So, happy Friday. I am moving slowly today because in truth, I have been watching a ton of the British Open this a.m.
Anyone else up at 2 a.m. today? Anyone? Bueller?
Also, on my daily Plays email, go ahead and cash the hole-in-one at 17 prop, which hit Friday morning about the time that Spy was mixing his Metamucil.
Good times. While we're here, though, we also had Mickelson as the top finishing lefty and Brian Harman is threatening to run away and hide from the entire field — left- or right-handed.
Let's handle our business.
Holy cow, for all the love and hate that Lane Kiffin generates, this is arguably the single best answer to one of those random SEC media days questions I have ever seen. Simply brilliant.
Also, you know the rules, so here's Paschall on some UT football goals.
Rushmore of U.S. space history. Armstrong, Alan Shepard, John Glenn, John Young. (If we did events, it would be different, and I kept it to astronauts and not folks like Eisenhower and JFK who were monster influences on NASA's emergence.)
Rushmore of cartoon duos. Tom and Jerry, Beavis and Butthead, Fred and Barney, Roadrunner and Coyote.
Rushmore of most violent action verbs. Gored, bludgeon, castrate, annihilate.
Rushmore of all-time Detroit pro athletes. Sanders, Cobb, Kaline, Isiah Thomas.
We also offered Rushmore of best shows on TV right now, but in truth, I'm not sure I regularly watch four current TV shows. Heck, last night I finished rewatching season 1 of "Friday Night Lights."
Clear eyes, full hearts. Can't lose.
Which brings us to question one this week.
From Danny
Jay, the family is headed to the panhandle next week before school starts. Have you read anything good lately or what is your all-time favorite sports book?
Thanks, and I look forward to the 5@10 every day.
Danny,
I will open this up to the group, but I am remiss in that I have not read anything this year. I feel like a loser.
That said, I'm crushing on the games on my phone. Somewhere Ms. Wells and Coach Crump — two of my favorite teachers in high school — are depressed.
But I am happy to offer my thoughts on sports books.
We'll start with my all-time favorite, "Friday Night Lights" and Buzz Bissinger spending the full season with the Mojo boys of Permian High in Texas.
It's brilliant. Truly.
"Ball Four" is transcendent, especially to be almost 50 years old. You have likely seen the movies, but the Michael Lewis home runs of "Moneyball" and "The Blind Side" are excellent, too.
And speaking of books that were made into a movie, "Seabiscuit" is a way better book than movie.
Anyone else got any suggestions for my man Danny?
From Eddie
Jay, are you watching the Open Championship at all? Do you watch sports differently than the rest of us?
Eddie,
Not as much Thursday as I have today. And today, I started early as I previously mentioned.
Sadly, my friend, I have not gotten to play golf a lot over the last couple of years. Spent all my extra time coaching middle school kids up here on the hill.
As for watching the game differently, I don't know how to answer that. Golf, no, not really.
The big three, probably not but maybe. And somewhat not surprisingly I suppose, back in my single days, there were a couple of watering holes in Smyrna that were happy to give me discounts to come and entertain the crew during big sporting events.
Yeah, I'm obnoxious like that I suppose.
As for the Open, well there are a few takeaways that I think we need to discuss.
— Brian Harman has everything working.
— Tommy Fleetwood is in contention, which would be great for my appetite and bad for the county mayor's wallet. Side question: Fleetwood looks more like the guy who's about to cut your grass more than the guy contending for the Open Championship, right?
— How great was the first-round story of the 6-foot-8 amateur from Georgia Tech? Side question, part II: Georgia Tech has a top-five cast of alumni in the professional golf ranks, right? Top three even? And yes, Georgia is likely one in terms of depth.
— My pick to win, Viktor Hovland, is sloppy around the greens. Also of note, a bird pooped on him on Thursday, so there's that. It's good luck. In Haiti.
— And finally, what in the world has happened to Justin Thomas? Dude dropped a confidence-killing, energy-sucking, club-throwing 82 Thursday. He's almost certain to miss the cut, and he better be careful or he could miss the Ryder Cup team.
From Bicycle Bob
Regarding the AJC correction to their investigation results regarding the UGA story: I had canceled my subscription to that newspaper just last week after deciding it was not nearly as good as it used to be. The revelations of yesterday confirm the wisdom of my decision.
As for asking Congress to act to put a cap on the NIL money: how about a cap on number of years members of Congress can "serve" and on the amount of money they can accept from lobbyists?
Kind regards.
Bicycle Bob,
I grew up reading the AJC. My first sports writing hero was Lewis Grizzard, but the cast of stars they had in sports was eye-popping.
It's fallen a great deal, but in truth all papers have. Just because of sheer numbers in the newsroom.
And make no mistake, I have written multiple times that term limits would be a monster first step to redirecting this country by recalibrating the career politician into the true public servant.
But getting people in power to give up — or limit that power in almost any way — is very tough and very rare.
From Spy
For all his blather, there are times when Screamin A actually can put out lucid, cogent, meaningful points of view. I think Le Batard has so consumed himself with being an outsider now that he is becoming a caricature of himself. I could do with less of either, to be honest. But Le Batard shouldn't be mad at Stephen A. for being successful at the format he didn't create. Don't hate the player, Dan. Hate the game. Or at least in this instance, the ESPN muckety muck who created this game. Though hating Skip Bayless for perpetuating this style of ... what do you even call it? ... is not a bad way to go.
Since its SEC Media Days — a true exercise in please explain this on your expense sheet, sir — where much news is chased but little is made, I have this question.
Who would Spurrier have more fun at the expense of right now:
Kirby, Jimbo, Hugh Freeze, Kiffin?
Spy,
Brilliant email my man.
This one is easy for me. Kirby would be winning too much against Spurrier for him to pull his string. Kiffin is at Ole Miss, which Spurrier would view as second-tier. (Although South Carolina Spurrier would swing at anyone.) Still, I think he would have loved Kiffin's style and trash-talk.
As for Hugh Freeze, maybe, but Spurrier had a great touch without getting into the serious stuff like Freeze did at Ole Miss.
But it's Jimbo. 100%. But he would be bagging on Heupel at UT a ton too.
Enjoy the weekend, friends.