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08/17/2017

Elvis

[Posted Wed. a.m.]

Atlanta / Milwaukee Braves Quiz: [The franchise goes back to 1876 and the Boston Red Stockings, but we’re focusing on 1953-2017.]  1) Hugh Duffy hit .440 in 1894, but since 1953, who are the only four to hit .350?  2) Who are the only four to hit 45 home runs in a season?  3) Who are the only four pitchers to win 23 games in a season? Answers below.

MLB

--Before Mets-Yankees, you had the Yankees’ rough loss to Boston Sunday night at Yankee Stadium, as closer Aroldis Chapman blew a 2-1 ninth-inning lead in giving up a home run to Rafael Devers, and then lost it in the 10th, the Red Sox winning 3-2 and stretching their lead back to 5 ½ in the process.

Chapman, who missed a month early this season on the disabled list, has basically sucked; a very deceiving 4-2, 3.48 record with 15 saves, but four blown ones and other lousy efforts, hardly befitting what the Yanks thought they were going to get when they handed him $86 million for five years in the offseason, after the Cubs in essence rented him for their 2016 stretch drive to the World Series.

Then in the Subway Series, the first two at Yankee Stadium, the Yanks beat the Mets twice, 4-2 and 5-4 (Chapman giving up two runs last night in the 5-4 contest, but he got his 16th save while his ERA is now 3.89).  Sonny Gray, who the Yanks need to perform like an ace the rest of the way, pitched six effective innings for the win to go to 7-7, 3.37 in his first start at the Little Bandbox That Ruth Didn’t Build.

The only good thing for the Mets was home runs by the hoped for future stars, Amed Rosario and Dominic Smith.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox were splitting two with the Indians so the gap between Boston and New York is 4 ½.

--Giancarlo Stanton did it again Monday night, homering for a team-record 43rd time, his fifth straight game, 22 in his past 34, as the Marlins defeated the Giants 8-3 at Marlins Park.

His 43 homers bested the previous club record of 42 by Gary Sheffield in 1996.

And then on Tuesday he went yard again, though Miami lost to the Giants 9-4.  So this is home runs in six straight, two shy of the major league record.  11 in 12.  23 in 35.  Over 35, only Sammy Sosa, 25 (1998) and Barry Bonds, 24 (2001) have had more and you know what the deal was with those two performances.

Stanton made an interesting comment the other day. When asked  how many homers he’d like to end up with at the end of the year, he said “62.”

--In winning another one on Tuesday, 6-1 over the White Sox, the Dodgers moved to 50 games over .500, 84-34, for the first time since the Boys of Summer, the 1953 Dodgers who had Hall of Famers Roy Campanella, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, and Duke Snider (plus others such as Gil Hodges), as well as Vin Scully and Red Barber in the broadcast booth.  [But the club lost the World Series to the Yankees.]

The current edition knows they have to now close the deal and win it all.

That said, they remain on pace to win 115, one shy of the major league record.  They have won 49 of their last 57 – the first major league team in 105 years to do so – and 29 of their last 33 home games.  [Bill Shaikin / Los Angeles Times]

--Thomas Boswell / Washington Post

“When a player is hurt while hustling in a basically meaningless game played in drizzle after a three-hour rain delay, maybe he deserves to catch a break. Bryce Harper, the Washington Nationals, Major League Baseball and baseball fans everywhere sure did.

“The sun rose Sunday morning, and it shined on Harper.  Brightly.  Instead of a broken leg or a knee that required reconstructive surgery or who knows what potentially career-altering injury, he merely had a bad bone bruise.  Nothing else....

“ ‘I don’t like wet bases,’ Harper said Sunday, 18 hours after a fall that looked like he had been thrown into an invisible washing machine set to ‘spin.’....

“ ‘Of course, you’re going to think the worst, and I’m one of the worst at it.  I think I’m going to die every time I have a stomachache.,’” said Harper.

He’ll be back by the playoffs.

Boswell:

“Some teams dodge bullets.  The Nats and Harper dodged a howitzer shell.

“This follows a curious season-long pattern for the Nats – either ominous or quite a silver lining, depending on your inclinations.  Or perhaps delusions....

“No playoff team ever won a World Series without an internal team mythology.  But lots of the ones that lost along the way thought they had a deal with fate, too.

“For now, a perpendicular Harper is a sufficient relief.  If all this news takes a Dusty shape in October, we can book the same room and discuss it further.”

--Back to the Yankees, Aaron Judge put himself in the record books Tuesday night, fanning a 32nd straight game, matching Adam Dunn’s MLB record.

--Detroit Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler had harsh words for umpire Angel Hernandez, a day after being ejected from a game for questioning Hernandez’s calls on balls and strikes. Kinsler told reporters covering the Tigers that Hernandez is a bad umpire who is “messing” with games “blatantly.”

“It has to do with changing the game. He’s changing the game.  He needs to find another job, he really does,” Kinsler said.

Hernandez has been controversial, and as I noted before, he filed a complaint against Major League Baseball for alleged discrimination, citing his lack of World Series assignments.  The guy’s an asshole.

