Historic day
It's April 8, and yes, we normally hold the "On this day" part of the show to the questions segment.
But today's question is bigger than a "Which way Wednesday" piece. On this day in 1974, Hank Aaron hit homer 715.
He did it amid the overt and emotional racism spewed at him. He did it with grace and dignity. He did it on his terms, as he has done with all things in his professional life.
He also did it in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, and among that packed house of 53,775 was a 3-year-old 5-at-10. That's right, I was there.
I was likely sound asleep in my mother's arms, but I was there when Al Downing's pitch went from the Hammer's bat to Tom House's glove beyond the left-field fence and into baseball history.
From ESPN baseball ace Tim Kurkijan, this is how House remembers the moment: ""I was the young guy in the bullpen, by the time it was my turn, I was way out in left-center field. Hank could hit them out anywhere, but I didn't like my chances. Then, as soon as he hit it, I thought, 'Oh my God, this is going to hit me in the chest.' I didn't even have to move. It was unbelievable. After I caught it, I ran the ball to home plate. I handed the ball to Hank. He was crying. I'd never seen Hank Aaron cry.''
(Side note: While we are here, Kurkijan's baseball fix on ESPN.com is a great addition, gang.)
The Braves are going to re-air that game tonight at 7 p.m. on its Facebook and YouTube platforms.
It also got me thinking: Which all-time historic sporting event did you attend live?
Yes, I have some work-related advantages - been to a vast majority of the last 20 or so Masters - but as a I fan I was at the Rams-Titans Super Bowl that fell a yard short, the Gold Medal 1996 basketball game and the first time Alabama came to Auburn in 1989.
What's yours?
Who's the best coming back?
Pro Football Focus is a great site that crunches a slew of numbers to rank football players.
It's football analytics, and the results rarely come out as expected. To that end, the PFF guys ranked the best statistical returning player for all 130 Football Bowl Subdivision teams.
The results, like we said, rarely turned out as you might expect.
Here are some of the more-followed SEC teams and their best returning player, analytically speaking. And we pulled one out for the end because, well, one popular SEC team's best returning player did not play a down last year.
Alabama - DeVonta Smith. (How good is this dude? Well, the best freshman defensive player in the SEC since David Pollack was LSU corner Derek Stingley Jr. last season. Stingley Jr. allowed a grand total of 624 yards to opposing receivers. Of that total, 211 were to Smith.)
Auburn - Roger McCreary. Yes, I had to look up what position he played, and yes, he is a corner who was great with the ball in the air.
Florida - Kaiir Elam, who was great as a true freshman.
Kentucky - Brandin Echols, another cornerback who tops the PFF list of the best returning players for their teams. Loved this stat from the story: In press-man coverage, he allowed eight catches on 23 targets. That's top 10 nationally among corners that qualified.
LSU - Stingley Jr. And a testament to the talent on the LSU roster, it was apparently very close with super WR Ja'Marr Chase. Want to know the analytical rankings of the two most valuable non-quarterbacks in the 2019 college football season? No. 1 was Stingley. No. 2? Yep, Chase. Stingley Jr. was the most valuable corner in all of college football since 2014. And dude has two more years left in college.
Tennessee - Shawn Shamburger. Yes, another corner, which begs two questions for this choice. One, are the SEC corners that much better than every other conference by comparison (or are the quarterbacks that much more deficient)? And two, Shamburger over a slew of other Vols? Really?
Which leads us to Georgia, and this one is quite interesting.
Not as surprising as, say, a Shamburger for the Vols, but the Pro Football Focus analytics say the best returning Bulldogs players is ...
Jamie Newman, the quarterback transfer from Wake Forest. Hello, Newman.
With a gaping hole at the most important position in team sports, Newman arrives with better bonafides than most know. HIs stats are clear to those of us who recognize the traditional benchmarks of passing success.
He's 6-foot-4, 230 pounds and ran 180 times for 574 yards, and if you take away the sacks - he was sacked 22 for 146 yards lost - those numbers become 158 for 720, which is 4.6 per carry rather than the 3.2 of his total carries.
His passing numbers were strong, too. He completed 60.9 percent of his throws for 26 TDs and 11 picks. His passer rating was 145.4.
But in terms of his next level, next-generation analytical numbers, this paragraph from Pro Football Focus certainly offers great hope for UGA fans like Jules and Alejandro.
From PFF: "Most don't recognize the magnitude of Newman opting to transfer from Wake Forest to Georgia, but it's massive. Newman is an athletic player who is known for his rushing ability, but his arm talent simply does not get enough credit. When throwing to a tight window, he ranked behind only Joe Burrow in PFF passing grade. Georgia didn't have much of a deep passing attack with Jake Fromm, but they'll certainly have that with Newman. He was second only to Burrow on 20-plus yard throws last season."
More hiccups that Holy (Bleep)
There was a chance that the big story of the day was going to be Tom Brady.
Yeah, Brady's departure from New England and his arrival in Tampa Bay has kind of been the big story that has intertwined a lot of the corona quarantine.
Well, Brady has famously become the poster boy of a lot of things. Good-looking QB married to the supermodel. Draft-day longshot who becomes a six-time Super Bowl winner and the most-accomplished QB ever. The face of sacrificing for the good of the team, something that can not be overvalued in a hard salary-cap sport.
But possibly more than any other trait or description for Brady is the franchise quarterback who has mastered the benign and useless quarterback blather.
Seriously, name the last time Brady said anything interesting. We'll wait. Heck, as good as Peyton became at the QB double-cliché two-step, he at least did give us the "idiot kicker" diatribe.
Brady is the best QB-Speak QB ever. Wednesday, Brady appeared on "The Howard Stern Show," and if there's any interviewer anywhere on any show everywhere that could get Brady to break free from the QB-Speak shackles, it's Stern.
Advantage Brady, at least early on.
Amid several technology issues that derailed the interview at least three times, Brady moved around the pocket and there was not much that was that controversial. He cussed some because that's what people do on the Stern show. He admitted to smoking weed in high school and some other human details.
But in truth, the most interesting - and most uncovered part of the most-covered story of the last month - was how Brady and Bill Belichick ended their historic relationship.
And at least by the time I had to send this, those questions were still unanswered.
This and that
- So the Falcons released their new unis. Thoughts?
- OK, imagine for a second you're a thief. You break into homes and steal stuff. Wouldn't this have to be the worst career break ever? Yes, that's a home intruder breaking and entering while the homeowner was still there, and that homeowner was UFC fighter Anthony Smith, who waylaid said intruder.
- Today would be the Par 3 Contest at Augusta National. Here's the 2019 winner -the warmer and fuzzier Tiger Woods - offering his quarantined version of the Champions dinner.
- Corona or no, the rules be the rules. When TFP college football guru David Paschall writes about college football, we read and link Paschall on college football. Here's today's work on Tua and his moving draft evaluations in the eyes of experts.
- Corona or no, the rules be the rules. When TFP ace sports columnist and college hoops poohbah Mark Wiedmer writes about college hoops, we read and link Weeds on college hoops. Here's today's work on the chances of the Vols taking a monster leap next year.
- We had a packed Press Row on Tuesday with Lookouts co-owner Jason Freier and ESPN personality Ryan McGee. Good stuff.
- TFP local government reporter Sarah Grace Taylor has been doing a great job covering our local leaders and their steps and actions in the fight against the coronavirus. Here, for the first time that I can recall, is a heat map of Hamilton County that shows where the infected folks are. Side question: Do the extreme hot spots represent the hospital spots downtown, in East Brainerd and the Erlanger campus at the foot of Signal in Red Bank? Thoughts.
Today's questions
If "Which Way Wednesday" starts that way with the all-time historic event and continued to the heat map questions, then it continues this way:
It's a rich day in Masters history as several tournaments ended on this day through the years. Which of these Masters that finished on April 8 was the best - Tiger winning in 2001, Zach Johnson in 2007, Bubba in 2012 or Patrick Reed in 2018?
Which QB will go second in this draft, Tua or someone else?
Other April 8 happenings including Robin Wright's birthday, she is 54 and has aged like a fine wine.
Jim Hunter - aka "Catfish" - would have been 74 today. Gary Carter is 66 today.
The final episode of "All in the Family" aired on this day in 1979.
"Modern Family" bids adieu tonight. I have enjoyed that show, and I will miss that show.
Part of the reason has been the great chemistry, the kids including.
Rushmore of sitcom kids. Go.