J

Website: http://www.gatorsportsnation.com

I have been a Gator fan my whole life. I started GSN when I was a sophomore in high school because I loved writing and especially when it was about the Gators. You can describe me as one of the biggest fans alive! There is nothing better then going to the Swamp on a Saturday to watch a football game. Go Gators! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to send me an email. admin@gatorsportsnation.com

Posts by J:

Shaw Remains Committed to the Gators, Despite Meyer’s Decision

Posted by admin on December 30th, 2009   1 Comment

Even after Coach Meyer decided to take a leave of absence, Joshua Shaw, a committed recruit to the Gators will stay loyal to his word.

Shaw is a defensive back from Palmdale High School in California. He is ranked by Scouts.com to be the third best DB in the nation and a four star recruit. With his great size, blue chip speed and strength, and great agility, Coach Meyer perceived Shaw as a necessity to his team. Meyer recruited Shaw strongly and formed a “father-son relationship” with him.

When the news broke of Urban Meyer resigning as the head coach, Shaw, shocked, stated, “I didn’t believe it.” Shaw knew that his health issue must be serious for him to leave his wonder job. Shaw was immediately concerned with the health of Meyer and at once emailed the coach, and then followed up with a phone call. Shaw said that, “My main thing was just making sure he was OK.” His main priority was to ensure that Meyer was all right. He was not concerned with his own situation, but with Coach Meyer’s.

Shaw and Meyer spoke on the phone and he insured Shaw that he was not going anywhere. He discussed with Meyer and they both agreed that he would not commit nor speak to other schools. Shaw stated at this point that, “I just left it in God’s hands.” The two spoke on the phone again before Coach Meyer’s press conference on Sunday and Meyer basically stated that he was staying actively involved at Florida so therefore, it was safe for Shaw to remain committed to the Gators. This was a positive message for the recruit.

Shaw stated that, all of this worked out great because after the Under Armour game and he was headed up to Gainesville to get situated after orientation on January 4th. Shaw said that, “I just left it in God’s hands and it all worked out and I am 100 percent Gator.”

All in all, Joshua Shaw will remain a Gator even though Urban Meyer is taking an indefinite leave of absence from the team. We can expect Shaw to be on the Gator practice field come this spring.

(Info gathered by both scout.com and JC Shurburtt from ESPN)

By: Justin Rectenwald

joshua-shaw2

Post to Twitter

Sugar Bowl Video Preview

Posted by admin on December 30th, 2009   No Comment

Here is a neat video breakdown preview of the BCS Sugar Bowl between Florida and Cincinnati brought to you by Rivals.

The video talks about the situation with Urban Meyer and also how Cincinnati may be dealing with a distraction as well. Also watch for Eddie George and the rest of the crew to tell you who they think will win the Sugar Bowl. Florida or Cincinnati? Watch to found out.

tim_tebow21

Post to Twitter

Help GSN Spread The News With Twitter

Posted by admin on December 29th, 2009   No Comment

We recently installed a new twitter button that will help Gator Sports Nation spread the news online. The button is located after each story right below the picture in the post, it says” TWEET THIS”. All you have to do is click it and it will bring you to the sign in page on twitter if you are already not signed in.

You will see that it will automatically tweet for you, it will have a short description along with the link in the blank space and all you have to do is click “update” and it will successfully update your twitter status. This will really help spread the news and hopefully others will re tweet. If you have any problems feel free to leave a comment here.

If you cannot locate the icon, just look right below the picture in this post.

- Gator Sports Nation

untitled-13

Post to Twitter

Gators Look To Avoid Three Game Skid

Posted by admin on December 28th, 2009   No Comment

The Gators, who started off red hot and had aspirations of making a top seed in the NCAA Tournament, are now battling to keep their March Madness hopes alive. After three straight losses since their undefeated start, the young Gators team has suffered key injuries that have taken a toll on their season. But a win tonight will put them back on the win map, and get their confidence up before conference play begins.

The No. 18 Gators hope to avoid their longest losing streak of the decade tonight when they face American University tonight in Gainesville at 7pm.

This week has been hard for the University of Florida, especially with all of the attention that is surrounded by Urban Meyer and his choice to take a leave of absence. Coach Donovan and his Gators have lost three straight after winning their first eight games by almost 18 points. The 67-66 loss against South Alabama was pretty shocking and was actually their first home loss in December since 2004. That should of been a game you could have circled a W around but things just didn’t go the way they wanted it to in the second half.

Looking at the last game against the Jaguars, Florida only shot 36.8 percent from the floor. The Gators had the lead with just under a minute left in regulation but the Jaguars snagged an offensive rebound and put it back in and scored which gave them the lead with just final seconds remaining.

One of their main reasons why they lost had to do with shooting. No your not going to have lights out shooting every game, but when your top scorers can’t produce from the floor at all, it’s hard to win ball games. Chandler Parsons shot 1 of 8 from the floor and missed a shot that they needed down the stretch. The Gators third leading scorer on the team Erving Walker has shot horribly throughout the three game skid. Walker is 10 of 36 from the floor the last three games.

The Gators have to become successful tonight on offense. The first eight games they averaged 75 points per game and shot 46.7 percent compared to 64 points per game and 39.7 percent shooting the last three games. We all know the South Alabama game was an upset, just think if they lost to American University tonight how big of an upset that would be.

American University (2-10) lost their last 15 games against ranked opponents by at least 23 points or more. They shot 27 percent from the field in the 73-46 loss against Georgetown back on December 5.

Both the Gators and Eagles have met once before back in 2000, the Gators came out on top in a blowout win 76-33.

NIT JACKSONVILLE FLORIDA BASKETBALL

Post to Twitter

Breaking News: Meyer Giving Second Thoughts

Posted by admin on December 27th, 2009   No Comment

Just 24 hours after Urban Meyer chose to resign as the Gators head coach, he has changed his mind to take an indefinite leave of absence which will now leave Offensive coordinator Steve Addazio as the interim head coach.

Meyer spilled out the news to the team before they boarded their flight to New Orleans, where they will play Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl on January 1. Sources said that Meyer will coach in the Sugar Bowl but Steve Addazio will take over until he is ready to come back. Addazio did confirm that he will serve with the interim-coach duties.

Sources stated that Urban broke down emotionally several times when telling the Florida players that he was resigning. But apparently he had a long talk with the team during the plan ride to New Orleans that must of given him second thoughts.

It’s going to be pretty awkward around without coach Meyer. I wonder what Meyer’s role will be during his absence and also how much or will he be involved at all? Also, what about coach Addazio? He is already the offensive line coach and offensive coordinator, and now named the interim head coach. How will he react with all of this on his plate?

Just one day since Meyer has talked about how he has bad health and the risk he would be at if he remained the Florida head coach, he has just decided to take a leave of absence instead of resigning. What could have been said?

Meyer has led the Gators to BCS National championships in 2006 and 2008 will be speaking to the press live on ESPN at 4:30 in New Orleans, shortly after the team arrived.

urban425-2

Post to Twitter

To The Next Coach At UF: If You Can’t Take Pressure, Turn Down The Job

Posted by admin on December 27th, 2009   3 Comments

Not to sound ungrateful, because the Urban Meyer Era was perhaps the greatest in Gator history, but spare me the whole “the stress from this job was just too much” garbage I am already hearing coming out of the mouths of the talking heads on ESPN. Seriously? The pressure from the fans is too much? Are you kidding me? Show of hands here…who has been over to Urban’s house since the SEC Championship Game to lodge a complaint? Anyone? Has anyone called him? Emailed him? I haven’t. Has anyone put a “For Sale” sign in his yard? Not me.

Are we evil because we want the Gators to win? ESPECIALLY when we have almost an entire roster from a National Championship team returning for next year? I heard Herbstreit whining for Urban about how even winning wasn’t good enough for us because we weren’t winning by enough. Tell me Herbie. WHO WAS RIGHT?? WE WERE! We were right when we complained about the lack of a down field passing game. We were right when we worried that we were not playing well enough to beat a very tough Alabama no matter what our record said. And guess what? Urban is under ZERO requirement to listen to ANY of us. He does not have to read the blogs. He does not have to listen to the radio. ANY pressure he felt this year was put there by only one person. Urban Meyer. NOBODY was calling for his head after the ‘Bama loss. He could have stayed here for a s long as he wanted.

I for one have done nothing BUT defend the guy. Now I feel like a fool. All these Georgia, FSU, and UT fans who have been praying for him to go to Notre Dame and hitting us with the “wait until after this year when Tebow and Meyer are both gone” are all laughing their collective asses off right now. So yes, I am a bit ticked right now. I don’t want anyone having a heart attack, don’t get me wrong. But how many of us don’t have some sort of health issues? I’m 45 myself. I have plenty. Do I get to just say screw it?

