[Note: We’ve now started the time of year when it’s impossible to cover everything, so your editor picks and chooses best he can given he has just one pair of eyes, only one good ear, and ten fingers.]
Jets Quiz: Name the only three to throw for 100 TDs in a Jets uniform. Answer below.
Baseball Quiz: Rookie Bryce Harper has 18 home runs as a teenager, tying Mel Ott. Who is the only teenager in baseball history to have more in a season? Answer below.
NFL
–For one week at least, Jets fans can just laugh at how we made so much of the team’s preseason futility, specifically no touchdowns the first three games, as New York rolled over the Bills, 48-28, in the opener.
No one in New York has more pressure on them than Mark Sanchez these days and he had one of his best games as a Jet, 19-27, 266, 3 touchdowns and one INT.
And I have zero problem with how the Jets used Tim Tebow, 5 rushes, 11 yards, but he also was on punt coverage and recovered an onsides kick. As commentator Rich Gannon said, “He’s a football player.”
But it’s clear now…Sanchez is No. 1, as it should be.
[I do have to note that for the Bills, C.J. Spiller, who I thought would be a superstar last season out of Clemson and then struggled his rookie campaign, had 169 yards rushing on just 14 carries in defeat.]
–An appeals panel delivered a blow to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and at least a temporary victory for the four players suspended in the Saints’ Bountygate scandal. Jonathan Vilma and the others are eligible to play immediately after the panel ruled Goodell overstepped his bounds in banning them. The NFL accepted the decision which also allows the commissioner to “redetermine” the penalties. He could file the exact same ones in essence.
The decision won’t impact the suspensions of Saints coach Sean Payton, two assistants and the general manager, and as the league’s general counsel put it, “Nothing in today’s decision contradicts any of the facts found in the investigation into this matter, or absolves any player of responsibility for conduct detrimental.”
–According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Sunday was the first time more than two rookie quarterbacks started in Week 1 since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. Try five this year.
But since 1990, rookies have a combined 257-469 record in their first seasons. [Not just those who started Week 1.]
So how did the five do?
Ryan Tannehill / Miami…Loss…20-36, 219, 0 TD – 3 INTs
Andrew Luck / Indianapolis…Loss…23-45, 309, 1-3
Brandon Weeden / Cleveland…Loss…12-35, 118, 0-4
Russell Wilson / Seattle…Loss…18-34, 153, 1-1
Robert Griffin III / Washington…Win…19-26, 320, 2-0…the ‘Skins beating the Saints, 40-32, as Drew Brees was very ordinary.
–The Vikings’ Adrian Peterson returned from his serious knee injury to rush for 84 yards and two touchdowns in Minnesota’s win over Jacksonville.
–Wednesday night before the Giants-Cowboys game I was at a dinner and told Giants fan, Ted, that the team was really smart drafting running back David Wilson. “He’s a player, Ted,” said your sports maven. I then get home in time to see Wilson fumble his second carry after which he was promptly removed for the remainder of the game, with Wilson appearing to cry on the sidelines. The guy had fumbleitis at Virginia Tech but I’m not so sure the Giants handled the situation properly on Wednesday.
It’s also not as if Wilson was the cause of the team’s 24-17 loss to the Boys. Last season’s supernova, Victor Cruz, had three drops and two penalties. Cruz said he lacked concentration. I love when professional athletes say something like this.
–A study in the journal Neurology tracked 3,439 retired NFL players with five or more seasons in the league and found that these athletes were four times as likely as other men their age to die of Alzheimer’s disease or ALS. Among the league’s “speed players,” the odds of dying of those causes were even greater.
But, “The heightened risk of death from these neurodegenerative disorders was in sharp contrast to an overall picture of remarkable health among the former players. Compared with men in the general population, the NFL veterans were about half as likely to die at any given age.” [Melissa Healy / Los Angeles Times]
–Finally, it was kind of funny that the family of the late Art Modell, who died Thursday at the age of 87, requested that the Cleveland Browns not note his passing, seeing as how the crowd reaction would have been vile.
Modell purchased the Browns in 1961, but moved the franchise to Baltimore after the 1995 season, which didn’t exactly go over well in Cleveland. Modell said huge financial losses and a lucrative offer from Baltimore forced him to make the move. It’s considered a prime reason why he is not enshrined in the Hall of Fame, even though he was president of the NFL from 1967-69 and was a leading force in the league when it came to bringing the sport into the modern television era.
