The incredible postseason success of the USC baseball team continues.

In winning their 21^st consecutive NCAA tournament game (and 24^th straight at home), the Gamecocks will get a chance to add to their College World Series record of 11 consecutive wins. 

It has been an improbable run, one that in a more high-profile sport would be the subject of HBO or ESPN documentaries and (more) books chronicling the runs. 

Michael Roth, Matt Price, Evan Marzilli, and Christian Walker have all been indispensable parts of the two National Championship teams and the current CWS team.  And as those four threw their last pitches and took their last swings at Carolina Stadium, they received well-deserved standing ovations and one absolutely necessary curtain call for Roth.

Win or lose in Omaha over the next two weeks, we know there will be a statue someday for the architect of all this success, Ray Tanner.   

But as we watched 29, 22, 31 and 13 participate in one final dogpile in Columbia, it got me to thinking – do they deserve more? 

I’m not talking about retiring numbers, I don’t really believe in that practice except in extraordinary circumstances (see Steve Wadiak and George Rogers). 

But how about a mural?  What better way to honor the cornerstones of our two (and maybe three) time National Champions by permanently putting their faces at the entrance to Carolina Stadium?   

Or even better, put their faces on the outfield walls.  Even if you just put them up for the next 2-3 years, the fans would have a reminder of the monumental accomplishments of these guys.  Plus, if you want to intimidate the competition, the steely eyed stare of Matt Price, even in mural form, couldn’t hurt.

A standing ovation and a place in the historical record is nice, but these four deserve more.  They have helped make South Carolina the current gold standard in college baseball, and put us historically in the conversation with legendary programs Southern California, Texas and LSU.    

They are special players, and should be remembered in a special way.

Sweeping on…

Clemson and Oklahoma were good, but they’re obviously not Francis Marion.  At no time this season was there more hand-wringing and finger-pointing than when USC lost to Division II Francis Marion 5-4 on April 11.  It was an embarrassing loss for sure, but fortunately Ray Tanner was able to keep his job and so far things have turned out ok. 

Out of curiosity, I wanted to see how the Patriots season turned out, and the Googles told me they were upset in the Division II Southeast Regional Tournament by Catawba College by a score of 8-4.  Francis Marion finished the season with a 40-18 record.  You can bet the memories of one of those 40 victories will last a lifetime.    

Statistics Central. After whining incessantly for about 18 hours on Twitter about the circumstances surrounding the suspension of Sunday’s game against Oklahoma, David Cloninger of Gamecock Central hit us with a couple of interesting statistics about USC’s return to Omaha: 

• USC is the first team to head to Omaha with a chance at a three-peat since LSU in 1998 (they were not successful) and just the third team ever.
• Southern Cal was the first, winning five straight titles from 1970-1974.
• USC is #10 in all-time CWS victories with 28 (including the aforementioned 11 straight).
• Arizona is #9 all-time, with 33 wins.  None of the eight teams above them are in the CWS this year.
• Florida State has 20 appearances in Omaha without a title, far and away the record.  Second?  That would be CTU with 12.  (CTU did not make it to Omaha this year, BTW).

Good stuff.

Down with Demetra II.  There has finally been some heated debate about Andy Demetra on Gamecock Message Boards.  Not surprisingly, the split appears to be about 50/50 between love and hate, and not much in the middle. 

That’s cool, everybody gets an opinion.  But it’s things like this, in addition to his voice and delivery, that really stick in my craw:

That’s right, he tweeted the text of his final call.  I’m sure because he was proud of his own perceived cleverness of it.  How self-absorbed is that?  And for heavens’ sake, that avatar…

Ugh, ok, I’ll drop it.  I just think a classy, humble guy like Mike Morgan deserved/deserves to call this run.

The Tweet Sixteen.  While TRC was booted in the first round by a late-charging Wes Mitchell, ITS_DABO rolled to another victory in the garnetandblackattack.com  “Garnet and Blacketology” tournament. 

Great work by those guys, but there’s been a really funny dynamic to the whole deal.  A few have outwardly campaigned, a few appear to be paying no attention whatsoever, but the largest group appears to be paying attention but not outwardly campaigning for fear of looking like they care. 

You care guys, we see you. 

Go Cocks.  

This will be a ton of fun to watch next week.  I have to admit, I wish we’d thought of what Connor Tapp came up with here.

And even though we come in as a four seed, the boys at GABA recognize that we may actually be the team to beat in the Blogger/Writer Region.

Just a brief sizing up of our competition:

• Chris Clark – peaked as a second-team slot receiver
• SpursUp Blog – ha ha!! Like we’re going to lose to a girl!
• Wes Mitchell – jocksniffer
• Life of a Gamecock – agoraphobe
• Scott Hood – Yankee
• David Cloninger – #Cloningered
• John Whittle – worthy opponent (note to self: keep folding chair within reach)

I think we breeze through the bracket, and will face Michael Roth in the semifinals.  Roth is not as popular as he’s been the last two years because he hasn’t won a National Championship this year (yet).  Fortunately voting closes before the Super Regionals are over.  We win in a squeaker.

In the finals I see us facing Team Garcia.  (How do we NOT pick @ITS_DABO?  Hey, Jennifer Hudson didn’t win American Idol even though she was clearly the most awesome.)

Once in the finals, we’ll put on some AXE body spray, offer Team a couple of Mike’s Hard Lemonades and put on an Oasis CD, and she will forget there ever was a College Tworld Series.

We anxiously await our trophy…

The 2012 University of South Carolina promotional video/campaign was launched this week with the “It’s Great to Be a Gamecock” video.  The video has mostly received praise from the Gamecock fan base from what I’ve seen on social media platforms.  But as a professional marketing man, I think the video ultimately misses the mark by a wide margin.

First, let’s start with the positive – the imagery.  The stark black and white shots that dominate the first minute of the video are fantastic, particularly the spectacularly lit images of Lattimore, Shaw, Taylor and Clowney (the white jerseys were an excellent choice).  The point-of-view game footage throughout the video is nice, giving you the feeling you’re there.  And the practice footage of Connor Shaw (“one more, one more”) could’ve easily felt fake, but it doesn’t, it’s actually quite genuine. 

On the downside, the “brick and mortar” and Farmer’s Market images don’t seem to fit.  I get the idea, but there are just not enough of them to tie it into the rest of the video.  They are images looking for a theme.  Plus, while the new video board is going to be an exciting addition to Williams-Brice, who cares about seeing footage of the old board being taken down?  Again, not a good fit. 

One final note on the imagery – I would’ve liked to have seen a more distinguishable jump from black and white to color.  It’s so subtle that the first couple of times I watched the video I thought “when did that happen?” 

The final shots of the new video board in CGI, and the shot of the stadium from the corner of the end zone are magnificent.  All in all, the folks who chose and produced the images we see deserve a solid A.  Not quite an A+, but they’re not far off. 

At about ten seconds in, the voice over commences, and it is immediately a disaster.  What a bad choice.  An overcooked, stuffy professional v/o man is absolutely not what this video calls for.  This video needs someone more “normal”, maybe even someone with a little South Carolina twang.  The days of the John Facenda-sounding voice talent are gone folks.  Give me an everyman, every day.  Voice over gets an F.

Then there is the cliché-riddled script.  I guess the writer (Andy Demetra, not surprisingly) was pandering to the fan base when he wrote this, much like Dabo does with his speeches to the CTU base.  

This script is a whole bunch of sound and fury signifying nothing.  Just listen closely to the words, and how they’re strung together.  It’s one cliché trailing another from Mr. “back to back for the garnet and black.”  I seriously think Demetra has a notebook filled with sayings he thinks we like to hear, and just can’t wait for the right moment to break the next one out. 

“Kiss the ring!”  Shut up, you’re the radio guy, not the first baseman.  (Do you get the idea I don’t like Demetra?  Good, cause I don’t.)

Script gets a D+.

Last but not least, the music is not my favorite either.  I’m not a musician, so I can’t exactly put my finger on it, I just know it doesn’t work.  I’ll give the music a C, but it gets the benefit of the doubt since it has to carry a horrible voiceover choice and an equally horrible script.

If I watch the video with the sound down it gets me much more fired up than with the sound up.  And that’s too bad, because I think the guys at Gamecock Productions are on the right track, they just have to learn to put all the pieces together. 

Maybe they should’ve called in Justin King as a consultant.

Sweeping on…

Fan First Fan Fest.  As I mentioned below, I had the opportunity to attend the Atlanta Gamecock Club’s Fan Fest on Tuesday evening at Gwinnett Braves stadium outside of Atlanta.  The good news is there were only about 150 Gamecock fans willing to make the trip up I-85 (a long haul if you’re not familiar with the ATL), so there was ample opportunity to talk to new head basketball coach Frank Martin, and ample opportunity to look at Steve Spurrier from a safe distance, lest Jamie Speronis claw your eyes out.

Martin was everything I had read about him – affable, congenial, and he genuinely seemed happy to be hanging out with his new set of fans.  When I talked to him personally he gave me nothing blogworthy, just a lot of “glad to be here” and “thank you for coming”.  And his speech was a condensed version of every speech you’ve heard him give so far, so there was nothing new.

When it came to Spurrier, I was armed and ready to bring hard evidence that he had taken a can’t-spell-Citrus-without-UT-style shot at CTU or any SEC rival.  But alas, he was on his best behavior.  The only thing remotely Spurrier-esqe was a comment about UGA’s schedule being “a whole lot easier than ours”.  When talking about players to watch for the upcoming season, he had high praise for Ace Sanders, Shaw, Taylor, Clowney, and effusive praise for Kenny Miles, his dedication to USC, his work ethic and willingness to return for his final season.

But, not a single mention of CTU.  That’s a bummer. At the same time I think it tells you that the HBC doesn’t feel the NEED to talk about them.  That might be the biggest slap in the face of all.

Hardball Blues.  Last night’s loss to Vandy in the SEC baseball tournament on the heels of a home series loss against LSU apparently had a lot of Gamecock fans searching for tall bridges.  Calm down folks.  First, we never play well in Hoover.  I don’t accept that, and I don’t believe it will last forever, but at the same time I think it has exactly zero impact on how we’ll play in the NCAA tournament.  (And we have proven we can still make it to the CWS without hosting a super regional – see: 2010).

Media-type Blues.  On the other side of the cage, the media-types on Twitter last night were awfully testy before, during and after the USC game.  First, the aforementioned Andy Demetra had an uber-smartass response to a Tweeter who asked if the game “was going to be on AT&T Uverse”.  Our friends at Team Garcia called him out on it and he responded that he didn’t want to be “hassled” while he’s getting ready for a game.  Hassled?  Seriously?

Then, apparently the bridge jumpers were in a tizzy after the game, calling out Chad Holbrook among others, so much so that John Whittle and Demetra (there’s that guy again) proceeded to call them “whiners”.  SportsTalk continued their tradition of getting into at least one slapfight per night (which we quite enjoy, actually, those guys crack us up). 

First of all folks, it’s Twitter.  You don’t have to respond to anyone.  Ever. 

Second, there is a happy medium.  If you need directions to it, shoot me an email.  

Half-Cocked is Right.  Our friends over at Garnet and Black Attack have a podcast called “Half-Cocked” that you should check out.  In their most recent episode they discuss Twitter accounts (mostly Gamecock related) that are worth following. 

You know what the first one they mention is?  @GamecockRadio.  You know who that is?  FRIGGIN’ DEMETRA!!!

You know who doesn’t get a mention?  @RubrChickens OR @ITS_DABO. 

Man, those dudes owe us big.

Happy Memorial Day errybody!

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting new South Carolina head basketball coach Frank Martin at the Atlanta Gamecock Club meeting tonight.  While he was as pleasant and engaging as I had heard, he wasn’t as tall as I thought.

Maybe his wide-shouldered three-button suits threw me off.

Or maybe his voice wasn’t as tall as it sounded.  I’m not sure.

But I fully expected to meet a 7′ 6″ giant of a man who could wrap his hand around my head like a small cantaloupe (only if he wanted to, of course).

Instead here was this guy who measured in at maybe…MAYBE…6′ 2″.

I feel deceived, and my hopes for the future of Carolina basketball are just a little less as I lay me down to sleep tonight.

Can you think of a better time to be a fan of Gamecock athletics?  You really don’t have to think about it very hard.  It doesn’t matter if you’re 2 years old or 82 years old, odds are you can’t come up with a time where there has been so much success in a short period of time at USC.  It’s not even close.

In football the legitimacy Steve Spurrier has brought the program cannot be denied.  We’ve been perpetually mired in the middle to bottom half of the SEC standings since 1992, but in the last two years have an SEC East title, an 11-win season, and two straight wins over our neighbors to the north (to make it three total). Plus we have top recruits that genuinely want to play for us and give hope that we can be a contender for years to come.  USC will no doubt be a Top 10 program heading into the 2012 season, and I dare say given a few good bounces could be a BCS team come January.

