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Bar Chat

09/05/2016

College Football's Opening Weekend

[Posted Sunday p.m., prior to conclusion of Mets-Nationals, and Southern 500]

NFL Quiz: Gotta get some basics out of the way.  1) Name the top five on the all-time passing yardage list.  2) Name the top five all-time in rushing yards.  Answers below.

MLB

Wild Card Standings

A.L.

Boston 76-60... +2
Baltimore 74-62... --
Detroit 74-62... --
Houston 72-64... 2
Yankees 70-65... 3.5

N.L.

San Francisco 73-63... +1.5
St. Louis 71-64... --
Mets 70-66... 1.5 [not including Sunday night]
Pittsburgh 67-67... 3.5

--The Yankees picked the wrong time to suddenly go cold at the plate, getting shut out in Baltimore Friday and Saturday, 8-0 and 2-0, as they collected just six hits over the two contests.  A.L. Player of the Month, Gary Sanchez, has come down to earth, going 4-for-21.

But the Yanks had a clutch 5-2 win over the Orioles on Sunday to more than stay relevant.  [Sanchez, though, went 0-for-2, now 4-for-23.]

--The Mets had built up some momentum, but then they lost to the Marlins 5-4 on Thursday, and 4-1 Friday to the Nationals.

Saturday, though, they got six strong out of rookie Robert Gsellman, my new favorite pitcher (because he seems to have the right attitude, plus decent stuff), and the Metsies won a critical game against Washington and Tanner Roark (14-8, 2.89) 3-1.

Wednesday, Bartolo Colon pitched 7 innings, allowing just one earned, in a no-decision as the Mets eventually won 5-2.  Colon is 12-7, 3.35, but the 43-year-old has a 2.61 ERA in his past six starts.

My friends and I want to see the Mets give Colon a 10-year extension, though with a team option in year 10.  As Ken P. noted, no team would grant a 53-year-old a guarantee that season.

But Wednesday was a strange day for the Mets, as early that afternoon, General Manager Sandy Alderson told reporters that second baseman Neil Walker would continue to play through a herniated disk in his lower back, describing the injury as “pretty routine.”

About three hours later, Manager Terry Collins, after holding Walker out of the lineup for the fourth straight game, suggested that Walker would eventually return to the field, but perhaps in a part-time role.

By 10 p.m., at the end of his news conference discussing the Mets’ win over the Marlins, in the game Colon pitched, Collins announced Walker was planning to undergo season-ending surgery.

Thursday, Walker outlined what had transpired in the interim, when, as the Wall Street Journal’s Jared Diamond put it, “his health status seemingly deteriorated from probable to questionable to untenable in the span of nine hours.”

The bottom line is, Walker’s doctors told him he could push through the discomfort with regular rest, but he had tried this twice before this season and the weakness and numbness in his legs and feet continued.

So Walker said he sought two more medical opinions and these doctors, after reviewing the MRI, told him to have surgery immediately rather than risk further, more serious damage by waiting.

I have to give the guy the benefit of the doubt, but he’s a free agent this offseason and based off his highly productive year, 23 home runs, 55 RBIs, .282 batting average, including a .440 streak (40-for-91) since July 27, he’d be in line for a solid three-year deal.  The Mets had certainly expressed recent interest in bringing him back.

But now, who will take a chance on him until they see how he recovers...which won’t be for at least three months.  Most ballplayers with serious back issues see their power diminish considerably, for starters.

The whole situation, though, was emblematic of this entire, crazy Mets season that has seen season-ending injuries to David Wright, Lucas Duda, Juan Lagares and Matt Harvey, let alone long stints on the disabled list for the likes of catcher Travis d’Arnaud and others.

--Great news for the Dodgers.  Clayton Kershaw threw three strong innings in a Class A game on Saturday as he continues his rehab from a back injury, and then today they announced he is starting next Friday against Miami.  Good for the sport.

--The Angels’ Mike Trout is one lucky guy after his car crash on Wednesday, which occurred when he was returning home from a postgame dinner with teammates around 8:40 p.m.

According to the California Highway Patrol report of the incident, Trout swerved in his Mercedes to avoid congested traffic on the southbound 55 Freeway and struck another vehicle.  The impact pushed and spun that vehicle into another, and firefighters had to rescue a woman who is said to have suffered major injuries.

But Trout was fine.  However, he refused to answer questions, citing the pending insurance investigation, though he did reportedly run to check on the woman who was hurt.  [No word on whether Trout was distracted while driving (my guess).  There are zero reports of alcohol being a factor.]

The superstar was inserted into the lineup on Friday after an off day and he hit a three-run homer with his first swing.

--I was reading a piece by Bill Francis of the Baseball Hall of Fame on Ted Williams and 1941, the year he hit .406.  It seems the national press was all over it as early as June, following a May in which he hit .436 (44-for-101), which was where he was on June 7.  Around that time the Boston Globe began a daily feature comparing the daily doings and aggregate totals for Williams and Bill Terry of the Giants, using the corresponding date in 1930, the year Terry hit .401, the last to bat .400 prior to ’41 (which as you know was the same year DiMaggio hit in 56 straight, a streak that ended July 17).

Starting in late July, Williams’ batting average would never dip below .400, though after the penultimate day of the regular season, he was memorably at .3996, good enough if he didn’t play in a season-ending double-header against the Philadelphia Athletics to be recognized as a .400 hitter.

But as every baseball fan learns by the time they are seven, Williams turned down manager Joe Cronin’s option to sit and went 6-for-8 in the two games to finish at .406.

CFB

The season is off and running....

All you want to do in Week One in college football is win and if you are an elite team, preserve your BCS title hopes.  A loss, however, can be a killer, and so it was for No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 5 LSU, as they went down to defeat to No. 15 Houston and unranked Wisconsin, respectively.  It was the first time since 1972 that two teams in the AP preseason top five had lost in the first week.

LSU traveled to play Wisconsin in Green Bay and lost 16-14, as star running back Leonard Fournette carried the ball only 23 times, though for 138 yards, while LSU quarterback Brandon Harris was awful, 12 of 21, 131 yards with two interceptions.  As the announcers were saying during the contest, LSU coach Les Miles was trying too hard to show a balanced offense, but when you have one of the two or three best offensive weapons in the game...just run him.

As for Houston, it showed the nation that just as was the case last season, they are for real in defeating Oklahoma 33-23, as quarterback Greg Ward Jr. had 321 yards passing and two scores, while Sooners’ QB Baker Mayfield threw for 323 and two touchdowns as well.

But the big play for the Cougars was a 109-yard return (officially 100) off a missed field goal by Brandon Wilson in the third quarter that put Houston up 26-17.

Houston is one of a slew of candidates being interviewed for the Big 12, and supposedly the conference has narrowed it down to the Cougars, along with Cincinnati, Memphis, Connecticut, South Florida, Central Florida and two other unnamed schools from the American Athletic Conference, plus BYU.  East Carolina announced it was being passed over.

Houston, you’d think, is a layup.  But if you were watching yesterday’s game, did you see the recruiting stat that the last two years, of their 43 recruits, 23 were in the immediate Houston area, a median recruiting distance of something like 32 miles vs. an average of, say, about 300 for the Big 12.  Houston has built a formidable program by focusing on one big city.  Pretty remarkable.

This season, Houston also now just has its American conference schedule (which doesn’t look tough), plus a huge game against Louisville Nov. 17.  If they have run the table prior to that date, that would likely be for a BCS berth.

But, yes, there’s a long way to go, sports fans.

Meanwhile, No. 1 Alabama destroyed 20 USC in Arlington, Texas, 52-6, while No. 2 Clemson escaped with a 19-13 win at Auburn.  Clemson wasn’t great, but they picked up a W in a hostile environment.  Quarterback Deshaun Watson had 248 yards passing and just 21 rushing.

16 UCLA lost to Texas A&M, 31-24.  18 Georgia beat 22 North Carolina in Atlanta, 33-24.

If you’re a supporter of Mississippi State or Northwestern, you’re depressed today after South Alabama took out MSU, 21-20, and Western Michigan prevailed over NW, 22-21.

Richmond upset Virginia, 37-20, in Charlottesville.

Georgia Tech beat Boston College in Dublin, Ireland, 17-14, as B.C.’s futility in the ACC continues, the Eagles going winless in the conference last season.

In the feel good story of the weekend, Pitt running back James Conner made his return from cancer, rushing for 53 yards and a score, while catching three passes, one for a touchdown, in the Panthers’ 28-7 win at home over Villanova.

The opposite of feel good, Rutgers, traveled out to Seattle to face No. 14 Washington and got waxed, 48-13, in Chris Ash’s coaching debut for the Scarlet Knights.

Tonight, we have 10 Notre Dame playing Texas, and tomorrow night is a potential good one, 11 Ole Miss and 4 Florida State.

--I am only going to care about Oregon football this year to the extent receiver Devon Allen Jr. plays.  Allen, the Olympic 110m hurdler, carried the ball just one time for six yards in the Ducks’ 53-28 win over UC Davis, as it is not looking like an elite season for Oregon.

--Thursday, No. 10 Tennessee escaped a monumental loss, rallying to beat Appalachian State 20-13 in overtime.  But if the Mountaineers hadn’t missed an extra point in the second quarter, there probably wouldn’t have been an overtime.  App State also missed a 42-yard field goal with 5:24 left and the game tied at 13. 

This was nine years after one of the titanic upsets in college football history, App State’s defeat of Michigan in Ann Arbor.  Phil W., I’ll never forget getting your call as you sat in the stands that day.

--Also Thursday, No. 19 Louisville blitzed Charlotte, 70-14, as quarterback Lamar Jackson accounted for a school-record eight touchdowns and 405 yards, all in the first half. Jackson completed 17 of 23 for 286 yards and six scores, while running for 119 yards in 11 carries and two TDs.

--And Thursday, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons opened up their 2016 campaign with a scintillating performance, a 7-3 win over Tulane in Winston-Salem, the Deacs generating 175 yards of total offense!

I was just following the game online and wondering why, right from the start, we were shuttling our two QBs in and out.  I thought, you can’t do this the first game. I also thought Coach Dave Clawson had settled on his starter (Wolford) for at least the first few games.

But nooooo.  Clawson, who won just one league game in each of his first two seasons (with the offense not scoring a touchdown in either one), was playing helter-skelter again and as Wake alum and big time supporter, Chris K., told me, the fan base is already upset with Clawson.

Here I thought Wake might be good enough for 6-6 (after back-to-back 3-9 campaigns), even with Louisville, Clemson and Florida State on the schedule, but now I’m wondering if we’re headed to another 3-9.

I might have to riot...but at least Wake did win the game and thus I didn’t need to commit hari-kari, which allowed me to see the Mets’ nice win on Saturday night, as well as the Houston and Wisconsin upsets.

--After all the turmoil in the program this spring, with Coach Art Briles losing his job over the school’s mishandling of sexual assault allegations against some Baylor Bears players, Baylor won its opener against Northwestern State, 55-7, on Friday night in Waco.

It appeared to be the normal atmosphere in the crowd for the students and fans, and earlier, Baylor announced season-ticket sales of 28,804, a record-setting figure for the third consecutive year, the program having rocketed into national prominence under Briles.

Comments among students were largely along the lines that the actions of a few football players don’t define the school.

So Jim Grobe, the former Wake Forest coach who is filling in on an interim basis, picked up the win.  He was plucked out of retirement to stabilize the program and he retained a large portion of Briles’ staff, as well as the offense.

This is going to be an interesting situation to follow as the season progresses.  I’d love to see Grobe succeed, and then move over to become the first commissioner of the NCAA, a position that is needed.  No one has ever questioned his integrity.

--Navy starting quarterback Tago Smith injured his right knee in the first half of the Midshipmen’s 52-16 win over FCS opponent Fordham, but the story is, following Smith’s injury, the team pulled freshman Malcolm Perry out of the stands, literally.

Perry, listed as the team’s No. 4 quarterback, was wearing his uniform whites while sitting in the brigade at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

By the fourth quarter, Perry was in the game, running for 32 yards on his first five carries.  He didn’t throw a pass.  [The No. 3 QB had been suspended for the game.]

Picture, though, that after Navy’s coaches decided to get him, they had to send someone back to the locker room at the academy to get his uniform.

The extent of Smith’s injury wasn’t immediately known, the senior having waited three seasons behind Kennan Reynolds.

NFL

Just start the season already....but....

--Teams had to cut down to 53 players over the weekend, with some of the more high-profile cuts being Baltimore running back Justin Forsett and former Navy QB Keenan Reynolds; Denver running back Ronnie Hillman and quarterback Mark Sanchez; and for the Jets, CB Dee Milliner and TE Jace Amaro.

For us Wake Forest fans, fullback Tommy Bohanon was cut by the Jets, this after receiver/returner Michael Campanaro was placed on injured reserve by Baltimore.  Earlier, former Deac receiver Chris Givens was cut by Philadelphia.  Like we have no one to root for.  As Charlie Brown would say, “Drat!”

--The Minnesota Vikings, facing life without Teddy Bridgewater this season, acquired quarterback Sam Bradford from the Eagles, with Philadelphia receiving the Vikings’ first-round pick in 2017 as well as a conditional fourth-rounder in 2018 (which could be as low as a second).

The Vikings seem to have paid too high a price for the oft-injured Bradford, while for the Eagles, with his departure, first-round pick Carson Wentz is expected to start, assuming he has recovered from a rib injury suffered in the first exhibition game.

Bradford will be reunited with former Oklahoma teammate Adrian Peterson.  Minnesota is responsible for his remaining salary, which is still greater than the GDP of Gabon.  [Lots of internal turmoil in Gabon these days, the editor mused.  Hey, people.  Calm down!]

--The NFL found “no credible evidence” that Steelers linebacker James Harrison, and Packers linebackers Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers  used performance-enhancing drugs after a documentary by Al Jazeera America leveled accusations against them.  All three finally agreed to be interviewed by the league, after the initial dustup between the NFL and the Players Association.

--As of Saturday, Tom Brady began his official four-game suspension imposed by Commissioner Roger Goodell.  Cindy Boren of the Washington Post listed some of the things Brady SIMPLY MUST NOT DO:

Attend or watch practice.
Show up at the Patriots’ facility.
Have any contact with any team personnel.
Exchange game plans, playbooks, plays or videos on any electronic device.
Go to the stadium as a spectator or travel to road games.

He CAN return to the Patriots’ roster after their Oct. 2 game against the Bills.

Brady will be able to work with his buddy/body coach, Alex Guerrero.

--Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor was arrested in Palm Beach County on a DUI charge. Taylor, 57, became involved in a crash on Florida’s Turnpike, hitting a motor home and sideswiping a patrol vehicle.  Taylor has had numerous brushes with the law, including a 2011 case where he pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct and patronizing a prostitute, though these were misdemeanor charges and he was sentenced to six years of probation.

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t even bring this situation up, but it’s a big deal here.  LT remains larger than life in the area and, like Dwight Gooden, you want them to be involved in keeping some of the sports history alive, but, you also want them to be reasonably clean...know what I’m sayin’?

Colin Kaepernick, part trois

Hopefully, this will quickly wind down some, but for now I have to report on it.

Thursday night, prior to the San Francisco 49ers’ preseason game with the San Diego Chargers in San Diego, Kaepernick took a knee during the playing of the national anthem; the second game in which he refused to stand for it.

Teammate Eric Reid joined him in the most recent protest and Seattle Seahawks cornerback Jeremy Lane showed his support by sitting on the bench during the anthem in Oakland on Thursday.

After Thursday’s game, Kaepernick said, “The message is that we have a lot of issues in this country that we need to deal with.”

The 49ers reiterated Friday night that it stands behind the quarterback and respects his right not to participate in celebrating the national anthem.  The quarterback said he would donate $1 million to groups that help people affected by the issues he is trying to spotlight – such as racial inequality and police brutality – with his continued protest.

“The media painted this as I’m anti-American, anti-men-and-women of the military and that’s not the case at all,” Kaepernick said.  “I realize that men and women of the military go out and sacrifice their lives and put themselves in harm’s way for my freedom of speech and my freedoms in this country and my freedom to take a seat or take a knee so I have the utmost respect for them.

“I think what I did was taken out of context and spun a different way.”

Meanwhile, the union representing the Santa Clara Police Officers Association told the 49ers in a letter that its members may boycott policing the stadium for San Francisco home games if the team doesn’t discipline Kaepernick.

About 70 Santa Clara officers patrol the stadium during game day.

“If the 49ers organization fails to take action to stop this type of inappropriate behavior it could result in police officers choosing not to work at your facilities,” the letter reads.

It also criticized the anti-police statements made by the quarterback, calling them “insulting, inaccurate and completely unsupported by any facts.”

Mike Lupica / New York Daily News

“Oppression and brutality, not police brutality, visited the family of Dwyane Wade a little over a week ago in Chicago, on the day when his cousin, Nykea Aldridge, was walking an infant daughter in a stroller, on her way to register her other children for the upcoming school year. She was shot to death in a section of Chicago called Parkway Gardens, and her death was politicized almost immediately in an I-told-you-so tweet from Donald Trump.

“Nykea Aldridge was shot dead and the two men arrested in the shooting both turned out to ex-cons, one of them having been released just last month. So the life of a young African-American woman in Chicago was ended because of the alleged actions of two African-American criminals with guns.  No protest ensued, because they are numb to this kind of senseless tragedy in Chicago. But while a quiet, tearful prayer vigil was held for Aldridge, the debate over Colin Kaepernick and his stance on the national anthem – by sitting, then kneeling – raged on....

“Kaepernick engages in a symbolic act about a song that is a symbol of the freedoms that allow him to engage in this kind of public protest, a few weeks after he wears socks depicting cops as pigs to practice.  He says he is only talking about ‘rogue’ cops, and sounds like Trump saying that his deportation plans would only involve ‘bad players.’

“In the middle of it all, there was Dwyane Wade on ABC this week, speaking about the death of his cousin, in a city where there were more homicides in August than there have been in a single month in that city in 20 years.  And protesting that, in his own eloquent and measured and reasoned way, underneath the roar of the crowd about Kaepernick.

“The (Chicago police) are fighting a war,’ Wade said.  ‘And they can do a lot better, but they can get more help as well to do better.  There’s other cities that have way tougher gun laws. We have weak gun laws.’

“So as Kaepernick raises his own concerns about police violence against minorities in America, Wade talks about the gun violence that took the life of a family member....

“Kaepernick, clearly a man of passionate beliefs, says he will put up more than a million dollars of his own money here to fight inequality and injustice. And he has made Americans, in the words of President Obama, once again retreat to their ‘respective corners,’ talking about race and policing.  Now everything plays out in a predictable way in the public square.  If you don’t think he is a hero, if you don’t look at him as some pro football version of Rosa Parks, then you are some kind of insensitive bum, and probably half-a-bigot.  That’s it and that’s all. There is no room for nuance in the argument, because there never is.  It is the same with most of our political discourse:

“I’m right and you’re not just wrong, you’re stupid....

“There are no easy answers....You see it with the debate about Kaepernick.  He is either this, or that.  You are with him, or against him. The President, in the speech of his life in Dallas honoring those dead police officers, said he honestly doesn’t believe this country is as divided as some would want us to believe.  At times like this, I’m not so sure.”

Kaepernick, by the way, begins the season No. 2 behind Blaine Gabbert, who coach Chip Kelly announced as his starter in the opener against the Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football.  Many were surprised he wasn’t cut.

U.S. Open

Serena Williams moved past Martina Navratilova with the most match wins at the majors when she hit No. 307 to advance to the fourth round, thus tying Roger Federer for the most ever.

Novak Djokovic isn’t showing much effects from his wrist injury as he has advanced to the fourth round (Round of 16).

What’s kind of funny is that the Open debuted its $150 million roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium, promising live tennis no matter the weather, but it has created a new issue; it traps noise from the fans, let alone the pounding on the roof.

Among U.S. men, only Jack Sock survived week one, while Venus and Serena Williams were joined by fellow American Madison Keys.

But Ryan Harrison shocked No. 5 seed Milos Raonic in the second round.

Then on Sunday....

4 Rafael Nadal lost in five sets to 24 Lucas Pouille, while Sock lost to 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsongas.

On the women’s side, unseeded Caroline Wozniacki, ex-squeeze of Rory McIlroy before he blew her off in an unclassy move*, beat 8-seed Madison Keys.

*OK, I have no idea as to the relationship between Sweet Caroline and Rory, but, err....err....I need to move on, people....

Golf Balls

--This is the lone week of the year where there is a Monday finish on the PGA Tour, and it’s most appropriate, being Labor Day and all...the second leg of the FedEx Cup, the Deutsche Bank Championship.  After three rounds, Paul Casey leads Brian Harman by three strokes.

Casey has won only one time on Tour, seven years ago, which shocked me when I heard it.  I would have said, under penalty of death by firing squad, he had three. 

--But there was a great story this week involving NBC announcer, and former Tour player, Roger Maltbie and his 1975 win at the Pleasant Valley Classic.

Jim McCabe / Golfweek

“It took more than 41 years, but Roger Maltbie on Saturday morning got his hands on his $40,000 prize for one of his five PGA Tour wins, the 1975 Pleasant Valley Classic.

“Now the check isn’t worth anything of value, except for completing the circle to a priceless memory that had attained the status of folklore.

“ ‘For better or worse, it has kind of defined my adult life,’ Maltbie said.”

Maltbie has had to recount the story of the check he lost for decades.

As Jim McCabe writes:

“It was July 1975 when Maltbie made the cut on the number, took advantage of an early tee time Saturday to vault into contention with 67, then closed with a stellar 66 to beat Mac McLendon by one.”

Back in those days, tournaments were run by families and this particular Tour stop was run by Cuz Mingolla, who didn’t have a big cardboard check so he handed Maltbie a check for $40,000.

Maltbie had won his first PGA Tour title the week before at the Quad Cities Open, so now he had a second win.  Needless to say he was in great spirits, and his friend and chauffeur for the week, Dick Fouracre, took him to  a local tavern, T.O. Flynn’s.

Maltbie had a few and when he woke the next morning, he remembers wanting to go out and get a newspaper, but realized he had no cash.  And he couldn’t find the check!

So he called Mingolla.

“I said, ‘Cuz, I’ve got a problem,’ and he said, ‘What kind of problem could you have?’”

Mingolla voided the first check and, since Maltbie said he had no cash, wrote him a check for $39,000 and gave him $1,000.

Jim McCabe:

“Before leaving town, Maltbie got a call from the folks at the tavern.  They had found the check. But since it had been voided and Maltbie had already worked out an arrangement with Mingolla, he gave his permission for them to have the check.”

Well, the check fell into different hands over the years, including by others following various management changes (the tavern going out of business), but eventually the check went back to Pleasant Valley, where it was on display for a while before Paul Parajeckas, the head pro there, put the check away for safe keeping.

But finally, Jason Sobel of ESPN got the idea of reuniting the check with Maltbie and Parajeckas agreed.

Maltbie couldn’t have been happier.  A cool moment.

--On the Champions Tour, at this week’s event in Calgary, 51-year-old Carlos Franco won his first senior event in 25 starts, with back-to-back 63s, to finish two ahead of Michael Allen and Bernhard Langer.

Oh, longtime readers know I have more than a few stories about Carlos. Heck, for starters he cost me a lot of money, including travel expenses to Paraguay, and never acknowledged a sizable charitable donation I made on his behalf, but you can look it up.

I’m glad he won.  He is good for that Tour.  But someday I’d love to have five minutes with him.

Hey, Danny Goodman...are you still involved with the man?  [Danny was alright.]

In the same event, Tom Watson shot 65 in the first round, and then a 67 on Sunday on his 67th birthday to finish T-26.

