Weekend winners
Jason Hehir. The director of "The Last Dance," who was on Press Row late last week, delivered with the first two installments of the 10-part documentary on the sixth and final title of the Chicago Bulls' dynastic run in the 1990s. Sunday's two one-hour episodes came with nearly impossible expectations, and for me personally it delivered in every aspect. Kudos.
Dan Crenshaw. The young congressman went on Bill Maher's HBO show and crushed it. CUH-rushed it. Crenshaw is a Republican; Maher is a liberal who can come across as a bully. Hey, it's the format of the show and it has worked for Maher. Friday night, Crenshaw was having none of it and handled himself so well there was a social media tsunami wondering not if but when Crenshaw will seek bigger office.
Brooks Koepka. Yes, we're all for golf trying to figure a way back into competition. But here's some simple science and plain truth from Koepka. Yes, he started acknowledging the loss of the energy fans would bring, but how's this for some science - and something I have believed for a long time: "Every once in a while, we just hit some foul balls and the fans kind of help you find it. I mean, guys are going to lose balls because of that." So true.
NASCAR iRacing. The graphics are downright amazing, and hey, we had a virtual race without any of the losing gamers dropping an N-bomb or losing sponsors for quitting. That said, there was a Twitter spat and one competitor asking for the other's address so they could fight. If we're going to fight in the day and age of social distancing, would that look like the rocks scene early in "Braveheart?" "I shoulda remembered the rocks."
The hard and direct truth of what college football means to the schools. Here's a story with the FSU athletic director putting it quite simply - and quite accurately, for the finances and the fans - when asked by the board of trustees about the possible cancellation of the college football season: "God help us."
Bonus pick: Braylon Beason. The Sale Creek teenager saved Stan Sumrell over the weekend from drowning. Well done, young man.
Weekend losers
Those of us who watched "The Last Dance" on DVR. Man, the Twitter chatter missed by delaying our viewing until after the kids were put to bed was a) reminiscent of big-time sporting events when we, you know, had big-time sporting events, and b) made me realize how much we miss big-time sporting events.
Jerry Krause. The former Bulls GM certainly is going to play the overlord villain in "The Last Dance." In the age of hallmark dates in sports in which the game changed, is Krause the last NBA GM who could have pulled off a power play like that? Running Phil Jackson out of town - with a preseason announcement that "This is your last year, I don't care if you go 82-0" no less - and in turn running MJ out of town and putting Scottie Pippen on the trade block?
Novak Djokovic. So, The Joker is an anti-vaxer. And no, he's not joking. Who knew? You have to wonder moving forward with the drum-banging about "Listen to the experts" and the complete shutdown of our country because of The Corona, what will become of the anti-vaccination crowd when they come up with a vaccine for this thing? Seriously. This is a very interesting conversation moving forward, if you ask me.
Cash-grabbing organizations being exposed during The Corona relief. Harvard is the richest school in the country and scooped up $9 million in taxpayer coin from the CARES relief. A huge portion of the small business loans earmarked for restaurants has been claimed by chain restaurants. Hmmmmm, just feels wrong, right? Here's a story about monster national chains like Ruth's Chris and J. Alexander getting tens of millions as the almost $350 billion for small business was sucked dry in two weeks, leaving a lot of "traditional" small, one-shop businesses with nothing.
Dickie V. Less than awesome BAY-BEE. Dick Vitale took to Twitter to defend the multi-millionaire coaches like Tom Izzo, who is furious about the one-time transfer proposal. PUH-lease. Dickie V went from being the face of college basketball - the players, the fans, the enthusiasm - to being the mouthpiece for the game's power brokers.
NFL draft dodging
OK, we will expand on this on Tuesday, but the Dodging the Draft While Feeling the Draft and Drinking a Draught Draft Doohickey is full speed ahead.
Each of the below questions is worth one point. If there's a tie, we will have a Friday, day-two draft tie-breaker, which means we really want there to be a tie so we can extend the contest.
Here are the questions, and feel free to add your answers in the comments or email me at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com:
> Who will be the second QB drafted?
> How many SEC players will go in Round 1?
> First team to make a trade? (Clarification: The team with the higher pick will be deemed the first team to trade. For example, if the Giants trade the No. 2 pick to the Dolphins for picks 5 and 18, then the Giants is the answer. Clear?)
> More offensive or defensive players drafted in Round 1?
> Over/under 1.5 running backs drafted in Round 1?
> The Atlanta Falcons' first pick will be? (Clarification: This is the player picked. For example, if the Falcons pick Derrick Brown and trade him for more first-round picks and pick other players, the answer is Derrick Brown. Clear?)
> Who will be the first wide receiver drafted?
> Heck, let's go ahead and extend this beyond Thursday, right? In what round will Jake Fromm be picked?
Questions? Let's have a little fun here.
Last Dance details
There simply is too much from the one sports event that has felt like an actual sports event in a month. Normally we would spin around the sports world with some This and That, but at least for this weekend, the sports world seemed to spin around the Sunday night documentary.
Some observations from "The Last Dance" (or as it will be known around these parts, TLD) beyond the winning of director Hehir and the crafted villain status of Krause, and if you have not watched yet, well, go ahead and skip to the "Today's Questions" part of today's show:
> The 1980s and '90s music for TLD was simply amazing, and yes, I am stunned by how much of the lyrics I can still remember from mid-1980s all-time rap classic "I'm Bad" by LL Cool J;
> Scottie Pippen was better than I remember, but how much crud would he have gotten on the 24/7 sports cycle and debate shows for his decision to "enjoy his summer" and not get surgery until right before the 1997-98 season? It would have been never-ending;
> Speaking of Pippen, was anyone else jarred when Charles Oakley just plain slapped him in the face? Thank you sir, may I have another. And part of the changing culture of sports fandom and perspective in this day and age, Pippen's contract was his fault, not Krause's, and a lot of fans of this day and age want superstars to take far less to enhance the roster in cap-driven sports. (I can remember a lot of folks praising Tim Duncan for this during his Spurs run.)
> Did I miss the mention of it, but did TLD tell viewers that Jerry Krause is dead? I would have loved to have heard Krause's version of these events;
> Speaking of losses in the first installments of TLD, how about that French dude prepping MJ for the French TV show asking Jordan for his autograph?
> When we had Hehir on the radio last week to discuss TLD, he was over-the-top in his praise for MJ as an interviewee. If MJ's story about the Bulls Cocaine Circus was any indication, Hehir was 100 percent spot-on;
> One more thing from "The Last Dance," gang: The marketing plan of commercials coming with trivia questions or interactive, show-connected scenes like those that came during last night's Bulls documentary will be way more common moving forward. Clever move by ESPN, especially the fake "SportsCenter" commercial for State Farm with Kenny Mayne.
Today's questions
Weekend winners and losers share your thoughts.
Thoughts on "The Last Dance," because we know you watched.
If we set the over/under at 5 million viewers for last night's TLD, whatcha' got?
As for this day, April 20, yes, it's 4/20. Some of you know that means. Some don't.
Wow, Columbine happened on this day in 1999.
Jessica Lange is 71 today. Carmen Electra is 48.
James Gammon would have been 80 today. If you are wondering, "Who is James Gammon?" he played Lou Brown, the manager of the Indians' in "Major League."
Rushmore of fictional sports movie coaches. Go.