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09/10/2018

Serena's Meltdown

[Posted Sunday p.m.]

College Football Quiz: Seven coaches at the Division I (“major schools”) level have 250 career coaching wins.  This list doesn’t include Eddie Robinson and John Gagliardi.  But I’ll give you two of the seven.  Pop Warner and Amos Alonzo Stagg.  Name the other five.  [One is to me very hard, but of recent vintage.  None are active.]  Answer below.

US Open

Naomi Osaka won the US Open after an angry Serena Williams accused the chair umpire of being a “third” in some of the most dramatic scenes at a Grand Slam final ever.

Williams was given a game penalty for her outburst, which followed racquet smashing and another code violation as Osaka won 6-2, 6-4.

Osaka kept her focus to become the first Japanese woman to make a major final in the open era, her debut in a Grand Slam final after never having advanced past the fourth round of a major.  She had just earned her first WTA Tour title this year at Indian Wells, a tournament often considered tennis’ fifth major.

Williams, weeks shy of her 37th birthday, was attempting to win her 24th Grand Slam title to tie the record set 45 years to the day by Margaret Court at the US Open.  She had also reached the Wimbledon final in July but lost in straight sets to Angelique Kerber of Germany.

At the end, Serena refused to shake hands with umpire Carlos Ramos, but she graciously congratulated Osaka at the net after the 20th seed’s extraordinary victory.

The classy and composed Osaka said, “I’m sorry it had to end like this.”

And now the full story....

Williams was given a first code violation after Ramos judged a gesture from coach Patrick Mouratoglou to be coaching, which Mouratoglou conceded it was after the match ended.  But he said he’s done it all the time with his male stars and was never called on it.

Williams said she had not received any tactics from Mouratoglou, telling the umpire she would “never cheat to win and would rather lose.”

Williams then received a second code violation for a racquet smash at 3-2 in the second set, leadig to Ramos docking her a point as Osaka started at 15-0 in the following game.

Williams was now furious, walked up to Ramos, and began shouting and pointing at him, calling him a “thief” as the crowd started booing in support of her.

The atmosphere in Arthur Ashe Stadium became more toxic as Williams refused to let the issue slide and launched an extraordinary rant at Ramos at the changeover, with Osaka leading 4-3.

“You are a liar.  You will never be on a court of mine as long as you live.  When are you going to give me my apology? Say you are sorry,” she told the Portuguese.

That led to Ramos docking her the next game – leaving Osaka just one more away from victory at 5-3 up.

Boos continued to rain down, as Williams refused to take the court and demanded an intervention from the tournament referee.

Williams later accused the umpire of sexism, saying: “He’s never taken a game from a man because they said ‘thief.’”

There have been other incidents with Serena at the Open:

* Losing her 2004 quarter-final match to Jennifer Capriati, Williams was upset by several line calls and the tournament later removed umpire Mariana Alves from officiating. The incident paved the way for using video replays in the sport.

* The Grand Slam Committee handed Williams an $82,500 fine and put her on two years’ probation for an expletive-laced outburst at a line judge during her 2009 semi-final against Kim Clijsters.

* During her 2011 final against Sam Stosur, Williams was issued a code violation for arguing with the umpire, Eva Asderaki. The Grand Slam Committee ruled the incident was not a major offense and fined her $2,000. Stosur would go on to win the match 6-2, 6-3.

Former US Open champion Andy Roddick tweeted after that what happened to Williams was a result of the “worst refereeing I’ve ever seen....the worst!!!”

Billie Jean King said that Williams had called out a “double standard.”

She tweeted: “Several things went very wrong during the #usopen Women’s Finals today.  Coaching on every point should be allowed in tennis. It isn’t, and as a result, a player was penalized for the actions of her coach. This should not happen.

“When a woman is emotional, she’s ‘hysterical’ and she’s penalized for it. When a man does the same, he’s ‘outspoken’ & there are no repercussions.”

Others said it was reminiscent of Williams’ 2009 meltdown.

And poor Naomi Osaka was left all alone, unappreciated.

Stefan Bondy / New York Daily News

“After all those accusations and meltdowns Saturday night, here’s all that Serena Williams accomplished: she stole the moment from an opponent who was better than her, turning the greatest day of Naomi Osaka’s life into an embarrassment.

“Osaka is just 20 years old, remember. And she had to pull down her visor in shame at the podium as the pro-Serena crowd booed viciously.  Williams, to her credit, told the fans to cease the jeers. But it was all too late. The victory felt tainted, even though Osaka should’ve been celebrating like she toppled a titan, fair and square.

“Osaka severely outplayed her idol Saturday in the 6-2, 6-4 wipeout, and she couldn’t even hold up her head. For the first time in recent memory of awards ceremonies, the tears of the winner were assumed to be rooted in shame. It was so difficult to watch. And let’s face it – it’s all because Williams is a sore loser.

“We can debate the ruling of coach’s interference – which her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, acknowledged happened – but Williams smashed her racket out of frustration with herself.  She had been pummeled in the first set by Osaka, and had just given back a break in the second set after two double faults. The match was slipping away.

“That had nothing to do with the umpire, Carlos Ramos, whom Williams then decided was a sexist ‘thief.’....

“It’s hard to understand when Williams would have previously seen herself as a victim at Flushing.  Perhaps she’s talking about the incident with the lines judge in 2009, when Williams was called for a foot fault in the semifinal and told the woman judge, ‘I’m going to shove this [expletive] ball down your [expletive] throat.’  In that instance, just like Saturday, Williams was losing. She later referenced her 2004 defeat to Jennifer Capriati, when multiple questionable calls went against Williams.

“But it’s ridiculous to think the US Open is out to get Williams. She’s the main attraction. She brings the excitement. If anything, the tournament officials should want her to win....

“We get it: Serena is a fierce competitor. She’s a bully on the court. It’s what makes her the greatest tennis player of all time, the type of personality who can bounce back from a difficult pregnancy and within a year reach the finals of the US Open.

“But she wasn’t cheated Saturday. She lost to a player who was overpowering her.  She couldn’t land her first serve.  She ran out of answers. She had a meltdown because she knew she lost.

“The only person who deserves an apology is Osaka.”

Nancy Armour / USA TODAY Sports

“Instead of having the greatest triumph of her career, Serena Williams had her ugliest moment.

“And she has herself to blame.

“Williams melted down in stunning fashion... it diminished her, helped cost her a record 24th Grand Slam title and, worst of all, robbed Naomi Osaka of the spotlight she so richly deserved for winning her first title.

“Williams likes to pride herself on being a role model, the elder stateswoman not just of her game but in all of sports.  Yet as Williams repeatedly berated chair umpire Carlos Ramos, calling him a thief and demanding he apologize to her, she looked anything but....

“Williams did redeem herself after the match, imploring the crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium to stop booing and celebrate Osaka’s win.

“ ‘Let’s make this the best moment we can,’ she said.  ‘Let’s give everyone the credit where credit’s due.’

“By then, however, it was too late.  She needed to be bigger during the match.  She needed to be better.

“She needed to handle herself like the champion she is....

“Williams is a tremendous champion, and will rightly be remembered as such. But on this day, she fell short.

“In more ways than one.”

Sally Jenkins / Washington Post

“Chair umpire Carlos Ramos managed to rob not one but two players in the women’s US Open Final. Nobody has ever seen anything like it: An umpire so wrecked a big occasion that both players, Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams alike, wound up distraught with tears streaming down their faces during the trophy presentation and an incensed crowd screamed boos at the court. Ramos took what began as a minor infraction and turned it into one of the nastiest and most emotional controversies in the history of tennis, all because he couldn’t take a woman speaking sharply to him.

“Williams abused her racket, but Ramos did something far uglier: He abused his authority. Champions get heated – it’s their nature to burn. All good umpires in every sport understand that the heart of their job is to help temper the moment, to turn the dial down, not up, and to be quiet stewards of the event rather than to let their own temper play a role in determining the outcome.  Instead, Ramos made himself the chief player in the women’s final. He marred Osaka’s first Grand Slam title and one of Williams’ last bids for all-time greatness.  Over what? A tone of voice.  Male players have sworn and cursed at the top of their lungs, hurled and blasted their equipment into shards, and never been penalized as Williams was in the second set of the US Open final....

“Competitive rage has long been Williams’ fuel, and it’s a situational personality. The whole world knows that about her, and so does Ramos.  She has had instances where she ranted and deserved to be disciplined, but she has outlived all that.  She has become a player of directed passion, done the admirable work of learning self-command and grown into one of the more courteous and generous champions in the game.  If you doubted that, all you had to do was watch how she got a hold of herself once the match was over and how hard she tried to make it about Osaka.

“Williams understood that she was the only person in the stadium who had the power to make that incensed crowd stop booing. And she did it beautifully.  ‘Let’s make this the best moment we can,’ she said.

“The tumultuous emotions at the end of the match were complex and deep. Osaka didn’t want to be given anything and wept over the spoil. Williams was sickened by what had been taken from her and also palpably ill over her part in depriving a great new young player of her moment.  The crowd was livid on behalf of both.

“Ramos had rescued his ego and, in the act, taken something from Williams and Osaka that they can never get back.  Perhaps the most important job of all for an umpire is to respect the ephemeral nature of the competitors and the contest.  Osaka can never, ever recover this moment.  It’s gone.  Williams can never, ever recover this night.  It’s gone.  And so Williams was entirely right in calling him a ‘thief.’”

Marc Berman / New York Post

“They came to Queens to see Serena Williams make history. Instead, they saw Serena lose her mind again at the US Open – a flashback to her pre-motherhood days.  Instead, the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd saw the future of women’s tennis – and her name is Naomi Osaka, the 20-year-old 2018 US Open champion.

“The only thing Williams broke Saturday was her racket, then she broke  down on the court in epic fashion. With a history of sore-losing behavior, Serena lit up the chair umpire after a second code violation for smashing her racket that cost her a point to start the sixth game of the second set.

“ ‘You owe me an apology,’ an unhinged Serena bellowed at the umpire and relentlessly kept demanding one.

“Williams unleashed another cringe-worthy tirade after getting her serve broken.  On that changeover, Williams called umpire Carlos Ramos ‘a thief,’ adding ‘You stole a point from me.’

“All hell then broke loose. Ramos couldn’t take her harangue any longer and issued an extremely rare game penalty against Williams, putting her down 5-3.

“When Williams realized the massive penalty, she flipped out, all but sobbing. The fans booed – taking her side, not realizing the nasty words she had used.

“ ‘This is not fair, this is not fair,’ a teary-eyed Williams screamed, her voice quivering.  ‘Men do much worse. Because I’m a woman you’re going to take this away from me. To happen to me in this tournament every single time is not fair.’

“Williams was going to lose anyway – the final tally was 6,2, 6-4 – but this display on the 50th anniversary of the US Open was a shame. This was not behavior befitting of a role-model mother – her talk of fighting for women’s rights in the post-match press conference hitting the wrong note.

“It tarnished Williams’ first appearance at the Open since she became a mother, rekindled her more immature days when she warred with Open officials and linespeople and received her share of fines in past final appearances....

“(Serena’s) fans booed at the start of the championship trophy ceremony, perceiving Williams got robbed.  Others wondered why she is not an even bigger deal with 23 Grand Slam titles.  Maybe Saturday was why.  Her boorish acts on these big stages are unseemly. That’s not ‘fighting for women’s rights,’ as she claimed....

“Osaka, with her fluid ground strokes, was the fearless New Yorker not overwhelmed by the moment. Serena is the reason Osaka plays tennis.  Osaka’s father, Leonard Francois, was inspired by Richard Williams and his tennis family.

“The women’s game is flooded with parity but could use this new bright star who’s not Serena.

“Williams may eventually tie Margaret Court’s record of 24 if she gets her emotions together.

“Osaka has learned so much from Serena, but she should never try to emulate this side of the tennis legend.  Osaka was absolutely terrific and it shouldn’t be lost in Serena’s historic meltdown.”

Williams was fined $17,000 today for her three code violations.  Having earned over $2 million for being runner-up, me thinks she won’t cry over this...or throw a racquet.

But my opinion on this whole disgrace?  I agree with Sally Jenkins that Carlos Ramos is to blame.  However, Serena was an amazing jerk in her own right.  I had come to respect her for more than her ability following the 2009 meltdown, but now couldn’t care less what she does the rest of her career.

Go Naomi!

--Meanwhile, on the men’s side...Juan Martin del Potro qualified to compete in his first Grand Slam final in nine years Friday, after defending champion Rafael Nadal was forced to retire from their semi-final due to his knee problem.

3rd-seeded Del Potro, 29, was leading the 32-year-old, 17-time Grand Slam champion 7-6, 6-2, when Nadal quit due to the pain.

For the Argentinian Del Potro, it was his first win in four Grand Slam semi-finals since beating Roger Federer in 2009 at the Open.  He lost twice to Nadal at last year’s Open and Wimbledon in July.

Del Potro then faced off against Novak Djokovic in the final, Djokovic having beaten Japan’s Kei Nishikori in straight sets.

And Djokovic won in straight sets, his 14th Grand Slam title, tying him with Pete Sampras for third on the all-time list behind Federer (20) and Nadal (17).

MLB

--Playoff races....

NL West

Colorado 78-64
Los Angeles 78-65... 0.5
Arizona 76-67... 2.5

NL Wild Card

Milwaukee 82-62... +2.5
St. Louis 79-64... --
Los Angeles 78-65... 1
Arizona 76-67... 3
Philadelphia 74-68... 4.5

The Phillies were the major choke of the weekend, losing 2 of 3 to the Mets. The Mets even held out stud Jacob deGrom today due to the rainy weather, but the Mets won anyway, 6-4, behind a bag of donuts.

AL Wild Card

New York 89-54... +2.5
Oakland 87-57... –

It’s all about these two the rest of the way in both the New York and Bay areas...which one will host the wild-card game.

The Yankees took two of three from the Mariners in Seattle this weekend, to officially put Seattle’s hopes of a WC berth to bed.

Masahiro Tanaka threw eight scoreless in Friday night’s 4-0 win, and Tanaka, with a 2.65 ERA his last ten starts, is the near-lock to start the wild-card contest at this point.  Luis Severino, the supposed ace, has a 6.84 ERA his last 11 starts; advantage Tanaka.

Meanwhile, the A’s swept Texas this weekend and have won six of seven.

--I’ve been musing about Shohei Ohtani and his looming Tommy John surgery for the past few months and after I posted last time, the Angels announced the inevitable, that their two-way star would need it.

But as a sign of his greatness, while he will be off the mound all of 2019, he played the night the news broke and hit two home runs, and then on Friday he made more MLB history with his 19th home run of the season, which gave him the record for most homers by a Japanese-born rookie.

Ohtani said Friday he didn’t know if he’ll go through with the surgery, and that he planned to play out the season as the DH.  Since he bats left-handed, but throws right-handed, he said, “Swinging doesn’t affect my elbow in any way.”

What’s important for next season with the Angels and Ohtani is that Albert Pujols, who had season-ending knee surgery, the 4th time in 7 seasons he has undergone surgery on a knee or foot, will be limited in his appearances at first base in 2019, and the Angels still have him under contract for three seasons, $87 million remaining!  Pujols has to DH, a lot.  But they need Ohtani in the lineup.  If Pujols can’t play the field, someone else will as Ohtani DHs. Ergo, Pujols could become an $87 million bench player!  [If you were thinking, why can’t Ohtani play first...err, that’s because he would have to make throws.]

Ohtani was 1-for-3 today and finished the week with a batting average of .291, 19 homers and 53 RBIs in just 258 at-bats, with a .969 OPS.

--The Orioles lost their 100th game of the season on Friday, a 14-2 loss to the Rays.  It’s surprisingly just the third time in the franchise’s 64 years in Baltimore they’ve lost 100 (1988 and 1954 the others; the latter the first in Baltimore after moving from St. Louis).

Baltimore finishes the season against the Yankees, Red Sox and Astros, as they try to avoid the team record of 107 losses in the ’88 season. That year they started off 0-21.

They then lost two more, Saturday and Sunday, to Tampa Bay, Baltimore now 41-102.  That’s painful to type.

--The Mets have a very sticky situation with David Wright.  Wright played a total of 75 games between 2015 and 2016, and then sat out last season with his spinal stenosis, a condition that requires he literally spends hours preparing for a workout just to be able to get on the field.

Wright, now 35, has been earning $20 million a year since 2014, including this season, and is owed another $27 million for 2019 and 2020, combined ($15m and $12m).

He is claiming he can come back at the major league level before the season ends, but he looked like crap in some minor league rehab games in August, and with the minor league regular season over, he’s with the big club, management saying he’s not ready, though Saturday he homered in a simulated game.

The issue is the Mets are being reimbursed 75 percent of his salary through insurance, as long as he remains on the disabled list, and he is owed about $2.6 million the rest of the season as of this weekend.  If he was activated, the Mets have to pay the $2.6m, and won’t get the 75% back.  For a team in financial straits, all these years post-Madoff, it’s big.

The Mets don’t talk about the insurance issue, nor does Wright, but it’s about to come to a head if David insists he can play.

Wright is an all-time Met, a fan favorite in his prime, but I don’t blame management for feeling like it’s too late for 2018.  There is zero reason for him to get out there, save for personal pride.

--Poor White Sox fans.  They recently brought up their top prospect, perhaps the tops in all of baseball, pitcher Michael Kopech, and after four starts with the big club, three good, but the last one very bad, it was discovered he had injured his right elbow and was likely undergoing Tommy John surgery, out all of 2019.  Devastating.

--Detroit Tigers broadcasters Rod Allen and Mario Impemba were told to stay home for the rest of the season, after a fracas between the two following Tuesday’s road game against the White Sox.  This is really kind of unbelievable.  The Tigers said they “support our partners at Fox Sports Detroit in their decision” regarding the two.

When I first read of the altercation, the reports said the two just didn’t get along. Sounds incredibly stupid.  [I have an idea what happened, but I’ll keep my mouth shut.]

College Football

No big upsets...just a lot of major mismatches...FCS teams (or FBS facsimiles thereof) looking for a payday to help the overall athletic program and non-revenue sports, and top FBS programs looking to fatten up before their tough conference schedules begin.

So we had No. 1 Alabama 57, Arkansas State 7 (Sun Belt Conference), 40-0 halftime lead for the Tide.

7 Auburn blasted Alabama State 63-9, and 22 Miami annihilated Savannah State 77-0.

But there were a few good matchups.

2 Clemson went on the road for a tough battle against Texas A&M and eked out a 28-26 win when the Tigers denied a two-point conversion in the final minute that would have tied it up and sent the game into overtime.  Clemson survived a superb performance by Aggie quarterback Kellen Mond, 23/40, 430, 3-0.

3 Georgia manhandled 24 South Carolina 41-17.

4 Ohio State destroyed hapless Rutgers 52-3, as Buckeye quarterback Dwayne Haskins was 20/23, 233, 4-0, and then his backup, freshman Tate Martell, was a perfect 10/10, 121, 1-0, while adding 95 yards on the ground and a TD.  Ohio State outgained Rutgers 579-134.

Imagine, this is a Rutgers team that in November faces, in order, Wisconsin, Michigan, Penn State and Michigan State.  The Scarlet Knights will be crying for their mothers by the time that run is over.

Ohio State, without coach Urban Meyer on the sidelines for one more game, does have an interesting test next week at 16 TCU, which easily handled Paul P.’s  SMU Mustangs 42-12 on Friday night.  [Sorry, Paul.]

5 Wisconsin beat New Mexico 45-14 as Heisman Trophy candidate Jonathan Taylor rushed for 253 yards and three touchdowns.

And 6 Oklahoma had no problem with visiting UCLA, 49-21, in a game that wasn’t even that close.  Quarterback Kyler Murray, headed to the Oakland A’s next year, but a distinct Heisman candidate in this his only season at the helm of the Sooners, passed for 306 and three scores, while rushing for 69 yards and two more TDs.

8 Notre Dame was up 24-6 over heavy underdog Ball State after three quarters and then held on for an incredibly unimpressive 24-18 win over the Cardinals.  The Fighting Irish should drop out of the top ten after this one.

But for Ball State supporters, congratulations!  They demolished a spread that had Notre Dame 34 ½-point favorites.  And at the end of the day....

In other contests of note...

10 Stanford had an important 17-3 win over 17 USC, as the Trojans’ freshman quarterback, JT Daniels, was exposed as just that, a freshman, going 16/34, 215, 0-2, while for the Cardinal, Bryce Love shook off his poor opening week effort to rush for 136 yards and a score Saturday.

No. 13 Penn State blasted Pitt, 51-6.

15 Michigan State took a 13-3 lead into the fourth quarter at Arizona State, but the Sun Devils pulled off the upset, 16-13, on a 28-yard field goal by Brandon Ruiz as time expired.

18 Mississippi State had an important road win at Kansas State, 31-10.  It was the first road victory over a Power Five opponent for the Bulldogs since Sept. 16, 1995, when they beat Baylor.  Kind of staggering.

20 Boise State destroyed visiting UConn, 62-7, the Broncos gaining a school-record 818 yards, including 514 in the first half.  Eegads!

And Kentucky upset 25 Florida in Gainesville, 27-16...big win for the Wildcats, and the first win for Kentucky against Florida since 1986.  Kentucky hadn’t won in Gainesville since 1979.

In my focus non-Top 25 game of the week, a big win for Duke at Northwestern, 21-7, as underrated quarterback Daniel Jones of Duke was an efficient 16/22, 192, 3-0.  But he left the game late with a shoulder injury, an injured clavicle, and this could result in a lengthy absence.  Not good for the Blue Devils’ season.

Colorado spoiled Scott Frost’s debut at Nebraska, 33-28, despite a terrific performance from Cornhusker QB Adrian Martinez. CU’s own quarterback, Steven Montez, had a better effort, 33/50, 351, 3-0.  The Buffaloes are solid.  Not an embarrassing loss for Nebraska.

Finally, Wake Forest improved to 2-0 with a 51-20 win over FCS Towson State. Towson’s performance was not that bad, aided in great part by a grad transfer from Rutgers, quarterback Tom Flacco, the younger brother of Joe, who looked real good, throwing for 345 yards and three touchdowns.

But for the Deacs the story was receiver/returner Greg Dortch, who had punt returns of 60 and 70 yards for scores, and caught seven passes for 94 yards and another TD. Dortch had 310 all-purpose yards, including kick returns.  As Ronald Reagan would have said of the budding superstar, turning to Nancy during breakfast, ‘Not bad, not bad at all.’

Up next for Wake is nothing less than the entire season...the Deacs hosting Boston College, who I think is the real sleeper team in the country this season.  [B.C. beat Holy Cross 62-14 Saturday.]  Wake-B.C. is Thursday night...short week of preparation for both.

However...Hurricane Florence will have a say in whether this game is even played. B.C. alum Steve D. and I have our traditional Ferraro’s of Westfield lunch bet on the contest (I just cashed in this past week on our Wake-B.C. baseball bet) and he’s recommending the game be moved to Beantown, which makes sense...until the storm tracks further north.

NFL

Opening week....

And for the Giants, some would say a continuation of last season, even if there is a total change in management and the coaching staff, but I’d tell Giants fans, don’t fret.

New York lost to an obviously very good Jacksonville team today at MetLife Stadium, 20-15, but Saquon Barkley ripped off a 68-yard touchdown run (18-106-1 on the ground overall), and Odell Beckham Jr. had 11 receptions for 111 yards.  It’s just that Eli Manning was subpar, 23/37, 224, 0-1, 67.9 passer rating, and the Jaguars have a great defense.

Yes, the Giants have a very difficult schedule, but they’ll be in the playoff hunt.  It’s the Bar Chat Guarantee!

Cleveland broke its 17-game losing streak, though it was with a surprising 21-21 tie with Pittsburgh.  The Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger accounted for five of Pittsburgh’s six turnovers (yuck), three interceptions and two fumbles, and even though Cleveland’s Tyrod Taylor sucked, 15/40, 197, 1-1, 51.8 (but 8 carries for 77 yards and a score), the Brownies got the draw, as they would say across the pond...both kickers missing critical field goals in overtime.

For the Steelers, playing without Le’Veon Bell, who continues his contentious holdout, James Conner filled in more than ably, 31 carries for 135 yards and two TDs, plus 5 receptions for 57 more.

Cleveland fan ‘Trader George’ nonetheless was partying mightily Sunday night with Schaeffers and Stouffer’s pizza (on sale 2 for $5 at the local ACME, which I always alert him to, this being big at the StocksandNews compound as well).

San Francisco’s Jimmy Garoppolo finally lost after winning his first seven career starts, 24-16 at Minnesota, Garoppolo a poor 15/33, 261, 1-3, while in his first start as a Viking, Kirk Cousins was 20/36, 244, 2-0.

DeShaun Watson returned for Houston, going 17/34, 176, 1-1, which didn’t get it done as the Texans fell at New England, 27-20, Tom Brady 26/39, 277, 3-1...Rob Gronkowski having a monster day, 7 receptions for 123 yards and a score.

Tampa Bay and backup QB Ryan Fitzpatrick upset New Orleans on the road, 48-40, with FitzMagic, subbing for the suspended Jameis Winston, pitching a perfect game in terms of QB rating, 21/28, 417, 4-0, 156.3.  In defeat, Drew Brees was almost flawless himself, 37/45, 439, 3-0, 129.5.

For the Bucs, DeShaun Jackson and Mike Evans combined for a spectacular 12-293-3.

The Ravens destroyed the Bills, with Baltimore’s defense holding rookie Josh Allen and Nathan Peterman to a beyond pathetic 11/33, 70, 0-2, 17.1 rating!  As Donald Trump would opine, “They said it could never happen!”

And then we had Chiefs-Chargers.  Poor Philip Rivers.  The San Diego great was 34/51, 424, 3-1, 103.7, but he had at least five big drops that I saw, while Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, replacing longtime starter Alex Smith, now with Washington, was 15/27, 256, 4-0, 127.5.

But the story was the Chiefs’ Tyreek Hill, who had 7 receptions for 169 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus a 91-yard punt return for a score.  The guy is fun to watch.

As for Alex Smith, all he did in his first start with Washington is lead them to a 24-6 win at Arizona; Smith a cool 21/30, 255, 2-0, 118.1, while newly-signed Adrian Peterson had 96 yards rushing and another 70 on just two receptions.  Great start for the ‘Skins.

--Ratings for Thursday’s NFL season opener, Eagles-Falcons, fell 8 percent from last year’s opener – to their lowest level in a decade.

The audience for last year’s opener was down 19 percent over 2016.

To be fair, the “Thursday Night Football” telecast was delayed 45 minutes due to severe weather in Philadelphia and I sure lost interest, knowing I wasn’t going to be staying up late to watch to begin with so why invest at all in it?  It really isn’t a fair comparison.  A better one will be next time.

It also needs to be noted that non-sports network programming has been declining at a faster rate than the NFL.

The Eagles beat the Falcons, by the way, 18-12, in a sloppy, mistake-filled game that featured 26 penalties and came down to an incomplete pass from Matt Ryan to Julio Jones in the corner of the end zone, Jones clearly out of bounds.

Golf Balls

--Sunday’s final round of the BMW Championship at Newtown Square, Pa., was postponed by rain until Monday, though tomorrow’s forecast is far from ideal.  The Tour announced today, however, that as long as there is some play Monday, if necessary they will finish on Tuesday, because this one is important...cutting the field from 70 to the final 30 for the Tour Championship.

That said, 54-hole leader Justin Rose could be declared the winner and the current top 30 in projected points would move on to Atlanta in two weeks.

As it stands right now, Keegan Bradley would take the 30th spot for East Lake and Jordan Spieth would miss out at 31.

If the final round is canceled and the results after 54 holes stand, it would be just the second time in 11 years of the FedExCup playoffs that this has occurred.

--As for the Ryder Cup, captain Jim Furyk was slated to make his decision on his fourth captain’s pick Monday morning, so not sure how this will play out.  The favorite, Tony Finau, didn’t hurt himself...T-15 thus far through three rounds.

Xander Schauffele is just a stroke behind Rose, but even if he wins, I don’t see Furyk taking him over the amazingly consistent Finau.

Meanwhile, for the Europeans, captain Thomas Bjorn chose four veterans to fill out his squad...Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson and Ian Poulter.

I said for weeks, no way Garcia is tabbed. He has played like crap this summer (and has missed the cut in the last five majors).  He doesn’t deserve it.

But Bjorn fell back on the fact that of his eight automatic qualifiers – Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Alex Noren, Justin Rose, Thorbjorn Olesen, Francesco Molinari and Tyrrell Hatton, five are rookies (Rahm, Fleetwood, Olesen, Noren and Hatton).

Yeah, I get it, but the guy who really got screwed was Rafa Cabrera-Bello, who has played great of late, and did well in the last Ryder Cup!  [2-0-1...including winning his singles match]

One past Euro skipper told John Huggan of Golf World, anonymously, “The rookie thing is such BS, it’s unbelievable.  I wanted the guy who was enthusiastic, versus an old veteran who couldn’t care less. I always thought that a young kid – rookie or not – ready to play was always going to perform better than an older guy.”

The facts bear this out.  There has been literally no significant difference in how rookie captain’s picks have performed vs. veterans of Ryder Cup competition.  But Cabrera-Bello isn’t even a rookie.  If I were him, I’d sue.  [Never liked the taciturn Thomas Bjorn, either.]

Stuff

--The Premier League was off this weekend.

--NASCAR’s last regular season race at the Brickyard was postponed by rain until Monday.

--Wake Forest’s Men’s soccer team is ranked #1 in the country.

--Jeffrey Gettleman and Hari Kumar / New York Times

“The first victim was an older woman, discovered face down in a cotton field with huge claw marks dug into her back.  The next was an older male farmer, his left leg completely torn off.

“The killings have gone on for more than two years, sowing panic in the hills around Pandharkawada, a town in central India. In mid-August, the mauled body of Vaghuji Kanadhari Raut, a threadbare cattle herder, was found near a rural highway. He was victim No. 12.

“DNA tests, camera traps, numerous spottings and pugmarks – tiger footprints – have pinned at least 13 human killings on a single, 5-year-old tigress that seems to have developed a taste for human flesh and has evaded capture several times.

“At night, young men in the nearby villages carry torches and bamboo sticks and go on patrol.  They have roughed up forest guards, furious that the authorities can’t stop the killings.

“Experts say it’s extremely unusual for a single tiger to have attacked this many people.  India’s critically endangered tiger population is soaring [Ed. Yippee!!!], a success for conservation policies, but the animals are being crowded out in a competition with humans for territory.

“Forest rangers are now gearing up for a complex military-style operation to deploy sharpshooters with tranquilizer guns on the backs of half a dozen elephants to surround the tiger, capture her and send her to a zoo.

“But the elephants have yet to arrive.”

It isn’t legal to shoot the tiger outright, though many want this done.  A wildlife activist seeking to block such an order has taken it all the way to India’s Supreme Court, which is expected to rule shortly.

Meanwhile, the tiger population has grown from 1,400 in 2006 to an estimated 2,500 today – more than half of the world’s approximately 4,000 tigers.

The top three on the All-Species List thus remains unchanged.

1.Dog
2. Elephant
3. Tiger

Separately, Pandharkawada has been lopped off my bucket list.

--From the Irish Independent: “The wife and three-year-old son of a British scientist living in South Africa are in critical condition in Johannesburg hospital after being attacked by a giraffe near their home.

“Dr. Sam Williams, a 36-year-old UK resident, was returning from an evening run in Blyde Wildlife Estate, where the family lives, when he saw his wife Katy and their son being attacked by a female giraffe,” who it is believed was protecting her calf and saw the two as threats.

The victims sustained serious injuries and were listed in critical but stable condition.

But what was Dr. Williams doing jogging in a park with clearly lots of wild animals?

As for ‘Giraffe’, No. 32 on the ASL, he has been put on probation for misidentifying threats.  The ASL Supreme Council in Kazakhstan could levy further penalties as warranted.

--We note the passing of actor Burt Reynolds, 82.  Who didn’t like this man?  In terms of popularity, in my lifetime he’s just below Paul Newman, Jimmy Stewart and Clint Eastwood.

Reynolds was the No. 1 box office draw from 1978-82, but it was his star turn in 1972’s “Deliverance,” one of my top five or six movies of all time, that I’ll remember him for.

Reynolds delighted audiences from car-crash comedies like “Smokey and the Bandit,” to romances (“Starting Over”), to the hit television series “Evening Shade.”  Save for “Deliverance,” he mostly played a good-hearted good ol’ boy seemingly not that different from his off-screen self.

Reynolds had more than his share of brushes with death, though, as he liked to do his own stunts.  His jaw was shattered, accidentally, in a fight scene, which left him addicted to prescription medication that led to false whispers he was dying of AIDS as he physically shriveled up. 

As Ralph Blumenthal wrote in the New York Times:

“Fellow actors praised Mr. Reynolds as an exacting artist, who worked hard at his craft and fought to overcome many demons, including a volatile temperament. But he himself projected an air of insouciance and professed not to take his career too seriously. He told The New York Times in 1978, ‘I think I’m the only movie star who’s a movie star in spite of his pictures, not because of them; I’ve had some real turkeys.’”

Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. was born in Lansing, Mich., on Feb. 11, 1936, and grew up in Riviera Beach, Fla., where his father was police chief.  Although young Burt acted in high school plays, his passion was football and he was a good enough running back to be offered a scholarship to Florida State, where his career ended after a serious car crash (compounding an earlier knee injury).

He turned to acting and worked his way up through the ranks, including Broadway.  Because he was one-quarter Cherokee, he was often portrayed to play Indians, or “half-Indians” as was the case for a character of his on “Gunsmoke,” his most high-profile role, early 1960s.

But his career didn’t take off until he began making regular appearances on the talk-show circuit in the early 1970s, drawing laughs from Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin and the others.  He was a terrific guest...very funny, self-effacing.

One TV host captivated by Reynolds’ charm was the singer Dinah Shore, who had her own show.  Boy, it was a big deal when these two hooked up, she being almost 20 years his senior. That was 1972 when they became inseparable for a spell, the same year as “Deliverance.”

But Reynolds used his star turn in the picture to do what he claimed later was “really stupid,” posing as a centerfold in an issue of Cosmopolitan.  For you younger folk, you just can’t imagine how big a deal this was.  It was a sensation, but it made it harder for Hollywood to take Reynolds seriously.  “I don’t know what I was thinking,” Reynolds said in 2016.  “I really wish I hadn’t done that.”

But he still got roles in the terrific film “The Longest Yard,” and Dan Jenkins’ “Semi-Tough,” as Reynolds got to revive his college gridiron dreams.

And then came the wildly successful “Smokey and the Bandit,” which among other things ignited a long-running romance with Sally Field.  He later called her “the love of my life,” though the relationship only lasted a few years.

Burt Reynolds was a mega-star during this time.  But it was in the filming of 1984’s “City Heat,” with Clint Eastwood, that a stuntman clobbered Reynolds with a heavy chair that was supposed to be a breakaway balsa wood prop.  It shattered his jaw and he suffered all kinds of serious medical problems, that left him addicted and a physical wreck, leading to the unfounded AIDS rumors.

It didn’t help Reynolds was having serious financial problems, too, but he eventually rebounded for the television series “Evening Shade,” which had a successful four-season run.

Looking back on his life, Reynolds expressed regret over some of the roles he didn’t get, but in the end, he concluded: “I may not be the best actor in the world, but I’m the best Burt Reynolds in the world.”

I love that.  RIP, Mr. Reynolds.  You were a true American original, leaving us with some great memories.

Top 3 songs for the week 9/6/69:  #1 “Honky Tonk Women” (The Rolling Stones)  #2 “A Boy Named Sue” (Johnny Cash)  #3 “Sugar, Sugar” (The Archies)...and...#4 “Green River” (Creedence Clearwater Revival)  #5 “Get Together” (The Youngbloods)  #6 “Put A Little Love In Your Heart” (Jackie DeShannon)  #7 “Lay Lady Lay” (Bob Dylan...his best...in my book...)   #8 “Easy To Be Hard” (Three Dog Night....great one...)  #9 “Sweet Caroline” (Neil Diamond)  #10 “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” (Tom Jones...strong back end...grade ‘B’...)

College Football Coaching Quiz: Seven D-I coaches with 250 career wins.

[Not adjusted for any B.S. sanctions levied by the NCAA, national titles taken away, seasons wiped out, etc.]

Joe Paterno 409
Bobby Bowden 357
Bear Bryant 323
Pop Warner 311
Amos Alonzo Stagg 282
LaVell Edwards 257 [gets lost in the conversation of great coaches; 1972-2000 at BYU, went to 17 straight bowl games at one point...national champs in 1984]
Tom Osborne 255

Lou Holtz 249

Next Bar Chat, Thursday.  I’ll have a few words on the passing of comedian Will Jordan and actor Bill Daily.  Didn’t have time today.



