The 2009 Pac-10 football season starts this morning. Well, not really. But the conference's media day does seem like a line of demarcation. Summer is now officially over and football is on the front burner. And today's links include some hot items, so if you are interested in those and our plans for today, read on.
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• The day starts early, with the coaches meeting with director of officials Dave Cutaia, who briefs them on the rules changes for the year and how they'll be called. We'll be there and will pass on any key elements. Then it's off to the press conferences, starting with new commissioner Larry Scott. He met with some writers yesterday, including the Times' Bud Withers, who filed this piece, and ESPN's Ted Miller, who had this. Met Scott last night and he seems personable and, not surprisingly, quite bright. But he still couldn't explain the why Serena Williams was not No. 1. Anyhow, he has his work cut out for him. ... I'm looking forward to a lot of things today, not the least of which is the media poll (don't forget to put your picks in the comment section here), though it's not much of an indicator. ... I'm also looking forward to Pete Carroll's appearance, in light of this LA Times' story this morning. ... The Times also had this piece today on the key issues facing the conference.

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• That's it for now. Got to get ready for the day. While I was down here, I had a chance to watch basketball recruit Patrick Simon play in a summer tournament at Loyola and I'll try to share some thoughts about his game with you today, if I can find the time. If not, we'll write on the flight home and post later. But we'll have football stuff today for sure. Until then …