Ah, I find as I get older, that my most cherished memories are often centered around firsts. My first trip to Disney, my first Gator game, my first car, my first date, first friend, kid, job, real achievement, Christmas, Halloween..etc..

You my friends, are about to experience something only four other teams have ever experienced. A home playoff game!! You've already experienced so much in the time period that I call the era of sadness as a Gator fan 2010-present. You've won the PAC Twelve, B1G, playoff game, Heisman winner, and two National Title berths. Now you get a home playoff game in December, and most likely a win that could propel you to your first National Title. I know that is getting ahead of myself, but I have a point.

As a kid, I witnessed Florida beating FSU in the Sugar Bowl to win their first ever football National Title. It's a memory I cherish, and I got to see young Gator fans witness the same in 2006, and 2008. This past basketball season I got to see young Gator fans see their first ever men's basketball championship, and six years ago the first baseball title. Those things stick with you.

I know being a fan can be hard when your team loses, you invest emotionally. But the payoff to a win is priceless. Forget coaching , or player salaries. Forget transfer portal, NIL, or losing assistants. This moment right now, it's special. Take it in, the sights, the sounds, the smells. Enjoy this right now, and don't worry about next year. We all are so busy worrying about the championship window, or how the future looks. We tend to forget that today, this time right now, is that window. It's what we all were looking forward to the years ago. Unfortunately we don't realize is today is yesterday's tomorrow, and it's going to be tomorrow's yesterday. We'll never get it back, and we'll always wish we enjoyed it more as it was happening.

Edited 20 hours ago20 hr by Steven A
typo

Everyone always remembers their first!

OBD also won the first playoff game in FBS history at the Rose Bowl against FSU, thanks for one, to Jameis Winston’s “ghost fumble.”

Sco Ducks!!! Always innovating!

(Oh, and Dyer was definitely down.)

15 hours ago, GatOrlando said:

Ah, I find as I get older, that my most cherished memories are often centered around firsts. My first trip to Disney, my first Gator game, my first car, my first date, first friend, kid, job, real achievement, Christmas, Halloween..etc..

You my friends, are about to experience something only four other teams have ever experienced. A home playoff game!! You've already experienced so much in the time period that I call the era of sadness as a Gator fan 2010-present. You've won the PAC Twelve, B1G, playoff game, Heisman winner, and two National Title berths. Now you get a home playoff game in December, and most likely a win that could propel you to your first National Title. I know that is getting ahead of myself, but I have a point.

As a kid, I witnessed Florida beating FSU in the Sugar Bowl to win their first ever football National Title. It's a memory I cherish, and I got to see young Gator fans witness the same in 2006, and 2008. This past basketball season I got to see young Gator fans see their first ever men's basketball championship, and six years ago the first baseball title. Those things stick with you.

I know being a fan can be hard when your team loses, you invest emotionally. But the payoff to a win is priceless. Forget coaching , or player salaries. Forget transfer portal, NIL, or losing assistants. This moment right now, it's special. Take it in, the sights, the sounds, the smells. Enjoy this right now, and don't worry about next year. We all are so busy worrying about the championship window, or how the future looks. We tend to forget that today, this time right now, is that window. It's what we all were looking forward to the years ago. Unfortunately we don't realize is today is yesterday's tomorrow, and it's going to be tomorrow's yesterday. We'll never get it back, and we'll always wish we enjoyed it more as it was happening.

Great post, even as a hated rival I must give you credit and acknowledge that I agree with you and enjoyed your post! I can certainly relate to the sentiments you expressed. Very well said sir!!!

3 hours ago, Dr Hilarius said:

Everyone always remembers their first!

OBD also won the first playoff game in FBS history at the Rose Bowl against FSU, thanks for one, to Jameis Winston’s “ghost fumble.”

Sco Ducks!!! Always innovating!

(Oh, and Dyer was definitely down.)

