On depriving the world of Mike Leach's and Lane Kiffin's impudence

by Joel on May 1, 2009 7:49 AM EDT in College Football Comment 4 comments

So Mike Leach is still at it and has moved from unmitigated truth to sarcasm in criticizing Texas A&M, probably thinking that the continued mockery will this time escape detection:

I’ve always said that it is truly exciting to play Texas A&M - the quality of coaches they have, the great team and great tradition and, above all, the quality of players they have. I’ve always known A&M had great players. The fact that they have the luxury to put a third- or fourth-round draft pick on the bench, to me, identifies what a truly great team they are.

It’s an honor for us at Texas Tech to have the opportunity to play them. There are numerous players on our team that will never get a look or play a down in the NFL, so you can imagine how exciting it is for me and them to go play a team the magnitude of Texas A&M and look over there on the bench and see third- and fourth-round draft picks.

I'm loving that. My friend Kyle at Dawg Sports, though, continues to get contrary, this time taking the opposing view on Mike Leach:

If Mike Leach wins a Big 12 championship, he can mouth off to every coach in the country. Once he can claim honestly to have captured as many conference crowns as Mack Brown, he can rip into his colleagues with willful abandon and the blogosphere will think he’s colorful. Until he improves upon his 2-7 records against both Oklahoma and Texas, however, Mike Leach’s sophomoric tantrums just mean he’s all mouth.

This is essentially the same argument Vol fans are seeing about Lane Kiffin running his mouth before coaching a single game for the Vols. Assuming that one is offended by this kind of behavior, I frankly don't know why it's any better to shoot off your mouth like that when you're winning. For me, outside the context of rivalry sports, it's as despicable to gloat over success as it is unwise to rib those with a demonstrated ability to destroy you.

But, and this is the key, this is sports, an arena in which normally well-adjusted folks can safely engage in otherwise imprudent behavior. College football would be much less interesting if Mike Leach had to wait until he usurps Texas before he unleashes such entertaining quotes. What do y'all think?

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I love football

I would spend every second of every day thinking about it / reading about it / playing it if that were at all possible. That said, I realize that it is just a game and has no purpose but entertainment. I just don’t understand how some people can take it so seriously that they can’t enjoy people like Mike Leach. He probably loses a lot of recruits to Texas A&M, so he’s doing everything he can to try and win. He’s competing. The fact that you have to win X number of games before you’re “allowed” to run your mouth is inane. Just because one coach isn’t like your coach doesn’t mean that your guy is better.

by rblakeh on May 1, 2009 8:10 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Keep on rockin Captain

"The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it."

by Getoffmyvols on May 1, 2009 8:43 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

You all know I'm no trash-talker.

But I have no problem with it in this context, as Joel states. It’s at its most entertaining when you’re with a bunch of friends who cheer for rival teams and they’re trading barbs and having fun with it. But there’s no reason a coach can’t do it either. There are limits, of course; I still think Kiffin shouldn’t have made the cheating comments because he was making a false accusation (which is a completely different thing). But let them be a part of the show!

Besides, even in his mockery, Leach is right. A&M has little room to complain about him when they have made some of the most self-destructive decisions over the last several years. On top of that, the particular piece of snark that you quoted further emphasizes how silly it was that no NFL team thought Harrell was worth a shot – even with a late-round pick. If I were the Dread Pirate, I’d be fuming over that myself.

by Hooper on May 1, 2009 9:27 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs