Jumbo Package: Wednesday, March 1st

SEC Media Days 2017 Schedule Released

Now we not only have the dates for the annual press tour, but who’s going on what day. The conference has released the full schedule for the 2017 edition of SEC Media Days and it goes as follows:

Monday, July 10

Arkansas’ Bret Bielema, LSU’s Ed Orgeron, Tennessee’s Butch Jones

Tuesday, July 11

Florida’s Jim McElwain, Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen, Vanderbilt’s Derek Mason

Wednesday, July 12

Alabama’s Nick Saban, Kentucky’s Mark Stoops, Missouri’s Barry Odom, Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin

Thursday, July 13

Auburn’s Gus Malzahn, Ole Miss’ Hugh Freeze, South Carolina’s Will Muschamp

For those of you that get involved and actually enjoy the media frenzy that happens every summer, the schedule has now been released. Personally, I end up watching replays of Nick Saban and the other Bama players, but not the rest of it. Even in the middle of my football-crazed state after going so long with none to watch, listening to other team’s coaches give bland responses to boring questions just doesn’t pique my interest.

The best part is really just gossiping about which players the coaches decide to bring with them. My prediction for the Tide is that Nick Saban brings Damien Harris, Shaun Dion Hamilton, and JK Scott. Who do you predict?

Former gridiron star Jesse ‘Tha Monstar’ Williams uses battle with cancer to form a new direction

His dad, Arthur Williams, said he was more proud of his son’s mental toughness and attitude since being diagnosed with cancer than anything else.

“This battle is harder than anything you go through on the field playing football or anything like that.” he said.

“Most people don’t know he still has it (cancer). They see him and think ‘he’s fine’ but as parents we worry every day.

“But we’re so proud of the way he has dealt with it — he’s still the same person that he was before, he hasn’t allowed it to impact his life in a negative way.”

Now back home receiving treatment once a month, Williams has a new direction.

“Being back home and seeing how some kids have used me as a role model, that’s the platform I have to use to give back,” Williams said.

“I have the knowledge and experience to help young people.”

Jesse Williams’ story is not done. After a stellar two years at Alabama and being on the cusp of becoming a starter for the Seattle Seahawks before being sidelined with knee issues, he was suddenly diagnosed with cancer and has been in a fight for his life ever since.

He may never make it back into the NFL, but Jesse Williams will continue to make an impact in the world, in some way or another.

The NCAA is looking at changing timing rules as a way to shorten games

According to Solomon, both the ACC and SEC have studied the possibility of timing games by NFL-style rules — which calls to keep the clock running after first downs — or by a new measure: re-starting the clock after the ready-for-play signal following incomplete passes. (The NCAA’s legislative calendar dictates 2017 for an off-year for rule changes unless in the case of player safety, so it’s likely any changes, if agreed upon, would not be enacted until 2018.)

Personally, I’d rather them just stop taking so many commercial breaks.

But, that won’t be the case, so any other efforts to shorten the game would also be helpful. I love football as much as the next guy, but the weekly 4-hour marathon that is a CBS broadcast of an Alabama game can really burn out even the most avid of fans by the end of it.

Another question it raises is how this kind of change would affect not just viewership times, but also play-style. Clemson probably wouldn’t have beaten Alabama had the game been played by those rules. That in itself is enough to raise some eyebrows about how the changes might affect the landscape.

YouTube may have just completely changed the college football economy

At an event in Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon, YouTube may have just changed college football forever.

Okay, that statement may be getting ahead of things just a bit, but it’s not hard to see how we could get there.

The Internet’s official home for cat videos announced the creation of YouTubeTV, a streaming service includes nearly every channel on which college football is played — ABC, CBS, FOX, CBS, the ESPN family of networks, Fox Sports 1 and BTN. The best part for consumers? YouTube TV will cost only $35 a month, with personalization options for up to six members on each account.

Meanwhile, YouTube just released a monumental idea. It’s pretty similar to what Sling TV is already doing, but a little more geared for sports fans, and with a bigger name brand behind it.

The bigger impact will be not just service that YouTube is offering in itself, but the fact that cable companies will finally start to have to fight some competition for sports fans. It may not be immediate, but I’d guess we’re going to start seeing some changes in sports-watching very soon.