Hoop heartache
So yeah, about trying to pretend we know anything about any of these SEC basketball broods is an exercise in futility.
Hey, quick tangent, I know we all have catch phrases and word crutches that we go to way, Way, WAY too frequently. But that 'exercise in futility' is a well-built, Grade A phrase you know? It's intelligent without being arrogant. It's artfully descriptive without trying too hard. War Exercise in Futility.
Which leads us to the indifferent performance from the Auburn Tigers. The youngest team in America played like the youngest team in America in a dreck-filled first half.
There's more to this too, if you ask me. Consider this: When Sharife Cooper returned, it energized a listless and point-guard-less collection of folks and gave them life. That spark led to an impressive run that had folks talking about NCAA tournament hopes. Then the realizations and reminders came to the players that the team self-imposed a postseason ban this season, so a late, Cooper-led charge was going to be devoid of a March reward regardless.
Do I think they will have flashes? Absolutely, especially against the Bamas and the Tennessees and UKs in games that have panache. But the conference grind? Not so much.
As for what happened to Barnes' bunch, well, we bounced between that game and Ellen's Game of Games last night. (Side question: Ellen's Game of Games, friend or foe? I lean friend, and the kids enjoy it.)
Wow, that got lengthy, and I'm sure I made someone mad. Hey those are the cards, sharks. Where were we? Oh yes, the UT debacle.
A sickening second half allowed an above average at best Ole Miss crew to rally and best a Vols collection that is so wildly erratic that made the Dickensian duality of dynamite and dreadful sandwiched around the intermission is the microcosm of where Rick Barnes' bunch is.
A team that loses by 26 to anyone (it was Florida) two weeks ago and crushes Kansas over the weekend is capable of just about anything, that bad or that good.
But the looks of distrust (and even disdain) between Vols to Vols and between Vols to coaches as the wheels fell off in Oxford was a clear sign to a much bigger issue with this team. A team mind you that had a very legit Final Four look ab out it through the first dozen or so games of the year and is still among the top eight-to-10 in terms of the odds issued in Vegas.
Auburn will have to find a way to stay interested. Tennessee will have to find a way to stay together.
Neither is easy, especially when the calendar says Feb. 3.
Today is what?
Holy buckets of five-star backers and sweet cylinders of celebrated superstars, today is national signing day.
Seriously. And in the real time of the 5-at-10 - hard to believe we are in year 11 of doing this every Monday through Friday, never missing a single workday, be it Christmas, snowing or sickly - there is no day on the sports calendar that has fallen more in terms of importance and, especially for me, excitement.
There was a time I loved signing day. The last bastion of relevance for the fax machine. The last-minute flip for that five star from Fayetteville. All of it. (Well all of it other than the hat dance, where there are five caps, and said player tries on three but is actually wearing the T-shirt of his choice. You recall the drill. We all hated the drill.)
The early signing phase in December has rendered today - the traditional signing day - as effective and impactful as Stevie Wonder calling balls and strikes or Pee Wee Herman judging the entries at Cannes.
It's college football headed to Marshall's back in the day. Who's with me? Back when you were just starting out and clothes were relatively still important in the grand scheme of things, Marshall's had slightly flawed clothes at extremely cut-rate prices. There would be a $75 Polo shirt that you would need to find the blemish on listed for $9.99. You get the idea.
Well, not all of us are as wealthy as Spy and JTC, so those trips proved to be quite fruitful.
Same with national signing day, as Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and THE Ohio State are putting the final touches on the pitches and plans for the class of 2022, the also-rans in college football are fighting for scraps off LongSaban's table.
In fact at 8 a.m. this morning, the ESPN signing tracked still had its plan for the day. Five years ago, by 8 a.m. there would have been a dozen signings, two shocks and three brewing storylines of "Why hasn't so-and-so already sent in his papers." Heck, the College Football Live Signing Day Special airs on ESPN 2 - not even ESPN proper - at 4 p.m. today. Five years ago, that would be a full day of election-like coverage with Tom Luginbill spitting hot takes until his sa-LAVA glands melted. (See what I did there 'Dro?)
This in no way is meant as a jab to the thousands of kids and families fulfilling live-long dreams of playing at the next level. And while we are here, this is the day the folks who are against paying players should be crowing the loudest, because these kids are getting paid today. Those are expensive pieces of paper they are signing, and while the 5-star kids that fuel this billion-dollar industry are getting short-changed, the vast majority of the signees are getting rewarded handsomely for their skills, efforts and achievements.
