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.