Seeing Right Through It

This week, another potshot at Orlando's proposed "Triple Play" of a new arena, performing arts center, and Citrus Bowl overhaul. Oddly enough, it did not come from someone at the Orlando Sentinel.

Instead, it's Orlando magazine, a publication that dearly loves to spar with the Sentinel. I love the line about "routinely lift[ing] stories from local television, the Orlando Business Journal, Orlando Weekly, and Orlando magazine." In previous issues, Jim Clark, the publisher of the magazine, has also gone after Emily Badger, who covers Florida State athletics for the Sentinel, accusing her of plagiarism. In our business, that's just about the heaviest, nastiest charge one can toss around. Mr. Clark apparently wishes to convey the message that he means business.

So anyway, Mr. Clark points out in his op-ed piece that "despite the cheerleading by the [Orlando] Chamber of Commerce and the Orlando Sentinel, there are real problems in coming up with the $1.1 billion to build the Triple Play."

Really? Thanks.

Throughout this process, as Orlando has moved in fits and starts toward becoming a world-class community, with facilities on par with Miami and Tampa (and even Jacksonville, for that matter), I've tried to remain transparent. Of course I'm a cheerleader for the arena and Citrus Bowl. I work in sports media, and rising tides lift all boats. This has never been a secret. It's too bad that some influential voices continue to hide their true motivation.

Back to the current issue of Orlando: The financing plan currently being discussed by the Magic, Orange County, the City of Orlando, and local leadership in the arts, entertainment, and hospitality industries calls for an increase in the so-called "tourist tax." Part of that increase has been promised to Orlando's powerful tourism lobby, for increased advertising and promotion. It's a step towards placating the hospitality executives, who are understandably tweaked about seeing tourism dollars go towards anything other than, well, tourism. Fair enough.

Mr. Clark writes: "The tourism industry has been on the defensive, but did get a guarantee of a large part of the additional penny for advertising. The problem is that even with the additional revenue, Orlando still lags behind Las Vegas in ad dollars. And in terms of spending per tourist attracted, Orlando is near the bottom."

Vegas, baby, Vegas. That's the Evil Empire in the eyes of Orlando's tourism industry. Vegas scares the crap out of Orlando, for good reason. Las Vegas poses the most significant threat to Orlando's reign as tourism capital of America.

In another section of the same issue of Orlando magazine, the cheerleading is just as transparent as that which the mag accuses the Chamber of Commerce and the Orlando Sentinel of doing: "Repeat after us: "Tourists are our friends!" Even without the newly approved bump in the Tourist Development Tax, to help fund the possibly-never-to-be-built performing arts center, some of that annual revenue has been making its way to local arts groups through the Orange County Arts and Cultural Affairs office..."

Hmmm. According to its own website, Orlando magazine "reflects the lifestyle and interests of an upscale, educated readership...Its mission remains unchanged: to offer readers compelling local content that is both entertaining and informative, and to provide information that will drive decision making."

So let's provide all the information before we make our decision: in 2004, Orlando was acquired by the Morris Communications Company, an Augusta, Georgia-based media outfit that owns newspapers, radio stations, magazines, and...wait for it...visitor guides. Among Morris' holdings in central Florida, other than Orlando magazine: WHERE Orlando, Guest Informant, and the Best Read Orlando Guide, all geared towards tourists. They're the types of publications that you find on the coffee table when you check into your hotel.

In other words, Orlando magazine's ownership is tied directly to Orlando's tourism industry. Mr. Clark is simply doing his job: promoting an industry that enhances his business. But does that match the magazine's stated mission of "reflecting the lifestyle and interests of an upscale, educated readership?"

I suppose it does, if said readership were 100 percent employed by the tourism industry. But, see, I'm not. And there are a lot of central Floridians in the same boat. As I've written in this space before, Orlando's emergence as a world-class city will be driven by people with vision, people willing to compromise for the greater good. It's obvious, however, that we're still debating what's good. Let's at least be forthright with our motivations.

The Magic want a new building to give themselves the same revenue opportunities currently enjoyed by the great majority of NBA franchises. Florida Citrus Sports and the tenants of the Citrus Bowl stadium would like to offer a venue that can compete for conference championship games and BCS-level bowl games. Proponents of a new performing arts center believe that Orlando deserves a facility on par with anything else in the country. The tourism lobby wants more business. City and county leaders want economic development -- and votes in the next election. These goals are not mutually exclusive, but they present a monumental challenge.

