Gang - excellent week.
May we start by saying Happy Birthday to Silento (The rapper who asked us all to watch him Whip and Nae-Nae). It's also the birthday of Ray Rice, who is only 29 if you can believe it, and Linda Blair, who is just 57 and Bill Bixby, who would have been 82. Talk about three strong contenders of famous people known for famous people known by most everyone for only role/action: Rice for the punch, Blair was the girl possessed in "The Excorist" and Bixby was TV's Hulk. Heck, add in Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker and that's a contender. (Not to be outdone, today is also DJ Jazzy Jeff's birthday, and other than being the Fresh Prince's running buddy, well, that's about the gist of it for Jeff.)
With that's let's roll.
From the "Talks too much" studios, please remember to turn off all cell phones before the movie.
From Scott -
Great week of Rushmores but I was curious who you picked. Did I miss it?
(P.S. - I love when you do them on Press Row.)
Scott -
Thanks for reading and listening and the feedback.
In truth, we can do better with that. Question for the gang: Should we put our nominations with the Rushmore request? Thoughts?
This week's Rushmores:
All-time Sports Rushmore: Pele, Ali, Jack Nicklaus, Jordan. That short changes Babe Ruth, which pains us, but age and the American isolation of baseball gives Jordan the final spot. (Basketball is a more global game and the Nike thing pushes him over the top.)
Staff Photo by John Rawlston
This baseball was signed by Babe Ruth, who was a first base coach for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1938.Rushmore of all-time basketball games: We'll go the Magic-Bird NCAA title game (it was not that great of a game but by a lot of accounts it started the Madness), the NC State win over Houston in 1983 (great game, lifted March Madness to a different place and gave Jim Valvano a platform to earn nine figures for cancer research), Wilt scoring 100 (and he did pretty well after the game, too, apparently) and the Laettner game over UK (sorry personal pick there).
Glenn Frey Rushmores: Complete Soundtracks (Purple Rain, Animal House, Big Chill, and we'll go Coal Miner's Daughter - with Sissy Spacek and Beverly D'Angelo singing the songs of Loretta and Patsy); American bands: Kiss, Aerosmith, The Beach Boys and we'll put the Eagles there for commercial success, but we were not as big an Eagles fan as most.
Individual sports rivalries (team sports): Manning-Brady, Bird-Magic, Ali-Frazier, Wilt-Russell
From Chas
Has The 5@10 discussed Lawrence Phillips' end? What about UCLA trying to board The Lane Train? What a poke in the eye to their crosstown rival that would've been.
Should The Panthers become the Camshafts? Has there ever been a pro team named for an individual athlete?
In the Rushmore of Auburn sports, who joins Bo, Sir Charles, and Cam? Pat Sullivan?
Chas -
We loved the rapid-fire version of this part rhetorical, part real question stream. Well-played indeed.
Lawrence Phillips' waste of a truly God-given gift is a tragedy. Dude could really play. Sadly, though, his death in prison probably saved lives. (You want him off that wall; you need him off that wall.)
As for the Lane Train, we have not done a good job discussing the complete resurrection of his career. Dude has arrived in Tuscaloosa and has done a masterful job as the OC. He has developed two first-year starting QBs into more than anyone expected. He focused his offense around his best player - Amari Cooper in '14 and Heisman-winner Derrick Henry last fall - and did so in a way that the opposition knew what was coming and still could not stop it.
Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin has enjoyed a 25-3 run in Tuscaloosa after a 59-6 run as an offensive assistant with Southern California from 2002 to '06.And in truth, whether it is Kiffin's presence or not, it seems Nick Saban is smiling a little more this last 24 months. Well-done Mr. Kiffin.
The Camshafts is not a bad name at all, especially considering Charlotte's lucrative and well-known NASCAR ties. All about that cross-promotion, right Chas? As for being named for a person, the Cleveland Browns (named for owner/coach Paul Brown) are the only ones that come to mind. Although Ervin Johnson can say the Orlando franchise was named for him, and we think Larry Joe Bird was the namesake for a great Hitchcock movie, but the name escapes us.
