dn't it? The SEC has been the Elite conference in the BCS...pretty much since the BCS began. In four of the past six years, the eventual National Champion has come from the SEC, and this year should be no different. This is a conference that routinely has four or five teams scattered amongst the top ten (LSU, Florida, Alabama and Ole Miss this year). Over the past three years the winner of the Florida-LSU game has gone on to win the National Title. The coaching in the SEC is the cream of the crop, with four out of the twelve coaches (Spurrier, Meyer, Saban and Miles) having won National Titles, and four (Spurrier, Saban, Kiffin and Petrino) having coached in the NFL. This conference is leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else, so it is completely understandible why SEC Media Days are getting so much national attention.What I find so funny is how this attention is getting directed by the media, with most of the interest surrounding the defending National Champion Florida Gators. Sure, the media could be asking about the development of an underclassman defense that's a year older and healthier than they were a season ago. They could be asking about John Brantley, and how much we are going to be seeing of him this season, or about the explosive play-making ability of true freshman Andre Dubose. The could even be asking about why the team decided to give Sophomore CB Janoris Jenkins the coveted #1 jersey (previously worn by Percy "No Mercy" Harvin). But no. That would only make too much sense. Instead, the media has grown fascinated with one question: Who of the eleven other SEC coaches did NOT vote for Tebow as preseason 1st-team all-SEC Quarterback? In what has become known as "votegate," this may go down as one of the stupidest "scandals" in sports history. What's even funnier is that none of the SEC coaches will admit to not voting for Tebow. One of them is lying to the public and the media will die trying to get to the bottom of it. I mean honestly, who cares? Why do people care about this, i don't get it?? It's funny, thats for sure, but it makes no difference whatsoever on how the season plays out. It is clear that Tim Tebow is the best QB in the conference, maybe in the nation. All this is going to do is give Timmy more motivation throughout the season, motivation that Tebow doesn't need but will be happy to add to the bulletin board come September.
So I guess the "culprit" is still "at large" and since nobody asked my opinion I'm going to give it to you anyway. I think it comes down to two men: Steve Spurrier or Lane Kiffin. This, to me, is a classic Spurrier move. This is the same guy who has voted for Duke in the coaches poll every year since I can remember, and this includes the years when Duke was coming off of winless seasons. The guy is shameless and he knows it. Just like he knew Duke was NOT worthy of being a ranked team, he knows that whoever he voted for was NOT better t
han Tim Tebow. It just seems to add up and I would not put it past the Ole Ball Coach. Lane Kiffin on the other hand is just an idiot. He thinks he is helping his team get attention by calling out the SEC Big Wigs but rest assured, he will be paying for it when the season starts. Don't get me wrong, I think Tennessee has a lot of talent, and will be contenders in the East again soon. But Kiffin has done too much damage this year. I have already penciled in losses to Florida, Alabama and Georgia and have potential losses to Auburn and South Carolina. I can see this team going 8-4 this season and getting into a lower tiered bowl game, but the losses they experience will be downright crushing. I could see Kiffin voting for someone else to get under Florida's skin more than he already has (if that's even possible). Go ahead Lane, do you want the Gators to drop 100 on you because believe me, if they can, they will. THIS JUST IN my suspicions were indeed correct. It was Steve Spurrier who didn't vote for Tebow. What can I say...it was almost too obvious. "SEC associate commissioner Charles Bloom confirmed to ESPN.com that Spurrier called within the past 24 hours and asked that his ballot be changed to include Tebow as the first-team quarterback. Spurrier told Bloom that his initial ballot, with Snead as the first-team quarterback, was a mistake." A likely story Steve....anyway, I guess we can put "votegate" in the books for now, but for your enjoyment...here's what the Old Ball Coach Himself had to say:“As I’ve been asked several times, I need to address it right know. Who’d you vote for? And in actuality I didn’t do much voting at all. I didn’t fill the sheet out, but anyway, my answer was, some coach made a pretty serious mistake or either dumb or careless mistake by not having Tim Tebow as his first selection. When all this came up in the Thursday morning paper, I read some guy did not vote for Tim Tebow, and i was like, who was that?
Our director Jamie Speronis, filled it out, brought it into me one day. I looked quickly at it and I said, that’s fine, I signed off on it. I called him I said, certainly we had Tim Tebow? And he said, well actually coach, we had Jevan Snead. And I said, well wait a minute. Why? Why? He said, we already had 10 Gators, and I said, that’s bad. That’s my fault, I take full responsibility. I messed up, and i apologize to Tim Tebow. We should not mess that up, we screwed it up pretty badly.
