Steve Spurrier once said, in response to a question about being hated, that he liked it, because it meant you were winning.  With that in mind, this (via Mr. SEC) should come as no surprise.  Since 1990 Florida is the only SEC football program without a losing season.  Eight SEC Championships.  Three National Championships, by an average score of 39 to 16.  Two Heisman Trophies.  One hundred fourty-three and thirty-five in conference.  Two hundred ten, fifty-seven and one overall.

On the heals of a disappointing season with no championships and a series of painful losses, and some off-field issues. it is easy to lose sight of just how impressive a run it's been.  As Gators fans, we have been treated to a remarkable run of success, that boarders on astonishing when you factor in the success of other Florida athletic teams; all of this while raising the academic standing of the University to a perennial tier one ranking from US News & World Report.

In his book God and Football: Faith and Fanaticism in the SEC, Chad Gibbs (an Auburn grad and former Alabama fan) puts it like this:

"I'm going to be honest with you," I told Kaleb [a UF student showing him around].  "I'm a little sick of watching you guys lead a charmed life.  First you win the basketball title, and you're not even a freaking basketball school.  Then you get Tebow, and you win the BCS title in the same stupid year!  Then, somehow, you convince that entire basketball team to stay and play another season, even though one of them needs the NBA money because his family is living in a box somewhere, and they win another title."  At this point I'm pulling my own hair and Tricia [Gibbs' wife] is slowly backing away so people won't think we're together.  "Then Tebow wins the Heisman as a sophomore, which is such a fairy tale even Disney wouldn't believe it.  And now you've won another BCS title, you're ranked number one in the nation, and we, the rest of the world, we're just a little sick of it all."

Kaleb just smiled at me, so I continued.

"Just tell me what it's like!  What does it feel like to wake up each morning a Florida fan?  Is it like Snow White?  Do birds pull back your sheets while chipmunks dress you in the latest national championship gear?  Do alligators place orange and blue Crocks so you can walk outside to get today's edition of the Gainesville Sun. which probably had to devote a special section to all the five-star recruits you team just signed?  Geez!"

It is so great to be a Florida Gator, that sometimes you lose sight of how it looks to the outside world.  Not that I'll be wearing any less orange and blue, or cheering any less loudly.