Sapakoff: A fresh SEC Media Days 'Sopranos' video jolt of Shane Beamer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — There were not nearly as many fans in the hotel lobby this week at the first SEC Media Days in Nashville as all those years in Hoover, Ala., though a man showed up at the Grand Hyatt early Wednesday morning wearing a Crimson Tide cape.
But you know you’re in Nashville and not Hoover when a session musician from England named Blinky is in the hotel exercise room.
Otherwise, it’s been routine stuff for the first three days of the four-day kickoff to SEC football talking season. Meaning — ho-hum — the venerable Nick Saban was interesting and the rest of the coaches have been merely opening acts for South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer.
That’s right, Beamer’s scheduled appearance Thursday projects as something not only more exciting than the current SEC Media Days norm, but an important part of South Carolina’s program building.
It falls in line with Beamer’s enthusiasm and why South Carolina’s high-school Class of 2024 recruiting is exceeding expectations.
Beamer is 2-for-2 in beating preseason predictions and both the 2021 and 2022 seasons started with an SEC Media Days bang.
Complete with cool sunglasses and untied tie.
Instant message: Beamer gets it.
Then South Carolina got upset wins over Florida, Auburn and North Carolina on the way to a 7-6 season.
In 2022, Beamer starred in an SEC Media Days intro video produced by Justin King, South Carolina’s associate athletic director for new and creative media. It was a Soulja Boy spoof, very popular.
Though not so much with Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops.
Music City, Hamm’s beer
“It’s easy to change a climate. You just change your uniforms, talk some game, dance around, put on some stupid sunglasses,” Stoops told ESPN’s Marty and McGee, apparently referring to Beamer. “But to change a culture is at the core.”
Beamer’s SEC Media Days enthusiasm rubbed off. An 8-5 record included upsets of Texas A&M, Tennessee and Clemson, and South Carolina’s first win at Kentucky since 2012.
Saban isn’t so musically inclined. Asked Wednesday in Music City about his pre-game play list, the 71-year-old Alabama head coach said he didn’t understand the question.
Asked again, the meticulous seven-time national championship winner said, “I don’t really listen to music before the games.”
Saban, however, offered a vintage July caveat.
“Expectations,” he said, “are a way to create premediated disappointment.”
And Sam Pittman had a few funny moments.
The Arkansas head coach was asked if he enjoyed Hamm’s beer.
“I like an old Hamm’s beer,” Pittman said, “but you kind of burp a little bit.”
Alas. It’s traditionally difficult to stick out in this brutally tough market, unless you write song lyrics as great as the “God May Forgive You” lines from Harlan Howard and Bobby Braddock that get to the heart of country music:
“God may forgive you but I won’t
Yes, Jesus loves you but I don’t”
But they certainly love an unsung gem, as when a young woman from Sharon, Kansas, who was selling T-shirts at Garth Brooks concerts turned out to be Martina McBride.
It’s not just Beamer making a Gamecock splash. Last year, multi-contributor Dakereon Joyner stood out at SEC Media Days in Atlanta in his peach suit with gold accessories (Spencer Rattler, Tonka Hemingway and Kai Kroeger will represent South Carolina on Thursday).
The Gamecocks got some nice pre-Beamer run Wednesday.
Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson on new Gamecocks offense coordinator Dowell Loggains, the Razorbacks’ tight ends coach the last two seasons:
“I think he’ll do great things at South Carolina with the experience he’s had in the NFL coaching different guys. As a coach and as a man, he’s just a great guy to be around. He’ll teach you valuable lessons in life and on the field. So just having a guy like that on our coaching staff was a true blessing.”
But Beamer himself made a splash before actually getting to Nashville with King's latest creative work, a "Sopranos" thing that jumps out again within a four-day, 14-coach football festival.
If it isn't quite Rosanne Cash, it doesn't have to be. Because, even as Blinky surely knows, the main stage at SEC Media Days is no Grand Ole Opry.