John Calipari admitted to me after Tuesday’s practice that he’s still irritated with the Tigers’ effort in the scrimmage Saturday against Saint Louis. But he’s as irritated with himself as much as he is with the team, because as he said to the players Tuesday, he might have let them get a little bit soft.

In other words, country club time is over. It’s so over that after practice, when I asked Andre Allen for a few minutes to chat, Andre insisted that he talk while sitting down. And I don’t blame him, because I watched a 2 hour, 40 minute practice that was as physically and mentally demanding as anything the Tigers have been through all year. From here on out, Calipari is going to concentrate on building his team’s toughness because that’s what he feels they need. That means a portion of practice every day will be devoted to nothing but football-style drills where they just try to beat each other up. Memphis got better last season when Calipari went to more physical, less cerebral practices. We’ll see how they respond leading up to Monday’s opener against UT-Martin.

Of some concern was Joey Dorsey sitting out Tuesday with what they’re calling a right shoulder sprain. Head athletic trainer Chris Simmons said Dorsey is still day-to-day. My gut feeling is that Dorsey will be ready to play Monday, but the progress he makes from now until Friday will be crucial. Shawn Taggart played center with the first team in Dorsey’s absence.

Grizzlies coach Marc Iavaroni revealed that captains had been made official at practice. No surprises here. The obvious choices were Damon Stoudamire, Mike Miller and Pau Gasol.

Those are the captains mainly because of their tenure with the team and/or NBA experience.

Also, I wouldn’t read too much in Brian Cardinal and Tarence Kinsey starting the season on the inactive list. Cardinal is battling the flu, and just because Kinsey will be inactive against San Antonio doesn’t mean he’s not in the plans. Remember, the active/inactive list can change from game to game. Cardinal and Kinsey don’t have to sit on the shelf for at least five games like the “injured list” days.

Thanks GG. I hope there’s one new person reading this after his using the last question on his show. It took me 9 days to figure out the answer. It wasn’t as easy as it sounded. Now I’ll throw an easy one out there. Name the Tigers who have Super Bowl rings? And who still celebrates that SB victory and season with his teammates?

I’ve seen and heard discussions about the Tigers and bowl possiblities with six wins. The University of Memphis WILL play in a bowl if they get six wins. The fact of the matter is that we Tigers fans will travel to that bowl with the exception of Hawaii. Birmingham, Fort Worth and New Orleans are one day drives. And believe it or not, the Liberty Bowl is STILL possible. We need UCF to lose and the Tigers to win out to get there but it is still very possible. I bet the majority of you didn’t realize that a couple weeks ago. In my ever so humble opinion the New Orleans Bowl would attract some 10 to 15,000 Memphis fans. The game is a Friday night game which means many would take Friday off and go down Thursday night. We are still the school that has had the biggest turnout for that game.
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THE BIG STORY

Georgia coach Mark Richt offered a written apology to SEC Commissioner Mike Slive on Monday in which he called instructing his team to get an excessive celebration penalty after its first touchdown in Saturday’s 42-30 win over Florida “inappropriate.”

The league won’t fine Georgia or levy any suspension for the incident, SEC associate commissioner Charles Bloom said. Richt and Slive spoke earlier on Monday before Georgia released the letter.

“I understand that the entire team running on the field created the potential for an altercation and that excessive celebration is not in compliance with the Southeastern Conference sportsmanship policies and expected standards,” Richt wrote in the letter.

“My only intention was to create enthusiasm. I apologize that I put everyone in that situation and specifically apologize to you, the Southeastern Conference, and the University of Florida. You can be assured I will not ask our team to do this type of thing again.”

Richt said Sunday that he wasn’t trying to disrespect Florida, but instead was trying to create excitement for a team that lacked emotion at times this year.

“This situation was strictly a decision that was made to sacrifice 15 yards for the emotion that it might take to win a game like that,” Richt said Sunday.

Georgia drew two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties after players rushed from the sidelines. Richt and Georgia athletic director Damon Evans also spoke about the incident Monday. Bloom and Georgia spokesman Claude Felton said they did not know who initiated contact between Richt and Slive. Bloom did not know if anyone from Florida had contacted the SEC office about the incident.

Richt told players they would have to run early in the morning if they didn’t get a penalty, but he wrote to Slive that he envisioned for 11 players, not the entire team, to celebrate.

“The commissioner is appreciative of the letter,” Bloom said. “He accepts the apology and considers the matter closed.”

A look at the league: Read the rest of this entry »