Weekend winners
Daytona 500. This one balanced between our choices on this President's Day Monday. The winning parts include the emotional finish for Joe Gibbs racing who turned tribute to Gibbs' recently departed son into a top-two sweep with Denny Hamlin winning and one of the Busch brothers - may've been Kurt, could have been Reggie or Jeb - taking second. The Gibbs crew honored J.D., who died last month after battling a degenerative neurological disease, on the 11th lap because that was J.D.'s favorite number. The numeral on Hamlin's hood? Yep, 11. And, with his second win at the 500, Hamlin is now second all-time in average finish at NASCAR'S Super Bowl, placing 13.2, among drivers with 10 or more starts. Of course the all-time leader in that category was Dale Earnhardt. His average finish there. Yep, 11th.
Dirk Nowitzki. In an All-Star game full of highlights - including a dozen or more 33-plus footers (hey, we're all for the 4-point line experiments in this game; that'd be cool) and a bounce alley-ooo that Giannis corralled 4-plus feet above the rim - the German Gunner was my favorite. The future Hall of Famer entered the game late in the first quarter and dropped two perfect 30-footers - could not have been more swish than those two - in his final All-Star appearance. Respect.
The 5-at-10 picks. We are smoking right now. Over the weekend - we did not offer a Sunday pick - were posted in the comments Friday afternoon in the 5-at-10. They went 5-1, hitting on UT-UK over 142, Michigan -5.5, Auburn -8, FSU -5.5 and Kansas -15, and missing on Louisville -7. Combine that with Friday's miss on Yale -9 on Friday night and the hoops picks went 5-2 over the weekend. That moves us to 23-11-1 against the number. That's 67.6 percent against the number. We rebounded after a 2-2 AAF start, getting a crazy backdoor cover in the San Diego-Atlanta game to go 3-1. So we're 5-3, and dare we say, enjoying a very entertaining run to start 2019.
Several bubble teams may have won the weekend. But we are going to pick this one: Wofford. Yes, Wofford. The Terriers hammered UNCG, which is the second-best team in the SoCon. If Wofford wins out - and considering the SoCon has more top 60 NET wins than the Pac-12 - the Terriers are at at-large team. Seriously.
J.B. Holmes. OK, there were a lot of folks discussing Justin Thomas' collapse with a Sunday 75 and losing a four-shot lead in the final round. But let's give some props to Holmes, who a few years ago did not know if he would ever return to the tour after battling through brain surgery. The $1.332 million check is some awesome sauce. Among the group right there ride for 15th - and there were 10 of them - was some dude named Tiger Woods and some local fellow named Luke List, who carded a 68 on Sunday and cashed a $100,788 check.
Bonus pick: Whether it was done through clinched teeth or clinched wallet, Matt Kuchar relented and is doing the right thing and giving El Tucan - his fill-in caddie in Mexico - the $50,000 he asked for.
NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin celebrates in victory lane at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday night after winning the Daytona 500.Weekend losers
Daytona 500. We mentioned the emotional goodness of Sunday's Daytona 500, and that makes for feel-good video clips and highlight moments. But, and there always is a but, and it's pretty rare for an event to make both categories on a Monday, but the 500 was not without serious hiccups and head-scratchers.
The "There's no defense in the All-Star game" guy. The first half was an alley-oop, 3-point shoot-fest and that was fine. The game got competitive - by comparison - after halftime and you what to know something, I was entertained. I am puzzled by the "We have to change this" or "We have to end this farce" guy. Hey, the NBA All-Star Game - or the Pro Bowl or the Chickamauga Battlefield Bowl - is fine, and if you don't like it, we're pretty sure that's OK and you have 12,000 other channels to find something else. And just because you don't like the format does not mean it needs to be changed.
The headline writers of this click-bait story. The Yahoo.com headline read "Florida student faces misdemeanor charges after refusing to stand for Pledge of Allegiance." Technically that is true. Technically, depending on what the punk, trouble-making 11-year-old had or didn't have for breakfast, the headline could have been "Florida Student faces misdemeanor charges after eating two eggs and a side of bacon for breakfast." Yes, the 11-year-old's arrest happened after he refused to stand for the pledge of allegiance, a choice that is given to all students, according to Florida state law. However, this 11-year-old was arrested after making a scene with a substitute, who called the office, and a school administrator and on-campus officer tried to calm the student down and asked him to leave the classroom more than 20 times. Read that again. More than 20 times. And the punk kid refused and graduated to making threats against school personal as he was being escorted to the office. So technically the kid was arrested AFTER not standing for the pledge. But the jerk was arrested for disrupting a school function and resisting an officer without violence. This was not about a decision to stand or not stand - although we feel very strongly about that too - but this was about a preteen threatening an adult, and in this day and age, are we really wanting any teacher to turn a blind eye to any student threatening to beat up a teacher? Plus, to make matters worse, the boy's momma wants the charges dropped. From the Yahoo story: Dhakira Talbot, the boy's mother, told Bay News 9 that she wants the charges dropped. She denied the arrest affidavit accusing her son of threatening to beat the teacher, the station reported. "She was wrong. She was way out of place," Talbot told Bay News 9. "If she felt like there was an issue with my son not standing for the flag, she should've resolved that in a way different manner than she did." Yep, let's blame everyone but Sweet Little Johnny, because we know it couldn't possibly be his fault. This story - from the headline to the message to the rationalization - has ruined my Monday. If I get bitter moving forward, you have been warned. And if I get arrested, well, know that it was not because I did to did not stand for the pledge.
