Weekend winners
The Yankees. Wow, they've won nine straight against arch-rival Boston, which is scuffling like we have not seen since pre-Pedro days. Still the Yankees are deep and loaded.
Yellowstone watchers. Holy bleep last night's penultimate episode of season 3 was near perfection, even down to the shoutout at the end to Wilford Brimley. Two quick observations: One, I never thought I'd get the chance to watch a more savage female character on TV than Cersei Lannister. Well, Beth Dutton is pushing her chips to the middle of the table, friends. Second, don't betray the brand. That is all. Last night's pay-off heading into next Sunday's season finale is especially sweet for those of us who patiently waited through what many have dubbed a very slow first part of season 3.
Paul Finebaum. Dude has become the media face of the SEC, and the simple fact that the league is releasing its new-look 2020 schedule for Week 1 live on his show in this day and age of mass releases and Zoom meetings is quite the testament.
Jim Herman. The PGA Tour journeyman got his third career professional win and won countless fans by his all-too-human reactions as he sweated out the final holes of the Wyndham event and players chasing his 21-under score. He nervously took a swig of water with the cap still on the bottle. He waved at the camera like Spy would have. His poker face was more Lady Gaga than Doyle Brunson. It was real. And poignant. And his golf over the weekend was eye-popping. With a super-charged putter, Herman went 61-63 over the weekend and made the PGA playoffs after missing the cut in 11 of his last 18 tournaments.
Alex Smith. Dude will be in camp with the Washington Football Team on Tuesday. He survived the gruesome leg injuries that required 17 - yes, 17 - surgeries and threatened to cause him to lose his right leg. Wow, what a journey and the ESPN profile on him will truly shine a light on the hardships of coming back from something like that. I'm not crying; you're crying.
Stephan Jäger, formerly known as Stephan Jaeger. The former Baylor School and UTC star won his fifth career Korn Ferry event with Sunday's title at the Boise Open. Good times.
Weekend losers
The Lakers. The West's top-seed may be a borderline underdog to the sizzling-hot Portland Trail Blazers and next world point guard Damian Lillard. Yeah, feels pretty weird that the NBA playoffs start today. Side note: They should keep the play-in game and the revamped schedule with the later start and the postseason going later into the summer.
Me. Why did no one tell me that the upcoming season of Better Call Saul was the final one? Dang. Dang you 2020. Speaking of the awfulness of 2020, who had 'Firenado' as something that was going to happen?
Golf bettors. One guy rolled the dice with third-round leader Si Woo Kim to the tune of $500,000. Another gambler bet $60,000 on Billy Horschel during Sunday's final round.
Golic fans. For the first time in a long, Long, LONG time, there was no Mike Golic Sr. in the morning on ESPN radio. The new show from 6-to-10 a.m. with Keysahwn, J-Will and Zubin sounded fine and had a star-studded line-up of guests that included Bill Belichick.
Daniel Cormier. Considered one of the best MMAers ever, Cormier got thumped by Stipe Miocic.
Baseball's battles with the Corona. First it was the Marlins, then the Cardinals, now the Reds are facing extended pause because of an internal Corona outbreak.
Speaking of that
Not sure I have the time to go back and see the last time I had a 5-at-10 without a Corona discussion. And today is no different.I'm so tired of this thing. Truly.
Justin Fields brought the conversation about playing back to the Big Ten with an online petition. Fields joined the new ESPN morning show and held his own to some tough questions, including reiterating the point that remains unanswered: Players are safer on campus and under the watchful eyes of their coaches and administrates than being at home.
And if the photos that went viral of college kids doing normal college kids things in anything-but normal college times are any indication, the players are way more safe inside the program than just milling about campus.
And while we're discussing college life, does anyone think Corona is not going to kill a college student with the way they are a) acting and b) congregating? It appears almost inevitable.Bad decisions lead to bad consequences, but do we think Corona will kill as many college students as alcohol? And if so, then when's the decision on that coming down?
TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer asked over the weekend "Would losing football for a season really be the worst thing ever?" OK, for me, absolutely not. For you, almost assuredly not. For 90-plus percent of the people you know, almost assuredly not.
But we're asking big-picture questions and completely ignoring the direct answers from those who are in the big picture.
And that's mind-boggling to me. And let's not pretend that college football just became a health risk, friends.
The hypocrisy of having kids on campus but not letting them play is simply inexplicable to me - and speaking of hypocrisy, we'll see if Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren's son Powers, a redshirt junior tight end, shows up for today's first day of practice at Mississippi State.
And maybe Daddy Warren says no-go for Powers, and that's a conversation every family has to have about school, work, groceries and everything in between.
This and that
- Hope you guys and gals are safe. I'm just going to leave the intro to Kenny Chesney's "Boys of Fall" right here. Do with it as you see fit. Man, Sean Payton crushed it. KER-rushed it. Feeling down, friends. Watch Payton's speech. Greatness.
- Speaking of domination, well, Holy Buckets of historic hind-kickings, the Cleveland Indians have won 20 straight against the Tigers. The last time the Indians lost to the Tigers, some dude named Tiger Woods was finishing up his par-3 and getting ready for a really fun weekend at Augusta National. That feels like a million years ago, right? To combine some gambling tidbits, if you have put 10 bucks on the Indians, and let it right on the money line, assuming the odds were relatively flat, you would have a tidy sum of $10,485,760 riding on the next time the Indians and Tigers meet.
- Speaking of the PGA Tour event, Baylor School grads Harris English and Luke List made the cut and made a lot of money spending the weekend playing golf. English, who has been downright robotic in his consistency since he returned from Corona, shot four rounds in the 60s, finished tied for 23rd and made $64,320. List cost himself a lot of money with Sunday's 75 - he entered the final round 9 under and among the top 20 - and finished tied for 66th and made a s tad more than $13,000. Keith Mitchell missed the cut. All three of those dudes will be in the PGA playoffs.
- You guys and gals know the rules, Paschall = college football; college football = links to Paschall's prose. Here's TFP college football expert on SEC players opening a very uncertain preseason practice and also on UGA's loaded quarterback room.
- Speaking of golf, and I love doing this when journeymen players like Herman find a way to win a tournament
- and the seven-figure check - but the biggest impact on the game of golf ever made came from Tiger Woods and you only have to look at the purses these guys play for to see it. Jim Herman's win at the Wyndham moved him to No. 246 all-time on the career money list with $7,594,230. No. 245 is some Hall of Fame dude named Curtis Strange, who had 19 career Tour wins, including two majors, and led the Tour in earnings in 1985, 1987 and 1988. For what it's worth, Luke List is 243rd on that chart with more than $7.67 million and Harris is 129th all-time with more than $14.8 million, which again back too the Tiger comparison is $350,000 more than Greg Bleepin' Norman folks.
Today's questions
Weekend winners and losers. Go.Multiple Choice Monday goes a little something like this: Which new ESPN radio show has the best chance to be must-listen radio?
Another winner of the weekend was the Mrs. 5-at-10, who had a birthday Sunday. She was born on the exact day Elvis died.
Couple of master thespians celebrate birthdays today, as De Niro turned 77 and Sean Penn turns 60.
Rushmore of Sean Penn movies? Go.