5-at-10: Combines thoughts and chances, Golf rules suggestions, Monster this and that with LeBron and UT and Rushmore of fictional cats

Michigan State offensive lineman Jack Conklin runs a drill at the NFL football scouting combine, Friday, Feb. 26, 2016, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)
Michigan State offensive lineman Jack Conklin runs a drill at the NFL football scouting combine, Friday, Feb. 26, 2016, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)

Combine chances

The NFL combine hits full stride today. We love the draft; you know this.

While the critics have several valid points about the translation of the drills to actual production on Sundays, there are several valuable aspects to the process in Indianapolis in which 330 or more college players try to catch the eye of NFL teams.

First, and we believe this to be the most important. This is the announced job interview for all of these guys hoping to make six- or seven-figure salaries playing the game they love. If a player comes unprepared to this - overweight, not ready for even the basic interview questions, failing the announced drug test come to mind - how in the world can you trust the guy to be ready physically and mentally for 16 Sundays a fall and year-round?

That's the baseline stake in this. That baseline also translate to the skills drills. Players know what's coming: The 40, benching 225 pounds as many times as possible, etc. If you knew the questions or requirements for what you believed to be the best job in the world, you would do everything in your power to be as ready as possible, right? Exactly.

Granted, the story Merrill Hoge told this week in Mike & Mike about how Chuck Noll and the Steelers did their own scouting at their own facility was enthralling.

Hoge said that Noll made everyone run in full pads. He didn't care how fast you were in shorts because he never called a play for a guy in shorts. They also had to carry a football. (This makes a ton of sense and likely should used in the NFL. And while we're at it, if teams wanted to get game speed readings, do away with the sprinters' blocks too. And have a drill where a defensive back is standing facing the other way and turns and runs 40 yards. That would be telling.)

Noll also refused to clock DBs, RBs or WRs running anything without their ankles taped because they always had their ankles taped for games. In fact, Hoge said the players had come from the locker room with socks rolled down to make sure everyone had taped ankles.

Not sure those old-school tips would fly today, sadly. But here's how telling and revealing - and in some ways how bloated today's running times are - Noll's methods were.

According to Hoge, one college defensive back prospect ran a very pedestrian 4.69 40 under the Steelers' schemes. That would be very damaging at the combine since a lot of linebackers would be blowing by that.

Well, that DB, under Noll's constraints mind you, was Rod Woodson, the future Hall of Famer who was viewed as one of the fastest corners in the league for a large part of his career.

Let the Games begin.

photo Teammates celebrate after defensive end Derek Barnett, center, broke Reggie White's record for sacks in the second half of the Vols' Music City Bowl game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Nissan Stadium on Friday, Dec. 30, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn. Tennessee won 38-24.

Making the most of their chance

There are a handful of guys we all followed closely in college who are in Indy over the next few days. It's hard to gauge the stakes for a lot o them for a couple of reasons.

There are some guys who are guaranteed a big pay day. There are some guys who likely have too far a hill to climb to make the draft. (Remember there are more than 330 players there, and there are 250-or-so NFL draft picks, and there are at least a handful of guys who either declined invites or were not included that will be drafted.)

There are also some guys who only need to impress one team with one need at their one position. There have to be a lot of QBs thinking about this as the events start. With that in mind, here are several fellows who have the chance to greatly improve their stock with impressive showings during the job screening process known as the combine.

Derek Barnett, DE, Tennessee. Barnett was more productive than Myles Garrett. Barnett was better against elite competition than Garrett was. But Garrett is getting top-overall billing and Barnett is pegged anywhere from the high teens to the mid-20s in round one. Why? Barnett is viewed as high-motor over-achiever, (like that's a bad thing, right?) and Garrett is viewed as an elite athlete getting to the passer. So if Barnett is close to Garrett in a lot of the speed drills - and we expect it to be closer than most realize - and switches the conversation back to on-field production, Barnett will jump a lot of spots.

Chad Kelly, QB, Ole Miss. Kelly was not invited, but he already had a ticket and went to informally interview with NFL teams this week. Kelly can make all the throws and when he was healthy was the best QB in the SEC. (Yes, that, in some ways is being called the best looking of the ugly stepsisters, but still.) If Kelly can convince one quarterback-hungry team that his immaturity is done and his knee is ready to go, he becomes a second-day steal. Ask yourself this: If you are the Browns would you rather have two difference makers in the top dozen picks and roll the dice with Kelly with the first pick of round three or take Trubisky or Watson supremely high?

