NFL Quiz: The passing game has obviously changed over the years, so stats like passing yards are tough to use in comparing a great from the 1950s to today. That said, name the only QB in the top ten for passing yards, career, who played part of his career in the 1960s. How many of the top ten can you get, while you’re at it. Answer below.
Robin Williams (1951-2014)
My overwhelming memories of Williams are of his stand-up act and his many appearances on Johnny Carson, Leno et al. It’s been no secret since I started StocksandNews over 15 years ago that my life has revolved around news and sports and I have seen few movies, including Williams’.
But back in the day I when I didn’t go to bed until after watching Carson’s monologue, if I knew Robin Williams was going to be a guest I stayed up for it; ditto similar appearances on other late night shows. And I wouldn’t miss his HBO specials, which were classic.
Carson loved Williams for what he brought to the table, and, remember, it was Robin Williams and Bette Midler on Johnny’s wonderful penultimate show, May 21, 1992.
With Williams’ passing, many are also recalling what a kind, thoughtful man he was and how charitable he could be. His Comic Relief fundraisers with Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg did a lot of good for the homeless, for one, and he helped out countless other causes, such as his work with the USO, for which he did six tours to entertain the troops.
Robin Williams learned his craft at the feet of my favorite comic of all time, Jonathan Winters, but for a later generation, he was best known for his movie work; from “Dead Poets Society” to “Good Will Hunting” (for which he won his Academy Award)…from “Mrs. Doubtfire” to “Aladdin”…from “Good Morning, Vietnam” to “Night at the Museum.” [70 movies in all!]
Williams’ third wife, Susan Schneider, whom he married in 2011, issued a statement: “I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one of its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken.”
“The sad clown.
“It is such an easy cliché, such a go-to idea. The poor Pagliacci, laughing on the outside, crying on the inside. The mortally wounded lover, using humor as a last defense. Most comics reject it.
“Robin Williams, 63, made millions of people laugh until they literally hurt. Yet there was something deep inside that hurt him, too, that continually lunged him into drugs, and depression….
“Williams had recently checked himself into a rehab facility, not for the first time. When the cartoon ‘Happy Feet Two’ – for which he’d provided two of the voices – came out in 2011, he spoke to me frankly about what he called ‘the dark days,’ when hard drugs became a way of shutting off the constant doubts in his soul, the sounds in his head.
“ ‘The black-out diaries,’ he said then, immediately riffing. ‘‘Woke up. Where am I? Oh yeah, yeah…’ But you know, life is a lot simpler straight. You save a lot on legal fees, for one. And doing your tax returns is easier. ‘$50,000 for snacks? In one night?’’
Williams was born in Chicago, a child of privilege, son of an auto executive, who grew up in suburban Bloomfield Hills, Mich., though Robin and the family moved to Marin County his senior year of high school, where he was voted funniest and least likely to succeed.
In 1973, he went to Juilliard School as one of its first students, where he met lifelong friend Christopher Reeve (other classmates included William Hurt and Mandy Patinkin).
“(Founder John Houseman’s) theory was, you do it all – street theater, movies, TV, improv, everything. The idea of Juilliard was that it would give you this toolbox full of skills that you could take with you and apply to anything. It was a pretty radical idea, but he was pretty radical himself.”
“Some of it is planned, some of it, there’s just a catalyst, the audience, the day, the situation, and you go off,” he explained in 2011. “That’s the real fun thing. Years ago, people from the audience were yelling out ideas, and someone shouted ‘Dr. Ruth.’ Except I think he was drunk and it came out ‘Dr. Roof.’ Which sounded African-American to me, so I made it into a black sex therapist. ‘Work it, baby! Work it! You be talking in tongues now, baby!’ The improv, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but when it does, it’s like open-field running.”
“Why do characters have to be likable?” Williams also told Whitty in their interview, channeling some mythical studio exec when they spoke, as noted by Whitty. “ ‘Ugh, Oedipus, does he have to love his mother that much? Do we have to have the whole blinding thing? Why can’t he just put on sunglasses?’ I think it’s great when stories are dark and strange and weirdly personal.”
Robin Williams talked to Whitty of trying to be funny while straight – and still being scared.
“(The) voices are still there. They’re always there. As George Carlin used to say – ‘Just because the circus left town doesn’t mean the monkey’s off your back.”
As for his mentor, Jonathan Winters, Williams wrote in the New York Times after his death in 2013, “that he was entranced by Winters’ effect on his normally staid father as the comedian played a series of more lunatic characters. And Winters’ tools were simple. By donning a pith helmet, he morphed into a ‘great white hunter’ whose conception of wild game is squirrel.
