Dear Tim Tebow,
Every should know off the bat that I am a huge Florida fan. But watching them this year has been nothing short of a struggle. Watching that offense just spurt and putter through so many games was horrible. Watching that defense gang tackle and be absolutely stellar was fun until they kept getting gashed trying to stop the run. It was set up perfectly all year; both undefeated, a much hyped rematch, Florida losing to Alabama. Watching all season I knew it could happen. I knew the defense would have to play perfect and that the offense would have to find some rhythm maybe in the running game. Tebow couldn't rally anything because there was no one on the offense to talk to, and when he went to pump up the defense it was far to late and hard to buy in to because he put them on the field all game, they were beat and exhausted. 'Bama's kid quarterback didn't scare me, neither did Julio Jones, but Ingram did and he proved me wise. The defense did all they could in the first half, but in the second half the offense couldn't stay on the field and everyone, including a injured Brandon Spikes, was done.
Does this hurt the Tim Tebow legacy? Yes, he should have been able to deliver a perfect season and another title and another Heisman. But in reality it isn't horrible, certainly disappointing, but I am far more worried about the next few years. Remember when the Gators won back to back titles in basketball? As do I, but you have to remember the two year rebuilding and restocking period after that. This year they seem to be back to some of that glory, but they are young and the polls hate them. Now what does Urban Meyer do? He couldn't even restock that offense with Tim there and that defense still intact. Everyone will leave and they will probably fall out of favor for at least one, if not two years. And I am sure there are plenty of good articles on Tebow and his legacy being diminished or staying true or whatever. I don't care, I won't read them. Tim Tebow is still the same for me, not the greatest college player but a damn good winner, this loss doesn't change things for me as much as it does for others. Despite all of this I still love Tebow and Meyer and Spikes for what they did these past four years (that is until they go unranked at the end of next year).Minor Hits
As bad as Saturday was for me (Florida, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, and even Clemson all losing), Sunday was awesome for me (Dolphins, Saints, Packers, Broncos, Raiders, Giants and Cardinals all won).
Also I finally think we are in dire need of a playoff system for college football. The playing field is becoming more level therefore all the upsets over the last few years. And with five, five undefeated teams how can you deny three of them a chance at the title? Make a playoff, make it good and work out any kinks quickly and maybe this means Florida wins more titles.
Louis Murphy (wideout from the Gators, now a Raider) has been pretty great this year and was a definite steal in the draft. He outplayed the whole Steelers secondary and if he is playing like a seasoned veteran right now. He makes me think that Dallas Baker still deserves a chance on some team and not the practice squad. It still saddens me that the only time I saw him on television was Big Ben throwing a ball to him, at his feet, five yards ahead of him. But he still got that ring! Anyways it made me think who could be that overlooked receiver this year that ends up being a draft steal. I think everyone knows about Golden Tate but for some reason his rankings still are not that high yet. I have a hunch his stock will start going up towards the draft. So instead I have two players that could make big impacts. Jordan Shipley of Texas and Marshawn Gilyard of Cincy. Shipley seems to run good routes and is pretty quick and has return skills, but I'm still not positive. It could be that whole room mate thing with Colt McCoy, like Tebow with Riley Skinner who is honestly not that good. After watching that Pitt-Cincy game I saw a lot out of Gilyard who had apparently done that all year. He has some speed and great size. I just haven't watched enough to know about his football IQ and route running or his hands.
I know this is a year or two away but I'm going to go ahead and say the Dolphins draft AJ Green when he declares. He is so good and they need him so bad. Imagine him as the one Bess as the two and put Hartline or Camarillo in the slot. That instantly helps that receiving corps. which are in dire need of help.
Enough football i don't even understand that sport anymore. Let us talk basketball now, it is so much simpler and easy to watch and play and just a smooth game.
I love stats, even the weird ones that ESPN sometimes has to reach for and put on air because they are having a slow sports day. Then there are stats that are just amazing like Carmelo Anthony playing 760 minutes and scoring 622 points so far this season or one point for every 1.2 minutes played. So of course I was excited when I saw this stat on ESPN's Weekend Dime:
Now I don't care that three of the five are Lakers players, or that Andrew Bogut is in this list because of Brandon Jennings being great so that he can play in the paint, I like this because Monta Ellis is third on the list. If you remember a couple of years ago Monta was the new Dwyane Wade, or Flash 2.o, then he gets injured on a mo-ped and talks about the team a little and everyone forgets about him. But I never did, he talks about that team because they handle everything poorly, it was pretty minor surgery if I remember correctly so that never worried me. Now here he is, somewhat a team leader to the players, scoring all the time and even playing a little defense with a bunch of steals. I just want to take this moment to say that Monta Ellis is still good and will continue to be good.While I am at it, why didn't the Cavs go after this kid like I asked? Their weakest position right now is two guard because Anthony Parker is mostly garbage. I understand the thinking of putting shooters all around LeBron so he can drive and dish, but then why get Shaq and why didn't it work against the Magic? We need another player than can create and drive on his own, when all that trade talk about Stephen Jackson came up I kept thinking it should have been about Monta. Now though I understand it would be hard to pry him from Oakland's death grip on him, but two guard is still a problem for them. So why can't we take a buried treasure from another trashy team? The Nets have three starting caliber shooting guards, all of them young (Courtney Lee, Terrance Williams, Chris Douglas-Roberts). Terrance is their 1st round pick and still a rookie, CDR is playing out of his mind right now so Mr. Lee seems to be the odd man out and my favorite of the three anyways. He did great against the Cavs in the finals, he can shoot and drive a little bit and plays defense so he would fit right in here. If not I'd really like to see the Cavs go after Evan Turner. I know he just broke his back but he is good. He's got size and an all around game that would develop greatly with LeBron, much like Hickson finally seems to be doing. He plays at Ohio State and averages 18.5 points a game, 6 assists, 11 rebounds, and a steal and block a game. He would be a great complement and a way to get younger.
Forgive me but I think I'm kinda digging Danilo Gallinari. He is doing exactly whats expected of him and that's scoring and spreading the floor with his size. Its taken Andrea Bargnani far longer to get to that level and Danilo is still really young and has a good relationship with coach D'Antoni. I expect he'll only get better offensively and probably get worse defensively but oh well.
posted by: Jason
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