As all college team bloggers sometimes discover upon a review of the events of the past few days, this morning I found that there was pretty much no uncovered ground in Kentucky football, basketball or even baseball. In case you missed my update below, Kentucky defeated Florida in the rubber match of a three game home stand yesterday to claim a 2-1 victory in the series. That should help Kentucky's national ranking, as the Gators are ranked #24 in the country. Great news, and despite their rather pedestrian record in the SEC the Bat Cats are starting to come out of their recent ... well, it's hard to call it a slump ... two weeks of slight under-achievement.
But beyond that the spring football game is over and, we are mostly waiting for word -- from Josh Harrellson, Paul McCoy, Maurice Sutton, Ater Majok, Morakinyo Williams, Derrick Jasper -- word on what is going to happen next in their futures. I don't like writing over and over again about recruits and players waiting to take some kind decision. I find it monotonous.
So instead, I thought I would look at a few of the things going on around the basketball and football universe today. First off, we have a short piece from the Philadelphia Daily News talking about a new attitude for the U.S. Olympic basketball team. If Jerry Colangelo lives up to his word, things could indeed be different:
No one need apply who doesn't "check his ego at the door," Colangelo said. "We're well aware of the attitudes. "That's not going to happen. If it does, they're gone."
What bothered him most?
"The body language. The performance. The attitude."
Note: He didn't say anything about talent.
In the SEC, the two main "offenders" on this have been Urban Meyer of Florida and Nick Saban of Alabama. Naturally, the papers of Florida and Alabama have little good to say about the rule. But Nick Saban being Nick Saban, he is determined to find another way to get into the hearts and minds of recruits, and with the help of Fox Sports Net South, he has found television a great way to peddle his wares, even in the off season.
You have to admire determination like that.
But the most fascinating article I found on the subject was this one; not because I agree with it, but because part of me is in complete shock that anyone would actually make this argument and post it on the Internet. Predictably, somehow, it comes from WRAL in the Raliegh-Durham area. The author, one Barry Jacobs, argues that the BCS is great. Why? Because if the current petition for three more bowl games are agreed to and no other bowls are discontinued, college football will have almost 60% of its D-1 schools participating in some bowl or other.
He goes on to explain why this is good -- because "35 teams will end their seasons wreathed in triumph. Even if the financial payoff from some of these games is relatively small, the rewards in satisfaction, prestige, extra practice time, new experiences, and coaches' bonuses are not to be minimized." He goes on to rip college basketball's post season, lamenting the fact that, including the NIT and the CBI, only 113 out of 341 teams get to participate, and "of all those participants, only three teams go home on a victorious note." Oh dear.
Without engaging in bitter, pointless sarcasm at the remarkable silliness of that suggestion, I can only imagine that Vince Lombardi, should he read this piece, would roll over in his grave and curse the fact he can't regale Mr. Jacobs with tales of competitiveness, and what a truly competitive nature is all about. Unfortunately, I don't think Mr. Jacobs could handle Coach Lombardi's truth. You wonder how guys like this ever get to write about sports.