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Bar Chat

04/20/2020

The Future of College Sports

[Posted Sunday p.m.]

NFL Draft Quiz: 1) Since 2000, name the eight schools in the triple digits in terms of draftees. 2) Name the only three schools with 30 or more first-round picks in that time period.  Answers below.

NBA

Friday night, Commissioner Adam Silver said there is too much “uncertainty” to even give a date on when a decision can be made on restarting the season.

“The sense of our Board was that the safety, health, and well-being of our players, coaches, fans, everyone involved in our game, is paramount,” Silver said following the spring Board of Governors meeting that was held remotely.  “Based on the reports we have gotten from various outside officials, current public health officials, we are not in a position to make any decisions, and it’s unclear when we will be.”

Dr. David Ho of Columbia University, one of the nation’s leading disease specialists, delivered a video presentation during the meeting and then took questions from the owners.

“One takeaway was, maybe not surprising, but he reaffirmed that there’s still enormous amounts of this virus yet to be learned,” Silver said.

Guest speaker Bob Iger, the former Disney CEO, told the owners: “It’s about the data, not the date.”

Silver said Ho’s presentation “reaffirmed we all have to accept we’re dealing with incomplete facts.”

“This is bigger than our sport,” Silver added.  “There’s too much uncertainty to say precisely how we move forward.  There’s too much unknown to set a timeline.”

Sources told the New York Post a best-case scenario would be a July startup with a 5-to-7 game regular-season finish followed by a scaled-down 16-team, one-site playoff tournament.

Silver said he’s willing to delay the start of next season and still sees “an opportunity to play regular-season games.”

Las Vegas appears the favorite to host a playoff tournament.

Asked what sort of data is most crucial, Silver said, “We’re looking for the number of new infections to come down.  We’re looking for the availability of testing on a large scale. We’re looking at the path that we’re on for potentially a vaccine.  We’re looking at antiviral.”

If the season is canceled, player salaries automatically are reduced by a set percentage under the “force majeure” clause that includes pandemics.

The league and union agreed to start a method of reducing player compensation already by deducting 25 percent of player paychecks starting May 15.  Players get paid twice a month into late June.

--I will be tuning in to the first part of ESPN’s 10-hour documentary, “The Last Dance,” chronicling the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls, the last season, and last of six titles for Michael Jordan before he retired for three seasons.

Back then, Adam Silver was the head of NBA Entertainment, and the NBA had to convince Bulls ownership, coach Phil Jackson and Jordan to allow access to the team for a full year, as everyone believed it was going to be the last for Jordan and the surrounding cast.

Then-NBA Commissioner David Stern approved of the idea and as Silver told USA TODAY in a story about how the project came together:

“We all understood at the time how special this was.  We were the official archivist of the league.  If this wasn’t made into a documentary or finished product, the raw elements were part of a critical part of our history and we needed to have them in our library. The decision was made almost entirely on gut.  There were no spreadsheets of financial models.”

Silver first went to Bulls chairman and owner Jerry Reinsdorf agreed, but as Silver recalled, Reinsdorf said, “you’ve got to talk to Phil and Michael.  It’s a team decision.  It’s not my decision.”

Then Silver had to convince Jackson, of whom Steve Kerr said, “For Phil Jackson, the locker room space with the team was always sacred.  So it was kind of a surprise at the time when we were alerted to what was happening.”

Jackson had stipulations.

“Phil said yes, with the understanding that Andy (Thompson) and his crew could be a fly on the wall, but if he ever needed them to step out, they would,” Silver said.

Then Silver approached Jordan, getting an assist from (Ahmad) Rashad, who at the time was the co-host of the NBA’s “Inside Stuff” program.

[For you younger folk, back during this time, Rashad was everywhere, and seemingly every star athlete’s, from all sports, best friend and confidant.]

“It was well known that Ahmad had a strong personal relationship with Michael.  I knew Michael a bit through NBA Entertainment, but I think Ahmad essentially vouched for me,” Silver said.

But it wasn’t easy.  Tension was high knowing it was the final season for this iteration of the Bulls, a dynasty.

Andy Thompson recalled the first road trip with the Bulls.

“We weren’t allowed to shoot the practice, and we were let in with the media,” Thompson said.   “We walked in with the crew and my sound man went straight up to Michael and started following him, and he turned and yelled at the camera and yelled at Phil, ‘These guys ain’t (expletive) following me like this the whole season, are they?’  I was like, ‘Here we go.’”

