Morning gang.
We are wrapping up a week the panhandle. We have found some great sand castles, a few Co-Colas and avoided sun burns. Good times.
It's Friday. You know what time it is.
From the satellite condo of the "Talks too much" studios, rest easy Mr. Adcock, and thanks for always being very kind to us.
From John P
Greetings Master Jay:
Enjoy the sand and the "coca-colas" but especially the small 5@10's. Those days will be gone before you know it and only the memories will remain. Ask me how I know.
Concerning the Chis Simms "$100 handshake story," I am old enough to remember that he originally committed to the Vols before fleeing to the other orange UT. Wonder if those handshakes had anything to do with that decision? Surely the statute of limitations has run out (even for the NCAA and its feudal system of rules) but it sure makes for an interesting question don't you think? Discuss if you want to but that's a story a lot of UT fans would love to know the "behind the scenes of."
Sun screen is your friend.
John P -
That's wise advise about the lil' 5-at-10s. They have had a ball and at 5 and 7 are getting to the age where jumping waves can be fun and not a panic attack for the parental units.
We are trying to live it up - spent $40 at the arcade yesterday to win $1.85 worth of junk and hopefully a lifetime worth of smiles. So it goes, and if the latter delivers, well, we got off cheap.
As for the $100 handshakes, that's not something that would lure a big-time recruit from one power program to another because quite simply, here's believing that all of the power programs feature boosters falling all over themselves to hand out $100 bills.
In truth, if you wanted to clean up college sports and rogue boosters, punish the guys committing the infractions.
Say Big Daddy UT Bucks is handing out Hundos to every four-star recruit. When the NCAA comes calling, give that guy the Fan Death Penalty like the court did with Harvey Updyke. That would devastate Big Daddy Bucks and send a clear message to the rest of the super boosters who view their college team like a child.
That however will never pass the top level of college administrators because the presidents and chancellors need Big Daddy UT Bucks to build buildings and give grants and such.
As for Simms, well, not sure why a guy with a daddy who is worth an estimated $14 million needs $100 handshakes but no one is going to turn those down. We're even more puzzled why he feels the need to speak about it now, but whatever.
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From Will
You love the draft, and we know this.
What did you think about last night and who five years from now will have won the draft?
Will -
Great question. And for perspective, let's redraft the top five picks from the 2010 draft.
- Washington - John Wall (who went No. 1 overall to Washington)
- Philadelphia - DeMarcus Cousins (who went No. 5 overall to Sacramento)
- New Jersey - Paul George (who went No. 10 overall to Indiana)
- Minnesota - Greg Monroe (who went No. 7 overall to Detroit)
- Sacramento - Eric Bledsoe (who went No. 18 overall to Oklahoma City but was traded to the L.A. Clippers)
We will go three winners and losers from last night's festivities:
Winners
Miami Heat. Wow, adding a top-five talent like Justise Winslow at No. 10 is nice. There's a real chance that the Heat could trot out Goran Dragic, Dwyane Wade, Winslow, Chris Bosh, Hassan Whiteside next year and that's a starting five as good as anyone else in the East, Cleveland included.
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving, right, looks to a pass as Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose applies pressure during the first half of Game 3 in a second-round NBA basketball playoff series in Chicago on Friday, May 8, 2015. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) Chicago Bulls. There are some teams - the Baltimore Ravens and the New England Patriots come to mind - that make what seem like smart picks every year. That came to mind with the Bobby Portis pick. Smart. Not out-thinking themselves. Portis is simply a guy that does everything well and plays hard, and who doesn't want a bunch of those guys.
The tailors and outfits of the draft. From Rondae Hollis-Jefferson's pants to logos inside suit jackets to D'Angelo Russell's full-blown redness, style was in full charge. (We also love the Lakers' pick of Russell, by the way. Kid's going to be a star.)
Losers
All of us who watched and realized that the draft coverage needs to be on TNT so Chuck and his cronies can work their magic.
Philadelphia fans. Yes, the Knicks fans who booed the pick of Kristapas Porzingis got a lot of the ink about tormented supporters. And we get it, but what the long-suffering 76ers fans who have endured years of tanking. They get the No. 3 overall pick and for the third year in a row draft a center. Look, we think Jahil Okafor can be a very good player, so it's not knocking the pick, and he has more diverse set of offensive skills than Nerlens Noel or Joel Embiid - the two centers taken the last two years. But in a more and more perimeter-based league, three centers is two too many.
