Great week from you guys and gals this week. You sent a slew of great questions this week, so I cede the forum to you big-brained folks, with small answers from me and certainly opportunities for your answers in the comments.
Let's handle our business first.
Rushmore of Christmas fictional characters (non-Santa division) – (movie division) Ebenezer Scrooge, Buddy the Elf, George Bailey and Ralphie. (cartoon division) Frosty, Rudolph, Grinch, Snow Miser (narrowly over Heat Miser).
Rushmore of "Pitt" – With the apologies to pit barbecue, Brad Pitt, pit bull (pet and rapper), Peach Pitt (love the fruit and the handout on "90210"), the classic Pitt Panther unis from the 1980s.
Rushmore of all-time animated series – not Saturday morning or kid-based cartoons – of all-time – "The Simpsons," "South Park," "Phineas and Verb," "King of the Hill."
Rushmore of 'van' and have a little fun – Van Halen, Van Gogh, Van Morrison and Vans the skater shoes. As for the vehicles, the A-Team van, the Mystery Machine, the "Dumb and Dumber" puppy van and SNL's living in a van down by the river.
Rules being rules and all. Here's Paschall on UT's path to the playoff. Which leads us to the mailbag:
From a slew of you
What do you expect from the first round of the college football playoff? Which game do you think will be best? Which upset is most likely? What game are you betting?
Gang
It is no secret that I believe the expanded playoff devalues the regular season. It will be even more so when Greg Sankey expands the field to 16 (or more) in the coming years (or months) to get five (or six) teams in the bracket.
But now that it's here, well, I am truly excited about this weekend. (Side note: Gang, remember that the two early games Saturday are on TNT. You're welcome.)
I expect Texas beats Clemson, but that's a lot of points to give a Dabo Swinney team playing with house money. There is a real chance I am on Texas early (minus-6 in the first half) and the Clemson money line at plus-350.
I expect Notre Dame to roll Indiana. The Hoosiers are second nationally in scoring, but against the two best defenses IU has seen this season – THE Ohio State and Michigan – it has scored 17.5 points per game. Notre Dame is top-10 nationally in points and yards allowed.
(Side note: Yes, we love to watch the high-flying offenses, but the age-old adage about defense winning big games holds pretty downright pure. In terms of yards allowed, THE OSU is first nationally, IU is second, Texas is third, UT is fourth, Penn State is sixth, Notre Dame is ninth and Oregon is 10th. And Georgia has the most first first-round picks on their defense.
I expect a shootout between PSU and SMU in the alphabet bowl. (If your team was looking to hire a head football coach, would you want PSU's James Franklin or SMU's Rhett Lashlee? Discuss.)
I think UT and THE Ohio State is going to be fantastic, as each side has strengths that directly play into the other's weakness. THE OSU WR room is filled with future NFL dudes; the UT secondary has had some issues. Conversely, THE OSU OL is beat up and got ravaged by Michigan last month; the UT D-line is eight-deep and legit.
Game on.
I also am super excited to see the home-crowd environments in the games this weekend, and the Horseshoe in Columbus is a) going to have way more UT fans than many expect and b) will be a bona fide pressure cooker for Ryan Day if THE Buckeyes start slowly.
So for Friday and Saturday, we were already on Ohio minus-4 and Florida minus-11.5 (and you can find it much lower right now, like at -10).
Give me Notre Dame minus-6.5 (DraftKings) against Indiana, Penn State-SMU over 53.5, Texas minus-6.5 in the first half against Clemson and Tennessee plus-7.5 over THE Ohio State.
(We got wicked long today. We will update the Bowls contest Monday. Deal? Deal.)
From GolfGuru
Did I see that after Auburn signed Jackson Arnold, they decided to hire a new offensive coordinator, rumor has it they're hiring Fauci? They liked that he wasn't too conservative and would allow more throws down the field; they said Fauci has always known when to take his shots.
GG
I sure hope so.
First, Auburn and Jackson Arnold should take as many shots as they can next fall. All apologies to Aaron Rogers.
Second, when Auburn Auburns next fall, then I can immediately blame Fauci, which makes me smile and Chas cringe.
Win-win I say. (Kidding, Chas. Mostly.)
That said, Auburn is crushing the portal. It's nine wins or Freeze has some 'splainin' to do.
