NFL Quiz: Name the nine Giants running backs to rush for 1,000 in a season. [Two I think are hard…all modern-day.] Answer below.
Bucs Win!
Oh yeah, that was a special night in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, the Pirates’ first postseason win since 1992…6-2 over the Reds in the wild card playoff behind two home runs by catcher Russell Martin and one by Marlon Byrd…a former Yankee and Met, respectively. And it’s always a good sign when the crowd is listed as 105% of capacity.
Martin became just the third National League catcher in history to hit two home runs in a postseason game, the other two being Johnny Bench and Gary Carter…pretty good company.
The Reds’ recent lousy play was best summed up by second baseman Brandon Phillips, who Tim McCarver the other day called the best-fielding second baseman in baseball (and he’s right), booting a double-play ball that would have kept Cincinnati at just a 4-1 deficit instead of 5-1.
So it’s Pittsburgh vs. St. Louis, Dodgers vs. Atlanta in the N.L.
In the A.L., the winner of Wednesday’s wild card contest, Tampa Bay at Cleveland, takes on Boston, while Detroit goes up against Oakland.
Ball Bits
–In a Texas uniform for the play-in game against the Rays on Monday was Nelson Cruz, fresh off his 50-game suspension as part of the Biogenesis case. Pretty pathetic he could play, but that’s why some of the players rushed to start their suspensions when they did.
Alas, Cruz, who had 27 homers and 76 RBI before he was told to take a seat, went 0-for-4 in Texas’ 5-2 loss to Tampa Bay, as the Rays’ David Price threw a complete game and Evan Longoria went 3-for-4 with a 2-run homer.
–The Cleveland Indians became just the sixth team since 1900 to end the season on a win streak of 10 or more games, according to Stats.
–As I noted last time the Cubs had a decision to make regarding manager Dale Sveum and on Monday he was fired by GM Theo Epstein, who all but told Cubs fans he wanted Yankees manager Joe Girardi, who has strong ties to Chicago. Go for it, Joe. You don’t need New York anymore.
One black mark on Sveum was the lack of development of young ‘stars’ Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo. Castro, after back-to-back All-Star seasons, hit just .245, while Rizzo, who was signed to a long-term contract extension (as was Castro), then went out and hit only .233. [I was on record as saying the Rizzo extension was a great move…I’m taking a mulligan on this one.]
–Ah, the vagaries of guaranteed baseball contracts. The Dodgers paid outfielder Matt Kemp $20 million this season and he played in just 73 games due to various injuries and hit just 6 home runs, drove in 33, and batted .270. Now he’s out of the playoffs with a severe bone bruise on his left ankle. Previously he was on the disabled list three different times.
–Yes, it was a very disappointing season for the Washington Nationals, my stupid pick to win it all, as they went 86-76, a 12-win regression from last year. But they essentially control every player on the 40-man roster and it’s still a good one.
–The stories on what the Mets and Yankees need to do in the offseason are already numerous and one thing killing the Yanks is the lack of a minor-league system. As Anthony McCarron of the New York Daily News points out:
“(The Yankees’) top minor-league position players – Mason Williams, Gary Sanchez, Tyler Austin and Slade Heathcott – experienced struggles this season. None has played above Double-A.”
Eegads. Then McCarron notes:
“At the same time their development system is sputtering, the Yankees did not sign any of the recent stars from the international market – Yu Darvish, Aroldis Chapman, Yoenis Cespedes or Yasiel Puig. When Darvish and Chapman were free agents, some executives in baseball just assumed they’d end up in the Bronx, but the Yankees didn’t believe the cost, plus 40% in luxury tax, was worth it.”
Well, all four of the above were in the playoffs (if you include the Rays-Rangers play-in game) and the Yankees aren’t.
2013…33-48
2012…36-45
2011…34-47
Plus after Citi Field opened in 2009, attendance has fallen every year, from 3.168 million, the fifth-highest in the National League, to 2.135 million this season, 13th in the league. [Jorge Castillo / Star-Ledger]
—Pirates merchandise sales are up 55% from 2012, according to MLB. I would have thought it would be even more than that.
–Talk about a waste of a late-season push. The Angels’ Josh Hamilton finished up at .250 with 21 home runs and 79 RBI, but he was hitting .217 on Aug. 7. After, Hamilton, he of the five-year, $125 million contract, batted .329 with 5 and 27 in his last 45 games. Of course the Angels were out of it long before he decided to play a little ball.
