Hall of Fame vote…no one gets in!
You need 75% of ballots cast
Craig Biggio…68.2 percent
Jack Morris…67.7…only one more year left on ballot
Jeff Bagwell…59.6
Mike Piazza…57.8
Tim Raines…52.2
Lee Smith…47.8
Curt Schilling…38.8
Roger Clemens…37.6
Barry Bonds…36.2
Edgar Martinez…35.9
Alan Trammell…33.6
Larry Walker…21.6
Fred McGriff…20.7
Dale Murphy…18.6
Mark McGwire…16.9
Don Mattingly…13.2
Sammy Sosa…12.5
Rafael Palmeiro…8.8
[Following posted noon
, Wednesday]NBA Quiz: Name the four in NBA/ABA history to average 35 points a game for a season. [All NBA.] Answer below.
Notre Dame 66 Cincinnati 60!
“Editor…ND’s game last night was great!! Playing away from home they beat a very good Cincinnati team. Every Irish fan should wake up this morning and be proud. Did I miss anything else?”
–Mark R. / ND alum, Tuesday morning
Well, I told Mark he indeed did miss the fact that Cincy had been beaten two days earlier by St. John’s, which dropped the Bearcats down in the rankings from 14 to 21, so I’m not so sure just how good the win by the Fighting Irish really was.
In other news, a senior Iranian official admitted sanctions have done a number on his country’s oil exports….wait….I was just informed by authorities with the International Web Site Association that if I don’t get back to the real story regarding Notre Dame, I could lose my license. These guys can be tough. Back to Bar Chat…
Alabama 42 Notre Dame 14!!!
‘Bama wins Third BCS Title in Four Years!!!
Notre Dame Program Set Back 40 Years!!!
Bear Who? It’s All About Nick!!!
So what time did you go to bed? I went to bed at half, with the pathetic Fighting Irish down 28-0 after the Crimson Tide blitzed the immensely overrated team from South Bend. [Think Pitt, which should have won its game against ND, for starters. Hell, the only decent game Notre Dame played all season was against my team…Wake Forest. But I digress…]
Alabama outgained Notre Dame 529-302, which was very deceiving. It was more like 700-120. Running backs Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon combined for 248 yards. Quarterback AJ McCarron was 20/28, 264, 4-0.
“One of these days, we’ll learn. Or then again, maybe we won’t. I mean, if we hadn’t utterly surrendered to the idea of SEC domination by now, what’s it going to take? Maybe this – Alabama’s 42-14 demolition of Notre Dame on Monday night in the BCS title game, which ought to drop Discover as its title sponsor and get right to the heart of the matter by calling it what it is:
“ ‘Whether I look like it or not,’ Saban said afterward, ‘I’m happy as hell.’
“As he should be. And the rest of us should be quiet, if we’re inclined to question the SEC’s dominance. It’s not smoke and mirrors. It’s not scheduling or officiating. It’s not a conspiracy by the TV networks.
“The gap between the SEC and everyone else isn’t getting ridiculous; it is ridiculous. The SEC is so clearly superior to the rest of college football that the SEC’s conference title game in Atlanta deserves to be one of the two national semifinals in 2014 when college football does away with the SEC BCS national championship brought to you by Nick Saban – and ushers in the four-team playoff….
“This is the seventh consecutive national championship for the SEC, and it wasn’t the most lopsided of them all. And I’ve seen pretty much all of them. I was there in January 2007 when Florida demolished Ohio State 41-14, which was heretofore the worst beatdown yet in the SEC BCS national championship brought to you by Nic…err, Urban Meyer.
“And as I recall, Ohio State actually led that game early.
“Notre Dame never led this game. After one possession by Alabama, the Tide led 7-0. After two possessions, it was 14-0. After three? You know what it was after three possessions. Alabama led 21-0, and eventually it was 35-0 – and it could’ve been worse…
“Notre Dame has a defensive front said to be one of the two best in the country – second to Alabama’s defensive front, honestly – and it has the most decorated linebacker in the country in Manti Te’o. And they got manhandled. This was men against boys. Alabama running back Eddie Lacy, merely the latest monster Alabama running back to play in the SEC BCS national championship brought to you by Nick Saban, ran for 140 yards and would’ve had more if he hadn’t had to split carries with T.J. Yeldon, who ran for 108. Between the two of them, they humiliated that Notre Dame defensive front and they vaporized Heisman runner-up linebacker Manti Te’o.”
