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Bar Chat

10/19/2017

Yankees Storm Back...Dodgers Roll

[Posted Wed. AM]

College Football Quiz: Another with joint champs. 1974. USC was UPI champ at 10-1-1.  Oklahoma was tabbed by the AP at 11-0, the Sooners on probation and not eligible for a bowl contest.  Name the coach, quarterback and leading rusher on each. Answer below.

Baseball Playoffs

Astros-Yankees

Down 2-0 after back-to-back 2-1 defeats in Houston, the Yankees turned to home cooking and their little bandbox in the Bronx for succor (always wanted to work ‘succor’ into a baseball column) and they found it, taking the Astros 8-1 on Monday night, as Todd Frazier got New York off on the right foot in the bottom of the second when he flipped his bat at an outside pitch from Charlie Morton and it landed about 300 feet from home, just enough to clear the wall and give the Yankees what would prove to be an insurmountable 3-0 lead.  It was embarrassing.  As cheap a homer as you’ll ever see (mused the Mets fan).

But as Tony Soprano would have said, “Whaddya gonna do?”  It’s The Little Bandbox that Ruth Didn’t Build.  Aaron Judge would add a three-run cheapie later (OK, it was a legitimate line shot to left that just reached the seats) and CC Sabathia was terrific once again, six shutout innings as New York cruised.  Series 2-1 Astros.

But I do have to give Judge credit for two terrific catches in right and it was his night, much-needed after his playoffs long slump.

Meanwhile, Yankee reliever Dellin Betances was brought into an 8-0 game in the ninth to finish things off and save the key members of the pen like David Robertson and Aroldis Chapman, and promptly walked the first two he faced, exit Betances.  I mean the guy has allowed his last six batters to reach base, walking the last four.  You won’t be seeing him in any tight spots the rest of the way, unless it’s the 16th inning and 88-year-old Whitey Ford isn’t available.

On to Game 4, Tuesday afternoon...Sonny Gray for New York, Lance McCullers Jr. for Houston.

And it was scoreless after five, but in the top of the sixth, Gray issued a walk, catcher Austin Romine was charged with catcher’s interference, and another walk loaded the bases.

David Robertson relieved Gray and after getting Carlos Correa on strikes, Yuriel Gurriel, the 33-year-old Cuban rookie, doubled to left scoring all three.  3-0 Houston.

After the Yanks were put down in the sixth, Houston scored a run in the top of the seventh on a Starlin Castro error, 4-0 Astros.

But in the bottom of the frame, Aaron Judge hit a bomb to center to make it 4-1, and by the end of the inning it was 4-2.

And it stayed that way until the bottom of the eighth, when the Yanks struck for four off relievers Joe Musgrove and closer Ken Giles, one on a double off the left-field wall by Judge, another two on a double by Gary Sanchez and it was 6-4 as Aroldis Chapman closed it for the Yankees.  Series suddenly 2-2 with Game 5 this afternoon, a rematch of Game 1, Masahiro Tanaka vs. Dallas Keuchel.  Regardless of the outcome of this one, the series is going back to Houston.

Houston doesn’t have a chance unless Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa get their acts back together.  They were a combined 8-for-15 in Houston’s two wins, 1-for-14 in the two losses.

Dodgers-Cubs

I stayed up for Sunday night’s Game 2 between these two old-time franchises (let’s face it, it’s a cool sounding championship series...just like Yankees-Cubs or Dodgers would be rather delicious...no offense Houston fans).

And it was former Met Justin Turner who played the role of hero with a three-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth for a 4-1 L.A. win, the Dodgers going up 2-0 as the series headed back to Chicago.

As Dodgers fans knew, Sunday also happened to be the 29th anniversary of Kirk Gibson’s celebrated game-winning World Series home run – yikes, seems like yesterday.

What was cool was 1988 manager Tommy Lasorda, who just turned 90, was watching on television in a Dodger Stadium lounge.

“How about that?” Lasorda said while sitting outside the jubilant Dodger clubhouse. “How about that?”  [Bill Plaschke / L.A. Times]

Rich Hill started for the Dodgers, going the first five, yielding the lone run, and the Dodger pen came in and slammed the door the final four.  Eight innings, the first two wins, and no hits, no walks!  That’s astounding.

