I was not expecting to meet Chris Harry in a Boulder, Colorado bar tonight, and yet I did. He saw me wearing my Gator hoodie, we exchanged a few pleasantries, chatted about our shared experiences as UF athletic department comms people, and then I realized who he was. Nice guy. He was very optimistic about the basketball team -- said Alijah Martin in particular is looking really good. Anyway, I'm not saying this makes me a better, cooler person than the rest of you, but I'm also not not saying that.
I trust what Chris Harry has to say, and he knows his hoops. Before last season, the consensus among us internet wankers was that Alex Condon might make a decent project and worth the gamble of a scholarship. After watching a good bit of the preseason practices, Harry predicted that Condon would be the most impactful freshman at UF since Andrew Nembhard. Whoa! That was a bold prediction and suddenly got everyone a lot more excited about Condon. And the prediction came true. So if he says Martin in particular looks really good, we can expect big things from him. BTW, when you're not around, we all admit that you are indeed better and cooler than the rest of us. We've just had to learn to accept it.
As for unexpected encounters with Gators... Gator Nation is a vast, far-flung empire. I was in Brugges, Belgium a few weeks ago... and lo, there's a guy in a Gator hoody. As I once told another Gator I met on the street, "In my many travels I have found that there are just two types of people in this world: there's Gators and there's them that wish they were Gators."
I think CU probably picked up "they struggle to guard opposing basketball players, so try to take advantage of that" in their advance scouting.
I have a brother living there for about thirty years. I am going to a wedding in Denver, but staying at brothers house in Boulder. The Flat Irons and good Mexican food. Going to Grand Lake afterwards, for five days to help get over the Nashville summer heat!
I saw Vernon Macklin in Windemere FL a few weeks ago at my grandson's basketball game. he coaches one of the teams. I said Go Gators to him and he agreed...ha.
Macklin was a favorite player of mine during his stint. He transferred in, had some deficiencies in his game when arrived, and worked hard on getting better at all of them. Solid defender, solid rebounder. By the time he was a senior, he had that little hook shot in the lane down pat. If he got the ball where he wanted there was no stopping him from getting that shot off. And he hit a very high percentage of them.
We were in Brugges last spring, pretty cool place. Didn't see any Gators but wore my Gator sweatshirt.
We have lived in Ghent every summer for the past 20 years. Brugge is nearby. Beautiful town, but filled with tourists, esp Brits and Japanese. Why Japanese? There’s a novel A Dog of Flanders that has been widely popular in Japan for decades
Curious, do you own a place in Ghent? I wanted to make it over to Ghent ever since reading The Monuments Men but couldn't fit it in. Maybe next time.
BTW, I’m drawing a blank, but I think someone from the 2000-era team played for Club Brugge in the Euroleag I have a relationship with a department at the University of Ghent. The university has apartments they rent to visiting faculty. Ghent is somewhat like Brugge, but bigger (@ 250,000 population). Next week is Gent Fest—8 days of mostly free performances all over the city—the beer isn’t free! BTW, I think Brent Wright is the Gator who played for Club Brugge
