Next on the SEC Network: Mississippi State vs. Vanderbilt. Plus highlights

(7/1) The Baltimore Ravens will have two trained ravens fly out with the team during pre-game introductions. That’s great stuff. I never knew you could train ravens. Could they be trained to quote "Nevermore?"

The Macon Telegraph reports that if the Southeastern Conference starts its own television network as it is expected to do, the league would still have national deals with CBS and regional deals with ESPN. What the SEC network would show are games not ordinarily scheduled on big TV, such as Mississippi State vs. Vanderbilt or Arkansas vs. Kentucky. I can hardly contain my enthusiasm.

The SEC’s contracts with CBS, ESPN and Raycom earned the league $50 million last year alone. The TV money accounts for more than a third of the league’s budget and the deals will be re-negotiated after this year, and you can bet the SEC will bring in even more.

Records show that the SEC had nine teams play before at least 96 percent capacity crowds last year and seven of those played before 100 percent capacity. The only exceptions were Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State.

West Virginia quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Pat White’s younger brother, Coley, will be a freshman quarterback for the Mountaineers this fall. The older White says his brother has much more potential than he had as a freshman. That’s kind of scary.

You gotta admire NASCAR CEO Brian France’s style. Last week,France met with the nation’s newspaper sports editors at their annual convention and bluntly told them that he wanted more coverage. That and a dollar will get him a cup of coffee somewhere.

Of the 80-plus early entrants in the NBA draft, 17 who declared for the draft weren’t chosen. The question is. what happens to them?

And finally, there was a suggestion, and I’m not sure of its origin, that the SEC and Big 10 set up a showdown weekend in football patterned after the ACC-Big 10 Showdown in basketball. I love it but I would imagine that backwards Big 10 Commissioner Jim Delaney would shoot it down.

Is there something buzzing about Paul Johnson's offense after all?

(6/30) The New York Times pointed out to Georgia Tech fans that the offense of new coach Paul Johnson isn’t the slow, methodical plodding offense many may believe. Johnson’s Navy triple-option was one of the most explosive in the country last year. It was third in the nation with scoring drives of a minute or less (13), 10th in scoring drives of two minutes or less (25) and eighth in offensive plays of 25 yards or more (16). The offense scored a team-record 511 points (39.3 per game, 10th in the country) and averaged 444 yards per game, which was 22nd best in the nation. Hey, Bumbly Bees, things may not be as bad as you think.

The Sporting News football magazine ranks Paul Johnson the No. 1 hire in the country with Rich Rodriguez at Michigan second followed by Rick Neuheisel at UCLA, Houston Nutt at Ole Miss and Bobby Petrino at Arkansas.

SI.Com reports that Ohio State coach Jim Tressel has gone head-to-head with new Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez seven times for football recruits and has won six of them. Guess the Buckeyes need to win a BCS game soon, huh?

In a recent interview, Shaq O’Neill talked about plans to move to Alabama with his family. My question is this -- Is Alabama large enough to hold both Shaq and Sir Charles Barkley, who is already a resident and plans on running for governor?

In the ongoing Indiana University saga, athletics director Rick Greenspan has resigned after the Hoosiers suffered their fifth major NCAA violation compared to zero violations during its first 108 years of existence.

The Pac-10 led all college conferences in the recently completed NBA draft with seven first round picks. The previous high for the conference was five.

Florida is apt to find out what kind of team it has earlier than later. After opening with Hawaii, the Gators meet Miami, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and LSU in successive weeks.

And finally, the most fearless man in the country has to be new Minnesota defensive coordinator Ted Roof, a former Georgia Tech linebacker and fresh from being fired as the head coach at hapless Duke. The Gophers had the worst defense in college football last year, yielding an eye-popping 518.7 yards per game and ranking 104th or worse in seven major defensive categories.

'This is President Obama calling. Please sign with Oregon State'

(6/27) Florida head football coach Urban Meyer was visiting Georgia Tech this week, obviously to give Tech coach Paul Johnson some pointers on the spread offense. Just kidding. Meyer’s daughter, Nicole, is interested in playing on the Yellow Jackets' volleyball team.

Tennessee basketball player Candace Parker and Florida quarterback Tim Tebow were named female and male athlete of the year in the SEC. The only surprise would have been if they hadn’t been chosen.

New Duke football coach David Cutcliffe, who coached both Peyton Manning and Eli Manning in college, has signed two quarterbacks for the Blue Devils’ class of ‘09 - one from California and one from North Carolina. . . Daggone if Rutgers hasn’t done it again. Highly rated wide receiver Shawney Kersey, who had committed to West Virginia, changed his mind and committed to the New Jersey school. This follows closely on the heels of Rutgers stealing highly ranked recruits from Florida and Florida State. . . Only 11 head football coaches of the 119 Division I schools called their own plays last year.

The Houston Astros have indefinitely suspended pitcher Shawn Chacon. All Chacon did was grab general manager Ed Wade by the throat, throw him to the floor and then jump on top of him before he was pulled off. Can’t anybody take a joke anymore?

The President is calling -- for you to go to Oregon State. That’s a scenario which would very likely become reality if Barack Obama is elected president. His brother-in-law, Craig Robinson, is head basketball coach of the Beavers. Robinson was asked if he’d get Obama to call a recruit? "If it’s not an NCAA violation, I will," he said.

Deja Vu all over again? Alabama linebacker Jimmy Johns, who was thrown out of school for allegedly selling drugs, also was breeding pit bulls.

University of Florida sensational freshman guard Nick Calathes is in Athens, Greece, this summer trying to make the Greek National basketball team for its Olympics run.

Crying foul over fowl at Wimbledon; latest from the police/sports beat

(6/26) Wimbledon uses two hawks to keep the pigeons away from the tennis courts during the annual tournament but when the pigeons began dive-bombing the outdoor restaurants, the tennis officials called in armed marksmen. Then, of course, the animal rights activists took exception. What a world.

Alabama linebacker Jimmy Johns was arrested on federal drug charges and kicked off the football team. Johns is the third Tide player to run afoul of the law since spring. He played both running back and receiver last year before moving to the defense in spring practice.

Central Florida running back Ricky Kay was arrested on charges of hitting and breaking a stop sign with his hand, and then breaking a pressure gauge off a fire sprinkler system. Is that better or worse than Johns’ drug charges?

An odd couple in many ways, golf legend Greg Norman and tennis legend Chris Evert will be married this weekend. Evert was the "other woman" in Norman’s recently completed nasty divorce. It’ll be the third marriage for Evert.

WRAL-TV in Raleigh, N.C., points out that the ACC has three coaches who have coached at two different schools in the conference. Virginia’s Al Groh was at Wake Forest; North Carolina State’s Tom O’Brien was at Boston College; and North Carolina’s Butch Davis once coached at Miami. Funny thing is, there’s no bad blood among the various schools.

OK, you’ve got to pay close attention here. The New York Post reports that when Mike Tyson allegedly put out a hit on two gang leaders who murdered his longtime bodyguard, the gang turned around and put out a contract on Tyson. This plot and subplot was overheard at a party thrown by one of the gang leader’s moms. Seems she was celebrating the murder of another man who had killed another one of her sons. Man, we just don’t know what goes on out there.

NASCAR’s Tony Stewart is having a hard year. He’s not won in 30 races and he’s had four finishes of 35th or worse compared to five finishes in the top five. He's also 11th in the Sprint point standings.

After Boston beat Arizona at Fenway Park this week, there is now only one team the Red Sox have never bested in their home park -- the Chicago Cubs. Who would’ve thunk it?

Here's something to chomp on: 10 most-obnoxious college traditions

(6/25) This sounds like a great idea that could really catch-on and completely revolutionize college and pro sports. A judge ordered former Chicago Bears running back Cedric Benson to install an ignition-lock breath tester on his car after his second DUI arrest. If the breath tester detects alcohol, the car won’t start.

HBO Sports is in the midst of producing a one-hour special about the rivalry between the University of North Carolina and Duke. The special will be shown next February.

The Bleacher Report offered up a list of the 10 most-obnoxious college traditions. I won’t go into all 10 but it ran from Penn State’s Nittany Lion’s Roar to Clemson rubbing Howard’s Rock to the Southern Cal Trojan to Tennessee’s Rocky Top (played in excess of 100 times per game). But the glaring omission was the University of Florida’s Gator Chomp - there’s nothing more obnoxious.

A sports blog called Coaches Hot Seat ran an article on how much money college football would have made if a 16-team playoff system were in place rather than the BCS. The article suggests the colleges would have realized $5.85 billion with a playoff system rather than the $1.02 billion they have been paid.

Appropriate Name of the Week: Former Formula One/current Craftsman Truck Series star Scott Speed.

There are so many ratings of top college quarterbacks, how about the top receivers -- the other half of the equation when the ball goes in the air? Rivals.com is glad to accommodate: Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech; Percy Harvin, Florida; Jeremy Machin, Missouri; Aaron Kelly, Clemson; and Jarett Dillard, Rice.

Money Matters: When Mississippi State bumped head football coach Sylvester Croom’s salary to $1.7 million, every coach at a public institution in the SEC now makes at least $1.5 million.

And finally, NASCAR officials called a meeting of drivers last week to warn them not to pass the pace car, as Dale Earnhardt Jr. had done when recording his only win of the year. Question: Why wasn’t Earnhardt punished?

