The NFL - winning
It's impossible to argue that the only sports league that has truly been unaffected by the corona but has embraced the chance to magnify its spotlight during this time is the NFL.
It got the combine in. It got NFL free agency in a vacuum of sports silence. It had the controversy and still some sports news out there when it forced its CBA extension to approval.
It has come out boldly and said, "Deal with it, GMs and teams, we're having the draft" and if you want to view that as self-serving, I get that. It also is a much-needed sports distraction for a lot of us, especially me. I love the draft. You know this.
Now comes the news that the expanded playoff field has been approved and sold to CBS and NBC.
In a time when other leagues are figuring out to minimize hundreds of millions in losses with each passing month of inactivity, the NFL just added a mid-nine-figure payday with very little effort.
We knew that was coming. But the released wrinkle of one of the TV packages is wicked smart. (Which makes me think of the bar scene in "Good Will Hunting" when Little Affleck says, "MY boy is wicked smart." Also, if we did a Rushmore of apples other than the computer company, that scene when Will tells that pompous jackwagon, 'How you like them apples?' is pretty awesome in its awesomeness.)
The NFL forced CBS to include in its bid that the extra wildcard game is a way to have a simulcast on Nickelodeon. It's brilliant, friends, because the NFL dominates the much-coveted 25-50 male demographic. Now its product has a portal to the young eyes - and future 25-50-year-old viewers - as soon as the upcoming playoffs.
Couple other NFL TV tidbits to watch for, if I had to guess:
> Look for the long-standing hard-connected conference affiliation with CBS and Fox to fade. Think about it. The AFC had been a de facto Patriots game when in doubt. With the Cowboys, the Packers and now Tom Brady in the NFC, getting the biggest games on TV may mean NFC games on CBS, too, at times.
> Also, here's betting that ABC, in an effort to secure its place with the league as the host of "Monday Night Football," comes up with a way get a simulcast on a Disney Network station sooner rather than later.
The Scheme
Did you watch the HBO special on the investigation into college basketball?
We did. We had high hopes.
We were left with some mixed thoughts.
It was at least 30 minutes too long and maybe an hour. It does a great job of explaining who Christian Dawkins is, but it does not really tell me why I should care about who Christian Dawkins is.
Easily the best 30 minutes of the documentary are the last 30 minutes, which are filled with Will Wade's very incriminating words on tape. In fact, with those tapes you really have to wonder how Wade survived this.
And, upon reflection, the follow-up on this - and part of this Pat Kondelis admitted when he was on Press Row last week - is that the NCAA simply did not care what the FBI case unearthed.
From Kondelis, via TFP college hoops whiz and Press Row cohost David Paschall's story over the weekend: "The NCAA has no interest in changing things the way things are working for them. They make billions of dollars, and it's all tax-free. Louisville has been the most profitable basketball program in the country, making $42 million a year in profit, so they don't want any of this to change. It's why every sports fan knows that the bigger schools aren't going to get hammered. I think it's a 50-50 shot whether Will Wade will continue at LSU. The fact that he's still coaching is remarkable."
Eventually, it appears the FBI did not care, either.
Which makes you wonder,too, how much money and how many man-hours were wasted for a result that cost Chuck Person his job and Dawkins a year and a day in the can and little else.
Shhhhhhh, and keep your fingers crossed
There is a glorious scene in "Gladiator" in which Marcus Aurelius calls Maximus into his tent and part of his self-rationalization of the legacy of his life.
"Will I be the emperor that gave Rome back her true self?" Caesar tells Maximus. "There was once a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it because anything more than a whisper it would vanish, it was so fragile."
That's how I viewed the initial reports of a Tiger-Phil golf match in May that have now expanded into CNBC reporting that it's a) on and b) will be Tiger and Peyton Manning against Phil and Tom Brady.
Cue the next classic movie scene: Flounder from "Animal House" at the homecoming parade, "Oh boy, is this great!" (And remember Spy, fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life.)
