It all happens so fast.
Bye-an Kelly
We talked about Lincoln Bye-ley yesterday. Today, it’s Bye-an Kelly, after last night’s wavemaking exit from South Bend in favor of Baton Rouge. What a carousel this year (not a carnival reference, I have been nowhere near carnivals of late, please tell everyone how far I am from all carnivals). Hopefully this ends with no team in the playoff still having its coach. Or with a full rotation where Nick Saban’s coaching Cincinnati and Luke Fickell’s at Oklahoma State and Mike Gundy’s at Georgia.
My contribution to the discourse here (aside from coining “Bye-an Kelly,” read it and weep trademark thieves) is to point out that the SEC West coaches are now Nick Saban, Brian Kelly, Jimbo Fisher, Lane Kiffin, Mike Leach, Sam Pittman, and Bryan Harsin. Each of those seven men is entertaining in some way. Fisher is entirely overshadowed. This division is amazing. Hopefully it stays intact (or only Harsin gets booted) so we can have the media day of the century.
Get Swept, ACC
As a bit!
Come on.
It’d be funny.
If you haven’t been cheering for the ACC to go 0-14 in this year’s Big Ten/ACC Challenge, you’ve been missing out. It’s not impossible, and we’re off to a good start after Iowa blew a twenty-point lead in beating Virginia last night and Notre Dame, presumably rather surprised by the football news, lost to a shorthanded Illinois in Champaign. Tonight we’ve got Ohio State hosting Duke (the laws of college basketball circularity imply the Buckeyes will win), Indiana visiting Syracuse (Indiana’s better), Northwestern visiting Wake Forest (Northwestern’s better), Purdue hosting Florida State (Purdue wants to be ranked number one like a bunch of IDIOTS), Rutgers hosting Clemson (ehh, home game), and Minnesota visiting Pitt (Pitt is worse than you can imagine). What a lineup. What a gosh darn lineup.
NIT Night
In addition to all the ACC NIT hopefuls (every team but Duke and Pitt), we’ve got Saint Louis visiting Boise to check out what was once called Taco Bell Arena and play Boise State while they’re there. Not a rematch from last spring, but you may have had it in your bracket. I might have had it in mine, in fact.
Texas Did a Cool
First off, we’ve got Bevo’s Fake Nuts today, in which we talk about how Lincoln Bye-ley affects the Longhorns. Second off, Chris Beard is crushing it. I’ll admit it. He got a ton of students inside the old gym last night for a blast of a game. Credit to Coach Beard. Also, Coach Beard is doing an event with the Ted Lasso Coach Beard tonight on campus. It doesn’t stop with this guy. What a marketer.
So Long Again, Javy
Javy Báez is a Tiger, and also a tiger, but most notably today, a Tiger. A Detroit Tiger. Enjoy him, friends.
Hello, Yan and Clint
The Cubs signed Yan Gomes and Clint Frazier, two very different dudes who will ideally be bench players but might start because…ugh. Moving on.
Joe Kelly Lockout Speculation
If there’s a lockout before Joe Kelly’s signed, he might join the Beatles. Speculation is mounting, folks.
MLBalls
Baseball was using two balls last year, and I haven’t fully sorted out the story, but it sounds like they both knew about it and didn’t plan to do it? That’s the least competent explanation, which is usually the simplest with the Manfred administration. Can’t wait to see how they handle this lockout. Fully prepared for a proposal in which there just aren’t baseballs anymore.
Crow Emoji
It is delayed.
***
And that’s that. Viewing schedule for tonight:
6:00 PM Texas Time (right now): Indiana/Syracuse, ESPN2
8:00 PM Texas Time (coming up next): Torn. Clemson/Rutgers on ESPN2, Northwestern/Wake Forest on ESPNU. Court me, friends. Court me.
10:00 PM Texas Time (after that game): Bedtime. I’m a sleepy child this evening and there’s no noteworthy basketball on once the buzzers sound in Winston-Salem and Piscataway and Boise (that game does not appear to be on a television of mine).
