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Bar Chat

07/03/2014

Just Not Good Enough

Note: Scrambling on a number of fronts these days, including needing to get some other stuff done early so I can have a mini-holiday on Friday. Back to normal, re Quiz and Top 3, next time.

World Cup...the Quarterfinals

Brazil vs. Colombia...France vs. Germany

Netherlands vs. Costa Rica...Argentina vs. Belgium

It also needs to be noted that all eight group winners advanced.

As for USA vs. Belgium...U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard was the story in the 2-1 extra-time loss, recording the most saves, 16, in a World Cup contest since 1966.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Howard said. “I don’t think we could have given any more. What a great game of football. We got beat by a really great team. It’s heartache. It hurts.”

“For the U.S. men’s soccer team, the 2014 World Cup ended in sprawled exhaustion on the coast of Brazil.

“For others, it ended in the deathly quiet of a bar in the middle of Eagle Rock.

“For more than two hours on a steamy Tuesday afternoon, the patio area of the 5 Line Tavern and Lounge was filled with the chanting and screaming clamor of possibility. The next moment, the room was empty and silent, the noise and hope streaming out to Colorado Boulevard and the midafternoon heat.

“Quickly, so quickly, the room was transformed into just another bar, its dark wood tables stripped clean of all signs of the blanketing fervor that had earlier turned it into a combination dance hall and revival tent. But just before leaving I noticed a lone survivor, sitting in one forgotten tiny puddle of beer, next to a scrap of pizza crust and a wadded napkin.

“It was a thin stick attached to a tiny American flag. It was why Tuesday’s 2-1 elimination loss to Belgium was hopefully not an ending, but a beginning. It is why it has finally become not only important, but necessary, for the U.S. team to finally get its act together and make this real....

“Face it, for all the attaboys thrown around after Tuesday’s loss, the truth is the Americans could have won. They wasted 90 minutes of all-even play against a more technically skilled squad. They wasted 16 saves by goalkeeper Tim Howard, the most in the World Cup in more than 50 years.

“And, yeah, they could have won in stoppage time at the end of regulation when Chris Wondolowski found himself in front of the net with an open shot over a diving Belgian goalkeeper. Yet Wondo chipped it over the net in a miss that will be hanging in that Brazilian air until somebody can make it disappear four years from now in Russia.

“The truth is as simple and pained as the solitary cry in that Eagle Rock bar. The U.S. team is getting better. But for now, the Americans lack the strength, skill and swagger to go further. And somehow, that must change....

“While the last two weeks doesn’t necessarily mean a spike in interest in Major League Soccer, four years from now in the next World Cup in Russia, the American fans will be bought in before the first kick. Four years from now, there should be every expectation that this American team will let us enjoy our unity for just a little while longer.”

As for Tim Howard, 35, he signed a new four-year contract to continue at Everton, saying he will retire afterward...the 2018 World Cup being two months later.

--There was a piece in the Wall Street Journal the other day, addressing how much game time Argentina’s Lionel Messi was actually ‘active,’ the point being among the stars in the World Cup, he was taking the most time off intra-game.

But he knows how to pick his spots, four goals in the group stage, and on Tuesday it was Messi’s beautiful pass to teammate Angel de Maria that Di Maria converted for the game’s only score in the 118th minute as Argentina defeated Switzerland. But the Swiss suddenly stormed back and just missed converting the tying score in what was a scintillating ending.

--Uruguay striker Luis Suarez formally apologized for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini and vowed there would be no repeat of the incident, as he scrambles to keep his career from going up in flames. Suarez had initially denied he bit Chiellini, but in a statement he tweeted;

“The truth is that my colleague Giorgio Chiellini suffered the physical result of a bite in the collision he suffered with me.”

But no one needs to cry for Suarez, who is reportedly on his way to Barcelona from Liverpool, with Liverpool wanting Chilean superstar Alexis Sanchez as part of a mega-euro deal.

NBA

--What a debacle. The Milwaukee Bucks fired coach Larry Drew, secured the rights to coach Jason Kidd, and agreed to send two second-round draft picks (2015, 2019) to the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets told Kidd, in essence, get the [heck] out of here and don’t expect a nice reception when you bring your squad into Brooklyn.

