So long, Eli
I can say this with the utmost confidence: Eli Manning is a great guy.
Sure, my interactions with him were contained to one Best of Preps banquet for the most part.
But for a guy to live under the microscope of the most famous last name in the history of quarterbacks, the legacy of replacing your father as the best football player ever at an SEC school, and to play your entire career in the biggest and most intense media market in the country, and no one has a bad thing to say about you, well, that's enough for me.
And if that's not enough, well, here's one more.
Whenever I get a chance to play really nice golf courses, I make it a point to ask the caddies who are some of the biggest names they have worked with on the course.
The guy at Augusta National told a great story about Dale Jarrett, and another told a great tale about working in a group that included Gary Player many moons before.
The guy at East Lake shared a great story about Michael Jordan coming to Atlanta without his clubs and wanting to play. So Nike sent a full collection of clubs and gear and everything, and this guy carried MJ's bag for 18. Said MJ was not as good as he had expected but he won several thousands on the course and he was expecting a pretty sizable tip, you know, for the effort.
MJ was gone before this guy realized it, and he thought he had been stiffed. Turns out MJ left him the entire bag of clubs and his gear - a collection of memorabilia worth thousands, even back then. How cool is that?
Well, the last time I was at The Honors, the conversation came up and one of the caddies said he had carried Eli's bag one time. You know, Peyton's a member at the Lupton Dream Land in Ooltewah, and Eli came and played.
He could not stop talking about good a dude Eli was. That's more than enough for me.
Manning is expected to announce his retirement Friday. He spent 16 years with the New York Giants, won two Super Bowls and ranks seventh all-time in passing yards and passing TDs.
Now feels like the time to have the "Is Eli a Hall of Famer?" conversation, and I'm torn, to be honest.
Thoughts?
FiniZhing in Ztyle
The first three quarters of Zion Williamson's debut felt more like Tom Hanks' debut in "He Knows You're Alone" in 1980.
The final quarter, though, felt like Hanks in just about everything else.
Zion - the Big Z for our purposes - had five points and four rebounds through three quarters. He looked slow and unsure. It felt like he was out of place a little bit.
Then Boom.
With 17 points in the final quarter, he completed a stat line that, while not quite LeBron's lofty mark for debut dazzling, was pretty dagnabbin' awesome.
Zion in Game 1: 18 minutes, 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting, including making all four of his 3s, seven rebounds and three assists.
Take that in, friends.
Certainly, he's not going to lead the NBA in 3-point percentage, but his athleticism and his skills were clear and his presence made a regular-season game feel special.
I'll say, and feel free to disagree: Zion Williamson is the second-biggest star in the NBA.
Not in a few years. Not next season.
Right now.
He may not be the top-five player in the NBA - although he shoots 100 percent from 3, good luck figuring out a way to stop that bread truck with a 44-inch vertical - and who knows if or when his game will mature to the point that he will be among the game's top three or five players.
But in terms of star power, Big Z trails only LeBron, and I think in the coming days, months and years, the divide between 1 and 2 is going to be a lot closer than the divide between 2 and everyone else.
Proper Super Bowl contest
OK, the feedback was strong and we're down.
Super Bowl contest is a go-go.
Rules are simple: email your answers/best guesses for the following 10 props. The entry with the most correct guesses wins.
> Coin toss, heads to tails?
> Length of the anthem, over or under 1 minutes, 59 seconds?
> Chiefs minus-1.5, who you got?
> Over or under 54.5 total points?
> First player to score (and kickers count, and if it is a safety, then the tackler gets credit)?
> Which half will have the most points scored, first or second?
> First song during the halftime performance?
> MVP? (For those wondering the odds here, Mahomes is even money, Jimmy G is +240, which means bet $100 and win $240, Raheem Mostert is +750, and the odds increase mightily from there.)
> Longest TD play, over or under 44.5 yards?
> Donald Trump Tweets on Super Bowl Sunday, over/under 13.5?
Email entries to jgreeson@timesfreepress.com. Giddy-up. Don't cost nothing.
We tried to keep the props pretty simple because, well, we want everyone to play along.
That said, you can bet on almost anything.
Including will J-Lo show bottom cleavage during the halftime show? (Yes is +500) and Will MC Hammer say "Hammer Time" in his Cheetos commercial? (No is +150.)
This and that
- Excellent read this morning from TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer on a blind bowler at GPS.
- College picks went 2-1 Wednesday - hitting Vandy-Alabama under and UTC minus-10.5 over El Cid; missing Arkansas plus-3 at Miss. State - and both the Zion picks hit. College hoops, we're 18-15 now against the number. NBA picks, we're 12-4. That's north of 60 percent combined, which has forever proven to be entertaining. We'll have a pick or two this afternoon. Deal? Deal.
- Speaking of the Mocs, well, they rolled The Citadel 92-69, and again no technical foul for Lamont Paris. Man, I was hoping to bring Coach over to the dark side of protest and stickiness. Alas, he may have too much class. So it goes. On a serious side for the Mocs, though, and for basketball in general, getting five dudes in double figures - including two off the bench - and shooting better than 42 percent from 3 will win a lot of games. Technicals or no.
- Does anyone see any way possible that the Antonio Brown thing does not end badly at this point? Here's the latest with an arrest warrant being issued for the former All-Pro wideout. For real, it seems like about 18 months ago dude was relatively quiet and one of the five best players in the NFL. Today, he's on a B-line to prison, death or being broke, and here's saying those options are not mutually exclusive.
- Well, apparently Miss Utah will be the first openly bisexual contestant in the Miss USA pageant. "As an openly bisexual woman, Rachel Slawson being crowned Miss Utah is a huge win for LGBTQ visibility," Anthony Ramos, GLAAD's head of talent, told Yahoo Lifestyle. "Rachel's presence on the Miss USA stage later this year will most definitely send a powerful message to LGBTQ Americans and Utahns, especially those in the bisexual+ community, who feel like they have not seen themselves represented in that space before." Well, there you go, and who could have ever guessed, huh? I mean, I thought for sure it was Utahians, but it actually is Utahns. Learn something new every day, huh?
Today's question
Simply put, is Eli a Hall of Famer? (Not will he get in, because I think he will because of a lot of factors, including how classy of a dude he is. But is he a Hall of Famer in your opinion?)
Will Antonio Brown's 30-for-30 be sad or feature a comeback story?
As for today, Jan. 23, well, let's take a look.
Happy birthday to Tiffani Amber Thiessen (aka Kelly Kapowski). She's 46 today.
It is National Pie Day, so there's that.
On this day in 1975, "Barney Miller" debuted on ABC. Two years later the first installment of the mini-series "Roots" aired.
On this day in 1985, OJ Simpson became the first former Heisman Trophy winner to be elected into the NFL Hall of Fame. Amazingly, there are way fewer former Heisman winners in Canton than you may guess. There's like 11 total.
Rushmore of best NFL careers for former Heisman winners. Go, and remember the mailbag.