[Posted early Wed. a.m.]
NFL Quiz: [Receivers] 1) Name the only three players to have 130 receptions in a single season. 2) Who was the first with 100 receptions? [AFL player] Answers below.
MLB
Wild Card Standings…thru Tuesday
N.L.
San Francisco 74-64… +0.5
St. Louis 73-64… —
Mets 73-66… 1
A.L.
Toronto 77-61… +1
Boston 77-61… +1
Baltimore 76-62… —
Detroit 75-63… 1
Houston 74-64… 2
Yankees 72-65… 3.5
Kansas City 72-66… 4
Yup, quite a race in the A.L. East. Toronto finishes the regular season with three at Boston, while Baltimore has three in New York.
—The Mets won their Sunday night game against the Nationals, 5-1, behind rookie Seth Lugo, as they continue to get critical contributions from pitchers who weren’t even on the radar just a few months ago, like Robert Gsellman. Lugo won his third straight start and has a 2.19 ERA in four starts overall.
But the Metsies had a 1:00 p.m. start in Cincinnati on Monday, which is outrageous, but ESPN calls the shots and can demand that what had been a 1:00 p.m. starting time for Mets-Nationals on Sunday could be moved to 8:00 p.m., so the Mets arrived in Cincinnati at 3:00 a.m. and until they got to their hotel it was after 3:30. [The Nats had a 4:05 p.m. Monday start time back in Washington, which is a big difference.]
Meanwhile, the Mets had called up a shortstop, Matt Reynolds, who was out in Salt Lake City, and Sunday night he began flying to Cincinnati, but through Boston, and he arrived in Cincy at like 10:00 a.m.
But Reynolds was inserted into the lineup anyway and all he did was homer his first at bat as the Mets went on to win 5-0 behind another sterling outing from 43-year-old Bartolo Colon, now 13-7, 3.22 ERA. He is 4-1, 2.25, in his last seven starts.
Tuesday, the Mets were down 3-2 when superhero Yoenis Cespedes crashed a two-run homer to give us the lead, and then in the bottom of the eighth, he made a spectacular throw to gun down Brandon Phillips trying to stretch a single into a double. The Mets went on to win it, 5-3, and have now won 13 of 17.
But, unfortunately, both the Cardinals and the Giants had come from behind victories themselves on Tuesday.
The Cardinals, in their 9-7 win over the now irrelevant Pirates, hit a home run in their 25th straight game (five in the contest overall), just two away from tying the major-league record. Matt Carpenter also hit the team’s major-league record 15th pinch-hit home run. St. Louis now has 201 home runs, after hitting 137 all of last year. [Only Baltimore has more with 218.]
–It is not an overstatement to say that the Baseball World is very lucky that Angels’ pitcher Matt Shoemaker didn’t become the sport’s second fatality (Ray Chapman, 1920, still the only one).
Shoemaker was hit by a line drive from Seattle’s Kyle Seager in the second inning of their game Sunday in Seattle. While he walked off, bleeding, we learned later he suffered a small skull fracture and hematoma after being hit by a ball estimated to be traveling at 105 mph, which hit the right side of Shoemaker’s head. The ball ended up nearly into the Mariners’ dugout. That’s sickening.
Seager said after, “That was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever seen on a baseball field.”
Angels manager Mike Scioscia said, “It just gives you that feeling where you have a pit in your stomach.”
To me, the scary part is that if Shoemaker hadn’t been given good emergency care when he got to the hospital, well, you don’t want to think about it. The CT scan showed the small fracture and hematoma, but he needed surgery, which was performed late Sunday night to stop the bleeding in the brain.
Shoemaker was speaking shortly after and doctors say he’ll make a full recovery, which I assume means he’ll be ready for spring training. He finishes the year at 9-13, but with a solid 3.88 ERA.
CFB
—New AP Poll…I’ll include won/loss records in a few weeks
1. Alabama (62 first-place votes)
2. Clemson (2)
3. Florida State
4. Ohio State
5. Stanford
6. Michigan
7. Houston
8. Michigan State
9. Georgia
10. Iowa
20. Texas…ranked for first time under Charlie Strong
21. Notre Dame
–I went to bed Monday night at the half of Florida State-Ole Miss, the Seminoles down 28-13. No way FSU wins, I thought, even with a key score for the Seminoles right before halftime. FSU had 11 penalties at that point, and star running back Dalvin Cook had fumbled near the goal line.
