AP Sports Quiz: Peyton Manning won his record fifth AP MVP award the other day. Name the three to win more than five in the other three major sports. Answer below.
Super Bowl Post-Mortem
Peyton’s Legacy
OK, I disgustedly posted last time as the clock was running out. For the record, Peyton sucked, a pathetic 73.5 quarterback rating. If he was great, he would have made a game of it, somehow, as many of the greats have done in the big game. Weather wasn’t an issue.
Russell Wilson, on the other hand, was classic Russell Wilson. Efficient, 18/25, 206, 2-0, 123.1.
As for Peyton’s legacy, please stop with this ‘His legacy is secure’ talk. Bull, unless you’re talking his legacy as one of the ‘great’ quarterbacks in NFL history. But he is not, and can’t be, the ‘best,’ as many in the lead-up claimed he was, with a record of choking in the big game.
All many of us want is an honest discussion. Instead too many defenders of Peyton are intellectually dishonest. Lots of athletes throw up big numbers, but they aren’t the best. Tiger Woods, for example, can never be the best, all time, unless he matches or exceeds Jack Nicklaus in majors.
I also believe that with his dreadful performance, Peyton, should he decide to play another year or two, won’t be anywhere near the sentimental favorite he was this time. There are other guys to follow, admire, and root for. Wilson, Kaepernick…Cam Newton is maturing, and has the goods…plus a slew of QBs coming out this year. Teddy Bridgewater will be an instant hit, as will Johnny Football, to say the least.
Peyton needed to win this year. He didn’t. He wasn’t able to rally his team. Many of his fans (who aren’t in Denver) will now move on.
“The sting of defeat, the continuation of questions about his legacy into 2014, the sense of loss he undoubtedly felt after his greatest season ended in an utterly lopsided defeat…it was all cloaked by Manning’s concise, business-like façade following another Super Bowl defeat.
“Manning, after turning the ball over three times in a brutal 43-8 loss to Seattle…and suffering through a horrid first half that will only renew the probing of his postseason career, wasn’t in the mood for introspection or reflection. This was a CEO, adorned in a classic power suit, perfectly manicured, being asked by the media why his can’t-miss stock suddenly tanked, as Manning stuck tightly to his talking points and did not waver.
“ ‘Certainly, to finish this way is very disappointing,’ Manning said, the words coming out but his expression fairly blank. ‘It’s not an easy pill to swallow.’
“There was plenty of blame to go around Sunday. Denver’s offensive approach seemed quite conservative, its offensive line was a mess from the botched opening snap for a safety (center Manny Ramirez and Manning both called it a cadence issue due to the noise – ‘From what I was told I was three seconds late,’ Ramirez said). And at times Denver’s receivers seemed just plain battered and smothered by Seattle’s huge and punishing secondary.
“But that’s a mere subplot, at best, to the story of Super Bowl XLVIII. We can’t pretend that Peyton Manning, coming off his best season ever and playing in the stadium where his little brother plays his home games, was not the story here. Put the rating argument about the impact this one game will have on Manning’s legacy on pause for a minute. Forget even about his past playoff failures for now.
“Consider merely this three-hour snapshot of football, for any great quarterback, and it would be folly to consider it anything but a failure. There is no other way to couch it….
“(Within) the context of all Manning has accomplished – and what has proven to be so elusive – it was a total, collective dud. For what some argued might have been the best offense ever, to be so thoroughly overwhelmed by an opponent, with the entire season at stake, to be down 22-0 at the half, has to rank as one of the most disappointing outings of Manning’s remarkably distinguished career….
“Let’s be clear: Nothing that happened Sunday – nothing – could ever take away from Manning’s status as one of the best to ever throw a football. He’s on the Mount Rushmore of all-time greats. That is not subject to debate. That was never at stake here among those with the mental capacity to, say, utter ‘Omaha’ or order a Papa John’s pizza.
