Well, folks. It's been quite a while since I have written one of these, and too much time has passed to recap all of the sport's even of the past year, so I guess I'll start with something current.
First off, I want to thank all of you who read my previous blogging endeavors. I didn't know how popular it was until someone recently asked me why I didn't write anymore. Thanks again, everybody.
And here we go....
I want to talk about Bobby Petrino for a minute. I mean come on! Really, Bobby? Bad decisions seem to follow this guy around. He left a highly coveted job at Louisville (a team that had Brian Brohm!) to coach the always toxic Atlanta Falcons only to leave after a lackluster first 3/4 of the season. Doing so after committing to Falcon's owner Arthur Blenk that he was the guy for Atlanta. He then bolted town seemingly before Atlanta and the rest of the sports word knew what happened.
Next stop for the Bobby Petrino Travelling Circus: Fayetteville, Arkansas. Home of the University of Arkansas Razorbacks.
What seemed like a puzzling hire by Arkansas turned into quick success by SEC standards. Despite going 5-7 (2-6) in his first year at UA, Petrino knew that his team would be primed for success. With former Michigan transfer Ryan Mallett at the helm, The Razorbacks began to show signs of greatness. In Petrino's second season, The 'Backs went 8-5 (3-5) and newcomer Mallet threw an astonishing 30 TD on only 7 INTs and won the Liberty Bowl.
Over the next two seasons, Arkansas went 21-5 and was invited to the Sugar Bowl in 2010 (which they lost) and the Cotton Bowl in 2011. Despite 2011's success, Petrino made a few enemies. Most notably LSU head coach Les Miles. During a 41-17 thrashing by LSU, Petrino repeatedly motioned to the LSU sidelines and shouted expletives in Miles' direction. The name calling didn't stop there. At the ceremonial coaches' handshake at the end of the game, Petrino gave Les Miles and half-hearted flesh press mumbled something that only Miles could hear and walked off after Les tried to pull Petrino back toward him. LSU's coach had a look of shock, astonishment and sheer amazement after Petrino disengaged and walked off.
In 2012, Arkansas was the one of the favorites to win the SEC West behind LSU and was primed for a potential SEC Championship run, but "not so fast" (in my best Lee Corso impression). In March, it was revealed that Ole' Bobby had been involved in a minor motocycle accident with passenger, former UA volleyball player and newly appointed athlete student-development coordinator, Jessica Dorrell. The end was seemingly near for Bobby Petrino. His seen-this-before, almost-Tiger-Woods-like press conference did little to sway the Arkansas brass as well as the fan base. Petrino was ousted on April 10th, 2012 leaving yet another wave of destruction and despair.
Heres' to you, Bobby. You don't always crash motorcycles, but when you do, you make damn sure that someone you're not supposed to be with is on that bike with you.
In the word's of a close friend, "You can't hire your cake and eat it too."
Until next week,
-MO
WHO DAT
