[Note: Posted Sunday PM]
College Football / 1981 Clemson Quiz: As an ACC guy, of course I’m rooting for Clemson Monday night big time. So your 1981 Clemson national champ quiz: 1) I already asked who the QB was in a previous quiz this fall, so name the four Tigers to rush for 400 yards or more. You get the initials. C.A., C.M., H.J., J.M. 2) Name the only receiver to have more than 20 receptions. 3) Name the leader in interceptions, initials T.K. Answers below.
NFL Playoffs
[The following was written before Sunday’s games. I did not in any way edit it as a result of today’s more normal football.]
I’ve been telling you all year what a crappy season it’s been for the NFL; atrocious play, behavior, and dreadful officiating. Unwatchable a lot of the time….but we do keep watching. I didn’t miss a minute of a Jets game. But I repeat that if you think franchise values are just going to keep going up and up, you’re wrong. While we love the sport, more games like last night’s Cincinnati-Pittsburgh affair (or the Odell Beckham-Carolina Panthers’ debacle) and viewers will finally begin to turn their sets, or devices, off. At the very least the casual fan will no longer consider it ‘must watch’ fare.
The Bengals’ meltdown Saturday is important, and so for the record I cover it extensively.
Nick Ellerson / Washington Post
“The Cincinnati Bengals’ fourth-quarter comeback against the Pittsburgh Steelers Saturday night was highly improbable. Their subsequent meltdown was even more jaw-dropping. That is, until you remember they’re the Cincinnati Bengals.
“In one of the most bizarre finishes to an NFL playoff game in recent memory, the Bengals overcame a 15-0 fourth-quarter deficit, coughed up a fumble with 1 minute 36 seconds to go on the Pittsburgh 26-yard line, then committed back-to-back personal fouls – first on Vontaze Burfict, then on Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones – to set up Steelers kicker Chris Boswell’s game-winning 35-yard field goal.
“The 18-16 defeat was soul-crushing, even for a fan base intimately familiar with the Bengals’ annual postseason routine since their last playoff win in 1991.
“The Bengals have been one of the league’s most consistent teams since quarterback Andy Dalton arrived in 2011, as they’ve gone 52-27 in the regular season since that time. But it hasn’t yielded the woebegone franchise any playoff glory, nor has it done any favors for Coach Marvin Lewis, who now falls to 0-7 in his playoff career. Lewis is the second-longest tenured head coach in the NFL behind New England Patriots boss Bill Belichick.”
Paul Daugherty / USA TODAY
“A game that descended into brutal farce was won by the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday night. The cool every Cincinnati Bengals player promised during the week was nothing but hot air and nonsense. The Bengals were the last team to commit a personal foul – two, in fact, on the same, decisive play – and that was the ballgame.
“Seven is worse than six was worse than five. Every Bengal playoff loss is a stab in the same eye. Resurrecting a reason to believe gets harder each year. The Bengals aren’t the Chicago Cubs. We don’t find their losing lovable. Give us another 100 years for that.
“But make no mistake: Playoff loss No. 7 in the Marvin Lewis era was the worst. And given the sadness, skepticism and cynicism provoked by the previous six, that’s saying something.
“To sum it up: A brutal game was decided on a brutality. Vontaze Burfict, a hero minutes earlier for a pass interception, was called for a personal-foul late hit on Steelers wideout Antonio Brown with 22 seconds to play. That put the ball on Cincinnati’s 32; another personal foul, this one on Adam Jones, moved it 15 yards closer to the Cincinnati end zone.
“Chris Boswell made a 35-yard field goal from there, with 14 seconds to play. The worst loss in Bengals’ history? Possibly.
“Also, the least necessary. Play football, don’t blow your cool, win the game. Make it the best night of lots of lives. The decisive penalties weren’t all that mattered in this game. Everything mattered in this game. But you slug and sweat and die a little for 59 minutes to take a lead for the first time. The game is yours, and then it isn’t….
“This was a brutal, cruel, bitter game that will be remembered by both teams and towns for a long time. It was borderline barbaric and that was wrong. In the end, that mattered not at all to most fans, who had waited a quarter century for this night. Only to see it vanish in the rain, beneath a yellow flag.”