On to Game 3 last night, and the Dodgers won again, this time in Wrigley, 6-1, with Yu Darvish throwing 6 1/3 of one-run ball for L.A. (the only run a Kyle Schwarber homer in the first), and then the bullpen once again shut the door, 2 2/3, 2 hits, 1 walk.

So now the pen is 10 2/3, 2 hits, 1 walk.  Pretty, pretty good.  Overall in the playoffs, a 1.21 ERA over 22 1/3.  The Cubs’ pen, on the other hand, has a 6.35 ERA in 28 1/3 over the postseason.

Andre Ethier, in his first start of the playoffs for the Dodgers, homered, as did Chris Taylor. What’s kind of amazing is how little the loss of star shortstop Corey Seager for L.A. has meant.

College Football

--Last week I said the only game worth watching was Miami-Georgia Tech, and I was right it would be exciting, and important, Miami vaulting to No. 8 as a result of the last-second win.

Which means I, like the rest of CFB Nation, didn’t have a clue Clemson, Washington and Washington State would all go down.

So this coming week?  First off, 3 Georgia, 6 Ohio State and 7 Clemson are idle among the top ten, but I’m focusing on 11 USC at 13 Notre Dame. That’s an intriguing one.  A must win for USC if they are somehow to run the table and get in the CFP conversation.  A must win for Notre Dame for the same reason, though I just don’t see ND, even if they did win out, being in the final four.

19 Michigan is at 2 Penn State and while the Wolverines just aren’t that good, the defense is good enough to potentially further expose Penn State’s weaknesses on ‘O’. They both have good defenses, so this could be a 17-14 affair.

Otherwise, the only other game I find mildly interesting is 20 UCF at Navy.  If UCF is for real, and if they are to be a New Year’s Six contender as the Group of Five representative, they obviously have to beat a decent Navy squad.

[Wake fans are curious how we’ll do at Georgia Tech.  I like our chances more than I did before GT’s performance against Miami.  That might have worn them down a bit and we’re coming off a bye week.]

Anyway, back to the CFP, and my butchering of the topic last week, prior to the three cited upsets, I had the Big 12 being ‘odd man out’ out of the party.  [And how tired are all of us calling it the Big 12, when it has had 10 schools for years now.]

But now, TCU, or even Oklahoma, could sneak in.  The Sooners would  be sneaking into the party, TCU could waltz to it.

Five simple steps....

In the Big Ten, it’s Penn State (assuming they don’t stumble Sat.) against Ohio State on Oct. 28 for the right to play Wisconsin in the conference championship game. Winner is a lock for CFP.

Clemson, after what could be a toughie against Georgia Tech on Oct. 28, faces upstart North Carolina State on Nov. 4.  The winner of that one should then be facing the winner of Miami-Virginia Tech also on Nov. 4 for the ACC title later on.  If Clemson runs the table, they’re in.  If Miami does, I’m not so sure.  If North Carolina State does, no way; ditto Virginia Tech.  Advantage TCU.

Washington and Wash State going down together was massive.  That suddenly put Stanford in the mix in their division. Who the hell knows who emerges from this mess.  USC must win out, including the Pac-12 title game, to have a shot for the CFP.  Washington-Washington State winner at the end of November, or Stanford (see below) that then wins the Pac-12 championship, has a very slight chance of final four.  [I’m being overly generous.  Really no shot at all.]

So in the Big 12, two huge games remain.  Nov. 4, Oklahoma-Oklahoma State.  The following week, TCU-Oklahoma. If TCU beats Oklahoma, without a doubt, Horned Frogs are in.  If Oklahoma wins these two, it all depends, because Oklahoma would then seem to be in the driver’s seat over the Pac-12 potential representative.  [Oklahoma State lost to TCU.  No way they have a shot, but would be a very attractive New Year’s Six participant.]

So this leaves the SEC.  Alabama in no way is losing to Auburn down the road, Auburn’s loss to LSU last week rather telling.  Which sets up the SEC title game matchup of Alabama-Georgia.

If both have won out, and if this one is just reasonably close for Georgia, like the Bulldogs losing no worse than 27-17, both are in!  Book it.

Ergo, I have, as of this week, Alabama, Georgia, TCU, Big Ten winner, and Clemson.

Oops, that’s five.  So I’ll say, Pac-12 definitely out, sitting with the ACC!  I mean Miami, if they won out, is not getting in over the Big Ten.

Yes, ACC is shut out, sports fans.  [If Georgia stays close against ‘Bama.]

And, yes, the above is a mess.

--Two games I forgot to write about last time, owing in part because they were West Coast affairs and not involving Top 25 teams.

I have to note Stanford’s 49-7 win over Oregon, Stanford improving to 5-2, the Ducks down to 4-3 and a shell of the team that started the season without injured quarterback Justin Herbert, who had 9 touchdown passes and just two interceptions in the first 4 ½ games, while his replacements are 1-5 in this key metric.

But for the Cardinal, Bryce Love continued his phenomenal season, 17 carries, 147 yards, pushing his season marks to 135-1,387...a stupendous 10.3 average!

As I allude to above, Stanford leads the Pac-12 North at 4-1, its lone loss to Pac-12 South USC, with games against both Washington and Washington State remaining, on consecutive weekends, 11/4 and 11/10. So in terms of the conference title game, they have their destiny in their own hands.

The other game involved UCLA and Arizona, won by the Wildcats (4-2) in Tucson, 47-30.  Sophomore quarterback Khalil Tate rushing for 230 yards for Arizona.

This is a guy who the week before against Colorado, came in for the injured starter, and all Tate did was run wild for an FBS single-game record of 327 yards for a QB...amazing.

His last two games, Tate thus has 29 carries for 557 yards and six touchdowns.

Altogether now....as Ronald Reagan would have said, “Not bad, not bad at all.”

So it’s also the improving Arizona Wildcats (4-2, 2-1) and Arizona State Sun Devils (3-3, 2-1) who are going to have a lot to say about who represents the Pac-12 South in the conference championship, both playing USC on consecutive weeks after the Trojans face Notre Dame.

Ergo, you further see how the Pac-12 ain’t gonna be in the CFP.

One last note on the Arizona-UCLA game, once again Josh Rosen was less than impressive, throwing three interceptions; 8 picks in his last four games.  Nope, he’s not going to be your No. 1 overall pick in the draft.

--Ken P. (Duke alum) and I were musing about Notre Dame and Ken said basically the Fighting Irish are idiots for not joining the ACC in football, because they have to go 12-0 to ever make the College Football Playoff.  And he’s right.  I mean if they lost just one of their higher-profile annual games, like to USC, there’s no way they’d ever get in, while a one-loss team can still make it in a conference like the ACC.

I was thinking Notre Dame was finally joining us in 2020, but the Fighting Irish have no plan to do so for a long time, at least until their existing television contract with NBC expires in 2025.  The school reportedly receives $15 million a year.

NFL Bits

--I think you realize that football season makes for a ridiculously busy time for me on weekends, especially when there are other sports in the mix, and I apologize the NFL gets short shrift when I’m posting Sunday evening.  Anyway, a few more thoughts on Sunday’s action.

Yes, I’m surprised like a lot of folks with the 5-1 Eagles, but Carson Wentz is performing as well as any QB today.  I value two metrics in the pro game.  TD-INT ratio and passer rating, aside from W-L record as a starter. Wentz, in just his second year, has 13 TDs and 3 INTs, with a terrific 99.6 PR.

I couldn’t help but bring this up when looking at the guy he was facing on Sunday, Carolina’s Cam Newton, the Eagles winning 28-23 in Charlotte.  Newton has a TD-INT ratio of just 9-8 this year, passer rating of 85.3, which is middling, and when you look at Newton’s career, 2011-2017, seriously, the guy has been a totally average QB, save for his spectacular 2015, when he was 35-10, 99.4.

Newton’s career PR is just 86.1.  He is behind a ton of active quarterbacks in this category.

[By comparison, the top three all-time, who are also all active are: Aaron Rodgers 104.1, Russell Wilson 98.9, and Tom Brady 97.5.]

I mean if I’m an opponent of Carolina, I’m never thinking beforehand, “Oh, (shoot), we’re facing Cam Newton!”  But you would say that about Rodgers or Brady, and with regards to Wilson, because of the guy’s mobility, it’s not that he necessarily would scare a defense ahead of time, it’s that they know they can never relax a single play.

Enough on this topic....

--It really is amazing to see the New England Patriots with the worst defense in football, 440 yards per game, 324 through the air.  I mean this really sucks.

[I just have to digress, because I was doing my own research, after the comment was made in the Pats-Jets game Sunday that New England had given up 300 yards passing in each of its first six games, apparently a record.  I’m looking at football-reference.com and I show 292 in Game 3 against Houston...just sayin’.  Now when you look at the ESPN.com box score for that contest, DeShaun Watson threw for 301, but the team total was 292, and that’s the official figure (two sacks, nine yards).]

--Speaking of DeShaun Watson, after another great performance for Houston against Cleveland on Sunday in the Texans’ 33-17 win, 17/29, 225, 3-1, 103.4, he has 15 TDs, 5 INTs, and a 101.3 passer rating!  For a rookie!  Good lord.    

--I feel sorry for Packers fans.  The season looked so promising. Hopes now shattered with the loss of Aaron Rodgers, Brett Hundley hardly the answer.  Green Bay might win just one or two more games the rest of the way, 6-10 at best when they had legitimate dreams of a Super Bowl.

--Meanwhile, in Arizona, did the Cardinals really make a brilliant move in acquiring Adrian Peterson, following their failed attempts to replace star injured-running back David Johnson? 

Peterson, in his first game in an Arizona uniform, had 134 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries as the Cards evened their record at 3-3 with a 38-33 win over Tampa Bay (2-3).  The ageless Larry Fitzgerald had 10 receptions for 138 and a score.

--Why is Oakland, a supposed Super Bowl contender, just 2-4?  Derek Carr has been so-so at quarterback, and Oakland’s ‘D’ has zero interceptions.  Those are my two keys.

--After I posted Sunday, the dysfunctional Giants played the Broncos in Denver and it was indeed a shocker, 23-10 New York, their first win of the season, Denver falling to 3-2.  Orleans Darkwa rushed for 117 yards, as the Giants only ran 51 offensive plays, but they picked off Denver QB Trevor Siemian twice, one returned 41 yards for a score by Janoris Jenkins, and it was a total team victory, exactly what the franchise needed.

I mean there were very legitimate reasons to believe a mutiny was coming after the chaos of the preceding week.

But you know what drives me nuts?  Giants rookie receiver Evan Engram gave a typical comment after a victory like this from a downtrodden team.

“Nobody believed, even my friends had no belief we were going to get this done,” he said.

Well you were 0-5 when you were supposed to be Super Bowl contenders!  What do you expect?!  We’re not idiots.  You won a game.  Give yourselves a trophy.

--Dallas running back Ezekiel Elliott was granted temporary relief from the NFL’s 6-game suspension for domestic violence.  Manhattan federal judge Paul Crotty said that imposing suspension before Elliot has his shot at challenging it could result in “irreparable harm.”

“Mr. Elliott would suffer irreparable harm because he stands to miss more than one-third of the NFL’s regular season,” Crotty said.

But this decision could last just one or two games, after which another judge assigned to the case will rule.

--The NFL won’t stop its players from kneeling during the national anthem, Commissioner Roger Goodell announced Tuesday following the league’s fall meeting.

Goodell said, “We spent today talking about the issues that our players have been trying to bring attention to. About issues in our communities to make our communities better,” he told reporters.

--NFL television ratings are down 7.5% for the first six weeks of the season vs. the first six of 2016, which is a leveling off from steeper declines earlier in the year.  Monday Night Football is actually up 6%.   I said about ten days ago ratings are bottoming.  I stick with this (even as it’s still difficult to account for other forms of viewing, and increasing numbers dumping their cable packages).

