Super Bowl predictions
Here's one from Tony Romo. He has the under with a final score of 28-24 with the losing team failing to score in the final seconds.
He did not share which team he thought was going to win, but let's just say if that comes anything close to the final scenes, then a) it sounds like a pretty thrilling Super Bowl; b) Romo will be able to open a chain of fortune-telling drive-thru stations by the end of March; and c) let's all pray that it does Romo's ending does prominently include a missed pass interference call. Deal? Deal.
Side question: The far left of the movie scenes about predictions is Clubber Lang's "Pain" before Lang-Balboa I, right? Side question on the side question: Why didn't Clubber get a chance at Lang-Balboa III? The Man was keeping Clubber down. Or maybe he joined MMA and changed his name to Kimbo Slice? Which way on a Wednesday?)
So let's explore predictions, with getting to our gambling leanings, shall we? I think we shall.
I think Aaron Donald is going to introduce himself to the entire world, regardless of how he plays. Dude was a monster all year, whether people realized it or not. Sure lots did - he led the NFL in sacks and some folks say he should be in the MVP conversation. But he's still a DT in an offensive-oriented league paced by his offensive-oriented team. His performance, productive or not, will be the central talking point about which team wins. If he generates pressure, it will give the Rams a huge boost. If he doesn't, Romo and Neck Tie will note how Belichick and Co. do a great job of game-planning away the opposition's strengths. (Side note: Love the outlier of Donald at +1800 for MVP. Remember that Madden simulation we discussed Tuesday? Wanna guess the MVP from said simulation? Yep, Donald who had four video game sacks of Brady.)
I think Sony Michel is going to be the best Georgia running back on the field. I also think Sony Michel is going to be a top-flight dude next year, too, but Sunday has the feel that Belichick's defensive intention will be a complete A-B-T approach. That's Anybody But Gurley friends.
I think there will be multiple awkward exchanges between Neck Tie Nantz and Romo, especially early on and dealing with predicting plays, the reports of possibly coaching in Romo's future and such. Nantz has been the face of CBS sports for a while, and his intros and cheesy winning calls are still very prominent. Heck, the dude is about to hit the glory run of a 10-week stretch in which he calls the AFC title game, the Super Bowl, the pick of the litter from the NCAA Regionals, the Final Four and Augusta. That's an all-time bucket list for most broadcasters and/or sports fans across the globe. It's the first third of 2018 for Jimmy and nothing can take that away. He has the platform. But Romo is the biggest star in broadcasting right now, and that's not going to change any time soon. Especially if he starts exploring his options - and he and Jason Witten may be buddies, but ESPN would be nuts not to back the truck up to Romo's door and hand him a blank check. Because ask yourself this: How many announcers are out there that would make you watch the event they are calling simply because they are calling? The list starts with Romo and I do not know if there's another name on it.
I think this will be Gronk's last game. Dude has been beat to heck and back. Dude has been amazingly savvy with his coin. (How savvy? According to all reports, Gronk has only lived on his endorsements and bonuses and stashed away every game check he has received in his NFL career. At the conclusion of Sunday, with bonuses and such, Gronk has made more than $60 million.)
Gotta any predictions other than pain of course?
FILE - In this Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018 file photo, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick watches from the sideline during the second half of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs in Foxborough, Mass. Mike Vrabel won three Super Bowl rings playing linebacker and goal-line pass threat for Bill Belichick in New England. Now the rookie head coach gets his first crack at his former coach when Vrabel's Titans host former teammate Tom Brady and the Patriots in a game Tennessee desperately needs. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)Super Free chance to get a decent free lunch
Wow, great response, gang, thanks for that. We already have more than 40 folks in the contest. We'll post the names we have so far tomorrow. Deal? Deal.
Which leaves a monster question: Are you in the Super Props to the Super Prop Bets at the Super Bowl contest?
The premise is simple: Offer your best guess on the following 10 prop bets with a tie-breaker and whomever gets the most right gets lunch on the 5-at-10. Deal? Deal.
(Side note: As a reminder, the first Super Bowl prop bet was offered during the '86 Bears' crushing win over New England. The bet was simple: Some enterprising Vegas bookmakers offered action on whether William 'The Refrigerator' Perry would score a TD. Yes or no, even money. He did and prop bets were born.)
To the props:
> Length of the national anthem, over/under 107 seconds?
> Head or tails?
> Total number of Tweets from Donald Trump on Sunday, Feb. 3, over/under 6.5?
> Duke's Zion Williamson points and rebounds on Feb. 2 vs. Pats and Rams first-half points combined?
> Which commercial will appear first, Doritos or Pringles?
> Which will be higher, Trump approval rating on 2/4/19 (according to Rasmussen Reports) or the badges of the longest made field goal?
