[Posted late Sunday p.m.]
NFL Quiz: According to Pro-Football-reference.com, to qualify for the single-season yards per reception title, you need 1.875 catches per game scheduled, or 30 for a 16-game schedule. But the two all-time leaders had their big seasons in 1958 for the Pittsburgh Steelers and 1964 for the Buffalo Bills. Name these two players, who averaged 27.6 and 27.1 yards per reception for a season. Answer below.
Mets 2 Cubs 0
This series was setting up to be the Mets pitching vs. the powerful Cubs lineup and as is often the case, in the first two contests at Citi Field, pitching has prevailed.
The Mets took Game 2 Sunday night, 4-1, behind Noah Syndergaard’s 5 2/3 of one-run, 9 strikeout ball, while the bullpen, iffy down the stretch of the regular season, was lights out.
For offense, Daniel Murphy hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the first as the Mets jumped out to a 3-0 lead; the fourth consecutive game Murph has homered in the playoffs, fifth overall in seven games, after hitting just 14 in the regular season.
For Chicago, Jake Arrieta yielded 4 earned for a second consecutive outing, this after the greatest stretch of pitching since the All-Star break in baseball history. He has to be gassed. That’s the only explanation.
Regarding the exciting Game 1…Steve Politi / NJ.com:
“This is the night that will make everyone forget. The flap over the missed workout? It happens to everyone. The grumbling over the six-man rotation? It was completely understandable. The innings-limit controversy that swallowed most of September?
“It is all water under the bridge, Matt Harvey, and tell that nice agent of yours – what was his name again? – that we said hello.
“This is what fans remember. This moment is what matters, in Game 1 of the National League Championship, and Harvey wasn’t just brilliant. He was smart. He was tough. He was better than the Chicago Cubs in this 4-2 victory, the reason that the Mets have a 1-0 lead in this series.
“ ‘Anybody that had any doubts about his toughness or his desire to pitch should take notice,’ teammate Michael Cuddyer said. ‘The guy is a beast. The guy is an animal. He had that look in his eyes that he wanted to dominate.’
“And that’s exactly what he did. He pitched 7 2/3 innings, allowing just two runs on four hits with nine strikeouts and turning Harvey Day into one long celebration. He might be a prima donna, but guess what? When you pitch like this in a big game in New York, you can pretty much be whatever you want….
“Yes, this was the night that Harvey made everyone forget the nonsense that seemed to follow him for much of this season. And he did it with a performance that, for Mets fans watching at Citi Field, was unforgettable.”
So much for the Cubs sweeping all seven regular-season games against the Mets this year.
On to Wrigley and Game 3 on Tuesday.
–From Elias, the Cubs are the first team in major league history to have six players age 26 or younger homer in one postseason…. Jorge Soler (23), Kyle Schwarber (22), Anthony Rizzo (26), Javier Baez (22), Starlin Castro (25) and Kris Bryant (23) did so against the Cardinals.
And while we’ve all heard this, I need to get it down for the archives. From “Back to the Future II.”
In the 1989 movie, Marty McFly (AKA Michael J. Fox) travels from 1985 to 2015 in Doc Brown’s flying DeLorean time machine. When he arrives, he watches a holograph news flash on top of a building that informs him the Cubs had won the World Series – the 2015 World Series.
–Back on Thursday, in the deciding Game 5 between the Mets and Dodgers, Daniel Murphy and Jacob deGrom starred for New York in their dramatic 3-2 victory over Zack Greinke. Murphy doubled in the first run and homered for the third, but it was in the fourth that Murphy helped cement himself in Mets lore.
Billy Witz / New York Times
“As Daniel Murphy casually trotted toward second base after a walk to Lucas Duda, it was the innocent beginning of a play that will be remembered as an epitaph for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ season.
“Shortstop Corey Seager and second baseman Howie Kendrick, hovering around the bag, talked about where they would be stationed next. Third baseman Justin Turner walked from shallow right field, where he had been marooned on a shift, back to his position. Zack Greinke stood on the mound, the ball in his hand and his head down, deep in thought. Catcher Yasmani Grandal was standing at home plate watching it all unfold – screaming but powerless to move.
“Five Dodgers were in a position to cover third base. Nobody did.
“So Murphy, sensing an opportunity, seized it. As he neared second base, his jog became an all-out sprint and he slid into third base without a play. Moments later, he came home on Travis d’Arnaud’s sacrifice fly.”
Michael Powell / New York Times…expressing the thoughts of all Mets fans.
“Let me start with a confession: Until he turned the first round of the Mets’ playoff run into the Ballad of Danny Murphy, I had cast a skeptical eye on him. As a fielder, he’s a good hitter. As a base runner, he can give you the hives.
“As a hitter, he’s smart and professional without sporting the on-base percentage and power that would make him great.
“Except that the sum of the parts of this 30-year-old second baseman is downright dangerous, not to mention curiously endearing. On a team loaded with top-tier pitching arms, a rocket-armed, escape-velocity Cuban power hitter and a fine team captain at third base, Murphy manages to be the beating mutt-heart of the Mets….
“Thursday night, Murphy faced Zack Greinke, a stunningly good pitcher, and hit a double in the first inning that put the Mets on the scoreboard and registered as a tough jab to the Dodgers’ midsection. Then, in the fourth inning, with the Mets trailing and Jacob deGrom performing an inning-by-inning Harry Houdini escape act, Murphy led off with a single. When Greinke walked Duda, Murphy did a slow trot toward second base. Then he looked here and there, like a kid trying to escape a parent’s watchful eye, and bolted to third base….
“In the sixth inning, with the score still tied and Mets fans in a state of high anxiety…Murphy turned on yet another Greinke pitch. His bat swept through the zone, his top hand flashing off the bat as it whipped around his neck. An arcing shot landed in the right-field stands. The august Dodger pitcher, who took to walking around the back of the mound mumbling to himself, could be forgiven for asking: Who is this pest?”
And to think Murphy also hit two homers off Clayton Kershaw.
As for deGrom, he too now has his place in Mets history with six gutsy innings of 2-run ball, walking 3, striking out 7, while throwing 105 pitches. After the 2-run first, he weaved in and out of traffic the next five as the Mets came back It wasn’t his dominating Game 1 performance when he had 13 Ks, but once again he outpitched one of the Dodgers’ Big Two.
–Dodgers executives have said nothing about whether manager Don Mattingly is going to return for the final year of his contract. As Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times writes:
“Mattingly was said to be open to input from the analytically inclined front office, which guided everything from lineup and bullpen decisions to the implementation of defensive shifts. Mattingly was often complimented by club officials, but he has not been identified as the team’s leader for the foreseeable future.
“If (Andrew) Friedman has demonstrated anything in his first year as the team’s president of baseball operation, it’s that he’s unafraid of making drastic changes. The club recently parted ways with a significant part of its minor league coaching staff, as well as its scouting department.”
And Friedman may have to rework the rotation if Zack Greinke opts out of his contract. Greinke can void the remaining three years and become a free agent (which he said over the weekend was likely), where he could land a deal worth considerably more than the $71 million he would be forfeiting.
Greinke turns 32 on Wednesday. But he’s a ‘pitcher,’ not a ‘thrower.’ Is there anyone out there who would give him, say, six years at $30 million per (similar to Max Scherzer’s seven years, $210 million)?
There are other big free-agent hurlers this year, including David Price, Johnny Cueto and Jordan Zimmermann.
Boy, if I were Greinke, I’d just ask for a two-year extension (five years then, total) from the Dodgers at, say, $26m per and call it a day. Nothing wrong with sharing the spotlight with Clayton Kershaw, while living in L.A.
The Dodgers are also probably going to lose second baseman Howie Kendrick to free agency.
At the same time they’d love to dump Carl Crawford, owed $41.75 million over the next two seasons, and Andre Ethier, who is guaranteed $38 million over the same period.
Royals 2 Blue Jays 0
Kansas City took the first two games at home, 5-0 in the opener behind Edison Volquez and that great pen, Volquez going the first six. In Game 2 the Royals, trailing the Blue Jays 3-0 going to the bottom of the seventh, got to Toronto starter David Price and scored five on the way to a 6-3 victory.
Price had allowed a lead-off single in the first but then retired 18 in a row before stumbling mightily. He is now 2-7, 5.24 ERA, in the postseason.
Toronto didn’t help their cause any by going 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position, while K.C. was 5-for-8 in that category.
To get to the ALCS, the Royals rode pitcher Johnny Cueto’s masterful 8-inning, 2-run effort, as Kansas City defeated Houston 7-2 for a 3-2 series win. After allowing a 2-run second-inning homer to Luis Valbuena, Cueto retired the final 19 batters he faced, striking out eight without a walk in the kind of performance the Royals traded for.
And to earn the right to face the Royals in the ALCS, Toronto overcame one of the craziest plays in playoff history as Jose Bautista hit a memorable three-run shot following three Texas Rangers errors in a wild seventh inning for a 6-3 victory in Toronto in that series’ deciding Game 5.
All players agreed, it was the most emotionally charged game they had been in. The Blue Jays also became the third team to win a best-of-five series after losing the first two games at home.
As for the 53-minute epic seventh, it was 2-2 in the top of the frame when Toronto catcher Russell Martin, attempting to throw the ball back to his pitcher, Aaron Sanchez, struck the hand of Rangers batter Shin-Soo Choo, and the ball rolled down the third-base line. Rangers second baseman Roughned Odor scored and plate umpire Dale Scott waved the run off when he called time out, but then reversed himself after a lengthy review, prompting a shower of beer and trash from the stands while causing the Blue Jays to play the rest of the game under protest.
MLB Rule 6.03 (a) (3) reads: “If the batter is standing in the batter’s box and he or his bat is struck by the catcher’s throw back to the pitcher, and, in the umpire’s judgment, there is no intent on the part of the batter to interfere with the throw, the ball is alive and in play.”
That’s why the run stood up. Martin was charged with an error.
So then it’s the bottom of the seventh, Rangers 3, Blue Jays 2.
Martin, a Canadian by birth, led off the inning with a ground ball to short. Normally sure-handed Elvis Andrus made an error. The next batter, Kevin Pillar, hit a grounder to first baseman Mitch Moreland, who went to second for a force but bounced his throw to Andrus. Safe. E-3. Toronto manager John Gibbons sent in a pinch runner, Dalton Pompey, for Martin.
Ryan Goins, the next batter, laid down a bat that is quickly fielded by third baseman Adrian Beltre, who flips the ball to Andrus covering third for a force. Andrus drops the ball. Three plays. Three errors.
Ben Revere grounded out to Moreland, who threw home for the force and the inning’s first out. Josh Donaldson is now at the plate, bases still loaded, and he hits a ball in the air that is not high enough to be called an infield fly, Odor drifts back, mistimes his leap for what should have been an easy catch, the ball fell in, and Pillar raced home with the tying run, Revere forced at second.
