[Posted late Sunday p.m.]
Pittsburgh Steelers Quiz: Name the four to rush for 1,300 yards in a season, and Franco Harris isn’t one of them. Two of the four did it multiple times. Answer below.
College Football Review
[Using AP rankings…all comments written prior to release of any new polls…]
No. 1 Alabama (9-0) went down to Death Valley to face 15 LSU (5-3) and in a far from scintillating affair, that at least didn’t take four hours, the Tide won 10-0, holding the Tigers to a mere six first downs and star running back Leonard Fournette to 35 yards on 17 carries. LSU had 33 yards on the ground overall, with Alabama outgaining them 323-125; a stifling defensive performance. For ‘Bama, quarterback Jalen Hurts was good enough in the end, rushing for 114 and the lone TD on 20 carries.
So Alabama passed a major test and now it awaits Auburn later in the month. It was also their 13th straight win over a ranked opponent.
No. 2 Michigan is now 9-0 after destroying Maryland (5-4) 59-3, with 660 yards total offense, led by quarterback Wilton Speight, who was 19 of 24 for 362 yards and two touchdowns. This one was 35-0 at the half.
No. 3 Clemson (9-0) led Syracuse (4-5) 30-0 at the half, even though quarterback Deshaun Watson left early with a minor shoulder injury. I have to note that Rex Ryan’s son, Seth, got in the game and caught two passes for 17 yards, giving him four catches on the year. I get a real kick out of this because I saw Seth play here in Summit and he just wasn’t anything special. Connections got him a shot at Clemson, though, and he’s become a football player. Good for him.
No. 4 Washington (9-0) manhandled Cal (4-5) 66-27, with QB Jake Browning throwing for 378 yards and six touchdowns, while the Huskies tallied 704 yards of offense.
No. 5 Louisville (8-1) rolled over Boston College (4-5) 52-7 (38-0 at the half), as your 2016 Heisman Trophy winner, Lamar Jackson, accounted for seven touchdowns for a third time this season, throwing for 231 yards and four TDs, while rushing for 185 and three more scores. He is the first Louisville quarterback to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. Jackson will win the Heisman in a landslide.
No. 6 Ohio State annihilated 9 Nebraska (7-2) 62-3, as the Buckeyes improved to 8-1. J.T. Barrett threw for 290 yards and four touchdowns, as Ohio State outgained Nebraska by a whopping 590-204.
But the big upset on the day, especially in terms of the next BCS ranking (Tuesday night) was No. 7 Texas A&M (No. 4 in the BCS) falling to 7-2 in losing to Mississippi State (4-5) down in Starkville, 35-28, though Miss. State outgained A&M 574-382 behind quarterback Nick Fitzgerald’s 391 yards of total offense. MSU had 29 first downs to just 14 for the Aggies, who benefited in the second half from a 93-yard punt return for a score.
No. 8 Wisconsin is 7-2 after defeating Northwestern (4-5) 21-7.
No. 10 Florida (6-2) fell to Arkansas (6-3) 31-10, thus ending any hopes the Gators had of a BCS bid, not that they really had a realistic one.
No. 11 Auburn (7-2) was caught looking ahead to their Nov. 26 tussle with Alabama and just got by 4-5 Vanderbilt, 23-16, as injured quarterback Sean White came off the bench to salvage the win (no one seemed to know just what kind of injury was keeping White out of the game in the first place).
Thursday, 12 Oklahoma (7-2) beat Iowa State (1-8) 34-24, while No. 21 Colorado (7-2) is in line for a decent bowl game after beating Josh Rosen-less UCLA (3-6) 20-10, Rosen now officially out for the season with an injury.
No. 18 North Carolina (7-2) can only wonder what might have been had the Hurricane Matthew game (a loss to Virginia Tech) been postponed as they beat Georgia Tech (5-4), Saturday, 48-20 behind Mitch Trubisky’s 329 yards through the air and Elijah Hood’s 168 yards rushing plus three scores on just 12 carries.
No. 20 Penn State (though No. 12 BCS) is now 7-2 after a 41-14 win over Iowa (5-4), as Saquon Barkley rushed for 167 yards and a TD.
No. 22 Oklahoma State (8-2) beat Kansas State (5-4) 43-37 with quarterback Mason Rudolph having another monster game, 29/38, 457, 5-2. The Cowboys will be an entertaining bowl team.
In other games, San Diego State is now 8-1 after a 55-0 thrashing of Hawaii (4-6), though Donnel Pumphrey rushed for ‘only’ 112 yards on 21 carries.
Miami snapped a four-game losing streak to move to 5-4 with a 51-28 win over disappointing Pitt (also 5-4), the Hurricanes’ Brad Kaaya throwing for 356 yards and four touchdowns. Summit High School’s Michael Badgley was 3 of 3 on field goals, including from 46 and 48 yards, and he’s now 12 of 15 on the season, but 6 of 6 from 40+. For Pitt, James Conner had only 40 yards on 12 carries.
Rutgers blew another one and is now 2-7 (0-6 in the Big Ten) as it lost to Indiana (5-4) 33-27, despite the Hoosiers turning the ball over four times. The Scarlet Knights were up 17-13 at the half, playing at home, and just didn’t get it done. [Indiana placekicker Griffin Oakes was also 0-for-3 on his field goal attempts and missed an extra point.]
No. 17 Baylor’s season ended with an embarrassing 62-22 loss at home to TCU (5-4), the Bears falling to 6-2. Just what I didn’t want to see happened. Interim coach, and class act, Jim Grobe, was undermined by his assistant coaches, who the night before, released a statement on Twitter in which they defended former coach Art Briles and disputed the Board of Regents’ claims that he didn’t do enough when told of an alleged gang rape involving his players in 2011.
As reported by Mark Schlabach of ESPN, “After Saturday’s loss, Baylor acting coach Jim Grobe said he was unaware of his assistants’ plans until after the statement was tweeted. But Grobe also said he wouldn’t step in the way when the ‘coaches wanted their perspective known.’
“ ‘A lot of distractions don’t help,’ Grobe said. ‘This is a game you really got to spend all your focus on for 12 games during the season to play well, and if you don’t, this is what happens.’”
The dispute between Briles’ defenders and the administration is growing worse and poor Grobe is stuck in the middle. You knew this would be the case. I just hope he’s able to leave when the season is over with his head held high. [A lot of us believe Grobe would be the perfect first commissioner of the NCAA.]
Air Force (6-3) beat Army (5-4) up at West Point, 31-12, outgaining Army 444-228.
And as we look ahead to Army-Navy, the Midshipmen (6-2) pulled out a terrific 28-27 win over Notre Dame (3-6) in Jacksonville, Fla., as Navy quarterback Will Worth rushed for 175 yards and two touchdowns. For N.D., the Brian Kelly death watch is in full swing.
Lastly, little old Wake Forest became bowl eligible in moving their mark to 6-3 with a solid 27-20 win over Virginia (2-7) in Winston-Salem. Quarterback John Wolford wasn’t supposed to start, but Kendall Hinton reinjured his knee during the week and Wolford was under control throughout, picking up 94 yards on the ground, including a 64-yard TD run, while passing for another score. Plus, with Wake giving 3 points, we beat the spread, and as you all know, boys and girls, at the end of the day….
So a reminder of the Top Ten BCS ranking, prior to this Tuesday’s new one….
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Michigan
4. Texas A&M
5. Washington
6. Ohio State
7. Louisville*
8. Wisconsin
9. Auburn )
10. Nebraska
Washington, Ohio State and Louisville will all move up one as A&M plummets. But as of now, it’s still all about Ohio State vs. Michigan, Nov. 26, and Auburn-Alabama the same day.
*I’ll get into the bitching of Louisville coach Bobby Petrino after the next BCS ranking comes out.
And for the record, the new AP Poll (Sunday p.m.)….
1. Alabama 9-0 (60)
2. Michigan 9-0 (1)
3. Clemson 9-0
4. Washington 9-0
5. Louisville 8-1
6. Ohio State 8-1
7. Wisconsin 7-2
8. Auburn 7-2
9. Oklahoma 7-2
10. Texas A&M 7-2
11. West Virginia 7-1
12. Penn State 7-2
13. Utah 7-2
14. Western Michigan 9-0!
15. North Carolina 7-2
16. Colorado 7-2
17. Oklahoma State 7-2
21. Nebraska 7-2…down a staggering, and deserved, 12 slots! You just don’t see this with any team this late in the season.
In Div. I-AA (FCS) play….
Villanova (7-2) beat Maine (5-4) 26-7.
Lehigh (8-2) continued its playoff push with a 20-13 win over Bucknell (3-6).
In what must have been a terrific game for spectators, James Madison (8-1) edged Richmond (7-2) 47-43, with both potentially meeting again in the upcoming playoffs.
Citadel remained undefeated at 9-0 with a 37-34 win over Samford (6-3).
The Fordham Jesuits (6-3) beat the Colgate Consumer Non-Cyclicals (3-5) 24-20.
And North Dakota State is now 8-1 after a 24-3 win over Youngstown State (6-3).
If your school was mentioned in the I-AA wrap-up, pour yourself a frosty!
–In an off-the-field matter, Brandon Vanderburg, a former player at Vanderbilt University, was sentenced to 17 years in prison on a slew of aggravated rape and sexual battery charges as part of an incident on June 23, 2013, involving the gang rape of an unconscious cheerleader. “After closing the door behind him, Vanderburg handed out condoms to his teammates and egged them on before taking out his cellphone camera, testimony shows. He then recorded the gang rape and emailed videos to friends in his native California as the crime was still ongoing.” [New York Daily News]
A former teammate of Vanderburg’s, Cory Batey, was convicted earlier this year and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Two other teammates remain free on bond and have yet to be sentenced.
I bring this up because the coach then, James Franklin, was said to have done little at the time of the rape by four players he had recruited, yet months later, January 2014, he was hired to take over Penn State’s program. If you’re a casual fan and don’t know the background, this is why some of us will never be James Franklin fans. Maybe it’s not fair, but it’s my opinion.
