Weekend winners
Philly sports fans. Wow, apparently booing Santa does pay dividends. We’ll get into the monster offseason acquisition in a moment, but pause for a second and answer these two questions: Which city has a better trio of bona fide A-list superstars across the three major sports in country than Philly with Bryce Harper, Saquon Barkley and LeBron James? Also, which city has a trio across the three major sports that are more of a title threat than Philadelphia? Man, sports talk in Philly this morning is going to be fire.
High school football fans. Wow, where did the summer go? Because TFP preps sports icon Stephen Hargis kicks off high school football season today. No, not the start of practice. No, not the conditioning or even the camps and summer sweat sessions. High school football season around these parts truly begins when Hargis conducts his tour of the first day of practice.
The Miz. Jacob Misiorowski has passed Shohei into the “gotta watch” status of today’s MLB. Lord, what he did Sunday against MLB hitters — OK, it was the Rockies, so fringe MLB hitters, Spy — was staggering. Struck out eight of the first nine hitters he faced. Three of those were on fastballs clocked north of 104 mph. Of his first 83 pitches, 66 were fastballs and none of the fastballs were clocked slower than 100 mph. Read that again. Wow.
Jackson Koivun. The young pup who was playing for Auburn about five months ago won his first PGA Tour event in just his 13th pro start Sunday. Yes, it was a somewhat weak field, but the guy who finished second was someone named Scottie. And four days of golf at 25 under is pretty dang good, regardless of tracks. (Side questions: If an average PGA Tour player played 72 holes at Moc Bend, over/under 42 under as the score? I am officially on the Jackson bandwagon, and why not add the youngster to the Presidents Cup team later this summer?)
Tadej Pogačar. No, not the Tadej Pogačar from Hixson, who I am sure is a kind fellow. The dude who won his fifth Tour de France over the weekend. Man, the Tour gets a lot more play during the down months in a non-World Cup year, right? I’m not wrong about that, BB, am I?
Andruw Jones. His resumé has warranted this weekend’s enshrinement into Cooperstown. Kudos.
Weekend losers
MLB Hall of Fame. Yes, I think Andruw Jones’ totality and skill set warranted Hall of Fame inclusion. I don’t feel the same about Carlos Beltran nor Jeff Kent. If the bar is Jeff Kent (which is an even higher bar than the veterans committee admitting Harold Baines or Ted Simmons) for the writers, then it assuredly is more of a modern “Hall of Great” rather than the Hall of Fame.
Tony Romo. Man, what a roller-coaster professional life for Romo, who was picked up for a DWI over the weekend. He went from drafter afterthought to Pro Bowl QB1. Then he went from Pro Bowl level to the dreaded “overrated” conversations. He made a huge splash replacing Phil “Gas” Simms in the CBS booth, but his first impression faded fast, and now he’s kinda of disliked in that regard too.
WNBA All-Star game. Look, all-star games, as a general rule, stink. Collectively, they are “please don’t get hurt” exhibitions/cash grabs. But I checked out a few minutes of the first quarter of Saturday’s event. And I saw 12 straight 3-point attempts (three makes) between the two teams. Yawn.
Golden State Warriors. Wow, amid all these moves in this offseason, the very real question in front of the team and its star is this: “Does Steph Curry move on? Because this team has little chance to get out of the first round of the West next spring. The Warriors put a lot of eggs into the LeBron basket. And they got shelled. (Hmmmm, Spy?)
Ryan Clark. Clark went through a difficult life place earlier this month when he was laid off during a commercial break as he was doing “NFL Live.” I am quite sympathetic for that. Now Clark, who somehow was making $2 million per for his less-than-head-turning analysis from ESPN, is firing shots, and he comes across as bitter more than wronged.
Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch. OK, there are going to be more than a few sellers at the MLB trading deadline. The Tigers were not expected to be one of them. In fact, if Detroit’s rotation is healthy, all they need to do is get into the tournament, and they are going to be a tough out. But Hinch’s recent decisions are costing them critical games — yes, Spy, critical, even in July — because another bad week and management are going to blow this up and trade everyone. Tarik Skubal. Billy Chapel. Tom Selleck. Even Ice Cube from the old-school days. And Hinch pulling Skubal mid-inning one K shy of 1,000 as a Tigers star in what could have been his last home game with the club was poor.
Let Freedom ring
Man, not since Rocky Balboa has someone come out of the gate better than Philadelphia 76ers GM Mike Gansey.
In his first year, Gansey has done the following:
> Stole bench depth with Anferenee Simons, Dean Wade and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope;
> Drafted Labaron Philon out of Alabama, who has an NBA-ready game and was great in the summer league;
> Dealt a dozen extra NBA basketballs, some old practice towels, a couple of first-round picks and the bag of bones that is Paul George for All-NBA performer Jaylen Brown;
> Lured LeBron James at the league minimum to play point-power forward in meaningful moments come next spring.
Well done, Gansey, and here’s a fun photo of him with LeBron before a high school basketball all-star game.
But this signing has more layers than that.
For LeBron James, who took the league minimum, could a fifth title be another chip in the GOAT conversation? I’ll ask again with the knowledge that this would be his fifth title with a fourth team, and that last fact would be a record.
Can he lead more than he can be the leading player? We’ll see.
In truth, though, this feels like a great move for everyone, the NBA included, because now the league has a bona fide franchise folks want to see.
Yes, OKC and even San Antonio may be better, but Philly is more interesting by a mile.
Which leads us to the basketball.
This is Joel Embiid’s franchise. This is Tyrese Maxey’s team, but this is LeBron’s season.
It also is Jaylen Brown’s revenge season, and what better way to win the divorce with your ex than to show up, check your ego, be TEAM before ME and find a way to win 16 games in May and June?
There are pros and cons with every addition, of course, but dang the 76ers look stacked.
Five starters — add guard VJ Edgecombe to the above names — that averages at least 16 points per game.
A championship-winning coach in Nick Nurse.
A wide-open Eastern Conference, because the defending champion Knicks will have a whole lot of matchup issues with these Sixers. At least on paper.
And there’s the rub. The pieces look great. This is the top-ranked starting five in your fantasy league of a) they were not all on the same team, since there are four A players now looking for ways to go exist, and b) how many games can they expect from Embiid (oft-injured) and LeBron (who in NBA age is like Spy-old.
This and that
> OK, we’re nothing if not upfront in this space. The reports over the weekend that the TFP is in talks to be sold to a group of local bigwigs caught me 100% by surprise, too. And I know nothing of the discourse just as much as I had no idea this was on the horizon or even a possibility. Maybe I should have been more aware, but it’s been the worst summer of my life, so anything outside of the scope of my direct focus has been less clear, if that makes sense.
> For those of us who watched “Ted Lasso,” here’s an interesting look at how Jason Sudeikis decided to come back. Because, let’s be real. There can’t be a “Ted Lasso” without Coach Lasso, right?
> Rules, people. Here’s Paschall with the details on UT LBs, which should be a) the strength of the team, and b) arguably the best LB group in the country..
> Man, “The Odyssey” continues to crush at the box office. (Side question: If you have seen it, share your review. I have read it, so I got a good idea how it ends. Also, is there a guy more unlikely to be an action hero in big-budget summer blockbusters than Matt Damon, all things considered? Discuss.)
> Some young kid with a name that makes me think of teenage 1980s movie stars won at NASCAR. Morning, JMac.
> So new Florida coach Jon Sumrall loves his pedicure every other week, according to Mrs. Coach Sumrall. Hmmmm. How many pedicures do you think Saban had? And maybe bigger picture, pedicure, friend or foe?
Today’s questions
Weekend winners or losers, go.
As for Multiple Choice Monday, let’s do this:
What city has the best collection of title-contenders across the three major sports?
> Philadelphia
> L.A.
> Detroit
> NYC
> Other (and specify)
As for today, July 27, let’s review.
Bugs Bunny made his debut on this day in 1940 in “A Wild Hare.”
On the same day, the first Billboards music chart was released.
A-Rod is 51 today.
Jordan Spieth is 33 today.
Other than Michael, what makes the all-encompassing Rushmore of Jordan?
Jay is a sports writer and columnist at the Times Free Press. He writes a daily online column called “5-at-10,” and he started with the newspaper in May 2002 as the deputy sports editor.
He was born and raised in Smyrna, Ga., and graduated from Auburn University before starting his newspaper career in 1997 with the Newnan (Ga.) Times Herald. Stops in Clayton and Henry counties in Georgia and two years as the Sports Editor of the Marietta (Ga.) Daily Journal preceded Jay’s move to Chattanooga.
He has won local, state, regional and national awards as a writer, designer and section editor. Jay and his wife Kathleen were married in 2004 and have a son, Lee, and a daughter, Madeline Ray.
Contact Jay at (423) 757-6273 or jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and follow him on Twitter at @jgreesontfp.