Sports this 'n' that

Florida State wasn't waiting for the football season to end.

The once mighty Seminoles dismissed head coach Willie Taggart earlier this week, as Florida State has fallen on hard times since Jimbo Fisher left a couple of years back.

A surprising candidate, however, has stepped forward, according to Yahoo!, and that is none other than former Seminoles star and Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, now with NFL Network. Sanders has no coaching experience, and would be another TV guy getting a coaching job on name recognition alone.

Shoot, I'd have recommended another ex-Seminole, former linebacker-turned-pro wrestler (now retired) Ron Simmons, who actually had his number retired in Tallahassee several years ago. However, it's more likely Simmons is serving as an ambassador for WWE these days, but I don't think he'd turn down an offer to return to Florida State if a coaching job came his way.
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Fox/ESPN baseball analyst Alex Rodriguez turned up on Fox's Thursday NFL pre-game show to plug his new MSNBC show. You probably knew this already, but Rodriguez was a quarterback in high school, but chose baseball as his primary sport once he hit college.

At least the man stays busy, and has singer-actress Jennifer Lopez to keep him motivated, if you know what I mean.
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Speaking of ESPN, it probably doesn't surprise anyone that they decided to give Screamin' A. Cosell (Stephen A. Smith) a new $8 million a year deal, which has already gotten Smith roasted on Yahoo!

Get Up co-anchor Mike Greenberg, who actually has a clue or three, is getting paid $6.5 million a year, and gets lapped by a controversy magnet who demonstrates time and again his ignorance of any sport other than basketball. As several Yahoo! commentators noted, Smith is getting paid to turn people away from ESPN, because they're tired of his act. Gee, y'think?
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The Yankees poached Matt Blake away from Cleveland to be their new pitching coach, replacing Larry Rothschild, who was let go a couple of weeks back. This came after there'd been speculation that David Cone would leave the YES network booth to fill the vacancy. Well, the Yankees have too many rotating yakkers surrounding Michael Kay anyway.....
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Fox has sacked Cris Carter from their FS1 morning talk show. Apparently, money might be the prevalent issue. Carter could wind up heading back to ESPN, or to NFL Network, the latter especially if Deion Sanders takes the Florida State job. Seems FS1's First Things First has been floundering in the ratings....
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As if tomorrow's LSU-Alabama game wasn't already over-hyped as another "Game of The Century", now comes word that the First Bloviator will be in Tuscaloosa to see the game.

President Donald Trump, who was roundly booed at the World Series, and received a mixed reaction at a recent UFC event, figures to at least get some cheers from supporters in Alabama. After all, he carried Alabama & Louisiana in the 2016 election. Despite a Yahoo! article's suggestion, Trump likely won't indulge in any pre-game tailgating rituals. He and his motorcade will cause traffic & security issues anyway.
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Meanwhile, Ohio State will play the skidding Maryland Terrapins tomorrow without star defensive lineman Chase Young, who is sitting out while the school investigates whether or not there were fiscal improprieties involving Young last year. He's likely to be among the top picks in next spring's NFL Draft. There are reports that he'd already paid off in full a loan from a family friend, so the Buckeyes are hoping there are no NCAA sanctions.

Personally, I'd file that under wishful thinking, given the archaic, out of touch, august body will look to punish Young just the same, but then, they'd be under fire for trying to fix things for Alabama. Just sayin'.