Golf Balls

--Jaime Diaz / Golf World

“I’ve been slow to warm up to the idea that today’s best young players are collectively better than those of the past.  But I’m getting there.

“The hesitancy is built on the suspicion that the insistent ‘we’ve never seen kids like these’ drumbeat is strongly motivated by golf’s desperation to capture more millennials. I also don’t necessarily buy the notion that basic evolution automatically insures that athletes in all sports will simply keep getting better.

“In golf, it’s arguable that advances in technology – which facilitates a power game more conducive to young bodies and which can be effective while lacking old-school nuance – have actually eroded skills and technique. And that the exponential jump in prize and endorsement money could be dulling motivation.

“For all the talk about the specialness of the current crop of youngsters, the fact is that players – individually and collectively – being world beaters in their twenties is nothing new.  Gary Player won four majors before he turned 30, Jack Nicklaus won six, and Tiger Woods won 10.  And in the 1970s, a group led by Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, Lanny Wadkins, Jerry Pate and Seve Ballesteros together won 12 majors in their twenties.  Indeed, in the first half of the last century, primes were reached earlier out of economic necessity.”

Today, we have the 24-year-old Thomas, 20-somethings Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth with seven majors between them, Jason Day, Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama and Jon Rahm.  Collectively, they have ten majors  And you have Rickie Fowler still knocking on the door at 28.

Diaz:

“Conventional wisdom used to maintain the sweet spot was usually reached in the early-to-mid thirties (world No. 1 Dustin Johnson is 33).  But earlier entry into professional golf, better instruction, and higher motivation to be part of an increasingly lucrative sport means golfers are reaching professional proficiency faster.

“Still, it’s hard to say that today’s twenty-somethings are definitely better than those of the past.  Johnny Miller, who frequently braves ‘our era was better’ territory, thinks that golf used to require a deeper dive into craft, which lengthened the learning curve.

“ ‘There are more good players now, and with all the advances, it’s a good time to be a pro golfer,’ Miller said in January after Thomas shot his 59 in Hawaii.  ‘But I don’t think I’m living in the past to say it used to be harder to be good.’

“Perhaps Miller is right. But today’s Young Guns are still better than I thought.”

Mark Cannizzaro / New York Post

“Before a ball was struck in this week’s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, Rory McIlroy was the obvious pick to be the winner.

“Too obvious, as it turned out.

“Despite McIlroy having not won a major championship since 2014, he’d won twice at Quail Hollow in the Wells Fargo Championship and he was a two-time PGA Championship winner.

“So no one – except for reigning British Open champion Jordan Spieth – walked into this week with more mojo than McIlroy.

“By week’s end, though, no player walked away more shrouded in uncertainty than McIlroy.

“Minutes after McIlroy completed his week with a final-round 68 that left him 1-over for the tournament, he dropped a rather sizable bomb when he revealed he’s considering shutting it down for the remainder of the season to rest the rib injury that’s been nagging him for the better part of the year....

“ ‘You might not see me until next year, you might see me in a couple of weeks’ time,’ McIlroy said Sunday.  ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do.  It really depends.’....

“ ‘(If) you are not capable of playing at your best, why should you play?’

“ ‘It’s a Catch-22.  We’ll see what happens.  I’ll assess my options in the next few days and see where we go from there.’

“If he’s being smart and honest with himself, where McIlroy needs to go is home to rest until he’s completely healthy.  Sure, there’s a lure to continue playing – obligation to sponsors, money to be made, craving the competition.

“Our macho sports culture is all ‘playing through it.’....

McIlroy has studied Woods’ every move – good and bad – since he was a child.  He’ll do himself a big favor if he takes a cue from Woods’ mistakes dealing with his injuries and opts to take the proper amount of time off to get healthy instead of forcing the issue.”

Rory suffered a stress fracture of a rib back in January and he aggravated it after the Masters.  He feels it.

The problem is he feels like he can compete as long as he limits his practice time. So, yes, he should just take the time off to get completely healed.

--Justin Thomas should be the PGA Tour Player of the Year with his four wins and a major this season, no one else having four wins.  The only player in his way would be Jordan Spieth, if he won two FedEx Cup Playoff events, including the finale.

--Looking back on Sunday, it really is remarkable the chain of events on No. 10, when Thomas’ wild drive was spit out by the tree into the middle of the fairway, after Thomas implored for the ball to “get lucky.”

He went over the green with his second, chipped to 8 feet, and then his crucial birdie putt hung on the left lip for about 12 seconds, before the golf gods allowed it to drop in the cup, a critical moment in the tournament; Thomas, a hole later, then moving into a five-way tie for the lead after a Matsuyama bogey.  After a birdie chip-in on No. 13, he was on his way to the Wanamaker Trophy.

--For the record, Louis Oosthuizen completed the career grand slam for runners-up Sunday with his T-2 finish; so Oosthuizen has a runner-up in all four majors.

--I was surprised to see a piece on the odds for next year’s Masters...a tradition unlike any other...on CBS.  Following Justin Thomas’ win, Westgate’s Las Vegas Superbook unveiled their opening odds and while it had Jordan Spieth at 7-1, and Rory McIlroy was 8-1, Thomas was only 25-1.