Please don't let this be a cruel April Fool's Day joke. Please My sports fandom is too fragile - like a whisper, for Pete Dye's sake.
Speaking of the famed golf course designer and golf hall of famer, on a which-way Wednesday, if we were to ask which course should host this fingers-crossed bonanza of golfing goodness, we would all say Augusta National, right?
Well, if that place is busy or closed or they are worried about the starving sports media camping out on Washington Avenue, what out the Dye-designed glory that is The Honors in Ooltewah? Hmmmmmm, how about a Fresca?
It's secluded. Woods and Mickelson have history there during their amateur days. Manning's a member. The on-course cottages. We have to believe Henrik and the crew would welcome them with open arms.
Hmmmmmmmm.
This and that
- You know the drill: When TFP college football wizard David Paschall writes about college football, we read and link Paschall on college football. Here's today's offering about pro days and some UGA tidbits with Kirby Smart.
- Gang, We have Steve Myers, the executive producer and poohbah of NASCAR's iRacing program, today at 3:20 on Press Row. It has a chance to be really good, and if you have an interest in the genesis of this program and the meteoric rise of it, check it out. Did you know that 1.3 million watched Sunday's simulated race at Texas, and that it's the third-most watched sports program since the shutdown?
- Speaking of ratings, and if you know the answer to this, well, please do not apply for my gig, want to guess the two-most watched sports programs since the sports world stopped spinning? No. 1 - "Elway to Marino" 30-for-30 on ABC with 1.42 million; No. 2 - a March 22 encore of the U.S. Figure Skating Championship. Seriously.
- Speaking of golf - and of sports simulations - I firmly believe that with the in-house technology of TrackMan and the other golfing simulators out there today's PGA superstars have, a similar simulation could happen. If you have ever seen those kind of simulators - they have some of the best technology at Choo Choo Golf and its available to the public - you know this is doable. And we all have to believe that with the right programming, Rory and Jordan and DJ and Brooks could all be in their basements and still play a virtual match at the same virtual course.
- Thank goodness Arkansas is still a pushover, because you get the feeling that the rest of the SEC West is going to be a week-in, week-out challenge. We know what Alabama and LSU are and will be - did you guys see that the over/under on first-round picks for both those programs later this month is 5.5? - for the foreseeable future. We know what Auburn and A&M are willing to spend to try to be in that circle. And now we know that the Mississippi schools made the two most intriguing hires over the offseason, and Mike Leach just landed a big-time four-star QB recruit. Friends, know this: If Mike Leach gets bonafide SEC talent to Starkville, the Cowbells are going to be hard to handle on offense.
Today's questions
Which way Wednesday starts this way.
Which were you - or your kids - a Nickelodeon kid or a Disney kid?
Which side you backing, Mickelson-Brady or Woods-Manning? (And to be honest, that's going to be like 90 percent for Manning-Woods, right?)
Which format should the (fingers-crossed) reported golf match with Phil, Tommy, Tiger and Peyton have: Best ball, scramble, alternate shot or some of each?
Which celebs should be in the next celebrity golf shootout? (And yes, I think Larry the Cable Guy and Chuck Barkley - both of whom are dreadful - should be part of the next one.)
Which first-year coach in Mississippi will have the longer run at their new school, Lane Kiffin or Mike Leach?
As for today, April 1, here's hoping you find a way to laugh on this April's Fools Day.
It was 44 years ago today that Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs founded a little computer group called Apple. That company may make a mark someday.
On this day in 1931, Jackie Mitchell signed with the Lookouts. She was the second female to sign with an organized baseball club. (The first was Lizzie Arlington in 1898.)
In 1985, Villanova beat Georgetown for the NCAA title.
But there is only one Rushmore for today: Rushmore of "Fools" - be it title, name, quote what have you. Be creative and fire away with your mailbag questions.