Weekend winners
< Aaron Rodgers. Yes, all of the playoff games became one-sided and were far from entertaining in terms of drama. But other than LeVeon Bell, who set a Pittsburgh Steelers rushing record in Sunday's runaway over the Dolphins, no player was more impressive than Rodgers. His top receiver leaves the game with bad ribs. No sweat. He's handing the ball off to some guy wearing 88. No problem. Rodgers was aces in the final three quarters and was simply deadly when rolling out.
< Frisky 4 picks. While the entertainment value in the second halves of the Wildcard playoff games was relatively minuscule, the hunt for entertainment around these parts continues to be quite fruitful. A fifth consecutive 3-1 mark against the spread - our lone loss was the under 44.5 in the Green Bay-New York game that went over in part because Rodgers hit a Hail Mary right before half - moves us to 15-5 since starting NFL picks in early December.
< Russell Westbrook. Dude's avalanche on the stat charts is eye-popping. He routinely records triple-doubles in the equivalent of two quarters. He is averaging a triple-double for the season, and as we approach the halfway point of the NBA season, we're of the mind that it would only be surprising if he didn't average a triple-double. He had more triple-doubles (31) in the calendar year 2016 than any player ever, passing Oscar Robertson's 30 back when he averaged a triple-double for the season in 1960-61. Westrbook logged another one over the weekend, scoring 32, grabbing 17 boards and handing out 11 assists. It was his 10th triple-double of the season with more than 30 points, the most by any player in a season since some dude named Jordan had 10 in 1988-89. (You have to feel pretty good about Russ passing that total since we are heading into Game 39.)
< Kentucky basketball. There have been some historic recruiting classes through the years of college basketball. Of course there was the Fab Five at Michigan back in the day. There was the great collective groups at Florida in the early 2000s and UNC later that decade. And John Calipari has consistently coaxed a river of talent to Lexington since 2009. UK has finished No. 1 in recruiting in all but two of Coach Cal's years with the Cats. They finished second in those two years. Well, this may be the best collection Cal has ever landed. With a five-star commitment this weekend, Cal has pledges from six of the top 45 players in the country and five five-stars. And to make matters even more impressive, Cal's five five-stars are a point guard, a shooting guard, a small forward, a power forward and a center. The sixth player - Shai Alexander from Hamilton Heights here in Chattanooga - is a combo guard because, well, he's Cal and everyone else is not.
< James Madison. The Duke became the first FCS football team not named North Dakota State to hoist the national championship trophy in six years. JMU beat Youngstown State 28-14 Saturday.
Atlanta Hawks guard Kyle Korver, right, greets forward Thabo Sefolosha who comes to the bench in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Atlanta Hawks in New Orleans, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Weekend losers
> Grayson Allen. OK, this is now something that has passed the puzzling stage straight to crazy. Here's a video of Allen on Saturday raising a leg in what appears to be an attempt to trip a Boston College player on Saturday. No foul was called and the ACC is washing its hands of the matter because of that. But aren't we to a place where Allen is guilty every time - even on circumstantial evidence - considering the fact that he is a habitual tripper?
> Atlanta Hawks. Not sure why Wes Wilcox, the Hawks GM, used this syntax during a fan-event last month, but it is kind of puzzling: "I know you guys may be angry with me, but I'm used to it because I have a black wife and three mixed kids, so I'm used to people being angry and argumentative." No, we understand why fans and ticket holders are upset at the Hawks, considering two years ago was the most successful season in franchise history and now they are selling parts for scraps with the Kyle Korver deal to Cleveland. The franchise is now in full-blow tank mode and Wilcox, who got the job because of some racial controversy with previous GM Danny Ferry, on an ever-warming seat.
> Georgia, Missouri basketball coaches. A pre-halftime scuffle between coaching staffs is never a good look. As a side note, however, the fact that the coaches appeared to swap punches may have been the only reason anyone knew that Missouri and Georgia played basketball this weekend.
