Schmidt List: Zion injury, Kyler Murray’s size, Kris Bryant revenge SZN, Mahershala Ali’s Oscar feat

Zion Williamson’s injury, Kyler Murray’s Combine, Kris Bryant’s revenge tour, Don Nelson’s new hobby, Mahershala Ali’s double-double and more in this week’s Schmidt List.

Welcome to my column where I’ll write about the top news across sports, entertainment and pop culture. This column will spray to all fields, take it one day at a time and just try to have fun out there.

It’s the everything bagel of columns that won’t focus on just college sports or just the NFL or NBA. My hope is it’ll provide a little something for everyone and make you laugh and think along the way. My basic philosophy is to live like Ron Swanson and if I have any questions about whether a particular story belongs here, I’ll ask myself what would Ron Swanson do (WWRSD).

And Parks and Rec fans will fondly remember, he can do what he wants, and therefore, I can do what I want in this space.

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1. Zion, Zion, Zion

Zion Williamson has the most famous right knee in college basketball, and possibly in all sports after spraining it in the opening seconds of Duke’s loss to North Carolina on Wednesday. The presumptive top pick in the NBA Draft is listed as day-to-day, but won’t return for Tuesday’s tilt vs. Virginia Tech, meaning Saturday’s game vs. Miami is the earliest he could return. There hasn’t been word from Williamson since the injury, but it’s my hope he will return this season and not shut it down as many outsiders wanted.

But also lost in the Zion-mania is how well North Carolina played vs. Duke, albeit a shell-shocked Blue Devils squad after losing Williamson 36 seconds into the game. Seemingly no one outside Chapel Hill wanted to talk about the Heels in the wake of the injury. Behind 30 points and 15 rebounds from Luke Maye, it was a strong showing from the Tar Heels, who are in a three-way tie for first in the ACC with Duke and Virginia, and very much in play for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

2. Kyler Murray takes center stage at NFL Combine

The NFL Scouting Combine begins on Tuesday, Feb. 26 with players arriving in Indianapolis for their on-field workouts, interviews and medical checkups. The player who is the main attraction this year is former Oklahoma quarterback and Heisman winner, Kyler Murray who turned down an MLB career to continue playing football.

The big thing everyone will want to know about Murray is his height and weight. He was listed at 5-10 and 194 pounds his redshirt junior season at Oklahoma last year, but is reportedly tipping the scales north of 200 pounds. That’s more important than his height. Everyone already knows he’s short so you either believe he can play in the league at 5-10 or he can’t. If he’s 5-9.5 is anyone going to suddenly change their stance? I don’t think so.

Secondly, will Murray run a 40 or throw?

Lamar Jackson didn’t run the 40 last year and was still a first round pick. Sam Darnold didn’t throw and he became the lone recent first rounder who didn’t chuck it around Indy.

Forget all that because the most important thing for Murray at the Combine is his interviews with teams. If he’s able to convince quarterback-needy teams he’s committed to football and won’t bail and pursue baseball at the first sign of struggle. Teams know he has game-breaking speed and a big and accurate arm capable of making NFL throws, but what they need to know is his commitment level to make him a high first round pick.

3. Mahershala Ali’s double-double

Mahershala Ali took home his second Oscar on Sunday night when he won the Academy Award for Supporting Actor for his work in Green Book. He should have been up for the Best Actor category, but nevertheless, Ali’s second Oscar makes him the second black actor to win multiple acting awards at the Oscars, joining Denzel Washington. Ali previously won a Supporting Actor award for Moonlight. What’s even cooler than that, which is really, really cool, is Ali won the Oscar during the airing of the True Detective season 3 finale on HBO. Look for Ali to get at least an Emmy nomination for Best Actor in a Limited Series next year for his work in the HBO series.

And for the sports fans, did you know Ali was a four-year college basketball player at St. Mary’s? Then known as Mahershala Gilmore before he changed his last name after converting to Islam, the future two-time Oscar winner was a standout point guard. The Undefeated recently did an awesome profile of his college basketball career that’s worth reading. He averaged seven points and 1.8 rebounds in 27 games as a starter and the 6-3 guard was known for his slashing ability to the basket and for being a lock-down defender. He may not have had an NBA game, but he is the first Division I basketball player to win an Oscar, so he’s got that goin’ for him, which is nice.