Chris Chase / USA TODAY Sports
“Grown men are responsible for their own actions and, therefore, Vontaze Burfict and Adam Jones are to blame for their two stupid, dirty, dangerous and city-crushing penalties that completely handed the Pittsburgh Steelers a game the Steelers had already handed away. But this is Lewis’ team. They’re his men. And they played like clownish, dangerous buffoons for their coach, who showed he had no control over the team he’s been with for over 13 years. For that, Marvin Lewis’ time in Cincinnati should finally be up, four wild-card losses and one wild-card implosion later.
“Things were chippy all night, stemming from years of rivalry and a game earlier this year that was equally as contentious. There were personal fouls, dirty hits, fans throwing bottles and an obvious sense that something bad was going to happen to one of these teams and it was likely to be the Bengals with Burfict as the cause. He was out of control. He was pushing over cameras for no reason. Jawing at everyone. Hitting just hard enough to cross the line between tough football and dirtiness. He needed to come out of the game before he lost it for the team that had improbably come back from a 15-0 deficit. But then Burfict did exactly that. It was completely bizarre: You knew Burfict was going to blow it, you just didn’t know how. And when he did, you just had to shrug and say ‘it was bound to happen.’
“After a Pittsburgh interception with 1:50 remaining, the game looked locked up – Cincinnati’s first playoff win since 1990 – right up until Jeremy Hill fumbled the ball on Cincinnati’s first carry after the turnover. Ben Roethlisberger, who had exited the game earlier with a shoulder injury (caused by Burfict – which is why he stayed in the game; he’s a stud on the field), then returned, needing at least 50 yards to get his Steelers in position for a game-winning field goal. It quickly became clear Roethlisberger didn’t have the arm to make big plays, so a slow march it was. At that pace it appeared Pittsburgh might have the time to get into position, but the odds were going to be about as long as the kick.
“Enter Vontaze Burfict.”
Mark Maske / Washington Post
“The Pittsburgh Steelers inflicted more postseason misery on the Cincinnati Bengals here Saturday night. But they also might have suffered some of their own.
“The Steelers ushered the Bengals out of the AFC playoffs with a dramatic and controversial 18-16 triumph in a rugged opening-round game played on a miserably rainy night. But the victory was potentially costly for Pittsburgh because it left the playing status of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wide receiver Antonio Brown going forward in doubt.”
Ben Shpigel / New York Times
“The city awoke Saturday by peeking out from under its covers, one wary eye at a time. Was it safe to come out? Did it even want to?
“A full day of waiting for Bengals postseason football awaited, and that annual tradition of suppressing gloom with why-not-now optimism. At this time of year, their fans’ chant sounds less like a cheer than a dirge.
“Who dey think they gonna beat dem Bengals? Indianapolis and Houston, San Diego and the Jets: they all thought they would, and they did.
“So did the Pittsburgh Steelers, having inflicted so much misery over the years, and they stomped into Paul Brown Stadium ready to inflict some more.
“The rains pelting the field could have been mistaken for the tears of loyal supporters who reveled in a stirring fourth-quarter comeback before engaging in the familiar, mournful ritual for leaving the premises infuriated, confused and just plain sad.”
Steve Serby / New York Post
“Ben Roethlisberger refused to lose.
“The reckless, mindless Bengals refused to win, and did not deserve to win.
“Big Ben, knocked out of the game late in the third quarter on a piledriver sack by crazed linebacker Vontaze Burfict, willed his way back through the pain in his throwing shoulder to engineer the game-winning drive from his 9-yard line that culminated in a Chris Boswell 35-yard field goal with 14 seconds left.
“It ended Steelers 18, Bengals 16 in large part because Burfict decided to lower his head and drill Antonio Brown on a pass over his head and knock him concussion silly after the Steelers had burned their final timeout with 22 seconds left and the ball at their own 47.
“A second, equally dumb personal foul – for chasing after Steelers aide Joey Porter and undoubtedly spewing expletives – was assessed on Adam ‘Packman’ Jones, leaving Boswell with a chippie.
“ ‘Kind of crazy,’ Big Ben said.
