Oversight? If it’s anybody but Spurrier, I believe him

Not saying this man's a liar. Just saying that he likes to goof around. (AP photo)

Anybody else think Steve Spurrier was funnier when he had a good football team?

Spurrier threw himself on the mercy of the SEC media Friday — and how low must you go to do that? — saying he was the coach who did not vote for Florida quarterback Tim Tebow as a first-teamer on the pre-season all-SEC team. Spurrier’s vote came as a surprise, given that Tebow has won a Heisman Trophy (he should’ve won two), played on two national championship teams and leads many to believe that he’s the best college football player in history, including Georgia coach Mark Richt. (See quote below.) Also, Spurrier has one or two ties to the Gators.

Well, now Spurrier says it was all a mistake. He said one of his staff members at South Carolina actually filled out the ballot for the All-SEC team. That’s not only believable, it’s highly probable. Coaches seldom do this sort of thing themselves. It’s often a low-level assistant or somebody in the school’s sports information office. (And while we’re on the subject: The head coaches that “vote” in the polls that REALLY matter seldom do that themselves, either. They have more important things on their mind, like winning games and personal survival.)

But here’s the question: What are the odds that Spurrier actually did what he said — that he saw the ballot and signed off on it without actually noticing Mississippi’s Jevan Snead was listed as the SEC’s No. 1 QB? How do you not notice Tim Tebow is missing from the All-SEC team?

If it’s almost any other coach, I’m probably inclined to believe him. But this is Spurrier. He’s not evil. He’s harmless. He’s an entertainer. The man lives to tweak. He lives to goof around and get under an opponent’s skin — and by the way, I have no problem with that.

So let me lay out this scenario: Spurrier’s assistant filled out the ballot, Spurrier saw it, laughed and said, “Ah, what the heck. Let’s have some fun with this.”

Hey, just throwing it out there. (Let me add this, too: This who didn’t-vote-for-Tebow drama has played out for two weeks.)

I know Spurrier has nothing against Tebow — he has praised him as much as everybody else has. But his ego has to have taken a few shots in recent years, given what Urban Meyer has done with the Florida program that Spurrier turned around and Ron Zook let deteriorate. Spurrier is no less of a deity in Gainesville than he was before Meyer arrived. But now he’s sharing the stage. Can we really put this past him? It created a story. Spurrier lives for stories. What else is he going to do? Tell everybody how great South Carolina is going to be? Nobody would believe that.

Back to Richt: How high is his admiration for Tebow? Here’s a quote I have leftover from Thursday: “He might be the greatest player-slash-leader ever in college football. When you take his ability, his production, his leadership, his ability to get everybody to rally around him, I don’t know if there’s many like that.”

OK. Your turn. Any thoughts on Spurrier’s apology?