E. Bianchi is a tool..... :-P
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Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2008 1:48 PM
Subject: [gatortalk] RE: [gatornews] Ego, money sacking good grid rivalries
<<Because arrogance and ego and, of course, greed have hijacked college
football.>>
<<the games just keep getting smaller and smaller.>>
<<but I believe the death of the series had more to do with UF's feeling of
superiority than UF's ticket priority.>>
<<how about giving in-state fans a game they can get juiced about?>>
<<that "national" schedule turned into dog-food games against teams like
Montana State and Louisiana Tech.>>
Is Mike Bianchi:
A. Stupid
B. Jealous
C. Just trying to piss us off
D. Has a deadline and needs to spew any old junk
E. All of the above
The games do NOT keep getting smaller and smaller. There are plenty of games
to get "juiced about". Tenn, Georgia, LSU, Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina,
FSU, the SEC championship. Yes we squeeze a couple of easy teams - usually at
the beginning of the year - but our strength of schedule is still much higher
than most of the other 115/120 division 1 schools.
The money is poured into the university and the athletics program. Which
does what? Brings in more big time recruits. The program is self supporting.
How much $$$ does FSU and Miami have to charge the citizens of the state of
Florida each year to showcase "thugs on a field"?
I agree with him about one thing - we don't need Miami. Miami and FSU could
have joined the SEC - but they chose the ACC - which about as difficult as the
leagues that USF and UCF play in. And Miami and FSU knew exactly what they
were doing in joining the ACC instead of the SEC.
I hope this guy is on the sidelines and Patchan takes a personal foul again
...
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [gatornews] Ego, money sacking good grid rivalries
From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wed, September 03, 2008 1:20 pm
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Ego, money sacking good grid rivalries
Mike Bianchi | SPORTS COMMENTARY
September 3, 2008
Tim Tebow's eyes flashed with excitement and his voice raised a couple of
decibels when the subject of playing the Miami Hurricanes came up.
"Playing the 'U' is something I've never done before and I'm excited about
it," chirped the University of Florida quarterback in reference to the rare
renewal of the UF-UM rivalry this weekend.
"I think we should play Miami every year. That would be awesome. I'd love
it."
Everybody would love it. The players. The fans. The media.
Everybody.
But Florida and Miami don't play every year for the same reason UCF and
South Florida are likely ending their four-year series after Saturday's game:
Because arrogance and ego and, of course, greed have hijacked college football.
Remember when college football was supposed to be about the players and the
fans and the student body? Well, now it's about bean-counting athletic
administrators and ego-driven coaches.
"When the stakes are this high, everything changes," said Bill Carr, the
former UF athletic director who took part in the failed negotiations that
helped kill the annual Miami series in the mid-1980s.
Back then the Gators were just getting out of debt as an athletic program,
and one of the main reasons they dropped Miami was to add another home game to
help balance their budget. To this day, Carr insists UF would have kept playing
UM if former UM athletic director Sam Jankovich had just agreed to give UF fans
better seats in the Orange Bowl.
Maybe so, but I believe the death of the series had more to do with UF's
feeling of superiority than UF's ticket priority. The Gators felt UM needed
them more than they needed UM. They felt they were subsidizing UM's budget by
guaranteeing a rare sellout in the Orange Bowl every other year. And it wasn't
just coincidence that they dropped Miami just as the Hurricanes turned into
regular national-title contenders.
The Gators tried to soften the PR blow by saying they were dropping Miami
to play a more "national" schedule. Of course, that "national" schedule turned
into dog-food games against teams like Montana State and Louisiana Tech.
It's pretty telling that Carr, even today, expresses the same sentiment
that ran rampant back then.
"Florida," he said, "doesn't need to play Miami."
He's right, of course. The Gators don't need to play Miami, just as South
Florida doesn't need to play UCF. But -- and I know this a foreign concept in
today's big-money BCS world -- how about giving in-state fans a game they can
get juiced about?
Is there any question UCF fans and players get more jazzed about USF than
any other opponent? And if USF fans were honest, they'd tell you the same about
UCF. But it doesn't matter to USF Coach Jim Leavitt, who is about to kill a
perfectly good rivalry. And why? Because of ego run amok, that's why.
Because Leavitt is infected with the same "you need us more than we need
you" attitude the Gators had so many years ago.
UCF Coach George O'Leary seems tired of lobbying for the continuation of
the USF series but still stated his case yet again Tuesday.
"I think it's a great game for both fan bases," O'Leary said. "I think it's
a natural game that provides a great college atmosphere. I'm not much for
traveling five or six states over to play a game when we've got one 60 miles
away. But it's not a big deal. If they don't want to play, we'll move on."
I don't know what's worse -- USF's inexplicable arrogance or UF's incessant
money grab.
Let's face it, now that college teams play 12 regular-season games, the
Gators could easily play Miami every year. Florida doesn't really need a
seventh home game. The Gators -- bankrolled by millionaire boosters and a
billion-dollar Southeastern Conference TV package -- are a money machine. They
could easily subtract one home game every other year, play Miami and not even
notice it in their budget.
"Why would we want to do that?" UF Athletic Director Jeremy Foley said.
"Why would you want to take $2 million out of your pocket every other year?"
Such is the business of college football.
In order to indulge bigger and bigger athletic budgets and bigger and
bigger egos, the games just keep getting smaller and smaller.
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