UF's athletic programs have been making headlines this summer.
You know the softball team took a trip to the Women's College World Series, the women's tennis team made a run to the final four and the baseball team was back in the NCAA Tournament.
Well, maybe you didn't notice all of those.
But I'll bet there were a few headlines that kept you gossiping with your fellow Gators:
Safety Jamar Hornsby gets kicked off the football team for using the credit card of Ashley Slonina who died in the tragic motorcycle accident of teammate Michael Guilford.
Offensive lineman Matt Patchan, who has yet to play a snap wearing the Orange and Blue, gets shot in his hometown of Tampa.
Joakim Noah comes back to Gainesville and racks up a laundry list of "minor" legal offenses - open container, possession of marijuana, speeding and driving with a suspended license.
As I found each of these headlines while perusing ESPN.com - news travels fast outside of little Alachua county - I couldn't help but think: Aren't these things that happen at the U and not the University of Florida?
From 1983 to 2001, Miami won five national football titles and established itself as the big boys in Florida athletics.
In 1995, the 'Canes also established themselves as the bad boys in Florida athletics. Amid NCAA violations, the U lost scholarships - not to mention respect - over the next two seasons. Sports Illustrated even called for the university to shut down its football program when the scandal surfaced.
Miami since revived its program, winning a title in 2001 with high-character guys such as Ken Dorsey, Andre Johnson and Ed Reed.
But a few years later, the 7th Floor Crew's ode to "muddin" girls and a brawl with cross-town FIU put the 'Canes back in the doghouse of public opinion.
Why the history lesson?
Think of it as a cautionary tale for Jamar, Joakim and anyone else representing UF athletics.
In recent years, the Gators have caught up with Miami on the playing field - taking two football and basketball titles since 1996.
And they did it the right way.
No NCAA sanctions, no PR-nightmare rap songs and no helmet-swinging, head-stomping beat downs.
Until now.
The news of Hornsby's transgression made me embarrassed to be a UF student for the first time in my two years on campus.
Immediately following reading the article, I called a few of my friends who go to UF and follow the Gators religiously. They all had the same reaction.
This isn't the way it's supposed to happen in Titletown.
Those guys between the lines represent the university as a whole.
Whether that's fair or not.
And it's Urban Meyer and Billy Donovan's responsibility to field a team that makes the school proud.
In Gainesville, it's not enough to win.
You have to win, and you have to win with class.
Billy D has done a tremendous job of that throughout the years, and Joakim was far from a problem in his three illustrious years on campus. But he's a great example of how a former player - especially while in Gainesville - can still reflect negatively on his former program.
Meyer, on the other hand, has got to keep guys like Hornsby far from Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
While Hornsby's indefensible and unconscionable act is a far cry from Patchan being shot - for all we know he's a victim - and Noah smoking some pot, the collective power of all three situations reflect poorly on Gators' athletics.
Let's just hope there are no startling developments in the Patchan case and Jo' can keep his nose clean.
That being said, the only thing preventing the public and the media from condemning the Gators for their controversial off-season is the fact that this is the University of Florida, and not the U.
Can you imagine the firestorm if this happened in Coral Gables?
Luckily, Tim Tebow is the Golden Boy on and off the field - circumcising Philippino orphans and speaking in prisons.
And Al Horford and Taurean Green returned to campus to do something other than party - work on their degrees.
The publicity certainly hasn't been all bad since UMASS wiped the floor with the basketball team in the NIT Final Four, but it hasn't been good enough.
Not for this town.
And someone - perhaps Athletic Director Jeremy Foley - should remind the athletes how things are done in the Swamp.
You stay classy, Gainesville.
