Housekeeping. This edition of Sprints might be kind of rapid-fire, as a visit to the ancestral homeland of North Alabama after SEC Media Days concluded with your humble correspondent returning to Tallahassee at a very late hour.
Team Speed Kills Now will still start at 9 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. CT, and you can find out there when your team will start practice and how Phil Fulmer is still officially the head coach at Tennessee.
Beyond that, we'll shuffle around the schedule a bit. The game capsules for Ole Miss will come along late afternoon/early evening. Our parody will appear overnight, and the rest will be business as usual, meaning the depth chart posting will go up Wednesday with predictions Thursday and final thoughts Friday.
To the news ...
Thoughts and prayers for Victoria Middleton
We don't usually cover equestrian here but we do offer best wishes for any SEC athlete who is severely injured.
Conference acquires stadium
We've got ESPN and the Georgia Dome. What else do we need?
LSU will play North Carolina in the Georgia Dome ... eventually
But the deal's not done yet, according to the Tigers.
Kentucky also signs a major opponent
They ink a four-year deal with Western Kentucky. Hey -- we're talking about the Wildcats; this is about as good as you have a right to expect. At least the Hilltoppers are not a "transitional" FBS team this year ... which never stopped UK from playing them in the past.
Remind why we're even going through this exercise
Richt on Monday said his ballot was cast by Georgia sports information director Claude Felton, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Richt said he did look over the ballot after it was filled it out.
Since this one doesn't count, unlike the Top 25 ballots, is there really any reason now to continue this charade?
No, Riley, you can't wear the football helmet into the batter's box
Riley Cooper is still waiting to make a decision.
The reported deadline for major league prospects to sign is Aug. 17, but the Rangers, who selected Cooper in the 25th round, reportedly have another week of wiggle room until fall classes officially start on Aug. 24. The Rangers have made it clear Cooper can sign a contract and still play football as a senior.
This would not be unprecedented. Jeff Smardasfda;sezwewrzw played another year as a WR for Notre Dame after being drafted but eventually signed a blockbuster deal with the Cubs. The rules were different at the time -- you could go approximately a century without signing a draftee before losing rights to them -- but the example is there.
Glen Coffee signed by 49ers
So obviously they "can play with him."
He'll play linebacker
Tebow says he might move to play in the League.
And another one's gone, another one's gone
Another one bites the dust at Alabama?
The national media is now talking about Tennessee! Mission accomplished!!!
Even if it is part of a regular feature, and even if it is to say this:
Tennessee is going to be better than it was a season ago. Not that it would take much to do so, but the offense will be improved – it can’t be worse – and the defense should not suffer anything more than a slight drop-off in production from its last season under John Chavis. As stated, Monte Kiffin knows what he’s doing, but U.T. may take some time to adapt to his system.
But, hey, it's a headline; COLORS AND LOGOS IN THE PAPER -- W00T!
Meanwhile, other Rocky Top partisans choose to look backwards, which befuddles me. Why would any Tennessee fan do this (or, for that matter, this) to themselves? Really, this is approaching masochism at this point.
That's not exactly the highest bar you could set
The Quad puts South Carolina at No. 37, two spots better than the aforementioned Vols.
Though not confident that this season will be that breakout year everyone has predicted out of South Carolina since Spurrier arrived in 2005 -- double-digit wins, an SEC East title -- I do believe it will have no trouble matching last season’s win total.
Hooray for mediocrity! The Gamecocks' first opponent is ranked No. 36, which should make for a good game if The Quad is right.
Wait 'til next year. Again.
Garnet and Black Attack, meanwhile, talks up the 2010 Gamecocks. No, the 2009 Gamecocks have not finished their schedule yet.
However, in 2010 we'll have a very experienced, talented team, and the Gators will finally be Tebow-less. If the ball rolls our way a few times, it could happen then. This year, though, I think our goals should be getting to eight regular-season wins and making it to the Peach Bowl or better.
Is the Outback Bowl too much to ask for?
I will pay good money for a YouTube
A quarter for anyone who can send me the link to a video of Paul Mainieri singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." Okay, so I'd send it P.O.D., so you probably won't want the quarter. But you would have my eternal gratitude, and that's worth something, right?
If that's all there is to it ...
The ACC will overtake the SEC because Kam Chancellor says so, d--- it.
"It's real important," Hokies safety Kam Chancellor said, "because, like I say, the SEC beat up on the ACC for a while. And we just need to put our foot down and say it ain't going to happen no more.
"And that's how it is."
We're trembling.