Archive for January 18th, 2021

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 293

Monday, January 18th, 2021

I observed the other day that I was reading Mike Duncan’s The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic (affiliate link). Great and good FotB Borepatch commented that he liked Duncan’s book.

So…from 2017 and Mike Duncan’s book tour, “The Storm Before the Storm” at Politics and Prose in DC. If you’re a “Revoutions” listener, you’ve heard the podcast version of this, but for those of you who are not (and for those of you who want to see what Mike Duncan looked like three years ago), here you go.

I get a particular kick out of his stories about his early writerly ambitions: wanting to write “Redwall” knockoffs, except the mice flew airplanes, and then later wanting to be the next Phil Dick.

Bonus: a more recent (July of 2020) interview with Mr. Duncan from “The Current” which is apparently something the Hatchette Book Group puts out.

Posted in Books, History | Comments Closed

Firings watch.

Monday, January 18th, 2021

Jeremy Pruitt out as head coach in Tennessee.

Additionally, Phil Fulmer is “retiring” as athletic director. The Tennessean claims his retirement is unrelated to Pruitt’s firing, but I’m skeptical.

Pruitt’s record was 16-19 in three seasons, and 3-7 this year. The team lost seven of their last eight games by double-digit margins.

But the major issue is that Pruitt is entangled in a messy recruiting scandal.

Pruitt’s exit comes on the heels of Tennessee launching an in-house investigation dating back to November into alleged recruiting improprieties that sources told ESPN centered in part on extra benefits provided to football recruits on unofficial visits. Pruitt, with his attorneys present, met with investigators for several hours Thursday. That meeting was monitored by NCAA officials via Zoom. At least one other assistant, inside linebackers coach Brian Niedermeyer, had a lengthy meeting with investigators Wednesday, also with his attorneys present and NCAA officials monitoring virtually.

Edited to add: Mike the Musicologist sent over a report that outside linebackers coach Shelton Felton and inside linebackers coach Brian Niedermeyer have also been fired. An updated report from ESPN also indicates that unnamed others have been let go as well. And all of these firings (including Pruitt’s) are being reported as “for cause”, which means no contract buyout.

Posted in Firings, Sports | Comments Closed