘Skins to 3-3; and Kansas City shut out Oakland, 28-0, as new acquisition Carson Palmer, and backup QB Kyle Boller, each threw three interceptions for the Raiders. This was stupid. Oakland has a bye week coming up and I thought the deal was Palmer would be given a few weeks to learn the system before being thrown into the fire. Without watching a second of the game, I just think this isn’t fair to the dude. And that’s a memo.
–I live a five-minute walk from my old high school’s football field so on Saturday I headed over for a battle of undefeateds, Summit vs. New Providence, the latter where I lived for 16 years until recently. And who do I walk in with but none other than Jets coach Rex Ryan! Ryan, you see, has a boy on the Summit team. What was fun to observe was the crowd reaction. Everyone stared at him but wore big smiles, as did I. No one shouted anything at Rex. It was just total respect and pride that Ryan, a Summit resident who could have put his kids in private school, opted to keep them at Summit High instead. I left at half to catch the end of the Wake-Duke game, and with Summit comfortably ahead 28-10 (though it would end up being closer than the final 35-20 would indicate), and Rex was still there when I took off. It was also good to see a crowd in the thousands, like the days of my youth. Granted it helps to have a winning program. [For decades, Summit-New Providence was a Thanksgiving staple but then with New Jersey’s constant need to toy with the conferences, and the new playoff system, the rivalry was a victim but has just been resurrected. It’s great for these two neighbors. And who is the only NFL player to come out of New Providence? My Wake classmate, Syd Kitson. Summit produced John Mallory, who played in the late 60s/early 70s and who was also at the game.]
—Back to Ryan, earlier in the week he got in major hot water, again, for telling San Diego reporters that he would have won “a couple of rings” had he been hired by the Chargers in 2007 instead of current coach Norv Turner. Talk about a dis. Ryan called Turner immediately after but it was too late. Turner responded in the San Diego media with this:
“I hadn’t seen his quote and I was a little bit surprised by the call. And then after I saw the quote, I didn’t have a chance to ask him this, but I was wondering if he had those rings with the ones he’s guaranteed the last couple of years.”
If you saw the tape, Norv was not smiling when he said this. Ryan later said “I think we’re even because he did get me with a good comeback, there’s no question.”
The two appear to have patched things up, both before and after Sunday’s contest.
–On Tuesday, the Eagles traded Ronnie Brown to the Lions for Jerome Harrison in a deal involving backup running backs. On Wednesday the trade was voided because of a health issue that came up during Harrison’s physical with Philadelphia. On Thursday, ESPN reported the issue was a brain tumor. Imagine, had the trade not been made, and Philly doctors not diagnosed the tumor, Harrison’s life would have been in jeopardy. Instead, he is now undergoing treatment and may be able to resume his career at some point.
—New Orleans Saints center Olin Kreutz, in his 14th NFL season, walked away from the game, saying, through his agent, that he was no longer “feeling it.” Good for him.
–We note the passing of former All-Pro guard for the Green Bay Packers, Gale Gillingham, age 67, of an apparent heart attack while lifting weights in his garage. He competed as a power-lifter in his later years.
Gale Gillingham became the Packers’ starting left guard in the 1967 season and started in Vince Lombardi’s final two games coaching the team: the storied Ice Bowl, the NFL championship game at Lambeau Field; and the subsequent Super Bowl II. He made the Pro Bowl five times in six years, from 1969 to 1974. Gillingham attended the Univ. of Minnesota.
College Basketball
ESPN/USA TODAY Preseason Coaches’ Poll
1. North Carolina
2. Kentucky
3. Ohio State
4. UConn
5. Syracuse
6. Duke
7. Vanderbilt
8. Louisville
9. Memphis
10. Florida
11. Pitt
UNC received 30 of 31 first-place votes, the other going to Kentucky. Whatever…the season’s over. On to projecting next year, where I finally see a much-improved Wake program.
