Playoff pitches

LeBron and the Lakers DEEEEE-stroyed Portland in Game 4. LeBron went 10-of-12 from the floor and finished 30-6-10 in 28 minutes.

And with that, the Lakers are up 3-1 on an eighth-seeded Portland team that Chuck Barkley thought would bounce the LeBron from the bubble.

In a lot of ways, the sports definition of all-timers is making greatness expected.Think Tiger in his heyday. It was surprising when he missed a 10-footer rather than making it.

Think about Mariano Rivera. It was surprising when someone got on base, never mind score a run against him.

The list goes on. Jordan and winning. Manning and Brady in so many ways. Bonds in the early 2000s hitting the baseball hard.

Those are the peak levels of all-timers over the last quarter century.

And of those, is LeBron the most hated of those?

I ask because he again spoke about the racial divide in our country and how Black people are afraid in America after last night's game. Heck George Hill even went as far as saying the players should not have played this year and stayed focused one social justice after the Bucks' win last night. (Side note: Uh, George, ain't no one making you stay in the bubble and cash millions in checks my man.)

I'm not trying to be political about this, and LeBron's hypocrisy on China truly hurts his credibility when discussing social justice issues.

But I do believe that as a player LeBron's the best I've ever seen. Yes, a better player than Jordan, but not a better winner or the competition that MJ was.

And his decision to speak on social issues something that MJ and just about all the others of the all-timers listed above certainly affects his stature in a lot of people's eyes in my opinion.

And now it's the GOP's turn

OK, last week, after day one of the Democratic National Convention, we reviewed what we saw, what we liked, what we didn't and what left a lasting impression.

Regulars around these parts know I'm a conservative. I've voted Republican all my life.

I watched way more of last night's opening salvos from the Republican convention than I expected. The Lakers KER-rushing the Blazers made that choice rather easy.

Let's review this in the old-school Clint Eastwood way. Deal? Deal.

The good: Tim Scott makes me hopeful for the future of the GOP and for leadership in America. Truly. Nikki Haley taking the stage after a cattle call of curious speaker selections the Mattress Guy? really? reminded me that there are still mindful adults in the inner circle. Also, the strong number of minority speakers, including Haley and Scott and Herschel Walker and others, was a clear and smart political maneuver.

Side tangent, part I: How great was Scott, seriously? He delivered monster lines like his family went from "cotton to Congress in one generation" that truly framed the American dream. He pointed the finger back at the system remember how much hay Trump made four years ago with the Swamp allegories? and said, ""It's about how we respond when tackling critical issues like police reform. When Democrats called our work a token effort and walked out of the room during negotiations because they wanted the issue more than they wanted a solution."

The bad: The parade of Trumps heading to the podium Monday was dizzying, and Donald Trump Jr. looked like he showered after an all-night bender and the last piece of advice he got was "Don't forget to move your hands when you speak." His passion was clear; hey, who among us would not adamantly defend our dad. But his message seemed amateurish and kind of SNL-ish. Andas I asked today on A2, with half of the 12 pre-convention announced speakers being named Trump and turning this into the ReTrumplican National Convention is Junior a better pitch man to America than Dan Crenshaw form Texas or Mike Gallagher or James Lankford? Also, Kimberly Guilfoyle, the young lady who is Trump's campaign finance chairperson again, why are paid staffers and family getting mic time rather than some of the other national GOP leaders must have either had some hearing loss or been told her mic was off. Why was she yelling so much? I understand the decision to play to the fear of middle America truly I do but it's sad and not a solution to our problems as much as a path to political persuasion in my view. Not unlike the complete abandonment of fiscal conservatism that a vast majority of those in D.C. and everyone trying to get elected this fall have completely embraced.

Side tangent here because as I wrote in the A2 column, it seemed to me to be a curious decision to have so many Trump trumpeters rather than GOP decision makers and fiscal conservatives. Does this story from the Wall Street Journal late last month that says only 13 percent of polled people are in play make that decision seem smarter?https://www.wsj.com/articles/poll-finds-just-13-of-voters-still-up-for-grabs-for-trump-biden-11595678400?mod=wsjtwittertest19I'm not sure, because for the first time in a long time, the middle ground seems more important in this race. I believe there are 35-plus-percent that love Trump and 35-plus-percent (and maybe more) that will never vote for Trump. I think Biden leads in the polls and if the election was held today, I think he would win, but I think it's much, Much, MUCH closer than any national number I've seen.

The ugly: Again, I don't need to hear from the My Pillow Guy. I supported the Missouri couple who went into their yard with weapons out of fear in terms of being charged with crimes, but I don't really care about their viewpoints, and in some ways trying to push the fear button for the undecided pulls back the curtain to see some of the seedy underbelly of those in the party you call your own. (That said, the father of the Parkland girl who was killed in that tragic shooting was very powerful.) Also, my profession did not have a good day on Monday. Whether it's CNN not airing the coverage of the convention's roll call was it boring TV, yes it was, but is it, you know, news, uh HECK yes it is or the ever-disappointing Chuck Todd on MSNBC, who is framed as a news person and anchor who asks questions, not a columnist or analyst or opinion-giver who crafts hot takes. Todd, on air, said Monday afternoon that Trump delivered a "grievance-filled informal acceptance speech" that was "filled with so many problems about mail-voting that if we were to air only the truthful parts, we probably could have only aired only a sentence, if that much." In a big picture view here, Todd likely should be under review as whether a 'news person' with that much of a political slant should be hosting an NBC show with the history and purpose of being a true news show like "Meet the Press."

