Hasn’t to this guy made up BS about UF players in the past? Sounds like he just wants to stir up crap for attention.
Saying "IDGAF, I'll be here longer than Napier", is healthy dissent? I think you should lay off the green stuff.
Am I the only one who finds it hilarious that the audio for reporters in these pressers is damn near at church-mouse level quiet every week and yet this dude gets caught on a hot mic?
At worst, Long will offer an apology and that will be the end of it. Apologies are a facade, merely covering up the original intent of the individual's statement. I guess that’s why they call it politically correct, because it's really a weasels way of lying!!!
This is the time to stand up for Coach Napier. @APMarkLong has a responsibility here, he can't be allowed to make public comments about a UF employee like that. Long should no longer be allowed in the Gator press conferences.
It was a private comment caught on a hot mic...but I guess no different than calling the head of the Board of Regents an Oreo in private and expecting no ramifications when word got out.
It's more than that, though. It's disrespecting someone in their "house." If he wants to make a remark like that in the car on the way back to Jax, I wouldn't care.
I think Mark Long is a doofus, but he was talking to colleagues in what he thought was private. That he's too dumb to realize that someone in that room is going to pick it up is a bigger indictment of his skillset than the comment itself. As noted, statistically he's probably right. Middling sports journalists (term used extremely lightly) have very easy, low-paying gigs that they tend to hang onto for decades. The good ones move up the ladder very quickly. To memory, Mark Long has been the AP Gator guy for, what, 20+ years? He's not worth worrying about.
Also we're in the early days with Napier so the fanbase is in protective mode. Had this happened last year with Mullen we'd probably be lobbying for Long to get a promotion.
