Things that made an impression, along with an always-delightful visit to Riverport Barbecue in Jefferson, in the last few days ….
… The first person to hug Nick Dunlap after the 20-year-old Alabama Crimson Tide golfer became the first amateur winner on the PGA Tour since Phil Mickelson in 1991? The most disappointed man there, Shreveport native Sam Burns. In the aftershock of hitting tee shots in the water on the final two holes Sunday, falling from the lead to a sixth-place finish, Burns shook off two gut punches with gallantry.
… Burns started the week the same way, although in a much more light-hearted manner. He paid off a bet with another Alabama golfer, fellow USA Ryder Cup teammate Justin Thomas, on last fall’s LSU-‘Bama football game. Burns had U-S-A carved into his blonde locks for the Ryder Cup. Before the start at The American Express, Burns grudgingly shaved “R-T-R” into his scalp. Roll, Tide, Roll, as if you didn’t know.
… This text message: “Good morning, you too have decided to transfer from Alabama.”
… The fact that the Detroit Lions have more NFC Championship appearances this century than the Dallas Cowboys.
… Jason Kelce’s bare-chested Buffalo celebration when brother Travis caught one of his two TD passes Sunday night for Kansas City. As soon as big brother showed up in a visitors’ suite at Highmark Stadium, the fuse was lit. For the first time this season, Taylor Swift was overshadowed off the field at a Chiefs’ game.
… A Tweet (an X?) from @ArtButMakeItSports contrasting a photo of shirtless Kelce with the 1654 masterpiece The Feast of Baucchus, by Phillips de Konick. Look it up. History does repeat itself.
… Another Tweet of an excerpt of a recent story by Justin Williams in The Athletic about the Kelce brothers in college at Cincinnati – coached for a while by Brian Kelly, by the way – in which a former teammate said, “Those two are really good at drinking beer.” Ya think?
… Tip your cap to the kid from Tyler. Patrick Mahomes, born there, raised in nearby Whitehouse, has played in the AFC Championship Game every year he’s been the Chiefs’ starting quarterback — six and counting, as of this morning. Not bad for a guy rated as the 12th best dual threat quarterback in his high school recruiting class 10 years ago, who played in one bowl game, losing to LSU in the 2015 Texas Bowl, in three seasons at Texas Tech.
… The collapse of Sports Illustrated. My parents bought me a subscription for my eighth birthday. Getting the mail every Thursday was a dream-inducing experience, because we didn’t have dozens of sports TV channels, talk radio, podcasts, social media, and because the writing and photography was at the very least, extraordinary. How cruelly ironic that the apparent death blow to SI came on a Thursday when the publisher, Arena Group, defaulted on a $4 million quarterly license fee. Fourth quarter, by the way.
… The 80th birthday Saturday of Sam Goodwin, who is so much more than simply the winningest football coach in Northwestern State history. It was great to see a photo of him visiting in the Don Kelly Athletic Fieldhouse earlier last week with new Demons’ coach Blaine McCorkle and offensive coordinator Norman Joseph, who was Goodwin’s receivers coach and passing game coordinator in 1988 when Northwestern won its first Southland Conference championship.
… Parkway’s Chloe Larry hitting a game-winning shot on the road Friday night to send the Lady Panthers to a 64-62 victory over Natchitoches Central, extending their unbeaten streak in District 1-5A to 38 games dating back almost exactly three years, to Jan. 15, 2021.
… Grambling’s Tigers with an epic 34-point turnaround at home in the Fred Hobdy Assembly Center Saturday afternoon against arch-rival Southern. The G-Men trailed by 17, won by 17.
… Northwestern State’s men have won their last three games, no small feat when they had won only two of their first 15. In each of those recent W’s in Southland Conference games, the Demons have had at least a 20-point lead in the second half. Saturday, they were up by 28 in the first half at UNO.
… When 400 fans show up to shovel snow away from the stands before their NFL team’s playoff game, for a second straight week, they deserve something better than the two harshest words in Buffalo sports history: “wide right!”
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com