Note: Posted Tuesday evening…busy stretch. I’ll be out of touch a lot Thurs. thru Sat. [Half-marathon Sat., too, and then trip home from hell, given weather forecast.] And have had to make multiple trips into NYC for a visa issue (future trip). Gotta carve out time for that other column I do as well.
Heisman Trophy Quiz: 1) Name the only winner from Univ. of Colorado. 2) Name the only one to win from Oregon State. Answers below.
College Football
—For all the ridicule of the BCS, in 16 years, the top two teams in the organization’s standings met at the end of each season, and the AP top 25 poll agreed on 13 occasions, according to Bill Hancock, executive director of the BCS All in all, they got it right.
So now the SEC guns for eight straight, and the state of Alabama has a representative in the championship for the fifth straight year.
–It’s clear Jameis Winston is going to romp in the Heisman Trophy voting [there are five other finalists…Jordan Lynch, Johnny Manziel, AJ McCarron, Tre Mason and Andrew Williams].
I followed the whole Winston situation. I read the articles, reported on what I thought was important, but here’s the bottom line for me. Prosecutors decided not to file charges, even as much as the Tallahassee Police Department may have screwed up. That’s it. Yes, I can take the side of the girl’s family and write comments that Winston had to have done something wrong, but I don’t know. In the end the prosecutor said he wasn’t pursuing the case, and that the accuser had some holes in her story, and Winston wasn’t charged. I see zero reason to comment further. If something else comes up, of course I will. Moving on….
–One fellow who before the season started thought he would be invited to New York for the Heisman ceremony is South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, who could still be the number one pick in the NFL draft (if it isn’t Teddy Bridgewater), though he had a disappointing year to some.
But Clowney didn’t endear himself with NFL GMs over the weekend when he was caught doing 110 mph in a 70 mph zone on a South Carolina interstate over the weekend.
–As for the 35 bowl games, I was surprised to find quite a few I’m mildly interested in, especially those with early start times. [Utah State vs. Northern Illinois is a nice matchup, but it starts at 9:30 PM ET!]
I’ll catch some of Boise State vs. Oregon State, Christmas Eve, I imagine.
Miami vs. Louisville…one of the 3 or 4 best pure matchups.
Oregon vs. Texas…just hope the Ducks show up in San Antonio with some enthusiasm.
Duke vs. Texas A&M…New Year’s Eve entertainment.
Stanford vs. Michigan State…awesome.
Clemson vs. Ohio State…should be good, but both teams will need an attitude adjustment.
Florida State vs. Auburn…wish they’d start this one an hour earlier.
By the way, seven 6-6 teams were left out, four in the Sun Belt conference.
The two with the biggest gripes are probably Western Kentucky, 8-4, and Toledo, 7-5.
—Stanford is appearing in its fourth straight BCS bowl game. As Ronald Reagan would have said, ‘Not bad…not bad at all….’
–Finally, Wake Forest tabbed Bowling Green head coach Dave Clawson to replace Jim Grobe, who resigned the other day after 13 seasons.
Clawson, parlaying his big win in the MAC Championship over then No. 14 Northern Illinois, seems like a solid choice. The 46-year-old has been a head coach at Fordham, where he was 29-29, Richmond (29-20) and then Bowling Green, where he had a 32-31 mark in five seasons. Clawson was Division I-AA Coach of the Year at both Fordham and Richmond.
The only problem is the cupboard is bare. Next season is going to be brutal. The following one probably the same. We’re looking at 2016 before Clawson has a chance to really put his stamp on things. I’ll be patient as long as the effort is there. [And as long as the basketball program is making positive strides.]
NFL Notes
NFC North…3 games left
Detroit 7-6 [Baltimore, New York, @Minnesota]
Chicago 7-6 [@Cleveland, @Philadelphia, Green Bay]
Green Bay 6-6-1 [@Dallas, Pittsburgh, @Chicago]
Chicago beat up on Dallas 45-28 on Monday night as the Bears scored on their first eight possessions. Josh McCown had a career day, 27/36, 4-0, 141.9, in becoming the first Bears quarterback to throw for 300 or more yards in three straight games. Jay who?
Dallas (7-6) fell one game behind Philadelphia (8-5) in the NFC East.
The game also featured wind chills below zero. There hasn’t been much talk of global warming these days.
In fact as you all know by now, Sunday’s games represented the snowiest slate in NFL history; five simultaneous games played in the snow, by far the most since 1991, according to Stats LLC. As the Wall Street Journal’s Michael Salfino noted, “On only two other occasions since then have there been even three snow games: Nov. 24, 1991 and Dec. 13, 1992.”
But the snow didn’t hurt the offenses. Miami beat Pittsburgh 34-28; Green Bay edged Atlanta 22-21; Kansas City routed Washington 45-10; Philadelphia plowed under Detroit 34-20; and Baltimore beat Minnesota 29-26. An average of 53.8 combined points in the five contests.
And as Salfino notes, before this Sunday there had been only 30 snow games during the regular season since 2000. The average in those games was 38 combined points.
–Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan is the walking dead with his team flaming out at 3-10 amid talk Robert Griffin III will be benched for the final three games. The relationship between Shanahan and team owner Daniel Snyder is poor, to put it mildly, and according to the Washington Post, Snyder is looking at the possibility of firing Shanahan for cause in an attempt to withhold the money due him the remainder of his contract.
As for the RG3 situation, the team may claim they are trying to protect him after he’s been sacked 24 times the last five games. Shanahan said on Monday, “I want to make sure he’s healthy….that’s the most important thing going into the offseason, that he has his first full offseason of being healthy.” Griffin would be replaced by Kirk Cousins, should this come to pass. [Decision due Wednesday.]
2011…29 TD – 16 INT, 92.9 rating
2012…26 – 15, 87.2
2013…16 – 20, 74.2
[Manning’s 20 INTs tie him with Geno Smith for the NFL lead. Yes, New York area fans have been treated to some dreadful quarterbacking this season.]
–I forgot to mention last time that in losing to the Jets at the Meadowlands, Oakland has now lost 13 consecutive games played in the Eastern time zone.
–Over the last three games, the Patriots have scored a total of seven first half points and 85 in the second half.
–So last chat I mentioned what a mess it is going to be getting to the Super Bowl and lo and behold, there were a slew of pieces in Tuesday’s papers after a Monday news conference on the topic. Organizers are trying to get 70% of fans to leave their cars at home and take mass transit. Only 13,000 parking spaces are going to be made available – and by permit only. A regular-season game at 82,500-seat MetLife has about 27,000 spots.
It’s all about making way for security and domestic and international media compounds, as well as compounds for the pre-game and halftime shows.
Fans who do drive won’t be able to set up tailgates and take up multiple spots. And no grilling.
One item not being addressed. Because of security and the need to arrive extra early, if the weather sucks, as I long guaranteed would be the case, you’ll be standing in line for hours…so I now forecast 2,500 will die of complications from the pneumonia they’ll catch.
Ball Bits
Managers Tony La Russa, Bobby Cox and Joe Torre, who rank third, fourth and fifth respectively in all-time victories, will enter the Baseball Hall of Fame together this coming July, the three being elected unanimously by the Expansion-Era Committee. La Russa won three World Series (two with St. Louis, one with the A’s), Cox won one with Atlanta, and Torre won four with the Yankees.
Only Connie Mack and John McGraw won more than La Russa did, 2,728.
But once again the story was as much about who didn’t get in…Marvin Miller, in particular. Tommy John didn’t make it either.
“For the sixth time in 10 years, Marvin Miller was not elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Monday. Depending on your rooting interest, that is bad news or good news.
“It is bad news for those who think the Hall of Fame is the proper place for a person who is widely considered one of three or four men who have had the greatest impact on baseball history. Another of the three is Babe Ruth, and the third is Jackie Robinson or, as I believe, Branch Rickey, although those two men are obviously linked in their successful effort to break baseball’s color barrier.
“As for Miller, the founding executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, he led his constituents to the land of rights and riches. In so doing, he helped create a system that has also enriched the owners. With annual revenue in the industry now at $8.5 billion, even the sport’s commissioner, Bud Selig, has stated that Miller, who died in November 2012, belongs in Cooperstown.”
Miller himself was tired of being snubbed and after 2007 requested his name no longer appear on the ballot, to no avail.
In 2010, Miller actually fell just one vote short, receiving 11 of 16 (12, 75%, being required for enshrinement). But this time, according to the Hall, he and the nine other candidates not getting in all received six or fewer of the 16.
–Meanwhile, at the Winter Baseball meetings, the Mariners are getting blasted for giving Robinson Cano $240 million over 10 years.
The only other big free agent yet to sign is Shin-Soo Choo, a Scott Boras client who will get a $100 million deal from someone.
–The Angels, White Sox and Diamondbacks engineered a trade between the three of them: Slugger Mark Trumbo going from L.A. to Arizona, centerfielder Adam Eaton from Arizona to Chicago, and pitchers Hector Santiago and Tyler Skaggs go to L.A. (via Chicago and Arizona, respectively).
Trumbo has hit 29, 32 and 34 home runs his first three full seasons and will team with Paul Goldschmidt to give the Diamondbacks some major power from the right side of the plate. [The two will also strike out a combined 330+ times.]
–Future Hall of Famer Roy Halladay decided to retire on Monday, after signing a one-day contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, a class move. Halladay said he wanted to avoid further surgery after two injury-riddled seasons.
No crying for Halladay. He went 203-105 in his career, with a super 3.38 ERA, 67 complete games and 20 games. Most importantly to yours truly, Halladay finished in the top 5 in the Cy Young Award balloting 7 times and won it twice, once in each league. [By comparison, Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter finished in the top 5 four times.]
He’ll go into the Hall (I’m guessing on the 4th ballot, though could easily be earlier) as a Blue Jay, where he went 148-76.
