[Posted Sunday p.m. prior to conclusion of all the NCAA tournament action.]
NCAA Basketball Quiz: What three years did UConn win under Jim Calhoun and who did they defeat? Answer below.
March Madness
—What a first round. For the first time in NCAA tournament history, 10 double-digit seeds had wins, topped off by Middle Tennessee State’s upset of No.2 Michigan State, which many thought got screwed and should have been a No. 1.
But then this has been a crazy year, with six different No. 1s in the AP polls, one shy of the AP’s record set in 1982-83.
So for the archives, Thursday you had….
12 Arkansas-Little Rock over 5 Purdue 85-83.
11 Wichita State over 6 Arizona 65-55.
11 Gonzaga over 6 Seton Hall 68-52.
12 Yale over 5 Baylor 79-75 behind Makai Mason’s 31. The first ‘W’ in the tourney in school history.
Friday….
15 Middle Tennessee State over 2 Michigan State 90-81, as the Blue Raiders shot 56% from the field, 11 of 19 from three.
14 Stephen F. Austin over 3 West Virginia 70-56, with the Lumberjacks having 16 steals and just 7 turnovers, yet they shot only 30.9% from the field! Thomas Walkup had 33 points, including 19 of 20 from the free throw line. West Virginia shot only 30.8%, including 3 of 16 from three, and had a whopping 22 turnovers.
13 Hawaii defeated 4 California 77-67 for the Rainbow Warriors’ first NCAA tourney win, though Cal caught a tough break, so to speak, when star guard Tyrone Wallace broke his hand in practice two days before.
10 Syracuse over 7 Dayton 70-51.
10 VCU over 7 Oregon State 75-67.
11 Northern Iowa over 6 Texas 75-72 on a game-ending half-court heeve by Paul Jesperson.
And did I say last time there would be no 12-16 upsets? There were only five of ‘em.
But I did pick Northern Iowa, and I got all my 8-9 games right.
So on to Saturday/Sunday. As is so often the case, the excitement kind of dies down but you still had some solid contests, topped by 5 Indiana over 4 Kentucky 73-67, as Hoosiers coach Tom Crean has earned a reprieve. It’s a complicated relationship between him and the school, especially with alumni and the boosters’ club.
I was happy to see Iowa State coach Steve Prohm take his Cyclones to the Sweet 16 with a 78-61 over Ark.-Little Rock. He came into a tough situation this year, replacing local legend Fred Hoiberg, plus Iowa State had a key preseason injury that severely limited its depth. But the team that prior to the injury was a consensus top five in all the preseason polls is still in it.
Meanwhile, Virginia needed everything it had, including an amazingly efficient second half, to hold off 9 Butler 77-69. The Cavaliers shot 19 of 26 from the field after the intermission.
We bid adieu to the terrific Wichita State backcourt of Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet as the Shockers lost to 3 Miami 65-57. What a four-year run those two had, but this was a case where if VanVleet hadn’t been hurt early in the season, which cost them some non-conference wins, their seeding would have been much higher.
As for Miami, point guard Angel Rodriguez had a career-high 28 points.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few has now taken the Zags to a Sweet 16 for a sixth time under him with a commanding 82-59 win over 3 Utah. Gonzaga was not even making the Big Dance had it not won its conference tournament last weekend.
Duke blew a 27-point lead but held on to beat Yale 71-64.
Sunday….
Villanova shot lights out, 59% from the field, in besting Iowa 87-68.
In a terrific contest, Notre Dame edged Stephen F. Austin 76-75 on a tip-in by Rex Pflueger at the buzzer. One thing is for sure. Mike Brey is a terrific coach and this Fighting Irish team is a very likable group. Zach Augustine had 16 points (8 of 9 from the field) with 15 rebounds.
As for SFA’s Thomas Walkup, he had 21 points but made some bad decisions down the stretch. Nonetheless, he captured America’s (and maybe some NBA scouts’) fancy with his two-game performance.
Also, before I go to post, Syracuse became the sixth ACC team in the Sweet Sixteen in blasting Middle Tennessee State 75-50, while Oklahoma bested VCU 85-81 and Maryland held off Hawaii, 73-60.
–So I subscribe to USA TODAY Sports Weekly and the articles are probably written Tuesday, but I don’t receive it until the weekend, which is OK. Great publication.
