Golf Quiz: 1) Jack Nicklaus may have 18 majors, but he also leads with 19 runner-up finishes in majors. Name the only other two with 9 or more runner-ups (both modern era). 2) Among the players in the field at Augusta, Lee Westwood has the most starts in majors without a victory at 67. Miguel Angel Jimenez has 66 and Sergio Garcia 65. What American is next at 63? Answers below.
Duke 68 Wisconsin 63…another classic
Let’s face it, this was one of the better NCAA tournaments ever, including the likes of Notre Dame-Kentucky and Kentucky-Wisconsin, with the requisite early upsets that put the likes of Georgia State on the map.
And between Duke, Wisconsin and Kentucky, look at all the first-round NBA draft picks on display; in all likelihood 11-13 out of just these three schools.
So Monday we had Duke’s four freshmen, three of whom are likely to hit the draft, combine for 60 of the team’s 68 points (breaking the record of 51 by first-year players in a title game) as coach Mike Krzyzewski picked up his fifth (school’s fifth) NCAA title; Coach K is now alone in second behind John Wooden. Freshman point guard Tyus Jones was Most Outstanding Player with 23, 19 of them in the second half, while fellow freshman Grayson Allen showed the basketball world what he’s capable of in lighting it up for 16 points in 21 minutes off the bench.
The game was tied 31-31 at the half (first time in 27 years a title game had been tied at the intermission) as the Badgers’ Frank Kaminsky dominated Jahlil Okafor. Wisconsin then led 48-39 with 13:20 to go in the game when Allen went off for eight straight and Duke went on a closing 29-15 run, Okafor hitting two key buckets down the stretch as well after sitting with four fouls, while Kaminsky struggled late.
“Frank the Tank” ended up with 21 points and 12 rebounds on 7-of-16 shooting, but his running mate, Sam Dekker, had just 12 and was 0-for-6 from three, including some atrocious airballs; a far cry from his performances against North Carolina, Arizona, and Kentucky.
While coach John Calipari of Kentucky gets deserved plaudits for the way he handles his one-and-doners, year in and year out, getting them to play unselfishly for the betterment of the team, look at the job Coach K did with his freshmen crew this season. As he put it, “With guys who aren’t going to be here long, what we’ve tried to do is get to know [them] even better before they get to Duke,” as coach focused on just a handful of players he truly wanted.
As for Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan, he blamed the officiating in his post-game remarks, noting the Badgers were whistled for 13 of their 15 fouls in the second half vs. just six fouls for Duke after the break. Ryan had a right to complain on a few of the calls, like a late one on Nigel Hayes going for a steal of Tyus Jones; Jones then icing the game with the two resultant free throws.* But as was the case the entire tourney, there were atrocious calls on both sides.
*And then we learn on Tuesday that on the controversial out of bounds call with Justise Winslow seemingly last touching it, but the ball still rewarded to Duke as initially called, the officials didn’t have the angle the television audience had.
“There is no better coach than Mike Krzyzewski. Not now, maybe not ever.
“It might seem blasphemous to say that, given that John Wooden won 10 titles at UCLA and dominated the game like no other coach, in any sport. But that was a different era, when talent was concentrated at a handful of schools, the game wasn’t as furious and the spotlight was more like a 50-watt bulb.
“What Krzyzewski has done, winning five national titles at a time when there is so much parity that seven different schools have won the last 10 titles and coaches start from scratch each season because college is little more than a rest stop on the way to the NBA, is unmatched.
“Krzyzewski claimed his fifth NCAA championship Monday night, and it might have been the most hard-won yet. His starting lineup had three freshmen and only one senior, and his bench went only three players deep. He kicked Rasheed Sulaimon off the team in late January, not caring that it left his team with only eight scholarship players.
“Eight was enough, Krzyzewski said time and again. And when it looked as if it might not be Monday night, Krzyzewski did some of his finest coaching.
“When Jahlil Okafor picked up his fourth foul with 9:18 still to play, Krzyzewski parked him on the bench, relying on Tyus Jones and Grayson Allen to pick up the slack….
“Allen responded with 10 points in a 17-6 run that erased what had been a 9-point deficit….
“ ‘In some respects, the foul trouble may have helped us a little bit, because I got some gritty guys in there in combinations that we didn’t have on the court very much this year,’ Krzyzewski said.
