Got a ton of emails on a couple of Rushmores this week, including where we will start today.
From Jeff
"I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today" says Wimpy regularly on the Popeye comic strip. No one is going to know that one. I bet 3/4 of your readership only knows Popeye as a chicken joint
Jeff,
You may well be correct on that. And know this: The cartoon catchphrase Rushmore is one of the most difficult ones I've had in a while. Someone suggested a slew from the Bugs umbrella — "thought I taw a puddy cat," "sufferin' succotash," Roadrunner's beep-beep and "That's all folks" — and there are countless more.
There's the great Wimpy line as well as a couple from Popeye himself with his ode to sweet potatoes everywhere — "I yam what I yam" and his lament that he's got to eat his spinach.
We could have one just from "The Simpsons" or "Scooby Doo."
Also, as for Popeye's the restaurant, prepare to be shocked or maybe even angered:
Popeye's chicken sandwich is better than Chick-fil-A's and Popeye's spicy chicken is the MJ of the chicken sandwich discussion. Period.
So in an effort that occupied a bunch of my brain cells this week, here's where we settled (and disagreements are allowed).
Fred Flinstone's "Yabba dabba do," Bugs' "What's up, Doc?" Homer Simpson's "D'oh!" and the ubiquitous "Oh my God, they killed Kenny" from "South Park."
(Side note: I was especially pained leaving off "hey, hey, hey" from Fat Albert. Side question on the side note: How many microaggressions would be in one Fat Albert episode? A dozen? And that's not even counting being voiced by Bill Cosby, who is a macroaggression on a slew of levels.)
Rushmore of Rolling Stones' tunes — "You Can't Always Get What You Want," "Satisfaction," "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Gimme Shelter."
Rushmore of Chicago professional sports stars (and man, how about some of these all-time nicknames, too) — Air Jordan, Sweetness Walter Payton, The Golden Jet Bobby Hull and while some would lean toward Mr. Cub Ernie Banks or even the Big Hurt Frank Thomas, the final spot on my Chicago sports stars Rushmore is Harry Carey. And if you need a coach, Papa Bear Halas.
Rushmore of pump-you-up/workout songs — "Eye of the Tiger," "Lunatic Fringe," "Welcome to the Jungle" and "Enter Sandman." (Yes, "Thunderstruck" is outstanding, but Alabama uses it, so hard pass.)
Let's remember the rules. Here's Paschall with a look at the variety of ages on the UT roster heading into the fall. Back to the bag.
From Todd
Why did you not do more on SEC media days? I thought you loved that event.
What was your biggest takeaway from it? And yes, I am ready for football to kick off.
Love your column!
Todd,
No, was never a huge fan of SEC media days. Enjoyed going and seeing the folks I know who cover the league. And I read along with Paschall's coverage because he does that event as well as anyone.
But the event was a grind. And quite predictable.
I did have a few takeaways though, and it will bleed over into our next email, too.
My first email is the five knuckleheads who thought it was HIGH-larious to vote Vandy as SEC champion are morons.
Which leads us back to my view of have everyone put their name on their ballots. Otherwise you get this.
Seriously, if you had to put even a moderate amount of money — not even significant — on Vanderbilt either winning the league or losing every SEC game, which one are you backing? Of course.
From Brian
You heard anything on Jarquez Hunter and a possible suspension. You play any SEC season win totals? I'm on Arkansas over 6.5, Ol' Miss over 7.5 and LSU over 9.5. Lean Kentucky over, but my account has over juiced to -165, so haven't played it. I threw a baby play on LSU 16/1 to win CFP back in May, but that number is long gone. I'm on LSU in Week 1 vs the semmies.
Brian,
I have not heard much at all about Jarquez Hunter, the Auburn running back who allegedly found hot water in the off-season with some extracurricular social media film work.
Auburn has been extremely tight-lipped about the topic. Here's more. If Hunter is a part of the offense, I like Auburn over 6.5 wins this year, to be honest.
And that's not a homer pick as much as it's a pick against a Charmin soft schedule.
As for the others, I really like LSU over 9.5. I think there's a very real chance the Tigers meet Georgia in Atlanta with both of them unblemished. I also will be on LSU heavy in week 1 against FSU.
I also think Arkansas could be hard to handle if KJ Jefferson stays healthy.
I'd lean Georgia over 11.5 because Kirby's crew is going to be double-digit favorites in every game save the trip to Knoxville. And to merge the first two, wanna guess Vandy's over/under win total for 2023?
Yep, it's 3.5.
From Doug
Jay, what do you think is going to eventually happen to ESPN? The Wall Street Journal just had an article that Disney is seeking a strategic partner for ESPN. They supposedly have approached the NBA and the NFL. It makes no sense for NFL or NBA to go into a business with a "middleman" when they can go direct to the consumer? ESPN has gone from 100 million in subscribers to about 50 million, and that trend is not getting better. It looks like ESPN, and it may take a while or not, is headed to bankruptcy. I'm just not sure that ESPN can continue to buy rights.