I’m tellin’ ya, sports fans. There are tens of thousands (nay, millions) of hoops fans in the New York area who are appalled at Kidd’s behavior and would love the chance to boo him vociferously. This is one classless jerk. 

And with each hour we learn more. Nets GM Billy King, who was the direct victim of Kidd’s knife in the back, told us Tuesday that he learned of Kidd’s power play for total control of the basketball operation last Wednesday, the day before the NBA draft

Kidd will now get to coach No. 2 overall pick Jabari Parker, but it’s a Bucks team that went 15-67 last season, with attendance plummeting.

The Nets are said to be interested in former Memphis coach Lionel Hollins, as well as former coach George Karl, maybe Mark Jackson (or maybe not...his story is complicated), and perhaps Ettore Messina, a European hoops coach who once headed up CSKA Moscow, so he has a familiarity with Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov.

As for the roster, it’s in a state of flux. They have many of the players under contract, but some key ones could bolt.

“(Kidd) was the golden child. The Nets rolled out the carpet for the future Hall of Famer. They hired him despite a pending DWI charge and suspension, giving him a marketing slogan and a press conference. They sold him an ownership stake in the team. They handed him a roster full of All-Stars and proven veterans, with a rope so long he was allowed to start 10-21 with his job intact. They retired his jersey with the first such ceremony under the Russians, all with the understanding that this was the same player who forced his way out of the organization with a faked migraine.

“He was ownership’s hire – not GM Billy King’s – and the subject of its praises and faith up until now.

“ ‘He made a mistake if he thinks he’s going to be in a better situation in Milwaukee,’ an NBA executive said. ‘Not to mention, he’s taking somebody else’s job when he already had a better one.’

“There are plenty of reasons Kidd decided to demand more power in the Nets organization, none more simply explained than it’s indicative of his personality and behavior patterns. Broken down, though, it’s about money and ego.

“Kidd, who signed a four-year, $10.5 million deal with the Nets, was peeved that first-time coaches Steve Kerr and Derek Fisher netted contracts nearly double his own.

“It apparently didn’t matter that the Nets were the only team offering Kidd a coaching job just weeks removed his retirement.”

“It is used for power and wages and status, and it’s used by players, coaches, executives and mercenaries of all kinds – four positions that Jason Kidd will occupy over his professional lifetime....

“If you think you have the leverage to get a coach (or three) fired, you use it.

“If you think you can leverage a contract extension by faking a migraine, you try it.

“If you think you can leverage a trade out of New Jersey by quitting on your team, you force it.

“If you think you can leverage a $6 million deal for an assistant coach and get a mulligan when you turn him into a well-paid couch potato, you do it.”

“What (has Jason Kidd) left the Russian-owned franchise with, besides a lesson on the price paid for what was, in many ways, a cheap publicity stunt?

“Yes, the Knicks also have a new coach, Derek Fisher, who was hired by Phil Jackson, the team president, seemingly minutes after he peeled his uniform off for the last time, as was the case with Kidd and the Nets last season. But if not in the method, there was a character-driven difference from what now looks like madness on the part of Brooklyn’s owner, Mikhail D. Prokhorov, and its general manager, Billy King.

“In Fisher, Jackson hired a man almost universally acknowledged as a standup guy among the Goliaths. In Kidd, the Nets foolishly invested in a living, breathing paradox, one of the most unselfish playmakers in the history of the game but with a well-chronicled (and earned) reputation outside the lines as a viper.

“When the Nets’ interest in Kidd surfaced last year, what became clear was that they had confused visionary point guard play with the ability of someone to see the world beyond shameless self-interest. Current example: Lost on Kidd, apparently, is violating the coaching fraternity protocol of not pursuing a job that is occupied (in Milwaukee, by Larry Drew).”

George Willis / New York Post...why the Nets should hire Patrick Ewing...

“Somehow it’s fashionable in the NBA to hire head coaches with no previous experience. Mark Jackson went from the broadcast booth to Golden State three years ago. Kidd became the Nets coach last year after ending his Hall of Fame caliber playing career. Steve Kerr went from broadcasting to coaching this year and Derek Fisher was named the Knicks head coach less than a month after Oklahoma City was bounced from the playoffs, ending his 17-year playing career.

“Credit the advent of social media for a lot of that. Somebody mentions Kerr is on Phil Jackson’s radar to coach the Knicks and after months of tweets, sports talk radio and internet blogs, Golden State decides to give Kerr a $25 million contract over five years. Same for Fisher, whose average of $5 million per year is more than he made in his final year as a player ($3.4 million). Good for them. If franchises are worth $2 billion, coaches can command that kind of salary.

“But lost in all this is the old model that said players had to get coaching experience as an assistant before they would ever be considered qualified to become a head coach. That’s what Ewing was told and that’s what he did. He has been an assistant coach in the league since 2003, which makes him ready and qualified to be the Nets head coach.”

[We just learned the Nets are losing free-agent guard Shaun Livingston to the Golden State Warriors. A big loss, though expected.]

--LeBron James wants to get paid the max, which will be in the neighborhood of $22 million per, though he said after the Finals, that doesn’t necessarily mean for the full four or five years he could receive (four if he leaves the Heat).

It seems pretty clear, though, that he wants to stay in Miami and now he has to convince Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to renegotiate and take pay cuts to free up space to bring in another veteran. James already got his choice from the draft, Shabazz Napier. Wade and Bosh will cooperate.

--In Cleveland, star guard Kyrie Irving and Cavs owner Dan Gilbert reached agreement on a new five-year max extension that will be worth approximately $90 million.

Irving has made two straight All-Star games. If LeBron is interested in the least in returning to Cleveland, the first step was going to be for the team to lock up Irving.

--Free-agent point guard Patty Mills is having shoulder surgery and will be out until at least January. Mills is nonetheless expected to re-sign with the Spurs, for whom he is a critical cog, and could slide in for Tony Parker should Parker retire after another year or two.

*Remember, for all the stories with the free-agent market, no contracts can actually be signed until July 10.

Ball Bits

--As the Mets stagger through another depressing season, what is bound to be their sixth straight losing season, we were all reminded of a time much better, the 1980s, with the passing on Monday of former general manager Frank Cashen, 88. Talk about the opposite of Jason Kidd. Frank Cashen was a pro’s pro, total class. And damn good at what he did.

“When the 1983 season ended, Keith Hernandez received a call. It was from Frank Cashen, the Mets general manager, and he had a proposal. If Hernandez wanted to be traded, just let him know – he would do his best to deliver Hernandez to a team of his choice – but do it soon so he could start making calls before the upcoming winter meetings.

“It was at the end of Hernandez’s first season with the Mets since a trade from the Cardinals. In a year, he had gone from a World Series championship to a marquee spot in the basement of the National League East.

“Hernandez conferred with his father, waited a bit, and then he called back: He would stay.

“ ‘Great. I’m so happy you’re going to be a part of this,’ Cashen replied. ‘We’re going to turn it around.’

“By the next spring, it was evident a turnaround was near, and Cashen was its engineer.”

Mets owner Fred Wilpon issued a statement that read in part: “Frank Cashen revitalized our franchise when he took over in 1980 as General Manager and helped engineer us to a World Championship in 1986. I dealt with Frank on a daily basis and he was a man of integrity and great passion. His accomplishments will always be an integral part of our team history.”

Cashen built the greatest era in franchise history, period. And it all started with a 17-year stint as a sports writer, head of publicity for a Baltimore racetrack and a beer company. Oh, and he picked up a law degree at night.

But after helping put together a championship club in Baltimore with the Orioles, he took over a pathetic Mets team and drafted a foundation – Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden. Then he traded for Hernandez and Gary Carter, plus critical cogs Ray Knight, Sid Fernandez, Ron Darling, Bob Ojeda, and Howard Johnson (and David Cone, spring of ’87, who was huge in their later success). Remarkable. And Cashen gave up very little in return.

As Ron Darling said, “Many folks can conjure up a reason not to make a trade – the money, the size of the deal, protecting the minor league system – but Frank always found a reason to make the deal. Underneath the conservative look, there was a lot of poker player in him.”

And then you had home grown talent like Wally Backman, Lenny Dykstra, Roger McDowell, Jesse Orosco and Mookie Wilson, all developed in the Cashen era.

