The ESS-EEE-SEE saw one of its higher-ranked teams fall off the national landscape last night when Ole Miss wandered into Columbia, South Carolina to take its first loss of the season. After watching the Rebels quarterback Jevon Snead go JaMarcus Russell while running for his life (7 for 21 passing, 4 sacks), one has to wonder how that team was ranked fourth in the country by the AP.

The Gamecocks (3-1, 1-1) had been 1-31 all-time against Top 5 foes, but left Williams-Brice Stadium with the biggest win of coach Steve Spurrier’s five seasons.

“It was good to get a win when everybody watches,” Spurrier said. “It was good for all Gamecocks.” via.

I’m not burying Ole Miss based entirely based on their performance last night. After all, they started the season at No. 8, probably because of their 13 returning starters, including NFL scouting mancrush Jevon Snead. But seriously, fourth in the country? I’m just not that impressed with those middle-of-the-road SEC teams, especially when non-BCS schools are forced to run the table to garner any national respect at all.

Ole Miss finds its way back into discussion today, and if you had “wife of basketball coach sues cabbie for loss of consortium after cabbie was allegedly punched in the face by said coach” in the newsmaker pool, please come forward and claim your prize.

[Andy] Kennedy’s wife [not pictured] sued that cab driver and a valet driver who backed his claims to police and the media, saying their accusations had harmed the couple’s personal relationship, including their sex life.
Kennedy, who was in Cincinnati as the head coach for the University of Mississippi, was charged Dec. 18 with misdemeanor assault after police said he punched cabbie Mohamed Jiddou while shouting racial slurs at him after leaving a downtown bar.

The basketball coach sued Jiddou [Jiddou! --Ed.] and valet Michael Strother for defamation the day after his arrest, and Kimber Kennedy filed a lack of consortium suit Dec. 22 against the pair. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Friday on the assault charge, which Kennedy has emphatically denied.

I always thought punching a cab driver in the face was like their secret handshake. But really, it takes some nerve to file a suit that exposes such a potentially embarrassing aspect of her personal life. I’m sure she called her mother after the fact, and her mother was all, “What Jiddou that for?”

Sometimes the jokes are just for me. See a pic of the sexually frustrated couple after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

The basketball team from Ole Miss is in Cincinnati tonight to play Louisville, apparently because neither Oxford nor Louisville could muster up a venue with the level of suck that Cincinnati exudes without any effort at all. Anyway, Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy has ties to the area; it was he who took over the program at Cincinnati when Bob Huggins was removed by the administration. Kennedy seized the opportunity to get back to his roots by finding the nearest cab driver and punching him in the face.

Cincinnati Police say 40 year old Andy Kennedy punched 25 year old cab driver Jiddou [Ed's note: Jiddou!]Mohammed Ould in the face with a closed fist while shouting racial slurs. The assault happened in the 500 block of Walnut Street in Downtown Cincinnati at 1 a.m. The police report states that there was an unrelated witness who saw the incident.

Kennedy was charged with misdemeanor assault (it’s not a felony in Cincinnati unless the victim’s a white guy apparently. And then the police asked him, “What Jiddou that for?” Probably because he kept driving toward Mecca. That’s just a guess, actually.

In another instance of people blaming the Irish for the poor performance of an organization, Nebraska AD Tom Osborne fired head coach Bill Callahan yesterday:

"As a former coach this is a role I really don't like," Osborne said at a news conference. "I hate to sit in judgment of other people. I never envisioned being in a situation where I would have to make a decision on somebody's employment opportunity, but that's the nature of this business." 

You'd think a guy who voted to send young men and women off to war wouldn't mind sitting in judgment or dismissing employees, but there you go. Anyway, this is probably the last step in expunging Bill Callahan's name from the historical record. The Catholic high school he attended on the South Side of Chicago doesn't exist anymore (my father matriculated at the same institution – it's where he learned his fondness for corporal punishment).  The Oakland Raiders will move back to L.A., and certainly the Huskers will drop their football program for 3-on-3 women's basketball. I'm sick of everyone blaming an Irishman from the South Side. Just because you're late, doesn't mean it's mine bitch! -KD