--Lastly, NFL senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron said Monday it was “clear and obvious” to overturn New York Jets tight end’s Austin Seferian-Jenkins’ touchdown catch in the fourth quarter against the Patriots, a call that Jets fans will never forget the rest of their lives.

No, Riveron, it wasn’t clear and obvious, unless you believe it was obvious he had regained possession as hit the pylon.

Riveron said the ball was loose when Seferian-Jenkins went airborne and was contacted by a defender, making it a fumble.  By rule, a player has to re-establish possession before he hits anywhere out of bounds, and the tight end hadn’t done so.

But there was absolutely no clear and indisputable evidence to overturn the call on the field.

As for the rule awarding the ball to the defense when the offense loses it out of the end zone, yeah, that’s the rule.  It’s dumb.  If you lose it at the 1- or 2-yard line, for example, it’s still your ball if the defense hasn’t recovered it. 

The two former officiating czars Mike Pereira and Dean Blandino, working with Fox Sports, said Sunday they would not have overturned the score.

Men’s Division I Soccer Rankings

First we have the Coaches Poll (games thru 10/15)....

1. Indiana
2. Wake Forest
3. Maryland
4. UNC
5. Louisville
6. Stanford
7. Clemson

But the RPI has....

1. UNC
2. Wake Forest
3. Maryland
4. Michigan State
5. Notre Dame
6. Duke
7. Indiana

--In Champions League play Tuesday, Tottenham held Real Madrid to a 1-1 tie, with both clubs remaining atop Group H.  This is huge for the Spurs.  Tottenham scored on an own goal by a Madrid defender who failed to clear a pass intended for Harry Kane, and Cristiano Ronaldo equalized for Madrid by converting a penalty kick just before the half.

In other games involving Premier League teams, Manchester City defeated Napoli 2-1, and Liverpool blasted Maribor 7-0.

NBA

--What a tragedy in the NBA on Tuesday, opening night, Boston at Cleveland, as the Celtics newly-signed all-star forward, Gordon Hayward, suffered a gruesome ankle and leg injury that in all probability ends his season, just five minutes into it.

In an attempt to complete an alley-oop pass, Hayward collided with LeBron James in the air.

In the offseason, he had signed a massive four-year, $128 million deal in free agency to be reunited with college coach Brad Stevens.

Boston lost 102-00.  Houston beat Golden State in the other opener 122-121.

--LeBron James, in an interview with GQ, was asked about the fact he can opt out of his contract in the summer of 2018 to become a free agent.  LeBron was also asked about his relationship with the city of Cleveland.

“LeBron James owes nobody anything.  Nobody,” he said.  “When my mother told me I don’t owe her anything, from that point in time, I don’t owe anybody anything.  But what I will give to the city of Cleveland is passion, commitment and inspiration. As long as I put that jersey on, that’s what I represent. That’s why I’m there – to inspire that city. But I don’t owe anybody anything.”

--I just saw that Chris Paul is going to be inducted into the Wake Forest Hall of Fame in February.  I’m biting my tongue.

Stuff

--Rick Pitino was formally fired as head coach at Louisville.  The decision was unanimous, the school having to wait awhile until a ‘notice’ provision in his contract played out.  Pitino continues to maintain he knew nothing about the activities alleged in a federal bribery investigation.

--Separately, Iowa head basketball coach Fran McCaffrey said, when asked how teams can police themselves regarding tampering with recruits: “What you can do is, when you know something’s going on, turn that team in.  Who does that?  Not a lot of people do that.

“I do it.  I’ve turned programs in and I’ll continue to do that when I know that there’s something going on.”

McCaffery said the NCAA welcomes any tips from coaches regarding violations, but: “They can’t wire-tap your phone. They can’t run a sting operation.  They can’t have insiders.  So maybe this is a game-changer, with regard to the FBI’s involvement.”

--Phil W. passed along a piece on the recent NCAA investigation into North Carolina and its wide-ranging, decades-long academic scandal, by Ed Hardin of the News & Record of Greensboro, and I liked this passage:

“(Carolina) played the system and won.

