Got this third-hand. When FSU was going through their first wave of horse**** kickers in the early 1990s, one of them, Dan Mowrey, announced he was going to see a sports psychologist. One of the hacks asked Bowden how coaches "30 or 40 years ago" dealt with kickers who couldn't make extra points, backs who fumbled, receivers who dropped balls and quarterbacks who couldn't hit water from a boat, since there was no such thing as a sports psychologist back then.
His reply: "30 or 40 years ago, you could hit 'em."
Quote got cut or never made it in the papers because the P.C. police on the desk thought Bowden -- everyone's favorite old Grand-Dad -- was advocating abusing players.
I had this one cut from my copy. Covering an LPGA event in the 90s. Val Skinner was a pretty good player for a few years back then, and very funny (she reminded you of a barmaid in a redneck dive). Anyway, on the last two holes of one round, she double-bogeyed a par-3, then eagled a par-5. She started talking about how she was maturing as a player, and I asked: "Does that mean there was a time in your career when you wouldn't have responded that well to a double-bogey?"
Her reply: "Actually, there's a time every month I don't respond well to a double-bogey."
I wrote it. Got cut. What's more, I was called by the desk and told it was cut by a female M.E. because the quote "was degrading to women."
When I reminded them a woman said it, I was met with silence. No one had a good P.C. explanation for that one.
But the quote never made it.