“And when Okafor re-entered the game, he was fresh. He scored two quick baskets on Frank Kaminsky and bottled the player of the year up so badly on the other end that Wisconsin committed a rare shot-clock violation….
“ ‘The ability to adapt is key in everything. I think I’ve adapted well,’ said Krzyzewski, who credits coaching USA Basketball for helping him do that. ‘What does this group need from you? Then you try to give that. As long as they’re giving back, then it’s a pretty cool thing.’….
“ ‘When it’s over…I’m the coach of that group that did this. You know, how good is that?’ Krzyzewski said, searching for the right words and unable to stop smiling. ‘They’ve been a joy. They’ve been an incredible joy. When you’re already happy, and you get happier, it’s pretty damn good. It’s pretty good.’
–For Wisconsin, back-to-back Final Fours is not too shabby. Josh Gasser, a fifth-year senior, was asked how the Badgers will be remembered. “You tell me,” Gasser said. “I hope we’re remembered as good dudes who worked their tails off for each other.”
It’s hard not to respect what Wisconsin has accomplished and the manner in which they did so.
But Bo Ryan, aside from bitching about the officiating, took a cheap shot at Coach K after in saying of the one-and-done route, “We don’t do a rent-a-player. You know what I mean? If other people do that, that’s OK,” Ryan continued. “I like trying to build from within. It’s just the way I am.”
To which Krzyzewski said on Tuesday morning, “Duke doesn’t rent a player. All of these kids…my guys are great. They go to go school, they love Duke, they live with the other students, and the rent-a-thing is kind of harsh.”
—Frank Kaminsky helped himself immensely in the coming draft. His ability to handle the ball is a huge plus. If the Knicks fell in the lottery and didn’t get Okafor or Towns, I’d have zero problem in them taking Frank the Tank.
–Coach K did a classy thing after practice on Sunday. He went to say hello to Paul George, the Pacers’ star who was preparing to play in his first game after suffering the horrible leg injury last summer while with USA Basketball.
George had 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting (3-of-6 from three) in 15 minutes in the Pacers’ critical 112-89 win over Miami.
–The Duke-Wisconsin final drew an overnight rating of 17.1 that was 33% higher than last year’s UConn-Kentucky final. This was the highest for a title game in 18 years (Ariz.-Kentucky).
Across the board for the entire tournament, on all networks, ratings were the best in 22 years.
I’m a little surprised because I thought the regular-season was generally lousy, but there is no doubt the casual sports fan at least knew Kentucky was on the verge of something special as March Madness got underway and that was one of the keys for the intense interest. It also always helps to have some early upsets.
—A sixth-grade boy from suburban Chicago, Sam Holtz, finished in a tie for first in ESPN’s bracket contest, making him eligible for a $20,000 gift card and a trip to the Maui Invitational basketball tournament, but he won’t receive the prize – because he’s 12 years old. ESPN requires participants be at least 18.
“I’m irritated,” Holtz told the Daily Herald. “Yes, I’m still proud of my accomplishment, but I’m not happy with the decision.”
Yoh, kid. You weren’t eligible. What don’t you understand? [He used his father’s email address to circumvent the system.]
ESPN Digital Media said the network is working on an alternate prize.
Holtz missed only six of 67 games and out of 11.5 million entrants, ESPN then does a random draw out of the top 1%, or about 115,000.
Sam finished tied for first, but he also entered 10 brackets! That’s bogus.
And the kid then says, “There is no secret…I just picked the teams that I felt had the best players.”
–In light of the story about North Carolina coach Dean Smith leaving each of his 180 varsity letterman $200 to treat themselves to dinner, Phil W. passed along a tale that has gotten a lot of play in Carolina, as told by Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer.
Everett Case was the legendary coach of the North Carolina State Wolfpack from 1946 to1964. When he died in 1966, he had an estate worth slightly more than $200,000 ($1.5 million in today’s dollars).
Case didn’t marry and left two-thirds to his sister, who shared his house in Raleigh with him.
“The other one-third – $69,525 – Case divided among 57 of his players. He decided to slice the money into 103 equal shares and then bequeathed some players as many as three shares of the money ($2,025) and some as little as half of one share ($337.50). He based how much each player received on how well they played at N.C. State, how good a teammate and student they were and what they had done after graduation….
