CAPE SAND BLAS, Fla. - We're still chasing sunrises and sand castles folks, so try to ignore the mistakes as much as possible.
For those wondering 5-at-10 Jr. won the fishing title Tuesday morning with five in a quick-rising Florida heat. Momma 5-at-10 had a good-sized shark wiggling away right before we got it in the boat.
As for the 5-at-10, well, we stayed on the right side of the boat (Chas enter a political joke here) and caught nothing.
Zip. Absolutely nada.
So it goes, and it was a great day.
So, as they say in the history books, let's do this.
Golf
OK, gang, we had a great stat to the "Major Contest at the least Major Major this side of Major Frank Burns Challenge" for this week's PGA Championship.
Excellent work. Deadline is midnight tonight, and for those interested, it's easy and, like the brews at Delta House, it don't cost nothin'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf16YtSOaUQ
Pick five golfers, top four scores count, points for their finish - first is 1, third is 3, etc. - and lowest score wins.
Good times.
OK, here's one random, fellow's view on the preceding set to put a peg in the ground tomorrow morning. Giddy-up.
Justin Thomas. Dude is the hottest player on the planet and the new No. 1. Will he win? Not sure, but you have to push chips in with the guy riding the lightning.
And see if you can see a trend here, because the guys who can simply crush it are going to have a huge advantage this weekend.
My other picks, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and the lone non-long-bomber in Xander Schauffle, who has six top-five finishes in 11 major championship starts.
Radio racket
ESPN radio host and personal fav Dan LeBatard apologized earlier this week for putting out a poll question that asked, "Is it funny that the guy who refused to kneel immediately blew out his knee?"
To be fair, LeBatard and company said profusely in the moment that this was the topic that it was absolutely not funny when Jonathan Isaac injured his knee Sunday night in the fourth quarter of a game in which Isaac became the first NBA player not to kneel during the national anthem.
And for those that regularly listen to LeBatard's gang of misfits and his band of humorous henchmen, well, this is not even close to the edge of the boundaries that they constantly push.
Is it insensitive? Yes, considering I guy got hurt and will miss the season, and in some ways laughing at injuries has always been somewhat taboo in sports.
But is an apology necessary? There's no wrong answer really, and I ask because I think back to the heyday of Stern or Imus or the early days of sports talk radio.Think of the extremes those guys went to, and did it with a shoulder shrug akin to a confused 10-year-old asked a question in Sunday School about the rich man and his money going to a party.
LeBatard is wicked smart and the show - when the entire cast is there - is the best on radio. Some of you will not agree, and that's fine.
Not sure what the overarching point here is per se, but I do believe that, while being polite and courtesy would be a great daily goal for all of us, talk shows and radio shows and their personalities that never get close to the edge and never color outside the lines will never find greatness.
Non-Uniformity
So players on the WNBA Atlanta Dream - a team that has among its owners Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler - has decided to change course and change its message on protest T-shirts.
Shocker.
Entering the gym, a black shirt with white lettering that read "Vote Warnock" in support of Raphael Warnock, who is running against Loeffler this cycle was worn by a majority of the team.
Again, shocker.
OK, point A, is anyone surprised that the messages are now open to new ideas and suggestions? Doubt it. Once that gets opened, we have routinely said, who is to determine what's the next sentiment, right? Now we are making political statements and voter endorsements on our pregame clothes? How much longer until an NBA player walks out in a "Bleep Trump" hoodie or a "Let's Go Joe" headband? I ask earnestly, for a lot of reasons.
Point B, this demonstration completely proves the merit of Loeffler's original letter to the WNBA commissioner about whether it's smart to mix politics and sports.
Point C, the Dream spokesperson said Sue Bird, who plays for Seattle and partners with Megan Rapinoe so she's aligned directly opposite of Loeffler's hard-right conservative views, came up with the idea.
So now, outside suggestions and political statements are fair game for potential advancement for political aims that are possibly different than the original aims? Hmmmmmmm. Interesting.
Again, shocker.
Bird told ESPN that participation in the "Vote Warnock" campaign is voluntary for WNBA players, but it's fair to ask in this day and time too that those not on the side of protesters - like Isaac - have been criticized internally if not externally.
Or if they would have been felt pressured to participate even though they did not believe in the growing directions of targets and statements.
This and that
- Yeah, sorry, again, nothing new from the kitchen this week. Been flying around the South, trying to find as much late summer fun before school starts (and then stops) later this month.
- Welp, in our continued exploration of things that have been cancelled in some way or in grand fashions, here's today's entry: Kindergarten Cop, the Arnold Schwarzenegger comedy from 1990 that was set to kickoff the NW Film Center outdoor series in Oregon tomorrow, has been got, according to this report. A Twitter storm started by Portland author Lois Leveen, included this doozy: ""What's so funny about School-to-Prison pipeline? Kindergarten Cop-Out: Tell @nwfilmcenterthere's nothing fun in cops traumatizing kids. National reckoning on overpolicing is a weird time to revive Kindergarten Cop. IRL, we are trying to end school-to-prison pipeline. There's nothing entertaining about the presence of police in schools, which feeds the "school-to-prison" pipeline in which African American, Latinx, and other kids of color are criminalized rather than educated." It continued with ""Yes, KINDERGARTEN COP is only a movie. So are BIRTH OF A NATION and GONE WITH THE WIND, but we recognize films like those are not 'good family fun. They are relics of how pop culture feeds racist assumptions. KINDERGARTEN COP romanticizes over-policing in the U.S." And that's not even scratching the surface with certain other communities with the audacity of that kid who tells us "Boys have a penis and girls have a vagina." Oh the humanity.
- Wow, we have talked frequently on the business and industries that are going to have to massively change in these times because of the exclamation of Corona. Of course shopping malls. And Airlines. Hotels and those dealing with business travel. Movie theaters. (Side note: Did you see the story that other than extreme blockbusters, movies will be going to streaming services in 14-to-17 days in most cases. Actual movie theaters will be our grandfathers' drive-ins for our grandkids people.) Well, add one more to the list but this is not Corona-related. Those sprawling plantations throughout the South - that do countless weddings and events yearly - are about to come into crosshairs, if I had to guess. Here's Hollywood power couple Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively lamenting their ceremony at one in South Carolina.
- You know the rules, when TFP college football expert David Paschall writes about college football, we read and link Paschall's prose on college football. Here is his report on the SEC moving back the start of fall practice.
- We had a question yesterday about whether Donald Trump should be giving anymore interviews considering how they have unraveled recently, and then I saw this Biden clip this morning of a recent interview, and in truth, my overarching thought was, "Of a country of more than 300 million people with historic resources, these are our only two options to lead our nation?"
- Wow this is breaking news: UConn cancels its football season. So there's that.
This and that
Which way Wednesday starts this way:
Which is more likely, Tiger top 10 or Tiger missing the cut?
Which is more likely, Braves deal for a starting pitcher or finish outside of the playoffs (provided they, you know, get to the playoffs)?
Which Power Five football plan (again, fingers crossed) do you like best, conference only or conference games and a plus one option?
As for today, Aug. 5, let's review.
Man, American hero day: Neil Armstrong would have been 90, and Herb Brooks would have been 83. Marcia Brady (Maureen McCormick) is 64 today, and Patrick Ewing is 58.
William Wallace was captured on this day in 1305. That betraying Robert the Bruce. American Bandstand premiered on this day in 1957
On this day in 1926, Harry Houdini stayed in a coffin under water for 90 minutes before escaping. Rushmore of magicians and magic. Go, and be creative.
Remember the contest and the mailbag gang.