Fear and Loathing in Tallahassee...Mr Bowden has cashed his check...exit stage left to my unlikely hero...
I’m not going to even pretend to have any kind of “objectivity” or respectful detachment from this one. It’s all personal and it’s not going to be without a sense of the finality of my misspent youth.
Bobby Bowden announced he would retire as coach at Florida State after 34 years on the job. And while the general tone might sound as if I’m happy, I can’t really allow myself to be thrilled at the end of one mans livelihood in a way that neither he or anyone else quite imagined it would come down.
First, let’s go back to October 5th , and see what I had to say in response to the news story about the chairman of the FSU Board of Trustees saying that Bowden should call it a career at the end of the season–the majority of the other responses were generally negative towards this development, hence my statement about dissent:
oh goody, I get to do what I do best--the voice of dissent.
I've been a Florida State fan for 30 years, and I know how many people admire and love Bowden. But let's face some cold harsh realities.
While he took Florida State from nothing to one of the top 20 programs in America, he is doing nothing good for the school by lingering around solely for the purpose of trying to be the winningest coach of all time. Nothing is going to erase what he has done, nothing is going to take away from all the great wins.
But somebody has to ask the question to him, and expect a straight answer--is his motivation the record, or does he really believe he is acting in the best interest of the school, his players, his coaches, and the fans?
He is paralyzing the program by not coming clean about his intentions, and he is hurting everything that is rightfully his--the reputation of Florida State's football program--by not seeing that by lingering around, just like his idol The Bear did, he is diminishing his accomplishments. It took Alabama years to recover from the post-Bear hangover, and I'm afraid that FSU will suffer the same fate.
He deserves to quit on his own terms, but he owes it to his constituency to make a decision, sooner rather than later.
So, I have to look at the whole picture, and say to him the same thing Oliver Cromwell told the Long Parliament-- In the name of God, Go.
So now that we have established the particulars about my own thinking, let’s delve into the deeper issue, as far as I’m concerned.
I was a Florida State fan long before there was a bandwagon to ride. I was the bandwagon and in the 1970's, there wasn’t the mass exposure of college football that exists today. So it was hard to follow an unknown college football team that you couldn’t actually see, but you knew that it was there. Unless you actually lived in Florida, it was probably a stretch to even be able to name where Florida State University was located. But like everything else I do, I tried to get as much info as I could. And it was a great time to get in on the ground floor of something exciting like a crappy college football team that was turning the corner and beating people they had no business beating. Nebraska, Notre Dame, Pitt, Ohio State, LSU. In a 3 year period, Florida State beat all of them at least once. And they did it by slinging the ball all over the field, reverses, trick plays, the whole shooting match. Bowden never let the consequences bother him, he just kept on throwing the ball.
As the 80's inched along, the Seminoles got better every year. They could never seem to get past Miami, but the rest of the ride was pretty interesting.
But as time went on, Bowden got more cautious. He started to play the percentages more, started to reign in the offense in order to get results rather than entertain. All of which I had no problem with. As long as the score was right at the end of the game, I was all for it.
I don’t want boring, stodgy football. I want action and scoring and winning. And I don’t want excuses as to why I’m not getting it.
There have been many days I sort of felt like Cubs fans do (at least I’m pretty sure they must feel this way) when they wonder “why bother? Why have optimism when there is only going to be a disappointment at the end?” The many times I swore that I was going to give up on them were soon just a memory of instantaneous insanity in the wake of a defeat. I persevered and suffered, because that’s what you do if you love something enough. It’s a bit dysfunctional at times, but it gets you through the day. I never once believed that I was going to be a naysayer, a squeaky wheel to demand change for the sake of change.
But I eventually became that person, as evidenced by the above passage. What that says about me I have no idea. If I can’t stand up for the right of self-determination, what other principle am I going to abandon in the future?
I feel sad for Bobby, because he was sort of like another grandfather to me. You knew he was a bit campy and you might not agree with everything he said, but you loved him just because he was there and indirectly shaped your life in ways that you might not have imagined. But sometimes you had to wonder why he had that look on his face like “what the heck am I doing? I don’t need this”.