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Bar Chat

09/10/2018

Serena's Meltdown

[Posted Sunday p.m.]

College Football Quiz: Seven coaches at the Division I (“major schools”) level have 250 career coaching wins.  This list doesn’t include Eddie Robinson and John Gagliardi.  But I’ll give you two of the seven.  Pop Warner and Amos Alonzo Stagg.  Name the other five.  [One is to me very hard, but of recent vintage.  None are active.]  Answer below.

US Open

Naomi Osaka won the US Open after an angry Serena Williams accused the chair umpire of being a “third” in some of the most dramatic scenes at a Grand Slam final ever.

Williams was given a game penalty for her outburst, which followed racquet smashing and another code violation as Osaka won 6-2, 6-4.

Osaka kept her focus to become the first Japanese woman to make a major final in the open era, her debut in a Grand Slam final after never having advanced past the fourth round of a major.  She had just earned her first WTA Tour title this year at Indian Wells, a tournament often considered tennis’ fifth major.

Williams, weeks shy of her 37th birthday, was attempting to win her 24th Grand Slam title to tie the record set 45 years to the day by Margaret Court at the US Open.  She had also reached the Wimbledon final in July but lost in straight sets to Angelique Kerber of Germany.

At the end, Serena refused to shake hands with umpire Carlos Ramos, but she graciously congratulated Osaka at the net after the 20th seed’s extraordinary victory.

The classy and composed Osaka said, “I’m sorry it had to end like this.”

And now the full story....

Williams was given a first code violation after Ramos judged a gesture from coach Patrick Mouratoglou to be coaching, which Mouratoglou conceded it was after the match ended.  But he said he’s done it all the time with his male stars and was never called on it.

Williams said she had not received any tactics from Mouratoglou, telling the umpire she would “never cheat to win and would rather lose.”

Williams then received a second code violation for a racquet smash at 3-2 in the second set, leadig to Ramos docking her a point as Osaka started at 15-0 in the following game.

Williams was now furious, walked up to Ramos, and began shouting and pointing at him, calling him a “thief” as the crowd started booing in support of her.

The atmosphere in Arthur Ashe Stadium became more toxic as Williams refused to let the issue slide and launched an extraordinary rant at Ramos at the changeover, with Osaka leading 4-3.

“You are a liar.  You will never be on a court of mine as long as you live.  When are you going to give me my apology? Say you are sorry,” she told the Portuguese.

That led to Ramos docking her the next game – leaving Osaka just one more away from victory at 5-3 up.

Boos continued to rain down, as Williams refused to take the court and demanded an intervention from the tournament referee.

Williams later accused the umpire of sexism, saying: “He’s never taken a game from a man because they said ‘thief.’”

There have been other incidents with Serena at the Open:

* Losing her 2004 quarter-final match to Jennifer Capriati, Williams was upset by several line calls and the tournament later removed umpire Mariana Alves from officiating. The incident paved the way for using video replays in the sport.

* The Grand Slam Committee handed Williams an $82,500 fine and put her on two years’ probation for an expletive-laced outburst at a line judge during her 2009 semi-final against Kim Clijsters.

* During her 2011 final against Sam Stosur, Williams was issued a code violation for arguing with the umpire, Eva Asderaki. The Grand Slam Committee ruled the incident was not a major offense and fined her $2,000. Stosur would go on to win the match 6-2, 6-3.

Former US Open champion Andy Roddick tweeted after that what happened to Williams was a result of the “worst refereeing I’ve ever seen....the worst!!!”

Billie Jean King said that Williams had called out a “double standard.”

She tweeted: “Several things went very wrong during the #usopen Women’s Finals today.  Coaching on every point should be allowed in tennis. It isn’t, and as a result, a player was penalized for the actions of her coach. This should not happen.

“When a woman is emotional, she’s ‘hysterical’ and she’s penalized for it. When a man does the same, he’s ‘outspoken’ & there are no repercussions.”

Others said it was reminiscent of Williams’ 2009 meltdown.

And poor Naomi Osaka was left all alone, unappreciated.

Stefan Bondy / New York Daily News

“After all those accusations and meltdowns Saturday night, here’s all that Serena Williams accomplished: she stole the moment from an opponent who was better than her, turning the greatest day of Naomi Osaka’s life into an embarrassment.

“Osaka is just 20 years old, remember. And she had to pull down her visor in shame at the podium as the pro-Serena crowd booed viciously.  Williams, to her credit, told the fans to cease the jeers. But it was all too late. The victory felt tainted, even though Osaka should’ve been celebrating like she toppled a titan, fair and square.

“Osaka severely outplayed her idol Saturday in the 6-2, 6-4 wipeout, and she couldn’t even hold up her head. For the first time in recent memory of awards ceremonies, the tears of the winner were assumed to be rooted in shame. It was so difficult to watch. And let’s face it – it’s all because Williams is a sore loser.

“We can debate the ruling of coach’s interference – which her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, acknowledged happened – but Williams smashed her racket out of frustration with herself.  She had been pummeled in the first set by Osaka, and had just given back a break in the second set after two double faults. The match was slipping away.

“That had nothing to do with the umpire, Carlos Ramos, whom Williams then decided was a sexist ‘thief.’....

“It’s hard to understand when Williams would have previously seen herself as a victim at Flushing.  Perhaps she’s talking about the incident with the lines judge in 2009, when Williams was called for a foot fault in the semifinal and told the woman judge, ‘I’m going to shove this [expletive] ball down your [expletive] throat.’  In that instance, just like Saturday, Williams was losing. She later referenced her 2004 defeat to Jennifer Capriati, when multiple questionable calls went against Williams.

“But it’s ridiculous to think the US Open is out to get Williams. She’s the main attraction. She brings the excitement. If anything, the tournament officials should want her to win....

“We get it: Serena is a fierce competitor. She’s a bully on the court. It’s what makes her the greatest tennis player of all time, the type of personality who can bounce back from a difficult pregnancy and within a year reach the finals of the US Open.

“But she wasn’t cheated Saturday. She lost to a player who was overpowering her.  She couldn’t land her first serve.  She ran out of answers. She had a meltdown because she knew she lost.

“The only person who deserves an apology is Osaka.”

Nancy Armour / USA TODAY Sports

“Instead of having the greatest triumph of her career, Serena Williams had her ugliest moment.

“And she has herself to blame.

“Williams melted down in stunning fashion... it diminished her, helped cost her a record 24th Grand Slam title and, worst of all, robbed Naomi Osaka of the spotlight she so richly deserved for winning her first title.

“Williams likes to pride herself on being a role model, the elder stateswoman not just of her game but in all of sports.  Yet as Williams repeatedly berated chair umpire Carlos Ramos, calling him a thief and demanding he apologize to her, she looked anything but....

“Williams did redeem herself after the match, imploring the crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium to stop booing and celebrate Osaka’s win.

“ ‘Let’s make this the best moment we can,’ she said.  ‘Let’s give everyone the credit where credit’s due.’

“By then, however, it was too late.  She needed to be bigger during the match.  She needed to be better.

“She needed to handle herself like the champion she is....

“Williams is a tremendous champion, and will rightly be remembered as such. But on this day, she fell short.

“In more ways than one.”

Sally Jenkins / Washington Post

“Chair umpire Carlos Ramos managed to rob not one but two players in the women’s US Open Final. Nobody has ever seen anything like it: An umpire so wrecked a big occasion that both players, Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams alike, wound up distraught with tears streaming down their faces during the trophy presentation and an incensed crowd screamed boos at the court. Ramos took what began as a minor infraction and turned it into one of the nastiest and most emotional controversies in the history of tennis, all because he couldn’t take a woman speaking sharply to him.

“Williams abused her racket, but Ramos did something far uglier: He abused his authority. Champions get heated – it’s their nature to burn. All good umpires in every sport understand that the heart of their job is to help temper the moment, to turn the dial down, not up, and to be quiet stewards of the event rather than to let their own temper play a role in determining the outcome.  Instead, Ramos made himself the chief player in the women’s final. He marred Osaka’s first Grand Slam title and one of Williams’ last bids for all-time greatness.  Over what? A tone of voice.  Male players have sworn and cursed at the top of their lungs, hurled and blasted their equipment into shards, and never been penalized as Williams was in the second set of the US Open final....

“Competitive rage has long been Williams’ fuel, and it’s a situational personality. The whole world knows that about her, and so does Ramos.  She has had instances where she ranted and deserved to be disciplined, but she has outlived all that.  She has become a player of directed passion, done the admirable work of learning self-command and grown into one of the more courteous and generous champions in the game.  If you doubted that, all you had to do was watch how she got a hold of herself once the match was over and how hard she tried to make it about Osaka.

“Williams understood that she was the only person in the stadium who had the power to make that incensed crowd stop booing. And she did it beautifully.  ‘Let’s make this the best moment we can,’ she said.

“The tumultuous emotions at the end of the match were complex and deep. Osaka didn’t want to be given anything and wept over the spoil. Williams was sickened by what had been taken from her and also palpably ill over her part in depriving a great new young player of her moment.  The crowd was livid on behalf of both.

“Ramos had rescued his ego and, in the act, taken something from Williams and Osaka that they can never get back.  Perhaps the most important job of all for an umpire is to respect the ephemeral nature of the competitors and the contest.  Osaka can never, ever recover this moment.  It’s gone.  Williams can never, ever recover this night.  It’s gone.  And so Williams was entirely right in calling him a ‘thief.’”