In baseball we have back-to-back national titles, a current top 3 ranking (depending on the poll, one has us at #1), and a better than average shot at getting back to Omaha for a third consecutive year.

In basketball…uh, ok, you got me, the hoopsters have sucked for a couple of years now.  But a guy named Frank Martin saw something at USC that both challenged and encouraged him, and he has the fan base as excited about basketball as we’ve been in a while. And on the women’s side, Dawn Staley could have her team contending for a Final Four birth in the not-too-distant future.

The non-revenue sports aren’t setting the world on fire, but we appear to be competitive in just about every sport these days (with the exception of softball, I have no idea what’s happened there).  And with the promise of increased revenues (thank you SEC) and improved facilities across the board, the future has never been brighter for Carolina athletics.

And as we contrast our recent success with what’s going on with our neighbors to the north, it makes things that much sweeter.

The Clemson (aka CTU) football team is coming off an ACC Championship, and two championship appearances in three years.  Yes, congratulations on that guys, nice work.  But I would be remiss if I did not mention a couple of other things that have happened…

Like a third straight blowout loss to the University of South Carolina.  CTU fans love to throw out the all-time record (yawn) and state that we “won’t catch them in this lifetime”.  Well, at this rate, I’m beggining to wonder.  I’m pretty old, but maybe if I live long enough…

There was also one of the most humiliating defeats in the history of bowl games.  You just cannot wash the stench of 70-33 off of you in one offseason.

Then, recently, there was the arrest of All-American wide receiver Sammy Watkins, the face of the CTU program.  Weed and a couple of pills should, and I believe will, get him suspended for at least one game, probably the opener against Auburn.  The questions about his character and off-field decision making will continue beyond September 1 (we promise).

And last night we found out that five-star phenom running back Mike Bellamy had been dismissed from the Tiger football team due to academics.  This was not a shock to anyone who has followed the brief career of Bellamy, a rumored malcontent with a rumored fondness for green, leafy substances.

Want to talk about coaching?  I have one word for you – Dabo.

Underneath all this is apparently a crumbling athletic foundation called the Atlantic Coast Conference.  After adding a couple of basketball semi-powers (Pittsburgh, Syracuse) the ACC leadership was hoodwinked into about as crappy a television contract as can be imagined with ESPN.  This led the chairman of Florida State’s Board of Trustees to openly, and forcefully, declare an interest in joining the Big XII.  FSU head coach Jimbo Fisher then lightly broached the subject, stating the university needed to do “what’s in its best interests”, before the FSU President had to step in and pledge allegiance to the ACC.

The storm this creates is that, if FSU leaves for the Big XII, then surely another ACC school will follow so the conference can have the championship game it needs to be fully legitimized.  This would lead to a mad scramble among Virginia Tech, Miami, Clemson and possibly Georgia Tech or NC State depending on which blogger you believe.

The problem with CTU is that the only people mentioning them are…well, them.  Oh, and this guy, who makes a solid case that CTU to the Big XII is already a done deal.  (Spoiler alert: he makes no case at all.  “West Virginia blogger” pretty much kills his credibility from the outset.)

Editor’s Note:  the “done deal” is only an “agreement in principle”, and “The Dude” adds some more detail here. 

Meanwhile, most CTU fans are dying, DYING, to get out of the ACC into a conference that values football above all.  Unfortunately for them, it ain’t going to happen, and soon they’ll have to start spinning why the ACC is the best place for them (The Carrier Dome is so beautiful in the fall!).

This is so much fun, folks.  We’re in an uber-enviable position in the SEC, and it’s driving our rivals up a wall.  They don’t know how this can be happening, and they don’t know how to change it.

If you are a big fan of the Gamecocks (and a big fan of schadenfreude), then soak it all in.

We are indeed in the midst of the Golden Age of Gamecock athletics.

The NFL Draft and all its pre- and during hype is now a week into our rearview mirror.  If you didn’t read any of the millions of post-draft team grades, you can find examples of this tired exercise here, here, here, and here.  And those are just from the first page of the Google search.  You could go on for days reading EXPERT analysis of the draft.

Well, you’re not going to get that kind of garbage here.  You’re a Gamecock fan, and you’re going to get GAMECOCK garbage on this site baby.

So, without further adieu, the old Buckster is here to pass out career grades for all the Gamecocks football players who were either drafted or signed as free agents.  I know, it doesn’t make any sense to me either, but I haven’t published anything in like, two weeks, so roll with me here.

