From a few of you
What do you make of the NFL going to 17 regular games and no preseason?
Gang -
It actually was one of two 'changes' discussed Thursday that caught my eye.
The other was the NBA-sponsored G-League is going to experiment with only one free throw per foul.
How you ask? Well, depending on the foul - in the action of shooting, after the double bonus, etc. - the value of that one free throw would be 1, 2 or 3 points.
Interesting idea that they believe could shave as much as 10 minutes off of games.
The NFL owners proposing a 17-game regular-season schedule is interesting on a lot of levels.
First, this is just the first salvo in what will be a long - and if Adam Schefter has his way - very public back-and-forth as the NFL and its players lay ground work for the negotiations for the next CBA.
Sacrificing the preseason is a pretty easy olive branch for the owners because with more and more teams sitting its stars in the preseason to protect from injury the attendances and TV numbers have consistently dwindled over the long haul.
An extra week of meaningful games for broadcast would be far more valuable than the four weeks of preseason.
But I believe this is the first offer and the owners actually want 18 games. An odd-numbered schedule leaves some teams with nine home games and others with eight, and forget competitive balance, this is about the owners all having the same number of home games to peddle $12 beers and $25 foam No. 1 fingers.
I also believe that they best be careful with the wording, because you simply can't be "about player safety" and ask these guys to be part of two more full-speed weeks of the carnage we see from September to the first Sunday of February.
That will come with expanded rosters and bigger revenue shares for the players of course. (But those are things I think the league will "begrudgingly" consent to, but if we get into removing the power from the commissioner's office - who acts as the shield carrier and doer of deeds for the owners - then you are going to see a real fight.)
I also am intrigued by the idea being floated of playing 18 games but players can't be active for more than 16 of them. Think of the strategy and off-field discussions that would generate.
Not like the NFL needs more coverage by any means, it's just intriguing to me.
Which brings us to out picks. Giddy-up. (Stupid Navy. Missed extra point and a complete second-half meltdown turned the 11-point underdog into a 12-point loser.)
Pickers gotta pick, right?
New England minus-7 at Buffalo. Going to be hyped and the Bills are 3-0 with one of the two or three best pass defenses in the NFL. But New England has won 17 straight games against QBs in their first or second seasons. That ties the all time record set by the New Your Giants in the late 1980s and the Los Angeles Rams from 1972-79. (Side note: That it took the Rams almost seven full seasons to see that many QBs in their first or second season is quite telling of the changes of a) today's NFL, b) today's NFL quarterbacks, c) today's win right now mantra and d) the readiness of said QBs. There are 11 teams playing this weekend who will start a QB in his first or second season in the league, and that is with the Jets and 49ers having byes.) Buy the half, and I will roll all season with the Patriots giving less than a TD. I am prepared to die on this hill.
Kansas City minus-6.5 at Detroit. I thinK Patrick Mahomes has earned the same "I'll take them against almost anyone as long as it's less than a TD" kind of respect.
Minnesota plus-2 at Chicago. Sorry, but the wrong team is favored here. Yes, Kirk Cousins has made some head-scratching decisions with the football, but he's still better than Mitchell Trubisky. And the Vikings skilled guys of Dalvin Cook-Adam Theilen-Stefon Riggs-Kyle Rudolph is >>>> than anything the Bears can offer.
Dallas minus-2.5 at New Orleans. Yes, we are backing a lot of road teams this week, but good travels. Alvin Kamara is fun to watch, but Dallas is clicking with the most balanced offense in the league right now. Here's betting we get more of Week 2 Teddy Bridgewater rather than Week 3 Teddy Bridgewater.
Pittsburgh minus-3 over Cincinnati. Two wines teams, but not unlike the unbeaten Pats-Bills showdown Sunday, not all matching records are even. This simply put is a have-to game for the Steelers, who are at home on Monday night. If you can't win this one, well, then it's all but wrapped. (Buy the half because that's who we are.)
From Lunch Bunch
Jay, we work downtown and about five of us eat lunch together most days. We always read your column online before and normally discuss something you have covered almost every day.
This week was different. You asked for the HBO characters Rushmore and we have become obsessed with it. In fact other than most of us agreeing on Tony and a couple of us also agreeing on Omar, everyone has different people and strong views.
So, we wanted to know if you could seed a 16-character bracket, NCAA tournament style and play-it out in Friday's mailbag.
Thanks and keep up the great work at the paper and on the radio. I don't know what you are going to say next, but I almost always laugh at it.
