Reason #425 why I will never be a Florida sports reporter
Always Remember the Rules of Gator Fight Club:
Rule #1: You do not talk about Tim Tebow
Rule #2: You do not talk about Tim Tebow
Rule #3: If someone says something that could be implied as talking about Tim Tebow, it’s over.
Rule #4: When someone says stop, or goes limp, even if he’s just faking it, the fight is over.
Rule #5 Only two guys to a fight.
I could go on but you get the point. Apparently Jeremy Fowler, a reporter with the Orlando Sentinel, implied on his blog that Florida wide receiver Deonte Thompson broke Rule #1 when he said:
“Things are going to get better here in the future. Any receiver would be happy. You have a guy like (John) Brantley throwing the ball, spreading it around to everybody….You never know with Tim. You can bolt, you think he’s running but he’ll come up and pass it to you. You just have to be ready at all times. With Brantley, everything’s with rhythm, time. You know what I mean, a real quarterback.”
In the blog post, Fowler went on to explain that Thompson, who didn’t quite produce the receiving results he had hoped, was saying that the almighty Tim wasn’t a “real quarterback.”
To make matters worse, Fowler’s colleague at the Sentinel, Mike Bianchi, joined in breaking Rule #3 and #4 along with Rule #1 and #2.
Naturally, as the leader of the Urban Meyer Club, Urban Meyer is quick to pounce on anyone who violates Rule #1 least bit rules #2, #3, and #4. Fowler just happened to be the one to show up at practice Wed. When Myer saw him, he was quick to point out that Folwer had violated the rules and that if he did it again, he would be banned from Gator Fight Club forever.
Not only did Meyer express his concern over the flagrant rules violation, he physically threatened Fowler telling him, ““If that was my son [Thompson], we’d be going at it right now…be very careful.” For good measure, he added that Fowler was a “bad guy.”
Naturally, since Bianchi wasn’t on the receiving end of Meyer’s threats, Bianchi continued the discussion no his blog today.
Finally, ESPN posted the memo released by the Florida Athletic Dept. regarding their new media policy.
I especially like this gem from the revised style guide:
Terminology – Tim Tebow / Our Lord and Savior
And this rule regarding press conferences:
DO NOT: Look Coach Meyer in the eye.
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The media have made God’s out of Tebow and Meyer and are off limits when it comes to negative press. Trust me, I’m a Buckeye who lives in Gator country and I heatr that kind of crap all the time. The kid meant what he said and was reported that way. Espn and the florida press would have you believe something different. I’m not a big fan of the press but one thing is sure
they can institute a coaches down fall.