Here's the original article Finebums Article Here's a rebuttal Meyer Is Not Leaving Another Idiots Creating Meyer News Where None Exists Another Riping Finebum A New One Judge for yourself whether this guy is a credible writer or someone just stirring the pot to stir the pot.
For those of you that read this while I was finding my mistakes, I apologize. I had an error in my format that I finally found and the four articles I wanted to link are now linked above. Like I said judge for yourself about Finebum, you know my opinion.
Your mistake is to post something with the title: "His lips moved: Meyer PROBABLY leaving Gators job after season." Now, if the first 3 words don't tip you off that 1) this is part joke and then 2. the word 'probably' should at least refute your notion that he definitely said he was leaving. I realize that this is 'coach search' time of year in which yes means no and I haven't means I have... but I am pretty sure that probably means there is some doubt... The actions of Meyer have really angered some people in the past few years. He isn't an inhuman piece of dung who would throw his own children under the bus like Dennis Erickson. He has, however, done some things that have really angered a few people since he arrived in Florida. Winning 2 titles, isn't one of them. One of them is this alleged meeting (be it in phone or person) with his former employer to exchange info about Alabama. I understand there is really nothing I can say or do that will change your mind on the subject. There is no source I can cite or action I can perform that will ever really change your mind. That's fine. I've resigned myself to it. By Gator fan standards, you're just papal and I mean that as a compliment (albeit slightly blackhanded). You are a great fan, supporter and follower of your team. Any team should be proud to call you a fan/alum/supporter of their team. That being said... I fully understand when the rest of you good folks here in the South bitch about Alabama's fans being brutal. They are bad..but honestly, LSU's are worse...maybe the worst in the country in terms of being obnoxious because they are that bad whether they are unbeaten or winless. Even Michigan and ND fans known when to STFU and get out of town.. not the tiger fans.. I think over the past decade or so, the Alabama fans (crazy as they are) were taught a few lessons in humility that took that edge off their fan base. Oh sure, they still sing rammer jammer.. sure they are going to try to claim 3 titles if they win in 30 days. (side note, will they try to claim 2 Heisman's if Ingram wins?) All that aside, I have seen most Tide fans (and brother, between alums and fans I know a **** ton of em) evolve into having the ability to self-reflect. They may not stop doing what they are doing that grates you, but they have that ability. They know that Nick Saban has the personality trigger of a serial killer. The only other sports coach I have seen that has the ability to physically transform their appearance just by listening to a question like that is Bobby Knight.. They know their coach can be a bit rough, they like him that way. (further proof of what a jedi mind master this guy is.. he's pistol whipped their fan base AND the media) If an Alabama commits an indiscretion, I've seen the transformation. They are willing to see what this kid did and have a fairly low tolerance for these things now. These are the same fans who use to explain away the rationality of paying players under the table when I first moved here nearly 10 years ago. Just try to point out an indiscretion or character flaw of a Gator player and/or coach to Gator fans and watch the insanity follow. Every fan group has their base of nutballs. Yours has been growing hand over fist since I live here. Your fan base now reminds me of ND's fan base say.... in the early to mid 1990s.. there were some cracks in the Holtz regime and with some of the players that were clearly showing but we wouldn't even entertain such a notion. We were delusional and that was proven with heart breaking clarity during the Joe Moore trial. We (ND Nation) have taken so many groin kicks in the past 15 years, I'd like to think that we've learned some lessons but we've just turned cannibalistic instead... We're close to real improvement though.. we're just not there IMHO... I'm just saying, from a truly neutral observation, the Gator Nation is fast approaching ND Nation status.. If you ever listen to Finebaum, or read him regularly, you would gain a more full context of his position. He clearly does not like Urban Meyer. He also clearly thinks that the Gator fan base has jumped the tracks and headed towards Insanityland. I agree with the guy, you don't. That's fine. However, to suggest this guy isn't connected or doesnt' have good sources is laughable. I couldn't possibly list all the people, but your own conference commissioner, and several of the 'old SEC guard' (Dooley, Brother Oliver, everyone in the SEC media like Barnhardt and Brando, Stallings etc.. the list literally goes on forever) respect this guy and if you listened to his show you'd understand that. He doesn't always take the popular choice. He makes statements to provoke people, however, that doesn't make him wrong. One of the reasons I have personally backed off the Mike Price treatment is that Finebaum has repeatedly made reference to items that are 'best left in the past' because the guy is gone but let it be said.. Mike Price was terminated 'for cause'.. I liked Mike Price and still do. However, not everything that guy did in his short amount of time on the job made the news. The guy was telling people that Fulmer had no control over the ship at Tennessee AND that he had cut an underhanded deal with the NCAA to 'get' Alabama. Keep in mind, Finebaum is a UT alum! His opinions grated UT fans who accused him of being a 'Bamer" rather than took a good long look at the potential validity of his claims. Turns out, he was right. Long before the opinions were popular, the guy was reporting that: -Mike Shula was in over his head (check) -Dennis Franchione was a lying POS who was in over his head (check) -DuBose (ala Mike Price) was a monster with some serious fidelity issues who was running around with reckless abandon right in front of the Alabama media and fanbase.... (check) -Alabama certainly had a rogue element of boosters that were paying cash for players as part of some odd pissing contest with boosters of rival schools. (check). -That Alabama, while certainly guilty of the charges (at least their boosters) were being rail roaded by the NCAA... This is the guy who was leading the charge for the investigation here, and hated by many, who realized that the investigation had turned into a 'rules out the window' witch hunt in which the NCAA was cutting deals with Bama's biggest rivals to torpedo them. (check) -Tommy Tubberville was a guy who was in it for him and only him. He was loyal only to a handful of assistants that had stayed loyal to him and that he'd throw the players, school and fanbase under the bus to protect his name (check) -Houston Nutt is bat **** crazy and will say/do anything to protect himself over the program (check) -He always contended that Steve Spurrier got a raw deal and if you listened to what the man said, there was much validity to what he was saying. (check) For an alleged Gator hater, it's awful weird that he was and still is so close with SOS. jeeez, I could go on forever with all the things that this guy was saying months and even years before they became accepted as fact. He is rarely, if ever, truly wrong. When he's wrong, it is usually because his source of the info was off or the situation rectified itself via staff or institutional improvements. I know you guys would like to fancy yourself as the #1 target of his ire but that simply isn't true. He's been saying since last year that Mark Richt is in a lot of trouble at Georgia and that he'd have to make major overhaul changes to his defensive staff or they will continue to sink.. Well guess who just got fired in Athens? He's not liked. He is very polarizing, but he is rarely, if ever, wrong...and to suggest he isn't well connected is a flat out joke. The coaches and players come and go... Finebaum is still there, like a fly on the wall, taking it all in.
If there are true indiscretions by players and/or coaches......not just unfounded speculation..... I do not share your view that Gator fans are unreasonable about how they want those indiscretions treated. As I have said before having met Meyer's wife...and sister.....albeit briefly, he seems like a normal family guy to me so I do believe his "family" approach to coaching is sincere one. Is he intense and driven? Hell yes.....and I am very glad that he is.
Indiscression: Possession of controlled substance Response: It's just Marijuana... It's not like he is doing Heroin Indiscretion: DUI Response: It's just alcohol... all college kids drink alcohol Indiscretion: Eye gouging caught red handed on video Response: Who ever got hurt by eye gouging Dave, Never once do I remember a discretion by a gator player that was looked upon with gator eyes and condemned on this board. Excuses are always made to belittle the accuser or to justify the action. I dare say if Edwards and Richardson were gators, we would have heard things like: It was just a prank because they used a BB gun. This is what we expect to hear because it is all we have ever heard. Bill and I used to see eye to eye but things have changed in the last six months. I may be wrong because I cannot speak for him, but I believe that Bill feels he has been backed intp a corner and has to come out fighting. I believe that this change in his outlook is mostly due to YOUR rants that people get tired of and fire off shots across the gator bow because of it. I feel that he is now over compensating for those actions.
I didn't make a mistake Corey. I posted that article with the title on purpose and so people could read the whole article. How you are anyone else can read what he posted in the mean spirited way he posted it is beyond me. If Finebum was at one time what you say, he is not now. It's one thing to dislike Myer, and I could care less whether he does or you do, it's quite another to write the way he did, as if he knew something about Meyer and Florida. It was more than a cheap shot it was dishonest journalism. You agree with it, that's your choice. Personally I think the guy damaged his credibility and if he ever had any objectivity he lost both it and credibility with that article. I have to leave this morning and have a full day until about ten this evening so have nice day and I'll check back later.
Of course I disagree with the underlying message of your post Tom on all counts. I had a lot more to say about those infractions and their culpability than you infer....especially the DUI of which I had not a single thing to say in defense of Dunlap's actions. ....carry on...... :roll:
Corey, your long and heart wrenching defense of Finebum is fine if that's what your want to do. But let's just review some of his article. Sure there is, probably going to have a big rainstorm there sometime. Sure he is Paul, and you know this how? I think it might be more accurate to say, how do we know when Finebum is lying? When he writes an article about Florida. This really shows how much this so called authority knows about Meyer And somehow the Gators aren't getting the talent? Geez Corey, how you pass this guy off as knowledgeable is beyond me. This has to be the most pathetic attempt at character assignation ever. By the way it was well reported that Saban got together with Bob Stoops before this game. Some thought to get defensive advice from Stoops after Oklahoma's game with the Gators last fall. No big deal to me, but you would think that if Finebum fines fault with Meyer he might with Saban also. No wait Saban's at Alabama isn't he. Oh, now our president is megalomaniacal? That's special. Finebum should check the latest Basketball rankings. Corey, you are one that gets bent out of shape when you think the press isn't fair to Notre Dame. Tell me this, how would you feel if it was the president of Notre Dame was determined to be megalomaniacal by some hack writer? Like I said, at one time I believe Finebum was what you say he is, but he lost it on this. By the way Corey, did you read the other three articles?
If you believe he is on 'the out' regarding information regarding any SEC school, including Florida... then you are sorely mistaken. You're speculating about a show you don't listen to and columns you don't regularly read. However, you have people on your campus who do speak to him regularly. You may not be watching, reading or listening to him and that is fine... it would also explain why you think his article is 'mean spirited'.. The guy is a cynic. Everything comes across that way when you're not taking in the bigger picture regarding a cynic. If he is such a Gator hater, then why are he and SOS such good friends?
Bill, When I get 'bent out of shape' by the media coverage of ND it is situations such as this.... 5 reporters in the room with Weis. Weis makes a remark (dumb though it may have been) that he clearly labeled 'off the record'.. Within hours, all 5 writers post their stories... 4 stories do not include the 'off the record' statement, and one does... the one who does also has a long history of stirring the pot and skewing the numbers so that anything positive at ND has some sort of black mark.. And I don't get 'bent out of shape' about it. I am amazed that the guy writes for a niche service that depends on ND fans for their livelihood yet he might as well be the biggest Irish hater with a pad and pen... but he somehow stays employed... and I totally get the 'sizzle sells' angle and it's good to have a staff guy who takes the contrarian position. What this guy does is reckless. That stuff I object to. As for Meyer being unpopular, don't you have a writer or two down your way that aren't the biggest fans of him as well?
Sure Corey you have absolutely wonderful reasons for getting bent out of shape at some writer. But let a writer lie, insinuate, and in general prove he doesn't know jack**** about the Gators or our coaches and you buy it as gospel. Pretty consistent. Did you read the other articles?
The next time this guy is wrong about something major regarding the SEC will be the first that I can remember. I've heard him apologize for passing or acting on bad info he was given in the past but those were related to items that were long before I lived here. He didn't say Meyer is leaving, he is saying Meyer SHOULD leave. He has an ugly image of you right now and to be frank, quite a lot of people do. Bliss relayed the story to me (she was at a restaurant watching the final moments of the SECCG with some friends) and the restaurant exploded in laughter at the site of Tebow in tears kneeling on the sideline. Fans, Tide and Tiger alike erupted in laughter... and an elderly lady seated next to them said "Now that's a shame. He's a great young man. These people are laughing because their coach is a jackass and their fans are terrible. I'd be proud to call him my son." As she relayed it to me, she was telling me within the context of how the lady was a bit of a buzzkill on the moment but she was right.. The people don't hate Tebow.. Everyone actually likes him. It is everything else about the Gators they can't stand.. I think that ol gal wrapped up that scene pretty astutely to be frank. The only people I know that don't hate Gator fans are the ones who don't know Gator fans. You just don't see what you've become. It's OK. Been there and done that.. the fall sucks. I hope yours is more brief than ours has been.
Wow, fans in Alabama don't like the Gators, I'm shocked. Like I asked Corey, did you read the other articles?
1. Yes. 2. You must know absolutely nothing about North Alabama, but I would still assume most were Tide and Tiger fans yes... But of course, you miss the larger point... as far as rivals go, you guys aren't on either of their radar.. Why hate you? There have been other Florida greats. 3. Back to your constant asking about the 'articles'... One source is bleacher report, you and I can write for them tomorrow.. So a UF fan doesn't like the article... see my previous responses.. as I said, he's hated by those he calls out but isn't wrong. Your next great article was from Doyel at CBS who is a flat out joke. Finebaum can call and get an audience with any coach or AD in the SEC on request.. They don't even know who Doyel is. I only know the guy because of other previous garbage he has written. The third is another fan blog.. Those articles articles.. Those are fan blog rebuttals... (see previous mentions I've made about UF fan attitudes)
Would you be shocked to learn that every state in the SEC hates the Gators? Even more than they hate Notre Dame?
BTW-the one true 'article' that you posted denouncing Finebaum was from that moron Doyel... Even Doyel falls under the Florida 'fan boy' category.... Oh I am sure you're thinking.. Corey, you're just saying that.. But this article was written by Doyel proclaiming that Florida IS greatness on Nov 28th of this year. Search Is Over Elusive Greatness Found in Florida He must have been sobbing in his Tebow Jammies this past Saturday with his eye black strips marked "Urban 13-0"
Dang Corey, you don't like a writer that disagrees with your idol, I'm shocked. No Terry I wouldn't be to surprised. Do you think that Notre Dame might come in second in those states?
my idol? far from it. Finebaum, is also an insecure, field mouse of a man who clearly does (like many writers) hide behind his keyboard. That doesn't mean he is wrong though.