As for the Rushmore of Auburn sports, the final spot belongs to Frank Thomas, who amazingly is the only former SEC baseball player in the Hall of Fame. That's a crazy stat, right? Well-played sir.
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From sportsman
Jay - for the mailbag...if the Titans leave Nashville, what happens to Nissan Stadium? Implode it to add more honkytonks across the river from downtown? Restripe the turf and go after an MLS team? Try to get another NFL team to move to Nashville? Inquiring minds want to know...
Sportsfan -
That's the $2 billion question that almost every NFL town.
The Rams doubled their value - from $1.45 billion to $2.9 billion - according to Forbes with the announcement of the new stadium.
The Falcons are replacing the Georgia Dome, which is roughly 20 years old.
The question about the stadium - and/or rebuilding one - will be asked in a slew of markets and the answers may determine if teams stay or go.
FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014, file photo, Kenny Chesney performs on NBC's "Today" show in New York. Chesney announced Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, he’ll be returning to Pittsburgh for the second time since a 2013 concert that drew national attention for the disorderly behavior of fans. Chesney will be performing with Miranda Lambert and Sam Hunt at Heinz Field on July 2. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File) As for the Titans, if they up and leave, the stadium will remain and be the home to the Music City Bowl, some Kenny Chesney-sized concerts and the occasional soccer/UT 'road' game against say Memphis or Tulsa and a view other things. We can't see them destroying it as much as letting the internal decay of a true lack of use waste it away, not unlike what has happened with Legion Field in Birmingham.
Plus, if the Titans go, we don't really see another NFL team lining up to come to the 615. Nashville is not even the biggest city in the state - it's 25th; Memphis is 23rd nationally - and the support for the Titans has not been as over the top in recent years. A lot of that is on the fact that the Titans smell like a foot, but there are a lot of NFL towns where the team stinks and the stadium is still full. (We're looking at you Cleveland and Chicago and Detroit.)
It will be interesting to see what happens moving forward with the Titans, and we believe they could be in play for relocation, especially if the Adams family sells the organization.
But even if they are not in play in the coming years, the stadium question will come up.
(And for what it's worth, we love the idea of pursuing a MLS team in the misstate.)
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From Joey -
Dude, for your Friday thing, did you see that the National League is going to the DH? What do you think about that?
Joey -
Frankly, we hate it.
Hate just about everything about it, to tell you the truth.
But at some point, with inter league play happening almost every day through the season, unifying the rules is a certainty moving forward. Eliminating the DH in the AL would eliminate high-paying jobs - David "Big Papi" Ortiz in the NL is technically your first reserve, and there's no way your best bench player is going to command $16 million for 2016. And the MLB players union would not stand for that.
So, they will sacrifice the integrity of the game - and a great deal of strategy to make the rules uniform. It's coming at some point, whether we like it or not.
This also will continue to marginalize the MLB manager, who is quickly becoming obsolete in the big league game.
With analytics everywhere - and number-crunchers filling rosters with guys who take a ton of pitches and hit a ton of homers - and now with the intricacies of knowing when to hit for your pitcher going the way of the Do-Do and the Edsel, managers are little more than locker room culture coordinators with good penmanship.
Alas. (Here's the story we saw on the topic which says the DH could very well be across all of baseball as soon as 2017.)
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From Norman -
Jay - I enjoy your writing and have been impressed with your stuff on all topics beyond sports.
Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning passes against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the first half in an NFL football divisional playoff game, Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016, in Denver. (AP Photo/Joe Mahoney) I saw what you wrote this week on Peyton (good column) and wonder who you think of the four quarterbacks still playing would get the most by winning the Super Bowl?
Thanks, and keep up the good work writing and on the radio.
Norman -
Thanks for the kind words, and reading and listening.
And thanks for a great question, and that truly is a great question.
