[Posted Sunday PM…struggling to catch up from my overseas trip.]
Baseball Quiz: OK, enough time has elapsed since the anniversary of Hank Aaron hitting his 715th home run on April 8, 1974, to try this one out. Give the top five on the home run list at that time and the number of homers each had hit. Ahem…I think you’ll get the first two. Answer below.
Kentucky Derby
Well, once again we have a horse that seemingly has a legitimate shot at that elusive Triple Crown this nation so desperately needs (whether it realizes it or not). I told you after watching the Santa Anita Derby that California Chrome was the real deal. Actually I wrote on April 7 in this space it was “an easy choice” come the first Saturday in May.
“On Thursday, 77-year-old Art Sherman went back to the future. As he slowly walked toward the grave marker about 30 feet away, his mind wandered back to a long gone box car and the bales of hay on which he slept and the steady breathing of the 1,200-pound horse that was his roommate.
“It was 1955 and he was 18 years old. And within six days, the backstretch at Churchill Downs would anoint him as the kid that was the exercise boy for the greatest racehorse on the planet.
“And then the memory abruptly faded because he had covered the distance that marked the reason he had come to this marker. As he stood there, head bowed, he offered this silent prayer:
“ ‘If you can help, please make this colt I will saddle on Saturday my own, personal Swaps.’
“A year ago that prayer would have been something best left to a screenwriter. So would the trio of old men with the dream that old men dream. But yesterday, that dream was so real that Art Sherman could feel it coursing through his veins as he held the winning trainer’s trophy. The three stood there in the winner’s circle – Sherman and two owners, Perry Martin and Steven Coburn – and did not try to fight back the tears. They were the medals of three old men who kicked the rear ends of all those young guys who were supposed to have beaten them.
“California Chrome, billed as the wonder horse from California, was, in that moment, the only horse with a chance to win the Triple Crown. He and his jockey Victor Espinoza won this Derby with a race so picture perfect that who is to say that the winds of Churchill did not carry the voice of Swaps saying:
“ ‘Now that’s what I assume you were talking about.’”
“California Chrome has the unlikeliest pedigree for a Derby champion. His mother, Love the Chase, won just one race. She was purchased by Coburn and Martin, a move that prompted a trainer to call them ‘dumb asses’ getting involved in racing.
“Feeling inspired, they named their operation DAP Racing, which stands for Dumb Ass Partners. Their silks include an image of a donkey.
“Coburn lives near Reno, Nev., rising at 4:30 a.m. for his job as a press operator at a 13-employee company that makes magnetic strips for credit cards and driver licenses.
“Martin lives on the California side of the border near Reno, running a laboratory that tests high-reliability equipment, like car air bags and medical equipment.
“Coburn and Martin’s partnership is based on a handshake, and their wives are friends who enjoy the sport, too. The group came up with California Chrome’s name by drawing it out of a hat. The horse hadn’t been out of his home state until this week.”
So Art Sherman became the oldest trainer to win a Derby, thanks in no small part to Victor Espinoza. Coburn said after his horse’s impressive win, “we will see you all in Baltimore at the Preakness. And if we win that we will see all of you at the Belmont.”
Heck, I’m going to have to find my way to the Belmont, too. But this is horse racing, and as we’ve seen countless times before, this sport has a way of breaking your heart unlike any other.
NBA Playoffs
Round One
Miami 4 Charlotte 0
Washington 4 Chicago 1
Portland 4 Houston 2
Indiana 4 Atlanta 3
L.A. Clippers 4 Golden State 3
Oklahoma City 4 Memphis 3
Brooklyn 4 Toronto 3
San Antonio 4 Dallas 3
It really is amazing there were five Game 7s during the opening round of the postseason, a record. In fact, the league has already tied the record for most Game 7s in an entire postseason, though to be fair, the opening round used to be best-of-five for a lengthy stretch, going to a best-of-seven first round format in 2003. Last year there was just one Game 7 in the opening round.
One of the Game 7s was the Clippers vs. the Warriors on Saturday night, with L.A. able to set aside the controversy and distractions in winning 126-121 in Los Angeles.
