Welcome Matt
OK, the Madness became sadness with some Monday headlines of note.
First, there was the news that Matt Ryan has been traded to Indianapolis.
And that the Falcons got but a third-rounder for the franchise all-time leader in almost every passing category is quite telling about how poorly former GM Thomas Dmitroff ran the club’s finances and roster decisions.
More on that in a second, because first we must tip the visor to the man known as Matty Ice, and the place of a Falcons QB in the pantheon of Atlanta sports heroes.
If – and it’s easily the biggest wondering word in the history of Atlanta sports – the Falcons could have held onto a 28-3 second-half Super Bowl lead, well, Ryan’s name would be right there with the Chipper’s and the Big Three pitchers from the glory years atop the Atlanta sports Rushmore.
Now, he’s somewhere right behind Mike Vick, who is still a cult hero for a large part of the downtown Atlanta fan base, and Deion Sanders, and maybe even the Bartkowski-Andrews-Gritz Blitz crew of the early 1980s in terms of Falcons popularity.
In truth, he’s likely the perfect Falcons face on the Atlanta Rushmore of individual sports greatness and team sports indifference for the most part. He, Dominique Wilkins and Dale Murphy all were great players on teams that more often than not disappointed.
Is it Ryan’s fault? No. Not in the least. He’s a better actual QB than he gets credit for, even if he’s not as all-time great as his numbers will suggest. And now he gets the chance to be this year’s Matt Stafford – Hall of Fame numbers with a decade-plus of underwhelming team results headed to a loaded roster ready to roll.
I will root for Matt Ryan moving forward. It’s the state of the Falcons that will leave a lot of us longtime Bird watchers in a state of flux and flummoxed.
This team is in complete rebuild mode now – and in truth that was the smarter play than hoping Ryan could stay healthy behind a patchwork O-line and find a way to win 6 or 7 games in a weak division. Hooray, and welcome to the lion’s share of Falcons seasons historically. So rip it apart. Rebuild, but for the love of Pete Rozelle do not force a first-round QB this year if the choices are Malik Willis, the small-handed kid from Pittsburgh or even Matt Corral with similar odds to scratch-off lottery tickets of being a franchise dude.
Because this team is gonna stink in 2022. Other than Kyle Pitts and defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, who on this roster is an elite-level difference-maker.
Thanks, Tommy D, whose legacy will not be the Julio Jones draft-day deal or the closest of Super Bowl misses in history, but leaving this team in such dire straits and with more dead money than a Confederate general on the salary cap that the team had to deal a Hall of Fame QB for pennies on the dollar so the Colts would take his contract.
Parting is such sweet sorrow
Then came the news that Lamont Paris is closing in on the South Carolina job.
Sigh. What’s next, the Braves losing Freddie – oh wait, strike that.
Sigh.
Lamont deserves whatever future option he deems best, but I will miss the man who reconstructed a roster and a program that was in much bigger trouble than most know when Lamont arrived.
(Side note: It never got air publicly for good or for bad, but all of that in-house fighting for Matt McCall’s last team left a locker room more toxic than Chernobyl and more rancid than 10-day-old sushi. We all know Will Wade, McCall’s predecessor, was anything but a choir boy – hey, Wade’s available, make the call Mark Wharton – but when McCall arrived in Chattanooga, he was truly, as Marko Ramius would say in “The Hunt for Red October” like Cortez, who burnt his ships when he reached the new world, to get his next gig.)
Lamont’s efforts culminated with a joyous run this year and a team that was clearly good enough to play with almost anyone in the NCAA tournament.
But, as Weeds notes here – hey Weeds on college hoops, you know the rules – the roster will turn over greatly, especially if Lamont is headed to Columbia for a bigger stage and an extra digit and comma on that annual salary.
You were a joy Lamont, and I was hoping you’d pull out at least one NCAA win if for no other reason than the rest of the college basketball world could have gotten to hear your spot-on Morgan Freeman impersonation.
And if he would pardon me for paraphrasing Freeman’s most famous role in “The Shawshank Redemption” as Red: “Yeah, I think it would be fair to say I liked Lamont from the start.”
You will be missed, coach. And may you find great success with South Carolina (except against Auburn, that is).
