Weekend winners
Kansas City Royals. The Royals won their first World Series title since 1985. Congrats, and here's to a team that went from among the best organizations in the game to one of the worst and is now back on top.
Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton ManningPeyton Manning. Amid all the noise about his age and his decline, Manning's Broncos are still unblemished. Yes, Manning's numbers have been bad, but he threw for more than 300 yards - and he completed almost 75 percent of his passes Sunday - as the Broncos crushed Green Bay. The Denver defrense made Aaron Rodgers look more like Fred Rogers.
Jeff Gordon. The NASCAR playoff system is better than the points chase from the old days because there was always the real chance to the last three races being meaningless. That said, the unintended fallout could be a postseason filled with a lot of guys as memorable as your neighborhood State Farm agent. That said, Jeff Gordon's win Sunday put him in the final race with a chance to win the whole thing, and since he is retiring at the end of this season, that is cool. (Side note: With NASCAR's checkered history of shady results and conspiracies, it's really not surprising that the final narrative of Gordon's Hall of Fame career will be racing for an overall title. No, the surprise was that NASCAR was not able to get Dale Jr. there, too. Alas. Brian France, your father would have never left that to chance.)
East Ridge. Congrats Pioneers, because 20 years from now, you can tell everyone for one regular season, you were perfect.
Drew Brees. The numbers were Xbox-ish: 40-of-50, 511 yards, seven TDs. The game was Big 12ish as the Saints beat the New York Giants 52-49. (Quick, name the best team in the NFC East. Exactly.)
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Weekend losers
Terry Collins. Dude left Matt Harvey on the mound - yes Harvey begged to stay in the game, but my 8-year-old begs to have pizza for every meal - in the ninth and a 2-0 lead became a 7-2 extra-inning loss. Yes, the Mets are flush with talented young arms, but you can never count on getting back to the World Series.
FILE - In this April 3, 2015, file photo, New York Mets relief pitcher Jenrry Mejia delivers to the Texas Rangers in the eighth inning of a exhibition baseball game in Arlington, Texas. Mets manager Terry Collins was shocked to learn Saturday, April 11, 2015, that Mejia had tested positive for the performance-enhancing substance Stanozolol. Major League Baseball has suspended Mejia for 80 games. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File) ACC officials. That was so bad we had to mention it here. The crew that allowed Miami's walk-off, eight-lateral kick return for a touchdown has been suspended. They missed at least one block in the back, picked up a flag on another block in the back, missed a Miami player coming on the field illegally and - this one really stings - a Miami player being down. (That last one was missed by those on the field and in the booth.)
Our picks. Everything that went right a week ago went sour this week. Our 2-5 mark was simply not very entertaining. Truth of the matter, we went all Phil Mickelson and got too clever by half and ignored the picks in front of us.
NFL teams within a two-hour drive of Chattanooga. We kind of expected the Titans to stink because their roster is flawed and their starting quarterback is hurt. (Side note: Zach Mettenberger cost himself a lot of coin in the last two starts.) But the Falcons laying down at home to the Bucs is bad and troubling on a lot of levels.
NFL injuries. A painful Sunday in results - how many games were decided on final kicks - for a lot of teams was made secondary to a lot of the headlines of major stars suffering major injuries. Le'Veon Bell blows a knee. Steve Smith Sr. blows an Achilles. Add in Cameron Wake, Reggie Bush, Ryan Fitzpatrick and possibly Matt Forte and it was a painful week 8. Especially bad news for the Steelers and Bell, who will get final word today on his injury.
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College football craziness
That was insane.
Tennessee housed Kentucky and Butch Jones decided to lecture the reporters afterward. (Curious about the contentious relationship brewing in K-Town considering a postgame lecture combined with the "taking names and keeping them in my back pocket" rant from earlier this year.
Tennessee head coach Butch Jones reacts during the final minutes of his team's 19-14 loss to Alabama in an NCAA college football game in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015. Georgia laid a golden egg in the Cocktail Party.
Auburn played well enough to win, but was let down by an over-eager coach who went for it on fourth down and let Ole Miss get off the mat.
We talked about the Miami-Duke debacle, and in case your cable has been out and you have not checked ESPN since Saturday afternoon, here is the play that gave the Hurricanes a 30-27 walk-off win.
Now word comes that Virginia Tech Frank Beamer is stepping down. (Side note: Good for him and for the school, because the Hokies were fading into irrelevance and it could have gotten ugly.) This will now change the narrative to a new coach on the hot seat and only adds another attractive opening to an offseason carousel that will be nothing short of crazy.
Then there are the scores: Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Clemson top 50. FSU drops 45 on Syracuse with a back-up QB and without its top wide out.
And all of this comes with what should be the biggest week of the season to date on the horizon as the playoff committee reveals its ranking tomorrow and things get serious this weekend, highlighted by LSU-Alabama on Saturday night.
This is how crazy the college football realm has become: UTC fans, enjoy the solid consistency and predictable success of your program. So there's that.
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This and that
In this Oct. 5, 2007, file photo, Republican Presidential hopeful, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, pauses while addressing the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in Washington. Thompson died, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015, in Nashville, Tenn., after a recurrence of lymphoma, his family said in a statement. He was 73. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)- Rest in peace Fred Thompson. That was a life well-lived. In addition to his career in politics, he was great in his turn as the D.A. in "Law and Order," he had a key role in "Days of Thunder" - the so-bad-it's-enjoyable "Road House" of sports movies - and uttered the memorable, "Russians don't take a dump without a plan," in "Hunt for Red October" back in the day.
- This is cool. Paul Rudd celebrating with this favorite team after the Royals won the Series.
- Man, say what you want about Tiger Woods - who reportedly had more work done on his aching back recently - but from the "with friends like you, who needs enemies" file comes Stevie Williams writing a tell-all book. Among his claims was that Williams was Tiger's "slave." Uh, Stevie, you made millions of dollars carrying his equipment. Millions of dollars are hardly slave wages. You stay classy Stevie.
- Steph Curry is sick. That is all.
- Russell Westbrook is a freak. That is all.
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Today's question
Before we get to the questions, we have to send a shoutout to the Rushmore of 5-at-10isms last Friday. Great stuff. Well-played indeed. Good times (and all the rest). We'll put ours out there tomorrow or Wednesday. Deal? Deal.
Who won the weekend, and who lost it?
Can you believe it's November already?
OK, if you need a Rushmore idea, how about Rushmore of Tennesseans, since today's James K. Polk's birthday and all?
Whatcha got?