1968 Heisman Trophy Quiz: [Granted, you have to be of a certain age to have a shot at this.] O.J. Simpson won the Heisman this year. But who finished 2nd thru 5th in the voting? [Hints: All ended up in the NFL, four different positions, including one defensive end and a tight end. Two had last names beginning with ‘K’; two had last names beginning with ‘H’.] Answer below.
College Football Review
No. 1 BCS Kansas State and No. 2 Oregon lost, as you are all well aware of by now, the first time since 2007 that 1 and 2 have gone down in the same weekend. K-State’s loss to 4-5 Baylor was also the first time a No. 1 BCS team lost to a team with a losing record, and it wasn’t even close.
No. 1 Kansas State went down to Waco and got demolished 52-24 by Baylor, which had one of the worst defenses in the country, yet held the Wildcats to just 362 yards while gaining 580 itself. Heisman candidate Collin Klein was humbled, picked off three times.
No. 2 Oregon, hosting No. 13 Stanford, laid an egg of epic proportions. Averaging 55 points a game entering the contest, without even breaking a sweat, the Ducks lost 17-14 in overtime. Stanford outgained Oregon 411-405 as Duck QB Marcus Mariota picked the wrong time to have his worst game of an otherwise spectacular freshman season, missing receivers left and right, while running back Kenjon Barner had just 66 yards on 21 carries and superstar De’Anthony Thomas was held in check.
No. 3 Notre Dame whipped Wake Forest 38-0. Wake was outgained 584-209 and had just nine first downs. It was the embarrassment I feared. High school seniors are withdrawing their applications for Wake in droves. The school will have to go to Botswana to find students in the future. Of course I’m bitter because I lost a bet to ND alum Mark R. and it will be a costly one. [Though delicious, I’m sure.] I learned Stan is tagging along but I won’t be responsible for him, which lightens the load.
[I do have to note that analyst Hines Ward, prior to the game, said Wake wideout Michael Campanaro “reminds him of Wes Welker.” Gee, who else told you that recently? Campanaro was held in check along with the rest of the team, however…just six receptions for 47 yards.]
No. 4 Alabama defeated Western Carolina 49-0…whatever.
No. 5 Georgia defeated Georgia Southern 45-14…ditto.
No. 6 Florida beat Jacksonville State 23-0 in yet another unimpressive performance by the incredibly overrated Gators. They could manage just 356 yards against Steve G.’s program.
No. 7 LSU defeated a highly mediocre Ole Miss team 41-35 in most unimpressive fashion. [Terrific coverage by analyst Gary Danielson on Beckham’s punt return for a touchdown late for LSU, however.]
No. 8 Texas A&M beat Sam Houston State 47-28 as Johnny Manziel set new freshmen Div. I-A marks for rushing and total offense. A&M built up a 47-0 lead so the final score is deceiving.
No. 9 South Carolina beat mighty Wofford 24-7. C’mon. Wofford outgained the Gamecocks 330-293!
No. 10 Florida State defeated Maryland 41-14.
No. 11 Clemson beat North Carolina State 62-48 as Tiger quarterback Tajh Boyd had five touchdowns passing and three rushing (426 passing yards, 103 rushing). Wolfpack QB Mike Glennon threw for 493 yards and five TDs.
So, Florida State and Clemson, both now 10-1, should leapfrog Florida, LSU and South Carolina, but ask me if I’m holding my breath. My idea that FSU could yet compete for the BCS title is no longer an outrageous thought. We’ll see how the polls shake out after K-State’s and Oregon’s defeats, let alone if USC defeats ND next week. Remember, Florida State plays Florida! That’s a suddenly delicious game, next Saturday. Don’t bother me while it’s on.
No. 17 UCLA defeated crosstown rival No. 18 USC 38-28 as the Bruins will be playing for the Pac-12 title and a Rose Bowl berth in two weeks. USC thus lost for a fourth time in what, to say the least, has been one of the most disappointing seasons in college football history (awful coaching by Lane Kiffin, yet he received a vote of confidence from AD Pat Haden and will be back). One-time Heisman frontrunner Matt Barkley has thrown 9 interceptions in the last four games! Good gawd. That sucks! He has 15 for the season after just seven all last year. For UCLA, Johnathan Franklin rushed for 171 yards. Good for the Bruins, now 9-2. Consider their last few seasons.
2011…6-8
2010…4-8
2009…7-6
2008…4-8
2007…6-7
2006…7-6
No. 20 Louisiana Tech was getting a ton of publicity this week as being a potential BCS gatecrasher. Not anymore. They lost at home to Utah State in overtime, 48-41. The Bulldogs did stage a nice comeback, down 41-17 to tie it at 41 before going down. The Aggies clinched a share of the WAC title. Both are 9-2.
No. 22 Rutgers’ defense came through again in a critical 10-3 win at Cincinnati. Rutgers (9-1) defeated Arkansas 35-26 and its lone loss was to Kent State, 35-23, but otherwise, in their other 8 wins they have allowed 15 points or less. The problem is their strength of schedule, which is pathetic, let alone the Kent State loss.
Rutgers has a tough two-game stretch to wrap up the Big East title and a trip to the Orange Bowl. The next game at Pittsburgh won’t be easy, and then there is a quick turnaround before a Thursday night affair against Louisville. Louisville, though, could hand Rutgers the Big East title beforehand if they lose to Cincinnati but the last thing the Orange Bowl, and football fans, want is a two-loss Orange Bowl team…say if Louisville loses and then beats Rutgers, which still sends the Scarlet Knights to Miami.
Ohio lost at Ball State, 52-27; Toledo lost at Northern Illinois, 31-24.
So it was kind of ironic that both Ohio and Toledo, after earlier cracking the top 25, then fell apart and are both now 8-3. Northern Illinois moved to 10-1 (7-0), while Ball State is 8-3 (5-2).
And on Saturday, Kent State moved to 10-1 (7-0) in beating a solid Bowling Green squad 31-24.
Friday, Nov. 30, it’s Northern Illinois vs. Kent State for the MAC title, with both obviously then going to a bowl game, but as I wrote before, the MAC is only going to get two other bids, max, and there’s a good chance Ohio (which plays Kent State next week) will lose out. That sucks. Ohio, or Toledo, is better than a lot of ACC teams that will get slotted into bowls with 6-6 records.
CFB Tidbits
—Ohio State moved to 11-0 with a 21-14 win over Wisconsin but it’s all for naught. They’re ineligible for postseason play.
–In West Virginia’s 50-49 loss to No. 12 Oklahoma in Morgantown, Mountaineer super receiver Tavon Austin had 341 yards rushing on 21 carries. WVU outgained the Sooners 778-662 as Oklahoma’s Landry Jones threw for a school-record 554 yards, besting his own mark.
–Gotta give Syracuse credit. They moved to 6-5 with a 31-27 win at Missouri; easily one of the five most improved teams in the country since the start.
–Temple’s Montel Harris rushed for 351 yards on 36 carries and 7 touchdowns in Temple’s 63-32 win over Army. [Howard Griffith of Illinois holds the touchdown record of 8, set in 1990 against Southern Illinois. It was the 95th 300-yard rushing effort in NCAA history (not sure if that includes Austin’s performance)].
–So all kinds of talk that Maryland, followed by Rutgers, will bolt for the Big Ten. This would be the death-knell of the Big East for football as UConn would then likely join the ACC.
Rutgers is attractive to the Big Ten because of the New York media market, ditto Maryland and Washington, D.C.
But losing Maryland would be a big blow for the ACC as well. I’d be pissed. More history wiped away. Maryland apparently has a $50 million exit fee to leave the conference, but Under Armour, created by Kevin Plank, Maryland grad, would absorb some of the cost.
Len Elmore, Maryland grad and star basketball player from the 1970s, called the news “sad” and Maryland’s probable defection a “bad move.”
“From a standpoint of tradition, I didn’t think my alma mater would be looking for a money grab, one of the most pernicious things in all of college sports. It’s nuts. They’re blinded by the dollars.”
