Since you've been behaving so admirably lately:
December 3, 2001 Enough is Enough in Florida-FSU Feud by Gene Wojciechowski ESPN The Magazine 20. A Soapbox Moment All right, people, we're going to turn this Florida State-Florida car around right now if you kids don't start behaving. Just a few shorts days after Gators coach Steve Spurrier was sent back to his room with a bar of Irish Spring stuffed in his mouth, FSU athletic director Dave Hart has a neuron misfiring episode and goes Terrell Owens in the general direction of Gainesville. "I think [Spurrier] is a very good football coach and he has an outstanding team this year," said Hart in a news conference. "But it would probably be good if somebody just spanked him, put him to bed and hoped that he wakes up all grown up." What? Spankings. . . beds. The whole thing sounded like a personals ad for Pleasure Palace. Spurrier responded by happily quoting a Chinese warlord from centuries ago and, well, the whole controversy has become much more interesting than Florida's Nov. 17 rout of the Seminoles. Now if we could just remember what the controversy is. Oh, yeah, cheap shots. FSU defensive lineman Darnell Dockett started this thing by (Florida's version:) purposely twisting and injuring the knee of Gator running back Earnest Graham, then later trying to do a standing broad jump on UF quarterback Rex Grossman's hand. Or (Florida State's version:), Graham's injury wasn't Dockett's fault and, though it appears otherwise, he really wasn't aiming his cleats at Grossman's digits. In short, a he-said/Steve-said thing. No matter. Spurrier all but accused Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden and his staff of teaching "this kind of action." Both Graham's and Grossman's old man threatened lawsuits. And Al Gore extremists said it was a Republican plot to cost them Palm Beach County in 2004. Meanwhile, the videotape of the Dockett incident was sent to the respective conference offices, where ACC commissioner John Swofford, as well as the league's supervisor of officials, said there was no conclusive proof that Dockett purposely injured Graham's knee. Ditto for the SEC, which could have done exactly what to Dockett and FSU had it disagreed with the ACC's decision? Hart claimed due diligence and that should have been that. But in an effort to stick up for his guy -- much like Spurrier had stuck up for Graham and Grossman -- Hart invoked the spanking and adult phrase and there went any remaining civility in the FSU-UF rivalry. About the only person acting as if he's 21 and over is Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley. Then again, all the really good insults have been slung. 19. A Soapbox Moment -- Part II This latest spat between the Gators and Seminoles should do wonders for a rivalry that was just beginning to simmer down. In fact, let's go ahead and sell the rights to next season's game at Tallahassee to the WWF. According to those who have worked with Hart, he is razor-wire sharp, intense and image conscious. He is a master fund-raiser and an administrative smart guy. But what did Hart actually accomplish by trading cat-fight slaps with Spurrier? Sure, he stood by Bowden. But unless the tapes had shown otherwise, Bowden didn't need anyone to come to his rescue. About the only thing he needs is a public apology from Spurrier now that, count 'em, two conference offices have issued their third-party opinions. Will it happen? Nah. Three years remain on the FSU-UF contract. The conspiracy theorists say this is Spurrier's way of sabotaging any sort of extension, that he always thought it unfair that the Gators had to end their regular season with Florida State and then turn around and prepare for their almost-annual trip to the SEC Championship. To make matters worse, the Gators pick up Miami in a home-away series for 2002 and 2003. Hmmm. Spurrier might not be thrilled about the schedule, but since when does he have a history of ducking opponents. After all, this is the same guy who wants a 16-team playoff system. You don't win one of those things unless you're willing to play the best. The bottom line to all of this is Graham got hurt, Grossman could have gotten hurt. . . and then it became a Men Behaving Badly episode. There's a lesson to be learned here and it doesn't have anything to do with Sun Tzu. A. Leon Polhill, Gator "I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn't know." - Mark Twain ________________________________ From: Shane Ford <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Fri, May 7, 2010 10:39:59 PM Subject: Re: Re: [gatortalk] RE: [gatornews] [SUN]: 2010/05/06 14:47 --- "Robbie's Playbook" --- Important offseason for Gators [Andreu] OK! I suppose that's where I remember reading that! Thanks, Oliver, I would have put money on being able too find that in a newspaper some where. I would have been wrong, huh? :-) ---------- Sent from AT&T's Wireless network using Mobile Email ------Original Message------ From: <[email protected]> To: "Gator Talk" <[email protected]> Date: Saturday, May 8, 2010 2:35:49 AM GMT+0000 Subject: Re: [gatortalk] RE: [gatornews] [SUN]: 2010/05/06 14:47 --- "Robbie's Playbook" --- Important offseason for Gators [Andreu] That was an unsubstantiated Gatortalk rumor. :-) Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry -----Original Message----- From: Arthur Polhill <[email protected]> Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 18:50:07 To: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [gatortalk] RE: [gatornews] [SUN]: 2010/05/06 14:47 --- "Robbie's Playbook" --- Important offseason for Gators [Andreu] I always thought that SOS left because he didn't feel like Jeremy or the Administration supported his claim that an FSU player deliberate twisted a player's knee. A. Leon Polhill, Gator "I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn't know." - Mark Twain ________________________________ From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: Gator Talk <[email protected]> Sent: Fri, May 7, 2010 3:37:55 PM Subject: Re: [gatortalk] RE: [gatornews] [SUN]: 2010/05/06 14:47 --- "Robbie's Playbook" --- Important offseason for Gators [Andreu] I think the death of the player, (A-ross?) affected Spurrier more than most realized. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry ________________________________ From: Steve McKibben <[email protected]> Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 08:06:39 -0700 (PDT) To: <[email protected]> Subject: RE: [gatortalk] RE: [gatornews] [SUN]: 2010/05/06 14:47 --- "Robbie's Playbook" --- Important offseason for Gators [Andreu] It may have been a factor, but it wasn't it 1999 when we lost twice to Bama? SOS didn't quit until after the 2001 season. That being said, since Alabama will be the team that has the bulls eye on their backs this year, they're replacing more starters on defense (many of them 2 and 3 year starters) than we had to after the 2006 season, and they have to play six SEC games against opponents coming off of a bye week, I won't be surprised if they don't make it to Atlanta. --- On Fri, 5/7/10, Randy Lyons <[email protected]> wrote: > > >That exact scenario is what sent SOS packing to Washington, didn’t it? Losing >to Bama twice in the same year can be crushing. L -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us