Then Bautista comes up and launches a 442-foot home run, flipping his bat skyward. 6-3 Toronto.
Oh there was lots of pushing and shouting after the homer as emotions were sky high and an inning that began at 6:13 p.m., ended at 7:06. Fans of both teams will be replaying it all for decades.
—
–William C. Rhoden / New York Times
“One of the more encouraging aspects of baseball’s postseason is the sign that the game is beginning to loosen up, that the posse that polices decorum is giving into, or being overtaken by, the public’s appetite for personality and emotion.
“Just in time for the 21st century, baseball has arrived.
“Baseball has lagged behind basketball and football in popularity for a number of reasons, but primarily because the game is too buttoned down. In many ways, baseball has been the team version of golf.
“This generation of young fans – the selfie generation of multiple interests and impatience – likes the raw emotion of sports, the exhilaration when players make the right play at the right time: celebrating a decisive home run, a timely base hit, a great defensive play, a rally-ending strikeout.
“The more emotion shown, the more personality expressed, the more fans become invested in the games….
“This could be an aberration, but the willingness of players during this postseason to show greater emotion, to let their personalities shine through, is either a function of a new wave of young players coming of age, or a function of the teams that have reached baseball league championships. Three are starved for a championship.
“The Mets have not won a World Series title since 1986. The Cubs’ drought is legendary: The franchise last reached the World Series in 1945 and last won in 1908. Toronto had not, until last week, won a postseason series in 22 years.
“Kansas City reached the World Series last year; however, its last trip before that came in 1985.”
Then Rhoden gets into Jose Bautista’s bat flip, which was one of the great displays of machismo ever.
Shu passed on a piece by Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic who, like Rhoden, is questioning the unwritten rules of the game that don’t like to see displays like the bat flip heard ‘round the world.
“(The) industry view on excessive celebrations is absurd. Pitchers are allowed to emote on the mound, and many gesture wildly after recording a big out. Randy Johnson showed up hitters his entire career. The other day in Chicago, a Cubs reliever walked off the field, stopped before he crossed the line, and made the famous Usain Bolt gesture.
“Apparently, that’s OK. But an excessive bat flip will get you beaned, even if you just launched a dramatic home run in an elimination game, delivering the biggest moment the building has staged since Joe Carter hit a walk-off home run to win the World Series.
“Some think MLB is dealing with a clash of cultures. Nearly 27 percent of big leaguers are foreign-born players. Most are Latino, hailing from countries that embrace oversized shows of emotion, while bat flipping is very popular in Asia. Together, they are bringing a different attitude to the ballpark, to the offense of those who want them to act like they’ve been there before.
“USA TODAY examined 67 bench-clearing incidents over a five-year period, and discovered that 87 percent of them were triggered by antagonists from different ethnic backgrounds.
“Here’s the worst part: Studies have proven that young sports fans love individuality and self-expression, which is subject to severe and subjective scrutiny under the unwritten rules….
“Unwritten rules suppress individuality and personality, which is exactly what the sport needs. And they’re just another way that Major League Baseball is losing young viewers and participants….
“It’s been a great postseason so far. The Cubs, Chase Utley and a spellbinding, 53-minute inning in Toronto have conspired to push the NFL in the background. That doesn’t happen very often in America. But when it’s all over, Commissioner Rob Manfred needs to act fast. He needs to put all these unwritten rules on paper, in one book.
“And then burn it.”
–I have covered this topic many a time in the past, but Bridget Bielefeld had a piece for the Baseball Hall of Fame on the original “Mr. October,” Hall of Fame pitcher Christy Mathewson, who in the 1905 World Series set a standard yet to be matched 110 years later.
“Mathewson, dubbed ‘Big Six’ by teammates, was coming off a stellar regular season for the New York Giants. At 31-9, he led the National League in wins, strikeouts (206) and ERA (1.28).
“His efforts propelled the Giants to the top of the NL leader board and earned the team a place in the 1905 Fall Classic against Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics. The postseason appearance marked the first for the 25-year-old.
“In Games 1 and 3, Oct. 9 and Oct. 12, Mathewson stifled the A’s – pitching a combined 18 shutout innings and striking out 14 men.
“The A’s were pushed to the precipice of defeat in Game 4, as the Giants increased their lead in the Series 3-1.
“Game 5 was slated for Oct. 14, and Mathewson, on one days’ rest, was scheduled to take the mound once again.
“In a blistering one hour and 35 minutes, Mathewson utilized his famed fadeaway pitch – an early version of the screwball – and blanked the A’s, throwing his third complete game shutout in a mere five days.”
Many consider Mathewson the greatest of them all, as he went 373-188, 2.13 ERA. Writer Damon Runyon once said: “Mathewson pitched against Cincinnati yesterday. Another way of putting it is that Cincinnati lost a game of baseball. The first statement means the same as the second.”
Mathewson was part of the first class of inductees into the Hall of Fame in 1936, along with Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner.
And for some of you who may not know, Mathewson is a Bucknell University alum who is buried there in Lewisburg, Pa. [Can’t believe I haven’t gone to pay my respects.]
He actually died in Saranac Lake, New York. My brother was just up there doing some great fishing, supplying sustenance for the family for the winter…or maybe not.
College Football Review…comments written prior to release of latest AP poll.
No. 1 Ohio State (7-0) beat Penn State (5-2) 38-10. Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 153 yards and quarterback J.T. Barrett, who shared the job with Cardale Jones, picked up 102 yards on the ground.