“The game itself brought to mind a famous quote from Mike Tyson. Everybody has a plan, he said – until getting punched in the face. On Monday, Alabama bludgeoned Notre Dame, repeatedly. It controlled the game with both lines, on offense and defense, putting on a clinic in power football.”
Alabama is 49-5 the last four seasons, and it’s already the favorite for next fall to win a third straight title. McCarron and Yeldon are among those coming back, plus despite losing three off the offensive line, ‘Bama just reloads in this department. And they are expected to have another top-Ten recruiting class come announcements in February. Saban now has four championships, including one at LSU. Only two others can claim four; Bear Bryant and John McKay of USC.
Saban also earned $525,000 in bonuses for winning the SEC Championship, qualifying for a BCS game, and winning the title.
On the issue of Notre Dame star Manti Te’o, as George Schroeder of USA TODAY reported:
“Te’o has been projected as a potential first-round pick. But Rob Rang, an NFL draft analyst for CBSSports.com, said Te’o’s first-half performance, when he struggled to avoid being blocked and, more tellingly, missed several tackles on Lacy and Yeldon, should be troubling to pro scouts.
“ ‘In the biggest of big games you have to play well,’ Rang said at halftime. ‘The fact he’s not has got to be an area of concern for any NFL talent evaluator. You don’t get more NFL (offensive) talent than Alabama. You don’t get a bigger stage…For a player with his hype to not be able to make tackles, it will hurt his draft stock.’”
Final AP Standings
1. Alabama 13-1…No. 1 record ninth time…one more than ND
2. Oregon 12-1
3. Ohio State 12-0
4. Notre Dame 12-1
T-5. Georgia 12-1
T-5. Texas A&M 11-2
7. Stanford 12-2
8. South Carolina 11-2
9. Florida 11-2
10. Florida State 12-2
11. Clemson 11-2…should be No. 9 and Florida No. 11
12. Kansas State 11-2…very disappointing ending
13. Louisville 11-2
14. LSU 10-3
15. Oklahoma 10-3
A few weeks ago there was still a very slight chance the AP could have provided us with split national champions in voting in Ohio State, which was ineligible for the BCS due to NCAA sanctions.
‘Bama finished No. 1 five times under Bear Bryant during his 25 years (others say six), and Saban has three in six.
The SEC became the first league to have five, top 10 teams in the final rankings.
–I have to admit I was very surprised Oregon’s Chip Kelly opted to stay after being courted heavily by the Eagles and Browns (and to a lesser extent the Bills, from what I’ve gathered).
But then of all the people out my way, I really shouldn’t be surprised. I have, after all, been to the University of Oregon three times in the past four years and I’ve commented on a number of occasions about the influence of Nike founder Phil Knight and how each time I go, there’s a new building going up thanks to his money.
So it appears Mr. Knight stepped up again for Kelly, whose Ducks are 46-7 the past four seasons.
Cynics will say Kelly just used the system for a second straight year to get more money. That may have been true last offseason, but I’m guessing he finally realized he has a great gig and it’s not as if the Philly, Cleveland or Buffalo jobs are attractive, like, say, going to Dallas or the Giants.
Kelly earned $2.8 million this season and has five years left on his deal, but of course he has just received a nice raise.
–Meanwhile, Doug Marrone is leaving Syracuse and taking the Bills’ job. That’s all about the money.
–I’m defending Brent Musburger for his comments on the girlfriend of Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron. Sure, he could have just pointed out she was a former Miss Alabama, and left it at that, letting viewers to fill in the blank. And, sure, Musburger didn’t need to say Katherine Webb was a “lovely lady” and, in addressing his broadcast partner, Kirk Herbsteit, add, “You quarterbacks get all the good-looking women.”
And, sure, Musburger, 73, didn’t have to say, “If you’re a youngster in Alabama, start getting the football out and throw it around the backyard with Pop.”
But, heck, Katherine Webb wasn’t just some innocent girlfriend McCarron met on campus in a science class. For starters, she warranted being picked out of the crowd because there were already stories about their short courtship, she being an Auburn grad and all.
