Weekend winners
Luka Doncic and Dallas fans. Heck, NBA fans. The Dallas Mavs traded two guards and a slew of picks to Brooklyn for Kyrie Irving. Yes, that Kyrie Irving, who is a strange cat but can seriously play. And coupled next to Luka, who -- hold your water, Spy, but I'm going here -- is better than Larry Bird as a play-making, score-first point forward. The Mavs not only are a monster contender in the wide-open West, they now are the most interesting and potentially fun team in the NBA.
Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, I know, he's had a run of late. Man bun. All the lies about the vaccinations. The underwhelming showing this year. But hey, he carried some no-name pro who missed the cut to the Pro-Am title at the AT&T, so there's that.
Viola Davis. No, I did not watch the Grammys. Had a full Sunday of other stuff. (Side note: Made some ricotta-stuffed eggplant rolls with a homemade marinara this weekend, and it was pretty tasty. Now that football is done, shall we have a day we share recipes? Discuss.) But the talented Davis won a Grammy, and that made her part of the select group known as EGOTs, which are folks who have Emmys, Grammys, Oscars and Tonys, and that's pretty select company. (Side note: Viola Davis is pure greatness in "The Help," which is also pretty dag-nabbin' great, too.)
Keith Mitchell. The Chattanooga native is golfing his ball right now in the AT&T, which will conclude today. He'll start the weather-delayed conclusion to the final round three back of leader Justin Rose and in a tie for fifth.
The Signal Sixers. OK, stick with me here. Someone you know coaches a collection of sixth grader girls in hoops that plays a lot of other area teams. Most of the teams are older than we are and we have taken some lumps. Saturday morning, the Sixers faced a team that beat us 29-3 earlier in the year -- we did our best UT-Auburn impression in that one and did not make a basket -- and the girls played their ponytails off. A 20-16 overtime win -- we dropped a box-and-1 on their point guard and followed her full court and kept their offense as constipated as Chas at a cheese convention -- was the result. It offered the true joy in watching a group work hard and get better, you know?
Weekend losers
Auburn and Tennessee basketball. What the (bleep) was that? Seriously. It burned my eyes. It also made me curious of this question after UT beat Auburn 46-43: In two years, if UT (with Josh Heupel) and Auburn (with Hugh Freeze) played football, would there be more points scored in that football game than was in Saturday's rock fight basketball game? Also, shoutout to 5-at-10 regular Ted, who emailed midway through the Auburn-UT scrum "First team to 45 wins?" How right you were, Ted.
The Pro Bowl. Seriously, if that's what the answer is, then the question won. Without changes, the Pro Bowl has officially reached "Old Yeller" status and needs to be put down.
The PGA Tour. Through no fault of its own, a weekend there for the ratings taking was hijacked by Pebble Beach weather in February. Because on this weekend -- no real football for the first time since Labor Day, regular-season NBA stinks, no baseball yet nor NASCAR honestly -- the AT&T could carry a lot of interest, especially with the added intrigue of the celebrities in the Pro-Am. But weather forced them to finish today. Golf needs to finish on Sundays because in truth, who's watching today, you know? (Side question: The Pro Bowl flag football fiasco was so bad, I would truly rather watch an NFC-AFC Ryder Cup-style golf event than what that debacle was Sunday. Heck, I'd watch Aaron Donald, Aaron Rodgers and any other Aarons or great NFL stars play Texas Hold 'em before I'd watch this version of the Pro Bowl.)
The Nets' "Dream Team" plan. So on paper, the thought of super scorers Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden looked sublime. It played out as sub-stinky. Now, what do you say/do/think if you are KD and everyone has done R-U-N-N-O-F-T-ed? Also, is there a name more surprising for a really good NBA player than Spencer Dinwiddie, who was in the Kyrie trade? Have we discussed this before, because ... Wait. Rushmore potential.
Harry Styles. Again, I did not watch the Grammys. Anywell, so yes, Harry Styles won Album of the Year. But dang man, Harry Styles assuredly is not Harry Stylish. Because his attire for the Grammys was something that would have made mom say back in the day, "Get back in that house and put on normal people clothes." Wow, the entire gallery of everyone's get-ups made me feel a) old, b) out of touch, c) glad I did not attend or d) all of the above.
