Interesting debate yesterday between Geoff Brock and Beano on the wisdom of recruiting one year players in basketball. JJ Hickson of Marietta, GA committed to NC State yesterday ending a several month flirtation for the 6-8 forward that saw Tennessee fall from being his one-time odds on favorite destination. Beano’s stance is that Hickson is a one year player who’se not worth sacrificing others in the recruiting process for + one who’se not worth disrupting your team over. Brock’s stance is that you have to take em where you can get em. Hickson would’ve been the highest ranked recruit to sign with UT since Allen Houston. Both guys have good points. One thing they both agreed on is UT’s flirtation with Hickson now puts them behind the 8 ball for finding another quality post player.

We had a convro yesterday about how stars seem to be more valued for their lives than common Joes when the reality is that all created equal in God’s eyes. Beano made the point that we’re all so quick to want to halt and cancel games when a famous pitcher dies but we don’t even bat an eye when a family of four dies on the way to a game. Great point! Now NASCAR Drive Bill Elliot makes a similar point in his just released biography, Awesome Bill From Dawsonville.

In a new memoir, "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville: My Life in NASCAR," Elliott accuses NASCAR of not getting serious about long-standing safety concerns until after Earnhardt's fatal crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. He said that's disrespectful to the memory of drivers such as Adam Petty, Tony Roper and Kenny Irwin, who died in on-track accidents months before Earnhardt.

"No one called for investigations or softer walls, or HANS devices when these drivers died. But when Dale Earnhardt died, NASCAR went full bore, head over heels on safety," Elliott writes.
STRONG WORDS INDEED
You gotta love Ron Zook. Check out what this buffoon has done now!

Zook: No apologies necessary
In hindsight, Ron Zook said he wouldn't make the call again. But he insists going for two
Coach says odd decision didn't cost team a victory
After Illnois blew an 18-point lead and lost to Indiana, 34-32 last Saturday, Illini and former Florida coach Ron Zook refused to apologize for a bizarre coaching decision that cost his team. With his team leading, 13-7, in the first quarter, he opted for a fake extra-point attempt, and the two-point conversion run got stopped. That forced him to go for two again after the next touchdown, which also was unsuccessful. Illinois lost by two points, mind you.
"That had about as much effect as nothing,'' Zook said. ''You can harp on that (failed conversion) all you want. Hindsight's 20-20. If I had that to do over again, I wouldn't do it. But that's not why we lost the game, by any stretch of the imagination.''
End Zook

Did you see that kid kicking from BC last night versus Va Tech?
Kicker a winner in BC debut
Steve Aponavicius walked onto the field for the first football game of his life on Thursday night and helped Boston College walk off with a 22-3 victory over No. 22 Virginia Tech.
The left-footed soccer convert was perfect on two field goals and two extra points, and the BC defense forced four turnovers to send the Hokies to their second consecutive loss. Boston College (5-1, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) is a North Carolina State desperation pass away from being unbeaten.

Virginia Tech (4-2, 2-2), held to 21 yards in the second half, has lost consecutive games since rising to No. 11 in The Associated Press Top 25. The Hokies also fell to 12-2 in Thursday night games on ESPN; both losses were to BC -- one in Blacksburg, one in Chestnut Hill -- 11 years apart.
Matt Ryan was 16-for-29 for 174 yards and two touchdowns despite limping through much of the second half on a previously injured ankle. Kevin Challenger caught two touchdown passes.

Called "Sid Vicious" by teammates and coaches who can't pronounce his name, Aponavicius played soccer in high school and was discovered in Alumni Stadium on the first day of classes his freshman year fooling around with a borrowed football. He was elevated to starter when Ryan Ohliger was suspended following a fight outside a Boston bar.


Give Small Mike The Vote
Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr threatened, stalked, school says
University of Michigan police have arrested a 23-year-old man they say stalked and sent threatening e-mails to football coach Lloyd Carr.
Tobi Akinmusuru, of Ann Arbor, was arrested Tuesday, the same day Carr and other coaching staff members received threatening, harassing and obscene e-mail, campus police said.

Akinmusuru was arraigned Thursday on charges of using a computer in a crime, malicious use of telecommunications and malicious annoyance by writing, campus police spokeswoman Diane Brown said. He faces up to one year in jail if convicted.

Akinmusuru's bail was set at $10,000, and he was scheduled for a preliminary hearing Friday in 15th District Court, Brown said. He remained in the Washtenaw County jail Thursday afternoon, and it was unknown if he had a lawyer.