No. 2 Baylor (6-0) defeated West Virginia (3-3) 62-38 in Waco, as quarterback Seth Russell was a cool 20/33, 380, 5-0, with receiver Corey Coleman catching 10 balls for 199 yards and three scores. Russell, though, also picked up 160 yards on the ground on just 14 carries with a TD.
No. 3 TCU (7-0) beat Iowa State (2-4) 45-21 as quarterback Trevone Boykin was a rather spectacular 27/32, 436, 4-0, plus another 74 yards rushing and a score. His favorite target, Josh Doctson, continued his remarkable run with 10 receptions for 190 yards and two touchdowns. It is his fifth straight game with at least 129 yards receiving and in the five contests he has 48 receptions for 912 yards and 11 TDs.
Late Saturday night, No. 4 Utah improved to (6-0) with a 34-18 win over Arizona State (4-3).
No. 5 Clemson (6-0) beat Boston College (3-3) 34-17, as Tigers quarterback Deshaun Watson threw for 420 yards and three TDs (though he also threw two picks).
No. 6 LSU (6-0) beat No. 8 Florida (6-1) 35-28 in Baton Rouge on a fake field goal for a TD, as leading Heisman candidate Leonard Fournette rushing for 180 yards and two scores on 31 carries. For the Gators, playing without the suspended quarterback Will Grier, Treon Harris had a solid game filling in, 17/32, 271, 2 TDs.
No. 9 Texas A&M (5-1) suffered its first loss of the season at home to No. 10 Alabama (6-1), 41-23, as ‘Bama running back Derrick Henry rumbled for 236 yards on 32 carries and two scores. Henry had 178 at the half, for crying out loud.
No. 11 Florida State (6-0) beat Louisville (2-4) 41-21 as Notre Dame transfer Everett Golson continued to grow at quarterback, 26/38, 372, 3-0. Golson, who had a whopping 22 turnovers (14 interceptions) for the Fighting Irish last season, has 11 TD passes with 0 interceptions, 0 turnovers, in FSU’s first six games. It helps to have running back Dalvin Cook, who rushed for 163 yards and two touchdowns, while catching four passes for another 60 yards.
No. 13 Ole Miss (5-2) was upset by Memphis (6-0) 37-24, as Memphis QB, 6’7”, 245, Paxton Lynch, was 39/53, 384, 3-1.
But was this really an upset? The Tigers have now won 13 in a row and are 6-0 for the first time since 1961. Gee, you think coach Justin Fuente is going to be on the radar screen of the likes of Texas? It’s not impossible. Memphis will obviously enter the rankings shortly.
No. 14 Notre Dame (6-1) defeated USC (3-3) 41-31 in South Bend. Once again the Irish were led by C.J. Prosise who rushed for 143 yards and 2 TDs.
No. 17 Iowa is 7-0 after blasting No. 20 Northwestern (5-2) 40-10 on the road. Sophomore running back Akrum Wadley out of Newark had his best game, 26 carries for 204 yards and 4 touchdowns, after just 35 yards, total, in the Hawkeyes’ first six games. He was thrown into the fire after an injury to starter Jordan Canzeri.
Here’s the thing with Iowa. It’s in the very weak Big Ten West and faces Maryland, Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue and Nebraska the rest of the way. It will not have faced Michigan, Michigan State or Ohio State in the regular season, but sure will in the Big Ten title game.
No. 19 Oklahoma (5-1) recovered from its loss to Texas the prior week in blasting Kansas State (3-3) 55-0, with Sooner quarterback Baker Mayfield having a spectacular game, 20/27, 282, 5-0. He was 18/21, 235, 5-0 in the first half! K-State QBs were a combined 5/22, 45, 0-3. The Wildcats were outgained 568-110! OU coach Bob Stoops still has it. He just needs a change of scenery, and that is why there is a bit of a drumbeat to get him to USC…which seems like a perfect place for him.
No. 22 Toledo is now 6-0 after a 63-20 win over Eastern Michigan, as senior quarterback Phillip Ely had his finest game, 18/27, 327, 4-0, 217.3 rating! Toledo had solid non-conference early-season wins against Arkansas and Iowa State and is deserving of its ranking. Probably not much higher, but if it runs the table from here, it could conceivably rise as high as 16 or17, I guess.
And then there was this one…
“Jalen Watts-Jackson grabbed the football on a flubbed punt attempt and lumbered 38 yards into the end zone for a touchdown on the final play of the game, giving No. 7 Michigan State a shocking 27-23 win over No. 12 Michigan in one of College football’s most unlikely endings.
“With the Wolverines ahead 23-21 and 10 seconds left, Michigan punter Blake O’Neill bobbled a low snap and spun around to try to make the kick. But he was hit, and the ball popped free. Watts-Jackson caught it, broke a few tackles in the final yards and made it into the end zone.
“Michigan State never led until the final play.”
It was all so shocking, a fan sitting in a section of the end zone opposite where Watts-Jackson scored the touchdown went into cardiac arrest and another fan performed CPR before the paramedics arrived. He was said to be in stable condition.
I do have to add, as one who watched this entire contest, that the targeting call on Michigan captain Joe Bolden, which got him kicked out of the game, was absurd. He was clearly pushed into the MSU player, which was revealed on replay, yet the officials still ruled the way they did.
For Michigan State, by the way, quarterback Connor Cook continued to unimpress; 18/39, 328 (deceiving), 1-0. Michigan QB Jake Rudock did not look good either; 15/25, 168, 0-0.
[One more on Cook…I agree with one of the game analysts who brought up that it is kind of bizarre the senior was not picked as a team captain. NFL teams thinking of drafting him will want to know why.]
Friday night, Utah State took advantage of an unfathomable seven first-half Boise State turnovers, scoring 21 points in the final 85 seconds of the half thanks to two fumbles and a 90-yard interception return, to go on to defeat the No. 21 Broncos 52-26 in Logan, Utah. Utah State (4-2) last defeated Boise (5-2) 18 years ago (12 straight defeats).
The Broncos had four fumbles and three interceptions in that first half fiasco and added another fumble on the second snap of the second.
Thursday, No. 15 Stanford (5-1) beat No. 18 UCLA (4-2) 56-35 . Cardinal running back Christian McCaffrey rushed 25 times for 243 yards and 4 TDs. The highlight of the game, though, was Stanford receiver Francis Owusu’s remarkable 41-yard TD reception.
Friday, No. 24 Houston remained undefeated at 6-0 with a 42-7 win at Tulane (2-4).
In other games, North Carolina is now 5-1 after a 50-14 pasting of Wake Forest (3-4). In two seasons, Wake coach Dave Clawson has won just two conference games, both by 3-0 scores. The Deacs need to start showing real improvement next year.
Pitt is 5-1 after a 31-28 road win at Georgia Tech (2-5). But the Panthers really haven’t played anyone, except their lone loss was a 27-24 defeat at the hands of Iowa. That said, they still have UNC, Notre Dame, Duke and Miami on the docket and if they finished, say, 9-3, they’ll get a pretty solid bowl game. It’s just that I lost all enthusiasm following the injury to Heisman candidate, running back James Conner.
Miami (4-2) beat Virginia Tech (3-4) 30-20 as the Hurricanes start their annual “Save Coach Golden’s Job” stretch. Summit High School alum Michael Badgley kicked another three field goals and the sophomore is a very solid 16 of 19 this season. Of his three misses, two were attempts beyond 50. It’s early, but I saw this kid in high school and he can do it all. On the other hand, before I start dreaming of having a Summit guy in the NFL one day, Wake Forest once had an All-American kicker, Sam Swank, who seemed a lock for a long NFL career when he suffered a hamstring injury his senior season and never was the same, failing to impress enough at various NFL camps afterwards.
Jacksonville (6-0) defeated Edward “Maxine” Waters 49-28.
In Division III, I saw a blurb in Sports Illustrated on Linfield College, out of McMinnville, OR, and how this weekend they were attempting to extend their record for most winning seasons in a row to 60, and indeed they did with a 49-7 win over Willamette. This is a record for all divisions
Finally, Rutgers fans are buzzing Sunday after their Scarlet Knights (3-3) stormed from behind to defeat Indiana in Bloomington, 55-52, erasing a 25-point deficit in the process! Rutgers converted three fourth-quarter turnovers into touchdowns and then delivered the final blow with a 26-yard Kyle Federico field goal as time expired. This is not a bad Indiana team (4-3) and they were playing with starting quarterback Nate Sudfeld, who returned from an injury that kept him out last week, to finish 32 of 42 for 464 yards, the second highest total in school history.
For the Scarlet Knights, Chirs Laviano threw for a career-high 386 yards with three touchdowns, while receiver Leonte Carroo caught seven passes for 157 yards and the three scores. Carroo, who’s had off-the-field issues, is definitely a big-time NFL prospect.
And now…your new AP Poll!
1. Ohio State 7-0 (28 first-place votes)
2. Baylor 6-0 (12)
3. Utah 6-0 (16)
4. TCU 7-0 (3)
5. LSU 6-0 (1)
6. Clemson 6-0 (1)
7. Michigan State 7-0
8. Alabama 6-1
9. Florida State 6-0
10. Stanford 5-1
11. Notre Dame 6-1
12. Iowa 7-0
13. Florida 6-1
14. Oklahoma State 6-0
15. Michigan 5-2
18. Memphis 6-0…wow, higher than I thought
19. Toledo 6-0…ditto
21. Houston 6-0
22. Temple 6-0!!!
23. Duke 5-1
25. Pitt 5-1…shocked!
OK, look at the above. Notice anything kind of strange? Try 3 members of the 3-year-old American Athletic Conference in the top 25 for the first time ever. Temple is in the top 25 for the first time since 1979!
What this means is that the AAC can gain a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl game as the highest-ranked champion from the Group of 5. Much more on this come November and the first BCS polls.
NFL
Folks, way too much going on this weekend so just focusing on those teams that came into the weekend undefeated. There were six of them…now there are five.
Cincinnati is 6-0 after a 34-21 at Buffalo (3-3). “Good Andy” Dalton keeps showing up for the Bengals. Dalton 22/33, 243, 3-0.
Denver is 6-0 after a 26-23 overtime win at Cleveland (2-4). Peyton Manning is like an aging junk-baller these days, but I guess you could say he’s winning on guile. Manning’s QB rating was a putrid 53.3, 26/48, 290, 1-3, but the Broncos won yet again.
Carolina is 5-0 after defeating Seattle (2-4) out west. The Seahawks desperately need a healthy Marshawn Lynch and he has sucked so far. Granted he’s been nicked up and missed two games, but Russell Wilson and Co. better find an alternative. That offense needs a feature back.
Green Bay remained undefeated at 6-0 with a 27-20 win at home against San Diego (2-4). Philip Rivers threw for 500 yards, but the final line, 43/65, 503, 2-0, yielded a rating of 99.7, while Aaron Rodgers came in at 107.7…16/29, 255, 2-0.
