STARTING FIVE

Jim Brown, Ernie Davis and Floyd Little all wore No. 44 at Syracuse –since retired–before Konrad, but he might beat all of them in an Ironman

1. Survivor

Former Syracuse Orangeman and Miami Dolphin fullback Rob Konrad heads out to sea solo to go fishing and then inadvertently finds himself as the star of Open Water 3. Konrad, 38, apparently fell out of the 36-foot boat nine miles offshore in south Florida and swam all the way back to shore in his underwear (smart move; the weight of the clothes would have fatigued him too quickly).

I mean, that’s some Navy SEALS shizzle. The swim in an Ironman (2.4 miles) is less than one-third that distance. Konrad was in the water for nine hours, all of them at night (he made it ashore about 9 a.m.) but, as many have noted, he is a Dolphin.

Two things: 1) How much alcohol was involved and if there were copious beers, how much more impressive is his feat? 2) Whither the boat? Will it be rescued?

2, The Sparks Gone Out

Word earlier this week that my college classmate and the most successful contemporary raconteur of love, Nicholas Sparks, and his wife have separated. The two met while he was a senior at Notre Dame and on spring break in Sanibel. I only remember this because I, too, hit Sanibel on that Spring Break and did not meet my future wife. Or maybe I did but failed to propose to her.

Sparks’ own story sort of reads like a Nicholas Sparks novel –he was California’s state prep champ in the mile and was a pharmaceutical sales rep after college, but then met his bethrothed’s grandparents whose own story gave him the idea for The Notebook, a manuscript that publishing houses roundly passed on until one low-level editor happened upon, then championed it. She is now his book agent.

Anyway, Sparks and his wife, Cathy, have been married 25 years and live on the coast of North Carolina, where many of his novels have been set. Honestly, I don’t know how couples stay together that long (spite, JW, spite).

3. Is College Station Over the Hill?

Remember when Kenny Hill made that audacious debut as a redshirt freshman quarterback for Texas A&M by passing for 511 yards and three touchdowns in the season opener at South Carolina? And then there was the hype of his self-dubbing, “The Trill?”

Well, the Trill is gone (and how refreshing to hear that a quarterback is not considering a transfer to LSU), having decided to take the Rust Cohle path and opt out of a raw deal.

No, I mean, he’s good. You’ll recall that the Dallas-area product had the Aggies at 5-0 (this reporter loved them) and was completing 67% of his throws. Then he was suspended three games for the dreaded “violation of team rules” (cutting in line at the dessert table, I presume). That’s when true freshman Kyle Allen from the lovely land of Scottsdale, Ariz. stepped in and won the gig. And now Sumlin Wicked This Way Comes has signed Kyler Murray (Kyle, Kyler, Kylest?), who led his suburban Dallas high school, which is named Allen, to a 42-0 record as a starter.

And you wonder where Friday Night Lights got all its story ideas…

Hill may wind up at TCU, which means he’d sit out a season as Trevone Boykin plays one last year and garners serious Heisman love. And if there’s one thing Hill knows, it’s succeeding a Heisman winner.

4. “Cover Me; I’m About to Appear on ‘Real Time with Bill Maher'”

So Real Time returns to HBO tonight and just WHAT will host Bill Maher discuss? Oh, I think we all know. Maher appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live two nights ago and, to his eternal credit –and why do I get the feeling that the words “eternal” and “Maher” are getting closer together? — Maher did not hold back on his thoughts about “Muslim terrorists.”

Maher is a very smart guy– when he’s not being condescending. His huge blind spot, IMO: failing to see that denigrating ALL religions, which he often does and did once again last night, is just as intolerant as the extremists he loathes; you can be an atheist, as he is, and not believe in God, but your “KNOWLEDGE” that God does not exist is no more factual that a religious person’s FAITH that God does exist. When I stand on the beach in New Jersey, I can’t see Europe…but it’s there…and I didn’t say, “in the Hamptons” because that would have been pretentious and, besides, I’d sort of be looking south).

