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Bar Chat

03/13/2017

Go Deacs!

[Posted Sunday p.m.]

NCAA Basketball Quiz: Name the last five teams to lose the NCAA championship game...the winners were Villanova (2016), Duke (15), UConn (14), Louisville (13), Kentucky (12).  Answer below.

College Basketball...the bracket is set....

However, the following was all written prior to the Selection Show.

Heading into the final few days before the announcement of the brackets, the big question is who would get the four No. 1 seeds.  The top seven in the AP rankings had a shot, so this is how they finished up....

1. Kansas...loses Big 12 quarterfinal to TCU 85-82, though the Jayhawks were playing without freshman star, Josh Jackson, who was suspended for the game
2. Villanova...wins Big East Tournament final over Creighton, 74-30
3. UCLA...loses in Pac-12 semis to Arizona 86-75
4. Gonzaga...won the West Coast Conference tourney with win over Saint Mary’s 74-56
5. Oregon...loses Pac-12 title game to Arizona 83-80
6. North Carolina...loses in ACC semis to Duke 93-83
7. Arizona...wins Pac-12 tournament

But No. 14 Duke won the ACC title 75-69 Saturday night over 22 Notre Dame, as Jayson Tatum continues his late-season surge for Player of the Year.  You’d also think the 6’ 8” all-everything is now a top three pick in the lottery. 

The freshman had 19 points and 8 rebounds, and made some critical plays down the stretch, including a full-court drive that will be remembered for a long time in Durham.  Coach Mike Krzyzewski said afterward they’ll be showing it to future generations of Duke players on how to give maximum effort.

So this was the Duke team that a lot of us said last spring was going all the way this season. 

But it’s been such a disjointed year, what with key injuries and the Grayson Allen mess, plus Coach K’s own absence following back surgery.  Yet Duke became the first team to win an ACC title by winning four games, including against Louisville and North Carolina, before knocking off Notre Dame, and now there is talk of granting them a 1-seed.

As for my Wake Forest Demon Deacons, we lost our rematch with Virginia Tech, 99-90, in the second round of the ACC tournament.  Us fans have been on pins and needles ever since.  They say we’re an 11-seed.

--So at noon on Sunday, my four No. 1s would be Villanova, Kansas, Gonzaga, and Arizona.

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, at noon, has Villanova, North Carolina, Kansas, and Gonzaga.

We’ll see if I am eligible for a B.S. in Bracketology in a few hours....

--Bad news for Oregon on Saturday as the Ducks confirmed they would be without star senior Chris Boucher in the NCAAs.  He injured his left knee during the team’s semifinal victory over Cal on Friday and an MRI confirmed that Boucher had sustained a torn ACL.

Boucher was a stalwart down low, averaging 11.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and a Pac-12 leading 2.5 blocks per game.

--Yes, a remarkable run for Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament given what they went through this week.

John Feinstein / Washington Post

“On Wednesday afternoon, the Michigan traveling party of 109 – players, coaches and families, cheerleaders, dance team and band members – were on board their charter plane bound for Washington. They were flying out of Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, about 15 miles from the Michigan campus.

“It was windy: at Detroit Metro Airport winds averaged about 33 mph, with gusts up to 50. The plane headed down the runway, began to lift off the ground and then, suddenly, shockingly, the wheels and the plane came down – hard.  The plane slid off the runway and finally stopped in a ditch.

“ ‘Thank goodness for the ditch,’ Tom Wywrot, Michigan’s sports information director, said before the Wolverines played Illinois on Thursday afternoon in the second round of the Big Ten tournament.  ‘I wasn’t sure when or if we were going to stop. It was terrifying.’

“As soon as the plane stopped, the doors were opened and the slides came out.  With the crew shouting instructions and Coach John Beilein playing crew member, the plane was evacuated in a couple of minutes.

“ ‘I thought, ‘This can’t be real,’’ sophomore center Moritz Wagner said after the game.  ‘Then I looked around and saw all the fear and it was very real.  Next thing I know, I’m on the wing, jumping and then we’re all running.  It was like in the movies where the plane blows up. We ran.’”

So then Michigan still had to get on another plane, leaving for Washington the next morning on the Detroit Pistons’ aircraft.  They arrived at Verizon Center less than 90 minutes before the scheduled tipoff time, which was pushed back 20 minutes, and the Wolverines beat Illinois 75-55.

They then beat 13 Purdue 74-70, and Minnesota in the semis 80-77, to reach Sunday’s final against 24 Wisconsin and whaddya know, Michigan took the title, a story for the ages, 71-56.

--Bad loss for Akron (26-8), Kent State (22-13) defeating the Zips for the MAC title and the NCAA bid.  Akron was expected to make a little noise in the tournament.  Not any more.

--Princeton won the first-ever Ivy League Tournament, with the first four in the standings qualifying for it this weekend at the Palestra. The Tigers beat Penn 72-64, while Yale defeated Harvard 73-71 in the semis, with Princeton then dispatching of Yale 71-59 in the final.  It seems like having this format worked well, but Princeton, after going 14-0 in the Ivy League regular season, deserved some of kind of advantage and not to be playing on Penn’s home court.

--Illinois fired coach John Groce after five seasons.  He went 95-75, with the Fighting Illini making their lone NCAA tournament appearance in 2013, his first season after replacing Bruce Weber.  This season they were 18-14.

--The ACC could not have asked for more in holding its tournament for a first time in Brooklyn.  Having Duke, North Carolina and Notre Dame in the final four certainly helped, with a dream Duke-ND final, in terms of crowd support.

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, following his team’s ouster in the tourney, weighed in on Brooklyn vs. the ACC’s traditional site of Greensboro.

“There’s no reason to play in Greensboro,” he said.  “The only reason they play there is because the league offices are there, it’s always been there and there are like 150 people who like to have meetings. It should not be there.”

“The media centers, the recruiting centers are Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and New York,” he said.  “How many good players are in Greensboro?  New York made the Big East.”

The city of Greensboro tweeted that Syracuse “can lose in the first round anywhere.”

At first, when I heard the tournament was being played in Brooklyn, I thought ‘WTF?’  But with Syracuse, Pitt and Boston College in the general area, and huge New York fan bases for North Carolina, Duke and Notre Dame, and to a lesser extent Virginia, it made total sense.  Back to Brooklyn next year, and then Charlotte in 2019, Greensboro 2020.

--Finally, I have to put to sleep my San Diego State Aztecs, your “Pick to Click” for the season, though I did say at the time “because it’s too easy picking Duke.”

The Aztecs lost to Colorado State in the Mountain West semis, 71-63, while CSU then went on to lose the MW title to conference regular-season champ Nevada, which gets the lone NCAA bid, 79-71.

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And then the brackets were released....Wake Forest is in!!!  A play-in game vs. Kansas State, winner taking on Cincinnati in the South.

East

1 Villanova
2 Duke

West

1 Gonzaga
2 Ariona

Midwest

1 Kansas
2 Louisville

South

1 North Carolina
2 Kentucky

More next time...but for now....

Northwestern gets its first bid ever, an 8-seed vs. 9 Vanderbilt.

Syracuse and Illinois State were the two big omissions, but Syracuse had a whopping two wins on the road (and terrible losses to Boston College and St. John’s), while Illinois State’s out-of-conference results were abysmal.  [Wake Forest, on the other hand, had no bad losses among its 13.  I just reviewed it.  Really.]

I’ll get into your exclusive 2-15, 3-14, 4-13 upsets next time...if our crack staff comes up with any.  [A lot of this is dependent on the player/beer quotient, another free feature of Bar Chat.]

Clue, I kind of like Seth Davis’ upsets.

NBA

Big controversy in the NBA over the weekend.  It started Friday night when the Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Golden State Warriors 103-102 in Minneapolis, a hard-fought contest the whole way with Steph Curry missing a potential game winner from 18 feet in the closing seconds.

Golden State moved to 2-4 without Kevin Durant (including the game where he was injured, having played just 2 minutes in a loss).  They were also in the midst of a stretch of 7 road games in 8.

So coach Steve Kerr announced he would be sitting Curry, Klay Thompson and Andrew Iguodala in Saturday’s contest at San Antonio, a nationally televised, ABC-showcase game.

Kerr said his decision was strictly due to health concerns and the fact the Warriors had this brutal stretch on the road.

“We’re going to get (to San Antonio) at 3 a.m.,” said Kerr.  “Those guys are all playing big minutes, and this would give them three days before our home game, and then we’ll have a whole week at home next week and a chance to get recharged.”