If everyone works together, with significant give and take, they can get there. However, they must be honest with each other. Consider this a call for transparency.

The End Of Football, Maybe

The 2006 college football season ended, finally, at roughly 2:30pm on Friday, January 19th, 2007.

At that moment, I wrapped up the final on-camera taping of the studio introductions to Sun Sports' Gator Championship Saturday, an unprecedented back-to-back airing of the Florida Gators' two most recent championship games -- the NCAA basketball final vs. UCLA from last spring, followed by the BCS National Championship Game vs. Ohio State. We're putting those up on Sun Sports this weekend. Set your TiVo's accordingly.

During that same studio session, I also taped the introductions to "Gator Glory: Celebration In The Desert," a one-hour Sun Sports special that chronicled Florida's trip to Arizona from the inside: locker room footage, on-field footage, scenes from the Valley of the Sun that you didn't get on the game broadcast. It was, to put it mildly, a heroic effort on the part of our producers and editors to get this puppy on the air (remember this name, Gator fans: Mike Wargo. You owe him one).

When I walked out of the Sun Sports studio on that Friday afternoon, college football was done. D-U-N done. Finally. I think. I hope. Enough already.

Look, I'm happy for the Gators. Really. Winning teams are good for business here at Sun Sports, whether it's the Lightning, the Magic, the Seminoles, or any of our broadcast partners, including Florida. But I'm flat worn-out. Time to move on.

In the words of President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet: What's next?

Fishing. Specifically, the Chevy Florida Fishing Report, which is just around the corner.

Basketball. On Tuesday, I'm back at the Amway Arena to do the pregame and sidelines for the Orlando Magic home game against Dallas (6:30pm, Sun Sports). Somewhere between the SEC Championship Game and the BCS Championship Game, the Magic won five in a row, then lost five in a row. I was finally able to catch up with the Boys in Blue on Monday night, when they conveniently smoked Cleveland on the road. I'm not sure what the fuss was all about -- they looked pretty sharp from my couch. Passes were zipping, threes were falling, Brian Hill was three shades less red than normal. Perhaps they just needed my full attention. They've got it, finally.

Finally.

What else? My golf game, long neglected, is in shambles. My kids are taller. I need a haircut. It's been a long freaking football season.

Time to close the book, and move on. Thanks for all the response to our UF coverage. A few final notes on football before I shut 'er down for a while:

--There's a note in the Miami Herald about Robert Marve, the splendid senior quarterback at Plant High School in Tampa, who has re-opened his recruiting process to include Miami and new head coach Randy Shannon. Marve was a verbal commit to Alabama until Mike Shula was fired. Note to Hurricane fans: cross your fingers. I did the play-by-play of Plant's state championship game vs. Ponte Vedra Nease for FSN Florida, and Marve is the real deal. Poise and confidence well beyond his years. He's a winner, and you'd be well-served to get him. I like your chances.

--Florida State is in Stealth Mode, and I like their chances, too. Jimbo Fisher is a brilliant hire. Couple him with the other new blood on the coaching staff -- Lawrence Dawsey, Dexter Carter, Chuck Amato -- and I see Bobby Bowden stockpiling coaching talent the way he used to stockpile players (and perhaps still does). The FSU message board vibe since New Year's Day has been "we're back, baby." You watch. They're right.

--But until FSU or Miami delivers on the field, USF is still the second-best team in the state. It's worth noting that Sports Illustrated named the Bulls as a top-25 sleeper in their college football recap issue. Welcome to the party, guys. We've been selling this team all along.

--UCF fans should note an intriguing recruiting class for the fall of 2007, one that includes Joe Weatherford (younger brother of FSU quarterback Drew) and Nate Tice (son of former Vikings head coach Mike, who played for current UCF head coach George O'Leary in high school). Both are quarterbacks. Somewhere, in our Sun Sports vault, we have interview tapes from the O'Leary "Under The Lights" special wherein Mike Tice says that he'd be honored if his son ended up playing college football for O'Leary. Lo and behold.

Okay, seriously, I'm done. You get nothing but NBA, golf, and the occasional soccer rant from me from this point forward. It's over.

Until Signing Day. Stay tuned.

The Envelope Please

Apparently, my blog has been nominated for an award. As an "MSM" guy (mainstream media), it's an honor to be considered. Truthfully. Spend a few minutes reading Every Day Should Be Saturday or MGoBlog or the College Football Resource...these guys do their homework, and since they, unlike me, don't have to worry about angering a television partner, they are free to be as scathing and as funny as they wish. (Not that I'm a homer, necessarily, or have to hold back, or...ah, crap, never mind. They're funny.)

Results are expected this week. I think I can already hear the music playing...

Network of Champions

This Saturday at noon, I will host Sun Sports' coverage of the Florida Gators' championship pep rally at the Swamp in Gainesville. This will be the fourth championship parade-slash-celebration that I have hosted since I returned home to Florida in August of 2003: the Lightning's Stanley Cup parade in '04, the basketball Gators' O-Dome party in the spring of '06, the Heat's parade through the searing streets of Miami in the summer of '06, and now the football Gators. If your kid's Pop Warner team wins the league title this year and earns a pizza party, call me. I have experience.

Monday, January 8th, the day of the BCS National Championship Game, dawned as my two previous mornings in Scottsdale had done, under a blue dome of perfection. Arizona is mesmerizing. The weather was too good to stay inside, and since I had a couple of hours before I had to hop the media bus to Glendale, I decided to go for a run in the hilly neighborhoods behind the resort. The Scottsdale area is a high rent district, to put it mildly, and there are some homes cut into the rocky mesas behind Camelback that are dead solid Architectural Digest. The stunning homes, combined with the breathtaking views from the mountaintops, put me in an excellent frame of mind for the ride to the BCS Championship Game.

One thing I learned this weekend: to create a truly excellent college bowl game/Super Bowl/similar big athletic event, you've got to have complete and total buy-in from all relevant parties. Local police, fire, hotels, restaurants, attractions, golf courses, bus lines - everybody has to be cognizant of the event, ready to handle the extra numbers, and willing to do so, with the understanding that a rising tide (read: spending) eventually lifts all boats. I say this because, based on what I saw this weekend, the Phoenix area appears to get it.

There wasn't a single necessity left unconsidered for the media at the Camelback Inn. The local businesses were friendly and inviting. Covering a game on the road, which can often be an irritating process, was downright convenient. Hell, they gave us a police escort from the hotel to the stadium on Monday, lest the media hacks get caught in traffic.

Know what that produces? Good feeling. Positive impressions. The legions of fans and media who descended upon the Valley of the Sun for the game all went home blabbing about how wonderful the place is - some of us even wrote blogs about it. That positive word-of-mouth eventually translates into investment. And THAT is why cities fight to improve their facilities for things like bowl games and Super Bowls, a concept that still escapes too many people in Orlando.

But you have to do it right, or it can backfire dramatically (see: Jacksonville's Super Bowl, and the snarky columns that followed from the national media). Even with a great stadium, an event is doomed if there are too many shareholders unwilling to jump on board. The Phoenix area, including Glendale and Scottsdale, absolutely nailed the BCS Championship Game.

Glendale is about a half-hour west of downtown Phoenix. The University of Phoenix Stadium (built as Cardinals Stadium) rises from a flat stretch of desert next to a highway, a silvery bulb framed against the mesas. The media bus dropped us on the north side of the parking lot about four hours before game time.

Tailgating was in full swing, with the crowd about 70-30 in favor of Ohio State. A couple of traveling Gators from Ocala recognized me as I walked toward our set. There was a pretty decent buzz around the stadium, in all senses of the word. Some of these people probably would have been wise to pace themselves.

Our set was at "College Football's Biggest Party," a sponsor-fest on browned-out practice fields next to the stadium. It was a 25-dollar ticket to get some food, drink, and entertainment. The place was mobbed. Sun Sports had a football toss set up next to the stage where we gave away t-shirts. I loved the text on the shirt: "On the 8th day, the desert turned to Swamp." Gotta steal me one of those next time I head for the downtown office.

With all the well-lubricated Gator fans in attendance, our live pregame show at 4:30 local time was energetic. Doering was back. Terry Jackson and Joe Germaine sat together - Germaine being the quarterback of the 1996 Ohio State team that defeated 2nd-ranked Arizona State, which gave Jackson's Florida team a (successful) shot at a national title in the Sugar Bowl against Florida State. Terry thanked Joe, personally, for the favor done by the Buckeyes ten years earlier. This may mean nothing to you, but that's good TV, dammit.

The only downside to our outdoor pregame location was the omnipresent cloud of fine dust that settled on our desk, our suits, our hair, everywhere. West Texas-style grunge. Nasty stuff. It's the desert, dummy.

Brady, Terry and I happened to walk into the stadium at the south end, which is where they wheel out the grass when needed. With the turf in its rightful place inside the stadium, the exterior lot was filled with satellite trucks, more than I've ever seen in one place. We showed our press credentials for the third time (good luck sneaking in) and entered the stadium.

Many people assume that I spend most weekends attending college football games, but the opposite is true - because we produce pregame and postgame shows from the studio, I rarely attend games. Walking onto the field during the pregame warmups was a little mind-blowing. The sheer scale of University of Phoenix Stadium is staggering, especially with the roof closed, as it was when we entered (they would later open the roof for the fly-by, then close it again for game time). I get a little vertigo just remembering the view from field level. Also pretty cool to stand on the turf next to the players - again, I'm in studio all season. I see the athletes during media days, or when we schedule a sit-down interview. Standing next to Reggie Nelson while he's in uniform is a sharp reminder that the purpose of all this nonsense is, in fact, a football game.

Stands matched the parking lot: 70-30 in favor of Ohio State. A sea of red on the east side. Couple of young Gator fans with very good seats hollered at us - "there WILL be a postgame show tonight!" Seeing as how we were promoting said postgame show as dependent upon a Florida win, I was impressed with both their confidence and their attention to detail.

Media overflow, as is usually the case at games of this magnitude, was in the stratosphere. Section 402, Row 18. Anything higher requires FAA clearance. The view wasn't that bad, though. We also had the Florida student section next to us, which I didn't mind at all. Sometimes it's fun to watch others having fun.

Oddly enough, Ginn's opening kickoff return for a touchdown didn't bother me all that much. As was written here, Florida has been winning bizarre games all season - Ohio State going 93 yards on the opening kick seemed to fit right in. When Florida answered with a touchdown on its first drive, then came back to take a 14-7 lead in the quarter, I thought it sent the correct message - "we plan to be here all night."

And man, did they show up. I told Frank Frangie after the game that it seemed as if the offense suddenly "got it" just in time for the SEC Championship Game and the BCS Championship Game. All the tweaks and subtleties that Urban Meyer and his staff have been throwing at these players for the last two years have tumbled into place. Mistakes were minimal; everyone knew where he was supposed to be. They weren't thinking anymore, they were playing. This is what it's supposed to look like.

Defensively, they were monsters. Speed, speed, and more speed. Of all the possible storylines for this game - all the noodles that all the columnists threw at the wall over the last month - the one that stuck was "speed." Florida had it, Ohio State didn't. Is that purely an athletic difference? Not necessarily. The Buckeyes looked flat out of the gate (other than Ginn's KO return), perhaps from the 51 days they spent reading their own clippings. Once they got down - trailing at the half for the first time all season, the 20-point deficit their largest of the year - they seemed befuddled. Clearly, this was not a team accustomed to catching up. Predictably, they didn't, aided by coach Jim Tressel's panicky decision to go for it on 4th-and-one in the first half. You can say you picked Florida to win, as I did, but anyone who claims they saw a blowout coming is flat-out lying. The Gators simply peaked at exactly the correct time.

Our postgame show was a bit muted. No fans out by the set at that late hour, very chilly in the desert at night. I'm sure that the big celebration will bust out on Saturday, when the team returns to the Swamp at noon (live on Sun Sports). Florida becomes the first school ever to hold the mens' basketball and football championships at the same time, which means that Sun Sports becomes the first cable network in history to telecast the defending hoops, football, and NBA champs concurrently. We are truly the Network of Champions. Florida State and the Orlando Magic: you're on the clock.

I leave Scottsdale, sadly, and head for Sky Harbor. I make my connection in San Francisco, incredibly, and head for home. Florida's championship means more work for us in the coming weeks - aside from the pep rally on Saturday, don't forget about those replays of the game on Friday and Sunday - but it's good for business. Rising tides lift all boats.

Speaking of which, the Chevy Florida Fishing Report returns next month. One season into the next.

Postcards from Arizona 2

SUNDAY, JANUARY 7

Much better day today.

First of all, Arizona is gorgeous. At least, the part I'm seeing, which is Scottsdale and Paradise Valley. Rocky mesas frame the landscape in every direction. The sky is impossibly blue, the air is crisp and clean, and the people here are incredibly friendly. Why wouldn't they be? If you can't be in a good mood around here, you've got issues.