But these two teams really despise each other and the two engaged in a heated verbal back-and-forth in the tunnel connecting the locker rooms afterwards. Police were actually called to assist, though USA TODAY reports it is not believed punches were thrown. Chris Paul was evidently the prime irritant for the Clippers, more so even than Blake Griffin, who the Warriors accuse of nonstop ‘acting,’ while Griffin accuses the Warriors of playing “cowardly basketball.”
Warriors big man Marreese Speights, however, said, “It’s not really Blake Griffin; it’s all Chris Paul for real. Chris Paul starts all of that stuff. Before Chris Paul came here, the team was not like that. It’s just two teams going hard at each other.”
Gee, does that sound familiar? Like Wake Forest-N.C. State years ago? Like Chris Paul costing the Deacs a No. 1 seed with his cheap shot against Julius Hodge?
Then you have OKC-Memphis, with the Grizzlies up 3-2 and an article in The Oklahoman labeling Kevin Durant “Mr. Unreliable,” at which point Durant said “Really?” as the sports editor of the paper was scrambling to apologize, which is really bush league.
So all Durant did was have 36 points and 10 rebounds in Game 6, a 104-84 Thunder win, and then another 33 and 8 in Game 7, a 120-109 triumph.
But for Memphis, the old Zach Randolph reared his ugly head when he was suspended for Game 7 after punching center Steve Adams in Game 6. That is an idiot.
As for Hawks-Pacers, boy, I really don’t like Indiana. But the Hawks just aren’t that good, yet still took it to seven. I expect Washington to now beat the Pacers.
And in the Portland-Houston series, I missed the heroics of Damian Lillard on Friday night, but just watched it on video. Amazing. Hits a 3-pointer on an inbounds play at the buzzer for the Game 6 clincher. In the series, his first in the playoffs, Lillard averaged 25.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 6.7 assists.
Then there was the Nets’ Game 7 triumph over Toronto, 104-103. It was 98-89 when Brooklyn again threatened to throw it away, as they had in Game 4, but somehow they prevailed. Deron Williams was 3 of 6 from the free throw line down the stretch, just as he had choked earlier in the series, and this is clearly the guy you want at the line in the fourth quarter.
It ended up being Shaun Livingston’s two clutch FTs that sealed it, along with the last defensive stand when Toronto could have won.
But one more major kudos to Toronto fans. You guys are way cool in your support.
Lastly, San Antonio beat Dallas in Game 7, 119-96, as Tony Parker, who had struggled in the series, came up big with 32 points. [Can’t help but note that while in Paris, I saw a Tony Parker Gym.]
Meanwhile, in the Donald Sterling debacle, I saw Adam Silver’s Tuesday press conference before heading to France and I thought the lifetime ban and $2.5 million fine were totally appropriate.
The NBA will now appoint a chief executive officer to oversee day-to-day operations of the Clippers, with that individual to supersede team president Andy Roeser, who initially gave Sterling the benefit of the doubt in the wake of his remarks.
Doc Rivers, who is the team’s vice president of basketball operations, will continue in that role.
“Just what does Donald Sterling…think of the recording that captured his racist comments?
“ ‘I wish I had just paid her off,’ Sterling said of V. Stiviano, the woman to whom he made the comments, according to a Los Angeles lifestyle magazine. DuJour released the brief comment from what it says is an exclusive interview with Sterling… Jason Binn, who quoted Sterling, said the owner ‘expressed remorse,’ but no other quotes were provided by the publication….
“On Friday night, in an interview with (Barbara) Walters, Stiviano said she thinks Sterling is not a racist and feels isolated. ‘I think he feels very alone, not truly supported by those around him. Tormented, emotionally traumatized. I’m with him in a state of where I want to help him, urging him to come to his own rescue. But even so, I think he feels that he’s alone.’….
“In the Walters interview, Stiviano suggested a simple response for Sterling: an apology. ‘I think he can’t even believe or understand sometimes the things he says, and I think he’s hurt by it. He’s hurting right now.’….
“Walters asked Stiviano about their relationship and Stiviano replied: ‘I’m his right-hand arm man. I’m his best friend, his confidant. His silly rabbit.’