If I hear one more “People don’t understand the intense pressure he was under” comment I am going to go postal. The guy was making $4,000,000 a year base salary. Altogether I would bet that’s really close to $10,000,000. Who among us would not LOVE to make that kind of money? Would you complain about having to work 14 hours a day? You want to know what pressure is Urban? Pressure is not knowing whether you can get your kids anything for Christmas. Pressure is screening your calls from the creditors. Pressure is having to come up with some money right now because the guy is at your door threatening to turn the power off. Pressure is wondering what would happen to your family if you were to get too sick to work. THAT is pressure. THAT is the pressure your fan base is going through right now. Companies are closing their doors, homes are being foreclosed on and you people have the nerve to complain about having to win a football game?

They say on TV that your health issues are not life threatening? Well then if that’s the case, get some medicine, maybe delegate some of the workload, but get your butt back to work. That’s what the rest of us have to do. And if you don’t feel like you can do the job at the level you’ve been doing it, than that’s fine. But don’t blame it on us. You love us when you want us to buy tickets. You love us when you want us to write checks made out to the athletic department. Now you want to blame us for your chest pains? So whoever the next coach is, know what is expected BEFORE you come here. You are expected to win championships. Period. End of story. With that comes pressure and also the potential for great fame, glory, wealth and admiration. If that sounds like a fair trade off, then welcome aboard. But if you fail to deliver on your end, make no mistake, you will be held accountable.

urbanmeyerhmedium

Post to Twitter

My Gator Christmas Gifts

Posted by admin on December 25th, 2009   1 Comment

First off I would like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas, hope everybody got what they wanted and had a good time with your family.

I had a great Christmas. I didn’t ask for much but everything I got meant a lot. As I get older it seems like Christmas just isn’t the same like when you were a kid which it is not, and it also doesn’t help that my parents aren’t together so it does make it a little harder but this may be one of the best Christmases ever. I want to share with everyone what all I got. I didn’t just get clothes or gift cards or stuff like that, just about everything I received on this lovely day had to have some orange and blue in it, and here is what all I got.

*A nice Gator bed comforter set.

* Flag to show off out of my car window.

* Stack of Gator cups.

* 2010 Florida Gators calender with several players from last year in it.

* Mini Gator basketball.

* Florida Gator tie.

* Pair of Florida shorts and a orange/blue Guy Harvey shirt that is not pictured.

Now you can’t say that wasn’t a good Christmas, receiving all of that Orange/Blue :) . But once again I just wanted to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and happy New Year and don’t forget what Christmas is really about. And GO GATORS!

pc250322

Post to Twitter

A Decade To Remember Ending With A Month to Forget

Posted by admin on December 24th, 2009   3 Comments

The decade of the ’00s for the University of Florida’s football and men’s basketball teams has been the greatest in school history. Each has a pair of national titles to boast of. Each has had many huge win streaks and big time wins this decade. And with one month to go before the end of the decade, each was undefeated and flying high. Then December hit.

On the day of the SEC Championship Game, Florida was 12-0 in football and ranked #1. The basketball team was 8-0 and ranked #11. That was on December 5th. Here we are on December 24th and neither team has won a game since. A combined 20-0 has turned into a four game losing streak. The football team suffered a devastating loss to Alabama and a major PR hit when star linebacker Carlos Dunlap was arrested for DUI. After the ‘Bama game UF also lost defensive coordinator Charlie Strong to Louisville where he will become the Cardinals’ head coach. The basketball team has suffered losses to Syracuse, Richmond and South Alabama as well as sustaining injuries to several key players. Then there is also the rumors that Austin Rivers, a prized 2011 recruit, may be wavering.

Florida’s fan base has had so much to cheer about the past few years it has almost caused a mass panic in Gainesville among the faithful. Message boards are imploding with disgruntled fans wondering if the reign of the Gators is all over. The truth is that reigns like the Gators’ have rarely been seen in the college sports world and are never going to last for very long. The Gators’ run in these two sports has been truly remarkable. And while the run of National Titles may be over for now, I believe UF will be just fine. The question is, will the UF fans become too spoiled to realize it.

But I for one will be glad to see 2010 get here. I’m hoping it gets off to a good start in New Orleans. This will go a long way to jump starting the next decade. The football and basketball programs are in better shape at the start of this decade then they were at the start of 2000. But aw we all know a lot can happen in ten years. Hopefully, we’ll be here ten years from now reflecting back on another decade of championships for both programs. It’s still great to be a Florida Gator.

By: James Folsom

Troy Florida Football

Post to Twitter