Weekend winners
Tennessee basketball. Yes, South Carolina is rebuilding. And yes, Doug will find a way to pooh-pooh any and all things UT-related and almost all things SEC basketball related. Still, when you go on the road as a 17.5-point favorite and so thoroughly dominate a game to the point that if UT had not scored a single point in the second, it still would have won, well, that's doing work. The college basketball regular season (or as I prefer to call it the college basketball collection of organized scrimmages) is long and filled with highs and lows. This is assuredly a high for Rick Barnes' bunch, but if the team that made South Carolina quit on Saturday shows up in March, UT is as good as anyone in the country.
Patrick Mahomes. Yeah, that guy is fun to watch. Thanks, Patrick. Signed, football fans everywhere.
The improvement of Damar Hamlin. That's the good news, and there were parts of the Sunday avalanche of tributes that were cool and appropriate, like the medical staff that saved Hamlin's life last Monday in Cincinnati got a standing O before the Bills blasted the Pats. The bolded 3s in the '30' on the field markings was an especially nice touch. That said, the pomp and circumstance the NFL spin doctors concoct is far too often over the top.
Chicago Bears. Losing is winning when it comes to the draft folks. And the Bears sat their franchise QB and solidified the No. 1 overall selection next spring by handing the ball to Nathan Peterman. (Side question: Wanna guess how much coin Peterman has made holding a clipboard and being ready when called upon? In six seasons, Peterman has made five starts, thrown for 712 yards with four scores and 13 picks and has made a smidge more than $5.4 million. Kudos Nate.) So the Bears wiggled by Houston for the worst/best record/draft spot, and since the Bears are set at QB1 with Justin Fields, Chicago can hang a shingle and wait for the best offer from whichever team wants Bryce Young, CJ Stroud or even Will Levis.
Mike Tomlin. In the NFL, everyone rightly searches far and wide for a QB1 to build around. Front office folks should be searching for coaches who motivate men the way Mike Tomlin does with the Steelers. With very little chance of making the playoffs for the better part of the last month, the Steelers competed on every snap and while they missed the postseason -- and missed postseasons mean failed season in Pittsburgh -- the team got to 9-8. That means in all 16 years that he's been the Steelers head coach, Tomlin has had a winning record. That's incredible. (And I see you too Dan Campbell, who led the Lions to a win at Green Bay Sunday night with very little at stake for Detroit other than pride.)
Weekend losers (many)
Aaron Rodgers, Quay Walker and the Green Bay Packers. Not sure why I expected a spoiled and entitled collection of brats to be any type of down-the-stretch threat. Rodgers' indifference -- and Mike McCarthy making the playoffs (again) with Dallas -- kinda flips the blame back on ol' Man Bun for the Packers being the most talented "one Super Bowl" team over the past 15 years, don't you think? And Walker pushing a Detroit trainer -- this of all weeks when every player should be buying the medical staff and on-field emergency crews 'thank you' gifts -- was classless. What a clown show, and what does the future hold for that crew?
Collin Morikawa. Yeah, seven-shot leads on Sunday should always be enough. I've said it in the afternoon betting email, but I'll offer it again, I enjoy golf wagering. And many if you had a Morikawa ticket as he went from 25 under and up 7 to 25 under and down 2, well, sorry about that.
Everyone was forced to watch the Dolphins-Jets game Sunday. Yeah, who had 11-6 in the final score bingo card?
Brandon Staley. OK, the Chargers were going to be the 5 seed in the AFC playoffs if they beat Denver. If they lost to Denver, the Chargers were going to be the 5 seed. Everyone knew this going in. Well, everyone but apparently Staley, the team's head coach who played his starters and watched Austin Ekeler get hurt, Joey Bosa get dinged up and Mike Williams get carted off the field.
Dak Prescott. Remember when Dak used to be good? Ah, the good old days. Seriously, the only thing worse than playing your starters in an all-but-meaningless Week 18 game and having someone get hurt is playing your starters in an all-but-meaningless Week 18 game and everyone stinking up the joint like Dak and Dallas did Sunday. If there's such a thing as negative momentum, the Cowboys have it.
