I can't remember ever feeling better about being wrong. I was extremely pessimistic about losing Billy to UK. I didn't post about it because I didn't want to stir up folks on what could be--and thankfully turned out to be--incorrect assumptions. I thought about refraining now, but it occurred to me that knowing this might make us all a bit more thankful for the opportunity to keep Billy here.
My 'inside source' could not have been more direct and the news was that the only job that Billy would ever leave UF for was UK. This was in the context of wondering about him leaving for the NBA (not going to happen). But--oh holy crap!--what job was now open but UK! The problem was that my 'news' was more than two years old. That is, if UK had come calling just a couple of years ago, Billy would have been gone. I have no doubt in my mind about that. UK was, in fact, his dream job. There were so many things to lure him there. It was never going to be about money. It was always going to be about things we couldn't counter.
What has happened in the past two years was completely unexpected by everyone, including Billy. Before the 2005-06 season, he had built something impressive here, but last season, something impressive became something special. This year, something special became something irreplaceable, something previously unimaginable.
In addition to thanking this team for bringing us the back-to-back championships, we need to thank them for keeping Billy at UF. But for what they made happen here, he might have been gone. Perhaps UK would not have been interested if he had not won those championships, but if they had come calling, he would have answered.
Much like Notre Dame was Urban's dream job before he realized that his dream job was really UF, UK was Billy's dream job until he realized he was already living his dream.
It's great to be a Florida Gator, now more than ever! 
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BabySister
(12.126.151.174) on 4/6/2007 - 12:55 a.m. says: ( 233 views
, 1 likes
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