Hey, Shu.  You’re in Vegas a lot.  I would scarf this up before reality hits Westgate in the face.  Why wouldn’t Thomas be 10-1, which is what Dustin Johnson is?

Brooks Koepka is also 25-1, while Jason Day, Rickie Fowler and Hideki Matsuyama are at 15-1 (Justin Rose and Jon Rahm, 20-1).

Defending champion Sergio Garcia is actually at 30-1, which also doesn’t make much sense.

--Tiger Woods was under the influence of five drugs when police arrested him in May, according to a new toxicology report.  Woods had Vicodin, Dilaudid, Xanax, Ambien and THC in his system. The report was released because the criminal investigation into Woods’ case is no longer active.

Woods pleaded guilty to reckless driving last week and is entering a diversion program for first-time DUI offenders with the opportunity to clear his record upon completion.

Wood told officers he had an “unexpected reaction” to Vicodin and Xanax – which had been prescribed medications he was taking to help ease the pain from his fourth back surgery in April.

College Football

--We note the passing of former coach and athletic director Frank Broyles, 92.  Broyles led Arkansas to the most wins in school history, coaching the Razorbacks from 1958 until 1976, compiling a record of 144-58-5, and winning seven Southwest Conference championships.

His 1964 team was named national champions by the Football Writers Association of America (AP No. 2), his only perfect season, 11-0, and still the last undefeated season for the program.  Arkansas’ best stretch under Broyles was 1968-70, when the Razorbacks went 10-1, 9-2, 9-2; finishing No. 6 and 7 in ’68 and ’69 and appearing in the Sugar Bowl both years.  In nine seasons during his time at the helm, Arkansas finished AP Top Ten.  He put the program on the map.

Futbol

--Cristiano Ronaldo was suspended for five games after he shoved a referee in the back during the first leg of Real Madrid’s Spanish Super Cup match against Barcelona on Sunday.

After scoring the go-ahead goal in the 80th minute, Ronaldo took his shirt off, receiving a yellow card.  Then he received a second yellow card and was sent off for diving two minutes later, which prompted him to shove the referee.  He has 10 days to appeal.

--The first of the Premier League’s games between Big Six opponents is Sunday, Chelsea at Tottenham.  Go Spurs!

Stuff

--I am very tired of the sitting for the National Anthem at sporting events controversy and hope not to have to comment on it much going forward.  I couldn’t care less what Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett does, for example, or Marshawn Lynch, who chose to sit during the anthem before Sunday’s exhibition game.  Yeah, I didn’t like it but as Tony Soprano said, “Whaddya gonna do?”

But I will note the comment of Seattle coach Pete Carroll, who said of Bennett: “I support the heck out of (Bennett’s) concerns and his issues and all that. When it comes to it, I love our country, and I think we should all stand when the flag is represented.  His heart is in the right place – he’s going to do great work well after the time he’s with us – and it’s easy for me to support him in his issues. But I think we should all be standing up when we’re playing the national anthem.”

--Another...for the archives....

LeBron James, addressing his foundation’s members at an annual event on Tuesday used some of his time on stage to comment further on “the tragic things happening in Charlottesville.”

“It’s not about the guy that’s the so-called president of the United States... It’s about us.  It’s about us looking in the mirror.  Kids all the way up to adults,” James said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.  “All of us looking in the mirror and saying, ‘What can we do to better help change?’”

--The United States Tennis Association has awarded Maria Sharapova a wild card entry for the U.S. Open, which will be her first Grand Slam tournament since serving a 15-month suspension for doping.

--Marvin Bagley III was going to be the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, the only issue being where he might go to school, or was he going to just wait.  So Monday he selected Duke, to play this coming season, but it’s complicated.  It’s not a certainty he will be allowed to play because there is the issue of his eligibility.

He intends to forgo his scheduled senior year of high school to enroll in Durham, but there are no assurances from the NCAA, as they have to decide if he has taken enough relevant coursework to qualify for school, so the NCAA will be reviewing his transcript over the coming ten days we’re told.  The grades are said to be good, but he’s attended three high schools in as many years and for a couple of months he was at a school in Arizona, Hillcrest Prep, that in the past has failed to meet NCAA standards for core course requirements.

I’ve read a few pieces on this issue and I just assumed he could catch up on the coursework and be eligible for the spring semester, in January.

Regardless of whether the 6-foot-11 phenom can play this year, Duke already has five ESPN top 100 recruits for this season.  But the funny thing is, Bagley could go to school at Duke, not play, yet still be selected the No. 1 pick in the 2018 Draft.

Westgate SuperBook is already assuming Bagley will play and Duke moved from 7-1 to 3-1 to win the NCAA championship, while Kentucky moved from 7-1 to 8-1.

--LZ Granderson / ESPN the Magazine...on McGregor-Mayweather.