And she’s a freaking beauty pageant contestant! Me thinks they like the limelight and any publicity for them is good publicity, unless they are a jerk…and from what we know, Miss Webb surely is not.
Well, no surprise ESPN apologized the next day, and that was understandable too. But here is what Webb herself said to the Associated Press on Tuesday.
“It was kind of nice. I didn’t look at it as creepy at all. For a woman to be called beautiful, I don’t see how that’s an issue.”
And on Wednesday morning, Today’s Matt Lauer interviewed Ms. Webb, clearly trying to get her to say something bad about Musburger, to which Webb said, “The media has been unfair to him” and that he didn’t make a derogatory statement, like she was hot or something.
Robert Griffin III
[RG3 underwent reconstructive knee surgery, Wednesday morning, but I’m leaving the following story from earlier in for some of the rehab details.]
Mike Jones, Mark Maske and Dave Sheinin / Washington Post
“Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III has a torn lateral collateral ligament in his right knee and will undergo surgery in coming days, a person familiar with Griffin’s condition said Tuesday night.
“Damage to that ligament could mean a lengthy rehabilitation that might jeopardize the star quarterback’s chances of being ready for the start of the 2013 season in September and could keep him sidelined even longer, according to two experts.
“When they perform the surgery, doctors also will determine whether a second ligament, Griffin’s anterior cruciate, has been damaged as well, according to the person familiar with Griffin’s case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
“Griffin was examined Tuesday outside Pensacola, Fla., by orthopedic surgeon James Andrews. The Washington Post reported Monday that an initial MRI exam of Griffin’s knee showed possible tears of the two ligaments….
“James C. Dreese, a doctor for University of Maryland athletic teams, said an LCL tear requires a longer rehabilitation process than an ACL tear. Dreese, who has no specific knowledge of Griffin’s injury, said an LCL tear could keep Griffin out for eight to 12 months….
“Dreese also said LCL tears are usually accompanied by injuries to one of the cruciate ligaments – thie ACL or PCL (posterior cruciate ligament). However, he said if there is an ACL tear in addition to the LCL tear, it would not necessarily lengthen Griffin’s rehab.
“Griffin tore the ACL in the same knee in 2009, when he was a sophomore at Baylor University….
“Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who tore his ACL on Dec. 24, 2011, in a game against the Redskins…defied the odds and returned to action by the start of the 2012 season….
“DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Association, said Tuesday that the union is looking into the Redskins’ handling of the quarterback’s injury.”
One thing is for sure, the playing surface at FedEx Field is atrocious.
“There is no confusion over Robert Griffin III’s knee – and there never was. The Washington Redskins drafted a healthy, thrilling young player and by the time they got done using him up this season he lurched around like a pirate with a peg leg. Let’s be clear: Griffin is not suffering from an ‘old’ injury, or from just one injury either. Anyone with eyes saw the kid hurt his knee three times in the past month, twice in the same playoff game, until one strained ligament turned into two torn ones. Every decision-maker in the organization, from the rock-headed coach to the renowned surgeon in the silly team pom-pom cap, is responsible for that.
“Yeah, we get the cute distinction between ‘injured’ and ‘hurt’ that Mike Shanahan keeps trying to make, and we understand the play-with-pain culture of the NFL. But here is the real distinction: Griffin started an NFC playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks already hurt and wound up badly injured, to the point that it could compromise his future. The supposed confusion over how much Shanahan and Dr. James Andrews consult on the sidelines, and the purported murkiness of Griffin’s MRI, whether it shows partial or full tears to his ACL and LCL, is nothing more than rope-a-dope and rationalizing, feeble attempts to excuse the indefensible.
“Griffin should never have been back on the field after halftime against the Seattle Seahawks last Sunday, and if the people in the organization weren’t so starved for success, they would have made a better decision about that….
“Shanahan may be too flinty and defensive to say it, but he made quite simply one of the worst decisions of his life as head coach, and it’s hard to believe that behind closed doors, away from the second-guessing media, he isn’t ramming his head into a wall over it.”
Houston Texans running back Derrick Ward, via Twitter: “Mike Shanahan should be fired for letting RG3 play today.”
Shanahan acknowledged Sunday night that he would ‘probably second-guess myself’ about the decision, though on Monday said he was confident he had made the right call.
“Robert’s our franchise quarterback, and I’m not going to take the chance on his career to win a game,” Shanahan said. “But I also know that when you’ve got the belief in a guy, and you feel he can play at a certain level, and the doctors are telling you that he’s okay to go in, then you’ve got to do what you think is right.”
Griffin tweeted Monday: “Many may question, criticize [and] think they have all the right answers. But few have been in the line of fire in battle.”
“Shanahan deserves a lot of credit for turning the Redskins into winners again. He was right often. Shanahan whiffed, though, on his most important decision. And now Griffin and the Redskins may have to pay a big price.”
As for the role of Dr. James Andrews…Robert Klemko / USA TODAY
“When (RG3) injured his knee on a gruesome collision in the fourth quarter of a 31-28 victory against the Baltimore Ravens on Dec. 9, he limped off the field for one play, then hobbled back into the huddle as fans and teammates held their breath.
“Griffin, clearly injured and in pain, remained in the game for four plays before removing himself.
“The following day, when the team revealed Griffin had suffered a sprained lateral collateral ligament, coach Mike Shanahan was asked why he had risked the health of his franchise quarterback by putting him back into the game.
“Shanahan said he let Griffin return with the blessing of James Andrews, the renowned orthopedic surgeon, who was on the sideline.
“Andrews, however, told USA TODAY Sports on Saturday that he never cleared Griffin to go back into the game, because he never even examined him.”
Then before Sunday’s game, Andrews told USA TODAY, “I’m the one that shut him down that day, finally. I’ve been a nervous wreck letting him come back as quick as he has. He’s doing a lot better this week, but he’s still recovering and I’m holding my breath because of it.”
—A word on the Jets…they held their long-awaited end of season press conference, finally, on Tuesday, with owner Woody Johnson and Coach Rex Ryan, and it was a total joke. I like Rex, but he was talking about starting over, and Woody was saying Rex had a say in who the new GM is, which makes zero sense, and it would have been better had they said nothing. The local press is pillorying them again.
And as noted in a New York Post story regarding the PSLs – personal seat licenses – “An owner of four ‘Coaches Club’ PSLs behind the Jets bench paid $30,000 for each seat but is now trying to unload them for $12,000 a pop.
“Another holder of two nearby seats who paid $60,000 combined is offering his for a total of $20,000.”
Lance Armstrong is going to speak exclusively with Oprah Winfrey on Jan. 17 in a “no-holds-barred interview.”
“One of Lance Armstrong’s representatives offered a $250,000 ‘donation’ to the United States Anti-Doping Agency in 2004, ’60 Minutes Sports’ will report in an explosive segment that is scheduled to air on Wednesday, an offer the organization believed was inappropriate and quickly rejected.
“ ‘It was a clear conflict of interest for USADA,’ Travis Tygart, the agency’s chief executive officer, told correspondent Scott Pelley. ‘We had no hesitation in rejecting that offer.’
“Armstrong’s generous offer apparently didn’t persuade anti-doping to go easy on him: USADA released a damning 1,000-page report in October – eight years after Armstrong’s camp offered the ‘donation’ – detailing why it stripped the disgraced cyclist of his seven Tour de France victories.”
College Basketball
AP Men’s Poll
1. Duke*
2. Michigan*
3. Louisville
4. Arizona*
5. Indiana
6. Kansas
7. Syracuse
8. Minnesota
9. Gonzaga
10. Missouri
13. Creighton…Mr. McDermott’s team…another one to root for
14. Butler
16. San Diego State…still right where I want to be for my Aztecs, but Mountain West looking very tough
–Big blow for Lehigh’s chances of getting back to the Big Dance as superstar guard / NBA prospect C.J. McCollum broke a bone in his left foot and is out up to ten weeks. The Mountain Hawks won’t have a chance at defeating Patriot League rival Bucknell now.
–Talk about anticlimactic, Dustin Johnson finally won the heavily delayed Tournament of Champions, the season-opening event on the PGA Tour. For four days, play was suspended due to heavy winds in Hawaii and finally it was reduced to a 54-hole event played Monday and Tuesday.
But for Johnson, his seventh career PGA Tour victory also meant he has won at least once each of his last six seasons, the second-longest active streak on Tour behind only Phil Mickelson’s nine (2004-2012). He’s also the first since Tiger Woods to win in six consecutive years straight out of college. Among the benes, Johnson is now exempt through 2016.
One side note of interest to golf fans…runner-up Steve Stricker, 45, announced he is going into semi-retirement and playing in just ten events this year.
1. Pine Valley
2. Augusta National
3. Cypress Point
4. Shinnecock
5. Oakmont
6. Merion (East)
7. Pebble Beach
8. Winged Foot (West)
9. Sand Hills (Mullen, Neb.)
10. Fishers Island (Fishers Island, N.Y.)
11. Summit Municipal (par-3)
—Lionel Messi is only 25 years old yet just won his fourth straight FIFA Ballon d’Or as the world’s best football (soccer) player. Messi beat Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid, and Barcelona teammate Andres Iniesta.
Of course Messi scored an all-time best 91 goals in 2012, playing for both his country and Barcelona.
—Alex Rodriguez’ long-awaited hip surgery is Jan. 16 and will keep him out of the lineup until July at the earliest. The reason why the surgery has been delayed, according to his doctor, is because the hip area was very weak and he needed to rehab it first. It’s also clear the injury was crucial in his awful postseason performance.
–Brad K., New Jersey coordinator for bear control (seeing as how he wrestles bears in his spare time at his rural Jersey estate), reported of a highly disturbing tale from Massachusetts where…
“A man says all he heard was hiss before a bobcat pounced on him in his own garage, sinking its teeth into his face and its claws in his back.”
“Roger Mundell Jr., 53, went into the garage in Brookfield on Sunday morning to fetch some tie-down straps for a friend when the rabid animal attacked.”
It’s an ugly story, but “Mundell and his wife pinned the cat to the ground and shot it dead.”
I’ve never been a fan of bobcats. Currently, they are way down on the All-Species List, No. 123, just ahead of the porcupine.
I also don’t believe game officials, now aware of the All-Species List designation, who are coming forward to defend the bobcat. Said Tom French, of French’s Mustard, “This is completely out of character for a bobcat.”
“An influx of wolves preying on reindeer herds has triggered a state of emergency in the Sakha Republic, in northeastern Russia.
“Squads of hunters will pursue the wolves in a three-month ‘battle’ from 15 January, officials say.
“Experts quoted by Russian media believe a shortage of mountain hares has caused the migration of hungry wolves….
Good lord. “Last year hunters killed 730 wolves in the republic.”
C’mon, wolves!!! Fight back! Attack while they are asleep! Hide in the back seat of their cars! In the liquor stores behind the shelves of vodka! You have my full support.
— “Man” sucks…part XXIX
“Eleven elephants were slaughtered by ivory poachers and their tusks were chopped off, Kenyan officials said Monday, in one of the worst single episodes of poaching in Kenya in recent years. [Ed. all one family.]
“Kenyan officials said they discovered the 11 carcasses in Tsavo East National Park, one of the country’s tourism gems, underscoring the danger poaching presents not only to the species, but also to one of the cornerstones of the Kenyan economy.”
Between the poachers and the bastards slaughtering sharks for their fins and then dumping the carcasses back in the sea, note to my friends in Asia. Stop buying this stuff!!!
Top 3 songs for the week 1/9/61: #1 “Wonderland By Night” (Bert Kaempfert and his Orchestra) #2 “Are You Lonesome To-night?” (Elvis Presley) #3 “Exodus” (Ferrante and Teicher)…and…#4 “Last Date” (Floyd Cramer) #5 “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” (The Shirelles) #6 “Rubber Ball” (Bobby Vee) #7 “Angel Baby” (Rosie and The Originals) #8 “North To Alaska” (Johnny Horton) #9 “Corinna, Corinna” (Ray Peterson) #10 “You’re Sixteen” (Johnny Burnette…pretty darn good week…especially top five)
NBA Quiz Answer: Four to average 35 ppg:
Wilt 50.36 (1961-62 PHW)
Wilt 44.84 (1862-63 SFW)
Wilt 38.39 (1960-61 PHW)
Wilt 37.60 (1959-60 PHW)
Michael Jordan 37.09 (1986-87 CHI)
Wilt 36.85 (1963-64 SFW)
Rick Barry 35.58 (1966-67 SFW)
Kobe Bryant 35.40 (2005-06 LAL)
Yes, it was all about whether or not you’d get Barry.