“However, if you are broaching the argument about whether Manning should stand alone atop that mountain as the GOAT – and one could dispute in a sport with so many varied positions and responsibilities whether such an arbitrary designation matters – well, then you can’t kid yourself that lackluster showings in career-defining games aren’t a factor.
“Fact is, Manning was outplayed, big time, by second-year quarterback Russell Wilson….
“In Manning’s last Super Bowl appearance, Drew Brees was far superior, and Manning’s pick-six late in that game was the signature play of that championship and settled the outcome.”
“However unavoidable, it is a fool’s errand, an argument without end, to compare the best players from different eras, teams, styles and situations.
“To be fair to the elusive and creative Russell Wilson, Manning was not even close to being the best quarterback on the field Sunday. Big as the game was, though, it was still one game….One game in which the Broncos were outcoached, outhit and outperformed in every phase.
“Did Manning do anything to slow the Seattle locomotive? Despite a Super Bowl-record 34 completions, he did not. But should this dismal night negate the Associated Press Most Valuable Player award – Manning’s fifth, a record – that he picked up on Saturday? The comeback from serious neck surgery that has produced two playoff seasons in Denver and the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance since Elway bowed out with his repeat victory 15 years ago?….
“He will have to live with the result and the reactions to his playoff record… But there must be a long view here, too. Given where he was two years ago, bet on Manning’s coming to the conclusion that it was better to have been here than to have not come back at all.”
“For Peyton Manning, insofar as he cares about personal reputation, the Super Bowl represented an almost absurd historical fork. Had he won it, he would have been discussed as perhaps the best NFL quarterback of all time. Instead, this stinker will now be attached to his name in perpetuity, along with the galling fact he set a new record for Super Bowl completions. For years Manning has dragged around the criticism, like tin cans tied to the back of a high-end car, that he produces more great statistics than great victories, and the noise just got louder.
“Now his critics will tie another can on: He has lost two of the three Super Bowls he has played in, and this one was arguably his worst defeat in an NFL uniform, (a loss) so thorough that it’s safe to say the short-term pain blotted out any sense of history. ‘It’s not an easy pill to swallow, but we have to,’ he said. ‘I don’t know if you ever really get over it. You have to find a way to deal with it and process it.’…
“Make no mistake, Manning’s claim as the all-time greatest quarterback didn’t die of natural causes. It was flat out murdered by the brilliant and complete Seattle Seahawks, who showed not a sign of remorse in beating the entire Broncos franchise to a pulp….
“Where will the enshriners rate Manning now? He has lost his sovereignty with them no doubt. They will call this a blot on his record. But was a loss invalidating? Hardly.”
“The great ones never flinch. They never blink. They never cower. They never panic. They feel serenity when others feel chaos. They figure it out. The heat of battle never scorches them. Somehow, some way, they find a way. They will a way.
“It can be inside a boxing ring in Zaire. Or a football stadium in New Jersey. Even the great ones can’t count on a Mr. October night at the beginning of February. A Game 7 Clyde Frazier night at the Garden. An Air Jordan night at the Garden. A perfect Don Larsen day at Yankee Stadium. An uplifting Mike Piazza night post-9/11.
“But on a warmer-than-we-could-have-hoped-for night at MetLife Stadium, against a swarming, sneering, swaggerlicious Seattle defense, Peyton Manning didn’t have a legacy to stand on.
“He had his chance, very possibly his last chance, to be crowned as THE GREATEST EVER unceremoniously intercepted.
“He too often looked more like Eli Manning against the Seahawks in December than the Peyton Manning who terrorized the NFL at age 37….
“When it was over, after the confetti had landed on Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson and euphoric misfits called Seahawks, Manning walked briskly down a hall accompanied by a New Jersey state policeman and showed his class by stopping to sign autographs for several fans on his way out. No Lombardi Trophy for him. No second ring. No historic championships with two different teams. No Greatest Ever. No legacy to stand on.”
