One Wonders Of The Number Of Sports Journalists...

I think you are wrong but man I don't want to argue about it.

 

Probably not real writers, just pseudonyms for all the referees who spent decades getting into NCAAF ref slots just to conspire to throw results of college football games they aren't allowed to profit from in any way.

Now the refs and writers are out to get us. Better hope the people at Gatorade don't start spiking UFs order with NyQuil. Maybe they already do. I'm sure on of the posters here is already preparing to unveil how Gatorade is on the payroll of the media, national association of sports officials and the SEC.

The conspiracy grows.

 

It's not a conspiracy to appreciate the dearth of coverage some programs get compared to how florida was dragged through the mud during the Meyer years or our probation era.

Now with that said, I don't see it as a "conspiracy." I see it more to do with timing and at times some conference related political factors over the years. Florida got inordinate treatment in the 80s for things their peers were doing as well.

When florida was getting raked over the coals for arrests under Meyer, I believe at least two other programs had more in the same time frame one of which was Georgia but we were the most successful program and we simply don't have the same support they do when it comes to external factors.

Fsu and Jameis would not have survived if today's social media climate were around on 2013.

Georgia though has managed to get away with murder but times are different. There is way too much money at stake today to take down cash cows with true expose pieces or hold anyone accountable.

As far as our performances on the field....we keep giving them plenty of material to write about so it is what it is

 

Everybody with a phone is a journalist. The newbies gotta get their name out there and the seasoned vets long for past days of glory.

Sensationalized headlines have been a thing since headlines. Homers and Head Hunters. Bandwagoning is certainly as an accurate phenomenon criticizing poor performance.

 

Don't be so sure about that. Social media existed back then and it was largely swept under the rug.
And speaking of FSU, I have heard from multiple talking heads about Half Ass U's resurgence that "college football is much better when FSU is good". They will never say that about UF when we have a resurgence.

 

Social media was around but the political landscape and pervasiveness of social media is different today.

This is no way to try and ignore who fsu is and what they will do to be relevant. They will do anything they can at all costs regardless of ethics. Cesspool program.

 

Don't know if it is current, but at one time UF had more press people covering our games than any team in the country. If that's still the case, then it explains why you see more negative coverage than you think we should.

 

It's been stated in the past and especially in fsu's thinking, all publicity is good publicity. Even bad publicity.

 

Some of those issues are self inflicted. Bianchi, a Florida grad used to takes shots at and diss UF. Deckerhoff the long time voice of the Noles is a UF grad. I don’t recall him ever saying anything positive about UF football. Larry Vittel once told me many UPD and Gainesville officers considered arresting a UF football player an honor, each which made the news. I knew a UPD officer who used to work the baseball games. Spoke with him often. He was very open about being an FSU fan and enjoying the arrest of a UF football player. He was an arrogant ass. Recently Finebaum has been staring Napier may lose his job and UF is going to lose its recruits like it’s a given. He doesn’t want UF to become relevant again. We beat UT where he graduated but he still praises Heupel. I could go on and on.

 

To the OP, this is a real tangent, but it is for a reason. Have patience.

In my neighborhood, the way out to the regular road system, I have to get to a collector road inside my neighborhood. But it is also a road that is strategic for folks who want to avoid traffic on the regular, vehicle moving roads (ie, arterials) and so they are cut-throughs. Now, I and the neighbors do not own the roads in and around us, they are public. I can use someone else's roads with impunity (mainly) just as they can ours. But when they use ours, they can and do like to speed unnecessarily because it "serves their purpose". In other words, they are self serving jerks, also known as the typical US citizen.

When I arrive at this intersection, I look to my left where there is a curve with some brush that sort of blocks the view. It is AMAZING how many times I come to that intersection and the traffic on the collector isn't just passing as I arrive, or they appear off in the distance, but they are IN THE CURVE and going faster than a neighborhood street should have to endure. And guess what I do? I get mad that...AGAIN..."those folks" are utilizing "our" streets in an improper manner. It is damn frustrating.

