Can you describe the symptoms?

Funniest thing I’ve read today.

If the NCAA wants to help FCS schools, let them open their season tomorrow on ESPN. I would watch rhesus monkeys if they lined up in a 3-4.

— Cecil Hurt (@CecilHurt) August 17, 2012

Okay, sure, I’d pull up a chair next to him to watch, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t laugh out loud when I read that.

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Gimme some of that old-time amateurism.

The college tennis world is up in arms over the NCAA’s format changes announced this week.  The new rules aren’t exactly small stuff.

Under the new rules, singles matches will no longer be played as a full best-of-three, but with a first-to-10-points tiebreaker played in lieu of a third set. Doubles has also been shortened from an eight-game pro-set to one six-game set, and the gap between the doubles matches and singles will be only five minutes.  Changeovers have been reduced from 90 to 60 seconds, and opponents will no longer warm up with one another before playing. The changes only apply to Division I matches.  [Emphasis added.]

As I mentioned, there’s been a strongly negative reaction from coaches…

“Disturbing news re: future NCAA tennis format,” tweeted University of Georgia coach Manny Diaz. “Will kill our college game as we know it today.”

“Or we could just flip a coin for doubles point,” Diaz added. “That would shorten it. Don’t see baseball playing 6 innings or BB 3 quarters.”

… and players.  So why do it?  Well, the highlighted sentence above should give you a clue, but if you need a further hint, it’s a five-letter word that starts with the letter “m” and rhymes with “funny”.

“The shortened format may provide exposure opportunities through television coverage, live streaming and local media coverage,” the N.C.A.A. said. “It is difficult and cost prohibitive for television to air a 4.5 hour college tennis match. In addition, it is very challenging for local media (television or print) to watch and cover an entire dual match. Therefore, the sport lacks local and national coverage, which will be improved with a format that consistently finishes within a three-hour time frame.”

Anything to help out ESPN, the Pac-12 Network and the Big Ten Network, I suppose.

The NCAA has no problem prostituting college athletics to make a buck.  But heaven forbid a college player should want to make a few dollars off his name by selling a jersey.  Funny how the organization can’t see the hypocrisy in that.

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UPDATE:  Oh, but don’t worry, friends.  “The NCAA legislative process has made the necessary changes to support the four-team, seeded playoff that begins during the 2014-2015 season.”  Whew, that’s a relief.

Why stop at four?

I tell you what, Bryan McClendon – if Georgia doesn’t pound Buffalo enough to let Brandon Harton see the field, I’m gonna be a mite disappointed.

Bobo’s change in direction

Weiszer picks up on one way we should probably expect this year’s offense to change:

Georgia lost tight ends Orson Charles and Aron White, who combined for 20 career touchdown catches, to the NFL. Junior Arthur Lynch and redshirt freshman Jay Rome are the top two now at the position.That could mean the Bulldogs will lean more heavily on the wideouts in the passing game.

“That’s a fair assessment,” offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said. “It could be a little bit like ’08 when we had a loss at tight end and we went to more three receiver sets and four receiver sets. I do feel confident in the two tight ends and the freshmen we got that they’re going to pick it up and provide a spark for us offensively and be productive.

It’s really your personnel group that best gives you the chance to move the football is who we’re going to go with.”

Of course, in 2008, the top two receivers wound up as second and first round NFL draft picks.  That’s not likely to be the case in 2012.  But this year’s group certainly isn’t without talent or experience.

What I’m a little more concerned about isn’t the point of emphasis on whom Murray is throwing to.  It’s that his top two receivers from 2011 in terms of catch rate aren’t there, at least as long as Mitchell is on defense.  Let’s hope that King’s breakout game against Michigan State wasn’t a mirage.

Musical palate cleanser: checking the calendar

From a timing standpoint, this tune seems appropriate – Whiskeytown’s great “16 Days”.

I love when that song kicks into the “old tin cups” part.

Housekeeping note

Unlike what some say about the Constitution, the Lexicon is a living, breathing document.  I’ve added a couple of new terms, if you’re interested.

Percy Harvey, you’re missed.

Here’s something you can’t blame Mike Bobo for.

… Florida’s struggles really started with the departures of Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin to the NFL.

Led by Tebow and Harvin in 2007 and 2008, the Florida offense completed 38 touchdown passes and threw eight interceptions in SEC contests.

With Tebow alone in 2009, the Gators managed only nine touchdown passes and five picks in SEC play, illustrating Harvin’s importance to the team.

The last two years have been even worse for Florida — a combined 12 touchdown passes and 14 interceptions against conference opponents.

And Gator fans, before you get all “it was Weis’ fault” on us here, consider what he had to work with last season.

Both Brissett and Driskel struggled in particular when attempting to stretch the field in 2011.

Together, the pair combined to complete only 31 percent of their pass attempts of 10-plus yards downfield with one touchdown and five interceptions. On throws 20-plus yards, that percentage dropped to 6.7 percent (1-15) with a touchdown and four picks.

Now that’s ugly.  Good luck with that, Brent Pease.

By the way, I don’t know if this ESPN stats post brought KC Joyner’s epic defense of John Brantley to mind, but it should have.  That’s some good stuff, there.

“It gets personal.”

Methinks something is getting to Mark Richt.

When asked if there was a particular game circled in red on the Bulldogs’ calendar, Richt smiled and said, “I would never tell you. It’s just motivation for the other team.”

But he did say some unnamed games are “personal.”

“Over the years, it has become more personal,” he said. “I was at FSU for 15 years and … I wasn’t mad at anybody. We were winning. Now that I’ve been in this league for 11 seasons of football, it gets personal.”

Has it gotten personal because he doesn’t like losing?  Or is it because of something more… well, personal?

I hope at the end of the season we’re all cracking jokes about opponents not liking Mark Richt when he gets angry.