“So now the dreary perp walk of American life has begun, with a tired television cliché out of the past, which means tears for Barbara Walters from V. Stiviano, the Queen of the May, or whatever Stiviano’s real name is. Around those tears and downward glances on Friday night, she told Walters that she was Donald Sterling’s ‘right-hand man’ and ‘wing man’ and also his ‘silly rabbit,’ because she could make the old guy laugh. What a girl.
“At that point the rest of us didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as Stiviano – aka Vanessa Maria Perez aka Monica Gallegos aka Maria Monica Perez Gallegos aka Maria Valdez, according to recent court papers in a case involving her and the long-suffering Mrs. Sterling – bucked and scraped for her eventual book deal, one that will probably involve audio tapes….
“There is the distinct possibility, and maybe the logical possibility, that Sterling – a slob whom some people now want to make out as some kind of victim here – can drag his situation through the courts for the rest of his miserable life. And maybe he can, even though he may eventually be as successful going up against the power of his commissioner as Alex Rodriguez, despite all of Rodriguez’ big talk and all those who made the guy out to be some victim of his own personal witch hunt, as when he went up against Bud Selig….
“Ultimately, you know this isn’t about Sterling vs. Stiviano, it is Sterling vs. Silver. It is one thing for Silver to stand up as big as he did on Tuesday against Sterling and another to see if he can make his ban and his desire to have Sterling sell the team stand up….
“For now, though, V. Stiviano is the face of this story, and the kind of star she has clearly been desperate to become in something more than Instagram pictures, saying that Sterling should ‘absolutely’ apologize and lowering her eyes and saying that only God knows whether he will or not.
“All that is clear for now, as we see Stiviano make her move to Barbara Walters and wait to see what Sterling’s next move will be, is this:
“These two people deserve each other. It wasn’t the Ferrari and the Bentleys and the Range Rover and the duplex and the cash that brought them together. Clearly, it was destiny. Which sounds like it should have been one of V. Stiviano’s aliases, now that you think about it.”
“I spoke with Commissioner Adam Silver this week to tell him that I fully supported his recent swift and decisive action. We also agreed at that time that, as a next step, both the league and the team should work together to find some fresh, accomplished executive leadership for the Clippers. I welcome his active involvement in the search for a person of the utmost character, proven excellence and a commitment to promoting equality and inclusiveness.”
“Mark Cuban has since gotten onboard with the National Basketball Association’s decision to force Don Sterling to give up ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers, but earlier the Dallas Mavericks owner asked the important question: Isn’t the league heading down a ‘slippery slope’ by stripping a ‘moron’ of his property because of ‘abhorrent’ thoughts uttered in private?
“The rejoinder is the same as the answer to the question of whether Major League Baseball needs an antitrust exemption to block the Oakland Athletics from moving to San Jose, an issue also bubbling up in California right now.
“The answer: In a free country, a sports league doesn’t, or shouldn’t, need a legal exemption to force member teams to abide by the rules that are a condition of membership. The legal system’s only job is to enforce the contract that owners made with each other. An NBA effort to vote Mr. Sterling out appears to fit reasonably within the league’s own rules given the threat posed by the Clippers’ free-falling sponsorship income – at least it fits well enough that Mr. Sterling won’t risk a prolonged fight that might undermine the windfall value of his major asset….
“Mr. Sterling has one big reason to try to hinder NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s plan to force him out. Holding on to the Clippers would let his heirs duck a giant capital-gains tax bill. Mr. Sterling will likely launch a lawsuit to make sure the league knows it has something at risk, but he will also settle quickly because he stands to lose much more through his continued association with the team. The Clippers ironically have been revealed to be a hot property. Everyone from music mogul David Geffen to Oprah Winfrey is sniffing around. A sale today might fetch $1 billion [Ed. some now say as much as $1.5 billion] compared with the $12.7 million Mr. Sterling paid in 1981. A 7,800% profit would salve a lot of humiliation.”
“Shortly after the Clippers made Danny Manning the top pick of the 1988 NBA draft, team owner Donald Sterling invited the player and his agent, Ron Grinker, to talk contract in Beverly Hills. It was recounted to me how Sterling lounged around his mansion in a bathrobe open to his navel, wearing nothing underneath.
“At one point Sterling’s preteen son wandered in and was chastised for skipping Hebrew school. The owner commanded the boy, ‘Go to your room and get undressed.’ The child slouched upstairs. Sterling followed. The next thing Manning heard was a belt thrashing and the boy wailing, as Grinker bounded up the stairs yelling, ‘Stop! Stop! We’ll sign.’”