“Kind of inexcusable and undisciplined by Bengals defenders, who turned into Odell Beckham Jrs. against the Panthers at the worst possible time.
“Classless Bengals fans had pelted Big Ben with objects as he was carted off the field with the Steelers suffocating AJ McCarron and leading 15-0.
“The sight of Pittsburgh backup Landry Jones under center lit a fire under the Bengals, who stormed back to take a 16-15 lead on McCarron’s 25-yard TD pass to A.J. Green with 1:50 left.
“With Big Ben back watching helplessly from the sidelines, Jones was intercepted by Burfict, and they were singing ‘Who Dey?’ in the rain.
“Until Jeremy Hill, hit by Ryan Shazier, fumbled.
“ ‘Ben and I have been together nine years,’ Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. ‘We kind of looked at each other, and kind of said, ‘Now or never.’’….
“Big Ben was asked if he would be able to play through this injury.
“ ‘I’m gonna give everything I can like I always do,’ he said. ‘We’ll get evaluated this next couple of days.’
“Asked how much pain he was in, he said: ‘A lot.’
“But not nearly as much pain as the Bengals were in. They can watch Big Ben against Peyton Manning. And good riddance to them.”
Brian Costello / New York Post
“A TV monitor in the Bengals’ postgame locker room showed a quote from the team’s founder.
“ ‘The key to winning is poise under stress – Paul Brown,’ it read.
“Consider that a lesson the Bengals need a lot to work on.”
After the game, CBS analysts piled on Bengals coach Marvin Lewis.
“I’m a former Bengal. I’m embarrassed by the way that this game ended and by the way these guys carried themselves on the football field today,” Boomer Esiason said. “I feel bad for Marvin Lewis. I’ll tell you one thing, if Lewis can’t control his players, then maybe Marvin Lewis shouldn’t be on the sideline coaching that drek.”
Former Steelers coach Bill Cowher added: “Vontaze Burfict…He lost it during the game. That’s on the head coach.”
Buddy Johnny Mac summed it up perfectly. “Crips and the Bloods in helmets and pads.”
Meanwhile….
Also on Saturday, the Kansas City Chiefs won a playoff game for the first time since January 1994 in defeating the Houston Texans 30-0. Talk about an unwatchable game, I kept dozing on and off while sitting at my desk, it was so awful.
Texans quarterback Brian Hoyer was picked off four times and fumbled twice (one recovered by the Chiefs). Overall, he was 15/34, 136, 0-4, 15.9 passer rating, which, ah, isn’t real good, sports fans.
For Kansas City, winners of 11 in a row now after a 1-5 start, Alex Smith was his usual efficient self, 17/22, 190, 1-1, 98.1.
But Kansas City lost key receiver Jeremy Maclin to a knee injury.
–And on Sunday, we had two solid games. In the third coldest playoff game in NFL history, Seattle prevailed over Minnesota, 10-9, with a game time temperature of -4. The Seahawks were down 9-0 going into the fourth quarter and pulled it out.
Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson was once again held in check, just 45 yards on 23 carries, but, more importantly, a critical fumble late.
I loved this game, even though there was zero offense. Seattle outgained Minny 226-183.
But it came down to kicker Blair Walsh missing a 27-yarder. That sucks. He broke into tears in the locker room. I almost did myself for the guy.
And in the nightcap, Green Bay roared back from an 11-0 early deficit to prevail 35-18 in Washington. Aaron Rodgers was 21/36, 210, 2-0, 93.5, while Kirk Cousins was 29/46, 329, 1-0, 91.3, for the ‘Skins.
This one was closer than the final score looks with Washington outgaining Green Bay 354-346. Both had one turnover.
So with the Green Bay win, that meant road teams were 4-0 in the wild-card round.
More next chat and your OFFICIAL weather forecasts for the weekend’s matchups.
NFL tidbits….
–On the coaching front, Miami hired Adam Gase, the former offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears. He becomes the Dolphins’ fourth consecutive hire with no prior head-coaching experience, joining former Dolphins coaches Joe Philbin, Tony Sparano and Cam Cameron.
Gase, at 37, also becomes the youngest head coach in the NFL. He’s considered a “quarterback guru,” which he’ll need to be to get fourth-year quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who has been inconsistent with a 29-35 record as a starter, to play far better.
