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Weekend winners
NFL. Wow. What theater. And then add in the snow. Every game was great, even the one-sided Lions loss. (Tears, and if you don't wanna run through a wall for Dan Campbell, then that isn't a you thing.)
The Dodgers. Wow, not only do the league's defending champs add the best free agent starting pitcher, they overpay for the best available reliever.
This tennis player who made me pay attention to the Australian Open. Tennis needs villains.
Travis Kelce. When you are on the top-two list of playoff stats in terms of catches and TDs with Jerry Rice, yeah, you are good.
Jayden Daniels. Yep, he is him. Question for the group: Is this the greatest rookie season in the big three professional sports since Bird?
Dawn Staley. Wow, a $25 million extension is the cause to win the month, never mind the weekend.
Vandy. The Commodores have embraced the SEC coolness of having a raucous home floor. And they topple UT in a game that truly was not as close as the final score.
Weekend losers
Jared Goff. Yikes.
Skip Bayless. Dude, shut up. Double Yikes.
NFL officiating. Triple yikes. Seems like it was especially bad this weekend, no?
John Calipari. Quadruple yikes. Anyone else think it is time for Coach Cal to be Dickie V's replacement as the ESPN face at big games?
The ESPN narrative of turning every football discussion this weekend -- be it Marcus Freeman or the AFC QB discussion -- into race bait is truly tired. Marcus Freeman is a great college football coach if he were Black, white or polka-dotted.
Rick Barnes. Yes, Vandy deserved to be among the weekend winners, but c'mon, Vols, if you are thinking you are a 1 or a 2 seed, you win these games.
Kick off and goodbye
So this is the end of college football season.
I am sad.
But college football never really ends. Heck, there may be some star portaling after the title game and before you wake up tomorrow.
But this game is a lot of things tonight, but be aware that the narrative of "12 is better" because these two teams would not have been in the four-team playoff. That take is crap. Simply put, 12 is way too many.
Yes, Notre Dame and THE Ohio State would not have been in the four-team playoff since THE Ohio State lost twice in the regular season, and Notre Dame suffered an inexplicable loss to Northern Illinois.
And for the last three weeks the Irish and THE Buckeyes have been great.
But explain to me again how the 12 does not devalue the best regular season in professional sports? (And yes, I said professional because, well, if you are not saying that now, then that's a you thing.)
Both would have been in an eight-team draw, but neither truly deserved to be in a four-team bracket.
And that is the fact that everyone skips over.
Tonight we will crown a college football champion of the last three weeks.
Over the last century, that distinction has been for the best team over three-plus months.
As for the game, well, give me The Buckeyes.
Bigly.
Last week's results:2-2 (50%)
This season: 60-44-2 (57.7%)
Last season: 67-46-2 against the spread (59.3%)
This and that
" Happy MLK Day, everyone.
" Happy Inauguration Day, everyone.
" Happy national championship day, everyone. (Wow. Busy day.)
" And speaking of happy, this made me smile as an astute Twitter user noticed that Jason Kelce on the ESPN set looked like a lovable Christmas cartoon character.
" The SEC is slap salty in hoops. That is all.
" You know the rules. Here's Paschall on the latest UT football addition.
" Keith Mitchell finished T21 at the PGA event this weekend, which Sepp Straka won. Harris English was T43. Luke List missed the cut and Stephan Jaeger did not play.
" One more question before the questions: How did Brian Kelly have Jaylen Daniels, Malik Nabors and Brian Thomas Jr. in the same passing game and not play for a title? Discuss.
Today's questions
Weekend winners and losers, go.
Man, Mark Andrews ... discuss.
Worst personal moment in sports history. Share. Mine will be posted around 11.
As for today, it's not MLK's birthday, but it is the day for which we celebrate him.
Should we not have a few more celebrated days? Heck, I think Jackie Robinson deserves one.
As for the Rushmore, in honor of MLK's all-time greatness as a speech maker, what are on the Rushmore of best speeches from sports movies?
(And yes, Crash talking to Annie is far left, and I know every word by heart.)