Bulldogs' road trip to Arizona in September already is one for the books

(6/24) Thousands of University of Georgia fans are planning a trip to Tempe, Ariz., to see the Bulldogs take on Arizona State in September. There’s a good reason why so many are going. They don’t know if they’ll get another chance like this in their lifetime. This is the first non-bowl game Georgia has played outside of the southeast since 1972. Unbelievable.

You think you got problems, consider new football coach Paul Wulff’s inheritance at Washington State after Bill Doba resigned. In the past 18 months, 25 players have been charged or arrested for offenses that carry possible jail time. A direct felony pipeline to the Cincinnati Bengals?

Factoid of the Week. Nebraska is the only college football team in the country scheduled to play its first five games at home. They don’t travel outside of Lincoln until Oct. 11.

The U.S. Olympic basketball team was announced this week and its headed by Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Dwayne Wade. The addition of Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Jason Kidd and Chris Paul make this the strongest team the Americans have fielded in a long time, maybe ever.

IndyCar points leader Scott Dixon isn’t all that enamored by gal driver Danica Patrick. In fact, Dixon said, when asked about Patrick’s race car driving ability, "She’s a menace, man."

And because I feel I owe it my my listeners and readers, you need to know that 10 SMU and Hawaii football coaches will hold the inaugural June Jones American Samoa Football Academy in Pago Pago, American Samoa, this summer.

Sad to see it but the word is that 81-year-old Joe Paterno’s uncertain future at Penn State is killing the Nittany Lions’ recruiting. Paterno says that’s not so. Tom Lemming, a recruiting expert with CBS, says it is. . "It’s obvious that it’s hurting them, but nobody’s admitting it," he said. Pittsburgh and Ohio State are heavily raiding what was once Penn State territory.

Paterno and Bowden, two 'faces of football,' just one game apart in total wins

(6/23) ESPN.Com’s Ivan Maisel, once a reporter for the Atlanta Constitution, lists eight football coaches and players who have remained influential throughout time -- kind of the face of college football.

Maisel lists Notre Dame’s Knute Rockne, Penn State’s Joe Paterno, Alabama’s Bear Bryant and Florida State’s Bobby Bowden as his coaches. The players include Archie Griffin at Ohio State, Herschel Walker at Georgia, Nebraska’s Tommy Frazier and Illinois’ Red Grange. I don’t disagree with any of these but I might throw Peyton Manning in there somewhere as well as Steve Spurrier.

The Green Bay Packers, the only NFL team that makes its finances public, made a $21.4 million profit and they were disappointed. Seems player salaries went up a whole lot more than their profit did. The folks that know say Green Bay would probably place barely out of the top 10 in money-making franchises.

With Tiger Woods out for the year, Ernie Els and Sergio Garcia have been installed as co-favorites at 12-1 to win the British Open, the next golf major on the schedule. Woods, before retiring for the year, was a 7-4 favorite to win it.

Georgia Tech managed to get all 19 of its football recruits into summer school and hopes the extra time will give their new players a slight edge.

The University of Texas’ stadium renovation is nearing completion, giving the Longhorns’ field a seating capacity of roughly 98,000, making it the fifth largest Division I site in the country.

One salient fact that’s been overlooked as far as Notre Dame’s 2008 season is concerned is that former Georgia Tech defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta will be calling the signals for the Fighting Irish. An already-decent defense should be even better this year.

Want to make a bet on who finishes on top in the Bowden-Paterno slugfest for the most wins in college football history? Bowden owns a slim 373-372 lead as the two enter into the ‘08 season. Examining their schedules, it looks like the Seminoles will be favored in seven games while Nittany Lions may go in as the top dog six times. In other words, too close to call:

>FLORIDA STATE: Western Carolina, Chattanooga, Wake Forest, Colorado, at Miami, at N.C. State, Virginia Tech, at Georgia Tech, Clemson, Boston College, at Maryland, Florida.

>PENN STATE: Coastal Carolina, Oregon State, at Syracuse, Temple, Illinois, at Purdue, at Wisconsin, Michigan, at Ohio State, at Iowa, Indiana, Michigan State

Luck of the (3 wins, 9 losses) Irish? Notre Dame, NBC sign 5-year TV extension

(6/20) I’m beginning to like Georgia Tech football coach Paul Johnson better already. Johnson, a nine-handicap golfer, was asked by the AJC who he would pick for his dream foursome. He chose Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and John Daly. Daly is my kind of golfer, too.

Another one of those totally inexplicable things, at least for me. After Missouri had a successful football season last season following years of mediocrity, the school has had to cut off freshman applications after reaching a record number. What has winning football games got to do with education? Certainly most of the players aren’t academic role models.

Just when we thought that we might see Notre Dame get its due by losing its contract with NBC, the network and school agreed to a five-year extension which will take them through 2015. Now the Irish don’t have to join a conference and can still dictate to the BCS. And this was without a athletics director and coming off a 3-9 season.

Courtesy of Cold Hard Football Facts, did you know that the Rams are the only NFL team to win championships playing in three different cities? . .  Also, the Cardinals franchise has won only two playoff games in 88 years.

The above-mentioned site ranked the Atlanta Falcons the 28th worst/best team in pro football. In 30 years, Atlanta has never had back-to-back winning seasons. So who are the best players ever in Falcon history? Try Steve Bartkowski, Terence Mathis, Tommy Nobis, Gerald Riggs and Deion Sanders. Not a bad list. What? You expected Michael What’s-His-Name?

From Love of Sports blog comes the eight most obnoxious sports traditions. The Atlanta Braves’ Tomahawk Chop ranks midway through the eight. You don’t see as much of it as you used to.

North Carolina forward Alex Stephenson, who is transferring to be closer to his family in California, has visited UCLA, Cal, USC, Arizona State and Stanford. If he should choose Arizona State, he’d be playing for former N.C. State coach Herb Sendek. If he goes to Stanford, it’s ex-Duke assistant Johnny Dawkins. Interesting.

What's going on at Rutgers? Must be the Jersey accent

(6/19) North Carolina alert reader and sports cynic Jamie May corrected me after a recent commentary. I wrote that four Division I football coaches never played football. He pointed out there are five - Duke’s David Cutcliffe never played but was team manager at Aladambama.

AJC columnist Mark Bradley agrees with me on the 2009 national basketball champion being North Carolina since the Tar Heel trio of Lawson, Ellington and Green returned from the NBA abyss. He suggests that the ‘Heels will be bigger favorites than was Florida’s second title team. Wonder who’ll be UNC’s Joakim Noah?

Daggone if Rutgers didn’t do it again. After wresting a football recruit away from Florida State a few days ago, the Scarlet Knights got a commitment from receiver Mark Harrison, who chose coach Greg Schiano over Florida’s Urban Meyer. Must be the jersey accent.

If you just can’t imagine pro golf without Tiger, you’re going to have to do just that. Woods announced he’ll have season-ending surgery on his knee and won’t play again until 2009. Now we’ll definitely get a chance to see Who’s No. 2. But you do have the thrilling U.S. Open to remember when a one-legged man beat the best golfers on the planet.

Reports say that pitcher Roger Clemens is having to sell some of his stuff to pay for his mounting legal bills in defending himself against steroid use allegations. Are we to believe he hasn’t made huge amounts of money over the years and is down to selling personal items?

No surprise here that Marcus Vick, brother of you-know-who, was arrested last week on charges of something or other. Does the phrase "Bad to the Bone" jump forward?

And speaking of brothers, NASCAR’s Kyle Busch’s success this season hasn’t helped his brother Kurt whatsoever. In fact, Kurt’s highest finish in a five-race stretch was 23rd. It got so bad that the Penske team president gave him a vote of confidence and you know what that means.

And finally, try and digest this factoid: The average attendance at a NASCAR Sprint Cup race is 120,000. Sounds healthy to me.

A fatter pay check for Phat Phil? Tiger the latest injured athlete to inspire fans

(6/18) Being the soothsayer that I am, I hereby crawl far, far out on a limb and predict that North Carolina will open and close next season as the nation’s No. 1 college basketball team. With point guard Ty Lawson, shooting guard Wayne Ellington and sixth man Danny Green all returning after checking out the NBA, the Tar Heels have their top six players returning.

The team which lost the most during the off-season, hands down, was Indiana. Only one player from last year’s team returns after three were dismissed, two left school and two recruits changed their minds. Maryland comes in a close second.

Joe Montana was back at Notre Dame this week. The former Irish quarterback and All-Pro NFL quarterback was there to help his son, Nate, move in. The son will be a walk-on quarterback on the football team. C’mon Nate, anywhere but there. The shadow won’t go away.

Like him or not, he’s probably going to be around for a while. Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer says he thinks he’ll coach for another eight to 10 years. He’s due for a raise to his $2 million per year salary and rumors are that the 16-year veteran will be compensated at the $2.6 million-$3 million range and given a seven-year extension. What? They’re paying him by the pound?

After Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open with a gutsy performance on a gimpy knee and being forced to play 91 holes, the question arises whether the 32-year-old is the greatest of all-time. Better than Jack, Arnie, Bobby, Walter, Sammy?

In accordance with that, who are some of the others who rendered great performances while injured? Kirk Gibson of the Dodgers (1988 World Series) was who jumped into my mind first. Curt Schilling was another. S.I. Com listed Willis Reed as its No. 1.

Rivals.Com lists its Power Rankings for Quarterbacks with Florida’s Tim Tebow presiding over the Top 5. Others included West Virginia’s Pat White, Missouri’s Chase Daniel, Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell and Georgia’s Matt Stafford. And listen to the comment made on Stafford: "His upside and pro potential make up for relatively ordinary stats." And just an aside but "Graham" doesn’t sound like a quarterback name.

Austrian brewer offers free beer for life for tournament goal; Vastic delivers

(6/17) The Streak is finally over. The Dale Earnhardt Jr. winless streak. For the first time in 77 races or was it 76, Junior won one in Brooklyn, Mich., finishing the race on fumes and edging out Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth. It was Junior’s first win since May 6, 2006.

And speaking of Junior, USA Today ran a story where Junior admitted envying Washington Redskins pal and tight end Chris Cooley. Earnhardt said he’d love to play for the ‘Skins. I just don’t believe the Redskins are interested in that kind of non-winning streak.

Georgia State’s hiring of Bill Curry, in my opinion, is a great move and the school got the guy who will best build them a solid foundation. The one thing I can’t see is the Panthers playing their home games in the Georgia Dome. Why not a nice high school field at first? There’s nothing more depressing than to see a crowd of 2,791 in the 70,000 seat Dome. If the Falcons can’t sell it out, why would GSU try?

I didn’t know it existed but the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame is inducting former Falcon running back Warrick Dunn this year. The hall honors athletes who have done outstanding things in their communities.

The L.A. Times reports that during a soccer tournament in Austria, a brewery offered to provide free beer for life to any Austrian player who scored a goal during the tournament. And yes, Ivica Vastic scored on a last-minute penalty kick to give Austria a 1-1 tie with Poland. Surely he celebrated by having a cold beer.

Two quick thoughts to roll around in your mind when you consider college football this season. Whatever happened to Louisville and can Texas Tech and odd coach Mike Leach finally win the Big 12 and become a Top 10 team.

And speaking of Leach, he’s one of four Division I football coaches who never played college football. The other three are Mike Mangino at Kansas, Paul Johnson at Georgia Tech and Charlie Weis at Notre Dame.

And finally there are 72 days left until college football kicks off.

Doing a double take over baseball's idea to adopt instant replay

(6/16) It’s no surprise when, say, Georgia wrestles a recruit away from Georgia Tech but Louisiana Tech taking one away from Arkansas is down right astounding. Cruz Williams was to be one of the Razorbacks’ top recruits but has announced he’s going to catch passes for Derek Dooley at La. Tech.

In SI.Com’s Major League Baseball power rankings, the Boston Red Sox are No. 1 and the Chicago Cubs are second. The Braves? No better than 14th.

Here’s a sobering fact that is directly related to the huge salaries that college football coaches are now commanding. Yahoo!Sports says fewer than 10 of the 120 Division I athletic programs that play top-tier football operate at a profit, which means schools continue to subsidize sports. In 1995, Florida State’s Bobby Bowden became the first coach to make $1 million. Now the average salary is $1 million. In 2001, Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops and Florida’s Steve Spurrier broke the $2 million barrier. In 2006, Stoops made $3 million and of course, Alabama hired Nick Saban last year at a cool $4 million.

Tom Dienhart of Rivals.Com makes a good point when he writes that the ACC in football is painted with the same broad brush stroke of sameness. He asks is there anyone out there who can discern the difference among Maryland, Virginia, Georgia Tech, N.C. State, Florida State, Miami, North Carolina and Boston College?

The Yellow Jacket football team lost yet another player as starting running back Jamaal Evans quit the team and left school. Evans, a rising junior, was set to start at the slot back in Georgia Tech’s new offense.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell if certain things that happen in sports fall into the progress category or not. For me, introducing instant replay into Major League Baseball isn’t progress - it’s heresy.

And finally there’s no question that NASCAR has a budding star coming fast through the ranks. Joey Logano became the youngest driver ever to win a Nationwide race over the weekend as he won at the Kentucky track. At 18 years and 21 days, Logano has entered three races since his 18th birthday and has taken the pole twice and now won once.

Hiring Bill Curry as head coach a huge 'W' for Georgia State football

(6/13) The sports headline of the year thus far is Georgia State hiring Bill Curry as its first head football coach. Just looking at that sentence and seeing Curry and Georgia State looks kind of strange. The affable Curry is associated with Georgia Tech in these parts, not State.

Curry is one of the finest people in the world of sports -- scratch that, make it just the world. If what Georgia State wanted was just a football coach, it’s going to be surprised. The College Park native will be much more than that for the school.