Amen. And Serby’s analogy concerning Ali and “The Rumble in the Jungle” with George Foreman is a brilliant one. The greats find a way.
–I have to admit I was surprised how one-sided the MetLife crowd was for Seattle.
–And football fans also got to see what a freakin’ mess New Jersey Transit can be. I feel sorry for those having to wait up to three hours to get their trains back to New York after the game. Not exactly the way to leave folks with a warm, fuzzy feeling over their Super Bowl experience.
But the NFL sucks…we know that. Anything for a buck. It was absurd how drastically they cut the size of the parking lot and, of course, that was the genesis of the entire fiasco, more so than security. Normally the trains take 7,000 to a Jets or Giants game and on Sunday it was 28,000. Normally there are 30,000 parking spots and Sunday there were about 11,000 (and it was never really clear who the hell could use those). But there’s your difference, assuming 2-4 in a car (and giving the league 10,000 rather than 19,000 slots).
Anyway, cheers of “Jersey sucks!” post-game were well-deserved. My state can really suck. But mostly it’s a positive experience living in the ‘burbs.
–Sunday’s blowout set a new television record for largest audience for a Super Bowl, topping out at 111.5 million, according to the Nielsen ratings.
–While the final numbers will be released later, two in three bettors put money on Denver, a 2-point favorite, so needless to say the Nevada sports books cleaned up, possibly exceeding the record $15.4 million in profits from 2005, when New England beat Philadelphia, 24-21.
But several books offered 50-to-1 odds on the first scoring play being a Seahawks safety. The Seahawks winning by 34 to 38 points paid 100 to 1, and Denver scoring exactly 8 points paid 225 to 1, according to Pregame.com. [Joe Drape / New York Times]
–The winning players in the Super Bowl receive $92,000, the losers $46,000. The NFL kicks in $5,000 a ring, anything more is the responsibility of the team. [Source: CNN]
–As for Bruno Mars, I told you when the selection was made it was a great one. Of course like any musical act there are differing opinions. Personally, I thought he nailed it (as did Renee Fleming).
“Looking back, the question now seems absurd: Was Bruno Mars enough of a star to carry the Super Bowl halftime show? The real question is: Was the Super Bowl a big enough show for Bruno Mars?”
“He may not have the figure of Beyonce or the buzz of Madonna. But this year’s half time star – Bruno Mars – brought dynamism and an old-fashioned sense of showmanship to his Super bowl blow-out….
“Mars’ 12-minute display exuded a friendliness and ease so winning, it made the edginess or cool of some past Super Bowl stars irrelevant.”
“Bruno Mars was born to the role. An exceedingly popular and utterly harmless pop singer, he is broadly palatable and aesthetically comprehensible. The product of 1950s showmanship, 1960s soul, 1970s funk and 1980s pop-rock, he is an easy math problem to decipher. Whether behind all those influences pulses a man with independent instincts has always been tough to tell.”
Caramanica then gets real snarky…because that’s what many music critics do.
College Basketball / AP Poll
1. Syracuse (65) 21-0
2. Arizona 21-1
3. Florida 19-2
4. Wichita State 23-0
5. San Diego State 19-1
6. Villanova 19-2
7. Cincinnati 21-2
8. Kansas 16-5
9. Michigan State 19-3
10. Michigan 16-5
11. Duke 17-5…then beat Wake 83-63 on Tues. as the Deacs had 7 assists and 19 turnovers. Jabari Parker was a man among boys…
13. Saint Louis 20-2
20. Virginia 17-5…playing great
25. Pitt 18-4
28. VCU 18-4…got lots of votes, as I told you would be the case.
The Beatles!!!!!….Key events 1964
Jan. 20: “Meet the Beatles!” is released by Capitol Records, the first album available in the U.S. [Meanwhile, knowing the Beatles were coming to America, the Beach Boys were rattled so they rushed out “Fun, Fun, Fun,” wanting the Beatles to hear it while they were in the States. The Beach Boys were also on the Capitol label, but Capitol’s thoughts were obviously elsewhere.
Nonetheless, “Fun, Fun, Fun” did manage to grab the #5 slot.]
February 7: Pan Am Flight 101 arrives at Idlewild Airport (before it was renamed Kennedy). On board, four lads from Liverpool. Crowd estimates at the airport range from 10,000-25,000. The British Invasion has begun.
The Beatles stayed at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. As related in Ronnie (of the Ronettes) Spector’s autobiography, “Be My Baby,” Ronnie had previously met the Beatles in London and was invited to come up to the hotel and party with them. She describes a chaotic scene, with the Beatles occupying a whole floor, while thousands of screaming fans were outside. DJ Murray the K acted like a real jerk, using Spector to gain access to the Beatles. They were well aware of his influence on the radio airwaves those days, but they were particularly miffed when he took out his tape recorder and started asking inane questions, like about their hair. Soon, Murray was bragging that he was the “Fifth Beatle,” which further irritated them, but they put up with his crap to get the PR.
This was on February 8, and, as Spector describes it, later in the day everyone was ushered out of the suites, except close friends. Ronnie’s own friends were urging her to leave because something weird seemed to be going on in one of the rooms.
Well, it turns out there was a nude couple in the bedroom (members of the Beatles’ entourage), along with about 20 others, but if you want to know anything more you’ll have to get Spector’s book because if I list the details I’ll lose my International Web Site Association license.
*Spector has some inaccuracies in her tome, one being that other sources seem to point to DJ’s Scott Muni and Cousin Brucie of WABC as being the first to interview the Beatles, not Murray the Jerk, and a great deal of credit needs to go to program director Rick Sklar. Sklar got his two to do the first live reports from Idlewild, commandeering ABC News equipment, while later
Muni and Cousin Brucie used remote mics to capture the kids singing along with WABC jingles outside the Plaza Hotel. [Dan Ingram held forth on air for those of you from the New York
area.]
February 9: The Beatles make their historic appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Sullivan had been playing up the act for weeks, having watched a Beatlemania mob at Heathrow Airport a few months earlier. The Boys were paid $2,400 for the appearance, playing five tunes – “All My Loving,” “Till There Was You,” “She Loves You,” “I Saw Her Standing There,” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” John Lennon was so nervous he taped the lyrics onto his guitar. 73 million tuned into the show, 60% of the television audience back then. Sunday’s Super Bowl had 111 million out of a total U.S. population of over 315 million. The population in Feb. 1964 was 190 million.
Rocker Alice Cooper once recalled, “I just sat there in my living room in Phoenix with a huge smile on my face. My parents looked like they were in the audience of ‘Springtime for Hitler.’” And who else did Sullivan have on that show? Georgia Brown and the children’s chorus from the Broadway show “Oliver” (including future Monkee Davy Jones), Tessie O’Shea and Frank Gorshin (I always like this comedian / impersonator “Kirk DOUG-las”).
David Fricke / Rolling Stone
“Shortly after 8 p.m. on Sunday, February 9, 1964, a short, stiff man with rubbery bloodhound features – Ed Sullivan, the host of the highest-rated variety hour on American television – addressed his New York studio audience and the folks tuned in at home over the CBS network.
“ ‘Yesterday and today, our theater’s been jammed with newspapermen and hundreds of photographers from all over the nation,’ Sullivan said in a nasally chuckling voice. ‘And these veterans agreed with me that the city never has witnessed the excitement stirred by these youngsters from Liverpool.’ He droned on for a few more seconds. Then the sixty-two-year-old Sullivan uttered the nine most important words in the history of rock & roll TV:
“ ‘Ladies and gentlemen, the Beatles! Let’s bring them on!’
“No one in Studio 50, the 728-seat home of The Ed Sullivan Show, at 53rd Street and Broadway, heard anything else for the next eight minutes, except a monsoon of teenage-female screaming. The Beatles – guitarist John Lennon, 23; bass guitarist Paul McCartney, 21; drummer Ringo Starr, 23; and lead guitarist George Harrison, two weeks shy of twenty-one – opened their U.S. debut performance with a machine-gun bouquet of twin-guitar clang and jubilant vocal harmonies: ‘All My Loving,’ ‘Till There Was You’ and ‘She Loves You.’ Forty minutes later – after songs and routines by Frank Gorshin, Tessie O’Shea and the cast of ‘Oliver!’ – the Beatles returned to tear through both sides of their first U.S. Number One single, ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ and ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand.’
“ ‘But you could not hear them playing anything,’ says John Moffitt, associate director of The Ed Sullivan Show, who was vainly calling out cues to the cameramen shooting the band. ‘The noise was incredible. Nobody could hear a thing except the kids in the audience, screaming. They overpowered the amplifiers. The cameramen couldn’t hear. Even the kids couldn’t hear anything, except each other screaming.’”
John Lennon would later remark “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.” Lennon told Rolling Stone in his famous 1970 interview, “We knew we could wipe you out – we were new. When we got here, you were all walking around in f***in’ Bermuda shorts, with Boston crew cuts and stuff in your teeth.”
McCartney told Rolling Stone in 1987, “John and I knew we were writing good songs. You had to be an idiot to listen to what we were writing and not say, ‘Hey, man, this is good .We could even do well in America.’”
But as David Fricke writes: “Yet the Beatles could not have achieved so much, so fast, without Sullivan’s Sunday-night might.”
Sullivan was in London on Oct. 31, 1963, at the airport, when the Beatles returned from a Swedish tour to a tumultuous reception. “At first, Sullivan thought everyone had turned out to greet the queen mother. But by November 11, he was back in New York, negotiating with (Brian) Epstein.”
The Beatles were actually given double-billing not just Feb. 9th but also the 16th (from the Deauville Hotel in Miami) and a taped segment on Feb. 23rd. In return for all this exposure Epstein accepted a total fee of $10,000, far less than the $7,500 Sullivan paid for big acts for a single show.
Back in February 2004, the New York Daily News’ David Hinckley had some of the following thoughts.
“The Beatles’ first visit to New York, Feb. 7-9, 1964, lasted less than 72 hours. It hardly seems like enough time to change American popular culture. It was.
“True, 12 months of brilliant musical and promotional buildup didn’t hurt. But it took the Fab Four to close the deal, a process that began as they stepped off Pan Am Flight 101, the Yankee Clipper, at 1:20 p.m.
“It had been a tense flight, simply because everyone knew what was at stake. This was America. This was showtime.
“When they poked their heads out and saw the first sea of fans, road manager Neil Aspinall says one of them asked, ‘Is the President’s plane about to land?’ No, this was for them, and once they knew it, they rode that giddy wave inside the terminal to meet the American press.
“One of the few things grownup America had tolerated about rock stars to this point was that they shut up. Elvis Presley rarely said anything, and it was widely assumed the species spoke only in primeval grunts.
“Not the Beatles. They were outgoing, witty, articulate and irreverent about everything, including themselves.”
Press: “What is the secret of your success?” Ringo: “We have a press agent.”
Press: “What do you think of the campaign in Detroit to stamp out the Beatles?” John: “We have a campaign to stamp out Detroit.”
“As this repartee crackled out to countless radio stations, suddenly all bets were off. America was fascinated by something it had written off 24 hours earlier as a teenage flavor of the month .
“No, the two biggest factors in the Beatles’ triumph were the two best showcased that February weekend: 1) The postwar baby boom had delivered a huge army of teenagers and adolescents primed for a culture of their own, and 2) The Beatles had the musical goods.”
