Simulated Gameday Experience

From the annals of the truly bizarre comes Mike Leach’s termination, effective immediately. Leach is a bit of a character in his own right; as I’m writing this I’m half-staring at a pirate flag across the street, which is doing nothing but reminding me of Leach and his fascination with pirates. That, along with a prolific passing offense and tendency to act a bit bizarre at times (sometimes that qualifies as understatement), is why we’ve heard of Leach.

That, not coincidentally, is why he ended up getting canned. On some level, this came down to a he-said he-said argument; Adam James (and, by extension, Craig James, and, by extension, his employer ESPN, albeit acting as a platform only and not with any sort of agenda – would’ve made it a wee bit awkward had James gone through with broadcasting the Alamo Bowl, which TTU is a part of) assert that Leach treated him unfairly while he was injured. Leach, of course, denies this, although he does assert that he did take disciplinary action. I’m not going to get into all the details here. What’s important right now are two factors:

- Mike Leach is now available as a coach, at least in theory

- Texas Tech brass, Leach, and possibly the James family are about to get embroiled in one heck of a legal mess

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Look, this whole Urban Meyer thing is weird. It walks, talks, and smells like burnout. First, we had a full-blown resignation occurring amidst unsubstantiated speculation this was either cancer or some kind of serious heart condition. (This was also occurring as we got to play everyone’s favorite game – “Let’s Figure Out / Take Wild Guesses on the Next Florida Coach.” The Society of People to Lure Bob Stoops Away from His Cushy Job with Lifetime Security approves.) This would also make the resignation turned sabbatical turned leave of absence understandable; granted, since Meyer seems (so far) like he’s going to be the head coach once the 2010 season rolls around, this may not have a significant effect on the Florida program. This looks like a man going “I have to get away, this is going to kill me” and taking whatever steps he had to before dialing the hyperbole back a bit. (more…)

Yes, there were all sorts of distractions in Knoxville this week (possibly consisting of pellet guns, arrests, and – of all things – a Prius. Yes, a Prius. What the hell, y’all?), but that’s no excuse for getting shellacked in Oxford. The Volunteers got outplayed and partially outschemed against the Rebels, and that’s in part to just how wantonly destructive Dexter McCluster was on Saturday. (more…)

Well, Iowa had to do it eventually, right? There were only so many times that Iowa could pull off some relatively improbable comeback: (more…)