Hey, how about that NFL Draft? That was fun. Remember when we used to have live sporting events like that all the time?

I, for one, will not take sports for granted ever again when this COVID-19 pandemic is under control. As much as I have liked rewatching some classic games, I cannot wait to watch a college football or basketball game that I don’t already know the outcome for.

The stay-at-home measures seem to be working, so hopefully we can have football as scheduled this fall. I can’t wait to see fresh new games once again.

Until then, though, let’s all find some enjoyment in this week’s Mailbag:

Robert:

Based on draft output, which school had the most disappointing 2019 season? (My vote is TCU, not Michigan.)

TCU is definitely a good choice here. The Horned Frogs went 5-7 (not even making a bowl game) with 2 Round 1 picks in WR Jalen Reagor and CB Jeff Gladney, a Round 2 pick in DL Ross Blacklock, a Round 3 pick in OT Lucas Niang and a Round 7 pick in S Vernon Scott. That’s a ton of draft talent for a team that missed out on the postseason. But, in today’s game, especially in the Big 12, that’s what happens when you don’t have a steady quarterback.

In a bit of interesting trivia, only 4 1st-round picks from the 2020 NFL Draft played for teams that missed bowl games — the 2 TCU guys, South Carolina DL Javon Kinlaw and Texas Tech LB Jordyn Brooks.

In addition to your Michigan suggestion, I’d add Mississippi State, Miami, South Carolina and Oregon State to the teams that should have done more with the draft talent they had in 2019.

@Dobbe8:

I know you’re a Mizzou grad and the Tigers have (finally) moved toward renewed rivalries with Kansas and Illinois in football. So, if you could bring back 1 other rivalry that isn’t played on a yearly basis anymore, what would it be?

One of the obvious answers would be Texas-Texas A&M, and that certainly would be high on my list. A lot of other rivalries are coming back, at least in a limited capacity, in the coming years — the Backyard Brawl between Pitt and West Virginia, the Florida-Miami rivalry and a few others.

My answer would be to have the Florida-Miami game come back every year. I’d love to see the Gators play the Hurricanes in Week 1 every year before finishing each regular season with the annual Florida State game. Add in the Georgia and LSU rivalries in the middle of the season and that’s a loaded schedule for the Gators.

Now, I just hope the Tigers hurry up and finalize that nonconference football series with the Jayhawks. I can’t wait for that game to be back in my life.

Rachel:

If you could only eat meat from 1 animal for the rest of your life, what animal would you choose? Pig has bacon, pork belly, pork chops, pulled pork, ribs, sausage and more, cows obviously have their advantages, too. But chicken is also a solid option.

Yeah, I’d honestly go with chicken. I’d miss bacon dearly, but I wouldn’t miss cow. I don’t eat a lot of red meat anyway, so that wouldn’t be too difficult. I eat a ton of chicken, though.

Fried chicken, breaded chicken, sliced chicken, rotisserie chicken, chicken fajitas, chicken salad — I love it all. Plus, you can get chicken sausages, so that helps cover the loss of that portion of the pig.

I might regret it about a couple of months into it, but for now, I think I’m going to have to ride with chicken as my 1 meat for the rest of my life. Salmon is really good, too, but it doesn’t have the versatility chicken has.

@SChinni12:

Now that the draft is over, other than the 2 hours a week “The Last Dance” is on, there are no sports. The best-case scenario seems to have sports returning in June. How do I get through the month of May as a sports fan?

Well, hopefully you have a video game system to help you get through the long month of May. I’ve been getting back into NBA 2K13 and Madden 14 on my PS3. I wish I had upgraded to a PS4 before the pandemic hit, but at this point, I’m stuck with what I have.

I’ve also been reading a lot. If you want to supplement your “The Last Dance” viewing, I’d recommend “The Jordan Rules” by Sam Smith (who is 1 of the featured media guys in the documentary). After last weekend’s dive into the Bulls’ rivalry with the Detroit Pistons, now is the perfect time to read that book.

If you like beer, there’s never going to be a better time to get into home brewing than right now. I recently started brewing my own beer and have an IPA that should be ready in a couple of days. I’m no expert, but it helps fill my time. Find something like that. But for real, let’s hope we can get back to sports in June!

Have a question for next week’s Mailbag? Tweet at us using #SDSMailbag or email me at ASpencer@SaturdayDownSouth.com.