Meanwhile, teammate Mike Trout, who plays hard every day, led the A.L. in runs (109), walks (110), 2nd in OBP (.432), 3rd in batting (.323) and had 27 home runs and 97 RBI.
–On Sunday, Mike Piazza was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame, Piazza having slugged 220 of his 427 career homers as a Met. He was certainly a popular player, though there have been constant rumors of his steroid use since his retirement from the game.
Piazza did, however, receive a very solid 57.8% in his first year of eligibility for the Hall of Fame and he has a good chance at taking the big leap the next time, if not certainly year 3 based on previous voting patterns.
“I just feel it’s an unfortunate consequence of that era. Not to get into a deep dissertation of fault. In a perfect world, if we could go back and do things again, I’m sure we would have done a lot of things different. With that said, that’s just something I hate what happened to the game.
“But the positive is that you see how resilient the game is. You see at the end of the day it comes down to baseball. It is a game that has shown through its ups and downs and through its imperfection, it is a game that people really love. As I’ve said, I wish we could go back and do it differently. And I’m sure it would have been a different world.
“But I truly feel baseball doesn’t get enough credit for the fact they are trying to really make a statement – to understand there’s no place for PEDs in baseball and sports in general.” [ESPN.com / AP]
NFL
—Peyton Manning’s 16 TD passes without an interception match the start of Cleveland quarterback Milt Plum for most passing scores without being picked off; a mark going back to 1960. [Plum finished that season with 21 TDs and 5 INTs.]
Manning’s 16 TDs also broke the record of 14 through the first four games of the season that had been co-held by Sammy Baugh, Don Meredith and Kurt Warner.
Denver’s 179 points is the most in the NFL since the Cowboys’ record 183 in four contests back in 1966.
—Seattle is 4-0 for the first time in franchise history.
—Pittsburgh’s 0-4 start is its worst since 1968.
–On one hand you could say, “Gee, you think Eagles Coach Chip Kelly wishes he had stayed in the college game?” On the other, I’m not so sure Kelly would have been allowed to stay at Oregon due to the NCAA investigation into his program that then led to mild penalties once it was clear Kelly was going. Just a thought.
–The Lions face the Packers in Green Bay on Sunday. They haven’t won in Wisconsin since 1991, an NFL-record 22-game road losing streak against the Pack. [Some of the early games were played in Milwaukee.]
–Big blow for the 4-0 Pats to lose Vince Wilfork for the season as the star defensive tackle tore his right Achilles tendon in Sunday’s win over the Falcons.
—Adrian Peterson has 12 rushing touchdowns of 60 yards or more in his career, the most since 1940. Jim Brown is second with nine.
—Tom Brady is 140-39 as a starter. This is the first time in NFL history a quarterback has 100 more wins than losses. [I missed this fact before his Sunday night win.]
–Oh yeah…New York…turnover city.
The Giants’ Eli Manning and the Jets’ Geno Smith lead the NFL with 11 turnovers each. Eli has 9 interceptions and 2 fumbles. Geno is 8-3.
Mark Sanchez, remember, was pilloried for 52 turnovers the past two seasons. Forget Eli, but Geno is on pace for 44 in one.
That said….and don’t you hate when someone uses this…I actually like what I’ve seen from Geno thus far, except for his failure to protect the ball.
One parochial note on Eli. For those of you not from the New York area, just picture he has been flooding the airwaves with his commercials for Toyota, which are humorous. But Giants fans are far from amused with Eli these days.
–Finally, late Sunday we learned of a sad passing….that of L.C. Greenwood, 67, a member of Pittsburgh’s “Steel Curtain” defense of the 1970s that many call the greatest front four in football history…and for me it’s not even close, because unlike say, the Fearsome Foursome or the Purple People Eaters, the Steel Curtain backed it up with four rings. Case closed.
Greenwood was a six-time Pro Bowl player and two-time All-Pro, playing for Pittsburgh from 1969-81, including those four rings over six years as he teamed with Mean Joe Greene, Ernie Holmes and Dwight White.
Born in Canton, Miss., the oldest of nine children, he was taken in the tenth round of the ’69 draft – nine rounds after Greene – from Arkansas A&M (now Arkansas Pine-Bluff). He went on to register (unofficially) 73 ½ sacks during his 13-year career (including a career-high 11 in 1974). He also recovered 14 fumbles, including five in the 1971 season. Plus with his size he was terrific at blocking passes.
But he thrived in postseason, sacking Roger Staubach four times in the Super Bowl following the 1975 season, a 21-17 victory. [I read different obits…some had other stats…for the record…]
It was Art Rooney Jr., who ran the player personnel department for the Steelers in the 1970s, who went to Arkansas A&M, scouting someone else, when he realized L.C. was better. Coach Chuck Noll then pushed the team to draft him rather than try to sign him as a free agent.
Amazingly, L.C. Greenwood was never enshrined in the Hall of Fame, though he was a finalist six times.
Of the four members of the Steel Curtain, only Mean Joe survives. Ernie Holmes died in a car crash at 59 in January 2008, and Dwight White died at 58 the same year following complications from back surgery.
College Football
No. 4 Ohio State at No. 16 Northwestern…8:00 PM ET, ABC
–So in the span of 24 hours, USC fired Lane Kiffin after five games and UConn fired Paul Pasqualoni after four, the capper being the Huskies’ loss to Buffalo.
But get this…from Daniel Uthman of USA TODAY Sports…
“Pasqualoni’s four games this season…and Kiffin’s five games…represent the fewest games coached by someone dismissed in-season during the BCS era.”
“The showdown between Texas and Arkansas, both undefeated after 10 games, was hailed as the biggest game of the 1969 college football season. The Rev. Billy Graham gave the invocation. President Richard M. Nixon, who arrived in a helicopter, promised to award the victor a plaque as national champion.
“The game was called ‘the big shootout’ even before it was played.
“With 5 minutes 51 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Arkansas led, 14-8. Texas had the ball on fourth down with 3 yards to go. Quarterback James Street, who died on Monday at 65, was on the sidelines discussing what play to run. He was shocked when his coach, Darrell Royal, uttered his verdict: ‘Right 53 veer pass.’
“The play, a deep pass with only one receiver, the tight end, seemed to Street like the most improbable call in that situation. It had not worked the handful of times Texas had tried it. Street had expected a counter option to pick up a first down. He asked Royal if he was sure. ‘Damn right, I’m sure,’ the coach growled.
“In the Texas huddle, Street, who was 5 feet 10 inches and weighed 168 pounds, said, ‘Boys, you ain’t gonna believe this,’ then called the play. Bob McKay, a tackle, wisecracked, ‘Damn it, Street, you can’t throw the ball that far.’
“But he could, in this case resulting in a 44-yard completion to tight end Randy Peschel. Two plays later, Texas scored and won, 15-14.
“Nixon called it ‘one of the great games of all time’ and awarded Texas the national championship, angering Penn State, another undefeated team. The 35-member board of coaches, the official arbiter of national championships, endorsed Nixon’s judgment.”
Needless to say, James Street became a legend in Texas. His record as a starting quarterback was 20-0, including two wins in the Cotton Bowl.
But he basked in his glory and never graduated, though he later owned a successful business.
His son, Huston, is a relief pitcher with the San Diego Padres.
For you junkies of a certain age, other members of that great Longhorn team of 1969 were halfback Ted Koy, fullback Steve Worster, HB Jim Bertelsen and WR Cotton Speyrer (man that name brings back memories…like Keith Jackson kind of stuff).
–Finally, I’ve been trying to take it easy on my Wake Forest Demon Deacons, while pointing out how the entire athletic program (save for men’s soccer) is in free-fall.
So the past few days I’ve received some notes from fellow alum, including some big financial supporters of Wake sports, and it’s clear that one of the main issues is the director of admissions is in love with the U.S. News & World Report academic rankings and Wake recently entered the top 25 among national universities.
The problem is she has the ear of the university president and strict academic standards are clearly hurting recruiting. One of the Deacon Club supporters told me the athletic department recently submitted a list of multiple items they wanted to see rectified and ‘admissions’ was at the top.
The other issue is our lack of top-notch facilities, particularly on campus, like virtually every other big sports program has. For those of you not familiar with the school, both the basketball arena and football stadium are off-campus (as is the baseball field….which when I was in school was on-campus and I went to every game…one of our stars, then, is a source for the above, via a third party…)
It’s incredibly frustrating. Wake Forest is a great school, with a solid athletic tradition, especially given our size.
But seeing as I graduated second-worst in my class (unofficial, but I was constantly flirting with the Mendoza line, for those of you familiar with the former shortstop and his hitting woes), while I’m proud we are recognized for strong academics, I want to see winning basketball, and a competitive .500 football program. Just give me that and I’m a happy camper.
But we are far from this kind of performance today, let alone how the baseball and golf programs have seen their fortunes plunge as well.
Meanwhile, there are stories of droves leaving the Deacon Club. I pulled my own sponsorship, including a ridiculously expensive ad campaign in the athletic publication that I participated in for over ten years. I know I have some loyal readers because of it, but it no longer made any sense financially for yours truly.
Anyway, in the present, if the football team doesn’t turn it around shortly, Coach Jim Grobe will undoubtedly be shown the door, though we would wait until season end, unlike USC or UConn. At least that’s my take.
Golf Balls
–I am not a big Presidents Cup guy. I don’t know too many fans of the sport who are, frankly. I will not watch any of the early coverage and will tune in only if I see it’s close come the singles on Sunday. On paper it seems like a U.S. rout of the Internationals (which hail from Australia, South Africa, Japan, Argentina, and Zimbabwe).
Tiger Woods, by the way, has a 20-14-1 record in this competition. Phil Mickelson is 18-14-10.
Among the Internationals, Adam Scott is 10-13-2 and Ernie Els is 17-16-2. Angel Cabrera is just 4-6-3.
O.K., one shout out to the Wake Forest contingent representing Team USA…Bill Haas (1-3-1) and Webb Simpson (3-2-0). Kick ass, boys!
–I totally forgot, until reading a piece by Golfweek’s Jeff Rude, that Henrik Stenson had lost $millions (“Big part” of his savings) with Texas billionaire Allen Stanford, who was found guilty of running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme.
All the more reason to be happy for Stenson and his $10 million FedEx Cup bonus.
Stenson said after this East Lake triumph that damages could be awarded from the Stanford case in the next year, “perhaps returning a nickel on the dollar.”
–Speaking of money, once again I just have to note the money list, final one, of the 2013 PGA Tour season. Picking an arbitrary number, No. 60 was Marc Leishman with winnings of $1,491,359. From this he has to pay his caddie, travel expenses (which with a family can be huge), his agent, any coaches….you get the picture…let alone taxes and normal living expenses, including mortgage/rent, etc.
By contrast, the No. 60 ranked basketball or baseball player would earn, what? $10 million?
Granted, the big names in golf, like Tiger and Phil, now Adam Scott and Justin Rose…Jim Furyk…pick up major endorsement dollars so no one feels in the least bit sorry for them.
But it is really just a handful….or certainly no more than 40-50 big names that rake in substantial extra cash, including the likes of Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Ernie Els.
But then consider how by early 2012, Henrik Stenson had plummeted to No. 230 in the World Rankings.
No guarantees for these guys, but a lot of the same expenses.
Yes, once again, it’s why I so respect those who can make it on the PGA Tour. How can you not when you really understand the economics behind the sport? [Hopefully it’s one of the reasons why you read Bar Chat. See above on Matt Kemp…$20 million for virtually zero production.]
–Right after the Presidents Cup, the 2014 season starts.
What, you say, Editor? Yup. The PGA Tour’s new season is a wraparound affair. The six tournaments that used to constitute the Fall Series now have full FedEx Cup status, with points for the first time, plus winners earn invites to The Masters…a tradition unlike any other…on CBS.
Imagine how fired up these tournament directors are. But, this won’t guarantee elite fields. Many of the big names are taking time off, or picking up guaranteed money for overseas tournaments.
Heck, that was one busy season-ending stretch, beginning with the British Open…about ten weeks where the big guns were in virtually all of the tournaments…with one week off in the middle of the FedEx playoffs.
Bottom line, still look for some pretty good affairs on the Golf Channel beginning with the Oct. 10-13 Frys.com Open.
–Can’t say I’ve been following NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Chase, but for the record Matt Kenseth won the first two of the 10-race challenge and then Jimmie Johnson won the third last weekend at Dover International Speedway, his record eighth win there (in just 24 starts…not bad, not bad at all…).
So Kenneth and Johnson are 1-2, while Jeff Gordon, who was the late add-on for the Chase (the 13th driver) is actually fifth.
–The Washington Post’s Norman Chad on the new NHL season and the decision to hold six outdoor games this season.
“All of a sudden, outdoor hockey is all the rage. Baseball’s been playing outdoors for generations – what’s the big deal?
“This is an overreaction to the success of the annual NHL Winter Classic. Don’t get me wrong: I like the Winter Classic as much as the next guy. But I also like the Fourth of July and Arbor Day, and those celebrations would lose their appeal if they came every other month of the year. My other problem with outdoor games in the dead of winter is simple: It’s cold out there, man.
