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Bar Chat

04/07/2025

It's Houston vs. Flordia, UConn women, Ovechkin....

Add-on posted very early Tuesday a.m.

Florida Wins Its Third National Title

In a defensive brawl, Florida prevailed over Houston, 65-63, overcoming a 12-point second half deficit and denying Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson his first, and the school’s first, national title.

Houston turned the ball over just four times in the first 36:35, and then gave it up five times the rest of the way, including three turnovers in the final minute.

But Houston had a chance to win it, or send the game into overtime, yet failed to get a shot off in the final 19 seconds.  And the final play will give Houston fans nightmares forever.

Florida’s great Walter Clayton Jr. got Houston’s Emanuel Sharp to stop in the middle of his motion as he tried to go up for the game-winning 3 in the final seconds.

Clyton ran at him, Sharp dropped the ball and, unable to pick it up lest he get called for traveling, watched it bounce there while the clock ticked to zero.

Clayton, scoreless in the first half, scored all 11 of his points in the final 15 minutes, including a 3-pointer and two three-point plays.  [He also had 5 assists and 7 assists in being named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player.]

“I’m just going through those last two possessions,” said Sampson.  “Incomprehensible in that situation, we couldn’t get a shot.  Gotta get a shot,” coach crediting Clayton for a great play, “but that’s why you got to shot fake and get in the paint.”

Gators coach Todd Golden, 39, became the youngest coach to win it all since N.C. State’s Jim Valvano in 1983.

NBA

--Jalen Brunson returned for the Knicks Sunday night, and he was rusty, but he played 34 minutes as the Knicks won their 50th (50-29), 112-98 over the Suns (35-43).  Once again, OG Anunoby was the offensive star, 32 points on 13 of 17 from the field, 6 of 8 from 3.  It was important that Miles McBride also returned, so New York has its full complement of guards back in the fold.

MLB

--The Mets (7-3) beat the Marlins (5-5) 2-0 Monday night at Citi Field as their incredible stretch of pitching to open the season continued.

The Metsies have an MLB-leading 1.72 ERA through the first ten games, and the bullpen’s ERA is down to 1.15.

--The Yankees (6-4) fell to the Tigers (6-4) in frigid Detroit Monday afternoon, 6-2.

--There had been rumors all weekend that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was going to sign a lucrative extension with the Blue Jays, and then late Sunday night the news broke it would be 14 years, $500 million.

The deal sets the record for largest extension in MLB history, surpassing Mike Trout’s $426.5 million extension with the Angels in 2019.

--In an ominous sign, the Dodgers placed Blake Snell on the injured list with left shoulder inflammation, Snell just two starts into the six-year, $182 million long-term deal he signed this winter.

--In College Baseball, latest Baseball America Top 25

1. Arkansas
2. Texas
3. LSU
4. Tennessee
5. Clemson
6. Georgia
7. Ole Miss
8. North Carolina
9. Auburn
10. Oregon State
11. Louisville
12. Wake Forest...up from 18
13. Florida State...down from 6 after Wake blitzed them 2 of 3

Deacs travel to Chapel Hill this weekend to face the Tar Heels...massive series.

NASCAR

--Denny Hamlin did it again, winning a second consecutive week, this time at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina...career win No. 56.  Hamlin beat William Byron down the stretch.

NHL

--The Rangers will be firing Coach Peter Laviolette at the end of the season, New York with another dismal effort, falling to the Lightning at MSG Monday, 5-1.

Stuff

--Actor Jay North died, aka “Dennis the Menace.”  He was 73.  His friend, writer and producer Laurie Jacobson revealed in a Facebook post the cause was cancer.

“As many of his fans know, he had a difficult journey in Hollywood and after...but he did not let it define his life,” Jacobson wrote.  “He had a heart as big as a mountain, loved his friends deeply.  He called us frequently and ended every conversation with ‘I love you with all my heart.’ And we loved him with all of ours.”

Born in Hollywood in August 1951, North got his start in television at the age of 6 when his mother Dorothy nee Cotton, who worked as a secretary at the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, arranged for him to appear on his favorite show, the local children’s series “Cartoon Express.”  Talent agent Hazel MacMillan spotted North and offered to represent him.

Working simultaneously as a child model and actor, North scored small roles on several NBC variety shows during the 1950s.  But his big break came in the summer of 1958 when Screen Gems held a nationwide casting call for a TV adaptation of cartoonist Hank Ketcham’s comic strip “Dennis the Menace.”

North landed the role of Dennis Mitchell in 1959, “Dennis the Menace” premiering on CBS in October 1959 and running for four seasons.  Despite the show’s success, North later revealed the emotional turbulence that colored his on-set experience, including his aunt – who served as his guardian when his mother was working – being physically and emotionally abusive.

Next Bar Chat, Sunday p.m....following The Masters, a tradition unlike any other...on CBS....

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[Posted early Sunday p.m. ...

brief Add-on up top by noon, Tues.]

Masters Golf Quiz: Name the eight to win at least three green jackets.  [Two won at least one of theirs in the 1940s.]  Answer below.

Men’s Final Four

--I have some good friends from high school who went to Duke and I don’t know how they slept at all Saturday night, because I stayed up watching the stunning loss to Houston, 70-67, and I couldn’t fall asleep for a while myself, just replaying the last eight minutes over and over again.

When you blow a 59-45 lead with 8:17 to play, getting a single field goal the rest of the way, that is a flat-out choke job.  Houston’s Kelvin Sampson also totally outcoaching Duke’s Jon Scheyer.  They showed Coach K in the stands with roughly 8 minutes to play and the CBS broadcasting crew commented on how they knew Krzyzewski was playing out what he would do in his brain, and one thing Coach K would have figured it out was how to inbound the ball under pressure.

Chuck Culpepper / Washington Post

“As something very much akin to all hell broke loose late Saturday night in the second national semifinal at a startled Alamodome, Houston pulled off arguably the steepest climb of its 11-season Kelvin Sampson era spent as a bastion of grit.  It steadily and painstakingly climbed out of a deficit of 59-45 with 8:17 left, 64-55 with 3:03 left and 67-61 with 32 seconds left, and it left a starry Duke team both ousted and shattered.”

In those last minutes, Duke had two massive unforced turnovers, missed free throws, and was outboxed in key situations.  Houston also benefited from a controversial over-the-back foul called on Cooper Flagg after Tyrese Proctor missed the front end of a one-and-one, Duke up 67-66.  J’Wan Roberts went to line and the 62% foul shooter calmly sank both for the lead.

But even still, Duke had the ball with 0:17 to play, down 68-67.  A play was called for Flagg (27 points) and it seemed like he panicked a bit.  He had plenty of time but came up short on his mid-range jumper at 0:08, L.J. Cryer was fouled, sank his free throws, game over.

Before Flagg’s last effort, CBS’ Ian Eagle said this would be a “legacy defining moment,” and now Flagg heads into the NBA with zero legacy.  He wasn’t solely to blame, fellow freshman Kon Knueppel, after a terrific first half, was invisible the rest of the way, and fellow first-rounder, 7’2” center Khaman Maluach, had zero rebounds in 21 minutes.

And Flagg, while hitting 3 of 4 from beyond the arc, including the only field goal of the last eight minutes, was otherwise 5 of 15 from the field.  Tyrese Proctor (2 of 8, 0 for 4 from 3) was awful.

Flagg, who is classy, took the heat after.

“It’s the play coach drew up, to get into the paint,” he said of his final shot attempt. “I left it short obviously, but it’s a shot I’m willing to live with.” 

But it was rushed.  Even if he made it, Houston had plenty of time to get back down the court.

Duke won an ACC Championship, but it is an incredibly hollow season for their fans.  Cooper Flagg will be an amazing NBA player, and Knueppel and Maluach are potential future stars as well.  As Derrick Coleman would say, however, whoopty-damn-do.

