Apparently things have become so bad in Tallacrappy that one website has decided to take a new approach. Nate Greer is one of the hacks over at NoleDigest.com who, when not covering recruiting, likes to normally focus on such delusionally sappy and slanted topics like “FSU’s Future is Bright” or “FLORIDA STATE WILL REBOUND“. You know, the typical team propaganda that you would expect from a biased website paid for by FSU supporters. College fans are like the general population: they would rather hear good things than the truth. Greer is a strong disciple of the “I would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism” theology.

Unfortunately, things in Bowdenville have taken a turn and gone from “bad” to “worse“. With the omnipresent specter of NCAA sanctions, coaching confusion/senility and an overall lack of leadership, both players and fans alike are filled with a sense of dread regarding the future of the program. When there are simply no longer any credible facts or plausible opinions to support the misguided belief that cherry pies and sunshine await around the bend there’s only one option left . . . . attack someone else! The best target to unite your fan base would be to attack a rival whom you desperately yearn to be like; a program whose recent accomplishments feed your own insecurity and lack of self worth. And for FSU that target is obvious – The University of Florida.

So what things do they have to say about Titletown USA? Well, from “Is Florida One to Judge?”

Friday afternoon we briefly spoke to E.J. about the article that came out from that infamous site FSU fans are aware of (Gatorcountry.com). When asked about it, Manuel said, “Man, some guys came up to me and just said they were reporters. They asked me about the scandal and I told them my thoughts. I had no idea they were from a Florida site. Had I known that I would have stayed away from that. I know the FSU fan base doesn’t like the Gators.” It looks like Manuel was taken advantage of. To his knowledge, it was just another reporter trying to get an update with him. He was emphatic in apologizing, but it looks as though he isn’t the one who should be apologizing; it’s the unscrupulous, grubby reporters looking for information based off lies and untruth.

To give people some background on this. Previously Gatorcountry.com had conducted an interview with EJ Manuel at one of the High School All-America Game camps. The article posted by Gatorcountry is available only to subscribers but in synopsis it basically describes Manuel as a very polite and unassuming young man who has all the tools of a high caliber quarterback. After a few generic platitudes regarding his season and some benign quotes Manuel was asked what he thought about the current academic scandal. EJ stated that the FSU coaches had set him straight. The Nole Coaches assured Manuel that all this academic cheating had happened about THREE YEARS AGO and had NO IMPACT on the people there now.

Manuel continues to say that the FSU Coaches told him there were actually about EIGHT HUNDRED STUDENTS involved but (of course with FSU being the bastion of academic integrity and NCAA compliance that it is) they were SINGLING OUT THE FOOTBALL PLAYERS!!! Manuel admits he was concerned at first but now he’s solid to the Seminoles. And THIS is what Noledigest considers “unscrupulous, grubby reporters looking for information based off lies and untruth“??? Ummm . . . a direct quote from a kid regarding what coaches told him is now labeled ‘unscrupulous reporting’?

My goodness, FSU!!! Has it really come to this? Based on the facts of the case as reported by just about every major newspaper in the country it seems like the FSU coaches who are the “unscrupulous” ones and feeding players “lies and untruth“. Had I been giving conducting this interview I believe I would have responded something like “Eight hundred students . . . three years ago . . . no one there is responsible. And you believe this right? When you go to school in the morning do you perchance ride on the ’short bus’???”

Regardless of how acceptable or unacceptable you find a rival interviewing another schools commitment or the kinds of fantastic tales spread by FSU coach in the recruiting process, this doesn’t seem to reach the plateau of egregius reporting that Noledigest wants to portray it as. But there’s more!!!

As Nole fans we’ve had to sit and listen to the endless bantering from websites like Gator Country as they wax poetic about the greatness that is UF football. Quick to point out everything that occurs in Tallahassee, it is quite possible that Florida is the most in need of looking in the preverbal mirror. As overall football fans, it’s debatable as to which team is worse: the Gators or Bengals.

Whoa . . . which team is worse the Gators or the Bengals? Yeah, that surely seems to be the basis of a long-lasting debate there. Who is worse, one of the worst and longest suffering franchises in the NFL or the Florida Gators, one of the winningest programs of the past two decades with two National Championships, two Heisman Trophies and nary a losing season in that span? These Noles must be the same folks who can stay up until 4 in the morning arguing which country is the more dangerous military power - The Peoples Republic of China or Uganda.

Following this line of thought Pulitzer Prize winning author (I’m just assuming) Nate “insincere” Greer lists a long litany of infractions accrued by the Gator football team over the past few years. This coming from a program whose transgressions were so numerous and outlandish to spawn its own page on certain websites (like badjocks.com) committed to cataloguing the offenses of collegiate athletes. Only FSU fans would overlook 20-30 current suspensions for academic fraud to list a half dozen or so transgressions at another school. Hey Pot, meet Kettle.

But wait . . . that’s not all. If you read the article you’ll also receive such drivel as . . . !!!

Meyer has used a recruiting pitch that early playing time is available. From Ahmad Black, Jamar Hornsby, Deonte Thompson and on, several guys were told they’d see the field once they get on campus. A perfect example of the coaches at Florida telling recruits what they want to hear is Bo Williams, a guy who enrolled early to ensure the playing time he was told he’d get this past season.

Ummmm . . . . Bo Williams came to Florida with a shoulder injury that occured in High School at Northeast High School. It required surgery that caused Bo to miss Spring Practice and his recovery lingered into the fall. Now I’ve seen FSU’s offensive line and just about every running back on the team probably suffers and is forced to play with shoulder damage due to getting hit in the backfield as many times as they do but UF prefers not to play true freshmen with unstable shoulders if at all possible. Williams has since declared his intention to transfer but has not chosen a school yet. Williams has publicly stated that he “loves” the school but wants to return to a power offense (translated - he doesn’t think he’ll get much playing time at UF given the current competition).

Instead of wrapping themselves up into what’s going on in Tallahassee, Knoxville or Athens, maybe its time that the UF brethren come to terms that they are a program with relentless criminal issues and players jumping ship. If Florida was the great place they claim to be, surely these kids wouldn’t leave.

**LAUGHING** Wow . . . such eloquent verbiage to express the irrational and self-absorbed frustration of a spoiled six year old. Touché Nate “in the rear” Greer! You have deeply wounded us Gator fans by forcing us to re-evaluate our school’s success under Meyer (31-8, two New Years Day Bowls and one BCS Bowl, an SEC and National Championship, a 2-1 bowl record, two top ranked recruiting classes and a Heisman Trophy winner) by comparing them to the mighty exploits of FSU during this same period (22-17, an ACC Championship, a BCS Bowl, a Music City Bowl and an Emerald Nuts Bowl, a 1-2 bowl record, an academic scandal that will result in NCAA sanctions).

Hmmm . . . you have us at a disadvantage Nate “ain’t that queer” Greer. We defer to your “delusioNOLE” interpretation of the world since the chance of you accepting reality is about the same as you writing an article that won’t be used as a treatment for insomniacs. I think it’s time for someone to put together a Nate Greer “Real Men of Genius” campaign.