5-at-10: Friday mailbag

Gang, we've had an awesome week. Thanks. We're still looking for top-five lists for next week when the 5-at-10 clan is at Disney hanging with Mickey and his gang. We're planning on having mini-5-at-10s (top-five lists most likely) next week and may have some guest commentators like SEC ace David Paschall, UT ace Downtown Patrick Brown or even preps ace Stephen Hargis check in during the week. But we know we'll have some sort of 5-at-10 presence - we're closing in on a historic number ofconsecutive Monday-Fridays, regardless of weather, illness, vacation or supreme workload offered by ReCruitmas or football preview sections. We started on Oct. 26 in 2010, a Tuesday, and by our math this is our 599th consecutive morning with a 5-at-10. Thanks to you guys for helping it grow and participating and being a part of the Show. Everyone take a bow.

On to the mailbag, which is going to have more questions and shorter answers (and feel free to chime in with your thoughts). From the shuddered Recruiting Command Center deep within the "Talks too much" studios, let's put a bow on this thing...

From Jomo

Did you find it amazing that Alabama had players from 13 different states in their signing class? . . .the power of national TV, etc.?

Jomo -

National TV helps. Success helps. Getting players into the league helps. Each is part of the machine that is Alabama.

Alabama is slap killing it right now. On Saturdays in the fall. On recruiting visits. During the summer. It's Gary and Wyatt in Weird Science, "It's moving. It's working. It's working by itself."

The Tide's draw and Nick Saban's Jedi mind tricks is magnified by the simple fact that five stars are coming in and waiting their turn. And as this happens, and as those guys still get to the league with only one or two seasons on the field, it's self-fulfilling cycle of success that has no stopping point in sight.

That said, Bama's roll and the SEC's power and prestige have helped every program in the league. There are kids that are picking middle- to lower-tier SEC programs over traditional powers to get on the field in college football's best conference.

This also will continue to self-perpetuate, considering there likely will be 15 or so SEC players drafted in the first round this April.

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From Sportsfan

Jay - It's 7:20 on Thursday evening. You're about to take a hiatus. Can you answer a last minute question for the Friday mailbag? If the president announced today that sporting events were going to be rationed and each citizen was allowed to view only 4 each calendar year, which 4 would you choose? I got the Daytona 500, March Madness (counts as one), the Masters, and the SEC championship game. Love the 5 at 10. Enjoy the time off. Do Mission Space at Epcot. Guaranteed not for the faint of heart.

Sportsfan -

Such a great question, and thanks for the tip.

We need a clarification: If March Madness counts as one, do entire postseasons in each sport count as one? If so, our answer is Masters, March Madness, Bowl season and the NFL playoffs.

That feels too vague for this, so we're going to boil it down to a weekend/couple of day time frame for one event. We'll take the Masters, the opening weekend of March Madness, New Year's Day bowl games and the weekend of the Divisional round of NFL playoffs.

This still feels too vague, so let's pose the question you only get tickets to four sporting events in the coming year, what do you take? We'll go Masters (which obviously is near and dear), Daytona, the Kentucky Derby and the Iron Bowl.

Please share yours.

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From AReader

We're all sports nuts, right? That's why we're here.

I getting tired of the self-embracing ESPN soap opera. Just show the highlights and let us enjoy sportscenter. It's tough to watch, you know.

That said, here's my question -- Let's say you are having lunch at the ESPN compound in Bristol, who is at your table?

AReader -

Wow, another home run question.

OK, if it's just the two of us, we're likely going with Mel Kiper Jr., and we're going to talk a lot of draft. We love the draft, you know this, and we feel certain Mel would be well aware of this before lunch was done.

If there's a group, we'll go Jay Bilas, Scott Van Pelt, Kiper and McShay, Herbstreit. There feels like a couple we're forgetting, but that's our starting point.

And if that's cool kids table, we're definitely picking on Granny Clampett and Mark May and some of the other goofs at the other end of the lunch room. There's a real good chance there would be a food fight and an even better chance that Mr. Sensitive Tom Rinaldi would start crying about it.

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From chas9

Question for Friday: If you're the landscape architect who gets the job, what do you build on the corners? (BTW, AU has a great architecture program.)

Yes, we're well aware AU has an excellent architecture program. In fact that was the first of our many majors on The Plains. (When we saw how little time our fraternity brothers in architecture majors spent hanging out at the house and how much time they spent at Dudley Hall, well, hello Public Administration.)