[Baltimore had been without an NFL team since the Colts were moved to Indianapolis in 1984.]
—AP Poll…Week 2
1. Alabama
2. USC
3. LSU
4. Oregon
T-5. Oklahoma
T-5. Florida State
7. Georgia
8. South Carolina
9. West Virginia
10. Michigan State
20. Notre Dame
–Anyone who bets on college football the first two weeks of the season is nuts. There is just too much uncertainty and that was never more clear than this weekend.
Heck, I wrote last time it looked to be a boring one…few games of note…yet that was hardly the case.
–In the number one stunner of the weekend, Louisiana-Monroe defeated No. 8 Arkansas in OT, 34-31, as junior quarterback Kolton Browning racked up 481 yards of total offense and four touchdowns to give the Warhawks their first win over an SEC team since defeating Alabama in 2007. Arkansas led 28-7 midway through the third quarter but played the second half without star quarterback Tyler Wilson, who suffered a head injury after taking several big hits in the first half. He had thrown for 196 yards and two touchdowns before exiting.
La.-Monroe’s victory was also the first for the school over a ranked team since joining the FBS in 1994, and it is the Sun Belt Conference’s first win over a top 10 team.
–In Corvalis, Oregon, Oregon State upset No. 13 Wisconsin, 10-7, shutting down Badger star running back Montee Ball in the process. A huge win for the Beavers, whose coach Mike Riley correctly gave Wisconsin credit for having the balls to travel to Corvalis when no non-conference foes of note ever do.
By the way, your editor has traveled through Corvalis three times in the last four years and it is a hike from Portland, so a real pain in the ass for a school like Wisconsin.
Separately, I also told you last time, always hedge your bets with Beaverwear, just as we do here in the home office of StocksandNews. [Though I have some bad news down below regarding the once beloved Beaver itself.]
–As Johnny Mac wrote me on Saturday night, “Slowly, carefully, the editor goes to the bottom drawer where he had banished all Deaconwear…mulls it over…hmm, maybe…”
Saturday morning, I looked at the line of the Wake Forest-North Carolina game, Carolina giving 10 ½, and I thought, “This is absurd. It should be at least 15.”
Then with the Deacs tied at 7, but having just lost another offensive lineman, the O-Line being officially decimated, including a key transfer, I emailed booster Mr. X. (need to hide his identity) who I knew was at the game and said, “I’m going to take it easy on the Deacs this year due to the issues with the O-Line.” I mean no team can do well, college or pro, without a decent one.
But as the game wore on the Deacs kept hanging in there and lo and behold, they freakin’ win! 28-27; this after a totally pathetic performance the week before against Liberty, which lost on Saturday to Norfolk State.
Well, on Sunday morning I proudly wore a 2007 Wake Forest Orange Bowl t-shirt as I jogged through the park, waving to all the hot-looking moth….oops, I really shouldn’t go there.
Suffice it to say, the rest of the Deaconwear is now attempting to climb out of the drawer, yearning to be worn.
—Virginia lucked out in defeating Penn State (0-2) at home, 17-16, as the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal impacted the outcome in a big way. Penn State’s kicker from last season, Anthony Fera, who was 14 of 17 on field goals, took advantage of the chance to transfer without penalty and went to Texas. So that left the Nittany Lions with kicker Sam Ficken, and all Ficken did was miss 4 of 5 field goal attempts and have an extra point blocked. I can’t imagine what the rest of his life will be like unless he is given an immediate chance at redemption in a big game. Imagine how his teammates feel towards him. I mean he was so awful, it’s almost hard to feel sorry for someone like that.
But I will say, having watched the game, that Penn State’s quarterback on the last play before setting up the winning field goal attempt, stupidly settled backwards six yards instead of just taking the snap and plowing forward or taking a knee to center the kick, so Ficken had a 43-yarder when it should have been 37 or 38. Psychologically this might have been important for the lad…or maybe not. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. [I thought the commentators did a poor job in not bringing this up.]
—USC hardly looked impressive in defeating Syracuse at the Meadowlands, 42-29, though quarterback Matt Barkley did throw for six touchdowns, three to Marqise Lee and two to fellow superstar wideout Robert Woods. These guys are monsters. But otherwise, the Trojans looked very sluggish and ordinary.
