Photo by the Mrs. 5-at-10 / A base jumper dives off the Perrine Bridge in Twin Falls, Idaho headed toward the Snake River on Thursday. He landed safely.GRAND TARGHEE, Wyoming – So we moved East and landed at the site of the family wedding. Good times.
I am writing this at 4:45 local time, sitting on the deck of the lodge. It’s 45 degrees. It’s dark. And I’m wearing sunglasses.
Hit it.
Let’s handle our business. (And we are trying to remember to include some of the great photos from the Mrs. 5-at-10 like this base jumper in Twin Falls, Idaho on Thursday.)
Visor tip to Jimmy Caan – aka Sonny Corleone, aka Brian Piccolo, aka Elf’s daddy, aka the guy with the most famous ankle scene in climatic history – who passed n Thursday. He was 82.
Some summertime SEC thoughts from Paschall reviewing the title teams of the league teams.
Rushmore of the best college basketball players since 1980, because I think Sampson has a for sure spot. Sampson, Laettner, Lenny Boas and Danny Manning. That’s a tough list friends.
Rushmore of Independence – Independence Day (the holiday) of course, Declaration of Independence, Independence Day (the movie, which was robbed of an Academy Award in 1997), Independence Hall.
Rushmore of W – W Bush, W road, W in the shortened social media lingo of WTH (and worse), and with the local bias, the back-half of our business partner in Chattanooga VW.
Rushmore of sports media gambling prognosticators – Jimmy the Greek, Hank the Hammer Goldberg, Chris Berman (no I’m not the biggest fan either, but The Swami has to have a place here gang because of the size of his platform – and ego), Michael Lombardi.
From Chris
Jay, I don’t know why I read your self-absorbed (bleep)! You have not even mentioned the biggest story this summer about the best player in the best sport in the world – Kevin Durant.
One player headed to one team and that team becomes the NBA favorite and not a word from you?
Why is that? Is it because you LOVE LeBron that much? Why if the Slim Reaper goes to L.A., then I bet you’ll be all over it.
Thanks for nothing.
Chris –
Happy slowdown summer to you to my man, and I may be self-absorbed – as Mac Davis sang, “Lord, it’s hard to be humble, when you’re perfect in every way” – but the 5-at-10 is far from bleep sir.
And speaking of self-absorbed, wow, Kevin Durant. What a career narrative that guy has fashioned despite being the second-most indefensible offensive basketball player I’ve ever seen.
Sure there have been physical freaks like Wilt, Shaq and LeBron. There have been great shooters like Larry and Steph. There are have been all-around offensive savants like MJ and Gervin and Alex English and Jerry West to name but nine great scores.
But the two must indefensible dudes with a basketball in their hands have been Kareem’s hook and 7-foot shooting assassin Kevin Durant. Unlike the rest of those cats, each of whom had a way to at least attempt to slow them down or try to derail their scoring punch (make LeBron shoot, foul Shaq and Wilt, be physical with a lot of the rest), when Kareem goes sky hooking (mind out of the gutter Spy) and Durant pulls up at 7-feet with those endless arms, you really are at the mercy of them missing.
Period.
And Kevin Durant is going to turn that all-time talent into a legacy of wishy-washiness and mental insecurity as he hunts for the next team with which he’ll break up with in turmoil in a year or three.
Your point is not wrong, if Durant goes to one of say a dozen teams, they instantly become the favorite to win the NBA title. (Although with the moves the Celtics have made, they are going to be in the mix for the next few years for sure, as long as Jayson Tatum can take the Alpha Dog step.)
Side note: While we’re here, did you say the NBA is the best sport in the world? Really? OK. And I’m self-absorbed? Got it.
Side note. part II: LeBron and I are on the outs. I heart Luka.
Now if we are going to be fair, yahoos like me have contributed to Durant’s place of mental fragility and desperation. We have always put too much acclaim and blame on the rings. We hail Brady as the runaway GOAT for the most part because of his surroundings – and yes, there’s a chicken-or-the-egg circle in there somewhere – not his style or how he slings it.
Because if that’s the case, where is Montana or Bradshaw and their four rings or Rodgers and Brees with their singular titles?
Really only MJ checks both boxes of titles – six in six tries (but none before Pippen or Phil Jackson) – and talent. And MJ did not run to find what he needed; he made management add the pieces while he made the Bulls the most profitable entity in U.S. sports over the era.
So we fairly or unfairly hold folks to that prism, and Durant melts under its light.
I hope he goes somewhere he can be the Alpha and rewrite his narrative as a the lead dog on an NBA championship team. But he won’t.
(Side note: If he found a way to Atlanta and embraced being the Batman to Trae Young’s Robin, that would be fun.)
