One home run and a lot of misses
Shocked. That was my first reaction.
Stunned. Seriously, the emotion continued.
Mariano Rivera got 100 percent of the votes for the baseball Hall of Fame. It’s the biggest of the storylines from the announcement of this year’s class of Rivera, Roy Halladay, Mike Mussina and Edgar Martinez. Packaged with Lee Smith and Harold Baines, this is clearly the most Hall of Very Good class I’ve ever seen.
Egad.
Rivera was a no-brainer, and for the first time no silly voter made it about himself as the self-annoited ‘well no one has ever been unanimous before’ governor of the grail. That’s a good thing. If you are the universally considered the greatest ever at your position, then you should be a no-doubter, and Rivera was both of those things.
That Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens and the other superstars under the PED umbrella, well, I fully respect the viewpoint of not letting them in. (Side question: How is it fair that Bud Selig – the commissioner during the PED era who led the MLB’s efforts in turning a blind eye toward the PED issues to rebound from his mismanagement that led to the cancellation of the World Series – is in the Hall? Discuss.)
Of the other five dudes who will get their moment in the sun this summer, there’s not a single guy that I thought “Man, he’s a sure-fire Hall of Famer.” The other three pitchers were very good to great at the peak of their careers, but never did I think, “Wow, that guys is the best in the game.”
Mussina was a compiler, plain and simple. Did Halliday’s tragic death help his candidacy? I don’t know. Lee Smith was a monster, and in my view the second-most Hall-worthy dude among the six. Then there are the two DHs, and neither should be in. Period.
Martinez? Seriously. A DH with above average power and an impressive .312 career average is a very good career. Kudos.
But nowhere near Hall of Fame worthy. His 68.4 career WAR (wins above replacement is 68.4 which is way worse than Larry Walker (72.7) and a smidge better than Kenny Lofton (68.3). And no this, it was Martinez’ 10th and final year on the ballot. What in the world has happened to improve his Hall credentials in the last handful of years?
So, the voters corrected a wrong and did not vote no because of history.
But the voters got way more wrong with this class.
And it has nothing to do with PEDs.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes passes under pressure from New England Patriots defensive tackle Adam Butler during the teams’ regular-season meeting on Oct. 14, 2018, in Foxborough, Mass. The Patriots won 43-40, but today they must visit the Chiefs with the AFC title and a spot in the Super Bowl on the line.Conference title game numbers
There were a lot of hidden stats that could have turned your head from the conference title games that had nothing to do with changing rules or missed pass interference calls.
The first one is that the Kansas City Chiefs were the first team in NFL history to loss a conference title game when playing at home and scoring 30 or more points.
That’s a crazy number.
The second did not happen directly on the field.
Count us among the throng of folks who are 100-percent Pro-Tony Romo. Dude was amazing Sunday in his pre-play analysis and his energy was undeniable.
This story went back and counted Romo’s pre-snap predictions. He made 15 calls – including the famous “The Patriots are killing the play and looks like a run to the right” that was an easy TD on a run to the right – during the AFC title game.
He got 12 correct, two incorrect and one kind of right and kind of wrong. That’s 12.5 out of 15, which is 83.3 percent. That’s a Hall of Fame number in almost every sporting measure, especially in predictions.
That’s pretty awesome.
There now have been talks about Romo being an NFL head coach. That seems a bit crazy, right?
(The first thing argument in that would be why would Romo want to leave? He’s about to get a monster pay raise with this much praise and notoriety.)
College basketball 102
Man, I wish I had made a pick last night. South Carolina plus-8 at home was a sure-fire winner. And it won outright.
We will get back to that.
First, and I promise not to make this weekly space (that is normally reserved for Tuesday) about college basketball issues a weekly review of Zion Williamson’s greatness, but Holy Buckets of buckets and Dunkin’ Donuts of outback dunks, that dude is amazing. A-MAAAAY-Zing.
(And there’s a hard argument while he will be the No. 1 overall pick that he’s not even going to be the best pro on his own team. The NBA is a perimeter-oriented league and RJ Barrett can simply stroke it. Dude will be a great NBA player.)
Before we get to today’s issue, Scottie Pippen’s sizzling hot take from last week – that Zion Williamson should sit out and get ready for the draft because he 100 percent will be the top overall pick – is going to age like a fine wine. I am not saying I think he should folks. Know that. But his point is valid and if Zion does get seriously injured, look out, it could forever change college hoops in a bad way.
OK, since we took up precious time and space rebooting the Hallelujahs heaped on Mt. Zion, we will move quickly here.
We are going to embrace this stat for teams we are going to identify as pickable come March. How do perceived contenders fare on the road with a bull’s eye on their collective backs.
Look around. Duke is legit and went into a very hostile atmosphere at Pitt, took the Panthers best swing, handled the punch and delivered the knockout.
UK did it Saturday at Auburn in an environment that was nuts.
Yes, there will be occasional set-backs and outliners – Kansas on that monster trip to West Virginia, for example – but look at ranked teams poking in and out of the polls and their mercurial performance on the road.
Today’s example is Auburn, which now has three SEC losses – one at an Ole Miss team that is a touch better than we expected and last night at South Carolina – and looks more like the 7 seed Jerry Palm predicted. (Yes, I disagreed at the time, and who knows where the Tigers may land as they are in a spin cycle of frustration and futility.)
That makes UT’s next-step ascension even more impressive. Auburn won the SEC regular-season title last year. UT was right there too. (Yes, they are declared co-champs, and that’s fine, and this is not with any malice what so ever, but Auburn and Tennessee played last year one time and Auburn won. Is this the only scenario in sports in which two teams tied for the top and there was a clear head-to-head tie-breaker and the rules call for co-champs? Where are the rest of the participation-trophy haters? Like Bluto said, “Who’s with me?”)
That said, UT has adjusted to being a front-runner and the target of emotion from a sold-out arena on the road. Auburn has not. That’s a sign of maturity and mental toughness that will serve them very well come March.
Keep that fact in mind when your watching scores getting ready for bracketology.
This and that
– One of the things we need to do more frequently is let someone else’s words – when eloquently phrased, spoken or written – be the message. Today, that spot belongs to Mark Wiedmer, the ace TFP sports columnist, who delivered a legendary tribute to two Chattanooga wrestling legends. Presented with a tip of the visors. Well-played Weeds. Well-played indeed.
– Speaking of Tennessee’s success and maturity, here’s an excellent recap of Dane Bradshaw’s interview on Press Row on Tuesday from TFP SEC ace David Paschall.
– Speaking of Rivera, I thought this was especially cool. Metallica, the group that authored “Enter Sandman” – Rivera’s entrance music – offered congrats to his election.
– Shilo Sanders – son of Prime Time, Neon Deion – has committed to South Carolina.
– Wow, Serena crafted one of the great collapses in tennis history. Yes, she tweaked an ankle, but there’s no denying that she was serving for the match – up 5-1 in the third set – before losing four match-points and grabbing a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 win in the Aussie Open quarterfinals.
Today’s questions
Which way shall we go on this Wednesday? This way.
Which player will be the next unanimous MLB Hall of Famer?
Speaking of Rivera, which song would you choose as your entrance music, because “Enter Sandman” for a close is BOSS.
Today is national handwriting day. Which way do you write – print or cursive?
Speaking of days, it’s snowplow mailbox hockey day. Seriously. How did snowplow mailbox hockey get its own day?
It’s also national pie day. Which pie is your favorite?
On this day in 1977, Roots premiered on ABC. It still dominates the all-time non-sports TV numbers ever. (Did you know of the top-20 most-viewed broadcasts ever, there is the Roots finale, the M*A*S*H finale and Spinks-Ali and 17 Super Bowls? Wowser.) Each of the seven Roots episodes had at least a 42 rating, which is a crazy number.
On this day in 1986, the first class of the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame was announced. The class was Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Domino, Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley. Eclectic group for sure.
John Hancock would have been 282 today. (Side note: Just realized we did not complete last week’s Rushmore of famous people whose name became a general description for something. Benedict Arnold – traitor; Albert Einstein – genius; John Hancock – signature; Michael Jordan – GOAT.)
Speaking of GOATs, Johnny Carson died on this day in 2005, and while I was as big a Letterman fan as anyone, Carson was Da Man.
OK, let’s stay with pie. Rushmore of pie flavors, and is Apple far left?
Go and remember the mailbag.