One of the clues that tells you football season can't be too far away is the arrival of Media Days. The ACC is rolling out the red carpet at the Ritz Carlton Lodge/Reynolds Plantation on Lake Oconee. Of course, golf is appropriately scheduled for the Oconee Course. But most of the 3-days is spent chasing down interviews from all the ACC Head Coaches. Beamer, the Bowdens, Butch Davis, Jagazinski, Grobe, Randy Shannon, David Cutcliffe and Paul Johnson are all available. And every station and sportswriter wants time with them. It's a crazy atmosphere.

But not near as crazy as the SEC Media Days in Birmingham, which run Wednesday thru Friday. Alabama fans flood the lobby area of the Wynfrey Hotel waiting to see Tide Coach Nick Saban walk to radio row. When he arrives on the scene, the fans go crazy. It's a mad-house. Plus, Spurrier, Meyer, Tuberville, Richt, and Miles are on the scene too.

Typically, two players from each school make the trip. Usually they are captains. And they are normally guarded in their comments. Better safe than sorry. After a couple of hours, all the comments seem to be about the same. We are excited about the season. We've got a good team. Everyone else is good too. It's tough going out there, but we are going to do our best.

Last year at the SEC Media Days, some of the coaches really shined. Fulmer, Spurrier, Richt, Tuberville, and Saban worked radio row hard. They all stopped by 5-10 stations, and that's after spending time at the podium with the sportswriters. And hitting probably 20 different rooms doing TV interviews. It was impressive. Especially, when you see Meyer and Miles looking for a side door to slip out of. Handlers for those two guys were spinning the old line about being on a tight schedule. Don't get it. Media Days are about spending a few moments with the media. Not catching the first flight out.