Lunch Bunch
Thanks so much for the kind words and playing along with the silliness. This is a labor of love for sure - we are beyond Ripken and Gehrig in terms of consecutive Monday-through-Friday 5-at-10s; we started in October 2010 - and this may be one of the best questions I've taken.
Exceedingly well-played bunch. And yes, to say I have spent entirely too much time on this one would be entirely correct.
OK some ground rules. We set up the brackets with The Wire getting its own regional because, well, it is the best TV show ever made. So there's that. We then went criminals, drama and comedy. We seeded them 1-through-8 (1-though-4 was simply not enough) in various brackets. Here's what we have.
The Wire bracket
1 Omar Little
2 Stringer Bell
3 Marlo
4 Jimmy McNulty
5 Smooth Lester Freamon
6 Bubbles
7 Bodie
8 Michael
This bracket holds a fair amount of chalk - you know how one NCAA tournament section of your sheet is at worst the 1, 2, 3 and 5 seeds in the Sweet 16. This is that one. As great as Bubbles, Bodie and Michael were, their street ethos has nothing for Omar, Stringer or Marlo.
From there Omar flexes his muscles in a powerful walk over Jimmy McNulty and Marlo, who toppled Stringer. How great are some of these memorable lines from the poet warrior that was Omar Little:
- "A man's gotta have a code."
- "The game's out there. And it's either play or get played. That simple."
- "Come at the king, you best not miss."
- "Money ain't got no ownersonly spenders."
- "Boy, you got me confused with someone who repeats himself."
Omar is Duke. Period. He may lose, but it will be a surprise.
The GoT bracket
1 Tyrion Lannister
2 Jon Snow
3 Daenerys Targaryen
4 Cersei Lannister
5 The Hound
6 Brienne of Tarth
7 Jaime Lannister
8 Tormund
This one has the chance for a slew of upsets right, and we almost included Joffrey, who was killed off long before the rest of the names listed could make a run. (And leaving Ramsay Bolton's sadistic tuckus off this list was painful too.)
But we'll go with Tyrion, Jamie in a monster early upset (and Jaime was way more interesting than the brooding Jon Snow), the Mother of Dragons and Cersei. Cersei beats her little/older brother and Daeny topples Jaime, which leaves us with the two supremely powerful females and queen contenders for the Iron Throne. (And while we are here, Tyrion's 'Bran the Broken' speech aside, shouldn't it have come down to Daeny and Cersei? They were the two most interesting and captivating characters on a show filled with them. Think of the most-powerful scenes in shows that reached all-time status because of its powerful scenes, and I challenge you to come up with two better than Daeny emerging from the fire with the dragons and Cersei in the "Shame, Shame, Shame" walk through the city.)
Cersei on a buzzer beater.
The other drama bracket
1 Tony Soprano
2 Rust Cohle
3 Al Swearengen
4 Lucky Thompson
5 Carmelo Soprano
6 Schillinger (the Nazi from Oz played by JK Simmons - as chilling a character as there has been; side note: If you watched Oz back in the day, the number of former actors on that show that you now recognize will always be characters from that show, including Simmons, and the dude who is the Mayhem guy on the Allstate commercials.)
7 Will McAvoy
8 Christopher Moltisanti
Clarification here: We did not include miniseries such as Band of Brothers. So there's that.
Because he's Tony, well, he killed Christopher - his nephew - on the show and he would likely eventually have killed Carmelo too, so that carries him to the regional final.
The other match-ups are crazy, back-and-forth affairs with Rust Cohle of True Detective holding off Will McCoy from the vastly underrated Newsroom.
Vern Schillinger edges Al Swearengen before falling to Rust, who is handled easily by Tony Soprano.
The comedy bracket
1 Selina Meyer
2 Larry Sanders
3 Larry David
4 Kenny Powers
5 Carrie Bradshaw
6 Artie
7 Ari Gold
8 Barry
(And yes, it pained me to eliminate Hey Now Hank Kinglsey.)
Ari Gold's rally shocks 2-seeded Larry Sanders before falling to Larry David.
Kenny Powers hammers Carrie Bradshaw before getting run-ruled by Selina Meyer. (Side point: Isn't Julia Louis Dreyfus the greatest female TV comedian of all time, considering runs as Elaine, the title character in "New Adventures of Old Christine" and as Meyer in Veep? That's a better resume than Lucielle Ball, Carol Burnette and just about anyone else I can think of.)
In an epic regional final, Meyer narrowly edges Curb's David, but that one could go either way.
Tony vs. Omar.
Selina vs. Cersei.
