Lately I've been reading The Boys From Old Florida by Buddy Martin. In the chapter on the Ray Graves Era, Martin tells of the 1962 Gators and their match up with Texas A&M at a time when UF was struggling.
The letter, pinned on the door of every player on Friday night before the game, said in part: "No one cruises along without problems. It isn't easy to earn your way through college on football scholarships. It isn't easy to do what academics and athletics expect of you. It isn't easy to remain fighting when others are curling around you or when your opponents appear to be getting stronger when you are getting weaker..."
[Ellenson] left the players with one thought: "Self pity is the roommate of cowardice."
The Gators would win that game 42-7 and finish the season by defeating No. 9 Penn State in the Gator Bowl.
I bring this up now because I'm floored by the number of people who have said that Florida's season ended last week and that the Gators are going to get destroyed in Baton Rouge. While we know anything is possible, we can't win if we're all thinking, "Please don't lose by 30 points." We're still the National Champions and we're still SEC Champions. Everyone has to go through us. So what if we have a bunch of freshmen and sophs? So what if the GPD wants to hang out with our players? If we think we can't win, we won't win. And that's a bigger problem than young DBs and possible shooting witnesses.
No matter what happens today, and unless Tennessee wins out, we control our own destiny. So don't dwell in the losses or troubles. Self pity is the roommate of cowardice, and no Gator is a coward.
I'm officially in Championship Mode now. Watch out LSU. I'll be back later with the game day open thread.