Culture

http://www.al.com/sports/mobileregister/thicks.ssf?/base/sports/1212398149262080.xml&coll=3 Last season, for the second year in a row, a SEC team won the national championship. Florida quarterback Tim Tebow won the Heisman Trophy, the first sophomore to ever win the trophy, and the league posted a 7-2 record in bowl games, including impressive wins by Georgia over Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl and LSU over Ohio State in the BCS national championship game. The league held the top two spots in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll, with LSU at No. 1 and Georgia at No. 2, and placed three other teams — No. 12 Tennessee, No. 13 Florida and No. 15 Auburn — among the top 15 spots. It was quite a season for the league considered by many to be the best football conference in the land. So, what does the league do for an encore? How could it possibly improve on that kind of success? Some of the SEC's coaches think it's possible. Talking about the upcoming season during the league's recent spring meetings, some of the coaches said, in short, hold on to your hats because this season might be even better. al.com 6/2/08

http://www.nfljuice.com/2008/05/31/favre-gets-gym-lockerliterally/ One day after the future of Brett Favre’s locker became a national issue, the team said it will take the locker he dressed in, out following the mandatory minicamp in June and give it to Favre. A new cherry wood replacement locker will then be installed at the entrance of the locker room in time for training camp at the end of July. “Obviously, I didn’t realize it was going to get this kind of attention,” Packers general manager Ted Thompson told theWisconsin State Journal Thursday. “We talked to Brett and (his wife) Deanna several weeks ago, and we thought that anybody who played 16 years here as well as he did might want his own locker. I think it makes it a little easier, quite frankly, for the next guy to go into there.” [USA Today] nfljuice.com 5/31/08

http://www.rockytoptalk.com/2008/6/2/543855/are-the-georgia-bulldogs-o College football pundits, emerging sliggishly from their hibernation and with their pupils still adjusting to the sun, are already uttering bold predictions for the coming season. What are they saying? Woof! Woof! Woof! According to Lindy's, the Georgia Bulldogs are preseason No. 1. Georgia appears to be the first team that SMQ addressed in his excellent Contenders series. Athlon and Football Time have the Dawgs ranked No. 5, and even my local paper is mentioning the Red and Black as a preseason favorite to win the national championship. Really? Well, with apologies to my friends in the Bulldog football blogosphere, I'm just not seeing it. Most-Cited Reasons for Georgia's Preseason National Championship Hype Momentum The argument goes . . . no team finished the 2007 season on a more convincing run than did Georgia. The Bulldogs, after losing two of their first six (to South Carolina and Tennessee), and after barely beating Vanderbilt 20-17, rode the much-publicized entire-team-on-the-field celebration penalty against Florida not only to a convincing win over the Gators but to a seven game winning streak. During that time, they averaged almost 38 points per game, including absolute thumpers against Auburn in their black jerseys and Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl. rockytoptalk.com 6/2/08

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080601/SPORTS030103/80601010 CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Ole Miss baseball season came to an end on Sunday night, with an 11-2 loss to No. 1-ranked Miami in the NCAA Coral Gables Regional. It’s the first time since 2004 that the Rebels did not make it to the Super Regionals. The Miami hitters jumped all over Ole Miss left-handed starter Nathan Baker at the start of game, taking a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Ole Miss (39-26) responded with a two-run homer from Cody Overbeck, his 17th of the season, to make it 3-2, but that’s as close as the Rebels would get against a Hurricanes team that dominated the regional tournament with three straight wins. ClarionLedger.com 6/2/08