'Swamp Kings' is must-see TV for Florida football fans | Whitley
Tuesday at 3 a.m. It was a time Florida football fans didn’t know whether to look forward to or dread.
That’s when Netflix dropped “Swamp Things,” a four-part documentary on UF football from 2005-2010. Talk about some juicy material.
With the help of Tim Tebow, Urban Meyer built one of the most fearsome programs in history.
“And then somehow it all slipped away,” Paul Finebaum said at the start of the show.
Florida fans were in suspense over how that story would be told. If producers wanted a hit job, they’d certainly have plenty to work with.
If they wanted to turn it into a hagiography on Pope Urban and St. Timothy, they’d also have more than enough fodder.
“Swamp Kings” doesn’t ignore the negative stuff, but it definitely comes down on the sunnier side of the street. You figured it would, or Meyer would not have agreed to the extensive interviews required.
“At first I said no,” he told The Buddy Martin Show. “And then I thought, wait a minute, you know, there’s been so many comments about that team and, quite honestly, ridiculous comments about that team. So, I said I am going to do this because all I care about is honoring them.”
The fact is most of those comments weren’t ridiculous. They were fair comments on the rabble-rousing that Meyer tolerated.
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You get a glimpse of it early, when Meyer talks about how gifted but wild linebacker Brandon Siler was. Siler admits he was a big party hound, and it prompted Meyer to have a meeting with Siler and his parents.
Siler comes from a rough part of Orlando that was alien to Meyer. He said his parents showed up with their gold teeth, tattoos and had been drinking all day.
“Meyer, listen,” his mother told the coach. “My son come here to win a national championship and go to the NFL. So if you ain’t here to do that, then you need to get out of the way. This ain’t Utah.”
The meeting concluded, and Meyer gave Siler a hug as he walked out the door.
“You just keep doing what you’re doing,” he said. “That’s the craziest set of parents I’ve ever met.”
Ironically, Episode One then focuses on how Meyer instilled discipline. The whole documentary is powered by video clips taped by trainers that the producers uncovered.
You see the grueling mat drills, the midnight weightlifting sessions, the predawn stadium runs, the players puking. Meyer wanted to weed out the weak and build the toughest program in America.
Episode Two focuses on how Tebow became the rock everything was built upon. It’s a trip down memory lane that Florida fans will love to relive.
“Swamp Kings” has been criticized for soft-pedaling the 30-plus arrests during Meyer’s tenure. For a three-hour documentary, more time could have been devoted to the police blotter.
But it doesn’t gloss over the chicanery. There are plenty of mug shots and players admitting they turned Gainesville into “Gaines-Vegas.”
Meyer ultimately explains that he was haunted by the memory of Avery Atkins. He was a freshman starter on Meyer’s first team but was kicked off the team for domestic violence.
A year later, Atkins committed suicide. Meyer had a meeting with his assistants and said there would be two options for dealing with troublesome players.
He wrote “Fix the issue” on a chalkboard, or “Turn your back and quit on them.”
Meyer then erased the latter option. The problem was, he never really fixed the behavioral issues.
“Swamp Kings” gives ample time to Meyer’s other big issue – the maniacal drive. And how the more he won, the more pressure he felt to keep doing it.
“I was in a really bad place for a long time,” he said.
Winning the national championship in 2008 only added to his misery. Tebow was equally consumed with winning. It’s interesting to see him talk about the pressure, and to observe how much better he handled it than his coach.
The documentary finishes with a reunion of the players who participated in the documentary. Guys like Tebow, Siler, Brandon Spikes, Major Wright and Chris Rainey sit on a dock and relive good times.
Tebow does everything except hop in a boat and row off into the sunset. It’s the kind of ending that will turn Gator fans into Netflix subscribers.
As for the three hours that precede it, “Swamp Kings” has its flaws. But overall, it does a good job of showing how grand things were at UF from 2005-2010, and how it somehow all slipped away.
David Whitley is The Gainesville Sun's sports columnist. Contact him at dwhitley@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidEWhitley
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida football gets star treatment in "Swamp Kings."
