Ole Miss took two of three over Georgia, Donte Moncrief was selected in the third round of the NFL draft by the Indianapolis Colts, Michael Sam's selection in the seventh round by the St. Louis Rams drew a firestorm of reaction and the NBA playoffs marched on. My thoughts on those stories and more --- and a tribute to my mom on Mother's Day --- follow here, thanks to my friends at Grenada Nissan.
1. It was dramatic, but Ole Miss did what it had to do this weekend against Georgia. The Rebels simply had to win the series against the Bulldogs, and while it took an extra inning, they did just that. Ole Miss won Friday and again on Sunday to improve to 37-15 overall and 17-10 in the Southeastern Conference.
It's just one guy's relatively uninformed opinion, but Ole Miss might have a regional host site locked up at this point. Again, it's just my opinion, but I think the Rebels head to Texas A&M this weekend a series win away from securing a national seed.
Bottom line: There's work to be done still, but there's not one soul in red and blue who wouldn't have taken 17-10 in league play had it been offered back on Feb. 1.
As I always do, I'll leave the analysis to Chase Parham, but I will say those who are still questioning Mike Bianco's viability as a head coach should just stop now. They look silly. His job is secure. Heck, he likely deserves an extension, regardless of what this team does the rest of the way.
2. It's easy to say Donte Moncrief made a mistake leaving a year early, but I think the wide receiver more than landed on his feet when the Indianapolis Colts drafted him in the second round Friday night. Moncrief will be an asset to a strong organization, and he'll likely learn a lot from Reggie Wayne and ultimately flourish as a top target for Andrew Luck.
Moncrief needed to go in the first three rounds to justify his decision to leave Ole Miss prior to his senior season. In another draft, Moncrief would have gone early in the second round, in all likelihood, but this was a remarkably deep draft pool. The bet here is Moncrief does extremely well as a pro.
A handful of other Rebels signed free agent deals. Pierce Burton signed with Minnesota. Ja-Mes Logan is headed to New England. Tyler Campbell will camp with the Chicago Bears. Emmanuel McCray will begin his professional career in St. Louis. Jeff Scott signed with the Cincinnati Bengals. As someone who covered their entire collegiate careers, I'll be cheering for all of those guys.
You'll know whether Ole Miss' program has been completely rebuilt at this time two years from now. Strong programs produce more than one draft choice. Ole Miss has recruited at a high level for a couple of years now. When the Rebels begin to put multiple players into the NFL, particularly when they're being drafted in the first three rounds, recruiting top-level prospects will become easier. That will lead to more draft choices, making recruiting easier. It's sort of a circle --- a wheel, if you will. Ole Miss is beginning to turn it.
3. Media sources covering the Auburn program expect Ole Miss offensive lineman Austin Golson to announce his intention to transfer to Auburn Monday. Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze confirmed to me via text over the weekend that Golson had been given his release "to speak" to other programs. Auburn media sources said that release was limited to Auburn and Florida State. My expectation is Golson will indeed transfer to Auburn, and I expect Ole Miss will release him to do so.
Golson will likely claim a hardship based on family illnesses, and the NCAA will have to decide whether he's eligible to play next season or if he'll have to sit out the 2014 season due to NCAA transfer rules.
Freeze is going to draw criticism from Ole Miss fans about this decision if he does indeed grant Golson his release, and that criticism has some validity. I'm not sure other SEC West coaches would release their players to Ole Miss --- or other SEC West programs --- if the roles were reversed.
The flip side is Freeze seems determined to run his program his way, and that's admirable. Yes, Golson was in position to help the Rebels on the field next season, but if he's unhappy in Oxford or feels the need to be elsewhere, there's really no reason to try to force him to stay.
I have no idea what Golson's family situation is or is not. I don't know if Golson's desire to leave --- as rumored --- is due to his desire to play left tackle and Laremy Tunsil's hold on that position for the next 2-3 years.
I do know the Rebels are thin on the offensive line, and this decision will be scrutinized, especially if Golson ends up filling a position of need for Auburn this fall.
4. With the 249th overall pick in the seventh round of the 2014 NFL Draft, the St. Louis Rams made history and selected Missouri defensive end Michael Sam. Sam was a consensus All-American and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year as a senior at Missouri.
Sam, who came out as gay in media interviews earlier this year, was in San Diego watching with friends and family at the home of his agent, Joe Barkett of Empire Athletes. ESPN and the NFL Network had cameras there and showed Sam's reaction.
Sam was on the phone bending over, with his boyfriend hugging him and rubbing his left bicep. When Sam got off the phone, the tears started. He gave his boyfriend a big kiss and a long hug as he cried and his eyes reddened. After, they shared cake ? and another kiss.
That set off a firestorm of reaction on social media --- and on this message board --- that ran the gamut of possible emotions. ESPN treated Sam's drafting as a monumental event. Some questioned whether his stock was hurt by his sexuality. Others wondered if he was drafted by the Rams as a public relations gesture.
"He'll get you coverage sacks," ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said. "He'll play in the first quarter just like he does in the fourth quarter. 100 percent."
Some team personnel officials told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel before the draft that they didn't see Sam's game transitioning to the NFL.
"Most of his production was hustle stuff," an NFC personnel official told the Journal Sentinel. "There's production, but he's short, he's not a really good athlete and he doesn't play good against the run."
He continued: "He's kind of a one-task pass rusher. Just run up the field. And they swallow him up and kind of push him around."
Hopefully, Sam will now be judged strictly as a football player. If he can get to the quarterback, the Rams will use him. If he can't, Jeff Fisher and Co. will cut him. That's the nature of the NFL. One can either play or he can't.
On a personal note, I haven't known what to do with some of the homophobic message board posts made since Sam's televised reaction. Personally, it didn't bother me. I thought ESPN's coverage was somewhat over the top, sure, but I've never spent a nanosecond worried about Sam's sexuality. That said, I think people have a right to express their opinions, even if I completely disagree.
Some posts went too far, I thought, and I deleted a few and locked a thread as well. I know I'll be glad when a player's sexuality isn't national news. Here's hoping if Sam is good enough to make the Rams, his skills on the field --- not his private life off of it --- will become the storyline. Here's also hoping that if Sam doesn't make the Rams' final roster, the franchise won't be labeled as bigots for cutting him.
5. ESPN representatives have spent the last couple of weeks in the middle Tennessee area working on an SEC Storied documentary on former Vanderbilt football star Brad Gaines and Ole MIss' Chucky Mullins. It is tentatively scheduled to air on Sept. 3 on the new SEC Network, which debuts in August.
This season will mark the 25th anniversary of the hit Mullins, a defensive back, made on Gaines, a running back, which left Mullins instantly paralyzed and eventually ended his life. This season's Vanderbilt-Ole Miss game will be played at LP Field on Sept. 6.
Gaines was deeply affected by the incident, which occurred during Ole Miss' homecoming win over the Commodores in 1989. He visited Mullins several times while he was hospitalized in Memphis and they became close during Mullins' rehabilitation. After Mullins died in 1991, Gaines began a ritual he has observed every year since, visiting Mullins' grave in his hometown of Russellville, Ala., on Christmas, the anniversary of the hit (Oct. 28) and the day Mullins died (May 6).
ESPN started work on the documentary last season when a crew visited Gaines at his home in Gallatin, accompanied him to the Vanderbilt-Kentucky football game and went to church with him in Old Hickory the following day. ESPN officials told The Tennessean the documentary will focus primarily on Gaines, who told the newspaper he has spent 30-40 hours with ESPN during the filming.
ESPN also interviewed former Vanderbilt quarterback John Gromos, who threw the pass to Gaines on the play. Gromos is now the Commodores radio analyst. ESPN spoke with Gaines' brothers Chris, who was an All-America linebacker at Vanderbilt in 1987, and Greg, who played at Tennessee (1977-80) and spent nine seasons in the NFL, along with his parents Buddy and Bettye and his wife, Telisha. The network has also been to Russellville to talk to Mullins' guardian, Carver Phillips.
