SEC Media Days, Day 3

End of the Chaos…

The end of SEC Media Days brought to a close one of the more interesting three day stretches that I’ve seen in quite a while. The “Media” traffic slowed, a little bit, but it didn’t slow the craziness, the oddness (if that really is a word) but it did give a look at what some would call a media vendetta.

Meet the Petrino…

You could have had a nice debate on day 3 as to what the big story was. For the Alabama folks, Tommy Tuberville was in the house. Tuberville however is a great guy; pretty much universally liked, has a great sense of humor and doesn’t take himself nearly as seriously as the Auburn fan base does.

The other early visitor was Kentucky’s Rich Brooks. Brooks was also somewhat of an amiable sort, he smiled a lot and like everyone else, wasn’t really sure what to expect out of his team this year.

The fireworks however were still to come. The afternoon brought the guy who is generally considered one of the true characters in College Football, Steve Spurrier and the guy who made headlines for leaving the NFL, the day after a game in the middle of the season to go back to college, Bobby Petrino.

Attack!

Upon his arrival, Petrino got pretty much the same treatment as all the “Big Name” coaches got, which was the phalanx of cameras walking with him as he walked. The Atlanta TV Stations were there as were several from the state of Arkansas.

I’ve got to say here that I never really felt sorry for Petrino before, despite the bland press conferences when he was with the Falcons and the whispers of his distant, cold and sometimes odd behavior with the folks up in Flowery Branch. He always came across as someone who would rather be anywhere other than on a podium, speaking into the lights, faces and cameras looking for something, anything that was usable to report.
This time was a little different. When he arrived into the TV rooms, the questions were all the same “Why did you leave the Falcons like you did? “Did you really hate pro football so much?” “Why did you bail out on the players like that?” His answers were pretty calm and thought out and again nothing special, the funniest, at least to me was the last question he was asked; “How will you feel if you have to come and play in Atlanta?” The answer was a good one; “I’ll be happy because that means we are playing for the SEC Championship and if we can win that, we may be playing for the national championship, that sounds like a good thought to me”.

Don’t forget the ‘Ball Coach!

I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t mention Steve Spurrier. The guy, though he has some faults is one of a kind, an original. He had us laughing the whole time he spoke, not something easy to do in this cynical age.

The ‘Ball Coaches presser went something like this: “Well, I-hm really lookin’ forward to how our team’s gonna play this year. We got us a tall team, big and we look good in our uniforms” “We should look real good comin’ out of the tunnel. Unfortunately, I cain’t sit here and tell you if we’ll play as good as we look, we’re just gonna have to wait and see”. Great stuff, and he kept repeating this theme the whole afternoon.

Predictions…

If you read my stuff regularly, you probably know how much I hate “Pre-season Predictions”, but because I am doing my best to inform and entertain, I give the you SEC Media (70 ballots out of 700+ credentials) Predictions for the upcoming season.

SEC East
1. Florida
2. Georgia
3. Tennessee
4. South Carolina
5. Kentucky
6. Vanderbilt

Pretty much the same way the conference is picked before the season every year. In fact I don’t know that I can even remember the last time that it wasn’t picked this way.

SEC West
1. Auburn
2. LSU
3. Alabama
4. Mississippi State
5. Ole Miss
6. Arkansas

Again no surprises here, Auburn and LSU seem to just take turns in this poll. The only disappointment is Mississippi State. The Bulldogs were 8-4 last year, a pretty good team, in fact, don’t be surprised if they finish in the Top 2 here in the west.

“The time has come, my song is over, thought I’d something more to say”- Time (Pink Floyd)