Lidz heard that in the course of reporting for a profile he did on Sterling for SI back on April 17, 2000, titled “The Worst Franchise in Sports History.”
But much of the above didn’t appear, along with tales of Sterling’s “wild sexual escapades” because Lidz’ editor told him, “You’ve demonized him.”
“Really? I said. I thought I’d bent over backward to be fair.…
“This is a guy who in 2003, at 69, stated in a deposition that he regularly paid a woman for sex…(conceding) that he had asked the woman in ’01 whether to hire Alvin Gentry as coach and which players deserved contract extensions.”
In a New York Times / CBS News national poll, 65% said the decision by Silver to bar Sterling for life and fine him was an appropriate response to his racist comments. Overall, 21% said the league had been too punitive and 10% considered Sterling’s penalty too lenient.
Six in 10 black fans think racist beliefs such as those expressed by Sterling are prevalent among team owners in professional sports; only 19% of white fans agree.
At the same time, the ‘public’ regards race relations in America as generally good. 60% of whites view race relations in a positive light, though blacks are evenly divided: 46% good, 46% say they are bad. [New York Times]
–Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni quit. As he confided to the Daily News’ Mitch Lawrence, “Kobe and Pau don’t want to play for me.”
So you have names like Byron Scott, Kurt Rambis, Jeff Van Gundy and UConn’s Kevin Ollie being floated out there. Mitch Lawrence says John Calipari has no shot, assuming he would be interested.
–I had totally forgotten that Steve Kerr’s father was Dr. Malcolm Kerr, president of American University of Beirut, who was assassinated back on Jan. 18, 1984; the victim of a pair of Hizbullah gunmen. [For those who don’t read “Week in Review,” I have my reasons for spelling Hizbullah the way I do.]
–We note the passing of basketball legend Jack Ramsay, 89, best known for leading the 1976-77 Portland Trail Blazers to the NBA title. For his career, including stints at Buffalo, Philadelphia and Indiana, Ramsay was 864-783. Had Bill Walton not had all his injury problems, no doubt Ramsay and Portland would have won at least one more title. Ramsay, who was born in Philadelphia and grew up in Connecticut, was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992.
Ball Bits
–In defeating the Rays on Saturday, 9-3, the Yankees’ Masahiro Tanaka moved to 4-0, 2.53, with 51 strikeouts and only six walks in 42 2/3 innings. Tanaka’s 51 strikeouts in his first six major-league starts is the fifth-highest for a pitcher since 1900. As reported by Dave Hutchinson of the Star-Ledger, behind only Kerry Wood (58), Herb Score (57), Bob Feller (54) and Stephen Strasburg (53).
–You know who I kind of feel happy for? Mark Teixeira. He had legitimate fears his career could be over following serious wrist surgery last year and yet he has five homers in his first 56 at-bats.
–But back to the Yankees’ rotation…it’s amazing how quickly things can change. Just a few weeks ago this was thought to be a strength, with Tanaka, Kuroda, Sabathia, Nova and Pineda.
Now, it’s only Tanaka. After losing on Sunday, CC is 3-4, 5.75. Kuroda has sucked recently. Pineda, after being suspended, has a stiff back. Nova had Tommy John surgery.
If the Yankees finish .500 it will be amazing…and it will be equally amazing to see the crowds dwindle to a precious few come September.
Of course I said before the year started that both the Mets and Yankees would win about 75, if I recall correctly.
–Nice game for Boston’s Jon Lester Saturday, a 6-3 win over Oakland in which Lester had a career-high 15 strikeouts, including nine of his first 13 batters.
—Zack Greinke watch: He’s now 5-0, 2.04, with 18 straight starts where he’s pitched at least five innings and not given up more than two earned runs.
–I do have to congratulate the Miami Marlins for their impressive three-game sweep of Atlanta last week by scores of 9-0, 9-3 and 5-4, after the Braves had accumulated a staff ERA of 2.04 in their first 24 games.
–And I have to note that Bryce Harper officially underwent thumb surgery last Tuesday and is out at least until July. He missed 44 games last season with a left knee injury. Josh Hamilton is out with the same thumb issue.
