Morning. Hope you are braving snowmageddon. Did you stop and get some bread and milk?
Stay warm – and let’s handle our business.
Rushmore of athletes in individual sports who had good careers but totally underachieved – David Duvall, Michelle Wie, Maria Sharapova and Rickie Fowler (I had Sergio here, but at least Sergio won a major, you know? Same with Andy Roddick.)
Rushmore of individual musical acts/headliners – Elvis, Sinatra, Prince and Taylor Swift.
Rushmore of Jackson – Bo, Reggie, Janet, Stonewall.
Rushmore of the best stadium crowd music during timeouts and such – The word “best” here makes it tricky, because we know “Who let the Dogs Out” is one of the most common, but it’s nowhere close to the best of anything. So, we’ll go for the best with “Thunderstruck,” “Lose Yourself,” “Welcome to the Jungle” and the eternal comeback sports anthem that is “Eye of the Tiger.”
Thoughts?
Also, mentioned this Thursday, but here’s more from Paschall on Mike Keith taking over as the Voice of the Vols. Man, that’s a perfect hire, and he will be the best play-by-play – and most beloved – in the SEC sooner rather than later.
To the bag.
From Andy
Would you shut up about SEC hoops? Just like football, the league has a love fest with other SEC teams when your team sucks.
Auburn is wicked overrated, you homer, and will be lucky to make it past the first weekend in March.
You’re a joke!
Andy
Happy New Year to you, too.
SEC football this year was just pretty good, I agree.
And I am not one of those “S-E-C! S-E-C!”-chanting sycophants who put conference above all else.
In fact, I want Bama to lose. When they struggle, it helps Auburn recruiting. Same with Georgia and the rest of the power league teams AU recruits against every year.
I get your point.
But brother, you are dead-bleeping wrong about this AU basketball team. They are a lot of things, but overrated ain’t one of them.
And yes, the one-and-done nature of the tournament, in which one cold shooting night could dash a dream season makes every team that advances to the second week of the dance lucky in some regard.
That said, this SEC may be the single best conference ever in college basketball, top-to-bottom. And Auburn is the best team in that “best” conference.
(Side note: Thought this was interesting and such a clear distinction of the difference between being a great college player and a great NBA prospect. The Athletic had an NBA mock draft, and AU power forward and presumed Wooden Award front-runner Johni Broome went 28th overall – he was the seventh SEC player in the mock first round and behind three Duke freshmen and two Rutgers youngsters. Go figure. Here’s a fun interview with Broome, who should have his jersey retired when he’s done at AU.)
From Tim
Almost everybody does not like the current College Football OT rules and wondering if this would work.
At the end of regulation, a method that is already used to determine a winner in past college bowl games (related) could be used. You may need to reduce the hole size and back up a few yards, but have the opposing QBs stand side by side and throw into those oversized blow-up DR PEPPER cans for a winning total after 30 secs. If it remains tied after that, the QBs go under center and each team gets to pick their best pass rusher with the same goal of most can completions but this time under pressure.
You get skills, contact and drama, and to keep in line with NIL for a total of cash TBD, that 3′ x 6′ check is made payable to the winning team.
Thoughts?
Tim
OK, I know the Dr Pepper Challenge idea is offered with tongue firmly planted in cheek.
But the more I think about it, the more the current college OT rules from the third on are akin to deciding a MLB playoff game with a sacrifice bunt-off or an NBA game with a half-court-shot contest.
How many two-point conversions do teams normally run in a game? One, maybe. That’s about how many bunts or half-court shots are attempted, right?
And to say this is the line where we care about player safety seems rather hollow to me.
I’m not sure if we should not go back to ties if the two-point conversion challenge is the best we got.
I like the college overtime rule in theory; I’d just move the starting point to the 50 rather than the 25.
And get rid of the two-point marathon at the end.
From Mark
Did you see where the QB who had signed with Oregon during the early signing period, enrolled and was on the sideline for the loss to OSU, has now used the portal to transfer to Cal, having never really been a Duck in uniform? At what point do kids show up and get picked pregame, like we used to do on the playground?
Mark
I did not see that, but here’s the story of five-star former Oregon signee Jaron Keane Saapolutele leaving after a cup of coffee with the Ducks.
Not sure the kickball-picking process will ever be in place, but the biggest headache for coaches these days has to be keeping as many of your 85 scholarship players happy for as long as you can.
The calendar needs to be seriously tightened to when these kids can portal, in my opinion, but that would take leadership and direction – two qualities the NCAA has been short on since, I don’t know, Spy was a toddler.
Although in terms of parity and if they ever get a NIL salary cap for schools, how crazy would an overhaul of the recruiting process be, and every player declares what conference – and the conference can bid on players or offer uniform signing bonuses for players to accept invites to that league – and then the programs in that conference draft?
I love the draft. You know this.
And Alabama deciding on a five-star QB1 from Marietta or a five-star WR from Mobile would be excellent.
From Chas, part I
Questions for Friday’s bag: 1) At the Carter funeral, Mike Pence greeted the Trumps and stood and shook the hand of the man who wanted to see him dead. Karen Pence stayed seated and refused to make eye contact with either Donald or Melania. For your money, which was the appropriate response?
2) What do you think went through The Donald’s head when he heard Jimmy’s values celebrated? Would he understand the selflessness?
Chas
I thought each Pence had every right to handle the matter how they did. I would hope regardless of differences, we would show respect for the office of president regardless of the opinion of the person holding it.
And I understand Mrs. Pence’s disdain for Trump.
It’s impossible to guess about what’s going through Trump’s head at any time.
But I think almost all of us fall way short of Jimmy Carter’s character as a human being, and that’s easily understood regardless of what he did or did not do in his time in the Oval Office.
From Chas, part II
For Friday’s bag, is your tat the ace of spades card or “BO”? If that’s too personal, you don’t have to answer. Maybe you want to maintain your “man of mystery” aura.
Chas
I included this because more than one of you wanted more details about my tattoo.
That said, not sure there are many “mysteries” left in my world.
As for my tat, well, be prepared to be underwhelmed. It is easily the most “country club”of tattoos ever.
Yep, it’s a quarter-sized “Beta Theta Pi” (my fraternity at AU) with three stars and my roll number there.
That’s it.
No “Bo” or barbed wire or the name of an ex or a heart or some cool logo.
Got it in Columbus, Ga., on the ever-shady Atlanta Highway in a tattoo parlor between a strip club and a liquor store on a hazy night filled with pain, blood and Mickey’s Malt Liquor.
You stay classy, Columbus.
Have a great weekend, friends.