Weekend winners
Red Sox. A four-game sweep of the Yankees was highlighted by a three-run rally in the ninth and a walk-off win in the 10th Sunday. Boston has a 9.5-game lead over New York.
Nike. The sports merchandise monolith pulled their deal with Jameis Winston. Good.
Carlos Santana. The Phillies slugger promised a 13-year-old Leukemia patient named Anthony Garcia he’d a hit home run for him on Saturday. And he drilled one into the upper deck and delivered. Cool.
Justin Thomas. That dude can golf his ball. With his win at Firestone, he now has eight PGA wins in the last two season, the most of any player in that stretch.
UTC. The exposure and spotlight was everything everyone in the UTC athletic department could have hoped for and more. It was a lead national story on almost every sports media outlet. More than 3,000 folks. Tons of exposure. No major sidetracks or hiccups. That’s winning a weekend. (As for T.O.’s speech, well, it was rather predictable right. The back-and-forth between controversial star ((or president)) and the media has become the chicken-or-the-egg back-and-forth of this generation. T.O. blames the writers for this decision, but in a lot of ways doesn’t T.O.’s decision seem to be in line with the “me-first, me-always” criticisms of T.O.? So it goes.)
Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer watches the Buckeyes’ spring game in April. Ohio State has placed Meyer on paid administrative leave while it investigates claims his wife knew about allegations of abuse against an assistant coach years before he was fired last week.Weekend losers
Urban Meyer. Man, how about that statement ol’ Urbie rolled out at 4:30 Friday afternoon. He admitted to lying to the media and claimed he followed protocol and reported the domestic issues with assistant Zach Smith to his superiors. No word from this superiors – in Columbus or Gainesville – as of yet, but were sure that Meyer will push someone else into traffic to keep his gig. THE Ohio State “independent” investigation – that includes three THE OSU trustees – reportedly will be done in two weeks. (Side note: Friday, I thought Meyer was done. Now, it surely looks like they are going to do whatever they can to try to keep Meyer, doesn’t it? How exactly can the committee announce when it will be done if it has not already got a very good idea which way it is going? And if the committee has made up its mind, and it was going to fire Meyer, then it would need roughly 14 hours, not 14 days.)
Donald Trump. Can someone please take away the Tweeter and Chief’s smart phone? Donald, you won. Why do you have to be so thinned-skinned? And to take a swing at LeBron James two days after he just unveiled the I Promise School was foolish.
Charles Oakley. Wowser. The Oak’s recent run of off-the-court controversy started with fighting with Knicks owner Bob Dolan. Now Oak has been arrested three times for cheating at cards in Vegas.
Cleveland’s draft board over the last few years. With the trade of 2016 first-rounder Corey Coleman, here’s how the Browns first-rounders from the last three 2012-2016 turned out: Trent Richardson (traded in one year); Brandon Weeden (cut in two years); Barkeviovs Mingo (traded in three years); Justin Gilbert (traded in two years); Johnny Manziel (cut in two years); Danny Shelton (traded in three years); Cam Erving (traded in two years); Corey Coleman (traded in two years).
Johnny Manziel. Ouch-standing. Johnny (Poorly Thrown) Football was dreadful in his CFL debut on Friday night. And dreadful may not be strong enough considering he had four picks and threw for 104 yards in the first half of a 50-11 whipping.
Alabama 6-foot-7 junior defensive lineman Raekwon Davis is ready to build off a 2017 season in which he led the Crimson Tide with 8.5 sacks.Bounces at Bama
It was a surreal weekend in terms of what we have come to expect from Alabama football under Nick Saban.
As for the coach, well, there was warm-and-fuzzy stories, ranging from a Tom Rinaldi SportsCenter hit on Saban at the lake with his players to an ESPN the magazine cover story.
It was the snuggly side of the best ever college football coach, a job and position that we rarely associate with words like warm and snuggly. (That said, it’s not exactly a secret that Saban has a very charismatic side – you can not recruit at that level consistently and not have some charm. He just normally does not show it to reporters.)
And the softer side of Saban was just the softer part of the weekend of Tuscaloosa surprises.
Saturday, Jalen Hurts was asked a question about the quarterback battle between he and Tua Tagovailoa. Hurts was clearly hurt and he answered the question with some phrases not normally heard from college players, especially college players at Alabama.
Here are a few of the things Hurts, a two-year starter with the Tide who is 26-2 but of course was removed in the second half of the title game, which Tagovailoa showed out in, earlier this year:
“No one came up to me the whole spring, coaches included.”
“No asked my about my future.”
“It’s too late. The narrative has already been created.”
Paul Finebaum said it was extraordinary.
But is it?
Hurts was honest. He was not insulting. He was clear and it’s easy to understand his frustration.
And if the fans are upset, do all they want is canned cliches and coach-speak and “Block and tackle” and “Play like you practice” quotes?
Hurts’ answer makes it very clear that what everyone expected – Tua as QB1 – is what is expected inside the ranks in Tuscaloosa too.
It’s part of the process at Alabama, and everyone knows that the next starter – and your replacement – could be one recruiting class away. Hurts knows that as well as anyone
But that does not come without the expectation that those kids are going to want to play somewhere else. (Hurts will almost assuredly be, as his father promised, the most coveted free agent in college football come December as a grad-transfer with two years left. Man, we’re not betting against Lane Kiffin being a front-runner for Hurts’ services, and one more good year at FAU and with a hot-shot, ready-to-play quarterback watching closely, here’s betting Kiffin is the hottest name on the coaching carousel later this year. We’re looking at you LSU.)
Here’s betting that come Wednesday, when all warm-and-cuddly Coach Saban meets with the media, there could be a real chance at one of his trademark tirades. Thoughts?
This and that
– Here’s betting Kelvin Benjamin and Cam Newton will not be swapping Christmas cards come December.
– Speaking of LeBron, the Las Vegas super book at Westgate dropped the NBA over/under win totals. Of note, the Lakers and LeBron are at 48.5, which is tied for fourth-highest among Western Conference teams. LeBron’s former team in Cleveland has an over/under of 30.5 wins after winning 50 last year.
– Wow, this caught my attention. This is for opposite views. Dallas TV sports reporter Joe Trahan Tweeted these quotes from Cowboys WR Terrance Williams. On missing Dez: “I mean Dez is my dawg. I mean it’s different because you just miss the different things he brings to the table. But that’s just something that he, he got us right whenever stuff didn’t go well. So, it’s kind of a big difference, but he’s doing his thing and I wish nothing but the best for him.” On Witten not being here: “I don’t want to talk about that.”
– How about this stat: Kansas football has not won a road game since 2009. The Jayhawks are 0-42 in that span.
– The Braves took three of four from the Mets. Kudos.
– Luke List finished tied for 24th at the Bridgestone at 3 under. He collected $87,250 for the effort. (Side note: List averaged 339.9 yards on measured drives this week. Wow.) On the 2017-18 season, he’s made $2,662,834. In his career, he’s made $5,491,455.
Today’s question
Weekend winners and losers, please share.
William Kemmler becomes the first person executed by the electric chair on this day in 1890.
On this day in 1964, Prometheus, what is believed to be the world’s oldest tree, was accidentally cut down in Nevada. Harvey Updike may or may not have been involved.
Today is national fresh breath day. Shouldn’t we all try to do everything possible to make every day national fresh breath day.
On this day in 1945, the U.S. dropped the big one on Hiroshima.
Mike Greenberg is 51 today.
Rushmore of sports radio, all-time. Go.