Mailbag and more

Hope you had a good weekend. As promised, here's the mailbag of some questions/comments that came in over the week...

From Jeremiah...

How many more 7-5 or 6-6 years does FSU have to turn in before they get treated like the mediocre program they truly are? Florida cannot continue to use FSU as the crutch to not schedule any other credible opponents because THEY are barely credible opponents.

It's funny you mention this, because FSU has shown a remarkable knack for scheduling this kind of game from the mid-90s on. They've played teams like Texas A&M, USC, BYU and Colorado that sounded like great non-conference opponents. Yet they always seemed to catch them at times where they weren't very good. Now, FSU and Miami will serve that role for UF this year, giving them cover for having a 1-AA opponent like Citadel. If FSU never gets to a better level than 7-5 again, eventually it could hurt UF's schedule perception but I think we're a number of years away from that. The SEC's strength insulates UF from having to be too worried about that, but Gator fans do deserve better than the other non conference crap that's been booked for them in coming seasons.

From Joe...
I don't get why you moved to Columbia. I know it's a bigger city, but what's better about working in a state with only two college teams and no pro franchises?

As noted in my initial blog entry, which you can read below, the reason for my move to Columbia is that it's where my fiancee works and there is no feasible way for her to work in Gainesville. I'm working with friends and 107.5 the Game is a very good station, but on my own I would not have left Gainesville for Columbia. That's not to say I would have never left under any circumstances, but not this particular one.

From Ric....
How worried are you about the Celtics, considering how poorly they've played the first two rounds? If Gibson didn't get hurt they lose to Cleveland.

I didn't expect them to struggle the way they have to this point, but I've never believed they were going to win it all this year. I hope they can beat the Pistons, but I suspect they will not. Ray Allen has got to start contributing this round or they're done.

Just a reminder - besides this blog, I'm still writing for scout.com's Florida website, fightingators.com - here's the link to my latest column , which deals with FSU president T.K. Wetherell's absurd proclamation that a college football playoff is inevitable. There's also plenty of stuff there from others on UF baseball and softball's big weekends - Kevin O'Sullivan should be a serious contender for SEC Coach of the Year for getting UF to the third seed.

Very nice pickup for Billy Donovan with the commitment of Deshawn Painter. Note that the Vernon Macklin transfer also helped out in a big way here. Beating Pitino out for a kid is never easy. In 2009-10 UF will have some serious size in the front court again.

I'm not sure which part of this report about Dolphins cornerback Will Allen being investigated for supposedly pulling a gun in a public place is more disturbing. WPLG television in South Florida reports that the gun was pulled because someone was demanding repayment from him for a loan used to pay gambling debts. If so, that's clearly got to be further investigated. But what was Will Allen doing allegedly acting gangsta in the parking lot of Bed, Bath & Beyond?

It's good to see some of his fellow Senate Republicans are willing to say enough already to Arlen Specter's ridiculous talk about a Congressional investigation into the NFL's handling of the Patriots video taping scandal. As Arizona Senator Jon Kyl says "It doesn't seem to me that it's something the Congress should be involved in." I just paid 3.60 a gallon to fill up my car - it's POSSIBLE stuff like that might be higher on peoples lists of concern than the Patriots, but that's just a guess.

If Congress was looking to investigate something sports related, which they really shouldn't be, I'd suggest the Tim Donaghy NBA refereeing scandal might be a better target than the Patriots. With this report from the New York Daily News indicating he bet on more than 100 games he worked, there seem to be several questions still worth asking about what happened and how the NBA can be sure no one else was involved.

This is the initial review I've seen for the new Indiana Jones sequel. I'm hoping somehow this lives up to the standard of the previous three, but I'm not terribly optimistic about that happening.

Speaking of things that were great in the Eighties that are unfortunately less so today, I saw Jamie Lee Curtis doing an advertisement for a digestive yogurt. From this (no nudity, but be careful if you're at work) to this - sigh. I'm getting old.

One other pop culture note - Tom Waits is playing Jacksonville July 2. He rarely tours, so this is big news. Waits is one of the true original artists out there, and he's not for everyone. Here's his video for "Hold On", one of my favorites he did this decade. I'm going to catch the Atlanta show July 5 - should be great.