Cobb - The Lueker Incident

On May 15, 1912 the Detroit Tigers were in town to play the New York Highlanders (who would become the Yankees.) Great day at the ballpark for everyone including Ty Cobb until hometown fan Claude Lueker showed up. During the first three innings Cobb and Lueker went at it verbally as Cobb sparred with the fan who was sitting just above the visitor's dugout. Sam Crawford the Tiger's rightfielder asked Cobb if he was going to take such abuse and as soon as he did Lueker let loose with an insult implicating Cobb's mother and a black man having intimate relations or Cobb being black depending on the account of the story. Being from Royston, Georgia at the turn of the century Cobb took extreme exception and climbed into the stands to attack Lueker. The problem for Lueker was that he was a cripple who had no hands and thus could not fight back against Cobb.

Needless to say Tyrus Raymond Cobb won the fight beating Lueker to a pulp and was suspended indefinitely. Be on the look out for more entertaining Cobb stories that make Barry Bonds look like a great citizen and humanitarian in the future.

The Gators Call for Playoff

The University of Florida President Bernie Machen is raising hell at Hooters and the annual SEC business meetings this week in Destin, Florida. Machen is calling for the SEC to look at implementing a playoff system and getting rid of the beloved, errrrr, hated BCS system. Normally we'd normally think this was a great idea but coming from Florida we're not so sure. This is the same school that asked Steve Spurrier, who had won a National Title for the Gators in 1996, to send in his resume for the vacant head football coach position after Ron Zook was fired and Spurrier was out of a job. When asked Spurrier famously replied, "You want my resume? Go outside your office and look in the f!@#ing trophy case." He didn't get the job.

Also coming out of the meetings was talk of creating a SEC television network like the Big Ten is rolling out this year. That would be great in our opinion as it would put the Jefferson Pilot, now Lincoln Financial announcers out of work (like Dave Neal pictured above) and living under a bridge in Baton Rouge. But would we be able to live without the Brooks and Dunn intro????

Michael Vick - Heavyweight

So now ESPN has done some investigative reporting and has found a 'Dog Fight Trainer' that has fought his dog against Michael Vick's dog in the past. In 2000 the trainer, who remained anonymous in the article, claims that Vick is known as a 'heavyweight' in the dog fighting arena. For those of you that have never been to a fight, that means he brings a quality dog to fight and lays down a lot of cash to bet on his dog. The source estimates $30,000-$40,000 a fight.

In the fight in 2000 which Vick's animal lost, he reportedly laid down at least $5,000 on his animal. For those of you keeping track at home that is half of $10,000 which is what he gave to the families of the Virginia Tech shootings.

"Yo Marcus, I'm dropping mad cash on Rex Saturday night. He is gonna tear'em up." - Michael
"Ballin!" - Marcus

They will be airing the story with the trainer Tuesday at 3:30 EST on Outside the Lines. Can't wait.

Alabama Back At It?

It looks as though Alabama is reverting back to the days of Bear Bryant. No, they aren't winning championships, they are pulling some stunts on the recruiting trail down in Miami. As was first reported by CaneSports.com, Saban apparently had too much contact with juniors as he was visiting Northwestern High School in Dade County. Seems pretty minor but beware Sabanists, its a slippery slope.

It must also be noted that we find it pretty funny that Saban told the head coach at Northwestern, "Alabama is a great place to get a degree." I mean its a place to get a degree but is it a 'great' place? Charles Barkley would probably beg to differ.

Gillespie Rattles Woman

Florida A&M University head basketball coach Mike Gillespie Jr. has been arrested on stalking charges per ESPN. According to Tallahassee police have investigated Gillespie 'several times' since 2005 with the same issue. I guess that when the coach told his players to 'guard your opponent like you are stalking him,' he really meant it. I mean stalking, come on. Its one thing to get a DUI but stalking!??!?!?

On top of all the probation that the Rattlers have for cheating in NCAA sports this is not going to be good for recruiting. The historically black school has been plagued by over 200 recruiting violations that have put all programs on probation through the year 2010.

FAMU!

Hogs No Longer Running Wild in Alabama

Sorry Sabanists, Darren McFadden and Felix Jones didn't decide to go pro.

So evidently 11 year old Jamison Stone has killed a 9 foot 4 inch wild hog that weighed in excess of 1,050 pounds recently in Delta, Alabama. It took eight shoots and three hours to bring down the razorback with a .50 caliber revolver. Obviously its the biggest pig ever found, even bigger than Hogzilla according to Fox News. Come on Democrats they have no reason to make this up...

12th Street is the first news outlet to confirm for a fact that this was not the body that Bear Bryant's spirit has inhibited in his quest to make sure that all is right in the universe since his death. If the Bear's spirit was possessing the hog he would have eaten the boy Stone and his father and deposited the droppings on the fifty yard line of Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Ryan Say It Ain't Seaux

LSU quarterback Ryan Perrilloux can no longer be addressed as LSU quarterback, at least for the time being, as he has been suspended by head coach Les Miles for, "an indefinite period of time" for an "accumulation of indiscretions." Who would think that being named in a federal COUNTERFEITING investigation and then getting thrown out of a casino like he pinched a cocktail waitress, could get you in trouble as a student athlete at LSU?