Miami was 6-10 this season, missing the playoffs for a seventh consecutive year.
—Tampa Bay shockingly dismissed coach Lovie Smith after just two seasons. The Bucs improved from 2-14 to 6-10 while starting a rookie quarterback, Jameis Winston. Bucs co-chairman Joel Glazer said in a statement, “After careful consideration, we informed Lovie that we have decided to make a change.”
What assholes! They apparently informed Smith, a good guy and respected coach, through email. It appears they are hot for offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter and fired Smith because they didn’t want to see Koetter go elsewhere. As of now, they haven’t tabbed him.
–Commissioner Roger Goodell sent a report to all 32 NFL teams, saying stadium solutions in San Diego, Oakland and St. Louis were “unsatisfactory” and “inadequate” to keep the Chargers, Raiders and Rams in their home markets, this according to a Los Angeles Times story, the paper obtaining a copy of the 48-page report from someone who has seen it.
NFL owners are to vote next week during meetings in Houston on whether a team or teams can move to Los Angeles.
–And a college football note, as we wait for Monday night’s Alabama-Clemson national title game.
Saturday, North Dakota State won an unprecedented fifth straight Football Championship Subdivision (I-AA) title with a 37-10 victory over top seed Jacksonville State in Frisco, Tex. Bison quarterback Carson Wentz, a potential first-round pick in the NFL draft, threw for 197 yards and a touchdown (though with two interceptions), and ran for 79 yards and two scores. This was his first game since breaking his wrist in a loss to South Dakota, having been cleared to play just five days earlier.
Jacksonville State was playing in its first title game, suffering its first loss after 12 consecutive wins since an overtime loss Sept. 12 at Auburn, a game which I noted at the time they easily should have won. Ergo, these were two legitimate big-time programs in my eyes.
Mount Union, by the way, the Division III power with 12 titles since 1993, has not won more than three in a row.
College Basketball
–A few surprises on Saturday.
No. 4 Virginia (12-3, 1-2) will tumble out of the Top Ten after suffering its second straight ACC loss, 68-64 to Georgia Tech (11-5, 1-2).
No. 7 Arizona (13-3, 1-2) also lost its second straight conference game, 103-101 in four overtimes to rapidly improving USC (14-3, 3-1), the Trojans no doubt entering the Top 25 this week, which means more air time for the second-best cheerleaders in the country (next to Oregon, of course, and ahead of the incredibly underrated TCU Horned Frogettes…who are scrumptious…can I say that?…)
I saw the exciting finish of No. 3 Maryland (15-1, 4-0) at Wisconsin (9-8, 1-3) as the Terps held on to win on a dramatic 3-pointer from way out by Melo Trimble, 63-60.
Jim Boeheim returned from his nine-game suspension, but Syracuse (10-7, 0-4) lost to No. 6 North Carolina (15-2, 4-0) at the Carrier Dome, 84-73.
No. 22 South Carolina remains undefeated (15-0, 2-0) in defeating Vanderbilt (8-7, 0-3) 69-65.
–Sunday, in what should be a good omen for Monday night, Clemson (10-6, 3-1) defeated No. 16 Louisville (13-3, 2-1) 66-62.
–And No. 15 SMU (15-0) remains undefeated after an 88-73 win over UCF.
–And late Sunday, my Wake Forest Demon Deacons picked up a huge win at home against North Carolina State, 77-74, with Wake moving to 10-5, 1-2, and the Wolfpack falling to 10-6, 0-3. It’s going to be an incredibly competitive conference this year.
–Former coach Bill Foster died. He was 86. Foster coached at Rutgers from 1963-71, compiling a 120-75 record there, and later coached Duke from 1974-80, where he was 113-64, including the great 1978 team featuring Mike Gminski and Jim Spanarkel that lost the title game to Kentucky. He also coached at Utah, South Carolina and Northwestern and was 422-398 in his Division I career.
Jim Valvano played for Foster’s 1966-67 Rutgers squad, while Foster was replaced at Duke by Mike Krzyzewski.
