It’s summer. News, at least Ole Miss-related news, is slow, and if I’m honest, my thoughts are with the family of the 10-year-old boy killed in a tragic accident at a baseball tournament Saturday evening in Tupelo. So this week’s version of 10 Weekend Thoughts is going to be even more scattershot than usual. This week, I take a look back at conference realignment, visit the Ole Miss basketball program and touch on the NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup, the St. Louis Cardinals and more, thanks to Oxford-based RE/MAX agent Harry Alexander
1. Ole Miss got a start on its 2016 basketball recruiting class Saturday when it landed a commitment from Cape Fear (N.C.) Community College forward Tyrek Coger. Coger came out of nowhere, proverbially, and his commitment didn’t do much to excite Ole Miss fans.
Weight and academics have haunted Coger since he committed to Missouri in 2013. He’s gotten into better shape since transferring to Cape Fear, however, and the Rebels are in desperate need of big men in their program. According to sources, if all goes according to plan, Coger won’t be the only big to sign with Ole Miss prior to the 2016-17 season.
Speaking of big men, the Rebels are short on them this year too. Dwight Coleby is off to Kansas, a development that is mind-boggling to anyone inside or close to the program. The good news for the Rebels is Terry Brutus does appear to be back to his pre-ACL injury form. Brutus could earn major minutes in the Rebels’ rotation.
By the way, the Rebels’ coaches are really excited about what they’ve seen from newcomers Rasheed Brooks, Donte Fitzpatrick and Terence Davis. There’s a sense inside the program that the newcomers provide an influx of athleticism that has been lacking at times in recent seasons.
Finally, there’s nothing but optimism regarding Stefan Moody, who had surgery to repair a stress fracture in his tibia. Ole Miss’ coaching staff believes Moody will be fully healthy in no more than three months, meaning he’ll be 100 percent in plenty of time for the start of his senior season.
2. I get emails almost every day from fans complaining about preseason predictions in the SEC West. Mostly, the correspondence I receive is from Ole Miss fans complaining about being picked to finish fifth or so in the SEC West in 2015.
As I’ve said here for a while now, I get the frustration; I think the Rebels are better than some of the national media types do. I think many national writers and magazine editors remember the final few games of the 2014 season more than they do the first two-thirds. I think they look at an Ole Miss defense that lost Senquez Golson and Cody Prewitt and figure the Rebels will take a small step back on that side of the ball. They look at road games at Alabama, Auburn, Florida and Mississippi State and see at least two _ and probably three _ losses.
Personally, I think they’re wrong. As I’ve said, I think Ole Miss is going to be improved on defense. I think the Rebels will be a veteran-laden, focused team more than capable of winning in hostile environments such as Tuscaloosa, Auburn and Starkville.
However, the West is loaded, and some team or group of teams is going to finish last. I’m on record; I’m picking Auburn to win the West and Ole Miss to finish third in the division. Unlike some of the Pollyanna emails I receive, I do see a roster that has deficiencies. If I were an Ole Miss fan, I’d worry about the running back position, the lack of proven depth on the offensive line and question marks at middle linebacker. Oh yeah, I’d worry about breaking in a new quarterback, knowing he will have to make his first SEC start at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
My advice to those irritated by preseason magazines: Chill. They’ll have no impact on the upcoming season whatsoever other than perhaps serving as a bit of offseason motivational material for the Paul Jacksons of the world. But there’s no denying this: Some team with high hopes and a $4 million-plus head coach is going to underachieve and finish in last place. That’s an ironclad guarantee.
3. If you were a former Ole Miss baseball player now toiling in the major leagues, this was a tough week. Cincinnati’s Zack Cozart suffered a season-ending knee injury. Washington’s Aaron Barrett was placed on the 15-day disabled list with shoulder soreness and St. Louis’ Lance Lynn was added to the same list with forearm discomfort.
Barrett and Lynn should return to form soon. For Cozart, however, the timing of the injury had to be quite frustrating. The former Ole Miss shortstop had struggled to put a complete season together since breaking into the major leagues in 2011. This season, Cozart was hitting .258 with nine home runs and 28 RBI when he tore ligaments in his knee. He had made just three errors and had a career-high fielding percentage of .986.
His injury was just another reason for Cincinnati to seriously consider tearing apart this team and building for the future. St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Chicago are considerably better clubs in the National League Central, and the Reds have assets _ Johnny Cueto, Mike Leake, Aroldis Chapman, to name a few _ that could allow the franchise to stockpile quality young talent for the future.
4. The Chicago Blackhawks can clinch the Stanley Cup with a Game 6 win tonight over the Tampa Bay Lightning at the United Center in Chicago. You can still make it to Chicago on time. Tickets on the front row, with just glass separating you from the ice, are on sale – for $25,000 a pop.
I can’t imagine what tonight in the Windy City will be like. The bars and restaurants on Madison will be jumping by noon, and the city will be insane tonight if the Blackhawks can finish the Lightning and bring the Cup back to Chicago. But the prices _ some tickets are going for as much as $70,000 per seat on the secondary markets _ have made me shudder.
My friend, Jose Fortuno, and I have a pact. If the Cubs make the World Series (I know, I know; insert joke here), we’re getting tickets and going. As I told him, it’s looking like we’ll meet up in the American League city. Imagine the secondary ticket market for a potential World Series clinching game at Wrigley Field. Seriously, the amounts would dwarf tonight’s prices at the United Center.
By the way, it’s been one hell of a series. I love all sports (well, there are some exceptions), but there’s simply nothing like playoff hockey.
5. The Golden State Warriors are now just one win away from the franchise’s first NBA championship in 40 years. The Warriors’ 104-91 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers gave Golden State a 3-2 advantage. The series shifts back to Cleveland Tuesday night for Game 6.
Sunday night will be remembered as the game Steph Curry put his indelible stamp on the NBA Finals. Curry did what us NBA junkies have seen him do all season on Sunday, knocking down one ridiculous 3-pointer after another and preventing Cleveland from swinging momentum its way throughout the second half. Curry scored 37 points on 23 shots _ we can officially stop the Matthew Dellavadova love affair now, by the way _ and forced the Cavaliers to play small.
Afterwards, Cleveland’s LeBron James, he of the triple-double in defeat, insisted he was still confident in his Cavaliers, adding that he believes he’s “the best player in the world.”
James is that, by the way. He’s also the most exhausted player in the world, and it appears the Cavaliers are simply too depleted to keep up with the deeper, more versatile Warriors. Still, James’ performance in these playoffs has been legendary.
After Sunday’s win, Curry said the Warriors are just trying to fatigue James in hopes that he won’t be able to singlehandedly take over a game in the fourth quarter. That strategy appears to be working.
http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2015/story/_/id/13071387/lebron-james-unfathomable-workload
6. Virtual reality has come to college football. Multiple companies are getting into the market, and coaches who are using it _ Ole Miss is among the programs that have some form of virtual reality software at its fingertips _ say it’s changing the way the game is taught.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...ality-training-college-quarterbacks/28725797/
7. Detroit’s David Price did nothing earlier this week to tamper down speculation that he’s headed to the Chicago Cubs after the 2015 season. The free agent market is already setting up pitchers such as Price, Cueto, Jordan Zimmermann, Doug Fister and others.
However, the free agency that could potentially rock baseball is still a couple of years away. Bryce Harper will be all of 25 years old when his deal with the Washington Nationals expires. His agent is Scott Boras. The New York Yankees have several deals going off their books in the next couple of years. So when the Nationals played at Yankee Stadium last week, Harper’s future might have been a bit of a target.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...y-ready-for-the-bryce-harper-era-in-new-york/
8. Adam Wainwright is out for the season. Matt Holliday and Matt Adams are on the disabled list, with Adams expected to miss another couple of months. Lynn and Jordan Walden are on the disabled list as well.
