Wearing The Black Hat, Your Florida Gators
by mlmintampa on Nov 3, 2009 12:00 PM EST
in Football
52 comments
Urban Meyer's half suspension of Brandon Spikes against Vanderbilt, which was then endorsed by the SEC, probably comes as a shock. The way things work now, IF THERE IS ENOUGH ALL CAPS LOCK ANGER!, someone gets in trouble. If the SEC thought 30 minutes was enough to teach Spikes not to stick his fingers inside facemasks, they must have seen or heard some stuff that makes Spikes' move look like kids' play. The Orlando Sentinel points out one of those other plays; Tebow getting blindsided on a late hit.
Since the masses have decided that Spikes' play was the dirtiest play of all time, and a suspension is merely a slap on the wrist, Florida will use this to their advantage. Georgia can wear the black helmets, Florida will wear the black hats.
As vile as eye gouging is, Spikes saw it as in defense of his team. Florida's opponents are right to say that there was light discipline and Spikes could have seriously hurt someone. But Florida's opponents now have another reason to fear the Gators. Not because they are a bunch of cheap shot artists, but now they really believe everyone is out to get them.
Instead of this becoming a distraction, UF is going to rally. Spikes is their star pitcher, risking suspension, but still throwing a 95 mph fastball at the head other team's best batter. He is the team captain, starting a fight with the other team's enforcer, and winning the fight. When those things happen in baseball and hockey, they can be a spark for change. The only suspension that would have hurt UF would have been if Spikes got a season suspension, and there was no way that was happening.
The Gators now have momentum and a nation of detractors at their back. They will gladly take it, even if it means having their best defensive player sit out for a half hour.
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Agree wholeheartedly
Meyer will use this as motivation for the rest of the season.
Also allow me to predict the majority of rival fans’ comments on this post:
“Rabble rabble Gaytors rabble dirty rabble Meyer cheater rabble Spikes thug rabble indefensible rabble.”
by wangalusa on Nov 3, 2009 12:58 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Let the Haters drink their Haterade. I’m done letting it bother me.
by falcontom on Nov 3, 2009 12:59 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Im sure the tam will embrace the “Us against the World” feeling with open arms, and then crush everyone in their way with those same arms. Your absolutely right they will rally and rally hard becasue of this.And knowing how determined they were before the season and that this will only add to that determination, that is a very scary thing.
by gatorempire127 on Nov 3, 2009 1:29 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
cool - now can we please
move on to the Vanderbilt game?!
by skigator93 on Nov 3, 2009 1:41 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
But Florida’s opponents now have another reason to fear the Gators. Not because they are a bunch of cheap shot artists, but now they really believe everyone is out to get them.
Nah, you had it right the first time.
I'm wrong all the time.
by PeteHoliday on Nov 3, 2009 2:22 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
How's .500 feel?
Must be a pretty nice improvement over most of this half-decade.
by Giant Catfish on Nov 3, 2009 3:40 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Pete's a Bama fan
Plus he’s wrong all the time – says so right on his tagline!
by skigator93 on Nov 3, 2009 3:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Whoops.
I don’t ever make it over to RBR, but I do read RTT on occasion. I suppose I couldn’t read what he was actually writing through my blind hatred and bloodshot eyes.
I apologize for saying you were a UT fan, Pete. I imagine that’s pretty bad. In any case….I’d rather be cheap shot artists than “the worst cheaters in the history of everything” (paraphrased from NCAA)
:-)
by Giant Catfish on Nov 3, 2009 3:48 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
You may not want to go visit there right this minute
You have just been made a pseudo-celebrity over there (although not by Pete). It bashes your “all I care about is winning” rant. I agree that you should rethink that belief. We can win in a way that makes us feel proud to be Gators. There will always be haters – and their numbers expand exponentially when you’re on top.
RBR is a great blog – even if the Bama faithful don’t think they’re homers!
by skigator93 on Nov 3, 2009 3:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Nope, still don't care.
But I do think it’s pretty funny that the program with the most storied history of cheating thinks I’m bad for having a win at all costs attitude.
I don’t mean to represent the fanbase as whole — I purposely used many "I"’s — but I have never really understood the fascination with “class” and the like. Maybe it’s because my first love was soccer, where this “class” stuff is absent, and would be mocked mercilessly if anyone tried it. I’m always proud to be a Gator, no matter win or loss, class or classless.