Anyway, Maher’s appearance on Kimmel is highly representative of everything Maher is about: intelligent and courageous, but also pedantic and self-righteous at times. And for him to say that “hundreds of millions of Muslims” supported the attack on Charlie Hebdo or similar attacks, well, I’m not sure how he knows that.

Anyway, my point: Maher is a very smart guy. He understood, long before you or I did, that he has made himself a target of Islamic extremists. And I think he’s decided to pull a Tom Petty and say, “I won’t back down.” And he is probably well aware of the consequences of this stance. So I give him credit for standing up to bullies, for standing behind the First Amendment. And we’ll see what happens…

5. Corona del Soloist

Bagley is 6-10 and only a frosh. He’s already being touted as potentially the best hoopster ever from Arizona…

That’s Marvin Bagley III, a 6-10 freshman at Tempe Corona del Sol High School (alma mater of Stanford’s Andrus Peat, among others). Bagley’s grandfather is local legend “Jumpin’ Joe Caldwell”, who played at Arizona State and was a two-time NBA and two-time ABA All-Star. Corona is an Arizona hoops machine: they’re 107-7 the past three seasons with three state championships and one of their starters transferred from ALASKA to come play on the team. Then again, winter in Alaska versus winter in Arizona….

Here’s Bagley just weeks into his high school career. Oh, his little brother is a 5-10 fifth grader who Bagley says is better than he is.

Remote Patrol

Real Time with Bill Maher

HBO 10 p.m.

Nicky Whelan will not be a guest on Real Time. We felt it was important to clarify that.

I averred to this earlier. You know, not enough of us use “aver” as a verb. I’ll aver to a verb. Anyway, tune in and see if anyone gets shot (too soon? Of course). Also, I’d highly recommend Life Itself, the documentary on Roger Ebert, that will air on CNN at 9 p.m.

STARTING FIVE

Thousands of Parisians pour into the Place de la Republique

1. Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Men

Twelve dead after two masked gunmen and a third associate storm the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. 

“The zealot may be outwardly motivated by the anticipation of a great reward at the other end—wealth, fame, eternal salvation—but the real recompense is probably the obsession itself.” —Jon Krakauer, “Under the Banner of Heaven”

Fanaticism is a religion unto itself. The particulars of any religion are truly irrelevant. It’s pretty simple: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The rest is all drapery.

Lucille Clerc’s tribute

“As a means of motivating people to be cruel or inhumane-as a means of inciting evil, to borrow the vocabulary of the devout-there may be no more potent force than religion.” —Krakauer, “Under the Banner of Heaven”

MSNBC reported shortly before 6 p.m EST that one suspect had been killed and two others taken into custody, but that report has since been discredited. In fact, one man turned himself into police (an 18 year-old) while the two others, brothers in their early 30s, are still at large. That’s a bad look for NBC News. Something straight out of The Newsroom. 

Finally, I’m Catholic and this dope doesn’t speak for me.

2. Mozgov Cocktail

The Cavs really need to do a retreat weekend with trust falls and the works…

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ extreme makeover continues, as today they traded away two first-round draft picks for a starting left tackle center, Timofey Mozgov. The 7’1″, 250-pound Russian played for Cavs coach David Blatt in the 2012 Olympics and the Cavs needed someone bigger than Kevin Love to tell J.R. Smith (and Kyrie Irving) to pass the ball.

3. Morris Not the Merrier

As twins go, they’re not AS close as Cersei and Jamie Lannister, but they’re pretty close

So I was watching the highly entertaining Phoenix Suns last night, who are a poor man’s San Antonio Spurs (and have nearly an identical record, 22-16 as opposed to 21-15). You see, Goran Dragic is like a hybrid Tony Parker/Manu Ginobili (he’s a lefty, even). Second-year center Alex Len is a discount Big Fundamental: inscrutable demeanor, long arms, loves to block shots and clean up the offensive glass. Gerald Green is Kawhi Leonard.

