Bowl contest
Tonight's bowl game did not make our next round of picks, which we certainly hope will be better than our first round of picks.
So we will have our Fab 4 tomorrow. Deal? Deal.
As promised here's the update for the contest. We finished with more than 50 entries. Excellent work by you guys.
Here's what we have and I believe this is up-to-date. Please, if you do not see your name or if you think I have calculated your score incorrectly, well, that's likely a mistake on my end.
(Tabulating scores in between SMU turnovers and Co-Cola swigs is not the best way to guarantee accuracy. So it goes.)
The point totals are out of nine (five one-pointers and two two-pointers; remember the final one-pointer is later this month), and congrats to Brian E., Mike R. and AuburnTideFan for a perfect start out of the game. Side note: For those wondering, we went to college with AuburnTideFan. Grew up a diehard Alabama fan but desperately wanted to be an engineer. Still pulls for the Tide, but at least he got a decent education. (Kidding. Kidding.)
Also, equally impressive perfectly imperfect start for J.D. If you can harness that power consistently, picking losers is every bit as entertaining as picking winners, right?
Here you go:
Brian E. - 9
AuburnTideFan - 9
Mike R. - 9
scole023 - 8
Spy - 8
Ted T. - 8
Dawg747 - 8
Andrew O. - 7
Zack F. - 7
Richard J. - 7
WDE - 7
Mrs. 5-at-10 - 7 (Yes, she is quite proud. And chatty about her early lead in the 5-at-10 compound.)
Big-brained Hal - 6
McPell - 6
Andrew B. - 6
Brent R. - 6
Dan Crotty - 6
Runner-up of Life - 6
Shelley - 6
Scotty B - 6
Bow6770 - 6
Backup QB (aka June Jones) - 6
DJ12 - 6
Ron W. - 6
5-at-10 - 5
JHarris149 - 5
Jason T. - 5
Mark W. - 5
JonMac - 5
Mother - 5
Josh T. - 5
Mark P. - 5
Butter - 5
Ben C. - 4
No-it-all - 4
Pete L. - 4
Jeremy G. - 4
Brandon E. - 4
Bonita Springs Vol - 4
Mark from Maine - 3
Sportsfan - 3
Fat Vader - 3
Tom P. - 3
Jason G. - 3
Michael P. - 3
Skip - 2
Todd Ca. - 2
Chris J. - 2
Will C. - 2
Chris B. - 1
Hangtime - 1
JD - 0
Good luck, and thanks for playing.
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Signing day reflections
OK, maybe we are in the minority in this view, but we like the early signing period for a lot of reasons.
It allows the players more options and, across the full scope of the entire recruiting class, more certainty. The main folks complaining about it are the elite power programs who have used the old system for years to poach the best players from mid-major programs at the 11th hour.
It's a harsh cycle that in a lot of ways now allows more programs to lock down more programs. (And it's not like the elite schools did not excel Wednesday. Look at the top 10 for Pete's sake. It's littered with college football royalty.)
Also, the complaints of college football coaches who make more in a two-week pay period than most of America makes in a year about "working too hard" is at best tone deaf and at worst idiotic. C'mon Nick, you are a tireless worker who is the best ever at this and who is making roughly $800,000 a month to do this. A tough 10-day recruiting stretch is doable, especially since the calendar will normalize a little bit after this first season. Also, Nick and Urban and whomever else, using some form of the argument "that the early signing period is forcing kids to sign with lesser programs and may deny them a dream of playing for Alabama or THE Ohio State or wherever." Well, just stop. If you are in the business of fulfilling dreams, then dedicate two of your annual scholarships to which ever player - regardless of stars - writes the most compelling essay of why playing at Bryant Denny or in The Horseshoe is a true dream come. Give those guys a ride, and fulfill all the dreams you want fellows. You guys know the early signing period takes away the 11th hour safety nets of say, a four-star Cam Johnson, who signed yesterday with Vandy, when you miss or someone takes one of your commits on Jan. 31. Period.
It also allows players who want to wait the chance to see which coaches go where and which players go where to better inform them about decisions on staff and depth charts.
Yes, there certainly are some wrinkles to iron out, and the time frame of the first year will be the most cumbersome. But the early signing period also offers an added level of protection of the current four-team playoff set-up that you folks know we support.
In its current time frame - and with the knowledge that university presidents want zero to do with a college football season that stretches into the second semester - an extra round of playoffs overlapping the early signing period would be madness.
It's one thing to miss a meeting or three as you get ready for the Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl. It's another thing entirely to do it before the quarterfinal Peach Bowl against Oklahoma.
Anyhoo, here are some signing day takeaways:
Kirby Smart is killing it. Here's TFP all-around SEC David Paschall's recap on how the Bulldogs collected the top collection of players in the first early signing period. It's staggering, really, that UGA's class is this complete and star-studded. How about this: UGA got the No. 1-ranked player nationally at QB (dual-threat), RB, G and OLB, the No. 2-ranked player nationally at T, strongside DE and G and the No. 3-ranked running back. All eight of those dues are among the top 40 players nationally in the 247sports.com composite rankings.
We thought UT did pretty well, all things considered. Yes, UT should never be a program we grade on a curve, but the circumstances of the last five weeks must be weighed and measured. The late addition of the four-star junior college tight end is a nice piece, and news that the big-time linebacker fro South Georgia likes UT a lot is very encouraging. This UT class could easily move into the Top 20 before it's all over - UT is currently 26th on 247sports.com - and could be a big mover. That said, it's pretty clear that Jeremy Pruitt and his staff must embrace the absolute and clear fact that the 2019 class needs to be top-5 because the talent level must be addressed. UT's class is eighth in the SEC and maybe more importantly, fourth in the SEC East behind the top-ranked Dogs, Florida (14th) and South Carolina (16th). Here's more from TFP UT ace Dancin' David Cobb. Liked what UTC did, and here's TFP UTC ace Mean Gene Henley report on the Mocs offensive focus.
Elsewhere, well, we were a little surprised at how many folks poached players from Urban Meyer and THE Ohio State. We continue to be amazed at the talent level Dabo Swinney annually amasses at Clemson. (If Georgia has the most complete class after Wednesday, in terms of star power and balance, Clemson's right there at No. 1B. That's a hose haul.)
So it goes. Thoughts?
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Hall banter and ballots
OK, this is a crazy cool spread sheet we found this week. If you already knew about it and did not share, well, Merry Christmas to you too.
It is a collection of the baseball Hall of Fame ballots made public by the voters. (For example, AJC columnist Mark Bradley posted his on Twitter.) The percentages and numbers have held pretty true through previous election cycles as an indicator of who gets in.
If these also hold steady, obvious first-timers Chipper Jones and Jim Thome will get in. Vlad Guerrero, Edgar Martinez and Trevor Hoffman also are currently over the 75-percent mark of the 80 votes that are known.
Also of note, more than 70 percent of those 80 ballots included Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. Granted, the guys who refuse to disclose their ballots are way more likely to a) not vote for any first-timers because they are foolish and b) not vote for any alleged PED users either. Still, thought you may want to explore.
That said, we're not sure how anyone can explain this but Roger Clemens was on 74.1 percent and Barry Bonds was on 72.8 percent. Through further examination, there were three of the 80 ballots that included either Bonds or Clemens but not both. How is that possible, unless you think one of those two didn't do steroids right?
Hey, we're more open to folks from the PED era being in the Hall than some. We think the Hall should represent the best of ever era, be it the racist era, the amphetamines era, the dead ball era, the live ball era, you name it. We also have a hard time with the limited few carrying the scarlet letters of PED when we believe at least 80 percent - including some others on this ballot who look to be locks - certainly could have used PEDs.
But we can also understand those that have drawn a hard line that anyone connected is not going to be on their ballot. This rant is not about that discussion.
It's about how can there be any discrepancy between Clemens (74.1 percent) and Bonds (72.8) on any ballot considering their numbers make them two of the all-time greats.
And to be fair, if Bonds and Clemens, who are clearly not in already because of the PED allegations, get more than 70 percent of the vote, how are other names like Manny Ramirez (29.6 percent), Gary Sheffield (8.6 percent) and Sammy Sosa (9.9 percent) not getting way more support. Those last three cats have staggering numbers: Ramierz was the best right-handed hitter - .312, 555 HRs, 1,831 RBIs, a staggering .996 OPS; he's top 10 all-time in slugging and OPS and top 20 all-time in homers and RBIs - we ever saw. Sheffield - .292, 509 HR, 1,676 RBIs, .907 OPS - had the quickest bat of my lifetime. Yes quicker that Gwynn. Sosa may be a little different but he's still one of only nine dudes to hit more than 600 homers in the big leagues.
OK, rant ended.
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This and that
- The Lakers landed a nice win over the Rockets last night. Side note: The Rockets are super-fun to watch offensively. Now they'd finish next-to-last in most defensive categories in your Tuesday rec league, but man, they push the tempo.
- Nice win for Wofford, which went to UNC and toppled the Heels.
- Here's the story making the rounds about a reporter on press row (actual row of press members, not that glorious afternoon radio treat known as Press Row around these parts) at Cameron Indoor Stadium who had his credentials pulled for tweeting about a minority student behind him during a game. Jason Stansberry's tweets, which, along with his Twitter account at Lonely Tailgater, were deleted soon after he was contacted by one of the female Cameron Crazies behind him, were as follows: "I have not been this scrunched up with Asian chicks since I came out of my Korean mother's womb: (Photo)" and "The Asian chick Cameron Crazies behind me are openly swooning over Grayson Allen the way their moms swooned over Cheap Trick." So there's that.
- MLB commissioner Rob Manfred got testy with Dan LeBatard, who also got testy and then then everything became tense. And awesome. Here's the story with audio.
- Speaking of ESPN radio, man, the news Ryen Russillo is leaving is another hit to their lineup. Wow, if you went back like three years - or whenever Colin Cowherd left - that's completely overhauled roster, right?
- OK for those interested - and thanks for all the feedback last week on our Team Greeson run to the fantasy football title game in the league run by Weston Wamp - we made the title game. We have assembled a pretty good bunch through a) some crafty drafting high (great receivers in picks 2, 3 and 4) and low (Philip Rivers has been aces from about round 10); b) stayed healthy for the most part, other than expecting Andrew Luck back and that never happening; and c) adding a couple of nice pieces on the waiver, including Giants tight end Evan Engram, who has been a dude. That said, we are playing easily the best team in the league and are a double-digit underdog going into the title game. If you are out of your league, feel free to help pull our team through. Here's the matchups: Team Greeson is Rivers, Melvin Gordon and Samaje Perine at RB, Michael Thomas and Jarvis Landry at WR, Engram at TE and Keenan Allen at Flex with the Bears defense. We face Team Danger Kitty, who in addition to having a much better name, also has a much better team: Russell Wilson at QB, RBs LeVeon Bell and Mark Ingram (yes, that one worries us, and here's betting a majority of the teams in their fantasy football title games have either Ingram or Alvin Kamara, whether they wisely drafted one of them like Danger Kitty did or hit waiver wire gold), WRs Marvin Jones and DeAndre Hopkins, Gronk at TE, Jay Ajayi at Flex and the Chiefs D. So there's that. (And yes, we're going to need Danger Kitty to have an off-day.)
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Today's question
OK, mailbag. You in?
As for today, on this day in 1891, Dr. James Naismith invented basketball.
Hey, Samuel L. Jackson is 69 today. You go with your bad self, Sammy.
Keifer Sutherland is 51 today.
Ray Romano is 60. The above mentioned Mark Ingram is 28. So there's that.
To stay with our Christmas run, Rushmore of worst Christmas presents.
Go. And remember the mailbag.