The Mailbag, pres. by Art Hays of Sotheby's Int'l Realty: Edition 264
It's time for The Mailbag, presented by Art Hays of Sotheby's International Realty, Edition 264.
I asked for your questions. You delivered. So here we go…
The Mailbag is presented by Art Hays of Sotheby’s International Realty. Are you thinking of making a move? Put the power of Sotheby's International Realty to work for you. As a licensed agent with Sotheby's International Realty and a supporter of all things Ole Miss, Art can help you buy or sell in your home town, or anywhere in the world, at no charge to you (seriously). Call and ask Art how. Call 612-805-5929 or email Art at Art Hays at arthur.hays@lakesmn.com.
From chattreb: You and Chase have mentioned about how arms are being blown out now at an alarming pace from youth leagues to the major leagues. This is of course a result of the evolution of athletes and technology that all other sports have had to adapt to. With football, we have implemented targeting rules, NASCAR restricter plates, golf lengthening the holes and raising the rough, basketball widening the lane, etc. Now with baseball, which is essentially the same game that has been played since the inception of the National League, what in the world can we do about blowing up all of these arms?
It's a great point. The only answer is more care taken for young arms. Period. Good luck with that. Young guys know they have to throw hard if they want to impress scouts/college coaches. So they throw hard. All the time. All of their training is to throw with more velocity.
Carson once tried out for a travel team. They wanted to see if he, a tall, left-handed kid, could pitch. He didn't make the team because he didn't throw hard enough. He was like 11 at the time. Total insanity.
And his experience was and likely is pretty common. Kids aren't learning how to pitch. They're learning how to throw. All of that perpetuates injuries. Unless there's a dramatic change in philosophy moving forward, the injuries are going to continue to mount.
From hays3: 10 Weekend Thoughts; #8. NBA at the break. We’re 2/3 of the way done with the season so while there may be some positional shifting, we know who the likely contenders and pretenders are as you pointed out. What’s your prediction for who’s in each conference final, the finals, and who wins. Just for kicks and giggles in this moment. TIA.
For kicks, I'll say the Western Conference is Denver vs. the Clippers and the East is Boston vs. New York. I'm worried about Milwaukee in the East. Something isn't right. In the West, I think Minnesota, OKC and Phoenix are all contenders, but the bracket is going to be loaded.
I'll say Boston gets through its side fairly easily and Denver returns to The Finals, but not before the Nuggets are bloodied and bruised. Boston wins in 6.
From tlpierse: What are your thoughts on Rick Pitino’s comments during the postgame conference.
For background, here's part of a story from ESPN:
Following St. John's eighth loss in its past 10 games, coach Rick Pitino lamented his team's lack of toughness and athleticism, saying "this has been the most unenjoyable experience I've had since I've been coaching."
The Red Storm blew a 19-point lead to lose 68-62 to tristate rival and fellow bubble team Seton Hall on Sunday night, falling to 14-12 overall and 6-9 in the Big East, which places them in ninth place. With five games left in the regular season before the Big East tournament, St. John's likely needs to run the table the rest of the way before advancing in the conference tournament to have a chance to receive an NCAA tournament bid.
Pitino, the Hall of Fame coach in his first season with the Red Storm, didn't hold back after the game.
"If I said I was disappointed, that would be the understatement of the year," he said. "Our lateral quickness and our toughness is just something I've never witnessed in all my years of coaching.
"We are so nonathletic that we can't guard anybody without fouling. ... And really it's not about losing. Even winning, when I watch the film, I see unathletic plays, I see people that don't handle the ball, that are just interested in taking quick shots. It's been a disappointing year."
St. John's scored just four points in the first 12 minutes of the second half, watching a 12-point halftime lead disappear without much resistance. It was the latest in a string of blown leads in recent weeks for the Red Storm, who suffered a three-point lead to Providence on Tuesday after leading at halftime, and blew a 15-point lead against Marquette last weekend.
"I think the other team makes adjustments and we have to make adjustments to move the basketball and take good shots. But we just lack toughness," Pitino said. "We just don't move our feet on defense. They shot 37 free throws. Throw out the stats. You see it every game. The amount of free throws they shoot, the amount of free throws we shoot. Look at what Nahiem [Alleyne] shot on the year. Look at what Chris Ledlum shot on the year. You're a power forward, you played 29 minutes without a free throw. That means you're not offensive rebounding, you're not getting to the line. It's really all the toughness things are why we give up leads."
After replacing Mike Anderson last spring, Pitino aggressively rebuilt the St. John's roster. Nine players entered the transfer portal, with the Red Storm adding 10 transfers and two ESPN 100 freshmen to go with just two holdovers from last season.
"I had no choice," he said. "We just could take who we could get, who was available, we had no choice. I don't think we were going to win the first year anyway, because when you rush like that, you don't see the players. Not a whole lot we can do."
My thoughts: He's an old, arrogant coach who was pissed off. He said he wasn't, but his ego got bruised. He put the team together. The kids have played for him. He threw them under the bus.
Newsday asked him if he regretted what he said.
"I was pointing out exactly -- in a monotone voice -- why we lost," he told Newsday. "I am not always calm and certainly not when I rip someone ... I was not ripping anybody.
"I sometimes want my players to hear my words and read my words. That was my intention [Sunday]."
That's just who he is.