As for Houston, they are headed to their first national championship game since 1984, and they’ll face Florida and Walter Clayton Jr.

In the first semifinal, the Gators overcame a 46-38 halftime deficit against Auburn to prevail 79-73, behind Clayton’s 34 points, 5 of 8 from 3, 7 of 7 from the free throw line.  The guy is so good.

Clayton became the first to have consecutive 30-point games this deep in the tourney since Larry Bird did so for Indiana State in 1979.

But no one talks about how Clayton played two seasons under Rick Pitino at Iona before both moved on to bigger stages.  Pitino deserves some credit for Clayton’s maturation into an All-American and possible lottery pick.

--Maryland tabbed Buzz Williams to be its new coach, replacing Kevin Willard who took the Villanova job.  Williams spent his last six years at Texas A&M, where he went 120-73 and made the NCAA Tournament in each of his final three seasons.

Before that, Williams spent five seasons at Virginia Tech (100-69, three NCAA Tournaments), six at Marquette (139-69, five NCAA appearances) and one season at New Orleans.

It’s a good move for Maryland, but Williams, known for building programs, begins without this season’s entire starting lineup, including star freshman Derik Queen, who is a lottery pick.

--As for the portal, I’m not trying to keep up with all the moves, though I like the player Wake Forest got from Valparaiso, 6/10” forward Cooper Schwieger.

--Monday, a federal judge will hear final arguments before deciding whether to approve the House settlement, a $2.8 billion plan that will add a new layer of change to an already unstable landscape.

If Judge Claudia Wilken approves the settlement as expected, then for the first time, schools will be allowed to share TV, ticket and other revenue to the tune of around $20.5 million per year per institution with their athletes.  That will be in addition to payments already allowed from third parties that are turning college players into millionaires.

Cooper Flagg was reported to have made an estimated $4.8 million via NIL deals this year.  Next year, five-star recruit AJ Dybantsa is expected to play at BYU on a deal reportedly worth $7 million.

--In the NIT at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis last Tuesday and Thursday, UC Irvine defeated North Texas in one semifinal, 69-67, and Chattanooga beat Loyola Chicago, 80-73.

Setting up a final that gave the fans their money’s worth, the Chattanooga Mocs (29-9) taking the crown, 85-84 in overtime over the Anteaters (32-7).

Women’s Final Four

--Not exactly a scintillating Friday night for the Final Four in Tampa.  UConn whipped UCLA into submission, 85-51, while South Carolina had its way with Texas, 74-57.

But it set up a dream final...on paper, at least...two legendary coaches...UConn’s Geno Auriemma, South Carolina’s Dawn Staley.

And UConn won it, 82-59, Sarah Strong with 24 points (10 of 15 from the field), 15 rebounds.  Geno picks up UConn’s 12th title, first since 2016, which seems hard to believe.  Where does the time freakin’ fly!

NBA

--Since I last posted, I have to note Nikola Jokic’s 61 points in a 140-139 double overtime loss to Minnesota, Tuesday, Jokic with the most points ever in a triple-double...61-10-10.

The same night, Steph Curry scored 52 points on 12 3-pointers, adding 10 rebounds and eight assists in a crucial 134-125 win over the Grizzlies.

It was Curry’s 15th career 50-point game.

--The Knicks (49-28) cruised against the Hawks (36-41) in Atlanta Saturday night, 121-105, after building a 78-53 halftime lead on 11 of 16 shooting from 3.

New York is now back at Madison Square Garden tonight, Sunday, to play the Suns and it will mark the return of Jalen Brunson for the Knickerbockers.  Hard to believe he’s been out 15 games with his sprained ankle, New York 9-6 in that stretch.

But now Brunson returns with a few games to get back in shape for the playoffs.

Only one problem for us fans.  After the Knicks dispatch of the Bucks in the first round*, they’ll get rolled by the Celtics.

*Actually, it was assumed Milwaukee would finish sixth in the Eastern Conference, the Knicks locked in third, but now the Damian Lilliard-less Bucks have won three-in-a-row through Saturday and are fifth, Detroit sixth.  Knicks fans don’t want to face Detroit in the first round.

--The NBA fined Memphis guard Ja Morant $75,000 for again making an “inappropriate” finger-gun gesture during a win over the Heat on Thursday, hours after he had been warned not to do it by league officials.

“Morant was previously warned by the league office that this gesture could be interpreted in a negative light,” the NBA said in announcing the fine levied on Morant.

In 2023, the NBA twice suspended Morant – one of its youngest stars – for flashing real guns in social media posts, with the latter punishment lasting 25 games, one of the harshest punishments the league has ever handed down.  The two gun videos came on the heels of allegations Morant and his friends attacked a teenager at his home, accosted a mall security guard and got in  a confrontation with high school students at a volleyball game.  The suspensions cost Morant about $8.3 million in salary.

After Thursday’s game, in which his jumper as time expired gave the Grizzlies a 110-108 win over the Heat, Morant said he was “well aware” of his image.

“I’m kind of used to it,” he said.  “I was pretty much a villain for two years now.  Every little thing, if somebody can say something negative about me, it’s going to be out there. So, yeah, I don’t care no more.”

You’re a total jerk, Ja.

MLB

--Friday, the Dodgers (8-1) suffered their first loss of the season, falling to the Phillies (6-1) in Philadelphia, 3-2, as Jesus Lozardo threw seven innings of 2-hit, no run ball.

L.A.’s 8-0 start was the best ever by a reigning champ.

But the Dodgers suffered their first blow of 2025 as they placed first baseman Freddie Freeman on the injured list Thursday after he aggravated his surgically repaired right ankle while falling in the shower last weekend.  The team listed the injury as a right ankle sprain.

Freeman said during the week that the latest round of X-rays showed no additional damage. He originally injured the ankle on the night the Dodgers clinched the NL West in September, rolling it while trying to beat out a groundball and tearing ligaments.  He played through it enroute to World Series MVP honors and underwent surgery in November to remove bone spurs that had broken off dangerously close to his Achilles tendon.

Saturday, the Dodgers bounced back, beating Philly 3-1.

But Sunday, they lost 8-7, Nick Castellanos with a grand slam for the Phils, knocking out Tyler Glasnow after 2 innings, 5 earned.

--The Padres (7-1) also suffered their first loss, Friday, 3-1 to the Cubs (6-4) in Chicago, Shota Imanaga with 7 1/3 of one-run ball for the Cubbies.  And then San Diego lost again Saturday, 7-1.

But Sunday, they beat the Cubs 8-7, rallying back from an early 7-3 deficit. Bobby C. is drinking boatloads of domestic right now....or maybe not, the former Naval Academy graduate, Marine and fighter pilot, a bit more disciplined than your editor.

Separately, San Diego signed Jackson Merrill, 21, to a nine-year, $135-million extension that begins in 2026, and includes a 10th-year option.

Merrill slashed .292/.326/.500  with 24 home runs and 90 RBIs in 2024, finishing second for Rookie of the Year.

--Mets fans were happy this weekend, winning their home opener Friday against the Blue Jays, 5-0, behind Tylor Megill and their terrific bullpen.

And they had a stirring 3-2 win Saturday night in the glom at Citi Field, scoring two in the bottom of the eighth to tie it and then winning it in the ninth on a Francisco Lindor sac fly.

And they completed the sweep this afternoon, 2-1, moving to 6-3, the bullpen fantastic again!

The Metropolitans ain’t hittin’, but the pitching is bailing them out.

--The Yankees (5-2) beat the Pirates (2-6) 9-4 in Pittsburgh, Aaron Judge with his sixth home run of the young season, giving him an astounding 17 RBIs.