Thursday, Atlanta (5-1) lost its first, 31-21 to New Orleans (2-4) down in the Big Easy.
And as I go to post, New England is attempting to stay undefeated, beating Indianapolis 34-21 in the fourth…yes, the grudge match. More on this next chat as warranted.
Detroit won its first, 37-34 in overtime, to move to 1-5, beating Chicago (2-4). Lions QB Matthew Stafford had one of his better games, 27/42, 405, 4-1, as receiver Calvin Johnson had his best effort of the season, 6-166-1.
Pittsburgh improved to 4-2 with a 25-13 win over Arizona (4-2) as Landry Jones came in to spell starting QB Mike Vick, who was ineffective. Jones proceeded to go 8/12, 168, 2-0, 149.3! Receiver Martavis Bryant was Jones’ prime target, 6-137-2.
And my Jets are a very surprising 4-1 after beating the Redskins (2-4) 34-20 at MetLife Stadium New York looked awful the first half, trailing 13-10 after yielding three turnovers, but they roared back to score the first 24 of the second half before giving up a late score.
Ryan Fitzpatrick was an efficient 19/26, 253, 2-1, 113.1, with an 18-yard TD run to boot, while Chris Ivory rushed for 146 and Brandon Marshall had 7 receptions for 111; both Marshall and Ivory picking up TDs.
–Cleveland quarterback Johnny Manziel was questioned by police Monday because of a domestic incident and admitted to drinking earlier in the day, according to a police report. Manziel and his girlfriend were seen arguing in a vehicle on Monday. The argument escalated to the point that the girlfriend tried to leave the car as it exited a highway. The police officer made the determination that Manziel was not intoxicated and he was not charged.
Johnny Football had spent 10 weeks in rehab earlier this year for unspecified treatment and it’s not known if his aftercare prohibits him from drinking.
Golf Balls
In the opener of the 2015-16 wraparound season, some 23-year-old Argentinian, Emiliano Grillo, won his PGA Tour debut at the Frys.com Open in Napa, Calif., defeating Kevin Na in a playoff.
Premier League
Nothing dramatic as Game/Match 9 of 38 was completed (except for Swansea-Stoke City, Monday).
My Tottenham Spurs had another 0-0 draw, this time with Liverpool at White Hart Lane as Jurgen Klopp made his debut as Liverpool’s manager, so not a bad start for him. This one had a great first half, the second was kind of ‘eh’.
Chelsea beat Aston Villa 2-0 as they attempt to get back in the thick of things.
West Ham had a big early-season 3-1 win against Crystal Palace to move into fourth place. They finished 12th last season.
Manchester United had a workmanlike 3-0 win at Everton.
Manchester City blasted newbie Bournemouth 5-1.
Southampton and Leicester drew at 2-2.
And Newcastle picked up their first win of the season, 6-2 over newcomer Norwich, with Georginio Wijnaldum scoring four. Congratulations Mr. Wijnaldum. [Just testing my typing ability.]
Standings
1. Manchester City…21 points
2. Arsenal 19
3. Man U 19 [ties broken by goal differential
4. West Ham 17
5. Leicester City 16
6. Crystal Palace 15
7. Tottenham 14
8. Southampton 13
9. Everton 13
10. Liverpool 13
11. Chelsea 11
20. Sunderland 0 (W) 3 (D) 6 (L)…3…only winless team
–In La Liga play, Cristiano Ronaldo became the leading scorer in Real Madrid history after finding the net three times in a 3-0 win against Levante on Saturday.
Ronaldo, 30, has scored 12 goals in his past nine games for Real Madrid and overtook club legend Raul, who had netted 323 in 741 games with the team.
Ronaldo, incredibly, has 324 in 310 games. He has 502 for club and country in 756.
–The field is coming together for Euro 2016, which is held in even-numbered years between the World Cup. This year a record 53 teams entered and eight are vying for the final four spots in the field of 24, hosted by France next summer.
The eight facing off in two-legged deciders are: Republic of Ireland, Bosnia, Ukraine, Slovenia, Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Denmark.
Already in and joining host France are: Czech Republic, Iceland, Turkey, Belgium, Wales, Spain, Slovakia, Germany, Poland, England, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Romania, Austria, Russia, Italy, Croatia, Portugal, Albania.
For Wales, it is their first major international soccer tournament since the 1958 World Cup.
But do you notice a team that won’t be playing next summer? The only big upset of the qualification rounds? The Netherlands.
Spain has won the last two, by the way, defeating Germany in 2008 and Italy in 2012.
Rugby World Cup
I was at a wedding a few weeks ago and explaining to someone I had just met what this column is all about, and he was impressed I followed the Premier League fairly closely and then he goes, but I’m a rugby fan… “You following the World Cup?”
Well, not really. Oh, I knew Ireland was doing well but they had some big injuries and, anyway, the semi-finals are set and there are no northern hemisphere teams for the first time in history.
It’s New Zealand vs. South Africa in one; Australia vs. Argentina in the other.
Argentina handily beat Ireland 43-20, but all the talk on Sunday is about the highly controversial 35-34 win for the Aussies over upset-minded Scotland.
Tom Fordyce of the BBC described the ending thusly.
“In a pulsating eight-try match Mark Bennett’s interception try with seven minutes to go seemed to have sealed one of the great World Cup upsets.
“But with time running out referee Craig Joubert called a deliberate offside when replays seemed to indicate the ball had come off a Wallaby player.
