Former Texas A&M quarterback and newly drafted Dallas Cowboy Stephen McGee apparently made a few enemies while in college and one of them was Texas Tech coach Mike Leach…who says that his A&M coaches didn’t much like him either.

When asked to comment on the Cowboys’ drafting McGee, Leach had this to say about the move:

“I’m happy for Stephen McGee,” Texas Tech coach Mike Leach said. “The Dallas Cowboys like him more than his coaches at A&M did.”

Well, it is possible he does like him and that isn’t some not so subtle backhanded slap at the young QB…but I doubt it. Maybe Leach is just bitter his QB Graham Harrell didn’t get drafted.

From Dallas Morning News Cowboys Blog

Florida State safety Myron Rolle had a tough choice, either declare himself eligible for the 2009 draft or defer entry to the NFL until the 2010 draft and accept a Rhodes scholarship at Oxford University. While admirably he chose the latter, at least in the short term, his decision to not enter the NFL draft until 2010 will certainly impact his financial interests if and when he decides to play.

Since the NFL appears to be headed for an uncapped season in 2010, the owners could institute a Rookie salary cap for the 2010 draft. This would mean that a player, like Rolle, that was looking at being drafted in the top 4o players will receive drastically reduced wages, not unlike incoming NBA players did when they put in place their own Rookie cap.

Not to mention that NFL personnel memories are short and if you aren’t playing, you aren’t going to get drafted high. By Rolle going to England for a year and since he wasn’t a top 10 candidate anyway, he almost certainly will slide down draft boards and not get anywhere near the draft pick and thus the money he would’ve gotten had he come out in 2009 even if there isn’t going to be a rookie cap.

Neither having a Rhodes scholarship nor playing in the NFL is a sure way to making millions of dollars and leaving yourself set for life for sure. While the prestige of playing in the NFL can take you places (ask Steve Largent and Heath Shuler) a Rhodes scholarship can certainly carry more weight in one’s life after one’s playing days are done (ask Bill Bradley) but either one’s prestige can only go so far to pay the bills and that 1st or 2nd round pick money could certainly have been of some use to a guy as smart as Rolle. Then again, maybe I have no idea how much someone in the field of medical anthropology makes.

Via The Quad, NY Times Blog

SI taking some liberties with the Tim Tebow photo on their new issue

Presidential candidate John McCain showed up at Marshall University‘s football practice and gave the kids a pep talk like no other. This pep talk included a whole lot of his own personal hell including mostly his time serving in a war, being prisoner of war during that time and basically saying when the times get tough…suck it up. Here are his words of wisdom.

“We were a team and we had leaders. Our leaders were our senior ranking officers. They’re the ones that when we failed they picked us up and sent us back into the fight. And we didn’t always win. Sometimes it was very tough,”

Does McCain know Marshall football or what? I am thinking he is taking the under on the win totals for them this year for sure. I have no idea how this speech inspires anyone to win anything, in a nutshell he just said “You’re going to lose, losing is tough, but you’re going to have to pick yourselves up and go back out there…and you might lose again”. Words to live by kids, words to live by.

McCain should have just kept going on with something like this. “You might lose again, because deep down inside we’re all losers. I know I am. Sure you may win a little bowl, that’s kinda like winning a senatorial race, you get some press, you get some accolades, but you know its pretty meaningless in the grand scheme. Just remember, be careful if you try to go for that national championship kids…if you’re kinda like me, and I think we know you are, you’re gonna lose.”

From Wall Street Journal

If there was a reality show called Saban Idol in which college football coaches compete to be the ultimate scumbag, Rich Rodriguez would definitely make the national tour. He hasn’t even coached a single game at Michigan yet and he’s made enough enemies to fill up the Big House.

Lineman Justin Boren has decided to transfer to Ohio State from Michigan. He announced he was leaving Michigan a month ago due to “an erosion of family values”. Whatever the fuck that means. Was he looking for a strong stance on marriage within the coaching staff? Maybe Rodriguez & Co. didn’t show enough support for the Defense of Marriage Act.

Good thing Boren’s not from Michigan. He could never go home again. He’ll have to sit out a year and then walk-on as he cannot receive a scholarship from Ohio State.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, West Virginia has released documents showing that Rodriguez pursued the Michigan job without being approached. Documents obtained through discovery in the WVU lawsuit against Rodriguez show that his representatives contacted Michigan three days before he interviewed for the head coaching job.

Nick Saban just shed a tear and said, “That’s my boy.”