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Bar Chat

02/27/2012

Cowboys and Indians

Live…or rather on tape delay…from the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel…Prior Lake, Minn. [About 30 minutes southwest of Minneapolis-St. Paul airport]

Cincinnati Reds Quiz: [quizzes this coming baseball season will be scattershot] Name the five Reds players to have 130 or more RBI in a season. [None did it more than once.] Answer below.

Mystic Lake

So who am I? And why the heck am I here? [Channeling Admiral Stockdale] Ever have a bright idea that maybe wasn’t so bright? I probably have about 42 a year, running on 1,500 or so in my entire adulthood. This may be one of them.

I always wanted to see country duo Montgomery Gentry. As they are described, a rocking version of Brooks and Dunn. Love their music, though my listening is normally confined to when I’m traveling in country music territory. I always pack one of their CDs for the car.

So from time to time I check where they are playing and about two months ago I saw they were having a concert in Clear Lake, Iowa, which is where I was this summer… think Buddy Holly and Surf Ballroom. Great! I thought. I’d love to see a concert at the Surf. But it was sold out. Drat! This did make sense, though. The Surf Ballroom holds very few events of this kind over the course of a year and the locals would easily scarf up the tickets anytime a solid act like Montgomery Gentry rolls into town. I was just ticked at myself for not checking earlier.

Well, looking at their following tour dates, I saw they were playing at Mystic Lake on Sunday, Feb. 26, and after looking at a map and seeing it was near Minneapolis, got my ticket and here I am. [I wouldn’t have done this if I couldn’t get a decent airfare.]

Of course had I been able to get a ticket to Clear Lake, I would have been risking bad weather and the place is 2 ½ hours from both Minny and Des Moines and I saw this summer how they are prepared to close the interstates at the first sign of drifting, a big issue in prairie country, as you can imagine.

Anyway, I always wanted to be a weatherman…but where was I? Oh yeah, Mystic Lake. I had no idea this place existed. It’s huge! It’s also run by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community…got themselves a big reservation and land in these parts.

Now I can’t say I ever heard of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Nation, but it strikes me that here at my hotel, they bear a striking resemblance to African-Americans and Norwegians, at least by the look of the hotel and casino staff. So I’m thinking I must have some Sioux in me somewhere, too. I really need to found my own tribe…the Slovakopee Metskantwin Community …and then get me a casino/hotel. I’d even offer better odds…like 2:1 on blackjack rather than 3:2…to win more business from the other Sioux tribes.

Well, as I was saying, I arrive on Saturday afternoon, check into my decent room and go downstairs. And then…the depression set in.

Oh, I had an idea this was the case when back home I checked the joint out online and saw that the high-end steak place didn’t seem to have a drink menu…nor did it look like there were any bars here. So I wasn’t really surprised. Just a little bummed because I was planning on sitting at a bar, doing some people watching.

But I had a nice steak, two O’Douls, and then on Sat. night followed Murray State’s basketball game online while doing other work. I do have to say, as alluded to above, the casino was absolutely packed. My room, high on the 16th floor, overlooks a massive parking lot and it is jammed. Seems a lot of busloads from Minny come here as well.

Back to Montgomery Gentry, I will comment very briefly down below after the concert before posting but I didn’t realize Troy Gentry (the other being Eddie Montgomery) was fined $15,000 in this state back in 2006 after he illegally shot a tame bear in a rural area. And he had to issue an apology…I’m assuming to the bear’s family. “Err, sorry about that…can I get you some porridge?”

Ryan Braun

What a disgrace. National League MVP Ryan Braun’s 50-game suspension was overturned Thursday as baseball arbitrator Shyam Das broke the traditional 1-1 tie in favor of Braun over Major League Baseball and its allegation Braun tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, specifically an off-the-chart reading for elevated testosterone. It was the first time MLB had lost an appeal of a drug suspension after 12 wins, as MLB executive vice president Rob Manfred and union head Michael Weiner, members of the arbitration panel, almost always split their vote, leaving the independent member to make the decision. For his part, Das didn’t issue a statement saying why he ruled the way he did. He does have to file an explanation within 30 days.

