Props to all
It's Super Bowl week. You may have heard a little about it.
Let's take two angles before we enter our contest reminder.
First, let's start here. What does this mean for Tom Brady?
It would be six Super Bowl titles. Six. Same number of titles that Jordan dropped. And in a lot of ways, do the similarities not extend a little further.
Each won every title with the same head coach, and each of those head coaches are considered among the best ever.
Each is going to finish among the top five in most of the meaningful individual stat numbers in terms to their positions.
Each has become more effective in the latter stages of their careers.
Jordan is almost universally considered the GOAT in basketball. A majority of the hold outs go toward older, bigger players, be it Kareem or Bill Russell or whomever. For some - Hi Stewwie - who believe Brady is not the GOAT, the results of this game likely has little to do with Brady's legacy. And that's OK.
(Side question: Is there a more diverse GOAT discussion that quarterback GOAT. How many baseball answers to you get? Ruth. A handful of others. Hoops Goat is pretty universal. QB GOAT, well, there's the Montana Camp, the Brady Camp, the Manning Camp, the old-school Unitas Camp and then some outlying factions like Team Marino, Team Rodgers, and a few other dudes.)
So our question this day, and we'll remind you below, is who has the most to gain Sunday if it's not Brady or Bill Belichick. As for something to gain, well, why not give the Super props contest a shot. It don't cost nothing' gang.
Here are the rules. Most correct answers out of 10 wins the prize pack, which will include some TFP swag lunch gift card to a fern bar-type establishment and maybe another trinket or three. On the open-ended questions, the Price Is Right rules are in effect. Meaning on question 1 of "How many passing yards will Tom Brady have in Super Bowl LII" if you answer 301 and he throws for 300, the person who guessed 1 is closer than the person who guessed 301. Deal? Deal. (And yes, the over/unders set by Vegas are one side or the other, but considering the number of folks we expect to play, 10 either/ors could set us up for a lot of ties. As always it's free to play, so whatcha waiting for?)
1. Tom Brady's passing yards.
2. Person to score the first points of Super Bowl LII. (Please specify any offensive player or kicker. If you want to say defensive player, that includes everyone else and covers all returns, defensive scores and safeties.)
3. How long in seconds will the national anthem last?
4. Patriots minus-5, who you got?
5. Justin Timberlake's first song during the halftime performance.
6. Who will be the MVP?
7. Which will be longer: Longest made field goal, the first punt or longer pass completion?
8. The Eagles player with the most yards from scrimmage (rushing or receiving only) will be?
9. How many official sacks will be made?
10. Total points scored, over/under 47.5.
(FYI: We've had about two dozen entries so far.)
Two quick Hoops notes
Let's bounce some round balls.
First, can we please stop the "Warriors could get a meeting with LeBron" talk. If the Warriors cleared enough cap space, or if LeBron agreed to taking whatever they could offer - Forbes said LeBron earned $86 million in 2017 and has a net worth close to half a billion - it's impossible to think of how that helps LeBron James.
We all know that LeBron is very image conscience and wants to craft a legacy that stands among the best all-time.
If he goes to Golden State and wins the next five titles, eight career titles would not impress anyone considering the way he would have barnacled them with the S.S. Warriors. And on the other end, why in the world would Golden State want LeBron. The Warriors have crafted a beautiful and efficient style that moves the ball and starts beyond the arc.
LeBron's skill set is not applicable to that style, especially when you consider what the Warriors would have to jettison to create space. It's hard to imagine any way that would work, for either side.
As for the other hoop story line, it was great to read TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer catching up with Will Wade, the former UTC coach who is having a very good season in his first year at LSU.
LSU had little for Tennessee last night in large part because a) UT is pretty doggone good and b) LSU was short-handed because of some discipline issues.
We've offered this before, and we'll offer it again, but what a stinky year for a lot of SEC hoops fan bases with programs having truly memorable seasons for the SEC tournament to be in St. Louis.
If this puppy was in Nashville or the A-T-L, think how many more UT and Auburn fans - teams that are currently tied for second and first in the SEC standings respectively - would be making plans to attend?
Speaking of the SEC
Well, there's not a lot of college football moving and shaking, which seems a little surreal since we are less than a week away from actual signing day.