Think of the possibilities for the four quarterbacks still playing.
For Tom Brady, winning Super Bowl 50 would be his fifth. That would be 10 percent of all Super Bowls (War Auburn math) and give him the most of any quarterback ever. That's a pretty nice caveat.
For Peyton Manning, it would be his second Super Bowl title, and put an exclamation point on a career filled with a shelf of passing records. A second Super Bowl title - and winning one with his football-computer brain despite his fading skills - would strengthen his claim as the GOAT.
For Carson Palmer, winning the Super Bowl likely makes him a Hall of Famer. His numbers (xxxx) are better than you think and winning it all changes the narrative from above-average quarterback in a passing-happy era to a former No. 1 overall pick that battled all the way back from a horrific knee injury and achieved heights he had never known.
For Cam Newton, well, winning a Super Bowl does a litany of things. It would alter - or escalate - his career arc. It would put him into the LeBron, Steph Curry, Tiger Woods stratosphere of superstardom. (Side note: If Cam leads the Panthers to the title, it would be yet another big moment for Under Armour, which is the sponsor of Curry and Jordan Spieth, too.) Winning the Super Bowl would put Cam in some rarified air as a winner, considering he would have led teams to a junior college national title at Blinn, a BCS title at Auburn and then a Super Bowl title.
Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton (1) cheers on the sidelines during the second half of an NFL divisional playoff football game against the Seattle Seahawks, Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016, in Charlotte, N.C. The Carolina Panthers won 31-24.(AP Photo/Chuck Burton) So all four of those dudes have a ton at stake and even more to gain, right? Wow.
As for the rankings of who has the most to gain, we'd likely go Manning, Palmer, Newton and then Brady.
We placed them in that order because of urgency.
This is likely Manning's last chance - at least as a starter for a high-caliber team such as Denver - to get his second Super Bowl.
As for Palmer, who knows if he'll get another run this good with a team this talented - and the Cardinals are legit - down the road, especially with his battles with injuries.
It seems Newton and the Panthers are built for a run for the next few years, so even advancing this far seems like progress in the Cam curve. That said, if dude wins it, he will become one of the modern sports megastars. Like everywhere. And if you think there's some Cam-angst now - which cracks us up- let him start to replace guys like Manning and Aaron Rodgers on commercials all day every Sunday.
As for Brady, well, dude has said he wants to play 10 more years. Yes, that seems like a pipe dream, but everyone believes the Patriots will be the team to beat in the AFC for as long as Brady and Coach Hoodie are together. And while another decade of His Deflateness seems like a stretch, Brady playing another three-tofive years seems eminently doable.
Thoughts?
(And thanks Norman for a great question.)
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From Jomo
Jay- College basketball question for the Great State of Tennessee, Is Chattanooga and Belmont the best teams in the state ? better than UTK, Memphis and Vanderbilt ?
Jomo -
Uh, no. Vandy, when healthy, is the best team in the state and may be the best team in the SEC. (Yes, being the best in the SEC this year can be compared with being the best actor in "Weekend at Bernie's 2" but so it goes.)
From there, don't sleep on MTSU, which has an RPI of 56.
Here's the RPIs of the Tennessee teams of note:
UTC - 51 (Nice road win last night, and a very efficient second half. UTC scored 70 points without scoring a fast-break basket, according to the box score. That's crazy efficient in the half-court.)
Vandy - 54
MTSU - 56
Belmont - 98
Tennessee - 107
ETSU - 121
Memphis - 125
Tennessee Tech - 158
Take those with a grain of salt of course, and talent and match-ups vary, of course.
We know where you are going with this, and we too have lofty goals for this UTC hoops brigade.
In fact, if you were listening to Press Row earlier this week, college hoops bracketologist Joe Lunardi said point blank that the rest of the country is not aware how good Chattanooga is. That's high praise from the guy who knows college hoops as well as anyone this side of Mark Wiedmer.
Have a safe weekend gang.