by John Walters
Brock To The Future
Could the last man chosen in last April’s NFL draft be the first rookie quarterback to lead his team to a Super Bowl? That’s the Brock Purdy question.
Purdy, the 262nd pick in the 2022 NFL draft and the San Francisco 49ers’ third-string QB much of this season, has started the past two games—both taking place in the past five days— for the Niners due to injuries to Jimmie Garoppolo and Trey Lance. San Fran has won both games, versus Tom Brady and the Bucs and Geno Smith and the Seahawks, decisively.
Of course, the Niners, once 3-4, were winning before Purdy took the helm. Last night’s 21-13 victory in Seattle was their seventh straight. With the recent addition of Christian McCaffrey and the All-World tight end George Kittle, Purdy has access to some of the most potent weapons in the league. This could be the beginning of a Cinderella story for the erstwhile Mr. Irrelevant.
ELON Does Not bELONg
Been a difficult week for the world’s second-wealthiest man. Booed lustily when he took the stage at a Dave Chappelle show in San Francisco (what was you thinkin’, Dave?), then seeing shares of Tesla hit a 52-week low this morning, and being called out on Twitter—the company he wildly overpaid for this year to the tune of $44 billion—for being a thin-skinned hypocrite after he permanently suspended a few journalists for tweeting out his “assassination coordinates,” i.e., location.
Dude appears onstage at a show with the current world’s No. 1 comedian and he’s worried that people might know where he is?
It’s not about whether or not you agree with Musk’s politics. It’s about whether or not you allow someone to be a hypocrite. Last night on Twitter, responding to the barrage of criticism about his permanent suspension of journalists from the NYT and CNN, Musk decided to create a poll to let Twitter decide what their fates should be. But then when the poll was going against him, he Kari Lake’d it and took it down. Money cannot buy you happiness, or respect. At least not from people who respect themselves. Musk has learned that lesson more expensively than anyone in history, no?
Thompson Twins
One of the joys of college basketball, back in the day, was that it opened a window for fans as to who next year’s top NBA rookies would be. The 1979 NCAA championship game, after all, was an early peek at next season’s Rookie of the Year battle between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson (alas, the game itself was kind of a dud).
It’s no longer the case. The consensus No. 1 overall pick is Victor Wembanyana, a seven-foot teenager from France. Okay, but he’s a unicorn. What about players born on American soil? Well, that’s also a problem. Twin brothers Amen and Ausur Thompson, 6’7″, are both considered at worst top seven picks in next June’s draft (some have Amen going as high as No. 2) who grew up in Florida. Neither attend college, as they went directly from high school to the Overtime Elite League. The sibs will turn 20 at the end of January. And you likely will not see them play until next autumn. The three names mentioned above would be three top players in March Madness. But, they’re all earning more money doing what they’re doing. Hard to argue against that.