Then there are the Morris twins, Markeiff and Marcus. The former may be the best player on the squad. The latter is a lesser version, but not bad. Not a starter, though. So at Minnesota, on the second night of a back to back and with the Suns trailing a T-Wolves team that had lost 12 in a row, Marcus gets T’ed up going into a timeout (He was hot, if that’s possible when it’s minus-4 outside in Minny, about being inadvertently struck in the face by a T-Wolf, which is nothing like an AirWolf). It’s like Marcus wanted that  T. His brother had gotten a “T” in the first half, and these twins do like to do things together.

So Suns coach Jeff Hornacek, as mild mannered as they come, let Marcus have it. Verbally. Hey, we don’t need to being giving away vanity points at the moment. And Marcus got in his coach’s face, but a lot. It wasn’t pretty.

Hornacek subbed Marcus out the rest of the game (which he may have, anyway). Rule of Thumb: If you are the second-best twin on your team, don’t give your coach any lip. By the way, Goran’s little brother, Zoran, is also a Sun. They shouldn’t be called the Suns. They should be called the Brothers. Hello? Hello!?!

Phoenix won by 2.

4. To Die For

Jimmy had no idea…

I hope this was not entirely staged, but this clip of Nicole Kidman informing Jimmy Fallon that the time they met at his apartment and she was into it romantically and he had no idea is pretty priceless. He’s so awkward after the first two minutes that it had to be real.

5. Frozen

No, this isn’t Walking Dead: Wisconsin. It’s a crowd shot from the 1967 Ice Bowl

Yes, the Cowboys and Packers will meet in a playoff game at Lambeau Field for the first time since the iconic 1967 Ice Bowl, a game won by Green Bay after referees de-iced the plane of the goal line and decided that Bart Starr had crossed it.

Stat you’ll hear early and often: the Packers are 8-0 at home this season, the Cowboys are 8-0 on the road.

Reserves

Letterman Top 10, Baseball Hall of Fame edition…and the all-time Albert Achievement Awards.

Remote Patrol

Heat at Trail Blazers

TNT 10:30 p.m.

The 6’3″ Lillard scored 39 points in Portland’s last home game, including 16 in the final 6 minutes to help erase a 7-point deficit

Why? Because no two NBA cities are located farther from one another than Miami and Portland (come back, Seattle…we’d even take Vancouver). Also, because Damian Lillard is proving that his performances in Scream and Scooby Doo were no joke. Finally, because with almost an Atlanta Hawk-like lack of fanfare, the Blazers have the league’s second-best record (27-8, tied with the Hawks).

STARTING FIVE

Other than the fact that he already walks like a 50 year-old man, Winston is a no-brainer as a Top 5 pick….

1.  Almost, Jameis

With a 26-1 record, one Heisman Trophy, one citation and another sexual assault investigation, Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston has opted to forgo his final two seasons of college football for the N$L.

Can’t blame him, but I do think one more year of school would have been better for him. Here is my prediction of Winston’s press conference…

Tampa or the Jets? What could possibly go wrong…

p.s. As Medium Happy Intern in Perpetuity Jacob Anstey notes, Jameis Winston did turn 21 yesterday.

2. Yeah, I Was Expecting Something Different

Hey, that’s great news about your bust…

Big news out of Los Angeles, where a 1994 crime involving O.J. Simpson has been resolved. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? No, I’m not. The LAPD found O.J.’s burgled Heisman Trophy, which was snatched from a trophy case inside Heritage Hall on the USC campus in 1994. Oh. That’s great news, isn’t it? I guess.

I’ll admit: I’d find it funny if Josh Shaw’s fingerprints are on the bust.

Next up: The Real Killers.

3. “Look at Me” (“DON’T LOOK AT ME!”)

Miyavi was brilliant. Nobody flips The Bird.

