Before we get to the mailbag, let us say a heartfelt farewell to longtime friend and contributor to the show Harrison Keely, a key member of the TFP web team who is moving on to bigger and better things. So long kind sir, you and you skills will be missed.
As always, thanks to everyone for playing along.
From the "Talks too much" studios, and the winner is
In this Dec. 22, 2011, file photo, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning stands on the field before the team's NFL football game against the Houston Texans in Indianapolis.From many -
What are the Rushmores?
Gang -
This week we had some great Rushmore options.
Monday: Rushmore of athletes who's connection with their school made those fans into fans of the stars' pro team (and yes that's a very awkward Rushmore title) - Peyton Manning, Cam Newton, Archie Manning and MJ, and yes everyone became a fan of MJ, but early on the UNC-Bulls thing was huge.
Tuesday: Rushmore of Paul Newman movies: The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, Hud and Butch and Sundance (although we loved "Nobody's Fool")
Wednesday: Rushmore of movie biographies - Goodfellas, Schindler's List, King's Speech, Gandhi (non-sports); Hoosiers, Raging Bull, Moneyball, Rudy (sports)
Thursday: We had the Rushmore of Gregs - Greg Maddux, Greg Brady, Greg Norman and Greg Louganis.
Also we started a daily Super Bowl Rushmore countdown in honor of it being the 50th big game. Thursday we offered best Super Bowl games. We'll go with 49ers-Bengals in 1988; Giants-Patriots in 2007 (sorry Spy), Patriots-Seahawks last year (you're welcome Spy) and Steelers-Cardinals in 2008.
Today's Super Rushmore: Rushmore of Super Bowl moments (off the field edition). And yes OG, your boy Broadway Joe's guarantee is likely far left here.
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From Chas
Where does the "failure to communicate" line rank in most quoted movie lines? It's usually misquoted.
The passing skills of elite NFL QB's are amazing, but does the Broncos-Patriots game mark the ascendance of defense over offense? How many unstoppable pass rushers are there? Enough for everybody.
Chas -
Most used movie lines. Man that's a tough.
For starters, the line you are referencing for those not in the know is the famous one from the super-Southern warden in "Cool Hand Luke" and yes it is frequently misused. It actually from The Captain goes, "What we've got here is failure to communicate." Luke uses it again in the church at the end before (Spoiler stoppage.) Know this: If you have not seen Cool Hand Luke, it is worth your time on Netflick or what have you.
As for the most quoted movie lines, well, that's interesting. This is different from 'best' movie quotes, so these in our view are the quotes that transcend movies and have made it into everyday life.
Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in “Gone With the Wind.”"There's no place like" from Dorothy in "The Wiazrd of Oz" is there. So is "Frankly my dear I don't give a damn," from "Gone with the Wind." We'll go "Win one for the Gipper" and "Here's looking at you kid" as the last two, but we know OG wanted "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" from "Dirty Dancing." Sorry. (That said, some of the modern ones would be "Who you gonna call" from "Ghostbusters", "I'll be back" from "Terminator" and maybe even "Show me the money" from "Jerry McGuire" as far as most used/impactful in common conversation.)
As for the last part, Chas, all sports are cyclical, football more than the rest. The rules and scoring made finding a passer paramount. So defenses respond by finding shutdown corners and guys off the edge. At some point the league will be flushed with edge rushers and bigger runners (be them RBs or QBs like Cam Newton) will exploit the edges there and take advantage of speed rushers and light defensive ends.
The worm has not turned for the defense, and it never completely will because a Sunday full of 10-7 games is the NFL's worst nightmare considering the casual fan wants points and his fantasy WR to have 120 yards and two TDs.
But there are more impressive defensive linemen now than ever before. That's also in part to the economic trickle down effect in sports.
Think of it this way: When we were kids the best football players were put at RB. Now, those guys are either playing QB, WR or some place they can get to the passer like outside linebacker or defensive end (if they are big enough). This transition helps the team with the increase of spread-based teams in high school and college and is appealing to the elite players because the salary structure has turned to reward guys involved in passing. (The guys that throw it, catch it defend it or get to the guy throwing it.)
Some of the big athletic guys are staying at tackle, but any of the guys that would have been a center or guard back in the day are now being groomed as defensive tackles. Carolina's defense is built around two elite linebackers that roam the field and two dominate defensive tackles that keep the linebackers clean.
So, Chas, in the non-Reader's Digest version, yes, there are way more pass rushers of great talent now than ever before, and every team will keep searching for them. In fact, with Denver and Carolina counting heavily on great defensive line play (and with what Alabama did in college this year), the cyclical nature of football will be more and more teams trying to find as many defensive linemen as possible.
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From Drew
Jay, I was wondering if you watch SportsCenter? Who are your favorite anchors? You could even call it a Rushmore if you wanted.
(When is the next contest? Those are fun.)
Drew -
Interesting question. No, we don't watch SportsCenter anywhere near as much as we used. It's part of several things, though.
ESPN logo.First, with tots, the control of the remote seems always to be bouncing and with the 5-at-10, most of the mornings are full anyway.
Secondly, with the 24/7 news cycle, the availability of information at anytime changes that dynamic.
Heck, we could remember a time when the morning SportsCenter loop was always on somewhere in the background.
