terribly butcher the original Charlie Daniels lyric.

http://floridagators.com/news/2017/6/8/chris-harry-25-years-ago-the-swamp-is-born.aspx

...I'm pretty sure SOS got that idea from me.  Well, OK, maybe he came up with it independently, but I'm still taking credit.  Here's the story...

At a game late the previous fall, there was a super lame attempt by the Gator cheerleaders to start a new tradition.  It was based on a baseball movie, where the star player's nickname is "Wild Thing."  When he comes on the field, the fans sing the song "Wild Thing" by the Troggs.  Well, in an attempt to build on this idea, the Gator cheerleaders tried to get our fans to sing, to the tune of "Wild Thing," their own version..."Ga-tors, you make my heart sing...."  It was pathetic and went over like a lead balloon.  

Well, I thought the obvious thing was that the song should revised a different way, so instead of singing "Wild Thing," it would be "Swamp Thing, you make my heart sing..." etc.  I was teaching at Stephen Foster Elementary at the time, and a couple of my teaching buddies liked the idea and encouraged me to write the UAA, so I did.  I wrote a letter explaining how the stadium was a lot like a swamp--all hot and muggy and full of Gators--and I thought the song would be a cute idea.  I sent this letter in around in January or February.

No response to my letter, but a few short months later, I hear the announcement about the new name for the stadium.  In a TV spot, SOS even used some of the same exact words I used in my letter.  Coincidence?!?!  I think NOT!!!

I kept the floppy disk with that letter on it for years.