Posted Sunday PM
Draft Quiz: In 1993, three quarterbacks were selected in the draft who would go on to throw for at least 25,000 yards in the NFL. I’ll give you the schools….give me the names. [Washington State, Washington, and Indiana.] Answer below.
NFL Draft
–For the first time since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, two tackles were taken one and two overall; Central Michigan’s Eric Fisher (Kansas City) and Texas A&M’s Luke Joeckel (Jacksonville).
–And for the first time since 1963, a running back was not selected in the first round; North Carolina’s Giovani Bernard being the first to go in the second round when he was picked by Cincinnati.
In the 1980s, 48 running backs went in the first round (with only 28 teams to pick them back then). In the 1990s, 34 backs were first-rounders. For the first decade of the 2000s, it was down to 32. Over the last three years, only seven backs were taken in Round 1, meaning the 4.8 average in the 1980s was down to 2.3 this decade, and now it’s down below 2.0. [Mike Garafolo / USA TODAY]
–I was surprised the NFL Network folks didn’t mention that with the Rams’ pick of West Virginia speedster receiver, Tavon Austin, the Rams, between Austin and holdover Chris Givens, will have two speed merchants on the outside unlike any team I can remember in NFL history. Sam Bradford should be drooling. [And then the Rams added Austin’s WVU teammate Stedman Bailey.]
–I have no problem with the Jets two first-round picks, cornerback Dee Milliner (Alabama) and DT Sheldon Richardson (Missouri).
–I was shocked Alabama running back Eddie Lacy didn’t go until late in the second round, tabbed by Green Bay, who then in the fourth round got UCLA’s all-time leading rusher, Johnathan Franklin. Back to the days of Brockington and Lane! Love what the Packers did…only makes Rogers better.
—Manti Te’o was the No. 38 selection, 2nd round, by the Chargers; a terrific team for him as he’s closer to home in Hawaii. San Diego isn’t exactly the New York media fishbowl, either.
–The Cardinals selected LSU safety Tyronn Mathieu with their third-round pick, guessing the Honey Badger’s myriad personal issues are behind him.
—Landry Jones (Oklahoma) was a great pick for the Steelers in the fourth round.
–There was a little surprise that North Carolina State’s Mike Glennon was the third QB selected behind E.J. Manuel (first-round, Bills) and Geno Smith; Glennon going to Tampa Bay.
But I certainly would have taken him ahead of Matt Barkley, who went with the first pick of the fourth round, selected by the Eagles.
–Johnny Mac says Cincinnati got a steal with Nebraska running back Rex Burkhead in the sixth round.
–Two absolute steals…Oregon running back Kenjon Barner going to the Panthers in the sixth round; Clemson’s Andre Ellington to the Cardinals, also in the sixth.
–One to root for…South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore after his second serious knee injury, taken in the fourth by the 49ers.
–Yippee! The Jets selected Wake Forest fullback Tommy Bohanon in the seventh round and he seems a lock to make the team. Bohanon can be a solid receiver out of the backfield, but looks like the Jets want him to play some tight end as well. Someone for us Demon Deacon fans to root for, aside from Chris Givens. [Slim pickings these days.]
–As for the selection of West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith by the Jets in the second round, as of Sunday the team is acting as if Mark Sanchez is staying…to compete with not just Smith but offseason pickup David Garrard.
I watched Geno last year a fair amount and like the rest of the country was captivated by that early, spectacular performance against Baylor, when Smith had an out-of-this-world 656 yards through the air (45/51) with 8 touchdowns in a 70-63 win.
But he had a lot of mediocre performances down the stretch as WVU went from 5-0 to 5-5, eventually finishing 7-6 with a loss to Syracuse in the Pinstripe Bowl, where I was more impressed with Syracuse’s Ryan Nassib, playing in the snow, than with Smith.
So I was hoping the Jets would actually take Nassib, who ended up going in the fourth round to the Giants, ironically.
Oh what the hell. Anyone is better than Sanchez at this point. I was already gearing up for Garrard, frankly.
“The worst day of Mark Sanchez’s career with the Jets is no longer up for debate. It is not the five-turnover fiasco at Tennessee last December, or the game against Arizona in which he was benched, or even those two losses in AFC championship games.
