Football and Class

No this post has nothing to do with college football players going to class.

There is a big stir around the Georgia Bulldogs' victory over the Florida Gators this past weekend. Not only because the Dawg win completely messed up the SEC East race to the point that Tennessee is somehow back in the lead, but the way the Dawgs celebrated their first score.

With the scoreboard reading 6-0, seemingly the entire Georgia team stormed the field to celebrate and taunt the Florida sideline. Though the taunting didn't really matter as Florida scored on their next possession, Richt has said that he didn't care if his team got a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

The controversy is how Richt allowed his players to act. Should his players have done what they did? Probably not. But I want you to know something. Do you remember Randy Moss' coming out party on Monday Night Football against the Packers? I don't remember the stat line, but Moss' anticts on the field after his acrobatic touchdown catches demoralized the Packers on the field not to mention at least one fan watching on TV. Moss was in the heads of not only the Packers' defense, but the offense as well. Seeing players act like that doesn't make anyone feel good.

Moss, as we all know, has been a problem child all of his career up until this year because of his attitude on the sidelines and off the field. However no one really has a problem with what Chad Johnson does on the field because he is relatively classy off the field.

Here's what I'm getting at. Richt showed class by pulling his players off of the field at Vanderbilt after winning on a last second field goal and his players were stomping on the star in the middle of Vandy's field. The game was over. There was on more football to be played.

Class is shown in football by how you win and how you lose. Throwing deep passes up 20 points in the fourth quarter to run up the score is not classy. You know the outcome of the game, don't run up the score. That's classless. Run the football, run out the clock, and put your second team in. That's how to play with class.

If the game's outcome is not yet determined with time left on the clock, there's no class in football. Football is barbaric. It's a game about 300 pound men hitting each other to protect and 220 pound man running a ball at a 250 pound man and they have to wear helmets in order to protect themselves. It's about men that are more grown than anyone else in the world being in the bottom of piles biting and clawing at each other and twisting ankles when no one is looking. It's about trash talk. It's about hitting. It's about not getting caught holding. It's about finding a way to win, and as much of a barbaric game it is physically, it's barbaric mentally as well.

Now, bring your classy attitude to the press conference after the game. Bring it when you're up 20 points in the second half and unless something goes completely wrong, keep your starters out of the game.

Do I have a problem with what Mark Richt did? He said the wrong things in his press conference. This happens. But isn't it ironic that we are finally talking about someone showing up the University of Florida? When you think of a team running up the score on an opponent, who do you think of? We've been saying here at No Owens that Florida was going to get theirs eventually. Mark Richt and his team handed it to them on Saturday.

Oh, and Tim Tebow cried, again.