The mood was excellent this morning at the Fox Sports Grill in Scottsdale, where we taped our National Championship Special, which aired back in Florida today at 4:30 and 6:30 on Sun Sports. The "Desert Gators" - Phoenix's Gator Club - got the word out and represented: the Grill was packed to the gills for our taping. Hundreds upon hundreds of fans. There was a line around the building at 9am for our 10am taping. Much thanks to Gary and all the Desert Gators for spreading the word. The atmosphere was electric.

Brady, Terry and I were joined by Charles Davis, Max Starks, and our man Doering. Charles, I should mention, might be the nicest man in America. Max might be the biggest (with his hair fully grown out, he looks like a lion wearing a sweatshirt). And Doering - well, around here, Doering is Elvis. The Gator fans won't leave him alone, and to his credit, he signs everything, poses for every photo, and generally enjoys himself. All things considered, it was a terrific show.

The golf question was solved. Played 16 holes at Silverado, a public course here in Scottsdale, with running shoes and rented clubs. Before darkness chased us off - it gets dark fast out here, and COLD - enjoyed meeting three locals who were very interested to hear about what we were doing for the game. Played like doo-doo, which may have something to do with the yard-sale-caliber sticks I was using. But hey, mountain views on every hole. Life is good.

Tomorrow is game day. Media busses leave from the Camelback Inn at 11am and 1pm local time - kickoff at 6pm local. The TV world revolves around East Coast time. We do a live pregame show outside the stadium from 4:30 to 5:30 local (6:30 back in Florida), then I head inside for the game. Very much looking forward to it.

I'm sticking with my prediction, by the way. With the fan representation going about 70-30 in favor of Ohio State around here, gotta go against the grain.

Postcard from Arizona #1

FRIDAY, JANUARY 5

This is not starting well.

Orlando to DC was no problem; the connecting flight from Reagan National to Phoenix, however, was our personal Journey to Hell. Honestly, worst flight I've ever taken. In case the attorneys are reading, the airline rhymes with Two Less Fairways.

A "problem with paperwork" (read: something broke) necessitated the dreaded call to the mechanics. Wait time: one hour. For reasons still unexplained, we then sat on the tarmac for another hour while every plane in North America was allowed to land first. Total distance traveled in those two hours: 100 yards.

The flight crew, recognizing a potential riot, offered one round of free drinks once underway - which utterly depleted their stocks for the remainder of the five-hour flight. Oh, yeah, and they also ran out of food. I swear I am not making this up. Having read every in-flight magazine twice, finished my novel (the one I was writing AND the one I was reading), and listened to every playlist on my iPod three times, we pulled into Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport at roughly 10:30pm local time - a mere two and one half hours behind schedule, 14 hours after I left my driveway. This is Phoenix, for God's sake, not Manila.

This is Phoenix. Actually, from where I sit, this is Paradise Valley, Arizona, a few minutes south of Scottsdale and about a half hour east of Glendale.

The media headquarters for the BCS Championship Game is the historic Camelback Inn, once the desert hideaway for Hollywood's Golden Age stars. Think Palm Springs. The resort is magnificent. Once the Sun Sports crew dumped our bags into our rooms at around midnight, we stumbled upon a still-raging media reception inside the Manor House at the resort, brought to you by Tostito's - free chips and salsa for all my men. There was our guy Bianchi, holding court in the living room with a gaggle of fellow Florida sportswriters, including Martin Fennelly from the Tampa Tribune. The straw poll at midnight has Ohio State as a heavy favorite. Clearly, nobody is reading my blog. No matter. I crash at around 1:30 in the morning, happy to have a warm bed and nobody next to me in a middle seat.

Not sure of the schedule today. Most of the hard-core media availability is over. We're taping our first show Sunday morning at 10am local time. I hear there's a couple of decent golf courses around Scottsdale - this bears further investigation.

Off To Arizona

One quick point before I get to the important stuff: can anyone explain to me how LSU failed to win the Southeastern Conference this year?

Seriously, is there any team in the league more loaded? The Tigers didn't simply beat Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl on Wednesday night - they shredded them. A complete embarassment.

There are two ways to go with this. On one hand, Notre Dame could be vastly overrated, a point made by many before me. Yet, ND is stuffed down our throats on a weekly basis, generating Olympic levels of resentment among the rest of college football. Why does this happen?

