WBIR has the video. The event was yesterday. Here's what Pearl said:

I've got a tough job. I've got to put these guys from different worlds together, right? I've got guys from Chicago, Detroit — I'm talking about the ‘hood! And I've got guys from Grainger County, where they wear the hood.

It's a pun, you see. Everyone in the audience had a laugh, but others apparently weren't so amused. (It's worth noting that none of his current players hails from either Chicago or Detroit.) Pearl apologized later in the day. His statement:

This morning while speaking at a private kick-off event for a great organization that benefits many local charities, I made a statement in jest to describe the diverse group our staff recruits year-in and year-out.

Unfortunately while I was trying to excite the crowd and encourage employees to give, I made an inappropriate joke. I certainly did not intend to offend anyone and I apologize to everyone, especially the people of Grainger County.

In no way am I trying to justify what I said, but I'm disappointed that the focus has been placed on me rather than the charities I was there to help. My only hope is that the visibility of this mistake will encourage those who can to give to those in need during these difficult times.

Doug McBee, the father of Volunteers recruit and Grainger native Skylar McBee, wasn't the least bit offended. He told the Knoxville News Sentinel:

"There's no hard feelings at all,'' Doug McBee said. "We are country up here, but we're not prejudice. It was a joke, and that's how I took it.''

Besides, everyone knows that Grainger isn't a hotbed of Klan activity. The KKK wasn't founded there or anything. It was founded in Pulaski, Tenn., a few hours away.

Pearl's off-the-cuff remark could raise eyebrows (video) [WBIR]
Pearl's comment elicits apology [GoVolsXtra]
UT's Pearl Gets In Trouble For His Mouth, Too [MrSEC.com]

I once saw the Maccabbiah games, years ago, and it's actually pretty nice. The athletes aren't jaded, the crowds get pretty into it, and victors are showered with lean pastrami.

The games start July 13th. Here's a brief guide to some of this year's more distinguished participants:

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.• Jason Lezak – USA – Swimming

It might seem silly for a top notch athlete to forgo the World Championships for an intramural jaunt, but this guy is going to be a freaking god for two weeks. (After that it's back to shitty old monotheism.) Why languish under the shadow of Michael Phelps when you can be the Jewish Mark Spitz. (Other than the real Mark Spitz.)

• Yevgeny Lukyanenko – Russia – Pole Vault

You remember Yevgeny Lukyanenko, right? Lukyanenko? Silver medal, Beijing? Come on…Lukyanenko! Rhymes with, uh…Lukyanenko...

• Adam Kovacs – Hungary – Karate

Apparently, this is the #2 Karate guy in the world. Perhaps he will parlay his success into Hungarian action movie stardom. Or, even better, perhaps he will parlay his success into getting the fuck out of Hungary.

• Boris Gelfand – Israel – Chess

The pride of Rishon Lezion, Boris Gelfand exploded through the ranks of—wait—chess?? Chess is a sport? What about Mah Jong? What about gin rummy? I could make some noise in gin rummy.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.• Bruce Pearl – USA – Basketball

Holy shit—Bruce Pearl is bringing his florescent man-boobs to the Promised Land! Meet the new face and chest and midriff of American Jewry. It isn't Coach K, but still pretty impressive. Seriously, do you have any idea how difficult it is to body-paint a tallis? I'll tell you: very difficult.

Yeah, I think that's enough.

U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

The artist formerly known as C'la Travis writes that the excitable men's basketball coach was asked at a UT alumni reception how he's been getting along with UT football coach Lane Kiffin, who was also in attendance, and Pearl, god bless his horny little heart, had this to say:

"I'm trying to date his wife. But that's not working out too good."

Now, ordinarily, this type of off-handed remark might be taken as good-natured ribbing, but remember how annoyed Lane was when Layla was Google-searched en masse by professional internet masturbators soon after he was hired. Will Pearl get a complimentary Lane Kiffin Schnozz Smash for his comment? Can't say we'd blame Kiffin for that one. But they appear to be getting along swimmingly and apparently received a standing ovation at the event.

Another factoid: As a Florida Gator undergrad, Layla was a member of the notorious Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, which counts America's Sideline Princess Erin Andrews as one of its members.

