What inspired this latest TOTT offering was some random lurking around; usually before I begin a topic I have some handwritten notes taken down but after reading Pat Dooley’s latest Gainesville Sun article today I was also moved to write this entry.

Now that all this banter about college football conference realignment has simmered down for the time being, we can all relax a bit. That, and as Mr. Dooley also noted, we aren’t being forced to deal with all that insipid Meyer-to-Notre Dame nonsense anymore from the rumor-mongers (funny thing, I’ve noticed that the Birmingham Blowhard, a/k/a Paul Finebaum, has been unusually quiet lately – perhaps that huge piece of humble pie he was forced to eat after Brian Kelly was hired at the Golden Dome to replace Charlie Weis was a little too overwhelming?) and, aside from Frankie Hammond’s recent act of stupidity things have been rather quiet around Gator football for once during this off-season. Aside from that one distraction, some more quiet time off can only do Coach Meyer good before the start of fall practice – that, and still finding quality time to spend with his family.

Speaking of Coach Meyer, I’m with the consensus that he raised the bar at Utah and helped pave the way for the Utes to hit the big-time in college football in making that giant step to a major conference (Pac-10). They’ve proved that they can win against some of the heavy-hitters, have two BCS bowl wins to their credit, and now with the move to a BCS conference their recruiting should vastly improve. Not to mention that Urban Meyer’s coaching tree has a success story to-date with Kyle Whittingham having done a good job so far in taking over the Utes’ program after Urban left to come to Gainesville.

So how am I spending the time during this “intermission”? Well, for one thing there’s Wimbledon going on right now – and once again history was made with one of the longest matches on record having had to stretch to a second day to complete; congrats to John Isner of the USA for having finally won that one over Frenchman Nicolas Mahut. I still remember watching last year’s men’s final with Roger Federer and Andy Roddick that stretched out in the final set for a tie-breaker, with Federer having won and breaking a record for Grand Slam wins. Will be interesting to see how this year’s tournament winds up, but since I got burned on guessing who would win the French Open I’m not making any predictions on this one. I’m not an aficionado of soccer, but I am following Team USA’s progress in the World Cup; we were hosed out of what should have been a winning goal against Slovenia but came through against Algeria to stay alive in the tournament. Next up for the Americans is a match against Ghana.

Glad to see Tim Tebow is still progressing well with the Denver Broncos and is getting some positive reviews so far; seems that his new teammates think highly of him and are impressed with his eagerness to learn as well as his strong work ethic. I couldn’t be happier for Timmy; the more he can prove naysayers like ESPN’s Todd McShay and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wrong the better for him.

Anyway, enjoy this latest installment of “Talk of the Town”. July arrives next week, but September 4’s coming!

Game Notes from GaztorZone.com
- Florida State posted its first win over Florida at the NCAA College World Series after suffering three defeats.
- The Gators dropped four of five meetings to the Seminoles this season, with each contest held in a different city.
- FSU has ended UF’s season twice in the past three years (2008 NCAA Tallahassee Regional; 2010 NCAA College World Series).
- It was just the third time this season that the Gators lost consecutive games (March 26 & 27 at Ole Miss; May 22 & May 26 at South Carolina and versus LSU in the SEC Tournament, respectively).
- Freshman Hudson Randall’s six-game winning streak spanning his last 10 starts came to an end. His last defeat was on April 4 against Vanderbilt.
- Freshman Brian Johnson made his second relief appearance of the year, both against Florida State.

I just want to congratulate the Gator baseball team on a great season – this is their first CWS trip since 2005. They are a young team with a lot of talent. Don’t be surprised if we see them again in 2011.

Also to all you Nole fans — Florida State may have beating Florida in baseball (and lately they’ve been beating us in basketball too), but we still own them in football – what is it now… 6 in a row?

There is double elimination in Bracket Play and it’s a best of 3 series when you reach the National Championship. The Gators start the bracket off against UCLA. On paper, the Bruins appear to have the better team – they have a lower team ERA (2.97) and a higher team batting average than the Gators. It’s going to be a tough game. The Gators don’t need to win it to stay alive, but a win will definitely give them an easier road.

For complete game coverage you can tune into ESPN or check out the NCAA Bracket online.

For those pining for some Gator news in the offseason, there was no shortage of such this past weekend. First off, HUGE congrats to one of my favorite current Gators, Jeff Demps, for his 100-meter men’s outdoor track title as well as for his being part of the winning men’s 4×100 relay team (kudos to Chris Rainey as well for being a part of that same quartet). Kudos to Mariam Kevkhishvili for winning the women’s shot put title at the NCAA outdoor meet, and congrats to the entire Florida men’s track team for their second-place finish at the NCAA meet!

It’s great to see our Gator baseball team back at the College World Series after a five-year absence by taking the Super Regional series against the Hurricanes on our home field in Gainesville. A combination of a complete-game win by Alex “Johnny Pants” Panteliodis in Game 1, great defense out in the field, effective hitting and seven errors by Miami in Game 2 got us back to Omaha this coming weekend to face UCLA in the first round. Best of luck guys, and represent Gator Nation well!

A bit of unsettling news offset all of the above when redshirt sophomore WR Frankie Hammond was arrested early Sunday morning on charges of DUI and open bottle. Nothing short of an act of total stupidity on his part, but it also meant that Coach Meyer is, beginning this season, enforcing a stronger zero-tolerance policy toward player misconduct. As much as I don’t fancy the idea of the innocent suffering on account of the guilty the emphasis on team unity, adherence to team rules and teammates being asked to watch out for each other is being made clear; given the number of player arrests in the past few years being at an unacceptable level, this new policy is being implemented with the entire team sharing in the guilt of the transgressor as a deterrent to any further violation of the law or team policy. Sure, drinking adult beverages is a part of college life and won’t go away anytime soon on our campuses, but then again there’s no excuse for students who are legally considered adults under the law to not conduct themselves in a rational manner where the consumption of alcohol is concerned. Though some of our fanbase is already playing the “judge-jury-executioner” role in suggesting he be removed from the team, I honestly don’t see Hammond’s punishment being that drastic – but then again I don’t anticipate Urban being as lenient as he was with Carlos Dunlap, who was guilty of the same thing last season prior to the SECCG and wound up being suspended from that one game. I expect Coach Meyer to see how Hammond’s case will be adjudicated in the courts and review any mitigating circumstances that may exist before he makes a final decision on Hammond’s penalty.

For all the media hype and rumor-mongering taking place in the past few months about conference expansion, the number of teams changing alliances hasn’t been as drastic as was anticipated. Looks as though the Big 12 will remain intact for the time being, albeit minus two of their members (Colorado to the Pac-10; Nebraska to the Big Ten). Personally I think all this is a bit ridiculous, but the bottom line is that the Almighty Dollar is the driving force behind all these moves as opposed to trying to maintain the integrity of college football. Whether or not these moves will result in the Big Ten and Pac-10 implementing conference championship games, respectively, and eventually facilitating a playoff to replace the current BCS system remains to be seen, but if this re-alignment will ultimately compel a post-season playoff, then there’s one thing constructive to all this.

Counting down the days until the start of the season on September 4……….

From GatorZone.com

“It was a great team effort tonight,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We had a chance to get everyone in the ballgame, first and foremost. We swung the bats really well, got off to an early lead and had production all the way down the lineup. We had great pitching from (Brian) Johnson as the starter and got the chance to get (Tommy) Toledo and (Kevin) Chapman back out there. I’m awfully proud of them. We have our sights set on playing well into the summer. I feel really good about this team at this point, I think we’re clicking. We have a lot of work ahead of us this week, but we’re looking forward to the challenge next weekend.”

Next weekend’s game (likely against Miami) will be a best of three series. If the Gators win the Super Regional they will move on to the College World Series in Omaha.

I didn’t watch the game, but from what I read our pitching was off and there were a lot of questionable calls by the umps. So much so that head coach Tim Walton went out to argue several of the calls. Florida got run ruled for the first time in 3 years – it’s embarrassing, but at least they aren’t eliminated yet.

The Gators will face Missouri at noon (ET) on Saturday, June 5. The game will be broadcast on ESPN 2, www.espn3.com and WYGC-FM 105 The Game. If they win, they will play again at 7 p.m. (ET) on ESPN.

First off, HUGE congrats go out to our Gator baseball team for winning the regular season SEC title; here’s hoping they can make it back to Omaha for the CWS. Congrats to Jeff Demps on his stellar track season; can’t wait to see him back in action on the football field this fall! Also have high hopes for our women’s softball team as well (and oh BTW, congrats to Francesca Enea on her recent engagement!) and looking for a repeat trip for them to the women’s big show.

I am far from being an aficionado of “reality TV”, but based on what I’ve been seeing on Twitter it looks as though Gator alum and ESPN sports reporter Erin Andrews is still a contender on “Dancing with the Stars”. I wish her well; the more positive things she can do after going through that ordeal with the stalker are just what she needs. Should she wind up winning it’ll be the second time a Gator alum won; it was back a few years ago when Emmitt Smith happened to win the “title’.

Great to hear that Urban Meyer’s enjoying his off-season; taking much-needed time off to be with his family and to travel a bit outside of football shows he’s serious about improving his all-around health and well-being. Based on what I recently read in a Pat Dooley article (the link to which is also posted in our Gator Football forum) he’s currently in Italy scheduled to meet with Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican. Sounds like he’s feeling and looking great as well; I can’t wait to see him back on the sidelines this coming fall.

