We're not exactly sure what it is about Gainesville that predisposes The Gator Nation to excellence. Maybe it's something in the water (or in this case, the amber-colored beverages routinely found in plastic cups). At any rate, UF is once again the reigning national champion - this time we're No. 1 in partying.
The Princeton Review has named UF as the nation's top party school in its annual collegiate rankings. While most faculty and administrators are likely to find the distinction a dubious one, we greet the news as another resplendent example of Gator greatness.
UF officials say that the school's athletic successes in recent years is probably the largest contributing factor to its rise to the apex of national college partying.
But perhaps there is another, at least partial, explanation. Amid the tableau of ominous clouds foreboding an economic armageddon, is it possible that we are masking our anxieties about life after college? Or maybe the crushing budget cuts that are responsible for the dismissal of some of our professors or the decapitation of our degree programs have led us to seek refuge in the Gainesville party scene.
We won't pretend to know why we're No. 1 again. It just comes so naturally that we've decided to stop questioning it. All we can say is, "It's great to be a Florida Gator."
