A fond farewell
Hey, we like deviate from the path. Today, we're going to take a look at an excellent interview Katie Couric did with Burt Reynolds.
Reynolds is now 81, and his new movie "Dog Years" is getting stellar reviews. He plays an aging former Hollywood A-list star who had a bunch of girlfriends while doing a lot of partying and now has to live with those decisions.
So, yes, Burt Reyniolds got to play Burt Reynolds really after playing a Hall of Fame acting career playing Burt Reynolds.
In a lot of ways, he's had a life so many would have loved to have had. College football quarterback. Ladies man. Hollywood superstar. In addition to all of that comes the intrigue and the interesting discussions he has about his regrets along the way.
He told Couric openly that cheating on and letting Sally Field get away was a major mistake in his personal life.
In his professional life, Reynolds discusses roles he turned down like Jack Nicholson's Academy Award winning turn in "Terms of Endearment" (Reynolds took Stroker Ace over that one - outstanding) as well as some famous reoccurring characters like James Bond and Han Solo.
We also found this interesting and a bit scary, as Reynolds says he wants George Clooney to replay him in a "Smokey and the Bandit" remake. (Two side questions: First, why? Second, we concur Clooney with his good looks and coolness could attempt to pull off the Bandit, but who in the world could play Sheriff Buford T Justice with anywhere near the grace and power that Jackie Gleason brought?)
Reynolds' tale is twisting and interesting and in some ways sad and others glorious. It also is the perfect lesson of fame.
You are the biggest thing in the world until one day you are not. And dealing with that has to be unbelievably difficult.
FILE - In this Nov. 26, 2016, file photo, Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer runs the ball during the team's NCAA college football game against Southern California in Los Angeles. Kizer finds himself in good company at the NFL combine in what is generally described as an unusually uninspiring crop of quarterbacks. None of the prospects are currently in the discussion to go No. 1 overall. It’s unclear whether any will even go in the top 10. And all of the prospects in town appear to have something to prove. After Kizer led his injury-plagued team into playoff contention in 2015, his first season as the starter, the Fighting Irish went 4-8 in his second season. Suddenly, the prototypically sized, strong-armed Kizer was being viewed as a flawed player with significant questions. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File) Draft week Tuesday
As you may have guessed we will have a draft item each day this week. We love the draft you know this.
Today, let's cover five projected first-rounders we would avoid. Deal? Deal. But before that, let's remind everyone about our "Dodging the Draft while Feeling the Draft and drinking a draft NFL Draft Contest." Here are the categories:
Number of SEC players picked in round 1:
First quarterback to be drafted:
Titans' first pick:
First team to trade its pick:
Falcons' first pick:
Each is worth a point, save the last one, which is worth 1.1 to help in tie-breaking scenarios. It also keeps you glued to the set though the entirety of round one. As for some clarifications.
First, if a player once was at an SEC school but transferred, he does not count as an SEC player. Clear? Crystal.
Second, you can answer not answer none to any of the questions. They are worded specifically, and if the Falcons trade out of round one, then their first pick will be made on Friday. If there is not a QB taken in round one - which will never happen - or if there's not a first-round pick traded - which is unlikely but could happen - then the contest rolls into Friday and the first QB and traded pick still stand.
For clarity on the traded pick, if the Titans look to trade down - which could very well happen - and say they trade No. 5 to Cleveland for No. 12 and other stuff, by the statement of these rules, the Titans are the first team to trade their pick, because their spot is higher. Clear? Crystal. OK, as for today's top five, let's move quickly.
Top-five guys picked in the first round who we think may struggle.
1) Myles Garrett. The Texas A&M defensive end checks all the boxes in the workouts. But football games are not played in the gym.
2) Christian McCaffrey. He may find success as a slot receiver, but when was the last slot receiver who was a projected top-10 pick?
3) DeShone Kizer. His former coach says he's an unfinished product and we know QBs are picked like NBA one-and-doners and potential carries a lot of weight. But buckets this is a reach.
4) David Njoku. The Miami tight end has a lot of potential and physical gifts, but a top-20 spot feels like a huge leap.
5) Obi Melifonwu. The UConn safety's meteoric rise is simply on combine numbers. That's scary for what NFL teams want safeties to do in this day and age.
Lexi Thompson composes herself on 18th green during the final round of the LPGA Tour's ANA Inspiration golf tournament at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., Sunday, April 2, 2017. Earlier in the round, Thompson found out she had been assessed a four-stroke penalty for a rules violation Saturday. Thompson had a chance to win the tourney on 18, but left an eagle putt an inch short. So Yeon Ru won a playoff on the first hole. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo) Positive steps
The UPI reported this on Yahoo.com this morning.
So understandably we were surprised and happy. Surprised that UPI still exists. Who knew? And happy that golf continues to examine ways that its sport can be better in accordance with technology and for fans and players alike.
According to the story above, the sport's powers that bet at the R&A and the USGA are prepared to announce as soon as today that the "Lexi Thompson Rule" will be in place immediately. Remember earlier this month, Thompson lost the first LPGA major of the season after she was assessed a four-shot penalty after a TV viewer noticed she incorrectly placed her ball on a 1-foot putt by an inch.
The four shots were two for the mistake and two more for signing an incorrect scorecard since the TV viewer called in after the round and Thompson was unaware of the penalty when she signed the card. The whole concept screams of double-jeopardy in a lot of ways, but the main part of the rule change allegedly is limiting the role Johnny TV Golf Fan can have by watching the TV and calling in violations. This could happen in a multitude of different ways.
They could ban all TV narcing, which would be OK since TV Golf Rules Hound has to be among the worst people in sports. (Seriously, if you are watching golf - by yourself - with one hand in the bowl of Fritos and one on the remote with the super-slo-mo rewind looking to see if Zach Johnson grounded his club in the hazard, you need more in life. Period. End of discussion.)
They also could make the signing of the card the end of the round. That would eliminate the ex-post-facto penalties too.
These moves come along with a long list of alterations the game of golf has approved that are set to take hold in 2019.
We're not one of those folks that is a change for change sake - think moving the extra point - but there are a lot of rules in several sports that need to examined.
Whether it's the discussion on the "Hack-A-Whomever" player that makes meaningful basketball games become painful walks to the line to watch missed free throws or clock rules in football or a discussion of banning the shift in baseball, these discussion that improve the game and - more importantly for the future of these sports - improve the viewing experience of the games need to happen.
Good for you golf.
This and that
- Tebow update. Dude went 6-for-21 last week and his season average is .218. Bag him if you will, but taking a decade away from the sport and then hitting .218 against professionals over 60 at-bats is pretty impressive. And while his numbers are a little bit surprising, the supercharged surge in attendance is what you might expect. From the Post and Courier newspaper in Columbia, S.C., Tebow's Columbia Fireflies - owned by the same folks that own the Lookouts mind you - lead the South Atlantic League in attendance in their second season with an average of 5,787 per game, which is 2,000 more per night than last year.
- Mean to include this yesterday because we thought it was such an interesting stat. Remember Jason Gore, the large-and-in-charge golfer who made a memorable run at a U.S. Open as a qualifier a few years ago? He also played a couple of then-Nationwide events at Black Creek Club. Last weekend he finished second at a web.com Tour event. It was mentioned on the broadcast that Gore has more web.com (which includes the time as the Nationwide and the Nike and whatever other sponsors tags it has included) wins than anyone with eight. That makes him the golfing Crash Davis.
- This feels right. Northwestern links Pat Fitzgerald to a 10-year extension. The former Wildcats star and all-time coaching wins leader (he has 77 in 11 years, which screams to the struggles the program had before he got there) should be the Northwestern coach forever.
- This feels like a nightmare. Here's the story of D'Onta Foreman talking about dealing with the pain of dealing with his son D'Onta Jr.'s death at seven weeks. The infant was born seven weeks early and weighed 15 ounces. He spent 50 days in ICU and died Nov. 5, the same day Foreman rushed for a career-best 341 yards and three TDs against Texas Tech.
- Hey, big news. The Braves did not lose last night. Cool, right? (So what that they did not play. They are back in action tonight on local radio ESPN 105.1 the Zone. And yes, it is rather eye-popping that it is April 25, and the Braves, as Press Row cohost David Paschall noted Monday, have already had five- and six-game losing streaks.)
- Speaking of Press Row, big week this week. We had Rick Ankiel and Wes Rucker on Monday. We're scheduled to have former Red Bank star and UTC defensive end Keionta Davis on today (Time to be announced, check my Twitter feed - @jgreesontfp - later today) and are slated to have a monster Wednesday with Arkansas coach Bret Bielema and Titans GM Jon Robinson as he and his team get ready for the Thursday's first round. Cool, right? (Of course, all schedules are subject to change.) Pull up a chair from 3-6 p.m. weekdays on ESPN 105.1 the Zone.
Today's questions
It's a Tuesday. You know the drill. (Answer a couple T or Fs; leave a couple of T or Fs.)
True or false, Myles Garrett will be an NFL star.
True or false, Harrison Ford would swap careers with Burt Reynolds.
True or false, Roger Moore would swap careers with Burt Reynolds.
True or false, Al Pacino, who turns 77 today, would swap careers with Burt Reynolds.
Speaking of birthdays, the Big Fundamental, Timmy Duncan is 41 today.
We offer two Rushmores today. First, as you may expect, it celebration of one of our personal favs, Rushmore of Burt Reynolds movies. Secondly, in honor of Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of the radio being born on this day in 1874 in Bologna, Italy, what's the Rushmore of cities with food names?
Go and remember the contest