And the worm turns
OK, I have said before when asked who Alabama or Auburn or fill-in your football-first, football-last, football-forever schools will hire in basketball, "Someone who will not get the NCAA on campus."
I said that only somewhat jokingly back then, and considering what Bruce Pearl, who more than likely has his own personal NCAA investigator on his case, did at AU, well, there you go. (Also, Pearl's time on The Plains has hardly been NCAA-free.)
Well, now in the FBI college basketball trial, some dude named Marty Blazer is saying he routinely paid top college football players at places like Penn State, Pitt, Michigan, Notre Dame and Alabama from 2000-13. Blazer, a Pittsburgh-based financial planner, gave details of only one scenario - claiming he gave $10,000 to a Penn State assistant (allegedly Larry Johnson Sr.) to give to Aaron Maybin in 2009 - and it happened under Joe Paterno.
Johnson Sr., when contacted by YahooSports.com ace columnist Dan Wetzel, vehemently denied the allegations. (Here's Wentzel's story, and my question is vehemently only used before denials? What's the mini-Rushmore of words that are only used in cohort with other words? I would nominate billows as a verb after smoke and far left may be wreak and havoc. Whatcha' got?)
(Also, the Paterno years are aging more like spoiled milk than a fine wine, no? Egad.)
This is all very vague of course, and the football programs will deny them (vehemently of course) and the finger pointing will begin.
Blazer is a sleazy dude by all accounts. Hey, being part of the 'inner circle' workings of college sports recruiting is not a place for Eagle Scouts and George Washington followers.
But, not unlike a lot of other witnesses who turn state's evidence, a lack of character does not mean a lack of facts.
Agent Michael Avenatti tried to blackmail Nike for millions before being arrested on extortion charges. Avenatti's rap sheet and history is dotted with controversy.
Heck go all the way back to the dude who pulled the plug on the steroid era in baseball. Anyone around these parts want Jose Canseco to baby-sit their kids this weekend?
Of course not.
The connection between the three? Just because the allegations are coming from lying dirt bags does not mean those allegations are baseless.
Because, if there is no honor among the thieves, well, is there honor anywhere?
Drafting
Happy Draft Eve friends. Got any big plans?
OK, this one is a labor of love, because simply put, we love the draft. You know this.
Our Dodging the Draft While Feeling the Draft and Drinking a Draught Draft Doohickey is here. It normally is our lowest number of entries each year. There are a lot of specific details and detailed specifics. (We have about 20 entries so far. Deadline is Thursday at lunch.)
But here we go with the five questions (with my answers in parenthesis):
> Number of SEC players drafted in round 1? (12 - Quinnen Williams, Josh Allen, Devin White, Montez Sweat, Jonah Williams, Jawaan Taylor, Josh Jacobs and Drew Lock are eight (Drew) locks. Get it Spy? I am betting four of the next eight or nine of Jeffery Simmons, DK Metcalf, AJ Brown, Greedy Williams, DeAndre Baker, Johnathan Abram, Deionte Thompson, Erik McCoy and Irv Smith Jr.)
> First SEC player drafted? Quinnen Williams (and I would take him 1 overall).
> Second quarterback drafted? Drew Lock, Missouri.
> Falcons' first pick? Christian Wilkins, Clemson.
> Which team makes the last pick of the first round?
If we have a tie Thursday night, we will have an emergency tie-breaker on Day 2. Good times. Patriots.
OK, as we continue to sprint toward the draft - love the draft; you know this - let's discuss this topic.
Vegas has odds on everything, and the odds on the draft are pretty eye-popping.
Let's review.
From MyTopSportsbooks.com, the Jets are at 4-to-5 as the favorite to trade their first-round pick. (The 49ers at 2-to-1, Raiders at 3-to-1 and the Cardinals at 3-to-1 are next.)
Odds to be the No. 1 overall pick: Kyler Murray is 1-to-2 (bet $100 to win $50); Nick Bosa is 4-to-1 and Quinnen Williams is 7-to-1. The field is 99-to-1.
Odds on teams selecting a QB in round one:
Arizona is 2-to-5; New York Giants are 3-to-4; Denver is 2-to-1; Cincinnati is 3-to-1; Miami is 3-to-1; Oakland is 4-to-1; Washington 5-to-1.
Over/under on QBs picked in round 1 is 3.5. (Leaning over there.)
Over/unders on college players picked in round one:
Alabama is 3.0 (over, because three are dunks and rolling the dice with Irv Smth and Deionte Thompson);
Clemson is 2.5 (under because the two defensive lineman are the only names I have seen listed among Day 1 picks);
Oklahoma is 2.5 as is THE Ohio State (would likely go under on OU with Kyler Murray and Hollywood Brown and go over with THE Ohio State with Bosa, Haskins and one of those lightning fast skill-position dudes);
Michigan is 2.0, and that seems about right with Bush and Gary.
Over/unders on first-round picks by conference:
SEC is 12.5; ACC is 6.5; Big Ten is 6.5; Big 12 is 3.5; Pac 12 is 2.5; Non-Power 5 (including Notre Dame) is 2.0.
Odds to be the last player of the 22 players attending left in the green room: Josh Jacobs is 4-to-1; Brian Burns is 6-to-1; Andre Dillard is 8-to-1; Marquise Brown is 9-to-1; Christian Wilkins is 10-to-1; DeAndre Baker is 12-to-1; Devin Bush 15-to-1; DK Metcalf is 18-to-1.
God bless the draft.
Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard is defended by Detroit Pistons forward Blake Griffin, left, during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Portland, Ore., Saturday, March 17, 2018. The Blazers won 100-87. (AP Photo/Steve Dykes) NBA hoops
I have been open about this from the start.
I have not watched anywhere close to the amount of the NBA playoffs that I did in years past.
For me the LeBron factor is a big part of that.
Now that the first-round preliminaries are winding down, the match-ups, as Stewwie noted last week, are looking better and more intriguing.
Each team in the East's Final Four has a chance to get to the NBA Finals for the first time since LeBron came of age.
In the West, everyone coming for the Warriors' crown has some intrigue. (Is it enough to stay up till 2:30 a.m. or watch the Rockets' dribble-dribble-dribble-dribble-dribble-dribble-dribble-dribble-3 offense? Not sure, but it is at least a storyline.)
The topic du jour (the topic of the day, hmmmmm that sounds good, I think I'll have that) centers on the eliminated OKC Thunder and point guard Russell Westbrook.
The Thunder got bounced by Damian Lilliard. (Is there a better player no one knows than Lillian? Dude went for 50 last night including the buzzer-beating game-winner from 37 feet and hoisting a bye-bye wave to the OKC bench.)
Since Kevin Durant left town, the Thunder has not gotten out of the first round of the playoffs.
Yes, Westbrook has averaged a triple-double each of the last three regular seasons, but he's done it at a very low efficiency rate that does not translate well into the postseason when defenses are tougher and possessions mean more. (Simply put, Westbrook is a dreadful shooter, and in an ever-growing, perimeter-oriented game, your primary scorer being a guard who is not able to shoot better than 25 percent from is a fractured model.)
So now the conversation moves to whether the Thunder should blow this team up, and it's a fair question.
The West is going to get deeper - Utah is young; so is Denver; Golden State is going to be hurt by free agency, but the Lakers and the Clippers are going to improve - and the Thunder model clearly is good and clearly not good enough.
Would you trade Russell Westbrook? And conversely, would you trade for Russell Westbrook? Discuss.
This and that
- I thought the details Jim Nantz revealed about the final call at Augusta, which included 2.5 minutes of announcer silence so the crowd and the emotions carried the broadcaster, were cool. He was not in the tower, he was already in Butler Cabin, and he told Sports Business Journal: ""As soon as the ball dropped, I said to Lance on the talk-back switch, 'I'm not saying anything for a long time.' Lance and I wanted to make sure since that none of us were together, the next time somebody spoke it was going to be me. We were going ride this thing out and sit back and enjoy it. I never would have jumped on a moment that was that big. It was just so big. There was nothing you could do to add to it. You could only ruin it." Using that silence is way better than some hokey saying or the "Do you believe it" or "Are you kidding me" questions.
- Did you see Russell Wilson's gift to his offensive linemen? He gave each of them $12K in Amazon stock. All 13 of them. That's $156K, friends.
- Couple of interesting college football rule changes here from NCAA.com. Three targeting penalties in a season will mean a one-game suspension. Blind-side blocks are now a 15-yard penalty. Two-man wedge on kickoffs is no longer. And the seven-overtime Texas A&M-LSU marathon will be never duplicated. If teams are tied after five overtimes, teams will trade two-point conversions until there is a winner. There also are tweaks to the review process of targeting. From the story: "Beginning in the fall in games using video review, instant replay officials will be directed to examine all aspects of the play and confirm the targeting foul when all elements of targeting are present. If any element of targeting cannot be confirmed, the replay official will overturn the targeting foul. There will not be an option for letting the call on the field "stand" during a targeting review - it must either be confirmed or overturned."
- Here's TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer on the upward trending of the UT spring sports after a big men's hoops campaign. Weeds raises several good points, which is hardly surprising. He's Weeds. Let's expand on this in today's questions.
- Braves lost Tuesday night because the Braves bullpen was the Braves bullpen. Rinse. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
- Speaking of the Braves and baseball, former Atlanta favorite Dale Murphy is writing occasional baseball columns for The Athletic. The title of his latest spin carries a lot weight to it: "I played against some of the all-time greats. Mike Trout is better than all of them." Man, I'd be putting that on a business card.
Today's questions
First off, are you in the draft contest? If not, why not?
As for a which way Wednesday, let's go the following ways:
As much spring sports success as the Vols are experiencing, does Fulmer's legacy as an AD rest on the success of Jeremy Pruitt and little else?
Considering Russell Wilson signed a four-year, $140-million extension, should he have spent more on his offensive linemen?
Which NFL draft - I love the draft; you know this - storyline intrigues you the most?
As for today, April 24, Barbra Streisand is 77 today. Man, that Coffee Talk with Linda Richmond (as portrayed by Mike Myers) is an all-time underrated SNL skit. All-time.
It's National Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day. It's National NKOTB Day, and yes, that's New Kids on the Block gang.
On this day last year, strumming music services and sales surprises worldwide sales for CDs and vinyl for the first time.
Hey, Draft Rushmore? Who's in?
Rushmore of guys in the last 25 years you thought were can't-miss draft picks who missed terribly.
Go, and remember the contest and the mailbag.