Let’s move quickly, we’re running out of beach time.
First, our BID-ness.
Rushmore of Ricky Bobby quotes: “If you ain’t first, you’re last” is there just because of use and recognition. The entire prayer, which is too long to list, that starts with the Baby Jesus and goes from there makes it. There is the scene in which Ricky’s on fire and says, “Help me Jesus! Help me Jewish God! Help me Allah! Help me Tom Cruise! Tom Cruise use your witchcraft on me to get the fire off me! Help me Oprah Winfrey!” And of course Cal sayin, “I like to picture my Jesus in a tuxedo T-shirt. ‘Cause it says like, I wanna be formal but I’m here to party too. I like to party, so I like my Jesus to party.” Is “Talladega Nights” a religious movie?
Rushmore of songs/movies with “Dog” in the title: Reservoir Dogs, Dog Day Afternoon, Hound Dog, How much is that doggie in the window.
Rushmore of biggest draft steals: Should we go by sport? I love the draft. You know this. MLB – Mike Piazza (Round 62), Don Mattingly (19th), Albert Pujols (13th) and John Smoltz (22nd); NBA (modern draft era) – Jordan (yes, still a steal at 3 overall; sorry, not sorry), Kobe Bryant (which counts twice since a) he fell to 13th overall and b) the Lakers stole him for Vlade Divac in a trade), Nikola Jokic (an MVP midway through round 2 at 41 overall, yes please) Manu Ginobli (57 overall); NFL, and this one is easily the hardest, especially since there are all-time greats like James Harrison, Antonio Gates, Kurt Warner and Tony Romo who never got drafted – Tom Brady (6th), Johnny Unitas (9th), Roger Staubach (10th), Deacon Jones (14th),
Rushmore of movies with shocking endings that would not have fared well in today’s social media world. “Sixth Sense,” “Pyscho,” “The Usual Suspects,” “Se7en.” (Yes, the “The Crying Game” could have been included too, but I never saw it. Thankfully.)
Here’s Paschall getting busy because August will be one of those months he churns out 70-plus bylines. Here’s a look at a UT defensive lineman, the reflection of the SEC almost canceling the 2020 season on this day a year ago and a preview of Texas A&M.
Also, passing along some details that make a difference. Wednesday night’s Olympic coverage averaged 14.6 million viewers. It was the worst night on record in the history of the Summer Games. The previous record low was last Saturday at 14.9 million. These Tokyo Olympics, according to SportsMediaWatch.com, has offered nine of the 10 least-watched nights of Summer Olympics coverage in the 2000s. And this is combined across all NBC networks and platforms. If 2000 and 2004 are kicking these Olympics’ tails, then WOW, because NBC had what, one maybe two channels to offer coverage back then. Now there’s close to a half dozen, including the exclusivity of the Golf Channel.
Check out this morning’s TFP 7 at 7 morning newsletter. It’s a daily way to get your morning news feed, but this morning our Web friend and ally – she saves my bacon more than I like to admit since I sometimes write long (shocker, right?) which means I sometimes submit my morning column late – Tierra is at the controls. She’s aces.
From Chas
Jay, do you spell delusional O-P-T-I-M-I-S-T-I-C? For Friday’s bag, what over-under number for Vol wins would you set if you were offering actual bets on it? Hint: DraftKings and Vegas Insider say the number is 6. And Vegas Insider says take the under.
Chas –
Fair question. But if you can’t be optimistic (or delusional) before the games start, are you really having as much fun as you can as a sports fan?
I say no.
I know what the experts set the numbers at, and I think 6 is the basement considering the schedule.
Granted all of this is barring injuries and the intersection of real-life and projection, but the schedule is the starting point here. Let’s break it down, and let me hear you in the back of the congregation, Johnny Vols Fans.
UT should be heavily favored in three of its non-conference games – visits to Knoxville from Bowling Green (Sept. 2), Tennessee Tech (Sept. 18) and South Alabama (Nov. 20).