“The Thanksgiving night he introduced the term ‘butt fumble’ into the lexicon was embarrassing. This is worse. For at least Sanchez was then clearly the Jets’ starting quarterback. Now he is not….
“Whether the Jets release Sanchez, trade him or banish him to clipboard-toting, his future is elsewhere.
“The Jets did not spend the 39th overall pick on a quarterback to back up the NFL leader in turnovers over the past two seasons….
“(General Manager John) Idzik said he had spoken with Sanchez about competition, but not on Friday, either before or after the Jets drafted Smith.”
“Mark Sanchez did this to himself with all the interceptions, the bad decisions and, of course, the Butt Fumble.
“The Sanchez Era is over for the Jets. Whether they cut him tomorrow or next week, over the summer or if he somehow hangs on until after the season, he blew it.
“He could have owned this town like no Jets quarterback since Joe Namath. Instead, he regressed terribly over the last two years with nearly four times as many turnovers as victories. His confidence was shot by the end of last season as he failed to overcome his penchant for making huge mistakes for a team that set him up to fail by surrounding him with the worst skill-position players in the league and then throwing Tim Tebow into his locker room….
“But Geno Smith? What makes this even more fun is that Tebow remains on the roster. And, of course, there’s David Garrard, who now becomes Smith’s baby-sitter through his rookie season. Not one of the Jets’ four quarterbacks would be considered the favorite to start for any other team.”
Alas, Jets fans…because of the guaranteed salary ($8.25 million) and the awful cap situation with Sanchez (to the tune of a $17 million hit if they were to release the guy), it does look like he’s staying. The circus continues.
–Eight years after waiting and waiting – and waiting – to be picked in the first round of the NFL draft, finally going at 24 with Green Bay, Aaron Rogers signed a five-year, $110 million contract extension with the Packers that will pay him $40 million in the first year. The deal tops Joe Flacco’s recent six-year, $120 million contract with Baltimore.
Ball Bits
My apologies to Yankee fans for failing to recognize my Metsies really, really blow….and you guys are more than hanging in there as some of your stars heal.
By the way, Mets are 5-0 when Matt Harvey starts…5-13 when he doesn’t.
Boston 18-7…great story
Baltimore15-9…weren’t supposed to repeat 2012’s gritty performance
Pittsburgh 15-10…teasing again?
Kansas City 13-8…one of these days they’ll take that step up…2013?
Houston 7-18
Miami 6-19
–On Thursday and Friday, the Reds were one-hit by the Nationals (Gonzalez/Soriano and Zimmermann), the first time since July 5-6, 1900, that the Reds had managed just one hit in consecutive games.
–On Friday, Detroit hurler Anibal Sanchez struck out 17 in eight innings in defeating the Braves, 10-0. Sanchez broke Mickey Lolich’s team record 16; Lolich doing it twice in less than three weeks back in 1969.
If you’re wondering why Sanchez didn’t go out for the ninth and a chance to match Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood with 20 strikeouts, it’s because he had already thrown 121 pitches.
–San Francisco’s Tim Lincecum seems to be turning things around. In his last two starts he has gone 13 2/3 and allowed just two earned runs while striking out 17.
And Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay is back on the beam…21 innings his last three starts, only 4 earned runs allowed.
—Josh Hamilton….$25 million per long-term contract…first 24 games…2 home runs 8 RBI…a sterling .219 batting average.
—Giancarlo Stanton hit his first home run in the Marlins’ 24th game on Saturday. I wish the Mets would trade prospects Zack Wheeler and Travis d’Arnaud for him. Never has a player more needed a change of scenery than Stanton, who is destined to hit 600 home runs in his career.
Err, and then Stanton clouted two more on Sunday! Dammit, pull the trigger, Mets! [Mets are in Miami this week, too.]
–Did you ever look at journeyman outfielder Shelley Duncan’s stats, Duncan now being on Tampa Bay?
2010: 11 home runs / 229 at-bats
2011: 11 / 223
2012: 11 / 232
–I turned on the Nets-Bulls, Game 4 in the second half on Saturday and I swear, even with the Nets up 14 with a little over 3 minutes to play, I thought, it isn’t over ‘til it’s over; especially with Brooklyn’s C.J. Watson having missed a dunk that would have made it 16.
And what an historic game it turned out to be as Chicago’s Nate Robinson went off for 23 points in the fourth quarter with the Bulls roaring back from a 109-95 deficit to tie it at 109-109, and eventually prevail 142-134 in triple OT to take a 3-1 series lead.
Yes, as interim coach (and now seemingly no way the label gets adjusted to ‘permanent’) P.J. Carlesimo said after, it was “a killer.” The Nets Joe Johnson, who played heroically, labeled it a “heart-breaker.” Cliches, yes, but they never applied more than after this one.
I didn’t watch the Nets as much as I thought I would this season, but that’s because the Knicks got my attention. The thing is the Nets can be very entertaining and in Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Johnson have as good an offensive trio as just about any team in the league (when all three, injury-prone, are healthy).
But just a few other observations on the game…Lopez didn’t box out on numerous critical situations; Andray Blatche, as talented an offensive center as there is in the game, refuses to play defense (which is why his minutes are limited); Williams missed 9 of 10 down the stretch at one point; the Nets were just 29-45 from the foul line largely because of Reggie Evans, who was 5 of 12.
Finally, I like what analyst Steve Kerr said of Robinson on a couple of occasions, that he was getting “hockey assists,” the second man in the scoring play. Robinson was absolutely brilliant in all facets.
–Boy, that injury to Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook really sucks. I feel badly for the terrific Thunder fans who were gearing up for a possible rematch in the NBA Finals against Miami.
Westbrook had surgery to repair a torn meniscus, the good thing being the ‘tear’ was repaired, not needing to replace the meniscus itself.
Despite the injury, though, OKC went up 3-0 on Houston.
–The old J.R. Smith emerged on Friday night as he was given a flagrant foul 2 in swinging his elbow into Jason Terry’s chin, suspended for Game 4, Knicks-Celts.
But then with the Knicks going for the sweep, sans Smith they found themselves down 20, only to claw back…bit by bit…until they sent the contest into OT at 84-84; this after Carmelo Anthony had missed two free throws with about 1:40 left that might have spelled the difference in regulation.
Well, the Knicks lost, 97-90, and Melo was a horrendous 10-35 from the field, though 16-20 from the free throw line.
Other Sports Stuff
—NHL Playoffs are here! Let’s Go Ran-gers! They had a miserable 48-game strike-shortened season but made it…and that’s all that matters at this point. New York opens up against Washington and Alex Ovechkin down in D.C. for the third straight season.
–A week ago, it appeared the Detroit Red Wings would miss out on the playoffs for the first time in 22 seasons, but they ended up qualifying, securing the seventh spot in the Western Conference after closing the regular season with four consecutive wins.
So at 22 consecutive playoff appearances, it’s the longest active playoff streak in major professional sports, six ahead of the San Antonio Spurs.
–Way to go Billy Horschel. After three consecutive top 10s, Horschel won this week’s Zurich Classic outside New Orleans, his first PGA Tour title. There’s a lot to like about the 26-year-old. He’s as gritty as they come, for starters, and he plays superfast, which many of us love.
–I watched the entire NASCAR Sprint Cup race from Richmond, Saturday night. [Ahhh, Sofia Vergara was watching with me….Yes, Sofia Vergara came over…really….I swear…err, ahh, err, ahh…]
I wouldn’t say the race was scintillating but just wanted to catch up on the sport, having ignored it since Daytona. I understand why some consider NASCAR boring, but I must say, over the course of a race you do learn all you need to know about virtually every team and driver because of the excellent commentary, regardless of which network is covering it.
So Saturday, Kevin Harvick won his 20th career Sprint Cup race as he stole it from Juan Pablo Montoya on a restart with five laps to go. Montoya was looking for his first win in three years.
Meanwhile, everyone was after Kurt Busch for his reckless driving as he almost clashed with Tony Stewart in the pits afterwards.
—Doug McDermott, a two-time first-team All-American, announced he is staying for his senior hoops season at Creighton. I like this move.
And Louisville’s Russ Smith and C.J. Fair of Syracuse said they would return for their senior seasons as well. Definitely surprised by Smith’s decision.
–Follow-up to my bit on Liverpool footballer Luis Suarez…he ended up being banned for ten matches for biting a Chelsea player last week.
1. North Carolina
2. LSU
3. Virginia
4. Vanderbilt
5. Oregon State
So UNC’s winning percentage is .911 and LSU’s is .887.
The all-time top winning percentage since 1957 is Arizona State’s .914 for the 1972 season.
And now…George Jones
In the history of country music, one single individual defined the genre better than any other, if you were forced to select just one…and that would be George Jones.
The other day I was driving around, listening to that New York City country station I’ve been telling you about, Nash-FM, 94.7 (listen to it on the Net) and it struck me how many tunes refer to Jones…it’s like it’s almost obligatory…if you are an up and coming artist, you better work Jones into a song or two.
For 24 hours+ one song is running through my mind, and you know which one that is.
“With a baritone voice that was as elastic as a steel-guitar string, he found vulnerability and doubt behind the cheerful drive of honky-tonk and brought suspense to every syllable, merging bluesy slides with the tight, quivering ornaments of Appalachian singing.
“In his most memorable songs, all the pleasures of a down-home Saturday night couldn’t free him from private pain. His up-tempo songs had undercurrents of solitude, and the ballads that became his specialty were suffused with stoic desolation. ‘When you’re onstage or recording, you put yourself in those stories,’ he once said.
“Fans heard in those songs the strains of a life in which success and excess battled for decades. Mr. Jones – nicknamed Possum for his close-set eyes and pointed nose and later No-Show Jones for the concerts he missed during drinking and drug binges – bought, sold and traded dozens of houses and hundreds of cars; he earned millions of dollars and lost much of it to drug use, mismanagement and divorce settlements. Through it all, he kept touring and recording, singing mournful songs that continued to ring true.”
Imagine, as early as the 1960s, he was celebrated as the greatest living country singer and, more or less, for another 40 years that label stuck.
As Pareles adds, he was also never a crossover act. Country revered him, pop and rock and roll ignored him. And George Jones never wore a cowboy hat.
The great Alan Jackson once said, “Not everybody needs to sound like a George Jones record. But that’s what I’ve always done, and I’m going to keep it that way – or try to.”
George Jones was born in Saratoga, Texas, Sept. 12, 1931. His father, George Washington Jones, was a truck driver and pipe fitter. He bought young George his first guitar when he was 9, and by the time he was a teenager, young George was singing on the streets and in the honky-tonks in the Gulf Coast port of Beaumont.
Jones married for the first time when he was 17, but divorced Dorothy Bonvillion before the birth of their daughter.
After serving in the Marines from 1950-53, he signed with Starday Records and released his first single in 1954, the year he married wife No. 2. They had two sons before they divorced in 1968.
Jones began singing at the Grand Ole Opry in 1956 and his first No. 1 country hit came in 1959, “White Lighting,” which required 83 takes because Jones was so drunk.
As Pareles writes: “On the road, playing one-night stands, he tore up hotel rooms and got into brawls. He also began missing shows because he was too drunk to perform.”
But on stage and in the recording studio, he was moving up…In 1962, Jones’ “She Thinks I Still Care” was nominated for a Grammy Award.
His partying, though, was getting worse.
Then in 1967, Jones had another No. 1 country single with “Walk Through This World With Me.” He had met country singer Tammy Wynette the year before, 1966, and they fell in love while on tour.
“(Wynette) was married at the time to Don Chapel, a songwriter whose material had appeared on both of their albums. One night in 1968, Mr. Jones recalled, Ms. Wynette and Mr. Chapel were arguing in their dining room when Mr. Jones arrived; he upended the dining room table and told Ms. Wynette he loved her. She took her three children and left with Mr. Jones.”
The two married in 1969. By 1971, the couple began recording duets, three of which were No. 1 hits – “We’re Gonna Hold On,” “Golden Ring” and “Near You.”
But the marriage was falling apart, due to Jones’ drinking and amphetamine use. At one point, after a fight with Wynette, he was hospitalized for 10 days.
Wynette and Jones divorced in 1975. But by 1980, they rejoined to make a new album, “Together Again,” which included the hit “Two Story House.”
