Man, it turns out that Ellis Johnson is pretty handy with a quip. Who knew from his time in Columbia? I don’t know if he was simply being deferential to his old boss, or if he didn’t want to outshine him on the wit front, but he’s not holding back now.
Even better, and definitely unlike Spurrier, it turns out that Johnson is on the side of the angels in the playoff debate. Here’s his great quote about the inevitability of an expanded postseason:
“Sooner or later, it’s going to go from picking the two best teams at the end of the year, now we’re going to pick four,” argues Johnson. “Whoever the fifth one is going to cry until they have eight. Once we have eight, someone’s going to start crying until we have nine.
“Basketball right now has 6,048 or something like that. I don’t know how many they have in the brackets, but the last team that didn’t get picked is still crying.”
And I’m really digging his cynicism about the super-duper selection committee.
And what about this committee that is supposed to replace the computer system and decide who will take the field come playoff time? Who will this committee consist of? What criteria will they measure a team by? “You got your Republicans, you got your democrats, I don’t know how you trust anybody,” coach Johnson colorfully put it.
I wonder what he thinks about who won the SEC East last year.
Get The Picture 
“I don’t know how many they have in the brackets, but the last team that didn’t get picked is still crying.”
That’s gold, Jerry. Gold!
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God save the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl!
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The way they name these bowls doesn’t help their image at all. Its incredibly ironic. A company wants to put their name on a mid level bowl, but the fact that their name is on it makes it sound like a much, much shittier bowl than it actually is.
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I thought Johnson did a very underappreciated job at USC. One thing to watch this season will be how all of these new coaching staffs come together. The meat of UGA’s conference schedule, UF, UT, USCe, AU are all breaking in at least one new Coordinator, if not more.
Todd Grantham is the dean of SEC East defensive coordinators. Hard to believe.
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Though I totally agree with the point, the trick is not to listen to the fifth team. Why is anyone in basketball giving credit to the 65th or 66th team crying? Of course there will be whining, but after the champ is crowned no one cares. Who remembers who that team was 3, 4, or 7 years ago? But I sure as heck remember 2004 Auburn (and I hate them).
Just because some complain doesn’t mean there’s a solution. People don’t argue tie breakers and those are arbitrary.
But it’s not a perfect world and some WILL listen to the whining. Probably b/c money.
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For the last two years, there have been 68 teams in the NCAA basketball tournament. I’m not saying that to be snarky toward you. I mentioned it to point how insideous bracket creep is. The basketball tournament has gotten to the point that casual fans don’t even know how many teams are in the damn thing anymore. Two years ago, I first learned of the addition of the 66th, 67th, and 68th teams when I filled out my bracket.
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Oops. My comment above was intended to be a response to Bad M.
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