Mr2Bits
Gator Fan
Three days after the season opener........
As I see it, Mick Jagger might as well jump on the Gator bandwagon right now. Based on the general consensus of what I'm seeing on various websites around cyberspace, he could very well be the fanbase's spokesperson by merely singing "I can't get no satisfaction." Rant after rant after rant, that's all I seem to be reading lately.
As much as I'm no fan of the sports media, especially the <em>Orlando Sentinel's</em> controversial columnist (and UF alum) Mike Bianchi, he pretty much told it like it is today and held back no punches in his article criticizing the Gator fanbase as one of the most spoiled in the nation; even though I get the impression that his particular point of view depends on whatever general direction the wind may be blowing on any given day I must give credit where credit is due and say that he hit the nail on the head in his article today. As I've said before in reply to posts in our forums, some Gator fans will never be pleased with anything, no matter what this team may accomplish. Even though he closes with the lines "Then again, it doesn’t really matter – not unless the Gators go undefeated and win a national title" and "Then, and only then, will the most spoiled fan base in the nation be truly happy", a certain faction of fans will still find something to take an issue with. It's not recently that a certain percentage of the Gator fanbase has voiced its dissatisfaction with some aspect of a game or games in one season; in spite of the fact that we won the National Championship in 2006 and 2008, fans were still whining.
This team is capable of a much better performance then what we saw this past Saturday - I agree with the majority here - but to seek the coaches out as scapegoats over the poor execution, inexperienced players seeing their first minutes on the field at the college level and the number of mistakes made isn't fair. Only one game has passed so far, yet look at the vitriol being slung towards the Gator coaching staff, especially offensive coordinator Steve Addazio - now there's even a website demanding his immediate ouster, which in my opinion is preposterous. Whoever thinks it's justified to fire a coach after his offense wound up third in the nation in scoring the past season, held a prized recruiting class together after our head coach took a brief hiatus to address critical health issues and fought off all the negative rumors and false innuendo that ensued as a result of that needs to seriously check his facts before he goes attacking him as well as re-think his priorities.
Kudos also to the <em>Gainesville Sun's</em> Pat Dooley in his sticking up for Coach Addazio as well; he also gave a justified reason for doing so, as well as pointed out other teams who fared about the same, or even worse, than Florida did this past weekend. Still, the griping and whining about the playcalling on Saturday continues. Let's face it, if Urban Meyer and his assistants didn't know what the hell they were doing or had no concept of what gameday strategy entails, I guarantee you that we would have had the living daylights beaten out of us by Miami of Ohio. Wise coaches have alternate methods to make things work and manage to find ways to win games when faced with adverse situations, and in spite of the injuries/player suspensions/etcetera, Florida found a pathway to chalk up a win on Saturday, as unimpressive as it may have been. Still, many fans can't simply appreciate this fact and continue to complain. Yes Mikey, you called it right today.
Rest assured that the various issues and problems are being addressed and rectified this week in practice, everybody. If history repeats itself, Urban Meyer's Gator teams seem to rise like the Phoenix out of the ashes and rebound from a sub-par showing in the recent past. As I had said in my last article, these kids need to be cut a little slack right now - and I'm not talking about just one more week. If this team can't live up to the lofty expectations of some, then they'd probably be better served by jumping off the bandwagon. Slowly but surely, this team will improve with time and experience.
Chill out, gang. It's a brand new week.
As I see it, Mick Jagger might as well jump on the Gator bandwagon right now. Based on the general consensus of what I'm seeing on various websites around cyberspace, he could very well be the fanbase's spokesperson by merely singing "I can't get no satisfaction." Rant after rant after rant, that's all I seem to be reading lately.
As much as I'm no fan of the sports media, especially the <em>Orlando Sentinel's</em> controversial columnist (and UF alum) Mike Bianchi, he pretty much told it like it is today and held back no punches in his article criticizing the Gator fanbase as one of the most spoiled in the nation; even though I get the impression that his particular point of view depends on whatever general direction the wind may be blowing on any given day I must give credit where credit is due and say that he hit the nail on the head in his article today. As I've said before in reply to posts in our forums, some Gator fans will never be pleased with anything, no matter what this team may accomplish. Even though he closes with the lines "Then again, it doesn’t really matter – not unless the Gators go undefeated and win a national title" and "Then, and only then, will the most spoiled fan base in the nation be truly happy", a certain faction of fans will still find something to take an issue with. It's not recently that a certain percentage of the Gator fanbase has voiced its dissatisfaction with some aspect of a game or games in one season; in spite of the fact that we won the National Championship in 2006 and 2008, fans were still whining.
This team is capable of a much better performance then what we saw this past Saturday - I agree with the majority here - but to seek the coaches out as scapegoats over the poor execution, inexperienced players seeing their first minutes on the field at the college level and the number of mistakes made isn't fair. Only one game has passed so far, yet look at the vitriol being slung towards the Gator coaching staff, especially offensive coordinator Steve Addazio - now there's even a website demanding his immediate ouster, which in my opinion is preposterous. Whoever thinks it's justified to fire a coach after his offense wound up third in the nation in scoring the past season, held a prized recruiting class together after our head coach took a brief hiatus to address critical health issues and fought off all the negative rumors and false innuendo that ensued as a result of that needs to seriously check his facts before he goes attacking him as well as re-think his priorities.
Kudos also to the <em>Gainesville Sun's</em> Pat Dooley in his sticking up for Coach Addazio as well; he also gave a justified reason for doing so, as well as pointed out other teams who fared about the same, or even worse, than Florida did this past weekend. Still, the griping and whining about the playcalling on Saturday continues. Let's face it, if Urban Meyer and his assistants didn't know what the hell they were doing or had no concept of what gameday strategy entails, I guarantee you that we would have had the living daylights beaten out of us by Miami of Ohio. Wise coaches have alternate methods to make things work and manage to find ways to win games when faced with adverse situations, and in spite of the injuries/player suspensions/etcetera, Florida found a pathway to chalk up a win on Saturday, as unimpressive as it may have been. Still, many fans can't simply appreciate this fact and continue to complain. Yes Mikey, you called it right today.
Rest assured that the various issues and problems are being addressed and rectified this week in practice, everybody. If history repeats itself, Urban Meyer's Gator teams seem to rise like the Phoenix out of the ashes and rebound from a sub-par showing in the recent past. As I had said in my last article, these kids need to be cut a little slack right now - and I'm not talking about just one more week. If this team can't live up to the lofty expectations of some, then they'd probably be better served by jumping off the bandwagon. Slowly but surely, this team will improve with time and experience.
Chill out, gang. It's a brand new week.