In early 1965, New York radio legend Jean Shepherd was assigned to cover the Beatles for Playboy as they toured England and Scotland and after getting to know each other over the course of a week, Shepherd sat down with them at a hotel. Following are a few excerpts from the book “The Playboy Interviews: Larger than Life”.
Playboy: When did you know that you had really hit it big? There must have been one night when you knew it had really begun.
John: Well, we’d been playing round in Liverpool for a bit without getting anywhere, trying to get work, and the other groups kept telling us, ‘You’ll do all right, you’ll get work someday.’ And then we went to Hamburg, and when we came back, suddenly we were a wow. Mind you, 70 percent of the audience thought we were a German wow, but we didn’t care about that.
Paul: We were billed in the paper: ‘From Hamburg – The Beatles.’
John: In Liverpool, people didn’t even know we were from Liverpool. They thought that we were from Hamburg. They said, ‘Christ, they speak good English!’ Which we did, of course, being English. But that’s when we first, you know, stood there being cheered for the first time.
Paul: That was when we felt we were –
John: On the way up –
Paul: Gonna make it in Liverpool.
Playboy: How much were you earning then?
John: For that particular night, $20.
Playboy: Apiece?
John: For the group! Hell, we used to work for a lot less than that.
Paul: We used to work for about three or four dollars a night.
[On making it in America ]
John: The thing is, in America it just seemed ridiculous – I mean, the idea of having a hit record over there. It was just, you know, something you could never do. That’s what I thought, anyhow. But then I realized that it’s just the same here, that kids everywhere all go for the same stuff. And seeing we’d done it in England and all, there’s no reason why we couldn’t do it in America, too. But the American disc jockeys didn’t know about British records; they didn’t play them; nobody promoted them, and so you didn’t have hits .
But it wasn’t until Time and Life and Newsweek came over and wrote articles and created an interest in us that the disc jockeys started playing our records. And Capitol said, ‘Well, can we have their records?’ You know, they had been offered our records years ago, and they didn’t want them. But when they heard we were big over here they said, ‘Can we have them now?’ So we said, ‘As long as you promote them.’ So Capitol promoted, and with them and all these articles on us, the records just took off.
Playboy: There’s been some dispute, among your fans and critics, about whether you’re primarily entertainers or musicians – or perhaps neither. What’s your own opinion?
John: We’re moneymakers first; then we’re entertainers.
Ringo: No, we’re not.
John: What are we, then?
Ringo: Dunno. Entertainers first.
Paul: Still, we’d be idiots to say that it isn’t a constant inspiration to be making a lot of money. It always is, to anyone. I mean, why do big business tycoons stay big business tycoons? It’s not because they’re inspired at the greatness of big business; they’re in it because they’re making money at it. We’d be idiots if we pretended we were in it solely for kicks.
John: We love every minute of it, Beatle people!
February 11: Beatles play first concert at the Washington (D.C.) Coliseum. Appearing with them were Tommy Roe, the Chiffons and the Caravelles.
February 12: Beatles play Carnegie Hall. 250 reporters show up for a press conference.
April 4: Beatles hold top 5 slots on the Billboard chart.
#1 Can’t Buy Me Love
#2 Twist And Shout
#3 She Loves You
#4 I Want To Hold Your Hand
#5 Please Please Me
June 1: The Rolling Stones arrive in America.
August 19: Beatles begin first American tour at San Francisco’s Cow Palace. 30 shows in 24 cities.
September 4: The Animals debut in America at Brooklyn’s Paramount Theater. “House Of The Rising Sun” quickly rises to the top of the charts.
October 25: The Stones make their debut on Ed Sullivan’s show. The audience is rowdy and Sullivan announces: “I promise you they’ll never be back on our sheww. It took me 17 years to build (it); I’m not going to have it destroyed in a matter of weeks.” [May 1965, Sullivan relents, the Stones return.]
New York Times columnist Bob Herbert once described the Beatles phenomenon thusly:
“They blew in like a sudden storm and permanently altered the cultural landscape. One night they were singing to an audience of shrieking teeny-boppers on that quintessential 1950s televised program, ‘The Ed Sullivan Show,’ and in the next instant, it seemed, the Sullivan era had been left behind and the ‘60s had blossomed in brilliant, even blinding color.”
–Knicks point guard Raymond Felton is being skewered in the local press, and deservedly so. The guy blows. And center Tyson Chandler is immensely overrated. And this team has zero future…and if Seattle wants a franchise, take the Knicks, please….
By the way, as the New York Daily News’ Mitch Lawrence points out, the Knicks have had just one point guard in the All-Star Game since Walt Frazier last appeared in 1976, that being Mark Jackson in 1989.
–There’s no one better in professional sports than Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who kept his word and reworked his contract to help his team out with the salary cap. Fitzgerald also said all the right things in doing his part to give the Cards a shot at the Super Bowl next season.
–The Atlanta Braves signed first baseman Freddie Freeman to an eight-year, $135 million deal, at the same time they signed outfielder Jason Heyward to a two-year, $13.3 million deal.
—Derek Jeter split with Hannah Davis. Jeter is one ‘interesting’ guy, in terms of his past flings. Hannah, like the others, was getting too much publicity. Girls, I know it’s tempting, but don’t go near the guy.
–Meanwhile, the Mets’ Matt Harvey, who sees himself as the next Jeter, split with swimsuit model Anne V. Your editor prefers Hannah Davis.
–We note the passing of Arthur Rankin Jr., the producer-director who, working in stop-motion animation, was responsible for “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” along with partner Jules Bass, which first aired in 1964. Fifty years later, “Rudolph” remains the longest-running Christmas TV special. Rankin-Bass were also responsible for “Frosty the Snowman.” Think about it. Coupled with “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” these four have stood the test of time. I suspect 50 years from now they’ll still be aired.
“Rudolph” took more than a year to make because of the painstakingly slow pace of stop-motion production.
I’m jealous. Arthur Rankin retired to Bermuda, where he passed away of natural causes at the age of 89.
“Rats could grow to the size of sheep or even bigger as they evolve to fill vacant ecological niches, according to a UK scientist.
“The terrifying scenario could become a reality as super-adaptable rats take advantage of larger mammals becoming extinct, geologist Dr. Jan Zalasiewicz, from the University of Leicester, predicts.
“ ‘Animals will evolve, over time, into whatever designs will enable them to survive and to produce offspring,’ Dr. Zalasiewicz said.
“ ‘For instance, in the Cretaceous Period, when the dinosaurs lived, there were mammals, but these were very small, rat and mouse-sized, because dinosaurs occupied the larger ecological niches.
“ ‘Only once the dinosaurs were out of the way did these tiny mammals evolve into many different forms, including some very large and impressive ones: brontotheriums, horses, mastodons, mammoths, rhinoceri and more.’…
The doctor said rats in many cases had out-competed many native species on islands, at times driving them to extinction. He suspected they will have a major influence on the geological future of the Earth and over time were likely to produce “some remarkable descendants.”
Heck, I can point to two today…Barry Bonds and A-Rod.
Top 3 songs for the 2/4/67: #1 “I’m A Believer” (The Monkees) #2 “Georgy Girl” (The Seekers) #3 “Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron” (The Royal Guardsmen)…and…#4 “Tell It Like It Is” (Aaron Neville) #5 “Kind Of A Drag” (The Buckinghams) #6 “Words Of Love” (The Mamas & The Papas) #7 “(We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet” (Blues Magoos) #8 “98.6” (Keith…love this one…) #9 “Good Thing” (Paul Revere & The Raiders) #10 “Standing In The Shadows Of Love” (Four Tops…top to bottom, as good a week as there’s been…)
AP Sports Quiz Answer: Wayne Gretzky won nine NHL MVP awards, Barry Bonds seven, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won six.
