Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of jorts… the thrill of victory… and the agony of defeat… the human drama of athletic competition… This is the Wide World of Jorts! Jorts come in all styles and sizes, from the cutoff. to the hemmed formal jort onto the waaaay too tight nut huggers. A proponent of jorts, Florida quarterback Tim Tebow is not shy about rocking them whether he's in the classroom, on the field or assuming the missionary position in the Philippines. This slideshow features Tim modeling some of his favorite flavors of jorts. Enjoy Tim's Wide World of Jorts, aka Tim Tebow Rocks the Jorts, Of Course, Volume Two. << MORE >>

The Florida Gators football team got a scare after their SEC Championship Game loss to Alabama, as head coach Urban Meyer was hospitalized with severe chest pains. Meyer reportedly checked himself into the Shands Hospital in Gainesville early Sunday morning but has been released according to a source in the Florida athletic department. According to Florida spokesperson Steve McClain, Meyer was treated for dehydration, but is doing "is doing well now." His usual post-game show has been delayed as a result of the hospitalization. Meyer is known to have an arachnoid cyst on his brain that has caused him extreme pain when stressed. He has been hospitalized in the past as a result of stress, however, it is unclear if he has ever been hospitalized for chest pains. << MORE >>

Whether it was the loss of Percy Harvin to the pros, the loss of OC Dan Mullen to Mississippi State, or the dwindling magic of the "Tebow Child," Florida's offense had regressed so significantly from its 2008 iteration that Alabama's defensive manhandling in the conference championship was foreseeable from at least the middle of the season, when the Gators were struggling to put away lesser outfits from Arkansas and Mississippi State.Still, it seemed like the Gators could lean on their defense in close games. Until recently, that defense led the nation in points and yards allowed, and had returned not only every significant starter, but many of the significant backups from the 2008 national championship squad. Alabama undid that myth, piling up just shy of 500 yards and 32 points on a Gator defense that was averaging half of that yardage total and a quarter of that point total through 12 games. There should be no more myths about the 2009 Florida Gators left intact. They are beatable. They are human. Tebow has been stripped of his immortality; he moves among us as a muttering, weeping mortal.<< MORE >>

Tebow is the senior quarterback for Florida. He's well known not only for his great football skills, but for his evangelical Christianity. He was home schooled by missionary parents and noticeably writes Bible verses across his face while playing. I have a really hard time imagining a football player being able to write "Allahu akbar" across his face in Arabic, or even worse, "There is no God." Even if the NCAA would legally allow these other sayings, the fallback from fellow players, coaches, and fans would be so great that a Muslim or atheist player probably wouldn't even consider it. But it's not just because of its religious. By writing anything distinctive on his face, he's drawing attention to himself. Showboating after touch downs is explicitly forbidden in college football, yet drawing attention to yourself with Bible verses is okay? << MORE >>

So my buddies at Wondershot put this video together together making fun of Tim Tebow. It’s an “ad” for the Tim Tebow School Of Life. And aside from the redneck with the amazingly beautiful teeth and the eyeblack that’s obviously electrical tape, it’s a solid effort. Plus it has a terrific dig on Dan Shanoff. And jorts on the Heisman Trophy? I think Spencer Hall just came. Who else’s name could I drop in here? Jesus? Fine. Jesus it is. << MORE >>

From our friends at BustedCoverage I present to you a late Halloween present...the BC “3 All-Time Greatest Tim Tebow Halloween Costumes”<< MORE >>

So Carlos Dunlap, one of the top pass rushers in the college football, and now one of the top idiots after an arrest on drunk driving charges, has been suspended from Saturday's all-important SEC championship. All of you sorry Florida football fans who were snickering at Bobby Bowden's retirement Tuesday, saying the man ran a program filled with kids who often ran afoul, well, you may all shut up. Because Urban Meyer's top-ranked and defending national champion Gators, only about to play another national semifinal game with Alabama, have one more thing to overcome, in this case a truly major distraction, not to mention a sudden and rather gaping hole at defensive end.So Meyer's team has another challenge, this in a season of challenges - as if this rematch with the Crimson Tide isn't enough. It also dredges up all the arrests - granted, many of them for minor stuff - this football program has rung up over the last few years, the not-so-silver lining in the empire Meyer has built. << MORE >>

