Olympic Caffeine Consumption

7,269

Number of Starbucks cafes Winter has visited since 1997.

28

Winter’s single-day record before he was filmed as the subject of the 2007 documentary Starbucking. The most memorable part of “Starbucking” is watching as Winter goes for his record 29 in a single day in the Los Angeles area. Winter, who has to drink a coffee at each location he visits, shakes and dry-heaves his way to the finish line.

171

Starbucks cafes — every Manhattan location — that Mark Malkoff visited in a single day.

7

Mark Malkoff had to average a Starbucks every seven minutes to pull off his feat. Doing this in Manhattan is brutal logistically.

So which is the more impressive feat? Logistically, Mark Malkoff’s 171 is the winner — getting around Manhattan at a Starbucks-every-seven-minutes rate is a brutal challenge. Mark rode a bike for most of it, and bummed a ride off a friend with a car for some of the later spots.

For an Olympic caffeine-consuming feat, though, I’m sticking with Winter. Mark’s rule was that he had to make a purchase at each store and consume part of it — he ordered biscotti at some locations, and I’m betting he didn’t finish a lot of his coffees.

Winter, on the other hand, sets strict ground rules for each Starbucks visit. He must drink at least one 4-ounce coffee at each place he visits (he can substitute an espresso shot if he’s in the mood). He's either suffering greatly to accomplish his single-day record, or he's doing an impressive acting job. Plus, Winter's been at it for years. His Starbucks-visiting hobby is more than a decade old, so you have to give some credit to the original.

Nearing the Century Mark

99
Age of Bill Werber, the oldest living ex-major league baseball player, subject of this article Storied Career (registration required) by Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe. Werber played with Babe Ruth on the New York Yankees, and on the Boston Red Sox from 1934-1936.

.370
Werber's team-high batting average for the Cincinnati Reds in the 1940 World Series; the Reds won in seven over Detroit.

40
Stolen bases for Werber in 1934, tops in the American League for that year. Runner-up Jo-Jo White of Detroit had 28. Werber also led the American League in stolen bases the next year with 29, and in 1937 with 35, playing for the Philadelphia Athletics (tied for first with Ben Chapman of the Red Sox/Washington Senators).

150
Days left until June 20, 2008, when Werber will hit the century mark.

20
Likely number of years Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig's tenure is likely to last. Last week, MLB's owners extended Selig's contract through 2012; he has been the commissioner since 1992.
Werber, from the looks of things, is underwhelmed by Selig's tenure. In the Edes article, Werber says, "I wrote Mr. Selig a letter and I told him something ought to be done [about Johnny Damon's hair in 2004]. I've written Mr. Selig a number of letters. I have copies in my file. He always responds, but he never says anything."

'We Are Marshall'

75
People who died on the crash of Southern Airways Flight 932 on Nov. 14, 1970 near Ceredo, W. Va., including 37 students and eight coaching staff members on the Marshall University football team. The tragedy and its aftermath are the subject of "We Are Marshall."

2-8
Record of Marshall's football team the following season, with a roster primarily consisting of underclassmen and players from other Marshall athletic teams.

24
Consecutive winning seasons for Marshall's football team between 1984 and 2004, a majority of those years on the I-AA level.

1997
Year that Marshall's football team ascended from I-AA to I-A, with a team that included NFL players Chad Pennington and Randy Moss.

7.2
User rating of "We Are Marshall" on imdb.com.

5
My 10-scale rating for "We Are Marshall." The story that it's based on is powerful, of course, and the Hollywood version is absorbing enough. But if you've seen most 21st-century major-studio based-on-a-true-story sports movies like "Remember the Titans" or "Glory Road," then you've pretty much seen this movie. You don't really get to know the surviving players all that well -- coach Jack Lengyel and university president Donald Dedmon are the only people who get much focus.

Should We Talk About the Weather?

2 mph
Wind speed in Monument Beach, Mass. yesterday at 4 p.m.

40 mph
Speed of wind gusts during several storms today at Monument Beach.

65 mph
Rate at which thunderstorms traveled toward Cape Cod from the Southwest.

40 feet
Height above sea level at the Little Bay Park overlook just before the railroad tracks.

Yesterday on a walk through Little Bay Park, the inlet water was as smooth as glass -- a rarity for the ocean, even when there's a barrier in every direction. Little Bay Park is 20 acres, and the woods go right to the shore. There are two peninsulas with good views of the bay. In the stillness yesterday afternoon, you could hear gulls take off from the water several hundred yards away.
Driving along the isthmus from Mashnee Island today, I could see the Railroad Bridge one moment, then halfway down the isthmus, I the rain was so torrential I couldn't see much more than 10 feet ahead. While lightning struck and thunderclaps boomed about a second later, wind whipped water into the road, and I couldn't tell if it was ocean water or rain water.




The inlet water at Little Bay was as smooth as glass yesterday.










At this overlook in Little Bay Park, the woods come right up to the shoreline.