---

Bar Chat

08/13/2018

Brooks Koepka...Stud

[Posted Sunday PM prior to Sunday night baseball.]

Baseball Quiz: Oops, I was about to post without a quiz, and I’m rushed for time, so...who am I?  I had over 500 home runs, 1,900 RBIs, hit .325 and my last full season was at age 33, 1941.  Answer below.

PGA Championship

[The following was written prior to today’s final round.]

After two rounds of the PGA Championship at Bellerive, it looked like a total shootout on the weekend, Gary Woodland the leader at a record 10-under, 130*, after opening with a 64 and 66.  But he was only one ahead of Kevin Kisner, and two over Brooks Koepka, who along with Charl Schwartzel on Friday became the 15th and 16th players in PGA Championship history to shoot a 63.

*The new PGA Championship record, which also tied the 36-hole record for all majors.

With all of the summer rain in the area, the greens were super soft and it was target golf, which those at this level excel at. Bellerive itself was getting dissed in some circles for not only not being tough enough, befitting a major, but just not a dramatic backdrop, visually, for such a big event.

Personally, I liked what I saw of the course on Thursday and Friday, and then Saturday, with a large portion of the field having to finish up their second rounds in the morning due to rain that suspended play late Friday, something interesting happened.

As it almost always invariably does, no matter how ‘easy’ Bellerive was playing, the pressure of a major began to bite.

Adam Scott, though, out of nowhere, seeing as how he hasn’t won in two years and entered the weekend at 119 on the FedEx Cup points list, fired a 65, and Koepka, Jon Rahm and Tiger Woods had 66s (after Tiger completed his second round Saturday morning with a 66 as well).  But while Bellerive is ‘gettable,’ you’ve also seen a slew of double bogeys this week and how many times in the third round of a major do you see the likes of Woodland and Jordan Spieth getting triple bogeys?  Or Tiger gagging a critical birdie putt on No. 17.  Anything can happen going into the final round, the course firming up a bit.

And this is how we entered play today.

Koepka -12
Scott -10
Rahm -9
Fowler -9
Woodland -9
Woods -8
Cink -8
Day -8
Thomas -8
Lowry -8
Schwartzel -8

A super strong leaderboard, and that speaks to Bellerive.  None of these golfers would be a ‘fluke’ major champion.

And what a final round it proved to be.

After leader Brooks Koepka had gone thru No. 6 at -11, we had:

Justin Thomas -10 thru 9
Jason Day -9...7
Rafa Cabrera Bello -9...F...64 final round
Tyrell Hatton -9...F...64
Thomas Pieters -9...12
Adam Scott -9...6
Tiger Woods -9...7
Francesco Molinari -9...10

-9 was being talked about as the final number.

But then after Koepka and Scott, paired together, made the turn:

Koepka -14...9
Pieters -12...16 
Thomas -12...13
Woods -11...10
Scott -11...9

And then after 12:

Koepka -14...12
Scott -13...12
Woods -13...12
Thomas -11...15

There was some spectacular shot-making, and some awful short misses down the stretch as we always get in the final round of a major, but in the end, despite the deserved hype for Tiger’s super 64, Brooks Koepka answered the call with a 66, capturing his third major (in the last seven big ones...including this year’s Masters that he sat out due to injury).

The 28-year-old has four PGA Tour wins, and three of them are majors...that’s a stud. 

Yes, he was overshadowed by Tiger’s effort today, but that’s OK.  Every PGA Tour player knows they will forever owe a debt of gratitude to Woods...who as I’ve documented many a time single-handedly jacked up purses into the stratosphere.  The fact Tiger is now officially back is a super thing for the sport.  We just need Tiger to close the comeback and get a ‘W’.

Sunday’s final round will be dissected for a long time, and I’ll have far more to say next chat.

For now, it was a good day to be a fan of a great sport.  And a great show of class by the ‘new’ Tiger in congratulating Koepka at the scorer’s hut.

--Among those missing the cut were Matt Kuchar, Bryson DeChambeau, Alex Noren, Patrick Reed, Henrik Stenson, Bubba Watson and Phil Mickelson.