“The investigation by the Cadwalader law firm and former Homeland Security adviser Kenneth Weinstein proved beyond a doubt that academic fraud occurred, that it was institutional and that it went back to the days when Dean Smith was still coaching basketball.

“The investigation by the NCAA came to the same conclusion, but by then Carolina had changed its tune, turning the evidence against the NCAA itself and going all-in on a legal gamble that cost $18 million.

“The school’s willingness to put its academic reputation in play just to preserve men’s basketball will be the ultimate stain that will never go away.  Carolina skated, but now the court of public opinion will likely cast the Tar Heels in a dark light that could shadow UNC for a generation.

“Go Heels.

“The audacity of the UNC response was stunning. The temerity of the NCAA was sad....

“Carolina was guilty as sin, and everybody knows it. Even the school admitted it before taking actions to change the academic culture at UNC while paying its lawyers blood money....

“There’s a sliminess to Carolina’s defense, but that was the legal brilliance of it. The fact that UNC could prostitute its own reputation on a gamble that the NCAA would be rendered powerless in the face of a potentially suicidal legal ploy was brazen beyond belief.

“The NCAA has rendered itself moot.”

--Tiger Woods was cleared to resume full golf activities, according to his agent, Mark Steinberg, after the doctor who performed his latest surgery checked Tiger out last week.

Steinberg told ESPN: “He can do as much as he needs to do. Tiger is going to take this very, very slowly.  This is good, but he plans to do it the right way.”

Needless to say, we’re all now going to wonder if there is any way he can participate next spring at Augusta...The Masters...a tradition unlike any other, on CBS. 

--I saw there is a deal on Charitybuzz.com for a round of golf with Phil Mickelson (a foursome, plus lunch) at Mickelson’s home course in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., valued at $250,000, with the first opening bid at $50,000.

Proceeds will benefit Operation Healing Forces, an organization that serves active-duty and recent-veteran wounded, ill and injured Special Operations Forces and their families.  Mickelson said in a statement it’s an organization “I truly care about and I’m thrilled to be raising money for the work they are doing to help our wounded special operations troops and their significant others.”

One thing you know...Phil, of all people I can think of on Tour, would make sure you had a great time.  So if you have $250K burning a hole in your pocket, check it out.

--From the BBC comes some tragic news: “A tigress that killed four people in the west Indian state of Maharashtra died on Saturday, days after a court upheld an order to kill it.

“The animal was electrocuted by a fence erected by a farmer to keep out wild boar, wildlife officials said.

“Officials called off their hunt for the two-year-old tigress after they found its body by the fence early on Sunday.

“Animal rights activists have criticized the forest department for failing to save the big cat.

“Wildlife activists had challenged the shoot-to-kill order issued by the state forest department on 23 June, but the court rejected their appeal on Thursday.

“The tigress was first captured in July after killing two people and injuring four in the town of Brahmapuri, in Maharashtra.

“It was set free in Bor Tiger Reserve later, but killed two more people.”

My, what a glorious beast... ‘Tiger’ being No. 3 on the All-Species List.

With India having 60% of the world’s tigers, for the last recording period, 2015, 80 people died in conflicts with tigers as their territory is encroached upon, compared to 78 the previous year.

As the BBC notes: “Most attacks on people are chance encounters gone wrong, and the victims are rarely dragged away as prey.

“However, a series of attacks on people in quick succession is considered a tell-tale sign of a man-eater at work.”

Heck, it’s not as if ‘Man’ doesn’t deserve it, mused the editor.  [But we’re against attacks on zookeepers.]

--Finally, yet another tale that furthers the cause of ‘Dog,’ not that he needs more accolades to enhance his No. 1 position on the ASL. 

Bob S. (and others) passed this along, from Tamar Lapin of the New York Post:

“A fearless, goat-herding dog that refused to leave his livestock behind during the raging California wildfires miraculously survived the deadly blaze, according to his owner.

