5-at-10: Friday mailbag on Art Briles, the mayor, the stinkiness of the Braves and more


              FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2015, file photo, Baylor coach Art Briles yells from the sideline during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Lamar in Waco, Texas. Baylor University's board of regents says it will fire Briles and re-assign university President Kenneth Starr in response to questions about its handling of sexual assault complaints against players.  The university said in a statement Thursday, May 26, 2016, that it had suspended Briles "with intent to terminate."  Starr will leave the position of president on May 31, but the school says he will serve as chancellor. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2015, file photo, Baylor coach Art Briles yells from the sideline during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Lamar in Waco, Texas. Baylor University's board of regents says it will fire Briles and re-assign university President Kenneth Starr in response to questions about its handling of sexual assault complaints against players. The university said in a statement Thursday, May 26, 2016, that it had suspended Briles "with intent to terminate." Starr will leave the position of president on May 31, but the school says he will serve as chancellor. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

From several of you folks

What do you think of the whole Art Briles situation at Baylor?

Gang -

Good riddance, and don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.

Baylor announced Thursday that several moves will be made after several people in and around the football program hinder investigation to and even tried to stop victims from pressing charges in a slew of sexual assault cases involving football players.

Briles was directly involved and will be fired. That's something that a lot of us didn't think could happen since Briles built the Bears into a national power from being a national punchline a generation ago.

The details in the report are staggering, ranging from threats to even retaliation against some of the victims as the program tried to cover up the crimes and the allegations.

Briles' college career is over. Unless there are some details of which we are unaware - and that's an important designation here - it's almost impossible to see a program hire him in today's media microscope. How do you introduce Briles at the news conference knowing he covered up sexual assaults so he could have the best chance to win on Saturday? It's impossible to imagine.

This isn't Bobby Petrino cheating on his wife or Bruce Pearl lying about a bar-b-que and trying to cover his tracks.

You would be announcing to more than half your student body, winning football is more important than the safety of the females on campus. And that's not hyperbole.

And while there certainly and sadly are some people willing to roll the dice to almost any extreme to have a successful and profitable football program, having those thoughts are way different than embracing them publicly.

As for the NFL, well, first Briles' offense doesn't exactly translate to Sundays, and with the hyper-sensitivity of the NFL right now with domestic violence and crimes, that seems like a stretch, too. But the ripples of this go far beyond the future of Art Briles and his now forever tarnished legacy.

Here are some of the questions - and feel free to answer them - that we found interesting:

* If this entire scenario happened at Alabama, would it cost Nick Saban his job? I think Saban could find a fall guy for this. In fact, short of a "smoking gun" level of evidence of him actually committing a felony, I believe Saban could survive almost anything at Alabama.

* Will Baylor get the death penalty? No, but only because I don't believe any program will ever get the death penalty ever again. Heck, it was only 13 years ago when the Baylor basketball program tried to cover up a murder, and that didn't warrant the death penalty. It's hard to see the death penalty ever being used again. That said, it will be interesting to see how hard the NCAA comes down on the football program since this is a legal matter more than a violation of NCAA rules. Of course, that was the case in the Penn State case and the NCAA cited lack of institutional control and dropped some major penalties on Penn State.

* Is this like the Tennessee case? Mainly, no because the suit against UT is a civil suit. The Baylor allegations are about criminal cases and trying to cover up a lot of the actions and acts. It also is different because the Vols handled the allegations way better than Baylor did. UT suspended each player against whom there were allegations of domestic assault. Baylor didn't. Now, if there's proof that Butch Jones or anyone in the program tried to convince alleged victims to keep quiet - or if there's proof about the whole Drae Bowles story - that would make it more comparable.

Thoughts?

photo Mayor Andy Berke speaks to media outside Calvary Chapel about a domestic assault case involving his advisor Lacie Stone and her husband, Bobby, after the mayor appeared at the Chattanooga Police Department's annual awards ceremony on Thursday, May 26, 2016, in Chattanooga. Berke declined to answer questions about the case, citing its ongoing nature.

From L.S.

Why are you media folks sticking your nose in the personal lives of Mayor Berke and his assistant? That's got nothing to do with city business or you or anyone outside of them. Butt out.

L.S. -

Simply put, you're dead wrong.

This isn't about juicy details or middle-school gossip. This about honesty and trustworthiness.

Think of it this way: We are depending on and trusting in our elected officials to conduct their business with a certain level of honesty. And if they can't be honest or loyal to their significant others, then that's an important detail to their character.

Hey, everyone makes mistakes and everyone has flaws. We are no different.

