With the release of this year’s semifinal candidates for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, first-ballot talk about Eli Manning is both inevitable and annoying. A decent — not elite — quarterback shouldn’t get to jump the line over stronger candidates, even if he did help choreograph two of the biggest Super Bowl upsets. But also factoring in that he played in New York and shows up on TV more than Anderson Cooper, there’s no telling how much undeserved support he’ll receive.
Local ties: The men’s basketball teams for Hampton U. and ODU don’t cross the HRBT to play this year but could meet in a tournament in the Cayman Islands next week.
Up to date: I thought the title of Worst Owner in Sports was settled by Daniel Snyder. Now that it’s being dusted off for the Jets’ Woody Johnson, we may have to split the dubious achievement award into separate categories: active and retired.
Bad outing: Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson fell out of the MVP race after coming up small in Pittsburgh. Was he under the impression it was a playoff game?
Big foot: After his six field goals beat Baltimore, is there any doubt that Chris Boswell is the Steelers’ MVP? Going into Thursday night’s game, he’d attempted a league-leading 30 field goals, making 29, some from as far away as Altoona.
A knockout: If the tryptophan doesn’t drop America into a comatose state on Thanksgiving, the Giants-Cowboys game will.
Heating up: For a 9-2 team that’s just toppled the Chiefs and who, in Josh Allen, features a must-watch quarterback, the Bills aren’t exactly overexposed by national media.
Balanced: The Chiefs’ defense is at least as important to the team’s success as Patrick Mahomes’ clutch gene. The loss to the Bills was the first time K.C. has surrendered 28 or more points in 31 games.
One-two: Colorado’s Travis Hunter and Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty finishing at the top of the Heisman vote would be a refreshing twist away from the quarterback cartel.
Idle thought: For too many college football teams, “bowl eligible” is a euphemism for “underachieved.”
Hashing it out: It’s easy to lose confidence in the College Football Playoff committee when it has two-loss Georgia, which plays the nation’s toughest schedule, in 10th place the week after it beat former No. 7 Tennessee. While Texas, whose one loss is to the Bulldogs, is in 3rd place. There’s still time to get it right.
In passing: If you don’t like the CFP’s 12-team format, give it a year or two when it expands to 14.
Hoop du jour: Duke’s Jon Scheyer isn’t pampering his baby-faced freshmen. The Blue Devils are at 17th-ranked Arizona Friday night, then meet No. 1 Kansas in Las Vegas, and on Dec. 4 are home against No. 4 Auburn.
Ring-a-ding: Jake Paul, who is not a real boxer, is the best draw in boxing.
Another idea: Why don’t the Orioles just put their leftfield wall on rails and slide it up and back depending on who’s at bat and which way the wind is blowing?
Bob Molinaro is a former Virginian-Pilot sports columnist. His Weekly Briefing runs Fridays in The Pilot and Daily Press. He can be reached at bob5molinaro@gmail.com and via Twitter@BobMolinaro.
