by John Walters
Happy 50th Birthday, Billy Zabka!!! The Cobra Kai lives….
Starting Five
As I wonder how many bars in New York City are named Murphy’s
1. Murphy’s Lore (Cont.)
Daniel Murphy reportedly won’t re-sign with the Mets next season, but the second baseman has now gone full Carlos Beltran, hitting a home run in his fifth consecutive postseason game last night (four of which came off Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Jon Lester and JakeArrieta). That ties an MLB record.
The Mets won and so now lead the Cubs 3-0 in the NLCS. And yes, we’ll note that the last time Theo Epstein was the GM of a club that had gone more than 80 years since winning a World Series, that franchise fell behind 3-0 in an LCS to a team from New York and then promptly won 8 consecutive games and the World Series. Just sayin’….
2. “Are You O.K.?” Corral
Ouch!
There was a gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, last Sunday, which is not unusual. The historic southeastern Arizona town stages commemorative gunfights daily to draw tourists, reenacting the famous shootout involving Wyatt Earp and others on October 26, 1881.
The problem with last Sunday’s shootout is that one of the gunmen used live rounds of ammunition. Ken Curtis fell to the ground after being struck by a bullet fired by fellow reenactor Tom Carter. Curtis had surgery and should be fine. As for Carter, I can only wonder if they will “Hang ‘Em High” before he is able to catch the “3:10 to Yuma.”
3. “What’s Your Problem?”
Someone on the staff of Jimmy Kimmel Live had a terrific idea for the show’s visit to Brooklyn this week. With JayZ appearing as a guest last night, they riffed on the Brooklyn native’s song, “99 Problems,” by asking New Yorkers “What’s your problem?” 99 times.
Also: There is no K subway line.
4. Hot Carl
Nassib was a freshman during Joe Paterno’s tumultuous final season in Happy Valley
This is Carl Nassib, a 6’7″, 275-pound fifth-year defensive end at Penn State who was not offered a scholarship out of high school. Nassib, younger brother of former Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib, currently leads the nation in Sacks (11.5), Tackles for Loss (15.5), and Fumbles Forced (5).
Schobert is somewhat undersized at 6’2″, 236
We’d call Nassib the second coming of J.J. Watt, who also was not offered (at least not by a B1G school) out of high school and then went on to become an All-American, and perhaps he is. However, there is an outside linebacker at Watt’s alma mater, Wisconsin, who is No. 2 in the nation in all three of those categories (9.5, 14.5, 4), right behind Nassib, and he, too, was not offered a scholly out of high school. His name is Joe Schobert and he, too, is likely an All-American this season.
5. Where In The World?
Hint: Somewhere in the United States
Yesterday: Mount Maunganui, New Zealand
Music 101
Black Balloon
The late ’90s produced A TON of forgettable rock music and bands (Thank you for saving us, Jack White), and the Dolls of Goo Goo probably fit that mold. Still, there were some gems that stay with us (I’ll hear no pleas on behalf of Matchbox 20, though; no redeeming qualities there), such as this 1999 song about a girl struggling with heroin addiction that reached No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Remote Patrol
Royals at Blue Jays, ALCS Game 5
FS1 4 p.m.
You’re up, Joey Bats. It was one weekday afternoon ago today that the Blue Jays — and Rangers — treated us to one of the more memorable elimination games in baseball playoff history. Here we go again as Toronto trails 3-1 in the ALCS to the defending AL champs, Kansas City. Toronto is 3-0 in elimination games this month, but must go 6-0 to advance to the Fall Classic.
Question – of current NFL players (have played at least 4 yrs), what % is higher : those who were overlooked in high school or those that were 5 star recruits? Of the Pro-Bowlers, what %?
2nd question – is the % of current NFL players that were drafted above 80% or lower? In other words, what % of current NFL rosters are made up of the undrafted?
3rd question – what % of Hall of Famers were drafted below the 2nd round or not drafted at all?
I assume you know all this kind of stuff but in case you don’t want to spend the time rummaging your brain (understandable, you are a busy guy), is there a site that has this kind of info easily found?
It all feeds into my fascination with the VERY flawed ‘science’ of judging human potential. At least in sports, all you have to do is look at JaMarcus Russell & Tom Brady (#1 & #199) to see the fallacy, the hubris to think anyone or any damn computer program can pre-determine who will succeed & who will fail long term. There are just too many variables in addition to the physical skill – desire, work ethic, personal influencers (friends/family), injuries, & just plain luck (good or bad).
One more question – if you’d been a prodigiously gifted high school athlete, would you rather have been overlooked by the top colleges or ranked 5 star & feverishly recruited by every college in the country? Explain your answer, please. 🙂
Hmmm, real ammunition “accidentally” used in a reenactment or a show? How many times have we seen that on a cop/legal/mystery TV show? I guess the better question is if there are ANY such TV shows that that did NOT use that plot? I’ll have to click on your link to see the alleged reason behind the recent ‘I’m OK, you’re NOT OK’ incident. Calling Columbo or Jessica Fletcher!
Susie B.,
Your first two questions can be answered by just going through every NFL roster, which is obviously time consuming.
As for question #2, here is an article dated last season that has the number wavering around 30%: http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2014/09/07/400-players-on-NFL-rosters-never-heard-their-name-called-in-the-draft/stories/201409070235
Note that the number varies on a week-to-week basis, because rosters are ever so fluid towards the last few position players.
As for question #3, here you go: http://www.profootballhof.com/history/general/draft/round.aspx
Thanks, Jacob. 🙂
30% undrafted – verrrryyyy interesting.
It does seem that the large majority of HOF players were drafted in the 1st round. I also learned that once upon a time there were 27 ROUNDS in the draft! I guess there were only 8 0r so teams back then (?) but sure seems like a lot of players to each team.
Which leads me to one more question (won’t she ever stop?! not yet) – what % of players drafted each year ever actually play in the NFL for any team? Practice squads do not count. Thank-you, Jacob. 🙂
Hey, did you see that today’s college graduates “won’t be able to retire until they’re 75”? Due to school loans, the skyrocketing cost of renting, stagnant wages, fear of investing in the stock market, etc. This is almost as alarming as the tidbit I saw last year – that a “baby has already been born that will live to 150” & that 150 will eventually be the avg life expectancy. Can you imagine working for 120 YEARS? I guess it depends on what you’re doing but wow, that’s a damn LOOOONG time!
Up until 4 years ago, I’d always thought I work “at least till 70”. From need AND want. My grandfather & father both did much of the work on the farm until their early 80s. And my Aunt (who helped raise my sisters & me) worked until her late 70s, so I figured I would too. Well, in the last few years I’m making like Fagin & “reviewing the situation” & have decided “I think I better think it out again!”
Do YOU plan to work past 70? Or will you be sunnin’ & funnin’ on the proceeds of all your smart stock moves long before then? A warning – whatever you think now (before the age of 50) may change dramatically by your mid-late 50s.
Or you may be like Warren Buffet & love what you do SO much they will have to pry your cold, dead hands off the keyboard. Which works out quite well for all us MH readers. 🙂