What it means to be a Gator

[Mr2Bits]

W all have our own definitions on what it means to be a Florida Gator. Someone took the time over at the Bleacher Report to put it all together in one article. Check it out.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/43308-what-it-means-to-be-a-florida-gator

The only one I can't get with is the "train em while they're young". I didn't have any Gator influences on me growing up. I didn't become a Gator until my senior year of high school when I got that acceptance letter to UF. It's been 8 years since then and I've been bleeding orange and blue ever since.

 

[O-town Gator]

This guy was spot-on, and I too share his sentiments about Zook. They were three rough years, but like many other Gator fans who felt the same way I did I too "grinned and bore it", and realized that there was light at the end of the tunnel on 10/25/04 after all. Same with the 0-10-1 season of 1979; Pell turned the team around and "gave 'em hell" in spite of digging himself a hole withthe NCAA infractions.

The Gators found me; I've always loved them, LOVED the team colors, and followed them as early as when LeCount was part of the team. I'm only 2 1/2 hours away from Gainesville living in Orlando, and even though UCF has come up in recent years I haven't hopped onto their bandwagon - I remain true to the Orange and Blue.

When I'm watching Gator football or basketball at home, I go into "Obnoxious Gator Mode" as Mike Thomas of the Orlando Sentinel once described it. My language gets a bit flowery when things go wrong, but get excited over the wins and big plays. I stayed up until 3 in the morning with a glass of champagne in my hand back on the night we won the Football NC, and other Gator fans in my neighborhood shot off fireworks after the final whistle blew. Some of my friends think I'm crazy, but you can't hide that Gator pride.

It also gives me a snese of pride to greet other Florida fans I see at the grocery store, the mall, the office or elsewhere with "Go Gators" and to see the smiles on their faces when they hear that. Like the commercial says: "The University of Florida is in Gainesville; the Gator Nation is everywhere."

IT'S GREAT-TO BE - A FLORIDA GATOR!!!!!!