I’m embarrassed about it, I feel badly about it, and that’s the way it happened. I called Charlie Bloom, I said, can i change our selection from South Carolina to Tim Tebow? And he said yes, so I was able to put Tim Tebow in today, so it’s unanimous. It’s maybe not right, but we made a mistake, I made a mistake. Tim Tebow is not only the best quarterback in this league, I think he’s the best in the country. I think he’s the best football player in the country, and what he’s done there, I believe he and Danny Weurffel will go down in history as two of the best quarterbacks, maybe the two best to ever play college football.
I admire and I respect Tim and I apologize to him. He should have been on that ballot. We messed up, I messed up. I tried to correct it as best as i can. I messed it up, i take full blame for it and that’s the way it happened. That’s the way it happened and we’ll try to move on. I still feel very badly about what happened there.”
Anyway, aside from the ridiculous hoopla of "Votegate" there were some other interesting story lines that were covered at SEC Media Day. For example, Dan Mullen took the podium on Wednesday, talking about the future of Mississippi State. Mullen, the former offensive coordinator for the Florida Gators is entering his first season as a head coach and he will no doubt have a special game plan in mind when the Bulldogs meet the Gators on October 24th. In fact Mullen went as far as warning Urban Meyer that he better "change his signals" when the two teams meet. Rich Brooks of the Kentucky Wildcats and Bobby Johnson of the Vanderbilt Commodores are both coming off successful seasons. Brooks transformed UK into a top 25 team a couple of years back and is using a stern defense to win games and will be returning stud DB Trevard Lindley. According to Brooks "(Lindley) can line up with any receiver in the country." Lindley was also responsible for one of Tebow's four interceptions last season, picking off Tebow last year in The Swamp. The Commodores, on the other hand, have been the bottom-feeders of the SEC for years until last season when Johnson led the team to a 7-6 record. This was their first winning record in 1982 and their first bowl victory since 1982. They also managed to pull off a then-stunning upset of Auburn early in the season. Auburn is going to be an enigma this season. After years of consistency, perched atop the SEC West, the Tigers has a stunningly disappointing 2008 season which culminated with the firing of head coach Tommy Tubberville. New head coach Gene Chizik has been met with high praise, but I am unsure of how he is going to fair in his first season as head coach in a VERY competitive SEC West.
I am incredibly excited, like literally salivating at the thought of football season and am sure a lot of you out there are too. We are only six weeks away folks, just enjoy the media days and try to wet your whistle while you can, pain through the last few weeks and then get ready for another exciting football season.
In other news what more can be said about White Sox starting pitcher Mark Buehrle's perfect game last night. This is one of the rarest feats in baseball (his was the 16th perfect game since 1900) and definitely something that everybody should soak up while they can. Buehrle is one of two active pitchers (Randy Johnson is the other) to have a perfect game and a no hitter under his belt. Buehrle has accomplished what very few pitchers in the league have by attaining this accolade. On top of this accomplishment, he also has a World Series ring and has hit a home run in his career (Hall of Famer, anybody?) This was a great feat for baseball and I'm glad I was around to see it.
In local news, the Washington Wizards made what looks to be their final offseason move by signing vet
eran center Fabricio Oberto to a biannual exception deal of $1.99 million. The 34 year old center was a member of the San Antonio Spurs, where he started on the 2006-2007 NBA Champion team. He also won an Olympic Gold medal with the Argentine National Team in 2004. He will provide some much needed veteran leadership to an extremely young front court. Honestly, this was the best move the Wiz could have made as they look to be serious contenders in the East next season (Unless the fall victim yet again to the dreaded "crab dribble!"). With the development of second year center Javale "Up-phreys" Mcgee and continued progress of Andre Blatche, 22, I like the Wizards chances this season. I think they are right in the thick of things in an eastern conference race that is turning into more and more of a dogfight everyday.Finally, it looks as though the Baltimore Orioles are going to bring up the prized pitching prospect Chris Tillman. The 21 year old Tillman has been lighting it up in AAA Norfolk this season, averaging nearly ten strikeouts per nine innings. His call-up could not have come at a better time for the O's (41-53) who have gone a dismal 1-5 since the All-Star Break. The birds square off against the Red Sox this weekend (...so look for another 3 Ls), before opening a series at home against the equally dismal KC Royals. Looks for Tillman to make his debut Monday against the Royals.
Thats all I have for today, until next time...
some statistics courtesy of espn.com
