Too bad we don't have LSU fans on here anymore if you want to see "rants". If Florida received that kind of treatment in a month at Auburn it would be hard...too hard to just smile and say...nice game Tigers...you guys deserved it. To me it's better to lose by three TDs if it's going to boil down otherwise to bad calls. If Florida loses last night it was a huge deal to me how uneven the game was called and I don't see the reason for it and I don't think the SEC office should tolerate that kind of officiating.
Bill, I must admit I do not enjoy seeing Florida lose a big game to a fierce SEC rival. I do not enjoy it when these losses cause UF not to make the SECCG....nope...nada. I do enjoy watching UF play and win but truly the losses are never easy as a fan to absorb. When these losses are tainted by bad ref calls and please note my earlier post....most of the time that is NOT the case when losses occur...but when bad calls do affect the outcome of a game it greatly magnifies the sting of a loss. And guess what...this may come as a complete surprise to you but you are in the minority my friend when it comes to this issue for Gator fans. Granted some feel as you do but I will venture more Gators are of my point of view on this subject than yours.
WADR Bill, do you really think comments on a "sports-oriented" internet message board ever "accomplish" much? The vast majority are just subjective opinions. Whether one agrees or not , why not allow MCG have his say without attacking him and/or his comments? I doubt anyone, especially anyone on this thread, can either prove or refute MCG's position. But .... he does have a statement by Bobby Moreau (official who admitted thoroughly blowing the personal foul call against Dallas Baker late in the 2004 UF@UT game) to support that which he claims. Anyway ..... congrats to MCG for the double victory!! :wink:
Thank you Gaterz. The problem with Skybox is that it is a small disection of sportsfans from relatively few schools and many here who have endured over the 13 years or so of existence and are still here have evolved into almost one and the same. The fans with differing views as you and I have in comparison to the core group here tend to fade away over time or are run off purposely. It is mostly a congenial, intelligent group with a good sports sense for the most part and a good sense of humor and that is why I stick around myself. However, there are a few differences of opinion on which I refuse to just back down and repress my own opinion on and one of which is the way college football is officiated and especially how that negatively affects the Gators at times because...hey...I am a season ticket holder and a huge fan all my life. I think when you view that picture of the trip you can only wonder either one: The refs were having a coffee break or two: they have no comprehension of the rules of football or three: they do understand the rules and decided to let Tenn off the hook on this one. There's enough refs on the field eyeballing everyone for their most favorite "block in the back" call on a kick return that there is no way they didn't see this. And note to the rest of you: this picture was taken and distributed by the Gainesville Sun...not just some single...rabid Gator fan trying to create an uncomfortable (for you) stir.
MCG I'm not sure Colquitt's trip was a violation of NCAA rules for football but ...... it may very well be the play of the game for UT. That's what I'm going with. AFA Skybox is concerned ..... I agree with your sentiments, having read the board since the days on Prodigy. Sometimes interesting .... sometimes humorous ....... but since it is just an internet message board, not a place to seek validation.
Mostly???? Who's bringing the group down? It's got to be Sid! Seriously though I think most of us agree that officiating affects games all the time, probably no game is officiated completely correctly. Which is why for the most part you just have to put it behind you and move on. Most of us agree that there are games where a call is bad enough to cost a team the game. The OU/Oregon game is the most recent. But you seem to see almost every bad call as game changing. I forget your position on the horrible officiating at the end of the Vanderbilt game the most thought cost Vandy the win, or the Iowa bowl game where nationally most everybody thought the Hawks got hosed by the refs and maybe cost them the game vs the Gators last year. Terry
MCG, SB has calmed down a lot from its Prodigy origin but I think that has less to do with the creation of a consensus group think and more to so with the long distance friendships that have formed. We have had more than a few good posters here leave after dust ups that turned ugly. I think this has led to the remaining posters, including you, to pull their punches somewhat before they begin pounding the keys. The trend in CF bbs involving multiple teams is for the rhetoric to degrade to insulting sophomoric crap with most of the posters with IQs above room temperature leaving to inhabit the bb sites of the school they cheer for. My guess is that this is one of a few places where adult discourse between fans of rival schools exists. I enjoy your postings which have the good qualities of intelligent eccentricity, a willingness to honestly state your position on matters involving sports and life, and to defend your position again all dissenters. So keep on doing it.
Thank you Bobda for your very considerate words of encouragement. Terry, I did not see the Vandy game last year so I can't really comment on events that transpired leading up to the end of the game call that you reference. I don't think a reversal would have done anything other than give Vandy a chance to win in OT I believe. If UF got a break and I saw it I would acknowledge it though. I did see the Iowa game and I can tell you that #1 - UF won by 7 so the most that could have happened was OT and secondly...there was a very bad spot of the ball for Iowa (at least 1 1/2 yards) that was not reviewed for whatever reason and that kept Iowa's last scoring drive alive. This last fact/bad call is why I discount heavily the KO call. Plus...Iowa would have needed to drive for the TD to tie the game from the 45 yard line with little time left. How can anyone say that call "cost" Iowa the game? Of course no one wants to talk about the bad spot and other scenarios at the end of that game as I describe....except Gator fans.
Well it certainly cost Iowa the opportunity to drive to tie the game, and they had played very well in the 2nd half and had the Gators back on their heels. Same thing for the Vandy game. I'm sure both those teams would have felt better if they'd had a chance to do it rather than have the refs determine wheter or not they had the chance with a bad call.
But it happens to all of us <r>MCG,<br/> I think one point to bring out is that UF is not singled out. It happens to all of us, and while it is frustrating it is also part of the game. Sometimes you benefit, sometimes you don't but the real lesson is you have to keep playing and figure out a way to win. <E>:wink:</E></r>
Hey Gaterz thanks for making one of your infrequent visits here, but you seem to misunderstand something, I did not and will not keep MCG from expressing his opinion. However I wll also not stop me from expressing my opion of his or anyone else's posts. But thanks for the advice anyway, even and I'll consider it for all it is worth.
Attention GaterzFan. You have selected to receive notification on replies made to this topic. Your e-mail server is rejecting these notifications. In the past, the system has blocked members that are having e-mail returned as undeliverable. We highly suggest that you correct this immediately.
MCG wrote: Actually Dave, I don't consider this to be a problem. I consider this to be an accomplishment. To take strangers that have vastly differing viewpoints and turn them into a group of friends is nothing short of a miracle. Come on in... the water's fine! :wink:
... one more thing. I have been with this group since late 1989 when I first joined Prodigy. There have been people come and go. Some were a$$holes and some were just tired of the abuse. Granted, there was much more abuse going on in the Prodigy days than there is here on The Skybox. I have met several people that I would have never known if it were not for these boards. I have made solid friendships with some. Some are no longer here due to abuse and that is our loss. It is my goal to not lose another member and try to draw everyone here into a close group.
Bill, I have had some good offline discussions with MCG this year. It may take him as long as it did me on Prodigy but he will fit in here. I have confidence in him even though he is a GDG (Gosh Darn Gator)! 8)
I don't see myself going anywhere or leaving SB as some have done. (damn I'm thick skinned!) In any event I will.. as Bobda describes.. continue to voice my opinion even when it does not "fit in" with the core posters on the board because.....gosh darn it....I like me..... Ahem...back to the issue... Terry, You don't respond to my bad spot issue because I suspect you didn't notice it and the media chose not to make it a big deal. Trust me though many Gator fans noticed it and it gave Iowa life when they should have had none.