Charlie Pell

JACKSONVILLE – I wanted to wait a few days before writing about Charley Pell. Sometimes when people die, everybody's coming out of the woodwork to say something about that person, good or bad.

I first met Charley in 1978 in a back stairwell in Charleston, South Carolina. He was just getting his feet wet as the Head Coach at Clemson, I was a new reporter. I waited for him after a Tiger booster club speech. He had seen me before the meeting, and knew I'd been waiting.

"You're a hell of a man," Pell said as he slapped me on the shoulder. At the time it seemed to me like something he said a lot. But it wasn't offensive. There was a certain appeal to Pell, he had charisma in a very "old school" way.

He was one of the original throwbacks. A man's man. He even smoked like that, with a determination that he was going to get the best out of this cigarette, consequences be damned. He talked about his players as "that 'ole boy" naming their "momma's and daddy's" and referred to their hometowns and their high school coaches like old friends. When he spoke, he always acted as if he was letting you in on a secret.

I don't know if I broke the story or not, but I was one of the first to report Charley was headed to Florida. His friends confirmed it for me, saying Pell thought it was the quickest way back to Alabama. Not a lot is ever made about Pell's similarity to Bear Bryant, but everything about him said "The Bear."

He referred to himself in conversation as "we." He had a self-depreciating style and created a very tight inner circle. He never thought of himself as smart, so he made up for it with dedication, hard work and loyalty. If you were inside, you were set, if you were outside, somehow you were always the enemy. Charley followed Bear's rules, but they changed the rules along the way, and it got him, and the Gators into trouble.

I helped Charley in some of his early private business ventures, and we played golf a few times while he lived here in town. I went to see him in the hospital the night he tried to kill himself, only to be turned away because security recognized me as media, and not somebody who knew Charley and wanted to help.

As the years passed, I was saddened by the fact that nobody would let Pell do what he wanted to do: coach. Charley was really wrong in how he went about things at Florida, but in a way, he didn't see it as wrong. It was just how things were done. He was just 20 years too late, because they changed the rules.

Pell's accusers never saw it as wrong to effectively end his career, and in a way, his life as he wanted it. It was a feeding frenzy when the NCAA sanctions came out. Both in Gainesville and Birmingham, where the sanctions were announced, the media had its hands on a juicy story and wasn't letting go. For many reporters, it was their first post-Watergate experience, and they were going to prove themselves worthy of it.

Charley's legacy as a coach is one of success and shame, the person who laid the groundwork for the current Gator success, but branded them as a renegade program for years. He galvanized the alumni, raised money, got the football team out of debt and created an esprit de corps among Gator fans never seen before. He banished the old "wait 'till next year" philosophy, trading it for winning now. If he seems like much more of a sympathetic figure now, he should be. He wasn't defiant in the end, admitting wrong doing, but saying taking all of the blame was his biggest mistake.

When he was alive, there was never any public forgiveness, no public acknowledgement of the positive things he accomplished, the people's lives he touched. Now that he's gone, I don't think it's too late.

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"What heat?" That was Head Coach Tom Coughlin's attempt at humor today after the Jaguars went through a second day of on field workouts at Ferrell Fields. Temperatures hung in the low to mid 90's with high humidity. "It's good to have these two days of heat," Coughlin added, "it gives us a chance to see the rookies under tough conditions. That's good."

The just over an hour practice is one of on-field days the Jaguars are allowed before training camp. Instead of a formal mini-camp, Coughlin has opted for these sporadic on-field days the last three years. It looked like a normal practice, with today's workout just in helmets and shorts. A little more emphasis on team and less on individual workouts.

The starting offensive line had Tony Boselli and Brad Meester on the left with Jeff Smith at center. John Wade is at left guard and rookie second round pick Maurice Williams lining up at right tackle.

"His (Williams') head is swimming, and it should be,' according to Coughlin. "Pass protection, run blocking, check offs, he has to pick all of that up." Coughlin said he has seen a change in first round pick Marcus Stroud in just the first month. "Sure. Strength, conditioning, bulk, all of that. He's coming along," is how the head coach described it. Nothing seemed very different, except Jimmy Smith not being there.

"You look for him in the huddle and he's not there," said his receiving mate Keenan McCardell. "He told me he'd be here to play this year, and he's the only person I listen to. I believe him." Coughlin said Smith has spent some time on the bike and some time lifting weights this week, improving with each session. "There's no time line and I'm not talking about that either. We're monitoring his situation according to his health, not according to his return."

The Jaguars did sign veteran wide receiver Sean Dawkins today. Dawkins is a big, productive wide out, but he's not Jimmy Smith. Coughlin said the team did not sign Dawkins as insurance, but rather as a veteran to shore up some "numbers" at that position. It does signal a shift in confidence from the team's original plan that Smith would be available from the beginning of the season. Right now, Alvis Whitted is starting at Smith's receiver position but still isn't making the routine catches in practice.

Ryan Neufeld has impressed somebody on the staff. He's working with the first team when they go to a two tight end set. Damon Jones is working on a limited basis, mostly on the side with the training staff. Zach Weigert, Mark Baniewicz and Fernando Bryant all spent time on the bikes throughout practice.

Defensively, Lonnie Marts was missing from practice. Coughlin wouldn't comment on Marts' status, but it's clear he's being released after June 1 in a cap move. Hardy Nickerson is starting at middle linebacker with Kevin Hardy on the strong side and T.J. Slaughter on the weak side.

Marcus Stroud is huge, noticeably so, but did finish last in the first two conditioning runs the Jaguars had at the end of practice. Over and back, across the field, two groups, the linemen with the linemen and the backs with the backs, all finishing under 20 seconds. Stroud made it under the time, but finished last in the first two. Maurice Williams was last in the third one. The veterans will finish up this off season workout program on June 15. The rookies will be around for one more week until June 22. The two best comments of the day came from very diverse sources. When one of the linemen jumped of -sides during the conditioning drill Coughlin screamed, "How hard can this be."

The other came from broadcaster Cole Pepper. Usually the assembled media is required to stand inside a painted box up against the fence, sort of a penalty box. The box wasn't there today, so the parameters for the media space were a little loose. Pepper dubbed the assemblage, "free range media."

We wish!

They did need numbers at that position, but at the very least the signing is a nod to the fact that they don't have the same confidence that Smith will be ready to play when the season starts, or whenever. Keenan McCardell says he believes Jimmy when Smith says he's playing this year. And Coughlin said Smith spent some time on the bike and in the weight room this past week, and made some progress.

All of the Smith talk was framed around the Jaguars second of nine on-field practice days. It looked like a normal practice. Just over an hour in pretty hot conditions, the players wearing helmets and shorts. The veterans will finish the off-season conditioning program on June 15, the rookies will be here until the 22nd.

There's not a solid air of confidence around the stadium these days, more of a wait and see attitude. The team knows they need the rookies to come through, especially their top two draft picks, Marcus Stroud and Maurice Williams. But there is a little glimmer of a smile among the offensive players. Bob Petrino as the offensive coordinator has lightened and opened things up a bit, and the expectations around the league are very low.

Smith's the key though, he plays and they have a chance, he doesn't and there's trouble brewing.

It seems when the U.S. Supreme Court hands down rulings, many times they're filled with arcane language and cite obscure precedents to get to the point. Yesterday in the Casey Martin case they made a ruling that was easy to understand, was written in plain language and seemed very logical.

Casey Martin suffers enough just getting from the cart to the shot because of his leg condition. He suffers greater fatigue, according to the majority opinion, maneuvering from his cart to his shot than his competitors do just walking 18 holes.

In a 7-2 vote, the court said Martin could use a cart to compete on the PGA Tour. Is walking an essential part of the game of golf? Maybe at our level the fatigue at the end of a round could be a factor. But at PGA Tour tournaments the competition is about getting the ball in the hole, not whether you can walk from one shot to the next.

The Senior PGA Tour allows the use of carts, the USGA abandoned their 36 hole final in one day at the U.S. Open after 1964, taking the endurance test out of the competition.

A competitive edge? The Court said they didn't think allowing Martin to ride in a cart would substantially alter the nature of the competition on the PGA Tour.

All along the Tour has said it wasn't about Casey Martin, it was about setting their own rules. The Supreme Court's ruling applies to Martin, and under their guidelines apparently only to Martin at this point. Will somebody sue the Tour for the right to a cart because of a hangnail? Probably. Will they win? Not a chance.

Martin will get a chance to play, knowing that every swing could be his last. The Tour shouldn't fear this ruling, they should embrace it. Use it as an opportunity to bring even more people to the game.

But the physical play is reminiscent of the league in the early 70's. Each team had their stars, and their enforcers, much like hockey. That's why the league was headed on its way to extinction until Magic, Larry and Michael arrived, brining some basketball back to the league. I know the refs are instructed to let 'em play during the playoff, and it becomes a more half-court, star dominated game. But the elbows, the shoving doesn't look like they have anything to do with basketball at all.

Toughness should be a part of the game, and Iverson showed he's plenty tough, playing with a banged up body and still coming out with 28 points. But after taking an elbow from Ray Allen late in the game, Iverson apparently told somebody described as his "bodyguard" at courtside that he'd "get him back."

A bodyguard?

At courtside?

It used to be the only people at courtside were Dyan Cannon, Jack Nicholson and Spike Lee. Come on, we want to see basketball. If we wanted a brawl, we'd turn on the WWF.