We're up and rolling in Hoover, Ala. It's go time.
From the satellite office of the "Talks too much" studios, hey, is that the guy that was on "The Bachelor" over there?
SEC media days
We've made it through Day 1 of the SEC media daze outside of Birmingham. We had a blast covering it live through the timesfreepress.com. Press Row welcomed five guests on Monday - Auburn's Reese Dismukes and C.J. Uzomah, Vandy's Adam Butler, former South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia and ESPN's Dari Nowkhah. (That's a tough name to spell for what it's worth.)
Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive talks with reporters during the SEC football media days in Hoover, Ala., in this 2013 file photo.Today, we're expecting a slew of UT folks and we are scheduled to have SEC commissioner Mike Slive today around 3:40 p.m. You can listen live here at timesfreepress.com and on 105.1 FM locally.
As for the news and quotes from Day 1, well, there are four stories from Team TFP (if you want to follow the coverage on Twitter, we're using the #TFPSEC for the week) around the site. Enjoy. See you in a few minutes.
OK, welcome back.
Here's the biggest takeaways from Monday's
Auburn quarterback Nick Marshall will be punished for his citation for marijuana over the weekend. Gus Malzahn said so, but did not add much else about the disciplining of his quarterback. His teammates were quite supportive of Marshall, who Malzahn said was a model citizen before this incident. (Side question: Isn't everyone almost always a model citizen before their incidents? Just curious.)
Florida coach Will Muschamp discussed the elephant in the room in his opening statements. He addressed the hot-seat talk and, let's face it, 4-8 does not get it done at Florida or any of the other power programs in college football's most powerful league. We spoke with an Orlando Sentinel reporter who covers the Gators on Press Row, and he said the number is no worse than 8-4 for Muschamp, and one of those eight better be Georgia.
Florida Coach Will Muschamp speaks at SEC media days Monday.Vandy defensive tackle Adam Butler is a likeable kid who is not exactly the biggest fan of former Vandy coach James Franklin. When asked about the differences about Franklin and new Vandy coach Derek Mason, Butler described Mason as honest and trustworthy and dependable. Ouch-standing.
The SEC commish is bound and determined for the big-boy conferences to make their own rules. And he likely will get his way when the NCAA oversight committee votes next month on allowing the Big Five more autonomy. But in truth, the SEC, et al., have been playing by their own rules for so long, maybe it should be time for them to make those rules to begin with.
----
British Open
Many kudos to TFP ace columnist Mark Wiedmer and TFP golf ace David Uchiyama for the excellent golf coverage in today's sports section. Well played indeed.
That said, the glaring hole in the middle of our second-favorite major is that the British Open is lacking star power. Sure, the best golfers in the world are convening this week on Royal Liverpool, but egad, who's the favorite this week?
Phil MickelsonDefending champ Phil Mickelson? Uh, PUH-lease. Want to know how many top-10 finishes Lefty has since winning the Claret Jug last year? The same number as you have. Bagel.
Tiger Woods? Yeah. Right.
Justin Rose? Maybe, but that has the exciting ring of paying your cable bill on time. It makes good sense, but zzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Martin Kaymer. Read the above paragraph and then translate it to German. Speaking of that, War Chattanooga on getting the VW SUV. Man big year for Germany. Kaymer. Kickball. The Chatt-town expansion. It's a relative blitzkrieg for crying out loud.
Where were we? Oh yeah the nap that is pro golf right now. You now what we need - other than Tiger making a charge of course - Sergio Garcia and Jordan Spieth. The can't miss kid that missed and the current can't miss kid.
That would be fun to have Sergio and Spieth in the final round. And of course, if Miguel Angel Jimenez is involved, well, even better.
But, with the snoozefest that has been the last two major tournaments, who's ready for a Chris Kirk Joost Luiten playoff?
----
New York Yankees' Derek Jeter. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)Thanks Captain
Touching tribute for Derek Jeter at last night All-Star game.
We can get more into this later in the season, but we are sure about three things:
The most famous blunder, of course as Vizzini tells us in Princess Bride, is never get involved in a land war in Asia."
That money won is far better than money earned
That Derek Jeter gave more back to the game and the fans than he got.
Think about that last one for a second.
If anyone earns that distinction and description after their career, it's an undeniable success.
----
This and that
NFL training camps start soon. Here's a nice guide from CBSsports.com.
Hey Chandler Parsons, shut your blow hole. You were offended by the whole free agent process? Really? You got your feeling hurt about a bargaining deal that netted you a three-year, $46 million deal after one season in which everything aligned perfectly? Well, you go and be offended then and wipe your tears with Hundos.
Congrats to 39-year-old former Braves starter and current Giants pitcher Tim Hudson for making the All-Star team. Considering it was about a year ago that Hudson broke his leg, his return to the top of his profession is remarkable
----
Today's question
As always knock yourself out on any of the above.
Here's two SEC talking points:
How would you punish Nick Marshall?
What would you ask SEC commissioner Mike Slive?
Seriously.
Go.