Football is still a week away. Baseball is in its doldrums (Astros at Mets). The U.S. Open is just beginning. Matchbox 20 is not on tour. This seems like a really good weekend to go camping.
Monthly Archives: August 2012
Day of Yore, 8/23
Today is the 707th anniversary of the day Sir William Wallace was put to death in London. Wallace’s story was told in in Mel Gibson’s brilliant 1995 film, Braveheart. Those who knew Wallace say he wasn’t quite as good looking as Gibson, but far less of a dick.
“They can take away our lives, but they can never take away our seven Tour de France wins…or something like that.”
River Phoenix was born on this day in 1970, and later that same night, the Velvet Underground played their last gig with Lou Reed, at Max’s Kansas City in Manhattan. The unheralded, (or was it heralded but under-loved?) group’s set was probably this day’s most notorious NYC event (quick, name a Velvet Underground song… ok, under-loved for sure) until 1988 when the Heavyweight Champion of the World got into a fistfight in broad daylight outside of a store in Harlem. Mike Tyson had beaten up Mitch “Blood” Green in their 1986 fight, but the afternoon brawl was far more entertaining. Complete with all the pre-fight trash talking, Green jumped over a car to take a shot at Iron Mike and Tyson broke his hand landing a straight right to Green’s nose.
Birthday wishes also go out to two young men turning 34 today, and talk amongst yourselves as to who has the better stroke: Kobe Bryant and Julian Casablancas. As lead singer of The Strokes, Casablancas was NYC’s “it” boy a decade ago, and the city may not have had such a collective crush until last winter, when Jeremy Lin had his bite out of the Apple. Lin turns 24 today, and, like Casablancas is to New Yorkers just somebody that I used to know.
Somebody who we should all still certainly know is Bob Feller. On this day in 1936, Feller took the mound in Cleveland as a 17-year old rookie and fanned 15 St. Louis Browns in a 4-1 win. 17 years old! Do you think the mass media of today would have had a field day with that at all? Skip Bayless would have claimed he was on roids and the twitterverse would have debated what his innings limit should be.
It dawns on me that kids starting college next week have no idea who River Phoenix is. That’s probably fine, but they should certainly know who Bob Feller is.
Finally, a shout out to Julio Franco, who turns 1,004 today and is leading off and playing second base for the New York Mets. (He’s 54 and finally retired at 49, the oldest regular position player of all time. And although he’s not starting for the Mets tonight, he probably should be.)
DRONE REPORTING: THE EVERETT GOLSON SCOOP
Note: Keith Arnold was more than happy to discuss this story with me, but our schedules did not coincide today. If we can reach him for a follow-up later, we will add it.
Keith Arnold, a Notre Dame alumnus who played hockey baseball for the Irish, writes the “Inside the Irish” football column for NBCSports.com. On Thursday morning Arnold sent out this tweet: “I expect Everett Golson to be named Notre Dame’s starting quarterback today.”
Seven hours later Irish coach Brian Kelly, at his post-practice press conference, confirmed Arnold’s expectation.
Three days earlier it was Arnold who, on Twitter, broke the news of starting cornerback Lo Wood’s injury: “No word back from Notre Dame, but sources tell me cornerback Lo Wood suffered an achilles injury today at practice.”
Wood did in fact suffer that injury and is out for the season.
It’s been a good, intrepid week of reporting for Arnold, and it is here that we should mention that he lives in Los Angeles. And, that as far as we know, he has not stepped foot on campus at his alma mater this month.
Then again, Arnold has landed the two biggest scoops of the week out of Notre Dame, which will only endear him further to the dozen or so embedded reporters who either live in South Bend or commute there from Chicago or Fort Wayne. When one reporter, Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune, tweeted the Wood scoop and credited Pete Sampson, a South Bend-based writer for Irish Illustrated, Arnold gently chided, “You must’ve unfollowed me, Brian.”
Hamilton replied that he had come across Sampson’s tweet first, and that the oversight wasn’t intentional.
It is worth noting that Arnold broke both pieces of news on Twitter (as Cleveland Browns coach Pat Shurmur said about his own team issue yesterday, “If you want the details, you’ll have to go on Twitter”).
Everett Golson will start versus Navy
Arnold, whose day job is in the film industry, lives a short bike ride away from USC coach Lane Kiffin in Manhattan Beach. But because he has a source or mole (the term depends on your perspective) at Notre Dame, most likely inside the Guglielmo Athletic Complex, he has beaten the competition on the two most important stories out of South Bend this week.
It’s a fascinating dynamic. Arnold works for NBC, which is technically a partner of Notre Dame (full disclosure: I, too, once worked this same beat for the Peacock). If coach Brian Kelly is none too pleased that Arnold stole his thunder about the Golson announcement, it’ll be interesting to imagine the phone calls taking place higher up the chain of command.
For now, though, Notre Dame football beat reporting is a little like the U.S. military strategy in Afghanistan. Sure, there are boots on the ground, but the most effective strikes are from drones that are operated from thousands of miles away.
IT’S ALL HAPPENING! 8/23
The Starting Five
5. Happy 40th birthday to pro football’s all-time leader in passing yards. He celebrates tonight with a game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
4. If there is such a thing as a “fate worse than death”, does this guy deserve it?
3. Notre Dame names a relatively short (for the position) African-American quarterback from South Carolina as its starting quarterback for the season opener. How’d that work out the last time?
2. Through 100 games Angels rookie Mike Trout — the Millville Meteor! — has the most hits of any rookie since Tony Oliva in 1964 and has scored the most runs of any rookie since Joe DiMaggio in 1936. Sports Illustrated nailed it with the cover line here.
1. Americas’ most entertaining entertainment writer, Rob Sheffield, provides a lesson in composition (your assignment, kids, compare and contrast) while brilliantly analyzing Walter White and Jerry Seinfeld.
Do you know this man? He turns 40 today.
Reserves
As he approaches the genesis of his college football career, we wish Cincinnati Bearcat wideout Leviticus Payne the best. We will keep track of his numbers and hope that his exodus only comes after four fruitful seasons and a degree. Sorry, we got nothing for Deuteronomy…
Joe Posnanski’s “Paterno” biography is not exactly popular with other journalists. See here and here…
Rick Ross, in Rolling Stone, on if he ever gets too high: “I don’t really know what that means.” For you white folks, Rick Ross is sort of the 21st-century Suge Knight. For you really white folks, Suge Knight was sort of the hip-hop Berry Gordy, Jr…
Lindy’s college football preview notes that Ohio State’s band dots the “i” in script Ohio and wonders if another school from the Buckeye state, Miami, would ever attempt the “parenthesizing of Miami (Ohio)”…
Ryan Lochte versus Prince Harry in a race in a pool? I would’ve led with this story if I were McKenzie McHale.
ESPN’s top-ranked prep basketball team last season was Findlay Prep, which for some reason unbeknownst to us, the WWL rarely points out is not a pre-existing school. It was only a matter of time before someone who loves football and has the money copied the blueprint.
Hippo Stuck: My experience is that the best way to extricate a creature from a pool is to play ice cream man music…
Carly Rae Jepsen singing a Carly Rae Jepsen song. I know!
FLORI-DUH 8/22: TOPLESS BABYSITTER
A recurring series, which we fear will appear all too frequently, illustrating the sheer numbskullery and skullduggery of America’s flaccid phallic symbol of a state.
They say that at the age of 40 and beyond you have the face that you deserve. Say hello to Stacey Kerres, 47.