Layla Kiffin Appeals To Bruce Pearl [Fanhouse]

The UT athletic department held their third annual VOLSCARS ceremony that I think is supposed to be a play on "Oscars" (as in Academy Awards) but it just reads as "Vol Scars," which is disgusting. Anyway, it's some sort of school-wide ESPY awards and this year's "entertainment" featured head basketball coach Bruce Pearl wearing a jacket, tie and no shirt while attempting to rap (poorly) on stage. If you have a letter opener handy, feel free to insert it in your eyes right now.

I just feel unclean after watching that. Lane Kiffin, I know you can top this, but ... please don't.

Bruce Pearl Rapping [Loser with Socks]
Tennessee hosts 3rd annual "VOLSCARS" [Volunteer TV]

Pearl filed for divorce from Kim Shrigley in September of last year, and since Pearl makes about $1.6 million a year, it's a good bet that she took a hefty chunk of change in the settlement. Large enough, at least, to open a hair salon and name it after the source of her inspiration—"Alimony." The I is dotted with a heart "to be that extra pain in the ass."

The unisex salon, at 7115 Kingston Pike in the West Hills area, offers clients hair and nail service, and Shrigley, who now goes by her maiden name, hopes to expand someday and include Botox treatments, facials and waxing.

Her ultimate goal for clients: "I want them to have had a nice experience and see that you can go through some horrible stuff and come out on top," she said. "It's not the end of the world. It feels like it at first, but it's not."

Oh, and there's a 15% discount for customers who receive alimony. But it's good to see that she's totally put the whole episode behind her. Don't mind that extra twist of the knife, Bruce.

Pearl's Ex Opens Beauty Salon: 'Alimony's' [March To Madness]

Any of you who run your own blog know the joy of "search terms." While comments tell you what your regular readers think about your content, search terms show you what freaky, random internet strangers might find valuable in your accumulated pages of pseudo-journalism.

At STF, we get a ton of searches for the likes of "Bill Walker peeing," "Dan Dakich bald spot" and "Lute Olson sexy." Then there's the lonely soul who wandered in looking for late-80s Oklahoma guard Dave Sieger. But we also get a surprisingly steady flow of anonymous queries about Tennessee's Bruce Pearl. We're glad that hoops nation is turning to us to answer the tough questions, but the reach of our little site is not enough to truly solve these riddles. So, without further ado, let's use this here bully pulpit to battle some ignorance.

Search term: Bruce Pearl black or white? According to JewishSports.com, Bruce Pearl is a member of the tribe, having grown up in a reformed Orthodox home. So, the correct PC code word to use here is "swarthy." It covers all of your bases.

Bruce Pearl ladies man: Answer=hell yes. We've seen photos of an oiled-up Pearl gripping a young lady half his age on a boat somewhere. Then he unveiled his "drape 'em" move on Erin Andrews on live television over the past weekend. Women want him, and men want to be him.

Bruce Pearl Pat Summit relationship: AAAAAAAAAAAGH! MY SYNAPSES!!!!!

Is Bruce Pearl dirty? There are many ways to take this query. Is he guilty of recruiting violations? Not so far as the NCAA is concerned. Is his personal hygiene suspect? During and after a game, he's probably pretty rank, but I'm betting he at least takes a PTA shower and splashes on some Hai Karate before hitting the clubs at night. If it's young ladies wanting to know if Pearl is "up for it", then heck yes - Uncle Bruce will do anything, any time, anywhere. I think his record speaks for itself. (Ed. Note: We Illini fans might have a different definition of "dirty" than you do, at least when it comes to Pearl.)

Strangely enough, not one search for "Bruce Pearl topless" yet. Ah, well, there's always the postseason.

Apparently, These Two Schools Don't Like Each Other. Tennessee 69-Vanderbilt 72. This game was played in America's least telegenic gymnasium. However, the term barn-burner was a figurative, if accurate, description of the action contained therein. Shan Foster hit for 32, but it was freshman Keegan Bell (zero points) tracking down a loose ball on the one-hrmph line that saved Kevin Stallings' few remaining hairs. Coaching job of the night honors went to the Nashville cops, who somehow kept the student white-out from spilling onto the Memorial Gym floor, sparing the school a repeat of last year's Florida debacle.