I remember Bill Foster because over 40 years ago, I attended Pocono Mountain Basketball Camp, which he ran with Temple’s legendary coach, Harry Litwack. [I quickly learned that summer I wasn’t making the freshman hoops team the following winter. So I decided to become a professional beer drinker…..Just kidding!!!!]
NBA
Golden State 35-2 (17-0 at home)
San Antonio 32-6 (22-0 at home)
Philadelphia 4-36 (3-6 in the Ish Smith era)
–The truly pathetic Brooklyn Nets fired coach Lionel Hollins on Sunday and reassigned GM Billy King in the midst of a dreadful 10-27 start where they are just 6-13 at home and attendance is drying up at the $1 billion Barclays Center. They’ve lost their last nine straight at home and someone once told me that’s not exactly the way to put fannies in the seats.
Hollins and King are lucky that owner Mikhail Prokhorov didn’t….actually, I better not go there.
MLB
–The Baseball Hall of Fame vote was announced after my last Bar Chat so I need to get some things down for the archives.
Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza were the only two selected, with Griffey receiving a record 99.3 percent of votes cast by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, besting Tom Seaver’s 98.8 percent when he was inducted in 1992.
Piazza received 83 percent on his fourth try (75 percent being required for enshrinement). Candidates can remain on the writers’ ballot up to 10 years, as long as they maintain at least 5 percent of the vote.
So that means the clock continues to tick for some of the bigger names remaining it.
Barry Bonds saw his total rise to 44.3 percent, up from a previous high of 36.8, while Roger Clemens received 45.2 percent this time, up from his high of 37.6. Both have six years left to gain another 30 percent, and while there were rumors the two would receive 50 percent this year as the face of the writers’ bloc changed and some become more accepting of the steroids era stars, if Bonds and Clemens could inch up to 60 with, say, two years to go, I’ll say they would then get a final push to hit the needed 75.
Bonds being back in the game as the hitting coach of the Marlins should only help, especially if he’s friendly with the press (which will be the hard part). Clemens needs to stay low key and out of further controversy.
Others hanging in there in the voting include Jeff Bagwell, who rose to 71.6 percent from 55.7, Tim Raines (69.8, from 55), Curt Schilling (52.3, from 39.2) and Mike Mussina, jumping to 43 percent from 24.6 in his third year of eligibility.
Bagwell is a lock with four years of eligibility left, but Raines will be on pins and needles next January as it’s his tenth and last try.
Also, the great relief pitcher Trevor Hoffman debuted with 67.3 percent, so he’ll get in in another year or two.
But Mark McGwire finished his 10th and final year of eligibility with just 12.3 percent. Sammy Sosa is barely hanging on at 7 percent on his fourth try.
First-time candidates next year include Vladimir Guerrero, Jorge Posada, Manny Rodriguez and Ivan Rodriguez. The votes for some of these will be highly interesting.
Griffey is going to wear a Seattle Mariners cap on his plaque, Piazza a Mets cap, meaning he becomes just the second Met in the Hall next to Seaver.
“The Mets fans were just so gracious to me, and even in my post-career as well,” Piazza said. “Every time I go back, I can’t tell you how much I feel embraced. It’s very special, and it’s a relationship that – I can’t describe how emotional it is for me.”
Of course Piazza has had to dodge speculation he used performance-enhancing drugs, although there was never any evidence linking him to them. He was muscle bound, and his best years did come during the era of rampant steroid use.
But what a story…the guy who rose from the 62nd round of the draft, selected by the Dodgers in 1988. Today’s draft is only 40 rounds, to give you a sense of how further amazing Piazza’s feat is.
By the way, Griffey was asked if he would vote for Bonds and Clemens.
“I’d rather not share,” he said. As the Los Angeles Times’ Bil Shaikin observed, “That came off as a polite no, rather than a reluctance to say whom he thought should join him in the Hall. After all, a few minutes later, the conversation turned to the candidacy of Edgar Martinez.
“Do I think he should be in? Yes,” Griffey said.
–As for Ryan Thibodaux’ Hall of Fame vote predictions, he had Piazza at 87%, Bagwell at 81.5%, Raines 79.5%, Bonds at 50.7% and Clemens at 50%. Ergo, a so-so performance by the lad.
