Let’s tend to business.
First, the Rushmores:
› Rushmore of best NBA players without a title — Barkley, Malone, Stockton and Elgin Baylor
› Rushmore of Philip Seymour Hoffman movies — “Almost Famous,” “Moneyball,” “Boogie Nights” — and I will go off the board here for a great performance in “Charlie Wilson’s War.” And yes, it pained me to leave off “The Big Lebowski” as well as a great bit turn in an underrated “Nobody’s Fool” with Paul Newman.
› Rushmore of post-Jack professional golf — Tiger, Phil, Scottie, Rory. Recency bias? Maybe, but the career grand slam has to count more than a lot of others, right?
› Does Mork make the Rushmore of TV aliens — Spock, Mork, Superman (yes, Spy, the George Reeves role) and Marvin the Martian. (Not an Alf fan. Sorry, not sorry.)
As for the rules, well, here’s Paschall on AU QB1 Jackson Arnold.
Also, here’s Hargis with some prep football goodness on a renewed sense of energy at Howard School.
From Lookout Regular
Jay, Boo Carter sounds like trouble or troubled maybe, and it doesn’t sound good for him in Knoxville. I am agnostic re the Vols, but I feel bad for them since Josh Heupel seems like a stand-up guy, and they don’t need this distraction from a high-maintenance personality. Tight-rope act for these programs, isn’t it?
Pat McAfee is what’s wrong with today’s media. He’s shrill and obnoxious and spends too much time focusing on his “bro-ness.” Goofball outfits, his hairdo and his gold chains are total mood killers for me. Beyond disgraceful is this ordeal through which he’s put this Ole Miss girl and her family. WHO invents this kind of stuff? ESPN should have handled the apology … with a camera shot of McAfee’s empty chair.
Beyond amazing, but the idiot’s ratings likely mean he gets to hang around while the viewers still tune in.
LR
Pat McAfee is not going anywhere anytime soon.
And your criticisms have merit.
The overindulgence of “bro-dom” is undeniable, and it tracks an interesting arc in all of the media.
For sports, it truly started with “The Sports Guy,” aka Bill Simmons, who early in his career was a must-read on long-defunct ESPN’s Page 2.
He wrote as a fan and did so unapologetically. It resonated because it was so different from the traditional media norm.
That mandated every outlet trying to find a fan writer, and now we are inundated with them.
McAfee’s escalated that shtick, and I on the whole find his band of goofs entertaining.
But your points have merits. And I still believe McAfee or ESPN will be writing a seven- (and maybe eight-) figure check to the Corbetts sooner rather than later, apology or no.
The sad thing is now media personalities are way more worried about being popular (not proper).
Look at the head-turners across all the channels. They are outrage makers.
Heck, Clay Travis has created a nine-figure operation by preaching to his choir members.
As for Boo, look, he had multiple schools and NIL deals before settling on his college decision.
The stories — from his time in Chattanooga to the recent run-ins with coaches and teammates in Knoxville — are not overly complimentary.
But Boo Carter is, like someone said earlier this week in the comments, not the first entitled athlete wanting more and getting unsound advice from his inner circle.
And this will be more like a weekly occurrence in the college sports, gang.
You can take that to the bank as quickly as Boo deposits his NIL checks.
From a slew of you
RIP Hulkster.
Gang,
I think considering my childhood love for “rastlin” — and that’s how it should be spelled and pronounced for those of us more familiar with Gordon Solie than Gordon Lightfoot — Hulk Hogan’s death hit me harder than Theo Huxtable or the lead engineer on “Crazy Train” this week.
It has been impossible not to be sucked into the social media vortex, which has put Hogan’s life on blast for his shortcomings.
I did not know the man. I do know all men are flawed, and those who make their living in the public spotlight have those flaws hashed and rehashed.
Was he compensated for that? Yes. But I truly wonder at the end of this limited road if that payoff — riches for all the turmoil and strife — is a truly great deal.
As for the entertainer, I will forever maintain that Ric Flair is the best to ever “rastle.”
But he was Jack Nicklaus in the sense that his skills were second-to-none and his career everlasting.
Hulk Hogan was Tiger Woods in that he captured the attention of the country for his sport like few others ever have.
MJ did it. Caitlin Clark is doing it. Ali did it.
Babe did it.
It’s a small team picture, friends.
And now he’s gone.
The highlights are everywhere as kids my age say goodbye to the man who inspired Hulkamania.
The biggest memory that rushed back to me this week was from the mid-1980s, when my wrestling interest was fading. Hulkamania reeled me back.
Moreover, I had been to hundreds of MLB games before I could drive and had caught more than a few foul balls.
But when I went to see Hogan “rastle” at the Omni, I would have traded all of them to catch the “Hulkamania” headband.
From J-Mac
I know a couple of times this week you have mentioned Trump has more important things to do than some of the things he comments on. He just gave another executive order (how many executive orders make a dictator?) about college football and third-party NIL donors.
Your take on this? Do we need an EO for this, or should the SEC and Big 10 along with the others work it out?
J-Mac
I have up to this point always been the “keep politicians out of sports.” Because — name the last thing that was fixed in D.C.? I’ll wait.
But there may be no other way to regulate college sports in anything that resembles an even playing field moving forward.
Here’s more on Donald’s executive order signed this week.
To review the culprits that have left us staring at the abyss of major college athletics:
› Mark Emmett. You are Nero, sir, and fiddled while Rome burned.
› The NCAA as a whole, which refused to highlight the issues in front of them before the entire structure unraveled.
Currently, the needs for a governing body, direction and representation is clear.
The two most powerful in college sports are SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petite.
This is fact and truth.
What is also fact and truth is that the million-dollar checks those guys get for their jobs have nothing to do with worrying about fairness, competitive balance or anyone else that is not in the SEC or the Big Ten.
Period.
So when the power is focused mostly on keeping the imbalance of power, the expectation of fairness is like riding to Oz on a unicorn with Big Foot carrying your luggage.
Do I think Donald’s executive order will work? Not really.
But there’s going to have be someone with a lot of power to step forward and enact real structure, or the memories of college football greatness will be just that. Memories.
From Spy
The Braves have spent exactly one day this season above .500. One. They were 24-23 on May 18.
For the month of July, they are 6-11. Seems worse. That’s still pretty bad. But it just seems worse. That’s after an 11-15 June.
They’re going to be sellers, and if it wasn’t for the Nationals, they’d be in the cellar.
Spy,
Perfectly said, my man.
Wow, what a disaster. For everyone not named Olson and Acuña.
Front office, dugout, bullpen. You name it.
And while those above stats make you think, the following stat tells you how much the modern approach to hitting stinks.
Wanna guess how many qualified hitters — to be among the league leaders, you have to average 3.1 plate appearances for each game your team has played so far this season, which disqualifies Acuña — are hitting .300 or better? Seven. SEVEN, across all 30 MLB clubs.
Thirty years ago, there were 65 at the end of the 1995 season. And 12 of those were Hall of Famers, and that’s not counting a slew of PED puppies who put together Cooperstown-worthy careers.
Have a great weekend, friends.