And Sergio Garcia, who has had a miserable season after three Top 10s in March, including two WGC events. Since then he’s missed the cut in all four majors, was 70th in the Players, and if he’s going to be a captain’s pick for the Euro Ryder Cup squad you’ve gotta wonder.

Demon Deacon Bill Haas also missed the cut. What a lost season it has been for him, with the personal tragedy at Riviera early on that I don’t need to repeat here. Only one top ten all year and a slew of missed cuts.  He’s not even qualified for the FedEx Cup playoffs.

Another who missed the cut, however, Troy Merritt, can put things in proper perspective.  Just a week ago he was on the operating table as doctors removed a foot-long blood clot from his arm and chest.  He had not seen Bellerive until he teed off Thursday morning.  Merritt proceeded to shoot 71-70, missing the cut by just one.

As Merritt recovers from surgery, he must inject himself in the stomach with a blood  thinner twice a day.

--All the players at the PGA wore yellow ribbons in honor of Jarrod Lyle, 36, an Australian golfer who competed on the PGA Tour.  Lyle died this week after three battles with leukemia over two decades.

Pat Perez said, “You just don’t know what to say.  It’s so horrible. For me, getting ready to have a daughter and start a family, I can’t even imagine it.

“I heard so many times, ‘He was such a great guy,’” Perez continued.  “I wish now I’d gotten to know him a little better.  I thought about him all day.”

Lyle made 121 starts on the PGA Tour, the last in 2016, with five Top 10s.  He leaves behind a wife and two kids, ages 6 and 2.

--So the PGA was the final event for qualifying on points for the Ryder Cup team.  The top eight automatic qualifiers coming into the week were Dustin Johnson, Koepka, Thomas, Reed, Bubba Watson, Spieth, Fowler and Webb Simpson.

The next five were DeChambeau, Mickelson, Xander Schauffele, Kuchar and Tony Finau.

Captain Jim Furyk will then make three of his four captain’s picks after the Dell Technologies Championship, the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, on Sept. 3 (this is the one with the Monday / Labor Day finish that I love...but it’s going away next year with the new schedule), and then Furyk makes his final selection a week later.

It’s assumed that Mickelson and Tiger will be two of the four.

The other two?  Schauffele and Finau were thought to have the best shot coming into this week, but we may have to wait to get a better idea of Furyk’s thinking, and if I’m him, I wait until Sept. 3.  Furyk, by chance, so they say, was grouped with Schauffele and Finau the first two rounds of the PGA.  [All three made the cut....Schauffele T-35, Finau T-42, Furyk T-71.]

I’ll talk about the Ryder Cup next time.

--I hope we can finally put any talk of Stephen Curry playing on the PGA Tour when he retires from basketball to rest.  Curry played in his second Web.com Tour event this week, the Ellie Mae Classic at the TPC Stonebrae in Hayward, Calif., about 17 miles from Oracle Arena.

While Steph had a respectable 71 in the first round, he shot 86 in the second, finishing last, 21 shots from making the cut.

--Tommy Fleetwood got paid more than $150,000 in prize money from last month’s British Open.  But it wasn’t paid to the Tommy Fleetwood who finished 12th at Carnoustie.

Instead, it was sent to a 58-year-old man by the same name who caddies at the Streamsong Resort in Bowling Green, Florida.

Caddie Fleetwood told Reuters he was trying to get in touch with English world number 11 to put the player’s mind at ease that the money would be refunded.

Caddie Fleetwood received a direct deposit of $154,480.  He said, “I tried to get on (the European Tour’s senior circuit), so they have my (bank) information.”

This would make for a funny movie...with the real Fleetwood playing himself.  I’d add a few wrinkles, of course.

MLB

--The story in these parts is no longer about the Yankees chasing the amazing Red Sox in the A.L. East, but rather can New York maintain the first wild-card slot so it is hosting the one-game playoff, which today would be against Oakland.

Friday, Masahiro Tanaka (9-3, 4.08), would have his worst start since April, 6 runs in 5 innings, the Rangers defeating the Yankees 12-7 behind three home runs from rookie first baseman Ronald Guzman.

Saturday, though, newly-acquired Lance Lynn continued to throw stellar ball for New York, 5 innings, one run, in a 5-3 Yankees win; Lynn having allowed just this lone run in 16 2/3 for his new team in three appearances.  Just what the Yankees needed, while the other big acquisition in the starting rotation, J.A. Happ, has also pitched well.

