Weekend winners
Tom Brady. Is there a doubt who won the weekend? My word. Also, is there any lingering doubt about the Brady or Belichick debate on who deserves the lion's share of the credit? Who knows, but I do know this: When the die-hard UT Johnny Vols Fans on social media are saying Brady > Peyton, then you know it must be impressive. And if we are being honest, the coronation that was Brady's Sunday came after Brady did not play all that well. But dude is heading to his 10th Super Bowl, yes 10th. (Side question: If you are Jameis Winston, and seeing the same group head to the big game by replacing you with a 43-year-old QB, how are you feeling today?) Brady's status as GOAT is irrefutable at this point, and now the question becomes: Is Tom Brady the greatest team sport athlete of all time?
The NFL. Not sure you could have crafted a better Super Bowl storyline to be honest. This would have been Jack and Tiger both in contention at Augusta or if LeBron had been old enough to take the Cavs to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1998 against MJ.
Matt Stafford. Dude is apparently on the move out of Detroit, according to multiple NFL insiders. Makes sense, for both sides. I would like to see Stafford on a good team and see his chops in games that matter as opposed to clicking off stats in comebacks for a club destined for 6-10.
Which leads us to another winner of the weekend: NFL offseason fans who love the transaction, because the moving pieces/free agents to be in the looming QB carousel. Stafford on the market. Deshaun Watson wanting out, and who knows what will happen in Green Bay. Free agents like Cam and Jameis. QB-needy teams with talented rosters around them like Washington, San Fran and New England to name but three. A rookie class with several first-round names. Giddy up, and buckle up.
Georgia Tech and Atlanta area sports teams. Huh? What did the Jackets do? Is Bobby Cremins recruiting at an elite level again? Is Paul Johnson ready to challenge for another ACC title game trip? Nope, those are history and the present day state of the athletic department is anyone's guess. But you can't hide class, and the grand gesture Georgia Tech made over the weekend was dripping with it. Tech football retired 44 for the upcoming season - joining the Falcons and Atlanta United FC - in honor of Hammerin' Hank Aaron, who died Friday.
Weekend losers
Matt LaFleur. Wow, who kicks that field goal? My 10-year-old daughter, who is quite sporty but not overly into football, immediately questioned that decision. Add that to Sean McDermott's asinine decision to go for 2 down 17 and it's the next chapter in the case study showing the real need for NFL teams to have an analytical decision maker on the payroll and with a headset on game days. Is it uniform? No, because gut and game flow would have to play into it as well. But considering the ledger for LaFluer's Packers Sunday. Your best player - the league's best player - is your QB. The other side has a renowned playoff assassin taking snaps. Side question: Will Aaron Rodgers win another Super Bowl, and will it be with the Packers. (And his stupid decision to kick actually covered the just-as-stupid decision by his defensive staff to get burned on a Hail Mary right before the half. And hey offensive whiz kid, you think we could get the back-up tackle some help blocking Jason Pierre Paul at some point?)
Coach K. Nice move, dude, belittling the student newspaper beat guy for asking a completely fine and fair question. Legend in name only my man. In fact, the backlash was so swift, it caused several big-name media folks to rally with stories of Coach K doing charitable things for others. Yeah, OK, but we have always over-praised normal acts of humanity from our stars because we want to believe they are as good as we hoped. Second, if Coach K can make time for Dickie V and Rick Reilly, two dudes who defended Coach K and two dudes at the heights of sports media at times, then in some ways belittling the smallest in the field is even more egregious in some ways. Coach K. More like Coach B, but we don't need a replacement letter because we can all spell B-U-L-L-Y. His Bobby Knight upbringing continues to shine through, no?
Conan McGregor. The biggest draw in MMA got housed in a second round TKO Saturday night. In a sport that really needs individuals with star power, McGregor is the Tiger of Octagon, and Saturday night may have been the end for him.
Tennessee. Egads, what a week. Fire your football coach and have your legendary face of the entire program 'retire' (at knife point) from his AD gig on Monday. Get boat-raced by Florida in hoops on Tuesday. Coaching search starts spinning heading into the weekend. Hoops bunch gets pushed around on Sunday. Buckle up UT fans, who knows what is next and who the hot name will be. (That said, by all accounts, it seems that hiring Danny White as the next AD was a shrewd move.)
Tony Finau. Dude has too much game to be winless on the PGA Tour. And he was in the final group and tied for the lead Sunday but missed several makable putts inside 8 feet and had a first-hand view Si Woo Kim said, "See You Later" on Sunday.
Speaking of Tennessee
OK, gang, make sure your phones are charged and your laptops are plugged in, because here's betting there will be sizable UT coaching news today.
Has to be right?
The weekend featured a roller coaster of emotion for the entity known as Vols Twitter. Granted, it was mild in comparison to the Schiano Sunday, but there was still a fair amount of hand-wringing and finger-tip numbing on social media.
The twists and turns and rumors and rumblings have led us to believe that news will pop today.
Clemson OC Tony Elliott, Louisiana's Billy Napier and Coastal Carolina's Jamey Chadwell appear to be among the leading candidates.
Will it be one of those dudes? I personally believe UT's state of affairs calls for someone who has head coaching experience - and preferably power five experience - and there are a few of those dudes out there too.
I don't know who it is, and certainly it will be almost impossible to know if it's a good hire whenever it's announced. You can see a bad hire early on, but it's very tough and rare to know for sure, "Yeah, that's a great hire." Sure Saban was a no-brainer, and Kirby has had a ton of success, but did you think Muschamp or Lincoln Riley would be better? Tom Herman or Dabo Swinney?
So who knows? But I do believe it will happen in the next 24-36 hours.
This and that
- We posted the snowy owl photo the Mrs. 5-at-10 got last week. Well, here's a link to the gallery she posted where you can order any of those prints. Also, visor tip to "Sound Reasoning" on Twitter, who asked "Did Kathleen get a letter from Hogwarts?" Kathleen is donating all the profits from selling these prints to the Chattanooga Aquarium, so there's that.
- Speaking of Brady, did you see the stat that after connecting with Scotty Miller and Cameron Brate on Sunday, TB12 has thrown a postseason TD to 34 different receivers, which is one of his gazillion playoff records. Second place? Drew Brees has thrown scores to 22 different pass-catchers.
- This was a cool story. LPGA player Jasmine Suwannapura finished her Friday round and her fiancé popped the question right there on the 18th green.
- Speaking of golf, Luke List finished tied for 21st in the American Express event Sunday. That was good for $58,625. That's a good weekend of work if you can get it.
- Speaking of the Hammer, here's what I wrote for A2 on the all-time all-timer.
Today's questions
Lots to cover here.Weekend winners and losers, of course. Is TB12 the greatest team sports athlete ever?
Should all of baseball retire 44?
Will UT hire a football coach today?
On this day 60 years ago, JFK gave the first televised presidential news conference.
The first Winter Olympics opened on this day in France in 1924.
Rushmore of Winter Olympics, go.