Weekend winners
Brad Keselowski. Sometimes weekend winners get there with lucky breaks. Count Bad Brad among that group, since he got his second win of the NASCAR season after some late-lap miscues - including another racing mistake by Chase Elliott - Sunday at Bristol. In truth, the lack of practice and preparation is making for a lot racing mistakes from Elliott and others, but unlike potential 'sloppy' versions of team sports with limited practice, sloppy racing has made for some entertaining moments.
MLB Players. In a volley back and forth of offers and outcries as baseball tries to get out of its own way and get back on the field. We discussed last week that the owners have been head-scratchingly obtuse in this process. Well, the players countered with a reasoned response that includes deferred payments, longer seasons, and unique concessions like being micced up during games. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29249478/mlbpa-submits-counter-return-play-proposal-mlb
The entire NBA leadership. While baseball is bickering, basketball looks to be skating smoothly toward a return as Adam Silver and players union leader Chris Paul have worked out a deal that reportedly will be approved later this week.
Weekend losers
The Year 2020. Seriously, 2020? Seriously? You suck. Period.
Lance Armstrong. Dude what a piece of work. Right? Side note: The ratings for episode 1 were bad, and it's hard to see any expectation for episode 2 to be any better, but I liked Lance as a documentary more than I liked The Last Dance.
Tim Jordan. Tennessee football has made a series of appearances in the "Weekend Winners" part of these weekly conversations because of a big-time recruiting run. Well, Jordan's arrest over the weekend - as TFP college football expert David Paschall reports here - on drug and gun charges no es bueno.
Weekend outrage
The pen was once mightier than the sword. Is it? I don't know anymore.
The camera, however, is the instrument of change these days, the dagger of digital defenses.
Since George Floyd's killing - and the phrases of 'died in police custody' feel like euphemistic double talk - the fallout has been unthinkable.
Unthinkable in the macro - it took something this hateful and dreadful to change the cavalcade of corona coverage - and the micro.
So many folks are speaking out about this - about how it's much more common than we know - and that is the impact of the video. This one is clear, and the danger is present.
And undeniable.
The weekend was filled with protests and many of those protests became riots, which is a whole other chapter of tragic. Tragic in that it provided a distraction from the initial protest. Tragic in that it took the focus off the hatred that ended George Floyd's life and turned it to the riots. And tragic because the lack of leadership among us is truly staggering.
And undeniable.
There are only two sides on this - and it's not black and white, it's right and wrong.
The officer was fired and charged with third-degree murder. It should have been first degree.
The rioters should be arrested, just as much as the protestors should be supported. Again, it's the divide between right and wrong.
In moments like this, true leadership emerges. Like Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who said this over the weekend: "What I see happening on the streets of Atlanta is not Atlanta. This is not a protest. This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. This is chaos."
Or like Chattanooga police chief David Roddy, who was front and center answering questions and making himself available over the weekend in protests downtown.
For some that leadership must be hands on. For others, engaging in the conversation - be as speakers or listeners, as front-line activists or second-line supporters - is also of the utmost importance.We discuss around these parts, the shrinking middle and degrees of gray that so much of society has but so few of our society actually try to negotiate and understand.
This is not one of those intricate converging circles. Yes, it's still hard and complicated, but as obvious as the video, the problem is clear.
And undeniable.
This is all of us. Every day.
There are two sides. Period. And we all need to be on the side of right.
This and that
- You know the rules, when TFP college football expert David Paschall writes about college football, we read and link Paschall on college football. Here's Paschall making the salient point of how important experience will be in the SEC considering the strains on preparation this season.
- Rest easy Ray Deering, a long-time area educator at Baylor who also wrote an occasional sports column for the Times Free Press back in the day.
- Speaking of Lance, Marina Zenovich, the director of that 30-for-30, joined Press Row on Friday to chat with Paschall and Wells. (I was out of town Friday.)
- Interesting story and talking point about George Kittle, the San Francisco tight end who is an absolute boss. Kittle is understandably trying to negotiate a new deal as a wide receiver - top WRs get around $20 million - rather than a tight end, who are in the $10-to-12-plus-million neighborhood. Yes, that's a really nice neighborhood, but still. And Kittle, not unlike a Travis Kelce or a Zach Ertz is one of those dudes who is absolutely a No. 1 receiver option and deserving of that kind of value.
Today's questions
Weekend winners and losers. Go.
Hard to believe that June is here, right?
We started the isolation and quarantine in mid-March. It simultaneously feels like it started last week and six years ago.
Well, now we're in June, and like we said above, here's hoping this month is better than the last couple - hard to see it being much worse, but then we thought that about May too.
On this day, June 1, Lou Gehrig made his Yankees debut as a pinch-hitter. He started over Wally Pipp on June 2 and played the next 2,128 games after that. Iron Horse is a great nickname.
Marilyn Monroe would have been 94 today.
Wow, the first transmission of CNN happened on this day 40 years ago. Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" hit No. 1 on this day in 1968. Is that the best single from a movie? It's up there.
Morgan Freeman is 83 today. What's his Rushmore? Go and stay safe friends.