Monday January 04, 2010

Welcome Back; Relationships; Speed Network; AB; Chilly

Welcome Back
I have never been a big fan of former North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith but I do remember some good advice he gave a few years ago. The legendary Smith said that you have to get away sometimes and recharge your batteries and so you can come back energized and refreshed. Smith would take a few weeks at the end of each season and do just that.

I had a chance to do that last week with a trip to Wyoming. A couple of friends and I skied in Jackson Hole, WY and snowmobiled in Yellowstone National Park last week. The skiing was better on our third day because of fresh snow but I would give the Yellowstone trip an A+. I would give the snowmobile tour of the South end of the park my highest recommendations.

It was interesting to meet several Clemson graduates in Jackson. Also I was delighted to see the reaction of some others when they saw a Tiger Paw or Clemson logo on our clothes. The most common reaction I got was a comment about how great C.J. Spiller was. It is hard to put a value on what Spiller meant to the university and the football program.

Relationships
I enjoyed watching the video here on Tigernet of the postgame celebrations from the bowl game. I know a lot of players love their coaches and vice-versa. However, I cannot remember more genuine love between a player and coach than what we have seen from Jacoby Ford and C.J. Spiller in their relationship with Dabo.

I want to get more into this later in the week but in watching the Michigan State-Texas Tech game I noticed something again that hit home with me. After the game Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio made a great point. He was talking about how Texas Tech players and coaches handled the adversity in the Mike Leach situation. Dantonio praised the Texas Tech staff for holding things together and he began to talk about player-coach relationships. The head coach of the Spartans said that player-coach relationships are the most important aspect of a program. This was a point I tried to make last year and I think one of the biggest assets Dabo possesses. I saw it again with Spiller and Ford but Dantonio reiterated the point again Sunday night.

The Speed Network
I think I may have been the only person in America that did not buy into the “Sky is falling on everyone but the almighty SEC” talk after the final weekend of the regular season. Sure the SEC is the best conference in America and sure they have a ton of money coming into the league. However, I am glad the rest of the country did not drop football and lay down for the almighty conference.

South Carolina defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson is a friend and a guy I have known for a long time but I realized he was recruiting when he made the comments about the speed of the SEC and how dominating it had become. I also realized that ESPN and CBS had the SEC football contracts so they were biased in their assessments of how powerful the conference can be.

Two things amused me from this bowl season so far. First, ESPN was quick to judge the SEC and ACC after South Carolina beat Clemson, Georgia beat Georgia Tech and Florida beat Florida State. That weekend the ESPN announcers made statements about how dominant the league was.

I was confused by Reece Davis and his ESPN buddies when they could judge the final weekend of the regular season as the final nail in the coffin of all other conferences yet now that the SEC has not dominated in the bowls, we now hear a different tune. Now the spin is that you cannot judge conferences based upon the bowl games. Bowl games are more about matchups and not about conference power according to the folks at ESPN.

The other thing that amused me was the speed thing. I wonder how Ellis Johnson could explain their bowl game against UCONN. Do the Huskies have that magical “SEC speed”?

Apparently East Carolina and Northwestern have SEC speed but not SEC placekickers.

The ACC went 2-0 against the SEC in bowl games so does the ACC have SEC speed? Maybe Clemson got faster since November? Maybe Virginia Tech has SEC speed in their second trip to Atlanta since they lost to Alabama in the season opener but beat Tennessee in the Chick-fil-a Bowl.

No doubt to Penn State has SEC speed since Joe Pa’s group beat LSU.

Kentucky must not have had SEC speed when they lost to the lowly ACC and Clemson in the bowl game but I could have sworn they had SEC speed when they won at Auburn and at Georgia.

Tennessee must have gotten slower in its game against Virginia Tech because they came within a last second field goal of beating Alabama in Tuscaloosa and pounded Georgia and South Carolina.

Oklahoma State had that speed in its opener when it beat Georgia but lost it when they lost the bowl game to Ole Miss.

UCLA must have had it against Tennessee when they won in Knoxville.

Vanderbilt went 0-8 in the league this year and that was explained by losing to eight SEC teams who had SEC speed. But they also lost to Georgia Tech and Army. Tech also beat Mississippi State. So Army had it and Tech had it but lost it against Georgia. BTW-Tech must have had SEC when the Jackets pounded Georgia last year in Athens.

How do you have SEC speed one week and not the next?

Or maybe there is another explanation. Maybe Alabama is awesome. Maybe Florida is also very good. And maybe the rest of the league is just about average. Maybe Ellis Johnson, ESPN and CBS have something they are trying to sell.

The SEC is the best league in the country but I would suggest the other conferences not drop football just yet.

American Bandstand
I realize I am getting old but count me out on watching another high school football all-star game. I was disgusted all week by John Fulton’s trash talking at the Shrine Bowl but he looked like a choir boy compared to what I had to watch at the Under Armor All-American game. In case you missed it, every play ended with one of the players dancing and showboating around. Each play ended with trash talking and parading around the field with each player trying to bring more attention to himself. Also, the hat thing has gotten old. Just call the coaches you who are recruiting you and let them know you are coming. I don’t see the need in this drama filled event. ESPN and Under Armor will have to make changes if they want me to ever watch again. I don’t need to see the McDonald’s All-American game on grass.

Cold Night
I want to get into the basketball program more later this week but I wonder what is colder, the temperature outside or the Tigers from behind the three-point line last night?

Mac
Also later this week I will have a blog about Mac McKeown. We have lost another legend. I am looking forward to his memorial service in Clemson Saturday and hope you will enjoy a blog later this week on another great Tiger gone.

The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency

Prayer List
We have started a prayer list on the blog. Here are the guidelines:
*If you are offended by prayer or prayer lists then I apologize in advance. The blog is free and the prayer list will be on the bottom of the page so you don’t have to read it.
*If you would like to add someone to the list please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com
*If you want the reason for the prayer to be added to the name please specify in your e-mails.
*Please let me know when it is appropriate to take the person off of the prayer list

Those who need our prayers include:
Finn Brookover, Larry in Naples, FL, RTG-Pawsitive Tiger, Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter), Jo Ann Bachman, Frank Taylor, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard, Gillespie and his family, Jim S, Christine Hepfer, Daniel Rosborough, Amy Murphey, Jack Huffman, Nancy Winkler, Dr. Nancy Strom Morgan, John Reeve, Eileen Woodrum, Ethel Southard, Vinnie Brock, Kaitlyn L, Eric Boessneck, John Bowers, Jimmy Ness, Susan Miller, Joyce Harley, Steve Proveaux, John Petrey, Chalmers Carr, Drayton Melton, Jeffrey Greene, the Hutto family, Sherl Drawdy, Caleb Kennedy, Ann Fallaw, Bob Pollock, Teresa O'Connor, Matt Jacobs, Mike Kingsmore,Perrin Seigler, Carole White Begley, Candee Massee, Lindsey Jordan, Sam Catoe, Tyler Felch, Steve Cato, the Nicolopulos family.