forgive me....i'm not as eloquent as many of you...

We drove my older brother and his friend, both seniors in high school at the time, up to campus that day for a "self tour". They we both applying to schools and neither one had made any decisions. Neither one of these guys cared much for sports. My brother couldn't see how my dad and I could sit by a crackling am radio for close to 4 hours listening to the Gators play. It didn't make sense to him. It did to me. It did to my dad. But that day we we're listening to the radio. We were walking around campus. It was like a ghost town. NO ONE was outside. I mean NO ONE. It was peaceful but eerie. We walked my some of my dad's old stomping grounds (he and my mom attended "with" SOS). We walked by his old dorm room. We saw his first apartment. We went by the stadium. I was BORED. My brother and his friend were too. We were still close to stadium when we decided to grab something to eat and then head back home (Tampa). Before we got too far all HAIL broke loose. It was as if every fire alarm in every building had gone off simultaneously. Mass hysteria. People running around cheering, car horns honking, etc. My brother looked at my dad and asked, "What’s going on?" My dad replied "I guess we beat Kentucky". We walked toward 13th and University where by this time traffic was at a standstill. My brother's friend turned to him and said "I'm going to Florida". My dad laughed. My brother's friend repeated it. "I'm going to Florida". Turns out he wasn't kidding. My brother and his friend (and later me) both attended UF. In fact my brother moved to Gainesville the fall of 1985 and he's STILL there. Never left. He fell in love that day. With Gainesville. With the University of Florida. With being a Gator. And now, that cocky teenager who couldn't see how his dad and lil' brother could sit next to a crackling AM radio for four hours never misses a football game, goes to most basketball games, many baseball games, lots of volleyball games and will hang up on his lil' brother so he won't miss the coaches post game radio show. I’ll never forget that day….

IT'S GREAT TO BE A FLORIDA GATOR!