Like most some bloggers, I've been involved in many sports over the course of my life.  I've been playing basketball for about 20 years now, some form of baseball/softball for more like 23 years, and my golf game resembles something a three year old may do on the links.  At any given time you can find the following items in my house: a basketball, basketball shoes, softballs, a softball bat, softball cleats, a set of golf clubs, golf spikes, a tennis racquet, a football, and even a pair of running shoes with the Nike + system.  These are pretty standard items found in many "weekend warriors" houses.

This week I was surprised to find that I also have a set of shin guards, goalie gloves, goalie jersey, and two frisbees for disc golf also in my possession.  "How did these things come to pass?" you might ask.  Well, they're both interesting stories, but not quite as interesting at how miserably I fail at utilizing these tools.

Two weeks ago I had a company picnic and a couple of guys asked if I wanted to play a round of disc golf before we left for the day.  Seemed harmless enough.  I even parred out on 3 or 4 of the 9 holes we played.  The game seemed simple.  That was until one of the guys asked me to be his doubles partner in a lunch work league.

How has this turned out?  Pathetically to put it gently.  After two matches I'm carrying something like an 8 handicap.  Yes, in disc golf.  Yes, for 9 holes.

More after the jump.

But wait...there's more! We've already taken a look at the SEC East, but we're still only halfway there. Today, we look at the West, which figures to be a tight race between Alabama, Ole Miss and LSU.

Like the East, the West has their own dynamic quarterback in Ole Miss' Jevan Snead, dominating defenders like Terrence Cody and Rolando McClain, big play receivers in Julio Jones and Brandon LaFell, big-name coaches like Nick Saban and Les Miles, and even some new coaches hoping to shake things up in Dan Mullen and Gene Chizik.

There's also no shortage of storylines. Can Ole Miss live up to their lofty preseason expectations? Will Alabama suffer a Sugar Bowl hangover? Can LSU play defense this year? Will Chizik turn Auburn's fortunes around?

We won't know the answers to those for a few weeks, but one thing we do know is that this is going to be fun. Here's a closer look at the predicted order of finish in the West.

You guys may remember a sort-of awesome weekly sports podcast from 2007 called Super Monday.  No?  Well they are on iTunes should you decide to subject yourselves to that nonsense 2 years later (I have).

Being that football is a mere 48 hours away, fellow Bloguiners over at In The Bleachers are starting up one of their own.  Check it out here.  No word yet on the quantity of dick and boob jokes, but let's hope for plenty.

It's no secret that the fraternity of UK basketball coaches have been busy during the offseason.  Rick Pitino started things off hot this summer with his rumored affair with Karen Sypher.  That of course went on a whirlwind tour with charges of extortion, alleged baby-in-the-womb killing, sex in a restaurant, and culminated last week with Pitino's bizarre news conference where he blasted the media for, well, doing their job.

We also had current coach John Calipari being somewhat involved/not involved/solely responsible for Derrick Rose cheating on an entrance exam that qualified him for college.  He of course took Cal's Memphis squad to the title game, jumped town for the NBA, and nothing has really resulted from the trip.

Then we have Billy.  Oh, Billy.  What are we going to do with you?  Picked up in Lawrenceburg on charges of DUI, Gillispie had to don an orange jump suit and stand in front of a judge for the third time in his life claiming innocent of driving under the influence of alcohol.  Coach Gillispie's two previous charges of DUI don't really give him much of a leg to stand on, and his record at UK may make it tough to dodge this one.  I'm guessing he'll lawyer up enough to get this knocked down from DUI to something like a non-moving violation, but it's still yet another chapter in a weird and wacky summer for guys who've stalked (or will stalk) the sidelines for the Big Blue.

All of this action got us thinking, "who will be the next ex-UK coach to get into some kind of wacky shenanigans?"  Follow us down the rabbit hole and we'll discuss the possible miscreants.

It's always a good idea to save the best for last. And with three straight BCS national champions, it's tough to argue against the SEC these days as the best all-around conference in college football.

There's Florida, the defending national champion and the preseason favorite to hoist another crystal ball. There's Georgia and Ole Miss, who each produced two first-rounders last year. There's LSU, winner of two national titles since 2003. There's Alabama, led by a plethora of future NFL defenders like Rolando McLain and Terrence Cody. Even UK and Vanderbilt are coming off bowl wins last year. And we haven't mentioned Tennessee and Auburn, two proud programs who are coming off down years but still are stocked with talent.