Marc Berman / New York Post

“They came to Queens to see Serena Williams make history. Instead, they saw Serena lose her mind again at the US Open – a flashback to her pre-motherhood days.  Instead, the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd saw the future of women’s tennis – and her name is Naomi Osaka, the 20-year-old 2018 US Open champion.

“The only thing Williams broke Saturday was her racket, then she broke  down on the court in epic fashion. With a history of sore-losing behavior, Serena lit up the chair umpire after a second code violation for smashing her racket that cost her a point to start the sixth game of the second set.

“ ‘You owe me an apology,’ an unhinged Serena bellowed at the umpire and relentlessly kept demanding one.

“Williams unleashed another cringe-worthy tirade after getting her serve broken.  On that changeover, Williams called umpire Carlos Ramos ‘a thief,’ adding ‘You stole a point from me.’

“All hell then broke loose. Ramos couldn’t take her harangue any longer and issued an extremely rare game penalty against Williams, putting her down 5-3.

“When Williams realized the massive penalty, she flipped out, all but sobbing. The fans booed – taking her side, not realizing the nasty words she had used.

“ ‘This is not fair, this is not fair,’ a teary-eyed Williams screamed, her voice quivering.  ‘Men do much worse. Because I’m a woman you’re going to take this away from me. To happen to me in this tournament every single time is not fair.’

“Williams was going to lose anyway – the final tally was 6,2, 6-4 – but this display on the 50th anniversary of the US Open was a shame. This was not behavior befitting of a role-model mother – her talk of fighting for women’s rights in the post-match press conference hitting the wrong note.

“It tarnished Williams’ first appearance at the Open since she became a mother, rekindled her more immature days when she warred with Open officials and linespeople and received her share of fines in past final appearances....

“(Serena’s) fans booed at the start of the championship trophy ceremony, perceiving Williams got robbed.  Others wondered why she is not an even bigger deal with 23 Grand Slam titles.  Maybe Saturday was why.  Her boorish acts on these big stages are unseemly. That’s not ‘fighting for women’s rights,’ as she claimed....

“Osaka, with her fluid ground strokes, was the fearless New Yorker not overwhelmed by the moment. Serena is the reason Osaka plays tennis.  Osaka’s father, Leonard Francois, was inspired by Richard Williams and his tennis family.

“The women’s game is flooded with parity but could use this new bright star who’s not Serena.

“Williams may eventually tie Margaret Court’s record of 24 if she gets her emotions together.

“Osaka has learned so much from Serena, but she should never try to emulate this side of the tennis legend.  Osaka was absolutely terrific and it shouldn’t be lost in Serena’s historic meltdown.”

Williams was fined $17,000 today for her three code violations.  Having earned over $2 million for being runner-up, me thinks she won’t cry over this...or throw a racquet.

But my opinion on this whole disgrace?  I agree with Sally Jenkins that Carlos Ramos is to blame.  However, Serena was an amazing jerk in her own right.  I had come to respect her for more than her ability following the 2009 meltdown, but now couldn’t care less what she does the rest of her career.

Go Naomi!

--Meanwhile, on the men’s side...Juan Martin del Potro qualified to compete in his first Grand Slam final in nine years Friday, after defending champion Rafael Nadal was forced to retire from their semi-final due to his knee problem.

3rd-seeded Del Potro, 29, was leading the 32-year-old, 17-time Grand Slam champion 7-6, 6-2, when Nadal quit due to the pain.

For the Argentinian Del Potro, it was his first win in four Grand Slam semi-finals since beating Roger Federer in 2009 at the Open.  He lost twice to Nadal at last year’s Open and Wimbledon in July.

Del Potro then faced off against Novak Djokovic in the final, Djokovic having beaten Japan’s Kei Nishikori in straight sets.

And Djokovic won in straight sets, his 14th Grand Slam title, tying him with Pete Sampras for third on the all-time list behind Federer (20) and Nadal (17).

MLB

--Playoff races....

NL West

Colorado 78-64
Los Angeles 78-65... 0.5
Arizona 76-67... 2.5

NL Wild Card

Milwaukee 82-62... +2.5
St. Louis 79-64... --
Los Angeles 78-65... 1
Arizona 76-67... 3
Philadelphia 74-68... 4.5

The Phillies were the major choke of the weekend, losing 2 of 3 to the Mets. The Mets even held out stud Jacob deGrom today due to the rainy weather, but the Mets won anyway, 6-4, behind a bag of donuts.

AL Wild Card

New York 89-54... +2.5
Oakland 87-57... –

It’s all about these two the rest of the way in both the New York and Bay areas...which one will host the wild-card game.

The Yankees took two of three from the Mariners in Seattle this weekend, to officially put Seattle’s hopes of a WC berth to bed.

Masahiro Tanaka threw eight scoreless in Friday night’s 4-0 win, and Tanaka, with a 2.65 ERA his last ten starts, is the near-lock to start the wild-card contest at this point.  Luis Severino, the supposed ace, has a 6.84 ERA his last 11 starts; advantage Tanaka.

Meanwhile, the A’s swept Texas this weekend and have won six of seven.

--I’ve been musing about Shohei Ohtani and his looming Tommy John surgery for the past few months and after I posted last time, the Angels announced the inevitable, that their two-way star would need it.

But as a sign of his greatness, while he will be off the mound all of 2019, he played the night the news broke and hit two home runs, and then on Friday he made more MLB history with his 19th home run of the season, which gave him the record for most homers by a Japanese-born rookie.

Ohtani said Friday he didn’t know if he’ll go through with the surgery, and that he planned to play out the season as the DH.  Since he bats left-handed, but throws right-handed, he said, “Swinging doesn’t affect my elbow in any way.”

What’s important for next season with the Angels and Ohtani is that Albert Pujols, who had season-ending knee surgery, the 4th time in 7 seasons he has undergone surgery on a knee or foot, will be limited in his appearances at first base in 2019, and the Angels still have him under contract for three seasons, $87 million remaining!  Pujols has to DH, a lot.  But they need Ohtani in the lineup.  If Pujols can’t play the field, someone else will as Ohtani DHs. Ergo, Pujols could become an $87 million bench player!  [If you were thinking, why can’t Ohtani play first...err, that’s because he would have to make throws.]

Ohtani was 1-for-3 today and finished the week with a batting average of .291, 19 homers and 53 RBIs in just 258 at-bats, with a .969 OPS.

--The Orioles lost their 100th game of the season on Friday, a 14-2 loss to the Rays.  It’s surprisingly just the third time in the franchise’s 64 years in Baltimore they’ve lost 100 (1988 and 1954 the others; the latter the first in Baltimore after moving from St. Louis).

Baltimore finishes the season against the Yankees, Red Sox and Astros, as they try to avoid the team record of 107 losses in the ’88 season. That year they started off 0-21.

They then lost two more, Saturday and Sunday, to Tampa Bay, Baltimore now 41-102.  That’s painful to type.

--The Mets have a very sticky situation with David Wright.  Wright played a total of 75 games between 2015 and 2016, and then sat out last season with his spinal stenosis, a condition that requires he literally spends hours preparing for a workout just to be able to get on the field.

Wright, now 35, has been earning $20 million a year since 2014, including this season, and is owed another $27 million for 2019 and 2020, combined ($15m and $12m).

He is claiming he can come back at the major league level before the season ends, but he looked like crap in some minor league rehab games in August, and with the minor league regular season over, he’s with the big club, management saying he’s not ready, though Saturday he homered in a simulated game.

The issue is the Mets are being reimbursed 75 percent of his salary through insurance, as long as he remains on the disabled list, and he is owed about $2.6 million the rest of the season as of this weekend.  If he was activated, the Mets have to pay the $2.6m, and won’t get the 75% back.  For a team in financial straits, all these years post-Madoff, it’s big.

The Mets don’t talk about the insurance issue, nor does Wright, but it’s about to come to a head if David insists he can play.

Wright is an all-time Met, a fan favorite in his prime, but I don’t blame management for feeling like it’s too late for 2018.  There is zero reason for him to get out there, save for personal pride.

--Poor White Sox fans.  They recently brought up their top prospect, perhaps the tops in all of baseball, pitcher Michael Kopech, and after four starts with the big club, three good, but the last one very bad, it was discovered he had injured his right elbow and was likely undergoing Tommy John surgery, out all of 2019.  Devastating.

--Detroit Tigers broadcasters Rod Allen and Mario Impemba were told to stay home for the rest of the season, after a fracas between the two following Tuesday’s road game against the White Sox.  This is really kind of unbelievable.  The Tigers said they “support our partners at Fox Sports Detroit in their decision” regarding the two.

When I first read of the altercation, the reports said the two just didn’t get along. Sounds incredibly stupid.  [I have an idea what happened, but I’ll keep my mouth shut.]

College Football

No big upsets...just a lot of major mismatches...FCS teams (or FBS facsimiles thereof) looking for a payday to help the overall athletic program and non-revenue sports, and top FBS programs looking to fatten up before their tough conference schedules begin.

So we had No. 1 Alabama 57, Arkansas State 7 (Sun Belt Conference), 40-0 halftime lead for the Tide.

7 Auburn blasted Alabama State 63-9, and 22 Miami annihilated Savannah State 77-0.

But there were a few good matchups.

2 Clemson went on the road for a tough battle against Texas A&M and eked out a 28-26 win when the Tigers denied a two-point conversion in the final minute that would have tied it up and sent the game into overtime.  Clemson survived a superb performance by Aggie quarterback Kellen Mond, 23/40, 430, 3-0.

3 Georgia manhandled 24 South Carolina 41-17.

4 Ohio State destroyed hapless Rutgers 52-3, as Buckeye quarterback Dwayne Haskins was 20/23, 233, 4-0, and then his backup, freshman Tate Martell, was a perfect 10/10, 121, 1-0, while adding 95 yards on the ground and a TD.  Ohio State outgained Rutgers 579-134.

Imagine, this is a Rutgers team that in November faces, in order, Wisconsin, Michigan, Penn State and Michigan State.  The Scarlet Knights will be crying for their mothers by the time that run is over.

Ohio State, without coach Urban Meyer on the sidelines for one more game, does have an interesting test next week at 16 TCU, which easily handled Paul P.’s  SMU Mustangs 42-12 on Friday night.  [Sorry, Paul.]

5 Wisconsin beat New Mexico 45-14 as Heisman Trophy candidate Jonathan Taylor rushed for 253 yards and three touchdowns.

And 6 Oklahoma had no problem with visiting UCLA, 49-21, in a game that wasn’t even that close.  Quarterback Kyler Murray, headed to the Oakland A’s next year, but a distinct Heisman candidate in this his only season at the helm of the Sooners, passed for 306 and three scores, while rushing for 69 yards and two more TDs.

8 Notre Dame was up 24-6 over heavy underdog Ball State after three quarters and then held on for an incredibly unimpressive 24-18 win over the Cardinals.  The Fighting Irish should drop out of the top ten after this one.

But for Ball State supporters, congratulations!  They demolished a spread that had Notre Dame 34 ½-point favorites.  And at the end of the day....

In other contests of note...

10 Stanford had an important 17-3 win over 17 USC, as the Trojans’ freshman quarterback, JT Daniels, was exposed as just that, a freshman, going 16/34, 215, 0-2, while for the Cardinal, Bryce Love shook off his poor opening week effort to rush for 136 yards and a score Saturday.

No. 13 Penn State blasted Pitt, 51-6.

15 Michigan State took a 13-3 lead into the fourth quarter at Arizona State, but the Sun Devils pulled off the upset, 16-13, on a 28-yard field goal by Brandon Ruiz as time expired.

18 Mississippi State had an important road win at Kansas State, 31-10.  It was the first road victory over a Power Five opponent for the Bulldogs since Sept. 16, 1995, when they beat Baylor.  Kind of staggering.

20 Boise State destroyed visiting UConn, 62-7, the Broncos gaining a school-record 818 yards, including 514 in the first half.  Eegads!

And Kentucky upset 25 Florida in Gainesville, 27-16...big win for the Wildcats, and the first win for Kentucky against Florida since 1986.  Kentucky hadn’t won in Gainesville since 1979.

In my focus non-Top 25 game of the week, a big win for Duke at Northwestern, 21-7, as underrated quarterback Daniel Jones of Duke was an efficient 16/22, 192, 3-0.  But he left the game late with a shoulder injury, an injured clavicle, and this could result in a lengthy absence.  Not good for the Blue Devils’ season.

Colorado spoiled Scott Frost’s debut at Nebraska, 33-28, despite a terrific performance from Cornhusker QB Adrian Martinez. CU’s own quarterback, Steven Montez, had a better effort, 33/50, 351, 3-0.  The Buffaloes are solid.  Not an embarrassing loss for Nebraska.

Finally, Wake Forest improved to 2-0 with a 51-20 win over FCS Towson State. Towson’s performance was not that bad, aided in great part by a grad transfer from Rutgers, quarterback Tom Flacco, the younger brother of Joe, who looked real good, throwing for 345 yards and three touchdowns.

But for the Deacs the story was receiver/returner Greg Dortch, who had punt returns of 60 and 70 yards for scores, and caught seven passes for 94 yards and another TD. Dortch had 310 all-purpose yards, including kick returns.  As Ronald Reagan would have said of the budding superstar, turning to Nancy during breakfast, ‘Not bad, not bad at all.’

Up next for Wake is nothing less than the entire season...the Deacs hosting Boston College, who I think is the real sleeper team in the country this season.  [B.C. beat Holy Cross 62-14 Saturday.]  Wake-B.C. is Thursday night...short week of preparation for both.

However...Hurricane Florence will have a say in whether this game is even played. B.C. alum Steve D. and I have our traditional Ferraro’s of Westfield lunch bet on the contest (I just cashed in this past week on our Wake-B.C. baseball bet) and he’s recommending the game be moved to Beantown, which makes sense...until the storm tracks further north.

NFL

Opening week....

And for the Giants, some would say a continuation of last season, even if there is a total change in management and the coaching staff, but I’d tell Giants fans, don’t fret.

New York lost to an obviously very good Jacksonville team today at MetLife Stadium, 20-15, but Saquon Barkley ripped off a 68-yard touchdown run (18-106-1 on the ground overall), and Odell Beckham Jr. had 11 receptions for 111 yards.  It’s just that Eli Manning was subpar, 23/37, 224, 0-1, 67.9 passer rating, and the Jaguars have a great defense.

Yes, the Giants have a very difficult schedule, but they’ll be in the playoff hunt.  It’s the Bar Chat Guarantee!

Cleveland broke its 17-game losing streak, though it was with a surprising 21-21 tie with Pittsburgh.  The Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger accounted for five of Pittsburgh’s six turnovers (yuck), three interceptions and two fumbles, and even though Cleveland’s Tyrod Taylor sucked, 15/40, 197, 1-1, 51.8 (but 8 carries for 77 yards and a score), the Brownies got the draw, as they would say across the pond...both kickers missing critical field goals in overtime.

For the Steelers, playing without Le’Veon Bell, who continues his contentious holdout, James Conner filled in more than ably, 31 carries for 135 yards and two TDs, plus 5 receptions for 57 more.

Cleveland fan ‘Trader George’ nonetheless was partying mightily Sunday night with Schaeffers and Stouffer’s pizza (on sale 2 for $5 at the local ACME, which I always alert him to, this being big at the StocksandNews compound as well).

San Francisco’s Jimmy Garoppolo finally lost after winning his first seven career starts, 24-16 at Minnesota, Garoppolo a poor 15/33, 261, 1-3, while in his first start as a Viking, Kirk Cousins was 20/36, 244, 2-0.

DeShaun Watson returned for Houston, going 17/34, 176, 1-1, which didn’t get it done as the Texans fell at New England, 27-20, Tom Brady 26/39, 277, 3-1...Rob Gronkowski having a monster day, 7 receptions for 123 yards and a score.

Tampa Bay and backup QB Ryan Fitzpatrick upset New Orleans on the road, 48-40, with FitzMagic, subbing for the suspended Jameis Winston, pitching a perfect game in terms of QB rating, 21/28, 417, 4-0, 156.3.  In defeat, Drew Brees was almost flawless himself, 37/45, 439, 3-0, 129.5.

For the Bucs, DeShaun Jackson and Mike Evans combined for a spectacular 12-293-3.

The Ravens destroyed the Bills, with Baltimore’s defense holding rookie Josh Allen and Nathan Peterman to a beyond pathetic 11/33, 70, 0-2, 17.1 rating!  As Donald Trump would opine, “They said it could never happen!”

And then we had Chiefs-Chargers.  Poor Philip Rivers.  The San Diego great was 34/51, 424, 3-1, 103.7, but he had at least five big drops that I saw, while Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, replacing longtime starter Alex Smith, now with Washington, was 15/27, 256, 4-0, 127.5.

But the story was the Chiefs’ Tyreek Hill, who had 7 receptions for 169 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus a 91-yard punt return for a score.  The guy is fun to watch.

As for Alex Smith, all he did in his first start with Washington is lead them to a 24-6 win at Arizona; Smith a cool 21/30, 255, 2-0, 118.1, while newly-signed Adrian Peterson had 96 yards rushing and another 70 on just two receptions.  Great start for the ‘Skins.

--Ratings for Thursday’s NFL season opener, Eagles-Falcons, fell 8 percent from last year’s opener – to their lowest level in a decade.

The audience for last year’s opener was down 19 percent over 2016.

To be fair, the “Thursday Night Football” telecast was delayed 45 minutes due to severe weather in Philadelphia and I sure lost interest, knowing I wasn’t going to be staying up late to watch to begin with so why invest at all in it?  It really isn’t a fair comparison.  A better one will be next time.

It also needs to be noted that non-sports network programming has been declining at a faster rate than the NFL.

The Eagles beat the Falcons, by the way, 18-12, in a sloppy, mistake-filled game that featured 26 penalties and came down to an incomplete pass from Matt Ryan to Julio Jones in the corner of the end zone, Jones clearly out of bounds.

Golf Balls

--Sunday’s final round of the BMW Championship at Newtown Square, Pa., was postponed by rain until Monday, though tomorrow’s forecast is far from ideal.  The Tour announced today, however, that as long as there is some play Monday, if necessary they will finish on Tuesday, because this one is important...cutting the field from 70 to the final 30 for the Tour Championship.

That said, 54-hole leader Justin Rose could be declared the winner and the current top 30 in projected points would move on to Atlanta in two weeks.

As it stands right now, Keegan Bradley would take the 30th spot for East Lake and Jordan Spieth would miss out at 31.