A lot of this was outlined by Clay Travis (I know he is a competitor, but he did his homework). It also begs the question as to what could be some of the fallout like minor bowl games that are just content for ESPN and that ESPN is the major owner. What could happen with buy rights for Power 5 conferences and those schools that are building facilities and financing them with long term hope that ESPN rights fees will continue to rise. Escalating NBA salaries that are dependent on these rights fees.
Did the SEC choose the wrong partner? Would Disney, who is having their own troubles, be willing to continue to bail out ESPN? And the answer that other networks would just step in and pick up those big rights fees is just not realistic, if they see that its been a loser for ESPN, those other networks aren't stupid. Going to be interesting to see what happens, it could be that sports are headed for a major financial "bubble." If we have learned anything from business is that no sector moves in a straight up line.
Doug,
Lots to unpack here.
I saw the Wall Street Journal's story, and ESPN's woes are as much about Disney's big picture struggles — and remember the Mouse owns ABC, too — and finding the best way to monetize the streaming flood before us.
It's the trillion question of the 21st century, and as I alluded to earlier this week when we started to discuss this topic, newspapers are right there fighting this fight, too.
But the dominoes in terms of impacts to sports are not predictable at all in my view.
First, some beliefs I hold in and around this topic.
— Rights fees will continue to stay high and even increase, whether ESPN goes belly-up or not. Yes, that would be one fewer bidder at the table, but Amazon and YouTube and goodness knows who else will be even more eager to acquire live sports in the future because sports broadcasts with gambling and social media interaction are really the last bastion of TV or streaming programming that any of us watch live. Hence, the value to advertisers knowing that viewers are not DVRing or speed-streaming at a later date over their ads is immense.
— Minor bowls have come and gone through the years. That will continue dependent on whether each bowl game can make money for themselves and their host locales. I see them increasing more than decreasing, to be honest, because of the growing avenues and opportunities for sports betting over the holidays.
— Don't worry about the SEC. Heck, I would not be surprised to see the true power players — NFL, the SEC and the Big Ten, NBA maybe, March Madness — continue to flex their power and interest-rates.
— MLB leaders have to have their heads on a swivel, because as they are making their game more watchable, the truth is the divide in haves and have nots in MLB when it comes to budget and TV deals is every bit as great as the divide between the upper crust of the SEC and the FCS. MLB has bankrolled two team's broadcast rights since Bally went belly-up. How can a league financed TV deal for the D-Backs or the Royals compete with the Yankees or the Dodgers?
— These streaming decisions have been the hidden layer on the rationale of expansion across college sports. To that end, imagine what the Big Ten when it adds USC and UCLA can charge across the country a broadcast partner or if they decided to go on their own and stream it themselves?
— The Pac-12, which just lost Colorado to the Big 12, and does not have a long-term media plan — a troubling issue since the two L.A. teams are not long for the league — has to be in full panic mode. They will be the Pac-9 very soon and if they do not get a deal, add some new blood and keep all their current schools (how long before Oregon and/Stanford are on the move) the Pac-12 will be Pac-ing it in sooner rather than later.
— Again, I think college basketball is in more of a pickle than high-level college football.
While the fiscal questions you raised are valid and interesting — and kind of difficult to predict — I too am fascinated by how these leagues will be covered in the future.
Because think of it this way:
If ESPN partnered with the NFL, how many concussion stories would the NFL want to be done on by its partner?
Or if the SEC starts to stream its own stuff and the SEC Network becomes its own full-time channel, how much access would the league want to grant folks like me when they will have a studio full of journalists shaping and reshaping the message that best fits the product they are trying to pedal?
Don't know how many answers I provided, because we all are in a wait-and-see position.
But it will assuredly be interesting. As T.O. told us, "Grab your popcorn."
From Pat
Still haven't seen "Moneyball." And also haven't seen any of the women's international kickball finals. And the knee-jerk knuckle dragger in me thinks that kneeling or whatever you do during the national anthem while playing for your club team is your prerogative. Don't like it. Don't agree with it. But that's up to you. However, if you're going to represent the national team, shouldn't you show more respect for the national anthem before a game in which you play for the national team? Look, you want to make some sort of declaration on our nation's woes, fine and dandy, and I'll be the first to admit we can do so much better by so many of our citizens. But if you have this much problem with your own nation, why are you playing on the national team? Make a statement by not playing for it.
Pat,
Well said my man, and you're spot on. If you want to make a statement for how terrible you think things are in America, then make a big deal about not playing for Red, White and Blue.
There was some of that duplicitousness too in the "equal pay" arguments from the women's national team players.
Because if U.S. soccer has said, "OK, we'll make it equal pay" and then cut the men's salaries to meet the women's that would not have appeased anyone even if it did make the pay equal.
But the layers to equal pay in sports are not as clear as simple fairness.
Should WNBA players get LeBron-level money? Of course not.
As for the first, it's hard not to give "Moneyball" a universal thumbs up.
And if you see it over the next couple of days, it will be a strong first step to having a great weekend, friends.