That 'surprise' didn't last long. Now we know what the billboard in South Florida is for: The tricked-out Heism@n campaign for Tennessee's Eric Berry. C'mon, you know Boy Wonder wasn't going to go low key with this one, right?
The marketing blitz includes several electronic billboards (including one in South Florida), a word-of-the-day calendar being sent to Heisman voters, the Web site berry4heisman.com, viral videos and a massive inflatable jersey that will be outside of Neyland Stadium on game days. The jersey is 20 feet high, 15 feet wide and an exact replica of Berry's No. 14.
I understand most of this -- but the inflatable jersey baffles me. I'm not really sure what it's supposed to do. Remind Tennessee fans that Eric Berry plays for them? Keep him in the consciousness of the many Heism@n voters who stream through the gates of Neyland every day?
The entire cost of the campaign is a little more than $10,000, [Tennessee spokeswoman Tiffany] Carpenter said, with the billboards and jersey accounting for the majority of the project. There will be approximately 10 total billboards, including the one in South Florida, one in Atlanta, and several throughout Tennessee, including the Nashville area.
The biggest cost, Carpenter said, were the billboards and the jersey, which cost less than $5,000 each. They were built in as part of the athletics budget, however, meaning no additional dollars were spent.
Um, how much does an inflatable jersey go for these days. "Less than $5,000" is a pretty big ballpark. I would submit that $3,000 is at least $2,800 too much, judging from the going rate on those inflatable Santas you can get at Eckerd's during the holidays.
This precludes the use of any of MaconDawg's excellent ideas for the billboard, though I would submit that one of them is impossible. Monte Kiffin is the Most Interesting Man in the World. Think about it: Have you ever seen both of them in the same room?
Well, that's encouraging
Steve Farese Sr., lawyer for would-be Ole Miss safety Jamar Hornsby, on the likelihood Hornsby will be indicted Friday: "We would enter a plea of not guilty." Hornsby, you might recall, he got kicked off Florida's team. Houston Nutt is waiting for now.
And the fairy tale is complete
Michael Oher and the Ravens ink a five-year contract. Neither real nor monopoly money has been released, though more than $12.6 million looks like a safe bet.
Some Dawgs have thin skin
This is all it takes to get Georgia fans worked up nowadays? Yeesh.
So, he's not getting a place in your team's Hall of Fame?
Choice comments from former Iowa State players on former Cyclone head coach turned Auburn head coach Gene Chizik.
"You hear about guys walking around like they were on egg shells (last year)," [Austen] Arnaud said during the annual Big 12 football meetings, "but right now, coach Rhoads will be in the locker room, hanging out, sitting on the couch, just chillin'." ...
"We kind of got burned on the last deal," [Nate] Frere said of Chizik's surprising December departure. "When (Chizik) says that he's staying for sure, and then you find out through the media that he took a trip to see another school about another job, and then having to hear about it through the media that he accepted it ... and then he calls a team meeting after the fact ...
"There was a lot of emotion in that room. There was a lot of anger."
What a way to pay back a guy who led you to a 5-19 record. Ingrates. (HT: Dr. Saturday)
This is good
Because, at this point, Tennessee's quarterback in 2010 might be a walk-on.
There are two individuals pictured on this ticket
Which one is more intelligent?
What have you got against going from preseason Top 10 to postseason "Others Receiving Votes"
Arkansas Expats is relieved that Tommy Bowden didn't take the Razorbacks job.
Although that scenario would have spared Razorback fans approximately eight billion hilarious "Petrino is gonna take a new job at halftime hahaha" jokes, I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of us are glad that fate twisted the way it did.
And think about this: Now, when Bobby Petrino leaves at the end of the year for his next job, Tommy Bowden will be available.
Like you didn't see this one coming
Renardo Sidney and the NCAA are pretty much officially at an impasse now. That's the nicest way to put it when Sidney's attorney is labeling the Association's actions "racially selective" and what appears to be the NCAA's rapid response team devoted to Donald Jackson calling those accusations "both absurd and flat out wrong." With classes starting in a bit more than two weeks, this is now an urgent matter.
Like SEC Media Days, only with hippies
California Golden Blogs will be in attendance for the Pac-10 Media Day. That's day -- they have only one, which should tell you something.