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Call for a truce!


PediGator

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Sheesh. Saturday can't get here quick enough.

Excuse me for pointing it out, but after some recent posts here I can't help but think that there is a certain level of tension building between Gator and Redskin fans on this board. Everybody take two deep breaths... there... don't you all feel better now?

Let me start off by saying that there has been without a doubt an air of arrogance on the part of both parties filtered in here and there throughout the posts.

Gator fans have extolled the virtues of Reidel Anthony and Shane Matthews (and even Robert Gillespie for crying out loud). They've uttered the refrain "Shane and Danny aren't good practice players" as if it were a truism.

Memo to non-Redskin Gator fans - all they've done the past 6-9 years is practice. You'd think they would be a bit better at it by now. Lord knows they have no reason to be better in game situations then they were 6 years ago.

I know I've been here myself spouting off about the virtues of SOS. I've tried to do it without an air of arrogance, but you have to understand the difference between arrogance and unabashed excitement when it comes to being a Spurrier fan.

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And Redskin fans? Oh not to worry, there's plenty of blame to go around. Somehow, a wiry, somewhat mobile QB out of Iowa St who never amounted to much in college has come to represent everything holy and good about the Redskins.

He's "an original" after all. He's B.S. ("Before Spurrier") As if somehow that validates that the Redskins are more than Spurrier. The QB controversy threads are laced with bias. Even bitterness at times.

A recent thread on the Redskins top acquisitions this offseason listed Steve Spurrier as Number 2. Um...No! Marvin Lewis or no Marvin Lewis, there's a reason there were 250 press credentials issued for training camp, and it's not Marvin Lewis.

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OK, so all of the above only represents the extremes of attitudes reflected in posts recently, but it's all silly.

So let this be my official plea. A truce is in order.

Gator fans - be patient.

Redskins fans - let unadulterated excitement be just that and nothing more.

I wish I had a comparison. But there isn't one. Appreciate that many of us who use _____Gator in our nicknames are both Redskin and Gator fans. It's just that I was a reader of GatorCountry long before I was a reader of Extremeskins. (And I have enough little numbers to remember without coming up with another one for every board I want to read). That doesn't make me any less a Redskin fan.

For those of you who are college football fans... for the Syracuse fan who would have loved nothing more than to see McNabb in a Redskins jersey... the PennState fan who's still giddy about Arrington blossoming to his full potential... understand what it must be like for us Gator fans who have the opportunity to see Spurrier take his talents to the highest level of his profession. And not after one or two years at his college. But after redefining his college.

There's plenty of deserving targets out there for those who want to throw barbs. The National Media will come to grow a progressively larger bullseye with every passing week. Let's not throw them at each other.

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I think some Gator fans are wrong in generalizing about how the ex-Florida players will do.

Most won't make it. That's just the NFL.

You can run down a list and see guys like Reidel Anthony that aren't having good camps right now and are definitely on the bubble.

Shane Matthews by most accounts has looked the worst of all the quarterbacks.

Practices DO count up here in the NFL because in Year 1 of the new regime we have nothing else to go on. :)

And with free agency there isn't the luxury of bringing guys along slowly and nursing them into productivity, at least not unless there is a significant investment in them as #1 draft picks.

To me the Florida players that have looked the best in camp from what the various accounts portray......Jacquez Green, Danny Wuerffel, etc........are probably the ones that are going to make the team and be contributors.

I think Matthews has fallen down the list.

If Doering has climbed the list in recent days I think he has passed Anthony, who seems on the way down.

Reidel seemingly had a job fairly secure as the #4 wideout and the primary kick returner.

the fact other players are now ahead of him in terms of kicks is a troublesome factor for his making the team.

Gillespie? I like his bio and from what I have heard he catches the ball well out of the backfield and is an instinctual runner after the catch.

I don't think that Betts is that polished of a receiver and thus Gillespie could be the third down back.

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Nice post, PG. I think most of us like Sage because not only is he a nice kid, but he has the underdog complex going for him. It's human nature to root for the underdog. (Except in the case of the US vs. the Taliban. :) )

Danny and Shane seem like career backups to us, whereas Gator fans remember their glorious college days and would like nothing more than to see them win in the NFL.

Sage is pure like vanilla ice cream. No blemishes on his resume, except for a couple ints in the preseason last year. Danny and Shane have reps as scrubs going against them. That's not neccessarily bad, because nobody knows what they can do in this system in the NFL. One of them could pull a Tom Brady and perform superbly in a certain system. I can't imagine Brady flourishing in the Rams offense.

The reason we like Sage is not because he's PSS.(pre-Steve Spurrier). The general consensus around here is that anything Marty touches turns to $hit, and Sage was picked by Marty. You won't see anybody shed a tear for Donnell Bennet or Donovan Greer, who were Marty's guys.

I think another reason why some of us are venomous towards Gator/'Skins is because a lot of the Gator/'Skins are only fans of SS. Not the 'Skins. I can understand why you guys would follow SS to the NFL, I would too, but it seems kind of suspect...dare I say...bandwagoners? No, wait...since you're following a coach, it's not bandwagon. I'll call it coachwagon. It annoys some of us that you guys sort of kick down the door and come storming into town with no knowledge of 'Skins tradition, the current roster, etc. It's a learning process. :)

I have no idea about you guy's past fandom, but I think the ones that can provide real insight are the ones that followed the 'Skins before SS arrived.

We both have our biases, and they are firmly entrenched, based on our past fandom.

This is a unique situation. I'm glad to have the Gators on here to provide insight.

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Can't we all just get along? PG's right - maybe we all just need a group hug.

Look - the furvor for us Gator fans is that all that we know and love in regards to success at UF has now landed in DC. We may be a little overzealous in our enthusiam, but it's only because SOS has made us that way. We know in the NFL you are only as good as your last game so for that matter SOS isn't any better than anyone else, but we have no reason to feel he won't do the same in DC and if I'm biased towards those that helped him in Gainesville I apologize. I'm all for whoever helps the Skins win regardless of whether he's a Gator or not (but of course, I'd prefer that he was).

Personally - I'd rather be blasted for being over the top in my support for SOS and my fellow Gators than not being passionate at all. It could be worse. We could be Dallas fans with nothing good to look forward to but a good a$$ whoppin' . :laugh:

For the record - I've been a Skins fan much longer than a Gator fan, but after seeing what SOS has done for the last 12 years in my back yard gets me excited he can do the same for the Skins.

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"He's "an original" after all. He's B.S. ("Before Spurrier") As if somehow that validates that the Redskins are more than Spurrier. The QB controversy threads are laced with bias. Even bitterness at times. "

The Redskins are more then Spurrier. They were here long before, and will be long after Spurrier is gone. Each coach brings his own flavor to the team. I'm expecting spicy, with a hint of Sage from Spurrier;)

Sage hasn't had a chance to pick up bad habbits as Danny and Shane have through the years. I remember Spurrier commenting about that dureing one of the minicamps. Ask just about any NFL fan what they think about Danny or Shane. I'd venture a guess you'll hear more "back up at best," then I want him as my starter IMO.

I'm not bitter about having either guy, or Gator fans on the board, and I'm a FSU fan. :laugh:

:high: :high:

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I do not think we need a group hug! A reality check is in order.

We have only been at camp a week and many now want nothing to do with our quarterback of the future, Ramsey. Secondly, Wuerffel and Matthews were brought in to teach the system and pass the torch to Ramsey. The kid holds out 7 days and all you hear about is Sage being our saving grace. This is not Hollywood.

The fans seem to want another Gus Frerotte or Trent Green. Well, I do not! I want a kid with all the tools and I want the master Spurrier to teach him! We do not need another underdog at this point... We have been through too many quarterbacks since Rypien was Super Bowl MVP.

I think a lot of fans need to realize that it was Ramsey that showed the most at the previous mini-camp, which he did not have to attend. That sounds like a great kid with a great attitude to me! Now that Ramsey knows he should be starting in the near future he wants compensation. How does make him the bad guy?

It is Mad-Man Mendes that I will villify! As far signing all of the Gators....I think it is great, a lot of them will make the team and be big contributors, especially Jacquez Green!

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I liken the enthusiastic reviews of Spurrier and his Midas touch to something similar to what we, as Redskin fans, might believe about Joe Gibbs. He's not coached in a decade, but, I guarantee you if he showed up as our coach tomorrow, we'd all stop posting until the regular season because the certainty of our success would be so great, we'd get bored agreeing with each other.

Spurrier fans are the same way and it's really great to see. We had doubters with Norv. We had doubters with Marty. With Spurrier, the only people that doubt him are those that simply don't like his attitude and therefore can't allow for his success even when he's demonstrated he's had it.

How many of us here would post on the Falcons board if Gibbs came out of retirement and was being subjected to, "The game has passed him by," routine? I don't see a lot of hazing going on with our new Florida friends, so I don't believe a truce is in order. I do understand their great faith in Spurrier. It's a faith born of wonderful success and I'm happy to hear it even if I can't completely wrap my big brain around some of my worries as of yet.

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A nice solid post as usual Art!

The Midas touch! But, we do need to build up the offensive line. Spurrier is no miracle-worker. He is human like the rest of us! Right Gator fans? Hail to the Redskins! I think we could do a GATOR CHOP IN THE STANDS TO SHOW THE UNITY BETWEEN REDSKIN NATION AND GATOR NATION. Will that make up for the retro helmet?

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Its amazing, but Spurrier actually went to a place where he has to stand in the shadow of another coach.

I think that is why he loves this opportunity. If he can even to begin to catch Gibbs and make it so people actually argue who was the best Redskins coach, he will have done himself proud and placed himself in the same mold as Jimmy Johnson.

Redskin fans will demand Spurrier try and accomplish what Gibbs did.

Florida fans will demand he do the same thing he has been doing for the past 10 years.

Either way, we are going to be very happy with the results.

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Indy, ROTFLMAO!

:laugh: I guess after reading the first post you are right!

I am a Tina Turner fan!

But, now I am worried about one thing. Will the Hoggettes and the Gator heads sit with one another? I know Gators eat dogs, but they will have to learn to get along with the hogs. It could be a real freak show this year in the stands!

Now my post is turning into "the Superfreak"! Who sings that?

Speaking of freaks, La Var, Jeremiah, and Jessie are going to have to have their own rooting section. People could dress up like gangstas, after all they are the "hit men!" Any other ideas?

Indy, you need the copyright on the "hit men"! We will probably hear it on Sportscenter...after all we know the media checks out this site often, before they go on the air!

Man, I think I am getting the hang of that Spurrier confidence the Gator fans were talking about!:laugh: :laugh:

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I truly believe the more uncertain writers do check out the site but, they use other folks to do the surfing, with a small optional staff. They won't take the whole writings from here, but they take, either the concepts, storyline, and interactions, put their spin on it and it's on the headlines so to speak by morning or afternoon. Not bad for a half a day's work (or should I say night).

Len Pasquarelli is the opposite, as he used the concepts to form timely opinions out of thin air, yet he has no inside sources to the Skins to speak of. Bet on it, with the negatives he's thrown out there. But all is fair in love and war, so, he's pretty much blocked out until his whistle stop. I think he'll wise up by mid-preseason.

What The Gator - Skins Fans and the Hogettes will have to do is keep other snacks available so as to neutralize the Gator's insatiable appettite for hot dogs, thus not being devoured in the stands :laugh:

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