Category: Sports

A lot of us around here have more than a passing, pun intended, interest in what happens in Gainesville during football season. Two recent occurrences were especially noteworthy.

First, Steve Spurrier, the ol’ ball coach who stands second to none in putting UF on the national map, is no longer coaching. He recently “resigned” as head coach at South Carolina.

But leaving a spiraling (2-4) program and its players at mid-season is not “resigning.” It’s quitting. He’s better than that. He had the opportunity last season to bow out a winner (7-6) after that Independence Bowl win over Miami. But he couldn’t leave center stage, even as the program was sliding. Timing is everything–even if you’re a 70-year-old icon.

Second, is the PED episode with starting quarterback Will Grier. Unfortunate. Not smart. He let a lot of folks down. But there’s also this: He didn’t pull a gun on anybody. He didn’t fire a Glock into a residence hall. He didn’t beat up a pregnant girlfriend. He didn’t steal anything. He was never charged with a crime. By all accounts, he’s not a punk or a thug–but an actual “student-athlete.” Unfortunate.

* The latest subplot in negotiations between the Buccaneers and the Tampa Sports Authority is over allowing the Bucs to play an additional home game in another city. Nobody outside One Buc Place thinks this is a good idea. Not even close. Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan, who also sits on the TSA board, summed it up succinctly.  “I love the Bucs, but it’s night and day negotiating with them as opposed to dealing with the Lightning.”

* Amid all the Rays’ stadium scenarios and accompanying politics, there is a stark reality that a minor league city council can’t find enough agreement–hell, unanimity–on. Any search in this hybrid, asymmetrical, mess-transit market must begin with the premise that the Tropicana Field site can not be in the running.

It’s geographically challenged–too far from the region’s business hub–with only 600,000 people living within a 30-minute drive. That’s the fewest among all MLB franchises. Moreover, those 85 acres at Tropicana Field should be marketed as a stadium-free, multi-use, commercial-residential development that will serve as a key anchor in downtown redevelopment. And time is no ally.

* No matter how focused he is on the season at hand, Steven Stamkos’ elephant-in-the-locker-room status as would-be free agent will become a distraction. Inevitably. The face of the franchise matters too much for that not to happen. For Stamkos, who is as classy as he is talented, to not re-up already with a team and market that he loves, is not a good sign.

And one more scenario to ponder. The Lightning, if unable to resign him because of salary-cap implications for the team, would at least want to get something in return. Recall the Lightning got the better of the deal when Marty St. Louis orchestrated his trade to the New York Rangers. The Bolts picked up Ryan Callahan and a number one draft pick. St. Louis is now retired.

The Lightning doesn’t want Stamkos to leave, let alone after the season when they would get nothing in return except payroll flexibility.

* One of the benefits of being an alum of more than one university is having multiple teams to root for on football Saturdays. In my case, one of them is still undefeated. Alas, it’s the one, Temple University, that would not be might first two choices: Penn State and USF. But go, Owls–except when you come in to play the Bulls next month.

* So USF, desperate for wins during the Willie Taggart spiral, knocks off Syracuse 45-24. What a morale-boosting relief after three straight losses. Two days later the big, possibly season-saving, Homecoming win is overshadowed by headlines chronicling the arrest of the USF player who fired a Glock .45 at the USF dormitory where he lived. Nobody was injured–but what a buzz kill.

* Japanese organizers of the Tokyo Olympics have recommended additional sports for the 2020 Games. They want to bring back baseball/softball, which was expected, but also add surfing, skateboarding, karate and sports climbing. Among those in the running, but not making the final cut: bowling and washu (a form of Chinese martial arts).

We know there’s sentiment for diversity and inclusiveness in an ever-evolving, international culture of sports and games. But having said that, bowling made it to the final cut? That means it likely will be back for further consideration before future Olympics.

Which begs the question: Where, if anywhere, do we draw the line? Shuffleboard? Darts? Twister? Cornhole?

