This taken from GatorBait:

Let me first say I'm not a homer for Florida football or coach Urban Meyer and my job is to be objective at all times which means I don't care if Florida wins, loses or draws.

But the decision to fine Meyer for his "public criticism" of officials is absolutely preposterous and exemplifies what a heavy-handed conference office can become - unruly and out of touch.

Public criticism? Meyer said the refs missed a call, which they did. There's no question about it. Coaches watch what they say with extreme caution anyway when talking to the media and now it will only get worse.

Fining Meyer $30,000 is a disgrace when Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin and others have said far more controversial things. When a coach publicly points out that a ref missed a call it's not criticism - it's reality.

Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino had a legitimate gripe on the "personal foul" call late against his team when they played Florida. If the league office will do nothing, why shouldn't he publicly criticize the officials?

It's outrageous that the people who rake in the millions and millions to the SEC coffers have to pay up to the master when they want to gripe to reporters which has always been a part of sports and the nature of the business.

Officials across the country have missed multiple calls this season from the Tebow hit to the Georgia celebration penalty against LSU to many others that have been documented. The SEC doesn't want anyone to know about them though. They want everyone to shut up, or pay.

Mike Slive missed the boat on this one. I can say it. He can't fine me. Only the guy who's won two national championships and helps keep SEC football in the national spotlight every week. Florida has done wonders for the conference. What has the conference done for it?

Meyer has gone out of his way in the past to publicly praise Slive, who turns around and takes his money. If I were Meyer, those days would be over. In the end, Slive should pay.

Meyer chose a really bad time to make a complaint. Fines and suspensions weren't in place as guaranteed punishments for SEC Coaches until a week after the Bama vs. Tennessee game.

Don't get me wrong though, his complaint did hold some validity. Even if it wasn't a game changing kind of deal.

I think Meyer did it to take some heat off of Spikes but to say its preposterous is silly

I would like to take a moment to blame this on Lane Kiffin, as his boneheaded remarks were what put the rules in place to begin with. So thank you, Kiffin, for making the conference look bad.

Cant say he wasnt warned

That's true; he knew what the consequences would be, and Meyer himself didn't complain, but something about this just doesn't sit right:

"You run another play and you throw an interception or they throw another flag on us -- I wasn't going to let the refs lose the game for us there and some magical flag appear," Kiffin said. "I'm sure we'll get one of those letters that really means nothing as Bobby got last week, but Florida and Alabama live on," he said Sunday.

That (which is a second offense, and hints at a conspiracy) gets you a


And this (which is an opinion):

"That should have been a penalty, in my opinion," Meyer said. "Obviously, it should have been. You've got to protect quarterbacks. That's the whole purpose. It's right in front of the referee. I'm not sure how they're going to handle that, but ... that was one of the plays we did send in."

gets you a:



I've got to agree with gamesock. When Kiffin suggested the refs were calling games unfairly on purpose to help Bama and Florida; he basically made it impossible for SEC coaches to even comment or have legitimate complaints about calls, even when they're only suggesting a mistake and not an intentional act by refs.

Oh, no doubt what Kiffin said was worse. And the whole reason for the new rule is because he ridiculed the reprimand by saying that he will probably get one of those papers that dont mean anything. I just think Slive is covering his tracks on this one cause if this got meyer 30 G's then just think what Slives got in store for Kiffin the next time he steps out of line.

So instead of giving the usual 30k buyout to Slive....... it is public this time? Just kidding, but 30k is just a drop in the bucket for Meyer seriously, but still a lot of money to be spending on nothing

UF fans attending the game will have the opportunity to drop a $1 into buckets placed around the stadium today...their gonna use the money to pay Meyer's fine and donate the rest to breast cancer research. Wonder what Slive will make of that...especially when Urban hands him 30,000 1-dollar-bills...

I actually just heard on an SEC show a few minutes ago that Urban said he would pay the fine with his own money and not money from boosters. He said he respects the SEC's decision to fine him. Sounds classy

I love how you guys have changed your tune since it's Meyer calling out the officials and not Kiffin. (not you necessarily 2753. I don't recall seeing you post on that subject.) Whatever happened to "going through the proper channels" and "I wouldn't support MY coach if he did that!" ?

So how much will Slive get fined next time one of the refs make some bad calls or cost someone a game.

It's a little different...Meyer was asked by a reporter concerning the late hit on Tebow and Meyer stated that it should've been a PF.

He didn't question the integrity of the officiating crew or the SEC...he didn't accuse them of cheating...he didn't accuse them of orchestrating a conspiracy to keep Bama and Florida undefeated...that piece of shiat that you call a head coach did all of the above.

The only reason Slive enacted these "sanctions" is because of that loud-mouth piece of trash that coaches the Vols. It amazes me that you have the gall to even post a retraction in one of these threads...I would be completely and utterly embarrassed if it were my HC that caused these rules to be placed...I guess it's pretty telling of your character, Sabo.

Consistency from the Gator fans. I guess it was more than we could have hoped for. Shame you can't take people for their word around here.