(Via skigator93 on Flickr)

This guy was singing and playing guitar on the Apres Ski deck at the Ritz-Carlton in Bachelor Gulch in Beaver Creek, Colorado this afternoon. He gladly took my request to play "We Are the Boys" and several others joined in. He also inserted several jabs toward my UGA friends (two of whom were wearing UGA shirts) during his various songs.

For those Gators who never experienced Steve Spurrier or are transplants from Up North, the night of the 2006 basketball title was a near miracle. Defeating UCLA meant we were all champions, even if we never played a game.

The feeling of that night was confirmed the next morning in my surprisingly crowded ethics class. In the basement of Weimer Hall, 30 of us sang "We Are the Boys" and did the "Two-Bits" cheer. Our professor told us that, thanks to Florida winning a basketball title, "We are a real school now." He claimed a basketball title represented Florida's academic and athletic growth. Our 2007 basketball title and two football wins reinforces that belief.

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Hopefully, this poll will induce Andy or FlaGators and the bunch to put up something about the Spring Practice key battles and their plan to covering it, especially the open practices on March 16 and 17. (Watch this space tomorrow for more on that! –Andy)

Fox Sports has a breakdown of where Florida stands just before spring practices, and Will Muschamp's hopes for fewer surprises this season.

Without further prolonging the poll, here you go. And, also, maybe tell us if you plan on attending the Orange & Blue debut on April 7th? I'll be there with my 18-month-old son and my dad. I plan on making this a tradition to go every year with my son, and hopefully my dad with him as well.

Some fans are expressing disappointment with Florida's decision to focus on the defensive side of the ball in the class of 2012 despite the Gators' two years of offensive woes. UF signed 11 front seven recruits, and 14 of the 23 recruits were classified as defensive players. Considering UF returns 10 of 11 starters on that side of the ball, this seems a little excessive on its face.

However, there are a host of reasons that anyone thinking this class is somehow disappointing is crazy.

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Watching the Gators this season..I was posed with one big question..what should be the expectations regarding WR Ju'Juan Story. Quinton Dunbar was to thought to be a down-the-field threat that the Gators had lost in Riley Cooper. Dunbar did not jump off the screen at me. I saw him bodied up by more physical corners in the SEC. Those corners are not going away in this league. Having said that, I feel it is time to turn our attention to the 6'3 205lb. WR Ju'Juan Story. Story will be heading into his second season with the Gators, and will enter this season without any game experience. I look foward to seeing how he looks this Spring. In a pro-style offense, the balance that is Muschamp and Pease's goal can only be acheived through the ability to stretch the field vertically in the Play Action game, which will help weaken the box a little bit. Given his size, and looking at his film from H.S., I feel that he is a much more physical and strong presence than Dunbar was, which should help him to be more effective at defeating press and man-to-man coverage, and help give the Gators a downfield threat that they were lacking last season. If he can provide this, then I believe Coach Pease will be able to return the Gator offense to the top 25 amongst FBS offenses. It is unusual to discuss an offense's success in terms of production from a guy that is so young and yet to see the field, but look for Ju'Juan Story to be the cornerstone to the Gator offense this year.

I find there's nothing quite as anti-climactic as bowl season. Unless your team is in the National Championship game, or a BCS bowl with a decent opponent, the bowl game is as uninteresting as it is irrelevant. This year we've got the mortifying specter of the "Urban Bowl" adding some drama, but I'm so tired of that story line I'm already dreading the announcers. The revenge factor from the 2006 Championship game is also overblown. If any OSU fan claims a win over this pathetic Florida team as some sort of redemption for 2006, they should seek psychological help immediately. That was the title game, this is a powderpuff waste of time.

With this sad denouement of a nightmare season in mind, let's try to liven the place up, shall we? We'll start with a song with a beat so infectious, you might be dead if you're not feeling it.

What: Broke One's remix of "If We Try" by Reset!

Why: If the section beginning at 1:54 doesn't inspire at least moderate head bopping, then you might want to skip these particular musical arrangements. It won't get any better than that.

The Point: Because 6-6 and Weis and Shula and transfers and de-commits and Meyer and TaxSlayer and OH GOD I JUST WANT TO DANCE! [jazz hands]

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Everyone at Alligator Army knows I'm a Will Muschamp fan and in no way am I suggesting he get fired. With the departure of Charlie Weis, sane Gators should be worried. Was this just a mistake by Muschamp hiring Weis or were there more errors that occurred that will affect us down the road?

Do we really want to hire Brian White as our Offensive Coordinator?

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(Edited, promoted, updated time to push to front, but note that this was written prior to Florida's win over Mississippi Valley State, and thus reflects statistics from then. — Andy)

Basketball barely feels like it has started and yet the Gators have already played a third of their regular season schedule. So far, Florida's about right where they were expected to be, beating every non-top five opponent it has faced, and living up to the hype as the deadliest deep shooting team in the nation. The Gators even answered their biggest question, albeit in a loss, by proving that they can out-rebound good teams even while playing a three-guard, one-combo-forward, one-true-big starting five. A lot of that success has been due to the one true big (I like that as a potential nickname for Patric Young); a lot of it is due to Bradley Beal's Dwyane Wade-ishness. I'll get to both of those things in a minute.

First, after the jump, a full team breakdown.

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(Bumped to the front, via FanPost. FlaGators)

Fellow Gators,

We've been throwing around a lot of names for who may be our offensive coordinator next year. Most of them are extremely depressing. Let's explore the worst case scenarios to joke around and give us some sanity. I'm confident that all of us have a feeling that the hire will be less than awesome.

Sincerely,

ParadigmShift35

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My name is Jon Ross, I'm an alcoho-- uh, I mean, a college football addict. Um, yeah, that's it. Anyway, I go to Ohio State and am offering you, the good folks here at Alligator Army, the chance to ask me some questions about your Gator Bowl opponent so you don't go into game-day completely blind on your OSU trivia(l) facts! Before we start, I'll answer a few softballs I know will be asked 1) yes, 2006/2007 was my lowest year as a human 2) the wounds haven't healed 3) I cry a lot 4) No, we aren't slow, I promise. Ok, well, fire away, I'll do my best to be helpful.