Halfway home
We’re at the midway point of SEC media daze.
Hooray.
Let’s review with half the league in the rearview, their preseason obligations completed:
– Best Mr. Smith Goes to Washington moment: Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt gobbled up more than 70 percent of his allotted 30 minutes with a filibuster that contained more than 3,600 words. He mentioned nine assistant coaches by name (No, Chris Wienke in case you’re wondering), nine support personnel (including AD Phil Fulmer), more than a dozen players and limited Q&A time to eight questions. Somewhere Nick Saban smiled.
– Biggest non-deal deal: Kellen Mond said he’s the best QB in the SEC Tuesday. He’s not, and even Kellen’s momma knows it. (The league still has future top-10 NFL picks named Tua and Jake (from State) Fromm, friends.) Still, I want my quarterback thinking he’s the best in the league, don’t you? Plus,
– Guy living his best college life. Jake Fromm has to be living the high life in Athens. Star QB with a megawatt smile. Check. Future NFL millionaire. Check. Got the confidence of his coaches and teammates. Check. Smooth cat who actually ended his time on Press Row with us on Tuesday with a firm handshake, a wry smile and a quick wink. Check-Check-and-Check. As someone in a former life who may or not been called everything between charming and full of it, well, let’s just say, you know it when you see it friends. And Fromm has it. In spades.
– The best at what he does across the league. Yes, Saban is a an all-timer, but believe me when I tell you this: Claude Felton, the Georgia SID, is not called the ClaudFather for nothing. Golden standard that no one will ever surpass.
– The most important play in football. Well, if we get past four overtimes it will be the two-point conversation, which will decide games that are tied after four extra periods.
– Most confident coach here. Kirby has reason to believe, but he and his dogs sounded a little uneasy. That could very well be hungry or anger. Jimbo’s confidence even up to all the “Howdys” sounded somewhat fraudulent. LSU’s Coach O’s confidence, though, sounded based in the knowledge that he has a slew of NFL dudes staring back at him in team meetings and a quarterback who grew as much as any in the league from Week 1 to Bowl Week last year.
– Welcome to the madhouse. Lord Saban takes the stage today, and gang, the place is already buzzing at 7:15 a.m.
THE Open
Forget the pomp. Embrace the circumstance.
Let’s review the storylines from this week’s British Open:
For as long as Tiger continues to put pegs in the hallowed ground of the majors, he is the best storyline for the game. Period. This tournament is no different.
But there are a few other questions that will make this event at Royal Portbush even more compelling.
Can a favorite son win in Northern Ireland? If Rory is contending, it will make the Masters love for Tiger in the spring look like a first date friends.
What will the weather do? It looks relatively clear, but spot showers on the coast of Greta Britain are as common as Spy’s bellyaching. And of course the biggest weather-released detail will be swirling and whipping winds. (Sneaky great part about THE Open: When pros who normally hit a 9 iron 185 yards are hitting 5 iron from 175 into the wind. Good times.)
A first time winner? Could Rickie or Tommy Fleetwood or who knows finally grab a major? Maybe. If it’s Kuchar, he can give his caddie a Fin and sneak off in his Sketchers. If I had to pick a non-major winner to break through, however, give me Xander Schauffele.
A sweep of the Majors by Americans? Yes, you read that right even after the disaster at the Ryder Cup last fall. With Tiger, Brooks and Gary Woodland already holding the majors, one more gives us the clean sweep. U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Next page in unwritten rules
Baseball’s lengthy list of unwritten rules and innuendo is confusing.
Well, it’s confusing for everyone not on Brian McCann’s team. He is, after all, the parliamentarian of all-things unwritten, unspoken and unsullied in the Grand Ol’ Game.
Well, we got a new incident from the next page of a book so invisible Harry Potter would have a hard time finding it.
Let’s rewind and set the stage.
Earlier this season Astros outfielder Jake Marisnick ‘unintentionally’ trucked Angels catcher Jonathan Lucroy, who has missed significant times with a broken nose and a concussion since the collision.
Tuesday was the first time the Angels and Astros have played since, and with Marisnick appealing his suspension – it’s against the rules to run-over the catcher these days – he was in the lineup last night.
He also took a 90-plus-mph heater between the shoulder blades.
And tempers flared. Benches cleared. A whole lot of the “Hold me back” dance commenced. And like a polite tea with a fruity beverage offering, not a single punch was thrown.
First, who didn’t see this coming? Seriously. Baseball is the only game in the world that etiquette and celebration are tempered and governed with 95-mph to the back.
Apparently the umps did not see it coming, because no one was ejected last night. A fact that puzzled Astros skipper A.J. Hitch, a former catcher and someone who could have been a Ron Weasley to McCann’s Potter all things considered.
“Sometimes you can retaliate, like tonight,” Hinch told reporters after the Angels’ 7-2 win. “They’re going to get away with it, unless he gets suspended. Sometimes you can’t, and you get thrown out of the game for backup sliders that hit guys. It’s a confusing time. Either the players govern the players on the field like it’s always been or we legislate it to where none of this crap happens. They got a free shot at him with no warning, with no ejection.
“We’ll see if there’s discipline; and without discipline, there’s not going to be any issue doing it the next time. So if retaliations are in, cool. We’re well aware.”
He was not finished, and the second part of his rant carries a fair amount of weight about the nebulous gray of these unwritten codes.
“I wish they would have handled it better,” Hinch continued. “It was too high. If they’re going to hit guys, they need to hit guys the right way. They don’t need to throw two … sliders and then throw [at] a guy at the neck level. That’s not right. That’s not the right way to do it, even if you’re allowed to do it, which you apparently are nowadays.”
Not to mention this was from a reliever in an AL game – a pitcher who will almost assuredly have the same number of plate appearances as Stewwie this year. So there’s that too.
Giddy-up.
This and that
– Speaking of baseball tweaks and unknowns, well, in the first game with the Trackman RoboUmp in the Atlantic League, former AL Cy Young winner and current High Point pitching coach Frank Viola got tossed from the game. In the first inning. His complaint about whether the Trackman was calling balls and strikes or whether the human with the ear piece was seems rather pointed. (High Point-ed maybe?) And fair.
– Speaking of SEC media days, here’s my column on Jeremy Pruitt, as well as a slew of stuff, here, here, here, and here from TFP SEC guru David Paschall and TFP UT workhorse Gene of Many Hats Henley.
– Chattanooga FC lost in a regional semifinal Tuesday in Miami. Good run CFC kickball’s.
– Apparently the director of LeBron’s “Space Jam 2” left three weeks after shooting started. No word if said director was David Blatt or whether Tyronn Lue is interested.
– Emmy nominations were released Tuesday. Here they are, and not surprisingly, Game of Thrones collected a whopping 32 bids. Egad.
– Want to know how we have officially jumped the shark on reviews and replays? Well, there was a controversial call that had to go to replay in wait for it almost there The World Series of Poker. Good times.
Today’s questions
Which way Wednesday will start this way.
Which SEC QB would you take first in an SEC draft?
Which golfer wins THE Open?
Which player Christian Yelich or Cory Bellinger will be the NL MVP?
As for today, July 17, well, Ty Cobb died on this day in 1961.
National Peach Ice Cream Day. Wow. Major friend. Bestie even. National tattoo day as well.
David Hasselhoff is 66 today.
Rushmore of TV automobiles. Go.