He’ll bring instant integrity and name recognition with him to the in-town campus. He’ll energize the lethargic fan base. He’ll attract some pretty good assistant coaches, I would imagine, and he’ll attract football players as well.

Forget that he played at Georgia Tech, Green Bay, Baltimore, Los Angeles and other stops and that he was twice named All-Pro in the NFL even though he played center as one of the most undersized players ever in the league.

You say he didn’t have all that great of a record as a college coach. He won when he had the talent (Alabama, 26-10) and take away his first two seasons at Georgia Tech and he won there, too. He was named ACC Coach of the Year in 1985.

Curry is 65 and has the energy of a man 30 years younger. He was the runner-up at Georgia Tech for the athletics director job when the institute hired Dan Radokovich. The Yellow Jacket brass made a mistake. Georgia State should send a thank-you note to the inept leadership on Techwood Avenue.

Now instead of being a ho-hum affair when the Panthers do get around to playing their first game in 2010, it’s going to be a happening. Georgia State has become instantly credible. And the news media has just been presented with a quote machine. The coach is smart, has something to say and isn’t shy about saying whatever it is.

Some folks compare this to what Georgia Southern did back in the ‘80s when it hired Georgia defensive coordinator Erk Russell.

I believe this could be bigger.

No matter how many wins Georgia State may enjoy, it needs to enjoy this moment above all others.

The school has become an instant winner.

Consider it a sports 'face book': Pearl, Parcells, Torre, Spurrier not camera shy

(6/12) With Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Mike Hampton, Mark Kotsay and Chipper Jones out of action as well as four other players, it’s amazing that the Atlanta Braves can field a team -- and they’re not fielding much of one. Adding to their misery is that the New York Yankees likely will pursue Mark Teixeira when he becomes a free-agent at season’s end.

You know that the landscape of college football is changing when Rutgers beats out Florida State for a four-star offensive lineman.

SportsIllustrated.com made a list of coaches whom they feel seeks out the spotlight. Included on the list were Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl, Miami Dolphins boss Bill Parcells, Dodgers manager Joe Torre and Southern Cal football coach Pete Carroll. I’d add South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier and Florida coach Urban Meyer, and you can’t leave out the King of the Camera, Bobby Knight.

Here’s a new rumor that I like. Folks that know say that Louisiana Tech football coach and athletics director Derek Dooley, son of Vince, will be a head coach in the SEC in only a few more seasons.

The AJC reports that Falcon quarterback Joey Harrington aced hole No. 6 at Druid Hills Golf Club not once but twice within a week. Wish he could be that productive on the football field.

Disgraced NBA referee Tim Donaghy, who pleaded guilty to fixing games while officiating for the league, now says the league is guilty of fixing games. League commissioner David Stern says bullfeathers. Of course he does. Did you think he’d admit it? In an AOL readers poll, the question was asked if fans believed Donaghy’s assertions. More than 74 percent believe him, which gives you some sort of feeling about how America feels about the Thug League.

And finally, I want to inject a college football team that may be the surprise of the 2008 season. Brigham Young has one heck of an offense coming back and supposedly a re-built defense. The Cougars were the last non-major to win the title back in 1984.

SEC West: Big coaching contracts guarantee some millionaire will finish fifth

(6/11) With Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese announcing his retirement at the end of 2009, Pac-10 commish Tom Hansen decided not to be outdone and did the same. What this means is two of the BCS bosses are leaving a hole where some changes could be made. The Pac-10 and Big 10 are the holdouts on any kind of college playoff system. Maybe that’ll change.

Is there no end to the things we don’t need to know about athletes. Now the big story is that Roger Clemens took Viagra along with other drugs. What’s next, what brand of hemorrhoid cream he prefers? Enough already.

Terry Bowden makes a great point in his column on Yahoo!Sports. Bowden says LSU, Auburn, Alabama, Ole Miss and Arkansas are all paying their football coaches between $2 million and $4 million a year. That means that some really high-priced coach is going to finish fifth in the SEC West, another fourth and only one will win the division. It just doesn’t work.

And this from Jay Leno on The Tonight Show: "The New York Post reported that Big Brown, win or lose the Triple Crown, will impregnate between 500 and 600 mates over the next four years, thus making him an honorary member of the NBA."

Former Georgia Tech associate athletics director Steve Orsini and now SMU sports boss has thrown his hat into the ring for the athletics director’s job at Notre Dame.

Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe asked his conference teams to upgrade their out-of-conference schedules this season. Every team with the exception of Texas Tech will play at least one game against one of the nation’s top six conferences.

And finally, Andy Staples of SI.Com has come up with what I consider a great idea. Eliminate college football signing day, period. Let college coaches sign whomever they want whenever they want. Why not?

