"The Blind Side," the new movie about Ravens offensive tackle Michael Oher, includes cameos by a series of real-life SEC coaches shown trying to recruit him.
But there is a lesson to be learned about the profession in watching LSU's Nick Saban, Ole Miss' Ed Orgeron, South Carolina's Lou Holtz, Arkansas' Houston Nutt, Auburn's Tommy Tuberville and Tennessee's Phil Fulmer parade through the Memphis home of Oher's adoptive parents:
Five years later, not one of those guys still has the job he was in at the time.
Quinton Aaron, the actor who plays Oher, said all of the coaches were "cool" to work with. But he did not grow up as much of a football fan, which partly explains why he was far more impressed by working with his co-star, Sandra Bullock.
Partly.
"I had a crush on her for the longest," said Aaron, 25. "I followed her career, watched so many movies with her over the years. The first movie I got a crush on her from was 'Love Potion No. 9.' That part where she runs out in a wedding dress? Wow."
Bullock, 45, spends much of "The Blind Side" strutting in tight clothes and getting things done by sheer over-the-top force of will.
It all seems a bit much at times. But people who know Leigh Anne Tuohy, Oher's real-life adoptive mother, say Bullock nailed her characterization of the charmingly but relentlessly pushy Tuohy.
WHO' IS ON FIRST FOR SUPER BOWL XLIV HALFTIME
Jimmy Traina of SI.com reported The Who will be the halftime act at Super Bowl XLIV, extending the most shocking active streak in sports:
For the sixth consecutive year in the post-Janet Jackson era, the Super Bowl halftime performer(s) will be older than I am -- in five of those cases by a decade or more.
This guarantees another year of the following question from my daughters as they watch the big show: "Who are those old guys?"
The difference this time is that I will cleverly respond: "Yes."
DANIELSON TOPS GRID LIST
The Top 25 Football Broadcasters is a mostly meaningless mishmash of pro and college voices and of play-by-play men and analysts, but it did its job for Sporting News and Sports Business Journal/Daily: generating blog posts and angry e-mails. Why not? Who can resist a list?
No. 1 was an interesting choice: CBS' Gary Danielson, who mostly works south of the Mason-Dixon Line and thus flies south of most New Yorkers' radars.
The top 10: Danielson, Cris Collinsworth, Al Michaels, Phil Simms, Kirk Herbstreit, Troy Aikman, Ron Franklin, Verne Lundquist, Joe Buck, Jim Nantz.
Dick Enberg finished 25th!
50 CENT DEVALUES MARV ALBERT
As everyone knows, it is WatchDog's policy to post all incidents involving scuffles between Marv Albert and rappers' entourages, so the one Wednesday before Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show was no exception.
Let's just have my L.A. Times counterpart, Diane Pucin, tell the story, shall we? Here goes:
As Albert arrived, with an entourage of one, TNT public relations specialist Jeff Pomeroy, there was a sudden scuffle when a multitude of 50 Cent protectors seemed unfamiliar with Albert.
There was shouting. ("It's Marv Albert!" yelled a Kimmel show guard, which seemed to have no effect on the 50 Cent phalanx.) There were obscenities. A fist or two flying.
And finally Albert made it to his waiting room, relatively unruffled but slightly puzzled. "Did you see that?" Albert said. "I thought they were kidding, but then I realized they weren't."
Perhaps 50 Cent's people would have recognized Albert had the broadcaster just walked down the hallway saying, "Yessssss!"
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