Usually Tim Tebow's jersey is dirty when he's lunging for first downs. Now he's getting dirty 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage — and often. Tebow has taken a career-high 21 sacks this year, third-most in the SEC and far more than his previous career high of 15 from 2008. It's obvious blitzes are bothering the Gators, specifically zone blitzes. Tebow hinted at the problem Saturday night, and LT Carl Johnson says that extra man is crippling the Gators. "Sometimes it’s just a misread," Johnson said. “We don’t take pride in giving up sacks. We try our best to protect him. We try our best to make sure he has time in the pocket. A lot of teams are just blitzing us a lot. Sometimes they are bringing more than we actually can protect." << MORE >>

        

If Tim Tebow makes it the end of the season without another debilitating injury, it will be a minor miracle. Florida might have worked 'em silly, Georgia almost knocked Tebow silly. It wouldn't be the first time for a Gators opponent. We already know Superman isn't indestructible after that concussion suffered in Kentucky. At this rate, something big and terrible is coming. The effect of the hits now seem cumulative. Even the great Tebow couldn't hide the beating he took. A couple of times he took his time raising himself from the turf. Georgia linebacker Rennie Curran in particular stuck Tebow. Tebow showed no outward signs of damage. In fact, he sprinted around the rim of Jacksonville Municipal Stadium for a final victory lap in his last Georgia game. But could Georgia somehow have an impact on the national championship by being part of the cumulative effect? << MORE >>

Florida’s Spikes was suspended for trying to poke Georgia’s Washaun Ealey in the eye last Saturday in Jacksonville. Originally, coach Urban Meyer suspended Spikes for one half of the Vanderbilt game. After a national media backlash against the punishment as being inadequate, it was announced after practice on Wednesday that Spikes would sit the entire game. Spikes said he asked that his punishment be extended because he didn’t want to be a “distraction” to the team. We’ll deal more with that decision in the next note. But here is what I want to know. Did Urban Meyer break the SEC commissioner’s rule on not publicly criticizing officials? If so, could he be sitting out the Vanderbilt game with Spikes? << MORE >>

A whole half? Against Vanderbilt? Against a 2-7 team that has lost five consecutive games, was out-scored 104-51 in its last three and ranks last in the Southeastern Conference in scoring, passing, time of possession, red zone offense and red zone defense? That’s the penalty imposed by Florida football coach Urban Meyer after watching his All-America linebacker viciously attempt to gouge the eyes of a Georgia running back during Saturday’s game in Jacksonville? That’s the punishment Brandon Spikes faces for his thuggish assault, which was unquestionably intended to injure, perhaps permanently, a defenseless opponent who was pinned under a pile of tacklers? That’s it? Spikes is suspended for the first half against Vandy? So much for Meyer, no matter how many championships he wins, being a better man than his coaching peers. So much for Florida, despite its successes on the field, serving as a model for the way all big-time college football programs should be run. So much for class. And character. And courage. Because what Spikes did to Georgia’s Washaun Ealey — a video clip from the CBS telecast is getting thousands of hits on YouTube — was as cowardly as it was deliberate. << MORE >>

Among the things the folks at Human Rights Watch keep track of are places on the globe that employ particularly cruel forms of punishment, like, for example, eye gouging. The good news is that for quite some time the list of governments employing such barbarism has been shortening. In fact, it was down to just two, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Monday, however, that list apparently expanded with an announcement from the Florida Gators' football office that suggested it appeared to embrace the barbaric penalty.Are we to surmise that Spikes didn't get a full-game suspension because he tried to rip out only half of Ealey's eyes and not the whole set?<< MORE >>

Eye-gouging is considered such a foul, filthy act that it’s banned by even our most blatantly combative exercises, including mixed martial arts and pro wrestling. Sherriff Urban Meyer of the Gainesville PD isn’t as concerned, apparently. Florida linebacker Brandon Spikes was caught on film purposefully jamming his fingers through the facemask of Georgia running back Washaun Ealey on Saturday in an effort to rip at Ealey’s eyes. It was about as ugly and unbecoming of a play as there is in football. For the act, Meyer will bench his star linebacker for the first half of the Gators’ game against Vanderbilt. Repeat: one half. That penalty isn’t a joke, although the man dishing it out is acting like one. << MORE >>

Florida coach Urban Meyer’s apparent policy on eye-gouging is now clear. Only a successful blinding or maiming can result in a full-game suspension. Meyer suspended Brandon Spikes for only the first half of the Gators’ next game against Vanderbilt for eye-gouging Georgia running back Washaun Ealey. I’m not sure if missing one half of a Vanderbilt game really qualifies as discipline. But apparently SEC commissioner Mike Slive didn’t want to get in Meyer’s way on this one. I guess Slive only worries about the real serious issues: sound bites about referees, not trivial matters like jamming fingers into eyeballs.<< MORE >>

The Gators, despite their undefeated record, had a lot of conflict last week. The offense was struggling mightily, especially in the Red Zone, and Tebow, Meyer and offensive coordinator Steve Addazio were taking a lot of heat. “Last week it was, ‘The Ship is sinking. The boat’s got holes in it,’” Meyer said. “It was a hard week on all of us,” Addazio said. “These kids feel and hear all this stuff going on. You’re sitting here, you’re having a hell of a year, you listen to this stuff, it’s like, ‘Wow.’ It can tug in a lot of places.” Then rumors started to fly that Tebow and Spikes had a nasty exchange in the locker room in Starkville. Spikes was asked about it after the Georgia win. “It wasn’t nothing. It was all positive,” Spikes told reporters. “We came together me and him, got the team together and we kind of got things right.” “It was a hard week, because we were frustrated,” Tebow said. “We weren’t living up to our potential or executing as well as we should have been.” When asked about it Sunday, Meyer denied that any rift occurred between his two star players. “There was no finger-pointing speech, and there was no altercation. I’m not sure where you’re gathering your information,” Meyer said. “There was a very positive speech about staying focused. … Very passionate locker room about how we can play better, but there was no altercation whatsoever.” Later, Meyer admitted that words were exchanged — by everyone. << MORE >>

There is no question Urban Meyer made the right decision when he spurned Notre Dame, his self-professed "dream job," four years ago to become football coach at Florida. Better weather, better access to better players, better chance to win. Meyer's Gators have won two of the last three BCS national titles. Notre Dame hasn't won a title since 1988. But ask yourself this: Had Meyer taken the Notre Dame job, would he still be there if 24 Irish players had been arrested under his watch? These are curious times in Gainesville.<< MORE >>

All-American linebacker Brandon Spikes was caught on camera by CBS blatantly eye-gouging Georgia tailback Washaun Ealey in the pile. "That's how they play," said Ealey, who called such dirty tactics routine for the Gators after gaining 70 yards on 17 carries in the loss. "They got me on the ground, and they were doing it all night. The refs just weren't seeing it." That's well beyond unacceptable, and it makes you wonder about the character of guys like Florida coach Urban Meyer and defensive coordinator Charlie Strong; you can't miss such behavior on film. SEC commissioner Mike Slive, who is so fond of dispatching formal reprimands for actions as picayune as questioning officials, should have the brass to act immediately given such an egregious display of unsportsmanlike conduct; anything less than a one-game suspension of Spikes would represent a scandalous show of favoritism by Slive. << MORE >>

Saturday, Tebow, who trails the Georgia running back by one rushing touchdown for his career, is likely to break Walker's all-time rushing touchdown total in the SEC. Or is he? It seems there's a bit of an accounting error in the record books. See, the SEC didn't start counting bowl game touchdowns in the end of season totals until recently. So Herschel Walker actually scored five more touchdowns for the Bulldogs that don't appear in his official stats. That means Walker's 49 career rushing touchdowns should actually be 54 career rushing touchdowns. Now, right now, you might be thinking to yourself, that doesn't really matter very much. But if you know Georgia and Florida fans, you know the exact opposite is true, it matters an awful lot, particularly for Georgia fans who continue to worship at the altar of St. Herschel even as we approach 30 years since he last scorched across the Sanford Stadium grass. << MORE >>

Thank God Tim Tebow is a senior at the University of Florida. Or, if Tebow was talking for me, "Praise the Lord!" I don't know how many more "God bless" comments I can stand from the 2007 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback. Religion - except for the "Hail Mary" pass - has no place in sports. In Tebow's case, he should play football and forget about us sinners for 31/2 hours every Saturday. Somehow, we'll survive without him displaying a "John 3:16" Bible verse under his eyes. We separate church and state. Why not church and sports? Would it fly with the NCAA or TV networks if a player exhibited "God is dead" on his face? Freedom of expression would be wiped away as quickly as the greasepaint. << MORE >>

