Democratic debate
Auburn was done. The rest of the clan was headed for bed early.
So I pulled up a chair and watched with keen interest the Democratic candidate debate on Wednesday night.
And it's downright impossible to find the words to accurately describe how bad former New York City mayor and billionaire businessman Mike Bloomberg was.
Bloomberg skipped out on the first couple of rounds of primaries and caucuses. He entered the race late.
And he got a Custer-at-Little-Big-Horn welcome from the other five candidates on the stage Wednesday night.
Granted, Bloomberg walked out with everyone's bullseye clearly focused on him, but for the first 75 minutes Bloomberg's biggest enemy was Bloomberg.
He was unlikable. He was wishy-washy. His answers on the sexual harassment charges and non-disclosure agreements with women who have sued him and settled were some of the worst in the history of presidential debates.
Unlike his commercials and propaganda, Bloomberg looked overmatched and whatever the opposite of presidential is. Sure, he got some late body blows in on Bernie Sanders about Bernie's millionaire status and his three houses. But, if this had been a boxing match, those late haymakers would never had been thrown because the fight would have been stopped long before.
With almost complete uniformity, Bloomberg was listed as the clear loser Wednesday night. For everyone else, the grades were more in the margins. Here are my winners and losers from Vegas last night:
Winner: Elizabeth Warren. She was aggressive and took on everyone with a blend of policy and well-crafted diction. Of all the folks on stage, she was the clear winner.
Loser: NBC. We were about 15 minutes in and the mudslinging started in earnest and before you knew it, Chuck and Lester and the rest of the NBC news folks lost control of almost every question and rebuttal. And man, oh man, there were a ton of pie-in-the-sky ideas, theories and handouts pitched in on everything from health care to college and everything else, and not a single question from the question askers on how any of those trillion-dollar initiatives were going to be funded.
Winner: Bernie Sanders. Not so much for what Bernie had to say - he remains amazingly consistent on his talking points whether you agree with them or fear his socialist directives will bankrupt the next generation - but for the carnage around him. Bernie is the leader, and I don't think Warren can reel him in because of their similar bases within the party. Bernie's biggest unknown was Bloomberg and he bombed, so Bernie's status as the front-runner heading into Vegas this weekend and the all-important Super Tuesday almost assuredly remains in tact.
Loser: Amy Klobuchar. Wow, the question about Sen. Klobuchar not knowing the president of Mexico's name became her highlight. And it may be the lasting - and last - image of her ultimate demise. After crushing the New Hampshire debate and riding that momentum to a third-place finish in that primary, the over-achiever from Minnesota looked overmatched and likely will be the next to bow out.
Winner: Donald Trump. This is not about the social media hand-wringing and angst about how the Democrats went at each other, but about the current president. I actually appreciated the candidates' approach, because rather than spend two hours pointing out Trump's failings, I wanted to hear their platforms and policies. Still, the carnage did two things that had to make Trump smile. First, the accusations raised a ton of talking points for Trump and his GOP cronies. Second, I believe Trump's camp wants to run against Sanders the most, because Sanders' socialist background will energize the Republican base every bit as much as Hilary did three and half years ago.
Loser: Mayor Pete. This one is tough, because he likely is my favorite Democratic candidate in the field, and the one I think scares Trump's camp the most. But he took a slew of body blows from Liz Warren, who took no prisoners, gang, and Mayor Pete looked like a bully piling on Klobuchar, which also seemed rather pointless considering her status.
Winner and loser: Joe Biden. He was good Wednesday - noticeably better than some of his previous disasters - and did as well promoting his beliefs and platforms as any other candidate on the stage. Still, his slide likely will continue because while he was better, he did not redirect the narrative that he's trending downward.
Thoughts?
NFL labor negotiations
Wow, that got long. Let's move quickly from this point forward, shall we? I think we shall.
OK, details are coming out about some of the galvanizing points of the new NFL collective bargaining agreement and some of them are pretty large. Here's more from ESPN NFL news breaking Adam Schefter.
The league is looking to expand to 17 regular-season games, with one fewer preseason game, as well as expanding the playoff field by a team in each conference.
The playoff expansion would mean that only the top seed would get a first-round bye, and there would be three games on Saturday and Sunday of wildcard weekend. And if you though the first-round bye was already a huge advantage - only eight teams since 2002 have reached the Super Bowl without a first-round bye - this would give the No. 1 seed a huge, Huge, HUGE edge.
Schefter reported that the playoff changes could happen as soon as the 2020 season, so there's that.
As for what the players would get for more games and more broadcast windows, well, it's simple. And it's green.
From Schefter's story: "As part of the deal now on the table, players would go from a 47% revenue share under the current deal to 48% share at 16 games, and then to a 48.5% share if they go to 17 games, shifting $5 billion of revenue to the players' side."