Overall this way is better, it's just not as much fun. It's a lot better for the players in most ways - especially the vast majority of recruits who are fringe guys between the various tiers. If you are a 5-star, well, you know your tier.
Everyone else is between great and good programs, between good and mediocre Power 5s and elite Group of 5s, between that and the rest of FBS or between FBS and FCS, and the divides and lines are almost always blurred and hard to see with certainty.
That's one of the reasons coaches would flirt with players lower than their level while trying to seduce players above their level.
This system is better for the players - who now have a pressure-point and a negotiation chip of, "Coach I am not waiting until February, if you want me, offer me for December and I will sign, if not, I will look elsewhere" - and I am always for anyway to empower the players in a system that was designed with zero player empowerment planned.
Still, I miss the buzz of signing day, and deep down, kind of miss the hat dance a little. (A very little.)
Super stakes
OK, we do have a Super Bowl contest, because hey, that's what we do.But looking around at the faces and names involved in Sunday's Super Bowl, the question about who has the most to gain made me pause.
Look at the high-profile names:
> Tom Brady. Dude already has the greatest résumé in NFL history and is chasing the Russell's and the 1950s Yankees for one of the winningest careers in team sports - and do not undersell what a seventh title but with a different team would mean in that regard. Still, Brady truly needs another title like I truly need another CoCola on Friday nights after the kids go to bed.
> Patrick Mahomes. We're spouting over/unders of 3.5 future MVPs for the Chiefs' half-a-billion-dollar man. And if this was a Marino-like, never know when you may get back here kind of thing, well, the pressure would be sky-high. Dude won it all just last year, and he has several more Super runs down his runaway.
> Anyone player? No, not really. Sure a big performance from any of the skill guys is always remembered through time - for instance, would Johnny Random Fan remember a David Tyree or an Andre Johnson more, considering the former has an all-time highlight on the biggest stage and the later is a future Hall of Fame? - which is nice. And guys like Leonard Fournette and Antonio Brown erase a lot of career sidesteps with big moments on this momentous stage.
For me, the stakes are the greatest for two older dues, one who will be there and one who will be rooting for him tirelessly.
First for Andy Reid - the man the LeBatard Show says looks like the small town sheriff who wonders top to the pastry table before the county commission planning sessions, wags a stubby finger at the donuts and says, "Don't mind if I do" to no one in particular - think what back-to-back means.
In 15 months, you go from a guy with a top-10 career win total who could never win the big one to being a two-time champ and have a dang strong case for being on the NFL Rushmore of head coaches. Nobody this side of GameStop stock holders have had a better year.
The other is none other than William Stephen Belichick, who would never admit to rooting against TB12 has to realize the stakes and what a Brady Super Bowl triumph does for the narratives of their respective legacies.
Thoughts?
As for the contest, remember, you can put your picks in the comments or email me at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com. Let's do this, most correct answers wins some stuff.
> Primary color of Jim Nantz tie (Blue is the favorite);
> Length of the national anthem, over/under 120.5 seconds;
> Head or tails;
> Player to score the first TD;
> Longest play over/under 44.5 yards;
> MVP;
> Spread, Chiefs minus-3.5;
> Total yards combined, over/under 765.5:
> Total points scored, over/under 56.5:
This and that
- Speaking of the Patriots, the story that billionaire owner Robert Kraft is sending almost 80 vaccinated health care workers on the team's private plane with tickets and accommodations covered by the Pats is awesome in its awesomeness. Man, Kraft sure can find some happy endings in Florida, you know.
- Welp, our recent praise of the emergence of Morgan Wallen as a bona fide rising star in country music just got awkward. Wallen was caught on video over the weekend in a curse-filled rant that included the N-bomb. (Video here, but it's assuredly NSFW.) Wow. Despite his meteoric rise recently - How hot was Wallen? His new album was about to spend its fourth consecutive week at 1 across all genres, something no country artist has done since a fella named Garth did it in the 1990s. He had five of the top 20 songs on the Rolling Stones top-100 chart. - the backlash has been immediate and impactful. And appropriate. Country music stations across the country, including the 400-plus owned by Cumulus, which includes US101 here in town, have told their shows and DJs to remove the hottest artists across all of music at the moment. Wow, just wow. So disappointing.
