Florida vs. Kentucky, Game Thread: The same old story, or a new chapter?

I often use these game threads for Florida Gators games to get a little poetic, or philosophical, or to otherwise diverge from the banality of analysis of football.

I would like to focus on the banality of Florida beating the Kentucky Wildcats in this one, for Saturday’s clash between the two teams (7:30 p.m., SEC Network or WatchESPN).

Since 1986, Florida has not lost to Kentucky in football.

Is there something else you have actually been able to rely upon happening every single time over the last 30 years? The sun coming up, sure — except for the days when hurricanes kept it hidden, I guess. Maybe the love of your parents, or your children, or your siblings, I suppose, but would you count all of your aunts and uncles and grandparents and cousins as consistent providers of love?

Have you been in a romantic relationship for that long? My parents, now married for just over 30 years, weren’t married in 1986. My maternal grandparents were, and had been for almost four decades at that point. That was rare even for their generation, as are my still-married parents for theirs.

Have you been alive for that long? I haven’t.

I would like to be able to rely on this one thing, this tick-tocking of the clock, as the world spins further and further from normalcy and peace. I would like Florida to beat Kentucky today, to make one predictable thing an actuality again. And I would like Florida to beat Kentucky because when the normal isn’t normal, that’s when things go haywire.

It’s time to see if the Gators can keep writing the same old story in their book. Beginning a new chapter today might not end well for those responsible.

Go Gators.