From Stick
OK, I'm kinda new to the 5@10. Couple of buddies read your stuff and we all listen to Press Row and I had some Super Bowl questions.
Think of it as a FullCourt Press thing. Best game? Best Commercial? Best national anthem? Best play? Best team?
Thanks.
Stick -
Welcome to the show and thanks for playing along with the craziness.
The overlap around these parts and Press Row is growing and it still kind of surprises us when it happens. Thanks to everyone - when we agree and when we don't - for making this as much fun as it is.
And Stick, you ask some great questions, questions in fact that we believe may be tossed around on today's Press Row, so keep on listening my man.
Best game: There have been a ton of great ones. Games with comebacks from all-time QBs (Hey, is that John Candy?) and amazing defensive struggles and upsets of great magnitude. For best game, and freshness may swing the vote, but the Patriots win over the Seahawks a couple of years ago holds up by almost every metric. That said, the most important Super Bowl is almost assuredly Namath's guarantee game when the Jets beat the Colts in Super Bowl III.
Best commercial: We are personally partial to the Ram truck commercial with the voice over from Paul Harvey's "And God made a farmer." The most iconic is likely the MacIntosh commercial in 1984 which was directed by Ridley Scott, who went on to do some films you may have heard of, like say, Gladiator. The Budweiser Lost Dog commercial is pretty awesome, as is the VW commercial with the little kid dressed as Darth Vader. The instinct answer for a lot of us is the Mean Joe Greene commercial with the jersey for Coke, but that actually debuted during the 1979 season. It was played during the Super Bowl at the end but still. We'll stick with the Ram truck one in an upset because we loved Paul Harvey back in the day. (And now you know the rest of the story.)
Best anthem. This may be the one on which we can all agree. Whitney Houston crushed it. Don't care if she recorded it earlier. It was perfect.
Best play. Has to be the David Tyree catch, right? We give special props to James Harrison's 100-yard interception return right before the half when the Steelers beat the Cardinals, but nothing beats Tyree's helmet-pinning grab all things considered. Here's a great stat: That was David Tyree's last catch in the NFL.
Best team. The Bears of '85 are the reflex answer for one team in one year, and the aforementioned David Tyree kept this one being a slam dunk for the Patriots that year. All things considered, we'll go with the Steelers teams that won four in six years before free agency and the Cowboys teams of the early 1990s that won three in four years after free agency.
Great question Stick.
FILE - In this Dec. 5, 2015, file photo, Baylor coach Art Briles stands in the tunnel before the team's NCAA college football game against Texas in Waco, Texas. A new court filing detailed allegations that former Baylor coach Briles ignored sexual assaults by players, failed to alert university officials or discipline athletes and allowed them to continue playing. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File) From Larry
Did you see the Donnie Tyndell stuff this week? I didn't see it in the 5-at-10. If Chaz Bono (credit Jomo) got a 10-year show cause there has to be more to this right?
Thanks.
Larry -
You would have to think there is more to this. And truth be told, everyone in college hoops at all levels other than apparently Dave Hart knew Donnie T was playing fast and loose with the rules and his ethical obligations.
Still, the NCAA is famous for being so mad at UNC (and having their hands tied because of fear of driving the power 5 away) that they are going to drop nuclear bombs on a meaningless patsy like Donnie T.
Here's the next question: If Donnie T got a decade show cause, what in the world does Art Briles deserve after the layers of the awfulness at Baylor keep getting peeled back.
Here's the latest, with the Dallas Morning News getting texts and correspondence between Briles and other Baylor folks trying to cover up allegations involving football players, and in at least one instance, working with police to try to make one go away.
Briles now has the same hiring attraction as anyone involved in the Penn State stuff back in the day. And considering how the NCAA fell all over itself in the Penn State fallout from Jerry Sandusky, it will be interesting to see how it handles the Baylor situation.
Who knows, Donnie Tyndall may get an extra 10 years on his show cause before it's all said and done.
A rose in a flower arrangement is on display Friday, Feb. 13, 2015, at Chattanooga Flower Market.From Fat Vader
This tradition has quickly turned this holiday into one of my wife's favorites too. In fact, she marked it on our calendar as "holiday of the gods."Does this make the Vader family crazy? For the mailbag: What are the odd family traditions at the Greeson house?
Fat Vader -
No man, that doesn't make you crazy. Not saying you're not crazy, just saying that your family's love for Groundhog's Day is not the reason.
OK, odd 5-at-10 family traditions.
Well, we all wear red, white and blue on July 4th. (Campy, but whatever.)
We have the entire family over for chili dogs and a campfire the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. We spend New Year's Eve at home and have had a Christmas Eve party every year since I was 5. We welcome in spring with a game of catch in the yard (rain or shine), and welcome in fall with a game of touch football (rain or shine). We tried to outlaw Valentine's Day but that one did not take as well.
Feels like we're missing one or three. We may revisits this after visiting with the Mrs. 5-at-10 on the matter.
Deal? Deal.
From TC
Jay - mailbag item, what's on the menu at your SB party? Must-haves vs no-thanks? I'll set the over/under on CoColas for myself at 6 (and I'm going to say under).
TC -
Excellent question.
We're a big believer in wings, be in Buffalo Chicken Dip or the straight wings from your place of choice. We are big also into the finger-type snacks and have always preferred the grazing approach (an apt term this time of year) to the full meal approach.
And we've said this around these parts before, the Mrs. 5-at-10 is quite the cook, so she almost always trots out at least one new surprise, whether it's jalapeno rolls, mini nacho scoops, fried sausage wontons, baked pimento cheese triangle sammiches.
This year, the new entry is called chili dog casserole, and yes we are intrigued.
Here's the basic premise as we understand it (and remember, other than breakfast and grilling, our area of expertise is eating not the preparing): hot dogs wrapped in croissant rolls lining the outside of the dish with chili in the middle, bake and enjoy. We are pretty excited and will report back on Monday.
As for the over/under on Co-Colas around these parts, six is a pretty good number. We want to make sure we are in this one from start to finish with clear eyes (and a full heart). That said, if you look up and it's 21-3 Pats, well, the over at Casa del 5-at-10 will almost assuredly hit.
FILE - In this May 5, 1969, file photo, Los Angeles Lakers' Wilt Chamberlain tries to shoot against Boston Celtics' Bill Russell during an NBA basketball finals game at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif. Chamberlain and Russell went head-to-head 142 times over a decade from 1959-1969. Russells Boston Celtics beat Chamberlains teams 85 games. Chamberlain shattered records. Russell collected championship banners, winning nine to Chamberlains one. (AP Photo/File)From Terry G
Jay,
First, love your writing and the 3-6 pm radio show. My wife and I moved from Illinois to Chattanooga about 15 months ago and couldn't be happier. I think "Press Row" is the best radio sports show I've ever listened to and I've heard plenty of them. I used to do University of Tulsa basketball and football play-by-play back in the 1970s when they were in the Missouri Valley Conference. Saw some great players like Larry Bird (Indiana State) and Darrell Griffith (Louisville).
You briefly mentioned Bill Russell on (Wednesday's) broadcast. I vividly remember Russell and the glory days of the Celtics. Different era, different style of play, different athletes. But Russell played on 11 NBA championship teams. 11 rings. I doubt that record will ever be broken. Question to you - how many of those Boston championships do they win without Russell? I say zero or next to zero. How many does New England win without Brady? Cleveland or Miami without LeBron? Chicago without Jordan? But 11 rings has to be the gold standard. Russell wasn't a piece of the puzzle. He was the bell cow. They don't win without him. 11 times. I know I'm old school but I don't think you have a conversation about the greatest NBA player of all time and considering the value of that player to their team's titles without Russell in the conversation. Very thin air.
Keep up the great work!
Terry -
Thanks for the kind words and for the great question.
Russell is underrated by most accounts in today's view and that has a lot to do with a) a lack of perspective; b) a lack of knowledge of his career - not only did he win 11 NBA titles, he won at the college level too with a bunch of Dons; and c) the greatness of the entirety of the Celtics roster.
To be fair Boston in the 1950s was like the Yankees during their heyday or the Bruins in NCAA hoops under Wooden or UConn and Auriemma today. (And in some ways what Alabama has going on, too.) They had the most talent, and in most cases it was not close.
Randomly picking one of those title teams, the 1962-63 Celtics had six future Hall of Famers and seven players average more than 10 points per game. (Side note: This would be the time to mention that the Hawks - then of St. Louis - drafted Russell and traded him for Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan because, well, they were the Hawks.)
As for your question about rings, it's an interesting one because as great as the Celtics' roster was, without Russell in the middle doing what he did against Wilt Chamberlain, well, Boston's 11-titles-in-13-years would likely be more like three.
The other basketball players on that list are pretty clear. Without LeBron, Miami nor Cleveland win titles and without Jordan, well, the Pistons would have won a couple more and the Knicks may actually have something more recent than 1970 to celebrate.
Brady is the interesting one there.
Would Belichick been able to find a way without Brady, and not unlike the way Chamberlain's career would be drastically different if the Celtics and Russell had not come together, how much more hardware would Peyton Manning have if the Patriots were simple with a great coach rather than a great coach and an all-time QB?
Great question, Terry, and thanks again for the kind words.
Gang, have a Super weekend, and here's hoping for a Super game.