The Old Ball Coach Comes Through For Me

Last night was a pretty depressing experience as I surfed the TV from one channel to another searching for a football game (or the baseball World Series) that showed the team I was rooting for actually winning.  But sadly, all seemed to be on the short end of the score.  True, "my team" (at least for this series)  the Boston Red Sox had gamely fought back for a 4-4 tie with St. Louis, but that was in vain when the Cardinals won in the bottom of the 9th inning with two out on a freakish, highly improbable and controversial play.  However, at the same time that those two were playing out the end of that contest, another game was going on between Steve Spurrier's South Carolina team and undefeated Missouri, who had humiliated Florida last week 36-17.  The Tigers, for most of the game, that is, seemed to be repeating that level of performance as they ran up a 17-0 lead over the Gamecocks.  But Spurrier then did something he used to do a lot when he was the Florida coach.  He replaced the ineffective starting quarterback with the backup, who then proceeded to lead a furious fourth quarter rally resulting in a 17-17 tie at the end of regulation.  In overtime, the two teams first traded touchdowns (score 24-24) and SC got the ball first in the second round, culminating in a field goal and a three-point lead.  Getting the ball back, all Missouri had to do to win outright was get a touchdown, which they appeared to be doing easily.  Then the drive unexpectedly stalled close to the goal line and they sent in the kicker to make an almost automatic field goal to extend the overtime to another round.  Only the ball was poorly placed and the placekicker kicked it off the goalpost bar, giving the Gamecocks and a surprised and jubilant Steve Spurrier the win.

Watching Steve Spurrier in that immediate short post-game interview brought back fond memories of his twelve-year stint as the Gator football coach.  I usually root against his South Carolina team since they're divisional rivals of the Gators, and Florida will be playing against them a little later from now.  But it sure was fun to watch them pull victory out of a hat this time...even more so on a night that, at least sports-wise, went the wrong way for me so many times...