Weekend winners
The NFL. Clearly. Lots more on that below, but if I set the over/under on the average audience of Sunday night’s thrilling Chiefs’ win over the Bills at 60 million, where are you going?
Harris English. The Baylor School graduate and former UGA golf star won his fifth PGA Tour title over the weekend. This one has to be especially sweet for English, who returned from several injuries over the last several years to the winner’s circle. He made the tidy sum of $1.674 million for the W and has made $37.862 million in career golf earnings (PGA events and majors), according to Spotrac.com.
Vandy. Monster win over a schizophrenic Kentucky team that has looked like world beaters and woefully beatable several times this season. Bet Paschall knows the answer to this. (And if Auburn keeps squeaking out narrow wins and heads to Nashville ranked No. 1 in the country, Vandy could very well have wins over the No. 1 football team — Bama was top-ranked when the ‘Dores closed them out — and hoops squad.)
Stephen A. Smith. Look, I normally agree with ol’ Screamin’ A as much as do with tax increases, and that’s OK. He’s mega-talented — truly, whether you love him or loathe him, he’s all-time great at opinion/content creation — and makes a mint from the mothership. And his answer to Bill Maher on why Trump won is pretty dang insightful for a guy who has never been a Trump supporter.
This kid who hit a full-court putt at the Auburn-UT game to win a car. That’s awesome, right?
Bonus pick: Personally, I love the Braves’ addition of Jurickson Profar to play in the outfield — either left or in right until Ronald Acuña is back to 100% — late last week. He got three years and $42 million from Atlanta after hitting .280 with 24 homers and 85 RBIs in an All-Star season in 2024 with San Diego.
Weekly losers
The NFL. Again, lots more in a moment, but I believe Chiefs’ fatigue is real, and when there’s this much “conspiracy” claims in regard to officials, well, that’s never a good thing.
The TV fans hoping for a great AU-UT basketball game. Sure, it was dramatic and tense. The crowd was great. And if you truly love defense — like Steelers in the late 1970s defense — then you were pleased, I suppose. But the officiating was rotten. (Seriously, I know it seems like we say this about three times a month — and I know we have way more camera angles with HD freeze-frame shots, but c’mon.) And the shooting was so subpar — especially for an AU team that entered the game leading the country in offensive efficiency — it made for a very ugly game.
WNBA in general. The full-court women’s hoops 3-on-3 thing looks like a train wreck. Who plays full court 3-on-3? Anyone? Bueller? And for all the league folks who wonder if the sport itself has finally arrived or if the sport is greatly benefitted by the arrival of Caitlin Clark: Know this: The WNBA had a mega-trade over the weekend. Two Olympians — and multi-time All-Stars — and three first-round picks were part of the three-team deal. And it’s creating no buzz.
Californians. Sure, this could be a weekly thing all things considered, but after the drought and the unrelenting wildfires, Southern California is getting rain. Conditions are ripe for mudslides.
Sunday funday
So many layers to the NFL conference championship weekend onion, right?
Here are my five biggest themes/takeaways:
> Appreciate the all-time greatness, if you can. We took Tiger for granted. And MJ. and Jeter, and even maybe LeBron and Steph most recently. The Chiefs are only the eighth team to win back-to-back Super Bowls and they are the first among that collective to get back to the Super Bowl for a three-peat chance. Moreover, not unlike the above crew of superstars there is an inevitability that comes with level of all-time greatness. We expected Jordan to hit the foul line jumper (after pushing off against Byron Russell) like we expected Tiger to make every meaningful 10-footer and Jeter to be standing triumphant with fists raised in the end. That’s a GOAT trait, and Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are overflowing with it.
> Are Mahomes and Chiefs Coach Andy Reid already on the QB1 and HC NFL Rushmore? A win in two weeks dunks it, right? It’s hard to fathom, but would you rather have Montana’s career or Mahomes’ right now? Shula’s or Reid’s? You can make a hard argument the league is more challenging these days. And if you want similar eras, would you rather have Mahomes’ career or Manning’s or even Aaron Rodgers? Discuss.
> The calls in the Chiefs’ 32-29 win are going to be much-debated. Again, here’s betting there were 70 million watching the end of that game. But the narrative is flawed. I do not believe in some overarching conspiracy in major sports for the same reason that folks are adamant that the Chiefs (or the Bulldogs or the Tide or popular team X in whatever sport) do get all those calls. Their reason is money. OK, my reason against buying that malarkey is also money, because Roger Goodell and the powers that be behind the all-powerful Shield assuredly know that any type of conspiracy would a) get eventually uncovered and b) while may be short-term profitable to have Patrick Mahomes chasing history in two weeks, would cost the league billions in credibility and everyone involved their careers, fortunes and freedom when it’s discovered.
> Plus, don’t blame the refs per se on the two most ballyhooed calls. Blame the rules and the language. The ball that was ruled a catch that got the Chiefs down to the 5 that appeared to be caught by both and likely hit the ground, fell directly under the “clear evidence to overturn the call on the field” provision. As for whether Josh Allen got a first down on the sneak, well, unless this is your first time here, a lot of us have been begging for better ways to spot the ball in a game where grown men take years off their lives to fight for an extra two inches. It’s time to chip the ball and be done with it. Like with Steve Austin, we have the technology.
> Is there a person with two mostly working eyes who spent large parts of the last two weekends watching this glorious theater that has been the NFL playoffs who would not vote for Saquan Barkley as MVP this season if they held on to the ballot until before the Super Bowl? It’s past time to realize the postseason matters in everything else in sports debates, and it should matter in awards too.
Thoughts?
This and that
› Yes, I feel for Josh Allen. I was pulling for the Bills (and the Commanders, actually, but there’s less angst in a boot-stomping than there is a heart-breaker). After a rocky start Sunday, Allen played great, but he a) needs some help — on the field and from the sideline — and b) is banging his head against all-time greatness. Neither are his fault, but he’ll have to wear it until he can shed it, you know?
› Hey, where are all the coaches complaining about the money in the pot for, say Jim Knowles, the former DC at THE Ohio State? Yeah, Knowles jumped ship and took $3.1 million for the same job at Penn State. First, holy schnikes, $3.1 million for a college coordinator? Second, it’s cheaper to just buy players in the portal, because there is no “scholarship” buyout clause. The Columbus Dispatch reported that Knowles’ buyout would be 30% of his base salary of $1.32 million. Also, for those scoring at home, Knowles would be replacing Tom Allen, who entered the coaching portal and left PSU for Clemson. Pot, kettle. Kettle, pot.
— Enjoyed this interview with Jon Hamm about a slew of things, including “Landman” costar Billy Bob Thornton. Have completed season one of that show. Absolutely tremendous TV.
Today’s questions
Weekend winners and losers. Go.
Multiple choice Monday goes this way:
If we all readily agree that Bill Belichick is on the NFL coaching Rushmore in the Super Bowl era, which of these all-time names would be left off the shrine?
— Andy Reid
— Tom Landry
— Vince Lombardi
— Don Shula
— Bill Walsh
— Chuck Noll
Discuss.
Mozart would have been 269 today. We’ve done the Rushmore of Wolfgangs right? Him and Puck and a couple of other cats. (Spy?)
Andre the Giant would have been 79 today. Rushmore of Giants, and have a little fun.