Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sports

Must-see TV

The Buzz: What's moving and shaking in the world of sports

Outside of the big game in Miami, the most compelling football-related television event this week might be the debut of BET’s “The Michael Vick Project.” As viewers watch Vick visit the Surry County, Va., property where he helped drown or hang dogs that didn’t do well, we hear him explain the thought processes that led him into such a savage world. The series premiere will feature Vick discussing his “double life” as a dogfighter and the NFL’s highest-paid player. Vick will never shed his vehement detractors. But from his apologetic and remorseful interviews and his work with the Humane Society, it’s clear he continues to wrestle with what he’s done. As he told the Associated Press recently, “At times, it’s hard to talk about it, but for the most part, if you talk about it and let it all out, it kind of helps put the demons to rest.”

Here come the new guys

National Signing Day comes Wednesday, and for countless recruiting fanatics, this is the football mecca, while for other less-obsessed followers it merely means the weekend is one day closer. It’s been an interesting recruiting season, with Lane Kiffin’s kiss my grits exit in Knoxville leaving new Tennessee coach Derek Dooley scrambling to save the Vols’ class, while Urban Meyer’s uncertain future at Florida didn’t seem to make a big difference (the Gators are expected to ink the nation’s top class). The experts feel Georgia’s class will again be top-10 worthy, while Georgia Tech will survive the loss of its recruiting coordinator last week to finish with a top-50 class or better. But as we know, no college game was ever won in February.