5-at-10: Weekend winners and losers of all shapes and sizes plus a free NFL draft contest

FILE - Alabama quarterback Bryce Young (9) throws the ball during the first half of the team's NCAA college football game against Mississippi State, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson and Will Levis are projected to go anywhere from the top 5 to top 15 picks in this draft.(AP Photo/Vasha Hunt, File)
FILE - Alabama quarterback Bryce Young (9) throws the ball during the first half of the team's NCAA college football game against Mississippi State, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson and Will Levis are projected to go anywhere from the top 5 to top 15 picks in this draft.(AP Photo/Vasha Hunt, File)

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Weekend winners

Keith Mitchell. Yes, we all hoped for a better Sunday showing from Keith and Sungjae Im in the PGA team event in New Orleans. But Mitchell was the talk of the coverage for most of the weekend and, as we mentioned in Friday's mailbag, his natural on-camera charisma was clear for everyone to see. Including future TV producers. And yeah, despite not playing great on Sunday, Keith still made a smidgen more than $208,000 for four days of golf, which is a tad better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

LIV golf. Hey, I appreciate the team format of the PGA event. I truly do. But when Keith is your most charismatic player and Patrick "Too slow for words" Cantlay is your biggest star, you have an excitement issue. Add in that LIV finished on Sunday with a star-packed leaderboard — even if it was on the CW before a "Cops" rerun — and a rock concert par 3 that included beer showers and DJs, and the better golf was hosted by those scary mother (bleepers).

Drew Maggi. Yep, that Drew Maggi. After almost 1,200 minor league games, the modern-day version of Crash Davis got his call to the show with Pittsburgh. Here's hoping Drew gets to stay there more than 21 days.

"Yeah, I was in the show. I was in the show for 21 days once — the 21 greatest days of my life. You know, you never handle your luggage in the show, somebody else carries your bags. It was great. You hit white balls for batting practice, the ballparks are like cathedrals, the hotels all have room service and the women all have long legs and brains."

Baylor School. No, this is not about the golf alums, who made some serious coin Sunday in New Orleans. On social media over the weekend, Briggs Cherry shared that he was coming to Baylor. Yeah, Baylor gets a lot of incoming students. And lots of them have names like Briggs. But Mr. Cherry is a freshman QB prospect who has a slew of offers from power five schools according to 247sports. So the Baylor show lands a state title in year 1 of Kimrey regime, has an SEC-committed QB for year 2 and a high-caliber QB recruit waiting in the wings. Yeah, good times.

Tennessee baseball. Take that, Vandy. Here's the wrap up of the finale of UT's three-game sweep over the 'Dores from 'Man about Town' David Paschall.

CNN. Yes, the ratings for Ted Turner's cable game-changer are in the toilet. But the news that CNN has hired Charles Barkley for a live weeknight talk show starting in the fall is brilliant. Cue the Guinness guys. "BRILLIANT!" What a great decision.

MJ and NASCAR. Man, how famous and cool is Michael Jordan? He made NASCAR cool again, at least for one Sunday.

Weekend losers

The Braves. And especially the Braves bullpen. Hey, here's an idea if the Braves get a chance to face the Astros, who swept three from the Braves in Atlanta, in the World Series. Let's not throw anything close to a strike to that Alvarez fellow. Deal? Deal.

The Hawks. In a must-have Game 4, the Hawks decided defense was not all that important as Boston grabbed a 3-1 lead in their first-round series. The questions are numerous from this Atlanta bunch, and they start with Trae Young, who stuffed the stat sheet Sunday but had a plus/minus of 0. Can Young be the alpha on a real title contender?

NBA playoff attitudes. Suffice it to say that all the gruff and fuss is off-putting to this fan. And all of the machismo that leads to a whole lot of personal fouls and unmanly maneuvers is, well, it is nuts, if you ask me.

The Oakland As. Yes, the headlines last week centered on the As buying land for a possible stadium in Las Vegas. The headline this morning is that the As may be the worst team ever. They are 4-18 — which is a 29-133 pace — and have been outscored by more than 100 runs through those 22 games. Ouch-standing.

Bud Light. Yep, the hits just keep on coming for the decision makers who decided that being the beer of choice for frat boys was somehow a bad thing. Here are details on the shake-up in marketing for the recent decisions that have the stock price tumbling.

Draft week

Yep, it's happening. Visor tip to Penny Lane, of course.

So we will talk draft all week. We start today with our "Feeling the Draft while drinking a Draught" contest.

And like all contests around these parts, it's free and we'll give away a gift card and maybe some TFP swag if we can put our hands on any.

(Side note: If you are looking for free, here's a link to my "Plays of the Day" email that comes out every Monday-Friday at 5 p.m. And yes, we struggled for most of last week, but Friday was a monster success that finished 6-1 in gambling picks over the weekend. Good times.)

So, here's the deal. One point for each correct draft pick of the questions below. Who's with me?

— First player drafted?

— Which QB is picked first, Anthony Richardson or Will Levis?

— Who do the Falcons pick first?

— How many QBs go in round 1?

— Which team drafts Bijon Robinson?

— Number of SEC players picked in round 1?

Go, and here's my best guesses for each of the above.

Bryce Young, Richardson, the tackle from Northwestern, 5, Philadelphia and 12.

Enjoy and good luck.

This and that

— Speaking of the Baylor PGA-ers, Harris English tied for 13th with partner Tom Hoge and each collected $57,778. Luke List made the cut with partner Henrik Norlander and tied for 23rd, which paid a tad less than $25,000.

— Across town, this story caught my eye that McCallie has more starting pitching than the Braves do. Nice work by TFP prep ace Patrick MacCoon here as the Tornado has three senior pitchers who are signed to play at UNC, Ole Miss and Florida. Wowser.

— Speaking of the Pirates above, this side of maybe the Rays, the Pirates are the best story in baseball. Without a recognizable star, Pittsburgh is 15-7 and looks every bit the part of a contender early on.

— Side question: If we had a Rushmore of Pirates, who is far left, Willie Stargell or Capt. Jack Sparrow?

Today's questions

Weekend winners and losers. Go.

As for multiple choice Monday, if you were about to enter a team golf event and you could pick one player to tee it up Thursday — no Tiger in 2001 or Jack in the 1970s or Bobby Jones in the 1930s — who are you picking?

— Jon Rahm

— Rory

— Keith Mitchell

— Other (and please share details)

As for today, April 24, let's review.

On this day in 1124 BC the Greeks entered Troy with the forever-famous Trojan Horse.

Rushmore of "horse," and have a little fun.

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