M15directed Hate

Before we start put this on in the background.

In the past few years the coverage of Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow has reached epic proportions. Prompting a backlash from many that consider him overrated. However, Tebow isn't to blame for the hype that surrounds him. He doesn't claim to be the greatest of all time. He shares praise with his teammates and coaches after a win, and takes the blame when the team falters. No, the focus of the hate directed at Tebow should instead be directed at the ESPN's, Fox's and other major sports media outlets that have bombarded everyone with wall-to-wall coverage. However, to their credit they have to make money, and they know that anything concerning Tebow will generate page views, clickthroughs, comments and ad revenue.

They've done a great job at monetizing the aura of Tebow, and both the love and hate that comes with it. For the Tebow fans they see a college athlete that seems to be genuinely grateful for the opportunity that he's been given. One that loves donning the orange and blue, especially on game day. For the haters, they're tired of the stories about a quarterback they've deemed "overrated", and some can't stand that he's so open about his religious beliefs both on and off the field. Ironically, those people probably stand up at sporting events and proudly recite the Pledge of Allegiance that includes "one nation under God" then bash Tebow with a hearty "keep your religion out of my sports".

In any case, Tebow isn't his own biggest cheerleader. Yes, he does play the game with a lot of passion(sometimes leading to tearful endings when he feels as if he's let every Gator in the world down), but isn't that what we want from our team leaders? And maybe that's the bigger problem. Maybe the hate doesn't come from the overexposure, but from the fact that Tebow doesn't play for your team. The inability to see talent because of team affiliation is probably even greater when the athlete in question is seemingly everywhere. Tebow's not campaigning to be called the best college football player of all time, but some people seem to be convinced that he is. Sadly, those people would probably still denigrate Tebow even if he had won four Heismans and four BCS titles. Fortunately, one Heisman(as a sophomore), two BCS titles, and 140+ total touchdowns should be good enough statistics for anyone that's not an outright hater to see just how talented Tebow has been at the college level.

Start Up The Wambulance, Urban Meyer Has Been Acquitted

That's right, Florida Gators Coach Urban Meyer has been found not guilty of murder...armed robbery...arson...making impermissible phone calls to a recruit and his girlfriend. Whew, with all of the hatred bubbling around the Interwebs regarding Coach Meyer it was difficult to track down exactly what he had done.

Yesterday, Coach Meyer was "cleared of any wrongdoing in the recruitment of junior college receiver Carl Moore and gymnast Maranda Smith". There had been allegations that Meyer helped recruit Smith, Carl Moore's girlfriend, to be a gymnast at Florida so that Moore would also want to head to Gainesville.

There was also speculation that Meyer had made improper contact through a phone call(though, not in the Chris Hansen sense) to Moore during Tim Tebow's acceptance of the Heisman Trophy. You know, something like "Hey Carl, don't worry about racking up stats, you're a receiver. Everyone knows that I always get the receivers the ball. Running backs are for blocking, and carrying Tebow's jockstrap(little known fact, it takes three of them and an offensive lineman to do it)."

While it is nice to see Meyer exonerated, I'm sure it will just increase the level of hostility from rival fanbases. I'm not sure of the exact moment when he became such a lightning rod for spite, though the perceived BCS title game lobbying and comments about seniors after the Michigan loss surely didn't detract from it. However, I think it mostly has to do with the success that he's achieved in the relatively short amount of time that he's been in Gainesville. People hated Steve Spurrier because he was successful, and didn't mind reminding you. They didn't hate Ron Zook, well because he just wasn't all that successful. They do hate Urban Meyer because he's brought Florida back to the top, and stirred up all those feelings of jealousy and malevolence that Spurrier gave to them years ago.

Oh well, he's turned into one of those "you love him when he's on your sideline, and hate him if he's on the other guy's" type of coach, and that doesn't really bother me. Hopefully there's enough room in that wambulance for all the whiners that are sure to come out of the woodwork following this ruling.

Someone At CBS Hates The Gators

Being that it's nearing the end of the college football season, everyone is putting together their "lists". You know, the ones that detail who they felt the best players were, what the best moments were, all that good stuff. Well, on Saturday, during the SEC title game, Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson(and to a lesser extent, Tracy Wolfson) went through their awards. They called them the "Lund-Sons", and everything seemed fine until they reached one screen in particular.
Ok, Lundquist and Danielson, I see what you did there. You tried to sneak it past me, but I caught you. You're top three moments of the season all involved Florida losses?

Come on guys, I know that you covered so many great moments this season that you weren't forced to pick three where the Gators lost. Arkansas beating LSU in triple OT perhaps? Or maybe LSU beating Auburn on a last second touchdown pass? Or LSU beating former LSU head coach Nick Saban and his Alabama team by scoring two touchdowns in the final three minutes? Those are just three that I came up with after checking out what games they covered(thanks to Awful Announcing for the schedule). Neither of those involve a last second field goal, but they have to be every bit as impressive as their "Best Moment" and "Best Move" selections(Demetrious Byrd calling for the ball in the Auburn game won it for them).

Oh well, guess I'll just have to live with Lunquist's and Danielson's Gator hatred. At least it's better than watching them do the "Soulja Boy" on a loop.

ESPN, Hatin' On The Vols

Today, I logged onto my ESPN account to make my picks in the Deadspin College Pick'em league, and noticed something a bit odd. If you're unfamiliar with the league, basically you select a winning team for each of the 10 games presented then assign each one "confidence points"(a scale of 1-10) based on how sure that they'll win their game. For each game there's a summary telling you some tidbits about how each team's season is going, and how they've fared over the past few games. This is where I noticed the oddity.

As I finished reading the Kentucky/Georgia summary I realized that whoever had written it was predicting a Tennessee loss in either of their last two games. You can see in the screen capture that I underlined the word "inevitable" which is used in referencing UT losses to Vandy or Kentucky. In fact, here's the direct quote:

Georgia just has to get past the Cats and wait for the inevitable Tennessee loss to Vanderbilt or Kentucky.

And as any fan of the Matrix(You hear that Mr. Anderson?... That is the sound of inevitability... It is the sound of your death), or anyone with access to a dictionary, can tell you inevitability means:

"incapable of being avoided or evaded"

So basically they're saying that a Tennessee loss to either Vandy or Kentucky is unavoidable. That it's guaranteed. The problem with that is that the Volunteers have traditionally played pretty well against both Vanderbilt and Kentucky.

Against Vanderbilt, the Vols are 23-2 over their last 25 meetings. The most recent loss was in 2005. Prior to that, Tennessee had not lost to Vandy since 1982.

Against Kentucky, the Vols are 24-1 over the last 25 meetings. The last time they lost to the Wildcats was in 1984.

Sure, the way this season has gone anything could happen, but Tennessee losing either(or both) of its last two regular season games isn't a foregone conclusion. Though, it appears like someone out there, either through a grammatical error or because they hate the Vols, would like you think otherwise.

Josh Beckett, Victim Of New England Haters?

I'm not exactly sure how many members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America are from the New England area, but my guess is there aren't many. Or maybe the ones that are from the area have just grown as tired as the rest of us have with all of the love for New England sports teams. At least that's about the only explanation I can come up with for why C.C. Sabathia trounced Josh Beckett for the AL Cy Young Award.

I can understand it being a close race, but Sabathia received 19 of the 28 first place votes and 119 total points. Beckett received 8 first place votes and finished in second with 86 total points. Here's how they stack up statistically, and this includes Beckett's two wins over Sabathia in the playoffs.

Sabathia: 19-7 record, 3.27ERA, 34 games, 4CG, 1SHO, 241IP, 238H, 94R, 86ER, 20HR, 37BB, 209SO, 1.14WHIP

Beckett: 20-7 record, 3.27ERA, 30 games, 0CG, 0SHO, 200.2IP, 189H, 76R, 73ER, 17HR, 40BB, 194SO, 1.14WHIP

Looking at those stats, you can see how a voter could go either way. Apart from Beckett's two wins against Sabathia in the playoffs they both pitched great during the season. However, there's no way that Sabathia pitched so much better than Beckett that he deserved 11 more first place votes and 33 more total points. My theory is that some people have just grown tired of hearing about the achievements of New England sports teams over the past few months, and that Josh Beckett suffered backlash from it in the form of coming in second in the AL Cy Young Voting. Besides, after giving Pedroia AL ROY honors they probably couldn't contribute anymore to the New England lovefest.