Greg Oden Isn't Limping Through That Door. Ohio State 69-Indiana 72?. Remind me again why we're taking OSU seriously as a bubble team? With the exception of an early-season win at a then-healthy Syracuse, the Buckeyes have failed to answer the bell in every statement game they've been faced with. Give their at-large spot to the real deal in Ohio - the Kent State Golden Flashes. Love, love, love D.J. White, however. When Gordon flounders, Deej is there to pick up the pieces.

Sometimes A Loss is Still A Win. Western Michigan 56-Northern Illinois 49. The score of this game matters less than the fact that it was played at all. Former Colorado coach Ricardo Patton has successfully led the UNI Huskies back to the court following an extended break to mourn the victims of an on-campus shooting. Western Michigan, aware that they would be accorded the honor of being the next opponent for the struggling school, has been wearing black ribbons in solidarity. I'm not really the type who believes that sports heal all, but sometimes a team outing is the best way to put on a brave face for the public.

Tonight's Big Game

Again, I wasn't really feelin' it when it came to the significance of tonight's top 25 games. Instead, I went for a matchup that has a great deal of meaning in the at-large picture.

Miami (Fla.) (19-7) at Clemson (19-7). Clemson's tournament profile looks pretty good at this point, but if they really want to lay the doubts to rest and solidify their third-place standing in the ACC, it really behooves them to win this home game against a possible contender. On the Miami side, this is their last chance to make a statement for the committee outside of the conference tournament. We're dealing with a lot of shit here.

Coming Soon: Conference Tournaments

Eric Angevine writes about college basketball for Storming the Floor and CAAZone. He can be reached at stormingthefloor@gmail.com.

Apparently having the No. 1 team in the nation comes with all kinds of perks. I shudder to think what will happen if Tennessee wins a national championship. Pearl has come a long way since he merely groped women while wearing the BC Eagle costume.

Bruce Pearl Feels Up Erin Andrews [YouTube]

"I think (fans) are going to love it, and I think America is going to see a side of Pat Summitt that they haven't seen in a long time."

Pearl has been going on and on about this to the point where anything short of Summitt showing up in a Madonna cone brassiere, nailed to a cross and firing rockets from her nipples is going to be a letdown. Pearl went topless in his January stunt, which was frightening enough, and of course led to the university installing exit signs at Thompson-Boling Arena in a larger font. As for Summitt's mysterious plans, as long as underwear is included we should all be OK.

Summitt To Do Some Cheerleading? Maybe [MSNBC]

Our longtime enmity toward Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl was founded in adolescence and is probably going to stick with us til death, even if the guy ended up taking down a squadron of Al Qaeda operatives. Sometimes, you can't shake your past.

So instead of praising him for having a sense of humor about himself after he painted his chest for last night's Tennessee-Duke women's game — which is what we'd do with pretty much any other coach — we'd like to instead say, "Hee hee, look at his gut, what a tool." Forgive us.

Coach Goes Topless At Women's Game [The Sports Frog]
Bruce Pearl Coaches Crackheads. Yeah, Take THAT! [Deadspin]

But Tennessee and Wichita State are cooking up a good one, though. The Vols lead by 3 with about 8 minutes to play. It's been a fantastic game. Win or lose, there is no question that Wichita State is one of the better teams in the country.

By the way, Keith at the Pitt Panther Hoops blog wrote in to tell me that when the Shockers came out for the 2nd half, their cheerleaders all held up the "shocker" hand symbol. That, um... seems slightly inappropriate. Surely the administrators at Wichita State are aware of this unfortunate naming coincidence by now.

Meanwhile, Illinois and Washington have already tipped and Washington has a very early 1-point lead.

Florida and UW-Milwaukee have already tipped. And at 3:40, it's the game that I'm probably most looking forward to today, Wichita State @ Tennessee. I could not have been more impressed with the Shockers (giggle) in the first round, but I expect Tennessee to step it up and play better, too.

Milwaukee (which is Algonquin for "the good land") trails 11-5 very early in their contest against Florida, which should also be a good one. Here we go.

