Thursday morning buffet

There’s always something to spoon onto your plate.

• Here’s something you don’t see every day – ESPN is suing Notre Dame.
• Ed Orgeron’s voice mail sounds like Ed Orgeron’s voice mail.
• Which colleges spend the most and least on men’s athletics recruiting?
• “The NCAA has surrendered.”  Yeah, that’s the lesson you want Penn State supporters to learn from the Sandusky/Emmert debacle.
• It’s time to acknowledge that Old Spurrier is now a full-blown meme.
• Gentry Estes lists five Georgia players on the spot for spring practice.
• After football, UAB prepares to plead for its Conference USA life.
• Evidently we should be careful throwing stones at the Patriots for deflating footballs.
• The NCAA spent more on Congressional lobbying in 2014 than it did in the three previous years combined.  Gee, I wonder why.

“But that’s history now and away we go.”

It sounds like Steve Spurrier has settled on the “age ain’t nothin’ but a number” approach to deal with negativity on the recruiting trail.

Spurrier isn’t oblivious to the fact that his age is also being used against him in recruiting and that his statement back in December that he might be on the “two- to three-year plan” scared off some recruits.

“That’s how we lost a few this year, people telling recruits that, ‘Coach has about had it or you never know who’s going to be your coach,’ if you go to South Carolina,” Spurrier said. “My response is that the vice president [Joe Biden] is older than me. Heck, Hillary Clinton. … We’re about two years apart from each other [in age], and she’s thinking about running for president. What I have to do is quit telling myself my age number. In life, if a person looks old and acts old and talks old, then he’s probably old.

“Sometimes, you just have to forget the number on your age and physically and mentally see where you’re at, and that sort of determines your ability to function. I know I’ve got a lot left in me to keep coaching.”

Maybe he’ll stump for her on the campaign trail.  Although, being in South Carolina, it might have been more discrete for Spurrier to compare his age to Reagan’s when he ran for president.

Today’s Spurrier pearl

This is true.

Steve Spurrier: "Some day we're all going to have big, fancy beautiful facilities, and guess what? Somebody is still going to lose."

— Josh Kendall (@JoshatTheState) January 8, 2015

Ah, but if only someone had spent just a little more…

Just because he’s losing doesn’t mean you’re winning.

If South Carolina went 1-11, Spurrier would still be wise-assing it, as long as the one win was over Georgia.

Steve Spurrier: "Georgia probably has been most consistent team in East. Well, maybe they haven’t, heck we've beat them 4 out of 5 years."

— Josh Kendall (@JoshatTheState) January 8, 2015

I wonder what the quip will be when he hears about Georgia hiring “Young Schotty”.

Never gonna give it up.

Spurrier regrets 2-3 year comment. Should have stuck to 4-5 years.

— GamecockCentral.com (@GamecockCentral) December 17, 2014

Spurrier says He's back on the 4-5 plan. Tanner recommended adding another year to his contract.

— GamecockCentral.com (@GamecockCentral) December 17, 2014

I guess that means he plans on coaching until he’s dead.  Talk about a program held hostage.  Recruiting, for the win!

“… I could get in a car wreck, but I’m definitely planning on being back.”

The head coach of the 6-6 South Carolina Gamecocks announces he will return in the same position in 2015.

My favorite thing about the article is that it wasn’t worth the effort to get a comment from the AD.

This is the season of Spurrier’s discontent.

You probably heard about the OBC’s brief presser after the overtime loss to Tennessee, but if you haven’t seen it, it’s something to behold.

Give him credit – he doesn’t spare himself from criticism.

I know he fully intends to coach again next season.  But you wonder how long he can put up with mediocrity.  Hell, just for the ‘Cocks to become bowl eligible this year, they’ll either have to beat Florida or Clemson, neither of which is exactly a given at this point.

It’s going to be interesting watching him this offseason.