January 8, 2009

• I Bleed Orange and Blue!

  This week is crawling by.   Every day I’ve woken up and thought it was the day after. Why?  Because I’ve been waiting for January 8 for the past month.

  Tonight the Florida Gators and Oklahoma Sooners will play for the BCS National Championship.

  

  I’m a graduate of the University of Florida and a serious, die hard Florida Gator. There are only a couple of things in life that get me super excited and one of them is Gator sports.

  I’ve lost my voice so many times cheering at football games, sports bars and even in my living room.

  When I watch a game it’s like all time has stopped and all that’s going on is that game. My personal worries disappear and for at least 3 hours I’m in a different zone. If the apt burned down during a Gator game I’d be in trouble. I probably wouldn’t even notice.   

  It’s so fun to be so passionate about something like that, where you can just lose track of time and have fun- win or lose (of course winning is more fun though ).

  In college I used to camp out for basketball games- in the rain, during finals, through illness, I would wait outside the stadium with friends so that we could sit down low in the O’Dome. 

  

  I’m holding the sign. This was my freshman yr, when Mike Miller was our star basketball player. 

  

  My friends and I at a bball game. I kidnapped half of them to watch the game with me.

  

  Here I am junior year of college (on the right) with my good friend Mimi in 2001. This is the earliest digital photo I have of myself at the Swamp. Yes I was in college during the pre digi-cam days.

  I was the friend that rounded up everyone’s football tickets and planned the pregaming strategy .  Even now I’m still the one that gets everyone together for games. Instead of The Swamp, we usually watch them at a sports bar on the UWS near my apt.  

  

  

  The Swamp is an awesome place whether full of fans or empty and peaceful!

  Every year I go to FL and stop by Gainesville to meet up with friends that still live in town. In May 2007, I got together with some girl friends for a picnic in the Swamp. While we were eating our takeout we look up and see no other than Coach Urban Meyer! He was so nice and took some time to take pictures with us.

  

  Coach with a gaggle of Asian girls.

  Last year Timmy won a Heisman. Which was awesome but we lost to Michigan in the Capital One bowl.

  

  From January to late August I patiently waited, like I do every year, for college football season to start. At the start of the 08-09 season we were pumped to go undefeated. However, this past September I witnessed something in the Swamp I’d never seen.

  

  My husband and I at the Swamp on September 27, 2008.

  I witnessed my beloved Gators lose to Old Miss. It was the first time I ever saw my Gators lose live at the Swamp.  I was so heartbroken and my voice was raw from all the yelling and cheering.  

  After the game Tim Tebow met with the press and went on to say this:

  “But I promise you one thing,” Tebow went on. “A lot of good will come out of this. You have never seen any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of this season, and you’ll never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of this season. And you’ll never see a team play harder than we will the rest of this season. God bless.”

  After that game the Gators were not the same team anymore… they were freaking incredible!

  Watch on youtube in high quality for best viewing. You can turn off the annoying sign by mousing over the up arrow.

  After those games we went on to beat the #1 team in the nation, Alabama, for the SEC title.

  Win or lose tonight I’m so incredibly proud of my team and can’t wait to watch the game. The past season was amazing and so much fun! It brought my friends and I together again like the days we were in college. Here’s my photo recap of the past season:

  

  Big props to all the die hard sports fans out there! Best of luck to all your teams throughout the year (except for when my Gators are playing them! )

  

  I’m hanging this bad boy up in the Xanga office next to the Illinois and Michigan banners!

  Go Gators!!!

  • 1:32 am
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