Jones’ partying days were getting worse, however, and the hits weren’t coming like they used to. He began using cocaine and carrying a gun. One time he shot at a friend’s car and was charged with attempted murder, though the charges were later dropped.
The moniker “No-Show Jones” gained national recognition because he missed more dates than he kept. In 1979, he missed 54 concert dates.
But with such behavior, his fame increased, even as he declared bankruptcy in 1979 as well.
The following year, though, he released “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” written by Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman, a tune many believe is the greatest country song of all time, and, let’s face it, with Jones’ death it will be judged so for decades to come. It was not only the 1980 Country Music Association Song of the Year, Jones won the Grammy for best male country performance. [And then the combo, Jones and the same song, did it again in 1981, ‘best male vocalist’ in this case.]
Jones was cranking out hits again, and in 1983 he married Nancy Sepulvedo, who straightened out both his business affairs and life. Jones swore off cocaine and whiskey.
And even after the younger generation – artists such as Randy Travis, Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks and Vince Gill – were taking over the charts, Jones was touring more than ever.
But then on March 6, 1999, Jones was critically injured when his car hit the side of a bridge as he was changing a cassette tape. A half-empty bottle of vodka was found in the car and he was sentenced to undergo treatment.
From 1955 to 2005, George Jones placed 167 records on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart – a history-making 143 of them in the top 40.
Merle Haggard said in a statement on Friday, “The world has lost the greatest country singer of all time. Amen.”
Vince Gill, whose 20 Grammy Awards make him the most lauded male country singer ever, said, “There aren’t words in our language to describe the depth of his greatness. I’ll miss my kind and generous friend.”
Another classic…Jones and his hard-partying ways. Once, following a drinking binge, his wife took his car keys so he couldn’t drive. Jones commandeered a motorized lawn mower and drove himself to the nearest liquor store.
In 2006, Jones said, “Hopefully [people] will remember me for my music and forgive me of the things I did that let ‘em down….There are some things you just can’t make up to people,” referring to the many absences on the concert circuit.
The late Waylon Jennings: “If we could all sound like we wanted to, we would all sound like George Jones.”
Alan Jackson: “Heaven better get ready for George Jones. He will always be the greatest singer of real country music. There’ll never be another.”
“Three decades ago, an East Texas singer named George Jones took on an impossibly melodramatic, shamelessly sentimental song about a man who desperately clutched at lost love until his dying breath.
“His 1980 recording of ‘He Stopped Loving Her Today’ became one of the most revered songs in country music history.”
He said I’ll love you til I die
She told him you’ll forget in time
I watched the years pass slowly by
She still preyed upon his mind
He kept her pictures on his wall
Went half crazy now and then
But he still loved her through it all
Hoping she’d come back again
They found love letters by his bed
Dated 1962
He had underlined in red
Every single I love you
I went to see my friend today
Oh but I didn’t see no tears
He was all dressed up to go away
First time I’d seen him smile in years
He stopped loving her today
They placed a wreath upon his door
Soon they’ll carry him away
He stopped loving her today
You know she came to see him one last time
Oh, we all wondered if she would
And it kept running through my mind
Well, this time he’s over her for good
He stopped loving her today
They placed a wreath upon his door
And soon they’ll carry him away
He stopped loving her today
Back in June 2003, I included a bit on CMT’s (Country Music Television’s) Top 100 list. Here is the Top 20 from this one.
