Thank you to all of the brave service men and women who defend — and have defended — our country and freedom. Without your service we would not have all that we have today. Here’s a Shout Out to America!
But, thanks to those freedoms, it seems like a few players and coaches were taking their first amendment rights a little too far this past week.
Clemson took some time out of their busy schedule to remind South Carolina that they actually went to a BCS bowl game. I feel like Clemson should be able to beat their in-state rival before they start slinging grenades down to Columbia. As a Florida fan, I would much rather beat Georgia or Florida State and then lose the bowl game (unless it’s a national championship). Give Steve Spurrier a few days to retaliate, I’m sure he is learning how to create a Twitter account.
In other news, ‘free agent’ wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham committed to the Oklahoma Sooners (as a transfer) after visiting them this week following his dismissal from the Missouri Tigers. I guess he really missed playing in the Big 12. Or maybe he just likes the new Big 12 logo they created. The conference seems to be in the headlines this week, but I really only want news from them when they add two more teams to actually make it to 12.
Looks like Arkansas’ head coach Bret Bielema wanted to be in the headlines this week, also. He called the move of Green-Beckham something he would “never do.” In other words he doesn’t take players with character issues. Someone needs to get him the memo that he’s not in the B1G (Wisconsin) anymore, he’s in the SEC. And in order to play there, you need a little ‘nasty’ streak to win.
On a somber note, Auburn’s former tight end Philip Lutzenkirchen passed away this week as a result of a car accident. Always sad to hear things like this — our thoughts and prayers go out to his family. In his memory, here is one of his top plays while playing at Auburn.
For the rest of the summer, we’ll speculate about what happens in the Ed O’Bannon-led antitrust suit against the NCAA. It’s all over now and we’ll soon get the verdict — and later on an appeal. Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated wrote a great piece about how the NCAA basically mishandled their whole defense and deserved to lose. He also wrote how Marcus Mariota would have been a great witness for the NCAA. Take some time to read it, and leave some thoughts if you could.
Another thought about paying college athletes — all summer during the off season you saw news of players being arrested for drugs, DUI, fraud, domestic violence, etc. Look, it is a very disturbing list to see what trouble some of these players get into, and now you want to give them some extra money on the side. IMHO, that surely won’t end well!
I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July weekend. I know that we’re less than 2 months away from the season, but once that first ball is kicked, all this off-season drama will be put on the back burner and then the playoff drama begins. So, we are all looking forward to Sat, Aug 30, against South Dakota in Eugene, Ore., at 7:30 p.m. Don’t be late!
Main photo courtesy of Amerigo Vespucci
National News:
1. Week 1 upset
2. Elite players to watch
3. The Final College Football Mailbag
4. Paterno family going after NCAA
5. Tough Texas Tech cheerleader
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Jeff Hostetler may not have won a Super Bowl with the Giants ( though his uncle of the same name did). He has been an obsessed college football fan living in Florida ever since the Gators beat FSU in the Sugar Bowl to earn the UF’s first national championship.
Ever since Jeff has immersed himself in everything possible related to college football. He enjoys watching, writing, playing, and otherwise obsessing over all things football. A graduate of the University of Florida, he brings a perspective to FishDuck free of our extreme green & yellow homerism glasses to look at the current landscape of collegiate athletics.