From Paul
Jay, love the 5-at-10 and read every day. What is Santa Greeson giving to the sports stars on your list?
Paul
Great question. Let's make our list and check it twice.
To the college football playoff committee, look, we know you guys are naughty as anyone and apparently are allergic to transparency. So it's a stocking full of coal for you. And if you want to avoid the same fate next year, fix the seeding. Forget the conference champions wrinkle, and while you think you are keeping the power four title games relevant, you are hurting the playoff credibility. Penn State's 6 seed is the bee's knees draw. Oregon's 1 – the UT-THE OSU winner, then likely Texas just to get to the title game – is much tougher. This needs to be step one. Maybe Diego Pavia can fix it when he's done playing college football at Vandy with a narrow loss against Auburn with the 5-at-10's son's son attending his first game at Jordan-Hare as an Auburn student in 2052.
To LeBron, may you have a triple-double in a game with Bronny on a national stage. And then when the 8-seeded Lakers get bounced early in the playoffs, you hang up your bag. It's time.
To Tiger Woods, a fun weekend this weekend playing with your son Charlie and one more moment in the sun at one of the majors in 2025. The clock is ticking, and Father Time is still undefeated. Ask LeBron.
To Braves fans, a bona fide front-end starting pitcher.
To Patrick Mahomes, a little pub and maybe a commercial or three. C'mon people, you can't turn on the TV and not see Mahomes these days.
To Oakland sports fans, a team that they can love and will love them back.
To Bill Belichick, the patience to survive the transition to the college game. College football is more interesting with him in it.
To Pat McAfee, the freedom and range to keep doing what he's been doing. If Caitlin Clark is the 2024 sports person of the year, McAfee – and his glorious kicking events for big money on GameDay – has been the sports media person of this year.
To Rob Manfred, the wisdom to leave well enough alone. The recent rules changes have greatly benefited MLB action and watchability. The rumored "Golden AB rule" will be an unmitigated disaster.
To the NCAA book editors, free health care for all the carpal tunnel syndrome treatments for those having to rewrite the rules and record books with the expanded eligibility rules.
To Mike Tyson, a peaceful retirement. Just walk away, Iron Mike.
To Juan Soto, a GoFundMe account because I'm not sure how Soto will make the ends meet on a $765 million contract with the Mets.
To Shohei, a healthy right arm, because the 50-50 hitter being a No. 1 starting pitcher is mind-blowing for the possibilities.
As for Ms. Clark, I hope she gets the respect and appreciation from the rest of the WNBA that her play, her presence and her PR power warrant.
Which leads us to ...
From a slew of you
What did you think of Caitlin Clark's comments in the Time story naming her Athlete of the Year in 2024?
Gang
So, Clark has somehow become a lightning rod for cultural conversation above and beyond basketball.
One of the WNBA owners – Washington's Sheila Johnson – said she disagreed with Time naming Clark the athlete of the year in 2024. Johnson said Time should have "put the whole WNBA on that cover."
Shut up with that. I watched more WNBA this year than I did in all the years of its existence before 2024, and all the games had two things in common: Watched with my daughter and CC was playing.
That's dumb, Ms. Johnson, especially when the women's basketball moment of the year was Clark in the Final Four. More on that in a moment.
Most of the chatter about Clark's interview – and some of the things a lot of y'all asked about – were on Clark's comments on privilege. Here's what she said in Time:
"I want to say I've earned every single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege. A lot of those players in the league that have been really good have been Black players. This league has kind of been built on them. The more we can appreciate that, highlight that, talk about that ... I think it's very important. I have to continue to try to change that. The more we can elevate Black women, that's going to be a beautiful thing."
OK. In some ways, I feel bad for the unwanted racial hot spot Clark finds herself in.
Our history in America is filled with dark periods of various forms of bigotry and hatred. Pretending that this is not the case is denying history and is harmful.
And if Clark feels privilege, OK. But there are privileges other than skin color in play as well. Economic privilege, home life privilege, education privilege.
I appreciate Clark and her skills and the way she handles her fame.
I have no beef with any athlete voicing their opinion; in no way did I take it as CC apologizing for being white. The Washington owner and the rest of the league need to understand that if all the previous players who helped build the WNBA – which was barely financial secure for decades and now is looking at expansion because CC is that big a star – Clark's impact has been greater than all of those before her in terms of attention and attendance.
Have a great weekend, friends.