–Meanwhile…outfielder Denard Span signed a three-year deal, pending a physical, with the San Francisco Giants. It’s reportedly for $31 million plus incentives.
Many Mets fans were clamoring for the team to sign Span, but while he is a solid player, including defensively, he just completed a very shaky season with two core muscle surgeries before the 2015 season began, and then hip surgery in late August, limiting him to just 61 games.
Span is 31 and I just wouldn’t sign a guy like this to a three-year deal, unless you knew he was fully healthy…and no one will until like May.
I have no problems with the relatively minor moves the Mets have made this offseason, though I’m in a minority in this regard.
–The Nationals traded reliever Drew Storen to the Blue Jays for outfielder Ben Revere. Storen, 28, had lost his closer role to Jonathan Papelbon, even though he had converted 29 of 30 chances prior to the Nats’ acquiring Papelbon from Philadelphia. Storen then struggled in his eighth-inning role and we all know of his post-season issues…El Choco.
Revere, 27, has hit .306 his last two seasons and has some speed, but he doesn’t get on base enough and has zero pop. Nonetheless, it’s assumed he’ll become the Nats’ leadoff hitter in replacing Span in the outfield.
–The Royals re-signed free agent Alex Gordon, agreeing to a four-year, $72 million deal. This is one guy I just don’t get. He is a solid player, but after nine seasons in Kansas City, has just a .269 career average. Yes, he’s a four-time Gold Glover, but he’s not a big bopper. I just don’t see him as an $18 million per kind of guy.
Golf Balls
—Jordan Spieth won the Tournament of Champions, the true Tour kickoff, by a whopping 8 strokes over Patrick Reed, Spieth’s seventh PGA Tour title at age 22. Remarkable.
The dude was 66-64-65-67…30-under (par-73).
–So with the real season under way and after the first two events in Hawaii, we’ll see how El Nino impacts the West Coast swing (4 in California, 1 in Arizona). It could be a mess.
This is going to be a strange year and it’s a shame, what with the Big Three (Jordan, Jason and Rory) taking the sport by storm.
What I’m referring to is the interference of golf at the Olympics. The more I’m reading about this event, the less I like it. No more than four golfers from a country, 60 golfers total. I’m sure it will be exciting in the end as to who wins the gold, but in no way is it anywhere near being a test of the game’s best…as opposed to any event in track and field, for example.
But the big thing is the Olympics upsets the flow of a typical summer PGA Tour season…and not in a small way.
After the U.S. Open (June 16-19) and the Open Championship (July 14-17), you have the PGA Championship (July 28-31!). That sucks. Plus you have the WGC-Bridgestone (June 30-July3) wedged in there, let alone the Quicken Loans National event in Bethesda, and the Greenbrier Classic in the middle of this seven-week stretch. It’s not good for anyone, especially the non-major tournaments.
The Olympics are then Aug. 11-14 for golf, so you have the travel and practice on a brand new course beforehand, and you have to add in three days to get sick because of the water quality there (or however long you need to recover from dysentery).
Anyway, for the few who make their respective Olympic teams, the FedEx Cup Playoffs begin Aug. 25, and this year we wrap up with the Ryder Cup, a week after The Tour Championship, Sept. 30-Oct.2.
It will be interesting to see how the top players maneuver their schedules. Three majors in seven weeks, if you want to compete at a top level, is not as easy as it sounds. As Golf Magazine’s Peter Kostis says, it’s about stress.
“Stress is the No. 1 source of illness and injury in the game, and the stress of being in the hunt every Sunday is different from that of simply making the cut each week. Today’s players know that planning a schedule is largely about knowing how to manage stress.”
–Golf Digest had their annual list of the sport’s all-encompassing money list. Tiger Woods is no longer No. 1. It’s Jordan Spieth.
Spieth earned more than $53 million on and off the course last year!
1. Jordan Spieth…$23,000,000 (on course)…$30,000,000 (off course)…$53,000,000
2. Phil Mickelson…$2,300,000…$50,000,000…$52,300,000
3. Tiger Woods…$551,000…$48,000,000…$48,551,000
4. Rory McIlroy…$9,468,000…$37,500,000…$46,968,000
5. Arnold Palmer…$0…$40,000,000…$40,000,000…just love it! 86 years old. Is that called building a brand or what?!
6. Jack Nicklaus…$41,500…$22,000,000…$22,041,500
But some of you might be thinking, wow, those are incredible sums!
