War between the states

Well, this is interesting.

Saying that a new Texas law allowing child welfare providers to deny adoptions to parents based on “sincerely held religious beliefs” is discriminatory, California’s attorney general on Thursday banned state-funded travel to Texas.

… Alabama, Kentucky and South Dakota were also added to the list of states with California travel bans. It’s not immediately clear what the economic impact of the decision will have on Texas.

… One of the key consequences could involve higher education — and college sports in particular. Researchers and staff members from universities often travel to Texas for conferences. And California college sports teams play in Texas fairly regularly. Several major sports bowl games and tournaments are played here — including the men’s college basketball Final Four in San Antonio in 2018. The University of California, Los Angeles played a road football game at Texas A&M University last season. The University of California, Berkeley played at the University of Texas at Austin a year earlier.

The California law allows for exceptions for contracts that are already in place, and it’s unclear whether the state’s teams would be banned from playing in the Final Four. But the Los Angeles Times reported in February that UCLA has stopped scheduling games against teams in banned states.

North Carolina’s bathroom ban caught the NCAA’s attention, as we know.  Texas dodged that particular bullet (at least for the moment).  But here we are with a boycott on a new front.  Will California’s move generate any traction with the NCAA regarding next year’s Final Four?  Who knows?  Although I expect Emmert will get questions about that now.

***********************************************************************

UPDATE:  It’s not just about Texas.

Advertisements

“… the looming prospect of a PAC wearing a big yellow hat…”

Alabama vs. Auburn, don’t ever change.

The linked piece is a fun read, even if I shook my head after this part:

Alabama is considered the stodgier, more football-centric school. Auburn, which is a national powerhouse on the football field as well, fancies itself a little more bookish and likes to tout its engineering program.

Okay, that was a fun read, too.  As in side-splitting…

Much ado about Kirby’s Law

Let’s recap.  Kirby Smart is hired in December, 2015, stays with Alabama through the CFP while managing his new job in his spare time, finally gets to Athens to put on a full court press through national signing day, then turns his attention to running a program, preparing for spring practice and somehow in the middle of that mad rush finds the time to help Greg McGarity lobby the state legislature to pass an open records bill.

You’d think the timing suggests that was kind of a high priority, but Georgia’s head coach wants you to know it was no big deal.

Smart was asked if his program has benefited from the law—which doesn’t include salaries of non-clerical staff.

“I don’t think it’s had much of an effect,” Smart said. “You’d have to ask these guys (beat reporters). They send in FOI (Freedom of Information) requests all the time. They might know, but I don’t think there’s been any major benefit for us.”

So if that’s the case, Smart was asked if the law is something should be repealed at some point?

“I’ll be honest with you that’s not a major concern for me and it wasn’t a major concern when it was put in” said Smart, who has downplayed his involvement with what some have referred to as Kirby’s law after he spoke to lawmakers about it. “To me, it allows our staff to get the paperwork together and answer questions and do it in a time-wise manner.”

Lord knows, Butts-Mehre operates on the assumption that it can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, so maybe Smart has a point there.  Except if you have even the slightest lick of sense, you know the real reason UGA pushed for the new law.

And in that regard, it’s been quite the success.

One reporter who covers another school who is working on a story sought information via open records from every SEC school. Every public SEC school (not including Vanderbilt, which is private) has provided the records that were sought except for Georgia because the 90 days had not yet been reached.

That may not garner you any conference championships, friends, but don’t think that doesn’t smell like winning to Greg McGarity.

No thugs in our house

As cynical as I am about the need for a campus carry law, I have to admit I never thought of this scenario.

There are still uncertainties with the law such as if guns would be permitted inside the football locker room in the Butts-Mehre building.

“I haven’t had that question answered yet so I wouldn’t want to speak for our system or general counsel,” UGA president Jere Morehead said Thursday after the Athletic Association’s spring meeting. “I can’t imagine why that would be.”

Added athletic director Greg McGarity: “We have to define in our building what areas are or are not. We’re not there yet.”

For once, I can appreciate his reluctance.  But, even given the world we live in, it’s hard to think of going from Richt dismissing Isaiah Crowell over a (later dismissed) gun charge to not being able to do a damned thing about players carrying in a locker room without shaking one’s head.

Today, in what could go wrong?

Jere Morehead just passed along the official statement from the University System Chancellor regarding the new campus carry law.  Key language:

… Even license-holders may not carry a handgun into the following locations on college/university-owned or leased property:

• Buildings and property used for athletic sporting events.  This exception includes stadiums, gymnasiums and similar facilities in which intercollegiate games are staged (but does not extend to so-called “tailgating” areas where fans may congregate outside the gates of the sports facility)…  [Emphasis added.]

Stay wary, my friends.  Especially after a long day of drinking.

So, who will be the first to offer Bulldog-themed bullet-proof vests?  Could be a big seller.

“But the sensationalism of the discussion is quite disturbing to me.”

By now, I assume most of you are aware that Governor Deal has signed the campus carry law.  As usual, you can’t count on the General Assembly to pass something coherently written, and there is already plenty of discussion about how the law will be applied and enforced.

In the law, one of the excluded places for concealed weapons includes “buildings or property used for athletic sporting events.”

But those eight words, written in line 26 of House Bill 280, could be interpreted in different ways.

One scenario has raised an interesting question for Georgia: Given the fact that up to 100,000 fans, if not more, partake in tailgating festivities many hours before kickoff, how will the law be interpreted on its campus for a Saturday football game?

Georgia’s athletics department is unclear whether this law will strictly mean that guns are disallowed inside venues such as Sanford Stadium or if they will be banned from all tailgating sites. The University System of Georgia and attorneys likely are still sorting out the best way to enact the new law.

Athletics director Greg McGarity was reached twice during the past five days since the signing of the law and said he isn’t sure of the details yet. The University System of Georgia Regents declined further comment on the topic.

Two of HB 280’s sponsors, Rep. Mandi Ballinger (R-Canton) and Rep. Rick Jasperse (R-Jasper), did not respond to requests to comment. Deal’s office didn’t respond to multiple requests for clarification on the language either.

An opponent of the law, Rep. Scott Holcomb (D-Atlanta), said the phrasing is “100 percent unclear” and that it could wind up in litigation not too long after it goes into effect July 1.

“They use the term ‘athletic sporting events’ and ‘property used for athletic sporting events,’ ” Holcomb said. “One could definitely say, ‘Where people park is property used for athletic sporting events.’ Someone else could argue, ‘No, it’s just where the sporting event itself takes place.’ It’s not well constructed at all. It’s really poorly drafted.”

Lot of “no comment” there.  Well, except for this dude.

Rep. Alan Powell (R-Hartwell), one of the six HB 280 sponsors, later said in a speech that Trammell was exaggerating his claim while stating a joke.

“Not everybody starts drinking corn liquor at 5 o’clock in the morning to go to the ballgame,” Powell said. “A lot of us quit doing that when we were in college. And then a lot of us learned there was something better than corn liquor, and it was called bonded whiskey.

I’m not worried about the folks drinking bonded whiskey, fella.  It’s the people abusing Fireball and Natty Light who are more of a concern.  Especially if they’re likely to mix with opposing fan bases after a long day of imbibing.  Hey, maybe there’s something after all to be said for those noon starts.

Bottom line:  choose your tailgating spot prudently.

Today, in bungled metaphors

Regardless where you find yourself on the political scale, you ought to recognize this as the kind of moronic quote you get from politicians who don’t follow sports closely, but try to act like they do.

.@Reince exiting gop cloakroom tells me: "The president stepped up and helped punt the ball into the end zone."

— Molly Hooper (@mollyhooper) May 4, 2017

Touchback!