A Hometown Headlines newsletter                 

Which sports team do you hate the most? Which college coaches are over the hill?

(7/30) Sports Illustrated offered up a list of the most hated teams in the history of sports. None other than the 1986 Miami Hurricanes, coached by Jimmy Johnson, topped the list. Others in the top five included the 1988-89 Detroit Pistons, the 1992 Dallas Cowboys (also coached by Jimmy Johnson), the 1974-75 Philadelphia Flyers and the 1978 New York Yankees.

A book entitled Real NASCAR, White Lightning, Red Clay and Big Bill France by Daniel S. Pierce, a professor at UNC-Asheville, does a bang-up job on the history of the sport. One item of interest is that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Ralph McGill helped run NASCAR out of Atlanta. Daytona and Lakewood were the big tracks in the early days of the sport and McGill didn’t feel the drivers were the sort who should be in his city. So he wrote them right out of the town.

The Bleacher Report says there are 10 college coaches who have already won their last conference or national championship. The top five include Penn State’s Joe Paterno, Texas Tech’s Tommy Tuberville, Arizona State’s Dennis Erickson, Kansas State’s Bill Snyder and LSU’s Les Miles.

Checking out Georgia Tech’s home football schedule this year makes you wonder how they can sell any tickets. The home slate includes South Carolina State, N.C. State, Virginia, Middle Tennessee State, Duke and Miami. Only the Hurricanes should offer up any kind of challenge.

And speaking of Georgia Tech, AJC columnist Mark Bradley writes that Yellow Jacket quarterback Joshua Nesbitt may not be the best college player in the land, but he’s more valuable to his team than any other. I don’t disagree.

Don’t these people have anything else to do? A pastor in Warner Robins is passing around petition to get the nickname of the high school’s sports teams changed. He objects to the mascot - The Demons - and feels it sends a bad message. Honestly.

Well, that didn’t take long. The Cincinnati Bengals’ newest and most controversial signee, receiver Terrell Owens, showed why he may be more of a distraction than a help. Owens missed his plane and missed his first practice with the NFL club.

And finally, to no one’s surprise, the SEC finished No. 1 in a statistical survey based on NCAA championships and rankings. The conference was tops in both men’s and women’s sports.

This is Norman Arey and my most hated team is any team that Notre Dame fields.

Stock up on your Jockey underwear because it's sure to be a hot commodity soon

(7/29) Those clever folks in college football have outdone themselves this time. The Pac-10, which has exactly 10 teams, is changing its name. The reason is that the previously correctly arithmetically named league has added two new teams for the 2011 season - Colorado and Utah. The new name will be (drum roll please), The Pac-12. Damn they’re clever. No word yet on whether the Big 10 will become the Dirty Dozen, or whatever since it now has 12 members. How about The Confused Midwest?

For Utah, there was instant gratification for joining the new Pac-12. Says head coach Kyle Whittingham: "Within seven to ten days of the announcement, we had six or seven commits that in all honesty we would not have gotten had we not had the invite to the Pac-10."

Another bit of shocking sports news is that racy, high risk-taking quarterback Tim Tebow, late of Florida fame and now a Denver Bronco, has signed an endorsement deal with Jockey underwear. Come on Tim, show us a little skin.

My favorite runner is a man named Sarah who recently ran and finished the San Francisco half-marathon. Sarah drank one beer every mile during the 13-mile event, finishing in a little over five hours. He threw up twice and blacked out for two miles. Man, doesn’t that sound like great fun?

If you’re not paying attention, tiny Toledo is stepping up to play big-time football. The Rockets have already played such powers as Colorado, Purdue, Pittsburgh and Syracuse, and open against Arizona this season. The Miami Hurricanes will come visiting in 2015. This gives rise to the expression Holy Toledo!

More Lane Kiffin garbage has been cleaned up in Knoxville. Prize 2009 Tennessee recruit, running back Bryce Brown, has left Derek Dooley’s Vol football program. Fittingly, he did it by text message.

The gutsiest (is that a word?) team in the NFL has got to be the Cincinnati Bengals. What other team would take the chance of signing Terrell (T.O) Owens to the same roster that already contains Chad Ochocinco?

And finally, Rivals.com says the city of Atlanta may help N.C. State basketball coach Sidney Lowe keep his job. Lowe, who has struggled since he arrived in Raleigh, has one of the top five recruiting classes, which includes two Atlanta -area products - Ryan Harrow and Lorenzo Brown. Of course it could be a curse. If Lowe doesn’t win big with this class, he probably will be fired.

This is Norman Arey on my way out to buy some Jockey underwear.

Hokies are underdogs to Boise; Masoli headed to Ole Miss? No worry for Longhorns

(7/28) And what’s a good sports commentary without a mention of Southern Cal head football coach Lane Kiffin? The NFL’s Tennessee Titans have filed suit against USC and its head coach for poaching one of its assistant coaches without due process and, I guess, courtesy. According to the suit, Kiffin "maliciously" lured away assistant Kennedy Pola a week before the NFL training camp opened.

According to FoxSports.com, the two college football coaches in the country who will most likely end up in the National Football League include Jim Harbaugh of Stanford and Kirk Ferentz at Iowa.

In order to secure a better television contract, the Pac-10 has signaled that it is ready to be more flexible in the starting times for league games. Being in the Pacific time zone, the conference games often start past prime time. Look for seeing more of Southern Cal, UCLA and Oregon in the future without staying up past midnight.

This may be just what Virginia Tech needed. The odds makers in Las Vegas have installed top-five-ranked Boise State as a three-point favorite over the Hokies for their Labor Day weekend match up. Says VT quarterback Tyrod Taylor, "We’re the underdogs and you just keep that in mind. It just gives us more fuel for the fire."

Word is that Texas football fans shouldn’t be worried about losing Colt McCoy and the Longhorns starting Garrett Gilbert for the first time. Not only is Gilbert at ease and even a bit cocky, he’s got a much better arm than McCoy.

Heee’s back. This guy just won’t go away. Maurice Clarett, who led Ohio State to the mythical national college football championship in 2002, is back in the classroom in Columbus. Clarett was just released from prison after serving more than three years for robbery and carrying a weapon. Obviously he has no more eligibility left.

I was truly surprised that Ole Miss is entertaining the possibility of bringing in former Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli to play for the Rebels. The Ducks kicked Masoli out of school for several misadventures with the law. Ole Miss is in a desperate situation since backup QB Raymond Cotton decided to leave Oxford. Masoli has completed his undergraduate studies and would be able to play immediately. Masoli started for Oregon and was mentioned as a possible Heisman candidate before his troubles.

