Basketball bounces
It was exactly a week ago on a 'Which Way Wednesday' when we asked which SEC hoops troop is the best.
On this 'Which Way Wednesday' there is no debate to be forged.
Alabama blitzed LSU with a barrage of 3s unforeseen since two Sundays a year at Talladega at the height of Dale Sr.'s powers.
How about these stat lines: Bama led 60-32 at the half; the 105-75 win is the second-straight 30-point win for the Tide; their 23 made-3s set an NCAA record; there players - John Petty, Jahvon Quinerly, Joshua Primo, talk about three nice Js - made at least six 3s and the trio combined to go 20-of-25 from distance.
Did we mention that LSU was actually favored by a point in that rout?
Now head to Gainesville, and find the listless corpse of the No. 6-ranked Vols, who were pummeled by a short-handed collection of Gators who dominated the glass, out-worked and surprisingly out-guarded Rick Barnes' boys.
It was easily the worst performance I have seen from a Barnes-coached UT team, and it's tough to recall one close considering the how listless and disinterested the Vols were looked.
Do I think UT is a good basketball bunch? No, I think they are better than that and would use 'very good' or even 'special' to describe them and their potential.
But the knowledge that this kind of effort - or better said, this kind of lack of effort - was even possible from these Vols is stunning. Even more so than the magic Nate Oats is working in Tuscaloosa. (Side note: While we're here, isn't it nice that Alabama can find some success in sports? I know they have been down. Wow, did you know that Bama's two major men's sports has won 18 straight SEC games - 11 in football counting the SEC title game; now seven straight in hoops?)
Old man Rivers
News Wednesday morning informed us that Philip Rivers is retiring.
The praise has been overflowing for the man with a throwing motion that looked akin to unfolding a rusty lawn chair that's missing a bolt or three.
He short-armed more passes than George Costanza's dad and Kramer combined.
But he did it very effectively and with amazing consistency.
He started the last 240 games in a row of his NFL career. He's fifth all-time in passing yards (63,440, more than 2,000 yards ahead of Dan Marino), fifth in passing TDs (421, one more than Dan Marino) and 12th all-time in passer rating (95.2, which is between Peyton Manning's 96.5 and Matt Ryan's 94.5, and yes, I thought Peyton would be much higher than 11th in career passing rating).
(Side questions: While we are here, did you know that the only four QBs with a career rating north of 100 are, in order, Patty Mahomes, Deshaun Watson, Aaron Rodgers and Russell Willson? And. did you know that all of the top 8 are currently active? Side question on the side question: Is this the greatest age of QB play in the history of the league? Discuss.)
(Side detail on the side question on the side questions: It is past time to change the parameters of the QB rating system, and all the evidence I need to present for this claim is this sentence: Matt Schaub, Nick Foles and Mitchell Trubisky are among those with better career ratings than Dan Marino and Brett Favre. Need one more: OK, David Garrad has a better rating - 85.8 - than Roger Staubach's 83.4, and Fitzmagic and Jason Campbell are higher rated than Troy Aikman's 81.6.)
Anywell, on Rivers, I have two musings: Should he be a first-ballot Hall of Famer? if you say yes, then it bodes very well for the Matt Staffords of the world and makes Matt Ryan a slam dunk, since Ryan will reel Rivers in all the stats categories and already has more MVPs and Super Bowl appearances.
Second, if we make wins and Super Bowls a QB stat more than any other sport, then not winning and not even getting to a Super Bowl should matter too, don't you think?
Baseball musings
We have overlooked a few MLB happenings with all the football and such. That's on me.
First, the Blue Jays made a nice addition by adding George Springer for a club-record, $150 million deal over six years.
Springer's 30 and averaged 35 dingers a year over his seven-year career. It's a team-friendly length, considering it takes the former Astros outfielder to 36 rather than some recent deals that take players close to 40 and become albatrosses in the back half of the deal.
It also is a very interesting comp to what the market may offer someone like Marcel Ozuna. Ozuna, the former Braves outfielder/DH who was awesome in his one brief stay with Atlanta, is a year younger than Springer.
