Seriously, I didn't come up with the name. But pick up a copy of Score Atlanta anyway. Or visit www.scoreatl.com....the link is at the bottom of the page!
Urban Meyer is CRAZY. There is not much more you can say. The guy wins two national titles and has his undefeated Florida team ready to play Alabama in Atlanta at the Georgia Dome and less than 6 hours after the game, he is in the hospital for “dehydration.” Then the day after Christmas, Meyer retires, only to take it back just days later. Meyer’s leave of absence lasts about twenty minutes and then he is back at Florida spring practice where the spit hits the fan. A Gator beat writer that writes a blog for the Orlando Sentinel accurately quotes Florida receiver Deonte Thompson in regards to new QB John Brantley and how he is a “real” quarterback, unlike Tebow (that sentence was taken out of context but the one Jeremy Fowler included in his blog was the full quote), and Meyer just goes off. After Fowler put the quote in his blog, sports outlets across the country ran with it, including 680 The Fan’s Buck & Kincade Show, and it suddenly had legs.
In case you were wondering, here is the actual quote from Fowler’s blog on orlandosentinel.com: You never know with Tim,” Thompson said. “You can bolt, you think he’s running but he’ll come up and pass it to you. You just have to be ready at all times. With Brantley, everything’s with rhythm, time. You know what I mean, a real quarterback.”
Fowler didn’t strip down the quote chop-shop style or take it out of context. He did his job and reported the quote, like any good reporter would do. And Meyer felt the need to berate the reporter, calling him “a bad man, a bad guy,” in front of rolling cameras. He yelled at Fowler, “Don’t mess with our players. Don’t do it. You did it.” He dressed down Fowler during practice and then threatened Fowler’s livelihood by threatening to ban the paper from the program. The Sentinel would have had no choice but to replace Fowler, which would mean either reassigning the reporter or even firing him. FOR DOING HIS JOB. As a beat writer myself for the Atlanta Braves, I have a problem with what Meyer did. You don’t dress a reporter down when he ISN’T AT FAULT because you are “standing up for your player.” Give me a break. How about you tell Thompson to think about what he says before he says it? How about you not let him speak to the media if he cannot do that? OR if you DO have a problem with what was written, why not pull the reporter to the side for a private discussion?
What was the reaction to Meyer is Atlanta? 790 The Zone’s Chris Dimino said he was a bully, and Dimino is spot on. Meyer at one point told Fowler that they would be fighting if Thompson was a member of his family. Fowler cannot fight back; otherwise he would have been kicked off the beat. John Kincade of 680 the Fan echoed the sentiment that Meyer was a bully. Brandon Adams of 790 the Zone’s Brandon and Woolvy came down the hardest, calling Urban “amateurish,” and saying that Meyer acted like a coward in not bringing in Jeremy Fowler privately to discuss the situation. Then Adams was striking the Coward Drum again when it was reported that Meyer had privately apologized to Fowler, saying that Meyer should have publicly apologized to the reporter, in the same forum where he called the reporter out.
Perhaps of all of the opinions shared on Atlanta radio though would be when Adams said something that I had not thought about but now agree with: Urban Meyer is a far superior coach in comparison to Mark Richt; Mark Richt is a far superior man than Urban Meyer. Adams noted that several years ago when Richt had a problem with Jeff Schultz of the AJC, he called him out in a press conference. When word got back that it was not Schultz but in fact another writer that had posted a headline for Schultz’s column, Richt opened up his weekly press conference with an apology. Classy move for Richt; not sure Meyer would ever be able to put himself out there like that.
The Two Live Stews duked it out last week and the event was captured on video. Personally, I watched the “fight of the century,” go down on www.790thezone.com website, but I’ve heard that some people listened to it live on the air, and they weren’t sure if it was just a “for radio only,” or if it was real. It was real…sort of. It did not quite live up to the legend of the Chuck Smith/Chuck Oliver throwdown, but still it was entertaining to watch. Ryan appeared to get the better of Doug during the two encounters, but perhaps the entire ordeal could have been prevented if only Dough had been more polite to Jazzy aka the First Lady of Sports. Ryan “defended” Jazzy’s honor after he felt Doug “disrespected” her. OR PERHAPS the entire ordeal could have been prevented if they had stuck to talking about sports instead of brining in someone to talk about when Mary J Blige might next release an album.
Speaking of “Duke”…Duke’s Coach K appeared on Mayhem in the AM last week before his team took out Purdue and Baylor to reach this weekend’s Final Four. Sadly he did not tell a knock-knock joke. One thing I found interesting though, and credit the guys from Mayhem for asking about this particular Duke team, was that Coach K said these Blue Devils were “not a great team, but a very good team.” After a wild weekend where Kentucky, Syracuse and Ohio State went down, leaving Duke as the lone No.1 seed remaining and the favorite to win the Big Dance on Monday, it speaks volumes as to the state of college basketball. At various points in the season you could point to Duke and snicker to think that they were the best team in the land, but hey, they just might win the title. But isn’t the tournament fun? Wait, you don’t enjoy the upsets that much anymore because it ruins the Elite 8? Oh you agree with me now.
CAN YOU BELIVE HE JUST SAID THAT!?!?
“It (the snow) was just ridiculous!” I get it. Perry Laurentino’s “character” on the Rude Awakening is the curmudgeon that somehow is a fan of some of history’s best sports teams from across the country with no rhyme or reason (except to get under the skin of Atlanta fans). But I think it might be time to readjust the character that Laurentino plays. When Christopher Rude was out and Perry had to run point on the show, he came off as a quick-witted, spirited discussion leader that reined Leo in whenever he got too crazy and still made points of his own that provoked thought. The bitter part of Perry was put away in a shelf, which was nice. Was it Kincade-lite? Yes, but it worked. However now that the bitterness (over what, I’m not sure) is back, I just miss that Perry, More of that version, less of this version.
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