NCAA Tournament
We will have the complete "Last-In, First-Out" contest entries posted in the comments at noon-ish or so.
There's still time to play, and the rules are easy. Simply pick the last double-digit seed to be eliminated and the first No. 1 seed to be bounced. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.
> Here are five things we thing you should know before turning in your bracket.
First, know that Duke's path is very familiar. The first two rounds are in Greenville, S.C. The next two would potentially be in Madison Square Garden. Each is a fine setting for shooters, something Duke is blessed with in abundance.
> PedictionMachine.com is, as you might suspect, a website that makes sports predictions. Their premise is to simulate each game 20,000 times to calculate likelihoods. PredictionMachine.com's winner is Villanova.
> The first game is today at 12:15. A few years ago, the Mrs. 5-at-10 picked an entire bracket on where she wanted our son to go to college. Since Auburn - a clear Ivy League of Lee County, Alabama nominee - was not in the field she had Duke, Vanderbilt, Cornell and Georgia Tech in the Final Four. Duke won it all, but let's just say that bracket was not PredictionMachine.com material. There are two brainiac games today: Princeton-Notre Dame is the opener and Vandy-Northwestern is this afternoon around 4:30 or so.
> We are excited to see Lonzo Ball play. We are more excited to see Lonzo's dad LaVar play Charles Barkley in one-on-one. The Ball-Barkley drama is just one more reason that Barkley will be must watch TV during this tournament.
> Speaking of TV, here are the channels for those with EPB cable in the greater Chattanooga area: CBS is channel 312; TNT is 324; TBS is 345; TruTV is 346. The channel numbers for the other various cable packages in and around the 423 can be found here.
FILE - In this June 28, 2016 file photo, Atlanta Braves' Ender Inciarte follows through on a run-base hit in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Indians, in Atlanta. Inciarte avoided salary arbitration with the Atlanta Braves, agreeing to a $30,525,000, five-year contract. The deal, announced Friday, Dec. 23 covers four years of arbitration eligibility and one year of free agency, and gives Atlanta a club option for 2022. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File) Cold spring
Yes, it's cold outside. Really cold. In fact, we were pretty surprised they didn't call school one day earlier this week. There was a fair amount of snow on the roads in our neighborhood.
(Please, before you start detailing the 8-mile, one-way walk that was uphill in each direction in 12-degree temperatures with the neighborhood dogs chasing you, make sure to notice we didn't say they should have called school, we said we were surprised they didn't.)
Want to know the other thing that is wicked cold this spring?
Yep, your Atlanta Braves.
An offseason of moves designed to help the youth movement progress while being more competitive than 2016 have not yield positive results in Orlando to this point. Yes, here's the spring caveat that, yes, it's spring and the games are meaningless. But the tendencies of spring must at least be acknowledged.
The Braves are 6-12, and the staggering hole has been the back half of the rotation.
Julio Teheran and Mike Foltynewicz have been lights out. Jamie Garcia has been solid. Bartolo Colon, R.A. Dickey and Aaron Blair have been dreadful. Each has made multiple starts, and each has an ERA higher than 6.
Feeling the Draft
Todd McShay and Mel Kiper have started making the rounds.
McShay made waves Wednesday, saying that Alabama tight end O.J. Howard had catapulted into the top 5. McShay also has UNC quarterback Mitch Trubisky falling to 25 overall.
Of the big things Kiper thinks is Christian McCaffrey has moved into the No. 2 spot on the running back board. Interesting stuff.
As for the next big thing on the horizon, Clemson's pro day is today and the biggest issue has nothing to do with quarterback Deshaun Watson, who we believe to be the best QB prospect in this class.
The biggest number to circulate from Clemson today will be Mike Williams' 40 time.
If the big-bodied wide out - 6-3, 220-plus pounds - clocks a sub-4.55 40 time, he will vault up boards, and could be in play at No. 5 for the Titans.
That is especially true since Tennessee has added three free agent defensive backs, including a big-dollar deal for Logan Ryan, who left the Patriots to come to Nashville.
This and that
- The Conz - Cuonzo Martin - is back in the SEC. The former UT coach is now the head man at Missouri, with a seven-year, $21 million contract. Wowser, that's a lot of coin for a guy who was pretty good at Missouri State and had a great three-week run at the end of his time in Knoxville.
- Cool scene at Howard on Wednesday, as the Hustlin' Tigers baseball team hosted their first home game in seven years. Here's TFP sports editor Stephen Hargis' report on it.
- Also in today's TFP is this excellent story from TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer. Worth your time.
- While we are here, if you missed Wednesday's Press Row interview with former Baylor School golfer Keith Mitchell, who finished tied for 11th last week on the PGA Tour, here's the podcast. It was a fun discussion.
Today's question
We have a mailbag spot open. Yes, that is not a question, but you know the drill.
We are taking hoops entries until noon, so there's that too.
With the ball being tipped, we're open for a Rushmore of NCAA tournament moments.
Go and enjoy the day.