—SHARK!!!! It’s not often that a shark attack makes that other column I do, but early Saturday morning we learned of another fatal attack in Western Australia as an American diver became the second to die in the Perth area in 12 days when a great white struck; 3rd in two months, 4th in 14 months!
The man, diving alone, had just gone into the murky water when witnesses on a nearby boat said they saw a 10-foot shark shortly afterwards. They reported a “flurry of bubbles” in the water before the diver’s badly mauled body surfaced. Police said he sustained “obviously traumatic fatal injuries.” It was feared the same shark was responsible 12 days earlier for the attack on Bryn Martin, 11 miles away, and a huge dragnet was launched by Aussie authorities to catch the killer. [The only part of Martin ever found, you’ll recall, were his torn swimming trunks.]
—No progress in the NBA talks, should any of you care. In fact things have gotten worse with NBA Players Association President Derek Fisher accusing the league of lying during its press conference.
Meanwhile, Bryant Gumbel leveled NBA Commissioner David Stern with a one-two combo in a commentary on his “Real Sports” show for HBO.
“Stern’s version of what has been going on behind closed doors has of course been disputed, but his efforts were typical of a commissioner who has always seemed eager to be viewed as some kind of modern plantation overseer, treating NBA men as if they were his boys. It’s part of Stern’s M.O., like his past self-serving edicts on dress code and the questioning of officials. His moves were intended to do little more than show how he’s the one keeping the hired hands in their place. Some will of course cringe at that characterization but Stern’s disdain for the players is as palpable and pathetic as his motives are transparent.”
—New Zealand won Rugby’s World Cup, a taught 8-7 affair over France. Your editor received his white, All-Blacks, t-shirt and will be wearing it proudly. Women will be fawning over it. Really. I swear.
–What a finish to the PGA Tour season as Luke Donald, five strokes back of the lead entering the final round, shot a 64 to win the Children’s Miracle Network event in Florida and with that the tour money title. I mean as I noted before, Donald basically needed to win it to secure the money crown from Wake’s Webb Simpson and here he did it! That’s an amazing feat, sports fans. Simpson, after all, was hardly a slacker, finishing tied for sixth.
Donald $6,683,214
Simpson $6,347,353
Had Donald finished second, rather than first, Simpson would have edged him out.
But I’ll tell you what’s really cool. Tom Pernice Jr., who is 52 but loves to play with the big boys, started the week 143rd on the list and then proceeded to finish tied for 3rd, ending up 121st on the money list, thus securing his tour card for 2012, the top 125 qualifying for it. What an awesome job.
Ah, but then there are the depressing tales. I’ve written of Roland Thatcher before. The year I walked 6 rounds with Bill Haas at Q School, two of them were when Thatcher was in Haas’ group and I got to know Roland’s father, a great guy, as is his son.
So Roland started this final week 120 on the money list and I’m thinking all he needed to do to stay in the top 125 was make the cut, not that this is easy. He missed it by one stroke, and Roland Thatcher ended up No. 127 as a result. One stroke made all the difference between basically getting into any tournament he wanted (except invitationals and some majors) and leaving it up to the sponsors (not totally accurate but close enough). Thatcher will be thinking all winter about one shot from just about any tourney he was in all year, either to make the cut or in the final two rounds. One lousy chip that needed to be two feet closer, one three-foot putt. That’s professional golf. Private contractors, no guarantees. It’s why I respect the hell out of these guys, and why you should too. [Blank] the NBA and their guaranteed multi-million dollar contracts for total stiffs with the brain of a gnat.
–In the golf world, no one has been hotter than agent Chubby Chandler, whose stable includes Lee Westwood, Open champ Darren Clarke, South African major winners Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen, and U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy.
Make that Chubby Chandler used to manage Rory McIlroy’s career as Rory dumped him in a move that stunned a lot of folks. I subscribe to every golf magazine imaginable and once they hit my mail box I’ll probably have more comments on this but for now, McIlroy is joining compatriot Graeme McDowell at a smaller Dublin-based agency, McDowell once having been a client of Chandler’s.
