re: Sanchez

I learned from Victor that Sanchez was leaving USC, opting out of continuing, because of his lucrative future in the NFL. Bill Plaschke's article in yesterday's LA Times comments on this and how mad Pete Carroll was at the prospect of not having Sanchez next year. I, too, was upset until I discovered that he was only opting out of football, not college. Next year is his 5th year of playing football. He will graduate in May with a degree and has been promised a great job. Too bad other graduating seniors do not have the same option. Good luck to him, fight on, and next year will be just as exciting for us on the West Coast. Looking forward to March Madness. PS. I am a member of another blog (Katnik and Clayton women) and I attempted to post my Sanchez thoughts yesterday on the gatorstrojansbruins blog, but it was redirected to the other blog. I have some explaining to do to the females in the health/fitness blog. Glad it was not x-rated!

Rick Fraxedas At National Championship!!!!

I must tip my hat to my most excellent brother Rick who has an uncanny knack for being at the right place at the right time. If you recall, he started the season with me at The Swamp for the Gator's season opener against Hawaii (photo on the right). He finished the season with his wife, Mari, at the season's last game, the National Championship game at Dolphin Stadium in Miami (photo on the left). In between he managed to get to the LA Coliseum to tailgate with our West Coast Cousins before the Trojan - Buckeye game (photo below - with Nora). If you click on the title to this post above it will take you to a web album of Rick's National Championship photos. Where will Rick turn up next? Stay tuned, your industrious bloggers will keep you informed.

Blog of Champions!!!!!!

What a great and wonderful blog we have! Last night Florida won the BCS Football National Championship beating a talented and worthy Oklahoma team with a Heisman winning quarterback at the helm, who, unfortunately for him, was not playing Kansas anymore. Last year mighty LSU took the National Championship beating Ohio State. The year before, it was Florida winning the National Championship, also clobbering Ohio State. A couple of years before that it was the noble USC Trojans winning back-to-back Football National Championships in 2003 and 2004. Amazingly Florida also managed back-to-back Basketball National Championships in 2006 and 2007 which means Florida has won four national championships in major sports in the last three years! It's hard to describe how great it is to be a Florida Gator today. Rick Fraxedas was at the game and called me several times all excited but couldn't hear me because of the awesome roar of the crowd all around him. He will send pictures of the game which I will post as soon as I get them. At the end of this year the #1 and #2 teams in the country are the Florida Gators and SC Trojans. Will next year fianlly be the year these two great teams finally face each other in the Big Game as I predicted to Andy Katnik was our mutual destiny? Will next year be the year the coast-to-coast cousins finally get together in a blur of cardinal and gold and orange and blue at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena? Will the blog be able to bear all the passion and emotion and sheer wall to wall excitement that a true clash of East Coast and West Coast titans would generate in the most historic venue of all? Stay tuned. This blog is headed for greatness! Below is an article by John Romano of the St Pete Times which I think says it all.

Florida Gators can take their place among history's great programs

By John Romano, Times Sports Columnist In print: Friday, January 9, 2009

MIAMI — Years from now, you may recall the celebration.

The way some players embraced and others danced. The confetti falling, and the voices rising.

Down the road, you may remember the big moments.

The goal-line stands, and the Percy Harvin runs. The Ahmad Black interception, and the Tim Tebow jump pass.

You may take whatever memories you choose out of Florida's 24-14 victory against Oklahoma in the BCS national championship game Thursday night, but you should realize this was bigger than any one moment. It was bigger than one game or even one season.

For, in retrospect, this had the feel of more than just a championship.

In a way, it was like a coronation of football royalty.

Florida may not yet have the football tradition of an Alabama or an Oklahoma or a USC, but it has separated itself from nearly every other campus in the country. Since the beginning of the Steve Spurrier era in 1990, UF has been second to no one.

"We're on the rise," said Black, who stopped a critical fourth-quarter drive with an interception. "We're on top of the world right now, and we're not going anywhere. There are other great teams and other great conferences, but you can't stop Florida. We're going to keep this going."

They don't have football factories in the NCAA anymore. At least not the way they used to.

So this isn't a dynasty, and it isn't a juggernaut. But what Florida has done is still rare enough. Three national championships in a dozen years is the kind of thing you only see from historic football programs.

Notre Dame did it generations ago. Texas and Alabama, too. The last college program with this kind of success was Miami, when it won four national titles from 1983 to 1991. Before that, Oklahoma won three from 1974 to 1985.

So, clearly, what Florida has accomplished on the football field is impressive enough.

But, if you take it to another level, what the Gators have done is truly unprecedented. Between football and basketball — the highest-profile sports in the NCAA — the Gators have won four national championships in three years.

January has belonged to Florida, and April has, too. And no other university has ever come close to pulling off that kind of domination in the sports America cares about most.

"Florida is the place people want to go," safety Major Wright said. "It's a place that knows what it wants and knows how to get there."

On the final night of the season, Tebow was more clutch than brilliant. In perhaps the final game of his college career, Harvin was the most dynamic player on the field. And in the final analysis, the Florida defense turned in a performance that will be talked about forever in Gainesville.

Perhaps, this morning, a few others have reason to gripe. Texas, after all, also beat Oklahoma on a neutral field and, like Florida, has only one loss. USC has one loss and finished the season on a 10-game winning streak. And Utah, at 13-0, certainly has a right to feel cheated.

Still, it is hard to imagine any team being favored against the Gators today.

Florida was a missed extra point shy of a possible 14-0 season. It finished the season with back-to-back victories against the No. 1 team in the BCS standings.

And now Urban Meyer is one of a handful of active coaches with two national titles on their resume. The difference is the rest of them are already getting bulk mail orders on pension benefits and Medicare. Joe Paterno is 82, and Bobby Bowden is 79. Dennis Erickson is 61, and Pete Carroll is 57. As for Meyer? He is 44. He is also 83-17 as a head coach, which puts him 30 victories ahead of where Paterno was at this age.

So take what you want from this victory. Take it as validation or relief. Take it as vindication or joy. But when the emotions fade, be sure to keep the night, and the season, in perspective.

Do not just recall the celebration. Make sure you remember it all.

Remember the moment Tebow turned a season around with his emotion-filled locker room and news conference speeches after a one-point loss to Mississippi in September.

Remember Louis Murphy, of St. Petersburg, pointing toward the heavens for his mother. Remember the heartbreak of Cornelius Ingram tearing his ACL days before the start of his senior season.

Remember Brandon James' kick and punt returns against Tennessee. Remember the timeouts against Georgia. The fourth quarter against Alabama. The goal-line stands Thursday night against Oklahoma.

Remember that, in the 2008 season, the Gators stated their claim to history.

John Romano can be reached at romano@sptimes.com.

OK I'm Worried

I told Victor I was not worried. I told him I was confident about Florida beating OK in the big game this Thursday. But I don't want to jinx The Gators. I don't want to tempt the gods of football. So, to set the record straight, and keep up long tradition, I hereby declare: I'm worried. I'm worried because:

• Alabama laid a big egg losing to Utah in the Sugar Bowl and embarrassing the SEC. At least Ole Miss shut Texas Tech up and spanked them good. Way to go Rebels! But Alabama laid a big egg and took some luster off the Gator's victory over 'Bama in the SEC title game.

• Florida has not faced an offense as prolific and as fast-paced as Oklahoma this season. And Florida has not faced a quarterback as good as Sam Bradford all season... or an O-line as good as Oklahoma's. Will we be able to pressure Sam Bradford? Will Spikes be able to blow through their O-line and get some grass stains on Bradford's jersey?

• How healthy is Percy Harvin? Will he be able to go full strength the whole game?

• Florida lost it's offensive coordinator, Dan Mullen, who took the head coaching job at Miss State after the SEC title game. Mullen says he'll call the title game but he'll be distracted and cannot be 100% focused. He has one foot in Florida and one foot in Miss State. Also in the interim we upgraded our offensive line coach Steve Addazio to offensive coordinator. Addazio is a good man but there has to be some hard feelings on the part of our receivers coach, Billy Gonzalez, who was also up for the offensive coordinator position. Also there has to be some friction in philosophies. When Mullen first announced he was leaving Meyer said that the game would be called by a committee of Addazio (O-line coach), Billy Gonzalez (Receiver's coach) and Urban himself. Now we have Mullen (originally a quarterbacks coach) saying he will call the game. It seems like a recipe for confusion and too many cooks in the kitchen.

• Oklahoma has had a string of losses in bowl games recently and have been embarrassed. They have to be motivated and angry and their luck is bound to change.

• Speaking of luck, Sam Bradford is a Cherokee and Native Americans around the country have embraced him as a source of pride. Even as we speak, war dances are going on around the country invoking powerful magic.

• Also, the last time Florida faced a Big 12 team in a title game (Nebraska, 1995, National Championship game) Florida was favored and Nebraska utterly clobbered us.

• I want to approach Thursday's game in all humility and, in doing so, hope to avoid the wrath of the football gods. So, to paraphrase my letter to Juan on the eve of our 2006 National Championship Game: I don't know what team will emerge victorious. That's why they invented championships. What I do know is when the Gators come out of that tunnel at full speed, smiling, bursting with confidence and defiance, flying our colors under the big Miami moon, all my pride, all my feelings, all my memories will take the field with them.