Prayers also going out to Ellen Tressel, wife of Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel, as she recovers from her recent heart surgery. Hope she gets well soon!

Besides keeping up with our new Gator rookies in the NFL and baseball/softball teams, another sport I keep up with while waiting for football season to start is pro tennis – and it so happens that the French Open gets underway this weekend. Seeing that Rafael Nadal’s back and recently defeated Roger Federer in a tourney, their rivalry could heat up again on the clay courts in Paris. Anyway, I’m hoping that either Federer or one of our rising American stars (I like Andy Roddick also) can take the men’s title and that Serena Williams, who’s the women’s top seed, takes the women’s title.

Well, time for a refill on my coffee. Enjoy the upcoming summer, fellow Gators!

“I’m very, very proud of our men’s team for winning its first conference outdoor title in 23 years,” Florida head coach Mike Holloway said. “It’s been a long journey and I’m really proud of the team for its determination and fight. The meet didn’t necessarily go as expected, but you have to be able to deal with adversity. Great teams are able to respond to adversity and we did that this weekend.”

Should the Gators advance to the NCAA Finals, they will be held June 9-12 in Eugene, Oregon.

One Gator that is noticably not on the course is Chris DiMarco – who is currently ranked 378 in the Official World Golf Rankings. The Players is only set up for like the top 132 players in the world, so that’s why Chris is not there. For a period in the early to mid 2000s DiMarco was one of the top golfers in the world. He placed 2nd in several Majors won several tournaments. Not sure what really happened to him the last year or so – maybe injuries?

Looking at the leaderboard right now, probably only Villegas and Brian Gay will make the cut and player through the weekend. It would be nice to see a Florida Gator win the TPC, but I’m not sure it will happen this year.

Hard to believe the Winter Olympics are already over; aside from the pre-opening ceremonies tragedy involving the luger from Georgia (Nodar Kumaritashvili) being killed on a training run, Vancouver deserves to be highly commended on a job well done. Based on the fact that the United States and Canada brought in the lion’s share of the total medals as well as staged impressive championship hockey games, albeit with Team USA settling for silver medals in both the men’s and women’s finals, they could very well be called “North America’s Games”.  Though Canada was on a mission to “own the podium” and came away with the most gold medals (14 total) the USA prevailed in the overall total medal count with a record and best-ever 37. We won’t see another Winter Games take place until 2014 when they’ll be in Sochi, Russia; I hope that the immature behavior of Russian athletes Evgeni Plushenko and Alex Ovechkin at these games aren’t a sign of things to come. If anything, the Russians should aim for a “coming-out party” on the same scale China did when they successfully hosted the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. All said, congrats to Team USA for a performance well beyond expectations – and a special congrats and Gator Chomp to former UF decathlete Steve Mesler for being part of the USA1 “Night Train” crew piloted by Steve Holcomb that won gold in the 4-man bobsled competition and ended an American drought in the event that went all the way back to 1948!!

Sounds like Tim Tebow’s making quite the impression at the NFL Scouting Combine going on right now up in Indianapolis; maybe now the critics will finally give credit where credit is due as far as his potential to succeed in the pros goes as well as get off Urban Meyer’s back about his supposedly “not having prepared him for the next level” (which IMO is an absurd statement as it is; Coach Meyer’s primary responsibility as Florida’s head coach is to have his team  as a whole -  not individual players – prepared for gameday, to win games and ultimately win championships.) Based on what I’ve read today, Joe Haden is attracting interest from the Cleveland Browns as well. Compared to recent years, Florida’s NFL draft class should be much stronger this year and we’ll likely see one or maybe two of our Gator alums off the boards in the first round.
(On a side note, it’s good to hear that Urban and Shelley Meyer were all right after being evacuated from where they were staying in Hawai’i during their recent vacation; it was a precaution taken due to fears of a possible tsunami hitting the islands following the recent earthquake in Chile. Can’t wait to see Urban back on the sidelines for the start of spring football coming up in two weeks!)

It’s been like a roller-coaster for Billy Ball lately; we achieved a “signature” win, for lack of a better word, over Bruce Pearl’s Tennessee Vol team but blew it in Athens against Georgia; the aftermath of which some Gator fans were calling for Dan Werner’s head due to a costly last-minute error he made. At first I didn’t think they had a chance of being invited to the Big Dance, but if they can beat Vandy and do well in the SEC tourney they still have a chance. If anything, Billy Donovan’s squad is composed of late-bloomers, especially with the likes of Vernon Macklin proving it was worth his transferring to UF from Georgetown, and they seem to be saving their best performances for when it really counts. An invite to the NCAA tourney this year instead of another consecutive NIT appearance will be an accomplishment in itself for this team.

Now that the Olympics have come and gone until the 2012 Summer Games in London, I can get back to just focusing on Gator sports….and how is YOUR week going so far?