5-at-10: Friday mailbag on LeBron, tradition, ultimate golf foursomes and summer requests

Friday, May 31, 2013

Gang, great week, and thanks for all the feedback.

It has been such a strangely full week we did not even have time to fully tip our cap to one of the show's favorites, Mr. Les Miles, who when asked about the 13-1 vote by SEC coaches for an eight-game schedule said it was unanimous.

God Bless Les, and God Bless the United States of America.

From the "Talks too much" studios, see if you can guess what we are now....

photo LeBron James

From JordanRules

Jay,

You know I read your LeBron worship, and sometimes I think you do it just to poke at me and some of the others.

Is that it, or do you really love LeBron this much? Why? The guy has the same number of titles as Dirk and Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce for crying outloud?

He's a good player who is a physical freak. Why all the James love?

Jordan -

We expected to hear from you, and in truth, LeBron's monster third quarter in last night's Heat win takes a little of the pressure off this morning. Whew. (Side note: LeBron was slap money last night, and the third quarter was a clinic. Period. Dude had a hand in 25 of the Heat's 30 points in the decisive third quarter. And say what you want, pro-LeBron or anti-LeBron, but to watch LeBron after halftime, in the most important quarter of the season for his team, LeBron took over. It was a far cry from the guy that at times was in the shadows two years ago in the Finals.)

We like LeBron. Not as much as the draft of course but you know this.

We like LeBron because he is the best athlete in sports right now, and we respect greatness.

We like LeBron because even with his immense physical gifts he plays the game the right way.

We like LeBron because he is the most unselfish superstar in recent memory.

We like LeBron because we want to watch athletes and teams pursue all-time excellence.

Now we do not necessarily like the Heat. We like Wade, but we think Chris Bosh is kind of clownish (Side note: Do you really need to scream after every basket? You're 7-feet tall and make $17 million per year, you should be expected to make 5-footers.) We are not a fan of Pat Riley, since his rough-and-tackle style of the mid-1990s set the NBA back a decade.

But we like LeBron, so we're pulling for the Heat.

Now let us ask this to you JR or those that are anti-LeBron?

We told you why we like LeBron, so tell us why all the LeBron hate?

Is it the Decision? And if that's the case, then OK, but if the worst mistake any of us make is a terrible PR decision and a public break-up that raises seven figures for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, well OK.

And know this, the NBA needs Miami to win this series. What's the over/under on the number of people who are going to watch a Pacers-Spurs series with those games tipping off around 9 Eastern? We'll put the Neilsen number near 3.0 or roughly a third of a Sunday Night NFL game.

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From Joey C.

We were talking the other day about who would be your dream golf foursome, and the more I think about that question, the more I think it is interesting.

Take my friend's list of Tiger, Jack and Tom Watson, you see that list and you know he loves golf. Another guy said Kate Upton, Beyonce and Jennifer Aniston. He's not as into golf.

So who you got 5er and why?

Joey,

Thanks for the question and for reading the 5-at-10. Feel free to swing by often while it still don't cost nothing.

We got crunched this morning with kids and swirling work stuff, and your question is so money we do not want to rush it.

We know Charles Barkley is going to be involved, because we know that...

a) Chuck is a fun guy

b) Chuck loves to gamble

c) Chuck is a terrible golfer, so we could laugh and make some coin - good times.

We also polled TFP golf writing ace David Uchiyama on his ideal foursomes, and Uch broke it down accordingly:

From Uch "With the understanding that we could actually do it in a $10 mil charity event tomorrow at THC or Pebble...

Clint Eastwood (he has an ownership stake in the Pebble Beach Co), Joe Montana, Author Sherman Alexi (Fantastic Native American writer.)

Still living but couldn't play: Ali, Nelson Mandela, The Queen!

Deceased: Lincoln, Einstein, and Thomas Jefferson

We'll be back with our list and feel free to add yours.

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From Billy-In-Brainerd...not really a question, but more of a request:

Jay-G,

While writing from the beach while on vacation [the nerve you have], you mentioned the "summer lull of the 5@10". Please allow me to propose a couple of options to get us to August and football.

