If you're at work, please take a half day and go home to play some Wiffleball. It's what the Founding Fathers would have done.

A few years ago, the New York Mets were on the verge of challenging for a playoff spot. Needing one more starter, the Mets decided to part with a young high school pitcher.

The Victor Zambrano for Scott Kazmir trade is now historic, a trade that turned one franchise around and did nothing for the other (the 2004 Mets finished 20 games below .500). Last year Kazmir won the AL strikeout crown and pitches tonight as the Tampa Bay Rays try to sweep the Boston Red Sox for the second time this season.

Prospects do get traded, but none with the background or potential of Kazmir and rarely at the deadline anymore. That could change this season as several teams throw their hat into the C.C. Sabathia Sweepstakes. The Yankees, who earlier this decade destroyed their Minor League system, have apparently decided to stay out and the Red Sox seem to be taking the same route. That leaves teams stacked with very good farm teams like the Brewers, Phillies and dark horses like the Dodgers who might not have the chips to trade but have the cash to resign the Cleveland southpaw.

One of those chips is former Gator first baseman Matt LaPorta, who is currently raking for the Brewers Double-A affiliate in Huntsville. In two seasons of MiLB, LaPorta has 31 homers, including 19 this season. The problem is that LaPorta is not a defensive standout. Selected to the Futures Game, LaPorta is serviceable as an outfielder, which is necessary since the Brewers have Prince Fielder at 1B. Does that make LaPorta moveable? Or does Milwaukee keep trying to make him into a right fielder?

Baseball teams can afford to be patient now. Fans are much more sophisticated and are willing to wait for a kid to show himself in the Minors. But they also know when they are crushing the ball and start asking for the kid to move up (Evan Longoria and Jay Bruce this season in Tampa and Cincy). LaPorta is not a "once in a generation" talent like Bruce or Longoria, but you can't argue with a .286 average and .399 on-base percentage. Someone will be very happy with LaPorta, but it might not be the Brewers.

It’s always tough buying for that special lady (or ladies). You can only get her ill-fitting underwear and expensive lotion so many times. But, now comes along Victoria’s Secret with their Collegiate Collection, which will make a roll in the hay seem closer to a roll on Florida Field. And it’s just in time for Summer B Semester.

Of course, some schools are not too keen on having their name across the rear ends of sorority girls. First to object is Minnesota, who claims, "The clothing line was not in step with [Minnesota’s] values and focus." Most of the schools are public schools, with a surprise in Boston College. Not because it’s a private Catholic school, but because girls from Boston (cue bias) are not very attractive.

And Victoria’s Secret does heart UF. Just look at this Heidi Klum picture.

The biggest problem with the off-season is that you are so in need of anything Gator related that you jump on it with no mercy. Sometimes, it’s no big de-WHAT THE HELL! JIM CAPLE SAID GAINESVILLE DID NOT HAVE ONE OF THE TEN BEST SPORTS YEARS EVER! ANGERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Gainesville, 2006-07: No matter which way you want to count it -- the basketball/football double-shot in 2006 or the football/basketball parlay in the 2006-07 school year, Gatorade never tasted more refreshing than when Florida won college's two major championships (Ohio State fans, however, may disagree). And if you want to get technical, the Gators won three titles in 365 days: their first hoops title on April 3, 2006; the BCS title on Jan. 8, 2007; and the hoops championship again on April 2, 2007.  

Oh, but you did count it Jim! Three titles in 365 days is kind of a big deal. People know us.

I know Caple is a Boston apologist (he has Boston 07-08 as number 3, ignoring the Pats being the victim of the second greatest upset in NFL history), but here’s the list of schools to hold the National Championships in Basketball and Football at the same time.

1. Florida

Wait, here it is again.

1. Florida

Ohhhhhh! Really? Only Florida? And as someone who thought 2003-04 in Tampa was huge (Bucs win Super Bowl, Lightning win Stanley Cup), none of those championships made me cry. (Not that I cried after the Gators won the BCS title. No never. I’m always in control of my emotions. Although me screaming, “I WAS AT EXPO HALL!” when I saw the Stanley Cup was a little excessive.)

