Beyond Crompton: Scarbinsky's Lambs and Lions

Kevin Scarbinsky, not exactly the Georgia Bulldog's biggest fan, attempts to demonstrate he can simultaneously muckrake and ass kiss on par with the Finebaums and Bianchis of the world. BUI is getting a special place on the "Journo" Wall of Shame ready for this front-running sycophant.
Scarbinsky: The more you look at Mark Richt, the more he looks like Tubs | Scarblog - al.com (h/t Mr. SEC)

If perception is reality, Richt is to Meyer as Tuberville was to Nick Saban as the lamb is to the lion. Sooner or later, the lamb is lunch.


That’s unfair to Richt and Tuberville. You don’t win as many SEC games as they’ve won without inner strength. But Tuberville didn’t have the stomach to break up the beloved core of his staff, and Richt seems headed for a similar crossroads with his coordinators.


Will his heart let heads roll? And has anyone else noticed that Georgia hasn’t quite been the same since Neil Callaway left for UAB?

Finebaum gets Foiled

Master of Muckraking or Jackass in a Hat

Finebaum gets foiled by Hale. From the quality of the post, I can only assume this was authored by a sober man.
BULLDOGS BLOG: Is Richt on the Hot Seat?

is there even one that you'd spend more than two seconds considering swapping Mark Richt for?

Having read the professional and sober response, it is now time to read the drunk obnoxious Georgia fan's preemptive strike when it was first announced Finebaum would be going after Richt.
Dawgs Blogging Under the Influence: Everything isn't "Fine" in the SEC

Talk about Lucifer explaining the ills of society. Paul taking on rumors and innuendo in college football is akin to Phillip Morris ads educating us on the dangers of smoking. The only difference is congress mandated the anti-smoking spots, this "journalist's" motives are beyond this BUI convict.

Full Contact Tuesday

It appears the psyche of the Oklahoma State defense needed a boost, at least according to new defensive coordinator Bill Young.
Cowboys take defensive stance - College Football - Rivals.com (h/t Blutarsky)

“One of the main things we’re working on is the psyche of our players,” Young said by phone Monday. “They don’t need to be hearing how bad they are. They need to be hearing how good they are – because they are good.”

Ask, and you shall receive....
What's in store for Oklahoma State this season? | NewsOK.com (h/t Hale)

Sept. 5 vs. Georgia
Despite growing doubt nationally about the Cowboys, they announce their presence with authority, handing Georgia a 21-point defeat to open the season.

The BUI take on the pokes, the game, and that color.

Maybe we won't see them in the "I" formation
Florida quarterback Tim Tebow says he'd consider playing other positions in NFL

But Tebow said last week that doesn't mean he's not open to the possibility of playing other positions at the next level.

Here's to hoping Tebow makes about 4 tackles and 0 circumcisions at the WLOCP!


The BUI recruiting/research/marketing department talks about some fresh faces
Bernie's Dawg Blawg: Have Campus Bus Schedule Will Play

I for one think we've recruited really well at that position the last few years.

It's never too early to prep for next year
EDSBS » Archive » THIS RECRUIT MCGEE MUST BE SOMETHING

Coach Dan Hawkins making what is by far the most JACKED AND ENTHUSED call

Nothing like a little confab between the Masters of Muckraking, Finebaum and Bianchi
Paul Finebaum | Press-Register Sports Columnist - al.com

"The Bear has finally risen again," Bianchi said, "but he's coaching at Florida under the alias of Urban Meyer."

Not to ignore the gathering at Cobb Galleria, but nothing too newsworthy took place that wasn't examined by Bernie.

The Virgin and Votegate

Upon reflection, Mike Slive was compelled to change the name of this week's event to "The Vote for Virginity". Slive took full responsibility, claiming it is obvious to everyone the purpose of the event was to further glorify the Saint that is Timothy. Furthermore, Slive went on to say it was a mistake to invite other teams to the event and he personally apologized to Tebow. The Gator Nation and ESPN both accepted the apology.