These grades are not scientific.  I’m not going back and researching numbers.  It is just what it is.

(Note: Love all these guys. LOVE them for being Gamecocks. That’s my disclaimer.)

Stephon Gilmore (Round 1, Buffalo) – C+ – I know, I know.  I have no idea what I’m talking about.  I don’t understand the game of football, and I have no idea what kind of impact Gilmore had on the field away from the ball.  You got me.  I just know #5 (on D) didn’t ever seem to be the suffocating, shutdown corner I expected him to be.  I was expecting the second coming of Charles Woodson, and I never came close to seeing that.  I don’t think Woodson would ever get beat by 20 yards by Darvin Adams on a hitch and go.  I’m sure we’ll miss him.  Probably a lot.  But he was never quite the player – DB, QB, KR – I hoped.

Melvin Ingram (Round 1, San Diego) – A+ – Love.  Love.  Love.  Everything you would ever want in a college football player.  Also responsible for one of the greatest plays in Gamecock football history.  That is all.

Alshon Jeffery (Round 2, Chicago) – B – As time passes I believe Alshon’s legacy is only going to grow and he’ll be seen as an all-timer, but as of today I’m going to give him a B.  His freshman and sophomore years were things of beauty, and he was on track to shatter all kinds of receiving records.  But something happened his Junior year that I don’t think we’ll ever be able to explain.  Was he out of shape?  Was it shoddy quarterback play?  Did defensive coaches scheme to ensure #1 didn’t beat them?  All of those theories have been floated.  But there’s no question his sub-par season and essentially a no-show at the NFL combine cost him something fierce financially.  Even so, I think he can, and will, eventually become an elite receiver in the league.

Antonio Allen – (Round 7, New York Jets) – A – The epitome of hard work.  Allen was one of those guys that was just kind of “there” early in his career.  You saw his name in the lineup, you saw him in on a few tackles, but you never expected him to be a breakout performer.  But when he intercepted Kyle Parker for a TD to ice the 2010 CTU game – read, quick break, and then a cool loaf-of-bread cruise to the end zone – I thought “I haven’t been paying close enough attention, this kid is a player”.  I was disappointed he fell so far in the draft.  I think the Jets got themselves a good one.

Rokevious Watkins – (Round 5, St. Louis) – C+ – Good for the Rok, man.  Another guy who took a long and somewhat winding road (GMC –> USC) to the NFL, you have to feel good for guys who make it after putting in their time.  He never really stood out at USC, but he was a solid contributor and has the size and (hopefully) the skills to stick in the NFL for a while.

Travian Robertson – (Round 7, Atlanta) – B – I was really disappointed big Trav went this late (not that he was expected to go earlier), but I’m glad he landed with the Falcons.  I think he has a shot to make the team and contribute.  He was very highly regarded coming out of high school, had an unfortunate knee injury his sophomore year, but came back to be the cornerstone of one of the best defensive lines in USC history.  He was often overshadowed by the likes of Norwood, Taylor, Ingram, and even Clowney, but Robertson’s presence helped free those other guys up to make plays.

Free agent signees:

Jason Barnes (San Diego) – D – I’m not sure exactly what my expectations were for #4, but I certainly expected more than what I got.  He showed some flashes early in his career, especially in a 2008 win at Ole Miss in which he had seven catches and two TDs.  But every Spring we came to count on him, and every Fall he disappeared.  The fact he had basically no statistics over his last two years but was still invited to an all-star game and landed a free agent contract tells you he has measurables and skills.  He just never used them at USC.

C.C. Whitlock – (Minnesota) – C – What an enigmatic career for C.C.  He was huge pickup and the second coming of Syvelle Newton out of high school, but once he finally landed at cornerback he always seemed to be the odd man out.  He started here and there due to injuries, and had a few picks to his credit, including two against Auburn last year.  Unfortunately, one lasting memory of C.C. will be that he gave one of those right back to the Tigers in a tight game we would go on to lose.

Marty Markett – (Atlanta) – I – Great practice player by most accounts, Markett was never able to break through and make an impact on the field.  Like Barnes, it’s impressive that he showed enough in workouts to even get a shot in an NFL camp.  He’d be a perfect gunner in the league.

