Starting Five
Between them, 1,902 wins and seven national championships as coaches
1. Coach K: 1K
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski earns his 1,000th career win in his 40th season of Division I basketball with yesterday’s 77-68 defeat of St. John’s at Madison Square Garden. I learned to spell his name without having to back at about 900 wins.
The only other D-I coaches with at least 900 wins are Coach K’s mentor, Bob Knight, who retired with 902 victories (and three national titles as a coach; one as a player) and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, who has 962 and should hit the milestone, if not next season, then definitely in 2016-17. Boeheim would become the first to win 1,000 at one school, most likely, as 73 of Coach K’s wins took place at Army. In fact, Boeheim is already the only coach with more than 900 wins to have not coached at West Point.
Statham: Mama said knock you out!
Two other names to know: Harry Statham, who has 1,083 career wins, all of them at NAIA school McKendree (he’s still active) since 1966; and Danny Miles, who has 1,013 at Oregon Tech (also still active) since 1971.
2. Galaxy Quest
Vega is the granddaughter of the 1953 Miss Atlantico (Colombia)
That’s Pauline Vega, 22, from Colombia. She was crowned Miss Universe last night although, out of the final five contestants (USA, Jamaica, Ukraine, Philippines and her) it was clear that the audience was decidedly in the corner of Miss Jamaica (as was I). The only finalist with a short ‘do, Kaci Fennell was decidedly the most poised and intelligent of the quintet–and finished fifth.
Listen, I know I prattle on ENTIRELY too much about this. But, if you’re going to stage a pageant that transcends the 9.8 meters per second squared gravitational bounds, at least do us all a favor and put competent judges on the panel (DeSean Jackson? Giancarlo Stanton? Manny Pacquiao? Lisa VanderPump?). These young ladies have worked (and starved) too hard for such caprice.
I normally don’t like Fennell (more of a kale guy myself), but this one suited the palate
Second, Donald Trump, what a shoddy and unprofessional broadcast. It’s basically an infomercial for the host city, for Trump, for a few associated products. Also, the ratio of air time to ad time was abominable. I may just boycott –and girlcott– the entire production next year.
“Do-do, do-do-do-do-do, oh I Miss U(kraine)”
Vega was a safe choice. Beautiful, sure, but all these leggy South American babes tend to become indistinguishable from one another after awhile. Of the last seven winners, four have hailed from South America. Fennell, or even Miss Ukraine, who fearlessly answered her question by noting that her country needs to rebuild its army (take that, Putin), would have been better choices.
3. The Mouth That Roars
Chummy, Goodell and Kraft
The Seattle Seahawks had barely deplaned yesterday when cornerback Richard Sherman was asked whether he believed the New England Patriots would be punished for Ballghazi before Super Bowl XLIX.
“Will they be punished?,” Sherman repeated the question. “Probably not. Not as long Robert Kraft and Roger Goodell are still taking pictures at their respective homes. (Goodell) was just at Kraft’s house last week before the AFC Championship. Talk about conflict of interest. As long as that happens, it won’t affect them at all.”
As one national newspaper put in its headline today, “The Problem With Richard Sherman Is That He’s Always Right.” Sherman may already be the best cornerback in pro football, but he’s also as smart and candid as any professional athlete currently working. Watch and see: he will eventually join the elite group of Muhammad Ali and Charles Barkley as game-changers in terms of candor amongst African-American athletes. I put Ali in a league by himself, but Sherman may eclipse Barkley.
By the way, the New England Patriots also flew to Phoenix yesterday. No word on whether or not their plane’s cabin was adequately pressurized.
4. SAG-acity
Eddie Redmayne won Best Actor (as he did at the Golden Globes) and I desperately wanted him to open his acceptance speech with “I am not a scientist…”
Awards, awards, awards. You only really need to tune into the first two minutes of the Screen Actors Guild awards, because that’s the best part: when a few selected actors put down their forks just long enough to provide a (hopefully) amusing confessional. Last night’s best was from Robert Duvall, although I liked Zack Galifianakis’ short and to-the-point rendition.
If anyone involved with the production of this telecast is reading this, here is my sincerest wish: Next year, cut to a waiter or waitress who is clearing a table and let them do an up-close-and-personal confessional: it may be JUST the career break they need.
5. Tragedy in Phoenix
This is from last week, but in case you missed it…Erica Morales, 36, gave birth to quadruplets last week in Phoenix but died in childbirth. The babies were born nearly two months prematurely but all seem to be doing well. If you want to donate to the family, a cousin, Nicole Todman, has set up this site.
Remote Patrol
Sons of Liberty
History 9 p.m.
“I seem to have misplaced my Kevlar vest…”
In this episode Jax must decide between fatherhood and a biker gang—oh, wait, that’s Sons of Anarchy. Anyway…this is Part 2 of a 3-part History Channel special about how a group of “savages” rebelled against an authoritative state that was occupying its land with a more traditional military force. Hmmmm…..