IT'S GREAT TO BE A FLORIDA GATOR!

Gator Nation is very happy today. I haven't been outside yet, but I fully anticipate seeing lots of orange and blue as soon as I step outside. And with good cause!

Living in Florida, it is difficult for me to imagine that someone did not hear about the University of Florida Gators winning the national college football championship last night. But in case you don't know, they beat the Oklahoma University Sooners 24-14.

I didn't watch the game closely because towards the end of the first quarter my friend Chelsea called and we talked for two hours! But I watched off and on during our conversation and have watched a lot of replays online since.

Watching Gator games in my family is serious stuff. Both of my parents and both of my grandfathers are UF alum. My dad is a hardcore Gator fan. Our family schedule revolves around being home to watch Gator football games. However, we cannot all watch together, as my dad requires complete and total silence during the game. He doesn't even want to hear the commentators. He turns down the volume and sits in the room alone in anxiety ridden silence as he intently watches the game. He will emerge at halftime to go to the computer and check the sports blogs, wring his hands and make dire predictions (no matter how far ahead they are), and sequester himself again in plenty of time for the start of the third quarter. It's ok to talk to him during halftime if you must, but don't expect a thoughtful answer. I'm not kidding.

Here are what I think were the best plays of the game:

• The first should be watched by EVERYONE, even if you are not such a huge football fan, because I have watched it so many times and still can't believe that Ahmad Black pulled this off. Truly amazing. You also have to watch 2008 Heisman Trophy winning QB Sam Bradford's face as his ball is intercepted. That, my friends, is a picture of true disbelief. Here it is. 
  
• The second great play was by Tim Tebow, UF's omnipotent quarterback. Here is his incredible jump pass that clinched the game for the Gators. (keep watching for the replay.) Pretty good, right? They don't call him Superman for nothing.
  

Being from Jacksonville, people sometimes ask me if I know the Tebows. And the answer is yes, I do, but not well. We went to the same church and our families both homeschooled, so of course we knew each other a little. The Tebows have five kids, and I am a little bit older than their third.  I went to some homeschool events at their house and was on some homeschool field trips with them. My sole memory of Timmy as a child was standing in his bedroom when he was probably in about the first grade, watching him and his brother Peter play with racecars and blocks on the floor and thinking, "What sweet boys. I hope I have boys like that someday." The Tebows are a great family who really pushed their kids to excel at their callings and to advance the Kingdom. Timmy may be the most famous Tebow, but he certainly isn't the only one worthy of admiration and praise.

Anyway, the Gators are the national champs, proving that when all is said and done, the Sooners are just another piece of Gator bait.  Chomp chomp.