Will Steve Spurrier be allowed to take back all those pre-season votes for Duke? Seriously. The man that has given a pre-season vote to Duke every year since 1990 was compelled to change his vote from Jevan Snead to Tim Tebow. No, he didn't claim it was a hanging chad, nor did he claim the ballot was too difficult to read. He blamed it on an assistant. Oh how the mighty has fallen.

Like an unforeseen weather pattern, or a Tim Geithner speech, the "V and V Episode" has placed our Media Days' expectations in jeopardy. After all, when they change the name of the event and allow coaches to change their votes, speculation becomes a fool's game. Still, before we write off the predictions, we will have to wait on Paul Finebaum's column that should be published around July 28.

Given the events that occurred, it will be hard for even the most stubborn of muckrakers to take a shot at any coach other than man that once was Steve Spurrier. Of course, Paul, the master of the qualified statement MAY focus on virginity and vote-gate. IT IS POSSIBLE Finebaum will deliver a piece that both questions the veracity of Timothy Tebow's virginity claim, and criticizes Spurrier for changing his vote. After all, Nick Saban PROBABLY would have been man enough to take the heat.

And finally, if there was ever any doubt Mike Bianchi has a man crush on Tebow, his RUMORED offer to de-flower the god from Gainesville should remove any doubt. Stay strong Timmy, remember when Bianchi asks you to get in the spread formation, he is not talking football.

SEC Media Days, Quantity over Quality?

The annual SEC Media Days event opened today in Hoover, Alabama. A record number of media credentials, over 900, were awarded. Obviously this number includes many from outside the 9 state SEC footprint. No matter from where they hail, 900 is a pretty impressive number. The Vice President can't even get 900 citizens to show up for one of his speeches.

Beat writers, sports anchors and editors, radio row denizens, national columnists, and perhaps even a blogger or two will comprise the crowd. One has to expect ESPN will have their marketing machine in full force to capitalize on their sizeable investment. But 900? The conference must care less about the richness of the message than it's reach.

I would love to see a categorical breakdown of these 900 media members. The decline of print media has been well documented. Local television gives precious little time to sports in their evening newscasts these days. ESPN, and its vast array of content sources can only contribute so many. I doubt the number of pure-play bloggers is substantial.

There are some great talents covering SEC teams and football in general, but 900? With 900 credentialed media members attempting to give their audience some unique value and the coaches and player representatives doing their dead-level best not to give them anything, what are we to expect from this?

I predict the pros, like David Hale, will gather tons of quotes to report on their beats at opportune times or on slow news days. The likes of ESPN's Forde and the AJC's Bradley will apply their patent writing styles to give us some "flavor" of the event. Barnhardt may explain why no news was actually made. Pat Dooly will opine on how clearly evident he finds it that Tebow is better in every measurable way than any that has come before him.

Then the reporting ends and the news making begins. That is where the likes of Mike Bianchi, Paul Finebaum and the aspiring muckrakers takeover. These are the media members that aim to be the news, to ascend the ladder of SEC power players. They do not attend to be of service to their audience but to advance personal agendas or to be implements of the coach they long to leisure with.

They will write their pieces and o their broadcast without disclaimer of purpose. Under the guise of entertainment and information, they will descend deeper into the political spin mastering cancer that his spread to sports journalism. Their intended victim is the naïve high school football player and coach. Their product is the preferable weapon of the lazy recruiter. The primary purpose to these "journalists" has become to give rise to "hot-seat" or "regime change" speculation.

In the end, one may expect the biggest news coming out of SEC Media Days will have more to do with who is coaching Notre Dame in 2010 than anything do with what takes place on the SEC field in 2009.

Everything isn't "Fine" in the SEC

Drink number one.
Call it the Cold-Keg season, if you will, in deference to baseball's hot-stove. Recruiting keeps college football in the spotlight year round. Freedom of Information Acts and, despite the decline of newspapers, more media than you can shake a stick continue to sate our appetites for God's game. This year, the Cold-Keg season has brought us a slew of articles implying too much money is spent on recruiting. I beg to differ.

Recruiting is the Research and Development of college football. College football is the financial lifeblood of large Title IX regulated NCAA member institutions. The money invested in recruiting most certainly comes back in spades. My speculation is the most ardent supporters of Title IX are the same complainers whining about the money spent on recruiting.

