I'm done with you Herbstreit!

For several years I have been a fan of Kirk Herbstreit. For those of you who are unfamiliar, he is one of the anchors on ESPN's College Gameday show. He knows the game of college football better than most, usually has an unbiased view on games and players and puts Lee Corso in his place quite frequently. Not to mention he is VERY easy on the eyes. Anyway, several weeks back Florida and Georgia played in Jacksonville. Georgia had been struggling this season so after their first TD they were instructed BEFORE THE GAME by their coach, Mark Richt to excessively celebrate in the end zone as a way to "fire them up". Actually being at the game I can tell you it was absolutely shocking to see the spectacle of the players leaving benches and the sideline to celebrate with the 11 Georgia players already on the field.

It was covered a lot in sporting news and a majority of talking heads and analysts commended Mark Richt for inspiring his team and helping them recapture their emotion about a season that had been spiraling downward. Herbstreit was one of those ready to hand Richt coach of the year honors for this "strategy". I couldn't believe that someone I thought was a rational human being could view it as anything other that a pathetic display of bad sportsmanship. If that is what Richt has to resort to to inspire his players to not give up on the season I question what kind of state their football program was in.

I bring this up because today on Gameday Herbstreit once again brought up what a tremendous job Richt has done inspiring his players to turn things around. The only people that should be commended in the situation are the Florida Gators. Had they not kept their cool and walked off the field as a disciplined football team it could have turned in to a very ugly situation in a rivalry game that needs no fuel. Without the Gators allowing the Bulldogs to freely look like asses, jokers like Herbstreit would not have had the luxury of calling bad sportsmanship and desperate coaching strategy anything other than pathetic.

Now the Bulldogs wait to see if Tennessee will punch their ticket to the SEC championship game with a loss to Vandy. Should Georgia play LSU in Atlanta next month I may do something I have never done before....cheer on the Tigers. Better dig down deep in your bag of tricks for some more inspiring ideas Mark!