“Two of the outdoor games are going to be played at Yankee Stadium; at least that gives Alex Rodriguez a couple of more shots to make his way there before he retires.”
And Mr. Chad had the following comment about the NHL and a rather large break at mid-season that necessitated such an early opening.
“The league will take an 18-day break in February to allow players to participate in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Let me pose this: What if none of the players come back? That’s right – what if they all defect to Russia? What, it could happen? Heck, Edward Snowden spent 40 days in the Moscow airport alone – that city is happening.”
And of course there is Norman Chad’s “Ask the Slouch”…where you can win $1.25…email him at asktheslouch@aol.com.
Q: Will you always remember where you were when you heard that Oracle Team USA completed its historic comeback to win the America’s Cup? (James J. …Indianapolis)
A: I think I was in the bathtub playing with my Fisher-Price Float Boat.
–We note the passing of Bob Kurland, one of basketball’s first dominant big men, who led Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) to two consecutive NCAA championships in the mid-1940s. Kurland was 88.
Listed as the game’s first 7-footer (though he was a little shy of that), Kansas coach Phog Allen ridiculed him as a “glandular goon.”
Well the goon may have looked a little dorky back in the day, but he’s in the Basketball Hall of Fame and you and I are not. So there.
I should mention that Kurland eschewed the professional ranks, unlike rival George Mikan, and went to work for Phillips Petroleum in Oklahoma, but he still led the U.S. Olympic basketball team to gold medals in 1948 and 1952.
–Can you believe Bode Miller is attempting to make the U.S. Olympic ski team at age 36? [He turns that on Oct. 12] Pretty cool story if he can pull it off. John Branch of the New York Times reported that Miller, who missed all of the 2012-13 World Cup season due to knee surgery, said the knee is “structurally perfect” and is raring to go.
Miller was the men’s overall Cup champion in 2005 and 2008, but then kind of famously flamed out in Vancouver, 2010, winning gold only in the super-combined.
One thing hasn’t changed about Bode…he remains outspoken. Asked to comment on Russia’s new anti-gay law, Miller said, “I think it’s absolutely embarrassing that there are countries and there are people who are that intolerant and that ignorant.”
The New York Post’s Page Six reports her romance with Enrique Iglesias is “on the rocks” after 12 years.
12 years?! No wonder, as a source told the Post, “Anna is getting tired of waiting for him to decide if he wants to marry her or not. They’ve been together for so long, she feels like it’s never going to happen. She is ready to move on.”
Goodness gracious. I mean I know Anna never won anything, but she’s Anna Kournikova! One of the five most beautiful women on the planet! Nay, in the solar system!
[Now that Voyager I has exited the solar system, hopefully it will be able to confirm that Anna would also be top five in what is called the “interstellar medium,” which doesn’t exactly have the sexy ring of solar system, I grant you.]
Meanwhile, back to Iglesias, we hereby throw his name into the December file for “Jerk of the Year” and “Jerk of the last 12 years.”
–Uh oh…coyotes are swarming Princeton, New Jersey! The Star-Ledger’s Jon Offredo wrote this week that town officials are considering a big hunt to go after both coyotes and foxes. Reportedly, there is one pack of 20 coyotes; an estimated 60-80 total in Princeton alone. They have been chasing people, dogs and cats have been killed…time to take back the streets!
I have to admit there is a section of the park I jog in that I’ve ignored this year because there are few people around. I’m not into being mauled and devoured by a gang of 20 coyotes, know what I’m sayin’?
Top 3 songs for the week of 10/6/84: #1 “Let’s Go Crazy” (Prince and the Revolution) #2 “I Just Called To Say I Love You” (Stevie Wonder…dreadful…) #3 “Drive” (The Cars)…and…#4 “Missing You” (John Waite) #5 “She Bop” (Cyndi Lauper) #6 “Hard Habit To Break” (Chicago) #7 “The Glamorous Life” (Sheila E.) #8 “Lucky Star” (Madonna) #9 “The Warrior” (Scandal Featuring Patty Smyth) #10 “Cover Me” (Bruce Springsteen)
NFL Quiz Answer: Nine Giants to rush for 1,000 yards.
Tiki Barber (has single-season franchise record of 1,860 in 2005)
Brandon Jacobs
Ahmad Bradshaw
Gary Brown (1998)
Derrick Ward (2008)
Joe Morris
Ottis Anderson
Rodney Hampton
Ron Johnson
Next Bar Chat, Monday….a late-season shark tale…if you keep it where it is.