I hope ESPN does the story justice. I was in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium the day Mullins was hurt, and I was there again a week later when the Rebels met LSU. That game, one in which Ole Miss and LSU fans alike emptied their wallets into fried chicken buckets to raise money for Mullins' medical needs, remains one of the most powerful experiences I've ever had. I thought that afternoon epitomized all that is good about sports --- and humanity, for that matter.
6. As CBSSports.com's Jon Solomon wrote this week, "The wheels are turning in college athletics. Northwestern players have tried to unionize, the Ed O'Bannon trial is scheduled for June, other lawsuits are getting started related to capping the value of college athletes, and two Congressional hearings are coming over the next week. Meanwhile, everyone involved in college athletics struggles to turn the NCAA ship."
Meanwhile, the NCAA is trying to figure out how to go forward, and it's not an easy decision.
"A number of things we're working on right now -- litigation, restructuring the NCAA -- it's going to be a very long horizon before they're solved," Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby told CBSSports.com Wednesday. "I wish I had a crystal ball. You'd be more than willing to do the work if you knew where it was going to end. But we don't so we're slogging through it."
As Solomon wrote, both sides of the debate over giving athletes more rights and compensation agree on this point: There's not a whole lot of faith that Congress will solve anything.
"Would I like government involvement? Absolutely, if it can absolutely help get a solution to a problem," Sonny Vaccaro, the former shoe marketer turned O'Bannon lawsuit consultant, told CBSSports.com. "This particular fight is not a political fight, which you know it's going to be. I would hope there are people in government who can put aside their political views and solve issues for thousands and thousands of athletes. That's why the courts would be a better solution."
"I think there are judicial solutions, there are legislative solutions and there probably associational solutions within the conferences and the NCAA," Bowlsby said. "You can always count on Congress to hold hearings on anything that is high profile."
Interestingly, some coaches and administrators are fighting back, so to speak, against the "woe is me" narrative being portrayed by some student-athletes and the lobbyists/activists fighting for them.
"I think everybody knows we can make it a little bit better -- and that's all we have to do is just make it a little bit better, whether it's allowing them three meals a day or a little extra stipend or paying for parents to come to games," Arizona football coach Rich Rodriguez told CBSSports.com. "But I don't think we need to paint a picture that these student-athletes are living under a bridge."
"If everybody wants to be professionals, they can make everybody professionals but that also means the guys that don't do their job, we fire them, and the guys who do a great job, we give them raises," Washington State football coach Mike Leach said.
USC athletic director Pat Haden said a post-graduation licensing fund is a "possibility" as a new NCAA model gets discussed.
Stanford football coach David Shaw, in talking to Solomon, pointed out the positives of athletes leaving college without significant debt. He drew a line when asked whether college players should be allowed to reach their market value when it may never be higher for many of them.
"Once you go down that road, tell me what happens to college football," Shaw said. "Because I see Pandora's box. You're talking about agents, you're talking about not recruiting, you're talking negotiation. That's a completely different world. You're not even talking about education anymore."
Bowlsby said it's an "unknown" whether autonomy will keep Division I under one tent. It's a stick that major conference commissioners have brought out several times in recent years against smaller conferences.
"I know that we have to adopt a system that allows us to oversee and manage the organizations that we have," Bowlsby said. "We'll do whatever we have to do to make that happen. Right now, we're a very significant minority among Division I -- 65 schools out of 350 -- and we don't look much like those other 275.
"There's an inability to move through the NCAA system a piece of intact legislation that can make its way through the system with the intent intact and to be functional on the backside," Bowlsby said. "I just think it's virtually impossible to do that right now."
7. Jerseys are expensive, and with that in mind, the New England Patriots are making a new offer for fans tired of buying a player's jersey only to see the player leave the team before year's end.
