MAYS DECLARING FOR DRAFT

James Mays has announced that he will test the waters of the NBA Draft but will not hire an agent, leaving the door open for a possible return for his senior season if he withdraws from the draft before June 18. I was pretty surprised when I first heard the news, but it makes sense from the standpoint that he will be able to attend pre-draft camps to hone his skills and see where he stacks up to the top players in the country. This will probably provide him with better practice than Clemson’s off season shoot arounds and conditioning. Clearly this is exactly what Mays has in mind, judging from his quote in the Charleston Post & Courier: “This will give me an opportunity to evaluate where I stand as a player. If I don’t do as well as I hope to, by not signing with an agent, I will have a great opportunity to remain at Clemson and finish my college career.”

I was discussing the issue with some friends over drinks last night and one brought up the fact that Mays had already flunked out once and perhaps his declaring for the draft is a preemptive strike and that maybe he has hit academic troubles again and wouldn’t be able to return next year even if he wanted to. Of course this is a completely unsubstantiated theory, but hey, that’s what blogs are for.

DENDY DISSES CLEMSON CAGERS

Laron Dendy, he of the four star recruiting ranking and four schools in three years high school standing, has decided to decommit to the Clemson basketball program. He was ranked the 18th best power forward in the nation and was to join Clemson for the 07-08 season before questionable academics caused him to be reclassified as a junior. Schools he is now interested in include Sakerlina, Arizona, Maryland, Texas, and Florida (oh, and still Clemson).

He had been committed to the Tigers for over two years. Apparently two years worth of weekly recruiting letters filled with all sorts of big, confusing words was enough of a turnoff for this guy to make him think of trying to take his game to less scrupulous coaches like Gary Williams, who we all know will give a scholly to anyone who can ball regardless of the fact that their IQ falls in Forrest Gump territory. Okay, maybe that’s a little harsh on Dendy, I don’t know the kid, maybe he got caught up in the wrong sort of “diploma-mills” like Prince Ave Prep in Pickens and can’t help that his academic responsibilities have been neglected by those who are supposed to have his best interests in mind but probably on have future signing bonuses floating in their heads. I hope he gets his academics in order and ends up at some school, and I hope it’s Clemson, but with the departure of his main recruiter on the Tiger staff, this is looking less and less likely.

Mediocre Photoshop… check.

First photoshop ever. I think the picture itself paints a perfect picture of what’s been extremely popular among Noles fans everywhere: Lowriders with FSU themed paint jobs.

Continuing my ongoing series, I bring you “Know Your Noles”. It’s a pretty cut and dry Q&A with one of the top Florida State blogs in preparation for the Labor Day match up between FSU and Clemson that is just 131 days away. The first article, done with ChantRant.com can be found here. This second edition has been brought to you by our good friend and Blogger-In-Arms NoleCC over at ScalpEm.com. Our questions for their segment of “Know Your Tigers” can be found here.

DFIG: How has the new coaching staff melded together? Any signs of struggle or trouble?

Scalp Em’: I think we’re still at the honeymoon stage for the coaching staff. There were two noticeable differences in this staff though. The first is that these coaches get in players’ faces. No more coddling, no more hand holding, just do your job and get it done right. Personally, I like that. The second is that when Bobby Bowden was asked about the QBs, he deferred to Jimbo Fisher. That says a lot, considering it was usually Jeff Bowden deferring to his daddy.

Depending on how the season opens, this story might change, but right now things are peachy.

DFIG: Is the quarterback picture for next year any clearer?

SE: For me, yes. For everybody else, no it’s not any clearer. After watching the spring game, it became obvious that Weatherford is ahead of Xavier Lee. Noles fans everywhere just wish that Drew had XL’s arm. Weatherford did a much better job of buying some time in and out of the pocket, and made very accurate throws on Jimbo’s crossing routes.

Lee, on the other hand didn’t look like he was ready to play. His throws were generally inaccurate, he didn’t generally step up in the pocket and he just didn’t look “smart” out there. If history is any indicator, Weatherford will be hitting the playbook, film and gym all summer and will be the clear cut #1 in the fall. Many Seminole fans are in Xavier’s camp still, but he threw another INT that looked like the Duke pick-six in the G&G game. I just don’t think he’s ever going to “get it.”

On a side note, I really wish we could have seen Christian Ponder work with the first team. He throws a very pretty ball.

DFIG: Right now, who is/are the single best offensive/defensive player(s).

SE: Offense - Antone Smith is light years ahead of any other running back on the depth chart. He looked strong last year, and was a better option than Lorenzo Booker. Now that he finally has his shot, free and clear from anyone more senior than him, he’ll make some big plays.

