by John Walters

Starting Five

Forever Colorful

Craig Sager: “Time is something that cannot be bought,* it cannot be wagered with God, and it is not in endless supply. Time is simply how you live your life.”

My story in Newsweek on Sager’s passing.

*Time may be subscribed to, but we suggest Newsweek.

2. Are You Feeling Minnesota? 

It was buried under WakeyLeaks earlier this week, but TEN University of Minnesota football players were suspended indefinitely on Monday stemming from an incident that occurred on the night of Saturday, September 3rd. You can read more about it here, but there was allegedly sexual contact with at least one player and even the woman involved, a Golden Gopher cheerleader, the complainant claims “it may have been consensual.”

No arrests were ever made. No charges were ever filed. But Minnesota suspended 10 players (all of whom are black, by the way) indefinitely, which would mean for the December 27 Holiday Bowl against Washington State.

Yesterday, the players struck back. Led by senior wideout Drew Wolitarsky, the team met the media en masse and announced that they would not participate in the Holiday Bowl (kids in Minnesota sacrificing a free trip to San Diego in late December) until they get a closed door meeting with the Board of Regents and athletic director Mark Coyle.

“As a player, it became more than a game for me,” Wolitarsky said, per the Star Tribune, while speaking on behalf of his team. “And I know it did, as you can see, for the whole team. It’s about the livelihood of these kids, after football. Because that’s why we came here; we came here to get a degree. We come here to make a life for ourselves, and these kids’ reputations have been ruined.”

I know this will shock you, that an athletic director could be a sniveling coward and liar, but Coyle originally claimed that football coach Tracy Claeys suspended the 10. Nope. In fact, last night Claeys tweeted,

 

Have never been more proud of our kids. I respect their rights & support their effort to make a better world! 〽️?

— GoldenGopherHFC (@GoldenGopherHFC) December 16, 2016

What this is all really about is lawsuits and $$$ and CYA. And institutions trying to appease everyone while not being drawn into a civil suit. Easier to just tell the poor black kid to sit out awhile—as his reputation is forever sullied, thanks to the internet—than to actually pursue due process.

3. Head Games

There were three touchdowns scored in last night’s Rams-Seahawks game, but I found it interesting that ESPN’s highlights didn’t show all three (at least not when I watched). What they DID show were two concussion-worthy hits, one by Richard Sherman on Ram QB Jared Goff (this is why you slide, rookie) and the other on Seattle punter Jon Ryan, whose 26 yard fake punt rush was a thing of beauty…until he started bobbling the football, and took a monster hit from Troy “I Am Not Throwing Away My Shot” Hill.

The hits are part of why we watch. The NFL knows this. So do ESPN producers. Hey, we love that nicotine rush, but we all agree that we’re trying to stamp out emphysema, right?

4. The Daily Harrumph: Racist or Just Immature?

In Missouri, Center High School was the visiting team at Warrensburg High School the other night. The visiting team is predominantly black, the home team not so much. So this is what a group of students from Center did to make Warrensburg feel welcome.

Now, kids, I’m no closer to ordering a DBAP T-shirt than you are, but Black Lives Matter can probably do themselves a favor and stand down here as well. Points:

–Until you’ve lived in towns this size, or unless you do, you really cannot appreciate how much high school sports play a role in the social life of such towns. A high school hoops game is a HUGE event.

–You’re always going to make the visiting team feel unwelcome, no matter the color of their skin. We used to bring newspapers and read them during pre-game introductions for the other team. When I was at Notre Dame, the Irish hosted No. 1 North Carolina, who had a player named Steve Hale (who was white), whom I think had suffered a collapsed lung earlier that season. Every single time Hale touched the ball, we chanted, “In-Hale! Ex-Hale! In-Hale! Ex-Hale!” (back when Notre Dame was cool, or at least, spirited).

—They didn’t all bring Trump signs. One rube did. Dig it: There are rubes in rural Missouri. There are Trump fans, many, in rural Missouri (pronounced, “Mizzou-ruh”). And yeah, there are racists in rural Missouri.

–Center won, 66-62. That’s probably the best response to that crap.

5. James Corden Wins Again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi1SvUHvYgc

I sat through about :30 of Jimmy Fallon’s interview with Siena Miller last night, despite how lovely she is. That dude is just in desperate need of Adderall, or Xanax, or whatever drug it is that calms people down. Relax, dude. Take a breath. Or at least take a hit in between segments. I’m sure The Roots can hook you up.

Meanwhile, James Corden continues to do fabulous stuff at 12:30 a.m. on CBS. Above, he broke down 2016. Good stuff. A reminder this dude won a Tony Award for Best Actor a few years back. Below, you realize that Corden spent his entire year Christmas Carpool Karaoke’ing with every guest he’s had. Give that producer a raise.

 

Music 101

Shambala

 

Taking their name from an indigenous Australian term for freezing weather (“If it’s really cold, you sleep with three dingoes—a three-dog night”), Three Dog Night had No. 1 hits in 1970, 1971 and 1972. This song reached No. 3 in 1973. Like almost all of the American band’s hits, it was written by someone outside the group, in this instance a songwriter named Daniel Moore.

Remote Patrol

It’s A Wonderful Life

USA 8 p.m.

As a country that is plunging into Potterville, this year’s viewing will be especially poignant. Hee haw and Merry Christmas!