Super Week
If we were going to surmise who has the most at stake this Sunday, the answer starts and ends with Andy Reid, right?
Sure, quarterbacks enter a different conversation with a Super Bowl ring on their hand.
Yes, Kyle Shanahan has the potential to a) exorcise some 28-3 demons and b) drop a monster exclamation point on the Shanahans being the NFL's first family of coaching with a win.
A win with John Lynch's magnificent roster would lift the 49ers GM into the top level of the game's leadership and front offices.
But, Reid's staring into the black hole of his resumé knowing this is his next best chance, and ultimately it could be his last chance. As Hal Holbrook told Bud Fox in "Wall Street" - "Man looks into the abyss, there's nothing staring back at him. At that moment, man finds his character. And that is what keeps him out of the abyss."
Reid is a no-doubt Hall of Famer - both in Canton and the all-time, joy-filled LeBatard Show's Looks Like Game. (The Looks Like Game is part of the show's genius, and Reid's legacy includes: "Andy Reid looks like a Civil War general; Andy Reid looks like the guy running down the saloon stairs in his long johns because the lady of the night stole his boots and cowboy hat; Andy Reid looks like a cartoon bear in a toilet paper commercial; Andy Reid looks like the guy who endured a harrowing experience of spending 14 hours with his arm stuck in a vending machine; Andy Reid looks like the manager whose framed picture is hanging near the front of your local grocery store; Andy Reid looks like he waggles his fingers in front of a tray of doughnuts and says "Don't mind if I do.")
But Reid's legacy right now - even more than the Hall of Fame, more than West Coast guru, more than an offensive and coaching genius who has had success in multiple schemes with multiple styles at QB - is the winningest coach in the history of the league without a title.
And not unlike the golfers who carry the title of best in the world without a major, and H.I. McDonough's view on "Recividism Repeat O-ffender" - "Yes sir, that's one bone-headed name, but that ain't me no more."
Can Reid shed that bonehead name like H.I.? We'll see.
Proper Contest
They are expecting a record amount of wagers on the Super Bowl, because, well, it's the Super Bowl and we like to wager.
It's also our last chance to bet on football before next August.
(Well, for most folks. We're going to try to find some lines on XFL because pickers gotta pick, right Spy?)
But even if you are not the gambling kind, pull up a chair and play along with the Proper Super Bowl contest. It's free and all you need to do is email your picks on these props to me at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com:
> Coin toss, heads to tails?
> Length of the anthem, over or under 1 minutes, 59 seconds?
> Chiefs minus-1.5, who you got?
> Over or under 54.5 total points?
> First player to score (and kickers count, and if it is a safety, then the tackler gets credit)?
> Which half will have the most points scored, first or second?
> First song during the halftime performance?
> MVP?
> Longest TD play, over or under 44.5 yards?
> Donald Trump Tweets on Super Bowl Sunday, over/under 13.5?
Why not, right?
Next word on Kobe
Gang, if you're looking for emotional chapters 2-through-5 of next-day-Kobe coverage, well, you're going to need to make a few more stops after this one.
There are a few news items out there worth mentioning, and I will, but I'm not sure how many more tributes or testimonials or what have you I can offer.
Is it tragic? Sure. But as Chas and UTC pointed out Monday, the death of superstars is just that. Death. Just like what happens downtown or at Alexian or in all points in between and beyond.
Yes, the deaths of the kids and the effects on the family are especially sad. But death is almost universally sad for someone.
Here are the newsworthy talking points I noticed:
> UConn paid tribute to Gianna Bryant, Kobe's 13-year-old daughter who we have heard time and time again wanted to be in the WNBA. UConn put a No. 2 jersey and flowers on the bench in her honor and each side took a shot-clock violation last night, as well as paid social media tributes.
> Nike pulled Kobe gear from its website because off-brand dealers had bought loads of it preparing to cash in on the secondhand market.
> The Lakers-Clippers game for tonight has been postponed. I understand this decision, but it still shocked me a little bit, to be honest, and you'd have to believe that this was done to the chagrin of the league and its TV partners. Again, I understand the decision, and tip the visor to the Lakers for listening to its players and Vanessa Bryant about how the family wants to proceed. Still, the ratings have been in the tank all season, and there is little doubt that this would have been a must-see TV event considering the outpouring of emotion following the accident. Plus, throughout the coverage of the accident, at almost every turn, players and coaches and decision-makers, when asked about possibly cancelling Sunday's games, said to a person that Kobe would have wanted the games to go on.
> The investigation is ongoing about the cause of the crash. We'll post more, when more is known.
> And then there is this, and this is scary on so many levels - personal, professional, societal, et al. - in this day and age. A Washington Post reporter tweeted on Sunday a link to a 2016 story investigating the 2003 allegations in Colorado that Bryant sexually assaulted a 19-year-old girl in Colorado. The legions of Kobe supporters went bonkers at the tweet as the since-deleted post went viral. The reporter, a female, has received death threats and rape threats and has been placed on paid leave from the Post, which also is a dangerous precedent, considering the Post is letting public opinion drive decisions.
Which leads us to a way more interesting conversation than whether the accidents were tragic and the loss of life sad.
In this day and age of far-too-many media outlets preaching to their converted and treating news consumers more like news-source constituents, the Post disciplining a journalist for linking a story exploring what certainly is a big part of Kobe's narrative as a superstar is perplexing.