But Thompson and his crew earned the players’ trust.  And by the championship parade, the Bulls appreciated the film crew documenting the season.

The thing is they ended up with 500 hours of film.  [Jeff Zillgitt / USA TODAY]

But the film sat in Secaucus, N.J., for nearly 20 years and finally, after the Cleveland Cavaliers’ championship parade in 2016, at a scheduled meeting in Charlotte, N.C., Jordan listened to a pitch from producer Mike Tollin, who laid out his plans for an eight-part documentary.  Jordan said, “Let’s do it.”

The first two episodes of what became a 10-parter are tonight.  Originally, the plan was to do this during the NBA playoffs, but for obvious reasons it was moved up.

--Sabrina Ionescu emerged as both a generational talent and a face of women’s basketball during her college career at Oregon.

So it was a no-brainer that the New York Liberty made the easy decision Friday night by selecting Ionescu with the first-overall pick of the WNBA Draft.

“The fact that I’ll be able to be in Brooklyn and have a platform and a voice in kind of the mecca of the world is going to be amazing,” Ionescu said on a conference call.  “I’m just excited for that opportunity, having done it in Eugene and changing the way people view women’s sports there.  Just excited to take that with me to Brooklyn and hopefully use it for a bigger good in that bigger marketplace.”

The 5-foot-11 superstar finished her four-year career with 2,562 points, 1,091 assists and 1,040 rebounds – the first-ever player to surpass 2,000 points, 1,000 assists and 1,000 rebounds – while setting a new standard with 26 career triple-doubles.

If the WNBA is to ever have a shot at truly capturing America’s fancy, Ionescu is the one who can lead the way.  We wish her luck.  I might actually tune in.

The Future of College Sports

--Barry Svrluga / Washington Post

“The regularly scheduled start of the college football season is still some 4 ½ months off, and it’s impossible to say whether that will happen.  Uncertainty defines life right now, and at some level wondering whether college kids can play football as planned seems insignificant, even inappropriate, particularly before we know when college kids will be allowed back on campus.

“The resumption of college sports is important enough, though, that Vice President Pence held a conference call with its major stakeholders Wednesday.  There are truths about college football that would have existed had the novel coronavirus pandemic not crippled the world.  But those truths, with the season threatened, are laid bare at the moment.  College athletics exist in the most fragile ecosystem.  And the entire enterprise depends on football.

“Not just football being played. But football being played in packed stadiums.

“ ‘If you don’t have a season,’ Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith told reporters last week, ‘do the math on that.’

“Where college sports are concerned, there is so much math to be done.  If Major League Baseball can’t play this summer and fall, it impacts both players and owners financially, for sure.  But if college football can’t be played this fall, it affects not the wallets of the players but the mere existence of an opportunity for gymnasts and lacrosse players, wrestlers and runners.  Athletic departments across the Power Five conferences are built on the revenue football rakes in.  If that revenue evaporates – or even shrinks – something will give.

“Here’s an idea: Why not start with the salaries of coaches?

“First, the math Smith spoke of last week.  The Buckeyes annually host seven games at Ohio Stadium – capacity 104,944 – because they need the revenue from seven home games at Ohio Stadium.  Playing without fans, Smith said, would cost the Buckeyes between $5 million and $7 million per game.  If seven games go away, then – poof – there goes somewhere between $35 million and $49 million – potentially nearly a quarter of the $210 million in expenses the department needed to keep 36 sports afloat last year.

“And that doesn’t include the revenue football brings in through television broadcasts.  Yes, maybe some money would be salvaged if games could be played in empty stadiums.  Smith said on the conference call with reporters: ‘If we don’t have fans in the stands, we’ve determined it’s not safe for them in a gathering environment.  Why would it be safe for the players?’  Given the above math, there are clearly other factors at work as well….

“The NBA or the NHL could lose this year’s playoffs and start again next year, and there would be an economic impact, for sure.  But if college football punts an entire season, the infrastructure that supports so many of the 170,000 Division I athletes would all but collapse….

“CEOs across the country are taking pay cuts as both a show of goodwill and a cost-saving measure during these economically crippling times. The CEO of Columbia sportswear reduced his salary from $3 million to $10,000.  The heads of most major airlines have declined salaries at least through June – some beyond that. The CEO of Marriott, the world’s largest hotel chain, won’t have a salary through the end of this year.

“So if athletic directors are looking to cut costs in a time when people nationally are, almost invariably, cutting costs, couldn’t they look at themselves – and, more impactfully, their football coaches?

“Take Ohio State as an example. The Buckeyes paid their assistant coaches a total of $7.245 million in 2019, according to data compiled by USA TODAY.  Head coach Ryan Day is due $5.4 million this year. Five members of Day’s staff make at least $900,000 each.

“Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney made more than $9.3 million last year, according to USA TODAY, just one of 10 coaches who made more than $6 million.  Thirty-one head coaches made at least $4 million, and 31 schools pay their staffs of 10 assistants at least $4 million.  If revenue trends downward – whether because seasons are shortened or because fans are reluctant to pack closely into stadiums – it seems clear where some cash could be saved.  After all, $9.3 million goes a long way in Clemson, S.C.  Ol’ Dabo could get by on, say, $4 million, couldn’t he?”

MLB

The original deal reached by MLB and the Players Association called for players to be paid their 2020 salaries prorated – so if a player was to make $10 million and rather than 162 games, 81 were played, the player would get $5 million.  But an MLB spokesman said the other day, “Both parties understood that the deal was premised on playing in stadiums with fans, and the agreement makes that clear.”  A union official said, “We have an agreement that already says how players get paid in a partial season.”

Yup, we have a problem.  And of course agent Scott Boras is in the middle of it, saying, “MLB was fully aware of all the factors 45 days ago (when the deal was negotiated).  In their deal with players, what concessions they wanted, why didn’t they seek them when making this deal?  They got what they requested.  Why are they saying now they need to reopen the deal?  What kind of negotiation is that?

“If a player hits 15 homers in April, he doesn’t ask for a new contract – and in that case conditions have changed.  In this case, there are no different conditions.  They knew there was a probability of not having fans in the ballpark.  There is nothing new here.  They are trying to make the player the enemy, the evil.  The players negotiated in good faith.”

MLB points to a part of the agreement that details what would motivate the reopening of the game: “The Commissioner determines, after consultation with recognized medical experts and the Players Association, that it does not pose an unreasonable health and safety risk to players, staff, or spectators to stage games in front of fans in each of the 30 Clubs’ home ballparks; provided that, the Office of the Commissioner and Players Association will discuss in good faith the economic feasibility of playing games in the absence of spectators or at appropriate substitute neutral sites.”

Their interpretation: It states the conditions to open in standard ballparks with fans, and without that a need to negotiate further “in good faith.”

Boras said: “The key point is that in good faith we reached an agreement with the same facts we have today.”

--Meanwhile, there is still no date for the MLB Draft, though as I’ve written before, it is more than likely being slashed from 40 rounds to just five, an 87.5% reduction in players.  It is “going to crush the dreams of kids,” as San Diego-based agent Lonnie Murray told USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale. 

“The opportunity is lost now.  You had kids excited about what was supposed to be a pivotal moment in their life, getting drafted, and now that’s gone.

“And you know who that hurts the most?  All of the kids who play in underserved communities, especially Black and Latino players.”

Nightengale:

“A year ago, there were only 17 African-American and seven Latino high-school players drafted in the first five rounds, and only 12 from Division I colleges.  If the draft is limited to just five rounds, and undrafted players can sign for a maximum of $20,000, where do those kids go?  There were 72 African-American and Latino kids from Division I schools drafted after the fifth round a year ago that suddenly could disappear.

“Sure, college is an option, but what if you can’t afford it?  What are your chances of landing one of the 11.7 baseball scholarship stipulated by the NCAA?  (Football Bowl Subdivision schools are permitted 95 scholarships.)

“You think those kids will still stick to baseball, or if they continue to play, will they even be noticed?

“ ‘My biggest fear with the draft is that you now go back to the trend,’ Murray said.  ‘You’re going back to families that had the money to send their kids to college, or the kids with two-parent households that are able to afford to send their son to all of the showcase events.

“ ‘A large number of kids in undeserved, unrepresented communities aren’t going to be afforded the same opportunity. Where is that door for them to walk through?  Where is the pathway to play?

“ ‘They’re going to be left behind, and that’s just wrong.’”

Add this to the list of depressing developments in the sports world.

As Bob Nightengale points out, Major League Baseball has tried very hard to reverse the trend of the decline of African-American players, just 7.7% on last year’s opening-day rosters and injured lists, spending $millions in urban academies, RBI programs, showcase events, and diversity and fellowship programs.

