5-at-10: December traditions, Early signing day, Sports betting in the Volunteer State, Rushmore of Reggies

Alabama football coach Nick Saban is preparing the Crimson Tide for its fifth straight appearance in the College Football Playoff, which has never been played without Saban or the Tide being part of it.
Alabama football coach Nick Saban is preparing the Crimson Tide for its fifth straight appearance in the College Football Playoff, which has never been played without Saban or the Tide being part of it.

December traditions

OK there are few December traditions that happen every single year.

There is Alabama getting into the college football playoff. Check. Do you know we are 10 days from the the semifinals? Nuts, right?

There's me overspending on Christmas gifts. Check, and double check. (Side note: Let's just say that of all the people you know I'm willing to bet I care about money the least. Now I know I need money, and, as Pop always said, "It's better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick," so I know I am blessed to be gainfully employed and comfortable in this life. But as for the grabbing and accumulating or using money as a measuring stick, that's never been for me. In fact, other than my kids, spending lavishly on others - be it picking up tabs for friends or sliding $20s into the hands of the homeless - money is just another thing. And the joy I get spending it on others is way more enjoyable to me than saying I got this or that in the bank. And those of you cats know me personally are vigorously nodding as you read this.) I love Christmas.

There's me making the classic dad joke with my kids on the final school day before Christmas break and saying "Last day of school for the entire year," and my 8-year-old getting feisty in her argument that it's not. Check. Good times.

There is the NFL announcing its Pro Bowl selections, which leads to the complaining about this guy or that guy being 'snubbed' (Holy Buckets, Andrew Luck did not make the team? How can you have a Pro Bowl without Alvin Kamara?), which also leads to several players backing out of the invite for this reason or that injury, which leads to snubbed player getting picked, which leads to snubbed players like Luck and Kamara getting offered and backing out, which leads to Josh Allen and Nick Mullens and Tevin Coleman starting the Pro Bowl.

There is the moment that the overload of Christmas music lands squarely on your ear drum. If it has not happened for you yet, cool. But since Christmas music can be found before Halloween these days, at some point, the 12th million time you've heard those a cappella dudes with the Christmas mash-up that somehow includes Toto's Africa can lead any or all of us to put our foot through the radio. (If you need a change of pace from the holiday hollows and the Christmas classics may we suggest Press Row 3-6 p.m. weekdays on ESPN 105.1 the Zone. Fine show with Paschall and Wells and some fat-headed fellow who talks too much.)

There will be the whispers and national analysts talking about Nick Saban to (fill-in-the-blank NFL job). Check. It started on Tuesday as Ryan Clark said on ESPN that the Packers should do whatever it takes to hire Saban. Hey, we're down with that. In fact, we're so down with that, if we need to pony up a couple of Hundos to make the ends meet on the deal, just let me know.

And there also will be the stone-to-be had debate about too many bowl games. Cue the music in 5, 4, 3 And hey, if you don't want to watch the bowls, we're good with that. It gives us another chance to try to hunter entertainment. (Speaking of which, the first round of Bowling for Bowls of Bowl Game Success ((Bowler Optional)) will be in Friday's mailbag. Deal? Deal.) And the anti-bowl crowd will quickly point to the numbers of each of the six bowl games Saturday being down in either ratings or viewers and in most cases in both. And we're pretty sure if you do not wanna watch the bowl game, there are like 213 other channels out there. (Side note: The bowl names are nuts, right? The Cheribundi Bowl last night sounds like if Al Bundy had an illegitimate daughter before Kelly and Bud and she grew up to be a shoe model/dancer at The Jiggly Room on "Married with Children" right? Side question on the side note: Of all the fictional names for strip clubs from movies and TV shows, Bada Bing! from the Sopranos is the MJ of this category, right? This is a pretty good Rushmore considering you have the Bada Bing!, the Eager Beaver from "Striptease," The Peppermint Hippo from "South Park,"and The Lusty Leopard from "How I Met Your Mother" just for starters.)

National signing day, part I

For the most part, I would have to believe that even the most staunch critics of the proposed early signing period for college football would have to admit this has worked.

Seemed to be fewer stories of last minute pulled scholarships and the pre-snap fears never materialized.

Here's a spot for live updates through out the day as the signing period picks up steam.

But here's the gist: Alabama is going to get a lot of dudes who are good. So will Georgia and several of the other top programs.

That part has not changed, whether the signatures come in December or February.

And if the biggest complaint still standing against the early signing period is that it took away some of the drama from the traditional February date, well, mission accomplished.

Christmas gift for a lot of us

OK, we have discussed this on more than one occasion.

