Man in the Hat media

What comes to mind when one thinks of spring? Flowers blooming, pollen pollinating, temperature rising, and football? Yep, spring practice has begun for many schools. This is a time for teams to coach, and really work on basics, and to get younger players some more attention for development. This is the case with South Carolina. For Clemson, it is all that plus learning new schemes with the coaching change. I guess USC falls under that category too. And I know we are in football country, where college ball is king, but I am just not that into spring, and more precisely, the spring games. I don't get how so many people could get into a glorified scrimmage. You really have no idea how good your team is by watching and analyzing a spring game. What good does it do for your guys to play your same guys, who schemes they all know? Did I mention there is that added risk of players getting hurt? Sure, you can have excitement with trick plays and learn some new faces, but it really isn'...

You know what? Sure, you already know I love baseball. I believe it is the greatest game, a thinking man's game, ever devised by the human mind. But you know something? I really like the World Baseball Classic. There is just something about it that draws me to it. Maybe it is because I haven't even heard the crack of a bat since November and I'm dying to hear a ball smack some leather. We already have the drama. The Netherlands already had a stunning upset over the highly favored team from the Dominican Republic, and USA and Canada went toe-to-toe in a close and hard fought ball game. But I think the real attraction for me with the WBC is because it gives us, Americans, a chance to see how our game sticks up to the world, and how the world has embraced our game. In a world today where so much violence and death are fought over, mostly due to misunderstandings and breaks in communication, sports speaks a common language. Though many of the participants in these games don...

Here in the South there are three sports seasons: Football, spring football, baseball. Well, it is time to strap on the pads, which means the real season is less than 6 months away. Here in the coverage area of the Report (Georgia, South Carolina, Clemson) we will be looking at what to expect from spring ball, what to watch for position battle wise, and 5 things I think will happen to each team. I'll start in alphabetical order. Clemson The Dabo Swinney era has officially begun at Clemson. This will mark the first spring under Swinney for the Tigers, and I expect some big changes for the orange clad bunch. New defensive coordinator Kevin Steele will look to bring some of that Alabama toughness to the Tiger D, while Billy Napier was promoted to offensive coordinator. This breeds the two biggest questions for the Tigers: What kind of defense will they run? What type of offense? If they run the Alabama 3-4-4, it will take away their lack of depth at defensive tackle, but it may expose...

It is that time of year again. Time to dust off the old mit, tar the bat, and clean off the cleats. Yep, it is baseball season once again. In an off-season that better resembled a bi-polar adolescent with the induction of players like Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice into the Hall of Fame and the admission of steroid use by A-Rod (which is another story altogether), it is about time we start hearing the crack of a bat. This offseason teams have been busy jockeying for players. The New York Yankees don't seem to be in a recession, as they acquired pitchers C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, and first baseman Mark Texiera for very hefty sums of cash. The other cash cow in baseball, the Boston Red Sox, also were a little busy. They signed pitchers Brad Penny and John Smoltz, while the other New York team, the Mets, sured up their suspect bullpen with closer Fransico Rodriguez aka K-Rod. Other players have new homes, like Jason Giambi-who went back to Oakland, first basemen Adam Dunn (Washin...

The scene of an emptying courtroom paints the 6-inch screen of the television. The picture gets fuzzy, and a young boy gets up to adjust the rabbit ears so the message can come through clearly. It was 1954, and the Supreme Court of the United States has just ruled on the Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education case, and overturned the ruling of Plessy vs. Ferguson . That was Bob Prince’s first experience with the media. “I just remember how matter-a-fact the journalists were. They were commentators in journalistic mode and their purpose was to inform the public so the public could make their own decisions.” He doesn’t see it that way anymore though. Prince, 54 of Anderson , SC. , pointed to the late 1960s, after the Kennedy assassination, as a time when journalism started down its slope to the mess the media know finds itself in. “When Kennedy was assassinated, it was kept as fact. His private life was kept separate from his public life,” Prince said. “Then the Vietnam C...

Bring 'em in! Time to break down the recruiting classes for Clemson, Georgia and South Carolina. I will be looking to see if they addressed the main needs, replaced personnel wise, and if they picked up any bonuses. Starting with the Tigers. Clemson The Tigers have a small class coming in due to the firing of now ex-coach Tommy Bowden. But, what they lacked in quantity, they signed in star quality. Their biggest signings may be QB Tajh Boyd and DE Mallicah Goodman. Boyd gives coach Dabo Swinney his first QB to fit his system and that he can develope how he sees fit. Goodman gives him a man to build his future defense around, and continue the tradition of signing high quality defensive ends (like Ricky Sapp and DaQuaun Bowers). Along with Boyd, the Tigers signed a guy to run the ball, and to catch Boyd's passes in the future. RB Rod McDowell of Sumter, and WR Bryce McNeal give the Tigers an offensive group to build around. Safety Jonathan Meeks may be the steal of the class, an...

So Michael Phelps got high in Columbia (allegedly). Big deal. It isn’t as if he committed a major felony like some other high profile athletes in the past-here is looking at you Michael Vick and DeAndre McDaniel. Now those guys needed to make some apologies. But for Phelps, I think it would have gone a long way if he had said something to the tune of, ‘Yes, I did it, and I’ve done it before, and I liked it, but didn’t do it during competition.’ The argument if he had done that is that he probably would have lost a large deal of sponsorship and ad revenue that he garnered thanks to his 6-foot, 4-inch inch frame, and his 14 career gold medals. But why would Mazda, a China owned company, care? And what about Speedo, a company based in England ? Sure, he may lose the Wheaties deal, but who eats Wheaties? But unlike the prior named athletes, the only person Phelps hurt in this instance was himself. He didn’t hurt any fans with his drunk driving in November 2004, s...