Can you guess why I told you this anecdote? Because, as much traffic that is using the road is more than what the actual neighborhood is generating, my perception of the "malaise" is way more than the actual conditions. I KNOW when the traffic is in the curve and I "infer" their speeding whereas when I arrive and no one is on the collector road, I simply do not take inventory. I basically count when "things are wrong" and not when they are within boundaries. That is plainly called "confirmation bias." And it is a VERY human trait. Or, as Simon and Garfunkel sung, "a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest".

I will only give you my overall take on the issue of the thread. UF is kind of like Wilt Chamberlin; a giant who is bigger than life and is capable of having some kindergarteners kicking them in the shins. It does hurt but you are WAY bigger than them. And, as they say, you don't find many folks cheering for a Goliath. They cheer for the underdog (see the men's NCAA basketball tournament). And yes, they cheer for the Dukes also, but really the real cheering is for the Little Sisters of the Poor. So who is a Duke, if not us? Here we go...

Simply, basketball is NOT football. Not even close. It takes HUGE amount of resources to be an upper-echelon program in football. It WILL bankrupt (financially as well as emotionally) a university if there aren't governors on it. And yes, there are some nefarious folks, also known as "Blue Bloods" in basketball, that play a game that the vast majority of universities do not and yes, they ARE corrupted/bankrupted emotionally. Maybe not permanently but still corrupt. Anyways, what you see in basketball is their attempt to get the masses interested in "buying their wares", especially when the number of football teams is around 50-ish biggies and their are 300 or so who can do something in basketball. When you are all selling the same product and your customers are the same - TV and the commercials revenues - you tend to get "creative". Let's just call it the "Dick Vitale" effect. It is merely carnies being carnies.

Now to football. We are one of the Big 50. We have the ability to be one of the Big 10 (no, not the conference) and not be bankrupted. But again, we are essentially Goliath. We just don't get the cheering for "trying hard" like the Wake Forests do. What is FSU? Simply, it is the "feel good" that is still around from Mr. Dadgum It. Bless his soul (the young guy who won the first NC and not the other who sold his soul to the Devil for the second). Call it "lazy" or conspiratorial if you want to, I will just say that, if you want a piece of the HUGE pie known as football prestige and revenue, the well worn path is the path of choice. Stepping out can also mean you lose. So, take what you can by being rote and stop worrying about "truth" and "bold moves". Make yours and stop worrying about "fair." Especially when what you are doing is kicking Goliath in the shins. He can take it.

Now to the "Duke's" in football. Alabama is one because of an old, funny guy in a hounds tooth hat. THAT is what is being sold, not the damn bad thing that is happening today. Same way with Notre Dame, whose main persona is of the "mighty midget" taking on the "Goliaths" and so we get to cheer them on because...we always have because they "have the luck of the Irish" and "Jesus is blessing them." Pure crap but that is what is being sold so that you watch and buy the beer and chicken wings that are being sold you on commercials. It is what it is. The "rest" is mainly about old elites (The Big 10 idiots) who don't understand that their state and revenue is NOT the 40s-60s. It is over, just that they choose to bankrupt themselves in order to maintain the illusion. And yes, the ESPNs and FOXs enable them with money but in the end, they ARE bankrupt. At least emotionally. Don't you recall Gordon Gee's famous line about his "employment" at OSU? It IS real.

Now to your real take (and mine also): who are the Goliaths and why is UF's version of Goliath sort of different? I will say that both SEC Texas teams are, as well as Michigan and sort of UCLA (THE public university committed to sports AND academics in California). North Carolina is sort of also, just that they only care about basketball. The rest of the Top 50 are Goliath Wannabes (IMO). NC and UCLA are sort of "lovable losers" because they just never get to "that level"...ever. Are you going to say that Michigan is not receiving national criticism? Methinks you are not counting theirs due to confirmation bias. Why would you want to count theirs? You are not their fan, correct?