But picture I get this week’s on Saturday and they have their reporters going through the brackets and you had headlines and comments like these.
“Improved late-game focus would help in Spartans’ national title quest”
The story by Shawn Windsor, though, had this.
“These Spartans are Tom Izzo’s best shooting team. Maybe his best passing team.
“They aren’t his best shot-creating team.”
In looking at the East…Chris Korman wrote:
“Potential upset: Stephen F. Austin over West Virginia.
“Stephen F. Austin plays high-pressure defense and forces turnovers on one-fourth of its opponents’ possessions, meaning it won’t be intimidated by West Virginia’s similar approach….(The) Lumberjacks, eager to prove they’re more than a good team in a bad conference, won’t cower.”
As Ronald Reagan would have said… ‘Not bad…not bad at all.’
However, Mr. Korman also said:
“Stony Brook has a chance to be the Cinderella of the 2016 tournament.”
Doh!
In the Midwest…Dan Wolken:
“The Sleeper…Seton Hall.”
–Speaking of The Hall, their 66-52 loss to Gonzaga was rather miserable, as star sophomore point guard Isiah Whitehead was an atrocious 4 of 24 from the field, including a record-tying worst 0-10 from three.
But the story is he’s going to declare for the draft, squelching the Pirates’ hopes of a big 2016-17 season.
However, he’d be doing this just to see what kind of interest there is and these days you can pull your name back. For very selfish reasons, coach Kevin Willard is hoping the GM, talent evaluator types tell Whitehead he is not a first-rounder.
–What a nightmare for the Pac-12. Seven bids: Oregon, Utah, California, Arizona, Oregon State, USC, Colorado. Cal has an excuse in losing its top player right before the contest, but the rest?
Actually, Colorado and Oregon State were hardly world beaters this season, ditto USC.
—Rutgers has been looking for a new coach after firing Eddie Jordan and Rhode Island’s Danny Hurley and George Washington’s Mike Lonergan turned it down, which speaks volumes.
So the Scarlet Knights have opted for Stony Brook’s Steve Pikiell, which is a solid choice. He’s been successful, knows the area in terms of recruiting and will bust his butt to be successful. I’m guessing in two years, Rutgers is .500, which would be a major step up.
–Scott Allen / Washington Post
“Few things bring Americans together like rooting against Duke in the NCAA tournament, and bless the schedule-makers’ hearts, we won’t have to wait long to do so this year
“When the defending champion Blue Devils tip off the tournament against UNC-Wilmington on Thursday at 12:15 p.m., every non-Duke fan will be cheering for the Seahawks, or at least they should be. While Maryland fans might be wondering if Brett Blizzard has any eligibility left, barring an early upset, those same Duke-haters will be pulling for Baylor to take out the champs on Saturday.
“Duke has been so easy to hate under Coach Mike Krzyzewski primarily because the Blue Devils have been flopping good since he arrived in Durham in 1980. Five national titles. Twelve Final Fours. Come on, Coach K; retire already, and let one of your former players screw things up. Speaking of, the past 36 years have featured no shortage of loathsome Duke players. At the risk of dividing the country, here’s who would appear on my Mount Rushmore of Most Hated Blue Devils.
“Christian Laettner.
“Leaving Laettner off of this list would be like Gutzon Borglum sculpting Mount Rushmore without George Washington….Laettner is probably the most hated college basketball player of all time. There aren’t ESPN 30 for 30 documentaries called ‘I Hate Danny Ferry’ and ‘I Hate Steve Wojciechowski,’ but there is one titled ‘I Hate Christian Laettner’ and it’s quite good.”
Scott Allen then names Shane Battier, J.J. Redick and Grayson Allen as the other three.
Personally, I told a Duke and Virginia friend, when discussing this article, that I’d replace Battier with WoJo.
The Plumlees sure haven’t been likable either.
As for Grayson Allen, Scott Allen concedes it could be too soon, but…
“Why he is hated: Where to begin? He’s a prep school graduate who bears a striking resemblance to a young Ted Cruz. In February, he tripped Louisville’s Ray Spalding, got away with a blatant travel before a game-winning buzzer-beater against Virginia and then tripped Florida State’s Xavier Rathan-Mayes in the span of five games. (The missed travel was obviously the referee’s fault, but no one said this hate stuff was rational.)”
NBA
–So to set up Saturday’s superb San Antonio Spurs win over Golden State, Thursday, the Spurs defeated Portland, 118-100, to secure the second-best home start to a season in league history, 34 straight, trailing only the 37 wins by the Chicago Bulls during their historic 72-victory season in 1995-96.
Friday, the Warriors defeated the Mavericks 130-112, as Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combined for 70 points (39 by Thompson), while Golden State was going 22 of 38 from three (a phenomenal 15 of 22 in the first half alone).
But then on Saturday, with yours truly among the millions glued to the battle right from the start, the Spurs put on a terrific defensive display and held the Warriors to 79 points in an 87-79 win. Understand the Warriors averaged 115 points per game coming in.
But Golden State was playing without Andre Iguodala and Andrew Bogut, so their fans could give them a pass, while Spurs coach Gregg Popovich countered the Warriors’ small lineup by replacing Tim Duncan in the starting lineup for just the third time in his career with Boris Diaw. Duncan played only eight minutes. How many superstars would allow a coach to do such a thing?
As for the Splash Brothers, Curry ended up with just 14 points on 4 of 18 shooting, 1 of 12 from beyond the arc. Thompson was 7 of 20, 1 of 7 from three, for 15. The same Golden State team that made 22 of 38 threes against the Mavs was 9 of 36 Saturday. It can happen.
So with 13 games to go….
Golden State 62-7 (32-0 at home)
San Antonio 59-10 (35-0 at home)
And they play each other two more times.
–The NBA suspended Memphis Grizzlies forward Matt Barnes for one game without pay for attempting to enter the Milwaukee Bucks’ locker room and “verbally challenging” forward Josh Henson.
Barnes, who has always had serious issues, got into it with Henson late in Milwaukee’s 96-86 victory on Thursday, with both players being ejected; Barnes for a “continuing use of obscenities,” according to the league’s release.
MLB
–The Chicago White Sox’ Adam LaRoche walked away from baseball and $13 million he was to receive this season after what he called a “fundamental disagreement” with White Sox executive vice president Ken Williams over his son’s time in the clubhouse.
In his first comments since announcing his plans to leave the team, LaRoche said in a statement Friday that he first was asked by Williams to significantly scale back his son’s time with the team and then told not to bring him to the ballpark at all. Drake LaRoche, 14, had a locker at U.S. Cellular Field and at Camelback Ranch and frequently was in the clubhouse before and during games.
LaRoche’s statement contradicted comments from Williams, who said Wednesday he had asked LaRoche to dial it back to less than 50 percent of the time.
“I had to make a decision,” LaRoche said. “Do I choose my teammates and my career? Or do I choose my family? The decision was easy, but in no way was it a reflection of how I feel about my teammates, manager (Robin Ventura), general manager (Rick Hahn) or the club’s owner Jerry Reinsdorf.”
So White Sox star pitcher Chris Sale said Ken Williams created an unnecessary distraction when he asked LaRoche to limit the amount of time his son spent in the clubhouse.
“We were rolling,” Sale said. “We had a team coming together of new guys, getting acquainted. No hiccups, nothing. We were a steam engine going full steam ahead, and it kind of derailed it.”
Sale said the players “got bold-faced lied to by someone we are supposed to be able to trust.”
Sale added Williams told contradicting stories, citing the players, the coaches and Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf at different time as the reason he was setting the limitations now. Sale said Robin Ventura should have handled any issue.
Bob Nightengale / USA TODAY Sports
“Now, do we really think Chicago White Sox executive vice president Ken Williams acted alone here, going out of his way to alienate his own team and have one of its most popular players abruptly quit in anger?
“In the wake of Adam LaRoche’s surprise retirement, there are plenty of spinning narratives, as management, LaRoche and his teammates all testify within the court of public opinion.
“And while the early evidence frames this as a Williams vs. LaRoche battle over clubhouse time for LaRoche’s son, multiple baseball officials with direct knowledge of the Adam LaRoche brouhaha told USA TODAY Sports a different tale.
“Several players and staff members privately complained to White Sox management recently about the constant presence of LaRoche’s 14-year-old son, Drake, in the clubhouse. Drake LaRoche, multiple people say, was with the team about 120 games during the 2015 season.
“The officials spoke to USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity because the club has forbid officials from commenting.
“And it is tricky territory, certainly. Drake LaRoche, by all accounts, is a good and well-respected kid. White Sox manager Robin Ventura even joked Friday that ‘he’s probably more mature than most of the guys in there.’
