Gang, great week with some excellent comments.
Before we get to the mailbag, let's briefly mention that system that operates to name the NBA All-Star starters that somehow left off the superstar who is averaging a triple-double through the first half of the system. And while everyone is hand-wringing and SOOOOOOO upset about it, you know what? That's the system, and even beyond that, it's democracy in a lot of ways. It's the system the NBA uses - to pick the players the fans want to see for a fan exhibition game remember - just because the results doesn't fit our delicate sensibilities, well, everyone gets bent out of shape. Man, this seems like the first time this has happened in any type of election in recent months, right? (Yes, that was sarcasm.)
Yes, there are years when the depth and popularity at one position make it overwhelming and leave a deserving starter on the bench. Reggie Miller has one career All-Star game start because his career was spent being a top-10 all-time shooter in the same conference and in the same position as the best player ever. Heck, John Stockton only had four all-star starts in a legendary, record-filled career because some dude nicknamed Magic was the point guard pick in the West through the 1980s.
Nevermind that this year's system is different - and better - than the one in years past. This one took votes from the players and the media and fans. The popularity vote counts as the tie-breaker, too, which is how Steph Curry passed Russell Westbrook to be a starter. (Curry's total of 1.8 million fan votes was second behind LeBron James.)
In fact, the new system prevented some different names from being in the starting lineup. If it had been only the old-school fans vote, Chicago's Dwyane Wade, Philly's Joel Embiid and Golden State's Zaza Pachulia each would have been starters. None of them deserved it by comparison.
And finally, and we have said this about every election both big and small, if you do not vote, you do not get to complain. That means you Colin Kaepernick in the general election and that means us in the NBA all-star fiasco.
From the "Talks too much studios" let's open the bag.
FILE - In this Feb. 15, 2015 file photo, Will Ferrell arrives at the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special at Rockefeller Plaza in New York. A new thriller starring Ferrell and Kristen Wiig will air later this month on Lifetime after experiencing some real-life drama of its own. The network says “A Deadly Adoption” will premiere June 20, 2015, at 8 p.m. EDT. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File) Nathan -
Jay it may be for a later time but who's your Rushmore of SNL?
Nathan -
Wow. That's so overwhelming.
And to be fair, we can only really discuss from roughly Will Ferrell and before time frame. The last run of dreck has been so bad, it's painful. (Especially so for a lot of us who loved that show.) So let's break it down into sub-contexts. And with a topic that big you have to.
Rushmore of best cast members: Murphy, Myers, Carvey and Phil Hartman. Yes, that is a touch skewed to the 1980s and there are some old-school arguments made for the Belushi, Murray, Aykroyd, etc., group can be strong. Ferrell's highlights have aged well as we have appreciated his place in comedy, but a lot of that beyond the cheerleaders and a couple others were pretty forgettable in a remarkably forgettable time, considering the cast. And yes, our picks are pretty heavy on impersonations - Carvey and Hartman were two of the best and most diverse ever in that category - but they also were so diverse and excellent.
Best impersonations (political): Carvey's Bush I was amazing and sets the bar. Tina Fey's Sarah Palin was so great. We always had a soft spot for Chevy Chase's Gerald Ford simply because he fell down a lot. (Yes we are a kid at heart.) And Darrell Hammond's Bill Clinton was great. As for Alec Baldwin's Trump, we think it is stupid and sophomoric. And while SNL has never pulled punches, Baldwin as Trump is the closest thing we have ever seen to one-sided maliciousness in its history. And that's sad. And desperate.
Best impersonations (non-political): Will Ferrell as James Lipton (the host of the Inside the Actors Studio) is aces; Hartman as Sinatra; Murphy as James Brown; Hammond as Sean Connery.
Best original skits: And to remember the greatness of the apex of SNL, is to remember the gifts these sketches gave to motion pictures. Think of all the skits that became movies. Those aside, we'd list our four best as the Chippendales dance off with Swayze and Chris Farley; the D#$% in a Box skit with Samberg and Timberlake; the Ebony and Ivory duet with Piscopo and Murphy as Sinatra and Stevie Wonder and Cowbell.
Best old-school skits: Samurai Deli; Aykroyd as Julia Child; Steve Martin as King Tut; Blue Brothers.
Man, we could go on, but there is simply too many and think of the ones we have not gotten to yet but need to: Best host; worst host; best original reoccurring charactersJust too many. Too much greatness and too many memories, and in a lot of ways that's why SNL's descent into irrelevance and craptastic land is so painful for a lot of us.
Atlanta strong safety Kemal Ishmael, bottom right, tackles Green Bay wide receiver Trevor Davis during the Falcons' 33-32 win on Oct. 30 at the Georgia Dome.From Jim
With this weekend's NFC title game that will be the last meaningful sporting event at the Ga. Dome. What are your favorite moments there?
Thanks and keep up the great work -- I love the 5@10.
Jim -
Thanks for the kind words and for playing along.
Personally, we'd list the 2004 SEC title game (Auburn's first in 15 years), the U.S. winning the gold medal in hoops at the 1996 Olympics, the Super Bowl when the Rams stopped the Titans a foot from the goal line and the Falcons home opener in September 1992. We attended all of those.
Sure, there were some Final Fours - and a Falcons playoff game in 1998 against the 49ers was awesome in that run to the franchise's lone Super Bowl trip.
We also asked Falcons play-by-play guy Wes Durham this question on Press Row on ESPN 105.1 on Thrusday. He referenced several Falcons games, including the NFC title game a few years ago against San Fran. he also listed a couple of Final Fours and a couple of SEC title games, including the one in '98 when Tennessee won on the way to the national title.
Thoughts?
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown celebrates at the end of an NFL divisional playoff football game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2017, in Kansas City, Mo. The Steelers won 18-16. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner) From Lisa
My husband listens to your show every day. He loves you guys. Sports are not really my thing but he has been talking all about your NFL picks.
I have two questions for you. First and this may be dumb but what is an over/under and if you had $1,000 you had to be this weekend on NFL games, how are you spreading it out? Thank you in advance and what you do.
Lisa -
Well, thanks Lisa and Lisa's husband.
First, an over/under is an arbitrary number bookmakers set call the total. That number represents the swing point of total points scored in a game from both teams combined. Bettors can then go "over" or "under" that total accordingly. Hope that makes sense.
As for the other question, well, first off, all of our picks are for entertainment purposes only. Yes, we have had a very hot streak and would be plus-1,140 in entertainment vouchers on our NFL picks over the last six weekends.
With that in mind - and the fact that we have posted a 3-1 mark against the number each week - we'd advise to split the 1,000 entertainment tickets evenly among out four picks. We had Green Bay plus the 4.5 (a number that could grow closer to kick since the Packers' top two wide receivers are listed as questionable) and over the 61 in that game. In the AFC we had the Patriots minus-6 and under the 51.
If we were in Vegas - where, unlike Bushwood, gambling is legal and I never slice - we'd levy the same spread. Then if we had, say another $1,000 we'd eye the following prop bets on these games. (Prop bets are offered by Vegas bookmakers to give more betting options on big sporting events. It started in the 1986 Super Bowl when Vegas allowed bettors to wager whether William "Refridgerator" Perry would score in that game for the Bears. He did, and prop bets have been a monster ever since.) Here is a list of prop bets we saw that could offer some extra intrigue this weekend:
Odds that the first score is a TD for Atlanta is 1-to-1; Green Bay is 5-to-4; Patriots is 5-to-3; Steelers is 7-to-3. You can get 40-to-1 odds that each of the four teams score a TD on its opening possession. Kind of like that last one.
Odds that someone with a first or last name that starts with a 'B' (Brown, Bell, Ben, Brady, Blount, Bennett, etc.) scores the first TD in the Steelers-Patriots game.
Odds that a player other than Brady, Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers or Matt Ryan attempts a pass Sunday is 5-to-1.
Odds that the Falcons-Packers game features zero punts is 149-to-1.
Odds Rodgers successfully throws a Hail Mary is 80-to-1. And then we loved this series of options on the postage handshake between Mike Tomlin and Bill Belichick:
Odds they shake hands for one second or less: 1-to-1.
Odds they shake hands for more than a second: 5-to-3.
Odds they do not make physical contact: 7-to-1.
Odds they hug/embrace: 99-to-1.
Odds they fist-bump: 999-to-1.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban answers questions during a news conference for the NCAA college football playoff championship game Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Morry Gash) From MJ -
No doubt Saban is the best in the business over the past decade. That said, could he pick up his program, take it to random school A,B or C and within 3 years replicate his success?
Figure plenty of schools would ante up to match or exceed his Bama salary, so could he take it on the road to any mid-pack Big 5 school (NC State, Texas Tech, or fill in the blank) and roll out championship caliber teams year after year. Wouldn't that be the ultimate enticement for him to prove he is truly the greatest?
Thanks
MJ -
Great question.
And the answer is both short and layered.
We say yes, if Saban picked up and went to NC State, he'd have them contending for conference titles and spots in the playoff within three years. We say that because of what he has built at Alabama and the credit he deserves from that. Before he went to Tuscaloosa, though, we are not as sure. If he had left the NFL for say, West Virginia, the Mountaineers are not the same powerhouse this Alabama bunch is.
That's for a couple of reasons: First. Alabama's facilities and passion and power were waiting for someone to rally behind. Even at the height of success, a West Virginia or NC State or whomever could not mobilize that kind of support. Saban has the biggest staff; a strength coach that makes more than his NFL counterparts; unquestioned support and the biggest salary ever.
He's earned that and deserves that and in truth Alabama is happy to pay it considering what they get in the bargain. But not every school could give him that kind of support and excess.
Now that he has had that, and he has etched his name as the best college coach of the last 35 years (we think he's the best ever, but that's a whole different mailbag question unto itself), that reputation would allow him to go to Raleigh or Lubbock or Morgantown and continue to recruit at an elite level. (That said, if Vandy broke the bank and offered him $12 million a year; here's a bet that Alabama comes back with $12.5 million. He's that type of rainmaker for the Tide athletic department.)
As for proving he's the best by winning at three schools, well, that certainly would be a feather in his cap that no one else has. And it would answer the Steve Spurrier heckle from a few years ago when asked about Saban's titles at Alabama and LSU, Spurrier asked if he could win big at Ole Miss.
But in truth, if he wins two more at Alabama, that would still be just as powerful a statement for his place among the all-timers, no?
From Jomo-
JG- on the Fulmer / Blackburn thing, does it not look like that Fulmer stabbed Blackburn in the back a la the way Fulmer did Majors ? If Blackburn went with Fulmer as his #2 or #3 or whatever, is that not what Blackburn was before he came to UTC ? Why would Blackburn want to go back and do exactly what he was doing before and now have his success or failure tied to Fulmer ? Other than a love for UTK, it's hard to see that as a good career move for Blackburn ? Would Blackburn not be better to move to another school bigger than UTC as AD as opposed to just going back to being Fulmer's #2 ?
Jomo -
To be fair, Jomo also asked this week if Fulmer possibly stabbed Blackburn in the back, and even used the Johnny Majors reference.
We'll start there: No, we don't believe Fulmer worked behind the scenes on this one. We believe some power players in the 865 approached Fulmer and then the dominos started to line up.
If we were setting the line in Vegas, we'd have Fulmer a 5-to-3 pick to get it, Blackburn a 4-to-1 pick and the field at 8-to-1. Your reasoning is sound and fair about whether Blackburn would want to return for a job pretty similar to the one he left.
The only thing that could be different and would be enticing is the "AD in waiting" tag that almost assuredly would have to be part of the deal.
That said, and we believe this, on almost everyone in a position of extreme leadership that forces bosses to make decisions that are guaranteed to irritate someone: Each year - unless you are winning at a level of Saban - you lose a certain chunk of your popularity for reasons as unfounded and irrational as familiarity breeding contempt and people getting their feelings hurt by decisions that may have been for the greater good but not in their individual plans.
Great question, great week and have a great weekend.