“Bernard Foley stroked over the three points to steal the game away.
“At the final whistle Joubert ran for the tunnel to a deafening chorus of boos, Scotland’s players and vast support shattered by the cruel finale.
“Replays being shown on the big screens inside the ground as Foley lined up his fateful kick meant that the referee was almost the only man among the 80,000 who did not realize an error may have been made.”
Boy, that really, really sucks. Imagine being in the pubs in Scotland Sunday. Some items were no doubt flung around. [The tournament is being held in various sites in England, with the final in London.]
Stuff
—College Basketball / USA TODAY Coaches’ Preseason Poll
T-1. Kentucky
T-1. North Carolina
3. Maryland
4. Duke
5. Kansas
6. Virginia
7. Iowa State
8. Oklahoma
9. Villanova
10. Arizona
18. Notre Dame
24. UConn
–David P. passed on a piece by Dan Shaughnessy in the Boston Globe on writer and editor, Dan Okrent, the “accidental godfather of fantasy sports.”
“I feel like J. Robert Oppenheimer, having invented the atomic bomb,” Okrent said last weekend. “I meant it for peaceful purposes.”
Shaughnessy:
“It all started when Okrent was flying from Hartford to Austin, Texas, a short while after (Earl) Weaver and the Orioles lost the seventh game of the 1979 World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“ ‘I was missing baseball, and I had this idea,’ Okrent said in a phone interview from his Wellfleet home. ‘It was very loosely based on when I was in college at Michigan in the 1960s. A faculty friend of mine had something where he and other faculty members would pick five hitters and five pitchers at the beginning of the season and at the end of the season, whoever had the best ERA and most RBIs, or something like that, was the winner.
“ ‘I presented it to some baseball-loving pals in Austin and they thought I was nuts.
“ ‘The next time I was in New York, I presented it to some buddies of mine. We used to have regular baseball lunches in New York at La Rotisserie Francaise on East 52nd between Third and Lexington. They took to it, and we had our first baseball draft in April of 1980. The entry fee was $250.
“ ‘There were 11 of us. Ten teams. One team had two owners. We had a salary cap that represented real dollars. We could spend $250 to acquire 22 players. The winner got half the money, 1,250 bucks. Second, third, and fourth place divided the rest of the money.
“ ‘Because several of us were in the media, we got a lot of publicity that first year. We were on the ‘Today’ show, there was a piece about us in the New York Times [Okrent later became the first public editor of the Times].
“ ‘In 1981, I wrote a piece for John Walsh [Inside Sports magazine] called, ‘The Year George Foster Wasn’t Worth 36 Dollars.’ When the long baseball strike came in the summer of 1981, some of the baseball writers started writing about their Rotisserie teams and what they were missing. That helped spread it more.
“ ‘Bantam Books started publishing an annual that we wrote. I tried to get Walsh [then running ESPN] to do more of it on ‘SportsCenter,’ but he said only 1 ½ percent of their audience was into it.’
“Okrent estimates that he has made less than $15,000 lifetime from the concept…
“ ‘I got used to the fact decades ago that somebody else would make the money from this,’ said Okrent. ‘I’m not entirely indifferent. I’m bemused.’”
So what does he think…is fantasy sports gambling?
“Of course it is,” said Okrent. “The distinction people are making… ‘it’s a game of skill.’ Well, poker is a game of skill. Blackjack in a casino is a game of skill. Picking horses is a true game of skill, and nobody would pretend that that’s not gambling.
“I’m sure when Congress exempted fantasy sports, they were thinking of 10 guys sitting around a bar and making a bet. They weren’t imagining this.
“The hypocrisy of people like [Robert] Kraft and [Cowboys owner Jerry] Jones [both partnered with DraftKings] investing in this while they make the speeches about sports betting is preposterous. I don’t see how they can do this with a straight face. They see their chance and they’re going to grab it.”
Meanwhile, Nevada’s main regulatory body on Thursday ordered companies such as DraftKings and FanDuel to stop operating in that state because it “involves wagering on the collective performance of individuals participating in sporting events,” the agency said in a notice.
The Nevada move could snowball. Only three states – Kansas, New Jersey and Maryland – have passed laws explicitly allowing fantasy sports.
As for New Jersey’s years-long battle to legalize sports betting, about two months after a three-judge U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals panel rejected the state’s latest bid to legalize sports wagering at casinos and racetracks, the full Third Circuit on Wednesday granted a request by Gov. Christie’s administration to re-hear the cases. So the earlier 2-1 decision is vacated and a larger panel of judges will now consider the matter.
Other states, including Indiana, Minnesota, New York, South Carolina and Texas have also introduced measures this year to legalize such wagering.
–So “Man” was never going to sniff the Top 100 ever again on the All-Species List, but now he’ll never do better than 300, because I am dropping him to No. 355!
The emergence of ISIS guaranteed Man was forever doomed, but I was just reading a piece by Robyn Dixon of the Los Angeles Times and 40 elephants have been “poisoned” in Zimbabwe in recent weeks. Seeing as last I heard, lions aren’t real good in the lab, or a pharmacy, there can be only one culprit…us.
“ ‘I get choked up, even as I speak,’ said Debbie Ottman of the Kariba Animal Welfare Fund Trust in Zimbabwe. She was one of the animal welfare activists who found the carcasses of three elephants near the town of Kariba in northern Zimbabwe late last month; the pachyderms later tested positive for cyanide poisoning. ‘It makes me very angry and very emotional.’”
Robyn Dixon:
“The killer baited oranges with cyanide, which is used in illegal gold mining and which was found in the gut of the male elephant.
“Rampant poaching, coupled with legal hunting, has decimated populations in many areas, with 100,000 elephants killed in Africa from 2011 to 2013, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
“Tanzania’s elephant population plummeted by 60% to 43,330 in the five years ending in 2014, according to the Great Elephant Census, carried out by a coalition of wildlife groups. Mozambique lost half its elephants in the same period, falling to 10,300.”
Meanwhile, a bull elephant by the name of Nkombo, one of South Africa’s Kruger National Park’s biggest tuskers, was reportedly killed in recent days after wandering across the border into Zimbabwe. It was said to have “122-pound tusks…probably the biggest bull killed since 1986.”
Last week Tanzania arrested a Chinese businesswoman, Yang Fenglan, 66, also known as the “Queen of Ivory,” accused of involvement in millions of dollars in ivory deals.
–Dateline Honolulu (AP): Two men were seriously injured Saturday in separate shark attacks off the Hawaiian island of Oahu, authorities said.
Shortly before noon, a 44-year-old man was wounded Saturday after what appeared to be a shark attack in the waters off Lanikai beach in Oahu, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported….
The attack happened about 50 to 100 yards from shore.
The victim was injured in his lower legs. [Another man he was swimming with was not injured.]
Then….
About 7:20 p.m., a shark bit a 32-year-old man’s left foot as he was in the water off Waikiki beach, KITV reported.
The man is in serious condition at a nearby trauma center.
It appears it may have been a tiger shark. October seems to be a bad month for Hawaii and shark attacks. Overall, these were the sixth and seventh in Hawaii this year. Earlier this month, a surfer lost most of his left leg after a shark attacked him off Oahu’s north shore. One attack, which occurred in April, was fatal.
“All shark attacks this year have happened in turbid or murky water.”
I always stay out of turbid water myself. I’m assuming Director of Shark Attacks for Bar Chat, Bob S., recommends the same but we haven’t had a conference on this as yet. We’re heading into winter in these parts anyway…we’ll issue new regulations for continental U.S. swimmers next spring.
For now, just know “turbid” is ‘cloudy,’ while “turgid” is bombastic, like Donald Trump. You could say, however, that Lincoln Chaffee’s brain is very turbid. But I digress…
–Here’s one I saw in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser while looking for the shark story.
Oxnard, California: A poisonous sea snake last seen in Southern California 30 years ago has shown up again. The group Heal the Bay says a 2-foot-long yellow-bellied sea snake was found on the sand Friday at Silver Strand Beach in Oxnard in Ventura County. But it died a short time later.
The black-and-yellow snake, which is common south of the border, may have been drawn north by warmer ocean temperatures attributed to the El Nino condition.
Experts say it’s highly venomous, but it is unlikely to attack unless grabbed or otherwise molested.
Yet another reason to avoid turbid water.
–New Jersey state officials have closed the Ramapo Mountain State Forest indefinitely after all the encounters between black bears and hikers in the area that I wrote about recently. Biologists have now killed four adult bears in a week in the 4,200-acre state park. The four euthanized bears showed no signs of fearing people, which is uncommon behavior.
–Good to see Lamar Odom out of his coma and making progress, according to most reports. No snide comments, no attempts to make light of the Kardashian angle. I think you join me in wishing him a full recovery. I always liked the guy.
–There’s a blurb in the current issue of TIME on a creation from a Santa Monica, Calif., restaurant, Chomp…the debut of “a pumpkin-spice fried-chicken doughnut burger.”
I’m drooling. [I recognize others might be throwing up. “That’s why they play the game!” boys and girls]
–And there is this in TIME, from Taylor Swift, who has said she may go on a hiatus soon: “People might need a break from me.”
Very funny. The girl can do no wrong.
Top Ten songs for the week 10/21/67: #1 “To Sire With Love” (Lulu…this one has aged very well…) #2 “The Letter” (The Box Tops) #3 “Never My Love” (The Association…Mark R. partial to “Cherish”…as he reminded me the other day…)…and..#4 “How Can I Be Sure” (The Young Rascals…another great one…) #5 “Expressway To Your Heart” (Soul Survivors) #6 “It Must Be Him” (Vikki Carr…had a crush on her…staple of variety shows back in the day…) #7 “Soul Man” (Sam & Dave) #8 “Little Old Man (Uptight-Everything’s Alright)” (Bill Cosby…can’t delete this one…sorry…) #9 “Gimme Little Sign” (Brenton Wood) #10 “Your Previous Love” (Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell…anything these two did together was awesome…)
NFL Quiz Answer: Single-season yards per reception…Jimmy Orr, 1958, Pittsburgh, 33 rec. for 910 yards, 27.6 average; Elbert Dubenion, 1964, Buffalo, 42 rec. for 1,139 yards, 27.1 average.
Orr was a quality player, first for the Steelers, 1958-60, and then Baltimore, 1961-70. He had 400 receptions in his career for 7,914 yards, a sterling 19.8 career avg., and 66 touchdowns. He played his college ball at Georgia, but first attended Wake Forest and Clemson, which is curious.
Elbert Dubenion (easily one of the great sports names of all time…used to love his football card), played for the Bills from 1960-68, with 294 rec., 5,294 yards, 18.0 average and 35 touchdowns. He played his college ball at Bluffton College (now University) in Bluffton, Ohio. It seems Mr. Dubenion is the only player from this place to ever make the NFL.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
