I can’t believe I’m about to praise the ‘enemy’ here, but I believe in giving credit where it’s due.
The Sun-Sentinel never really gained any traction with their Miami Hurricanes-themed blogs in the past. Omar Kelly seemed to have issue with Randy Shannon, preventing him from unbiased reporting and Indiana-native Shandel Richardson often seemed bored covering UM, mailing it in often and rarely providing solid coverage. (That’s not a knock on either guy personally – it’s simply the opinion of this writer and Canes enthusiast regarding their reporting on UM athletics.)
If at first you don’t succeed … try again, fail again and then hire a Gator, I guess. The Sentinel looked north and nabbed Steve Gorten weeks back, handing him Richardson’s old assignment and to his credit, he’s taken the ball and run with it.
Gorten is a Gator and wouldn’t remember me from Adam, but our paths crossed at the Independent Florida Alligator for about five minutes back in 1997 when I was a bitter Cane, stuck in Gainesville while Florida was your defending national champ and Miami was in the midst of a 5-6 season.
Frustrated with the orange and blue hue that illuminated from the pages of the school paper, I set up an email account (hey, it was 13 years ago!) and began emailing complaints to the sports department. The Gator gloating was at an all time high and the digs were coming at the Canes’ expense — even though the teams hadn’t met on the gridiron in over a decade.
I understood it was the hometown rag, but the bias was a joke and everything was emotionally-driven, with little logic behind it. I recall some back and forth with “Flash” Gorten (as his byline then read) and eventually heard back from Editor In Chief Jacob Luft – a guy with Miami ties who appreciated what I had to say.
Luft invited me in for an interview and gave me a writing assignment; covering the Florida v. Florida State swim meet, the Friday night before the Gators and Noles went toe-to-toe in The Swamp (#10 Florida 32, #1 Florida State 29 — a thriller).
My lone article ran in the Alligator, amongst the work of Gorten and Andrea Szulszteyn (now Andrea Adelson, ESPN blogger) and the rest is history. I was one-and-done, unable to stomach covering Florida athletics, quickly learning I wasn’t made to be a reporter. I only wanted to write about things that interested me; things I had passion for — Miami football, rock-n-roll, good movies or Mexican food.
Bryan Knoll, a UM fan out of Michigan, had recently launched Grassy.com and I began emailing him. I shared with him my tale of woe; a Cane stuck in Gainesville while Miami was in the toilet and Florida was on a roll. Bryan gave me a writing assignment and that’s where it all began. I’d peck away in the UF computer lab, penning articles about the Canes’ plight and envisioning a return to the top.
Almost a decade and a half later, I’m running allCanesBlog.com and Gorten is now covering the Canes for a Ft. Lauderdale-based paper — and to his credit, is doing a hell of a better job covering the ‘enemy’ than I was able to in my day.
To Gorten’s credit, he truly is a sports reporter – not just a blogger. His writing is superior to anyone else covering UM on a daily basis and he takes good angles, creating compelling pieces. The Gator officially won me over last Friday with a piece titled, “McCarthy’s move to the middle”. Gator Gorten employed more logic in one piece than a gaggle of message board superfans could in an hour of rants.
Linebacker has been a sore subject for a while in Hurricane Nation. Converted running back Kylan Robinson earned the MLB spot in spring, sending Miami fans into an uproar. Seniority and cries of “another Shannon guy” reigned down … while more logically-minded Canes realized much could change between spring and fall.
Gorten pointed out that McCarthy’s move wasn’t damage control if Robinson struggled; it was done because of the emergence of Ramon Buchanan, who appears ready to start outside, opposite Sean Spence. A Buchanan-McCarthy-Spence trio could be the best crew of backers the Canes have fielded in half a decade – which isn’t really saying much due to the drop off at the position these past few years. Still, it’s reason to be optimistic.
While some folks were too hopped up over Robinson’s role on paper, Gator Gorten saw the forest for the trees. Kudos.
He expanded on the point further yesterday when stating that linebackers coach Micheal Barrow feels it’s too early to name McCarthy the Mike, but that UM is working to get the ‘best three’ on the field. Barrow pointed out that he played outside one year and middle the next, in effort to get Jessie Armstead and Darrin Smith on the field, too.
Shannon has promoted less experienced, less talented guys in spring as a way to light a fire under guys’ asses. He’s been doing it with Ray Ray Armstrong at the safety position and a safe bet that much of this Robinson talk – as expected – was done to get a guy like Buchanan to elevate his game.
Gorten is off this week, but returns next week and will be on the beat as Miami takes on Florida A&M in the opener. Follow his blog and don’t hold his diploma or allegiance against him. Dude is putting heart, soul and logic into covering our Canes.