Weekend winners
The underdogs. Well, to say the ‘underdogs’ of college basketball won the weekend is not exactly right by definition. A lot of the ‘upsets’ on a crazy Saturday in college hoops were by underdogs in the eyes of the polls but not the eyes of Vegas. For example, UT was favored over Auburn as was Baylor of Kansas, and Arkansas was a pick ’em or even a small favorite over UK. But still, this stat from ESPN stats and info says it all when trying to describe the unprecedented results of all of the AP Top 5 (and seven of the AP Top 10) losing on the same day: “Since the AP Poll began in the 1948-49 season, there have now been: 1,796 days at least 1 AP-Top 5 team lost; 296 days at least two of 5 lost; 38 days at least 3 of 5 lost; 3 days at least 4 of 5 lost; and 1 day that all 5 lost.” It was Saturday.
Michael Keaton. Yes, he won a SAG award last night. (Did not watch. I’ve quit award shows, and besides “1883” season finale was last night, and HOLY BUCKETS of tears. Sorry for yelling but dear Lord there was not a dry eye either side of the Mississippi last night as the first season of the “Yellowstone” prequel wrapped. Seriously, wow. That concluded a first season that in truth felt like a 10-hour movie more than a season of a TV show. Very much a “Lonesome Dove’ miniseries feel to the whole thing. A+ conclusion to an A+ season. We will talk more tomorrow about this.) Anywell, Michael Keaton. Yes, the SAG – and he dedicated it to a nephew who died from an overdose in an emotional tribute – but here’s the question. While he does not have the hardware, can I nominate Michael Keaton for the actor of my lifetime with the most range? Who’s gonna beat checking every one of these boxes: Classic comedy – “Mr. Mom;” Criminally underrated comedy – “Gung Ho” or “Night Shift;” Dramatic tear-jerker – “My Life;” Super hero turn – “Batman” and he’s no worse than the second-best Batman; Super hero movie villain – “Spiderman: Homecoming;” Critically praised – “Birdman” and “Spotlight;” Animation: “Cars.” A Tarantino: “Jackie Brown.” Serious talk: Better catalog, Keaton or Hanks? Discuss.
Me. Chaperoned a school field trip that was long on trip and short on field since last Wednesday to Disney with my eighth-grade son. Buckets of dollar bills, Disney is a monster, yo. A monster. But we left everything we had there – cash included – and it was awesome. (If you have not been in a while, the Avatar ride ‘Pandora’ at Animal Kingdom is impossible to describe, it’s so good. But since I’m a word guy, I’ll give it a go: It was a two-hour wait, and it was worth the wait. How about that?)
Boyd-Buchanan. The Bucs have had some very good high school football coaches in the two decades I’ve been in Chattanooga. Robert Akins built the program into a state power. Grant Reynolds followed him and kept the Bucs there. There have been coaches since who have varied from very good to mediocre. But with this announcement – of course Hargis had it first, it’s a high school sports story in this region – the Boyd-Buchanan has made a Saban-level hire. Gary Rankin is a national name in a very localized sport, friends. And the real downside of overusing the ‘home run hire’ phrase is now we have nothing left to accurately describe a hire like this. Man, the private school football arms race – Ralph Potter has lifted McCallie into a Bama-Like level in the state’s private school football realm; Baylor School broke the bank and went and got an SEC assistant with an impeccable high school coaching pedigree; CCS hired Phil Massey, an A-plus dude who got caught as the D-II ‘Mark Richt’ as rival McCallie was racking up state titles; and now Boyd-Buch getting Rankin – is no joke.
Weekend losers
The Republican party. The only way I can see Biden winning in 2024 is to run Trump against him, and sweet buckets, here comes news that Trump is the front-runner coming out of the CPAC conservative caucus. And to make matters worse, all of these far-right extremists who are praising Russia for taking the entire world a giant step toward world war as a way to take shots at Biden should be ashamed of themselves. This is nonsensical. There is not a political landing spot for a fiscally conservative, socially moderate, Constitutional-believing capitalist anymore in this country. Egad.
Daniel Berger. Wowser, that’s a meltdown that will leave a mark. Berger – if that’s your name, you have to be willing to accept the nickname ‘Ham’ or ‘Cheese’ growing up, right? – had a five-shot lead heading into the final round of the Honda and gagged them all away. It made a path for Sepp Straka – another of the long line of Georgia golfing alums – to win the Honda Classic. (Side note: Georgia has become the Kentucky hoops of college golf. Each has one title and a couple of almost in the last two decades but both programs are churning out a ton of really good pro players.)
Phil Mickelson. Again. Dude is hemorrhaging sponsorship dollars at a breakneck pace. I read somewhere that the last 10 days – since his quotes about the Saudis to Alan Shipnuck were released and made him a pariah to the PGA Tour and the new Saudi league – Phil has lost more sponsorship money than he could have demanded in guaranteed dollars from the Saudi league. In addition to longtime associations with KPMG, Calaway, Workday and Amstel Light ending, now the American Express PGA Tour event has cut ties with Mickelson and his foundation. Man, it’s turned so fast and so quickly, you almost start to feel bad for Phil. (Almost.) But here’s the thing: Those companies have worked with Phil long enough to know the real Mickelson. They are fleeing from their deals with him not because of who he is, but because the public now gets a glimpse of who he is, if that makes sense. Which does not look good for those folks either, in my opinion. And, how much would you pay to be a fly on the wall in the behind-closed-door meeting between Phil and the Augusta National folks in the coming days? You have to think the Green Coats are at the very least saying, “Uh, Philly-Mick, we love you. You know that. Pimento cheese sandwich? But you are going to have to pull a Tiger-like news conference mea culpa before this year’s event because we are not having that three-ring circus under our big top.”