NFL
—People wondering why the NFL truly sucks these days only needed to watch about the first 8-10 minutes of Jets-Miami on Sunday.
I’m a Jets fan. Always have been. But what a disgraceful first few possessions as quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, aka Fitzmagic (he wrote, facetiously), badly missed an easy 5-yard TD pass on a 3rd and two, settling for a field goal, and then there were outrageous personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties against Jets D-back Buster Skrine and safety Calvin Pryor…two of the biggest jerks on the planet. Later, one of the top ten jerks, Sheldon Richardson, an otherwise super-talented defensive tackle, committed another stupid penalty for the Jets. [New York would love to get a high draft pick in return for the DT in a trade… Richardson being an endless issue on and off the field.]
Earlier this week, Seattle All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman, who is seemingly respected because he speaks his mind, though I’m one who thinks, ‘Well, he has no mind,’ said the NFL’s ratings are plummeting because the league isn’t allowing players to have fun, Sherman adding that the other major sports leagues do.
I agree that the NFL has gone way too far with excessive fines on what players are allowed to wear, but do any of you who watch the NFL intensely on a weekly basis follow the sport to see what Odell Beckham Jr. will do after his next touchdown? If this is the case, you’re an idiot.
I was watching the first quarter of Jets-Dolphins just thinking constantly, ‘These guys are total jerks and assholes.’ I was not waiting for “more fun,” as Sherman would put it.
Seriously, I have said this many a time over the years…there are very few likeable people in the NFL. Period. The majority of them are amazing [cue Jeff Spicoli]. A disturbing percentage of them are also simply not good people.
But there is nothing else on Sundays in the fall so I will continue to watch until the first body is carted off.
Oh, you know me well; some of you for more than 17 years through this column. I need to blow off steam from time to time, and more often than not, my Jets suck.
But I know I’m not alone in saying, the NFL brand is going downhill at lightspeed. What will really be telling, though, are the ratings for the next Super Bowl, especially if it’s an attractive matchup like New England-Dallas. [I can already tell you that Lady Gaga, who I like, is going to put on a really crappy halftime show, if her recent performance on SNL was any indication of what she plans on playing.]
Anyway, I’m tired and ornery and I have just a few snippets from today’s other action.
I told you the Jets were out of it at 1-5, and I didn’t deviate from that when they won their next two, but now their season really is history after today’s 27-23 loss down in Miami. Fitzmagic threw two crucial interceptions in the second half and now has a league-leading five in the red zone (as well as a league-leading 13 INTs overall), and New York falls to 3-6 while the Dolphins are 4-4.
The Jets had 140 yards rushing on just 21 carries, which begs the question, why didn’t they run it more?!
Oh well, I need to spend more time trying to market StocksandNews and train for my half-marathon down in Kiawah in December. I didn’t give a s— three weeks ago and I sure as hell don’t now.
[There was a late sequence in the game I’m leaving out, the Dolphins’ deciding 96-yard kickoff return by Kenyan Drake, that I’ll hold off on because I want to include some of the New York scribes’ commentary next time as it rolls in. It epitomized this entire franchise’s history.]
Meanwhile, what now seems to be a once a year occurrence happened today…the Jets and Giants being telecast at the same time, which really sucks. The Giants (5-3) prevailed over the Eagles (4-4) 28-23, as Eli Manning threw four touchdown passes (though he had two picks), while Carson ‘Senor Wences’ threw for 364 yards, but with two interceptions and no touchdowns; his rating an abysmal 64.5.
At least the Giants may provide meaningful football for some of us watching solely on network television come December.
The Eagles played without receiver/kick returner Josh Huff, who was given his walking papers following his arrest earlier in the week for unlawful possession of a weapon and prohibited weapons/devices for hollow-point bullets. New Jersey police arrested him also on DUI, speeding and other charges, including possession of marijuana.
Huff said, “I’m a professional athlete. What professional athlete don’t have a gun?”
Huff’s gun was registered in his home state of Texas, but not New Jersey and Huff acknowledged that mistake.
Elsewhere, Ben Roethlisberger returned for the Steelers (4-4) but he was not good, 23/45, 264, 1-1, 67.3, as the Ravens (4-4) prevailed 21-14.
Dallas is now 7-1 after a 35-10 win over the 0-9 Brownies. Dak Prescott had a fine day, 21/27, 247, 3-0, 141.8. Jason Witten caught eight of Prescott’s passes for 134 yards and a score. Canton is ready for Witten, who should retire after this season (and a hopeful title) to save his brain. Ditto any NFLer over age 28.
Congrats to Indianapolis, now 4-5, for a solid 31-26 win over Green Bay (4-4) at Lambeau Field. I caught snippets of this one, but have to admit I missed the squirrel, No. 232 on the All-Species List. Every time I want to believe they are half-intelligent, I see 2 or 3 squashed on the road.
