Greetings from Scotland. Today, while visiting Edinburgh castle, I was approached by a family from Florida and asked to take their photograph. After doing so, I asked, "y'all Gator fans?" They said they were. I then told them it sure was a good time to be one, to which the father replied: "Well, don't forget that all my life they never even won the SEC, so it hasn't always been this way."
I confess that this kind of realism, coming from a Gator fan, took me a bit by surprise. With all the success lately, I had grown accustomed to unadulterated Gator triumphalism. I had wondered if ANY Gator fan was hearing the whisper of 'remember, thou art mortal' in their ears, or if they were just going to continue simultaneously trumpeting UF's achievements, denigrating other conferences, and complaining about how membership in the toughest of all conferences makes their lives unbearably arduous. (It's an SEC thing; you wouldn't understand it...) Anyway, I invite my good friends who graduated from UF (one of whom owns a very smart navy blue sportcoat with a tasteful orange F on the breast) to comment on UF's exploits and what they mean for UF's place in the pantheon of great football programs.
As for Edinburgh, it is a stunningly beautiful city, and is geared up for the big Rugby World Cup match against the all-powerful All-Blacks of New Zealand on Sunday. I tried to inform some of the locals at a pub that Scotland, coming from the British Isles conference, cannot hope to deal with the speed of New Zealand, whose ANZAC schedule (S. Africa, Australia, etc) is much tougher than Scotland's. They responded that the last Rugby World Cup was won by England. I was unmoved.
The only bad brew I've had is Caledonia, though it might have been just a bad tap.
1 comment:
The University of Florida's football program is entering its' second era of dominance. Still, the gators are not in the upper echeleon of college football because it didn't experience high levels of success until 1984. At the same time, it would be foolish to deny that Florida is working towards being considered an upper-echelon team. In the last 17 years, they've won 2 national titles, 8 sec titles(the SEC took away the 1990 title away but since they didn't take away Bama's 1999 title, then I'm going to count the 90' title) and they've beaten their biggest rival 15 of 17 times. The gators were mediocre for most of their history but they have been very good for almost 2 decades. It's to acknowledge that Florida is more than a one trick pony. Yes, there will be some down times in the future but there will be more good times for the gator nation.
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