First, as one of the 5 topics, you could give us a "Chaos" update every day. Johnny MocsFan or not, new coach Will Wade is generating a lot of interest in UTC Men's Basketball.

Or pick a day [Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday], and discuss 5 things about UTC Athletics: Mocs Football, Mocs Basketball, Lady Mocs Basketball, AD David Blackburn, other Mocs/Lady Mocs sports.

UTC overload? Yeah, maybe, but it is only for a couple of months.

Thanks for the consideration and keep up the good work that is T-FP Sports,

B-I-B, UTC '82

Billy,

All requests are given fair and even measure. This is our family-oriented, interweb-based sports column - all of ours - we just run the point.

The 5-at-10 would not be anywhere near as fun - and would have been folded long ago in all likelihood - without you filling the lane and Spy and Chas9 telling us to turn our music down, and looking to some of the regular experts like JMC for cartoon wisdom and OG for wrestling knowledge (how was Ric Flair?) and Todd962 for hangover help or Jomo for his anti-UT rants and C-Vol and the rest of the Johnny Vols Fans for the pro-UT views.

Even the old-school guys like Debo and Oso and EC and Dawg and P-Davi and the rest that lurk around every now and then but were there from the beginning have a stake in this thing. Not a financial stake mind you but a stake none the less.

So we're always looking to make this better and suggestions like this help.

Let us kick it around with some of our beat guys - we do not want to step on toes - and see what we come up with, but we can see a hybrid-sort of possibility here. Maybe a "5 mostly serious questions with..." type of deal with some of the UTC people and go from there. Important stuff like asking Coach Wade who is his biggest influence, what is his biggest worry for next season and who had the better debut album, G-n-R, the Beastie Boys or Kanye.

Thanks for reading and the ideas.

And you know what, we're three weeks from 700 consecutive Mondays-through-Fridays of this little thing and thanks to all of you folks that make it fun.

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From Chad,

A friend of mine showed me your blog a few weeks ago, and I really enjoy it.

I don't know if this has been asked in the past or if you covered this recently, but as a lifelong Vols fan, I have a bunch of questions about the new staff.

But the question I want to know the answer to most is there any end to Alabama's dominance in sight?

Thanks and keep up the good work.

Chad,

Thanks for the question and feel to ask later about the Vols. (Side note: UT football coach Butch Jones continues to rake on the recruiting trail, and as Downtown Patrick Brown told us in today's TFP that the Vols' 2014 class is ranked No. 1 by Rivals.com. Yes, it is incredibly early and there will be a ton of changes between now and then, but right now, any good news is especially good for Johnny Vols Fans everywhere. Side note II: When a prospect commits to UT, do you think the coaches get together, do a little celebrating, then say the prospect's name with a long pause before yelling, "Butch's, man, Butch's."

Chad, as for the Bama dominance, we could craft long and flowing paragraphs with attempts at humor, but let's go with this:

Alabama's dominance is here for the foreseeable future. Too much talent, and too much Saban.

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From AUFollower

Jay,

Love the 5-at-10 -- thanks for doing it everyday.

Did you see the plan to replace the trees at Toomer's Corner? What in the world...

This is the best they could come up with?!?!

What are your thoughts and thanks.

(Looking forward to you and Paschall getting back on the radio soon.)

AUFollower,

Thanks for the kind words, and yes, we did see the announcement that Auburn has replaced the famed oaks that were poisoned by that Alabama nut job (his name is barred from these parts) with.... wait for it...

Three concrete polls.

Yep, they erected three concrete poles into a triangle and have put wires across them to catch any toilet paper celebrating Auburn fans may throw. So, by doing this they officially have allowed that crack pot to end the tradition of rolling Toomer's.

OK, let's back up just a moment. Throwing toilet paper into trees to celebrate anything seems like a pretty odd and out there tradition, we'll grant you that. But it was Auburn's tradition, and as silly as it may seem the AU folks embraced it.

But, even while we could turn a blind eye to the silliness in part because of the tradition, it's going to be hard to restart a tradition that is even sillier. So it goes. Hey, maybe it will stick and people will embrace the new. (That's what they said with New Coke and we saw how that worked.)

Rolling concrete poles with wires? Curse you Howie Upchuck or whatever your name is.

Discuss and enjoy the weekend.