Some highlights:
This is not the way Bobby Bowden, a man I consider to be the greatest major-college coach of all time, should end his career -- as a bitter Little League father who cannot accept that his son just might not be good enough to be an all-star.
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Peter Tom Willis, the former Florida State quarterback who is now a color commentator on Seminole radio broadcasts, said on the air during the loss to Clemson that the Seminoles needed to scrap "this high-school offense."
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Bowden's son, Terry, a former head football coach who now does a daily radio show in town (4-7 p.m., WHOO, 1080 AM), has questioned Florida State's offensive philosophy on the air and has called this year's scheme "a jump-ball offense."
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For four years, we were led to believe that the old quarterback -- Chris Rix -- was the problem. Now the problem is that the new quarterback -- Drew Weatherford -- is too young and the offensive line too banged up. What's the excuse going to be next year -- not enough depth at tight end?
Rix became a punching bag and a punch line for many of us in the media. He became the convenient fall guy when the program began falling. Did we have it all wrong? Was he the victim and not the villain?
"My son was made a scapegoat for the offensive ineptitude," said Chris Rix Sr., the father of Florida State's much-maligned former quarterback. "Funny, but the many problems Chris was blamed for are still there now that he's gone.
"My son was never developed like he should have been. He was stuck in second gear his whole time there. Chris was recruited by Mark Richt to play quarterback at Florida State, but when Coach Richt left [to become the head coach at Georgia], we weren't playing for Florida State anymore. We were playing for the Bobby Bowden Friends and Family Network."
Interesting.
[Photo: This statue honors Bowden's attempt to point the blame for FSU's offensive problems at the media, fans and players instead of his son.]
