One of Steve Spurrier's truly great qualities is the ability to effortlessly get under people's skins. Remember the Florida-Tennessee games? The Vols fans were just waiting to pay him back for his latest outrages. Remember Duke posing under the scoreboard after skunking UNC? The scorekeeper did - the next time (it was turned off immediately after the game).
For years after he left Durham, Virginia players had a vendetta for Duke. Sometimes they didn't even know why.
If you're on the other side (Free Shoes U!) of his barbs they aren't necessarily fun. As a promoter though, as a publicist and an agitator, the ol' ball coach may be peerless.
Who has ever had this genius? Muhammad Ali? Don King? Fidel Castro? The list is pretty short, and not many of those guys can pack a 100,000 seater Saturday after Saturday.
Anyway, after his recent comments about Notre Dame, the Irish partisans, predictably, got good and worked up. Just chalk it up to Spurrier's ability to provoke.