Rocky Top Trouble

Lane Kiffin won't break any records this year. In fact, he won't do much of anything. Kiffin's wrong attitude and an obvious lack of connection between brain and mouth will be his undoing.

Kiffin's approach as the Volunteer's head football coach has been aggressive. However, since taking over the program, over ten players have left the program or quit, numerous secondary NCAA recruiting violations have been reported (the latest coming yesterday) as well as the release of strength and conditioning coach, Mark Smith - another calamity.

Oh, and let's not forget Kiffin's stupid remarks towards Steve Spurrier, Nick Saban, and Urban Myer, all of whom have won a national championship. Kiffin has yet to win a game.

Another example of his poor word choice and wrong attitude is the following clip. In it, Kiffin addresses the most recent recruiting violation - mentioning a recruits name on Twitter. The fact that he doesn't see the value in Twitter and refers to his motivation for the account as "everyone else is doing it" speaks to his unoriginality and wrong approach. Plus he sounds like a d-bag.

Click here for the clip

Kiffin might get his four years as the head coach at Tennessee, but he's not a long term solution.

Idiot

Don't I look like an idiot. I didn't give UVM baseball any chance to make it to the postseason - they did.

Not only did they take three against league leading Binghamton, UVM did it in incredible fashion. In Friday's second game, UVM came up with 10 runs in the 9th inning to stun the Bearcats and keep their postseason drems alive. Then on Saturday UVM stomped their way to two wins and secured a birth in the AE tournament.

Again, don't I look like an idiot.

Brilliant Quote

Dekoda Watson, Florida State, LB.

Quote of the offseason...so far.

"Right now I've been doing ab workouts like it ain't nothing," Watson told the Sentinel. "I've got abs to my throat almost."

Dumb

James Harrison, star player for the Super Bowl Champion Steelers has refused a visit to the White House. In the following clip he explains his reasoning.

At first I thought Harrison sounded like a d-bag but by then end of his answer he just sounded dumb (lacking intelligence or good judgment; stupid; dull-witted).

Click here to see the video

Unlikely Scenario

The Free Press ran an article this morning, detailing the scenario that must happen in order for the UVM baseball team to win the America East conference.

Definitely not happening....

"Vermont has an outside shot at winning the conference (and hosting the league tournament). In order to accomplish that feat, UVM needs one of two scenarios to happen:

• UVM sweeps Binghamton; Maine wins two against Stony Brook; and Hartford takes three from Albany.

• Or, UVM wins three at Binghamton; Maine wins three games at Stony Brook; and Hartford beats Albany at least once."

I'd be surprised if UVM even makes it into the four team field.

What About the Field??

What is going to happen with Centennial Field? I've read many articles about the end of UVM baseball, but none of them mention anything about the field.

I believe the Vermont Lake Monsters, a minor league team, share maintenance costs with the University, so I'm left wondering if they will be willing to take on 100% of the expenses. Will UVM walk away from the field completely?

Something tells me that if UVM pulls itself away from Centennial, the Lake Monsters are gone too.

Freshman Success

Freshman, Alex Plavner, of the UVM lacrosse team ended the season as the starting goalie over returning senior starter Justin Lubas. Yesterday Alex appeared in IL's Top Saves of 2009 highlight video. Alex should develop into a strong netminder and I expect him to make big strides going into 2010.

Click here to see the video

So Long Bill

Class Class Class

Bye Bill

Big Hits

Here's the worst big hits highlight video I've ever seen. Inside Lacrosse does many things well but this is not one of them.

The hits in this video, many of which are illegal, glorify poor play. I enjoy lacrosse because players are allowed to be physical but this video highlights the wrong elements of the sport. The hits are either from behind or cross checks.

Poor decision making IL.

Click here to see the video

I would like to point out that Chris Maubach, number 44 from UVM, is in this highlight and has a good - legal - check. Always good to see the Cats on the national scene.

A. Bomb

Alex Slauson has matured into one heck of a lacrosse player. As a high school star at CVU, he received All-American honors and currently plays for St. Lawrence University. Alex is one of the leading scorers on the team and most recently helped the Saints defeat Nazareth in the first round of the NCAA DIII Lacrosse tournament.

Alex and the team will face Middlebury in the second round of the DIII tourney this Saturday at Alumni Stadium. Another three goal one assist performance from him will do a lot for the Saints' chances if they want to advance.

Click here for a recap of the first round

On a personal note:
It has been exciting to follow Alex's career, mainly though online articles, because the Slausons were our neighbors and I used to call Alex, A Bomb. He was under four feet tall then. Actually I think it was a name that his father game to him. In either case, I'm looking forward to watching Alex and the Saints take on the Panthers.

A Waste of Time

Simply put, I am in favor of some kind of playoff rather than the current BCS system for determining a national champion in college football. However, it angers me that the U.S. Congress has taken up the issue and is actually spending time deliberating the matter.

John Stewart provides a good laugh on the subject.

Click here for the video clip

Room for Improvement

The America East lacrosse conference announced all league honors at the end of April. UVM had two players mentioned. League "worst" Hartford had six players mentioned.

I like the players that Coach Curtis is recruiting but a stat such as this one needs to change.

Under Pressure

UVM announced that former Vermont basketball star, Matt Glass, is transferring from UMass to UVM. Glass played in 63 games and started 9 for the Minutemen. Coach Lonergan said he's very excited to have Glass join the UVM family and looks forward to coaching him in the coming seasons. 

UMass is in the A-10 (Atlantic 10) conference, which is regarded as a stronger and more competitive league than America East. One might think that Glass, who has played in the A-10 would be able to become a star at UVM. However, the Catamounts have had experience with incoming transfers who don't exactly pan out - Maurice Joseph (MoJo).  

I won't go into all the details, but MoJo transfered from Michigan State, and now doesn't even start for the Cats. I hope UVM hasn't acquired another no show. 

It's worth noting that players who leave the program seem to end up moving to more competitive leagues - Joe Trapani to Boston College & Jordan Clarke to Drake. 

But don't worry Matt, no pressure.  

Someone Else Agrees

UVM Athletics loves to design non UVM looking uniforms and I've always wondered if I was the only one thinking this was odd. As it turns out, I'm not the only one. I stumbled across a blog recently - www.talkingtrashsportsblog.blogspot.com - and was plaesed to read that this blogger feels the same way.

"Turning to college hoops I must mention how cool it is to work in a Big East building. Ranked teams all the time and Marquette themselves are #14 right now! It's no America East and that's no slight on them, but... well let's just stick with "it's no America East." Speaking of I got to watch Vermont/Boston University the other day and I enjoyed seeing my guys out there. It was a much needed comeback win but I hated the new black jerseys. It sort of worked as an alternate for hockey, but not basketball. Hey UVM..... paying attention? UVM school colors: Green and Gold.... See what's not there? Yeah, black. White is always an acceptable mix and black can be used in accent form but a full black uniform gives the impression to folks not in-the-know that black is one of your school colors. represent your school colors proudly and get the names off the backs of the jerseys. UVM has always played for the name on the front, not the back. Why change that now?"

Well said.

Beano

In the world of college football, there are few better than Beano Cook. His knowledge of the game is unmatched, although Ivan Maisel is making up ground quickly. As for his throw back perspectives, I've always enjoyed them. You can decide for yourself.

Click here to watch Beano's thoughts on the draft.

Way Too Early

Never to early to guess but I'll revisit this article at a later date. That being said, check out the Big XII's representation in Todd's mock draft.

Click here to view the whole article