In a division that features the red-hot Pirates (35-27, winners of four in a row) and the up-and-coming Cubs (34-27, seven games over .500 for the first time since 2009), the Cardinals’ injuries should be devastating.
They haven’t been. Instead, St. Louis is 41-21, six games ahead of Pittsburgh and 6 ½ ahead of Chicago, owners of the best record in the majors. There’s no sign that Mike Matheny’s team is going to cool off, either. It’s a testament, St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz wrote Sunday, to the Cardinals’ pitching and stubbornness.
http://m.stltoday.com/sports/column...5773-945d-8119aa794a0b.html?mobile_touch=true
9. Jeb Bush will announce his candidacy for president today in Miami. I won’t delve (well, not too deeply, anyway) into politics in this space, other than to say I find Bush’s candidacy fascinating on multiple fronts. From an ideological perspective, the former Florida governor is much more like his father than he is his older brother. If he had any other last name _ his bumper stickers and the like, by the way, read “Jeb!” _ I honestly believe he’d be the frontrunner to win the Republican nomination.
He might be, anyway. I hope so, and not just because I tend to agree with him on some major policy issues. A Jeb Bush-Hillary Clinton race for the White House would be intoxicating. Can you imagine? Two of the most powerful political machines in American history facing off would be dissected for decades to come. The two families are friendly _ former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton have developed a deep, personal relationship since leaving the White House _ but they’d likely go at each other hard in 2016.
As a bit of a political junkie, I’m hoping for it. Clinton, I believe, is going to do her part, albeit without any of the charisma her husband brought to the campaign stump. As for Bush, I’m not so sure. He’s a bit of an introvert, and his quiet nature leads some to question whether he has the “fire in the belly,” as one political analyst said Sunday morning, to survive the race for the Republican nomination.
Beyond the family name, one wonders if the moderate Bush is too liberal to win a nomination from a party with many facets that want to race far to the right.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/jeb-bush-president-republican-primary-2016/
10. This will be the final 10 Weekend Thoughts for a couple of weeks. I’ll be in Minnesota next weekend to (try to) run Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth. I’m checking out the Cubs and Twins in Minneapolis Sunday before heading home that night. I’ll spend the next week at the beach, and I’m going to try to do something I never do – unplug. There’s a stack of books and a beach chair calling my name. I’ll be back with another 10 Weekend Thoughts in the days following July 4, hopefully refreshed and energized for the 2015 season.
Happy Father’s Day to all of you out there, by the way, including my dad, Mike McCready. As I’ve said in this space before, I couldn’t have gotten a better dad.
Finally, as I mentioned at the beginning, my heart aches for the family of Lane Rodgers, the 10-year-old Byhalia, Miss., boy who died Saturday night after a tree limb hit him in the back of the head. I simply can’t imagine the grief. Lane was, according to reports that quoted his grandfather, a big Ole Miss baseball fan. His goal was to play for the Rebels one day. Sometimes, life is so ridiculously unfair that it shakes you to the core.
Until next time, have a great week(s). Here are some additional links, if you’re interested, for your perusal:
ESPN’s Outside the Lines put together an extensive package about athletes avoiding criminal charges at a rate that exceeds the general student bodies.
http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_...nfluence-factors-somes-avoid-criminal-charges
The day where one can buy a beer at a college football game is coming closer. Maryland has found that beer sales provide another revenue stream (imagine that) and lower the number of alcohol-related incidents on gameday.
http://maryland.247sports.com/Bolt/...dent-Approves-Alcohol-Sales-at-Games-37703981
Could the World Cup come to America in 2022? I’m thinking yes.
http://www.esquire.com/sports/news/a35589/world-cup-2022/?src=spr_TWITTER&spr_id=1456_191343258
Do you want to live longer? Of course you do. Well, grab some peanuts.
http://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/food...t-peanut-butter?xid=soc_socialflow_twitter_fw
A Pittsburgh restaurateur has scrapped tips from his establishment and adopted a different system of paying his employees. Is it working?
http://www.foodandwine.com//fwx/foo...ditches-tipping?xid=soc_socialflow_twitter_fw
