Go Gators!!

[Matt J]

Thanks.
It's so great
to be
a Florida Gator.

Yep, you can now get hats, jerseys, and anything else anywhere in America.

 

[Miss Kitty]

Chokelahoma!!!

 

[JB]

It is way too funny that of all the officiating crews all over the United States, the infamous Ron "Look at Me, I'm the One Who Throws The Flag" Cherry and the absolute worst crew in the ACC get to call this game. :funn:

Y'all really have no idea. The first thing we do when we sit down to watch our team is to look and make sure Ron Cherry is nowhere to be found.

Hope the Gator player that got hurt will be OK. That was nasty.

The only thing worse than the officiating crew was the Fox broadcast team. They were beyond horrible.

That said, congrats to the Fightin' Tebows.

 

[Beach Runner]

Awesome article!

http://www.gatorsports.com/article/20090108/COLUMNISTS/901090991/1044

 

[Teresa]

Florida Gators - the kind of football program that makes me kind of excited about football again, thanks to Coach Urban. I'm really proud of those guys. Gainesville must still be rocking.

 

[Beach Runner]

Gator Celebration

Anyone going?

The celebration continues in Gainesville!
Since the win on Thursday night, Gainesville has been alive with activity...

• An estimated 28,000 people poured on to University Avenue to celebrate the fourth national championship celebration in just three years... authorities estimate this was the largest of the four!
• During the game, nearly 10,000 filled the O'Dome to watch the Gators 24-14 victory on TV!
• T-shirt printers have been going non-stop since the game to produce commemorative National Championship gear!
• The team arrived back in Gainesville Friday afternoon!
• The championship game was re-aired on Sun Sports at 7 p.m. Friday!

The festivities continue Sunday when the gates to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium swing open at 11:30 a.m. for a gigantic celebration. The event will begin at 1 p.m. Everyone in The Gator Nation? is invited to attend. It's a chance for fans to show our appreciation to the team... and for the team and University to show appreciation to fans in The Gator Nation.

 

[TooFarTampa]

I do however love the recognition that Tim Tebow has received about being homeschooled and Florida having the great law that allows kids that are homeschooled to play sports at a highschool.. We need someone to take up that fight in OK for the same rights....

I was actually in the room about 12 years ago when the Florida HS Activities Association passed that rule ... it seemed at the time like the most bizarre thing, and it was very controversial. The FHSAA did not want to do it, but the state lawmakers threatened to dissolve the association if it didn't vote homeschoolers in. I said to my husband last night that you would NEVER think it would have given us someone like Tim Tebow ... NEVER!! I know not every home school experience is like that of the Tebow family, but he certainly is an amazing example for homeschooling families everywhere.

Anyone going?

The celebration continues in Gainesville!
Since the win on Thursday night, Gainesville has been alive with activity...

• An estimated 28,000 people poured on to University Avenue to celebrate the fourth national championship celebration in just three years... authorities estimate this was the largest of the four!
• During the game, nearly 10,000 filled the O'Dome to watch the Gators 24-14 victory on TV!
• T-shirt printers have been going non-stop since the game to produce commemorative National Championship gear!
• The team arrived back in Gainesville Friday afternoon!
• The championship game was re-aired on Sun Sports at 7 p.m. Friday!

The festivities continue Sunday when the gates to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium swing open at 11:30 a.m. for a gigantic celebration. The event will begin at 1 p.m. Everyone in The Gator Nation? is invited to attend. It's a chance for fans to show our appreciation to the team... and for the team and University to show appreciation to fans in The Gator Nation.

Still recovering from Thursday night. Physically and mentally -- can't believe it. Mr. TFT and I were there and it seemed like every 10 minutes we were looking at each other and saying, did that just happen? The atmosphere was amazing! And I will love Tebow forever for many things, but that jump pass at the end ... the most fitting way to seal an NC evah.

 

[Kurt]

I was actually in the room about 12 years ago when the Florida HS Activities Association passed that rule ... it seemed at the time like the most bizarre thing, and it was very controversial. The FHSAA did not want to do it, but the state lawmakers threatened to dissolve the association if it didn't vote homeschoolers in. I said to my husband last night that you would NEVER think it would have given us someone like Tim Tebow ... NEVER!! I know not every home school experience is like that of the Tebow family, but he certainly is an amazing example for homeschooling families everywhere.



Still recovering from Thursday night. Physically and mentally -- can't believe it. Mr. TFT and I were there and it seemed like every 10 minutes we were looking at each other and saying, did that just happen? The atmosphere was amazing! And I will love Tebow forever for many things, but that jump pass at the end ... the most fitting way to seal an NC evah.

Glad you had a wonderful time. Thanks for sending the pic - looks like you had a good view.

 

[Kurt]

go OK! Gator hater.

A little rubbing and ribbing for Georgia fans.

From the AJC's Tony Barnhardt - http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/cfb/index.html

For fans of the Georgia Bulldogs, I have some bad news and some WORSE news today.

The bad news? Florida, your hated rival, just won its second national championship in three years.

The worse news? The Gators, it appears, are just getting started.
Urban Meyer came here Friday morning to pick up all of the hardware that comes with being a national champ. Meyer said he enjoyed the first national championship he won as Florida?s head coach in 2006.

But Friday morning Meyer said he is going to enjoy this one a lot more. ?I?m not sure I took the time to savor that first one because was all so new. That year we had a good team but we didn?t have a good program,? Meyer said. ?Now we have both. That makes this one very special.?
In a private conversation with me in February of 2007, Meyer said he was not pleased with the state of the Florida football program after the national championship season.

?Too many people focused on themselves. Not enough people focused on the team and each other,? Meyer said. ?We are going to change that.?
Meyer won the 2006 a national championship with a team dominated by recruits of former coach Ron Zook. Meyer liked those guys but they weren?t HIS guys. These are his guys and he doesn?t like them. He loves them.
?What we have here now is very special at Florida,? Meyer said. ?We should have a really good team coming back next year.?

If you?re a Georgia fan, you need to understand what Meyer has built at Florida in just four short years and what things look like for the Gators down the road. Of the 24 players on the offensive depth chart last night against Oklahoma, 18 still have eligibility remaining for 2009 (6 juniors, 8 sophomores, and 4 freshmen).

The defense had held the nation?s highest scoring team (54 points per game) to only two touchdowns did not have a senior among its top 22 players. Of the group that played in the BCS championship game, 16 were sophomores, redshirt freshmen or freshmen.

No one here expects Percy Harvin, who is such an incredible talent, to return next season. Harvin made everybody hold their breath every time he touched the ball last night. But he is simply too fragile. He needs to go to the NFL and make some money.

Linebacker Brandon Spikes, who was the heart and soul of that defense, is also expected to turn pro.

Quarterback Tim Tebow will be a more interesting decision. Simply put, if Tebow comes back Florida should be the consensus preseason No. 1 pick. If he doesn?t come back sophomore John Brantley will take over and Florida will still be pretty good. But the Gators may not be national championship good.
Meyer said Friday morning that Tebow?s decision will come in the next few days. Tebow has two national championship rings and a Heisman Trophy. If he comes back, he could win both again.

Bottom line: If Urban Meyer signs another top five recruiting class, which he is expected to do, it may be a while before Georgia, or anybody else in the SEC East, is going to be able to unseat the Gators from the top of the division. Florida has separated itself from the field and shows no signs of slowing down.

Meyer was working the phones to recruits last night after the national championship game. He said Friday that he has only ?4 or 5? slots left. ?We want to make sure those four or five are really good ones.? It?s a pretty good bet that the Gators will have a lot of fun on national signing day.

I?m never comfortable using the ?dynasty? word. It?s too vague. But what Florida appears to be doing is putting together a program that can have a Southern California kind of run. Yes, the Trojans play in the Pac-10 and not the SEC and that?s huge. But Florida took another big step forward last night. Everybody else in the SEC East, including Georgia, is going to have to step up to meet the challenge. Because as long as Meyer is in Gainesville, I don?t see the Gators taking a step back.

 

[TooFarTampa]

Oh yeah ... for Gators fans, these ARE the good old days.

Wait -- which team was preseason No. 1, again? ;-)