Sprints Is Celebrating as Hard as It Can // 10.06.09
Team Speed Kills Now on LSU-Florida and Ole Miss-Alabama. We will not talk (that much) about Tim Tebow's concussion. Instead, we have Richard from And The Valley Shook to talk LSU's side of the matchup with the Gators and Todd from Roll Bama Roll and one of the guys from Red Cup Rebellion to talk about that "other" important game. An all-SEC West show to balance last week's all-Tebow show. Plus, the SEC Power Poll is unveiled and all the other stuff you've come to expect from TSK Now.
EXCESSIVE CELEBRATIN'
Just get rid of it. That seems to be the overwhelming sentiment about the unsportsmanlike conduct rule after the debacle in Athens. Even Mr. College Football thinks it should go.
You do realize that Tim Brando agrees with you, right? And he makes an insinuation that's bound to set a few people off but might unfortunately be unsettlingly close to the truth when he points out that the SEC is calling the penalty more than other leagues, as Georgia Sports Blog illustrates.One of two things has to happen for the good of the game: My suggestion is to eliminate the rule entirely because it has become clear to me that it can’t be enforced on a consistent basis. Excessive celebration is too much in the eye of the beholder. Replace it with a taunting rule. Taunting is more clearly defined than excessive celebration. ...
It’s time to put some common sense back into the excessive celebration rule. It if we can’t do that, then it needs to be eliminated.
"They don't want us to go more in-depth on why the SEC is throwing more. I am telling you, it is a conversation, I don’t want to have it, my friend Spencer does not want to have it, and I am telling you, watch out, because people are going to take a closer look at this and it is not going to bode well for the league."
What Brando appears to be talking about there is the issue of race. Tim Tebow has never been flagged by an SEC official for celebration; yet, Tebow dances around like an idiot after every two yard run both drawing attention to himself and pandering to the crowd. ...
Am I saying the issue really is race? I believe that Caucasian players rarely get flagged in the SEC no matter how excited they get. I've never seen it. Have you?
This is probably not too far from how Brando intended it; I thought the same thing while he was talking, and "my friend Spencer" seems a little bit less of an odd addition when you consider that Spencer Tillman is black and that is the middle-aged white guy's way of saying, "I'm talking about race, see?" Before you allow your head to explode: Think about this for just a minute. It's really not that unreasonable a point. Then allow your head to explode if you so desire. But at least give it some honest thought first.
As for the rule itself, I'm not sure that it needs to be eliminated. Instead, the vagueness needs to be cleared up. If you take an unnecessary dive into the endzone, maybe that should be a penalty. If it's a choreographed dance or routine, it should clearly be a penalty. Otherwise, let the players get excited. I promise it won't ruin a thing.
In any case, it probably isn't going anywhere.
Quinton McDawg, meanwhile, makes the somewhat obvious point that could be overlooked in the brouhaha.
The bad celebration penalty didn't cost us the game. Here's what did: one first down in the first half, no threat of a running game, a missed field goal, terrible kick coverage, and missed tackles.
Yes, but blaming your own team is no fun.
Sympathy from who?
Urban Meyer, of all people, rushed to A.J. Green's defense.
"That's just awful," Meyer told reporters in Gainesville, Fla. "I can't stand that when then happens. I just think that's wrong."
He then called a timeout.
But you have to wonder whether Meyer wasn't thinking more along the lines of Saurian Sagacity's take on celebrationgate.
TIM TEBOW INJURY
One way or the other, it's "The Most Important Week Of Tim Tebow's Career"
Not much hyperbole in this piece from Alligator Army. Tebow's legacy will be changed by what happens Saturday.
We might not know until game time
Meyer said it could be a game-time decision.
Asked if an announcement will be made on Saturday (Florida plays at Louisiana State at 8 p.m. on Saturday), Meyer said, "If it's real late, you probably have to wait late. If they clear him earlier than that, I'll probably tell you."
Note the "probably."
A little noticed portion of a Palm Beach Post story
I and most other speculating about Tim Tebow whiffed on this piece from the PBP:
And if Tebow can't play in this Saturday's showdown at LSU -- and it's likely he can't, UF sources say -- the Brantley Era starts about four months early for the Gators. [Emphasis mine.]
Of course, this could all be just as speculative as anything else and could also be a smokescreen. But it's the most definitive thing we've heard either way.
Another clue
Florida also left another hint that it will either not play Tebow or be irresponsible when it does.
Meyer did say, though, that Tebow "will not get hit" if he does practice this week. And that does not bode well for a return to the field this weekend, concussion expert Dr. Robert Cantu said on Monday. ...
"The first hit you take is not in the game. It should be in practice," Cantu said. "Normally, it’s better if athlete has practiced the week that they’re going to play. Generally speaking, that’s certainly the ideal situation, so that you’ve taken hits during that week and you know that the hits that jar you are not producing symptoms."
Medical experts say: Tebow should stay on the bench this week. Again, just making sure we're all paying attention beforehand.
'No idea'
That's how much of a clue John Brantley has to whether he's starting. But consider the schedule combined with Tebow not practicing until Wednesday, and it's not hard to connect all these dots.
Tebow did not practice on Monday and isn't expected to practice until at least Wednesday, which is scheduled to be a light day for the Gators. Thursday is a walk-through day.
LSU fans are treating Brantley like the starter
All the way down to the cell phone calls.
How do they do it?
Goodman wonders about how Bengal fans continue to pull off the phone thing.
Is there a rat among Florida's players? Doubtful. It's more likely that an LSU fan with access to a cell phone database pulls the numbers and then distributes them.
How long until Lane Kiffin figures out how to do this?
Deonte Thompson's ready
Good news for the Gators' WR corps at least.
Down to one player with the flu
So there's that.
OTHER NEWS
Brandon Warren gone
Kiffin has removed the WR from the team after he caused a couple of scenes during the Auburn game.
"Brandon Warren is no longer with our team," Kiffin said. "He has been dismissed for conduct detrimental to our team. We wish him the best of luck. We'll give him full academic support to keep him going in school, and that's the last I'm going to comment on it. Very unfortunate.
"Like I said, I'm not going to get into it any further out of respect to him and his family, but he's not been removed from this team because of that solely."
It's not entirely clear what those other incidents are. But this is not ideal for a team about to face a key SEC East rival.
Caleb King broke his jaw
And continued playing.
It's just the special teams. Like it was just the turnovers
The other serious problem undermining Georgia's season.
Maybe Atlanta isn't completely ridiculous
Track Em Tigers adjusts its read on the season, but warns us against getting too wrapped up in the Malzahnfense.
In the end, Auburn will be judged by how well Ted Roof's defense improves in the coming weeks. Outside of the Tennessee touchdown drive at the end of the first half, this unit made strides. The veterans made plays when the game was drawing close.
Next opponent: Arkansas.
A different kind of reassessment
Vanderbilt Sports Line takes a look at what's gone wrong this year after last year's breakthrough season.
He's probably better off for it
Jim Brown missed his first Kentucky home game in 64 years Saturday.
"I let common sense take over from valor," Brown said.
He was actually talking about his cold, but could just as well have been talking about Kentucky's chances of winning.
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Comments
Okay, fine, but...
“But you have to wonder whether Meyer wasn’t thinking more along the lines of Saurian Sagacity’s take on celebrationgate.”
So is Georgia now even with the SEC? Is that how this thing works?
We cool, conference? You kinda do still have to pay Georgia back for the no-TD call in the ASU game, though. When will we be expecting that? How about the cheap shot allowed on Stafford in the ‘07 WLOCP? Will that be administered to Florida, or to Penn Wagers himself? How about the USC player who tried to take AJ Green’s head off? Will that be given to the player or to Spurrier or to the guy who missed the call? Will Junior Rosegreen be brought back to the Plains so Reggie Brown can blindside the stuffing out of him? Will the conference punish Florida for years and years of chomping after every play with a delayed payment option, or dump it all at once at Urban’s feet?
It would, of course, be irresponsible not to speculate.
by D.N. Nation on Oct 6, 2009 9:36 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Well, the general Gator fan would probably say something to the effect of, “It’s about time it was someone else’s turn; SEC refs always called things against Florida because they hated Spurrier, and they just kept going even after he left.” At which point, a Tennessee fan’s head would have Jabar Gaffney pop in it and subsequently explode.
While I (naturally) think the bit about refs calling things against Spurrier is more true than not true, SEC officials are just generally bad across the board. Not as bad as the ACC or Pac-10 zebras, but not that great either. In other words, I don’t agree with the idea that they’re down of Georgia because of ’07.
Team Speed Kills
SBNation's SEC Blog
by Year2 on Oct 6, 2009 10:29 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
And the general Georgia fna would probably say
Florida under Urban : SEC refs ::
Duke under Coach K : ACC refs
by D.N. Nation on Oct 6, 2009 10:39 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
One one hand, that’s completely untrue. Florida racks up penalties at a greater rate than anyone else in the league, having been penalized 427 times for 3,315 yards from 2005-08. Both totals are most in the conference during that span, 37 more penalties and 222 more yards than second place LSU.
On the other, there haven’t been too many back breaking ones against Florida in that span. Usually the heart breakers go against the other team (i.e. the hands to the face penalty on UGA last year that negated a Tebow INT on a drive that ended up in points).
Team Speed Kills
SBNation's SEC Blog
by Year2 on Oct 6, 2009 10:55 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I'm thinking more the ridiculous ones.
Specifically that cheap shot on Stafford and the unsportsmanlike on Vanderbilt in the ’05 game in the Swamp.
Though you could of course point to the unsportsmanlike on y’all in the ’04 Tennessee game. Penn Wagers giveth and taketh away.
by D.N. Nation on Oct 6, 2009 11:09 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Just so. How many fans out there actually believe the refs are biased towards their team? I suspect a poll would find that every SEC fanbase considers itself uniquely screwed over by officiating, with substantial minorities in each blaming it on a league conspiracy of some kind based on some particular incident or personality the rest of us have either forgotten or never cared about in the first place.
(As for the chomping – opposing players have done it to taunt Florida just as frequently as Gators have done it to celebrate, and how often do they get flagged? Except by the universe, of course; “premature echompulation”, as we said, brought swift karmic retribution multiple times in ’06. Except for the Eagles/Tigers/whatsits… they had to wait for the Offensive Coordinator of DOOM!)
by peachy rex on Oct 6, 2009 11:11 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
FWIW
Mohamed Massaquoi got called for it in ’07, resulting in back-to-back penalized kickoffs for Georgia.
by D.N. Nation on Oct 6, 2009 11:17 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I've gone one on all of you
I don’t think any of your teams have actually had your quarterback tackled by an official. So there.
Team Speed Kills. All SEC, all the time.
by cocknfire on Oct 6, 2009 1:04 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
The New England Patriots are my NFL team
At the height of their prowess (2004 and 2007) I have no doubt officials made subconscious errors in my team’s favor. Perhaps they still do.
Also, Kevin Stallings once hinted that when he was at Kansas, Big XII (or was it Big 8?) refs would favor the Jayhawks.
Officials seeing what they expect to see is just part of the landscape IMO.
by PhilipVU94 on Oct 6, 2009 2:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
The racial angle
It’s irresponsible to speculate based on tiny samples of data, of course. But we Vanderbilt fans still have acutely vivid memories of getting f***ed over against one of the conference’s money programs by a bizarre celebration penalty. The player in question, Earl Bennett, is black, so add one in the appropriate column.
by PhilipVU94 on Oct 6, 2009 2:43 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I hadn't ever thought about it until now, but since you brought it up...
Certainly the idea merits greater investigation, but as you said it’s irresponsible to be throwing around such serious allegations without more concrete evidence.
Some things to consider:
1) The SEC employs a fair number minority officials as well, so in any analysis would one discount those celebration penalties called by minority officials since they presumably would not be affected by racial bias?
2) Someone above made the point that they can’t ever recall a white player being called for a celebration penalty. Well, celebration penalties occur most often after scoring drives. One wonders if the anecdotal evidence of only seeing minority players flagged for the penalty might be affected by the disproportionate number of minority players occupying the skill positions. Generally, skill position players are the ones that get in the end zone. Of course, the omnipresence of Tim Tebow in the end zone discounts this notion to a certain degree, but not altogether I think. Then again, I personally don’t remember many quarterback being flagged for the penalty, period. Again, this could be a result of a disproportionate number of quarterbacks being white – which brings up an entirely different hot-button issue.
3) Personally, I think the idea that an official in any conference or league at this level would have an overt racial motivation is porous at best. Their concentration is so high on doing their job right and reacting to split second decisions that I don’t think there is time for racial bias to factor into the equation. Additionally, we’re not seeing a pattern of this type of call from one official, but rather it’s present across the board. This would further discount the theory of racial bias unless you subscribe to widespread conspiracy theory (remote). All that being said, the possibility of subconscious bias, that is, something which might be culturally ingrained, is not discountable.
Dum spiro spero - "While I breathe, I hope"
State motto of South Carolina
by The Feathered Warrior on Oct 6, 2009 9:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

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