Weekend winners
Tony Romo. If reports are accurate, Romo is set to get a $17 million a year contract from CBS to call football games. If he made that last year, he would have been the 20th-best paid QB in the league, right behind Rivers and Cam and right ahead of Andy Dalton. Hey, Romo had a much better year than all three of those dudes. Seriously, if Romo is the only audience bender among NFL announcers, it’s a sound investment, and one that I am surprised that ESPN did not surpass, considering that Sunday national platform games like the ones Romo-Nantz and Aikman-Buck call are traditionally and consistently strong. ESPN’s Monday night games have dipped harshly the last couple of years and Romo’s presence could reverse that and considering the year-round coverage the World-Wide Leader gives the NFL, they’d get more back for their $18 million than CBS will. (Although CBS does have extra coin moving forward since ESPN is about to break the bank for the entire SEC football package.)
UTC basketball in general and Katie Burrows in particular. UTC swept two games over the weekend as the men and women prepare for the SoCon tournament. Lamont Paris was pleased with his bunch. Burrows has to be tickled 12 shades of Blue and Gold with the turnaround of her bunch. After a 1-13 start, Burrows and the women Mocs punched a postseason ticket with a win Saturday that secured a share of the SoCon regular-season title. Yes, from 1-13 to 11-17 and the 2 seed in Asheville this week. Wow.
Kentucky basketball. Anytime you can win your 49th title in anything, well, that’s an accomplishment. Kentucky topped Auburn on Saturday. UK shot a billion free throws – not unlike how Auburn did when the Tigers beat UK in Auburn, which screams about the issues about officials wanting to make big home crowds happy rather than doing their jobs. UK is easily the best team in the SEC, made even more pronounced with Florida’s inexplicable loss at UT on Saturday. Side note: Immanuel Quickly has an old-man-at-the-Y game and he is the biggest non-Duke flopper in the last two decades. I get it because he shoots 90-plus percent from the foul line, but I’m pretty sure Isaac Okoro sneezed in Quickley’s direction Saturday and he ended up in the third row at Rupp.
Isaiah Simmons. Holy Bleep. Seriously. Simmons, who played in coverage at safety on passing downs and at 6-4, 238 played linebacker in early run downs for Clemson last year, clocked a 4.39 40 and turned every head at Indy. Every single one. And since Chase Young, THE OSU pass rusher did not work out, Simmons made a push to be the first non-QB picked.
Gonzaga senior manager Mac Graff. Yes, the Bulldogs are speeding toward a 1 seed. Yes, senior Rui Hachimura will be a Wooden Finalist and almost certainly an All-American. But the story from the Zags’ senior night was Mac Graff, a team manger who walked to center court during the ceremony. Seriously. Graff was paralyzed in a hunting accident six years ago and has spent almost all of his time in a wheel chair since 2014. With a walker he made his way to center court Saturday night to a standing O. I’m not crying you’re crying.
Bonus pick: Tampa Bay running back Jacquez Patrick, who scored his first pro TD Sunday in the Vipers’ first XFL win. In his sideline interview moments after, Patrick told the camera that he buried his father on Friday, it was his first pro TD in the first game his father has missed in so long he could not remember, but that his dad was watching down from Heaven. Shut up. I’m not crying you’re crying.
Bonus pick, part II: Dane Acker. The University of Oklahoma pitcher threw the school’s no-hitter over the weekend. Not only was it a no-no, it was a no-no against LSU. Yeah, that’s winning the weekend.
Weekend loser
The entire hubbub over Nick Wallenda and the VolcanoLive song and dance that happens this week on ABC. You could not turn on an ESPN or ABC program this weekend and not see a promo for it. Did you know that thing is two hours? Yes, two hours? Unless Jack McCoy is going to convict a room full of folks, Auburn is involved, Tiger is in contention or LeBron is chasing a triple double, good luck getting me to give two hours to about any TV program these days. (Side note: You have to be real careful with your fingers typing song-and-dance not to get dong-and-dance, which is something else entirely.)
