Willie Martinez: "I Came Close"

Georgia's embattled defensive coordinator Willie Martinez says he almost departed the Bulldogs to join Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio, a long-time friend. This was five years ago when Dantonio was at Cincinnati and Martinez was Georgia's defensive backs coach. The Georgia coordinator not only admits he came close to leaving then, but that he's had other opportunities to leave Athens since that time that were even more difficult to turn down. Really, now. Wow. Just think, Dawg Nation, Willie could be standing on that Spartan sideline at the Capital One Bowl facing the Bulldogs. What a shadow fate can cast...

C.C. Sabathia: "Cash Cash"

The mighty Yankees have struck again. Have pen, will write big check! Free Agent C.C Sabathia signed with the New York Yankees yesterday for $161 million over seven years. The largest contract ever awarded to a starting pitcher (you know, they don't play everyday!), and the fourth largest contract in Major League Baseball history. There's no recession is the 'Big Leagues' baby! Perhaps the big three auto makers should have gone to MLB for their bail-out request instead of Congress. At least he Yanks have money to burn. One aspect of this contract that I found interesting was that Sabathia has an 'opt-out' clause after three years. This means that at the three year mark he will have the option of remaining with New York or signing with another team. In other words, he can be a free agent again at that point, giving him a shorter stint with the Yankees if he finds his stay there not as burgeoning as his bank account. That sounds like to me that he really would have preferred signing with another club now, but that almighty dollar was tugging him harder that a new jock strap. That's because his next closest deal was by the Brewers for only $100 million over five years. Incidentally, the Yankees initial offer was for $140 million. So you bump your own offer $21 million when you're the lead dog anyway? Go figure... I guess MLB is really just "the Yankees' World", and all the other clubs are just livin' in it!

Auburn Alumni & Students Protest!

A throng of Auburn University students and alumni marched across campus to the president's mansion (see above) to protest the handling of the Tommy Tubberville situation. They sang the school's fight song, at least those who could remember it did, and chanted we want "Tubs"! Also, in a related manner, two wives of AU assistant coaches call out the university on the issue, one even going as far as to accuse 'Bama's Nick Saban of paying recruits. Have you ever...? The Tide and the Tigers are at it again! It's a shame they both can't lose in this thing! Or can they...

Just A Little Bowl Talk...

O.K., I'll go along with Florida versus Oklahoma for the National Championship. There is still reasonable debate on that point, but they just very well might be the two best teams in college football. It should really be a game to look forward to. But after that, oh brother! For example, if the Gators and the Sooners are one and two, then Texas and Alabama have to be three and four (which they are in the BCS). Why not pit those two teams in another terrific match-up in a particular bowl. Any bowl for crying out loud. Have a pecking order that rotates each year. If we're never going to have a playoff, at least get some great games lined up in the bowls. And for goodness sake, put an end to the conference tie-ups and affiliations with certain bowls. I can't imagine the Orange Bowl being ecstatic about having Virginia Tech playing Cincinnati. But being locked in with the fabulous Atlantic Coast Conference, they are stuck with a FOUR loss conference champ Vaaaa Tech. The grand ole Orange Bowl with a four loss team...mercy! I would have figured that four loss teams would play in something like the GM/Ford/Chrysler Bail-Out Bowl, but not one of the "Grandaddys". Is Ole Miss the best the Cotton Bowl could come up to face explosive Texas Tech? And does Southern Cal have to play in the Rose Bowl practically every year? And always against the Big Ten? That venue would sell out every year with any great match-up from any section of the country. Put the football in it, and get the politics out of it. Everyone will make their millions anyway, so why not appease the fans? At least get the top ten or twelve teams interestingly competing in the top five or six bowls. If that got accomplished, I'll ventue to say more of the 'other' bowls would have better pairings. But what we have is what we will continue to have because the 'need for greed' is far too great.