But reliever Zach Britton, who is targeted to be a critical cog in the playoffs, had his third poor outing out of seven after being acquired from Baltimore. And Aroldis Chapman continues to give fans the heebie-jeebies.

Sunday, the Yankees won 7-2 behind CC Sabathia’s 6 innings of one-hit ball, Sabathia now 7-4, 3.32. Giancarlo Stanton hit No. 30.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox outslugged the Orioles Friday in Baltimore, 19-12, as four Boston players had at least 3 RBIs.

Saturday, Boston swept the Orioles in a doubleheader, 5-0 and 6-4, David Price throwing six shutout innings in the first game, striking out 10 for the first time this season as he improved to 12-6, 3.75.

And Sunday, Boston completed the four-game sweep, 4-1, as Chris Sale came off the disabled list to throw five innings of shutout ball, striking out 12!

Time precludes me from running through the wild-card standings in both leagues, the N.L. nuts at this point...five teams within 2 ½ games for the two spots as I go to post.

--Just one note on the Mets since I posted Wednesday morning.  The Mets finally won a game for Jacob deGrom, scoring some runs, in an 8-0 triumph over the Reds that afternoon. DeGrom threw six scoreless, struck out 10, and lowered his ERA to 1.77.  But in terms of his chance for a Cy Young Award, he’s still just 6-7.

Neil Greenberg of the Washington Post, though, is in deGrom’s corner. 

Max Scherzer is my own pick for Cy Young, Scherzer, entering tonight’s contest against the Cubs, 15-5, 2.28.

But Greenberg says deGrom gets just 3.6 runs of support per start, while Scherzer gets 5.5.  The 3.6 is almost a run fewer than the league average (4.4).  “If both pitchers got an average amount of support, deGrom’s superior ERA should give him more wins, illustrating why pegging a pitcher’s value in wins, whether anecdotally or from an end-of-season award such as the Cy Young, is ridiculous.  We should focus instead on deGrom’s filthy pitches.

“If the Mets continue to squander deGrom’s starts, we could see him become one of the most unlucky pitchers in recent history. Since 2006, the first year MLB instituted league-wide drug testing, there has been no pitcher who had both an ERA under 2.70 and run support per nine innings at least a run lower than the league average.  The closest is Roy Oswalt, who in 2010 had a 2.76 ERA and just 3.2 runs per nine innings in support, resulting in a 13-13 record by season’s end.”

--Mike Trout was placed on the disabled list finally after sitting out seven consecutive games, the second-longest injury absence of his big league career as he deals with an inflamed right wrist.  No telling how long he’ll remain disabled.

--Seattle, hanging in there in the wild-card hunt, made a rather startling move, though one that was warranted, in pulling King Felix Hernandez from the rotation.  Hernandez has a career high 5.73 ERA this season and is 0-4 in his last five starts, capped by a start against Texas on Tuesday when he allowed a career-high 11 runs – seven earned – on eight hits in six innings.

Hernandez has spent his entire career with Seattle and all 398 appearances have been as a starter.  He is 168-124 with a 3.32 ERA.

--Vladimir Guerrero Jr., son of newly-enshrined Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero Sr., is having a beyond phenomenal season in the minors. The 19-year-old is batting .406 thru Friday, combined, in both AA and now AAA for the Toronto Blue Jays.  Guerrero has 18 home runs and 69 RBIs, a 1.150 OPS, in 281 at-bats, with only 31 strikeouts.  He was out about five weeks with an injury, but now has enough ABs to qualify for the minor league batting crown and he’s 55 points better than the next guy.

--11 years after his career ended a year earlier than he wanted, Barry Bonds got his day, the Giants retiring his jersey before a sellout crowd  at AT&T Park, with San Francisco celebrating one of its all-time greats.

“The park means more to me than the number,” Bonds said after the 75-minute ceremony.  “Because I built this park.  That’s all. When I walk into this ballpark, I know whose house it is. It is our house as a unified city, but I know who did that.

“Willie [Mays} never played here.  [Willie] McCovey didn’t play here. None of them played here.

“I played here, so when I walk into the ballpark, I might have my chest out, my head’s a little big, yeah, I did that.”

Well, Bonds always said he was a “six-tool” player because of his intelligence.

Willie Mays, who even wonders whether it should be Bonds, and not himself or Aaron, as the greatest living ballplayer today, reminded the crowd that Bonds belongs in the Hall of Fame alongside him. The crowd of 41,209 erupted, and all of the Giants and Pirates players who were standing on the top dugout steps watching the ceremony, cheered right along with them.

Mays implored the Baseball Writers Association of America to put Bonds in the Hall while he’s alive to see it.

“On behalf of all of the people in San Francisco, and all over the country,” Mays said, “vote him in.”

This was like Bonds’ Hall of Fame day, though, as former managers, Jim Leyland and Dusty Baker, spoke in reverence of him.  Former Giants owner Peter Magowan regaled the crowd with the story of the greatest free-agent signing in Giants history, signing Bonds to a six-year, $43 million deal in 1992.

The happiest moment of Magowan’s ownership, he said, was the day he signed Bonds, “But the saddest,” he said, “was when we fired Barry.”

Bonds wasn’t fired, in actuality, but he wasn’t brought back after the 2007 season, one in which he hit 28 home runs, led the league in walks with 132, and had an OPS of 1.045.

But now Barry has had his day. He’s up to 56.4% in the Hall of Fame vote, four years to go to get to 75%.  I’m sensing a sizable tick up in the next ballot for both him and Roger Clemens (57.3%...also four years to go).

NFL

I couldn’t care less about preseason, but this year is a little different locally because of our two high-first-round picks, Saquon Barkley and Sam Darnold.  So I actually tuned in for the early action in the Giants’ opener against Cleveland on Thursday, and there was Saquon with a scintillating 39-yard run on his first touch in the NFL.  Granted he only had four yards on his other three carries, but Giants fans saw what they wanted.

As for the presumed heir to Eli Manning in another year or two, Davis Webb, he was less than scintillating (9/22, 70).  I like this guy.  He’s a great interview.  Hope he succeeds.

Meanwhile, I was on record as hoping my Jets would select Baker Mayfield, who Cleveland ended up taking at No. 1.  I just thought Mayfield was a natural for the Big City, a leader who could handle the pressures of Gotham.  And a talent.

Well, Browns fans should be pretty pumped, even if it was for just one game, because Mayfield was 11/20, 212 yards, 2 touchdowns, and looked solid and poised in the process.   I hope the guy kicks butt, though Tyrod Taylor looks to be the opening game starter.

But as for the guy the Jets then selected, Sam Darnold, he too looked damn good in the Jets’ opener Friday night.  Darnold was 13/18, 96, 1-0, and like Mayfield was poised, completing some great throws.

And, hey, Teddy Bridgewater also looked great for the Jets, 7/8.  He certainly seemed healthy.  I loved the move to bring him on board for a year and just see what he had after his serious injury issues.  For now he’s good insurance if the Jets decide to hold off on Darnold  until after the first few games of the season.  Or...he might make for a great trade chip once the league sees that he’s back.  [Especially as other teams’ QBs begin to go down with injuries.]

Steve Serby / New York Post

“Near the end of Jets 17, Falcons 0, on the sideline (Sam Darnold) listened to how New York will embrace a star quarterback they love and lust to call their own.

“ ‘I had fans yelling later in the fourth quarter, ‘Great game, Sam, you played great,’’ Darnold said with a smile.  ‘It’s cool to be able to get that response from all the fans.  It’s amazing to be able to play in front of them.

“ ‘Jets fans are one of a kind.  They’re awesome.’

“Just don’t throw an interception, kid.”

--One other on the exhibition front...I can’t help but note that Summit, New Jersey’s own, kicker Michael Badgley, or “Mike” as it seems he’s called now, nailed his 34-yard field goal attempt for the Colts, as he backs up the ageless wonder, 45-year-old Adam Vinatieri.  I can’t imagine being a kicker trying to make it in the NFL and the unbelievable pressure when you’re attempting to make your first team.  Every single kick for Badgley this preseason is critical, especially since so many of these guys can bounce around.

Actually, the Colts game had something far more important than Badgley’s kick...the return of quarterback Andrew Luck, who has been sidelined almost 600 days with a shoulder problem since he last appeared in a game in the final week of the 2016 season. 

And Luck looked solid, 6/9, 64 yards.

College Football

--ESPN’s Preseason Top 10

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Ohio State
4. Georgia
5. Washington
6. Wisconsin
7. Oklahoma
8. Penn State
9. Miami
10. Auburn
11. Notre Dame
19. Boise State...this year’s Central Florida
25. South Carolina

--The University of Maryland placed football coach DJ Durkin on administrative leave Saturday in wake of news reports that players faced abuse and disparagement from staff members.

Athletic Director Damon Evans sent a letter to university staff, boosters and supporters Saturday saying, “I am extremely concerned by the allegations of unacceptable behavior by members of our football staff detailed in recent media reports....

“At this time, the best decision for our football program is to place Maryland Head Football Coach DJ Durkin on leave so we can properly review the culture of the program,” the letter continued.  Matt Canada will serve as interim head coach.

Friday, the athletic department had  announced that multiple members of the athletics staff had been placed on administrative leave but their identities were not released, though reports had Rick Court, the team’s strength and conditioning coach, and athletic trainer Wes Robinson among those on the list.

The school has said it would speak in greater detail following an external review of the death of football player Jordan McNair, 19, who died June 13 after suffering heatstroke at a team workout May 29.*  An attorney for the family has said a lawsuit is likely.  The review isn’t expected to be concluded before Sept. 15, but the new reports, such as from ESPN, talked of a toxic culture in the football program, with regular instances of bullying, disparagement, and verbal and emotional abuse.

*The May 29 workout was run by the strength and conditioning staff, with athletic trainers present.  McNair had trouble recovering from a conditioning test that consisted of 10 110-yard sprints, according to the university.  He suffered a seizure.  All outside doctors interviewed have said this was totally preventable.

One former player told the Washington Post Friday evening, “There was just constant degrading of players...they thought it would toughen us up.”  ESPN’s extensive report Friday described an “environment based on fear and humiliation.”

With a gubernatorial race this year in Maryland, the school is quickly becoming a political punching bag, as Democratic candidate for governor, Ben Jealous, called for the school to suspend both Evans and Durkin, pending results of the external investigation.

Gov. Larry Hogan’s office said, “No student athlete should ever feel unsafe or unsupported.”

Among donors there is mounting pressure to fire Durkin.

Others, such as South Carolina Coach Will Muschamp, who coached alongside Durkin at the University of Florida, questioned the anonymous sources in news reports, calling them “gutless.”

Muschamp said: “I know DJ Durkin personally. I know what kind of man he is.  I know what kind of person he is.  I don’t think it’s right.”

Durkin, 40, has gone 10-15 over his first two seasons leading the program.

The real target of the investigation seems to be Rick Court, the strength and conditioning coach, who one former player told the Washington Post “was always cursing and yelling at guys, calling them names.”

“That was just Rick; it was all him,” said the player.

Maryland opens its season against Texas Sept. 1.    Saturday, a three-star recruit for next year backed out of his commitment to join the team.

--To digress and go into the realm of college basketball, the NCAA did a good thing for once.  Several months ago, the Rice Commission came up with several recommendations to help change the sport, and the NCAA announced that several of them will come into play immediately.

Undrafted college basketball players will be able to return to college, provided that they notify their athletics director of their intent by 5 p.m. the Monday after the draft.

“Elite” high school and college basketball players will be able to hire and retain agents. And there will be more chances for players to make official visits.

The first one won’t occur until the NBA passes an accompanying rule that would make undrafted players who elect to return to school ineligible to play in the NBA until after the following college basketball season.

Wake Forest wishes the rule were in play today, because it would likely have meant the return of Bryant Crawford and Doral Moore, who both declared for the draft, stupidly, went undrafted, and are scrambling to find ways to stay relevant.  They should be back in school for another year of seasoning instead.

But it’s a great rule change.

Premier League

--Phil McNulty is the BBC’s top football writer and his preseason order of finish for 2018-19 had the following.

1. Man City
2. Liverpool
3. Man U
4. Tottenham
5. Chelsea
6. Arsenal
7. Wolverhampton

Relegated:

18. Newcastle
19. Watford
20. Cardiff

So we’ve completed week one in the PL and I won’t bore you with a lot of details the first five or so weeks.  No big upsets in the Big Six.

My Tottenham Spurs survived, 2-1 at Newcastle, as they played most of their World Cup players, who no doubt are still fatigued.  I mean because England and others loaded with Premier League players advanced into the quarterfinals and beyond, these guys had zero break, really just a few weeks before preseason camp.

In Tottenham’s case, fans have to be prepared for some slips along the way and I really don’t know how they are going to do in Champions League play, which just adds more layers to the long PL schedule as it is.

Anyway, superstar Harry Kane has an interesting streak.  While he entered play against Newcastle with 108 Premier League goals in 153 matches, he now still hasn’t scored in August in 14.

In other games....

Liverpool blasted West Ham, 4-0, Mohamed Salah, who had a record 32 PL goals last season, picking up where he left off with a tally.  Chelsea shut out Huddersfield 3-0.  Manchester United beat Leicester 2-1.  Man City beat rival Arsenal 2-0.

As for the favorite topic of fans of this sport, what to do with the Big Six and competitiveness, this year there could be increasing talk of the downside of Manchester City’s dominance.  City won the title last year by a record 19 points (since the PL was founded in 1992), becoming the first team to reach 100 points and scoring a record 106 goals in the process.

And this year, City is “fully rearmed to defend,” as the Wall Street Journal’s Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg put it.  “English soccer’s competitive balance is in danger and the club’s dominance is a major problem for the most popular league on the planet.”

“For the Premier League, the specter of City’s dominance comes at a delicate moment.  Only last spring, the league brokered an uneasy peace between the so-called Big Six teams and the other 14 over the sharing of its foreign television revenue, worth roughly $1 billion a year.  But people familiar with the matter say that the Big Six have had preliminary talks – which are no longer active – to break away from the current structure, potentially to ally with other European clubs in a super league.  They wouldn’t be guaranteed titles there either, but they believe the TV rights payments and global attention would be somehow greater than what they receive today.”

I’ve discussed the above before, and the idea that the Champions League wants weekend matches, too, which the PL has adamantly pushed back on.

But if Man City runs away with it again this season, talk of change will only accelerate.

NASCAR

Kevin Harvick won his seventh race of the Cup season at Michigan International Speedway, your editor winning in DraftKings, as I also did in golf today.  Speaking of which, kudos to Dr. W., who now has a 4-week winning streak in DK for golf.  As Ronald Reagan would have said, ‘Not bad, not bad at all.’

Stuff

--Fans and alumni of Wake Forest were sickened to learn that a Wake assistant basketball coach, Jamill Jones, was involved in an assault in Queens, NY, that led to the death of tourist Sandor Szabo.  It’s a complicated story, and a classic case of my dictum, ‘wait 24 hours.’  Some in the press, such as NBC News, which ran a national story on the case on the Nightly News and the Today Show, didn’t give all the facts and instead focused on the grieving parents.

Understand that the assault on Szabo was a big local story when it first happened, but he died two days later from his injuries, and then two days after that we learned of Jones’ involvement, which made it more of a shock for those of us who first heard of the situation days earlier.

But enough time has elapsed and here is what we do know.  Szabo, from Florida, was in town for a family wedding.  It was 1:15 a.m. Sunday morning when, after calling for an Uber driver, and drunk, Szabo went banging on car windows looking for his ride.  A neighbor stepped outside to see what the commotion was about and was punched by Szabo.  Szabo then resumed banging on car windows and came upon Jones, who got out, followed Szabo to the sidewalk, decked him and, according to police, sped off.

Szabo’s head hit the sidewalk, though, and he never regained consciousness, dying two days later when he was taken off life support.

Jones then turned himself in to police Thursday and pleaded not guilty to an assault charge. He was arraigned and released on his own recognizance with the next court appearance scheduled for Oct. 2.  Jones is married with two kids.

Supposedly there is a video of Jones propping Szabo up so he wouldn’t choke to death from his own blood, but the incriminating fact is Jones didn’t call 911, and didn’t stay for the police.  It has yet to be revealed, nor will we ever probably know, if Jones was impaired himself, nor why he was in the area at that hour.

