For those of you who aren't familiar with the history of the VS...we started this board a dozen or so years ago (does anyone remember the exact date btw?) as an offshoot of the old GatorSports Message Board (that was hosted by the Sun and moderated pretty much by no one).  Many of us had tired of the unmoderated flamefest it had become and the vision was to create a different kind of sports board.  I had become close with the guys on Wayne's Auburn Board, in fact Wayne had made me his first admin, and that board was, as it is now, more of a "Lounge" board with a sports influence than the other way around.  While it was my inspiration, the VS was created to be a sports board with a heavy mixture of sports fans who talked about all kinds of stuff.  My concept was always to have a place that put more of an emphasis on good people interacting than it was to have Gators-only mutual admiration society.

Over the years, many, many people have come and gone...but remarkably we have managed to maintain a strong nucleus and we tend to attract mainly the "right kind" of people here.  People who share the goofy sense of humor and try not to take themselves too seriously for the most part.  Of course we do get people who become regulars who don't really seem to get the essence of what we try to promote here...which is good natured banter.  Eventually most of these people get it, or I end up pissing them off enough that they go away.

Bottom line is this: many of us have spent a long time "together".  We have shared birthdays, holidays, seen each other through marriages, divorces, births of kids, graduations, deaths of loved ones and pets, unemployment, re-locations, championships, losses, national disasters, world changing events and so much more.  We have shared jokes at one anothers expense, gotten mad at each other, had epiphanies together and have even at times needed to take a break from one another.  Let's always try to keep some perspective here...this is a community that is about much more than 18-21 year old kids who are currently wearing our colors.  It's about the people we visit with every day who challenge us, test us, tease us, taunt us, evoke emotion from us, and make us laugh.  Let's try to be more tolerant of rivals and remember what has always made this place different and so special.  Thank you and God Bless.