Will To Win, Part II

Had an e-mail exchange this week that was too good to pass up.

I have two buddies from high school days, Carlos and Neal, who both graduated from Florida State. Carlos is now a doctor in Miami; Neal is a police officer in Seminole County. This past weekend, Carlos was here in Orlando for a visit with Neal and some other high school friends, and they watched the NCAA championship game together. Sadly, I was out of town, visiting with the in-laws and such in Sarasota; I say "sadly" because while I enjoyed spending time with three-month-old Gabe (my very first nephew), I apparently missed out on the mother of all bar arguments.

Here, with my editing for grammar and spelling (he's a doctor -- you know how bad their handwriting can be, even in print), is the e-mail that Carlos sent me after Monday night's game, and after he read my post on the Gators' unprecedented basketball-football-basketball championship trifecta:

Whit --
OK, so I have a topic that I would like your opinion about. The topic about the Gators' championship basketball game was a hot topic between myself and a ravaging FSU fan (who we will call Neal). We were at dinner with the game on the TV.

I was arguing that, as an FSU fan, I was cheering the Gators to win because I believed that the Gators winning would bring more attention to basketball at the Florida high school and elementary school level, thereby increasing the talent pool and increasing the number of kids that would ultimately be looking to stay at in-state schools. Also, I like Donovan as a person, and feel comfortable cheering on a team that acts in a professional manner with a talented/personable coach. Overall, I felt that cheering on an in-state school was much better for the future of FSU recruiting than an out-of-state, unassociated team.

This person (Neal) could not fathom such ludicrous heresy, and felt that I was completely disrespecting the FSU fan contract. He was a tad upset, and had to be calmed down. He believed that any cheering for an in-state NCAA Division I school other than the mothership, FSU, was cause for charges of treason. He accused me of "over-intellectualizing" the scenario, and failing to recognize reality.

So my question is this: is cheering for the Gators in the championship game by a decisively strong FSU fan seen as treason, or does it have its merits, given that the motive is to increase in-state recruiting power by surrounding schools?

An avid fan of your blog,

Carlos

Ladies and gentlemen, THIS is why I returned home to Florida. You just don't get these kinds of questions while scraping ice off your windshield during a 20-degree morning in central Connecticut. Fortunately for all involved, I am a seasoned professional, one who my friends can rely upon for the final word in all such matters. I'm also a guy who knows a good blog entry when he sees one.

So here was my response to Carlos, which I copied to Neal. Again, careful editing to protect the innocent (and allow me to keep my job):

A curious question you have asked, Grasshopper. This required careful consideration.

There are several different points to consider here. First, while you *attended* Florida State, you have never been a ravaging Seminole like Neal, which A. gives you shaky ground to stand on when it comes to sports fandom and B. probably sends Neal into fits of apoplexy, which may have colored his perception of your Gator-ness on Monday night.

Second, the whole line of logic about increasing the state of Florida's basketball profile through the Gators' success is, for lack of a better word, a pile of crap. The "it's good for all of us" angle is a lame excuse for what you really think, which is this: Donovan is an admirable coach, the team plays its a** off, and even though the Gators are detestable to non-Gators, you have to respect them because they've become a basketball power at an unabashed football school. As I wrote in the blog, Florida is doing it with precisely the same resources as FSU, Miami, and the like, but they're actually freaking DOING it, as opposed to talking about doing it. That hacks off a lot of non-Gators, but they grudgingly respect it. As I wrote the other night, there's no reason that FSU and Miami aren't competitive in hoops, other than will and commitment. Florida, right now, has the will and the commitment, and those other schools don't.

By the way, I happen to agree with the notion that a winning Gator basketball team is good for everybody in the state. But I'm not an alum or a hardcore fan of any program in Florida, so I'm allowed to think that way. Even if it smells like ka-ka.

What were we talking about?

Right -- should you cheer for the Gators. Sorry, Neal, but I say yes. I say yes, because better competition makes your team better, and all of these schools benchmark each other relentlessly. Florida's success will compel FSU and Miami (and, to a lesser extent, UCF and USF) to step it up in terms of recruiting and facilities. Florida's success will get coaches at those other schools fired, which may lead to a better coach, which may lead to more wins (on that note, USF just hired Stan Heath, who was the hoops coach at Arkansas last year. Write that down. It will be important someday). Florida's success, in hoops and football, will light a fire under Bobby Bowden, or perhaps under the tush of his successor, which will make your team better. So while you may have to suck it up and cheer for them when they're playing someone like Ohio State (who I think we can safely mock together, in complete harmony), you know in your heart of hearts that you're REALLY cheering for Florida State in the long run. It will make you better.

And yes, it did occur to me that this would make an EXCELLENT blog topic sometime in the near future. In fact, I may have to go post this entire exchange right now.

Sorry I missed you guys this weekend, but hope all is well. Talk to you soon.

WW

I handled that quite well, don't you think?