Weekend lookahead: Blue bloods arrive hungry in New Orleans

Now less than two weeks away from the NFL draft, a few things are coming into focus. After that, evaluations tend to be all over the place, and the last 12 selections of the first round in particular could be filled with some twists and turns and players being called who weren’t found on a lot of mock drafts. It’s still a little early in terms of being able to sort out the best information possible about which teams are truly leaning which way, but you do continue to hear the same names mentioned as the best of the best in this draft: Saquon Barkley, Quenton Nelson, Bradley Chubb, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Denzel Ward. The consensus I get from the evaluators I speak with is that those five are the best players in this draft overall, and if not for all of the extreme demand for passers, that is how picks 1-5 would likely play out in some order.

The distance debate in golf is racing headlong in a five- or six-car pileup. The “five families� that make up the most important ruling bodies all seem to have different stances on this. The equipment companies have different stances, and they also have lots of money they’re spending with aggressive lobbying efforts. The pros and amateurs have different positions and could be pitted against each other. Architects, agronomists, TV networks — there are so many different interests and we’re about to hit an eruption point as the ball keeps going farther and farther. This week, it flew as far as ever recorded during a PGA Tour event. Dustin Johnson had a poor showing in the WGC Dell Match Play, but