Gator Sports

There are 101 posts filed in Gator Sports (this is page 4 of 11).

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Week in review

I’ve been busy since my last post. On Sunday, some friends and I went to see Ice Harvest. Meh. That’s about all I have to say about that.

On Monday, I went to see the Alabama State vs. Florida basketball game with a friend. We scored some free tickets, but we wouldn’t have had trouble getting seats anyway since there was hardly anyone there. The Rowdy Reptiles section was full and jumpin’, but the rest of the place was sparsely populated. We won handily and it was obvious that the Gators are going to continue improving from game to game. We now have our best start since 2000.

Tuesday, I basically traveled all day. I left Gainesville at about 10:15 AM EST and arrived in Los Angeles about 7:30 PM PST. It was a long day.

Wednesday, I went into work and had a fairly productive day. I left the office around 5 o’clock and headed back to the hotel. I wasn’t feeling too well–I had a cold that seemed to have precipitated from my allergies kicking up in Florida–so I didn’t leave the hotel room till Thursday morning. I was on the company’s dime, so I ordered room service and watched basketball all night. Just what the doctor ordered.

Thursday, back to the office for another productive day and then back to the hotel for a few hours. I hit the gym for the first time in a couple weeks and it felt pretty good. I tend to get pretty out of shape when I travel because I need a solid routine to keep me in the gym.

After the gym, I drove down to Orange County to have dinner with a friend from Project. We hadn’t seen each other in more than four years, so it could’ve been pretty awkward… but it wasn’t at all. We ate at a little Cuban place and had a good time talking for a few hours. I’m glad we’ve reconnected and I hope we can keep in touch.

Friday, I worked a half day and then started my trip back to Texas. It was a pretty uneventful day, which is just how I like it when airplanes are involved.

Gators basketball continuing to improve

Right now, I’m listening to the Gator basketball game. I think it might’ve been blacked out because there were something like 400 unsold tickets. Anyway, we’re rolling over UCF pretty well and I’m impressed with our play. I think we’re up by 40 points right now. Sheesh. This might be the best start we’ve had in the Billy D. era. We’ll be 7-0 after today and probably Top 10 after this weekend. Not bad for a team that lost 60% of its offense to the NBA.

They just announced a final score of 80-47. Our 7-0 start is the best in 21 seasons and this is only the third time we’ve made that mark. Nobody saw this coming.

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Gator Bait!!

I don’t have much to say because there isn’t much to say. We own the ‘Noles. We beat ’em at Ron Zook field last year and, if not for some egregious officiating, we would’ve beat ’em at home two years ago. In fact, there are a lot of parallels to our 2003 matchup, but the glaring difference is that the refs didn’t blow call after call this year.

At any rate, by blowing out FSU, Urban Meyer has redeemed himself and our season (not that Urban really needed much redeeming). Granted, a win at South Carolina a couple weeks ago would’ve been wonderful, but beating all our big rivals–UGA, UT and FSU–in a season for the first time since 1996 is plenty reason to celebrate. Pile on our first season since 2000 without a home loss and things just seem that much sweeter.

So, the pros of our season just might outweigh the cons. With the whooping we put on FSU, we might get a decent bowl bid. Also, we played a very difficult SEC schedule this year and Urban still had a decent season while installing a new system and working around several key injuries. It’s obvious that a healthy Gator squad with a full year of Meyer’s offense under its belt will be a force in the SEC next year. Also, it seems we may have finally taken back the Swamp.

All in all, it’s been a good season. I’m glad I got to go to both the Tennessee and FSU football games. Next up, the Alabama State vs. Florida basketball game on Monday night.

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So far, so good

Thanksgiving was excellent and I really enjoyed the time I spent with my family. It was a little short, but very good.

Then, last night, I went to the Florida State vs. Florida basketball game. Although we opened facing a 21-4 deficit, we came back to win by 8 points (74-66). It really should’ve been a much bigger win, but the ref’s were calling everything, even things that didn’t actually happen. I wasn’t happy with the way they called it, but I doubt FSU was either. It was just a sloppy officiating job on both sides of the floor.

Anyway, it was good to see us get the win because our guys had to win in completely different ways than they did in New York. In the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament, we won with our 3-point shooting. Last night, we were forced to win without our 3-pointers. We were also facing a very aggressive defense and finicky ref’s who would sometimes call every little thing and sometimes would miss obvious calls. All in all, it was a tough way to win, but our team was able to pull it out in spite of our youth.

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Florida Basketball: It’s Faaaaaantastic!

Well, I don’t think anyone saw this coming. Since yesterday, we’ve knocked off two Top 20 teams–Wake Forest (18) and Syracuse (16)–to win the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.