It may come as a surprise, but I am a convert to Title IX. Having three daughters will do that to a fellow, even one from South Georgia. In fact my plasma, watching Georgia's gymnastics, softball and women's basketball teams, has consumed many a kilowatt-hour. But I digress.

Drink number two.
The problem with recruiting is not the legitimate investment of capital in hopes of acquiring talent within the guidelines set forth by the NCAA. The problem with recruiting, in my humble if not somewhat tipsy opinion, is the depths at which outside forces will go to give "their" team an advantage or their "rival" a disadvantage.

I am not going to focus on the used car dealers, too easy a target. Hell, I am not even going to cover recruiting. A news article on recruiting, if an article that quotes my target can be called news, put today's target in my scopes. Today we focus on the slime that doesn't use his money, but his column space or radio network to tarnish God's game.

Drink number three, starting to swerve.
As a Georgia man and a huge fan of Lewis Grizzard I have taken a great interest in the young journalist that have paid there dues in Athens, from the Red and Black, and The Banner Herald, to the once proud Atlanta Journal AND Constitution. Many a great beat writer has learned their trade in the Classic City. I am proud of them all; no matter how funny some of them look.

Gainesville, as usual, would be an overly easy target for this post. Somewhere on a Gainesville J-School degree it must have a stamp that says "Reptile Homer". Having suffered through a three year subscription to the Jacksonville Onion during the Bianchi days, I know of what I blog. Read Bianchi in the morning, listen to Lamb on the morning commute and Frangie in the afternoon and you too will understand, unless you are cousin to a lizard.

Drink number four, stay off the sidewalks.
As a potential masochist, I occasionally watch MSNBC in the evening. This practice gives me the empathy required to write this posting. I am a loyal, patriotic American. I love my country, yet sometimes I watch Keith "I wanna be a czar" Olbermann. Even though I know he hates my country and is trying to destroy it, I still watch from time to time. This brings me to the citizens of Alabama. Most of them love Bear Bryant and Tuscaloosa, the rest love Shug and West Opelika.

Drink number five, I now have the right of way.
What in the name of Charlie Trippi does MSNBC and Keith "I wanna be a czar" Olbermann have to do with the state of Alabama? Knutsville. Specifically, Paul "no other state would fall for this garbage" Finebaum. The master of muckraking, Finebaum recently gave his take on SEC recruiting.

Talk about Lucifer explaining the ills of society. Paul taking on rumors and innuendo in college football is akin to Phillip Morris ads educating us on the dangers of smoking. The only difference is congress mandated the anti-smoking spots, this "journalist's" motives are beyond this BUI convict.

Wake up, Alabama. There are alternative programming sources, Dunaway and Brown for instance. This knutsville alum means you no good. Sure he may have saved West Opelika from Bobby Petrino. And yes, from time to time his upper lip smells like Saban's supper that was.

Drink number six, riding on rims.
For all the damage this man does to your biggest rival, he does the same to you. Send him packing. Let him work quality control or safety at Alcoa. Make him wear orange, for certainly he deserves it. I am not saying the man should be used to fatten the hogs, but let his destructive forces come to bear where they originate. In Knutsville, Tennessee.

A Pay per View Event in the Making

In the blue corner is Mike Bianchi, Gator loyalist that will have “Death to Dooley” inscribed on his tomb. In the red corner we have Paul Finebaum, a Tennessee escapee that churned butter as a child and uses this skill to stir the pot on his daily radio show and in occasional columns. Officiating our bout will be Tony “I don’t have a Dawg in the fight” Barnhart.

Bianchi’s corner consist of Buddy “swamp stew” Martin, Pat “don’t call me Vince” Dooly and Huntley “the gator didn’t do it” Johnson. Finebaum is backed by the ghost of Paul Bryant, Sr. and MUCDA, the Memphis Used Car Dealers Association. The winner of this cage match will receive a lifetime achievement award from The Bleacher Report.

Seriously, in this case I am not buying “the pen is mightier than the sword”. Let’s get these guys in the ring and let them settle it trailer park style.