Thoughts of the Day: June 29, 2021

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning:

A WANDERING MIND GATHERS NO MOSS

Spring has sprung and summer is here, days when writing a 5-day a week column requires a good memory and a certain amount of creativity. Here are a few things that have wandered through my mind in the past couple of days.

The touchdown dance was invented at Florida Field September 20, 1969: A year after Florida demolished Houston, 59-34, in the season opener at Florida Field in 1969, the crowd of 53,807 that had witnessed the 70-yard touchdown pass from John Reaves to Carlos Alvarez – forever known as “The Pass” – on the third play of the game had swelled to somewhere in the neighborhood of 750,000. It’s like Henry Aaron’s 715th homer. At least a couple million people were there that night in Atlanta. Don’t believe it? Just mention that night to someone who is at least 60 years old sometime.

Houston was predicted by Anson Mount to win the national championship. At least one national publication predicted Florida and its Super Sophs would finish among the 20 worst teams in the country. Unbeknownst to Houston, a pair of dive plays on first and second down were setups for a Reaves to Alvarez bomb, planned by Fllorida offensive coordinator Fred Pancoast since the spring. On third and seven, Florida flopped its tight end to the left side and split Alvarez out five extra yards. The Houston safety had to take responsibility for the tight end and the extra five yards meant he would have no chance to give over the top help on Alvarez.

Reaves and Alvarez had practiced the pass so many times in the summer they could almost complete it blindfolded. Reaves took a seven-step drop. Alvarez, who was the state sprint champion at North Miami in his prep days, blew by the corner who had no help from his safety. It was an easy pitch and catch for a TD, the first of five TDPs for Reaves. Alvarez caught six for 182 yards and had a second TD catch.

Everybody remembers that.

What few remember is Houston wide receiver Elmo Wright. On that day when Houston QB Ken Bailey matched Reaves with five touchdown passes, Elmo Wright invented the touchdown dance in the north end zone. It was after his first TD catch when he slipped out of the grasp of UF safety Steve Tannen that Wright danced in the end zone. It was like he was sprinting in place. Some wondered if he was mimicking an Indian war dance. Florida fans booed. So next TD catch, Wright did it again, this time more pronounced. He did it a third time that day. And a bunch of times in 1969 when he had eight touchdown catches of at least 50 yards and averaged 20.2 per reception.

Elmo continued his touchdown dancing when he got to the NFL although most believe it was Billy “White Shoes” Johnson who made the end zone dance an art form.

Tee Martin still hears the footsteps: It was September 19, 1999, time for the annual renewal of the Florida-Tennessee rivalry that dominated the Southeastern Conference in the 1990s. I remember standing outside the north end zone at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium pregame with my stepfather beside me when perhaps 50 Hare Krishnas came by in their saffron colored robes that lot like the creamsicle jerseys worn by the group of six Vol fans standing to my right. As the Krishnas danced and twirled, banging their drums and cymbals, I remarked, “I’m glad Tennessee brought the marching band.”

The Vol fans spewed what smelled like an enhanced Coca-Cola. One of them looked at me and said, “That was just cruel. Funny as hell, but cruel.”

What was cruel that night for the Vols, the 1998 national champions and owners of a 14-game winning streak, was what Alex Brown did to Tee Martin. Alex was penalized for a late hit on the third play of the game, a precursor to what was going to happen the rest of the way. By the time this one was over, Brown had five sacks, two batted passes, an interception and a forced fumble as the Gators took down the 2nd-ranked Vols, 23-21. The Gators had given up 784 yards in the first two games of the year, easy wins over The Citadel and Northeast Louisiana. Tennessee managed only 278.

Tee Martin still hears the footsteps.

Florida’s defense at the 2006 and 2007 NCAA basketball Final Fours: Larry Shyatt, who served as Billy Donovan’s minister of defense, preached that good defense began with your heels touching the 3-point line. Shy was willing to make teams earn their points shooting tough twos, but he wasn’t about to lose a game because the Gators couldn’t defend the 3-ball. Never was that more evident than in the Final Fours in 2006 and 2007.

In the 2006 semifinal matchup with George Mason, a game the Gators won 73-58, UF held the Patriots to 23-56 shooting overall and just 2-11 on 3-pointers. George Mason would have gladly tried to take more threes since they couldn’t get the ball inside on Al Horford and Joakim Noah, but the Patriots couldn’t even get a decent look from the outside.

In the championship game (Florida won 73-57), everyone remembers Noah dominating with six blocked shots, but Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey absolutely ate the Bruins guards alive. Jordan Farmar, who had actually been Billy Donovan’s top choice for a point guard back when he was being recruited, was horrible from the outside (1-8 on threes) against Green, who was Donovan’s “consolation” prize. Humphrey took on Aaron Afflalo and held him to 2-7 as UCLA went a miserable 3-17 (17.6%) from the 3-point line.

A year late in the semifinals, the Gators met up with UCLA in a rematch. UCLA didn’t fare any better. UCLA hit 20 of its 41 twos but for a second straight year the Bruins were locked down at the 3-point line. Green handled Darren Collison (1-6 from the 3-point line), Humphrey stifled Afflalo (3-9) and Corey Brewer shut out Josh Shipp (0-4). The Gators wound up holding UCLA to 5-23 (21.7 percent) from the 3-point line and won easily, 76-66.