> Winner of the Puppy Bowl - Team Fluff or Team Ruff?
> How many Bud Light commercials will feature the Bud Knight, over/under 1.5?
> Number of Tom Brady interceptions, over/under 0.5?
> Super Bowl MVP, a quarterback or the field?
> Tie-breaker: Distance of the longest scoring play - FG, pick 6, fumble return, any of them - in Super Bowl LIII?
Who's in? Need entries by lunch Saturday. Deal? Deal.
Eye-popping college football coaching turnover
CBS Sports columnist Dennis Dodd offered his grades on the coaching hires across college football.
First, normally Mr. Dodd does fine work. This, however, is littered with way too many A's and feels like he's writing this for the coaches more than the readers. No es bueno. (For those wondering, Dodd gave Will Healy's hiring at Charlotte a 'B' and Akron nabbing Tom Arth a 'C' in his grades.)
But whatever. Not unlike the desire to declare winners at news conferences, off-season coaching hire grades are like smooching your middle school girlfriend - it's fun at the time but in the grand scheme it's rather meaningless in retrospect.
That said, Dodd linked a very interesting list from the folks footballscoop.com. Check this out as the Football Scoop folks have listed the hiring dates of all the FBS college football coaches.
Among the tidbits that made me do a double take or three are the following:
There is one active head coach hired at his current gig in the 1990s - Iowa's Kirk Ferentz;
It's been a full five years since an NFL team hired a sitting college head coach - Houston hiring Bill O'Brien from Penn State;
And this one is nuts Half of all current FBS head coaches have been hired since Nov. 10, 2016.
Now that's a lot of turnover friends.
This and that
- Speaking of savvy, how sly was the Super Bowl promotion from Pizza Hut that is getting national attention. The deal is free pizza for a year and tickets to next year's Super Bowl for the first time-stamped social media picture of the first born child in the country after the kickoff of Sunday's game. Cool idea Hut marketing people.
- Because it's either in the Bill of Rights or the Magna Carta, we are bound by common law and common decency to abide by the code of "If Weeds writes about big picture college basketball, we must read Weeds on big picture college basketball." And in such, we will share because, as always, Weeds on college hoops and Paschall on college football are as good as anyone on their specialty anywhere. Yes, anywhere.
- And while we are here, the reports of Admiral Schofield's demise seem to be greatly exaggerated. Dude had 20 first-half points as Tennessee pimp-slapped South Carolina. No offense to any other SEC team - and Weeds touched on this above - but the SEC has two truly great teams (UK and UT), one very good-to-at-times-great team in LSU and a slew of pretty good to good teams, including the impossible to figure Auburn Tigers, who have serious issues.
- Side point for Chas: Been a long time that UK has made a trip to Nashville look that easy. Now that may be as every bit about the Commodores' struggles as the Cats surging, but wow. In an ideal trap spot - after a home win over now-tumbling Kansas and before a big trip to Gainesville - at Memorial Gym in which the Commodores have flourished in during previous seasons, the final was 87-52. And it was not that close.
- OK, did you see the story that Tyson is recalling tens of thousands of chicken nuggets because of rubber contamination? Seriously. That leads to a couple of queries, right? First, many how many chickens are we plowing through a day if we're recalling that many nuggets, never mind if we as a nation are going to consume more than 1 billion chicken wings on Super Sunday alone. Next, have you had a Tyson chicken nugget? As 'chewy' as they are, the chief concern about rubber being included would have to be not enough inserted, right?
- O.M.G. Holy buckets of lead feet and stupidity. This woman was pulled over doing 115. In a 35. With slush and snow on the ground. Man, some folks are bound and determined to prove Chuck Darwin right aren't they?
- My stance on current day country music is pretty well known. Well, much to my surprise, there actually are a couple of folks trying to reverse the Luke Bryan-ization and Florida-Georgia Line-ifying of the genre. First, there is this well-written and quite catchy tune from Jake Owen. And know this Ashley McBryde looks to be the real deal folks with this and this.
Today's questions
Which way Wednesday will start this way:
Which out-of-the-box prediction do you have for Sunday?
Which college coaching hire was the best in your view?
It's National Croissant Day which breakfast bread are you choosing, toast, biscuit, croissant?
Speaking of days, it's also national inane answering message day and yodel for your neighbors day, so there's that.
Speaking of grading hires, on this day in 1933, Paul von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as Reich Chancellor. That hire is an F-----. Man, the Hindenburg name does not generate positive memories.
Speaking of country music stars, Patsy Cline released "I Fall to Pieces" was released on this day in 1961.
Christian Bale is 45 today. FDR would have been 137. Dick Cheney is 78. Payne Stewart would have been 62.
Also, Mean Gene Hackman is 89 today. Rushmore of Hackman performances. Go, and remember the mailbag and the props contest.