Thursday, the Falcons improved to 6-3 with a 43-28 win over Tampa Bay (3-5) as Matt Ryan had another fine game, 25/34, 344, 4-0, 144.7. For the Bucs, Jameis Winston threw for 261 yards and three TDs.
–Former New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles fullback Kevin Turner, who played in the NFL from 1992 to 1999, died in March at age 46. At the time he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, going back to 2010, but Thursday the Boston University Brain CTE Center announced Turner’s cause of death was a severe case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, not ALS.
Turner’s case thus becomes a key one as regards the status of an appeal to the Supreme Court of the NFL’s concussion settlement.
The importance is that the settlement takes care of players suffering present injury – those with a ‘qualifying diagnosis,’ but here Turner didn’t fit that category all these years. The late Ken Stabler was in a similar situation.
MLB
My last Bar Chat was posted Wednesday morning, prior to Game 7 of the World Series that evening, so I need to close out the record.
I thought I wrote a darn good playbook for the game in my last chat, with Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks needing to go seven, as I wrote, while Corey Kluber of the Indians needed to give Terry Francona a solid five before he turned it over to his big three at the end of the bullpen, who would have been operating on two days’ rest.
Alas, in one of the more quizzical decisions in baseball history, Cubs manager Joe Maddon, who we have always known ‘overmanages’ games, took out Hendricks after 4 2/3 innings, one earned run, and a 5-1 lead. Jon Lester was brought in, all hell broke loose, but the Cubs finished the bottom of the fifth still up 5-3.
David Ross then hit a dramatic solo shot for the Cubs in the sixth off the Indians’ Andrew Miller (out of nowhere) to make it 6-3; the 39-year-old being the oldest player to ever hit a homer in a Game 7, aside from it being the last game of his career, and you assumed the game was over.
But in the bottom of the eighth, Cleveland capped off a 3-run rally when Rajai Davis hit a two-run homer to tie it at 6 off Aroldis Chapman, who had been brought in to close it.
Chapman, clearly gassed from his previous extensive work, did survive the ninth, and then we had a brief rain delay and you know the rest. The Cubs scored two in the top of the tenth when play resumed, and the Indians could only respond with one in the bottom of the frame, ballgame…and Series…over.
David Haugh / Chicago Tribune
“They tossed their hats and gloves into the air after the final out like joyous Little Leaguers and then threw themselves into each other’s arms like brothers – and this will connect them forever.
“They sang along with ‘Go, Cubs, Go’ as thousands of fans who wouldn’t miss World Series Game 7 for the world broke into song. They carried retiring catcher David Ross on their shoulders and wore wide-eyed expressions of disbelief to which every Cubs fan could relate.
“The Cubs partied like it was 1908 after their 8-7 victory Wednesday over the Indians ended the longest, cruelest wait in sports….
“For generations of fans, the scene of the Cubs celebrating a World Series title will provide the most indelible images of Chicago sports for years to come. None of us will live long enough to see anything better, any moment packed with more meaning. This is the view from the top of the sports world, the center of baseball utopia, a place where doubt and dread and devastation no longer reside, a place the World Series-winning Cubs and their loyal fans now occupy….
“The last great American sports story now has an ending, the happiest one ever, pleasing baseball romantics and fulfilling the lives of so many Cubs fans. Many of the longest-suffering ones will say they can die happy now, no exaggeration. The younger fans who consider Ryne Sandberg old will expect more championships to follow, and they will. The rest of us can celebrate the death of redundancy when discussing the Cubs because this forever changes their tradition….
“The Cubs have won without pigs flying or hell freezing over. That might not sink in for Cubs fans until they stop smiling, maybe sometime next summer. Or maybe never.”
Ken Davidoff / New York Post
“Theo Epstein should just drop the mic now and spend the rest of his days on a beach, right?
“Just jet up to Cooperstown a few years down the road for his Hall of Fame induction, then go right back to the lounge chair.
“He sounded very much in agreement, as he celebrated in a euphoric clubhouse early Thursday morning at Progressive Field, after the Cubs outlasted the Indians, 8-7 in 10 innings, to win World Series Game 7 and capture their first championship since 1908.
“ ‘I’m relinquishing my presidential duties,’ the Cubs’ president of baseball operations said jokingly. ‘[General manager] Jed [Hoyer] is in charge. I’m going on a month-long bender. Wake me up for the winter meetings.’
“There are a select few people who have been alive for all three of the Cubs’ World Series titles, just to add some perspective. But no one has ever witnessed the sports double-whammy that Epstein now has on his resume. Before building up these Cubs to end the myriad curses and jinxes, he ran the Red Sox team that slayed its ghosts in 2004, ending an 85-year drought.
“Remarkable. It would have been unfathomable to anyone, say, 15 years ago that one person could check both of those colossal boxes….
“Epstein took the Red Sox GM job in 2002 as an ambitious 28-year-old who probably would have leapt at any such opportunity. When he left for the Cubs nine years later, though, having won titles in both 2004 and 2007 with the Sawx, he knew precisely what he was doing. He dove into the challenge of a lifetime headfirst, and he pulled it off with aplomb.
