It's time for The Mailbag, presented by Whitney McNutt of Tommy Morgan Inc. Realtors, where I answer your questions from RebelGrove.com and Twitter.
First, a note: I'd like to publicly thank The Westin Jackson for their years of support. Obviously, the hotel business has been hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic, and their decision to cease advertising is completely understandable. I wish everyone there the very best. It's a wonderful hotel.
I'd also like to publicly thank Whitney McNutt for stepping up and keeping The Mailbag going. She and the people at Tommy Morgan Inc. are going to sponsor this item of content for the next three months, at least, and I will be forever grateful.
I solicited questions. You delivered. So here we go...
From nas5108: Besides sports what do you miss most that you can’t do/watch during this Coronavirus pandemic?
That's easy. I miss my parents. They're 77 and I don't want to risk infecting them with something that could kill them. I miss visiting them. I miss that a lot.
I also miss my gym. I miss my weightlifting routine that had become such a source of therapy over the past 13 months.
I miss watching Caroline dance and watching Carson play soccer. I miss Caroline coming in at 8:30, just to grab a bite and go up and study. She was on a mission and she was so happy.
I miss Carson asking to stay at the recreation center longer so he could play more basketball. He knew making the middle school team was a long shot, but he was by God going to try.
I miss Campbell calling after her classes at Arkansas, always sounding so happy. I miss hearing kids passing her on campus saying hello. That happened with increasing frequency as the year went on. It always made me feel so good so deep inside. It was validating. I miss that.
I miss looking at their Instagram stories and seeing so much happiness. Now their stories are about missing their friends. That's heartbreaking.
I miss normalcy.
From nas5108: What was your favorite movie as a kid growing up?
From WBurns42: It’s no secret the majority of the media hates Trump. Why is that so?
That's painting with a broad brush, but the national media is overwhelmingly liberal. They all live in the D.C./NYC corridor and they are a very tight group. There is pressure from their bosses to go after the president, and in fairness, he goes after them to the point that the relationship is ridiculously adversarial. Both sides should stop the games at this point.
From M.O.B. Rebel: Do you think Collum and Williams are on next year's roster?Besides the Pac12 PF, what other grads/transfers are we serious about? Like, have a shot with.Predict the Spring HS '20 signee, please.
Gut feeling is they're both gone. As for grad transfers, there are just so many, though Rider grad transfer guard Dimencio Vaughn makes a ton of sense. I don't think Kermit Davis himself could answer that question now. They're in on so many guys, but so is everyone else, and the COVID-19 thing could prevent visits for months. As for a spring '20 high school signee, I think there's a chance for something kind of crazy. Otherwise, I think they'll take a transfer or grad transfer at that spot.
From VibinReb45: Who do you think twenty years from now history looks worse on? China or US politics?
China.
We should give them the finger, tell them we're not giving them a cent we owe them, build some factories and create jobs and become independent of China.
From MarvMerchants: Did Joe Exotic receive a fair trial, or was he set up by Jeff Lowe and Co. then railroaded by the Feds and PETA?
I haven't gotten that far. Holler back in a week.
From BigDogSaint23: Is Zach Evans smarter than Dr. Fauci and Dr Birx combined? He's been socially distancing himself for 8 months...
You know, now that I think about it, perhaps young Mr. Evans saw all of this coming and just didn't feel like putting himself through a decision that wouldn't ultimately matter. It's Zach Evans' world. We're just living in it.
From DeuceMccluster22: Several questions:1. Why was Christian Laettner never as dominant in the nba as he was in college?2. For the lone college pick, do u think they got it right choosing Laettner over Shaq to be on the dream team?3. Was their anybody on the 1992 dream team that shouldn't had been and youd replaced them w/ someone that should had been like Isaiah Thomas or someone else? I mean chris Mullen to me was never a true house hold name.4. 1992 dream team vs. 2012 redeem team, who wins?
Injuries hurt him in his NBA career, really limiting his skill set. He still held on for a long time.
Given the fact that Laettner had dominated O'Neal twice in college, yeah, he deserved it. He was the most storied college player of his era.
It was a brutally difficult call for that last spot. Bird had to make it for sentimental reasons. Magic and Stockton were better point guards than Thomas. Mullen made so much sense on an international team because of his offensive skill set.
