Team Speed Kills: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Login-facebook
New Blog: Voodoo Five for South Florida Bulls Fans!

Sprints Debates the Merits of Lane Kiffin // 06.17.09

The Great Lane Kiffin Debate. Permit C&F to lead off with a completely self-promotional item today, particularly since there isn't much real "news" in the SEC right now. Tonight, barring some sort of significant techincal glitch, Team Speed Kills will partner with Rocky Top TalkRoll Bama Roll and Get the Picture to present the Great Lane Kiffin Debate, a live-blogging discussion of the past, present and future for Lane Kiffin at Tennessee.

The event will begin at 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT. Again, if all goes as planned, you'll be able to participate in the debate through comments -- in a moderated fashion -- here at Team Speed Kills, while guests to the other sites can do the same there.

We have as many people as might have been offended by Kiffin as is possible to do and have the dicsussion make sense -- your humble correspondent will represent the gas-pumping South Carolinians, Year2 will carry the banner of cheating Florida Gators, Todd of Roll Bama Roll will refuse to thank Lance Thompson for coming up with his Alabama-based arguments and Blutarsky's grandmother will insist he take up Georgia's banner. And we'll have two Tennessee fans to take up for Lane Kiffin.

And I got through that whole thing without once writing "Boy Wonder."

Aw, crap.

Star-divide

Why don't you just claim them all? Some Alabama fans are now admitting that the university hasn't won 12 national championships -- it's more like 17.

The question of how many National Championships the Crimson Tide can rightfully claim sparks heated debate among both staunch fans and derisive rivals. For the most part, Twelve and Counting simply sidesteps the issue, accepting the University’s tally of an even dozen as the figure and moving forward with its mission. (Allen Barra adds a Gnostic final chapter that touches on five other seasons that can be reasonably considered as well.)

How long will it take them to get it to 20?

Meanwhile, the Tide will open the renovated Bryant-Denny Stadium -- named. in part, after the coach who Alabama fans now probably credit with 14 national titles -- with a game against San Jose State. Because nothing says "honoring the Bear" like playing an obscure WAC cupcake.

Mediocrity is not so mediocre. Ron Morris, columnist for The State and persona non grata among South Carolina fans, sortakinda defends his newspaper's decision to run an ad touting the fact that the Gamecocks were .500 or above in the big three SEC sports (football, basketball, baseball).

USC has done it once. Kentucky and Vanderbilt have not done it since USC joined the league. Using that same time frame, USC’s .500-or-better success matches that of Auburn, Mississippi, Mississippi State and Tennessee, who have done it one time apiece. Georgia has done it twice since 1992-93. ...

Florida is the lone SEC school to have consistent success across the three major sports, having reached .500 or better nine times since the 1992-93 school year. Next best is Alabama with four, followed by Arkansas and LSU with three apiece. Arkansas joined the SEC along with USC in 1992.

Yes, but see, none of their hometown newspapers ran an advertisement congratulating them for it.

Somebody's taking Mike Slive way too seriously. There's Boy Wonder spouting off, and then there's the other extreme.

Anyway, I asked him about his thoughts about Alabama getting placed on NCAA probation last week as a result of the textbook fiasco.

Chizik approached it with a stiff-arm reminiscent of the Heisman Trophy.

"I've got my own issues at Auburn," Chizik said deftly. "I just worry about Auburn."

That's the best you've got? When you're 5-19, you really need to find some way to fire up the base. You don't have to accuse Nick Saban of cheating or anything, but you could say something interesting.

Digging deeper on the money question. Veazey goes even further into the databases on athletics revenue, pulling out the football numbers for all SEC schools.

1. Georgia, $67.05 million
2. Florida, $66.12 million
3. Auburn, $59.67 million
4. Alabama, $57.37 million
5. LSU, $52.69 million
6. South Carolina, $50.43 million
7. Tennessee, $40.26 million
8. Arkansas, $40.14 million
9. Kentucky, $25.86 million
10. Ole Miss, $17.77 million
11. Vanderbilt, $16.92 million
12. Mississippi State, $15.99 million

Veazey helpfully points out that some universities might have some other money that comes from here or there, but this is largely it.

