To Absent Friends - Scotty Moore

Scotty Moore (and some other guy)

1931 - 2016

Way back in 1954, a young man walked into the Sun Record recording studios in Memphis, TN and said he wanted to make a record for his mother.  Sun executive Sam Phillips rounded up a couple of back up musicians, bassist Bill Black and guitarist Scotty Moore, and that singer, Elvis Presley, recorded "That's Alright, Mama".  

The rest, as the old cliche goes, is history.

Scotty Moore died earlier this week at the age of 84.  His is quite a story.

Moore, Black, and drummer D. J. Fontana became the early back up musicians for Presley and are part of some of Elvis' greatest records  - Hound Dog, Don't Be Cruel, and Heartbreak Hotel, to name only a few.  They were featured in some of Presley's earlier movies, and were part of the landmark 1968 NBC TV special, "Elvis", that is generally credited with reviving the career of Elvis Presley.

If you want to get a real flavor of the work of Scotty Moore with the young Elvis, get a hold of the album, "Elvis, The Sun Sessions".  Great, great stuff.

Moore never got rich from his association with Presley, and neither he, Black, nor Fontana were a part of the "Vegas phase" of Elvis' career.  He is recognized as one of the great guitarists of all time.  He is in Rolling Stone Magazine's Top 100 rock and roll guitarists of all time and is a member of the rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

How Moore was regarded by his peers can best be summarized in this quote:

"All I wanted to do in the world was to be able to play and sound like that.  Everyone else wanted to be Elvis. I wanted to be Scotty."

                                                        - Keith Richards

It is hard to find video of Presley and Moore together, so instead, how about Moore working with another great, Eric Clapton in a tribute to Elvis.

RIP Scotty Moore.

To Absent Friends - Pat Summitt

All the sports world knows by now of the death of Pat Summitt, a victim if Alzheimer's Disease at the way too young age of 64. We all know the story...perhaps the greatest women's basketball coach of all time, winner if eight national championships and over 1,000 games at the University of Tennessee, forced to resign in 2011 due to early onset dementia in 2011.  Her battle finally came to an end on Monday.

Perhaps the best tribute and description of her impact and her legacy can be found by reading the the quotes in this morning's Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh's three Division I women's head coaches, Susie McConnell-Serio, Dan Burt, and Sal Buscaglia.   I certainly cannot say it better than they.

RIP Coach Pat Summitt.

Whither the Pirates?

Regular readers have not doubt noticed the absence of posts of late on our favorite baseball team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and you can also probably understand why that has been the case.  The simple reason for this is that I've got nothin'.  No explanations, no theories, no solutions.

On May 27, with a victory over the Texas Rangers in Arlington, the Bucs record sat at 28-19.  That nine games over .500 number was their high water mark in the season, and things were looking bright.  In the twenty-six games since then, they have gone an incredible 6-20.  That's '62 Mets territory there.

My Kwick Komments on what is becoming a hot mess of a season....

• The pitching stinks.  I said at the outset of the season that starting pitching was my biggest concern for the team, and, man, has that been proved accurate.  And the bullpen has been even worse.
• Andrew McCutchen.  What is up with the season he is having? Is he hurt?  He's only 29 years old, so it can't be a case of eroding skills, can it?  Maybe it's just a case of a bad year.  It happens, and if anyone deserves a mulligan for a bad year, it's Andrew McCutchen, but it's been killing the Pirates this year.
• Neal Huntington.  The GM has more than proven his mettle over the last few seasons, but if Tyler Glasnow keeps throwing no-hitters in Indy while Liriano, Nicasio, and Neise keep serving up batting practice it's going to get harder and harder to listen to the he-needs-to-check-more-boxes b.s. from NH.
• Injuries.  Cole, Cervelli, Marte.  They have played a role in this slide, to be sure, and no matter how good a bench you have, it does hurt you when "the bench" has to become "the starters".

Hey, there is some talent on this team.  They are NOT the '62 Mets, regardless of the last twenty-six games, but something has to happen, and happen soon, or night after night of this....

...will soon be replaced by night after night of this....

It's happening already.

There Is No "Next Tiger"

As all golf fans know, at the age of 21, Tiger Woods won the 1997 Masters in record-breaking fashion.  At the age of 32, he won the 2008 US Open in an 18 hole playoff while, oh yeah, playing on a broken leg.  In that span of time, forty-six of golf's major championships were contested, and Woods won fourteen of them, or 30% of them.

Nobody would have predicted that that '08 Open would have been Woods' last major championship, and while I will "never say never" where Woods is concerned, it must be conceded that with each passing year that does appear to be the case. Also with each passing year, the clamor arises as to who will be the "next Tiger".  

Time for The Grandstander to open up a spreadsheet.

	Masters	US Open	British Open	PGA
2008			Padraig Harrington	Padraig Harrington
2009	Angel Cabrera	Lucas Glover	Stewart Cink	Yang Yong-eun
2010	Phil Mickelson	Graeme McDowell	Louis Oosthuizen	Martin Kaymar
2011	Charl Schwartzel	Rory McIlroy	Darren Clarke	Keegan Bradley
2012	Bubba Watson	Webb Simpson	Ernie Els	Rory McIlroy
2013	Adam Scott	Justin Rose	Phil Mickelson	Jason Duffner
2014	Bubba Watson	Martin Kaymar	Rory McIlroy	Rory McIlroy
2015	Jordan Spieth	Jordan Spieth	Zach Johnson	Jason Day
2016	Danny Willett	Dustin Johnson

As you can see, the chart above represents each of the twenty-eight Majors played since Woods' Open win in 2008.  There have been thirty-two of them that have been spread out among twenty-two different winning players.  Six of them - Padraig Harrington, Phil Mickelson, Martin Kaymar, Rory McIlroy, Bubba Watson, and Jordan Spieth - have been multiple winners, with McIlroy winning four of them, and each of the others winning twice.

McIlroy was the first obvious Next Tiger candidate, winning four majors in the span of four years, but he hasn't won since, and when he has been in contention after three rounds, he has spit the bit and not been close, often fading dramatically, as he did in this past Masters. Jordan Spieth appears to be the next most obvious candidate.  He has won twice in the last six tries and has been in contention in five of them.  Others like Jason Day and Dustin Johnson appear to be on the verge of superstardom, Day, in fact, is already there.  All four of those guys are young enough to be factors in and winners of Majors for years to come, but do you really think that they will accomplish what Woods did over a twelve year span of competing in Majors?  Again, "never say never", but I certainly wouldn't bet on it.

Two of the names on the chart above, Ernie Els and Mickelson, won additional Majors outside of the time frame of the chart.  Phil won five of them, Ernie won four.  Mickelson is undoubtedly the single greatest "other" golfer of the Woods Era, and Els is certainly in that same discussion, but they finish far down the track from Tiger when the tally of Majors is viewed.  In fact, going back to a point made in the prior paragraph, I'd say it's a good chance that neither McIlroy nor Spieth will surpass Mickelson's career total of five majors.

The point, if there is one, is that it is extremely hard to win a professional golf tournament.  You have to be better than over 140 other players over a four day period of time.  You have no team mates to block for you, get on base in front of you, or to set you up and feed you that ball or the puck. Sometimes you might get lucky, like Yang Yong-eun did back in 2009 (I mean, do you remember that he won the PGA that year, and have you ever heard of him since?), and there are some other One Hit Wonders that come along (Lucas Glover, Keegan Bradley)  It is real crucible out there, and with each passing year of Tiger not winning, his accomplishments in that twelve year span become more and more remarkable.

My conclusion - there is no "next Tiger", and if there is, I will be a very, very old man when I see him (and I'm old now!).

One final point for this little bar room argument.  Jack Nicklaus won 18 majors beginning with the 1962 US Open and ending with the 1986 Masters.  That was a total of 92 Majors during that span.  Jack's winning percentage was 20%, compared to Tiger's 30%.  If you tell me that Nicklaus was the greatest golfer of all time, I won't argue with you, and I would probably agree with you, but if you tell me that he was more dominant that Woods during their times on Golf's main stage, I might argue with you, although I would also grant you that Nicklaus nineteen second place finishes in Majors are a huge point in Jack's favor.

Just a little something to think over as we await the The Open Championship next month.

Hail, Cleveland!

From The Grandstander of June 2, 2016:

Will LeBron James, perhaps a bit miffed over the everyone's season-long love affair with Curry play like a man possessed to let everyone know that he is STILL King James?  I think that you can count on that.  

Me? I can't wait to watch the James-Irving-Love going up against Curry-Thompson-Green.  I think that we are in store for a terrific series, one that will go the distance, and one that will end the 52 year sports championship drought in Cleveland.

THE CAVS TO WIN IN SEVEN GAMES.

As the saying goes, I believe I had that.

I was semi-wrong in one respect when I said that we were "in store for a terrific series."  Yes, the series went seven games, which by definition makes this a great series, but the first six games were, to be truthful, pretty bad games.  All were blowouts, pretty much decided before the fourth quarters even began.  Only the cauldron of a seventh game produced an authentically great game.

But consider this....

• The Cavs overcame a 1-3 deficit to win this series,
• They won two games at Golden State in doing so,
• And the performance of LeBron James was positively phenomenal over those final three victories.

Not enough can be said about James.  No doubt that Steph Curry was the MVP of the league this season, but there is also no doubt - NONE -that LeBron James is the best basketball player in the world right now.  Back-to-back 41 point games and  a triple double in Game Seven.  When the chips were down and his team had no margin for error left, James produced and he produced Big Time to secure the Cavaliers first ever NBA title.  It is impossible to name, say, the five greatest NBA players of all time.  Too many great ones to narrow it down to a mere five.  But it is equally impossible to even have this little bar room discussion without including LeBron James in the discussion.

There is too much talk about this or that player's "Legacy" in a given sport these days, but if such discussions must take place, then I think we no longer need to have one about LeBron James,  His legacy has been secured.

And I cannot close this without saying how glad I am for the City of Cleveland, whose 52 year sports championship drought has come to an end.  I have many friends and some family in Cleveland, and I absolutely could not be happier for them.  I hope that all of them enjoy this victory to the fullest.

Doesn't mean that I will ever root for the Browns, though.

How the USGA Almost Screwed the Pooch

Picture this scene.  On a cold January Sunday evening, the Pittsburgh Steelers are playing the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.  In the second quarter, the Steelers score a touchdown, but Bill Belichick challenges the play.  The zebras go to the hood, examine the play, and deny Belichick's challenge.  Touchdown Steelers.  Then, midway trough the fourth quarter, with the Steelers clinging to three point lead, with nothing less than  a trip to the Super Bowl at stake, the officials come to Mike Tomlin and say something like, "We've been thinking about that touchdown, and maybe Belichick was right, so we may have to take that touchdown off the board, but we'll let you know after the final gun and the game is over."

You would say that such a scenario is ridiculous, and you would be absolutely correct, but, essentially, that is exactly what the USGA did to Dustin Johnson in the final round of the US Open at Oakmont yesterday.  If you missed it, here is what happened:

• While getting ready to putt on the fifth green, Johnson saw his ball move.  At that point, he had not "soled his putter" behind the ball, a critical point.
• Johnson stopped and called over a USGA rules official to confer.  The official asked him if he, Johnson, had "caused the ball to move".
• Johnson said that no, he had not.
• Rules official said, okay, you're good to go, no penalty.
• On the twelfth hole, another USGA functionary approached Johnson and said that they were taking another look at what happened on the fifth green, that they might assess a one stroke penalty on Johnson, and that they would let him know at the completion of the round.

Now, before the golf rules nerds gang up on me, I know that the rules of golf are sacrosanct, and that the integrity of the golfers, who call penalties themselves, are at the very heart of the game, so don't tell me about Bobby Jones calling a penalty on himself in the woods that cost him a US Open title. I get it.

However, in this case Johnson did nothing wrong.  If he said that he didn't cause the ball to move, then the bedrock integrity that the game, and the USGA, prides itself, must be taken at it's word.  Also, and here is the key, JOHNSON CONFERRED WITH A RULES OFFICIAL AT THE TIME who said No Penalty.  What is the point of having rules officials on the course if the governing body doesn't back them up, and if they don't, the time to "get it right" is at the time of the alleged infraction, not three hours later after the round has been completed.

In the end, it didn't matter, but is that really the case?  Knowing exactly how many stokes you are in the lead, or how many you are behind, certainly affects your on course strategy and how you play the game.  Credit Dustin Johnson for having the fortitude to play through with the possibility of a penalty awaiting him.  On thing for sure, though, is no one was happier that Johnson ended up finishing four strokes, later reduced to three strokes, clear of the field, than the USGA itself.  Had that one shot penalty forced a tie that would have resulted in a playoff  that would have resulted in someone else winning the Open, this would have haunted the USGA for years and years.  As it is, the entire final two plus hours of the telecast, which should have been a celebration of the USGA's showcase event at a venerable golf course, that was producing an exciting and attractive young champion was overshadowed by the Keystone Kops methods of the stuff-shirted Blue Blazers from Far Hills, NJ.

Enough of that.  Let's just salute the new Champion, Dustin Johnson.  It has been quite a journey for him to get to this point, and that second shot onto the eighteenth green was one for the ages.  Well played, Dustin Johnson!

My Oakmont Story

With the United States Open being played at the Oakmont Country Club this weekend, I thought that I would share with you my own personal experiences at this great golf course.

No, I was never a member, just in case you were wondering, but during the course of my working career at Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, I had the good fortune to be invited to play there twice, both times by customers of mine.  The best advice I received prior to the first time I played there came from my friend Bob Mill who told me "Don't even be concerned about the score.  Just go out there, hit your shots, and enjoy the experience."   That was good advice, which I followed and it enhanced my pleasure of playing there.  The course is everything that you hear everyone saying about it.  Beautiful, long, incredible bunkers, and unbelievably fast greens.  I did keep score, and I recall that in one of those rounds, we went out early in the morning, and I carded a 51 on the front nine, which pretty much amazed me.  By the second nine, however, the sun had come out, the greens had dried out, and it was like putting on marble.  I don't think I broke sixty on that nine.

There was a third time that I was invited to play, but it rained that day, and we only were able to play two holes.  We started on the back nine, and I somehow managed to bogey number ten.  On number eleven, I reached the green in three shots and somehow, miraculously, managed to drain about a fifty foot putt for a par.  Then the rains came and washed out our round, but it has enabled me to always say that there was one day when I played Oakmont in "one over par".  I don't have to mention all the other details of that day.

Enjoy the Open this year.  As of this morning, I will select Jason Day as the winner of this year's Open, but I reserve the right to take a mulligan and make another prediction at the close of the second round.