5-at-10: Mailbag on Rushmore of Rushmores, More Jeter and celebrity all-star games

Friday, February 14, 2014

Gang, great week and here's hoping there's not a Snowmageddon 3.0.

From the "Talks too much" studios, please keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times.

From Alex D via Twitter (follow us @jgreesontfp)

What is your Rushmore of Rushmores?

Alex D. -

This question caused us to do more research than we did in our entire first junior year at Auburn. (Yes, 9er, it took a few extra semesters for us to get out of the Plains with a piece of paper. So what? They don't call it the Ivy League of Lee County for nothing sir.)

Much debate and internal wrestling was caused by Alex D.'s excellent question that is made even more pertinent because of Press Row, our radio show with TFP college football ace David Paschall on ESPN 105.1 FM from 3-6 p.m. Monday-Friday. We have a Rushmore there almost every day, some days it is the same as one mentioned here. Somedays it's different. As most of you know a "Rushmore" is the top of any category or the four faces that would be the all-timers, like the Mt. Rushmore of Presidents. Got it? Good.

Now that we are dealing in a lot of Rushmores, determining our favorites - our Rushmore of Rushmore as Alex tweeted - is difficult and needs some clarification.

For example, our favorites are the ones that are next to impossible to finalize and generate a ton of discussion across the board. We had one this week about Rock-n-Roll groups and a lot of the answers were similar. It generated good discussion but a lot of the answers were the same. So we want the tough Rushmores, ones that you cut someone off and you go, "Wow, thought for sure he'd make it." Now this could qualify for any singular sport - The Rushmore of baseball players would be painful - but that's because of the breadth of the topic.

Also, our final criteria on Rushmore of Rushmore candidates is akin to the "Hall of Fame" question/the best SAT answer: A true Hall of Famer should leave no doubt and no room for debate. When you ask if Derek Jeter is a Hall of Famer, everyone goes you bet. In short, go with your first instinct.

Hope that kind of clarifies where we are when trying to pick a Rushmore of Rushmores, which is amazingly tough and could have a spot on this Rushmore but that feels a little "Matrix-ish" and the last thing we want is Keanue Reeves showing up doing ninja stuff.

Rushmore of Rushmores

- Best sports movies

- Best athletes of all-time

- Best SNL cast members

- Best sports nicknames

We are in the process of tracking these down because we're pretty sure we've done all of these.

Great question.

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From Scott S. via Twitter

With Jeter's announcement what is your Rushmore of Yankees?

Scott S. -

We seem to be in the minority here, but we have a spot on the Yankees Rushmore for Jeter with Babe, Gehrig and Mickey Mantle. Yes, that cuts off Joe DiMaggio and Yogi and a slew of others, but so it goes.

And to cross streams, is there any one sports organization that has a better group of nicknames than the Yankees.

Babe Ruth is an all-timer. Lou Gehrig was the Iron Horse. The Mick. The Yankee Clipper. Scooter. Mr. October. Louisiana Lighnting. Catfish. The Terminator. The Captain. Donnie Baseball. And that's just off the top of our head. Wow.

The better question, as Jomo referenced yesterday, may be who is one Jeter's Rushmore of significant others. We'd start with Scarlett Johannson, Jessica Alba, Minka Kelly and Adriana Lima and that's leaving Jessica Biel, Mariah Carey, Venessa Minillo and who knows whomever else on the outside looking in.

Discuss.

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From Big Talker

photo Peyton Manning

You frequently have said Peyton Manning can't be the best all-time if he's not the best in his generation. While I think Manning is better than Tom Brady -- more passing yards, more TDs, more MVPs -- I see your logic on the original idea.

But how does that apply to your man-cruch Lebron considering that Kevin Durant has now passed up the former King?

LeBron can't be the best of all-time without being the best of his generation -- and this does not even get close to MJ.

Don't you hate it when people use your words against you?

Big Talker -

Thanks for the chance to respond and for paying attention. We have frequently discussed that you can't be the best ever without being the best of your generation. Sometimes it's just that clear.

