The D-train daily wanted to keep it simple today. A little discussion on last night's NBA & NCAA basketball action. But then...
In a testament to the sad state of loyalty in Div. 1-A er, FBS college football, USC brass went with what appeared to be their seventh choice to replace Pete Carroll by selected Tennessee Head Coach Lane Kiffin.
Lane Kiffin? USC must have been desperate to fill the head coaching vacancy as quickly, if not as efficiently as possible. They certainly didn't look at the Vol's 2009 season. A 3-1 non-conference record with those three wins coming against renowned powerhouses Western Kentucky, Ohio, and Memphis.
After the one loss against UCLA Kiffin, always the mature one, said that his team should've won by "multiple touchdowns".
Did the folks at USC notice that Kiffin had not one notable win? Unless you count a 10 point loss to defending National Champ Florida and a 2 point loss to eventual SEC and National Champ Alabama as wins. Well they weren't. Surely USC's search committee noted the decline in discipline during Kid Kiffin's on year stint at Rocky Top; Player arrests, penalties, and so forth. What about the blowout loss in the Chik-Fil-A Bowl against Virgina Tech? Maybe Kiffin got hired because he will abscond from Nashville with a pretty solid staff that might produce victories in spite of him.
Did anyone notice that he didn't even thank his former players or the University of Tennessee for this past season at his farewell press-conference?
At any rate, USC should've exercised more patience. Aside from a lack of accomplishments on the field Kid Kiffin behaved like, well a kid off of it. Let him tell it, losses were the fault of questionable officiating. He accused Florida Head Coach, as of this moment, Urban Meyer of recruiting violations. Overall, he just seemed to lack any class or respect.
When Kiffin was hired at Tennessee last Spring the Oakland Raiders, who had fired Kiffin in the Fall of the previous year released this statement, "Lane Kiffin is a flat-out liar. He lied to the team, he lied to the fans, and he lied to the media. He will try to destroy that university like he tried to destroy the Raiders."
That statement was no doubt penned by Raiders owner Al Davis. At the time, on the surface, it looked like the kooky old man was losing it a little more in a public setting. In hindsight, it looks like Old Man Al has still got his intuition about him.
Mark McQwuire spent Monday admitting to taking steroids and yet refuting Jose Canseco's claims about injection sessions in the bathroom (There's a joke there). Duplicitous? Maybe. Throw in some tears and it might appear contrite.
Yesterday in an interview with ESPN's Pedro Gomez, Canseco had this to say in response to McQuire's Monday Media Montage, "What McQuires suffered, and I can say this straight to McQuire's face, is NOTHING; not even REMOTE to what I've suffered. And he sits there and starts crying. "(To the camera)Mark there's no crying in baseball, you know that."
Oh snap! Ladies, ladies! Take it easy. No one wants to be bombarded with an ESPN time lines of the back and forth sniping for the rest of the week. Let's just call it even. You both have suffered. Let's move forward. We're not here to talk about the past.
TOMORROW ON THE D-train Daily, WE'LL TRY TO START TALKING SOME BASKETBALL.
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