Let’s handle our business.
› Rushmore of “deer” — “Bambi,” “John Deere Green,” “Deer Hunter,” and of course “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” (Side question: Is there a bigger farce in the cultural ‘adjustments’ than the movement to remove “like Columbus” in the Rudolph song? Discuss.)
› Rushmore of Amy Adams movies — “American Hustle,” “Talladega Nights” “Arrival” and “Catch Me If You Can.”
› Rushmore of Bill(s) — Belichick, Russell, Walton and Murray — just because of “Caddyshack.”
› Rushmore of Ed Norton movies — “Rounders,” “Fight Club,” “American History X,” and “Primal Fear.” Man, dude has a stout catalog.
Our resident UGA fans will be quick to click on Paschall’s report that Georgia’s effort to return to the top will rely on its defense. Rules, people.
Also, welcome back high school football. Here are the Dynamic Dozen from Hargis and his prep crew. More rules.
From a group of you (paraphrased)
The SEC going to nine games — friend or foe?
Gang
I know I am likely in the minority, but I lean foe, but for the bigger picture possibilities of what this means.
First, here are the nuts and bolts of this decision.
From the AP: “Under the SEC’s new format, the league will continue with a single-standings, nondivisional structure; each school will play three annual opponents focused on maintaining many traditional rivalries; each team’s remaining six games will rotate among the remaining conference schools; and each team will face every other SEC program at least once every two years and every opponent home and away in four years.”
In a year-to-year, football-only conversation, I’m always going to be for more SEC football — and getting to see the variety. For example, Texas A&M still has not hosted Georgia since joining the SEC in 2012.
I said I lean foe for the following reasons:
› This means expansion — and big expansion — is coming sooner. Think about this — what is the only thing that could get the SEC and commish Greg Sankey (Leg) to do something the Big Ten is guilting them into? Monster dollars, and that comes with expansion, and those two strong-arming guaranteed spots in the next version of whatever the playoff looks like.
› With more conference games and fewer cupcakes, the continued escalation of season tickets across the SEC is going to grow. And grow like Jack’s beanstalk with Miracle-Gro.
› If SEC teams play nine SEC games, that means every other year with four home games and five league road games. This could be the beginning of the end of SEC teams playing in neutral site Week 1 showcases.
› Sneaky one that popped in my head: What will this mean for some of the season-ending, in-state rivalry games for several league members? I don’t think Clemson vs South Carolina is going away any time soon, but those games are always home. Plus, could they try to move them to Week 1 so that the SEC plays all-league games the final week of the regular season to add drama and potentially protect playoff spots? The last thing the SEC would want is Georgia in a secured spot and then getting toppled by a 6-5 Georgia Tech (and yes, Spy, I think Tech will be a lot better than that this fall) in the finale and hear all the complaints about “guaranteed” spots, you know? Same with Florida or South Carolina.
Like almost all the changes in modern big-time college athletics, the changes are not for the betterment of the game, the traditions or especially the fans.
It’s about the Dough-Ray-Me.
From Mark
Jay,
There are vicious rumors that Cam Newton likely unknowingly received illegal funds during his time at AU — hard to believe, certainly. What do you think Cam would command in today’s allowable NIL payday for a year of QB service? Which SEC players might top the list over the past decade or so before a McDonald’s bag of cash became legal?
Mark
Such a great question.
We’ll start here: If Cameron Jerrell Newton got $180K to leave Blinn, Texas, to go to Auburn, then simply put, it was the best money spent in the history of sports since the Yankees bought Babe Ruth from the Red Sox for $100K. (Sorry, Spy.)
As for the NIL comps, I’m not sure Cam would have cracked the top 10 because of the structure and set-up. What I mean is a one-year player — and Cam went to the NFL and became the No. 1 overall pick after one magical season and arrived with more than a little baggage and with a slew of questions marks from junior college — will not command the same NIL money that a portal-eligible superstar would have.
To that end, five-star freshman RB1 Michael Dyer from that 2010 national championship team would have been able to leverage the success and the fan appreciation to hold-out for an NIL truckload.
Does that make sense?
With that, here are my top five of the SEC dudes who would have broke the bank in NIL:
1 Tim Tebow. It’s gotta be Tebow, because no matter what Florida would have been willing to pay, think of the bidding wars that would have erupted. Now add in that Tebow in this current system would have been doing every other national commercial in between games and TV timeouts every Saturday. And to make matters worse, Tebow was down to Florida and Alabama, coached then by embattled Mike Shula, so how big would the bids have gotten in the recruiting process too?
2 Herschel Walker. This one may surprise some, but remember, Walker’s national championship season was a freshman — and he deserved the 1980 Heisman in my mind — so he would have had two amazing portal cycles to maximize the leverage.
3 Johnny Football. Add in the national phenomenon that was Manziel, his Heisman-winning debut season AND Aggies’ oil money, and this may be too low.
4 Peyton Manning. Another four-year star who became the face of the franchise, and you have to wonder if Manning’s image would have been the same in the portal era. The Haslams would have been completely content to pay that man his money.
5 Bo Jackson. Maybe he should be higher, but he completes the top-five if for no other reason — what would Bear Bryant’s cronies been willing to pay to get Vincent Bo Jackson out of Auburn after his freshman year?
Thoughts and who is missing?
From BS
Jay, do you think the Braves have anything left in the tank to push for the playoffs?
BS
Nope. Just be glad that football is starting.
I wish I had better news, but when you’re counting on Hurston Waldrep to be Warren Spahn, well, the well is all-but dry over the next six weeks.
From Spy
The Big Integer’s 28-team playoff proposition is laughable. Not wasting time on it.
Trying to think of something else that has been fodder for the sports talk world this week, and I just don’t have anything. At least, nothing that gets my attention. ESPN buying MLB.TV maybe? Having already bought Red Zone, what’s ESPN up to? Are they going to give us more Pat McAfee or Stephen A. Smith subliminally? I knew it. I knew it. It’s all part of their diabolical plan. The E stands for Evil. Run! Run!
Spy
We made it. Welcome back, college football.
As always, have a great weekend.