Washington. With Portis on the board, the Wizards went with another perimeter guy ignoring some inside needs. The Wizards have a point guard ready to contend for a title in John Wall, but they got him little help Thursday.
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From FEChancellor
For the Mail Bag, Jay, who is you dream team of golf announcers and analysts you'd like to see cover all the majors?
FE to the C -
Great question and in regard to Fox's coverage - more on that in a moment - and very pertinent.
As for Fox at the U.S. Open, we think they did some good things. They took some chances, and more hit than missed. Greg Norman showed some promise as the lead analyst, but he was obviously new to the gig and in came across cliched at times and nervous.
The on-course cast of characters was forgettable, and in truth that's where great golf coverage emanates. So if this were building a good team, the on-course folks are like your offensive line. Sure, you can win a few games here and there with a leaky group up front, but eventually it will kill you.
So if we have spots up front, we'll go David Feherty (one of the funniest announcers out there regardless of sport), Dottie Pepper, Roger Maltbie, Ian Baker-Finch (bonus points for the accent), Peter Alliss, who is the voice of the European Tour. (If we get a tower spot, then we'll put Uncle Verne there, but there's no way Verne's navigating multiple holes with multiple groups.
And the key rule for all of these folks will be first and quickly tell the viewer what club the player has. First. Then get to the other details.
As for the off-course commentary, this one is tricky. Please, no tear-jerking Tom Rinaldi. Jimmy Roberts is OK and asks good questions, which is an underrated quality as these guys come off the course and most of the time it's some PGA employee who is getting quotes and asking pointed stuff like, "How was it out there today?"
Tim Rosaforte has great contacts but is too much of a name-dropper.
As for the lead announcer and analyst, well, Nantz and Faldo are the best thing going now, and as good as Faldo is we remember Ken Venturi being better. Maybe that's the romanticism of days gone by, but so it goes.
Also, we need Peter Kostis somewhere with his Konica-Minolta Bizhub Swingvision analysis somewhere as well.
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From Sportsfan
Enjoy your week. Just got back from lower Alabama with the Sportsfan clan myself. Added a few pounds in the waist, and lost a couple in the wallet. But it was worth it. I watched a fair amount of the Open yesterday. I was disappointed in Chambers Bay from the standpoint that I watched good tee shots in the fairway trickle into bunkers and the rough. I don't see that as a true test of a professional golfer's ability. For the mailbag...what's your opinion?
Sportsfan -
We can see that point of view, and it carries a fair measure of weight since the randomness of the bad luck goes beyond the argument that "they're all playing the same course."
Still, the U.S. Open is about surviving more than winning, and that survival starts with mental toughness.
And what better way to measure that mental toughness than to see who can deal with the kick to the shins of a near-perfect shot getting a completely unfair result than leads to nearly impossible situation.
If Chambers Bay ever gets another swing at this thing, it will need to have a few more places that, while very difficult to reach or get to, offer safer and/or truer results.
We certainly see your line of thinking, but that said, the best player on the planet right now won the U.S. Open. So in that regard the test has to be considered somewhat true since the answer was 100 percent correct. (We think that makes sense, right?)
From Black and Gold
Jay, it's tough being a Vandy fan. That's one of the reasons I love your radio show. You guys know way more than any show I've ever listened to and it's not all UT junk or some uninformed opinion.
This week was tough. We had the best team in the country and didn't win the World Series.
My friends and I were debating the loss and this question came up and wanted your take. We were pretty split on it but here goes -- As a Vandy fan would you rather have another Baseball national title ora national title in any other sport or win the SEC in football?
Keep up the good work on Press Row and in your columns.
Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings yells to his team in their game on Feb. 21, 2015, in Nashville.Black and Gold -
Thanks for the kind words and following along.
Vandy did have the best team - that's a sentence you don't get to write too often - but Virginia was hot at the right time.
Your question is very interesting. I think all other national titles save an NCAA basketball title are dwarfed by winning the SEC football.
In truth, we'd lean toward the SEC title in football even over cutting down the nets in early April.
Kevin Stallings would surely disagree but an SEC title in football changes everything for the Commodores in terms of perception and place. Think about selling that education and a chance to play for football national titles with the best in the SEC.
A college hoops title would be a flash - one and dones and the like make it unsustainable unless you are Duke or UK - and an SEC football title could be too. But one SEC football title could also completely change the narrative and direction of the program.
Look at what Stanford did. Look at what James Franklin did, and remember how exciting that time was.
Plus, what would fry the bacon of every UT fan you know? Vandy winning at SEC football title would for sure.
Great question and thanks for the support.