Thursday, July 19, 2012
Gang, we have a couple of open spots in Friday's mailbag. We're going to try to move quickly because the Open is on the TV as we type.
From the "Talks too much" Studios, here we go...
Here's a Day 2 recap:
The SEC West will go through Death Valley: LSU is supremely talented. And they're ticked off. As our SEC ace David Paschall tells us here, the Tigers are motivated by the sour end to last season. And know this: LSU's defense is sick. They have the league's best corner, the best safety and arguably two of the four best pass rushers. And yes, Alabama plays at LSU in this year's game of the century.
Pitch perfect: John L. Smith shined in his appearance as the interim Arkansas coach. And his answer to a question about whether he would like to coach the Razorbacks beyond this fall was spot-on: "Well, certainly. Do I look stupid?"
Quiet corner: As Paschall told us here, Auburn returns 16 starters and is 18 months removed from winning the national title game. And they are on no one's radar. So it goes in the SEC West.
Want to know how tough the SEC West is? With the talent Arkansas has coming back the Hogs would be preseason picks to win any conference this side of the Pac-12 because USC is loaded. Arkansas is no better than the third-best team in the SEC West. Scary.
Other quotes of notes from Paschall and UT ace Patrick Brown, who is down in the greater-Birmingham area with 1,100 other media types:
"It's going to feel great, because we're going to win the Egg Bowl for the fourth year in a row. I'm not being disrespectful to them, but it's going to be a great feeling to go out and be 4-0 against the school up north." - Mississippi State cornerback Johnthan Banks when asked what a career sweep of Ole Miss would mean
"We had one foul that turned back a touchdown all season, but I think the rule did what it was intended to do." - SEC coordinator of officials Steve Shaw on the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that was implemented last year
"How do you leapfrog Alabama and LSU? Well, you've got to beat them. That's where you start, and it's good for us this year, because we have them both at our place." - Arkansas senior quarterback Tyler Wilson on being third in the SEC West pecking order
"I'm not sitting down right now, so nothing's hot. I don't have time to listen to that stuff." - Kentucky coach Joker Phillips when asked about being on the hot seat after last season's 5-7 finish
The area's heavyweights - Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama - take their turns at the podiums today. And we'll get the predictions and the preseason all-SEC media teams.
We're dealing with a lot of stuff. To complete the circle, here are the questions we likely won't hear for the four coaches speaking today:
- Coach Richt, is it true that Nike's next combat uniform for the Bulldogs has "Chico's Bail Bonds" on the back? That would at least help during the offseason, no?
- Coach Dooley, If you had a son would you be more likely to name him Da'Rick or Cordarrelle? (Side note: We loved our ace columnist Mark Wiedmer's view on Dooley here in today's TFP.)
- Coach Freeze, you coached Michael Oher in high school. After re-watching "Blindside" are you going to have Sandra Bullock call plays in from the stands like she did in the movie?
- Coach Saban, can you fly? Or how about, Coach Saban if you were a flower, what flower would you be? Or, Coach Saban, what's your favorite poem? Or, Coach, can we start calling you Nicky? Or, Coach, who is your favorite Kardashian? Any of those would be excellent, and the lasers shooting from Saban's eyes would melt titanium.
Gang, on Thursday in Great Britian, Tiger Woods looked more like Tiger Woods than at any time since Thanksgiving 2009. Dude was 4 under at the turn (we're typing while the play is happening and the 5-at-10 tot is up watching some Disney show - yes, we have surrenderer remote control; so it goes).
This is going to be a blast, and the weather has not become a factor yet. Yet.
Not a whole lot else to say other than Bubba looks good, Ernie is playing well and Paul Lawrie (nice pick sportsfan) apparently is still alive. Who knew?
