Love From ESPN?

[etowahnative]

At least right now they have on the front page of their College football page a pic of UT in the black jerseys from the SC game:

http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/ncf/index

[Del Griffith]

Yes, they have been more "pro-UT" since we played Alabama than any period I can remember, even after we won the title.

[Riversetvol]

Kiffin and Pearl know how to play the game, Flummo didn't!

[atlscribe]

Kiffin and Pearl know how to play the game, Flummo didn't!

That's a good point, Riverset.

For all the good things you can say about Kiffin (tireless recruiter, put together a first-class staff, great playcaller, incredible evaluator of talent, etc.), it's easy to overlook the fact that he's excellent with the media.

The interesting contrast between Kiffin and Pearl is that, while Pearl appears to enjoy and relish talking to reporters and sometimes uses theatrics to gain attention, I get the impression Kiffin doesn't much care for talking to the media but does so because it's his job. Pearl may go out of his way more because he knows the UT basketball program needs to reach out more because it's not an elite program, while the football program is probably top 10 in the country.

But both work the media beautifully in their own way. Kiffin doesn't paint his chest or show up on PTI every other day, but he gives the media just enough little nuggets of interest to keep them chattering about him.

He's young and acts brash, and the guys at ESPN just eat it up. Hate ESPN all you want but, in today's world, it's huge to get good pub from them, especially when you're 4-4. When you're 8-0 in the SEC, the pub will come no matter what you say. Kiffin knows this, and he's playing it well.

[gallavol]

How do you know it's love? They could be saying, "look at these stupid unis." We don't know. :biggrin: