Twitter Updates 2022

Incorrect

 

We don’t even need fsu on the schedule, they need us. Times have changed and the path is through the sec, nothing to do with tgem or Miami. They dropped tge balm years ago by raking that easy route and they might not ever make it back.

 

Joe Frazier had class.

 

Disagree. Always want to have a state rival or two on the schedule

 

I like beating them don’t get me wrong, but our playoff chances don’t rely on them one single bit at this point. Win the sec and we are in .Their relevance on the trail to the national championship has long since ended.They “ need” to be on our schedule, we don’t need them.
There have only ever been two rivals in state and they are both on the outside looking in. It’s possible neither ever recovers. They better pray they get picked up..

 

fsu does suck and always will because of their continued willfulness to ignore rules and crime in their quest for relevance and acceptance from UF, something that will never be granted.

As to the legend of Bobby, he did establish a winning culture upon his arrival when we were decimated by the 2nd harshest NCAA penalty to date (SMU wears the winner’s here and rightfully so). Yet, he recognized he couldn’t win a natty as an independent because he had to play too many difficult games in a season. So he ducked into an extremely weak conference ACC seeking the legitimacy of a conference championship (are you recognizing a pattern here? cowardice anyone?) Despite owning the conference initially he only amassed 1 NC, who needed the competition moreover validation? Bobby did eventually win a 2nd NC FTR both tainted by scandal.

Note he passed on the invite from the SEC at our urging to extend it. Realizing inclusion in a REAL football conference would hinder his ability to win consistently. Spare me the drama of propping up a self-serving individual who has never been held accountable for despicable decisions in the quest to win games. All because he had the ability schmooze people.

 

And Ali did not

 

[QUOTE="wci347, post: 14061645, member: 4795"
Maybe you should look up the word correlation. Because when they recruited well and we recruited well we won championships.
Whatever the reason is, you are dead wrong on the connection between FSU’s viability in recruiting and our NC aspirations.[/QUOTE]

Maybe you should look up the terms "direct causation" and "incidental occurrence." And after that, you might take a look at "fallacious arguments."

 

Someone can’t help but be a donkey apparently.
If FSU is your Frazier you are either a young buck or young gator fan.
FSU is the annoying little sister. Always has been always will be. UGA, LSU, Auburn…. These are our traditional main rivals. Not the girls school.
Bowden is a legend. He also dodged the SEC for a reason. Let FSU and Miami die a slow death of being in the acc. They chose to be there.

 

Top 5, eh? Really?

March 5, 2004
Orlando Sentinel
Mike Bianchi

It was Christmastime, 1993, when former Florida State football player Michael Gibson raped her.

He broke into her apartment, shot her twice, leaving two gaping holes in her chest. Then, as she lay there bleeding and crying, he continued with the sexual assault. And then he left her for dead.

Except before he left the scene, this deranged monster of a man took one final liberty:

Michael Gibson stole the Christmas presents on his way out.

"How low can you get?" says John Witherspoon, the husband of the young woman who was raped that day. "How could Bobby Bowden ever write a letter in that man's behalf, to try and help that man someday get out of prison?"

Good question and one that hasn't been asked nearly enough. Since when did Bobby Bowden become a spokesperson for rape and rapists?

Bowden chose to speak out the other day in support of embattled Colorado Coach Gary Barnett and, in the process, questioned the validity of recent rape allegations against Colorado football players. Bowden, who seems suddenly to have become an expert on rape crisis counseling, questioned why the alleged victims took so long to report crimes that happened a few years ago.

"I did not understand how a young lady can say she was abused, or whatever it was, two years later," Bowden told reporters in South Carolina. "At the time, why don't you go report it? It seems like you ought to report it right [away]. So it makes me say, 'Well, did it really happen like that? I don't know.' "

I wonder if Bobby also questions the integrity of the boys who were abused by Catholic priests and were too ashamed and embarrassed to come forward until years later? Or is it only boys who tell the truth?

"I wish I could say that I'm surprised by Bobby Bowden's comments," says Witherspoon, an attorney in South Carolina. "Doesn't he always take the side of the athlete no matter what? It sure seems that way."

Bowden, of course, knows nothing about the specifics in Colorado. He doesn't know the alleged victims. He doesn't know the players involved. All he seems to know is that he's a football coach, and football coaches defend their brethren and their boys -- defend them all the way to the penitentiary if necessary.

If anybody has a right to feel betrayed by Bowden's public stance on rape, it is Witherspoon and his wife. She's a former Florida State student who was the victim of the horrifying sexual assault at the hands of Gibson, a former FSU running back who was on the team for less than a season. Gibson also was convicted on three other rape charges -- one in which he held a gun on a man and made him watch while he sexually assaulted his girlfriend. Gibson received six life sentences: four for rape, one for armed burglary and one for attempted felony murder.

"What we have here is a serial rapist who has raped, we know of, four women," Tallahassee state attorney Willie Meggs said in court. "Brutalized them with firearms, physical force, deadly weapons. I want to be sure he never gets out."

This serial rapist is the man for whom Bowden wrote a self-described "letter of reference" a few months ago before a hearing in which Gibson's lawyers tried to get the life sentences overturned so that Gibson someday would be released from prison. Gibson is the adopted son of former FSU player Ernie Sims Jr. and Alice Sims. Their son, Ernie Sims III, is a sophomore linebacker for the Seminoles who was rated by some recruiting analysts as the nation's No. 1 prep player coming out of high school.

In the reference letter to Circuit Judge Kathleen Dekker, Bowden wrote, "I can only account for what I know about him when I was recruiting him out of [Tallahassee's] North Florida Christian High School and for the time he was on our football team at Florida State University." Bowden went on to write that Gibson was "no problem" when he suited up for the Seminoles and that he has a "loving, caring family." At the end, Bowden concluded: "Thank you for reading my letter and may God direct you in your decision."

The letter was written on Florida State stationery and signed "Coach Bowden."

When the letter became public through court records, Witherspoon said his wife was "crushed and crestfallen." This is a woman who loved Florida State, graduated from the school, and was a huge football fan whom friends say "revered Coach Bowden."

"When she first found out about Bobby Bowden's letter, she couldn't even watch Florida State games on TV anymore," Witherspoon said. "How can you support a serial rapist? How could any coach speak up on behalf of this animal?"

At the hearing in October, Witherspoon's wife had to get up and relive that horrible day once again. She's 34 now, an attorney and a mother of two. But, still, 11 years later, she can't forget. How could she?

"He shot me first, and then he raped me," she testified. "There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about it. The thought of him getting out of prison terrifies me."

Judge Dekker agreed. She ruled that Gibson must spend the rest of his life in jail. "You have committed unspeakable crimes," she told him. "Monstrous crimes."

It has been said that Bobby Bowden sees the good in people, almost to a fault. But despite this penchant for blind loyalty, how could you ever see any good in any man who has shot and then raped a woman?

After the Gibson hearing, Linda Miklowitz, the president of Florida's branch of the National Organization for Women, wrote a letter of protest about Bowden to Florida State President T.K. Wetherell. In the letter, obtained by the Sentinel on Thursday, Miklowitz lashed out: "Until FSU starts taking seriously sexual violence against women by athletes, the school will continue to send the despicable message to hundreds of young men that rape is okay. Censuring Bowden would be a good first indication of change of course."

Miklowitz's suggestion obviously never was heeded because this week Bobby Bowden, it seems, once again turned into Bobby Knight -- except Bowden's graduation rate isn't nearly as high. It was Knight who once advised victims that, "if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it." Bowden's comments and actions, although not as callous, are just as insensitive.

Wetherell came to Bowden's defense Thursday in an e-mailed statement in which he wrote: "I have known Coach Bowden for years. I am sure he never meant to suggest in any way that he condones any type of abusive behavior." What's even more troubling is that this isn't really just about Bowden; it's about the culture and the code of the locker room. In a sports world filled with attractive recruiting hostesses and under-the-table sex favors, women are treated as accessories and enticements.

Boys will be boys. Girls will be toys.

"It seems to me that these coaches help create this atmosphere of entitlement," Witherspoon says. "The athletes are led to believe that they are special; that the system owes them something. They think they can take anything they want, and that includes women. It's like, 'If she doesn't want me, I'm just going to take her.' "

This is not to say Bowden or any coach condones rape, but -- at the same time -- shouldn't they go out of their way to condemn it? Rape is a serious problem in college, and one study found that one-third of campus rapes are perpetrated by athletes.