But having been down 28-6, Florida State reeled off 33 straight to complete the biggest comeback win in school history, as they went on to win 45-34.
FSU Quarterback Deondre Francois, a redshirt freshman, didn’t panic, and he ended up going 33-for-52, 419 yards through the air and two touchdowns, along with 59 yards rushing. The passing stats were the most by a Florida State freshman in their first start.
–Sunday night, after I posted, you had another huge game, Texas against No. 10 Notre Dame. A year ago, Texas got whipped like a rented mule, 38-3 in South Bend, but this time, even after blowing a 17-point, third-quarter lead at home, Texas ended up winning 50-47 in double-overtime.
It was 31-14 when Notre Dame mounted its comeback behind quarterback DeShone Kizer (five touchdown passes in the game, one rushing), but the Fighting Irish didn’t send it into overtime until they blocked a Longhorns extra point with 3 minutes 29 seconds to play and returned it for the two points that knotted it at 37-37.
The Longhorns then won it on two Tyrone Swoopes rushing touchdowns. Swoopes is a run-first quarterback, but freshman Shane Buechele is the other Texas signal-caller and in his first collegiate contest threw for 280 yards and two scores.
–The SEC was 6-6 outside the conference, opening weekend, including Kentucky’s loss to Southern Miss, 44-35, after the Wildcats had a 35-10 lead, and Monday’s Ole Miss debacle.
—I should have given Army credit for an excellent opening road win at Temple Friday night, 28-13. Temple, after all, was 10-4 last season, with wins over Penn State, Cincinnati and a ranked Memphis, plus a tight 24-20 loss to Notre Dame, while Army was 2-10.
–Awful break for Navy quarterback Tago Smith, who waited for three years behind star Keenan Reynolds to get his shot, and then in his first game against Fordham on Saturday, Smith tore the ACL in his right knee, ending his season. Life isn’t fair.
–I am having a hard time picturing Saturday night’s Virginia Tech vs. Tennessee contest at Bristol Motor Speedway (Bristol, Tenn.), in front of 150,000. But I’ll be watching. I did see a clip on the transformation of the track and the addition of a field over five days, and they say the noise could be incredible, with tickets evenly divided. Folks who have been inside say Bristol was meant to be a football field.
Or as Jerry Caldwell, vice president of the speedway, said, “We’re a football stadium on steroids.”
–Speaking of this coming weekend’s games…this is hardly great stuff compared to this past weekend’s action..
Literally, the Va Tech-Tenn. game is the highlight, though at noon for those of us in the East, Penn State at Pitt, renewing an old rivalry after 16 years, could be fun.
For fans in Iowa, it’s the annual Iowa-Iowa State game, but not sure if this will be competitive.
Actually, Wake Forest at Duke is a biggie for both of them to get a good gauge if there is any hope at all for the rest of the season.
I mean like that’s it…which means there is bound to be a monumental upset among all the mismatches Saturday.
NFL
–Time to play ball…and see if Carson Wentz can do the job in Philadelphia.
Actually, I really only care about my Jets, but since we get all the Giants games, I’d rather they played well than sucked, too.
Steve G. sent me some betting lines from Vegas (actual hard copy…so a few days old).
The M Resort has New England at 15/2 to win the Super Bowl, with Arizona and Seattle at 8/1, and Green Bay and Pittsburgh at 9/1.
Giants 17/1, Jets 40/1 (Huh? I’d snap that up).
Cleveland is 175/1.
The Westgate Superbook has New England at 7/1, Seattle, Green Bay and Arizona at 8/1.
Westgate also has the Jets at 40/1, Giants 20/1. Cleveland 200/1.
–The San Francisco 49ers released tight end Bruce Miller on Monday after he was arrested on suspicion of assault early that morning. Police said they were called to the Marriott on Fisherman’s Wharf at approximately 2:45 a.m. after Miller tried to break into a hotel room occupied by an elderly couple. The couple’s 29-year-old son, staying in the next room, then told Miller he was at the wrong room, Miller, very intoxicated, then attacked the son and the 70-year-old father, who came to his son’s defense.
The father was punched by Miller, and the 49ers acted quickly in releasing him.
Miller was entering his sixth season with the team and in 77 games over five seasons, had 76 receptions, while also playing some fullback. He was arrested in March 2015 in Santa Clara on suspicion of spousal battery. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge.
