RIP Vince Dooley

This post started out great, then it just … petered out.

 

I’m gonna say being 90 might have been the tipping point.

 

Dooley was one of the great poor mouthers
I heard a conference call one time when they were about to play Vanderbilt
As usual, Georgia was really good and Vandy was horrible
What could Vince do to say these guys could make a game of it?
“Well, they have this punter, and he might be the finest punter I’ve ever seen. He can spin it left, spin it right and make it do anything.”
The Vandy punter got a lot of work but he couldn’t do much to stop the shellacking

 

Get that Vols shit out of Dooley's RIP thread.

 

First person to greet him at the gates was probably Lewis Grizzard.

 

That's a perfect example of his signature style of poor-mouthing.

Unlike, say, Lou Holtz, who would play up his team's problems -- "Our boys are so small and weak, and we're so decimated by injuries, we don't have a chance against USC" -- Vince would find one thing, no matter how small, that his opponent was great at.

Here are some things I actually heard him say:

“Temple may be the toughest team we’ll face this year, tendency-wise.”’

"[Don't remember the school] has the finest long-snapper I have ever seen."

And my all-time favorite: "Tulane may be the best winless team in the history of college football."

 

Sparing a thought for Paul Newberry who did the most dead-on impersonation of Vince Dooley (and his secretary) I’ve ever heard. Not mean-spirited, just funny.

 

With catfish on the table
And gospel in the air