It's been a long off-season full of excitment, and controversy. The league has welcomed three new coaches in Lane Kiffin, Dan Mullen and Gene Chizik, with one making his entrance a little louder than the others. We've endured Tebowgate at the SEC Media Days. We've seen UK's Jeremy Jarmon, an All-SEC player, lose his eligibility for using a banned substance. We've said goodbye to familiar faces like Matthew Stafford, Percy Harvin, Jasper Brinkley, Knowshon Moreno, Andre Smith, Arian Foster, DJ Moore, John Parker Wilson, Demetrius Byrd and Glen Coffee, and welcomed a host of talented newcomers, like Bryce Brown, Andre Dubose, DJ Fluker, Ryan Mallett, Reuben Randle, Trent Richardson, Jon Bostic, Russell Shepard, Aaron Murray and Morgan Newton.

We've had nearly eight months of talking, speculating, predicting and prognosticating. But the time to talk is over. Let the games begin!

It's finally here.  "The Monday before the Thursday with the first games before Opening Saturday of College Football."  (That title is trademarked by this guy, though you will probably find it on KSR later today).

Thursday at 7, South Carolina takes on NC State and following that, at 10:15 EST, the game I'm most looking forward to this week, Oregon goes to Boise State to play on the Smurf Turf.

Friday we will be announcing the first week of selections in our revamped Pick'em Scramble contest that made the trip over from APIAS with us, as well as introduce you to our (in)glorious panel.  Just as a sneak peek, we will have Yoda back this fall to help out with the Pam/Pan situation.  After all, it looks like the guy needs something to do.  I just caught him writing about Bike Polo!

And Saturday is... well Saturday.  We'll try our best not to live blog the entire day again this year... but no promises!

Welcome to here folks.  Now quit trying to act like you're paying attention at school and work.  Nobody else can either.

Fearless Weekend Predictions is a weekly column running on Friday afternoons where our resident soothsayer (or whoever we can get) locks down what will transpire in the coming 72 hours. It’s better to get these out before the 7-year is open.  The crystal ball gets cloudy.

So, I just wrote this amazing piece of literature to start this out, then my computer froze. So, after losing that, I didn't have the heart/desire to do write it over again. Just remember that Billy Gillispie is a special man. Instead, here is a fake letter one of my friends wrote for me today. He thinks it should be the way I pick up women:

Dear Random Girl I may or may not have gone to high school with,
 
Yeah I work in quality control over at (company name redacted).  It's a pretty big deal, I work mad hours just trying to keep the 100 plus people that work for me doing what they are supposed to do.  As you can tell I do very well, after all I am wearing Polo.  Anyway I was hoping I could take you home tonight...we could make out for a little while but right before things get heavy I will start crying.  You can comfort me by just talking with me then when we fall asleep, I will pee all over you! 
 
Don't get scared, it doesn't mean I don't like you, it just means I'm an emotionally unstable bed wetter. 
 
Ok, so you're not interested no big deal.  I will just head home drink a few more cold ones and pass out in my recliner wearing nothing but my boxers.

Thoughts? I think it's a winner, personally. Ladies, if you're out there, yes I am single.

Yes, weekend, predicting, let's do it.

• Chula Vista, CA will win the Little League World Series. I have not hidden my feelings about the LLWS, I love it. It is must see TV every August. Grubby tried to play coy on it ("I can't believe we [expletive] turned off the [expletive] NFL for this [expletive]."), but even he was sucked in last night as my favorite team, Chula Vista, came back on Warner Robins, GA and won in the bottom of the 6th inning. Chula Vista gets a chance to avenge their only loss tomorrow against a team from Texas. That game is on the same time that the Cubs play the Mets. There will be more talent in the Little League game than the Major League one, for sure. My guess is that Chula Vista beats Texas and then beats Chinese Taipei in the finals on Sunday.
• Rick Pitino will go off the deep end. Wow, did you see the press conference the other afternoon? That guy looks like a bear caught in a trap just trying to fend off the vultures. The guy has absolutely zero ground to stand on, but he is the one who is going to go and make accusations? The dude has balls, at the very least. I love how he goes at the local media for printing/running stuff to try and make his own reputation better. Who does he think helps shape his reputation in the first place? If you guessed the local media, you are correct! Ian will send you a free (postage and handling not included) Stadium Drives t-shirt. (Ian, make some SD t-shirts!)
• Halloween II will open to an awful reception. Hey, Rob Zombie, stick to making awful music! We don't need you infecting the world with crappy movies, as well. I don't get Hollywood's obsession with making remakes of movies that weren't that good in the first place. Of course, if you're Rob Zombie and you've always been accustomed to crap, you just keep reproducing it. The only redeeming thing I can find in this movie is Scout Taylor-Compton. She's twenty and she's hot in the, "I think if I met her, I would have a chance," kind of way. I will definitely not be seeing this piece of garbage, but if you do, best of luck to you.
• You will pine for college football, so FWP is more interesting. Look, I know it. There is NOTHING going on in sports right now. Do you want me to break down the AL Wildcard race? Should we talk about the non-story of USC naming a true freshman its starting QB? Do you want my top 10 fantasy football tight ends? No, I didn't think so. This is the last weekend without college football and it feels so good. Next week, we'll unveil something new with bets you can be sure to avoid. It's just one more weekend, you can make it.