–I am not a big ‘new’ stat guy…I prefer old-time measurements. But this is kind of interesting. For the month of April, the most clutch hitter in baseball was Jayson Werth as measured by ‘win probability added’ …the difference in win expectancy (WE) between the start of the play and the end of the play.
Werth, at 1.756, was ahead of Mike Trout (1.513) and Giancarlo Stanton (1.443).
–Check this out…Colorado’s Troy Tulowitzki, who was not in the starting lineup on Sunday against the Mets, was hitting .591 at home (26-44) and .250 on the road (14-56). Yes, no one in history has come close to those splits.
–Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton has 10 home runs and 36 RBI to lead the N.L. Chicago’s Jose Abreu is 12-34 in the A.L.
NFL / College Football
—The draft is coming! The draft is coming! Finally. May 8-10. Houston is acting like they’re selecting Jadeveon Clowney with the first pick.
–Linebacker Khalil Mack of Buffalo continues to surge on the draft boards, to number three overall on many, but I have a bad feeling about the guy. I’m wondering if he’s the next Aaron Curry. For Mack’s sake I hope I am very wrong.
–I seriously questioned Penn State’s selection of James Franklin to be its new head coach right from the start and sure enough, that Vanderbilt rape case involving a 21-year-old female student last June is coming back to haunt him. Four Vanderbilt football players were charged in the alleged assault and a fifth player pleaded guilty with all five being dismissed from the team.
But in a filing last week by defense attorneys for one of the accused players asking a judge to dismiss the case, it is alleged Franklin contacted the victim during a medical examination four days after the rape.
“Franklin and then-Vanderbilt strength coach Dwight Galt, who is now at Penn State, reportedly told the victim ‘that they cared about her because she assisted them with recruiting.’
“The filing said that at an unspecified time Franklin called the victim in ‘for a private meeting and told her he wanted to get fifteen pretty girls together and form a team to assist with the recruiting even though he knew it was against the rules. He added that all the other colleges did it.’
“The defense lawyers claim that phone records and text messages from Franklin, Galt and Vanderbilt associate director of athletics Kevin Colon are among the missing pieces of evidence.”
Franklin issued a statement through Penn State: “The allegations that I did something wrong are simply not true. I have cooperated fully with the authorities in this matter but, out of respect for the legal process, I am not able to comment any further.”
You blew it, Penn State. An incredibly stupid decision. Franklin is a bad guy.
“One of the primary reasons for junking the 16-year-old Bowl Championship Series in favor of the new, four-team College Football Playoff was to level the playing field.
“The expectation was the five power conferences – the Pac-12, Southeastern, Big Ten, Big 12 and Atlantic Coast – would play nine-game league schedules.
“The Pac-12 and Big 12 already do, the Big Ten will in 2016 and, while the ACC is still mulling, it was already bolstered by adding Notre Dame as a quasi-member in football.
“All was well – until the SEC last weekend decided to stay at eight conference games, which will complicate, not simplify, the process of choosing the four best teams….
“Stanford Coach David Shaw, whose team finished No. 5 in last year’s final BCS standings, said: ‘If we’re going to go to a playoff, and feed into one playoff system, we all need to play by the same rules.’…
“ ‘With eight in (the 14-team SEC), there are certain years that without question there will be teams that will have easier schedules than others,’ Arizona Coach Rich Rodriguez said.
“Two years ago, SEC East champion Georgia didn’t play any of the top three SEC West teams during the regular season. The Bulldogs then came within five yards of defeating Alabama in the SEC title game and advancing to the national championship game against Notre Dame….
“The SEC claims it buffered its decision by ordering each of its teams annually play at least one nonconference game against a school from the four other power conferences. The SEC is clearly banking its strength and reputation will overcome any perceived scheduling inequities.”
The College Football Playoff Committee announced that it will issue its first rankings Oct. 28 and will do so each week thereafter as part of an ESPN broadcast.
“The NCAA is probably the most reprehensible organization God ever created. Total exploitation. The kind of money they make, the kind of life they live, it’s embarrassing.”
–Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston was caught shoplifting $32.00 worth of crab legs and will have to do some community service time. Now that’s embarrassing and the kind of thing that could cost him some money down the road
–Congratulations to J.B. Holmes, who won his 3rd career PGA Tour title at the Wells Fargo Championship and first since 2008. Understand that back in 2011, Holmes had brain surgery. Afterwards, he thanked his “Lord and Savior.” I would too.
Separately, Phil Mickelson had a season best 63 on Saturday to put himself in contention, but then ballooned to 75 as he missed one short putt after another.
—Bernhard Langer won the Champions Tour event in Texas, but one of the stories was my college classmate, Gary Hallberg, who hasn’t been playing well. On Saturday he shot a 67 to put himself in major contention but then proceeded to shoot 85 on Sunday! Yikes. As I go to post I don’t know if he was hurt.
–After winning the Masters a second time, Bubba Watson returned to his hometown of Bagdad, Fla., and in visiting students and faculty at his former schools and at a pep rally at his alma mater, Milton High, footed the bill for 450 pizzas and passed out slices.
Denny Hamlin captured his first race of the Sprint Cup season at Talladega, 24th of his career. Jeff Gordon leads the overall point standings.
Premier League
Chelsea blew its opportunity to win a Premier League title when it couldn’t score a goal against lowly Norwich, a 0-0 draw on Sunday. So the standings entering the final week:
1. Man City 36 games…80 points
2. Liverpool 36….80
3. Chelsea 37…79
4. Arsenal 37…76
Meanwhile, the last three are relegated:
17. Sunderland 36…35 points
18. Norwich City 37…33
19. Fulham 37…31
20. Cardiff City 37…30
In terms of Man City and Liverpool, Man City has games against Aston Villa and West Ham, while Liverpool faces Crystal Palace and Newcastle.
The problem for Liverpool is the tie-breaker is goal differential and Man City has a commanding 9-goal lead.
Meanwhile, the Champions League final is going to be an all-Madrid affair, Atletico Madrid vs. Real Madrid, May 24, in Lisbon, the first intracity final in Champions League history. Atletico knocked off Chelsea (awful week for the Blues) while Real outclassed Barcelona.
—NHL Playoffs: OK, I missed my Rangers’ Game 1 overtime win over Pittsburgh on Friday and will be tuned in from here (actually, tonight I’m going to follow online until crucial moments because it’s “Game of Thrones” and “Mad Men” night). I just have to note that when the Rangers finished off the Flyers in Game 7, 2-1, that moved New York’s Game 7 record to 6-0. Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist is 4-1 in Game 7s.
And for the archives I also have to mention the achievement of the Los Angeles Kings, who on Wednesday became just the fourth team to come back from down 3-0 to win a Stanley Cup series; only the second since 1975, when they finished off San Jose.
—Floyd Mayweather Jr. barely survived his welterweight title bout against Argentina’s Marcos Maidana, Saturday night in Las Vegas. In moving to 46-0, 26 KOs, Mayweather won a majority decision over the 12-to-1 underdog Maidana who just kept coming after Mayweather.
For the fight, Mayweather landed 230 of 426 punches (54 percent), while Maidana threw an unbelievable 858 but connected ‘only’ on 221 (26 percent). That was nonetheless the most times Mayweather had been hit in his 38 fights tracked by CompuBox.
Two judges had it 117-11 and 116-112 for Mayweather, while a third judge had it 114-114.
Maidana (35-4, 31 Kos), said afterward, “I definitely think I won. Floyd did not fight like a man like I expected him to do…. He did dominate some rounds but the majority, I dominated.”
Mayweather earned at least $32 million, while Maidana took in $1.5 million plus television revenue. The champ is three fights into a six-fight, $200 million-plus contract with Showtime/CBS so a rematch seems probable. Manny Pacquiao? Unlikely.
–Speaking of Vegas, I didn’t realize actor Ben Affleck had been banned for life from playing blackjack at the Hard Rock Casino there and that he “has been cleaning up at the game for years,” as reported by Natalie O’Neill of the New York Post.
Affleck made $1 million in two trips to the Hard Rock by counting cards and once won $140,000 in a single sitting while playing with pal Matt Damon in 2000.
“A year later, he won $800,000 while playing three simultaneous hands at $20,000 a pop.”
But for Affleck it’s about the adrenaline rush rather than the money.
