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Driving into Gainesville today I was listening to local sports radio and hoping to hear some quality Gator sports talk. Unfortunately, I should have remembered that such a thing does not exist in Gainesville...the home of the Gators.
Why?
Because we have Oil Can. A self-described Cane who takes every opportunity he can to play devil's advocate against UF sports. Not just that, he really doesn't even want to discuss Gator sports (unless he can stir the pot).
Driving into Gainesville today I was listening to local sports radio and hoping to hear some quality Gator sports talk. Unfortunately, I should have remembered that such a thing does not exist in Gainesville...the home of the Gators.
Why?
Because we have Oil Can. A self-described Cane who takes every opportunity he can to play devil's advocate against UF sports. Not just that, he really doesn't even want to discuss Gator sports (unless he can stir the pot).
According to Oil Can everybody is up in arms over Billy D's comments.
He even had a few callers supporting his position by crying about how Donovan should apologize to the team.
As a Gator, and a die-hard Gator basketball fan (Rowdy Reptile 4 straight years at UF)....I think the players owe Billy an apology. I don't blame Billy for saying what he said and believe him to be 100% right. This team needed some tough love. Very tough love.
While listening to one particular whiney caller I couldn't help but think that this caller represents what is lacking in our society today- accountability and toughness.
The mentality expressed by a few callers reminded me of parents of friends of mine. The type of parents who still have their children living at home (well into their mid 20s) becasue they coddled too much. And I believe that there is an entire generation of parents out there like that. Unfortunately, their kids are now in college and I have to deal with them. I see them daily. To put it in movie terminology, in today's society we have too many Veruca Salts and too few Charleys.
My first day on the job as an assistant professor I attended an orientation where I was taught about this new generation of student. We now have a generation of students coming who ALWAYS played on a padded playground. A generation of students who rarely played unsupervised. A generation of students who "earned" tropheys merely by participating in sports. A generation of students who see no problem in having their parents call their COLLEGE PROFESSORS over grades with which they disagree. In other words, they are coddled and they are soft.
So I think it is time we take a stand against this generation. Demand accountability from them NOW rather than later. One day we will charge them with the responsibility of leading this country, this world. They grow up with so many expectations and so little desire to work to achieve those expectations. But why should they work, they've been handed everything?
Billy D took a stand against a spoiled group of players. In their defense, I have YET to hear a single player whine and complain. Instead, I hear people who are the ages of their parents crying and whining on the radio and on message boards.
Maybe it's not the kids' fault. Maybe it's the parents.
So as a Gator, I guess I missed the point where I'm supposed to be outraged at Billy. Silly me, I LOVED his comments because he simply expressed what I felt when I watched this "team."
On the extreme (very, very extreme) chance that Billy D might read this board and my post, thanks coach. Thanks for your dedication to our team. Thanks for not sparing the rod.
rod.
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3rdWardGator
(24.250.155.38) on 3/21/2008 - 10:32 p.m. says: ( 287 views
, 6 likes
)