Me. Yes, Disney was amazing. A-MAY-zing. And I believe I made some all-time memories with my son. That’s the golden part. The losing the weekend part was my youth sports coaching career very well could have come to an end this weekend and I was nowhere close to the sidelines. My fifth-grade daughter’s hoops team and my son’s middle school hoops team in the rec league were each the one seeds heading into the tournament. Each lost in the semifinals. There are no picket fences or ‘Annexation of Puerto Rico’ play calls for rec league hoops per se, and the teams that won the tournaments assuredly deserved to win them, but man it was a tough way to close what has been a life treasure and consumed a whole lot of our time for the last decade or so.
High school sports in Minnesota. What in the world? Racism is running everywhere in the prep sports scene in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. This story details a coach quitting and a school shutting down the rest of its season because someone left a note in a girl’s backpack saying “Get off our team monkey” with the inexcusable insult underlined twice. Is it really that hard to be decent people?
MLB and MLBPA. Today has long been floated as a deadline to reach a deal – at least in principle – in their labor negotiations to avoid losing regular-season games. Yeah, about that. And some of the ideas being floated by both sides seem amazingly nonsensical, including a ‘ghost playoff’ round in which the first round of a 14-team playoff would have division winners needing to win two games and wildcard teams need to win three games to advance. Yeah, because what baseball really needs is not faster games, labor peace, considerations for smaller markets so they can stay competitive, or in-game rule enhancements to increase in-game activity, they need something that even adamant baseball fans are going to have to study on and research so they can explain it to their kids. Perfect.
Lookout below
So, while I was away the TFP business maestro Mike Pare and TFP sports superscribe David Paschall had some breakdowns on the looming Lookouts deal and the linchpin that will be a new stadium.
It is 100% clear from Paschall’s story that without a new stadium, the Lookouts will not be here longterm. Read his words here.
It is 100% clear that the millionaires owning the Lookouts want the city and the county to pay a lion’s share of the cost for that new stadium, which is estimated at $86.5 million. (And that’s not including the $10 million in contributed land at the foundry site.)
Everything after is anything but clear.
Do I want the Lookouts to stay? Absolutely. I bet in my two decades in town, there is not a single ‘going out’ social activity I have done more than going to a Lookouts game.
Side question: While we are on the topic of the stadium, did they have a third-grade art competition to generate that rendering? Seriously, you’re pushing what could very well be a quarter-of-a-billion-dollar investment with the stadium and the surrounding spaces as well as the interstate overhaul, and we get a paint-by numbers drawing of that vision?
Side note: Also while we were away, there was a second conversation with the Republican candidates for county mayor, And rather than actually ask about issues that affect me as a Hamilton County citizens – like this stadium, like the best ways to balance the wants for the shrinking available tax dollars and a slew of actual roles of county government – wellbeing softballs about CRT (which is a school board issue more than a governmental issue) after asking in the first debate about abortion. My word.
Where were we? Yes, the stadium.
So, Jason Freier, who owns three minor league teams and has made a pot of money, what my tax dollars so he can charge me $6 a beer and $5 to park so he can continue to add to his pot of money?
And while we’re here, and while everyone is racing to the South Side, has any of our city and county leadership talked the Mellow Mushroom or Big River folks to see how bad this move will hurt them? (Granted, the options are either move in town or the Lookouts will move out of town, as Paschall writes, but we are shining the South Side and downtown is about to be the Aquarium, some overpriced condos and tumbleweeds, no?)
I understand local governments bending over backward and robbing Peter’s taxes to help pay Volkswagen’s construction costs, but that’s a ton of jobs and a ton of taxpayers to our town.
That’s an investment in our fiscal future. This is a blank check for a baseball team owned by a multimillionaire – and operated by a multibillion-dollar conglomerate known as MLB – that will come in place of what?
Because it has to be in place of something, unless we are raising taxes, in a time of already skyrocketing inflation and price indexes.
Cool. Wish we had a chance to ask some of the folks interested in being the next county lead executive about it?
Oh wait. Nevermind.
This and that
– Side note on the Rankin hire: Like a lot of you, I had heard Rankin was headed to South Pittsburg, so this is kind of a surprise. Not that he’s headed to the Chattanooga-area, but that he’s headed to downtown rather than just outside the county lines. It’s just one bystander’s guess but here’s believing that’s well within the realm of possibility that some Marion County folks went to great lengths to kibosh the Rankin to Spitt hire, and there will be another juicy chapter added to that heated rivalry at some point down the road.
– Speaking of TV, I have not watched the “Law&Order” reboot. Planning on doing that tonight. So, no spoilers, please.
– Weeds gave us back-to-back college hoops home runs over the weekend. This morning he chimed in on the craziness of the hoops weekend. And I too had the thought of what Saturday’s wildness could mean for the brackets in a couple of weeks. And Weeds was wonderful with Sunday’s look at the end of a UTC era as the Moc Maniac hung up his mic.
– Chas, Oscar is going to need hand trucks for all his postseason awards. And that’s fine; his numbers are worthy of those honors. But for anyone who knows a basketball from a basket of oranges, Jabari Smith is a better player.
– Speaking of UK basketball, here’s a story on John Calipari on why his program will skip the handshake line. And if Coach Cal really wants us to believe it’s because of COVID concerns, uh, Coach, your players just spent 40 minutes beating on, breathing on and sweating on each other, so a handshake is where they are going to get it. Cool.
– And friends, I wish we had someone with half the leadership chops as the Ukrainian president in our government right about now. Dude is a hero.
Today’s questions
Weekend winners. Weekend losers. Discuss.
On this day, the final “M*A*S*H” aired. More than 125 million watched.
As for a Rushmore – and I will backtrack last week’s – let’s do this.
Mario Andretti is 82 today.
Rushmore of racing families. Go.