Weekend winners
Billy Hurley III. Man, this is almost as big of a no-doubter this weekend as it was after LeBron won it all. (Side note: It’s crazy that we’re only eight days since the Cavs won Game 7 last week. Sure feels longer than that, right?) Hurley, whose father committed suicide 10 months ago and who has bounced around the Tour trying to make it after graduating from the Naval Academy, won the Tiger Woods’ Quicken Loans Invitational this weekend.
Tony Stewart. The unknown turned good factor of Hurley may be matched by the aging superstar looking for one more run in the sun that was Stewart’s win at Sonoma. Think of what Stewart has battled: Serious injury, age, the lawsuits following the accident in which another driver was killed. It’s been a rough 84-race winless streak for Smoke. Now, with the win, he’s almost assured a spot in the season-ending Chase, and that’s a great storyline to follow in Stewart’s final season.
The Stark family. Mini-spoiler alert. After Sansa Stark and her half brother Jon Snow reclaimed the family’s home in Winterfell last week, Sunday’s season finale of Game of Thrones showed us the rest of the clans and families pledged their support to the new King of the North. That’s all we’ll share this week because we had folks irate last week. Know this: That was a great season finale to an absolutely perfect season of TV. It’s right there with season five of Breaking Bad, season five of The Sopranos, and season four of The Wire. (Side note: The second season of The West Wing was pretty stellar too.)
Cleveland sports fans. Wow, the LeBrons bring a title to the city and then the Indians roll out a nine game winning streak. Starting printing Browns playoff tickets, baby.
City of Atlanta high school sports. OK, we know that the A-T-L has put more players into major college and NFL football in recent years. Now comes this nugget of clarity that the metro-Atlanta area had more NBA draft picks than any other area. http://www.maxpreps.com/news/GhFCqKIBM0O8MjLAB-8yjg/six-states-produce-more-nba-draft-picks-than-other-44-combined.htm Wow.
Argentina’s Lionel Messi waits for trophy presentations after the Copa America Centenario championship soccer match, Sunday, June 26, 2016, in East Rutherford, N.J. Chile defeated Argentina 4-2 in penalty kicks to win the championship. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) Weekend losers
Lionel Messi. Jordan would not have missed a free throw that big. Gretzky would have delivered in a similar moment. Messi you’re the man until you’re not the man, and then you announce your retirement from the Argentina national team. Not the best look.
Jake Arrieta. The Cubs ace made a bet and lost with his TCU team losing to Tommy La Stella’s Coastal Carolina team. So Arrieta has to get a CCU tattoo. Gang, refrain from the permanent stakes in any wager like tattoo, piercings and what have you.
The Reds retired Pete Rose’s No. 14 in yet another populist move that sells the integrity of anything decent and holy that serves as the bedrock for something people believe in. War America. Pete Rose is a scumbag who committed the most egregious individual violation in sports. Honor that jackwagon whenever his ‘lifetime’ ban is done. This was about selling tickets and T-shirts and the Reds should be ashamed.
Washington Nationals. The Nats have a team filled with talent, but man it feels like they are snake bit. The latest is an injury to hard-throwing right-hander Stephen Strasburg, who was pitching as well as anyone in the game.
Clayton Kershaw. Yes, we are quick to sing his praises so we must be equally as quick to notice his failings. Kershaw went six innings and allowed four earned runs with two walks. Sure that’s a fine start for Bud Norris, but Kershaw’s contact works out to where he averages about $1 million every time he plays. How rough un-Kershaw-like was Sunday? It was his most walks allowed in a start this year – and one fewer than he allowed in six starts in May – and the most earned runs he’s allowed in a start since late April, when the Marlins handed him his other loss of the season.
FILE – In this Jan. 28, 2013, file photo, former Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt smiles as a banner is raised in her honor before the team’s NCAA college basketball game against Notre Dame in Knoxville, Tenn. Amid reports of Summitt’s failing health as her Alzheimer’s disease progresses, her family issued a statement Sunday, June 26, 2016, asking for prayers and saying that the former Tennessee women’s basketball coach is surrounded by the people who mean the most to her. (AP Photo/Wade Payne, File) Pat Summitt
As the news of Pat Summitt’s condition circulated, this weekend, we had two thoughts:
First was the first time we ever met Pat. She was already a legend of course, and we were a little bit nervous. She was amazingly charismatic and called me by name like we were old friends. You couldn’t help but imagine the presence she had with recruits and parents and donors and you name it. (Not unlike Nick Saban in a lot of ways, we’d suspect with the fiery intensity and the unbelievably human connection away from the field and the court.)
Secondly, there was the great pause on how much she affected her sport. Yes, Geno Auriemma has more titles and will likely get more wins, but Pat Summitt was the driving force of the movement that lifted women’s basketball to a place few of us ever believed it could achieve.
There’s so much you could say – and it will be said and written and discussed in detail in the days to come if Pat’s condition is as bad as being reported – but this may be the single coolest Rushmore of in sports history and Pat’s a surefire slam dunk on it.
Rushmore of people who lifted their sport to unforeseen heights: Babe Ruth, Arnold Palmer, Pete Rozelle and Pat Head Summitt.
This and that
– It was alluded to last weekend, and we wanted to wait to let TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer write so eloquently on it, but here’s Weeds’ piece on Lynn Trent, the UTC legend who died last weekend. Here’s what we’ll add: On Saturday we wrote an A2 column that asked what word would readers use to finish the following sentence – “Make America _____ Again” considering all the tomfoolery around that phrase of late. We got a bevy of great suggestions with words like “kind” and “respectively” and “loyal” and “dependable” from a wide variety of folks. With that as a baseline – and adding more words but combining the sentiment – they simply could have said, “Make America Like Lynn Trent Again. RIP, kind sire.
– This could also land in the winner’s column, but man those Pittsburgh Pirates old-school unis Sunday night were AWE-some. Some where Willie Stargell is smiling, and Dave “The Cobra” Parker is likely punching someone in the face.
– Yoyr Atlanta Braves won Sunday – with the 5-at-10 clan in attendance – and are 7-3 in their last 10. More on this later this week.
– Speaking of the College World Series, this kid became the latest inter web overnight hit. http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/look-kid-wins-staredown-with-college-world-series-camera-instantly-goes-viral/ after beating the jumbotron in a stare competition.
Today’s question
You know the drill. Winners. Losers. Go.
Yes, Game of Thrones fans fall in each category because as great as last night was., we now fall into a GoT-less vacuum that will feel like a dozen winters north of the great wall. If you need something more to weigh in on, how about this:
All-time SEC Rushmore of all sports. Does Pat make it (we think so) and who joins her? (We’ll go Rupp, Bear, Pat and UGA tennis great Dan Magill.)
Go and enjoy the day.