[Posted Wednesday prior to that evening’s sports contests]
Cleveland Indians Quiz, part deux: 1) Who is the last Indians hurler to lose 20 games in a season? [Modern era] 2) Who am I? I started 433 games as an Indian, No. 2 on the team list, and pitched from 1928-47. 3) Name the four Indians’ pitchers to strikeout at least 260 batters in a season. Answers below.
Metta World Peace Suspended 7 Games
World Peace, aka Ron Artest, got off incredibly lightly for his vicious elbow to Oklahoma City’s James Harden’s head. I said he deserved to be suspended not only for the playoffs, but for the beginning of next season, but the suspension he was handed keeps him out for the Lakers’ opening round, though his absence could be critical.
World Peace wrote on his website, “I apologize to the Oklahoma City Thunder fans and the OKC organization. I look foward (sic) to getting back on the floor with my teammates and competing for the Lakers fans.”
“Perhaps the name change fooled the NBA. The villain formerly known as Ron Artest got off easy Tuesday when NBA Commissioner David Stern lowered the boom with his words, but not with his actions….
“ ‘The concussion suffered by James Harden demonstrates the danger posed by violent acts of this kind, particularly when they are directed at the head area,’ Stern said in a statement. ‘We remain committed to taking necessary measures to protect the safety of NBA players…’
“No one has lived the history of on-court altercations as memorably as World Peace has. (And off-court, meet-you-at-your-seat altercations as well.) This is the 13th time he has been suspended in a 13-year career….
“Stern only had to look to the recent decisions of his colleagues in the NFL and NHL to see that the no-tolerance era has begun concerning head injuries in American pro sports.
“New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton? Gone for a year in the bounty scandal. Phoenix Coyotes goon Raffi Torres? Gone for 25 games for leaving his feet to attack Marian Hossa’s head and sending him to the hospital….
“If Roger Goodell and Gary Bettman could lay down the law, why couldn’t Stern? Why not really send a big message that no matter how it appears you’ve reformed, if you regress, you’re gone for weeks, even months?”
“What exactly were league officials doing during the two days it took to make this decision? They certainly weren’t watching the videotape, which grows more gruesome with every viewing. [Ed. totally agree…it’s sickening…Artest is an animal.]
“World Peace claimed that the elbowing of Harden’s head was an accidental part of a dunk celebration. World Peace claimed he didn’t even know Harden was there. Replays clearly contradict both of those claims.
“By the time Harden wandered into World Peace’s space, the celebration was finished. And if World Peace didn’t know Harden was there, why did he purposely cock his elbow before he hit him? Since when is an aimed, cocked and thrusted elbow an accident?
“If this were about only an elbow, a seven-game suspension would have been warranted. But this was clearly a punch, with one of the sharpest parts of the body, landing on the most vulnerable part of another body.
“This was about a celebration that turned caustic when somebody walked into the middle of it, the weird mind of World Peace switching from jubilation to rage in a matter of seconds. Maybe even scarier than the elbow was the look in his wild and crazy eyes as he stalked around the floor immediately afterward….
“Did you hear Kobe Bryant addressing reporters Tuesday before the suspension was announced? Here’s a guy known for speaking the hard truth about his teammates, yet even he was fairly speechless.
“I have visited with (Artest) countless times after games and eventually understood him as a guy who seemed to be constantly choking down his violent tendencies in an attempt to change. He would say something mean, then turn it into something funny. He would show a flash of anger, then suddenly turn it into something insightful.
“I was really starting to believe he was Metta World Peace. I was wrong, and James Harden has the headaches to prove it.
NFL Draft
It’s here, Thurs. thru Saturday, sports fans. The last ranking of quarterbacks, according to USA TODAY.
1. Andrew Luck (Stanford)
2. Robert Griffin III (Baylor)
3. Ryan Tannehill (Texas A&M)
4. Brandon Weeden (Oklahoma State)
5. Kirk Cousins (Michigan State)
6. Brock Osweiler (Arizona State)
7. Russell Wilson (Wisconsin…has been edging up)
8. Ryan Lindley (San Diego State)
9. B.J. Coleman (Tennessee-Chattanooga)
10. Nick Foles (Arizona)
“Wilson is a special person whose shocking leadership and athletic abilities ignited a Wisconsin offense that averaged 44.1 points a game last season. But it will be a historic event if he overcomes his height deficiency to star in the NFL. At the scouting combine, Wilson measured exactly 5-10 5/8, which is rounded to 5-11. To give that historical perspective, since 1952 two quarterbacks that short have been successful in the NFL: Eddie LeBaron (1952-63), who was 5-7, and Doug Flutie (1986-89, 1998-2005), who was 5-9 ¾.