* The Rays’ season: Not bad. A rookie manager, blindsided by a devastating rash of injuries to his starting pitching, winds up with a better record than last year’s team. And last year’s Rays weren’t decimated by injuries and were managed by the incomparable Joe Maddon. And, among other things, the Rays took the season’s series from Toronto, arguably MLB’s best team.

* As expected, much attention has been riveted on the contract status of Steven Stamkos, the superstar face of the  Lightning franchise. Unfettered free agency, the lure of ever bigger bucks and maybe his hometown-area Toronto Maple Leafs are all factors. There is also this: precedent for popular, former Bolts’ captains finishing their careers elsewhere. In fact, the last two: Vinny Lecavalier to Philadelphia and Marty St. Louis to New York. Two big differences: Stamkos is better–and very much in his mid-20s prime.

* I like football and I live here, so I will follow the Bucs. But there are two reasons not to get too caught up. One, the team, of  course, is still a loser and a source of frustration to watch. But no less problematic are the byplay optics–often incidental to the score and outcome–that are now institutionalized in the NFL product. Call it the look-at-me-culture of the game that the money-infused networks promote like The Rapture.

Too often the line of football and athleticism is crossed–no, obliterated–by preening player antics. These players have been lionized since high school, and it looks it.

Network cameras persist in going after reaction shots following every play. And sure enough, there’s no lack of swaggering gestures, some of which are more poor taste than juvenile, taking place. Enough sponsors and fans must like the lounge-act touch or else the networks–who pay obscene dollars for TV rights–wouldn’t highlight it. But it’s part of the “show.”

* Imagine, a conference opener, prime-time Friday night, a ranked, undefeated opponent–and the USF-Memphis game drew less than 15,000 fans to RayJay. USF, which can only play FAMU once a season, is now 1-3 after the Memphis loss. It is also 7-21 under head coach Willie Taggart, now in his third season.

No, it’s not getting better. That 2013, Taggart-debut loss at home to MCNEESE STATE, however shocking and embarrassing, was even more foreboding than we had realized.

* Note to celebrating fans–and that includes Florida Gators as The Swamp: After a big win, such as over Ole Miss, don’t shout “overrated” about the vanquished foe. That diminishes the big win.

* The University of Louisville is reeling over allegations that basketball recruits–and their fathers–were treated to dorm parties that featured strippers and hookers. The UL administration and head coach Rick Pitino are reportedly shocked, and Pitino was even moved to try to conduct his own investigation before being rebuffed by the school’s compliance office. Ironically, this is the same head coach who admitted to restaurant sex with a trade-show model a few years ago. The one that resulted in a high-profile, extortion attempt. The one that would get you fired unless you win a lot of games in the hoops-crazed state of Kentucky.

It was well noted around here recently when Forbes magazine revealed that the Bucs are now valued at $1.51 billion–or 24th among the NFL 32 franchises. For the record, the Dallas Cowboys are first and the New England Patriots second with valuations of $4 billion and $3.2 billion, respectively. Also worth noting, the Glazer family bought the Bucs (in 1995) for $192 million.

Among other things, these imposing numbers are a reminder of what a free enterprise anomaly the NFL (No Financial Losses) is. Imagine, getting someone else (college football programs) to train your employees, someone else (taxpayers) to help build your workplace facility, someone else (local media) to provide continuous, free publicity and someone else (TV networks) to subsidize your business even if you put out an inferior product.

Don’t think this is what Bernie Sanders had in mind.

* The death of Yogi Berra was well chronicled. The Hall of Fame Yankee catcher was that good, that colorful and that popular. Among the chronicles was an AP photo from 1950 that ran in the Tampa Bay Times. It showed Berra tagging out a sliding Granny Hamner of the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1950 World Series.

It transported me.

