Go Gators!

It was great to see the Florida Gators win a third national football championship Thursday night! We've been in Knoxville for the past two, but David and I were both UF students when the Gators won the title in 1996. I know not everyone agreed they should be the national champs since Utah is undefeated, and Florida lost to Ole Miss at home earlier in the season.

I agree we should have a playoff, and president-elect Barack Obama feels the same. In an interview with "60 minutes," he said, "If you've got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season, and many of them have one loss or two losses, there's no clear decisive winner. We should be creating a playoff system."

When UF clinched the title, Obama again said he supports a playoff system. While he congratulated the Gators, he said, "If I'm Utah, or if I'm USC or if I'm Texas, I might still have some quibbles. That's why we need a playoff."

He and others who feel the same way make a good point, but for now, it's nice to be on top again. Go Gators!!!

Updates

I'm happy to report that my college friend Natasha and her family had some good news this week. After the first round of chemo, baby Austin (pictured above in the hospital with his big brother Hunter) is in remission and doesn't have any cancer cells in his body. The doctors determined this after a bone marrow biopsy. He'll still needs four more rounds of chemo, but the Allen family is very happy. They continue to need prayers and support since they'll probably be at Shands Hospital until March.



Another Gator is moving to Knoxville! University of Tennessee President John Petersen selected Dr. Jimmy Cheek, UF's Senior Vice President for Agricultural and Natural Resources, as UT-Knoxville's next chancellor. The UT Board of Trustees approved the recommendation Friday, and Cheek starts Feb. 1, 2009. I should probably warn him about all the orange and white he's going to encounter. Go Gators! Go Vols!

Another Gator in Knoxville

In yesterday's post, I forget to mention that UF's Senior Vice President for Agricultural and Natural Resources Jimmy Cheek is one of five candidates for UT's chancellor position. He was on campus this past week being interviewed and meeting with faculty, staff and students. Cheek is the last of the five candidates to visit UT, and the next chancellor should hopefully be in place by spring 2009 or fall 2009 at the latest.

A Gator Near Knoxville

While there were many Gator fans in the Knoxville area this past weekend for the UF-UT football game, it's rare to find a member of the actual alligator family in these parts of East Tennessee. Well, one decided to come up for the game apparently.

Over the weekend an alligator-type animal was spotted in neighboring Sevier County near the Little Pigeon River. Tennessee wildlife officials finally captured the caiman Tuesday after a fisherman tried but failed. It has a new home with another caiman at Rainforest Adventures. Officials say the animal probably didn't venture all the way from Gainesville but was someone's pet that either escaped or was let go.

This caiman was only a few feet long but caused quite a stir. Being from Florida and growing up on a farm with three ponds (which are all dry at the moment), alligators were a very familiar site. They even walked into our backyard on occasion looking for water, and our dogs would bark at them, and they would usually leave.

I had to share with ironic story, especially since the Gators whipped the Volunteers 30-6 Saturday. It's great to be a Florida Gator!