But now MLB is “jeopardizing all of the inroads they have made in the inner-city communities.”

Golf Balls

--The PGA Tour is bound and determined to open up June 11-14 at Colonial CC, Fort Worth, Texas, for the Charles Schwab Challenge, with the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head Island, S.C., the following week.

It’s an aggressive schedule the rest of the way, with an event each week through Dec. 3-6 (except the last week in November), highlighted by:

Aug. 6-9…PGA Championship, TPC Harding Park, San Francisco, Calif.
Sept. 4-7…Tour Championship, East Lake GC, Atlanta, Ga.
Sept. 17-20…U.S. Open, Winged Foot GC, Mamaroneck, N.Y.
Sept. 25-27…Ryder Cup, Whistling Straits, Kohler, Wis.
Nov. 12-15…Masters Tournament, Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Ga.

Of course the initial events, at least, will be held without spectators.  Fingers crossed.

--According to the National Golf Foundation, as of the week ending April 12, approximately 48% of golf courses are currently open nationwide, an estimate that includes both in-season regions where facilities have temporarily suspended golf operations due to the coronavirus and a few northernmost parts of the U.S. where play has not yet begun due to weather.

Many of the courses that are closed are in New York and New Jersey, but New York is going to begin loosening restrictions, at last word.

The majority of courses in California remain closed, but 85% of courses are open in Oregon.

--I wrote about the passing of Doug Sanders the other day, and then Phil W. passed on a story from John Feinstein I had missed.

Back when Feinstein was a student at Duke, writing for the school newspaper, he received a credential for the Greater Greensboro Open and as Feinstein writes in Golf Digest, he wanted to write two pieces – one on being at a professional golf tournament for the first time, and the second on Doug Sanders – “if he’d talk to me.”

“I walked the back nine with Sanders and, after he signed his scorecard, I nervously walked up and introduced myself.

“ ‘Student newspaper at Duke, huh?’ he said.  Then, before I could think of a clever response, he said, ‘Come on inside. I’ll buy you a beer and we’ll talk.’

“And so, we did.  I illegally sat at the bar (I was 19) with Sanders, and he regaled me with stories for a solid hour.  When I told him I was sure he was sick of being asked about St. Andrews (six years before), he laughed and said, ‘Not nearly as sick as I get when I think about missing that putt.’

“I spent an hour with Sanders that day and had enough material for three columns.  He explained to me that his phone-booth swing had come about because of a neck injury that made a fuller swing impossible.  My only complaint was, after the time in the bar I had to hang around the media room for an extra hour before I dared get behind the wheel of a car.”

Stuff

--The National Transportation Safety Board’s final report on the death of Hall of Famer Roy Halladay concluded the pitcher “was doing extreme acrobatics and had high levels of amphetamines in his system when he lost control of his small plane and nosedived into the Gulf of Mexico” on Nov. 7, 2017.

Halladay had amphetamine levels about 10 times therapeutic levels in his blood along with a high level of morphine and an antidepressant that can impair judgment as he performed high-pitch climbs and steep turns, sometimes within 5 feet of the water.

Halladay’s wife Brandy released a statement Thursday through the Phillies:

“Yesterday’s NTSB report on Roy’s accident was painful for our family, as it has caused us to relive the worst day of our lives.  It has reinforced what I have previously stated, that no one is perfect.  Most families struggle in some capacity and ours was no exception.  We respectfully ask that you not make assumptions or pass judgment.  Rather, we encourage you to hug your loved ones and appreciate having them in your lives.  As a family, we ask that you allow Roy to rest in peace.”

What a classy woman.  All of us sports fans will only remember what an amazing competitor “Doc” Halladay was.  And what a career…not just two Cy Young Awards, but seven times in the top five in the Cy Young vote.

--The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick agrees with me…it was outrageous that CBS fired Dan Fouts.

“Dan Fouts, who was sentenced by CBS to call many Jets telecasts, always passed the 1 p.m. NFL Sunday Wince Test.

“You know the Wince Test?  That’s when you find out who the announcers will be on the early games for CBS and Fox.  Too often, the likes of Daryl ‘Moose’ Johnston, ‘Hollerin’’ Kevin Harlan and Ronde Barber caused us conditioned winces before kickoff.

“We’d then prepare for that mournful dirge about the S.S. Minnow, ‘A three-hour tour.’

“But Fouts, often teamed with Ian Eagle, was never a problem and often was the solution. Never overly critical or given to drawing attention to himself, he’d still let us know what he was thinking.

“Late in the 2017 season, Fouts declared he was ‘flabbergasted’ by Jets coach Todd Bowles misuse, non-use and too-late use of timeouts – something Jets fans regularly agonized through to the next game.

“Rare would be the telecast when Fouts didn’t leave us with something worthwhile to consider.  I enjoyed Fouts’ work and can’t recall any reader/emailer who didn’t….

“So Dan Fouts, who never made it difficult to watch an NFL game, passes into the ‘discharged’ bin, another TV career ended with ‘Why?’ and another good question in search of a good answer.”

--Willie Davis, the Hall of Fame defensive end who played on five Green Bay Packer championship teams and anchored one of football’s greatest defensive alignments, died at the age of 85 from kidney failure.

Davis played in the NFL for 12 seasons, 10 with the Packers as part of the dynasty built by Coach Vince Lombardi.

Davis never missed a game, and at 6 feet 3 inches and 245 pounds, he was both a terrific pass rusher and tackler.

Packers guard Jerry Kramer recalled, “He hated to sit out even a play.”

Kramer wrote in “Distant Replay” (1985, with Dick Schaap):

“Once I was standing on the sidelines when Willie came out of the game with a dislocated finger.  I saw the bone sticking through the skin.  The trainer grabbed the finger, yanked the bone back in place, then taped the finger to the adjoining fingers.  Willie ran back to the game.”

Davis was only a 15th-round pick by the Browns out of Grambling College in 1956.  After two seasons with the Browns and Army service, he was traded to the Packers in 1960.

With the Packers he flourished at defensive left end, alongside fellow Hall of Famers Henry Jordan at tackle, linebackers Ray Nitschke and Dave Robinson, Herb Adderley at cornerback and Willie Wood at safety.

Davis’ Packers won the NFL championship in 1961, ’62 and ’65, and then the first two Super Bowls in 1967 and ’68.  [Richard Goldstein / New York Times]

--You can file this under “These Days It Really Doesn’t Matter,” but I just have to give you a further sense of the godawful shape the Wake Forest basketball program is in.

Chaundee Brown is a very solid player who has missed a lot of time his first three seasons due to injury, but he averaged 11.9 and 12.1 points per game the last two years, while becoming a solid rebounder.  He offered a glimmer of hope for the program for next season, if there is one, and it was hoped center Olivier Sarr would also return. 

But Brown announced he was entering the NBA draft process.  So if you just read that, you’d be like, Chaundee knows he has no hope of playing in the NBA next season and he’ll return for his senior year.  [Sarr, on the other hand, who is also testing the NBA waters, will play in the NBA at some point, but he desperately needs one more year in college to maximize his value and continue to fill out his frame.]

However, Brown added that if he decides to maintain his eligibility and returns to college, he plans to enter the transfer portal!  WTF!  Why?

Brown thus becomes the fifth player in the last four years to leave Wake before his senior season, none of them in the NBA.

But what an insult to the school and the coaching staff.

On the other hand, Chaundee Brown would make for a terrific sixth man at a powerhouse program and he’ll get more visibility.  The guy likely doesn’t have an NBA future, but he can carve out a very successful career overseas.

So if you have eligibility left, shoot a note to Danny Manning.  It still appears as if he’s coming back.

We suck. 

[If Sarr leaves, I’ll have to commit hari-kari…only Johnny Mac has my sword and it would probably be considered a ‘non-essential weapon’ these days and thus he couldn’t send it to me.]

--We note the passing of actor Brian Dennehy, one of my favorites.  He was 81.  His daughter said he died of natural causes, “not Covid-related.”

Dennehy was a fixture in many films in the 1980s and ‘90s, including “First Blood,” “Tommy Boy” and “Cocoon.”  He also played Chicago detective Jack Reed in five TV movies.

Dennehy then became an acclaimed stage performer, starring on Broadway in Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” in 2003 and Arthur Miller’s “Death of A Salesman” in 1999.  He won the Best Actor Tony Award for both.

Last year, he was interviewed by the New York Post’s Cindy Adams.

“Truth is I haven’t got that kind of public appeal anymore anyhow.  Most people think I’m dead 10 years.  I’m Irish.  Don’t smoke.  Maybe too much wine, but not like I used to, where I’d end up in strange company.  Now, I drink just enough to make it to my own comfortable bed.”

--Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal passed along the thoughts of a dog whose owner is suddenly home all the time.

“As America debates a return to work, it’s important not to rush.  We need to balance the economy against the extremely valid concerns about public health and protecting lives.

“And walks.  We need to think about all of the walks.

“And ball. We need to also chase the ball.  Lots and lots.

“Look: I’m a dog.  I’m not some public intellectual.  I’m a good, good dog, most of the time, but I just ate half of a baseball glove in the garage. I also knocked over a potted plant in the living room.  I’m sorry.  I’m a dog.  What do you want?

“The important thing is: Dogs want you to stay.  These past four weeks, they have been some of the greatest weeks of our lives.  You’re there in the morning.  You’re there in the evening.  You’re there at lunch.  It’s the best.

“And the walks…we’ve never been so fit in our lives! There’s the 8:30 a.m. walk, the 11:15 a.m. walk, the 1 p.m. walk, the 3 p.m. walk, the 7 p.m. walk, and, if we’re lucky, a 9:30 p.m. walk.

“Sometimes you throw the ball.  And then I get the ball and bring it back to you. And then you throw the ball again, and I bring it back again. And again. And again.  And again.  Bliss.

“I’m sure the cats are telling you they’ve had it.  Never trust a cat. They’re rude animals.  They don’t appreciate you.

“But dogs understand what you bring to the table.  We love having you at home.  Stay.  Stay forever.  We promise to be a good dog.  Or at least a pretty good dog.”

--There is a real crisis with zoos around the world.  With them being shut down, there’s no income and some species require tremendous amounts of food.

So a recent piece in the BBC highlighted the issue, with a zoo director in northern Germany admitting that some animals might soon have to be fed to others, if the zoo is to survive.

“We’ve listed the animals we’ll have to slaughter first,” Neumunster Zoo’s Verena Kaspari told Die Welt.

And you animals like seals and penguins that need big quantities of fresh fish daily.

Kaspari said, “If it come to it, I’ll have to euthanize animals, rather than let them starve.  At the worst, we would have to feed some of the animals to others.”

So add this to the ever-growing list of reasons to be depressed.

Which is why I’m watching Michael Jordan tonight.

--Finally, I thought the “One World: Together at Home” concert Saturday night to support healthcare workers (as well as the WHO’s efforts) was terrific and a much-needed break for many of us.

I have to single out Stevie Wonder, Keith Urban, and J-Lo, in particular, for their performances, and obviously Andrea Bocelli.

But I really loved The Stones…great job, Mick and Co.!

After the show, I watched CNN’s “The Color of Covid” and Van Jones and Don Lemon had Charles Barkley on.  Barkley was terrific, and had no problem making fun of himself and his weight issues, saying at one point, “People thought I drink a lot…because I did!”

He said these days he only drinks on Fridays and Saturdays.  I cannot say the same.

Top 3 songs for the week 4/24/71:  #1 “Joy To The World” (Three Dog Night)  #2 “What’s Going On” (Marvin Gaye…brilliant tune…)  #3 “Put Your Hand In The Hand” (Ocean)… and…#4 “Never Can Say Goodbye” (The Jackson 5…in their top 3…)  #5 “Another Day” (Paul McCartney) #6 “I Am…I Said” (Neil Diamond)  #7 “Just My Imagination” (The Temptations)  #8 “If” (Bread)  #9 “She’s A Lady” (Tom Jones)  #10 “Stay Awhile” (The Bells… #s 2, 4, 7 make this an ‘A-‘…)

NFL Draft Quiz Answers: 1) Eight schools in the triple digits for draftees since 2000: Ohio State (131), Alabama (118), Miami (FL) (115), LSU (112), USC (110…plus 30 cheerleaders)*, Florida (110), Florida State (108), Georgia (108).  2) Three schools with 30 or more first-round picks since 2000: Ohio State (31), Alabama (31), Miami (FL) (30).  FSU (24), USC (22), Florida (22) are the only other schools with 20.

*Yes, this was totally gratuitous, but a great friend of the site, Steve G., my former neighbor with the rainbow jumper, is holed up in Mexico, with the military making sure people stay inside, and the two of us still talk about Edy Williams and her stunt way, way back, opening up her fur coat on national television at a USC game.

Next Bar Chat, Thursday…probably sooner.

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