Auburn update, 8/11

Hey everyone. I'm blogging early today. I've got a few things on my mind before I head out for the morning workout. Oh, how I love me some workout time.

• Not really impressed with what I heard from Dr. Richardson on Thursday morning. He didn't have firm answers on WHY Drs. Petee and Witte would go so far and above the call of duty with these directed-reading courses. I found it odd that two tenured professors needed to be removed from their administrative posts without a clear explanation of what they did wrong. Richardson made repeated references to "poor judgment" but never explained what that entailed. Remember that teaching 5,000,000 directed-reading courses wasn't against any official guidelines until this week. There's more to the story here.
  
• I am more skeptical of the university's investigation now than I was two days ago.
  
• The press conference itself was a hilarious scene. Not an education reporter in sight. All sports writers. When faced with shady answers, sports writers get pretty aggressive. Even after Auburn PR ace David Granger made the "last question" edict, reporters kept flooding Richardson with questions. He obliged -- for 10 minutes. It was a tense scene. Funny and enjoyable from a journalistic standpoint, but tense nonetheless.
  
• Unrelated note: I use Wire Road as my access point to Auburn. Last year, Lee County spent a significant amount of money to resurface its portion of the Wire. Now Macon County has done its part, repaving from Torch 85 to the Lee County line. It's a plush drive now all the way through. If you take that route for home games, you'll be delighted with the new road. Also, Macon County did a better job than Lee County.
  
• Another unrelated note: We had a story in the Advertiser this morning about how Israel has seized control of the important high ground in southern Lebanon. I found that funny. Israel could have seized the entire country in 5 days if it had chosen to do so. Now, the AP celebrates Israel's strategic achievements -- though Israel is going at quarter speed. If that.