by John Walters
Happy Birthday, Mary Strong. From Fox Sports anchor to yoga entrepreneur.
Starting Five
The Niners won, sure, but more importantly, how did your DraftKings team do?
1. Hyde and Go Seek Yardage
A second-year product out of THE Ohio State University, Carlos Hyde more than trebles his previous career-high (55 yards) by gaining 168 as the Tomsula 49ers silence Adrian Peterson (31 yards on 10 carries) and the Vikings on MNF. Meanwhile, Trent Dilfer reminds people that “you cannot lose games in the NFL and still win.”
Is it Saturday yet (we’ll even watch the Thursday and Friday night CFB games, promise)?
2. Raining Arizona
Eight dead, five missing. All were traveling in just two cars.
A sudden outburst of rain and hail struck the Arizona-Utah border yesterday afternoon. It was over within an hour, but the combination of massive rains and hard, sun-scorched earth (less absorption) created mass flash flooding. Eight people died and five are missing when two vehicles were swept away. All the victims were mothers and young children and as you may have guessed from their clothing or the location, they are the plural mothers (and offspring) from the Warren Jeffs polygamist sect. If you want to learn more, read Jon Krakauer’s Under the Banner of Heaven.
The rain also did a number on boats and boaters at Lake Powell, which also straddles both states farther east.
3. KiKO AlonSO, From the ConGO
Good humor men…
The only human I know of older than the age of baby whose laugh belongs on a non-stop soundtrack is ESPN (and former SI) baseball reporter Tim Kurkjian. Wonderful man, terrific basketball player, and universally loved guy. Lucky for us Scott Van Pelt is able to make him giggle with almost no effort. This needs to become a recurring bit on the SVPSC.
4. Mommy Dearest
Who is the monster? Is it the woman in the plastic surgery post-op mask or is it the twins, Lukas and Elias? Is she even their mother? I’m not sure if scary is the correct word, but the Austrian thriller Goodnight Mommy will creep you out. I’ll not say any more other than after you see it, go back and watch that trailer again. If there’s an Oscar for trailers, this one earns it.
5. Abs-olutlely Fabulous
@TrackJenny will be one of America’s favorites in Rio next summer
That’s Jenny Simpson, the 2011 world champion in the 1500, who won the Fifth Avenue Mile last Sunday. One of the cooler races out there, it begins outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art and ends somewhere in the low Sixties (20 numerical blocks to a mile in Manhattan). Although I do hope they figure out a Spartan Race through the Metropolitan museum itself. You can even add the Guggenheim’s upward spiral to the adventure (it’s across the street and a few blocks up).
Anyway, Simpson won the women’s event and Nick Willis won the men’s. Author Malcolm Gladwell, 53, finished in 5:03 (he actually ran it in 4:54 last year).
Music 101
What I Got
How many tunes are better at owning your groove for a few minutes? How do you not sing along? “Love is/what I got….” This is sublime, from Sublime. The song was released in 1996 and peaked at No. 1 on the Modern Rock chart, and yes it was released AFTER the death of its singer, Bradley Nowell, due to a heroin overdose. Note the melodic similarities to “Lady Madonna.”
Remote Patrol
Best Time Ever
NBC 9 p.m.
It better be, Neil, it better be. And if it isn’t, I’ll just go back and re-watch this.
“You cannot lose NFL games & still win”? Somebody tell Norv Turner. He’s FAILED at every Head coaching job, gets fired, gets re-hired somewhere else as the Offensive Coordinator & boom, some other team hires him yet again as Head Coach.
I want to know what a player has to do on the field to get thrown out &/or suspended later. I saw a clip of some guy (Pacman Jones?) intentionally knocking off a downed player’s helmet & THEN took the guy’s head & slammed it into said helmet & he was NOT THROWN out of the game! And yesterday, the NFL declared he would not be suspended for any future games. ARE THEY KIDDING? Tell me again how much the NFL is concerned with “player safety” & head injuries. MAYBE if Jones had tried to DEFLATE the other guy’s head, THEN he’d have been suspended. For 4 games.
I saw clips of various NFL games Sunday…. Tell me again why Tebow is not playing.
Did you read the SI piece by Suzy Hamilton? If you’d ever married (or become so once you finally meet T-Swift), would/will YOU kiss your beloved as she goes off to her “2nd job” as a high-end hooker? Sure, SHE is bipolar, what’s the husband’s diagnosis?
Speaking of Track – Bolt ‘stopped for the season’ a few weeks ago as he’s “TIRED”. I think he ran maybe 10 actual races this year. Total. He’s a “professional athlete”….