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24 Days Until SEC Football
Curiosity has landed
Anyone who's read here knows that yours truly is a huge fan of space exploration, so I'm glad to see the Curiosity landing. Now, let's get a human being landed there.
Nick Saban angry at media, Part 572
It's not so much that Nick Saban doesn't want to answer your questions about the Tide's standing in the polls. It's just that Nick Saban thinks any questions about Alabama's football team are completely out of bounds.
Now I know you guys are going to have all these comparison questions and where are you ranked, and how many games are you going to win, and what's going to happen to this player? Which guy is going to make the biggest impact on the team?
Well, yes, figuring out which players are going to be a major part of Alabama's season would fall well within the lines of what most reporters (and fans) want to know about the Tide's upcoming season. Reporters are not just there to transcribe your thoughts about the Process, as much as you might prefer that.
You know, all these predictions that you all make: They hijack the game, because all anybody worries about in college football is the BCS. Who's going to be in the final game?
Well. I've heard a lot of complaints about preseason polls -- even had a few harsh words myself about August voting -- but hijacking the game seems a bit much, no? Besides, the AP poll hasn't come out yet and isn't involved in the BCS at all. So if there's anyone's preseason predictions that are out there hijacking the game because of the impact on the BCS, it would be the coaches, not the media.
I don't even know for sure who our quarterback's going to be the sixth game of the year.
Barring injury, this is nonsense. AJ McCarron is going to start every game for Alabama this year. It's a possible that McCarron could have a meltdown bad enough so that Saban would want to pull him? Well, sure, I guess. And it's possible that the Ginormotron in Jerry Jones' Death Star could fall during the game against Michigan and wipe out the entire first-string offense for the Tide. But it doesn't seem likely.
None of those questions -- which, according to the article, hadn't even been asked yet -- are unreasonable. Saban might not like some of them, but he's making a nice enough salary to at least wait until they're asked and then swat them away with a non-answer.
Georgia has 72 players on scholarship this season
That's, um, a little bit below what the NCAA allows. I'm not sure what else to make of it right now, if anything. It could indicate depth issues, but we don't know if Georgia's been at a higher level in the past, and we definitely haven't see the Bulldogs play enough to figure out if there are any depth issues this year. So carry on.
Joker Phillips proves he's less cool than Rich Brooks
While the former head coach is tweeting up a storm about his retirement lifestyle, the current Kentucky head coach is cracking down on "Twittering," as he calls it. The ban does not appear to apply to coaches.
Stopping them from disposing of evidence would be a good follow-up policy
It just got a lot more boring to be on JohnL Smith's security detail. (Though, in fairness, any job in which you get to talk to JohnL Smith is not exactly short on excitement.) For one thing, you don't get the free Sugar Bowl rings and the like. And free tickets are also out.
The University of Arkansas issued a written statement thanking the agency for establishing a written policy. It declined comment on why it gave the troopers gifts to begin with.
Well, yeah.
No word yet on whether any policy will come from the Michael Dyer arrest/obstruction of justice.
Get ready for more Matt Millen
It's not rare to see SEC games get that ESPN prime-time spot, right? Well, guess who's going to be there this year?
Chris Spielman, who last year worked with Dave Pasch and the departed Meyer, will this season team with Sean McDonough, who last season worked with Matt Millen. (Millen will move to ESPN Saturday prime-time games.)
On the plus side, he'll make every wide receiver in the league sound like a first-round pick -- since, of course, he would have taken any receiver in the league as a first-round pick.