You don’t just lose your touch all at once, it just slips away gradually. And I don’t think Bobby ever quite realized that his touch was leaving him as much as it actually did. It has nothing to do with his age or his values, it just sort of happens to everyone.
I don’t think I’m prepared to blabber on in a sentimental way about him, because he’s not dead. I don’t have a sense of loss, but I feel like part of my life has ended in a way I wished had been different.
12/02/2009
The Road to Hell is paved with Good Intentions
I see humor in so many different circumstances that on the surface don’t have any humor in them, but 2 things this weekend seemed ripe for my amusement when the details came through the mist.
The tragic shooting of 4 police officers in Washington state doesn’t have any kind of mirth involved in it. It was a blatant act of cowardice and the reasons will probably never be very clear to anyone. But the emerging fact that the suspected killer was a former felon whose sentence was commuted has one particularly humorous sidelight. The person who did said commutation was none other than Mike Huckabee, the itinerant preacher/sideshow act/wannabe GOP Presidential candidate, who formerly was governor of Arkansas. I just can’t imagine how Huckabee is going to spin his way out of responsibility for releasing a man serving a 108 year sentence, who ends up walking into a coffee shop and gunning down 4 cops. I doubt that Karl Rove or Jesus Christ himself could help Mike out of this mess. Any hopes he had of ever kicking back in the office at 1600 Pennsylvania have completely gone out the window. The specter of Willie Horton has aborted Huckabees’ campaign before it ever had a chance of getting started (yes the use of that phrasing is intended for ironic purposes). Between Mike and Sarah Palin, the GOP has 2 undeclared/prospective candidates for 2012 with more baggage than even Southwest Airlines would allow on a flight for free. Huckabee should stay as far away from any FOP conventions for awhile, if he has any sense at all, and that’s debatable at the best of times.
Meanwhile, a man in serious need of the Lord and a good lawyer is one Eldrick T Woods, and the sooner the better in his case. Eldrick found himself in a bit of domestic rough on Thanksgiving night that he couldn’t save par from. Mrs Woods suggested he play a 7 iron, since his caddy was unavailable, but Eldrick demurred, and Mrs allegedly proceeded to penalize Eldrick with a stroke and distance penalty. On a related note, no mention was made of Mrs Woods handicap in any of the reports I’ve read.
We’d have never gotten a good laugh at Eldrick’s expense if he hadn’t decided he needed to run for a pack of smokes at 2:30 in the morning. I’d bet he wishes he’d called his neighbor Ken Griffey Jr for a lift instead.
Of course, Thanksgiving is not really a good time to face the family when a tabloid story about Eldrick working on his scoring average hits the stands the same week. And I’m sure that the holiday leftovers are not going down too well in the Woods abode now that a prominent glossy gossip mag has another unrelated report on Eldrick’s night putting with another groupie. Just putting, at night.
Now, I’m not mad if Eldrick thought he needed a few extra rounds away from home. Everyone knows chicks dig the long ball. But c’mon man. A 34 year old nightclub “hostess”? If you’re 34 and still a VIP shill at a nightclub, you need to think about your career choices. And I forgot what the other one was (actually I just don’t have the info at my fingertips) but I seem to think it was one of the millions of waitress/aspiring actress types that are everywhere these days, not just L.A.
If Eldrick doesn’t know these are not the kind of women you should be giving a free drop to, then he has less sense than I even imagined.
But the biggest and most appalling “transgression” he committed was asking all of us to “give him and his family some privacy”. Yeah right.
If he wants to shield his life from public scrutiny so that the rest of us don’t see how shallow and boring he is, fine. Mission accomplished. But I take the same view as I do with any and all celeb-utards, public people and hucksters–-Do Not Ask for Privacy today, and then earnestly ask me to purchase a product you get for free tomorrow. That is the most cynical, arrogant, and white trash attitude anyone can adopt. And I won’t subscribe to it. Anyone who does it should be tarred and feathered and dragged by their feet behind a slow moving ice cream truck.
Even his apology seemed contrived and insincere. It was almost like he was asking for forgiveness for affairs he has yet to have.
I suspect that Eldrick will be the next reality show. Some PR flack is dreaming up the pilot as we speak. He could show the world he really is just another Ozzy, except with a more interesting wardrobe. Then people would leave him alone, which is apparently what he really wants. Except for the golf. Then he wants your full attention. And your lovely, filthy money.
Res Ipsa Loquitur
The tragic shooting of 4 police officers in Washington state doesn’t have any kind of mirth involved in it. It was a blatant act of cowardice and the reasons will probably never be very clear to anyone. But the emerging fact that the suspected killer was a former felon whose sentence was commuted has one particularly humorous sidelight. The person who did said commutation was none other than Mike Huckabee, the itinerant preacher/sideshow act/wannabe GOP Presidential candidate, who formerly was governor of Arkansas. I just can’t imagine how Huckabee is going to spin his way out of responsibility for releasing a man serving a 108 year sentence, who ends up walking into a coffee shop and gunning down 4 cops. I doubt that Karl Rove or Jesus Christ himself could help Mike out of this mess. Any hopes he had of ever kicking back in the office at 1600 Pennsylvania have completely gone out the window. The specter of Willie Horton has aborted Huckabees’ campaign before it ever had a chance of getting started (yes the use of that phrasing is intended for ironic purposes). Between Mike and Sarah Palin, the GOP has 2 undeclared/prospective candidates for 2012 with more baggage than even Southwest Airlines would allow on a flight for free. Huckabee should stay as far away from any FOP conventions for awhile, if he has any sense at all, and that’s debatable at the best of times.
Meanwhile, a man in serious need of the Lord and a good lawyer is one Eldrick T Woods, and the sooner the better in his case. Eldrick found himself in a bit of domestic rough on Thanksgiving night that he couldn’t save par from. Mrs Woods suggested he play a 7 iron, since his caddy was unavailable, but Eldrick demurred, and Mrs allegedly proceeded to penalize Eldrick with a stroke and distance penalty. On a related note, no mention was made of Mrs Woods handicap in any of the reports I’ve read.
We’d have never gotten a good laugh at Eldrick’s expense if he hadn’t decided he needed to run for a pack of smokes at 2:30 in the morning. I’d bet he wishes he’d called his neighbor Ken Griffey Jr for a lift instead.
Of course, Thanksgiving is not really a good time to face the family when a tabloid story about Eldrick working on his scoring average hits the stands the same week. And I’m sure that the holiday leftovers are not going down too well in the Woods abode now that a prominent glossy gossip mag has another unrelated report on Eldrick’s night putting with another groupie. Just putting, at night.
Now, I’m not mad if Eldrick thought he needed a few extra rounds away from home. Everyone knows chicks dig the long ball. But c’mon man. A 34 year old nightclub “hostess”? If you’re 34 and still a VIP shill at a nightclub, you need to think about your career choices. And I forgot what the other one was (actually I just don’t have the info at my fingertips) but I seem to think it was one of the millions of waitress/aspiring actress types that are everywhere these days, not just L.A.
If Eldrick doesn’t know these are not the kind of women you should be giving a free drop to, then he has less sense than I even imagined.
But the biggest and most appalling “transgression” he committed was asking all of us to “give him and his family some privacy”. Yeah right.
If he wants to shield his life from public scrutiny so that the rest of us don’t see how shallow and boring he is, fine. Mission accomplished. But I take the same view as I do with any and all celeb-utards, public people and hucksters–-Do Not Ask for Privacy today, and then earnestly ask me to purchase a product you get for free tomorrow. That is the most cynical, arrogant, and white trash attitude anyone can adopt. And I won’t subscribe to it. Anyone who does it should be tarred and feathered and dragged by their feet behind a slow moving ice cream truck.
Even his apology seemed contrived and insincere. It was almost like he was asking for forgiveness for affairs he has yet to have.
I suspect that Eldrick will be the next reality show. Some PR flack is dreaming up the pilot as we speak. He could show the world he really is just another Ozzy, except with a more interesting wardrobe. Then people would leave him alone, which is apparently what he really wants. Except for the golf. Then he wants your full attention. And your lovely, filthy money.
Res Ipsa Loquitur
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