According to ESPN.com's Darren Rovell, the franchise will offer a jersey rebate if a fan buys a player's jersey and that player is no longer under contract with the team within a year of the purchase.
The rebate isn't an exchange. The franchise is offering fans who purchased a jersey from the team's website or stadium shop a 25 percent discount on their next jersey if the aforementioned circumstances unfold.
Fans will have a two-month window of opportunity after the player is no longer under contract with the Patriots to make their purchase and receive the discount. Fans do not have to exchange the old jersey, either.
The offer comes after a year of transience and turbulence in the franchise. New England signed Tim Tebow in June 2013 only to cut him before the regular season. The team also lost cornerback Aqib Talib to the Denver Broncos and LeGarrette Blount to the Pittsburgh Steelers this spring in free agency. The Patriots also lost tight end Aaron Hernandez to prison.
According to Rovelle, there are three tiers of officially licensed NFL Nike jerseys and the discount applies to all of them. The Game Jersey, the cheapest adult-sized replica, costs $100. The Limited Jersey, which has embroidered twill numbers, will cost $150 this season, up from $135. And the Elite Jersey, which is the closest to what the players wear on the field, will retail for $295, up from $250 last season.
I can make this easier for everyone. Adults should not wear jerseys. See? All better.
8. Shelly Sterling, estranged wife of banned owner Donald Sterling and legal co-owner of the team, is not going away. And the team's future is about to get a lot stormier.
Shortly before the Los Angeles Clippers lost Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal series to Oklahoma City, Shelly Sterling told The Los Angeles Times she believes she is legally entitled to own the team despite the league's effort to strip it from her husband, and indicated she would fight to keep it.
"I don't know, I'm not prepared to make a comment on it, I would like to wait," Clippers coach Doc Rivers told The Times.
Shelly Sterling, according to The Times, is featured on a video that shows her posing as a health inspector entering the Sterling-owned apartments of minority renters. The video was part of a lawsuit in which the plaintiffs testified that her intention was to, "harass and intimidate African American and Latino tenants."
Shelly Sterling, according to The Times, was featured in depositions in which it is alleged that she claimed Latinos were "filthy," and that she once called a tenant a "who do you think you are, you black (bleep)" after he attempted to reduce his rent. One deposition even claimed that she told a tenant she agreed with her husband's opinion of African Americans, saying, "See, Sterling is right, they do smell."
Donald Sterling reached a $2.8-million settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in 2009 on these allegations that he discriminated against building tenants based on their race, but never admitted any wrongdoing.
It's rumored in NBA circles that several Clippers --- including guard Chris Paul and forward Blake Griffin --- could petition the league to be released from their contracts if the franchise hasn't been taken away from the Sterling family and sold to an outside entity prior to next season. Donald Sterling is expected to put up quite a legal battle against the NBA. In other words, an ugly story will likely get much uglier in the coming months.
Other thoughts from around the NBA:
A. Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Garnett and Miami Heat guard Ray Allen, once fast friends and teammates in Boston, do not get along these days. The duo won a title in 2008 and made it to the NBA Finals in 2010, but Garnett never forgave Allen for leaving as a free agent to join Miami in the summer of 2012, just months after the Heat ended Boston's season in the Eastern Conference finals. Garnett ignored Allen's attempt at an embrace during a 2012 regular season game, and he and Paul Pierce kept up the silent treatment even after joining the Nets in 2013. Allen has been very good in the Heat's series against Brooklyn, one Miami leads 2-1 entering Monday's Game 4 at the Barclays Center. Garnett has been a disaster, a shell of himself.
B. The Thunder's Sunday afternoon collapse was an epic fail of mammoth proportions. The Thunder led by 22 in the first quarter, by 15 in the fourth, but couldn't put the Clippers away. The series returns to Oklahoma City on Tuesday night with the pressure back on Scott Brooks' crew. If the Thunder end up losing the series, they'll look back on the final nine minutes Sunday and wonder what could have been.
C. Meanwhile, San Antoinio can finish a sweep of Portland --- and set up a week of rest --- with a win over the Blazers on Monday night. The Spurs, since nearly losing to Dallas in the opening round, have been fantastic in their past four games, playing at a remarkably high level. The Heat should be worried. San Antonio is the one team left that can dictate play against Miami, and the Spurs have to be more than pleased that the Clippers and Thunder appear poised to play seven emotionally intense, physically draining games.
D. Paul George is back. He scored 39 points in Indiana's 95-92 Game 4 win over Washington Sunday night, giving the Pacers a 3-1 series lead and lending hope to guys like me that the Eastern Conference Finals just might be the epic showdown we all envisioned months ago. The Pacers are playing better over the past week or so, perhaps just in time to give the Heat a real challenge.
9. Soon after landing in Pittsburgh on Thursday, the New York Rangers' Martin St. Louis learned that his mother, 63-year-old France St. Louis, had unexpectedly died from a heart attack. St. Louis flew back to New York to meet up with his family, and then flew to Montreal to be with his father. He then flew back to Pittsburgh on Friday and played in New York's series-extending 5-1 win over the Penguins in Game 5. He scored a goal in the first period of Game 6 Sunday, hopefully one his mother had a great view of on Mother's Day.
St. Louis told ESPN.com he spoke with his father and decided he was going to go back and play the game.
"It's always been like that for me," St. Louis said. "Once you get on the ice, I'm not going to say I forgot my whole situation ? she was with me the whole way ? but this is probably the most comfortable place that you can be as a hockey player."
According to media reports, there was a brief talk, in which St. Louis was thanked for his return, before team meetings just hours before puck drop. Even Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby made a special stop near the Rangers' dressing room to pay his condolences to the well-respected veteran before the game began.
The Rangers won again Sunday night, forcing a Game 7 and hopefully making France St. Louis awfully proud.
10. Here's a 10 Thoughts first --- a note on tennis. Remind me to ask Chase, a tennis enthusiast, his thoughts on this one.
Eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi says Rafael Nadal, and not Roger Federer, is the greatest tennis player of all-time. Federer has 17 Grand Slam singles titles, with his last Grand Slam victory coming at Wimbledon in 2012. Nadal, who is currently the world's No. 1 ranked player, has 13 Grand Slam titles.
"I'd put Nadal number one and Federer number two," Agassi said to Singapore's Straits Times newspaper, via aljazeera.com. "Federer separated himself from the field for four years. He separated himself from Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt. Nadal had to deal with Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray in the golden age of tennis. He has done what he has done and he's not done yet."
Nadal has beaten Federer 23 times in their 33 all-time meetings, and Agassi said grand slam titles shouldn't be the only thing that decides who is the greatest ever. Federer was ranked No. 1 for a record 237 consecutive weeks and, like Nadal, has won all four Grand Slams. Agassi also heaped praise on Federer.
"He has won multiple (majors), every single one (more than once) except the Australian Open ? and give him another year on that," Agassi said. "It's just remarkable to me what (Nadal) has done, and he has done it all during Federer's prime."
11. As more and more baseball players suffer arm injuries as a result of overuse or simply too much throwing without enough rest, many pitchers are turning to Tommy John surgery before it's necessary --- as a performance-enhancer. Dr. James Andrews, as chronicled in a fine column by CBSSports.com's Gregg Doyel (linked below), finds the trend more than a little disturbing.
12. On Tuesday, Kevin Durant turned his MVP acceptance speech into one of the greatest Mother's Day gifts ever. Durant tearfully extolled the virtues of his mother, Wanda Pratt, before looking her in the eye and telling her she is "the real MVP."
I can't top that. I watched the speech with my daughter, Caroline, and my son, Carson, and all three of us were in tears. It was moving and poignant, a speech that likely made Durant the most popular athlete among women in the universe. As Jeff Van Gundy said during Sunday's Game 4 between OKC and the Clippers, it was the best sports speech since a dying Lou Gehrig said he was the "luckiest man on the face of the earth."