“Consider that of the 18 men who played for the Cubs in this most momentous event, 17 of them came into the organization on Epstein’s watch, with second baseman Javier Baez the exception.
“Epstein convinced team owner Tom Ricketts to do what he never would have been allowed to do in Boston: A full-blown rebuild, including a terrible 61-101 record in Epstein’s maiden voyage of 2012. He compiled high draft picks he utilized on future stars like Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber. At the trade deadline, he sold assets like Jeff Samardzija and Ryan Dempster in return for young pieces like Addison Russell and Kyle Hendricks to further strengthen his reserve of talent.
“And after three years of lousy results, he pounced on a pair of high-priced free agents, manager Joe Maddon and ace Jon Lester. Last winter, Epstein added to that stable. Ben Zobrist, the super-utility player, turned down a higher offer from the Mets to play for the Cubs in large part because of the relationship he developed with Maddon while the two men were with the Rays in Tampa Bay….
“Now it’s a new era for the Cubs, and aside from his upcoming bender, Epstein is not prepared to drop the mic….
“There are no limits on what Epstein can do. He has established that with the back of his executive baseball card. He can’t top this, though, right?
“Well, unless he takes over the Indians next….”
Andy Martino / New York Daily News
“When Joe Maddon shoved aside baseball lifer Rick Renteria two years ago to become manager of the Chicago Cubs, a hungry fan base rejoiced, believing that their team had found a genius to lead it to a championship.
“But today, as a drowsy America celebrates the Cubs’ World Series win, an odd realization cuts through our case of the warm-and-fuzzies: Maddon, far from delivering the victory, nearly cost his team its chance at history.
“ ‘It’s amazing to say, but they won despite him, not because of him,’ said one rival scout Thursday morning, echoing an opinion that bounced around baseball all Wednesday night and into the morning. ‘He choked.’
“To the general public, this is a nitpick. The Cubbies broke their curse! But to those of us who derive pleasure from scrutinizing the X’s and O’s of this beautiful game, Maddon’s moves provided a fascinating handbook on how to give away a World Series – made all the more interesting by his well-deserved reputation as an innovator, and one of the game’s bright lights….
“One cannot argue with the results achieved under Maddon the past two seasons, as Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer’s stacked rosters advanced to the NLCS in 2015, and brought home the team’s first title in 108 years last night. But the manager’s shocking litany of bad decisions this week nearly cost him his reputation. There but for the grace of Ben Zobrist went the genius label forever.
“It began in Game 6, when the Cubs held a five-run lead in the seventh inning. Maddon summoned (Aroldis) Chapman – who had earned an eight-out save in Game 5 – with two on, two out and star shortstop Francisco Lindor coming up. He later explained that he felt the game was on the line.
“ ‘It was just the middle of their batting order,’ Maddon said after Game 6. ‘There was just no other way to look at that and feel good, man. That could have been the ballgame right there. I thought the game could have been lost right there if we did not take care of it properly.’….
“It is defensible in an elimination game to pinpoint a high-leverage spot and use one’s best reliever (even though that reliever had never before done what was being asked of him here, in the biggest of moments).
“What was entirely indefensible was warming up Chapman for the ninth, then lifting him after one batter for Pedro Strop. The Cubs had scored another run in the top of that frame, and Strop was not ready. Maddon was caught in a major blunder, and one that helped to leave Chapman exhausted for Game 7…..
“Wednesday night, Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks was cruising, and Maddon decided to get cute. Like a child demanding a new toy, even though the one he had was perfectly fine, the antsy manager started warming up Jon Lester, and called on him with two outs in the fifth inning – with a runner on first, no less, even though Lester cannot throw to bases.
“ ‘Hendricks looked a little shaky the first two innings, but he was cruising,’ a scout said. ‘He could have given them seven or eight.’
“Had Maddon allowed him to do that, the Cubs might have wrapped it up with a simple Hendricks to Chapman formula, needing just one inning from the tired closer. But even though Lester ended up pitching effectively, the manager’s early hook on Hendricks set into motion a complicated bullpen mess that was entirely avoidable, and led to an exhausted Chapman allowing a game-tying homer to Rajai Davis. Maddon merely needed to stay inside himself and manage as if this were a regular game, and he likely would have won easily.
“Instead, he skated, thanks to Zobrist’s go-ahead double in the tenth. For the Cubs, the managerial blunders brought no consequences. One hopes that Chapman is as lucky, and that Maddon’s overuse of the free-agent-to-be, who threw an absurd 97 pitches in the series’ final three games, will not impact his health.
“The Cubbies deserve their parade, and all the glory that will come to them for the rest of their lives. But Maddon, a darling of the baseball intelligentsia, now merits a new level of scrutiny.”
—Game 7 brought boffo ratings of 40.045 million viewers, the most for a World Series game since Game 7 in 1991, the 10-inning, 1-0 classic that the Twins won over the Braves behind Jack Morris.