From DeuceMccluster22: 1. What do u think made Jimmy fond enough of Coach Norman Dale to stand up for him and say he’d only return to the team if he stayed and coached? Before then their only encounter was this scene:
He respected him. He obviously was used to having his ass kissed because of his talent and finally a coach stood up to him.
2. What would be your “Mt. Rushmore” of sports movies?
Bull Durham, The Natural, For Love Of The Game, Chariots of Fire
From jchmcl09: The NFL teams seem to have a very short leash regarding coaching tenures. Mike Tomlin of Pittsburgh is a glaring exception. One to two bad years and you are gone.Do you see colleges heading in that direction? The standard college contract length was always four years. That gave a new coach the opportunity to have four recruiting classes to improve his roster.Now, I wonder if two years will become the norm due to NIL. Sure, a new coach can get boosters to ante up initially but how hard will it be after two bad years in a row? Buy-Outs will always be a factor but with declining contributions and a subsequent downward spiral of wins, a school can be much better off swallowing the big buy-out and moving on to the next guy.Hiring a coach who will bring much needed energy and enthusiasm to a program is easy. Firing is tougher especially when the "powers that be" decide to expedite the process.Maintaining enough money in these Collectives year to year will be extremely difficult for most.
In short, yes, coaches are going to get less time now than ever before. It's going to be a 16-team playoff and you're either going to make the playoffs or not. As you said, with the portal and NIL (pay for play), you're either going to turn a program around quickly or get run. My guess is schools start getting smarter about buyouts. Pay the coach more annually with less of a buyout. And yes, collectives representing schools that aren't winning are going to have their hands full trying to keep donors engaged.
From North Tampa Rebel: Best guess on what year we see these things:Football revenue sharing 16 team playoff End of ACC as we know it SEC expansion Woman President Human on Mars
Football revenue sharing -- 2026
16-team playoff: 2027
End of ACC as we know it: 2026
SEC expansion: 2026
Woman president: If Biden is re-elected, 2025.
Human on Mars: 2038
From TX via TN Rebel: Great debate over the weekend with some buddies and some bourbon... Perhaps a good segment for you and @Chase Parham sometime over the summer when content is lacking... All-Time MLB draft... I was blown away at the lack of respect among my friends for Maddux and Gwynn. There were 8 of us and I argued that both those dudes should be off the board by the end of the 3rd round in a snake-style draft. Thoughts? FYI... thru 3 rounds I had the two players above plus Rickey Henderson. Felt like I was in a heck of a position at that point. We used the premise that players have gotten bigger, better, stronger as time has gone by so DiMaggio likely doesn't have a 56 game hit streak against today's pitching, no chance Ripken plays that many games in a row due to load management, etc...
People underestimate Gwynn's ability because he didn't hit the long ball. Maddux didn't throw 100 miles per hour. Henderson was an incredible player, so I'd argue your hypothetical team is off to a terrific start. That would be an interesting podcast idea, by the way. We'd have to incorporate more people, but that would be intriguing.
From dawsonreb: I think its obvious baseball and basketball are fighting over NIL money and athletic budget money at this time. Ole Miss has never had a good baseball and basketball team at the same time. And while it would be great to have good baseball, basketball, and football, that just doesn't seam feasible. You are on record saying that Ole Miss should prioritize basketball over baseball if the two are mutually exclusive. My question is which do you think is better for the school a championship contending baseball team, year in and year out, or a bubble basketball team who makes the tourney every other year, and maybe make the second weekend once every 4 years?
This is one of those beauty is in the eye of the beholder things. I think the NCAA Tournament provides a school much more exposure than the College World Series. I really don't think that's up for debate. What is that worth? I really don't know, and to be honest, as someone who is more of a pro sports fan personally, I really am not very interested in valuations and such.
At Ole Miss, baseball has become cool, best I can tell. I haven't been to a game as a non-media member in 11 years, so I really can't speak to it. However, it appears that everyone who is anyone in and around Oxford makes those games a part of their weekend. Basketball hasn't reached that level.
So maybe at Ole Miss, baseball should mean more. I don't know. However, I don't think it's debatable that having a basketball team that makes the Sweet 16 every four years is more valuable to Generic University than a contending baseball program.
From ThePunter87: Rank these Doritos Nacho Cheese items in order from best to worst with your reasoning:1.) Doritos Nacho Cheese Tortilla Chips2.) Doritos Nacho Cheese Locos Taco3.) Doritos Nacho Cheese Smartfood Popcorn4.) Doritos Nacho Cheese Empirical SpiritI have linked the products below if you need to taste test.
I've only had one of those, so I can't possibly rank. Maybe this is another summer podcast idea. We can eat Doritos and then go run for several hours.
From TupeloReb99: Two Questions: 1. I know there’s a May portal. But with this 5+7 format for the CFP, what’s your early 12 team playoff prediction for 2024 ? 2. Will Robert Manfred completely run the MLB into the ground before his resignation in 2029? Will there even be a sport? If so, will it even be relevant?
1. Ohio State, Georgia, Clemson, Oklahoma State, Texas, Ole Miss, Missouri, Michigan, Penn State, Tennessee, Oregon, Liberty
2. No, the sport is remarkably healthy at the roots level and at the regional level. It will continue to make money and produce a strong product. But relevant? In today's environment, only the NFL -- and to a lesser extent, college football -- is truly "relevant." Everything else has times on the calendar in which relevancy is real, but only football -- at least for now -- can claim constant relevance.
