Positive effect
We wrote during SEC media days that the league should hire Brenda Tracy to come to speak to every football team in the league. Tracy, who was drugged and gang raped by four guys in and around the Oregon State football program 16 years ago, has spoken to Nebraska, which is now coached by Mike Riley, who was the coach at Oregon State at the time Tracy was attacked, and most recently Baylor University.
It's a powerful message on arguably one of the most dangerous and controversial problems facing all universities in general, and the high-profile athletic programs in particular.
It makes a ton of sense, and it's not like the SEC football programs can't afford to set up the arrangements. In fact, here's a call for as many public speakers who have real-life experience and the fallout that comes with issues facing college athletes.
Take the recent move by new Georgia coach Kirby Smart.
Smart brought in Ray Rice, the former NFL Pro Bowl running back who has been out of the league since the video of him punching his then-fiance' surfaced a couple of years ago.
Who better to connect with a collection of young football players than a guy who has walked in their cleats and can share the message of major missteps?
This is a positive trend and one we hope continues, especially for 18-to-22 college kids trying to mature in a very bright spotlight. Yes, college athletes - especially those at major programs - get a lot of breaks and opportunities. They also face a lot of hurdles most of us never could have imagined in our college careers.
Among those are being supremely famous on campus and the real issues of dealing with females and the real fact that everyone carrying a phone has a camera ready to catch your every mistake.
Those lessons are real, and Rice has lived through the fallout of being on the wrong side of how to handle them.
Smart move, Kirby.
New York Yankees relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman, left, shakes hands with catcher Austin Romine after the Yankees defeated the San Francisco Giants 3-2 in a baseball game Friday, July 22, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) Cubs land their Chap
The Chicago Cubs dealt their top prospect - a shortstop named Gleyber Torres, who a lot of folks believe is a top-15 player in all of the minor leagues - to the New York Yankees as well as three other players for relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman.
It was a heavy price for a lefty reliever who a) may or may not be needed considering the nature of the specialty role of being a lefty reliever and b) will be a free agent at the end of the season.
Especially in this day and age of teams looking for prospects and treating potential as a real currency. That said, the Cubs are in a different spot, and we love this deal for them for the following reasons.
First, it addresses their most glaring need. The bullpen is shaky at the back end and it needed a left-hander. Enter Chapman, who is simply the most dominant closer in the game with the single most dominant pitch. How hard does the Cuban Missile bring it? Well, his 105.1-mph pitch earlier this year matched the fastest on record. That previous record was held by, you guessed it Aroldis Chapman. (More than 46 percent of Chapman's pitches have surpassed the 100-mph mark. Yes, read that again.)
Second, the move announces something to the entire franchise: We are ready to win now. No more building. No more waiting. This is our year and this team can win it all.
Finally, it makes a very similar statement to the fan base. The Cubs - the lovable losers from the Southside who are prone to negativity but have forever embraced the optimism of "let's play two" and "there's always next year" - have tortured their fan base as much as any franchise in maybe all of sports. A move of this magnitude - and one that comes with such a heavy price tag - screams commitment to those who love the lovable losers.
Simply put, the Cubs are now the team to beat in all of baseball.
FILE - In this March 7, 2016, file photo, Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning speaks during his retirement announcement at the teams headquarters in Englewood, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
Peyton cleared by the NFL
Peyton Manning sat down with the NFL and the league has declared that Manning did not use HGH or PEDs or whatever the Al-Jazeera reported that some clerk at an Indianapolis clinic allegedly sent to Manning's wife Ashley.
OK, raise your hand if you are surprised by this.
No one is surprised by this for a multitude of reasons, right? First, the Al-Jazeera report eventually bankrupted the news agency.
Secondly, it's Manning. And that's not to say he's not fallible. Just like everyone else, Manning is human and has his faults. In fact, there has to be some times in back corners surrounded by family or close friends, Manning must cuss the heavy burden of the pressure of never disappointing anyone with that long of a shadow in that bright of a spotlight.
And along those lines, someone as image conscious as Manning and who has as much to lose legacy-wise as Manning, the risk of being labeled a cheater seems overwhelming, right?
Still, and this maybe the more interesting question on this: How much time and effort do you really believe the NFL exerted in the Manning investigation? We ask that with the correlation to the fact that the league spent more than $22 million in the DeflateGate investigation.
Thoughts?
This and that
- The SEC Network is running its "Takeover" days in which every program or replay is a highlight for that specific school. FYI Johnny Bulldogs Fan, today is the UGA Takeover, just a head's up.
- NFL training camps are opening all around us. Here's a quick list of when and where for all 32 teams.
- Programming note: UTC men's basketball coach Matt McCall will sit in for the 4 o'clock hour today on Press Row.
- Here's the link to TFP sports editor Stephen Hargis' prep tour of more than 20 high school practices on Monday.
Today's question
OK, Mick Jagger turns 73 today.
Yep, the frontman for the Rolling Stones is 73. Not to worry, he's also about to be the father of a newborn - his eighth child. (The traditional financial worries don't really apply since Mick is worth more than $300 million.)
With that, who's on the Rushmore of lead singers in rock history?
Go, and remember the mailbag.