“ ‘I aim for their little nuts,’ Winters said.
“Mr. Williams wrote, ‘My dad and I lost it. Seeing my father laugh like that made me think, ‘Who is this guy and what’s he on?….Each transformation was a cameo with characters and sound effects. He was performing comedic alchemy. The world was his laboratory. I was hooked.’” [Adam Bernstein / Washington Post]
Rory McIlroy…more on Sunday’s triumph at Valhalla
“Rory McIlroy was young, grasping and in a hurry. The 25-year-old Northern Irishman practically ran up the 18th hole at Valhalla toward victory in the PGA championship, eager to get his hands on the Wanamaker Trophy before the day was over. Up ahead, 44-year-old Phil Mickelson stood in the fading light, in no great rush to move aside for him.
“There was a 19-year age difference between McIlroy and Mickelson, but on the final leader board, they were separated by just one stroke, 16 under par to 15 under par. Later, when McIlroy is older and we more fully understand who he is in terms of history’s great players, this tournament will be considered one of his most sharply defining moments because he dueled into the twilight with a five-time major champion in Mickelson, who left absolutely everything on the golf course. How often does a man shoot a 66 in the final round of a major championship – and get beaten? But that’s what happened to Mickelson. He was simply bettered by a young great whose round of 68 was a display of astounding talent joined by barely tapped mental and physical strength. Just how good is he? ‘Better than everyone else right now,’ Mickelson said. ‘Yeah, he’s good. Really good.’….
“The victory turned on a still-echoing 3-wood by McIlroy that led to an eagle he termed ‘massive,’ a low riser of a shot from the fairway of the 590-yard par-5 10th hole. He struck it just when Mickelson seemed to be wrenching the championship away from him. McIlroy had begun this muddy, rain-delayed round with a three-stroke lead over Mickelson and a two-stroke lead over Rickie Fowler, only to lose it when he played the front nine in 1 over. He was unsteadied by the roars generated from up ahead by the attacking Mickelson and 25-year-old Fowler. Speaking of whom, how often does a man place in the top five of all four major championships in a single year and not win at least one of them? But that’s what happened to Fowler.”
As to the scene on No. 18, with darkness rolling in, McIlroy said the timesaving idea was his. “I suggested that we play up as a foursome,” he said. “Then I was told we could hit right after them. (Mickelson and Fowler) didn’t need to do that. They showed a lot of class and sportsmanship. If they hadn’t done that, we might not have gotten it in.”
Mickelson, who at first seemed miff at how the final hole was handled, certainly said the right things when it was over.
“It didn’t affect the outcome of the championship at all, I don’t think,” Phil birdying the hole, anyway. “Not what we normally do, but it’s not a big deal either way.”
“That’s golf for you: The two player who were trying to defeat McIlroy extended him the ultimate courtesy that in the end helped him beat them….
“The two Americans said later they didn’t realize officials were allowing McIlroy to hit his approach early, too, but to their credit, they immediately shrugged it off.
“ ‘We weren’t expecting the approach shots, so however you look at it, it is what it is,’ Fowler said. ‘Obviously Rory played great this week. Best player in the world, hands down.’”
“Who knows if Rory McIlroy will ever be as dominant as Tiger Woods once was?
“What we do know is that the Woods era is over. While Woods works on his gluts and abs, tries to keep his sacrum in place and hopes that his sequencing will finally click in, the world of golf is McIlroy’s right now. Tiger is simply playing in it, that is whenever he’s healthy enough to play….
“When you consider that Ernie Els has four majors and Phil Mickelson five in their 23-year careers, you can already put McIlroy on a different level….
“It’s interesting that it was McIlroy who took the late Earl Woods’ advice by not getting married. Ever since his breakup with Caroline Wozniacki, he’s had a singular focus on golf. If you’re going to try to challenge Nicklaus’ record – and Jack says he might win 20 – it takes that kind of dedication. For the next several years, at least, McIlroy is going to have that.”
“Either you’re in or you’re out. Because if what happened here during the final round of the Mud Bowl, err, PGA Championship, doesn’t convince you that golf can survive with or without Tiger Woods, then nothing will.
“The was the best major of the year, the best PGA Championship in, well, decades, and the best majors drama production we’ve seen since ‘Mickelson and Muirfield – a 2013 Love Story,’ or ‘Limping In San Diego – Tiger and the 2008 U.S. Open.’
“It isn’t every day that you watch somebody win a Claret Jug in July and a Wanamaker Trophy in August. It isn’t every day that you see a guy win his fourth career major. Or have an era named after him.
