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The Back Nine comes at you after a very low-key weekend because a sinus infection laid Dr. Football low. Fortunately, there was plenty of stuff to watch.
10. One of those things I did not want to watch was Florida’s basketball game against Arkansas. It was pretty clear and a no-brainer that watching the Gators without Colin Castleton was like watching a team that may not win another game. That’s how much Castleton could mask the other problems on the roster. Now, I know his injury is devastating, but this team likely wouldn’t have made the NCAA Tournament anyway and not many people really want to watch it play in the NIT.
11. So, in a way, you have been put out of your misery. Or not. Gosh, was it that long ago that Florida was Titletown? What happened? How did we get here? Maybe Robbie Andreu and I shouldn’t have retired. Nothing has been the same since. Or maybe we just should all be patient with both coaches of the two biggest sports on campus. Or not.
12. And gymnastics lost? What is this world coming to? Eh, winning every meet in the regular season is overrated anyway. And it’s not like the Gators had a bad night. It’s so tough to win on the road in gymnastics. That’s all I have to say about that.
13. Where it is not difficult is when you have a loaded team with three starting pitchers touching 98 mph at least to start the season. Charleston Southern gave Florida a few runs over the weekend with shoddy fielding and that’s one reason we don’t want to get too caught up in the first weekend of the season. But I know what I saw.
14. We can’t say enough about the job Anthony Nesty has done in the pool. Florida did something it hadn’t done in 30 years winning both the men’s and women’s SEC swimming and diving championships. Scott Stricklin catches grief for some of the hires he has made at UF, but Nesty has to count on the right side of his ledger.
15. By the way, that’s 45 straight years with an SEC title for Florida’s athletic program. Maybe you don’t care about things like that, but I do. UF now has 258 SEC crowns, by far the most in the league. That’s a lot of bling.
16. There was so much going on this weekend I had to pull out the third TV, also known as my laptop. For the record, yes, I did watch a few minutes of the following events that I thought I would punt:
* The XFL. A good 10 minutes of two games. I like the gimmicks, but the football I could live without.
* The NBA All-Star game. Two minutes. It was unwatchable but I gave it a shot.
* The Daytona 500. It’s the only race I watch all year. I hung with it for a while, but the stage racing forced me to turn to Google to get an explanation.
When you are ill, you’ll watch everything that can hold your interest for five minutes.
17. Last week, the state of Florida loosened NIL restrictions in the state. That’s good, I guess, but it’s as if another screw got loosened on this wild ride that is college football. In my day, we paid the players under the table and had $100 handshakes and we liked it!
18. When you are playing golf with someone you know but have never played with before, you tend to leave the music off. So, I did. But this is the playlist I would have used if I had cranked it up.
* I’m going with all songs that are old, but not that old. Let’s start with “The Apartment Song” by Tom Petty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR_t-tk1B5U
* ”I Saw The Light” by Todd Rundgren.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5zPHZ3i_FU
* And for the last one, I was watching a replay of a Saturday Night Live (hosted by Christopher Walken) and the Foo Fighters were on and did “Times Like These” which is such a good rocker.