“The Wolfpack players, much like the Tar Heels today, were quite appreciative. Former West Virginia and Duke basketball coach Bucky Waters received a full three shares – about 40 percent of his yearly salary at the time. He used his money to pay for expensive formula for his infant son, who had a severe allergy to milk.”
–In a number of early prognostications for the 2015-16 hoops season, you basically have a consensus top five…Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Iowa State, and Maryland.
[All of these forecasts ignore the fact the NCAA is still going to come down hard on UNC for the academic scandal.]
—Cameron Payne, the super point guard from Murray State, is not only heading out for the draft after his sophomore season, but he’s rated No. 3 at the point by some of the experts, behind just Emmanuel Mudiay and D’Angelo Russell. The kid’s exciting.
–In the Women’s championship, UConn had advanced with an 81-58 win over Maryland in the semis while Notre Dame edged South Carolina 66-65.
So in Tuesday’s final….the Lady Huskies won their third straight title, tenth overall under Geno Auriemma, as they took out the Irish 63-53. Geno says the men’s game isn’t exciting. I’m biting my tongue, after watching about ten minutes of this contest.
–Finally, on a totally different matter, remember Dave Bliss, the disgraced former coach of the Baylor men’s team; the guy who was guilty of paying players and covering up drug use by members of his team? One of the players he paid – Patrick Dennehy – was shot dead by teammate Carlton Dotson after the two had an argument. Dennehy’s girlfriend told police about Bliss’ payments and then an assistant coach recorded Bliss’ orders.
Bliss was dismissed and in 2005 the NCAA issued a 10-year show-cause order for his actions, meaning he basically couldn’t work at an NCAA institution during that time because otherwise the school that hired him would have had to prove to the NCAA why it should be allowed to do so.
So Johnny Mac just informed me that Bliss has been hired by Southwestern Christian University (an NAIA school) to be its coach. As Johnny said, “The world we live in proves itself beyond my capability to parody it.”
For years the Bar Chat “Dirtball of the Year” award was named after Coach Bliss.
MLB Opening Day
–I told you a week ago that some Mets fans were going ballistic that Matt Harvey wasn’t the opening day starter and that the Mets had arranged the rotation to attempt to put more fans in the seats when they have their first home stand next week.
So instead they went with 41-year-old Bartolo Colon on Monday against the Nationals and all Colon did was pitch six innings of one-run ball, striking out eight, while the Mets beat the $210 million man, new Nats pitcher Max Scherzer, 3-1.
Scherzer was victimized by two errors by shortstop Ian Desmond and didn’t allow an earned run so it’s not as if he blew it. He had a no-hitter through five.
The Mets are now 35-19 on opening day, best in all of baseball.
But the Mets closer, Jenrry Mejia, wasn’t able to pitch the ninth because of an elbow injury, that we learned on Tuesday put him on the DL. So 37-year-old journeyman Buddy Carlyle came in to pick up the first save of his career. Carlyle is only on the roster because the Mets decided to break camp with eight relievers rather than seven.
–Baseball is still buzzing over the Atlanta Braves-San Diego Padres trade that sent All-World closer Craig Kimbrel – who has led the National League in saves each of the last four seasons – along with Melvin (formerly B.J.) Upton to San Diego for outfielders Cameron Maybin and Carlos Quentin and some prospects.
Atlanta doesn’t really want Maybin or Quentin (who they immediately designated for assignment), they’re just gearing up for 2017, when they move into a new ballpark in suburban Atlanta with a totally revamped lineup and product.
San Diego had the second-best bullpen ERA (2.73) last year and add Kimbrel, who has the lowest ERA in MLB history among pitchers with at least 250 innings pitched. [1.43 ERA, 289 innings]
But he didn’t make it in time for opening day against the Dodgers and the Padres’ pen blew a 3-2 lead late, losing to L.A. 6-3, Clayton Kershaw with a no-decision.
Hanley Ramirez got off to a rather impressive start with the Red Sox, blasting 2 home runs and driving in 5 as Boston beat Philadelphia and Cole Hamels 8-0 (Dustin Pedroia also homering twice for Boston).
David Price threw 8 2/3 innings of shutout ball in Detroit’s 4-0 opener against Minnesota.
The Yankees Masahiro Tanaka will be under the microscope all season, or until his arm goes out, which seems inevitable. Tanaka allowed 4 earned in 4 innings as the Yanks had a miserable opening performance at the Little Bandbox formerly known as Yankee Stadium; losing to Toronto 6-1.