I grew up in Philly–a row house neighborhood, not the suburbs–and one of our neighbors was the very same Granny Hamner. (He was from Richmond, Va., where they had names like “Granville.”) It was cool, but we took it for granted that the Phillies starting shortstop lived on Magee Street, one block over from the 3100 block of Gilham Street, where the O’Neills lived in the Mayfair section of Northeast Philadelphia.

The O’Neill patriarch was a World War II vet and city bus driver. The head of the Hamner house was a vet and professional baseball player–and a good one. He made the All Star team one season. The year of the World Series, he hit .275, drove in 87 runs and had 17 home runs. I have the baseball card with the stats. What the Rays wouldn’t do for a good-fielding shortstop with those numbers.

But that was then–and this is not.

No longer will you see professional athletes, let alone prominent ones, living in middle-class neighborhoods. For openers, they make too much money–the MLB minimum ($507,500) is more than President Barack Obama makes ($400,000). So they live in gated communities, high rises and waterfront mansions. And too many people in a sports-crazed, vicarious-life culture want access to their celebrities.

Joe Maddon biking along Bayshore Boulevard is about as close as it gets to being in the hood.

*Jonathan Papelbon, the Washington Nationals closer, may be MLB’s biggest punk. However, he went well beyond dismissive arrogance when he recently attacked and applied a choke hold to his teammate–and Nationals’ superstar–Bryce Harper in the dugout. He was suspended for the remainder of the season.

Wherever he’s been, he’s had attitude issues. Just a theory: Maybe it’s a lifelong overreaction to being named “Jonathan Papelbon.” No wonder he was never offered a Grey Poupon commercial.

* No major surprise that opening-week NFL rosters showed that there are more players (204) from Florida than any other state. Moreover, 15 of them were graduates of St. Thomas Aquinas High in Fort Lauderdale. No other high school is even close.

* Shout outs to Phillip Ely and Matt Jones, two local high school products, for some early season NCAA and NFL success. Ely, from Plant High, has now quarterbacked the undefeated University of Toledo Rockets in consecutive upset wins over the SEC’s Arkansas and the Big 12’s Iowa State. Jones, a running back from Armwood High (and the University of Florida), ran for 123 yards and two touchdowns in the Washington Redskins win over the St. Louis Rams.

* Granted, Jameis Winston’s Buccaneer debut was a bummer. But his next outing, in the Bucs road win over New Orleans, was solid. Some context: After two rookie starts, Winston’s overall QB rating actually surpasses that of John Elway, Troy Aikman, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Matt Ryan and Andrew Luck. But, yes, it’s early–in the season and in the career.

* Nice gesture on the part of the Rays to bring back Carlos Pena to sign an honorary contract and accommodate his request to officially retire as a Ray. Here’s hoping one of the most popular, likeable and important players in Rays’ history–including the 2008 transition to competitive franchise–also finds a marketing/outreach niche with the Rays.

Imagine, a big, enthusiastic, RayJay crowd. An intriguing–as well as underdog–opponent. A 4:30 Sunday national telecast. A unique mano a mano marquee matchup between the uber-hyped Heisman tandem of Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota, this year’s top two draft picks.

And then, alas, an outcome that could not have gone worse for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their critical, franchise-reset-button season-opener at home. Home fans, the ones who didn’t leave early, booing the home team: How’s that for ominous ambience? And how’s that for the credibility of head coach Lovie Smith and general manager Jason Licht? And how’s that for having the most “NFL-ready” quarterback in the 2015 draft?

Among the beyond-sobering thoughts: Could it simply be that the superior athlete and the nicer guy is also the better pro quarterback? Ouch.

If you prefer honesty in your marketing after a 42-14 loss to the previously down-trodden Tennessee Titans, it would be “Siege the Public Relations Spin” or if you like carpe diem riffs, “Seize the Daze.”

I remember it as if it were last weekend–not a Saturday night in the autumn of 2007.

