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The Front 9 comes at you after fireworks, amazing food and pool fun \u2014 the best recipe for a Fourth of July weekend.<\/p>\n
1. The news really didn\u2019t come out of nowhere that Billy Donovan is going to San Antonio to be the No. 1 assistant. He had been bouncing the idea off close friends for a couple of weeks. There are a lot of NBA writers who believe it\u2019s simply a launching pad for his next head coaching job and that might be true. But more than anything, Billy was just tired of rebuilding and too good a coach to be losing the way he was. He\u2019ll win now and that will make him happy again. It also feels like he is done with college since he couldn\u2019t ask for better openings than this offseason.<\/p>\n
2. Just an observation and soccer ultras and the Tartan Army should not take it personally. But the sport is difficult for the casual fan. You never know if the game is in its last seconds, you don\u2019t like the flopping and sometimes you can\u2019t tell one team from the other. Still, the ratings will tell you that we\u2019re watching. It\u2019s been a great bridge to Media Days.<\/p>\n
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See Member Benefits<\/a>Join Our Newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n 3. FOMO games of the week<\/p>\n We have five of the six baseball races with a level of excitement (the Dodgers have ruined the NL West race) and next weekend is the last coming up before the All-Star break. Of special note to me is the NL East where my Braves had better figure out their pitching quickly. Braves at Cards and Phils at Tigers wrap up the first half.<\/p>\n 4. Four questions with former Washington defensive back and current Gainesville resident Mike Bass<\/p>\n Which\u00a0of your 30 NFL interceptions was your favorite? You played a lot of offense in high school. Did you ever miss it? How was it to have a small speaking role in the movie \u201cPaper Lion\u201d? Did\u00a0you get to know Garo Yepremian at all after you took his weird fumble back for a touchdown\u00a0in the Super Bowl? 5. Five negative numbers Florida has to fix this season<\/p>\n Minus-4:\u00a0UF and its former quarterback threw four more interceptions than the Gators picked off.<\/p>\n Minus-16:\u00a0Florida gave up more first downs passing than it gained.<\/p>\n Minus-276:\u00a0Rushing-yards differential. And Florida has Jadan Baugh!<\/p>\n Minus-72:\u00a0The difference in points scored in the fourth quarter last year. Woof.<\/p>\n Minus-33:\u00a0The difference in third-down conversions.<\/p>\n 6. This will happen this week<\/p>\n The first of the Media Days starts Tuesday with the Big 12 and you are going to hear a lot of clatter about how the conference deserves multiple teams in the College Football Playoff. Brent Yormack, the commish, will have plenty to talk about and SEC fans will disagree with 90 percent of it.<\/p>\n 7. Hot take of the week<\/p>\n I like hot dogs. I really do. I know that the ingredients are a mystery wrapped in an enigma enveloped by a riddle, but I once ate six during a long Florida baseball game in the Tennessee press box. But for the life of me I can\u2019t understand why ESPN treats competitive eating as a real sport. The last thing I want to see is a dude sucking down 66 buns soaked in water and going through the dogs like they were finger sandwiches. What is this, the Ocho?<\/p>\n 8. Tweet of the Week<\/p>\n From baseball writer Jon Heyman: \u201cThe most egregious All-Star snub has to be the starter who is 10-1 for a last place team, with a 2.61 ERA. The great oxymoron Sonny Gray should be in Philly.\u201d As a Red Sox fan, I agree.<\/p>\n 9. Remote drop of the week<\/p>\n I can\u2019t help it. I make fun of the movie to the point where I start annoying my wife. But \u201cIndependence Day\u201d makes me stop and watch it every time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Front 9 comes at you after fireworks, amazing food and pool fun \u2014 the best recipe for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":745128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-745127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=745127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/745128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=745127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=745127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Bass:Although categorized as a fumble, the \u201cinterception\u201d in Super Bowl VII versus the Miami Dolphins.\u00a0The interception of a pass from Roger Staubach to Bob Hayes in a Monday night game at RFK was pretty sweet.<\/p>\n
Bass:I never missed playing offense. I wanted to just play, regardless of the position I was playing.\u00a0In retrospect, considering the beating that running backs take, playing defense kept me in the NFL for 10 years.<\/p>\n
Bass:\u00a0I agreed to participate in this movie as a favor to my teammate, Roy Jefferson. For years, I have smiled when my movie career was mentioned, as it always brings a smile to my face. My acting career in this movie was not one of my greatest accomplishments.<\/p>\n
Bass:\u00a0Garo and I were teammates with the Lions. We both were disenchanted with the Lions and left in 1979. Garo went to Miami and I went to Washington. Coach Vince Lombardi had come out of retirement to coach the Redskins. He actually called and asked me to come to Washington although he\u00a0had cut me in 1977 from the Packers.\u00a0Lombardi installed me as a starter in the first week of training camp and I retained that position for 104 consecutive games, including my tenure with George Allen.\u00a0Garo and I remained friends throughout our pro years and thereafter.\u00a0<\/p>\n