The AAF coaching. Memphis coach Mike Singletary needs to be fired today. That dude looks more confused than a school crossing guard on their first day. Whomever is coaching my dreadful Atlanta Legends needs to be fired too. (Dude, down 9 with 2-plus minutes left and one timeout, used his last timeout because he sent the punting unit on the field on fourth-down, obviously not knowing that down two scores and unable to stop the clock more than twice - the TO and 2-minute warning.) And Steve Spurrier has somehow become the Old ball coach rather than the Ol' Ball Coach. Mike Martz made the Atlanta buffoon look like a parking meter with a headset.
All of us who care about real social issues. Why did we lose this weekend. When attention-hungry jack wagons like this Jussie Smollett fellow, who apparently faked a anti-black, anti-gay hate crime that included an alleged noose around his neck and chants of "This is a MAGA country" in reference to Trump's election catch phrase of "Make America Great Again."
Bubble-busters from Indiana to Clemson to Arkansas. Those three teams have wavered into, on and now out of the NCAA bubble. Of serious note are the Hoosiers, who have now lost 10 of their last 11. (And speaking of bubbles and the tournament, Michigan State is not on the former, but depending on the status of Nick Ward's cracked wrist, they may not be in the latter as long as Coach Izzo would like. A month and three days before the first Thursday of the Dance, Ward's status is uncertain and losing a dude averaging 15.4 points and 6.7 per game would pop a lot of bubble.)
Chris Beard. The Texas Tech coach blew a gasket after a walk-on - yes a walk-on - threw down an alley-ooo dunk in a blowout win over Baylor. Beard was beside himself - just the recent example of a college coach making millions losing control despite demanding perfection from his 'amateur' players - and called the walk-on - yes, again, a walk-on - over to apologize to the Baylor coach. Wow. You stay classy Chris you hypocritical buttmunch. Embarrassing a walk-on - yes, a walk-on - for enjoying his rare moment in the sun after that kid has likely busted his hump and done nothing but the dirty work in practice after practice to make your program better. That's it. We're completely anti-Texas Tech in everything. EVERYTHING. This is the final straw, and in retrospect, what's to like about Texas Tech. They canned Mike Leach because they believed Jackwagon James. They hired ultimate Jackwagon Bobby "The General Abuser" Knight. Now they have this ArseHat coaching. I'm done. We're anti-Texas Tech around these parts friends.
Kentucky's Reid Travis, top, and Tennessee's Grant Williams chase down a loose ball during the first half of Saturday night's top-five showdown in Lexington, Ky.UT-UK review
There were a lot of opinions and a lot of guesses about how Saturday night's much-anticipated Tennessee-Kentucky grudge match.
Well, I could have believed a lot of scenarios. I did not see UK steam-rolling and physically whipping the top-ranked Vols in a way that it made it look the varsity scrimmaging the JV. Seriously.
Let's review a couple sets of the Good-Bad-and-Ugly from the Runaway in Rupp that was not as close as the 86-69 final.
Good: Wow, you want to know the definition of control and the extent of John Caliper's liking of Rick Barnes. Late in Saturday's blowout, the Big Blue denizens started the "Oh-VER-rated" chant. Calipari ended it with a quick hush like he was Sister Cal, waving the knuckle-wrapping ruler, in third-grade Sunday School. Of course, the "Oh-VER-rated" chant also completely devalues the accomplishment of your team in the moment, but who ever said fans are logical.
Bad: In arguably the most stunning turn of events - and the most concerning, too - for Johnny Vols Fans, the moment looked entirely too big for a Tennessee team which had not been faced with similar competition in a long time. Saturday's blowout was just Tennessee's third game against a ranked foe and its first since beating Gonzaga in early December.
Ugly: The officiating - and yes, I feel almost guilty even bringing this up - was consistently confusing and confusingly inconsistent. The first-half was a barroom brawl, and the Vols - despite getting pushed around and dominated on the boards - were lucky to be down only 6. The second-half was a whistle convention - and yes, Tennessee fouling trying to get back into it was part of it, but UT went zone for stretches in the second half - that became a FT contest. How's this for a disparity between halves: In the first half, the teams were 1-4 (all by UK) from the foul line; in the second half, the teams were 36-of-47 from the line (UK - 22-29; UT - 14-18). That made it a very difficult game in which the players and fans could find flow and comfort.
Good: The low-post array of P.J. Washington, who firmly planted himself in the SEC Player of the Year chat Saturday night. Dude was the epitome of a go-to, need-a-bucket option that teams desperately crave next month when that one tournament glitch in Des Moines can be the difference between a failure or a Final Four run. On a team full of future NBA stars and in a game against a team with two All-Americans, P.J. Washington on Saturday night was the best player on the floor from the tip.
