by John Walters
Happy Birthday, Grayson Allen! You scored 16 in the national championship game last April and turn 20 today.
Starting Five
Sean Rodriguez is an Electrolyteweight
1. Cooler Heads Prevailed
The Cubs defeated the Pirates, 4-0, because no one scores a run off Jake Arrieta any more, but the bigger stories were Pittsburgh’s Sean Rodriguez going full Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots on a Gatorade cooler (free pub!) and Pirate kid who was playing his own game of baseball in the seats behind home plate. Like his team, as you can see here, he found himself in the same position last October.
So, two nights, and two probable Cy Young winners, the hirsute Dallas Keuchel and Jake Arrieta, hurl shutouts on the road to propel their teams to the divisional series. I’m thinking baseball’s new stat needs to be BAR: Beards Above Replacement.
Keuchel and Harden: Not joining the Dollar Shave Club any time soon….
2. Anchors Away!
Can’t say I’m down with the Ronda Rousey In-Your-Face Tour, but it was fun watching how incredibly uncomfortable Tim Kurkjian appeared to be as he played the guinea pig for Lindsay Czarniak in an arm bar demonstration on the 6 p.m. SportsCenter. Kurkjian: “No woman has ever moved her butt closer to me, I can promise you that.”
Was Kiko Alonso not available?
Bell laments that there are not more Ron Burgundy fans out there. Champ Kind appreciated this line, I’m sure.
Like you, I was also glued to Mike Bell’s Twitter feed during this segment to see if he’d cross the Jessica Mendoza line and opine on Rousey’s sitting in the co-anchor chair.
3. Fournette Worth
Fournette is averaging 216 yards per game, or 56 yards more PER GAME than the nation’s 2nd-leading rusher
LSU tailback Leonard Fournette had a very good, but not outstanding freshman season last autumn. He jacked that Texas A&M safety, we all remember that, but he rushed for 1,034 yards in 13 games. Very good for a frosh, not OMG.
This season, however, Fournette already has rushed for 864 yards in just four games. He’s a superman among 220 lb. to 320 lb men. He is a beast. And so, as much as we laud him — he’s the clear frontrunner to win the Heisman Trophy thus far — we always are in need of a Daily Harrumph!, and his excellence brings up the following: Why should Leonard Fournette have to stick around college another year before making money in the NFL?
Kirk Herbstreit, whom I respect greatly, said it was “a bunch of crap” to discuss changing the rule — and NFL rule, by the way, not an NCAA rule — that says players cannot enter the NFL draft until three years after high school. Christine Brennan wrote a column that to me came across as patronizing: a national columnist who regularly covers tennis has no qualms with teens traveling all over the world in a highly dysfunctional environment if you’re not Serena or Rafael, but she worries that young football players need more guidance. Does anything about that argument seem a little racially tinged to you? It does to me.
Granted: 1) Most college athletes would be better served by earning a degree and staying all four years. Most. 2) College sports are a superior product if players must remain at least three years. 3) Allowing players to leave earlier would only invite more agents, more scandal, etc.
I grant you all of that. But this is a liberty issue. Why is there a rule in place that prevents a young man from holding a job when he is more than capable of doing that job? And why doesn’t the hypocrisy of allowing basketball players to leave after one year but not football players grate on people more? I get that the sports make different demands on your body, but there are plenty of players in the NBA who were selected after one year and then stockpiled on their teams’ benches (Archie Goodwin, for example). If a pro franchise is willing to draft a player even though they know they cannot use him yet, why not let the two parties do business?
Marcus Lattimore was a junior at South Carolina when he dislocated his knee and tore every major ligament in it on this play. He never played a down in the NFL.
The bigger issue, bigger than the state of college football and bigger than “protecting” kids, is a person’s right to work. Now, throw in the fact that running backs have the shortest shelf life of any NFL players (hello, Marcus Lattimore), and that next season Fournette will basically be giving LSU a year where he could be earning at least $5 million in the NFL –probably more money than his parents have earned in their lifetimes — and that if you want to go all actuary on this, his NFL career average is 3.11 years, well, I’m not saying that he SHOULD go to the NFL, but I am saying that he SHOULD have the option.