Capital One Bowl

The Georgia Bulldogs will meet the Michigan State Spartans on New Years Day in the newest edition of the Capital One Bowl. Bowl officials selected Georgia over Ole Miss, and Michigan State over Northwestern and Iowa. It will be a match-up of the Southeastern Conference against the Big Ten Conference. Both the Bulldogs as well as the Spartans are 9-3. The two teams last met in the Gator Bowl on January 1, 1989, in a game Georgia faithful remember as Vince Dooley's last game as Bulldog head coach. The Dawgs defeated the Spartans 34-27. This year's game will feature two of the country's premier running backs in State's Javon Ringer and Georgia's Knowshon Moreno. The Capital One Bowl has the largest payout of any non-BCS bowl at $4.75 million per team. After finishing last season at 7-6, Michigan State looks at the Capital One Bowl as a step forward in their rebuilding process. As for Georgia, after going into this season with visions of playing in the National Championship game, this invitation might seem somewhat of a letdown. However, if I were the Bulldogs, I would be elated to be going to the Capital One Bowl after the way they played the second half of the year. That is the reason the bowl looked so hard at Ole Miss, because they finished the season so much stronger than did Georgia. With that said, it will be interesting to see if Mark Richt can have his troops regrouped and playing more aggressively and with more discipline by New Years Day.

Florida 31 - Alabama 20

The SEC championship game did not disappoint us. By far, the two best teams in the SEC, as well as, two of the best teams in the country, squared off and punched and counter-punched all night. The outcome was not determined until very late in the fourth quarter, and the game was much closer than the eleven point margin of victory. It was great to see two teams so well prepared, so well coached, and so disciplined show up and perform in one of the nation's most anticipated match-ups of the entire college football season. The level of intensity and desire to win was evident with both teams. The SEC was very well represented and showcased Saturday afternoon. I get tired of the media's hallowed admiration of Florida's Tim Tebow, but I must admit, there is not a better leader of a team in the nation than is he. Tebow simply would not let his team be defeated. On the other sideline, no one expected Nick Saban to have the Crimson Tide playing at this level in only his second year at Alabama. They just picked the absolute worst time to suffer their first loss of the season. One would have to admit that below these two top-notched programs, the level of play in the SEC dropped off considerably this year. Alabama and Florida are just that much better than everyone else in the conference. I know that Georgia lost to both of these teams during the regular season, and they would have lost to either of them yesterday as well. The Gators and Tide have raised the bar to a new level, and Georgia, Tennessee, LSU, Auburn and everyone else must improved tremendously to compete at that same level.

Herschel and His Heisman

On this date in history, December 5th, 1982, Herschel Walker won the prestigious Heisman Trophy, beating out John Elway and Eric Dickerson.

The "Juice" Ain't Loose Anymore

Judge Jackie Glass did today in Nevada what college and professional football defenses were not able to do very often, and that is stop O.J. Simpson. After imposing such a varied series of concurrent and consecutive sentences that even lawyers had difficulty breaking it down, it has finally been deduced that the earliest Mr. Simpson could be released from jail would be after his 70th birthday. He is 61 years old now. Judge Glass, known for a no-nonsense approach, as well as for dishing out tough sentences, was strictly business today. She began the day by denying Simpson the privilege of wearing street clothes to the sentencing, and ended it by denying him bond pending an appeal. These two denials meant that O.J. Simpson exited the courtroom in shackles and a blue jumpsuit and headed directly to prison. Do not pass 'GO', do not collect $200. Simpson had been convicted on October 3rd of 12 criminal charges, including kidnapping and armed robbery.

SEC Coaching: Hazardous Work Environment

Caution. Beware. Proceed Slowly. The football coaching profession in the Southeastern Conference can get nasty in a hurry. In a 'New York Minute' as we say in the South. Cases in point: Tommy Tubberville has a very commendable ten year track record at Auburn University, goes 7-3 against cross state rival Alabama, and is only four years removed from an undefeated season. One down year and GONE. Phillip Fulmer goes to the SEC Championship game exactly one year ago. One down year and GONE. Charlie Weiss posts Notre Dame's worst record in forever, preceded by less than spectacular years. Several down years and NOT GONE. Sylvester Croome does a commendable job at arguably the hardest place to win in the SEC. GONE. Les Miles, you had a down year. CAUTION. Mark Richt, your program came up short of expectations. CAUTION. The coaching life span in the SEC is getting shorter than a Brett Favre retirement. If you don't believe that, consider that Mark Richt is now the dean of the conference's coaches at their present school. This is the end of his eight campaign. Now don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not jumping on the Tubberville-Fulmer-Croome bandwagons. All of my SEC concerns begin and end in Athens, Georgia. However, I did believe that Tommy especially would weather this insanity storm. He has been through all of this before at AU. He would have had the 'ole War Eagle flying straight by this time next year. I don't really think Saban would have hung six more in a row on Tubs. No way. Now you've got to start all over with a new guy. Recover recruiting, get new coaches, learn a new system. Wow, that's a load. But don't bother calling Tommy back now to admit you made a gigantic mistake. He's already deposited the first of two installments from that gigantic payoff you had to come up with. He says he's going to hang around Auburn for awhile. Will that be like having an ex-spouse move in next door to you? Some shadow he'll be casting over the sleepy little town on the Plains! I wouldn't think it's a cost of living issue with him; he can live in a lot of better places than Auburn, Alabama (you've seen one trailer park, you've seen 'em all!) with that lottery ticket he just hit. But that's life in the vicious SEC. You can't win it all every year, but you sure better stay competitive and win the ones you're supposed to when you're supposed to. And that ain't that easy in that conference. Just proceed with caution, there's a big financial booster lurking behind every loss.

