Gang, hope this finds you well and in position to make the most of what figures to be the nicest day we'll have for at least a week.
Enjoy, and let them eat cake.
From the "Talks too much" studios, our 4-year-old got to dress up for pre-K as what she wanted to be when she grows up, and as we were getting ready, she asked where her "bossy pants" were. Yep, we believe that to be true, Sweetie.
Kentucky 24-0
There were a lot of us that circled Tuesday as the biggest SEC test for these Kentucky Wildcats.
That proved overwhelmingly true, considering the top-ranked, unbeaten Cats improved to 24-0 with a 71-69 high-wire act at LSU.
Kentucky is now 24-0 and looking back, Tuesday had the makings of perfection's undoing.
LSU had a frenzied crowd that included football coach Les Miles hanging out in the student section. We heart Les Miles.
LSU had a great plan, going inside with great success - scoring 40 points in the paint against a team that would rather run long-range baselines than give up close-range buckets.
And LSU had the run. You know, the paralyzing, crowd-energizing spurt that highlights any big upset.
But Kentucky was too much. And too good.
And the scary thing is, games like this galvanize this star-laden bunch.
During the 21-2 run that gave LSU a 66-60 lead late, UK assistants were imploring John Calipari to call a timeout. He refused, saying his team needed the experience of the moment.
Calipari to reporters after the game: "I'm not worried about losing. This is about us getting better."
They certainly got better Tuesday.
40-0 here they come.
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Social media
ESPN analyst Herm Edwards has several well-known quirks. He wears crazy socks. He was the guy that picked up the fumble that made the "Victory formation" a staple of every team's Thursday walk-through.
He also frequently rants about social media and simply tells athletes "DON'T hit send."
Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III walks off the field after the New York Giants won 24-13 in an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) More times than not he's right. Robert Griffin III got into a Twitter spat with a heckling Redskins fan this week and as expected RG III looked worse in the scenario. Ask James Dolan and his E-mail blasting of a fan that has created a web revolt against the Knicks owner.
That said, we need to start rewarding the good work of the social media stars out there.
So our first of the new Wednesday Web Stars goes to Patriots defensive back Brandon Browner. Yes, the man that helped create the confusion that became the Super Bowl-sealing pick also had a winning play in the Grammys. Browner called out world-class doofus Kanye West, calling him a "sucka" for retrying that tired, stupid and self-aggrandizing act of storming the stage to protest that Beyonce didn't win a particular award.
West, if you remember stormed the stage and made a fool out of himself five years ago when Taylor Smith won a VMA over Beyonce. He did it again at the Grammys when Beck won album of the year.
And extra points for Browner putting 100-percent target lock on this statement about West, who is a world-class prima donna,
"Kanye try and play that I'm weird because of my genius. Non of the greats pull that stupid ish. Meaning Marley, Mike Jack, Tupac, Jayz etc"
Well-played Brandon. You've had a heck of a start to February.
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New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez is interviewed in this Sept. 24, 2012, file photo before batting practice prior to a game against the Minnesota Twins in Minneapolis. Rodriguez will make more this year than all the Houston Astros combined _ a lot more. A-Rod's $29 million salary tops the major leagues for the 13th straight season, according to a study of major league contracts by The Associated Press.Cheater, cheater pumpkin eater
Is there a name - person or team - out there associated with sports that you would be surprised to learn did not bend the rules in some manner?
Seriously. On the day after we learned that A-Rod is trying to bake sweet cookies and apologize to anyone with two ears and a Yankees cap, we learn that the summer story that we all were swept up in has been declared a fraud.
The Jackie Robinson West Little League - the bunch out of Chicago with fire-balling female pitcher Mon'e Davis - apparently used players out of their district.
They have been stripped of their North American title and Little League baseball is imposing a number of sanctions and sanctioning a number of committees.
And, when we get to the point that 11- and 12-year-old baseball teams are cheating, well, the questions need to change.
What are we doing and where will it stop?
Here's where we are, and it's sickening. From the Super Bowl to the greatest wide receiver of all-time to a youth baseball team to the greatest cyclist ever to a generation of baseball players to every college sports fan bemoaning cheating allegations to even envious high school fans saying this team recruits that player, we have rationalized cheating in sports under the simple and lame excuse that everyone is doing it.
And it's gross. It will forever change what we watch and what we root for, and it's impossible to know if we can corral this tsunami of suspicions brought on by the echo chamber of cheating.
It's everywhere, and we rationalize it. Heck, I've done it too.
"Cost of doing business," one will say. "If everyone breaks the same rule, is it even a rule," another may offer.
But where does it end?
Here's where: It will completely alter the face of sports - all sports - in a way that it will change the core of what many us love about it.
Sports is in all likelihood the last meritocracy we have left. If you are faster or can score more or throw it harder or swing it purer or tackle more soundly, then you play and if your team can do those things and compete more aggressively and more smartly, then you win.
Better = success. It's a noble and humbling concept and it's what, whether we realize it or not, is at the underlying center of our love of competition in general and sports in particular.
And this current and common culture of cheating threatens that simple fact.
Sports now becomes not who is better at it but who is better at getting away with it.
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This and that
- There was a Southern California TV sports anchor shot - ambush-style mind you - pulling out of his driveway yesterday. Dude was driving a Mercedes. Here's betting he has many leather-bound books and his office smells of rich mahogany. You stay classy San Diego.
- Chuck Barkley is in a verbal feud with Houston GM Daryl Morley and really any of the analytics supporters that believe number crunching is the primary step to building a title team in pro sports. Here's the story. Interesting discussion.
- You have to love stories like this when someone finds something of extreme value in a relative's attic or a yard sale. This one is about a couple who bought a famous Vince Lombardi jacket worth more than $20,000 for 58 cents at a thrift store. Cool. (Admit it, everyone has stopped on Antiques Roadshow while channel clicking and guessed how much the old English table is worth.)
- Mel Kiper Jr. has his mock draft 2.0 out today. We love the draft - you know this - and Kiper is aces. He has Jameis Winston going No. 1 overall to the Bucs, the Titans taking Leonard Williams No. 2 overall and the Falcons taking Arik Armstead at No. 8.
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Mike TysonToday's question
Feb. 11 is a great day for birthdays. Heck Mo Willems, the renowned author who wrote "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" and several other children's classics is a mere after thought on this day for famous folks.
Today also is the 25th anniversary of Buster Douglas dropping Mike Tyson, which leads us to the Rushmore of biggest upsets.
Go (and remember the mailbag).