–Sales of Colin Kaepernick’s jersey were No. 3 at the NFL’s online store as of Monday, behind Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott and Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
On Sunday, Megan Rapinoe, of the U.S. women’s soccer team, took a knee during the national anthem before a match between the Seattle Reign and Chicago Red Bulls in support of Kaepernick.
“I am disgusted with the way he has been treated and the fans and hatred he has received in all of this. It is overtly racist,” she told ESPN’s Julie Foudy. “‘Stay in your place black man.’ Just didn’t feel right to me. We need a more substantive conversation around race relations and the way people of color are treated.”
On Monday, President Obama, at a press conference in Hangzhou, China, after the G20 summit wrapped up, was questioned about Kaepernick’s actions and, in classic Obama fashion, he said he really hadn’t been following football.
But this was a lie, because he then gave an answer proving he had given the topic some consideration.
“He’s following his constitutional right to make a statement. I think there’s a long history of sports figures doing so.”
Obama added, “I don’t doubt his sincerity. I think he cares about some real, legitimate issues that have to be talked about. And if nothing else, he’s generated some conversation around some topics that need to be talked about.”
Then the president said, “I would rather have young people who are engaged in the argument and trying to think through how they can be part of our democratic process than people who are just sitting on the sidelines and not paying attention at all.”
Then he said he understood that some might not respect Kaepernick’s move.
“I think there’s a lot of ways you can do it. As a general matter when it comes to the flag and the national anthem and the meaning that it holds for our men and women in uniform and those who fought for us, that is a tough thing for them to get past, to then hear what his deeper concerns are,” he said.
But, Obama said, “Maybe some of his critics will start seeing he has a point around certain concerns around justice and equality.”
Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall strongly defended Kaepernick on Tuesday. In an appearance on the “Boomer and Carton” show, Marshall disagreed with Boomer Esiason, who was critical of Kaepernick’s actions.
“This guy, he’s one of the biggest patriots out there,” Marshall said. “Because he’s standing up for human rights.”
“The only thing that I would love for everyone to really think about is: What does the American flag mean to them?” Marshall asked.
“When I look at the American flag, I see a bunch of fights. You know how much we have overcome. When you look at it, the American flag is bigger than just one thing. And you have the civil rights movement, you have sex trafficking, you have immigration law. There’s so many different fights there. And we have to be aware that it’s bigger than one person and one thing.
“But then there are times when that one thing trumps all. When it comes to human rights, we really have to be careful. If you believe in one thing, if you believe in mental health, that means you believe in cancer research. If you believe in cancer research, you believe in raising awareness for HIV. If you believe in standing up for gay rights, then you believe in standing up for the minorities.”
Oh, it’s going to be an interesting season, and it won’t always be about the play on the field.
U.S. Open
–On Monday, Serena Williams set a new record for Grand Slam singles victories, 308, thus breaking her tie with the absent Roger Federer, as Serena defeated Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan to advance to the quarterfinals, where she will face No. 5 Simona Halep of Romania. Her quest to pass Steffi Graf with 23 Grand Slam singles titles continues.
But Serena’s older sister, Venus, was unable to advance herself, losing a tough 3-set match to Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, who is 12 years younger than the 36-year-old Williams.
Tuesday, unseeded Carolina Wozniacki beat Anastasija Sevastova to reach the semis, where she will play 2-seed Angelique Kerber, a winner over No. 7 Roberta Vinci.
–On the men’s side, Kei Nishikori will face second-seed Andy Murray in one of Wednesday’s quarterfinals, while Juan Martin del Potro, No. 142 in the world as he battles back from injury, will play in his first Grand Slam quarterfinal in three years. He is also the lowest-ranked U.S. Open quarterfinalist since Jimmy Connors’ magical semifinal run in 1991 at age 39.
Del Potro, the surprise silver medalist in Rio, will play third-seed Stan Wawrinka in the quarters.
Tuesday, Novak Djokovic advanced to the semis when Jo Wilfried Tsonga retired with a knee injury after losing the first two sets.
10-seed Gail Monfils defeated French countryman Lucas Pouille in three sets to also advance to the semis, where he will play Djokovic.
–After losing in the fourth round to Lucas Pouille, Rafael Nadal, now 30, has to be wondering when he’ll get his 15th major singles title. For the first time since 2004, he failed to reach the quarterfinals of the three majors he played. He missed Wimbledon because of a wrist injury that cut short his play in the French Open.