“After evacuating last week, Roland Tembo Hendel and his daughter Ariel returned home, only to find their property destroyed – but discovered that their hero dog, Odin, had survived along with his sister, Tessa, and eight of their goats.

“ ‘Odin has lived up to his namesake,’ Hendel wrote in a Facebook post detailing his experience.  ‘He is our inspiration.  If he can be so fearless in this maelstrom, surely so can we.’

“In the post, Hendel recalled seeing the sky turned orange as the devastating Tubbs Fire approached Oct. 9.

“ ‘By 11:10 we could see the first of the flames across the valley. By 11:15 they were growing larger and the winds went mad,’ he wrote.  ‘We had loaded up the dogs and cats, but Odin, our stubborn and fearless Great Pyrenees would not leave the goats.’

“ ‘Even under the best of circumstances it is nearly impossible to separate Odin from the goat,’ he continued. ‘I made a decision to leave him, and I doubt I could have made him come with us if I tried. We got out with our lives and what was in our pockets.’

“After outrunning the flames, Hendel said he cried for what he belied was his lost dog.

“When the family returned, trees in the forest surrounding their property were still burning but they were overjoyed to see their dogs and a handful of their goats alive.”

Odin, Tessa and the goats are now in a Sonoma County animal shelter and the volunteer vets said he is in remarkable health given what he went through.

Top 3 songs for the week of 10/18/69: #1 “I Can’t Get Next To You” (The Temptations)  #2 “Hot Fun In The Summertime” (Sly & The Family Stone)  #3 “Sugar, Sugar” (The Archies)...and...#4 “Jean” (Oliver)  #5 “Little Woman” (Bobby Sherman)  #6 “Suspicious Minds” (Elvis Presley)  #7 “That’s The Way Love Is” (Marvin Gaye)  #8 “Wedding Bell Blues” (The 5th Dimension)  #9 “Easy To Be Hard” (Three Dog Night)  #10 “Tracy” (The Cuff Links)

College Football Quiz Answer: 1974 USC: Coach John McKay. QB Pat Haden. RB Anthony Davis (301-1,421-13). J.K. McKay led with 34 receptions as an aside.  Ye olde ‘Student body right’ tailback attack for the Trojans. Oklahoma: Coach Barry Switzer. QB: Steve Davis. RB: Joe Washington (194-1,321-13, 6.8 avg.). This was the heyday of the Wishbone attack in the Southwest Conference.  Davis only threw the ball 63 times, completing 26, but 11 were for touchdowns, with 4 interceptions.  Jim Littrell rushed for another 837 yards on 124 carries (also 6.8 avg.), and Elvis Peacock had 428 on just 55 carries (7.8 avg.).

Oklahoma averaged 438.8 yards per game on the ground!  Amazing.  Of course they were on probation for recruiting violations, and this was at a time in the college game when there were no limits on scholarships, so the likes of Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska kept all the big linemen in state...just plucked them off the farms and ranches.

Anyway, that Oklahoma team beat Wake Forest 63-0, which must have been a rather humbling experience for the Deacs. Four of the touchdown runs were for over 40 yards.

Back to the Trojans, this was the year they beat Ohio State 18-17 in the Rose Bowl.

And back to the Deacs, I have written a few times of that ’74 season before.  We finished 1-10, scoring 74 points total all season...all year!...with our only win the last game of the season against Furman.

After the 63-0 loss at Oklahoma, the following two weeks we lost to Penn State 55-0, and Maryland 47-0; all three on the road.  This stretch was bookended by shutout losses to North Carolina, 31-0, and Virginia, 14-0.  Five straight shutouts! And there I was, a junior in high school and beginning to think about going there.  It helped I had grown up knowing Arnold Palmer went to Wake. 

Our two quarterbacks, whose names I won’t release to protect their privacy, had a combined two touchdown passes and 17 interceptions.

Hey, Phil W., Bill Armstrong also actually threw 8 passes in 1974.  [Armstrong would be a consensus All-American at safety for Wake my freshman year, 1976.  The guy played like an absolute maniac.  Biggest hitter I ever saw.  Jack Tatum-like.      

Next Bar Chat, Monday.

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