Latest news with #SunshineShowdown
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Is FSU football rivalry vs. Florida in trouble as sport handles realignment, playoff expansion?
The Florida State-Florida football rivalry stands toe-to-toe with any marquee nonconference game nationally. The series started in 1958 and the game site has alternated on an annual home-and-away basis between Gainesville and Tallahassee since 1964. The Sunshine Showdown has usually been held in late November, giving passionate fans plenty of time during the season to prepare and rally behind the state's two oldest public universities. Advertisement The current contract between the two football teams ends after the 2026 season, according to FSU officials. While there is no indication the cherished series won't continue, one has to wonder if the game might be cast aside due to sweeping changes to college football. Personally, FSU and UF should tango every year for as long as college football is played. I believe FSU and UF leadership believe it, too. From my vantage point, FSU Vice President and Athletic Director Michael Alford is adamant his programs play and compete at an elite level. But nobody knows what the future holds, right? More: Who has Florida's best college football helmet? Is the USC-Notre Dame football game in jeopardy? Recent reports that the Notre Dame-Southern Cal could be on the brink of ending due to uncertainty about the future College Football Playoff format rattled college football's fan base. Advertisement The teams have met 95 times since 1924, but reports have suggested USC is reluctant to enter a long-term deal due to the sport's uncertainty and the demands of greater travel in the Big Ten. It was only a few years ago when USC and Stanford were forced to cancel their football series and oldest rivalry when the Trojans departed for the Big Ten and Stanford for the ACC. The College Football Playoff will undergo more changes in 2025, with the top four seeds in the 12-team field being the top four ranked teams. CFP executives are working to finalize the format for the 2026 postseason and beyond. Discussions center on expanding from the current 12-team playoff to 14-16 teams, with various formats on the table. The SEC and Big Ten pushing College Football Playoff narrative The Big Ten and SEC, which have combined to field 16 of the last 20 national champions, are the top leagues in revenue and have emerged as super conferences, are pushing the CFP narrative and how the postseason should play out. Advertisement But the powers in place also must also make the regular season a priority, too. These decisions affect fans who are buying tickets, bunking at hotels and eating at local restaurants. So many variables are in play. The FSU-UF series could be impacted if the SEC at some point determines it wants to move from eight conference games to nine. Another twist was bantered Wednesday, when LSU coach Brian Kelly told reporters at the SEC spring meetings that he and his fellow coaches are in favor of scheduling nonconference games against the Big Ten annually. This also could jeopardize in-state rivalry games like FSU-UF, Georgia Tech-Georgia and South Carolina-Clemson. Especially if the SEC-Big Ten games are a play-in-style format at regular-season's end that could potentially decide bids into the CFP. Advertisement SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey has said he needs to make a scheduling decision in 2026. ACC teams, meanwhile, play eight conference games annually and all 17 teams are scheduled to meet at least twice each seven years. FSU has protected games with Miami and Clemson and will continue to play the pair annually. The FSU-UF game should be protected, too, don't you think? Here's hoping the FSU-UF football series remains a priority and never goes away regardless how the college football landscape changes under SEC-Big Ten influence. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU-Florida football rivalry: Could college football changes impact matchup?
The Independent
23-03-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
From boxing monster to cuddly veteran – George Foreman was unique
George Foreman was one of the fiercest and feared heavyweights in history. There are two clear parts to the remarkable boxing life and times of Foreman, who died aged 76 this weekend, and the fighter became a world heavyweight champion in both. The story of Foreman's return to the ring after a ten-year exile is as remarkable as his unlikely passage to Olympic glory in 1968 and his first world heavyweight title in 1973. Foreman defied the odds and in the middle of his boxing career, made millions and millions from his lean and mean grilling machine. What a life. Foreman fought 81 times as a professional boxer, losing five in total and knocking out 68 of the 76 men he beat. He was the street kid from Houston's notorious Fifth Ward; he should have been in prison, lost to boxing, but somehow made the USA team for Mexico City and then won the gold medal. He was saved, as he said, by the sport. Big George knew a bit about redemption. After Mexico City, he turned professional, and his reign of terror started. It is hard for people in modern boxing to understand just how scary Foreman was at the time. He was sullen, he was vicious, and he was big. He had huge dogs, he wore leather and jeans and snarled at every camera pointed his way. He was a boxing Hells Angel. There was genuine fear for his opponents. He was unbeaten in 37 when he finally persuaded the heavyweight champion, Joe Frazier, to get in the ring with him. The fight was in 1973, in Jamaica and it was called the Sunshine Showdown. It was a massacre; Frazier was sent tumbling and flying to the canvas six times and stopped in two rounds. It is the fight where Don King, later to be one of Foreman's promoters, arrived in the limo with the champ and left in the limo with the champ: King changed sides during the fight. Foreman changed boxing with that type of devastation. He was called an animal and a beast, and he did nothing outside of the ring to persuade people otherwise. The cuddly George was a few years away, trust me. His two heavyweight championship defences were so brutal that I believe they should only be shown to adults and after the watershed; Ken Norton and Jose Roman lasted a total of 420 X-rated seconds and were left ruined in bloody heaps. There had never been a man like him in the ring. When the Rumble in the Jungle was made, there were genuine fears for Muhammad Ali 's life. One British paper did a feature on the route Ali's ambulance would take from the stadium to the hospital. Foreman was a massive underdog but Ali had prepared for a beating and prepared for Foreman to tire; it was his genius that beat boxing's most dangerous champion. Foreman was broken, but he chased a rematch. Just over two years later, after six more fights, Foreman grabbed his bible and walked off into the wilderness. He was only 28 at the time and had lost just twice in 47 fights. He lost a bout in 1977, suffered an epiphany and went wandering for 10 long years of sermons and penance. His abrupt disappearance was stunning, but his return to the ring in 1987 was even more remarkable. Foreman had become a living storybook of extremes. There is a lot of debate about Foreman's return to the ring and there is no dispute that he had easy fights, but the opposition improved, and the dream started to show on the horizon – Foreman wanted to be heavyweight champion of the world. It was not an easy route for the now permanently smiling and approachable fighter. He was the veteran that everybody loved. The beast was tamed, it seemed. He kept winning and beat a few good men; Gerry Cooney and Bert Cooper both went in two. In 1991, after 24 more wins with 23 knockouts, Foreman lost a world heavyweight title fight to Evander Holyfield; two years later he lost another title fight to Tommy Morrison. Foreman never stopped believing that he was getting closer to the mad dream. Michael Moorer was unbeaten in 35, a southpaw, smart, fresh and mean. He met Foreman in 1994 in Las Vegas and was knocked out in round ten. Foreman was trailing on all cards before the single, devastating punch. Foreman was 45, the new IBF and WBA heavyweight champion of the world and the oldest heavyweight champion in history. It was 20 years after the Rumble – the demons were dead; Big George was King again. There were a few more fights, thousands of smiling cameos, over $250m in revenue from the lean, mean grilling machine. And too many memories to ever forget. There will never be a boxing monster like George Foreman ever again.