CSU fans. I have spent more than a fair share of my time as a fan as a heckler. This may not shock you, but I was pretty excellent at it. Couple rules of thumb: No swear words. Ever. No slurs or offensive comments. The rest -- be informed about the opposing team, be clever not cursing, et al. -- come with experience. But Colorado State had to apologize when the student section started chanting "Russia, Russia" at a Ukrainian player on Utah State over the weekend. Be better than that. Made me think of the time Steve Kerr was at Arizona and the Arizona State student section started chanting "PLO! PLO!" after terrorists had murdered Kerr's dad, who was the president of American University in Beirut.
Super idea?
So the Super Bowl is this week, and there will be a slew of folks wondering why we don't move the game to Saturday and allow folks the extra weekend day to recover.
That's a sports topic as familiar as "Pete Rose, Hall of Famer" and "DH, friend or foe" that always circulates.
Well, some of our leaders here in Tennessee are trying to turn the Monday after the Super Bowl into a state holiday. It would replace Columbus Day, according to the bill, which was introduced late last week.
This from the above link from Rep. Joe Towns, who is a co-sponsor of the bill: "My bill simply wants to examine giving the rest of us the day off. Let's face it, it doesn't get much more American than the Super Bowl and it's becoming more and more the norm to miss work the next day. So maybe we should just codify it ... or at least just talk about it."
Wow, is there a bigger testament to the status of the NFL than this idea? Man.
That said, is the NFL more American than, you know, the guy who is credited with discovering America? Yes, I know, Columbus was a bleep-hole. But still, is this a good idea?
I'm all for more holidays -- heck, the newspaper and the 5-at-10 are everyday operations, so it makes no matter to me -- but is this one warranted?
Discuss.
This and that
-- Remember the Super Duper Props contest. More info is here, and as with all the contests here at the 5-at-10, it's free.
-- I hope to have more answers later today for the folks who have emailed me about not getting the afternoon Plays of the Day. Deal? Deal. I know at some point last week I was using a bad link to the sign-up so that's on me. Stay tuned.
-- Speaking of the Plays, how about that break-even Jerry Seinfeld week we fashioned last week, huh? We entered Friday at 5-5 through four days. We had Rutgers minus-4 (winner), UT minus-7 (loser), UT-Auburn under (winner, by miles), Duke minus-3 (winner), Kentucky to cover against Florida (final line was 5, so push) and Boise State on Friday night (getting 5 and monster loser). So by shaky Auburn math, that made last week 8-7-1, and if you count each win as 0.9 units and each loss as 1.0 units (and ties as even), we spent a lot of time research and energy to make 0.2 units over 16 wagers. War Plays.
-- You know how we roll around these parts. We will report and link to police investigations and even arrests but try to stay pretty basic on matters like that until we know the full story. So with that, here's a story that authorities are looking into allegations that Ja Morant and his crew were laser-pointing (and potentially weapon-pointing) members of the Pacers staff earlier this season.
-- Speaking of the Grammys, well, this is going to surprise some of you, but one of my personal favorite artists captured a couple of Grammys last night. Brandi Carlisle won for best rock performance and best rock song. She was aces at the Moon River festival a couple of years ago. In fact, the Mrs. and I are going to see her play in Washington state this summer. Her opening act? Joni Mitchell. Pretty sure I won't be talking preseason SEC football predictions with anyone in our section, don't you think?
-- One more Grammys detail, I was reading a bit about the awards and apparently Sam Smith and a German artist named Kim Petras had a historic year. According to the article on Yahoo!, "When British pop star Smith and German electro-pop maverick Petras went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 last year with "Unholy," they made history as the both the first openly nonbinary solo artist and trans solo artist, respectively, to achieve that feat." So there's that.
Today's questions
Weekend winners and losers, go.
As for multiple choice Monday, let's do this in honor of my fascination with Spencer Dinwiddie's name:
Which current sports star -- Dinwiddie averages 17.7 points per game in the NBA friends -- has a name that sounds more like the guy leading your Sunday school class than Spencer Dinwiddie?
Fire away.
As for today, Feb. 6, a couple of big-time birthdays. George Herman Ruth was born on this day in 1895. Ronald Reagan was born on this day 16 years later.
Alan Shepard became the first man to hit a golf ball on the moon on this day in 1971.
Also, while we're here, is there a Rushmore of Spencer?
Go, and enjoy the day. And remember the Props contest.