King Felix struck out 10 in seven innings as the Mariners beat the Angels 4-1.
Cincinnati’s Johnny Cueto also fanned 10 in seven innings of shutout ball as the Reds beat the Pirates 5-2 on an eighth-inning homer by Todd Frazier.
And in another super pitching performance, Oakland’s Sonny Gray hurled 8 innings of one-hit ball in the A’s 8-0 win over the Rangers.
–Nothing earthshattering on Tuesday in MLB, though the Marlins’ Mat Latos was lit up by the Braves for 7 earned runs in the first inning and Latos departed with a 94.50 ERA. Using our Commodore computer, we can now project Latos will go 2-23 with a 76.40 ERA, easily the worst in baseball history by about 70. [Atlanta won the game 12-2.]
–The Dodgers top the major leagues with a $230 million opening-day payroll, plus they are shelling out another $39 million, net, to players no longer with them…so $269 million. The Yankees are number two at $213.5 million.
The Dodgers are paying more money to just three players – Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Adrian Gonzalez – than the rosters of Tampa Bay and Houston.
Lest you feel concerned for the Dodgers’ bottom line, though, understand they are taking in $330 million a year from their new $8.35 billion Time Warner deal.
“Baseball, for decades now the national pastime only through the nostalgic lens of history, is a thriving business. Revenue is at an all-time high. Attendance in the 30 major league parks and in minor leagues around the country is strong. Baseball players on average make (about twice as much) as football players. But since he took office this year, (Commissioner Rob) Manfred has been sounding a startling warning bell: The sport must address its flagging connection toyoung people or risk losing a generation of fans.
“On opening day of the 140th season since the National League was founded, baseball’s following is aging. Its TV audience skews older than that of any other major sport, and across the country, the number of kids playing baseball continues a two-decade-long decline.
“Baseball has been defying predictions of its fall – because of overexpansion, or because of the decline of small-town America, or because Americans soured on nostalgia – since the 1920s. And the game remains the second-most popular sport for kids to play, after basketball. ‘Baseball is an extraordinarily healthy entertainment product,’ Manfred says.
“But the pervasive impact of new technologies on how children play and the acceleration of the pace of modern life have conspired against sports in general and baseball in particular.
“According to Nielsen ratings, 50 percent of baseball viewers are 55 or older, up from 41 percent 10 years ago. ESPN, which airs baseball, football and basketball games, says its data show the average age of baseball viewers rising well above that of other sports: 53 for baseball, 47 for the NFL (also rising fast) and 37 for the NBA, which has kept its audience age flat.
“Young people are not getting into baseball as fans as they once did: For the first time, the ESPN Sports Poll’s annual survey of young Americans’ 30 favorite sports figures finds no baseball players on the list.”
But in some television markets – St. Louis, Detroit, Cincinnati and Boston – the home team’s games are the most-watched programs on TV all summer.
And baseball has been aggressive in its digital offerings.
“But baseball’s troubles have at least as much to do with larger changes in society,” writes Marc Fisher, “as with the rules of the game….
“Participation in all sports has dropped by more than 9 percent nationwide over the past five years, according to an annual study by the Sports and Fitness Industry Association. Only lacrosse has shown double-digit growth over that period. Baseball participation dropped 3 percent, basketball fell by 2 percent, and football lost 5 percent of its tackle players and 7 percent of touch players. About half of American children do not participate in any team sport.”
Parents and researchers also say that when it comes to baseball, specialization has hurt. Youth baseball and travel teams “produce better-trained players for high school and college teams but diminish baseball’s appeal to the casual player.”
“Manfred learned baseball in what he recalls as ‘Mayberry,’ an idyllic small-town environment where kids played backyard catch with their fathers, where the grass had base paths worn into the turf, where errant Wiffle balls dotted the garden like so many bulbs awaiting spring.
“But the commissioner is clear: ‘We’re not going back to the ‘60s. Society has changed. The days when your parents sent you off to the park for eight hours and didn’t worry about you are gone.’
“Baseball has lived for the better part of a century on its unchanging character, its role as a bond between generations, its identity as a quintessentially American game that features a one-on-one faceoff of individual skills tucked inside a team sport. Can a game with deliberation and anticipation at its heart thrive in a society revved up for nonstop action and scoring?
