Comments on Best of the SEC Blogs: Alabama grabs a generous mittenful of the Deadly Y...

Bubba:Yeah, I think everyone went just a little ov...

2008-02-17T10:06:00.000-05:00

Bubba:

Yeah, I think everyone went just a little overboard there. Pissing contests rarely bring out the best in people.

Philip:

I have often hoped we could see more basketball fanship in the SEC, but the truth is, it will never happen. Unfortunately, the Big Ten is not much better -- They have only IU and Michigan State as places where basketball is held in equal esteem with football, and I'm not so sure about Michigan State.

As to Delaney being right, I don't think he is, but he isn't totally out to lunch, either. I think the Big Ten pride in their academic standards is fine, but I think that using them as an excuse is not.

The unfortunate thing is that it is more a commentary on the elementary and secondary schools in the South than anything else. It's just a fact that kids in the Big Ten states are, as a whole, better prepared for college than in most Southern states. It's difficult to be too hard on schools trying to be competitive, and the fact that Southern classes are more likely to suffer attrition before they ever arrive on campus is sad, but a fact of life.

What bakes my noodle is the possibility that Alabama would actually cut qualified players to whom they had offered scholarships. That is unacceptable, and should be condemned. I'll wait until it happens, but I will certainly be paying attention. This is Saban's first recruiting class at Alabama, and how he handles the oversigning will be instructive as to his ethics.

It's Feb. 16 and the major topic in the SEC blogos...

2008-02-16T13:32:00.000-05:00

It's Feb. 16 and the major topic in the SEC blogosphere is Alabama's football recruiting class. Why am I not suprised?

BestOf, how about it both our schools (UK and VU) bolt the SEC for the Big Ten? I'm tired of playing schools whose fans only care about basketball that one year a decade when they're pretty good at it.

Just to opine a little on the topic, oversigning has been happening for years and everyone in the SEC has treated it as a dirty little secret. It's absurd that the recruiting services don't discount classes on that basis, but really they're all about selling subscriptions to Alabama (or whatever) fans by saying nice things about their recruits rather than doing journalism, anyway.

I posted some thoughts on Delaney's letter back in January. I'm very double-minded about this. Viscerally I want to defend the SEC, but in reality I know that it's exactly the sort of cesspool that people like Delaney portray it as, and that I should support his efforts to clean college sports up.

I was listening to Indianapolis sports radio the other day, about the Sampson mess, and what struck me was this: IU fans are actually embarrassed. Not making the excuse that it's just jealous Illinois and Purdue fans spreading rumors, not saying everyone does it, but really embarrassed at the reputation of their school.

I want to be in a league where fans are embarrassed when their school does something wrong.

- PhilipVU94

Hell hath no fury as a Bama fan scorn. It was fun ...

2008-02-16T11:17:00.000-05:00

Hell hath no fury as a Bama fan scorn. It was fun while it lasted, and I, too, was sad to see it degrade into what it did. But this is still college football, it was bound to happen.