I have a friend, Rickey Wood of Jonesboro, who is quick with backhanded compliments, particularly when he notices a flaw in one's appearance.
"Hey, Fires," he usually begins. "Glad to see they're feeding you well up there in Northwest Arkansas. Looks like you've been doing a lot of damage on those steaks and double cheeseburgers. Don't they have any salad bars in Fayetteville?"
So, I wasn't impressed when Steve Spurrier said at SEC Football Media Days that "people in Knoxville and Fayetteville are still doing cartwheels over being 7-6" and then tried to backtrack from his comment. The really good ones, like my friend, don't take back their digs, no matter how many people they offend.
But, yes, Steve, most Arkansas fans were pleased by 7-6, although I'd describe the collective reaction more as belly bumps than cartwheels. Arkansas improved from 3-9 and finished strong with SEC wins over Ole Miss and LSU and a Texas-sized whipping of the Longhorns in the Texas Bowl.
As an older Arkansan, there's still no better sight than watching Texas fans turn and head for the exits after a loss to the Razorbacks. The victory provides a springboard for the Razorbacks and Bret Bielema, who enters his third season as the Arkansas head coach.
The assembled media at the SEC meetings loved Bielema and voted Arkansas to finish fourth in the SEC West after picking them last the previous two seasons.
This is a pivotal year for Bielema, who left a successful program at Wisconsin to test himself against the big dogs in the SEC. I agree with those who think Arkansas can win eight or nine games this season. If that happens, doubts about Bielema will continue to decrease, and he'll likely coach the Razorbacks as long as he wants.
But what if Arkansas backslides and produces another losing season?
You'll hear the complaints all over again, especially from those who still can't pronounce his name (Bull-E-ME-uh or Bill-a-ma instead of BEE-La-Ma) after 2½ years. He can't coach in the SEC, they'll say. He hates the passing game. He can't out-Alabama Alabama.
So, there's plenty at stake for Bielema and other SEC coaches such as Les Miles and Mark Stoops, whose primary job at Kentucky is to keep the fans semi-entertained until basketball season starts. He did that better last year at 5-7 following a 2-10 rookie season with the Wildcats.
The standards are much higher at LSU, where Miles is 103-29 in 11 seasons as the Tigers' head coach. But Miles is no longer feeding the monster, as Nolan Richardson so aptly described his challenge after winning a national championship in basketball at Arkansas.
This year is also pivotal for the SEC, which went 7-5 in bowl games last season but only 2-4 against ranked opponents in the postseason. Are the Big 10 and Pac-12 catching up, as many contend? I'm not sure, but I disagree strongly with the college football analyst who said he discounts bowl results when considering the strength of conferences.
Of course bowl results matter. Ask Arkansas. Ask Tennessee. Ask even the South Carolina coach who needed a win over Miami in the Independence Bowl to avoid his second losing season in 25 years at the college level.
"Hey, Spurrier," my friend might say. "You're 70 years old and still throwing baby fits on the sidelines like a 3-year-old. Shouldn't you be out on a golf course somewhere or coaching in the NFL? Oh, you did coach in the NFL. So, how'd that work out?"
Not so well, actually. Spurrier went 12-20 with the Redskins before landing at South Carolina, which has just as many SEC championships in football as Arkansas.
That would be none.
Sports on 07/19/2015