This is Norman Arey wondering how a bastion of academic integrity such as Mississippi would entertain the thought of bringing in such a player.

Is the ACC trying too hard with its super-ambitious early season match-ups?

(7/27) Pity the ACC. The conference is so busy trying to prove it doesn’t have an inferiority complex in college football, methinks they protest too much. The league has dug itself into a hole. It’s bragging about the four big games it has scheduled in the first two weeks of the season, taking on LSU, Oklahoma, Ohio State and Boise State, but what if they’re 0-4 at the end of the day. This is a no-win situation unless it goes 4-0. Do you like those odds?

Anybody checking out the kind of year Spain is having in the world of sports? Let’s see, Rafael Nadal won the men’s Wimbledon title, Alberto Contador won the Tour de France, and The Spanish men took home the World Cup. Fernando Alonso won two Formula One titles and Pao Gasol helped the Lakers win the NBA. Not bad for one country.

The Bleacher Report ran its list of 10 college teams who are still at least one year away from success. The list included three ACC teams - Miami, Florida State and Virginia Tech - as well as Notre Dame, Florida, South Florida, LSU, Boise State, Oklahoma and Nebraska.

USA Today asks which athlete in history had the most disappointing finish to his career, I assume because of Lance Armastrong’s 23rd finish in his last Tour de France. Their nominations included Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali and Johnny Unitas.

Here’s something I didn’t know about George Steinbrenner, who died July 13. His first job was as assistant coach to Woody Hayes at Ohio State in 1954 and then he spent three years at Northwestern under Lou Saban.

During the ACC media days, Florida State edged out Clemson in the voting to win the Atlantic Division while Virginia Tech beat out Miami to be favored in the Coastal Division. Georgia Tech was voted No. 3 in its group. The Hokies easily outdistanced the Seminoles to win the overall championship while the Hurricanes finished third and the Jackets fourth. Player of the Year was judged to be FSU quarterback Christian Ponder. Tech’s Joshua Nesbitt was sixth on the list.

Sad to see that Philadelphia Eagle quarterback Michael Vick has been officially cleared by the NFL to play this year after the league investigated a shooting following Vick’s birthday party this summer. Vick will make $5.6 million.

This is Norman Arey and I’m beginning to like Georgia Tech to defend its ACC title.

Kiffin is up for Man of the Year in Tennessee; ACC kicks off its season

(7/26) The SEC had its media days in Alabama last week and now it’s the ACC’s turn. The conference is meeting in Greensboro N.C. for two days with all 12 teams’ coaches and two players each in attendance. The conference is quite ambitious early in the season, playing in at least four spotlight games and we should have some idea of who’s who in the venerable league.

-LSU plays North Carolina in Atlanta on Sept. 4 at the same time that Virginia Tech opens against top-five ranked Boise State in Washington, D.C.

-The next weekend, Miami travels to play No. 2 pre-season ranked Ohio State while Florida State goes to Oklahoma.

-There are two new coaches in the ACC this year and for the first time in say 100 years, Bobby Bowden won’t be leading FSU. Virginia also has a new head coach as Al Groh, who formerly was the head man in Charlottesville, is now the defensive coordinator at defending champion Georgia Tech.

-Much has been written and said about Miami renewing its football series with Notre Dame. The two play each other three times in the next six seasons. At one time, it was a big deal with the Catholics vs. The Convicts but neither team has distinguished itself this decade and I don’t see it as a big deal.

Former Tennessee and now Southern Cal coach Lane Kiffin is continuing to win friends and influence people in the Volunteer state. Kiffin hired the NFL’s Tennessee Titans’ assistant coach Kennedy Pola over the weekend but it seems he forgot to ask, or even tell, Titans’ coach Jeff Fisher about his plans. Fisher is hot.

And speaking of Kiffin, how secure can he be with Pat Haden taking over as athletics director in Los Angeles? Kiffin is a brash, obnoxious loudmouth who’s never failed to have an opinion on anything while Haden is quiet, conservative and straight-laced. Is L.A. big enough for both men?

You can’t say Clemson quarterback Kyle Parker didn’t put his money where his mouth is. The first round draft choice of the Colorado Rockies passed up a total package worth between $1-2 million to play another year of college football.

Rivals.com had an interesting piece on college football hiring and firing mistakes. The hiring mistakes are easy from Georgia’s Ray Goff to Alabama’s Mike DuBose to LSU’s Curly Hallman to Notre Dame’s Gerry Faust (and Ty Willingham and Charlie Weiss) to Oklahoma’s John Blake. But how about the firing mistakes? The worst, in my opinion was Southern Miss getting rid of Jeff Bower. Other miscues include Glen Mason at Minnesota, David Cutcliffe at Ole Miss and R.C. Slocum at Texas A&M.

This is Norman Arey and I’d take the money and run if I were Kyle Parker.

Tiger's misbehavior hasn't cost him that much, at least in dollars.

(7/23) I don’t know who else is in line for an NCAA investigation now that it seems there’s a new school mentioned every day as having agents interfere with their players. Georgia is the latest, behind Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina.

It’s time for the annual composite rankings in college football based on seven different pre-season magazines’ polls. The top five were Alabama, Ohio State, Boise State, Florida and Oklahoma. Georgia Tech came in 19th and Georgia was ranked No. 22.

Clemson coaches and fans were ecstatic to learn that quarterback Kyle Parker will forgo baseball, at least for one season, to return for his sophomore year with the football team. Parker, the first player in history to throw for 20 touchdowns and hit 20 home runs in the same year, was drafted No. 26 by the Colorado Rockies but decided to put baseball off until after football season.

Misbehavin’ just ain’t that expensive. Despite all of his off-the-course problems, golfer Tiger Woods is still No. 1 on Sports Illustrated’s top earning American athletes list, and not by just a little, either. Woods’ earnings are $90 million, $30 million more than second place Phil Mickelson. Others in the top five included boxer Floyd Mayweather, the NBA’s LeBron James and the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez. The top earner in the NFL was Peyton Manning, No. 9 on the list.

It makes absolutely no difference to me if Alex Rodriguez owns more than 600 home runs when this year is over. The Yankees’ slugger has 598 as of Thursday night but he will never be held in the same light as the great Willie Mays (660), Hank Aaron (755) or Babe Ruth (714). That’s just the way it is.

Now here’s the way to figure exactly who’s worth what. The Bleacher Report came up with a list of the most productive quarterbacks in the NFL by what they’re being paid. The Miami Dolphins’ Chad Henne produced the most per dollar, followed by the Cowboys’ Tony Romo, the Packers’ Aaron Rogers. Kyle Orton of the Broncos and the Ravens’ Joe Flacco.

