5-at-10: Friday monster mailbag on singing actors and music in movies, Best snow scenes ever, Hall of fame ballots, Andruw Jones and more


              FILE - In this Feb. 18, 1985 file photo, Prince performs at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif. A pair of record labels announced Friday, April 28, 2017, that a remastered edition of Prince’s landmark 1984 album “Purple Rain” will be released on June 23, 2017. The labels say Prince oversaw the remastering process in 2015 and the “Purple Rain Deluxe” will include six previously unreleased songs by the late singer-songwriter, who died one year ago.
 (AP Photo/Liu Heung Shing, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 18, 1985 file photo, Prince performs at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif. A pair of record labels announced Friday, April 28, 2017, that a remastered edition of Prince’s landmark 1984 album “Purple Rain” will be released on June 23, 2017. The labels say Prince oversaw the remastering process in 2015 and the “Purple Rain Deluxe” will include six previously unreleased songs by the late singer-songwriter, who died one year ago. (AP Photo/Liu Heung Shing, File)

From the "Lunch Bunch"

OK, Jay, we have listened you and Dave and Swell-Wells Guthrie since the starting days of Press Row. (We listened when you guys were 1-3.)

Well, now we read the 5-at-10 every (bleepin') day and discuss it over lunch. None of us have ever commented because there are so many regulars but we read almost every day.

We wanted your answer on this mailbag question because we have been arguing over this for the better part of six weeks. What is the best music/song scene in movie history?

Thanks and keep up the good work. (And tell Wells that I only go to concerts if I get VIP tickets too.)

Lunch Bunch -

First, thanks for listening. Second, thanks for reading the 5-at-10. Third, feel free to comment; the regulars are kind and thoughtful and this is not Clay's battleground or the other open-ended tugs of war that become all personal and political and stuff. Pull up a chair. Fourth, this is such a great question that a) it better not be the last one form you guys, and b) we need more information, especially to settle the Lunch Bunch debate.

Are we talking instrumentals? Are we talking about a live musical performance by an actor or actress? Are we talking about the best scene in which a well-known song is playing, to the point that forever now when we hear that song, we think of that movie?

Please advise. (Lunch Bunch response: "No on the instrumentals. We were talking about actors signing performances in a movie, but that last one is good too. Thanks.)

Lunch Bunch, part II -

So, wow, there we are. (Quick side: Pretty sure we have done the Rushmore of best movie instrumentals before, but there's no way we'd ever raise a point and not address said point. We're better than that. We'll go Rocky, Jaws, Star Wars, Chariots of Fire. (And think of those instrumentals left off, especially scary movies like Halloween or Psycho.)

Popular songs that will forever us make us think of a specific movie scene: Tiny Dancer in "Almost Famous," Layla in "Goodfellas," Lloyd holding the boom box with "In Your Eyes" in Say Anything, and "Don't You Forget About Me" and the end of Breakfast Club.

Now this is different than a lot of the iconic scenes - the song at the end of Fight Club, the walking scene in Reservoir Dogs, the Sounds of Silence in The Graduate, American Girl in Silence of the Lambs, and about six scenes in Pulp Fiction - as much as the song that will forever make us instantly think of that specific movie scene, if that makes sense.

As for iconic musical performances in a movie by an actor starts with Beverly D'Angelo as Patsy Cline in Coal Miner's Daughter. Sissy Spacek was great as Loretta Lynn, but D'Angelo sang her own songs and as anyone who has ever been to a karaoke bar or watched American Idol can tell you: Do not try to sing a Patsy, Whitney or Mariah song unless you can really go. D'Angelo nailed. (While we are here, Whitney in Bodyguard or Prince in Purple Rain do not count because they were musicians acting rather than actors doing musical.) To that line, Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon were aces in Walk the Line and they sang their music too. Jamie Fox as Ray and man, who knew Anna Kendrick could sing like that. (Side note: Kirsten Bell in Frozen is special too.)

Great question guys and thanks for playing along.

photo This image released by Universal Pictures shows, from left, Chrissie Fit, Anna Camp, Alexis Knapp, Brittany Snow, Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson and Ester Dean in a scene from "Pitch Perfect 3." (Quantrell D. Colbert/Universal Pictures via AP)

From Mike C.

How crazy do we go about snow in the South? It's crazy.

Jay, please tell Wells he can't play "Gotta get the bread and milk" enough.

On that note, what is your Rushmore of best snow scenes in movies? Thanks, and your writing is awesome man.

Mike C. -

We'll make sure we pass along the news to Wells, who is making his career-best second mailbag appearance this week. Kudos Wells.

Yes we are snow-allergic in the south, and while we understand the supremely cautious approach taken with every sort of snow day in review of the school system, we also must share a story we heard when we spent several nights in a tee-pee in Montana this summer. (Side note: As crazy as it sounds and as much junk as we make up, that last sentence could not be more true. In fact, here's the photo of the Lil 5-at-10 outside the tee-pee in Montana. Double side note: It was completely awesome in its awesomeness, too.)