Defense - Andre Fluellen is going to be a force in the middle of the line. If he doesn’t wreak havoc, then everyone else on the Defensive Line will this season, thanks to Fluellen, who will draw a lot of attention from other teams.

As for the next two years… go ahead and fill Myron Rolle in as your answer.

Myron Rolle giving the ol’ Deacon Jones treatment to a teammate.

DFIG: Have the pitchfork mobs subsided since last season, or is there even more bloodlust for Bobby.

SE: I think that everyone in Seminole Territory is optimistic. So, the bloodlust is gone for now. Where I think it might return is when the Noles struggle (and they will here and there) and it becomes obvious that FSU’s goal this year should be an ACC Title and not an MNC. The guys that will go nuts are the overly optimistic ones saying that FSU is going to win 12 games this year. Quite frankly, that’s crazy talk. 9 wins with FSU’s schedule (only 5 home games) would be a huge improvement over the last 5 or 6 years.

DFIG: If Bobby has another bad year (if you can call an average year a bad year), does he hang it up?

SE: The only way he hangs it up is if his health goes, or if he wins another MNC. Otherwise, Bobby isn’t going anywhere. And, contrary to the pitchfork masses’ desire, you can’t get rid of the guy you name the field after. Too bad. Next time wait for him to retire before you name the field after him if you’re so worried about it.

DFIG: Planet Earth on the Discovery Channel, discuss your thoughts.

SE: It’s rare that a mini-series evokes an emotional response out of me. The only other one that has, is Band of Brothers. Planet Earth has been fascinating, horrifying, disgusting and beautiful, all at the same time. I enjoyed ‘Shallow Seas’ the most so far, but last Sunday’s ‘Caves’ episode is a close second.

What blows my mind is how great Discovery Theater HD looks on a standard 480i Sony Wega. It’ll be great to watch it again in HD someday when I have an HDTV.

That’s what we’re calling it. We’ve entered into a bet with NoleCC over at ScalpEm.com to spice up the Labor Day match up. The stipulations are as follows:

Victory by < 7 = a single day of Purple and Orange gracing the front page of Scalp Em'.

Victory by 7-14 = 2 days of searing, contrasting, retina burning colors for NoleCC.

Victory by 14 or more = 3 days of beautiful color on that FSU rag sheet.

- Last week, the Baseball team really stunk it up, losing at #4 South Carolina on Wednesday, and dropping two this weekend to #6 Virginia before pulling one out on Sunday to salvage the home series. This turn of events drop us to 26 - 13 overall and 11 - 7 in ACC play. Granted we lost to teams ranked higher than us, but it’s time to start accepting the fact that we just aren’t as good as we were this time last year. We’re not playing poorly, a lot of other teams are just having outstanding seasons. You can’t win em all. I am impressed with our bullpen, after they were kind of written off at the beginning of the year. I think we should be happy with what we’ve got going on right now. We are consistently a top ranked team and we consistently send a players to the majors and farm leagues almost every year. I think Jack has done a great job with our program and it’s just so damned hard to hate him. We’ll win a CWS soon enough with him at the helm. Hey, at least the baseball season hasn’t turned into a disaster like the football season did… yet. This week we play five home games as follows:

Elon, Tuesday @ 7:15
South Carolina, Wednesday @ 7:15
Georgia Tech, Friday @ 7:15
Georgia Tech, Saturday @ 7:00
Georgia Tech, Sunday @ 2:00

- Our Men’s Track team came in second at the ACC Outdoor Track & Field Championships with 118 points. Florida State won it’s third straight ACC Championship with crazy mad score of 166.5 points… I think it’s safe to say they blew everyone else out of the water. On an interesting note, Boston College scored a four. FOUR POINTS. Should they even have a Track team??? I think that they should just pack it in and replace the team because that is just shameful. In individual notes, Jacoby Ford was disqualified in the 100m due to a false start while CJ Spiller was a 100m dash all-ACC performer. Travis Padgett continues to burn through free Nikes as he took home the ACC 100m dash title.

- I must send out apologies for my lack of posting. Chili has been carrying the blog on his back once again. Reason being, I had an allergic reaction to a drug with Sulfa in it that I was taking for a skin infection. Long story short, I got Stevens-Johnson Syndrome and nearly died. Yadda, yadda, yadda, saw the light, etc. Needless to say, Chili was ever vigilant during my hospital visits. In fact, when I finally came to, he was there by my bedside. You remember the scene from Rocky II? That’s EXACTLY how it played out. I told him to go “Win” and well, there was no fight… so, I think he broke doctor’s face in. I’m not sure. All I know is that this will be the last time I ever go through the doors of Redfern Health Center under my own free will.