Did you read Unbroken?

Have you seen the film?

If you answered, “Yes” to both questions, then you may feel the way I did: the film played almost all of the notes correctly, but it never really made any music. A good film, a respectable film, but it just wasn’t magical. Granted, Louis Zamperini’s life provided so many (or, “such a plethora of”) incredible moments that just touching upon the big ones (the 1936 Olympics, being lost at sea for 45 days, the two Japanese P.O.W. camps) left little time for atmosphere.

It was a little like one of those Super Bowl halftime concerts: you just start getting into one band and then they do a shortened version of “Baba O’Riley” and then they’ve Bonzo’d off the stage.

Miyavi in his ordinary work outfit…

Anyway, I mention all of this because there was one element of magic to the Angelina Jolie-directed movie (hey, Lara Croft, we wanna see you onscreen) and that was the performance of Japanese rock star Miyavi (he’s the Boy George of Japan) also known as Takamasa Ishihara, as the sadistic and effeminate P.O.W. camp commander Watanabe, also known as “The Bird.”

Pure brilliance. A monster who is also crushing on our hero. Malevolent and yet fey. I haven’t seen a combination like that since Kramer gave up the armoir to that dude with the Spanish accent. Outstanding performance that deserves a Best Supporting Actor nod at the Oscars.

4. Cats…by a Whisker

Willie Cauley-Stein had game highs in rebounds (12) and blocks (4). We’re not just about points here at MH.

Unbeaten and No. 1 Kentucky, the same team that ran out to a 24-0 lead on UCLA two weeks ago, needed overtime at home to eke past unranked Ole Miss, 89-86. The Kitties were 23.5-point favorites.

At halftime Kentucky trailed and John Calipari, asked by ESPN’s Kaylee Hurting (should we insert a Kaylee Hartung photo below? This is a WWTBLD –What Would The Big Lead Do?– moment) what he could do to get his team’s energy up, replied, “Heh! I will ask them nicely…”

You know what’s funny? All the men who used to be villains (Calipari, Kobe) are now my favorite quotes.

5. A Cappella & Coachella

I don’t see Apples in Stereo anywhere on this poster?!?

Tickets for the ICCA (International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella) Finals went on sale yesterday. I was a regular BEFORE the Bellas ever started showering together. The finals will take place on April 18th at the Beacon Theater in New York City, roughly a six-minute walk from my front door, if anyone needs a place to crash (I’m looking at you, Fat Amy!).

By the way, check out ICCA’s rad web site. They’ve come a looooooooooooong way since I first became an a cagroupie in 2008.

Meanwhile, Coachella also announced its lineup yesterday. I’m old, so I’ll want to be there on Friday night to see AC/DC (whose drummer cannot attend because he has been charged with attempted murder; how inconvenient), Steely Dan and, of course, Ghostface Killah. Perhaps my favorite thing about Coachella –this would be my first attempt at attending– is that as a band, your font size is your worth.

Coachella takes place on consecutive weekends (April 10-12, April 17-19) with the same acts. It’s a good week to be in Phoenix, as some of the acts will take the short flight over to make some extra bank.

Reserves

Since jettisoning Josh Smith, the Pistons are firing on all cylinders (yay, metaphors!)

Detroit, Jock City

It’s quickly turning into The Year of Franchises No One Is Ever Excited About in the NBA.

The Atlanta Hawks have the Eastern Conference’s best record (26-8) and only a week ago that honor belonged to the Toronto Raptors.

The Golden State, really Oakland Warriors have the best overall record, but at least they have a few players  that people love to watch.

And now the Detroit Pistons just won their sixth straight by overcoming a 17-point first-half deficit at defending NBA champion San Antonio to win 105-104. On the final play the Spurs were inbounding with only enough time on the clock to tap in a pass so Detroit coach Stan Van Gundy (SVG!) told his players to “form a f___’ wall” around the rim.” I think you can find that same advice on page 67 of Basketball for Dummies (co-written by yours truly).

