Give the Irish a break this time
You know that I would never in one million football seasons take up for or side with Notre Dame under any circumstances. Just this week, Dabo Swinney at Clemson joined Gary Pinkel at Missouri in calling for Notre Dame to join a conference to even out the playing field with a league championship game. The thinking is the Irish play only 12 games and forgo any conference championship game. It just ain’t fair, they say. To be fair though, Clemson’s first two games are Appalachian State and Wofford, Missouri’s opening two include Missouri State and Arkansas State while the Irish play Texas and Virginia. I’d say the field is tilted against the Irish this time, so leave ’em alone on this one.
Some football
An entire generation of college football coaches is in line to join AARP — Les Miles (61), Nick Saban (63), Frank Beamer and George O’Leary (68), Steve Spurrier (70) and Bill Snyder (75). … To no one’s surprise, the Big Ten preseason poll by Cleveland.com has Ohio State winning the Big Ten East and Wisconsin the West and then the Buckeyes prevailing in the title game. Michigan, with new coach Jim Harbaugh, placed no better than fourth in the East. … Tennessee has guaranteed itself at least one win this year. The Vols tickets all reflect the label on Jack Daniels whiskey, which is made in the state. … Mike Bobo, the new coach at Colorado State, showed up at a team function this week driving an ice cream truck and treated his team. … The LSU athletics department helped their live tiger mascot Mike VI celebrate his birthday with an all-meat cake. …
And here’s a recruiting upset. Kentucky signed a total of three football players this week who were rated 4stars at their position!
Hate starts early
Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate — the rivalry between Georgia Tech and Georgia — started early this year. Tech coach Paul Johnson said in an interview “Georgia isn’t any different than Clemson or Florida State or some of the other teams we play.”
Here & there
There may be some shifting of power in college basketball as this year’s No. 1 player, Ben Simmons, has signed with LSU. Other top-five players include Skal Labissiere (Kentucky), Jaylen Brown (Cal), Brandon Ingram (Duke) and Ivan Rabb (Cal). …
Jonathan Martin has retired from football.
You may remember Martin as one half of the famous bullying incident at Miami with Richie Incognito. …
The Arizona Cardinals have hired the first woman coach in the NFL, although it’s on an interim/preseason basis. Her name is Jen Welter and she has a master’s and a doctorate in psychology. … Congratulations to Boston Mayor Marty Walsh for telling the Olympic committee to go take a hike and pulling Boston out of consideration for the 2024 Olympics. He refused to put the Boston taxpayers in a position to have to pay off what was sure to be a huge debt. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed should have told the Falcons the same thing. …
Is Kobe Bryant really that hard to get along with on the L.A. Lakers? Former coach Phil Jackson says “Quite often I could feel his hatred.”
Former NBA favorite 7-foot-7 Manute Bol’s son Bol Bol is 6-foot-11 as a high school sophomore. …
Former Ohio State starting quarterback Braxton Miller will play receiver and H-back for the Buckeyes this season. And speaking of the Buckeyes, the Ohio State Fair featured lifesized sculptures of coach Urban Meyer, the helmet and the College Football Playoff trophy. … Of all the new head college coaches this season, I think the most interesting to watch will be UNLV’s Tony Sanchez. Sanchez, who compiled a record of 85-5 at nearby Bishop Gorman High School, will become only the fifth coach in history who has tried to jump straight from the high school ranks to college. The combined record of the previous four is 61125-1.
Politically incorrect
The U.S. Congress is insisting that the Washington Redskins change their nickname because it offends Native Americans. Rome’s Lyons Heyman sent this: “The Federal Government, which has Tomahawk’ missiles ‘Apache, Blackhawk, Kiowa and Lakota’ helicopters, and used the code name ‘Geronimo’ in the attack that killed Osama bin Laden, officially objects to the nickname of the Washington Redskins.”