Sources tell ESPN water is wet

Sometimes ESPN puzzles me. They have the ability to create a story out of nothing, then inflate it by discussing it incessantly on their assorted panel shows and radio programs. Such was the case yesterday with the "news" that Tim Tebow is working on altering his throwing motion to be more NFL friendly. No kidding - who wasn't aware of that? The closest thing to actual news in ESPN's report was that Tebow won't throw at the combine this week, opting instead to wait for UF's pro day March 17. That's not surprising - many top quarterback prospects typically opt to do that. There was a ridiculous rush to judgement after the Senior Bowl (with ESPN's Todd McShay leading the charge) that ignored the fact Tebow's evolution of his throwing style was still a work in progress. Maybe they just found out about it?

Meanwhile, Birmingham News columnist Ray Melick proclaims UF will suffer DRASTIC recruiting repercussions because Tebow is "struggling" to be a high draft choice. That's a wonderful point, as long as you're a lazy thinker who doesn't have any perspective whatsoever. Urban Meyer has already coached an overall number one NFL draft choice QB in Alex Smith. Think he might point that out? Beyond that, if natural prostyle passer John Brantley excels in the offense as most observers believe he will, he'll be being touted as a high draft pick at the time Meyer is actively recruiting any future prospects. In Melick's world, a kid is going to ignore everything else because Tebow was a second or third rounder. The highest drafted QB off a Nick Saban team is Tony Banks from the mid second round in 96 back at Michigan State. Is Meyer supposed to quake in fear at the thought of a quarterback recruiting battle with the man who's sent Banks and Rohan Davey to the pros? No wait, it must be the terror that comes from competing on the recruiting trail with the school that has third rounder Brodie Croyle as their only drafted QB in the last fifteen years? Memo to Melick and everyone else that hasn't figured this out yet: URBAN MEYER HAS NOTHING TO FEAR IN RECRUITING. He just handicapped himself by raising mammoth questions about his own future a month before signing day and still put together the number one class in the country. Predicting recruiting trouble for him at this point makes as much sense as still being worried about the Y2K computer bug.

Miami football opens their spring practice today. Over the weekend, the Miami Herald reported that the school is working on extending Randy Shannon's contract. The problem? Shannon wants two million a year, while the school is looking at around sixty percent of that. The paper's source, a member of the school's Board of Trustees, expects there to be a compromise. There shouldn't be, because Shannon has zero leverage here. No other school wants him as their head coach, and no one wants him as a defensive coordinator at a rate of more than a million dollars. Shannon has shown thus far that he's dreadful with the media, far from an extraordinary recruiter, and a poor gameday coach. He got the Miami job because they didn't have the money to go get someone established. Since then he's 21-17 with two bowl losses - that's supposed to be worth two million a year? Please.

We all know that athletes with too much money have been known to do some crazy things, but Marquis Daniels of the Celtics has taken the lead for most tasteless and absurd display of supposed wealth I have ever seen. He had a jeweler create a head of Daniels made out of black, white and cognac diamonds and put it on a chain to wear. Looks like that Auburn education is really paying off for Daniels. I'd love to see him try to sell this to someone whenever he needs the money in a few years - that's going to be quite a pitch.