Weekend winners
Clayton Kershaw. Dude is a Hall of Famers. Period. Best pitcher of his generation. Period. But the forever looming 'but' on his résumé was a checkered history in the postseason. He now has two World Series wins and the Dodgers have a 3-2 lead in a race for their first championship since 1988.
The Big Game. THE Ohio State housed Nebraska - we would have gone 2-1 just picking the three juggernauts of THE Buckeyes, the Tide and the Dabos, who are head and shoulders better than everyone - as expected. But hear this now: Michigan's new supersized quarterback has a little Cam Newton feel to him to be honest. Michigan-THE Ohio State could be a lot of fun, and have a lot of meaning. And speaking of that, hey Big Boned Vader, did Myles Brennan just become Wally Pipp 2020?
Vegas. That's why they call it gambling, right? SEC trendy upset picks - Ole Miss and South Carolina - were on the wrong end Saturday. Now, factor in the Penn State head-scratching loss to Indiana, and
Music fans everywhere who got to enjoy the many gifts Jerry Jeff Walker left us. Rest easy Jerry Jeff, and know this: If you get a shoutout in a Waylon song, well, you were legendary.
Khabib Nurmagomedov rolled in his UFC main event Saturday night and then called it a career. Kudos.
Bonus pick: The Steelers are good. Like legit good, and the Titans lone loss of the season may be the biggest reason to believe in these Titans. Man, the NFL was fun Sunday.
Weekend losers
My college picks, and maybe the end of the Rice pick was the football-ifiication of the Fab 4 picks in 2020, that was the difference between breaking even and 2-4. (NFL picks went 3-2, so there's that.)
Falcons. How bad had Dan Quinn become as a head coach? I blame him for the latest example of the Falcons Falconsing. Simply put, this is now engrained in the fabric of this franchise. They expect to lose, and actually found a way to turn a late TD run into a mistake. Ponder that for a second.
Bill Belichick. Blame it on Cam if you want. Point to the guys on defense opting out before the season. Look at the dearth of playmakers on offense. But the simple truths are these: Bill's Pats are 2-4 and riding their first three-game losing streak since 2002; Tommy Brady's Bucs are 5-2 after he totaled five TDs and 369 passing yards in a house cleaning in Vegas. And to be honest, Brady is going to get a whole lot of MVP chatter considering the only big change the Bucs made was flipping QBs and at this point last year they were 2-5 with 12 interceptions thrown.
Dallas. Oh my. What was that? How broken are the Cowboys? The Jets played harder than the Cowboys did Sunday, and the Cowboys are in a playoff chase.
College football fans. In addition to the loss of Jaylen Waddle - the dynamic Alabama WR who was so fun to watch, every fan from Knoxville to Auburn was crestfallen to hear about his season-ending injury - is the drama gone already from college football? Asking for a friend, because other than Alabama, THE Ohio State and Clemson, is all the rest of college football playing for one chair at the playoff dinner? While we're here, uh, gang, when did the officiating get this sketchy?
Arizona basketball. Did anyone else wonder, after seeing the headline that Arizona was facing nine NCAA allegations, "That's all? I thought it would be more."
MLB woes
Baseball is far from dead. But it's hurting.
All sports are, to be honest, as news comes that the NBA came in $1.5 billion under projections because of the pandemic. It was harsh, if not necessarily shocking news all things considered, but the realizations that we're not sure when fans will return adds to those financial woes.
And baseball's right there. Yes, the season was better than nothing but the losses are going to be large.
It comes as the CBA is winding down - up after next season - and reports of the record-setting World Series ratings declines.
So the report that baseball must look at everything in their game or run the risk of being NASCAR in a decade-plus.
Does that seem a bit harsh? Maybe.
It obviously means everything is on the table, with commissioner Rob Manfred even telling Dan Patrick that the game could eliminate the shift too. (Not a fan by the way, of that idea. Don't like the shift? Hit the ball the other way. Or bunt. Figure it out and adjust.)
Man, 2020 stinks.
This and that
- Speaking of college football officiating, man, UTC got jobbed in a painful loss to Western Kentucky on Saturday.
- Man, that Sunday night game was KER-razy. The NFL is fun friends. For real. And who had Kliff Kingsbury going from being fired at Texas Tech - his alma mater for Pete's sake - and two years later being on the short list of NFL coach of the year frontrunners? Arizona trailed by 10 with less than minutes left before rallying to tie the game and going on to win in OT, according to ESPN stats and info, Seattle is the first team in the last 255 instances to lose a game it led by double digits with less than three minutes to play.
- Speaking of Sunday night's thriller, the Fox Super 6 Jackpot - football picks contest in which you have to pick six winners AND their margin of victories correctly - had three players in the running to split the $1 million jackpot if the Seahawks had won by 3 points. OUCH-standing.
- One more Sunday night detail, did you see DK Metcalf walk down Budda Baker? Oh my. Side note: Budda is an excellent name.
- You know the rules, and Paschall had a busy weekend for sure. But here is his must-review SEC weekend-in-review column in today's TFP. And always know that DP is going to drop at least one stat that your chums in the office - back when we went to offices and saw our chums (Side question: Does anyone call friends 'chums' anymore? Discuss.) - are going to be discussing. This one is the smack in the face that Jeremy Pruitt is bagel-and-8 against Georgia, Florida and Alabama and the closest game was UT's 35-13 loss to Alabama last year when Jarrett Guarantano went rogue.
- We talked a bit about this earlier this month, but Bryson DeChambeau continues to push the edge on what we know about golf. Here's a story in which DeChambeau-Flex is claiming 400-yard carries with his driver in his preparation for the Masters. Yes, 400-yard carries.
- I'm all for the giggles and such, but this toddler needs a snack, a nap or a little discipline - and maybe some of each.
Today's questions
Wow, time got away from us.
Today is Oct. 26, and believe it or not Thursday of this week is a pretty special day in 5-at-10 history.
Did you know that Thursday will be 10 years of 5-at-10s. Ten years. Every work day since late October when Cam was building steam toward doing the unthinkable and bringing a national title to Auburn.
As for today though, it's the day that Pony Express ended in 1861.
The Terminator was released on this day in 1984. "I'll be back" is a sneaky all-time movie line, no?
The Gunfight at the OK Corral happened on this day in 1881. It's a great scene in Tombstone.
Rushmore of gunfights in cowboy movies. Go.
Jay Greeson