–The ACC took it on the chin as Miami got blasted by No. 21 Kansas State, 52-13, but at least North Carolina State won at UConn, 10-7.
—Arizona whipped No. 18 Oklahoma State, 59-38.
—Michigan barely got by Air Force in Ann Arbor, 31-25, proving definitively that they are hardly Wolverines. More like squirrels, or even gerbils.
—Notre Dame defeated Purdue, 20-17. Note to Mark R. With Wake’s win, you only have to give me 45 points, not 48, come Nov. 17.
—Florida State was up 55-0 on Savannah State when the game was stopped early in the third period after two weather delays of 59 and 42 minutes. FSU scored on its first seven drives and officials had moved to a running clock before play was stopped. Savannah State still collected $475,000, or $860,000 for its first two games, the other being the 84-0 loss to Oklahoma State.
But…how did Vegas handle this one? I didn’t know how it worked but the Seminoles were a record 70 ½-point favorite heading into the contest and Mike Hiserman of the L.A. Times wrote that the game was stopped “short of the 55-minute mark that most Las Vegas books, by rule, consider a complete game. Therefore, bettors were due a complete refund, according to Jay Rood of the MGM Mirage Race and Sports Book.”
–In the Battle of the Brains, Stanford destroyed Duke, 50-13.
–Lastly, here I’ve been talking about how some day, maybe soon, we will be witness to a death on the football field and on Saturday, tragically, we came very close to this happening as Tulane safety Devon Walker fractured his spine in a helmet-to-helmet collision with a teammate during a game in Tulsa. Walker is in stable condition and will need spinal surgery, but there are conflicting reports on whether or not he actually stopped breathing for a spell. One doctor said afterwards Walker “actually never completely lost consciousness” and was breathing. Initial reports had it differently. Several of the coaches were in tears as Walker lay on the field for 15 minutes before being loaded onto a stretcher and into a waiting ambulance.
Ball Bits
–It’s over…the story of the year, what to do about Washington Nationals hurler Stephen Strasburg and the limit placed on the number of innings he would pitch, despite the fact the Nationals are playoff bound.
Following a drubbing on Friday night where Strasburg allowed five runs in just three innings, manager Davey Johnson shut the pitcher down, even though the team had earlier said this coming Wednesday would be his last one.
“I just told Stephen that his year is over. He’s had a great year. I know what he’s going through. The media hype on this thing has been unbelievable. I feel it’s as hard for him as it would be for anybody to get mentally, totally committed in the ballgame. And he’s reached his innings limit. So we can get past this and talk about other things for a change.”
Johnson added, “I don’t see the ball jumping out of his hand. I’m a firm believer that this game’s 90 to 95 percent mental, and he’s only human.”
Strasburg thus finishes the year 15-6 with a 3.16 ERA, striking out 197 in 159 1/3 innings, but two of his last three starts were dreadful.
Fox broadcaster Tim McCarver said, “Everybody that I’ve heard, and very sound-thinking baseball people, are saying this shouldn’t be done. When you get that conclusive a group against a decision, it seems to me that decision is wrong, and in my view it is. But while saying that, I really admire the resolve of (GM) Mike Rizzo.”
For his part, Strasburg said, “I don’t know if I’m ever going to accept it,” calling his meeting with Rizzo and Johnson a “shocking” experience. “When that’s all you hear, it’s hard for it not to bother you. It is what it is. It sucks. I’ve got to move forward and be here for this team…It’s not just about one player. I want to be here for the long haul, for many years to come.”
–So when you’re a Mets fan and it’s September thoughts turn to next year and, this season, how we can contribute to the Yankees’ collapse! Saturday night, some of us Mets partisans had our eyes glued to the Yankees-Orioles contest (flipping back and forth with the college football action, of course), and we saw an incredible ending as the Yankees fell to the Orioles, 5-4, on one of the worst calls in an important game of all time (I’m not stretching this too much).
“The Bombers were victimized by a brutal botched call at first base to end Saturday’s 5-4 loss…as Mark Teixeira was called out at first base following his headfirst slide.
“Had first base umpire Jerry Meals correctly called Teixeira safe, pinch-runner Chris Dickerson would have scored the game-tying run, prolonging the Yankees’ ninth-inning comeback.
