Pat Dooley’s Back Nine: Weather affects Gator Basketball

The Back Nine comes at you with some big news at the end and a thanks to my late parents for moving to Florida instead of staying in upstate New York. Brrr!

10. Did you ever sit there watching a game and felt likeitwas cold in your heated TV room? I think we all did Saturday watching the Dolphins-Chiefs game or the Bills-Steelers game Monday. The Dolphins didn’t lose because of the cold. They lost because they had to take guys off the streets to play defense. This team was devastated by so many injuries that there were guys playing most people thought had retired. And the Steelers lost because of a lopsided edge at the quarterback position.

11. And please stop complaining about the  Miami game being on a streaming service. This is the way we are going in sports. It’s not ideal. But making it seem like you are just too old to figure out the technology is not a good argument against streaming. They’re not trying to hook you and me. They’re trying to get the generation that watches games on phones and iPads and looks at regular cable and satellite TV as if they were the senior tees. All that said, my wife did have to come into my office and get my Peacock working.That’s what she said.

12. I didn’t think the Bucs would be the lone team from the state of Florida to still be playing. Good for them. But the backdrop to that story is whether the Eagles are enamored by that shiny toy under the tree and cut their own coach Nick Sirianni. I think there are a lot of coaches hoping that somebody goes ahead and hires Bill Belichick so they can relax.

13. Now that our three days of sitting on our butts watching football is over, I know you cannot wait for Dr. Football’s Picks, because last week was a 4-2 week that should have been 5-1 if the Lions scored more than three points in the second half. On to what I think is one of the biggest weekends in sports:

• The Ravens are getting nine points at home against the Texans and that seems like too many. I’ll take the Fighting C.J. Strouds.
• And the 49ers are getting 9.5 against the Packers. I guarantee you that one of these big favorites will cover and it will be Jordan Love’s team. Not saying they will win, but they will cover. Maybe.
• The Bucs are getting six points in Detroit and are probably going there with a lot of confidence. Detroit coach Dan Campbell will beat it out of them. I’ll take the Lions.
• Buffalo is at home and giving three to the Chiefs and I want to believe KC has been pacing itself waiting for this game. But I have to go with the home team.

14. By the way, college coaches are going to keep going to the NFL because of NIL and the portal and all of that, but the biggest reason is the eight surviving teams in the playoffs have an average of 6.1 losses this year. You lose two games in college and you are playing in a bowl game where they will drop food on you.

15. Yes, I waited until item No. 15 to get to Gator basketball, because we took Monday off for Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. And because by the time you read this, it will almost be time for Florida’s game this afternoon at Tennessee, which was moved to 5 p.m. because of weather. Let’s see if Riley Kugel will play the way he did Saturday. This team’s only chance is if he plays like the NBA player he thinks he is. And what was the deal with that Arkansas team? They looked like a bunch of guys who wanted to take separate buses home to Fayetteville.

16. And congrats to the women for beating Georgia on Sunday, because it’s good ANYTIME you beat Georgia in ANYTHING. That Florida team is both fun and excruciating to watch, because the Gators are going to shoot 3s on fast breaks with nobody underneath and foul too much on defense and turn it over a ton. But when they get it going for stretches, you can see that one coach has got the talent acquisition part of her job figured out. 

17. So, every year, I convince myself we have had a golf tournament for the last time, because of the stress and me getting older faster than I should be (don’t ask). But I had a moment of clarity Saturday and there will be a 29^thBob Dooley Invitational for Stop Children’s Cancer on May 11, the day before Mother’s Day, at Ironwood. There, I said it, it’s out there. Now I have to get to work. And don’t delay because we are limiting the field this year.

18. Because there is going to be a tournament. I had better get a great playlist ready. We’ll start with these songs:

• “As You Are” by Day Wave.
• I got into this Sirius station for a while the other day. I think it was called Sirius XMU, so it may be for college students. The music was good, but the vocal fry on the young lady spinning the tunes was unbearable.  Anyway, “Things To Do” by Alex G.
• And for an oldie that’s not that old, “Jesus of Suburbia” by Green Day, that group’s great effort to do something like “Bohemian Rhapsody”. They came close.

WRUF.com sports columnist Pat Dooley can be heard on “The Tailgate” along with Jeff Cardozo from 4-6 p.m. Monday-Friday on 98.1-FM/AM-850 WRUF.