“Mind your speech a little lest you should mar your fortunes.”

Bet you didn’t expect any Bill Shakespeare with your sports column today, did you?

I wasn’t really planning on it, either. I mean, the Bard never attended football media days, so what does he know?

Still, this quote (which I found on the Internet — Shakespeare was never a contributor to Sports Illustrated so I’m not entirely familiar with his work) is applicable to the just-completed ACC Media Days, the SEC Media Days that begin today and all other media days past, present and future.

These events are times for optimism. No game has been played yet so no game has been lost yet. And coaches don’t have to answer questions about why they didn’t pull their quarterback early in the third quarter after he threw his fifth interception.

But no coach wants to be too optimistic.

Clemson, for example, is loaded. Tommy Bowden admits he has more talent on this team than any other team he’s ever coached.

But he’s also quick to point out that the Tigers have big holes on the offensive line, and when a team has holes on the offensive line that means trouble.

Translation? If Clemson fails to live up to preseason expectations — if Cullen Harper finds himself constantly running out of the pocket or C.J. Spiller and James Davis can’t find any rushing lanes — Bowden’s covered.

After all, he warned us way back in the summer.

Perhaps such tempered optimism is a result of last year’s SEC Media Days. You remember, that’s when Steve Spurrier said his Gamecocks were ready to compete for a league title.

For a while it appeared such optimism was warranted.

Then when a 6-1 record became a 6-6 freefall, we realized that of all the talent and genius Spurrier possesses, Nostradamus-like abilities is not one of them.

Media days are fun because it means football season is here. The coaches and players are just a few days away from trading in suits and ties for whistles and cleats.

But honestly, we don’t really learn much. What we hear during these bull sessions are mostly the same things we heard when spring workouts were completed. The only difference is that these days a coach will be asked about players who were arrested over the summer.

He probably won’t provide a fresh answer, but he’ll be asked anyway.

So Shakespeare — who I’m quite certain never even watched a football game (TV was hard to come by back then and Stratford-upon-Avon had no team) — still provides some good advice for coaches and players who have the task of talking up their teams.

Of course Shakespeare also had a quote about “sound and fury signifying nothing.”

That probably applies to a few coaches as well.