–Regarding the U.S. men, with Jack Sock losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the fourth round on Sunday, that meant the U.S. hasn’t been represented in the quarterfinals since 2011 (Andy Roddick and John Isner).
Golf Balls
—Rory McIlroy came from six shots back entering Monday’s final round at the Deutsche Bank Championship in Norwich, Mass., to fire a 65 and capture his 12th PGA Tour title, first in 16 months, as he defeated third-round leader Paul Casey by two.
McIlroy, 27, who has been stymied by poor putting during this winless stretch, finally found the groove and he became the third youngest in the modern era to win 12, the others being Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. He also moved back to third in the world, behind Jason Day and Dustin Johnson.
—Henrik Stenson’s chances of winning a second career FedEx Cup title are in jeopardy as he said he is skipping the BMW Championship to rest his injured right knee for the Ryder Cup. As he sits 24th in the FedEx cup standings, he is not likely to make the top 30 for the Tour Championship and the $10 million year-end prize.
The problem isn’t hitting shots, as he deals with a torn meniscus; it’s simply walking. The same knee required surgery last December because of a different tear. But he won The Open Championship at Royal Troon, finished seventh at the PGA Championship, and then picked up a silver medal at the Olympics.
–Speaking of the Ryder Cup, there are major questions for the European squad, winners of 8 of the last ten. Four players – Stenson, McIlroy, Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose – need to step up big time because there are questions whether Chris Wood is healthy, and whether Danny Willett can regain his form, and whether young Matthew Fitzpatrick is ready for the pressure, and is Lee Westwood too old, and on and on.
So, all of Britain’s bookmakers have the United States as odds-on to lift the trophy.
NASCAR
I caught a fair amount of the Southern 500 at Darlington on Sunday night, as it ended after I had gone to post. Martin Truex Jr. won it, the Jersey boy’s second win of the season and fifth of his career.
Truex edged out Kevin Harvick by .606 seconds, and afterwards Harvick was pissed. He now has 17 second-place finishes in the past 61 races and he blamed his pit crew.
“Yeah, we had a great car,” Harvick said. “The guys in the garage and at the shop continue to do a great job, and we continue to give it away on pit road. Pretty much summed up the night. Just the dominant car, and just three bad stops on pit road.”
Harvick wasn’t finished.
“I’m over being a cheerleader,” he said. “Those guys get paid a lot of money to perform on pit road, and cheerleading hasn’t really been working. You’ve got to get after it and do your job.” [Harvick led 214 of the 367 laps.]
Next up, Richmond, and the last race to determine who qualifies for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Stuff
–Drat!!! The Manchester United-Manchester City early-season Premier League showdown is at 7:30 ET on Saturday morning. This blows. I’m usually running then. Given the lack of college football action, this should have been scheduled for 11:00 p.m., U.K. time, 6:00 p.m. eastern, so I could get in the spirit and drink beer while watching it.
But were the schedule makers thinking of moi? Noooo.
—SHARK! From the Irish Independent:
“An Australian man has died after a large shark attacked him while he was kite-surfing in New Caledonia, a French island territory in the South Pacific.
“The 50-year-old man had fallen from his board in a large lagoon near the northwestern town of Koumac when the shark bit deep into his right thigh, said Nicolas Renaud, director of the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center.
“Mr. Renaud said the man, from near Perth, had arrived on Sunday for a holiday that was due to last about 10 days and had booked a cruise on a sailing boat so he could do some kite-surfing.
“ ‘The crew on the sailing yacht, they saw the attack,’ Mr. Renaud said.
“He added that the crew dragged the man back on board and administered first aid while calling rescuers, who sent a medical team, who took the man back to the port at Koumac.
“ ‘They tried to save him, to give him a heart massage, but it was too late,’ Mr. Renaud said.
“He said it was the fourth shark attack this year in New Caledonia…an elderly woman was killed and two others injured in the previous attacks….
“He said the boat crew was not able to identify the species of shark, but said it was very large.”
–There have been some serious bee episodes around the country, and there was another one on Saturday night in Cerritos, California, as a swarm at a park there stung more than 20, “sending three to the hospital,” as the AP reported.
“Witnesses tell KCBS-TV that there were thousands of bees chasing hundreds of people and that the insects seemed to be attacking people with long hair.”
Yikes.
