SEC Preview

30 days and counting down. Ladies and gentlemen, it is football time in the southland!

I, personally, cannot friggin' wait til leather meets pigskin. Each year holds the promise of great things to come but I believe 2008 has the potential to be a very special year in college football.

Before we predict the finishes in the greatest conference in the country check this link out.

http://blog.al.com/rapsheet/2008/02/prince_hall_suspended_elder_of.html

Saban's main tool of discipline.

Have you heard of the A11 offense. Some weirdo out on Texas started this and I am not quite sure what to say about it. Unconventional, yes, weird, yes, for 8 man football, yeaaaaaaah.

http://a11offense.com/

WTF?!?!?!

As well, write your congressman, Barney Frank is a great American.

On the to Conference of Giants....

First the SEC East...

1. Florida 2. Georgia 3. Tennessee 4. South Carolina 5. Vanderbilt 6. Kentucky

Now the West...

1. LSU 2. Auburn 3. Alabama 4. Ole Miss 5. Mississippi State 6. Arkansas

Florida is my pick to win the SEC East because they are seeking absolute, deathstar revenge over uGay for storming the field like a naked man wanting to get on TV. For as good a person as Macht Richt is, he is an imbassal for ordering his troops to storm Alltel Stadium last year. Number 1, he ordered something against the rules of the sport, 2 he could have started the greated brawl in Cocktail Party history. This year the winner of the East will be whoever leaves Jax with a W.

I expect Tennessee to be better than most people think....and they will payback Bama for the drubbing last season. University of Concrete in Knoxville wins 9 games. South Carolina is in line for 7-8 wins. If the offense matches up with the D then they have a chance to knock off any of the above 3.

Vandy will flirt with bowl eligibilty but in the end....probably won't make it. Kentucky = Is is roundball time yet? The Wildcats simply lost to much off last years team and their QB is pulling a John Parker Wilson, getting a DUI.

The West is the Best...Hoody Hoo!!!

I guess there are toolbag fans on all sides.

LSU will win it in the trenches. Not saying, but I kinda am saying, they have the best combo of offensive and defensive lines in the country. With all that talent, Haaaarvard only has to manage the offense and not be an idiot. Auburn will be right behind them and has a realistic chance of winning the game in September, just don't forget the Volunteers from the concrete campus are coming the next week. Auburn is gonna be goooooood, LSU might be a tad bit better. Thank heavens Brandon Cox is now selling orthapedic devices!!! Auburn will still beat Bama but won't have to worry about the horrendous INT's under pressure......now the QB just runs out of it.

Stay classy, Alabammer.

Bama is back....haha...just had to say it again. No, really, no, I would be impressed if they won 8 games considering the complete lack of depth on defense (especially the front 7) and brand new recievers....oh yeah, JPW is still QB, and he is worse than Brandon Cox ever was, now that is saying something. If Bama wins 8-9 it will be an exceptional season.

Ole Miss could be the most improved team in the SEC. They have a great front 7 on defense but the worst backfield in the SEC. On the offensive side of things, they now have a QB and RB who might be above average. I still can't decide who is crazier: Nutt or Miles.

Missy State will not win the Egg Bowl again...that billboard will get rubbed in their face. Definitely a bowl team but it may be Shreveport.

Arkansas: See Kentucky, lost everyone, but the new offense could be great. Petrino is simly a POS individual though so who cares.


And then Florida wins it all and wins the MNC.

There you have it, first edition of Wilbur Picks of 2oo8.

DFF that my friends,

Wilbur Churchill Out

Mental Picture: Big Al Laying on the Therapist's Couch

"We've had meetings. We've done different things," cen ter Antoine Caldwell said. "We realize how important it is that we have an image and a reputation we're trying to uphold for this team and this university. My heart goes out to Jimmy and what happened and his family, but you've got to make good decisions."

Saban said he employed the Pacific In stitute — a company that describes itself as "Culture Transformation Experts" — to teach 12 classes this summer to Tide players in topics like "self-actualization" and "mental conditioning."

"What!? You can't picture yourself catching the damn ball??!?"--Sabear

"We're certainly never pleased when we have someone who embarrasses our organization," Saban said, "but our philosophy has always been, we're there to help people make good choices and decisions about what they do, and we invest our time and energy in programs that help them do it. ... We changed a lot of habits. I'm not saying they were bad habits, just the way you want things done." --Al.com

Really?!?! Is that for real? Did Saban really bring in a mental coach for the Bammers. OMG, this is great, first the team is a complete head case and is lead by Napolean who seems to think the SEC is western Europe circa late 1800's. What is the Pacific Institute bringing to the table that Alabama cannot do itself.

Back in therapy,

Pablo Bryant, Jr.

WTF Friday

AP---A Mobile cage fighter accused of inciting a brawl in front of an Auburn University fraternity house by yelling "Roll Tide" - and stabbing several people in the subsequent melee - is now charged with bribing a mentally retarded man to take the rap.