Here are the entries we have for the Openly Open Championship Championship (we have to get clarification on one pick, and if you don't see your picks, let us know):
5-at-10 - Dufner, McDowell, Paddy Harrington, Woods
Mrs. 5-at-10 - Zach Johnson, Dufner, Westwood, Donald, Rory
Fred - Oosthuizen, Westwood, Molinari, Els, Poulter
TFP golf ace David Uchiyama - Padraig Harrington, Matt Kuchar, Louis Oosthuizen, Lee Westwood, Justin Rose
BlueOval - Mickleson, D Johnson, Z Johnson and Woods
StuckinKent - Lee Westwood, Ricky Fowler, Padraig Harrington, Dustin Johnson, Martin Kaymer
Spy - Zach Johnson, Jason Dufner, Luke Donald, Ernie Els, Graeme McDowell
sportsfan - Furyk, Sergio, Paul Lawrie, Lee Westwood, and Ernie Els
McPell - Jason Dufner, Mickelson, Luke Donald, McIlroy, & Matt Kutchar
OTWatcher - Els, Dufner, McDowell, Scott, Kuchar
ThatIDoKnow - Zach Johnson, Donald, Stricker, McDowell
Weena - Dufner, Els, Z. Johnson, A. Scott, Donald
WarEagle - Stricker, Dufner, McIlroy, B. Van Pelt, Oosthuizen
wannabe - Tiger, Scott, McDowell, Johnson
scole023 - Woods, Els, Z. Johnson, Kuchar
Todd962 - Tiger, McDowell, Westwood, and Rose
Jefe - Adam Scott, Tiger, Bubba, Dufner
Cobrakid8 - Lee Westwood, Zach Johnson, Louis Oosthuizen, Luke Donald, Matt Kuchar.
Dawg747 - Harrington, McDowell, Kuchar, Westwood, Els
FEChancellor - Rory Mcilroy, Lee Westwood, Greame McDowell, Justine Rose, Phil Mickelson
BTG - Leroy Neiman Phil Garner Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, and Mercury Morris (although that may have been the mustache picks in which case he is way ahead of the field)
Deboman - P Harrington, Dufner, Oosthuizen, Angel Cabrera, and R Goosen.
Abankston - Woods, Dufner, Z Johnson, and Fowler
chas9 - Donald, Harrington, McIlroy, Oosthuizen (or however you spell it), Westwood.
wc777 - Tiger, Harrington, Donald, Westwood
Josh - Tiger, G-Mac, Westwood, Harrington
BigBoy - Harrington, Mahan, Kuchar, Z. Johnson, Donlad
- We're planning on being on The Show with Chris Goforth on 1370 AM this afternoon at 2ish. Swing by if you have the chance.
- It's starting to feel like the Lakers are going to land Dwight Howard. Howard has now said he will resign with them. The Lakers are close to signing Antawn Jamison, who is a poor man's version of Pau Gasol, and the only reason the team that has Pau Gasol would sign the poor man's version of Pau Gasol is if they are going to deal Pau Gasol. What's the record for most "Pau Gasol" references in one sentence, because that has to be close, right?
- Gut-punch 9-4 loss for the Braves last night. Mike Minor pitched six stellar innings and the Braves and Giants were tied at 1 after nine. Giants scored twice in the 10th and the Braves answered on Brian McCann's two-out, two-run homer. The Giants hit two three-run homers in the 11th and scored four unearned runs in the process. The Braves are 4.5 games behind Washington.
- According to Forbes, the top-paid actress on TV is Sofia Vergara (who made $19 million in salary and endorsements and what not from May 2011-May 2012). Kim Kardashian is second at $18 million and Eva Longoria is third at $15 million. Those three have similar looks no? The rest of the top 10 is Bethenny Frankel ($12 million), Khloe Kardashian ($11 million), Tina Fey ($11 million), Mariska Hargitay ($10 million), Zooey Deschanel ($9 million), Felicity Huffman ($9 million) and Ellen Pompeo ($9 million).
Speaking of the super-talented Kardashian klan (kidding, kidding), there was news circulating this week that Pete Rose was going to do a reality TV show.
Rose and his girlfriend/significant other Kiana Kim have vowed their reality TV show will not be "classless" like so many others. Uh, sure Pete. One of the episodes will be following Kim to get breast-reduction surgery.
This has the chance to be train-wreck bad. We strongly advise not watching any of it because if this is as bad as it could be you won't be able to turn away. Side story: Roughly five years ago, a Rock of Love - the show in which former Poison frontman Bret Michaels dated a house full of trashy women - marathon came on VH1 and we got sucked in like it was a black hole. Rose's yet-to-be-named debacle has the same feel.
OK, here's our questions:
We all know the why - Rose obviously needs the coin - but would you watch Rose's reality show? Do you have a reality TV guilty pleasure? Do you believe deserves to be in the Hall of Fame? Our answers are 1) No. 2) We watch American Idol but not any others, although we've seen a couple episodes of Pawn Stars; 3) Rose deserves to be inducted in the Hall of Fame the day after he dies. He earned his lifetime ban, and when his lifetime is over, his baseball career as a player should be part of the Hall of Fame.
We have always said that sports were the original reality TV. And watching what we call reality TV today with the scripting and set-ups, professional wrestling may have been the actual birthplace of reality TV.
Discuss, and remember Friday's mailbag.