It was also Cashen who hired Davey Johnson, his second baseman when he ran the Orioles, to be his manager.

Now that’s a general manager! Between 1984-90, the Mets won 90 or more games six times, but, alas, had just the one championship (and a crushing NLCS 7-game loss to the Dodgers in 1988). It’s easy to say the Mets in actuality underperformed (severely, given the drug issues of Gooden and Strawberry)...but us fans at least had one very entertaining stretch when the Mets were the ‘it’ team in Gotham.

Back in the mid-1960s and early-1970s, Cashen and Harry Dalton teamed to lead the Orioles to four pennants and two World Series titles in Cashen’s first six years, but he returned to the brewery run by Baltimore businessman Jerrold Hoffberger, Hoffberger also having a controlling interest in the Orioles, and then went back into baseball in 1979 for him, only to be hired by the Mets in 1980 at Hoffberger’s recommendation.

Cashen told Mets co-owners Nelson Doubleday and Wilpon it would take four or five years to rebuild the Mets and that it did. The Mets were next to last or last in their division from 1980 to 1983 and then broke through in ’84 with 90 wins.

Cashen even had the smarts to bring in Tim McCarver to pair him with Ralph Kiner and the two worked together beautifully.

But in January 1984 he failed to protect Tom Seaver from a free-agent compensation draft and the White Sox nabbed him. About the only thing Cashen did wrong.

--We note the passing of former pitcher Bobby Castillo, 59. Castillo played from 1977-85 and compiled a 38-40 mark, 3.94 ERA, with 18 saves. The cause was cancer.

While Castillo had some productive seasons for the Dodgers and Twins as both a starter and reliever, he is best remembered for having taught Fernando Valenzuela the screwball.

--Mike Trout is waffling on whether to appear in the home run derby or not. He’s sounding like he wants to pass. “It’s something I want to do, definitely, later in my career.”

Glance again at Lou Gehrig’s page on baseballreference.com when you get a moment, to remind yourself how incredible he was…the 493 homers, 1995 RBI, .340 batting average. 8 top fives in the MVP balloting. 13 straight seasons with 100 RBI and 100 runs scored; an incredible 10 seasons with over 120 ribbies, and 9 with over 130 runs scored. Five seasons with 40+ home runs. 

But by spring training, 1939, Gehrig had weakened considerably. Ray Robinson notes in his biography (“Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in His Time”) that Lou had trouble even tying his shoelaces. 

On May 2, Gehrig told Yankees manager Joe McCarthy that he was benching himself after a miserable 4-for-28 start at the plate. He was diagnosed with A.L.S. in June and less than two years after his farewell, Gehrig was dead at the age of 37. 

Jonathan Eig, who wrote the 2005 biography “Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig,” called the Iron Horse’s farewell speech, just two months after being diagnosed with A.L.S., “baseball’s most tragic moment, its greatest speech and probably the game’s most humane moment, too, when baseball became a lesson in life.” 

“Especially back then, we tended not to think of players as human beings,” Eig adds. “We didn’t have the same celebrity culture we do now. If a player got sick or had a personal problem, it was private. Gehrig was really one of the first to go public. He could’ve retired into anonymity, but he told the world how he felt about dying. It was unusual. He celebrated his life with the speech instead of dwelling on the terminal diagnosis.” 

Anthony McCarron / New York Daily News…the farewell. 

“With his teammates from the ’39 club and many, including Babe Ruth, from the 1927 ‘Murderer’s Row’ watching, Gehrig initially refused to speak after collecting gifts and trophies and listening to the speeches made about him. Eig writes that there was a ‘big blast of noise from the crowd. ‘We want Lou!’’ Gehrig turned toward the dugout and workers prepared to haul everything away, but McCarthy spoke into Gehrig’s ear, Eig says. 

“Gehrig followed his manager’s directive and moved toward the microphone. Then came the quiet…. 

“When Gehrig spoke, he never looked up…but he delivered an eloquent address. Several biographies note that Gehrig and his wife, Eleanor, had prepared some remarks the night before, but Gehrig used no notes. 

“Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans. 

“Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn’t consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I’m lucky. Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have known Jacob Rupert? Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I’m lucky. 

