I was sitting on the set at the anchor desk watching the Urban Meyer press conference from New Orleans when a lot of answers flooded into my head. Not necessarily the right answers, but answers nonetheless. I had read the Sports Illustrated article at the beginning of December that profiled the Florida coach in great […]
I got the text from Kevin: “Meyer quits UF.” I don’t jump up very often but in the middle of a “Rock Band” session with my kids, I dropped the drumsticks and jumped up with the phone already to my ear. “It’s true and all over the place,” Kevin said as he answered the phone. […]
With a rare Sunday off during the football season, I found myself watching, what else, football for most of the day. But it was a very different experience. I tuned in the NFL RedZone channel to see what all the fuss was about. Phil Taylor wrote about it in Sports Illustrated last week in the […]
Writing about Bobby Bowden is easy. Not writing about Bobby Bowden is the hard part. He’s one of the most quotable people in the history of sports. He’s genuine. He’ll tell you what he thinks. He’s not going to hide his feelings and he’s not going to tell you what he thinks you want to […]
A quick phone call as I was walking out the door started about an hour of frenzied investigation, clothes changes and u-turns. All for a car accident, all for a guy who hits a golf ball for a living. All for Tiger Woods. When I first heard that Tiger had been in a car accident […]
It’s an orchestrated effort outside of the Gators’ practice field every night. Practice usually ends around six o’clock with the players filing out and walking from the field to the stadium, along side the O’Connell Center. Maybe about a quarter mile walk. Along the first half of that quarter mile, there are numerous autograph and […]
Georgia looked cool in the black pants and black helmets. “I saw that in warm-ups,” Tim Tebow said after the game, “and I said, ‘who cares.’” The Bulldogs have tried to change their luck in a variety of ways, but it looks like the only thing that will work is the eligibility of Tebow to […]
I first heard of the Florida/Georgia game when covering the Gator Bowl. I asked a vendor in 1978, “Is this the only game played in this stadium?” “Oh no,” she replied, “Florida/Georgia.” Simple as that. She looked at me like I was crazy for not knowing about “Florida/Georgia.” Growing up in Baltimore and going to […]
I usually don’t write much personal stuff in this space but my Uncle Angelo died on Sunday and I just wanted to give you a sense of him and family in general. Barely five feet tall, my Uncle Angelo is 18-months older than my Dad and perhaps two brothers couldn’t have been more different. My […]
I’ve been around Bobby Bowden since 1978. I’ve seen him skinny and not-so-skinny. Happy and sad, after wins and losses. I’ve been with him after “Wide Right” (I and II) and “Wide Left.” Big wins, and big losses. “Echo of the whistle” and all the rest. He’s consistent, kind, thoughtful and honest. He’s everything you’d […]
There are certain invitations you don’t turn down. A chance to have lunch and spend a good part of the day with Arnold Palmer is one of those. Palmer’s Bay Hill golf course went through a major renovation this summer. As is customary, the Palmer Course Design Company invited some media from around the country […]
I couldn’t be happier that the Florida/Georgia game has been renewed through 2016. I really thought it might be going away after nearly 80 years in Jacksonville. The drumbeat from the Georgia fans and boosters was loud as they talked about moving the game. Where? There were several options. With big stadiums in both Athens […]
Right now, it’s bad. I’ve been around this team since their first day of practice in 1995 and it’s bad. Maybe worse than their first expansion team. As much as I liked what I saw last week, this week was a step backwards. As in back in time. They were listless and unfocused. They couldn’t […]
Sometimes in radio and TV things get crazy. You know, the best laid plans and all that. And sometimes, rarely, it all comes together. Yesterday on the radio show was one of those “all comes together” days. I had asked my friend, tennis legend Tony Trabert to come on the show to talk about the […]
Nearly flawless in the first round. Brilliant in the second. Solid in the third, Tiger Woods had a lead at the PGA at Hazeltine and just about everybody was handing him the Wannamaker Trophy for the 5th time. Except Y.E. Yang. The Korean was solid throughout the day and the chip in eagle at 14 […]
I’ve written about Bob Hayes’ nomination, rejection and subsequent selection to the Pro Football Hall of Fame a few times in this space. And as I’ve said, and written, many times, I always feel honored and privileged to be one of the selectors on the HOF committee. When I first joined the committee in 1994 […]
Who would have thought that Michael Vick might be playing football in 2009 in the NFL and Brett Favre might not? Both are sagas, albeit very different ones involving very talented players. Vick’s journey has been well documented. From the highest paid player in the NFL to the subject of a federal investigation for dog […]
In one day, the two guys who I was rooting for in the two events I love to watch both imploded. I’ve learned not to get to emotionally invested in what’s going on at a sporting event. I did that as a kid, and experienced both euphoria and despair following what my teams did. In […]
Any chance I have a chance to go fishing, I usually jump at it. After about a five-year hiatus, the Greater Jacksonville Kingfish Tournament resurrected the “media” fishing day leaving from Sister’s Creek Marina just off the St. Johns River. Luckily I drew my friend Randy Nader as the boat captain so with Matt Kingston […]
I don’t care if Lance Armstrong wins the Tour de France. Honest. I’m happy with what he’s already done and if he falls apart and doesn’t finish, (which won’t happen by the way) I won’t care. Armstrong’s performance, both on and off the bike in the first third of the tour has be nothing short […]