The Internet report also picked Georgia Tech quarterback Joshua (Don’t call me Josh) Nesbitt as being most in need of a good receiver. The Yellow Jackets’ receivers corps features one junior, two sophomores and one freshman.

Forbes magazine says that Manchester United Soccer Club in England is the most valuable sports franchise in the world, worth $1.84 billion. The top five included, in order, the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, Washington Redskins and the New England Patriots.

This is Norman Arey and I hope Nesbitt can find him a receiver.

It's about time for Southern Cal; are we going to see A.J. Green in Bulldog backfield?

(7/22) My only question for Southern Cal’s athletics department’s decision to replace athletics director Mike Garrett is - what took you so long? USC hired former player and Rhodes Scholar Pat Haden to take over its troubled department. It also made the decision to return its copy of the Heisman Trophy won by Reggie Bush to the Heisman committee. Great decisions but maybe a little late.

The NCAA’s crackdown on agents contacting players currently in school has now stretched from North Carolina to South Carolina to Florida to Alabama. Crimson Tide defensive end Marcell Dareus is the object of the investigation and prompted head coach Nick Saban to say that maybe it was time to kick the NFL scouts off campus.

Maybe folks just don’t got any money. Despite spectacular finishes, crashes, feuds and everything a car racing fan could hope for, the attendance at NASCAR continues to fall. After a high-water mark of 4.7 million in attendance in 2005, the figures have fallen every year since and this season is projected to attract 3.6 million.

Let’s think of what some of the topics of discussion might be at the SEC annual media days, which began in mid-week. At Georgia, Damon Evans’ affair; at Tennessee, a barroom brawl; at LSU, player defections and suspensions; at Vanderbilt, their head coach suddenly resigned; and finally, the above-mentioned NCAA investigations. Other than those points, it’s been a quiet off-season for the squeaky-clean league.

Nobody seems to know whether to take Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo seriously when the Bulldog coach said he was mulling over using receiver-extraordinare A.J. Green in the backfield to take direct snaps from the center. Bobo said he’d call the formation the ‘Wild Dawg.’

A Harris poll says that golfer Tiger Woods is no longer America’s favorite male sports star but he’s tied for it. The Lakers’ Kobe Bryant is now sharing that distinction while Derek Jeter is third and Brett Favre fourth. For the women, tennis star sisters Serena and Venus Williams were first and second while Indy driver Danica Patrick was third. No word on where Damon Evans finished in the poll.

And finally, just when we thought that the quarterback question was settled at Tennessee and Matt Simms would be taking the first snap this fall, it seems nobody bothered to check with head coach Derek Dooley. Freshman Tyler Bray was impressive in the spring game and Dooley hasn’t named a starter, or a leader at the spot for that matter.

This is Norman Arey and I’d love to see A.J. Green in the Bulldog backfield.

How much would you pay NOT to live in New Jersey for 17 years?

(7/21) It’s nice to know that the NCAA does have a threshold for "I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore" as far as agent contact with college players. It’s an old problem and the sports governing body has given it a wink for years.

Now the NCAA is investing North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida for illegal agent contact with players. If you don’t think it’s serious, talk to Southern Cal. The real question here is, why aren’t the agent held accountable as well?

The answer to the question if there is enough money in the world to live in Newark, N.J., for the next 17 years is unequivocally yes! Go figure why former Atlanta Thrasher high-scoring hockey person Ilya Kovalchuk, 27, turned down a 12-year deal from Atlanta for $101 million to sign with New Jersey for 17 years and a mere $102 million. Makes no sense to me.

ForSports rated the top SEC coaches and their chances to win this season. The top six, in order, are Alabama’s Nick Saban, Florida’s Urban Meyer, Arkansas’ Bobby Petrino, Georgia’s Mark Richt, LSU’s Les Miles, and South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier. My personal opinion, Miles and Petrino are out of their league.

The same site listed its top five college offenses for the upcoming season, which I might add I’d argue with all day long. Fox’s top five are, in order, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Boise State, Virginia Tech and Alabama.

One of the NFL’s top writers, Adam Schein, writes that the Minnesota Vikings’ Brett Favre is alienating everyone in the NFL with his annual indecision. I’m inclined to agree.

Georgia basketball coach Mark Fox isn’t just impressing folks locally. There are at least two stories on the Bulldog mentor on national wire services after his latest commitments from in-state players. Fox, formerly the head guy at Nevada, first convinced Mr. Georgia Basketball Marcus Thornton to come to Athens and then pulled off a huge surprise by securing the promise of No. 13 nationally ranked Kentavious Caldwell. The football-only culture at Georgia could be changing.

The top newcomers in the SEC this year writes Josh Kendall will be running back Marcus Lattimore at South Carolina, cornerback DeMarcus Milliner at Alabama, Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray, Auburn running back Michael Dyer and defensive tackle Shariff Floyd of Florida.

And finally, the seventh annual SEC coaches pre-season all league team was announced and the starting offensive backfield included Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett, Alabama tailback Mark Ingram and Kentucky tailback Derrick Locke. Georgia placed receiver A.J. Green and offensive lineman Clint Boling on the first team.

This is Norman Arey and I’m glad I don’t live in New Jersey.

His Airness has the final say; you've got to love Tech coach Paul Johnson's approach

(7/20) I couldn’t have said it better myself. No less an authority than His Airness Himself said this about LeBron James’ defection to the Miami Heat. "There’s no way I would have ever called up Larry (Bird), called up Magic (Johnson) and said, ‘Hey, look, let’s get together and all play on one team. In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys.’"

Georgia’s hiring of basketball coach Mark Fox is beginning to look better and better as time passes. Fox signed Kentavious Caldwell, a 6-foot-6 second guard out of Greenville High. Caldwell was ranked in the top 15 players in the nation in several recruiting services.

This was on the Internet but I can’t find out where it came from, thus I can’t attribute it other than to say it wasn’t my own. Do you hate the SEC? The SEC has become the New York Yankees, LeBron James, it’s Duke basketball, it’s the Dallas Cowboys. It’s the conference with the best players, the best coaches, the most passionate fans, the most money to throw around. In other words, it’s the conference everyone outside the SEC loves to hate.

Boy, the NCAA has Carolina on its mind. The college sports governing body has made it official that it’s investigating improper behavior with the football programs at both North Carolina and South Carolina. My only thought is, if those two are cheating, how come their teams aren’t any better?

Are we to believe that with the arrival of Brian Kelly in South Bend, that there’s a new sheriff in town watching over Notre Dame football? Not a great start, Brian. The bad news is that 11 Irish athletes were arrested on alcohol-related charges. The good news is that only eight of them were football players.