Anyhow, the guy who ran the tee-pee place in the summer was the local high school assistant principal during the school year. Montana goes to school for like 10 hours a day four days a week. That saves a lot of gas since so many students have to travel so far to get to schools.

When the snow comes - and yes, they are way better prepared and used to it - the standard operating procedure is simple. Get there if you can; if you can't you have to make it up. He said this Montana town of Gardiner had not had a snow day in the last six years. We had four in the last week because we got less than two inches. Read that again.

Anyhow, great questions about snow scenes in movies, and one that we can not simply limit to one single Rushmore.

Movie snow scenes, and we've got some great movie questions today:

OK, we'll start with The Shining. Wowser. Fargo with the blood-stained snow. The snow battle on Hoth in the beginning of Empire Strikes Back. And we'll go off the board with Dumb and Dumber when Harry licks the ski lift pipe and hits Mary in the face with a snowball and puts the finishing touches on the snowman. Perfect.

photo Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo tries to drive against the Cleveland Cavaliers defense during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Tom Lynn)

From Drew

Jay, I have two questions. First, thanks for all the NBA you do and would you share your halfway through the NBA season awards?

Second, what was your thought about the Falcons staying the course with Sark as the OC?

Thanks and thanks for the 5-at-10. I read it every day.

Drew -

Let's do the second part first, and we kicked this a round a little bit on Press Row on Thursday as well.

My first takeaway from the season-ending new conference with Dan Quinn and Thomas Dimitroff in which they announced that much-maligned Steve Sarkisian would be back calling plays in 2018 was, "Man, Thomas Dimitroff looks like Steve Kerr's hipster younger brother who majored in Eastern European religion at some liberal arts college." Egad. Somewhere, old-school NFL GMs like Gil Brandt and Bill Polian and who knows whom else are going, "Say what?"

As for Sark, well, we'll offer this stat first: As a long suffering Falcons fan who went to every home game from 1978 to 1982 - and until the last decade those were viewed as the high times - Dan Quinn deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Quinn's records since coming to the ATL from Seattle: 8-8, 11-5, 10-6. Yes, all of us were destroyed by the Super Bowl collapse, but man the expectations of success that Belichick and conversely Saban have laid for the rest of the folks in their professions are staggering. Staggering. Heck Mike Tomlin is getting heat.

As for Sarkisian, well, here are some numbers from some NFL analytics types like ESPN NFL ace Bill Barnwell, and we believe this line of thinking:

Even if Kyle Shanahan had returned for the 2017 season, the Atlanta offense would have taken a step backward. It had to if for no other reason than 2016 was historic.

In 2016, the Falcons started the same five offensive lineman all year, they led the league in points scored and they had the highest-yards-per-first-down-play average in the history of the NFL.

And the 2017 offense, which obviously did not match the points the '16 version did, was not exactly terrible. In '17 the Falcons were the league's third-best offense on first down and converted on third-down better than any other team in the league. They ranked ninth in the NFL in offensive analytic efficiency and seventh in points per drive.

The lack of points compared to the year before were because the Falcons had 157 meaningful possessions (24 fewer than league average in 2017) which was the fewest among all NFL teams.

That's a combination of the Falcons being great on third down (and generating long drives in terms of clock control) and the defense being unable to get off the field, testified by the fact that the Falcons defense faced the most plays-per-drive than any defense in the league. That meant fewer chances for Atlanta's offense, which also had the second-worst starting field possession in the NFL.

As for the NBA midway honors, well, that's pretty interesting too.

MVP - Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee

Rookie of the year - Ben Simmons, Philadelphia, but man Jayson Tatum has been something with Boston

Defensive player of the year - Andre Drummond, Detroit

Coach of the year - Brad Stevens, Boston

Most improved - Victor Oladipo, Indiana

Sixth man - Lou Williams, L.A. Clippers (he dropped 50 in a game against the Warriors for Pete's sake)

photo In this Oct. 19, 199, file photo, Atlanta Braves including Chipper and Andruw Jones, Otis Nixon and Mike Remlinger celebrate their win in the 11th inning, during a tense NLCS Game 6 between the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field in Atlanta. Turner Field began its brief life as the main stadium for the 1996 Summer Olympics. After just two decades as the home of the Atlanta Braves, it's headed for another transformation. The Braves are moving to the suburbs next season, leaving the Ted to Georgia State University. (Frank Nimeir/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File)

From Todd C.

My buddy told me about the 5-at-10. I am a fan.

I read your piece a few weeks about about the baseball hall of fame vote counter and his projections.

Who is that guy and have you seen an update lately of his numbers?

