by John Walters
Tell Sloan I said, “What up?” Oh, and Happy Birthday (38)!
Starting Five
The Cleated Cleric
Nobody in college football this season — not Derrick Henry, not Dalvin Cook, not even Christian McCaffrey — has more rushing touchdowns than Jordan Roberts of Division III, St. Thomas, who has scored 29 in 12 games. Roberts, a junior who transferred in from South Dakota last winter, also has 1,701 rushing yards for the Tommies, who are hosting a Division III national semi-final versus Linfield (also 12-0) on Saturday.
Roberts also happens to be a seminarian at St. John Vianney Seminary, having converted to Catholicism two years ago. My story in Newsweek is here. Also, Roberts’s coach, Glenn Caruso (84-13 at St. Thomas) is an absolute trip. Wonderful guy. He has a personality that will succeed on any stage.
2. Grizzly Maulings
If there were an “Alcoa ‘Fantastic Finishes'” in the NBA, the Memphis Grizzlies would have the entire week dedicated to them. On Sunday the Grizz broke a 93-93 deadlock with the Phoenix Suns by scoring on an inbounds alley oops pass to Jeff Green with 0:8 seconds left for the dunk and win.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ-6zANxXLs
Last night Memphis trailed Detroit 92-90 with scant seconds remaining when Matt Barnes grabbed a rebound, eschewed the timeout call, dribbled to half court, and chucked in a three-pointer with 1.1 seconds left. Detroit still got a chance to shoot a desperation game-winner –after calling a timeout–but it missed.
So, Matt Barnes? Dope or genius. Well, it worked, so for one night he’s a genius.
Also, Barnes’s desperation heave took place in Auburn Hills, Mich., just six days after Aaron Rodgers’s Hail Mary. A tough life for Detroit sports fans gets even more miserable…
3. Post Route
You’ve already seen this, but apparently now the NFL has fined Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown $11,576 for wearing a fanny pack during a football game. I think I have that correct, no?
4. Plumes of Noms
Spotlight, a tale of sexy white journalists (what else is new?)
Yesterday, the SAG Awards nominations.
This morning, the Golden Globe nominations.
p.s. These two Sunday night programs are about the only thing each year that get me through January.
5. No Words Necessary (soon to be abbreviated to “No Words”)
This is one of the better New Yorker cartoons I’ve seen in awhile.
Music 101
Hunger Strike
Not technically a Pearl Jam song, as it was written by Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. The team rebranded themselves as Temple of the Dog to record this tune as a tribute to the late Andrew Wood, the lead singer of Mother Love Bone, two of whose members had been future Pearl Jammers Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard. Wood, Cornell’s roomie, had overdosed on heroin (the signature disease of grunge). Four Pearl Jam members are part of the band, though, and Eddie Vedder’s vocals are a perfect contrast to Chris Cornell’s. This could be the best Pearl Jam song, if not best grunge tune (and video), of the entire era.
p.s. The video and song slightly pre-date Ten, so it was big before Pearl Jam was.
Remote Patrol
Knicks at Kings
TNT 10:30 p.m.
Cousins: Still not in jail, Clay Travis.
I love that TNT is going to make Charles Barkley stay up until 1 a.m. to watch these two teams play. Then again, if you have yet to see Kristaps Porzingis, a.k.a., “Three Six Latvia,” enjoy. Have the Kings and DeMarcus Cousins ever been on TNT? Probably, I just don’t remember the last time.