Morning everyone.
From the “Talks too much” studios, all about the process (copyright, Nick Saban).
Baseball Hall of Fame
The newest class of baseball Hall of Famers was announced Wednesday evening, and Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza are in.
Good.
In his first year on the ballot, Griffey was named on 437 of the 440 ballots, breaking Tom Seaver’s 24-year-old record of highest percentage of votes received with 99.3 percent. Seaver got 98.84 in ’92.
Piazza got 83 percent – up almost 14 percent from a year ago – and made it on his fourth year on the ballot.
Piazza, widely consider the greatest offensive catcher ever, was forced to wait on his induction because of PED whispers because of his drastic improvement (he was a 62nd-round draft pick after all) and a bad case of back acne.
If you want to hold PED users out, we’re OK with that. Part of the description of the Hall of Fame balloting process is “character and integrity” and deliberately cheating and lying about do not qualify.
But to keep players out because of unconfirmed suspicions of PED use is unfair. If that’s the case, and since we have failed tests or at the very least solid circumstantial evidence on such a very few of the players alleged to be involved, then shouldn’t everyone be held out?
FILE – In this Oct. 2, 2005, file photo, New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza acknowledges fans’ applause following a tribute to Piazza’s seven-year career with the Mets during the seventh inning of the team’s 11-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies at Shea Stadium in New York. Ken Griffey Jr. seems assured of election to the Baseball hall of Fame on the first try Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, possibly with a record vote of close to 100 percent. Mike Piazza, Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines also were strong candidates to gain the 75 percent needed for baseball’s highest honor. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens) Griffey’s election was historic – in addition to the percentage, he is the first No. 1 overall pick to make the Hall, a select club that Chipper Jones will join in a few years. But Piazza’s may be the real game-changer since he now becomes the first player inducted that was grouped under the cloud of suspected PED users.
What does that mean for Bonds and Clemens and the rest of the guys with sure-fire Hall-of-Fame credentials but that have been black-balled by a large chunk of voters?
Hard to say. It’s clear the Hall’s decision to trim 109 voters – guys who had ‘lifetime’ ballots who were deemed no longer eligible since they no longer covered the game or a team – helped Piazza and the rest, since Piazza got in and Bonds and Clemens’ voting totals increased -Bonds received 44.3 percent up from 36.8 a year ago; Clemens got 45.2 up from 37.5 last year.
Each are a long way from the required 75 percent, but any step forward is better than the other alternative.
That discussion is best left for another time.
Today, it’s about congratulating the Kid and Piazza, two Hall of Famers who took different routes to immortality.
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NFL playoff Fab 4 picks
OK, with the mailbag tomorrow (have you sent in your question), we need to pick this weekend’s NFL playoff games.
And we’ll keep this in a different file, but we’ll go against the spread and see if we can’t continue our 60 percent rate of finding entertainment.
Of course, this entertainment hunting is a good bit different. Check this: In round of the playoffs, all four of the road teams are favorites. Yep, if that doesn’t call for an overhaul of the seeding process, then what does.
Houston-Kansas City under 41. What do we know? Well we know that Alex Smith is a game-manager who protects the ball. We know Andy Reid is one of the best regular season coaches in the modern era of the NFL. We know that Houston is at home, but the Texans got to the playoffs in large part by feasting on the poor AFC South with a 5-1 mark in the division. Two of the better defenses, with two offenses that are a) without star-studded tailbacks (KC’s Jamaal Charles and Houston’s Arian Foster had their season’s ended by injury); and b) looking to protect – and harass -efficient-if-not-dazzling quarterbacks. Hello under. (Side note: We think Kansas City wins the game, and the 3 point line looks pretty good for each side if you buy the half.)
Pittsburgh minus-2.5 at Cincinnati. Man, if we lived in Vegas, we would not be able to get to the window fast enough to stake our entertainment claim against AJ McCarron making his first playoff start and Marvin lewis looking for his first playoff win. Good times. It’s also easy to believe the Steelers coming into this game with a comfortability that borders on looseness that makes the game – regardless of the high-pressured, one-and-done nature of the playoffs – fun. A week ago Pittsburgh was on the outside looking in at the postseason, and now as the No. 6 seed with a very dangerous offense, they get to play the galvanizing “No one believes in us” card.