Joey Barrett Jr., 25, of Irivington is being held without bail in the Lee County jail on assault, bribery and witness tampering charges, according to the sheriff's office there.

In a Thursday interview, Joey Barrett Sr. denied the allegations against his son, who he said was being "railroaded" by prosecutors. He declined further comment.

The fight broke out in front of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity house on the eve of the 2005 Alabama-Auburn football game. Three fraternity brothers - one stabbed in the chest, collapsing his lungs - were sent to the hospital.

According to prosecution testimony at the subsequent 2006 trial, Barrett incited the altercation when he and two other men walked down the street in front of the fraternity shouting, among other things, "Roll Tide." When a member of the fraternity asked them to leave, Barrett started the fight, the witnesses testified.

Barrett's attorney in that trial, John Williams, told the jury the fight was started by the fraternity members, who he said were drunk.

Most importantly, Williams argued during his opening statement, it wasn't Barrett who did the stabbing at all, it was another man, the now 40-year-old Louie Lotz.

Lotz, Williams promised, would swear under oath that he stabbed the fraternity members in self-defense after getting caught up in the fracas.

The next day, however, Lotz's attorneys said he would not take the stand.

Circuit Judge Jacob Walker, presiding over the trial, said Lotz, a Mobile man, had been classified as mentally retarded and was barely able to read or write.

Prosecutors, arguing that Barrett's lawyer had tainted the jury by saying another man would admit to the stabbings, asked for and received a mistrial. Barrett was released and the case remained open.

Six months later, in January of this year, a grand jury indicted Barrett Jr., charging him with bribing Lotz and conspiring with other defense witnesses to lie under oath. His bond was revoked, and he was booked into the Lee County jail in June.

During the months Barrett was out of jail, the Press-Register ran several announcements publicizing a May 10 cage match promoted by Barrett Sr. He and his son were to fight it out in a 12-person "last man standing" contest.

Barrett's bribery case is scheduled to go to trial Oct. 20.

Williams, Barrett's attorney, did not return calls for comment on the case.

Lotz has not been charged, and Margaret Young Brown, an attorney assigned to him, declined comment on the case.

One word, maybe two: Meathead

Where are my pants?!?!?!

We'll probably never know the rest of this story. Apparently, not even former Auburn football coach Pat Dye knows the rest of the story.

On Lake Martin's shore, expanded because of drought conditions, a lady by the name of Shannon McDuffie happened upon Dye's long-lost wallet, hidden under water for the past two decades.
That story would have been interesting enough in itself. But McDuffie also found the long out-of-style madras golf pants that went with it. The mud-covered wallet contained Dye's driver's license, credit cards and the like from the mid-1980s. A set of Toyota car keys were in the pants pocket.

An amused Dye, who had a condominium at Stillwaters at the time, could offer no explanation.
"I don’t remember losing it, but now listen, that was a long time ago,” Dye told the Lake Martin edition of Lake Magazine, which reported the discovery in an online story Tuesday.

“I don’t have any idea how I lost ’em,” Dye said, “but we can make up a good story.”

Dye invited McDuffie to attend the Blue Jean Ball, where he said he would donate the pants and their contents for a charity auction. The last time Dye auctioned off clothes was after angry Syracuse fans sent him ugly ties after Auburn settled for a game-tying field goal in the final seconds of the 1988 Sugar Bowl.

WOW...never in a million years would I have thought this up. How drunk do you have to be to lose your pants?

HUMP DAY

Could this week last any longer? Maybe it only seems that way since I essentially had a week long vacation and I was only in the office a total of 6 hours last week....already surpassed that today alone. Road tripping through Columbus, Phenix City, Albany, Athens, Augusta and Stockbridge took me almost 900 miles and all over the state of Georgia. I was in Alabama on Tuesday and South Carolina on Wednesday.....then a solid 8 hours to St. Petersburg on Thursday for a nice vaca of beach and baseball.

Brittany Raymond, Florida cheerleader with strategically placed Gators.

Who saw Wilbur on Sportscenter???

So after two days of Rays baseball in the leather seats in the Homeplate Club we return to the grind of the Atlanta workweek. Seriously, no one knows how to drive here. On the way down Peachtree this morning I had two people drive in my lane.....and theirs, WTF?!?!?!?

Anyhooo............Smoke is leaving Joe Gibbs Racing for the newly minted Stewart Haas Racing....leaving Toyota behind to drive for Hendrick built Chevy engines. Do it, Smoke!!!

FANTASY NASCAR UPDATE: Tigernation aka Gwinlikesboys is in the lead while $hakes McFly aka Kissmyass has overtaken Wilbur Churchill aka Roaring Wilburos for 2nd by a mere 10 points. The Flying Dutchman and the Gwizzle round out the bottom. Step on it!!!

PRESEASON PREDICTIONS COMING SOON................less than 50 days til kickoff.

Out, Pablo Bryant, Jr.

The Temptations - Papa Was A Rolling Stone