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McCready: 10 Weekend Thoughts presented by Harry Alexander

10 Weekend Thoughts is presented by RE/MAX Legacy Realty agent Harry Alexander. If you're in the market for a home or condo in Oxford, get in touch with Harry Alexander. His email is ha@harryalexander.com.
10 Weekend Thoughts is presented by RE/MAX Legacy Realty agent Harry Alexander. If you're in the market for a home or condo in Oxford, get in touch with Harry Alexander. His email is ha@harryalexander.com.

1. ATLANTA — For the first time since I’ve been covering Southeastern Conference Media Days (1994, if I recall correctly), the league has moved the event to Atlanta.

Personally, I love the move. The event _ and it’s an event more than it is a media opportunity _ had grown weird and stale in Hoover, Ala., though it’s returning there next year. The hotel was packed, and the scene in the lobby had become a cliche of sorts.

Sure, it just means more, but the scene in the lobby at the Wynfrey in Hoover wasn’t one the league could be all that proud of.

Maybe it will be just as bad Omni Atlanta Hotel at CNN Center, but the nearby College Football Hall of Fame should let the league spread things out a bit.

Greg Sankey kicks things off at 11:30 a.m. EDT Monday. Texas A&M, Kentucky and LSU round out the first day. SEC coordinator of officials Steve Shaw, Georgia, Ole Miss, Arkansas and Florida take the stage on Tuesday.

David Fletcher of the Football Bowl Association and Bill Hancock, the executive director of the College Football Playoff, lead off on Wednesday before ceding the floor to Mississippi State, Tennessee, Alabama and Missouri. Auburn, Vanderbilt and South Carolina round things out on Thursday.

2. Now that Paul Finebaum has been renewed by the SEC Network, I have no idea why I’m here.

I’m kidding, of course; I can’t imagine anyone really cared. While I’m happy for Paul and his immense success, I remain shocked people actually watch his radio show on television. Good for him; I just don’t get it.

What are the story lines this week?

Is Ed Orgeron on the hot seat? I think he is, even in Year Two. The Tigers’ schedule is brutal, and fans would get restless quickly if LSU struggles early. Throw in the pressure on transfer quarterback Joe Burrow, and all the ingredients for a disaster are readily available.

B. Can Jimbo Fisher live up to expectations at Texas A&M? And by expectations, I’m referring to building a national power and doing it quickly. My guess is he’ll flirt with elite status but not quite get there. He’ll be paid handsomely in the process, however, and anyone who believes the SEC will eat up Fisher is naive.

C. Is Georgia ready to pass Alabama? The last time I wrote about Alabama being passed, it led to a column that is still talked about 12 years later, so I’ll tread lightly. I’m picking Alabama to win another national title, but I do believe Georgia will be right there again, on the cusp of knocking the Tide off its perch.

D. Who’s ready to take that next step as a program? My guess: South Carolina. I think the Gamecocks will be the second-best team in the SEC East and a team capable of winning 9-10 games this fall. Will Muschamp learned a lot from his failures at Florida, and he’s got South Carolina ready to contend should Georgia stumble.

E. All the new coaches. Fisher, Matt Luke, Chad Morris, Joe Moorhead and Jeremy Pruitt all make their SEC Media Days debuts this week, and Dan Mullen makes his as Florida’s new boss.

F. Can Gus Malzahn live up to his new contract? Malzahn used two huge wins over Georgia and Alabama, combined with Arkansas’ interest in hiring him, to cash in with a new seven-year, $49 million deal. Now he has to live up to it, which is going to be tough with Alabama and Georgia on the schedule every year and in the loaded SEC West.

3. If I fill out a predicted order of finish ballot, mine will look like this:

SEC East:

Georgia

2. South Carolina

3. Missouri

4. Florida

5. Kentucky

6. Tennessee

7. Vanderbilt

SEC West:

Alabama

2. Auburn

3. Mississippi State

4. Texas A&M

5. LSU

6. Ole Miss

7. Arkansas

SEC Champion: Alabama

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Matt Luke
Matt Luke (Josh McCoy)

4. I’m on record saying I think this Ole Miss team is a 6-6 club, give or take a game. With Hugh Freeze gone and the NCAA investigation over except for the appeal, Ole Miss isn’t going to be a hot topic of conversation in Atlanta this week.

Maybe that’s the way Luke and Co. want it. That’s the only explanation I can come up with after seeing who the Rebels are bringing to Atlanta on Tuesday.

Ole Miss will bring quarterback Jordan Ta’amu to Atlanta, and the assembled media will enjoy getting to know the affable Rebels’ signal-caller. I thought Ole Miss would bring wide receiver A.J. Brown and offensive tackle Greg Little, two likely top-10 selections in the NFL Draft in April, with Ta’amu. It didn’t. Instead, defensive lineman Josiah Coatney and center Sean Rawlings are making the trip.

Don’t get me wrong; Coatney is an excellent player and Rawlings has done as much for the Ole Miss program as anyone on campus, but I do wonder if they’ll be mostly ignored by media in Atlanta. My guess is Luke is rewarding the two seniors for their contributions, and that’s his right as Ole Miss’ coach, but Media Days is an opportunity for program exposure, and Brown and Little would go further in that regard than linemen who aren’t at the top of multiple NFL draft charts.

Let me be clear here. It doesn’t matter, and by the time Ole Miss plays in Houston on Sept. 1, plenty will have been written about Brown and Little. I just think it is a bit of an opportunity wasted — nothing more, nothing less.

5. France defeated Croatia Sunday, 4-2, to win the World Cup.

There were watch parties all over Atlanta Sunday, as fans made a day of soccer. They watched France-Croatia before meandering over to Mercedes-Benz Stadium to watch Atlanta United play to a 1-1 draw with the Seattle Sounders.

No one walking out of that packed stadium would’ve put much credence in the New York Times’ story Sunday that showed youth soccer participation is down. However, as someone who has an 11-year-old heavily involved in soccer, I’m not all that surprised.

Kids are being forced to choose a sport at an early age — way too early an age, if you’re asking me. They’re burning out on travel teams that kill their weekends and exhaust them. They’re growing discouraged when they get cut at ridiculously early ages or sat by coaches who are more concerned about winning with teams full of little boys and girls than they are with developing talent and having fun.

I’ll stop now. The decrease in participation in any sport should upset all of us, for it’s my opinion that while we want to blame the younger generation for being device-obsessed, it’s my opinion it’s the older generation that is guilty of taking a lot of the fun out of sports away from today’s young people.

6. As a Cubs fan, I was disheartened to hear that the St. Louis Cardinals had fired Mike Matheny on Saturday following the Cardinals’ loss to Cincinnati.

It was the right move for the Cardinals, however, one that the organization had to make. Matheny’s style had clearly created some havoc in the clubhouse and was becoming a hindrance for the organization’s recruiting efforts.

It was interesting to me to listen to John Mozielak and Bill DeWitt Jr.’s press conference Sunday, one in which they repeatedly stated they planned to try to salvage this season and intimated the problems facing the Cardinals weren’t about talent.

I’d disagree, and if I were a Cardinals fan, those comments would worry me. St. Louis is 48-46 at the break, 7 1/2 games behind the Cubs in the N.L. Central and 4 1/2 games behind Milwaukee and 3 1/2 games behind Atlanta in the N.L. wildcard race. The Cubs and Brewers aren’t going away anytime soon. Milwaukee is in hot pursuit of Manny Machado and the Cubs are going to be major players for Bryce Harper in the offseason and have the trade pieces to acquire a top-flight starting pitcher.

In the past, St. Louis was the big boy in its division. Those days have changed. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are small-market clubs, sure, but the Brewers are willing to spend to a degree and the Cubs’ ownership is going to spend freely. If St. Louis is going to return to dominance, it’s going to either have to tear down and rebuild like the Cubs and Astros have done recently or it’s going to have to open up the checkbook in a way it never has before.

Firing Matheny was a step in the right direction. Replacing him with someone who can relate to younger players will be a nice second step. Those two steps won’t be enough, and on Sunday, it didn’t sound like the Cardinals’ brass believed that.

7. As we head to the Major League Baseball All-Star break, here are the story lines I’m most interested in:

Can the Yankees keep up with Boston? They’re 4 1/2 games back despite being 29 games over .500. If not, that wildcard game against Seattle is going to make everyone in the Bronx quite nervous.

B. Can Cleveland pull an upset and acquire Machado in the next couple of weeks? The Indians are 52-43 at the break, but the mix of Trevor Bauer and Corey Kluber makes them dangerous in the postseason. Machado’s bat would change their lineup considerably.

C. Can Oakland (yes, Oakland) make enough of a push to really make the A.L. wildcard race interesting? The A’s are 55-42, just three games behind Seattle and owners of an electric bullpen.

D. Can Houston repeat as champions? The Astros are 64-35, five games ahead of Seattle and showing no signs of a World Series hangover.

E. Can Milwaukee collect itself after its recent struggles and make another run at the Cubs? Getting Machado would be quite a pick-me-up.

F. Can Washington recover or have the Phillies and Braves taken the East away in Harper’s final season in the nation’s capital? The Nationals are 48-48 at the break, 5 1/2 games behind Philadelphia and five behind Atlanta. There’s no sign Washington is on the cusp of turning things around, proof that your window is never as open as you think it might be.

G. Can the Dodgers repeat as N.L. champs? They’re 53-43 at the break, one-half game ahead of Arizona. Machado would help, but the Dodgers don’t look anything like the dominant team that came a game away from a title last fall.

