5-at-10: Patriots' soft balls, Donnie T's magic act, A-Rod's Mr. Myagi and Rushmore of G-O-A-Ts


              New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, center, talks to quarterback Tom Brady, right, before the NFL football AFC Championship game between the Patriots and Indianapolis Colts Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, center, talks to quarterback Tom Brady, right, before the NFL football AFC Championship game between the Patriots and Indianapolis Colts Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Morning folks. Remember Friday's mailbag.

And, thanks for all the kind words recently about the 5-at-10 and the radio show - they mean a ton.

From the "Talks too much" as Oscar Wilde said, the cynic is the man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Patriots deflated

OK, for those who listened in the final hour of Tuesday's Press Row, we had a little fun with the storyline of the allegations that the Patriots had deflated balls. We may have flipped more than the occasional double entendre. So it goes.

And yes, it escalated - or plummeted - from there.

Now comes word that 11 of the 12 footballs New England used were deflated below league standards. (Side question: Is Bill Belichick going to fire the ball boy for missing the one ball that was properly inflated?)

Lowering the air-pressure in the footballs would give receivers an edge in catching the ball, and ball carriers and quarterbacks an edge in holding on to and gripping the ball, especially in the cold and wet conditions of last Sunday night.

Now whether a pound or two of air pressure would have been worth 38 points and made a difference in the Pats' 45-7 win is hard to believe, too.

photo New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski (87) spikes the ball after catching a five-yard touchdown pass during the second half of the NFL football AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

So where does that leave us?

Should we have the outrage of the steroid users? Does Belichick need to start wearing one of those green see-through visors that symbolizes card sharks? Maybe he should change his nickname to Boston Bill (because as Coach Finstock tells us in his three rules to live by, never play cards with a guy with the same first name as a city)?

So where does this leave us?

Should the Patriots be penalized? Should they be forced to forfeit and put the Colts in the Super Bowl? (OK, not even the most ardent Colts fan believes that because, while we all admit deflated balls can be demoralizing, the Patriots were going to blitz Indy with soft footballs foot-long softballs or a tether ball tied to Andrew Luck's helmet.)

And the overarching question is how will the league deal with an organization and a head coach - an iconic head coach mind you who is on the shirt list of the best ever - that continually and willingly disregard the rules?

Thoughts?

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Wednesday's 3 college hoops points

photo Tennessee's head basketball coach Donnie Tyndall shows his Conference USA championship ring to UT players, from left, Jabari McGhee, Brandon Lopez and Josh Richardson as the group prepares for a team portrait during the teams media day at the University of Tennessee's Pratt Pavillion in Knoxville on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014.

* UT wins with another new twist. OK, the Fightin' Tennessee Tyndalls have already won more SEC games than most expected after moving to 4-1 in the league with Tuesday night's 66-62 win at South Carolina. UT flashed its 'mini-UK impression' by sharing the basketball and playing terrific defense. Want ball movement and sharing? UT had seven players attempt at least four shots and none of them attempted more than six, and that ball movement allowed UT to shoot better than 57 percent from the floor and better than 55 percent from 3. And defensively, the Vols held South Carolina under 35 percent from the floor, the decisive stat in a game in which UT was outrebounded (34-28), committed way more turnovers (18-10) and shot less than 60 percent from the foul line and still won a conference game on the road. Take a bow, Donnie Knoxville. (Side note: It also should be noted that while Donnie Knoxville is living it up in the 865 and taking names, the artist formerly known as Donnie Hattiesburg still appears to be in hot water. Southern Miss has self-imposed postseason bans on its basketball program for mistakes committed furing Tyndall's time with the Golden Eagles.)

* UK moves on. The Wildcats moved to 18-0 with a relatively ho-hum 65-57 win over Vandy. The Commodores shot better than 40 percent - something that is four-leaf-clover rare against the swarming Wildcats defense. The difference was at the foul line, where UK made 21 of 32 and Vandy made just 6 of 12.

* Wisconsin rolls. The most impressive performance last night was from Wisconsin, which completely pantsed No. 25 Iowa 82-50. Now that they are getting healthy, we need to remember Wisconsin is really good, and in a year where there really is a great divide between the title contenders and the rest of college basketball, Wisconsin is firmly among the contenders.

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A-Rod training with Barry Bonds

How could this not be anything but a punchline?

photo Alex Rodriguez

Yes, Alex Rodriguez, the guy who along with Raffy Palmeiro is among the face of steroids lying, is working this offseason with Barry Bonds, the guy who is the face of the steroids denial.

Hey, if you want hitting advice, there's no one better out there than Bonds to ask. Dude was a savant and his approach and hands were mythical.

That said, the juxtaposition of this is staggering. It's like a bad Jimmy Kimmel sketch only in real time.

Thanks A-Rod.

Now go away.

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This and that

- Here are the favorite foods for each state according to the Huffington Post, which examined restaurant menus from each state to determine which was offered most. Not surprisingly, "Southern" food paced the Southeast and "Cheesestakes" led Pennsylvania, but who knew that "Pakistani" was tops in Illinois and "Hawaiian" was No. 1 in Utah?

photo UTC men's head basketball coach Will Wade.

- Big week for UTC hoops with home games Thursday and Saturday. Will Wade is going to join Press Row on ESPN 105.1 FM around 4:15 today. What questions do you have for the young UTC hoops coach?

- Bud Selig called St. Louis the best baseball city in America. So there's that. He also may have said that beer is good and puppies are cute.

- Pete Rose says Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. Rose also thinks he should be there too. Heck, let's put everyone in the Hall. We're voting for OG and Spy and J5 and the rest of you nuts. Congrats you are in the Hall of Fame.

- Side question: Should we consider a 5-at-10 Hall of Fame? Thoughts?

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Today's question

Happy 75th birthday to Jack Nicklaus, the famed Golden Bear.

Here's our question: All things considered, is Jack Nicklaus the greatest sports figure ever?

If we use this formula, of which stars are clearly the bets ever in their sports, then Nicklaus has to be right there in the conversation, right?

In fact if you asked 10 people to name the best baseball player ever, you might get as many as seven answers.

If you asked 10 people the best football player or boxer ever, you might get more than seven answers.

So, if overwhelming greatness and complete historical dominance is a large definition of greatness, then Jack has to be there right?

What's the Rushmore of GOATS (greatest of all-time) in their various fields? Nicklaus in golf seems as obvious as Zamfir and the pan flute, you know?

Whatcha' got?

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