“The NFL’s shortest current starting quarterback is the New Orleans Saints’ Drew Brees (6-0 ¼). Still, Wilson’s athleticism is tempting, and somebody will give him a chance to fulfill his family dream.”
Last year, Wilson threw for 33 touchdowns and just four interceptions.
“He is cerebral, instinctive and agile, with a powerful, accurate arm and great touch. He’s short but has the wingspan of somebody 6-3 ¼ and larger hands than any quarterback rated above him (10 ¼ inches). If he could add a couple of those inches to his height…”
As for running backs, the facts are it’s foolish to waste a first-round pick on one these days. Alabama’s Trent Richardson is the likely exception, with Cleveland potentially taking him with the fourth overall selection.
“In the past 10 drafts, seven running backs have been top-10 picks….
“NFL Network analyst Charles Davis says, ‘Unless you’ve got an Adrian Peterson, most teams handle their running backs by committee. Look at the Saints. Two of their top running backs – Pierre Thomas and Chris Ivory – weren’t even drafted. And the Bills took C.J. Spiller with the ninth pick (in 2010), but he can’t beat out Fred Jackson, who came from a Division III school.’….
“Of the seven backs who rushed for 1,200 yards in 2011, one (Marshawn Lynch, Seattle Seahawks) entered the NFL as a first-rounder.
“Consider the top six rushers and their draft slots: Maurice Jones-Drew, 60; Ray Rice, 55; Michael Turner, 154; LeSean McCoy, 53; Arian Foster, undrafted; and Frank Gore, 65.”
“In recent years, drafting a running back in the first round hasn’t been a worthwhile investment at all. Since 2002, 28 backs have been selected in the first round. Less than a third have ever made a Pro Bowl; on average, they gain a so-so 730 yards per season….
“Backs taken after the 20th overall selection not only can be signed for far less money, but also have proven to be more productive, averaging 746 yards per season. The most successful back in the period, the Titans’ Chris Johnson (1,411 yards per season), was selected 24th. Perhaps the best approach, though, may be to wait even longer [Ed. see above].”
Ball Bits
–On Wednesday morning in Japan, many baseball crazed fans there were late for work or school as they watched a live broadcast of the Yankees-Rangers game in Arlington, featuring the seventh set of Japanese starters to face each other in the major leagues; the Yankees’ Hiroki Kuroda, and the Rangers’ Yu Darvish. Neither disappointed as Texas prevailed, 2-0, with Darvish going 8 1/3, while fanning 10, to move his record to 3-0. [Two of the Yankees’ 7 hits were by Derek Jeter, who extended his hitting streak to 14 games and is batting .416. In reaching 30 hits in the first 16 games (he has 32 thru 17 after Tuesday’s contest), he was the fastest of any Yankee to hit the 30 mark.]
Back to “Yuuuu!” it’s great to see him come through and earn his big contract (six years, $60 million), plus the $51.7 million fee Texas had to pay his Japanese team, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, for the right to negotiate with 25-year-old Darvish.
–You’ve gotta love it, unless you’re an Angels fan. Albert Pujols is homerless through the team’s first 17 games, hitting .232 with just 4 RBI.
–On the other hand, you have to feel good for Nationals manager Davey Johnson who has seen his team get off to a super 13-4 start with a major league leading staff ERA of 2.21. Washington pitchers have given up just three home runs!
–The Kansas City Royals are 3-14, having lost 12 straight thru Tuesday. Yikes.
–A story on ESPN.com notes there will be no written decision handed down on why Ryan Braun’s drug suspension was overturned.
“Baseball’s labor contract says there should be a written decision within 30 days of an arbitrator’s ruling. It appears management has no interest in a decision detailing how collection procedures weren’t followed and the union has no interest in getting an explanation of a decision many believe let Braun off on a technicality.”
Collection procedures are being changed, in the meantime. Samples must be dropped off at a FedEx office on the same day they are collected, provided an office is open in the neighborhood. If not, collectors should take the specimens home.
—Jose Reyes returned to New York for the first time in a Marlins uniform after nine seasons with the Mets. His reception was mixed at best, while Jose maintained the Mets did not offer him a contract last season as he faced free agency. I don’t view him as a traitor as some fans do. It’s a business, and the Marlins way overpaid in giving Reyes a $106 million, six-year offer when they were bidding against themselves.
–Despite a respectable 9-8 start, Mets attendance is already dropping off. Announced crowds of 20,000 are really more like 15,000. At Monday’s makeup game against the Giants, a 4:10 start, there were about 1,000 in the stands for the first pitch.
–Mark R. tells me Phillies tickets are suddenly very easy to come by after their poor start, due almost solely to a lack of hitting. Ryan Howard, the slugger with the contract paying him $25 million per through 2016, is expected back from his torn Achilles tendon in late May or early June.
But while he’s been rehabbing, Howard received approval to build a 17,500-square foot home in Belleair Shore, Fla., near the Phillies’ spring training home in Clearwater. According to the local paper, the Belleair Bee, the home carries an estimated value of $23 million, and features will include “a Venice-style lazy river running from the swimming pool underneath a series of bridges” and a bowling alley. It could take up to four years to build. I’m sure Phillies fans are just thrilled.
–I’m not interested in the least in the Roger Clemens perjury trial, part deux, except that I hope he is convicted. The Ryan Braun decision hurts the government’s case, potentially, because Clemens’ attorney, Rusty Hardin, is already saying the prosecution’s DNA evidence (needles and cotton balls) was tainted. The government, on the other hand, is really depending on Andy Pettitte’s testimony. Not sure when that comes.
–The Charlotte Bobcats play Orlando, Wednesday, and the Knicks on Thursday to finish out the season. Should they lose both, they finish 7-59 for the worst winning percentage in NBA history.
–Nice job Arkansas…To replace the disgraced Bobby Petrino, they hired John L. Smith, a former Arkansas assistant who had just been hired as Weber State’s head coach in December. What a dirtball.
“Arkansas did it. Arkansas hired John L. Smith. Arkansas replaced one selfish, loathsome coach with another….
“A story like this, a mystifying, insulting, embarrassing, dishonorable story like this, doesn’t come along all that often. But this one is here today, and vacation [Ed. Doyel was on vacation but felt so strongly about this he was compelled to write a column] can wait. Tomorrow I can rest. Today? Today I have to explain why John L. Smith is one of the dumbest hires Arkansas could have made….
“Bobby Petrino was a bad guy. No honor, no loyalty, no decency. He was that way before Jessica Dorrell, so let’s leave her and their affair out of it. Simply from an employee standpoint, the way Petrino once interviewed in midseason at Louisville for the Auburn job held by a friend, continued to flirt and flirt and flirt with other jobs, later left an NFL team in midseason…well, you get the point. Bobby Petrino is a rotten employee. A guy who better win, and win big, to mask the fact he’s such a bad guy.
“And to replace Bobby Petrino, Arkansas hired a guy who was just hired at Weber State. Hadn’t even coached a game at Weber State. Just worked the spring scrimmage, and now will see himself out. Thanks for the job….
“That’s all. Just his alma mater. The school he attended from 1968-71, where he played both ways – quarterback and linebacker – and was the Big Sky scholar-athlete as a senior. After returning to his alma mater in December, Smith talked about leading Weber State to the national championship and gushed, ‘I’ve always had a place in my heart for Weber State.’
“This is who Arkansas picked to replace the indecent Petrino: It picked a guy who didn’t have the decency to coach a single game after being hired by his alma mater. Jeff Long, the Arkansas athletics director, might be the single worst judge of character I’ve ever seen. I mean, this is the guy who hired Petrino from Atlanta in the middle of Petrino’s first season as the Falcons head coach….
“John L. Smith was never going to turn down this job. Not out of loyalty to Weber State. Not even out of decency. Decency, John L. Smith? This is the same guy who left Louisville for Michigan State late in the 2002 season. How late? Well, it was like this. Louisville was playing Marshall in the GMAC Bowl when the news broke that Smith, coaching there on the sideline, had taken the Michigan State job. TV cameras showed Louisville players learning – during the game – that their coach had taken another job.
“That’s John L. Smith. As Weber State just learned, that will always be John L. Smith.
–Safety Brian Dawkins, ex- of the Eagles and Broncos, called it quits after 16 years in the NFL, a Hall of Fame career. Nine times a Pro Bowler, four times First Team All-Pro, 37 interceptions, 28 forced fumbles, 26 sacks. Dawkins played his last three seasons with Denver after 13 in Philly. He will be honored by the Eagles during a Sept. 30 game against the Giants.