Yeah, but No. 50 on the Golf Digest list is Paula Creamer at $5.1m. Bill Haas is No. 45 at $5.559m.
The aforementioned outfielder Alex Gordon of the Royals is going to earn $18m a year for the next four years! [Not including endorsements.]
There are tons of simply godawful basketball, baseball and football players making multiples of Bill Haas’ $5.5m. And he’s top 50 in the world at what he does.
No one is saying $5.5m isn’t bad. Bill and his family are very happy with this. But, remember, there are big expenses then coming out of this sum. Travel, caddies and such. NBA and MLB players, on the other hand, are pampered like you wouldn’t be believe and have no cares in the world.
By the way, the above figures for the golfers does include money earned from appearance fees, corporate outings, and even licensing fees for things like video games. Some European players in particular, like Rory, earn tons through appearance fees, which are allowed on the European Tour but not on the PGA Tour.
One final item on this topic. Golf Digest has been keeping track of Tiger’s career on the money front.
From 1996-2015…he has earned $156,382,473 ‘on course’ and $1,263,550,000 ‘off course’ for a total of $1,419,932,473.
I don’t begrudge him a single dollar of that amazing sum. There is a guy who is literally a minute drive from me who paid himself $3 billion a few years ago. That’s with a ‘B’. A hedge-fund operator.
–Golf Digest just released its second biennial ranking of the World 100 Greatest Golf Courses and in a bit of a shocker, Northern Ireland’s Royal County Down is the new No. 1, supplanting Pine Valley, which is now No. 3, behind Augusta National.
I’ve written of County Down before, having played it twice in 1993 or ’94. For the real good golfer in our group, David P., there was a 20-shot difference in the conditions the two days…one super windy, the other calm. [For the crappy golfer in the group, moi, it was a 10-shot swing.]
And I was just commenting the other day to Pete M., another in that foursome, how Nova Scotia’s new Cabot Cliffs is on my golf bucket list and earlier in 2015, it was named Golf Digest’s Best New Course. Now it debuts on the World list already at No. 19! [Its sister course in Inverness, Nova Scotia, Cabot Links, is No. 93, which isn’t chopped liver.]
There are just so many spectacular new courses of the last 20 years, like Cape Kidnappers (No. 16, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand) and Sand Hills (No. 17…Mullen, Nebraska), that it is very tough for the older classics to stay on the list.
My course in Ireland, Lahinch, is hanging in at No. 65, while Kiawah’s Ocean Course, which I love, is No. 44.
46 of the Top 100 are courses on seaside venues. Donald Trump, by the way, is represented on the list with the No. 22 Trump Turnberry and No. 54 Trump International G. Links (Aberdeen, Scotland).
Rest of the Top Ten behind County Down, Augusta National and Pine Valley….
4. Cypress Point
5. Royal Dornoch (Scotland)
6. Royal Melbourne
7. Shinnecock Hills
8. St. Andrews
9. Muirfield
10. Merion (East) (Ardmore, Penn. Great to see this make it in the Top Ten)
11. Oakmont
12. Pebble Beach
Stuff
–Spurred on by her recent “Bar Chat Lifetime Achievement Award,” skier Lindsey Vonn won a women’s World Cup downhill on Saturday at Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria, for her 36th victory in the discipline, matching Annemarie Moser-Proell’s all-time best mark.
Moser-Proell, who set the record in January 1980, watched from the stands and the 62-year-old Austrian great was among the first to congratulate Vonn.
Vonn said after: “She is so kind. I am so glad she’s here today… It means a lot to me. She is a true legend of our sport.”
As is Lindsey. She now has 72 World Cup wins across all Alpine disciplines.
Saturday was unusual because it was the first women’s downhill in 14 years to be contested over two runs due to insufficient snow conditions in the upper part of the course. Europe has had a warm winter and it has been wreaking havoc on the World Cup season as venues are constantly being shifted due to a lack of snow. Swiss tourism is apparently getting pummeled, for example.
