From Taylor
Jay,
I know you are having fun with your XFL gambling parts but I have a question for you.
Do you think there is there anything the XFL can realistically do to be a worthwhile spring football league?
Thanks and keep up the good work.
Taylor -
Completely fair question, and thanks for playing along with the silliness.
I think the XFL has had about a good start as it could expect.
The rule tweaks to overhauls have been noteworthy and for the most part well-received. The action has been better than the AAF, and the TV numbers have been too.
In its structure, the XFL appears completely content in losing a lot of Vince McMahon's money in year one and then trying to get close to break even in year two.
If I was Oliver Luck's consigliere, here's the list I would bring to my Don, and yes, this feels like a way into a theme show. Godfather quotes in the mailbag, who's with me?
> "Make them an offer they can't refuse." I thought the XFL should have offered Trevor Lawrence $10 million to leave Clemson and play QB right now. LSU freshman All-American cornerback Daryl Stingley Jr. should be a top target for Year 2. These college players give the league two things it desperately needs.
The first is star power. The second is a bargaining chip with the NFL, which leads us to this.
> "It's not personal Sonny. It's strictly business." The best chance for a long-term existence for the XFL is to find a working relationship with the NFL. Be it minor leagues. Be it a developmental league. Be it an incubator for ideas and technology. But right now the NFL has little to gain from the XFL, but if the XFL starts getting stars or hurting the draft process, well, then that could be a way in.
> "Tom Hagen is no longer Consigliari. He's going to be our lawyer in Vegas." Embrace everything Vegas-related. Yes, the XFL has had a much clearer connection to gambling and lines than the AAF did, but until you can develop a connection to the names of the front of the jerseys (teams and their fans) or the back (again, stars) the quickest connection is gambling.
Before we get to this week's XFL picks, last night we went 2-2 overall, and 1-1 in the NBA and college hoops, hitting the Bucks minus-12.5 over Detroit and missing Memphis pick 'em over Sacramento. We also lost Georgia State plus-2.5 over Texas-Arlington but hit Austin Peay minus -10.5 over SIU Edwardsville. NBA picks 13-5 against the number; college picks are 34-26.
Houston minus-6 over Tampa Bay (total 45.5). St. Louis minus-9 over New York (total 40.5). Seattle plus-4.5 over Dallas (total 43). DC minus-8 over Los Angeles (total 44).
Should we roll with all the unders again? Discuss.
Last week: 6-2 against the spread.
This season: 11-4 (73.3 percent) against the spread.
From Matt
Did you see (Thursday) what was trending on Twitter? Which movie traumatized you as a kid?
I thought that would be right up your alley in the 5-at-10.
Matt -
Yeah, likely should have included that. So it goes.
There were a few for me, and in a wide range of ways.
The first scenes of Bambi when his momma gets got let a lasting mark on a very young 5-at-10.
The opening scenes with the spiders and Indy running through the cave in Raiders of the Lost Ark made an impression.
The first time I saw those flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz, well, no thanks. And let's just say I still keep my head on a swivel at the beach thanks to the first Jaws.
But the one that was the most and still stays with me today was the clown in the kid's room and under the kid's bed in Poltergeist. (And to continue the Godfather roll, well, "Thanks for your time, Mr. Waltz. I'm a big fan of your motion pictures.")
Dear Lord. Stupid clowns.
Hey, group skate. Everyone feel free to play along with movies that traumatized you as a tot.
From Sportsfan
Jay,
Watching a little Tuesday evening basketball. Can both LSU and KY lose the same game tonight? Talking with Mrs. Sportsfan during the breaks. What's the downside if every team in baseball refuses to play the Astros in Houston? Granted Houston gets 81 wins, but Houston loses a lot of concession and parking revenue. Are there baseball contract issues? Would it force the commissioner out, or at least to make a better decision? Would it be considered collusion? Just wondering if the teams outside Houston could affect change.
Sportsfan -
Yes, there are contact laws, especially TV deals, that make it legally impossible.
It also would guarantee the Astros the 1 seed into the AL playoffs.
Still, I liked what my cohost David Paschall proposed on Press Row earlier this week. In every team's first visit to Houston, they have every pitcher throw at an Cheaters player. All of them get tossed, and eventually have to forfeit.
So the Houston fans will buy tickets for about 10 minutes of baseball. When this plan hits the streets, well, how many folks show up for the opening game of the series.
Will it happen? Of course not. (And another side angle here is that while the players are hot about this, we are not hearing a whole lot of angst or outrage from the management side of other teams, you know? That suggests to me that there are several front offices who know they are not as clean as many may suspect.)
But what could conceivably happen? I hope every opposing team turns their back to the Astros during introductions, or even refuses to come out.
I think guys who have talked tough - Nick Markakis comes to mind - will be worth watching.
I also think that there will be a lot of fights this year between the Cheaters and opponents. Sure the commissioner in is infinite foolishness has come out and said that people throwing at the Cheaters will be harshly disciplined.
But here's betting that this spills further into the action.
