I thought some of you might be interested to hear a little bit about Wally Moon and his new book, "Moon Shots: Reflections on a Baseball Life". Moon is a graduate of Texas A&M, Class of '51, and played both for the St. Louis Cardinals and the LA Dodgers. Wally Moon is the famed name behind the popular baseball phrase "Moon Shots," coined by announcer Vin Scully referring to a long, high home run that Wally was known for hitting first in the LA Coliseum.

Earning the title of Rookie of the Year and winning several World Series, Moon has written a book to share his reflections on a truly remarkable life and career both on and off the field.

For more information please visit: WallyMoon.com

Additionally, please feel free to contact me with potential interview questions, photos, and any additional information you might need.

Have a good day and thanks for your time.

Mallory@WallyMoon.com

I have been living in South Carolina for the past six years and have heard the constant chant of the SEC. Where the "real" football is played. There is not much I could say about that, but now that we have joined there is a new level of belittling the folks around here have gone to. I was told, "ya'll probably won't win a game your first couple of years in the SEC, but you should be a middle of the road team after a few years in." After I laughed this off, I had to ask why. It was then explained to me "ya'll just have never been to a stadium like an SEC football game. It is like nothing you've never experienced before." OK, this time, I had to stop rolling around before I replied to him. Once I composed myself, I asked him if he knew what the number 1 rated college football gameday was. He said Alabama. I retorted that, no, it was Kyle Field. His immediate response was "according to who." I simply replied CBS Sports and ESPN (well, when we were all still friends). He didn't talk much after that. Then I asked who Kirk Herbstreit thought were the best college football fans in the country. That put him over the edge.

After all of that, I am just wondering who of you out there have been to Kyle and the other SEC stadiums and how they compare. I know the USC Game Cocks have nothing on us with their Space Odyssey 2001 theme. Are there any others that compare? LSU or Bama?

Some of you may have seen this before, but sheds some more light on more of the possible financial benefits to the SEC on our (and Missouri's) entrance, and the benefit to Aggies in the renegotionation strategies for SEC / ESPN contracts.

http://outkickthecoverage.com/texas-am-and-missouri-worth-at-least-114-million-a-year-to-sec.php

Taking from the article linked above: "While neither ESPN nor the SEC will confirm that this network is coming -- indeed, neither party will even discuss this network on the record -- it's the only logical outcome of a partnership that still has 12 years remaining.

That's because the SEC has only three real options as a 14 team conference:

a. negotiate at least a $40 million rights fee increase for Texas A&M and Missouri while maintaining its current television structure

b. start a network in partnership with ESPN

c. wait 12 years until 2023-24 and start its own network then

Option b. is immediately worth billions of additional dollars, the other two aren't.

Which one do you think the SEC and ESPN are going to choose?"

To me I think they are doing a good job and have stole a few recruits away from some other teams. Obviously we need to bring in a few more true DT's but I'm banking on one this weekend.

That being said I saw the preseason top 10 for next year with 5 of the teams being SEC and three from the west... Makes me wonder what we'd do if we had stuck it out in the BIG12...

Apparently Texas and TCU are in the lead, and Baylor is making a push at him, but only Texas A&M can offer him the chance to play in the SEC! If A&M's pass-happy offense is going to succeed in the SEC, this is the type of big time talent that you need as a signal caller. Zac Robinson, Graham Harrell, B.J. Symons, Todd Reesing ... guys like that don't cut it in the SEC unless they mostly hand off.

Tyrone Swoopes recruiting profile

I felt like it would be a good idea to introduce most of my fellow readers on Mark Snyder.

I love the site and felt I have a little info to contribute.

Now from what I have read on him he typically employees a 4-3 under look that uses a good mix of cover 4, cover 2 and occasionally uses Zero coverage. I figured it would be good to see what kind of personal and what type of changes we might see next year.

