Sunday Thoughts: Pre-British Open Edition

Well, we are in the middle of July which means, again, there is little going on in the world of Clemson sports. The next big event will be the ACC Media Days which are held July 22-23 in Greensboro, NC. In case you are wondering, the Clemson representation will consist of Coach Dabo along with Dalton Freeman and Malliciah Goodman. After reading the lineup, I immediately thought of The Office episode "Branch Wars" where Michael and Dwight drag Jim along with them to spy on the enemy paper company--only to have the whole escapade go very badly. You know the Sweatshirt will do something awkward while in Greensboro (like verbally assault the Big XII or something to that nature) and there is no telling what Dalton Freeman will say. I cringe when a microphone is near either. I don't recall Goodman saying anything stupid in front of the media in the past, so hopefully he'll be the voice of reason and reel in any shenanigans (particularly if his teammate starts complaining about not having a gameplan for an intra-squad scrimmage or his coach goes all Nature Boy in front of the camera). Then again, Goodman may do what I'd do and encourage reckrecklessness...we'll see in a few weeks.

Next week the local news hacks will focus almost solely on the SEC's Media Days in Hoover (July 17-19). These will be much more interesting and entertaining than the ACC's-they always are. A complete schedule of college media days can be found here, if you are interested. The arrival of Media Days signals football is just around the corner-and we are craving some sort of football now.

Today will be a nice day for golf. Scottish Open action begins on the Golf Channel at 8 AM. As you all probably are fully aware by now, Phil cut his vacation short to play in this event and is three off the pace heading into Sunday. Afternoon viewing will be a decision, as the Senior US Open coverage is on NBC and CBS is covering the final round of the John Deere Classic. Both networks begin coverage at 3 PM. PGA tour vs. the old guys...Johnny Miller vs. the CBS boys. Miller seems to have settled down a bit the past year or so but can get off on a rabbit-trail story. That's OK for Skip Carey and TBS Braves' announcers back in the day but not so much here. Steve Stricker (currently in second trailing Mattison) is hunting his fourth consecutive Deere title and Bernhard Langer ripped it up this afternoon on the Senior circuit. Also of note on the Senior Championship is Ten Broeck's tournament. Broeck is a PGA Tour caddie and is having one heck of a showing this week.

The NASCAR boys are in New Hampshire this Sunday. Yeah, every time I hear NASCAR and New Hampshire in the same sentence I scratch my head-though I will point out there are more avid stock car racing fans up North than you would imagine. The Boys of Sunday take next weekend off before heading to Indy for the Brickyard to cap off July racing.

Oh, and I finally got to see an episode of "Swamp People." That television show is awesome and would make me even more nervous to go down to LSU in anything but yellow and purple. Jump into gator filled water? No problem. Stick your hand under a boat when you know a gator is hung up there. Do it in a second. Mullet, check. Sweet ‘stache, check. Overalls sans shirt-daily gear. If that is what they do to live alligators, think of how they will torment any fan not screaming "Tiger Bait!"