OK, we are in full-blown holiday mode. We are on vacation from the paper this week, so that means altered schedules, late nights and abbreviated 5-at-10s.
Dilly. Dilly. (Santa brought us a T-shirt with “Dilly. Dilly.” on the front. We will wear that today.)
Let’s move quickly because, shall we say we burned the midnight oil on Christmas night. It’s the gift that last the whole year long, Clark.
From the “Santa was very good to us” studios, let’s Go-Go-Go.
Weekend winners
Steve P., who has turned the corner on our college picks which have gone 5-1 since the 0-4 start to pull back even and is an astute follower of our 2-2 run of NFL picks. After going 1-2 on Sunday with our pro picks and having the Steelers minus-9 over the Texans on Mondayafternoon, well, we’ll let Steve’s words carry the rest. Steve wrote: “After watching the last few weeks of your NFL picks going even and seeing your selections were 1-2 before the Steelers game, I did place a nice entertainment play on Pittsburgh. Thanks for being consistent. I hope you and yours had a very nice Christmas!” Entertainment for everyone.
Patriots. Because, well you know.
Lakers draft class. Hey Lonzo Ball is Lonzo Ball, but this Kyle Kuzma dude can slap play. Did you know that he has three straight 30-point games, the first Lakers rookie since Magic to accomplish that.
Sean McVay. Dude is 31 and is youngest NFL coach to make the playoffs ever. He’s the youngest head coach/manager in any of the four major U.S. sports to make the playoffs since Jerry Colangelo coached the Phoenix to the NBA playoffs at age 30 in the spring of 1970.
Fresno State. There are a ton of bowls and a ton of folks who are not interested, but the Bulldogs capped a 10-4 with a bowl win on Christmas Eve. FSU is the second FBS team to win at least 10 games after losing at least 10 games the previous season. (Miami of Ohio went from 1-11 in 2009 to 10-4 in 2010.)
Sealver Siliga. Who? No the other Sealver Siliga. The Tampa Bay Bucs defensive lineman took some friend to Applebee’s after Sunday’s loss to Carolina. He and his group left around 10 p.m. and he left $1,000 tip – $100 for each of the 10 folks still working that late on Christmas Eve – on a check that was about $250. Well played sir.
Weekend losers
Team Greeson. No, all the little Greesons had a magical Christmas. This was our fantasy team, which lost the title game after Le’Veon Bell and DeAndre Hopkins each found the end zone on Monday. Truth be told, we lost to the team that should have won it. So there’s that.
Bettors who had Oakland plus-8.5 or plus-9. That was the line depending on when you got the action on Monday night. And of course, the “try for a Christmas miracle lateral play” became a defensive score on the game’s final play to let the Eagles cover or push in a 19-10 final Monday night.
Eli Manning. Wow. A shutout against Arizona means the Giants quarterback has led New York offenses to five shutouts in his career. According to Elias, that is the most of any quarterback in the last 25 years. (He also has a playoff game in which he got blanked.)
Butch Jones. Yes, we could put him here on a weekly basis, but can we talk for a moment about how many of his former players are doing work in the NFL? Justin Coleman being the latest to make us say, “Hey didn’t he go to Tennessee” on a Sunday this year.
Stanford women’s hoops. Hovering at .500 The Cardinal fell out of the top-25 for the first time in 17 years. Wow. That’s a run friends.
Referee Rant
OK, whether it was the awful calls in the Falcons game or the unbelievable replays – both in time or in perspective – from the NFL weekend to the dreadful end of the Cavs-Warriors game, the officiating in football and basketball has never been under such scrutiny.
We’re not going to say it’s bad. But we can all agree it’s completely controversial, right?
And yes, we have a Bro-mance with LeBron, but dude gets fewer calls than any superstar since Shaq, and in fact he gets the exact opposite. That means he gets no calls because he’s bigger and stronger and faster than everyone else. What proof?
Here’s a passage with quotes from Kevin Durant from the AP game story on the end of the Warriors win over LeBron and the Cavs which featured a play in which KD fouled James at least twice and maybe four separate times:
“He fouled me twice,” James said of his drive to the hoop with the Cavs down 95-92 when Durant blocked James’ shot and he lost it out of bounds. “But, whatever. What are you going to do about it?”