That would be an incredible game. LeBron and Kobe with 'Melo and Durant on the wings. Wow.. The '92 team would've been better in the post, and Magic was such a distributor. Can you imagine how great that game would be?
From ArmyReb12: I know you're big on Peloton, but will consider purchasing a home gym in the future? I've been expanding my home gym since 2018, and it's worth its weight in gold right now.
Yes, I've given real thought to that in the past week. If this thing turns into a multi-month lockdown, I'm going to have to do something. I miss lifting weights.
From TedCoolwater: Will there be football this fall?
Ted, I've never been one to be afraid to admit when I'm wrong. In this case, I pray to God, the football gods and any other applicable deity that I'm wrong. However, you asked an honest question and as of this moment, here's my honest answer:
No, Ted, I don't think there will be football this fall. I just don't. I guess there's a chance of a season that begins in October and I wouldn't be shocked at a season that starts and ultimately gets canceled after an outbreak, but no, I simply don't think a conventional season is in the cards.
I pray I'm wrong. I worry about my career if I'm right. I worry about a lot of things if I'm right, but I fear I'm right. This is an educated answer. A lot of really smart people in and around college athletics agree with me, even if they won't admit it publicly.
From mr troy: Imagine there is some Rebel Grove member who is down in a bunker somewhere waiting for the all clear signal on the virus. Imagine, also, that this poor fellow gets 100% of his info on virus from this website and its various podcasts. This would include the info several MD's who are providing on a regular basis. This would also include perspectives of small business owners or other average joe types.So, the question is, how well is that poor fellow being informed - - vis a vis the major news channels? I would give this site a pretty high letter grade, but that is just me. I prefer facts over agendas.
I think that hypothetical person would be pretty informed, but I fear he would underestimate the potential danger of the virus and I fear he would severely underestimate its staying power.
I'll give two answers, one applying to a former player and one to a current player.
I was a huge Damon Berryhill fan. He was the starting catcher on one of my favorite Cubs teams ever in 1989. Of current Cubs, I will forever be indebted to Kyle Hendricks for his performance in Game 6 of the 2016 NLCS and Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.
They're all-stars in my book.
From rebel_rx: Any chance they move football to Spring when a vaccine hopefully comes available.
In my opinion, yes, that's more of a possibility than many are ready to publicly acknowledge.
From Levi275: Did you ever add a Ledbury shirt to your wardrobe? On a larger scale, how has your style changed over the years? @Chase Parham (king of the pullover) is welcome to answer this question as well
I think that was in the works prior to the COVID-19 disaster. I'm not sure where it stands now. I can't wait to try a Ledbury. They look fantastic.
From OrangeBeachReb: Can I get two? I hear that both Leach and Lane are both in S Fla. Please suggest to both AD’s that they should do a Saban/Bellichick type talk like HBO did. I bet the ratings would be much better. No?
They're down there a lot. And yes, the ratings would be really good. I'd watch.
I just remember the preseason. People tried so hard to hype that team, and I kept watching practices and saying, "I don't get it." We were trying to go to some new video stuff. We were doing more recruiting things. But the team wasn't good, and there was a bad vibe.
That weekend in Nashville, we went to I'Tavius Mathers' high school game. Steve Willis worked for us then, and he was terrific. I remember before that game at Vanderbilt on Saturday, he and I chased down C.J. Beathard, who was committed to Ole Miss. We were working so hard, but in the back of my mind, I had this feeling we were about to be covering something different.
That Vanderbilt game proved me right. We've talked about that day so many times, but from a program standpoint, the earth shifted. Pete Boone gave me a remarkable answer to a question, and by that night, we were putting hot boards together.
We could do a podcast on that season. It feels like we have many times already.
Games that I've covered? Or just college games in general?
I'll have to sit down and work on a list, but the games that I've covered that stick out immediately are the three Alabama games in 2014, 2015 and 2016, the 2014 Auburn game, the 2014 Mississippi State game, the 2013 win over LSU, the 2015 loss to Arkansas, the 2015 win at Mississippi State and the 2016 loss to Florida State in Orlando. I'd have to take a deep dive, and you're right, that's a good podcast.
I'd have to say Bo Jackson. He's the greatest athlete I've ever seen.
Mario Cristobal.