The Long Snapper (5/3/10)
. Listen to some of the coaches in the SEC and you would come away thinking they are perfectly fine with things the way they are. A 12-team conference, split into two six-team divisions that holds a championship game after the regular season. Sounds good to them. Sounds good to me. But as other conferences look toward 12 teams and possibly beyond, the SEC may have to react regardless of what the coaches think. Other conferences are attempting to model themselves after the SEC. The Big 12 and ACC have title games. The Big East, Big Ten, and Pac-10 do not. The Big Ten may be the one that blows everything up in the end. If rumors they want more than 12 teams are true, expansion could go crazy. And if that happens, the SEC could change. The coaches will have to enter the world of the super conferences whether they like it or not.
With a name like T-Bob, trouble is sure to follow you. Or something like that. With a name like T-Bob, who the hell knows what path your life may go down. For T-Bob Herbert, it just got a little harder. The LSU center – and son of former NFL quarterback Bobby Herbert (T-The Bull just doesn’t have as good a ring to it) – was arrested for drunken driving. The junior Herbert (pronounced “a bear”) was stopped after hitting a parked car. No word yet on any possible suspension of the offensive lineman, but in the SEC DUI’s/DWI’s seem to usually bring a one-game sit out, don’t they?
FedEx has decided not to renew its sponsorship deal with the Orange Bowl, citing games that nobody watches. Okay, so FedEx officials didn’t say that, but they might as well have. Two years ago when (quick, name the teams…I bet you can’t!) Virginia Tech defeated Cincinnati, the Orange Bowl recorded the lowest viewer-rating ever for a BCS game. They followed that up with an Iowa versus Georgia Tech matchup that the entire nation was surely not watching. So FedEx departs after being the longest-tenured BCS game sponsor. UPS, we’re looking at you. Although the thought of a brown orange isn’t very appealing.
When Tim Tebow hit the ground against Kentucky, the entire Florida fanbase stopped dead in its tracks. The hit was a big one. The impact between Tebow’s head and, well, everything on the way down was bigger. But was it gruesome? I’d have to say no. It was shocking. It was scary. But it wasn’t gruesome. Gruesome is when things bend the wrong way. When you’re not in awe over what occurred, but you’re actually in pain despite the fact that you had nothing to do with the injury that occurred. Not to take away from the Tebow moment, but I think the others in this list are more reflective of “gruesome.” Especially the top two, which I’m sure we all remember too well. Luckily, Willis McGahee was able to come back from his horrific injury. Sadly, Tyrone Prothro was not.
The List: Short and simple. The places the horses I had in the Kentucky Derby finished. Never bet with me. Never.
1. 15 (He was the one that took the lead from the start, meaning you knew he didn’t stand a chance to win unless his name was Secretariat. It wasn’t.)
2. 19
The Sixth Man: Want a little boost Gator fans? Them Florida basketballers are smart! Relative to the rest of the SEC at least. The Gator basketball players produced a conference-best 2.96 grade point average during the fall 2009 semester. Florida was led by the SEC’s scholar-athlete of the year, Mr. Soon to be Playing Elsewhere, Ray Shipman. Kentucky, on the other hand, posted its lowest team GPA in seven and a half years. Of course, they also won a lot. Give and take I guess.