Gators Don’t Like it on Top
I’d like to say i’m in shock. I’d like to say that I never saw it coming but the truth is, I felt all along that the Gators would lose against Auburn in the game last night and it’s certainly not for lack of wanting them to win. It’s not even me being pessimistic or negative. The truth is, the Gators don’t like being at the top and last night’s game simply fits into the natural progression.
Five years, ago, October 13th 2001, merely one month and 2 days after 9/11, the Gator nation was finding something to cheer about. For a few short hours it seemed, the Gators were on the top– number one in the country. Then in a few shorter hours, hours that quite possibility took years off my life, the Gators ended up losing to Auburn in the last few minutes of the game. Heartbreakingly, the Gator nation got in their cars, busses, and RVs and drove sadly back to Florida. That year the Gators came within inches of progressing to the national championship. That’s why i’m not all that worried about last night’s game. There is still plenty of hope in this Gator fan’s heart.
But I’d still like to know just what it is about being at the pinnacle of success that makes a win so hard to hold on to (or perhaps in this case, makes the football so hard to hold on to). Ohio State has been number one for weeks and it doesn’t seem to make them falter. USC, if I’m remembering correctly, spent last year at number one. But early in the year when the Gator basketball team hit number one they lost the following game not unlike last night when we held the number two spot going in.
But again I say, I’m not losing hope. I know we can still go all the way. They just have to get their swagger back, gotta remember that their Gator nation still loves them and for goodness sake, they’ve gotta go beat the hell outta Georgia.
And then win the rest of ’em, too.
It’s time to show the rest of the world what I’ve known for years– It is ALWAYS Great to be a Florida Gator!