On Monday night against Ohio State, Florida’s strategy was to run Horford, Noah, Chris Richard and Marreese Speights at Buckeye big man Greg Oden to make him work for everything he got (finished the night with 25). If not for a couple of late 3-balls after the game was pretty much in the bag for the Gators, Ohio State’s 4-23 shooting would have looked even worse in the scorebook. Green held Mike Conley to 1-3 shooting from the 3-point line. Jamar Butler went 1-6 against Hump. Ivan Harris was 2-8 against Brewer. The Buckeyes hit 26-41 (63.4 percent) on twos but an abysmal 17.4 percent from the 3-point line.

As good as the Gators were offensively those two 2007 games – 50-98 overall from the field and 19-40 from the 3-point line – I’m still amazed at how tough UF was defensively. For the four games of the Final Four in Florida’s two NCAA championships, the Gators held opponents to 14-74 shooting from the 3-point line. You win a lot of games when opponents hit only 18.9 percent of their 3-pointers.

The best college shortstop I ever saw: Watching the College World Series reminded me of 1969 when Ole Miss came to Perry Field to beat the Gators for the Southeastern Conference championship. My senior year at Gainesville High School was winding down and I was working as a correspondent for Jack Hairston of the Jacksonville Journal. I sat in the bleachers (Perry Field wasn’t exactly a palace in those days) next to Atley Donald, the former New York Yankees pitcher turned Yankees scout, who I had met during my family’s three-year exile to Mississippi when he was scouting McComb’s Freddie Brister and Ted Milton. On this day, Atley was in Gainesville to watch Ole Miss All-American third baseman Whitey Adams and sophomore shortstop Archie Manning.

Archie was already well on his way to becoming a football legend but at the time he was actually considered a better professional prospect as a shortstop. There wasn’t a play he couldn’t make defensively and if he got to the ball, he had an absolute gun to first base. He was a gap hitter who led the SEC in doubles in 1969 and triples in 1970. He also led the SEC in stolen bases in 1969.

Two plays stood out that day in Gainesville. The first was a bouncer up the middle that had single written all over it. Archie gloved on the outfield grass and with his momentum taking him out to right field squared his shoulders and gunned out the Gator at first. The second was a slow roller that Archie gloved and seemed to throw all in one smooth motion.

Atley looked at me after the second play and said, “I think he loves football but Archie Manning is a better baseball player than he is a football player. He could be in the big leagues in two years. He’s already better than half the shortstops up there.”

Obviously, the Major League Baseball teams thought so. Archie was drafted in the second round by the Kansas City Royals and in the third round twice by the Chicago White Sox.

If I picked a broadcasting hall of fame: Well, Beth Mowins wouldn’t be on it, but here are 10 who would. (1) Cawood Ledford, Kentucky basketball; (2) Vin Scully, Los Angeles Dodgers; (3) Keith Jackson, ABC college football; (4) Al Michaels; (5) John Ferguson, LSU football; (6) Jack Buck, St. Louis Cardinals baseball; (7) Ray Scott, CBS football; (8) the NBC college basketball broadcasting team of Dick Enberg, Billy Packer and Al McGuire; (9) Ernie Harwell, Detroit Tigers baseball; (10) the original Monday Night Football team of Frank Gifford, Don Meredith and Howard Cosell. Honorable mention: Pat Summerall, CBS football; Woody Durham, North Carolina basketball; Chuck Thompson, Baltimore Orioles baseball; and John Ward, Tennessee.

I’ve never heard anyone who could call a basketball game better than Cawood Ledford, who made you feel as if you were watching the game with him. Vin Scully carried on a conversation with you and the baseball game was just part of the entertainment. Keith Jackson, “Whoa Nelly!” Al Michaels, “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” John Ferguson made you think Tiger Stadium was situated in a foggy swamp. Nobody anticipated what a pitcher was about to do better than Jack Buck. Ray Scott had the voice of God. Enberg, Packer and Al McGuire … no one has ever made college basketball more fun. Ernie Harwell made you feel like you were at the park eating a hotdog. I still don’t know how Frank Gifford kept a straight face while letting Dandy Don and Howard go at it. I miss those guys.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Attendance at Vanderbilt’s 8-2 win over Mississippi State at the College World Series was 21,883, which the NCAA was quick to tweet out. Among the better responses from fans who don’t find the NCAA very amusing for the way it handled sending North Carolina State home was tweeted out by someone with the handle Funny Bone, who offered this: “How man of the 21,883 were tested for Covid? B/c the pandemic is raging and the virus is so deadly, I assume everyone wore masks. And the game must have been held in a 120,000 seat stadium to allow for safe social distancing. Don’t reply immediately. You can wait until 2:30 AM.” Maybe there wasn’t a better way to handle NC State than to send the Wolfpack home, but the NCAA absolutely blew it with the way they kept everyone in the dark and then didn’t have the decency to hold a press conference in which they made it perfectly clear how agonizing the decision was.