Kiffin’s favorite movie? ‘Say Anything’

In preparation for spring football, new Tennessee Coach Lane Kiffin continues to keep his name in the news with a seeming inability to avoid controversy.

According to a report on ESPN.com, Kiffin, during his recruitment of blue-chip wide receiver prospect Alshon Jeffrey, told Jeffrey that if he signed with South Carolina, he would end up pumping gas for the rest of his life. Evidently, Kiffin is unaware that NFL scouts do monitor games and video involving South Carolina, same as they do Tennessee.

Jeffrey, who had committed to USC, wound up signing with South Carolina. Walter Wilson, Jeffrey’s high school coach, said USC Coach Pete Carroll never gave up in his pursuit.

“You should have heard Coach Carroll [on the phone],” Wilson said. “He was wide awake at 3 o’clock in the morning. Remember, he was on West Coast time and fighting to get Alshon to the very end.

“But the war was over at that point.”

Trivia time

Which South Carolina player won the Heisman Trophy in 1980?

Show him the cameras

The honeymoon period has barely begun, and people still don’t know what to make of the union between Terrell Owens and the Buffalo Bills.

Wrote Clark Judge of CBSSports.com: “So Owens is going from the glare of the media to the glare of the next snowdrift. Doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it? Less attention is exactly what Terrell Owens needs, but it’s not exactly what he wants.

“In fact, he craves the spotlight. He is to cameras what the lungs are to oxygen. Without one the other can’t survive.”

It needs to be asked

From an item in the Chicago Sun-Times: Chicago Bulls General Manager John Paxson will be the featured speaker at ESPN Radio’s “Lunch With a Legend” series. Lunch is $40, including tax and tip and an explanation as to how Paxson ever came to be known as a legend.

One long weekend

When a judge reduced Charles Barkley’s sentence for driving while intoxicated from 10 days in jail to three, Dan Daly of the Washington Times was moved to write: “Heck, three days is nothing for Charles. He used to spend longer than that in the lane.”

Trivia answer

George Rogers, who rushed for 1,781 yards that season.

And finally

Gary Loewen of the Toronto Sun, after the Oakland Athletics released first baseman Tagg Bozied: “Tagg, you’re out.”

--

[email protected]