Nothing personal against Caple, but I think it’s going to take several years before people realize what Florida accomplished in 2006-07. Looking back, it will be like how we study the winners of the Triple Crown (Big Brown’s jockey called them, “freaks,” after losing the Belmont), or wonder how Williams hit .406 and DiMaggio hit in 56 consecutive games. At the time, maybe it didn’t register because Ohio State could have been the team with titles in both sports.

In the future, college programs will get bigger and badder, swallowing the landscape and preventing another George Mason or Hawaii from getting to the top. It’s possible for Texas or Michigan or UCLA to do what Florida did. But we can take some pride in knowing that it was Florida that had the luck and skill to do the unthinkable. All we ask is that people recognize that. Thanks!

Happy Father's Day from Alligator Army and The Alligator King.

The tagline for this website is, "The Home of Championship Mode." It is then appropriate that the day before Big Brown goes for the first Triple Crown in 30 years, we bring you the greatest Triple Crown winner; Secretariat. The horse known as Big Red destroyed Belmont's mile and a half oval, setting the standard at the "Test of a Champion". Big Brown has raced well so far, but the Belmont, with a distance rarely raced and with wide sweeping turns, will chew up and spit out any pretenders. Perhaps Big Brown can stop pretending and will join the legends Saturday.

Now that Gators Softball is done, sports are over at UF until Football training camp opens. (Unless you count making sure everyone avoids the Gainesville Police during Summer A and B as a sport. Actually Track is still going. So that's nice.) To make it worse, Bo Diddley passed away yesterday in Archer.

It’s time to pour something hard (when you get home from work) and play some blues.

Gators Softball was eliminated Sunday night from the Women’s College World Series, a run short of the Finals. The 1-0 loss to Texas A&M was in nine innings, the Gators third extra inning game of the tournament. It is hard to pick out one reason why a team loses, but it seemed as if UF had run out of gas. After losing to Louisiana-Lafayette to start the tournament, the Gators had to play back-to-back doubleheaders and go 4-0 to advance. The fatigue showed when the Gators could not score in the 6^th inning of game two against A&M, despite bases loaded with one out.

Florida won 70 games this season; an impressive number like the Patriots’ 18-1 is an impressive number. But where the Patriots were stacked with old men and cheaters, UF has only one senior and will have all the necessary pieces returning. Just as they had done this season, a deep run in the tournament is possible. A long hot summer and cold autumn sit between UF’s last and next at-bats. All they can do is wait ‘til next year.

When the liner sailed over Kim Waleszonia’s glove and Virginia Tech had the winning run 60 feet away, it looked like UF’s quest for a National Championship would die an embarrassing death, complete with a Bill Buckner-level goat. But UF rose up, turned a nifty double play, and senior Mary Ratliff (with ESPN catching her Mom saying, “Don’t you dare strike out!” in a Southern twang) knocked in two in the 9^th, and UF defeated Tech 2-0. A few hours later, UCLA was the victim, falling 2-0 to another dominant pitching performance by Stacey Nelson.

The No. 1 Gators are now 2-1, with unblemished No. 5 Texas A&M coming this afternoon (first game at 1pm). The Gators will have to win two games to eliminate the Aggies and get to the Championship Series.

One of the story lines following this team has been their relative youth. While it was poetic for Ratliff to get the winning RBIs, it’s been juniors like Nelson and sophomores like Francesca Enea (3-7, RBI, run in Saturday’s games) who has led the Gators. And they all remember last season getting swept in the Super Regionals by Texas A&M. That could be the key today. Florida has not played much with their backs against the wall. Not only do they have that Sunday, they get to kill the ghosts of tournaments past.

Gators Softball has only been around since 1997, so it is accurate to say today’s game(s) will be the most important in program history.

Gators Softball is playing Virginia Tech right now and in an hour, Gators Baseball faces Florida State. Both are trying to avoid elimination. It’s surprising that softball is in this position, since they are the top seed. As for baseball, when you lose 7-4 and allow six runs in an inning to lose to Tulane, that’s not surprising. That sucks. Surprising is FSU getting only six hits and losing Friday to Bucknell 7-0.

For those of us who realize there is more to Gator Athletics than basketball and football, this day means a lot. Softball going two and out, after being No. 1, would be terrible. And anytime you lose to FSU is horrible.