I can see Jose Altuve taking offense to the fifth hard and high slide by someone breaking up a double play and the two start to dance at second base.
And who knows what else could happen, but it's coming. (Unless guys like Markakis and the rest were just blowhards taking the easy public high road during the spring.)
Hey Nick, "What you think this is the Army where you shoot them a mile away? You got to get them close like this and Bada-Bing! You blow their brains over your nice Ivy League suit."
From Jules
So here's my other question. I was wondering about your take on the Mike Vick 30-for-30. Since you grew up in Atlanta, I'm wondering what you thought about how they portrayed the racial dynamic with the response to his crimes. I don't remember it being that way - I have lived in Athens, Ga. and Chattanooga, so I know some of the Atlanta dynamic but not like you would.
I also was under the impression that the gambling aspect was more of his legal problem than the actual animal cruelty. That didn't seem to be the case in the show.
The whole thing was eye opening to me and helped me to see things from a different perspective. How critically important is the atmosphere of your upbringing. And I think we are quick to judge others when ours has been good. And we did nothing to earn that or deserve it. We need more grace for those that don't have the same.
Jules -
The Vick 30-for-30 was excellent. (It could have been about 30 minutes or even an hour shorter, but that's picking nits.)
There were a lot of ripples to it, too, and some items and details of the animal cruelty that even I did not know.
It also opened my eyes to the way his hometown buddies really dragged Mike down. (Be my friend, Godfather?) That's not an effort to excuse Vick. He's a grown man, and like Carlo, he has to answer for Sonny.
But wow, the number of remora fish on the whale that was Vick was staggering to see. (Side note: You can act like a man and Vick repaid hundreds of millions of dollars that he owed without going into bankruptcy or defaulting anyone. I also was impressed by that.)
As for your question Jules, I'm not sure I can accurately describe the cultural impact Vick had on black Atlantans.
This dude was the NFL's version of Jordan-like star power from day one. I was working for a newspaper outside of Atlanta when the draft trade happened and went to Flowery Branch the day after the first round and the buzz around the facility - there were hundreds of fans in the parking lot - was palatable.
The Falcons at the time were a laughingstock, but they were the story of the NFL draft and all the national dudes descended on Flowery Branch to discuss this cat.
I can remember interviewing Alge Crumpler, who was the Falcons second-round pick in that draft and he was giddy about being on Vick's team.
Maybe this is the best way to truly describe Vick's place in the view of Falcons fans then and now, and in some ways still in the hearts of black Atlantans: I'll bet behind Matt Ryan's No. 2 and Julio's No. 11, the next most popular jersey at Falcons' home games is Vick's No. 7.
And you are so right in your final paragraph. In fact, I know how fortunate I was to have the parents I had, and the only control in that process is trying to give our kids the same great opportunities we had.
Great question.
From Paul
Did you know that the U.S. Hockey 'miracle' was 40 years ago this weekend? That's the greatest sports moment ever, right?
Have you ever done a the Rushmore of the best all-time sports moments?
Paul -
I feel like we have done a couple fo Rushmores that are a lot like that one.
But the best sports moment of all-time? That's a tough line to crack.
It certainly is on the Rushmore of "Where you moments of my lifetime." It's on the "most patriotic sports moments" Rushmore.
But the best?
We have to start with Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier. I'd also add Jesse Owens sticking it Hitler in the 1936 Olympics with four golds in Berlin, no less.
I can make the argument that Joe Namath's guarantee and the Jets' win - considering it truly gave birth to the NFL - was a bigger moment in what it meant. And while we are here in terms of lasting imprints and meaning, NC State's 1983 title run - which showed us the real madness of March and the NCAA tournament as well as introduced us to the charismatic Jimmy V, who eventually became the face of an organization that has raised hundreds of millions to fight cancer - also is tough to leave off.
I will also say that I am the biggest sucker for sappy sports movies, and there are multiple parts of "Miracle" that make it dusty every time I watch. Chief among them is after the win, when Kurt Russell goes into the bowels of arena and celebrates in relative silence and by himself.
Heck, I got chill bumps thinking about it. "It's an old habit. I spent my life trying not to be careless -- women and children can be careless, but not men."
Still, on that day, anything was possible and do you know why? Because on that day, we all believed in miracles.
Yeah, it has to be on the Rushmore of the best ever.
This week's Rushmores
Rushmore of Chuck - Chuck Taylors, Chuck Norris, Charlie 'Chuck' Brown and Upchuck.
Rushmore of people with an animal in their name (and we skipped nicknames on this one) - Michael J. Fox, John Cougar Mellencamp, Larry Bird and Law & Order bigwig Dick Wolf.
Rushmore of doctors who are not doctors - Dr. J, Dr. Seuss, Doc Severinsen and Dr. Dre. (I originally had Doc Holliday down, but he was a dentist.)
Rushmore of best actors who were pro athletes in team sports - Jim Brown, Carl Weathers, Mark Harmon and Burt Reynolds.
Enjoy the weekend, friends.