For years, my friend Keith has said, “When July 4th comes around, summer is over.” I always laughed at that, because when we were kids, the 4th of July marked the beginning of summer! But alas, now he’s right, as seasons have expanded, once the holiday is finished, it seems all eyes turn to football. […]
This summer will mark my 30th year of working and living in Jacksonville. Having also worked in Charleston, S.C., going to school in Washington, D.C. and growing up in Baltimore, I’ve had a taste of all different city sizes and lifestyles. Baltimore is a city that’s really a big town. In fact, Jacksonville is similar […]
Nobody lives in North Florida or South Georgia because they have to. Nobody has to stay here because they owe money to the company store. So why is it that our civic leaders, elected and otherwise, can’t figure out that’s the frame of reference they should be using for every decision? Is it right that […]
There aren’t too many better places to play golf in the world than here in North Florida and South Georgia. We can play year-‘round and some of the most desirable golf courses in the country are in our backyard. No matter where you look, north to Sea Island or Amelia, any one of the courses […]
What’s a big deal anymore? Jacksonville has grown from a town of 200,00 in 1980 to a sprawling city of nearly 1.4 million in the last 30 years. Yet, it’s hard to pin down just what is a big deal to the people who live here. Is it because we’re so diverse? Westsiders almost never […]
In Daytona for Speedweeks there was a lot of talk about the quality of racing, the two by two and what was going to happen when the Daytona 500 rolled around. Regardless of what you thought of all of those ideas, it got me thinking that we were at least talking about the actual “sport.” […]
It was awkward at first. Wayne Weaver walked into the room filled with reporters to give his year-end assessment as well as his plan going forward for the Jaguars. (BTW, he showed up a couple of minutes early. We were planning on showing the entire press conference live but he walked in during a commercial […]
The question all week was “Can we beat the Colts.” The answer was easy. “If they play like they have been, they can win.” The problem is, they didn’t play anything like they’re capable of playing. Indianapolis had been struggling on both offense and defense. Peyton Manning didn’t have all of his regulars and even […]
It was a pretty upbeat and loose locker room after the Jaguars beat Oakland 38-31 Sunday. I was trying to interview Don Carey and Derrick Cox kept interrupting. In a fun way. Rashad Jennings has his locker cordoned off and Montel Owens was giving him grief for being messy. That kind of stuff doesn’t happen […]
There have been successful coaches and athletes who have figured out the balance necessary to also have a positive family life. Jack Nicklaus used to fly home on Friday nights in the middle of a golf tournament to see his sons play H.S. Football. Don Shula won World Championships and is the winningest coach of […]
I kept looking over to the South Carolina sideline to make sure Steve Spurrier was still there. The Gamecocks opened the game by handing it to Marcus Lattimore. A lot. And again. And again. In the end, Lattimore carried the ball 40 times for more than 200 yards. With Steve Spurrier as the head coach. […]
We had Buck Belue on the radio show this week and he brought up a good theory on the Florida/Georgia game: “It’s the ‘here we go again’ game,” is how Buck put it. He was double right. Not a “here we go again,” game but actually two “here we go again halves.” Georgia did everything […]
I like to ride my bike. I’ve ridden for years. I have some friends who got me into it nearly 30 years ago, teaching me some of the nuances of the “sport.” It’s not just jumping on the bike and riding. The clothes you wear and why, the rules of the road and how to […]
I knew I wouldn’t get much sleep, but I was excited about the trip so 2 ½ hours didn’t seem that bad. An early morning flight to Norfolk was necessary because I had been offered a chance to actually fly out to the George H.W. Bush, the newest aircraft carrier in the United States Navy. […]
I’m not surprised at all of the interest in Tim Tebow at the Senior Bowl in Mobile. Tebow has made a splash with the media since he was in high school and it continued in college. Winning the Heisman as a sophomore only extended his notoriety across the country. So when he announced he’d make […]
“Accountability” was the theme Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver brought to the press conference this week. He rarely sits down in front of the media and cameras and answer questions “en masse” but Weaver thought it was important to do so after all of the speculation regarding his Head Coach Jack Del Rio. Don’t get me […]
It’s always quick when coaching changes take place. Pete Carroll said the offer from the Seattle Seahawks “came out of nowhere.” I’m sure Jim Mora Jr. thought the same thing when he was fired a week after the season concluded. Carroll didn’t have much success in the NFL the last time around, but times change […]
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. […]