I’m not watching Conor McGregor fight Floyd Mayweather because there is no satisfying outcome for me.  After all, the guilty pleasure of rooting for the ‘bad guy’ implies there’s a ‘good guy’ in the picture.  Whom do I want to see win: the convicted domestic abuser with a thing for homophobic slurs or the Irish guy who uses racist barbs to antagonize his black and Latino opponents?  I understand the appeal of seeing two of the greatest athletes in their respective sports go mano a mano.  What I can’t accept is their choice to use bigotry and intolerance to help sell this spectacle.

“Some fans contend that McGregor’s use of ‘dancing monkeys’ and Mayweather’s retort of ‘faggot’ shouldn’t be taken seriously. They say it’s all a show and the two men are simply hyping up their impending battle....

“(If) fans acknowledge that ugliness, it’s no longer OK to pretend that McGregor’s chances against Mayweather are the only thing that matters.  It’s much easier to counter with ‘stick to sports’ than it is to engage in how the fight is being sold.

“The heart of this conversation is not about the athletics.  It’s about us.  What does it say about our society when racist and homophobic rhetoric is considered entertainment?  McGregor and Mayweather are toying with centuries of prejudice that have led to immeasurable hardships and countless deaths.  All to make a profit.

What exactly am I supposed to be rooting for?”  Hear hear.

--Daniel Craig announced on Stephen Colbert’s show that he was, per the rumors, coming back one last time to play James Bond, the 25th in the series due out in November 2019.

--Finally, today, Aug. 16, is the 40th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley.  I became a much bigger fan of the man after his death, the more I read on his life, and what a good, humble person he was.  I may have more next time when I get a chance to plow through some material, but for now, author Bob Greene had an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.  In part....

“Everything felt wrong that sorrowful August afternoon.  Just being inside his home: Graceland was supposed to be for Elvis Presley and his prank-loving Memphis buddies.  A place for his friends and family, as locked-down and exclusive as the White House.  You didn’t get in unless you knew him and he invited you.

“But on that day he was in an open casket in the foyer, which of course was what felt the most wrong of all.  He had died the day before – Aug. 16, 1977 – and his father, Vernon Presley, had decreed, against expectations, that Elvis’s home would be open to anyone who cared to visit. The plan turned out to be a mess.  More than 70,000 people tried to get onto the street in front of Graceland, and in the sweltering crush only a relative few made it inside the gates.

“To see him that day...well, it was something almost impossible to process. He lived just 42 years, and as of this week he has been gone for 40, so now the idea of his death is taken for granted.  Today there are millions of adults who have no recollection of Presley as a living man.  On that summer day in 1977, though, it was all new, present tense, and the overwhelming thought as you stood in Graceland’s foyer was that you could not, should not, be seeing what you were seeing. But there he was....

Who was he?  The full answer, in the end, he had kept to himself, which is all a man can do when he has led a life so public. For all his fame, Presley undoubtedly understood his frailties and fallibilities better than anyone.  Out of view on that day, upstairs in his bedroom, was the artifact said to have meant the most to him, an unlikely item that may provide a clue to what he cherished, or at least to what he sought.

“It was a trophy. His friends would later tell me that more than any other tangible accolade from his career – the framed gold and platinum records, the keys to hundreds of cities presented by hundreds of mayors, the honorary badges from local police and sheriff’s departments – the trophy is what he always kept physically close. He took it with him wherever he traveled, slept near it in his hotel rooms when he was on tour, as if it were a talisman....

“It was presented to him by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce, and it proclaimed him one of the nation’s Ten Outstanding Young Men of 1970. He was said to have been surprised, even startled, by the honor, and by those words.

“Most of us, in our private hearts, hold a picture of not of who we are, but of who we would most wish to be.  An outstanding young man: Elvis fell asleep each night, everywhere he went in the world, with that reminder within reach.”

Top 3 songs for the week of 8/15/70: #1 “(They Long To Be) Close To You” (Carpenters) #2 “Make It With You” (Bread)  #3 “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours” (Stevie Wonder)...and ...#4 “Spill The Wine” (Eric Burdon and War)  #5 “In The Summertime” (Mungo Jerry)  #6 “War” (Edwin Starr)  #7 “Band Of Gold” (Freda Payne)  #8 “Mama Told Me” (Three Dog Night)  #9 “Tighter, Tighter” (Alive & Kicking)  #10 “Ball Of Confusion” (The Temptations)

Atlanta / Milwaukee Braves Quiz Answers: 1) .350 batting average: Rico Carty, .366 (1970); Chipper Jones, .364 (2008); Hank Aaron, .355 (1959); Ralph Garr, .353 (1974).  2) 45 home runs: Andruw Jones, 51, (2005); Hank Aaron, 47 (1971); Eddie Mathews, 47 (1953), 46 (1959); Aaron, 45 (1962); Chipper Jones, 45 (1999).  [Aaron had 44 four times.]  3) 23 wins: Tony Cloninger, 24 (1965); John Smoltz, 24 (1996); Phil Niekro, 23 (1969); Warren Spahn, 23 (1953, ’63).  [I was a little surprised Spahn’s peak was 23, he having won 20 an astounding 13 times.]

Next Bar Chat, Monday.



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Bar Chat

08/17/2017

Elvis

[Posted Wed. a.m.]

Atlanta / Milwaukee Braves Quiz: [The franchise goes back to 1876 and the Boston Red Stockings, but we’re focusing on 1953-2017.]  1) Hugh Duffy hit .440 in 1894, but since 1953, who are the only four to hit .350?  2) Who are the only four to hit 45 home runs in a season?  3) Who are the only four pitchers to win 23 games in a season? Answers below.

MLB

--Before Mets-Yankees, you had the Yankees’ rough loss to Boston Sunday night at Yankee Stadium, as closer Aroldis Chapman blew a 2-1 ninth-inning lead in giving up a home run to Rafael Devers, and then lost it in the 10th, the Red Sox winning 3-2 and stretching their lead back to 5 ½ in the process.

Chapman, who missed a month early this season on the disabled list, has basically sucked; a very deceiving 4-2, 3.48 record with 15 saves, but four blown ones and other lousy efforts, hardly befitting what the Yanks thought they were going to get when they handed him $86 million for five years in the offseason, after the Cubs in essence rented him for their 2016 stretch drive to the World Series.

Then in the Subway Series, the first two at Yankee Stadium, the Yanks beat the Mets twice, 4-2 and 5-4 (Chapman giving up two runs last night in the 5-4 contest, but he got his 16th save while his ERA is now 3.89).  Sonny Gray, who the Yanks need to perform like an ace the rest of the way, pitched six effective innings for the win to go to 7-7, 3.37 in his first start at the Little Bandbox That Ruth Didn’t Build.

The only good thing for the Mets was home runs by the hoped for future stars, Amed Rosario and Dominic Smith.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox were splitting two with the Indians so the gap between Boston and New York is 4 ½.

--Giancarlo Stanton did it again Monday night, homering for a team-record 43rd time, his fifth straight game, 22 in his past 34, as the Marlins defeated the Giants 8-3 at Marlins Park.

His 43 homers bested the previous club record of 42 by Gary Sheffield in 1996.

And then on Tuesday he went yard again, though Miami lost to the Giants 9-4.  So this is home runs in six straight, two shy of the major league record.  11 in 12.  23 in 35.  Over 35, only Sammy Sosa, 25 (1998) and Barry Bonds, 24 (2001) have had more and you know what the deal was with those two performances.

Stanton made an interesting comment the other day. When asked  how many homers he’d like to end up with at the end of the year, he said “62.”

--In winning another one on Tuesday, 6-1 over the White Sox, the Dodgers moved to 50 games over .500, 84-34, for the first time since the Boys of Summer, the 1953 Dodgers who had Hall of Famers Roy Campanella, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, and Duke Snider (plus others such as Gil Hodges), as well as Vin Scully and Red Barber in the broadcast booth.  [But the club lost the World Series to the Yankees.]

The current edition knows they have to now close the deal and win it all.

That said, they remain on pace to win 115, one shy of the major league record.  They have won 49 of their last 57 – the first major league team in 105 years to do so – and 29 of their last 33 home games.  [Bill Shaikin / Los Angeles Times]

--Thomas Boswell / Washington Post

“When a player is hurt while hustling in a basically meaningless game played in drizzle after a three-hour rain delay, maybe he deserves to catch a break. Bryce Harper, the Washington Nationals, Major League Baseball and baseball fans everywhere sure did.

“The sun rose Sunday morning, and it shined on Harper.  Brightly.  Instead of a broken leg or a knee that required reconstructive surgery or who knows what potentially career-altering injury, he merely had a bad bone bruise.  Nothing else....

“ ‘I don’t like wet bases,’ Harper said Sunday, 18 hours after a fall that looked like he had been thrown into an invisible washing machine set to ‘spin.’....

“ ‘Of course, you’re going to think the worst, and I’m one of the worst at it.  I think I’m going to die every time I have a stomachache.,’” said Harper.

He’ll be back by the playoffs.

Boswell:

“Some teams dodge bullets.  The Nats and Harper dodged a howitzer shell.

“This follows a curious season-long pattern for the Nats – either ominous or quite a silver lining, depending on your inclinations.  Or perhaps delusions....

“No playoff team ever won a World Series without an internal team mythology.  But lots of the ones that lost along the way thought they had a deal with fate, too.

“For now, a perpendicular Harper is a sufficient relief.  If all this news takes a Dusty shape in October, we can book the same room and discuss it further.”

--Back to the Yankees, Aaron Judge put himself in the record books Tuesday night, fanning a 32nd straight game, matching Adam Dunn’s MLB record.

--Detroit Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler had harsh words for umpire Angel Hernandez, a day after being ejected from a game for questioning Hernandez’s calls on balls and strikes. Kinsler told reporters covering the Tigers that Hernandez is a bad umpire who is “messing” with games “blatantly.”

“It has to do with changing the game. He’s changing the game.  He needs to find another job, he really does,” Kinsler said.

Hernandez has been controversial, and as I noted before, he filed a complaint against Major League Baseball for alleged discrimination, citing his lack of World Series assignments.  The guy’s an asshole.