How good is 40 million? As Richard Sandomir of the New York Times noted, the Yankees, who won four World Series between 1996 and 2000, never played a game in that span that was seen by more than 30.4 million.
In pre-cable times, the 1978 World Series between the Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers averaged 44.3 million viewers, with 50.6 million watching the decisive sixth game.
In 2004, the Red Sox swept the Cardinals to end their Curse of the Bambino after 86 years, but because the Series went just four games, the average was only 25.4 million, which was good for those times. [Sandomir]
–So now it’s on to baseball’s postseason, free agency and the like. Saturday, the action officially started with Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes exercising his opt-out clause, thus foregoing the $47.5 million and two years remaining on his contract, but everyone agrees more than one team will now offer him a $100 million deal, and Mets fans are growing depressed, not believing management will be one of them. The issue is the Mets just don’t want to give Cespedes the five or six years he’ll be seeking, and I don’t blame GM Sandy Alderson.
Cespedes is the top player on the market, with others such as Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, Mark Trumbo, Ian Desmond and Dexter Fowler also no doubt drawing attractive offers. [I expect Justin Turner to return to the Dodgers, and if I were a GM, I wouldn’t take a chance on Neil Walker until you see how he comes out of back surgery…which can zap you of your power. That said, the Mets might extend Walker a qualifying offer.]
Separately, Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen head the list of bullpen free agents.
–The Arizona Diamondbacks hired a new manager on Friday, Torey Lovullo, who received a three-year deal. He was expected to get the job the moment the Diamondbacks hired Mike Hazen to be their new general manager, the two having worked together in Boston, where Lovullo was the club’s bench coach the past four seasons.
–Johnny Mac relayed the information the Mets’ Double-A affiliate in Binghamton, N.Y., will now be called the Rumble Ponies, after a “Name the Team” contest. Rumble Ponies beat out final contenders – the Bullheads, Gobblers, Rocking Horses, Stud Muffins and Timber Jockeys.
Yikes, doesn’t exactly make me want to move to Binghamton (except it’s close to Cooperstown, so it has that going for it).
But J. Mac said at least Rumble Ponies isn’t as bad as the new name for the Double-A Marlins affiliate in Jacksonville – the Jumbo Shrimp.
You can’t make this up. This is so incredibly stupid on a myriad of levels.
NBA
In some games of note since last chat….
Congratulations to new Lakers coach Luke Walton, whose team beat the Golden State Warriors on Friday night at the Staples Center, blasting them out of the building, 117-97. Steph Curry was 0-for-10 from three-point range, ending his personal streak of 157 consecutive games with at least one three-pointer.
Boy, the Lakers made a brilliant move in hiring away Walton, who was much in demand. Knicks fans sure as hell wish we had him. Remember, when Golden State coach Steve Kerr was out the first half of last year with his back injury, it was Walton who guided the Warriors to a 39-4 mark in place of the ailing Kerr.
In the offseason, of course, the Warriors then signed Kevin Durant, turning them into the league’s villain, rightly or wrongly. [I say ‘rightly.’]
Anyway, it would be good for the NBA if the Lakers could quickly return to respectability, and create one helluva rivalry in L.A. between them and the very solid Clippers.
–Also Friday night, Derrick Rose and Joakimm Noah made triumphant returns to Chicago, the Knicks picking up a critical early-season win in the process, 117-104.
Rose heard a lot of boos when he was introduced, having had a complicated relationship with the fans due to his many injuries; with his passion for the game being questioned at times and whether he was really injured enough not to play. Noah, on the other hand, was popular in Chicago. Both played well Friday.
–Last Thursday, there was another high-profile game. Russell Westbrook brought the Thunder into Oracle Arena in Oakland, the first reunion game between Durant and Westbrook. And it was ugly; Westbrook still very torqued off over Durant’s decision to leave Oklahoma City for Golden State. Plus Durant texted Westbrook rather than calling him about the move.
When asked about some in-game trash-talking between Thunder forward Enes Kanter and Durant, Westbrook said, ‘You know, it happens. The Warriors were doing a lot of trash talking. Apparently I guess they talk a lot of trash now. You know, we’ll see how that goes. But you know, we’ll get ready for the next game…. We’ll see them again.”
When asked if he had spoken to Durant at any point during the evening (Golden State whipping the Thunder 122-96), Westbrook said, “Nah, when I go on the court I don’t talk to anybody but my teammates.”
As I wrote then, I don’t blame Westbrook or Oklahoma City fans for being pissed.
Durant, on an outstanding 15 of 24 from the field, outscored Westbrook 39-20.
Breeders’ Cup
I’m an above average horse racing fan, meaning I follow the Derby prep races and I’m usually interested in the season-ending Breeders’ Cup Classic, as well as the Juvenile that provides a hint of what is to come the following May at Churchill Downs.
So between Friday and Saturday this weekend at Santa Anita, we had some terrific action.
John Cherwa / Los Angeles Times
“Horse racing got what it desperately needed Saturday afternoon at Santa Anita: a new superstar.