“Baseball officials are confident that the game, which overcame a serious drop in attendance in the 1950s, will endure. Young people are often eager to express different passions and values from their parents, but so far at least, each new generation has returned to the fields of its fathers.
“The answer this time will come from kids such as Austin Albericci, the New Jersey teen who dropped baseball to focus on football, the boy who, to his father’s disappointment, doesn’t sit with his dad and watch Yankees games like they used to.
“Austin has put baseball aside for now, but he figures he may return to the game someday. ‘If I ever have a son, he’ll definitely have to try baseball,’ he says. ‘Because my father loved baseball. That means something.’”
The Masters…a tradition unlike any other…on CBS….
–A European hasn’t won at Augusta since 1999 and Jose Maria Olazabal. It was Olazabal’s second Masters title and the eighth by a European in 12 years.
But since ’99, 13 majors for Europeans, just no green jackets.
As the New York Times’ Karen Crouse notes: “Twice since 1999, European golfers have failed to place in the top 10. Only once since 1999 has a European come within two strokes of victory. Nine times, the low European has been at least five strokes back.”
–In six tries, Rory McIlroy hasn’t finished higher than eighth at Augusta. He also had some interesting things to say in an interview with the Daily Telegraph.
“I would be dishonest if I said my love of golf now is as big as it was back (when he was a kid).
“I don’t love golf as much as when it was just pure joy to get on to the course to play.
“When I was a kid, if I spent a day away from the game, I couldn’t wait to get back. Now I can’t wait for a week off.
“There’s just not the ‘I can’t wait to get out of the house as quick as I can to get to the courses’ feeling.
“This is not a job. Let’s face it, I’ve never done a day’s work in my life. But it’s an intense environment I play in and it’s just nice to get away from it for a while.”
Rory also said he’ll never be the face of golf like Tiger is (was).
–But what’s this? Tiger feels good about his game? Yes, after practice rounds on Monday and Tuesday, Woods proclaimed himself ready. Some say he looks like a different man.
Tiger played with old buddy Mark O’Meara for 11 holes, Monday, and then nine on Tuesday, hitting five of seven fairways, while avoiding any skulled or bladed chips. He was full of smiles, as noted by Adam Schupak of Golfweek, and after nine, called it a day to hit the practice range.
Addressing the media later, the happy talk continued and he announced he’s playing in Wednesday’s par-3 contest, with his two kids caddying, for the first time since 2004.
Is there any way Tiger can manufacture a competitive four rounds when just a few days ago, most of us were wondering if he’d embarrass himself? One thing is for sure. If he’s sniffing the leaderboard over the weekend, the ratings will be huge. If he’s sniffing the lead come Sunday afternoon, we’re talking a monumental event.
My dream Sunday has Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed, Dustin Johnson, Phil, Rory, and Tiger all in the hunt on the back nine.
Dustin Johnson will win.
–Jordan Spieth has seven top-seven finishes in nine starts in 2015, including a win and two seconds in his last three.
“In all, the Masters will generate about $115 million in revenue this year, according to Golf Digest reporting, more than a five-fold increase from the $22 million the magazine estimated in 1997 for the previous year’s Masters. And that $115 million in revenue could translate to a profit of almost $30 million, up from $7 million in our 1997 report….
“The price of being on property went up this year for the second time since 2012. But after a $75 increase in 2015, to $325, for a badge that gains access to the four competitive rounds, the Masters is still one of the great bargains in sports. Tickets for this year’s Super Bowl ranged from $800 to $1,900, and season-ticket holders for the Kansas City Royals were able to buy 2014 World Series tickets for $100 to $420 per game. On the secondary market, four-day badges for this year’s Masters were starting at $5,088 on StubHub.”
Well, it gets complicated. Augusta National buys up the weekly tickets on the black market, then divides them into daily badges.
Bottom line, Golf Digest estimates Augusta gets $34.75 million in ticket revenue (Monday-Wednesday practice round badges going for $65).
It’s then estimated that $47.5 million is spent on merchandise over the course of the week. [There are shopping lists, after all…everyone wants a Masters shirt…).
$25 million for international television rights.
