Sour grapes or sour process
We will start tomorrow with a weekly Wednesday look at some SEC tidbits. Deal? Deal.
We start today with some interesting news about some former SEC quarterbacks.
First, we'll start here with two former Alabama quarterbacks saying they were caught completely by surprise by how the quarterback competition played out last year. Yes, quarterbacks who lose job battles frequently transfer and also often harbor ill will. That's not news. And certainly Nick Saban's decision on freshman Jalen Hurts being the dude was hard to argue with since Hurts went on to be the SEC offensive player of the year last season. But the details in the discourse are pretty interesting, considering the 'process-crazed' way Saban presents his uber-successful program.
Blake Barnett and Cooper Bateman have left Alabama for Arizona State and Utah, respectively. Each was clear to make sure they have a ton of respect for Saban. And each was pretty shocked by Hurts getting a lion's share of the snaps as the season-opening rout of USC unfolded.
Here's what Bateman told ESPN: "How things were communicated, there was a lack of communication. I knew I didn't want to be involved with that anymore, but fortunately that was the first game of the season -- 12, 13 more to go. I put my head down and battled through it. I knew after that first game that I didn't really want to be a part of it anymore."
From Barnett, also to ESPN: "According to him, I was their guy. Once Jalen went in, I was expecting it. But then he went out on the next series, the next series and the next series. I don't know if everything was communicated correctly."
It could be as simple as Hurts grabbing the gig and not letting go. It also could be a scenario in which no one had the job until Hurts shined in the opener.
Still, it's an interesting inside look, and further proof that the sausage-making process can be messy, even for the best chefs like Saban.
FILE - This is a Nov. 7, 2013, file photo showing Cris Carter smiling in the NFL booth during the first half of an NFL football game between the Minnesota Vikings and Washington Redskins in Minneapolis. Hall of Fame receiver Cris Carter has issued an apology for telling NFL rookies at a league symposium in 2014 that they should "get a fall guy" to help them avoid trouble. Carter posted his apology on Twitter after an ESPN article drew attention to the remarks he made during a presentation last year. (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt, File) On a 'Fantasy' Island
Three things are happening around the NFL.
One, everyone is trying to peg where Colin Kaepernick will fit. It seems like a rather useless exercise. Yes, we still believe he will be in camp; that belief gets strained a little bit more with each passing day that Kaepernick is not in a camp somewhere.
Secondly, people are trying to find reasons to be intrigued with the first full weekend of preseason games. Yes, it's football. But barely.
The other overlapping storyline connects the NFL with the underrated energy line that has made it the nation's most popular sport. Almost everywhere you look through August there will be some sort of fantasy football angle to the news of the day. As we were doing our morning culling, under the "Matthew Berry thinks Sammy Watkins could be a fifth-round steal" in the Twitter feed was this tidbit.
It is a story about how Cris Carter has sources - potentially in the NFL office - who have made it abundantly clear that Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott is facing a suspension for his off-the-field dealings with a woman.
Elliott was arguably the MVP last season of non-quarterbacks as a rookie, especially in terms of fantasy value. While it's true Carter is hardly on par with Mort or Schefty when it comes to breaking news, it's worth watching for a couple of reasons.
In fact, we're going to keep an eye on this and see if Carter's got sources or is just another TV talking head trying to get his name out there. (And if this doesn't work for Carter, he could always try offering some fantasy tips.)
Los Angeles Angels' Mike Trout runs to first base after hitting a double, the 1000th hit of his career, during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Monday, Aug. 7, 2017, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Big day for numbers
We were remiss Monday not to bring up the 10-year anniversary of Barry Bonds hitting career homer 756. He set the record on Aug. 7, 2007 off Mike Bacsik of the Nationals.
It also in a lot of ways completely changed what was once considered the greatest individual record in all of sports. The all-time home-run king simply does not have the gravitas that it once did because of the steroid era. Heck, there was a time that almost every baseball fan could name 755 as the mark. To that end, did you know that Bonds finished with 762 homers (and in truth, we had to look that up to double check it)?
