“And I was smart enough to say, ‘If you can’t make it at quarterback, you could be a heck of a tight end…’”

Yeah, Mark Richt was such a maroon for suggesting that to Cam Newton… oh, wait.

Fran Tarkenton speaks for you and me.

By my count, Fran the Man manages to use the words “we” “our” and “us” eighteen times in four paragraphs of quotes.

In related news, I’ve decided to end my Georgia coverage here at GTP in light of Tarkenton’s emergence as the spokesperson for the fan base.  My thoughts are obviously unnecessary and I wouldn’t want to undercut the official message.

I do feel a little sore about missing the vote putting him in charge.  There was a vote, right?

Seriously, why is he getting so much air time at the AJ-C these days?

You don’t stay rich spending your own money.

Sheldon Adelson proposes building a $1.2 billion domed stadium for UNLV football, requiring a mere two-thirds of the cost to be covered through public funding.

Hey, it never hurts to ask, right?

According the 22-page presentation, legislative action would be required to establish a budget and funding formula for the public financing. Lawmakers would need to authorize creation of a Stadium Authority Board to oversee the 42-acre site.

Enabling legislation for a “fee”-based source of public revenue is required for the $780 million in public money.

Putting fee in quote marks is a nice touch.  They’re dumbasses if they agree to it, but being dumb is what makes politics go ’round, so I wouldn’t bet against it.

“Number one, easily.”

This is such a great story on a number of levels.

That’s what happened to Buford High School senior Brandon Sudge Friday night, except for one minor detail. He didn’t just experience it . He literally went on an official visit to Georgia. But how did Sudge, diagnosed with cerebral palsy after an injury that occurred at birth, end up spending Friday evening with some of The Bulldogs’ most high-priority targets?

Well, that’s largely due to the efforts of one of those targets, Hinds Community College (Raymond, Miss.) wide receiver Javon Wims, and Georgia head coach Kirby Smart.

“Javon had been a guy that had always answered interview questions for me, as I’m a writer for SicEmDawgs.com. I’m a high school senior with a disability, so I’m going through the college process as well and having to endure physical challenges daily,” Sudge told Dawgs247 via text message. “A couple weeks back, I had tweeted out a video of myself walking independently, as it had been the first time walking that length of distance in my lifetime. Javon kept saying how inspiring that was to him and how he would like for me to go to dinner with him and coach Smart on his official visit. He showed the video to coach Smart and then Kirby contacted Jess Simpson, the Buford head football coach. (I had been the football manager the past four years), and they got it set up in order to where I could make it an ‘official visit’ of my own, as I registered through NCAA eligibility.”

The visit wasn’t “official” by NCAA standards only. Sudge says that the Georgia coaching staff made sure of that. Entering the trip to Athens expecting to be able to stand to the side and soak it all in, something he’d have been happy to do, Sudge’s experience was completely different.

He was treated as if he were a four-star prospect with the ability to play a key role in Smart’s first year as UGA’s head coach.

“We walked into the reception area and every coach came up and greeted us as well as the recruits. Then throughout this period, each coach would come back over to us and try to get to know us more. Coach Smart introduced me to Javon, and his actions and ways of care really showed his utmost class, and that will bring great things to this university. He spoke with me for a solid hour before heading to Sanford.”

That Smart took the time during the home recruiting stretch and that Wims made the effort he did tells you that while Mark Richt may be gone, class still remains within the football program.  Well done, gentlemen.

“Their football team is their priority.”

Boy, when it comes to Title IX, Baylor makes FSU look like a bunch of pikers.

This is a perfect, albeit nauseating, summary:

In the Ukwuachu case, the university had actually conducted a Title IX investigation. It cleared him. Two months before Ukwuachu’s trial, the football team’s defensive coordinator, Phil Bennett, told a crowd at a luncheon that he expected Ukwuachu to play in the 2015 season.

Ukwuachu, through his attorney, declined a request for an interview with Outside the Lines. He issued a lengthy statement in which he said he was falsely accused and that he did not receive a fair trial. He said his accuser lied repeatedly about what had happened, and prosecutors presented false evidence during his trial.

“Do not criticize Baylor University or my former coaches,” he wrote. “A Baylor University investigation cleared me and allowed me to graduate because they caught my accuser in multiple lies pertaining to the events that happened the night of the alleged incident as well as our previous encounter during their investigation.”

LaBorde, the McLennan County assistant district attorney, said Baylor’s investigation — which was not provided to Outside the Lines — faulted the soccer player for having been friends with Ukwuachu and having twice gone over to his apartment before the night on which she reported the rape.

“I have no explanation for [Baylor’s lack of action] other than it’s just some 1940s mentality of how women should behave,” she said. “If they’re sitting around and waiting for a victim who has been pulled off the jogging path and raped by a stranger wearing a trench coat, they’re going to be waiting for a long time.”

She said Baylor officials didn’t request certain records or interview sources who might have provided better evidence.

Baylor’s shiny new Title IX coordinator says it’s all better now.  Kinda sorta, anyway.

“I can’t speculate from the past. I wasn’t in the room. I wasn’t there. I do know that, in the world of Title IX … we don’t have certain powers that criminal process and a justice process has,” she said.

Just win, baby.  Just win.

As the driven snow

I missed the news on this when it first came out…

Recent discussions surrounding the marketing and lucrative branding deals of college athletics have often focused on power conference schools such as the University of Maryland and the University of Wisconsin. Perhaps for the first time, however, an Ivy League institution can be added to the list of schools translating amateur athletics into major money.

Reportedly valued at $16.5 million over the course of 10 years starting July 1, the new deal is much larger than all previous or current deals at other Ivy League schools, according to Yale Intercollegiate Equipment Operations Lead Assistant Jeffrey Torre. Yale athletics administrators explained the magnitude of the deal by noting that it will go beyond providing the Bulldogs with apparel and equipment: Under Armour and Yale plan to build on each other’s strong market presence to further extend the reach of their own brands.

“If you sell both Notre Dame and Yale T-shirts in … other countries, I put our brand up against any other one,” Yale Associate Athletics Director Marketing and Licensing Patrick O’Neill said. “We will help [Under Armour] internationally.”

… but when you’ve got an Ivy League athletic director boasting about the school’s brand, the war is over, man.

It’s hard to argue with Sonny Vaccaro when he says, “The Ivy League has lost its virginity. What it shows me is there is no more amateurism. I would love to know where Jim Delany is going to go that’s pure.”