We now have our answer to the question I asked yesterday amongst the hyperventilating by the media about Brandon Spikes's supposed "eye gouging" of Washuan Ealey: if this was such a heinous crime, why didn't Ealey react in some way? Why didn't Richt know about it a day later when he was asked on his teleconference? The answer, it turns out, is that Ealey didn't feel Spikes was gouging his eyes, nor does he think he should be suspended. Keep in mind, Ealey plays for UF's archrival and will never see Brandon Spikes again on a college field. He has zero incentive to cut him a break here. I'm sure all the commentators who spent the last two days raving about how Spikes "could've blinded Ealey for life" and should be punished worse than LeGarrette Blount are now acknowledging they may have overreacted just a bit. I must not be tuning in at the right time to catch them saying it.
Can anyone explain to me how it's a good idea to tell the media you've stripped your quarterback of his ability to audible out of run plays? That's what Jack Del Rio has done, with the thought being that this will help ensure more runs for Maurice Jones-Drew. MJD is their best offensive weapon without question, but announcing this is begging for people to go ahead and stack the line against him. Even if the play's a suicide mission, opposing defenses now know Garrard will be forced to go through with it. Taking away your QB's audibling is debatable, but disclosing you did it is flat out stupid.
I've documented my belief that drafting cornerback Aqib Talib last year in round one was a very bad decision by Tampa Bay numerous times, so I'll spare you the rehash. That doesn't mean I'm any less irritated about his latest episode. Talib blew off curfew in London, which led to him being confronted about it in the hotel lobby by coach Raheem Morris. Now Morris is saying that, while Talib did swear at him in response, that's cool because he didn't find it disrespectful. After all, swearing's just football talk. I've seen this movie before, and I know how it ends. Eventually Talib will screw up enough that they outright cut him or trade him for a handful of magic beans. The organization's front office and coaches will talk about his unfulfilled potential as if that wasn't an entirely predictable development from the start. How could they have possibly known a guy dumb enough to test positive for drugs multiple times in college would turn out to be a turd once he got big NFL dollars?
Further proof that blind faith in recruiting rankings will lead to lots of disappointment comes for Colorado, where Darrell Scott has announced he'll transfer, more than likely to UCLA. Every school in the country was after Scott, who allegedly was the best RB coming out of high school that year. Scott never made any meaningful impact despite being on a bad Buffaloes squad dying for playmakers. He showed up out of shape last year and apparently expected the Big 12 to fall at his feet to worship his greatness. Things never really got better from that point. When the Ron Zooks of the world claim football is all about the "Jesses and Joes" rather than Xs and Os, this is the kind of kid they're believing is the answer to their problems. I'll take my chances with guys who know how to coach really well that can recruit at a reasonable level for their competition over "great" recruiting that brings in lots of Darrell Scotts.
Dan Sileo remains suspended from his radio show in Tampa and Orlando as a result of his erroneous "scoop" about the Glazers Bernie Madoff dealings. It should be a permanent vacation as far as I'm concerned, but I find this column about it from the St Petersburg Times amusing. I just love when writers who have never worked a day in sports radio condescendingly explain how talk show hosts do their jobs. Tom Jones, the author of the piece, doesn't bother to note that his paper played up the Sileo report initially rather than immediately labeling it as the horse crap it clearly was. Not every media outlet did that, just as not every sports radio host is a meathead who goes on air with stories he either made up or heard secondhand from some guy at the gym and presents them as fact. The idea that all sports radio hosts need to think about Sileo before "saying something controversial" is as insulting as saying all reporters should think about Jayson Blair before writing a feature story. Professionals will act as such in either field, and the others will eventually be exposed for what they are.
Not sure the new Weezer album does much for me - they've been in a slump for a while now, although they do get bonus points for having a dog that looks exactly like mine on the cover of Raditude. I've got to give them credit though, of all the possible product tie-ins for a band, the Weezer Snuggie definitely wouldn't have been one that sprung to my mind.
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