Instead of always defending the players, just once wouldn't you like to hear a coach say, "How's the victim doing? Is she OK? What can we do to help her?"

And instead of writing a letter of reference on behalf of the rapist, just once wouldn't you like the coach to write a letter of concern to the woman who was raped?

Bobby Bowden defends his insensitive comments about rape by railing against "political correctness." But this isn't about political correctness; it's about correctness -- period. It's about doing and saying the right things and sending the right message.

You don't question the honesty of an alleged rape victim you've never met.

And you don't write letters on behalf of serial rapists.

Especially if you sign your letters "Coach Bowden." That title means a lot to young men.

 

"Saint Bobby?" In a pig's eye.

 

A very chilling read

 

IMO the (relevance) arguments, going forward, in power 5 football, shall be based
on conference realignment.

If you wish to speak of relevance, the hard facts, as it pertains to the relevence, of the Big 3 in Florida is this:

FSU
UF
Miami

In terms of most RECENTLY winning a trophy or making the playoffs. (If that is how one defines relevence) A hard fact for UF fans I know, but a fact nevertheless.

All three universities had the most pathetic combined record in decades, which clearly indicates ALL THREE, have lost the ability to keep state talent in state and have lost the recruiting ability to keep the best high school football players in the nation playing for them.

I put UF currently more relevant NOW, because of the Universities athletic program financial strength, infrastructure improvements, new coaching staff and commitment to re-establish in state recruiting dominance.

BUT, most importantly, UF is a big and important member of the SEC - THAT is the key going forward given the new rules, and realignment / consolidation.

It is questionable if the ACC will remain a cohesive conference in the near future which is a scary thought for FSU and Miami.

Conference realignment will also completely change the landscape regarding "rivals" and who matters in future contests, that is already happening.

I completely disagree about knocking Bowden, and while not mentioned, any knocks on Schnellenburger.

Those two men turned NOTHING programs into national powers that lasted for decades, irregardless of conference, just ask SOS, whom supercedes ANYONE whom posts on this board in terms of having a legitimate opinion.

Coaches do matter.

 

Any recruiting news?

 

I read an article years after these events where the woman stated she still rooted for FSU. Fandom is bizarre sometimes.

That situation should have garnered fsu and bowden so much more criticism than it did especially when all of the problems under Fisher occurred even if bowden was gone at the time.

 

Pedantic arguments these - and irrelevant as it relates to football.

Have you ever checked out UFs criminal "player" history? All three Florida football schools have a ridiculous history of players out of control and a well earned reputation as "thug schools".

You will get nowhere on the national scene by throwing darts at FSU or Miami as a Florida fan.

I suggest you concentrate on the team and not the Distrct Attorneys record book of shame for all three schools.

You will pick up no traction outside of Gator Boards. I find this constant my thug is better than your thug argument going on between the three schools boorish if not completely pathetic.

 

You made a lot of inferences and conclusions about where I stand on athlete culture. Florida was crucified under Meyer and Zook for the number of run ins with the law. I'm not naive to think what sees the light of day are the only issues either. But you have coaches like Bowden and Osborne who oversaw and then supported multiple high profile violent cases and came away relatively unscathed. Years later fsu would have multiple issues with Winston and others and yet again get away relatively easy.

But thank you for opening my eyes....

 

I don't know anyone who's saying Bowden wasn't an excellent HC. There's plenty to point to the fact that he absolutely was. He was also, IMHO, a master of situational ethics and a rank hypocrite who coached dirty football while spouting sanctimonious BS. Schellenberger captured lightning in a bottle and deserves credit for doing so. But the guy was a prize jerk who despised Gator fans, and for me personally, the feeling was absolutely mutual. Both of these individuals are dead and gone now, and carrying old grudges is bad for the soul. But viewing either one of them as being anything more than highly successful HCs who did anything they could to gain an advantage (fair or unfair) is deeply misguided. JMHO.

 

Until SOS comes out in support of our murders and rapists? Not going to happpen. It’s not that it’s happened but how the school reacts. Winston still playing in games and Bowden writing letters to help serials rapist? Big difference.