LITTLE ROCK — Sometimes in this crazy world of perspiring arts, you just want to stop the bus and take a long walk.
Recent items have made a breath of fresh air seem hard to find.
This week the Tennessee Titans were outraged and sued former Tennessee coach Kid (Lane) Kiffin for hiring Kennedy Pola as his running backs coach and offensive coordinator at Southern Cal. Titans Coach Jeff Fisher hired Pola as running backs coach in January.
Not only was NFL camp about to start, the Kid couldn’t find time to contact Fisher, which is something most coaches do.
The Kid, remember, was in the NFL - not for long and not with success - but he should have known what was expected.
Yet, why the shock for the Titans?
The Kid hired Clay Helton to coach quarterbacks (it remains to be seen if this was good or bad for former Springdale quarterback Mitch Mustain) about two months after Arkansas State’s Steve Roberts hired Helton after he spent 10 years with Memphis before losing his job.
Southern Cal gets hammered by the NCAA, and to nobody’s surprise, Mike Garrett was ousted as the Trojans athletic director after 17 years on the job.
Did the timing seem strange to anyone else that just before Garrett’s name hit the headlines, reports were coming out about an agent’s party in Miami’s South Beach, which was attended by some athletes who will likely be first-round picks in the 2011 NFL Draft?
How did the story about the party and the players who attended it leak?
Not one for conspiracy theories, but it wouldn’t be surprising if a Los Angeles based sports agent put this one out to muddy the waters all the way across the country.
Consider that the beach party fiasco included names of SEC players and that the story broke just days before SEC football media days, which were attended by more than 900 members of the media.
Before Terrell Owens signed with the Cincinnati Bengals on Tuesday, the last time he and Chad Ochocinco teamed up was on Ochocinco’s VH1 show, The Ultimate Catch.
Owens was there to help his fellow receiver sort through an assortment of women. Owens has his own show on VH1, The T.O. Show.”
Add Adam “Pacman” Jones to the mix, and what you have is a great football season for the columnists who follow the Bengals.
Maybe the three could doa show together called Drama Kings.
Dallas Cowboys rookie receiver Dez Bryant refused to carry veteran receiver Roy Williams’ shoulder pads on the first day of camp.
Cowboys Coach Wade Phillips says he doesn’t believe in hazing in any form.
Bryant then claimed he didn’t know it was an NFL tradition.
Phillips didn’t comment, but one would have to say it appears he’s got the back of his prized rookie over the seven-year pro.
Washington Redskins defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth collected a $21 million bonus in April, part of his $100 million contract with the Redskins, then asked to be traded.
He skipped mini-camp and now says he is ready to go, but fans are asking where was that attitude last season.
Haynesworth played college football at Tennessee and was drafted by the Tennessee Titans, who asked the NFL to consider that the Redskins tampered by contacting Haynesworth before the free-agency period began.
That is the same Titans team that is suing the Kid.
Now, bring on the Dallas Cowboys’ training camp.
Sports, Pages 17 on 07/29/2010