Bonds said recently that he wanted one more season in the bigs, and in truth he was more blackballed and viewed as a pariah than Colin Kaepernick all things considered. In his final year at 42, Bonds hit .276 with 28 homers and 66 RBIs and led the league in on-base percentage at 4-flippin'-80 by leading the league in walks and intentional walks. So every team had so much respect for him they would pitch around him but would not sign him.
Heck, he made the all-star team for Pete's sake, but no one came calling in 2008 because of the PED talk and all the controversy and the federal investigations.
Alas.
That said, also on Monday, Mike Trout got his 1,000th career on his 26 birthday. Bryce Harper, the other young-gun slugger in today's game, hit his 150th career home run on Monday. Trout is in his seventh season and has 191 career homers; Harper, who is 24 and in year six of his big-league career, has the even 150, including 29 with roughly 60 games left this year. Trout has averaged 35 homers per 162 games so far in his career; Harper has averaged 32 per 162 in his.
Harper, though, started earlier, getting his big league call-up at 19 and playing a full season. Trout made his debut at 19 in the last 40 games of 2011.
The first question is can either of those sluggers topple Bonds' mark? At Trout's pace of 35 per 162 games, he'd need to stay on pace for another 16.3 seasons to get the 571 homers needed to get to Bonds' mark. Harper would need 19.1 seasons at 32 per 162 to get to 762. That seems like a lot to topple, especially considering the hundreds of millions those guys are going to collect over the next decade.
The other question has to be if someone topples Bonds, would that restore some of the shine to being the home run king?
This and that
- Speaking of coaches and former SEC quarterbacks, it also appears that Johnny Manziel says he's interested in coaching if his NFL window is closed. Hmmmm, not sure, but here's betting one Johnny Football, Esq., has some reputation mending to do before he gets a coaching shot.
Who knows, though? I mean, Lane Kiffin is a head coach again, so anything is possible, right?
- Roger Federer is 36 years old today. Man, some of the best are getting older in time but not in action.
- Here's Weeds catching up with former UTC star lineman Corey Levin trying to make the most of is chance with the Tennessee Titans.
- Boomer Esiason said on his radio show that he likely has CTE, and that he believes most players have it or will have it. Gang, this is no longer news, right? Smashing things with your head will lead to increased likelihoods of brain-damage. Running into burning buildings will lead to more fire deaths. Jobs come with occupational risks.
- Houston Nutt offered Ole Miss a very sly proposition. He'll settle his lawsuit - which brought down Hugh Freeze's tenure at Ole Miss - for a simple apology. That said, that apology would sink Ole Miss even deeper into the NCAA quagmire, since it could be construed that the apology is an admission of a conspiracy to deflect blame on Nutt. Crazy times in Oxford, the leading place in all the south where actual college football games can not get here quickly enough.
- The PGA Championship starts this week with this bit of news: Starting in 2019, the final major of the golf calendar will become the second major on the golf calendar. The PGA Championship will be in May in 2019 when it returns a major championship to Bethpage Black. The Players Championship will move to March, giving golf a big event in each month from March to July. It also give the sport the flexibility to move the Fed Ex Playoffs up so the season ends on Labor Day if it so desires.
Today's questions
True or false, someone in baseball right now will break Barry Bonds' career home run record.
True or false, you will play in a fantasy football league this year.
True or false, you are tired of the football-concussion discussion.
It's a Tuesday after all, and feel free to leave a couple as well.
As for Aug. 8, well on this day in 1992, the original Dream Team cruised in the Barcelona Olympics and won gold on this day.
In 1988 - 8/8/88 - the Cubs played under the lights at Wrigley for the first time. The game was rained out after a couple of innings, so the first official game was actually 8/9/88.
On this day in 1786, the US Congress adopted the silver dollar. In 1885, more than a million attended the funeral of Ulysses S. Grant in New York City. In 1974, Nixon announced he will resign after the Watergate Investigation. In addition to Federer, who is a mind-blowing 31-2 this year, today is the 80th birthday for Dustin Hoffman.
Rushmore of Dustin Hoffman movies? Go.