Rushmore of sandwiches - Grilled cheese, Chick-Fil-A, French Dip, day after Thanksgiving turkey and mayo on white bread.
Rushmore of pets - TV: Lassie, Arnold the pig from Green Acres, Pete the pup from Little Rascals, Buck from Married with Children. Cartoon: Scooby Doo, Brian from Family Guy, Astro and Dino. Movie pets: Old Yeller, every canine in Best in Show, Babe, Benji.
Rushmore of NFL color analysts - Madden, Meredith, Romo and Collinsworth
Rushmore of Dennis - Sports version we'll go Johnson, Rodman, Martinez and Eckersley. (Yes we remember Denny McLain, but we're sticking to the Dennis.) Non-sports: the Menace, Hopper, Haysbert (Pedro Cerrano), Haskin (Mr. Belding).
Atlanta Braves Peter Bourjos (12) drops his bat after hitting a single scoring two runs against the Washington Nationals to take the lead in the 12th inning of a baseball game at Nationals Park, Wednesday, April 11, 2018 in Washington. Atlanta won 5-3 (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)From Steve
Ohtani is just awesome...tell me J, why is it that most big league pitchers aren't good hitters??? Do they stop taking BP after High School? I played from little league until i graduated, and most pitchers are also good hitters...but they become mostly "sure outs" after they hit the bigs. I don't get it. And if they do stop taking BP, why is that? It has never made sense to me.
The Braves are 7-5, headed to Chicago. If they can end this trip 4-5 i think we could consider it a success. I was a bit curious what would happen when Acuna arrived, since Tucker's bat had been so hot, but it seems to have cooled a bit, but so has Acunas (He's hitting .105 right now, that's concerning), think he may spend more time at Gwinnett than was first thought? With below average starters, they really need Vizcaino to be not just solid, but dominant, which he hasn't been.
Thanks J! Keep up the good work.
Steve
Let's cover the second part first. No, we think Acuna will be in Atlanta when the team returns from Chicago to face the Phillies.
It would be amazingly hypocritical to base keeping him there on numbers when his numbers in spring training were clearly ready for the call. Plus, while Acuna is hitting .120 at Triple-A Gwinnett, you would have to believe a big part of that is the mental motivation of the message being clear that, "Hey kid, we know you are good, but go to the minors so we can save a year on your contract."
As far as Ohtani is concerned, we are in. He is appointment TV for us, and we are scanning MLB Network (Channel 473 on EPB by the way) frequently for Angels broadcasts.
It's that much fun.
There are a lot of big-league folks watching this experiment closely. Think of the roster flexibility this could provide in the future, and there are a lot of guys who excel at both as high as the college level.
Guys like Tim Hudson and Todd Helton were awesome both at the plate and on the mound. Heck, last year's college baseball player of the year was Brandon McKay, a pitcher/first baseman for Louisville.
The simple reason for the divide at the professional level has been the focus and work spent on one. If you are throwing every day then you are not hitting, and vice versa.
But if a player is willing to try it and put in the extra work, this Ohtani mania and success could certainly generate more willingness from teams to let kids prospects try it.
Either way, we are in. Oh my.
Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, hits from the azaleas on the 13th hole during the third round at the Masters golf tournament Saturday, April 7, 2018, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)From Todd
Possible mailbag item. Who'll win the next golf major from the group of Tiger, Rory, Jordan, and Patrick?
Todd -
Of that group, I'll go Rory narrowly over Jordan. And that's because we stand by the contention that Rory's A-game is better than anyone else's A-game on the planet. (Dustin Johnson is a close second.)
And for that to be the case, it means we think Rory will win one of the three majors left in 2018.
Why, you ask? Because we think there's a real chance that Rory's Masters struggles are becoming more and more mental. Good luck with that.
And Spieth's excellence at the Masters is clear. Dude will be the favorite at Augusta National for the next decade.
As for the other two on your list, well, who knows if Tiger will ever win another major. He may, but the hurdles before him are still challenging.
Has he improved? Absolutely. But those of us who want him to be back in major championship form, well, wishing is not the same as winning.
For Reed, the Masters as your first major hangover is real. Sergio has been spotty at best since his win last year. Since 1990, there are only two players who won the Masters and then won a second major in the same year: Tiger and Jordan.
Lee Westwood of England tees off on the 14th hole during the 1st round of the DP World Tour Championship golf tournament at the Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili) From MocTastic
Who is the best (male) golfer now without a major to his credit?
MT -
It was forever easy before Philly Mick won his first green jacket.
Same for the decade or so before Sergio last year at Augusta.
You had a fair point earlier this week that Rickie Fowler only has four career wins, but he is ranked 6th in the world. So he's in the conversation.
Speaking of the world golf rankings, here are the players in the top 20 without a major:
Jon Rahm is third; Fowler is sixth; Hideki Matsuyama is eighth; Tommy Fleetwood is 12th; Paul Casey is 13th; Marc Leishman is 16th; Alex Noren is 17th; Terrell Hatton is 18th.
Matt Kuchar is 21st, and he has mentions in this group of the best players without a major.
Until he finally breaks through, Rahm is going to hear those whispers more and more with each passing year.
But our answer goes beyond who is playing the best right now. The best golfer in terms of a guy who will head out tomorrow morning and shoot 65 without a major is Rahm.
The best golfer in terms of accomplishments and career with a major is Lee Westwood.
Yes he is 43. But he has 25 wins combined here and in Europe. He was ranked No. 1 in the world in 2010.
From Chas
And SEC baseball is also good. Amazing, actually. Florida, Arkansas and Mississippi are in the top five and UK and Vandy are at #13 and #14. Why do you suppose Big Orange baseball still sucks?
Chas -
This is such a good question, whether you were asking it rhetorically, purposefully or just with a little college rivalry smack.
It is inexplicable that Tennessee stinks at baseball to be honest. Nashville is growing and is getting better as a baseball locale. Plus, with the state-lottery-funded Hope scholarship, Tennessee should be able to make ends meet in terms of scholarships in a lot of cases for in-state kids.
The only thing more puzzling than Tennessee sticking at baseball (the Vols have made three SEC tournaments since 2007) is Georgia struggling at baseball.
Georgia also has the Hope scholarship option that allows baseball programs, which have fewer than 12 scholarships to fill a team, a huge boost. And Georgia has the best high school baseball in the country.
Great question with no good answers.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) passes the ball in front of Memphis Grizzlies guard Kobi Simmons (2) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, April 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)From Mike C.
Jay, I heard you guys on Press Row (love the show BTW) talk about Westbrook's back-to-back triple-double seasons.
Did you come up with anyone who did something like that? It really is amazing.
Mike C. -
Thanks for listening and playing along with the silliness.
You are right, what Russell Westbrook has done is pretty amazing.
Comparisons are tough to offer, but here are the two that jumped out to me.
First there is Barry Bonds. From 2002-2004 Barry Bonds' on-base percentage was .582, .529, and .609. Before that there had been five seasons in baseball history in which players had an on-base percentage of .525 or higher, most recently accomplished by Ted Williams in 1957.
The other comparison could be O.J. Simpson. Before the Juice in the early 1970s, there had been one dude who had topped 1,800 rushing yards in a season. It was some cat named Jim Brown. Then the Juice topped 2,000 in '73 and 1,800 in '75.
And while those runs were amazing, they still do not compare to the balance of Westbrook's triple double.
Plus, we don't think Westbrook has been on the PEDs or killed an ex-wife. So he's got that going for him, too.