I think I’m out….

Can't blame you. I've sparsely posted on GC over the last 5 or so years. Zel leaving was sad...Zel going to Kentucky? The system is broken.
I went from not missing a basketball game for nearly a decade to attending less to then watching less. I'm glad you got to go out with a Championship!

 

Sorry to hear this Brent. My fandom for UK sports continues to dwindle as well. I doubt we are alone in these feelings. I do hope you come back as you are on the best posters, and people on this forum.

 

Thanks for all of your activity over the years. Hope to see you back someday.

 

You've been around since I signed up way back in 2004ish, it ain't gotta be like this!

 

Please don't go song - Yahoo Video Search Results

 

Like Zel, we have no choice but to accept this decision. Doesn't mean we like it, hope to see you again...

 

It is what it is. I’m still a Gator and will continue to root for the players that wear our colors, as long as they wear them. Maybe it will get to me enough to stop watching at some point, but not yet.

I was never a hardcore subscriber to the “once a gator” mantra, but I believe in that less now than ever before. Sorry but if you leave to play against us, your gator card is revoked (the paidinfull edition anyway). I understand that you’ve got to do what’s best for you, but I got nothing for ya. I hope Zel is greeted with silence on his return to Gainesville.

 

Hope it's not for long! You're in the top tier of posters of any message board I've been on. Not sure I've seen a poster as consistent and objective - even willing to take unpopular stances.

 

I forget the occasion when the students all brought Alligators to the game and held them up as if reading them when an opposing player was being announced.

Look, Zel did his part to bring something to UF that hadn't happened in a long time. I will appreciate him for that. 'nuf said.

 

man will miss your posts, often they are the only ones I read!!

This season obviously rejuvenated my interests and spark again. Team was just so fun to watch, and every player was likable. Effort was there pretty much every night, and kids wore the Gator with pride.
I agree love seeing growth in players from year to year. I'll never forget that pic of Prather before and after strength and conditioning, kid became a specimen.

 

I don't do pro sports. And also feel the journey is the best part of college athletics.

Gators in both big sports have admirable coaches and culture. It still feels like players are playing for the Gators name on their chest and for each other so I'm enjoying the ride. Even some of the drama.

 

IMO AKA has been the best, most consistent NBN poster and brought the most information to the board. Sad to see you go and hope you keep popping in!

 

Once we got the cameras flipped we accomplished our mission. It's all been fading since then.

 

Thanks for all your devotion over the years, Brent. Like others say, we're sorry to see your diminished enthusiasm, but totally understand. Now that I'm finally a daddy, priorities will shift. I can't wait for the days of driving her to ballet class. I will still read, post, and run the Hallgator pick 'em. It's increasingly difficult, though, to be invested in Gator sports with the current model i place.

 

Aka and rserina are who I pay attention to for Xs and Os.

 

Congrats my man.

 

Hands down my favorite poster on GC. That said...

Similar for me. I was talking to my son (UF '07) recently about how it wasn't that long ago that I knew the names and could pick out every Gator BB bench guy. I'll admit it, at the start of this season, I couldn't name half the starters.

 

Aka, I completely understand. I am sitting on the fence myself. I actually like Golden and Napier in that they appear to be what UF wants as HCs during a damn tumultuous time. And all indications are that, even if "sanity" returns, the final product will be either a huge facade of what we all believed the sport(s) were or it will be unadulterated minor league professional sports. And as I have postulated plenty of times on these forums, that includes cutting players whose only crime was that they weren't as good as someone who they can get. Methinks Aberdeen has some of that concept with the signing of Lee. But once we go down that path, besides having national commissioners for both sports at at least the highest levels, there WILL be a player's union to protect them from nefarious coaches/programs.

I can see where basketball can go the baseball model, provided that the NBA can make enough money in the G-league to develop the talent. That IS the reason why we have the current nonsense. But still, as long as the players can leave pretty much with impunity, the ability to root for a player for 3 years is not impossible but not guaranteed. And so, nothing in the future will look and feel like "the good old days." It is what it is.

Now football is a whole different animal. There is NO WAY it can be construed as anything but the NFL's A and AA farm system. I would expect a setup where universities sponsor the teams rather than calling them student-athletes and perhaps some universities will provide services like free tuition for those who want to get a degree sometime. And for me, there needs to be a limit on the age of the players. I would say that if you turn 24 by or after say October 15th, you may finish the season. Otherwise, you will be ineligible to compete once you reach 24. No grown man should be playing a rough sport like football against a potentially 17 years-old man-child. You either have what it takes to play at the NFL level or you HAVE to move on. And finally, once we have established that football has NOTHING to do with the remaining sports, under no circumstances should they have a setup that dictates what are the conference alignments for the other sports, basketball included. It makes absolutely NO sense for USC and UCLA to send their golf and volleyball teams over to Penn State or Maryland (and vice versa) to play a conference game. Truly preposterous.

Anyways, I am going to see what happens this year in both sports, football especially. I realize GC isn't the totality of the UF alumni perspective, but it is pretty damn close. The envy of the LSUs and Old Miss's is pathetic. And if Napier finds he hit a ceiling that is too low, I foresee UF deciding to follow suit. Golden may get to dance well for a while, but all he really did was to show the world a better mousetrap. And the world WILL adapt. It always does.

About the only thing I can say that is different than what you have posted is that when I check out, and I do hope to do it with the same grace as you have, it will be absolutely cold turkey. I can not fathom how I can peruse other forums in order to "check in" for laughs, insights, or whatnot and not feel the pain of a forced divorce. Have you ever listened to John Prine's excellent song about his bitterness of how the US had changed, "The Great Compromise"? It is quite the analogy to what is happening to our beloved college life memories.

But like I said, I have one more year for hope and then...

Good luck, best regards, and thanks for the memories.

 

As I get older it’s harder and harder to be very passionate. In the fall - early morning hunts with the grandkids and rides in the side by side are what I look forward to more than football.. in the spring.. turkey season and travel.
Part of it is.. I’m old. Partitions.. why should I have passion and loyalty each week when the players and coaches so often don’t. I root forUF.. the players root for themselves. Sure.. there are outliers and exceptions.. but we see it all too much today.
You will be missed AKA… but most of us understand.