I wonder if Meyer suspended Spikes because of either pressure from the
conference or public perceptions, or if he really believes it is appropriate.
If he did it because of concerns about public perceptions, then what happens to
his message about sticking together and not allowing elements outside the
program to influence your behavior?
The more I think about it, the more PO'd I get. Brandon could be in the NFL,
sitting on millions of dollars. He might be thinking "who needs this nonsense"
right now.
And still we wait for the Georgia suspensions. We shouldn't hold our breath.
Richt, a scUM and F$U product, is probably laughing at what is going on in
Gainesville now.
Two other points:
1) This is starting to remind me of the 1998 or 2000 F$U game, when F$U
deliberately instigated a fight before the game, with the intention of getting
certain Gators ejected. It worked, and Tony George was thrown out before the
opening kickoff.
The dirty play on Georgia's side was too frequent not to have beeen part of
their game plan. And that had to be the coaches' intent. It does not happen
by accident. Some penalties can be blamed on the lack of discipline. Others
were deliberate and too frequent not to have been part of the plan. I'd say
they also targeted Spikes and Tebow, based on the eye-poking and the play where
a defender flattened Tim away from the ball and long after he had handed off.
2) To those who say two wrongs don't make a right, I'd say I agree, but . . . .
If the referees aren't doing their job, what should you do? Continue to be
abused? This is not what these guys are trained to do.
Would any of us have had a problem with someone taking out Darnell Dockett for
deliberately injuring Ernest Graham? I would have applauded it.
The players are the ones out there risking themselves. Sometimes you just have
to do what is necessary to protect yourself.
This whole thing is a damn shame, especially because we get the bad rap, when
it was Georgia which instigated the whole thing.
I hope this doesn't hurt the team, and I wish there were a way for us to show
our support for Spikes, without being divisive.
Go Gators!!!!
Ken B. (NYC Gator)
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed
-----Original Message-----
From: "Gatornet Admin" <gator...@comcast.net>
Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 07:49:12
To: <gatortalk@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [gatortalk] Re: [gatornews] [SUN]: Gators suspend Spikes a half
gamefor eye gouge [Barlis]
I'm embroiled in a nasty debate over this on Facebook, and it's getting more
frustrating all the time. I'm defending Spikes against a USC(west) fan, a
Tennessee fan, a couple of Georgia fans, and even a "so-called" Florida fan who
says she is embarrassed by his actions. That question (why hasn't UGA
reprimanded any of their players?) even came up there. I'm getting so mad about
the one-sidedness (is that a word?) of this subject, I can't hardly keep my
cool.
Randy
----- Original Message -----
From: ken...@earthlink.net
To: gatortalk@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, November 02, 2009 11:58 PM
Subject: [gatortalk] Re: [gatornews] [SUN]: Gators suspend Spikes a half
gamefor eye gouge [Barlis]
This is infuriating.
Where are the suspensions on the Georgia side? Until we see something from
them, I wouldn't have suspended Spikes. Why is he the only one to be punished,
especially since he didn't initiate the dirty play?
To hell with this. As I wrote this afternoon, I hope it does not cause any
dissension or other problems on the team. If I had been out on that field, I
would be asking why my coach isn't standing up for his players.
Go Gators!!!!
Ken B. (NYC Gator)
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Darlene Goodfellow" <goodfell...@earthlink.net>
Date: Mon, 2 Nov 2009 23:29:50 -0500
To: <gatortalk@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [gatortalk] Re: [gatornews] [SUN]: Gators suspend Spikes a half game
for eye gouge [Barlis]
Yeah, but for some perspective, one of the regular posters at the Virtual
Swamp works in the athletic department office and here is what she had to say
today about, as she called him, The Gouger:
"Ok, I gotta weigh in. Just saw The Gouger downstairs and HIS eye is"
bloodshot and puffy. He also lost a chunk of hair and got punched in
the face at least twice. Lots of throat punching went on as well.
Half the team is banged up from extra curricular activity in the pile.
The SEC refs did a poor job of managing this game and Brandon (or the
rest of the team) should never have had to put up with this much abuse before
taking matters into his own hands. Again, I'm not condoning the behavior and
I'm satisfied with the way the athletic department and Spikes have responded
but it's ridiculous to think that Brandon's actions weren't provoked.
----- Original Message -----
From: Helen Huntley
To: gatortalk@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, November 02, 2009 7:55 PM
Subject: [gatortalk] Re: [gatornews] [SUN]: Gators suspend Spikes a half
game for eye gouge [Barlis]
Lots of dirty things go on in those piles, and Spikes obviously was upset
about what happened to him. However,
I think Spikes and the Gators are very fortunate that the Georgia player
(apparently) wasn't injured. Can you imagine the outrage if the situation were
reversed and that was a Georgia player trying to poke Tebow in the eye--and
Tebow was actually injured as a result?
On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 1:38 PM, Shane Ford <go.ufgator...@gmail.com> wrote:
Gators suspend Spikes a half game for eye gouge
Brian W. Kratzer/The Gainesville Sun
Buy photo
Brandon Spikes digs his hand inside a Georgia helmet during the third
quarter of the Florida-Georga game at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium Saturday
Oct. 31, 2009.
By Jeff Barlis
Gainesville SUN Staff writer
Published: Monday, November 2, 2009 at 12:27 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, November 2, 2009 at 12:27 p.m.
Florida linebacker Brandon Spikes was suspended for gouging the eye of
Georgia tailback Waushaun Ealey on Saturday in Jacksonville. Coach Urban Meyer
on Monday announced the suspension, for the first half of Saturday's game
against Vanderbilt.
"I don't condone (what Spikes did)," Meyer said at his weekly news
conference. "There's no place on the field for that. We're going to suspend him
for the first half of the Vanderbilt game. That's not him. But we love Brandon
Spikes and the team is going to support him.
"It's hard. I just spoke with him not too long ago. We're Florida and we
expect certain things. ... I did speak to the (SEC) commissioner.
"I wanted to move on and then I saw it and said, 'That's not right.' "
The video evidence shows Spikes gouges the eye of Ealey. The incident can
be seen here on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cISxU8Crulw
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