Weekend winners
Chattanooga FC in particular and Chattanooga in general. Wow. Almost 19,000 in Finley for the soccer championship and by most accounts all went well. Major kudos to those folks behind the scenes and of course to the FC.
Chattanooga Football Club midfielder Luis Trude, center, gets caught between the New York Cosmos B's Travis Pittman, right, and Daniel Evuy during Saturday's National Premier Soccer League title match at Finley Stadium. New York won 3-2 in overtime, dealing CFC its fourth runner-up finish in six seasons.John Rumple. The former school teacher in Wisconsin was told by the Mrs. to pick up some milk on the way home and he picked up a lottery ticket. He won $15.7 million and that's why he's a former school teacher. Good times.
Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays, who made the two biggest splashes at the trading deadline, swept the New York Yankees this weekend and look to be making a move in the AL East.
Lou Holtz. Yes, there was a lot of magic in the NFL Hall of Fame stories and speeches - and we'd be remised if we did not tip the visor to the league for letting Junior Seau's daughter speak at the event. But Holtz got significant mentions in two acceptance speeches from former Notre Dame stars Tim Brown and Jermoe Bettis. And he motivated each to higher levels than even they thought with completely different methods - challenging Bettis by calling him a cancer in front of the team; boosting Brown's confidence by telling him two years before he won the Heisman that Brown would be the best player in the country. Lou Holtz the broadcaster = awful; Lou Holtz the coach = underrated genius.
These gamers who split $18 million playing video games in front of a sold-out arena in Seattle. Nuts and possibly the future in what they call "eSports."
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Losers
Couple of golfers - Jim Furyk and Andres Romero. Romero, the fiery Argentine punched a sign and injured his hand Saturday at the Barracuda Championship. He injured his hand to the point that he had to tee off with a putter then picked up his ball for a double bogey on the last three holes before withdrawing. Furyk had the lead after three rounds at the WGC and is now 0-for-his-last-10 when holding the 54-hole lead.
Shaun Suisham. Pittsburgh's kicker suffered a knee injury in the Hall of Fame game Sunday that coach Mike Tomlin called "potentially significant." Man, that's no good.
Johnny Yankees Fan guy. The fan that threw back the home run ball is a goof. Hey, if the opposing team his a homer and you want to throw it back in protest, fine. But don't hit your left fielder in the head with it.
The Donald. After a less than impressive debate showing last Thursday, he fired from the lip against Megyn Kelly and is using the third-grade tactic "You'll have to wait and see" ploy in regard to policy issues. We're about two weeks from a "Takes one to know one" diatribe from Donny.
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Media daze
Alabama and Auburn among other teams held sessions for players and coaches to meet with the media.
The two biggest stories from the biggest rivalry in college football from the weekend are pretty clear.
Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin talks with the media before the Crimson Tide's Fan Day practice Sunday in Tuscaloosa. The former Tennessee Volunteers head coach is entering his second season with Alabama, who won the Southeastern Conference title in 2014.For Alabama, the media got to speak to offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin. Under Nick Saban's rules, this will be the only time - unless the Tide get to the playoff - that assistants will be able to speak.
Here's the entire Kiffin press conference and the highlights are as follows.
Lane brushed off talk of leaving Alabama for another head coaching job. He also said freshman Calvin Ridley has out of this world skills. Both of those are good for Alabama.
And for the Tide folks that hate Auburn, which would be almost all of the Crimson-clad folks, the better news from the weekend may be that Auburn wide receiver Duke Williams has not practiced the last two sessions because of disciplinary reasons according to Gus Malzahn.
Williams is a preseason All-American who is among Mel Kiper's top-25 NFL prospects in the country.
With him the Auburn offense could be dangerous. Without him, the Auburn offense could be pedestrian.
Let the games begin.
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This and that
- Interesting read here about the TV shows that the nation's TV critics rank the best. Empire and The Americans were honored with some big awards.
- Old-school throwback hoops game here with DeMarcus Cousins scoring 91 points in a charity hoops game.
- Want a very less than good sign for Johnny Football? Cleveland Browns tackle Joe Thomas - the team's best player by far - told Mike and Mike on ESPN Radio that the player he's most excited about is quarterback Josh McNown. No es bueno.
- Joey Logano dominated at Watkins Glen. Yay.
- Speaking of golf, Jordan Spieth has a fun plan to get back at all the heckling Phil Mickelson has given him over the years. Yep, he's hoping to bring the U.S. Open trophy to the PGA Championship for a practice round with Phil.
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Today's question
Frank Gifford died over the weekend. He was 84.
Who is on the Gifford Rushmore of former Hall of Fame-level athletes who became just as good as broadcasters.