Pat Dooley’s Back Nine: Caglianone Best To Play Baseball At UF

The Back Nine comes at you after an eventful weekend that was some good, some not so good. Some of it was just downright sad.

10. And I will start out with sadness because we found out as we were all preparing to have our Sponsors Party Friday night that we lost Norm Carlson. I cannot put into words what Uncle Normie meant to me. Just recently I called him to check on the facts about some game from the 1960s. He had a real knack for finding the fine line between sportswriters trying to get the stories and the coaches who didn’t want them out. He was hired for one reason – to get the bourbon-swilling VIPs out of the press box at the old Gator Bowl. He went on to play a big part in getting Steve Spurrier the Heisman Trophy, which changed both of their lives. I miss him terribly. He was as good a person as I ever met.

11. Let’s shift to something a little more positive and that was Mother’s Day and I hope all of the mothers were treated with the proper amount of love and respect, because there is nothing like a mother’s love. I wish Mom was still around and I hope Kelsey and Jennifer know how great their mothers are.  My wife decided that she would cancel our brunch reservations because she wanted to see the last game played by Jac Caglianone at Condron. Yes, I married well.

12. Florida’s softball performance over the weekend was the perfect way to end a long day. SEC Tournament championships are not treated lightly around here, especially by me. Tim Walton, I can’t say enough about the job he did this season. Even when people were wondering why Florida could not pitch last year, he knew what was coming. And to see Mia Williams go off in Auburn was something that made her dad proud.

13. So. Obviously it’s different in college softball than college basketball. What you do in the conference tournament does matter. Todd Golden was less than thrilled with Florida’s seeding in March and made it clear he thought the bracket was filled out before Florida ever stepped on the floor in Nashville. But Florida was a borderline national seed according to most people who know softball. It won the tournament and jumped all the way to a four seed. I still don’t understand why it makes sense to wait a day to get it right in softball but not in basketball.

14. I have not forgotten about the Cags thing. We had incredible seats and I was happy to stand and applaud when Cags was relieved in the seventh. It certainly wasn’t his fault Florida lost its final home game of the year. Instead, it was a microcosm of the season. Good things happen, but bad things are always around the corner. Outfielders running into each other on a routine fly, empty at-bats, closer gets stretched too long. They are what they are and Cags is what he is – the best to play here.

15. OK, this is where I give lacrosse another shoutout and I hope you are paying attention. The 19-2 Gators play with a chance to go to the final four for the second time in school history. SEC or no SEC, this is the NCAA Tournament peeps. Florida takes on Maryland at noon Thursday on ESPNU. Be there. Aloha.

16. Quickly, I will recap the 29^thBob Dooley Invitational. Everybody had a blast, the weather was perfect, Ironwood was a great host again and we raised a lot of money. The people who donated or were sponsors or were out on the course giving out food and beverages, I am so grateful. Now, I need to sleep for a couple of days and then go back to my actual life (like paying bills, coming up with story ideas, watching softball). Special tip of the visor to my friend John Stevens, who helped us with carts from Turkey Creek residents. And our title sponsors Leonardo’s at Millhopper and Titan MRI. I love you all! And if you knew all the work Stop Children Cancer’s Christy Gibbons did for this year’s event, you would wonder how she had time to sleep.

17. You know what else I can do? Start paying attention to the NBA playoffs. Even when I have had them on the two TVs, my mind was somewhere else. What day am I supposed to pick up the gift baskets at Meldon Law? Are we good on the gift baskets? I need to check on Guy Dennis and the water. Anyway, I’m ready to dive into the post-Bob decadence.

18. There was a lot of music on the course Saturday and we also appreciate Tom Collett for providing a lot of it, including the karaoke Friday night. If anyone has a tape of me singing “Love Shack” with my wife and daughter, please destroy. Here is today’s playlist:

• “Deeper Well” by Kasey Musgraves.
• The Royel Otis cover of “Murder on the Dancefloor.”

• And for an old one to honor my parents because of The Bob and Mother’s Day, their favorite songs were “My Sweet Lord” by George Harrison and “Kokomo” by The Beach Boys.

WRUF.com sports columnist Pat Dooley can be heard on “The Tailgate” along with Jeff Cardozo from 4-6 p.m. Monday-Friday on 98.1-FM/AM-850 WRUF.