That, too, though has changed. (Pardon us for going all "You teenagers, get off our lawn" old guy, but not unlike MTV, which was awesome when it actually played videos back in the day, the bells and whistles of SportsCenter has affected our enjoyment level in a lot of ways.)
As for our favorites, well, Dan and Keith doing the Big Show back in the day was top shelf.
Then we'd likely go Craig Kilborn, who was fall down funny, Rich Eisen was really good too. (If Dan and Keith count as one, our fourth would likely be Kenny Mayne before he started trying too hard to be Kenny Mayne.)
Of the folks still there, Scott Van Pelt is really good. And we like John Anderson a lot.
Here's an interesting thing we read this week: Did you know that Linda Cohn will host her 5,000 SportsCenter sometime next month. She is far and away the career record holder in that category.
As for the contests, well, the March Madness one is next, and that likely will happen sometime in March.
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From several folks
Who did you think won the debate without Trump?
Gang -
We'll go with three winners and three losers, OK?
Winners
Jeb Bush. It likely had little to do with it, but without Donald Trump there to heckle him and fluster him, Bush looked better Thursday night than he did in the previous six debates combined. It was a night-and-day difference, and this was the Bush that a lot of folks thought was the front-runner when this whole song-and-dance started.
Megyn Kelly. Whether by accident or on purpose, she found herself in violation of one of my personal media rules: Don't become part of the story. She was already there long before Thursday night, but how she handled herself and the moment - with knowledge and a sense of humor - was impressive.
FILE - This file photo combination made from Aug. 6, 2015, photos shows Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, left, and Fox News Channel host and moderator Megyn Kelly during the first Republican presidential debate at the Quicken Loans Arena, in Cleveland. Trump isn’t backing down from his threat to boycott Thursday night’s GOP debate. Trump, who has called Kelly a “lightweight” and biased, told reporters at an Iowa press conference Wednesday night that he would be holding a fundraising event in Iowa at the same time as the debate to benefit veterans and wounded soldiers instead. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File) Donald Trump. Without being there, Trump illustrated how much more fun this thing is with him involved. Rightly or wrongly, his presence makes this more enjoyable. And more scary and more a lot of things. He also got to sidestep being the bull's eye of everyone's focus right before Iowa.
(Honorable mention to Rand Paul, who handled himself very well, and Marco Rubio, who we still believe to be the best candidate on the GOP stage.)
Losers
Ted Cruz. What was that? I have officially moved to the point that I am more scared of Ted Cruz, POTUS, than I am of Donald Trump, POTUS. So there's that.
Ben Carson. We'll say it again, "What was that?" Remember the time when Carson was a contender. Now he looks like the lost, confused fellow just starting his job as the museum guide who gets easily confused when someone asks where the dinosaur exhibit is.
FOX News. Kelly was very good in the moment, but this mess should have been handled better on the front end. This would have been a huge ratings-generator, and while it was not entirely the network's fault Trump was not on stage, it still will likely sink the numbers by close to half.
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From John T.
I heard you guys talk on Press Row about 'prop' bets and wondered about the name. Why are they called that and what are some of the bigger ones?
Thanks and I love you guys on the radio.
John T. -
Phils Mickelson hits out of a bunker on the 15th hole at La Quinta Country Club during the first round of the CareerBuilder Challenge golf tournament Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, in La Quinta, Calif. (Jay Calderon/The Desert Sun via AP) LOCALS MUST CREDIT Prop bets stand for "propositional" bets, and they got that name because the casino or bookmaker offers a proposition and you get to bet on it.
The first one, as David Paschall and I discussed on Press Row this week, was in 1986 when Vegas offered the "Will William "The Refrigerator" Perry score a TD?" in the Bears' pasting of the Patriots.
Now you can bet on almost anything. Coin flips, who scores first, when they score, what kind of score it will be, who will be the MVP, etc.
You can even get prop bets on a ton of stuff that has very little to do with the actual game like the length of the National Anthem or whether Phil Mickelson's score next Sunday will be more or less than Ted Ginn's receiving yards.
In fact, here's a look at eight early prop bets the folks at CBS like
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From J. Williams
With the Pro Bowl this week and the NHL game coming, what's your favorite all-star game? Aren't they meaningless for the most part?
FILE - In this Aug. 15, 2015, file photo, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston warms up before a preseason NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Florida State University said Monday, Jan. 25, 2016, it's settling a lawsuit with a former student who said she was raped by former star quarterback Jameis Winston. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File) Thanks for the 5-at-10, great way to start the work day.
J Williams -
For the most part yes, they are meaningless. And tha's OK.
In fact our biggest beef with all the All-Star games is that the baseball game has too much meaning. But that's a different talk at a different time.
And the Pro Bowl - despite great ratings by comparison - is getting more and more comical. Did you know that Jameis Winston was added to the Pro Bowl roster? He was the 14th quarterback asked to participate with all the folks withdrawing and/or participating in the Super Bowl. So almost half the league was technically a Pro Bowl quarterback, and that's not counting Andy Dalton, who had Pro Bowl numbers before missing the last four games with injury.
We're OK with them for the most part - not that we're going to watch per se - and our favorite is likely the Saturday night of the NBA All-Star weekend.
Thanks as always gang for a great week, and safe travels Harrison.