Tubberville Out at Auburn

The Birmingham News is reporting that Auburn has fired Head Coach Tommy Tubberville. The Tigers finished the season with a 5-7 record, the worst in Tubberville's ten year run on The Plains. He led Auburn to an undefeated season only four years ago, and had won six straight games against bitter rival Alabama before this year's Crimson Tide 36-0 thrashing. Coach 'Tubs' was 85-49 overall, was Auburn's fourth longest tenured coach, and was fourth in wins all-time. According to the terms of his contract, Auburn must pay him $3 million in 30 days, and another $3 million within one year. Along with Phil Fulmer, Tubberville is proof that when the powerful, influential, big contributing alumni and boosters want you out, you're out. Huge contract settlements are no deterrent to your ouster. It's just a matter of what have you done lately. It does not matter if you're Les Miles, Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, or Mark Richt, if and when you fail to bring home a trophy in a matter of a few years, you're history. They can stick a fork in you, 'cause you're done. You let Mark Richt's troops continue to play 'soft' and settle into a state of mediocrity over a couple more seasons, and he will be out at Georgia just as quick as Phil and Tommy. It's the nature of the game. It's a big money game, and where the stakes are high, the risks are just as high as well. Back to Auburn, I don't think they would have kicked Tubberville out this year unless that had very good reason to believe that Texas Tech's Mike Leach would take that vacated seat. Just a gut feeling...Anyway, good luck Tommy Tubberville. You and Fulmer keep rolling those sevens. And don't get rid of your agents, they gotta be two of the best in the business with those payouts they set up for you two!

Mike Hampton: We Hardly Even Knew You!

Mike Hampton reportedly will become a member of the Houston Astros this Wednesday. If he follows his normal progression of the past six-plus seasons, he will become a member of the Astros injured reserve in early to mid 2009. Hampton was paid $48.5 million over six seasons, while starting a booming 85 games for the Braves and recording a whopping 35-24 record with a voluminous 4.10 ERA. Allow me to break it on down for you: That comes out to $570,000 per start, $1.39 million per victory, and $95,160 per inning. He did manage to start 13 games for the Braves last season, going 3-4 with a 4.85 ERA. This did include eight quality starts with only a 3.72 ERA in his last nine games. So now he's out of Atlanta and that shouldn't cause anyone any concern over a guy you couldn't count on to make his scheduled starts anyway. Right? Not quite, and here's why: The Braves actually offered Hampton more than Houston did, and now that he is finally, supposedly healthy, he bolts the Braves. Come on 'Mash Unit Mike', give Atlanta at least a chance to make back some of that rotten investment. Professional athletes always talk about the lack of loyalty from ownership. That's probably true, but that street runs both ways boys. Go ahead Hampton, and carry your injury-proned rear end to Houston. Good luck passing that Tuesday physical exam. It will be the first one you will have been able to pass in many off-seasons. Mike Hampton, you're already forgotten in Atlanta. After all, we hardly even knew you!

Hey Plax, If You Can't find Trouble,Hang Lose Buddy and It Will Find You!

Plaxico, rule number one is if you're gonna own a firearm, know how to use it. Rule number one enables you not to break rule number two, which is never shoot your own stupid self. Rule number three says possess the firearm in a state/city where it is permissible, New York City not being one of those locales. As a matter of fact the Big Apple carries a MANDATORY three-and -half-year jail sentence for unpermitted and concealed firearms. Wow! Since you don't seem to enjoy practicing with Eli, perhaps you and Mike Vick can toss it around the pen together! You two must really be afraid of heights, because once both of you got to the top, ya'll dropped like the Dow Jones. Ole Gump's mom was right, "Stupid is as Stupid does"! And this guy you are definitely not: