Swamp Kings - Netflix documentary [WARNING: Potential Spoilers From Post #10 On]

One of my GUESSES as to why so many other SEC schools dislike us is:
We are Florida....and we live in a beautiful semi-tropical State.
We are surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of miles of beautiful beaches, blue waters and palm trees.
We have hundreds of beautiful resorts, golf courses, theme parks, etc.
Great schools and economically upward communities.
Compare all of that with:
Arkansas?
Mississippi?
Louisiana?
Alabama?
South Carolina?
Kentucky?
There IS no comparison.
Thousands of people each year move to Florida for a reason.
Folks don't leave Florida and move to Mississippi.
I believe folks want what we have.
And when we have a kick-butt football team, it just ticks them off even more!

 

Just binged the whole thing even though I had a bunch of stuff I was supposed to do tonight. Which got me thinking, what was that Netflix documentary from a couple years ago during trasks season? That was such a fun ride especially cuz it was in real time and we were experiencing such an unexpected season of awesomeness. Anyway, if anyone remembers what it was called so I can binge that one too, that would be awesome

 

Watched all 4 episodes tonight. From a Gator fan perspective it was a nice nostalgic ride through the past and a decent explanation of what happened. I’m curious to hear what non-Gators and non-Gator haters out there have to say about it. I didn’t think it was that well put together or made into stories that well. And they left out so much. They focused too much on the guys who were willing to speak on this documentary and their play. No mention or replay of helmet-less Earl Everett against Ohio State. Not much about Percy even though he is one of the best football players ever. No mention of Tebow’s vicious concussion in ‘09 against Kentucky. They could have done a lot more than four 45 minute episodes for 5 years of football.

 

Just finished watching the whole thing. So not what I expected. Basically just a recap of the 05-09 seasons.

Not a hit piece and better than I expexted on Urban. I figured they would dive into the AHern fiasco, Cam Newton troubles, etc. Think Hernandez got mentioned once for fighting and Newton never. They didn’t even touch Hernandez’s character.

Glad to have watched, could have done without reliving the losses each season, but we knew that was coming since they focused on the ups and downs of football.

Best part was the Brandon Siler stories.

Thanks for the memories Urban and company.

Go Gators!!!

 

Watched it all yesterday. Very balanced though I agree with those that question Finebaum’s prominence in it. Who died and made him spokesman for the rest of the SEC?

Agree RE so many stories missed but big takeaway was the importance of the character of the teams leaders to building the success. Intangible, ethereal but crucial. Also, those are 18-22 year old kids. I sounded a lot wiser at 32 than I did at 22. They’ve had the tuition of time and I’m pleased that hose they interviewed seem to have grown for it all.

 

I've only watched two but, to me, they spent too much time trying to be dramatic surrounding the players who were being featured. I was also a little disappointed at them focusing on Leak's bad plays.

I was surprised at how young Urban looked.

 

Leak was the starting QB, a big part of the story those first 2 seasons, and while the interplay was mentioned, it was pretty much glossed over. He was/is a Gator, a Gator champion. A Gator champion QB. No, not anywhere as good or beloved as Tebow, or many of our other QB’s, and now somewhat disgraced, but still woulda been interesting to hear from, and get his thoughts and opinions about those days/teams; good, bad and/or ugly.

 

I never paid attention to the fact that Alabama was 12-0 heading into the SECCG both years (2008 and 2009). I knew they were good, but in hindsight, they were preparing to dominate the way we thought we were supposed to be dominating. 2009, 2011, 2012. That was supposed to be our 3 in 4 years.
Another thing that popped back up ,

One thing that burns my biscuits is that Teboew winning the heisman in his sophomore year was such a controversy becasue it was supposed to go to a junior. But the no one had any issue with Bradford winning it the next year as a sophomore, or I think an alabama freshman RB a couple years later. In fact, Bradford got his stratospheric stats by staying in the games against nothing competition tossing bomb TDs well in the 4th quarter. While I would argue that Tebows junior year was more heisman worthy. Oh well.

 

After sleeping on it, I’ve come to realize that the only true new info I learned from this was the crazy Brandon Siler stories.

Everything else was known info here on GC two decades ago. This means our insiders then and now were well connected.

 

I don't find it embarrassing. Hernandez is a different story but he was still better behaved in college than the NFL. But the rest of them were just rowdy college kids who had an intense spotlight on them, sometimes got caught doing things they shouldn't have that other schools would have kept quiet, and they're all fine adults now. It's not like the Pounceys, Dunlap, Rainey, Harvin, Cooper, and others are all-out bad guys. They're having fine adult lives. We shouldn't have to apologize for mostly harmless knuckleheads playing football.

I'm sure this documentary didn't go into it but if you recall at the time what happened with Avery Atkins hit Meyer hard. A lot of coaches don't want to just cut the cord on kids that aren't that bad because whatever they would drift to next without football could be a lot worse.

 

The documentary actually did go into Avery Atkins and used that as Meyers excuse for not punishing kids by kicking them off the team anymore after that experience.

 

On the culture and its reputation...
3 things going on the time.
1) Tebow's strong religious beliefs PLUS HIS HYPE plus our winning put a spotlight on us. Media certainly has an agenda but their #1 is attention. So it served them well to portray Tebow's team as out of control renegades- even if most of the team was about the same as the rest of CFB.
2) The GPD propensity to make minor silly arrests. Whether that was a football thing or a racial thing, I have no idea. But if you both look at most of our arrests back then, AND remember how (2 years later) our DB was arrested for literally saying "woof woof" to a police dog, you will realize GPD had it out for our players.
3) Meyer's hatred and distrust of the media.

Put all those things together and many people thought we were out of control.
Fact guys like me kept saying "the arrests were for throwing a sandwich, getting off at a bus stop, and getting his own car out of an impound lot" but we were drowned out by the media's incessant pounding.

The old saying is "keep repeating the lie and people will believe it." That's what happened.

 

I don’t agree Chris Leak has been “somewhat disgraced”. Pretty sure the allegations against him were determined to be fraudulent. Am I misremembering, or missing something?

 

To show which was the better player, when the passing game didn't work for Bradford there wasn't anything he could do to affect the game, while Tim could do more to lead his team to a win. Plus, Tim set all sorts of records in his Heisman season including doing things that had never been done before, including passing for 30+ TDs and running for 20+ TDs.

 

Our little corner of The Swamp made the first episode for 0.15 of a second. My grandson sent me the photo below of the old gang in that corner with him in the blue Gator jersey giving the Gator Chomp to the clowns from the SWAC:

 

Not a Leak expert, but I do believe “somewhat disgraced” is a pretty apt description given:

“Sexual Misconduct
While serving as the head coach and art recovery teacher of Edgewater Eagles high school, a 16-year-old girl accused the quarterback of sexual misconduct. The minor reported the incident to a school resource officer who called the authorities.

In the filed police report, the minor said that she gave Chris an inappropriate massage at his request.

Furthermore, the accused coach came out of the shower wearing nothing but a towel draped around him.

He allegedly put the 16-year-old girl’s hand on his private part (genitals). Moreover, when the minor revealed what happened to a friend, the QB reportedly gave that friend $100 to keep quiet.

Amidst all the allegations, the footballer turned in his resignation. He also voluntarily gave up his Educator’s Certificate that can never be reinstated again around September 5, 2016.

After giving up his Educator’s certificate, he lost his teaching job forever. Tim Jansen, his lawyer, said, “My client voluntarily talked with the police and denied the allegations.”

In the end, no charges were filed, and the investigation got closed, and Chris maintains his innocence.”

 

I found it intense and riveting. I was going to start with just two episodes but couldn't turn it off. My emotions vacillated from age-appropriate, sentimental nostalgia to wanting to chug some red bull and put some holes in the wall, lol.

Urban came off much more sympathetic than I would have expected, and you come away almost feeling sorry for the guy - who was clearly struggling with mental health issues. I personally think Siler kind of stole the spotlight. Amahd Black, Brandon James, and the other guys had me laughing too.

 

I just finished watching the first episode.

Will we ever see as much talent on our team as Meyer brought in?

 

Absolutely loved it. Hope the team is watching this and realizes the insane commitment needed to be great. Loved Siler more than ever. But best part was the huddle breakdown:

"kill _____ on 3!..."

1, 2, 3. "KILL _____!!!!"

Loved it

 

and he couldn't even get the story straigh as he spoke of the offense that Mullen brought from Utah. It was the offense that he steped into as he was merely a position coach there; the OC left Utah for a head coaching position and Mullen was promoted to OC at UF