Tough question. It needs to be something that pays homage to the past and the tradition while embracing the red-neck truth that our AU family celebrates victory by throwing toilet paper into trees. (Hey, we believe in Auburn and love it, but rolling Toomers is a pretty crazy tradition, there's no doubt. Side note: In our 42-plus years, we've rolled Toomers twice - after Auburn's 30-20 win over Alabama in 1989 in the Tide's first visit to Auburn ever and after the celebration at Jordan-Hare following the 2010 national title.) The new structure needs style.

We're think a statue with a place to recognize all-time achievements that can be photographed and some sort of top that can catch toilet paper.

We'll call it a stat-amural-thing-a-doowickee. (See why we left architecture?)

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photo Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Anquan Boldin (81) celebrates his touchdown catch Sunday with quarterback Joe Flacco (5) during the second half of an NFL wild card playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts in Baltimore.

From @gregsmtn on the Twitter

Where does this put Flacco? He got it done.

Joe Flacco got it done there's no doubt. Dude had a magical five weeks.

And we love the story out there about Flacco getting caught on tape telling his teammates that if 49ers kick returner Ted Ginn had broken free on the kickoff return on the final play of the Super Bowl, that someone had to tackle him. Is it cheating? You bet. Is it amazing foresight and planning and the type of lookahead problem-solving you want from a QB? Absolutely.

In fact, this story actually elevates Flacco in our ranking if that makes sense. Following along:

There is the No. 1 Rushmore of Peyton, Rodgers, Brady and Brees. These are the go-to guys in the league right.

There is the next teir of Roethlisberger, Flacco, Eli and Matt Ryan. We actually rank Flacco above Ben and Eli because he was planning and playing to the final whistle. That's leadership. Does it merit $20 million a year? No way, but Flacco has delivered in the clutch and deserves his reward. We'd rank him tied with Eli at No. 5 in the league.

There's also the next generation Rushmore of Luck, RGIII, Russell Wilson and Colin "Humpty" Kaepernick, and if you think any of those teams would trade their guy for Flacco straight-up you're nuts.

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photo Lance Armstrong pauses during a 2011 interview in Austin, Texas.

From Longtime

Did you see Forbes' list of the 10 most disliked sports personalities? Who would make your list?

Thanks for the 5@10... it's a daily stop for me. Have fun at Disney.

Longtime -

Thanks and we're pretty stoked. We may be every bit as excited as our 5-year-old who woke everyone up this morning at 5:30 with the simple sentence, "Today's the day."

Let's keep the flow going and do a current top five of disliked athletes:

1) Lance Armstrong

2) A-Rod

3) Mike Vick

4) Kurt Busch

5) Bobby Knight

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From Silent Santa Commit

I am a recruiting nut. I need help.

Can you give me five under-the-radar prospects that will be stars?

SSC -

Merry ReCruitmas to you too.

OK, if we're talking underrated, these guys have to be three-star prospects or lower.

We think Connor Mitch at South Carolina will be very good under Steve Spurrier.

We like Marcus Davis, the athlete that signed with Auburn.

Mississippi State signee Cord Sandberg could be special (although he may be a first-round baseball draft pick too).

Florida running back Adam Lane would have been a more-decorated prospect if he had not been injured in high school.

We like UT's late addition of Malik Brown too,

One more to grow on: We think former Signal Mountain QB and current UK student Reese Phillips has the tools to succeed in the SEC.

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From Genuine Siskel

You quote a lot of movies. A lot. I get most of the references but miss a few too.

What movie do you think you quote the most? Thanks and thanks for the 5-at-10.

Siskel,

Like most folks who have memorized way, Way, WAY too many movies, it swings and flows. Sometimes a movie like "O' Brother Where Art Thou" gets a lot of play. Sometimes it depends on who you are hanging out with because they may have personal movie favorites.

If we had to pick them out, we'd say the ones we quote the most are, in no particular order, with the quote we use most:

- "Animal House" - Too many to name, but we'll stick with the variation of "Grab a brew, don't cost nothing.

- "Hoosiers" - "Fletch" - Wow, this is hard. OK, either, "Using the whole fist there, Doc?" or

- "Dumb and Dumber" - "So you're saying there's a chance."

- "Caddyshack" - "The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one -- big hitter, the Lama -- long, into a ten-thousand foot crevice, right at the base of this glacier. And do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga...gunga -- gunga galunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consiousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."

Have a great day and weekend.

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