Glad to see Earnest Graham get rewarded for last season with a new contract. Having said that, I'd like to know what the signing bonus is. That's the only thing Graham gets for sure, and the Bucs have way too many running backs right now. Knowing Gruden, he'll probably sign Shaun Alexander and see if Emmitt wants to come back before training camp's over.
Gary Parrish of CBS Sportsline has Nick Calathes as his 21st ranked prospect for next season's NBA draft. Calathes seems like a guy who'd benefit from at least two more years to me, but if the money's there you never know what kids might decide to do. Interesting that the SEC has only four guys projected as first rounders for 2009 after having just two this year.
Floyd Landis loses his final appeal to try and keep his Tour De France title. His "maybe the testosterone came from me drinking some beers" defense is perhaps the lamest excuse ever attempted.
The downturn in the economy is taking a bite out of lots of businesses, and it appears one of my favorite stores may be a victim. Steve and Barry's has gone away from their original model of selling only college t-shirts, hats and sweats in recent years, but it's still cool to go into one of their stores because you never know what you'll find. Just picked up an Eastern Michigan shirt at one of their stores last month, because I'm not likely to drop by Ypsilanti anytime soon.
When I saw this on the Wizard of Odds website, it blew my mind. National political radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt thinks Ohio State will slaughter USC. That seems ridiculous enough to me, but Hugh went above and beyond by mixing in nuclear holocaust anti-Obama rhetoric too. I'm just so proud of my line of work sometimes.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Glad I'm not a Memphis Grizzlies fan
The thing I hate about the NBA draft is the way a guy is chosen by a team when it's obvious he's going to be trade bait. Sometimes, like the Toronto pick everyone knew was part of the Jermaine O'Neal deal last night, we know in advance. Most of the time, though, a kid has to walk up on stage and pose with Stern while wearing what will turn out to be the wrong hat. The analysts talk about the impact they'll have on their new team, which they'll never play for. It's maddening. Hope the Minnesota media enjoyed chatting with O.J. Mayo before the big Grizzlies-Twolves deal in the middle of the night. My thoughts on the Sixers taking Speights are in my column at fightingators.com but I will say that's about as well as I thought he could do. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if the kid from Rider was not taken by Sacramento at twelve.
Lots of people are jumping on Warren Sapp's revelation that he's been approached about being on the next Dancing With the Stars, but to me the more relevant part of the article is where Sapp goes after Monte Kiffin. Sapp says of the Bucs DC,
"It was always his defense, and he barked people out of the building. It was too much about him."
Let me get this straight, Warren. You wanted big bucks when it was obvious you needed to drop at least 25 pounds to get back to being as effective as you were in your glory days. No one was willing to give it to you except the stupidest franchise in the league, for whom you underperformed the rest of your career. Kiffin's the bad guy? Please. Sapp was a great player for the Bucs, but honest self assessment has never been one of his strengths.
It's clear Dennis Felton would have been fired if Georgia did not go on their miracle SEC tournament run last season. The one and only guy for whom the tornado brushing the Georgia Dome was good news got back to his usual bad luck this week. Number two scorer Billy Humphrey got busted for DUI. Under UGA policies, this will likely mean a half season suspension already. It's Humphrey's third brush with the law in eight months - might be time to say goodbye.
Let's say you are Brandon Inge of the Detroit Tigers, and you are in fact injured moving a pillow. Wouldn't you at least go out to batting practice, take two or three swings, and then grab your arm? Seems like it would be worth it to avoid the embarassment.
Remember the great Shaq "freestyle rap" Kobe dissing controversy earlier this week? The L.A. Times decided to check up on his current CD sales. Total Shaq CDs sold in 2008? Twenty. I'd like to hear what motivated that purchase from one of those twenty people, unless it's just Shaq buying his own stuff while he's on the road.
The guy who played Billy Bear in 48 Hours now wants to be a US Senator from Kentucky. He points out that he worked with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura, both of whom went on to become high profile elected officials. Two governors and a senator, all from the cast of Predator? This is quite a country. Have a good weekend.
Lots of people are jumping on Warren Sapp's revelation that he's been approached about being on the next Dancing With the Stars, but to me the more relevant part of the article is where Sapp goes after Monte Kiffin. Sapp says of the Bucs DC,
"It was always his defense, and he barked people out of the building. It was too much about him."
Let me get this straight, Warren. You wanted big bucks when it was obvious you needed to drop at least 25 pounds to get back to being as effective as you were in your glory days. No one was willing to give it to you except the stupidest franchise in the league, for whom you underperformed the rest of your career. Kiffin's the bad guy? Please. Sapp was a great player for the Bucs, but honest self assessment has never been one of his strengths.
It's clear Dennis Felton would have been fired if Georgia did not go on their miracle SEC tournament run last season. The one and only guy for whom the tornado brushing the Georgia Dome was good news got back to his usual bad luck this week. Number two scorer Billy Humphrey got busted for DUI. Under UGA policies, this will likely mean a half season suspension already. It's Humphrey's third brush with the law in eight months - might be time to say goodbye.
Let's say you are Brandon Inge of the Detroit Tigers, and you are in fact injured moving a pillow. Wouldn't you at least go out to batting practice, take two or three swings, and then grab your arm? Seems like it would be worth it to avoid the embarassment.
Remember the great Shaq "freestyle rap" Kobe dissing controversy earlier this week? The L.A. Times decided to check up on his current CD sales. Total Shaq CDs sold in 2008? Twenty. I'd like to hear what motivated that purchase from one of those twenty people, unless it's just Shaq buying his own stuff while he's on the road.
The guy who played Billy Bear in 48 Hours now wants to be a US Senator from Kentucky. He points out that he worked with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura, both of whom went on to become high profile elected officials. Two governors and a senator, all from the cast of Predator? This is quite a country. Have a good weekend.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
When bacon is outlawed, only outlaws will have bacon
The NBA draft is tonight. Very tough to get any legitimate handle on where Marreese Speights will go, but I think he'll fall a little farther than some seem to believe he might. If Miami takes O.J. Mayo, I think they're making a mistake. Lord only knows what the Magic will do in the first round - how's Fran Vazquez coming along? Courtney Lee of Western Kentucky seems to be the guy everyone expects for them, so odds are he's not the guy they take.
LSU coach Les Miles can't foresee not winning the SEC West and then beating either UF or Georgia in the conference title game this season. This guy really doesn't grasp yet how lucky he was last season. Hopefully he continues to be as irresponsibly stupid with his clock management and decision making this year, because no one stays that lucky forever.
Your next great American Olympic city: Birmingham, Alabama! The mayor wants to drop 500 grand on the application to host the 2020 summer games. This is why recall elections were invented. I wonder how they'd work Bear Bryant into the Olympic logo?
Has a more easily disliked guy ever emerged onto the national sports scene than Big Brown's trainer Rick Dutrow? Aside from showing no grace or class as a winner, he placed the blame on jockey Kent Desormeaux for the horse's failing to produce at the Belmont. It certainly couldn't have been the fact Big Brown was taken off steroids before the race, or that his back right shoe was loose. Apparently, Dutrow gave Big Brown's steroids to another horse as a bonus portion and likely will be suspended for it. Gosh, that's a shame.
Over the weekend, my friends Al and Ross alerted me to a great crisis going on in California. The new street drug of choice in Los Angeles? Bacon wrapped hot dogs! Al, who lives in L.A., tells me these things are hugely popular and the smell carries for blocks. Drew Carey gives you more details.
LSU coach Les Miles can't foresee not winning the SEC West and then beating either UF or Georgia in the conference title game this season. This guy really doesn't grasp yet how lucky he was last season. Hopefully he continues to be as irresponsibly stupid with his clock management and decision making this year, because no one stays that lucky forever.
Your next great American Olympic city: Birmingham, Alabama! The mayor wants to drop 500 grand on the application to host the 2020 summer games. This is why recall elections were invented. I wonder how they'd work Bear Bryant into the Olympic logo?
Has a more easily disliked guy ever emerged onto the national sports scene than Big Brown's trainer Rick Dutrow? Aside from showing no grace or class as a winner, he placed the blame on jockey Kent Desormeaux for the horse's failing to produce at the Belmont. It certainly couldn't have been the fact Big Brown was taken off steroids before the race, or that his back right shoe was loose. Apparently, Dutrow gave Big Brown's steroids to another horse as a bonus portion and likely will be suspended for it. Gosh, that's a shame.
Over the weekend, my friends Al and Ross alerted me to a great crisis going on in California. The new street drug of choice in Los Angeles? Bacon wrapped hot dogs! Al, who lives in L.A., tells me these things are hugely popular and the smell carries for blocks. Drew Carey gives you more details.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
No stewardess at JFK looks like Catherine Zeta-Jones - trust me
Sorry for no blog yesterday, but I had to sleep off the nightmare that was Monday's travel. Jet Blue delayed my flight out of Vegas by three hours, stranding me in JFK airport in New York for what was supposed to be six hours. It turned out to be nine, since my next flight was delayed three hours as well with no notice until after we'd been told to line up for immediate boarding. They emailed me a fifty dollar "credit" toward a future flight to apologize. Jet Blue made me live out a small scale version of Tom Hanks's movie The Terminal, and I'm supposed to give them another few hundred bucks to get my fifty dollar discount - riiiiight. It was the single worst experience I have ever had dealing with an airline. Won't make that mistake again.
On to the stuff you actually come here for. While in Vegas, I visited a variety of sports books to get perspectives on the upcoming seasons. The most interesting current proposition wager is at the MGM-Mirage casinos. You can bet the so called "Big Three" to win either the Super Bowl or BCS, or you can bet everyone else. In college, the "Big Three" are Georgia, USC, and Ohio State. A hundred bucks on them will win you back your bet plus 220 if one of those schools wins. (To bet against them, you put 260 out to win 100). In the pros, the "Big Three" are Indianapolis, Dallas and New England. Interesting that the Super Bowl champs don't qualify as one of the three top teams, but a Dallas team which han't won a playoff game in over a decade does. (100 to win 155 on the pro three, 175 to win 100 against). I'll post more tidbits from Vegas throughout the coming days.
The buzz on Marreese Speights has been about him being chosen by Philadelphia at pick sixteen on Thursday. This Sixers reporter's not sold on that being the case. Speaking of sold, for the third straight year the Portland Trail Blazers have apparently bought themselves a late first round pick for three million bucks. How is this acceptable? New Orleans fans must be delighted to know their owner values cash over adding talent. If a team doesn't want to use the pick to add a contract right now, they can draft a European player to follow as he develops. Selling draft picks is completely bush league.
Alabama loses a talented player, as linebacker Jimmy Johns gets busted for cocaine dealing. Apparently he should have stuck to selling pit bulls.
Speaking of bush league, the new owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning wasn't satisfied just to hire ESPN's Barry Melrose, whose career record is 79-101-29, after he's been out of coaching for thirteen years. He let Melrose hire Rick Tocchet as an assistant coach. Whenever you have a chance to hire a guy prominently linked to a sports gambling scandal, you've got to make sure not to let it pass you by. What a fiasco this team has become.
I don't think many people care about Shaquille O'Neal rapping against Kobe all that much. I'm 100 percent sure no one cares about the most notorious publicity hound sheriff in America using Shaq's rap as an excuse for his latest PR stunt.
Raycom thinks what you want to do during SEC and ACC football games they broadcast is spend time on your computer reading stories. This brilliant idea from the people who brought you the incessant Daughtry promotion last year. (Please note almost none of the clips in the Daughtry montage are from Raycom games - you can tell because they're in focus.) The SEC has to move its TV deal to someone better after this season and stop making fans endure this low quality junk.
