Something Doing

Something is indeed doing in Tallahassee.

It has to do with the arrival of Willie Taggart as the new head football coach at Florida State University.

Taggart came to Florida State after a year at Oregon, after having left a successful rebuild at South Florida in Tampa. Oregon would have been a wonderful spot for Taggart to settle in at, but in the aftermath of the unusual departure of Jimbo Fisher, Florida State came calling, offering Taggart an opportunity to come back to Florida and lead the team he grew up cheering for; The Florida State Seminoles.

Taggart, a native of the Sunshine States Gulf Coast, jumped at the chance.

Fisher's departure from FSU ruffled a lot of feathers, and his legacy will no doubt be tarnished.

In the later years of the tenure of Bobby Bowden, Fisher added to his offensive coordinator spot the position of head coach in waiting, set to take over the program when Bowden hung it up. Coach Bowden was seemingly pushed out earlier than he had hoped; however, it was obvious that due to age of the staff, or whatever, expectations were no longer being met and it was time to bring Fisher on.

Make no mistake.  Bobby Bowden was among the finest football coaches the game of football has seen, at any level. Florida State University rose to prominence, not only in athletics, but as a University, primarily due to him. As good as a coach he was, Bowden is even a better man,and continues to be Florida State's top ambassador.

Immediately, Florida State had superior success on the field and in recruiting once Fisher took over, with in interjection of youth and enthusiasm. Fisher directed FSU to winning it's third National Championship, in 2013,and the Seminoles sat among the nations elite.

While fans celebrated with appreciation, there was some worrisome aspects, as Fisher's name always turned up in post season coaching searches, most with some fire behind the smoke.

An unfortunate personal situation arose for Fisher, as he went through a devastating divorce, not considered to be of his doing per public reports.  Never the less, this took a significant toll on Fisher no doubt.

So if Fisher wanted to make a change, while the Seminoles would hate to lose him, it was certainly understandable and we could all part ways wishing each other the best.

But the season fell apart after FSU not only lost to Alabama in the opener, but also lost starting quarterback Deondre Francois. Loses piled up, and finger pointing increased, with players openly questioning the leadership. As the season concluded with a bowl game in question, the Seminoles did rise up for an easy and satisfying win at Florida, but Fisher snaked around, appearing to know he would eventually be off to Texas A&M. Recruiting appeared to stop, and damage was being done.

Fisher did agree to bolt to A&M, but wanted to finish it our with FSU. Not a chance. He was essentially forced to resign, thankfully. Fisher could have departed in a much more amicable fashion, but did not take that route, and as such, his Seminole legacy will take a beating; appropriately so in our view.

Enter Taggart. Taggart, a life long FSU fan, wants to be in Tallahassee as head coach of Seminoles. Since his arrival, he has done all the right things, inclusive of openly embracing the former players and considering them part of the program he is implementing moving forward. Hooray!

All across the campus, folks have appreciated Taggart's approach. Throughout the state the Seminole faithful has jumped on the Taggart train with enthusiasm. Players on the team are embracing the new environment, and the recruiting trail has heated back up again, in a big way.

It seems unusual to think of FSU without Fisher, but given the events as they unfolded, it appears this change is for the better.  An in the aftermath of losing Fisher, it was apparent to us Willie Taggart would be the best option FSU take in hiring a new football coach. Since his hiring, Taggart has been very impressive in every move and gesture.

Taggart closes his tweet out with #DoSomething. Something doing is going on at FSU. Taggart feels right at home leading the Seminoles, all is good, and we cannot wait to kick the season off with Taggart and his Gulf Coast offense!

The Quack Attacked

'Noles swarmed by Oregon at The Rose Bowl

The Florida State Seminoles returned to The Rose Bowl, the historic venue where the Seminoles defeated Auburn for the National Championship a year ago, to face the high flying Oregon Ducks in a semifinal contest of the first ever College Football Playoff.   FSU was riding a 29 game winning streak, tied for fifth best since WWII.

Although the Seminoles were 9 point underdogs, FSU had failed to play anywhere near their best game, and given the talent level, there were high hopes that on this day, the Seminoles would click on all cylinders. It was not to be, as Oregon devastated the Noles in a third quarter barrage, never looking back en route to a stunning 59-20 victory.

The Seminoles opened the scoring on the day, taking a 3-0 lead, but it became apparent there were red zone issues for FSU.  Offensively, Oregon was almost immediately effective, and it became obvious FSU would have to outscore the Ducks if they were going to secure a victory.

Florida State suffered some miscues, along with a horrendous no interference call, and a missed field goal to potentially leave 14 points on the field, but was only behind 18-13 at the half.  The Seminoles came out of the half moving right down the field, until Dalvin Cook fumbled.  Oregon, who has made teams pay for turnovers all season, drove the field to score a touchdown.  FSU matched that score, but then fumbled again after some large gains, and from there, it was all Oregon.

The Seminoles had a mind boggling 4 turnovers in the third quarter, and it is hard to beat just about anybody doing that.  Even without the turnovers and generating over 525 yards of offense, Florida State never exhibited the ability to stop Marcus Mariota and the high octane offense of the Ducks.  The Quack Attack was as advertised.

Certainly, this team underachieved all season, and could be considered fortunate to have finished the regular season undefeated with an opportunity to play in the first College Football Playoff.  While the loss to Oregon is most disappointing, and we will always wonder why this team struggled so while finishing an undefeated regular season, there is nothing to hang our heads about.

As someone stated, this group of seniors took FSU from the Russell Athletic Bowl to a National Championship, a historic winning streak and a berth in the College Football Playoff.

Coach Jimbo Fisher has built the Seminoles to last, and while a slight drop off is anticipated next fall as the Seminoles must replace most of the offensive line, a record breaking wideout, an award winning tight end and potentially developing a new quarterback, the future is very bright.

Congratulations Seminoles on another great season; ACC and State of Florida Champs once again!

Going Pink

All over the fruited plain, everyone is going pink! All for a great cause, a collaborative effort to raise money to fight breast cancer.  This effort, based by the Susan G. Komen Foundation, is without question one of the most successful charitable fundraising this nation has ever seen.  After all, who does not want to join the fight against breast cancer?

Everyone is in!

The Chevrolet SS pace car this past weekend for the running of NASCAR's GEICO 500 at Talladega Super Speedway was looking sharp, painted pink and making strides against breast cancer.

The Florida State University Golden Girls Dance Team, posing with the 2014 College Football Playoff Trophy, were looking lovely in Tallahassee this past weekend prior to the the most watched regular season college football game in over two seasons as visiting Notre Dame fell at the last second to Florida State.

When thinking pink and college football, who can not include the Oregon Ducks, who under the inspiration of NIKE founder and alumnus Phil Knight have over a 100 uniform combinations, sporting pink over the green and yellow combos we customarily see the Ducks wearing.

At my place of employment, and most likely yours, the company has presented numerous opportunities to have fun and raise money for this wonderful cause.Man, this is a great story.

Or is it.

Once upon I time, I was eager to contribute to this seemingly worthy cause. Like many other families, cancer has affected many of my relatives, taking the life of my Uncle in his thirties with other family members counted among the survivors.

However, I no longer participate in fundraising with the Susan G. Komen Foundation, as I have learned that a significant portion of the moneys raised end up in the hands of Planned Parenthood.  Once this became public, there was a significant backlash against the now named Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure.

Appropriately, in my view, part of that backlash included a decrease in the donation level. But not necessarily for the reasons you may think.  Let us take a step back and review.

Susan G. Komen had annually made significant donations to Planned Parenthood, which is essentially an abortion mill disguised as a womens health organization.  Abortion is legal, but many see the act as much more than birth control, but rather murder.  Although I am against abortion, we won't debate that now.

Margaret Sanger, the founder of what has later become Planned Parenthood and a hero to Hillary Clinton, was really an evil woman. Thought to be advancing the rights of women, and perhaps there was some thinking in that regard, the central force in her social activism was eugenics.  Included in her thoughts was that it was a worthy enterprise to "assist the race toward the elimination of the unfit."

Masked under the premise of womens health, abortion was considered a vehicle to rid the nation of those who were unfit in the eyes of Sanger and her fellow progressive elitists. You see, Sanger and her crowd knew better than you, including who was fit enough to live and die.  Imagine the arrogance.

In the world today, where an ill mouthed statement can forever label you a racists, it was indeed Sanger and is indeed Planned Parenthood that are seemingly assisting in the demise of the African-America population, as an article in The Washington Times notes the following:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Abortion Surveillance report revealed that between 2007 and 2010, nearly 36 percent of all abortions in the United States were performed on black children, even though black Americans make up only 13 percent of our population. A further 21 percent of abortions were performed on Hispanics, and 7 percent more on other minority groups, for a total of 64 percent of U.S. abortions tragically performed on minority groups. Margaret Sanger would have been proud of the effects of her legacy.

Due to this, many potential donors hoping to defeat breast cancer have taken donations elsewhere, which led the organization to cease funding to Planned Parenthood.  However, this action was seen as taking a stand for abortion and against womens rights, creating a bunch of anger among other supporters, which included resignations from high level executive within the organization.  The Foundation, caught in a squeeze, acquiesced and once again began donations to Planned Parenthood.

As The New York Times reported, "The people at Komen, it seems, are pilloried no matter what they do". 

Personal views are indeed the final straw here.  I will no donate any of my hard earned dollars to an organization that openly funds an organization whose mission statement is to invest in "groundbreaking research, community outreach, advocacy and programs in over 30 countries".  While I strongly support the effort to defeat all cancer, it is those donations to community health outreach, likely comprised of donations to Planned Parenthood, that I will not support. 

Therefore, with the Susan G. Komen Foundation in bed financially with Planned Parenthood, they will venture on without a dime of my money.   My money is much better allocated to supporting other worthwhile charitable endeavors.