This comes after the All-World Recruit made bold predictions coming out of high school that he would beat out future 2007 NFL number one overall pick JaMarcus Russell for starting quarterback job, and my favorite, win the Heisman as a sophomore. You ain't no Billy Cannon son, you wear number 11 and everyone knows there isn't a chance of winning the Heistman Trophy with a numeral like that.

Les Miles likely cursed reporters at the press conference which was not attended by 12th Street Chatter. This clears the way for new starting quarterback Matt Flynn to ease into the taking the offensive reins this fall without distractions such as COUNTERFEITING taking place in team meetings.

Oliver Dawgs It in the Classroom

Georgia senior cornerback Paul Oliver has been ruled ineligible for the upcoming season. After not accumulating a high enough GPA to stay eligible with a 'Housing' major, he will most likely enter the upcoming NFL Supplemental Draft in order to afford one now that that scholarship is about to run out. You can only hope he didn't get kicked off the team for screwing up the legos while building a scaled housing development, but since he isn't at the good state school Georgia Tech you can't be sure.

UGA fans will be fast to point out its a big loss and that he held Calvin Johnson to two catches and under 20 yards last year. Other football fans will point out the fact Reggie 'Can't Throw A' Ball was his quarterback last year and its a miracle Calvin Johnson caught that many against the Bulldogs. When faced with another first round draft pick Oliver gave up a little more, 98 yards on seven catches to Tennessee's Robert Meachem.

Sophomore Asher Allen will most likely replace Oliver. He was Georgia's 'Newcomer of the Year' last season, not golden boy Matthew Stafford. Someone screwed up the engraving on the trophy so they had to give it to him. Asher will need to Cowboy up against Oklahoma State which will likely be his first test as a starter September 1.

Michael Vick - Presents the PETA Bowl

Recently PETA has been active in the sports world. First they called for Atlanta Falcon’s owner Arthur Blank to release Michael Vick from the team if he is found to have participated in dog fighting. Then this week after LSU live mascot Mike the Tiger V died the animal advocacy group has sprung into action again asking for LSU to not replace Mike with another live tige

Now fast forward to the start of the college football season. Michael Vick is in Baton Rouge with his alma mater the Virginia Tech Hokies who are about to play the LSU on the gridiron September 7. Both schools have had enough guff from PETA. Vick has been in contact with Skip Bertman the athletic director of LSU and they are planning a match for the ages ironically away from Death Valley at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. A tiger fight to the death is in store.

The fight sanctioned by Vick’s K9 business, will have animals that have been brought in from the Burmese jungles and trained by Vick at his Surry County home in tidewater Virginia. These beasts have walked five hours a day on dread mills, taken more shots in the butt than Jose Canseco, mauled cows and kept a close watch out for terrorists around Norfolk’s Naval Base in the months leading up to the event.

Two six hundred pound Bengal tigers will go one round to the death in an evident that will have no rematch. The gambling boats in Louisiana have established the tiger named 'Druckenmiller' with its hair dyed slightly red as the favorite to beat the home town favorite 'Dinardo.’

With such a match up celebrities flocked to the event including: NFLers Clinton Portis and Chris Samuels; MLB’s Milton Bradley and former player Albert Belle; the WNBA’s Diana Taurasi as well as the recently fired Coach O, Courtney Love and Chelsea Clinton.

One can only picture College Gameday talking about the intense emotion from the night before on Saturday morning after Druckenmiller doesn’t live up to the hype and is dismembered before a cheering Cajun crowd. “Lee, it looked like he had a chance but DiNardo just showed more emotion,” chimes in Erin Andrews.

On the sideline of a blowout 42-13 LSU win Vick will only have a short statement while being interviewed, “Man the world loves Michael Vick, PETA can hate but its not like I have a disease or something…”

Its a sad day for PETA and the Hokies.

Past Vol Legends - Heath Shuler

Heath Shuler had one of the most productive careers in University of Tennessee football history playing for the Vols between 1991 and 1993. He left the Vols as a junior to become a top NFL draft pick placing third on the all-time list with 4,088 passing yards behind only Andy Kelly and Jeff Francis. Heath's 36 career touchdown passes ranked him second behind Kelly when he left and he still holds the UT mark for most consecutive games throwing a touchdown pass at 18.

Since leaving football to a debilitating injury after a pro career that spanned four seasons Heath has dedicated himself the people of the 11th Congressional District. He is currently a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group that's mission is to make the government fiscally responsible. A Democrat, Shuler has worked across the aisle on issues such as gun control and abortion which is a key issues to his faith as a Southern Baptist. Heath is also the chairman of the House Small Business Subcommittee on Rural and Urban Entrepreneurship.

We on 12th Street love Heath and wore the number 21 in high school because of him but there are some boneheads that for some reason have a problem with North Carolina's "People's Champion." All we know is that the man behind this negative campaign ad is probably a communist.



Heath lives in Waynesville, North Carolina with his wife and two children.

Welcome to 12th Street

Welcome to the 12th Street Blog. In the upcoming time we hope to give you many stories on why SEC football is the greatest in the land, Michael Vick is going to hell (and bringing his school with him) along with other topics that will make you think.

Please bear with us as we get rolling and our staff assembled.