It was over forty years ago when Mayor Jake Godbold decided that Jacksonville’s image needed burnishing and the local citizenry needed their spirits lifted. He chose sports as a vehicle to promote city pride and invited Baltimore Colts’ owner Robert Irsay to town for the now-famous “Colt Fever.” Godbold was unfairly dubbed “Mayor Jock” because […]
There’s a certain level of confidence that’s needed to lead. Whether it’s a business, a political movement or a sports team, the leader has to believe in what he or she is doing. The problem is, sometimes those leaders are so cloistered, so single-minded that their confidence turns to hubris and things don’t go so […]
On a tough weather day on a difficult golf course, Rory McIlroy used his new found “poise and patience” to win the 38th edition of The Players Championship contested at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course. A missed birdie putt on two and an unheard of double-bogey six on number four could have derailed McIlroy’s […]
I’ve always said that most of the locals who attend THE PLAYERS think every PGA TOUR event is like this week in Ponte Vedra. The Players is like nothing else out there, taking the best from every PGA Tour stop all year and incorporating it into the TPC at Sawgrass for one week. It’s not […]
When to contest The Players has been a topic since the tournament was started in the ’70’s. Beginning in Atlanta on Labor Day in 1974 it moved to Ft. Worth the next year in August and then to Ft. Lauderdale the following February. When it moved to Ponte Vedra and Sawgrass Country Club it was […]
If you’ve been training for this week’s Gate River Run and you’re worried about the last week of training, don’t be. If it’s your first Gate, you’ll be fine. Unless you’re trying to qualify for a national team or prepping for some of the top ten-prize money or the equalizer bonus, you’ll be fine no […]
Starting in 1978, with running for fitness in its infancy, The Jacksonville River Run, as it was called, was more of a competitive race than a fun “run.” Race organizer Buck Fannin recruited the Times Union and Jacksonville Journal as the sponsors, drumming up publicity and support for the run. Using the Peachtree Road Race […]
It wasn’t until Heather Blanton had what she jokingly calls a “midlife crisis” that she became a painter. She was about to turn 40. The recession had hit. And her medium for more than 10 years — Polaroid manipulation photography — was on its way out. “I needed to find something,” she said, standing in […]
Lonnie and Tom debate the “are race car drivers athletes” discussion and its almost decision time for the Jaguars.
There’s always been a connection between North Florida and NASCAR. LeeRoy Yarbrough called Jacksonville home and won 14 times on the top -rated NASCAR Grand National Circuit. Speedway Park, also know as Jacksonville Speedway, was a half-mile dirt track at Lenox Avenue and Plymouth Street in what was then called “Southwest” Jacksonville. The track hosted […]
Lonnie and Tom reveal how a player looks at the game and the new league. And they still want to hit somebody.
It was nineteen years between Super Bowls for Atlanta. They hosted Super Bowl XXVIII in 1994, Super Bowl XXXIV in 1999 six years later and then not again until 2019 For Super Bowl LIII. For a major metropolitan city with a diverse population, a solid corporate base and a vibrant social scene, that’s a long […]
Tom and Sam thought the Super Bowl was just fine. And Sam reveals what he can about what happened in the HOF “room.”
No gold jacket for Tony Boselli again this year. It’s the third year Tony has been among the final fifteen players up for selection to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. For the second straight year, Boselli made the cut to the 10 finalists but not to the final five and was passed over for […]
Tom and Sam have seen just about everybody associates with Pro Football this week in Atlanta.
As noted in this column two weeks ago, 2019 is the third consecutive year former Jaguars Tackle Tony Boselli has been named a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And for the 24th year, I’ll be the Jacksonville representative on the Selection Committee and again I’m charged with presenting the case for Boselli’s […]
In the past eighteen years, the New England Patriots have won sixteen AFC East titles. They haven’t had a losing season. They’ve played in twelve AFC Championship Games including eight in a row from 2011 to 2018—and won eight of them. How is it that New England has that kind of sustained success that most […]
This is my 24th year on the Selection Committee for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It’ll be the third straight year I’ve presented Tony Boselli’s case as a candidate for induction into Canton. This year, 102 former players were nominated for the Class of 2019. That list was sent to the 48 members of […]
NFL Playoffs bring out the best, and worst in teams. And Clemson will be around as long as Dabo is running the show.
