Gang, remember the mailbag and thanks for playing along - as always.
From the "Talks too much" studios, money can't buy baseball happiness, apparently.
Baseball
Dodgers are done and they take the highest payroll - roughly $240 million or about $9.5 million per player in a league which the average salary is less than a third of that - on vacation. Again.
St. Louis Cardinals' Matt Adams celebrates after hitting a three-run home off Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw, right, during the seventh inning of Game 4 of baseball's NL Division Series on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014, in St. Louis. The Cardinals won 3-2.Clayton Kershaw gave up a three-run homer in the decisive Game 4 loss to the Cards last night. He made one bad pitch all night - he hung a curve ball - and that was that. Fairly or not, Kershaw is now the face of the sports superstars who have something to prove in big moments.
For a long time it was Phil Mickelson. Then it was Peyton Manning. Then it was LeBron.
All of those guys toppled their demons - Mickelson won the 2004 Masters; Manning got the Super Bowl; LeBron and the Heatles won back-to-back titles - and now it's Kershaw's title to tote. He's the best in the business until it matters.
So one pitch ends the greatest season for a pitcher in this generation.
And yes, it changes his perception until Kershaw rewrites his narrative.
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College football
As crazy as last weekend was, there's a real chance that this weekend could be just as dramatic.
Football tileNos. 2 and 3 play when Auburn goes to Mississippi State. Georgia goes to Missouri in what could be the SEC East title match, which then actually makes that a potential de facto National round of 16 game in the college football playoff - win that, get to the SEC title game, win that get to the semifinals... - in the grand scheme of things.
Texas A&M has the most efficient offense; Ole Miss has the most efficient defense. Not only in the SEC but in the country. Those teams meet Saturday.
Still, you could make an argument that TCU-Baylor is even bigger. A top-10 showdown that could be a national quarterfinal all things considered.
Buckle up gang. This is why college football is the best regular season in sports.
Question for the group: What will be the storyline of this college football weekend.
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More college football
We'll make this a Wednesday staple.
Who's your four in the playoff right now?
Who you got?
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This and that
Adrian Peterson- Someone in Adrian Peterson's inner circle needs to sit him down and say plainly, "Dude, let's keep quiet until all this is handled in court. Deal? Deal."
- Alabama finally comes to its senses and reverses its stance in the eligibility case on basketball transfer Daisha Simmons.
- Mark Cuban is great. LeBron fired the first salvo about how the owners can't say they are poor after the new TV deal. Cuban fires back that the league should do away with max deals. The NBA labor negotiations will be very interesting.
- Cuban, part II, on how the Cowboys had to go to a silent count because of the crowd noise at a home game last Sunday. "It costs more to park at the Cowboys game than a good ticket at a Mavs game." Man, it's expensive to be a fan, you know?
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Chevy ChaseToday's question
We have to give a birthday shout out to a guy that was a key figure in the comedy stylings of our younger days.
Happy 71st birthday to Chevy Chase, a dude that has brought all of us a load of laughs.
Rushmore of Chevy Chase movies. Go.