“Still, he’s a child. And simply not everyone felt comfortable with Drake’s constant presence, even called the White Sox’s 26th man.
“Apparently, no one ever told LaRoche. These players and staff members didn’t feel comfortable even sharing it with their own teammates, with several White Sox players saying they never heard a complaint. But they did express their views to management.
“It put the White Sox in an awkward position. They were the ones who told LaRoche that his son could be with him as often as he desired when they signed him to a two-year, $26 million contract before the 2015 season. They even furnished him with his own locker and uniform, right next to dad.
“Perhaps the verbal agreement in theory felt far different in practice, and that the White Sox were taken aback that LaRoche truly had his son everywhere with him. They were together virtually every home game. He made almost half the road trips. Flew on the team charters. And even participated in drills.
“While almost every major league organization welcomes such bonding, Drake was something of an outlier. Even Ken Griffey Jr., perhaps baseball’s most famous son, was only in the big league clubhouse with his dad a handful of games a year.
“Certainly, if the White Sox wanted to scale back Drake’s presence, someone should have told LaRoche during the winter. It at least should have been addressed before spring training.
“Instead, it wasn’t until Williams heard complaints, sat down with LaRoche, and told him to dial it back. He could still come to camp and be in the clubhouse, but perhaps just half the time. Certainly, not every day.
“Well, after their heart-to-heart talk, nothing changed, according to multiple people in White Sox camp.
“LaRoche kept bringing his son to the ballpark every day. This went on for at least three or four days. When Williams saw Drake on the field this week, in the middle of a practice drill, standing on the pitcher’s mound, he lost it.
“Williams told LaRoche that was it. He violated the privilege. No more clubhouse access.
“Williams later relented, and went back to his original request, simply asking LaRoche to cut his son’s clubhouse presence to about half of the time.
“Too late.
“LaRoche showed up Tuesday, told his teammates he was quitting, filled out retirement papers, and made it official Friday….
“In this mess, it is Williams aiming to wedge himself between several factions, hoping to avoid a fracture within the organization.
“He’s the fall guy for this clubhouse unrest.”
Oh brother. I’m on Ken Williams’ side.
Yes, even with the likes of White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton saying the following: “I think a lot of people have stepped back and said, ‘If a man can step away from $13 million for his family and his son, what does it take for me to spend a little more time with my kid, or take a little more responsibility for my family situation?’”
Nightengale: “LaRoche leaves this game as a role model, and without this sudden retirement, perhaps no one beyond his closest peers knows the real man. Now, he’ll forever be remembered.”
LaRoche said in his statement: “In life, we’re all faced with difficult decisions and will have a choice to make. Do we act based on the consequences, or do we act on what we know and believe in our hearts to be right? I choose the latter.”
Nightengale: “Then again, so did Williams.”
Mike Lupica / New York Daily News
“You start here with Adam LaRoche, who decides to walk away from the White Sox and baseball and a $13 million contract because the White Sox won’t allow him to take his 14-year-old son to work with him whenever he wants to.
“This action from LaRoche, no matter how sincere he is with his love for his son, and no matter how sincere he is wanting to have his son with him as much as possible, does not make him Rosa Parks.
“And if teammates like Chris Sale, who has had the most to say about this, including to team president Kenny Williams, feels this strongly about supporting LaRoche’s choices, then Sale should quit the White Sox, too. Or immediately stop acting as if the White Sox have tried to steal LaRoche’s pension.
“Williams has become the bad guy here, in a debate that has so very little to do with the lives of most of the people following this story, and who don’t have jobs that allow them to turn any day they want to into take-your-child-to-work-day. These are normal people, whether they are fans of baseball or fans of the White Sox or fans of LaRoche, who must think the principle here – whatever it is – is as ridiculous as the amount of money being discussed….
“About this, though, there is no debate: Kenny Williams is not the bad guy here. And Adam LaRoche isn’t a victim, or some kind of American hero. He doesn’t refuse to sit in the back of the bus here. He makes a choice to get off it, acting as if the White Sox are somehow interfering with his right to be a good dad. They’re not….
“Here is part of Williams’ original statement about this matter… ‘I asked Adam, said, ‘Listen, our focus, our interest, our desire this year is to make sure we give ourselves every opportunity to focus on a daily basis on getting better. All I’m asking you to do with regard to bringing your kid to the ballpark is dial it back.’
