VICTORY!

Well, ye socks, yours truly has been battling a nasty cold all week, and was afraid that would prevent him from staying awake long enough to witness the kick-0ff of the Gators' 3rd national championship.

I mean, the game didn't even start until 8:15 PM in this little corner of heaven, and I had been doing some serious Nyquil shots all day.

But, like the Gators, I persevered.

It was not the high-scoring affair many of us expected it to be, with the high-powered offenses on both sides.

Still, the Gators never trailed the Laters . . . er, Sooners.

Once again, the deciding factor proved to be Tim Tebow. He passed for 231 yards, including one of those little jump passes into the endzone that have become one of his many killer trademarks. He also rushed for 109 yards, making critical third down conversion after critical third down conversion.

The current Heisman Trophy winner was also impressive, and got within 6 yards of leading his team to two more touchdowns. Fortunately, the Gator D held. Imagine if they hadn't, Oklahoma would have had 28 points.

On the flip side, the Gators had to settle for a Jonathan Phillips field goal because a fan's whistle faked-out Tebow on third down. If he had punched the ball in for a TD instead, the Gator total would've been 28, too.

Can you imagine if the result had been a 28-28 tie at the end of regulation?!?

No such nailbiter was to be had, though. Nor, did the fans of Fun 'n Gun get to see the scoreboard lit up as had been promised.

Still, "It's great to be a Florida Gator!" And, we have another set of numbers to add to the mantra:

1996 - 52-20
2006 - 41-14
2008 - 24-14

ORANGE AND BLUE!

2008: The Year of the Uneducated Voter

I don't want to disenfranchise people around here, but I would like to see some minimal education requirement put in place.

I mean, you should at least know what the *()#@&) you're voting for before you cast your ballot, right?

It was bad enough so many people thought last month we were electing a motivational speaker instead of a commander-in-chief.

Now, this month, a bunch of haters handed the Heisman Trophy to a dude who is an excellent passing quarterback but certainly NOT the person it was intended to honor: the best ALL-AROUND college football player in the country.

Fortunately, the latter situation will be rectified in a couple of weeks when the better man will demonstrate the voters' folly.

The former is another story altogether . . .

Piece of cake?

Baking a confetti cake today just seemed appropriate, especially since they were a BOGO at Winn Dixie . . .

Had to do SOMETHING to mark the big Gator victory in the SEC championship up in Atlanta this evening.

In case you missed it, the boys in Orange and Blue put an end to the Tide's heretofore perfect season, and thus apparently have seized a spot in the national championship game next month.

The loss for Bama boils down to three big mistakes:

1. They tried a fake field goal early in the 2nd quarter, which set the Gators up to tie the game.

2. Javier Arenas caught the ensuing kick-off way back on the 4 yard line then stepped out of bounds, giving the Tide terrible field position and helping the Gators to come back with a TD on their next reception.

And, finally,

3. Dont'a Hightower's facemask penalty kept a Gator drive alive that ended up giving them the lead for the rest of the game.

Something tells me the Sooners are going to be an entirely different challenge for Urban Meyer, Tim Tebow, et al. But, I'm keeping the other half of that BOGO waiting in the pantry til kik-off . . .

GO GATORS!

It ain't over yet, Tech fans.

As the Gators romped over The Citadel today, there was very little left for yours truly to watch in terms of college football than the big match-up between my alma mater and the Oklahoma Sooners.

Unfortunately, things got ugly in Norman tonight. Real ugly. And, real fast.

They whooped us. There's no other way to say it. 65-21. Ouch!

But, hope is still alive, despite the ruination of a perfect season.

Tech's loss leaves a three-way tie in the Big 12 South, and the Sooners still have to face their in-state rival Oklahoma State next weekend. Should they lose there, Tech will still be going to the Big 12 Championship game to face Missouri.

And, if they can beat Mizzou . . . the sky's the limit. I mean, they'd be the 12-1 champs of the conference that has dominated the sports page headlines all season . . . even in this little corner of heaven where the SEC usually reigns supreme.

So, be not faint of heart, my fellow Red Raiders. Keep them guns up, and get ready for some more great football games over the next few weeks.

Oh, and Go Cowboys!

Football & Housewarming Party

Well, today was the big day at the Jenks Mansion with Howard and Valda hosting throngs of their closest friends in a fashion that would have made P-Diddy jealous.

Of course, it's still Fall Football season here in the South, so there was much pigskin discussed over Lil Smokey's & BBQ sauce. Yeah, we ARE that fancy.

The big news was Apopka's win over Spruce Creek last night, which catapults them into a state semi-final against the highly-overated Boone Braves this Friday.

One of the outstanding young varsity men in Darter Blue was on hand to give us all the inside scoop. The Braves should be quaking in their mocassins, according to what he tells us.

Sidelight entertainment was provided by LSU whooping-up on the Vols in the SEC championship game up in Atlanta; Pitt surprising the West Virginia Mountaineers in the backyard brawl; and Oklahoma beating up on "number one" Mizzou.

I love this time of year, and the mansion proved an awesome venue for a lot of folks down here to indulge the twin southern passions of sports and grub.

Congrats to the Jenkses, and thanks for playing host!

How 'bout them Red Raiders?!

Judging by their performance at Jones Stadium this evening, I can only assume the O in Oklahoma stands for "over-rated."

Mike Leach and his motley crew from Lubbock really put the hurting on "the #4 team in the nation."

But, then again, they did have The Donald on their side, so failure was not an option for Texas Tech.

And, with the deadly combination of Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree, the Sooners really never stood a chance, did they?!

Oh, yeah, and the Gators won, too. So, all in all a good day for college football . . . unless, of course, you're a Clemson fan. (Sorry, Keith, but there's always next year!!)