“In a stirring stretch drive that was every bit a symbolic passing of the torch, California Chrome looked as if he was going to win the $6-million Breeders’ Cup Classic.
“But as the finish line approached, jockey Mike Smith switched to a right-hand whip on Arrogate and the colt found another gear that propelled the 3-year-old to a half-length win over the 5-year-old, all-time leading money winner.
“ ‘At the eighth pole, all of a sudden, he started getting into that gear, and he’s coming, and he’s inching away at him,’ said winning trainer Bob Baffert. ‘To run down a great horse like Chrome was just like – that’s what the Breeders’ Cup is all about.’
“California Chrome, who had won six in a row this year, has one more race in his career, the Pegasus, a new $12-million race at Gulfstream Park in January, before heading to the breeding shed.
“Chrome trainer Art Sherman has already challenged Arrogate’s connections to a rematch. However, any semblance of an answer was clearly dodged.”
Oh, that would be a delicious January treat…a rematch of these two. Arrogate’s owners did say they intended to run their horse as a 4-year-old.
“When Garrett O’Rourke, racing manager of Juddmonte Farms, reiterated the likelihood of a return, Baffert raised and thrust his fist as if he had all six numbers in the lottery.
“ ‘Yes,’ Baffert said.
“ ‘Double yes,’ Smith added.”
Baffert has now won three straight Classics, the prior two with Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and Bayern.
Meanwhile, in the Juvenile, which showcases the top 2-year-olds, and thus the early Derby favorites, Classic Empire came out on top, besting Not This Time, neither a surprise and both now targeting May on the calendar.
72,811 fans packed Santa Anita, which frankly is where the Cup should be every year. [And with the time difference, loved the Classic being in prime time on NBC.]
Finally, Friday was highlighted by a superb “quarter-mile stretch duel for the ages” between retiring 6-year-old Beholder and upstart Songbird, an undefeated 3-year-old. Beholder won.
So if you didn’t see any of the action, your homework assignment is to YouTube the Classic and Friday’s “Distaff” between Beholder and Songbird. You won’t be disappointed.
Premier League
Saturday, Manchester City had a disappointing 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough at home, while Chelsea overwhelmed Everton 5-0, with Eden Hazard scoring twice (one of my favorite players these days).
Sunday, my Tottenham Spurs got a key point in drawing with Arsenal 1-1 on the road, the game marking the return of Harry Kane for the Spurs, Kane scoring on a penalty kick. Tottenham is still the only undefeated team in the league, with five wins and six draws, including the last four.
Also on Sunday, Liverpool blitzed Watford 6-1, Manchester United beat Swansea 3-1, and West Brom had a nice 2-1 road win at Leicester City.
So after 11 of 38 matches (ties settled by goal differential)….
1. Liverpool 26 points
2. Chelsea 25
3. Man City 24
4. Arsenal 24
5. Tottenham 21
6. Man U 18
7. Everton 18
Golf Balls
–Congratulations to 47-year-old Aussie Rod Pampling for winning his third PGA Tour event today at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas, his first win since 2006. As Ronald Reagan would have said, ‘Not bad, not bad at all.’
–The Champions Tour is in the midst of its three-tournament playoff, this week the second leg that reduced the field from 54 to 36 for next week’s Charles Schwab Cup Championship, and Scott McCarron defeated Tom Byrum in a playoff. But I was psyched to see Jay Haas finish seventh and is thus comfortably in the big finale. Go Deacs! [It looks like my old friend, Carlos Franco, also qualified…cough cough…hack hack…]
–I know I’ve told this story before (2/26/15), but it’s worth retelling (plus I get new readers all the time), an old betting tale because it resurfaced again this week, courtesy of Golfweek and ESPN The Magazine:
Phil Mickelson is known for being an extremely eager gambler on the course, and this one comes courtesy of Nick Watney, an apparent victim of Mickelson’s penchant for practice-round money games. In 2010, Watney joined Mickelson and Dustin Johnson for a practice round at the British Open and agreed to a $1,000 bet due to ‘peer pressure.’
Watney would lose…and then it got interesting. From ESPN’s Shane Ryan:
“On the 18th green, Watney counted out $1,000 and handed it over with a word of congratulations. Mickelson grabbed the stack of cash, gave it a quick glance and handed it right back. ‘This is Britain,’ he told Watney. ‘I need pounds.’
“Watney stared at him, hoping it was a joke. It wasn’t. He had no choice but to pay Mickelson $1,700 to satisfy the currency exchange. ‘They’ve asked me to play again,’ Watney says with a slight smile. ‘And now I just say ‘f— you’ and walk away.’’”
—Rory McIlroy caught a lot of heat from his fellow European Tour players for not making the Turkish Airlines Open in Antalya over safety concerns. Lee Westwood was disappointed.
“You know, on his day, I like watching Rory play golf more than anybody else, really, the way he plays the game, just how naturally good he is,” Westwood told reporters in Turkey. “…It’s a shame he’s not here, but I guess he didn’t feel the way I feel about the place and the security of it all.”
Padraig Harrington went further.
