College football has morphed into a year-round sport thanks to weeks like the one we just finished. Much like the Easter smorgasbord I devoured yesterday, let’s dive right into these 10 items of interest to kick off what we should hope to be an equally eventful week.
(Note: I’m not suggesting more coaches should step out on their wives and get exposed in humiliating fashion. I’m just saying that it’s great blogging material.)
1. Where else to start but with Bobby Petrino’s wild ride?
Watching Arkansas athletics director Jeff Long (gracefully) face the media firing squad on Thursday night, I thought it would be a monumental upset if Petrino kept his job. After listening to some of the reaction from coming out of Arkansas in the last few days, I don’t know what will happen.
In reality, a prediction in this case is pretty much worthless. The truth is that while Petrino has absolutely given the university brass grounds for his termination, all it takes is the right person(s) to stick up for him. Threats from boosters would certainly weigh on any decision by the administration.
Personally, my feelings haven’t changed since we last broached the subject on Friday. In fact, listening to the 911 recording released that evening only solidified my position.
Petrino outright lying to the school about carrying on an “inappropriate relationship” relationship with a subordinate – even when it was revealed in the police report from the accident – simply crosses a line that you can’t come back from. The details in the 911 call demonstrate just how far Petrino was willing to go to deceive his employer and the public.
In terms of just the day-to-day part of Petrinto’s job, there’s another angle to consider as the topic gets kicked around in the media like a soccer ball: How will all of this affect the Razorbacks’ recruiting? If you think opposing coaches aren’t going to play up the “Petrino-is-a-scumbag” angle with parents around the country, you don’t get how this game is played. You could certainly argue that Rick Pitino seems to have weathered a similar storm at Louisville, where his basketball team just played in the Final Four. On the other hand, Slick Rick’s history of dickheadishness pales in comparison to Petrino’s, which Adam Himmelsbach and Pete Thamel of The New York Times chronicled over the weekend. (The funeral anecdote is particularly galling.)
I don’t have a dog in the fight, so it’s of no consequence to me whether Petrino stays or goes. He is one of college football’s premier coaches, so I understand the bind that Long is in. Still, I just don’t see how I could work with Petrino after all of this.
2. If Petrino does get his walking papers, the interesting question becomes who the Hogs turn to next?
The exit of a head coach so rarely at this point in the year that standard operating procedure is to hand the reins over to someone already on staff and work from there. Ohio St. rolled that way with Luke Fickell following Jim Tressel’s resignation last year. North Carolina went the same route with Everett Withers after canning Butch Davis right before the start of the season.
It may be that Petrino’s boner happened early enough in the year for the Hogs to convince a worthwhile candidate to take the job.
3. And, no, Arkansas fans, you didn’t let me down when it came to your reaction to all this intrigue.
And while we’re at it, my favorite Hoggate-related Tweet, courtesy of Friends of the Program immediately after Long’s press conference Thursday night:
No Hog calling to end the press conference was Jeff Long’s only misstep in that presser
— FriendsoftheProgram (@FOTProgram) April 6, 2012
I probably laughed for five straight minutes when I envisioned Long doing the “woo pig, sooey” at the end of that debacle.
4. Have you ever heard someone following a break-up talking about how “it’s (insert other person’s name here) loss?” I call this the “True Life Effect,” because you tend to see it pretty often MTV’s True Life documentaries – pretty sure I heard at least three different ladies break it out during the “I’m a Jersey Shore Girl” episode.
Being jilted by top quarterback prospect Gunner Kiel has left LSU coach Les Miles pulling his own Jersey Shore girl.
After dogging Kiel back in February for not having “the chest” to lead the Bayou Bengals, the Mad Hatter couldn’t help but take some more shots last week at the one-time LSU commit. In an interview with Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com, Miles said Kiel lacked the “confidence and swagger” to be LSU’s quarterback. In the weakest move of all, an “LSU source” – who apparently shares Miles’ affinity for obtuse diction – told Dodd, “I don’t mean to demean, but [Kiel] ain’t Joe Namath. Joe Namath is ready to go to Alabama and take on the world.”
Not a good look, Les.
5. Are college football coaches as a whole overpaid? Dave Berri raised the question last week in an article for Freakonomics.com and put forward the argument that, relative to revenues, the college coaching fraternity make more than they’re worth.
Ty Duffy of The Big Lead offered a rebuttal to Berri’s post that is worth checking out for a fairly solid presentation of the other side of the coin.
In reality, you could answer question in a whole host of ways. For instance, taken to the extreme, you could make the argument that in a free market, no one is overpaid, or underpaid for that matter. Social crusaders might contend that the money spent on coaches would be better spent on academics, therefore meaning they’re overpaid relative to some sense of propriety.
I think Berri’s analysis is actually pretty weak from an economics standpoint, but that doesn’t mean the upshot that coaches are overpaid is incorrect. Simply put, it depends on where you’re coming from.
6. Apparently even the NCAA can’t stop the USC recruiting machine.
Those scholarship restrictions and bowl-less seasons were supposed to slow the Trojans down. In the last two seasons, however, they’ve reeled in highly rated recruiting classes and they’re off to another great start with the 2013 group. Last week, Lane Kiffin and Co. locked up a commitment from Max Browne, Rivals’ top prep quarterback in the country and eighth-best overall prospect in the land. Landing such a touted QB this early in the process should have a nice little multiplier effect on the rest of the class, and Browne has already started working the phones to sway other elite prospects to join him in Los Angeles
Just another day at the office in Troy.
7. After catching wind of Chick-Fil-A’s new banana pudding shake, I was expecting big things. Drew Magary’s write-up in Deadspin definitely whetted my appetite.
I sampled one this weekend, and let’s just say it didn’t live up to the hype. It’s not that the banana pudding shake is bad, but phenomenal it is not. Nice try, though.
8. I could only catch the early goings of The Masters on Sunday in bits and pieces, but I watched most of the back nine for the leaders. I’m trying to recall the last time we had such a compelling finish to close out a major tournament.
The best part about Sunday’s action was that we got to see a number of outstanding competitors performing at such a high level. Usually, the major tournaments come down to the guy who screws up least. For once, it felt like the winner, Bubba Watson, actually went out and seized the championship, rather than not losing it.
Plus, between Oosthuizen’s double eagle on the No. 2 and Watson’s miraculous second shot on No. 10 in the second playoff hole, you won’t see more perfect golf in your life.
9. Can anyone honestly say that they missed Tiger Woods on Sunday?
I don’t mean that as a knock on the man I consider the most dominant golfer ever. Truthfully, I feel almost sad watching him hack away in vain as he tries to regain his old form.
But I know that I wasn’t watching the stretch run at Augusta and thinking, “I really wish Tiger was in the hunt.” Woods when he’s really cooking has been something to behold. On the other hand, I’ll take Sunday’s drama over Tiger cyborging his way around the track to a six-stroke victory.
Interested to see what kind of ratings the broadcast pulled down.
10. Not sure how I did it, but I was sitting in front of the TV on Sunday night, there were no sports on, and yet I still managed to miss all the great Sunday shows. Mad Men, Game of Thrones, The Killing (OK, maybe that one isn’t “great”), Eastbound & Down – not a one. The Marinovich Project being on ESPN does that to you, I guess.
No spoilers please.