George Carlin's last interview turns out to have apparently been with Psychology Today. It's a fascinating look at a complicated guy's thought process, and well worth your time if you have any interest in his work. Sam Kinison and Carlin are gone - at least we'll always have Carlos Mencia plagiarizing their material.
On to the stuff you actually come here for. While in Vegas, I visited a variety of sports books to get perspectives on the upcoming seasons. The most interesting current proposition wager is at the MGM-Mirage casinos. You can bet the so called "Big Three" to win either the Super Bowl or BCS, or you can bet everyone else. In college, the "Big Three" are Georgia, USC, and Ohio State. A hundred bucks on them will win you back your bet plus 220 if one of those schools wins. (To bet against them, you put 260 out to win 100). In the pros, the "Big Three" are Indianapolis, Dallas and New England. Interesting that the Super Bowl champs don't qualify as one of the three top teams, but a Dallas team which han't won a playoff game in over a decade does. (100 to win 155 on the pro three, 175 to win 100 against). I'll post more tidbits from Vegas throughout the coming days.
The buzz on Marreese Speights has been about him being chosen by Philadelphia at pick sixteen on Thursday. This Sixers reporter's not sold on that being the case. Speaking of sold, for the third straight year the Portland Trail Blazers have apparently bought themselves a late first round pick for three million bucks. How is this acceptable? New Orleans fans must be delighted to know their owner values cash over adding talent. If a team doesn't want to use the pick to add a contract right now, they can draft a European player to follow as he develops. Selling draft picks is completely bush league.
Alabama loses a talented player, as linebacker Jimmy Johns gets busted for cocaine dealing. Apparently he should have stuck to selling pit bulls.
Speaking of bush league, the new owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning wasn't satisfied just to hire ESPN's Barry Melrose, whose career record is 79-101-29, after he's been out of coaching for thirteen years. He let Melrose hire Rick Tocchet as an assistant coach. Whenever you have a chance to hire a guy prominently linked to a sports gambling scandal, you've got to make sure not to let it pass you by. What a fiasco this team has become.
I don't think many people care about Shaquille O'Neal rapping against Kobe all that much. I'm 100 percent sure no one cares about the most notorious publicity hound sheriff in America using Shaq's rap as an excuse for his latest PR stunt.
Raycom thinks what you want to do during SEC and ACC football games they broadcast is spend time on your computer reading stories. This brilliant idea from the people who brought you the incessant Daughtry promotion last year. (Please note almost none of the clips in the Daughtry montage are from Raycom games - you can tell because they're in focus.) The SEC has to move its TV deal to someone better after this season and stop making fans endure this low quality junk.
George Carlin's last interview turns out to have apparently been with Psychology Today. It's a fascinating look at a complicated guy's thought process, and well worth your time if you have any interest in his work. Sam Kinison and Carlin are gone - at least we'll always have Carlos Mencia plagiarizing their material.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Jet Blow
Hope you had a good weekend. I'm writing this while sitting in McCarran Airport in Las Vegas. I'm supposed to have been flying on Jet Blue an hour and a half ago, but we're delayed and there's no end in sight. As a result, I'm going to miss my connection in New York and be stuck at JFK until late afternoon. Not the best way to start the week.
One of the true comedic originals is gone. RIP George Carlin. Now everyone in comedy wants a sitcom or a movie deal, but this guy was all about standup. His skits with language will still be relevant long after Dane Cook is dead and buried.
Fresno State's run in the College World Series is a great story. The ACC, meanwhile, still can't get a championship despite having three teams in the CWS. No one from the conference has won it since 1955 - that's amazing when you consider how strong historically programs like FSU, UNC and Clemson have been.