Wild about the Wildcats. No word on whether Jefferson-Pilot s broadcast team listened to Eiffel 65 s late-90 s hit song Blue before beginning their coverage of the SEC Tournament. Play-by-play man Tom Hammond graduated from Kentucky in 1967. His analyst, Larry Conley, played for the Wildcats from 1963-66. And guess which city sideline reporter Dave Baker has a full-time broadcasting gig? Hint: It rhymes with Bexington. Should make today s second-game, Kentucky vs. Alabama, pretty nauseating for Bama fans watching at home.

My name is not Wuss. It s Wimp! Seated just over Deadspin Mole s right shoulder here at the SEC Tournament is none other than former rivals-turned-fast-friends Sonny Smith, ex-Auburn coach, and Wimp Sanderson, former Alabama coach. Atlanta Journal-Constitution s Tony Barnhart, an encyclopedia of SEC knowledge, gives us a refresher course in Sonny and Wimp.

Orange you glad he didn t wear orange: Bruce Pearl has opted for a fashionable gray suit today, instead of the orange blazer which has garnered him national ridicule. But don t call Joan Rivers just yet — he s complementing the suit with an orange tie and orange suspenders.

(By the way, if anyone's gonna be there and interested in filing tidbits like this from the NCAAs next week, let us know at tips@deadspin.com.)

Check out more filings after the jump ....

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Nice beak:OK, I promise I'm not trying to be mean. But is it just me or does South Carolina's Renaldo Balkman not look exactly like USC mascot Cocky?

Valentine's Day: Putting the T in Tennessee: Referee Ted Valentine just drew the ire of about 18,000 UT fans when he assessed a technical foul on Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl, who was pleading for a traveling call. You may remember Mr. Valentine for his infamous run-in with Bobby Knight.

Feeling peachy. Capitalizing on the country's throwback addiction, the SEC celebrated a Throwback Week during the regular season. Because of its popularity, teams continued wearing the unis, and it carried over to the tournament, where the Gaylord Entertainment Center (GEC) has unveiled a "Throwback Floor" for the event. It entails no big colored baseline and no corporate logos on the floor. Sadly, the GEC didn't go for the ultimate in throwback basketball courts: peach baskets.

Hey, it's Friday. Want to go watch UK play?It?s official: Gaylord Entertainment Center has been transformed to Rupp Arena South. As evidenced by the blanket of blue in the stands, it's obvious there's not much to do in Lexington on a Friday. Just about the only Kentucky fan not here is you-know-who.

Tie-ing one on: All right, this is getting out of hand. Fresh off Bruce Pearl busting out the orange tie and suspenders for the first game, it's now Alabama coach Mark Gottfried's turn. The Alabama coach is sporting a Crimson tie. Even Tubby Smith is getting into the act with a navy blue one. Now, Deadspin Mole realizes this is not a new phenomenon. But just once, would it kill a coach to buck tradition and wear a pink one? I nominate Quin Snyder.

Poised and lengthy. Shagari Allenye, Kentucky's 7-foot-3 giant, stole the show in the first half of the Wildcats' game against Alabama. The sparsely-used center came off the bench to record two blocks and two dunks, including one just before halftime that gave UK a 23-22 lead. Apropos of nothing, he describes his game as "poised and lengthy on UKathletics.com. Oddly, that?s precisely how Deadspin editor Will Leitch describes his game.

(Editor's Note: Damn. Straight.)

At least he's scrappy. Given a chance to bring the house down with a breakaway dunk to seal Kentucky's come-from-behind win over Alabama, the uber-white Patrick Sparks couldn't quite seal the deal, laying it in instead. He may not be able to dunk, but, as his last name spelled backwards suggests, he is scrappy.

Anyway, Pearl's having all kinds of trouble with his Volunteer charges these days. Two of his players were arrested for possessing 15.2 grams of crack cocaine. That's a lot of crack, enough that police could charge them with intent to distribute.

Despite jokes that the crack cocaine could explain Pearl's sweating problem, this isn't inherently Pearl's fault, though it's hard to imagine, say, Dean Smith coaching guys busted for crack. But we're going to enjoy watching him squirm anyway. We won't lie to you: If we could choose an Official Deadspin Villain, it would be Bruce Pearl. And again: We know it's not fair, and we don't care. Hating Bruce Pearl was a notion we understood long before we understood "fairness."

Pearl s 'High Standards' Put Players Futures In Doubt [Nashville City Paper]
Putting The Rock Back In Rocky Top [Taylor Bunts]