Let’s get to the business.
› Annette Bening’s Rushmore — “Bugsy,” “American Beauty,” “The American President,” “The Grifters.”
› Rushmore of West Virginia sports — Born there is Jerry West, George Brett, Randy Moss and Mary Lou Retton. Sports there, Greenbrier, “Country Road Take Me Home” at Mountaineers Stadium, Pat McAfee and “We Are Marshall.”
› Rushmore of colleges/universities named after a person — Vanderbilt, Harvard, Brigham Young and, of course, the University of Utah, which is named for Johnny Utah, the FBI agent who brought down the bank-robbing ring in “Point Break.”
› Rushmore of “Memory/ies” — Memorial Day, memory of an elephant, photographic memory, “Misty water-colored memories … of the way we were.”
Some headlines that need to be shared.
> College softball has an obstruction problem. Did you see the Women’s College World Series last night? And man, what a gut-punch loss for Tennessee against Oklahoma.
> Braves grabbed a real must-win game in May last night against Philly ace Zach Wheeler. Ozzie Albies is starting to hit, which is a good thing. Speaking of the Braves, uh, Chris Sale is the quickest pitcher EVER to 2,500 Ks. Wow. Side question for the group: Is Chris Sale a Hall of Famer?
> Paschall has college football stuff. Rules are rules, even on Friday.
> The Lil Miss 5-at-10 is back in action this weekend. Expecting big things.
From SteelerFan
Terry Bradshaw is well past his “sell-by” date. His commentary about the Aaron Rodgers situation in Pittsburgh being a “joke” is a case in point. Not sure why NFL commentators like Bradshaw can’t accept the fact that Rodgers and the Steelers have almost certainly had a handshake deal for months, and Rodgers simply doesn’t want to waste his 41-year-old arm on summer workouts. I’m still on the fence about Rodgers’ ability to lift the team at this point, but the idea that the Steelers are being “played” is a bit absurd. Also, Bradshaw, by all accounts, has next to zero intel on the modern Steelers. He burned those bridges years ago.
SteelerFan
I feel for you and Steeler Nation. What a disaster for a very proud fan base. When 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers is the solution, the problems are overwhelming.
Hey, it’s been a good run, and unless they hit a lottery ticket in an upcoming draft, these issues are not going anywhere until they are bad enough to get a top-five QB1. (Which continues to make the decision not to spend a second-day or even a fourth-round pick on Shedeur Sanders even more confounding.)
As for Terry, well, now that Lee Corso has set his date to work into the sunset, maybe it’s time for ol’ Terry B to plan his next chapter too.
And you would know more about the Pittsburgh media realm, but it’s really emblematic of some bigger issues across sports media.
One, I don’t get the growing fandom of notable national analysts. Call it the Greenie Effect since his days of being a Jets Super Fan starting with the “Mike & Mike” days.
Now we know Stephen A’s favorite team, that Elle Duncan loves the Bulldogs and that every former Patriot either gets into coaching or heads to the campus in Bristol.
(Yes, I make it clear where I went to school, butt that’s almost always tongue in cheek and mainly done for transparency.)
Secondly, the modern version of trying to out-take the previous hot take hurts the entire profession.
Too often, the biggest names are trading credibility for clicks, and that’s sad. And dangerous, especially in a time when good journalism has never been needed more.
Even in sports.
From JMac
Former Auburn Coach and US Sen. Tommy Tuberville announced he is running for Alabama governor. Requirements to run for governor in Alabama include you have to have been a resident of Alabama for at least the last 7 years. His wife and son did buy a house in Auburn in 2017 and got a homestead exemption on it in October 2018, but Tuberville and his wife both voted in Florida in November 2018. I think he is going to have a lot of opposition to his residency. Thoughts?
J-Mac
Absolutely, everything faces opposition in these modern times.
And if the rules are not being met, it should be challenged.
We too often see folks dismiss rules on technicalities when they violate those rules.
It’s not the rules’ fault. Are they bad rules? Maybe. But until bad rules are changed, they are the rules, you know?
I do not know all the details of Tuberville’s residency, but that we are in a place where famous names are more important than a credible resumé is the core of our issues, you know?
For goodness sakes, there is talk of Bruce Pearl being a candidate for Tuberville’s Senate seat with Tommy’s bid for governor.
Oy vey.
From a slew of you
What’s your biggest takeaway from the SEC meetings?
Gang,
First, we need to add an “s” to takeaway. There were too many.
There was the switch to when, not if, the college football playoff is going to 16 teams very soon.
There was the divide between ADs and coaches on the eight- or nine-game schedule. I think it will go to nine, but I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. It could save some traditional rivalries, which is good. It likely will end the season-opening power-program match-ups.
Maybe my biggest takeaway is from the comments from Charlie Baker, who has more backbone in his pinky toe than Mark Emmert did in his entire spineless body. After Greg Sankey’s diatribes in Destin this week about the SEC and NCAA, Emmert would have already changed the name of the governing body of college sports to N(SE)CAA.
Here’s more from The Athletic, as Baker calmly handles the brewing controversy and deftly dials it back. Well played.
(Also in that story are details on the “good conversations” had between the NCAA and its broadcast partners about expanding March Madness to 72 or 76 teams as soon as 2026. Wow. That will almost assuredly expand the play-in slots unless they are going to start a full week earlier because they simply cannot damage the flow of a 64-team bracket on which office polls are based.)
From Phillip
I love your 5@10 Jay, butDUDE,E dial back the Caitlin Clark stuff.
It’s the WNBA, man. NO ONE cares!
Phillip,
I know it’s not a question, but it’s a fair take.
There are bigger stars in sports, for sure.
But there is no bigger star compared to peers than Clark, in my mind.
I get your point, but I can’t promise you anything.
We are witnessing a Magic-Bird type of sports-changing star in terms of skills and popularity (and polarization) in the most-crazed media climate we’ve ever seen.
Have a great weekend, friends.