MVN - Most Valuable Network

Nothing Soft about them: Gators match last season’s win total

If you are the average Gator fan, you may be JUST coming down off your hit of Gator football in last weekend’s Orange and Blue Debut. You may be still feeling the sting of a disappointing season for the men’s basketball team, and just MIGHT have heard about the resurgence of the women’s squad.

Baseball, to you oh average Gator fan, is that game they play near the O-Dome right? But the furthest team from your mind is the softball team.

Soft…ball? Is that another name for basketball? That ball is sort of soft. A new women’s sport to up Title 9 numbers where you throw pillows at targets?

Well, it is a woman’s sport (it, of course, is technically Women’s Baseball), but there’s nothing soft about it (heck, the ball isn’t even soft). Especially this year’s Gator squad, who with a doubleheader sweep of the Kentucky Wildcats today matched last season’s win total.

Now, you hear that phrase bandied about a lot when a team had a terrible season the year before and suddenly turns it around. Like when the Boston Celtics matched their 2006 win total of 24 two days after Christmas. But that isn’t the case here.

Last season, the Gators won 50 games. Out of 72. Yep, 50-22. Not too bad, in fact an excellent record. The second win of the DH today pushed the Gators record to a staggering 50-2. AND TWO. The two losses have come by a total of 2 runs; a 2-1 extra innings loss to Long Beach State in Long Beach, and a 1-0 loss to #1 team and SEC rival Alabama. The Gators won the next game against the Tide 8-4.

There are three dominant teams in softball right now, as Florida and Alabama are joined by Arizona State. There are 3 major polls, and each has Top 3 in a different order. UF is #1 in one of those polls, #2 in another, and #3 in the third. UF is tops in a somewhat competitive SEC. The Gators are an equally staggering 20-1 in the SEC, with a 7.5 game lead on Tennessee, a team that lit up their non-conference schedule with a pace equal to Florida’s. But the Vols hit an SEC Brick Wall, as 8 of their 9 losses have come in SEC play. In the West, Alabama is followed by an LSU team that has had 9 of their 13 losses come in the tough SEC. The Gators and Tide should lock up 1 seeds in the SEC very soon, and we are setting up for a very entertaining SEC Championship.

The team hits the grapes out of the softball; the recently scored 20 runs in a 2 game series against rival Florida State. They have some pretty darn good pitching too, that seems to especially step up the few times the runs don’t come. The FSU series is a great example. In the first game, the Gators won 6-1, limiting the Noles’ bats on a night the Gators run production was a little low. In Game 2, the Gators won 14-4…a few more runs allowed, but the bats stepped up.

The regular season is winding down to a close. The Gators go for the overall series sweep against the Wildcats tomorrow at 1pm. The Gators then will take a bit of a break from the SEC with a Tuesday doubleheader at home against Jacksonville. The season will end with 2 Saturday-Saturday-Sunday SEC series. The 26th and 27th, the Gators will host Auburn. On May 3rd and 4th, the Gators will head to Tennessee for the last 3 games of the regular season.

A regular season that may land the Gators with a loss total under 5.

Maybe under 3. These girls are worth watching. Pay attention.

The Colors were running: Rainey and Moody rack up yards as Blue beats Orange

Practice is the only time Gators try to beat other Gators, and that was the case in today’s Orange and Blue Debut, officially the last Spring practice.

Offense was the key to the day as Blue defeated Orange 28-14. Tim Tebow, who had a 102 degree fever the night before, passed for almost twice as many yards as those degrees. He had 200 yards passing, with 2 TDs and 2 picks. On one of the picks, he absolutely leveled Major Wright for the tackle.

The Gators ran a lot last year, but it was mainly WR Percy Harvin and and QB Tebow. Now, it seems Florida has not 1 but 2 legitimate running backs. Blue RB Chris Rainey lit up the field, totaling 140 yards and 2 scores, one of those coming on a pass from Tebow where he then juked former Lakeland High teammate Ahmad Black nearly out of his shoes. Coach Urban Meyer was all about praising Rainey after the game, calling him “Percy-ish”…after wondering if it was a word.

Touted transfer RB Emanuel Moody, running for the Orange, also impressed. He carried 14 times for a game leading 111 yards. However, Coach Meyer only seemed to see one thing from Moody, and he didn’t like it.

A fumble.

Moody coughed the ball up ONCE, but it was at a costly time. On the 1 yard line diving in for an attempt at his 2nd score of the day. Meyer had a back last year, Kestahn Moore, who seemed to fumble in any key situation, but it’s apparently inexcusable for Moody.

“He’s not very good with ball security, and he won’t play tailback at Florida with poor ball security,” Meyer said. “He’s very talented. You saw some great runs. … He’s got talent but there’s no chance you’ll see him play regardless of what dot com says and all the e-mails I get and everything else, he will not play football if there’s a chance he’ll lay it on the ground.”

I haven’t had the chance to observe practice, but it seems to me that Meyer is being quite a bit harsh with Moody after having what was basically a REAL good game. His post-game comments seemed…unbalanced. Excessive praise for Rainey and excessive criticism for Moody. When you pair that with things he’s previously said (earlier he said he doesn’t say hello to Moody, just “I hope you’re good. Really, really good.”) and I feel some discomfort with how Meyer seems to be looking at Moody. Hopefully, Meyer is just trying to prevent any sense of entitlement from being the man at USC and bouncing right to being the man at Florida. Meyer says Rainey will start somewhere. He may have earned that. But to me, Moody earned a starting role as well.

Again folks, if you are in Gainesville or reasonably close, please pony up five bucks and attend the Tim Tebow First and 15 Powder Puff Tournament at Norman Field. Proceeds benefit children in Gainesville and the Philippines, and the event should be lots of fun. Check it out!

Orange and Blue, time for the Debut

It’s that special day for Gator fans. Finally, after waiting so long to get the taste of that Capital One Bowl loss to Michigan out of our mouth, football…is back. But it’s a one day only engagement. Today is the Orange and Blue Debut at The Swamp. Sadly, I won’t be there, but ESPN will as they are doing Gameday coverage from the event. Shows what they think of the Gators’ prospects this year.

The game will be more of an event this year. There will be the normal things, players signing autographs, photo opportunities, The Great Gator Yard Sale, an intramural All-Star Flag Football game, etc. But this game will use the ESPN attention to make the Spring game much more of an event for the fans. It will feature two new events over the weekend.

One is a contest called “The Fastest Fan”. 15 students will race 3 Gator football players; WR Deonte Thompson, RB Chris Rainey, and another player TBD. That third player may have been Percy Harvin. Coach Urban Meyer jokingly offered a scholarship to any student that could beat Harvin when the event was announced. But Harvin won’t be participating after having heel surgery that will sideline him until Fall practice. The fastest fan won’t win a scholarship, but will win a sideline pass to the Hawaii game and an entire closet of Gator gear. Thompson joked that the football players should beat the fans by at least 5 yards…until he heard that some of the fans ran under 4.5 in the 40 for qualifying. “That’s pretty good,” he said.

Another event involved, though actually being held Sunday, is Tim Tebow’s first foray into organizing a charity event. Tim Tebow’s First and 15 Powder Puff Tournament will feature 14 UF Sorority teams competing in a single elimination tournament. Each team will be coached by a UF player, who the teams “drafted”. The draft order was set by the sorority with the largest attendance on down. Percy Harvin was selected first overall. Tebow held himself out of the draft to be able to emcee and spend time with every team. The tournament will be held at Norman Field on 13th street (diagonally across from Beaty Towers), admission is $5, and the proceeds will help children in Gainesville and the Philippines. Tebow was actually born in the Philippines, and takes mission trips there every year. If you are in Gainesville, PLEASE try to attend this event. Tebow will also have his Heisman jersey sign revealed in The Swamp at halftime.

Rosters for the Orange and Blue Debut are available at GatorZone.com. Tebow will start for Team Orange, while Cam Newton starts for Team Blue. But since A) Tebow is the clear starter and may not go 3 plays let alone series, and B) After halftime the rules go out the window and anyone can play for anyone, don’t read anything into the backup QB position just because Newton starts for the Blue.

