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CECIL HURT: There is a reason for all the SEC bashing by other leagues
By Cecil Hurt
Sports Editor
Published: Thursday, July 24, 2014 at 11:00 p.m.
Not all wishes come true. Sometimes, a starry-eyed child rushes down the steps on Christmas and finds the vintage Alabama football jersey he asked Santa Claus for has become a Bill Curry-era Cliff Engle sweater made of a particular itchy wool. Disappointments are part of life.
So when I wished, a couple of days ago, the dialogue in the college football world could turn to the actual season that starts in just over a month, I knew the odds of that happening weren't great. But the extent to which that hasn't happened over the course of the week has been remarkable even for a cynic. In every league that has followed the SEC in holding its media days, and in trekking up to Bristol to appear on various ESPN platforms, there has been little talk of what is ahead and a constant barrage of swipes at the SEC. Even a hardened cynic couldn't help notice it.
Now, SEC Media Days wasn't a week of unremitting entertainment and brilliant quotes. But at no point during the proceedings did any SEC coach come in and spend more time bashing another league instead of discussing their own conference. SEC coaches talked about the SEC. So did everyone else.
To be fair, the primary offender at ACC Media Days was Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston. In the wake of his bizarre Heisman acceptance speech and other public pronouncements, no one considers him a polished spokesperson for anything other than his astronomical theory that the planets, stars and galaxies revolve exclusively around Jameis Winston.
But at the Big 12 meetings, and on ESPN, Bob Stoops could seemingly talk of nothing else except the SEC. He spent his time at Bristol alternately seeking validation from Alabama for Oklahoma's Sugar Bowl win, and bizarrely attacking Texas A&M's nonconference schedule, which is admittedly made up of teams the Aggies will beat about as badly as they beat Oklahoma in their most recent meeting. I understand why Stoops would want to sprint past questions about Dorial Green-Beckham like he was running a 4.3 40, but if you are going to review nonconference scheduling, you might want to mention Big 12 champion Baylor as well.
The Pac-12 followed that up with Rick Neuheisel, coaching failure turned Pac-12 network commentator, pounding away at the SEC's November scheduling and hinting at a Mike Slive conspiracy.
Now, there is a reason for all this, aside from simple jealousy.
This is a new day in college football. We are steaming straight ahead, like the Titanic at the iceberg, into a postseason where the participants in the championship playoff will be chosen by a committee. There are no objective criteria in place, just the votes of 13 people. And when an issue is going to be decided by partisan voting (and it will be partisan), the way things are done in America means it will lead to one thing.
Lobbying.
That's all these other leagues are doing. They are so fearful the committee will actually pick the four best teams (don't worry, they won't) and the SEC may have more than one of those teams, they are lobbying as hard as they can before the season is even played. They are planting seeds for their own leagues they hope to harvest in November. There is nothing wrong with that, as far as it goes. You might think they would concentrate on their own teams, and playing good football. But why talk about that — when you can bash?
CECIL HURT: There is a reason for all the SEC bashing by other leagues
By Cecil Hurt
Sports Editor
Published: Thursday, July 24, 2014 at 11:00 p.m.
Not all wishes come true. Sometimes, a starry-eyed child rushes down the steps on Christmas and finds the vintage Alabama football jersey he asked Santa Claus for has become a Bill Curry-era Cliff Engle sweater made of a particular itchy wool. Disappointments are part of life.
So when I wished, a couple of days ago, the dialogue in the college football world could turn to the actual season that starts in just over a month, I knew the odds of that happening weren't great. But the extent to which that hasn't happened over the course of the week has been remarkable even for a cynic. In every league that has followed the SEC in holding its media days, and in trekking up to Bristol to appear on various ESPN platforms, there has been little talk of what is ahead and a constant barrage of swipes at the SEC. Even a hardened cynic couldn't help notice it.
Now, SEC Media Days wasn't a week of unremitting entertainment and brilliant quotes. But at no point during the proceedings did any SEC coach come in and spend more time bashing another league instead of discussing their own conference. SEC coaches talked about the SEC. So did everyone else.
To be fair, the primary offender at ACC Media Days was Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston. In the wake of his bizarre Heisman acceptance speech and other public pronouncements, no one considers him a polished spokesperson for anything other than his astronomical theory that the planets, stars and galaxies revolve exclusively around Jameis Winston.
But at the Big 12 meetings, and on ESPN, Bob Stoops could seemingly talk of nothing else except the SEC. He spent his time at Bristol alternately seeking validation from Alabama for Oklahoma's Sugar Bowl win, and bizarrely attacking Texas A&M's nonconference schedule, which is admittedly made up of teams the Aggies will beat about as badly as they beat Oklahoma in their most recent meeting. I understand why Stoops would want to sprint past questions about Dorial Green-Beckham like he was running a 4.3 40, but if you are going to review nonconference scheduling, you might want to mention Big 12 champion Baylor as well.
The Pac-12 followed that up with Rick Neuheisel, coaching failure turned Pac-12 network commentator, pounding away at the SEC's November scheduling and hinting at a Mike Slive conspiracy.
Now, there is a reason for all this, aside from simple jealousy.
This is a new day in college football. We are steaming straight ahead, like the Titanic at the iceberg, into a postseason where the participants in the championship playoff will be chosen by a committee. There are no objective criteria in place, just the votes of 13 people. And when an issue is going to be decided by partisan voting (and it will be partisan), the way things are done in America means it will lead to one thing.
Lobbying.
That's all these other leagues are doing. They are so fearful the committee will actually pick the four best teams (don't worry, they won't) and the SEC may have more than one of those teams, they are lobbying as hard as they can before the season is even played. They are planting seeds for their own leagues they hope to harvest in November. There is nothing wrong with that, as far as it goes. You might think they would concentrate on their own teams, and playing good football. But why talk about that — when you can bash?
