Are you ready for some football? I can’t sing it as well as Hank Williams can, but at this time of year, it’s an appropriate topic for some blog ramblings, don’t you think? I’ve got some thoughts on a variety of football issues. So let’s kick it off with …

The Controversy at Florida State

There’s no doubt that the performance of the Seminoles has been less than championship quality over the past several years. It’s been a decade since their last national title, while the archrival Gators have celebrated more than once during that time. FSU has seen some scandals involving various players, which, of course, is not unusual in the national picture, but the biggest question has been how long Bobby Bowden will remain as head coach. When they hired Jimbo Fisher (time out here – shouldn’t grown men be known by names other than Bobby and Jimbo? just saying …) as “head coach in waiting,” it was never stated how long he’d be “waiting,” but it gets very expensive for the school if he doesn’t ascend to the head coaching position by the end of next year.

Now, with the Seminoles at 2-3, their worst start in decades, the pressure on Bowden to retire is ratcheting up. And it doesn’t get any tighter than what happened yesterday, when the chairman of the FSU Board of Trustees stated publicly that Bowden should retire at the end of this season. Should a coach with his resume and his tenure, someone who clearly elevated the school’s program to an elite level, be forced out in such an embarrassing way? He wants to exit on his own terms, preferably with more wins than his octogenarian rival Joe Paterno, but neither of those seems likely now. It almost feels like taking the driver’s license away from elderly parents. You know they shouldn’t be driving any more, but they don’t agree at all.

No matter how this ends, it isn’t going to be pretty. But it is time for the program to be turned over to Fisher, to see if he can make them a national factor again. Certainly, they looked like that a few weeks ago when they trounced BYU, then ranked 7th in the country. But losses to South Florida and Boston College in the weeks since that win have painted a truer picture of this team. Unfortunately for the legendary Bowden, he will not be able to go out with a good final season. That’s too bad.

Bells ringing in Gainesville

Hearts stopped beating 10 days ago when Florida QB Tim Tebow was laid out on the turf in Kentucky. As of this morning, it has yet to be determined whether he will be cleared to play this Saturday against LSU. The question of whether he plays or not will be answered by medical personnel, and yet there will be some pressure on coach Urban Meyer, regardless of the decision he makes on that. For what it’s worth, I’ll predict, with no inside information or confidence, that Tebow will NOT play Saturday, but that the Gators will win anyway. But that’s not the point I want to make here.

Concussions are becoming more and more common in football. There is a preventive measure that could be taken, to ensure the safety of the players, despite the increase in speed, size, and force of impact that the game now features. Companies have developed better helmets which have been proven to protect players’ heads and prevent concussions. One of the proposed helmet changes adds padding to the outside of the helmet, to lessen the force of the blow being transmitted to the head. The initial reaction of players seemed to be negative, because the larger helmet looked dorky or not tough enough. Well, guys, being paralyzed, or losing brain function and never playing football again, is not a preferred alternative.

So, I suggest that Tim Tebow, the face of the Gators and perhaps the most visible player in college football, take the lead on this and, whether he returns to the field this week or next, come out with a concussion-resistant helmet. Show the other players that it doesn’t make you less of a man to protect your head. After all, these guys aren’t wearing the leather helmets that their predecessors wore in the 1930′s and 1940′s, right? What do you say, Tim? Care to be a trend-setter on this?

Things looking up for the Jags

I had the opportunity to go to the Jaguars’ game this Sunday, and it is sure a lot more enjoyable to be at a win than at a loss. But even more than the fact that they defeated the rival Tennessee Titans, the game showed that the Jaguars can be creative on offense, which makes for a much better experience for the audience. Of course, the audience included only the 49,000 in the stadium, plus TV viewers in the Nashville market, who probably didn’t find it enjoyable at all. Locally, the game was blacked out, as the Jaguars believe that doing so will encourage/force people to buy tickets and attend the game in person.

I’m not sure about that philosophy. I think that televising this game would have been the best 3-hour commercial that the team could have ever wanted. Viewers would have been excited about the offensive production and the defensive efficiency, and that excitement would have driven more ticket sales than having those same people read about the game in the newspaper or listen to it on the radio. It seems that the focus of the team’s marketing efforts is: “Buy tickets, or the team will leave Jacksonville.” Not exactly the greatest promotional slogan, is it? And how did poor sales become the fault of the customers, rather than of the sales staff? I don’t know what they could do to overcome the economic and other issues that leave so many empty seats, but they are the NFL marketing experts, or at least they are supposed to be, so I would hope they could figure it out.

Some fans will say that if the team would just win, the seats would be filled. I’m not sure it’s that simple, and, realistically, very few NFL teams will continue to win on an annual basis. We’ve heard several people say that the Jaguars should draft Tebow next year, and then they’ll sell out the stadium. I doubt that. The Gator fans that say that stop short of saying that they’d buy tickets in that situation, so I think it’s more a case of Tebow worship than reality.

It would, however, be a big loss for this community if the Jaguars were to leave, so I hope attendance will climb throughout this year and beyond. I’ll be at three games this year, and perhaps I’ll be able to convince my better half that we should expand that to a season ticket commitment for 2010. That could be a tough sell, though. Maybe I should consult with the Jaguars’ marketing department. Or not.

One more note about the Jags’ game – as the national anthem ended, four fighter jets came zooming over the stadium. The sound was deafening, the timing amazing (they appeared exactly as the anthem ended), and the sight, as they appeared to barely clear the scoreboard, was awe-inspiring. I don’t know whether such performances inspire the team, but they certainly got the crowd fired up, and that was a good thing.

Around the NFL

It was interesting watching the Vikings-Packers game last night. With all the build-up for Brett Favre’s first game against Green Bay, it would have been easy for the game to disappoint. But it didn’t. Favre threw for three TDs against his former team, while his replacement, Aaron Rodgers, suffered sacks and interceptions and an altogether rough night. The Vikings are clearly the better team, and, on this night anyway, the old GB QB was better than the new GB QB.

For the first time this season, Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez looked like the rookie he is. Credit the New Orleans defense for that. The Saints seem ready to be included in the list of elite teams in the NFC. We’ll learn more when they face the Giants in two weeks.

You have to be impressed by the job Mike Singletary is doing as coach of the 49ers. They could well be 4-0 right now, except for a fluky last second loss to Minnesota a week ago. Singletary was a dominant, feared linebacker when he played for the Bears, and he seems to have brought that fire to a team that was going nowhere when he took over in the middle of last season. They’re in a weak division, with only the Arizona Cardinals providing any real competition, so the playoffs are a real possibility.

Of course, we’re only one fourth of the way into the season, and anything can happen. One thing is certain, however … it will be fun to watch.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 at 10:02 am and is filed under Al. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.