Take out the Warriors, and between those other three teams there are a grand total of zero players the average sports fan actually knows/cares about. Not their fault; it’s just the truth.

Yes, it’s not coincidence that Detroit is 6-0 since unloading team metastasis Josh Smith.

A great stat I read on Twitter: six games after being traded, Smith still leads Detroit (11-23) in field goal attempts.

***

The L.A. D-Fenders of the NBA’s D League have in the last two weeks beaten the Reno Bighorns, 175-152, and lost to them, 174-169. I’m looking for a Donner Pass joke here, but it just ain’t coming…

*****

Not elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame yesterday; Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Mike Piazza. Not an easy dilemma for the voters.

Remote Patrol

NOVA: Rise of the Drones

PBS 9 p.m.

Those kids playing “Call of Duty” will soon be our overlords

PBS?!? Seriously, Dubs? Who died and made you an intellect? Okay, granted I’ll probably be flipping back-and-forth to The Exorcist (BBC America, 9 p.m.) or, more likely, Suns at Timberwolves (Dragics and Morrisses, oh my!, on TNT), but it feels as if drones are the technology that’s hiding (hovering) right over our heads. There’s something sinister about it all, no? Anyway, maybe we can all learn something and cash in on it in the stock market and then we’ll all be RICH…MU-HA-HA!!!!!

Starting Five

1. Sweep It Under the Hug

Hey, guys. The Entourage movie doesn’t come out until June 5.

The intrepid MH reporting staff has thus far been able to learn the name of the third man in this group hug after Dallas scored the go-ahead touchdown versus Detroit, but it’s not J.R. Ewing. Then again, the staff still hasn’t figured out how the frozen margarita machine operates. Priorities…

I’m sure if we dig enough we’ll find out that Gov. Chris Christie and Cowboy owner Jerry Jones, two wealthy and powerful men, do more together than just attend play dates. And I’m sure there will need to be a “Harrumph!” or two about that. But will anything change?

2. Go Green (and/or Yellow)

I mean, they still look good, but…

Oregon, the ultimate in Nike-sponsored schools, unveiled its national championship game (by the way, doesn’t that game need a name that we can grow to love, i.e. Rose or Cotton Bowl?) uniforms. For only the second time all year, as far as I can see, the Duck duds will have not a fleck of green or yellow, instead being silver and white. The only other time Oregon’s unis were bereft of green or yellow? The first time they played Arizona, when they were black and pink.

This look blackfired for the Ducks back in September…

Oregon lost that game.

Here’s my bowl binge roundup in Newsweek.

3. Alpine Tragedy

Two United States ski team prospects, Ronnie Berlack, 20, and Bryce Astle, 19, perished in an avalanche in Austria yesterday. Berlack, from New Hampshire, and Astle, from Utah, were two of six U.S. skiers who were “free skiing,” i.e., going off marked trails when the avalanche began. The other four skiers were able to ski away from it.

The season-opening races on the World Cup circuit were set to begin today at this very resort, Soelden.

4. The Pop Coaching Tree

The Woody Hayes of the NBA

The Atlanta Hawks, 26-8, have now won 21 of the past 24 after taking down the L.A. Clippers at Staples last night, and have done so without a single player who is worthy of a SportsCenter shout-out.

The Golden State Warriors are now 27-5 after beating Oklahoma City by 26. While GSW has a far splashier lineup, that’s still astounding.

What’s the connection? Second-year Atlanta Hawk coach Mike Budenholzer, 43, began as a video coordinator for the San Antonio Spurs in 1994 and remained on the bench alongside Gregg Popovich until the end of the 2013 NBA Finals. First-year Warrior coach Steve Kerr spent four seasons under Popovich as a player.

And yes, the coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, Brett Brown, is also a former Pop apprentice, but if you watch the Sixers they actually play hard. And Philly beat the depleted Cleveland Cavs last night, so they no longer have the NBA’s worst record: the Knicks do.

5. Hay, Now!

Chris Soules, Corn Star

So I don’t watch The Bachelor (yeah, sure), but this is Chris Soules and he is the hunk du jour for the show’s 19th season, which premiered last night. Basically, he looks like half the defensive coordinators in the Big Ten, but that’s none of my business.

Bischoff: Soules Survivor?

The contestants include: A former Washington Redskins cheerleaders, Jacob Hester’s sister-in-law (remember the LSU fireplug running back?), a fertility center nurse with the great Bachelor-y name of Whitney Bischoff (she’s also a Midwesterner and is apparently the frontrunner), a former New York Jets cheerleader, a cadaver tissue saleswoman and two widows.

Like I said, I don’t watch the show.

Remote Patrol

Redford and Newman

The Sting

TCM 8 p.m.

Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid

TCM 10:15 p.m.

America’s hottest couple in the early 1970s was Sonny & Cher Archie & Edith Paul Newman and Robert Redford. This was Clooney and Pitt, only with better chemistry. Enjoy.

STARTING FIVE

1. Stuart Scott, 1965-2015

A cruel fate for a man who loved his job, loved his children and loved his fame and all the trappings. I’d be the first to admit that, professionally, Stuart Scott was never what I loved about SportsCenter, but he was definitely a natural as a broadcaster. And he certainly was dedicated to his work.

It’s funny how far the culture has come since ESPN launched in 1979. One year later a hilarious film –probably my favorite comedy– called Airplane came out, and there’s an entire scene featuring two African-American males speaking “jive.” Remember, the Sugar Hill Gang had only released “Rapper’s Delight,” the seminal hip-hop song, one year earlier (also 1979).

It wasn’t as if African-American culture had not already, to everyone’s benefit, infused itself into American culture: How lucky were those of us who are roughly Scott’s age to have been raised in an era that gave us The Jackson Five (unbelievably talented performers), the Flip Wilson variety show, Richard Pryor, Earth, Wind and Fire, The Temptations/Spinners/O’Jays, etc., to name just a few. And as much as I loved Roger Staubach as an athlete, I worshipped Walt Frazier and even Sugar Ray Leonard just as much.

But, in 1980, black culture remained peripheral. It was still a service road adjacent to mainstream (read: white) culture. That began to change in the 1980s and early 1990s, especially musically (from Prince to Run-DMC to, when it started getting real, Naughty by Nature and NWA). Do The Right Thing was also a landmark moment.

And make no mistake, the popularity of sports and the prominence of black athletes, who had gradually become bolder over the years (all hail the The Greatest, Muhammad Ali) also played a role. Magic Johnson, the Miami Hurricanes, Mike Tyson: they were far more than sports icons, they were cultural pioneers.

(Magic vs. Larry was always about so much more than Lakers versus Celtics: it was White America versus Black America and don’t ever let anyone tell you differently.)

Also, Eddie Murphy helped change the game as well. He was relentlessly honest and brilliant. You had to be a complete troll not to admire him.

In 1992 I spent an entire day –literally, about 18 hours–in Bristol to report a bonus piece (you’d call it “long form” now) for Sports Illustrated on “SportsCenter.” I met people like Bob Ley, Keith Olbermann, Bill Patrick and Linda Cohn. You could see this franchise was on its way to greatness; you could also see that it was much like the rural Connecticut area in which it was situated: overwhelmingly white.

Late the following year, Stuart Scott arrived. And you have to give him credit: even if you didn’t care for “boo-yow!” (that’s how he actually wrote it on shot sheets) or “Pookie and Ray-Ray”, he was, like Kenny Mayne, an original. And, he had carved out his own niche by appealing directly to the brothers who watch SportsCenter and the brothers who are featured on SportsCenter.

