Mike Bianchi:
Taggart, rightfully, brings Bowden home.
It sure was good to see living legend Bobby Bowden back where he belonged earlier this week — attending an FSU football practice for the first time since was forced into retirement eight years ago. New FSU coach Willie
Taggart, who grew up an FSU and a Bowden fan, rightfully gets credit for welcoming Bobby back into the Seminole football family.
When I asked somebody close to Bobby Friday why he never attended a practice when Jimbo Fisher was the head coach, the response was succinct: “Because he was never asked.”
However, I don’t think the narrative is that simple. Obvi-
ously, Bobby, being one of the nicest guys in college football history, wouldn’t have declined if Jimbo had asked him to come talk to the team at practice, but let’s not forget this: Bobby and Jimbo — if they were choosing one of those Facebook options to describe their relationship — both would pick: “It’s complicated.”
Maybe the reason Jimbo didn’t want Bobby around is Jimbo knew Bobby really didn’t want to come around as long as Jimbo was the coach. Bobby never wanted to be perceived as meddling and looking over Jimbo’s shoulder. And it’s no secret that there was friction between the Bowden family and Jimbo, who had been Bobby’s offensive coordinator and head-coach-in-waiting for three years before succeeding Bowden.
There is a feeling among some in the Bowden camp that Jimbo stuck a flaming spear in Bobby’s back, and this is one of the reasons Bobby was forced to retire before he was ready. I don’t believe that to be the case. In fact, former FSU president
T.K. Wetherell has told me Jimbo had nothing to do with Bobby being forced into retirement. Of course, this is all ancient history. What matters now is Jimbo’s departure has enabled Taggart to heal the wounds that have infected FSU’s relationship with its resident legend for nearly a decade.
SHORT STUFF: Now that the Miami Heat have clinched a spot in the playoffs, I have two questions: (1) How can the Heat rebuild on the fly and be back in the postseason so quickly after losing three superstars — LeBron James, Chris
Bosh and Dwyane Wade (now back with the team) — without getting any compensation for those stars? (2) Meanwhile, how can the Magic lose only one superstar — and they were at least able to get some assets in a trade for Dwight Howard — and they are wallowing in the abyss of a six-year rebuild with no end in sight? Answer: This is the difference between leaving the keys of your franchise with the legendary Pat Riley or turning the keys to your franchise over to someone barely old enough to drive (see former GM Rob Hennigan) . ... Judging by the poor initial ratings of the new ESPN morning show with Mike Greenberg,
Michelle Beadle and Jalen Rose, they should change the name of it from “Get Up” to “Go Back to Bed!” … True story: New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman reported a kid on his Instagram feed who threatened to “shoot up” his school and police traced it to a 14-year-old who was found at home in Michigan along with two rifles that belonged to his mother. This will go down as the greatest catch of Edelman’s career. … Glad to see that 7-foot-6 Tacko Fall is coming back to UCF after having to sit out most of last season with a shoulder injury. Wouldn’t you love to see this tall tale end up as a Cinderella story in the NCAA Tournament? …
One Nashville Predators fan took the tradition of tossing dead catfish onto the ice to celebrate their team to an even ickier level. To protest a controversial call against the Predators, the fan shipped two dead catfish to NHL headquarters in Toronto. This is what you call causing a stink — literally and figuratively. The NHL, my operatives tell me, ignored the disgusting gesture because, well, they have bigger fish to fry. … Now that Villanova has won two of the last three national championships, can we dispense of the narrative that the one-anddoners are ruining college basketball? Villanova coach Jay Wright is proof positive that wellcoached, experienced, unselfish and fundamentally sound players are still a recipe for success in college basketball. What’s ruining the reputation of college basketball are coaches who sell the soul of their universities to recruit the one-and-doners.
LAST WORD: Did you see where LeBron James is threatening litigation against Nick Saban and Alabama, accusing the Crimson Tide of stealing his intellectual property? The intellectual property in question refers to LeBron’s webcast idea “The Shop” in which James and his friends sit around and shoot the breeze in a barber-shop setting (Alabama does something similar). In related news, Floyd Lawson, the barber from the old Andy Griffith Show, is threatening to sue both LeBron and Saban. Coming soon: LeBron takes credit for coming up with the idea of friends drinking beer and watching football in a sports-bar setting.