> Folks trying to a last-minute ticket into tonight's national title game and looking to sit together. According to the interwebs, as of this morning, the cheapest price for a pair of tickets to tonight's Clemson-Alabama game was $4,342.50.
> Aaron Rodgers' weapons. Jordy Nelson took a brutal hit in the first half and it would be a miracle if he is available to play this weekend in Dallas. Reports Monday morning had Nelson with broken ribs, a collapsed lung and possibly a lacerated spleen.
> Underdogs in the NFL playoffs. The favorites rolled this weekend, which normally means it was a bad week for Vegas. It was not as bad as it could have been, though because Detroit was gaining a lot of public support. According to VegasInsider.com, Houston had 58 percent of the action as a four-point favorite and won 27-14. Detroit had 59 percent of the money and lost by 20 as an 8.5-point underdog. Money on Miami and Pittsburgh was split almost evenly as Pittsburgh coved the 12-point line, and 54 percent of the public backed Green Bay in the Packers' easy win.
> Football viewing in general this weekend. Other than Rodgers and Doug Baldwin making some plays and the Steelers offense in the first 20 minutes, it was pretty hard to watch.
Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney and Alabama counterpart Nick Saban pose Sunday beside the trophy that will be awarded after tonight's national championship game in Tampa, Fla.College football title game
We end the 2016 season exactly where we started the year 2016.
Alabama-Clemson for all the marbles.
We have made it pretty clear that we like Alabama to win by multiple scores. In fact, if Clemson wins, the first hour or so of Press Row on Tuesday will be rather, shall we say, awkward. Here's why we are on Alabama with a loyalty that borders on being blind:
That defense is the most thorough we have ever seen. Period. They do all the basic, coach-speak things you hear soda-pop analysts say:
Create pressure with just the defensive line. Check.
Flies to the ball. Check.
Create turnovers. Check.
You name it and they do it. Period.
Here's the mesh point of that defense and this game: Deshaun Watson, who was amazing in this game last year and earned enough respect that the Eddie Jackson and other Alabama players at SEC media days were gushing with praise, has been prone to turnovers this year. That's the single worst characteristic a quarterback can have going into a game against this Alabama defense.
Yes, Watson will have to be great for Clemson to win, but here's the other thing: Clemson is going to have run the ball with someone else. So if Clemson is going to win, Wayne Gallman will have to run for say 75-plus yards.
And we just don't see that happening. Alabama 30, Clemson 17. (And yes, that goes under the 52, and it would be the lowest number of points Clemson has scored this year. But that's par for the course against Alabama, right?)
This and that
- From Darren Rovell's Twitter feed, it was 10 years ago today that Apple unloaded the first iPhone. Crazy to think right? Now try this one on: Apple has averaged selling more than 274,000 iPhones a day since.
- Not overly sure of the point here, but Denver linebacker Brandon Marshall took to social media and was dropping hammers on Raiders fans everywhere after Oakland was pushed around by Houston this weekend.
- Speaking of that game, did you realize that Jadeveon Clowney is only 23 years old? Crazy right? That said, with the injuries in the rearview, Clowney played Saturday like the monster everyone expected him to be when he was destroying folks at South Carolina.
- College football Hall of Fame class was announced Monday, and the headliners were some dude named Spurrier and a guy named Peyton Manning. Fitting, right, that they'd go into the college Hall together? Spurrier is being inducted as a coach, and is already there as a player. He will become the fourth player to go into the Hall as a player and a coach: Bobby Dodd, Amos Alonzo Stagg and Bowden Wyatt.
- This could easily be on the weekend winners list, but there were simply too many. Mad props to Twitter for securing its second sports broadcast deal, inking a deal with the PGA Tour. This makes a lot of sense for the platform, considering Twitter will get rights to some Thursday and Friday afternoon action.
Today's question
Who won the weekend and who lost it?
Who you got tonight?
If you need another talking point, if you could have one NFL player for the next five years,can you make a case for taking anyone ahead of Aaron Rodgers? Go.