(The early signing period has sucked a lot of the normal buzz from this time of the year for a lot of Johnny College Football Fans, right? So with that in mind her are some updates on SEC recruiting form various 247sports.com reporters.)
With that we did a little online research (don't get spoiled Spy) and found a couple of interesting lists. Here, from Bovada.com, are the most recent odds to win the Heisman in 2018:
THE Ohio State running back J.K. Dobbins and Wisconsin running back Johnathan Taylor are 6-to-1;
Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and Stanford running back Bryce Love are 7-to-1;
Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm is 12-to-1;
Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate is 14-to-1;
Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham and West Virginia quarterback Will Grier are 16-to-1.
So there's that. We'd roll the dice with Tate on this odds considering what he did stat wise in only nine starts last year and what new coach Kevin Sumlin could craft in a Manziel-like package.
It also is pretty interesting that Tagovailoa is that high considering it's not a complete slam dunk that he'll even start. So there's that, too.
It also got us thinking about the Bovada odds to win the national title. Here are those and a couple of things that jumped out to us:
Alabama is the favorite with a hugely impressive +250 next to its name. (That means if you bet $100 you win $250.)
Clemson and Georgia are at +650, followed by THE Ohio State (+750), Michigan (+1,000), Penn State (+1,200), Oklahoma and Auburn (+2,000).
Tennessee is +25,000, which means Vegas thinks Tennessee is markedly worse than TCU (+5,000), Kansas State (+10,000), Wake Forest (+10,000) and Northwestern (+15,000).
Vegas views Tennessee with the same chance as Purdue, Syracuse and bleepin' Memphis. Memphis.
Thanks for nuttin' Butch.
This and that
- Sorry we missed it yesterday, but Wednesday was the 30th anniversary of The Wonder Years, a truly great TV show for a lot of us. Because of the overwhelming number of popular songs in the show and the expense of licensing those tunes, it has never been formal syndication. For that reason, we could make a hard argument that Wonder Years, along with All in the Family (which is seldomly syndicated because of Archie being Archie) are amazingly underrated by current generations.
- Speaking of yesterday, we were blessed to have director Ken Rodgers on Press Row. The podcast if you missed it is here. He was aces discussing his latest 30-for-30, "The Two Bills" which debuts tonight.
- Hey we are as excited as anyone that Tiger Woods looked the part last weekend at Torrey Pines. But did you see that the odds of Tiger winning a major this season has dropped all the way to 5-to-1. Wow that seems super low for a guy with so far to go, even if his name is Tiger Woods.
- Also of gold note, this weekend the PGA Tour goes to TPC Scottsdale, which on the golf calendar is comparable to a Saturday night game in Baton Rouge. And to make matters better/worse - and certainly drunker - AriZona, the company that makes the canned Arnold Palmer drinks (half tea/half lemonade) has partnered with MillerCoors to make Arnold Palmer Spiked. And AP Spiked will debut this weekend. Buckle up.
Today's question
Have you entered the Super Big Game Prop Bets Contest yet?
Who has the most to gain from Sunday's Super Bowl?
Also, if you had a vote, would you vote Bruce Pearl or Rick Barnes SEC coach of the year? Discuss.
As for the issues of the day, well, let's start here: Today is Feb. 1. Ronda Rousey is 30 today. Rapper Big Boi from Outkast is 42 today. Pauly Shore is 49, so happy birthday (or not) to likely the worst interview guest we've ever had on Press Row. Lisa Marie Presley is 50.
Shakira is 40 today. Wowser.
Farah Fawcett would have been 71 today. Clark Gable would have been 117.
Space Shuttle Columbia exploded on this day 15 years ago. Wow, it's been 15 years. The first hand-held calculator was introduced on this day in 1972. The price for the HP-35 - in 1972 mind you - was $395, which is a lot of coin in 1972. (Boy, that makes us think of a couple of things that when they were first introduced were considered space-age technology and super pricey. Today, those things - the microwave oven and the VCR - could be bought for 10s of dollars. Nuts.)
Rushmore of actors/actresses known with three names. Go.
And remember the Props contest and the mailbag.