As for Manning-Brady, the numbers you pick are all true, but this may be the most puzzling dichotomy of discussing all-time QB ranks. People who support Player A over Player B will use the information that pumps up their guy and try to downgrade the other candidate. And that makes sense, but in the Manning-Brady metrics, all-too-often, the pro-Manning argument can be hypocritical.

Yes, Manning has more yards and TDs and MVPs. And all of that is impressive. But Brady has more rings, and when that gets mentioned, the pro-Manning folks always say "Brady had Belichick and better defenses," which is also a conversation that must be discussed. Although we stand by the fact that Belichik has gotten way more from Brady than the other way around.

But... the statement that Brady had Belichick and better defenses also surely answers why Manning has more yards and more TDs and potentially more MVPs. Brady has not needed to air it our like Manning has through the years. Yes, that fact plays into Brady's 3-to-1 lead in Super Bowl rings, but it also plays into Manning's great edge in individual stats.

As for the LeBron-Durant discussion, puh-lease. Durant is playing like the MVP of this year, but to even hint that Durant is a better player than LeBron is borderline laughable.

Remember that Barkley and Malone won MVPs during Jordan's heyday for great seasons, but no one will say they were better than Jordan.

This is going to be a fun second half to the NBA season, and we believe LeBron is about to flip the switch and do some sick stuff.

Giddy-up.

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From Tim G.

Heard you and Paschall on Press Row talk briefly about the NBA celebrity all-star game. How do you think you would do if you managed an invite to that game. Also, if we had a media celebrity 'All-Star' game in the greater Chattanooga area, who would be the MVP? Can you make this happen?

Thanks, and Press Row is awesome -- thanks and keep up the good work.

Tim G. -

Excellent question.

We believe if we were in this weekend's celebrity all-star game we'd more than hold our own at 43. ("We're a man, we're 43!) We believe this for a couple of reasons: 1) We have an insane amount of pride and would have seriously have prepared for something like this; 2) Every famous Hollywood type is about 4 inches shorter than you think they are so Kevin Hart (who is looking for his third MVP award) is like 5-2 and we're 6-4, which means we become the Shaq of these festivities; 3) We used to be pretty good at hoops and scored 1,300 career points in high school; 4) finally, this group is hardly the "Who's Who" of celebrity Olympians when Nick Cannon is the Kobe of the competition.

As for the local celebrity hoops, well, not sure we could get that organized because we're not sure how much interest that would generate. Still if there was a local media celebrity game, the unofficial Vegas odds on MVP consideration would likely be:

TFP all-around ace Gene Henley 2-to-1

TFP Blockheaded Sports Editor 5-to-1

SportTalk all-around good guy Quake 5-to-1

Field 10-to-1

And of the field, the best options would likely be TFP ace columnist Mark Wiedmer, who would loft enough shots that he could be among the leading scorers, and TFP UT ace Downtown Patrick Brown, a Memphis kid who was raised on the rough and tumble streets a few blocks removed from Beale and is an NBA nut who has the insane advantage of youth on his side.

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From BiSpy4

5, we need a ruling. April 26 is Springsteen at Lakewood. It's also Merle Haggard in Villa Rica, of all places. There may not be many more chances to see either man at the top of his game. The Boss is past 60 and I don't know how much longer he can put on those high-energy three-hour long shows. The Hag is The Hag. How much longer does he have? (I still think both much more left in the tank than does Struggla, but I digress).

Spy -

We're going with The Boss, but he's the biggest name on our bucket list of concerts we have not seen. We have seen Merle a few times.

If you have seen both, we'd still say Bruce because, while Merle's age is certainly a concern, there's a better chance that Hag will be somewhere close sooner than Bruce will re-appear in the South.

You're right, that's a dilemma for sure. Still, we're locked and loaded to try to get tickets for The Boss tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. Here's our Rushmore/bucket list of shows we'd like to see: Bruce, Clapton, Garth (preferably in Vegas) and George Jones (yes, that one will never happen now so we may need a replacement).