Talking points: Alabama and Auburn decline to take the breathalyzer
by Joel on Jun 29, 2009 8:05 AM EDT
in Rocky Top Talking Points
8 comments
Five straight days at the state horse show in the sweltering Shelbyville heat, and I'm ludicrously behind. More on the horses below, but first the news:
Tennessee football
- An answer to The Question. Finally. Sort of. How does Tennessee stack up with the other schools in the SEC with regard to secondary violations? FIRST! Kinda:
UT, however, leads most SEC schools in football-related secondary violations since Lane Kiffin was hired as coach on Dec. 1, 2008, according to information obtained through Freedom of Information requests by the News Sentinel. Tennessee has had six. Ole Miss is next with five. Alabama and Auburn did not respond to the FOI requests and Vanderbilt, as a private school, is not subject to FOI requests.
So Alabama and Auburn refused to incriminate themselves. Okay, then. Mike Griffith gives the behind the scenes on the running down of the info. - Program on the rebound desperately seeks QB for long-term commitment. No threesomes. Andrew Hendrix -- Tennessee's apparent
Plan CPlan B -- committed to Notre Dame last Thursday.Plan BPlan A Jesse Scroggins was wooed by Southern Cal and offered a scholarship last week as the winner of an eight-man competition for said scholarship. So with all those fragile eggs in the possession of Mr. Scroggins, we're gonna do everything we can to get him, right? I mean, all he wants is a scholarship for his cousin. Not gonna happen says Lane Kiffin, even if Bruce Pearl says he's learned his lesson. So we sit and wait and think happy thoughts about those eggs.
Tennessee basketball
- Isaiah Victor will be playing in the Pilot Rocky Top League this week. His first professional gig featured three weeks of sleeping in sweatsuits with every blanket he could find in romantic France.
SEC
- Team Speed Kills takes a look at South Carolina and is perplexed by Steve Spurrier's inability so far to procure, retain, or train a solid contributor at quarterback. Garnet and Black Attack, though, thinks Stephen Garcia will be just fine this year and puts the QB question as a mere No. 3 on its list of keys to a successful 2009. Kyle at Dawg Sports lumps South Carolina in with Ole Miss and Kansas as three teams he's not buying in 2009.
Other
- Tomahawk Nation on why Florida State should drop its appeal.
- The Rivalry, Esq. continues its 80 reasons to love the Big Ten with numbers 72-70: Penn State's white-outs, midwest farmer's daughters, and hot chocolate.
The horse show
Me and mine were four of a group of 28 who just spent the last five straight days at the state horse show in Shelbyville. For those of you who don't know, Shelbyville is the home of the Tennessee Walking Horse, which is cool. What is not so cool is Shelbyville's complete and utter lack of any satisfactory accommodations.
They have a Best Western, which in hindsight might have been the best choice. But no, we stayed at a hotel that shall remain nameless, not because anyone not familiar with Shelbyville would recognize the name, but because I don't care to admit I just gave them $400. If they gave ribbons to hotels, this one would get a "participation ribbon."
Fortunately, my wife had been tipped off beforehand, and so she went to the dollar store and bought some sheets, pillows, and pillow cases, and the first thing we did was strip off the bed and cover up the unsightlies on the mattresses. We then super glued the do not disturb sign to the outside of the door for the duration of the stay out of a concern that the housekeeping folks would make off with our premium dollar sheets.
That made getting clean towels a bit tricky especially in light of the fact that the bathroom was roughly the size of a port-a-potty and was missing a towel rack. Wait, that's not exactly right. It had a towel rack, but it was in three pieces on the back of the toilet.
I don't know. Something about building a town around giant, skittish animals who poop when and where ever they please must mess with your hygienic expectations or something.
Actually, though, we had a great time despite waking up at ungodly hours every day and baking ourselves in the Middle Tennessee sun at every opportunity. Except for the time we spent "backstage," which was shielded from the sun but was much like being inside a gerbil cage. Oh, and 13-year-old Freaktoe placed third in some jumping class (green oversaddle hunting dressage equitack?) and sixth in trail. Kudos to her and her little pony who looks like Billy Idol back in the day.
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You should have come on over a few miles and enjoyed the deluxe accommodations in Winchester!