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I'm sure there have been others from SEC blogs to post on this site, but allow me to extend a warm and rousing welcome to the SEC, the nation's premier athletic conference. You'll find our fans to be cutthroat and boastful, but (with VERY rare exception) gracious hosts and respectful guests. If you're going to be involved in big games, that means eventually you'll be on CBS in the 2:30 slot, with Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson calling the games. Don't be offended (or surprised) when Uncle Verne gets some of your players' names wrong...that's just his way, and he's been doing it for years. He's liable to credit Quentin Coryatt with a tackle or Leeland McElroy picking up a blitzing safety. Since you guys are new, he might not be that bad with y'all's players. Danielson is a Midwestern transplant who used to be a Big 10 homer, but now realizes that the SEC is the best football conference in the USA, and tends to gush over that fact. Being in the SEC will be a boon to your recruiting efforts, I think... although you guys are already great recruiters, we tend to get more of the best players than any other conference, and it's generally not a close race. If you watched the Under Armor All-American game last night, you know what I mean. As you can likely tell from my screen name, I'm a Bama man to the core. With our recent success under Saban, there are a lot more who CLAIM to be Bama fans than there were 7-10 years ago, but the bandwagoners are usually not too hard to spot. We play y'all this season in Tuscaloosa, so we look forward to welcoming the Aggie Nation to our fine little town. We wish you the best of luck this season, and hope you end up being in love with SEC football the way we are. Of course, having said that, we intend to crush you on November 10, leaving nothing but little bits of chewed-up Aggies in our wake, and sending you home with a big fat "L" in your column, but I'm sure you understand where I'm coming from. That's how it is down here. Again, welcome to the Southeastern Conference!

I know, I wrote a fanpost against the hire of Sumlin because I felt that someone who ran a pro-style offense would give the Aggies the best chance of success. But still, consider this. Two years ago, Sumlin was offered the jobs at Kansas and Cincinnati. This year, Sumlin was offered the jobs at UCLA, ASU and Illinois. (The Texags view that UCLA and ASU turned down Sumlin and that A&M is settling for a guy that has been rejected elsewhere is ridiculous, especially when you consider that Arizona State still doesn't have a coach, and UCLA wound up having to hire Jim Mora, Jr. Plus Illinois hired an unknown guy from the MAC. Ask ANY of the fanbases of those 3 schools, and they would LOVE to trade places with you guys right now.)

So, looks like Sumlin knew the job that he wanted, and wanted it badly enough to wait on it. And this was not without a degree of risk. There was the 5-7 season after saying no to Cincinnati (who had won back-to-back BCS titles and if nothing else could have been a springboard to a Big 10, ACC or SEC job) and his turning down Illinois (who lest we forget played in the 2001 Sugar Bowl and 2007 Rose Bowl ... they are not a bottom-feeder), UCLA and ASU right when a feverish "anybody but Sumlin" campaign was well underway (which accomplished little but wasting a week of recruiting and getting Mark Richt a contract extension that many UGA fans feel that he doesn't deserve ).

So, it really does seem that A&M was where Sumlin wanted to be, and he turned down offers from 5 good jobs (or rather 4 good jobs and Kansas) to get it. And those are just the schools who publicly offered Sumlin the job: who knows how many more sent feelers his way.

And seeing how close Sumlin came to being back at Houston next year (imagine had the "anyone but Sumlin" lobby prevailed and the job offer gone to Kirby Smart instead) his preference for his top choice was not without risk. The vocal, mobilized anti-Sumlin folks need to keep that in mind, and show Sumlin as much support as he has in rolling the dice in the chance of getting the A&M job instead of being embraced with open arms at UCLA and Illinois right now.

SEC fan here. I hear that Kevin Sumlin isn't popular among some Aggies, but I think that it is a good, solid hire. Folks should not overreact to the C-USA title game loss. Yes, he got outcoached, but how many times has Mack Brown, Bob Stoops, Nick Saban, Les Miles, Urban Meyer, Bill Belicheck etc. gotten outcoached? Put it this way: both Miles and Saban were outcoached last year by Gene Chizik, Gus Malzahn and Auburn. But THIS YEAR those two guys are in the national title game, and Chizik/Malzahn produced a 7-5 stinker.

As for "Sumlin's success is due to Case Keenum" thing: that is funny. Keenum was absolutely terrible against Southern Miss, and had as much to do with their losing that game as Sumlin. So, Keenum gets the credit for Sumlin's success but no part of the blame when he comes up short? Besides: don't overrate Keenum. He is not Dan Marino. He won't even be drafted as high as the last Houston QB, Kevin Kolb. It's not like Sumlin can't just recruit another QB that is just as good or better in his scheme.

Ah, Sumlin's gimmick scheme, as well as the idea that you need a running-and-defensive oriented approach to compete in the mighty SEC. All right fine, but two things: name the coaches that you wanted to come in and build this SEC-style program. That's the problem: if you are looking for someone with head coaching experience, Sumlin is the best candidate available. (No, Charlie Strong is not available, and Mark Richt certainly isn't.) Otherwise, you are looking at coordinators, and the group of upwardly mobile SEC coordinators isn't as strong as it was like 5 years ago (because so many have been made head coaches). The Troy Calhoun fans: please. A service academy guy in the SEC: what scheme is he going to run? How effective is he going to be at recruiting? And if losing the C-USA title game is going to be held against Sumlin, what of Air Force going 7-5 with a 3-4 conference record this year?

Besides, what does "compete in the SEC" mean anyway where A&M is concerned? Let's look at A&M's recent history. 6-6, 9-4, 6-7, 4-8, 7-6, 9-4, 5-6, 7-5, 4-8, 6-6, 8-4, 7-5, 8-4. That is 4 seasons with more than 7 wins since 1998 (and 1 of those was with Kevin Sumlin as offensive coordinator). So ... does "hiring a coach so that we can compete in the SEC" mean competing for SEC and national titles RIGHT NOW? Don't get me wrong: A&M can build a national powerhouse program in the SEC over time. But expecting to step right into the SEC and perform better than A&M did in the Big 12 and SWC ... hey, if it happens, cool. Nick Saban and Steve Spurrier had similar, program-transforming effects on LSU and Florida. (But please note that Saban and Spurrier were hired when coming off very good seasons at AQ schools: Michigan State and Duke. Getting Mark Dantonio or Dabo Swinney from Michigan State or Clemson to A&M is a bit different from getting guys like that to Florida and LSU.)

But right now, the goal is getting A&M to being a consistent, winning program in the SEC. Not so much trying to get them to where LSU, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Auburn are or have been, but FOR RIGHT NOW getting A&M into that next group, which is South Carolina and Arkansas. Not a bad place to be: Arkansas went to the Sugar Bowl and South Carolina won the SEC East last year. Both schools went 10-2 this year. Eliminating the 4-8 and 6-6 type seasons and getting to 8-10 wins is the short term goal, and Sumlin can achieve that. Or to put it another way, Sumlin is a safer, surer bet to achieve that than any other available candidate, who will either be a coordinator (which Sumlin has been by the way) or a mid-major coach that has a worse won-loss record.

Coach Sherman may not have been what the Aggies needed for their move to the SEC, but other places could certainly use him. He has reportedly already been contacted by the Jacksonville Jaguars, which I think is his most likely landing place. However, as the nation witnessed in his final press conference, Sherman runs a clean program, focusing on education, developing quality citizens, teaching young men morals, and football. While that may not be the desired priority of Aggie Nation, I was proud of the job he did with Texas A&M making us a reputable program that recruited for talent AND character, something missing in the Fran Days. While many NCAA programs face numerous violations of NCAA rules or other incidents, our program flourished as the standard for programs to base their day to day operations. While many schools are in need of this type of moral leader, I think one program could best utilize Coach Sherman's class, morals, and ethical leadership and would also benefit on the football field.

Mike Sherman should be the next head coach at Penn State. He is originally from Massachusetts and coached throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts before coming to Texas A&M the first time. I can't think of a better place for Mike Sherman to land. The entire athletic department would benefit from a man of character. Thoughts...