I’ll always remember Roy Halladay like everyone else…a supreme competitor.
I do have to note that already there are those saying he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and I’d have zero problem with that, I’m just thinking the Hall voting will get back to the old days where only 300-game winners, like Seaver (Maddux and Glavine) get the nod the first go around.
–The Dodgers hired Orel Hershiser to be a television broadcaster for the team, joining recently named Nomar Garciaparra. Both had been with ESPN.
College Basketball / AP Poll
1. Arizona (63 first-place votes)
2. Syracuse (2)
3. Ohio State
4. Wisconsin
5. Michigan State
6. Louisville
7. Oklahoma State
8. Duke
9. UConn
10. Villanova
–Sunday’s 41-point loss to the Celtics at home represented the Knicks’ third-worst in team history. They lost to Cleveland, Tuesday, to go to 5-15.
–Entering Tuesday night’s games, 9 teams in the Western Conference of the NBA were at least 2 games above .500. Only two in the Eastern Conference were.
—Nets win! Nets win! Deron Williams, he of the weak ankles, returned against Boston and had 25 points and 7 assists. Nets are now 7-14!
–I missed last time that UCLA won its first NCAA women’s soccer title, defeating Florida State in overtime. The championship was the Bruins’ 110th NCAA team title, a record.
–According to data provided by Beer Marketer’s Insights, the following nine beers saw U.S. sales declines in excess of 25% for the period 2007-2012, while overall beer sales in the country fell 2.3% for the five years.
9. Labatt Blue…sales loss 28.3%
8. Budweiser…28.8%
7. Heineken Premium Light…36.7%
6. Milwaukee’s Best Light…39.7%
5. Old Milwaukee…54.0%
4. Miller Genuine Draft…56.4%
3. Milwaukee’s Best Premium…58.5%
2. Budweiser Select…61.5%
1. Michelob Light…69.6%…wow…
As Eric Shepard of Beer Marketer’s Insights told USA TODAY, “The history of beer brands in the U.S. has generally been – and there are exceptions – once they start to decline, it’s very, very difficult to reverse it.” Breweries like Michelob and Old Milwaukee have been falling out of favor for decades.
–With all the talk of “The Sound of Music” these days, we note the passing of actress Eleanor Parker, the baroness in the film who wanted to marry the captain, only to lose him to Maria.
Parker received three Oscar nominations, but not for “Sound of Music.” She was 91.
–Nooooo!!! Here I just wrote about the snowy owl finding its way to New Jersey in solid numbers and then on Monday, the New York Daily News had a piece that the Port Authority, which runs the major New York area airports, killed three snowy owls at JFK for posing a threat to planes. It seems that one of them was nesting on top of a taxiway sign on a runway and got sucked into an airplane turbine.
But at Boston’s Logan International, they catch and release snowy owls rather than kill them.
So Logan International is the recipient of the first Bar Chat “Good Airport Award.” Plus it has excellent clam chow-dah.
–Uh oh…in Western Australia, fishermen have declared open season on sharks after a state law was passed allowing sharks longer than 10 feet swimming within 1km of the shores of the state to be killed.
In the past decade there have been 11 fatal shark attacks in the waters around Western Australia, including the surfer last month.
Colin Barnett, the Premier of Western Australia, said: “The safety of human life and beachgoers must come first.”
Experts, though, say the increase in attacks is simply a result of an increasing population and that the aggressive new policy is not warranted.
–In Manhattan they built what is called the West Side High Line, a park that spans a dilapidated elevated highway. I haven’t walked it yet, but it is said to be great attraction, a terrific park.
However, it seems that when the City was putting in decorative plants along the way, a new cockroach that can withstand harsh winter cold and had never been seen in the U.S. appeared.
But before we all decide to sleep with the lights on, Rutgers University insect biologists say the species is very similar to those that already exist in the urban environment and they’ll be competing for food and space. It seems more time spent competing for food and space leads to less reproductive time….just as is the case with you and me.
–Couldn’t agree more than with Forbes’ list of most overpaid actors, headed by Adam Sandler, who earns about $15 million a film. Katherine Heigl, Reese Witherspoon, Nic Cage and Kevin James round out the top five.
Top 3 songs for the week 12/13/80: #1 “Lady” (Kenny Rogers) #2 “More Than I Can Say” (Leo Sayer) #3 “Another One Bites The Dust” (Queen)…and…#4 “(Just Like) Starting Over” (John Lennon) #5 “Master Blaster (Jammin’)” (Stevie Wonder) #6 “Love On The Rocks” (Neil Diamond…ain’t my problem…) #7 “Hungry Heart” (Bruce Springsteen…saves the week…) #8 “Woman In Love” (Barbra Streisand) #9 “Guilty” (Barbra Streisand & Barry Gibb…Barry had better hair…) #10 “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” (Pat Benatar)
Heisman Trophy Quiz Answers: 1) Colorado’s only winner was Rashaan Salaam, RB, 1994. 2) Oregon State’s winner was Terry Baker, QB, 1962.