By the way, for all the talk that bees are dying off in the U.S., for a variety of reasons, I’ve sure seen a lot of them in my immediate area this year, when truthfully I wasn’t seeing any in past years. But this is good, boys and girls. Just don’t wear yellow. And cut your hair.
—Good news on the giant panda front. The International Union for Conservation of Nature downlisted the animal’s status to vulnerable, no longer “endangered.” Researchers believe there are now nearly 2,000 giant pandas living in the wilds of China.
As a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune noted, the panda’s comeback “is largely attributed to research-fueled conservation efforts in China including a push to restore and safeguard bamboo-rich forests where the animal lives…Scientists around the world have contributed to those efforts, including researchers with San Diego Zoo Global.
The San Diego Zoo is home to Bai Yun, “the most scientifically influential panda that has ever lived,” according to zoo officials.
Bai Yun has given birth to six pandas, first with Shi Shi, and now Gao Gao, “making her the mother of nearly half of all surviving panda cubs to be born in the United States.”
Here’s my problem with pandas, and why you’ll never see them near the Top Ten of the All-Species List.
They are royal pains in the butt because they refuse to eat anything except bamboo, like it is literally 99% of their diet, the other 1% being small rodents, rarely. I mean when I was a little tyke, I was a pain myself, because I refused to eat veggies and only liked burgers and veal cutlet with spaetzle.
But, hey, I soon broadened my horizons to include anything Italian or Mexican, and beer.
The panda, however, shows no signs of ever accepting any new dishes. If I were a wildlife official, I’d call them together and tell ‘em, “Yoh, guys. You either start eating some other stuff, like squirrels and berries, or you’re toast.”
[How to be tough with animals…another free feature from Bar Chat.]
–Last time I wrote of the rapidly declining endangered African elephant population. Now, the above-mentioned International Union for Conservation of Nature says the eastern gorilla, the largest primate on Earth, is “critically endangered” after a staggering decline in just 20 years.
The eastern lowland gorilla’s population has fallen 77 percent over that period.
The other type of eastern gorilla, the mountain gorilla, numbers only a few hundred (300 adults).
–Here’s a cool story. From Joe Trezza of the New York Times:
A juvenile bald eagle has been discovered on Staten Island. “Although no nest has been found, there is circumstantial evidence that it could be the first bald eagle hatched in New York City in over 100 years.”
An adult bald eagle was first seen over a large grassland on the south shore of Staten Island three years ago, and today seven to 10 are believed to live there. But now that a young one has been seen consistently with two adults, most believe Staten Island achieved a milestone this summer.
–We note the passing of actor Hugh O’Brian, 91. O’Brian was a well-known figure to those of us of a certain generation, though for me it wasn’t his starring turn on “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp,” which ran on ABC from 1955 to 1961.
I remember him more for a string of movies and TV anthology series. He was also a staple on TV variety shows. But O’Brian became so synonymous with Earp it was difficult for him.
I didn’t realize, though, that because of his Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership organization, more than 375,000 high school sophomores have gone through a program to develop a sense of giving back to one’s community.
Top 3 songs for the week of 9/4/76: #1 “You Should Be Dancing” (Bee Gees…ugh…) #2 “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine” (Lou Rawls…for a disco-ey sound…not bad…has held up well…) #3 “Let ‘Em In” (Wings…godawful…)…and…#4 “I’d Really Love To See You Tonight” (England Dan & John Ford Coley…schmaltzy, but I fell for it…) #5 “(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty” (KC & The Sunshine Band…I’m thinkin’ J.Lo…you?…) #6 “Play That Funky Music” (Wild Cherry…huge song for my freshman year at Wake…this would be my best year academically, too…then I dropped like a rock, plunging to depths not seen in college history up to that point…) #7 “A Fifth Of Beethoven” (Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band…just shoot me…one of the worst tunes ever…) #8 “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” (Elton John & Kiki Dee) #9 “Lowdown” (Boz Scaggs…thank god…Boz tries to salvage the week single-handedly…) #10 “This Masquerade” (George Benson…Mr. Benson, too…can’t believe this one peaked at just #10…)
NFL Quiz Answers: 1) 130 receptions: Marvin Harrison, 143, 2002, IND; Antonio Brown, 136, 2015, PIT; Julio Jones, 136, 2015, ATL. 2) First to have 100 receptions: Lionel Taylor, 100, 1961, DEN; Charley Hennigan, 101, 1964, HOU; Art Monk, 106, 1984, WAS.
Next Bar Chat, Monday.