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti
by sddbaker on Jun 29, 2009 9:57 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I wouldn't be surprised if both Auburn and Alabama have fewer secondaries than UT.
I do think, though, that it’d be in their interests to be more helpful with FOI requests, especially from certified media. Both schools are easy to associate with dirty recruiting tactics, given their pasts, and it’s not a stigma that you want to give people reasons to perpetuate.
by Hooper on Jun 29, 2009 9:59 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Also in the news:
One week until the annual ships! Woo!
by Hooper on Jun 29, 2009 10:07 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
UT 6 Ole Miss 5 etc
Wow. That massive disparity between UT and the rest of the SEC really is worth the National Hissy-fit we have seen from the media. Ha!
(If it were the final score from the championship game in Omaha, maybe – but for secondary violations. If Kiffin refuses the ESPN Outside the Lines interview, we tie. Would that be worth it? Nope.)
btw, hooper, are you SURE you want to give Bama that much credit? Do you think they really had a rational basis for refusing to respond to the FOI request? Perhaps without the stolen textbooks, they weren’t able to read the big words ….
by memphispete on Jun 29, 2009 11:13 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
If I were to guess, I’d expect that AU and UA have some bitter tarts in the compliance offices that don’t like to deal with media. It makes some sense, especially if Auburn still has holdovers from their ’90s troubles and since Alabama has a bunch of compliance types who have been through two episodes this decade alone.
And given how much football means down there, any news about trouble might bring trouble to their front doors. (I could just see it: Bama gets reported for 5 secondaries this year and the compliance officer wakes up the next morning with the decapitated head of his favorite elephant garden gnome on his pillow.)
When it comes to compliance issues, that the the most publicly bitter state in the Union.
by Hooper on Jun 29, 2009 11:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
No flame intended
Wow. That massive disparity between UT and the rest of the SEC really is worth the National Hissy-fit we have seen from the media. Ha!
I thought ‘National’ attention regardless of the reason was part of the new regime’s plan. Isn’t UT operating under the ‘all news is good news, even if it’s bad news ’ philosophy?
If so, it’s a little hypocritical to complain about National Hissy-fits if that’s what the coach wants. Mission accomplished, right? Or maybe I missed something?
by yellowhammer on Jun 30, 2009 3:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Not getting into an argument over the issue,
but UT’s secondaries have gotten far more air time than those of other schools. In fact, if it weren’t for the media attention to UT’s secondaries, we most likely wouldn’t have any reports of the secondaries from other schools floating out there right now. A part of that is the rather public and spectacular nature of the Urbz=cheater issue (which, while disciplined at the SEC level, wasn’t a secondary in itself, IIRC – correct me if I’m wrong). After that episode, everything UT did in recruiting was aired out, starting with the local media.
So it’s not the difference that’s causing all this commotion so much as that it’s UT. At least, that’s the way I read things.
Whether that’s ok or not is a different issue and I’m willing to let everyone have their opinions on that.
by Hooper on Jun 30, 2009 4:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
No flame taken: Two separate issues
I am pointing out the ridiculous nature of the media to focus on one issue and hype it because it makes great ratings. Kiffin makes great ratings. As a former (executive) boss advised me one time: memphispete, “don’t let the facts get in the way of the story you want to tell.”
In a normal year, Florida’s felony count might be a national story with the same order of reporting that the Kiffin secondary violations have received. I personally think it’s a little more important in the scheme of things when a Florida player commits a felony than when Kiffin says some kid’s name on a radio show.
It’s also striking to me that UT has 6 violations that have received weeks of coverage; whereas, Old Mississippi has had 5 violations thatI’d never even heard of. The coverage has been, in my opinion, the equivalent of a National Hissy-Fit.
And, I don’t think anyone could argue that it has been “proportionate” or “balanced”. But I do like to see people try the impossible. The attempt might be entertaining, so lurkers can give it a whirl if you’d like.
Now as to the second issue…. The benefit of the coverage is very much appreciated. Top ten recruiting class, great traction on 2010 commits, buzz on all the boards and on ESPN, etc. Kiffin’s Krowd would likely have made good progress by now but the attention has unquestionably benefitted us. And, it keeps things very interesting until we can actually play some fooz-ball.
by memphispete on Jun 30, 2009 8:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
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