Quarterbacks in general. This appears to be a very muddled - some say weak, but let's reserve that word right now - QB class. We think Deshaun Watson is the best among the lot, but what do you believe is his ceiling? Is he better than Dak Prescott, who tore up the NFL last year in a dream situation in Dallas? Is he better than Jamies Winston, who is moving through growing pains in Tampa? Then there are the questions facing guys across the QB draft board and the right answers could move guys from late rounds to day two or from day two to round one. Is Josh Dobbs accuracy reliable? Is Patrick Mahomes more than the next Texas Tech stat machine? Can Mitch Trubisky be fairly judged on 13 games as a starter? Good times.

Battle between Leonard Fournette and Dalvin Cook to be the first RB drafted. Both battled injuries and both owe a nice finder's fee (or would that be a rediscovery fee?) to Ezekiel Elliott, who was a top-five pick for Dallas last year and reminded everyone how much an elite running back can mean to an offense. Carolina almost assuredly will look at RB with the No. 8 pick, and one of these two dudes can take a big step in that direction this weekend. (Side point: Expect Alvin Kamara, the former UT back, to turn a lot of heads this weekend.)

Cam Robinson, OT, Alabama. Robinson was penciled in as a top-five overall pick during a dazzling freshman season. Since then his stock has flat-lined some - his offseason arrest didn't help either - but he still is ranked as the top talent at a coveted position. If Robinson can show he's more than the best tackle in a down year, he could make himself a lot of money this weekend.

Jabrill Peppers, Hybrid, Michigan. He's undersized at linebacker, where he played last year for the Wolverines. He's a great athlete, but is he ready to line up over slot receivers as a safety? The combine will offer numbers, but it can't measure his versatility - how many linebackers returned kicks for their college team? - and teams will love that. There may not be a player with more first-round swing potential than Peppers, who could wow someone in the top-10 or fall out of round one all together because he doesn't have a true position. (Side note: Here's betting that if Peppers is on the board when the Patriots pick 32nd, Bill Belichick starts grinning ear-to-ear and picks Peppers. That is unless he has traded that pick to the Cardinals for three future first-rounders, and a future secret game-tape to be named later.)

photo Michelle Wie of the United States tees off on the third hole during the first round of the HSBC Women's Champions golf tournament held at Sentosa Golf Club's Tanjong course on Thursday, March 2, 2017, in Singapore. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

Golf rule changes

Add golf to the list of sports looking for easy to change the game and increase interest in young folks.

Here's a great look at some of the suggested changes form the USGA and the R&A - the two main governing bodies of the sport around the world.

The goal of these changes is simply put to make the rules "easier to understand and apply" and in a lot of ways these are a noble goal. Will it help with the crunching problem of fewer and fewer young people playing golf and fewer and fewer among us having less and less time to play?

Doubtful, but that's not the point, at least in theory.

Not unlike baseball, the gesture to change - to adapt and remodel some elements of the sport - is a grand one and deserves to be commended.

For the folks who embrace the tradition of the games, we get that too, but ask yourself if these sports are going to be around for the next three generations without making changes. Heck, would any of them.

Here according to the Washington Post are some of the major suggestions to be reviewed. Here are some of the specific proposals:

No penalty for accidentally moving your ball while in search of it or on the putting green.
No penalty when a player (or the player's equipment or caddie) accidentally deflects his or her own ball while it's in motion.
When dropping a ball while taking relief, players can do so from just above the ground, rather than from a standing position with the arm outstretched.
Time for a ball search is reduced from five to three minutes.
Allow players to repair "any damage on the green," including spike marks and shoe damage.
No penalty for hitting an unattended flagstick still in the hole on a putt from the green.
No penalty for touching the line of play on the putting green, as long as a player did not improve the line.
Players can take relief from a bunker for a two-stroke penalty, using the "back-on-a-line procedure."
A club damaged during a round can continue to be used, even if a player damaged it in anger.
Players are encouraged to employ "ready golf" and take shots out of turn when it makes sense to do so; players should make strokes in no more than 40 seconds.
Players could have their number of strokes on a given hole capped under a "maximum score" format.

Of course, most of these are not going to affect what we see on TV. Those guys would never take a two-shot penalty for not playing a bunker shot. And yes, there will be a lot of traditionalists -"Gambling is illegal at Bushwood and I never slice" - against this. But there are some ideas that could appeal to folks who like to play but hate that one hole where they take a 14 and never finish with legit score.

Thoughts?

This and that

- Another Thursday, another Terrell Owens back-and-forth. According to this story, T.O. was in L.A. and had a specially made gold jacket - a lot like the ones NFL Hall of Famers get. There were a couple of differences to T.O.'s jacket, however. First, we all know it was not given to him by the folks in Canton. Second, T.O. allegedly had his stats put on the back of the jacket, according to an NFL Hall of Famer. Also of note: T.O. on Twitter after the Oscar debacle: "After watching the #Oscars2017 moonlight snafu, maybe I did make the #HOF2017 class."

- OK, this is why sports is sports, and we keep coming back. Every time we think we get burned by locker room squabbles or drained by NCAA junk, we get the story of Erica Schaeffer, an 11-year-old Monmouth University basketball fan. She has written letters to all 30 NBA GMs supporting the talents and NBA prospects of her favorite player, Monmouth 5-foot-8 point guard Justin Robinson. Her motivation? She doesn't want Robinson to play overseas because she wants to watch her favorite player again. Here's the kicker: Several GMs have responded, including a hand-written note from Detroit GM Jeff Bower. Good times.

- We have discussed the Phil Mickelson interview with David Feherty, which will air next week in the season premiere of the show "Feherty" on the Golf Channel, a little this week. Mickelson retells some great stories. From the 6-iron off the straw on 13 at Augusta to dropping the "Don't F*&$ this up" to David Toms in the alternate shot part of a Ryder Cup, Mickelson is in his element. Now, according to this clip, he also discusses his relationship with Tiger Woods.

- Here's today's insightful opinion on the Mocs hoopsters moving forward from TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer.

- LeBron James almost plowed New England coach Bill Belichick during the Cavs' loss to Boston on Thursday. Here's more.

- Speaking of James, he had a triple-double in the loss, but that was not enough to avoid the slings and potshots from renowned James hater Skip Bayless, who Tweeted, among other things, "LeBron HAS TO take that last shot, off the offensive rebound. Drive it! Get to the free throw line! Don't kick it to poor Derrick Williams." Bayless also Tweeted, "LeBron shrinks in the clutch AGAIN! @undisputed. 9:30 AM ET. FS1" as a prelude to Bayless' show "The Undisputed," which if you ever watch Fox has been billed as the fastest growing sports show in the country. For some perspective on that - and a reminder that if you have three viewers one day and nine the next, it's fair to claim you had a 200 percent increase - here's the responding Tweet from Si.com Sports Media columnist Richard Deitsch: "On Feb. 21 the Bayless-led Undisputed drew 92,000 viewers. On same day/timeslot, a M*A*S*H episode from 1974 drew 327,000 on AMC."

- And speaking proper perspective, the Vols loss to LSU last night officially and final closes all bubble talk. (We thought it was closed a week ago, but so be it.) That was LSU's first win since the Obama administration. It also drops UT down to being either the 10 or maybe the 9 seed in the tournament next week.

Today's question

Have you offered a mailbag entry? Why not?

Interesting tidbits on this day in history: Babe Ruth was made the highest paid player in the game, getting a $70,000 annual salary in 1927. For perspective, 90 years later, CC Sabathia was the highest paid Yankee last year, making $25 million in 2016. He roughly made $165,000 for each of the 152 Ks he posted last season when he finished 9-12 with a 3.91 ERA. After signing his monster deal in '27, Ruth went on to have what many claim was the most dominant season ever, hitting 60 homers in 540 official at-bats, and hitting .356 with 165 RBIs and 158 runs scored. His 60 homers were more than the combined team total for than every other American League club. The team average across all of baseball was 58 homers per franchise.

On this day 45 years ago, Wilt Chamberlain drops 100 points in Hershey, Pa. Dr. Suess would have been 113 today, so there's that.

Let's go there, and we have had a lot of animal Rushmores of late, but who makes the Rushmore of fictional cats?

Cat in the Hat is a contender, right?

Go, and remember the mailbag.

Upcoming Events