Rivals Behaving Badly
By Staff
Speaking of rivals, there is yet another wrinkle in the HUGE Florida/UM rivalry and my “Journalistic rival” Mike Bianchi has another case of “pot and kettle black” syndrome. But first, lets take a look at the ongoing RIVALS TOURNAMENT.
As expected, #2 Tennessee was a huge winner over #15 Notre Dame. It was looking like a shut out for a while, but Notre Dame got some late support. And that is to be expected in the early matchups. But as with the NCAA Tournament, there are sometimes some upsets when the #3 seed faces a #14 seed. Can today’s matchup be a possible upset? Or another rout? As always, this seeding will be voted on for two days and is located on to your right.
#3 INDIANA HOOSIERS
Just the mention of Bobby Knight and his crimson red sweater should be enough to easily propel IU to the second round of the rivals tourney. Tom Crean, the new IU coach is not as easy to hate and dare I say, likable? But UK fans should not confuse his warm exterior and friendly twitter wars with Cal. This is the same Marquette coach that gave us fits a few times. The basketball rivalry has been even lately, with the last four games being split, but UK has won 6 of 8 going back to 2002 and I am sure IU fans still remember the 80-41 beat down we laid on the Hoosiers in 2004. The football rivalry, sadly is non existent. UK won 5 of the last 6 games and now instead of UK, the Hoosiers have been scheduling other Kentucky schools such as WKU, EKU, and Murray State.
#14 MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS
It’s hard to quantify Michigan State as a serious rival since they have not played recently in basketball and well, never in football (at least in recent memory). But throw in the fact that Michigan State Tom Izzo is 2-0 against UK in Regional Finals (1999 and 2005) and 4-2 overall. UK fans have also longed for Izzo during their 2007 coaching search and his name was bandied about when Billy G was fired. Throw in the fact that there is a very good possibility that UK and Michigan State may meet again this season in a regional final … or beyond and you have the makings of a pretty good rival.
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Lot’s more drama from Florida and I know the UK/UL rivalry is great, but it is hard pressed to compare with the Florida/Miami/FSU football drama. While these rivalries have gone down lately with UF winning titles and FSU and UM struggling, there is still lots of fuel for the fire.
Jacksonville Terry Parker High School offensive lineman Tavadis Glenn was kicked out of the University of Florida’s Friday Night Lights football camp. His terrible offense? After stuffing a defensive lineman in a drill, Glenn flashed the “U” sign for Miami with his hands and telling the Gator recruits this is “what Miami do”. Glenn, a Miami commitment, was then bounced from the camp after being told by an unnamed Gator assistant coach to “take that **** down there (to Miami)”
According to reports from the incident, the Gator staff did nothing when Glenn was being harassed by the Gator recruits. Glenn says he threw the “U” sign once but other reports say that he was warned about it on a previous play. Regardless, throwing out a kid who drove from Jacksonville and paid to attend the camp and then kicking him out for that?
Was Mike Miller thrown out of Rupp when he did the “Gator chomp” while on an official UK visit many years ago? Saner heads have to prevail.
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More fun and insanity from Gator lover Mike Bianchi and the Orlando Sentinel. In it he take the University of Tennessee to task in his column “Vols send a horrible message”. I know I took this guy to the woodshed on Friday, but he works my nerves. I do agree with the premise of his article. It is about the Lane Kiffin commitment who when he was 13, took part of a horrendous, immoral incident. From all indications, this incident was the only transgression of his life, he was named “Mr Football” in the state of Tennessee, graduated with a 3.8 average, and Kiffin received a letter of recommendation from the victim of the incident.
Bianchi admits that football coaches “sometimes roll the dice and give scholarships to thieves and thugs, skunks and scoundrels, malcontents and miscreants”. I thought for a minute he was talking about the Gators football team also but then he went on the bash Kiffin and the player for several more paragraphs. Kiffin has said that they researched the player very carefully and that the media is not reporting the real story.
Whatever. What the player did was reprehensible but I am not one to judge him for that. He is Lane Kiffin’s problem. And I know that Calipari has given second chances to players as well. Sometimes it works out and sometimes you get burned.
I just reall
y wonder how Bianchi can throw UT and Kiffin under the bus for ONE transgression that was done five years ago when Urban Meyer has a program full of ADULTS who have been arrested 25 times in the last four years. Sometimes the glare from those football trophies is too bright to not see that you are the pot and calling the kettle black.
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