GATORBAIT MEDIA

Aberdeen, Condon, Chinyelu and Haugh are reasons why the Gators will be preseason No. 1 (Photo by Chris Spears) Sometimes you get what you wish for. In the case of Todd Golden and Florida basketball, it’s the Duke Blue Devils, who will be coming to the O-Dome December 1 as part of the SEC-ACC Challenge. Last year the Gators traveled to Durham where they fell 67-66 to Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium, a game that left a sour taste in the mouths of the Gators who came back from 1

Wake Forest transfer Micah Mays Jr. crosses the goal line at the Orange and Blue Game (Photo by Chris Spears) In a conversation with Urban Meyer back when he was stacking up top-ranked recruiting classes at Florida, the question of how you measure success came up. Urban was far less concerned with stars as he was finding the right fit and filling the depth chart with quality players who would be ready to step in when their number was called. The answer he gave me: “One grea

Let me ask you something that ought to keep every self-respecting Gator fan up at night staring at the ceiling. Who, exactly, is running the ship at the University of Florida right now? Because the way things have gone in Gainesville over the past couple of years, you’d be forgiven for thinking the answer is “nobody in particular, and they’re doing it on a rotating basis.”

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday afternoon: Back in the 1960s, Bear Bryant labeled Florida football a “sleeping giant.” Since then there have been pockets of success when the Gators were indeed gigantic. From 1990-2010 no one won as many games as the Gators – 210-51-1 record, 17 more wins than second place Ohio State; 18 more than Florida State and 19 more than Miami. Not a single losing season during that time, three national championships and eight SEC titles.

Caden McDonald was the lone bright spot Monday night (UAA Photo) A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning: Florida baseball’s version of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” concluded Monday night with the Troy Trojans doing a dandy impersonation of Freddy Krueger, the slasher who did his dirty work through teenagers’ dreams. In the role of Krueger, Troy slashed and killed off the dreams of the Florida Gators, the No. 8 national seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Trojans were

Blazing Saddles got it right with the immortal words of Slim Pickens, who said, “What in the wild, wild, world of sports is a going on here?” If you were watching the NCAA regionals then you saw a brand of baseball that more resembled an open USSSA softball tournament. The overall No. 1 seed, UCLA, lost its first game, a feat never done before and then didn’t make it out of the Los Angeles regional. Florida scored 11 runs and lost to Troy with opening day ace and future first

Brendan Lawson homers in the third (UAA Photo) On paper this was an almost comical mismatch. The Gators were sending Liam Peterson to the mound to wrap up a championship weekend at the NCAA Gainesville Regional against the Troy Trojans, a team barely above .500 for the season. To counter Peterson and his 100-mph fast ball, Troy went with Cooper Ellingworth, whose very average fast ball had plenty to do with a plus-six earned run average. What could be easier? A soon to be f

Karson Bowen celebrates his second homer of the game (UAA photo) The Miami Hurricanes lit up Florida pitchers for 16 hits that produced a most impressive 10 runs Saturday night at Condron Family Ballpark. Aidan King, the Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year, was one of the Hurricanes’ victims. He was knocked out of the box without registering a single out in the fourth, finishing his stint on the mound giving up eight hits and six earned runs. It was that kind of night

Cade Kurland crosses home plate after his 8th-inning home run (UAA Photo) If given the opportunity, Kevin O’Sullivan would have scripted Florida’s first round NCAA win over Rider differently. There would have been no drama, just a rather ho-hum win that advanced the Gators into a Saturday winner’s bracket game. For seven innings, that’s what O’Sullivan got. Heading into the top of the eighth, the Gators were cruising along with a 4-0 lead. Then all hell broke loose but rath

When Greed Dims the North Star There’s a moment in every great institution’s history when the money gets loud enough to drown out the wisdom. When the smell of it curls around the room like cheap cigar smoke and suddenly the men in the expensive suits start looking at each other across the table with dollar signs where their eyes used to be. We have arrived at that moment in college football. The sport’s North Star — the one that has guided it through conference upheavals

Calvin and Hobbes A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning: As the Southeastern Conference spring meetings wind to a close in Destin, this quote from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes does a dandy job of defining commissioner Greg Sankey’s attempt to inject a measure of common sense and practicality into the state of college sports in these troubled times: “That’s the problem I’m trying to fix, you moron! I can’t turn the water off because the faucet leaks! Shee

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning: In an interview with the SEC Network prior to Florida’s semifinal game in Hoover back on Saturday, left fielder Blake Cyr had one of those unexpected tell it all moments in which he confessed that Kevin O’Sullivan had been the lifeline he needed to cope with the after effects of his father’s death. It was a side of Sully that few in the viewing public have ever seen. St. Sully the Compassionate. Whodathunkit? Okay, people w