Dear select horrible customers at Rockeys Dueling Piano Bar,
Congratulations. Your awfulness truly knows no bounds.
You know who you are (or at least your friends reminded you Sunday morning).
For those of you unaware, the news of Jeff Driskel requiring season-ending surgery to repair his fractured right fibula drew cheers from drunken patrons at Rockeys on Saturday night.
Granted, I know they were drunk. And yeah, I’m sure that not everybody there cheered Driskel’s injury like a mob of soulless monsters.
But damn. That’s awful.
I don’t mean to pile on the folks hanging out at Rockeys. They were far from the only people who were inexplicably giddy at somebody else’s misfortune.
I’m talking to everybody now.
For both football reasons and humanity in general, celebrating Driskel’s injury is dumb.
Seriously, why the hell would you cheer about someone getting injured? That’s just being unnecessarily cruel to your fellow man.
I could live with a subdued celebratory fist pump if an oppressive dictator like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sprained his ankle or something, but cheering when a college quarterback with NFL aspirations has to sit out with a broken bone in his leg is simply unwarranted.
I get why Gators fans aren’t exactly showering Driskel with love and support right now. By no means am I saying to coddle the guy.
His field vision isn’t very good, his pocket presence is lacking and he tends to try to force throws into tight coverage rather than simply throwing the ball away. Also, the guy ideally should have made more progress from Year 1 to Year 2 as a starter.
Hell, his final play of the season was an awful pick-six that put UF behind UT early.
Boo him all you want when he screws up on the field. Make fun of his jock strap wedgie that looks like a thong. That’s your prerogative.
But when Driskel the person is beaten down, don’t revel in his misery.
Even if you want to take all of the humanity and decency out of this conversation and focus solely on the on-field issues, cheering and celebrating Driskel’s injury is stupid.
If you think Tyler Murphy is going to solve this team’s offensive problems, then I want to party with you during the next bye week. That drug sounds nice.
Murphy did an excellent job of taking over for Driskel in Florida’s 31-17 win against Tennessee on Saturday. He showed great poise, good speed and a solid throwing arm.
But there’s a reason the junior only attempted his first career pass on Saturday. There’s a reason he somehow didn’t see the field in the awful quarterback year that was 2010.
John Brantley, anyone?
How Murphy fares under center for the rest of the season is anybody’s guess, but he isn’t going to win games for the Gators. Don’t let Saturday’s victory make you delusional.
Let’s see how Murphy does against a defense that isn’t a dumpster fire.
In the mean time, think before acting like a jerk to a guy you’ve never met.
Think about walking up Stadium Road to Turlington Plaza on crutches. Think about a bunch of random strangers drunkenly toasting your fractured fibula.
Just think.
Follow Joe Morgan on Twitter @joe_morgan.
Ed. note: The column originally misstated that Tyler Murphy was a senior. He is a redshirt junior.
Quarterback Jeff Driskel is attended to by trainers during Florida's 31-17 win against Tennessee on Saturday in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Driskel will miss the remainder of the season with a fractured right fibula.
Quarterback Tyler Murphy throws a pass during Florida's 31-17 win against Tennessee on Saturday in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Murphy will assume the starting role with Jeff Driskel out for the year.
