* We all acknowledge that the quintessential Tampa Bay Ray, veteran Carl Crawford, will soon be an ex-Ray. It’s a function of free agency and the small-market Rays’ announced need to cut payroll. We all understand that Crawford, an All-Star leftfielder and a classy guy, now has his moment to max out.
He is already wealthy. The issue is whether he will sign with a team, say, the Los Angeles Angels, that will make him outrageously wealthy or with one, say, the New York Yankees, that will make him obscenely wealthy. Do the classy thing, Carl, and don’t come back in pinstripes.
* A lot of football fans around here remain disappointed that USF no longer wanted to continue its series with UCF. USF, which won all four games, noted the one-sidedness of the rivalry with the in-state upstart from a non-BCS conference, but really wanted more schedule flexibility. Never mind that both schools could use a natural, I-4 rivalry game that would energize campuses and guarantee big crowds and low-overhead travel.
And ironically look who USA Today now has ranked higher than USF–as well as UF, FSU and Miami? Indeed, UCF, the second-biggest university in the country with more than 56,000 students, is ranked 23rd–and UF 24th. The others didn’t make the top 25.
* We know that Skip Holtz was brought in to take USF to the next level. To do more than pull some upsets and then fade fast and limp off to a minor bowl game. But Holtz also knows that he wasn’t brought in to do better at any price. Here’s a reminder of his “other” task. The most recent study (that follows the class of 2003) by the NCAA of Graduation Success Rates shows USF at an unflattering 46 per cent for football. The national average was 69 per cent. As for the Big East, USF was eighth out of the eight conference members.