You, Pete, and every other football fans cheers wildly when one of your players lays into an opposing player, jarring the ball loose. The fact that over-the-middle passes are infinitely more lethal than eye-gouging is meaningless to football fans, because an arbitrary set of rules decided that the concussion-causing, mental-deterioration-by-45, possibly fatal play of a safety launching his body at full speed into another player’s spine is somehow legal, but the eye-gouge is WTFOMGHE’SEVIL! This sport is violent in a way that will disgust posterity, so why should I flog myself because one of my players stuck his hands in another players eyes?
To sum it up: winning = happy. Cheap shots by Gators = not happy, but not upset either. So, logic dictates that if arbitrarily defined cheap shots occur on the path to victory, I shouldn’t care. And I don’t. Just wait ‘til I import some more soccer honesty or traditions. When you hearing someone singing about Nick Saban being a pedophile in the Georgia Dome, you’ll know who it is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSw6cRI2a4E&NR=1
by Giant Catfish on Nov 3, 2009 4:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
To be fair, Ferguson’s asking the fans to stop that particular chant. Several years after they started it, but baby steps, right? :)
I’m obviously partial, but I think one of the best expressions of fan feeling was when Villa’s supporters held up signs in the waning days of Deadly Doug – who had previously accused Villa fans of being “fickle” – reading “We’re not fickle, we just don’t like you.” And it’s true – I had only been a fan of the team for a few months at that point, and I already disliked the man – I can’t imagine what born and bred Brummies felt.
by peachy rex on Nov 4, 2009 12:42 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Ealey Speaks.
Ealey said Spikes didn’t get to his eyes. "I had my eyes closed," Ealey said. "He really didn’t gouge my eyes. …I was just trying to get up as fast as I can." Ealey even posted an update on his Facebook page to let friends know that he was fine. "I just said that my eyes were OK," He said ."It was 20-20. He didn’t really get my hands close to my eyes."
by wangalusa on Nov 3, 2009 4:34 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Vindication
I’m feeling like this should be paired with fava beans and a nice chianti.
by falcontom on Nov 3, 2009 4:36 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
If a single rival fan backs off his "Brandon Spikes is the Antichrist" screaming
as a result of this story, I’ll eat my (black) hat.
by wangalusa on Nov 3, 2009 4:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
see? no harm done
Current Phinsider Feud Points: 23
Sparano: Joey Porter, What is best in life?
Porter: To crush The Jets, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of Mark Sanchez
by Patssuck456 on Nov 3, 2009 11:08 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
That's why Ealey straps it on Saturdays
and wll the whiners on these blogs are sitting in the stands drunk on bourbon (including myself, of course).
by skigator93 on Nov 3, 2009 4:38 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Yes!
Finally, someone gets it right and says it to the world. Good to see Gators out in force here, too. The haters have really grabbed ahold of this one and are all over our sites, howling. The team has hunkered down, all the stronger for this, another full on public attack—and so should we follow suit. No more reasoned explanations. We are Gators in the Swamp, waiting for prey.
by texgator on Nov 3, 2009 7:32 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Lets play Ealey says.
He told the media today that Brandon Spikes should not have been suspended. So how does this effect all of the hoopla that has been built up about this? and more importantly… When are we going to go wring Mike Golic’s neck for all the shit he said? im down for it.
by gatorempire127 on Nov 3, 2009 8:20 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Good luck getting your hands around his fat neck
plus he is a Jet, not teh smartest breed out there
Current Phinsider Feud Points: 23
Sparano: Joey Porter, What is best in life?
Porter: To crush The Jets, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of Mark Sanchez
by Patssuck456 on Nov 3, 2009 11:09 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
haha.
very true hes a fuckin chode.
by gatorempire127 on Nov 4, 2009 11:35 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
seriously?
ealey said what ever gator fan was thinking and not what every other half-wit out there thought? shocking! and the gator fans are the irrational?
ive read so many articles in the past couple days saying what urban did wasnt enough, but what if he did suspend him for the whole vandy game? does anyone think for a minute there wouldnt be just as many articles screaming he should never play football again? i dont. chances are that the vandy game gets out of reach before the second half, which calls into question whether spikes sits out the entire game anyways. this is all ridiculous. and i love how all of a sudden pat forde and his cronies think that not even touching the eyes of a RB at the bottom of the pile is somehow worse than the cheap shot tebow actually received. or the other punches thrown throughout the week. ealey is smart football player, and i bet most rbs close their eyes at the bottom of a pile like that which means there was almost no possible way spikes was ever going to cause “serious and permanent” injury to him. this is all so ridiculous.
Buffalo, that's where it's at baby. - Adam 'Pacman' Jones
by silverstreak3k on Nov 4, 2009 12:10 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Too bad the mob has already spoken.
by falcontom on Nov 4, 2009 12:24 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I kind of like Ealey now
It would have been easy for him to just keep silent or to take a pot shot at Spikes and/or the Gators, but the kid took the high road. He talked some smack during the game, but he backed it up and there’s nothing wrong with a little gameday chatter. He’s okay by me.
BTW, I watched the first 3 quarters again last night – it all started on UGA’s 3rd play from scrimmage. There was a procedure call against UGA and Spikes chucked Ealey who was carrying on the play as it was blown dead and Ealey took exception to that. There was a little shoving and jawing, and then the cheap shots started soon thereafter. The procedure was against Orson Charles…so indirectly, it was all his fault! First he breaks our trophy and now starts a chain of events that suspends our senior captain for a half game! Orson-schleprock.
by skigator93 on Nov 4, 2009 9:52 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Don't be surprised
Ealey taking the high road shouldn’t surprise you. The Bulldogs are class acts due to their coach. Remember the touchdown celebration? Remember how Richt apologized to UF, its fans and the SEC?
The eye gouging wasn’t the issue here so much as Florida’s fans trying desperately to defend it. THAT was the issue…..not the rough play in football.
by gordon7 on Nov 4, 2009 11:57 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Ealey manned up and put this is perspective (unlike his team's fans)
Let’s not get out of hand and extend his actions as a reflection of the entire Bulldog team. There were plenty of cheap shot artists wearing red and black on Saturday, and you don’t become the most penalized team in football by being a class act. In order to rack up that kind of yardage, you need a slew of personal fouls, not just procedure penalties.
by skigator93 on Nov 4, 2009 12:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
again i think you like most missed the point
no one tried to “explain it away.” gator fans merely tried to show other people that it wasnt the worst thing to happen in college football. it wasnt that we wanted to give spikes a clean slate on the matter, but rather put it into the correct perspective. and i dont believe you that most think the issue was defending spikes, not after all the irrational and awesome comments ive seen over the past few days. people wanted the gators to screw up, and they would take anything that happened and blow it out of proportion as fast and as much as they could, thus we have had this discussion all over the internet.
Buffalo, that's where it's at baby. - Adam 'Pacman' Jones
by silverstreak3k on Nov 4, 2009 4:26 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
its pretty much human instinct to close your eyes in that situation. If i saw a guys hand even near my helmet my eyes would pretty much close automatically its just how the body protects them. Im syrprised none of us thought of this argument sooner than this we wouldve owned haha
by gatorempire127 on Nov 4, 2009 11:37 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
haters
i love how everyone makes out spikes poking the guy in the eyes as the dirtiest play in history, but they act like the late blind side hit on tebow in the game is childs play, like the fact that Tebow is the QB makes him legal to hit late on the blind side(which can hurt the guy as much as getting eyes poked). It just proves to all the haters that Tebow doesn’t decide everything to all the haters that said if Curren of UGA gouged tebows eyes hed be banned from football, right since tebow gets blind sided late and its all good, no penalty or anything. Im going to love to see their faves when UF puts 50 on vandy in the first half.
by bengatorfan on Nov 4, 2009 11:39 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
the first?
Surely in 4 years pf playing football this wasn’t the first time Tebow was hit, was it? This wasn’t even a very hard hit. It is really rather silly to even bring it up and is done so only to try to divert attention from Spikes. Kind of desperate and…..well, stupid.
by gordon7 on Nov 4, 2009 12:00 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
oh yee?
it doesnt need to be a hard hit to injure someone, hell you dont even have to get hit to get injured. So many things can happen during late hits its a joke. The thing thats wrong is that the person does not expect it and if you are not expecting an impact there is more chance for injury cuz your body isn’t ready for it. Thats why late hits are a dirty play not as dirty as poking an eye intentioally for sure but its still dirty. There are alot of factors that could make a late hit a potentionally dangerous play. Didnt you see the hits on Don Mcnabb and Matt Hasselbeck? They just dove and hit their back when they were already down on the ground, voila Broken Ribs out for 3 weeks each.
by gatorempire127 on Nov 4, 2009 12:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
eyes closed
I played high school football at defensive end for all four years, and every time i was at the bottom of the pile i shut my eyes, whether i made a tackle recovered a fumble was in the pile fighting for a fumble everything, people go for eyes like they are fried chicken wings in piles, if it will make you let go of the ball in a fumble or not hit the hole so hard on the next play, in fact in the pile you better of brought your knees up to people would go after the nuts also, so to think that spikes is the biggest thug in football now is absurd.
by bengatorfan on Nov 4, 2009 11:44 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
eyes closed?
