San Diego Padres Quiz: If you fully get these two, treat yourself to a Shiner Bock. 1) Name the four to hit 40 home runs in a single season. 2) Name the only San Diego hurler to win 100 games in a Padres uniform. Answers below.
Merion…and a terrific Major…
Six runner-up finishes (1999, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2013)…43rd birthday…heartbreak.
Thomas Boswell / Washington Post…June 14
“Phil Mickelson flew all night, San Diego to Philadelphia, before his early-morning tee time in the first round of the U.S. Open so he could go to his daughter’s eighth grade-graduation Wednesday.
“Not her high school or college graduation, or a daughter’s wedding, mind you. Mickelson played with red eyes, twice caught one-hour naps during the morning, once during a long rain delay. He turned 18 holes of golf into an 18-hour mini-ordeal. But he also shot a 67 to lead the Open.
“What is going on here? What does it mean to Mickelson? And what does it tell us about the fascinating connection between managing your life and managing your career that is a central part of our evaluation of all of the world’s best players? Once, asked his highest achievement, Jack Nicklaus did not reply, ‘18 majors.’ He said, ‘I’m proudest of how I managed my life.’
“Mickelson’s daughter Amanda told him it was all right if he didn’t come to her event, even though she was a speaker at it. She understood. After all, 14 years ago, Phil carried a beeper with him all day on the final Sunday at Pinehurst as he dueled with Payne Stewart for the U.S. Open title, vowing to leave the course in mid-round if necessary to join his wife during childbirth. The sports nation debated whether that was wonderful or nuts or both.
“This intertwining of the U.S. Open (which always ends on Father’s Day), Mickelson’s devotion to his family and his uniquely star-crossed relationship with his national championship is one of the most tangled knots in sports. He has finished second in the Open a record five times. His pride is that he’s come so close so often, and his biggest frustration is that he has never won it when he surely should have closed it out once, maybe twice….
“ ‘If I never get it, it will be a bit heartbreaking for me,’ he said….
“For great pros, the link between self-management, life strategy and maximizing their careers is so tight as to be indivisible. Nicklaus said, ‘Over a career, you only have so much juice.’….
“At this Open…the obvious contrast is between Mickelson, who has drawn ever closer to his wife and three children as he has matured and won his four majors, and Tiger Woods, who’s No. 1 in the world again but is no longer considered one of golf’s great life managers. Five years ago, he was considered the best. Can Woods remake a life, almost from the foundation? Can he manage himself in a way that lets him believe he deserves to win on stages like this and that will permit his golf to flourish once again?”
It’s been 20 majors since Woods last won at Torrey Pines.
“This has become very old news with Woods, his putter and his nerves betraying him at the biggest tournaments. It isn’t quite a case of the yips yet, not officially, but it is getting very close to that.
“You can tell Woods is becoming sensitive about the issue. When he was asked if he just can’t putt as well as he did half a dozen years ago, Tiger became defensive.
“ ‘I think I was leading the tour the last couple weeks,’ Woods said. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
“What people are talking about are the majors. It has become terribly evident that Woods is one type of player at the Cadillac Championship and the Arnold Palmer Classic. Then he is a very different player at the Masters and U.S. Open, when the courses get rough, the greens less readable and the stakes so much higher….
“As Woods ‘ final par putt on 18 slid past the cup, you could see Lindsey Vonn’s head drop near the green. She won’t talk about it, but this must be even harder for Vonn to comprehend than it is for everyone else. As an Olympic athlete, Vonn has always met the greatest challenges with remarkable success. Now she has come to the table too late to see Woods do the same. His run of nerveless golf is done.”
“Every time Tiger Woods doesn’t win a major, and especially when he looks as old and battered as he has here at Merion Golf Club in the U.S. Open, Jack Nicklaus could have a quiet little party, like some members of the ’72 Miami Dolphins when the last undefeated NFL team gets beaten.
