Let’s handle our business.
› Rushmore of Ronald/Ron/Ronnie — Ronald Reagan, Ronald McDonald, “Da Do Ron Ron,” and Ron Howard narrowly over Ron Burgundy. You stay classy, Chattanooga.
› Rushmore of cheese — “Say cheese,” grilled cheese, (it’s not easy being) cheesy, and Cheez-Its. Best cheese for a grilled cheese is American. Period.
› Rushmore of worst baseball uniforms of all-time — White Sox shorts, several versions of the Diamondbacks, the Padres’ brown, any camouflage spinoff.
› Rushmore of “June” — June bug, June Cleaver, June Carter Cash, June Jones.
Wow, what a crazy 24 hours with some heavy duty face-offs.
Donald and Elon.
Pacers and Thunder
Texas and Texas Tech in college softball.
Aaron Rodgers and Steelers fans.
Braves and their bullpen.
Plus, college baseball’s super regionals start today.
Let’s get to the bag.
From Bicycle_Bob
Jay, would you say that it’s never a good look when stars (golf or otherwise) begin to think they can snub the media? After all, isn’t the media essentially a liaison to the fans and the public? Did Arnie or Babe ever refuse to give an interview?
BB
It’s a different day and age, because there are so many ways for athletes and sports stars to communicate with the fans.
Not sure who needs who more these days, because without access, the media is in a serious pickle.
It was not this way with Arnie or the Babe, who also were masters of using/manipulating the media, and according to what I’ve heard and read, the media protected a lot of those one-name stars in terms of stories and allegations, especially in off-the-field stuff.
Guys like the ones you mentioned or Mickey Mantle or Joe Willie Namath or even MJ or Tiger, those guys were super powerful, and they knew it.
And those covering them knew it, too.
From JTC
I didn’t watch (the Braves) as I was working … but if today’s D-backs’ top of the 9th doesn’t stir AA and Snit, then nothing will. Unbelievably bad.
JTC
Oh my goodness. This has to be rock bottom for the Boys of Southern Summer, right?
Right?
To recap, the Braves led 10-4 heading into the ninth Thursday afternoon at home over Arizona. Then came homer, walk, homer, walk, double, single, single and go-ahead two-run double.
An 11-10 Arizona win punctuated the D-Backs’ sweep of the Braves at Truist.
It was the first win in Arizona franchise history when trailing by six in the ninth. It was the Braves’ first loss since July 1973 when leading by six in the ninth.
Atlanta is 27-34 and 11 games back of the NL East-leading Mets. Even more staggering, Atlanta is only 3.5 games ahead of Miami, which just got swept by the historically bad Colorado Rockies.
Closer Raisel Iglesias’ ERA is 6.75. That’s not a typo.
The bullpen is now 10-of-21 on save chances.
Atlanta is 9-16 in one-run games, and whether that’s on Manager Brian Snitker or GM Alex Anthopoulos — or the possibility that a roster loaded with guys with long-term deals has become complacent — is anyone’s guess.
To be fair, the Astros and the Mets had similarly slow starts last year and rebounded to make the playoffs. Heck, the Braves were a comparably blah-tastic 29-32 in 2021 when they eventually won the World Series.
But that team had leaders and locker room dudes.
Who leads this crew? Because Ronald Acuña Jr. is not the problem — he’s hitting .333 with an OPS north of 1.000 in his return — but the Braves are now 3-9 with Acuña in the order.
I don’t know the answer, JTC, but there are clear problems.
From Max
Now that Aaron Rodgers is with Pittsburgh, can we stop talking about that jerk?
Max
No way. Now that he has signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers, he becomes even more of a topic.
Rodgers could be good, and it seems like a steal. (How ’bout a Fresca, Spy?)
Rodgers could be a disaster, and that feels like the safe bet. The Steelers’ over/under win total is 8.5 and Rodgers’ TD over/under is 22.5.
So if the under hits, it would be Mike Tomlin’s first losing season. Ever. And at that point, do the questions about Tomlin’s time being done in Pittsburgh resonate?
I do have a couple of outside questions.
First, how much do we over-value the “Steelers culture,” at least in its current form, if Justin Fields walked to be a New York Jet and the Steelers clearly were waiting on Rodgers’ decision all offseason?
Second, how does Mason Rudolph feel right now?
Third, what number will Rodgers wear since his forever 12 was retired for Terry Bradshaw, who has been overly critical of the Steelers courting Rodgers?
Finally, with the Browns and the Steelers and Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson, how filled with crazy QB storylines is the AFC North?
From J
Jay, I’ve seen a little of the D1 playoffs in the run-up to CWS. I’ve always thought that Tony Vitello has a little too much to say, though he’s toned it down in the last year or so. His personality isn’t why we’re watching. Gotta love it that the Wake Forest coach works for a Baptist school, and he’s been cited for homo slurs. But I hope he keeps his job. Virtue signalers need to lighten up a little on the outrage. It’s the intensity of competition, after all.
Fist bumps are OK, but taunting an opponent should not be tolerated. Uniform violations are verboten, too. Get your inside out back left pocket back in your pants. Only one (1) top shirt button is allowed to be unbuttoned. I don’t want to see necklaces, either. Your hat is to be centered on your head. Your shirttails stay tucked in until you are off the field at the end of any game. But MLBers are the biggest offenders maybe and they inspire college players? Thank you.
J
I love Tony Vitello, the UT baseball coach, and think what he’s done redirecting that program has been tremendous. I think he’s right there with Kirby, Bruce Pearl and Dawn Staley as the most-beloved coach among his fan base across all sports in the SEC.
His personality may not be why we’re watching, but there is reason to believe his personality — and some deep NIL pockets — are big reasons why the Vols have zoomed to the top.
I have enjoyed the back-and-forth this week between Chipper Jones and Vols Twitter, which is an army of keyboard warriors who are anything but shy.
The costumes are crazy these days, and you are so right about the back-pocket thing. I also do not like the front-arm pad with crazy messages that has become the rage for some teams.
But I am for bat flips and college kids having fun, and if you don’t want to see a bat flip, well, don’t hang a meatball and let them act like a meatball.
Now the language is over-the-top salty. It does not take a Helen Keller-level lip-reader to see Liam Doyle’s got a full vocabulary of dirty words.
As for Tom Walter, I disagree to a point, and I am far from a pearl-clutcher as anyone who has read this column more than once can attest.
No one was miffed at his dropping the F-bomb, but it was the other f-word.
If he had called whomever his diatribe was directed toward a “bleeping a-hole,” no one is saying a word.
There are a few words that are forever out of bounds, and sure, everyone has the freedom to say any of them. But that does not mean there is no freedom from the consequences of saying those things. And we all know saying those things — in public or private or in the heat of competition — means you’re rolling the dice in this day and age, because there are cameras and mics everywhere.
I hope Walter keeps his job, too, but we know the stakes when you use slurs like that.
From Spy
Spent some time over Memorial Day weekend with one of my cousins who grew up with the Wahlbergs.
Mark Wahlberg now is all in to his prayer app, Hallow.
It’s a long way from being in his Calvins.
Nothing like making the parents happy, too, especially when they’re at the age where you feel like you’re raising them. I do miss buying them ice cream and seeing how happy it made them.
About 25 years ago, biggest brother went up north to drive mom and dad back home (brother No 2 drove ’em up and flew back).
The old man is kicking the back of the driver’s seat.
Big bro turns and snaps a “Hey! Cut that out!”
The old man goes, “Sucks, doesn’t it?”
Spy
Amen.
As bad as it was at the end taking care of Pop, who was fighting brain cancer seven summers ago, not a week goes by that I don’t wish for one more day.
Have a great weekend, friends.