Elmore, an attorney and commentator, is a member of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, a group of university trustees, presidents and former athletes who advocate for reform in college sports. [Alex Prewitt / Washington Post]
–The rich get richer. Yulee (Fla.) High School running back Derrick Henry, a 6’3”, 238-pound monster (I say that with respect…I mean look at the guy) broke the national career-rushing yards record with 11,232 yards. The record goes back to 1950-53…Ken Hall of Sugar Land (Texas) High School. Get this. Henry carried the ball 58 times for 482 yards and six touchdowns as he upped his career yardage total to 11,612 in a 41-26 playoff victory against Perry (Fla.) Taylor County on Friday night.
Henry is headed to Alabama. Might as well give him the Heisman next year. He is rated the No. 3 athlete in the country by ESPN.
–Great piece by former Texas running back Earl Campbell in Sports Illustrated on his coach and lifelong friend Darrell Royal.
“I’m one of the only players who really got close to him. After practice once, he told us he had this friend who was going to be picking his guitar in the T-Room, where we went to hang out and shoot pool. I don’t know why I went. How could you go from Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross to a man picking his guitar? But I went up there, and that man was Willie Nelson. I was the only black player who showed up. I think that started our relationship. It also started my love for country music.
“When Coach Royal retired, I’d go over to his house, and it would be me and him with Willie and Merle Haggard. Coach Royal gave me my first set of golf clubs, and we played every day for 10 years at Barton Creek Country Club. We were the best partners….
“The last time I saw him was a month ago. I picked him up at his house and took him to a bar in Austin called the Broken Spoke, where they play country. He had a great time. He took pictures with the waitresses. He had two Budweisers, and after the second one he said, ‘Earl, I’m ready to go.’”
A few weeks later, Earl Campbell’s best friend passed away after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s. As I noted the other day, Royal was perceived by some to be a racist. Thanks to Earl Campbell, we know the true story.
New AP Poll…
1. Notre Dame 11-0
2. Alabama 10-1
3. Georgia 10-1
4. Ohio State 11-0
5. Oregon 10-1
6. Florida 10-1…booo booooo!
7. Kansas State 10-1
8. LSU 9-2…booo boooooo!
9. Texas A&M 9-2…should be No. 6
10. Florida State 10-1….c’mon! Alright, Seminoles, kick Florida’s butt! Defend the ACC’s honor!
11. Stanford 9-2
12. Clemson 10-1…should be No. 9
13. South Carolina 9-2
15. UCLA 9-2
16. Oregon State 8-2…back to Beaverwear
21. Rutgers 9-1…where they should be
23. Kent State 10-1
24. Northern Illinois 10-1…yes, respect for the MAC
And the new BCS poll…
1. Notre Dame .9973
2. Alabama .9333
3. Georgia .8763
4. Florida .8434…absurd…they suck
5. Oregon .8318
6. Kansas State .7692
7. LSU .7308
8. Stanford .7077
9. Texas A&M .6526
10. Florida State .6363…nooo! [mused the ACC supporter]
11. Clemson .6056
18. Rutgers .2432
Alabama-Georgia in the SEC title game is settled…a de facto BCS national semifinal game.
Peyton Manning threw three touchdown passes and helped put a fork in San Diego’s playoff hopes as the 7-3 Broncos defeated the 4-6 Chargers, 30-23, in Denver.
Tom Brady and the Pats kicked butt in beating the Colts (6-4) in Foxborough, 59-24. Andrew Luck threw for 334 yards but also had three picked off. Brady had another three touchdown passes.
The Jets gave us fans reason to give a (expletive) about Thursday night’s game against New England in defeating the St. Louis Rams 27-13 to go to 4-6 as Mark Sanchez actually played well; 15/20, 178, 1-0, 118.3 rating.
The Packers moved to 7-3 in besting the Lions in Detroit 24-20. At 4-6, the Lions are cooked.
Very entertaining game in Dallas as the Cowboys (5-5) eked out a win against the Browns in overtime, 23-20, and thus saved their season. Dallas is very much in the playoff hunt.
