From Brit
Thanks for the gift card. I was so caught up in the Tiger mania like everyone else that I had no idea how good my picks were doing.
Is that the last contest or are there more?
Brit
Glad you got the prize. You earned it – 1, 2, 5, 5 – is right there with the best entries ever.
What a great tournament and a finish that will be right there om the list of sporting events you remember where you were when it happened.
Funny you ask, because we have our next contest is next week.
Of course we are going to have an NFL draft contest. It’s the draft. We love the draft. You know this.
More details to come next week but until then, here’s another draft item and Congrats again Brit.
From Trey P.
I heard you on ESPN radio talking about the draft. I have heard you are fond of the draft.
Who is the best player on your board and what would your top 10 look like and which QB would you take first?
Thanks and keep up the great work.
Trey –
Thanks for listening and for playing along with the silliness.
Quinnen Williams is far and away the No. 1 player in this class in my opinion.
In the day and age of teams looking for the next Aaron Donald, Williams is that type of combination of size and quickness that can play DE on first and second down and rush through the middle on passing situations when you bring in more edge specialists.
My top 10 in terms of draft value would look like this:
Williams, Josh Allen, Whosehispants Bosa, Devin White (that kind of side-to-side speed is amazing), Ed Oliver (also in that Donald-like mold), and from there it would be as much about need as anything so let’s review them by positions not represented above, which is DE (Allen and Bosa), DT (Williams and Oliver) and LB (White).
S – Jonathan Abram, Mississippi State
CB – Greedy Williams, LSU (narrowly over DeAndre Baker, but I like both of those dudes)
OL – Jonah Williams, Alabama
TE – T.J. Hockenson, Iowa
WR – Marquise Brown, Oklahoma.
RB – Josh Jacobs, Alabama.
And finally, this leads to QB. Atop my board is Drew Lock. Dude’s experience is something I believe people are underselling.
I understand if the Cardinals push chips with Kyler Murray. Heck, what does Kliff Kingsbury have to lose. If this works, then he will be the coach of the Cards for a decade. If it doesn’t, he will be an OC for the rest of his career, so go down swinging.
But I like Lock better than Murray, and I am not a fan of Dwayne Haskins.
From Jake
Where do you put that 1991/92 Duke team vs other ’90’s/2000s college teams?
Jake –
Background: Jake asked this in terms of the social media exchange last Sunday during the Tiger/Game of Thrones discussion. His best TV day – look away Chas – was the Laettner Shot game. (Somewhere Chas is screaming, “Guard the in-dounds PASS!”)
Which leads us here and I thought it was an interesting question.
In short, I think that Duke back-to-back title team would have been excellent against all comers because it had a combination of the two paths of the modern game.
Either you develop experience and win with juniors and seniors or you assemble a slew of first-round picks and win with an overflow of talent.
Duke had both with three first-rounders – Laettner, Hurley and Grant Hill. (And while we are here, Grant Hill is on the short list of players who were very good pros, but fell way short of what they could have been because of serious injury at the time. Dude was AWE-some.)
In fact, if we go back to that 1992 team, and even the 1990 UNLV team before it – which also was experienced and talented-laden – each of those clubs would be Final Four-caliber in any year.
Heck, that five-year run of 1990-1994 of UNLV, Duke, Duke, UNC and Arkansas, all would excel in today’s game. (Man all those Arkansas shooters would be very Auburn-esque with much better defense and Corliss Williamson in the paint. Big Nasty.)
From Todd
Are we back to that place in golf where Tiger vs the field is a valid question at all majors? At all events he tees it up? I do believe now that is a matter of when, not if, he passes Jack for most major wins. I wasn’t so sure a week ago.
Todd
We are not there, and with the depth of the field of the current PGA, I don’t know if we will ever return to the day.
Tiger vs. the field was a very real conversation for much of the 2000s at every major. (And to borrow the Mr. T go-to line, “I pity the fool that took the field.”)
That said, expect Tiger to be the betting favorite in every major for the foreseeable future.
And that’s a BID-ness decision for Vegas, which took a bath last weekend when Tiger prevailed.
I understand the thinking of not if but when in terms of tracking Jack, and I agree that winning any major after the last decade-plus of injuries, mistakes, arrests, and all of it was going to be the biggest question mark.
But that chase – Tiger is at 15 majors and Jack is at 18 – still would require Woods to win four more majors.
Think about that for a second. Winning four majors is a Hall of Fame career for anyone, and Woods is starting at the age of 43.
Time is certainly not on his side.
From Chas
Has Woods locked up “Sportsman of the Year?”
Chas
Yep. I can’t see a storyline in a non-Olympic year that will challenge this.
Perfect game in Game 7 of the World Series?
Steph Curry scoring 100 points in Game 7 of the NBA Finals?
I’m seriously trying to imagine a wild scenario that would unseat Tiger as the SI Sportsman of the Year and his win at Augusta as the sports story of the year.
Suggestions?
From Spy
Is JaMarcus Russell the leader in the clubhouse (for worst No. 1 NFL pick of the last 25 years)?
Spy –
Absolutely, Spy. No doubt.
In fact, I will go a step further.
JaMarcus Russell is the worst pick in every draft ever.
Ever. Seriously.
Russell’s numbers are bad enough to be in the running for such an awful career tag.
He was 7-18 as a starter, and in 31 NFL games he finished 354-for-680 (52.1 percent) for 4,083 yards with 18 TDs and 23 interceptions. He also lost 15 career fumbles.
Awful right.
Now look at the names that followed off the board.
At 2, Calvin Johnson, who was picked first-team All Pro three times, is headed to the Hall.
At 3, Joe Thomas, who was picked first-team All Pro six times, is headed to the Hall.
At 7, Adrian Peterson, who was picked first-team All Pro four times, is headed to the Hall.
At 11, Patrick Willis, who was picked first-team All Pro five times, is headed to the Hall.
At 14, Darrelle Revis, who was picked first-team All Pro four times, is headed to the Hall.
And this leads us to our Rushmores this week.
Rushmore of movie high 5s: Top Gun, Borat, Big, and I’m going off the board with The Breakfast Club high five when Brian Johnson gets all kids of high, 5.
Rushmore of worst NFL overall 1s last 25 years: JaMarcus Russell (2007), Courtney Brown (2000), Tim Couch (1999), KiJana Carter (1995). (Yes, Carter blew out his knee in the preseason of his rookie year, but still.)
Rushmore of athletes appearing as themselves in a movie: Tyson in Hangover, Jabbar in Airplane, Brett Favre in Something About Mary and Lance Armstrong in Dodgeball.
Rushmore of best sports comebacks: Tiger, Ben Hogan, Ali, Greg LeMond.
Hate mail
(Editor’s note: Normally I just post these and let it roll. I wanted to answer this one.)
Prayer? If prayer worked everyone would go around casting spells like Harry Potter. In this age, what type of adult still believes in something as childish and foolish as prayer?
Stop with this childish fantasy about a man in the sky. Accept reality instead.
My reply –
OK, to be fair, this was not a direct email, it was a comment on my Thursday A2 column about the prayer breakfast.
I do not regularly swim in those waters and I never comment on them because it is a minefield of trolling and bitterness.
Not sure if that fellow/gal looks over here or not, but I will say this, especially on this weekend when God sent his son to redeem me:
This type of adult will always believe in the power of prayer and the Higher power.
Happy Easter friends.