Georgia Tech football coach Paul Johnson did an entertaining interview with a sports publication out of the Triangle Area in North Carolina called the ACC Sports Journal. I’m warming up to Johnson because he doesn’t take any, well, crap. On running his option offense and the many times he’s criticized about it, he says, "I’ve realize that as I’ve gotten older, that you’re never going to convince some people."

And on the criticism that he can’t win bowl games with Tech, he says, "The big mantra now is we can’t win bowl games because the opponents get extra time to prepare. I want to say, ‘What about the three bowl games you lost in a row before I got here? Was that because of extra time? And those weren’t the Orange Bowl and the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. I got a news flash for you. If you’re playing in the Orange Bowl, you’re playing against a good team. You’re not getting the s*** kicked out of you by Fresno in Boise.’

Amen, tell it all, Paul.

This is Norman Arey, becoming a huge fan of the option offense.

 

Could Ole Miss persuade William Faulkner to come back as its mascot?

(7/19) Be sure and go to besttennistown.com and vote for Rome as the Best Tennis Town in America. Rome is among nine other cities up for the title, which carries a $100,000 prize. The top three finalists will be announced July 28 and the winner will be crowned during the U.S. Open in September in New York. Be sure to vote quickly.

Jeremiah Masoli, the former Oregon quarterback who was kicked out of school, tried to enroll at the University of Hawaii but the school said no thanks. Masoli had been charged with burglary as well as other offenses. . . Meanwhile in South Bend, Nate Montana, son of Joe, was arrested on charges of underage drinking. Montana is the backup quarterback on the Irish football team.

Ole Miss retired its Colonel Reb mascot several years ago and has been searching diligently for a replacement mascot. The choice has been narrowed down to five - A horse, bear, lion, land shark and Hotty & Toddy. (Don’t ask). Here’s hoping for a horse, bear or lion.

USA Today ran a list of its top 10 football stadiums in which to watch a game. The list included the University of Washington, Penn State, Wisconsin, Colorado, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Nebraska, Texas, Ole Miss and Tennessee.

The Damon Evans affair just keeps on keeping on. The University of Georgia says it will reprint about 14,000 football media guides, removing all references about Evans as the athletics director. The cost of the redo will be approximately $50,000.

In keeping with his already low profile, LeBron James is reportedly ready to purchase the most expensive house in Coral Gables. For a mere $49.5 million, the Miami Heat’s newest player will have eight bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, 880 feet of waterfront, a master suite with a full gym, a private guest suite with its own tennis court on an acre of land, a 150-foot dock and taxes of about $1 million per year. Utilities run only $150,000 annually.

Here’s your factoid of the day. Only 27 left-handed quarterbacks ever have played in the NFL. I guess that’s relevant right now because the Denver Broncos’ Tim Tebow is a southpaw. The top lefties ever in the league were, according to The Bleacher Report, include Michael Vick, Mark Brunell, Boomer Esiason, Kenny Stabler and Steve Young.

Carl Edward’s NASCAR feud with Brad Keselowski got ugly again over the weekend as Edward wrecked his nemesis again -- the last time a spectacular crash in Atlanta. This one at the track in Madison, Ill., prompted Keselowski’s father, Bob, to vow vengeance by saying, "He ain’t going to kill my boy."

This is Norman Arey and another mascot choice for Ole Miss might be a stuffed replica of William Faulkner.

Six college coaches could reach big plateau; the big house gets even bigger

(7/16) Realizing that the past three winners of the Heisman Trophy have been sophomores, here’s Rivals.com’s short list of four two-year guys would could take it this year. They include, in no particular order, Virginia Tech tailback Ryan Williams, Pitt runner Dion Lewis, Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck and Oregon running back LaMichael James.

Hey, don’t go home mad, but it’s OK to go home.. Backup, backup Georgia tailback Dontavious Jackson, arrested over the weekend for an alcohol related incident, will transfer after he finishes his summer school courses.

I was truly sorry to see one of the SEC’s top coaches, Bobby Johnson of Vanderbilt, announce his retirement this week. Johnson is one of the most solid coaches in the country and gave everything he had to the Nashville cause. Vandy did close the gap on the other teams in the league but it took its toll on Johnson in the process.

The Sporting News put forth a trio of crazy replacement suggestions for the Commodores if interim coach Robbie Caldwell doesn’t work out. First would be John L. Smith, just for fun. Second, the Vandy brass should give Terry Bowden serious consideration. And last but not least, how about former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach? Come on, somebody’s gonna hire him.

The biggest football stadium in the country once again is in Ann Arbor. Michigan’s Big House, after more than $225 million in renovations, took over that distinction from Penn State. The Wolverine battle field now seats 109,901.

Congratulations go out to Boise State basketball player La’Shard Anderson, who was arrested at a house party for resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. I didn’t realize that there was anything fun to do in Boise that might get you arrested.

If you enjoy golf, you’ve got to be loving the British Open. After the first round, a 21-year-old from Northern Ireland led the tourney with a record-typing 63, American bad boy John Daly shot an amazing 66 and Tiger Woods was only one stroke behind Daly with a 67. What’s not to like?

There are six coaches at major college football programs who could post their 100th career win this season. Indiana’s Bill Lynch and Florida’s Urban Meyer need five wins to reach the plateau. Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz needs seven, Wake Forest’s Jim Grobe needs eight, N.C. State’s Tom O’Brien needs nine and Georgia’s Mark Richt needs an even 10.

This is Norman Arey and I’ll bet Meyer and Ferentz reach the 100 mark.

 

Want to know the secret of having a great football season? Schedule cup cakes

(7/15) Now here’s a list that’s sure to spark debate. FoxSports.com listed its 10 top all-time NFL coaches. It’s a no-brainer, right? Vince Lombardi’s No. 1. Wrong. Lombardi came in second to Paul Brown. These two were followed by George Halas, Tom Landry, Curly Lambeau, Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, Don Shula, Bill Belichick and Joe Gibbs.

In the news not worth reporting department, a woman reported Ben Roethlisberger for urinating on a golf course during play, Alex Rodriguez has landed a small role in an upcoming movie and a man was arrested for DUI in Cleveland and blamed it on LeBron James for ditching Cleveland for Miami.

I agree that Georgia junior receiver A.J. Green is an excellent catcher of passes but is he, as the AJC’s Mark Bradley claims, the best offensive performer for the Bulldogs since Herschel Walker? And remember, that would include David Green, Matt Stafford and Knoshawn Moreno.

Remember Robert Marve, who started 11 games for Miami during the 2008 season and was eventually benched because of missing classes? Marve transferred to Purdue and set out last season but is expected to be the starter for the Boilermakers when they open against Notre Dame in September.

How big will the 2011 Big 10 first-ever championship game be? Chicago’s Soldier Field, which planned on making a bid to host the game, is being deemed too small with a capacity of 61,500.

I don’t know how good the Georgia Tech basketball team will be this year but I do know that the Yellow Jackets will be tall. Paul Hewitt just signed 6-foot-10 Nate Hicks out of Panama City to fit into a lineup that already includes 6-11 Daniel Miller and 7-0 Brad Sheehan.

Looking at Georgia Tech’s football schedule for this fall, one game that may have escaped your eye is the Yellow Jackets’ date with Middle Tennessee State Oct. 16. Last year, the Blue Raiders became the first team in The Sun Belt to win 10 games in a season and three of those were over Maryland, Southern Miss and Memphis. In other words, this isn’t a push-over for Tech.

And finally, if you really want to know why the Big XII and the SEC seem so dominate in college football, the answer is that both league fill their out-league schedules with cup cakes. Only 25 percent of the Big XII’s out-of-conference games are against BCS foes while the SEC sports only a 33 percent mark.

This is Norman Arey and Shula and Lombardi head my list of great NFL coaches.

Something's got to give: Georgia's wearing out the Athens police blotter

(7/14) The Bleacher Report ran a list of its 10 best picks to go 12-0 in college football and the publication came up with a couple of surprises. It was also careful to point out that this does not mean these teams are the best of will win the mythical national title, but their schedule and away games are such that they could run the table. They were Alabama, Auburn, Navy, Texas, Nebraska, Virginia Tech, Middle Tennessee State, Houston, Boise State and TCU.

In the pre-season NFL grading charts for senior college players, it looks as if its going to be a battle between quarterbacks Christian Ponder of Florida State and Washington’s Jake Locker for the top spot. Locker is a more prototypical pro quarterback with a strong arm, physical skills and running ability. Ponder is smaller but very football smart and completed 68 percent of his passes last season.

And then there were three. Marshall Plumlee verbally committed to Duke over the weekend, joining his brothers Miles and Mason on the Blue Devil basketball team. Marshall is 7-feet-0 while Miles and Mason are 6-feet-10 each. The brothers are spaced a year apart.

Tiger Woods found out that there’s nowhere to hide. Despite the fact that Woods has won the last two British Opens played at St. Andrews in Scotland, 16 of the 34 questions he fielded during a pre-tournament press conference this week had to do with his personal life rather than his golf game.

The two teams that seem to be getting an inordinate amount of pre-season college football love are Arkansas and Auburn. I’m not sure why either deserves it but I guess we’ll see as the season moves along.

And may I expand on what I had to say yesterday about Georgia’s latest two arrests, bringing the Bulldogs’ total to seven this off-season? Wouldn’t you think that Dontavious Jackson and Tavarres King might just think along these lines: Hey, with our athletics director got sacked for DUI and messing around, so just maybe we should kind of take it easy for the rest of the summer and let things settle here in Athens? Are these people just plain stupid? At least wait until the season starts.

Let’s back up for a second. I just typed "seven arrests" this year. What's going on down there in Bulldog territory? Who can you blame this on? Head coach Mark Richt has been firmly established in our minds as a good person but somebody has to say NO when you’re bringing in suspect youths. This is pure and simple an abomination of embarrassment for the university. Something’s got to give.

This is Norman Arey and I say blame it all on Damon Evans and start over again.

Sometimes it might be better just to keep your mouth tightly closed

(7/13) I present this statement by sports announcer Chris Fowler following the World Cup finals in South Africa without comment or any attempt at anaylsis. Fowler said, "You will not come away from this country without being moved and changed and inspired if you open your hearts to it because, after all, as human beings, if you go back far enough to our roots, we are all African."

Another comment that deserves no comment: After Cleveland Cavalier owner Dan Gilbert unleashed a verbal whipping to former Cav player LeBron James, the Rev. Jesse Jackson felt impelled to make this comment: "He speaks as an owner of LeBron and not the owner of the Cavaliers. His feeling of betrayal personify a slave master mentality. He sees LeBron as a runaway slave."

Cynical reader Joey Mac wonders about the punishments handed out to two Georgia players after an alcohol-related incident over the weekend. Backup tailback Dontavious Jackson will be required to sit out the first six games of the season. Starting split end Tavarres Jackson will miss at least the Sept. 4 opener against those giant-killers from Louisiana-Fafayette.

Just asking but if Damon Evans had been athletics director at Georgia Tech instead of Georgia, would the red panties have been gold?

David Jones, a writer for Florida Today, ran a list of his top 10 young coaches in college football. The top five, in order, were Houston’s Kevin Sumlin, Stanford’s Jim Harbaugh, South Florida’s Skip Holtz, Butch Jones at Cincinnati and Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen.

ESPN will announce that over-exposed sideline reporter Erin Andrews will be back as part of an expanded GameDay show during the college season. Be still my heart.

I’m not trying to put words in your mouth but would most agree that Georgia’s golden years were 1980-83 when Herschel Walker was running wild and the Bulldogs won the national championship in ‘80? Vince Dooley’s record during that time frame was 43-4-1. OK, then, how about Georgia Tech? USA Today says the Yellow Jackets golden years spanned three seasons - from 1951-53. The Ramblin’ Wreck went 17-1-1 in the SEC, shared one national championship and finished in the top 10 all three seasons.

And finally, a question. With the decision by USA Today and the college coaches poll not to rank Southern Cal this season, what will this mean for the all-important RPI standings of other teams who play the Trojans? If they beat USC, is that good? If they lose, is that bad?

This is Norman Arey and I’m not saying there’s a double standard on Mark Richt’s football team.

It's obvious that Florida and South Carolina are falling behind in the SEC East

(7/12) When Georgia football players Dontavious Jackson and Tavarres King were arrested Saturday on alcohol- related charges, it proved that the Bulldog players aren’t ready for learning any object lessons. In less than three days after Georgia coach Mark Richt said he hoped his players would learn from the June 30 DUI arrest of athletics director Damon Evans, it obviously didn’t take. "I think the players are all very conscious of what happened and the ramifications of it, and so hopefully it’ll strike a chord."

The trouble in Athens followed on the heels of more than a handful of Tennessee football players arrested after a brawl at a night spot. One of the players was Da’Rick Rogers, a receiver from Calhoun. What all this means is that Florida and South Carolina had better get busy so they can keep up in the SEC East.

