Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Nice resume, Mike

Since that "Urban Meyer is going to leave for Notre Dame - trust me I know (even though I've got no personal connection with the man and have criticized him every step of the way)" bit got Peter Kerasotis so much attention, another passionate Gator basher has decided to weigh in. Mike Freeman, the same guy who ripped Meyer for "costing Chris Leak the Heisman to prove how smart he was", now announces Urban will be going to the NFL. He's got nothing to back his contention up other than "several sources" - couldn't even bother to make up a better title than that, Mike? Meyer has said throughout his career that the NFL doesn't interest him (unlike Billy Donovan, who acknowledged thinking about the NBA). His offense does not seem a particularly great fit for the league, and there's been zero indications from anyone else covering the NFL anywhere that he's a hot candidate to target. Other than that, Freeman's article makes a lot of sense.

Congratulations to Mike Locksley for being named New Mexico's head coach. It will be interesting to see what Ron Zook does without his offensive coordinator and ace recruiter. Meanwhile, Auburn looks like they have absolutely no idea what they're doing. They interviewed Miami OC Patrick Nix! Have they seen their offense? I know he's an "Auburn man", but when other schools would contribute money to help you hire your new coach that's not a good sign. I'm sticking wih my initial call of Derek Dooley, but when they interview people like Nix and Rodney Garner you start to wonder.

It looks like one of the first signficiant sports casualties of the economic meltdown may be the Arena Football League. This would be a shame, because it was a way for guys to keep their football dreams alive. For families in cities with a team, it was a reasonably cost effective way to go to a professional sporting event. I really enjoyed watching the Tampa Bay Storm - even went to the airport with a friend to welcome them home after the first Arena Bowl victory over Detroit. Hopefully there's a way out of this for the AFL, but it doesn't look good.

This is a non-partisan blog, but two semi-political stories deserve mention today. "Joe the Plumber" decided to attack John McCain, saying the Republican nominee "appalled me". I get that this guy's trying to extend his fifteen minutes of fame, but this is pathetic. The only reason anyone knows or cares (if for some strange reason you do) about this guy is because of McCain. The least he could do is show some class and express gratitude for that. Meanwhile, Fran Drescher wants to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate in what sounds like the worst reality show pitch ever.

I'll be in Orlando today to begin coverage of the College Football Awards coming up Thursday night. Tonight we'll get to interview most of the big names in college football. It's one of my favorite things I get to do each year, because we get to actually talk with the kids. There's no game coming up this week we need to preview, they're there for the purpose of being interviewed so there's not a time issue, and they're relaxed and getting to have fun at Disney hanging out with a bunch of other elite guys. Should be a good time - maybe I'll have a good story or two to tell here tomorrow.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I'm not sure what embarrasses me more. The fact that Freeman keeps getting published or the fact that every time he comes out with one of these ridiculous articles I actually take time to read some of it. I will say that his train of thought is sophisticated if not well-founded. "Saban and Petrino did it, so Urban will too." It doesn't get much more insightful than that.

And don't be surprised if you get a completely unknown name to coach at Auburn. I actually just placed a bid on Ebay for "(1) One year contract as head coach of an NCAA FBS program located in the luscious plains of the southeast." We'll see how that works out...