NCAA Football

It's come to this, Alabama fans are tailgating outside of a new play based on Bear Bryant's life. Which is an improvement over what they would have been doing if Mike Shula was still coach, lighting themselves on fire with their red and white pom-pons in the parking lot. The play, entitled Bear Country, will be playing at Birmingham's Shakespeare Festival from August 6-20. It's already debuted to rave reviews and sellouts in Montgomery, Ala. In honor of the Bear, I decided that nothing would make more sense than a play about four fans tailgating before Bear's play begins. So here goes.

Characters:

Dale -- A 45-year old owner of an auto-body repair shop who fixes cars while wearing a houndstooth cap. His first child was named Bear, his second was named Bryant. He is now divorced.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim selected Washington quarterback and summer collegiate baseball player Jake Locker in the 10th round of the amateur player draft Wednesday, and the former Pac-10 freshman of the year said he would be interested in signing with the club.

Locker, who hit .273 in 10 games with the Bellingham Bells of the West Coast Baseball League last summer, is slated as the Huskies' starting quarterback. He has maintained football is his primary focus.

"Definitely," he said when asked about the possibility of signing in a teleconference. "If we can come to an agreement about a contract in terms - it's something that I'm looking into now. But again, they understand that it would probably be a couple of years before I was playing baseball anyway."

Nick Montana, the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Montana, has given an oral commitment to the University of Washington, his Oaks Christian High School coach, Bill Redell, told FanHouse.

Montana, who is listed at 6-feet-1, 180 pounds, is ranked the No. 13 quarterback in the class of 2010 by Scout.com and gives new Washington coach Steve Sarkisian a potential program-changing quarterback. Montana threw for 33 touchdowns and seven interceptions as a junior and possesses many of the same skills as his famous father, according to Redell.

"He can run, he's got tremendous feet, he's got great timing on his passes," Redell said. "He's got great touch on the ball. He's got great leadership ability. He's the type of kid who can throw on the run, like his dad could."

Apparently, athletic departments aren't immune to the whims of the stock market.

Both Oklahoma State and Texas A&M are feeling the crunch, according to a couple stories this week.

Oklahoma State had to drastically reduce plans for a state-of-the-art Athletic Village it was planning after a facilities fund being managed by the T. Boone Pickens BP Capital Investment Fund lost $282 million during the last year, leaving just $125 million in the fund, according to story in the Tulsa World.

Talk about a dramatic final impression.

D'Vontrey Richardson, a part-time player on the Florida State baseball and football teams, spent Monday working out for two scouts with the Milwaukee Brewers. Richardson clocked a 6.2 60-yard dash on a local high track and then displayed impressive pop with a wooden bat during batting practice at a nearby community college.

Like thousands of other people in the sports world, Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis uses Twitter to keep fans updated on what he's doing. But in a series of tweets on Wednesday, Weis explained that there are certain things he's not allowed to do on Twitter -- like respond to tweets from high school football players -- because of NCAA recruiting rules.

Last summer, the SEC signed a new $2.25 billion television rights deal with ESPN. The amount was staggering. ESPN is now on the hook for $150 million per year for the next 15 years. Now we know that every SEC football game will be televised on the network's broadcast partners, infinitely more basketball games will arrive on the network, and sundry lesser sports will also be featured.

It's a deal of tremendous implications that catapults SEC sports coverage into the realm of professional sports. What's been left unexamined is how this will change ESPN's news coverage of the league, and how that resulting coverage is going to make the SEC the de facto national college league of choice. Why? Because ESPN has spent so much money on the rights packages, the SEC has to be front and center.

Don't believe me? It's already happening.

After a few hours on the depth-chart bench, Oklahoma middle linebacker Ryan Reynolds is again apparently a starter.

Monday, Sooners coach Bob Stoops' released the team's depth chart with several surprises.

The biggest was in the middle, as the coaching staff had Mike Balogun listed as the starter with incoming freshman Tom Wort backing him up and no mention of expected front-runners Reynolds, who starred for the team until suffering an injury against Texas, and Austin Box, who started four games at the position last year.

But as of Tuesday at 10AM, the two-deep listed Reynolds as the No.1 linebacker and Balogun backing him up. It's unclear what prompted the quick change, whether it was a coaching decision or simply a typographical error. Sooners football media contact Kenny Mossman did not return several calls on Tuesday for clarification.

In all honesty, this story shouldn't be viewed as one of sadness, anger, bitterness, or back-stabbing.

Instead, it should serve as a cautionary tale. After all, the pressures and rigors involved with big-time college football aren't for anyone. As offensive coordinator Tony Franklin learned last year at Auburn, it certainly isn't for him.

DeMarcus Milliner has Alabama and Auburn fans in his family. The rivalry didn't stop Milliner, considered the nation's top prep cornerback by recruiting analysts, from displaying his sense of humor around family members when it came to his recruitment.

There were days when Milliner told his father, a devoted Alabama fan, he had decided to attend Florida. The next day it might have been Georgia. Or LSU. Milliner's good-natured personality actually helped him deal with the pressures surrounding the recruiting process.

On Thursday, however, the joking stopped -- but Milliner's smile was just as bright. That's when Milliner, from Millbrook, Ala., verbally committed to attend Alabama in 2010. Milliner made the announcement in front of family, friends, fans and various media outlets in his school gymnasium at Stanhope Elmore High.