“But that’s what Rory McIlroy, all 25 years of him, has done in the past 22 days. He has redefined the way we should look at pro golf. He has single-handedly freed the sport from inertia….
“McIlroy isn’t just collecting trophies; he’s making golf relevant again. Or he should be.
“He wins big. He wins small. He wins here. He wins over there. He wins sublimely. He wins boringly. But he wins. And if Woods and Nicklaus have proved anything over the years, winning matters….
“Can April come fast enough? McIlroy will be going for the career Grand Slam when he arrives at Augusta National next year. Woods will presumably be healthy. Mickelson experiences a golf renaissance every time he drives down Magnolia Lane. Bubba Watson will be going for his second consecutive green jacket and his third in four years.
“These are good times for golf. Even if everyone doesn’t realize it yet.”
Golf Balls
–Meanwhile, the PGA was the last event for players to qualify for the U.S. Ryder Cup team. The first nine on the points list go to Gleneagles…
Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Jim Furyk, Jimmy Walker, Phil Mickelson, Matt Kuchar, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed, Zach Johnson
But Captain Tom Watson still has three captain’s picks, which he’ll make in three weeks, and he said the other day that he would be foolish not to consider Tiger; Watson saying he will continue to speak to him.
Among those Captain Tom will be considering are Hunter Mahan, Brandt Snedeker, Ryan Palmer and Keegan Bradley. Whoever gets hot in the first two FedEx Cup Playoff events is undoubtedly in.
Jason Dufner would appear to be out of the picture with his neck issues, and Matt Kuchar could yet be a casualty if his own back problems don’t clear up. [Of course you also have the Dustin Johnson situation.]
Captain Tom probably didn’t think in his wildest dreams that filling the squad would become so difficult.
–The PGA of America definitely deserves criticism for how they handled the final round, with rain in the forecast. It was pathetic they didn’t move up the tee times, for example, with rain in the forecast, and the course already saturated.
At the same time, the looming darkness in the end helped provide drama of a different kind. Would they finish? Or would they have to go to Monday?
I, for very selfish reasons, was praying they’d wrap it up Sunday. You see, I had a 7:00 a.m. tee time on Monday and I was thinking, “(Drat), I’m going to miss the finish!”
But the sport of golf desperately needed a Sunday finale, what with its new meal ticket, Rory, in the lead. A Monday finish would have been anticlimactic.
As a result of the drama on Sunday, we also learned, the ratings were super. Thanks to running long, 9 pm ET vs. an expected 7 pm, CBS said ratings were up 36% from a year ago when Jason Dufner won, and the highest since 2009.
From here on, if Rory is on the leaderboard entering the weekend, whoever is carrying the event will see a Tigeresque bump.
Lastly, I’ve been doing this caregiver thing for a few weeks (and likely for weeks to come) and as the place I go to isn’t that close, during the PGA, I listened in on PGA Tour radio on Sirius XM for the first time (actually, it started the week before with the WGC-Bridgestone).
It takes a little getting used to. Parts of it are almost comical as the announcers attempt to create drama and go overboard a bit. But in terms of keeping you informed, with constant updates of the leaderboard, it works.
I just found myself far more distracted, though, than if I had a football or baseball game on the radio. It’s the constant switching around on the golf course that does it. Heck, I felt so distracted at times, I thought the impact was like if I was texting.
Ball Bits
—A.L. Central
Kansas City 64-54
Detroit 63-54
Who wudda thunk it? 16 of 20 for the Royals. And the Tigers’ Justin Verlander went just one inning on Monday, allowing five runs for the shortest performance of his career, and leaving the game with a sore right shoulder. The former Cy Young Award winner is 10-11, with a whopping 4.76 ERA. Plus, not only is he making $20 million this year, but the Tigers owe him a staggering $162 million from 2015-2020. [$270 million to Miguel Cabrera over the next nine seasons….plus $millions for Prince Fielder, even though he’s now on the Rangers’ disabled list.]
And as David Schoenfield of ESPN.com notes, Verlander was worked very hard by then-manager Jim Leyland; leading the majors in pitches in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013 and was second in 2010, plus another 71 innings and over 1,100 pitches in the postseason since 2011.
[Turns out Verlander has inflammation in the shoulder and will miss one or two starts. No structural damage.]
And this. Mark R. drew the comparison between Roy Hobbs and Verlander before Verlander’s start on Monday night. You know, Hobbs’ mystery woman, and Verlander’s rather prominent one, Kate Upton. Verlander then went out and laid an egg.