4. Kris Bryant revenge SZN

Kris Bryant battled a shoulder injury much of last season and didn’t put up the MVP numbers Cubs fans had expected. He heard some chirping from fans and media alike during his struggles and is extra motivated after hearing some trade whispers and chatter that he’s not any good.

“When you’re not playing, you have a whole lot of time to kind of just sit there and either go through a Twitter rabbit hole or whatever, you start seeing things about yourself,” Bryant said. “And seeing things saying ‘Trade him’ and this and that. And I’m like, ‘Alright.’ I’m motivated. Keep them coming. Bring it. And last year, I didn’t really do anything. And, sure, it was warranted, but boy did it motivate me this year. I’m excited.”

Make sure you target Bryant in your fantasy baseball draft.

5. Wanna go on a cruise with the Head Ball Coach?

Have you ever dreamed about going on a cruise with Steve Spurrier and share margaritas and jokes about Tennessee? Well, now’s your chance because you can sign up for a cruise to the Bahamas with the head coach of the AAF’s Orlando Apollos on July 12-15. Sign me up for some shuffleboard with the HBC as I pelt him with questions about Danny Wuerffel, trolling Tennessee, working for Daniel Snyder and a little golf. 

6. Last Chance U coach out of chances

If you saw season 3 of the Netflix series Last Chance U you know Independence Community College head coach Jason Brown isn’t a shrinking violet. He is brash, profane and doesn’t care who hears it. Unfortunately, for Brown, that cost him his job as he resigned late Sunday night after he referred to himself as “your new Hitler” in a heated text exchange with a German player Alexandros Alexiou.

Typical of Brown, he didn’t apologize for the texts in his tweet announcing his resignation, only listed off a number of accomplishments for him and the program under his watch. This guy is not the type of person who should be coaching and teaching young student-athletes. He’s the type of guy who loves the attention and praise and doesn’t care who he hurts or has to do in order to have the spotlight shining brightly on him.

7. Trent Richardson renaissance

Are you watching any of the AAF? If you have, you’ve likely noticed former No. 3 NFL Draft pick Trent Richardson doing big things for the Birmingham Iron.

The former Alabama standout and Heisman finalist scored three rushing touchdowns in Saturday’s win that saw the team improve to 3-0. Richardson leads the AAF with six rushing touchdowns, matching the total he had in 29 games with the Indianapolis Colts after they gave up a first round pick to the Cleveland Browns in his second year. Richardson may not get back to the NFL but it’s great to see him having success in the AAF and having fun playing football again. 

8. Don Nelson’s new hobby

Long-time NBA head coach Don Nelson is living his best life. Retirement appears to be suiting him well after a recent interview saw Nelson reveal his new post-coaching hobby, smoking pot. Imagining Nelly rolling a fat one as he listens to The Grateful Dead is enough for me to vault him a few spots on my all-time coaching power rankings.

9. Crying Hank

This won’t have the same Crying Jordan type of viral appeal, but I was struck by the video of New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist who got emotional when talking about his relationship with Mats Zuccarello and what he meant to the team after the latter was traded to the Dallas Stars. The NHL trade deadline sees a flurry of activity with players being shipped all across Canada and the U.S.

It’s easy as sports fans to view the players as commodities or parts, and forget that they’re real-life breathing human beings with emotions. Sports is an emotional game but I think the average fan forgets about the human element at times. This was a big reminder not to forget about the people under the helmet and not get fixated on the jersey they’re wearing.

10. Viral moment of the week

I loved this tweet from SB Nation college football editor, Jason Kirk, who asked Twitter if they could win a fight against the most famous person with their first name. With nearly 160,000 votes on the poll and 1,300 retweets and 4,800 likes, this tweet went viral across the Twitterverse.

I don’t know who the most famous Patrick is, but despite my size advantage, I know I couldn’t take Patrick Kane, because he’d use a hockey stick to get me off my feet and then I’m toast. NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes would hit me with a no-look punch and I’d be seeing stars. But Patrick Dempsey? Bring it on McDreamy! If Grey’s Anatomy fans cried their eyes out when your character died, they’re gonna have to reach for the box of Kleenex when we step foot in the ring. As for Sir Patrick Stewart, I’d respectfully decline to go to battle with a man so classy and dignified.