Iguodala then stirred up some controversy when he was asked whether he knew before Friday’s game that Kerr would be resting him against the Spurs.

“Nope, no clue,” he said. “I do what master say.”

This drew an angry response on social media, with some interpreting it as a shot at Kerr, and Iguodala later said it was only an inside locker room joke.

As for the racist tone, as ABC’s Sage Steele said Saturday night before the game, “I don’t know any slaves who made $100 million,” referring to Andre’s contract.  [I love Sage.]

[Iguodala also used the N-word three times in describing the Warriors’ play Friday.]

Coach Kerr said of all the racially insensitive talk that this was just Andre being Andre.

Draymond Green also said some incredibly stupid things and here’s the bottom line...Golden State is one unlikeable team and I hope they get rolled in the Western Conference playoffs.

But you still had the game, Spurs-Warriors, with no one playing on Golden State and Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge out for San Antonio, though Leonard was in concussion protocol and Aldridge is out indefinitely with minor heart arrhythmia.  The Spurs won it 107-85, as Steph Curry’s replacement, Patrick McCaw, was 0-for-12 from the field.

So now it’s....

Golden State 52-14
San Antonio 51-14

As for all the absences on Golden State, Mark Jackson said in the pregame, “It’s wrong...look at the fans...”  Jeff Van Gundy called it “a fiasco...culpability is in the league office...”  Jalen Rose said the Warriors’ move “devalues the product (and) that it was awful for the NBA, TV partners and paying customers!”  Rose added it “dumbs down the product.”

Rose also bemoaned the attitude of many in today’s NBA... “win a ring or be famous.”

--Saturday, Russell Westbrook had 33 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists against the Utah Jazz in a 112-104 win, Westbrook recording his 32nd triple-double of the season, passing Wilt Chamberlain for second-most in an NBA season. 

Westbrook needs nine in the Thunder’s remaining 16 games to tie Oscar Robertson, who had 41 in the 1961-62 season.

After 66 games, Westbrook is still averaging a triple-double...31.9 points, 10.5 rebounds, 10.1 assists as he attempts to become the first to average one for a season since the Big O’s ‘61-62 campaign.

--How good have the Washington Wizards been?  According to the team, they are now the first franchise in NBA history to start a season 2-8 or worse, and then reach 15 games over .500.

They are now 17 over, 41-24, so 39-16 since that awful first 10 games.

--Back to San Antonio, on Wednesday they fought back from a 28-point deficit to defeat the Sacramento Kings 114-104, the largest comeback of coach Gregg Popovich’s tenure in San Antonio.  In the process the Spurs won their 50th game for an 18th consecutive season, six better than the Lakers’ Showtime-era run of 12.

The streak would be 20 were it not for the 1998-99 strike, the Spurs going 37-13 and then winning the first of their five titles.

MLB

--In the World Baseball Classic....

On Friday, Team USA had to scramble to defeat Colombia 3-2 in 10 innings.  Adam Jones’ RBI single in the 10th was the decider.  Tampa Bay’s Chris Archer retired all 12 batters he faced, while for Colombia, the Chicago White Sox’ Jose Quintana was able to hold the U.S. hitless over the first 5 2/3 until Brandon Crawford singled.  Quintana was then pulled, having thrown just 63 pitches, two short of the tournament’s first-round limit. [Remember, it’s spring training for all these guys.].

So this set up Saturday’s dream matchup between the U.S. and the defending champion Dominican Republic.  The atmosphere in packed Marlins Park (the largest crowd ever there) was electric (I watched a few innings), as loud as any World Series contest, but in the end, Team USA had lost 7-5 to the D.R.

An estimated 3/4s of the crowd was for the Dominican Republic.  “It was exactly like a  playoff game,” said USA starter Marcus Stroman, who was superb in yielding just three hits in 4 2/3 innings.

But Team USA, up 5-0 in the sixth inning, wilted, and with the lead cut to 5-3 in the eighth, pitcher Andrew Miller came on and fifteen pitches later, the D.R. had a 7-5 lead, with Nelson Cruz smashing a 3-run homer to make it 6-5, which was followed by a Starling Marte homer.

Despite being in 41 postseason games in his career, including two World Series, Cruz called it perhaps the biggest home run of his life.

So now the U.S. must beat Canada Sunday night to advance to the second round in San Diego.

The D.R. hasn’t lost a WBC game in eight years, winning 10 consecutive behind a relentless collection of hitters; this edition guys like Cruz and Manny Machado.

--Kansas City Royals fans were holding their breath as All-Star catcher Salvador Perez was plowed into by his teammate and backup, Drew Butera, who was attempting to score the game-winning run in a wild game between Venezuela and Italy.

Butera was easily out but, in attempting to slide into or around Perez, he banged into his left leg, and Perez required assistance getting off the field.

Thankfully, an MRI revealed inflammation to Perez’ knee, but no structural damage.  He will sit out the rest of the WBC for Team Venezuela.  He had had surgery in March 2012 to repair a torn meniscus in the same knee.

Venezuela erased an early 5-0 deficit and eventually hung on to win, 11-10, in 10 innings.

Early Sunday in Tokyo, Israel upset Cuba 4-1, in the first game of the second round of the WBC, which kept Israel undefeated, 4-0, and pushed them one step closer to a berth in the semifinal round in Los Angeles.

Now this would be a story.  Israel’s ace has been Jason Marquis, a 15-year major leaguer who last played in 2015, with the Cincinnati Reds. Against Cuba he allowed just one run in 5 2/3.

What’s funny is you have retreads like former Met Ike Davis, and current Met non-roster invitee Ty Kelly, playing key roles, as well as reliever Zack Thornton, who pitched for the Mets in AAA last season and threw 1 1/3 of scoreless relief Sunday.

--Well, Mets fans can sort of breathe a sigh of relief.  Matt Harvey went three innings in his second outing and did OK.  They purposely didn’t have a radar gun on him because he is nowhere back to his old velocity following nerve surgery, but I’m actually pretty confident, in an attempt to read between the lines, that he’ll keep progressing and maybe be able to bust loose again in, say, May.

--Tim Tebow is 0-for-7 as a Met, getting an opportunity to play because of all the players being away for the World Baseball Classic.  No biggie. Let the guy play Low-A ball in Florida this season and if it’s not working out, I imagine he will be the first to walk away around mid-season.

NFL

--I don’t begin to try to keep up with everything this time of year in the NFL, but here are some of the big moves in free agency the past few days, in no particular order.

The Eagles signed free agent wide receivers Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith, which will help quarterback Carson Wentz, one would think, plus they added guard Chance Warmack to bolster the offensive line.

The Buccaneers signed receiver DeSean Jackson and defensive lineman Chris Baker, both leaving Washington.

Quarterback Mike Glennon signed with the Bears, a reported $15 million per year deal ($14.5m per for three years according to one report, $18.5 million guaranteed), as he replaces Jay Cutler, who the Bears had released.  So Glennon gets his big opportunity.  [I still like my idea of taking $7 million per to stand around on the sidelines in Tampa Bay and protect your brain.]

Some say Glennon is another Brock Osweiler, which is unfair.

Speaking of Osweiler, Thursday, the Browns traded for him, thus taking Osweiler’s cumbersome contract off Houston’s hands.  But the Browns now have two first-round choices and two second-round picks in this year’s NFL draft and a first-rounder and three second-rounders in next year’s (including a second-rounder they received from Houston).

So the Browns are in a position to make a huge offer to New England for Jimmy Garoppolo, even though the Patriots are saying they intend to keep him.

The 49ers picked up quarterbacks Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley for new coach Kyle Shanahan; placeholders as they wait to see if they can acquire Kirk Cousins, who was franchised by Washington.  If they can’t acquire Cousins in a trade this offseason, they could get him next year.

Cousins has a one-year guarantee with the Redskins at a whopping $24 million, so don’t feel sorry for him that his trade request isn’t being honored, yet, but if Washington wanted to franchise him a third time next offseason, it would cost them $35 million!  [There’s another cheaper option for Washington, a “transition tag,” but it’s complicated.]

Meanwhile, no one seems to be in a rush to sign Adrian Peterson, Tony Romo, Jay Cutler or Colin Kaepernick.  Jets fans are praying the stories of Cutler to the Jets don’t come to fruition.

