Could there have been more pressure? Zach Wilson was the Jets’ super high draft pick three years ago, anointed the team’s savior. He stunk it up pretty badly for two seasons (when he wasn’t injured), and lost the respect of his teammates due to stupid remarks in an interview, but held on enough to be tapped as backup to Aaron Rodgers for the year. AR went down on the fourth play of the season so here was Wilson again, stinking it up. Jets Nation had had enough of him. Jets’ God, Joe Namath, remarked in disgust: “I’ve seen enough of Zach Wilson.” His next poorly thrown pass or INT could, literally, have ended his career. It was hanging by that thin a thread.
So here he was last night — playing against the Super Bowl Champs in front of a testy home crowd and a national TV audience, boosted by Taylor Swift in the VIP box, so zillions of Swifties had tuned in, along with the entire football world.
So I ask you again — could there have been more pressure? I don’t see how.
So what does Wilson do? — he turns in a brilliant performance. Effective drives, grace under pressure, good decisions sharply executed. The Jets came back from a 17-0 deficit to lose by just 23-20, and, actually, almost win. A terrible penalty call went against them and a field goal attempt clanged off the goal post. Neither was Wilson’s fault and he completed 23 of 31 passes for 216 yards, 2 TD’s, no interceptions — clearly outplaying Mahomes, who was way off his game.
So is all forgiven? I wouldn’t go that far, but it was pretty impressive. Here’s the kid, followed by You-Know-Whom, who is dating tight end Travis Kelce of the Chiefs. Owl Chatter wishes the love birds (both of whom are 33) nothing but happiness. Kelce seems like a mensch, and we know he has great hands. Take good care of her, Travis.
My favorite puzzle of the week is Monday’s in The New Yorker. It’s their most challenging and it’s just hard enough to give a me a good workout but usually not impossible. They have a team of excellent constructors, including the beloved Robyn Weintraub, who usually does the easier ones, and Puzzle God Patrick Berry. Today’s was by Natan Last, who scares me, and, sure enough, I couldn’t finish it.
“Author of ‘them’” was JCO. Who knew that stands for Joyce Carol Oates? I also didn’t know “Hush-hush” was ON THE DL. DL = down low. I could only think of QT. And “Splay Anthem poet” is NATHANIAL MACKEY? Gimme a break.
But if you ever thought (or still think) that “for all intents and purposes” is “for all intensive purposes,” you will want to know that the term for such a misbelief is EGGCORN. Other good ones are rebel rouser for rabble rouser, and free reign for free rein.
Today’s NYT puzzle was about FINAL IZE, clued with “Wrap up … or a phonetic description of five long answers.” And the five answers each ended with “IZE” spelled a different way: SAMURAIS, DAILY HIGHS, BEHIND BLUE EYES, AS THE CROW FLIES, and IN DISGUISE. (“Behind Blue Eyes” is a song by The Who.)
A Rex commenter noted that the plural of samurai is samurai — not samurais. And Merriam-Webster agrees. The NYT editors just blew it!
Excuse me — how far is it to the nearest garage?
About a mile and a half as the crow flies.
How far is it if the crow has to walk and lug a flat tire?
I posted:
BEHIND BLUE EYES calls to mind the Lee Marvin line from Cat Ballou. He fell asleep drunk on his horse.
Guy: Look at your eyes.
LM: What’s wrong with my eyes?
Guy: They’re red, bloodshot.
LM: You oughta see ’em from my side.
Tim Wakefield, Red Sox pitcher, died yesterday from brain cancer. He was only 57. Only two pitchers in Red Sox history won more games for them than Wakefield: Cy Young and Roger Clemens, each of whom won 192 to Wakefield’s 186. Nobody pitched more innings (3,006) or started more games (430) for Boston than he did. Clemens was second in both categories, 230 behind in innings, and 48 behind in starts.
Wakefield was also the all-time Boston leader in losses (168), batters faced (12,971), walks (1095), hits (2,931), home runs (401), earned runs (1,480), wild pitches (125), and hit batters (176).
He pitched for Boston for 17 years, after two with the Pirates, and won exactly 200 games. He was a knuckleball pitcher. It puts less strain on the arm than other pitches, so knuckleball pitchers who have success with it can last longer. On April 27, 1993, he threw 172 pitches over 10+ innings for the Pirates against the Braves. He also threw a fastball that could reach speeds as high as (a laughable) 75 MPH. He was 45 when he retired.
Wakefield is prominent in Yankee history as well. During the 2003 ALCS, he surrendered the series-ending home run to Yankee Aaron Boone in the 11th inning. In our opinion, Boone would not be the current manager of the Yankees if not for that home run. But what do we know?
In June of 1995, Wakefield took a no-hitter against the Oakland A’s into the eighth inning, but a single by Stan Javier with one out spoiled it. He nonetheless won, 4-1, using his knuckler for all but four of his 114 pitches.
In 2010, Wakefield won Baseball’s Roberto Clemente Award. It’s a big deal. Each team nominates one player who has done the most for his community and charitable causes. Then, from the 30 nominees, one winner is selected. Wakefield was nominated eight times before winning. Much of his charitable work revolved around children.
Tim is survived by his wife Stacy and their two kids, Trevor and Brianna, none of whom could come close to hitting a knuckler.
Rest in peace, Wake.
It’s a heavy baseball day. Joey Votto has played 17 seasons in the majors, all with Cincy. He’s had a very good career — .294 lifetime average, 356 homers, and good power numbers all around. Hall of Fame? Maybe.
It’s not official that he’s retiring this year, but his contract is up and his numbers were way off. So a lot of folks think this season was his last. He gave an emotional/funny speech last week at Cincy’s last home game of the season and the fans ate it up. And yesterday in St. Louis, the Reds were playing their last game of the season: conceivably, Joey’s last game ever. Emotional, right? Meaningful and profound in a way, no?
Except he got thrown out of the game by the umpire for arguing a strike call after his first at bat!! D’oh! Oh, man — say it ain’t so, Joe. What a way to go out. In case the ump might be targeted in some way by angry fans, and because it was true, he took full blame for the ejection — said he just blew it with his behavior, and the ump was right to throw him out. Classy.
Best of luck to you, Joey Votto. May your future be bright.
Good night everybody. Thanks for dropping by.
The Wellington Files 