The World Cup tour doesn’t return to the United States (after racing there early in the season), but this is where the snow is.
But wait…there’s more Lindsey! She won the super G on Sunday, besting rival Lara Gut. Vonn narrowed Gut’s overall points lead to 738-700.
–No Premier League action this weekend as Britain’s FA Cup competition was on the docket. Premier League resumes mid-week. My Tottenham Spurs have a big game against Leicester on Wednesday, but these two teams tied 2-2 in the FA Cup today! Weird deal. Leicester rested a lot of their starters, it seems, to be better prepared for Wednesday. I think they then play a third time just a few days later in the FA competition.
—2014 Horse of the Year California Chrome, which won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, returned after a nine-month layoff, winning a stakes race in Arcadia, Calif., on Saturday. American Pharoah jockey Victor Espinoza was aboard the 5-year-old, whose owners are pointing to a big 2016. It would be fun if the horse is good enough come the fall to be in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
–So you all have heard that one of the biggest spots in the world for surfing monster waves is at Northern California’s perilous Mavericks, Half Moon Bay. Well, this past Friday, as part of the series of storms related to El Nino, waves hit 60 feet! [A six-story building.]
In anticipation, big wave surfers from around the world began showing up on Thursday, but conditions were too chaotic for an annual surfing competition for top riders. The window for the exclusive, one-day contest doesn’t close until March 31.
—Note to Pete M. Since the NCAA Div. I-A hockey poll is released on Mondays, I’ll cover it next BC, but relying on you to remind me of future rankings.
–We note the passing of actor Pat Harrington Jr. He started late, post-30, as a stand-up comic, appearing on “The Tonight Show” with Jack Paar and “The Steve Allen Show,” and then hit it big on the television sitcom “One Day at a Time,” where he earned an Emmy and was enshrined in popular memory as the handyman in T-shirt and vest.
“One Day at a Time” was a topical Norman Lear effort that ran for nine seasons beginning in 1975. It was unusual because it featured a divorced woman (Bonnie Franklin) and her struggles raising two daughters (Valerie Bertinelli and Mackenzie Phillips) at a time when single women weren’t featured on TV.
Like all guys of a certain age, I had a crush on Bertinelli, while at one time I actually lived behind Ms. Phillips. [I stuck this last bit in there for the two or three reading who might remember the inference. Think Locust Gardens.]
—Game of Thrones is back, its sixth season, on April 24. It will air for 10 episodes and be followed by Silicon Valley and Veep, Sundays on HBO. Game of Thrones is also close to being signed for Seasons 7 and 8.
I’m looking forward to a new series on HBO that begins Feb. 14, Vinyl, a look at the 1970s record industry in New York. Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese are involved in this one on the production end.
Top 3 songs for the week 1/13/68: #1 “Hello Goodbye” (The Beatles) #2 “Judy In Disguise” (John Fred & His Playboy Band) #3 “Daydream Believer” (The Monkees)…and…#4 “Woman, Woman” (The Union Gap featuring Gary Puckett) #5 “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” (Gladys Knight & The Pips) #6 “Chain Of Fools” (Aretha Franklin) #7 “Bend Me, Shape Me” (The American Band) #8 “I Second That Emotion” (Smokey Robinson & The Miracles) #9 “Green Tambourine” (The Lemon Pipers…used the intro on this one as part of my first radio spots for the site, way back in 1999-2000…had to pay for it, of course…the writer of the song, some woman whose name escapes me…was needless to say thrilled…) #10 “Skinny Legs And All” (Joe Tex)
Clemson Quiz Answers: On the 1981 team…1) The four to rush for 400 yards were Cliff Austin, 824 yards, 9 TDs; Chuck McSwain, 692, 7; QB Homer Jordan, 486, 6; Jeff McCall, 457, 5. 2) Perry Tuttle was really the only receiver, catching 52 for a 17.0 average and 8 TDs. 3) Terry Kinard led the team with six interceptions. He was later a first-round pick by the Giants and had a nice NFL career with 31 picks.
Clemson won the national championship by defeating Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, 22-15. Danny Ford’s team also beat Wake Forest that season 82-24…that’s not a misprint.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
