Let's handle our business.
Rushmore of underrated sequels: "Mad Max." Great call Vader. "Karate Kid 2." "Lethal Weapon 2." "Star Trek, the Wrath of Khan."
Rushmore of best second sports siblings in baseball: Sandy Alomar. Ramon Martinez. Jim Perry. Joe Niekro.
Rushmore of all-time medical-based TV shows. "M*A*S*H," "ER," "St. Elsewhere" and "Grey's Anatomy." Sorry, "House."
Rushmore of best single pitching seasons of the last 50 years. Before we get to the last 50 years and names you know, let's ponder what "Old Hoss" Radburn did in 1884. He threw 73 complete games and had 60 wins with a 1.38 ERA and 442 Ks in 678 innings. OMG.
As for the last 50 years — and Steve Carlton just missed with his 1972 season in which he had 27 wins for a Phillies team that won 59 games all season — let's go here:
Randy Johnson in 2002, which was his fourth straight Cy Young season. He went 24-5 with 334 Ks, eight complete games and four shutouts. Maddox in 1995 (19-2, 1.63 ERA), Pedro in 1999 when he went 23-4 with a 2.07 ERA and 313 Ks. Finally, give me Dwight Gooden at the height of his pre-coke powers in 1985. He was 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA and 268 Ks in 276.2 innings. He had 16 complete games and eight shutouts that season.
Thoughts?
Rules being rules, here's Paschall on UT, Hargis on high school football and some fat-faced fella on the 180 that has happened with Signal Mountain football this fall.
From a crew of you:
Is Shohei Ohtani the best there ever was?
Gang:
It's getting harder and harder to say no to that.
Sure, longevity matters, and baseball loves its numbers more than just about every other sport.
But dude went 6-for-6 with 17 total bases, 10 RBIs, two steals and did it in the game in which he became the first MLB player in history to go 50 homers, 50 steals in a season. It may have been the single best game ever.
Seriously.
And this is comes with the whispers that he may be ready to pitch in the playoffs after his arm injury.
He will need some career numbers to get into the GOAT team photo, but his 2024 is right there with Barry Bonds in the early 2000s as the best season I can ever recall.
From JB:
Jay, I wouldn't have taken Bryce Young until the fourth or fifth round, all because of his small size. And I sure wouldn't have mortgaged the franchise's future to get him. Amazing to me the desperate moves these teams make by people who should be smarter.
Heisman Trophy curse is real, after all.
But ... isn't Kyler Murray starting to have some success? He's in his 6th year now, right? He's started this season pretty well anyway, and he's had plenty of criticism during his short career. Sometimes these young players just need time?
JB,
There is simply no possible way to put a value on patience and coaching in terms of QB development.
Better yet, as much as we give Tom Brady the majority of the credit for the Patriots' run, if TB12 had been [picked by, say, the Lions back in the day], is he Chris Chandler 2.0? If even that?
Kyler Murray is a great starting point. And let's look at what Justin Fields is doing and could become in Pittsburgh these days.
This points us to another question.
Which former first-round QB failed because of his environment? I'll start with Tim Couch, who was destined to fail in Cleveland and had some legit skills.
Thoughts?
From MJ:
Is Jalen Hurts a Bama QB? He did lead them to 2 Natty appearances, but was benched before finishing the second. Sat on the bench his junior year, then finished 2nd behind Burrow for the Heisman as a Sooner. In the NFL, even with some questions about his overall play, he's the only semi-Saban QB still standing among Tua, Bryce and Mac, yet Saban benched him. Saban and Bama already get credit for everything else — can't we at least find some fault here?
MJ:
Hurts is a Sooner. Period. Where you finished is where you are.
Like Burrow is an LSU Tiger, not a Buckeye.
But your biggest point is the fact that Saban dominated — DOMINATED — college football for almost two decades and did it without a bona fide NFL star QB1.
That's amazing, right?
That said, a roster of former Tide players in the modern NFL is winning 13-plus games a year and facing Patty Mahomes and Andy Reid in the AFC title game.
From Spy:
Looks like the Kirk Cousins investment paid off last night. Desmond Ridder does not lead that drive. Nor does Marcus Mariota.
But for those of us who had the Eagles -5, did the defense leave the game early?
Was it all fastballs last night, or did she mix in drops too?
Spy,
So last part first. No drop balls from the Princess 5-at-10 as I sit on a bucket at a local ballpark in the greater Signal Mountain area. She is slinging it, though. So there's that.
I am 100% on board with the Cousins signings, and you are right, that drive was the kind of thing that's turns seasons. And ruins parlays.
But if Cousins is him and can be for the next few seasons, why did they draft a back-up QB at 8 overall and start the clock ticking on his rookie deal?
That's GM malpractice, to be honest.
From Steeler Fan:
Hey Jay,
Earlier this week, you said that the Oklahoma Sooners might have to "gird their loins" to beat Tennessee and Texas.
I'm thinking of girding my own loins, but I don't know how. Come to think of it: Where do your loins start and stop? Also, once you locate your loins, how do you gird them?
I think Steeler great Jack Lambert knocked a guy's loins off one time, but I'm pretty sure that's a personal foul now. Might have been in a game against the Detroit Loins.
Steeler Fan
Well said.
You can have the final word, unless of course Jack Lambert needs a word. Or maybe Jack Ham. Or Mean Joe. Man, those Steelers defenses were filled with dudes I pray I never see in a dark alley.
Have a great weekend, friends.