Thanks for your takes.

Todd C. -

Thanks and welcome to the show.

Here is the spread sheet from Ryan Thibodaux - he is @NotMrTibbs on Twitter - and the takeaways are pretty clear.

There will be three for sure inductees - guys who appear on 75 percent of the roughly 424 ballots cast - from the voters. Of the 195 ballots that Ryan has uncovered, Chipper Jones is on 192 of them (98.5 precent). Vlad Guerrero is on 185 (94.9) and Jim Thome is on 182 (93.3).

Those guys are in.

Edgar Martinez is on 81 percent so far and Trevor Hoffman is on 77.9.

Those guys are on the bubble, but please know that the ballots that are not openly revealed traditionally have had fewer names on it and some times are left blank. (Like those knuckleheads who do not vote for anyone because since Babe Ruth was not unanimous then no one will be.)

If either Martinez or Hoffman stay above the 75-percen mark - and with the addition of Alan Trammell and Jack Morris from the 1980s committee - this is going to be a huge class.

Two other takeaways before the announcement next week of the next Cooperstown class:

The numbers for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens continue to grow. Last year Bonds was on 53.8 percent of the ballots last year and Clemens was on 54.1. Each has been named on 65.1 percent of the votes cast so far. This is year six for each, so we'll see if they can get to 75 before the 10-year window closes.

The other thing is the complete disrespect for Andruw Jones.

Jones is in his first year on the ballot, and we're not saying he should be a Hall of Famer by any means. In fact, there are too many in the Hall as it is, and in a lot of ways it has become the Hall of Great rather than Hall of Fame.

How Scott Rolen is getting almost double the votes as Jones is staggering? Andruw Jones is hovering at 6.2 percent and is hanging on the edge of the 5 percent threshold. (If you get below 5 percent, you are removed from the ballot.)

Jones' numbers are better than you may know: He finished with 434 homers and 10 consecutive Gold Gloves.

Here are the position players in the history off the game with 10 or more gold gloves: Catchers Ivan Rodriguez and Johnny Bench; first baseman Keith Hernandez; second baseman Roberto Alomar; third basemen Brooks Robinson and Mike Schmidt, shortstops Ozzie Smith and Omar Vizquel; outfielders Roberto Clemente, Willie Ways, Ken Griffey Jr., Al Kaline, Ichiro Suzuki and Andruw Jones.

The names on that list who are not in the Hall are Hernandez, Vizquel (who is in his first year on the ballot this year and was on more than 30 percent of the known ballots cast), Ichiro (who will be a first-ballot guy whenever he gets on the ballot) and Jones.

Now know that of the players in baseball history to have 10 or more gold gloves and hit more than 400 homers are Schmidt, Mays, Griffey and Jones.

Yes, Andruw underachieved in a lot of ways. And yes his .254 batting average would be the second-lowest among non-pitchers among all players inducted.

So we can understand not voting for Jones. It's inexcusable though that he may be one ballot and gone.

photo Alabama head coach Nick Saban reacts after having to call a time out in the dying seconds of the College Football Playoff national championship against Georgia at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018 in Atlanta, Ga.

From Spy -

You're right about not nearly enough being made of the Dr. Nasser episode. Just the scale alone is horrifying. And now he wants the judge to stop with all the witness testimonies.

Tell you what, Doc. How about you not take advantage of little girls by the dozens in the first place?

So, 5, can you not wait for the day Larry reports to prison, gets sent to general population and the guards go, here's the new guy Larry. He's a doctor. Oh, and he took advantage of dozes of little girls. Y'all behave (cough cough)?

And aside from being shark bait, is there a job with shorter shelf life than (fill in the blank) coordinator, University of Alabama football?

Spy -

We'll take the second part first. The only thing close to the job endangered species list is coordinator in Foxboro. Both are tough to work for. Both will lead you to elite levels of success that makes your resume look better. Both have proven - and this is a strong check mark in the positive column for Bill and Nick - that they want guys who are going to absolutely hump it for 1-3 years and then move along.

Is it fun? No. But if Jeremy Pruitt was the DC at any other place in the country would a job as big as UT come calling, and would a fan base as jaded as UT's find a way to convince themselves, "this is our guy" moving forward? No way. That's the power of working for the legends.

As for the first, the news that Nassar was asking for the judge to have the victims stop testifying because "He was unsure he was mentally able to handle" a week of the accusations from the kids and teenagers he sexually assaulted is arguably the most unbelievable thing I have ever heard.

Seriously.

You, Larry, can't hear these women tell the tales of torture that you caused on them and altered their lives for ever. You shut your mouth and listen and suffer before you get sent into the Yard to meet God knows what.

Side note: We ran short on time because this mailbag is a monster. We will have this week's Rushmores and some less than fan mail around lunch.

Deal? Deal.

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