Cameras on ABC’s broadcast of Monday’s game showed Durant shrugging off the contact he made with James while officials reviewed the play to determine which team would retain possession with 24.5 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
“He’s too big,” Durant said. “He’s too big. He’s too big for that. He’s too big. That ain’t no foul.”
Say what? Too big to foul? Is Von Miller too good a pass rusher to hold? Is Mike Trout too good a hitter to have a strike called on him?
It was junk, and it was a fitting end to a weekend that while a lot of us were in a very Christmas spirit, the officials and referees were playing the roles of Grinch.
And that’s not even getting into college hoops, which has a growing number of officials who believe they are the reason the fans so up.
It’s making it harder to watch sports, which is saying something.
And now know this: One of the most underreported stories of the sports year that was 2017 is the Supreme Court hearing the case about legalized, state-sponsored gambling.
We believe that sooner rather than later there will be betting shops open for people to walk in and make a wager. While that form makes is seem a little simplistic, we believe that sports betting and pot will be legal, taxed and accepted parts of our society before our fourth-grader graduates high school.
The good and bad of that belief is a conversation that certainly can be for another day.
But to tie that in to the slap-in-the-face that was the terrible officiating this weekend, there will be a bunch of folks wondering which official is on the take and which official had money on which team.
This and that
– Yes, there are no bowl updates today. We’ll have that for tomorrow. Promise. Hey, who among you had 20 family members in the house for Christmas dinner as you were putting together a 77-piece, 4-feet tall dollhouse for three-plus hours. (Whoever came up with the phrase “Some assembly required” should have run for office. Wow, that’s a campaign promise if we’ve ever heard one.)
– Yes, the NFL power poll is also going to be on Wednesday. Hey, Merry Christmas.
– Hey, who wants some amazing Christmas weekend sports stats? That’s like Santa asking, “Who wants some cash and lottery tickets in the ol’ stocking?” We all do right? Here you go:
– Drew Brees became the third player ever to pass for more than 70,000 yards. He joined Peyton and Brady, and like being on a hitting list with Ruth and Aaron, a golf list with Tiger and Jack or a hoops list with MJ or Wilt, it’s a pretty good bet that being the third name on a list with Manning and Brady is a compliment.
– The three players to record 1,000 yards receiving and an interception in the same season: Keenan Allen this year, Randy Moss in 2009 and Don Hutson in 1942.
– The Seahawks became the first team in 50-plus years to win a game with more penalty yards (142) than total yards (136) when they beat Dallas on Sunday.
– Did you know that the 44-33 final form the 49ers’ win over Jacksonville (Jimmy G, BAY-Bee) is, according to Elias, the first time that score has ever been the final in an NFL game. That’s mind-boggling, right?
Today’s question
Let’s go with some Christmas.
True or fall, by this time of the holiday season, you are ready for Christmas music to go on an 11-month break.
True or false, the Falcons make the playoffs.
True or false, the officiating is better than ever, we just complain too much and have too many camera angles.
And please remember to leave a true or false, as well.
As for today’s place in history, well on Dec. 26:
Jon Snow from Game of Thrones is 31 today.
Hey, Ozzie Smith is 63 today. Bonus, true or false, Ozzie Smith deserves to be a Hall of Famer. (We say false, because while his defense was great, then think of the folks this opens the doors to. Because if Ozzie Smith is a Hall of Famer, Andruw Jones is every bit his equal defensively with way better offensive numbers. So true or false part II, Andruw Jones is a baseball Hall of Famer. Discuss.)
On this day in 1963, Beatlemania was launched when “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “I Saw Her Standing There” were released in the U.S.
Wow, 44 years ago today, “The Exorcist” premiered.
On this day in 1982, Time’s Man of the Year was the computer. Yep, that’s about right.
Reggie White died today 13 years ago.
In honor of Chattanooga’s own, let’s do a Rushmore of people with a color in their name.
Go, and here’s hoping you and yours had a great Christmas.