The final major, mostly
The PGA Championship is a major like Frank Burns was a major.
Yes, we call it a major, but it's really not. You know?
We had a few of you ask about a contest, and to be honest, we don't view the PGA as a major, so we opted against. It would have the feel of doing a golf contest for the Barclay's for all intents and purposes.
Still, it will get major coverage and that's cool because other than some college football scrimmages and some NFL dress rehearsals, there's not a lot going on.
Baseball? Hey, Dodgers are good. So are the Astros. The Braves are young and their starting pitching stinks. Any questions? But in terms of the PGA Championship, let's list the five picks we would go with if it was 5-at-10 major tournament contest worthy:
We love Rory this week. As does everyone, understandably. Dude has dominated Quail Hollow in his career. He holds the course record with a 61 in 2015, and in his seven tournaments at QH, he has six top 10s, two ins and is a combined 66 under par. Plus the weather could get wet, giving an added advantage to guys who blast it off the tee, since there will not be a lot of role. How long is Rory? Well, according to the PGA Tour's Sean Martin on Twitter, in his 26 rounds at Quail Hollow, Rory has hit 50 tee shots 330 or longer, 17 350-plus and topped out at 388. E-gad.
Along those lines, we also like Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler to contend this weekend. Each has sub-71 scoring averages at Quail Hollow for their career. Each also has plenty of length. We'll add long-bombing Brooks Koepka, who has been in the top 11 in the last four majors. (Are we underrating Koepka right now? He's certainly had a much better summer than Dustin Johnson.)
As for an off the wall pick, we'll go with our heart and think that Jason Day may get back to that fun place in which he's in the mix come Sunday. But come Sunday, we think they are all chasing Rory. And not in an overly major way.
Texas A&M wide receiver Christian Kirk breaks away from Tennessee defensive back Evan Berry during their SEC matchup last October in College Station.SEC items of interest
Each Wednesday we'll roll out some of the things around SEC camp that caught our attention.
Let's do five today. Deal? Deal.
First down: Here's the 247 All-American team. As you would expect there are more than a few SEC names on it. The first-team offense has LSU RB Derrius Guice, all-purpose player Christian Kirk of Texas A&M, Alabama WR Calvin Ridley and Arkansas offensive lineman Frank Ragnow. Defensively there are but two on the first team with LSU linebacker Arden Key and Alabama defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick. And the SEC dominated the special teams with Auburn kicker Daniel Carlson, Alabama punter JK Scott and punt returner Christian Kirk. (You could also argue that Evan Berry of Tennessee has a case as the kickoff returner, a spot given to Pittsburgh's Quadree Henderson.)
Second down: Earlier this week, USA Today projected the records of all 130 FBS teams. The 14 SEC schools were among them. Here's the conference-by-conference picks.
In the SEC, the pick is Alabama at 11-1 (7-1 in the league) to win the conference. LSU is pegged to go 10-2 (6-2). There are four teams picked at 8-4 - Georgia, Auburn, Florida and Tennessee. The logjam gets more crowded considering the other eight teams in the league range from 5-7 to 7-5.
Third down: If those rather bland projections work out, we have a third-down query or two for you: Would 8-4 overall and 5-3 in the SEC be enough to save Gus Malzahn's job? If Tennessee does go 8-4 and 4-4 in the SEC, which means the USA Today projections have the Vols beating Georgia Tech and likely losing to Alabama, Florida, Georgia and LSU, does Butch's seat get hot heading into 2018?
Fourth down: Among the many things that turned some heads from UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen's soundbites, maybe the one that is getting less attention than it should was the simple, "Raise the SAT requirement at Alabama and see what kind of team they have." After the former Tide quarterbacks sounded off earlier this week about terrible communication within the program, Rosen delivers another zinger. Want to know why? Because Alabama is doing it better than everyone else right now, and that hurts a lot of folks' feelings.
UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen's standout freshman season includes being named to the All-Pac-12 team last week. Next on the to-do list for Rosen and the Bruins is Saturday's San Francisco Bowl, in which they'll face Nebraska.Rosen steps in it
We're going to be measured here, for two reasons.
First, since we as a media type, want honest and interesting answers to thoughtful and direct questions, we're going to save the true quote analysis for the blah-tastic banality that comes from so many other directions.
Two, dude is a college kid. If we had a microphone in our face at 21, well, here's betting we would have stepped in it a time or three. (Heck, we have one in our face every day at 46 and we're sure we've stepped in it a time or three, times three.) Here's the nuts and bolts of this wide-ranging Q&A with Matt Hayes of Bleacher Report:
"I love school, but it's hard. It's cool because we're learning more applicable stuff in my major (Economics)-not just the prerequisite stuff that's designed to filter out people. But football really dents my ability to take some classes that I need. There are a bunch of classes that are only offered one time. There was a class this spring I had to take, but there was a conflict with spring football, so ...