It is believed McIlroy thought Chandler had too many top names to care for and that he wouldn’t be able to find enough time for him. Others say his girlfriend, tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, had to have had something to do with the decision. McIlroy, for example, has done an about face since he started dating her, including rejoining the PGA Tour and looking for a residence in Florida.
–I saw a clip of the public memorial service for IndyCar’s Dan Wheldon in St. Petersburg, Fla., as fellow drivers Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan served as pallbearers. Wynonna Judd sang two songs, including “Amazing Grace” with the church choir. Dan’s wife Susie wrote a letter, read by a family friend, which said in part:
“My sweet Dan, my whole body is aching, down to the deepest part of my soul. I keep thinking this is a bad dream…
“My heart is scattered in a million pieces. I just want to wake up and hear your reassuring voice….
Had I been there, I would have gone through at least three boxes of Kleenex. RIP, Dan Wheldon.
—NASCAR faces a tough 2012 as sponsorship deals signed before the 2008 financial crisis expire and various teams look to cut back. Team owner Jack Roush said it’s the most difficult business environment in his 24 seasons because “the best sponsors want just enough of a car to be able to do their promotions and want to share the bulk of the expenses.”
–On Tuesday, it appears there will be an exciting announcement for New York area Formula One fans. New Jersey is getting a race in 2013! A road course is being mapped out in Weehawken and West New York, along the Hudson River against the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline. Oh baby. I’ll definitely be there. It will supposedly take place in June of that year.
—Lindsey Vonn won the season-opening giant slalom in Solden, Austria, thus becoming the fifth woman to win a race in all five World Cup disciplines. It was Vonn’s 42nd World Cup victory, the most by an American skier.
–Jeff B. states that while we celebrate the great comic strips, others that have aged really badly need to be noted here as well and there is no better example of this than “For Better or For Worse,” which has “sucked big time for two years!” FBOW’s creator, Lynn Johnston, had a good thing going and then went off the reservation.
–As I go to post, Dallas police are still hunting for the man who attacked a woman with a frozen armadillo. He was going to sell the iced carcass as food to the woman before they got into an argument over price. He then threw his food and weapon at the woman who suffered bruises. I imagine the armadillo’s kin will be filing a civil suit shortly, as I hope mine would do had my frozen corpse been flung at same.
Top 3 songs for the week of 10/23/71: #1 “Maggie May” (Rod Stewart…raspy voice still led to riches) #2 “Superstar” (Carpenters…would eat food another few years before sis decided to shun it) #3 “Yo-Yo” (The Osmonds…poor man’s Jackson Five)…and…#4 “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves” (Cher…Sonny taking up skiing, which would prove to be a fatal decision) #5 “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” (Joan Baez…could teach Occupy Wall Street what a real protester looks like) #6 “Do You Know What I Mean” (Lee Michaels… nope, which is why I have trouble with women) #7 “Go Away Little Girl” (Donny Osmond…Steve Lawrence version from ‘63 far better…which gives me another excuse to say Steve Lawrence was an underrated entertainer!) #8 “Sweet City Woman” (Stampeders… eh) #9 “Theme From Shaft” (Isaac Hayes…Who’s the black private dick, That’s a sex machine to all the chicks, (Shaft!), You’re damn right….) #10 “If You Really Love Me” (Stevie Wonder…easily one of his best)
World Series Quiz Answers: 1) The easy one…Yogi Berra, NYY, appeared in 14 World Series, 1947, 49-53, 55-58, 60-63. 2) Two who appeared on six losing series squads: Pee Wee Reese, BRK, 1941, 47, 49, 52-53, 56; Elston Howard, NYY, 1955, 57, 60, 63-63, BOS, 67. 3) Atlanta’s Andruw Jones is the last to hit two homers in a game as a rookie, 1996.
