Football is unofficially here with the start of SEC media days. That said, there are a couple of things we need to clean out of the notebook.
Tiger Woods announced the firing of caddie Stevie Williams this week.
Hey, struggling golfers fire caddies or swing coaches or putting pros or mental healers or whoever they feel may change their luck. It's never the golfer's fault that putts are not falling or approaches are not sticking or drives are not landing in bounds. That's one of the hidden secrets of golf greatness in particular and sporting greatness in general.
It may come off as narcissism or arrogance or cockiness or whatever, but a professional athlete is competing against the best in the world on a daily basis for big stakes, and there is absolutely zero room for doubt. If you doubt yourself, you're done. Period.
So firing Stevie hardly came as a total surprise - especially after Stevie carried Adam Scott's bag the last month. Wonder if think Tiger felt cheated on, and do you think even the notion of that made ex-wife Elin Woods just unload a "just-made-a-25-footer-on-No.-18-at-Augusta" fist pump?
The decision was made weeks ago, but here's saying Stevie working with Scott was not the final straw as much as Stevie wearing a Titleist hat while working with Scott. And if you think that's silly, well, remember that Nike is about the only consistent check that Tiger has seen in the last six months or so.
----
Unless you live under a rock, you now know that Mike Slive used his annual "state of the SEC" speech at the league's media days to offer proposals to help reform college athletics. The SEC commissioner wanted to raise high school GPAs, reform and streamline recruiting and examine the "cost of attendance."
Basically, Slive unloaded a political stumping speech with the college sports version of "lower taxes" and "more money for teachers." The new catch phrase, of course, is the "cost of attendance," which is fancy speak for paying college athletes.
Here's a little less fancy speak: That's poppycock at its core and an idea designed more for political grandstanding than player gratification or purposeful installation.
If you think paying players is the decent and right thing to do, then you have a point that needs to be heard and can be debated. If you think paying players will end corruption, well, go to the end of the line. Do you think paying Larry Linebacker a $1,000-a-month stipend so he can have a little spending money will end alleged $100 handshakes or the corrupt programs/boosters paying players? Really? The answer is no, and it's no by a lot.
Plus, this debate is useless until someone determines that Title IX - the federal laws requiring gender equity - does not apply, or you'll have to pay Vickie Volleyballer just as much as you're paying Larry Linebacker. And if that's the case, paying players will bankrupt almost all of college sports.
----
LSU got one-year probation after properly handling the investigation of major violations committed by a former assistant football coach.
Last week Georgia Tech was stripped of the 2009 ACC title, fined $100,000 and placed on four years probation for a minor violation that was mishandled by current members of the athletic department.
What did we learn from this? That a school's procedure in addressing violations is more important in the NCAA's eyes than the actual violations. Well, OK.
-----
In honor of Stevie Williams needing a new full-time gig, which of these fictional sports titles would be the biggest best-seller:
- Stevie Williams: Golfers gone wild
- Cecil Newton: On the Cam Train ... chug-a-chug-a-chh-ching
- Lane Kiffin: The things they didn't catch me doing
- Bud Selig: Steroids and the stuff I was afraid to tell you
- Ray Lewis: Getting away with murder - life of the NFL's toughest linebacker