“Yeah, that was a big factor in (Rory also) deciding not to go to Rio, safety reasons,” he said. “For me personally, I tend to travel around the world and play around the world because I did it in the late 80s and early 90s in Ireland, and we had our troubles in Ireland and I played a lot of golf in Northern Ireland during that period of time. I remember people, other golfers, saying, you’re mad going up there. …But you couldn’t convince people who had not gone there and experienced it for themselves that it was a great place to go, Northern Ireland.”
Harrington added “scaremongering” led to the WDs.
As for the tournament, Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen picked up his fourth win. [Don’t know why Golf Channel said three, for the one or two of you who were watching when I caught this. It’s four, dammit!]
Stuff
–In the ACC Men’s Soccer Championship, Wake Forest defeated Notre Dame 1-0 on Sunday to advance to the semis. Next up Louisville, as the conference battles for seeds in the NCAA Tournament.
–Yes, I don’t follow the NHL that closely early on, but I am still scratching my head over a game Friday night between the Montreal Canadiens and the Columbus Blue Jackets in Columbus.
Montreal entered the game undefeated, 9-0-1. Columbus was 4-3-1. But out of nowhere, the Blue Jackets destroyed the Canadiens 10-0! It matched the biggest loss in Montreal history and set a record for the Blue Jackets’ franchise for most goals in a game.
Montreal hadn’t lost by this margin since an 11-1 loss to Detroit in February 1995. I mean this is one of the most astounding regular season games of any sport I can remember, given how superbly the Canadiens had been playing.
Well, Saturday, Montreal rebounded and beat Philadelphia 5-4. All is well with the world. We can resume our regularly-scheduled programming.
—Tennis has a new number one…Andy Murray! Good on you, Andy. After Novak Djokovic lost in the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters, Murray needed only to make the final to take the top spot and his semifinal opponent, Milos Raonic, was forced to withdraw due to injury.
Murray is thus the first Briton to hold the top spot and at 29, the oldest first-time No. 1 since John Newcombe of Australia, who was 30 in 1974.
—34-year-old Mary Keitany of Kenya won her third straight New York City Marathon today, blowing away the field in 2 hours 24 minutes 26 seconds.
On the men’s side, Ghirmay Ghebreslassie of Eritrea (you really don’t know if I spelled this right, do you?) won in 2:07:51. Lucas Rotich of Kenya was second, and Abdi Abdirahman, a Somali-born American distance runner based in Arizona, was third. I only caught the end and thought I heard he was 39.
Back to the women, American Molly Huddle, making her marathon debut, finished third!!! That is awesome!!! So Molly Huddle is our “Athlete of the Week.”
—North Carolina’s “bathroom law” is costing the state dearly. First, the NBA pulled the 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte over HB2, then the NCAA moved first-round NCAA men’s basketball tournament games and six other events out of the state. And then the ACC – headquartered in N.C. – announced it wouldn’t hold any championships in the state, moving seven events elsewhere, including the ACC football title game on Dec. 3.
Overall, Forbes estimates that North Carolina has lost at least $630 million because of HB2, including concerts and businesses that have also fled the state. [Matt Bonesteel / Washington Post]
–As you know I am not a fan of Rolling Stone. Oh, I am a longtime subscriber, but just to keep up on the music scene. I can’t stand publisher Jan Wenner.
So I liked seeing that a federal jury found the magazine, its publisher and a reporter defamed a University of Virginia administrator in a discredited story about gang rape at a fraternity house.
UVA administrator Nicole Eramo claimed the 2014 article portrayed her as a villain who discouraged the woman identified as Jackie from reporting the incident to police. A police investigation found no evidence to back up Jackie’s claims.
–Last week saw the tragic killing of two police officers in the Des Moines, Iowa area, both ambushed by the same man, who gave himself up when confronted about 30 miles from the scene of the shootings. Later, I just have to note, a police dog discovered the weapon believed to have been used in the killings in a wooded area. It was terrific, necessary work.
Top 3 songs for the week of 11/9/74: #1 “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” (Bachman-Turner Overdrive) #2 “Jazzman” (Carole King) #3 “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night” (John Lennon w/the Plastic Ono Nuclear Band)…and…#4 “Tin Man” (America…they really had some stupid lyrics…but the music sounded good…) #5 “Back Home Again” (John Denver) #6 “My Melody Of Love” (Bobby Vinton) #7 “Do It (‘Til You’re Satisfied)” (B.T. Express) #8 “The Bitch Is Back” (Elton John) #9 “Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me)” (Reunion) #10 “Carefree Highway” (Gordon Lightfoot)
Pittsburgh Steelers Quiz Answer: 1,300 yards rushing….
Barry Foster 1,690 (1992)
Jerome Bettis 1,665 (1997)
Willie Parker 1,494 (2006)
Jerome Bettis 1,431 (1996)
Le’Veon Bell 1,361 (2014)
Jerome Bettis 1,341 (2000)
Willie Parker 1,316 (2007)
*Franco Harris had eight, 1,000-yard seasons, but his peak was 1,246 in 1975.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday.
