Hello, everyone. As you read in the headline, my name is Joe Clarkin - not to be confused with the other new writer named Joe C. I'm super excited to get started here with Team Speed Kills as we head into another season. Sports and writing are two of my favorite activities, and I love any chance I get to combine the two.
I have to come clean and say that I'm a newbie as far as SEC fandom goes. I'm a Mizzou alum, so my formative years were spent with the Big 12. (Hot, biased take: the Iron Bowl is nowhere near as fierce a rivalry as Mizzou - kansas). So if you lifelong SEC fans are the grumpy old man in the corner of the diner, I'm the millennial sitting at the counter staring at his phone. I'm sorry, we just might never understand one another.
With that said, the five years Mizzou has spent in the SEC has allowed me a learn a lot about not just players and coaches in this conference, but the history of each of the SEC's programs. There's not quite enough history there between my school and the rest -- A&M being the possible exception -- for me to have developed any real animosity towards any particular schools just yet, so I hope to remain as objective as possible, even when talking about the Tigers (all of them). I'll probably officially hate Tennessee before the end of the season, though.
Anyways, I hope y'all enjoy what I write. I'll be bringing my midwestern outlook to your southern cookout. You supply the crawfish, I'll bring the ribs.