SECRET AGENT MEN
A little bit of a contrast in those statements, no?
The faintest wisp of smoke is now coming from the Whitney Hotel in Columbia.
An athletics department official told at least one of the players to move out of the hotel, according to a source close to the situation.
USC coach Steve Spurrier said Saturday he did not ask players to leave but indicated some might be checking out of the hotel. ...
"As long as the guys pay their bills, they’re OK," Spurrier said. "But obviously they can’t live there for free."
The question that has to be asked if: If nothing is wrong with the Whitney, why is one of the players being asked to leave the hotel? And who is that player? If it's Weslye Saunders, I think we all know where this story is going and how likely he is to take the field this season. If it's someone else, that could add a new angle to this story.
On the other hand, if most of the players involved are paying their rent, that's a good sign for South Carolina. We'll see.
Call in the lawyers
UNC retains a "consultant" (read: attorney) to deal with AgentGate.
The Big Ten might think it's fewer because they can't count
The Midwestern conference does defeat the SEC in one category: Programs found guilty of major rule-breaking over the last five and half years.
REPLACING A DAMON BAD DAWG
The quote that will spark 1,000 hours of speculation
I don't even think I have to tell you what people will read into this comment by David Shipley, who chaired the athletics director search at Georgia that ended with Greg McGarity.
"You know, there might be some tough personnel decisions down the road," Shipley said. "At least speaking from my perspective, once it was clear he had the sort of wherewithal, that intestinal fortitude, to make those tough choices, I said, ‘He's a great pick for us.'"
You would have thought the talking-points memo would have said something about not even implying anything about personnel changes, but you can bet that the hot seat contingent will use this as proof that Mark Richt is in danger.
He's already working at cooling down that hot seat
Mark Richt meets with McGarity.
"He just seems like a very genuine person," Richt said. "Everybody that I know that knows him, or has worked with him, they think the world of him. They think he’s just tremendous. It’s very obvious that he loves Georgia, that he loves Athens. I think it’s very believable when he says this is his dream job. It’s where he wants to be."
Most of the reaction among the Georgia fan base and media seems to be along the same lines.
Michael Adams has learned nothing
You know ...
Evans started his new contract, worth $550,000 per year for five years, about an hour after he was arrested in Atlanta.
But Georgia president Michael Adams added that if McGarity does well, as Adams felt Evans did, the contract would be subject to improvement.
Why don't you just go ahead and drop him off at an Atlanta bar with the keys to a nice car?
You would want to keep the game there when you had his record as well
McGarity endorses keeping the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party in Jacksonville. Now if he could only get them to change the name back to the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party ...
OTHER NEWS
'Personal issues' sound a lot like football issues
Montrell Conner leaves Mississippi State to transfer because of "personal issues" that seem to have more to do with playing time and style than anything else.
Torn ACL ends year (I)
The second time in a row for Austin Monahan of Vanderbilt.
Torn ACL ends year (II)
This one is Gene McCaskill of Kentucky, expected to be a key part of the Wildcats' receiving corps.
Maybe he can grayshirt?
Ryan Baker of LSU breaks his jaw in a "routine" drill. Maybe those drills ought to be less routine.
It is a growth industry
A Mississippi State fan has quit his job to make ... you guessed it, cowbells. (He says the decision was made before the ban on the noisemakers was lifted by the SEC.) Not sure I would quit a job in this economy, but one must applaud his innovation. Or wonder at his stupidity.
The best forward $200,000 can buy
Note to legal counsel for the Davis family: THAT'S A JOKE.
In any case, Anthony Davis is headed to Kentucky, where the rumors of the $200,000 payoff led to the Sun-Times story that could spark an interesting legal battle. Could being the operative word there.
This is absurd even for Lane Kiffin
Every time I think Lane Kiffin has lost his ability to surprise me ... well, I'm reminded this is Lane Kiffin we're talking about.
"I could sit here and say, ‘Why did Oakland happen? Why did leaving Tennessee cause the trouble it did?’ Those things happened to prep me for this, to be a stable manager in a crisis. My model was Obama and his coolness under fire, the confidence he projects during disaster."
Okay, Lane, listen to me. No matter what you do, you do not have to worry about how to try to rescue the economy, clean up the Gulf of Mexico, decide how long to ask men and women to sacrifice their lives in Afghanistan, deal with Congress, etc. And that's all I'm going to say right now, because after the Confederate flag battle of last week, I think we've had enough political discussion on this blog right now.
That's also a request. Please be nice to each other in the comments, and remember that whatever you might think about his policies, President Obama is still our president and deserves the respect that comes with the position.
Of course, I'm feeling particularly nice toward President Obama right now
Which has nothing to do with the fact that he's going to recognize my alma mater's NATIONAL CHAMPION baseball team. Nope.
Actually, it's the only reason that makes any sense
If you're going to walk away from the NFL and millions of dollars without being forced to do so by injury, as Glen Coffee is doing, a calling from God is the best reason you could have.
I feel like it's His will. It's something that I really felt like I shouldn't have entered the NFL in the first place. I don't know what call God has for my life, but it wasn't football.
Good for him. If you honestly believe that God is calling you to do something else -- and I've said many times before I'm not able to question any other person's accounting of their conversations with God -- then this is the right thing to do. And something not a lot of us would be able to do.
And a lot of SEC defenders wince in sympathy
So Tim Tebow's long-awaited NFL debut was Sunday, and at least one player isn't happy that he was part of the defense during the largely garbage time where Tebow showed what he could do.
Tebow went 8 of 13 for 105 yards in the second half, with most of the completions and yards coming on dump-offs during the closing drive against a soft defense. On the game's final play, Tebow scrambled 7 yards for a touchdown, running over safety Kyries Hebert to score -- a power move he used so many times in college. ...
He didn't do much until the final drive, which ended with that throwback scramble for a touchdown. He ran over Hebert, leaving an orange mouth guard lying on the field and Hebert woozy on the ground.
Maybe he can do that in the NFL.
For their part, most Broncos fans seem relatively happy with Tebow's game.
Meanwhile in Houston ...
Ben Tate is likely to miss the entire season with an ankle injury.
Reggie Bush didn't apologize to Pat Haden
He just "feels bad" about the whole thing.
Football innovator has ALS
Thoughts, prayers and best wishes to Emory Bellard and his family.
This is a mistake
On an e-mail listserv a couple of months ago, I joked that England and the U.S. tying in a World Cup game wasn't the most satisfying conclusion in the world.
I was wrong. Draws are exciting in their own way, they count toward a team's ability to advance (which I didn't understand at first, not being a soccer fan), and they give a team hope even when they're down 2-0. Just for an example. FIFA should let the draw remain. Otherwise, how are people like your humble correspondent going to learn how dramatic they can be?