For want of a nail…

This may be the greatest, borderline obsessive, analysis of a seemingly minor aspect of the game that I have ever read.

I am in awe.

Next time, use cash.

Well, I know one thing at this point.  If I were a college football coach at a public institution, there is no damned way I’m using a cellphone on a school account.  Or a credit card.

It looks like everyone in the state of Arkansas with a grudge against the Nuttster has filed a FOIA request – including the Boy Wonder:

INFORMATION REQUESTS Any Arkansas citizen can use the Freedom of Information Act to get public documents. And McAfee’s request is one of several that have landed at the UA lately from people who don’t work in the news media — but who are seeking athletic department records. The request letters themselves are public documents subject to disclosure. So the Democrat-Gazette made a request to the university last week requesting disclosure of all the FOI requests filed since Nov. 1. Several of them didn’t come from media companies.Angling for Houston Nutt’s phone or credit-card records, those requests were made by a handful of individuals following the Razorback football action off the field.

Mitch Mustain, for one.

In his March 14 FOI request, Mustain asked for all cell-phone and office-phone records for Houston Nutt and his secretary-assistant and the same set of records for Danny Nutt, Athletic Director Frank Broyles and Broyles ’ secretary-assistant. Mustain’s letter includes this sentence: “I hereby authorize the University of Arkansas to release the requested information to Beckwith M. Campbell.” Campbell is Mustain’s mother. “Our request for information was confined to specific records and documents related to our personal experiences with the football program,” Campbell said in an e-mail Monday.

One only hopes the fired US Attorneys scandal is being investigated with as much attention to detail as this has been.

(h/t The Wizard of Odds)

Also, check out this clip from Deadspin.  Citizen journalism evidently is alive in Fayetteville.  I’m not so sure about the “well” part.

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Not enough footballs at Notre Dame…

or too many quarterbacks, depending on your point of view.

Another thing that doesn’t seem to be in short supply in South Bend is arrogance:

… Zach Frazer might have something to say about that – and Monday he did.

Asked which of the four competitors was ahead on the Notre Dame quarterback depth chart coach Charlie Weis guards like Bill Belichick’s cell-phone number, Frazer answered without hesitation.

‘In my eyes, I’m No. 1, hands down,’ Frazer said, sitting comfortably in a chair inside Notre Dame’s football auditorium…

…But it would be hard to bring any more pizazz to the position than Jones.He already carries himself like someone accustomed to having everyone watch him, a prerequisite to play quarterback at Notre Dame. On Monday, for example, Jones was the last quarterback to arrive for the media – always keep them waiting – and referred to himself in the third person on two separate occasions.

It’s called presence, and if the timing of the kid from Morgan Park is as good on the field as it is off it, the Irish shouldn’t have to worry about their quarterback adjusting to a big stage.

Jones sat there, with bright red Nikes and ‘ND’ shaved into the back of his hair…

… Whatever Weis decides, Jones promised he would accept it.

But his signature self-assuredness showed when pressed on what role he expected to fill come August.

‘I didn’t come here to be anybody’s sidekick,’ Jones said. ‘If I’m in the top two, it’ll just be another steppingstone in my career here.’

Pretty impressive from a couple of guys who have never started a college football game. I’m just disappointed that Weis muzzles his freshmen, so we can’t hear from Jimmy ‘Heisman Candidate’ Clausen.

You know what they say – leadership starts at the top:

… Weis relished reminding everybody that there will be no news about his top two choices at the position until late May after he reviews film of spring practice.

Even at that point, with Notre Dame Nation awash in anticipation, Weis plans to issue a press release to avoid ‘a dog and pony show.’

If it meant not having to deal with reporters, Weis probably would consider breaking the news by releasing puffs of smoke from a campus chimney.

‘If you’re looking for me to slip [and tell], I’m not slipping,’ Weis said. ‘You’ll be waiting a long time to see me slip.’

Oy.

Steve Spurrier = Don Imus?

I’m not positive this is the dumbest quote I’ve ever read, but it’s certainly in my top five:

…The 61-year-old Spurrier, who grew up in east Tennessee, said he did not know anyone in South Carolina who was in favor of flying the flag, “but I guess there’s a lot out there somewhere.”

Don Gordon is one of them.

Gordon, a state officer with the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said Spurrier’s call for the removal of the flag was “the moral equivalent of calling our ancestors ‘nappy-headed hos.’” [Emphasis added.]

Hmm… makes you wonder what this rocket scientist said when he saw neo-Nazi skinheads and others of that ilk appropriate symbols of his heritage for their purposes.

My bet is not much.