Looking at schedules for this college football season, there are more than a few odd ones. Miami, picked to take a giant step forward, may be scheduling itself out of the national rankings. The ‘Canes play at Ohio State, then travel to Pittsburgh and then to Clemson. Tough. Stanford hosts Wake Forest, then travels to Notre Dame and Oregon before returning home to meet Southern Cal. How about this one? Alabama plays both Duke and Georgia State. And finally, West Virginia takes on UNLV, LSU, Coastal Carolina and Marshall. Strange.

Because of some questions arising out of a birthday party where a man was shot, Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback Michael Vick has been prohibited from traveling out of the state of Pennsylvania. That might be tough once the NFL season starts.

Not that I’m counting but there are 52 days until the college football season kicks off.

Who’ll be the youngest quarterback to receive Heisman Trophy attention this year? I think it will be Andrew Luck of Stanford, who is a rising sophomore.

The quarterback who’s flying under the radar this season may be N.C. State’s Russell Wilson. Wilson’s touchdown-to-interception radio over the past two seasons for the Wolfpack is 48-12. That’s amazing.

And finally, it looks as if North Carolina may have finally landed the quarterback they’ve been looking for since Butch Davis arrived on campus. Marquise Williams, the second best quarterback in the Tar Heel state next to Georgia commitment Christian Lemay, was considered the best quarterback remaining in the country until he committed over the weekend.

This is Norman Arey and I don’t think Michael Vick should be allowed out of his yard.


One prognosticator says Georgia will be in the top three surprise teams in College Football

(7/9) You can’t really blame them, but the Tennessee athletic officials turned down an opportunity to meet Southern Cal in the Georgia Dome next year. It would be a chance for the Vols to get revenge on USC coach Lane Kiffin, who left them at the altar last season. UT athletics director Mike Hamilton said the fact that the Vols are already playing North Carolina and Cincinnati made the scheduling impossible.

And speaking of Southern Cal, this will be an unranked year for the Trojans, at least in the USA Today Coaches football poll. Because USC is on major probation, the poll will not rank them this season.

Strange but true in the college football recruiting world. Defensive back Brandon Phelps of Damascus High had scholarships offers in his pocket from Ohio State, LSU and Alabama. So he’s decided to go to Virginia, and I’m not making that up.

Since this whole conference realignment fiasco has to do with television and exposure and money - period, it’s interesting to note that the Pac-10 added the TV markets of Utah and Colorado. Those are the 31st largest market and the 16th largest markets in the country respectively.

Sad news comes that former North Carolina legendary basketball coach Dean Smith is suffering from major memory loss. The national icon is said to have good days and then others when he doesn’t recognize people.

And now, quoting from my indispensable Phil Steele’s 2010 College Football preview magazine, the prognosticator picks his top surprise teams for this fall. His top five include Oklahoma, Southern Cal, Georgia, Notre Dame and Auburn. His second five are Miami, West Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas and Wisconsin. South Carolina came in No. 11.

The college football expert isn’t that crazy about Georgia Tech, and for good reason. The Yellow Jackets, who return 14 starters, must play Clemson, Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Georgia on the road and Miami at home. Still, they could surprise again and not finish fourth in the Coastal Division of the ACC as Steele predicts.

And finally, at least eight of North Carolina’s defensive starters have been mentioned as high round draft picks for the NFL draft in 2011. We’ll have to wait and see about the offense, but the defense will be nasty.

This is Norman Arey and I wish Tennessee would play Southern Cal - and win.

Congratulations to Georgia President Michael Adams' handling of the Damon Evans affair

(7/8) This thing with LeBron James has gotten way out of hand. I just read something that makes me ill. The NBA star will announce on live TV Thursday night, during a one-hour long ESPN special, what he plans on doing about free agency. An Hour Long? Something’s wrong with this country.

Like father, like son. Austin Rivers, son of Boston Celtics’ coach Doc Rivers, led the U.S. Under-18 team to the championship by averaging better than 20 points per game. Austin is a senior-to-be in high school.

Reports say that fired Texas Tech coach Mike Leach is anxious to get back into college coaching and that he may be on the sidelines somewhere as early as 2011. Leach is a brilliant football mind and somebody would be in the instant-winner category if they would take the chance.

The pre-season question asked about Maryland is whether the Terps will be able to rebound from last year’s abysmal 2-10 season. Check out their schedule. The first five games include Navy, Morgan State, West Virginia, Florida International and Duke. I see four wins there. Yes, Ralph Friedgen will survive to fight another day.

Georgia highly rated quarterback recruiting commitment Christian LeMay has been suspended from his Butler High School in North Carolina for 30 days because of violating rules (yeah, not very specific). His father claims that it won’t affect his son’s enrolling at Georgia in 2011. If an appeal doesn’t work out, LeMay would enroll in a private school to finish the 12th grade.

Just a short note on Georgia president Michael Adams’ handling of the Damon Evans’ affair. Superb!

And to prove that there is no shortage of stupid people in the world, reports are that O.J. Simpson will marry a woman he has never met in person, but she has been a pen pal since he ended up in jail. Reportedly the blond sent him a picture and he just flipped for her. I’m sure her parents are proud.

And finally, I purchased my pre-season college football magazines this week. After perusing them, I find that nobody went out on a limb to pick a true dark horse. I mean, I didn’t expect anybody to choose, say, Baylor to win the mythical national title, but it was the same list of suspects from Alabama to Southern Cal to Texas. Remember, last year Sports Illustrated ran a front page picture of Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead asking if this was the year the Rebels might break through? Well, they didn’t, of course, but it was fun to see somebody step out.

This is Norman Arey and I’d hire Mike Leach

I can't tell you who will win the Heisman this year, but I can tell you who won't

(7/7) Here’s a rumor I hope is true. There are several reports that the Atlanta Hawks are in the hunt to sign free-agent Shaq O’Neal. Shaq’s best basketball days are behind him, but it would at least let the rest of the basketball world know that there is life in Atlanta.

I’ve got a serious question. When did Texas become America’s Team? When did the Longhorns supplant Notre Dame and Oklahoma and Southern Cal and Florida as the nation’s darling. How come Texas is running the college show right now? It isn’t like the ‘Horns are a perennial champion. They haven’t given us a Tim Tebow or a even a Matt Leinart or a Mark Ingram. Vince Young was the last Longhorn with any credentials. So where does this sudden power come from? Who anointed Mack Brown the Pope and DeLoss Dodds the world’s greatest athletics director?

With the Heisman Watch almost ready to burst on the college football scene, there’s almost a sure bet on who won’t win it. Alabama running back Mark Ingram will not be there in December accepting the trophy. There’s hasn’t been a repeat winner since Ohio State’s Archie Griffin won back-to-back trophies in the ‘70s. There probably should have been a repeat winner with Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, but it didn’t happen.