So, down the the Big Texas Two. No one is giving aTm grief for trying to buy a NC by paying ridiculous sums of money for both Sumlin and Jimbo? Really? Aren't the laughs AT them merely another form of shin kicking? Isn't that like when you lose a close game you grouse that we should have been more bold and then when you lose BIG by being bold you grouse about not being cautious enough? You see what you want to see and disregard the rest. It IS a human trait, especially in fans' minds.

So, we are down to UF and UTx as the comparison, with Michigan as a similar player. I would say that I am baffled that UTx gets more "lovable loser" standard rather than national derision for blowing SO much resources. They had their last NC with Brown and their transcendent QB - their version of Tebow - but Brown is a WAY nicer persona than "evil" Spurrier or "corrupt" Meyer. But let's stop all this nonsense and saying "why only us"? I would just say...again...because it pays HUGE sums of money on the path of least resistance. Take that money away because the football fans have gotten smart (good luck with THAT idea) THEN you will see how corrupt Bama and FSU has been and maybe OSU, Oklahoma and Clemson (poor souls in poor states). And...begrudging acceptance that Goliath can be admired for his size instead of nothing but the guy in the black hat (ask your father or grandfather what that means if you need to).

I do hope you (and others) got through all this for your (and their) sanity. It isn't what you are imagining. Have fun. The shins do get sore from time to time, but you are NOT being threatened. They are a bunch of silly kindergarteners. You will NOT win by smacking them across their mouths because you feel like.

EVER!

 

It’s because all others are beneath gators as human being. They are inferior physically and intellectually and just can’t measure up in any imaginable way. They are obviously jealous.

 

OP, you probably read more press about the Gators than you do other teams and you also process ‘not positive’ press as ‘negative press.’ I’ve read articles about when Saban will retire, how long will LSU give Kelly to turn things around before they fire him, Georgia’s ‘win at all cost’ culture, ‘Heupel can’t win the big games’, etc. this season. Truth is Florida has two losing seasons in a row and the once vaunted recruiting class seems to be falling apart. Not surprising the press is reporting this stuff.

 

This. Every fan base thinks ESPN and the press in general is biased against them. For every article this year wondering if Napier will get fired, there were probably 100 that surmised whether Jimbo would get fired. If you paid attention to things outside of the SEC, you'd know Lincoln Riley is getting lots of flak for USC's pathetic defense, the OSU fans kill Ryan Day for losing to Michigan the last two years, national figures question whether Dabo can win in the portal era, etc. And those are talked about way more than UF nationally because, well frankly, UF isn't nationally relevant these days.

 

This crap goes all the way back to how we got stripped of our 1984 SEC title. Never would've happened to any other team in the conference, nor would the NCAA have brought out the hammer on anyone else in the conference afterward like they did us. Any time we threaten the supremacy of the hillbilly schools, especially Alabama and Georgia, all of them are gonna show up pounding their palms with lug wrenches and saying, "You ain't from around here, are you, boy?"

 

This.
People here scour the internet for anything gator related, so it it any shock you will find negative things, given our recent history?
If someone did the same for Auburn, A&M etc., you would find the same thing. Might be a bit worse for us because the whole world knows that with the right coach we would be perennial contenders. So our failures are far more obvious.
There isn’t some weird nation wide silent conspiracy against us.

 

It's all the rage and quite easy to do hit pieces on College teams and fan bases.

Generates hits, which generates income which is a cheap and easy way to stay in the sports cycle.

Just ask Stewart Mandel.

 

It’s not like he tried to shoot the president or anything.

 

This!!

The SEC could have nailed AL, AU, UT, UGA and LSU for the exact same things Pell was doing.

The NCAA could have gotten another dozen.

It’s not the rules are different for some programs, it just that those rules are ignored for them.

 

I would go one step further and suggest that the “current political landscape and pervasiveness of social media” in a large part can be attributed to this very event. If you think about it, correlations certainly can be drawn.