Jay Greeson: All about the apology for Mickelson and Howard, plus a Rushmore of famous car crashes

Feb. 23—Lefty is not right

So we have conversed about Phil Mickelson risking one of the greatest public images in golf history for this Saudi thingy.

It completely unraveled when famed golf author Alan Shipnuck, who is writing a Mickelson biography, released some very eye-popping quotes from Mickelson last week.

The blowback has been constant, merciless and, to be honest, fair.

Mickelson responded to it on social media on Tuesday. Gang, can we not, you know, actually meet with the media when you mess up?

But, on the same day long-time sponsor KPMG dropped Lefty after 14 years, Mickelson — who has forever inside the ropes held the nickname FIGJAM (bleep-I-am-good-just-ask-me) — could not leave the apology alone. He added that his hammer quotes about his greedy, egotistical and selfish motives with the new Tour were off the record.

Shipnuck — a very well-respect golf writer folks — immediately refuted the claims.

This comes with the whispers of a possible book on the horizon from Billy Walters, who is not only America's MJ of sports gamblers, he's also the guy who did time in the inside trading operation that Mickelson was involved in but paid his way out of.

Man, Lefty went from being a Jack- or Arnie-level ambassador for the game who was a slam dunk to be a Ryder Cup captain and going to be the hottest announcing commodity since Romo to being a complete pariah.

(And that's all on the record.)

That's what I'm talking about

OK, this will be more brief than a lot of the things I write in these spaces.

I am going to yield the mic and the floor to some undeniable wisdom.

Here is Lamont Paris, the UTC men's basketball coach (who also is a Black man), delivering a perfect soliloquy on all things Juwan Howard.

Simply put, it was simply perfect.

Kudos to Paschall and Wells and the folks at ESPN 95.3 FM for the interview and coaxing these answers.

Last Howard comment

And one more Juwan Howard tidbit and I'm sorry if it feels like I am beating what likely should have been a fired horse, but Howard released an apology Tuesday night. It hit all the right buttons. That's the good part.

But it was completely rendered hollow in my mind because it was released as part of the statement from the university.

Seriously. What kind of emotion or investment can we take away from a released statement, and do we even think Howard is sorry for what he did or sorry for what he did on camera?

Dude, man up and meet the media and address this. I lose more respect for Juwan Howard — who was my favorite Fab Five player and someone who I loved to watch to play the game — with each passing day after the fact.

And I'll go a step further in this double-standard realm. Can you recall anything that generated anything close to this kind of hubbub — in any manner of hot-button issues — across the sports and pop culture spectrum that was met with a corporate-released apology? What would that reaction be?

So there's that.

This and that

— Yeah, no. Here's a woman running for a political office that needs to handle her personal issues — by a bunch — before she starts to try to handle public issues. (And no, it's not Marjorie Taylor Greene.)

— Hey, they the USFL draft. I love the draft; you know this. Not even I was aware that the USFL draft was Tuesday night. So it goes. The first two picks were Shea Patterson and Jordan Ta'amu, two quarterbacks who spent parts of their college career at Ole Miss. And if you think Nick Saban is not going to share that intel with Arch Manning and his peeps, well, guess again.

— And while we're here, if the USFL is around for a draft in 2023, is anyone willing to bet against Bo Nix being the first pick? I'll wait.

— In the "dog bites man" category of news, here's a story about Alabama getting a five-star DB recruit from the state of Alabama. Shocking, right? Well, it could be the start of a historic run since there are five five-star recruits in the state of Alabama in the 2023 cycle, and this feels like the first, well, never mind. You know. Dang you, Nick.

— No es bueno. Now the worm has turned and it appears we have moved beyond the nightmarish thoughts of which teams could lure Freddie Freeman from the purse-tightened grips of the Atlanta Braves to which players the Braves could look to add to replace Freeman. Pardon me, I need an Advil.

— Tennessee played basketball. Tennessee won at basketball. It was expected, but for teams inside the bubble this late in the year, losing games you should win are way, Way, WAY more impactful than winning games you are not expected to.

Today's questions

Which way Wednesday starts this way:

Which is more egregious, slapping an opposing coach in the handshake line or using the N-word?

Which is your favorite UTC coach of all time, because Lamont Paris has become mine?

Which free agent leaving your team — like it appears Freddie is poised to do — hurt you the most as a sports fan?

As for today — Feb. 23 — let's review.

It was a year ago that Tiger Woods had his car wreck.

Rushmore of most famous car crashes. Go.