But that’s not in Durant’s DNA. And it’s not really in the cards of the modern NBA, because I’m not sure he could join a current roster that is without another superstar and win it all.
There. That enough Durant chatter for you?
From Mike
Jay, I love the 5-at-10. Seriously, I look forward to it everyday. I still miss you on the radio but I am still wishing you will return to the air at some point.
Like a lot of people in Chatt, I returned to the office full-time. Someone in the break room (Tuesday) asked me some thing and I thought it would be perfect for Friday’s bag.
If you could meet one person from the Bible who would it be and what would your first question be?
Keep up the great work – read you every day.
Mike –
Thanks for the kind words my man, and for the great question. It’s been almost two years since I was on the radio, Paschall and Wells have developed a great show and really don’t miss me at all. In fact, for a town our size to have Press Row and SportsTalk as afternoon sports options is an embarrassment of riches if you ask me.
Wow, what a great question, and even though you didn’t mention it, I would have to assume that Jesus is everyone’s first go-to, no?
So let’s take that off the table. (Side note: When I do get to Heaven, I really do wonder if Jesus a) can hit the curveball, like Eddie Harris and Pedro Cerano debated in Major League, and b) if he found that humorous.)
If we break this down into Old and New Testament, and we avoid the going back in time and warning Eve not to eat the apple or Judas not to betray Christ, I’ll go with these two.
I’ll start with Paul, because so much of New Testament is in his hand and so much of the spread of the Gospel is from his pen. Sure, the Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and the rest of the dude’s at the Last Supper would be fine choices, too, but I’ll go with Paul.
In the Old Testament, there are so many. I’d love to know how afraid David was. Daniel too. What would Solomon have done if they said “Go ahead and split the baby.”
But the true faith and belief that Noah possessed has always fascinated and inspired me.
And I would have to wonder what it smelled like on that boat five weeks in. Egad.
From J-Mac
When I was out in Idaho I did get to go to Cody Wyoming for a friends wedding. It was amazing how many miles out you could see the Tetons….unreal. Have a great time!
I know you get excited for the draft, you are such a draft person….give us your summary of the NHL draft…..
If you don’t like that question, what about the Raiders new hire? Personally, I really like it.
Be safe and have a good time.
J-Mac –
You know me too well. I love the draft. You know this.
But funny enough we were at dinner last night at I was paying the check and the NHL draft was on TV and I looked at a cousin who is a regular 5-at-10 reader and a similar conversation.
And it ended with me saying, “I love the draft. You know this. But I got nothing on the NHL draft other than it will be a lot of white with long hair tabbed tonight.”
And at that moment some team in grabbed someone named Issac Howard, who was straight pimpin’ in an all-white suit, charcoal turtleneck with an American flag belt buckle. Count me as an Isaac Howard fan from this day forward.
I too think the Raiders hire is a smart one, but it has nothing to do with Sandra Douglas Morgan’s skin color or gender. Sure, it is newsworthy than Morgan is the first Black female to be an NFL president.
But if you read her bio, that she is a Vegas native and has experience as the executive director of the Nevada Gaming Commission – as we head into an unknown era of sports and gambling crossing stream like never before – is what makes this hire savvy.
Please, do not take this the wrong way – in no way, shape or form am I’m not downplaying the significance or the history of the hire as the Raiders wisely looked at qualifications rather than characteristics.
But her resumé is what would impress me if I supported the Raiders, and eventually, success will dictate the grade on this hire. Because, lest we forget, we everyone with a pulse helmet or a hair piece – hi Mark Davis – was 100% certain the Jon Gruden hire was a a great one too, right?
From Don
Yes, I still use the sliced bread comparison. Though this being Georgia and it being summer, I also turn to “best thing since air conditioning was invented.”
Think about it – how much did the A/C change us as a species?
Don –
Well, since you peeled it back, I’m not sure we can put a list together that will include all of the ways conditioned air changed us.
As a people, as a planet and certainly as a nation.
Be it from the generational softening of our species to the decade-by-decade destruction of our natural resources, the cavalcade of modernizations and inventions to aid our existence are monster parts of those trends.
As Americans, though, and as Southerners specifically, AC has been part of the reinvention of homes.
Do you think people from all over – and business too – would flock to the South without A/C? You heading to Macon, Georgia, or Columbia, S.C. or any of these Southern heat factories otherwise.
And bigger picture, as much as we love the ‘land of the free and the home of the brave’ mantras and slogans, if you had to put one reason on why all of the immigrants – legal and illegal – come to America, would you say, democracy or opportunity?
I’d go the latter, and whether they know it or not, mention it or not, that better life has more to do with jobs and luxuries (like A/C) than political freedoms.
Great question Don, and have a great weekend friends.
Jay Greeson