This week is what the bloggers have taken to calling "FloraBamageddon " - the University of Florida Gators visit the Alabama Crimson Tide at Bryant Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa.

It is our custom to eat the mojo of the opposing team, before or during every game. So far this year, we've eaten Greek food to play the San Jose State Spartans, Italian for Penn State (the "Italian" is in reference to Joe Paterno - if you can find Nittany Lion at your local butcher, please let us know) and pulled pork and pork rinds for the Arkansas Razorbacks.

For the last two years, we've only played Florida in the SEC Championship Game, and we've eaten Gator prior to playing the Florida Gators - the first year , Ethel cooked gator that we had shipped in, and then last year we bought some gator bites at a local Cajun restaurant.

This year, we're playing them during the regular season, and Ethel and I will be watching the game up at the condo in Purgatory; however, not only do we not have HD up here,  we can't even find a local source for good gator. So we're having to figure out just how to eat Florida mojo without gator.

So we've decided - Oranges, Seafood, and Key Lime Pie.

                                  

Now, this may not be as effective as eating gator, but there's also the possibility that we've gone too many times to that well - so we're covering all bases, with Floyd and Angela eating Papadeaux's Gator Bites down in Phoenix, and us taking care of the rest of the menu in Colorado.

Of course, two of those are citrus (Oranges and Limes) - and the other one isn't strickly Floridian food as the seafood has to come from outside of Florida itself, proper (the United States goes out six miles into the ocean, but Florida stops at the beach).  But we are doing the best we can here with what God gave us.

In the spirit of anti-woofing, I'm forced to point out that Alabama has won way too many games, and it's time for us to lose one with good grace and sportsmanship. And so it might as well be the Florida Gators that beat us; I don't mind that nearly as much with it being Urban Meyer, because he doesn't pick his teeth, smarm, or throw his visor.

But that doesn't mean that Ethel and I won't be doing our best to help up here in the Rocky Mountains¹. And if you folks can think of any other particularly Floridian foods for us to eat, we'd appreciate the suggestions!


<sup>0The subject line is a bit of the lyric from the Alabama fight song, and seems to indicate that, once upon a time, the Florida Gators were actually called the "Alligators", and that they have since shortened their name. Next thing you know, we'll be playing the Arizona Razors or the Auburn Tigs.

1 - Of course, this doesn't really work. If eating the other team's mojo, or wearing my Bear Bryant fedora, or making Ethel leave the room during field goal attempts actually had any effect on the game, then the game isn't about what the players and coaches do on the field, and so it doesn't matter.But then, possibly - just possibly- all of this stuff DOES matter, since the real and true causes and effects are spiritual in nature, and as Paul said "that which is not seen is real, that which is seen is temporal" - so perhaps it's a combination of great athletes, great coaches, and great fans willing to eat fried reptile parts that culminates in victory.</sup>