If the final round is canceled and the results after 54 holes stand, it would be just the second time in 11 years of the FedExCup playoffs that this has occurred.

--As for the Ryder Cup, captain Jim Furyk was slated to make his decision on his fourth captain’s pick Monday morning, so not sure how this will play out.  The favorite, Tony Finau, didn’t hurt himself...T-15 thus far through three rounds.

Xander Schauffele is just a stroke behind Rose, but even if he wins, I don’t see Furyk taking him over the amazingly consistent Finau.

Meanwhile, for the Europeans, captain Thomas Bjorn chose four veterans to fill out his squad...Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson and Ian Poulter.

I said for weeks, no way Garcia is tabbed. He has played like crap this summer (and has missed the cut in the last five majors).  He doesn’t deserve it.

But Bjorn fell back on the fact that of his eight automatic qualifiers – Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Alex Noren, Justin Rose, Thorbjorn Olesen, Francesco Molinari and Tyrrell Hatton, five are rookies (Rahm, Fleetwood, Olesen, Noren and Hatton).

Yeah, I get it, but the guy who really got screwed was Rafa Cabrera-Bello, who has played great of late, and did well in the last Ryder Cup!  [2-0-1...including winning his singles match]

One past Euro skipper told John Huggan of Golf World, anonymously, “The rookie thing is such BS, it’s unbelievable.  I wanted the guy who was enthusiastic, versus an old veteran who couldn’t care less. I always thought that a young kid – rookie or not – ready to play was always going to perform better than an older guy.”

The facts bear this out.  There has been literally no significant difference in how rookie captain’s picks have performed vs. veterans of Ryder Cup competition.  But Cabrera-Bello isn’t even a rookie.  If I were him, I’d sue.  [Never liked the taciturn Thomas Bjorn, either.]

Stuff

--The Premier League was off this weekend.

--NASCAR’s last regular season race at the Brickyard was postponed by rain until Monday.

--Wake Forest’s Men’s soccer team is ranked #1 in the country.

--Jeffrey Gettleman and Hari Kumar / New York Times

“The first victim was an older woman, discovered face down in a cotton field with huge claw marks dug into her back.  The next was an older male farmer, his left leg completely torn off.

“The killings have gone on for more than two years, sowing panic in the hills around Pandharkawada, a town in central India. In mid-August, the mauled body of Vaghuji Kanadhari Raut, a threadbare cattle herder, was found near a rural highway. He was victim No. 12.

“DNA tests, camera traps, numerous spottings and pugmarks – tiger footprints – have pinned at least 13 human killings on a single, 5-year-old tigress that seems to have developed a taste for human flesh and has evaded capture several times.

“At night, young men in the nearby villages carry torches and bamboo sticks and go on patrol.  They have roughed up forest guards, furious that the authorities can’t stop the killings.

“Experts say it’s extremely unusual for a single tiger to have attacked this many people.  India’s critically endangered tiger population is soaring [Ed. Yippee!!!], a success for conservation policies, but the animals are being crowded out in a competition with humans for territory.

“Forest rangers are now gearing up for a complex military-style operation to deploy sharpshooters with tranquilizer guns on the backs of half a dozen elephants to surround the tiger, capture her and send her to a zoo.

“But the elephants have yet to arrive.”

It isn’t legal to shoot the tiger outright, though many want this done.  A wildlife activist seeking to block such an order has taken it all the way to India’s Supreme Court, which is expected to rule shortly.

Meanwhile, the tiger population has grown from 1,400 in 2006 to an estimated 2,500 today – more than half of the world’s approximately 4,000 tigers.

The top three on the All-Species List thus remains unchanged.

1.Dog
2. Elephant
3. Tiger

Separately, Pandharkawada has been lopped off my bucket list.

--From the Irish Independent: “The wife and three-year-old son of a British scientist living in South Africa are in critical condition in Johannesburg hospital after being attacked by a giraffe near their home.

“Dr. Sam Williams, a 36-year-old UK resident, was returning from an evening run in Blyde Wildlife Estate, where the family lives, when he saw his wife Katy and their son being attacked by a female giraffe,” who it is believed was protecting her calf and saw the two as threats.

The victims sustained serious injuries and were listed in critical but stable condition.

But what was Dr. Williams doing jogging in a park with clearly lots of wild animals?

As for ‘Giraffe’, No. 32 on the ASL, he has been put on probation for misidentifying threats.  The ASL Supreme Council in Kazakhstan could levy further penalties as warranted.

--We note the passing of actor Burt Reynolds, 82.  Who didn’t like this man?  In terms of popularity, in my lifetime he’s just below Paul Newman, Jimmy Stewart and Clint Eastwood.

Reynolds was the No. 1 box office draw from 1978-82, but it was his star turn in 1972’s “Deliverance,” one of my top five or six movies of all time, that I’ll remember him for.

Reynolds delighted audiences from car-crash comedies like “Smokey and the Bandit,” to romances (“Starting Over”), to the hit television series “Evening Shade.”  Save for “Deliverance,” he mostly played a good-hearted good ol’ boy seemingly not that different from his off-screen self.

Reynolds had more than his share of brushes with death, though, as he liked to do his own stunts.  His jaw was shattered, accidentally, in a fight scene, which left him addicted to prescription medication that led to false whispers he was dying of AIDS as he physically shriveled up. 

As Ralph Blumenthal wrote in the New York Times:

“Fellow actors praised Mr. Reynolds as an exacting artist, who worked hard at his craft and fought to overcome many demons, including a volatile temperament. But he himself projected an air of insouciance and professed not to take his career too seriously. He told The New York Times in 1978, ‘I think I’m the only movie star who’s a movie star in spite of his pictures, not because of them; I’ve had some real turkeys.’”

Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. was born in Lansing, Mich., on Feb. 11, 1936, and grew up in Riviera Beach, Fla., where his father was police chief.  Although young Burt acted in high school plays, his passion was football and he was a good enough running back to be offered a scholarship to Florida State, where his career ended after a serious car crash (compounding an earlier knee injury).

He turned to acting and worked his way up through the ranks, including Broadway.  Because he was one-quarter Cherokee, he was often portrayed to play Indians, or “half-Indians” as was the case for a character of his on “Gunsmoke,” his most high-profile role, early 1960s.

But his career didn’t take off until he began making regular appearances on the talk-show circuit in the early 1970s, drawing laughs from Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin and the others.  He was a terrific guest...very funny, self-effacing.

One TV host captivated by Reynolds’ charm was the singer Dinah Shore, who had her own show.  Boy, it was a big deal when these two hooked up, she being almost 20 years his senior. That was 1972 when they became inseparable for a spell, the same year as “Deliverance.”

But Reynolds used his star turn in the picture to do what he claimed later was “really stupid,” posing as a centerfold in an issue of Cosmopolitan.  For you younger folk, you just can’t imagine how big a deal this was.  It was a sensation, but it made it harder for Hollywood to take Reynolds seriously.  “I don’t know what I was thinking,” Reynolds said in 2016.  “I really wish I hadn’t done that.”

But he still got roles in the terrific film “The Longest Yard,” and Dan Jenkins’ “Semi-Tough,” as Reynolds got to revive his college gridiron dreams.

And then came the wildly successful “Smokey and the Bandit,” which among other things ignited a long-running romance with Sally Field.  He later called her “the love of my life,” though the relationship only lasted a few years.

Burt Reynolds was a mega-star during this time.  But it was in the filming of 1984’s “City Heat,” with Clint Eastwood, that a stuntman clobbered Reynolds with a heavy chair that was supposed to be a breakaway balsa wood prop.  It shattered his jaw and he suffered all kinds of serious medical problems, that left him addicted and a physical wreck, leading to the unfounded AIDS rumors.

It didn’t help Reynolds was having serious financial problems, too, but he eventually rebounded for the television series “Evening Shade,” which had a successful four-season run.

Looking back on his life, Reynolds expressed regret over some of the roles he didn’t get, but in the end, he concluded: “I may not be the best actor in the world, but I’m the best Burt Reynolds in the world.”

I love that.  RIP, Mr. Reynolds.  You were a true American original, leaving us with some great memories.

Top 3 songs for the week 9/6/69:  #1 “Honky Tonk Women” (The Rolling Stones)  #2 “A Boy Named Sue” (Johnny Cash)  #3 “Sugar, Sugar” (The Archies)...and...#4 “Green River” (Creedence Clearwater Revival)  #5 “Get Together” (The Youngbloods)  #6 “Put A Little Love In Your Heart” (Jackie DeShannon)  #7 “Lay Lady Lay” (Bob Dylan...his best...in my book...)   #8 “Easy To Be Hard” (Three Dog Night....great one...)  #9 “Sweet Caroline” (Neil Diamond)  #10 “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” (Tom Jones...strong back end...grade ‘B’...)

College Football Coaching Quiz: Seven D-I coaches with 250 career wins.

[Not adjusted for any B.S. sanctions levied by the NCAA, national titles taken away, seasons wiped out, etc.]

Joe Paterno 409
Bobby Bowden 357
Bear Bryant 323
Pop Warner 311
Amos Alonzo Stagg 282
LaVell Edwards 257 [gets lost in the conversation of great coaches; 1972-2000 at BYU, went to 17 straight bowl games at one point...national champs in 1984]
Tom Osborne 255

Lou Holtz 249

Next Bar Chat, Thursday.  I’ll have a few words on the passing of comedian Will Jordan and actor Bill Daily.  Didn’t have time today.