Terrance Campbell – (Washington) – B – TC finally used up his eligibility after first coming to USC in 1994.  Well, that’s what it feels like.  Campbell always felt like a “hole plugger”, one of those guys you had to use until someone more talented came along.  Most of the time no one did, and Campbell responded by doing an admirable job for the ‘Cocks.

Others? What about #5 on offense you knucklehead?!?  That’s right, I heard you.  But obviously you missed the part where I said I was only grading draftees and free agent signees.  But if you insist, my grade for Stephen Garcia – C+.  No need to tread over ground that’s been plowed dozens of times over, so I won’t.  I’ll just say he was the guy that was suspended five times and allowed his off-the-field antics to get him dismissed from the team.  But he’s also the guy that led us to two of the most stirring wins in our history – at home against #1-ranked Alabama and the SEC East clincher over Florida in Gainesville.  People outside of the program don’t understand why we defend him and why he’s so beloved.  And screw them, we don’t owe them an explanation.

Time will be very kind to Stephen Garcia and his legacy.  I can promise you that.

TRC BOD Meeting. That’ll pretty much do it for the sweep this week.  Be sure to join us for the biannual TRC Board of Directors meeting next week Thursday through Sunday.   We’ll be meeting at non-disclosed locations in the Greenville area.  So how are you supposed to join us if the meeting locations are not disclosed?  That’s your problem pal.

But if you are able to find us, beers on us!

A very uneven effort from the TRC-U crowd, but the archived podcast is here if you’d like to listen.  We discuss:

• Spring practice observations
• Frank Martin observations (hint: he’s good)
• This Week in Dabo
• Our magical baseball team

And we get our first unsolicited caller EVER!  Many thanks to Zach from Glory Road – A Gamecocks All Fan Site for calling in.  Check his site out on Facebook and show him some love.

Have a good week Gamecock Nation.

TRC Unleashed – Episode 22 will air live tonight at 6 p.m.  Buck, Gman and Tbone will discuss, among other things:

• The takeaways from Spring Practice
• Thoughts on the Bobby Petrino scandal and what it means to Arkansas
• Frank Martin’s recent recruiting haul
• Kenny Miles trolling Death Valley and other Gamecock smack talk
• This week in Dabo

Join us live, or check out the archives.  We promise you’ll enjoy it.*

*We break promises all the time, but we promise we’ll at least try hard.

Surely you have seen Chris Low’s ESPN.com interview with Steve Spurrier by now.  It is classic, smug, winning Spurrier, dropping unintentional yet intentional truth bombs on rival coaches, backhanding SEC programs, and subtly reminding everyone that he is one of the great figures in the history of college football.  It is a Spurrier we only saw glimpses of in his first few years at South Carolina, but with an SEC East title and historic 11-win season under his belt, he is back to his spry, zinger-slinging self.

My only problem with Low’s interview was it came out of the gates with lightning speed – “you could always count on (Georgia) having two or three key players suspended” and “(Saban) has to go somewhere besides Alabama and win, because they’ve always won there at Alabama” – but kind of sputtered from there.  You have to think there was a lot more substance to the interview, and maybe Low is pacing himself?  Or maybe he had a maximum word count for the story?

I thought about what it would be like to come across Low’s notebook and find the “lost notes” from his interview with the HBC.  If I did I think it might look a little something like this:

On starting next season at Vanderbilt:

“Yeah Coach Franklin has got a nice little thing going up there.  They’ve never won much, kinda like us before a couple years ago.  Honestly don’t expect to see them playing in the Georgia Dome any time soon, even in the Peach Bowl.  But don’t get me wrong, we could go screw around up there and not pitch and catch like we’re supposed to and wind up losing to them…it’s happened before.  But you gotta win those, I mean it is Vanderbilt.  If you can’t beat those guys..well, you know, it’s hard to compete for championships.”

On the Dabo Swinney “rant”:

“That was something wasn’t it?  He was angry, I get that. Heck I might’ve done the same thing if I was him, but probably not the week after losing my third one in a row.  Strange timing.  I would’ve probably waited until March or something when people maybe forgot about those last two games they lost.  What’d they give up?  70?  Man, I thought we did something pretty good until I saw West Virginia beat them.  We got a lot a work to do.”

On Swinney’s idea to scrimmage other schools in the Spring:

“Nah I don’t particularly like the idea, would get too competitive probably and feelings would get hurt.  But the way we got their number right now playing them twice a year might not be a bad thing.  Might want to schedule them every week I guess.”