Scott ruffled some feathers, at least professionally. One on-air personality at ESPN actually quipped “Stewardess, I speak jive” to another as Scott was doing highlights (once that I am aware of, but probably more often). He also often forgot that he was a person who covered elite sports stars as opposed to being one himself. It was interesting to me that ESPN, in its tribute last night, included the anecdote from Dan Patrick, perhaps the most talented anchor ever to work at ESPN, in which a recreational game of hoops turned into blood sport, with Scott “undercutting” Patrick on a drive to the basket and never even checking to see if Patrick was okay (he wasn’t; he’d cracked a vertebrae; I love how Patrick does not fail to note that he did bury the game winner, though).

Dan Patrick actually played college basketball, a fact he never mentions on air. Stuart Scott did not, but he was never reticent about implying that he was athletic.

I met him twice, and he was genuinely nice. You could tell that being STUART SCOTT was highly important to him, but I also sensed a person who was searching for approval.

We first met in Los Angeles in the spring of 1999. I had been working at an ESPN-managed event (it just happened to take place at the Playboy Mansion...holla!) and the ESPN communications person who was chaperoning/guarding me, a woman, invited me to hang out with her and Scott, who was in town for some sort of endorsement deal, afterward. Scott had a limousine at his disposal and suddenly I was, for a few hours, living The Life.

He was nice enough to let me hang with the two of them (I doubt he was thrilled to see me…Three’s Company only when Jack Tripper is around, which is a reference he’d never have made). He wanted to know why an SI colleague of mine dogged him in print so often, but this was 1999 and people were still taking sides in terms of how we wanted our SportsCenter flavored. The three of us rode the limo up past Malibu on the PCH –there was a brief stop as two adult males relieved themselves on the side of the road with a gorgeous view of the moonlit Pacific stretched out before them–and while I’d never say the two of us bonded, I came away thinking that he is a decent guy who really was completely devoted to his job and to the role he had etched for himself.

Three years later we met again, in New York City. I was writing a piece on Scott’s ascendance for TV Guide and in between the time we had set up the interview and the interview itself, a bizarre thing happened. Scott, in his mid-thirties, decided to spend a week at a spring training session with the New York Jets at wide receiver. He told people that he was honestly seeing if he could make the roster. No joke.

Well, Scott was working with the ball machine that fires out those tight spirals after practice one day and a football slipped through his hands and struck him in the eye. The relatively good eye. His career was in jeopardy because his sight was in jeopardy, and you can’t narrate highlights if you can’t see either them or read a teleprompter. This happened before the advent of The Big Lead or Deadspin, so it never became the BIG DEAL that it might have. But Scott did miss a significant amount of time at work.

That experience, it seemed, humbled him somewhat. He realized how precious his job was, how blessed he was to be part of this incredible cultural phenomenon (“Get out the checkbook and pay grandma for the rubdown…”) (by the way, notice that the Sonics play two different games in this highlight sequence). And while I would occasionally roll my eyes at his poetry slams, I also realized that he wasn’t doing it for me or my demographic. I also appreciated that Scott was trying something different (“Don’t hate the player, hate the game,” is, I believe, the way you put it).

My best friend, who goes by the moniker Moose, is in her late forties and has overcome cancer three times. Just last month she had what we hope will be her last surgery related to it. Only through seeing her battle can I even begin to comprehend how tough and cruel cancer must be. Far crueler still if you have two daughters and you are fighting every day to continue to be a part of their growth into womanhood.

Stuart Scott fought an incredibly brave fight in his final years, doing SportsCenter and the Monday Night Football gig as much as he physically could. There was a wisdom and grace to his presence that had not been there in those brash ’90s years (that can be said for so many of us between, say, our 28th and 48th birthdays). Michael Jordan, a fellow UNC alum who predated Scott in Chapel Hill by a couple of years, put it succinctly last night: “He was a trailblazer.”

Indeed he was. Stuart Scott will be missed. He was an undeniable presence at ESPN and, like Chris Berman or Dan & Keith, a defining one.