ESPN College Football

NEWPORT, R.I. -- I successfully fulfilled my best-man duties over the weekend, and now it's go time.

I'm here in scenic Newport for the Big East summer kick-off and media day. The actual interview sessions aren't until Tuesday morning. Today offers a chance to interact with some of the coaches and players in a very laid-back setting. There's a golf outing this afternoon, and the indescribably amazing clam bake tonight. Posts will be sporadic as I'm attending both functions, but I'll key you in on whatever nuggets I glean from them.

The coaches are also having meetings this morning, and if there's any news from that you can read about it here.

I'm not sure how these workaholic coaches find time to whittle down their handicaps, but I'll let you know who the serious golfers are. I only wish I could share with you the taste of the lobster from tonight's clam bake.

While the two-hour interview period tomorrow is much shorter than in the other BCS leagues, no other conference gives the media the chance to be around the coaches and players in such an informal setting. I mean, can you imagine Nick Saban playing golf with the SEC writers, or Jim Tressel and his players sitting at the same dinner table with the media?

I'll be back with more today and lots, lots more from the official media day tomorrow.