By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.comMeanwhile, in the "Who said college football was all respect and sportsmanship?'' sweepstakes, the University of Florida held six players out of practice, not so much to prove Lane Kiffin misguided but because the athletes had flu-like symptoms.
Gators coach Urban Meyer expressed concern swine flu could ravage his team. Kiffin, the Tennessee coach, reportedly asked for medical verification, while gleefully hoping the entire Florida squad will be quarantined until 2010, along with Al Davis.
About a year ago, Sept. 30, 2008, Davis dismissed Kiffin from his briefly held position of Oakland Raiders coach, setting off a chain reaction that found Tom Cable taking over at Oakland and Kiffin, after joining Tennessee, taking a lot of shots at Florida and Meyer.
The two schools finally played last Saturday, the Gators, the national champions, winning 23-13, but that was only a three-and-a-half-hour interim in the verbal game.
Meyer followed up by saying his game plan was conservative because he didn't think the Volunteers appeared to be playing for a win, and also that several Florida players already were ailing from the flu.
Never one to let an opportunity slip by without adding his ill-chosen remarks, Kiffin, when asked 48 hours later if he were worried the Gators were contagious and could have given the flu to some Tennessee players, responded, "I don't know. I guess we'll wait and after we're not excited about a performance, we'll tell you everybody was sick.''
There were no official reports on how all this was being viewed from the second floor of Raiders Central in Alameda, Calif., where Davis spends his working hours -- meaning all day, every day -- but it is presumed the mood is joyful and more than once somebody muttered, "What did you expect?''
Al, who turned 80 in July, doesn't offer public statements frequently, but he knows who's who and what's what. And you can be certain as Kiffin continues to speak out when it would be wiser to remain silent, Davis is feeling more than a touch of reassurance.
Davis fired Kiffin "for cause,'' citing everything from conflicts over personnel moves to lies to the media. "I don't think it was one thing,'' Davis said at the time. "It was a cumulative thing. I think the pattern disturbed me.''
What is happening of late to Kiffin doesn't disturb Al one tiny bit. A vindictive sort, Davis doesn't easily forgive and he never forgets. After UCLA upset Tennessee in Knoxville a couple of weekends back, stopping the Vols inside the 5-yard line, Davis was asked for a comment.
"I didn't care one way or other,'' Davis insisted, even though everyone in the free world knew he did care. "I know (UCLA coach Rick) Neuheisel. I know the other fella who's coaching the other team. I did see the similarities, though, when you get near the goal line.''
The "other fella.'' Davis wouldn't even permit himself to use Kiffin's name. Lane, however, was a trifle more magnanimous. When Tennessee was in the tunnel waiting to go onto the field at Florida's Ben Hill Griffin Stadium a photo held up by a hometown fan caught Lane's eye.
"The picture of Al Davis,'' Kiffin said, "made me laugh.''
Not much else has the last 51 weeks. Kiffin watched the press conference of his removal as Raiders coach on television. He subsequently announced he would sue Davis and Oakland to gain the money Davis is withholding under the argument that Kiffin did not fulfill the obligations of his contract.
Signed by Tennessee, Kiffin went after Florida the way Tennessee only wishes it could do on the field, insisting the Gators violated recruiting rules in trying to get a commitment from wide receiver Nu'Keese Richardson.
Then came the obligatory apology, with that wonderfully disingenuous embellishment, "My comments were not intended to offend anyone at the University of Florida.''
Which they did and which Kiffin knew they would. "I'm going to turn Florida in right here in front of you,'' boasted Kiffin to a room full of Tennessee partisans, who cheered the fact Richardson chose their school.
"I love the fact that Urban had to cheat and still didn't get him,'' was Kiffin's valedictory statement.
Surely Meyer loved the fact that after the rhetoric, Florida beat Tennessee, providing Meyer a forum for more rhetoric.
"When I saw them handing the ball off,'' the Florida coach said the day after, "I didn't feel like they were going after the win.''
The feeling among others is that Urban Meyer was going after Lane Kiffin, if in a different way than Al Davis went after him. Everybody please shake hands and come out snarling.
As a reporter since 1960, Art Spander is a living treasure of sports history. A recipient of the Dick McCann Memorial Award -- given for his long and distinguished career covering professional football -- he has earned himself a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the PGA of America for 2009.
- - - - - -
http://www.realclearsports.com/articles/2009/09/22/kiffin_and_meyer_one_flu_over_the_cuckoos_nest_96489.html© RealClearSports 2009