Our XFL picks went 1-3, so technically we lost the weekend too. (That said, the lil’ 5-at-10 qualified for the national academic competition and the national history bee among sixth-graders with top-five finishes in the state competitions over the weekend in Nashville. While he and the Mrs. 5-at-10 were there doing that, his little sister had eight points in a loss in the 4/5 title game and all 12 of our points in a 2/3 title game win. So yeah, the 1-3 mark in the XFL was not exactly high on the interest level this weekend. Yeah, I’m pretty proud of them.) We’re now 16-10 against the number on XFL picks, and officially off the Cardale Jones bandwagon.
Jared Pinkney. The Vandy tight end likely would have been picked in the first two days if he had left Nashville after his junior season in 2018. He returned for a senior season, which included a career low in catch and yards, and then was punctuated with a cash-draining effort over the weekend in Indy. His 4.96 40 time was worst among all tight ends who ran and three offensive lineman ran better times. Did we mention that Pinkney is only 260 pounds?
Tommy Fleetwood. Golfing Jesus – that’s a nickname we need to stick – put his second shot on 18 into the drink trailing by a shot after letting the 54-hole lead slip away. Fleetwood is a dude, and he’s one of the great young talents in golf – and the only one who looks like he should be roofing your house more than ripping 4-irons. But he’s that ‘best player without a PGA win’ tag is starting to be his narrative more than anything else. (Side note: The drunk dude who screamed “Get in the hole” when Fleetwood was making his swing on that soggy second shot on 18 is a jack wagon, and Golfing Jesus deserves a visor tip for saying he didn’t even hear it and not playing the blame game.
Anthony Ruiz. He’s there waiting for a chance to strike while the talk is hot in the heavyweight division, and he’ll have to wait for Fury-Wilder III. Alas. Here’s betting he will still cash a sizable check, huh?
NFL details
We mentioned a couple of NFL combine guys who turned heads, good or bad.
We have more, because, well, we love the draft – you know this – which means we welcome all of our beloved draft’s family, which is the combine, the leaked wonderlic scores, the on-campus pro days, and that crazy uncle who at Thanksgiving casually mentions that when his underwear gets dirty, he just turns them inside out and wears them until that side is dirty too.
(“They got TWO sides, right?,” he might ask. “Why would you only wear them once?” Touché.)
Some quick thoughts off the cuff from the combine:
> Jalen Hurts made himself some money this weekend. Truly. I have said for a while that if I am the Ravens, I overdraft Jalen Hurts as a read-made back-up to Lamar Jackson. Now, if you are going to ‘overdraft’ Hurts, you have to trade into the back-half of the second round, because with a 4.59 40 and strong measurables and great interviews – and the MVP status that Jackson notched in 2019 – Hurts went from potential to potential franchise guy.
> Albert Okwuegbunam. The only thing not great about the former Missouri TE was trying tp pronounce his last name. A sub-4.5 40 – and all the other tight ends struggling – make him a possible first-round option for teams starving for a tight end who can stretch the field.
> Every team looking at their roster knowing they need a wide receiver had to enjoy the weekend’s festivities in Indy, right? From Ruggs’ blazing 4.27 to the overall performance of Memphis slotback/slot receiver Antonio Gibson to intriguing physical prospect Chase Claypool (6-4, 238, 4.42 is a nice collection of numbers for an NFL wide out) to Baylor burner Denzel Mims, there are a slew of names beyond the top three or five at the position on Kiper’s big board like Juedy and Jefferson and Lamb.
> Welcome to the first-round fringe Jonathan Taylor. The Wisconsin running back, who had a ton of production in three stellar years in Madison, clocked a sub-4.4 and there you go. And he was not the only running back who made himself some coin this weekend, considering FSU’s Cam Akers was impressive and AJ Dillion, the former Boston College ball carrier, drew Derrick hen5ry comparisons.
> There were a ton of athletic offensive linemen too, and Iowa’s Tristan Wirfs made himself a load of money by grading off the charts this weekend. The 6-5, 320 pounder had 34-inch arms, a vertical of 36.5 inches, a 4.85 40 and a 10-1 broad jump. Again, he’s 320 pounds.
In truth, the combine details were a welcome reprieve from the two main NFL story arches circling from Indy to Syracuse to all point sin between.
First, we’re still months away from a final decision and I already want Tom Brady to pick his next locale. (Side note: If Romo is getting $17 – and granted, Romo was way, Way, WAY better at analyzing games than any of us expected, especially Phil Simms – then how much would Brady be worth as a booth addition?
Next was the next round of the NFL’s CBA discussions, which honestly, considering the calendar, feels like discussing our kids’ Christmas wish lists right now. (Side question: If you are the XFL, you have to figure out a way to stay afloat through year two in case there actually is a work stoppage in the NFL right? Think of the timing possibilities that could allow.)
And the guys talking about pooling $250,000 from the veterans for the young guys in case there is a work stoppage, well, we will offer the forever reminder that when 2,000 millionaires battle 32 billionaires, Buster Douglas had better odds to topple Tyson.
This and that
– Want to know the basketball version of old-man strength? LeBron James is averaging more than 30 points per game and a triple double when facing young future stars Luca Doncic, Ja Morant and Zion Williamson. How ’bout that? One more point, did you know that the Lakers are 19-0 when LeBron scores 30 or more? Are we actually taking LeBron for granted in MVP discussions, not unlike how MJ’s greatness was just assumed and we found reasons to give someone else the MVP when Barkley and Malone combined for three in the 1990s?
– KFC is taking the perpetually underrated chicken and waffles to the next level with chicken and doughnuts. So there you go. And to quote Richard to Tommy Boy, “I can actually hear you getting fatter.”
– Speaking of UK earlier, and if the ‘Cats are anything under a 2 seed, well, that would be harsh. It also would be because of the loss to Evansville, which gets worse with the passing day. Evansville finished the season 0-18 in the Missouri Valley Conference, and according to Stats by Stats, the Purple Aces (excellent nickname by the way) are the first team in NCAA history to finish the season winless in conference play and beat the AP No. 1 team in the same season.
– Holy bleepin’ rocket launcher Batman. We know the pro golfers are amazing and crush it way beyond levels that most of us casual players could ever imagine. And then there is this, which is jaw dropping. Mike Trout at a Top Golf with his bros and dude launches a driver over the net at the back of the range. Ballpark guess is that ball would have gone 400 yards. Easily.
– The Chattanooga FC did not win or lose this weekend. They drew. (No the other kind.) Here’s more on the 1-1 final in the CFC’s first pro match.
– It’s not college football, but this update for the status of all the SEC hoops teams heading into the final week from TFP all-around ace David Paschall is worth your time.
– You know the drill, part II. When TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer writes college hoops, we read and link Weeds on college hoops. Here he is one whether Kansas is for real, which is a question we have pondered as frequently as the weather come March each year, right?
– Here’s a bonus Weeds with his final SA-loot to former McCallie AD Bill Cherry.
– Mayor Pete is stepping away from his run for the Democratic nomination. I feel like the race is less interesting without Mayor Pete, but maybe that’s just me.
Today’s question
Weekend winners and losers.
Go.
As for today, March 2, well, let’s review.
Happy birthday Dr. Seuss.
Couple of all-time movies were released on this day: In 1965, The Sound of Music was released; in 1933 the original King Kong was released.
On this day Wilt scored 100 points in Hershey, Pa.
Let’s go there. Rushmore of most unbreakable in-game individual professional sports records. (Yes we said professional, because almost everything that happened in Ga. Tech 222, Cumberland 0 is unbreakable.)