This year, I expected our team to be young, scrappy, a lot like the Kentucky teams of the past few years. No real superstar, but several solid players, most capable of scoring 15 or 20 points on any given night. I expected us to play high-octane basketball, pressing, smothering teams on the defensive end, and trying to run the fast break game whenever possible.

What I didn’t expect was the chemistry that our team has shown so early in the season. It’s still November and they look like they’ve been playing together for years. Our passing game is impressive and we looked right at home against Syracuse’s signature 2-3 zone. In fact, we forced them to go to man-to-man defense because we were shooting so well and passing so well inside and around their zone.

I’m very pleasantly surprised and I think this team can be very, very good. We’re starting 4-0 and I expect we’ll be ranked when the next rankings are released. I think the SEC is in for a surprise from a young, solid Gator basketball team this year. We might be able to defend the first SEC Championship in school history with an all-around better team than the one that won the Championship last year.

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Florida football falters

Well, we made a good run, but Spurrier bumped us off just when our SEC Championship hopes were peaking. Notice I said “Spurrier” and not “South Carolina.” That’s because their football team didn’t beat us, we were just flat out-coached. They played well, but they were coached better. Also, we just didn’t show up to play. Again, our offense sputtered and our defense decided to take it easy and give up some big plays at the worst times.

That about sums it up.

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Close as could be

Well, I sure didn’t expect Vandy to hang 42 points on us tonight, but it doesn’t surprise me all that much either. Everyone knows they’re a team that’s just waiting to break out and they almost did that in Gainesville tonight.

Ironically, I originally wrote the previous post to say something like, “I expect this one to be pretty close”, but then I remembered the game was in G-ville, so I changed it to “I think we can cover the spread.” I should’ve gone with my gut. Vandy is rarely an easy win and they’re better this year than they’ve been in many years.

We were lucky to escape with a win tonight and Spurrier’s team won’t be a pushover in South Carolina next week.

War Eagle.

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Big game tonight

I’m not even being sarcastic. The Gators need this game pretty badly, but not in the typical sense. Meyer has begun to retool the offense, but we’re far from polished. We squeaked by Georgia using a stripped down offense that mostly went north-south. But that’s not Meyer’s vision and I’m sure he hasn’t forgotten his beloved Spread.

This game will be a chance for the Gators to add some Spread plays and work on blocking in the more complicated schemes. We have to remember that we still have to beat South Carolina on their field, then we have FSU at home and a bowl game. But, if Auburn prevails in Athens, we’ll be playing in Atlanta for the SEC Championship, a likely rematch against the Tide. We already saw what happened in Tuscolusa and if we’re going to beat them the offense has to be clicking on all cylinders. Now is the time to start tuning up the engine.

I expect to see a good mix of old school play calling and some new school Spread plays. I also expect our defense to give Vandy fits. I’m not necessarily predicting a blowout, but I expect us to cover the spread (looks like about 19 points).

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The football infestation continues…

Well, I said I didn’t want this to become a football blog, but since I have no life and I love football, I guess that’s just what’s on my mind. We beat Georgia… again. I’m not saying that in a cocky way, it’s just how it is. Yes, they were without their quarterback, but that elicits little sympathy from me. We’ve been playing without our stars all season–Chris Leak hurt his shoulder against Alabama and it clearly affected his next couple games; Andre Caldwell, our first receiver, broke his femur against Tennessee; several of our key defensive players have missed games and on and on–and we’re not looking for sympathy. We’re just playing good football, the same as Georgia. And this game wasn’t as close as it looked on paper, either. We should’ve scored just before the end of the first half, but we fumbled on the 5 yard-line when a Leak/Wynn exchange went poorly. That wasn’t good Georgia defense, it was a gift from the statistical gods. Also, Georgia’s only touchdown came on a trick play that only worked because it was botched. It was a nice catch by T3, but he wouldn’t have been open if he didn’t accidentally fall down earlier in the play. It was like hitting a 3-pointer off the glass–you get 3 points, but everyone in the game attaches a mental asterisk whose note reads, “3-point airball.”

Anyway, it was another SEC slug-fest and we were fortunate enough to win it. Our offense actually came alive in the first quarter and then it went back into hibernation as the defense dominated the rest of the game. Meyer is finally figuring out what to do with Leak and company. Keeping it simple is the best way with these guys. Zook’s problem in 2004 wasn’t offense–we torched most of the teams we played–it was a lackluster defense who took naps and drank drinks with little pink umbrellas in them during the fourth quarter. Our defense has totally transformed this year, but our offensive personnel are the same. Give Leak a pocket, let him pass and use our running backs to run it right down their throats. We are best on the ground when we’re running downhill.

So now what? Well, we should win out in the SEC, which means we’re going to be chanting “War Eagle!!” soon enough. I think it’s silly that we’re depending on UGA’s game with a Western Division foe to vault us into the SEC Championship. Each East team plays 3 random West teams and Florida had to play AT Alabama and AT LSU. Georgia? They get Auburn at home. They don’t have to play ‘Bama or LSU at all. Must be nice. The planets have aligned and UGA may have a shot at the SEC Title in spite of their second-best SEC East record.

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Two losses to two Top 10 teams

I guess Florida haters like to see that we have two losses and we’ve fallen to 5-2 overall. But I don’t think it’s really that bad. Of course, we didn’t look good against Alabama, but they’re still in the Top 10 right now. After this week, LSU should be Top 10 as well. All things considered, I think that’s reasonable.

Our hopes at a shot for the SEC title are all but gone, but I guess that’s just the way it goes. What’s frustrating is that we could be undefeated in the East and still not play on December 3rd in ATL. Something seems a little off there, but I’m just a biased Florida fan.

Speaking of Top 10 teams, our next opponent lives there as well. In two weeks, we go to Jacksonville to play Georgia. That should be a good game and could be Urban’s second win against a Top 10 team. Of course, we’ll be underdogs, but that’s the way it has been many times over the past few years. We’ve only lost to UGA once since I started school back in 1998 and I think we have a good shot at keeping that stat intact.

I don’t like that this has turned into a football blog, but at least I’m updating it with some frequency.

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It’s still great to be a Florida Gator…

But it’s a bummer losing like that. I’m still not sure what happened but, if I had to guess, I’d probably use the words “meltdown” and “unprepared”. Our defense stunk up the stadium and our offense was a one-trick pony with little resembling anything “spread” or “option”. ‘Bama played well, but they beat a team that was only a shell of the team I’ve seen the past few weeks. I don’t know where the Gators were on Saturday, but they weren’t in Tuscaloosa.

Hopefully we’ll play well and run Meyer’s offense this weekend against Mississippi State. I hope we’re able to get a win and gain some confidence in our schemes so that we’re prepared when we go to LSU in a couple weeks. I think the most important thing to remember right now is that we’re still in control of the SEC East. We do have a loss, but it was to West team, so it did the least amount of damage possible. If we get back on track and run the table in the East, we’ll go to the SEC Championship game and hopefully get a rematch against the tide.

Anti-Gator fans?

Since our loss to Alabama, I’ve had a few people–none of whom are Alabama students, fans or alumni–say to me or e-mail me a big “Rolll Tiiiide!!” I don’t get it. I don’t understand why people dislike Florida so much. My only guess is that Spurrier was so dominant and cocky that people just decided to hate the Gators. One of the people who said that to me is an Auburn grad. When they lost to GaTech earlier this year, I didn’t say a word to him. When they got snubbed out of the National Title game last year, I told him I thought that was stupid and the BCS was flawed. The only jawing I’ve ever done is to say, “We’ll see you in the SEC Championship.” That’s it. But when we lose to a tough football team, this guy starts giving me lip. Seriously?

Another person, an FSU fan, e-mailed me with nothing but “Rooolll Tiiiide!” I guess she may’ve been irked because, after she tried to tell me how we’re going to lose this year and UGA has our number, I called Doak “Ron Zook Field”. I never e-mailed her last year (or any of multiple opportunities) to say “Go ‘Canes!!!!” or “Go Terps!!” I didn’t e-mail her to talk smack after we beat FSU on their field last year. But we get a road loss to a Top 15 team that she doesn’t even root for and I immediately get an e-mail? Seriously? Nevermind that an astute FSU fan would realize that Florida’s record come November 26 could have a huge impact on FSU’s potential to play for the National Title, and a Florida loss doesn’t help their cause.

After UGA beat us last year, I was at Radio Shack buying some batteries or something. Some random dude saw my hat and came up to say, “You a Gator fan? Man, them Bulldogs beat y’all today, huh?” He was obviously trying to get a rise out of me and also obviously not a Georgia fan. I said, “Well, we have to give them one every 15 years or so. We figured this’d be a good year to do it since we don’t have a coach and all.” He just kinda’ sheepishly put his head down and walked away. I guess he hadn’t really thought his chiding through. But why say anything to begin with? I’m surrounded by Sooners fans. I haven’t said a word to any of them about their season so far. I work with several Aggies. I haven’t made a peep. It’s one thing to root for a football team, but it’s another thing entirely to root against a team just to spite its fans.

Yes, I know what a rivalry is. No, I don’t like FSU or Tennessee. But, no, I wouldn’t e-mail anyone from those schools if their team lost a football game to some team I don’t even root for. That just seems silly and sort of mean-spirited.