Tuesday links early

Many apologies for yesterday -- things actually got busy for the first time since sometime in late May. So that's good news.

Anyway, here are some links for the day, just in case you were twiddling your thumbs at work.

-- OTS has an exhaustive list of early practice news and notes. Some interesting nuggets in there.

-- Apparently upset by Jimmy Johns' attempted hijacking of the Fulmer Cup this summer, (TH)UGA got to work. Here's what they came up with.

-- SMQ takes a look at his top 5.

-- Ivan Maisel discusses the relationship between college football and presidential politics. Worth noting, by the way, that Alabama won its last national championship during an election year, which went to a little-known Democrat we now know as Bill Clinton.
(Note: does that mean we should all root for Obama in November? Probably not -- just sayin'.)

-- Finally, in a rare step outside the world of college football, I'm linking Sally Jenkins' scathing column about Beijing and the Olympics. Expect a lot of these in the next two weeks.

It's plain that the Chinese people have worked mightily to create a beautiful Beijing Games, from the elegantly manicured gardens to the whisked-clean streets, and that they are a source of immense national pride. No one could wish to injure that pride, and every one wishes them a successful Games. But the Olympics are not solely about the host, they are about all the participating nations, and the common goal of "preservation of human dignity." The moment it became apparent that the Beijing Olympics was causing a crackdown, and that basic Olympic values were being constricted rather than expanded, these Olympic partners should have spoken out, and threatened to withdraw if abuses didn't halt. When they didn't, it cast a permanent pall over these Games. Like the air here, the Olympic movement is struggling for a clean breath.

wlh