Calipari ranks BEHIND Tim Tebow in list of "The SEC's 10 most powerful people" … Whaaaa????

Got to say that I don’t really get the Orlando Sentinel sometimes. I mean I expect Magic bashing and extremely biased articles about the Gators but every now and then you really have to say WTF?

Jeremy Fowler wrote an article yesterday on “The SEC’s 10 most powerful people”. Mike Silve, SEC commish was deservedly number one on the list. I don’t even have a problem with where they listed John Calipari. Granted, Calipari has been in the SEC for right at 100 days, so it is a compliment to be rated the 7th most powerful person. The article though, typical Sentinel style, mixes praise for Calipari with thinly veiled jabs:.

7. John Calipari, Kentucky basketball coach: He’s powerful because Kentucky was so desperate for a winner, they ignored the NCAA allegations that followed him at Memphis and UMass and still paid him an exorbitant eight year, $35-million contract. That’s leverage. He’s the best recruiter in the SEC, in any sport, which will eventually bring in revenue and preserve the proud legacy of the blueblood faithful.

Back to Fowler’s list, Nick Saban was an interesting choice at #2, and I really have no fault with Florida AD Jeremy Fowler and Urban Meyer at #3 and #4 respectively. I particularly liked the line about Meyer that “he can get away with criticizing former players and recent legal woes from his own roster because of his on-field dominance”. So basically, 24 players in 4 years have been arrested, but he wins a lot.

Now coming in on the list at number 5 is ……. student athlete Tim Tebow. No, I am serious. get ready to gag when you read this assessment:

5. Tim Tebow, Florida quarterback – Tebow has driven newspaper headlines for years, captivated an entire religion as an outspoken Christian, created the leagues strongest combination of adoration and disdain from fans and has made a case as the greatest college football player of all time. He’s easily the biggest cult-celebrity figure in the conference.

Really? Captivated an entire religion??? Wow. I am floored by that. As we can see from the picture above, he was passionate enough to make sure innocent co-eds did not get trampled by his drunk, 250 pound friend.

But I can not deny that Tebow has a very distinct power. Because the media absolutely adores him, the fact that he plays on a team of thugs and hoodlums is generally ignored. While the University of Miami had Michael Irvin’s do rag as the face of their program years ago, the face of Florida’s program is St. Tebow and his doing charity work in some third world country for a mission his parents run.

It will be interesting to see what happens when Tebow’s days as a Gator are over. Will all the warts and blemishes of 24 player arrests become the NEW face of this program? But for now, the 5th most powerful person in the SEC is deflecting all this negativity.

The rest of the top 20 featured a few rich boosters and then 2 time NCAA champ Billy Donovan came in at number 17. So already the “greatest coach ever in the SEC” was displaced by Calipari in the power rankings. Then for some odd reason and without explanation, Lane Kiffin was the second football coach listed at number 20. I guess his power was the ability to infuriate senile football owners from 3000 miles away.

I can think of better people to put at number 20 other than Kiffin, but since Fowler is including random student athletes, why not John Wall who could be the first SEC basketball player since Shaq in 1992 to be taken 1st overall in the NBA draft, and only the second in the last 50 years or so? Or what about Eric Bledsoe and his power to “get sh#t right” in Lexington?

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