In a bizarre, WAC-like game, the Texans (9-1) defeated the Jaguars (1-9) at home, 43-37 in OT as Matt Schaub had 527 yards passing with five touchdowns, tying Warren Moon for second most in NFL history. Norm Van Brocklin still holds the mark with 554 set way back in 1951. All NFL fans are amazed this record still stands given today’s game.
The improving Tampa Bay Bucs (6-4) beat the Panthers 27-21 in OT as rookie running back Doug Martin (Boise State) continued his super play with 138 yards rushing on 24 carries.
The Falcons survived and moved to 9-1 in defeating the Arizona Cardinals in Atlanta, 23-19, despite Matt Ryan’s five interceptions! Arizona managed a whopping 178 yards on offense. Geezuz…that blows!
Washington beat the Eagles 31-6 (Michael Vick being out) as Robert Griffin III had one of the better performances in rating memory; 14/15, 200, 4-0, 158.3! Griffin has just three interceptions in 277 attempts in his rookie campaign.
–Just a reminder on how special Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson is…courtesy of Judy Battista of the New York Times.
“When Russell Wilson was a student at North Carolina State and Wisconsin, he routinely packed 18 credits into a semester, graduating in three years, then going to graduate school. He did this while also starting 50 consecutive football games and playing baseball well enough to be drafted by the Colorado Rockies and play in the minor leagues during summer breaks.
“It was a schedule that might have exhausted most midcareer professionals. For Wilson, it was merely good training….
“It is little surprise, then, that Wilson…said that nothing about his rookie N.F.L. season had overwhelmed him: not the workload or the news media demands, no playing in front of packed stadiums or learning the playbook.”
Wilson, with 15 touchdown passes, is on pace to challenge Peyton Manning’s rookie record of 26, “one of 19 single-season rookie records that could fall at the hands of this class of first-year players….
“Rookie quarterbacks – Wilson, Andrew Luck, Ryan Tannehill, Robert Griffin III and Brandon Weeden – had 21 victories through Week 10, virtually assuring that they will shatter the N.F.L. season record of 23.”
Luck, with four 300-yard passing games, is already tied with Manning for the most by a rookie.
–Steve Serby of the New York Post on the criticism some of the Jets leveled on Tim Tebow this past week.
“Only because it is Tebow, and only because these are the Jets, do you get snipers aiming unfriendly fire at a backup quarterback. And at a time when the starting quarterback is playing like a backup quarterback. Of a staggering 3-6 team.
“ ‘Some frustration, and I guess some sadness,’ Tebow said. ‘It’s never fun to hear criticism. But at the same time, it’s something that I’ve always used as motivation, and you try to get stronger from it. That’s how I approach it. I always find the good and the positive in every situation. And the positive is this, just go work a little bit harder and improve, and build better relationships with your teammates.’
“The cowardly Jet who called Tebow ‘terrible’ in a published report? He refused to speak to the media Wednesday. This, after not accepting Ryan’s challenge to stand up and identify himself. This, after being part of a defense Tebow singlehandedly humbled in crunch time a year ago in Denver.
“ ‘But I’m a Jet now, and I’m proud to be a Jet,’ Tebow said, ‘and it’s an honor to be in this locker room with a lot of great guys.’
“They are the ones who should be honored to have him in their locker room. Because none of them, players or coaches, works as hard as he does to get better….
“He puts on a happy face, never complains, views the world through a half-full glass. He can take the high road and joke with Matt Slauson, standup teammate, about his pro-Sanchez quote that was uttered so long ago that Slauson could not remember exactly when….
“ ‘Bitterness only hurts you, it doesn’t hurt anyone else,’ Tebow said. ‘Learned that from my dad. It’s not in their heart, it’s only in your heart.’
“He didn’t deserve to be the starting quarterback. But the Jets don’t deserve him.
“ ‘I’m thankful that I don’t have to worry about tomorrow because I got a God who holds my future,’ Tebow said, ‘and I’m thankful for that.’
College Basketball
–Upsets in the first two weeks of a new season can be overrated, but Oklahoma State did beat No. 6 North Carolina State 76-56 in Puerto Rico on Sunday. Wolfpack superstar C.J. Leslie had all of 2 points…and five fouls.
–So I followed the ebb and flow of the Wake Forest-UConn game on Friday online, UConn winning 77-71, and there were a lot of positive vibes for the Deacs despite the loss as six freshman are in the apparent nine-man rotation and a few of them appear to have talent. Huskie alum Jeff B. and I exchanged notes as I acknowledged I now owe him some premium, and I said I hoped Kevin Ollie got a freakin’ contract extension, Ollie having just one year to prove himself, and then thought, OK, the Deacs will beat Iona.
Wrong! All the good feeling from the loss to UConn went down the drain with a 94-68 loss to the Gaels. Deaconwear is not about to reemerge, outside of a cap appearance on video.
–Steve D.’s Boston College Eagles lost to Charleston, 71-67, so more lunches are on the line in the upcoming Wake-B.C. b-ball contests. These are crucial to your editor since otherwise I might starve to death.
–As one who attended a Murray State Racers game earlier this year in Murray, Kentucky, I consider myself a junior expert on the team and have been surprised by their 3-0 start, including a nice win over St. John’s. I’m going to post before Sunday night’s Colorado-Murray State game but watch the name Stacy Wilson. This guy was totally unimpressive last season, scoring at a 4 point per game clip, yet through the first 3 games this year was averaging 20 for the Racers.
Ball Bits
–I learned of R.A. Dickey receiving the N.L. Cy Young Award after posting last BC so for the archives, the 38-year-old became the first knuckleballer to win it and was the third Met after Tom Seaver (’69, ’73 and ’75) and Dwight Gooden (1985) to get the award. Dickey led the National League in quality starts (27), strikeouts (230) and innings pitched (233 2/3), while finishing second in ERA at 2.73 to Clayton Kershaw’s 2.53. Kershaw was second in the voting.
The Mets exercised their option on Dickey for next season at $5 million and it appears they are close to a two-year extension beyond that.
–In one of the closest votes in history, Tampa Bay’s David Price beat out Detroit’s Justin Verlander for the A.L. Cy Young Award, 153-149, with Price getting 14 first-place votes to Verlander’s 13. Rays reliever Fernando Rodney got the other.
—Miguel Cabrera and Buster Posey won the A.L. and N.L. MVP awards. Cabrera received 22 of 28 first-place votes, easily beating the Angels’ Mike Trout. Cabrera deserved it. How could you not give a Triple Crown winner who led his team to the playoffs the award?
Posey was also a deserving winner as he got 27 of 32 first-place votes with Ryan Braun of Milwaukee a distant second.
—Torii Hunter signed a two-year deal with Detroit for $26 million. He will not live up to it. Great guy, but he’s 37 and despite a career-best .313 last season with the Angels, I see this as a bust.
–The Blue Jays are signing All-Star Melky Cabrera to a two-year, $16 million contract. Cabrera was on his way to a batting title, hitting .346, and more, when he tested positive for elevated testosterone and was suspended 50 games. So the issue is: is Cabrera the .267 hitter he was for five years with the Yankees and Atlanta, the .305 hitter with Kansas City in 2011, or the budding superstar he was with San Francisco prior to the suspension?
–Meanwhile, speaking of the Blue Jays…and by extension the Miami Marlins and the recent monster trade between the two…Bob Nightengale / USA TODAY, with further thoughts.
“Bud Selig knows how you feel South Florida.
“The commissioner and members of his office spent hours with Florida politicians lobbying for nearly a decade to get the Marlins a new ballpark. He pleaded with taxpayers to approve a sales tax to fund their new $634 million retractable-roof stadium, even with a $2.4 billion service debt.
“Now, he finds out the same way you do that owner Jeffrey Loria is conducting yet another fire sale, shedding $160 million in salaries with his 12-player trade with the Toronto Blue Jays.
“And you, as Marlins fans, can’t do a damn thing but stay home and show your disgust by refusing to give Loria any more of your salary.
“Selig’s vengeance?"
He is making Loria sweat.
“Selig said Thursday he’s reviewing the trade with the Blue Jays, giving the perception he’s considering vetoing the deal.
“ ‘My job is to do what’s in the best interests of baseball,’ Selig said. ‘People have different views of that, of what you should do, and how you should do it.’”
There hasn’t been a vetoed trade since 1976, when Commissioner Bowie Kuhn blocked A’s owner Charley Finley from selling several of his players in 1976. And this isn’t an awful deal for the Marlins, seeing as how much payroll it’s offloading when they finished last with that cast of characters. It’s just the timing is atrocious.
As Nightengale notes, however, all Selig can do is make Loria sweat, and he plans on doing that until the day Selig retires or Loria sells the team.
–Dan Patrick interviewed Mark McGwire for Sports Illustrated and while I haven’t been a McGwire fan since the original steroids disclosures, I do like McGwire’s responses to two questions of Patrick’s.
DP: Was it hard to receive all those accolades while you were playing, knowing what was going on?
MM: Back in those days you never had to think about it that way. I’m glad Major League Baseball has done what it’s done to nip it in the bud. It’s a great thing for all sports. I sort of wish I [had] the kind of guidelines that athletes have today because it would have never happened.
DP: Would you vote for yourself for the Hall of Fame?
MM: No, not by the guidelines they have now. I totally respect the Hall of Fame. They have rules. They have guidelines they go by. I totally abide by that. You’ll never see Mark McGwire fight it.
—Brad Keselowski, 28, won the Sprint Cup title and, incredibly, after 40 years in NASCAR, team owner Roger Penske got his first title. Penske has won 23 national championships in open wheel racing and 15 Indy 500s, but until now hadn’t gotten it done in this sport.
I had post-its all over to remind me to catch the last race around the midway point and so I saw an awful mistake by Jimmie Johnson’s pit crew with just 55 laps to go. The rules are you must have all five lug nuts on each tire before exiting the pits and a member of Johnson’s crew failed to do so…race over. Keselowski stayed under control and won.
Ironically, the actual winner of the race was Jeff Gordon, his 87th career triumph, this after all his issues and fines following last week’s altercation with Clint Bowyer.
But congratulations to Penske, the Best of America. [As in whether you like him or not, he’s created a ton of jobs over the years…and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.]
–This was cool. 48-year-old Miguel Angel Jimenez won his third Hong Kong Open, which is a European Tour official event. It was his 22nd as a professional. Heck, Rory McIlroy missed the cut in this one. Actually, Jimenez became the oldest winner in European Tour history at 48 years and 318 days.
–The Charlotte Bobcats were 7-59 last season, the worst winning percentage in NBA history and losers of their last 23 in a row. Thus far in 2012-2013, they are 4-4.
–So awhile back I jotted down the date Nov. 17 to check on the NCAA Division I cross country championships, hoping Oregon would win and…they did! The women, that is. You see, four years ago at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, I wrote of then high school sensation Jordan Hasay, who then ended up at Oregon and has been focusing on the higher distances as opposed to the 1500. I then saw her flame out in the Trials last July but she’s young and will probably end up a 10000 meter runner in terms of Olympic competition.
Anyway, congratulations to Hasay and the Oregon Duckettes (not their official name) for winning the NCAA Women’s Cross Country Championship! Despite Oregon’s rich running heritage, their first since 1987.
Hasay finished third, individually, with Iowa State’s Betsy Saina winning it and Dartmouth’s Abby D’Agostino finishing second.
D’Agostino? I wrote of her on 7/2 in this space as I was at the Trials. I said, “D’Agostino is one to watch for 2016.” Not a bad call, it would seem. Not bad at all. [I spelled her first name ‘Abby’ and the article on the NCAA championship had it ‘Abbey,’ in case you are checking my archives. I think I’m wrong.]
For the men, Oklahoma State won its 3rd in 4 years and 5th overall. OSU beat Wisconsin. The Oregon women bested Providence.
These were both held in Louisville, Ky. That would be a fun thing to attend some year. I recognize I might be the only one in my audience who feels that way.
–Did you know the New York Road Runners’ CEO Mary Wittenberg makes $500,000 a year?! What the heck is that all about? I’m reading an editorial in the Sunday New York Post and see the following:
“Charity’s for suckers – or at least not for the New York Road Runners, host of the New York City Marathon.