On his long-standing rivalry with Tennessee:

“Yeah, people ask me when I might retire.  I might just retire right after we lose to Tennessee again…nah, you know, I can’t wait that long.”

On losing to Auburn twice in 2010:

“You ever seen a shooting star Chris?  That’s kinda how I think of Auburn.  One big, expensive shooting star that came and went.  Oh well, at least they got that one, I’m sure they’re proud of that.  Got ’em a t-shirt and all.”

On his boss, Eric Hyman:

“All that stuff with Eric is overblown.  Eric is a good dude.  Wouldn’t cross the street to speak to him, but that’s not the kind of relationship we have anyway.  The kind where we speak.”

On Bubba Watson winning the Masters:

“Yeah ol’ Bubba put it on them didn’t he?  Good fella seems like, hear he went to Georgia.  You know one of my Florida teams was the first visiting team to score half a hundred in Sanford Stadium.  Sure would like to do that again. Almost did it last year.  What was the question again?”

On the South Carolina passing attack:

“Well, we got Connor doing some good things.  He’s probably about the best we’ve had since I’ve been here I guess.  Well, Blake was decent, just had ADD or something.  But we still don’t really know how to throw and catch.  If we have to run the ball, you know, direct snap and stuff, 50 times a game, that’s what we’ll do.  It is what it is.”

On Lorenzo Ward taking over as defensive coordinator:

“I encouraged Ellis to take that Southern Miss job, he deserved it. We’re excited to have Coach Ward take over and we’ve got a lot of confidence in him because he’s gonna get the ball back to me immediately…one way or another.”

More on Nick Saban:

“Nick hasn’t proven anything to me yet. He needs to go someplace like Kentucky and win.  On second thought, Kentucky might be a bad example.  I’m not sure I could win at Kentucky.  But anyway.”

On Bobby Petrino:

“Yeah looks like Bob has a little problem keeping his franks and beans to himself.  Got to have integrity in this game.  If you don’t have integrity I got no use for you.  Cute lady he was with though, I can see how she made him think.  Maybe we might have a chance to beat ’em this year, I don’t know.  Beautiful day though.”

As I listened to Arkansas AD Jeff Long announce the firing of head football coach Bobby Petrino last night, I was struck by two previously unknown facts about the hiring of Jessica Dorrell to Petrino’s staff:

• She beat out 159 other candidates for her position on Petrino’s staff
• Petrino paid Dorrell $20,000 for…er, something. 

When I heard those two things I thought myself a fool for believing Petrino ever had a chance to retain his job.  Even if the “Save Bobby Petrino” rally had attracted a half million people, there was no way Petrino was going to be the head coach at Arkansas in 2012. 

But as I alternated between the press conference and the reaction on Twitter, an interesting narrative began to build around Jeff Long.

“Give him credit for doing what had to be done.”

“Making the most of an impossible situation.”

“He’s a good man and doesn’t deserve to have to deal with this.”

“Long is showing extraordinary leadership.”

“Tremendous courage.”

“Class act.”

“Proud of Arkansas, Jeff Long, and proud to be an SEC fan.”

Ahem, can we hold off for just a minute here?  I have a couple of things to point out.

First, JEFF LONG HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO FIRE BOBBY PETRINO.  I can honestly say I know next to nothing about Mr. Long as an AD or a person, but let’s not give the man too much credit for electing to move forward with the only sensible option he had.  Had he tried to keep Petrino and the media found out about the preferential treatment and the $20K (why are people not making a bigger deal out of this?) then Long would’ve lost his job as well.  So he was not only doing the right thing, he was also covering his own backside from career suicide.

Second, as a lifelong Falcons fan (take a moment to feel sorry for me), my only other memory of Mr. Long is of him standing at a podium “calling the Hogs” with Petrino while Atlanta twisted in the wind with regular season games still left to play. 

Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution sums it up best:

If character was a priority, Arkansas never would have hired Petrino to begin with. Everybody knew his resume. In fact, Long would be out of a job himself. He interviewed Petrino without the Falcons’ permission four years ago while the coach was under contract to Atlanta and still in the middle of a season.  This wasn’t up to Long any more than it was up to the blithering protesting fans who were screaming, “Woo Pig Sooie!” at rally for Petrino Monday. It was up to his bosses, the smart people, who realized this could cost the university millions.

In the end, the right thing was done, and the University of Arkansas will be better off for it. 

But let’s not make Jeff Long out to be the hero.  He was only the messenger.