Golf Balls

--Jaime Diaz / Golf World

“I’ve been slow to warm up to the idea that today’s best young players are collectively better than those of the past.  But I’m getting there.

“The hesitancy is built on the suspicion that the insistent ‘we’ve never seen kids like these’ drumbeat is strongly motivated by golf’s desperation to capture more millennials. I also don’t necessarily buy the notion that basic evolution automatically insures that athletes in all sports will simply keep getting better.

“In golf, it’s arguable that advances in technology – which facilitates a power game more conducive to young bodies and which can be effective while lacking old-school nuance – have actually eroded skills and technique. And that the exponential jump in prize and endorsement money could be dulling motivation.

“For all the talk about the specialness of the current crop of youngsters, the fact is that players – individually and collectively – being world beaters in their twenties is nothing new.  Gary Player won four majors before he turned 30, Jack Nicklaus won six, and Tiger Woods won 10.  And in the 1970s, a group led by Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, Lanny Wadkins, Jerry Pate and Seve Ballesteros together won 12 majors in their twenties.  Indeed, in the first half of the last century, primes were reached earlier out of economic necessity.”

Today, we have the 24-year-old Thomas, 20-somethings Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth with seven majors between them, Jason Day, Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama and Jon Rahm.  Collectively, they have ten majors  And you have Rickie Fowler still knocking on the door at 28.

Diaz:

“Conventional wisdom used to maintain the sweet spot was usually reached in the early-to-mid thirties (world No. 1 Dustin Johnson is 33).  But earlier entry into professional golf, better instruction, and higher motivation to be part of an increasingly lucrative sport means golfers are reaching professional proficiency faster.

“Still, it’s hard to say that today’s twenty-somethings are definitely better than those of the past.  Johnny Miller, who frequently braves ‘our era was better’ territory, thinks that golf used to require a deeper dive into craft, which lengthened the learning curve.

“ ‘There are more good players now, and with all the advances, it’s a good time to be a pro golfer,’ Miller said in January after Thomas shot his 59 in Hawaii.  ‘But I don’t think I’m living in the past to say it used to be harder to be good.’

“Perhaps Miller is right. But today’s Young Guns are still better than I thought.”

Mark Cannizzaro / New York Post

“Before a ball was struck in this week’s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, Rory McIlroy was the obvious pick to be the winner.

“Too obvious, as it turned out.

“Despite McIlroy having not won a major championship since 2014, he’d won twice at Quail Hollow in the Wells Fargo Championship and he was a two-time PGA Championship winner.

“So no one – except for reigning British Open champion Jordan Spieth – walked into this week with more mojo than McIlroy.

“By week’s end, though, no player walked away more shrouded in uncertainty than McIlroy.

“Minutes after McIlroy completed his week with a final-round 68 that left him 1-over for the tournament, he dropped a rather sizable bomb when he revealed he’s considering shutting it down for the remainder of the season to rest the rib injury that’s been nagging him for the better part of the year....

“ ‘You might not see me until next year, you might see me in a couple of weeks’ time,’ McIlroy said Sunday.  ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do.  It really depends.’....

“ ‘(If) you are not capable of playing at your best, why should you play?’

“ ‘It’s a Catch-22.  We’ll see what happens.  I’ll assess my options in the next few days and see where we go from there.’

“If he’s being smart and honest with himself, where McIlroy needs to go is home to rest until he’s completely healthy.  Sure, there’s a lure to continue playing – obligation to sponsors, money to be made, craving the competition.

“Our macho sports culture is all ‘playing through it.’....

McIlroy has studied Woods’ every move – good and bad – since he was a child.  He’ll do himself a big favor if he takes a cue from Woods’ mistakes dealing with his injuries and opts to take the proper amount of time off to get healthy instead of forcing the issue.”

Rory suffered a stress fracture of a rib back in January and he aggravated it after the Masters.  He feels it.

The problem is he feels like he can compete as long as he limits his practice time. So, yes, he should just take the time off to get completely healed.

--Justin Thomas should be the PGA Tour Player of the Year with his four wins and a major this season, no one else having four wins.  The only player in his way would be Jordan Spieth, if he won two FedEx Cup Playoff events, including the finale.

--Looking back on Sunday, it really is remarkable the chain of events on No. 10, when Thomas’ wild drive was spit out by the tree into the middle of the fairway, after Thomas implored for the ball to “get lucky.”

He went over the green with his second, chipped to 8 feet, and then his crucial birdie putt hung on the left lip for about 12 seconds, before the golf gods allowed it to drop in the cup, a critical moment in the tournament; Thomas, a hole later, then moving into a five-way tie for the lead after a Matsuyama bogey.  After a birdie chip-in on No. 13, he was on his way to the Wanamaker Trophy.

--For the record, Louis Oosthuizen completed the career grand slam for runners-up Sunday with his T-2 finish; so Oosthuizen has a runner-up in all four majors.

--I was surprised to see a piece on the odds for next year’s Masters...a tradition unlike any other...on CBS.  Following Justin Thomas’ win, Westgate’s Las Vegas Superbook unveiled their opening odds and while it had Jordan Spieth at 7-1, and Rory McIlroy was 8-1, Thomas was only 25-1.

Hey, Shu.  You’re in Vegas a lot.  I would scarf this up before reality hits Westgate in the face.  Why wouldn’t Thomas be 10-1, which is what Dustin Johnson is?

Brooks Koepka is also 25-1, while Jason Day, Rickie Fowler and Hideki Matsuyama are at 15-1 (Justin Rose and Jon Rahm, 20-1).

Defending champion Sergio Garcia is actually at 30-1, which also doesn’t make much sense.

--Tiger Woods was under the influence of five drugs when police arrested him in May, according to a new toxicology report.  Woods had Vicodin, Dilaudid, Xanax, Ambien and THC in his system. The report was released because the criminal investigation into Woods’ case is no longer active.

Woods pleaded guilty to reckless driving last week and is entering a diversion program for first-time DUI offenders with the opportunity to clear his record upon completion.

Wood told officers he had an “unexpected reaction” to Vicodin and Xanax – which had been prescribed medications he was taking to help ease the pain from his fourth back surgery in April.

College Football

--We note the passing of former coach and athletic director Frank Broyles, 92.  Broyles led Arkansas to the most wins in school history, coaching the Razorbacks from 1958 until 1976, compiling a record of 144-58-5, and winning seven Southwest Conference championships.

His 1964 team was named national champions by the Football Writers Association of America (AP No. 2), his only perfect season, 11-0, and still the last undefeated season for the program.  Arkansas’ best stretch under Broyles was 1968-70, when the Razorbacks went 10-1, 9-2, 9-2; finishing No. 6 and 7 in ’68 and ’69 and appearing in the Sugar Bowl both years.  In nine seasons during his time at the helm, Arkansas finished AP Top Ten.  He put the program on the map.

Futbol

--Cristiano Ronaldo was suspended for five games after he shoved a referee in the back during the first leg of Real Madrid’s Spanish Super Cup match against Barcelona on Sunday.

After scoring the go-ahead goal in the 80th minute, Ronaldo took his shirt off, receiving a yellow card.  Then he received a second yellow card and was sent off for diving two minutes later, which prompted him to shove the referee.  He has 10 days to appeal.

--The first of the Premier League’s games between Big Six opponents is Sunday, Chelsea at Tottenham.  Go Spurs!

Stuff

--I am very tired of the sitting for the National Anthem at sporting events controversy and hope not to have to comment on it much going forward.  I couldn’t care less what Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett does, for example, or Marshawn Lynch, who chose to sit during the anthem before Sunday’s exhibition game.  Yeah, I didn’t like it but as Tony Soprano said, “Whaddya gonna do?”

But I will note the comment of Seattle coach Pete Carroll, who said of Bennett: “I support the heck out of (Bennett’s) concerns and his issues and all that. When it comes to it, I love our country, and I think we should all stand when the flag is represented.  His heart is in the right place – he’s going to do great work well after the time he’s with us – and it’s easy for me to support him in his issues. But I think we should all be standing up when we’re playing the national anthem.”

--Another...for the archives....

LeBron James, addressing his foundation’s members at an annual event on Tuesday used some of his time on stage to comment further on “the tragic things happening in Charlottesville.”

“It’s not about the guy that’s the so-called president of the United States... It’s about us.  It’s about us looking in the mirror.  Kids all the way up to adults,” James said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.  “All of us looking in the mirror and saying, ‘What can we do to better help change?’”

--The United States Tennis Association has awarded Maria Sharapova a wild card entry for the U.S. Open, which will be her first Grand Slam tournament since serving a 15-month suspension for doping.

--Marvin Bagley III was going to be the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, the only issue being where he might go to school, or was he going to just wait.  So Monday he selected Duke, to play this coming season, but it’s complicated.  It’s not a certainty he will be allowed to play because there is the issue of his eligibility.

He intends to forgo his scheduled senior year of high school to enroll in Durham, but there are no assurances from the NCAA, as they have to decide if he has taken enough relevant coursework to qualify for school, so the NCAA will be reviewing his transcript over the coming ten days we’re told.  The grades are said to be good, but he’s attended three high schools in as many years and for a couple of months he was at a school in Arizona, Hillcrest Prep, that in the past has failed to meet NCAA standards for core course requirements.

I’ve read a few pieces on this issue and I just assumed he could catch up on the coursework and be eligible for the spring semester, in January.

Regardless of whether the 6-foot-11 phenom can play this year, Duke already has five ESPN top 100 recruits for this season.  But the funny thing is, Bagley could go to school at Duke, not play, yet still be selected the No. 1 pick in the 2018 Draft.

Westgate SuperBook is already assuming Bagley will play and Duke moved from 7-1 to 3-1 to win the NCAA championship, while Kentucky moved from 7-1 to 8-1.

--LZ Granderson / ESPN the Magazine...on McGregor-Mayweather.

I’m not watching Conor McGregor fight Floyd Mayweather because there is no satisfying outcome for me.  After all, the guilty pleasure of rooting for the ‘bad guy’ implies there’s a ‘good guy’ in the picture.  Whom do I want to see win: the convicted domestic abuser with a thing for homophobic slurs or the Irish guy who uses racist barbs to antagonize his black and Latino opponents?  I understand the appeal of seeing two of the greatest athletes in their respective sports go mano a mano.  What I can’t accept is their choice to use bigotry and intolerance to help sell this spectacle.

“Some fans contend that McGregor’s use of ‘dancing monkeys’ and Mayweather’s retort of ‘faggot’ shouldn’t be taken seriously. They say it’s all a show and the two men are simply hyping up their impending battle....

“(If) fans acknowledge that ugliness, it’s no longer OK to pretend that McGregor’s chances against Mayweather are the only thing that matters.  It’s much easier to counter with ‘stick to sports’ than it is to engage in how the fight is being sold.

“The heart of this conversation is not about the athletics.  It’s about us.  What does it say about our society when racist and homophobic rhetoric is considered entertainment?  McGregor and Mayweather are toying with centuries of prejudice that have led to immeasurable hardships and countless deaths.  All to make a profit.

What exactly am I supposed to be rooting for?”  Hear hear.

--Daniel Craig announced on Stephen Colbert’s show that he was, per the rumors, coming back one last time to play James Bond, the 25th in the series due out in November 2019.

--Finally, today, Aug. 16, is the 40th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley.  I became a much bigger fan of the man after his death, the more I read on his life, and what a good, humble person he was.  I may have more next time when I get a chance to plow through some material, but for now, author Bob Greene had an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.  In part....

“Everything felt wrong that sorrowful August afternoon.  Just being inside his home: Graceland was supposed to be for Elvis Presley and his prank-loving Memphis buddies.  A place for his friends and family, as locked-down and exclusive as the White House.  You didn’t get in unless you knew him and he invited you.

“But on that day he was in an open casket in the foyer, which of course was what felt the most wrong of all.  He had died the day before – Aug. 16, 1977 – and his father, Vernon Presley, had decreed, against expectations, that Elvis’s home would be open to anyone who cared to visit. The plan turned out to be a mess.  More than 70,000 people tried to get onto the street in front of Graceland, and in the sweltering crush only a relative few made it inside the gates.

“To see him that day...well, it was something almost impossible to process. He lived just 42 years, and as of this week he has been gone for 40, so now the idea of his death is taken for granted.  Today there are millions of adults who have no recollection of Presley as a living man.  On that summer day in 1977, though, it was all new, present tense, and the overwhelming thought as you stood in Graceland’s foyer was that you could not, should not, be seeing what you were seeing. But there he was....

Who was he?  The full answer, in the end, he had kept to himself, which is all a man can do when he has led a life so public. For all his fame, Presley undoubtedly understood his frailties and fallibilities better than anyone.  Out of view on that day, upstairs in his bedroom, was the artifact said to have meant the most to him, an unlikely item that may provide a clue to what he cherished, or at least to what he sought.

“It was a trophy. His friends would later tell me that more than any other tangible accolade from his career – the framed gold and platinum records, the keys to hundreds of cities presented by hundreds of mayors, the honorary badges from local police and sheriff’s departments – the trophy is what he always kept physically close. He took it with him wherever he traveled, slept near it in his hotel rooms when he was on tour, as if it were a talisman....

“It was presented to him by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce, and it proclaimed him one of the nation’s Ten Outstanding Young Men of 1970. He was said to have been surprised, even startled, by the honor, and by those words.

“Most of us, in our private hearts, hold a picture of not of who we are, but of who we would most wish to be.  An outstanding young man: Elvis fell asleep each night, everywhere he went in the world, with that reminder within reach.”

Top 3 songs for the week of 8/15/70: #1 “(They Long To Be) Close To You” (Carpenters) #2 “Make It With You” (Bread)  #3 “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours” (Stevie Wonder)...and ...#4 “Spill The Wine” (Eric Burdon and War)  #5 “In The Summertime” (Mungo Jerry)  #6 “War” (Edwin Starr)  #7 “Band Of Gold” (Freda Payne)  #8 “Mama Told Me” (Three Dog Night)  #9 “Tighter, Tighter” (Alive & Kicking)  #10 “Ball Of Confusion” (The Temptations)

Atlanta / Milwaukee Braves Quiz Answers: 1) .350 batting average: Rico Carty, .366 (1970); Chipper Jones, .364 (2008); Hank Aaron, .355 (1959); Ralph Garr, .353 (1974).  2) 45 home runs: Andruw Jones, 51, (2005); Hank Aaron, 47 (1971); Eddie Mathews, 47 (1953), 46 (1959); Aaron, 45 (1962); Chipper Jones, 45 (1999).  [Aaron had 44 four times.]  3) 23 wins: Tony Cloninger, 24 (1965); John Smoltz, 24 (1996); Phil Niekro, 23 (1969); Warren Spahn, 23 (1953, ’63).  [I was a little surprised Spahn’s peak was 23, he having won 20 an astounding 13 times.]

Next Bar Chat, Monday.