“Instead of a potential crushing loss, the Orioles – who have probably spent the past 5,813 days thinking about what might have been if not for the 12-year-old Maier snagging a home run out of Baltimore outfielder Tony Tarasco’s glove during Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS – moved back into a first-place tie with the Yankees with only 23 games left in the regular season.”
It was an absolutely dreadful call…not in the least bit close. I don’t blame Tex for saying afterwards:
“Sometimes you wonder if the umpires are just trying to get out of there. They don’t want you to make a comeback, they want to go home, because those are terrible calls.”
It was the same Meals who was at the center of controversy 14 months ago with a famous blown call that cost Pittsburgh a win in the 19th inning of a game against the Braves.
Back to the Yanks, they are baseball’s oldest team with an average age of 33 and the likes of Andruw Jones (35) and Raul Ibanez (40) have combined to hit about .150 the past month.
But on Sunday, the Yankees recovered, winning 13-3 to get the lead back to one, two over Tampa Bay; though perhaps it could have been three games over each without the bad call.
–Despite all of the Dodgers’ bold moves, they are 4 ½ behind the Giants (entering Sunday night’s contest between the two), though just a ½-game from a wild card spot. But T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times had this on new first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.
“So I’m blown away by the incredible feats, the Choking Dogs winning a game and one of the miserable failures acquired in a trade finally coming through.
“Up until now, Adrian Gonzalez has been James Loney – and we know what that means: good glove, no hit and no sign of life.
“Gonzalez goes 0 for 4 in the team’s biggest game of the season (Friday) as they lose to the Giants in Game 1 of this series, then opens Game 2 by grounding into a double play.
“In doing so, he shows all the emotion of a mercenary paid to do a job, and oh well if it doesn’t go well.
“By the time he comes up in the ninth inning (Saturday), he’s 0 for 3 and hitting .228 for the Dogs. He’s every bit the flat liner the folks in Boston said he was there, melting when called on to deliver in a key situation.
“But here he is tripling to lead off the ninth inning in a 2-2 game, going on to score, the Dogs going on to win and the team 6-8 since the trade with Boston.
“Later, he goes serious in the clubhouse and tells reporters, ‘You should be happy when [the players] agree’ to talk to the media.
“Too bad we can’t ask for their autographs as well, or maybe pull their cars around to the front for them.
“The guy gets a big hit, the Dogs collapsing under the weight of his nonperformance the last two weeks, and now he wants to take a bow.”
I honestly had no idea what a jerk Gonzalez was, even as some of my Boston buddies were trying to convince me of this awhile back.
—Roger Clemens threw 4 2/3 innings of shutout ball in his second appearance for the Sugar Land Skeeters. He topped out on the radar gun at 87mph. But when asked about whether he will make a late-season appearance for the Houston Astros, he was non-committal.
“Well, not this year. But we’ll see what happens after that.”
What a nightmare. What a narcissist.
–Baseball had a very scary episode on Wednesday night when Oakland A’s pitcher Brandon McCarthy was struck in the head by a line drive off the bat of Erick Aybar of the Angels. McCarthy underwent two hours of surgery to relieve pressure on the brain after the ball hit the right side of his head. He had suffered an epidural hemorrhage, brain contusion and skull fracture.
By Sunday, McCarthy seemed to be recovering, but earlier the team’s trainer had said he was still in a “life-threatening” situation.
–Reminder, suspended Giant Melky Cabrera is one at bat shy of the required 502 plate appearances for the batting title, so when one is added, as allowed, Cabrera’s average goes from .3464 to .3456. The Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen is at .341, but his team continues to collapse, now 72-67 and 2 ½ back in the wild card race.
–Well, the weather really screwed up the schedule for the U.S. Open. What a bizarre day it was in the New York area on Saturday. Pop-up storms turned into tornadoes, extremely rare for here, and then the massive line of storms that was supposed to be the real peril kind of broke up as it approached Gotham. But it wreaked havoc on the sports schedule all over.
Anyway, for the archives, Thomas Berdych defeated Roger Federer in the quarterfinals, Berdych’s fourth victory in his last seven meetings against the 17-time Grand Slam trophy winner, while Andy Roddick lost in the final match of his career to Juan Martin Del Potro.
“Since I was a kid, I’ve been coming to this tournament. I felt lucky just to sit where all of you are sitting today, to watch this game, to see the champions that have come and gone,” Roddick told the fans. “I’ve loved every minute of it.”
