Weekend winners
Peter Malnati. You grind for nine years without a win in anything you are doing in professional sports, and you have to think, "What the bleep am I doing out here?" Malnati won the Valspar Sunday to end that almost decade-long dry spell and get a Masters invite. Yeah, the $1.5-plus-million check was sweet, too.
Sports fans. March Madness was truly mad. More on that below. MLB starts in earnest this week. (Side question: Do you play fantasy baseball? Discuss.) The tradition unlike any other is right around the corner. Good times.
The Falcons. Hey, Rondale Moore still has some juice, and dealing Desmond Ridder was an easy decision after signing Kirk Cousins. Granted, if Ladd McConkey is on the board early in round two, the Falcons should spring to the podium, but Moore is a nice add.
The Braves. Yes, opening day is around the corner, and yes, it looks like Ronald Acuña Jr. will be ready to roll. But simply put, it's Braves or Dodgers to come out of the NL in my mind, and all of this Shohei drama is an added spring training bonus.
Weekend losers
We have several nominations from the SEC, but that will be a big part of the tournament breakdown below.
My NCAA tournament interest. Yes. It has a lot to do with Auburn wetting the bed against Yale. (Side note: Should have known that was going to be a fight. It's a huge rivalry since it is Yale against the Harvard of Lee County.) Still, after Auburn turned in the gear, I was not as engaged this weekend as much as I have been in the past.
Shohei Ohtani. Dude will speak with the media today, but there are way too many 1+1 = 3 in this entire story about the interpreter having a $4.5 million gambling debt and then the immediate termination after being asked to come to Seoul and all of it. Thoughts?
Kim Mulkey. OK, whoever told her to take the page from the Donald Trump crisis management playbook and go "the media sucks" route should be fired. Mulkey's diatribe about a Washington Post investigation into her coaching tactics and tenure did exactly two things. First, it made the article a must-read for at least 10 times the number of folks who would have read it before, and second, screams that she is trying to kick dirt on a lot of skeletons falling from the closet.
Rece Davis. The ESPN College GameDay host said, "sounds like a risk-free investment" about the betting advice that Erin Dolan offered on Sunday. As it turned out, the pick landed, but any ESPN mouthpiece offering any pick as a sure thing -- in a time when ESPN has sold its naming rights to a betting operation -- or that there is no risk in all gambling is a terrible look.
Chuck Todd. OK, maybe the media does suck. Yes, it's tough being the guy who replaces THE GUY, like Todd tried (and failed) to do after the untimely passing of Tim Russert as the host of "Meet the Press." Now Todd's liberal leanings are clear for everyone to see as he calls out his employer NBC for hiring a former head of the national GOP at NBC News. Bemoan the conflicts, but just don't bemoan them when a Republican insider crosses into the media realm. George Stephanopoulos and Donna Brazile were long-time Democrat heavyweights before becoming media big shots. And that's not even mentioning James Carville.
Madness indeed
So, Greg Sankey had a terrible weekend, and it's safe to assume his mid-major-hating bracket is completely busted.
The Greesons had a terrible tournament weekend since three of the four who submitted an office entry had Auburn in the Final Four and two of those sheets had them beating either Kentucky or Tennessee in the title game. Yikes.
(And in truth, at least for me, I had no idea how much my interest in March Madness was linked to the competitiveness of my bracket. That's not a long-term recipe for success and is assuredly an argument against expanding this thing.)
Bruce Pearl had a terrible weekend. Losses like this leave scars, especially when a fan base starts to believe. Go a step further, and it may be fair to ask if Pearl is just the second-best basketball coach in the state considering what Nate Oats is doing this March.
Which leads us to John Calipari's liver, because who can even guess how much Kentucky bourbon he poured since Thursday.
But there were winners, too, and we have to start with Gonzaga.
Did you see the stat that Mark Few's crew of Zags have made nine straight Sweet 16s. Sure they have no titles, but in a championship as crazy and unpredictable as this, that level of consistency is staggering. And enviable -- ask Pearl or Coach Cal.
UNC -- and even Duke -- are peaking at the right time, and maybe (especially in the light of the SEC popping their pants) the reports of the ACC demise may have been greatly overstated.
UConn looks like HIM.
Houston got lucky to get by Texas A&M.
And finally, whether we want to admit it or not, Tennessee is going to be a very tough out over the next two weeks.
They guard relentlessly. They are tournament-worthy deep. And maybe most of all, in a dogfight with the other UT over the weekend, the Vols advanced with Dalton Knecht missing more shots than an anti-vaxxer after a protest.
Thoughts?
This and that
-- Yes, the UTC women had a great season. Yes, they have a coach that will make them regular NCAA participant. Yes, they got rolled by NC State and former coach Wes Moore. But the eye-popping story from the Mocs' first-round loss to the Wolfpack was that a ref was pulled at halftime after it was learned Tommi Paris has a master's from UTC. Could we not have looked into that before hand? It was clear it did not alter the outcome of course, but in a betting age, this type of even the appearance of conflicted interests can't happen.
-- Georgia RB -- and former Florida standout -- Trevor Etienne got a arrested for several driving missteps, including DUI.
-- Kamala Harris claps and seems to enjoy a song protesting her visit to Puerto Rico.
-- Speaking of golf, Keith Mitchell, the former Baylor School and UGA star, finished T-17 and made a smidgen more than $104K at the Valspar.
Today's questions
Weekend winners and losers, go. And if you want a separate Madness division and non-Madness division, that's cool.
Multiple choice Monday will start here: Biggest takeaway from the first four days of the NCAA tournament?
-- Auburn losing.
-- Kentucky losing.
-- Gonzaga's consistency.
-- All the 1 and 2 seeds advancing to the Sweet 16.
-- Other and specify.
As for today, March 25, let's review.
Elton John is 77 today. Cool. His Rushmore could be fun. But, we have bigger sports fish to grill.
It was 90 years ago today that the first Masters concluded with Horton Smith winning the tournament with a 20-foot-birdie on 17 to beat Craig Wood. No. 17 Augusta is a great hole but far from it's most famous.
Rushmore of the most famous golf holes on the planet. Go.