Bad: Be it foul trouble for Kyle Alexander - and the Vols were a different bunch when Alexander was not in the middle to rebound and protect the rim - the ineffectiveness of Lamonte Turner or the invisibility of Jordan Bowden, the hallmark of these Vols has been its myriad of options. UT, on Saturday, was a road crew - everyone was had safety orange on, there were three dudes doing all the work and a whole lot of folks standing around hoping those three were going to get the job done.
Ugly: How does Grant Williams only get 4 shots in 35 minutes? And half of those were 3s? (Yes, he was fouled a lot and went 8-of-9 from the line for an amazingly efficient 16 points on FOUR flipping' FG attempts.) Hey, we are on the Barnes Bus or the Rick Rickshaw or whatever the Rick Barnes bandwagon may be, but at some point when that game was slipping in the first six minutes of the second half, someone in a position of UT leadership - Barnes, Admiral, Fulmer, the ghost of Pat Summitt, General Neyland, you name it - need to get that group together and say, "Boys, we are throwing the ball to Grant. Grant, you are going to take the basketball to the basket and score. On two. On two."
Thoughts?
This and that
- Speaking of UT-UK, you know the drill: When Weeds writes about college hoops, we read what Weeds writes about college hoops. Well, Saturday's Runaway in Rupp dictated not one but two Weeds' creeds on the Vols and the Cats. Here's TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer on Saturday's loss and its impact on the Vols winning the SEC. Here's Weeds from the shrine that is Rupp live on Saturday night. And know this friends, writing a column on that tight of a deadline with that much insight is an extreme skill set. Said it before, will say it again, Weeds on college hoops and TFP SEC ace David Paschall on college football are worth the price of admission to the TFP right there friends.
- Mel Kiper Jr. posted his latest version of his mock draft Monday. Good times. We love the draft. You know this. Picks 1-through-3, according to the Great Kiperini will be Joey Bosa, Josh Allen and Quiennen Williams. I like Williams better than the other two, but think all three are certainly way better at tackle football than most of us.
- We referenced the Daytona 500, and we understand folks putting them in the winning or losing category all things considered. But there is no doubt that on this day 18 years ago, the sport lost something that it has never found since. On this day in 2001, Dale Senior died in one of those, "Where were you moments" in sports. In retrospect, we should have expected
- We have mentioned the Reggie Cleveland All-Stars here before. It was started by Bill Simmons when he was just the "Boston Sports Guy" long before he became a multi-media megastar. The Reggie Cleveland All-Stars are guys with a name that makes you think they are assuredly a black guy but is actually white, named after journeyman pitcher Reggie Cleveland in the 1970s, who was, yes, white. And the team works vice versa too, like former UNC point guard Jeff Mcinnes. Well, heavyweight champion of the world Tyson Fury is a serious contender for a first-ballot Hall of Famer for the Reggie Cleveland Hall of Fame.
- There was a lot of conversation about this weekend's Saturday Night Live. Here's another layer of it, as guest host Don Cheadle introduced the musical guest with a T-shirt that said, "Protect Trans Kids." Hey we're all for it. In fact, I need a T-shirt that reads, "Protect Kids" that way we cover them all, because special or ordinary or extraordinary, don't they all deserve it.
- Couple of things happened with Colin Kaepernick this weekend. First, the collusion case was settled and the numbers, while much-debated, were not disclosed. We think it was well-into eight figures and could be potentially near $50 million. Now comes news that Kaepernick's camp believes he will sign with one of few NFL teams very soon. The two mentioned by his attorney - the Panthers, who recently signed co-collusion accuser Eric Reid to a three-year deal, and the Patriots - which makes you wonder if a) the settlement was potentially not as high as originally estimated, and b) if getting a shot in the league was part of the settlement to being with.
- We discussed the AAF earlier, and of the rule machinations, we believe this will happen before 2022: The kickoff will be dead. Here's a CBSsports.com story that college football is looking at doing away with it and in truth, in watching a fair amount of AAF, I have not missed the kickoff one iota.
- We mentioned the PGA event earlier, well, here's Phil being Phil.
- More golf: Gibby Gilbert III finished tied for 52nd and made $4,053 at the Champions Tour event. He cost himself some serious coin with a 78 on Sunday, dropping him 30 spots after opening with 69-66. Still, cashing checks is the name of the game friends.
Today's questions
Weekend winners and losers, release the hounds.
On this day, well, there were a a slew of interesting things.
Huckleberry Finn was published on this day in 1885. Well done, Mr. Twain.
Some of the birthdays this morning, Yoko Ono is 86, Dr. Dre is 53. Some 1980s stars - Molly Ringwald and Matt Dillon - are celebrating as is Mark Richt and Le'Veon Bell.
It's National Battery Day and National Drink Wine Day. It also is National Cow Milked While Flying in an Airplane Day. Seriously.
As for a Rushmore, well, the dude who went from Vinnie Barbarino to A-list Hollywood star is 65 today.
Rushmore fo John Travolta. Go.