Twisted tale a part of Gator-Seminole lore

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Before the gag order, before the quarterback got arrested, before one Florida coach left and another took his place, there was one story that would have overshadowed all else this week ahead of Florida vs. Florida State.

The Battle of Twisted Knee.

Earnest Graham, Darnell Dockett, Rex Grossman, Dave Hart and, of course, Steve Spurrier are the key players in the drama.

It begins in the third quarter of last year's game, an otherwise unmemorable 37-13 Florida romp, when the Gators' Graham gets tackled after an otherwise unremarkable run.

It's hard to tell exactly what happens at the bottom of the pile. There is twisting. There is tugging. Different replay angles show different things. Graham gets up limping and needs help coming off the field. He does not return to the game.

A day later, Spurrier says Graham is hurt and will miss three-to-five weeks. Dockett, the coach claims, intentionally tried to hurt the star running back.

"I hate to bring it up," Spurrier insists. "But I've got to say something on behalf of Earnest Graham. If it happened, we'll let the proper people look at the thing, because I know Bobby Bowden wouldn't have a player try to twist a guy's leg in the bottom of the pileup."

Bobby Bowden has been through these things before with Spurrier -- most memorably in 1996, when Spurrier accused Florida State players of taking cheap shots at Danny Wuerffel.

And besides, Bowden says, he isn't so sure it really happened that way.

A day later, Dockett denies trying to hurt Graham. "There was nothing intentional," he says.

Upset that there's no apology, Spurrier fires back two days later, wondering aloud if Bowden instructs this kind of action.

Spurrier says he has proof that Dockett later tried to stomp on Grossman's hand while he was down. Oh, and Spurrier reveals Graham is considering a lawsuit (he never did sue).

Bowden seems caught off guard and genuinely upset when told of Spurrier's latest comments.

"Sad, really," Bowden says.

Hart, the FSU athletic director, takes action the next week when he calls an extraordinary news conference to suggest Spurrier be sanctioned for accusing Bowden of encouraging dirty play.

"It would probably be good if somebody just spanked him and put him to bed and hope he wakes up all grown up," Hart suggests.

Spurrier is upset that his own athletic director, Jeremy Foley, never comes out publicly in support of him. Six weeks later, when Spurrier suddenly resigns, this is viewed as one of the reasons he felt it was time to leave.

The next chapter

A year later, Spurrier is gone. New Florida coach Ron Zook barred his players from talking to reporters this week, in part because he doesn't want them rehashing this soap opera.

Graham was asked earlier this month if he has seen Dockett since last year's game.

"Nope, I never ran into him," Graham said. "If I did, I probably wouldn't talk to him. It's not a big deal. You have to move on. I came back, had a pretty good offseason, played this year. I haven't thought much about it."

His offensive lineman, Shannon Snell, has thought about it, however.

"We're going to get after him pretty good," Snell insisted.

It was just the kind of quotation Zook was hoping to avoid when he put the gag order on his team.

But he, too, walks a fine line this week.

It was Spurrier who stuck his neck out in support of Graham. If Zook soft-pedals the issue, he looks like he doesn't care. If he overplays it, he defeats his goal of trying to make sure his team stays focused.

"I guess it was a lot bigger before we got here," Zook said. "I'm not trying to downplay whatever happened, but it's not going to have any affect on this football game. Earnest is a class guy. All Earnest cares about is winning."

Bowden says he has bigger issues to worry about.

Still, the coach didn't let Dockett speak to the media this week.

"Anybody who thinks of me as a bad player, or a player who's out to hurt people is truly wrong," Dockett said last spring. "I would never be that way. But I'm going to be aggressive."

The next chapter will be written today when Graham and Dockett meet on the field.