We're all ready for sports to return. More than ready. Desperate.
It's been over five weeks since I watched a live sporting event, and it literally feels like five years. That Florida State basketball win over Boston College -- the one that secured the historic regular-season ACC championship -- feels like it happened during the Reagan administration.
Another week from now, you might be able to convince me that Sun Bowl against Arizona State was from the '90s.
Well, no, that's not true. As discombobulated as I am right now, I still have enough sense to know that no 1990s Florida State team would have ever stepped foot in El Paso.
What those Dynasty-era teams have done, however, is somehow given me a sense of normalcy over the last few weeks. Talking about them, writing about them, re-watching those legendary games. It has not only given me a tiny sports fix that I desperately need, but it has reminded me of how much greatness we all got to enjoy back during that remarkable stretch.
I hope you all watched the Choke at Doak retrospective we did recently with Danny Kanell. If you haven't yet, it's right here. And it's really enlightening. That was a fun trip down memory lane, especially when I got to tell Kanell the only reason my Dad and I stayed for the fourth quarter was to see Thad Busby get a chance at quarterback!
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Gene Williams and I also did a retrospective of the 1991 Michigan game as well. That was a lot of fun, too. You can watch that here. And next week, we'll have a retrospective on the 1989 Miami game with linebacker Kirk Carruthers. So be on the lookout for that one as well.
Would I rather be writing right now about the 2020 spring game under first-year head coach Mike Norvell? The one that was scheduled to happen today? Sure.
Would you rather be reading about that? Almost certainly. In fact, I know some of you might be thinking: "Yeah, yeah, Clark. We get it. You grew up an FSU fan. You remember a lot of their names. And you loved your dad. Enough with the memory-lane columns."
To which I would reply: "This is all we got, brother! So hang with me!"
In actuality, there is still plenty of news happening. Much of it centered on the global pandemic, of course, and its effect on the college sports world. But there is still recruiting. There are still players training. And, believe it or not, this will eventually end. Sports will return in the future. I promise!
But for this moment, for this column, I wanted to reflect a little more on the past.
There was something that occurred to me as we were recording our live stream during the ACC Network replay of the 1999 national championship game on Thursday night (you can watch that discussion right here!).
If you are a Florida State fan now in your mid-30s or older, you were about as lucky as any person could ever be when it comes to fandom. There were so many great players, great moments, great games, that Gene and I could literally do these retrospectives every week for the next year and not even come close to running out of material.
That stretch of 1987-2000 will never be matched by anyone. And while we all know the Wards and Weinkes and Warricks and Winstons (it really is crazy how many Ws have excelled at Florida State), the coolest thing for me when I get to talk about these games is mentioning the "other" guys, the ones who aren't as well known. The ones who maybe didn't have great NFL careers or win any national awards, but who were critical members of the Dynasty run.
Guys like Jeff Chaney, who was pivotal in that aforementioned championship game against Virginia Tech. Guys like Eric Hayes, who was a dominant force on those late-'80s defensive lines. Guys like Rock Preston, who might have been the best backup running back in the history of backup running backs.
Any time we're talking about one of these memorable games, I feel like it's almost my duty -- as an older guy now -- to remind fans, or introduce them, to these names.
What these games have done is remind me how lucky I was to get to follow a team that was so good for so long. I was 12 years old when the Dynasty started. I was 26 when it ended.
Think about all the things we go through between those two ages: First kiss, first date, first other stuff, first job, first car, first love, first broken heart, first apartment, first rent payment, first lost deposit, first mortgage payment, first power bill, first delinquent power bill, first default, first raise, first great column, first promotion ... and on and on and on. So many firsts!
(OK, so we're still waiting on the first great column. But I do believe I have one in me! At some point that bad boy is coming. I just know it.)
It's been 20 years now since the Dynasty ended. But it still resonates. It always resonates.
Peter Warrick will always be Peter Warrick. His greatness isn't diminished over time. If anything, it's enhanced. With two decades of hindsight, it's now obvious that he was one of the best college football players who ever lived. Then again, he was far from the only player on an FSU roster back then who could make that claim.
What these 'rewatchable' games from the glory days, as well as the struggles for the current FSU team, have illuminated for me is that it's foolish to long for the Dynasty era again. It's not coming back.
Florida State could become great again. Obviously. But there is no chance the Seminoles -- or anyone else -- are going to finish in the Top 5 in the country for 14 straight years. Ain't happening.
So I just appreciate those moments and games for what they were: The best time I ever got to spend as a football fan. Because in the years I went from a first kiss (oh, sweet Laurie Davis, what could have been!) to a first mortgage, Florida State was still winning 10 games every year.
What a glorious run to watch.
P.S. Now, normally that would have been the end to this almost-great column. But I did want to give a shout-out to the ACC Network for the "Florida State takeover" day they had on Thursday.
When this pandemic shut down the sports world, I was pretty critical of the programming on that network. For some reason that defies explanation, a couple of weeks ago, in prime time, the ACC Network was broadcasting a replay of the 2019 Hobart-Syracuse lacrosse game, or match, or whatever they're called. Then it had on a field hockey match. Then it had a volleyball match, where there literally were 24 people in the stands. I counted. Because I was bored. And mad.
I mean, you're the ACC Network. Think of all the access you have to great college football games (thanks to FSU and Clemson) and basketball games (thanks to a whole bunch of schools), and you waste entire days with sports that literally nobody wanted to watch the first time they aired. And I can write "literally" because I saw the crowds that were in attendance.
So, with that as the backdrop for this compliment, I wanted to commend the people at the network for putting the "Florida State takeover" day together. Personally, I feel like FSU should get two days to every other school's one, since FSU is the only football power in the conference that has actually been great at other sports as well.
But we'll take what we can get!
Hopefully, we'll be seeing more Dynasty-era games in the coming weeks. Or maybe some more great FSU hoops games. It was cool re-watching the 2012 ACC Championship game against North Carolina. I hadn't seen that game since it actually happened right in front of me. Crazy that eight years later FSU was winning another ACC title. Sure do wish we had gotten to see how that season would've ended.
But more than anything, I hope that we'll be back to normal again real soon. And we at Warchant will be back to writing about live sports.
Until then, I'll keep writing about the great moments and players in FSU history. And hopefully, you'll keep reading.
Contact senior writer Corey Clark at corey@warchant.com and follow @Corey_Clark on Twitter.
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Talk about this story with other Florida State football fans in the Tribal Council