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater (5) throws during the first half of an NFL football game against the New York Giants, Sunday, Dec. 27, 2015, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Andy Clayton-King) Seattle minus-5 over Minnesota. Temperatures will be somewhere near minus-20 for Sunday’s kickoff. Buckets that’s cold. Another chance to bet against a young quarterback making his first postseason start as Minnesota’s Teddy Bridgewater makes his playoff debut. An added bonus here is he is making it against the Legion of Boom – the nickname of a Seattle secondary that has exploited match-ups like this in the past. Another Seahawks edge: Mr. Marshawn Lynch – aka Beast Mode – is back and close to 100 percent. Does anyone else get the feeling the Seahawks looked at the regular season not unlike Duke or UK look at January and February in college hoops. Just get a ticket to the dance and when the music starts, they will be ready.
Green Bay minus-1 over Washington. Yes, Kirk Cousins has been an awesome story, and dude like made himself tens of millions with a monster second half of the season. Yes, Kirk, we like that. The Redskins are at home – and it’s a definite home-field edge – and Green Bay has been rather pedestrian since a fast start. The Packers are 4-6 in their last 10 and one of those was the Hail Mary game at Detroit in which the Lions remembered they are the Lions. All of that points to Washington. Then we remembered to Discount Double Check the rosters, and yes, Mr. Aaron Rodgers is scheduled to play. That’s enough for us.
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UT coaching moves
Here’s the story from TFP UT ace Downtown Patrick Brown, but we are still a little perplexed as to why Butch Jones and Co. parted ways with John Jancek.
John Jancek is done at Tennessee after two seasons in charge of the Volunteers’ defense.The defense has improved each year under Jancek, who started three season ago with the worst defensive line in the SEC.
This year the Vols were 16th nationally in scoring defense. It’s a stat helped by playing in the offensively challenged SEC East, sure, but UT also held Alabama to its lowest total of the year and Oklahoma below its average despite going into overtime.
Plus, the timing of this seems a big strange, too.
That said, the Vols likely will have a slew of choices, since a) their defense could return as many as eight starters, depending on what Cam Sutton and Jalen Reeves-Maybin decide to do; and b) the current staff has a very steady foundation of job security going into a year filled with high expectations.
Decisions happen. People get cross.
So it goes.
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FILE – In this Jan. 3, 2016, file photo, Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith watches his team take on the Carolina Panthers during an NFL football game in Charlotte, N.C. The Buccaneers fired Smith on Wednesday night, Jan. 6. Smith went 6-10 this year and 8-24 over two seasons in charge of the team. (AP Photo/Bob Leverone, File) This and that
– Shocked that Tampa Bay pulled the trigger on Lovie Smith, who made major strides with the Bucs in year two. Man, two and out is a norm. That, in a nutshell, is why the Bucs and the Browns are the Bucs and the Browns and the Steelers and the Patriots are the Steelers and the Patriots.
– Here’s today’s links to the Ooltewah mess: Daily beat coverage from TFP education ace Kendi Anderson is here, how this has ripple effects for other basketball teams is here from TFP sports editor Stephen Hargis. Here’s our column calling for more to be done, including the cleansing of the coaching staff.
– More on Ooltewah: Know that the story is linked on the main page at ESPN.com and apparently was the lead story on the “Today” show this morning.
– The Harris Interactive Poll that questioned almost 2,400 sports fans across America continues to release trickling tidbits. Here’s a view of the poll’s results on the “Best NFL player of all-time” with Joe Montana first, followed by Brady, Manning, Walter Peyton and Jim Brown.
– We all giggled at the Johnny Football in Vegas story with the wig and the glass and mustache. Well, if he was there he went to great lengths of covering his tracks. Here’s a story that has Mr. Football getting a traffic ticket on Saturday morning at 8:28 a.m. for expired plates in Ohio. So now the question is, where was Waldo Football?
Ohio State defensive back Vonn Bell, who played at Ridgeland High School in Rossville, Ga., returned from an offseason injury and had six interceptions last year to help lead the Buckeyes to the national championship in the first College Football Playoff.—
Today’s questions
We’re in with OG’s question from yesterday: Now that Vonn Bell is an All-American and projected as a first- or second-round draft pick, what’s the Rushmore of local high school football players.
Yes, Vonn makes a hard push, but of all the Rushmores we’ve ever done there’s never been a more sure-fired far left than this one. There’s Reggie White and then everyone else fights for three spots. Also: It depends if you count John Hannah, who was from Alabama but played at Baylor before being kicked out, as a local player. If you do – and we’re OK with that, then it’s White and Hannah, and everyone else is fighting for two spots.
Discuss.
And remember the mailbag.