Yes, billion with a "B" friends.
Bust then, busted now
Hey gang, the party at Greg's house has been cancelled.
Greg Robinson, the No. 2 overall pick by the Rams in 2014, was arrested with 157 pounds of marijuana in his car as he tried to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. He was arrested with a person believed to be Quan Bray, who played with Robinson at Auburn.
War Eagle fellas. Wonder if those orange jumpsuits can get some blue trim?
Speaking of Robinson, and I love the draft - you know this - Robinson's bust-meter is every bit as big as his pot payload.
In fact, you can make a hard argument that other than JaMarcus Russell, who the Raiders took No. 1 overall in 2007 when future Hall of Famers Calvin Johnson, Joe Thomas, Adrian Peterson, Darrelle Revis and Marshal Yanda were in that same draft, Robinson is the biggest bust in modern draft history.
Robinson, who was jettisoned from St. Louis and was in Cleveland last season - and likely will be with the Mean Machine protecting Paul Crewe's blindside for the next decade or so - was picked second in '14, and these All-Pro dudes were picked after that: Khalil Mack (fifth), Mike Evans (seventh), Odell Beckham (12th), Aaron Donald (13th), Zach Martin (16th) and C.J. Mosely (17th).
Man, I love the draft. Again, you know this.
This and that
- Awful news here as Weeds reports on the slaying of former UTC basketball player Stanley Lawrence. Rest easy, Officer Lawrence.
- Double bad news for Daytona. The TV numbers are in and they are historically low. The race averaged 4.4 rating and 7.33 million viewers, which is the lowest numbers in both categories in the history of the race. Yes, that's bad, and the Monday finish was a huge part of it. With the intrigue of the president in attendance, the 20 laps raced Sunday drew a 6.2 rating and averaged 10.94 million viewers, which represented significant jumps from recent years. Sunday's opening - with President Trump in that monster pace vehicle - had 11.19 million viewers according to Neilsen, which is 32 percent more than the start of the 2019 race and the most since 2015. If Sunday's weather had held off, the 500 was set to be the most watched since 2017 when Daytona averaged 11.92 million. As for Monday finishes, the 500 has only had one other, and that was in 2012, which drew close to double the rating (8.0) and average viewers (13.67 million).
- Here's today's A2 conversation from some fat-faced, "Mayor Pete-hating" Republican. This one is about one Hamilton County taxpayer wondering why we needed a tax increase last year when the school system has been able to fund bonuses and raises for teachers, a monster raise for the superintendent and add 180 new positions without it. If taxes had increased, were we putting five-star restaurants in every cafeteria?
- Speaking of Mayor Pete, if I were to vote Democratic, I'd vote for Mayor Pete, and I think he (or Liz) would be the best theater against Trump on the debate circuit and into November. Sorry we could not respond to the comments yesterday - Wednesday is easily my busiest day of the week - but Will, well, OK. Thanks for swinging by. And Chas, we were discussing the line about Mayor Pete in Ron Hart's column. As always, I appreciate your opinion and welcome all views - whether in agreement or opposed.
- Our picks went 1-2 last night - Thanks Coach Paris and UTC for the one - to move us to 33-25, which is 56.9 percent against the number. It also revealed a couple of things about a reeling Auburn bunch. First, Isaac Okuro looks to be the most valuable freshman in the country, considering the Tigers are 22-2 with him in the line-up and bagel-and-2 since his hamstring injury. Also, Auburn's loss at Georgia last night just about wraps the regular-season SEC title for Kentucky.
- Looks like Alabama OC Steve Sarkisian has emerged as the frontrunner to replace Mel Tucker at Colorado. Here's more from Dennis Dodd of CBSsports.com.
- Speaking of sports on the tube, the XFL TV numbers are in, and for the weekend, the XFL games ranked fifth, sixth, seventh and 11th among sporting events. The most-watched game was Dallas-L.A. on Sunday with a 1.5 rating and 2.4 million viewers. All four Week 1 games had better numbers than Week 2. Still, despite the lower numbers, the XFL was still a substantially stronger draw in week two than last year's Alliance of American Football. Week two of the AAF topped out at a 0.6 and 1.02 million on TNT, with games on NFL Network averaging less than a 0.3 and 500,000.
Today's questions
If you watched, who do you think won the debate?
Is there something else that should be added in NFL CBA? I would not be surprised to see rosters expanded, for example.
Biggest NFL draft bust in the last 20 years?
As for today, Feb. 20, let's review.
The U.S. Postal Service was created on this day in 1792.
Ansel Adams was born on this day in 1902. Sidney Poitier is 93 today.
My man Charles Barkley is 57 today.
Rushmore of Chuck, and be creative.