Media Days comes at the right time

Is it just me, or have SEC Media Days arrived just in the Nick of time?

I’m so overdue for a football fix that soccer is starting to look interesting.

Face it, it’s been a long, hot summer. With apologies to Larry Brackins, arena football doesn’t count.

Maybe it’s because this summer has been so different in the sports world. We can hang our hat on college football. We know what to expect. We know how important it is.

When it goes away, right after the spring game and spring recruiting and early commitments, the comfort zone goes away. It’s never been nuttier than this summer.

Roger Federer isn’t the Wimbledon champion.

The Tampa Bay Rays are in first place.

Even NASCAR hasn’t been the same since Team Hendrick can’t win and Kyle Busch can’t lose.

Where have you gone, Lance Armstrong?

In golf, a man won our national championship not only with a knee that looked like shredded wheat on the inside — but also on a broken leg! Is it any wonder that all but three of the same golfers who lost to a wounded Tiger Woods also lost to a guy with an AARP card? Golf is an afterthought to the honeymooning Greg Norman these days, but he nearly won the British Open.

Ireland’s Padraig Harrington was “trilled” — the brogue, folks, drop the “h” — to be the champion golfer of the year, but I’m “trilled” we’re that much closer to fall, even as the heat index zooms to the “move your pets indoors” stage.

SEC Media Days is like Jeopardy! Lots more questions than answers.

The answers will develop in August and go on display at the end of the month and into September.

Still, it beats anything else going on right now. That’s why me and several hundred colleagues gather at the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover and ask Phillip Fulmer how good his defense is going to be, or Sly Croom how much better the Bulldogs will be, or Bobby Johnson about his quarterback situation.

They may not know the answers, but they’re going to say something.

We kick off this afternoon with SEC commissioner Mike Slive, followed by Florida’s Urban Meyer, Mississippi State’s Croom, Vanderbilt’s Johnson and LSU’s Les Miles. By the way, 100 to 1 says Miles puts more backspin on his recent Alabama taunt — he told LSU fans not to get too excited about the Tide game because “a lot of Louisiana teams” beat Alabama last year — than a Phil Mickelson lob wedge. But I bet that comes up.

Thursday, the Tide’s Nick Saban, Georgia’s Mark Richt, Ole Miss’ Houston Nutt and Tennessee’s Fulmer discuss their teams.

Friday, Tommy Tuberville talks about Auburn, followed by Kentucky’s Rich Brooks, Arkansas’ Bobby Petrino and South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier.

Trust me, we needed this now. Michelle Wie is about to miss another PGA Tour cut.

Ken Rogers covers the University of Alabama for the Dothan Eagle. Check out his blog this week at http://www.dothaneagle.com.