At least Chris Berman won't be the anchor

Regardless of political views, everyone grasps that today's inauguration of Barack Obama as President is a historic event. It will get marathon coverage on the news channels and the networks, as it should. It will also be broadcast on ESPN, which is ridiculous. There are two things wrong with this. First off, I dont believe for a second they would have shown John McCain being inaugurated. That's not a "liberal media" thing, I just don't think it would be considered cool enough that ESPN would want to show it. Still, it's a form of bias which they shouldn't be indulging. Secondly, there's no need for it. For all I know, the Cartoon Network is also showing the ceremonies today. I won't find out, since I tend to go to news channels when I'm looking for news. Today ESPN isn't giving their fans what they're looking for in favor of something they can find lots of other places - that's not smart business.

The Austin American-Statesman's Cedric Golden writes a column about former UF guard Jai Lucas, and it's hard not to wonder if they saw any Gator games last season in Austin. Lucas explains he left because Billy Donovan wanted him to play more at the two guard spot than he preferred. Golden's thoughts?

"Asking a pure point guard to move to shooting guard is like asking a chef at a five-star restaurant to run a load of soup bowls through the dishwasher. It's not worthy of his artistry."

The chef served up a mighty 2.3 assists per game last year while playing thirty minutes per game, with a 1.4 assist to turnover ratio. He had two assists total in his final three SEC games combined. Magnifique! Actually, Lucas was more like the Swedish Chef. He's not a horrible player, but he's not what they seem to think he is in Austin either.

As assistant coaching salaries in college football continue to go through the roof, some schools are going to lose out on any semblance of staff continuity. One program which seems likely to fall victim to the trend is Miami. Defensive coordinator Bill Young can double his salary by going to Oklahoma State. Assuming he does, that means the Canes will have to hire their third defensive coordinator in as many years under Randy Shannon. If the Herald is right and they go after Willie Martinez, Georgia fans will probably offer to help pay his salary. As for the rumor of Mark Whipple as offensive coordinator, he's a good coach but the four and five wide passing scheme he's known for is a poor fit with Miami's personnel and Shannon's stated desire for a pro style scheme. It's hard to make any sense at all of what he's trying to accomplish on that side of the ball.

Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino is upset about the way assistants are moving around. He thinks it's time to put buyouts and noncompete clauses in assistants contracts. The level of hypocrisy here coming from a guy who couldn't even be bothered to finish out his season with the Falcons before bailing out for another gig is just astounding.

U2's new album will be out in four weeks, but the first song is now available on the web. "Get On Your Boots" isn't mind blowing, but it's still pretty good stuff. As long as they don't do something like Discotheque again, I'll buy it.