Welcome to the summertime edition of Flipping The Field, that most important rendition of the column that tells us we can also flip that most important page of the calendar, the one that gets us into July. What makes July so important? Its the last lone sheet of paper on the family refrigerator that separates us from August and the start of the 2016 college football season.Before we get started, I want to make a promise to you. Henceforth I do solemnly swear not to write anything in this space today concerning satellite camps. I enjoy the debate over the usefulness of satellite camps almost as much as I enjoy conversations about the greatness of Batman v Superman. Whenever someone wants to start talking about satellite camps, I get the same feeling that I do when my dentist insists on asking questions about North Carolinas?Elijah Hood while I have half-dozen instruments crammed into my mouth.In other words, I dont care for it. In fact, from here on out, every time I mention satellite camps, I am going to poke myself with a sewing needle.I think satellite camps (ouch!) are the most manufactured college football controversy since the ACC was going to be broken up and absorbed into the Big East. Remember that? No? Well then, how about the We have to stop these up-tempo offenses before someone dies! screams from Tuscaloosa -- while the Crimson Tide were in process of installing a few dozen pages of up-tempo plays and preparing to hire Lane Kiffin?You see, I remember those supposed earth-altering issues because I had to ask about them. Just as this year I will be forced to ask about satellite camps. (Ouch!) I have spent the majority of my adult Julys attending the final pre-fall rites of passage known as college football media days.They are awesome because we are talking football. But they can also get old quickly because theres only so much football to talk about before the actual football starts seven-ish weeks from now.This years gauntlet starts Monday in Hoover, Alabama, with the SECs four-day marathon, and it continues through the end of the month, from the Pac-12 (July 14-15) to the Big 12 (July 18-19) to the ACC (July 21-22) to the Big Ten (July 25-26). The Group of 5 conferences will be sprinkled in between all the way into early August.There will be smart questions asked that we already know will not be answered, such as: Coach Miles, are you really over all of that from last November? You cant be, right?There will be dumb questions that we already know will draw a roll of the eyes and then will be answered politely yet half-mockingly, such as: Coach Freeze, do you think Alabama will be good this year?There will be bizarre questions, asked to complete some sort of weird feature that a reporter is working on that no one else will see for another month, such as: Coach Holgorsen, when you come to Fort Worth for games, where do you buy your cowboy boots?And there will be those questions that we dont want to ask, but we have to ask because they are the topic du jour, and if we dont ask then well be knocked for not asking them, such as: So, Coach Fisher, do you regret not doing any satellite camps? (Ouch!)Media days have changed a lot over the years, but they also havent, says Duke coach David Cutcliffe, who will attend his ninth ACC Kickoff, always a casually chill affair.This came after seven years at Ole Miss and seven trips to the then-ballooning SEC media days.The number of media members has increased significantly, and the types of media outlets have changed even more, Cutcliffe said. It used to be a few guys with notebooks scribbling, and now its a table piled up with GoPros and smartphones, and theres blogs and new cable channels every year. With all of that theres a pretty wide variety of questions. But we do still end up answering the same handful of questions over and over again.I feel your pain, Coach Cut. However, there are five questions that absolutely, positively have to be asked over the next month, repetitive or not. Im not saying well get answers. Honestly, we rarely ever do. But we should fire them off anyway.1. Commissioner Bowlsby, can we see your cellphone records?No, I dont think Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby is up to anything sneaky -- well, except for the whole We arent expanding any time soon thing. But wouldnt it be fun to sift through his phone bill and see how many calls hes had to field from the area codes of 801/385 (Provo, Utah), 513 (Cincinnati) and 832 (Houston) -- or another we havent even thought of?2. Coach Shaw, will Christian McCaffrey get 500 touches this fall?Actually, I already asked him this one when I visited Stanford during spring practice while reporting this story.?Shaw just grinned, and despite acknowledging that he had no idea who his quarterback might be, admitted, It is pretty fun to figure as many ways to get the ball into his hands as possible. One year ago McCaffrey had 437 touches -- rushing, receiving, returning and throwing three passes (two for touchdowns). The Cardinal have no lack of talent around and behind McCaffrey at running back, but dont underestimate the power of a slow-cooked grudge. Shaw has never been shy about his bitterness over his No. 5s finishing No. 2 in the Heisman Trophy voting despite setting an NCAA record for all-purpose yards (3,864).3. Coach Saban, are you really going to start Cam Robinson against USC?Yeah, yeah, the charges of possession of a stolen firearm and marijuana were dropped, but that didnt stop the school from sending its preseason all-everything left tackle to drug counseling and firearm-safety classes. Will Saban send a larger message by making his largest lineman sit out what might