I have no idea about the inner workings of the personal lives of the mayor and his advisors, but this is not about that. As for the details, I don't need them or care about them.

As for the truth from our public officials, well, we should all demand that.

From Drew

My friends and I are split on this: First do you think Conor McGregor will fight Floyd Mayweather, and do you think Conor could win?

I say no way, but (friend) says Mayweather's age would be the reason McGregor would win. What do you think?

Also, I love Press Row. It's awesome and better than a lot of big-time sports radio shows.

Drew -

Thanks for the kind words about Press Row. It feels like we have a really nice flow right now.

As for your question, we absolutely think the powers that be will do everything possible to make this happen. There's too much money at stake.

This would be a monster pay-day for each of them in the pay-per-view realm, and that's what they have to chase. As for the matchup, if they go straight boxing, which is the only way Mayweather would do it - and as big a name as McGregor is in the MMA world, Mayweather is the drawing card here - Mayweather would be an overwhelming favorite.

McGregor would have a hard time landing punches in a straight up boxing match since Mayweather is arguably the best defensive fighter ever.

Still, the monster payout would be very attractive for McGregor, considering it could be in the $20-plus-million range. Heck, I'd fight Mayweather for a fraction of that, and have absolutely no chance.

photo Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, front, shoots in front of Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka, left, and center Steven Adams (12) during the first half in Game 4 of the NBA basketball Western Conference finals in Oklahoma City, Tuesday, May 24,, 2016. The Thunder won 118-94. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

From PC30

Man, you have been bagging on the Warriors almost the whole postseason. Why? Because they have more heart than your boy LeBron? Dude face it. James is overrated and after last night the Warriors are going all the way.

PC30 -

Huh?

OK. The Warriors are great, and have been all season.

But my fondness of LeBron has nothing to do with the Western Conference Finals. The Thunder has been great, and surprising. The Warriors have looked mortal, which is a fact and a tribute to how great they were during the regular season.

As for 'heart' what does that mean?

If you think the Warriors played with heart last night, did they not play with heart in Games 3 and 4? The longer we do this, the more terms like 'heart' and 'clutch' and other unquantifiable terms are convenient and often false terms, especially since they are random and haphazard and fleeting.

What is clutch? Would you call the Spurs clutch? They have won a lot of titles, and we'd think that. Well, the Thunder delivered a knockout blow so the Spurs weren't clutch then but were clutch two years ago?

As for LeBron being overrated, just stop. Dude is one of the five best players ever and arguably the best physical specimen to ever play the game.

That said, we'll quote

photo A young fan takes cover from the rain under a cardboard box in the seventh inning of a baseball game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Atlanta Braves on Thursday, May 26, 2016, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

From Mark

Is this the worst Braves team ever? Thanks.

Mark -

It's going to be in the conversation.

The Braves' 2-20 mark at home is inexplicable. That's hard to comprehend even for a team this dysfunctional.

As for comparison sake, here are some numbers to keep in mind for comparison.

Braves this morning are 12-33 (.267 winning percentage); offensively the Braves are last in the league in runs (140), home runs (19), slugging percentage (.317) and total bases (478).

The Detroit Tigers in 2003 finished 43-119. Yes, that's wretched. Through 45 games, those Tigers were 10-35. Detroit finished last in the AL in runs, average, on-base percentage, strikeouts and slugging percentage.

As for the worst Braves team in modern memory, the 1988 Braves were 54-106. (The 1935 Boston Braves finished an incredible 38-115 with a winning percentage of .248.) The '88 Braves were last or next to last in the NL in runs, average, on-base percentage and slugging.

That '88 team had some familiar names to the stinkitude that represented Braves baseball for most of the 1980s. Jerry Royster was on that team. So was Bruce Benedict, Rick Mahler and Dale Murphy.

It also had a few names looking back at the roster that became central pieces in the turnaround process. Guys named Glavine and Smoltz and Lemke and Gant and Blauser were part of that bunch.

Does the 2016 Braves team have those type of long-term contributors?

Freddie Freeman (26) and Mallex Smith (23) are the only regulars in the lineup young than 31. Freeman has the look of being a cornerstone in the process; Smith has speed and promise.

The rebuilding of the pitching staff is ahead of that pace. The Braves top four starters - Julio Teheran, Matt Wisler, Williams Perez and Mike Foltynewicz - and closer Arodys Vizcaino are 25 and younger.

By comparison, I think the '88 team was worse than this team, but it's a lot closer than some would think. (And who in a million years expected that '88 staff would have two Hall of Famers, since Glavine went 7-17 with a 4.56 ERA and Smoltz was 2-7 with a 5.48.)

Upcoming Events