STARTING FIVE
Paramus, N.J., defensive back Jabrill Peppers is headed to Ann Arbor. He’s in everyone’s top three.
1. Fax or Fiction
Rivals.com’s Top Five Schools as far as today’s National Signing Day goes: Alabama, Ohio State, Florida State, Tennessee, Texas A&M.
Scout.com’s Top Five: Alabama, Tennessee, Florida State, Ohio State, Notre Dame.
ESPNU: Alabama, Texas A&M, LSU, Florida State, Tennessee.
Rivals.com’s Top Three Players: Da’Shawn Hand, DE, Alabama; Myles Garrett, DE, Texas A&M; Jabrill Peppers, CB, Michigan.
Scout.com: Leonard Fournette, RB, LSU; Cameron Robinson, DE, Alabama; Jabrill Peppers, CB, Michigan.
ESPNU: Leonard Fournette, RB, LSU; Jabrill Peppers, CB, Michigan; Cameron Robinson, OT, Alabama.
2. Should Embiid Stay Embedded?
Embiid, like Wiggins, possesses an NBA physique, but not yet an NBA game.
About a month ago, once it was obvious that neither Julius Randle, Jabari Parker nor Andrew Wiggins was the next iteration of LeBron James, the cool kids started looking around for another savior. But it couldn’t be Doug McDermott, even if he does happen to be the best player in college basketball this season, since that sucka stayed at Creighton for four years.
No, they were looking for a Fab Frosh, a kid with tremendous upside, one who had yet to scratch his true potential.
They found Wiggins’ freshman teammate at Kansas, fluid seven-footer Joel Embiid of Cameroon.
Last night Embiid had five points (all of them in the final eight minutes with the Jayhawks comfortably ahead) and seven rebounds in KU’s win at Baylor. Will he be a fantastic NBA player? Probably. Next year? Definitely not.
Embiid said before the game that he is leaning on remaining in Lawrence for another season. His game could use the season. So, too, for that matter, could Wiggins’. ESPN analyst Jimmy Dykes said it best: “You make better decisions based on humility than you do based on pride, both in basketball and in life.”
3. Clooney vs. McConaughey
Hi, George. Clooney makes his first visit to the Ed Sullivan Theatre in 2 1/2 years.
David Letterman had George Clooney on last night (promoting “Monuments Men”), while Jay Leno had Matthew McConaughey, wearing his mom’s glasses (promoting “Dallas Buyers Club” and “True Detective” and yada yada yada). Must be sweeps week.
Clooney: “I was told that this was your last week, so…” Nice shot, George. Clooney also tosses out a nod to Radioman, a local legend here in NYC who shows up on sets all the time. Also, Clooney’s dad gets off two terrific lines.
Near the end, Letterman reminds Clooney that they don’t spend enough time together and that it would be wonderful if they did. “I’ve had this relationship conversation before, you know,” George says. “Bring it on. What do you got?”
So that’s 20 minutes of Clooney on Letterman. What else do you want for free?
Oh, and here’s Bill Murray appearing on Letterman last Friday clad as Peter Pan. Of course.
4. No Colonel Angus?
Norm MacDonald, as Burt Reynolds, auditioning for the role of Darth Vader. “So, what kind of car does this guy drive?”
Here’s Rolling Stone’s look at the 50 Best sketches in the history of SNL, in case you’re not going anywhere for an hour. You can probably think of at least a dozen that are not on this list that should be (“Smelt Night”, or how about “Land Shark”?) but it’s still a solid time suck.
5. Jimmy Traina Lands Jerry Seinfeld
I’ll admit, a low moment for me last year was waiting on Jimmy Traina, then of SI, at the steakateria. Never really been sure what his talent was other than posting pics of fabulous babes on a very high-profile web site. Jealous? Of his income, definitely.
Traina has taken his talents to Fox, where he now has a podcast called “The Buzz.” This week he landed Jerry Seinfeld, which is no small git. I’m still not entirely sure what Traina brings to the table (although I am sure I brought a ribeye to his table), but hey, if you can carve out a career in journalism these days, more power to you.
Reserves
Time-Warner, whose properties include Sports Illustrated, announces that it will lay off approximately 500 employees –for the second time in less than a year. Time-Warner plans to spin off its magazine division into a separate entity, which is exactly what it was a quarter century ago before (Time-Life) before it merged with Warner communications, and then was bought out by AOL. Leaving well enough alone is one of the Nevers of capitalism, alas.
The Sports Illustrated library will close, which is a sad day for anyone who’s worked there. The clip files alone belong in a museum. A total of 13 editorial jobs will be eliminated, according to the New York Post.
*****
Shaun White, the biggest Olympic name now that Lindsay Vonn has dropped out of the Sochi Games, announces that he is dropping out of one of the two planned events. All you “Slope-Style” fans will be shattered.
********
The Hall
Charter Inductees: Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner
1937: Tris Speaker, CF; Cy Young, P.
1938: Grover Cleveland Alexander, P; Eddie Collins, 2B
1939:Nap Lajoie, 2B; Joe Jackson, LF
1940: Billy Hamilton, OF; Cap Anson, 1B
1941: Wee Willie Keeler, RF; George Sisler, 1B
1942: Rogers Hornsby, 2B; Pie Traynor, 3B
1943: Mickey Cochrane, C; Frankie Frisch, 2B
1944: Ed Walsh, P; Old Hoss Radbourn, P
1945: Lou Gehrig, 1B; Kid Nichols, P
1946: Ed Delahanty, LF; Lefty O’Doul
1947: Pud Galvin, P; John McGraw, INF
1948: Carl Hubbell, P; Addie Joss, P
1949: Harry Heilman, OF/1B; Monte Ward, P/SS
1950: Cool Papa Bell, CF; Jimmie Foxx, 1B
1951: Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown, P; Josh Gibson, C
1952: Paul Waner, RF; Charlie Gehringer, 2B
1953:
Mel Ott, RF; 1926-1947, New York Giants
The first great power hitter in the National League, the 12-time All-Star led the Senior Circuit in home runs six times and was the first to hit the 500 home run plateau (retiring with 511). A .304 hitter, Ott led the Giant in homers for 18 consecutive seasons. No other player in baseball history has led his team in a single Triple Crown category that many years in a row.
Hank Greenberg, 1B; 1930-1947, Tigers
Greenberg sends one out at Briggs Stadium.
“The Hebrew Hammer” was my dad’s favorite boyhood player –which, as a kid growing up in the Bronx in the 1940s, tells you something about him (and he wasn’t even Jewish). Greenberg, a career .313 hitter, clouted 58 home runs in 1932 and was a two-time American League MVP. He also served in World War II.
Remote Patrol
Heat at Clippers
ESPN 10:30 p.m.
The NBA’s best Jordan since Michael.
Blake Griffin is finally worthy of the hype. He’s 8th in the NBA in scoring (23.3 ppg) and might be higher than 13th in rebounding. The mayor of LOB City might be higher in the latter category if teammate DeAndre Jordan (14 per game) did not lead the NBA in rebounding. Should be a good game versus the NBA champs.
I’m disappointed that Shaun pulled out of the Slopestyle event if only to shut up Mouthy McMorris, but it appears that ALL the male Canadian slopestyle snowboarders don’t realize they’re CANADIAN. Eh, indeed.
Shaun White dominated both the Halfpipe & Slopestyle snowboarding events for years unitl he began just concentrating on the then one Olympic event – Halfpipe, several years ago. Nothing wrong with that. Most halfpipers don’t compete in both anyway. I was worried he’d been away too long when he announced he would compete in both and that the Olympic events would be so close (same week I think) that practicing for both would be very demanding if not impossible. Not even counting that one of the courses should have “yellow tape” all over it.
Anyway, I’m singin’ & dancin’ with excitement about the almost-here Olympics! Just one more day, whoo-hoo! Since all the trees around my neck of the, er, woods, my driveway, my car, sidewalks, etc are covered with it, today I’m belting out “ICE, ICE, BABY!” as a dedication to all the athletes. Let’s kick it! 🙂
Yo. I see the new Newsweek title on the Twitter bio — congrats on that (I, with Bucs, am “junior staph writer”), even more so if it offers more stability professionally.
Even with the sad dogs and frightening hotel stories, the sheer randomness of Sochi reminds me how much I’d like to cover an Olympics, winter or summer. Newspaper travel dwindling so consistently, not sure when that happens, but it’s definitely on the list of things to work toward.