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The Back Nine comes at you after a crazy weekend that – incredibly – included me hitting some really nice golf shots. Yes, it was an aberration.
10. The reason this was a crazy weekend for me was that I went to an anniversary party for Chris Harry and Cindy Spence on Friday, played in a golf tourney Saturday morning, saw our new kitchen come within hours of being finished and played golf with my daughter on Sunday and worked a lot in between on my event coming up next Saturday. Oh, and somehow still watched a lot of sports.
11. For example, baseball. The Gators needed a sweep against an inferior team and had to hang on in the finale to take all three from Missouri. That brings Florida back within two games of first in the East and in the overall conference. Three weeks to go in the regular season. It starts with the make-up game against FSU in Jacksonville Tuesday night, the last regular season non-conference game of the season.
12. There was a point on Sunday when I yelled at my TV, “Quit hitting people!” after the third hit batter of the game for Florida pitching. So, I looked it up. Florida is ninth in the SEC with 48 hit batters. But here is the stat that seems weird. SEC teams have hit or been hit by pitches 1,468 times this season. That’s 2.4 hit batters a game. That seems high, but I don’t have time to look it up to see if it’s a record.
13. I was thinking to myself, “Self, Jac Caglianone is going to obliterate the school home run record and put it in an unreachable category,” and then I remembered he’s back next year. Does he have a shot at the SEC record of 40 (Cags is at 25)? Probably not, but it will be fun to watch the chase.
14. It was important for Florida to win the series in softball as well and the Gators also have a game against FSU (at home) before finishing up the regular season at Kentucky. Florida is 10-11 in SEC play which means Tim Walton could be looking at his first ever losing season in conference play if his team can’t take 2 of 3 against the Wildcats. Florida is hanging on right now to one of the last home regionals, but it’s still up in the air.
15. I always wonder when a player from Florida does not get drafted does he regret the decision to leave early? Some do, most don’t. And that’s the case everywhere. At any rate, the six guys who were drafted seemed to end up in ideal spots and got there in such different ways. Especially happy to see Ventrell Miller go to Tampa Bay.
16. Of course, the Georgia and Alabama machines just keep rolling along. They tied for the most picks with 10 each. Remember last year when people wondered if the Bulldogs would take a step back after having 15 players drafted? That didn’t happen and when you look at this year’s schedule, it won’t happen this year either.
17. Folks, I know you can’t wait until the 28th Bob Dooley Invitational is over and I quit talking about it. But it is not. And thanks to the people in Gainesville and St. Augustine and Jacksonville and about 10 other cities, we are in great shape. Hopefully, I will be able to sleep when it’s over. Special props to Gainesville Ice for coming through again. And to … wait, if I start thanking people, I will need two columns
18. As we get closer to the Bob, I want to send a shout out to Jeff Cardozo and the fun tourney he had at Ironwood, the Scramble for Kids Scholarships. We shot 20-under and finished out of the money. Dang. Here’s your playlist:
* “Rescued” by The Foo Fighters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3S8wdJhgac
* “Boy” by The Killers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-nYliG8MRs
* And for an old one, “Radar Love” by Golden Earring.
