So we’re back in the 423. Yay. And boo.
So we’ll be back in the conversation. Wow – where did the summer go.
Weekend winners
Every golfer named Cam. Yes, Cam Smith won. And deserved to win. Dude made every putt inside of 15 feet he looked at. It was dang impressive. But Cam Young showed the sand of a kid that will win a major at some point. (Not sure we can say the same about Viktor Holland at this point.) That was a fun final round of the British Open, no? Heck, here’s betting if Cameron Frye – Ferris’ best friend – had entered he’d finished top-20. “Let my Cameron go.” “He’ll keep calling, he’ll keep calling.”
The Braves. Yes, they lost Sunday, but they took three of four from the Nats and entered the All-Star break on the short list of teams that can win it all. And now that Matt Olson is starting to hit, and Adam Duvall is double-digits north of the Mendoza Line, well, that lineup is as good as anyone’s (Side question: Does anyone else think Adam Duvall looks like Brooks Koepka dumpy little brother? Discuss.)
Residents in Marshfield, Missouri, were a sign war has broken out between the local DQ and McDonald’s. Good times. Side note: The local Tire Discounters do a really nice job with their sign humor, including something along the lines of last month having “Only dad’s gas was worse than $6 a gallon.” Side question: Does it shock you to know that I believe I would be a first-ballot “dad joke” Hall of Famer? It’s to the point that when I make a particularly dad dad joke my kids go into a Progressive Insurance riff from the Dr. Rick “Turning into your parents” commercials. “Blue – blue hair,” the not-so-Lil’ 5-at-10 will say, and his sister follows with “We all see it. We all see it.”
Weekend losers
Golf fans in general. I’m pretty sure even Cam Smith’s momma wanted Rory to win Sunday. Dang, Rory just could not make a putt, and Cam Smith may be the best pure putter since Crenshaw was competitive and the best big money putter since Tiger was, well, Tiger. Still, everyone wanted Rory to win. Heck, the Mrs. 5-at-10 pulled up a couch cushion for the last few holes after church and when she saw Smith she asked, “Is the guy that fixed our HVAC about to win the British Open?” Yes, yes he is.
This golf fan in particular. Friday, an older woman was observed to fall into a Florida pond at the Boca Royale Golf and Country Club south of Sarasota. She struggled to get out and then two alligators – each measuring more than 7 and 1/2 feet – grabbed her while she was in the water, according to a release from the Sarasota sheriff’s office. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Wowser. That bites.
The Nationals. Yes, Washington won a World Series in the last handful of years. And since then they have dumped Bryce Harper (last year’s MVP), Anthony Rendon, Trae Turner, Max Scherzer and a slew of talent. Now comes news that Juan Soto, who Jayson Stark can qualitatively show is this generation’s Ted Williams, is on the trading block after contract talks have stalled. Say what you want about the Braves letting Freddie walk, at least they have not done the win and binge so many other baseball franchises have over the last decade-plus.
The economy. Buckets upon buckets of bad news. How bad? First, do not look at your investments. Simply do not. Because if you are only down 10%, you are ahead of everyone else in the second quarter of the dismal year that 2022 will be. Second, when $3.99 a gallon is cause for celebration, well, the gas folks have us conditioned on these super high prices. Third, a trip to the grocery store is going to require a payday loan pretty soon at this pace. The 5-at-10 clan had a conversation about being wise and judicious on toilet paper usage. Seriously. And at 15-plus-buckets for an 8-pack, why not. (Side question: When TP is pricier than beer – even for us cheap beer drinkers – you know we’re in trouble, right? They lure you on the front end and get you on the back end – literally – I guess. That feels like ol’ Al Czervik talking about buying next to the Great Wall – on the good side – in some respects.) And, expected market corrections or not, Biden will have to wear this one.
Let the talking begin
So, SEC media days are this week. Wow, where did the summer go?
As always, TFP college football wizard David Paschall will be Davey on the spot with all the skinny. And you can hear any number of SEC folks with DP and Wells on Press Row from 3-6 on ESPN radio here locally.
With so much change on the horizon in coming months and years for college football, the number of topics out there are limitless.
Paschall offered a few of those talking points in Sunday’s TFP.
He also wrote about the turnover in coaches since the media event made its Atlanta debut just a few years ago.
Now, I don’t expect many answers to those issues this week, but as Paschall noted, the questions will be asked.It also got me thinking – yes, Spy, always a dangerous proposition – about if you ranked the SEC coaches and their programs in terms of excitement, that I thinK Auburn is only ahead of Vandy and maybe tied with Missouri in terms of excitement and buzz. And that’s not a good thing friends.
The SEC media days – I’ve been to a few – are grand exercises in a whole lot of nothing. And as Chas will assuredly bemoan, UK likely will be underrated in the media poll.
But it is football.
We’ll ask again: Where did the summer go?
This and that
– So, can anyone beat Michael P’s 19 in the contest with Rory (3), Hovland (4), Fleetwood (4) and Spieth (8)? Speak up before the end of business today. Thanks to the more than 70 of you who played making this one of the bigger contests we’ve had recently.
– Four UT baseball players were picked in the first 80 selections of the MLB Draft Sunday. The draft continues tonight and concludes tomorrow. Also, a slew of sons former big leaguers were picked including the first two selections of Jackson Holliday (son of Matt) and Druw Jones (son of Andruw).
– Happy 34th birthday to “Die Hard” which is on the short list of best action movies of all time. The Bruce Willis classic – which has aged like a Picasso – was released on July 15, 1988.
– Yes, Cam Smith just won the British Open, his first major and did it in spectacular fashion with a putter that was incredible. But his deflection of the “Are you joining the LIV?” question after winning The Open was the classic non-denial denial, which is not a denial at all and more often than not is a confirmation. And according to this article from Alan Shipnuck – yes, the dude who released the Mickelson “scary” quotes about the LIV’s financial backers – the Saudis are about to start playing hard ball with names like Henrik Stenson (yes, he’s older now, but he was just recently named the Eurpoean Ryder Cup captain), Tommy Fleetwood and Hideki Matsuyama being rumored to LIV.
– Speaking of Smith and the LIV, he won $2.5 million for winning the Claret Jug over the weekend. And yes, the prestige of winning a major is impossible to properly value. But, if you are professional anything, and winning the oldest and no-worse-than-second-most-prestigious tournament in the world and you make right at $2 million less than Charl Schwartzel got for winning the LIV London event, you can understand looking at how the other event is run, no?
– You know the rules. Here’s TFP sports editor Stephen Hargis on the Best of Preps football jamboree schedule next month. Yep, football jamborees are less than a month away, which means high school football starts in a month. Where did the summer go?
Today’s questions