We broke down and admitted ourselves into a new, lower circle of obsessive fan hell by letting ourselves into the “will take time off work for spring practices on a Friday” chapter last week, heading out early on Friday morning to make it to Gainesville just in time for practice on Friday and a brief weekend stay for the Orange and Blue game on Saturday. In our defense, we’ll say that it’s the only live football we get until September 2nd, and that it gave us a handy excuse to enjoy the cheap liquor and jean-short wearing, live oak shady goodness of Gainesville.

A billboard just over the state line from Georgia bears mention first: an outline of the state of Florida bordered in gunmetal gray, framed by the words: ATTENTION: FLORIDA RESIDENTS ARE AUTHORIZED TO USE DEADLY FORCE. We’d like to imagine that this was sandwiched between an ad for free Disney tickets and a “JESUS IS LORD AT SHEFFIELD’S COUNTRY KITCHEN” billboard, but we can’t swear by it. (The campaign is actually part of the Brady Campaign’s efforts working against the bill, and not paid for by the state. It’s arresting to the eye nonetheless.)

Be advised as to why the Sunshine State pwnz.

Practice notes get second billing to the state of Florida advertising pride in their new deadly force law. Practices under Meyer bear little resemblance to what you may have seen under Spurrier or [NAME REDACTED]: organized by the second, ruthlessly competitive, and actual fun to watch from your comfy spot on the fine bermuda of the sideline.

We sat just in front of the pass skeleton drill and watched the supposedly green secondary more than hold their own against the first string receiving corps, taking notes just in front of a Blackberrying spectator we suspected was InYourFason from the GatorSports message board. (His practice reports are becoming a public utility–buy shares now.)

Things we noticed:

–Reggie Nelson is the leader of this team, both in terms of skull-cracking gamesmanship in the secondary and alpha-dog shit-talking. (more…)

And we were agog at 45,000 for a second-year coach…Cheatypants brings ‘em in droves at OSU, which drew 63, 649 for their spring game on Saturday. The game turned into a bit of a low-scoring knuckledragger following Troy Smith’s game-opening TD drive and subsequent headset duty, but the halftime entertainment was what everyone really turned out for anyway. (Photo courtesy of the brilliant Tressel’s World, which is truly a stealer of hearts and leader of men.)

As always, Buckeye Commentary has all of your Sweatervest-centric summaries and analysis.

What looked like a surefire “WHOA” last night in our inbox looks more like a certified “Myehhh” this morning as a sleazoid marketeer named Michael Michaels allegedly bought a $750,000 house in Spring Valley, California and allowed Reggie Bush’s family to live in it during Bush’s senior junior year at USC, all in an attempt to get Bush to sign with San Diego agent David Caravantes.

Sinbad’s got nothing on Denise Griffin. Too bad Phil Hartman couldn’t make the sequel.

Let’s break this down by the two likely threads of the story:

OMIGOD USC IS GOING TO HAVE TO LIKE FORFEIT LIFE, RIGHT? Of course this is what you were thinking when you first read the story. Like us, you’re the one who, upon hearing of a planet-sized asteroid several million light years away that might be edging into the earth’s neighborhood, makes your scheme for spending your last minutes on earth in detail. (Hint: orgy in a liquor store would just be the start.) This story is like program AIDS for USC, right?

Not quite–if Bush had an alternate residence, which he supposedly did, then there’s no specific link that Bush used his family as a proxy to live in a house during his senior year while the rest of the world spent their senior year dreading elephantine student loans and tripping over the XBox cords snaking across the floor of their undoubtedly crappy apartment. Furthermore, a sketchy, Lionel Hutch-style agent’s scheme to woo Reggie Bush into a marketing/agent marriage doesn’t constitute the deadly “lack of institutional control” factor that gets the NCAA all heeby-jeeby and sometimes results in whole seasons getting forfeited. In fact, no direct links to USC exist at this point, so UCLA fans, please put down the gris-gris and stop lighting votives–there’s no institutional connection here.

Storyline strength: weak tea.

Reggie Bush and his family are, well…kind of trashy. A more likely suspect in the case since we’ve got some ample evidence for it. Bush’s mom, stepfather, and brother all piled into the house on Reggie’s dime, lived there for a year without considering the potential complications, and fled the house like Irish Travelers once reporters came around sniffing out the real owners of the house. Bush needs to take some trash points, too, since he allowed the whole thing to occur and had to have known about the deal from step one without ever seeing anything remotely fishy about his parents using him as a walking housing subsidy. (Not that you don’t need one in Southern California’s insane real estate market, but still.)

Our favorite image of the story is this:

Reporter: [knock knock] Hi, ma’am. We’d like to know if you know a man named Michael Michaels. We’re from the Associated Press.

Bush’s mom: Umm, no. Would you excuse me for a moment? (Shuts door; voices from behind door begin screaming, muffled but still clearly audible.) GET YOUR SHIT AND RUN! RUN! GET IN THE MOTHERFUCKING CAR AND RUN BITCHES! AAAAIIIIGGGHHH!!!

(A Range Rover runs straight through the aluminum garage door at this point, runs over the mailbox, and then hits a parked car before peeling out and heading to the nearest Holiday Inn Express.)

Reporter: Umm…bingo, right?

Storyline strength: Turkish coffee with extra sludge at the bottom.

The greatest thing about this story is that after a year and a half of putting up the Bush family for free, the agent/sleazoid marketeer in question got exactly Jack Schitt from the deal; Bush signed with another agent and marketing firm altogether, leaving the duo with a fine real estate investment that, thanks to inquiring minds, is now ready for immediate move-in.

Summary judgement: less Antonio Langham, more Tank Black. San Jose State forced to give up 3 scholarships and forfeit entire 1973 season.

We are not big fans of the NBA, but we can admit that it does exist might occassionally be good for something… like this. Watch if you dare. It is safe for work, but not necessarily for your sanity.

Amid sagging poll numbers that have dropped Bush into Herbert Hoover territory… wait, this is a football blog… but it can’t be, can it? Too early to tell, but Yahoo! Sports has been digging into the records surrounding Reggie Bush’s family’s home recently and has been getting a few too many “no comments” for Pete Carroll’s comfort. Apparenlty, the 3000 square foot home Bush’s family has been living in for the past year is owned by Michael Michaels, who may or may not have been trying to steer Bush towards a particular agent. Stay tuned.

As a fan of watching his greatness for 3 years, we hope we can remember him like this and not for a scandal.

Condolences to Washington State coach Bill Doba: his wife Judy Doba died of cancer Friday morning at their home in Pullman, Washington after a four year struggle with the disease. Going to practice on Friday in Gainesville, you forget that the names and bits of info streaming through the wires are actually attached to people until you see them sweating their asses off in person, looking in desperate need of a cup of coffee, a shower, and five minutes of peace and quiet. Here’s hoping peace finds Coach Doba over the next year.