Here we go, with a shoutout to Regis, who has announced his retirement (tear)...
AFC title game noise
Wow, the Patriots and the Jets simply can't stop talking about each other. It's a like a middle school squabble that the only thing worse than the bickering is the silence - so we're going to squabble some more.
Yes, the game's over. Yes, the Jets pulled off the emotional upset in part because they got the Patriots involved in this emotional banter that New York thrives in and New England generally ignores. Yes, the league has now come down and told teams and players to tone it down.
And with more and more yapping coming from New York, it signals more and more confidence in the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday in the AFC title game.
Think Steelers coach Mike Tomlin or anyone in the Black and Gold is going to spend one millisecond on who likes whom or passing notes about so-and-so is such a stinky-head? No, me neither.
Something is screaming to the 5-at-10 that come Sunday night, the Steelers will be talking about the Super Bowl and the Jets will be talking about how cool it was to beat those meany Patriots. Bunch of jerks.
NFC title game noise
The Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears will meet in the NFC title game. You know this.
It's a meeting of the league's oldest rivals and features two teams playing as well as they have all season. You know this, too.
It's well-documented that the 5-at-10 believes strongly that the NFL is a quarterback-driven league. You know this as well.
These two teams, however, deserve utmost respect for embracing the priority of finding a quarterback. The Packers took Aaron Rodgers with the 24th pick in the first round of the 2005 draft. In retrospect that seems like a no-brainer - especially if you're a fan of the San Francisco 49ers, who took Alex Smith with the No. 1 overall pick. But remember that the Packers still had Brett Favre on the roster and we all know that Favre still had a few years let in him. Fittingly that Favre filed his retirement papers (fill in your joke here) Monday on the same day that the rest of the league is celebrating Rodgers' play.
As for the Bears, well, before Jay Cutler arrived, let's just say the law firm of Orton, Grossman and Greise that had played quarterback in Chicago was overwhelmingly forgettable. It was not cheap to get Cutler - the Bears sending Kyle Orton, first- and third-round picks in 2009 and a first-round pick in 2010 - but the Bears made the move and now they're a win from the Super Bowl. (FYI, those picks became defensive end Robert Ayers (first rounder in 2009), the third-rounder in 2009 was traded for a couple of journeyman, and after a series of trades last April the first-rounder in 2010 became Tim Tebow. Go figure, huh?)
Know why? Of course you do - it's a quarterback-driven league.
Draft entries
The draft entries have been finalized and most of the stars leaving the SEC are not surprising. Two are somewhat puzzling - LSU running back Stevan Ridley and Auburn receiver Darvin Adams - but if they received positive draft grades and/or felt like their stock was not going to improve, then why not go. Yes, education is important but as difficult as it could be to go back and get a degree, these guys are aiming for life-changing money. So it goes.
Here are the three interesting storylines from the 10 days from Auburn's BCS championship game win:
- Auburn's defections - Adams, Heisman winner Cam Newton and likely No. 1-overall pick Nick Fairley - leave a huge void for the Tigers. Plus, the fan base has been put in the strange juxtaposition that college football's most intense rivalry can truly appreciate. Auburn fans blasted Alabama and its fans for celebrating its 2009 national title by showing the trophy at Walmarts around the state (the jokes are fairly predictable and fairly funny). Well, turns out it was the BCS that had the deal with the superstore chain, and as the Tigers start their celebration, guess where it started? You betcha, at the Walmart. The 5-at-10 knows no one in the Auburn nation would trade the program's first title in 53 years to be Walmart heckle-free (price check on aisle 9), but still that's some kind of symmetry, huh?
- Georgia lost its best offensive player (A.J. Green) and its best defensive player (Justin Houston) and its coach will be on the hottest seat in the country. Wow, the plot thickens in Athens.
- Alabama was among the biggest winners and losers in the draft declaration process. The Tide lost three players - defensive tackle Marcel Dareus, running back Mark Ingram and receiver Julio Jones - that could be drafted in the first round. Losing that talent (especially Jones) hurts. But safety Mark Barron returns in a secondary that desperately needs him, and athletic linebacker Dont'a Hightower returns, too.
UTC hoops
The Mocs were working last night in McKenzie Arena. UTC's 91-88 win over Southern Conference-favorite College of Charleston was entertaining and impressive. And according to UTC coach John Shulman, a statement.
From our UTC hoops ace David Uchiyama:
Only the Mocs (10-8, 7-0) remain unblemished after they survived a furious early flurry from the Cougars.
"We at this moment haven't done anything," UTC coach John Shulman said. "I think that we wiped out the doubt that we're any good. We've beat people, beat them close and tight. But people said, 'You haven't played Wofford, Furman and Charleston.'
"We wiped away doubt whether we're any good."
UTC guard Omar Wattad outscored the nation's fifth-leading scorer. Wattad was 7-of-16 from the field in totaling 27 points and Charleston's Andrew Goudelock was 9-of-23 for 26 points with three of his coming as time expired.
"That was an entertaining basketball game and I'm glad it was on TV," Cougars coach Bobby Cremins said. "It says a lot about our conference. Chattanooga is real good. They're going to be a major force this season.
"And with the tournament being here in Chattanooga, they're going to be a force in the tournament."
Wattad has been UTC's driving force for the last four games. He's averaged exactly 25 points and buried 24 3-pointers in those games, including six Monday night......
Wattad is on fire, but he was hardly alone. Three other Mocs were in double figures and UTC point guard Keegan Bell finished with 12 points, eight boards and eight assists. Plus, did you notice the picture on the TFP website with the crowd cheering behind Shulman's first pump. Notice that was UTC boss Dr. Roger Brown right there celebrating? Nice win, coach Shulman.
David Uchiyama: Mocs Alone at the top
Basketball tidbits
- Vince Carter scored his 20,000 career NBA point on Monday. He's the 37th player to pass the milestone, and in some ways it's comparable to the magical 3,000-hit platform in baseball, which is a slam dunk ticket into the Hall of Fame. The 5-at-10 respects numbers as much as the next weekday internet sports opinion blog, but when the name Vince Carter comes to mind, the thought Hall of Fame is down the list on the word association. Maybe his career is somewhat similar to a Craig Biggio, who cleared 3,000 hits in his 20-plus years with the Astros, and is a testament more to being good over a long haul than great over a decent period.
- Pittsburgh thumped Syracuse last night in college hoops, knocking the Orange from the ranks of the unbeaten. The way the Panthers are playing right now - they opened on a 19-0 run - they are sprinting toward a No. 1 seed, and is another possible top seed that through the conductivity game is beatable by the mighty UTC Mocs. Now, stay with the 5-at-10 here, Pitt's lost to Tennessee, which lost to College of Charleston, which lost to, you guessed it UTC. The other No. 1 seed in the category is Duke, which lost to FSU, which lost to Auburn, which lost to Samford, which lost to (wait for it...) UTC.
- As we finish our time today, go check the youtube, and type in Blake Griffin. The Los Angeles Clippers rookie is worth five minutes of your time, and if your boss asks you about it, say you got permission from the 5-at-10. That's an approved excuse in something like seven states in the nation not counting Guam and there's some rumblings in at least a dozen others.