We here at the alligatorSports Brand Picks Column like to remember those who help us become the big freaking studs we are in the journalism community.
A year ago, an up-and-coming sophomore from alligatorSports, Mike McCall, went on ESPN's First Take against The Daily Beacon (Tennessee's student paper) sports editor Hunter Pavlik.
We promise we haven't let McCall anywhere near writing this thing.
If you haven't seen the clip on YouTube yet, stop what you're doing and go watch. It should be part of your UF fan packet or something.
Let's just say it spawned this group on Facebook: "Who's Hunter Pavlik? Hunter Pavlik is Mike's bitch."
Being the nice, unbiased journalists we are, we certainly have no comment on such thoughts except to say, well - we think so too.
Turns out Pavlik is the complete antithesis to McCall - the Tennessee grad is also a fan of Virginia Tech (recently upset by McCall's ECU Pirates) and grew up a huge Duke fan in Durham (Mike also loves UNC and despises all things Blue Devils).
But let the record show Pavlik was a good sport recounting the events of a year ago. He seems like a jolly fellow and may very well be more successful than all of us.
Kidding, of course.
Anyhow, we caught up with Pavlik this week and found him up in Washington, DC. He graduated from Tennessee in May and moved to the nation's capital to follow his girlfriend, who is going to law school at American.
"I haven't got anything permanent yet. I'm freelancing for a Maryland paper back and forth," Pavlik said. "But I've had a bunch of interviews lately, and I think something permanent is going to come up soon."
Either way, it looks like the man found himself a woman who can be the bread-winner, and we certainly respect that here - we will surely be looking for the same soon.
Pavlik admits he wasn't surprised by last year's outcome on the field and joked he hopes the Volunteers "can keep them within 30" this time around.
As for the other nationally televised beatdown - his showdown with McCall on First Take - Pavlik said he held back on trash-talking because, well … there isn't much to trash-talk about for Tennessee.
"You guys had just come off national championships in football and basketball, and I didn't really want to throw any Pat Summitt stuff out there. … I mean I wanted UT to win and everything, but in the back of my head, logic is telling me that Florida is probably going to cream us, especially because it's in Gainesville."
As to his pick for this weekend, here's what he had to say:
"There's no way I'm putting anything in your paper that says Florida is going to win. We should've beat you guys two years ago in Knoxville. UT kicks the late field goal to win 35-34."
Pavlik had this final message for UF students:
"Be ready to see a lot of (cornerback) Eric Berry and (wide receiver) Gerald Jones. … If UT wins it's because of those guys and seriously - this time we're going to rush for more than 50 yards against you guys."
We couldn't make this up if we tried.
Now, on to the picks!
In sole possession of first place with a 17-3 record is Phil "The thought of the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series gives me a raging erection" Kegler, who went a whopping 10-0 two weeks ago and celebrated by broadcasting it on his Facebook status and renting a chick flick. We cannot confirm any chicks were in the room with him.
In second place with a 15-5 mark on the year is Assistant Sports Editor Evan "I live for Alligator travel" Drexler, who was comparing the pros and cons of the Cincinnati and Charlotte airports for a possible layover on a flight to the Arkansas game. Hey, I hear they both have big windows and loud planes.
Checking in at a respectable third with a 14-6 record is Sports Editor Brian "'T' for Troll" Steele, whose Harry Potter fanaticism allowed him to remember the grading scale for a fictional set of exams in the office the other night. If he could just remember what spell Harry cast in Chapter 34 of book 4, he'd have a girlfriend in no time.
Holding on in fourth place with a 13-7 record is Karl "Orange Juice costs $2.50?" Hyppolite, who asked that very question while on the phone with his wife Thursday afternoon. Ah, the enthralling conversations that come with married life. What's next week's topic, Karl? The economy? Lace curtains?
In dead-ass last place with a piss-poor 10-10 record is Mike "Eight-hour road trips mean we get to listen to Talib Kweli's entire library" McCall, whose talentless intramural football team will win exactly zero games this season. He'd be better off not getting his hopes up for a championship and quit now - kind of like East Carolina.
| ED | KH | PK | MM | BS | MMH | |
| UGA-ASU | UGA | UGA | ASU | UGA | UGA | UGA |
| LSU-Aub | LSU | LSU | Aub | Aub | LSU | LSU |
| Bama-Ark | Bama | Bama | Bama | Bama | Bama | Bama |
| ECU-NCSt | ECU | ECU | ECU | ECU | ECU | ECU |
| BoiSt-Ore | Ore | Ore | BoiSt | Ore | Ore | Ore |
| WF-FSU | WF | WF | WF | WF | FSU | FSU |
| UCF-BC | BC | UCF | UCF | BC | UCF | UCF |
| ND-MichSt | ND | ND | ND | MichSt | MichSt | MichSt |
| MissSt-GT | GT | MissSt | MissSt | GT | MissSt | GT |
UF-UT ED: UF 31-20; KH: UF 35-16; PK: UT 24-20; MM: UF 24-14 ; BS: UF 28-24; HP: UT 35-34
