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The Back Nine comes at you after a hot and steamy weekend that got us this much closer to real football.
10. Yes, I am at the apex of hating summer the way we used to love summer when we were kids. At one point Saturday I had a choice of watchingPickleball Weekly and women’s football on two premium channels because a cornhole tournament was taking up a third. And my DVR erased all of the old Florida games I had. I know, I know. Read a book. Better yet, write another book. It’s in the works and this seems like the perfect time to start. Talking season? Maybe it’s writing season.
11. So, we saw this week that Miami is in trouble for poaching a player from Wisconsin and all I could think about was how this new College Football Commission is supposed to tame the wild West. And will fail miserably. People are still going to cheat, poach, lie, steal and do things they would never do to their own children. It’s in the DNA of a lot of coaches out there. A commission will just mean that the cheaters will have to find more creative ways to cheat. It’s not going to go away. Trust me.
12. I don’t mean to be such a Negative Nabob but I’m just getting a little frustrated with what is going on with the two conferences that matter fighting like they were trying to get custody of the family dog. There is a real possibility that we could end up with the same playoff format we had last year and this year. You know, the one that stinks like fish left in the sun. The Big Ten-ish wants the four guaranteed spots, the SEC to play nine conference games and weekends with Fluffy. The SEC wants it open to 11 at-large teams to go along with the five conference champs. And after a big meeting of the ADs at the Biltmore in Asheville, they are starting over. Personally, I’d like to see the 16 best teams with straight seeding, but nobody ever asks me what I think. Not even my better half.
13. Congrats to a couple of former Gators, including the head coach of the OKC Thunder Mark Daigneault, who spent two great years in Gainesville. Also, Devon Walker is the director of advance scouting for the Thunder. Rings are coming soon guys.
14. Although I have to admit I was one of those people who didn’t watch once Tyrese Haliburton blew out his Achilles in the first quarter. We need a villain in this house to watch NBA Playoff games and I wanted both teams to win. It’s OK because Kevin Durant was traded to the Rockets so now they become the black hats.
15. Hey, it’s LSU’s world and we are all just living in it. I’m speaking of college baseball and Omaha and the eight national titles the Tigers have. And there isn’t much we can do about it. Give the Tigers credit — they have taken advantage of the portal and NIL better than anybody and know if they get to Geaux-maha, it is usually a good trip. It makes Florida’s 2017 Natty even more impressive because of who they beat.
16. Oh, and that is six straight for the SEC in baseball. As good as the ACC was in the regionals and all bragging on Twitter, the SEC is the best in pretty much everything that matters … except football. We have to reel the Big Ten in, but they have the big bucks.
17. The golf was almost as good as last week’s major, with poor Tommy Fleetwood falling short again and Keegan Bradley making an incredible comeback. He wants that auto-bid to the Ryder Cup, but I am not sure a playing captain is going to work. Still, you get what you earn in this world.
18. Man, I gave golf a shot at noon Saturday and even with a bottle of iced water I couldn’t last. It felt like I was playing on the sun. But I did have this playlist:
- “Gold Lion” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
- “We Used to Wait” by Arcade Fire.
- And for an old one, “She Loves The Way They Love Her” by Colin Blunstone.
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.