1. Tammy Wynette, “Stand By Your Man” (’68)
2. George Jones, “He Stopped Loving Her Today” (’80)
3. Patsy Cline, “Crazy” (’62)
4. Johnny Cash, “Ring Of Fire” (’63)
5. Hank Williams, “Your Cheatin’ Heart” (’53)
6. Garth Brooks, “Friends In Low Places” (’90)…23 years ago?!
7. Patsy Cline, “I Fall To Pieces” (’61)
8. Glen Campbell, “Galveston” (’69)
9. Charlie Rich, “Behind Closed Doors” (’73)
10. Waylon & Willie, “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies
Grow Up To Be Cowboys” (’78)
11. Earl Scruggs, “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” (’80)
12. George Strait, “Amarillo By Morning” (’83)
13. Loretta Lynn, “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (’70)
14. Garth Brooks, “The Dance” (’90)
15. Randy Travis, “Forever And Ever, Amen” (’87)
16. Dolly Parton, “I Will Always Love You” (’74)
17. Conway Twitty, “Hello Darlin’” (’70)
18. John Denver, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” (’71)
19. Hank Williams, “Hey, Good Lookin’” (’51)
20. Soggy Bottom Boys, “I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow”
(originally recorded 1922)
You know what I like about this list? Country music folks have a real sense of history. Of course you can complain about a few of these selections (again, this list is as of 2003), but as a whole it’s a terrific group. Here are my minor problems, however.
What the heck is “Galveston” doing here? “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” and “Wichita Lineman” are superior Glen Campbell tunes and neither was in the Top 100!
And you could question John Denver being there, but I don’t. It’s a great tune. Here’s the surprising thing, though. “Take Me Home ” never charted higher than #50 on the country charts!!! It was a #2 pop hit.
One other note. “Crazy” peaked at #2.
Other Stuff
–A rare 1913 Liberty Head nickel sold at auction for $3.2 million on Thursday. Only five of these nickels are known to exist and, according to Heritage Auctions, three are available to collectors. The winning bidders were two men from Lexington, Ky., and Panama City, Fla.
This particular nickel was recovered from the wreckage of a deadly car accident in 1962 and then tucked away in a Virginia family’s closet for four decades.
Family members eventually had it authenticated in 2003.
“A North Carolina collector, George Walton, purchased the nickel in the mid-1940s in a trade for other coins worth about $3,750, according to Heritage Auctions. Walton was carrying the nickel and other collectibles when he was killed in a car crash in 1962 in route to a coin show.”
In 2010, another 1913 Liberty Head nickel sold for $3.7 million.
–In 1990, there were fewer than two million feral wild pigs, weighing 200 pounds or more, in 20 states. Today that number has risen to six million in 47 states, with established populations in 38.
At least hunters say the pork is quite tasty. I’m beginning to drool….just as long as I don’t encounter one in my jogs through the park.
–From the AP…Darwin, Australia… “A field hockey player has died after he was bitten by a venomous king brown snake in Australia’s tropical Northern Territory and then went for a run.
“Fairfax Newspapers reported Friday that 26-year-old Karl Berry was cleaning up at Marrara Hockey Centre in Darwin on Tuesday when he picked up a snake. He thought it was a nonvenomous python and threw it into the bushes.
“Berry was bitten on the hand but did not realize the bite was poisonous and went on a 1.2-mile training run before collapsing.”
Berry was conscious when paramedics arrived but didn’t mention the bite for 15 minutes. Doctors say the run pumped the venom around his system faster.
–Before they kick off their “50 and Counting” tour, the Rolling Stones played a surprise warm-up date at a little club in Los Angeles…the Echoplex on Saturday night. Tickets were being sold for $20 each. The place only seats 700. They open at L.A.’s Staples Center next Friday.
Top 3 songs for the week of 4/30/66: #1 “Good Lovin’” (The Young Rascals) #2 “(You’re My) Soul And Inspiration” (The Righteous Brothers) #3 “Monday, Monday” (The Mamas and the Papas)…and…#4 “Sloop John B” (The Beach Boys) #5 “Secret Agent Man” (Johnny Rivers) #6 “Kicks” (Paul Revere and The Raiders featuring Mark Lindsay…the official title then…) #7 “Time Won’t Let Me” (The Outsiders) #8 “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” (Cher) #9 “Daydream” (The Lovin’ Spoonful) #10 “Leaning On The Lamp Post” (Herman’s Hermits… goodness gracious…in all seriousness that’s as good a Top Ten as there ever was…the last one is the worst and for its time was OK…but the first nine have held up great….)
Draft Quiz: 1993 QBs who went on to throw for 25,000 yards in the NFL.
Drew Bledsoe, 1st pick overall by New England…44,161 yards (Washington State)
Mark Brunell, 5th round, Green Bay…32,072 (Washington)
Trent Green, 8th round, San Diego…28,475 (Indiana)
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