“ ‘I don’t think he should be here 100 percent of the time – and he has been here 100 percent, every day, in the clubhouse. I said that I don’t even think he should be here 50 percent of the time. Figure it out, somewhere in between.
“ ‘We all think his kid is a great young man. I just felt it should not be every day, that’s all. You tell me, where in this country can you bring your child to work every day?’
“Clearly, LaRoche, the son of a major leaguer himself, took this as some kind of act of war, or at least betrayal. So did Sale, who has basically accused Kenny Williams of trying to rip their team apart. But just look at the end of Williams’ quote, and ask yourself the same question: Where else DO you get to bring your child to work every day?….
“Adam LaRoche, no matter how honorable his intentions are, isn’t acting like a parent that every other parent should turn into a hero here.
“He’s the one acting like a spoiled teenager who got his privileges taken away.”
I’m sorry, but LaRoche and Chris Sale are going into the December file, and it isn’t for “Father-” or “Friend of the Year.”
[Sunday, Jerry Reinsdorf issued a statement saying this issue was over. Time to move on.]
—ESPN’s Buster Olney is picking the Cubs over the Royals in the World Series, with Carlos Correa (Astros) and Bryce Harper as league MVPs and Chris Archer (Rays) and Clayton Kershaw as the Cy Young Award winners.
NFL
–The Jets and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick are still at loggerheads. The free agent wants to return, but is seeking $15-$18 million a year, while the Jets have apparently offered $7-$8m.
It would seem the Jets are not interested in RG3, after bringing him in for a visit, and, frankly, I’d rather the Jets go with Geno Smith than Griffin.
Why? It’s the last year of Smith’s contract, he’s always had the physical ability, he has an incentive to perform, but the fact is the Jets have a bitch of a schedule this coming season and aren’t finishing better than .500 anyway.
So the heck with Fitzpatrick’s demands, play Geno, perhaps draft another QB, but continue to groom Bryce Petty for 2017. And that’s a memo….Charles Krauthammer is here….
—Interesting trade by New England to acquire tight end Martellus Bennett from the Bears for a fourth- and sixth-round draft pick.
Bennett, 29, had 53 catches and three touchdowns last season with the Bears, though his prior two seasons he had 90 and 65 receptions.
—Baltimore Ravens cornerback Tray Walker died Friday, one day after being critically injured in a dirt bike accident in Liberty City, Florida. He was 23.
Walker was on a Honda dirt bike when he collided with a Ford Escape on a major street, according to Miami-Dade police. Walker’s bike did not have headlights and he was wearing dark clothing. He also wasn’t wearing a helmet.
Police said the driver of the Ford Escape stayed on the scene and was cooperating with detectives.
Walker was a fourth-round pick of the Ravens in 2015, but didn’t play much in his rookie season.
Premier League
I’ve been writing for weeks now that what Leicester City is doing in the Premier League is one of the truly great sports stories of all time.
So the March 21 issue of Sports Illustrated has an article by Grant Wahl that parrots this, Wahl calling what Leicester has accomplished as “arguably the wildest underdog story in the history of professional sports.”
In 132 years, Leicester has never finished above second place in the top division – and that was in 1929. In 2008, Leicester finished in the bottom three of England’s second-tier league and was relegated to the third division.
Just last spring, “the newly promoted Foxes pulled off the greatest escape in Premier League history, winning seven of their last nine games and rallying from last place on April 18 to finish 14th and stay in the top flight.”
But this year, Leicester was picked by most pundits to finish at the bottom and be relegated again, and yet today, after this weekend’s action, Leicester stands five points clear with seven to play.
“How did this happen?” writes Wahl. “For believers in the supernatural Leicester City’s rise has a ready explanation: King Richard III. Crowned in 1483, the last ruler of the House of York held power for two years before being killed at Bosworth Field, near Leicester, in the decisive battle of the War of the Roses. Missing for more than five centuries, Richard III’s remains were discovered in 2012 under a parking lot in Leicester, and he was interred in Leicester Cathedral last March 26 – right when the last-place Foxes began their stunning turnaround to escape relegation last season. In their 39 league games since Richard III’s reburial, the Foxes have a winning percentage of .769. In their 29 top-division games before that, the mark was .259.”
Well, that winning percentage is a little higher now after Leicester’s 1-0 win Saturday against Crystal Palace.