4. Love Triangle Offense
Barnes, his estranged wife, Gloria Govan, and Derek Fisher
I know, I know. I’m supposed to be disturbed by Matt Barnes’ behavior here. But then someone tweets that “Derek Fisher appears to be having trouble with more than one triangle” and then I imagine Barnes driving 95 miles in the midst of the night, his sound system turned to 11, as he conjures the various ways that he is going to kick Fisher’s tail for being at the home he paid for with his estranged wife. It’s right out of a Tarantino film.
Here’s the New York Post piece.
And here’s a think piece on the affair from Deadspin…
5. Where In The World?
Hint: This is not in Westeros
Yesterday: Rideau Canal, Ontario
Music 101
Dreams
I’m always going to vote for Diamond David Lee Roth over Sammy Hagar, though if I had to pick a roommate, it would be the Cabo Wabo dude. Either this or “When It’s Love” is my favorite Van Hagar tune. The synth comes out early, and then Eddie VH does some blazing guitar solos later. Remember, this tune came out in 1986, in peak Top Gun time, hence the video. It reached No. 22 on the Billboard chart.
Remote Patrol
Washington at Southern California
ESPN 9 p.m.
Adoree Jackson is LA’s best two-way player since Myles Jack. What ever happened to him?
Huskies coach Chris Petersen makes, I believe, his first visit to the L.A. Coliseum as a head coach, as his USC counterpart, Cutty Sark, faces his former team. 9 p.m. Eastern is happy hour in L.A.
You’re right – college basketball players SHOULD have to stay in college for 3 years till they can go to the NBA. Wait, that’s not what you said? Well, it’s what *I* WISH. The current state of college basketball is putrid & largely because of the “One & Done” travesty. Plus, not only has it harmed the college game, it’s harmed the pro game. And you want that for football too? Hmmmm, since I don’t care much these days about the NFL but do still love COLLEGE football, I hope the current rule stays in place, despite impinging the yearly 1-3 outlier college guys’ FREEEEEDOOOOM. Yes, I’m selfish like that. However, if Fournette plays at least one upcoming LSU game wearing a kilt & with his face painted blue, I’ll reconsider.
Couldn’t find a more ‘revealing’ photo of that WAG? Y’know, Bomani Jones ranted for 20 straight minutes on his radio show the other day (seemingly without breath) that the NBA tests & punishes for cocaine use & the NHL does not & that the SOLE reason for this is the NBA is mostly black & the NHL white. I dunno, going by the Fisher-Barnes, er, entanglement, maybe there should be MORE drug testing in the NBA…
I was going to guess yesterday’s photo was downtown Columbia, SC but realized just in time that I’m apparently spending way too much time with the “wrong crowd” (i.e. here) & stopped myself. 😉
And come on, nothing on the BIG news from last night? (Cubs, schmubs). THE HEADBAND’S BACK! Yeah, baby! Go Sweet Pea!
Oh & did you listen to Myles Jack on ‘Mike & Mike’ this morning? 1st of all, HOW did this guy even get into UCLA & last as long as he did? (Ya think UNC is the ONLY school with “academic scandal/fraud”?) His “reasoning” for leaving school RIGHT NOW (& not getting in at least one more semester towards, y’know, something that might actually benefit him one day – a college degree), is that “school started a week ago & he couldn’t get around so missed it & thus, he’s already behind”. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? A star football player wouldn’t have access to help? If not getting to the classes then having the classwork get to him? What garbage. This guy was never in college to get a degree, he wasn’t there to learn one damn thing, he was just clicking off the minutes till he qualified for the draft. He was apparently going to go the NFL next Spring any way so heck, why WASTE TIME NOW getting an education? &^$@!#*
But nah, these guys don’t need to stay in college for at least 3 years…
Susie B.,
Your Myles Jack anecdote only bolsters my Fournette position. 99% of these guys belong in school. For a lucky few, the true first- and maybe even second-rounders, it is a process of paying dues. Agree 100% that CBK and CFB are better products if they stay 3 years, but then Charlie’s Angels would’ve lasted longer if FFM had stayed longer, too. It’s about someone having the freedom to work where they are fully capable of working, for an employer who would certainly hire them.