Granted Ozuna is a much worse defensive player, but the offensive numbers are very close: Ozuna averages 27-97-.276 per 162 games; Springer goes 35-93-.270 playing in a very friendly hitter's park with a very friendly hitter's trash can.
So, maybe the Braves could get Ozuna for a four-year, $90 million offer. Thoughts?
Speaking of the Braves, considering the moves the Padres have made, if Atlanta does not or choose not to keep Ozuna, I think the Padres have passed them on paper. San Diego's young talent across the field now looks at a rotation that has added Yu Darvish, former Cy Young winner Blake Snell and Joe Musgrave. Wow. Padres not playing.
Speaking of the Braves and starting pitching, rest easy Don Sutton. He was a voice of a baseball generation for a lot of us who have viewed the Braves as the backdrop to the summer for so long.
But if you thought Sutton was better at hairdo's and how-tos behind the mic, then you are seriously misjudging his exploits as a player.
How about some of these stats:
> Don Sutton made 756 MLB starts and never - NEVER - missed a turn in any rotation in which he was in. Wow, and hat tip to JTC for passing that nugget along. Take that pitch counts;
> Sutton led his league in WHiP (walks + hits per inning pitched) four times. In the expansion era, here are the guys who have done that at least four times - Sandy Koufax, Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez, Johan Santana, Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander, and Max Scherzer
> And maybe most impressively, here are all the pitchers in MLB history who are in the top 15 all-time in wins, strikeouts, and shutouts - Walter Johnson, Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton and Donald Howard Sutton.
This and that
- Big day, and I know that I will say multiple prayers today. Among them will be prayers for peaceful ceremonies today, peaceful transition, better days ahead, better advancements vs. the COVID, and for the incoming president. Because I firmly believe the hatred and disdain has to stop and wishing this president - or any president for that matter - to struggle or fail is wanting our nation to struggle and even fail to further a partisan side. And I will never be a part of that. War Joe Biden. War America.
- Here are the favorites according the betting folks on who are the frontrunners for the UT football gig: Billy Napier (+300, which means win $300 if you bet $100), Jamey Chadwell (+400), Kevin Steele (+500), Tom Herman (+700) and Hugh Freeze (+800).
- Speaking of UT, you know the rules. Here's Paschall round-up of the sound-bites from SEC coaches reacting to the firings/allegations of infractions of Jeremy Pruitt and his band of merry fellas.
- Ken Jennings is an all-time Jeopardy! great and now is an interim host as the long-running game show looks for a permanent point guard after Alex Trebek's death last year. Jennings was quick on his feet Tuesday, when a contestant took a dig at Jennings' playing days. The correct question to the final Jeopardy! answer that ended Jennings' record 74-game winning streak was "What is H.R. Block?" Tuesday's final clue was, "Adjusted for inflation, the nightly rate this company put in its name in 1962 is now $51." The correct question Tuesday was, "What is Motel 6?" A froggy contestant trolled Ken with, yep, "What is H.R. Block?"
- OK, time to fess up. There are a couple of commercials that make me smile. Greatly. And of course they are insurance commercials. First the Tag Team spin-off of "Scoop there it is" is excellent. Also, the counselor who tried to make people not turn into their parents is gold, Jerry. Gold. Boom Chocolata. Blue hair.
- Tiger Woods had back surgery and will miss some time. No es bueño. It is Tiger's fifth back surgery, which es muy no bueño.
Today's questions
Which way Wednesday starts this way
Which hurt Tiger's chase of Jack more, the physical injuries or the off-the-course scandal?
Which of the five favorites - Billy Napier and bunch listed above - would you hire as UT's next coach?
Which word would you use to describe Philip Rivers' career: Underachieving, overachieving, underrated or overrated?
Feel free to toss out some of your own.
As for today, it was 60 years ago that JFK hit us with "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." Amen to that.
Also, Rainn Wilson is 55 today.
Rushmore of sitcom sidekicks, and this one may be tricky, but Rainn Wilson's Dwight to Michael Scott on The Office is a bona fide contender.