Along with two other couples, we were pumped and proud and reveling with a cause. We were among the 67,000 fans who had just witnessed USF’s 21-13 win over 5th-ranked West Virginia at Raymond James Stadium.

So this is what it’s like, we collectively thought. ESPN prime time. RayJay rocking. Another spike in the national rankings for the hard-charging Bulls.

It was easy to forget that college football in a pro town is always a challenge. As well as an excuse. But being good, we were graphically reminded, renders all of that moot–as 67,000 would attest. So would WVU, obviously not familiar with being USF cannon fodder.

We remained in our upper deck seats for a while just to savor the outcome and watch celebrating students vault onto the field in defiance of the public address announcer’s admonitions. The spirited descent on the down ramps was full of feel-good atmospherics.

It was a scene for the USF football ages.

But this euphoric outcome was more the exception than the rule. The USF football saga, now in its 19th season, has also included a new-stadium-of-its-own wish list that periodically surfaces when attendance dips or drops into the dumpster on Dale Mabry.

Last season, USF attendance was less than 20,000 a game. In 2007, it was 45,000. For last Saturday’s non-televised home-opening rout of FAMU, USF drew 30,000. It’s been a while since more than half of RayJay weren’t empty seats when the Bulls were playing.

USF could arguably do better with an on-campus or near-campus facility–especially with nearly 20 percent of its 32,000 undergraduates now USF residents. It’s not the commuter, “Drive-Thru U” it used to be.

“Whenever a football stadium is located on campus or adjacent to campus, the attendance is much more stable and consistent,” points out Hillsborough County Commissioner Victor Crist, a USF alum. “It helps build on student life and, after school, alumni life.”

And in the best of all possible worlds, it would be preferable: uber convenient, Bulls-only home turf that doesn’t connote another tenant’s siege identity.

But there is this. There are better uses for “innovation district” real estate and limited capital, especially when you are privy to a Tampa facility that is good enough for multiple Super Bowls and good enough for the 2017 college football championship game. Plus, $25 million in RayJay upgrades are coming soon for what is already one of the premier stadiums in the country.

Frankly, there are better ways to gin up attendance–notably by winning.

USF was undefeated going into that West Virginia game in ’07, with a lot of buzz having been built from a road win earlier at Auburn. The last four years the Bulls have gone 4-8, 2-10, 3-9 and 5-7. Fans are now nostalgic for the Meineke Car Care and PoppaJohns.com bowl games that USF used to “settle” for.

The bottom line: recruiting, winning, turnstile counting.

County Commissioner Ken Hagan recently put it into the context that makes the most sense. “When you’ve got one of the worst Division I programs in the country and your attendance is falling by 25,000,” said Hagan, “your priority should be to improve those before you start seriously discussing a stadium.”

Imagine, the Southeastern Conference has a record 10 teams ranked in the first AP poll of the season. And not one of them is Florida.

* You heard it here first. Should Jameis Winston eventually prove to be as good–or even better– than the Bucs are hoping, especially on home turf, look for some scribes and headline writers to refer to Raymond Jameis Stadium. You know it’s coming–if the offensive line ever gives him half a chance.

* Like most baseball fans, I find myself on the side of “getting it right” when it comes to instant replay. It’s worth the extra delay to make the right call. We also know there are rules and de facto loopholes so that an already pedestrian-paced game doesn’t get out of hand.

Having said that, how maddening was that last Friday to see the Rays drop a one-run game to Kansas City and have a run eliminated because of a bad call? The Rays were out of “challenges” at that point in the game and a verifiably (replay-confirmed) bad call stood and likely cost the Rays a game they could ill afford to lose. Call it the “getting it wrong” compromise.

* How tragic that someone lost their life the other day in Atlanta by falling from the upper deck at Turner Field. What’s shocking as well is that such ballpark deaths from falls are not that rare. There have been three such fatal falls at Turner since 2008. Overall, there have been 24 throughout Major League Baseball since 1969. Taller railings, MLB?