Big Blue Bric-a-Brac: Kentucky Spidermen Edition

You've seen them on the tube during games this season -- Kentucky fans dressed as Spiderman, only with a blue outfit instead of a red and blue one.  Wonder about them, ever?  I have.

Leave it to A Sea of Blue's own Ken Howlett to investigate that matter, and discover the hidden secrets behind the Kentucky Spidermen over at CoachCal.com.  Enjoy it.

Terrance Jones has his first SEC Freshman of the Week award for his stellar performance against the East Tennessee St. Buccaneers last Friday.

Jones was impressive in his freshman debut, and even though he may be a long way from the second coming of DeMarcus Cousins, Jones is showing the kind of versatility that Cousins lacked.  Despite his tremendous impact on the Wildcats last year, Cousins was cast in a pretty one-dimensional role.  Jones does not have that problem, and he has the skill set to handle almost any role that the young Wildcats need.

You have to hand it to Mike Hartline, he has really been a revelation this year at quarterback.  Most people in the Big Blue Nation had serious doubts about his ability coming into this year, but he has put them all emphatically to rest and is having what would surely be an all-SEC season if not for the presence of Arkansas' Ryan Mallett and Auburn's Cam Newton.

Larry Vaught explains Hartline's legacy of competitiveness.

It does not look as if Mitch Barnhart is being seriously considered for the Kansas AD position despite a report by Sports by Brooks linked by Ken earlier. (Hat tip:  Matt Jones).  More recently, there is this typical non-response.

What this report does not say is that Barnhart is not being interviewed, and he may well be.  SbB's intimation that concern about Calipari's recruiting as a reason sounds like nonsense to me, but Dan Wolken recently tweeted that Calipari's friends in Memphis are saying that Cal and Barnhart don't see eye to eye.

Does Barnhart get along with anyone besides Rich Brooks?  I'm just asking, but he didn't get along with Tubby Smith, nor Billy Gillispie, and now he has issues with Calipari?  Maybe he just doesn't like college basketball, or perhaps schools at which basketball is the biggest sport.  If so, Kansas is definitely the wrong place for him.

Andrew Sharp on the Cam Newton affair:

Next thing you know, CBS' SEC halftime show becomes a soliloquy about integrity, with Spencer Tillman talking of a father selling his son. "This is so disappointing to me," he said. "Sport merely reflects what's going on in society ... And we're losing our moral compass."

...And here we are. Pretending this doesn't happen all the time, pretending that it shouldn't happen at all, and waxing poetic about some grand ideal that doesn't (and shouldn't) exist anywhere else in America. It's the one aspect of this eccentric little world that's not charming in the least. It's cruel and exploitative. But most of all, the attitude of the media is just insulting.

Basically, they've taken word-of-mouth testimony from transparently shaky sources and used that as an excuse to execute a witch hunt against the most famous player in college football. And that would be fine, but not when you consider how many rumors these guys hear every day about this guy who took that, or that guy who took this. The rumors are everywhere, and completely believable.

Even if you don't know Cam Newton from Wayne Newton, you need to read the whole thing.