HOOVER, Ala. -- The borderline boredom was blown apart Wednesday.
SEC media days had droned on Monday afternoon and all of Tuesday as half the head coaches made their way here and sprinkled the gathered media with tidbits of insight into the upcoming season.
Understand, in the dog days of summer when millions are starving for football information, the media grab every morsel and report it. Also understand that because these meetings start so early there will be some reporting until every decent quote has been quoted, and then the drought starts again until players report in August.
Plus, this paper will continue its series of features on the Arkansas Razorbacks' incoming class.
Anyway, the media were rapt in their attention the first two days -- coffee is plentiful just outside the press room -- and then came Wednesday when it rained headlines.
It started when Alabama's Nick Saban was asked about not suspending Cam Robinson and Hootie Jones, Crimson Tide players who were arrested in their hometown of Monroe, La., this summer. Charges of possession of illegal firearms and possession of marijuana were dropped almost before the ink was dry on newspaper reports.
There had been four guys in the car that was parked in a closed park at 2 a.m. Only Robinson and Jones were charged.
Still, it was legitimate to ask whether there would be internal discipline, but it caused a ripple among ESPN reporters when no questions were asked about those players when Saban was in the big room, which is supposed to be print media only.
Radio/Internet folks have their own room and time with the coaches. TV has a different room. ESPN has two sets and several rooms.
Here's what happened. First, Saban filibustered. He spent the first 12 of his 30 minutes with an opening statement, then took questions and gave long, detailed answers to the 11 questions that were asked.
More than half of those questions came from website folks who are supposed to be in the Internet room. Some of those websites have names such as Touchdown Alabama -- which didn't ask a question -- and one website guy had a sign at his work area showing who was sponsoring him at media days.
When time was up, at least 15 to 20 reporters had their hands up.
Someone on ESPN named Booger ripped the media, and it was on.
When Saban joined a trio of ESPN reporters including Paul Finebaum, sort of the face of the SEC Network, Finebaum went after Saban, interrupting him twice -- not something the king of football enjoys, and he ended the interview but not the discussion.
On a commercial break, Saban blasted Finebaum.
Meanwhile, Arkansas' Bret Bielema was filling notebooks with his candor and wit. For a while, the Razorbacks head coach was the No. 1 subject trending on Twitter.
So overwhelming were Bielema's charm and Saban's temper tantrum that what normally would have been a major story became a note or sidebar, at best.
New Missouri Coach Barry Odom was the last coach of the day. It was his first SEC media days, and he was representing a school that is experiencing a 25 percent drop in its freshman class enrollment this fall after controversy hit the campus last season.
He took the stage less than 24 hours after finding out that the man who hired him, Mack Rhoades, was leaving to be Baylor's athletic director.
A slow week turned into Wild Wednesday. There was no way Thursday, the final day, could compete.
Sports on 07/15/2016