I absolutely despise what the leaders of the Southeastern Conference are doing to it right now. If you aren't aware, I'm not a big fan of Oklahoma and Texas joining the conference, as it strips even more of the things that make the SEC so great away. Sure, money is all that matters to Greg Sankey and company, but the SEC we grew up and fell in love with is basically gone.
Media days are being held in Dallas. Southwest (emphasis on the West part of that) is now the conference's official airline. The conference is bending over backward to make the Sooners and Longhorns feel welcome that I wouldn't be shocked to find out they automatically get into the championship football game this year.
Why not stop there? Give them all home games. Move the headquarters to Oklahoma City or Dallas. Name Vince Young as the SEC Legend of the Year for leading UT to the national title. It's all too much. The SEC was fantastic with 12 teams. Heck, make that 10. Those 10 schools that have been here since 1933 have been nothing but loyal, but now, they find themselves as stepchildren to the new child who needs to be coddled. Greg Sankey is more than happy to do it.
Of course, this is the current state of college athletics, and it isn't going back to where it was 20 or even 10 years ago. Instead of making the newcomers earn some respect within the conference, the SEC laid out the red carpet for them and carried them so they wouldn't tire. It's sickening.
Let's get into some ramblings before I go off the deep end.
- I woke up in the middle of the night last week and wrote down "Spit, spot, spick, Spann" and thought it should become James Spann's sign-off after giving the weather. I don't think that will catch on.
- Before I forget, many thanks to the people of the Southwest (there's that word again!) Georgia Alumni Chapter for the hospitality and round of golf for their annual scramble. I always have a great time over in Albany and look forward to each trip.
- Staying on golf, on July 3rd, I had the pleasure of playing Wicker Point at Lake Martin with Gus Malzahn. Sure, he beat me, but the day was great. He seems to be content at UCF. I couldn't be happier for the guy. (In B-Matt's voice: "We wish him nothing but the best.")
- The Haka that New Zealand teams do before matches/games is ridiculous.
- While visiting my parents in Kentucky, I watched an episode of Jeopardy where the woman was on a 14-game winning streak. That means she had to come up with 14 different stories to tell about herself interesting enough to be on national TV. I don't think I could come up with that many.
- Trying a backflip into Lake Martin seemed like a good idea at the time. It wasn't after actually doing it.
- I love the current renovations to Plainsman Park and think it brings the place up to the standard of venues in the SEC. It needed an update.
- For AMBUSH in Birmingham, I somehow got talked into driving Dylan Cardwell up and back for the event. He is a great representative for Auburn and should look into working somewhere in the university after one final season. Also, I should have rented a bigger car so he had more legroom.
- TikTok of the Week: I have no idea what is happening here, but these people are extremely serious about it.
- Spaceballs is a bad movie. Let's move on.
- Finally, with media day being next week, let's all remember that every coach will kill it at the podium, each team will have more talent and chemistry than any team prior and there will be at least two ignorant questions during each session. Enjoy, everyone!
