Back in the SEC saddle
Tuesday, July 17, 2012 | Football, Chris Harry
HOOVER, Ala. -- Just happened to hear a couple Texas A&M media types chatting this morning in the lobby of the Winfrey Hotel.
“This ain't like the Big 12,” one said.
Clearly, they ain't in Kansas City anymore.
And I ain't in Tampa covering the NFL, either.
Twelve years since my last Southeastern Conference Media Days, I'm officially reunited with the nation's finest college football conference today as the league opens the flood gates to the 2012 season today with its annual preseason dog and pony show.
In those dozen years of mostly covering the NFL (a.k.a. “The King”), I immersed myself in football at its highest level, but there's something both different and special -- albeit very regional -- about the SEC and the passion it engenders in these parts.
My last trip to Media Days was 1999, it was still held in downtown Birmingham (near the league office) and several hundred hacks filed into the Sheraton Civic Center. In the dozen years since, the three-day event has morphed into a mini-Super Bowl week, with more than 1,100 credentialed print, broadcast and internet reporters (more than 60 requests were turned down, I was told), plus a full-blown radio row.
And the first game is not for six weeks.
This year, of course, will mark the SEC debut debut for both A&M and Missouri, who bolted from the Big 12. The Aggies and Tigers will meet the press today, along with Vanderbilt and South Carolina.
That would be South Carolina, coached by Steve Spurrier.
Yeah, things have changed since I was here last.
Play ball.
Stay with GatorZone.com for SEC Media Day coverage later today and follow my GatorZone college, Scott Carter, and I on Twitter at @GatorZoneScott and GatorZoneChris for updates and items throughout the day.