As they move into the off-season, the Jaguars are trying to change the locker room culture. They can’t do much before they make a decision on the quarterback.
Last week’s column about the Jaguars future elicited the full gamut of responses. From “I agree” to “stop drinking and writing,” fans are clearly passionate about what the team should do going forward. A friend of mine once said, “When the reader agrees with you, they’re brilliant. When they disagree, you’re an idiot.” My favorite […]
There will be changes to the Jaguars for 2019; the question is, how many? There’s a lot of strange stuff that happens early in the offseason, so despite what you might have read or heard, I don’t think any decisions have been made about the Jaguars near future. Every NFL roster turns over about 20 […]
As the Christmas season unfolds, families will gather this week, many of them coming to North Florida for the holidays. A professional stop for Navy veterans and football players in Jacksonville often has led to those two groups staying here, living here and raising families here. “It starts with the friendship of the people in […]
Like any other group, a football team is made up of a lot of different individuals. Guys come from the city, the suburbs, farms and ranches, from all kinds of different backgrounds. The common thread is that they’re all tremendous athletes and have supreme self-confidence in their athletic skill. They need both to get to […]
Lonnie and Tom agree with Sam: Locker room issues were a problem early and never got fixed.
Again this week, Jaguars Head Coach Doug Marrone was asked if he was “coaching for his job.” It’s the kind of question that’s asked with some regularity when your team is suffering though a disappointing year. “Every day. Same as last year,” Marrone answered with an unusually clipped response. Any different than last year? “I […]
This season both Mandarin and Raines made it to their state high school football championship games. While this weekend’s appearance in Orlando is a crowning achievement for those teams, it also marks a swift and sudden end to many players’ football careers. “I know how special it is,” Mandarin Head Coach Bobby Ramsey said this […]
Sitting in the men’s locker room in the early ‘90’s at Marsh Landing Country Club, there was a steady stream of guys coming through as usual or a weekday afternoon. I knew most of them and we exchanged the normal pleasantries as they passed through. It’s not unusual to see guys in all levels of […]
So what happened? Last year’s Jaguars team was, according to Vice President of Football Operations Tom Coughlin, “one whistle away” from going to the Super Bowl. And with virtually the same players, some free agents and draft picks sprinkled in, the Jaguars fell on their face in 2018. “Aren’t you going to fill other pieces […]
Lonnie, Tom and Sam dissect what happened to the Jaguars and what happens next.
Friday, November 30th will mark twenty-five years since the NFL awarded Jacksonville the league’s 30th franchise. It’s still an amazing, improbable story: Mayor Jake Godbold realized, in the 1970’s, that the people in town didn’t think much of themselves or the city. He believed a pro sports team could change that. As a reporter following […]
To hear Jaguars Head Coach Doug Marrone’s comment about replacing players, it sounded eerily similar to Tom Coughlin’s answer to a similar question in 1995. “You’ve got to see if someone you put in there is going to be better,” Marrone said when asked about lineup changes, particularly at quarterback. “You can’t just replace people […]
Lonnie, Tom and Sam solve all the Jaguars problems. If they’d only listen! Seriously, there are some good solutions here. Happy Thanksgiving!
A look at the Jaguars mistakes and how to be a pro. Plus Sam and Tom Discuss the team/coach/player/media relationship.
Walk into the Jaguars locker room during the “media availability” time on any given day and there will be a smattering of players arrayed in front of their lockers in various positions of repose with one thing in common: They’re all on their phones. Not talking on their phones, not texting, but looking at their […]
Tom and Lonnie give the best analysis you’ll hear on the nuts and bolts of the Jaguars issues. And some locker room talk as well!
At 3-6, this Jaguars team doesn’t resemble last year’s squad at all. It doesn’t feel like the ’96 team that was also 3-6 but made the playoffs. That team was young and playing with a bunch of exuberance that carried them through the second half of the season. It doesn’t even feel like some of […]
It seems not a day goes by without somebody asking about Blake Bortles. Is he the guy? Will the Jaguars address the QB position right away? Wait ‘till the draft? Eli Manning? Teddy Bridgewater? Buehler? Anyone? But here’s the truth: Blake is the right guy for this team. Built to play defense and run the […]
Sam and Tom compare this year’s team to the ’96 squad that was also 3-5 through 8 games. Tom reveals how they did it.
Sam, Lonnie and Tom talk a little Election Day and how the Jaguars need to be honest with themselves.
