OK, after yesterday's marathon opus that was about the size of an Encycelopedia 5-at-10ia, we are short and to the point today.
Buckle up - and remember the mailbag.
From the "Talks to much" studios, we're offering a Rushmore you can't refuse.
Royals
Enjoy the Royals. Embrace the emotion. In fact, squint at the TV and try to hear Skip Caray's voice and swap the lovable unknown names like Cain and Aoki and Hosmer for Lemke and Blauser and Smith, and this bunch has the feel, the passion and the belief that the early 1990s Braves shared with all of us.
This is a fun bunch that has won seven straight playoff games this postseason - their first since 1985 - with speed and defense and a lockdown bullpen. They hit the fewest homers in baseball this season but are playing the game with the energy of a 12-year-old all-star team and with the passion of warrior poets.
It's a joy. And sweet buckets, last night's game lasted less than three hours. In a PLAYOFF game.
God bless the Royals. They could save baseball.
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Mike SliveSlive
Mike Slive has announced he will step down at the end of July 2015.
It will end the most successful and accomplished career in college athletics as our ace columnist Mark Weidmer detailed here.
So here's a tip of the cap to the guy who has reshaped the league - remember his first goal was to get everyone out of NCAA timeout - and college sports for the betterment of his league. Dude was exceptional at his job.
Now his strong arm tactics did not benefit everyone in college sports, but that was not his charge.
So we pose this hypothetical: What of Slive had been given Mark Emmert's job and been in charge of the NCAA?
Interesting, no?
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Wednesday's who ya got?
As of this morning, the top four teams in the polls have control of their college football playoff destiny. If Nos. 1-4 - Mississippi State, FSU, Ole Miss and Baylor - win out (barring the Egg Bowl when MSU and Ole Miss meet), those four teams will be in the playoff.
It would be three conference champs and the best at-large. And other than maybe a one-loss Oregon or a one-loss Michigan State thinking they deserve to get in over the at-large as Power 5 conference champs, no one would have a big beef with the above scenario.
Of course, there's a ton of hay to put in the barn between now and then. There also are two other teams that control their own destinies - Notre Dame, which would be firmly in the mix if it wins out, starting with Saturday's trip to Florida State, and Georgia, which would be a surefire pick as a one-loss SEC champion.
Here are the toughest hurdles for the top four:
1) Mississippi State (other than the Egg Bowl) - at Alabama, Nov. 15
2) FSU - Saturday vs. Notre Dame, and if the Seminoles win here, punch their ticket (well, until Jameis does something that actually gets him in real trouble with the football team like kill a guy with a trident or something)
3) Ole Miss (other than the Egg Bowl) - vs. Auburn, Nov. 1
4) Baylor - at Oklahoma, Nov. 8
Who you got in your four?
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This and that
- Jimbo Fisher says he's confident that Jameis Winston did not accept money for the more than 900 signed, authenticated and sequential items available for purchase online. Sure. Is there such a thing as battered coach syndrome? Or better yet, since Jimbo's got roughly $750K in bonuses on the line if the Seminoles win the whole thing, well, of course Jimbo is going to do everything he possibly can to get to the bottom of this, even if it costs him his best player (without whom FSU has zero chance).
Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston comments on his half-game suspension in this Sept. 17, 2014, photo.- The famed Harris Poll asked 2,543 adults (1,275 of whom said they follow pro football) who they thought America's Team was. Denver replaced Dallas as the most frequent answer. The top five was Denver, the New York Giants, Green Bay, Dallas and Pittsburgh.
- Quick shout out to the TFP sports staff. We had 18 local by-lines in today's sports section. Yes, 18 stories/roundups/columns/et al from your TFP sports. That's some awesome awesomeness.
- And proving that's never too early, here's the newest T-shirt circulating in preparation of Lane Kiffin's return to Neyland next Saturday.
- Sports finances - with monster contracts and monster ticket prices and flat-out Godzilla TV revenues - have gotten so off-kilter that it takes the Plato-esque insight from none other than Kobe Bryant to clarify things. Bryant said plainly that the players are over paid, and that the owners are too. Serenity now, George, serenity now.
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Today's question
Today is national tree planting day. In Sri Lanka. So, plant a tree and enjoy the day to all our Sri Lankan readers. (Sri Lankan has to be the right term, right? It can't be Sri Lankians or even Sri Lankies.)
Also on this day, Mario Puzo would have been 94. The man wrote the Godfather from crying out loud, we can observe his birthday.
We want you to use all your powers and all your skills and contribute what you think is the best quote from Godfather I or Godfather II for a Rushmore. (If you have more than one, knock yourself out.)
And if we don't pick yours, well, always remember this is business Sonny. It's never personal.