John Calipari. Wowser. Wasn't it good ol' coach Cal who in August in answer to Mark Stopps' saying UK is a football school reminded us that UK is a basketball school and Alabama and Georgia are football schools? Well, that football school in Tuscaloosa took Cal's Wildcats to a historic woodshed. Can you imagine the morning call-in shows in and around Ledington today?
Urban Meyer. So, with Coach Liar, the Jags got the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. Without Coach Liar, the Jags are headed to the playoffs. Hmmmmmm. Coincidence? I say no.
So much at stake
As Paschall wrote here -- rules are rules folks -- Stetson Bennett could close an unbelievable story tonight.
So unbelievable, it makes "Rudy" look predictable.
Yeah, we all are aware of the backstory and Bennett's love for the Georgia Bulldogs and his commitment to being the QB1 for his favorite team.
Well, he went from game manager to Heisman finalist and now he has a chance to do the unthinkable for those of us who grew up pretending to jump over the line into our beds like a certain Bulldogs tailback did.
Forget all the line items at stake tonight -- and there are many, including Kirby Smart passing Vince Dooley and Wally Butts as the best Georgia coach ever -- for just a second and imagine saying this or even thinking this a couple of years ago.
If Stetson Bennett plays well tonight and Georgia goes back-to-back forget the Rushmore of Georgia football players because Bennett would easily make that.
Bennett would have a strong argument for being the most beloved Georgia football player ever.
And yes, that means Herschel Walker too.
(Please note I did not say the best. Best and beloved are two strikingly different things more times than not. Sure some schools have a Peyton Manning who could easily be in both categories.)
It's hard to imagine, but could Stetson etch a Tebow-like spot in the lore of his program tonight?
What say you Bulldogs backers? And maybe you won't comment until after the deed is done -- if you are not at least a little superstitious as a sports fan, then you are doing it wrong -- but think about it.
There's more than a little on the line.
This and that
-- So we head into the final leg of the "Bowling for Bowls of Bowl Game Success (Bowler Optional)" with the following top five: Ted P 97, Tom P 93, Brent R 88, Kevin C 78 and Vader 76. Everyone but Brent has Georgia winning tonight. Brent has TCU, which caused me to email him and ask why he backed the Frogs. His answer was he cheers for Georgia Tech so he could never pick Georgia and he thought the Big Ten was overrated. So there you go. Georgia wins, Ted P wins; TCU wins, Brent R wins.
-- While he has been cornered into a top-three finish regardless but no chance to win, here's hoping Tom P followed his picks on a legalized betting app down the stretch. After a rough run right after Christmas, Tom P sprinted to the finish by hitting 11 of the final 13 bowl games, including both semifinals. Well played, well played indeed.
-- Luke List finished 11th in Hawaii and made $292,500 for the effort. Yeah, that's a nice weekend in the Aloha State.
-- Speaking of golf, we have chatted frequently about the impact of the LIV on the PGA Tour, but here's touring pro Harry Higgs -- who is a wonderful quote if you head the Q&A -- saying the biggest hurdle for the PGA is that the LIV took all "the (bleep)holes -- all the villains" and how that could impact the TV product. That's a fair take -- in a lot of directions.
-- So we're getting a "Gladiator 2" from Ridley Scott and Co. Yippee.
-- Speaking of the AFC South champion Jags, man, the Titans find themselves in a strange spot, no? Feels like it's about to be a complete rebuild, doesn't it?
-- The Falcons won their last two to hurt their draft stock after being eliminated from the playoffs. It also is very fair to criticize the leadership of this team for not giving the keys to Desmond Ridder sooner. What do we know about Ridder heading into next year? And should the Falcons look for a QB1 in round one?
Today's questions
Weekend winners and losers. Go.
Multiple choice Monday looks a little something like this:
Who wins tonight?
There you go.
As for today, Jan. 9, let's review.
Kate Middleton is 41. And no, I did not watch a single second of Harry on "60 Minutes."
Richard Nixon would have been 110 today.
Bob Saget died on this day last year.
The first organized circus happened on this day in 1768 in London.
Rushmore of "circus," and be creative.
And thanks to everyone who played the Bowl contest. If you have a score discrepancy, please let me know at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.