Happy New Year, everyone. Remember, don't do any laundry today and try to find a way to eat some black-eyed peas and greens. (If you are not an overly big turnip greens fan, like, say the 5-at-10, then you can mix them in some grits and, viola, deliciousness.)
From the "Talks too much" studios, let's try to make this quick. We have bowls to watch. (Side note: For the multitude of you who have asked, the 5-at-10 was placed in the opinion spot Thursday. It's back in its normal place if you need to catch up. So yes, the streak still lives, even if our final installment of 2015 was a bit hidden.)
Mini-mailbag
We may have missed a letter or three - we've been in and out of the office for the last week or so - but we saw two mini questions worth a response.
Spy wanted to know who was worse, Flo from Progressive or Larry Culpepper, Dr Pepper guy?
It's a fair question, and we can see you argument about wanting each to go away. That said, Flo is far and away far left of the most irritating pitch person on our Rushmore of irritating pitch people. (We'll go Flo, the 'Can you hear me now? doofus, the Aflack duck and actually the Red Headed bossy woman from the Wendy's spot make our list.)
FILE - In this Nov. 11, 2014, file photo, Bill Cosby speaks during a Veterans Day ceremony in Philadelphia. Cosby will be charged in the investigation of an alleged sexual assault in 2004, two people familiar with a prosecutor’s decision said on Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File) OG wanted to know, now that Cosby is charged, where does it stand on the all-time list of the fall from grace?
We will wait for all the legal proceedings to play through, but if he is found guilty of being a serial rapist - the official charge is form one person, but there have been dozens - then it's No. 1 all-time.
Yes, worse than OJ.
Think of it this way: OJ was an all-time football player and part-time actor who allegedly killed two people in a moment of passion-filled rage. Does that excuse it? Well, of course not. But is it worse than Cosby, who made hundreds of millions being portrayed as the best black father on TV ever and then now is an alleged serial rapist over decades (including by some of the folks involved with his various shows)?
We think Cosby's fall would be the worst ever.
(Jared from Subway made a real strong push at a spot on each of the above Rushmores, by the way.)
---
Vols T logoTop 5 predictions for 2016
1. Tennessee will win the SEC East in tackle football, but the SEC does not have a team among the four in the college playoff. This, of course, expedites the unfortunate discussion about going to an eight-team field.
2. UTC will win the SoCon men's basketball tournament and a first-round NCAA tournament game after getting a week's worth of hype from all the talking heads about being a dangerous 13-seed. This bunch is good, and, as Jomo said, they are fun to watch.
3. The Atlanta Braves will lose 100 games. The Cubs win the National League pennant, but lose in the World Series despite every casual sports fan in North America cheering for them. (That said, Cubs Fever has exactly one more year before they become the obnoxious Red Sox Nation of the '00s.)
4. LeBron brings a title to Cleveland in June and the celebration is nuts.
5. U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky becomes the star of the summer as she goes all-Michael Phelps on the Rio Olympics.
True or not, hope you have a great 2016, and thanks for reading.
---
Tennessee running back Alvin Kamara, left, and quarterback Joshua Dobbs will take on Northwestern in the Outback Bowl today. As participants in the only college football game in the country being played from noon to 1 p.m. on New Year's Day, the Volunteers will have a chance to show the program's progress if they perform well early.Bowl winners and losers so far
Another quick top 5, heading into a big bowl date today. In fact, we think UT has a lot to play for today
1. Alabama and Clemson. Man the committee has had them the top 2 since the second week of released rankings. Thursday, the Tide and Tigers proved it. That was impressive. (Side note: Know this - Clemson returns a ton off this team and almost assuredly will be the preseason No. 1 next year. Ye,s you can ask Ohio State how much that is worth, but we're just saying.) And for the Tide, how many times do we have to say it: You can't out-Alabama Alabama. Period.
2. Jared Goff. The California quarterback shredded Air Force (insert air defense joke here) and looked the part of NFL quarterback. To make matters more dramatic, the other two quarterbacks being floated as the top draft prospect at the position were pantsed in the postseason. Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch looked awful against a mediocre Auburn defense (which played its best game with Will Muschamp no where to be see) and Connor Cook was overwhelmed by Alabama's NFL-caliber defense.
3. Speaking of the Auburn defense, well, Kevin Steele has had a good postseason. Dude followed in the footsteps of John Chavis at LSU for a year, and then a desperate Gus Malzahn comes calling and gives Steele a reported $1.5 million to be the Auburn DC. This is a Herculean comeback for a guy that was out of the game for a year after being the DC at Clemson that allowed 70 points to West Virginia in the Orange Bowl in January 2012. Now he's back and one of the highest paid DCs in the country.
4. Duke. Man it's easy to cheer for David Cutcliffe and his program. And the comeback - and dubious missed field goal that looked good from the Indiana kicker in overtime - that allowed the Blue Devils to win the Pinstripe Bowl was almost a karmic payback for the meltdown against Cincinnati a couple of years ago. It was Duke's first bowl win since JFK was in the White House.
5. Dak Prescott. The record-setting Mississippi State quarterback walks into the sunset with an impressive bowl performance over N.C. State. Prescot, who holds more than 35 MSU records certainly ranks as the greatest Bulldogs player ever whether he takes a snap in the NFL or not. Here's a vote that of all the players that leave - be it graduation or early-entry into the draft - MSU misses Prescott more than any team misses any player next season.
(Side note: Speaking of Mr. Prescott, the Fab 4 picks, round three, is 4-1 right now with wins from LSU, Auburn, Mississippi State and Alabama. (Notice a trend.) The loss came from USC - we blame Lane Kiffin. With five more picks left through the weekend - Georgia-Penn State under 43; Ole Miss minus-6.5; Michigan-Florida under 40; Stanford minus-6.5; and TCU even over Oregon - we are ready for a big finish. That said, TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin getting arrested and suspended before facing the Ducks, would force us to advise not taking that advice, if you get our drift. The Bowl picks are now 10-8 against the spread. Big finish. Big finish. No whammies.)
---
Bowl contest standings round 3
Bowling for Bowls of Bowl Game Success (Bowler optional).
Here are the standings, and we will update them Friday morning so you have an idea where you are going into the weekend. We have since added five four-point games, two five-point games and both seven-point games. So, the maximum in the third column of the scoring equation by your name is 44, so the maximum on your card right would be 98.
Thanks for everyone for playing along, and wow, that Calvin Ridley is pretty good at tackle football.
Standings will be posted around noon in the comments before the next round of bowl games. Deal? Deal.
---
This and that
- Alabama opened as a seven-point favorite against Clemson. If you like Bama, make the call now. It will only go up.
- Side Saban note: Bad news for Georgia and South Carolina - Nick Saban is now 9-0 against former assistants and all of the wins are by double-digits.
- Shots fired by NY DA http://espn.go.com/chalk/story/_/id/14458955/new-york-attorney-general-wants-draftkings-fanduel-return-profits, who now wants Draft Kings and Fantasy Duel to return money to losing entrants.
- Indy coach Chuck Pagano is reportedly on the way out. Here's betting Chip Kelly would love to have Andrew Luck for the next five years. (Or just about any other prospective head coach.)
---
Today's question
Make it easy:
What's your sports prediction for 2016?
Go and Happy New Year.