I read that some of the American players were crying when they accepted their silver medals at the Confederations Cup in South Africa on Sunday. And they should have been. Leading 2-0 at half, I don’t know what coach Bob Bradley said to the team, but it was completely backwards. Now all of you soccer […]
I wasn’t sure who to root for, or against for that matter. I like to get behind somebody in major golf championships. Sometimes it’s actually Tiger but othertimes it’s just somebody who looks like they need the win or they just got struck by lightning. At this year’s US Open I was somewhere down in […]
The French have a phrase for it “je ne sai quoi” that certain something I can’t put my finger on. It’s one way you can describe all championship teams. There’s something about them that you can’t quite quantify. You can’t say they have more of something you can’t identify, but you know they have it. […]
It’s not often that I sit around and watch sports on television on the weekend. I like to get out and do stuff, use the DVR, check in on the highlights, go to the Internet and see what’s going on. But rarely do I sit down for a few hours and just watch stuff. Except […]
By the time you read this, game 3 of the Eastern Conference championships will probably have been played. It might even be over. The Lakers might be the NBA champions. But this playoff season for the NBA will be known for one shot: The 3-pointer LeBron James hit in game 2 in Cleveland against the […]
Just about anybody in the top 15 who shot 66 in the final round of The Players was going to walk away with the trophy and the $1.7 million that goes with the title. Alex Cejka seemed a likely candidate to not get the job done based on his past. Tiger Woods usually scares off […]
It looks more like a law firm than a PGA Tour leader board: Mallinger, Crane and Johnson sounds like somebody you’d hire rather than go to watch make birdies. But they’re among the players contenting for The Players title in 2009. Does that mean Tiger, Phil and company are out of the picture? Not necessarily […]
There’s a lot you can say about the Jaguars draft. You can complain they don’t know what they’re doing. You can say it’s not “sexy.” But you can’t say they didn’t follow exactly what they said they were going to do. New General Manager Gene Smith told us all along that he was going to […]
“History is made here every year.” That’s how Phil Mickelson described Augusta National and the Masters and what makes it different from the other Majors. Mickelson knows the history of the game and showed it when he quoted years and players regarding the memories that are made at Augusta National. “Gene Sarazen in ’35, Jack […]
Nice sendoff for Fred Taylor sponsored by the Downtown Rotary on Monday. Taylor was released by the Jaguars a couple of weeks ago but some of the members of Downtown Rotary didn’t think he was given a proper farewell. So the Monday lunch meeting was dedicated to celebrating Taylor’s career here in town. “I’m not […]
Watching the Florida/Penn State game the other night I finally figured out why the Gators can’t seem to get over the hump when it comes to a decent opponent who’s having a decent night: they’re just not that good. As much as you want to put a “program” label on Florida, Billy Donovan has come […]
The Jaguars released Matt Jones on Monday, March 16 after 4 years with the team. Jones was the 21st overall pick in the 2005 draft but never reached the potential the Jaguars had expected out of him catching 166 passes and 14 touchdowns in four seasons. Last year was his best with five TD catches […]
One day you’re a hero, the next a goat. That describes a lot of professions but none more perfectly than professional sports. Alex Rodriguez was generally considered the best among the best of all time. But he was revealed as a steroid user and admitted to it two days later, leaving his legacy and his […]
Did he every actually say he smoked marijuana? I’m not sure Michael Phelps ever really did say he had committed a crime or did take a bong hit of weed. He did admit to irresponsible behavior and adolescent decision-making but I don’t think that’s illegal. Of course I’m not being stupid or naïve about what […]
It had the elements of a ho-hum Super Bowl. Two very disparate teams, two different cultures, not a lot of buzz about the game. All of that was true, and people were talking about whether they would have a job the next day instead of who might win. Then they played the game. Even though […]
This is the 26th year I’ve been going to the Super Bowl. On one front that seems like a lot of games, but on another it seems like a drop in the bucket. I’m on the Pro Football Hall of Fame Committee and some of the guys on that committee have been to every Super […]
I think he’ll stay. What he should do is up to him. Outside of his parents, everybody else should stay out of it. One thing I’m sure of: Tim Tebow will do the right thing. Speculation as to whether Tim would spend four years at the University of Florida started the day he announced he […]
“A player’s coach,” is either the best thing a coach can be called or the worst. “Disciplinarian” and “Old School” fit into that same category. Obviously, somewhere in between is where you find success as a coach, especially in the NFL. Jaguars Head Coach Jack Del Rio has been described as a “Players coach.” By […]
Somebody had to pay for the Jaguars dismal season in 2008 and apparently when he looked around, owner Wayne Weaver decided James “Shack” Harris would be sacrificed. You knew somebody would be asked to fall on their sword and you knew it wouldn’t be head coach Jack Del Rio after he signed a big-money extension […]
As we go into the holiday season, I just wanted to tell this story so perhaps when things get hectic over the next couple of weeks; perhaps we can take a deep breath and think about what’s really important. As many of you know, I like to ride my bike. I have a lot of […]
