Gene Chizik might need a new salesman. Jay Jacobs might be a great athletics director. But when it comes to the the art of the interview -- well, he has an interesting way of phrasing things. How's that economy affecting the Auburn athletics department?
The economics of everything has touched everybody.
Indeed. Profound thought. Then there's this gem from the other of two interviews published over the weekend.
But we’ve got a lot of great, quality athletes here; we just don’t have a lot of them.
I see. Actually, I don't.
There were some mildly newsworthy things Jacobs said -- or at least what passes for news in the offseason -- ably wrapped up by Jerry here. Jacobs also seems to endorse secondary violations, something you would think an AD would want to avoid, but I think Jerry sells Jacobs short by saying his remarks on Tony Franklin essentially fall into the "no comment" category. If you're willing to read between the lines, it's all there.
It sounds like, based on what I saw, that's he's at peace where he is and we're going to continue to do things the Auburn way. But he's a brilliant offensive mind and I wish him nothing but the best. [EMPHASIS C&F's]
Tony Franklin is "at peace where he is"; Jacobs and Co. will "do things the Auburn way." And never the twain shall meet. Whatever the Auburn way is -- prayer before selecting the next play, kissing the ring of Bobby Lowder, actually devising an offense that moves forwards instead of backwards -- Franklin was clearly not on board.
Stephen Garcia tweets
Oh, how did I miss this until now? Some of the more choice selections from the feed of South Carolina Gamecocks QB Stephen Garcia:
Thinks Jay Cutler is overrated. He has an overall losing record for his career and will be a distraction in the locker room.
Memphis every year = 30 wins, undefeated in conference play, #1 or #2 seed in tourney...Calipari, don't be stupid...
I'm sure basketball coach Darrin Horn is particularly grateful for that last one.
Um, was that supposed to be available info?
Kirby Smart, Alabama defensive coordinator: "We have received a lot of great exposure with ESPN. They have actually a schedule for us to play in three years to play a Big 12 team in the new Cowboys stadium." No, that was not widely known. Until now, anyway.
Battle is over at Arkansas
File this under "no one, Surprising."
Alshon Jeffery almost ready to study for future job in petroleum industry
Jeffery’s standardized test score is now acceptable, sources said Monday, but he still needs an ‘A’ in an online course to secure his eligibility for the fall.
At this point, we've abandoned all pretense of putting academics ahead of athletics, haven't we?
S.C. walk-on punter might have badly injured the person he hit with his car, might not have
This is the best we have to go with in the offseason sometimes.
Garnet and Black Attack previews titanic battle with Bulldogs. Oh, the S.C. State ones?
Oh, that was a horrible game in 2007. I was traveling and just remember keeping up with the game through the blogs and Internet in my hotel room, all the while thinking, "What the h--- is going on down there?"
It depends on how balanced your balance is
DawgsOnline brings a much-needed thought to the debate over offensive balance.
What would be illustrative is to look at when teams run. If you build a first half lead through the air and then seal the game by running the entire second half, your offense will look balanced (or at least more balanced than it looked at halftime).
Dr. Saturday: Subpar QBs par for the course
Year2 will have more on this later, but the Doc says the SEC isn't that much worse off this year than any other conference, save perhaps the Big XII.
If the SEC is at any disadvantage, it's in the fact that three of last year's most obviously inept quarterbacks, Jonathan Crompton (Tennessee), Kodi Burns (Auburn) and Mike Hartline (Kentucky), are all scheduled to be back under center this fall. It's not that other conferences didn't have their share of terrible quarterbacks, but at least UCLA and Michigan, for example, are going out of their way to get rid of the problem.
In fairness to Crompton and Burns, they were running offenses that made no sense to anyone watching and probably not to the people calling the plays.
The British are uncivilized heathens
In a great post about Alabama fans abroad, kleph reveals how dark the existence of soccer fans really is.
In terms of bringing the game to the locals, Brock says there is a bit of common ground with the Brits due to the intensity of the rivalries amongst the various supporters of British football (soccer). What tend to cause the greatest fascination on the part of the English are the sheer size of US football stadiums -- often twice the capacity of those for England football matches -- and the phenomena of tailgating.
Socialists.
When you have to say it, that's usually a bad sign
"Basketball in the Southeastern Conference is alive and well,’’ Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy said Monday on a teleconference with the league’s coaches. ...
The SEC, which sent six teams to the NCAA Tournament in eight of the previous 10 years, had just three teams — Tennessee, LSU and Mississippi State -- in the field this past season, the fewest since the conference expanded to 12 teams in 1991-92. ...
Then last week, for the first time ever, there wasn’t an SEC player selected in the top 40 picks of the NBA draft.
Just me, or does this sound a little bit like the politician who's always talking about how faithful he is to his wife or how fiscally responsible she is? More defensiveness here.
Skipping out on a great contract because he couldn't agree on what "with cause" meant
The latest in the Billy Gillispie soap opera:
In court documents, Todd said that on June 19, 2008, he and UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart met with Gillispie for two hours and reviewed "line by line" the latest contract offer, which by then "included a second car and increases in several monetary provisions above the figures" in the original memorandum of understanding.
At that point, I take the contract and they can fire me for killing a parakeet if they want to.
Cal wants Kentucky to play Memphis?
Isn't that kind of asking for what's coming to you?
A Sea of Blue talks about "Wheels Within Wheels" in UK basketball
It looks like it would be fascinating if I actually knew more about the Xs and Os of basketball. Like which team is the Xs and which one is the Os.
They're even worse at football than they are at war
Team USA demolishes France 78-0 in the real football -- and they didn't even have to keep the Golden Tebow in until the fourth quarter. Leftover Hot Dog puts this in perspective.
France gained a total of 7 yards ... for the game. The USA averaged 10 per play en route to amassing 610 total yards. Team France ran 47 plays. That comes out to 0.1489 yards per play or just over 5 inches.
And yet, that would be an improvement over Mississippi State's offense last year.