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Bar Chat

09/04/2014

It's Seattle...Again...

NFL Quiz: 1) Who is the single-season touchdown leader with 31? 2) Who are the only two with 8 kickoff returns for touchdowns? Answers below.

--Denver receiver Wes Welker has been suspended four games for use of amphetamines, having tested positive from a sample taken shortly after he attended the Kentucky Derby, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Welker argued during the appeal process that his sample was tainted. The Broncos announced Welker will miss the first four games of the season.

Welker, in an email to the Denver Post, said: “I’m as shocked as everyone at today’s news. I want to make one thing abundantly clear: I would NEVER knowingly take a substance to gain a competitive advantage in any way.”

Welker said the league’s drug policy is “clearly flawed” and that he will do everything in his power to correct some of the procedures.

Meanwhile, Welker is dealing with his third concussion in ten months and it’s not clear whether he would have even been cleared for play in this coming Sunday’s season opener against the Colts.

[Earlier, Denver kicker Matt Prater was suspended for the first four games of the season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy related to repeated alcohol violations.]

--Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt signed a massive six-year, $96 million deal, with $51.9 million guaranteed, making him the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL. Watt, in his fourth year, was set to make ‘only’ $8.1 million over the final two years of his contract.

It kind of sucks that he can eschew his contract like this, but he said the other day prior to the deal being worked out:

“With the new (collective bargaining agreement), I think one of the goals was to make guys earn their pay,” Watt said. “No more big paydays up front. ...When a team gives a contract after the third year, they’re saying, ‘We think you’ve earned this.’ And so, I don’t know if [the Texans] feel that way or not. But I sure hope I’ve put in all the work and I’ve put in everything I can do to hopefully earn it.”

Watt did lead the league with 20.5 sacks his second season, in 2012, and has totaled 36.5, the fifth-highest total in the league, the last three seasons.

Look, the guy is awesome. But I think a lot of us look at some of these monster contracts, in all sports, and just shake our heads. Not because the guy doesn’t deserve it, on paper, but because of everything that can happen after.

I’m becoming more of an anti-big contract guy with every passing day. I’ve seen what’s its done to my Mets, for example, disasters left and right (Pedro, Santana....now Wright and Granderson, previously Jason Bay), and that’s just one team. 

How many end up earning their big pay-days? Josh Hamilton, Albert Pujols? Poster boy Alex Rodriguez?

To be fair, some NBA players sort of earn their keep (mid-level guys often don’t). NFL quarterbacks actually have a better track record, especially with the rule changes designed to protect them.

But some would say it all started, way back, when pitcher Wayne Garland signed a 10-year, nearly $5 million contract after he went 20-7 with Baltimore in 1976 at age 25, and then promptly signed the then huge deal with Cleveland, where he proceeded to go 28-48 before retiring at age 30.

--Oakland is starting Fresno State rookie David Carr at quarterback in the opener. Until reading a bit on ESPN.com, I had no idea Oakland will have gone through 18 different signal callers since 2003.

It was thought Matt Schaub would be the starter, after spending seven years at Houston, but Raiders coach Dennis Allen said on Monday, “Not an indictment on (Schaub), Derek Carr is mature beyond his years. We feel very comfortable with him helping us win football games. ...Derek is the starting quarterback.”

--ESPN conducted a poll for its show “Outside the Lines” with 286 NFL players being asked, “Yes or No: Do the Redskins need to change their name?” 58% said the Redskins should not change their name and 42% said they should change it. 51 Redskins players were surveyed and 26 said they should keep it, 24 declined to comment and one said it should be changed. It wasn’t clear if the 51 were part of the 286.

A separate poll conducted by Langer Research for OTL reveals that 71% of Americans are in favor of the Redskins keeping their nickname. [Scott Allen / Washington Post]

--And now...your EXCLUSIVE Pick to Click for the Super Bowl. I’m not exactly going out on a limb here... Seattle...over Denver. In fact, as long as Russell Wilson is playing for the Seahawks, I’m probably going to be picking them.

As for my Jets, I said before I was increasingly optimistic, before the cornerback situation turned into an unmitigated disaster. I’ll say they go 8-8. I’m guessing the Giants have a long season...5-11.

Ball Bits

--Clayton Kershaw just rolls along...another 8 inning, one run effort on Tuesday as the Dodgers defeated the Nationals 4-1. Kershaw is now 17-3, 1.70. 169 innings 115 hits 25 walks 202 strikeouts. And he missed an entire month of the season to boot. Might as well just change the name of the Cy Young trophy to the Clayton Kershaw trophy, as long as he stays healthy.

--Staying with the Dodgers, here’s something amazing. Yasiel Puig has just two home runs in his last 290 at bats. Overall, his average is down to .296, 13 HR 59 RBI. 

--Cole Hamels pitched six no-hit innings and the Philadelphia pen did the rest in a 7-0 no-hitter over the Braves the other day. Hamels was pulled because he had thrown 108 pitches. It’s the first combined no-hitter in franchise history, after 11 previous individual ones.

--The Angels’ Matt Shoemaker is 14-4, 3.14. Matt who? Talk about coming out of nowhere. Before the season, Baseball America didn’t even rank him among the team’s top 30 prospects.

--The Astros fired manager Bo Porter after exactly 300 games at the helm, during which he had a .367 winning percentage, one of the worst in history.

However, he also had virtually zero talent, especially the first season, and now that the team is beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel they let him go with a 59-79 record.

I have noted in this space before that some basically think Bo Porter is kind of, err, you know...a little off. 

General Manager Jeff Luhnow said in part: “Bo’s passion and energy are unparalleled, and his desire to win unquestioned.... I recognize that our win-loss record is largely a product of an organizational strategy for which I am responsible.

“... What we will seek going forward is a consistent and united message throughout the entire organization. It is essential that as an organization we create an atmosphere at the Major League level where our young players can come up and continue to develop and succeed.”

Ergo, Porter wasn’t the guy to do it. Houston does now have lots of talent and a good farm system. They could make some real noise as early as next season. If I were a major league manager, or highly esteemed bench coach seeking their first opportunity, I’d love this job.

--The Mets played a great game on Monday, down in Miami against the Marlins. They committed six errors in a 9-6 loss. Just once had the Mets committed more miscues...that being seven on Aug. 1, 1996, in a game against the Pirates. Manager Terry Collins said afterwards, “It wasn’t a big-league baseball game, I can tell you that.”

“A baseball fan took up smoking a century ago and with it acquired another habit: holding onto little cards that bore the faces of baseball’s earliest greats.

“Now, the trove of more than 1,400 tobacco cards featuring a slew of Hall of Famers like Cy Young and Ty Cobb – the legacy of a teenage smoker whose family hung onto a collection that dates to 1909 – is going up for auction.”

The auction house is in Maine, Saco River Auction Co., and it seems to have developed quite a reputation for selling rare memorabilia. The collection belonged to the grandchildren of a Brooklyn, N.Y. man. Every time the guy, then 19, smoked he threw the card he received in a box. Some of the man’s descendants ended up in Maine.

There are about 10 of these famous T206 cards depicting Cy Young and a dozen of Cobb, but missing are the rarest...Honus Wagner and Eddie Plank. One of Wagner’s few copies went for a record $2.8 million.

But the auctioneer, Troy Thibodeau, believes many of the single cards will fetch five figures.

Golf Balls / Ryder Cup

--Chris Kirk picked up his third, and biggest, victory of his PGA Tour career on Monday at the Deutsche Bank Championship, the second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs. Kirk not only outplayed playing partner Rory McIlroy the last two rounds, he also secured a berth on the Ryder Cup team....

Or so it was assumed...until Captain Tom Watson made his three wild-card selections Tuesday and it was Webb Simpson who surprisingly got the call, not Kirk; Simpson joined by Hunter Mahan and Keegan Bradley.

I sure was shocked with the Simpson selection. He’s hardly had a spectacular year, after four top tens (and a win) to start the new wraparound season. But he did finish T-5 at the Wyndham three weeks ago and was T-9 at the Deutsche Bank, though it’s still a surprise.

As for Kirk, he hardly acted like he wanted to even play in the Ryder Cup after his win on Monday. And despite outgunning McIlroy, Tom Watson said, “That was a snapshot” in defending his decision not to take him.

Captain Watson said Simpson will most likely be teamed with friend Bubba Watson, the two having had success playing together in 2012 at Medinah.

Meanwhile, on the European side, Captain Paul McGinley had the difficult call of telling Luke Donald he wasn’t being selected, as McGinley went with Stephen Gallacher, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter for his three captain’s selections.

But Donald, a Ryder Cup mainstay and clutch performer, hasn’t had a top 30 on the PGA Tour since last April’s second place finish at the Heritage. Gallacher, on the other hand, makes his first Ryder Cup team on the strength of eight top-ten finishes on the European Tour. 

Westwood is playing in his ninth straight Ryder cup, while Poulter saves his best for this competition, often spectacularly so.

2014 European Ryder Cup Team (with Ryder Cup record if applicable)

Thomas Bjorn (3-2-1)
Jamie Donaldson
Vicotr Dubuisson
Sergio Garcia (16-8-4)
Martin Kaymer (3-2-0)
Graeme McDowell (5-5-2)
Rory McIlroy (4-3-2)
Justin Rose (6-3-0)
Henrik Stenson (2-3-2)
* Stephen Gallacher
* Ian Poulter (12-3-0)
* Lee Westwood (18-13-6)

2014 United States Ryder Cup Team

Rickie Fowler (0-1-2)
Jim Furyk (9-17-4)
Zach Johnson (6-4-1)
Matt Kuchar (3-2-2)
Phil Mickelson (14-18-6)
Patrick Reed
Jordan Spieth
Jimmy Walker
Bubba Watson (3-5-0)
* Keegan Bradley (3-1-0)
* Hunter Mahan (3-2-3)
* Webb Simpson (2-2-0)

If the U.S. is to have any chance, my guess is Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth have to kick butt. Otherwise, I see a rout for the Europeans.

--Separately, the top 70 in the FedEx Cup now advance to the third leg of the playoffs in Denver this week. The top 30 then advance to the Tour Championship and the battle for the $10 million FedEx Cup bonus to the winner.

U.S. Open

--Wednesday night, No. 8 Andy Murray meets No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic in a men’s quarterfinal, with Djokovic leading 12-8 in the 20 matches between them. Djokovic has won seven Grand Slam titles; Murray two.

No. 2 Roger Federer meets France’s No. 20 Gael Monfils in another quarterfinal. It’s hoped Federer faces either Djokovic or Murray in the final.

--Meanwhile, also on Wednesday, Serena Williams is meeting Flavia Pennetta in a quarterfinal, with No. 10 Caroline Wozniacki being the only other woman in the top ten remaining. So Serena, should she get by Pennetta, seems destined to face her good friend, Wozniacki, in the finals; Wozniacki meeting unseeded Peng Shuai of China in the semis.

--I posted last time prior to the finish of the NASCAR race in Atlanta, won by Kasey Kahne, who qualified for the Chase for the Sprint Cup with the triumph. Danica Patrick had a career-best sixth place finish.

But the race marked the return of Tony Stewart, who then proceeded to hit the wall twice, the second time forcing him out of the race...41st in the 43-car field. For Stewart to qualify for the 10-race Chase for the Cup title playoff, he needs to win at Richmond this coming weekend.

--We note the passing of former NHL All-Star defenseman Carol Vadnais, 68, who died after a battle with cancer.

Vadnais played seven seasons with the Rangers after being acquired as part of the trade that brought Phil Esposito to New York, and sent Brad Park, Jean Ratelle and Joe Zanussi to Boston.

Vadnais was a six-time All-Star, once with the Rangers, having his best seasons with the Bruins and Oakland Seals (later California Golden Seals).

Vadnais scored 169 goals and 587 points in 1,087 games, adding 50 points in 106 career playoff games. He played on two Stanley Cup champions – Montreal in 1968 and Boston in 1972.

--Track announcer Tom Durkin called it quits last weekend at Saratoga after more than 80,000 races, including decades of calling the Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup. Durkin is only 63 but had been announcing races for 43 years. As the New York Times’ Joe Drape put it, Durkin was “widely considered the greatest race caller in the history of thoroughbred racing.”

“It’s better to be a year too early than a year too late,” Durkin said.

--Pamela C. Pia of U.S. News Weekly had a piece in the Aug. 29 issue on wildlife and I have to note this bit.

“Hummingbirds do everything fast. They have among the highest metabolic rates of any animal; their hearts beat up to 1,260 times per minute, and they can flap their wings up to 90 times a second.”

I also didn’t know that “this extraordinary speed enables them to...even fly backwards, much like a helicopter.”

--In a story from TIME we learn, 66 is the “average number of times married couples had sex each year from 1988 to 2006.”

Top 3 songs for the week 9/1/73: #1 “Brother Louie” (Stories) #2 “Let’s Get It On” (Marvin Gaye) #3 “Delta Dawn” (Helen Reddy)...and...#4 “Touch Me In the Morning” (Diana Ross...where?) #5 “Live And Let Die” (Wings...their best...) #6 “Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose” (Dawn featuring Tony Orlando...if you’d shorten the title, we’d have found her by now...) #7 “The Morning After” (Maureen McGovern...not for the captain of this ship....) #8 “Get Down” (Gilbert O’Sullivan) #9 “Loves Me Like A Rock” (Paul Simon) #10 “Feelin’ Stronger Every Day” (Chicago)

NFL Quiz Answers: 1) LaDainian Tomlinson scored 31 touchdowns (28 rushing, 3 receiving) for San Diego in 2006. 2) The only two with 8 kickoff returns for touchdowns are Leon Washington and Josh Cribbs. No one has 7.

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