Legalized ports betting is coming. Heck, the sports gambler was named the most influential person in sports in 2018 by the Sports Business Journal. (We gladly accept this honor for all of the hard-charging, backdoor-covering, parlaying-praying and "Honey, Shhhhhh, the Gasparilla Bowl is on, and we got Marshall minus the 3 and the over 61" guys and gals out there. Amen. Pass the parlay sheet.)

As we have discussed, it will change the way we watch sports. Right now, t's covered with the casual comments like last night's "The first half is almost over and this game is almost over if you know what I mean" during the unexpectedly high scoring Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl that only a few of us catch. In coming years, if the broadcast booth is going to have a rules official breaking dow replay, here's betting there will be a universal gambling expert going over the most likely scoring scenarios of how this team can comeback and cover or how this 7-3 game with 12 minutes to play can still go over the 43.

And for the first tangible time we can announce that it looks like Tennessee is among the next states to try to legalize the stream of stacks of cash that legalized sports betting represent.

Here's the proposed bill before the state legislature and it includes a slew of the gambling definitions and one clear and interesting caveat.

Sports wagering in Tennessee, at least in this bill, will be decided by local option election.

As for the split of these gambling monies, well, this is pretty interesting.

There is a 10 percent tax on money made (i.e. house winnings), which in some ways means the local gambling folks are paying vig on their big, which begs the question of how profitable this may be for independent contractors running gambling houses, especially if there's a rocky start.

So that 10 percent is divided thusly, according to that bill: 40 percent of that taxed money will be sent to the state treasurer for deposit into general fund to be used at the discretion of the general assembly; 30 percent will be sent to the state treasurer and directed to "to each Tennessee college of applied technology and community college in this state on a per capita basis, based on student population as determined by the department;" and 30 percent collected must be distributed months to each local government in the state on a per capita basis, as determined by population.

While we are all for legalized state gambling - and marijuana for that matter - those details are devilish. And downright unfair.

Municipalities like Nashville and Memphis and Knoxville and Chattanooga - places that are a) much larger, b) renown tourists spots and/or c) located on borders with other states that do not have legalized gambling - would generate way, Way, WAY more monies from sports betting. And for that money to go to all the state schools and every local government even if they do not legalize sports wagering does not seem fair.

As for what's ate stake, well, know this: Mississippi, the first state in there region to legalize sports betting, took in $44 million in bets in November alone. For comparisons sake, according to the Mississippi Today, the Magnolia State made $660,000 from sports betting on the $5.5 million wagered in September. So, if you multiply that $660K by 8 and the same levels of success and failure happened, Mississippi made way more than $5 million for its roads and infrastructure in November alone.

We've talked about how this was coming. It looks like it's here and happening in Tennessee much sooner rather than later.

This and that

- Is the brouhaha about LeBron having a dunk attempt blocked a bigger statement of LeBron's greatness in that the highlight is shocking, a testament to how we are so quick to celebrate the negative (and to highlight that point can anyone name who blocked LeBron's dunk?) or some of each? Discuss. We could ask this on a Which Way Wednesday, but we have a theme. Yep, theme show. Giddy Up.

- Rest in Peace LaVerne DeFazio aka Penny Marshall, who died Tuesday.

- The U.S. has banned 'bump stocks' on semi-automatic weapons. Good. What took so long, other than the uber-powerful NRA lobby?

- As we discussed some Tuesday, it appears that Justin Fields is on the way out of Athens. Here's a 247sports.com story on 10 possible landing spots for Justin Fields, who may or may not be related to Sally Fields. Of that list, the two that would interest me the most: Oklahoma because Lincoln Riley is a genius and Florida because Dan Mullen made Dak Prescott and his limited skills by comparison into a viable NFL dude. Imagine what Mullen could create with Fields' skill set. We like him. We really, really like him.

- Hey, and we need to be better about this, but here are a couple of picks for tonight: We'll take Auburn over NC State in a hoops pick 'em and we'll take Ohio minus-2.5 and the over 51.

Today's questions

Which way Wednesday will go this way since it's the last Wednesday before Christmas.

Which is your fav Christmas song? (Little Drummer Boy for me. And it's not close.)

Which Christmas movie is your absolute, "It's not Christmas until we watch it" go-to Christmas movie? (For me, "It's a Wonderful Life" narrowly ahead of "Love Actually" and "Christmas Vacation.")

Which, and this one is harder than above, is the best made-for-TV Christmas special? (Ours is "Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas" and again, it's not that close.)

As for today, well, it's Dec. 19, so let's explore.

Happy birthday Alyssa Milano, who has been famous for way more than half her life. She's 46 and started in Who's the Boss? at 12.

Paulina Gretzky is 30 today. Jennifer Beals is 55, and Kristy Swanson is 49. Man, lots of attractive ladies born on Dec. 19.

On this day in 1843, Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" is published.

Reggie White would have been 57 today.

Rushmore of Reggies. Go.

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