Profile in courage

Depending on your point of view, an Arkansas fan takes a gallant stand or behaves like a drama queen:

This is what experts in human behavior refer to as “cutting your nose off to spite your face.” In other words, he’s basically an idiot.

I’d be more impressed if he were to shred his Auburn tickets. Destroying North Texas and Chattanooga game tickets isn’t that much of a sacrifice.

Of course, if this was really about putting his money where his mouth is, why did he even bother to pay to renew his season tickets in the first place? Wouldn’t refusing to give the school any of his money until it fixed things the way he wants be the most effective way to make his point?

Next time, put the ticket order form through the shredder, pal.

(h/t The Hog Blogger)

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A tale of two quarterbacks

David Paschall has a piece up today in the Chattanooga Times Free Press about Matthew Stafford and how he’s progressing as a second year starting QB.

Something that’s starting to bubble up in the press is a comparison of Stafford and David Greene at similar points in their careers, some of which is likely the result of Richt’s statement a couple of weeks ago that Stafford is the most talented (which is not the same thing as saying the best) quarterback Richt has ever coached.

Obviously Stafford’s ’07 season is a far cry from what Greene accomplished in 2002. Richt is quick to tamp down any quick conclusions to be drawn from such a comparison by noting that Greene had a more experienced supporting cast surrounding him.

Guess who agrees with that? None other than David Greene himself.

“He’s definitely loaded with ability, but the toughest thing for him is that he has too many guys around him who still don’t have enough game experience,” Greene said. “When I was coming along as a freshman and sophomore, I had so many veterans around me that all I had to do was my job. I had Terrence Edwards at receiver, Musa Smith at running back, Randy McMichael at tight end and a bunch of veteran linemen.

“There never was quite as much on my plate as what he’s having to deal with.”

Greene remains a classy guy and as good a player as Georgia’s ever had at the position. How good? Ask Xavier Mitchell. This is what the Tennessee defensive end had to say in response to Paschall’s request for him to evaluate Stafford’s game on Saturday:

“It just takes a lot of knowledge and wisdom to be that good down the line, to get to where David Greene was,” Mitchell said. “When we played them this weekend, all they wanted to do was try to run the ball down our throat. When the ball was in his hands, he did an OK job of managing the game, but I think he’s middle of the pack right now as far as the SEC goes at quarterback.”

That actually sounds like a bigger knock on the Georgia offensive game plan than it does on Stafford, but I don’t think anyone would argue that Stafford doesn’t have some distance still to go, including Mark Richt.

“Matthew’s days of that are to come,” Richt said. “In these next couple of years, he’s going to be surrounded by a much more mature team.”

I have a dream.

Today’s overheated rhetoric award goes to this blogger.

No doubt the BCS formula has its share of flaws – and there’s nothing like a little dose of hindsight to make your case against the BCS sound even stronger – but this is about as cringeworthy as it gets:

The point is that the college football community is being denied their right to a true national champion determined by fair competition in a playoff format, in the name of money and prejudice.

 

This system is so unfair it almost seems like a violation of players’, coaches’, and fans’ civil rights. It is a system controlled by financial dominance and discrimination, much like the corrupt legal systems of Southern states that figures like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. faced head-on in the 1960s.

 

So when will college football’s version of MLK arise, take action, and completely transform the landscape of college football?

Yes, when? It can’t be too soon – our rights are being trampled every day! The masses are being oppressed!

 

Brothers and sisters, I look forward to the day when “financial dominance” is no longer at the heart of what controls college football’s postseason.

 

You know, like all the other sports that have playoffs.