NASCAR

--Gotta tell you, folks.  I’m pretty good sometimes.  I told you my guess, over six weeks ago, that Dale Earnhardt Jr. might announce his last race would be the next Daytona 500 in February because of his concussion issues, as at the time he said he was sitting out a race, which then became six, with Jeff Gordon coming out of retirement to fill in, along with Alex Bowman.

Now we’ve learned Earnhardt is out for the remainder of the season, with Gordon running four more (including tonight at Darlington) and Bowman eight to finish out the skein.

Gordon has finished 13th, 27th, 14th and 11th...Bowman 26th and 30th in their fill-in efforts.

Earnhardt said he continues to see “good progress in my test results, and I’m feeling that progress physically.  I plan to be healthy and ready to compete at Daytona in February.  I’m working toward that.”  I still say then he’ll hang it up.  I’m one of his fans, but I hope he does.

--Meanwhile, I’m posting before the end of the Southern 500 at Darlington, though I’ve been watching a lot of it, and it’s a throwback weekend.  Barry Williams (aka Greg Brady) did a terrific job with the national anthem.  In this crowd, if Colin Kaepernick had taken a knee, he would have been run over at 200 mph.

Anyway, throwback weekend had some of the drivers’ wives wearing 70s style outfits and I just have to say....

[The power at the global headquarters of StocksandNews just went out, thus preventing the editor from commenting further.]

Stuff

--I am not in any way going to attempt to follow the 2018 World Cup qualifier process...except for the U.S. and England. 

Sunday, England, with new coach Sam Allardyce at the helm (I like this guy), beat Slovakia, away, 1-0 in the 95th minute of injury time on a goal by Adam Lallana.  Tottenham’s Harry Kane continues to play poorly for the national team, which is clearly spilling over to his Premier League play.

And that’s a memo...Charles Krauthammer is here...Charles, what say you?

--Brad K. passed along this story from AFP out of Tokyo:

“A Japanese man who came face-to-face with a snarling bear took things into his own hands – and unleashed his karate skills on the beast.

“The 63-year-old was fishing in a mountain creek when the (6-foot-3-inch) creature set upon him in what he said was an unprovoked attack.

“In scenes seemingly reminiscent of Leonardo DiCaprio’s epic tussle with an angry bear in the Oscar-winning film ‘The Revenant’ – Atushi Aoki was bitten and scratched repeatedly, including on his head.

“ ‘The bear was so strong, and it knocked me down,’ Aoki told Tokyo Broadcasting System.

“ ‘It turned me over and bit me right here,’ he added, pointing to his bandaged leg.

“But instead of trying to outrun the beast – an Asian black bear – the fisherman decided he would use his well-honed karate skills.

“After assuming a fighting stance with his right fist in front of him, Aoki jabbed at his attacker’s eyes, which sent the creature scrambling away into the woods.”

Aoki managed to get back to his car and get himself to a hospital, despite the mauling.

“Earlier this year four people were killed in Japan in separate bear attacks.”

--There was a freak deal in Ireland the other day.  A rampaging cow attacked a woman and killed her dog at a Lakeland resort on Devenish Island in Fermanagh.  The woman suffered serious injuries.

The Irish Independent reported:

“She was said to be exploring the island with her son and their dog when the cow attacked.  The family pet later died as a result of injuries.

“One local man said: ‘It’s possible that the woman’s dog spooked the cow.

“ ‘And if it had a calf, it might have been acting protectively if it believed the pet dog was a threat.’”

I have to tell you, I’ve had some close calls with cows in Ireland while hiking.  When you see them on their territory, in the wild, they can be scary.

--According to a depressing piece in the New York Times, “The African elephant population is in drastic decline, having shrunk about 30 percent from 2007 to 2014,” according to the Great Elephant Census, which was released on Wednesday.

The deputy executive director for the United Nations Environmental Program, Ibrahim Thiaw, said, “poaching is still decimating elephant herds across Africa.  This practice makes no sense on any level – moral, economic or political.”

