Starting Five
1. Kelly Ripa’s long and agonizing search for a co-host ends with the addition of Michael Strahan (New York City now has two — count ’em, two — popular gap-toothed hosts).
2. The Atlanta Braves win the 18th consecutive start made by Kris Medlen, or as ESPN’s Mike Greenberg calls him “Stephen Strasburg without the attention.”
3. Michael Clarke Duncan, R.I.P.
4. A battle of southern Technical Institutes ended in overtime with Virginia’s properly measuring the azimuth for a game-winning field goal against Georgia’s.
5. Florida State defensive end Brandon Jenkins, who led the Seminoles in sacks the past two seasons and is the only starting DE on the team not from Germany, will miss the rest of the season after a teammate stepped on his left foot. Officially, it’s called a Lisfranc injury.
Duncan in “The Green Mile”
Reserves
Serena Williams scored a double-bagel win (6-0, 6-0) at the U.S. Open over Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic in 57 minutes.
Mark Abrahamian, lead guitarist of Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Starship Starship collapsed after a concert in Norfolk, Neb., and died. He was 46. Abrahamian had once said that he heard Van Halen’s “Eruption” when he was in seventh grade and that it changed his life. “I went home and didn’t leave my room until the ninth grade,” Abrahamian had said.
What caused the Arab Spring? Would you believe hunger? Get ready for another year of revolution somewhere.
The player who kicked the game-tying and game-winning field goals for Virginia Tech, Cody Journell, was arrested last December for felony breaking and entering (Sean McDonough may have mentioned this once or twice). The crime allegedly involved an air gun, two Hokie basketball players, a drug transaction gone wrong, and a pizza box. Somewhere Allen Pinkett is saying, “Now THAT is what I’m talkin’ ’bout!”
The Red Sox have lost seven straight, all on the West coast. They haven’t done much better on the East coast. Is it too soon to name Giovanni Ribisi Dustin Pedroia player-manager?
The most respected figure in Boston’s clubhouse
“I used to love to go camping…” Vince Gilligan’s montage trump card on Breaking Bad has always been “Crystal Blue Persuasion”, a 1969 tune written by Tommy James and the Shondells. You may know them better for tunes they wrote that were later covered in the Eighties by Tiffany and Billy Idol. Gilligan, the show’s creator, did not waste his ace as he used it to show the expansion of Walter White’s meth biz as it went international (Are we shallow because the scene reminded us of a similar montage from the 1982 film Night Shift? [No, you’re shallow for other reasons]). James, by the way, said the title of the song came to him not because of drugs but via the Book of Revelations. And you can believe him, because crystal meth was not really around back in 1969.
Robinson Cano may be the New York Yankees’ most talented player, but Derek Jeter is its most valuable. Why? Cano failed to reach an eighth-inning grounder that bled in the game-winning run in Tampa (actually, St. Petersburg, but who cares?) in Monday’s 4-3 loss. Cano might’ve at least stopped the worm-burner, and prevented the winning run from scoring, had he dived. Disbelieve if you want, but there’s no way that ball skids past Jeter. The Yankees have played sub-.500 ball since the All-Star break.
So that movie Holes was real?
How did Notre Dame not think of this first? Clemson ends football practice by baptizing wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins in a cooling tub. If he played defensive back, it would’ve been a baptism by fire, no? Two observations: 1. Hopkins is not wearing his helmet, as you can see, so he will have to sit out the next sacrament and 2. Call us when someone is circumcised after practice.
IPTAY meets I PRAY
“We buit this city! We built this city on rocccck and roll!” Honestly, as awful as that song is, it’s still better than “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.” If you want to listen to a solid Jefferson Starship tune from the Eighties, try this. (and, no, the lead singer is NOT the coke dealer from Boogie Nights).
In the October “Vanity Fair” there is a cover story that peeks behind the curtain of Scientology (how many such pieces have been written now?) and discusses how actress Nazanin Boniadi was auditioned to be a certain superstar’s girlfriend.
You had me at “Theta Perceptics”
Top Five College Football Games This Saturday
1. Air Force at Michigan — The Falcons rushed for an NCAA-best 484 yards last weekend. If the Wolverines still have Alabama on their minds, there may be trouble in the Big House. Keep an eye on AFA’s Cody Getz, all five-foot-seven of him.
2. Florida at Texas A&M — Yes, we’ve beaten this drum in other forums (repeatedly), but this trip to College Station will represent the Gators’ longest trek for an in-season game since 1991, when Syracuse spanked them in the Carrier Dome, 38-21. Welcome to the SEC, Aggies? More like welcome to the Union, Florida.
3. Nebraska at UCLA — The Bruins looked terrific in Jim Mora’s debut at Rice, but that was Rice. This is Corn. Husker QB Taylor Martinez is a SoCal native.
4. Georgia at Missouri — Mike Slive let his two new teams dip a toe in by giving both of them a home game for their first SEC matchup. The Show Me’s won their opener by 52, but that is meaningless. Keep your eyes on Dawg frosh RB Todd Gurley, who rushed for 100 yards on just eight carries last week. Not a Gurley man.
5. Miami at Kansas State — The Canes have a prodigy at RB of their own, Duke Johnson, while KSU QB Collin Klein (“Prairie Tebow”) gets some much-deserved face time on your tube.
When the hurley burley’s done/Will Todd Gurley’s team have won?
“The crime allegedly involved an air gun, two Hokie basketball players, a drug transaction gone wrong, and a pizza box.” The Episode One synopsis for next year’s AMC hit – Breaking Bad: Blacksburg.