Monday Musings: Ravens, Bears, and Texas Affairs

Just in case you were wondering, until football season starts, Monday Musings will be replacing the Jumbo Package on Monday's only. If y'all see articles that seem relevant go ahead and link them in the comments. -bammer

• What's going on over in Oxford? Suddenly the Black Bears seem to be a prime destination for NFL-caliber football talent. Though nothing would surprise me, I'm not going to get into a bunch of speculation about improprieties. Bottom line for me is that, even if they land four or five undecided top recruits, they are still Ole Miss. Not enough depth in their classes to compete on the national level, though Freeze is undoubtedly trying to change that. Hard to believe he'll be there long-term if the class pans out though...

• This Major Applewhite story is going to be interesting. An assistant coach keeping his job after having an affair with a college student probably isn't too problematic until you consider that a women's track coach at the same institution was fired for... having an affair with a college student. Add in the detail that the track coach happens to be a lesbian of a minority race and you have a potential bomb ready to go off in Austin. The BOR called an emergency meeting for today to discuss the matter. Then, just a few hours after that announcement, their 19-year-old backup QB was arrested for public intoxication and carrying a fake ID. Get your popcorn...

• Great to see the basketball team get the monkey off its back in Nashville, but this team is still painful to watch offensively. Coach Grant is clearly a defensive minded fellow (which should resonate with Tide fans) but basketball is an ugly game when the ball isn't moving. Hopefully they can rally around this win and get some things figured out. An NCAA tournament berth is still within reach...

• Congratulations to Ozzie Newsome, Terrence Cody, Courtney Upshaw, and the rest of the Ravens on last night's Super Bowl victory. Especially proud to see Upshaw force a fumble on the grand stage. Rivals had him ranked #131 coming out of high school, came to Bama and worked himself into the #35 NFL draft slot playing a big role in the Super Bowl as a rookie. Cody was rated as a consensus three-star coming out of junior college. I often sound like a broken record on this, but there's a reason elite defensive recruits line up to play for Saban. Well, besides the REC...

• I know that I speak for all of the new staff when I say that we've appreciated all of the encouragement in the comments. This is obviously a new endeavor for all of us and we are working hard to put some great content out there for you. Please feel free to chime in below with anything you might like to see in the future. Oh, and keep the quality fanposts coming too!

Happy signing day week, y'all.