On to the Goal

This man is thinking of ways to make you puke.

After a brief reprieve post-spring practice, the Gators returned to campus today for summer classes and summer dryheave sessions workouts. Coaches have promised that this postseason will be as grueling as any and that the Gators will be “too tired to pick up the preseason magazines” to read how good they are.

On the one hand, I have no doubt that Mickey Marotti’s offseason workout program will be hellacious beyond any reasonable person’s standard. (By nature, football players are not reasonable people, at least not when it comes to what they’re willing to put their bodies through for our mutual entertainment.) I thoroughly admit that I would not survive much longer than five minutes during “mat drills,” and that may be an overly optimistic forecast.

That said, there’s a bit of spin to cut through here. The Gators will get plenty of media attention, and as Joe Goodman pointed out, Urban Meyer won’t exactly be turning down a ton of interview requests. Gotta be on ESPN … it’s what the recroots be watchin’. So if Florida is to maintain its hunger and edge heading into the fall, it probably won’t be due to any sort of cloistered media isolation. It’s really much more simple. As Goodman says, if the Gators improve, there will be exactly two reasons:

1. Spikes
2. Tebow

Oversimplification? Yes. Though those two will certainly set the tone for the rest of the team, they can’t be everywhere at once. Other veteran players will have to be involved, particularly those who may already be starters or feel “established” — those are exactly the types of players who cannot rest on their laurels or, worse, pass on lackadaisical attitudes to younger guys. But generally speaking, the collective “team attitude” is the only remaining outstanding variable. The talent is for the most part in place. The schemes will be there. The coaching will be solid. The only question — cliche alert, though appropriate in this context — is how much the Gators want it.

(For now, let’s just agree that the “barring injuries” disclaimer applies whenever discussing a violent sport that subjects normal human joints and ligaments to abnormal force and torsion.)

Over the next few weeks and months we may roll our eyes at phrases like, “brutal offseason workouts,” “great competition at (blank) position” and “great veteran leadership.” Those storylines are basically a beat writer’s admission that he or she has absolutely nothing else to report. But trust me, you’d much rather hear those re-hashed themes than see the names of various Gators in close proximity to phrases such as, “undisclosed violation of team rules” and “Alachua County jail.”

Making sure things stay very boring — and thus very, very good — starts today.

Here’s the bad news: Spring football is over and so too is the minor diversion of the Gators’ visit to Washington, D.C. Between now and two-a-days, there won’t be much news about Gator football, and if there is, it probably won’t be of the “good” variety.

In the coming months I’ll try to fill these interwebs with some more posts of the “in-depth analysis” variety, but today, just consider the following. It’s Friday. The weather is finally warming up and, if you’re anywhere on the East Coast right now, the sun is shinning. So enjoy the weekend and if you need any additional reason to smile, there’s always this: