Hope you enjoyed the weekend.
Here we go...
Marcell Dareus, defensive end, University of Alabama. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)NFL draft on the horizon
The 5-at-10 loves the draft. You know this.
The 5-at-10 thinks Patrick Peterson is the best player in this draft. You know this, too.
The 5-at-10 is also offering our next contest in conjunction with the draft. You now know this, as well. We'll come back to this.
First our draft news and notes:
- TFP ace David Paschall has a great draft story in today's paper on Alabama's Mark Ingram and the view of running backs. Read it HERE.
- Our mock draft will be in Thursday's TFP.
- The Dolphins may be in the market for a receiver now that Brandon Marshall is recovering from stab wounds. In his stomach. From his wife. Read that again.
Today's quick draft topic: Best fits
There are at least three players that will be perfect fits for the the teams on the board, and if things fall right, the teams will use all of 30-40 seconds used rather than the allotted 10 minutes to call their names. Here are three best fits in Round 1:
Denver (No. 2 overall) and defensive tackle Marcel Dareus (and if you have not watched the "Sports Science" episode with Dareus, well, make time in the days ahead);
San Fran (No. 7 overall) and Peterson - if he lasts that long, the 49ers will be running to the podium;
Dallas (No. 9 overall) and USC tackle Tyron Smith - of course, having Jerry Jones make the best need-value pick is asking for a lot.
Draft contest update:
We're still looking for a name and the rules are simple: Submit the five players that you think will be the first picks of Carolina (No. 1 overall), Tennessee (No. 8), Atlanta (No. 27), Pittsburgh (No. 31) and Oakland (the 48th overall pick). One point for each, and if we need a tie-breaker, we'll announce that Friday.
There you go. We'll have the first wave of entries later today.
Daredevil motorcyclist Evel Knievel, Aug. 20, 1974. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)WWOS hits 50 wow
We had some great questions in last week's mailbag - including one about watching games on the TV.
The 5-at-10 wants to take a moment to celebrate the 50th anniversary of ABC's Wild World of Sports. Yes, ESPN - which is now owned by ABC and Disney - will be slapping itself on the back a bunch this week (shocking, right?), but WWOS was sports' first four-letter power-player and was world-wide long before the Worldwide Leader ever heard of Bristol, Conn. Heck, the argument can also be made that WWOS was the first reality TV show, too, and if you look at the celebrities it helped create and/or made even more famous, it was a 1970s version of SportsCenter mixed with Survivor mixed with Fear Factor mixed with Celebrity Apprentice. And the original SuperStars competition was Dancing with the Stars, with the obstacle course rather than the mambo.
Sure, the video is grainy and the graphics bad by comparison, but Sweet Mother of Jim McKay's Smooth Voice, that was must-see TV. In fact, here's starting the rumor that the guy that invented the first VCR did so because he was tired of missing WWOS on Saturdays.
HERE is a look at the schedule this week on ESPN. Check out some of those venues - 1978 Motorcycles on Ice World Championships, Tournament of Thrills Auto Crash & World Lumberjack Championships and Special on Evel Knievel that includes some of his most famous jumps and crashes and Track & Field from Russia, US Volleyball in Cuba, Gymnastics in China, Soap Box Derby in Akron, Ohio, Rattlesnake Roundup and Cutterhorse Racing.
The 5-at-10 is probably going to skip the reruns, because there is no way re-watching them will be as special or as good as the memories of them, if that makes any sense. It just seems like one of those things that the wonderful version we remember may be better than the actual product itself.
That said, every hour on the hour for the rest of the week, we'll be clicking over for the intro. Wow, that intro was outstanding, and name any intro to any TV show ever that had a line as good or as memorable or as repeated as "The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" (with the ski jumper tumbling of the side of ramp).
Boston Celtics' Delonte West saves the ball from a back court violation during the fourth quarter of Boston's 87-85 win over the New York Knicks in Game 1 of a first-round NBA playoff basketball series in Boston on Sunday, April 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)NBA playoffs, Round 1, Week 2
The Knicks are putting away the gear. The Nuggets, 76ers and Pacers will be very soon. After that, though, there are some crazy first-round series - and not just because they last longer than it takes to digest chewing gum.
Here are the two big questions so far?
- Who saw the Lakers and the Spurs teetering on the edge of first-round failure like this? Chris Paul has been outstanding for the Hornets - his triple-double Sunday helped even the New Orleans-Los Angeles series at 2-2. If the Hornets pull the monumental upset, well, two things happen: first, the loud noise from the greater-NYC area will be David Stern and ABC execs breaking lots of valuable stuff and maybe even a few humanitarian awards; second, the clamor from the Midwest will be the collective cheering from the OKC fan base.
- Who saw the Mavs and the Magic struggling? That's right, the 5-at-10 did - here in our playoff predictions, before the first round started. But since the first round is measured in weeks, a reminder may be in order. The Atlanta Hawks are up 3-1 over the Orlando Magic, and all the 5-at-10 can think about is what this roster would look like with Chris Paul (or Deron Williams) instead of Marvin Williams. So it goes.
Atlanta Braves' Chipper Jones hits a three-run home run against the Detroit Tigers during a spring training game in Kissimmee, Fla. (AP Photo/David Goldman)Braves sweep
The Atlanta Braves appear to be tickled pink to be out of L.A. After losing three of four to the Dodgers last week, the Braves swept the defending champion Giants over the weekend.
And no one was more pleased than leaving SoCal than Jason Heyward. Heyward was 7-for-12 in the sweep of San Francisco after going 0-for-14 against the Dodgers.
The Braves are 11-12, which is not as good as most expected but not terrible considering the slow start form roughly half the lineup.
It's impossibly early to be looking around in the standings, but the one thing no one outside of Philadelphia wants is for the Phillies to runaway and hide. And that's kind of how it feels as April starts to wind down. The Phillies, who got another super-impressive start from Roy Halladay on Sunday, are 15-6 - and that's without Chase Utley, who will likely won't return until at least late May from his right knee injury.
Brandt Snedeker lifts his trophy after a playoff win against Luke Donald during the The Heritage golf tournament in Hilton Head Island, S.C., Sunday, April 24, 2011. Snedeker finished the tournament 12-under. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)This and that
- Huge golf win Sunday for Brandt Snedeker, the former Vandy star and Nashville native. Great kid, and a good player that could become a great one. If he becomes big-time confident in his game, he will be a big-time star. That's the difference for those uber-talented guys - if they believe they're going to shoot 67, they will. If they hope to shoot 67, they'll shoot 74. (Hey, 74s are great, but 74s for pro golfers lead to careers selling stuff.)
- Preds fever. Catch it. The 5-at-10 is trying to get into the hockey thing, but know this, hockey and NASCAR are the two sports that gain more than all the others by attending in person. TV does not do either of them justice - but at least when you watch NASCAR on TV, you can follow the action. Man, the 5-at-10 has a hard time following the puck on hockey on TV.
- Rich Rodriguez, the former Michigan coach who was fired after three lackluster seasons and a 15-22 record in Ann Arbor, said leaving West Virginia was a mistake/ Uh, you think so doctor? So it goes, grass being greener and such. More on this in Tuesday's 5-at-10.
- Four Ohio State quarterbacks saw action in Saturday's spring game. No word on how many of them swapped their scrimmage jerseys for "I played in the spring game" tattoos.
Until tomorrow.