Some predicted it and others scoffed at the idea that Tiger Woods might be done as golf’s reigning czar. Woods played in a pro-am this week in Ireland in a warm up for the British Open and shot a seven-over-par 79. Since his well documented marital problems, Woods hasn’t been a factor.

For all the Orange Bowl enthusiasts (remember, Georgia Tech almost played there last year), USA Today predicts that Virginia Tech will be the ACC champ and take on Pitt, the Big East title winner in Miami next January.

Georgia Tech got its ninth football commitment for next season over the weekend as Pepperell High School lineman Kyle Harris pledged to play with the Yellow Jackets. Harris is 6-foot-3, 275 pounds.

And speaking of football recruiting, will the Damon Evans fiasco in any way affect recruiting for the Bulldogs? No.

And finally, because we’re in the middle of the Dog Days of Summer in sports, Rivals.Com offered up a list of its Top 10 college basketball coaches who enter this season on the hot seat. The interesting ones included John Pelphrey at Arkansas, Georgia Tech’s Paul Hewitt, Sidney Lowe at N.C. State and Illinois’ Bruce Weber.

This is Norman Arey and I’m beginning to think Tiger Woods is done.


Hey LeBron, the New York deal is basically one that you can't refuse

(7/6) The New York Knicks pulled out all the stops. The NBA team hired actors James Galdofini and Edie Falco in their roles of Tony and Carmello Soprano in the TV series The Sopranos to star in a recruiting video because free agent LeBron James was a huge fan of the show. In the video, the former Sopranos’ stars are charged with finding James a place to stay and they come up with the perfect home - Madison Square Garden. Other famous folks appearing in the video included former Knicks’ Willis Reed and Earl Monroe, NHL star Mark Messier, ex-Yankee star Reggie Jackson, former mayor Rudy Guiliani and comedian Chris Rock. Hey LeBron, for your safety, you can’t refuse the Sopranos.

One of the worst kept secrets ever was made public Monday morning when the University of Georgia voted to pay off disgraced athletics director Damon Evans with a separation package of 3 months salary (about $137,000) and a previously-earned longevity bonus of $100,000. Evans was arrested last week for Driving Under The Influence with a woman in the car who wasn’t his wife.

So now the guessing game can begin as to whom will be hired as a replacement. The odds on favorite seems to be assistant athletics director Carla Williams, who received her PhD from Florida State, worked as an assistant AD at Vanderbilt and came to Georgia in that capacity in 2004. My personal favorite would be Florida associate athletics director Greg McGarity, who is a Bulldog grad, an Athens native, and was schooled by Dan Magill as well as others, and is extremely bright and is the No. 2 guy in Gainesville.

And by the way, a story in the Tennesseean Newspaper suggested that Georgia football coach Mark Richt may be much less secure now that Evans is gone. Evans was a strong Richt backer and a buffer between the powers in Athens and the coach. Sorry, I think that story is bogus.

With Rafael Nadal winning this year’s Wimbledon in straight sets, it’s interesting to note that an American male player hasn’t taken home the coveted trophy since Pete Sampras did it in 2000.

The good news is that the Atlanta Hawks made a big move during the first week of NBA free agency. The bad news is that they chose to re-sign Joe Johnson in a six-year contract worth the maximum salary of $120 million. Atlanta won 53 games last season. Does anybody out there believe that by re-signing Johnson, it will enable them to win even one more game? Very disappointing.

And finally, former Florida and current Illinois head football coach Ron Zook said during a radio interview that he thought the SEC was a better football conference than the Big 10. Hey, the man should know.

This is Norman Arey and I wholeheartedly agree with Zook.

Tuberville making waves; Faulk 'fesses up; Some thoughts on Damon Evans

(7/5) Football season is still 60 or so days away and Tommy Tuberville has yet even to step on the field as head coach at Texas Tech and he’s already been reprimanded by the conference. In an interview last week, Tuberville said he didn’t foresee the Big XII being able to survive because of the inequities in splitting money within the league. Commissioner Dan Beebe issued a statement saying the coach’s words were unfortunate.

Ah, at last, an honest man. Marshall Faulk, the former San Diego State and St. Louis Rams’ running back says he wasn’t offered anything illegal in college, but if he had been, he would have taken it. On whether he was offered anything in college, he said "Nah, I went to San Diego State. Other than good weather, they didn’t have anything to offer me. I wish I had gone to a bigger program and had them slide me some cash to take care of my family, but that wasn’t the case."

An interesting note is that 10 of the last eleven Super Bowl winners have failed to repeat.

I really didn’t want to get into the Damon Evans mess. It seems everyone in America has an opinion and most of them are thumbs down. In brief, the 40-year-old athletics director at the University of Georgia was arrested for DUI last week in Atlanta. With him was a 28-year-old woman. The police found a pair of red panties between Evans’ legs on the front seat.

Should he or should he not be fired?

Here’s the deal. The University athletics department has had more than its share of arrests of student-athletes over the past 10 years. There were a couple of years in there when it was surely going for a school record. Most of the arrests involved alcohol. Unfortunately for Evans, he has a recorded message which appears on the score board at all home football games in which he says "If you drink and drive, you lose."

Also remember that Georgia took the lead in trying to get the national media to stop referring to the annual Bulldog-Gator bloodletting in Jacksonville as "The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party."

Remember that Evans is Georgia President Michael Adams’ guy. Evans replaced the very popular Vince Dooley as leader of the Bulldog nation at Adams’ behest.

I don’t pretend to know what’s going to happen to Evans. I'm not sure what should to him. That’s Michael Adams’ call, 100 percent.

But I do have an opinion. I frankly don’t see how he can continue in his present job. "When you drink and drive, you lose."

This is Norman Arey and I’m with Marshall Faulk - I’d have taken it too.

Get ready for a restful, quiet afternoon in Starkville, Mississippi. Yeah, sure.

(7/2) With the NBA free-agency free-for-all now officially underway,.in my opinion, here are the top players available at each position. Point guard - Raymond Felton, Bobcats; shooting guard - Dwyane Wade, Heat; small forward - LeBron James, Cavaliers; power forward - Chris Bosh, Raptors and center - Shaq O’Neal, Cavaliers. If you want to put David Lee of the Knicks or Brendan Heywood of the Mavericks ahead of Shaq, that’s O.K. with me.

Now you tell me how well you think this is going to work. The SEC has relaxed its ban on cowbells at Mississippi State football games. Supposedly the bells can be rung before the game, during timeouts, at halftime, between plays, after scores and anytime other than during a play. Yeah, that’s going to work.