But then the weather cleared and on Sunday, Serena Williams won her fourth Open title, 15th Grand Slam title overall, in defeating Victoria Azarenka, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5. I only watched the last 20 minutes or so but Azarenka’s grunting was incredibly irritating.
In Monday’s weather-delayed men’s final, it’s Andy Murray vs. Novak Djokovic; Murray for a fifth time in a grand slam final attempting to become the first Brit since Fred Perry in 1936 to win a big one.
—Jeff Gordon snuck into the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship by a mere three points, edging out Kyle Busch for the 12th and final spot. Gordon finished second to Clint Bowyer at Richmond while Busch could only manage 16th. So the 12 gunning for the title are:
Denny Hamlin (top seed), Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Brad Keselowski, Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., Kasey Kahne, and Gordon
—Neil Armstrong is going to be buried at sea…very cool. What an incredibly moving moment it would be to be on the aircraft carrier for that ceremony.
—Rory McIlroy won another, the BMW Championship, his sixth PGA Tour title at age 23. Remarkable, to say the least. I mean this field was loaded, with just about every Ryder Cup performer, for starters (roughly 3/4s).
Tiger Woods (T-3) said of Rory this week, “The game of golf is in great hands with Rory – he’s here to stay,” the first real statement of the kind that the 36-year-old Woods now recognizes the torch is being passed to the 23-year-old McIlroy. As James Corrigan wrote in the Daily Telegraph:
“The relationship between the pair is largely irrelevant when it comes to the sport. But, in terms of the Woods narrative, it has, at the very least, seemed notable. To those who gave authentic challenge to his hegemony, Woods always kept a frosty front up. Not anymore. He likes the kid and he loves what the kid has to offer.
“Yeah, he is a nice kid and because of that he’s fun to play with,” said Woods. “But then, you watch him swing the club and watch him putt and he doesn’t have a lot of weaknesses. You can see that in the next decade or so as he really matures and understands some of the nuances of the game, he’s only going to get better.”
Can you imagine these two against each other in singles in the Ryder Cup? It could happen.
—Jamaica defeated the United States, 2-1, in World Cup qualifying in Kingston, dropping the U.S. behind first-place Jamaica and into a tie with Guatemala in its group. The top two advance into regional qualifying. The two teams have a rematch in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday. U.S. better win.
[And not for nothing, but my idea of a U.S.-Jamaica track meet, with a U.S.-Jamaica soccer match in the middle (like a halftime), looks pretty darn good. If they ever do something like this, I’ll sue.]
–Olympic champion Aries Merritt of the U.S. broke the world record in the 110 meters hurdles on Friday, clocking 12.80, besting the 12.87 set in 2008 by Cuba’s Dayron Robles. In the same meet in Brussels, Usain Bolt won the 100 in a pedestrian (for him) 9.86, while teammate Yohan Blake took the 200 in 19.54, the third fastest time this year. This marks the end of the outdoor season. Bolt could use a rest.
“The Duke men’s basketball team’s squeaky-clean image has come under question, and its 2010 national title could be in danger, too.
“Former Blue Devils’ forward Lance Thomas…is being sued for the balance of nearly $100,000 worth of jewelry purchased from a prestigious New York company in December 2009, according to the Associated Press. The case was filed in Dallas in January, but wasn’t made public.
“Thomas, a starter on Duke’s 2010 national championship team, reportedly made a $30,000 down payment on the purchase at Rafaello and Co., a New York firm known to cater to professional athletes.
“The question is whether they purchase violates NCAA rules and puts the Blue Devils’ title in jeopardy. The AP reported there was an agreement between Thomas and Rafaello & Co. giving him credit to pay the remaining $67,800 within 15 days….
“Reportedly, Thomas never made any additional payments and is being sued for the unpaid portion.”
—Pippa Middleton was in New York last week, making the rounds “in a scarlet minidress” (ooh baby), but as the New York Post’s Page Six noted, “Pippa caused a different kind of stir while celebrating her 29th birthday in the Meatpacking District on Thursday. A fotog tried to follow her inside Toy sushi restaurant at the Hotel Gansevoort, and was attacked by a hostess, sources told The Post.
“Vanessa Cedeno, 33, allegedly chucked a glass at the man’s leg, which was gashed. Cedeno was arrested on assault charges.”
