Thankfully only the people who stay in hotels read the USA Today. No worries about bulletin board fodder since UF Fans stay in Motels...
And what is that crap about Alleva raising his 'job status' with us by negotiating an extra home game. But again no one reads USA Today.
I agree 100% with everything you say here except the 1st sentence. Not saying I know its wrong, I just find it hard to believe a major university would stoop to something so cowardly. Whether its true or not, the fact is that the Florida media successfully spun the story into LSU as the bad guys, and now drop this story on top of it? There are going to be pissed off and fired up coming in here to epic proportions. I hope we can match the emotions.
Ok, more likely UF didn't want to lose the money from a home game. But I believe they also publically stated they didn't want to put themselves at a competitive disadvantage, which is almost equivalent to ducking out. It's really the commissioner's fault for allowing it to transpire as it did, but he isn't going to admit fault. I agree that Alleva continues to lose the PR battle.
Deep down you are allowed to think and feel any way you want, just don't put that stuff in writing. My biggest takeaway from all this was the lack of power the commissioner had to make this happen, regardless of how anyone felt. Shocked me the home office had to enact more leverage to ensure this won't happen again. See what you guys caused.
Here's the thing. Florida had plenty of time to act. But they didn't. They had a bunch of precendent, and maybe they didn't use the hurricane to get out of a game, but they damn sure used a hurricane to leverage themselves a great deal. They knew the only option was to go to Baton Rouge and they weren't going to do that unless they got something in return. We are talking about a team that hasn't played anyone further west than Fayettville since 1983. They are a bunch of pussies. Fuck Florida they don't do anything unless they can either get something out of it, or it suits their own interests. You think they would have offered all the facilities that LSU offered in reversed roles?
Actions speak louder than words. Florida was beat up that week. their front seven was a shell of itself and they're missing their best QB versus a very good pass rushing defense. UF saw that not playing the game gave them an advantage in the SEC East in terms of winning percentage. It was only after they learned they would not be able to participate in the SEC CG unless they played LSU that this game happened.
I'll bet you Roy Kramer would have had the swag to make it happen. Probably the most powerful commissioner the SEC has ever had. Too bad he's been retired forever enjoying his millions. Not sure about Slive and I can't even recall the name of the current commish. Skankey or something like that.
