5-at-10: Weekend winners, losers, Braves spring, Rushmore of sports doctors

It’s Monday, you know what we do.

From the “Talks too much” studios, who won the weekend and who lost it? Go.

Weekend winners

CBS. The Final Four is simply dreamy for the network that spends billions to broadcast it. You have the perfect UK storyline. You have an experienced Wisconsin. You have nationally renowned Duke. You have Tom Izzo and Michigan State in a seed-defying run to the Final Four. If UK gets to the title game, its chase for perfection will mean it will have the biggest TV audience in college hoops history. If Duke-UK get to the title game a week from today, that TV number could challenge some of the other sports where the ball doesn’t bounce true.

Tom Izzo. Dude lifted a No. 7 seed to his seventh Final Four. It’s time to pay him his propers. Did you know the top four coaches in Final Four trips are Wooden (12), Coach K (12), Dean Smith (11) and Izzo? We don’t know much, but if you are the fourth guy on a list of four with Wooden, Coach K and Dean, well, that’s a good thing.

Tom Brady. Look, dude has life by the tail and is shaking that thing like nobody’s BID-ness. Here’s Brady cliff diving on vacation with his supermodel wife after winning his record-tying fourth Super Bowl last month. Well-played Tom Brady, well-played indeed.

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Weekend losers

American golf. It dawned on us while it was yawned on us that during the final stretch of the Valero Texas Open, the final threesome of Jimmy Walker, Jordan Spieth and Bill Horschel are for all intents and purposes, the face of American golf. That’s not paperwork for popularity going into the Masters, gang. OK, Spieth has some intrigue to his storyline, especially as he chases what should be the first of multiple majors, but if Walker or Horschel walked into your office today, could you recognize them.

Dave Hart. As Mark Wiedmer wrote in Saturday’s TFP, the blame of the Donnie Tyndall debacle falls on Hart’s desk. Which is worse, knowing about the NCAA trouble and hoping it would not be bad or not doing your due diligence in the hiring process? Each is flawed on its face and Hart carries that burden. That said, the turnaround and buzz Butch Jones has jumpstarted gives Hart a mulligan for Tyndall. This will be an interesting hire for Hart and Johnny Vols Fans everywhere.

Nick Saban. Speaking of shouldering the blame, El Jefe, the Boss among Bosses of the college football realm, said he and Alabama vetted Jonathan Taylor, the former Georgia defensive lineman who was dismissed from the Bulldogs program for being involved in a domestic violence case against his then girlfriend. Taylor was admitted to Alabama in December. He was arrested for domestic violence over the weekend by Tuscaloosa police. Taylor was dismissed from the Tide quickly. Saban was passionate when asked about Taylor in January about second chances and doing the research and even saying that if the player committed another mistake it would be fair to blame the coach. Well, coach, here you go.

Vegas. The sports books have taken a beating in the tournament, highlighted by the Sweet 16 round game when Duke hit a free throw with less than a second left to win by six and cover the 5.5-point spread. It was a seven-figure swing. Plus, heading into the Final Four, favorites have won 48 of the last 54 games (that’s straight-up not against the spread) so there has been a lot of chalk on the money lines. Also, Kentucky was at 50-to-1 to go unbeaten this season before the season, and Vegas could lose huge if the Wildcats finish the drill. There reportedly were a couple of six-figure bets made on UK going 40-0, so you do the math.

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Spring springing

As we get closer to the start of Major League Baseball, we believe the Braves will struggle to consistently score runs.

We do not believe that should be blamed too much on the decisions to shuttle Jason Heyward and Justin Upton out of Atlanta.

Each outfielder is better than the current Braves replacement, but that’s OK considering what the Braves got in return – two young starting pitchers that could be key cogs in a top-flight rotation for a long time.

This will be hashed and rehashed a lot this summer, but know this: Upton was sold high, the Braves getting two elite level pitching prospects from the Padres, and Heyward was going to walk after this season as a free agent.

Yes, he grew up south of Atlanta, but a couple of quotes in this story on Heyward scream in support of the Braves moving arguably one of the best defensive outfielders of his generation.

First, Heyward told ESPN: “I always wanted to play baseball, and that’s it,” Heyward said. “I didn’t say, ‘I want to be drafted by a certain team,’ and I never took it for granted that I was going to be there. Growing up in Georgia, I followed the Braves closely as a kid, and I saw a lot of guys who were fan favorites end up somewhere else. You would kind of scratch your head as a fan and wonder why it happens. But it’s part of the game and part of the business.

Second, one MLB executive predicted that Heyward could get a deal that is eight years and $150 million in free agency.

So, Johnny Braves Fan, do you want Heyward’s .258, 20 homers and 15 steals at franchise-star money?

Nope, neither do we.

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This and that

– Get well Gary Haskew. You are in our thoughts and prayers, Dr. B, who had heart surgery last Friday.

– Side question: They say open heart surgery, and in some ways, are all heart surgeries at least in part open? Is there really a closed heart surgery, and wouldn’t that require Jedi powers?

– Tip of the cap to Will Ferrell, who completely and totally alleviated John Madden of all Scrooge-like qualities Friday on Conan. When Madden said he hated Ferrell’s stunt of playing 10 positions for 10 MLB teams earlier this month in spring training, Madden said it disrespected the game and the players. The stunt raised more than a $1 million for charity – something that Madden may not have known to be fair – and Farrell was quick and smooth in his answer to a question about Madden, telling Conan, “First of all, he’s right. Look at me. I’m all about lack of respect. I don’t think the interviewer told him it was all for charity, number one, but I do love that in his mind he just thought I was just like ‘Major League Baseball, I want to play in 10 different games for 10 different teams. I want to do it Thursday! Because I’m a big shot, and make it happen now!’ Like I’m Veruca Salt. So he’s like ‘this Will Ferrell thinks he can just insert himself into big league games.'”

– Tiger Woods is no longer in the top 100 world golf rankings. Yes, the order of power has been skewed to the point of confusion and and distortion.

– Speaking of the Masters (well kind of), here are Vegas’ picks as the favorites (and even with his career spiraling, Tiger is 50-to-1 in Vegas):

Adam Scott – 22-to-1

Henrik Stenson – 18-to-1

Jordan Spieth – 12-to-1

Jason Day – 12-to-1

Dustin Johnson – 12-to-1

Bubba Watson – 10-to-1

Rory McIlroy – 8-to-1

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Today’s question

As we normally do, feel free to offer who won or lost the weekend suggestions. We believe OG likely will toss out Ronda Rousey, who made a Wrestlemania appearance over the weekend.

We also know today is the birthday of a couple of true geniuses – Vincent van Gogh and Eric Clapton – so there’s that.

It’s also Doctor Day, as we wrote on A2 of today’s TFP. With that in mind, and knowing that we are a family-oriented, interweb-based, sports column, what’s your Rushmore of sports doctors? We’ll go ahead and say that Dr. J and Dr. James Andrews likely have two of the spots locked down.

Whatca’ got?