Of interest: Note the enormous difference between the top and the bottom of the league. Georgia earns almost four times as much as Vanderbilt or either of the Mississippi schools.

South Carolina doesn't just beat Tennessee, which I wouldn't have figured, but does so by a margin of more than $10 million. Tennessee, in other words, would have to increase its revenues by 25 percent just to catch the Gamecocks.

The drop-off between Arkansas and the bottom four schools is also pretty dramatic.

Next up: Admitting it must submit to gravity. The NCAA has acknowledged that it cannot conspire with a university to break the law and will graciously "allow" FSU to fulfill its legal obligation to release records related to the academic fraud investigation. The Association trots out a neat legal theory to reserve for the future its rights as a national organization to ignore state law.

Nonetheless, Stevenson acknowledged that FSU is subject to public records laws, and that the university had asked to release the document.

"Therefore," Stevenson wrote, "the NCAA will not object to FSU's disclosure of the response provided FSU complies with applicable and state privacy laws and exemptions."

So the NCAA isn't saying anything crazy, like it has to follow the law or something.

Wind Sprints. Aairon Savage is likely done for the season, greatly concerning The Joe Cribbs Car Wash ... The Mayor updates the fight to get Erk Russell into the College Football Hall of Fame ... What, you don't have a play for 3rd and 61?

0 recs  |  Comment 2 comments |

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Display:

Great idea on the Kiffin debate

It’s been sorely in need of some liveblogging, akin to Nico Pitney’s coverage of the hoopla in Iran. I wonder if Knoxville will remind us Tehran come December…

Your uncle molests collies.

by 3k on Jun 17, 2009 5:27 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Football revenue

All things being equal, Kentucky’s $25 million from football isn’t that bad. Good thing we’ve got uberbucks from basketball to fall back on, though.

http://anythingbutgatorade.blogspot.com - yet another SEC sports blog

by Anything but Gatorade on Jun 17, 2009 9:40 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Welcome to the SB Nation blog about the SEC
Start posting on Team Speed Kills »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

Connect_with_facebook

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recent FanPosts

Small
SB Nation Survey + Chance to donate $500 to a charity of this community's choice
Brantley_small
Tim Tebow a Product of a System?
Brantley_small
Seantrel Henderson Helps Lane Kiffin do it again!
Gator-f__custom__small
Boise State's Wilcox to Tennessee as DC

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >

SBNation.com Recent Stories

FILE-In this  Sept. 13, 2008, file photo shows Oregon coach Mike Bellotti joining his team as they take the field for an NCAA college football game against Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind. Oregon athletic director Mike Bellotti is stepping down after less than a year in the position to become a college football analyst with ESPN. Bellotti was head coach of the Ducks for 14 seasons before he formally took over as athletic director on July 1. He'll make his debut on ESPN on April 17. (AP Photo/Tom Strickland,File) link

More Bad News For Oregon: Bellotti Resigns As AD To Work For ESPN

Tennessee running back Bryce Brown (11) runs past Ohio's Melvin Payne (55), Dak Notestine (51) and Lee Renfro (32) during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009 in Knoxville, Tenn. Tennessee won 34-23. (AP Photo/Wade Payne) +1 updates

Bryce Brown Leaving Tennessee? Former 5-Star RB 'Not A Part Of The Team'

Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel, left, jokes with offensive lineman Bryant Browning (70) before taking the team picture during an NCAA college football media day, Thursday, Aug,13, 2009, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)

Jim Tressel Receives Two-Year Contract Extension, No Raise

More from SBNation.com >


Managers

Gabalogo2_small cocknfire

Gator-f__custom__small Year2

Authors

14563741_small JCCW Jerry

Ff_130051_s_small froberts

Official Partner of CBS Sports