IBM, AT&T and Mercedes-Benz pay about $6 million to $8 million each in exchange for four minutes of advertising time per hour – about one-third of the commercial interruptions of other major sporting events. Domestic TV is a break-even deal, and shrouded in mystery. A source told Golf Digest:
“After the Masters, CBS sends an invoice to Augusta National, and they check it out and get the money from their corporate partners to cover production costs.”
Anyway, it ends up around $115 million before expenses, so net after taxes, the merchandise markup, prize money, expenses for security, salaries, maintenance, player hospitality, etc., Golf Digest comes up with a profit of $29.2 million.
The folks at Augusta then take that money and continually make improvements on the course and infrastructure, like a new caddie locker room where the players are now hanging out (as opposed to the formal clubhouse locker room), buying up property surrounding the club, and donations to organizations like First Tee.
–I posted last time prior to the finish of the LPGA Tour’s first major, the ANA Inspiration (formerly Kraft Nabisco), so for the record, Brittany Lincicome won her second major (first since 2009) and sixth LPGA Tour event overall (first since 2011). She’s still just 29 with a world of talent. Very capable of taking over for a year or two.
–Aside from physical issues, there appears to have been another reason why Jason Dufner’s golf game has been on the fritz. Jason and his high-profile wife, Amanda, reached a divorce settlement, citing an “irretrievable breakdown of the marriage” and “a complete incompatibility of temperament.” The super laid back Dufner had to deal with Amanda’s seemingly insatiable need for attention, witness her “saucy Instagram account,” as described by Golf World.
—April 9, 1865, the effective end of the Civil War as Robert E. Lee surrenders to U.S. Grant at McLean House, Appomattox Court House.
It’s a little out of the way compared with the bulk of the Virginia Civil War sites but worth going to and leave time for walking the paths. Very cool.
Five days later, Bill O’Reilly pens “Killing Lincoln.”
–The New York Rangers clinched the Presidents’ Trophy (league’s best regular-season record) with a 4-2 win over the Devils on Tuesday. There’s a reason why Rangers fans won’t accept anything less than a Stanley Cup.
Actually, it’s the first Presidents’ Trophy for the Rangers since 1994…the year they won the Cup.
–All eight draft experts at NFL.com project that Marcus Mariota will be available when the Jets pick sixth.
But as Michael Salfino of the Wall Street Journal wrote, since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, quarterbacks selected after the first four overall picks in the draft usually fail to produce at an All-Pro level.
“The 16 quarterbacks selected with picks Nos. 5 through 10 since 1970 have lasted a median of just 2.5 seasons as their team’s primary starter, according to Pro-Football-Reference. Just 25% of them made the Pro Bowl….
“Conversely, the 39 quarterbacks chosen Nos. 1 through 4 lasted more than twice as long as NFL starters (six years). Most (62%) made the Pro Bowl.”
–The NFL is not going to make a decision on a new stadium for the Los Angeles area for at least six months. The decision is supposed to be between the two proposals in Inglewood (Hollywood Park) and Carson.
Rams owner Stan Kroenke has proposed a very cool looking housing and retail development at Hollywood Park, while the Chargers and Raiders are backing the competing plan at Carson.
Part of the delay is the NFL is looking at the current home markets for the three teams and efforts to keep them in those cities.
–Yikes! “Wildlife officials euthanized a coyote after it attacked a borough man while he was working in his yard Monday, police said.
“The man was attacked from behind while at his home in the Twin Brooks area (Ed. Bergen County), police said. He managed to escape and was later treated at an area hospital for his injuries.
“Canvassing the area, police learned the same animal had attacked a neighbor’s dog, causing injuries requiring treatment.” [I saw the guy on the local news and he’s fine.]
I started running again, finally, this past week at my regular wooded park and I’m more scared of coyotes than anything else. Bears in the area have become familiar with my writing and their high standing, but I know coyotes aren’t happy about being No. 238 on the All-Species List. As I’m being mauled, I’ll say, “I’ll move you up to 148! Just release my leg!”
–I didn’t catch part II of the Sinatra documentary on HBO because of the basketball game, but will watch it this weekend. As I noted last time, I thought part I was outstanding. I saw a reviewer call it “stale.” Hardly. It’s about the music and great clips.
To say he was a complex figure is of course an understatement and I thought Richard Cohen had some interesting thoughts from his perch at the Washington Post.
“Sinatra drank too much, talked too much, slept with too many women and even cheated on (Ava) Gardner, whom he loved, once telephoning her when he was in bed with another woman. Gardner stuck with him for a while. ‘He was good in the feathers,’ she once explained.