In the end, the results were mixed, and likely did not change your mind one way or the other.

The directions are clear fear and law and order are a top priority, so is freedom and personal liberties from the second amendment on down from the first day of the GOP convention.

Those directions are designed to fire-up his base and reach out to minorities. Those directions are based simultaneously in the American Dream and the fear of lawlessness.

Are those directions wise? Debatable, but they are certainly understandable.

Will those directions work? No way to tell until November.

Tuesday in the kitchen

Been a minute since we spent some time cooking. We got back to work last weekend with a couple of items.

Some are familiar and family favs made a pot of chili and a pan of hash brown casserole, both of which are fine on their own and even better merged for a hot lunch this week and some are next experiments.

We'll review one of the new dishes, and considering some of the regulars around these parts Hi Intern Scott, working from home today heckled some of my previous dishes in terms of calories, cholesterol and some heavy doses of heady doses.

We made eggplant parmesan with noodles. It was well-received.

(And yes, we have been getting a fair amount of eggplant in our CSA boxes over the last few weeks.)

Cut your eggplant in 1/2-to-1 inch slices. I peel the purple skin off the outer rings. Space the slices on paper towels and sprinkle generously with Kosher salt. This soaks up some of the natural bitterness of the eggplant. Let them sit for 30-minutes or so.

Wash the eggplant and get ready to coat. I use several egg whites and half a cup of milk and mix. (If you want a little more Southern taste with a kick, add a few dashes of tabasco to the mixture. I don't normally do this when cooking for the family because I like food really spicy; the rest of the family does not.)

For the coating, I use breadcrumbs, grated parmesan, light salt, pepper and in this case Italian seasoning. Mix.

Dip each eggplant slice into the egg white/milk mix and dredge both sides through the breadcrumbs. Make sure both sides are covered. Repeat for each eggplant slice.

You can fry them if you want it's a pretty easy effort in a skillet or large pan since the eggplant slices are thin but I actually bake mine. (Hi Intern Scott. Yes, I am heavy.)

I bake them at 400 for 20 minutes and then flip them and do them for 10 more.

As for the marinara, you can make your own I do or you can go with a a jar depending on your time.

In a greased casserole dish, put a foundation of marinara and spread half the eggplant on top of it. If you prefer thinly sliced eggplant you can add multiple layers. I normally go thicker and one layer of the eggplant works fine.

Scatter a layer of shredded mozzarella and parmesan, and cover that with more marinara and cheese. (I also try to work in fontina cheese a wicked underrated choice on occasion.)

Viol.

This and that

You know the rules. When TFP college football expert David Paschall writes college football, we read and link Paschall's prose on college football. Here's DP breaking down some interesting angles on some SEC defensive dudes inUT linebacker Henry To'o To'oand Alabamasuperstar corner Patrick Surtain II.

You know the rules, part II. Here's Stephen Hargis, TFP sports editor and prep sports guru,naming this week's player of the week. Kudos.

So UTC will play one game only in the fall. Only in 2020 right friends?

Man, amid the drum-banging and all the headlines from Wisconsin to LeBron to the bubble to the Corona to the convention to all parts in between, Albert Pujolscontinues to etch his nameamong the all-timers. Dude is now second all-time in RBIs in MLB history.

Spell check say what? Seriously, we now have a second sports media voice who is in hot water for typing the N-word on social media and claim it's spell-check changing Nuggets to the Queen Mother of all racial slurs.This one is a guy namedDarren McKee, a sports radio host in Denver, who Tweeted, "Utah is 48% from 3. Dang. But n@#$%^s are right there." OK, it's clear from the context that he was looking for Nuggets, who are playing Utah in the first-round of the NBA playoffs. But as Jay Williams wondered on ESPN last week when discussing the Charlotte radio guy who did something similar and also said spell-check got him, does anyone's spell-check just automatically got to the N-word? Is the iPhone racist? A better explanation, as Williams noted, is the 'predictive text feature' on iPhones, that automatically go to words that are frequently typed on the phone. Not sure what happened here friends.

TheCollege Football Playoff is movingforward and will not recognize Spring 2021.

Today's questions

True or false, it's a Tuesday.

True or false, Madden is the best video game of all time. (We offer this because Madden 21 is released today, and the Lil' 5-at-10 is pumped. And he's not the only one. Giddy-up.)

True or false, you'll take LeBron and the LeLakers over the field to win the NBA title.

True or false, you will play fantasy football this year.

True or false, spell-check changing Nuggets to not-'Nuggets' rings true to you.

True or false, Albert Pujols is the best first baseman in MLB history.

True or false, if your team won the 2020 College Football Playoff you would claim it.

As for today, Aug. 25, let's review. George Wallace would have been 101. Billy Ray Cyrus is 59.

Two American heroes died on this day Neil Armstrong in 2012 and John McCain in 2018.

Sean Connery is 90 today. Not sure he will make it, but who is on the SNL Rushmore of best/funniest actor impersonations, because the Sean Connery on Jeopardy! is pretty dang good.

See the article here:

5-at-10: LeBron's greatness and social stances, Good, bad and ugly from Day 1 of the RNC, Back in the kitchen - Chattanooga Times Free Press