You guys think I'm dumb. Well, I am....but not THAT dumb.
I know damn well Franks will start the season. I will be behind him 100%, despite my annoyances with him. I do think he's going to have a tougher sled than some of you seem to think. He had a lot of problems last year, and defenses are going to be more prepared. We'll see what happens. I think it's safe to say Emory will get regular playing time, so it could be fun mixing it up with two QB's.
I was thinking about Franks today. I was wondering why his "shushing" thing bothered me so much. The conclusion I came to was that it was a particular punch to the gut after what UF fans have been through for the past decade. Let's face it, the Muschamp and Butters eras weren't just bad; they were embarrassing, cringe-worthy football. Gator fans were forced to shove their noses into piles of dung and try and convince everyone that it smelled like roses. No matter how bad it got, Gator fans kept showing up, supporting the team. None of us missed a single minute of that garbage football. Bull Gators kept donating away for some reason. Foley refused to fire the Chimp and when even he decided it couldn't go on, he replaced him with the biggest mouthbreathing idiot that has ever graced a sideline, and told Gator fans to suck it up.
We had to listen to jackasses all over the country claim that Gator fans were spoiled, that nobody took "winning" as hard as Gator fans. We had to listen to people claim that no coach wanted to come here because of the fans, that Spurrier quit because of the fans, that Meyer bailed out because of the fans, that John F. Kennedy was assassinated by Gator fans on the grassy knoll.
It's always the fans. We suck. We have no business even living. We should just shut up and enjoy Chimp & Butters football. We won the east, how could you possibly complain?
After TEN YEARS of this crap, us Gator fans were fed up. We were on edge. We weren't giving anyone a break because we were so used to disappointment. This was what Jeremy Foley had turned the fan base into.
So when Franks, who had been horrific for most of his playing career, had the gall to tell those fans in the stands to shut up, it really bothered me. Those fans had been there through thick and thin, through All Kinds of Weather, to be more exact. Those fans had been dragged through some of the worst football anyone had ever seen, and kept showing up. Those fans keep giving money to an athletic department who had really let them down and taken them for granted. You are going to tell THOSE FANS to shut up? We were used to hearing it from our rivals, now we have to hear it from our OWN players in our OWN friggin' stadium?
It bugged me. It still bugs me. I'm tired of the false perception of Gator fans, because it's unfair. It's unfair to those who would never miss a single snap of Gator football.