Thursday, January 08, 2009

GO GATORS!!! Today Is The National CHOMPianship Game In Miami


This gator with the sly smile seems to have a secret.
If you come close he'll whisper it in your ear.


On this beautiful December day, most of the gators were sunning on the bank and soaking up the bright winter sun along US-441 where it crosses Payne's Prairie near Gainesville.


Here's something you never want to see while swimming ... a very large gator quietly sculling towards you.

For some reason the picture above seems positively mesozoicajurassical to me.
Is it the angle?
Is it just me?
It's me isn't it?

Pass the poodles please!
If you come to Florida, don't let your dog wander in freshwater bodies.
This is not the place to play fetch the tennis ball out of the lake with your Lab.

Bring your cats though ... encourage them to take long leisurely swims.
Just kidding felinophiles ... hadn't razzed the feline world for a while, ... just had to get it out of my system.
I'm over it now.

Good posture is so important.
Which gator would you hire?



Tonight is the most important night of the year for the Gator Nation. They will all be focused on the national CHOMPianship game in Miami.
Large parts of Florida will come to a halt for a few hours while this game goes on.
Mrs. FC and Junior will be totally focused on the game, yelling, giving the ref's advice, and hooting for the duration. I don't usually sit down and watch a full game, but I might this time.
I don't hoot though and that drives them crazy.
Maybe I should practice ... you know ... when in Rome ...










38 comments:

Dr. Know said...

I sure miss the gators.

threecollie said...

It was Syracuse B Ball here last night....glad I have sound dampening ear protectors. lol
Those are some spectacular photographs there, and I am so glad it was you taking them and not me.

Anonymous said...

I've found that #2 Son Adam gives me more attention if I watch football games with him.

Anonymous said...

My son in Hawaii, asked for the day off to see the game. They obliged, I guess no one else knew today is the most important day of the year. LOL!

Florida Beach Basics said...

Brave pix to take from a kayak! GO GATORS!

Bill said...

FC,
Kevin and Kelly are in Miami as we communicate electronically. I am looking forward to a real slobber knocker. You can let down your hair a little tonight. I remember when you and I had lots of it. Go Gators!

Dani said...

Very Mesozoicajurassical!

Anonymous said...

That's right. We'll be there, section 150. The seats are on the OU side but they'll do.

Look for us, we'll have on orange and blue in a sea of red.

I remember your hair, too.

Anonymous said...

Go Gators!!!

People ask me what I miss about Gainesville. Oddly enough it's the excitement in the air on game day. I remember being on the street on the first SEC win. What a party!!

Real gators scare me..........patti

Unknown said...

Yep-our house will come to a stop during the game.Chris graduated from USF but our youngest is a graduate of Gator Nation,and a good portion of our money was probably spent in the Purple Porpoise,instead of on books.Alas,isn't the Porpoise now no more?

Anonymous said...

Great gator pics! And I love cats, they taste just like chicken!

kathy a. said...

my cats are giving you the evil eye.

i'm not much into football, but do report on the marching bands!

MinorcanMeteorolgist said...

Go Gators!
And I do think that picture is quite Mesojurassical!

Sharon said...

Awesome pics, and Go Gators! :o)

roger said...

and people not from california sometimes ask "how can you live there with those earthquakes?" well, they don't swallow dogs. (not usually anyway)

robin andrea said...

Wowsers, fc. Those are some primitive looking critters. It's not often that humans get to feel like prey, but those Florida waters do the trick. Our kitty cat says, "Hey, what did I ever do to you?"

Go Gators!

Anonymous said...

Great gator shots. Yes, they're quite the primordial looking creatures. Don't know much about the "other" Gators, but "Go, Gators!". (-:

SophieMae said...

I literally L'edOL at the cat swim remark. *snigger*

DS tells me USF won a bowl game! WTG Bulls! And I read somewhere they'll be playing FSU this year. If they ever play the gators, who will Mrs FC and Jr be hootin' for?

R.Powers said...

Doc,
I understand.

3C,
LOL! Yes I know about that sound.


Pablo,
I get no attention from anyone when the game is on.

Cathy S,
Wow, the NPS has a heart!

Beach Basics,
Well, actually I was standing by the roadside. I was tempted to lie about this ... :)

Billy,
That should be some fun texting/calling. Let's hope he keeps his shirt on ... Miami may not be ready for that.

Dani,
I thought so too!

Kevin,
Injun country.
Good luck ... keep your shirt on ... har, har.

Patti,
Real gators should.
Yes, the excitement is building around here.

Chris & Jon,
I think the PP is gone, but to be honest, I'm not sure.

Native Mom,
I love cats too, I just can't eat a whole one.

Kathy A,
Just kidding kitty.
Bands ... check!

HT,
I have no problem picturing dino's living here.

Thanks Sharon!!

roger,
true. and there are fewer of them ... i think we have a million gators in fl.

Robin,
Thanks! Tell Bonsai it's all in good fun.

Bev,
They have prehistoric written all over their scaly faces!

Sophie,
They will root for UF during that game, they make no exceptions. I on the other hand will root for USF on that day and thereby prove to my sweet Emma that I rock!

MinorcanMeteorolgist said...

What you said reminds me of Benjamin Dehart's song "Wild Florida."
http://www.myspace.com/benjamindehart

Pam said...

Am hoping your Gators curl up and cry crocodile tears after a Sooner stompin' ... (hoping anyway!!!!)
Boomer! Sooner!

Islagringo said...

Do you think those gators would actually attack you in that little kayak thing you sport around in? Positively terrifying picture to me. I went river rafting in Costa Rica a few years back and they "forgot" to mention that the waters were loaded with crocs. We were in a little rubber thing. I pretended the wet in the front of my pants was from splashing.

Do you guys do the crocodile rock after the game?

amarkonmywall said...

Your plantigrade has good posture and you may be simpatico with these crocodilians but I'm starting to suspect there is some ailurophobia at work. There's altogether too much cat bashing around here. Still, go Gators!

bluebird of paradise said...

I love the photos of the aligators, they are so prehistoric..

jean said...

Oh you like to live dangerously don't you? The cat lovers are going to be all over this one.

Alan said...

Actually, the late middle English word "champ" was the original of what we know as "chomp" so in this case either is correct and you can thusly still correctly refer to the game as a CHAMPionship and fulfill both of your meanings without altering the spelling. (Even though it isn't really a championship game if there was no playoff to get there...) :)

jojo said...

blah. game. blah.. picking up relatives at the airport just to go to the game. blah. no interest in football anymore. but just to be clear I'm a NOLE...

but that gator is a doozy. you did NOT see this thing in your kayak...did you? Please be careful. Egads.

Freste said...

Florida Gators Football?
Oh Yawwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnn...

There's more excitement on the Weather Channel. Maybe there's an Ugly Betty marathon on.














(my kitty told me to say that.)

Anonymous said...

Did the right team win?

Julie Zickefoose said...

Perhaps the Mesozoicajurassical quality of that shot is because it reminds us of Eryops, a proto-amphibial thing, supposedly the first beast to walk out of the water, that fascinated me as a child. The legs on the fish.

As to the cat joke, I didn't find that funny in the least. I found it funny in the most. Dude. Catlovers are your bread and butter; they're the ones with the CAT on their lap, sittin' at the computer, pickin' CAT hairs off the screen, reading your stuff. You are saucy.

Rurality said...

Dude! Your team (OK, Mrs FC's team) kept me up late last night. Good game! And one of the few times you will find me rooting for FL... SEC first, you know.

Nice real gators too. How did you avoid being eaten?!

Anonymous said...

Ohhhh What a GAME!!!

Great pics of Tebowgator, MurphyGator and Harvingator! ;)

btw, i'm forwarding your post to my cat, Rico, who blogs on occasion.
tsk, tsk.

Annnd, you forgot to remind your readers of the 30 ft. rule when walking pets and snowbirds near the shoreline, especially during mating season! Or is it 20ft... hmmm.

Dr. Know said...

OK, FC. I watched the game from downtown Atlanta - sitting next to a Tallahassee native and Seminoles fan rooting for.... you guessed it... anyone but the Gators.
24-14 - Chomp.
You people are as bad as Alabama / Auburn.

Now back to the gators.

h said...

I've been patiently listening to "Big" 12 fans ranting all year about how superior their holding-on-every-down 60 points per game teams were.

Then Ole Miss STOMPED 60-points-per-game Texas Tech.

Then the Gators CHOMPED 60-points-per-game OU.

SEC Two. "Big" 12 ZERO ZERO ZERO.

Amazing how hard it is to score 60 points when forced to play real football.

CHOMP!

Unknown said...

Yay for rooting for USF Papa but i already knew how wonderful you are!!! You go Troll I totally agree!!!

R.Powers said...

HT,
I'll check that out!

Pamokc,
Welcome to Pure Florida!
Maybe next year my dear.
Hey, you can be proud of a very good team that made the Gators actually work for a victory.

IslaG,
I was safe on land during those photos, the kayak does make a gator more ominous than the canoe does.

Vicki,
I would never bash a cat. Tempted when they do that incessant whiney thing, but ... oh, you meant verbally ...
Y'all know I loves me some animals, cats included...okay tolerate may be a better word...

Bluebird,
Aren'they? Time travelers they are.

Cndymkr/Jean,
All in good fun. It's like the rivalry of two good teams .. Dogs vs Cats.

Alan,
That is fascinating ... did you make that up? :)

JOJO,
No kayak involved in THESE pics!

Freste,
Your kitty probably is bored by the Gators monotonous whipping of everybody else's butt.

Pablo,
Always.

Julie,
It is exactly that animal and I knew it at the time,but did not incorporate it. Thanks to Discovery channel's ability to make the prehistoric past seem presently alive ... I've seen that beast in reanimated throug CGI and that has to be it because you saw it too!
Cats are good sports aren't they? You don't think felines take me seriously?
I hope so, 'cause my dog takes a lot of ribbing, but never seems to mind it.


Laura,
Oh no ... not rico suave.
That cat's trouble.
Yes a great game! Tebow even became unsaintly for a moment ... how refreshing.
That gator water distance rule is 20 feet for young dogs, 30 feet of old dogs, 2 feet for cats.

Doc,
All of that is true. No Nole could ever root for the Gators and visversa.

Troll,
Daughter Emma likes the way you think!

Emma,
Ya know I'd have to sweetie!

Alan said...

FC,

Nope, not making anything up. Google it on Dictionary.com or some such. Champ is a legitimate word. I may be a 'Nole fan, but I still at least respect Gators. (No respect for the U of Miami, may it rot in an eternal hell of bad Cuban food and English-only printed advertisements.)

R.Powers said...

Alan,
I was just teasing, I figured you knew what you were talking about.