Morning.
It's go time.
From the "Talks too much" studios, want to guess who is not going to be nominated for rafting community dude of the month? Yep, you know it.
Will WadeCollege hoops coaching stuff
First, we tried to answer this yesterday but got sidetracked: We think Will Wade may be off the coaching carousel for the rest of this year. Other high-majors may be a little leery of approaching Wade now that he has already turned down one high-major and a huge raise for fear of being rebuffed.
We could be wrong about Wade's next few weeks, but high-majors do not want to be told "No thanks" from mid-major coaches. It puts that program in a different light, and now there are potential candidates for the Charlotte job wondering why Wade said no.
Moving on, well, there's a couple of interesting developments.
First, we'll ask: How in the world was anyone but John Calipari college basketball coach of the year?
Hey, Tony Bennett - no other one - had an excellent season at Virginia, but Calipari is re-writing history and has a chance to notch an all-timer.
Plus, the way Calipari has melded a collection of superstars is downright Wooden-esque and deserves to be honored.
Finally, reports have Alabama throwing a ton of money at Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall, who is one of the best in the BID-ness. Some have reported that Alabama is talking $3 million per for Marshall
This is an interesting development on a couple of fronts. First, a Marshall-Saban combo would be the best in college sports, topping the current No. 1 of Meyer-Matta and Malzahn-Pearl.
Speaking of Pearl, if Auburn had not hired Pearl and made some waves - a loud SEC tournament run and three top-70 national recruits on the way for next year - not only would Alabama not be chasing Marshall, the Tide likely would have given Anthony Grant another year.
Yep, you gotta keep up with the neighbors in Alabama.
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Golf story lines
Matt Every hits from the eighth fairway during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament in Orlando, Fla., Saturday, March 21, 2015.(AP Photo/Reinhold Matay) Did you see a couple of interesting sidebars from the weekend's PGA event in Orlando?
First, Matt Every defended his championship with some help from a fan who told him his winning birdie putt on No. 18 was straight in.
That seems "un-golf-ly" and here's saying the Tour will have something to say about that. We know it's against the rules to get help from another player so we'll see what the verdict here will be.
Second, the divide between the tour and its caddies is growing. The caddies have sued the PGA Tour because the group says its unfair that the tour sells advertising on the bibs they are forced to wear during a tournament.
It's an interesting debate, and one that the players have wisely stayed out of to this point.
Thoughts?
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NFL owner meetings
There are a slew of things happening at the NFL owners meeting this week in Arizona.
There's the coaches group picture and Andy Reid showed up looking a little like he was auditioning for the role of Cousin Eddie if the make a "Summer Vacation".
FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2014, file photo, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson leaves the courthouse with his wife Ashley Brown Peterson in Conroe, Texas. A federal judge has cleared the way for Peterson to be reinstated. U.S. District Judge David Doty issued his order Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015, less than three weeks after hearing oral arguments. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File) There's news that Adrian Peterson, who arrived to his 30th birthday over the weekend riding a camel, and his agent have little to no interest in returning to the Vikings. His next whereabouts will be interesting to follow. Since the Dallas Cowboys got so much heat for signing Greg Hardy, would that make adding Peterson easier or tougher?
There's a strong sense that within a year or two, the league will have at least one team in L.A. and likely two more teams in the postseason. We see having one team in L.A., but why two? Does the L.A. market clamor that much for pro football? We think not, but the league is desperate to get out there and that's less than good. As for the playoff expansion, we are against it. It should be exceedingly hard to make the postseason, and expanding that field weakens that position.
There's news that the NFL has lifted the blackout rule for the 2015 season, which shows even the monster that is the NFL is not immune to the sports-wide battle of sagging attendance. Yes, the NFL TV experience is great and ranks as the biggest ATM in all of sports, but that the league is lifting its long-standing blackout rules is preemptive strike for teams with dropping attendance.
And of course there's the river of potential rule changes. We discussed this a bit last week, and some of them seem quite silly and beg the question of why. There are next-to-no items on the agenda for safety reasons. There are like two dozen rule suggestions that deal with what you can and can't review and what coaches can and can't challenge.
Yes, getting calls right is important, but if we get to the point that every play is reviewable, well, that's going to be a lose-lose situation for fans. If we review judgement calls and judgement no-calls like pass interference - or goodness forbid holding - that seems over the top.
While the NFL's penchant for the rope-a-dope - making a big deal about extra points (and yes, there are changes to the extra-point scenario on the suggestion list) - is well renowned, some of this begs the question of why the NFL is fixing things that are not really broken?
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This and that
FILE - In this Sunday, Dec. 14, 2014, file photo, Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel scrambles against the Cincinnati Bengals during an NFL football game, in Cleveland. An advisor for Manziel said in a statement released by the team Monday, Feb. 2, 2015, that Manziel has decided to enter treatment for an unspecified condition. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File) - Speaking of the NFL, it looks like Colorado State quarterback Garrett Grayson is making his case as the No. 3 quarterback in the draft. By all accounts, Grayson threw the ball exceedingly well and ran in the 4.6 40 range.
- Also, Cleveland expects Johnny Manziel to return from rehab in April. That's a good thing in the sense that the team gets a month with him to see if it needs to draft a QB later next month.
- C. Vivian Stringer would have made a $500,000 bonus if Rutgers had advanced to the Sweet 16. Rutgers had to be UConn last night to do it. Needless to say the bonus went bye-bye. If you think UK is an overwhelming favorite, check out UConn. UK was right at even money against the field; UConn's women were -425, which means you had to bet $425 to win $100.
- The ticket gate for the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight is projected to be $74 million, more than triple the previous financial attendance mark of any boxing match in Las Vegas. The pay-per-view projections top the $300 million mark.
- UT starts spring football today. Here's our column on expectations for Butch Jones and Co. Here's TFP UT ace Downtown Patrick Brown's pre-spring primer.
- Nick Markakis made his spring debut for the Atlanta Braves and had two hits in a 14-10 win. Ah, spring training stats, where some Double A dude hits .380 and pitchers wearing numbers in the 70s get rocked. Good times.
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Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning passes against the Buffalo Bills during an NFL football game in Denver in this Dec. 7, 2014, file photo.Today's question
Happy birthday Peyton Manning. He turns 38 today. Everyone in the Nationwide jingle: "Hope you have a special day."
March 24 is a pretty good birthday for famous people. There's Manning and Chris Bosh is 31. Although if former Raiders running back Harvey Williams was born today, that's a big time trio of famous guys with long necks. Also Steve McQueen would have been 85. Harry Houdini would have been 141.
So there's that.
Simple question for today: Will Peyton win another Super Bowl?
Discuss and remember the mailbag.