My theory: the national media's infatuation with the Golden Dome is based on the same set of criteria that annually compels the NFL to hire acts like Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones for Super Bowl halftimes: old people calling the shots. Notre Dame's last national championship was nearly twenty years ago. Over those two decades, the Irish winning percentage ranks 16th among D-I programs -- behind Marshall, Texas A&M, and Boise State, among others. Yet, because the TV executives and newspaper editors who make coverage decisions have fond memories of Notre Dame's glory days -- and because they've seen "Rudy" twelve times but never heard of Borat -- they're convinced that the Irish are a true national draw, to this day.


We are liking Ireland Football team very much!

Forget it. You know what draws interest? Winning. See: Southern Cal, Texas, Ohio State, Florida, et al. Look, I like Notre Dame just fine. But can we start hyping programs that actually DO something?

The second angle to this year's Sugar Bowl -- the one that I am advocating -- is that LSU is one of the most talented teams in the country. Losses to Auburn and Florida are excusable, I suppose, but it's still mind-boggling that the Tigers couldn't even make the SEC Championship Game. I don't read the LSU message boards like I read Florida and Florida State, but I wonder how Les Miles is being received right about now. Ironically, that win in New Orleans didn't help him in that regard.

Now to the matter at hand: the BCS National Championship Game. Pay attention -- remember, I'm the guy who won the picks contest on Rec Warehouse College Kickoff. I also won my fantasy football league this year, which has nothing to do with anything, but bears repeating, just so my co-workers get a chance to read it again (I'm currently signing all my e-mails with "Whit Watson, Super Bowl Champion").

Florida will win.

Florida will win, not because I'm a homer, and not because Sun Sports has had a broadcast agreement with the school that spans over a decade and includes our "Breakfast with the Gators" football replays, live postgame shows, specials, and dozens of live games in other sports every year. Florida will win, not because I'm an Orlando native, and not because my parents went to school there. Florida will not win because I necessarily want them to win, or think they should.

Florida will win, because they're not supposed to. It's perfect. They've done it all year.

After every game this season, as Brady Ackerman and I reviewed the highlights on the live Geico Gator Postgame show, I have uttered a phrase somewhat similar to this: "Gator fans, this is your team. This is what you have." They win, even if they look like drunken sailors in the process. Swerving across the finish line. They're the Stroker Ace of college football.


How's this for spectacular!

Call it destiny, call it fate, call it "winning ugly" -- Florida is going to win this game. I've talked to a former Sun Sports employee who now lives in Ohio, and he tells me that the fans there are thinking blowout. Like four-touchdown blowout. Every talking head in America is thinking more or less the same thing, but putting it in milder terms. Not since these same Buckeyes played Miami in the 2002 Fiesta Bowl has there been such a decided underdog in a national championship game.

And who won that game? Right. That was Ohio State's year. And this year belongs to Florida. Not because I think they're better -- they're not -- but because they've got no business beating a team as loaded as Ohio State. Which is right in their wheelhouse.

Proof? Certainly:

Down by ten on the road at Tennessee, they culminate a comeback by giving it to a freshman quarterback on 4th-and-1 to set up a game-winning touchdown.

Down by ten at home against Alabama, they go on a 28-3 run to close the game, highlighted by a 70-yard interception return by Reggie Freaking Nelson to salt it away.

They beat LSU by recovering two key fumbles. They forced five turnovers to beat Georgia. They blocked two punts to beat Vanderbilt. They blocked a potential game-winning field goal to edge South Carolina. They recorded three interceptions and marched 74 yards in ten plays in the 4th quarter to beat Florida State, on the road.

Seriously, would you bet against this team right now? They'll block two kicks, recover two fumbles, get a touchdown on a single-wing veer option Statue-of-Liberty puntrooskie play that Meyer found in Earle Bruce's memoirs (he'll call Tebow's number for that one), and they'll win. 23-21. Maybe 21-18. Some goofy number like that.

Clyde Torkle would have loved this team. "You either crash, or win."

Trust me -- they'll win.

Sun Sports is on location in Arizona for the Gators National Championship Special, Sunday, January 8th, at 4:30pm and 6:30pm eastern. We're also live outside University of Phoenix Stadium (the formerly named Cardinals Stadium) in Glendale on game day, Monday, January 9th, at 6:30pm eastern for the Gators National Championship Pregame, which will lead you directly into Fox's game coverage (with old friend Charles Davis) at 7:30 eastern. Join me with Brady, Terry, Chris Doering, Nat Moore, and a cast of thousands. Hotel internet connections permitting, I hope to blog here from Arizona over the weekend. See you on TV.

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