How to beat the Gators...

Florida has a problem, but...

It won't help Bama today

     Florida does have an obvious weakness. They aren't a great road team. Outside the confines of the O Dome they are downright average.  Unfortunately, we play them in that bizarre basketball facility. I've always thought that the real advantage the Gators have at home is the downright strange lighting the Dome affords. Describe it? I can't. Maybe you'd call it bland. Perhaps opaque is another word you could use. If you have been there you know what I mean. The Florida students take backseat to no one in vocal support for their team. It's like at Cameron on the campus of Duke except more Florida students are in the building. And so is Billy Donovan,  who is the best coach in the SEC. Don't try to sell me that honor belongs to  Calipari. Unless the conversation leans heavily on cheating and unethical  behavior he doesn't count in my book. If we decide that recruiting players who have a stated desire to never graduate, and the NCAA says that is okay, the Kentucky Coach  will never be more than a pimp in a nice suit. I seriously wonder if the Kentucky kids go to classes, and I don't mean to disrespect those who might.  By the way, your sliminess, put the tie back on. You look like a mobster from Vegas without it. Well, actually you look like a mobster from Vegas regardless. Have you considered the Huggy Bear look? 

       Back to the question of how to beat Florida. What is the basketball equivalent of losing 10 fumbles?  Maybe Florida shoots 25%, and has 20 turnovers. What I'm trying to say is that for Florida to lose this game they've got to give us a lot of help. The real game that Bama needs to be looking forward to is the Ole Miss game on Tuesday night in Oxford. Don't get me wrong - I think we can beat Florida. It just isn't something I'd care to bet on happening. Like most of you I'll be right pulling for the Tide with all the prejudicial behavior I can muster. That means screaming at the refs, the breaks of the game, and the Fates themselves. If Alabama  beats Florida I think we are in the NCAA. If Alabama also beats Ole Miss I know we are in the "select"  field of how many number of teams get to play this year. Lose both and we will have to win the SEC. Given those options I'm looking strongly about booking a room in Brooklyn in case we end up in New York. But hope springs eternal. Even old men can act young and foolish. Hey, I'm a Bama basketball fan, and that takes a lot of believing.

      I think Anthony Grant and Billy Donovan expect a low scoring game unless the Tide shoots poorer than usual. Florida is the top defensive team in the SEC and Bama is second. If our two headed hydra in the middle can break even it will help. If Trevord Releford has an LSU type game we have a chance. A chance is better than no chance. Alabama has had some nice road wins this year already. Bama is not going to be intimidated by the Gators, the crowd, and hopefully the alien like feeling in the Dome thing.  Listen, basketball was meant to be played in places like Pauley Pavilion or the Palestra in Philly.  One last thing that has really started to bug me - I went to an Alabama game and a circus broke out. Advertising has become ridiculous. We now have cartoon car racing around on the screen to see who wins $50 bucks for some gasoline. I don't care whether the players would rather have money or true love. I do care if  they can make free throws. Alabama no longer even focuses on the actual game. You wonder why a lot of Alabama  people don't take hoops seriously? What's next for Coleman? 25 clowns in a car?