And New York whipped the Pirates Saturday as well, 10-4, Trent Grisham with two home runs and four RBIs.  The Yankees have 25 home runs through eight games.

But the Buccos won it today, 5-4 in 11, holding Aaron Judge in check the last two games.

I have to go back to last Wednesday when Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes went 7 innings, zero earned runs, in a 4-2 win over the Rays.

--The Red Sox were busy this week, agreeing to a six-year, $170 million contract with starter Garrett Crochet, quite a move.

Crochet will make $3.8 million in his final year of arbitration before the extension kicks in at the start of 2026.  The six-year deal runs through 2031 and includes an opt-out after 2030.

The deal marks the largest ever for a pitcher with just four-plus years of service time.

And then the Red Sox extended rookie second baseman Kristian Campbell through 2032, with club options that could include 2033 and 2034.

Campbell will receive $60 million guaranteed ($56 million from 2025-2032 and a $4 million buyout if his 2033 team option is not exercised). 

Brilliant little move, locking up one of the premier young talents in the game, Campbell hitting .423 in his first 26 at-bats.

Boston is loaded with more top prospects in the farm system.

--The Reds suffered three consecutive 1-0 losses during the week, the first team in 65 years to have such a streak.  They then scored two runs Friday night in a 3-2 loss in Milwaukee.

--Costa Rican authorities concluded this week that the 14-year-old son of former Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner died of carbon monoxide poisoning.  The resort the Gardners were staying at denies this is the cause, but the room Miller Gardner was in was next to a ‘mechanical room,’ which the resort concluded did have high carbon monoxide levels, though they claim it didn’t leak into Miller’s room.

--In College Baseball, Wake Forest, out of nowhere, with all its pitching issues, went down to Florida State, No. 6 in Baseball America, and took two out of three...4-5, 12-0, 17-2!  It could easily have been a sweep.  We will stay in the Top 25.  Huge for our NCAA Tournament hopes.

NHL

--Friday night, with Wayne Gretzky in the stands, Alex Ovechkin tied the Great One’s all-time goal-scoring mark at 894, scoring twice in a 5-3 Caps win over the Blackhawks.

So it was on to Long Island, Sunday afternoon, where Washington took on the Islanders.

And in the second period, he did it! No. 895.  The Great One was in attendance, with the commissioner, and Ovechkin’s family, and they had a terrific little ceremony.

There had been stories Ovechkin was going to be held out so he could break the record at home, so credit to both Ovechkin and the Capitals for honoring the integrity of the game...and a great game hockey is.

--I watched the Rangers Saturday afternoon at New Jersey, once again needing a win, and they totally didn’t show up!  4-0 Devils.  What a disastrous season.

Eastern Conference Wild Card Race...Games – Points (thru Sat.)

1. Ottawa...76 – 88
2. Montreal...76 – 83
Rangers...76 – 79
Detroit...75 – 77
Columbus...75 – 77
Islanders...75 – 76*

*The Isles are now 76 – 78, winning the game against the Caps 4-1.

NFL

--The Cowboys made an intriguing move, acquiring quarterback Joe Milton III from New England, along with a seventh-round pick, in exchange for a fifth-round selection.  There had been a rumor that Dallas was contemplating trading Dak Prescott to the Browns, but the rumor was quickly shot down.

Milton, 25, has one game of NFL experience after six seasons of college ball at Michigan and Tennessee.  He’s a big physical presence, 6’5”, 246, and has always intrigued GMs.

--Owners voted Tuesday to move touchbacks on kickoffs from the 30 to the 35 in hopes that more teams will kick the ball in play instead of giving up an extra 5 yards of field position.

The league also approved changes to the overtime rule, making regular season overtime more like the postseason, with both teams getting a chance at a possession, even if the team that got the ball first scored a touchdown.

Golf Balls

--We had the final tournament before next week’s Masters, the Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio....

After three rounds....

Brian Harman -12
Andrew Novak -9
Tom Hoge -8
Keith Mitchell -7

And in extremely difficult, windy, cold conditions, Harman managed to close the deal for his fourth career win...despite a final-round 75.

[It was a special win, emotional, for the Harman Family...I may, or may not, get into it more in my Add-on.]

--In a big development on the PGA Tour-Saudi Public Investment Fund (LIV Golf) negotiations, the PGA Tour rejected a $1.5 billion reunification offer from the PIF, as first reported by The Guardian.

PIF’s offer came with the provision that LIV Golf, in some capacity, would continue in the future professional golf landscape, and that PIF governor and LIV Golf boss Yasir Al-Rumayyan would be co-chair of PGA Tour Enterprises.

Sources familiar with the matter told Golf Digest’s Joel Beall that the tour has asserted it is not interested in a team golf element – a message that was delivered at the White House meeting in February. 

With President Trump’s win in November, tour leadership is operating under the presumption that Trump’s Department of Justice would expedite approval for any arrangement – effectively questioning LIV’s very necessity.  PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has publicly expressed that the goal of the talks is for “the game of golf operating under one tour with all the top players playing on that one tour.”

Sources familiar with tour thinking told Golf Digest that the tour has already made a number of concessions in the negotiations and feel PIF has not met them in the middle.  Tour leadership also feels PIF does not have a true sense of LIV Golf’s struggles in the golf marketplace.

Conversely, those that want a deal are aware of the enduring financial threat of PIF should the schism continue, especially now that the tour has normalized the idea of doing business with LIV Golf to its players.

Meanwhile, Al-Rumayyan views LIV Golf not merely as a business venture but as his brainchild and enduring legacy, and does not want to surrender control.  PIF leadership also wants a voice in the future direction of the sport.

Last month at the Players Championship, Monahan said he will only do a deal on tour terms.

“We will not do so in a way that diminishes the strength of our platform or the very real momentum we have with our fans and our partners,” Monahan said.

President Trump told reporters on Air Force One, on his way to Trump Doral for this weekend’s LIV Golf event, said he maintains a positive outlook on the negotiations.

“Ultimately, hopefully, the two tours are going to merge. That’ll be good.  I’m involved in that too,” Trump said.  “But hopefully we’re going to get the two tours to merge... And I think having them merge would be a great thing.”

[Marc Leishman won the LIV Golf event today at Doral....like 50 people care.]

Premier League

The Table, after a busy week, including midweek games...Played (out of 38) – Points...

1. Liverpool...31 – 73
2. Arsenal...31 – 62
3. Nottingham...31 – 57
4. Chelsea...31 – 53
5. Man City...31 – 52
6. Aston Villa...31 – 51
7. Newcastle...29 – 50

Newcastle faces Leicester, Monday.  Still a big battle for the final Champions League slot, though you have the stories the Premier League might get a fifth team in the 2025-26 competition (or even a sixth).

The relegation battle is essentially over....

17. Wolverhampton...31 – 32
18. Ipswich...31 – 20
19. Leicester City...30 – 17
20. Southampton...31 – 10...officially relegated earliest in Premier League history

Stuff

--Max Verstappen reasserted his position as the top F1 driver in the world, winning the Japanese Grand Prix over McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, in what was described as a flawless drive.

--The Slovak cabinet approved a plan to shoot around a quarter of the country’s brown bears, after a man was mauled to death while walking in a forest in Central Slovakia.

Prime Minister Robert Fico’s populist-nationalist government announced after a cabinet meeting that 350 out of an estimated population of 1,300 brown bears would be culled, citing the danger to humans after a spate of attacks.

“We can’t live in a country where people are afraid to go into the woods,” the prime minister told reporters afterwards.

The government had already loosened legal protections allowing bears to be killed if they stray too close to human habitation.  Some 93 had been shot by the end of 2024.

The opposition in Slovakia is pissed off.

“The Environment Ministry failed desperately to limit the number of bear attacks by the unprecedented culling of this protected species,” said ecologist and MEP Michal Wiezek.

--We note the passing of actor Val Kilmer, 65.  The cause of death was pneumonia, according to his daughter.

Actress Sharon Lawrence described Kilmer in a social media post as a “transformational artist,” while the U.S. Naval Institute expressed respect for his role as a Navy pilot in “Top Gun.”

The California-born, Juilliard-trained actor was one of Hollywood’s most prominent leading men in the 1990s before numerous spats with directors and co-stars and a series of flops dented his career.  Over the years, Kilmer gained a reputation as temperamental, intense, perfectionistic and sometimes egotistical.

“When certain people criticize me for being demanding, I think that’s a cover for something they didn’t do well. I think they’re trying to protect themselves,” Kilmer told the Orange County Register newspaper in 2003.

“I believe I’m challenging, not demanding, and I make no apologies for that.”

Kilmer rocketed to fame as Tom Cruise’s co-star in the smash 1986 hit “Top Gun,” playing naval aviator Tom “Iceman” Kazansky.

Kilmer starred in director Ron Howard’s fantasy “Willow” (1988) and married his British co-star Joanne Whalley, with whom he had two children before divorcing.

One of his most challenging roles came in director Oliver Stone’s “The Doors” (1991) in which Kilmer played Jim Morrison, the charismatic and ultimately doomed lead singer of the influential rock band The Doors.

To persuade Stone to cast him, Kilmer put together an eight-minute video of himself singing and looking like Morrison at various points in his life. Kilmer’s own singing voice is used in the film.

“The Doors” ushered in the highest-profile years of his career.  In the 1993 Western “Tombstone,” he played Old West gunfighter Doc Holliday.  He had two commercial successes in 1995, co-starring with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in the crime drama “Heat” and succeeding Michael Keaton as the Caped Crusader in “Batman Forever,” the third installment in the Batman series.

But in “Batman Forever,” Kilmer was upstaged by co-stars Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey.  Kilmer pulled out of the next Batman movie.  Director Joel Schumacher called Kilmer “the most psychologically troubled human being I’ve ever worked with.”

Things only got worse for Kilmer when he clashed with co-star Marlon Brando during the notoriously troubled production of “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” which flopped in 1996.

“There are two things I would never do again in my life,” John Frankenheimer, who directed the movie, said afterward.  “I will never climb Mt. Everest and I will never work with Val Kilmer again. There isn’t enough money in the world.”

Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatments, as well as a tracheostomy that permanently gave him a raspy speaking voice.  Post-cancer he appeared in the “Top Gun” sequel and other films.

Born in Los Angeles, Kilmer began acting in high school and became the youngest student accepted into the drama division of the famed Juilliard School in New York.

Phillip Noyce, who directed him in “The Saint” (1997, told the Chicago Sun-Times in 1997 that Kilmer “is plagued by a bad image, but most of it is unjustified. The real Val Kilmer is a lamb. And he is the hardest-working actor I’ve ever seen.”

Top 3 songs for the week 4/5/80: #1 “Another Brick In The Wall, Part II” (Pink Floyd) #2 “Working My Way Back to You” (Spinners) #3 “Call Me” (Blondie)...and...#4 “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” (Queen) #5 “Too Hot” (Kool & The Gang)  #6 “Him” (Rupert Holmes...liked this one at the time...) #7 “Ride Like The Wind” (Christopher Cross)  #8 “Special Lady” (Ray, Goodman & Brown)  #9 “Desire” (Andy Gibb)  #10 “How Do I Make You” (Linda Ronstadt...C- week...)

Masters Golf Quiz Answer: Eight to win at least three green jackets....

Jack Nicklaus 6
Tiger Woods 5
Arnold Palmer 4
Jimmy Demaret 3
Sam Snead 3
Gary Player 3
Nick Faldo 3
Phil Mickelson 3

Brief Add-on up top by noon, Tuesday.

 

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