“Nicklaus is too classy to do it. At least in part, he would probably like to see Woods win a few more major crowns because it would be good for golf, good for Woods’ psyche and because Bobby Jones was so gracious to Jack. Be a good guy: don’t clutch your 18-major record with all 20 bear claws.
“But, for those of us assigned to analyze, it is time to be candid, not about Woods the person, about which too much is probably said, but about Woods the golfer, who is No. 1 in the world again….
“It just doesn’t look like Tiger is going to make it.
“You couldn’t imagine a great player in more complete denial – or, perhaps, more unwilling to admit any vulnerability in public – than Woods after a miserable third round with a birdie at No. 1, then seven bogeys. He’s been in high rough all week, had a shaky short game and putted miserably, including missing three very short putts, one of them from two feet. He has basically stunk….You’d never know it from him….
“After his round, Woods described his ‘perfect drive’ at the tough fifth hole that ‘ended up in a ball mark. That turned my round around,’ he said.
“What? Perhaps the most mentally toughest player who ever lived, maybe in any sport, gets thrown off his stick by a bad lie with 31 holes left to play?
“Woods’ list of excuses after his 76 would put Sergio Garcia to shame….
“Right now, the distance from Woods’ 14 major titles to Nicklaus’ 18 seems like a hundred miles. Will Woods win more majors? Flip the questions: If a rising 20-something star had Woods’ record over the past 17 months, including six Tour wins, you’d say he was a heavy favorite to win multiple majors. But five? That’s more majors than many greats like Phil Mickelson (four) have won in their whole career….
“Tiger wasn’t ‘close’ here this week. A divot did not derail him. Before he can make the most of what’s left of his great career, especially precious weeks at the majors, he needs to look at these painful days honestly.”
“It’s time for Phil Mickelson. It’s time for Steve Stricker. It’s time for Luke Donald and Justin Rose and Hunter Mahan.
“Scan the first page of the 113th U.S. Open leaderboard at venerable Merion Golf Club and you will find a group of players who believe this is their time to win the damned thing.”
On Sunday. I first thought when Jason Dufner got it to +3, -5 for the day, that it might be the score to win it, Dufner finishing well before the final groups. Alas, he came in at +5.
Then when Phil eagled No. 10 to get back to even after stumbling early, we all thought this is finally his year.
Of course Phil then double-bogeyed 13 and 15, while Justin Rose was on his way to an even par round of 70…five bogeys, five birdies. His birdie putt at No. 7 was pure magic.
Rose is a popular champion…by all accounts a good and genuine guy. I’ve always liked him. And he certainly said all the right things about the course and the Philly fans. Tournament sponsors will be lining up to nab him.
As for Phil, there he was. After all the disappointment, still signing autographs as he walked to his car to begin the long trip back home. He is a special person…a true Hall of Famer. But not a U.S. Open champion.
—Sergio Garcia survived his week in Philly. By all accounts he was heckled unmercifully (not that he didn’t deserve it), he took a 10 on No. 15 during the third-round (but still shot 75, which is pretty good, all things considered), and maybe this was the beginning of a repair job on his image. Or maybe not.
—Billy Horschel’s hitting all 18 greens in regulations in the second round was pretty amazing. And it’s funny how the history of the game is such that certain rounds you remember forever; like David Graham’s fourth round in winning at Merion in 1981, where he essentially hit all greens himself (a few were in the fringe so technically not all).
–Thank god Hunter Mahan finally discovered how to dress on Sunday. He looked like a clown the first three days.
–The Star-Ledger’s Brendan Prunty was trying to confirm rumors of where Tiger Woods was staying for the week of the Open and as best as he could determine, a Merion member, who said he knows the answer if Prunty agreed not to reveal his name, said:
“When Tiger had his tournament nearby at Aronimink, he bought a house because he knew the Open was coming here in a few years,” ‘Rick’ says. “That’s where he’s staying this week. He built a pool in the back, too. Just for this week.”
