On one of the topics you said. First thing I will say is that Alabama is indeed all you say they are so let's leave them out of the conversation. I want to know just how many years you think a team has to do well to have history. Obviously in your opinion the Gators don't qualify, so give me a number, how many years? 30? 40? 50? even 60? Or do you have to have history all the way back to 1869?
Hey.....I am very happy with the Gator's history. In my lifetime as a fan it has been a great ride. ....And more important I am happy with the Gator's present and future.
Oh brother... OK... The fact that you immediately want to remove Alabama from the conversation shows that you already either (1) don't understand the conversation or (2)are trying to be disingenuous for the sake of winning an internet argument. Your insistence, nay, your demand for your history to be considered equal to or greater than Alabama's in any way, shape or form further proves just how far you have to go. Much of the substance of history is lost by trying to over quantify history. You want to put a number on something that really can't be looked at in this manner. You want to know how long or far back you need to go is? Far enough back that the number doesn't really matter. I am not dismissing your history. Quite the opposite, I appreciate its growth and developments. I see where your Gators have been, I know where they've come from (in great part due to your contributions as a poster) and see where they appear to be headed. You just want to know what the number is... There really isn't one. You'll know you're there when the number doesn't really matter.. They just become a mass in their totality that are so overwhelming that they really defy and escape definition. Your driven to find the metric that will prove your number 1.. Just go ahead and declare yourself the best, or one of the best or whatever.. No number I give you will never be enough until it fits your standard...
Don't see any SEC teams on this list of winningest teams in the last 26 years: Miami FSU Nebraska Florida I would much prefer Florida's best runs happened during my lifetime. Don't really care all that much for what they did or didn't do in leather helmets.
If I could just weigh in here. We have had this discussion before and I don't think fans of other schools should take it as a slight. In the last 20 years Florida has been one of, if not the most, dominant football powers around. That is undisputed. But what about before that. Alabama, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, USC, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas, all have multiple, major football success going back 50 and in some cases 100 years. That is undisputed. Can Florida make the same claim? Honestly now, can Florida point to anything prior to 1990 other than a blip of a single game or single season? That's history. Bill you ask how far you need to go back? The answer is, pick the team. And another point that Corey brings up is that Alabama is "back". I brought up last month that Alabama continued its streak of winning at least one SEC championship in each decade since the SEC was formed and a couple of people on here kind of laughed it off. That is symbolic of what he is referring to. The "strip mall" comment was a little inflamatory but that's not unprecedented on this forum, is it? Now Florida is well on their way to establishing that kind of history. It's just that they really got started in 1990 not 1890. That's why they call it history and Alabama is back on top once again.
Speaking of disingenuous, what I said about Alabama was that indeed they were all you said they were so let's leave them out of the conversation. In other words I acknowledged their history and tradition. But then again knowing that you will have difficulty backing your answer up with any facts you try, as you said to me, you are disingenuous and twist what I said.But just in case you didn't bother to read it I'll say it again. Bama's History and Tradition is all you say it is Well let me see, it was actually a simple question. Since you don't acknowledge much positive about Gator History I would like a time frame to discuss. Actually though I understand why you won't, I'll say more about that below. That is pretty clever. That allows you to keep moving the bar to suit your purpose. If you are going back to medieval times or even earlier then maybe you are right. But football has only been played since 1869 so I don't see the difficulty except that you find it easier to knock the Gator program using criteria that you can change as you go. I have to admit that this admission kind of floors me. Maybe we can find common ground also. Let me add, and I've said this before, I came to the cyber world not liking Notre Dame, but I have developed a healthy respect for your traditions and values as an organization as well as the fan base. Because of the posters here. I started to name some names but there are so many of you let me just say because of the general body of work of the Notre Dame fans here. Glad to hear that and I won't ask for one again unless you find it necessary to again downgrade our program because we haven't been there long enough. However if you make the same ridiculous statement again, even though it was humerous, I'll probably take issue again. Actually the number only matters to me right now because of your posts. Since you don't like our history because we are so new I was just trying to determine what it takes. However you tried to change the topic with your opening statement. I can only scratch my grey head at that one. Again a distortion, a gross distortion I might add. I am not trying to prove we are number one, in fact Alabama is and they deserved it. We are not even number 2, Texas is and they deserve to be that high and but for an injured QB those two may, note I said may not would, have switched order. Sorry Corey but you have it wrong. I can, and am willing, to discuss any time frame. You are the one that fines it convenient to not have a number. That way you can keep coming up with cute sayings in an attempt to knock our program.
