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GAINESVILLE - Sniffing the Gator football air, walking Oaks Mall, checking dining/watering hangouts along bustling Archer Road, assessing August attitudes, what I heard was dominating uncertainty about Ron Zook's chances.
Will the 49-year-old zealot, after an 8-5 rookie record in 2002, win enough football games to pacify University of Florida appetites that grew to gluttony in 12 seasons of Swamp highs under Steve Spurrier?
Mostly what I heard were not nasty, give-Zook-no-shot opinions. Orange-and-blue critics understand Spurrier was a different breed, a lightning rod who might've never trudged through an 8-5 season had he, rather than taking on a Redskins challenge, coached the Gators another dozen years or two.
A heavy majority - 17 of 20 souls, including seven women - was not at all sure Zook has the capacity to approach Spurrier's creative game-day wizardry or the Old Ball Coach's overall championship magnetism.
Okay, even if he can't be another Spurrier, is Zook apt to slowly earn significant confidence among UF disciples, restoring the Gators to semiregular SEC and national contention while consistently selling out a just-expanded 90,000-seat stadium?
Zook's current hand is short an ace or two, but the scrappy, longtime assistant coach must play his own cards: being a hot recruiter, molding a staff of assistants with enough communal sharpness to not be outfoxed by Georgia, Tennessee, Auburn, Florida State, Miami and other powers.
A more sensible approach (oh, baby, are UF people going to love this suggestion) for Zook might be to emulate Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer.
Fulmer seldom is mentioned among the sport's creative giants, but the homey old line coach is an efficient recruiter, consistently massing talent for unsubsiding viability as a SEC and national championship possibility.
A sizable chunk of Tennessee fans doubts and even loathes Fulmer. But might that be the best Zook can achieve among post-Spurrier Gators? Vols supporters groan in large numbers that Fulmer isn't smart or sophisticated enough to get the most from UT resources.
Still, how many dynamic slides do we detect in Coach Phil's production? His Vols always play to 104,000 at Neyland Stadium. What do you think? Is a Fulmer sort of level the most realistic goal for Zook in the aftershock of Spurrier?
Or, is realism a factor?
SMALL DOSES: There aren't enough of us, but I regularly enjoy this summer's Devil Rays, even if following only via Internet and cable TV. ... Most games, I love their underdog hustle, attitudes and hope. ... Next year, when Tampa Bay's ballclub can more afford to ease back into spending multiple millions for a couple of experienced players, I hear manager Lou Piniella may be making those calls instead of the oft-scalded Chuck LaMar, a GM whose strength is developing youngsters.
SIR LANCELOT: There was a rush of gymnastics interest as well as escalating participation among tykes during a magnetic 1972-84 Olympic roll of Olga Korbut, Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton ... but I don't see that happening to cycling in America despite the fivefold Tour de France heroism of Lance Armstrong.
This is more like Pele or Ali, as the world bubbled in fascination over their skills and personalities, but with no immense and lasting upticks in overall U.S. soccer or boxing interest.
Armstrong is a pure, personal hero. Ruling a mind-bending, body-sapping sport where Americans were long considered nonfactors, even with an earlier splash by Greg LeMond. It was Lance doing it once, twice, three times, then rebounding from a huge cancer scare to immediately be Tour king twice more.
Always, we starve for heroes. Persons with extreme accomplishments, overcoming notable adversities, doing it with admirable style.
Armstrong is all that and more. Cycling is his vehicle, but Lance himself, and not his game, is the overriding reason for the cheering U.S. tumult.
HEAVY HEAT: Jacksonville Jaguars linemen Larry Smith and John Henderson, both 300 pounds-plus, have collapsed in training camp.
Trainers, doctors, coaches and team lawyers scurried, mindful of Minnesota Vikings giant Korey Stringer dying two years ago from heat exposure, a tragedy his widow blames on the NFL franchise with a lawsuit afloat.
It's rotten stuff, but human beings preparing for sporting combat forever will be liable to suffer physical collapses. Always, they are pushed to keep bodies hydrated, to eat right and to understand warning signs.
But there is something from long ago that puzzles me. In my 1950s youth a majority of coaches at pro, college and high school levels were far more brutal in demands on athletes.
Some of the biggest names in the coaching profession, along with thousands who worked in comparative obscurity, would refuse to allow water breaks or periods of rest during workouts. If a kid asked for a drink, he was likely called a "sissy" or worse. Ignorance was rampant.
Thankfully we have evolved from most barbaric mentalities and most nonsensical demands. Athletes are encouraged to swig liquids. Still, it puzzles me that players from 40 or 50 years ago did not more regularly conk out and even perish.
Just lucky, I guess.
Ignorance did reign.
- Whatever happened to Rick Monday?