One of the dangers brought on by the giddiness of triumph is the temptation of trying to quantify the achievement.
It’s not enough to win a national championship — we’ve got to put it in context with the others.
This was not a problem 12 years ago when the Florida Gators won their first national championship in football. It was like a first kiss and the sweetness could never be equaled or surpassed.
Like kisses, however, championships never get old. And you really can’t compare them, anyway. But that is what we writers do, and so for the past few days I have been sorting out information about the 1996, 2006 and 2008 championship teams for a Gator Country Magazine piece to run in our upcoming commemorative issue.
Anytime you add “est” to a word — like great or long or strong — there’s a good chance of being outright prejudice.
The research isn’t done, but when the magazine piece comes out shortly, suffice to say that I’m bound to offend somebody with my final analysis—although I am trying very hard not to get caught up in the “later is better” syndrome. Each of the championships was special in its own way. But for conversation purposes, I’ll make the comparison.
Meanwhile, the pundits are busily going about finding a place in history for Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin.
Some people contend that Harvin might be the greatest Gator of all time, an argument that probably won’t wash with most of The Gator Nation, despite his three phenomenal seasons. Not that Harvin won’t make the short list, but there is this other problem.
If Tim Tebow can be labeled “The Greatest College Football Player of All Time,” then how can his teammate be the “Greatest Gator Ever”?
Some of the graybeards I know tend to agree that Tebow could be mentioned in the same breath with players like Sammy Baugh and Doak Walker and Roger Staubach and Jimmy Brown, etc. But at least one of them argued Tebow could never be measured against the old-timers.
Beano Cook called last week to discuss the aftermath of Gators’ win over Oklahoma. “You can’t say Tebow is the greatest of all time because he didn’t play both ways,” said Beano.
I argued that Tebow would have been a great middle linebacker had he played in that era.
“Nah,” said Cook, “he’d be too slow.”
Whereupon I informed Beano that in every case when confronted with a weaknesses — “he can’t play quarterback” or “he can’t pass” — Tebow has proven his critics wrong. And that he was also wrong about the speed of Tebow, whose speed is deceiving.
And if Tebow had been a middle linebacker, he’d probably be an All-American.
Finally, I came to my senses and realized that there is no need to quantify the achievements of the Florida Gator teams or players because their actions speak quite well for themselves. That’s just a hangover from all the days of trying to defend a team that could never quite measure up—but has now become the standard by which all others are being measured.
Those days are over.
And as for Percy vs. Tebow, I’m not even going there. Don’t want to. Don’t have to.
Quick Jump Starts
1. Sure, they’re 3-0 in their first three league games, but if Chandler Parsons and Walter Hodge ever get their 3-point stroke down, Billy Donovan’s team might make a little noise in the post-season.
2. So if Gatorade really has changed the name of its drink to “G” in attempt to de-emphasize “Gators,” I think all Florida fans should boycott it because the initial is also on the helmets of their arch-rival in Athens.
3. In case I forgot to mention the great job done by Danny Ponce, Larry Wahl and John Humenik of the Orange Bowl Committee, let me say thanks now, because the media has never been treated better.
4. Let’s see if I’ve got this straight now, after reading some of the blogs from Georgia fans on other boards: The Bulldogs will be better than the Gators next season because they play a harder schedule, Matthew Stafford will get drafted in the first round and everybody’s tired of hearing how great Tim Tebow is as a player and a person. Uh, OK, yeah.
5. Sorry to hear that Jonathan Phillips was denied another year as kicker because he is a classy young man, but the rules are the rules and he did participate in four seasons.
SHORT STUFF: You gotta love what Urban Meyer and Jeremy Foley are doing with Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, surrounding it with so much history, and before it’s over “The Swamp” could be renamed “The Museum.” … Sometimes it’s hard to grasp, but it’s true: Four national championships since 2006. … Like everybody else, I will miss Percy Harvin, but to be honest, as he leaves after three seasons, I never really knew anything about the young man — which, I guess, is unfortunate for me. Good luck, Percy.
AND GOOD MORNING: To Mel Kiper. We get it that you think Tim Tebow is a fourth- or fifth-round draft pick. You should also get that we really don’t care what you think.