be Week 1s largest game?4. Coach Swinney, you came within minutes of winning a national title, your quarterback nearly won the Heisman and your longtime frustrated fan base is strutting its stuff like its 1981 all over again. How do you keep this train onward, upward and still on the rails?The always-outspoken Clemson head coach went uncharacteristically quiet nearly as soon spring practice ended. That wasnt an accident. The 46-year-old is beginning to toe the line between being the face of the program and becoming bigger than the program itself. He doesnt want that to happen. Thats a balance hell have to find throughout the entire program, from his well-paid staff to his well-decorated roster. Its one thing to ascend the mountain when its about making history. Its another thing to keep climbing when the peak is right in front of you.5. Coach Meyer, after having a dozen players drafted by the NFL, are you totally digging that everyone seems to be talking about every other big programs College Football Playoff changes except for yours? Because, well, look at him. He kind of looks like he is, doesnt he?6. Coach Harbaugh, after all of that, was it worth it to hold all those satellite camps?Ouch! OK, enough of this pain. Im kind of starting to like it.?Were going streaking!?Another annual tradition of media days is for fans of non-SEC schools to complain about the attention that those SEC schools receive. So, knowing thats unavoidable, allow me to go ahead and pour kerosene onto the flames. Our pals at ESPN Stats & Info have already sent along a stack of statistics that youre likely to hear trumpeted out of Hoover this week. The SEC has produced eight of the past 10 national champions, five of the past nine Heisman Trophy winners and the most first-round NFL draft picks in six of past eight years (72 first-round picks in that span; no other conference has more than 39).Rebuild? No. Reload? Yes: And just in case those same gripers dont understand why there is cause for so much preseason optimism for SEC teams, consider this. The conference has five former 1,000-yard rushers returning in Leonard Fournette (LSU), Jalen Hurd (Tennessee), Nick Chubb and Sony Michel (Georgia) and Ralph Webb (Vanderbilt). Add that to a 3,000-yard passer --?Chad Kelly of Ole Miss -- and five players who totaled at least 10 sacks last year --?Myles Garrett of Texas A&M, Jonathan Allen and Tim Williams of Alabama, Marquis Haynes of Ole Miss and Tennessees Derek Barnett?-- and, well, you get the idea, right? Thats a lot of talent coming back for more after being part of the first nine-win bowl season for any conference.The Tommy West coachs news conference of the week: July 1 was a big day for the folks at Under Armour. OK, so it wasnt a news conference. And the guy is no longer a coach. But who doesnt love Barry Alvarez putting on his best Nature Boy strut? Also on July 1, mere hours after winning the College World Series, Coastal Carolinas long-signed contract with UA kicked in. Talk about timing! There wasnt enough time to give the suddenly big-time Chanticleers a big-time launch, but up at Wisconsins Camp Randall Stadium, the Badgers new apparel deal blasted off via the WWE hype manual.The guys you should know about but probably dont: If you arent following the Minnesota Golden Gophers special-teams guys on Twitter (@MinnSpecialists), youre doing it wrong. I have watched their Dude Perfect-ish trick kicks from June maybe 50 times. And their latest post is the perfect encapsulation of how we all feel right about now: The season cant get here fast enough.The media days you should be psyched for but probably arent: American Athletic Conference. The final round of media days will be the AACs Rhode Island clambake over the first two days of August. Is the conference expected to have a trio of potential playoff busters again this year? No. But it wasnt last year, either. At any rate, Houston coach Tom Herman will be there, and that makes it worth keeping an eye on. You remember Coach Herman, right?The news you are psyched for and should be, but you might need to pump the brakes on: When it was announced last week that Michigan and Notre Dame will renew their rivalry in 2018-19, there was much cheering heard throughout the Midwest, not to mention everywhere else in the college football world. But will it expand past those two years? Most certainly hope so. (Well, except Arkansas, which just had a contract with Michigan shredded.) But finding a place to put that piece of the scheduling puzzle might be tough. The Wolverines already have some giant names lined up all the way through the late 2020s, foes such as Virginia Tech, UCLA, Washington, Texas and Oklahoma. And Notre Dame certainly doesnt have the calendar flexibility that it once did thanks to its ACC arrangement. In the end, I guess we should just be happy to get what we can from a game that was played nearly every year from 1978 to 2014. But its OK to want more of what we grew up with, right? Are you listening, Texas and Texas A&M?Extra point: On Thursday at 7 p.m. ET the University of Tennessee will host a Celebration of Life ceremony for Pat Summitt at Thompson-Boling Arena, a facility that was built atop her shoulders. You can watch on the ESPN2 or SEC Network or join me on ESPN Radio as we listen to and tell stories about Coach Summitt. There have been so many amazing recollections since the legendary coach passed away on June 28, many told from some unexpected sources, a testament to her transcendence of the sport she loved. Ive told a few of my own from my time there as a student, which just happened to coincide with perhaps the greatest stretch of success the Lady Vols