To break our trend of hunting posts, I’d just like to take a minute to do a little bragging on my Florida Gators. In case you didn’t see or hear, the Florida Gators won the 2009 BCS National Championship by beating the mighty Oklahoma Sooners 24-14 Thursday night.
Tim Tebow, perhaps the single most dominant player in college football, carried his team to victory with the help of fellow junior studs, Percy Harvin and Brandon Spikes. Despite a lethargic first half which saw Tebow intercepted twice and the Gators D (which I enjoy watching almost more than their offense) carved through like a Thanksgiving ham, the aforementioned Spikes and Tebow took over the locker room at halftime and the Gators owned the second half. Midway through the third quarter when Tebow took the option keeper for a first down, got up and gave the fans the Gator Chomp I looked over at dad and confidently said, “We’ve got our Tebow back.” Seeing Tebow return to his true from was a sigh of relief as I knew he wasn’t going to let the Gators lose and Spikes and the uber-athletic Gator D wasn’t going to let OU score. After true sophomore Ahmad Black intercepted Heisman winning QB Sam Bradford in the 4th quarter, Tebow and future NFL star Percy Harvin led an impressive Gator drive down the field that was capped by Tebow’s signature play, a jump pass completed to B-lister David Nelson to take a 24-14. Defensive MVP Carlos Dunlap, Spikes and the Gator D stopped the OU offense with three minutes left and the Gators were National Champions!
Having been a Gator since I was 6 years old I’ve developed a strong, passionate and emotional bond with not just a bunch of players but the program in general. As silly as it may sound, I cannot express how proud I am of this team. You may think I am some basement-dwelling nerd who has no life; I proudly call myself a diehard Gator. I keep a daily tab on the program following recruiting; staying active in Gator football forums and simply learning anything and everything I can about the Florida football program.
As I said before I’ve developed a strong emotional bond with this team. No, I am not going to break down and cry if they enter the NFL, nor do I go ballistic when they lose (which is rare). However, having followed them since they were in high school to hoping and praying they would commit to Florida to watching them work their way up the depth chart to watching them shut down and overwhelm the most prolific offense in history, I’ve got to admit, I was beaming with pride and joy Thursday night.
On a side note- Tim Tebow announced today that he will return for his senior season. More than a football player to me, being able to watch this man represent the Gator Nation for one more year is something that I am extremely excited about. He is an incredible role model, a man that I try, yet can only hope to be like and one of my few, but influential idols. His deep faith, respect for all men and women and energy for living life are all traits that I try to embody in everyday life.
3 comments:
Know that you are not alone. The Gator Nation is real, all across America, and I concur that Tim is truly a special person. As Coach Meyer said, this guys on this team deserve everything that they receive and we should keep in mind that it is not an individual performance, but a team performance. Tim made tremendous plays but he was not the only one. Being a true Gator fan, you know for yourself that there were others who excelled prior to Tim becoming himself and if not for ______________ (fill in the blank), we would have been in even more of a fight to win. Finally, a note about the 2006 championship that Tim is receiving a lot of credit for winning: we would not have won that championship if Chris Leak had not been the leader offensively. I am sure you have watched the tape of that game...Chris was perfect. If Tim had made his reads and throws to perfection, the pro scouts--who are really puzzling to me--would probably be salivating to hear Tim was going pro like we are doing to hear that Tim is returning.
That's how I feel about my Fighting Irish. They may not be very good right now but we'll be back someday. Congratulations though, I like Florida somewhat and Tim Tebow is a standup guy and does a lot with his life. He isn't just out for fame and glory which is very refreshing to see.
Go Gators!!!!!!! After the game watching Urban Myer talk about doing things the right way says alot about Florida football. Talking about def. coord. Coach Strong being a better husband and father than a coach, tells you alot about Florida football. Not only are they looking for talent and SPEED, but you have to be a good person also. The bulls eye is on the Gators next year. Lets hope they can do what the basketball team did REPEAT.
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