“I am very pleased and relieved by today’s decision. It is the first step in restoring my good name and reputation. We were able to get through this because I am innocent and the truth is on our side.”

Speaking for Major League Baseball, Rob Manfred was ticked:

“It has always been Major League Baseball’s position that no matter who tests positive, we will exhaust all avenues in pursuit of the appropriate discipline. We have been true to that position in every instance, because baseball fans deserve nothing less. As a part of our drug testing program, the commissioner’s office and the players association agreed to a neutral third party review for instances that are under dispute.

“While we have always respected that process, Major League Baseball vehemently disagrees with the decision rendered today by arbitrator Shyam Das.”

The big term being used with regards to this case, and why Braun won the appeal, is “chain of custody” and the fact the test, taken after Game 1 of last year’s N.L. Division Series, a Saturday afternoon, wasn’t shipped out by FedEx that day, and instead sat in the tester’s home until Monday.

On Friday, Braun called the testing process “fatally flawed” and said a “motivated” person could well have tainted his sample without detection. Braun also said the levels of testosterone were three times higher than any found in any test taken in the history of the sport’s testing program. Braun then hinted there were problems with the tester’s character.

“There were a lot of things that we learned about the collector, about the collection process, about the way the entire thing works, that made us very concerned and very suspicious about what could have actually happened.”

Lies. First off, there apparently have been plenty of results higher than Braun’s on the testosterone side. And there is absolutely no reason to besmirch the tester’s character. Plus, two other players were tested the same day as Braun and they came up clean. And one person with direct knowledge of the case told the New York Times’ Ken Belson and Michael S. Schmidt “that none of the issues brought up Friday by Braun were raised in the actual arbitration hearing on his case. No suggestion was made at that hearing, the person said, that the urine sample had been tampered with, and no questions were raised about the conduct or history of the collector involved.”

Belson and Schmidt…Mr. Schmidt in particular being all over the steroid issue for years now:

“Had the sample been dropped off the day of the game, Braun said, its chain of custody would have been better established.

“But although there are several FedEx locations near Miller Park (Milwaukee) and they were indeed open late that Saturday, the samples would have had to have been dropped off at one of two locations by 5 p.m. to make it onto the last FedEx flight from Milwaukee. Even then, the sample would not have arrived in Montreal until noon on Monday, according to Scott Fiedler, a spokesman for FedEx.

“In cases like Braun’s where the sample would have sat in a store or drop-off box over the weekend, collectors have been told by the test administrator to keep possession of the sample until it can be shipped. The collector told the three-person arbitration panel that he kept the sample in his possession the entire weekend, according to a person in baseball familiar with his testimony….

“Braun noted that there was no documentation of where the sample was in the 44 hours after it left the ballpark. The collector, however, testified that he kept the sample in his basement, where the temperature was around 60 degrees, said one person involved in the case. [Ed. Other reports have the sample being kept in a refrigerator.]

“ ‘The real issue, though, is not how long it took to send the sample to the laboratory, but why such high levels of testosterone were found in the sample in the first place,’ (Don H.) Catlin said. [Ed. Catlin is founder and former director of the U.C.L.A. Olympic Analytical Laboratory, which tested players in minor league baseball.]

“Braun told reporters on Friday that he was ‘willing to take any and every test to prove I did not do this.’

“According to two people with knowledge of the case, Braun, during his efforts to overturn baseball’s 50-game suspension, went so far as to volunteer to take a DNA test to demonstrate that the damning sample was not his.

“It is unclear what became of Braun’s offer. In one telling, Major League Baseball turned down his request. In another telling, Braun backed down after Major League Baseball agreed.

“There remain, of course, many questions about if and how Braun’s sample could have been tampered with. Braun said that biochemists and scientists he spoke to said that if a person was motivated it would be easy to corrupt someone’s sample.

“But a person involved with the arbitration process said that the seals on Braun’s sample bottles were not broken and that there was no outward evidence that the contents were altered.” [Ed.  Evidently there are three separate seals on the sample bottles.]

“Deep skepticism about Ryan Braun’s claims that he did not use performance-enhancing drugs pervaded the Mets clubhouse on Friday.

“ ‘Ryan Braun is out there saying this shows he is innocent,’ one Met said. ‘Does that mean O.J. Simpson is innocent, too?’”

Another Met told Martinez, as to the chain of custody explanation, “Oh, wow. That was his defense? Now every positive test is going to be challenged. That could be a mess.”

David Wright offered a different opinion: “You’re glad that the process worked. That’s why we have that process in place.”

“For fans of Ryan Braun, a group that includes his fellow major league players, no ambiguity is needed. Braun is innocent. He is not suspended. His record is clean.

“The second and third points are indisputable. Braun is free to play for the Milwaukee Brewers this season…

“The question of innocence is more nuanced. This was a legal fight, and Braun found a way to win. Does that make him innocent of cheating? We still do not know. All we know is that protocol broke down in at least two crucial areas.

“The test administrator made the first mistake. Braun’s defense team was successful in raising questions about how the tester stored Braun’s urine sample in his home refrigerator instead of taking it directly to a FedEx center for shipment to a laboratory in Montreal.

“The second mistake was by the sources who leaked the positive test result to ESPN in December. The information was solid, the news value substantial. The reporters did their job in breaking an important story, and bashing them is misguided.

“But players do have reason to feel violated. A positive test result is not supposed to be made public until a player’s punishment is official. Since Braun, technically, was never punished, he has a right to feel persecuted by whoever leaked the story….

“By all accounts, Braun did not use a steroid. But some sort of banned substance caused him to fail the test, and if he really has nothing to hide, he needs to say what it was.

“Anything less than a full explanation will leave lingering doubts, at least among people who consider his case beyond the surface. He won on a technicality; there’s no other way to say it. Storing a sealed drug test in a refrigerator for the weekend cannot change the properties of the sample. Braun might have a perfectly reasonable explanation. He seems too smart to have knowingly used a banned substance, but he bears the burden of his predecessors, who stood against steroid testing to protect the cheaters among them. Players were sneaky, management was oblivious, reporters were not vigilant and fans were duped. Suspicion reigns, understandably.”

“This will haunt (Braun). Again, not as much as if he actually served the suspension and was found guilty. Nevertheless, it is now part of the legacy of an important player of this era; the guy who just won the 2011 MVP.

“Look at it this way: Until the past few months, Braun had been held up as a symbol of a cleaner game; of someone who had been tested throughout his minor and major league career. But he will not be that kind of symbol again and, instead, will have this as part of his permanent record.

“However, it is the sport itself that will be most haunted now. At a time when there was some belief being restored that the testing works and that banned drugs were – if not being eliminated – at least being significantly diminished in the sport, there is this.

“There is a famous player testing positive and not being punished. There is a feeling that a loophole has been formed and that other players will be able to drive through – be able to risk taking illegal performance enhancers and, if caught, try the Braun defense. Or maybe not exactly the Braun defense, but some defense based on a precedent now being set to actually avoid the suspension….

“We are back to wondering how clean the sport is. At a time when MLB was hoping for the good vibe from the opening of spring training. Instead, it has this: The opening of an old wound.”

College Basketball

In a terrific game, No. 5 Kansas outlasted No. 3 Missouri in overtime, 87-86, with the Jayhawks staging their second-best comeback in school history, down 19 in the second half. Making it all the sweeter for the home crowd was the fact this was the last scheduled game between these two bitter rivals, with Mizzou leaving for the SEC. I’m glad Kansas won. Missouri could have brought down the entire Big 12 with its move and armed conflict between the two states would be entirely appropriate, a la the 1850s. I’d sign up with the citizens of Kansas should that still happen.

No. 1 Kentucky moved to 28-1, 14-0 in the SEC, in defeating Vanderbilt, 83-74. But Vandy (20-9, 9-5) should still get into the Big Dance.

Virginia’s chances, on the other hand, took another blow as they lost to No. 7 North Carolina, 54-51. I’d give the ACC only three berths; UNC, Duke and Florida State.

No. 11 Florida lost to a crappy Georgia squad, 76-62.

No. 18 Notre Dame stumbled against St. John’s, 61-58, but I’m saying the Fighting Irish, with two wins in the Big East tournament, will still get a No. 4 seed.

No. 21 New Mexico shockingly lost to TCU, 83-64, its second straight defeat after being so impressive the last few weeks.

And No. 22 Temple finally makes it back into the rankings, only to lose to Saint Joseph’s, 82-72.

In a big conference tussle, VCU moved to 25-6 (15-3 CAA) in beating George Mason (23-8, 14-4). I can’t say I’ve seen a minute of VCU this year but you obviously can’t count out Shaka Smart.

No. 25 San Diego State regained its touch with a 74-66 win over Colorado State. But you know how I’ve been saying Jamaal Franklin is the budding superstar no one talks about? All the 6-5 Aztec guard did was score 31 points and haul down 16 rebounds! I just hope the sophomore stays one more year; then he could be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 draft. [Seriously…you heard it here first.]

Penn moved to 9-2 in Ivy League play in knocking off Harvard, 55-54. Harvard is 10-2.

No. 12 Murray State defeated Tennessee Tech, 69-64, to move to 28-1. The Racers deserve a lot of credit. After Tennessee State handed them their only loss at home the other week, the Racers not only beat Saint Mary’s in their bracketbuster contest, but they finished off conference play with three very tough games on the road. Now, if they can win the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, they could get a 3-seed. I’ve been wearing my Racerwear with pride.

--But is it time to get the Deaconwear out again? At least release it from the bottom of the drawer holding all the Jetswear…the loser drawer, in other words?

Maybe, because on Saturday the Deacons won their fourth ACC game of the year in blasting pathetic Boston College, 85-56. I have this lunch bet with BC alum, Steve D., and the deal was for combined points in our two games this year. Wake won the first 71-56 on the road so Steve had already given up the ship with the two playing in Winston-Salem this weekend. But to lose by a combined 156-112! Good lord. How humiliating. And now Steve has to wait until football season to have another shot at me.

Well, Wake won just one ACC contest last season and this year we’re at four. That’s an improvement. I’d feel better, though, if the conference was good and we played a lot of tight games but that hasn’t been the case and the bottom of the ACC is as bad as it’s ever been.

But we’ll see how good our recruits are next fall. At least the Wake cap is now on top of the Jets one.

--Back to Kansas. In winning, they clinched their 8th straight Big 12 regular-season title, a huge accomplishment given the quality of competition, year in and year out. The only other major conference streaks better than this are held by UCLA at 13, 1967-79, and Kentucky, 9, 1944-52.

One mid-major conference streak fell this weekend; that being Gonzaga’s 11-straight West Coast Conference titles as Saint Mary’s, in defeating San Francisco, which last week upset Gonzaga, takes the title for 2011-2012. [This helps Murray State a little as well.]

--Lastly, kudos to my friend Jose Rebimbas, coach at Division III William Paterson in New Jersey. Jose’s team is now in the D-III tourney and 13th-ranked nationally, as of last week, after winning the NJAC tournament to go to 24-3 on the year. D-III matchups are named on Monday afternoon.

--Hunter Mahan won his 4th PGA Tour title, 2nd WGC event, in taking the Match Play Championship, 2 and 1, over Rory McIlroy.

And in the other tour event this weekend, the Mayakoba Classic in Mexico, 21-year-old tour rookie John Huh bested Robert Allenby in an 8-hole playoff, tied for second longest in tour history. This guy has come out of nowhere and it was just the fifth event of his career. Imagine. 3 top 12 finishes, too, in those five. Huh!

--So I’m reading the two main Sunday papers out of Minneapolis today and there’s a lot of talk of how the Minnesota Vikings, who draft No. 3, have had their sights set on USC left tackle Matt Kalil, but, if out of nowhere St. Louis, with the No. 2 pick, goes for Kalil instead of Robert Griffin III, the Rams already having Sam Bradford, then the Vikes could get RG III. Of course St. Louis could trade their No. 2 to someone else, or to the Vikes.

By the way, at the scouting combine taking place now, Kalil measured in with 34 ½ inch arms. Now I have a 33-inch waist so I’m trying to picture arms this big. He also bench-pressed 225 pounds 30 times and officially ran the 40 in 4.99, second among offensive linemen behind Oklahoma’s Donald Stephenson. Kalil is 6 feet 6 5/8 and officially weighs 306.

And that’s your Vikings draft report from the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel…did I tell you the place is dry?

--I saw a blurb on Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore. Scouts are concerned he is only 6 feet and a little under 200 pounds. Kellen Moore is going to be a quality NFL quarterback by this third season.  If he’s still available in, say, the fourth round, which seems possible, he’s a steal.

--I wonder if Las Vegas has an over/under on the number of games Alex Rodriguez will play this year? It was 99 last season. I’ll say he plays in 115 this go ‘round with 21 home runs and a .278 average. Hardly what the Yankees are paying $29 million in 2012 for.

--From the St. Paul Pioneer Press, there’s this from columnist Charley Walters.

“Jerry Sichting was a Timberwolves assistant coach for 12 seasons before ending up last year as an assistant at Golden State – the team that cut point guard Jeremy Lin.”

“Here’s the thing about him – he really didn’t know what he was doing for that first month or two. He never really played point guard in college (at Harvard), and we were trying to play him at point guard.”

But after watching Lin in a summer league in 2010, Sichting said he felt Lin “was quick enough and tough enough. But he just didn’t know the timing, how to run a team and everything.”

“He would come in almost twice a day,” Sichting said. “My office was above the practice court and I’d hear the ball out there, and then later on in the day or at night, I’d look down there and it was usually Jeremy coming back to work on his shot, because his shot was very inconsistent as well. He’d just stay after practice, and all of us coaches would stay after and work with him.

“By the end of the season, he probably improved more in one year than any player I’ve ever been around. He was light years ahead at the end of the year where he was at the start of the year.”

During that rookie season, which included stints in the D-League, Lin averaged 2.6 points in 39 NBA games. Golden State subsequently released him.

“They had to get rid of him because they tried to get (salary) cap room to sign DeAndre Jordan from the Clippers; that’s why they got rid of him,” Sichting said.

“I remember one day in practice I called him over to the side after he had forgot a couple plays and said, ‘Jeremy, you’re not going to be able to play in this league if you don’t know the plays. No. 1, you’re the point guard, and No. 2, you went to Harvard.’

“He goes, ‘I’m sick of everybody thinking I’m smart just because I went to Harvard. I had a lot of help to get through Harvard.’ It was hilarious.”

I quoted Sichting at length because I suspect I’m not the only Knicks fan who has watched virtually all of Lin’s play during his 12-game streak with the same opinion. There is no doubt in my mind, as Sichting is strongly alluding to, that Lin will only continue to get better.

Obviously, he’s going to have lots of games like he did against Miami on Thursday (1-11 from the field and 8 turnovers), but the Knicks have their point guard for the next 10 years, should they so choose. I guarantee the guy is consistently among the top 8 in the league going forward and that’s just fine. You can see how the kid wants to just get better and better, and that’s where his strong character comes into play…a la what I still suspect we’ll see out of Tim Tebow when Denver breaks training camp next summer.

I just hope Knicks fans are patient. They aren’t winning any championships the next year or two, but once management figures out what kind of players to surround Lin with, that could change. Personally, I know what I’d like to see. Two Charles Oakley types who can bang and hit a mid-range jumper (maybe Josh Harrelson emerges as one of them), and two 6’5” types who can play defense and fill it up from outside. They don’t have to be superstars. Look what the Knicks did with Amar’e and Carmelo out and Lin at the point. I rest my case.

[On Tebow, John Elway said the other day he hopes he is the long-term solution at quarterback for the franchise. His strength and running game are big plusses. It’s just all about his throwing ability.]

--Bobby Valentine banned alcohol from the Red Sox clubhouse! Noooo!!! He’s going to turn it into a Mystic Lake type operation!!! Plus he’s banning alcohol from the last plane flight of road trips!!! What kind of temperance crap is this?!

[Pssst…your editor is feigning dismay. It was pathetic what was going on in the BoSox’ clubhouse last year, with starting pitchers drinking beer during a game (on their off day) and not supporting their teammates in the dugout.]

Longtime Red Sox slugger David Ortiz said of Valentine’s move: “We’re not here to drink. We’re here to play baseball. This ain’t no bar. If you want to drink, drink at home.”

--Manny Ramirez appeared at the Oakland Athletics’ training camp and in his first press conference told the assembled media, “God has given me a second chance and I’m not going to waste it. My arrival in Oakland is not a coincidence, it’s a God-incidence.”

As the New York Times’ Benjamin Hoffman put it, “(The) quote felt as if it should be applied to Tebow, or possibly Jeremy Lin, rather than the player who, as Peter Gammons reported, was described by his former manager Terry Francona as ‘the worst human being I’ve ever met.’”

Hoffman added, when it comes to Manny, ignore the talk, just focus on the hitting.

--Texas Rangers president Nolan Ryan said the club remains concerned about Josh Hamilton and his addictions and has tabled all contract talks. Too bad, Josh. I support you, but you also did this to yourself; Hamilton being in the last year of a contract that will pay him $13.75 million this season. There is just no way the Rangers would ever offer him a long-term extension. Nor can I see any other team doing the same, say 5 years, $100 million.

What I can see, and what I’m putting down just to see how it turns out next winter, is a rolling one-year contract for Hamilton. Let’s say for $15 million, with an option for $15 million. Just take it one year at a time.

--The Los Angeles Clippers have never won a division title in their 41 years. But this season they lead the Pacific Division with a 20-11 mark. Yes, Chris Paul has something to do with that.

--With Miami’s dismantling of the Knicks on Thursday, 102-88, the Heat have now won 8 straight by 12 or more points, one shy of the NBA record. [By the way, and for the record, not only did Jeremy Lin go 1 for 11 from the field against Miami, but new backup point guard Baron Davis was 0 for 7…or 1 for 18 from the position. That blowwwssss.]

--Another for the archives…the Detroit Red Wings’ NHL record 23-game home winning streak came to an end on Thursday as Vancouver won, 4-3, in a shootout. Incredibly, Detroit was 16 seconds from extending it when Vancouver’s Daniel Sedin notched the tying goal in regulation. The Canucks have the best road record in hockey.

--New York Jets coach Rex Ryan said at a press conference on Thursday, “I know what everybody’s thinking. The return of the infamous Super Bowl guarantee. Obviously, it was a huge mistake to make that guarantee…In hindsight, I think it put undue pressure on our team.” He then proceeded to set much lower goals for 2012. “We will be a team. We will play as a team.”

--We note the passing of Steve Kordek, 100. It was 1948 and Mr. Kordek was a designer at pinball manufacturer Genco in Chicago when he came up with the idea to have just two flippers, controlled by buttons at the bottom of the table, and the rest is history. The year before, designers at D. Gottlieb & Company (one of 12 pinball manufacturers in Chicago), had revolutionized the game with six electromechanical flippers, three on each side, but Kordek’s idea proved far better.

But I didn’t know this. As told by Dennis Hevesi of the New York Times:

“Mr. Kordek actually revised a revision of what until the 1930s had been called the pin game. In that version a player would pull a plunger to release the ball, then shake the table in an often frustrating attempt to redirect the ball toward a scoring target – a cup or a hole.”

“Drive for show, putt for dough. Finally, a widely held assumption that holds up. An analysis of ShotLink data by the PGA Tour reveals that, from 2004 through last season, only 11 of the 323 Tour winners led the field in driving distance, compared with 47 winners who led the field in strokes gained putting (the Tour’s new putting stat). Putting beat driving accuracy by an even bigger margin, and it was also more predictive of winners in the negative. A third of Tour winners finished outside the top 30 in driving distance, but only 13% of the winners finished outside the top 30 in putting.”

--It appears that by the end of the 2012 college football season, we will have a plan in place for a four-team Division I playoff for 2014. That should satisfy everyone.

--Kickoffs in major college football are moving from the 30 to the 35-yard line next season in an attempt to prevent big hits; the kicking team’s running start also being limited to 5 yards. 

--With the death of Gary Carter, one of those who really seems as broken up about it as anyone is Darryl Strawberry…part of the soul-searching I wrote of when remembering “Kid” the other day. Straw spoke of Carter before the memorial service on Friday.

In a Mets clubhouse that was “young, wild and crazy,” Strawberry said, Carter’s love of family stood out.

“You could see when he would come off the road, he was always so happy, because he was going to see his kids. Most guys were miserable going home. But he was happy to be back in New York, to be home with his family. You just loved that about him.”

The Mets will honor Carter this season by having a No. 8 patch on their uniforms. Many of us will love seeing that all year. A class move.

--This weekend’s women’s World Cup downhill was canceled, the last of the season before the World Cup finals next month. It seems there was a bit of wind on the course in Bulgaria. Like try 80 mph! Yup, that’ll do it.

But what’s this? Lindsey Vonn won the super-G event in Bulgaria, her 51st World Cup victory and tenth of the year? It’s true…it’s really true!

--Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel are going to tie the knot this summer, it would appear. Don’t do it, Justin! You have the world by the, err, you know, the, err….

--In the week following the Grammy Awards, Adele sold 730,000 copies of ‘21,’ the best performance yet for the album, bringing the total to 7.35 million. As Ronald Reagan would have said…not bad…not bad at all. Her first album, ‘19,’ sold 87,000 copies…its biggest week ever.

Whitney Houston sold 175,000 copies of her ‘Greatest Hits’ album in the week following her death; so no doubt she’s screaming that she doesn’t get to see any of that…not that anyone Up There gives a damn about her. “Stop complaining, Whitney,” says Jimi Hendrix. “How do you think I feel?”

Top 3 songs for the week 2/26/77: #1 “New Kid In Town” (Eagles…another weak effort on the part of this otherwise super group…as in what were we thinking making this No. 1?!) #2 “Love Theme From ‘A Star Is Born’ (Evergreen)” (Barbra Streisand…good gawd… these days if I hear this while driving, I check myself in immediately to the nearest psych ward until it’s over…then I just tell the staff, “I’m OK…I’ll run along now.”) #3 “Blinded By The Light” (Manfred Mann’s Earth Band…so this is fall of my sophomore year at Wake and I was struggling, big time. Too much partying, not enough studying…but did it hurt me later in life? No! I’m doing Bar Chat!)…and…#4 “Fly Like An Eagle” (Steve Miller…do do do dooo…tick tock tick…tick tock tick…do do do dooo) #5 “I Like Dreamin’” (Kenny Nolan…this one didn’t help with my problems in school) #6 “Enjoy Yourself” (The Jacksons …that I did…) #7 “Torn Between Two Lovers” (Mary MacGregor…I was torn between Schlitz and Old Milwaukee) #8 “Night Moves” (Bob Seger…actually, I started at 4:00 p.m., happy hour) #9 “Dancing Queen” (Abba…didn’t know how to dance when I got to Wake, but by this time at least I didn’t look like a total fool) #10 “Weekend In New England” (Barry Manilow…Ha! Just mentioned this last time, LT)

Cincinnati Reds Quiz Answer: Five with 130 or more RBI…

George Foster, 149, 1971
Johnny Bench, 148, 1970
Ted Kluszewski, 141, 1954
Frank Robinson, 136, 1962
Deron Johnson, 130, 1965

Johnson’s 130 always stood out on his baseball card, since he didn’t have another year where he had 100. Finished his career with 245 homers and 923 RBI.

As for Kluszewski, check out his home run and strikeout totals, 1953-55.

1953: 40 HR…34 SO
1954: 49-35
1955: 47-40

You’d be hard pressed to find more than one or two others in the history of the game who had a streak like this; 40+ homers and fewer strikeouts than roundtrippers.

**Montgomery Gentry was terrific. As much a great rock act as country, though they throw in the patriotism angle.  I guess I had a decent idea after all.  [Theater is great, by the way.]

I missed most of the Oscars…down to the blackjack table before I hit the sack.

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