NCAA Basketball Tournament Day Two Open Comment Thread

Earlier in the day, she tweeted that it appears that Mike Hamilton is convinced he’s going to be fired during the summer, and wants to torch everything in the place on his way out.

Then, someone else reminded her about Kiffin, Pearl, and all the NCAA Sanctions that have occurred under his watch. Perhaps Mike Hamilton has been trying to torch the place all along. (Closeted Bama fan?)

There’s been every reason to believe Bruce Pearl has been a dead coach walking since the start of the season, but why release this now, when the Volunteers very well could have a tournament run in them?

I’d like to know where Low got this before I’m prepared to lend it too much credence. The decision makes sense; unless Low just happened upon the information, the timing does not.

…Bruce Pearl’s squad beat a hapless Dennis Felton team. Immediately after the victory, he proceeded to run up into the stands and high-five the Tennessee contingent that made the trip. I suppose you could call that energetic. It was also in extremely bad taste. It showed a complete lack of respect, but the outrage was minimal because there were maybe three or four thousand Georgia fans on hand to witness this. Any benefit of the doubt about this guy from me ended right then and there.

Pearl got a coaching reprieve at UW-Milwaukee, but his legacy as a dirt bag is well established. In his attempts to elevate his career, he nearly destroyed someone else in the process. The fallout from this temporarily restrained him. Then, he got the Milwaukee gig and a few years later, Tennessee.

When Tennessee jettisons this guy, they will no doubt lose a very good bench coach. But he’s not a good person. He’s toxic. So is his “energy.”

. . . I mentioned this in tonight’s Facebook status update, but tankertoad suggested that we use it here at the weblog, so I thought I’d share the story:

Tonight, at supper, my wife, Susan, and our son, Thomas, told me that Thomas had a pixie stick during a football game at recess today. I assumed they meant the candy featuring colored sugar in a paper tube, but they explained that “pixie stick” was “a football term.” I said I had never heard that term, so I needed them to explain what had happened. Thomas patiently told me that he had intercepted a pass and run it back for a touchdown.

I let this hover in the air for a moment, then I asked, “Do you maybe mean a ‘pick six’?” I then proceeded to explain whence the “pick” and the “six” came, but tankertoad seems to like the idea of using “pixie stick” here, so feel free to use “PIXIE STICK!” in comment threads next autumn (and to add it to the lexicon on its next update . . . I’m looking at you, vineyarddawg).