Another missed opportunity

It would be easy to focus on Alex Tyus missing a shot that he's expected to hit as the reason Florida lost to Tennessee 61-60, but that would be a major mistake. The game was lost with sloppiness in the first half - what should have been a sizable lead was just six at the break (and three after UT sank a 3 on the first posession of the second half) thanks to turnovers and poor decision making. Generally when a team plays as well as UF had compared to UT and doesn't take full advantage, it comes back to bite you. A couple of other thoughts: Kenny Boynton is a scorer, not a shooter. This is 2 of the past 3 SEC games he's gone 0 for 5 from behind the arc. I'm sure Donovan is encouraging him to penetrate more, but it's got to start sinking in soon. Also, can anyone explain what's going on in Dan Werner's head? He played the late first half completely in a fog (getting lost on zone coverage, committing multiple turnovers, not even looking for an inbounds pass that bounced off his back as he ran up court) and while Werner struggling from the field is common, him making lots of mental errors is unusual.

The NCAA is looking for someone to be Myles Brand's successor as the orgaization's president. Whoever that is, they've got some really fun issues to eventually deal with. Rule enforcement's become a punchline already, and what do you about the reality that any schlub with a computer can now get ahold of recruits to make the case for their school? You want schools to educate their fans not to do that? Surveys show 1 in 5 Americans still think the sun revolves around the earth - good luck getting everyone to grasp why they can't post "BOBBY U NED TO COME 2 UK" on a kid's page. Vague threats about someone in Washington doing something about the BCS continue. You have no control over any of that, of course, but it could lead to the big money schools eventually leaving your organization altogether and forming their own splinter group. Even now, the Big Ten continues to make noises about throwing other conferences into chaos by expanding. Head of the NCAA's a good paying job, but the next guy's going to have to earn his money.

The Pro Bowl is a waste of time, no matter which week they play it. Having said that, there's no excuse at all for Minnesota's Bryant McKinnie blowing off practices repeatedly and getting kicked off the NFC team. Since the NFL actually made the guys from the Super Bowl teams show up for the game, he definitely deserves to be punished. For McKinnie being stupid enough not only to blow off practices but to Twitter out his actual locations including strip clubs, the NFL ought to hammer McKinnie with the biggest fine and/or suspension they can under the collective bargaining agreement. As for the game itself, instead of 45 grand per man to the winners and half that to the losers the league should make it winning team gets it all and the losers get zip. If they're going to insist on playing the thing, that's the best chance they have of getting anyone to really try.

If you've ever been in the vicinity of Kevin O'Neill when he's coaching a basketball game, you know that the current USC head coach's language makes sailors sound like nuns. At one Tennessee-UF game I heard him use the f bomb as every part of speech except for a preposition, and I'm sure he's working on that. Satuday night, O'Neill's Trojans lost to Oregon in large part because of a technical foul called on a student manager for swearing at the refs. O'Neill fired the guy, and I'm honestly surprised he was even willing to let him on the team plane back to Los Angeles. I assume the kid thought him talking a blue streak at the refs was okay since O'Neill does it all game, but that's the stupidest thing I've heard of anyone doing not involving the internet in a long time.