Wow, dreadfully hard to split these hairs, but I will take Omar because a) he owned every scene he was in, b) was the star of (in my opinion) the best show ever made without holding a starring role in that show, and c) was perfectly written and executed. That has to count for something in a race this close. Like boxing out and making free throws.
In truth, Selina Meyer handles Cersei in a lot of ways because of how poorly the GoT writers handled the end of what should have been Cersei's grand finish.
In the end, and I admit I am biased pro-Wire, I have Omar cutting the nets.
Man has to have a code, after all.
(Great question Lunch Bunch, and thanks again for playing along.)
From Kirk
Ok who do you think is coaching a major team again first. Urban the liar Meyer? Or Hugh wanna be Hefner Freeze?
Kirk
Urban Liar and I do not think it's that close.
In fact, I have heard stories from the West Coast that USC fans are worried that Clay Helton is doing too good a job overcoming injuries and finding ways for his young team to compete.
Yes, you read that correctly. Some USC fans are worried the success will allow Helton to stay and keep the Trojans from adding a true ring-bringer in Meyer. (And make no mistake, Meyer would have USC in the playoff in less than three seasons.)
The name I am most interested to see in play this offseason is Bob Stoops, the former Oklahoma coach.
Is he done for good? Would he be back in the game?
And if he was interested in coming to Knoxville, don't you have to bite the bullet, pass the hat and make that move before COB that afternoon?
From Chris
Dream coaching staff for TN Vols. Mike Leach for offense and Rex Ryan for Defense. We would win some games and all the press conferences. What do you think?
Chris
I don't see it.
I love Mike Leach, and he is easily my favorite college football coach to talk with and interview.
Rex Ryan's M.O. would not work, in my opinion, around these parts. (Sometimes these dudes who craft unbelievable schemes at the highest levels have a hard time teaching it/communicating it to lesser-skilled players.)
You are 100 percent correct that UT would win every news conference and would be infinitely more entertaining on every front.
And Leach would figure out a way to win a game against a ranked-foe that was more talented.
Both of those guys - genius strategists - would loses the eternal "About the Jimmys and Joes not the X's and O's" arms race with Saban, Smart and the rest of the SEC talent hoarders.
Would that tandem be better than what UT has now? Likely.
A dream situation? Can't see it.
We'll offer it out to you guys: What/who in your mind would comprise the 'dream' UT coaching staff? Go.
From Jules
What if the state of California is doing the "pay for their likeness" thing bc they have become mediocre in the college football world for now? They can't fix the East Coast Bias/time zone thing so they have to come up with another way to entice recruits.
Jules
Love this angle of thinking, and it makes sense - not only from a football perspective, but also from a basketball perspective.
UCLA is the college hoops version of Nebraska. There was a time when it was the undisputed king of the realm.
Now, not sure either the basketball Bruins or the Hut-Hut Huskers really move the needle all the much.
In truth, there is no way USC - with its tradition, resources, 'scenery' and everything else - should ever be outside the top-10 or 15 teams in the country. Ever.
Think of the power programs trolling for the scraps across Georgia, Florida, LSU and Texas, and pulling into a school parking lot to see a five-star running back and parking next to Saban's Mercedes and Coach O's (Side question: What would be the perfect car for Coach O? One of those Air Boat things that zooms through the swamp?)
USC should be among the final three or five choices of every four- and five-star West of Dallas. (And they would be if Urban Liar heads that way. Look out.)
That said, if this was about grabbing a competitive edge over everything else, then California would not have delayed the start of this program until 2023.
It would have enacted it next year to get a true jumpstart on the rest of the nation.
This week's Rushmores
Rushmore of action movies with female lead characters: Terminator 2 and Linda Hamilton, Aliens/Alien with Sigourney Weaver, Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road, and Brie Larson as Captain Marvel. (And yes it was tough to leave off Wonder Woman and Katniss Everdeen, among others.)
Rushmore of Michael Douglas movies: Wall Street, Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct, American President
Rushmore of "kings:" People category is The King (Elvis Presley), The King (Richard Petty), Nat King Cole, Stephen King; Creative division: Lion King, King Kong, Burger King, King of the Road by Roger Miller (Trailer for sale or rent, room to let 50 cents Good stuff right there.)
Rushmore of cartoon families: The Simpsons (and then there's a monstrous divide), Flintstones, Hank Hill and Peggy and Bobby and the crew, and in what may shock a few, the Fletcher-Flynns from Phineas and Ferb narrowly edging the Family Guy crew.
Have a great weekend gang, and may our UT and UGA friends enjoy the relaxation of the bye week knowing you can't lose tomorrow.