We love you, Bobby

An official tribute post to Coach Bowden is still in the works, but I thought I’d share this video first. No matter your feelings about the last few years or how you feel about Bobby’s retirement, as a Seminole fan, you owe Coach Bowden the thanks and respect he is due.

If you’re a Seminole fan who’s been around for a while you’ll understand the specialness of this video. I will admit, I teared up during it.

Welcome, Coach Gran

Among the latest additions to the 2010 Florida State coaching staff is running backs coach Eddie Gran from Tennessee. Gran has held many coaching positions over the years, but his most notable accomplishments have come at the running back and special teams positions.

Welcome, Coach Stoops

On December 11, Florida State announced that Mark Stoops would be the next defensive coordinator of the Seminoles. After a season that has seen FSU drop from one of the top 20 defenses to one of Division 1′s bottom 20 defenses, the news of Stoops’ return to the state of Florida is a welcome announcement to Florida State fans.

If you don’t think Florida State needs help on the defensive side of the ball, #1. you are obviously blind, and #2. you obviously haven’t read the following statistics:

In Response to Outside the Lines

Over the past few days, accusations have been flying about Florida State’s academic standards for student athletes. Much of the flak is coming from an ESPN Outside the Lines report claiming that Florida State lowers the academic bar for student athletes. Based on the claims of a former academic assistant (who subsequently is suing Florida State), OTL reports that many student athletes are given passes in class, allotted tutors who type papers, and are accepted with substandard IQs. One “fact” OTL threw out was that one student athlete had an IQ as low as 60.

Also cited was the testimony of former player Fred Rouse. Rouse was enrolled at FSU for one semester before being released from the team, during which time he was suspended for several games for violating team rules. According to records, Rouse only caught six passes during his college career at FSU before being released after allegations of drug use, breaking and entering, and behavior detrimental to the team.

Transformation

Ever since I began this blog, I used it as a catch-all of my thoughts and ideas. Over the years it has become a dumping place for any funny, serious, interesting, or random things going on in my life. I plan to continue that trend, but I’m taking this blog in a different direction come 2010.

Many of you who know me, know how passionate I am about sports. Addicted would probably be a better word. In any case, I’m hooked, and my poison of choice would be the Florida State University Seminoles (Go Noles!). A few years ago I transformed my blog to chronicle the 2007 FSU football season but changed it back after the season was done. Well, the time has come for a transformation again. A transformation back to a focus on FSU, and lest you wait for a change back, let me warn you this transformation will be permanent.

So what to expect? I mean, FSU’s football season is nearly over. True. Yet the upcoming eight months will prove to be, I think, a turning point in FSU football history. Like no other offseason, 2010 will be a time of restructuring, rebuilding, and the rebirth of a powerhouse. Moves are being made behind the scenes right now that will lead to a National Championship-caliber team within the next five years. Don’t believe me? Then don’t be shocked when we upset the rankings in the 2010 decade.

You shouldn’t sleep on FSU, and I’ll show you why over the next eight months.

What you don’t know might actually hurt you

I’m sure most all of you who know me have heard the story of my near-death experience in some form or another (if not, read it here). The short of it is this – for some odd reason, I’m still suffering from periodic chest pains. I’ve visited ERs and Urgent Cares, been told nothing is wrong with me, and been sent home no better than before I visited. It’s been a frustrating last few years for me regarding my health. The pain persists, yet every seems to tell me I’m fine. So here I am not any better than the first day I stepped foot in that ER.

With all that in mind, I consider this fall to have been the best stretch of time for my health. No chest pain, flare ups, or any run-ins with doctors. That is, until this weekend. Saturday night I started feeling a bit “off” (I went to bed at 6pm for goodness sakes). Around 8pm I started getting bad chest pain, and I knew, that persistent feeling was back. I grabbed the pain meds and waited for them to kick in. The relief took longer than normal, but I ended up feeling slightly better and fell asleep around 11pm.

So today I had a conversation with a friend of mine who’s a nurse. The convo went something like this (via text):

Me: Ever heard of costochondritis?

Her: Yeah, who has it??

Me: Me.

Her: Whoa, I didn’t know that.

Me: Yeah, long story. Had it for 2 years. Still suffering from chest pains every so often. Why isn’t it going away?

Her: Oh, it’s a life-long thing. It won’t go away. What it means is that the blood vessels in your chest are too small and whenever your blood flow increases, the cartilage around your sternum/heart area inflames causing pain.

Me: No doctor has ever told me all that. Wow. So is there some pill I take to help?

Her: You’ve never been told that?!?! And no. Most people I know who have it just treat the pain with pain meds when it acts up.

Me: Okay, so what do I avoid to keep it from acting up?

Her: Avoid stress.

Me: …

Telling me to avoid stress is like telling me to drop everything in my life, move to rural Tennessee, and live the simple life. (Honestly, that sounds awesome.) I’ve always had stress in my life….I’m always going, always juggling responsibilities, always busy. That’s just my life right now. And the fact I work in politics and have planned to do so for the rest of my life means I’ll always have stress.

So that short and somewhat informal conversation has produced a number of questions in my life. #1. Why has no one told me all that before? #2. How do I work around stress in such a stressful career as politics? #3. Do I give it all up and chose a less stressful career?

Needless to say, I’ve got some heavy thinking to do over the next few weeks. This isn’t so much about avoiding stress as it is about avoiding spending tons of money and time at an ER for the rest of my life. Believe me, those places aren’t fun, and even less fun is the crippling chest pain that can sideline me for days at a time.

Don’t Trash My Coach

Watch this then tell me Bobby Bowden hasn’t been the best thing to ever happen to Florida State football. He’s the best, and he deserves to be treated like it.

Stop trash talking my coach.