Weekend winners
The NBA All-Star Game. Seriously. The new format energized the players and the last quarter was pretty legit. Plays. Back screens. Switching on defense. Fouls and even the refs making calls. It was like watching the best, most competitive playground game ever and the players were into it. If they would just televise the team selection process next year, everything would be aces.
NASCAR and Austin Dillion. Please, Johnny NASCAR Fans, do not take this as bagging on NASCAR, but the symmetry and need are just too symmetrical and needy for a sport that has forever been a touch scripted when needed in our view. Twenty years after Dale Sr. won the Great American Race – and 17 years to the day of his death – the 3 returned to Victory Lane. And it happened in the first Daytona 500 without a Dale Earnhardt in the field in 40 years, although Dale Jr. did send the cars out as the starter. Yes, the field was parsed by crashes so this one was more good fortune than anything.
Darrell Wallace Jr. Yes, Wallace took second, marking the best finish by a black driver ever at Daytona. Wallace did it in the famed No. 43 – yes, the 3 and 43, the two giant numbers in the history of the sport crossed 1 and 2 – come in after Dillon, so NASCAR best come up with a way to build on this lightning bolt of blessings.
Bubba Watson. We not traditionally a big fan of the elementary, my dear Watson. He’s kind of a jackwagon by almost all accounts. That said, dude had a pretty stout weekend. He played in the NBA celebrity All-Star Game on Friday and told a couple of funny stories about the experience. (Side note: Bubba is like 6-3 and he looked like a Tyrion Lanister next to some of the former NBA players, especially Tracy McGrady.) He finished with a couple of free throws and had three boards and an assist. Back at his day job, Watson won the Genesis Open on Sunday, his third victory in the last five years at Riviera Country Country. His last PGA Tour win was in this even two years ago, and Sunday’s W stopped a free fall that saw Bubba fall out of the top 100 in the World Golf Rankings. Oh yeah, the $1.296 million was pretty sweet too.
Weekend losers
Auburn. Ouch. If Auburn, which entered the weekend on the No. 1-seed line according to Lunardi and Palm before trailing by 21at halftime before falling at South Carolina, only had to worry about the loss, then no big deal. Rather, the undersized Tigers lost Anfernee McLemore to a gruesome left leg injury that will cost him the rest of the season and potentially more. It was sickening – think Tim Krumrie-level nasty – in the moment and for the future. McLemore was leading the SEC in blocks and at 6-foot-7 was among the tallest Tigers in the rotation. Auburn now has eight scholarship players.
Refs at Kansas-West Virginia. It’s unfathomable to me that two college basketball teams can play and one of them shoots 35 free throws and the other one shoots 2. That was the stat line as the Mountaineers blew a double-digit lead for the third consecutive time at Phog Allen Fieldhouse. To no one’s surprise, WVU coach Bob Huggins was ejected before the end of that one.
Holly Warlick. Tennessee women’s basketball coach is 6-6 in her last 12 games after Sunday’s loss to Missouri. This is a huge season for Warlick, and yes UT was ranked No. 11 last week. But that number will drop after back-to-back losses to Alabama and Mizzou.
Fergie. What was that? Seriously. Unless you are Marvin Gaye – and trust us, Fergie Ferg, you assuredly are not – there seems to be little need or reward to trying to spin the National Anthem. Fergie went sultry and bluesy – at halftime, Chuck Barkley wondered if she needed a cigarette after the performance – and it was less than good.
Tiger Woods. This is an interesting theory from Rory McIlroy, who claims that all the craziness in the galleries cost Woods two shots a tournament. Please note, Tiger-bashers, this was Rory’s theory, not Tiger’s, but it makes sense in some degrees.
Olympics
OK, we admit. We wanted to be part of the Olympics hubbub.
It’s Patriotic, and on this President’s Day, 2018, should we all be looking for more reasons to feel good about being Americans?
Well, we’re out. The weekend pushed us to the curb. The reasons are varied and range from preference to accidental, but all the details and swirling story lines have simply become too much.
There was the wardrobe malfunction in the figure skating, which certainly was not planned.
There was the American skier who gamed the system – not unlike the Tongan and the Mexican cross country skiers – and exploited technicalities to get into the Olympics. Sorry, but qualifying and competing in the Olympics should not be about loopholes and legalese.
In that regard, that brings us to the O.A.R, also known as the Olympics Athletes of Russia.
Yes, a lot of the news from Russia is about leaks and cyber-terrorism on U.S. politics. But amid that has been the wink-wink, shot-shot ignoring of the Russian doping issues. Yes, the Russia Olympic committee has been formally banned from these Games, but the athletes have been allowed to compete. Now comes another round of allegations – this time against a curler for Pete’s Sake – that the O.A.R.s are just as dirty as the Russian Federation.
Let’s be really clear, if you are willing to use PEDs in curling aren’t you really ready to cheat at every sport out there?
Now add in the fact that the U.S. is getting hammered in the medal count – we’re 6th, and that’s only because we have five medals in those Winter X Games sports that really the high-financed kids from Vail and Telluride have a huge edge over the rest of the world.
So thanks for the effort Lindsey Vonn and Red Gerard and all the rest. Thanks for the sacrifice. And best of luck the rest of the way. We’ll be pulling for you.
We just won’t be watching.
This and that
-This was simply too intriguing not to share. Meet Ryan, a 6-year-old, who has his own YouTube TV channel reviewing toys. And before you think “Ah, that’s cute but so” know that ryan has more than 12 million subscribers and made $11 million last year. He introduced his own toy line this weekend. Now back to my regular, hum-drum, non-$11-million day jobs.
– Speaking of LeBron, here’s an interesting guide to the potential landing spots for King James when this season is over.
– Speaking of golf, Luke List made some money this weekend, going 69-70 for a couple of under-par rounds on Saturday and Sunday respectively at Riviera to move into a tie for 26th. He made four birdies on the back nine Sunday and collected just a smidge less than $47,000 this weekend. He has made $744,345 in 10 events (seven made cuts) in the 2018 season.
– Not sure if you saw this story or not, but here’s a pretty strong case that Wendy’s flexed its single, double and triple ad dollars muscle on ESPN to have a headline changed on a story. So there’s that.
– Andy Kennedy has gone from soon-to-be-former Ole Miss basketball coach to just former Ole Miss basketball coach. Kennedy made his resignation effective immediately after the Rebels were drubbed by Mississippi State on Saturday night.
– It’s not like Nick Saban needs any help on the recruiting trail, but after not landing a high school QB in this recruiting cycle, here’s betting this one is a sealed deal for the 2019 early signing period. Meet Paul Tyson, the No. 8-ranked pro-style QB in the 2019 class. He’s from Trussville, Ala., and completed 70 percent of his throws for almost 3,400 yards, 36 TDs and four interceptions for his 11-1 high school team. He has 18 offers, including scholarships from Notre Dame and Michigan as well as Alabama. Did we mention that he’s Bear Bryant’s great-grandson?
Today’s question
Weekend winners and losers. Go.
Happy President’s Day everyone.
Around these parts, we should pay a special tribute to President’s Day. After all, the original Rushmore – a staple around these parts – is comprised of presidents.
Cherry Coke was introduced on this day in 1985. Cherry Coke, friend or foe?
Kellogg’s was founded on this day in 1906.
Rushmore of cereal? Go.