“The organization touts itself as a charitable gold mine, churning out millions in donations each year. But as The Post’s Jeane MacIntosh reports, NYRR doled out only $494,000 in direct aid last year – less than the $500,000 salary the group lavished on its tone-deaf CEO, Mary Wittenberg.
“ ‘In total,’ The Post found, ‘NYRR paid its top seven executives, including Wittenberg, more than $1.8 million.’”
This is outrageous. But don’t let it be a reflection on the individual runners, who as The Post notes, “raise tens of millions each year.”
When The Post asked the NYRR “whether Wittenberg has made any personal monetary donations for Sandy relief efforts,” the answer? “Not a dime, as of yet. Sad.”
So we hereby put Mary Wittenberg’s name in the December file for consideration as “Jerk of the Year.” [Not quite on ‘dirtball’ level, but there’s still time to reconsider.]
–‘Man’ plummets to No. 298 on the All-Species List following these two incidents.
This is in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Someone is shooting the dolphins, stabbing them, and even cutting off their jaws, authorities have been reporting in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Unbelievable.
And police in Boise, Idaho are looking for two individuals who broke into Zoo Boise and beat a Patas monkey to death with some kind of blunt instrument. Sickening. I’d give someone like this the chair in a heartbeat. The dolphin killers too, of course.
–Did you see Taylor Swift’s new album, “Red,” sold 1.2 million copies its first week? That’s the highest first-week sales since Eminem in 2002.
Top 3 songs for the week 11/17/73: #1 “Keep On Truckin’” (Eddie Kendricks) #2 “Midnight Train To Georgia” (Gladys Knight & The Pips…can’t stand this one…and Pips overrated… Imperials superior…I mean Little Anthony himself is very underrated. Just sayin’…) #3 “Heartbeat – It’s A Lovebeat” (The DeFranco Family…please make it stop!)…and…#4 “Photograph” (Ringo Starr) #5 “Space Race” (Billy Preston) #6 “Paper Roses” (Marie Osmond…whatever you want to do with your roses is fine with me, Marie…) #7 “Top Of The World” (Carpenters….I praised them big time the other day but this one kind of sucks…) #8 “Angie” (The Rolling Stones…one of their best…) #9 “Just You ‘N’ Me” (Chicago) #10 “I Got A Name” (Jim Croce…not bad…)
1968 Heisman Trophy Quiz Answer: The voting…
O.J. Simpson, TB, USX…2853
Leroy Keyes, HB-DB, Purdue…1103
Terry Hanratty, QB, Notre Dame…387
Ted Kwalick, TE, Penn State…254
Ted Hendricks, DE, Miami…174
The Steelers that year drafted Hanratty in the second round, after taking “Mean” Joe Greene in the first round out of North Texas State. But in the tenth round they came up with L.C. Greenwood out of Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Man, that is outstanding scouting.
Hendricks went in the second round to the Baltimore Colts. Kwalick was a first round pick of the 49ers, and Keyes was the Eagles’ first round selection. [Simpson of course went in the first round to the Bills.]
But I have to work Keyes into a quiz almost every season. This was the first year I was intensely following college football, all over O.J. and his greatness, for example, thanks to their games being on a lot, but Keyes had some Johnny Rodgers in him and was one of the last, if not the very last big-time two-way star. He was a star halfback for Purdue his junior and senior year after starting at cornerback his sophomore season and playing a lot of D-back the rest of his career. Keyes’ last two seasons he totaled 1989 yards on 338 carries for a 5.89 avg. He also caught 78 passes for an additional 1186 yards, 15.2 avg. Now that’s an all-purpose back.
But with the Eagles, he had a disappointing rookie season, gaining just 361 yards on the ground (3.0 avg.) and a 9.5 avg. on 29 receptions. He suffered through injuries, the Eagles moved him to safety in 1971 and ’72 where he didn’t start but had 8 interceptions. That was it. 1969-73, 48 games in the NFL, practically nothing to show for it.
