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So here we are
The tweaks and twerks of the Lookouts Stadium venture have me befuddled.
Vote yay or nay and state your case.
But the tap-dancing that all of the mouth-pieces in local government are offering is nauseating.
We are so far past the 11th hour we are at the 24th hour and now we are offering "tweaks" so some blowhard can have his/her name on the record.
We are at a tragic place that claiming a political victory is more important than a moral or fiscal victory.
Egad.
Shut the stadium down or push it forward. Period.
I am forever hopeful the Lookouts are here for my kids' kids. But that is on us now.
All the political stuff, however, is posturing. And, dear Lord, I wish there was a true leader in our community in this time of transition because Tim Kelly is a jellyfish who is an eight-figure progressive and Weston is all about Weston.
I am happy to see that it looks like they pushed forward on something that could be great and also assuredly adds value — the Lookouts are cool — to our community.
But that's me.
Math is hard
So that was the rationalization from Jordan Spieth about his DQ from the PGA event last weekend.
Cool.
But it also leaves me with a few questions.
Man, how much does perception shape issues like this? Granted, past performance matters, but still.
What if Ian Poulter signed the wrong card? What if Patrick Reed did it?
Spieth is beloved and appears to be a good dude, but the "math is hard" excuse is a bunch of bobbycock.
Jordan Spieth has played roughly 100,000 rounds of golf — at least — and he signs a card with the wrong score?
I have a very good friend on Signal who has a theory. It is based on the thought that all the folks everyone loves are frauds and their best attribute is hiding their shortcomings. Maybe so, and in some ways we need to discuss this in the moment.
Jordan Spieth, like every professional golfer you can ever interview or listen to, knows every shot he makes after every round. Listen to an interview after a round of an accomplished golfer. He or she can tell you the club, the distance, the result and the ways the caddy did or did not excel. It's uncanny. I have sat in a multitude of interview rooms and heard a golfer describe every shot in vivid detail.
But Jordan Spieth signs a wrong card, and we all shrug our shoulders?
Why? Because we like him?
Which leads us to a bigger conversation. Spieth's DQ was by the letter of golf's rules. So that is as it should be. It also has generated a lot of conversation about rules in sports.
Is the DQ on signing the wrong card in golf the "worst" rule in professional sports? I don't think so, for the reasons I listed above.
So what is the worst rule in pro sports? I have a few thoughts — some long-standing, some relatively new — but I want to make sure you have your say. I will start with these, and yes one of them is a college football rule, but considering the era, college football is a professional sport too:
— PI in college football is at most a 15-yard penalty. (When you are better served to cheat — Hi, Jordan — on a 50-plus-yard pass, why would you not cheat if you are beat?)
— While we are here, college football should adopt the "two-feet" rule for catches on the sideline
— Half the distance to the goal. Bleep that.
— Fumble into the end zone? (Got no problem with this one actually, because if you want a TD, hold on to the stinking ball.)
Thoughts?
Playoff clarity?
So the powers that be in the college football world approved the 5+7 model for the upcoming college football playoff. (Pay site.)
That setup allows the five highest-ranked conference champs to be invited and the rest of the 12-team field to be the highest-ranked seven at-large teams.
This structure screams of the power players — looking at you Sankey and Pettite — because there is a very real chance that the ACC, the Big 12, whatever will be of the Pac-2 and the best Group of Five champ will be fighting for three spots. Period.
And the rest will be a slew of familiar programs that will be invited because Georgia is Georgia, THE Ohio State is THE Ohio State and Texas is Texas.
Sankey and his power players however are going to have their say today in a meeting with other CFP decision makers.
From the article in The Athletic linked above: "Sources said they expect Wednesday's meeting of the commissioners who make up the CFP Management Committee to be quite contentious, with Big Ten and SEC leaders expected to lay out what they want in the new CFP contract that begins in 2026. One said they expect the Big Ten and SEC to push for revenue shares larger than those given to the Big 12 and ACC, creating further separation between the two groups. The other source said they thought one or both of the leagues might demand multiple automatic qualifiers per year — even as many as three or four for one conference."
So there you go.
And yes, to quote Gordon Gekko, "Greed is good."
This and that
— Yep, when you talk about Fight Club, Fight Club fights you back. We went bagel-for-3 Tuesday after all that hullabaloo about Jay's Plays. The lesson, as always, is I'm an idiot.
— The transition for Alabama football is about to be a spectacle, and every non-Bamer is going to enjoy it. We will discuss this later.
Today's questions
Which way Wednesday starters here:
— Which NBA star will be the face of the league moving forward?
— Which conference has the most say in the CFP discussions?
— Did Jordan Spieth make a mistake?
You know the drill. Answer some which ways and then ask some which ways.
As for today, well, Alan Rickman would have been 78 today. What a great villain.
Rushmore of likable villains in movies. Go.