'Neath the Orange & Blue victorious!

Gator football kicks off on Saturday at noon. SEC football officially kicks off Thursday night with one great Gator leading his Gamecocks against Southern Miss. There's a lot of anticipation in the college football sphere this week as summer unofficially comes to an end, and our great fall pastime gets underway. Some say there's a lot of uncertainty surrounding this year's Florida team. New quarterback. New defensive coordinator. But for all the 'new', there's a lot of 'old'. Same old tunnel. Same old sideline. Same old 90,000+ crazy orange-and-blue clad fans. As the anticipation builds this week about what the upcoming season may hold, I've been reminiscing a bit about my Gator football past.

My brother took me to my first Florida game while he was in law school. It was was an early '90s homecoming game against Southern Miss. I vaguely remember sitting high up in the east stands in the freezing cold and rain. I have a slight memory of watching Danny Wuerffel, Ike Hilliard and Reidel Anthony pick apart the Kentucky defense. I remember screaming bloody murder against Peyton Manning in his final Florida-Tennessee game in 1997. 

Perhaps one of my most telling memories came a few short weeks into my freshman fall. Our country was still reeling from the horrible attacks of September 11th. There was a debate around campus of whether or not to cancel that Saturday's game against Tennessee. Should it be cancelled out of respect, or would that be letting them win for disrupting our normal behaviors. Back then, if you weren't a student season ticket holder, you had to camp out in line for tickets Thursday night for any available leftovers. While they decided to cancel the game, ticket camp out went on as planned. I remember getting back to my dorm room the next morning to an instant message on my computer from a high school classmate. He was in school at American and informed me that, while I was camping out for football tickets, he had to evacuate in the middle of the night due to a bomb threat. Talk about something that can really be a perspective-altering occurrence. 

Since my freshman year in 2001, I've followed this football team from Miami to Phoenix. I've sung 'We Are The Boys' in Knoxville, Columbia, Auburn, and Tallahassee. I've watched us roll over for the Tide. I've suffered through (and survived) Ron Zook. I've been a part of record-setting crowds at the Swamp, and known the peaceful stillness that comes from climbing up to the top of the Sunshine Seats on a crystal clear night. 

I recognize that to some, this may seem slightly obsessive - lending so much attention and credence to a football team. But that football team has provided a wonderful platform for some pretty awesome young men and role models. It's also, arguably, the most public representation of a wonderful university of which I'm proud to be a graduate. Turlington, Bryan, and Anderson Halls are filled with intelligent professors educating the next generation of teachers, lawyers, and CEOs. Doctors at Shands are healing the sick and discovering new cures. In a time of continued budget cuts and a lagging economy, excess revenue generated by the Athletic Department has provided the rest of the university with a bit of a financial-stabilizing cushion. 


So whether we go 9-4 or undefeated this season, I look forward to whatever it brings. It's one of my favorite times of year. And every Saturday, we'll be reminded that 'in all kinds of weather, we'll all stick together' - rain or shine, win or lose. Happy Football Season! Go Gators!