Is Netflix really going to sugarcoat documentary on Urban Meyer’s Gators? | Commentary

Running off at the typewriter. …

I must admit I got really excited when I first heard Netflix will soon release a documentary on the Urban Meyer-coached Florida Gators – until former Gainesville Sun columnist Pat Dooley told me he thought the documentary would “gloss over” the seedy underbelly of Meyer’s championship UF teams.

Dooley was interviewed for the “Swamp Kings” documentary that is due to be released in August and said he was never really asked about the off-the-field issues of notorious players such as Aaron Hernandez, who would go on to commit murder and then suicide. Dooley also said that Meyer himself was “thrilled” with the line of questioning from the Netflix documentarians.

“I did a four-hour interview with the Netflix people and – if I’m reading the room right – I think they’re going to gloss over a lot of the negative things,” Dooley said on my Open Mike radio show earlier this week. “I don’t know if they’re going to go hard after all of the arrests, after Percy Harvin and certainly after Aaron Hernandez. I could be wrong, but after four hours, there were not any negative questions. I actually had to bring up some of the negative things. I think they’re going to concentrate on the positive stuff.”

There were certainly a lot of positives in Meyer’s six seasons, including two national championships and a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback in Tim Tebow, who will go down as one of the ultimate role models in sports history.

However, you can’t do a decent documentary of Meyer as a football coach without delving deep into the dark side of his persona and his program.

I will obviously reserve judgment until I actually see the documentary, but if you’re going to tell the story of Urban Meyer’s Gators then tell the whole story. Otherwise, it’s not a Gator documentary; it’s a Gator gloss-over. …

Short stuff: … Speaking of Meyer’s Gators, Tony Joiner, who played for UF’s 2006 national title squad and was a former Gator team captain, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in Fort Myers earlier this week for the shooting death of his girlfriend Heyzel Obando. Meanwhile, former FSU wide receiver Travis Rudolph was found not guilty of first-degree murder on Wednesday in South Florida. Sadly, this reminds me of something Doc Rivers once told me when he was the coach of the Orlando Magic: “I don’t know why some athletes have this fascination with guns,” Doc said then. “I’ve never had one. My dad was a cop and he always told me the best way to get killed (or have something tragic happen) is to have a gun in the house.” … Frank Vogel has already won an NBA title as the coach of the Los Angeles LeBrons and just got hired as the new coach of the Phoenix Suns, where he will get a chance to coach superstars Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. I guess you could say getting fired by the Magic was the best career move Vogel ever made. Come to think of it, getting fired by the Magic was the best career move Doc Rivers ever made, too…

A moment of silence, please, The Iron Sheik has just gone to That Big Squared Circle in the Sky. And I’m guessing St. Peter will reluctantly let the Iron Sheik pass through the pearly gates – unless he wants to get put into the Camel Clutch Chinlock! … Did you see where former FSU star wide receiver Peter Warrick is a nominee for the College Football Hall of Fame? Warrick might be the most exciting football college player I’ve ever seen and he definitely belongs in the HOF. If and when he gets inducted, I hope he wears a nice suit – from Dillard’s, of course. … Speaking of the College Football Hall of Fame, what a joke it is that former Miami coach Larry Coker has been nominated, but the creator of the Hurricanes dynasty – the late, great Howard Schnellenberger – was never nominated because he didn’t have a high enough winning percentage. …

Some athletes just get it – and Rory McIlroy is one of them. Even though he has been one of the most vocal critics of the Saudi-funded LIV Golf Tour and says that the PGA Tour’s shocking merger with the Saudis on Tuesday made him feel like a “sacrificial lamb”, McIlroy also admitted the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) dumping billions of dollars into the PGA Tour would be good for the sport in the long run. ”Whether you like it or not, the PIF was going to keep spending the money in golf,” McIlroy said. “At least the PGA Tour now controls how that money is spent. If you’re thinking about one of the biggest sovereign wealth funds in the world, would you rather have them as a partner or an enemy? At the end of the day, money talks and you would rather have them as a partner. … If they want to put that money into the game of golf, then why don’t we partner with them and make sure that it’s done in the right way. And that’s sort of where my head’s at.” …

I saw where the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs visited the White House earlier this week. The bad news: There were no cheeseburgers on the menu for Coach Andy Reid. The good news: President Joe Biden didn’t fall down or fall asleep once during the ceremony! … Speaking of politics, Ron DeSantis has tried to take control of Disney and now he’s on the verge of taking over the Florida High School Athletic Association. Is he a governor or a dictator? … Saturday’s Belmont Stakes will be the 50th anniversary of the greatest racehorse of all time – Secretariat – outdistancing the field by an astounding 31 lengths to win the 1973 Triple Crown. As the story goes, Secretariat walked into a bar after winning the Belmont and the bartender exclaimed, “Hey!” Replied Secretariat: “Yes, please.” … By the way, Secretariat’s last remaining son – Maritime Traveler – is retired and living the good life on a horse farm in Ocala. … My favorite joke about betting on the ponies: “The horse I bet was so slow, the jockey kept a diary of the trip.”

Last word: With today being National Best Friend Day, this quote from Morgan Matson: “Real friends are the ones you can count on no matter what. The ones who go into the forest to find you and bring you home.”