I like Mike Bianchi a lot. So much so that he's my favorite sportswriter out there bar none. I think he is more in tuned with our football team than just about any writeer out there. Really. I don't believe he's anti-Gator,either. Seriously... I know that his columns lately have been as much fun for Gator fans as a chicken bone sticking in your throat but the reason for that is that his columns go right to the very heart of the matter when it comes to Gator football and there like the old ball coach, Mikey aint afraid to say what's on his mind whether Gator fans like it or not. Bianchi's columns hurt more because he knows the Gators and our fans very well and because Gator fans have been hurting. Before the Tennessee game Bianchi wrote that Gator fans weren't in a teasing mood anymore, that most Gator fans thought we had little to no chance. Bianchi reflected how suddenly and shockingly that had happened. He was right. After the game he wrote a column how fans, media, etc had overreacted, that the win was huge, that Zook was off the hot seat for now but could be on again instantly with a loss. Right again. Before the Miami game Bianchi wrote that Miami was better than us. More talented. Better recruiters, etc. He wrote we would lose by 2 or 3 tds. Now this is a lot more debateable. Its a lot more contraversial. I don't like it but I do happen to agree with him. I think Zook has a lot of work to do to get our program at their level. The fact that either of us believe that doesn't make either of us any less Gators. If you've read anything else I've written you know that even as a grown man I still dream in Orange and Blue and I am dreaming of our program dwarfing theirs. After the Miami game Bianchi got right to the heart of the matter again. The vision of Miami trouncing us on our own home turf. For SCum the swamp was just another stadium. He wrote about those sad, sad images and it hurt. Just like that loss did. Given what SCum did to us, they have the right to say whatever they want. We had our chance to shut them up. Now our program better remember that pain, not underestimate the task at hand and use it so that we can knock those stinkin' kandy kanes in the dirt the next time we meet. Columns like Bianchi's helps the Gator nation to not underestimate the task that lies ahead. Bianchi wrote another article talking about how the comparison between Zook and Coker wasn't a realistic one because when SOS left everything changed-ie the entire coaching staff, the offensive and defensive scheme, etc. He pointed out that our competitve advantadge under SOS was more dependent on his game day coaching, his scheme, etc. rather than simply the overall talent on the field (anybody else see what I saw in the SCum game? Anybody think Coker is an offensive or defensive genius? Anyone else think that the reason ScUM wins is by throwing waves of talent at you?) In my book, he's right again. In my humble opinion, Bianchi hurts us not because he is on a mission to razz Gator fans. Bianchi hurts because he knows Gator football very, very well and he is telling us the truth, whether we like it or not. And right now, sometimes that truth hurts (in the same way a loss to say the semis would).... No Bianchi isn't writing columns which are going to ingratiate himself to Gator fans but if you ask me he's the best sports writer in the state.