It was thought Romo was going to the Texans, but ESPN’s Adam Schefter said Dallas can’t find a trade partner for the 36-year-old veteran.  The Cowboys are also unwilling to trade Romo to a team in which he does not want to play.  Teams interested believe the Cowboys will still eventually release him, making him a free agent, at which time they’d pursue him. Teams like Houston just don’t want to give anything up if they don’t have to.

Back to the Osweiler trade, Houston actually sent two draft picks to the Browns in exchange for a fourth-round pick, just to get rid of the  QB; thus ridding themselves of a player who goes down in football history as one of the biggest mistakes a franchise has ever made.

But here’s why the Browns did it, financially, as explained by Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com:

“The Browns, of course, added another second-round pick to their collection in exchange for the easy absorption of Osweiler’s $16 million in cap space. If they are able to trade Osweiler again, they can reduce that hit. But after rolling over $50 million from 2016, and entering free agency with more than $100 million in total space, it won’t matter if they have to carry his full number.  In essence, it appears the Browns have found a way to use surplus cap space to acquire a draft choice.”

Robert Griffin III was released by Cleveland, by the way, and worst case, Osweiler is viewed as an upgrade over RG3.

Back to the Texans, by trading Osweiler, they saved $10 million in cap space to use on Romo if he’s released.

One more...Jets receiver Brandon Marshall signed a two-year contract to play with the Giants, a terrific move by them.  The Jets had granted Marshall his wish to be released, thus saving $7.5 million against their salary cap.  Marshall, who turns 33 shortly, still has some game.

--Meanwhile, after weeks of speculation, the Washington Redskins fired General Manager Scot McCloughan on Thursday, a little more than two years into a four-year contract.

“An official with direct knowledge of the situation attributed the decision to McCloughan’s ongoing problems with alcohol, which also led to his firing from front office positions with the San Francisco 49ers in 2010 and Seattle Seahawks in 2014.”  [Washington Post]

One official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the paper, “He’s had multiple relapses... He showed up in the locker room drunk on multiple occasions.”

Very sad, but what were the Redskins thinking when they signed him?

Washington is more dysfunctional than my Jets!  They lost their top two wide receivers – Pierre Garcon and DeSean Jackson – to other teams, and Kirk Cousins has asked for a trade.

--As first reported by the Washington Post: “National Football League teams violated federal laws governing prescription drugs, disregarded guidance from the Drug Enforcement Administration on how to store, track, transport and distribute controlled substances, and plied their players with powerful painkillers and anti-inflammatories each season, according to sealed court documents contained in a federal lawsuit filed by former players....

“Anthony Yates, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ team doctor and past president of the NFL Physicians Society, testified in a deposition that ‘a majority of clubs as of 2010 had trainers controlling and handling prescription medications and controlled substances when they should not have,’ the filing states.”

Here at Bar Chat, we use the International Web Site Association Physicians Society (IWSAPS) for guidance on all prescription drugs.

Golf Balls

Canadian Adam Hadwin won his first PGA Tour title by one stroke over Patrick Cantlay at the Valspar Championship, thus securing his invite to The Masters...a tradition unlike any other...on CBS.  Man, this dude sunk some long, long putts over the weekend.

As for Cantlay, he secured his PGA Tour card for the rest of the season in only his second start since 2014, due to injury and a rather traumatic personal deal involving his caddie I wrote of before.  Awesome for him.

Two others of note tied for third...President Trump favorite Jim Herman and rookie Domic Bozzelli, who I learned a friend, Kate M., knows well and loves.

We also learned this weekend why Johnny Miller hasn’t been in the NBC broadcast booth the last two weekends.  It turns out he was in Mexico for the WGC last week, but had to go home before the third round to attend to some family business.  Enough said.  He is supposed to be back for Bay Hill next week...the tribute to Arnold Palmer at his beloved course.

NASCAR

I watched very little of this week’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, due to my preoccupation with golf and Wake Forest’s chances for a bid.  Martin Truex Jr. won, but I missed the post-race fisticuffs between Joey Logano and Kyle Busch, who were battling for the lead on the last lap with Brad Keselowski.  More next time as warranted....I need to review the tape.

FIS World Cup Alpine

Congrats, again, to America’s Mikaela Shiffrin, winner of both the Giant Slalom and Slalom at Squaw Valley on Friday and Saturday.  As noted last week, with four races left in Aspen, next Wed. thru Sun., she has an insurmountable lead for the overall title.  [2 of the remaining 4 events are GS and SL]

Meanwhile, Austria’s Marcel Hirscher has a massive lead heading into the final four races for the men’s overall title.  The men also finish up in Aspen.

Premier League...Futbol

Very little Premier League action this weekend, as many of the biggies were involved in FA Cup play.

Saturday, Everton defeated West Brom 3-0, while Sunday Liverpool beat Burnley 2-1.

In FA Cup play, Saturday, Manchester City defeated Middlesbrough 2-0, while Arsenal whipped National League (Low-A) squad Lincoln City 5-0, thus ending their dream.

Sunday, Tottenham blasted League One (like AA) Millwall, 6-0, to advance to the semis along with Arsenal and Man City.  Monday, Chelsea-Manchester United determines the last spot in as powerful a final four as you can have.

But Tottenham suffered a potentially big loss today, losing Harry Kane to an ankle injury early.  It’s not known the extent of it yet, but the FA Cup semis are the weekend of April 22-23.  Plus Tottenham is trying to hold onto a top four / Champions League berth in the Premier League.

Kane had scored 8 goals in his past 5 games, and he was Premier League Player of the Month for February.

-- I also can’t help but note the extraordinary Champions League match Wednesday night. 

Joshua Robinson  / Wall Street Journal

“There is perhaps only one club in world soccer that could stare at a 4-0 deficit for three weeks and eventually decide that it was no big deal.  Barcelona manager Luis Enrique said as much on Tuesday, 24 hours before his side was due to kick off against Paris Saint-Germain here (Barcelona).

“ ‘If they scored four, we can score six,’ he said, fully aware that Barca would need to win by at least five to stay in the Champions League....

“On Wednesday night, the Catalan club pulled off the most dramatic turnaround the Champions League has ever seen, scoring three times in the final seven minutes to beat PSG 6-1 and advance to the quarterfinals.”

Barcelona went up 3-0 early in the second half, but PSG scored to make it 3-1 and it seemed to be over.

The home side needed three more goals to avoid its earliest Champions League exit in a decade.  Up stepped Neymar, Barcelona’s Brazilian winger, “with the finest seven minutes of his career.”

He scored in the 88th and 91st minute, and then amid the pandemonium of 90,000(!) fans, he laid on the assist off the free kick for Sergi Roberto’s decisive goal.  Extraordinary.

Stuff

--Bob Baffert went through the highs and lows on Saturday.  As the Los Angeles Times’ John Cherwa put it:

His undefeated 3-year-old colt, Mastery, “had just smoked a very competitive field by 6 ¾ lengths in the $400,000 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday.  Baffert, as is his custom when he wins, left his box and was heading toward the winner’s circle.

“ ‘You see what he did today was just incredible and puts him as the best 3-year-old in the nation.  So I’m walking down and I hear one of the fans say, ‘I hope your horse is all right,’’ Baffert said.  ‘What?  ‘They’re unsaddling him.’’

“The diagnosis was a condylar fracture of his left front leg, a common thoroughbred injury.

“ ‘When he got back to the barn, he seemed OK,’ Baffert said.  ‘But when he got off the wash rack, he showed some filling in his left front ankle. ...He’ll be operated on Monday and they’ll insert two screws. We won’t know until after the surgery whether or not this is career ending.’”

This was going to be another jockey Mike Smith special, too.

The field for the Kentucky Derby, with just a few more major stakes races left before May, is now wide open.

--We note the passing of Boxing Hall of Famer Lou Duva, 94.  Duva handled the careers of 19 champions including Evander Holyfield. He certainly was a colorful figure, with a career spanning seven decades.  He also handled welterweight champions Pernell Whitaker and Meldrick Taylor.

Duva, the son of Italian immigrants, built the promotional company Main Events, founded in 1978, into one of boxing’s powerhouses.  He was a past manager and trainer of the year, as voted on by the Boxing Writers Assn. of America and the World Boxing Assn.

--Robert James Waller, author of the 1992 massive bestseller “The Bridges of Madison County,” died.  He was 77.

Waller famously wrote “Bridges” in 11 days; the story of a roving National Geographic photographer Robert Kincaid (Clint Eastwood) who spends four days romancing Francesca Johnson (Meryl Streep), a war bride from Italy married to a no-nonsense Iowa farmer.  The movie version, directed by Eastwood, grossed $182 million worldwide.

Oh, “Bridges” was criticized for being plodding and sappy, but readers bought 12 million copies and at the end of the day, boys and girls, who gives a [hoot] what a New York Times reviewer says of your tome if you just pocketed a zillion in royalties?

Waller said he could take the criticism but when it “turned to nastiness...I was stunned.”

Waller grew up in Iowa but left the state after the novel’s success and moved to a ranch in Alpine, Texas, 50 miles from the nearest town.  He divorced his wife of 36 years and took up with a new partner, who worked on the property as a landscaper.

Waller actually taught economics and applied mathematics at the University of Northern Iowa from 1968 to 1991, and he authored seven books in all.

So I have to admit, I started “Bridges” when it first came out and never made it to the end, but I’ve written how I’ve been out to Madison County, Iowa, in my three trips tied to the Iowa State Fair and it is super beautiful...one of the coolest roads to drive on is Highway 169 off Route 80.  John Wayne’s birthplace is there, for one (Winterset).  But I haven’t seen Hogback Covered Bridge ...maybe next time.  [Bob Feller’s museum, before it closed down, was in Van Meter, between Des Moines and the turnoff for Madison County, so that was my routine to do both on the days I dried out from the Fair.]

--Gina Daidone / New York Post

“A Staten Island man was bitten by a poisonous pet snake Friday night and needed to be rushed to hospital.

“The 27-year-old man was cleaning a fish tank in his home on Richmond Avenue when a highly venomous Sub-Saharan Gaboon viper attacked him around 10:30 p.m., according to police.

“Officials said the man used a fishing knife to cut off the serpent’s head as it was latched onto his arm.

“He then called 911 and was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center’s poison control unit where he is listed in stable condition.

“Authorities searching the residence also found a boa constrictor and are still looking for more possible critters.

“The man could face misdemeanor charges for keeping exotic pets.”

The man is also now in Bar Chat’s December file for “Idiot of the Year,” a fact he has not been told about yet due to his condition.

--Even the New York Times has been running stories about the radioactive wild boars roaming the nuclear wastelands of Fukushima.

As noted by Reuters, “When the exclusion zone was set up – with the surrounding towns population evacuated to a safe distance – hundreds of the wild boars, which have been known to attack people when enraged, descended from surrounding hills and forests into the deserted streets.

“Now they roam the empty streets and overgrown gardens of Japan’s deserted seaside town of Namie, foraging for food.

“However, the people of Namie are scheduled to return to the town at the end of the month, which means the bloody-toothed interlopers have to be cleared.”

This is really gross.  As I told Johnny Mac, so much for my plan to sublet a flat in Namie.

--I’ve been watching BBC America’s “Planet Earth 2” and I need to digest what I’ve seen as I reorder the All-Species List.  There will be some surprises.  A new one posted by noon on Monday.

--We learned this week that Game of Thrones’ new season debuts July 16.

--And we wish Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez all the best in their relationship.  It broke in the past few days the two have been seeing each other for four or five weeks.  So now we have J-Rod.

Top 3 songs for the week 3/13/65: #1 “Eight Days A Week” (The Beatles)  #2 “My Girl” (The Temptations)  #3 “Stop! In The Name Of Love” (The Supremes)...and...#4 “This Diamond Ring” (Gary Lewis and The Playboys) #5 The Birds And The Bees” (Jewel Aikens)  #6 “King Of The Road” (Roger Miller)  #7 “Ferry Cross The Mersey” (Gerry & The Pacemakers)  #8 “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat” (Herman’s Hermits)  #9 “The Jolly Green Giant” (The Kingsmen)  #10 “Hurt So Bad” (Little Anthony and The Imperials....can’t believe this last one peaked at #10...probably in my all-time Top 40...what a week...)

NCAA Basketball Quiz Answer: Last five losers in title game....

2016:  Villanova 77 UNC 74
2015:  Duke 68 Wisconsin 63
2014:  UConn 60 Kentucky 54
2013:  Louisville 82 Michigan 76
2012:  Kentucky 67 Kansas 59

It isn’t easy getting to this point, so kudos to John Calipari for doing it twice in five.

Next Bar Chat, Thursday.

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