In another big game yesterday, Arsenal kept in touch, albeit slightly, with a 2-0 win over Everton.
Sunday, Southampton had a stirring 3-2 win over Liverpool after being down 2-0 at the intermission.
But in the two biggies….my Tottenham Spurs blew out Bournemouth 3-0* and Manchester United, behind 18-year-old Marcus Rashford’s goal, kept its Champions League hopes alive with a 1-0 win at Manchester City, which has been slumping mightily down the stretch.
*Harry Kane scored two more, giving him a Premier League-leading 21 for the season. Leicester’s Jamie Vardy is next at 19.
So the standings…38 games in a season:
1. Leicester (31 games) – 66 points
2. Tottenham 31 – 61
3. Arsenal 30 – 55
4. Man City 30 – 51
5. West Ham 30 – 50
6. Man U 30 – 50 [ties broken by goal differential]
7. Southampton 31 – 47
What a battle it’s going to be for the fourth, and last, Champions League slot.
And in the battle to avoid relegation (the bottom three being dropped)….
17. Norwich 31 – 28 pts.
18. Sunderland 30 – 26
19. Newcastle 30 – 25
20. Aston Villa 31 – 16
I watched Sunderland and Newcastle’s 1-1 draw on Sunday and for a match between bottom feeders it was great fun. These two truly hate each other.
Stuff
—Jason Day won his 8th PGA Tour title at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill. I was flipping back and forth between this and basketball but caught his spectacular approach at the ninth out of the rough; as good a shot as you’ll see all year.
So days after I wrote about how the Big Three was off to a disappointing start, Day comes through. [I wrote B3+1 last time, including Rickie Fowler, but the Big Three itself remains Day, Spieth and McIlroy.]
I also saw the interview with Arnie and it’s sad. A big difference in his health between last year and today. But then he’s 86. [I hope he makes it through the year, frankly.]
—Jimmie Johnson picked up his 77th career NASCAR Sprint Cup title in winning this week’s event at Fontana, California.
–So I flipped on the final World Cup women’s slalom race just in time to see American Mikaela Shiffrin on her second run at St. Moritz and once again it was pure domination, Shiffrin winning by over two seconds, which is unheard of in this discipline; her fifth slalom of the year, eight straight going back to February 2015, and 19th in her career at the age of 21. No telling what she would have done had she not gotten hurt early on in the season because she totally dominated the five races she competed in.
Frida Hansdotter of Sweden ended up capturing the WC slalom title because of Shiffrin’s absences.
With Lindsey Vonn’s season-ending injury, Switzerland’s Lara Gut easily passed her this last weekend of competition to take the overall title. Lindsey won her eighth crystal globe in the downhill, though, having clinched that title before her crash in Andorra last month.
For the men, Austria’s Marcel Hirscher easily won the overall WC crown.
American Steven Nyman picked up his fourth straight downhill platform finish, a second at St. Moritz.
Well, that’s all for your World Cup ski coverage this season. Hope you enjoyed it.
—One of Russia’s top medal hopes for Rio, swimmer Yulia Efimova, faces a possible lifetime ban after being provisionally suspended for a second doping violation; the latest high-profile Russian to be caught up in a doping scandal.
The Russia Swimming Federation did not confirm reports Efimova tested positive for meldonium, the same substance found in Maria Sharapova’s sample at the Australian Open.
–Before you know it, it’s going to be Derby time.
Through March 12 and the first Kentucky Derby prep races, the early favorites (via a point system) are:
1. Mohaymen (trainer Kiaran McLaughlin)
2. Destin (Todd Pletcher)
3. Gun Runner (Steve Asmussen)
T-4. Danzing Candy (Cliff Sise Jr.)
T-4. Shagaf (Chad Brown)
6. Mor Spirit (Bob Baffert)
7. Nyquist (Doug O’Neill)
Mor Spirit lost to Danzing Candy on March 12 in the San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita.
Big races March 26 (Louisiana Derby), April 2 (Florida Derby) and then three of ‘em April 9.
–Louis Sahagun / Los Angeles Times
“The Los Angeles Zoo is taking steps to protect its animals from a mountain lion suspected of killing a koala last week but does not want the predator relocated or euthanized, zoo officials said Wednesday.
