Starting Five
1. Brookline Revisited: The Americans blow a 10-6 lead in the Ryder Cup and hand the trophy to the Europeans at Medinah. It’s the same historic deficit by which the Yanks came back against the Euros 13 years ago.
2. The Human Geno Project: West Virginia’s Geno Smith tosses a school-record 45 completions for a school-record 656 yards and a school record eight touchdown passes. The Mountaineers score 69 or more points for the third time in their last five games and yet still fail to cover the spread only defeat Baylor by a TD, 70-63. Coach Dana Holgorsen trolls his own Heisman Trophy front-runner by naming center Joe Madsen the team’s Offensive Player of the Week.
J.D. Woods’ spectacular one-handed grab abetted Geno’s Heisman campaign
3. That’s a Major League-record 23 in a row for the Atlanta Braves now when Kris Medlen starts. He is now 10-1 with a 1.57 ERA in basically half a season of work as a starter. David Price of the Tampa Fay Wrays picked up his 20th win, but Cincinnati’s Johnny Cueto failed in his attempt to reach 20 Ws at Pittsburgh, even though the Reds won (Cincy’s last 20-game winner was Danny Jackson in 1988).
4. Back to work day for the Supreme Court. No excuses. They even made a movie with the day you must return to work in its title.
5. The Houston Texans, y’all. Houston is 4-0, is second in points scored and tops (assuming both Chicago and Dallas score at least a touchdown tonight) in points allowed.
Reserves
We scrolled through the entire 44-slide gallery of Golf.com’s “Girlfriends and Wives of the Ryder Cup” thinking the same thing you’re thinking: Please, sweet Jesus, let us see the name Tiger Woods. No such luck.
St. Louis Ram rookie kicker Greg Zuerlein booted field goals of 58 and 60 yards in the Rams’ 19-13 defeat of Seattle. Zuerlein, a.k.a. “Greg the Leg“, is an alum of Missouri Western State and has converted all 12 of his field goal attempts this season, including three from beyond 55 yards. “Right now our kicker is the MVP of the season,” says Ram running back Stephen Jackson.
Greg the Leg: He is leg-endary
On Central Park’s Great Lawn, an estimated 60,000 people flocked on Saturday night for a free concert given by the Black Keys, Foo Fighters and headliner Neil Young. In related news, the bars on Avenue A were empty on Saturday evening.
Michigan State claims that Ohio State doctored the game film it sent Sparty before Saturday’s game. Why are teams even still sending one another game film? Every game is televised and every staff has mucho TVs and DVRs as well as 347 student assistants and grad assistants toiling for them. Still, we think Ohio State’s upoming opponent, Nebraska, should simply send the Urbanites spliced clips from Varsity Blues, Remember the Titans, The Replacements and Friday Night Lights. And maybe some special teams video featuring that field-goal kicking mule.
We messed up the link on Jason Jones’ “Sudden Wealth Syndrome” piece on The Daily Show last week, but we want to make sure you don’t miss it. Here it is.
We’ve got a case of the Munchies…
The Jets are shut out at home by the 49ers and neither New York City tabloid runs a screaming “It’s Tebow Time!” headline. What gives? The Jets are now 2-2 (atop the AFC East, bizarrely) and have lost Darrelle Revis and Santonio Holmes for the season with unbeaten Houston headed their way. Rex Ryan should send the playoff-bound New York Yankees a bouquet.
D’oh! A deer! A female deer…. (yes, that’s a Simpsons reference)
Manson Family-Style restaurants: Waiter delivers your entree, stabs it 57 times, then writes “PIG” in ketchup on tablecloth. Good or bad theme?
Does it matter — and yes, given the small sample size, his effort certainly has much to do with this ranking — that Geno Smith’s insane eight-TD pass, 656-yard effort came against a Baylor defense that is ranked last (of 120 teams) in both total defense and pass defense? The Bears were 113th in both categories entering the contest.
Ten bucks to the first announcer who says, “He’s got icewater in his arteries” instead of using “veins.” We will even accept capillaries.
Too much chocolatey goodness next Saturday in college football: a pair of matchups between undefeated nauts of jugger in the SEC as No. 4 LSU visits No. 10 Florida and No. 5 Georgia visits No. 6 South Carolina. Texas, No. 11, hosts No. 8 West Virginia in a battle between the nation’s top two QBs in terms of passing efficiency (Geno Smith and David Ash). No. 21 Nebraska visits No. 12 Ohio State, even though the Buckeyes are not bowl-eligible, and No. 9 Notre Dame meets Miami at Soldier Field in the two teams’ first regular-season meeting since 1990 (MH was there to see Rocket return a kickoff for a TD).
Grantland: Web site. Homeland: television show. Got it.
So many things to chime in on:
— Greg Zuerlein was in St. Pete for the East-West Shrine Game in January. As I tweeted that day: “Yes, Missouri Western State kicker Greg Zuerlein is the same one who used to kick for Nebraska-Omaha. #smallschoolhumor” … Kid went 23-for-24 on field goals last year, and you could argue no position matters less in terms of small schools vs. major colleges.
— Had Kris Medlen on my NL-only fantasy baseball roster BEFORE his Tommy John. Just didn’t have the smarts to reinvest cheap this spring. I like that it’s a team win streak and not just his own decisions, so he’s occasionally Medlen in other people’s business.