A goodbye before hello, friends
So Phil Mickelson will not be at Augusta National, according to the Masters website and confirmed by Golf Digest.
Wowser.
Call me shocked by that, to be honest, and I 100% believe this was at the behest of the guys in green coats at the Masters rather than Phil’s.
My best guess? Augusta bigwigs and honchos get FIGJAM on a conference call, that possibly could have gone like this:
Augusta honcho No. 1: “Phil you know we love you, you’ll always have a place here and if and when we move past this we can see you being an honorary starter with Tiger at some point.”
Phil: “I would love nothing more, but there’s a but coming, right?”
Masters honcho 2 “Yes, but it’s not your butt, bud. Not unless you are prepared to meet with the media and talk this puppy out before everyone gets here on Tuesday so we can move along with the event, this is a no-go for us.”
Phil: “But what if I’m not ready for that?“
Masters honcho No. 3: “Well, if you think the Saudis are scary mothers, cross us, Mister Big Mouth.”
Masters honcho No. 1: “Easy No. 3, easy. No reason to make this violent or confrontational. Right, Phil?”
Phil: “Yeah, no one wants that. Least of all me. I’m already on more of an island than 17 at Sawgrass. Are you sure this is the only way?”
All three Masters honchos: “Yep. We’re sure.”
Phil: “OK, well, (in his best Al Czervik voice from “Caddyshack”) My arm, it’s broken.”
This and that
– Here’s today’s A2 column from some blockheaded fella on a helpline voiced by and in the words of elementary school kids.
– So Disney employees are protesting that Disney bigwigs – did we decide bigwigs or honchos was the better term – are doing enough to fight the “Don’t Say Gay” in public schools bill. And as was noted sometime last week, that ‘nickname’ for that Florida legislation is absurdly misleading considering the bill is focused on grades K thru 3, and to be honest, how many kids even know or need to discuss their sexual orientation before they are 9?
– Man, the announcers’ free agency has been crazy this offseason. Al Michaels’ move to Amazon is now official, as is Joe Buck and Troy Aikman’s move to ESPN. Who fills the Joe Buck void at Fox will be very interesting. And you have to believe Mike Tirico will get almost all of Michaels’ former gigs at NBC.
– So Lia Thomas became the first transgender Division I college sports national champion, that we know of. It came much to the chagrin – chagrin is another great and underused word – of a lot of the female swimming community. And the first competitor to put her name on that outrage was this Virginia Tech swimmer who finished 17th in the qualifying and missed out on one of the 16 spots in the national finals and she blames Thomas’ presence for that. Here’s the story on her outrage and the letter she wrote calling it unfair to USA Today. Hard to argue with the Virginia Tech swimmer, who was a fifth-year senior and this was her final meet, to be honest.
– So Tennessee landed a monster recruit, getting five-star QB Nico Iamaleava, his eight-star mustache and his 10-star hair to commit to the Vols. Here’s more from Paschall, and the interweb chatter has Iamaleava’s NIL price tag around $2 million per year he’s in K-Town. Wow, that’s a chunk of change if true, and it also shows the potential power of the third-party plus-fund folks in and around K-town who have stated they plan to raise $25 million annually to help the Big Orange get big-time recruits every year. Game on. (And since the rules are the rules, here’s another UT football story from Paschall because spring has sprung across the SEC.)
Today’s questions
True or false, it’s Tuesday. Ernie says true, so it must be true.
True or false, you would cheer for Matt Ryan and the Colts next year.
True or false, with Matt Ryan taking snaps to loosen the line of scrimmage, Jonathan Taylor should be the No. 1 overall fantasy football draft pick.
True or false, Phil Mickelson’s losses from this PR debacle will reach $20 million.
True or false, Nico Iamaleava is a millionaire this morning.
True or false, Lamont will have success at South Carolina.
True or false, Red in “The Shawshank Redemption” is Morgan Freeman’s most recognized and greatest role.
You know the rules, answer some T or Fs and leave some T or Fs.
As for today, March 22, let’s review.
Reese Witherspoon is 46 today. She seems quite likable, no?
Also, William Shatner is 91 today.
Rushmore of ‘coolest’ lead TV characters of all time, because Shatner’s Captain Kirk has to be a contender, right?
Go and enjoy the day.