We can debate about the timing or the tenor of the reporter's tweet, but the reaction from social media - she had to stay in a hotel when her address was made public and folks were driving by her house - is scary and sad and a major indictment on the depths our society can reach in terms of hatred and anger.
The suspension, though, sets a baseline, at least in part, that if you do something unpopular to the masses you will disciplined. And maybe this is splitting hairs or a little too inside baseball, but what happens if a Post reporter has a story that is going to reflect poorly on, say, Jennifer Aniston or someone else who is insanely popular in the public eye?
Again, I was not in the Post newsroom, and I do not know if this reporter has a checkered history of defying the paper's social media protocols.
But in theory, this is at the very least strange. And at the worst, well, a possible game-changer in journalism.
This and that
- Roger Federer survived seven match points to advance in the Aussie Open over Tennys Sandgren, who went to UT, I believe. I know my man David Paschall will be quite pleased with this result. As for me, well, tennis is not my first love. (Wait for it)
- One more Kobe item: Here's LeBron's social media so-long to Kobe. Yeah, it has almost 11 million likes.
- You know the drill. When TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer writes about college basketball, we read and link Weeds' thoughts on college basketball. Here are his thoughts on SEC teams and the need for them to build off success. One of Weeds' more interesting tidbits this morning was this sentence about the NET rankings: "Only five SEC schools - No. 20 Auburn, Kentucky (21), LSU (25), Arkansas (28) and Florida (37) - would appear to be in that Can't Miss range at the moment." I concur on the top two in the conference, but believe that UK is more trustworthy than a streaky shooting Auburn bunch. Saturday in Auburn between those two will be fun.
- Speaking of Paschall, the TFP all-around SEC wizard, it appears that Georgia super frosh Anthony Edwards will be next in the line of Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz and other college stars who became highly drafted one-and-doners without playing in the NCAA tournament.
- Couple of interesting things here. First, Grand Valley State's offensive coordinator is in hot water for making Adolf Hitler remarks to the student newspaper. Gang, we know a few things. A team can do truly special things when your best player is your hardest worker. Pickers gotta pick. And Hitler is never funny - or even a good idea to reference in any way other than "Hitler is bad." Morris Berger said Hitler is among three people he'd like to dine with. "This is probably not going to get a good review, but I'm going to say Adolf Hitler," Berger told the paper. "It was obviously very sad and he had bad motives, but the way he was able to lead was second-to-none. How he rallied a group and a following, I want to know how he did that. Bad intentions of course, but you can't deny he wasn't a great leader." As Curly Bill told us in Tombstone - "Well, Bye." The other interesting part of this is the writer is Dancin' David Cobb, who worked for the TFP for several years covering the Vols. He's now at CBSsports.com. Kudos DDC.
- Here are more details on the reboot of "Saved By the Bell" that includes some of the familiar faves from Bayside High committed to the cast. Maybe this works, but I'm not going to hold my breath. In fact, is there a TV-to-TV reboot that has ever worked? The next version of "Dallas" a few years ago was better than I anticipated but it didn't last more than a season or three and was done when J.R. died in real life. I guess "Roseanne" worked until, well, Roseanne stepped in it on social media.
- OK, back to life, back to reality. It's about Pick-30. We'll take Michigan minus-4.5 tonight at Nebraska and Florida at home laying the 5 against Mississippi State. Giddy-up. Pickers gotta pick, right? (Speaking of pickers, let's go to the set of "Hee Haw" and catch up with Roy Clark.) We're 18-15 against the number on college picks.
- Speaking of wagers, well, Doug Kezirian, host of ESPN's betting show "Daily Wager" will join us on Press Row today. Gang, I am stoked about this guest. And speaking of Press Row guests, former Brainerd High and Georgia Tech star Malcolm Mackey joined the show Monday and hit it out of the park. Here's the podcast with Mackey. We'll post the replay with Kezirian on Wednesday. Deal? Deal.
Today's questions
True or false Tuesday. True, of course.
True or false, it feels like we're in a surreal frenzy - among famous programs and teams and famous NBA stars, athletes in other sports and commentators with flowery words - to seem to be the "most upset" about Kobe's death. (Or, true or false, I'm a cynical jackwagon. Wait. Don't answer that.)
True or false, you will gamble on the Super Bowl. (Other than the Proper Super Bowl contest, of course, because that is hardly a gamble since it don't cost nothin' anyhow.)
True or false, Andy Reid is a Hall of Famer without a Super Bowl win. (Also, true or false, the Andy Reid looks-like with the finger wag and the doughnut is best.)
You know the drill. Answer the T or Fs and leave a T or F or three.
As for today, Jan. 28, well, let's explore.
On this day 35 years ago, "We Are the World" was recorded. We are the world. We are the children, people.
On this day in 1887 in Montana, the world's largest snowflakes are reported. The flakes are 15 inches wide and 8 inches, I think. Dang, that's some Shaq flakes.
Gregg Popovich is 71 today. He's likely to celebrate with a big glass of wine and biting a reporter's head off. Good times.
It's also National Daisy Day. Rushmore of Daisy, and yes, Duke is a no-doubter.
Be creative and don't forget the Proper Super Bowl contest.