I loved that game as well. It's one of the reasons Oregon is a team I cheer for when Florida is out of the title picture. Oregon ended that little winning streak in epic fashion. Famous Jameis, and big mouth bass Jimbo got shut down fast.

It was the first ever playoff game in history.

1 minute ago, SoGaDawg said:

Great post, even as a hated rival I must give you credit and acknowledge that I agree with you and enjoyed your post! I can certainly relate to the sentiments you expressed. Very well said sir!!!

Charles has created a place where we can be friendly rivals. I can't say I want Georgia to win another championship, but I gotta say you guys looked really impressive on Saturday. If Kirby figures out his Alabama issue long term, it's going to be trouble for everyone else.

Hopefully Sumrall can make the Florida vs Georgia game mean something again. You guys might face him if Tulane can pull off the shocker against Ole Miss. I would say your Bulldogs are the second scariest team in the field, heck the last part of the year, you looked as good as you have all year. You locked Simpson down. I'd love to see a Georgia vs Ohio State game, especially if it's anything like that 2022 classic.

7 minutes ago, GatOrlando said:

Charles has created a place where we can be friendly rivals. I can't say I want Georgia to win another championship, but I gotta say you guys looked really impressive on Saturday. If Kirby figures out his Alabama issue long term, it's going to be trouble for everyone else.

Hopefully Sumrall can make the Florida vs Georgia game mean something again. You guys might face him if Tulane can pull off the shocker against Ole Miss. I would say your Bulldogs are the second scariest team in the field, heck the last part of the year, you looked as good as you have all year. You locked Simpson down. I'd love to see a Georgia vs Ohio State game, especially if it's anything like that 2022 classic.

Oh I’m afraid that Sumrall is going to be exactly what you guys need. Also, Buster Faulkner is going to pay huge dividends for you guys as OC! I really wanted Buster for us, but I guess I can’t complain as Bobo has certainly exceeded my expectations. I do honestly think that Buster is one of the best OC’s in the business though, and if I’m being honest, that has me very worried!

I too would love to see us play Ohio State again, but I’m certainly concerned about it. We had a great comeback in that last game with them, but I’ll admit we were also very fortunate (lucky).

4 hours ago, SoGaDawg said:

Oh I’m afraid that Sumrall is going to be exactly what you guys need. Also, Buster Faulkner is going to pay huge dividends for you guys as OC! I really wanted Buster for us, but I guess I can’t complain as Bobo has certainly exceeded my expectations. I do honestly think that Buster is one of the best OC’s in the business though, and if I’m being honest, that has me very worried!

I too would love to see us play Ohio State again, but I’m certainly concerned about it. We had a great comeback in that last game with them, but I’ll admit we were also very fortunate (lucky).

Faulkner is going to be a head coach very soon, but if we could keep him for a couple years, that would be great. The problem that Napier had , was that he didn't want anybody to challenge him. It's why he brought most of his Louisiana Tech coaches with him to Florida. I'm no fan of Stricklin, but Scott gave Billy the resources to hire who he wanted. Contrary to popular belief, Stricklin doesn't meddle either. Napier was allowed to hire whomever he wanted.

Sumrall has already hired two proven P4 assistants. I personally wanted Jedd Fisch, but I like the fire of this dude we got. My only question is how well he's going to recruit, and use the portal. I hope the boosters who were willing to give Lane Kiffin the added NIL money, will give it to Sumrall.

Plus, with Sumrall, you can see he has integrity. He didn't poach one Tulane player. He even finished his job there on signing day. He had a funny post on X. " Two jobs, two phones , two recruiting classes, and zero sleep".

Fingers crossed, but the more I hear from Jon, the more I like.

I'm excited to see if he closed the gap on Ole Miss, since Tulane last played in Oxford back in September. If he could keep it close, I think that would be a great sign to any guys thinking of entering the portal.

But ultimately, I think Ole Miss is too much. Which means Ole Miss will have back to back rematches in the playoffs. First Tulane, and then you guys.

Edited 41 minutes ago41 min by GatOrlando