All right kiddos, that about wraps it up. Go enjoy your weekend, sip a cool beverage and rest up because next Saturday is going to be a long one. Also, ladies, if you're interested, just email me.

We're less than 10 days away from college football starting and there are football previews for the 2009 season everywhere.  In fact, there have been several on this very site.  Today, we want to look a little deeper than the season and analyze what a few select programs look like right now.

We won't dive into players, positions, or stats.  No, we're just going to draw some parallels between football programs and automotive companies.  There will be some good, some bad, and some flat out ugly comparisons here, but in the end we'll tell you who our BMW's are and who gets stuck with the Kia moniker.  Without further ado, Ladies and Gentleman, the jump!

In news that shouldn't be shocking to anyone, Isiah Thomas is making waves in the college basketball world that reflects poorly on the institution that pays him. Florida International, the school Zeke is at now, is scheduled to play in an early season tournament. The group running this tournament claims it has a contract signed by FIU's AD, Pete Garcia, which says that Isiah's team would play either Ohio State or North Carolina. FIU, knowing their talent compared to both of those teams, would much rather play the Buckeyes than the Tar Heels (wouldn't you?).

Pete Garcia and Isiah Thomas are up in arms because the Gazelle Group (in charge of the tournament) apparently went back on their word by scheduling FIU against North Carolina as their season opener. Maybe I'm missing something, but if there is a contract signed by Garcia saying they'd play either UNC or OSU, I don't see a lot of ground for them to stand on. Also, I know that the Tar Heels will be preseason top 10 in the country and the Bucks won't, but does FIU really stand a lot of chance against either team? Of course, Isiah and FIU are now claiming they will back out of the tournament if they don't play Ohio State. That wouldn't be that big of a deal, but the tournament is the Coaches Vs. Cancer Classic!

Apparently, adding to the long list of people he has already offended, Isiah Thomas would now like to offend everyone ever associated with cancer. I got a Psychology degree from UK. Perhaps I can offer a little help to 'Coach' Thomas.

Isiah, step into my office. Can I give you some advice? Look at what your last ten years look like; you bankrupted an entire basketball league (CBA), tried to ruin the Toronto Raptors, tried to ruin the Indiana Pacers and damn near ruined the New York Knicks. For some God-forsaken reason, you were given a job coaching 18-22 year old kids, you are supposed to be setting an example. Now, you're going to back out of a tournament associated with cancer, something that has touched almost every person in the USA? Go to Chapel Hill, get your ass kicked, support cancer and stop whining about it. In short, Isiah, stop being so much like... yourself.

[ESPN]

I've always had a sort of fondness for ACC football over the years.  I've never quite been able to identify exactly what it was, but it probably has something to do with seeing Baby (excuse me) Carolina Blue on a football field, or the constant changing of member institutions, or the complete unpredictability of betting an over/under on any given game.

Maybe it's they "Hey, we want in on that" style of when they created the end-of-the-year championship game in the footsteps of big brothers SEC and Big XII.

Perhaps it's the cuteness of your buddy's little sister (Duke) who you just want to pull for now that she has a driver's license and some potential (second year Head Coach David Cutcliffe).  Or maybe it's the complete predictability of every Clemson football season.  Whatever it is, when we divied up conferences, this was my first choice.

Predictions after the jump.