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen financed the $7 million undertaking, involving teams of researchers across Africa in several dozen airplanes, covering 290,000 miles.  They counted about 352,000 savanna elephants along the way, with more than half living in Botswana and Zimbabwe.

But for every 100 living elephants they found, they saw an estimated 12 carcasses.

--From the New York Post:

“A dog swam more than 6 miles and walked a dozen more to find his family after falling overboard into Lake Michigan during the weekend.

“Edward Casas was boating on the lake Sunday with his wife, Kristin, and the family dog, a 10-month-old Belgian Malinois named Rylee. Casas tells ABC News Rylee went overboard while he was in the engine room trying to figure out a mechanical problem with the boat and his wife was steering.

“Casas says he sent out a mayday call on the radio and was connected to a volunteer group that searches for lost dogs.

“The next morning, someone spotted Rylee going into a  nearby campground.  Edward Casas says there was a lot of sobbing and hugging when the family was reunited with him.”

--Did you see the clip of Pope Francis congratulating the rescue dog at the Vatican?  The pope shook the black lab’s paw.  The lab helped rescue a four-year-old boy in the recent earthquake in Italy.

--We have us some “Dirtball of the Year” candidates.  From the New York Times: 

“They claimed they were the first Indian couple to ascend the world’s highest peak, but their ‘proof consisted of clumsy forgeries.

“Mountaineers were dubious in June, when Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod announced that they had achieved a lifelong goal, climbing to the summit of Mount Everest.

“Those doubts were confirmed this week when Nepalese authorities said that the Rathods, both police officers in the Indian state of Maharashtra, had doctored photographs submitted to the government in applying for a certificate of a successful climb.  The couple have been barred from climbing any of Nepal’s mountains for 10 years.”

That’s an interesting penalty.  Veteran climbers said they had never known Nepal to take such drastic action for a faked climb.

--I was astounded when Bob S. passed along the latest Princeton Review and its look at the 20 biggest “Party Schools.”

No. 1 was University of Wisconsin-Madison, followed by West Virginia Univ., and Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (or as I always thought it was, Champaign-Urbana).

But then you had some shockers.  Lehigh No. 4, Bucknell No. 5 (Christy Mathewson must be rolling over in his grave there on campus, he being a rather pious man)...Colgate at No. 10, and the shocker of all shockers...

Wake Forest is No. 14!  As my Wake buddies have observed, no freakin’ way.

I mean Florida State is only No. 20!  I sure as heck would rather party there than Wake.

--Bruce Springsteen did it again, setting a new concert record at the Meadowlands on Tuesday night...four hours and one minute...so all three shows there, including Aug. 23 and 25, were record breakers for him.  Hey, Steve G.  How long did he play in D.C.?  [Talk about a fan, Steve, an old neighbor of mine from way, way back, has traveled the country this year, from his base in Colorado, to see Bruuuuce.]

Top 3 songs for the week of 9/6/75: #1 “Rhinestone Cowboy” (Glen Campbell)  #2 “Fallin’ In Love” (Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds...good one...)  #3 “Get Down Tonight” (K.C. & The Sunshine Band)...and...#4 “At Seventeen” (Janis Ian...great tune...albeit depressing...)  #5 “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” (James Taylor...eh...)  #6 “Jive Talkin’” (Bee Gees... dreadful...)  #7 “Fame” (David Bowie...not a great drinking song...)  #8 “Fight The Power Part 1” (The Isley Brothers...put this one on after six cheap domestics...)  #9 “Could It Be Magic” (Barry Manilow...hot date tune...except it’s kind of obvious...never mind...)  #10 “One Of These Nights” (Eagles...my favorite of theirs...)

NFL Quiz Answers:

1) Passing Yards

Peyton Manning 71,940
Brett Favre 71,838
Dan Marino 61,361
Drew Brees 60,903
Tom Brady 58,028

2) Rushing Yards

Emmitt Smith 18,355
Walter Payton 16,726
Barry Sanders 15,269
Curtis Martin 14,101
LaDainian Tomlinson 13, 684

Jerome Bettis 13,662

Next Bar Chat, Thursday...could be an abbreviated one, the calm before the NFL storm.

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