SEC East Headlines – 12/18/09

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Is it really possible that we’re just one week from Christmas and just two weeks removed from the end of yet another year?  Man, I’m getting old.  Time really does fly faster and faster the older you get.

With that in mind, here are some quick SEC East bits and blurbs before a I keel over on my laptop:

1.  Florida still has about 5,000 Sugar Bowl tickets to sell.  Talk about spoiled.  So fans are passing up a trip to New Orleans (!) because their team lost one game?  And don’t give me the economy crap, Gator fans would be snapping up tickets for Pasadena had the Gators beaten Alabama.  The UF senior class deserves better support than that.

2.  Remember last year when it was suggested that Percy Harvin had missed games in previous seasons due to marijuana issues, not migraines?  Well, with Harvin currently missing games with the NFL’s Vikings due to migraines, Mike Bianchi of The Orlando Sentinel is apologizing for his musings last season.  (Good for him.)

UPDATE — Florida continues to get national attention for some photos posted by a pair of their recruits.

3.  In baskeball news, forward Chandler Parsons is playing despite having a torn muscle in his right leg.

4.  A month after he was knocked unconscious against Auburn, safety Baccari Rambo says he’ll play in the Independence Bowl… even though he can’t remember the play that knocked him out on November 14th.

5.  Rambo returned to full-contact practice this week.

6.  Georgia’s three fired defensive assistants will still receive their bowl bonuses, even though they turned down the opportunity to coach in the bowl.  (That’s the right move by Georgia.  Those coaches were on the staff that got UGA to a bowl… and there was no way that they would want to say on after being canned.  Giving them their bonuses is only fair.)

7.  Despite the turmoil of coaching changes, Georgia’s players are making the most of their Independence Bowl opportunity.

8.  According to Lane Kiffin, assistant coaches Ed Orgeron and Lance Thompson have had “no interaction or contact with any other schools.”

9.  Tennessee has dismissed defensive back Brent Vinson from the team, ending a troubled career.  (And they did it on his birthday.  Cold.)

10.  This writer says an NCAA investigation isn’t the kind of publicity UT is looking for. 

11.  It took a while for Frank Beamer to get Virginia Tech rolling, but he’s now one of the nation’s most-respected coaches.

12.  Randall Cobb was named Kentucky’s MVP at the team’s awards banquet last night.

13.  Incredible freshmen like UK’s John Wall are no longer a rare commodity.  (Although I would say that Wall’s talents are more rare than most others.)

14.  Do you care how fans are responding on Twitter to Bobby Knight’s shot at John Calipari?  Me neither, but here’s a sampling.

15.  Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com writes that UK fans should get used to everyone taking shots at their head coach.  (Like Lane Kiffin at Tennessee, Calipari is a good guy if you’re a UK fan… an all-out scoundrel if you’re a fan of anyone else.)

16.  South Carolina’s Stephen Garcia is taking a more serious approach to this year’s bowl game.

17.  Should the Gamecocks be using their biggest receivers (Alshon Jeffery and Tori Gurley) on the field at the same time?

18.  Darrin Horn doesn’t have strong feelings about talk of expanding the NCAA Tournament.

19.  Vandy news, Vandy news.  Let’s see.  Is there any Vandy news?  Well, former Commodore Mike MacIntyre has been named the new head football coach at San Jose State.  (You might remember that his father, George MacIntyre, coached the ‘Dores in the 1980s.)

20.  In basketball news, AJ Ogilvy, Andre Walker and Lance Goulbourne all returned to practice yesterday.

21.  Sophomore guard Charles Hinkle is getting minutes off the bench because he hustles.

22.  And 6-11 Nigerian center Festus Ezeli says that he dominates in practice… and that “it’s coming” in games.

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