From a whole lot of you
Why have you not written about Georga Floyd's murder?
Gang-
We wrote a little about it earlier this week in the comments section, but I have not delved deeply into it for a lot of reasons.
First, the hand-wringing, soap-box-standing pontifications from guys like me add to the cacophony of meaningless background noise right now that is far too often design to make the writer feel better - or worse, look more 'in-tune' - than anything else that can be accomplished.
What more can I add?
That I am outraged as a white person? That I am embarrassed as a white person? That I am starving for this to change as a white person?
The answer to all of those is a resounding yes, but if you changed the predicate to "as an American" it would be every bit as true.
The betrayal of the small fraction of truly despicable police officers charged with and paid to protect us is so many things I'm not sure my thesaurus can cover them all.
Heartbreaking is where is starts. Infuriating is there too. Self-examining is part of it too. What would I have done? What can I do to change it? What can we all do better?
Because I know these two things are not part of addressing the issue or changing the current: Rioting and looting the Target is the opposite of helpful. The second? Disrespecting the overwhelming officers who do heroic things everyday to protect all of us.
Sure, we can all stand strong and scream prosecute and hold the cops - the murderer and all his silent accomplices - responsible.
I offer my support - and my true self-examination on how me and my family can help institute long-overdue and much-needed change - but I pray I never become the platform preacher spouting the easy take for the just easy applause.
That's not me. And the regulars around these parts who have know me for a while - Hi Spy, Hi Alejandro - know pretty dang well, that there are a lot of folks who love me and a lot who assuredly don't.
That's fine. It's life, especially life in even the most modest of spotlights. But I pray frequently to never let that change me, and I don't ever think I have chased the easy stance for the hollow applause on a universal stance like this because I can string a few words together.
I am heart-broken for Floyd's family, for his friends, for the people who feel this is the normal, and so many others.
What else really is there to say?
From Joe
Hey Jay, I love the 5-at-10. At what point did you stop including your musical choice of the moment? Do you remember that? It was a couple months ago maybe.
I loved it because I think you can tell a lot about people by their musical choices. So, what are you listening to right now?
Joe-
Thanks for reading and for the question. I also agree you can tell a lot about people by what they listen to.
Not sure how I got derailed on that.
But this morning I am getting my country swing on with Morgan Wallen, and his new song, "This Bar" which speaks to me in a lot of ways, because I attended grad school at a few watering holes in the 770 and the 423.
The opening is strong, "I found myself in this bar, making mistakes and making new friends." Amen.
And while we are here, I've been a new country hater for the better part of two decades and make no mistake King George is the king for a reason, the Man in Black will never be toppled and the Left-handed Stranger may be my favorite musician ever.
But new country is getting better. A lot in fact.
From Mike
Why do you ignore all the death and destruction around us and wonder when college sports will return? Are you truly that shallow and uncaring?
People like you are the problem.
Mike-
For starters, relax my man.
In the macro, that this is not even in the hate mail category should tell you something, right? Egad, people are getting angry.
OK, this is such a monster question that it's impossible to answer in this space and in these time constraints, but I'll try.
First, this is kind of a sports-related platform. Do we deviate some? Sure. We welcome different thoughts and different viewpoints as long as people are respectful and are willing to listen.
You clearly are not willing to listen if people like me are the problem. Because Jack, sorry, Mike, never forget the DISEASE is the problem my man. We can at least agree on that right?
And the worries about sports and all those that play them, coach them, watch them and directly and indirectly make their livings off them is a monster story that we likely are not talking enough about because it becomes tedious and unchanging.
No one is ignoring the death and destruction, Mike. In fact, we're all clearly aware of it and deeply sorry about it.
But here's another twist: Why is it so important for everyone to be right about this thing? Why do people like Mike feel like their stance of everyone bunkering down and focusing only on isolation is the only way and everyone with any varying thought does not care about others or value the lives of others?
The reverse is also true. Why are folks who have inaccurately downplayed this from the start trying to take victory laps about "See it's not as bad as the worst expectations" and we're ready to jump back into full back normal?
The ever-shrinking middle is a lonely place friends. Side tangent: A hallmark characteristic for those of us on this crumbling island is being willing to examine issues on a case-by-case basis and even re-examine issues when more information is known. Take today's A2 column for example, and if you feel the need to skip down to the hate mail, well, I understand.
From Chas
When Pitino passes on, will his tarnish be the lead sentence? Some suggest he's Kentucky's greatest coach after Rupp, but I'd go with Cal, instead. Some say Ricky changed the game more than John, but did he?
Bonus question: So I did see the clip of Brady blasting out an impressive shot, and he sprayed a lot of dirt in the attempt. Is it common for good players to leave a massive divot like that?
Chas-
Second part first. Yes, good players take large divots from almost every shot between tee shots and putts. The key difference between good players and the rest of us, is the good player takes the chunk of dirt AFTER hitting the ball first.
The good golf swings come down, strike the ball, then scoop the divot after impact. When you hit dirt first, that's called hitting it fat. So there's that.
I am not smart enough to rank the UK coaches - other than knowing Billy the Kid Gillespie is DBL (that's Dead Bleepin' Last friends) - but the Rick Pitino conversation is an amazingly interesting one.
First, Pitino is as responsible for the modern game as anyone. Think about the height of his 1990s powers - and really with that 1980s Providence team that went to the Final Four with Billy D and Delray Brooks - when almost every other basketball philosophy was built inside-out with centers or trying to create open 15-footers like Tex Winters' Triangle.
Pitino was truly innovative in terms of the very basic premise that you see everywhere these days.
That premise - lay-ups or 3s, and realizing that even an open 18-footer percentage-wise is not as good as taking a step back and shooting from distance - is now almost everywhere these days.
In some ways, I think the baggage - and maybe even the UK backlash from non-UK fans - has hurt both Pitino and Calipari in terms of the respect they deserve as true basketball minds.
Pitino without the baggage - but can we really take people without the baggage - is the best college basketball coach of my lifetime.
He's a Leach-level tactician and a Saban-level talent evaluator. Simply amazing.
He's also an undeniable dirt bag and his ultimate 30-for-30 will be fascinating.
From Peter
I loved the match and I want more. It was awesome!!! Why did you not like it? The more of these the better I think. I loved your thought of Coach Saban against Spurrier. Who would win?
Are there any others you would want to see? Thanks and love your writings and radio show.
Peter-
First, I loved The Match. I just think forced recreations of that thing will flop.
One, I will be "Monkeys flying out of my ear" level shocked if Nick Saban does anything resembling that.
Same with MJ. Heck after watching 10 hours of MJ being a perfectionist to the point of alienating everyone in his life including immediate family, do we really think MJ would take a struggling stretch of holes that Brady endured with grace without slinging a river of cuss words and getting in that 65-mph golf cart and dropping the hammer?
(Side note: Kyle Porter with CBSsports.com was the first place I saw the Saban-Spurrier idea. And I thinK Spurrier would a) win and b) be awesome in this format. Awesome in his awesomeness in fact.)
The Match 2 was so good, I'll give Match 3 a chance. But I don't believe the magic, the chemistry and the entertainment from last Sunday can be recreated.
I understand them trying to - the numbers and revenue were off-the-charts beyond expectations - but who knows.
This week's Rushmores
Rushmore of famous 'burger' - Brent Musberger (counts), Cheeseburger in Paradise by Buffett, the SNL skit from the The Olympia restaurant with :Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger," and the Big Kahuna Burger because as Jules says, that's one tasty burger.
Rushmore of backyard games - Wiffle ball, croquet, Hide and seek, Horseshoes
Rushmore of 'Sorry' - The boardgames 'Sorry,' the forever catchy 'Sorry not Sorry' by Demi Lovato, NIrvana's "All Apologies" and 'Sorry to bother you" which is on the double-negative catchphrases like, "With all due respect" or "I don't mean to offend anyone" that almost always end with 'but' and really are self-deflecting openers to allow the speaker to say whatever he or she likes.
Rushmore of movie moments with Memorial deaths for American soldiers - Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) in Saving Private Ryan is far left, right? We can all agree on that one right? Trip (Denzel Washington) in Glory. Bubba from Forrest Gump, and Sgt. Elias (Willem Dafoe) in Platoon. (Yes, we almost included Goose from Top Gun and Jeb and Matt Eckert from Red Dawn but decided not to. #Merica.)
And because, well, when you write about Trump, you invite the masses
"You are so dumb you should stop writing about politics. It's clear you don't understand the mail-in voting issues and I for one am happy to have Pres. Trump trying too protect our voting way of life. Go back to sports, Jay."
We're close
"How dare you? I used to be fan because I thought you were the rare journalist who saw things from the RIGHT side of things. You are worse than Cook because at least I know what he's going to say every time. You are a hypocrite."
And
"(BLEEP) OFF! I knew you were like the rest of the liberal media elites!"
Have a good weekend friends.
Jay Greeson