“Instead of asking for the mountain lion known as P22 to be captured and relocated outside of Griffith Park, or worse, the zoo says it is moving its vulnerable animals indoors at night to protect them should the young male lion find a way through the perimeter fences again.
“ ‘It is the zoo’s hope that P22 remains in Griffith Park,’ zoo spokeswoman April Spurlock said. ‘This is a natural park and home to many species of wildlife. We will continue to adapt to P22 as he has adapted to us.’”
But it’s a mountain lion. If it hurts a human, P22 will be captured and brought to trial.
—And then there’s Luna. From NBC / San Diego:
“A puppy thought to be dead for five weeks after she fell off a fishing boat in Southern California was joyfully reunited with her owner in San Diego Thursday night after being rescued by the Navy.
“Commercial fisherman Nick Haworth embraced Luna, his blue-eyed 1 ½-year-old German shepherd, as she jumped into his arms, tail wagging.
“ ‘She still smells like fish,’ Haworth told NBC 7 with a smile. ‘I can’t believe this dog is alive.’….
“Luna vanished as Haworth and his crew were bringing in their fishing traps. Haworth said one minute his pup was there and the next she was gone…..
“Frantic, Haworth called officials at SCI (San Clemente Island) from his fishing boat to report that his dog had fallen overboard and was nowhere to be found. He said she might try swimming to shore….
“After about a week of searching, Luna was presumed lost at sea and dead by both her owner and U.S. Navy officials….
“More than a month passed.”
But this past Tuesday, “Navy staff spotted Luna on a road on SCI. Just as her owner had hoped, the pup had somehow managed to make it ashore. She ran right up to the Navy personnel.”
The pup was undernourished but in ‘good spirits.’
Haworth said he treated Luna to a nice, home-cooked meal.
Something tells me Luna is picking up some year-end hardware from Bar Chat.
—Classic Bruuuuce! From the New York Daily News:
“A young Bruce Springsteen fan got out of being late to class in the most rock ‘n’ roll way possible – by getting a note signed by The Boss himself!
“The 9-year-old devotee, Xabi Glovsky of Claremont, Calif., was at the singers’ sold-out show in Los Angeles Tuesday night with his dad, Scott Glovsky, when they caught the rocker’s eye with a homemade sign.
“ ‘Bruce, I will be late to school tomorrow. Please sign my note. :),’ their poster read.
“And once the concert ended, that’s exactly what he did.
“ ‘Dear Ms. Jackson, Xabi has been out very late rocking & rolling. Please excuse him if he is tardy,’ Springsteen scrawled on a piece of loose-leaf paper after he had security personnel escort the father-son duo backstage.”
—Frank Sinatra Jr. died of a heart attack at age 72 while on tour in Daytona, Fla.
Sinatra Jr., born in Jersey City in 1944 to father Frank Sinatra and his first wife Nancy Barbato Sinatra, followed his dad into show business; singing, touring and appearing on variety shows, but never achieving the success of his father.
In 1963, the 19-year-old Sinatra was kidnapped in Lake Tahoe and held for ransom for several days, until his family paid $240,000 and he was released near his mother’s home in Bel Air. A friend of the young Sinatra’s sister Nancy and two of his accomplices were arrested and convicted, though they claimed in their defense it was all an elaborate hoax put together by Frank Jr.
Later, Frank Jr. would go on to be his father’s musical director and conductor until the elder Sinatra’s death in 1998.
Top 3 songs for the week 3/20/65: #1 “Eight Days A Week” (The Beatles) #2 “Stop! In The Name Of Love” (The Supremes…pretty, pretty good…) #3 “The Birds And The Bees” (Jewel Akens)…and…#4 “King Of The Road” (Roger Miller…one of the more underrated artists of all time, including songwriter, Broadway, you name it….) #5 “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat” (Herman’s Hermits) #6 “Ferry Cross The Mersey” (Gerry & The Pacemakers….awesome tune…but only peaked at this level…) #7 “My Girl” (The Temptations…and then there is this one…Top 20 all time…) #8 “This Diamond Ring” (Gary Lewis and the Playboys…you know I love these guys…) #9 “Goldfinger” (Shirley Bassey…one of top five movie themes ever…) #10 “Shotgun” (Jr. Walker & the All Stars…what a freakin’ week!)
NCAA Basketball Quiz Answer: UConn’s three titles under Jim Calhoun….
1999 – Duke
2004 – Georgia Tech
2011 – Butler
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