“But he could sing. His voice was like no other and he studied the interior of a song the way an architect studies a building. He had a reverence for the lyric, a first-generation American’s awe of the miraculous English language….
“It’s hard to reconcile the various Sinatras – it’s harder still because his personal life got all wrapped up in his public one. He became the swinger, leader of the Rat Pack, the all-night marathon boozer. He was also a political progressive and one of the first show-business personalities to protest the Jim Crow policies of early Las Vegas. He backed Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy, but then Bobby Kennedy banished him from Camelot. Sinatra had too many Mafia friends for RFK’s comfort….
“A person’s conduct is important to me. Bullying is not permitted…. But the publicness of Sinatra’s private life is one reason he endures. When he went from bobby soxer idol to the man Ava Gardner had left behind, the heartbreak oozed out of him. You could hear it in his voice, in the songs he chose – ‘I’m a Fool to Want You’ and all those quarter-to-three saloon songs. Hamill points out that Sinatra evolved from having a female fan base to a male one. At night, staring at the ceiling, every man thinks he did it his way.
“By then, Sinatra’s theme was loneliness. All men are lonely, created for some reason mute about their feelings and fears. The more Sinatra surrounded himself with flunkies and hangers-on, the more you could sense loneliness. And loneliness is a kind of death. It is shivering cold, like the grave.
“It takes time for some public figures to shed their personal lives and emerge as great. Ernest Hemingway played a joke on himself with all his macho nonsense, but his work tenaciously resonates because it is, upon rereading, terrific. With Woody Allen and Bill Cosby, the accusations are too fresh and revolting; they taint the work.
“I cannot quite forgive Sinatra. But I can appreciate him. Little by little, I am reconciling the boor with the artist. I play the music. I listen to what he does with the lyric. I sometimes think of Ava – so beautiful, so bawdy, so unhappy – but all of that is so long ago, a past so distant it fades to black and white. Still, somewhere it is always Sinatra time. Somewhere it is always quarter to three.”
–The original manuscript for Don McLean’s “American Pie” sold for $1.2 million at Christie’s in New York…18 pages of McLean’s handwritten lyrics and typed drafts for his 1971 hit.
In notes accompany the sale, McLean finally revealed the meaning behind the hit; it was a morality song that charted America’s decline and the loss of innocence.
“Basically in American Pie things are heading in the wrong direction,” he said in the interview published in Christie’s auction catalogue. “It is becoming less idyllic.”
“I was around in 1970 and now I am around in 2015…there is no poetry and very little romance in anything anymore, so it is really like the last phase of American Pie,” he said.
“For a long time, all McLean had was the opening line and the hook, ‘Bye, bye Miss American Pie.’ He said: ‘So I was into this and thinking about it all the time in my own head while I was doing things like normal people do and one day I was in Cold Spring, NY, and I was in town and I believe I went into the shopping area and I went into the pharmacy and all of a sudden it hit me.’ One chunk of the song came quickly followed by a pause of several months before he managed to write five verses in an hour in Philadelphia
“Although McLean declined to run through all the cultural references, the catalogue said it was probably safe to conclude that references to the king meant Elvis Presley, Helter Skelter referred to the Charles Manson murders, and ‘the jester on the sidelines in a cast’ was Bob Dylan. But that still leaves plenty of other details up for debate.”
Top 3 songs for the week 4/9/83: #1 “Billie Jean” (Michael Jackson) #2 “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me” (Culture Club…any music of theirs depresses the hell out of me…) #3 “Hungry Like The Wolf” (Duran Duran)…and… #4 “Come On Eileen” (Dexys Midnight Runners) #5 “Mr. Roboto” (Styx) #6 “We’ve Got Tonight” (Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton…still had his old face back then…) #7 “One On One” (Daryl Hall & John Oates…not bad…) #8 “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” (Journey) #9 “Jeopardy” (Greg Kihn Band) #10 “Beat It” (Michael Jackson)
Golf Quiz Answers: 1) Runner-up finishes in majors…Nicklaus 19; Phil Mickelson 11; Greg Norman 9. [Arnold Palmer, Sam Snead and Tom Watson each had 8.] 2) Steve Stricker has 63 starts in majors without a victory. [Lee Westwood has five top 3s in majors, by the way]