–Virginia Tech fired basketball coach Seth Greenberg, with turnover on Greenberg’s staff being a reason for the dismissal. Two had left for UAB and the remaining assistant was in negotiations to leave for Old Dominion; the moves speaking volumes. VT will have to pay Greenberg $1.2 million to buy out the remaining four years on his contract. He compiled a 170-123 mark during his nine seasons at the helm, but made only one NCAA tournament in 2006-07. This year the Hokies were 16-17. Greenberg was so shocked by the timing, he was entertaining a recruit when he got word of the move.
–I was never a New Jersey Nets fan, but there was a time in the mid-1990s when I split a season ticket with some friends of mine. I never used half of them, making it a total waste. At least it was pretty easy getting in and out of the Meadowlands, seeing as how the Nets seldom sold their home out. But they played their last game in New Jersey on Monday.
“Pro basketball died here tonight after a long and excruciating illness. For much of its 35 years in New Jersey, it was an athletic institution paralyzed by trauma, triggered by a chronic gaucherie with spasmodic bouts of semi-competence.
“It is mourned by a few thousand fans who cared enough to notice the Nets for 41 nights a year, a few thousand others who liked the idea of good seats at discounted prices, a handful of newspaper guys now sentenced to watching that insufferable college game, and a mayor still holding out for a share of the parking revenue.
“The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to the Nets Center for Disease Control in support of those who suffer from the same masochistic devotion to blowouts and monumental failure.”
So the Nets head to Brooklyn and a spanking new arena. But they need ballplayers, and somehow have to hold onto point guard Deron Williams, who as D’Alessandro writes “is a player of extraordinary gifts: He can run and jump like an antelope, he plays hard, he cares about winning. But he’s also an incurable mope, with the personality of a nightclub bouncer, and if that’s the kind of guy you want to root for, help yourself….
“We asked P.J. Carlesimo how Seattle, his adopted hometown, has gotten along without the NBA these past few years.
“ ‘Well, they still have the Mariners and Seahawks and Sounders,’ he said, referring to the soccer team that draws as many as 60,000. ‘Some of them, they’ll never get over it – that rabid group of boosters you see protesting everywhere. The others? I don’t really have a sense about whether it’s missed much, until the talk starts up to get another team.’…
“Yes, we will watch, because it’s still the best game we have. But if you’re like most of us, you will mark this occasion with the timeless Nets valedictory: Whoop De Damn Do.”
Gov. Chris Christie: “I’m not going to the Nets game tonight and my message to the Nets is ‘Goodbye.’ If you don’t want to stay, we don’t want you. Seriously, I’m not going to be in the business of begging people to stay here. That’s one of the most beautiful arenas in America that they’ve had a chance to play in. It’s in one of the country’s most vibrant cities. They want to leave here and go to Brooklyn? Good riddance. See you later.” He’s a piece of work, no doubt.
–How bad is the state of Wake Forest men’s golf these days? I see that in the Gary Koch Invitational in Tampa, Fla., a few weeks ago, the Deacs finished 12th in a field of 15, getting beat by, among others, North Florida (the winner…and No. 17 in the latest Div. I poll), Pacific, and UNC-Greensboro. UNCG?! In golf?!
–Catching up on my golf magazines, Sergio Garcia is now 0-for-54 in major championships and he was asked how he’d feel if he finished his career without one.
“I could live without majors,” Sergio said in his classic candid fashion. “I have no more options…tell me something I can do.”
–We note the passing of LeRoy Walker, 93, the first African American to lead the U.S. Olympic Committee and the first black man to coach an American Olympic team. Walker, the grandson of slaves, led the USOC from 1992 to 1996, including for the Summer Games staged in his native Atlanta in 1996.
Walker was given the opportunity to coach the U.S. track and field teams for the 1976 Montreal Olympics and the team brought home 22 medals, including both men’s relays.
Walker earned a doctorate from New York University in 1957 and, in 1983, was named chancellor at North Carolina Central.
–From the AP: “An African elephant has killed a zookeeper caring for her at the New Zealand zoo where the animal was retired after performing in circuses for decades.”
But did you know African elephants can live up to 70 years, tend to sleep very little, and eat up to 300 pounds of food every day? The last bit is a reminder never to walk behind one.