- Man there are a lot of meaty stories to get to today. Too many in fact. Here's an interesting story on the USGA and the R&A looking at serious and some meaningful rule changes to the equipment the elite level players use because of the drive for distance that is changing the game and rendering a lot of classic golf courses rather toothless against today's bombers. The trial runs are aimed at making drivers shorter - the 46-inch shaft vs. the growing popularity in the 48-inch shaft. (Side note: The word shaft, thoughts? It's a bad mother.) Also the spring of the club face is being dialed back in this short-term trial and they are looking at ways to limit the spring of the golf ball.
- The hypocrisy of this never ceases to amaze me. Sean Penn, renowned celebrity, is blaming America's love of celebrities for how Trump got elected. Uh, Sean, you made $70 million and married Madonna and Princess Buttercup because in large part you are famous. Your rap sheet is longer than my phone charger, and for every great turn as Spicoli or the killer in Mystic River, it's been more than a decade since your last hit, never mind you had Casualties of War and that awful We're No Angels, where you and DeNiro dressed up as nuns to cross the border. And why did you get chance after chance or should we care what you have to say anyway? Maybe it's because we love our favorite celebrities. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.
- Speaking of Penn and the center of the star-power of movies, did you see someone made the famous sign in the hills, "Hollyboob" recently?
- The nominations for the Golden Globes will be announced today. How many of the elections will be contested? (Sorry. Mostly.) Also, can't we just say COVID dominated every category and be done with it. On a serious note, this year will be the first year we all are more-vested in the TV and mini-series categories than the movies, no?
- In today's TFP local government ace Sarah Grace Taylor has an excellent scope on the mayor's race, and please do not think this media on media attacks. I'm sure Channel 9 is following its policy and the GM said they ran it up the corporate flag poles, but either way, it's a really bad optic to charge mayoral candidates for air time. Not the least of which is the appearance of impropriety, and while 9 claims 'This and That' is not a news show but are filled with "paid segments unless they're you know a nonprofit or something." Second, it's a hard-and-fast by product of a much larger problem in that it caters to the truly uncontrolled fact that the candidate with the most money wins, not the best ideas, not the best credentials, not the best vision, but the most commas at Regions.
- Man, Ol' Coach Tubs has hit D.C. and made every stereotype about Southerns look like they were written by a council of folks headed by Nostradamus and Snuffy Smith. Well, Tommy Tuberville, when asked on CNN about North Georgia's infamous Marjorie Taylor Greene said he could not comment because, "the weather's been a little rough" here lately and that Tubs doesn't "look at any news" anyway. Super.
- You know the rules. Here's Paschall on UT's rich history of signing day success, which almost assuredly will not be replicated today.
- Speaking of Tennessee, this is assuredly a bad look, friends. It's not an isolated look, just a bad one. Yes, Saban turned something akin to this into the phrase 'processed' but when you are Tennessee with half your roster in the portal and the other half looking more like Season 14 of American Idol rather than Season 4 in terms of star power, well, it's just not smart either. An Alabama high school coach says UT and the new staff pulled its offer at the 11th hour from one of his players, a four-star TE who had been committed for months. Again, it happens. A lot more than we know. But at this late a time, it's hard on kids - especially in this cycle, where this is the type of situation that the player is really left in a pickle that is unfortunate.
- So much for Biden and the Dems wanting input from the other side of the aisle, huh? And as Fat Vader said Tuesday, to the victors go the spoils. They won the elections, so they earned the right to ram their views up my wallet, I guess. Doesn't make it right. Or smart. And it's assuredly not fiscally wide. It is 100 percent hypocritical though, so there's that.
Today's questions
Which way Wednesday starts this way.
Which signing day scenario was better, the old way or the new way.
Which Super Bowl prop bet is your favorite?
Which person has the most at stake in the Super Bowl this Sunday?
Which word would you use for the Channel 9 situation with the mayoral candidates?
And as always, the which way street is two-way.
As for today, well, let's explore.
On Feb. 3, 1959, it was "The Day the Music Died" when Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and others were killed in a plane crash.
On this day in 1876, Albert Spalding invests $800 in a sporting goods company. Bet that worked out to be sorta profitable for the old man and his family.
It's also national female doctors day. Rushmore of TV and movie female doctors, and have a little fun. Sorry we got so heavy today.