KP and Bryan. Please do not take any of this as a shot at Bama. It is not, your program stands on it's own and is all Corey and you say it is. You are the national champ and it is well earned. You represented your School and your conference with class and dignity. I hope we can leave it at that between us. However if you think it is necessary to go back further in history I can also discuss that. But it reality I started this topic as a topic of it's own to keep other teams out of the conversation because it always then comes across as they are being insulted or diminished. They are not, however Corey has long used this lame argument, without using any real facts, to knock the Gators. And if it isn't clear, yes I am a little tired of it. I read one time that frequently people who insist on talking about their tradition and past in football, the real reason is that they are not doing that well right now. That doesn't fit Alabama and I hope I won't have to get in a lengthy conversation with your about tradition/history. I can but hope I won't have to.
Do we need to? As you say UF had plenty of moments ( Spurrier's Heisman year, domination of in-state schools, etc ) to create a legion of fans much stronger in number than any other state school and it was one of the strongest fan bases in the country before 1990. Before 1990 there were a lot of great Gator players ( Emmitt Smith was in the late 80s, Jack Youngblood, etc)....enough to have young kids like me in the 60s to enjoy growing up Gator. UF was a game away in the 60s and 70s several times from winning the SEC but couldn't get over the hump ( thank you Dawgs ) until 1984.....when Fla did win it's first SEC Title ) later stripped away). In any event after 1990 the championships have come in great numbers unmatched by just about any team out there. So....can we make the same claim....no... but more important does it really matter?
Bill and Dave, that's ok. If it doesn't matter to you then it doesn't matter to you. To me in addition to being proud of what Alabama has accomplished lately, I like to point to the fact that this is just a continuation of what has occurred since basically the beginning of college football.
Here is a stat you may find interesting: Going back to 1950 Alabama has had 10 losing seasons. UF in that time has had 6 losing seasons and none since 1979.
KP, keeping this civil, here's the problem with that statement. Certainly if I were a Bama fan it would matter to me, a great deal. However Florida does not have that kind of past history and that is something that we can never get so there's no way it can matter to us. But since it is impossible for us to now have that kind of history we have to make our history now. And we are doing a very fine job of it, it football and overall athletics. Something we don't talk about a lot around here, but I think if you check SEC history with all sports, men and women, the Gators lead in total SEC Championships by a large margin. As I said, you should be proud of your past, however throwing up the past, like Corey does, to a program like the Gators is not an attitude to be proud of. And I don't think that includes you.
I just wanted to clarify further a point that you made about Florida history. Sometimes I get the feeling Corey thinks we're more like Vandy than we are like Alabama. The fact that UF has had only 6 losing seasons in the last 50 years of football.....and none in the last 30 years is probably unmatched by anyone in college football and maybe it offers some explanation for where Florida football is today. That's a ton of winning seasons and happy Gator moments.... :wink:
Probably, however I would rather it be put that we have reached agreement. I just don't see how it fits any reasonable logical standards to knock someone for something that it's impossible to do at this point. Besides I've been taking it easy. Just challenging Corey to back up his outrageous statements. I'm kind of hoping he attempts as I've got a lot more to trot out. Knowing him as I have the last 15 - 20 years he probably has a lot more to say.
Here's a little history of 10 best Gator games of the decade for one Florida writer: http://www.gatorsports.com/article/20091230/COLUMNISTS/912319997/1044?Title=Ten-best-games-of-a-memorable-ten-years-for-UF I was at the top game on the list....with my 9 year old at his first Gator game. A very loud moment it was when the kick was blocked. Bama's game with Tenn this year had a very similar ending and their season ended in a very similar fashion.