Spend it like Beckham: buy your spouse a winery, too

(6/10) With Chipper Jones batting well above .400 into the second week of June, how many guys have taken that average past June 10? The answer is 10 but the guy who took it deepest into the season since Ted Williams is George Brett of Kansas City, when he was hitting an even .400 on Sept. 19, 1980. He ended the year at .390.

A new gift idea for the multimillion-dollar athlete to give his wife - a winery. Soccer superstar David Beckham purchased a winery for his wife, Victoria. The reason, he says, was to give her something to do other than shopping and going to parties.

How quickly they forget. NBA icon Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one time Laker superstar, wasn’t allowed into the Boston-Los Angeles game last week in Boston until an official came to rescue him. At 7-foot-4, wouldn’t you think somebody would remember him? He working for Comcast.net during the NBA finals.

Non-Alabama fans, of which there are many, are so quick to criticize football coach Nick Saban but the fiesty coach has a heart of gold, it seems. Saban just gave the University of Alabama a $1 million gift after appropriating more than $100,000 last season.

According to the Gaston (N.C.) Gazette, Kasey Kahne is the favorite of female NASCAR fans. The 28-year-old is always wildly applauded whenever he’s introduced and the ovation has a decidedly higher pitch to it than that of Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s roar. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that he’s won three times in the last four week.

Rivals.Com has ranked college football teams from 1-120 starting at the bottom. Georgia Tech is rated as the 73rd best team - in other words, not even in the top one-half of Division I squads. The ACC has three teams in the bottom 50 including Duke at 101st and the University of Virginia at 71st.

The previously mentioned Braves are playing .500 ball despite 14 players having been on the disabled list, including the above mentioned Jones as well as Mark Kotsay Matt Diaz and their best pitcher, John Smoltz, who is history until next season, maybe. New GM Frank Wren has got to make some moves, and now, not later.

Belmont coverage not as easy as ABC; meet the millionaires next door

(6/9) The coverage of the Belmont by ABC television was an embarrassment for the network. The lengthy run-up to the third jewel of the triple crown was all about Big Brown -- winner of the two previous legs of the crown. Not one crumb was thrown to the other eight horses in the field. Even when Da’Tara trotted across the finish line, there was no praise -- only concern about what happened to Big Brown. Nothing happened except he was beaten by a 38-1 long shot.

Did you realize that one-half of the SEC head football coaches make more than $2 million and three of those - Alabama’s Nick Saban, Florida’s Urban Meyer and LSU’s Les Miles make more than $3 million. . .  One head coach who was supposedly on the hot seat has just had his contract extended. Dan Hawkins at Colorado signed a two-year extension. . . According to the Tennessean newspaper, UT football coach Philip Fulmer is on a real hot seat this season. The explanation: The unbelievable 5-6 collapse in 2005 when it was ranked pre-season No. 2 and those big, nasty losses to Alabama and Florida last year can’t be overlooked.

LSU publicists say that Tiger receiver Trindon Holliday is the fastest player ever to play college football. Holliday ran a 10.02 in the 100 meters in the NCAA Track and Field Championships.

Former University of Miami head coach Larry Coker is still unemployed as a coach. He just signed a contract to broadcast for ESPNU.

Not good news for Georgia on the football front. Three-year starting fullback Brannan Southerland will miss at least the Bulldogs’ first five games after surgery on his left foot. Southerland may be one of the most underrated players on the Georgia team.

And finally, talk about domination. The world’s No. 1 ranked player, Roger Federer, was able to win only four games in three sets in the finals of the French Open as Rafael Nadal simply overpowered the Swiss player -- kind of like Da’Tara did to Big Brown.

Marcus Dixon sacks Sports Scholar honor; West Virginia sacks own defense

(6/5) Former Pepperell High football standout Marcus Dixon, who graduated from Hampton University this year and was picked up as a free agent by the Dallas Cowboys, has captured the 15th annual Arthur Ashe Sports Scholar of the Year Award. It’s awarded by Diverse: Issue in High Education magazine from a field of 300-plus applicants.

Word out of Detroit is that the Pistons may be looking at Atlanta Hawks coach Mike Woodson to head their NBA team. The obvious question is why?

The AJC reports that Evander Holyfield has fathered nine children and the mother of his 10-year-old son has filed papers in court that he hasn’t made his required child payments. A separate report says that the former heavyweight champion’s palatial mansion outside of Atlanta is in foreclosure.

Whoa now! Notre Dame assistant Bernie Parmalee, speaking to an Irish fan gathering, guaranteed they wouldn’t be disappointed in this year’s football team. But consider the records the non-Fighting Irish set last year -- worst start (0-5), most losses (9), most sacks allowed (58) and 38-0 losses to Michigan and Southern Cal -- the worst shutout margins in the rivalry history.