Akinmusuru is not a student or former student at the school, Brown said.

Officers first had contact with Akinmusuru on Monday when he was seen looking into car windows at the athletic department's Schembechler Hall, Brown said.

Police also learned that Akinmusuru was standing outside the Michigan Union on Tuesday with an aluminum baseball bat and making threats that referred to Carr and others in the football program, Brown said.

Pick 6: Six To Take To The Bank
Penn State Over Mich
Florida Over Auburn
Kentucky Over LSU (just kidding)
Fulton Over Catholic
Philly Over New Orleans
Missouri Over Texas A&M
Brian Hartman Over My Sanity


Go Vols

TB

I was in my home preparing for the Catholic/Fulton this game for 7WMAK. I had MSNBC on. And that crash was going full bore. Then they started bringing Corey Lidle’s name up (A former Phillie). How surreal? Then to think about the fact that small planes have that kind of access to NYCNY. Where is the restricted air space? I flipped on (through the magic of the internet) WFAN in New York and listened to Mike and Mad Dog who started calling for the Mets game to be cancelled out of respect for Lidle’s passing. Apparently Shea Stadium is a few minutes from the site of the crash. Rain ended up cancelling the affair, but did the those guys have a good point if it was bright, sunny day? We’ll kick that around today. Beano has a few thoughts.

C-Low has some great stuff today on the Vols in grading the season. We’ll kick that with him. We’ll also have the latest on the JJ Hickson situation. It seems that NC State has gotten extremely aggressive in the last couple of days! We’ll see what happens. Don’t count out Pearl. But don’t count your chickens either.

Did you see what Steve Spurrier did to his secondary coach Ron Cooper after that game the other night. Check out the recounting of Saturday night from todays Memphis Commercial Appeal.
South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier wasn't happy that his team didn't drop the hammer on Kentucky once the Gameocks took a 24-10 lead over the Wildcats last weekend. Spurrier was hot after watching the Wildcats complete two long passes in the final four minutes -- a 63-yarder to Dicky Lyons to set up a touchdown and a 38-yarder to Keenan Burton that gave quarterback Andre' Woodson a chance to throw a Hail Mary into the end zone as time expired. After the game when Spurrier was asked about those plays, he said he wanted to know what happened also. So he got his sports information director to bring extremely nervous secondary coach Ron Cooper to the interview room. Spurrier led the questioning. "Coach Cooper, they want to know what coverage we were in on that 62-yarder," Spurrier said. "Three deep?" Cooper, fidgeting with his tie, replied, "Three deep. Had the bust by the left corner and the left nickel." Added Spurrier, "And the middle guy wasn't real deep, either, was he?" Cooper replied, "Had a bust. Yes, sir. They played good except for that one play. And that one play gave us a bad day." Spurrier then asked, "How about the 22-second play? What, we just didn't prevent, right?" Cooper: "Just didn't prevent." Spurrier also said that he also could have been better during the fourth quarter. After South Carolina called a timeout before a fourth-and-3 with 28 seconds left, the Gamecocks were penalized for delay of game. Carolina then turned the ball over on downs, giving Kentucky possession on its 20-yard line with 22 seconds left. "I messed up a play there with 28 seconds left, and we had a 5-yard penalty," Spurrier said. "So I guess it's my fault we couldn't run out the last 2:56 of the game to clinch it. We could have done that." By Sunday, Spurrier had cooled off, but drove home the fact Carolina has to finish games strong. "I don't think I can accept the fact that this is just the way we play around here," Spurrier said. "We're still trying to change some old habits and trying to finish teams. I'm just a big believer that you're supposed to play the game as well as you can until it's over and don't concede touchdowns at the end, even if you're fortunate enough to be ahead."
HOW HARDCORE IS THAT GUY?
Tommy Tubberville, the man who spearheaded the rolling clock as a means to shorten the game in ’06 college football has another brain-child. Yesterday during the SEC Teleconference, he called for the league to look into adopting an 11 game league schedule. Does that mean Auburn and Alabama fans that Buffalo, the directional Louisiana schools and Arkansas State will now play in the SEC West? Just wonderin’.

Go Tigers Go!!!

Tonight Va Tech visits Boston College. I’m checking that one out! BC has a FG kicker who is the living Vince Papale. The guy was wearing face paint to games last year and is literally right out of the stands. He didn’t even know how to put on his shoulder pads when the school issued them to him. Another one of those dreaded soccer players. Sorry Beano. He misses those queer looking straight on kickers very much!