basketball program ever experienced. I was always struck by the close relationship that Summitt had with the other on-campus coaching legend, then-football coach Johnny Majors. I cant begin to recall all of the times I heard Majors gush over Summitts approach to the job. He once told me how he used to love to go sit in on her practices. On the day she died, Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times wrote about that respect after talking with Monday Night Football analyst Jon Gruden, who worked at Tennessee as a graduate assistant coach in the mid-1980s.Said Gruden to Auman: Johnny Majors told us GAs: Look, if youre not the best teacher on campus, I dont want you on our staff. ... Then hed say, If you want to see the best teacher on campus, just go across the street. When I first got there, I didnt know who he was talking about. It was Pat Summitt. ... So we went and watched the Lady Vols at practice. Now I was once a ball boy for Bobby Knight at Indiana. I thought Bobby Knight was in a class by himself. But when you talk about a person, a teacher that had that kind of knowledge, respect, enthusiasm and fire, that was Pat Summitt. Womens basketball is where it is today because of her and what she accomplished with that program. She made a real impression on me and certainly so many others. My prayers are with her family today. http://www.brownsrookiestore.com/Browns-Britton-Colquitt-Jersey/ . They reached the 100-point plateau for the fourth time in five games, bested the visiting Trail Blazers by 34 in the paint and scored 19 of the final 25 points in regulation. http://www.brownsrookiestore.com/Browns-Sammie-Coates-Jersey/ . Los Angeles star goalie survived those perilous gymnastics with no problem, and he eventually backstopped the Kings to a skid-snapping win. Quick stopped 27 shots in his return from a 24-game injury absence, Jeff Carter scored the tiebreaking goal with 7:55 to play, and the Kings snapped their five-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. http://www.brownsrookiestore.com/ . Burris threw two TD passes, including a key 15-yard fourth-quarter strike to Bakari Grant that effectively countered a Toronto comeback bid and led Hamilton to a 33-19 victory. http://www.brownsrookiestore.com/Browns-Corey-Coleman-Jersey/ . With their top three point guards and Kobe Bryant all sidelined by injury, the Lakers signed Marshall out of the D-League on Friday before their home game against Minnesota. http://www.brownsrookiestore.com/Hats/ . The Americans, skipped by John Shuster, seized the advantage in the eighth end by scoring five points for a 7-3 lead. The Czechs pulled two back in the ninth, but Shusters team of third Jeff Isaacson, second Jared Zezel and lead John Landsteiner ended with another point to secure the last Olympic berth on offer. SEATTLE -- The Seattle Sounders took away the interim tag and named Brian Schmetzer as their head coach Wednesday night.Schmetzer took over as the interim head coach after Sigi Schmid was let go in late July. At the time, Seattle was in ninth place in the MLS Western Conference and in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.Schmetzer guided Seattles turnaround that resulted in an eighth straight playoff berth. The Sounders went 8-2-4 the rest of the regular season and finished fourth in the Western Conference. The Sounders beat Sporting Kansas City in the knockout round of the playoffs and will take a 3-0 lead into the second-leg of the conference semifinals against FC Dallas on Sunday.Seattle made the announcement at its annual meeting with season-ticket holders.My goal is to make sure we can all enjoy this ride a little longer deep into the postseason, Schmetzer said in a statement.Taking away the interim tag from Schmetzer will be a popular choice among fans and players who have come to respect his lengthy history with the Sounders organization. Seattles turnaround late in the season was aided by the addition of designated player Nicolas Lodeiro, but also hampered by the absence of Clint Dempsey due to an irregular heartbeat that ended his season earlly.ddddddddddddSchmetzer led Seattle to the most points of any team in MLS over the final three months of the season and now have the Sounders on the verge of a spot in the conference finals.He has always been an incredible steward of the organization and ambassador for our club in the community, and what he and the team have accomplished on the field over the past three months is worthy of recognition, Seattle majority owner Adrian Hanauer said.Schmetzer, 54, was the head coach of the USL Seattle Sounders, the predecessor to the MLS version of the franchise. Schmetzer was the led the club from 2002-2008 before signing on to be Schmids top assistant coach when the MLS version of the Sounders debuting in 2009.Schmetzer is also a Seattle native and played for the Sounders of the North American Soccer League for three seasons in the early 1980s.I am grateful for the opportunities that Ive received here as a player, a coach in the clubs USL era, and now as head coach of the MLS team, Schmetzer said. I believe in the fact that for our players, this is their team, and they have responded by taking complete ownership of the season and driving us into the playoffs. Cheap Jerseys China NFL Jerseys China NFL Jerseys Wholesale Discount Basketball Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Authentic Cheap Baseball Jerseys Free Shipping Cheapest College Jerseys Sale Cheap Football Jerseys China Nike NFL Jerseys Canada Wholesale NHL Jerseys From China MLB Jerseys Outlet Canada Wholesale NBA Jerseys Canada Store Cheap Soccer Jerseys China Cheap Authentic Jerseys Canada ' ' '