"Look, football and school don't go together. They just don't. Trying to do both is like trying to do two full-time jobs. There are guys who have no business being in school, but they're here because this is the path to the NFL. There's no other way. Then there's the other side that says raise the SAT eligibility requirements. OK, raise the SAT requirement at Alabama and see what kind of team they have. You lose athletes and then the product on the field suffers.
Understandably there has been a lot of backlash. A lot. Mike & Mike spent a solid chunk on this Wednesday morning.
He's wrong. On a lot of levels, of course about the school and sports correlation. And he probably knows it after seeing his words in print.
Rosen is a smart enough kid to realize there are thousands of kids at UCLA working full-time jobs to afford to go to school there.
He's smart enough to know that all other athletes are putting in the long hours of practice and training and traveling to reach the same goal - a degree - without the likelihood of being a top-10 NFL pick next April and the millions that come with it.
He's smart enough to know that among all the debatable claims that college football players could make - monster staffs being paid millions for schools making tens of millions on their efforts is the starting point - no one wants to hear about how hard a free education is considering the scheduling help, the tutoring, all the benefits they get. But it's his opinion, and it was real and direct, and for that we should be thankful. Was it wrong? Yes, but it was honest and we should be thankful for that, because honest answers are becoming more rare than correct ones, especially in terms of the what is deemed correct in terms of not offending anyone.
Plus, stories like this often make us sad professionally, for two reasons:
First, coaches will use this as an example for players, especially quarterbacks, to pull the Crash Davis and embrace their cliches. "One game at a time." "Trying to help the ball club." Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, some times it rains." Barf.
Second, this will be flipped and will only continue the draconian efforts by these college programs to restrict access even more. And that makes the game less fun for everyone.
This and that
- Rest easy Glen Campbell. Thanks for sharing your gift.
- We tip the cap to the effort of ESPN the Ocho, which had trampoline dodgeball, the Fireman championships, darts, cornhole and some game in which two dudes headed a soccer ball back and forth on a table tennis table. Not sure it has a full-time, all-the-time appeal, but it was a nice sideshow to the afternoon full of reruns of guys yelling hot takes at each other.
- The Undefeated - a side site offered by ESPN.com - partnered with a public survey to list the greatest athletes of all-time. The list proved to be laughable in a lot of ways, in terms of ranking athletes. Not surprisingly Michael Jordan is No. 1, and from there the head-scratching and name-missing begins. Tiger Woods is not on the list. Bo Jackson is 25. LeBron James is one spot behind Steph Curry, who is two ahead of Jim Brown and four spots in front of Carl Lewis. There are two female gymnasts in the top 10. It generated some discussion on Press Row on Tuesday and the realization that a lot of these lists are crafted to create controversy, and then conversation. We're not biting. The list is laughably bad.
- Are you like me and get sucked into a Law & Order or Criminal Minds that you may or may not have seen before during the TV doldrums that are the summer months? Those criminals
- even though the cases are solved in 48 minutes give or take - are clever and always thinking. Real life criminals? Not so much. Meet 33-year-old Dennis Strickland. Strickland was arrested in Sioux Falls, Iowa, last week for drug possession. That is not so outlandish, right? Well, Mr. Strickland was arrested after trying to deposit a $1 million bill in his local bank. Yes, a $1 million bill - and yes the U.S. Treasury has stated there has never been a $1 million printed. AS for the drug charge, well, authorities were puzzled by Mr. Strickland's $1 million bill and asked him if he had another. So Strickland started digging in his pockets and out fell the drugs. Meyer Lansky he is not.
Today's question
Mailbag? Who's in. We are filling up and we already have a couple of hate mail options. Good times.
As for today, we'll offer a little one-word Wednesday.
The PGA Championship champion will be _________.
Josh Rosen's comments were ________.
If the above SEC projections hold true, there will be _______ SEC coaches fired before January.
On this day in 1898 Rudolf Diesel patented the diesel internal combustion engine. Here's thinking that may stick around for a while.
On this day in 1945, the U.S. dropped the second Atomic Bomb on Japan. This one was called "Fat Man." God Bless America.
In 1974, Richard Nixon resigned on this day and Gerald Ford took the oath of office.
In 1988 on this day, Wayne Gretzky was traded from the Oilers to the Kings.
On this day in 1483, the Sistine Chapel opened in the Vatican.
Bob Cousy is 89 today. Whitney Houston would have been 54. (Side note: Whitney died all the way back in 2012. Did not know it was that long ago.)
Brett Hull is 53. Rod Laver was born on this day in 1938.
Deion Sanders is 50 today. Fifty. Prime time. Prime time.
As for a Rushmore, let's go here. Chris Haney was born on this day in 1950. Who's Chris Haney you're asking.
Well, dude was a Canadian journalist who invented a board game called Trivial Pursuit.
Rushmore of board games. Go - and remember the mailbag.