Weekend winners
The NFL. More on this in a minute of course, but wow, as a large chunk of the country was still homebound from last week's Iceagaddeon, the theater and drama from a weekend of divisional playoff games was great. Sure, the Ravens pulled away from a 10-10 halftime tie against Houston, but the rest of the games -- capped by the greatness of K.C.'s win over Bufallo on Sunday night -- were thrilling. How big are those numbers going to be? I bet Sunday night reaches into the plus-40 million area.
The SEC hoops big three. UK, Auburn and UT are Final Four good, especially at home. If I said Bruce Pearl had the most job security of any major college coach in one of the big team sports, who would you nominate to counter that assertion?
Stanford women's hoops coach Tara VanDerveer, who now has more college basketball wins than even Coach K. VanDerveer has 1,203 career Ws after her team whipped Oregon State over the weekend.
Nick Dunlap. Dunlap, a 20-year-old sophomore at Alabama, became the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event since Phil Mickelson did it 33 years ago. Cool story.
Michigan football fans. Seriously, a natty for the Wolverines and now the Lions -- yes, the Lions -- are one of the last four NFL teams standing. Go figure.
Weekend losers
Has anyone gone from toast of the broadcasting universe to panned parrot like Tony Romo has over the last year or so. Egad. There was a time -- not that long ago mind you -- when he was the hottest name in broadcasting, right?
Alabama's football roster. You figured there would be some movement when the GOAT announced he was calling it a career, but the decommitments and the portaling continue at a landslide pace. Here's more.
Fan behavior. I get it, emotions get the best of all of us at certain times, but it's never a good look to throw things at the players -- like the heart-broken Bills Mafia did with those snowballs/ice rocks that were being launched at the Chiefs on Sunday night. Plus, THE crowd rushing the floor after THE Ohio State beat Caitlin Clark and Iowa was close to causing injury to the biggest current women's sports star in team sports.
My NFL sides picks. Granted we won the totals and the basketball picks from the weekend, but a bagel-for-4 on the divisional games in terms of spreads and sides really put a negative spin on what was a great week for the Plays. Alas.
Tyler Bass. Yep, kicking field goals is the loneliest job in all of sports. And Tyler "Sea" Bass is now on one of those all-time lists of gag jobs. Period.
Best we got
Granted, I was pleased with last week's social media wildfire announcement that there will be a Top Gun 3.
In fact, it may suck on ice, and that's OK. But know this: I will be there opening night. "Top Gun: Maverick," after all, did in a lot of ways, save the entire movie industry after the COVID-19 isolations.
(Side question: With Ethan Hunt, Jack Reacher and now Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, does Tom Cruise's trio of serial characters top even Harrison Ford's trio of Indiana Jones, Han Solo and Jack Ryan? Discuss.)
But the Maverick love does lead me back to sports, and there are seminal sportsing moments that you realize are going to be all-timers as they are unfolding before your amazed eyes.
The Chiefs' 27-24 win over Buffalo fell into that category, right there with the Duke-UK Elite Eight game in the early 1990s, Tiger's memorable Masters win over Chris DiMarco that featured the Nike commercial chip on 16, Braves-Twins in Game 7 in '91, and several Orange Bowls, including Da U beating Nebraska in the early 1980s and losing to THE OSU in the early 2000s.
Every play feels like a game changer. Every shot feels magnified. Every possession feels like a must score (or a must stop, depending who has the ball.)
In fact, it's a needed-reminder of why we watch the passion and drama and theater that is sports at these levels.
And the excellence from those two teams -- and the emotion it inspires and the heart-break it ultimately generates -- Sunday was every bit as all-time great.
Think of the story lines and the punctuation this morning with the dozen or so hours of reflection.
Patrick Mahomes has been an NFL starting QB1 for six seasons. Patrick Mahomes will make his sixth consecutive trip to the AFC title game. That's amazing. True or false on a Monday: If Patty Mahomes retired to do even more StateFarm commercials at the end of this playoff run, dude has already done enough to be a Hall of Famer. I lean toward true.
Speaking of Maverick, it would have been cool if someone had told Jason Kelce -- the All-Pro bro of Travis, who apparently is dating some singer of some renown; anyone got any guesses? -- "I don't like that look, Mav" as Kelce was shirtless and pounding beers in the luxury suite and bellowing like a caveman after his brother scored a TD. "It's the only one I got," would of course been Jason Kelce's reply.
Has anyone's rep gotten a more 180-degree, late-career reincarnation than Andy Reid's, considering that for the longest time in Philly, he was considered a big-game no-show. Also of note, if I ever meet Andy Reid in a normal encounter, I am 100% asking him to explain the StateFarm bundling "with those nuggies." Put that in the books.
Josh Allen is him. Sure, he has never made a conference title game, but that's as much about the Chiefs' excellence as it is Allen's failures. And that was especially true Sunday, when three monstrous drops, including a critical long pass gaffe from Stephon Diggs.
Chiefs-Bills is clearly Pats-Colts of this generation. Two Hall of Famer QB1s. Two great fan bases. Clear early dominance in the rivalry. Extreme motivation. All-world ancillary pieces on each side. An all-time coach. (Reid may never get to Coach Hoodie's all-time Lombardi numbers, but Reid is closer to a spot on the Super Bowl-era NFL coaches Rushmore than most know, friends.)
And then there is of course this: Is there a more tortured sports fan base out there than these Buffalo Bills followers, who were clearly despondent after the loss? Yikes.
This and that
-- Speaking of Auburn hoops, it's clear what's driving this engine. As deep as Auburn is -- and they play 10 players 15-plus minutes per game -- and as overwhelming as the Tigers' homecourt edge has been (they are 25-2 at home over the last 18 months), it's clearly AU's defense that has Pearl's posse among the best in the country. In conference games this year, AU leads the SEC is 3-point % defense, 2-point % defense and turnovers forced.
-- Dueling mayor editorials over the weekend as Weston Wamp and Tim Kelly square off on the Lookouts Stadium deal.
-- UTC got a road W and some nice exposure in college hoops on Sunday.
Today's questions
Weekend winners and losers, go.
As for multiple choice Monday, let's go here:
Which of the four teams left in the NFL playoffs do you want to win the Super Bowl?
-- Chiefs.
-- Ravens.
-- 49ers.
-- Lions.
(Everyone without a true vested interest -- be it rooting or wagering -- is backing the Lions, right?)
As for today, Jan. 22, let's review.
Diane Lane is 59 today. Well done, God.
Guy Fieri is 56 today.
Rushmore of TV cooks/chefs.
Go, and have a little fun, will ya?