But you can easily imagine how this went down.  If you had a crazed, drunk guy banging incoherently on your window what would you do?  We are assuming Jones wasn’t in a position to speed off and ignore him.

Regardless, it’s an awful tragedy for everyone involved.  As for how Wake Forest is handling it, Jones, who has been on Coach Danny Manning’s staff just a year, but has coached at numerous other institutions, was given a leave of absence.  It’s hard to just dismiss him, especially if it is found to be misdemeanor assault, the current charge.  Witnesses may emerge with different angles to the story.

For now it’s just a dark cloud for the school.  It’s more than about what has already been a dreadful stretch for the hoops program on the court.  You just don’t expect this kind of thing to happen off the court that stains the reputation of a pretty darned good institution.  I will be updating this story only as needed.

--Kawhi Leonard finally spoke, three weeks after being traded from San Antonio to Toronto.

In a letter to the San Antonio Express-News on Thursday, Leonard wrote: “I have been going back and forth the last few weeks trying to figure out the right things to say, and it comes down to two simple words: THANK YOU!”

Leonard was reportedly not happy about the trade to the Raptors and he doesn’t address them in his letter.  But he did address Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who he had a tumultuous relationship with in the past year.

“I’ll always be grateful for my growth under your guidance,” Leonard wrote of Popovich.

He also thanked the city of San Antonio, his former teammates and the fans.

--Love this one, from Agence France-Presse and the BBC:

“Here’s something to crow about.

“A historical theme park in France has enlisted brainy birds to clean up after pigs.

“The folks at Puy du Fou in the western Vendee region has schooled six ‘intelligent’ rooks to collect cigarette butts and debris left on their grounds.

“The gregarious Eurasian crows deposit the detritus into a small box. But these waste collectors don’t work for free. Each time they deliver a piece of trash, the box dispenses a tasty treat.

“ ‘The goal is not just to clear up, because the visitors are generally careful to keep things clean,’ the park’s president, Nicolas de Villiers, told Agence France-Presse news agency, noting that the birds also ‘like to communicate with humans and establish a relationship through play.’

“The first cleaners have already been put to work, with the rest set to join them on Monday.

“Puy du Fou attracts more than 2  million visitors a year, making it the second most popular theme park in France after Disneyland Paris.”

--Meanwhile, ‘Man’ falls to No. 426 on the All-Species List, after “Alabama beachgoers may have killed hundreds of protected birds after playing volleyball on an island where the species lay eggs, experts say.

“The Birmingham Audubon conservation group found tampered eggs as well as discarded volleyball posts and netting near the birds’ nests after July 4.

“The group appeared to move the eggs and scare off birds who had been shielding their young from the sun.

“The birds – called least terns – are listed as a threatened species.”

The volleyball players “actually made a little dome of sand and placed the eggs around it to decorate it,” an official with the Audubon Society told the Associated Press.

Top 3 songs for the week 8/11/79:  #1 “Bad Girls” (Donna Summer)  #2 “Good Times” (Chic)  #3 “The Main Event / Fight” (Barbra Streisand)...and...#4 “My Sharona” (The Knack)  #5 “Gold” (John Stewart)  #6 “When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman” (Dr. Hook)  #7 “Ring My Bell” (Anita Ward)  #8 “Makin’ It” (David Naughton)  #9 “Hot Stuff” (Donna Summer)  #10 “You Can’t Change That” (Raydio...just a godawful week...time to  go back to the 60s...)

Baseball Quiz Answer: The great, and totally underrated Jimmie Foxx played his last full season in 1941 at age 33, playing sparingly a few seasons after, and finished his career with 534 home runs, 1,922 RBIs, a .325 batting average, 3 MVP awards, and a 1.038 career OPS.  His big seasons were with the Philadelphia A’s and Boston Red Sox, but picture he came up as a 17-year-old for Philly and had six hits in nine at-bats.

Jimmie Foxx would be a helluva lot better known, though, if he had just played three more full seasons.  The problem is he had a little issue. It was called “Scotch.”  More on “Old Double-X” next time, including a remarkable pitching performance.

Next Bar Chat, Thursday.

---