My revised picks at the break:

AL Wildcard: Yankees over Mariners

AL Divisional Series: Red Sox over Yankees, Astros over Indians

AL Championship Series: Red Sox over Indians

NL Wildcard: Brewers over Braves

NL Divisional Series: Dodgers over Phillies, Cubs over Brewers

NL Championship Series: Cubs over Dodgers

World Series: Red Sox over Cubs

8. It’s NBA summer league, so putting too much stock in anything is foolish, but if you’re a Grizzlies fan, Jaren Jackson Jr.’s performance has to be encouraging.

Throw in the addition of free agent signee Kyle Anderson and Memphis should be a playoff team, even in the wacky Western Conference. Jackson, at the very least, provides low-post depth. At the best, and this is the direction I’d lean, he’s going to provide another scorer and a burst of energy and athleticism the Grizzlies sorely needed.

Anderson has a high basketball IQ, is a strong defender and will be a very good passer in lineups that include Mike Conley and Marc Gasol.

More than anything, Jackson and Anderson can play together in lineups and let the Grizzlies play some “modern” basketball, meaning they can switch on everyone and have five mostly interchangeable players on the floor at once.

Golden State is still the cream of the NBA, and Utah and Houston are better teams than Memphis. Oklahoma City should be strong, assuming Andre Roberson is healthy. After that, it’s a crapshoot, one that should see the Lakers, Portland, New Orleans, Minnesota, Denver and San Antonio fighting for the remaining four playoff spots.

If Conley and Gasol are healthy, a fourth- or fifth-place finish in the West isn’t unrealistic, and the return of playoff basketball to Memphis would make FedExForum fun again.

Jonathan Howard authors the drink of the week for 10 Weekend Thoughts.
Jonathan Howard authors the drink of the week for 10 Weekend Thoughts.

9. Football season is getting closer, sure, but it’s still very much summer out there, making it time for a refreshing cocktail. With that in mind, here’s Jonathan Howard:

It’s hot out there. And I mean it’s hot out there, both on the Rebels’ recruiting train as well as on the back porch.

Seeing that we still have a couple more months to go before some respite, how about a refreshing beverage to cool you down even on the hottest day in record — the Pimm’s Cup.

You cannot talk about the Pimm’s Cup without talking about the spirit for which it is named — Pimm’s. A Farmer’s son named Pimm became the owner of an oyster bar in London. He offered a gin-based drink containing a secret mixture of herbs and liqueurs as an aid to digestion, serving it in a small tankard known as a "No. 1 Cup,” hence its subsequent name, Pimm’s No. 1.

In 1851, Pimm's No. 2 Cup and Pimm's No. 3 Cup were introduced. Pimm's began large-scale production in 1851 to keep up with sales to other bars. The distillery began selling it commercially in 1859, using hawkers on bicycles. In 1865, Pimm sold the business and the right to use his name to Frederick Sawyer. In 1880, the business was acquired by the future Lord Mayor of London, and a chain of Pimm's Oyster Houses was franchised in 1887.

Over the years, Pimm's extended its range, using other spirits as bases for new “cups.” After World War II, Pimm's No. 4 Cup was invented, followed by Pimm's No. 5 Cup and Pimm's No. 6 Cup in the 1960s.

The brand fell on hard times in the 1970s and 1980s. The Oyster House chain was sold and Pimm's Cup products Nos. 2-5 were phased out due to reduced demand in 1970 after new owners The Distillers Company had taken control. The Distillers Company was subsequently purchased by Guinness PLC in 1986 and Pimm's became part of Diageo when Guinness and Grand Metropolitan merged in 1997.

The beverage comes from simply adding sparkling clear lemonade, 7-Up or Sprite to the Pimm's with fresh ice, and fresh fruit. The Pimm’s Cup I like to make adds a bit of a punch to the beverage while keeping it bright, clean, and refreshing as all hell. With the base of the Pimm’s, I add ginger syrup and lemon juice then soda water and give it a brief sit before adding all the fruit and veggies. The resulting beverage is remarkably striking and just as tasty and I highly recommend trying this one out on the porch on a hot day.

Cheers!

Pimm's Cup ( Henley Version)

2 ounces Pimm’s

1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice

1/2 ounce ginger syrup (equal parts juiced ginger and sugar)

Top with soda

Directions: In a tall glass, add Pimm’s, followed by the remaining ingredients. Add ice and finish with soda. Give the drink a quick stir and garnish with a variety of citrus, berries, and herbs.

Pimm's Cup
Pimm's Cup

10. I'll be in Atlanta this week, and we'll have coverage of SEC Media Days beginning Monday. Until then, here are some links of interest to me _ and hopefully, to you _ for your reading pleasure:

Miklasz: In the end, Mike Matheny simply never delivered on the promises that led to his hiring in the first place

13 Teams Over 16 Seasons, but He Is More Than a Journeyman

Former Missouri Defensive Standout Walter Brady Hoping for Another Power 5 Chance

These factors may lead to more Mets deadline disappointment

Why college basketball coaches' deepest fears on recruiting changes may be premature

How LeBron's decision instantly changed the Lakers, Cavs and NBA

Biggest winners and losers of NBA free agency

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