There’s a fine line between stupid and insane.

And it’s perfectly illustrated in this story involving a reporter wearing a Florida hat to a Petrino presser (stupid) and the reaction to that faux pas by the Arkansas fan base (insane).

Unreal.

(h/t EDSBS)

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UPDATE: I guess Petrino thinks she’s a bad guy after all.

“It wasn’t a stunt I was trying to pull, and I wasn’t trying to get any attention. It was just a dumb mistake,” said Gork, who added that her station (KAKS Hog Sports Radio) fired her because it didn’t appear that she would be allowed to cover practice any longer. [Emphasis added.]

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UPDATE #2: Chris Dufresne offers some employment advice.

Today’s lesson: Be true to your school but loyal to your direct deposit.  We’re in a recession, times are tough. Sometimes the only gig someone from Gainesville can get is in Fayetteville. Do what your boss says. Root for the Hogs from 9-to-5 and for your team in front of the mirror.

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Comin’ to your ci-tay.

This, as they say, has potential.

Former Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach will call games on television as he pursues a lawsuit over his firing from the school.

Cable network CBS College Sports announced Monday that Leach will work as an analyst this season.

Too bad it’s only for Mountain West, Conference USA and service academy games.  Still, one can only hope that he gets asked to comment on something stupid Craig James had to say about a team.

Who shapes the hot seat, anyway?

Yes, folks, you now have a working definition, via MrSEC.com’s John Pennington:

How do we at MrSEC define “the hot seat?”  When a coach has a growing number of displeased or impatient fans (and big boosters) which could — within 12 to 24 months — lead to his dismissal or force his resignation.

That’s not bad… except that’s not exactly what he had to say about the warmth of Mark Richt’s support a few months ago.

Let me make this very clear — Richt is in trouble at Georgia.  In fact, I believe his days are running out.

I said last summer that I believed he and Les Miles would occupy the hottest seats in the SEC after the 2009 season.  I was emailed to death by UGA fans who said they wouldn’t turn on their head coach.

Well, they’re turning.  And there’s no question that Richt and Miles sit in the SEC’s hottest chairs going forward.

Here’s how things work: First the media goes, then the fans follow.  It’s already clear that many writers across the state of Georgia are anti-Richt at this point…

That was written before the Grantham hire, of course, so I can’t say for sure that’s still Pennington’s assessment of Richt’s situation.  I do find it interesting how much weight he assigns to the media’s role in this.  How much of the Georgia fan base actually follows the lead of somebody like Mark Bradley or – even better – Paul Finebaum?

“An atmosphere like none other.”

Like it or not, it doesn’t sound like the Georgia-Florida game will be leaving Jacksonville in the foreseeable future.

“Dumbest rule in the history of the NCAA’s dumb rules.”

Chip Towers has a pretty damning assessment of the NCAA rule book that caused Georgia to report a secondary violation from Dawg Night as a result of this:

… The alleged infraction took place at the end of UGA’s “Dawg Night” prospect camp on July 16 in Athens. The Bulldogs supposedly ran afoul of NCAA regs when I snapped a picture of assistant coach Stacy Searels posing with recently-committed prospect Zach DeBell at the end of the night. Apparently the key here is that they’re posing arm-in-arm and looking into the camera. For that and other reasons, it was determined to be a violation of Bylaw 13:10.1: “Presence of Media During Recruiting Contact.”

I thought DeBell, who recently turned 17, summed it up best. “I kind of laughed about it really,” the 6-foot-7, 260-pound lineman said. “They told me and I was, like, ‘it’s a violation to take a picture with my coach?’ OK, if you want to violate me for that, go ahead.’”

That being said (and I agree with Towers to some extent), I’m afraid this kind of attitude would get you labeled a “bad guy” if your beat were in Gainesville:

As for my part in it, I have no apologies.

“Some stayed, some go.”

For something that’s not supposed to be a distraction, the Whitney Hotel sure is distracting.

The NCAA interviewed South Carolina football players last week about their residency at a Columbia hotel — an arrangement that apparently will end soon.

At least three players have been staying at Whitney Hotel in the Shandon area for several months, and NCAA investigators are trying to determine whether they received a cheaper rate than what is available to the general public. If so, that could constitute an extra benefit.

Tight end Weslye Saunders, who remains at the center of an NCAA investigation into potentially illegal contact with an agent, is one of three known players with rooms at the Whitney. Offensive tackle Jarriel King and defensive tackle Travian Robertson are the others.

An athletics department official told at least one of the players to move out of the hotel, according to a source close to the situation.

USC coach Steve Spurrier said Saturday he did not ask players to leave but indicated some might be checking out of the hotel.

Maybe they found nicer accommodations.

I still don’t sense that this is too much of a big deal…

“Anyone can poke around our program. We don’t have anything to hide. Poke on everything — the hours we practice and train,” Spurrier said. “They can poke on everything we do. And our compliance people poke, too.”

… but when you’re trying to get your team ready for what many think may be a breakout season, getting nibbled on by mice can still be a major pain in the arse.

You can get away with a lot more when red panties aren’t involved.

Were I a member of the Kansas fan base that had provided financial support to the athletic department over the years, this would drive me mad.

As a member of the Georgia fan base, this double standard makes me mad:

At Georgia, the athletic director resigns after a DUI arrest. At Kansas, the athletic director with a history of financial abuses is due a $600,000 retention payment if he’s still on the job June 30, 2011.

No defense of Damon Evans intended here, but as I think of scooters and alleys and ladies underwear, it sure seems like there’s a greater degree of tolerance for misbehavior in much of the college football world than in Athens, Georgia.  I’m not saying Georgia has the wrong approach, but I sure wouldn’t mind seeing a more level playing field, either.

“Don’t worry, changes have been made.”

You can see Pre-Snap Read’s preview of #19 Georgia here.  I would describe it as cautiously optimistic – in other words, falling somewhere between Andrea Adelson and College Football News –  which is certainly a prudent way to look at the program from the perspective of fall camp.

… Let’s not allow the disappointing finishes of the last two years to tarnish what Richt has accomplished with the Bulldogs; the fact that a 18-8 mark over two years can be construed as a disappointment should be reason enough to comprehend to what heights Richt has taken the Georgia program.

There’s a look at the four personnel keys to the season here.  And Todd Grantham gets a perceptive look here.

… What’s the point I’m trying — and failing, it feels like — to make here? That Grantham isn’t using last season’s depth chart at gospel. Kudos to him, if true. It would have been easy for him to rely upon experience to form his new starting 11. Easy, but misguided…

… And that’s all that should matter. And that’s all that Grantham cares about. His rebuilding job won’t take a month. It might take a year — it might take more. However, it’s heartening to see that he’s picking the players best fit for this defense, even if it means sacrificing experience for potential. That’s a good thing, in my opinion — a great thing. And it bodes well for the Georgia defense under his watch.