OK, friends, you know the drill.
We do the 5-at-10, Mondays-through-Fridays, come rain of shine. Come vacation or sickness. Come snow days - both real and the Hamilton County version - and hangover days. That's how we roll. (And we're closing in on 2,000 consecutive if these things, so it's not like we can stop now.)
Well, the 5-at-10 clan is out west - we have moved on from the Grand Tetons (and no TC, it has nothing to do with Jennifer Love Hewitt). We've also now moved on from the North end of the park that included a long trek around Old Faithful, a trip to the Grand Prismatic Spring, two nights in a teepee in Gardiner, Mont., and an awesome, Awesome, AWESOME white-water rafting trip in the pouring rain down the Yellowstone River. Great times.
All that said, it ultimately means we're going to unload a quick 5-at-10 this week. Today, we'll offer five quick Thursday thoughts on various topics. Hey, it is a Thursday. And still again, let's give a tip of the visor to Weston Wamp and Swell Wells Guthrie, who are manning the wheel while the regular Press Row hosts are on vacation with their families. To the Thursday Thoughts:
1. Porker's Bar-B-Que is closing its downtown restaurant. Our thought here is, "You broke my heart Fredo. I know it was you." The sadness, rage, pain and uncertainness that Michael Corleone shares when he kiss his older brother Fredo in Godfather II (the best sequel of all time, and this is not up for debate) is shared by the many Chattanooga's who made Porker's a weekday staple in the lunch rotation. Hey, maybe than can come up with some hip micro-brew-pub-fern place with some sort of organic soy chips with goat cheese and salsa app that is to die for. Someone get me Luca Brasi on the blower.
2. Pittsburgh rookie running back James Connor has the best-selling jersey in the NFL right now. Our thought here is,"Awesome." Connor's No. 30 has zoomed to the top, passing Tom Brady, Dak Prescott and Marshawn Lynch, because a) the Steelers fan base is pretty clutch and b) dude has battled through Leukemia to become a second-round NFL pick. Well-played, Mr. Connor. Well-played indeed.
3. The Atlanta Braves powering through their toughest 19-game stretch of the season and acquitting themselves with a great deal of respect. Atlanta finished 8-11 - and that's with a 0-5 showing against Houston and the Chicago Cubs - and is 8.5 games behind Colorado for the final NL wildcard spot. Our thought here is (and this one has been true for most of the summer, be it on Thursday nor any other day that ends in 'Y') "This Braves team has improved and remains a legit ace away from being a tough out."
4. Speaking of the Braves, Atlanta sent struggling shortstop Dansby Swanson to Triple-A on Wednesday. Our thought here is, "Physically that makes sense because he can only get better with the bat by getting at-bats." And playing time for a fringe contender is tough for a shortstop hitting .215 when Johan Camargo is killing it. If we could be allowed a follow-up thought, it would be "Handling this probably for Swanson psyche is more important than working out the kinks in his swing." The worst thing possible here is for Swanson to think the Braves have lost confidence in him. Yes, he's lost a lot of confidence in himself,and that's never good. But if you are an employee of any operation, and you think management has lost confidence in your abilities, man, that can wreck you.
5. Julio Jones hiring a dive team to recover an earring he lost jet skiing. Somehow we never think Lance Alworth or Don Hutson back in the day had this issue. That said, our thought here is "That's understandable." Hey it's not like this is a $12 pair of hoop rings he got from The Dollar Store. This was a $100,000 diamond earring for Pete's Sake. Now if you want to debate the merits of buying six-figure jewelry, that's fine and dandy too.
We will conclude today offering a staggering stat on baseball's best overall team and a fun birthday:
The Dodgers are an eye-popping 29-31 when trailing this season. That's a .483 winning percentage, which is better than the overall winning percentage of 13 other MLB teams.
Happy 24th birthday to Jordan Spieth. Been a pretty stellar week for the lad, don't you think? (If you need a Rushmore, let's go with Rushmore of best athletes worldwide 25-and-under. Go)
Feel free to leave a thought, share a topic or offer a mailbag entry.
Go.