T To The B

We’ve got a bunch of Hoops stuff yesterday from media day. Beano breakin’ it down with Dukey Boy C. Could it get any better? BP and Briney Boy Hartman! This is going to be a special year!

Also today: We do mid-season report cards. Who are your A’s, B’s, F’s? Small Mike checks in with a ‘D’ at the midway point. His admission that he was ‘torn’ on Saturday night was gross. You never cheer against your own team. That is unless they’re being coached by Jerry Green or Buzz Peterson.

Why does Phillip Fulmer continue to act like other Division One schools don’t have special teams coaches? This is from 2003. Exactly 2 Special Teams coaches ago for the University of Cincinnati. This is straight from the Cincy Post. Check it out!

Miscues plaguing UC special teams

__________________________
By Marc Lancaster
Post Staff reporter

Special teams play is one of those areas that usually gets noticed only when things aren't going particularly well. University of Cincinnati special teams coach Amos Jones has been noticed lately.
"I just spoke to the 70-and-over crowd over there at the Shriners' club, and they were killing me," Jones said with a laugh Monday afternoon.
The news hasn't been all bad for the Bearcats in the kicking game this year. Tye Keith and the punt return unit have excelled. The kickoff coverage team, which has had its problems at times, is second in Conference USA, statistically speaking. (end story)
The only reason I bring up UC is that I saw them a couple of weeks back and they list a ‘Special Teams Coach’ in their media stuff. If UC can have a special teams coach, do you think UT could?
Chris Low was dead on yesterday when he said that the lack of attention to special teams would get UT beat before the seasons over. My pre-season prediction was 10-2 and I’m sticking to it! Special teams will be a major reason for UT’s next loss. Mark that down!
The Tigers are a great story. What a turnaround for those guys. What a staff. I love Jim Leyland. If you were to paint what a baseball manager should look like, he’s your guy. Gruff, yet alive. Unhealthy looking, yet effective. The guy exudes baseball. Can’t you picture him seated next to Leo Durocher? Or Miller Huggins? Or John McGraw? Or a young Sparky Anderson? Just think, he campaigned for the Phillies job in the off-season only to be rebuffed for Charlie ‘can’t conjugate a verb’ Manuel. Darn shame.

It’s officially a hostage crisis in Tallahassee. What’s interesting is that in this era of what have you done for me lately, FSU fans have to tread lightly while showing displeasure. Mike Bianchi the Orlando Sentinel has the following today:
‘Meanwhile, at Florida State, a fan has started a Web site that is much more courteous and cautious -- RetireCoachBowden.com. Its stated mission is to get Bowden to step down because "it is time to let our legendary coach retire with some amount of class and dignity."

It's difficult to feel sympathy for Miami fans because, for the most part, they are bandwagon boosters who don't go to games even when times are good. But Florida State fans are different. They drive four and five hours one-way from Orlando and Tampa to fill their stadium. They pay the inflated hotel prices and two-night minimum to stay in Tallahassee. They invest a lot of time and money in their program.

They want more.

They deserve better.

But they suffer silently.’
(End Bianchi)

Interesting article today in Birmingham News for Charles Goldberg on Tim Tebow Mania.

Here are a couple of telling nuggets from the piece.

Tebow is just 19 years old, though he was declared "The Chosen One" in an ESPN documentary when he was 18. That was aired moments after he said, on ESPN, of course, that he'd sign with Florida instead of Alabama.

Since then, he's thrown 14 college passes. Not in a game. In his life. But he's a powerful runner at 6 feet 3 inches tall, 229 pounds, and he's Florida's second-leading rusher with 228 yards. That's a little different for a backup quarterback.

Today, Tebow has his own biographical page on Wikipedia, the encyclopedia of the Internet, which extols his stats and notes, in passing, that he's cute. That's what it says. He also has his own fan club, which, at this point, is pretty much the Gator Nation.


There is a great move afoot in the media to feel sorry for Chris Leak. I’m not buyin’. If winning a championship isn’t good enough for him, than he’s in the wrong sport. To his credit, Leak hasn’t whined about the predicament of sharing time with the super freshmen.

Final Thought:
When the clock strikes midnight, the Mets will be down 1 games to none and Bobby Bowden will be another day closer to his next loss.

Peace
Piassan