—Lindsey Vonn will leave Tiger in two weeks. You heard it here first. No way she wants to be associated with a Major loser headed into Sochi. She doesn’t need the negative vibes.
–Let’s see…I’m 55 years old, drink too much beer but still able to run 3-4 miles (and then some) a few times a week. I’m thinking a good goal in life is to live long enough to see one more Open at Merion. I loved what Phil said about the members and the surrounding neighborhood. If you’ve ever been in that area, a super one, you know how difficult the logistics are….starting with traffic.
Spurs 114…Heat 104
Spurs up 3-2….Timmy D. went to Wake Forest, you know.
Ball Bits
–As Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News put it, last year’s Jets were more watchable than the Mets currently are.
I mean consider they are hitting .199 over their last 28 home games and averaging only 2.5 runs and have failed to score more than five runs at home for 25 straight! They are on pace to lose 100 games.
Typical of this season is pitcher Shaun Marcum. The guy was a highly serviceable starting pitcher for Toronto and Milwaukee, compiling a 57-36 record, so the Mets signed him for $4 million this season. After losing on Friday to the Cubs, Marcum fell to 0-8.
–Lupica: “The best manager in baseball that nobody talks about is Bud Black of the Padres, who came into the weekend one game under .500 and four games out of first place on a team that spends about $200 on ballplayers.”
–For the record, Major League Baseball came down hard on the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks for their bench-clearing brawl last Tuesday, handing out eight suspensions and a dozen fines. Arizona pitcher Ian Kennedy received 10 games for his role, headhunter, which was totally appropriate.
–Great piece in the current Sports Illustrated by Michael Rosenberg on Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera…as in consider their durability. Fielder has appeared in 157+ games in seven straight seasons, while Cabrera has done the same 8 of 9 seasons, and in the ninth appeared in 150.
Of course you also have to produce and as Rosenberg notes:
“Cabrera is the best hitter in baseball, and Fielder is the game’s best sidekick. Years from now we may look back and decide Cabrera is Mickey Mantle and Fielder is Roger Maris; Cabrera is Hank Aaron and Fielder is Eddie Mathews; Cabrera is Babe Ruth and Fielder is Lou Gehrig.”
–Through Thursday’s contests, the Oakland A’s were 103-59 over their last 162 games. [They are 1-2 since but not about to try and figure out last 162.]
–Washington’s Stephen Strasburg returned after a stint on the DL but saw his record fall to 3-6, despite a 2.50 ERA, following a 2-0 loss on Sunday. [Strasburg allowing one run in five innings.]
Jason Kidd
Boy, that was quick. The Brooklyn Nets hired Kidd to be their next head coach, just days after he retired, giving him a three-year deal.
“Jason is a proven winner and leader with an incredible wealth of basketball knowledge and experience,” Nets general manager Billy King said in a statement.
A gutsy decision by King. It’s assumed Kidd will try to bring in former Nets and Pistons head coach Lawrence Frank to help him.
Mike Lupica…who is as responsible as anyone for Kidd getting his position:
“The Nets take a big chance on a guy who was once such a big star for them, who changed them from a joke team of professional sports – not just professional basketball – into a contender, and that means a contender that once gave the San Antonio Spurs all they wanted in the NBA Finals. (Owner Mikhail) Prokhorov wanted a star, which is why the Nets at least wanted to talk to Phil Jackson, the biggest star in NBA coaching since Red Auerbach.
“Jason Kidd gets the job. There was the call to Billy King last week, the meeting was set, then he was in there Monday, the wheel was turning fast. What we thought was such a good idea here that we put it in Sunday’s Daily News sure did become the Nets’ big idea. And fast.”
“The Cardinals’ Mike Matheny, White Sox manager Robin Ventura and the Rockies’ Walt Weiss are the only current MLB managers without any coaching experience. But all three have done terrific work so far.
“In the NBA, recent examples include Bird, Doc Rivers with the Magic and Mark Jackson with the Warriors – and all have succeeded, or even thrived.”
“(The hiring of Kidd) has a chance to be an incredibly bad idea. It also has a chance to be really refreshing – or, at least no worse than the hiring of some of the career retreads who get jobs in other NBA cities every summer.
“The list of reasons to be circumspect is lengthy. Kidd has no head coaching experience – no coaching experience at all that I’m aware of, at any level. Being a coach is a lot more like being a CEO than it’s like being an NBA player. You need strong management skills, and NBA players – even those who are among the greatest ever – tend to be missing that from their resumes.
“To make the leap immediately from playing to coaching presents some inherent conflicts. Kidd is a contemporary of the players he’ll be coaching, and will have to immediately draw a line between his days of socializing as a player and breaking down film and handing out discipline as a coach. It’s not that Kidd, 40, isn’t old enough to be Deron Williams’ coach. It’s just that Kidd and Williams are golfing buddies. That kind of relationship doesn’t exactly lend itself to the kind of tough love D-Will needs from his boss….
“This has nothing to do with Kidd but everything to do with the state of the coaching industry, which is in utter chaos. The coaching business has changed more in a week than it had in the previous 10 years. With teams more limited than ever in their ability to throw money at players to solve their problems, coaches have become more expendable and more vulnerable than ever.
“A dozen teams and counting will start next season with a new coach. Lionel Hollins, who led the Grizzlies to 56 wins and the Western Conference finals, is hunting for a job. Ditto for George Karl, the reigning coach of the year.
“There’s no questioning Kidd’s intelligence as a player, or his understanding of the game or ability to impact winning with the ball in his hands. But with the ball in someone else’s hands and a clipboard in his, things will be different. The hours are different. The workload is greater. The expectations, especially with a roster built to win now, will be immense….
“Does he want to be breaking down video at 3 a.m. instead of putting down adult beverages in the Hamptons, where Kidd was arrested and charged with drunken driving last summer?
“Boys will be boys, but coaches have a higher level of responsibility. And remember: Just nine days ago, Kidd was still one of the boys.”
“Nets. Jets. Mets. All three teams rhyme and reside in the same existential place: second in their respective sports in the New York City market. They deal with different competitive conditions and phenomena but similar inferiority complexes born of that old Avis ad campaign, We Try Harder. Sometimes too hard, as the most glaring case of recent vintage, the Jets in the Tim Tebow debacle, would attest.
“Did the Nets overreact, handing a win-now veteran team to a coach on training wheels? King said several times that all hires, especially coaches, are risky in the most general sense. But his time with Kidd convinced him that Kidd had coaching greatness inside him.”
“Nobody is ever owed a thing in professional sports, a lesson that’s been hammered home for as long as there have been men taking money to play games from men who pay them to play those games.
“Babe Ruth wanted to manage the Yankees. You can argue there never has been an athlete who ever has earned more completely the right to at least try his hand at a job than Ruth managing the Yankees, who he put on the map, who he pushed on their way to being…well, the Yankees.
“Pro sports is a ruthless business, and it can be an unfair and unfeeling one, too. We see that every spring when NBA jobs open up – and in the case of this spring, good jobs, jobs that aren’t necessarily dead-end jobs, jobs where the right man will find enough talent to win right away – and Patrick Ewing goes another year without being given a chance to coach.”
Yes, Patrick Ewing must be fuming after seeing Jason Kidd walk right from a player’s uniform to a head coaching position.
I mean consider that Michael Jordan, supposedly Ewing’s good friend, “last year wandered far outside the envelope to hire Mike Dunlap and this year made a similarly bold choice in Steve Clifford, before hiring Ewing to work – again – as an assistant,” writes Vaccaro.
“All due respect to Clifford, who did win 86 games as a head coach at Adelphi 15 years ago, but if Jordan were going to take a flier, he couldn’t have done it with one of the greatest players of all time? Maybe it would be a fiasco. Maybe Patrick isn’t cut out for the job. It sure would be nice to find out one way or another.”
Yup, it’s been quite a year for the University of Louisville. By qualifying for the College World Series, the Cardinals became the first school to reach a Bowl Championship Series bowl game, the NCAA Men’s Final Four and the CWS in the same academic year. Heck, even its women’s basketball team reached the title game.
In the CWS itself, Louisville lost its first game to Indiana, 2-0, in the double-elimination event.
[N.C. State defeated North Carolina, 8-1, in their opener.]
Barber, known as “Mr. X” because of his mysterious nature and sinister appearance (he wore dark glasses at a time when no one else did), had an unconventional swing where his right elbow flew outward on his backswing as he raised the club to the outside, and then looped the club head inside on the downswing. He won 11 times on the PGA Tour, the flourished on the Senior (now Champions) Tour in the 1980s, winning 24 events, including five majors.
–NASCAR driver Jason Leffler died after an accident Wednesday night at a dirt car event at Bridgeport Speedway in Swedesboro, N.J.
Leffler, 37, was a two-time winner on the Nationwide Series and just last Sunday had raced at Pocono in his lone NASCAR Sprint Cup race of the year, finishing last. He also made three IndyCar Series starts, finishing 17th in the 2000 Indy 500.
Leffler won three consecutive USAC Midget championships from 1997-99.
–The New York Giants signed star receiver Victor Cruz to a one-year tender, assuring him of $2.879 million for this year while continuing to work on a long-term deal. The team was allowed to drop Cruz tender offer to $630,000, so Cruz jumped at the increase.
But if he gets hurt, there is no job security until he receives a multi-year contract.
True, he made just $450,000 and $540,000 his first two seasons, while catching 168 passes for 2,628 yards and 19 touchdown, so $2.879 million looks much better.
The thing is he wants $10 million per year, but received no offers as a restricted free agent – in large part because any team signing Cruz would have to forfeit a first-round draft pick to the Giants as compensation.
But the Giants did reportedly offer more than $7 million a year, with $12-$15 million in guaranteed money. Geezuz, Victor. Sign it!
–NFL great and Hall of Famer Lem Barney said the other day that the sport would be gone within the next two decades.
Barney said he wishes he would have been a truck driver or a cab driver, anything other than a player suffering concussions.
“People often ask me do I miss the game, do I wish I could still play with all the money they’re making today. Even with all of that, I’d say, ‘Heck, no,’” Barney said. “The game is becoming more deadly today.
“It’s a great game, and I think it’s the greatest game if you like gladiators. It’s the greatest game for yesteryear’s gladiators. But in the next 10 to 20 years, society will (eliminate) football altogether because of how strong it’s becoming, how big it’s becoming and the tenacity that it already is. And it’s only going to get worse.” [Ed. I gave up trying to edit Barney’s statement, but we get the picture.]
Barney said he has been diagnosed with seven to eight concussions from his playing career.
Barney was sitting on a panel of major college football coaches, including Michigan’s Brady Hoke and Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio – who “appeared frozen as Barney attacked their profession.” [Mark Snyder / USA TODAY]
Barney: “You look at guys like Bubba Smith that left us, Dave Duerson that left us, Junior Seau as of late, that are killing themselves because of the head injuries they had. You hear about guys who played in championship games, Pro Bowlers and Super Bowls, but you don’t hear about the regular Joe who plays the game and has killed themselves. The game is that deadly today.”
–Johnny Mac reminded me of the classic Marvin “Bad News” Barnes story about the ABA’s Spirits getting ready to depart on a flight that left Louisville, Ky., at 8 p.m. and would get into St. Louis at 7:56 p.m. due to a time-zone change. Upon looking at the schedule, Barnes said, “I ain’t getting on no time machine,” and rented a car for the trip.
“A black bear that was killed near the scene of a deadly mauling in remote Alaska last week has been identified as the animal responsible, Alaska State Troopers said Tuesday.
“Robert Weaver, 64, was mauled Thursday outside a cabin at George Lake, about 110 miles southeast of Fairbanks.
“ ‘Mr. Weaver’s remains were found in the bear’s stomach,’ troopers spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said.
“But even that wasn’t enough to prompt final determination since this bear could have been near the cabin and ate the remains after another bear left….
“Attacks by black bears are very uncommon, with fatal attacks even more rare….records only indicate four other fatalities by black bears in Alaska in the last 61 years.”
The Black Bear is No. 25 on the All-Species List. The Grizzly is No. 9; Brown Bear No. 15; Polar Bear No. 18.
“A beaver dam prevented 27,500 gallons of Chevron diesel oil from contaminating Willard Bay, a 10,000-acre reservoir in Utah. The family of six beavers suffered burned skin and eyes from the fuel and were treated at a wildlife rehabilitation center.”
Now the Beaver has been suspended from the ASL for the balance of 2013 because of numerous, highly publicized attacks on Man, but the board can reconsider…and so we are hereby placing the Beaver back on double-secret probation.
Sierra also reports “As many as 1 out of 22 African elephants may have been killed last year.” A recent study also found that the population of forest elephants in Central Africa had suffered a “catastrophic” decline of 62% in the past nine years, and could be close to extinction in another seven.
“Last year hundreds of Sudanese militiamen swept 600 miles south on horseback to slaughter 300 elephants in Cameroon.”
Also, Joseph Kony is financing his notorious Lord’s Resistance Army in the Democratic Republic of Congo with plundered ivory, sold to China for up to $1,000 a pound.
Needless to say, Man, now No. 294 on the ASL, will never again sniff the top 100.
–Some New Jersey fishermen got some terrific video of a great white off the coast of Atlantic City the other day. As North American Director of Shark Operations for Bar Chat, Bob S., observed, this latest incident is not only further evidence the Summer Offensive is on, but also that the Animal Kingdom joins the list of those not happy with Gov. Christie’s handling of Lautenberg’s Senate seat. I totally concur.
[Actually, the county I live in announced over the weekend it wasn’t funding the special primary called for August because they didn’t know when they would be reimbursed by the state as Christie has promised.]
–USA TODAY Sports Weekly has profiles of the major league ballparks and this week it featured Progressive Field in Cleveland. The reports highlight a food favorite and if you go to an Indians game you can try Pinzone’s Italian Sausage Rope.
“Pinzone’s…Italian sausage is grilled and cut to order at five carts at Progressive Field. The sausage is covered with pulled pork, cole slaw and grilled peppers and onions, then topped with Bertman’s mustard.”
I’m drooling….pulled pork, sausage and slaw…oh my….
Top 3 songs for the week of 6/17/78: #1 “Shadow Dancing” (Andy Gibb…spare me…) #2 “You’re The One That I Want” (John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John…ughh…) #3 “Baker Street” (Gerry Rafferty…great beginning….then totally blows…)…and…#4 “It’s A Heartache” (Bonnie Tyler…it’s a heartache someone came up with this tune…) #5 “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late” (Johnny Mathis / Deniece Williams…unbelievable we bought this drivel…) #6 “Take A Chance On Me” (Abba…whatever…) #7 “Feels So Good” (Chuck Mangione…tune hasn’t aged well at all….) #8 “On Broadway” (George Benson….so he does the brilliant “This Masquerade” and then everyone is like everything else must be great….but it isn’t…I mean this one was interminable…) #9 “You Belong To Me” (Carly Simon…no I don’t…) #10 “Love Is Like Oxygen” (Sweet…what an incredibly (lousy) week…)
San Diego Padres Quiz Answers: 1) Four to hit 40 HR…Greg Vaughn, 50, 1998; Phil Nevin, 41, 2001; Ken Caminiti, 40, 1996; Adrian Gonzalez, 40, 2009. 2) Only Padres pitcher to win 100 games….Eric Show, 100-87 in ten seasons.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday….schedule up in the air this week due to possible travel.