A headline in the AJC read thusly: ‘Is Georgia poised to re-take throne from Florida in the SEC East?’ Well, first, thank goodness for question marks and secondly, what are those people smoking nowadays?

Folks have asked where Georgia stood in the football spending I mentioned yesterday where Ohio State led the nation with more than $32 million spent while Auburn was second with $28 million. Georgia spent $19.8 million on the sport, which ranked only seventh in the SEC and 15th nationally. But here’s the kicker. The Bulldogs made $45 million, which was second only to Texas. Georgia Tech spent $16 million but realized only $6.1 million. Oops. Dan Radakovich had better start earning his AD salary.

Name of the week, or at least, spelling of the week is top rated football recruit Xzavier Ward, an offensive lineman from Colquitt County. He’s received 21 scholarship offers, the latest from Notre Dame.

I swear, it sure didn’t take long. The Tour de France cycle race doesn’t even begin until Saturday and a headline in USA Today already reads ‘Doping Allegations Continue to Cast Shadow on Tour de France.’

Now the word is that top prep recruit Seantrel Henderson is going to spurn his already signed grant-in-aid with Southern California and instead go to Miami. Unfortunately for Henderson, he’s going to have to sit out a year. Doesn’t seem fair since USC’s Lane Kiffin assured the lineman that the Trojans’ penalty wasn’t going to be severe from the NCAA.

And the news out of Gainesville is that Florida football coach Urban Meyer is ready to sign a six-year contract which pays him $4 million annually. If he signs it, that would probably keep him a Gator for the rest of his career.

This is Norman Arey and pardon me if I don’t think Georgia is poised to re-claim the SEC East

Who's the greatest living coach? Who are the most angry athletes?

(7/1) The 10 most angry athletes ever has Rasheed Wallace on top of FoxSports.com’s list. Others in order are Ron Artest, Mike Tyson, John McEnroe, Randy Johnson, Carlos Zambrano, Milton Bradley, Lou Pinella, Bobby Knight and Barry Bonds. My personal favorite, Jim Brown, got honorable mention.

No less a fine publication than the Orlando Sentinel came out with its college football pre-season rankings and the newspaper dropped a bomb on Georgia. The mighty Bulldogs were rated no better than 64th in the nation, one spot behind Ole Miss and two spots behind Mississippi State. Lucky for the Dawgs they’re not in the SEC West - they’d finish dead last.

Want to know where the best soccer in the world is played? It’s in South America. Four of the final eight teams left in the World Cup are from that continent, three hail from Europe and one from Africa. . . And speaking of soccer, the president of Nigeria has suspended the Nigerian National team from international competition for two years after its poor showing in the World Cup. Could college football teams learn from this?

Tommy Tuberville, who has yet to coach a game as head football coach at Texas Tech, predicted this week that the Big XII won’t last long under its present format. Tuberville’s reason is due to the inequity of money distribution in the league.

The New York Post is reporting that the New York Jets are showing interest in quarterback JaMarcus Russell, the former No. 1 draft pick from LSU by the Oakland Raiders who was set free earlier this year. My only question is why they’re interested?

Fanhouse.com asked the question ‘Who’s the Greatest Living Coach?’ The nominees were Mike Krzyzewski, Dean Smith and Bobby Knight in college basketball, Phil Jackson in the NBA, Earl Weaver, Bobby Cox and Tony LaRussa in baseball, Chuck Noll, Bill Parcels and Bill Bilichick in the NFL, Joe Paterno in college football and Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma in women’s basketball. Just to be perverse, if he were alive, I’d pick former UNC and South Carolina coach Frank McGuire. Since he’s not, of course Bobby Cremins is my choice.

Ohio State spent the most money on its football program over the past five years with a cash outlay of $32.3 million. Second on the list was Auburn (I know, I was shocked, too) with expenditures of $28 million. In fact, the top eight spenders were either from the SEC or The Big 10. Texas came in at No. 9 and Southern Cal tenth. Miami spent more than anyone else in the ACC and Rutgers topped the Big East. Notre Dame was listed 20th.

This is Norman Arey and perhaps Auburn’s alums should insist on a better return on their money.

It's beginning to get old but how many chances should Michael Vick be afforded?

(6/30) Never too old, or young, to learn. How about this for a lineup of quarterbacks at the Manning Passing Academy in Louisiana the second week in July? Alabama’s Greg McElroy, Arkansas’ Ryan Mallett, Stanford’s Andrew Luck, Christian Ponder of Florida State, LSU’s Jordan Jefferson and Boise State’s Kellen Moore. "This is the best group of quarterbacks we’ve ever had," understated Archie Manning, who runs the camp along with sons Peyton and Eli Manning.

And speaking of quarterbacks, there are nine major college teams out there who will start a rookie quarterback and actually may have a shot at winning big. Those nine include Georgia’s Aaron Murray, Cincinnati’s Zach Collaros, Pittsburgh’s Tino Sunseri, West Virginia’s Geno Smith, Penn State’s Kevin Newsome, Texas Garrett Gilbert, Oregon’s Nate Costa, Oregon State’s Ryan Katz, and, of course, Florida’s John Brantley.

The NBA players collusion meeting took place this week as Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade and LeBron James got together in Miami to discuss their free-agency. Wade told sources that he felt the Heat had a chance to spring a coup that would bring all three to Miami.

There’s got to be an suspension, right? How many chances does former Falcon and now Eagle quarterback Michael Vick get in the NFL? After someone was shot during Vick’s birthday party over the weekend, Vick was questioned by police. Now let’s see if he has to go see Roger Goodell at NFL headquarters.

The Duke-North Carolina basketball game will be televised nationwide during prime time next March 5. Here’s a little known fact about the combatants. The Blue Devils’ Mike Krzyzewski is 34-35 against the Tar Heels overall but owns a 19-9 win margin over the past 10 seasons.

Here’s a sports list that I couldn’t resist. FoxSports.com compiled the top 10 No. 1 draft picks of all time in the NBA. No. 10 Patrick Ewing, Knicks and LeBron James, Cavaliers, No. 9 Tim Duncan, Spurs, No. 8 Hakeem Olajuwen, Houston, No. 7 Shaq O’Neal, Orlando, No. 6 James Worthy, Lakers, No. 5 David Robinson, Spurs, No. 4 Elvin Hayes, San Diego, No. 3 Bill Walton, TrailBlazers, No. 2 Magic Johnson, Lakers and No. 1 Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Milwaukee.

And finally, or at least I think finally, Lance Armstrong says that this will be his last Tour de France. I think he waited one year too long to make that announcement.

This is Norman Arey saying, Come on folks, seriously, how many chances should Michael Vick get?