“He gave away every one of his $140,000 in chips to casino staffers on the 2000 trip – tipping his dealers, waitress and door boys as much as $5,000, sources told The Post.”
Now I do remember him having trouble with a high stakes poker game he hosted with the likes of Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio, as reported in this space when it happened. On one hand, Affleck reportedly lost $400,000.
This has all come up again because last Tuesday, “Affleck was playing blackjack at a high-rollers table at the Hard Rock when guards approached, called him an ‘advantaged player,’ phoned for a cab and asked him to leave.”
–BloombergBusinessweek had a ranking of all 122 franchises in the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL in terms of the smartest spenders; specifically on how much they spent in player payroll for every win during the last five seasons. Each team is compared against the average price per win in its league to produce a score they call the efficiency index. The less a team spends compared with its peers, the lower its score. Playoff victories and championships get extra weight.
So No. 1 of the 122 is the Chicago Blackhawks…five playoff trips, two Stanley Cups, 13th in spending.
2. St. Louis Cardinals
3. Boston Bruins
4. New England Patriots
5. Tampa Bay Rays
6. Miami Heat
7. Baltimore Ravens
8. Green Bay Packers
9. San Francisco Giants
10. Texas Rangers
117. St. Louis Rams
118. New York Mets!
119. Minnesota Timberwolves
120. Washington Wizards…that’s gonna change
121. Edmonton Oilers
122. Chicago Cubs!!!
—Julius Randle told Dan Patrick that Kentucky coach John Calipari didn’t try to persuade him to stay in school.
“He didn’t really see a reason for me to,” Randle told Patrick. “Just because of how defenses played me, he thinks the next level will be a better style of play for me.”
–We note the passing of Efrem Zimbalist Jr., 95, the star of TV’s “77 Sunset Strip” and “The F.B.I.” “The F.B.I.” was a staple of mine in my childhood. The hour-long drama that ran for nine seasons on ABC had the full cooperation of the F.B.I. itself.
–And Al Feldstein, who led Mad magazine during its biggest run in the 1960s and 70s, died. He was 88. Feldstein became editor four years after the magazine’s formation and hired many of the writers and artists whose work became legendary. Like Don Martin, Antonio Prohias (“Spy vs. Spy”), Dave Berg, and Mort Drucker.
Feldstein also took a little-used character in the magazine and put him on the cover, identifying Alfred E. Neuman as a write-in candidate for president with the slogan “What – me worry?”
–Sorry to inject politics into this column but I saw this item in the Washington Post by Soraya Nadia McDonald:
“Nick Mason and Roger Waters, the founding members of Pink Floyd, have called for the Rolling Stones to cancel their Israel tour date, currently scheduled for June 4 in Tel Aviv as part of their 14 ‘On Fire’ tour. It will be the first time the band has ever played Israel.
“In a statement published Thursday by Salon, Mason and Waters declared their support for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS), which they call ‘a growing, nonviolent global human rights movement initiated by Palestinian civil society in 2005 to end Israel’s occupation, racial discrimination and denial of basic Palestinian rights.’ In an entreaty to the Stones and other bands, they wrote:
“ ‘So, to the bands that intend to play Israel in 2014, we urge you to reconsider. Playing Israel now is the moral equivalent of playing Sun City at the height of South African apartheid…’”
Give me a freakin’ break! Note to Pink Floyd…after your early material, you bored the hell out of me.
Top 3 songs for the week 5/7/66: #1 “Monday, Monday” (The Mamas and the Papas) #2 “Good Lovin’” (The Young Rascals) #3 “Sloop John B” (The Beach Boys)…and…#4 “(You’re My) Soul And Inspiration” (The Righteous Brothers) #5 “Kicks” (Paul Revere and the Raiders) #6 “Secret Agent Man” (Johnny Rivers) #7 “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” (Bob Dylan) #8 “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” (Cher) #9 “Leaning On The Lamp Post” (Herman’s Hermits) #10 “Gloria” (Shadows of Knight…now that’s a great week…)
Baseball Quiz Answer: Top five in home runs on April 8, 1974…
Hank Aaron 715
Babe Ruth 714
Willie Mays 660
Frank Robinson 552
Harmon Killebrew 546
