FALL OF TROY
Trojans of a feather
Perhaps this is thinking too rationally for Lane Kiffin -- okay, any thinking at all is thinking too rationally for Lane Kiffin -- but the question is, why does he keep returning to the same accusation? And why does he always get it wrong?
"I have spoken with Mr. Baxter and he has now confirmed that he did not receive a call from your institution. Therefore, [Southern Cal] has no intention of pursuing this matter further.
"I apologize for any inconvenience or embarrassment this matter has caused to you and your institution."
Year2 has this right: Lane Kiffin is a pathological liar, and any self-respecting university would fire him for this. Actually, any self-respecting university would never hire him in the first place.
Apologizing is not enough in this case; this was a serious allegation lobbed at the professional reputations of numerous people at no fewer than five universities. But that Kiffin's modus operandi: Sling mud until you get caught lying, and then apologize and move on to the next bizarre episode.
Simply keeping him on salary speaks volumes about Southern Cal.
Don't ever change, Lane
That said, this just gets better and better all the time.
In the latest round of the Lane Kiffin-Tennessee saga, the [Southern Cal] coach approached the Volunteers about meeting in the 2011 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game.
Tennessee, the program Kiffin abruptly left for USC early this year, declined the invitation.
Reached for comment on Wednesday afternoon, Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton said, "We told [Southern Cal] we could play 'em in a few years but we can't make it work with our schedule next year." ...
Hamilton also said Kiffin had recently sent him some text messages about the proposal.
It's not that the Vols are dodging Southern Cal entirely; the two are already scheduled to play in 2021 and 2022. We as SEC fans can only hope that Lane Kiffin is still there, or that the two programs can work something out before then. Then they can decide on the field who gets the moral victory.
Another Southern Cal player leaves
This time Byron Moore is leaving L.A. What top-notch program is he headed to? Alabama? Florida? Ohio State
What? L.A. Harbor College?
Listen to him about this
Joel is trying to counsel Conquest Chronicles about the problems with following Lane Kiffin and trying to explain him away. Ah, yes, the Seantrel Richardson transfer is "a small victory for [Southern Cal]." It's all part of the plan. Where have we heard that before?
A DAMON BAD DAWG
I would guess he's pretty busy right now
Mark Richt had some very gracious things to say about Damon Evans Wednesday, but apparently hasn't been able to get in touch with the athletics director.
Actually, we exchanged voice mails. It seemed like everytime I called him he wasn’t able to pick up and vice versa.
What else could he possibly be doing, other than trying to salvage his marriage, repair his reputation and stay out of jail?
And while I like Richt, I really hope he was just trying to be nice when he said this.
I didn’t really know how to react because when you’re not there, when you don’t know everything that happened, you hear DUI and that’s certainly a very serious thing. I really didn’t try to make…I didn’t and won’t still make a judgment on it but I knew it was serious.
Well, yeah. DUIs tend to be serious.
Don't look for Frank Crumley to apply for the permanent AD job
He doesn't sound happy to be there.
"It's hard to feel that way. It really is," Crumley said after the meeting of approximately 20 minutes, about 15 of which Adams spoke. "I'm proud to do what I can for Georgia, but I'm not excited in the circumstances of being the interim. I'm not."
Not that I think a lot of people would be eager to take over the smoking crater that was the AD job.
OTHER NEWS
'Is everyone up there as stupid as you?'
The prosecution of Jordan Love for not providing his middle name to a police officer continues. A judge has ruled that it can continue. I will repeat that: A judge has looked at a case where a man was arrested for not giving his middle name -- and in fairness his birthdate -- and stands accused of nothing else, looked and it and said, "Yeah, that's reasonable."
Impeachment, anyone?
(And a bonus to anyone who can name the TV show, episode and scenario for the subhead quote.)
'Violation of team rules'
That's the only reason for Pat Patterson's dismissal that could be drug out of Houston Nutt in the official press release. Yes, I did phrase that kind of oddly. No, no reason.
So much for the arrogance thing
Here's something you don't see often: An Alabama fan who's more skeptical than I am about the Tide's chances in 2010. What say you, outsidethesidelines?
Even so, more likely than not it will not happen. Accept that as a reality and move on with it. We'll probably lose at least once in 2010, perhaps even more, and we likely won't repeat as national championship. It could happen, sure, but the odds are clearly against it. We've got issues in our own right, and the schedule looks more and more daunting with each passing glance. Simple enough.
Apparently, it's not as presumptuous to state as unequivocal fact that Florida will win the SEC East -- but I digress. There's a lot of good stuff here that should give those who already have the Tide penciled in for a repeat pause. (I'm still trying to figure that one out myself.)
Bledsoe rent allegations falling apart
It should be noted that the mysterious leap in high-school grades for Eric Bledsoe is something that is still under investigation (by the school system as well as the NCAA), but in fairness to Kentucky, we should point out that The Birmingham News has blown a hole in the allegations that Bledsoe's high-school coach paid rent for Bledsoe's family. It's not definitive by any stretch -- one wonders why it took more than a month for someone to get "the other side" of the story out there -- but the story still weakens the allegations. After all, none of us watching this from afar really know what happened.
How South Carolina's first national championship happened
The Feathered Warrior reviews the 2010 Gamecocks baseball season.
It's all downhill from here
College World Series hero Whit Merrifield has signed with the Kansas City Royals. Which means he will be introduced 25 years from now as "College World Series hero Whit Merrifield."
CP7 for Heisman
Oh, this is a great website. We can see that Christian Ponder's play list includes "Piano Man" by Billy Joel, "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins, "The Good Stuff" by Kenny Chesney, "All of the Above" by Maino (feat. T-Pain) and "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC. A man of varied tastes, apparently. How this has anything to do with the Heisman Trophy, I have no idea. Oh, and you can follow CP7 on Twitter! Hooray!