Are You Ready To Rock?

Sunday, day two of the Florida Media Days for college football coaches, was the day of the rock star.

Urban Meyer's appearance at the Caribe Royale resort in Orlando was a must for local media. Every columnist, TV guy, and radio reporter within five area codes showed up. David Steele, the Orlando Magic play by play announcer who spent several years as the radio voice of the Gators, used this morning to meet Meyer for the first time.

Backstory: I have known David for a long time. He is a neighbor of mine, and a co-worker at Sun Sports. I know his kids, I know his wife. He is a friend, as well as a professional mentor, whether he knows that or not. In his time as a talking head, he has seen it all, and is not given to hyperbole. David is my professional voice of reason. I was keenly interested to see how he would react to Meyer, and all that goes with him.

Sun Sports had scheduled a one-on-one interview with Meyer before he took the podium to address the media. Since I interviewed Meyer for our "Under The Lights" special and introduced him at an Orlando Gator club gathering at Church Street this summer, we decided that I should conduct the interview and moderate his talk with the press - trying to keep him comfortable, I suppose. I was heartened to hear his first comment to me when he sat down: "That 'Under The Lights' thing came out pretty good, didn't it?"

Yes, coach, it did.

"Some of our assistants took a copy of that show on the road during recruiting trips."

Really? Sweet. I told him that we at Sun Sports had received tremendously positive feedback on that show. He said that the folks in Gainesville had heard the same. I innocently suggested that we should package that show into a DVD and sell it. His eyes got wide.

"Are they going to do that?" he asked. Clearly, he found that to be a terrific idea.

I told him that it wasn't likely, but I thought it would work if we did it. The wheels were obviously turning in his mind.

Once we finished our interview - standard preseason stuff, most of which you will see on future episodes of Chevy Tailgate Saturday - Meyer was introduced to David for the first time.

Steve McClain, the UF Assistant AD who serves as the sports information contact for football and never leaves Meyer's side, explained to Meyer that David is the Sun Sports play-by-play announcer for "Breakfast with the Gators," our exclusive replay of every UF football game. Mild interest from Meyer.

Then, Steve explained that David was once the radio guy for UF, before Mick, and had worked with Charley Pell and Galen Hall. Once again, Meyer's eyes lit up.

Urban Meyer appreciates history, especially as it pertains to Florida football. Once he understood who David was, and made the connection to Gator football history, he wouldn't leave it alone. The two men talked like old friends for half an hour. David entertained all of us with hysterical stories of Pell and Hall, and Meyer ate it up. It was wonderful to watch.

Once they were finished, and Meyer had completed his tour of the media in the lobby of the hotel, I asked David - my muse as a TV guy - what he thought.

"He's amazing. Controls the room. Now, I get it."

You had to be there, friends. You had to be there.

One other note from day two of the Media Weekend: Steve Gilbert, the personable head coach at Jacksonville University, had the unfortunate draw of following Meyer at the podium. This is something close to being Maroon 5 following Bruce Springsteen at a free concert in Central Park.

But give Gilbert tons of credit - he got there early, to hear Meyer speak, and stayed there late, to hear George O'Leary of UCF. He was committed to learning. The same was true on Saturday for Webber head coach Rod Shafer, who arrived several hours in advance of his scheduled time in order to hear Coker and Bowden speak.

Small college football is alive and well in Florida, and the coaches involved get it. There is no ego here, just open minds. They know where they want to be someday, and they know how to get there. It's just a matter of listening.

Bethune-Cookman legend Alvin Wyatt arrived in plenty of time to hear new FAMU head coach Rubin Carter speak to the media. They greeted each other as old friends, more so than Wyatt and Billy Joe ever did. There is much respect between the two men who lead Florida's most prestigious HBC's. You get the sense that Wyatt is rooting for Carter to succeed. A good program at FAMU benefits Bethune-Cookman, and vice versa. They both know it.

Interesting also to hear from representatives of Florida Citrus Sports when I posed the question of why the Florida Classic isn't televised live every year on Sun Sports. 73,000 fans filling the Citrus Bowl - outdrawing anything that UCF can put out there, outdrawing the Citrus Bowl itself - and these two can't figure out a way to get it on TV?

Well, yes, I was told. The two schools are worried that putting the game on TV, especially on a network like Sun Sports, which is available on basic cable, would hurt the gate. They want bodies in the seats, not in their living rooms. Point well taken, but I still think that the Classic would kill on live television, without changing the paid admission. But what do I know.

George O'Leary had to be the most chipper 0-11 coach in college football history. He was in a terrific mood. His SID told me that O'Leary had held a staff party at his home the night before, and the morale was high on campus. They honestly believe that they are bowl contenders this year in Conference USA. Write that down somewhere.

O'Leary looked at me funny when we sat down for our one-on-one interview, and then asked, "are you the guy who hosts all the studio shows on Sun Sports?"

Yes, Coach, I am.

He laughed. "I thought you were taller. Who's that little bald guy who's on those shows with you? You look like you're huge compared to him."

Uhh, that would be Mike Bianchi, coach, and I promise you that I will let him know we had this talk. Of course, seeing as how O'Leary spent fifteen minutes telling me about a fishing trip he took out of Port Canaveral, he may have been thinking of Rick Murphy. Both bald and shorter than me. Either way, I'm a giant.

A good day all the way around. See you on TV.

Media Daze

The concept: bring every college football coach in the state of Florida together for one weekend of preseason hype.

The title: Florida Media Days, brought to you by the Florida Sportswriters Association, Florida Citrus Sports, Sun Sports, and FSN Florida.

The location: Caribe Royale Resort, Orlando.

Today was day one. My role in all this is to introduce the coaches (Paul Kennedy and I split duties - one of us on the podium with the other doing interviews in another room). Our morning lineup included Larry Coker and Bobby Bowden, back to back.

Coker is the sort of man you'd expect to have as a neighbor. An honestly nice guy. Sitting next to him on the podium while he spoke to the banquet room full of media, I could not help but notice his fingers - gnarled, like they'd been repeatedly broken. I'd love to hear the story on that.

Bowden appears at least twenty-five pounds lighter than the last time I saw him in person (at this event last year). He looks tiny. When the inevitable questions arose about the Seminoles' off-season troubles - a couple of arrests, the mysterious case of Wyatt Sexton - Bowden fired back with two arguments.

One, the media overblows everything, "because that's your job." Well, no, coach, it's not really our job, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. I knew what you meant. We do get breathless a little too quickly sometimes.

Two, these kinds of things happen every summer. They happen in every family, even his. We can handle it.

When he made that comment - the one about these kinds of things happening all the time, and in every family - you could have heard a pin drop in the room. Certain newspaper writers and columnists actually stole glances at each other, checking to make sure they had heard Bowden correctly. 'Happen all the time?'

See, these sorts of things DON'T happen all the time, and they DON'T happen to every family, and that was exactly the point of the question. It's not typical to have a player arrested for allegedly dragging his girlfriend through a parking lot by her hair. And even if it were "typical," it sure as hell isn't "acceptable."

The vibe that I received from coach Bowden's comment was pretty simple: if we media drones were expecting any sort of admission that the coaching staff is out of touch and/or losing control of their players, forget it. They don't believe that. Make of that what you will.

Webber International University head coach Rod Shafer believes that small college football should work in Florida. So do I. He also says that adding football at the tiny school in Lake Wales not only reversed a trend of declining enrollment, but actually turned a profit for the school. And you wonder why football is king. Webber has 750 students - over 100 of whom will attempt to play football this year.

Don Strock is tall and tanned. Howard Schnellenberger prefers not to sit at the podium, but would rather walk around while he speaks, without a microphone. FIU opens the season with Kansas and Texas Tech. In the next five years, FAU will play Minnesota, Michigan State, Florida, Oklahoma State, and just about anyone else who they can get. If you want to beat the big schools, you have to play the big schools. If you want to get ahead of the curve in college football, set a trend and look terribly smart five years from now, send a check tomorrow to the booster funds of either FIU or FAU. Hell, make it both.

Pop quiz: can you name every college in Florida that plays intercollegiate football?

Hint: there are twelve.

Go ahead. Think a minute.

Got it?

Florida, FSU, Miami, UCF, USF, Florida Atlantic, Florida International (all Division I); Florida A&M, Bethune-Cookman College, Jacksonville (I-AA); Edward Waters College and Webber International University (NAIA). Nothing in Division II or Division III -- not for football, anyway.

Can you name all twelve of their home fields? Much tougher.

Respectively: the Swamp (Ben Hill Griffin Stadium), Doak Campbell Stadium (and Bobby Bowden Field), the Orange Bowl, the Citrus Bowl (for now), Raymond James Stadium, Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale (again, for now), FIU Stadium, Bragg Memorial Stadium (tough one), Municipal Stadium, D.B. Milne Field, Raines High School, Lake Wales High School.

If you knew all of those, you are one of my guys.

Day two report comes tomorrow.

Taking It Personally

Here's how it works.

Several months ago, I sat in a production meeting at our Sun Sports offices at Universal Studios Florida as the staff kicked around ideas for upcoming episodes of Sports Talk Live.

Ned Tate, the Executive Producer of Sun Sports and FSN Florida, has always pushed me to contribute story ideas. He wants his staff to be directly involved in every aspect of show production, no matter what their title or tenure. He's good like that. So I, as the host of Sports Talk Live, had this crazy notion to do a show entirely focused on the Internet culture surrounding college athletics.

I've been ripped on message boards. I've seen my name taken in vain on websites. I've read Internet missives that called my colleagues "talking heads," seen TV guys similarly pounded by print media, and generally kept myself up to speed on the aggressive nature of the internet as it pertains to sports media. I thought, wouldn't that be a great topic for our weekly talk show.

I had no idea what I was getting into.

After sending e-mails to several different fan sites asking for help on this show, I have received dozens of e-mails from moderators, editors, and publishers, almost all of which echoed the same thought: What took you so long?

Not only were we overwhelmed with responses, we got to hear all the dirt that the Internet admins have on each other. "Don't bring him into the studio, he's a filthy liar." "We scooped them five times last year, they suck." "How can you possibly have a show like this and not include us?" It was Village of the Petty. You think the Smack Boards on your favorite fan site are tough? Try getting some of those site admins into the same room for a TV show. I'd rather herd cats.

Needless to say, I was salivating over the prospect of actually doing this show. Conflict makes good TV. There's a whole world out there of which I have little knowledge, and I can't wait to be educated. Monday, 7pm, Sports Talk Live on Sun Sports. Be there, and buckle up.

Honestly, why do I bother?

So here's what we had on Sports Talk Live on Monday, July 25:

Comments from Wade Boggs (Plant High School, Tampa) on his impending induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, an honor that has been bestowed upon fewer than 200 men over the 130-year history of professional baseball. Insight on same from Dave Hyde of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, a baseball HOF voter. More insight from Tampa Tribune writer Ira Kaufman, a Football Hall of Fame voter, into the election of Dan Marino and Steve Young. Penetrating commentary from Miami Herald writer Jason Cole into the return of Ricky Williams, plus sound bites from Williams and Nick Saban. Todd Wright's thoughts on the return of the NHL and Lance Armstrong's seventh Tour de France win, the latter being one of those sporting accomplishments that will never be surpassed, ever.

Good show, right? I mean, you just cannot work it any harder. And when I checked the e-mails to STL@sunsportstv.com after the show, guess what everyone WANTED us to talk about: college football. Honestly, people, why DO I bother?

It's cool, though. I hear you. There are those in the Sun Sports offices who are convinced that we could talk college football 52 weeks a year on Sports Talk Live and draw a sizable audience. I'm starting to believe them. You're convincing me.

Still, as long as I'm hosting these shows, you're gonna have to get some NBA and some golf. Sorry. I promise, however, that football reigns from August through January.

Lucky 7

Did anyone else find it slightly creepy to see Sheryl Crow carrying Lance Armstrong's kids onto the podium on Sunday?

Armstrong, as you all know, won his seventh straight Tour de France this month, an accomplishment that rivals anything the Yankees or Michael Jordan ever did. You may not know that Armstrong is divorced, having reached a mediated settlement late in 2003 with his former wife, Kristin, who is the mother of his three children. Kristin Armstrong bore three kids and the weight of Armstrong's recovery from cancer, a burden that apparently ruined their marriage. Enter Crow, who met Armstrong at a charity event in Las Vegas in October of 2003. Their relationship has been well-chronicled, and I certainly don't begrudge their happiness together, nor do I blame Armstrong for the dissolution of his marriage.

But still - seeing Sheryl Crow, rock star, wearing Luke Armstrong on her hip on the Champs Elysees like a soccer mom was quite disconcerting. Is this what she signed up for? Is she ready to be a stepmom in between tour dates? And was Kristin in France to help lug those kids around, or did she allow Lance and Sheryl to take them for the month? At the end of the day, it's none of our business, of course. I'm just wondering how the kids view all this.

Saw that Armstrong threw a retirement party at the Ritz in Paris after his record-setting seventh win. Six hundred of his closest friends. How much would you have paid to get on that guest list?

Welcome!

Welcome to yet another new era for Sun Sports.

In place of my weekly columns, we're going to try a blog. Much like the columns, I see the blog as an opportunity to sound off on whatever catches my eye that week, or that day. I will heap praise where appropriate; I will criticize when necessary. These posts will cover the gamut, from college football to the NBA to golf to anything else that Florida sports fans are talking about. My pledge to you is to be thoughtful, honest, and fair. You are encouraged to reply to anything you see here, but needless to say, there are a few ground rules to cover.

First, remember that if and when you reply to anything you read on this site, you open yourself up to an answer from me - publicly. I encourage sharp debate and differences of opinion, but if you're gonna hammer me, bring a coherent argument, and be prepared to see your name in print. It's only fair, after all.

Second, triple bonus points are awarded for being funny. If your post makes me laugh out loud, I guarantee it will be highlighted. In fact, I'll throw this out right now - the funniest e-mail or post of the week will receive its own place of honor on the blog. We might even find a way to read it on live television.

Third, let me settle this up front: I am not a homer for anybody. In a perfect world, every college football team in the state of Florida goes undefeated. We occasionally receive e-mails from fans of certain schools who rip us for "obviously" being biased for or against a certain school rival. It ain't true. Sorry. A winning team in Tallahassee is just as good for business here at Sun Sports as a winning team in Gainesville, Miami, Boca Raton, Jacksonville, Tampa, or anywhere else. Accept it, embrace it, and join the party.

Lastly, I'd be happy to answer questions about programming on Sun Sports, to the best of my ability. Bear in mind that in most cases, the reason why you're not seeing more of School X on our air is because School X has a contract with its conference to appear elsewhere. Again, in a perfect world, we show every game from everybody, but it doesn't work that way. Still, if you want details on "Tailgate Saturday" or the "Chevy Florida Fishing Report," fire away.

That's pretty much it. Other than that, all bets are off. I write, you answer, I write again. Everything is fair game. Keep watching this space for updates and special features, and on with the show.