Vandy has the worst roster in the SEC, and the ‘Dores come to Knoxville for Senior Day on Nov. 27. South Carolina is also in rebuilding mode and with a hole-filled roster, and the Gamecocks come to Neyland, too.
That’s five home games in which the Vols almost assuredly will be favored.
Which brings me to the biggest swing game on the schedule. The line against Pitt figures to be relatively close and I could see either team being favored. And in a lot of ways, considering it is week 2 and the first real test for the new regime, it may be the single biggest swing game on the slate. Win that one, and the Vols are 3-0 with nothing to lose heading to Gainesville as a spry underdog. Lose it, and the weary and beaten-down Vols fan base may fade toward indifference way too early.
But, if they handle their BID-ness against a Pitt team that’s six right there.
If we assume that Georgia, Florida and Alabama are each going to be double-digit favorites over the Vols, that’s nine games with games at Kentucky and at Missouri and a date with Lane Kiffin in Knoxville left. Find a way to win one of those three, and that’s seven wins, and a stoked fan base that will demand enough tickets that a Florida bowl game will come calling.
Delusional, optimistic or rational, I’m just here to drop science.
From HHH
Say you’re Press Maravich and your son is going to go pro in something whether he likes it or not. When weighing the toll on the body and financial reward, which way are you steering your son? I’d say learning to hit a golf ball early on or learning to throw a curveball are at the top of the list, but becoming a sharpshooter with a basketball has to be high up there right? Quarterback maybe, but one hit could end your career
HHH –
Little background for the young folk: Press Maravich of course was Pete Maravich’s daddy, and former college basketball coach. He showed Pete the game at an early age and of course, the Pistol took to it.
He was starting on the high school team as an undersized middle schooler, so, in HHH’s hypothetical, if we are to assume Pistol was destined to be a pro at something, what would we choose in a perfect world.
Interesting question, and the timing of the career arc matters.
Golf, in Pete’s time, was arguably the toughest way to make a living, because if you don’t make a cut, you don’t get paid. These days, the sponsorship dollars would have made Pistol – who came out of college with accolades and professional anticipation matched by fewer athletes in any sport – a nine-figure entity before playing in his first tournament, so that matters, too.
In my day, it would have been learning the curve, because not everyone had to throw 100 mph to pitch in the show, and MLB money has always been guaranteed.
Hoops is probably next, then and now, and it rests on the biggest intangible. Because even as great in every measure as Pistol was in the game, if he doesn’t grow to be 6-foot-5, does he really have a chance to compete at the highest of levels if he’s 5 feet, 10 inches? Heck, even as amazing as Steph Curry is these days, you have to remember he’s 6 feet, 3 inches and still looks like Spud Webb on an NBA floor.
Then there is the QB. That one can’t be coerced. In truth, none of them can. Sure daddies can try to sway (even force) their sons into sports, but if they don’t love it, no matter how much daddy does, it simply will not matter. Football is doubly that way. And for a QB, well, I believe as much as any position in any sport – point guard may be second – quarterbacks are born as much as they are made. The timing and the trust. The instincts and the intangibles. Sure, coaches can unearth those characteristics in sixth-round diamond-in-the-rough QBs who played at Michigan or judo transfers who played at Cal or young and drunken rednecks from Southern Miss or undersized and over-accurate Texans from Purdue with a birthmark on their forehead, but there was a lot underneath before those dudes found their Hall of Fame strides.
Great question, HHH.
From BeardDawg
It’s just as a big Dawg fan and multiple alums of UGA all we ever hear is HW (and from a lot of Dawg fans and alums, too). What’s interesting is, as good as HW and Cam were for their colleges (transcendent and dominant), will either one make the pro football hall of fame?
BeardDawg –
Great question, and sadly, the answer is no.
For both. (Although Herschel may make the U.S. Senate from the state of Georgia. Story for another day, clearly.)