This article is written by a black sports writer, and while I understand that racism still exists in the South. I seriously doubt that very many Gator fans give a rats ass wheter Chris Leake is white or black, and would be eager for him to break Danny Weurfels records, because if he does it's likely that the Gators are winning. And why does he have to drag Brady Quinn into the story? I really don't like this story, mainly because this guy has played the race card. Has it been discussed on Gator boards Bill or MCG? Chris Leake
I know of not one Gator fan that this cretin could be referring to. Leak is a highly popular kid at Florida and plays with fire and a commitment to the University of Florida that some of our past white Qbs ( read Dean....Johnson.) just couldn't seem to find. When I was in school in the mid-70s Don Gaffney was the first significant black Qb at UF and he led the Gators to some great wins and I don't remember the race issue being mentioned even then. From the article: ""There are fans who don't want Chris to break Danny's records because Chris is black," Curtis explained. "I can't say it is every Gator fan. It's not. But it's enough. I hear about that from white friends and white fans that support Chris. It's unfortunate it has to be that way, but that's the way it is." "There are a lot of white fans who are behind Chris," Curtis explained. "Those white fans tell me there are other white fans who do not like Chris because he's black. Some of these fans call into the talk shows and post horrible things on the websites. Some of those people are dirt." Curtis Leak has some strange, misinformed white friends and he doesn't visit the Gator websites I visit.
Terry, that writer is Mike Freeman. He recently left thel Jacksonville Times Union for this job with CBS Sportsline. During his short time with the TU he wrote numerous articles playing the race card about the Jacksonville Jag QB Lefowitch. He also wrote an article where he accused Urban Meyer of being a liar when he did not disclose that Leak had a sore shoulder. Gator fans were irate with him about that one and even one of the longer term sportswiter with the TU defended him as a writer but disagreed with the article. There are those who think he left Jacksonville because he was not welcome and this is his way of getting at the Gators. What is interesting about this guy is that he was a sportswriter for an Indianapolis paper but was let go for lying on his resume and saying he had a college degree when he did not. Then he writes an article accusing Meyer of lying when he did not. Meyer just didn't advertise that Leak had a sore shoulder. So if you ask me why he wrote the article, it's his little payback. He is a jerk. And by the way, there are a number of Gator fans who do not care for Leak as a QB, but it has nothing to do with race. Actually to some degree it has to do with being caught up with Ron Zook who so many Gators were paranoid about. As I said, Freeman is a jerk, and that's probably an insult to most jerks.
8) That writer is dog doo-doo. He doesn't know anything about college football in general or Florida, or Notre Dame or the Leake family in particular. Like his resume; he is just faking it...
This is as polite a response to this article as I have seen over on the Gator message board: "Curtis Leak wants to be perfectly clear - he has no problems with anything at the University of Florida. "Florida has always treated us with class," Leak said Friday. But in a column on a national Web site, Leak was quoted as saying that Florida fans did not want his son, Chris, to break former Gator quarterback Danny Wuerffel's records because Leak is black. "Some woman did say to me that people around her said something like that," Curtis Leak said. "But I've never heard anything like that. And Chris has never told me he's heard anything like that." You have something as big as the Gator Nation and there are always going to be some knuckleheads. And every quarterback who has succeeded Wuerffel has had to deal with the legend he left behind. But 99 percent of Gator fans don't want Chris Leak to be white, they just want him to be Wuerffel."
I second the comments of Terry, Bill, and JO'Co. There is nothing new in what this doodoo bird says. There is a small and ever-diminishing minority of people/fans everywhere who have racist beliefs and attitudes, even among -gasp- the ND fan base. We've had this conversation here before. But these people are insignificant scum. If there ever was in our society today a place where the participants function in a colorblind arena, it's sports, especially amateur sports. This idiot is completely out of touch with the world we all live in. He is stuck in a 1950s-60s time warp. I'm hoping his shelf life at CBS Sports will be as short as it was at his other whistle stops. I read the Indy Star online every day, and I don't remember him.
Well being from the south, I grew up around all of that mess. The way I see it, and write this down cause I'll never say anything like this again. I think he's a great contribution to the gators. Now I'm not a racist man by any means but you never hear this kind of trash unless it's in a black magazine I guess you could say. I know thats not politicaly correct, but to me the racism we have today is mainly coming from the black community. They way I look at it Leake is a ball player and a damn good one. Everyone (talking about the Gator fans who the article is about) shut up and let the fool play ball, I hope he does break Danny's records. He's a great player and can't wait to see my Vols put his keester in the dirt a couple times. My apologies if I have offended anyone that was not my intention.
I hope Danny keeps his records and our defense is one of the reasons why! :wink: I will openly say that I didn't want Leake on the team because of his daddy. Talk about racist views. He has them. I expressed this long before Chris made his decision to go to the Gators. Nobody can say that this is sour grapes. If he didn't come with baggage (his daddy) I would throw every QB we have off the team to get him.