This is a blown call. It's hard to see on the video, and not exactly obvious in the poorly-angled still shots, especially if each one was taken alone. But Dustin Doe did not cross the goal line with that football, and scored a phantom touchdown that put Florida up 29-13 and basically iced a game that ended 29-19. So Dan Mullen has a right to be mad. << MORE >>

Tim Tebow is the greatest collegian of the 21st Century. But the greatest collegiate player ever? Not quite. That distinction falls to a man who played for the other side in the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, and I speak of … Zippy Morocco. OK, I’m kidding. You know who I mean. As majestic as he was against everybody, Herschel Walker was never so splendid as those three afternoons in Jacksonville. He rushed for 649 yards and scored eight touchdowns against the Gators, who were really good each year but lost three times simply because they didn’t have Herschel. (Granted, Lindsay Scott had a bit to do with the 1980 outcome.)<< MORE >>

The player looked up woozily through his face mask at University of Florida medical personnel peering through, asking if he was O.K. He wasn’t. He had sustained a concussion, a serious one — and it was going to be a very, very big deal. This player was not Tim Tebow, the Heisman Trophy-winning Gators quarterback who was knocked unconscious during a game on Sept. 26 and was still not cleared to play Saturday night in a crucial game against Louisiana State. The player was Scot Brantley, a star linebacker in Gainesville from 1976 until a September 1979 afternoon when a similar knee to the head ended his Florida football career. Brantley is now 51. He has severe short-term memory loss, most likely because of the persistent football head trauma from high school, college and then eight seasons in the N.F.L. And he is living proof of how much has changed, and perhaps not, over 30 years with regard to the management of high-profile college football concussions.<< MORE >>

Senior quarterback Tim Tebow has been cleared by Florida's medical staff to play in tonight's game against No. 4 LSU, a source close to the situation told The Gainesville Sun. A decision on whether Tebow will start the game or not will be made at game time, the source said. According to a report on ESPN, Florida coach Urban Meyer says Tebow will play. "If he's ready to play, cleared to play, we're going to play him," Meyer said Saturday morning in an interview with ESPN's Tom Rinaldi. << MORE >>

Though the University of Florida and coach Urban Meyer have been nothing but careful with their words, I don't think there was ever really a doubt that Tim Tebow would play in tonight's big game against LSU. This, just two weeks removed from a hellacious concussing hit that earned him an ambulance ride to the hospital in the middle of the game. The inevitability of this is even more disturbing considering the recent study commissioned by the NFL, which found a number of crippling consequences from not giving these head injuries proper time to heal. With that in mind, we've assembled a list of 10 great NFL careers ended - most later than they should have been - by concussions. The human brain is by far the most mysterious organ in the human body. And one of the only things we do know is that we know practically nothing about how injuries affect the brain. The recent report by HBO's Real Sports showed that playing after a concussion can lead to permanent brain damage and/or death. And the younger the brain, the more potentially severe the damage. << MORE >>

SEC commissioner Mike Silve hosts a clandestine meeting with Florida’s Urban Meyer and Tennessee’s Lane Kiffin at The Bar in Coral Gables, Fla... SILVE: Have a seat, boys. Before we begin, let’s go over your cover stories... KIFFIN: Wait a second, who picked this place? We’re smack in the middle of Hurricane country for crying out loud. Randy Shannon’s got his posse covering every corner around here. They spot us and we’re good as toast. SILVE: Quit your bellyaching, Lane. Neither one of you can recruit worth a squat south of Okeechobee...it’s like you’re invisible here. Besides, I saw Butch Davis at the airport and that’ll keep the Miami fellas busy for a day or two. << MORE >>

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow is reading, watching television, attending class, studying tape and doing everything else he was before his concussion. Except practicing. Could Tebow play if he receives clearance late in the week? "I can't answer that," Meyer said. "Can Tim play quarterback at Florida against a very good defense without practicing? I don't know that. It's going to be as we move on." << MORE >>

The Florida Gators don’t play again until October 10th against LSU. When that game is played, It will have been only two weeks since Tim Tebow went down with a severe concussion. Anyone with any grasp of the severity of concussions (or if you watched the special about it on Real Sports earlier this month) should be somewhat terrified that Urban Meyer thinks Tebow will play: Meyer said Monday that Tebow has a headache, but is eating well. He thinks — but doesn’t know — that his star player will be ready to go against the Tigers. There is no specific timeline for concussion recovery, and how long players who suffer them need to sit out, but it should certainly be longer than two weeks. You know, it really is just a football game. << MORE >>