5-at-10: Friday mailbag with a Rushmore of sandwiches, UT’s potential football narrative, SEC drinking game and NBA title contenders

From Mike

What’s your Rushmore of go-to sandwiches? I say PBJ, BEC (bacon, egg and cheese), chicken salad and turkey and cheese.

Mike –

Great question, and one that needs a fair amount of discussion. And here’s saying there are two lists here (and potentially three).

There’s the go-to home sandwich and there’s go-to restaurant sandwich list. (The third one would be the specific sandwich list, meaning you go directly to that place for that sandwich as in Chick-Fil-As or the Cuban at River Street Deli. For simplicity and time, we’ll keep it at two but you get the idea.)

The home go to is turkey/cheese, chicken salad (but only the Mrs. 5-at-10 chicken salad; we’re not really high on anyone else’s to be honey), pimento cheese and ham/cheese. If there’s steak or grilled chicken around, then we’d start there but that’s not as common as the others, especially in the summer time.

As from the go-to sandwich in the restaurant division, we’ll start with French Dip and grilled cheese. Man, each of those are like the Tim Duncan and Hank Aaron of the sandwich category; each is an all-timer and we really underestimate the greatness of each. (Another on the underrated list is the BLT, which is kind of the Stan Musial of sandwiches considering it’s always war better than we give it credit for.)

The final two on our restaurant sandwich will be a cheesesteak and that last spot is puzzling, but we’ll lean toward the pulled pork sandwich as the last one. (Is the hamburger a sandwich?)

That said, we’re adventurous though and will try all sorts of Po’Boys and various combinations. And a good Cuban is legit.)

Great question.

From Alvin

Sir, this is the first time I have written you a question but I read your blog and listen to you on the radio. My questions are how long will we have to wait before a team other than GS, CLE or SA wins the NBA title and do you think that is good for the league?

Alvin –

In truth, we’d say at least three years, which seems to be the high end for LeBron being the most physically dominating presence in the league.

Also, we found this amazingly interesting that Kevin Durant said Thursday at his introduction with the Warriors that he doesn’t plan to go through free agency again.

Yes, that’s somewhat hollow considering he theoretically signed a one-year deal, but we can imagine the heat and the stress and backlash he took from this decision – rightly or wrongly – is quite heavy right now.

Also, Alvin – and thanks for listening and reading – we’re not sure how much S.A. has for these Warriors.

The match-up is terrible, especially from a spacing aspect. And while Kawhi Leonard is one of the game’s best perimeter defenders, does he cover Steph or Durant in this scenario? And if that leaves Danny Green or Heaven forbid an aging Tony Parker on the other, well, good luck with that.

Either way, anything other than a GS-Cleveland final next year would be a monster upset. And rather disappointing to tell you the truth.

In fact, here’s betting the regular-season meetings of Warriors-Cavs will be the highest-rated NBA non-playoff games in a long time.

From scole023

I have read the 5@10 from the start and this is the first year I have not won a contest. I like to win stuff.

With the bowl challenge, the Mastering the Masters, the feeling the draft and the Derby Challenge (derby optional) all behind us, does this mean my streak ends?
Any thoughts about having one more for the British Open next week? Please. I like to win win stuff.

scole023 –

OK, my man. You have been a long-timer around these parts, and while you may not be a regular commentator, we know you like to win stuff.

We’re in.

But let’s throw a little bit of a curve here – not quite as dramatic as the Swerve Ball (as seen on TV) with the extra cool Power Sleeve – and double our pleasure. With the oddity of this year’s golf calendar featuring Olympics in August and the Ryder Cup later this year, the schedule fell with two majors in the month of July.

Let’s Turn Two: A Major Title Two-fer.

You get your five players and the top four count. But you are picking five guys for the British Open next week and keeping the same five guys for the PGA Championship later this month.
Deal? Deal. (Side clarification: While you keep the same five general guys, four different dudes can count. For example, you make have Mickelson in your group and he may finish 2nd and be among your four at the British but if he misses the cut at the PGA, you can count the other four.)

Who’s in?

From Pete

Did I hear you and Paschall mention a ‘drinking game’ from SEC media days the other day? I had to get out of the car — stupid work — so what was that all about?

Thanks man, and I love Press Row.

Pete –

Yes, there was a drinking game with an SEC media day theme. Some fellow named Ben Bolton from Bolton Sports put this out.

The premise is pretty simple, every time one of these things happens you are supposed to take a drink.

Some of them are obvious – Saban being asked about satellite camps is atop the list, and that seems like a very safe bet. But Saban will answer this once, grumble about the follow-up and then glare at any future mention of satellite camps. Same also likely goes for questions about Cam Robinson’s legal hiccups in Louisiana and the curious circumstances around the local sheriff in Monroe.

And some of them will happen a lot. For example, one of the rules is taking a drink every time Leonard Fournette is asked about the Heisman. Man unless you are kicking back O’Douls, you are going to need a designated driver for that one.

And some of them run the mix of being very frequent and very obvious. Enjoy the list. It’s pretty entertaining.

From Jomo

So UTK settles the lawsuit. This is a good thing because Butch Jones deposition was going to show he clearly lied…..So with the lawsuit behind them, 5 players on the “watchlist” for awards and an easy non-conference schedule, a veteran team of top recruiting classes, etc…..what will be the narrative and party line by Butch, if UTK loses to Georgia, Bama or Florida ?

Jomo –

Very interesting point.

The stakes are raised and there is no cliche or motto that matches the expectations – and those expectations are only growing as the season nears – on Butch and Team 120. (Side note: Here’s an extra over/under for you, as we’ll set Butch saying “We want those high expectations/that’s why you come to a place like Tennessee” at 6.5. Thoughts?)

Even the most ardent anti-Orange agent – like Jomo – has to be impressed with the restocking of talent Jones and Co. have done in Knoxville.

We saw something this week, that according to Phil Steele’s UT is the only team in the country to have each of its position groups ranked among the top 30 nationally. That’s impressive talent. And it’s overly impressive considering where the roster was in 1 A.D. (Year one, After Dooley.)

There will be no mentioning of previous regimes or struggles in the past if the Vols meet speed bumps this fall. There are no more cupboards are barren or the players are inexperienced. And of the three you mentioned, well, a loss to Bama would hurt because it’s Bama, but if there’s shame in that defeat, it’s a shame shared by almost every team, coach and fan who face Nick Saban’s bunch.

A loss to Georgie would be excruciating because it likely dashes any and all hopes at winning a very mediocre-at-best SEC East. (And that would make the annual November steam roll even more hollow and frustrating.)

But a loss to the Gators would be devastating for a lot of reasons. The streak is suffocating right now. There are rising sixth-graders who have never known a UT win over Florida. Heck, the phrase “UT just beat Florida in football” has never been Tweet correctly because Twitter was invented since the last time the Vols won.

And it also would bring up the agony of last year’s loss.

Which brings us to the answer to your question: If UT loses to two of the above teams, the narrative will quickly become can Jones and Co. win big ones on Saturday? They have delivered on the recruiting trail. They have handled a lot of the BID-ness off the field – fans, donors, hype, etc. – very well.

But the talking points from last year have a decided double-edge: UT was like four or five plays from being undefeated last year. That shows everyone how close they were. The other end of that is, they could not finish.

If that happens against some of the Vols’ chief rivals again this fall, that becomes the narrative.

And it will leave a painful residue since the East has never been more exploitable – and likely never will be again for the foreseeable future – and UT has so much senior and draft-eligible junior talent on its roster.