Meanwhile, I looked long and hard not to find a photo of Gloria showing side boob. It wasn’t easy.
Hold on while I hike up my pantyhose…
Have you always been a Libertarian or did this come on in later life? Like “the change”? 😉
Ok, here goes – what is the purpose for 99% of rules, regulations & laws? It’s for individual protection AND the greater good. Does everyone WANT to wear a seatbelt in their own car? If an idiot wants to ride his motorcycle without a helmet & let the air swoosh thru his hair, who are WE to stop him? And why limit pro foot/basket ball draftees to those actually 18 & over? Why discriminate against the teenage phenom? Think no pro team would actually draft a 16 year old to sit on the bench for a bit? (What team would NOT have taken 16 year old LBJ?)
I do understand your point & there’s a part of me that agrees. BUT, keeping these young athletes in college, where they have at least a CHANCE of learning something that will actually benefit them for the many long years after their pro careers (if they even have one) is a PROTECTION for them. Plus, their bodies get bigger & mature during these years, especially necessary in the NFL. And for the “greater good” – do you not love college football? Do you really want to see it devolve into the smoldering mess that is now college basketball? College football & basketball is not just for the players & not just for the schools, it’s also for the fans, in the millions. Who basically fund it by attendance, TV viewing & the dreaded ‘boosterism’. You can debate whether sports viewing & fandom qualifies as the “greater good” but it makes MY life & that of millions of others a little happier. And that is “good”.
Also, how many players left college early last year (talked into by agents &/or family & friends) & then were not drafted? They can’t get another scholarship so can’t finish their degree (what college would take some of these ‘students’ if not on their football or basketball teams) & can’t get a pro-sports job. Ahh, you say – that was their CHOICE. Unfortunately. Sometimes (most times), a 17-21 year old does NOT know the best option for their entire life. The 3 year rule at least gives them a fighting chance.
I guess it’s too much to say it’s a tragedy that the NBA allows teams to draft kids only one year out of high school but I believe it’s one of the WORST sporting decisions of all time (even worse than the 1972 Olympic basketball debacle). It has ruined college basketball (for me at least), possibly irrevocably harmed the kids talked into leaving school early by greedy, selfish agents & has harmed the game at the pro level too. That this decision has not already been reversed may not be a tragedy but it is a travesty.
Ok, I’m climbing off my soapbox now. Unless you want to hear about the HYPOCRISY of PED use/testing/penalties in the “Big 3” pro sports (money, money, money) vs the Olympic-type pro sports (little money). Another day perhaps. 🙂
Susie B.,
You seem to be passionate about the Myles Jack/education situation. I’m a little more ho-hum and just take it on a case by case basis — but I, too, thought the reasoning (or at least the reasoning shared to the public) behind him not being able to get to classes was odd.
I’m sure each college has its own rules, etc..I, in fact, attend a Big Ten institution and frequently see athletes that have lower body injuries on motorized scooters, something akin to the devices some elderly use. Furthermore, I’ve seen those devices used in the middle of winter, which I know differs a taaad bit between the Midwest and west coast.
Are these available at UCLA? I don’t know. Am I confident UCLA has mechanisms in place for situations such as these? I’m confident.
All in all, we all know why he decided to enter the draft. Make some money now, finish your degree later. I’m fine with that. Best of luck to him.
Always strong when you can give the entire Twitterverse 24 hours to come up with good lines and the best are still here. Cooler Heads Prevail for the win, and I’m already calculating Beards Above Replacement as a fans of Shavermetrics.