“When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift – that’s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies – that’s something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter – that’s something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body – it’s a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed – that’s the finest I know. 

“So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for.” 

As reported to Ray Robinson, broadcaster and baseball historian Bob Costas “has reflected on Gehrig’s legacy as a role model.” 

“His qualities as a person were always admired,” Costas said. “But that admiration grows when contrasted with the graceless, self-regarding personas of so many present-day public figures.” 

Wimbledon Bits

Owing to the London weather...it’s been tough keeping up with the brackets...like I stopped trying. But...

--19-year-old Australian Nick Kyrgios toppled No. 1 player (No. 2-seed) Rafael Nadal in four sets, the first time a teenager had beaten the No. 1 player at a men’s Grand Slam event since the 2005 French Open, when Nadal beat Roger Federer.

But due to the rain’s impact on the schedule, Kyrgios was to have to turn around less than 24 hours later and face No. 8 Milos Raonic of Canada in the quarterfinals, Wednesday.

Kyrgios win over Nadal immensely helps Roger Federer, who was slated to face Nadal in a semifinal.   No. 1-seed Djokovic and Murray also remain; the Big Four having taken 35 of the past 37 Grand Slam titles.

--When ninth-seeded John Isner was beaten by Spain’s Feliciano Lopez, that meant there were no Americans in the last 16 for the first time since 1911.

--Angelique Kerber upset 5-seed Maria Sharapova. With Serena and Li Na having been upset early, along with Venus and Victoria Azarenka, I couldn’t begin to tell you who is left on the women’s side.

--Serena Williams, in what all described as a truly bizarre scene, appeared disoriented on Tuesday in her doubles match with sister Venus and was forced to retire after three games.

Serena looked unsteady in warm-ups and then two hours after she withdrew, she said in a statement:

“I am heartbroken I’m not able to continue in the tournament. I thought I could rally this morning, because I really wanted to compete, but this bug just got the best of me.”

Serving in the third game, Serena could barely grip or catch the tennis ball. All four of her serves were double faults.

Commenting on BBC TV, Tracy Austin said, “Strangest 15 minutes I’ve seen on a tennis court, without a doubt.”

The NCAA reopened its investigation into the academic scandal at North Carolina.

“The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, was cited by the Division I Committee on Infractions in 2012 for violations in its athletics program, including academic misconduct,” the NCAA said in a statement. “As with any case, the NCAA enforcement staff makes clear it will revisit the matter if additional information becomes available. After determining that additional people with information and others who were previously uncooperative might be willing to speak with the enforcement staff, the NCAA has reopened its investigation.”

It was in 2012 that UNC announced it had found problems with 54 African-American classes between 2007 and 2011, including grade changes, forged faulty signatures on grade rolls and limited or no class time.

Former faculty member Julius Nyang’oro is on trial for felony criminal fraud as a result of the investigation that followed, though Nyang’oro may have his charges dropped as he’s cooperating with a former federal prosecutor that the university hired to conduct an independent probe.

In early June, former hoops star Rashad McCants went to ESPN and said he had papers written for him and all manner of other stuff. In his African-American Studies classes he had 10 A’s, six B’s, one C and one D. In his other classes, McCants got six C’s, one D and three F’s.

[Bar Chat’s own “For the Record” revealed your editor had no F’s in school, but had a lot of other stuff, similar to the above. Except for the A’s.]

--This is kind of scary, in a chimp way. As we prepare for the flick “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” news from Zambia has chimpanzees taking another evolutionary step forward. 

As noted by Rose Powell of the Sydney Morning Herald:

“A piece of grass hanging out of one’s ear may not look like much, but most trends don’t until they catch on.

“Especially this one, which has taken off among a group of chimpanzees in what may be the first fashion trend spotted in the animal world, according to a study published recently in science journal Animal Cognitio.”

Dutch primate specialist Edwin van Leeuwen describes it as “quite unique.”

The thing is the trend was first set by an elderly female, Julie, who popped long pieces of grass in her ear and left it there for several hours.

“The quirky idea was adopted by seven other chimps in her troop, who continue to do it after her death.”

Yet another reason not to answer a knock at the door if you see it’s a chimp.

Next Bar Chat, Monday.

Happy Fourth of July!!!

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