–Johnny Mac, who has a terrific black labrador that greeted me warmly in Asheville last weekend, passed along a piece by Jocelyn Heaney of “Paw & Order” concerning the use of labs to hunt down the Everglades’ pythons.
“Terry Fischer and Craig Angle of Auburn’s EcoDog program traveled to Florida to pick up samples of the species’ scent and then imprinted the dogs with the essence of Burmese python.
“ ‘ We found the use of detection dogs to be a valuable addition to the current tools used to manage and control pythons,’ said Christina Romagosa, of AU’s School of Forestry and Wildlife, in a press release. The dogs can detect pythons from a distance and when they spot one they stop in their tracks and crouch. The pythons’ reaction is strangely poignant. Rather than striking when discovered, they curl up and hide.”
Or as Ms. Heaney notes: “Sometimes when man creates a huge problem that destroys the balance of the ecosystem, man’s best friend must come in and sort it out.”
Dog continues to maintain the No. 1 slot on the All-Species List, while Man, thanks to the likes of Ron Artest, barely clings to No. 199.
—Norman Chad / Washington Post…a few of his tried and true facts “about the widening world of sports television.”
“ 1. Is it possible for Subway’s Jared and the Progressive Insurance woman to elope and move abroad?
“ 5. President Obama’s favorite analyst, CBS’s Clark Kellogg, is big on players’ ability to ‘score the basketball.’ They’re playing basketball; what else would they be scoring?
“ 10. When’s the last time anyone bought a radio at Radio Shack?
“ 12. I’m thinking it’s a missed opportunity for everyone that Jim Gray never has worked the sideline at a bullfight.
“ 17. I would bowl with two hands like the fabulous Jason Belmonte, but then how do you hold your beer?
“ 23. If everyone is using cell service now, can’t we replace all the telephone poles with maple trees?”
–The Beach Boys opened their 50th anniversary tour on Tuesday in Tucson, so I read a review in the Arizona Daily News and, as you might expect, the reviewer said the band was nervous at the start. After all, it’s been 46 years since Brian Wilson was with the rest of the remaining gang. 46 years! Wilson, said the review, didn’t look like he was having a good time and seemed lost and “horribly frustrated.” [Much like the Boys’ Grammy Awards performance.]
But, after intermission, Wilson was his old self and the voice was strong. I was also pleased to see they performed “Sail On, Sailor,” one of my favorite tunes of theirs.
So good luck, guys. As the weather warms I always load the Beach Boys into the car CD player (and take them out for the winter).
Top 3 songs for the week 4/25/70: #1 “ABC” (The Jackson 5) #2 “Let It Be” (The Beatles) #3 “Spirit In The Sky” (Norman Greenbaum…dreadful)…and…#4 “Instant Karma (We All Shine On)” (John Ono Lennon) #5 “American Woman” (The Guess Who) #6 “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)” (Edison Lighthouse) #7 “Come And Get It” (Badfinger) #8 “Love Or Let Me Be Lonely” (The Friends of Distinction) #9 “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (Simon & Garfunkel) #10 “Turn Back The Hands Of Time” (Tyrone Davis)
Cleveland Indians Quiz Answers: 1) Luis Tiant went 9-20 in 1969 with a 3.71 ERA. The previous season, the “Year of the Pitcher,” Tiant was 21-9 and led the league in ERA at 1.60. 2) Mel Harder is No. 2 on the Indians’ list for games started, 433 (Bob Feller is first). Harder pitched for Cleveland from 1928-47, going 223-186 with a 3.80 ERA. He was a two-time, 20-game winner and four-time All Star. 3) 260 or more strikeouts: Bob Feller, 348 (1946), 261 (1940), 260 (1941); Sam McDowell, 325 (1965), 304 (1970), 283 (1968), 279 (1969); Luis Tiant, 264 (1968); Herb Score, 263 (1956).
*Premier League football fans…huuuge match on Monday, April 30. Manchester City vs. Manchester United. If Man City wins, they will go ahead of ManU based on goal differentials with two games to go. The sudden turn of events came about when ManU inexplicably had a 4-4 home draw vs. Everton. I’ll try and remember to remind you next BC as to the time of the game so you can play hooky. Or like tell your boss, “Going to the office supply closet, John.” “OK, Bob.” [3 hours later, John’s musing, ‘I freakin’ fell for that one again.’]