Curt Schilling looks like he's done. The question of Hall of Fame worthiness will take a while to sort out, unless you're a Boston fan like this guy. It's going to be fascinating to see how much Cooperstown leeway is given to pitchers who spent the majority of their time in the juiced era and aren't believed to have been users themselves. Personally, my gut feeling is that Schilling is not a hall of famer but I wouldn't say there's no chance he makes it.
Most of the movies this year look absolutely awful, but at least people had the good sense to reject The Love Guru. Jessica Alba as the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs? Mini Me as their coach? What?
One of the true comedic originals is gone. RIP George Carlin. Now everyone in comedy wants a sitcom or a movie deal, but this guy was all about standup. His skits with language will still be relevant long after Dane Cook is dead and buried.
Fresno State's run in the College World Series is a great story. The ACC, meanwhile, still can't get a championship despite having three teams in the CWS. No one from the conference has won it since 1955 - that's amazing when you consider how strong historically programs like FSU, UNC and Clemson have been.
Curt Schilling looks like he's done. The question of Hall of Fame worthiness will take a while to sort out, unless you're a Boston fan like this guy. It's going to be fascinating to see how much Cooperstown leeway is given to pitchers who spent the majority of their time in the juiced era and aren't believed to have been users themselves. Personally, my gut feeling is that Schilling is not a hall of famer but I wouldn't say there's no chance he makes it.
Most of the movies this year look absolutely awful, but at least people had the good sense to reject The Love Guru. Jessica Alba as the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs? Mini Me as their coach? What?
Thursday, June 19, 2008
New catchphrase: pulling a Goosen
I imagine all of us have experienced that moment where you say something and very soon afterwards you really wish you could rewind things and edit it out. I certainly have. Well, Retief Goosen will now personify that kind of feeling for me forever. With the news of Tiger Woods impending ACL reconstruction surgery and the fact he just won the US Open with two stress fractures in his tibia as well, Goosen's claim that Tiger was "faking it" looks even more spectacularly stupid than it seemed at the time.
Think about it - what's the benefit of claiming Tiger was hamming it up, even if Goosen's right? At best, you have given the greatest player in the world extra motivation to beat you like a drum every time he sees you. If he's not, you look like a real jerk. Goosen's reasoning seems to have been that Woods mostly flinched after bad shots. Gee I don't know, Retief, is it possible that was because the pain is what CAUSED the bad shot? Nice logic, buddy. Maybe Retief got too deep in the Grey Goose again.
NBC has renewed their deal with Notre Dame though 2015. As long as the Peacock keeps enabling the school financially and the Big East keeps rolling over by allowing the non member Fighting Irish football team access to the conference's bowl bids, the most arrogant program in the country will continue to thumb their nose at everyone else.
I'm not too crazy about the Ivory Tower folks on the Knight Commission. Most of their reform suggestions are about as relevant as saying the clouds shoud all be made of vanilla ice cream. This might be different. There's no reason the NCAA couldn't increase its penalties in a meaningful way again. It's been quite a while since they really hammered someone - Alabama is the last one that springs to mind. If I was FSU or USC with high profile open investigations inolving my programs, I'd be a little anxious about this.
Cal's efforts to cut down 44 trees near their football stadium to expand their athletic facility continue to be unsuccessful. You might remember from the coverage of their game with Tennessee last year that a group of modern day hippies has been living in the trees to prevent them from being cut down. This week, the university is trying to dismantle their supply lines, but "Dumpster Muffin" will not go quietly! Looks like we could get more amusement from them this season.
Putting aside the fact that the "world's most expensive burger" is a Burger King PR stunt, from the description I don't think I'd even want to eat it. Give me a little cheese, some barbecue sauce and fresh tomatoes and I'm fine.
If I wanted to eat an insanely expensive burger, the Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas would be willing to accomodate me. (I have actually eaten a more normally priced burger there which was good.) I'm headed to Vegas tonight after my show, so I can't promise a blog tomorrow depending on my web access. I do want to make sure you know about the Little Bits of Honey dinner going on in Gainesville tomorrow night. It's a very good cause, Billy Donovan and Urban Meyer will be there and if I wasn't committed to travel elsewhere I would be as well. If you're in town, I encourage you to consider purchasing a ticket to this event.
Think about it - what's the benefit of claiming Tiger was hamming it up, even if Goosen's right? At best, you have given the greatest player in the world extra motivation to beat you like a drum every time he sees you. If he's not, you look like a real jerk. Goosen's reasoning seems to have been that Woods mostly flinched after bad shots. Gee I don't know, Retief, is it possible that was because the pain is what CAUSED the bad shot? Nice logic, buddy. Maybe Retief got too deep in the Grey Goose again.
NBC has renewed their deal with Notre Dame though 2015. As long as the Peacock keeps enabling the school financially and the Big East keeps rolling over by allowing the non member Fighting Irish football team access to the conference's bowl bids, the most arrogant program in the country will continue to thumb their nose at everyone else.
I'm not too crazy about the Ivory Tower folks on the Knight Commission. Most of their reform suggestions are about as relevant as saying the clouds shoud all be made of vanilla ice cream. This might be different. There's no reason the NCAA couldn't increase its penalties in a meaningful way again. It's been quite a while since they really hammered someone - Alabama is the last one that springs to mind. If I was FSU or USC with high profile open investigations inolving my programs, I'd be a little anxious about this.
Cal's efforts to cut down 44 trees near their football stadium to expand their athletic facility continue to be unsuccessful. You might remember from the coverage of their game with Tennessee last year that a group of modern day hippies has been living in the trees to prevent them from being cut down. This week, the university is trying to dismantle their supply lines, but "Dumpster Muffin" will not go quietly! Looks like we could get more amusement from them this season.
Putting aside the fact that the "world's most expensive burger" is a Burger King PR stunt, from the description I don't think I'd even want to eat it. Give me a little cheese, some barbecue sauce and fresh tomatoes and I'm fine.
If I wanted to eat an insanely expensive burger, the Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas would be willing to accomodate me. (I have actually eaten a more normally priced burger there which was good.) I'm headed to Vegas tonight after my show, so I can't promise a blog tomorrow depending on my web access. I do want to make sure you know about the Little Bits of Honey dinner going on in Gainesville tomorrow night. It's a very good cause, Billy Donovan and Urban Meyer will be there and if I wasn't committed to travel elsewhere I would be as well. If you're in town, I encourage you to consider purchasing a ticket to this event.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
That sound you hear is Jeremy Foley laughing
The Nashville paper reports an impending contract for seven years and a salary in the high two millions for Phillip Fulmer to remain coach of Tennessee - the question is why? Who was going to offer Fulmer another better paying opportunity to justfy spending this on him? Fulmer just won ten games and the East in 2007, but hasn't lost fewer than three in any year since 2001. Urban Meyer's 3-0 against him and humiliated the Vols last season. Without David Cutcliffe around, will Fulmer let his offensive coordinator do his job or start meddling again? I swear that ADs sometimes just forget they have the ability to say no to coaches who have no market value. Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno shouln't be getting raises the way 45 year olds with success do, because they aren't going anywhere else. As this stage in his career, neither was Fulmer.
Fulmer became Alabama Public Enemy Number One after he was involved in the Albert Means investigation that led to the Crimson Tide program getting hammered by the NCAA. The money man in that episode, Bama booster Logan Young, died under odd enough circumstances two years ago that the Discovery Channel is now doing a televised investigation of his death. If they're smart, they'll air it the week of the UT-Bama game.
Jemele Hill writes for ESPN.com now, but used to work for the Orlando Sentinel. I will not pretend to know Hill well, but she and I were part of a media group that went out to dinner in Arizona at the 2007 BCS title game and spoken briefly at other events. Every time I have crossed paths with Hill, she has seemed like an intelligent, fairly nice person. Which is why I read about this and shake my head in amazement. There are few absolutes in life, but this is one: unless you're writing about genocide, there are no good comparisons to be drawn with Hitler or the Nazis. Rooting for the Celtics certainly doesn't qualify. She's now been suspended. Don't expect any of ESPN's "screaming sportswriter" shows, including the two Hill regularly appears on, to acknowledge any of this ever happened. As the Dana Jacobson fiasco showed, ESPN likes discussing dirty laundry incessantly as long as it isn't theirs.
When I'm home in Tampa or when I was driving around in Gainesville in afternoons, I'd typically listen to at least some of Steve Duemig's afternoon sports show on 620 WDAE. Our styles are very different, but despite his reputation for bluster and combativeness on air friends of mine who know Steve like him very much. Duemig's known for pushing the envelope on his show, but the thing that's always amazed me is his annual Christmas Eve show where he and others basically hang out on the air and get hammered. I'm guessing he might want to back off of that this year.
One thing that might have UT afraid of replacing Fulmer is the fear of not finding someone better available for anything less than $aban money. If you make an impetuous move, you could wind up with someone like Minnesota's Tim Brewster. Brewster, who'd never been a head coach or even a coordinator before, replaced a mediocre coach in Glen Mason and made him look like a legend. After he took the Gophers to a 1-11 record that included losing at home to North Dakota State, Brewster is trying to convince people to keep the faith. The fact his own son is bailing out of the quarterback competition probably won't help with that much.
In an update to a previous story mentioned here, it turns out the Wii Fit Girl is a UF grad. Now the question is which attractive Gator grad will rack up more video views, her or Erin Andrews?
Fulmer became Alabama Public Enemy Number One after he was involved in the Albert Means investigation that led to the Crimson Tide program getting hammered by the NCAA. The money man in that episode, Bama booster Logan Young, died under odd enough circumstances two years ago that the Discovery Channel is now doing a televised investigation of his death. If they're smart, they'll air it the week of the UT-Bama game.
Jemele Hill writes for ESPN.com now, but used to work for the Orlando Sentinel. I will not pretend to know Hill well, but she and I were part of a media group that went out to dinner in Arizona at the 2007 BCS title game and spoken briefly at other events. Every time I have crossed paths with Hill, she has seemed like an intelligent, fairly nice person. Which is why I read about this and shake my head in amazement. There are few absolutes in life, but this is one: unless you're writing about genocide, there are no good comparisons to be drawn with Hitler or the Nazis. Rooting for the Celtics certainly doesn't qualify. She's now been suspended. Don't expect any of ESPN's "screaming sportswriter" shows, including the two Hill regularly appears on, to acknowledge any of this ever happened. As the Dana Jacobson fiasco showed, ESPN likes discussing dirty laundry incessantly as long as it isn't theirs.
When I'm home in Tampa or when I was driving around in Gainesville in afternoons, I'd typically listen to at least some of Steve Duemig's afternoon sports show on 620 WDAE. Our styles are very different, but despite his reputation for bluster and combativeness on air friends of mine who know Steve like him very much. Duemig's known for pushing the envelope on his show, but the thing that's always amazed me is his annual Christmas Eve show where he and others basically hang out on the air and get hammered. I'm guessing he might want to back off of that this year.
One thing that might have UT afraid of replacing Fulmer is the fear of not finding someone better available for anything less than $aban money. If you make an impetuous move, you could wind up with someone like Minnesota's Tim Brewster. Brewster, who'd never been a head coach or even a coordinator before, replaced a mediocre coach in Glen Mason and made him look like a legend. After he took the Gophers to a 1-11 record that included losing at home to North Dakota State, Brewster is trying to convince people to keep the faith. The fact his own son is bailing out of the quarterback competition probably won't help with that much.
In an update to a previous story mentioned here, it turns out the Wii Fit Girl is a UF grad. Now the question is which attractive Gator grad will rack up more video views, her or Erin Andrews?
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