Of course, Durant isn't the only man who was shaped by a strong woman. I know I was. Unlike Durant, who was raised by a single mother, I have been blessed to have two loving, supportive parents in my life. I've been lucky. If anything, my mom, Judy, has been guilty of loving my two brothers and me too hard.
Like Durant's mother, my mom (and dad) always made sure we had food on the table. They always made sure we had clothes --- usually the latest fashions, no matter how ridiculous --- on our backs. She held us to high standards. She demanded effort in the classroom, made sure we learned the importance of doing our best and fulfilling our responsibilities. I have no doubt she's been disappointed --- and probably devastated at times --- by some of the decisions we've made in our lives. She's undoubtedly disagreed with some of the decisions we've made in raising our own children --- her grandchildren --- but there's never been a moment when I've doubted her love for me.
I'm lucky. My mom remains a parental presence in my life today, but she's so much more. She's a trusted confidant, a phenomenal friend and one of my biggest supporters. She reads my work and listens to my podcasts.
I know I've driven her nuts over the years. I didn't take school as seriously as I should have or could have. I could've and should've made better grades. I wasn't all that confident with girls, and I probably frustrated her beyond words when I didn't have dates to homecoming dances or either my junior or senior prom. My mom has always told me to "Be sweet," a trait that I've never mastered. Thankfully, she doesn't spend much time on Twitter.
My mom is tough. Her mother died when she was in her late teens. Her dad died when I was 2 or 3 years old, the result of a surgery gone wrong. If she's ever felt sorry for herself, I haven't seen it. Instead, she is strong. She survived breast cancer and a broken hip. She is a caretaker. To this day, she helps take care of my dad's older sister, Lea, who is suffering from advanced Alzheimer's.
When I think of my mom, though, a few moments always come to mind. Indulge me, if you will. I'm in a reflective mood today. One was when I was 12. I was pitching for F&S Gulf and we were playing a team coached by J.B. Martin. It was a six-inning game and we led, 2-1, going into the final frame. Martin, in an attempt to rally his team, told them, "This guy can't pitch." That pissed me off, even at 12. During the final inning, my mom yelled from the stands something about buying me a peanut buster parfait at Dairy Queen if I could strike the next guy out. I struck out the side to secure the win (a rare athletic exploit, by the way). In the handshake line, when I got to Martin, I shook his hand and said, "Can't pitch, huh?" He yanked me into the dugout and gave me, as Beaver Cleaver would say, the business. My mom gave it to me a second time in the car on the way home. Needless to say, there was no trip to Dairy Queen. As mad as she most certainly was at Martin, I was going to learn a lesson about respect that night.
At the end of my junior year of high school, I ran for student body president. She threw herself into the campaign, spending countless hours on signs and helping me with my speech. When I won, she was thrilled. I think she was happier than I.
Some 10 years later, my wife, Laura, and I lost a child to miscarriage. I blamed myself. The weekend before it happened, we were preparing a nursery in our house in Mobile and I got Laura to help me move a piece of furniture. Days later, we were staring at an ultrasound, devastated at the lack of a heartbeat on the screen. Our doctor told us that had nothing to do with it, but I was crestfallen.
That weekend, my parents and my grandmother came to Mobile. On that Saturday night, we went to my Uncle Lyn's house in Fairhope. It was a June evening that I'll never forget. It was the last time I saw my grandmother, Mildred, who died that September, and I loved her dearly. What I remember most, however, was standing on Lyn's front porch, just me and my mom. Everyone else was inside. Outside, the breeze was soft off Mobile Bay. The sun was setting, and I was sad.
I don't remember talking about the miscarriage. I don't remember talking about anything. I just remember being comforted by her presence.
Happy Mother's Day, Mom. Thanks for always just being there. Now, about that peanut buster parfait
TJ surgery the new performance-enhancer
