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Shooting from the lip: Too much Jameis Winston; Urban Meyer details end of Florida career

 
ABC's constant showing of Jameis Winston on the sideline Saturday surely only encourages Winston to believe he is bigger than the game and that the rules don't apply to him. [AP photo]
ABC's constant showing of Jameis Winston on the sideline Saturday surely only encourages Winston to believe he is bigger than the game and that the rules don't apply to him. [AP photo]
Published Sept. 22, 2014

Tampa Bay Times sports columnist Tom Jones looks back at the best and worst from a weekend of televised sports.

Most overexposed

Clearly, the Jameis Winston suspension was the major story line of Saturday night's Florida State-Clemson game, and ABC had no choice but to pay attention to it. But the network paid a little too much attention to it.

While it might not have been ABC's intent, the consistent showing of Winston on the sideline surely only encourages the quarterback to believe he is bigger than the game and the rules don't apply to him. He believes he is a bigger-than-anything star, and ABC confirmed that Saturday night. It was stunning, really, how much Winston was on camera.

How often was Winston on screen? A remarkable 48 times, according to deadspin.com. He was on camera for 5 percent of the broadcast, an average of one out of every 20 seconds. Add it all up, and we're talking eight full minutes for a guy who was suspended from the game.

Meantime, Winston's name was mentioned 60 times.

ABC deserves blame for overkill, but FSU deserves blame, too. Winston should not have even been in the stadium.

Worst news conference

Reaction to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's news conference about the discipline policy last week was pretty much the same: Goodell (below) did a lot of explaining about everything that went wrong (which we already knew) and offered no real solutions for what the league will do next (which is all we really wanted to know).

ESPN's Andrew Brandt apologized for the rhyme but captured the essence perfectly: "Long on what's wrong and light on what's right."

Fox analyst Troy Aikman said, "I think there was just a lot of spin there. Instead of getting answers, I think everybody walked away from watching without any answers whatsoever."

Fellow Fox analyst Michael Strahan added, "I felt like nothing new was said. There was nothing that was said that made you say, 'I have a clearer picture of what happened.' The only thing that matters from here on out are the results. They have committees that have been appointed. What are the results? What are the plans? That's what everybody wants to see."

Even some owners who once supported Goodell apparently changed their view because of that news conference.

The only person who seemed to think Goodell did a good job was Fox reporter Pam Oliver, who, astonishingly, said Goodell was "pitch perfect." She added, "I thought he nailed it."

Nailed it? That reaction is so laughable and absurd, you half wonder if she is trying to get in Goodell's good graces to score an interview down the line.

Best point

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the league in general are taking lots of heat, and deservedly so, for the way they have handled the cases of domestic violence. But CBS analyst Bill Cowher pointed out that DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the NFL Players Association, has been practically invisible.

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"Where is Dee Smith with all this?" Cowher said on CBS's NFL Today. "The league has had an image problem, but the players do as well. … Dee Smith, where is his press conference? Show me the initiatives you want to put forth. Tell me. … Does he not have an obligation to represent the 99 percent of the league, over 1,600 players, who are also bothered by this image that they are now having?"

Saddest absence

Terry Bradshaw did not appear on Fox NFL Sunday because his son-in-law, former Titans kicker Rob Bironas, was killed in a single-car accident in Tennessee on Saturday night. Bradshaw's daughter, Rachel, married Bironas, 36, just this past June.

Worst line

Okay, someone at ESPN please turn off Ray Lewis' microphone. On Sunday NFL Countdown, Lewis went on a rambling three-minute speech about the Ray Rice situation and how the Ravens handled it.

Remember, Lewis is a former Ravens star who is close to their ownership and management. That's fine. He can still offer his thoughts.

But at one point, he said, "There are some things you can cover up, and then there are some things you can't."

Oh my word. I don't even want to know what Lewis meant by that.

Best analysis

Tim Tebow (below) is doing a nice job on the SEC Network. As a young Heisman Trophy winner and starting quarterback of a national championship team at Florida, he was the perfect choice to talk about Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston. Tebow's advice?

"I hope he can see that and understand that these kids are going to watch him and they're going to follow him, and it's his responsibility to lead them in a good direction," Tebow said.

"And this kid has so many attributes that could be used for positive things. … Whether he leads people in a good direction or a bad direction, he's a big-time leader. His attributes of infectious personality, you know people rally around him. That could be used for good things or bad things."

Worst loss

Hey, things could be worse at USF. Skip Holtz could still be the coach. Did you see what Holtz's Louisiana Tech team did Saturday? It allowed two scores in the final 1:05 and lost to Division I-AA Northwestern State, 30-27. That's Northwestern State's first win over a I-A team in nine years.

Check it out

Gator fans, be sure to check out the newest Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel, which debuts on HBO at 10 p.m. Tuesday and runs throughout the next month. Former coach Urban Meyer (right) goes into detail about the end of his career at Florida.

In the report by Andrea Kremer, Meyer said he would get physically ill just preparing for games. He said during the 2009 season, he would take two Ambiens and a beer just to fall asleep.

He lost 37 pounds, then passed out following the loss to Alabama in the 2009 SEC title game.

"I remember a sharp pain in my chest," Meyer, 50, said. "I was, like, numb. And that's all I remember. … I woke up in the hospital. They said, 'We don't believe it was a heart attack.' So, okay, 'Well, what is it?' 'We don't know.' And then you start thinking, 'There's something wrong with me mentally, you know? What is going on here?' "

Meyer's daughter Nicki confronted him, and that's when Meyer said he realized he had a problem.

"Mentally, I was broke,'' Meyer said.

Meyer retired but then unretired a few days later.

He admitted to Kremer he chose work over family. It wasn't until his daughter Gigi accepted a college volleyball scholarship that the message got through to Meyer.

"I get to the gym," Meyer said, "and this beautiful little girl stands up and says, 'Mom, I want to thank you. You're always there. And Dad, you were never there, but I love you, too.' … I remember just going, 'Oh my gosh, it happened.' I was the guy that wasn't there. Boom! And I remember just getting in the car and driving and tearing up in the car on the way home and going, 'Wow, it happened, and I got to get this right.' "

That's what convinced Meyer to walk away from Florida.

The HBO report then begins to explain what led him to become the coach at Ohio State one year later. It's good stuff. Check it out.

Three things that popped into my head

1. If I was Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley, I would begin putting together a list of potential candidates to become the next coach of my football team.

2. Know what's disturbing? Domestic violence and child abuse surely have been going on in the NFL long before now.

3. Only one week left in the Rays season. But for as disappointing as it was, it still is nowhere near the futility fans suffered around here from 1998 through 2007.

tom jones' two cents