And as I always say at this time, GO ORANGE! I know they are all Gators, and the one thing we are all really rooting for is no one to get injured. But if I’m watching a game, I gotta be rooting for someone, and Orange is my favorite color.

For an update on other Gator sports, please read the next post.

Gator Update

Haven’t been by in a while, very sorry about that. Wanted to give you all an update on the Gators in their various sports.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
The Lady Gators rested during the first round of the Women’s NIT, while FLGC, in their first year as a D-1 Program, defeated South Florida. The Lady Gales traveled to Gainesville, and the Lady Gators ended the Lady Gales spectacular debut season by defeating them 60-55. But their run would come to an end in Round 3, as the Lady Wolfpack of NC State blew them out 80-55 in Raleigh. The Lady Gators finish their year 19-14. Again, last season the Lady Gators went 9-22 and didn’t go to any postseason tournaments. New Coach Amanda Butler has really breathed life into the program. As long as she recruits well, Florida will build towards being a force in the SEC.

For the record, NC State narrowly lost to Michigan State in the WNIT Final Four, and Marquette defeated the Lady Spartans to win their first WNIT title.

MEN’S BASKETBALL
The Gators followed up their defeat of SDSU by getting revenge on Creighton, ending their season with a blowout 82-54 victory. Coach Billy Donovan did not let the team back into the practice facility, even with a bigger matchup looming. The chalk held in the Gators region, and they faced a trip to #1 seed Arizona State. A Sun Devils squad that was repeatedly listed as the biggest snub of the NCAA Committee. Well, apparently the Gators felt they were snubbed too, as they traveled across the country and laid the wood down on the Devils too, beating them 70-57 to advance to the NIT Final Four.

However, the run would end there. The Gators traveled to New York for the NIT Final Four and a semifinal match against Massachusetts, but ran out of gas and lost 78-66. In my mind, that may have actually been the best result. The Gators experienced all they could from tournament play; big wins, a win with the crowd against you, heading to a big city with lots of media attention, and a loss to keep them hungry; all without the perhaps too bright lights of the NCAA Tournament. As of the end of the Gators’ season, Coach Donovan had not let the Gators back into the practice facility, and there is no word on when he will. Ohio State went on to finally win a tournament the Gators were in, defeating the Minutemen to win the NIT title.

After the tournament, sophomore center Maureese Speights announced that he is entering the NBA Draft, but won’t hire an agent. Most see this as a test-the-waters move. He’ll likely talk to the NBA Advisory Committee, find out he likely wouldn’t be drafted, and return to Florida. ESPN’s Andy Katz has ranked the Gators 23rd in his pre-draft poll based on that assumption. Sophomore forward Jonathan Mitchell has decided to transfer. Mitchell never seemed confident and was getting spotty minutes. With the Gators bringing in a class one player bigger than they could take (if Speights ends up staying as expected), someone had to go. Mitchell perhaps best helps the Gators by leaving, and the Gators perhaps best help Mitchell by freeing him to go start somewhere else.

BASEBALL
Ahh, the American pastime. While the MLB season is just 10 games old, the Gators have been playing for a while now. The Gators lost a toughy tonight, 2-1 to Arkansas. The big hit just would not come for the Gators, and the pitching was great on a night the Gators needed stellar. But the team has certainly exceeded expectations under new manager Kevin O’Sullivan. UF is 23-11, 8-5 in the SEC, and is currently ranked 21st in the nation. The team is very young with only 2 senior starters, but they show a lot of promise.

SOFTBALL
Another Gator team, another improvement. But this one defies amazing and goes straight to super-wow mode. The Lady Gators were pretty darn good last year, finishing 50-22, 17-11 in the SEC, losing to Texas A&M in a 3-game Super Regional. But they’ve taken whatever was great about last year and amplified it big time. This year’s Lady Gators are…ready for this…43-2! With an equally amazing 15-1 record in the SEC! They are ranked 3rd in the nation and…just wow. That’s all I can really say. This could be the next Gator team that wins a title.

I’ll be updating tomorrow with full coverage of the Orange and Blue Debut game. After that, I am gonna try to get you guys regular updates on baseball and softball, as well as notable news from other sports like gymnastics and tennis.