Back to the Royals, great story in Kansas City about a fan from South Korea, Lee Sung-woo, who adopted the Royals as his favorite team in the 1990s after he saw a highlight on satellite television and was impressed with Kauffman Stadium. He stayed with the team, through years of losing, even though he had never set foot in America.
So one thing led to another and the other day he arrived in Kansas City and by the time he got there, the whole city, basically, had prepared a welcome for him. Time doesn’t permit me to tell his full story but you can look up Rany Jazayerli’s piece in Wednesday’s New York Times.
It just so happens that the Royals’ stellar recent play has coincided to a great extent with the timing of Lee’s arrival in K.C.
–The Pirates were finally forced to put Andrew McCutchen on the 15-day disabled list, though back to Aug. 4, the day after he left a game at Arizona with pain in his side. The previous day he had been hit in the same area by a pitch from Diamondbacks reliever Randal Delgado; McCutchen hit in retaliation for Arizona All-Star Paul Goldschmidt sustaining a season-ending broken left hand a night earlier when he was hit by Pittsburgh reliever Ernesto Frieri.
–The Mets’ Matt Harvey has been badgering management to allow him to throw an inning in a major league game before the season is over, this as Harvey rehabs from Tommy John surgery.
Management wasn’t going to let him do that, but seemed receptive to the idea of him pitching somewhere in Florida in the offseason, prior to spring training next year.
But now that’s on hold because teammate Jeremy Hefner suffered a severe setback in his own recovery from TJ surgery. Hefner reinjured the ligament in his right elbow, a devastating blow that means another operation for him.
GM Sandy Alderson said, “While Jeremy’s recurrence is unusual, it points out that those kinds of things can happen. If nothing else, what may come out of it is that others, including Matt, may be a little more careful about how aggressive they become in their rehabilitation.”
–Thursday, major league owners vote on a replacement for Commissioner Bud Selig. A candidate needs 23 of the 30 ballots. If the owners can’t reach that threshold, they keep voting. Rob Manfred is the favorite, but he might not get it the first go ‘round.
Tony Stewart
The probe into the incident at a sprint car track in upstate New York that claimed the life of driver Kevin Ward Jr. could take at least another two weeks, local authorities said, as they weigh all the evidence to see if NASCAR driver Tony Stewart was culpable after he struck and killed Ward.
“The dust has to settle before anyone can really have a full opinion on it,” Keselowski told reporters on a conference call. “Right now I don’t even think everybody has all the facts. We have to get to that level first.”
Ontario County Sheriff Philip Povero said Stewart’s car was traveling 35 to 40 mph and Ward died of massive blunt trauma to the head even though he was wearing his helmet.
There has been heated debate over which driver was at fault.
“Nobody will ever know exactly what led the young Kevin Ward Jr. to think it was fine to climb out of his crashed car and, in the middle of the dirt racetrack on Saturday, try to confront Tony Stewart as Stewart continued to circle the track.
“We do know, because it was captured on video, that Ward seemed to be looking to settle the score. On that local track in upstate New York, he walked toward Stewart’s car, which fishtailed, the right tire hitting Ward and dragging him under the car before throwing him several feet up the track….
“(In) racing, a sport founded by tough guys who often liked to settle their disputes with their fists, it has been part of the sport for generations. And it has nearly been Stewart’s calling card. For almost a decade, even now, at 43, Stewart has been NASCAR’s resident hothead….
“Stewart had talent and a nasty temper. It was a pairing that many enjoyed, and his fan base grew. They liked him because he was old school, and nothing like the new era of drivers who strived to be squeaky clean to please their sponsors.
“Drivers like Stewart have been both NASCAR’s boon and its problem….
“Fighting even helped lay the foundation for the sport’s popularity. In the 1979 Daytona 500, the first 500-mile race broadcast in its entirety on national television, Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough crashed on the final lap of the race, and they ended up in the infield grass with Donnie’s brother, Bobby, exchanging punches and kicks and attempting chokeholds as the cameras rolled. The brawl made bigger news than the race, and the publicity was priceless.
“NASCAR has tried to keep drivers from making similar news, especially now that sponsors are so sensitive to negative publicity….
“But a sport’s roots are hard to shake, and tempers are hard to change….
“No matter how much racing tries to escape its heritage, a gravitational pull brings it back. Usually, the confrontations are harmless, and cause fans to roar with acceptance.
“But this time, on that dirt track on Saturday, there was only a hush as Ward’s body lay lifeless.”
My take? I think Stewart was trying to scare Ward. But he was too close to the kid. It was a split-second decision that could yet cost Stewart, and the sport’s image, dearly.
It’s official…Steve Ballmer is the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers following an order by a California court that confirmed the authority of Shelly Sterling to sell the team on behalf of the Sterling Family Trust, without the consent of her husband.
Ballmer said: “It’s very, very exciting. I’m a basketball nut. I’ve got time. I love Los Angeles….I look forward to supporting the community, the fan base, the staff, Doc [Rivers] and the players to take this thing to higher heights.”
The NBA’s board of governors had unanimously approved Ballmer as an owner on July 15.
Sterling’s attorneys are still trying to block the sale, but there are reports Donald and Shelly have been discussing a settlement.
–We note the passing of legendary actress, Lauren Bacall, 89. The estate of Humphrey Bogart said: “With deep sorrow, yet with great gratitude for her amazing life, we confirm the passing of Lauren Bacall.”
Bogart and Bacall were married from 1945 until his death in 1957. They had two children.
She was born Betty Joan Perske (Howard Hawks later hung the name Lauren on her) on September 16, 1924, in New York City, the only child of immigrant parents. After her parents’ divorce, she adopted a variation of her mother’s maiden name, Bacal.
Bacall (having added an ‘l’) set out to be a Broadway star. She had some small roles and modeled for Harper’s Bazaar magazine, when Hawks’ wife spotted a photo of her.
Bacall was only 19 when Hawks cast her in her first movie, 1944’s “To Have and Have Not,” earning a place in Hollywood history with her query to Bogart, “You know how to whistle, don’t you? You just put your lips together – and blow.”
Bacall and Bogart were married the next year and went on to star together in “The Big Sleep,” “How to Marry a Millionaire” and “Murder on the Orient Express.” It was a legendary romance.
After Bogart’s death, Bacall had an affair with Frank Sinatra (who humiliated her when word leaked they were engaged), and then a stormy eight-year marriage to actor Jason Robards.
She mostly cared for her children but worked an occasional film in the 1960s and 70s, including “Harper” opposite Paul Newman.
Bacall finally earned her first Oscar nomination for her supporting role as Barbra Streisand’s mother in “The Mirror Has Two Faces” (1996) though the Oscar eluded her.
She also appeared on Broadway, winning best actress Tony Awards for “Applause” and “Woman of the Year.”
In 2009, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded her an honorary Oscar “in recognition of her central place in the Golden Age of motion pictures.”
“A rare attack by wolves injured six people at a village in Xinjiang on Monday and prompted concerns about the deteriorating environment for wild animals in the region, according to a report on the website of People’s Daily.
“Local authorities said four or five hungry wolves snaked into the Kalazhuole village in Altay distract at about 2 a.m., hungry for sheep. The noise they made alerted five nearby families, who tried to drive the wolves away. In the confrontation, six villagers were bitten or clawed.”
“Local authorities then sent a team of more than 30 hunters and police officers to kill the wolves, but they could not be found….
“Government statistics show that more than 5,000 cattle have been killed by wolves annually in recent years.”
China used to have one of the world’s largest wolf populations, but it was hunted to near extinction in the 1970s. Now, because of hunting bans, it’s on the rebound.
Top 3 songs for the week 8/23/69: #1 “Honky Tonk Women” (The Rolling Stones) #2 "A Boy Named Sue" (Johnny Cash) #3 “Crystal Blue Persuasion” (Tommy James & The Shondells…in my top three all time)…and …#4 “Sweet Caroline” (Neil Diamond…aargh aargh aargh….) #5 “In The Year 2525” (Zager & Evans…not a favorite of Jeff B. …nor your editor…) #6 “Put A Little Love In Your Heart” (Jackie DeShannon) #7 “Green River” (Creedence Clearwater Revival) #8 “Polk Salad Annie” (Tony Joe White) #9 “Get Together” (The Youngbloods) #10 “Laughing” (The Guess Who)
NFL Quiz Answer: Fran Tarkenton, you’ll see, is the only one in the top ten passing yards list to have played in the 1960s.
1. Brett Favre 71,838 1991-2010
2. Peyton Manning 64,964 1998-2013
3. Dan Marino 61,361 1983-1999
4. John Elway 51,475 1983-1998
5. Drew Brees 51,081 2001-2013
6. Warren Moon 49,325 1984-2000
7. Tom Brady 49,149 2000-2013
8. Fran Tarkenton 47,003 1961-1978
9. Vinny Testaverde 46,233 1987-2007
10. Drew Bledsoe 44,611 1993-2006
11. Dan Fouts 43,040 1973-1987
12. Kerry Collins 40,922 1995-2011
13. Joe Montana 40,551 1979-1994
14. Johnny Unitas 40,239 1956-1973