Free Vanessa Cedeno! [Love the name] Gee, I wonder if she is the daughter of former big league player Cesar Cedeno. What a disappointing career he ended up having, after stealing 50+ bases six consecutive seasons by the age of 26.
“A golfer was shot on a course in Nevada after he shanked a ball into a man’s house and broke a window.
“Jeff Fleming, 53, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and battery with a deadly weapon for spraying two golfers with a shotgun after one of them accidentally hit his house on Thursday, local NBC News reported.
“Fleming lives near the 16th hole of Lakeridge Golf Course in southwest Reno, police said.
“He came charging out of his house at around 3:30 pm after a stray ball broke through his window.”
Injuries suffered were not life-threatening. The course stayed open, except for the 16th.
–That’s it! Southwestern U.S. Director of Wildlife for Bar Chat, Brad K., passed along another beaver tale… specifically, another “rabid beaver,” this one in Fairfax County, Washington, with said beaver knocking down an elderly woman who is now recovering in the hospital.
Lillian Peterson was knocked to the ground as she climbed out of Lake Barcroft following her nightly swim. The beaver then sunk its teeth into her leg and refused to let go.
Luckily, Ms. Peterson was saved by a co-worker from her real estate agency who happened to be fishing nearby while Peterson suffered puncture wounds on her arms and legs.
Now recently I placed the beaver, a perennial top ten favorite on the All-Species List, on double-secret probation.
Today, however, I have to make the tough call…it’s what I do…and the beaver is being suspended for 50 days. Any further offenses and its 100 days, then 150 and so on.
The beaver needs to remember something. While he’s long been admired for only building what he needs while avoiding the subprime crisis, he is still a rodent.
–Good lord…I’m reading the Anchorage Daily News for my fishing fix (I’m the world’s worst fisherman…having never caught anything better than a crappie) and some bloke caught a 264-pound halibut in a tournament when the average size is closer to 30-35 pounds in the Valdez area. Calvin Carr won himself $15,000 for his efforts.
—New York Rangers coach John Tortorella is known to be a tough guy but on Sunday, the local NBC News affiliate had a segment on the coach’s fund raiser for an animal shelter in the area. What I loved is that Tortorella said, “I’d rather be around dogs than humans.”
Yes, Coach knows, Dog remains #1 on the All-Species List while Man wallows in the #226 hole.
–We note the passing of Joe South, singer-songwriter who wrote “(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden,” a big hit for Lynn Anderson, as well as “Games People Play,” a No. 12 hit for him for which he won a Grammy for song of the year, as well as the No. 12 “Walk A Mile In My Shoes” that was recorded under Joe South and The Believers. South was 72.
Top 3 songs for the week 9/9/78: #1 “Boogie Oogie Oogie” (A Taste Of Honey…eh) #2 “Three Times A Lady” (Commodores…another slow dance tune at Wake, assuming I had a date…) #3 “Hot Blooded” (Foreigner… awful…)…and…#4 “Hopelessly Devoted To You” (Olivia Newton-John…isn’t aging well; the song that is…) #5 “Kiss You All Over” (Exile…hope you saw a picture first…) #6 “Grease” (Frankie Valli…you da man, Frankie!) #7 “An Everlasting Love” (Andy Gibb…not the worst of this genre…) #8 “Summer Nights” (John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John & Cast…sucked…) #9 “Shame” (Evelyn “Champagne” King…like #7, at least it didn’t drive you off a bridge…) #10 “Got To Get You Into My Life” (Earth, Wind & Fire…not their best, but my boys get a pass, especially Verdine!)
Jets Quiz Answer: Only three to throw for 100 TDs in their Jets career – Joe Namath (170), Ken O’Brien (124), and Richard Todd (110). Chad Pennington had 82 and Vinny Testaverde 77.
Baseball Quiz Answer: Tony Conigliaro holds the record for home runs in a season by a rookie, 24 in 1964.
*I’m running out of time and won’t attempt to do Bar Chat #1500 justice. [Actually, upon further review, this is #1501.] If you’re looking at the archives and don’t see 1,500…it’s because I didn’t start archiving them until a few months after getting started.
But I have a hard copy of every single edition and I’ve been logging them in a little blue book. For you new readers, also understand in the old days I did three a week but they were much shorter.