Who’s gonna be left to play defense for West Virginia this year? New head football coach Bill Stewart dismissed Charles Pugh, a defensive starter at safety, this week. Pugh became the fourth player Stewart has kicked off the team -- three of them defensive starters.

Here’s the ultimate bet. John Matthews of Great Britain was diagnosed with terminal cancer and told he wouldn’t live six months. When he surpassed that, he went to his neighborhood betting establishment and bet $200 at 50-1 odds that he’s make it two more years. He just won that bet and now has bet on another one year at the same odds.

And finally, you know those athletes who seem to have been around six or seven years when in reality its only four. Florida State starting quarterback Drew Weatherford will be a senior this season having started 33 games but isn’t assured of the starting job. Really. How old is he?

Paul Johnson's debut at Tech not exactly prime time -- unless you're online

(6/5) How important is Paul Johnson’s debut as head coach at Georgia Tech against Jacksonville State on Aug. 28? Not very. Even with the addition of former LSU quarterback Ryan Perrilloux at Jax State, the game can only be seen in person or on the Internet.

Sports Illustrated’s 50 top-earning American athletes list is headed by Tiger Woods with $128 million. Fellow golfer Phil Mickelson is No. 2 with $62 million. Rounding out the top five are the NBA’s LeBron James, boxer Floyd Mayweather and the NBA’s Kobe Bryant with “only” $19 million.

Not a good year for Roger Clemens. Besides facing charges he lied to federal investigators about taking performance-enhancing drugs and being involved in an extra-marital affair, he lost his place as second on the career strikeout list. Arizona Diamondbacks' Randy Johnson now has 4,680 strikeouts as Clemens is eight behind. Nolan Ryan is in no danger at No. 1 with 5,714. 

This is kind of a sad anniversary. It’s been 50 years this year since the then-St. Louis Hawks won the NBA title. Eisenhower was president, gas cost only pennies and there were only eight teams in the NBA. And guess what? The season ended in April. Not a bad idea.

Not sure what’s going on at the University of Maryland’s basketball team but Gary Williams is now down to nine scholarship players as Gus Gilchrist and Tyree Evans asked for and were granted releases from commitments.

Bernadette McGlade, who started her athletic career at Georgia Tech as head basketball coach and eventually moved to the ACC office as an associate commissioner, has been tapped as the commissioner of the Atlantic 10 League.

And finally, what does winning three national championships in Division I-AA and beating Michigan in football mean to Appalachian State? The Mountaineers season-ticket total is up 62 percent.

Athlon's pick for No. 1 in college football is from the SEC--but not Athens

(6/4) Hey, I like this. The Minnesota Twins, trying to help fans deal with the price of gas, have decided they’ll take the average cost of a gallon of unleaded regular gas off the cost of each ticket. Pay attention, Braves.

Tiger Woods was asked if he’s pulling for the Pittsburgh Penguins or the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL playoffs. He told the Detroit Free Press. “I don’t really care,” he said. “I don’t think anybody watches hockey anymore.” Amen!

I’d pay to see this. Both former Clemson and Chicago Bears’ star William “Refrigerator” Perry and John Wayne Bobbitt want to fight former baseball star-turned-boxer Jose Canseco in Atlantic City, according to WIP Radio in Philadelphia.  

Here’s what’s wrong with college basketball. According to USA Today, there were 105 early entrants this year from the 66 BCS conference schools, up from 69 in 2007. The total was 34 as recently as 2005 and 12 in 2002.

Athlon’s college football magazines are out and they offer one for almost every area in the U.S. plus a national edition.  I, of course, chose the ACC and SEC editions. So for your edification, here’s some of the headlines from the two must-reads for college football fans.

• To no one’s surprise, the cover of the SEC edition features Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford and running back Knowshon Moreno. 

• The ACC edition has Clemson quarterback Cullen Harper as its focal point while new Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson share the cover at the bottom.
• The SEC East champ will be Florida, followed by Georgia and Tennessee. The SEC West will be taken by Auburn with LSU and Alabama behind.
• The ACC Atlantic Division will be taken by Clemson with Wake Forest and Florida State behind with the Coastal champ being Virginia Tech followed by North Carolina and Miami. Georgia Tech was picked fourth in the Atlantic.
• On the national scene, Athlon picks Florida at No. 1 with Ohio State at No. 2, Oklahoma No. 3, Southern Cal fourth and Georgia No. 5. Other teams of interest show Auburn at No. 8, Clemson No. 10, Tennessee No. 17, Virginia Tech No. 21 and Wake Forest at No. 24.
• And finally, teams on the rise include UCLA, Texas Tech, Pittsburgh and North Carolina. Team on the decline: Kentucky, Arkansas, Boston College and Louisville.