Often the Gator receivers close their eyes before trying to make a catch – or it least it appears that way. I also tend to think that the SEC officials close their eyes on several plays per game, and Uncle Verne Lundquist appears to call entire football games with his eyes firmly shut.
by skigator93 on Nov 4, 2009 12:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
very true.
I was pleased on Saturday, however, to see that Steve Addazio appears to have stopped calling plays with his eyes closed.
by wangalusa on Nov 4, 2009 12:35 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Get Burned Steve
hahaha i think Steve shouldve asked Dan Mullen how the offense actually works before he left instead of just winging it like he did the 1st half of the season.
by gatorempire127 on Nov 4, 2009 1:34 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I think
Adazzio stopped by Mullen’s office after the game in Starkville to pick up the instructions manuel.
by skigator93 on Nov 4, 2009 2:36 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
So, just out of curiousity
What do ya’ll think the punishment should be for Urban Meyer on calling out the officials on the late hit on Tebow?
Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!
by bobo_the_vol on Nov 4, 2009 5:02 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
so you skip the late hit
and go straight to punishing meyer…….nice
Buffalo, that's where it's at baby. - Adam 'Pacman' Jones
by silverstreak3k on Nov 4, 2009 5:09 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
And you miss the point
The late hit should have been called. However, it’s been made pretty clear recently that no coach should have any public criticism of the officials. What Meyer said about the late hit was public criticism of the officials, wasn’t it?
Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!
by bobo_the_vol on Nov 4, 2009 5:12 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
To bring the quote here, from ESPN
“That should have been a penalty, in my opinion,” Meyer said. “Obviously, it should have been. You’ve got to protect quarterbacks. That’s the whole purpose. It’s right in front of the referee. I’m not sure how they’re going to handle that, but … that was one of the plays we did send in.”
Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!
by bobo_the_vol on Nov 4, 2009 5:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Meh.
Doesn’t rise to the level of Kiffin’s comments about a referee consipiracy or mocking Slive’s previous actions, or Mullen’s demands that the referee be disciplined, or Petrino’s jab about home cooking.
That said, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get disciplined in some fashion.
by wangalusa on Nov 4, 2009 5:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
what he said.
i think saying you thought there should have been a penalty on that play and attacking the refs as part of some conspiracy or saying they are terrible refs are a little bit different. but with all this spikes fiasco going on, slive will probably do something to meyer. also i am starting the outrage to have williams banned from football again for intentionally trying to give tebow another concussion!
Buffalo, that's where it's at baby. - Adam 'Pacman' Jones
by silverstreak3k on Nov 4, 2009 6:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Well,
Not to defend the action, but from what I saw of the late hit (I’m not looking at it right now) I recall him hitting the shoulders, not the head. But meh, that’s cutting straws. It certainly was a late hit.
I guess what I meant to ask was this: do you think that a fine (I highly doubt a suspension would happen with the statement - and it’s not warranted if it is decided on -) or something like that will happen. To be honest, I expect
- Nothing or
- A letter.
Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!
by bobo_the_vol on Nov 4, 2009 6:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Ignore the strike-out
Forgot that I can’t use double hyphens for em-dashes in comments.
Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!
by bobo_the_vol on Nov 4, 2009 6:21 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
maybe he'll be suspended for the Vandy game
then you and every other rival homer can’t ##### and moan that it was a bull#### meaningless suspension.
by falcontom on Nov 4, 2009 6:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
i believe
it should be nothing
but will probably be a letter
if hes suspended, i will lose faith in all that is the SEC
Buffalo, that's where it's at baby. - Adam 'Pacman' Jones
by silverstreak3k on Nov 4, 2009 7:47 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I believe
It should always be nothing; public criticism is what keeps people honest. But as big a deal as the media is making out of the comments, now, I expect a fine.
Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!
by bobo_the_vol on Nov 5, 2009 9:53 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
My money's on a letter and a fine.
But honestly, the SEC office is such a bunch of buffoons that they’re impossible to predict.
by wangalusa on Nov 4, 2009 10:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
ain’t that the truth.
Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!
by bobo_the_vol on Nov 5, 2009 9:53 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
well spikes has taken himself out for the entire vandy game
i wonder if this will change anyones opinion on the matter. probably not.
Buffalo, that's where it's at baby. - Adam 'Pacman' Jones
by silverstreak3k on Nov 4, 2009 8:09 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I think
we should just tell the media to eff off and stop being such little drama queens. And tell the SEC front office to up their shi* cuz theyre pretty pathetic this year.
by gatorempire127 on Nov 5, 2009 12:03 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
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