First and foremost, I am a huge supporter of all Gators athletics, and nothing disheartened me more than to see the team I root for every Saturday of the fall semester come up short in a high-stakes SEC Championship game. There were no promises to be delivered at the postgame press conference and there are zero weeks left for us to exonerate our loss. There will not be a new plaque to add to the South Endzone of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium reading “SEC Champs 2009,” Tim Tebow will not be the quarterback that wins three national championships and no one here in Gainesville will be heading to Pasadena, Calif., in January, unless they are visiting family.
It’s time for students, alumni and fans to rally together, like in the old days when victories were what meant everything, not losses. Can we be disappointed about a 12-1 season? Sure. Can we move on? We have to.
How many Facebook statuses after Saturday’s game read something along the lines of “through all kinds of weather…” or “it’s still great to be a Florida Gator…”? Even though Facebook statuses generally do not have much gravity, these rallying phrases epitomize attitudes all Gators need to embrace. Saturday’s loss reminds us that we cannot take a single victory for granted, and most importantly, that we are proud students, faculty and alumni of something bigger than a football field, heavier than a Heisman Trophy and shinier than a crystal football.
We have been reminded that we are all Florida Gators — through all kinds of weather — and that is worth more than any trophy. As the game clock expired Saturday, something was reborn in The Gator Nation.
