Merry Monday to you. Hope you are staying warm and making it through the Snowmageddon.
From the "Talks too much" studios, let's jumpstart the coldest week of the year. It's Monday, you know what we do.
Weekend winners
FILE - In this Feb. 4, 2015, file photo, Golden State Warriors executive Jerry West, left, presents All-Star jerseys to guards Klay Thompson (11) and Stephen Curry (30) before the team's NBA basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks in Oakland, Calif. The Warriors’ shooting tandem of Thompson and Curry will own the All-Star spotlight in New York this weekend, both competing in the 3-point contest Saturday night in Brooklyn and then playing for the Western Conference in the All-Star game Sunday night at Madison Square Garden. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, file) Stephen Curry. OK, we all watched when he came to the Roundhouse and dazzled, but it's still a touch strange for the former Davidson star to be right there with LeBron and the rest as the best player on the planet. Dude was simply magical in the 3-point shootout, which was easily the highlight of the weekend.
UTC athletics. UTC men's hoops won Thursday at Wofford and at home Saturday night. The UTC women's team is ranked among the nation's best and has won 19 consecutive games. The wrestling team bested nationally ranked Oklahoma, and the softball team beat Arkansas. Dang, right they were good days didn't even have to use the AK.
Jeff Gordon. Dude obviously had no problem with the questionable qualifying format of having two dozen cars out there to qualify and then trimming the field in knock out rounds to determine the top starting spots. Maybe that was because he finished first with some strategy and help from Jimmie Johnson. Still, it's a fun way to start Gordon's final full season with the four-time points champ up front.
In this Oct. 11, 1975 photo released by NBC, Chevy Chase performs during a "Weekend Update" sketch on "Saturday Night Live," in New York. The long-running sketch comedy series will celebrate their 40th anniversary with a 3-hour special airing Sunday at 8 p.m. EST on NBC. (AP Photo/NBC, Herb Ball) SNL. The game-changing comedy ensemble show celebrated its 40th year on Sunday night and it was awesome in its awesomeness. In fact, it was equal parts magic and nostalgically sad since it reminded us what we loved, Loved, LOVED about the show for years and that it's borderline unwatchable now. But on this night, it was glorious. And magical. And, if you missed it, here's "The Californians" scene everyone is talking about this morning of 90-plus-year-old Betty White making out with Bradley Cooper. Add to that this clip of Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake rapping about some of the most famous lines in SNL history. Glorious times.
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Weekend losers
NASCAR. What was that? OK, if you are writing NASCAR's press release, you can easily make the argument that qualifying was more exciting this year. The new set-up with group qualifying rather than individual qualifying for the top spots for the sport's Super Bowl was definitely more exciting. But, in those terms, traffic and heart surgery can be termed "exciting" in the regard that you don't know what's going to happen and it definitely gets your blood pumping at a quick rate. It was chaotic - and expensive for some of the teams that wrecked cars - and drew overwhelmingly negative reviews from the majority of the drivers. (And, NASCAR was doing this to increase fan interest, well, there were thousands of fans dressed as empty seats and the No. 1 takeaway from qualifying should be, "Who was the fastest one" not "Who survived the big one?")
College football recruiting. On Friday, Roquan Smith picked Georgia, some 10 days after signing day. He will not sign a binding letter of intent, and will accept his scholarship when he shows up for class in Athens. This will become a growing trend moving forward that could make college football recruiting - a multi-million BID-ness of adults paying a ton of attention to the whims of teenagers - even more confusing. Plus, college coaches are now questioning the signing-day model and some are talking about the shady ethics of waiting to make staff decisions/moves until after the recruiting process has been completed. The recruiting model may be the next overhaul in the crowded line waiting for the next available change agent in college football.
NBA All-Star weekend. Yawn. The All-Star game was dwarfed by the SNL special. The dunk contest is sad - it's like watching the Big Red Machine play in a slow-pitch softball game; you remember how it was and it seems somewhat familiar but the product is a dreary facsimile of what we remember. And, while the guy who won was certainly impressive, it was very forgettable and the fact that you get like multiple chances give it a very practice-tastic feel. Plus, the celebrity game is unwatchable, and the actual All-Star game was little more than a lay-up drill. No thanks.
Weather folks. OK, other than our man David Glenn, who was clear and cautious last week about the Snowmageddon that was supposed to arrive this morning, the over-forecasts - we heard as much as 8 inches from some places - of the winter storm were a bit much. Maybe the weather folks get a cut from Bi-Lo, which sells out of staples when the word snow is mentioned. (Side note: Why is it always bread and milk? Who drinks that much milk and is everyone really gung-ho for toast when it snows? Alas.) Well-played David Glenn. Mini-Rushmore of Glenn (other than David of course): John Glenn, Glen Campbell (don't say a bad word about "Rhinestone Cowboy"), Scott Glenn (dude has a really underrated resume) and Glenn Miller.
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n this Nov. 12, 2013 file photo, a statue of Hall of Fame baseball player Hank Aaron stands outside Turner Field, the home of the Atlanta Braves in Atlanta. Eight years after Braves right-fielder Hank Aaron shattered Babe Ruth's home-run record in 1974, Bob Hope, a local marketing guru, not the famous comedian, decided to form a nonprofit group dedicated to erecting a monument to the baseball legend. As a symbolic gesture of gratitude, the nonprofit deemed, it should be paid for by Aaron's fans. In the end, a larger-than-life statue was erected at the Atlanta Fulton County Stadium in 1982, and later moved to Turner Field. So, now that the Braves are headed to the suburbs, what should become of this gesture of gratitude, paid for largely by Atlantans? Specifically, who owns it, and where will it go when the team leaves town? Well, that all depends on whom you ask. Braves' low expectations
It's official, Las Vegas has made its calls for the 2015 baseball season and the news is hardly good for Atlanta Braves fans.
Vegas estimated the Braves' win total to be right around 73.
Yep, 73 and a half, in fact, which seems fine if you understand gambling or downright silly if you don't until you remember that if anyone could figure out how to lose half a game it's Fredi Gonzalez.
Truthfully, 73.5 seems like a fair number for a team that is rebuilding from the bushes inward.
The Braves have limited offensive options and will trot out a faded rotation in comparison to last year's starters.
Hey, it happens and the Braves were clear and direct in their goals this offseason. They dealt from the top and sent three of their four most productive offensive players elsewhere to rebuild a farm system that had become one of the worst in baseball.
Mission accomplished in that regard. Most baseball analysts now view Atlanta's list of future MLB contributors among the deepest in the sport, especially the pitchers.
But, when the highlight of the offseason is an overhauled farm system, that means two things: 1) the long-term future seems in much better hands; and 2) the short-term now could be quite bumpy.
To make matters worse, in the ever-accurate view of Vegas, NL-East foe Washington is the best team in baseball. Vegas puts the over/under for Nationals wins at 93, the most in baseball.
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This and that
- We started the new part of our TFP gig as a full-time columnists in this morning's paper. Here's the online version. Thoughts?
- Donnie Knoxville and Co. took a spanking on Saturday against a talented LSU bunch. A talented UK bunch comes calling Tuesday. That could make for a tough 72 hours.
Jim Furyk reacts after making a birdie putt on the second green of the Pebble Beach Golf Links during the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015, in Pebble Beach, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) - Not sure which of the above lists Jim Furyk belongs on, but he deserves a mention this morning. OK, first the good: Dude has won more than $60 million playing golf and uses the most unorthodox swing this side of a swinging tire near that creek you visited as a kid. Plus, Furyk is still contending well into his 40s - If three years ago we asked who would be the better player heading into 2015, would you have taken Tiger, Phil or Furyk? Sure you would have. That said, Furyk's turning into the worst Sunday show this side of Ernest Angley. It's been almost five years since he's won a tournament, and another final round stall Sunday at Pebble Beach resurrected the same ghosts that haunt his.
- Speaking of Furyk, who belongs on the Jim Furyk Rushmore? That's the Rushmore of athletes who remove their hat/helmet and age like 20 years on the spot. John Smoltz is a contender and when he was at Georgia, Eric Zeier was certainly a contender. Mike Bobo deserves a mention here too. Whatcha' got.
- Staying with golf, tip of the driver to Brandt Snedeker for winning at Pebble this weekend. The real star of course was the course. There are few tracks anywhere that make you want to play golf when you are watching more than Pebble, especially when the weather was that glorious. Wow. (Have we mentioned lately that we have played Augusta National? Twice?)
- We are now caught up on "Better Call Saul" and after a slow-ish debut, the second show was money. We're in - but we were in regardless because we enjoyed "Breaking Bad" that much.
- Happy birthday to Hugh Beaumont, the former University of Chattanooga football player who went on to become famous as Ward Cleaver, dad to Beaver. He would have been 106 today. He died in 1982. And speaking of former Mocs, tip of the visor to Tony Ball, who moved to LSU to be the Tigers receiver coach after many years with Georgia.
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Today's question(s)
We have three general queries today.
First, who won the weekend and who lost it?
Secondly, in honor of birthdays, in addition to Hugh's big day, we must ask if anyone has remade themselves as much as Ice T, the former LA gang member who became a rapper and is now an accomplished TV actor? Rushmore of image makeovers? Ice T and Ice Cube (and apparently anyone in the Ice family, including Vanilla, who remade himself from a prep school cheerleader into a rap star, no matter how brief) have a case. So, too, would Jesse Ventura.
Thirdly, what's our Rushmore of professional athletes that share a last name with a president? (Hey, it's President's Day and all.)
Thoughts?